I'd like to call this meeting to order. I'd like to call this meeting to order. Could you take the roll, please? Kamei. Campos. President. Tordillos here. Cohen Cohen Ortiz Mulcahy here. Doan. Here. Candelas. Here. Casey. Casey. Foley here. Mahan absent. Mahan absent. We have a quorum. We have a quorum. Wonderful. Wonderful. Thank you. Thank you. Now, if you're able, please rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And to the Republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Welcome everyone. Today's invocation will be provided by Dan Gross, executive director of the Gross, executive director of the Youth Science Institute. us more. Yes. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Council member Cohen. Council member Cohen. Please tell us more. Please tell Alum Rock Park. Today, our invocation will be presented by Youth Science Institute located in Alum Rock Park. They were here a couple years ago bringing some of their friends, and we couple years ago bringing some of their friends, and we thought we'd invite them back for an encore presentation. YAC provides hands on, nature based education for children and families with provides hands on, nature based education for children and families with centers in Alum Rock Park, Sanborn County Park and Lake County Park. YAC school programs, summer camps, and weekend science safaris at their nature centers in Alum Rock Park, Sanborn County Park and Lake County Park. Joining us today are Dan Gross, the CEO. Joining us today are Dan Gross, the CEO. animal friends. Their lead animal curator, and some of our animal friends. Alexander Shaw. Alexander Shaw. Their lead animal curator, and some of our Thank you. Thank you. Council member Cohen. Council member Cohen. Thank you, council members, and good afternoon. Thank you, council members, and good afternoon. My name is Dan Gross. My name is Dan Gross. I'm the executive director of the Youth Science Institute, or as we call it, YAC. I'm the executive director of the Youth Science Institute, or as we call it YAC. honored to deliver the invocation for you all this afternoon. We are honored to deliver the invocation for you all this afternoon. We are And we serve thousands of families across Santa Clara County, including at families across Santa Clara County, including at our nature centers at Alum Rock, Sanborn and Vasona. But the real stars of our show and our work with kids and families for our But the real stars of our show and our work with kids and families for our school and group programs and our summer programs are our animal ambassadors. So I'm pleased to bring up Alex Short, who is our lead animal curator who's Short, who is our lead animal curator, who's going to introduce you to three of interact with students on a daily basis at YAC. So I'm pleased to bring up Alex our animal ambassadors that regularly interact with students on a daily basis at YAC. So we focus on, of course, educating children in all sciences. Take it away, Alex. Take it away, Alex. Yes. Yes. But one of our main goals is also getting them more in touch with nature. You'd be surprised at how many visitors we have that that have never really seen that are just local to around here. how many visitors we have that that have never really seen a lot of the animals So whether it's summer camps or free nature centers or just the events we summer camps or free nature centers or just the events we hold at Alum Rock Park, our animals are often a big part of it. Now, a lot of these animals are ones that aren't super exotic, but are are ones that aren't super exotic, but are actually ones that still people have actually ones that still people have never seen. Now, a lot of these animals never seen. Like for example. Like for example. One one that people often don't see because of nocturnal, although they're there's really water and nature. often don't see because of nocturnal, although they're all around anywhere, the Western toad. This one is actually the, one of the favorites of the children is actually the Western toad. This actually the animal gets the biggest laughs of all, almost all of laughs of all, almost all of them, because of how they act. Now raise your hand if you've ever seen a Western toad before, either in the either in the wild or at a zoo. Now these guys, they're nocturnal, so they're one of those that a lot of Now these guys, they're nocturnal, so they're one of those that a lot of people that are from the city, they're not really around in the parks. They're. But they're all around. But they're all around. that they don't even know are there. So it's a way that we show that the, the animals, that people just are around that they don't even know are there. Now, she is actually also really old. She's about 15 years old, which is pretty big old for them. She's about 15 years old, which is pretty big old for them. Now she's actually puffing up for, for you guys. Now she's actually puffing up for, for you guys. That is actually a defense. That is actually a defense. She makes herself look big. She makes herself look big. Now our next animal is a good representative of the weird and wild that are found from around the world. Now our next animal is a good representative of the weird and wild that are found from around the world. Who is anyone here afraid of? Who is anyone here afraid of? Snakes? Snakes? It's okay. It's okay. It's a hard wired into our into our. It's a hard wired into our into our. It's hard wired into our species. It's hard wired into our species. But I promise this next one is super friendly. But I promise this next one is super friendly. And actually one of the more bizarre looking snakes in the world. And actually one of the more bizarre looking snakes in the world. She is a Kenyan sand boa from the deserts of Africa. She is a Kenyan sand boa from the deserts of Africa. Now she gets that name not just because of where she's from, but because she actually likes to dig. Now she gets that name not just because of where she's from, but because she actually likes to dig. She digs all through the sand. She digs all through the sand. And because of that, she has a very odd face. And because of that, she has a very odd face. She actually has her. She actually has her. Her face is actually. Her face is actually. Her eyes are more on the top of her head. Her eyes are more on the top of her head. And that's because. And that's because. So she can little pop them up like an alligator out of the sand. So she can little pop them up like an alligator out of the sand. Now she might look. Now she might look. Her name is cheddar. Her name is cheddar. And while she might look bright and colorful, that is actually because she is camouflaged against the orange sand in the Kenyan deserts. And while she might look bright and colorful, that is actually because she is camouflaged against the orange sand in the Kenyan deserts. Now she is also more thick and less long than the average snake, and she actually loves warmth. Now she is also more thick and less long than the average snake, and she actually loves warmth. Even though a lot of people are afraid of snakes. Even though a lot of people are afraid of snakes. It's a good example of how we show kids to get used to to to them, even despite fear. It's a good example of how we show kids to get used to to to them, even despite fear. We have lots of kids that start out afraid of our tarantulas or snakes. We have lots of kids that start out afraid of our tarantulas or snakes. And yet, as soon as we say that this one's name is cheddar, you get a lot of the same kids that were backing up and trying to avoid them to go, and wanting to be the first to pet them. And yet, as soon as we say that this one's name is cheddar, you get a lot of the same kids that were backing up and trying to avoid them to go, and wanting to be the first to pet them. Now she has little tiny eyes. Now she has little tiny eyes. That is also a good sign of how she digs. That is also a good sign of how she digs. Now we actually have a local species that's kind of like that too, called the the rubber boa that also looks kind of pudgy and lives in the soil around here. Now we actually have a local species that's kind of like that too, called the the rubber boa that also looks kind of pudgy and lives in the soil around here. Now, our last animal friend is actually our state reptile. Now, our last animal friend is actually our state reptile. Raise your hand if you you know what our state reptile is. Raise your hand if you you know what our state reptile is. Raise your hand if you even know we have a state reptile. Raise your hand if you even know we have a state reptile. Our state reptile is actually from the deserts of Southern California. Our state reptile is actually from the deserts of Southern California. And she is our oldest animal. And she is our oldest animal. Well, her and her cousin, the Florida Gopher tortoise. Well, her and her cousin, the Florida Gopher tortoise. She is a California desert tortoise, and she is over a century, years, over a century old. She is a California desert tortoise, and she is over a century, years, over a century old. Her name is Daisy. Her name is Daisy. And she actually just woke up. And she actually just woke up. They brumate for half the year. They brumate for half the year. She's been awake. She's been awake. She's been asleep since October without eating or drinking. She's been asleep since October without eating or drinking. Now, without drinking is not much because she actually gets all her water from her food even when she's awake. Now, without drinking is not much because she actually gets all her water from her food even when she's awake. But she actually just woke up literally two days ago. But she actually just woke up literally two days ago. And so she one of the reasons tortoises live long is because of that is because they go in brumation and save themselves when it's too cold. And so she one of the reasons tortoises live long is because of that is because they go in brumation and save themselves when it's too cold. Okay, now she's a good example of how some some cultural views come from science. Okay, now she's a good example of how some some cultural views come from science. The idea. The idea. In a lot of cultures, tortoises and turtles are signs of longevity. In a lot of cultures, tortoises and turtles are signs of longevity. That is because a lot of them are long living. That is because a lot of them are long living. But that's not always true. But that's not always true. Well, this one is true. Well, this one is true. Other ones are false, such as how owls are symbols of wisdom, although they actually do not have that much high of intelligence. Other ones are false, such as how owls are symbols of wisdom, although they actually do not have that much high of intelligence. Okay, so thank you here. Okay, so thank you here. This is a good example of of the type of education that we give the kids, whether they come from our, our field trips, our science safaris, or even just the visit, they often get to pet these animals and see these animals that they would never get to see in the wild. This is a good example of of the type of education that we give the kids, whether they come from our, our field trips, our science safaris, or even just the visit, they often get to pet these animals and see these animals that they would never get to see in the wild. So I want to thank you guys for your support and your time. So I want to thank you guys for your support and your time. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. And I'll remind people who are not aware that the YAC Museum, which has a lot of these animals in it, is open to the public. And I'll remind people who are not aware that the YAC Museum, which has a lot of these animals in it, is open to the public. So if you come up to Alum Rock Park, you can find the YAC Museum about halfway up the canyon, and you ought to stop in and take a look and see some of these animals for yourself. So if you come up to Alum Rock Park, you can find the YAC Museum about halfway up the canyon, and you ought to stop in and take a look and see some of these animals for yourself. Yep, it's free. Yep, it's free. Thank you for that. Thank you for that. And I'll just add a personal note. And I'll just add a personal note. My mother in law, Shirley Foley, was one of the founding members of YAC when it came to when it was brought to San Jose. My mother in law, Shirley Foley, was one of the founding members of YAC when it came to when it was brought to San Jose. So I when I see this, I always think about her a little bit. So I when I see this, I always think about her a little bit. Thank you. Thank you. Moving on to the ceremonials, will Council Member Doan please join me at the podium? Moving on to the ceremonials, will Council Member Doan please join me at the podium? As we recognize and proclaim April 30th as Black April. As we recognize and proclaim April 30th as Black April. Thank you everyone for being here. Thank you everyone for being here. Today. Today. We come together to recognize a date of profound historical and emotional significance. We come together to recognize a date of profound historical and emotional significance. April 30th known as Black April, marked the fall of Saigon in 1975, a moment that signaled not just the end of the war, but a loss of homeland for many over two millions of Vietnamese people. April 30th known as Black April, marked the fall of Saigon in 1975, a moment that signaled not just the end of the war, but a loss of homeland for many over two millions of Vietnamese people. It was not simply the end of a conflict, but the beginning of unimaginable lost displacement and uncertainty. It was not simply the end of a conflict, but the beginning of unimaginable lost displacement and uncertainty. Hundreds of thousands of people died crossing the ocean for freedom. Hundreds of thousands of people died crossing the ocean for freedom. Family were separated, lives were uprooted, a homeland was left behind after under the most dangerous circumstances. Family were separated, lives were uprooted, a homeland was left behind after under the most dangerous circumstances. And yet, from this trial, tragic emerge extraordinary resilience. And yet, from this trial, tragic emerge extraordinary resilience. Those who sought refuge in the United States, including many who made their homes right here in the city of San Jose, arrive with little but carry with them something far greater like courage, determination and unbreakable spirit. Those who sought refuge in the United States, including many who made their homes right here in the city of San Jose, arrive with little but carry with them something far greater like courage, determination and unbreakable spirit. They built their lives from the ground up. They built their lives from the ground up. They established families, businesses and communities. They established families businesses and communities. They contribute to the cultural richness, economic vitality, a civic life of our city in a way that continue to shape San Jose into the vibrant and diverse place it is today. They contribute to the cultural richness, economic vitality, a civic life of our city in a way that continue to shape San Jose into the vibrant and diverse place it is today. The Vietnamese American community has never forgotten its history. The Vietnamese American community has never forgotten its history. Each year, through solemn remembrance and collective reflection, we honor those who lost their lives and acknowledged the sacrifice that made new beginning possible. Each year, through solemn remembrance and collective reflection, we honor those who lost their lives and acknowledged the sacrifice that made new beginning possible. Community organization, including groups like Vietnamese American Roundtable, play a vital role in ensuring that this history is preserved and shared through advocacy, education and community engagement so that future generations understand not only the past, but the value of resilience, unity, and cultural pride that define this community. Community organization, including groups like Vietnamese American Roundtable, play a vital role in ensuring that this history is preserved and shared through advocacy, education and community engagement so that future generations understand not only the past, but the value of resilience, unity, and cultural pride that define this community. Brock April is not only a day of mourning, it is a testament to endurance. Brock April is not only a day of mourning, it is a testament to endurance. It is a reminder that even in the face of profound hardship, hope can take root and flourish. It is a reminder that even in the face of profound hardship, hope can take root and flourish. And so. And so. It is with great respect and solemn recognition that I join Vice Mayor and my colleagues, and I invite my colleagues to come on down. It is with great respect and solemn recognition that I join Vice Mayor and my colleagues, and I invite my colleagues to come on down. To commemorate this proclamation, April 30th, 2026, as Black April in the City of San Jose, may we continue not only to remember, but to carry forward this legacy honoring the sacrifice of the past, uplifting the voice of the present, and inspire generation to come. To commemorate this proclamation, April 30th, 2026, as Black April in the City of San Jose, may we continue not only to remember, but to carry forward this legacy honoring the sacrifice of the past, uplifting the voice of the present, and inspire generation to come. Thank you for all of you being here. Thank you for all of you being here. Thank you my colleague, for standing with the Vietnamese community. Thank you, my colleague, for standing with the Vietnamese community. And now the Vice Mayor will present the proclamation to our community. And now the Vice Mayor will present the proclamation to our community. On this. On this. We got one more. We got one more. Come on down. Come on down. A little bit more. A little bit more. A little bit more. A little bit more. So we don't get that. So we don't get that. So we get the podium out of the way. So we get the podium out of the way. All right. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, thank you. Thank you, thank you. Thank you, thank you Philip. Thank you, thank you Philip. Good to see. Good to see. Thank you. Thank you. Next, I'd like to invite Council Member Doan to stay here. Next, I'd like to invite Council Member Doan to stay here. And Council Member Campos to join me at the podium as we recognize and proclaim May 1st as May day. And Council Member Campos to join me at the podium as we recognize and proclaim May 1st as May day. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Thank you, Vice Mayor. I'd also like to invite any colleagues who want to join me in this commendation for May day to please make their way down. I'd also like to invite any colleagues who want to join me in this commendation for May day to please make their way down. Today we proclaim May day, also known as International Workers Day. Today we proclaim May day, also known as International Workers Day. And I want to thank the community members, the organizers present and who represent thousands of working families in San Jose and across Santa Clara County. And I want to thank the community members, the organizers present and who represent thousands of working families in San Jose and across Santa Clara County. It's important that we uplift their contributions and those of our community partners who work every day to secure better labor standards and working conditions for women, youth, and people with disabilities. It's important that we uplift their contributions and those of our community partners who work every day to secure better labor standards and working conditions for women, youth, and people with disabilities. It's because of trailblazers in the labor movement that secured better working conditions. It's because of trailblazers in the labor movement that secured better working conditions. Back when our children were seen as viable laborers. Back when our children were seen as viable laborers. It wasn't too long ago that children were working in coal mines in the United States, and because of the labor movement, we were able to secure protections for children, people with disabilities, women, and those who are most impacted by working conditions, by organizing their voices and their struggles, working families in San Jose and across the Silicon Valley are facing high cost of living. It wasn't too long ago that children were working in coal mines in the United States, and because of the labor movement, we were able to secure protections for children, people with disabilities, women, and those who are most impacted by working conditions, by organizing their voices and their struggles, working families in San Jose and across the Silicon Valley are facing high cost of living. Specifically, the rising cost of housing and child care. Specifically, the rising cost of housing and child care. And it is important that we, as a council, prioritize affordability and address the financial stress that working families are experiencing. And it is important that we, as a council, prioritize affordability and address the financial stress that working families are experiencing. Our city must be seen as a partner with organized labor to create well paying union jobs that support the working families who then support our residents, our neighbors, and our community. Our city must be seen as a partner with organized labor to create well paying union jobs that support the working families who then support our residents, our neighbors, and our community. And I am thrilled to be joined by Jean Cohen, executive officer of the South Bay Labor Council and David Bini, executive director of the Santa Clara and San Benito Counties Building and construction Trades, who will jointly receive today's proclamation. And I am thrilled to be joined by Jean Cohen, executive officer of the South Bay Labor Council, and David Bini, executive director of the Santa Clara and San Benito Counties Building and construction Trades, who will jointly receive today's proclamation. I will now invite David Bini to speak. I will now invite David Bini to speak. Before we invite Jane to speak, and then the vice mayor, who will present the commendation. Before we invite Jane to speak, and then the vice mayor, who will present the commendation. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Council member. Thank you, Council member. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. I represent thousands of skilled craft workers of our local building trades unions. I represent thousands of skilled craft workers of our local building trades unions. And as we mark International Workers Day, I call on you to remember that every skyline we admire and every road that we drive on is built by the hands of these men and women. And as we mark International Workers Day, I call on you to remember that every skyline we admire and every road that we drive on is built by the hands of these men and women. And I emphasize that our strength lies in our people. And I emphasize that our strength lies in our people. We appreciate this recognition, and we ask for continued investment in registered apprenticeships and rising labor standards. We appreciate this recognition, and we ask for continued investment in registered apprenticeships and rising labor standards. Let's ensure that as our city grows, the workers who build it can afford to live in it. Let's ensure that as our city grows, the workers who build it can afford to live in it. I'd like to introduce my partner in this work, executive officer of the South Bay Labor Council, Jean Cohen. I'd like to introduce my partner in this work, executive officer of the South Bay Labor Council, Jean Cohen. Thank you to the Vice Mayor and the City Council for this proclamation. Thank you to the Vice Mayor and the City Council for this proclamation. A May day International Workers Day is a global day of action rooted in the struggle of working people and the ongoing fight for workers rights, dignity and collective power. A May day International Workers Day is a global day of action rooted in the struggle of working people and the ongoing fight for workers rights, dignity and collective power. That history is not behind us. That history is not behind us. It is San Jose today. It is San Jose today. This city runs because of workers and immigrants. This city runs because of workers and immigrants. They build our homes. They build our homes. They care for our families. They care for our families. They keep our hospitals running and power our economy. They keep our hospitals running and power our economy. And often they are the first to be exploited and the last to be protected. And often they are the first to be exploited and the last to be protected. May day calls on us to lead, to stand with immigrants and working families, to support the amazing City of San Jose workforce, to set a clear standard that every job in this city comes with dignity and respect and a living wage. May day calls on us to lead, to stand with immigrants and working families, to support the amazing City of San Jose workforce, to set a clear standard that every job in this city comes with dignity and respect and a living wage. At the South Bay Labor Council, we are proud to lead with these values, organizing and advocating and building power so that working people are never left behind because a strong city is not measured only by what we build, but by who shares in the opportunity and prosperity. At the South Bay Labor Council, we are proud to lead with these values, organizing and advocating and building power so that working people are never left behind because a strong city is not measured only by what we build, but by who shares in the opportunity and prosperity. We accept this proclamation with pride and urgency, and for the hard work of the San Jose May Day Coalition, who invite you at 2 p.m. to join us at King and Story to march to City Hall. We accept this proclamation with pride and urgency, and for the hard work of the San Jose May Day Coalition, who invite you at 2 p.m. to join us at King and Story to march to City Hall. Because the labor movement here is organized, united and ready, ready to fight for dignity and fairness for every worker. Because the labor movement here is organized, united and ready, ready to fight for dignity and fairness for every worker. This is International Workers Day and it is San Jose at its best. This is International Workers Day and it is San Jose at its best. Thank you so much for this recognition. Thank you so much for this recognition. And I want to acknowledge and thank the May Day Coalition as well. And I want to acknowledge and thank the May Day Coalition as well. And we'll scot over for a picture. And we'll scoot over for a picture. And everybody, let's go this way. And everybody, let's go this way. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And finally, I'd like to call forward Council Member Mulcahy. And finally, I'd like to call forward Council Member Mulcahy. As we recognize the Autism Society, San Francisco Bay area. As we recognize the Autism Society, San Francisco Bay area. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Today marks the end of our city's recognition of Autism Awareness Month. Today marks the end of our city's recognition of Autism Awareness Month. And each week we've recognized organizations doing this important work in our community. And each week we've recognized organizations doing this important work in our community. And it's an honor to recognize the Autism Society, San Francisco Bay area for its decades of leadership and service to our community. And it's an honor to recognize the Autism Society, San Francisco Bay area for its decades of leadership and service to our community. Since 1967, Sforza has been a driving force in bringing together families, advocates, and professionals to build a stronger, more connected autism community across our region. Since 1967, Sforza has been a driving force in bringing together families, advocates, and professionals to build a stronger, more connected autism community across our region. What makes this organization especially impactful is its role as a hub, connecting over 20,000 autism families to critical information, resources and each other. What makes this organization especially impactful is its role as a hub, connecting over 20,000 autism families to critical information, resources and each other. Their work ensures that no one has to navigate autism alone, Sforza also plays a vital role in education and awareness. Their work ensures that no one has to navigate autism alone, Sforza also plays a vital role in education and awareness. Hosting events, conferences and conversations that deepen understanding and strengthen community ties. Hosting events, conferences and conversations that deepen understanding and strengthen community ties. And just as important is their advocacy. And just as important is their advocacy. They've been a clear, consistent voice calling attention to the urgent need for expanding lifelong care services and support for individuals with autism. They've been a clear, consistent voice calling attention to the urgent need for expanding lifelong care services and support for individuals with autism. Their work reminds us that building an inclusive city means supporting every resident and every family with dignity, respect, and real resources. Their work reminds us that building an inclusive city means supporting every resident and every family with dignity, respect, and real resources. On behalf of the City of San Jose, we're proud to recognize and commend the Autism Society San Francisco Bay area for its lasting impact and unwavering commitment to our community. On behalf of the City of San Jose, we're proud to recognize and commend the Autism Society, San Francisco Bay area for its lasting impact and unwavering commitment to our community. I'd like to now introduce Jill Escher from the Autism Society to say a few words. I'd like to now introduce Jill Escher from the Autism Society to say a few words. And then following that, our Vice Mayor will present a commendation. And then following that, our Vice Mayor will present a commendation. Jill. Jill. Thank you so much, Council Member Mulcahy. Thank you so much Council Member Mulcahy. Thanks to all of my friends from Autism Society. Thanks to all of my friends from Autism Society. I'm the past President of Autism Society, San Francisco Bay area, and the current president. I'm the past President of Autism Society, San Francisco Bay area, and the current president. And here we have Sadie Randall, my fellow D6 resident, who is the incoming president of what we call SF Aza Autism Society. And here we have Sadie Randall, my fellow D6 resident, who is the incoming president of what we call SF Aza Autism Society. San Francisco Bay area may serve seven counties, but our home, I would say our home base is very much. San Francisco Bay area may serve seven counties, but our home, I would say our home base is very much. Here in San Jose. Here in San Jose. Our mailing address is in San Jose. Our mailing address is in San Jose. When I took over as president, some ladies from the northern peninsula said, Jill, please, please, please come rescue our organization. When I took over as president, some ladies from the northern peninsula said, Jill, please, please, please come rescue our organization. And our office, you know, was rooted right here in D six of San Jose. And our office, you know, was rooted right here in D six of San Jose. And since that time, we have found the city of San Jose to indeed be a very >> Captions by Wordly.ai << Part of it means rethinking how we spend the money that we have access to pavement maintenance program is just that. It's maintenance. It's maintaining the status quo. We need to make different decisions about how we spend our money in order to bring us to the livable streets that we say that we want. Of course, we do work on Vision Zero, but because we spend all this money on simply putting asphalt down in the same places, we end up having to rely on very hard to get grants for our big safety projects. So I really encourage us to move the needle and spend the money a little differently. Thank you. I'm just I don't understand why 210 is here. It didn't go through the proper channels. It didn't go to Hcdc. There's no public comment about it. There's no public interaction at all. And this is a huge deal. I mean, as you know, I work with unhoused people every day and I'm dealing with people who are in permanent supportive housing, who can't pay their rent as it is. I don't know why we would make it harder. I am at the jungle every day, and people are just hoping they can get into permanent supportive housing, and this is going to make permanent supportive housing farther away for them. It's going to make it where they're like, why am I even going to try and get into permanent supportive housing? It's something that's unaffordable to me. Why would we make it permanent? Supportive housing, unaffordable to people? Like, what are we doing and why isn't there public comment involved in this? Why didn't we follow the proper channels? You take things like this to Hcdc HD, DC rec does their recommendation and then it's agendized for council. And then council has discussion and votes on it. Why is it on consent? Like this is like a travel item or this is something like paying for 4th of July. It's just seems really shady. And I don't understand like, why is it being handled this way? I am hoping Candelas that that's why you're taking it off. I'm hoping that you're going to address it and say, hey, we should take this back to Hcdc. It should go through the right channels. But I don't understand. I really don't understand why you would want to scare a bunch of people who already live in PSH, and then scare away people who want to get into PSH, and then the people who just got into some housing, that's. Those people have to deal with the flooding. They don't have wi fi. All the units ended up getting flooded when it rained. I mean, and that already happened at Ferrari, the second Ru two. So what you're giving people is and now you're going to charge them money for it. Great. My name is Jose. I'm also here to speak to item 210 in the consent calendar, which would authorize the city to raise rent on permanent supportive housing. I also agree that this item should not be voted on as part of the consent calendar, but it should go to Hcdc as per the usual processes, so that community members can give their input. Hcdc can give a recommendation, and the item can proceed to a dedicated City Council vote. Our unhoused community members and housing insecure people are, you know, in need of a lot of support in these times, as we just talked about with the proclamation of May day, working people are under increased pressure increased housing costs, cost of living gasses up. And I think now is not the time to just unilaterally make these decisions behind closed doors, instead of allowing the community to have full engagement in the process. Thank you. Hello, my name is Laila. I'm also here to talk about item 21210 on, you know, not having HCB, not having that item be on the consent calendar. This would potentially raise rent on permanent supportive housing which should not be done without taking the people's judgment into mind. This item should not be voted on as part of the consent calendar. It should go through Hcdc as per the normal process, so that community members can give their input. The streets of California can be a death sentence to many, so it should go through the proper channels. It should go through the hcdc so they can give proper recommendation, and the item can then proceed to a dedicated city Council vote. The people must always have their voices heard. Thank you. Hello, city Council and staff. My name is Philip. I'm a San Jose State alumni and I work in San Jose. I'm A NCIU521 steward. I'm here to speak against the item 2.10 on the consent calendar. This shouldn't be there. There needs to be a regular process for allowing community input through the Hcdc. We can't. We can't be ham with this issue. It's it's really not democracy without community buy in and support when it's just literally one person deciding whether or not to raise rent on folks struggling to survive with with even these necessary housing options. That's that's not good. So yeah, thank. You. Hi there. My name is John. I'm a San Jose State alumni and member of students for a Democratic Society. I'm also speaking out on the consent calendar item 210, urging for it to go through the proper channels of Hcdc. This has grave implications for our housing insecure and unhoused members of our community. It should be opened up to wider public discussion. Things are hard enough, as is with the rising cost of living and an item like this warrants more attention and should not be unilaterally decided upon or hidden away in the consent calendar. Thank you. Back to Council. Thank you. I'd like to turn to Council Member Candelas who pulled this item. Thank you, Vice Mayor. I do have a few questions for for Eric on this. And while you come down, I guess I wanted to ask a little bit of clarity, given some concerns. I've heard from housing advocates. Specifically on, I guess, on the intent and the short term impact on the item. And one of the first question I have is, what properties are we looking at with regards to, quote unquote, floating up rents? So thank you. Councilmember Candelas, this is Eric Sullivan, director of housing. So I'll give some brief context. What the language does. It changes zero rents for those who are in occupied rent and occupied units. What this provides is it extends existing authority to negotiate pre- construction for the funding of deeply affordable housing. Given ever increasing rising costs and limitations on loans that we can provide out, this adds additional flexibility within the existing caps for both the low and moderate income site, which is 60% Ami and below, and then measure E, which goes up to 120% and below. And it stays within the statutory. As issued by TAC, as well as any existing federal funds for vouchers. Got it. Okay. All right. That's that's helpful. That's helpful to understand. And I guess one of the concerns we heard is what would happen to the units that get float. Will they get displaced to the folks that are living there? Nothing applies related to this provision for change, for added negotiating leverage as well as ability, because it cannot impact any existing occupied units. So will not, as an example, for severely distressed 100% PSH buildings that are financially in disrepair. This would allow for opportunities to mix Amis below the existing 50% Ami caps, so we can refinance the project and provide stabilization of the units. Wonderful. Thank you. Thank you for that clarity. And obviously, any transitional costs for the tenant that would obviously, relocation would be covered, correct? Correct. Okay. All right. Great. Thank you. I appreciate the time. Those are all the questions I had. And with that, I'll move approval of the consent calendar in its entirety. Okay. Thank you. I have a motion and a second council member, Tordillos. Thank you, Vice Mayor. And thank you, Eric, for the clarifications there. I'm also supportive of this item, recognizing that in, you know, throughout the city, but particularly in district three, we have a number of 100% affordable projects that are under severe financial distress. So being able to act nimbly here to step in, stabilize these projects address the very real possibility of losing these projects entirely, in which case we don't have any of the affordable units. And again, just highlighting some of the language in the ordinance that the authority here is specifically to limit any increases to the extent and only for the period of time necessary for the financial feasibility of the project. So I think this is a very narrowly tailored update to the ordinance and the authority being granted. And I think it addresses a real challenge that we're seeing with some of our affordable housing projects. So I support it. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Cohen. Yeah, thank you. Eric, I'm going to just ask for some more clarification. You gave a lot of technical speak there. So I just want to kind of make sure it's clear. What can you just describe an example for us of how this would apply? And I know that there was an example at a project that's there's two examples that you gave. One for a project that's currently that hasn't opened yet, that's under construction, that might need additional resources to make it pencil out, and another for a project that needs upgrading of an existing where there's already people living there. Can you just talk about how this would apply? Yes. Thank you, Councilmember Cohen. So in an existing project that's going to Preconstruction financing, there has been added costs. And since we have certain loan caps, what we can provide to each project, this provides alternate flexibility within the limitations as set by Tcac. So what that means specifically is as you look at the distribution across the units, is where they are and their existing area. Median income levels 50% 40% 30%. What it provides for is for those units that are at 30% or below, we can't adjust to them because there are certain requirements with Tcac, but at 40% 50%, we can mix and match some of those Amis to allow for additional revenues to go to the project to cover additional costs. That's an example for a pre- construction project or a project under construction. Getting near to construction completion for alternative projects, as I mentioned prior, that are already existing that may already have existing vacant units that were not leasing up because of other material issues with the project, of which, as Councilmember Tordillos had mentioned, there are at least two that are severely financial distress. We will again mix and match the Ami levels so that we're able to put the project on a more stable financial footing, so it will decrease some of the 40% up to 50%, make some adjustments to other Ami levels while still maintaining the requirements of the tax credit requirements. And any adjustment that's made on a units position on this affordability scale would only apply upon vacancy and wouldn't apply to somebody who's currently there. Is that correct? It only applies upon vacancy has to be a fully vacant unit in order for it to apply. There would be no adjustments. No adjustments to any existing tenants at any time. Correct. Right. Okay. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Thank you, Council member Tordillos. You forgot something. Yes I did. Sorry, Eric, one more quick question here. Just in the interest of transparency, I'm curious, as we do see, you know, any of these float ups on any of these projects, whether pre- construction or distressed existing assets, would it be possible to get a report back to council, either as an info memo or an update to CED, just to kind of outlaying kind of what has been done? Yes, yes. So I have to provide, as part of my delegation of authority report monthly updates on it. So any utilization would be included in that report, which I distribute out. And this would be included in that. Perfect. Thank you. Thank you. Seeing no other hands. Let's vote. Motion passes unanimously with one absent. Thank you. Next item we're moving item 7.1 immediately following the consent. This is a park master plan and official name for future park located on Rinconada Drive. And I understand we have a presentation. Good afternoon. Council members. My name is Raymond Cosentino. I'm the deputy director of Capital projects for parks, Recreation Neighborhood Services, and this afternoon we'll be presenting on the Park master plan and official name for the future park located along Rinconada Drive. And I'm going to pass it along to my colleague Han Lei, who will talk about the presentation. Afternoon Council members. My name is Hong Lei. I am with PRNS. So today we are presenting this Cross- department collaboration between parks, recreation neighborhood services and also public works. So we are seeking your approval to adopt the master plan. Official name for a future 1.2 acre neighborhood park located at the terminus of drive, adjacent to Almaden Expressway. This project, funded through measure T Clean water projects, will transform a currently undeveloped site into a community park that integrates green stormwater infrastructure, recreational amenities and pollinator gardens with native plantings shaped by extensive community input. Under this partnership is funded through is funding the park construction at no cost to PRNS. This project also supports the city's compliance with the San Francisco Bay Keeper Consent Decree, which requires the city to invest in green stormwater infrastructure improvements by August 2026. Jason from Public Works will walk you through the proposed park Master plan, including the site design and key features. Marybeth will then present the park planning process and the recommendation to adopt Bill Key Park as the official name. Both items were recommended for approval by the Parks and Recreation Commission. With that, I will turn it over to our colleague from Public Works to walk you through the project. Thank you. Good afternoon, Vice Mayor, City Council. My name is Jason Day. I'm a senior engineer with public works, transportation and hydraulic services. Storm CIP. Next slide please. Oh back. One. There we go. All right. So we're excited to public Works and PRNS partnered together to identify and deliver a new park while also constructing new green stormwater infrastructure. The site location is in Council District nine, where in between Guadalupe River highway 87, Allen Expressway and Curtner Avenue area in San Jose. And as I already said, this project is fully funded by measure T clean water. Next slide. So after a few iterations, staff from the community ended up at this park layout. On the left hand side, we have a roughly 900 zero square foot bioretention basin. On the right hand side, we have play equipment, a little green space and pollinator gardens throughout the park. We also are providing walking trails throughout this new 1.2 acre site, while also connecting Rinconada Drive and Pebble Beach Drive, which is on the lower side, lower right hand side of the screen. This slide we are showing off our River Oaks project, which we did a ribbon cutting for last year in district four. This kind of showcased our first shot at building the large green stormwater infrastructure in the city, while also creating new recreation space for the public to use, and a little sample of what we're going to be doing on this, this new park. On the right hand side, we do have some sample play equipment that staff are considering using at this location. Next slide. And we did do some extensive public outreach. We've worked with some of the local stakeholders in the community. We've also had two community meetings and also two public surveys that went out. And Mary Beth from PRNS will be expanding on. That. Thank you. Jason. Good afternoon, mayor and council members. I'm Mary Beth Bowman, part time planner with Parks Recreation, Neighborhood Services. I am managing managing the park naming for this park site, the park naming process has basically two main parts. Part one focuses on public engagement via two online community surveys. First a name suggestion survey, and then a ranked choice voting survey. Part two for part two, staff conducts analysis and makes a recommendation to the decision making bodies, which is why we're here today. Before the second survey, voting begins. Staff's research and vet name suggestions against City Council policy seven five, which you see here. To qualify, name options must meet at least one of the council policy criteria. Next slide. Please. The first was a name suggestion, survey and park design concept survey. Survey participants had the opportunity to rank for staff, provided name suggestions, and offer new names for consideration. The survey results you see here are from survey number two. The ranked choice Voting survey survey two. Number two focused on the park naming and allowed participants to rank six name options in order of their preference survey. Monkey assigned each name option a weighted score reflecting participants overall preferences. The name Bill Kee Park received the highest ranked score, followed by Western Suite Park, Curtner Park, Dolores Park, Kell Park and finally, Rinconada Park. Next slide please. If adopted, the name Bill Park would honor Bill key, a successful Chinese American businessman, business leader and a community organizer in San Jose from 1939 to 1947, Bill key helped lead an effort to preserve the original Seung Gong Temple, the last remaining structure from the Chinatown. He managed the National Dollar Store, the only Chinese owned and managed business community during a period of anti-Chinese discrimination. Members of the Bill key family are here in support of this council item. With that, I'll hand it back to Lee. Thank you. Thank you, Jason and Mary Beth, to summarize, the staff is requesting approval of the Park Master plan for the future 1.2 acre neighborhood park and adoption of an official park name in accordance with Council policies. 7-5. Seven recommended Park based on community input, or you may also choose an alternative name from the list generated through the public outreach process. So this concludes our presentation. We are happy to answer if you have any questions. Thank you. Thank you for the presentation, and I'm very happy to have another park come in to be improved at district nine in a sorely needed area that's been really used for illegal dumpings and and such. Do we have any members of the public who wish to speak? We have five speaker cards. Brenda. Jerry. Kelly. Connie and Lena. Please make your way to the podium. Hello. My name is Jerry Kee Wong. The 93 year old daughter of Bill key, who we are asking to have the park named after. This is a very proud moment for me because exactly 80 years ago, my father stood before the San Jose City Council as a leader of the Chinese community, asking the city not to demolish the last remaining building of a dying Chinatown. He asked them to give him a three year reprieve to save this historic 1888 building. But unfortunately, we moved away. And with no leader to speak up for the Chinese community, the city ultimately demolished the building and a historic landmark for the Chinese community was gone forever. My father was disappointed that the city he loved could not have been kinder to the Chinese community. Let's fast forward 40 years to 1989. When I told my father I had formed an organization called the Chinese Historical and Cultural Project, and our goal was to build a replica of that temple building that he had tried to save, install a museum inside, and place it in your city history. San Jose Park. Although he was very ill at that time, he beamed when being honored for his part in preserving history at our first museum building fundraising. When I told him it was his part that had started this museum project sadly he passed away the next day, but he felt his failed efforts had brought a happy result anyway. Oops. Gotta talk fast. Following the dream, the CHP in 1991 opened the museum doors and we gave it as a gift to the city of San Jose as a token of friendship from the Chinese community. My dad would be proud to see that the City of San Jose and CHP had had a 30 year contractual partnership to. Thank you. Next speaker, please. That's exciting. I am I'm Kelly Matsuura, the granddaughter of Bill key. My grandfather was a farm boy for the first 20 years of his life, helping his father as a farm labor contractor to support a family of 12 and having to abandon high school to go to work, taking a Christmas job in 1920 to earn money at a small Chinese owned department store, his life made a swift turn. The owner of this chain of 20 stores recognized his hard work ethic and 15 years later, promoted him to take over the San Jose National Dollar Store. As a manager of one of the largest department stores of downtown San Jose's population of about 50,000, working seven days a week, he became such a well-respected leader among his fellow businessmen, he was notably the first Chinese at that time to be asked to join the San Jose Rotary, the Merchants Association, the Masonic Club and the order of the Shrine and Scottish Rite fraternity. He worked doubly hard knowing that he needed to be a role model for the Chinese. For a Chinese man to assimilate in a not so welcoming period time for Asians during the Depression and World War Two, he prided his efforts to further the expansion and development of downtown San Jose business. He once told the family the pride he felt being part of a team would. Then. Mayor Ernie Renzel and historian Clyde Arbuckle that he helped bring the first big company, IBM, to this farming community of San Jose in the 1940s. If he were here today, I know he would want to shake the hands of the San Jose City Council, who in 2020 issued a resolution of apology for discriminating actions fostered by the city of San Jose. In the city's past history, including when they destroyed the last vestige of San Jose's last Chinatown, which he tried to save. So, on behalf of myself and the three generations of the Bilkey family who are still proud Santa Clara Valley citizens, we thank you for the consideration of honoring him with a park naming for his leadership in San Jose's developing economy. Thank you. Good afternoon, City Council members. My name is Brenda Wong, and I'm been a board member of the Chinese Historical and Cultural projects since 2006, and also a past board president. I'd like to first thank the @pard Neighborhood Services for their open park naming process and seeking input from the community. May is AAPI Heritage Month and we are so pleased for the City Council to consider ethnic and cultural diversity when recognizing citizen contributions to San Jose. C supports the recommendation of naming the park for Bill key because his life demonstrated the effort and impact of a community partner pioneer who integrated into this city both vocationally and civically, and who brought attention to the plight of the historically relevant 1888 community treasure, the Hong Kong Temple in San Jose's last Chinatown. The current opportunity to rename a park after Bill key is tangible evidence of the city's work to recognize and celebrate the contributions of Aapis. Machine gun is a key feature of the Chinese American Historical Museum and History Park, which welcomes nearly 5000 weekend visitors and nearly a thousand children annually for field trips. To learn of the San Jose's five lost Chinatowns, low key is a reminder that relationships, which are bridge building and have wide community impact can connect people over a common interest and help to reveal and preserve that which is initially lesser known or valued. We hope you will vote to name a park after Bill key on the 35th anniversary of our museum and the fifth anniversary of San Jose City Council's 2021 historic resolution apologizing for the city's role in the past acts of discrimination against the city, Chinese immigrant community and their descendants. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. Hello. I'm Connie Young, you, the author of Chinatown, San Jose, USA. I consulted on Highland Park, which was dedicated three years ago. It is on the site of San Jose's longest lasting Chinatown, and it's in Japantown. It's a beautiful park for community gatherings, picnics, but also a place of learning. At 4 p.m. today, I will be giving a tour to teachers in Highlandville a presentation on the history of the struggle of Chinese and Chinese Americans in San Jose and Santa Clara County. I will be thrilled to tell the teachers today that San Jose's new newest park will be named after Chinese American Bill key, whose civic leadership wisdom and public service will inspire their students and generations to come. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Thank you for your time and attention. I would like to just say a few words to Jerry and her family. Continuing the family tradition in San Jose, established by your dear father and loving grandfather, whose history roots will continue with the future generation by visiting the park named after him. Lessons in history of this lovely park, named after a distinguished citizen of San Jose and the first Chinese member of the San Jose Rotary Club. And once this is named, we will send an announcement to 1.2 million Rotarians all over the world and to let them know that San Jose is not just the city of chips and technology and this park will pay tribute to the city's founder, such as. Your father was. where I worked for 22 years as director of public relations and community liaison. We had a deal agreement with the architects and the builders of the hotel. Please, if you find during the digging something that looks like maybe a dish, a fork, or anything to do with the life of the Chinese community that actually occupied the space where the Fairmont Hotel was. Please call us right away. Don't throw it away. And so they were very, very kind. And they called me many times. And what we found were actually dishes and bones, because there was a dining room there. And thank you. For the restaurant, a family, a very famous. Thank you. That's your time. Thank you. That's your time. Thank you. Back to council. Thank you very much. I'm. I'm so touched by all the members of the family and community members that were here to speak on behalf of Bill key. I had a whole speech going over his history, but you already recapped how beautiful it it was and what he contributed to San Jose. But what you didn't highlight was the legacy that he left behind through you, Jerry, and the future work that you did at History San Jose and bringing restoring a building there. It's really remarkable what his impact on the city of San Jose. And as a Rotarian, I was very proud to see his name come forward and see that he was the first Chinese American Rotarian of our club. It's during those times it was quite an achievement to have someone of Chinese Chinese ancestry become a member of of a club that was predominantly white men. I'm very excited that he his name came forward and to learn all there was to learn about him. Further, as this is a district nine park, I'm really excited to have a park that is in an area that could really use one. It's in. It's surrounded by apartment buildings. There's a lot of dense housing right there, and it would be nice to have some place for the children to play and picnic. And not to mention the environmental aspect of it is a huge benefit of the people who came to see the park and who were there in our first meeting of five people, we were standing out there in the cold. My district office was very much involved in this. The people who were there were pollinators. They wanted to make sure that we had pollinator gardens there, which you saw that in the plan. So I, I am so proud to hear the stories of Bill key. I'm proud that you took your time to come here and share them with us. I'm proud that we get to create from this vacant land a really beautiful park that will not only carry a beautiful man's memory and name, but also will be wonderful in creating memories for the children and the families who grow up approval of this item. Okay, seeing no other hands. Oh, I'm sorry, I do see a hand. She's got her hand. Council member Kamei. As a Chinese American, I am so proud of this moment. And, you know, I didn't have the honor of knowing Bill key, but I've known Jerry Key Wong for a very long, long time. So the tradition of community service, of civic engagement, you know, has been going on for generations. So this is a this is a wonderful testament of the history of all that Bill key did for the community, how much he cared about San Jose and the community. And so when this came forward, I thought, this is a wonderful thing. And, and I'm really glad that it will celebrate and memorialize the contributions of the family and the legacy of Bill key and his contributions to the community. So it makes me very proud. And I know that many generations to come will also learn more about the work that he did and what the family has been involved with. So thank you for being here, and I'm delighted to have this before us. Thank you. Now, seeing no further hands, let's vote. Thank you for those comments. Motion passes unanimously with one absent. Thank you. Moving on to the agenda item 3.1 report of the City Manager. Thank you, Vice Mayor. I have no report. Today. Okay. Next item is item 3.3 police staffing expenditures and workload audit report. See the Auditor Joe Rice is coming down. Wonderful stories. Very. Good afternoon. I'm Joy city auditor. I'm in the box with Geetanjali Mandrekar, Michael O'Connell and Dylan Nosek to present our follow up audit report on police staffing, expenditures and workload. Also in the box is Chief Paul Joseph from the San Jose Police Department. This report is a follow up to the City Auditor's 2021 audit of police staffing, expenditures and workload, the objective of which was to review and compare the police department's staffing and spending and calls for service over time, including the allocation of staff by bureau or division, and use of overtime. It had ten recommendations, including adding more sworn officers in the context of the city's overall budget, improving management of overtime, optimizing the deployment of patrol staff by analyzing alternate shift schedules, tracking calls that could be diverted Non-sworn staff and reassessing how community service officers or CSOs are deployed. At the time of this audit, nine of the ten recommendations had been implemented. We're following up on the 2021 audit. As the City Council has identified increasing community safety as one of its five focus areas with a long term goal that San Jose residents live in a community with responsive emergency services and safe streets and roads. Since the previous audit, the department has continued to face staffing challenges and has struggled to meet its response. Its goals and responding to calls for service. In fiscal year 2425, the department's overall expenditures totaled $561 million, an increase from around $459 million in fiscal year 1920, as was reported in the 2021 audit, budgeting, staffing levels and department are lower than 20 years ago, particularly among sworn officers. In recent turnovers led to vacancies and a decline in the number of active sworn officers. As I previously previously mentioned, the city has prioritized increasing community safety as one of its five city council focus areas, and the department has undertaken several staffing and deployment initiatives to improve services. As I'll discuss briefly in later slides. The first finding was that the department is using multiple strategies to improve response times. Although Police Department responded to fewer calls for service in recent years, the department continues to struggle to meet response time goals. We found in 2425, the average response time for priority one calls was 8.1 minutes, exceeding the six minute target. And similar to the 2021 audit, calls for service varied across police districts, resulting in an uneven distribution of workload and response times have similarly varied across police districts. The department has initiated a redistricting effort to address these concerns and has piloted other efforts to improve performance, such as piloting combined two person cars, district wide dispatch in some areas of the city and others. We will note that we also found that current response time calculations included calls downgraded to a lower priority, which may not provide the most accurate indicator of performance to increase transparency and improve response time calculations. In this finding, we recommend the department include outcomes from its redistricting efforts, redistricting efforts and future focus area reporting and update response time reporting to exclude downgraded calls. Our second finding is the department continues to face staffing challenges and relies on overtime to meet operational needs. Despite recent efforts to improve hiring and retention, persistent staffing challenges have increased the department's reliance on overtime. Although the number of budgeted positions increased from the prior audit department has fewer active sworn officers or had fewer active sworn officers at the time of the audit and has seen rising separation rates among recruits in early career officers. As a result, the patrol shifts were routinely staffed on overtime and overtime, accounted for nearly one quarter of all sworn hours worked. We noted that 124 sworn staff worked over 1000 hours of overtime in fiscal year 2425, which raises concerns Sustainability. And officer wellness. I would like to note that the department has implemented new recruiting initiatives, and retention incentives are included in the most recent labor agreement with the San Jose Police Officers Association, so we're hopeful of improvements moving forward. However, in fiscal year 2425, overtime costs reached $72 million, a 53% increase over five years. At the time of the audit. In addition to staffing patrol ships, we noted that overtime hours were frequently spent on follow up and report writing, often without the required documentation or appropriate supervisory approval. In February of this year, the department updated their overtime controls over follow up and reporting, ensuring these new controls are followed and monitored for compliance will be important. Given the increasing costs over the past five years in this finding. To increase transparency and retention efforts and better manage overtime, we recommend the department augment its current reporting with outcomes of current hiring and retention efforts, and develop a process to monitor compliance with overtime approvals. Our third and last finding is that community service officers continue to be a valuable resource for the department. Since the 2021 Audit Department restructured its CSO program to streamline reporting relationships improve operational accountability, and better integrate CSOs and patrol operations in fiscal year 24, 25 CSOs responded to more than 19,000 calls for service. However, we found that unlike other areas of police operations the department does not track performance metrics to assess the CSO program's effectiveness and addressing inconsistencies. Inconsistencies between the duty manual, designated CSO, dispatchable call types, and actual field response can support more effective deployment. To further improve the CSO program, we recommend Department develop and track performance metrics for the CSO program and update the CSO dispatchable call list in the duty manual. I do want to note that the second recommendation is not meant to restrict the types of calls that CSOs may respond to, but just update the list of call types outlined in the manual that are prioritized for CSO response by dispatch. A separate section of the duty manual describes other types of calls that fall within the duties and responsibilities regularly undertaken by CSOs, and our recommendation is not meant to affect that language. The report includes a total of eight recommendations. I want to thank the police department for their time and insight during the audit process. I ask that you accept the report. Happy to answer questions, but first I'll turn it over to the chief for the administration's response. Thank you. Thanks, Joe. Paul Joseph, Chief of Police, appreciate the work of the city auditor. We also agree with the findings of the report. I think the one just the one area I would like to point out was something that he highlighted there at the end, is that we're not looking to change anything in the duty manual regarding the CSOs calls, to which they may respond. We appreciate the operational flexibility, even if they don't respond frequently to those types of calls. But other than that, you know, these I think all these recommendations are reasonable and implementable. Thank you. Do we have any members of the. Public who. Wish to speak? We have one speaker card. Ted, please go ahead and make your way to the podium. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. My name is Ted Scarlett. Some of the things I'd like to share are two personal. However, just to let you know, one time call for service. It took over seven hours for a police officer to finally get their. I've asked for somebody to look at this situation that occurred where. We should have had one call for service to police and it should have ended the whole fiasco that then evolved. It ended up being over 20 calls over a two month period. And the police wouldn't listen to me. In fact, one of the people that Peter's Bakery, the guy that assaulted the people at Peter's Bakery, he was in the house that I was at, and I was making calls about my safety. I emailed the mayor several times, got nothing. I barricaded myself in the master bedroom for a couple of weeks and it ended with my motorcycle being my crashed motorcycle. Being stolen out of the driveway, which I know who did it. I can't get any buddy to listen. And in the. In the past, you could get Ahold of the chief and I'm talking, you know, 20, 30 years ago, you could call, you could you could actually get an appointment with the chief. And it's not even necessary for me to go to that level. There's somebody should be listening to me. So you look at the cost. You look at the manpower. This is a this is a case study of resources not being used properly. And on the other hand, though, the. 20 for more than 20 years, the police department has been underfunded. We don't have enough officers. And it's remarkable what they. Do. But I have these. Thank you. That's your time. We also have Mike and Brian. Please go ahead and make your way to the podium. You're talking about 6 or 8 minute response times, more like 80 minute response times if they respond at all, when they show up, it's with anger or nonchalance, which is even worse. And there just needs to be more funding put put towards the department. But seems to be the more funding they put towards it, what do they do? the overtime with a bunch of people giving out speeding tickets. Okay, great. On the pothole damage and expressway. I realize that's county, but yeah, I mean, I had a police captain say, yeah, we we bankrupted the overtime, you know, because these guys wanted to give out tickets. Well, that's not policing, right? That's revenue. And I just find it very disheartening how long it takes to show up or not at all. I had a situation with a friend of mine. His bike was stolen, had an air tag on it. He knew right where it was and the police never showed up. They kept calling, saying, we're going to show up, but we don't know how long it's going to be. Mind you, this was, I don't know, maybe about a less than a mile from the police precinct, which is at Oak Ridge Mall. And I was in the car with the guy and we waited for hours and hours. I had to leave. Eventually I had to go do something, but it took hours and hours and he never got his bike back. They never showed up. I mean, they knew where it was. Can you imagine? I mean, what could you imagine if it happened to any one of you on this, on this dais? I don't think that would happen to you guys. Maybe it would, I don't know, maybe. Maybe they're nonchalant about you guys, too. I don't know, but there also needs to be overnight patrols. That's when a lot of crimes happen, especially in the 95118. It's like the it's like the district that care for God. But bottom line is these numbers eight minutes. I don't even believe that one more like 80 minutes or not at all. Thanks a lot, everybody. Good afternoon. Councilors. Brian. Kurt. Council members. Excuse me. Brian. Kurt, San Jose Downtown Association and downtown D three resident. I was here for another agenda item and was listening in and debated whether or not I wanted to speak today. And well, I will say skimmed that very, very lengthy report on the agenda item and took a look at the recommendations. I wanted to emphasize the importance of not only this report, but how it relates to the continuous budgeting process. And we know in working with our Central Division and Chief Joseph, how much downtown is reliant upon overtime for regular policing efforts, and downtown is the city's backyard. This is a place that is, while represented by two council members is frankly represented by the entire dais up here. This is the place where people come for daytime activities, for weekend activities, going to see a sharks game, a concert for art museum and children's museum. And it's very it's so incredibly important for us as a community to continue investing in community safety and public safety for our downtown neighborhood, in addition to other parts of the city as well. I appreciate a very close relationship with SJPD so far and look forward to that expanding even further and, and also working with each of your offices and the city manager's office on additional ideas and solutions for community safety improvements and partnership with SJPD going forward. So we appreciate your time today and the continued discussion. Thank you. Back to Council. Thank you. Thank you for the members of the public who spoke, and Joe and Chief, thank you for your presentations. And let's go to Council. Council member Campos. Thank you, Vice Mayor. I also want to begin my remarks by thanking Joe Royce and the City Auditor's office for preparing this report, the findings and the recommendations include thoughtful proposals to tighten controls increase transparency and ensure compliance with city policies and procedures. I'm also grateful to Chief Joseph and the city administration for your collaboration and acceptance of the auditor's recommendations. I would also like to thank the City Auditor and his team, as well as Deputy Chief Gina Tibaldi and Deputy City Manager Jennifer Schembri, for helping my team prepare the memo that I've co- written with the mayor and council members, Cohen and Candelas, my colleagues and I recommend acceptance of the report and the city administration's response, and we also provide additional recommendations to help the Council and the public monitor implementation of the auditor's recommendations and continue working to reduce overtime expenses without compromising community safety. And so, before I move to approve our memo, I have one question for the administration. Can the City Manager's office provide an update regarding alternate response and the trust program? Councilmember. Just really quickly, are you. Asking for that update right now, or would you like a more. Formal response in the form of an info memo or something through this year's budget process? Just an update right now, recognizing the police overtime. That'd be great. We can have Deputy City Manager Jennifer Schembri come down and update you. Thank you. Good afternoon. Jennifer Schembri, Deputy City Manager so as you may recall, the council funded a trust vehicle that was supposed to be specific to San Jose in addition to the county trust vehicles, we did receive information last fall that the county had run out of funding for the San Jose Trust vehicle. That funding was supposed to last a year, and it did not. So we've been working with the county on that issue, and we've asked them for some additional information to analyze that. So at the moment, there is no specific San Jose Trust vehicle. And so that is where we are right now. And as you also know, the county is in the middle of their budget discussions. So I think there is kind of a lot up in the air related to this issue. And we'll just continue monitoring and working with them on it. I appreciate that response. I have heard from community members how successful and well utilized the trust program is. I acknowledge that when funding is limited and this the fact that this is, you know, a program that it requires county support as well. I just want to uplift that as a tool that our community has. Really reflected the, the use and the appreciation for an alternative response. And just given today's audits and looking at how much time, how much overtime is being spent going to just answering regular calls. I just wanted to uplift the trust program as something that I'd, I'd like to see us continue to explore in whatever way possible. I understand that limitations with the County are precluding us from doing it right now, but just. It remains a source of support from our community and how we are managing our response to all crises crisis in the city. And with that, I move to approve the memo from the mayor, Council member Cohen, Council Member Candelas and myself. Thank you, thank you. We have a motion and a second council member, Ortiz. Thank you. I want to thank my colleagues for their memo. I'll be sure to support it. I also just want to thank both the city Auditor and our Chief of Police for the work that was put into this report. And I want to acknowledge, you know, the level of spending on overtime. It is it is a concern, especially during a budget shortfall like ours. But that being said, you know, from conversations with with my local captain, with the chief of police as well, many of the overtime hours that our officers have been clocked in doing, it's been doing essential work. You know, my district has real public safety concerns, including vandalism and attacks on small business owners. I think we had somebody mentioned Peters Bakery. Luckily, our police department was able to catch that individual recently, drug use at local parks and the chief of police and the captain are aware of that. We used to have our own park division division within the police department. Now, unfortunately, due to budget shortfalls, that's have to that's had to go away. And we had individuals, you know, drinking in parks, doing drugs you know, making parks less safe for families. And when I call my captain, he says, okay, I'll have, you know, overtime officers do it because that's the only resource that that honestly we have. We have, you know, speeding right now in the neighborhood. We have a lot of speeding due to the VTA construction. I think me and the chief just got an email from a constituent asking for, you know, speed traps and for speed enforcement. You know, in many ways, my constituents are begging, advocating for, for these, these services. And so I do want to just make sure that, you know, I don't think that, you know, I want to be clear, our officers aren't being predatory with these hours. They're not necessarily wasting the public's purse. These are these are services and resources that our constituents need, that our residents actually require in order to live in a safe neighborhood. And honestly, we need we need more. And I know that, you know, trust was mentioned. That was something that I advocated tirelessly for during, I think it was the first budget cycle that I was ever a part of. But now I think there was an article that just came out that a lot of the alternative first response teams are being cut by the county. Not not because they don't want to fund them, but just because of the budget shortfall. And so if anything, we're probably going to see police respond to even more of these types of, of, of cases. And so I just want to, you know, clarify that this is this is an issue. We need to make sure that we are curbing this type of spending. But, you know, also the residents of my district are truly grateful for the services that are being provided. And, you know, we're going to have to work together in partnership with the chief, the council and the chief and partnership with administration to develop, you know, ways to mitigate this, these, these overtime hours. But it's not it's not a simple it's not a simple, you know, one that we can waive and just make that go away because, you know, many times when I talk to my, my, my chief, I'm saying hey there's there's people continuing to come to this site. They're tagging up, they're breaking into schools. There's people, you know, you know, Alum Rock it's closing a lot of schools right now. Several schools and people have been going on to that property and partying and, and doing different, you know, having parties, paying people to come onto the property, to have parties. When I called the captain, you know, it takes two calls for a specific area to, to high priority calls to wipe out the existing assigned officers. Right. And two calls happen like that. And unless we're calling overtime officers there's going to be a lot of calls. I know that people have have raised about the response time that that that it's not at a level that's acceptable by the community. But if we weren't using these overtime hours, it would honestly be a lot worse. And so I just want to acknowledge that, you know, I don't think that this is something negative by the officers, but it's just a system of how our funding is. And I and I have confidence in the chief and the administration and the City Council to move forward and address this. Thank you. Thank you for those thoughts. Council member. Council member. Doan. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Thank you. Thank you for the report, the audits and the presentation. District seven have the same problems as district five. District three and many others. And with this cutting of the overtime and expenditure, one of the. Critical function is to walking beat officer that helped to keep D7 safe and I believe that is going to be cut. Is that correct, chief? It's already been cut. We're cutting the walking beats citywide, with the exception of the downtown core. So if I was a resident in other part of the city, which is the underserved community, I would imagine I would be pretty upset because as a citizen, I pay the same taxes as downtown, and I would highly suggest that. The citizen in D7, D5, and so on should stand up and said we deserve the same services. And if we don't, then then when we're talking about fair and equitable it's not. And so. District seven. We have quite a bit of. Because the freeway contact from 286 80 to 101 and 880, you know, just close by the criminal from other city tend to look for easy escape, route out of the city. And by not investing, walking beats. And I feel that we we are cheating the taxpayer in the underserved area. And not to say that I don't recognize that district seven has become safer, but there's always more work to be done, and I'm here. You know, I understand that Brian Kurtz, you know, he's advocating for downtown. Well, as a council member for district seven, I'm advocating for my district, for my residents whom, you know, it's been like this for, I don't. Know. 40, 50, 60 years. When are we going to talk about, hey, let's get more resources to where it's needed the most, not because of FIFA, not because of Super Bowl, because the right thing to do with that, I yield my time. Thank you, Council member. Council member. Cohen. Yeah. Thank you. And as always, thank you, Joe and your team for audit report. It's always helpful to to get another perspective on this. You know, I was trying to figure out what questions I want to ask because as you know, I've been concerned about overtime for a while. And the police budget, particularly because it feels like we're not able to predict and predict in advance exactly how much we're going to use. And that makes our budgeting difficult and uncertain. I'm just going to ask one question today, and then I'll think about it some more as we get into the budget season. But overtime spending seems to be growing at a at a pretty high rate. And I'm trying to understand our staffing hasn't dropped significantly in five years, but our overtime spending has grown. What's the percentage, 4,050% in five years. So I'm still trying to wrap my head around that and understand what is it we're doing differently? What is causing that growth, that high growth rate? Because it feels unsustainable to me. Staffing has. Actually decreased somewhat, not drastically, but somewhat in the last five years. I would say that the nature of policing, for one thing, has changed tremendously. Our emphasis on de-escalation means that our approach to calls, which in the past might have been weighted more towards expediency, is now weighted more towards peaceful outcomes. I think that's a a win for everybody, but it is, in fact, time consuming. There are more and more requirements of the officers on each and every call, more report writing requirements more administrative requirements, requirements that they fill out state mandated data sheets, requirements that they view their body worn cameras before writing all reports. There's a lot of reasons why overtime is increasing. I would say that, you know, I, as chief have probably erred on the side of public safety over financial stewardship. I want to deliver you a safe city. You know, we don't capture we don't capture the Valley Fair shooter without a fair amount of overtime. We don't capture, you know, some of the some of the high profile criminals that that you have seen us identify and arrest the Kim Hung jewelry robbers you know, we're over 25 people come from another community into into this city and drive a truck through the front of a store and throw an 88 year old man on the ground wearing hoodies, driving stolen cars. That's not easy to track all those people down, but I would say that the investment in public safety that we made to apprehend as many of those people as possible makes us, and council member Dewan's words, not an inviting target. It shows that San Jose is the city where if you come and commit a crime, we will find you. We will track you down. We could do less on some of those cases and spend less. But I feel that I mean, it's, you know, obviously hard to place a value on reducing victimization in the city. But I think that absolutely the city is getting a return on its investment. In addition to that, I would say that we have been on an endless quest to try to be more efficient, more effective. We've we've we've gotten rid of certain specialized units and put officers back in patrol to try to reduce overtime. We are doing a redistricting project that we hope will balance out our calls for service load more evenly throughout the city, improve response times, and reduce overtime. We're looking at acquiring a software program that will help officers write reports in a more speedy manner, because we do recognize that report writing, which is an absolutely essential function. It's a necessary function, an unavoidable function of police work if it can be done faster and more efficiently, we think that will be a tremendous savings of of money. So it's not like we're not trying. And, you know, ultimately this comes down to the fact that we have a police department that is half the size of an average police department, and yet we've delivered the safest big city in America. We've done that by working very hard, by working very long hours. And we will we are not unaware of our need to contribute to reducing the city's deficit. And we are proceeding with haste towards doing that. But I would say that you've gotten great value for the dollars that have been spent thus far. Yeah. And I obviously appreciate, as you know, the work that the department does and the great success that we have in keeping our city safe, I guess it would be helpful. I mean, it's useful for me to see data over time, you know, in terms of what our crime rates are, what our solve rates are and how, you know the spending changes have have had an impact on that because, you know, it, it just sometimes doesn't necessarily feels like, feel like it lines up. But I mean, I understand that your, your job is to do everything you can to, to maximize safety. Our job is to do the same, but also to manage the entire budget of the city and make trade off decisions about all the services that we provide. And it becomes harder and harder the more we're spending in one, one function of the city. So that's why I'm always thinking about that. But I appreciate your mention about redistricting. I'm hopeful that the more of the flexibility that will derive from our new districts and the way we're going to deploy our beats will provide efficiencies and improve response times without having to spend more to do it. So thank you for that. I'm anxiously awaiting that, as you know. But appreciate the response. If I could add just a couple of things to what the chief with the chief said. So as we did a report in in the report, active sworn officers, the number of active sworn officers has come down, which has been a real has really impacted the ability to kind of hit those those mandatory minimum number of officers on a on a per shift basis. And we we did look at that and did see, you know, actively staffing regular shifts on overtime was something we were seeing. And that was one of the biggest components of overtime. I just want to kind of highlight the, the, the memo from the, the, the mayor and the three council members really highlighted some reporting on disaggregated data around overtime, which is really important because each type of overtime has a different sort of control around it. So the mandatory minimum staffing, obviously there's minimum staffing requirements which kind of drives a lot of what's going on there. There's going to be specific activities or events. We mentioned foot patrols or something else that might have been on overtime. Those are going to be driven by different set of controls. And then the follow up and report writing we noted in the report had a certain set of control structure around it. More recently it's been updated. So we want to kind of that's one of our recommendations, kind of monitor that. So there's different control structure, including looking at these different types of of overtime, looking at the controls around them. And I think some of the reporting and some of the elements in the memo about a qualitative analysis of changes from the overtime memo earlier in the year, disaggregated data and the progress report in these different areas will be really important moving forward from an oversight standpoint. But at a high level, stepping back until we really address some of the retention issues and the hiring issues, we're going to continue to have overtime issues. You hear me? Yes. Okay. Jennifer, please. Thank you. I just wanted to also add to the conversation because as you all are aware, because the overtime has been kind of unsustainable and not unbudgeted, you know, this particular police chief, which I'm very grateful, has really doubled down on making sure we're using our overtime resources as efficiently and effectively as possible. And you all approved some budget actions almost two months ago that made some changes in the areas that weren't really risky for the city. We will be you know, we obviously are continuing to try to staff up and we're seeing more applications. Correct. Chief is coming now. There was obviously a big lull after 2020 and it's starting to rise up. That was a national issue. We will still be spending millions of dollars on overtime for the activities that our police department absolutely has to do to keep this community safe, but wehave to do it responsibly and as efficiently and effectively as possible. So, you know, as we go forward, not only will the overtime control the budget actions that you've all approved, the overtime controls that the chief has put in place, along with the continuing to right size, their overtime budget? Because I think we pointed out that there are some areas where it has not been right sized, but we'll have to phase that in, given our budget constraints over the next couple of years. You'll see some proposals related to that in the the city manager's proposed budget that will be released probably late on Friday. So we've got a multi-pronged strategy because we will hopefully remain and we're going to be all hands in to the safest, largest city in America. And I do appreciate you, chief, specifically for all you're doing to making sure we're making the right decisions with our limited resources and all the council support on for our police department. Thank you. Thank you for that. Council member Doan. Thank you, Vice Mayor, I just have a quick question for you, chief. If comparing to the geographical or the population to other metropolitan the same size city, how many officer would you say you would need? Well, I'll give you I'll give you a national average, which is about 2.2 officers per 1000 population. That's an average police department. In the United States, we have about one per 1000. So my understanding is that we got one officer per 1000 on the national average is 2.2. What San Francisco, which were 180mi2, there are about 50. We have a population of approximately a million. They have about 800,000 population. I believe their authorized strength is closer to 2000 officers, and I don't know how many they actually have. I know they're also struggling with recruitment and retention. So but I think I believe that's their authorized strength. Thank you. And you know, with the 1000 police officer that we have, it's incredible that we become the safest large city in the nation. And that's through a lot of revamping our policy, cutting our budget. But yet, or police men and women working harder to make our city safe. And I just want to make sure that we recognize that. And then we continue to support our police and fire to create a safe city, because without safe city, no one will ever want to invest or do businesses here. Thank you. Agreed. That's what our residents wants and that's what we strive to achieve with a very small police force. But well, one well managed and with the use of technology, helps to create the efficiencies that we have from the police department. And I, for one, am thrilled to see the traffic cops out giving tickets in places and speeding when they're speeding along, especially near schools, near areas that are a lot of pedestrians and risk of injuries. So I'm, I'm support the police department completely. With that, I see no further hands. Let's vote. Motion passes unanimously with one absent. Thank you. Thank you for the presentation. Next is item 3.4 spring 2026 Intergovernmental Relations Report. Good afternoon, Vice Mayor, Council members and members of the public. My name is Emily Lamb and I am the director of the City Manager's Office of Administration, Policy and Intergovernmental Relations. I'm joined today by our Intergovernment Intergovernmental Relations team Han Kang, Steve Stamos and Nicholas Ochoa. Additionally, our lobbying partners from Sacramento are here, Steve Cruz and Nick Romo from Cruz Strategies. I'd also like to take the opportunity to thank the city departments, as well as Ryan and Alejandro and the mayor's office, for strengthening our work in the Intergovernmental Relations realm. So with that, I will turn it over to Han for our presentation today. Thank you very much and good afternoon. So what I'll do is share. Highlights and also some updates from the IG report. There are two slides, one that's really focused on updates from the federal government and the other that's focused on the state government. So with regards to the federal update, we're engaging very closely with our members of Congress on the appropriations process. And this would include resources that really support the city's homelessness response, affordable housing programs libraries water infrastructure among other activities. And this is actually in contrast to the president's budget request, which sought to reduce or eliminate the funding for these programs. Now, the work on appropriations also includes the work on earmarks. Very grateful to Representatives Khanna, Liccardo and Panetta for advancing $16 million for eight projects. Now the number one project is aligned with the city's priority on affordable housing. This actually would support affordable home mobile home repairs for senior citizens, and there are other projects that would actually support the city's priorities in parks, as well as the fire department and the police department as well. We also really hope to see the good news from our senators, because we also did submit requests to both senators as well. And we're going to continue to identify funding opportunities outside of these earmark resources. In terms of the two proposed rules. So we joined a coalition with other cities to actually oppose the two rules. One was actually issued by the Or or proposed by the General Services Administration, which would mandate the city and other federal funding recipients to comply with registration requirements that are inconsistent with the city's approaches and values to serve vulnerable and underserved populations. Now, this is important for the city because we actually must renew our registration in August specifically for resources that go to the airport and for the housing and urban development. The proposed rule would actually restrict housing assistance for all households in which at least one member may not be eligible because of their citizenship or immigration status. Now, for both rules. There's no fixed timeline for when the federal government agencies will actually issue these rules. We're hoping that they don't. But if they do, we are ready to respond. Now on to the state updates with regards to the FY 26 to 27 budget, we're very encouraged to see what was released in the Senate leadership plan, known as the Foundation for future. In particular, we're really encouraged to see the responsible budgeting as a key priority and also $1 billion for the homeless Housing Assistance and Prevention program for 1 billion for both round seven and round eight. And we're also very eager to see a very similar kind of conclusion from the Assembly members, and we're really looking forward to that. Now. We're also engaging with our state delegation and working with the mayor's office to issue a letter in advance of the May revision that would reiterate the city's priorities. And we're also going to issue a info memo once the May revision is released. In terms of the city sponsored bill, very similar to last year, there are two bills that the city is sponsoring. One is Senate Bill 1375, which would expedite Diridon. The Diridon station modernization by actually waiving an environmental review also has added benefits of cost savings and creating jobs and actually creating a new category of exemption from the California Environmental Quality Act that could benefit other transit projects as well. Really grateful to Senator Cortese as the author and also our colleagues from the Department of Transportation for working really closely with us on this bill. The second sponsored bill is Assembly Bill 1941. This would actually target groups that steel metal from streetlights from train tracks and telecom cables that have been reported both in this city as well as other Bay area cities. It would actually also improve the metal theft info sharing with the California Department of Justice, and actually builds on a city sponsored bill last year. This is Assembly Bill 476, which made it harder to sell stolen metal. And also really thankful to Assembly member Gonzalez as the author for this bill. Now, both of these bills passed out of their policy committees. They've been referred to the appropriations committees, and we're looking forward to the hearings on these bills now on the four advocacy items single cerebral reform. First, really thanks to Council member Tordillos for joining me in the committee hearing. Really appreciate your testimony and support of this bill. And what this bill would do, or what it was proposed to do, was to allow for the construction of single cerebral buildings that are higher than three stories. Now, this bill was presented without a committee vote, and it will likely not move forward in this current legislative session. However, we will continue to engage with Assembly Member Lee, as well as other legislators and stakeholders to allow for this kind of construction, but to do it in a way that also prioritizes public safety. With regards to the taxation on private detention facilities. So this refers to Assembly Bill 1633. It was heard yesterday, as well as other times during this month, I'm actually quite pleased to see that the bill analysis reflects the input that we provided to both the principal consultant of the committee, as well as Assembly Member Haney's team, and we also really appreciate the interest that Congressman Liccardo has shown on this bill, and we're going to be meeting with his team later this week to solicit additional ideas on what we could do to regulate these detention facilities in the state. On electric bike safety. Really appreciate the memos that we've received from the mayor, the vice mayor, as well as council members, including you, Council member Candelas really to elevate this as a priority. And you, all of you, have our commitment to double down on our engagement with legislators and stakeholders to promote both access and safety. And then finally, on Cardrooms. So in March, the California Gaming Association actually filed two lawsuits against the attorney general. And this lawsuit would seek to block the California Department of Justice regulations, which would restrict the operations of the Cardrooms. The city actually filed a declaration in support of the litigation, and we specifically highlighted the revenue as well as the job losses to the city. And we are monitoring the court actions, and we will be providing updates as well. So this concludes our presentation. We're asking the Council to accept the report and also to reaffirm the city positions in the legislative logs for both at the thank my colleague Nicholas Ochoa, for really stepping up while my other colleagues, Steve Stamos, was out on a well-deserved parental break. And really appreciate your interest and your engagement on intergovernmental relations, we are presenting this just before the Public Service Recognition Week. So this gives you a preview of what public service looks like to our team. Thank you for the presentation. I'm disappointed about the single staircase and also the card room activity or or lack of activity. Let me put it that way. But I'm sure my colleagues have a lot to say about those, those issues before we move to the my colleagues, do we have any members of the public who wish to speak? Please go ahead. Make your way to the podium. Jordan Muldaur, resident. Of district. Three, chair. Of Bpac. Again, speaking for. Myself. I'd like to thank the Council for your attention to bicycle safety. Our transportation system should never lead to loss of life or life changing injuries. I'm here to urge the council to adopt the single sign on memo from Vice Mayor Foley regarding access to electric bikes as a transportation mode, and I thank her for her partnership with Bpac. We always need to be boldly pushing the envelope at all levels of government for street safety. Regarding legislative advocacy, there are safety bills that are not currently in the matrix that I recommend supporting or monitoring. This includes a B two, two, seven six, the Stop Super Speeders bill, which would mandate intelligent speed assistance devices for persons who have multiple convictions for extreme speeding. AB 1569, which is a K through 12 e-bike safety course, AB 1830, which is for ignition interlock devices for DUI drivers, and 21AB2168, which is reform and acceleration of the state ATP, which funds a lot of our safety projects. While hospitals have reported an alarming rise in trauma relating to e- bikes, it's likely that much of the trauma is actually related to the proliferation of electric motorcycles or electric mopeds. The Mineta Transportation Institute has reported that they've seen that 90% of e-bikes in schoolyards are actually these much more powerful electric motorcycles. I urge your support for SB 1167, which would regulate the motorcycles and prevent them from being marketed to children as e-bikes. AB 1557 from the group memo is well- intentioned, but it creates its own types of safety risks. The 250 watt restriction, in particular, makes it difficult to go up hills, especially if you're a heavier individual. Thank you Jordan, back to council. Thank you, Jordan, for your comments. We all received a written brief from you as well. Council member Candelas. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Yeah, I just wanted to take a moment to to thank Hahn and Emily and everybody in the IG team for your advocacy for our city and both DC and Sacramento. Frankly, and also thank my colleagues in our Brown act for your work and putting together the memo around e-bikes or electric bikes. The mayor, council member, Campos. Cohen and Kamei. You know, I also want to thank you, Vice Mayor Foley, for your memo to ensure that we're not restricting access or mobility options for our residents, for our residents, equity is important and something that is foundational to, to me and also my council district. And, you know, not just that your, your work throughout the years on Vision Zero and ensuring that we are, are doing everything we can as a city to make sure that our residents, both walkers bikers mopeds are safe getting to and from work, school, church, whatever. And it's important that we do not target e- bikes as a mode of transportation. I'm gonna just start out and say that the goal of our memo was to address the misuse of of e-bikes and the proliferation of illegal e-bikes, especially amongst our youth. The reality is the state is grappling with this emerging technology and how to adequately regulate it. Cities across the state are seeing. In fact, last week, Council member Cohen and I attended our League of Cities meeting, and we heard from city leaders across the state, from Sacramento folks in San Diego, in Fresno, Alameda, it's across the state. This is a major concern for for a lot of people. And in fact, this morning, I also attended the Viva Escuela event that our Department of Transportation walk and roll program puts together, where they promote safe passage to schools. And it was at one of our elementary schools. And in fact, I saw a sixth grader riding an e-bike to the event. And so, you know, I've had numerous conversations with folks this morning. I was talking to, to a lot of folks who are seeing electric bikes get faster modified or what they're calling as jailbroken, which allows them to go beyond the allotted speed limits and, and increasingly so by people who aren't or young people who aren't supposed to be using them. Riders under the age of 16. And so, you know, part of my fervor and the passion that I speak on this, on this item is because last month in my district, I had a seventh grader die But this, this is the, the, the type of incident that really puts the onus on us as leaders to do something and to ensure that we are stepping up in a time where all of us are, you know, all of us on the dias. But everybody's increasingly But, you know, we're seeing incidents like this across our city downtown off the Alameda, Willow, Glen Almaden. At the time, it was the third pedestrian fatality. And since then, I think we had one just a few days back. And I can't imagine what the pain that the families are going through because it's sad and it's preventable fatalities. And we have a Vision Zero policy, which I talk about. And it shouldn't just be words on paper. It should be everything in our power to make sure that we're addressing those, those kind of fatalities. I, in fact, I called State Senator Dave Cortez's staff as soon as I met with the families who were related to, to, to the, the child and to, to see what we can do to advance and prevent future incidents like this. And, you know, I was especially happy to make it a point in our in our memo to not be overly prescriptive and to build on, on previous conversations we've had with local and state legislators by directing our team to advocate for policies that better regulate, essentially the dangers of of these electric bicycles to ultimately protect our families. And, you know I I. Understand the vice mayor's memo adds direction to our memo. And I guess I would like a little bit of clarity from, from staff in understanding both, both memos as direction, you know, for example how would you navigate a conflict between mobility and safety given the direction that these memos have provided? I, I'd be curious to, to hear the approach that staff would take. Council member, thank you very much for your question and also your energy in this matter. And I'm really glad that you mentioned the seventh grader and the pedestrian, and I hope that the families could also accept our condolences as well. So these are the individuals that we keep front and center as we double down on our engagement with legislators and stakeholders on e-bike access and safety. And in terms of access, mobility and safety, we actually see them as complementary and not competing goals. And what we really envision is making sure that people have affordable access and use of e-bikes in a way that minimizes the risks of injuries and deaths. And so specific interventions as examples that we may be seeking in bill language would be things like education and outreach, which is actually part of Assembly Bill 1569, which Jordan, thank you very much for identifying that bill. Department of Transportation and also Public Works have been promoting right now in the city. I mean, I see that I see the construction going on, and there's some other solutions that are also possible as well. No, thank you for that. I mean, obviously, you know, a bill changes dramatically from committee to committee. And as it goes through the legislative process, that's, you know, that's that's obvious. And it's not as simple as support or oppose. You know, it's my goal that the direction does just what you said. And it's and it's hopefully provides that flexibility with staff that, for example, could support, if amended, if, you know, for example, AB 1942, for example, the EB, the E-bike Accountability Act is something that that was mentioned in Jordan's email actually see, Jordan, I read your emails, but, you know, it was something that was mentioned. And, you know, while there's a few organizations, including the Bicycle Coalition that do not support it, there are other municipalities that do. And the California Police Chiefs Association supported. We had a robust conversation at the League of Cities about this, because we chose on that body to supportive amended, because one of the concerns was it would increase the cost of of being a bike rider because of the registration requirement. So one of the recommendations that that folks had was put a cap on it, put a cap on the fees that you can charge. And that way we meet the goal of making sure that folks are educated and that the law enforcement has the tools to be able to identify e-bikes and, and to make sure that we, we are doing everything we can as policy makers to push good policy. So in that case, it would be a supportive amended. And I would hope that given the flexibility that that we I know we made sure of in our memo because we wrote it, that it'll give you the same flexibility that, that we have in or that that is part of the intent that we had included as part of the vice Mayor's memorandum. And is that clear? Yes. Okay. Perfect. And then, you know, you know, I just want to close with, you know it's important for all of us to have a voice and have a say as to how policy is created, whether it's here in Sacramento. And I just wanted to thank my colleagues for, for their collaborative memorandums or vice mayor for your memorandum and, and look forward to, to seeing what we can do to create guardrails in the name of safety for our community. And with that, you know, I'll move essentially both of our memos. Vice Mayor, I'll move your, your memo with with the clarity provided in the questions and follow up. Second. Thank you. Thank you for moving my memo. I appreciate that, I know they're together, Council member Doan. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Thank you for the report. And I really enjoy, you know, debriefing from the EGR team. I just want to take a moment to recognize the report from Cal Fire and State Fire Marshal Office in response to a b. 835. This is not an easy assignment. Balancing the urgency of California housing needs with the fundamental responsibility. Responsibility. Responsibility to protect life and safety. The report took a cautious, cautious stance on a single stair design, stating they do not fully substitute for two exits. Even with modern protection like sprinklers and alarms. This redundancy is emphasized as a critical for unforeseen failure of complex fire event. The report advise. No expansion to six story without an additional Cal Fire study. Ultimately reinforced something we know to be true. Redundancy in fire protection save lives. This report provide the clarity we need when having conversation about affordability and housing production, ensuring that we do not lose sight of the risks that come with compromise. I commend the author for delivering a thoughtful, balanced analysis that prioritize safety evidence and caution as we look to the future innovation may we move carefully, responsibly and above all else, keep the life and safety of our constituents at the center of every single decision. And I just want to emphasize that as a former fire captain, and you can go out there and talk to any firefighters in any station on any shift, a single stairwell, even a four story apartment building. We call in a high rise that the large amount of resource going up the stairs, they don't. We don't use elevators. You're talking about a 100 personnel with equipment going up the stairs. Hoses in the smoke condition, water running down. Think of a person with disability, paraplegic, even a quadriplegic using, you know, the stair tractor to bring them down. You're not going to have that opportunity. Somebody's going to get hurt. Somebody's going to die. Many firefighters have slip and fall down stairwells, including myself, in a heated, smoky condition. People will panic. People will do things that you never thought they would. Even a simple exit. If you don't have a secondary exit, well, then we might as well build homes. It's one door, one entry, one exit and see what happened. Save some money. But people's lives are at stake. If. If it's your family and they live in an apartment, I wouldn't recommend to live in an apartment complex that have one single stairwell. And both my brother and I retired from the San Jose Fire Department. My cousin, who is a deputy chief in the fire marshal and many, many many friends throughout Cal Fire and many other entity. They all against it. And I would love to someday to invite all the council members who think it's great. I'll put you right up in the training tower, put some smoke in there, have a bunch of firefighters go up on the fourth story and see what happened. I'll yield my time. Thank you, Council member. Council member. Tordillos. Thank you, Vice Mayor, and thank you, staff for the excellent presentation. And thank you also for joining me up in Sacramento. It was my first time at the Capitol testifying on a bill, so I appreciated having you there. I don't want to fully relitigate, you know, the single stair discussion, especially given that, as we heard, the bill is not moving forward this session. So we have some time to regroup here. But I do want to make clear that, you know, with the study that came out from the state fire marshal, that there was limitations, there were limitations in that study, and there was also significant disagreement within the membership of the working group on both the scope of the study and the findings, most notably, the fact that the study explicitly did not compare the safety of the proposed single stair buildings with traditional single or two staircase buildings, but did want to note that another recent study completed by the state of Minnesota did expressly look at that specific question and to Councilmember Dan's point about, you know, these cascading failures that are possible in these buildings, the Minnesota study actually did look at all of these different failure modes from sprinkler systems not activating to alarms, not going off to doors in the unit with the fire being left open, you know, allowing smoke to escape. And the findings from that more comprehensive study showed that eight storey single staircase buildings with the safeguards around floor plates and max travel distances to exits, sprinkler requirements, pressurized stairs would actually be safer than the two storey alternative eight storey building that they analyzed. Specifically because of the quicker travel distances and the lower occupancy load per floor plate. So I do not think that it is a foregone conclusion in any sense that single staircase buildings are unsafe. And again, we can look at some of the studies that have been performed on the thousands of single staircase buildings that exist across this country and across the world, that have shown that these buildings are safe. On the topic of e-bike safety, I do want to thank Council Member Candelas and Council Member Foley for the memos, but I do want to reframe the discussion just a little bit to point out that far and away, you know, on our roads, the most dangerous vehicles that exist for drivers, for cyclists, for pedestrians are cars. And that while e-bike accident rates and injury rates have been going up, they currently still car injuries are over 100 times higher nationwide than e-bike injuries. That's not to say that we shouldn't do something about some of the recent tragedies that we've heard. I think it's just important that we dig into what actual safety concerns we're seeing, what is the data show? What do the trends show? So I do want to highlight, I think Jordan alluded to this in his letter as well. The study from the Mineta Transportation Institute that came out last year that showed, you know, published some findings about e- bike safety. The two things that really stood out to me were that one well e- bike crashes have gone up. They are still far less common than conventional bikes. So I think something that we should keep in mind here, but then the other one, and I think this one points more towards what sorts of legislation might be really important to prioritize. Here is about the misclassification of e motos, motorcycles in particular, and the severe safety concerns they're causing. You know, they point to a survey of 12 different schools that were visited, both middle and high schools in California, where they just surveyed what electric vehicles were parked on site. And they found that 88% of the ostensibly e-bikes that were parked on those campuses were not actually street legal e-bikes, which I think points to a lot of the risks that we see with this unregulated market of overpowered e- bikes that are already not legal under California law, but that are being inappropriately either marketed to young people or being allowed to be retrofitted after the fact. So I think that's really the highest priority thing that we should be focusing in on.I do have concerns about some of the bills that have been introduced in recent years, in the legislature around e-bike regulation. I think, you know, while well-intentioned, I have concerns about, you know, potentially overly onerous registration or license plate requirements on e-bikes as something that could, you know, make it more difficult for their uptake. And I think that making e-bikes accessible kind of in the spirit of the vice mayor's memo, was really important because fundamentally encouraging mode share away from single occupancy vehicles and towards active transportation, e-bikes, walking mopeds, all of that is really going to be important to both our mobility goals, our safety goals and our climate goals. So we want to make sure that the requirements that we put in place are reasonable. I also wanted to flag some concerns with AB 1557 in particular, which would lower some of the speed or change the classifications for e-bikes, change some of the speed limits and the motor power limits. I think there's concerns there just because this would kind of separate California from a regulatory standpoint from the rest of the country, I think there's concerns about whether these types of e-bikes or even available in the market, whether the market would be able to respond quickly, and whether that could make it, again, more difficult to acquire an e-bike. But I also think that some of those features are actually important safety features. You know, for anyone here who has biked in San Jose, where you have to navigate are growing and excellent, you know, protected bike lane network. But when you come to gaps in those networks and suddenly you are in, you know, normal vehicle lanes, contending with car traffic, you know, being able to have more pedal assist, being able to get up to 20mph and get closer to the prevailing speed of traffic, being able to have throttle available if you are older or differently abled and you need the extra boost to get up closer to the speeds of other vehicles or have a quicker start at a stop sign or a traffic lights that you, again are not in a dangerous situation where you are contending with cars. A lot of these things that, while they may pose safety concerns, are also important safety features. When you're actually writing an e-bike in some of these urban environments, did want to also just uplift the bill that was mentioned by Jordan. SB 1167, which does specifically zero in on the motor regulation, in particular, adding manufacturer disclosure requirements so that if you manage to acquire one of these vehicles, the manufacturer has to tell you point blank, this is not an e- bike, it is not road legal. You know, you have to go and get a license. You have to get whatever it is I think would be a good first start here. Also has some bans on using some of these vehicles on public roads, which I think would be important as well as and I think this one is really important, standardizing labeling on e-bikes and also data collection practices. So in the future we can better suss out which of these accidents are from road legal, you know, class one and class two e- bikes versus which ones are from either aftermarket modifications or bikes that never should have been on our roads under current law anyway. So again, I think that there's a lot of nuance here. It's an important problem to, but I think it's important that we do it the right way, that we look at what the data says, and we let that guide kind of the policy prescriptions that we pursue. So we'll be supporting the vice mayor and council member. Candelas memo. Thank you. Thank you. Council member. Council member Campos. Thank you, Vice Mayor, and thank you to our team for their presentation. And thank you for my colleagues, for your collaboration on our joint memo regarding e-bike safety in the State Assembly, as my colleagues have shared, we know that there is more work that needs to be done to ensure our streets are safe and accessible for our youth, especially in the periphery of our city. Places like South San Jose, East San Jose that don't yet have that transit friendly, bike friendly modes of transportation. And as we heard earlier this month about the last mile connectivity and how important it is to make sure that we're ensuring safety the entire ride through, I really appreciate my my colleagues uplifting making sure our streets and our roads are safe and accessible for our youth, and it's important that we better understand how to work with our state partners and the bike industry to keep devices mislabeled as e-bikes out of the hands of our youth. Because while e-bike safety is critical, being hit by a vehicle remains the greatest threat to our pedestrians and bicyclists. And in 2026, we've already seen double the number of traffic fatalities at this point in comparison to 2025. So we must continue investing in our Vision Zero and mobility plans to provide physical separation between vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians and since. I've taken office, I've had the pleasure of meeting with almost all of our district two principals, and they've made it very clear that traffic safety and safe routes to school are high priorities, not too long ago, we also had an incident around Davis Middle School where a student pedestrian was struck by a car on their way to school. And so that is why this work is so critical, because it ensures that we're working in lockstep with other levels of government to prioritize the safety of all our neighbors and neighborhoods. I also just want to uplift and inform my colleagues of Assembly Bill 1914, introduced by Assembly Member Shiavo. This bill is simple and, if approved, will help ensure counties and cities are able to address child care needs in local planning efforts. As important as our work is to increase residential capacity to meet both our community needs and state mandates, we can't neglect the demand for essential services, including child care. And so I look forward to seeing this bill progress in the state legislature, because I do believe that it will help provide the tools and the support that cities need to ensure that all of our communities met. Needs are met, such as housing and childcare. Thank you. Thank you. Councilmember. Council member Cohen. Thank you. And thank you, Councilmember Campos, for mentioning that last bill. We had a vigorous discussion on that as well as well, last week. Unfortunately, many cities don't like it when the state tells them what they should evaluate. So the League of Cities took a position not to support that bill, but. All that bill asks for is that when you're doing your next general plan, amendment or housing element that you take into account child care needs? And I think it's a reasonable thing. I want to mention. I just want to briefly talk about a couple of these bills that we've been talking about. The the single stare bill. I think that's an important example of when there are there's an in between. That actually is the correct answer. The idea that every city around the state should be required to accept single stare bill is not realistic because of the different kinds of capacities they have for response. At the same time, there are places where it can work. As was pointed out by Councilmember Tordillos, I think it's time for us as a city to start advocating, and we've done this before on bills that we think can help us but don't necessarily apply to others, but advocating for bills that provide for the ability to do things in certain parts of the state. that are not going to be blanket everywhere in the state. So we ought to be thinking about how we can. Say that where there's a certain kind of of criteria met so that this type of construction can be accepted. So we ought to anyway some some for us to think about in our advocacy. It shouldn't be a one size fits all type of bill on the e-bikes. The thing that's most concerning to me is that parents don't know what they're buying their children, and that children under 16 are ending up on bikes that are inappropriate for them, and how we can enforce that. And we heard from the police chiefs last week saying the issue is that they see an e-bike and they don't know by sight whether or not it's compliant. They do confiscate e-bikes from children who are riding inappropriate e-bikes. But when you see an e-bike fly by, you don't know without some kind of registration marker on the bike, what class it is. Because children under 16 are only supposed to be riding class one e-bikes and not class two and class three. So to me, legislation that helps identify the kind of bike and also therefore helps parents know what they should be buying their children because that's what's safe, I think is important. And then. The the last thing I want to point out is I think we wouldn't be a good IG report without reminding people about, first of all, the number of ballot measures. You're going to see a huge number of ballot measures this November on the ballot of all kinds of things. But remind people that now that the just recently, the ballot measure from Howard Jarvis has qualified for the ballot and if it were to pass, measure E would be invalidated and all that revenue would be gone immediately starting in January of next year, along with the inability for any local revenue measure to be able to move forward without a two thirds vote, including things like T.o.t and other things that we rely on as a city. So it's all hands on deck moment to try to make sure that of that a ballot measure like that. Is not successful because of the risks to a city like ours. So I just want to mention that. Thank you. Well, thank you for that really bad news. We're going to have to get behind that and or figure out what the implications are. And really, you're you'll have to help educate us on that issue. Along with Iugr Council member Doan. Actually, Council member, may I move to go to Council member Mulcahy first since he hasn't spoke yet, and then I'll come back to you. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Thanks for the report and the efforts out of your office. You may have been listening in to the study session with PBCE. I'm sure you were listening in to our our CED committee meeting the other day, but this talk about, you know, unfunded housing mandates coming down from Sacramento. And each of those occasions I've asked our PBCE staff, you know, what they're hearing from their compatriots around the state. And, you know, is everybody feeling as. Overworked, you know, to, to both interpret and then to apply, you know, these bills coming down. And I'm wondering, are we doing anything? I didn't see anything in the update, but I may have missed it. You know, maybe Steve if there's anything happening, you know, bubbling around the budget to support these unfunded mandates, to sort of help cities get out of this, you know, challenging mess that we're in to both interpret our own local planning, but also having to deal with what's coming down from the state. Any comments on that kind of in what you're saying? Thank you for your question. I wanted to provide a little context, and then we can kick it over to our state lobbyist to comment about what's currently happening. But one of the things that I should point out is that the legislature is on track to have made 450 changes to state housing law in just eight years. So as you can guess, the, you know, production of housing has been a huge priority for the state legislature. And so therefore, there have been a lot of activities, as you mentioned, unfortunately, some of which have been unfunded. We have worked very closely with PBCE and especially with the League on making sure that the legislature understands that when they pass these unfunded mandates, it makes it especially difficult. I do believe we've made good progress over the last few years to really curb some of that. And I think in particular, with SB 79, we did work very closely with PBCE to minimize that, even though the end product still does put burden on us. But I just wanted to provide that context before we kick it over to the state lobbyists. Yes. Thank you for the question. Council Member. So yeah, I would agree with some of Emily's comments just with respect to the volume of bills in the legislature. As you know, in the last like 5 to 10 years or so focused on planning and entitlements and sort of really sort of attacking that those processes as the the point of contention or where the backlog is for housing. And so I think as those bills have moved through, there's just been a strong appetite for more and more of them without a lot of consideration for the state costs and the mandated costs associated with that. Because of the political, you know, strong political desire to move forward with those. I think we are starting to see somewhat of a shift this year, as I think as the housing experts and the policy committees look at the number of entitled units that are not being built and saying it's not all attributable to local governments not approving housing. There's other factors involved, like financing and other things. You look at some of the bills that we're supporting this year are not focused on that. They're the the deposit, the deposit or the construction defect. So they're starting to, I think, appreciate and understand that there are other factors, but it doesn't change or account change. The fact that there are a lot of bills that have been passed, and there are now taking effect that the Department has to deal with to implement. So my hope is that it does get better. I think because of that, there has not been a lot of sympathy, to be honest, to try to provide funding associated with that. The upside is, though, as Emily pointed out, that a lot of those bills start out in in original form. That actually put much more requirements and much more costs. And as it they do go through the process, it's hard to see the success, but I think we have been successful. We as a city and working with the league and sort of getting things sort of scaled back to improve that, that picture. But I think that's, I think in terms of what's happening and why you're seeing so much of it. But I hope that it can improve. I know, Lea, you may have some some comments as well. I just wanted. To separate from. What's going on in Sacramento. Jennifer gets the opportunity to spend a lot of time with her counterparts throughout the Bay Area and state, and I do as well. It is a common thing. San Jose is not even closely alone in feeling over legislated by Sacramento on this. And I certainly think to Steve's point, I think, you know, last year, in the first year of the legislative session, around 2400 bills were introduced. The sheer volume amount of them that dealt with housing was quite extraordinary. This year. And the second year, it's about 1700 second year always being a little bit less. There's far less. Now, realizing that the legislator legislature has made these changes, but yet there's too many externalities around cost and a variety of other factors really driving housing. So there seems to be a little bit of a back off, but it is a shared kind of overwhelmed feeling, you know, across the state, cities and counties around housing policy, specifically. Thank you. Are you finished? Is that it? Yeah. I didn't mean. To sort of cut it off so quickly. I'm not really sure what to do with that. I guess what we're recognizing is that we you know, whether it's the administration or our, you know, consultants and lobbyists are recognizing that, you know, all cities are overwhelmed. I guess what, you know, what we ultimately do with that and how we you know, help facilitate a change in that way. I think it would be, you know, I'm interested in that and just want to see us from our IR team continuing to pursue, whether it's cleanup legislation or whether it's, you know, advocating for resources to, you know support cities that are already implementing a lot of these programs. So I'll end it there. Thank you for the report. Thank you. Council Member Dewan, I'm going to go to Council Member Kamei again because she hasn't spoken. Sorry about that. Sorry, I wasn't going to say anything. But my colleague here really struck a nerve at the CED meeting. You know, it was very clear that 90% of their workload is these mandates and or required. Right. And, you know, they're they're demonstrating that they have of all the things that they have to do. What we want to do in terms of our priority is very tiny. And so I'm thinking, hey, this can get really bad, this can get worse. So I guess the only thing that I'd like to say is we have to come up with some kind of strategy to inform our even, even our delegation, right? In terms of the impacts of taking away local control. And, you know, I understand that everybody wants housing. We all want housing. But the way that they've been able to like layer it year after year after year after year, when you have to deal with all these mandates with no money. I mean, we're talking about zero. It's really, really difficult, right? So I think that it's about time that we start doing more in terms of being able to say, hey, if you're going to do these things, something has to give, right? Because we're at 90% of the workload, there's not much more there. So I think before it gets to 95 or 100%, I think that we really need to come up with some kind of strategy on how we're going to deal with this. And I'm part of the Santa Clara Cities Association, and we're all feeling it. We're all feeling every city in the county is feeling it. So I just feel that we need to come up with a better way and not just, well, you know, that's the way it's coming down. No, I think we need to be a lot more proactive, even with our own delegation. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Doan. Thank you for being patient. Oh, we got time. We can stay here all night. I'm just teasing. But anyway, you know, for for that study from Minnesota. I can throw out cases after cases like the Grenfell Tower in London, 20 1772 death Bronx apartments, just a duplex, 17 fatalities because of stairwell failures or unable to escape. Chicago fire 2004. Six people were trapped and killed. Ontario apartment six people died. New York apartment high rise within smoke filled stairwell with multiple people die. Apartment fire in 1993, ten residents die. So not only the fire department here in San Jose, it is the International Association of Firefighters, including International Association of Fire Chief, against it. And it's you know, we just be the trade off is not to to to many, many people out there. It's not only a danger to the residents, but it's also a danger to firefighter that's going up. When you try to you got to remember multiple from rescue to companies going up there, cutting the roof to companies going up for every personnel that going up there, bringing bundle of holes and then two breathing. What you call the SCBA to go up there, a large amount of equipment, a large amount of people, even in a three story or even a two story. Think of it as higher we go, the more resource we need. And so. It's funny how we, we, we look at some of these one study and we said, oh yeah, we can talk fast. We can talk about this study. But again, look at all the cases and more and more will happen. I think that will, will be. Irresponsible. If we trade human life for little extra, you know, reduce the cost or is negligent that a single stairwell will add more volume to the build. I don't want to argue this to death. I can, but I'll yield my time. Thank you. I'm hoping that we can put closure on this item and this memo. Council member Tordillos, you have the last word on the fire issue. I will keep it brief. I would say every single one of those fires that Council member Duggan referenced was a tragedy, and none of them were the type of building that we are talking about here. That is why I think it's important that we don't overindex on individual tragedies like that. But look at the broader data. Look at the specifics of what we've seen. And that data has shown that these buildings can be safe, including a study of over 4000 single stair buildings spanning 12 years of fire safety data that did not show a single fire death from these buildings. Thank you. Okay. My turn. Truly, there's a lot of interest in what your team is up to, what the team is doing, and, and I, I two things. I just want to elevate a little bit. You talked about them in your report, but I just wanted to give them a little public recognition. And that is SB 1375. Cortez. That's the bill that would exempt Diridon station from Sikora. And that's really important legislation. And I want to thank the senator for carrying that for us. Additionally, a B 1941. LED by Gonzalez. That is important because that's about the copper theft and other metals that we're seeing stolen throughout the city, throughout our utilities. Our school districts feel it, VTA feels it, and it's extremely costly. Not only that, it shuts down operations wherever it occurs. So I just wanted to give a thank you to both Assemblyman Cohen Gonzales and Senator Cortez for carrying those. And then not not to overemphasize the e- bikes. You know, I'm the former chair of Vision Zero and public safety on our streets is extremely important. But I do want to emphasize what has already been stated a couple of times, that it's important to note that the number of severe collisions and fatalities that we have have been related to automobiles and not e-bikes. I just in my district near Carleton Elementary, I had two individuals walking on a sidewalk who were hit by a drunk driver on the sidewalk. Luckily, their home recovering. But those were serious crashes and serious injuries, so we ought to be very concerned about e-bikes, but we ought to still be more concerned about the speed of automobiles and and how they are traveling, how drivers are traveling, distracted on our streets. I just want to say that I, I appreciate Councilmember for moving my memo and for all of the comments about the e- bikes, I think it's very important but I also want to recognize that it's really important that we reach out, that the team reaches out to the Silicon Valley Bike Coalition and our own biped Bipac committee, of which Jordan chairs. When we're seeking input, because there are mobility issues with how people get around the city and how they are able to get around. So we want to make sure that we're not what anything we're doing isn't making it more difficult for someone who is disabled, disabled or has mobility issues from using one of these e-bikes that could be life changing for them. So with that, I'm going to go to a vote. Motion passes unanimously with one absent. Okay. Thank you for that. Very impassionate discussion about everything. Iger always generates more conversation than you think it's going to, but it always does. Next is item 3.5 amendments to City Council policy. 1-16 policy for the issuance of multifamily housing. I don't think we have a report on this. So do we have a any members of the public who wish to speak. No speaker cards for this item. Do we have a motion? Then I have a motion. Is there a second? I have a motion and a second. I see no hands raised. Let's vote. Motion passes unanimously with one absent. Thank you. And the next item? Last item before open forum is item 10.2 site development permit and vesting. Tentative map for certain real property located at Camden Avenue and Singleton single Tree Way. I know we have a presentation on this one. Good afternoon, Honorable Vice Mayor and Council members. Sandhu, Deputy Director of Planning and I'm joined by Chris Burton, director of Planning, Building Code Enforcement, as well as Principal planner David Keon, who is our in-house CEQA expert. All right. The item before you today is located at 5670 Camden Avenue. It is for a residential project submitted under the Housing Accountability Act and specifically the builder's remedy component of that law. The proposal includes a subdivision. As you can see in the image on the right to a school site, which was the former Cinnabar Elementary School, and the site is proposed to be subdivided into two main lots. The one on the left to remain and to include the school buildings and the corporation yard, and the remainder of the site, which includes the ball fields to be converted to residential development. The site. The new lot with the residential development would include access from Camden Avenue as well as from Singletree Way, and would be developed with 108 residential condo units in 323 story buildings. Eight of the units proposed would be reserved for extremely low income households, and the project includes removal of 41 trees as well as state density bonus law waivers for rear setback requirements and environmental impact report was prepared for this project, which we'll discuss in a few slides down, and this project includes a statement of overriding considerations for greenhouse gas emissions and vehicle miles traveled impacts, which is the reason why this bill, this remedy project is before council today. Our first one before you. We have had a few builders remedy projects already approved through the director's hearing process. So what is the Builder's remedy project? So builders remedy is defined in the Housing Accountability Act as a project that is submitted to a city when it does not have a compliant housing element. This project or builders remedy projects are required to meet certain minimum affordability requirements as well as fit within a minimum and maximum density range, and these cannot be located adjacent to heavy industrial or title five. Industrial uses. A city cannot deny a qualifying builder's remedy project based on inconsistency with the city's General plan, land use designation and zoning ordinance and the Housing Accountability Act also prohibits a city from denying a qualifying builder's remedy project. Unless we can demonstrate specific side adverse impacts to public health and safety. For this project, this application was submitted in May of 2023, which is at a time when the city did not have a compliant housing element. Our housing element was adopted and found in substantial compliance by the state in January of 2024. Since then the project has evolved with some slight changes to the affordability mix. Once the state updated the builder's remedy provisions under Assembly Bill 1893. In terms of the review of the project, again, as I mentioned it, we must treat the project as if it meets the General Plan, land use designation and requirements of the zoning ordinance. We cannot deny it on the basis of inconsistency with these local policies, and also the project does not require approval of any General plan amendment or rezoning, and is considered consistent with all the requirements. We can only evaluate the project for compliance with objective health and safety standards. So given how the project fits under state law, we did review it with state law, but also with the provisions of our general plan, our municipal code, our design standards. It has a this applicant has done a lot to meet some of many of these requirements. And then the project was also reviewed under the California Environmental Quality Act, which is a separate part of state law. So I do want to clarify that the builders remedy projects are still subject to the California Environmental Quality Act and must meet its requirements. So when it comes to the environmental review or compliance with the with CEQA, the staff prepared an environmental impact report for this project, which is the highest level of environmental review under CEQA. It was circulated from August through September, and we received 21 formal comment letters that were addressed and responded to in the final Environmental Impact Report, the EIR identified several mitigation measures that reduce impacts related to air quality, biological resources, cultural and tribal cultural resources, hazardous and hazardous materials, as well as mitigation measures around greenhouse gas emissions and transportation. However, despite these mitigation measures, the project still results in a significant and unavoidable impact to greenhouse gas emissions and transportation primarily because of the project location in an area that is identified as an immitigable vehicle, miles traveled area, or VMT area, which triggers the requirement for a statement of overriding considerations. So diving a little bit deeper into that requirement. So Council policy 5-1, which triggers the transportation analysis under CEQA, identifies the project site as an area where which is which does not allow for mitigations for VMT, the the council policy does offer a pathway to achieve the overriding community benefits for projects when they are located in this area, and primarily the applicant or the project has to demonstrate what those community benefits or overriding benefits are that then the City Council can weigh in on their consideration of compliance with CEQA. So in this particular instance, the project's vehicle Miles traveled was at 15.23 per capita, which means on average, each individual who would be part of the residential community would be traveling more than 15 miles on average. The mitigation measures that were included, such as pedestrian network improvements, traffic calming measures, transit system improvements with the relocation of a bus stop would have mitigated some of those miles traveled to 13.50. However, the threshold for when it is an impact to VMT is at 11.39 miles. Vehicle miles traveled, and thus the difference had to be offset with a contribution from the applicant of approximately $2 million. This particular applicant has chosen to, in lieu of paying that offset value to actually construct improvements, including a new traffic signal at the Camden Avenue and Single Tree Way intersection, as well as including new crosswalks. And this was determined based on a lot of community input and concerns about traffic generation at this intersection. So with that, staff feels that the applicant has provided community benefits with this project. Specifically, they are providing a diverse income housing options with the extremely low income. Units at eight units out of the 108 unit project, they are providing transportation improvements that offset the impact to the Vmts, and they're also proposing 100% electric project. This item was considered before the Planning Commission on March 25th and several questions came up related to ingress and egress for emergency vehicles and the public during an emergency, particularly around the single tree way access point, because that is an error street increase in the traffic volume and traffic safety on single tree way. These were addressed because the fire department has reviewed these these plans, and there will be preemption for emergency vehicles during an emergency response at the stoplights, the street. The single tree way itself has the capacity to accommodate the additional traffic that would be generated by this project and includes red curb areas to to increase visibility and safety, and is generally a lower speed street because of the narrowness of the street itself. The other items related to were brought up at the Commission were related to dirt on site and construction impacts to the school site, and as I mentioned, the EIR evaluated these items and there was an environmental site assessment and a health risk assessment that was prepared that has mitigation measures to address these concerns. And then finally, the loss of the public school district, land or lands, public quasi public lands was also brought up. However, as mentioned previously, this is the builder's remedy project that cannot be a factor in the council's consideration of approval or denial. With that, staff and the Planning Commission recommends that the City Council adopt the resolutions that certify the Environmental Impact Report, which includes the statement of Overriding Considerations and the Mitigation, Monitoring and Reporting Program, approved the vesting tentative map to split the existing parcel and approve the site development permit that allows for the 108 residential condominiums to move forward with the waiver requests. That concludes staff's presentation, and we are available for any questions. Thank you. And the applicant is here as well, and they'll probably like to speak. Very good. Thank you. Does the applicant wish to speak? Thank you. Applicant gets five minutes. Can you hear me? Yes. I have a brief presentation. I'm going to try to wrap up three years into 3 to 5 minutes. So. While he's getting it going my name is Orville Power and I am the president of Mana Investments. We are a home builder that builds in San Diego, the Bay area, as well as Northern Nevada. Okay so. Just to kind of clarify, we're builder, we're we're buying from the school district. School district is ultimately exchanging with us. And I'll take you through that process. The first, the first question you may have is, why is a school district selling their land? A data point came up in our planning commission hearing that I thought was was very interesting. The school district had 5000 students at one point and now has 5500. And so they had facility facilities for 50,000 students. And I think part of that, what you'll see is that's because the lack of affordable housing, right, that's occurring not only here in Silicon Valley, where it's exacerbated with very high incomes, but, you know throughout the state. So the school district went out for an RFP in August of 2022, of which we put in a bid. We were actually the second bidder on that. The previous the bidder who won was an affordable housing developer and a and a self-storage developer. They ultimately determined that it wasn't feasible for them. And then we moved forward with a deal structure, which is an exchange agreement. So ultimately what happens is we're buying the land. The school district is exchanging the land into an income producing asset, which will then produce over $1 million a year of income for for the school. So next question, you know, how do we develop the site? So one thing I do want to mention is the site when we submitted our application was zoned for RM. So it was already zoned for housing the BCP designation within the general plan is really what brought us here to you guys. Or it would be less of a discretionary process. So the other thing that we looked at was what can we do on the site with without being here in front of city council? And that was 667 affordable housing units with no parking as a kind of high end, which that didn't feel appropriate to us. So my partner and I, Scott Murray, kind of got to know the area a bit better and, and determined that building something that was kind of in the fabric of the neighborhood is the best approach. And that's how we always go about it. You'll see a variety of pictures up here in the presentation that show buildings that are surrounding our site. So then the next question is, you know, what are what are our legal options for entitling this property? Option A was a general plan amendment, which is a discretionary action. And option B at the time was builder's remedy, which really limits the ability for denial. So we moved forward with the builder's remedy application. You'll see in this slide here the existing school will remain and that's being leased out to a Montessori school I believe. And then we'll be creating a new parcel, which is 6.67 acres in the back. We'll be developing 108 three story townhomes. This is family focused product, three and four bedrooms, 1700 to 1950ft2. This slide here lays out our timeline. So it's been three years already. And just so everybody realizes, I heard a another data point 450 housing laws in the last eight years. And, and some housing units are not being produced. We as developers take on a ton of risk when we start these projects. It's two, three years of entitlements, two, three years of building. If it's a rental, it gets stabilized. And that's the point where you de-risk. So we're signing on loans that could, you know, crush us to build these products and it's, you know, I think legislation, legislators are putting on a lot of pressure, but. Items are housing isn't getting built because the economy changes during the process. So if we can get these entitlements to go quicker, it, it will enhance the increase the amount of units that are getting built. So we held three community outreach meetings. Letters went out to 2000 different people. Council member Casey, who has attended, I think all of them and was there before he was a council member, and our initial meetings had 60 to 70 residents. concerns. So. Thank you. That's your time. Thank. Thank you. No, I'm sorry, that's your time. But maybe someone from the school district wants to come down and speak for their two two minutes. Let's go to other members of the public who have comments. Thank you for the presentation. By the way. Thomas, Susan and Vicki, please go ahead and make your way to the podium. Board members. My name is Thomas Hislop, a longtime resident. I sent you some pictures so you could see what's being demolished. It's not being moved. It can't be. These are these are very important fields to the community. They aren't just baseball fields and they're not being relocated. They're going to create new fields very quickly. If you look at the numbers that it's going to cost the taxpayers, it's going to cost us $30.5 million to move the to move the fields. It's it's, I'm sorry, $10.5 million. The lands 20, $30.5 million. I'm sorry. I thought it was eight. I thought it was seven affordable units. Eight. I've done my math at $4.2 million per unit is what it's going to cost the taxpayers. He gets 100 houses of affordable units. When I did my research, I was not told that all this stuff was online. I was told I wouldn't get it till the 30th. I went online and I researched it and I found documentation about the contract. The contract is a land exchange contract, and for you to enter into a land exchange contract, that vehicle, you have to have land to exchange on the 25th that the planning department, Scott Sheldon mentioned that there was no land that was identified. And if you actually look at the contract, which you have to have land identified to be able to enter into that contract, the they've removed the language that it's a requirement. So the vehicle to sell has been manipulated to do this. property, it's actually with a cash out value to use whatever they want. And land surplus cannot be used for programs and other things that she needs the money for. It's the wrong vehicle that she needs this money for to use. Lastly, in front of the planning department, Scott Sheldon told the planning department there were no soil issues at all. They were very. Thank you. Document. Thank you very much, everybody. I appreciate. You. Hi. I'm Susan Supple, also a long term resident of Park Almaden, which is where this project is going to be next to, as Tom started out talking about issues with the ear during the Planning Commission meeting, it was spoken that there were no significant issues yet. If you actually look at a parallel project, the Union District Maintenance and Operations building that was built on the same piece of property. There were what they call highly significant issues, and they were to be mitigated to less significant. Yet at the Planning Commission, it was proposed spoken to as if there were no issues. So we were we we are not don't believe that it was presented properly. And so therefore approving the EIR without all the proper information and the mitigation factors written into it would not be appropriate. And also just. I have a little time. This is our our baseball field. We've been there since the houses have been there since 63. The fields have been there since 69, and the. They are part of our community. And as we sat here for the last few hours watching how happy you all are that a new park is coming online, you know, commemorated. It's great for the city, great for the neighborhoods. And yet you're taking away hours and it's just builder's remedy is tough, but there are ways to look at it where it doesn't meet that need. It can't that the builder remedy doesn't necessarily negate all the all the negatives. You know, you say, oh, well, these negatives have, but we need housing. We need housing. Thank you. That's your time. Thank you. Before the next speaker addresses us, I need to turn to Council Member Cohen. He has a comment. Yes. I will have to recuse myself from this item due to the fact. So I'm going to step into the back. Okay. Thank you, thank you. Hello. Good afternoon, Vice Mayor Foley and council members. I am Vicki Brown, president of the Union School District Board of Education. I've been on the board for 21 years as president. I'm here on behalf of our entire board to support the proposal in front of you. One of my fellow board members, Jen Petrov, is here, and our superintendent, Doctor Kerry Andrews, supporting Mana's proposal. We've spent about four years on this going through different proposals and looking for what we thought would best fit our community and our schools. We are the lowest funded from the state district in the entire county, and we have to find other ways to produce revenue. This is one of those legacy projects that will provide, at the minimum, $1 million for our general fund every year. That allows us to keep the best staff and and to provide quality programs for our students in our district. And we also hope that this this will have an opportunity to gain a few more students. Everybody in the county is looking for more students, and we hope that through this housing, that we would be able to have that. I would like to help mention the. Fields. If you notice, there's nobody here from Union Little League, and that is because we have worked with them along the way for four entire years, and we will be putting fields along with our refurbishment for our bond project our bond at Dartmouth Middle School, and I think also the commission. Back to council. Thank you. Thank you for the presentation. And thank you for the members of the public who spoke. Doctor Andrews, before we proceed, this is giving me a little deja vu. And as it related to Cambridge at the Camden School, Cambridge School District, and what happened there with the exchange and how funds were able to be generated by the exchange of the property and helping out that school district at that time. So I, I, I understand this it's a difficult time, especially with declining enrollment and the funding that your school district receives. With that, I'll turn to the council member who represents this area, Council Member Casey. Thank you, Vice Mayor. I want. To thank the folks. That showed up to speak and Mana for being here as well. I was introduced to this project, as Orville mentioned, back when I was running for council, and there were 70 to 80 people there concerned, and Chris and planning staff, you guys can refresh my memory. At that time, the builders remedy the way the law was written. There was no cap in terms of the number of units that they could have imposed upon this property, as long as they had 20% affordable. So them mentioning they could have had a 600 or 700 unit project on that site is fairly accurate or not fairly accurate. Right? That's correct. Yeah. So this is a complex task. Anytime you try to build this many units, if you add the extra layers of the builders remedy and the fact that it's a school property as well, it just makes it even more difficult. But I want to applaud Mana for their approach. They engaged the community the entire process, and they could have just used builder's remedy as a shield to kind of shove this through the process. But they didn't. I think they were really thoughtful in terms of the way they decided to develop the project, for it to conform and fit into the neighborhood. So I applaud them for that. I am obviously supportive of the project and make a motion to accept staff's recommendation. Thank you. I have a motion and a second. Oh, I'm sorry, one one more point. I apologize if I may. There was a comment made about, I think, in one of the emails about a phase one, phase two scenario, if you guys could just speak to that, there was nothing in phase one. I'm assuming that required a phase two analysis. Was there? Could we have the applicant address that question? Yeah. There's no issues that we avoided. Phase one basic. sir. So the phase one because the majority of the valley has been ag land, almost any phase one within the valley requires a phase two report, just because of all the pesticides and stuff that are used. So we did perform a phase two was completed, I think about a month ago. And it's clear there's there's no no pesticides in the soil. Sorry. Thank you. Yeah. I just wanted to add that point. Sorry. Thank you. Thank you, I appreciate this. Well, while this property isn't in district nine, it's very close to district nine. And Dartmouth Middle School is in district nine. So we share the the commonality in how we might be affected. I don't like builder's remedy, but we have to live with builder's remedy. And the the thoughtful number of units that are being proposed in the middle market, that this will be addressing is really important when we're trying to build housing. So I know builder's remedy is very difficult because it takes away some of our control and some of our local authority, but it came you brought in a thoughtful project with eight affordable housing units built into it, bringing resources to the school district that they desperately need. So I am happy, happy to support this as well. I see no hands raised, so let's vote. Motion passes. Unanimously. Thank you. That concludes our formal agenda. We move to public Comment. Jose, please go ahead and make your way to the podium. So I got two minutes. You have two minutes? Yes. Okay. Hi. I'm Jose Reyes. So I got multiple things. That I would like. To talk about, but I don't have enough time. But today I'll talk about the the cost of housing. I think that they were charging 3000 per unit. How is that going to actually help out the economy or the situation? Back in the day, it used to be 1200 per per unit for an actual housing. And there were still homeless in the area. So now they're actually making it more. More. It costs more to actually be living here when that does not actually helping out that actually making it worse. There's actually people are not going to be leaving the city. They're just going to go to, to the streets. And that's actually going to be making more crimes in the city. So that's actually making more problems instead of making. And then the housing here, like all the houses, they're, they're way overpriced.