City Council - Regular Meeting

Okay, we're ready. Council's ready. Sure.

Good afternoon. Let's go ahead and call to order the special council meeting board and commission interviews of April 28th, 2026 at 5:04 p.m. The city does not tolerate disruptive behavior in our meetings. This council meeting is considered a limited public forum, which means the council can regulate the time, place, and manner of speech. If a speaker's comments are not related to an agenda item, the presiding officer will rule that speaker out of order. A speaker will not be ruled out of order because of a disagreement with the content of their speech. Location and online meeting details are available on the council agenda. Scan the QR code on the screen or click the language access and translation link on the council agenda to read and listen along in more than 60 different languages. Use the show captions button to view the captions at Zoom. City clerk, may we please have roll call.

Mayor Klein, present. Vice Mayor Melinger. Council member Cneros, present. Council member Sernie Bass, present. Council member Self, present. Council member Chang present. Council member Lei present. Six present with Vice Mayor Melinger absent. Thank you. And Vice Mayor Melinger's absence is a an excused absence. Uh moving on to our only item tonight, item 25-00009, board and commission interviews. Is there a staff report?

Uh yes, mayor and council members, David Carnean, the city clerk. Uh between last night and tonight's uh interviews, council's interviewing approximately 40 individuals for uh vacancies on your nine boards and commissions. Applications were due April 16th order to uh give us time to check voter registration as appropriate as needed and to schedule interviews. And then you uh have an agenda item on your May 19th meeting to make appointments to these boards and commissions.

Thank you. Any questions? Seeing none, I'll go ahead and open up public comment. Members of the public wishing to address council, please submit a speaker card to the city clerk, use your raised hand, use the raised hand feature now or dial star9 on your telephone, to indicate that you wish to speak. I will call on members of the public participating in person first. Um, and then the city clerk will ask remote participants to unmute when it's their turn to address council. Speakers will have two minutes to speak. Um, do we have any any inerson or remote participants wishing to speak on this item?

No, mayor. Okay, I'll go ahead and close public comment. Uh city uh the council will be interviewing I think 18 candidates this evening. Um city clerk, we're ready for our first candidate. Mhm. Have a seat here. Council members, your first candidate chat, thank you. Is here. Hi, Chadley. Hi.

I'm Seno Mayor Larry Klein. Thank you for for applying. Let me give you a quick overview of the process. Uh each council member will have a chance to ask you a question. We have about 15 minutes uh for the interview. So keep that in mind as as you're answering those questions. Thank you. And first up is council member Cisneros.

Hello. Uh thank you so much for uh submitting your application, your interest in serving the city in this way. I really enjoyed reading the perspective that you offered in your application, especially your thoughts around the bond measure that failed. I think you mentioned it kind of toward the end that it might be a good idea for us to um go forward with a more modest ballot measure. I was curious to hear you expand on your thoughts of why you thought the bond measure failed this time around and why you think like lowering that um the bond amount might be successful or any other uh considerations council might take into account to have a more successful ballot measure next time around. Yeah, I think that um the primary reason I felt uh that uh being more modest in what we're asking for uh would be uh would be successful if we are more focused

on what are the things that we would like to change or update uh in uh in our library uh systems around Sunnyale. Um and uh trying to also then appeal to you know uh the the Sunnyale residents. We have a lot of diversity in our community and then being focused on maybe these are the top three things and then maybe being a little bit more modest instead of choosing a lot more. Uh and then with that uh I I felt that this could be this is very uh this is something I do on my job all the time. uh where something failed and then okay like what is it that we can do where we can still make incremental progress instead of going for uh everything at the same time.

That makes sense. So you're saying that perhaps not seeking the amount of money necessary to completely renovate or not or completely like build a new building but maybe we go to renovation because it's a smaller amount more do it incrementally. Okay. Thank you so much. I appreciate that. Thank you. Next up is council member Sheen Boston. Hello. Hi. uh you have very impressive uh academic background

um very interested in some of the ideas you have proposed. I want to focus on uh the north side library. Um you said that not Sunnyale community uh is underserved which we know that and then you also said the library must champion digital equity by evolving beyond uh basic internet access to provide critical AI literacy one-on-one technical uh training uh tutoring for seniors and robust hardware lending programs. Can you elaborate on that? Yeah. So I work on search uh in Google and I see firsthand how the world is changing and I can foresee a lot of things that we are not there yet but it is coming in terms of AI transformation of the society and I really feel that both for my parents are aging now they don't live here they live in India but I see uh that they have been um AI as it's coming up there are bots is is easier fishing is easier and I think that education they have my my aging parents have been susceptible to that that they don't exactly understand what is going on that oh it's like a prince in Nigeria writing to them oh here is $1 million right and then similarly I have very young kids uh so two and six and I constantly worry about what do they need to learn as they they move forward in their life because uh the way I I think this is a revolution in terms of technology uh that AI is bringing and I really I'm living it every single day and I'm also living it at home not just at work that how do I having these uh different um generations and then what is it that they should learn uh so that they stay a breast uh of the

technological advances and how it's going to affect their lives and I think that library we go there every week uh the Sunwell public library and I really feel that it will be a good system that can actually educate folks uh about some of these things and then I'm very interested in figuring out what kind of measures can we take where whether it's young children or even teenagers and then also senior citizens where we have them we we disseminate this information more broadly so that they're aware of how to adjust their own lives that they don't get scammed. hammed and they don't get uh but they're also from for younger children like what is it that they should learn and what is it that they should focus on. So I also do a lot of this in my daughter's school but it would be good to also do this like you know with the library system.

Very good. That's very interesting. We I am also interested in that we are trying to organize a cyber security workshop for in children and seniors. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Next up is council member cell. Hi, thank you for interviewing. Um, a great background. So, you also mentioned that there might be an interest in the parks and rec commission and then you listed like some few ideas and so, um,

what do you think is most needed if you had like one great idea for the park? say you were on the parks commission and you know if you wanted to accomplish one major thing in our parks what do you think it would be?

Um I'm trying to think uh like personal experience through personal experience I would say this park is another library is one and then I think the park is another uh public system that we use a lot uh with our our young children. I I don't know if I have a solution right away, but one of the things that I I have struggled with as a resident because we used to live in San Monteo and then a few years ago we we came here and my realization was that finding other children who are the same age as my kids like the park is the best place to go because there will be other kids and then you know finding those social the communities and you know just building uh that out and I wonder if there is maybe a more digital way of doing this, right? Where uh communities can come more closely together, right? And then because kids are also in different age groups there, they go to different schools, right? Um some go to public schools, some go to private schools, but I think the as a community we live all live here and then how can we connect with one another. Uh, so I I do that more unofficially where I'll try to, you know, talk to moms locally to get some kids together. Um, but I think that that would really solve problems for a lot of people because a lot of times they're always like, "Oh, it's the weekend. What do I do?" Right? When my children's how how how do they have playdates and so on? But park is a great place. Everybody goes there. If there's a way for us to bring communities more closely together with children of the same ages, I think that is the first thing I would do.

Oh, that's good. Yeah, it's park and recreation to me. That's kind of more recreation and then that's a great idea. Thank you. Thank you. Next up is Council Member Chen. Hi, thank you for applying. I wanted to know, you know, you use the library and the parks pretty frequently. If there are specific programs or parks that stand out to you in parks, parks or the library programs? I

see. Um I think in the library what we enjoy the most uh is there are these um on an ongoing basis they will always have uh treasure hunts that are it's always going on in the library and we spend a lot of time on that uh every time we go in and I really like it that it's very well organized that there are there's the paper there are pencil you know kids can go around you know crossing things so I really like that as a program we have also taken advantage of uh some performances that have happened uh in the library in the past.

Um and then on the park side I think using the um for birthday parties like using the parks uh for birthday parties which is not a program but it's a facility that we have uh we have used in the past our friends have used. So I highly recommend all my friends as well and I think it's a great way to bring families and communities together uh in the park. So yeah, those are the things that I really like about both our parts in our library. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Lang.

Hi, thank you so much for applying. It's great to hear a mom perspective, especially because the commissions that you applied for board uh uh sorry, Bolton, the PRC, those are very hidden things. Those are things that families in Sunnyville access all the time. Um so I appreciated your inclusion in your application about thoughts about the Lakewood Branch Library and also the Lakewood Park Library. Those are both in my district. So, it's good to know that people are thinking about them, especially because it's not necessarily on the radar of people who aren't always paying attention to council things. So, my question for you, pretend nothing has happened inside the Lakewood Library so far. I'm handing you a bucket of $5 million. How are you going to fill it? As we just discussed, I think um uh AI education for for both kids and seniors would be a topic that I just think is important for society right now,

Sunny and beyond. Um and uh so I would spend some amount of money on that. Uh just bringing in experts and uh having those conversations uh with folks. Um I think that um so if I understand correctly the Lakewood Library it's also uh students and it's co- shared right with school district um as well. I think that reusing uh or maybe intermingling uh the students with the public um that is coming in and having

um some forums where uh folks learn from each other on the kind of problems that they they are seeing and uh coming up with newer ideas, right? uh to uh to like I would I would also source this from from the public is what I'm trying to say rather than just my deciding it because I think it's important to hear out

what the community yeah what the community has to say. Um I think that uh there is uh digital safety is another one where on the one hand yeah we do this is coming from personal experience uh right now I don't allow I have a six-year-old and a 2-year-old so I don't allow my six-year-old to check out a lot of things right uh but maybe for the high schoolers and so on it might be a good idea to um both like enable them to access the digital things but also figure out like what are spend some around like teaching them the the safety and and so on in in society, social networks, all of that, right? Like so maybe some money

uh towards that. Um um those are the things that that come to mind right now. Thank you. There there wasn't there wasn't a right answer. I was just curious how of course of course. Yeah. Thank you.

Thank you. Um I'm last. So, so some questions about parks and I like, you know, I I appreciate uh your application and you're talking about kind of an aging population uh from a ADA accessibility. You know, you talked about infrastructure needs within our community. You also talked about passive spaces. What do you consider, you know, good passive spaces within the city that are already there that should be duplicated? And then kind of from a se from an aging and aging and clay senior population, what do you what would you like to see uh the parks and recck commission focus on?

Yeah. So when I'm in passive spaces, I'll give a I'll give a very concrete example. Um so I often see in so I'm in the Ponderosa Park neighborhood and uh in the evenings uh a lot of seniors they gather there right and uh and it's kind of a community within themselves so it's not an organized activity or you know something that the city is kind of prescribing that hey this is how you should use this but that is what I meant where it's a passive space where they kind of figured it out right like it just exists and there are a bunch of benches right and then they'll come and they'll gather and then I think it's a very nice community experience especially again I'm borrowing from my own parents aging right and how they crave social connections with other people and then I think this is a great uh space uh for them I um I'll be honest with you like I don't I think it I've seen it work well right so I don't know if um you need to maybe the one thing I would say is maybe like have more of such like just people can just sit and you know talk to each other and just have that community experience because I've seen that work very very well um and uh so yeah like the park does work well I can't give another example where somewhere else I've seen it and then we bring it here I've actually seen it work very well in the park I'll give a very other concrete example where very little like uh my my kid when she was one her nanny used to take her to the park and then in the morning there is another uh senior group that meets in the Ponderosa Park and they play music and then uh there is like a

some kind of dance movement class that they're doing and my one-year-old used to join that and then just kind of and I used to see because I would be at work and then my nanny would send me pictures and I thought that was such an amazing thing that it just happened that it was a it was a space it was a passive space they made it an active space by just being there and then having this this experience which multiple generations can enjoy. Uh, so I think it's great. Uh, I really really like that about our parks. Great. And and then as far as Ponderosa, definitely well, let's say the the ground down um fences or the the the b the brick wall, stone wall,

the stone wall. Hopefully that's better for for all residents right now. Yes. So, thank you. Um, so thank you for for going through the application process. Thank you for your interest. Council will be making its decision on Tuesday, May 19th. So, you don't need to be at that meeting to be selected. Okay? And then, um, city clerk will get back to you later in the week with the final results. Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, everyone. Have a great evening. Byebye. You too. Thank you. Yeah, he didn't send me that picture. Chair over here. Council members, your next applicant Paul is here. Hi Paul.

Good evening. I'm Sunny Mayor Larry Klein. Thank you for for going through the application process. Let me give you a quick overview of what what's going on tonight. We have about 15 minutes for the interview. Um every council member will get a chance to ask you a question. So keep that time in mind as you're going through the answers. Uh and first up is council member Sharina Boston. Hi Paul. Good evening. Um, thanks for applying and then uh I also note that you are a blood donor for 25 years. Thank you very much.

Um I read your application and then it's very very interesting. Um you said um in your application as to why the bond me uh since the bond measure failed what are the solutions you suggest? One of the things you suggest is maybe library is only part of the name you that goes on outside the building. What does that mean?

Yeah. So I mean I I think about the library. I know Sunnyville already has a community center, but the library is very much a place of community and when you look at the activities that go on at the library, whether it be the various services that it offers, um the programming that is involved there, you know, as I've come to understand it, there's a lot of part of the need is not only to have, you know, more facility for actual books and and materials to loan, but also space to have some of the various programs uh that are there as well. So um if there's a if there's a way to craft and you know coming from my kind of marketing background right um to position it so that it's not just about the books and and think of it as as more than just you know a library is more than just a bunch of books in the building.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Next up is council member S. Um so um mentioned like two priorities of the library. Um just just thoughts. Yes. Yeah. Um of your like buried background. Why did you choose to want to apply for the library commission? Why are you passionate about that? And why do you think you're one second so skilled for one second. We have our lost the video. makes a noise before it stops. Yeah, it makes a booting sound. So, if you hear the boot, that's

Yeah, I was listening last night, so I already got the Sure. Well, we're just going to give up on using That's a brand new meeting owl. That's a brand the one we used yesterday. Oh, no. So,

it must be the connection between the meeting owl and the computer in the back, maybe. But we are going to pull this cable out of here. So, was Joel streaming audio or no? Just asking.

Just keep talking. I'm going to go make sure everybody can hear you up there. Hello. Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? Hello. Hello. Can you hear us? Yes, the testing you're good to resume meeting you. Let's go ahead and resume the meeting after some technical difficulties. Uh, council member cell. Okay, your question. So, my refined question is

say you were serving on the commission. Um, what would you want to accomplish? What's the biggest thing you want to accomplish? And why are you specifically skilled to accomplish that? So, the biggest thing I'd like to accomplish is I'd like to see a a plan for the library expansion, if you will. I mean, I'm well aware of the bond measure failing. Um, I think there are a number of alternatives to consider, not just to try to go back and take another bite at the the same apple. So, uh, that that would be the reason uh for me doing that. Um, and you know, in terms of skills, um, I think always what I've tried to do is be a type of person to build consensus in in what I'm doing as a manager and as a leader. And so, um, I think that's really what it's going to take to um to come up with with a solution because I think kind of the it seems to me that the straightforward answer of just going out and trying to do the same thing you've done again is not going to work. So there need to be some alternatives.

Thank you. Thank you. Next up is council member Chang. Thank you for applying. I wanted to ask you a little bit more about what programs you like at the library and what kinds of programs you'd like to see more of.

So um I have um mostly just participate in you know in um blending materials. When my daughter was younger, we participated in a number of the childhood activities, the summer reading program, uh some of the various um playtime, storytime kind of activities when she was younger. So, um really enjoyed that with her. Also gave a chance to meet other parents. Um the uh it's great, you know, with the new Lakewood branch opening up and that I think should be much more focused around uh kids activities. Um, I've been also tuning in to some of the various speakers, authors, some of the sustain, there's a sustainability series that's kind of going on now with some of the book authors around that. So, uh, I've enjoyed kind of expanding uh, my knowledge that way.

Thank you, Council Member. Thank you. And thank you for your thoughtful answer to that question. It's always great to hear people who are enjoying the library programs. I think that's not the default for a lot of people in Sunnyville and I like them so I'm glad other people do too. Um I like the sentence that you wrote in your um in your application. The library is a resource for and a reflection of the community and I thought that was a beautiful statement. That's a great thing to say and that we I think would love to be true always like as a community. Um I have a question for you regarding the Lakewood Branch Library. without knowing what's in it already and pretending you're starting from a clean slate. I'm going to give you a bucket of $5 million. How would you fill it? How would I fill the Lakewood Branch Library?

Yes. Um, you're asking that question in the context of what is sort of the overall needs that that I see for the the library in in total the or or is it because I'm I'm well aware that kind of Lakewood was done really in partnership with school districts and to to my way of thinking it's been much more focused on kids and and as a as a children's

not sorry a children's branch but that's the kind of um so more resources for uh play for um you know there's a there's the library of things and the the lending library there. I think it's a it's a great opportunity. I know there's already some kids toys and materials that are available. I'd love to see that expanded even more so that kids who don't have the means um have access to, you know, let's face it, there's some pretty expensive toys out there. Um, and I think that's a great opportunity for for families that don't have the means to be able to have access to some of that and help their kids learn that way.

Yeah. For your um for your um background. So, the partnership with the schools means that the schools put in some money and they're going to have separate program rooms. It's not necessarily a dedicated children's library like you might see in other places. So, it's not necessarily focused on children and focused on schools, but it is definitely the schools will be a part of it. So, yeah. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm up next. And and you've utili you utilized the main library a lot. Uh what And we talked about the bond measure. What do you see as a prioritization of changes that you would like to see there whether or not it's a renovation or um a new library? And we're we're having that big discussion and that will be seemingly what the commissioners discussed. But at least as it currently exists, what what changes would you like to see? Um well, I I think that the library in a lot of respects um feels very cramped to me in especially in the children's area. I know we were I one of the the um statistics I saw was that 70% of the book lending is actually from the library is actually for children's materials and 30% is is for the adults. Right? And if you look at the floor space, the the teen section. And so I would love to see even with the children's focus of the Lakewood Library, I'd love to see more space for kids to be able to not just uh books, but actually play. I mean, when my daughter and I used to take her to the library, the first thing she wanted to do was watch videos of people in the Big Wide World. And there were a few stations to go see that. And then she generally wanted to go over to kind of there was a play area um that had books all around it and sometimes she'd want to look at books but sometimes she just want to play with other kids. Um so I I think a a more focus in that area and then there is limited space for um seminars and educational kind of those kind of material. You know in in the interim uh in the absence of that I think it'd be great um you know I don't know if city hall is so close if there are ways that other programs and things could be driven into the city hall space so that to take advantage of that as well. We had we filmed Keep going.

We filmed we filmed the the librarians at you know the it was a li library screening at our council chambers last week. So you know utilizing this building I I do agree you know where we can makes a lot of sense. So thank you. And lastly is council member Cisneros.

Hello. Uh it's a pleasure to meet you and thank you so much for applying and looking um to this opportunity to serve your community in this way. It's really great. really enjoyed your answers so far and I have an almost two-year-old so a lot of your answers even you know really resonated with me there that is a good idea I appreciate it I use it often um some one I'll pull out a sentence from your application as well that kind of stuck with me that is more technology isn't always the answer

and I think that's such a poignant thing to say when we think about libraries as very analog space but we most of us exist in this larger digital landscape I wanted to hear you talk a little bit more about how you would determine whether technology is the answer to to something or whether maybe a more analog uh answer is needed.

Well, yeah. So I think the um so for instance just listening to some of the things that have been talked about with the potential improvements for the library. One of the things I was hearing in in one of the meetings was about internet access and that's where probably more using more advanced technology to improve the bandwidth to be able to you know fill in big brick building and you can have coverage issues and things like that. Um, so but that doesn't necessarily mean that you have to go in and uh upgrade, you know, every single computer that's in there and and so sometimes I think um there's a tendency especially because we're in Silicon Valley and we see the latest and greatest things and you know certainly we're all sometimes have a desire to you know that nice new shiny widget looks really great but it may not be really necessary and I think that's where a little prudence where you can use technology to say, you know, improve the bandwidth and the coverage and things like that and improve the experience for people, but it doesn't necessarily mean you need to go through and buy, you know, 50 new computers.

Absolutely. I appreciate that perspective. Thank you very much. Thank you. So, that's all the questions for tonight. Uh, thank you for going through the process. Council will be making its final decision on Tuesday, May 19th. You don't need to be at that at that meeting to be chosen. Uh and then the city clerk will get back with you later in that week uh with the final results. So, thank you. Thank you all very much. Thank you very muching and your patience. Yes, no problem.

Next up is Clyde. Council members, you're next up when Clyde is here. You have to see this big over here. Good afternoon, Clyde. Good afternoon. Thank you for giving me this opportunity. Thank you. So, I'm Sunnyville Mayor Larry Klein. Thank you for applying. Uh let me give you a quick overview of the process. Uh so, we have about 15 minutes to do the to do the interview. Each council member will have a chance to ask you a question. Okay. Uh so, keep that in mind as you're answering those questions. And first up is Council Member Cell.

Hi. Um, thank you for interviewing. Um, so if you were on the commission, the library commission, um, what would be a major thing that you would want to accomplish and why are you specifically uh, what is your special skill that would enable you to accomplish that? I'm really passionate about uh the digital literacy and digital basically making those resources available with the new library coming online. I know that's been a concern of theirs and that that community can use it in a major way. Um I my background software QA tech um which is you know a dime a dozen in Sunnyville to be perfectly honest. Um but I feel like I have a lot of experience that I can offer there. Um I for a second here um I mentioned in there somewhere that um there's also them sorry I'm fumbling over my words I apologize. um the English as a second language is a is a major concern. Making the resources available to close that digital gap is huge and something I care very much about.

Okay, thank you. Thank you. Uh next up is Council Member Chang. Hi, thank you for applying. I wanted to know if you utilize our current library now and what types of programs or what do you like most about the library?

I mostly serve myself at the library. Um I I use this local library here. Um I also make a pretty significant use of the uh the ebooks being able to do stuff like that from home as well. Um, when there's times when I've had to do research on a subject because well, one of my uh clients had asked some questions and I wasn't able to answer them immediately. The library has been very helpful for that as well. Thank you. Thank you. Next up is Council Member Le.

Hi, thank you for interviewing and thank you for applying for this position. I'm curious about your thoughts about digital equity. I was on the school board on the tail end of COVID. So there was a lot of talk about that about kids who couldn't access education because there weren't in wasn't internet access. And I'm curious what you believe that the library has what role the library has to play in that and your thoughts about expanding that digital equity. You talked about it especially on the north side. So I wanted to allow you to elaborate on that.

Yeah. Um, it intersects with of course the budget issues that the library has because of the because of the bond, but I feel that there are places there where we can do better. The new library will help a lot because of it's in the it's in a community that needs that support. Um, also being right by the school probably makes it much more convenient um as well. The trick would be funding and figuring out how to expand programs where they're needed. Um, basic internet access is not that difficult. Most people have their phones if nothing else. Um, but phones aren't enough for things like for instance, um, if you're looking at applying for, you know, if if you're job hunting or if you're trying to do some serious research for a paper that you're writing for school, you don't have access to that. Um, online classes, um, those would that would be huge. Um, but if you don't have the abil if you don't have a home computer, that's not really an option. Um, so there are there are put sorry there are areas there that I think would benefit the uh the community. Um, as far as we step away from kids, the job hunting I think is actually a really big deal. Um, I had kind of called it out. I've been reviewing reviewing and consulting some with AI and what I'm finding is there's a lot of people that just they hear people talking about it but they don't

know very much themselves and they want to know what do I need to know you know how do I trust what it's telling me things like that um AI I generally tell my c my clients I'm cautiously optimistic

um because it does get things wrong and the trick is being able to recognize that it got things wrong. Um, and so that's actually a place where the digital literacy would come into play as well is letting people recognize, hey, much like Wikipedia back in 1998, it's not a primary source. You can't trust it as a primary source. You still have to do the research. Um, yeah.

Thank you. And I had questions along that same line as far as AI and and what you would like to see. You know, it's like you you said that, you know, Sunnyale is kind of the the um ground groundbreaking place where where AI is being focused on specifically, you know, what programs would you like to see at the library related to AI? but and and also how that's relating to let's say the age of participants because that that's also I think an important part of that I agree with that um for the younger and possibly some for uh the parents as well is being just being able to recognize that it's not 100% accurate. It will get things wrong. It will sometimes make things up. Um, and to avoid some of those problems, there's a certain amount of learning how to ask it the correct question so that it actually answers the question you're asking, not the question it thinks you're asking. Um, I use uh cloud AI pretty heavily and I have in my project instructions this vast list of like don't do this, don't do this, don't do this to try to keep it on the rails.

Absolutely. Um, and that in and of itself is is uh valuable and you know I would love to be able to help people um make use of that sort of thing. Okay, thank you. Next up is council member Cisneros.

Hello. Uh, thank you so much for applying and looking to serve your city in this way. It is very much appreciated. It's important work and I want to thank you for your really thoughtful answers to my colleagues questions and I wanted to we talked a little bit about the bond measure but I wanted to drill down. know you had some really specific um thoughts about uh what we should do next to be more successful and I'd like you to talk a little bit about that and also answer whether you think we should go for a similar uh bond amount looking at a new building and the kind of the scope and the scale we were talking about or do you think that it would be more prudent to go with smaller renovation projects in a smaller dollar amount. Um, and there are pluses and minuses to both. So there there's no right answer. I'm just curious on how you're thinking about because it all comes back to how you're thinking about why it failed and how it would be successful.

Right. Well, I'm going to lead with the when I did my research and my reading and I was writing that there was a part of my brain that was saying it's like this is all stuff they know. So I felt like I'm telling people to do something that they already know they need to do. I'm not sure. But um you'd be surprised. Yeah. Okay.

Fair. Um I think in our current climate, I think a big bond measure like the one in 24, I'm not sure I would trust going for the big bond measure. I would probably try to do it in a smaller uh smaller portions uh very targeted in what's immediately needed you know then the longer term concerns and do that over time um I think in terms of election cycles um a major election like the presidential election in 2014 I think may have also worked against the bond measure to a to a certain amount. Um, I didn't dig into where the like misinformation on the tax impact was coming from. So I, you know, I can't say, you know, what organization was responsible for that, but you know, I did my own research on the bond because I voted for it and um that was some of the things being thrown around were just wrong.

Yeah. Um I think a smaller an approach with a smaller more targeted bond uh bond measures or other forms of funding to try to target what's needed now. Um, I mean, obviously a new building is going to be needed, but that might take some time. Is that Yes, that absolutely answers my question. Thank you so much. Yeah, thank you. And thank you. You actually are my council. So, fantastic. I'm too happy to hear. Well, welcome to city hall and I hope to see you around the neighborhood. Thank you. And lastly is council member Shin Basan.

Thank you. Thank you for applying. Thanks for uh explaining about the bond measure because I that was one of the questions I had about you had mentioned misinformation campaign on tax impact. Uh uh I I I understand what you uh said and then you also said about the chamber and the leadership group supporting that one measure which we should leverage. I also want to drill down on the uh you said uh for us to explore public private partnership

and then naming rights. Uh uh that's a tricky space. I I understand. That's why my next question was what do you you know you know who remembers Monster Park before it became whatever else it was. You know it it it's a problem but you know but the monster park was a monster cable company not

correct and then but um you know there were a number of the other parks where they had the naming rights and then another company would come along and buy the new naming rights and suddenly the park would have a completely different name. So yeah, it that that's a that that's kind of a messy space, but I think that with all of the corporations that are uh companies and corporations that are here in Sunnyvale, I think establishing some sort of uh partnership and understanding with them and seeing where they might be able to assist us or we might be able to assist them even um would be wonderful. Um, it was it was one of the things that seemed like a natural, but at the same time, I haven't done all of my research on what companies, for instance, that like would be worth talking to about that sort of thing. Um but uh you know it's it's not unlike the um sponsorships from the citizens as well where you know something will be named because they gave a grant or

something along those lines. Thank you. Thank you. So that's the last of the questions. Thank you for going through the process this evening. Uh council will be be making its final decision on Tuesday, May 19th. You don't need to be present to be selected and the city clerk will get back to you later in the week with final results. Excellent. Thank you. Thank you very much. Have a great evening. Again, thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk to you all. I appreciate it. Thank you for your answers.

Next up is Nila. Your next is here there. Hi Na. Hello. Welcome. Thank you for reapplying. You know this process. Um but let me give a give an overview anyway. You have about 15 minutes for the interview. Each council member we had a chance to ask you a question. And first up is Council Member Chang.

Hey, thank you for reapplying. Um as you're coming to the, you know, the end of your first term, was it what you expected and what did you learn from this experience? from the first time when I played um well I did not know a lot of things. I knew the theoretical planning and um what the urban design should be and what city should be but I did not know a lot of policies and how the policies are implemented. So I it was um I really learned about zoning

especially for Sunnyville and how um how like our role as a planning commissioner uh to impact like it took a while to understand uh I mean I understood it but like it would took a while for me to participate actively to understand the procedures and I'm still struggling about the about like how I mean I say it now but like the right words or right way um in a in our ordinances and all. So I think um yeah so that's what I learned from doing since last four years. Great. Thank you. Okay. Next up is council member Le.

Hi. Thank you so much for reapplying. I think planning commissioners are some of the unsung heroes of the city. So thank you so much for all that you do. Um I like to ask commissioners that are reapplying now that they've had some time under their belt um what they've learned. you've covered that or if there's anything that um you feel that staff or council or the city generally could do to support you in your job better. Yes. So I think um um yeah I I do feel that um uh I learned that u sun staff our city staff is really really good to providing all information factchecking

uh somehow but I feel that um the guidance to developers would be helpful because we want to we want the developers to come and invest money here and we have land we are so fortunate to have them so economically it is so good to attract them but I feel that we can reduce time by guiding them properly like for example the last project I felt the yesterday's project I felt that um he was there four years he's been submitting and uh it's like first time he submitted the second time when he submitted he just made little change

like okay he's now buying this property and keeping the Mexican restaurant okay the next time he and had a little small cafe then he comes back again with just increasing the size. So I wish that city staff can they know the the what's going on from the public meetings that if they can little bit um guide them that like maybe do the major change otherwise you will have difficulty or something or the public uh or giving the public some input um different I don't know how but like letting them know that we don't have choice like and we do that as a planning commissioner that

we appreciate we understand appreciate But like we still have housing elements and we have certain state law that we have to follow. Uh so I think I think we are doing great job but um we can still improve. Correct. Yeah. So I'm hearing the communication with the developer and then with the public to take some of that off you. I this meetings live meetings of developers on site and I felt that all residents were complaining and it went on for like one and a half hours and I wish that there was some like community leader with city hires or that who can translate it

or respond because that is the right time to respond because they have so much emotions and they had to wait all the way to planning commission. So I feel that because I I got to hear some meetings recording. So that's what I feel. Yeah. But it is great. Um uh I I'm so humbled by being at that position to like do something about it, you know. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Uh I'm up next. Uh so so thank you for kind of talking about how you'd like to fix some of the things. What are you most proud of as far from a decision standpoint of you know a a change to a project or approving a project over the last four years?

Um yes. So okay so I I first when you join it takes a while to like um uh say or or vote against it or abstain it because um our city is doing great jobs. So most of the time I kind of agree with most of the um uh the suggestions they gave the alternatives. So I think the tenant improvement project was I would say that's where uh not rent tenant rent control project um I felt um I felt that I spoke up uh about um including the the small business owners who owns 10 or less uh units and they are their buildings are not really good. uh they were small they are with small business owners and I know as a I had in the past I was a business owner and I know it is very difficult even though it sounds we are doing great business from outside there's a lot of turnover but the cash is always a problem and then bank doesn't give you any loan for the redevelopment of project so that's like after that uh we had the problems um with banks so now they don't give you any even though you have equity of like 4 million they don't give you any money for the for the updates for the so they are having trouble to really fulfill all the extra extra ordinance we are adding 3 months paying the rent

if something happens any disute disputes may happen problem from that so I did spoke spoke up and I I said I will not vote for it and then uh city added the third alternative and um and I saw that and I I felt very proud about it. Thank you. Next up is Council Member Cneros.

Hello. It's great to see you. Thank you so much for reapplying and for the service that you've done to our community being on the front lines. We like to talk about how so much of the land use decision-m goes on planning in this city. So go on planning means everything because not actually a whole lot comes to us as you know. Um, and you know, that's great cuz we we're plenty busy and we can trust you all. But something that stood out to me in your application here is that you said that you're continuously updating yourself on successful projects that are like especially mixed use or village center type projects. And I want to hear in in I think that's very valuable to get that perspective from other cities. What have you learned about other successful projects like that and how could we think about replicating that in a policy way in Sunnyvale potentially?

So I would I would um tell two or three projects. one is like uh the spur there is a spur organization based in San Francisco and so I take my because I go uh they want to teach the uh high school students about the land use and zoning and they want to encourage them to uh apply for the city jobs. So I think I started from there. So they train you to in a game form. So you are like a like Legos and you have financial analyst like four different positions and you teach the kids then you go to teach the developers like builders that they can like and it includes the unhouse people church so there's a whole block and then you really work directly on hand with Legos that was one and other one is um uh there are like a game development uh with the village centers and How because the way I know I'm bringing village center that yesterday we had a comment about our village center is not being successful uh like in terms of we haven't been successful in our policies for implementing our village centers um and I think um so I was thinking about it and that's the there is um a game about the um to develop village centers and it's and I think um most Most of the people have a different definition of village center and we haven't much I mean our definition is really like the whole city level definition instead of just walkable city uh sustainability. So I think uh uh we I I wish that we can define much more uh village kind of center so or the name you know. So I think the game um it's like very conceptual people have this idea about village center. So I think those kind of

things I would I I'm thinking about it all the time. It's the knowledge is in back of my mind and also like for example daily city all um has done different way mixed use development uh they have water element and all those so I kind of I always I just it's my interest and I just love it uh to the innovative ways they they bring um people together. So, so I think I I haven't been able to bring that directly as a planning commissioner role, but it makes me more like understanding. So maybe sometime it understanding comes out as comment. Yes.

Thank you. Thank you very much for those examples. I really appreciate hearing about them. Thank you. Next up is council member Sha.

Hey, thanks for reapplying and then congratulations. you are vice chair of uh planning commission. Congratulations. I really like uh you said you teach 4 day sessions to read uh construction drawing and interpret construction technology. That's so important for contractors and then uh because as you said one of the delays could be the wrong interpretation. Uh so uh thanks for doing that. And then you also talked about spur. Uh did you know leadership sunnyale and spur have a program once a year where uh simulation of urban planning happens. So anyway the other thing I think you touched on this you said uh for the next time I feel like I could become an efficient and better planning commissioner. Can you elaborate on that? Um I think um uh yes I um for example I'm already starting to do it because I thought maybe I don't become so why wait so I when I decided to become vice chair I'm like hey this is my opportunity to just apply for it and be and learn. So um for example like um I would like like the history of the project. So applicants uh presented in their presentation they talk about it that when they applied what happened but I would like that in our presentation staff presentation uh I think it comes a little bit earlier and it goes to people also earlier so then they know that how many years how much time the city staff has spent

um uh because most of the people don't know they just think the developers are just making their money cities is not doing anything and that's not the case and that's what I think I did mention fortunately Trudy was there yesterday in the meeting and I said it'd be so nice if we get uh applicants um history of the process in our presentation u that way um uh we can know what the really what it's more transparency

uh so I think I would become better like asking for things which I think can be helpful and second thing would be more like I would I think speaking uh how to speak uh correct way to add um friendly amendments I learned from you guys it's like the way you guys speak so I'm like oh I I wish I can be that worst uh well versed um speaking about my friendly amendments so I think I would be I would be hoping if I come back I would be doing more and more vocal about it and try to uh you know push it for something.

By the way, I am still learning. I talked to city attorney. She has a she sent me a document for that. So, thank you. Thank you so much. And we're trying to get that whole docu. So, I've been working with city attorney for a while getting that document for our boards and commissions, especially planning, which I think is important, but that's coming later later this year. Uh finally is council member cell.

Hi. Hi. uh thanks for reapplying and we have um a housing shortage and so you as planning commissioner going forward um do you see yourself in any way of helping in that situation trying or what are your ideas to help with more housing? So from from the uh I think um the city is doing lots of efforts for the larger developers are doing lots of efforts to fill up with multif family homes but for the ADU perspective from single family like the infill um infill development I think that's where I see that there is a still lot of things one can do uh our cities um uh has it but I think like San Jose has already established um certain plans and certain things that people just can apply and fill up uh you know add the JDU or ADU. So I think I feel that we can do something like that and also I like um I like to suggest more about tiny homes um issue too because I think we can have um I don't know the city owned land or developer some good will a good developer can donate a land and we can have like stack up um 40 or 50 tiny homes next to each other to and supply them uh temporary housing they are not permanent housing but uh unhoused can be housed temporarily. So those those are the two major things I see where ADU uh like more like allowing ADU with material different material uh like so they can bring quickly made in factory

manufactured m uh buildings and bring it on the site faster and cheaper because right now it's so expensive. uh I I mean I designed some and it's like 280k for like just it's like there is no way that uh you are going to get your uh money back even renting for like 10 years. So that's why not many people are doing and then also I don't know the loan if there is some financing if we can provide financing for the homeowners city can't get into financing situation but if there is a way then it'll be fast we can do so I think those are the two things

thank you thank you thank you that's all the questions so thank you for going through the process and reapplying thank you for being vice chair and uh council will be making its final decision on Tuesday, May 19th. Uh you don't need to be present to be chosen. And then the city clerk will get back with you later that week with the final results. And thank you. And first of all, I just want to say thank you all of you. Each and every one of you are like role model for us. I mean every time I uh say see the meeting and hear it's like empowering like I I wake up with like this knowledge and just feel so good to be part of the community. So thank you

council member Lei David will be up next. David. Okay. I thought you meant Sorry. David, I'll be more specific. My fault. David. Yes. And council members are actually taking in applicants slightly out of order. So, we're gonna have Naomi first. Okay. Followed by David. Thank you. Hey, Naomi. Go ahead and have a seat. Yeah. Hi, I'm Larry Klene, mayor for Sunnyville. Uh, let me give you a quick overview of the process. We have about 15 minutes for the interview. Every council member will get a chance to ask you questions. Uh so keep that in mind as you're doing those answers. And first up is Council Member Lyn.

Hi, thank you so much for applying. It's great to have people good people apply for boards and commissions. Um I have a question. There is going to be a new branch library at Lakewood in the north side of Sunnyville in District 6 over off in the corner where the city previously didn't have a library. Um, it's empty inside. Now, if I give you a bucket of $5 million, how would you fill it?

Um, well, first of all, I guess with books. Um, but also, I would try to add kind of um like reading spaces and study spaces. So like tables, chairs, books, like lamps, just make it an area that people enjoy to spend time. Um, and like feel like they can pick up a book and sit down and read it while still at the library. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, I'm up next. Uh, you talked a little bit about, you know, adding items to draw youth into the library. you know, what do you see that that we do well with the current main library or or that you'd like to see out it to to draw in more youth?

Yeah. Um, I think the library has I mean a great selection um and of books and also like good tables and areas to study. Um, I would say I guess from my experience um like especially in high school and then in college as well like you spend a lot of time studying. Um, so coffee shops is an option for that, but ideally like a library is a great place to study. Um, and I think making it more like warm and welcoming and like comfortable to stay and sit in is pretty big. Um, and like in college I found that the library is like it was a great place to study and that's where most people would study. Um, and so if we can kind of bring that to the Sunnyville library um,

yeah, just kind of expand make it more comfortable I guess for people to Yeah. Yeah, to spend time there. Okay, thank you. Next up is Council Member Cisneros.

Hello. Uh, thank you so much for applying and looking to serve our city in this way. It's really valuable. I will say we've been talking about youth and there's a lot of people who think, well, you know, young people are just interested in libraries. Everyone's on their phone and devices and actually the data tells a much different story that uh Gen Z is actually the most um has the highest library usage of any group now. Um, so which is really cool and you mentioned studying and all those practical reasons why having a place like library where you don't have to spend money and you can do your thing is really important. But what kind of program should we look at either adding or expanding on? So that this is also somewhere where people who are kind of like you know maybe late high school to like a bit after college are community in the library and have a have a reason to stay too not just when they have to do their work you know.

Yeah. Totally. I feel like um I've heard a lot of people express interest in kind of like a book club. Um and when I was in high school at Fremont High School um I kind of started a book club with a few friends and it was it was a lot of fun and I think like it keeps people accountable to reading and then also if it's kind of like more geared towards the youth and um it gets people excited about reading the same books. Um I think I actually I checked the library website. I don't remember if there already is a book club, but I think just making one that's more targeted towards the youth um would be great. I guess the only difficulty with that is like a library would need multiple copies of the same book so that people can read it. But um I definitely think it's worth it.

Fantastic. I appreciate that. Thank you so much. Thank you. Uh next up is council member. Hi Naomi. Uh in your application I didn't need I didn't know this. You said UCLA is the largest university research system in the world. I didn't know that. It's like the whole UC system.

Yeah, I know Stanford also has lot of libraries and then you also used SPL as abbreviation which was really interesting for me while yeah wow that makes sense. So um regarding the bond measure which failed, you had an interesting idea. I wanted you to elaborate on that. Let me read what you have said here. If more money is needed and is necessary, then working with youth organizations at high school and or companies in the area of fund raise creative creatively is something I think worth exploring. Can you elaborate on that?

Yeah. So, I think um first of all, yeah, getting youth involved kind of in the library. I think a lot of um students in the area are really eager to contribute in ways that they can. Um, and so kind of raising awareness and I think especially through high schools, middle schools is a great way to do it because like you can kind of reach out to teachers and have them bring this stuff up in classrooms and like through that you can do kind of the normal fundraising of like I don't know bake sales like that kind of thing that gets people excited to raise money um or like make it a competition or um in elementary school we had like readathons that kind of thing. Um, so it gets people both excited to come to the library, but then also like helping raise money for it. Um, and then I guess on the flip side, like Sunnyville has a lot of like really big companies that also kind of can support like local initiatives and that kind of thing. So trying to rope that in. I mean, I'm not as familiar with how that would work, but I'm sure um it's possible with like yeah, some re outreach.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Next up is council member cell.

Hi, thanks for applying. And uh say you were on the planning commission, I mean on the um library commission um board of trustees, what would you what would be the biggest thing that you would want to accomplish in your time? Um I think trying to yeah make bring more youth into the library would be a big thing. Um parts of that would be I guess figuring out ways of um like first of all what is maybe preventing people who would otherwise come from coming whether it's like reaching out and seeing what kind of books people are missing in the library or um yeah what kind of spaces but definitely um yeah trying to just bring in more people and I think if even like a few more people come to the library that didn't know it an option. Um, I think that would be cool. I remember, this is kind of a tangential story, but when I was in college, I was telling someone like, "Oh yeah, I got this book at the library." And she looked at me, she was like, "You're allowed to take those." Um, which was just kind of one of those moments where I was like, "Yeah, like you're supposed to take them, you know?" Um, and so like I'm sure that was kind of a unique case, but if people are more aware that like there's so many books and they're available and people can check them out, then yeah, that would be that would make me feel like it was a job well done.

Thank you. Thank you. Uh, and last up and that was no, lastly is Council Member Chang. Thank you for applying and um you mentioned you grew up going to the library and then going to the college library at UCLA. So, you know, what you saw there, are there any specific programs or or things you saw at the UCLA library or other library that you'd like to bring here?

Um, I actually think that like UCLA library could have done a better job of bring people in. I think it definitely became kind of a study space, so it would fill up around like midterms and finals and then it was otherwise kind of emptier. Um, it had a lot of books, so that was always a plus. Um but yeah, I think um what was good about those libraries is like they're right on campus. So they kind of make the central community area that people feel like they can come to. Um and so I guess kind of making the Sunnyville Library feel the same way of this community gathering place or um it's not out of the way like it's a place that people feel like they can come. Um maybe the biggest thing. Yeah.

Thank you. Thank you. So, that's all the questions. Uh, thank you for going through the process this evening. Council will be making its final decision on Tuesday, May 19th. You don't need to be at that meeting to be selected. And then the city clerk will get back with you later in the week with the final results. Sounds good. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thanks for applying. Thank you. And we'll take one more and then we'll David and then we'll take a recess. David is here. Hi, David. Council members,

good to see you. Good to see you as well. Uh, so you've been through this process before, but let me you go give a quick overview. We have about 15 minutes for the interview. Uh, and then, uh, so each council member will get a chance to ask you a question. So, keep that in mind as you're going through those answers. Uh, I'm up first. And first, I just want to say thank you for reapplying. Uh, you know, and you've only been there just over a year now. Um, so would love to get your perspective on, you know, what what challenges you faced and kind of getting up to speed. Yeah. Um, first off,

yeah. Um, I'm excited to be here again. Um, and it's been the past year has flown by and I feel like I've learned a lot um through our monthly meetings. I think that's probably the biggest challenge and opportunity for me. It's um thinking through how to inject my perspective uh but at the same time realize that Garrett and the rest of his staff have so much experience and there's so many things already being actioned and so many pro processes and initiatives in place. um like how do I uh I guess balancing like how do I be vocal and at the same time not be a distraction. I think

you all have that problem. Um I think this role is very unique in that it relies a lot more on influence. Um, so I think uh my approach has been like planting the seed with some things and then uh I think building momentum and as I've learned so much the first year being able to layer on what I've learned the first year into the the next year and next year. Fantastic. Great. Thank you. Uh next up is Council Member Ceros.

Hello David. Um it's good to see you here again. Um so very soon it was live. I'm like, we need justice. But we were we we had just interviewed basically. So, I'm glad to see you here. And I want to build off of the mayor's question a little bit because that was really helpful just to let you know. Yeah. Um having that first year is really common because you get to see the whole process go through one time. Right now, it's going to be the next. What was your most memorable meeting or any reason a meeting might be memorable within this past year? And why does that stick out to you as the meeting you'd like to talk about?

Yeah. Uh, I think this is a tough one because I think we've had a lot of uh, phenomenal presentations. Um, I would say the one that I learned the most from um, and it was because I I knew the least about uh, was the was the meeting that or the presentation that Jack, the new sustainability librarian led about all the different initiatives that he was driving, all the programs that we have in place. I think when I was here last year, um, one of my pieces of feedback was like, I think we should partner more externally. Um, and I think, um, not only Jack, but everyone in place before him has done such a great job, especially with that sustain. He says, "Wow, like those are great collaboration ideas what we're doing with the the farm um with um the co- building with volunteers." Um I I was like that was one of the moments where I was like wow this is like everyone has been operating on on such a high level. Um and it just mo motivates me to learn a little bit more to participate a little bit more at the same time to try to figure out like to bring my perspective um on uh like what can what would we like to see more of or give the feedback on like what you know the team's done a great job on. And I'll just comment really quickly. I think your feedback still applies because you can go back and say I didn't know but like actually all this happening well how do we communicate it? So everyone else knows this too because I didn't know and you you were pretty engaged. You're in the library all the time with your kids. So um I think your original feedback is still very salient but now you have all the information which translate that to action I think. So I appreciate that example in light of your answer the mayor's question. Thank you.

Thank you. Next up is council member Shin Ivasan. I uh thanks for reapplying. Uh you mentioned uh last the past year has given you a stronger understanding of library operations

and priorities. And then one phrase you used you want to uh contribute in a thoughtful informed and constructive way on behalf of Sunnyale residents. That I really really liked. Can you elaborate on that? Yeah. Um I think uh over the last year I might have been the only member with a young um toddler. Uh because of that we're involved a lot more with the uh like reading programs, the summer reading program um or like the early learning hub. Um so uh we're in the library at least once a week. Um I think last year it was Tuesday, now we've shifted to Saturdays. Um but uh I I think like just experiencing it, trying the new things, seeing the library of uh seeing all the new additions to things like the library of things. Um uh getting on the wait list to try to check those out.

U but then being vocal and and providing that feedback from from my perspective. um in my my kids perspective. Um and I think uh again the library team does such a great job uh and um I think one of one of the things like I try to bring and I want to bring more of is just letting them know like hey like this these specific things like we've experienced it. I I I noticed like when I'm in the library my mentality has always been like don't bother the librarians. They have so much on their mind, right? So I don't I'm not proactive in oh like telling them this this program is great or you guys are doing a great job um at this or that but I think the uh meetings are uh um just a channel for me to help share that and hopefully help flag to whoever um is listening in as well that here's some of the great things that are going on at the library.

Thank you very much. Thank you. Next up is Council Member Cell. Hi, thank you for um reapplying. Uh so in the next four years um what would be the greatest thing you would want to achieve?

Yeah, that's a great question. I think top of mind is um uh Lakewood Library branch. Um I think uh just in any way that I can supporting the library team and um at launch uh and as they they're still they have a solid plan um but it's one of those things where they're doing and then they'll iterate on it. So being able to um be a little more active in in in experiencing the programs there and then bringing that feedback directly to the teams. I think that's one of my priorities near-term. longer term is is um I think we've all um there's been a lot of discussion about it like how do we improve the library um services um or facilities um at the main library branch or um just thinking through some of the options there uh in providing that that feedback on there's been things thrown out like what if we do a small branch um in downtown for kids or or this and that. So, um that's one of the things that I don't have a strong view on at at this point, but one of the things where I want to learn more about um uh do some research do the to the extent that I can do research and try out the the different forms of library that we have in the Bay Area and then try to bring some of some of those learnings to the team.

That's really exciting. Thank you. Thank you. Next is Council Member Chang. Thank you for reapplying. I wanted to know more. You know, I looked back in my notes. Uh your toddler's name is Cody. As he's getting older, um have have you seen kind of the shift in programs of what he likes and what more programs you'd like to see?

Yeah. Um yeah, he um I think he's shifted away a little bit from story time and more to like the hands-on experiential things. Um and like the different events uh around the holidays. Um uh I think last year um uh story time was like one of the number one things that that he loved. And then this year it's more of oh will we have enough time uh on Saturday to go to the early learning hub and play with all the toys and and knock on the keyboard. Although he he's not quite there yet. We don't give him a lot of screen time. But the library is like one of those times where it's like here's here's your screen time. Um here's your um play time. And uh we're one of the things I'm really excited about is getting him more involved in the summer reading program this year. I think last year we were reading like five or 10 books a week and he would be open to repeats. this time around like every Saturday we have a huge bag of like 50 books and no repeats during the week. So just getting them signed up for the program and um participating a little bit more actively.

Thank you. Great. And lastly, Council Member Lang, thank you and thank you for replying and thank you for the toddler stories. I love toddler stories. All right. So, this was I think you answered this in your application last year, but I wanted to revisit it because last year I think everyone was still suffering the hangover defeat from the library bond. So, now that you've been in the trenches a little bit, you've seen what the how the sausages made. Do you have any new thoughts about what you would about how we can improve that uh going forward if we do that or how we can expand library services?

Yeah. Um yeah, I think I think my response last year was around um just promoting um the library to a broader audience. Um I think one of the examples I might have shared was um my wife is an immigrant. Um she didn't grow up with the library system and she didn't know like all the resources that that were at at a library. Um, and through the years, uh, I think the demographic of Sunnyville has evolved and, um, I think a lot of, um, you know, a lot of us that have grown up with the library are able to experience it, but there are folks that aren't familiar with the library system or aren't familiar with our library system. Mhm.

Um and then just diving a little bit deeper in how do we reach those types of um the ones that that have that need and would like once they've they've experienced it would be more supportive of additional funding for libraries going forward. One of the seeds that I've tried to plant this year was um to promote a little bit on like we have a lot of data. I think last year I joined right before like the annual like here's here's the metrics but I was able to to review the deck that was posted and then this year I I saw that presentation in person. Um, and one of my pieces of feedback to Garrett was like, "We have a lot of great data. Like, what do we think? How do we think about maybe teaming up with um like one of the colleges uh in our area to see if there's we can make this a a uh a college um school project uh project? I'm like how do we dig a layer or two deeper into that data so that we know like where we're what demographics or what audiences we're very good at and then think more broadly about how do we target how do we promote and target and reach those other audiences those one the ones that you know don't visit the library at all um that it it's you know just I guess like from my own perspective like if I don't use something like I'm I probably wouldn't vote for it. So, I just feel like how do we how do we continue to broaden our audience or just um place the library on more folks's radars so that they see the benefits maybe not to themselves but to the community. So,

great. Thank you, David. So, thank you for going through the process. Uh thank you for reapplying of course and being such an advocate for for what's happening at the library. Uh let me uh the next steps. Our council will be making a final decision on May 19th. You don't need to be at that meeting to be selected and then the city clerk will get back with you with the final results later that week. Great. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Thank you. Have a great evening. Thanks. And we'll go ahead and take a 9m minute recess and come back at 6:50.

Yes. Let's go ahead and reconvene. Sure. Let's go and reconvene. All right. Your next applicant, uh, Adabi for the sustainability commission. Hi everyone. Good evening. Hi Mavi. Hello. I'm Larry Klein. I'm mayor for Sunnyvil. Uh, thank you for applying for the sustainability commission. It's my pleasure. Let me give you a quick overview of the process. So, uh, we have about 15 minutes to go through the interview. Uh each council member will get a chance to ask you a question. So keep the 15 minutes in mind as you're giving those answers. Okay.

Uh you have a clock right next to you. Um and up first up is council member Cisneros. Hello. Um so happy to be the first one to ask a question. Um thank you for applying and looking to serve our city in this way. Um something that really interested me about your application is that you were on like the arts commission or the visual arts commission in Mountain View. Yes.

Prior. And that's a little bit unusual. We don't often get folks who have served on advisory bodies in other cities, especially one I mean it's right next door. We're very different places, very different cities. But I would love to hear about how that experience working with Mountain View informed your decision to get involved here and what would you bring from that that role and what you learned even though it's a different subject about it to something like the sustainability commission?

Sure, that's a great question. Um I think um I love arts. I joined that commission because I just love arts. I go and see work of local artists. Um, and when I joined this commission, I realized what they were doing and focused on was to uh help get more uh, you know, local artisans, provide them a platform to showcase their arts and and that's exactly what I was kind of, you know, like wanting to I wasn't really clear about what exactly those goals were, but those were the key goals and um, you know, it was about um, you know, we when we meet. It was about like just def like deciding on like what are the various ideas that we could have about you know involving local artisans, how could we um you know engage the community, how could we gain more you know get more people to know about it, those kind of things. And I felt like um it we and I remember at that time we came up with so many different ideas to do that and one of them was was painting those um electricity boxes if you've seen them in mount. So I was the one who led that particular effort

and I think it was an amazing effort. It was amazing what people could do and I think that is what um you know that is what I look for in um any role that I take up where you are able to provide a platform for people to showcase their talents. Number one, they're also able to generate income and I think that just creates a a feeling of you know community well-being that you feel like your city cares for you. I lived in Mountain View for nine years. I served on the committee for three years and now I've been living here in Sunnyville for nine years and it's high time I you know start doing something here.

I really appreciate that and um we have that same utility box program here especially around downtown but all around the city if you kind of look you'll see it scattered around but it's very popular and residents really do love it. So um I appreciate hearing that you were involved in that and and that experience. So thank you. Thank you. Next up is council member Shiny Basan. Well, I wanted to start by asking which city you like most about anyway. Well, I was in I guess like Martin like one street separates us very doesn't matter.

Uh you have interesting educational thing sustainability city communication community specialization from Sweden and other I'm yet working I've not yet finished it. Right. U what I wanted to know is one second you have a long application and then sorry no good stuff. Uh oh why did my oh yeah please

I like what you said about circular and responsible uses of resources and then digital product passports. Can you elaborate on those things?

Oh, absolutely. I think when I in my application, I actually even referred to one of the grants that uh the city had gotten. U so I um my background is in product management um and business transformation. That is what I've been doing for the last 15 plus years. and um in within that space basically um I understand what customer needs are and then I work with different groups across the board within organizations that I'm in and I help develop products I help launch them I help increase the adoption retention not just the adoption retention and so on and so forth right physical products service products you name it um when I love fashion so as I was looking at you know I worked with Gap for example I've also worked with some other smaller labels as such. Um there is when we've developed these products and I've been working in sustainability like studying it on my own for the last five six years and I realized that you know we never ever take into account like there is so much of especially here in the Silicon Valley where there is so much of hardware that's used and yes there are there is a process in place to be able to recycle it and so on and so forth but then what happens to it after that right I mean you know there is so much of waste around clothing as well as we know. Uh so I started looking into what is possibly I can do within my role to change some aspect of that and to bring in like an element of sustainability and that is where I learned that with little product design itself you can create um options wherein that product you can create options wherein that product can be in a better way reused and recycled right um and so that's it's it started with that but then it was I mean I just been learning on my own. So it's like

how am I going to do that? what is it that I need to understand so that I'm able to create a product in the first place and I'm able to create these services at the end of it that will allow me to re to kind of you know um end of life that product and then thereafter reuse it right so I also needed to understand elements and aspects within the fashion world and all that about you know where has the product come from like even within the food industry or or clothing you know where has the product come from you know how it has been manufactured what you know processes they've used whether so there is an aspect of supplier driven whether the supplier is using sustainability measures and they are contributing that so as an organization I'm only buying from those suppliers so there is that aspect of it and then there is the aspect of within my product what can I do to include an element of sustainability so my interest in this whole product passport was around it started with you know clothing products and food products to first see how can we so it's kind of an indirect way by which companies can contribute to sustainability where they they make a promise that they're only going to buy from suppliers who who they can trace you know the roots they they know how those products are are created right and at the same time within their own cycle once they get those products what are some of the measures they can do to incorporate sustainability. So I think it's a combination of these things that interested me into that space.

Very good. Thank you. There is a nonprofit organization called Go G O N G. They talk they do exactly that. So

Oh really? In fact, nowadays, if you see, there are a lot of these organizations that get people to, you know, um, send in old t-shirts, old clothing, and then they make blankies out of it. They personalize it. And I feel that's so amazing, right? You're not throwing it away. You're able to reuse it. Now, that is clothing, but that you could do that with other products as well by introducing element service. And what the grant that Sunnyale received and which is what I mentioned in my my application I think it was also about like how can we improve that process of sorting etc. There was more to do with like physical products and waste that can allow us to reuse more of that product. Yeah. Thank you.

Thank you. Next up is council member cell. Hi. Hi for flying. And so if you were on the sustainability commission, what would be the greatest project project that you would want to accomplish? Greatest. Okay. Yeah. I think the I am sky hunt idea.

I know. Um there's so much to be done. Um I think the number one priority is reducing emissions. So I think that's an area that I would primarily focus on. Um what are the few things that we can do to reduce emissions right there is transportation as well. There is the waste aspect that I was talking about but let's I just want to focus on you know um how can we um h how can we reduce emissions. So um I think in my place where I live, I live in downtown though my building was built in 2019. I'm surprised we yet have gas. We use gas, right? So I think there is an opportunity here, a very clear opportunity because um I I I look at sustain very seriously. I don't think it is just about hey let's find some green project to work on which will give us x impacts. I'm I want to work on projects that would have very large impacts, right? And I think this is an area that will. So if we were to identify like not everything but let's say um I would say city buildings, okay, or um you know lowincome family buildings or those kind of things wherein we know that there wouldn't be any constraints in being able to reach out and make those kind of modifications then yes, let's first do that. let's convert those you know get gas out and convert electrify all of those right so you directly get benefits like 10 15 years worth of benefits right right out there out the door so I think that is what I would kind of focus on identifying I have I have a background in transformation and program management so I would really kind of look at identifying what are some of those initiatives that would give us the

biggest bang for the bucks um and then you know kind of prioritize it because you also need funding right so you want to see what which are the ones wherein we could have funds available and that's why in my um my resume what I mentioned I also included um um I think I I spoke more about waste because I feel like it's easy to be able to work on those initiatives uh there is less of um any kind of it's easy to get grants for it. It's easy to get community involvement in this versus these projects which may require some specific special man force, right? Or certain education requirements and so on. But um I feel those that should be prioritized in my

Okay. Thank you. Sure. Thank you. Next up is council member Chang.

Thank you for applying and having lived in nearby cities and other cities, what do you think Sunnyville does well in the sustainability front and what do you think can be improved? That's a great question. Um, I want to think for a moment. So, I think, um, I've seen how downtown has evolved, Sunnyville downtown. Um you've seen the way um the kind the the whole um focus of the way the down Sunnyville downtown has been redesigned has been to reduce get people to you know use less vehicles. Okay. be able to walk more, be able to find the the core needs that they have uh groceries and and basically you know food etc. try to make that that very easily accessible. Right. So I think if I compare that to probably Mountain View downtown, right? Um Mountain View was much I mean this place you know the transformation happened much like in the most recent years. So we had more time to think about things that we can do. But there is a reduction as a result in possibly you know the number of time like I hardly ever take my car out as an example.

I walk to everywhere. I can walk and get my groceries. they can walk in. So I think um being able to live in a community where you are like within Sunny Va I think being able to uh get access to services without having to use transportation as much. Um and I think I also read about the uh there is a service now uh what's it called as where is is it a ride share kind of a service that

Sunny Park right? Yes, thank you so much. So that one. So I think we are trying to help people to get to you know using less like sharing more using less of vehicles like walking more et and creating creating environments where it's easy access for things that they need on regular basis. So I think I forgot your original question. What was it? That was what what Sunnyville does well.

Yeah. So I think that is what I feel Sunnyale has been able to kind of help create for the community over here. Um a place where they have been able to put in all the possible things that people do on a daily basis and require on a daily basis in one place and do it well. So I think that's kind of my answer. I don't know what the best form but I think this is what I think. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, next up is Council Member Le.

Thank you. Um, and thank you for applying to this commission. I was really interested in your um, discussion in your application about the climate action playbook and your feedback that it could be um, I think I don't want to say more frequently updated exactly, but do a better job showing where we are in the process and what how we accomplishing each steps. And I was hoping you could talk more about that.

Yeah. So um I remember that it was a lot for me when I was reading it to consume. Uh since I work within like I manage large programs and I help transform products. I believe um if people if if there is a way to make it easy to understand um to be able to like um uh you know I wouldn't say shorten it but kind of use more graphics or use more um you know just different ways in which how that information could be presented. Um, I think those are some of the things I feel that uh is is that what you're asking specifically?

Yeah. So, I I I read it and I was like, "Oh my gosh, why is it just like a scroll through? It could be interactive or something like that." That's why I got from you and I was like, "That's such a great idea." So, yeah, I think it it's not just about just the interactive part. See, sometimes some people I think customizing it for different groups is what I would think. like somebody would want to read a summary and just be able to get the gist of things. Some maybe you know there is a certain age group that may want to read it in a different way while in schools like they may want to use it and leverage it to help children understand it right. So I think being able to present that information in a certain way where um

you can kind of summarize it include specific information within specific buckets. Um I think that that is in my mind I think that would make it a more interesting read. Even like including more um examples of how certain things have been done with probably even including videos for online stuff. I think those are things that I can think of right now where which it would help you know have more engagement with that content. Yeah. Making it more approachable. Yes. Thank you. Appreciate it. Sure.

Thank you. And the last question. So thank you for going through the climate action playbook. You know definitely understanding you know it is a lot of ideas a lot of concepts out there and making it more approachable is fantastic. What do you think has the biggest bang for the buck in the short term? What what what of those plays and there's lots of plays laying out there that you really think that Sunny Doll should focus on. Um I think Sunnyville should focus on um so it's very easy to say let's look at something which will give us the biggest bang for the buck right because it might require more resources it might not be so easy it might require you know working with so many different groups so I would say that um in order to be able to get the biggest bang for the buck maybe focus on long-term initiatives like you know I talked about um uh what was it that I mentioned in the beginning the sorry I'm blacking out

um

yeah yeah the first one so so for that I think kind of those are things that are going to take much longer there is going to be involvement of different groups within that so you we should but it's it's how like we should start efforts in that direction. Whatever we can involve you know communities, companies uh we live in an area where there are huge companies out here who would be willing to fund such initiatives as well. So that's one and then simultaneously work on kind of the um the lowhanging fruits as well uh wherein there isn't so much of like I think uh one example within this was where you could work on um uh you know the the waste piece of it you know waste transformation in those areas. So I think taking projects that um would provide long-term impacts uh but are difficult and require more community involvement along with initiatives which are probably lowhanging fruit kind of combining them and you know having working on them in parallel I think that's kind of I feel would be an approach that I would take.

Thank you. Thank you for that. Uh so thank you for going through the process this evening mod. Um council will be making our final decision on May 19th. You don't need to be at that meeting to be be chosen and then the city clerk will get back with you uh later in the week with that final decision. Thank you so much. Thank you for your time. Thank you. And you're up next with Sarah. Yes. So we're going back to the old list. Sarah is up. Hey, council members, your next advocate. Sarah's here. Hi. Right over here. Hi, Sarah. Hi. I'm Senator Mayor Larry Klein. Thank you for applying. Um, let me give you a quick overview of the process.

We have about 15 minutes for the interview. Every council member will get a chance to ask you a question. Absolutely. Absolutely. Um, and uh, so keep that in mind as you're going through those answers. Um, and first up is council member Shrina Basin. I'm part of your district. Yeah, I know. I know. You know, it's not you stock. You mentioned stock then I knew. Thanks for applying. Thank you.

Yeah. In your application, you say that uh the question, what did you learn by watching and attending a meeting uh of the city council or board and commission? You said what I did not see was an opportunity for the board and library leadership to work together on brainstorming and or other otherwise developing ideas and plans to help manage challenges. any

I well okay in the meeting of course there you know Garrett and his leadership team would come and they'd present um statistics or like circulation or they talk about the Lakewood Library Board or they talk about you know the um children's hub or like children's circulation whatever they would talk about these things and then a lot of times there would just be feed feedback from the board members and there would be questions, right? There would be questions like um you know how are you managing this? How are they making decisions about this? And they would um say you know one of the board members is a um librarian herself and she would say well I've seen this in you know my previous um libraries and so those kind of things. But what I didn't see um was like that there's like a sort of a we have these problems and we'd like the board to participate in those um projects or initiatives or programs like how could you guys potentially like put some skin in the game? How could you help us work on like resolving like bigger issues? And that the exception would probably be and I actually missed that meeting in January when they were asking for feedback on the um you know the bond measure failing and what they should do about trying to restart a project around um funding a new library or maybe branches or you know other kind of like leasing land, putting libraries there, doing all sorts of different kind of other things. And there was a um a motion um for the city council that they did in that January meeting, but I don't know. So I mean maybe am I allowed to ask a question?

Do they Yeah. Quickly, do they like call beyond those monthly meetings? Are there opportunities for the board to like sit down and kind of brainstorm solutions to Well, let me So I was actually going to bring that up from an application standpoint. So, one of the issues of of commissions as well as council was the Brown Act. And so, the Brown Act. So, it's a California California law that basically says that unless something's agendaized, okay, we're very limited on what we can discuss. Okay.

In order in order to inform the public and have them take an active part. So it's it's a it's basically so you can talk much like much like your the board talked on you know ask questions of staff on a specific narrow presentation. Okay. And they can participate in that.

But the concept of a wider brainstorm is is difficult um because it it you have to be narrowly define what the topics and the agenda items on the meeting are. Okay. So, so that is a general issue in California and and we have the same issue from a council standpoint because a majority of council cannot speak on anything unless it's an open it's an open meeting and been appropriately noticed. So that is part of the issue that that you raised from a bra from a brainstorm.

Yeah. Like if the board could like roll up their sleeves and start working on initiatives with them. So you can but it has to be within the format of the meeting which is what I saw. I saw people commenting. Every person went in a row. I attended all the meetings except the January one. So I saw them doing that. But I wondered if there was a an opportunity for them to like take a bigger role and that's what I wrote in my act is very constricting or in a good way. Uh nowadays every decision should be made in open public uh forum rather than in a closed session. If four of us talk to one another, the decision already carries over, right?

Yeah. So, apologies. I I love that. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for the Yeah, I was really curious about that. Thanks for explaining. Thank you. Thank you. Next up is council member cell.

Hi. Thank you for applying. Um, so if you were on the um forum trustees library, um, what would be the greatest thing that you would want to accomplish like a pie in the sky project that you would want to champion and see free? Well, so I do think um the biggest challenge it looks like everything they talked about um month after month was the sort of lack of modernization around the library, issues with the infrastructure being like old, needing repairs like um that we have in Sunnyvale. um we have such a huge number of people that actually access the library and we have a really small square foot um per capita library to meet all those demands. So I do think like the biggest thing and that was one of the questions was around trying to figure out a way to like expand services for our community. So, um, however we can do that, I would love to participate within the library meetings.

Thank you. Thank you. Next up is council member Chen. Hey, thank you for uh I was curious, you know, what got you inspired to start watching the board meetings? Okay. You've been watching for a year,

right? So, um, I'm a bit like of a planner kind of person. Um, so I knew that I wanted to retire this year. So I thought what you know I have like the third phase of my life right this is going to be my I guess legacy period of time. So I mean I want to do fun things and you know work in the garden and travel and these things as well but I wanted to have a some kind of like um social volunteer kind of engagement and one of the things that I just love so dearly which I think is like the heart of the community is the public library and reading. I read for fun. I read in a book club. I read when I'm stressed. Like the library is just such a big deal. And then I've always like taken my kids to like all of the activities, encourage their love of reading. So I just thought, how could I help the community with something that I have a passion for? And that would be around the library. So that's why I started going to the meetings. So I thought, well, how how do I know if the library is kind of a mess or if the library is doing great? Like where do they need help? like how can I find out those things? So, I just started coming to the meetings 700 p.m. once a month, right? It's easy. So, I thought, you know, and I and I have to say I see the library like I think the leadership is doing great. My personal impression is that they're just doing all the right things with access and equity and like making sure that they have like the library of things and that books circulation, everything's available for all the people in this really diverse community of ours. Um, and they just have to kind of keep keep up to speed and keep up to date on like technology challenges and where they can continue to offer like program programming and events and make sure that their circulation the books that they buy are the right books and you know make sure that they're

continuing to stay um up to speed in sync with what's happening. maybe get ahead of the game if they can. But um so I just thought that I however I could help with the library, I'd like to have an opportunity to do that if you agree. Thank you. Next up is Council Member Le. Hi, thank you so much for applying. Um and thank you for going to the meetings. I It's one of those things where these are open meetings so that people can see them and a lot of times people don't. So, it's good to have feedback from people who have been engaged in process and watching the meetings and to have this feedback about it. Yeah. My question Yeah. My question is about the Lakewood Branch Library, which you know will be opening soon, right?

Um, pretend you don't have the background information of what you've obtained from your from your knowledge. If I gave you a bucket or actually a very large suitcase full of $5 million, how would you fill the Liquid Branch Library? Okay. So, it's uh you're saying I can't tell. I mean, I know it's tied to school. Actually, you know what? That's not fair, right? I know it's tied to a school, so I it's going to have a lot of like children, you know, will be accessed, so it probably needs a really big children's section. Also, my understanding is that the main library is like the children's section is much smaller than the demand

for materials from the children's section. So maybe the Lakewood Library like picks up the heat on that a little bit because there should be able to be, you know, interl loans. I also understood that the Lakewood Library originally they were only going to be open three days a week, but now they're going to be open six. So I think that that's really wonderful for that maybe underserved part of the the city. It's hard it's harder to get

from that side of the city to this library. So if there's library there, they can call in materials and they can be delivered there. And so it makes it easier for people to kind of walk within that, I don't know, one to two mile, you know, radius of that um library. So $5 million. It looked I mean I I actually saw some pictures, right? So the library looks really like it's going to be like super fancy and

have all the things. So, I guess we just want to again sort of beef up the children's section, maybe make sure that there's um good technology available like Chromebooks and internet access so that people can like the kids could come from school and they could do their homework there and um the programs could appropriately teach them um about like AI and um you know how to avoid like fishing and AI hallucinations and like make sure that they're looking for unbiased truthful information. And I mean I I would say put the programs around the community that's there

which may be primarily children but of course there will be you know adults as well. Yeah. And I I it will definitely be both. The library is a partnership with school district. So it's not necessarily going to be like mainly a children's library but I enjoyed what you said about um I think research skills which was what you were kind of navigating around. So thank you. Yeah,

thank you. I'm up next. Um, and so thank you for being engaged and and informed, probably more so than most applicants coming in that may have watched a meeting or two. And you know, I think kudos to you for taking the time. Um, as far as the main library is concerned, I know we're we're discussing, you know, what next steps are there. What do you see as the most important let's say improvement that needs to be made in the short term as far as the main library is concerned?

Okay. So again, I know like there's problems with the bathroom and like HVAC and you know, keeping up with all like technology and um so I know there's those kind of things and then longer term they have to make again um the people using the library. There's I I have the numbers here, but there's more, you know, children going in than the percentage of the books that are there. Um they're also trying to make sure that they have like access to like um languages, you know, make sure that there's um I guess for example, I know that the there's been a lot of more Japanese books being taken out and they have a Japanese story time and people are coming um you know, so you just don't know what kind of communities might come in the future. Um what kind of communities are looking for um access to materials in their own languages and then there's all the cultural events. And so we just kind of need to always kind of have our finger on the pulse of um what our Sunnyville community is um is made up of like like what kind of people, what kind of cultures, languages, you know, everything. We just need to make sure that we continue to address our community's overall needs.

Okay. Thank you. Um next up is and finally is Council Member Cisneros. Wow. Hi. Thank you so much. It's a pleasure to meet you. Thank you for going to those public meetings. Um, really important and for also offering your skills and talents this opportunity to serve council. I'm just thinking about my question. You mentioned briefly just kind of like a pleasant comment, but it stuck out to me that the relatively low square footage of library that we have per capita, which is,

you know, well, what does that mean? Right? It's that's space to use services. space for services for people and we were thinking about all that diverse means that's especially important. So as we're thinking how to go forward, how do we make if we since we are unable to manifest more square footage of library on the main branch, right? We know that. Now what do we do next to create more square footage meaning more space for programs? How do we bridge that gap between available library resource and that that digital small branches, bookmobiles, you know, right? Those are the things that you know they're that they're talking about. they're talking about.

Where do you what do you think would be the best place for us to focus our energies in? So, okay. So, we have like Well, I mean, okay, I am so not an expert on this, but I have my opinions about it, right? So, we have um Lakewood, which is covering one part of the city of Sunnyale, and we have like this downtown branch. Maybe we need something um Moralei in um like our neighborhood as well. Or maybe we um work with the other schools, right? We work with the other schools and see if we can do um some kind of branch there. Maybe we do something in the community center, right? They I think somebody said

somebody mentioned that at one of the meetings. Maybe we could um lease some land in the community center. We could have something like um you know in a shopping area and people could eat there and then they could go to the library and like I mean I think there we could get really creative with finding space. I think there's um available square footage in the city. Maybe there's some public private partnerships that we could do to get access to space in the city. Um and then we just make sure that we kind of um as much as possible spread um library services around the city. I know they're doing like book mobiles and they do things in the park and

um and they talked about also how in previous um previously they actually did extend this current library but every time they extend they're taking away open space and I know now you have the garden there there's like other things you know there and that what they wanted to do with the the bond measure but um but maybe we can find some way to work with um some other some companies or some other like the community center or like some of the other schools might have space, right? Aren't some of the schools also the um enrollments dropping in some of the schools? I don't know if there's not too bad in some days. Not so much in not too much. Yeah. But some

I remember my son went to Stockmar and we had to like line up at 5:00 a.m. and there were like so many like portables and it was like crazy and if you didn't go and get in that day then they were going to send you to another school and now he's a senior in college but it was pretty bad like back in the day it was a lot then any that's helpful. the geographic distribution matters in case like that. That's how we go ahead and improve our our footprint, our square footage, so to speak, or service. But thank you very much for that.

Or maybe we could, you know, build on to the current library, build a second floor on the library. I don't know if you could do anything sort of creative around that either. That's just not going to cost 290 million, right? Um you you you talked a little bit about that in your application how to think about that bond manager in the future but yes I think the answer that is yes all under consideration. Okay. So thank you. Good. Thank you Sarah. Thank you for going through the process tonight. Uh council will make its final decision on May 19th. Okay. You don't need to be at that meeting in order to be chosen and then the city clerk will uh come back and give you the final results later in the week.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you. I really um you know in closing I would really appreciate you considering me to this position. I'd love to um participate and help however I can with the library in the meetings and elsewhere. So um I'll probably still plan on attending all the meetings even if I'm not selected. But um it would be an honor if I could help and be on the board. So thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. We have resource and our next applicant is and and council member cell will be up first.

Your next is here. Hi Ana. Hello. Good evening. Welcome. I'm Senagle Mayor Larry Klein. Thank you for applying. Uh let me give you a quick overview of the process. We have about 15 minutes for the interview. Each council member will get a chance to ask you a question. So keep that that in mind as you're answering those questions. And first up is council member cell.

Hi. Um yeah, thank you for being uh flexible in uh considering all these different commissions that you'd be open to and um so um you prior how you have three of them. How did you pick them and how you like each uh you know what's your preference for them and would you be happy in any one of them? Any thoughts?

Thank you. So when I was applying I listed arts commission as my top choice. I listed pedestrian as my second and human services as my third. And the reason I decided to do this is for starters with the arts commission. I grew up as someone who is really immersed in that side of my world. I grew up as a writer, a singer, and someone who really realized the importance of arts in our community. And so I noticed specifically in Sanville, we have lots of wonderful programs such as hands-on the art and various others that give students opportunities to experience that in their own worlds. I believe that art is so much more than just something to look at. It's really a form of self-expression and especially now when mental health is at a record low, art is a really beautiful way to be able to bring light to your world. So I think that's a wonderful thing that Samuel is doing and I would love to be a part of that. And the next were pedestrian and biking. I grew up here in Sunnyville and I've been walking to school since I was in sixth grade. And so through that, I was really able to see a side of Sunnyville that not many people get the opportunity to experience. But this year when I started taking the school bus because of a lack of bike lanes in our community, I realized that there are several issues that can be addressed within this commission too. And so that's another issue that matters deeply to me since walking and biking is a great use of transportation. And then finally, in terms of housing and human services, I'm grateful and lucky to have a stable home, but I know in my school of cox high school, there are many students who experience that kind of housing and security. And so I've seen that having a stable home gives me opportunities to do online tournaments, to have these great resources. But unfortunately, one of my close friends, for example, is having to move to Florida this year due to higher housing costs in our area. And so examples like these have helped me realize that in Sunnyville, we although we're a great community, have issues to be addressed within these two. So that's why I ranked those three ways because I

care deeply about all three of these that affect my life in different areas. Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you. Next up is Council Member Chang. Thank you for applying. I was really impressed by your detailed responses and uh I was really also interested in in how you talked about the pavement quality and u mentioning when your grandmother visited. I was interested if you could talk more about your experience with getting to school and maybe with some of your classmates how you might improve safety to getting to school.

Yeah, of course. This is a great question. So starting off with my grandmother as you mentioned she visited from India this summer and we lived near Henderson Avenue but she wanted to walk all the way to the Migos complex which is about a 30 minute walk away for those of you that don't know and on the way there she encountered many potholes around her way that made it a little difficult in comparison to her home and so that's kind of when I started to see this but as you mentioned going through my school environment many students at Wilcox High School they bike they walk there and that makes it a little difficult when there's a lack of bike lanes. For example, in the intersection at El Camino Rial, we have several crossing guards, which is great, but at other intersections closer to Willox High School, we don't have the same types of opportunities there, too, which is what's making it difficult for students.

Thank you. Thank you. Next up is Council Member Le.

Hi. Thank you so much for your all your um all your really thorough questions and for doing the homework. Some people come in and I really appreciate when applicants to um BPAC have have read the vision zero plan. I think that says a lot about the seriousness of the candidate. I really appreciate that and I really appreciate you taking the time to write out all these answers. I'm going to focus on your arts um answer the one about the visual and perform sorry not visual literary and performing arts. And you you've been circling this in your um in your uh in this interview where you've talked about being a poet, being a reader, and how do you see those things? Um this is what the question was about and you said more interactive, but how do you see that happening pragmatically? Like what how can we make that happen? How can we bring those arts more into the community interactively?

That's a great question. So I think it does start at the school level when we're focusing on a younger audience. So, one great way to reach a wider variety of students would be reaching out to those high schools and having them advertise it there, too. Since I know many students at my school are aware of the wonderful opportunities that Sunnyville has due to a lack of awareness. So, I think that would be a major way to help increase the awareness of our activities. But in terms of specific things that we could hold, we currently have several things such as that. But art comes in a variety of different forms. So it comes in writing, I'm in theater, it comes through even speaking is a form of art in my opinion. And so really having all of those different kinds of art forms would be a way that we could expand. So did that answer your question?

I was think I was thinking you would say something like public poetry readings or Oh yeah, that too. Exactly. Something something like that. But so students might not have an opportunity to kind of share their artworks too right now. So I think that would be a great suggestion right there of the public poetry readings is a opportunity for students to be able to do that. Another example is currently we have reflections which is a competition that's held by the California PTSA and I've competed in for a few years. So I think even increasing use of competitions like those is another opportunity to have teenagers showcase what they want to.

Thank you. Um I'm up next and for so you have you applied to several commissions. Um how would you take what those commissions are covering? So let's take the art commission specifically back to the youth and try to get more involvement from from others in your class and others you know others that you know in the community. Mhm. So, in terms of getting more involvement back to the youth and those in our community, like I said, I think awareness is a really big thing, but beyond just awareness and making more people um aware of the events that are happening, I think it also could be adapting what we do in order to fit what the youth wants. So, we could do this through polling, through forms, and various other mediums so that what the art commission does represents what the youth want to see. So for example, if in a specific year there are more majority of teenagers who are interested in writing or interested in doing public poetry readings, we could adapt the type of programs that we have in order to fit that need. And so I think by doing this we would really expand the amount of contribution that is done by younger people since it is more representative of what they would like to see in their community.

Thank you. Uh next up is Council Member Cisneros.

Thank you. Um it's great to meet you and thank you for submitting your application and for showing your interest in serving the city in this way. It was a very it was objectively an impressive application I'll have to say. Um and your comments about involving the youth. I so I teach on the college level intro to gov so usually freshman or sophomores. I've always been shocked by how interested the youth are actually in local government specifically and like seeing and what I've noticed is that it's it's powerful and impactful to them because they can see the change in their community and they can relate to it much easier than you can learning about what Congress does for example. Not that anyone knows. So I know but um so my question is actually about BPAC and that is in order to for that commission to make good decisions it's understanding how everyone in the community is going to interact with that environment. How could your experience could you talk about how your experiences and experiencing the world and then being able to communicate that would assist the BPAC in say making recommendations about you know addition to our you know say bridge to schools or vision zero or any number of public infrastructure things we're looking at. So in terms of my own personal experience to start off with that I've done competitive speech and debate ever since middle school now and this year I started a club at my own high school in order to bring that to other people and I actually attended also the youth the Sanville youth leadership academy and I think you were there too and so experiences like that have really given me the opportunity to be able to communicate with my peers and classmates effectively and see what they want. So going back to your question and how I would be able to communicate the feedback to those around me. I think through these skills I've been able to learn not only to hear what they want to

say but also to respond to that effectively. Right now I don't see that as a skill that we have in our current commissions because it's the majority of youth has no idea what these commissions are doing. And so I kind of want to be able to change that and bridge that gap between what the commissions are doing and what the youth the general population is seeing. Awesome. Awesome. And I hear that really applying helping people learn how to give public comment or making people more comfortable. Exactly. Um, thank you very much for the answer. Thank you. And lastly is Council Member Shinas.

Hi. Hi. So, I liked reading your application and then you have done a lot of interesting work. you led you founded and led uh speech and debate in middle school and then now you are involved in speech and debate and then uh it's very impressive. Uh I had a question on arts commission. I think you touched on that one of the things you said was how do you bring uh uh the visual art much of it stays invisible outside school. Uh I think you briefly touched on that but let me go to the next question uh regarding the unannounced community which is related to housing. Um so you say um I think Sunnyale support is strong when it combines with compassion with structure.

I like that phrase. Can you elaborate on that? So when I was looking at Sanville's plans, I like them a lot because they are plans that not only recognize how it's difficult for those groups of people, but they also combine the traditional programs and such as the food banks, but they combine that with a kind of respect and empathy of people in those situations. Like when we look at Congress or current legislation, they sometimes miss that human element of what is involved with those communities as they are also going through a very difficult time. So when I was writing that statement, I was kind of in appreciation of how Sammyville's plans are able to blend those two worlds of creating a government policy thing that helps everyone while also recognizing the individual needs and supports that every community needs in our society.

Thank you. Thank you. So that's all the questions. Uh thank you for going through the process this evening. Uh council will make its final decision on May 19th. You don't need to be at that council meeting in order to be chosen. And then later that week, the city clerk will get back with you on what the final decisions were. Thank you all very much. Have a great evening. Thank you.

So our next applicants are not here. Correct. So let's go ahead and take a seven seven minute recess. And if it goes longer, it goes longer.

one. Yes. Okay. Hi, Sarah. Go ahead and have a seat. So, council members, this is your next applicant, Sarah Salinardo. Hi, Sarah. Hi. I'm I'm Sunville Mayor Larry Klein. Thank you for applying. Hi. Um, let me give you a quick overview of the process. Uh we have about 15 minutes for the interview. Uh every council member will get a chance to ask you a question. So keep that in mind as you're as you're answering those questions. And first No problem. And and first up is council member Jay.

Thank you for applying. You have an impressive, you know, cultural history background and I wanted to know of the art you've seen in Sunnyville. What has impressed you or that you'd like to see more of?

Wow. Um, I like a lot the the set of statues nearby here that represent a family unit with dog and the cat. I see myself in there because I'm married. We're planning kids soon and I also do happen to have a dog and a cat. So, I feel like representing in the sense that I feel like Sanville is very um there's a lot of families here which I like. One of the reason why we decided to move here because we want to grow and raise children here. So this is what I like to be surrounded with, you know, uh family units and what I like about Sunnyville is that is one of the safest places possibly to raise children and I feel like it's very representative to the city itself.

Thank you. Thank you. And next up is Council Member Le. Hi, thank you much so much for applying. I have a I have a small context question. What is FAI? You use it to all types in your application. Oh, fine. Oh, so basically I'm from Italy and that's the largest nonpro nonprofit organization that there is in Italy. It's it aimed at protecting um Italian landscapes or like the cultural um what do I say cultural environments,

buildings, artworks, basically anything that's representative or it's part of our cultural heritage. That's what bias tries to to relate especially the ones that have been like forgotten and receive a lot of like funds from the government which could be anything from like a park or like a regional park to uh like a 2,000-year-old um uh wind hill for example.

Yeah, that sounds a lot like our um heritage preservation and um I would I think you might be interested in that. I think there's a lot of volunteer work to do in that if you're interested in such a thing and I hope that you will consider that in the future. I also wanted to know that I really appreciated your um your answers in the arts commission write up about the uh interactive um about the visual literary interactive and performing arts. Could you tell me about poetry walls? That sounds really interesting.

Yeah. So um so there is a tradition that it's been going around for probably 50 years now in my cities or like I'll say it's more like a village compared to cities here in the US. So there's like um in the towns nearby mine and mine might as well what we like to do is that uh we'll gather up the kids um from like kindergarten up to a high school and then after school they just it's voluntary so it's whoever decided to join uh basically the kids vote to to decide which one is their favorite verse from um an Italian boy. could be anywhere from Dante to like you know from Paul the history of literature Italian and so whoever whatever verse gets the most vote or simply like it's the one that that

the head of the commission likes the most then we get a permit from the city to paint that verse on a wall that's been pre-approved or could be anywhere from like on the city hall itself or like somebody's house who just said hey I'd like to have that on my house or something. Yes. So, yeah. Great. Thank you. Yeah, of course.

Thank you. Um, so I'm up next. Uh, first, thank you for your art background and kind of what you can see bring to the art commission. Uh, and we have a a good amount of art here in the city. You know, there there's always a need for more. Um, from a medium standpoint, what would you like to see or what, you know, it's like because you have standard sculpture, mural, you know, lots of things that, you know, um, bench art there there's lots of things that could be done within the city. What would you like to see specifically, Adam?

That's a great question. I like a lot performative art just because I grew up in a city that cared a lot about having art. I like surround myself by artists. So what we like to do at least once a month in my city, we will gather in the square in front of the city or and then either the city or just like dance schools will just set up a project or like a little show and they would could be anything from a ballet, it could be anything from like a um an art performance, somebody just, you know, taking up the whole square and just trying to set up a whole performance or something. But just something visual that brings the city, everybody together. It could be teamed. For example, usually on February for us, uh because it symbolized, at least in my culture, in the beginning of the spring, it's always kids that dress up as little flowers and just dance and stuff, but like something that it's themed based on the season. So something that's visual. Um yeah, that brings people together. So they could either they bring their own benches or something or we could provide chairs or some recommendation as best as we can so they just gather spend time together and yeah

I appreciate that. Thank you. Yeah. Um next up is council member Cisneros. Hello. Um it's great to meet you and thank you so much for applying and looking to serve uh your city in this way. It's really um admirable and your experience is fantastic for this kind of role. Thank you. Oh, thank you. And I got my idea from the question. You're talking about that organization in Italy that protects like heritage resources.

Yeah. uh in the country and we have a heritage inventory and we've been working to make it more inclusive of the diverse community that we have because there's a lot of history especially but you may not have like a structure or a a thing an object or building to point to to mark that history. What are ways we could use art to mark and commemorate the history of certain parts of our city um that may be long gone but we want to remember? I can like the depend specifically on the city. If you could give me like a more specific situation that I'll be able to answer that question better.

So I'm trying to think of a specific situation. So, let's just say that there used to be a like the first business owned by this ethnic group that was like here and it was like long established, but it's no longer there, but we want to remember it. Well, then I'd set up a sort of like I'd reopen it, quote unquote, but like I create with like even with like um what is it called? Uh um it's called kapist in Italian. Uh it's you know have you ever seen those statues that are made of like paper but it's like kind of solid

uh paperiermâché.

Yeah, I think that's well I'd set up shop or like a kind of recreation of that shop. It could be anything from like hiring somebody to be like hey can you just act as the owner and we could have a m customer just come in and just represent the interaction. And so I would even recreate maybe the shelves, make it look like u you know it's it is actually functioning or and I could have somebody just narrate maybe the story of the owner because if it was the first business in San where it probably does have a lot of history but I'll just have a sort of a theater representation of it where I just you know I'll probably involve the schools be like hey kids do you want to make a sculpture of the first business owner uh in in Sunnyville. I'm just so that gets at least the kids talking to their parents and so as a word of mouth at least I can hey my kid is creating this sculpture to represent you know this and this and that.

Awesome. So using theater to reexperience and and having kind of an installation for people to look at. Awesome. Thank you so much for your answer. Of course. Thank you. Um next up is council member Shiri Basan. Hi. your uh voluntary and civic uh organizing community activities are very impressive.

Uh and then uh one thing I really liked was you said um we can work together so we can make our beautiful city of Sunnyale shine. I think we can use that statement. So it is very very cool. Um, let me uh scrolling.

Yeah. Uh, this is regarding the public art uh collections. Mhm. uh you said by encouraging the participation of residents of different culture uh to come together and celebrate their own culture by creating arts performances and project that share celebrate and inform their tradition experiences and perspective. Yes. Can you elaborate on that? Yeah, of course. I think we're referring about uh my experience in Venice. I think that's what it was. So generally it's about sun public art but

yeah so like I've worked with and for artists of different ethnicity culture background and so um what we like to do is like one of the things that for us was important is to keep the public the public might not generally like because they come from different cultural backgrounds they might not immediately like get what we're exactly trying to represent or like where we're trying to save. So I we thought that the best way to do it was like visually. So for example, when I was working with the Vajani artist, one of the things is famous for is the culture of is fire uh and carpets. They have great carpets there. They're incredible. I have one in my house. It's so great. But anyways, uh so one thing that we decided to do is that okay, how can we express or like show the public uh or trying to make them understand that fire is uh a super important component of their culture. Okay, simple. Let's just show them visually. So we came up with a little kind of like I think it's called poi

thing but um we had a friend who's also a ballerina as a Russian and she's trained in a cultural uh as a vanard. So we had her kind of with our consent she knew if like anything was going wrong with the poet she you know but everything went great she didn't injure the fire was like fine. So um what I'm trying to say what I'm trying to say is the public might not be aware immediately what is important for my culture your culture whatever but like one thing that we can try to do is like simplify it visually at least that's that's the easiest part to have it um convey and then and then afterwards you can you can have a a conversation with the artist and say hey what were you trying to say but if you keep the public intrigued visually then at least that picks their curiosity. So

for example, if it was me, I was trying to do an exhibition on Italy. I trying to make them aware of my culture. What I will do? Well, I have a pasta kit that I brought from me in Italy. Simple. I just, you know, set up a table in the middle of the street with like with pyramids and stuff and just show them how to do pasta or like and then tell them, hey, this particular type of shape, it was invented by this emperor and stuff and then it was adopted by then this particular zone and then city and then now it's famous for so just you know bringing them together first visually and then kind of unload the lore afterwards. Did did I answer your question? That was perfect. Thank you. Yeah, of course. Thank you.

Yeah, of course. Um and finally is council member cell. Hi. So in your Thank you for interviewing. Um in your question it says what uh the question was what do you think public art plays in a city? Um and then you wrote it creates community sense of identity for the citizens a feeling of belonging and it's what differentiates a city uh uniquely in its own way. So if you were on the commission, what would be in line with that? What would be a great project that you would want to champion that would create community, a sense of identity for Sunnyville? Any high in the sky idea related to that?

That's a great question. Off the top of your head,

maybe based on something you've done before. I don't know. Well, um, at the top of my head, I see so here there's a lot of husband wars of Fortnite. He's a tech promo. So, I see that there's a lot of tech companies here in uh, in Sunnyville. So, what I will do is like be um, we were recently like funny enough at an AI hackathon and somebody brought a few uh, fully sensiented robots. uh they were um how would it by so at double m would just kind of bring in all the tech bros and be like hey let's do a tech fair or something and then I don't know maybe have the robot waiter wait her up or something ser serve everybody drinks and stuff like that because it is true we're we we are in the middle on the heart of Silicon Valley and so we are lucky enough to have so many smart people around us that are literally changing the world day by day so Why not, you know, celebrate them as well? Because some people are against it. I personally like art that it's made with eye. I I feel like it is a tool. So, it could be also a way to sort of make people less against a art as well. We could have even somebody

even I myself I can bring my own Gemini Pro subscription and you know just a projective like hey this is what I made the other day with AI or sort of be like I don't know if you ever seen it before but there's this platform where that connects two artists at the same time they create paintings together and basically the the board is split into two and one person works on the other one. Or it could be even uh we could even set up games like hey try to draw this and see if you're as good or better than AI. So like we give them like an image like a butterfly. They try to create butterfly see like I can draw better than AI. So you know something just to make like this is not something that it's working against us. It's not stripping the word from art and video. No, it's just simple at all. My opinion.

Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Yes. So, thank you for going through the this process tonight. Um Sarah and uh council will make its final decision on May 19th. Sure. You don't need to be at that council meeting in order to be chosen. And then the city clerk will get back to you later in the week with that final with the final results. Of course. I'm excited. Thank you so much for your time ever that you have people coming in until 10 p.m. So, good luck with this. Thank you. Right. Thank you so much. Have a wonderful evening. Of course. You too. Bye. Bye. So we'll have our chana on Zoom.

Council members, give me a moment to promote our Chaam the panelist role. Um your next two interviewees are going to be on Zoom. We're going to do a quick camera real too so that they'll be able to see all of you. Who is it next? First and then Isabella. Isabella. Thank you. We're kind of working our way backwards.

Hi everybody. We're still getting situated. Sorry. One second. Give us a moment. Archana. Uh the the seasickness of the camera will stop momentarily. I promise.

You have zoom out and zoom in feature on the camera. Um, this will stop there and and then so council member cell when you're speaking if you can just slightly we'll be good. There we go. as opposed to moving the camera. Let's Let's move the camera. Got lots here. Ready? Hi, Archana. Hi, everybody. How are you?

Good. I'm Sunny Mayor Larry Klein. Thank you for for applying. Thank you for working this into your travel. Um, so let me give a quick overview of the of the process. we have about 15 minutes for the interview. Uh so so all council members will get a chance to ask you a question. So keep that time limit in mind as you're kind of going through those answers. And first up is council member Lei.

Hi, thank you so much for applying. I want to ask you more about your answer to the question about the inclusion of visual, literary, interactive, and performing arts. um you said you would support a balance and I'm curious what you you how that looks to you how that looks going forward about how we can pragmatically um more clearly showcase some of these non-visual arts. So being by myself I'm an artist and um whenever I was feeling the question answer I was going I cannot hear you like really good but I think I'm trying to get the answer for that. Uh being an artist second we're going to try to fix the

her volume and ours. Yeah our volume. Oh should I have a Oh is each one of them are different. So, so Archana, were you able to hear me? Okay. No. Yes, I can hear now. Okay. All right. Good. Okay. Council member Le. Okay. I'm going to repeat my question. Can you hear us? Can you hear me? Yes.

Okay. So, my question is about your um about your answer to the question for the Arts Commission application about non-visual arts. You say, "I would support a balance of visual, literary, interactive, and performing arts by engaging our diverse community, and encouraging artists to share their cultural stories." I'm curious about what it looks like to you pragmatically for us to more readily showcase the non-visual arts, to showcase the literary and the interactive and the performing arts in a more um in an accessible way.

Okay. So being a choreographer myself and dancers. So for me music and art and all this is like I feel like no language there. So when I work with the diversity and all so I just see a artist there. It's just only artist there. So that when we work with the people when I do the people working my work with the fog and other communities also. So mostly is for me bringing all diversity everybody all the culture together just seeing only the artist with them I can see only artist to bring all together that is the things I I was try I want to try for the art commissioner that for the city as working with the so many organization so that mostly my things seeing only the art and artist inside the human Thank you.

Thank you. Um I'm up next and so first thanks being thanks for being a scout master. Uh that's always that's always critical. Um but in your in your application you talked about art can inspire, educate, engage residents. How do you think the best way you know from engaging residents art can can make a difference? So, so how does art engage your residents in your community?

So, working as um teacher uh myself and working with the you know different kind of parents and thinking they are sometime the they are going through for different different things and you know mostly I get from the parents and the kids they are going through with anxiety and all those things. So when I work with them also the art is the things where you know we can have a workshop we can make them even art is not that we have to have brush or paint art can be the music also art can be with the maybe I'm doing with the clay is depend on the person to person right

so when working for the community and neighborhood going through for so many situation as you can see right now the situation and the job market everything is going through up and down and working myself as a teacher running my own uh small child care. So I can see the different kind of anxiety um going through with the whole hassle day working with the kids. So I feel for the art workshop art any music dancing I include everything there to be make sure that's stressing out. So I feel like that you know giving more exposure for that if I'm thinking I wish I can have more workshop or maybe uh some um meditation yoga even art art yoga is those don't you have to put the you know just sit down and yoga meditation so we can go with the showing a painting talking about the painting going through with the painting making him calm down those mostly I worked we make them all things together that's mostly be I think for that.

Okay. Thank you very much. Uh next up is council member Cisneros.

Uh yes. Uh thank you so much uh for applying. It's pleasure to meet you and it's wonderful that you are looking to serve your city in this way. Um I have a question regarding uh parks. Uh you mentioned in your application uh the importance of maintaining safe and inclusive spaces. Could you define what that means to you? So basically yeah there's a option to be applied for the if I'm not be the art commissioner. So I was thinking for park as working for the scout master doing a different kind of activity uh running uh my paint workshop and all when I go on the park and all. So most you know we have to decide which area supposed to be where we have to be sometime even I go park and do my workshop or something. I kind of think for structure and all if this table will be that side will be nice or we can add something over here as working myself as a public that brought me into people this position. Maybe we can add something or we can give them idea for the you know all those people the parents they all want to do the workshop and all they always have ideas we went there and then they have this gajibo and this is this how we can do so you know we always guide them okay if this thing something is going on set up something like that or I can bring this one for the city this is that you know people they want to do some party something and also how we can create that thing same time we are helping helping for the public same time we are helping for the city bringing all those ideas so that that I thought to be just fill this position to be just apply for that.

Okay, fantastic. Thank you so much. Thank you. Next up is council member Shiny Basan. Hi Archa. Hi. Hi. In your application you have all the word keywords which I am familiar with stocker, sava, fog, diwali all these things. Uh thanks for organizing uh flash mob and all those things. Thank you very much. Um in your application you say that you want to make art accessible to everyone. Can you elaborate on that please?

Yes. So uh I think last year I city hall they have the Diwali celebration also people reach out to me and then I have the flash mode with that to be bringing all together. how I want to bring the art and all those things more up there because when I'm seeing this all even of the Sunnyville all cities they are trying for dancing and shops and all those thing but I I can see only we have hand and drone that you know we have a big big um festival fair every year once a year we have there's a so many uh workshop is there for art and all this is only one time we have everybody put their booth and they put their art things. So what I was thinking that art has to be not once a year it has to be you know every quarter or something to bring them and Sunnyville city area is very good area. So I was thinking why we don't have more workshop more things to bring them more in they can have they can learn more stuff because I can see the people just come and do so I want to just work more to be like more art things art mean same thing is not paint and brush we can be a pot making we can be a glass painting something to bring more everybody together

because still we are the small we have only once a year because past 25 years I'm seeing only once a year we just home for that hands-on to that art fair that's all. So I want to thinking more to bring more to bring public there more to be art is really very big things to be we can bring all together. So we that's why I want to bring more uh project and more. Thank you. Thank you. Next up is council member cell.

Hi. Uh thank you for interviewing and you also mentioned an interest in parks and recreation commission and um you mentioned that um I want to make our parks better by keeping them clean, adding more fun and safe spaces, offering activities that everyone in the community can enjoy. So, say you were on the parks and rep commission. Um, in line with that, you know, statement. Um, what would be your like pie in the sky kind of project? You want to champion that would be in line with making it more fun, safe spaces, offering activities for everyone in the community. What is like just off the top of your head idea?

Yeah. So see when we have the project come sometime you know we things are we just think and definitely whatever the eyes are not as my alone work I definitely do get the more people involved with me suppose if I'm going a park there's nothing is anything is there and I can see the dog is dog park or something one side is I can see the kids are playing then you know we need that hygienic we need that clean area definitely Ely we have to put some sign there and we have to be make sure we are there definitely alone I can't and I have team also to be all work together uh going through the park and few park when I goes there uh definitely we have to put more sign there we have to be more because I can see the parents also sometime they just start chit chatting and all that something has happened there so like more awareness more things so which is we can do with the art and and some drama creating or something sending the email I can make a real or something how the things goes we can just put on the website and all when the people go and they sign up for the park what they did for party purpose at least there are some real because I create the res for a lot for the corporate level work the small like a act and all so you know those things also help same for the safety and cleaning up also we cannot reach for everybody we cannot be all the time there okay clean this and that but creating a small uh act we can put the website or something to be make sure they can see okay this is you know when you're going to preserve the park or something there something we have to be more careful for safety reason so that's the thing I'm thinking we can create more awareness for them to be make sure are safe is are fun and those act is fun way the way we teach

for small kids if they are fighting together. How we work with a fun way to teaching? Okay, this is for safety reason. This is supposed to we have to do the same thing we can teach for the public when they are signing up they are taking kids over there is very hard there how we have to work together. those thing you know going the in person or making a act making a small you know small short videos those I think helps that I think okay thank you thank you and our last council member is council member uh Chang

thank you for applying and for your involvement in the community I wanted to know your experience with some of the parks and if you have any thoughts about the sunfl flares which were the sun sculptures that were placed at the different parks. So I have uh working with the art park because when I was being a scout master uh so we have mostly activities there same I was doing a PTA member from the stalker meer so mostly I was there doing for their you know end of the school and all and another one is Panama park this uh the sunnyville area there's nothing is there it's only grass and then summertime I can see the they have the Small kids are playing their their dog is there those thing there. I just think sometime for this park Panama park they have some area also be saving for the kids and all because all mix and match they have some time also where they can bring their dogs and all because I can see they are the one time the kids are playing one side and they are bringing dog also the kids are getting scared and all. So sometime this kind of area we have to make and assign those thing that then you know the kids and the parents they can enjoy same time and the same time if does that somebody want to bring their pets or something because I know everywhere is not pets allowed. So I sometime feel okay I wish will be this area only for the pets and this area for public they are playing you know kids they are enjoying because summer time mostly school is closed so there are few places you can feel this panama park I can feel something have bored or something that's I feel so that's why I was thinking to apply for this things to be make sure some park has this park I have experience

Thank you. Thank you. So, thank you um thank you Aana for for going through the process tonight. Council will make its final decision on May 19th. You don't need to be at that meeting to be chosen and uh the city clerk will get back with you later in the week with the final results. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Have a great evening. You too. Thank you so much. I'm sorry about that. I could not able to make it. Just working with the community today that could not make it. No problem. Works out well. Thank you. Thanks.

Okay, council members, your next applicant, Isabella, is joining as a panelist.

Hello. Good evening. Hi Isabella, welcome. Thanks for thanks for uh joining us via Zoom. I'm Seno Mayor Larry Klein. Thank you for applying. Uh let me give you a quick overview of the process. So we have about 15 minutes for the interview. Uh every council member will get a chance to ask you a question. So keep that in mind as you're going through those answers. And I'm up first this time. Uh so let me uh ask and so thank you for thank you for applying uh for the for the art commission and you know I'm interested a little bit about uh what you were saying with your allgirl allgirl jazz band. So tell me a little bit about that first and then I'll have a followup.

Okay. So, first to preface, I'd like to dive into my uh history of being a musician. So, I started music at four years old as a little girl on the piano before my feet could even reach the pedals. And that's really stuck with me throughout elementary school through middle school. And in elementary school in the fourth grade, I picked up the saxophone, the alto saxophone. And I continued with that into middle school. And in high school, where I am now. And my freshman year in high school, my high school offers a jazz band. So they offer two bands, concert band. And I decided to do jazz band. It offers a lot of opportunities for creativity, gigs, and I joined that class and I was very excited. But the first thing I must say I noticed when I stepped into the class is that my class is essentially entirely made of boys. I'm out of 20 students, I'm one out of three girls. And that really stuck out to me because in in jazz a lot of it's about using your creativity, expressing yourself as an individual and someone who was as someone who was completely new to jazz. It was honestly a little difficult to establish myself as an in as my own person in the class just because the maledominated environment around me was so strong and tight-knit. And the reason why I created my all girls jazz band was to help other girls like myself and the other girls in my class. We had shared our experiences and we had all talked about how it's a little scary to put yourself out there in a classroom where

it feels like everyone else is watching you, judging you a little bit. And I created my all girls jazz band for a place for girls to feel a little bit more comfortable expressing themselves and trying new things in that typically male-dominated environment. and my all girls jazz band has been doing really well recently. I have assembled a group of 10 girls and even though it is a little difficult because as I had said the um my jazz community at Wilcox, my high school is very male-dominated. I have been able to find some girls who are ve very willing to participate and play in the jazz band with me. We practice after school and it has been really nice. I've received a lot of positive feedback about how all the girls feel like they've really been able to try new things and grow as musicians in my jazz band.

That's fantastic. And and so just as a quick followup, you talked about doing performance showcases. What what do you envision that as in order to engage more people, engage more youth? So what I'm thinking especially on the music and performance standpoint is having so for jazz band bringing my more knowledge for my jazz band here. So what we like to do is we have these things called jam sessions where basically um a bunch of musicians some from Willox, some from our local high school Santa Clara as well. We all get together in someone's garage or backyard and we all bring our instruments and we all come and we play together and it's a lot of fun. And I feel like bringing that almost to a city level would be really cool to getting inviting a bunch of youth to come to a park or a specific location to all play together to experiment together. I feel like that would be really exciting for young musicians like myself and be a great opportunity for everyone to grow as musicians and also those in public to listen.

Fantastic. Thank you very much. Uh next up is Council Member Cisneros.

Hello. Um it's great to meet you um over Zoom and thank you for submitting your application in a bid to serve your city in this way. It's a really powerful um way to do that. So, I thank you and I had questions for you, but now your the pre your answer to the mayor's question brought something up for me and I was thinking about you mentioned you were four years old when you started learning piano and you're doing all this music now and that's been a big part of your life and I was thinking about all of the small kids that don't necessarily get exposure to musical instruments education or even know that that's something that they're interested in. And I was just thinking about how much that enriched your life. I'm like, "Oh man, I wish I that could be the case for all kids in Sunnyvale, you know, to have exposure to music in that way." Do you have any idea of how we could reach um all the like different communities in our in our city that and make sure that real young kids, you know, four to like say eight get exposure to music as as an art form and a means of expression.

Thank you. Thank you. It was It's really nice to meet you too and I actually have a lot of ideas for that especially I was very fortunate um as a child to be able to participate in a lot of musical things um as I was growing up and I did feel like it really shaped me as an individual. So I know currently as a part of my all girls jazz band, what we are planning to do on a smaller scale of course is going to local elementary schools and bringing um our own instruments and showing teaching the younger kids specifically about each of these instruments, letting them hear it. I feel like that would be a great opportunity just to show them what's out there, but also I think it would be really exciting to have workshops um in at parks or little um community rooms where younger students can experiment with. I feel like percussion is really fun, especially for little kids, the drums, the xylophones. I feel like that would be really exciting and of course they'd like to play around with that. So, I feel like that would be really fun if we could Yeah. create a workshops for them to try out percussion. That would be really fun.

That that sounds like it would be fantastic. And uh parks are everywhere, so that would be a really good way to do it. So, thank you so much for that suggestion and for your work. Thank you. Thank you, council member. Next up is council member Shane Vasan. Hi. Hi. Thanks for applying. And then uh apart uh the interesting thing about your application apart from music and jazz is you are interested in physics. Oh yes. Which is my favorite subject by the way. And then

yeah it's so cool to see physics and then you are part of physics club and other things. So, uh, the question I had was, uh, I I like what you answered, Mayor and, uh, council member Sisneros. I wanted you to you in your application, you say that you want to expand opportunities for youth involvement and community centered arts. So, uh, is that what you said about bringing youths to different parks and other places for getting involved in music and other things or

Yeah. Um, thank you so much. I'm I was actually studying for a physics test right before this interview. Okay.

Maybe I can help you if I can. But yes, I definitely that what I had just mentioned earlier would definitely be one of my goals to connecting music with the youth. I feel like getting especially for younger age children, getting them just to try out and the instruments and exposure to what they are and who is able to play them would be really fun. I feel like in that sense also having more public performances, especially I know middle schoolers and high schoolers, all the high schools near in Sunnyville that I know of and nearby have really really nice and really talented bands and orchestras that I believe would love to play for the public. And I feel like that would be another way to showcase all the amazing music and musicians that Sunnyvil has.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you, council member. Next up is Council Member Cell.

Hi. Thank you for um interviewing for this and um you've talked a lot about performing arts. But Habold um you also talked in in your application about um murals and uh kind of more sculptures and how they can make public spaces more accessible. Um so in that framework if you were on the commission um what is some ideas that you would think would be great ideas um to do as you said to be um to make places and spaces more accessible through art. What do you envision that? Like say you had this like area and um you as our commissioner could define like what went into that area to make it more diverse and inclusive. What would be your vision of that?

Okay, thank you so much. I feel like personally what stands out to me whenever I see like visual art in a public place, I really enjoy seeing the little um like murals on walls around the city or something I personally enjoy a lot are the little um I believe they're like electrical little banks or the around the city where they have the I always see them and I see all the pretty artwork on them and And I'm like, "Wow, the people who done those did those paintings and the artwork." I think it's a really nice little touch. And I feel like, at least to me, the little things like that make Sunnyville so much more inclusive and honestly like exciting to from a visual standpoint because I feel like there's a lot of potential for other I um I know that there can be a lot of themes expressed in artwork and I haven't done too much research on what exactly ly themes have been showcased around our city, but personally around our city, I really like when visual arts is tied into something cultural related. Um me, um myself, like a fun fact about me is that I'm Indian, Peruvian, and Filipino. So

just just that and that being a part of my identity, it's really nice to see when I see a little bit of Indian art, a little bit of Filipino art, a little bit of Peruvian art. It's nice to see all like a diverse array of cultures because it makes me feel like I don't have to conform to um one ethnicity or um one identity of myself. How I can explore multiple um identities and ethnicities. Yeah, thank you so much. Thank you, council member. Next up is council member Chang.

Thank you for applying. That was really similar to kind of the question I was going to ask. Um, but I and you have a really impressive music background. I was just wanting to get to know you a little bit more about, you know, what type of you kind of touched on it a little bit, but what types of more art would you like to see around the city? Um, personally I would like to see as well as I had had discussed before definitely more performing arts and music but also I think literary art as well. I believe I had mentioned in my application poetry a little bit. I really enjoy poetry and literary works. I feel like it's a really unique way of showcasing um who someone is and it's I find it very fun to read it as well and I feel like having or creating some sort of event where more literary works can be showcased throughout Sunnyville. I feel like that would be a really unique and exciting opportunity.

Thank you. Thank you. And lastly is Council Member Le. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for applying and thank you for your obvious passion in this topic. I really appreciate listening to you just be excited about this. This is something that you're you're clearly very interested in and I'm glad that you're able to share this passion with us. I want to u just a quick observation from your um from your application. You say um the the council meeting that you attended that we explained topics very well and thank you. I appreciate that. Sometimes we don't. Um, so I want to ask you um two things. First of all, what is your favorite poem?

Uh, I Oh, that's a hard one.

Or poet. I will open it for you. I've I don't think I could come up with the title on the spot, but recently I've actually gotten this book uh Sylvia Pla, her collection of poems, and I've been really enjoying the the imagery and the attention to detail in her poems. I feel like it's honestly in school we do a lot of literary we do a lot of literary analysis and I feel like it's it's nice to especially like poetry and in the community it's nice to be able to almost relax and just enjoy the hearing someone else's story portrayed in such a beautiful way.

Great. Thank you. And this I I this isn't really your question, but I really want to encourage you as you pursue physics. You've brought a lot of passion to what you were saying about being in a very male-dominated space as a jazz member, as a jazz artist, as a jazz musician. You are going to see that in physics and I want you to push through anyway. When I was in college, there was like one girl in the physics department and it gets very lonely, but I feel like you have what it takes to just push through that and thrive. So, thank you so much for applying. Thank you.

Thank you. So, thank you, Isabella, for going through the process tonight. Council will make its final decision on May 19th. You don't need to be part of that meeting uh in order to be chosen. and then the city clerk will get back with you later in the week with the final results. Okay. Thank you so much. Good luck. Thank you. It was really nice to meet all of you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Good night. Have a good night. Thank you. And with that, we will take a 10-minute recess and come back at 8:55. Okay.

Okay, mayor and council, your next applicant, Mike Ser is here. Thank you. You can unsquish now. Let's go ahead and reconvene. Sorry, back to where we were before. Um, thank you, Mike, for for reapplying uh to be on the planning commission. Uh, you've been through this process before, but let me give you an overview. We have about 15 minutes for the interview. Uh, each council member gets a chance to ask you a question, so keep that time in mind as you're going forward. And first up is council member Cisneros.

Hi, Mike. Um, it's great to see you and thank you very much for your service on the planning commission and for reapplying uh despite that. Thank you for the opportunity.

Uh, yeah, and that's tongue and cheek because it, you know, it's clear that you're very passionate and care very much about this work. um as do we all around this table and that's why I want to uh talk about state legislation because it as you mentioned your application it's changing all the time over 500 bills have been introduced in the last several years alone and with this changing landscape how are we as a city uh what would be the best strategy for us to create plans to withstand potential massive changes potentially and not have the intention uh stripped away along with it. How do we build resiliency into planning basically when we're facing massive change?

Yeah, is a challenge uh for sure. Um I mean the ideal thing would be changes uh from the state legislature, but I'm not looking for that to happen anytime soon. Uh some some things we've done already the uh um for the village centers the u you know the the retail uh I forget the title of it the retail incentive program

u is a is the sort of thing we can do to kind of work around that uh situation but it it is very problematic 500 bills we and we have very little uh housing statewide to show for all of that uh disruption. So, uh even in Sunnyville, we we see most of the projects are are really kind of single family homes just stuck together. Uh they uh kind of the minimum density. Uh so, uh it's uh it it's you know, it's a problem. we can work try and work with developers and incentivize them. But uh yeah, I think we'll look back on this period as kind of substandard uh construction because of the what they've left us with, you know, unlimited waiverss.

All right. Well, thank you very much for the answer and for your service on the commission. Thank you. Next up is Council Member Sharina Boston. Hi, Mike. Thanks. Thanks for serving on planning commission and then also there are so many things you are involved in and then I didn't realize you were part of first districtricting commission in 2019. You're right the first one. Yes.

Yeah. So thanks for doing all those things. And then one of the things you mentioned a reason you wish to be reappointed an engineer accustomed to reviewing and understanding technical documentation. I was like wow where's an engineer I know that's really cool. So in your response you also wrote California legislator has passed 500 housing related law bills right? only you keep up with that. Uh do you have uh I know staff uh reads most all of them. Uh but as a planning commission,

right? Well, they don't necessarily all apply to every project, but but it is uh it is a challenge. It's and it's it certainly doesn't help right as a developer. You know, if you've got to account for 500 bills, u it's just very disruptive. Um, in fact, you know, I went to the planning uh institute and uh Charles was there as well. And uh the uh like there's some talk of of trying to pause the housing bills while the housing element, the next housing element cycle is in process. So, at least it's not changing as you're doing the housing element,

right? uh but uh yeah it's a challenge to keep up with it. Uh AI helps. That's what I I wanted to suggest. One of the student projects we are working on is AI uh summarizing all these documents. Absolutely. And then mostly to capture the contradictions also. Yes. Right. Not all laws are in isolation. So yes. Yes. Thanks for serving. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next up is council member cell. Hi Mike. Hi.

So um what makes you passionate about the planning commission? Like you you are doing multiple stuff but what makes you passionate to be on the planning commission?

Well it's intellectually challenging. uh you you're working with the community and uh uh and you know when you have a good project it's very exciting and in particular things like uh well like the MA park uh specific plan uh was just you know amazing taking apart of the city and really creating a whole new environment adding housing we got sea level rise the east and west channel uh of course the commercial uh bike lanes through the uh multi-use lanes through the uh whole area. It it was a fascinating exercise. Thank you for your work.

Thank you. Next up is council member Chen.

Hey Mike, thanks for reapplying. um you know as we as the planning commissioner's role has kind of shifted in the past few years with all the state laws how have you ba balanced or managed um community input when your your role might be more limited now? Yeah, the community uh is often u disappointed as you know that I mean really the purpose of the law the objective of the laws is nominally to create housing but it does it by um uh kind of disempowering both the uh the residents and the uh elected officials and uh commissioners. So they and you know in my opinion everything the uh uh elected officials and residents want is not necessarily bad. So uh they uh um you know it it helps if they feel like they're being heard. That's really key. And uh and I think you know if we were looking for something we wanted to change the I think our noticing could get better. uh like we don't notice for a study issue. I mean we we we notice it in the you know if you're checking the city site but they we don't put up a sign there for the study issue session. So it shows up before the final session by which time it's it's kind of late for people to show up and and have input to it. And and there's even a step before that with the and Martin has brought this up too, the uh zoning change. There's a zoning change and people don't realize. So a lot of times by the time you get to the study issue, it it's sort of a done deal because of a zoning change that happened three three months earlier, four months earlier. It's very hard for a resident

to even if there's a sign out to say, "Oh, zoning change. What's that mean to me?" they are hard to sort that out. So, we hear a lot from residents who feel like they've been ambushed. You know, where did this come from? Thank you. Thank you. Uh, Council Member Lelay,

thank you for reapplying. Thank you for all the work that you do on all the various things that you do. I feel like planning commissioners are the unsung heroes of the city. You did all of the reading and none of the photo ops. So um I want to ask you in your role so far, what has been your most memorable meeting and what did you take away from it? Like what made it memorable or did you learn anything from that that could have been improved upon? Yeah, I think I I mentioned already the uh the Mafett Park specific plan. That was sort of the end of a long process of many many meetings, you know, official meetings and then meeting with developers uh in Moffett Park and uh and there were so many elements and uh of uh different groups coming in, you know, some didn't want to develop anything because of the environment or or potential flooding and uh so it was that was very challenging. I mean there other examples you the housing element they u village center master plan so there have been a number of but those things that have those kind of overarching

uh plans are the most interesting and engaging and have the longest impact. Thank you. Thank you. Um I'm last. Um so just I want to say thank you for for being on the planning commission taking a lot of the slings and arrows that that don't come to council anymore.

Uh you know and I and I'll just kind of reiterate what I said previously to you. It's like, thank you for those hard decisions. And sometimes, yes, your hands are tied in those cases where you think that conceivably further review by by council might sometimes change or at least, you know, much like much like the last DNA project, we didn't we didn't go, you know, we didn't overrule the project, but another step of review sometimes by council gives the developer like, oh, be more consilatory on a specific set of waivers which which I think is you know the hardest thing but it's like and it's and it's hard to weigh you know what makes sense

from a housing standpoint and what makes you know what they're basically

utilize what developers are utilizing to to maximize the the their profit at the end of the day and not worrying about what the what the community benefits that our code was in guideline, you know, guidelines were initially put in place. So, so I do encourage you that, you know, if if there are those issues, reaching out to council members just to say take a look um is important. Thank you for for spending the time, you know, the the planning academy, Cal's planning academy educates you as well as, you know, you know, brings and helps you. One of the things that like when when council goes to conferences, it's commiscerating with with similar council members and mayors from around the country or around the state

who who are in the same you know basically same predicament to a certain degree because you know and I think that that has a lot of value. We have a few minutes left. Do you have any questions for us?

Um well I don't think so. Um I just uh you know I I appreciate the opportunity uh to have served for one term and uh uh hope to keep doing it. I think we have a great uh commission staff is great. Uh um you know the all all the the planners are great uh you know G chararma for the administrative things Sandra on the uh um office of the attorney which plays a big role much more than it used to be. I mean we're asking every meeting you know okay what can we do what's legal here and uh so uh that's very important and uh staff is you know they work together and they you know like last night we had this uh village center thing was controversial and and uh Sean and Margaret Neto the planner were both sick so uh Trudy and uh Norine uh filled in

okay and did a great job which you know amazed how do you do that you know show the last minute it so you know that's a kind of depth I think we have in staff and thank you for for your commitment and and just caring about well caring about the city and and the planning commission has a big effect on the future of the city at the end of the day so thank you very much um that's That's it for tonight. Council council will be making a final decision on May 19th. You know, you don't need to be at that meeting in order to be chosen. And then the city clerk will get back with you after that with the final result. Sure. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, Mike. Next is Lena. You're up next. Council members, your next applicant, Alina, is here. You have to see chair. Hi Lena. Hello. I'm Senator Mayor Larry Klein. Thank you for applying. Uh let me give you a quick overview of the process. You have about 15 minutes for the interview. Every council member will get a chance to ask you a question. So, so keep that in mind as you're doing it going through those answers. Um and first up is council member Shini Basa. Hey, hello.

Thanks for applying. And then in your application there are certain things you have said you plan to continue to reside here for a long foreseeable future. Thank you very much. And then you also have worked with some CCAs. That's a very very good uh uh experience. You mentioned couple of key words which were really intriguing. You said uh sustainability for the question sustainability is a new emerging concern for many community for that you said carbon neutrality. Can you elaborate on that?

Yes. Um that is a word that's on top of mind for me very often due to the nature of my work too. That's something my work strives to do and as you know in all of California by 2035 and 2040 there are certain metrics we want to meet through carbon neutrality. my focus has predominantly been more on the energy side. Um, so different ways that we can get there through clean energy, whether it's going to be hopefully mostly renewable energy or, you know, other sources like hydro power or nuclear. Um, but that is what I mean by carbon neutrality. But I do think city of Sunnyville, you know, is more than just the energy aspect. you guys have your smart station, your food waste, and all of your different initiatives, which I was honestly looking more at and finding out, which has been very intriguing. Um, but from my perspective, typically I know I need to broaden my horizon, but I come from a clean like an energy perspective.

Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Next up is council member cell. Um so with Sunnybelt um we have Silicon Valley clean energy and then we have our climate action plan. Um given that um what do you think if you were on the commission you would want to achieve and the next you know a great thing you want to champion if you were on the commission that you would think okay I want to invest my time my thought my research into X you thought about that

yes um so there are actually two things that I would want to focus on in the lines energy. Um, one thing, so the two items would actually be affordability and equity. Um, and I'm going to touch on affordability first. Everyone, as everybody is aware, energy prices are going up and affordability will become a big challenge. That's something that while we want to still strive towards clean energy, we still have to keep in mind that this is going to be affordable for everybody, for everyone in your community, and everybody in California. And in terms of equity, as we transition into more sustainable initiatives, more clean energy initiatives, let me phrase this correctly. Um, it's very easy to leave some communities behind, especially if it's say you're like a homeowner or a renter. Um, homeowners have the ability to, you know, install solar panels. renters might there's no there's not a lot of benefit for them that it's not something they own. It's not something that can move with them. Um so I know there are programs that will target renters which is good but when it comes to overall sustainability efforts it needs to be targeted towards communities that have not seen as much equity in the past. So those are the two items that I would believe would be my priority. Um and I would take a deeper lens in not only due to my profession but because when how I grew up I grew up from um immigrants that don't know English and as you know there are cultural issu uh cultural and language barriers that I have grown up and seen and realized what has worked for at least my community in the past in San Francisco and what challenges that a lot of a lot of people face trying to

break through those communities. Thank you. Thank you. And next up is Council Lang. Thank you for applying. In your work at San Jose Clean Energy or Orange County Power, have there been any programs or things that you've saw seen that you wish we had in Sunnyville?

Yeah. Um I haven't really looked at too much for Silicon Valley Clean Energy since I know they are your CCA. Um I do know one of the things that they would provide is you know discounts toward your car and Farah accounts which is great and they run ongoing um disadvantages it's called GT disadvantaged communities green tariff which is fantastic um they which where they procure energy and then ensure that the clean energy goes to your disadvantaged communities um that's wonderful and I think when it comes to programs just all the electrification that is being done and that's being targeted to everyone one. It's absolutely fantastic. I don't have too many things to say because if anything, we'd look to Silicon Valley clean energy for inspiration for our effort work. So that's what I always say. And since they're um my city of San Jose was more of a single jurisdiction CCA, so they only focused on city of San Jose. So they were more I would say very in tune with the needs of the city compared to the type of CCA I work in now. than Silicon Valley is because we have multiple cities and counties that we actually work with. Honestly, very happy with city. I'm also one of their customers because I live here, so I'm very happy with that.

Thank you. Thank you. And next up is council member Le.

Um, thank you so much and thank you for applying. I I think your um background and your experience with these um comparable CCAs adds a lot to your application and a lot to your experience and it's uh it was good listening to you answering my colleagues questions. You're really demonstrating depth and breadth of knowledge that I think is really important for this commission. Um, I wanted to ask you about um I wanted to ask you about a few things, but um what stood out to me in one of your previous answers, were you talking about the difficulty in engaging um historically marginalized communities, people with um who might not have English as a first language, people who might have financial difficulties in engaging in sustainable solutions. And I just wanted you to expand more on that. That sounds interesting. Well, so I want to go through San Jose's lens because they had a program I found really interesting um to try to electrify your homes. They had, you know, one of our issues that even I'm guilty of is holding on to my gas stove top. So they had an induction stove top brought in with a chef showing us. This was more typically for a Chinese or Asian household because they were like, you know, a walk, a walk can be used for an induction stove top. I didn't know that. So they created like cultural appropriate recipes and taught us cooking methods. So that was very interesting and honestly motivated me to go try to get that too. Uh there are challenges for that. I can lab elaborate later on which unfortunately is just due to the nature of what the needs of an induction stove top. But when it comes to the cultural barriers while um when I was being raised

well since my mom didn't really know English I had to translate everything for her. Um, so when it came to events that were done in English, she couldn't really do it. If there were flyers that were not translated or like in Chinese, my parents couldn't unless they had their child's explanation, which will not be fully comprehensive. That was all they had. Um, but typically in the past, you know, one things that things I do see that have worked really well was when there was outreach to honestly us kids. um was a bunch of me and my especially if it was a group of kids where we would go in in the past what I've done is another cooking exercise where they had us go in learn how to cook healthy ways tell parents about our recipes and then at the end encourage us to exercise more by giving us like a free gym membership so that not only did they dangle a carrot in front of us free gem membership that we necess wouldn't have gotten in the first place but they made a very culturally appropriate way and easy thing for us to enjoy without realizing what we were actually getting or realizing was actually work.

Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm up next. And so I'm chair for Silicon Valley Clean Energy right now. And so, you know, as far as, you know, I I'm always looking at new programs and and to me that's, you know, I it's educating our residents on what's available, which is always which is always a question. And then we do, you know, pilot programs and partnerships with cities. And, you know, it's kind of that the the actual creation of the CCA was lowhanging fruit from our first climate action playbook uh that we came up with or climate action plan that we came up with um about 10 years ago, 12 years ago. Uh we're just reaching 10 years of that CCA. um you went through our climate action playbook and and now it's trying to set plays for the upcoming you know 3 to 5 years. Uh what which of those plays do you think has the biggest effect or would you like to see kind of focused on from a city standpoint? Um, when it comes to the playbook, one thing I did notice that honestly very well written and easy for me to understand, which thank you for that. Um, and it was a new lens for me, so I'm still trying to fully understand it. but the food recovery program. So I when I first moved to Sunnyville and as you guys were rolling out your um the food scrap bin, I was not in in tune and I didn't actually know what this was honest. So just reading your playbook and understanding the reason rationale behind that and the goals really helped me understand honestly I wasn't able to connect the one and two until I read it. So that I think is very interesting. And honestly, when it comes to the smart way station, I really just I love that place. I a frequent user of that and

just I wish I had like more clearer things to say, but what um when it comes to those are the two items that I am not as in tune with and I really liked learning from the climate action playbook. Um, when it comes to your clean energy, I think you guys are doing very in very good hands with Silicon Valley clean energy.

I appreciate that. Yeah. And and just to roll things back, our first climate action plan from 2012, the two lowest hanging fruit as far as making um let's say a difference as far as what our greenhouse emissions were um were a CCA and the other thing was food cycle. So keeping food waste out of out of the landfills and you know all the methane that's that's created there. And so those those were the lowhanging fruit. Now it becomes harder and that's when we moved the playbook of the concept of trying to lay out you know goals for the next few years and then re-evaluating every few years on on what kind of what our actions are going to be. So, um, thank you for thank you for the feedback, but but ultimately that's kind of how we got to where we are today and and our commissioners are active in trying to educate our educate our community as well as kind of defining and and narrowing down those goals for the next few years. So, thank you. Uh, next up is Council Member Cisneros.

Hello. Um, it's pleasure to meet you. Thank you so much for applying and being interested in serving our city in this way. I've really enjoyed listening to your responses to my colleagues really interesting answers and as you all were just have you're having conversation with Mar food cycle came up my question get so close to being able to ask it so it but you didn't quite get there so uh we mine is on the food cycle program and I'm glad that you saw it's a really impactful way for an individual to make a choice Um, and we've rolled that out to multif family now included. But the utilization of and participation in the food cycle program in multif family is a lot lower than it is in single family homes. You can kind of guess why. And because the bin separation, it's very apparent how to do it. It takes up a lot of your garbage space. So, there's a lot of motivation built in. But I was wondering if you had any thoughts on how how we could do a better job uh implementing that program in multif family so that we can see wider adoption overall.

So I right now I actually live in a townhouse that all of the bins are combined so it's communal. Um so I do see the same issue there where our food bins are not the compost bins are not as utilized as all the other bins. If anything, we might have some issues not correctly assigning um the waste in the correct bins, which leads to more problems down the road. One thing that I at least for my um communal thing that we found really helpful was there was a flyer sent out by I believe it was the recite I forget which um department, the recycling center. we put it it's on our fridge cuz apparently I need a consistent reminder of how to recycle. But that has been very helpful just having a very visual easy to understand thing that I just consistently reference to. Um but more reach out and that type of nature with such like media explaining what the like well not necessarily needing to explain just having a infographics honestly um where it's easy to just understand what's going on easy to just um and then change your habit based on what the new information you have. So a lot of it from a Sunnyale like resident perspective was more being informed. I just wasn't fully informed initially on what the program was and I didn't really fully which made me not adopt it as you know fast or as soon as anyone else should have.

That's very helpful and I have the same flyer on my fridge so you're not alone for a while. So um I I appreciate that and all of your answers. So thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Uh thank you for going through the process tonight. uh council um will be making its final decision on May 19th. You don't need to be part of that meeting to be selected and then the city clerk will get back to you later in the week with the final results. Thank you guys so much for your time. Thank you. Have a great evening.

Our next applicant is council member cell will be starting up. Go ahead. All right, council members. Your next applicant, Ara is here over here. Hi, Orna. Hi. Welcome. Thank you. I'm Sunville Mayor Larry Klein. Thank you for applying. Uh, let me give you a quick overview of the process. So, we have about 15 minutes for the interview. Every council member will get a chance to ask you a question. So, keep that in mind as you're giving those answers. And first up is council member cell. Hi.

Hi. Um, so you picked the uh planning commission and the preservation heritage preservation. I was just wondering like why did you pick those two? What was the reason behind that? And um well I think be happy in either one of those.

Okay. Yeah. Um uh so I think the heritage is also related to planning. It's just a smaller part of the planning more concentrated on this specific uh uh the heritage part. Um I'm very interested in planning in general. Uh I I'm an architect in training. I was an architect in Israel and um and I have a master's degree in urban regeneration uh which is also uh part of planning which I studied in uh London uh 20 plus years ago and um I've been working mostly in architecture and design and also here so I've been living here for 11 years and I've been working here in in the um um silicon industry as a space planner but I was always interested also in the planning the city planning uh part I I never actually worked professionally I have the master's degree but I didn't have the the chance to work and and I think um volunteering and being part of uh this uh commission is is a good way to uh practice a little bit or get to know or or learn more about uh this part of my education and my you know the things that uh interest me very much.

Thank you very much. Thank you. Next up is council member Chang.

Thank you for applying and you have a really interesting background and you've lived in different places. I'm interested in and from your background and understanding, how do you um see the design of our city compared to other cities? Um so Sunnyville um well like a lot of um um cities in in this area uh and and in the US it's it's more um it's a big city and and and it has a really big population and all the um most important um height accomp companies are in Stanville, but the way it's designed is more like um a sub suburban uh which is very typical to I think most of American cities. Uh it's not like New York or you know cities that actually function a little bit differently. And um I I am very interested to to see how um how we can work with uh you know the the suburban um qualities of the city but also make it um um easier to use like in city for for instance it's a typical subarbon is more uh car dependent. Uh it's very much planned for cars. You can see it here in the very wide road and um u almost you know every family has few cars. So so it's a big city but it has a

very suburbia um character. Um so yeah that's how I see sunny. Thank you. Thank you. Next up is Council Member Lelay.

Hi, thank you for applying. I think your architecture background makes you an interesting candidate for this position. I wanted to ask you about one of the um answers within your application. Uh the question is how do we it's other stuff too, but essentially how do we achieve a balanced community? And your answer was we need to make sure that specific communities are not getting pushed out from Sunnyville if we want to achieve and maintain a balanced community. that can mean so many things. Um, what do you mean by specific communities and what do you mean by pushed out? I was hoping you could elaborate but on that.

Yeah. So, um, yes. So, I'm sorry. Uh, when I applied it was pretty much last minute and I didn't have a lot of time. So, my answers are very short. Um so so in my studies of urban regeneration it was um about uh regenerating not only the physical part of the cities but also the economic and and the the society. And what happens in many cases is um when you try to uh regenerate or renovate um neighborhood um many times uh what happens is uh gentrification which meaning uh that the original community that was there is getting pushed out because if the neighborhood becomes now very nice and fancy and uh it becomes too expensive for for the original community to stay there and they're they're getting pushed out. And

so the question is always how to find the balance in you know promoting your city uh creating good projects make it nice but also maintain uh um the society the people who live there and not push them uh out of there. So, um, this is pretty much what I meant. And I guess there's no easy answer. It's something I was hoping you had an answer. No, I'm joking. Please answer gentrification in your interview, but no, thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you for elaborating. Yeah, thank you.

Thank you. Uh, I'm up next. And so, from a planning commission standpoint, you look at, you know, lots of different things from a project as you're as you're um dissecting a specific project. uh you have an architecture background and so I'd be interested to see or or hear what you think of like the architecture of downtown because you have let's say you know something that's 100 years old intermixed with with highrises that are you know more modern and and what what is your take on that? What's the you know from from an architecture stand?

Uh I I really liked it. What what I like about those highrises is that they they don't give you they're not too high and they don't give you the feeling that they're very high. Sometimes I think people don't even like if you'll ask people how you know without counting how many floors you you think those building have. I think most of the time they will say less than what they really have. So they don't feel too high. Um I liked it that it became more condensed that um of course maintain the the heritage part uh try to you know keep it working and and alive and uh and um I think it works well together. Uh, I like the fact that the um the streets have uh commercial and stores and and restaurants around there and and I know that my kids really like to go there and hang out. They go there a lot. uh they even sometime walk there or find their way to get there which is almost like a real city and not a suburban even though it's it's not so so close. It's quite a walk but but I like it. I find that they uh spend a lot of time over there and um it's becoming very nice. to here. Thank you. Next up is Council Member Cashneros.

Hello. Um, thank you so much for applying uh and looking to serve your city in this way and you bring some really great and interesting experience uh to help us think about some of the things we need to do. So, I want to speak about the heritage preservation piece and part of that commission's work and our work as a city around that is to identify and then preserve those resources. But then another piece of it is making sure the community knows that it exists and that they can enjoy it and calling attention to the things that we have because if we're preserving things, we ultimately want to do that toward a goal which is to understand our history better and for people to enjoy it.

What are some ways that we could promote these resources and make them more available and known to the residents? Um um I would make people know that they exist and yeah like you should you can go and do it like but in a way that it's like you know you can send out an email and they may not read it. So we're thinking of creative ways to do that.

It's uh yeah it's it's it's a hard question. I'm um we're living in the in in an era that we are so uh we get so much information all the time from so many u in so many ways that we're I feel that I'm overwhelmed many times. I I I don't read a lot of the emails anymore.

So it's um I'm not sure. It sounds like more of a communication question which is not my uh specialty but but I think a lot of people well well you know what I think now when I think about it um I think a lot of knowledge many times come from kids from teenagers so maybe through schools if you tell about it to to the kids they will tell their parents oh let's go there I want to see it um it might be an easier way you Now we have all the social media. They're on the social media.

So I I don't know how um the city can get their attention over there. But uh maybe through the kids because I think the parents are overwhelmed. You know, people are working. They get emails from schools all the time. A lot of messages from so many uh places that I I understand what you're saying. It's hard to to get this information to people. I think that's a really interesting case. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, captive audience. So, thank you so much for your answer to that question. Very powerful. Thank you. And lastly, council member Shinasan.

Hi. Hi. You have a very good background architecture and then particularly lead green association certification. This is a lead platinum building, certified building. Anyway, yeah, it's I love this building. It's it's beautiful, I think.

So, yeah, thanks for applying. And then uh one of the responses you had to question, what do you see the greatest land use challenges facing the city? You said I think the greatest land use challenges is lack of housing while maintaining the quality of life and avoid traffic and congestion when increasing density. Can you elaborate on that or what are your thoughts on how do we balance all these things? So um uh I know that um there is some kind of a housing crisis. U I you know I know what's going on here and uh there's a very high demand to live here. I think Sunnyville is located you know great in in the Silicon Valley just almost in in the center to everything. A lot of the big companies are located right here. Uh so obviously there's a very big demand to to live specifically here. Uh I know that I didn't want to leave this city because I didn't I don't like to commute you know too much. Um so the question is how do we make it more uh dense like how do we create more housing here

but at the same time taking in account uh all the other infrastructure and not make it now. So this is the sensitive balance we want to keep between keeping it a little bit like a suburb and not making it like a big city with too much traffic. You don't want to find yourself in the morning, you know, staying in the car for a very long time because now it's very busy. uh there are also other infrastructures like u uh education and and health care that should be enough for for the uh amount of people for the population of the city. So um uh I guess this is part of the uh land use problems but um I'm sure there are more. I'm I'm I'm anxious to to to learn and get to know all the problems.

Thank you very much. The challenges. Yes, absolutely. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you for applying. Thank you for your interest in going through this process. Uh council will make its final decision on May 19th. You don't need to be part of that meeting to be selected. And then the city clerk will come back later in the week and give you the final results. Okay. Thank you all very much. Thank you. Thank you. It was my pleasure. Thank you. Thank you. Bye. Bye. Bye. David Casting, even though we all tried to read through Charma quickly. David Casting will be up next, followed by Madu. How's it going everybody?

Good. Welcome. Um, you've been through this process before. Uh, thank you for applying for the planning commission. U, we have about 15 minutes for the interview. Okay. Uh, every council member will get a chance to ask you a question, so keep that in mind as you're going through those answers. And first up is council member Jenny.

Hey David, thank you for your point. If you could explain a little more about your interest in planning because you s currently serve as parks and recck chair. So why this year and not next year for example? um you know it's not so much about you know this year or next year or the prior years that I've applied for planning for me housing is a passion right something I'm equally uh it's something that I'm part of day in and day out every day I worked on housing all day today I worked on housing all day yesterday I'm going to work on housing all day tomorrow right um what I want to do and what I'm looking for out of this interview is to find out from you ways that I can serve my community even better, right? And I think I'm doing a pretty good job of that. I hope I'm doing a good job of that at parks and wreck. Um, and I would like the opportunity to serve in a even greater capacity. And I feel as though um my experience brings you know not just as an architect, not just as a general contractor, uh not just as a father um but also as a parks and as a chairman of the parks and rec commission. I think that my experience uh brings an opportunity to serve in a greater capacity at the planning commission. That happens this year, great. It happens next year, that's okay, too. There's a lot going on at parks and wreck right now, right? Um there's a lot of turmoil that's occurring. Uh there's a lot of negotiating with the public and with the commission and with staff and with council about what our needs are specifically with us Palmus Park, specifically with field turf. I don't think those conversations are, you know, in general much different than problems that the planning commission is encompassing right now, you know, with uh Assembly Bill 1485, right? where

people are actively engaging with uh the commission about what their needs and their desires are. Be it uh a desire to limit uh cricket fencing at Las Palmus or be it in a desire to uh institute uh greater um uh greater control over uh tenant buyouts uh for unjust evictions. So to answer your question, um I'm excited about serving in in any capacity. I'm excited about serving in the best capacity and ultimately it's up to you to decide what you think that is.

Thank you. Yeah. Thank you for your question. Thank you. Next up is Council Member Le. Hi, David. We spoke briefly this weekend about your desire to serve both on planning and parks and I followed up with the city clerk afterwards to make sure that my hunch was correct and you could only be on one border commission at once. You're here so clearly I think that means you want to move forward with planning and I want to just make sure like for the record that that's still the case and you feel comfortable going to planning if we make that decision and leaving parks. Uh I I am comfortable serving in the capacity that

that I'm comfortable serving in the in the in the best capacity I can possibly so hard to say this. I want to but I want to help out the best way I can. Right? Where am I at most value to you guys? What can I do to help you more? Right? Uh, and ultimately it's going to be up to you to decide which way I should be serving, right? What what you can do with with me as a tool. Um, I think there's a little bit of leeway on that. I think I can have a 60-day turnover of being on uh two parks at one time. No, it's it's you it turns over the moment you take the oath.

There's a transition that you figure you can figure out when you resign versus when you join. Yeah. So it's so there's a slight okay you can't you can't be on both but but there is a you have a little leeway on when you specifically resign from your current position but that's fine and ultimately right now what's going on at parks and rugg is actually really important right palmus is a huge deal

right there's a lot of people a lot of our a lot of our public are really concerned about what might be built out there and a lot of that is coming out of misinformation right fear tactics Um there's also a lot of fear tactics that are going on with uh parks and rec with the use of artificial turf, right? And the needs of our community ultimately have to be served, right? What way am I best served? What way? What way can I best serve my local community? Is it that parks and wreck? Is it at planning and zoning? Ultimately, that's going to be up to you to decide. And whatever capacity you want me to serve, I am here for. And then as a followup to that, I think you're um you're talking about the um the current controversies around parks and wreck and I think you're to some degree familiar with the controversies. Similarly, you were alluding to them around planning and I think that you're alluding to the state bills and I just want to make sure that you know the constraints that are upon the planning commission. You you're an architect. you follow the state bills and a lot of the things that I think you're talking about that planning wants to do isn't possible because of current state legislation. I want you to I want to hear a little bit about your answer to that. Like what do you think that the planning commission can do other than what the states tells tells them they could do? What can we do to build all this housing that we want to? I think ultimately planning's the planning commission's greatest asset is to have the opportunity to engage both with council and with the public about what it thinks is the best path forward.

Right? our ability to work with you and try to guide you on what the best decision is is where we're where we create the the largest amount of force uh for the fulcrum that gets housing built. So, do we have control over what you know uh Sacramento does?

Not really. Somewhat. I mean our are our the most amount of power that I as a commissioner have is when I have uh people in the room who I can speak with intelligently about uh the the policies that I've hear about from listening to them actively and that is what I would want to do most as a as a commissioner for uh for the planning for as a commissioner for whatever capacity I serve in. Thank you. Thanks for your question.

Thank you. I'm up next. And so, first, thank you for your service on the parks commission and sharing that and and dealing with controversial issues. And definitely, you know, there's a few commissions, you know, planning, parks and wreck, I say BPAC that really take have some controversy at different times depending upon what the issues are. So, so thank you for sharing that commission. Uh, and your interest in in applying for planning, you know, and this is this is Yeah, you are correct. Ultimately, it's up to to council to figure out, you know, what where to best use commissioners, and we've had commissioners in the past that have kind of transitioned from one commission to another in the middle of their term. and especially planning commission is one of those commissions where seats don't go up open up that often. So, so whether or not it's this year, next year or future years, thank you for applying. Um, let's talk about little nuts and bolts. So, so one of the things that you know we have in our downtown is is a mixture of architecture. you're an architect um from let's say the historic Murphy Avenue budded against high-rise you know office buildings um housing what's your what's your take on the architecture and that transition and and you know what past councils have done and that developers done for for that from the downtown just to just to get your opinion and how you feel about what's what is there Now,

you know what? One of my favorite things to do of late is to bring friends on an architect tour of downtown Sunnyale. It's been a lot of fun seeing people who haven't been in Sunnyale for a while, find an easy parking space, one

and then two, a really great place to have uh something to eat, and then three, an excellent stroll around the community to see what's been built here over the course of the last three years. And that's like a big testament uh to you guys, right? the vision that you've had for what the city could be. I am grateful for being in this city and seeing that change happen. What I would continue to like to see is, you know, more of it. I love seeing how the city is transitioning from uh a suburban uh mentality to an urban zone mentality. And I think that there's a limit to the amount of vacant space that's available here in Sunnyvale. And we need to make the most out of what those opportunities present. And we can do that by adjusting our zoning appropriately to make sure that we meet the the the regional housing uh uh uh requirements uh and provide the housing and transportation and park and park and recreation uh needs that this community has. Um, and I see, you know, these the expansion of our current downtown and I see the expansion uh of our city to a second core over at Moffett Field uh as excellent opportunities to do that. Um, the idea of me being able to participate in that that that's something I certainly appreciate having that opportunity to do.

Okay. Thank you. And very quick, from an architectural standpoint, any opinion, any any view? So, so

I really love the terracotta on the new office buildings on on on Washington Avenue. I think that that was a really great touch, right? I appreciate coming off of the train station and you're seeing that arc, that little arc to triumph between the two 12story uh um you know uh uh uh uh residential towers at at the Martin. I think there are other opportunities, you know, that that could be uh embraced too, right? You know, dealing with textures, dealing with uh um uh different materials. I think embracing uh uh uh sustainable building uh uh uh technologies like as in uh engineered uh hardwoods, uh cross laminate timbers. These are fantastic ideas that we can grow with, that we can build with, and that we can grant additional F. Um so,

perfect. Yeah, that that that's Thank you. Um, next up is council member Cisneras.

Hello, David. It's wonderful to see you. Um, thank you so much for your service on the parks commission. It is a hard commission to be on and requires a lot of work and attention. So, I really appreciate that and your leadership in the community generally. Um, my question is that starts off with the state has issued a number of directives to cities in addition to simply increasing supply that we must meet as part of our housing element process. And this one in particular, I feel it's just a moral. We should do it. And that is to affirmatively further fair housing. And that's to correct historical segregation, whether that be just de facto segregation or segregation in fact, segregation in law from historical periods when that was legal. How should we approach that in Sunnyville? What are the next things that we should do as we're plan as we're building out our planning uh to affirmative affirmatively further fair housing? Um so uh the question is what can we do as a city to affirmatively embrace fair housing opportunities

to further fair housing opportunities for for everyone who's here the I think that Sunnyville is doing a great job of building affordable housing units period. Uh I think it embracing that even more by doing uh by by building more is an excellent step forward with uh fair housing uh um embracing fair housing uh elements. I think that focusing on transportation alternatives to uh to bus students from uh impoverished neighborhoods of Sunnyville to uh to um to other school districts is a great idea. I think that spending money on resources I'm sorry, what

is that legal? I Isn't there currently we're the city's working on um transportation transportation alternatives for what's going on on the north side of 101 at Lakewood, right? Yeah. But that's uh they're in district for Fremont High School. They just the the trip is just really the school's very far. Yes, ma'am. From where they live. Yeah. But they're in districts still.

Yes, ma'am. That's what I'm referring to. So, trying to find out trying to trying to work on transportation solutions uh for impoverished neighborhoods to to uh to education assets is an excellent way of doing that. Uh and being able to spend resources on on um on assets within uh uh uh historically impoverished neighborhoods in Sunnyville to help develop them. Uh which is something that we see at parks and recre is another way of doing that. Um, I think that, you know, being able to focus building, you know, 20,000 plus new housing units over at Moffett, uh, Moffett Park, which is got zero housing available to it right now, is an excellent way of talking about how we can push, you know, uh, uh, how we can further uh, fair housing for our city, right? And one of the ways to do that is affordable housing units.

Does that make sense? Is there something else I can follow up with that on? When you say affordable housing, do you mean 100% affordable developments or do you mean inclusionary or units that are built as part of our inclusionary environment? I think that having mixed housing is going to be the solution for it. I don't think that I don't think that poor doors are the way that we want Sunnyville to be run. And I don't think poor neighborhoods are going to further uh uh uh are going to be able to further our desire to um to uh embrace uh fair housing. Right. It has to be integrated. Great.

And preferably through ownership opportunities and not through just rental opportunities. Excellent. Yes, we have a wonderful um program. It's wonderful. I know being able to expand on that is fantastic. Like how many single family homes are available through BMR? Right. It's limited. It is. Yeah. All right. Well, thank you so much for that answer. Council member Shane Bas.

Hey David, thanks for serving on parks and then as chair I have been a council lies on. The meetings were very well uh organized. So thank you for that. I am switching gears here. I'm asking you about your master's thesis. Do you remember? Yes. Okay. How can you adapt the master's thesis which seems to be a modular design as a scalable solution to address housing shortage? We have housing shortage. So yeah,

is there a way as a planning commissioner you could use that knowledge or that research you did? I thank you for asking that and thank you for noticing and spending time at the parks and rec commission. I I really appreciate you being there. I appreciate your uh your toutelage while uh while while I'm there. Um it helps make the meetings run smoother and I appreciate being seen.

Thank you. Um I think that there's a handful of ways that we can solve our housing problem. Uh and one of them is to change our building technique, right? Uh and going from the traditional housing uh uh construction style um where we're building the same same uh we're building a unique type of home consistently again and again and again is not efficient. It's incredibly inefficient. And we can decrease the amount of time we spend uh building a single housing unit. And we can decrease the amount of money spent on building a housing unit by introducing h housing uh that's being constructed uh within factory walls. Right? Similar to what's being gone going on in Oakland uh for West O in Oakland at West Oakland. Similar to what's being produced over at the Dog Patch in San Francisco. All those are being constructed by uh by Rick Holiday uh over at Factory OS, right? All those uh construction is being being done over at Rad Urban uh by Randy um by Randy Myers. The opportunity to to construct a modular uh build type is a promise of being able to build faster and less uh with with and with less uh with less overall expense. Being able to embrace that is um a way that we can increase our production overall. I ultimately as a country we need 5 million new housing units, right? And the only way we can build 5 million new housing units is is rapid deployment of scale, right? And that can't be done by a general contractor in one team. It has to be done at a factory that pushes these things out, right? And what better place than Silicon Valley to know how to do something like that, right?

Okay. So, you should convince the developers to use this technology, right?

I mean, I think that there are developers who do want to use that technology. I mean, Holiday is doing a really good job over at Factory OS. You know, Ry's doing a good job over at Route Urban. It's it's there. It's just a matter of embracing it and saying, "This is how we're going to start building housing." It's it's consistent in a number of different cultures, least of which is Japan, where uh the housing is deployed rapidly. You know, after after Fukushima, the the the modular housing uh um uh uh uh uh industry produced houses immediately to to to home uh people who were affected by by uh by the tsunami and the fallout from that location. It was like overnight, right? the the it's just a matter of helping people see what the opportunities are for new solutions to existing problems and and deploying it. So,

thank you for for your question, sir. Thank you very much. Thank you. And lastly, Council Member S.

Um, so what makes you passionate about the planning commission that you took place? Um, you know, housing was a big deal for me, right? Um, you know, my mom worked in real estate when I was a kid and uh, you know, I used to go in with her uh, to work. Um, and there was a lot of bank-owned properties in Florida and condos were really popular in the 1980s and people lost them really fast, right? And I would go in with her and make sure that they were painted and that we had electrical sockets like covered and uh, they could get back to market and and flipped, right? Um, and when I moved in with my father, um, I got to spend quite a bit of time with him and, you know, I love the guy dearly. Uh, but he's always needed a home. He's always kind of bounced around from one spot to another. And I've seen how it's affected his life, right? And when I went to college, I really wasn't prepared for it, right? And, uh, I ended up dropping out and then I tried again. And when I dropped out the second time, I lost my lease on my home and I was homeless, right, for two years, right? Living in my car, living with friends, anywhere I could be, right? And you learn a lot about yourself at that time. And the fact of the matter is when housing is provided for, when you have a place that's your own, right? When you have a place to go home to, a place to keep your stuff, a place where you know you're going to be safe for a little while, that makes everything else possible. That brings to the table addition services. That brings to the table uh food insecurity, right? Food security from can occur at that point in time. That brings to the table um uh uh mental health services for people who have dealt with the best of abuse,

right? These are all all key elements that are tied to housing opportunities. So having housing is a huge deal and it's it's something that I've experienced firsthand and it's something that I feel as though I've come a long way from and an opportunity that I want to provide for everybody else. So thank you for asking that. Thanks. Thank you. Thank you, David, for going through the process tonight. Council will make its final decision on May 19th. You don't need to be at the meeting to be selected. and then um the city clerk will get back with you with the final decision later in the week.

Thank you so much. I really do appreciate the opportunity to serve for you guys. If there's anything I can do to help out, please just let me know. You guys again. Have a good evening. And our next applicant will be Madu. And it doesn't look like um will be here. Oh, hi. Mu, your next applicant is here. Hi, Mu. Yes. Yes. Hi, I'm Sanville Mayor Larry Klein. Thank you for applying and let me give you a quick overview of the process. We have about 15 minutes for the interview. Uh, and so each council member will have a chance to ask you a question. Uh, keep that in mind as you're answering that question. And first up is Council Member Le.

Hi, thank you so much and thank you for applying to this commission. Planning is a huge part of our city. It's a I think our planning commissioners are really unsung heroes. um I have your application and um you has a really interesting background and thank you. I think a lot of people um uh it's great to see someone who is looking to contribute back to their community after um after extensive experience in in the professional world. Um I see that you did leadership Sunnyville. So um thank you. I wanted to ask you clearly you've lived in this community for a long time and you're aware I think everyone is aware at this point about California's housing crisis that we need we we have a lot of people who needs homes. Um, one of the current realities in California is that the state is giving us a lot more rules than we used to have. And so we as a city, you as a planning commissioner are going to be constrained by what the state wants. And sometimes what the state wants us to do is in opposition to what the neighborhoods want, what the residents want. And how do you think we can navigate that or how do you think you would navigate that?

No. Yeah. these kind of uh conflicting um you know statemandated versus the reality in the ground is often uh difficult to to navigate across. But I think one of the ways to look at the housing crisis is um to to look at how the land is being used today in Sunnyville. some some of the things that I think I researched this before coming is uh to look at some um underutilized you know strip malls or underutilized old industrial zones

uh that are not no longer being utilized or even huge parking lots right which are just lying waken. these could be used uh to to identify those kind of land parcels and then see if they could be redeveloped uh in Sunnyville. But you know there's such a shortage of of land use. So the other possible options are you know adding more density you know buildings with you know instead of singlestory uh homes you you have higher density homes as well.

Mhm. So those are some options but again to to you know to navigate through this is is a tough problem and uh we can look at some how some of the other cities are also doing things and maybe there's a way for um identifying using some kind of artificial intelligence to to understand which are these underutilized properties you know by uh you know traffic patterns and looking um you know energy usage and so on and and identifying those kind of uh land parcels. Thank you. Thank you. Um I'm up next.

Okay. Um thank you for your application uh and and very interested read very very interested reading. Um, you talked about human- centered design and what do you consider you know from from a from a planning and from a you know urban design standpoint what that what that represents.

So um you know every day there's something new with artificial intelligence. So one of the key things is the the whole guardrails and governance and privacy issues uh that are uh that are important when you're using some kind of artificial intelligence. So human- centered design is a key aspect or human in the loop is a key aspect of when certain critical decisions are being made for urban planning where you want to take into account the uh the impact on the the residents right and what um kind of um opinions they have trying to incorporate that so that uh you just don't rely on uh decisions made by artificial artificial intelligence uh in this. So having folks, humans in the loop is is actually very critical uh in putting those guard rails in.

Okay. Thank you very much, Council Member Cisneros.

Hello. Um hi. It's a pleasure to meet you. Thank you so much for applying and for your interest in serving the community in this way. It's really wonderful. My question is when planning commission convenes on something you mentioned human center design. I actually took that as part of my masters and policy program. So, it very much has a lot of applicability. Um, and I've thought about it frequently over the last six or so years. Um, you you we're involving the residents in that decision- making. There can be that conflict point where the residents do not want what's happening. There's constraints and and there's a lot of strong feelings in that room. What is your strategy to addressing residents who have very real feedback that needs to be heard and on the other hand um addressing the needs of the city and our goals and our documents,

right? Um so again, I mean you have to take into account the folks that are really being impacted with some of the decisions, right? Um also at the same time looking at the larger good of the the city, right? And finding that right balance between who's being impacted but you know the the benefits to the larger community is uh is also need to be factored in. Um again I you know it's it's important that you propose some kind of win-win in that situation and again it's a case by case basis. It's it's difficult to to give one sort of answer that can you know really you know

is a silver bullet to to you know fix these kind of issues. Yeah. So your strategy is to iterate and find that win-win solution that works for great thank you so much for the answer. Thank you. And next up is council member Shinbasa. Hi. Hey. Um your application was really detailed. Thank you very much. Um I was really intrigued on two different two separate things. One is your master's thesis master's project on using uh ML for uh broadband expansion. Correct. Right.

Right. So I would like to talk to you about that but that's not the question I will ask because we have digital broadband access problem right so I I'm scrolling your uh on the question of VMT reduction vehicles miles traveled reduction can you say that again sir can you uh on the enhancing I think the transportation mode shift that is vehicle miles traveled reduction. Right. Right. You say that potential improvement is can be focused on more robust first and last mile

strategies. Mhm. Okay. And then you have listed uh ebike share and other things. Is there any other strategy you can think of? because it should be applicable to all age groups and then all income levels and other things.

Right. Right. So, um you know there are things so if you look at the the uh the younger population school going or whatever um there are I know there are companies in the Bay Area that some kind of kids scaring or something which could potentially be used for from schools to for neighborhoods or something like that. So that you know that that last mile where every parent is going to pick up or drop off you know where some kind of sharing transportation sharing is is happening I think that's already some schools are using it maybe I think uh already

um you mentioned ebike and you know those kinds of things but last mile is always a is a tough problem um you know more bike lanes I know there is a initiative for that creek um where it's quite close to where I live in the sunny arts area where you want to create the the some kind of pathway where you can use that creek uh behind to you know that proposal is good but I I don't know what kind of opposition there is to that uh proposal as well but uh some things like that could ease this this issue of last mile problem

yeah e-commerce companies I've been trying to solve the first smile last mile problem for a long time. Right. Thank you very much. Sure. Thank you. Next up is council member cell. Hi. Hi. Um so what makes you passionate about applying for the um planning commission. So um I applied for both actually planning and sustainability I think. But yeah

are both of them. No, I think the planning commission planning is a is a it's a complex problem. I think that just trying to uh understand the the different stakeholders and trying to find the right u balance to to come up with a solution. So I think u a lot of the data can be used to be able to justify or come up with solutions uh for planning solutions the the land use uh zoning those kinds of things where you could actually use sort of datadriven decisions um without bringing any and and you know uh where all stakeholders can you know can be a fair in a way where the data doesn't lie you know it's it's it's logically U so I think that uh that kind of um uh attitude I mean that that's kind of how I've um been in my professional life sort of getting um products to market and and so on and so I think that approach and that framework sort of works uh well in when applying to any kind of complex uh problem I think sort of a system engineering problem where so many things are interconnected right and then so you want bring a different sort of way of looking at the problem.

Thank you. Thank you. Next up is Council Member Chang.

Hi, thank you for applying. Um it's very interesting you went back to get your MS and artificial intelligence and on sustainability. There's there's kind of a balance now between you know with artificial intelligence with data centers um and the environmental balance of that. So could you speak a little bit to that? Yeah, it's the whole nimi, right? They don't want data centers in their backyard. You know, there are towns and cities that are don't want data centers. Again, um you know, maybe renewable energy, you know, there are ways to um because the these data centers are big energy hogs, right? Then they they need a lot of electricity and lot of energy. um renewal is one way to to go about um you know water consumption is is another big uh issue with big data centers. So I I think technology will evolve. It'll get better and better. So you can optimize uh you know lower power. The chips are getting better. You know from like 30 years ago to now the the power consumption on chips have been going down and down. So th I think those optimizations will happen. Um but in the meantime you know there's the need for these big large data centers uh as well but maybe they are in sort of rural you know less dense areas where you could sort of construct these things. I mean today you have even um nuclear waste in these very remote areas where they're dumping and operating. So something like that is a possibility I think.

Thank you. Sure. Thank you. and coun and council member Le. Oh, she

Sorry. Thank you. Uh, thank you for going through the process this evening. Okay. Um, the council will be making its final decision on May 19th. You don't need to be part of that meeting in order to be selected. Okay. And then the city clerk will get back with you uh later in the week with the final results. Okay. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thanks. And our Sorry, Council Member Le. No, I'm paying attention. I'm texting with the with the city clerk. Um, we have no other applicants.

That we will be adjourning the meeting at 10:17 p.m. Thank you all for a long two long evenings. Yeah. Good night.