[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] I'd rather and something to and fly suceed [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] I love the accomplish fail try to accom fully succeed all [Music] [Music] the 3:30 p.m. meeting of the Bakersfield City Council is now in session good afternoon it's my pleasure to call to order the 3:30 regular city council meeting of June 12th 2024 it's great to see everybody out there uh Madam clerk would you please call the role mayor go here vice mayor Gonzalez here council member Arias council member Weir here council member mber Smith I am here council member Freeman here council member gray here council member core thank you and just for the record council member ARS has now entered say it's three 31 in keeping with council members new council's new resolution public statements are now received at different times depending on the item I will call on the city clerk to call for public statements at the appropriate time so please listen carefully for the correct time to speak if you wish to make a public statement please fill out a public speaker card and place it in the tray on the counter next to the speaker Podium we ask that you mark whether you're here to speak on an item listed on today's agenda or in a matter not on the agenda speakers who do not identify a specific agenda item will be presumed speakers for the non-agenda public statements if you're here to speak on an item not listed on the meeting agenda you will be called first to speak statements are given a 2-minute time limit per speaker 20 minutes total for all non-agenda item public statements if you're here to speak on an item listed on the agenda I will call for you at the appropriate time so please listen carefully if public statements become disruptive and I have to clear the chambers to regain order of the meeting you will be called in one at a time to provide your public statement when your item is called everyone in attendance is expected to adhere to the rules of decorum established by resolution of the city council failure to abide by the city's rules of decorum including any disruptive behavior that interferes with our ability to have an orderly and efficient meeting prevents the city council from conducting the business of the city consider this the first warning to everyone in attendance that conduct that disrupts this meeting May result in expulsion Andor the chambers being cleared behavior that disrupts the meeting includes repetitive statements shouting interrupting St staff or presenters during the meeting speaking out of turn an outburst from the audience and then surpassing the two-minute time limit Madam clerk do we have any public speakers regarding regarding items not listed on the agenda may go we've received one speaker card regarding items not listed on tonight's agenda first public speaker is Terry Maxwell thank you good afternoon Council my name is Terry Maxwell I'm here because uh I was at in front of you about a month ago maybe a little bit longer uh warning you about some of the uh liabilities that we have as a city uh according to what was supposed what we were expecting on 24th Street also the fact that the um Landscaping That was supposed to be done has still not been done uh I talked with the public works director and uh that was a couple days after the last the meeting that I spoke at and since then nothing's been done you are however spending a lot of money uh redoing u a the uh Gara Circle I don't know what what expense that is but I can tell you I've been in this town driving around uh for over 50 years I've never once seen one accident in the Gara Circle since you have completed 24th Street there have been too many to count and it's mostly because the design was flawed hopefully you're not also putting in a flawed design for the Gara Circle if it's going to narrow down to one lane I probably will avoid that because that's just going to be an absolute nightmare I'm not even sure why you guys are doing that the last thing I'd say is that I read in the paper you uh you are giving away about 13 speeding tickets a day if you simply put a couple of your police officers and I'm not here to tell the police how to run their business but if you put a couple of police officers at 24th Street you could probably do 13 in an hour um I'm not sure if we could ever get to the point where we don't have to have a fully certified police officer to stop people for speeding but it might be something that this Council should consider if it's possibility to um to give that kind of a responsibility to somebody other than a fully licensed police officer uh in order to really get people to stop stop doing that speeding on 24th Street thank you thank you Mr Maxwell Madam clerk do we have any public speak regarding items listed on this afternoon's agenda mayor go we've not received any speaker cards regarding items listed on tonight's agenda thank you madam clerk next item please reports item 3A Recreation and Parks adopted Park program presentation Mr Howen mayor council we have a presentation by uh director Rick Anthony with our wck and Parks turn it should be up there all right good afternoon for the record Rick Anthony director of Recreation and Parks and I think this is the wrong presentation that's up right [Laughter] now the adopt the park presentation well while we're waiting I I do want to acknowledge that uh we do have one of our Unique Park adopters here as well this afternoon uh and he will be speaking uh as well his name he is the executive director of time for change his name is Jo Von Dangerfield and as you can see he he brought his posy with them today so uh we're excited more excited about hearing from them and hearing from me so I can just kind of do a quick overview but I'm hoping you at least are able to locate the slides for his presentation mam clerk do you just need some time okay we just give her some time do you want me to go ahead and improvise whatever You' like say I can I can do that so one of the uh one of the the key components to continuing to continue to make our Park safe uh and clean and active is to really get the community to take ownership of it uh it creates a sense of Pride for the community and uh we have as of recent been very successful in getting a lot of organizations to adopt certain Parks uh some of the requirements are that they have to do a certain amount of Park cleanups during uh the month uh they certainly uh have to make a commitment for at least a year and what it does it really shows especially for those folks that may be in our parks for uh other reasons it shows that this park uh is monitored and is cared for by the community and it goes when you combine that effort along with the range and good maintenance it really goes a long way uh to turn around the culture in Parks so I already said that so we'll get right to it thank you thank you Julie uh again some of the requirements one year agreement and at least 16 hours a minimum a month uh right now we redesigned this program in 2023 after only really having one uh participant and thanks to uh administrative staff who here today Walter uh and Irene we were able to beef up the the recruitment effort we actually have the Rangers going out doing the safety meetings and meeting with the groups and after six months of consecutive service to the park you actually will get your sign and you'll see uh several pictures highlighting some of the groups so right now we have 14 uh program adopters uh and certainly are continuing to out to do a little more Outreach to get more again some of the pictures there sh highlighting uh this is the sign Dedication that we do and we certainly want to celebrate that some of our future efforts will include uh becoming a little more uh uh in the in the uh communication lines with a lot of schools we have many schools that are contiguous to our parks and I if I can just highlight uh in the spring we had a love your Park campaign where we partner with McKinley and Emerson agapy and the Bakersfield Senior Center and that was just a terrific event and an example of how schools can really play uh an integral part of keeping our Park safe and clean and with that I would like to introduce you to Javon Dangerfield thank you guys um we are going to do a short presentation um about our efforts at the park but I would like to start by saying it's been an honor to adopt the park we have just finished our first year of Park adoption and uh hold your applause no and we are excited um about not only what it means to adopt the park but the type of work that we're able to do in this area we have done um Advanced garbology Studies um to tell us about the type of activity that's happening in the park and ways to mitigate that activity and take these recommendations along with our research papers and our environmental scans to City officials um and park officials as well so I'm going to have two of my youth come and share some of what we found and then I'm going to close it out so I want to introduce you to Dylan and Leslie thank you so much Shan um hi my name is Dylan D Silva I am a staff member and a youth volunteer at time for change um I have with me Leslie hello everybody I'm Leslie a volunteer at time for change uh we're going to be both collaborating and presenting the our harm reduction proposals for Martin Luther King Jr Park uh we we tyer change have have had a lot of experience with the adopted Park program and we've been extending efforts to improve the experience at MLK Park uh through a multiac approach one outcome from tyer change efforts will be presented today the city of Bakersfield has committed to revitalizing MLK Park to create a safe and vibrant social space time for change is proud to collaborate with the city as advocates for change in our community throughout the research and and action time for change has completed a an extensive garbology research project and submitted our findings into the representative of Recreation and Parks Department the supervisors expressed their and were greatly appreciated of our data of our data and asked us to elaborate further on some of the potential Solutions we understand the Nuance of creating a better Community are complex and interwoven so our goal is harm reduction and accessibility for the entire Community one step at a time time for change is proud to offer the following suggestions of harm reduction for MLK part the proper disposal of Sharps is a strategy proven to lower the transmission rate of bloodborne viruses such as HIV hepb and Hep C here are some pictures of syringes that we found during our last November M Park cleanup there is strong there is strong evidence of reduced discarding following the insulation of drop boxes in fact drop boxes were associated with reductions of reductions of up to 98% here are some photos of some of the sharp found or more recent m park cleanups we propose installing s small singular syringes collection units that can be permanently and securely mounted to the buildings at MLK Park these units are both temper resistant and inexpensive and can be installed and maintained by Department Crews as you can see here on the right is an example of these units uh that can be purchased online in addition we propose labeling these units with clear concise visual instructions and information on contacting Community Resources such as current behavior health and Recovery Services and the park rangers the second component in this in this program would be the installation of informational kiosks and signage within the park that include emergency phone numbers community resource information Maps event calendars and safety information time for change shares this commitment and looks forward to ongoing collaborations with the Reg ation and parks department to achieve these goals for our community in addition of these programs within MLK Park supports the city of Bakersfield commitment to keeping public area safe and clean enhancing amenities throughout the community to improve the quality of life and attract visitors Mar Dr Martin Luther King Jr once said if I cannot do great things I can do small things in a great way thank you so much city council members for allowing us to speak on the agenda tonight um I ask all of you guys to please take all your cell phones and stay connected with us follow us on Instagram and sign up for our time we change monthy newsletter and for anyone in the audience who is interested in being becoming uh a park adopter uh you can see the QR code on there feel free to scan it it'll take you to the adopt Park program um application website thank you yeah I'm going to pass it off to Javon Dangerfield thank you Dylan and lesle and time for change for your efforts Mr Dangerfield yes ma'am thank you guys for um just listening to our presentation today I'd like to close it out by saying that that we are also working um in advocacy efforts using film and the power of video to tell stories to the public at large about the revitalization project we recently um got together a group of athletes colleg athletes and we put them in a room and had them talk about how much it meant to them to be able to pass through MLK in the good days and we partnered up with with the city and seeing other people how they're doing so much work towards this effort we decided to come along alongside of it and Advocate with that being said um we would love to see our efforts um accepted and our pleas heard by the city council to help us to see if that we can push um maybe a small P policy change in terms of the kiosks at Mar Luther King Park or the syringe boxes or one or the other um we believe that through like a three to four or five month pilot program we could collect data on how well the program went and give suggestions back to the city when the revitalization plan is complete and the park is made a new thank you guys so much for having us and we appreciate your time thank you Mr Dangerfield and also to Walter and Irene thank you for your efforts to get adopt a park I've seen a lot of contracts coming before my uh desk for Signature so thank you very much for your efforts vice mayor and city clerk I'm not seeing a request to speak thank you mayor um I have a few comments but first I have a question question what time is it great job uh and congratulations to all of you part of time for change I'm so proud of the work that you're doing uh not only in MLK Park but throughout the community uh certainly inspiring uh to see all of your hearts and your dedication your commitment to our community and improving our community uh one step at a time and so I just want to thank you for uh for all of your efforts and I think what you have demonstrated to me today is that this is much more than just a litter pickup group this is really a relationship Building Group a a group that helps us activate all of our public parks and helps build community within our parks and also helps the city really identify specific concrete issues of concern to those communities that we serve and the neighborhoods that we serve and helps us identify policy changes for us to pursue to help improve our parks and uh that to me is very very valuable and I want to I want to just again a thank you and express my appreciation for bringing back those two policy options uh I will make the referral tonight uh to City staff that we look at implementing both options at uh MLK Park um and to some of the other parks in our um in some of the neighborhoods that that might benefit from those two um to initiatives um and you know if if funding is an issue please Count Me In as finding resources for so that we can make those projects happen but I think we can find some dollars in within our within within the city budget uh so thank you so much time for change thank you for your efforts and um also thank you to Recreation and Parks um I've been asking for a park adopt a park program for eight years and it was until uh Mr Anthony came along in our very first meeting brought this up and he said absolutely yes this is this was already on your list and um certainly appreciate your staff Walter Irene all of the folks who are making it happen day in and day out we have seven parks in War II that uh are adopted and it makes all the difference in the world it helps improve the condition not only of our Parks but also the neighborhoods in which they are surrounded and so I I just appreciate all the work that you're doing I think you're right Mr Anthony I think the combination of the adopter park program coupled with the park rangers coupled with all of our uh Capital Improvement projects within the parks are really we're really seeing a transformation in our most Urban parks in in bakersfi and it's it's being noted throughout the community and being celebrated throughout the community and I think we should all be very proud of the work that we've done collectively over the last few years so thank you to your team thank you to everyone who's been involved receive and file with that I'll make a motion to receive and file you have a motion please cast your votes and Madam clerk for the record council member core entered at 3:45 since I don't have um control of my screen here oh okay here um she's taking care of it we we have a couple of there you that's it okay I I'm wondering I know we're doing this section of the park but I'm wondering because we we're talking about doing all the parks where are we on doing all the parks does anybody know that because these are great amenities for everybody no matter where you live so just to clarify your question council member just an update on uh the parks master plan is that is that what you're uh just just to clarify what the question okay we have a master plan for city of Bakersfield Parks we have that right and we're functioning within the goals and the boundaries of that actually in in an upcoming council meeting we will present uh the parks master plan plan um in I believe it's the second meeting in July so we'll we'll have uh a larger update on where we are with all the parks in terms of a park master plan and so this we're just receiving in FAL it doesn't really mean anything right now uh we we have some direction to to specifically look at MLK um on what we can do there and then we'll we'll have more of an update for you on Park master plan in July okay so it doesn't sound like it's being spread out very much uh I think the goal the goal would be yes to continue to have this uh spread out okay so so if it's spread out some and we have more money um I would be more comfortable if we were looking at at the master plan right now knowing how much money it's going to be because if you don't if you don't have a back stop if you you're punching away and you don't have a back stop prices just increase incredibly so that's we're going to get that um that rece sent to us in July correct and then we'll have more time for answers questions and correct and funds and what's available and what's not available and a complete Outlook of what the park plan is for the city of Bakersfield okay thank you are we still waiting on people to cast their vote motion is approved with council member Weir abstaining thank you and now next item please thank you to all of you next item Madam clerk close session item 4A conference with legal councel existing litigation regarding Elton Lee Gordon versus city of Bakersfield at L and item 4B conference with legal council potential litigation one matter move to Jour to close session Jour to close session 353 [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] o [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] come [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] reconvening the 3:30 city council meeting Madam City attorney thank you mayor there were two items on Clos session this afternoon on item 4A the City attorney and staff were given unanimous Direction and on item four b as in boy there is no reportable action thank you and with that the 3:30 meeting stands adjourned at 4:47 [Music] [Music] sh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] n [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] welcome to the Bakersfield City council meeting this television broadcast is brought to you by the local cable companies the county of Kern and the City of Bakersfield you can watch the rebroadcast of this meeting Saturday at 700 p.m. Sunday at 10: a.m. and the following Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. you can download the agenda for this meeting at www. Bakersfield city. us preci over this evening's meeting the honorable mayor Karen K go good evening it's my pleasure to call to order the 515 regular city council meeting of June 12th 2024 Madam clerk please call the RO mayor go here Vice Mary Gonzalez here council member Arias here council member we here council member Smith I'm here council member Freeman here council member gray here council member core here thank you we have an interpreter present for S Spanish language interpretation would you please come forward and just give instructions to those who might need your services please good afternoon everyone my name is estephania we have a set in the back we'll be offering simultaneous interpretation throughout the event so if you see or know anyone who needs Spanish interpretation please let them know that we're standing in the back thank you and at this time council member core is going to lead us in the invocation following the invocation Priscilla Franco who is a city fellow in the city manager's office and a senior at uh Cal State Bakersville she's going to lead us in the pledge she's a business administration major with concentration in finance she'll be graduating in Fall of 2020 4 and plans to pursue a master's in public administration and work for the city of Bakersville so would you all please stand salute goad go go ahead council member core oh okay good evening everyone I'm offering a prayer in our sick Faith tradition and it's a snippet of our eras which which is recited every day um by six all across the world and as June is a very significant uh historical month uh within our sick history um it is my honor to offer um this Adas today so I will be reciting it in Punjabi singu sikik vad Sanu sik for thank you Priscilla salute pledge 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 you may be seated thank you council member core thank you Priscilla here are a few guidelines to help our meeting run smoothly we request that you turn off your phones please be courteous in the use of cameras and videos for safety reasons and as a courtesy to others no signs are allowed in the council chamber or in the lobby Applause is allowed during the presentations portion of the meeting but not during other portions of the meeting everyone in attendance is expected to adhere to the rules of decorum established by resolution of the city council failure to abide by the city's rules of decorum including any disruptive behavior that interferes with our ability to have an orderly and efficient meeting prevents the city council from conducting the business of the city consider this a first warning to everyone in attendance that conduct that disrupts the meeting May result in your removal from the meeting and or the chambers being cleared behavior that disrupts the meeting includes repetitive statements shouting interrupting staff or presenters during the meeting speaking out of turn outbursts from the audience and surpassing the time limit of two minutes Madam clerk next item please presentations item 4A a proclamation to Rob daa uh Dua board president of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Kern County declaring the week of June 24th 2024 as National Boys and Girls Clubs week in Bakersfield well we are really blessed in our community to have people who really care about our youth and the boys and girls club in our community employs more than 500 people they operate at over 51 sites and they're serving more than 8,000 young people in Kern County they work to empower Our Youth and I've seen that in action thank you so much to our board president uh Rob Doo and he's going to introduce other members in a while but it's my honor to be able to present this Proclamation whereas the young people of Bakersville are the leaders of today and tomorrow and many young people need professional Youth Services to guide them to reach their full potential and whereas Boys and Girls Clubs in our city help to ensure that our young people are occupied by offering them a safe and supportive Refuge one that provides quality programs and whereas Boys and Girls Club of Kern County will celebrate National Boys and Girls Club week along with 5,000 clubs and more than 4 million young people Nationwide now therefore I Karen go mayor of the city of Bakersville do hereby Proclaim June 24th through June 28th as National boys and Girls Club week in our city and call upon all citizens to join in recognizing the Boys and Girls Clubs of Kern County for providing comprehensive and effective services to the young people in our community it's my honor to be able to present this today thank you mayor youtr I have a couple don't say that thank you mayor go City Council Members my name is Rob Duo and you all know me as being the local public affairs manager for Southern California Gas Company but I also have the pleasure this year of serving as a chairman of the board of directors of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Kern County Kern County and joining me this this afternoon are is a fellow board member shareif and two staff members Orlando and Gloria Gloria is a former board member now a staff member at the boys and girls club and they're just a small portion of those who who uh make this happen um as you've heard me say before SoCal Gas has a long history of more than 150 years providing safe clean affordable reliable energy to our customers and today we're the largest natural gas utility in the United States with a goal to be the most Innovative safest and um cleanest safest and most Innovative energy infr infrastructure company in America I tell you that to draw some parallels to the Boys and Girls Club the Boys and Girls Club is actually older than SoCal Gas the club traces its roots to Hartford Connecticut where in 1860 Four Women organized the first Club believing that boys who roam the streets should have a positive alternative with character development as a Cornerstone of the experience the club focused on capturing boys interest improving their behavior and increasing their personal expectations and goals and this is still reflected today in our club's Mission which is to enable all young people especially those who need us most to reach their full potential as productive caring responsible citizens the national boys club uh took hold in 1906 and in 1966 the boys club of Bakers field was formed and that has grown into today's Boys and Girls Club of Kern County today just as SoCal Gas is a largest natural gas utility in America this Boys and Girls Club of Kern County is one of the three largest depending on how you which metric you use to measure it's one of the three largest clubs in America some metrics may put us at number one so I like to say that but top three is a is safe each day during the school year and you heard some of these statistics from mayor go she was citing Citywide sta statistics some countywide statistics we serve more than 8,000 children every day in Kern County at three Standalone and 67 School Bas sites in Kern County the club fills the gap between school and home by providing welcoming positive environments in which kids and teens can have fun participate in life life-changing programs and build supportive relationships with peers and caring adults based on the physical emotional cultural and social needs and interests of girls and boys the club offers tested proven and nationally recognized programs in five core program areas to engage young people in activities to enable them to develop self-esteem and to reach their full potential these services are provided through grants direct payments by parents and contracts with 11 school districts the largest being as you might anticipate the Bakersfield City School District which accounts for 42 of those 67 School sites and 5,000 of those 8,000 children we serve each day this summer 1500 kids are attending programs at bcsd school sites thanks to a contract with the city school district and that's a that's a new program a year ago uh enabling us to reach these children during when school is not in session I know several of you and mayor go several times vice mayor Gonzalez and some others of you have been to the club I invite you all to visit the club anytime uh contact me or anybody here or zann Smith or anybody at the club and we'd love to have you tour the club and learn more about it I want thank you very much for this recognition tonight thank [Applause] youer here so we'll a couple here all right we'll do a couple three two one thank you TR this item now is public statements in keeping with the council's resolution public statements are now received at different times depending on the item I will call on the city clerk to call for public statements at the appropriate time so please listen carefully for the correct time to speak if you wish to make a public statement please fill out a public speaker card and place it in the tray on the counter next to the speaker's Podium we ask that you mark whether you're here to speak on an item listed on tonight's agenda or in a matter are not on the agenda speakers who do not identify a specific agenda item will be presumed speakers for the non-agenda public statements if you're here to speak on an item not listed on the meeting agenda you will be called first to speak statements are given a two-minute time limit per speaker 20 minutes total for all non-agenda item public statements if you're here to speak on an item listed on the agenda I will call for you at a later time so please listen carefully if public statements become disruptive and I have to clear the chambers to regain order of the meeting you will be called in one at a time to provide your public statement when your item is called Madam clerk do we have any public speakers regarding items not listed on the agenda mayor go we've received eight speaker cards regarding items not listed on tonight's agenda the first public speaker is Jamie Seager followed by Kev followed by Linda mul thank you and just a reminder if you can all adjust the microphone to your level so we can hear you please and because this is being interpreted we just ask you speak clo slowly enough for The Interpreter to hear you okay welcome I'll try thank you okay so um I'm going to speak in a specific term and then maybe broader terms I think that uh obviously housing uh and shelter is a right that every everybody is entitled to obviously but we're being squeezed out of any kind of security because of the greed of property owners rental property owners and corporate Property Owners the rents are unbelievable and it's threatening a lot of people where they are just barely holding on to being able to pay basic rent to keep their housing that's one okay but there's a broad a broader problem and it's the the street people the homeless I'd like to know what happened to all of those tax revenues the sales tax that was raised on us where did all that money go to hire more police and clean up the streets and ensure the safety and help the homeless because over the years and I think it started in 2018 when they raised the uh city taxes and I've only seen that problem grow worse and worse and we need to house these people in One Way or Another Not Just for their safety for the for the safety and the well-being of civilized society now I I get assaulted every time I go out anywhere I'm assaulted approached by people that and all of these people are are armed in one way or another you know and you try to call the police but I don't see that their ranks have really um increased where is all the extra police where are all these Mental Health Services I would propose that you stop handcuffing the police let them do their job um and start to take into custody 5150 of these homeless people some are drug addicted some are mentally ill there's many different reasons why they cannot be controlled and they're going to stay on the street but they're thank you m Seager your time is up I'm sorry thank you thank you next speaker please council member Gonzalez uh thank you mayor uh Miss thank you so much for your comments um I'd like to talk to you one-onone actually after um this council meeting so um I'll hope to get your phone number or you can have mine and maybe we can have a conversation uh the next day or two there's a lot of assumptions and some of the things that you said I just want to share with you some of the things that that I um that I know and some of the work that we've been doing at the city thank you thank you back to me um Kev welcome I come here and advocate for a lot of things but ultimately I like to make a point on how your refusal to sign a ceasefire resolution now 8 months into a genocide reflects the inhumane way you run the city that you should be funding and competently following through with social programs Environmental Protections sustainable housing developments and so on which so many people show up for instead of overfunding police which no one has come here into supportive despite the many resolutions passed over recent months with that said there was an incident in the city council meeting on May 22nd that hasn't left my mind when an unhoused black woman came here seeking assistance and that at the end of their comment as they ran out of time they pulled out a bag to show you an object it was at that moment the officer that typically stands right here reached for his gun no he grabbed his gun so I'll ask you this seeing as we all go through your security checkpoint what could she have had that was an actual risk nothing it's the fact that you have an overfunded police force ready to oppress black brown and poor people that you have a killer police force in which the mere idea of a minimal security threat warrants a potentially lethal response or can you recall the time that another black person echoed a sentiment during one of my comments and he was immediately asked to leave he was escorted out by police you'll say there is no tolerance here but that's only for the PO because there's a lot of tolerance for the white people especially the one who Target POC like the Zionist who doesn't get approached by the police officer when he goes overtime or Christian Gray we have the videos Patty we haven't seen him in a while does he also have a staya away order this Council will turn a cheek away from the racists the misogynists the corporate fossil fuel and agricultural eot terrorists and the gentrifiers of Bakersfield not just that you encourage them with your policies your actions your political suppressions and above all your refusal to acknowledge a genocide free Palestine the Congo Sudan Haiti Hawaii all of them I can't wait to see this corrupt oppressive imperialist system collaps next speaker please uh just a reminder there is no applause during this portion of the meeting thank you um Linda mul followed by Roman Mata followed by Carmen I promise not to be as aggressive as that my speech is about I live in shared housing which is very very depressing to me because I was a nurse for 35 years and as a result of is living in this unfortunate place right now I have had to give up my right to give myself my meds and I ask the person that is giving me my meds what my meds were for he said and I quote I don't know I looked on the bottle and it said and I quote it's once a day so I'm giving it to you in the morning I said oh my God once a day so I went to my Google and I said after I went to Google and I went back to him and I said I'm going to tell you that that drug is a cholesterol Lo drug and it's to be given at nighttime so the next day I went to my meds it's in the same tray I said do you not know that that drug is to be given at night like I told you miss mul your time is up but I'm going to ask a staff to get your contact information so we can make a connection to the right person thank you for your comments are you able to Anthony Anthony right there will help uh get you connected thank you next speaker please Roman Mata followed by kmen followed by Wendell Wesley welcome please introduce yourself hello uh I am uh there we go I am Roman Mata you've seen me at a lot of these meetings advocating for affordable housing strong communities and the kind of um action that um and Des and reflecting a lot of the same desire that um we're even seeing in some of these other speeches if there's one constant that I've experienced throughout my well really my entire life but especially in these past 10 years it's that I haven't run into a single person who is satisfied with the state of housing my mother my brother my father my my father-in-law and many many many others including many people who are outside of my family and many people who I wouldn't even call friends so I've been talking to a couple of other citizens we've debated a lot had a lot of healthy exchange of ideas I feel and we've decided to form a new organization that for the moment we are calling the Bakersfield urbanists it's my hope that given some of your past positive records on your resolutions regarding the I believe it was 996 acres of land that you had rezoned about a month or two ago and some of the other positive conversations that we've had in terms of committee meetings and in other um after these particular City Council meetings um truth is I think that we're actually agree on a lot of things we ultimately strive to build affordable housing to Foster strong communities so that we don't leave anybody behind and I would ask that you consider a lot of our ideas maybe talk to us after the meeting if uh you're able to and I would call for any citizens who are interested in seeing these kind of Solutions in our um in our city to meet up with me after the meeting thank you thank you Mr Mata next speaker please Wendel Wesley F followed by Ian Journey followed by Rocky stter I apologize Carmen followed by Wendel Wesley welcome please introduce yourself okay get situated here um um hello my name is Carmen I am here to urge a thorough investigation into Patty Gray's adult son Christian Gray the person who was harassing and assaulting people in front of City Hall if he would have assaulted a city hall council member he would have been arrested and I urge you to look into this violent person who shouldn't get special treatment because he's Patty Gay's son this is unacceptable um I'm also here to support the eviction prevention program and urge you all to allocate funds that will help the people in Bakersfield um I'd also like to up you update you guys on the latest in Palestine Israel has killed at least 177,000 children in Gaza half and and and their parents not just them some children have one or none parents some children have two arms some children have no arms I urge you to seriously think about a seiz fire resolution it will be greatly supported throughout this community um another update iof troops were hiding inside an aid convey Convoy and use the humanitarian peer to gain access to al- narat refugee camp to kill 7 275 Palestinians in 2 hours and retrieve four Israel hostages both the use of the the peer by the iof and the presence of the USS please bring your comments to a close Okay a massacre in a refugee camp does not count as a rescue mission glory to our MS and free Palestine and all oppressed people in the world next speaker please Madam Clerk Wendell Wesley followed by Ian Journey followed by Rocky stter hi my name is Wendel Wesley Jr and um with the new group Bakersville urbanist um we are asking the city council city of Bakersville to help us acquire two locations for our first uh project uh this is to build affordable housing in the downtown area one would be the old uh Greyhound location it's an abandoned lot at the moment and the other will be on the 24th and Chester the furniture building that is dilapitated and sitting there um we feel these will be good locations for affordable housing and which we desperately need in Bakersfield and we will assure you that through a nonprofit We Will Truly make these homes affordable um to um people that would normally they're normally being say this is Affordable we're not taking in consideration fixed income comes we're not taking into consideration someone where their social security was cut short because of a motorcyle accident or an illness cancer whatever we have a lot of things that we need to adjust financially uh just for the simple fact we do a lot of things based on our growth and not the actual income we live on so we are looking forward to uh working with City management City Council in a series of meetings on how to make bville safer stronger and more affordable thank you next speaker please Madam clerk Ian Journey welcome please raise the mic thank you hi so uh here today my name is Ian Journey um on behalf of Team Action dad um Bakers uh born and raised in Bakersfield and I'm here to advocate for a bicycle infrastructure specifically uh pump track here in Bakersfield um at Team Action Dad we are dedicated to empowering fathers to become the best versions of themselves both as individuals and as loving involved parents our mission is to provide a supportive and dynamic Community where dads can Thrive grow and create lasting memories with their children so as you know uh especially through covid b School popularity has just gone through the roof um uh Reed a lot more Trail usage and um as I'll show in a um upcoming slide other cities around Southern California that have really bought on to the bicycle Park and uh bicycle infrastructure that is uh much lacking in in our community um I'll take this time to I think the timing is really nice reading in the paper today about the active Transportation plan uh that the ad hoc committee uh I know I I've talked to Mr Smith and Aras about the the pump track um so to to see kind of the the the intention of this active Transportation plan I think a pump track really Falls in line with uh creating a safe uh active environment where people can uh learn and uh thrive in a safe uh environment so as we know uh I have a 9-year-old and an 11-year-old and just keeping them off a screen is it's it's the hardest thing as a parent I I I struggle constantly and I think any kid you could talk to in Bakersfield will tell you we just need more things for kids to do um I have online petition that I started and here's a few uh Bakersfield citizen comments um that I I really want to um for me personally BMX really kept me out of trouble as an adolescent I can think of all the things I could have been doing but I didn't because I wanted to ride my bike um so I'm running out of time here but um I'll go through so uh as as was presented by this your own parks and wck Department um we're proposing a a location in beach park Mr Journey you're at of Tom can you bring your comments to a close please yes so uh we'll be back uh want to raise some money we have uh some um uh outdoor grant opportunities and so we're working with different organizations to uh we'll be back probably in about a year hopefully with a an update on where we're at so thank you thank you vice mayor thank you mayor uh Mr Journey thanks again for being here and thank you for your team action dads um for all the advocacy work um I know we made a referral regarding this particular topic I'm went to committee and they went through the presentation um and so um I think at this point since we're looking at uh Beach Park which happens to be in War I i' like a meeting with you as well and some of your U group members um so that we can have a conversation about what exactly you're hoping for at beach park and then looking for a strategy to uh raise those funds so I think that's the appropriate Next Step thank you madam clerk next speaker please Rocky stter hi my name is Rocky stter um I'm here in support of a pump track bike park um I build I've I've been born and raised here my whole life on the east side of Bakersfield so on the east side of Bakersville in the Foothills I build pump tracks jumps um at one point off of college and Fairfax I had over a 100 jumps multiple pump tracks I've had competitions I've had barbecues where we give out free food to any kids I've had multiple kids from the neighborhood come out with their shovel their bike they don't have nothing to do we bring them in they learn how to ride it sticks for them with them for the rest of their life my son's here he's in college he still rides his bike to class from in college he goes to Stan Louis abiso calply my dad's 70 years old he still rides a bike when you start riding a bike it sticks with you for the rest of your life but back to the kids like I said I've had multiple kids over the years come out to my pump tracks my jumps learn how to ride and it changed their life because they didn't have nothing to do they didn't have no Community to to just feel connected feel wanted feel anything and it doesn't matter what you guys do I'll continue to do what I do and I will continue to build and I will continue to support kids or anything that has to do with bikes because it's a great thing for anyone there's just no bad thing in a pump track would be awesome I personally know of over 19 pump tracks in California that I've been to That's not including bike parks that I've been to there's at least that many number like why is Bakers flot always last thank you and now Madame clerk was that the final speaker there yes for that section thank you we'll now move to the public statements listed on the agenda if you're here to speak on appointments item six or items listed under consent calendar item 7 your time to speak is now again each speaker is given a two-minute time limit and each agenda item is listed limited to 20 minutes total the consent calendar as a whole constitutes one agenda item if you're here to speak on hearing item 9A now is not the time to speak you'll be given an opportunity to speak when the item is called later in the meeting Madam clerk do we have any public speakers regarding items listed on appointment item six and consent calendar item 7 and let's just wait until we have an opportunity for our guests to uh go into the lobby please in a minute all right go ahead Madam clerk America we have not received any public speaker cards regarding items listed on tonight's agenda thank you next item please appointments item 6A one appointment to the keep Bakersfield Beautiful Committee appointment of one alternate member Ward six to complete a term to expire December 2024 to the keep Bakersfield Beautiful Committee one application of appointment was received from Laurel Sheffield thank you this appointment is by Ward therefore I will call on council member gray for the award six nomination of the AL Committee Member council member gray thank you mayor and good evening everybody it is my total pleasure to be able to um uh put forth a motion to appoint Laura Sheffield uh to keep Baker so beautiful as my alternate for w Six Laurel is a self-employed licensed family therapist with a ba from calply a master of science and counseling from Cal State Bakersfield she has a passion to serve her City and is presently holding two elected positions uh trustee for rosale Union High School District and a member of the Republican Central Committee you're going to be a very busy lady so um I believe I believe that Laurel you'll be a great addition to uh keep Baker so beautiful you've got a passion for for your city and a servant's heart and that's what it takes because they're going to put you to work so um I it's an honor to nominate you so thank you for being so willing to take on this responsibility and I nominate Laura Laurel Sheffield for KBB thank you thank you and I believe that was a motion so please cast your votes motion is unanimously approved thank you and thank you Miss Sheffield for your willingness to serve it is a very busy committee lots of activity so thank you for your willingness yes next item please consent calendar item 7A through 7i for approval a staff memorandum was provided regarding item 7 d8 correcting the property owner name thank you vice mayor does any member of the council wish to recuse themselves from any item on the agenda hearing none we have uh a request by council member Freeman uh to pull three items tonight from the consent calendar for separate consideration they are 7 D5 7 i1 and 7 I2 with that I move to adopt the consent calendar you have a motion please cast your votes mayor go I apologize I um I need to re uh activate the vote just tell us when you're ready I am ready for the vote mayor thank you please cat your votes um it seems like we're missing a vote who's who needs to vote still council member we council member we are you having a technology problem oh is it possible to ask a question go ahead and can you turn your mic on please pardon speaking to the mic please so I've been looking at the things on consent calendar and there are a lot of items on there that are very very expensive and it and it seems like to me you know it's it's not Christmas it's U the end of June but the Christmas presents are already there and so could you just explain a little bit of the the major items that we're voting on right now city manager assistant city manager Howen sure yeah I have no problem doing that council member um so we we've got them kind of grouped together in terms of resolutions um then we've got our agreements and so I'll I'll predominantly go through the agreement section because I think that's where uh a lot of your questions uh or or uh direction or request uh are coming from so um the the first uh two Agreements are Public Safety related agreements actually the first three are Public Safety related agreements uh that third one relates to our uh our regional radio system so that's it's a very large agreement related to that Regional radio system um the uh next two are related related to uh dispersing uh some of our arpa funds as well as um uh opportunity uh uh an EA EA Grant um we've got a uh legal retainer uh that next item um the the next item below that is a large allocation again of arpa funds related to uh tourism uh Awards so we've done an RFP for awarding uh tourism grants and so those are arpa funds uh to uh tourism um let's see going through the next several Agreements are also related to um we've got a a ground lease out at the airport and then the next two are related to security uh security enhancements um sorry the next three um see we've got um Janitorial Service uh some uh some major cips related to our water um and then the last two uh are related to infrastructure uh enhancements along with some uh money for uh our major project on Centennial oh okay it's a bid rejection actually okay um so it it seems like we we are pouring a lot of money into the very last month of our fiscal year is it is it planned that way or is it just happened that way or I I it's a lot of money uh you are correct I think that there there are a lot of uh fiscal year deadlines that are uh that we're approaching uh with many of these uh funds so I I believe that's part of the why do we have so many on because we're we're approaching the end of the fiscal year from um accounting standpoint that's kind of when we close our books so if if it's not encumbered by the end of that fiscal year um you know there there are some some of these contracts that that relate to making sure it's encumbered by the end of the fiscal year well you know I I understand you have to encumber things I I get that but it just seems like we're we're piling on at this point in time and we don't really get much explanation for the millions and millions of dollars we're spending right now um and I'm wondering if we can't [Music] um devise a little bit better system that that really tells us what we're buying because this to me is it's just dollars but I want to know what those dollars are being spent for I don't need to know by detail I don't need to know every little thing but this is just a tremendous amount of money and it shocked me when I even just calculated in my head it's just the give me a headache so um I can certainly um talk to Mr Cay and we can we can come up with a a summary of some sort that we can uh work on to provide to council I think that that's something we can do in terms of like a report out um so I can when Mr CL returns I can Circle back with him on okay well I'd appreciate that but for right now now I don't I I I frankly can't support this so vice mayor um thank you mayor uh council member we're not not to belabor at this point I'm just trying to clarify what exactly you're asking for every item on the agenda has an accompanying administrative report which in detail outlines the spefic specific rationale as to why we are proposing that particular item and I'm just trying to understand what your request is and how that is different from the admin reports I I've been here a long time I know what the admin reports are I know what we're doing up here I'm telling you that this seems like it's out of the ordinary and to me if if we have that going on here I think we need maybe a little bit more explanation of what what we're doing and I I don't think that's bad it's it's probably going to explain more than it is than to just let it set in front of us and bang the gabble so I I want and I've said this more than one time that I want really I want to be able to tell exactly what we're buying and those those descriptions on there okay maybe they're they're good for for the people that do this kind of work but for me I'm I'm an accountant I don't I don't know about all this and I think if we're going to uh invest a Machinery like this at the end of the year that it may cause for it may help that we identify what we're doing and and keep that in mind as as we move along so thank you thank you for answering that I I think maybe one of the other issues that's happening occurring right now is that we are also allocating a significant number of one-time federal arpa dollars which is atypical for the city and uh because of that there are a number of agreements that are related to arpa funding and so uh we're kind of facing an impending deadline to allocate those dollars and uh I think maybe that is contributing to some of this um feeling of of an anomaly thank you okay well I I appreciate you and I appreciate that but that's this is my opinion tonight Madam clerk have all the votes been cast mayor go Motion was approved with council member Weir voting no thank you and now council member Freeman with item 7 D5 please thank you uh thank you mayor uh I didn't pull this off to challenge it I pulled it off to see if I could get an exclamation from public works on um could you explain to me and I think other C the the Mandate from the legislature the governor whoever that we convert all public vehicles um I guess it's over a 10year period into electric vehicles whether it's a fire engine police car everything and how how is that going to be phased in I mean just general a quick expan so I can just understand it and how is that going to affect uh our Capital expenditures or budgets because they certainly cost a lot more the regular equipment um and I'm sure some of it we don't even know what it'll cost yet because I don't think the Technologies there works for a reliable fire engine yet that uh is all electric so those make I just think we all need to be aware if our Capital if our vehicle Fleet is going to be much much more expensive to purchase how much that's going to be uh and just so we're aware of it because it means we'll be take cutting services to the community to fund that there is we don't have a measure LM P we don't have measure P yet so there's no Revenue increase to cover all these huge increased Capital costs that are you another kind of a guess we like to call them another unfunded mandate uh from the legislature so could you briefly you know how much more are these costs how will we phase them in you know what should we be expect over I guess the 10 years um hitting our budgets absolutely councilman Freeman um City Council in terms of the States zero emission vehicle program it's a very broad program and it affects different Industries it affects auto manufacturers and Auto Sales um organizations it affects the city fleet as well so the the O the the general um law is that by 2035 every every um light duty truck and vehicle sold will be um a zero emission vehicle which will probably be an electric type of vehicle um so this state is is moving in that direction um the the Horizon year is 2035 so by 2036 every vehicle sold is zero emission um and trying to develop the market for those zero emission Vehicles the state has required City fleets and County fleets um to transition sooner rather than later and there are two options for the transitional period the transitional way to go about doing that um one one is to go out and start buying the EVS right off the bat the second option which is the the the option the city is is using is to start out slow um and purchase 10% of the vehicles that that we need over the course of the next couple of years um and and for this next year period that's four vehicles for the city that were required to purchase that are zero emission electric um and and start out slow see the technology um develop continue to work and to research the market so that we're picking and choosing the vehicles we need at the right time down the road but the when we ramp up to purchase additional Vehicles it's going to ramp up pretty quickly it's going to be a pretty steep ramp as far as the purchase so the the budget will see an increase um for the four vehicles over the next few years we've kind of um looked at about 25% increase for the types of vehicles we're proposing to acquire that are EV so 25% higher cost than what we would typically purchase and with an internal combustion engine um and again the first couple of years from this point forward is manageable um as we gear up hopefully the markets improve and the costs come down as more municipalities uh purchase these electric vehicles the other part of that is the charging infrastructure that the infrastructure that's necessary to charge the vehicles that that's the other challenge to this so um the the the cost that the city will see in the next few years is is manageable and um looking out further than that we'll have to figure out what those costs are and how they're going to impact the city um but we are focusing in on this um putting a lot of time effort in trying to understand this complex Rule and law and and make sure that we're in compliance number one we're annually reporting to the state and we're able to communicate this information to council so that we're prepared in the out years to purchase those Vehicles okay oh thank thank you I know we don't have any choice in this I just think um it we just didn't need to be aware of it because it means it'll make for a lot of tough choices uh other things will have to get cut and that's a shame I guess we'll also have to our mechanical shops will have to be retooled and people retrain to be able I know we have a lot of mechanics fixing all our cars they'll have to be trained in new electric cars too so okay well thank you for that uh would you like to make a motion on that item what we need to make a motion on that item oh that one okay uh yeah i' make a motion to approve uh uh 75 you have a motion please cast your votes motion is approved with council members Weir and gray voting no thank you and council member frean now item 7 i1 uh thank you mayor um I just had this is the design consultant for Anon avani Park site I assume this is one of our neighborhood parks and my qu since we have had a number of discussions on how to cost engineer our Parks because our fees don't cover the cost of the park anymore we've been delaying for several years I'm getting nasty letters now every week saying I don't understand we've moved in we paid our Park fees it's wison City and I can't answer I have no answer because I've been hounding on this for over a year just for a plan say um but and I have nothing against my civil engineering but why are we designing the new park if we don't know how to design it to make it cost less and we're letting a contract to design the park it sounds like we're saying well this one will be just as expensive as all the others because we haven't done anything and is it premature to let the contract for the design uh for the park if we plan on making changes to make them the parks more affordable so we can actually build the park so um that's my question council member I'd like to bring up um uh Rick Anthony just to talk about um this specific Park and kind of uh what's uh what's uh being proposed so Mr Anthony yes thank you for the record Rick Anthony director of Recreation and Parks um you are correct that this design uh is actually happening before we have the completed results of the master plan which by the way is scheduled to come before you as a draft on July the second council meeting July I think it's the 24th or the 26th um but the one of the reasons why we decided to at least begin the design is that uh the school next door Miller has completed a parking lot at that particular Park so we have a little bit of of Leverage and that we don't have to pay at least for that aspect we will go into this design based on some of the recommendations from the master plan and that is to reduce the cost reduce the potential Upfront for the the level of service the level of amenities having an opportunity maybe at a future phase to add in some of those amenities so this park will be designed ongoing as the rest of our Parks trying to make them more affordable trying to emphasize uh passive Recreation with the opportunities to bring more active Recreation online as funding becomes available okay uh thank you and I I understand from our city manager that perhaps by the end of the summer uh we'll have a recommendation an outline of how will we number one you know what's our Target anyway to reduce these costs and then what's the schedule for funding and building I think we said we had nine parks that are in a different stage you know all the home owners moved into some and are looking at a dirt lot others are not as far along but I I just wanted to schedule this here's plan a this year we're going to do two of these parks and finish them the next year the to just drop them in because we I get calls yeah and I'm left speechless at this point I don't want to say something that isn't true but it's been years now and we need to have an answer at least to say hey in 2026 we're going to build your Park but we can't just say we can't answer you that that that's just not I literally talked to one of your constituents yesterday and explained to her that's the one you're talking about I did explain to her the process so the master plan will make recommendations on the criteria for us to begin to priori prioritize Park development then it's up to us to decide how we want to address it okay thank you frean I just want I don't see any request to speak um city clerk is there an issue with there's nothing on my screen right now I just had a quick response to counc Freeman vice mayor and then council member core it looks like he punched in I'm sorry council member core this is yeah this is It's inward seven I just wanted to go ahead and add um one I wanted to thank uh Rick and staff at rexen Park for being so Swift and diligent with responding to our constituents I myself um I know Bruce and I talk about this often but we probably have inherited a lot of those developments that um where the homes are complete but residents are waiting on the parks and this area Anton Giovani is one of those same empty lots and um one I think it's great that we're we have this extra motivation from Miller Elementary School who has been encouraging us has been engaging Us in conversation and um has been actively seeking a partnership to develop this park since they've developed that um the parking lot right next door so I think this is also sets kind of a good precedent to see where public spaces can be shared with some of our educ ational institutions locally um so one I I wanted to thank you all for responding to that call to partner um and if you ever drive by Miller Elementary School you will see close to 40 to 50 families elderly sitting in any of the grass areas at Miller Elementary School they sit at the school because there is no public space available and it's actually really sad when you see it it is actually heartbreaking and I know constituents all over the city are waiting for their parks to be built this is only one of the many parks that I hear about in and like week in and week out um but really it it feels dire and public spaces are a necessity green spaces are a necessity so uh I'm encouraged by the supper and I'm really excited to read our Park master plan I know you're giving us a guide um in order to kind of map forward where we're going but I know that our Council will need to also be creative and being able to bring those to fruition and that's going to take dollars so um I'm hopeful that you know my Council colleagues will also um you know hold our end of the responsibility and bargain when when it comes time to fulfill the needs of our constituents and funding those parks that we're still waiting for so thank you Rick thank you to your staff um yeah excited to see the design go forward before we move on council member car would you just test the technology would you press your request to speak I want to see what's I'm not seeing in anything there okay it's there now yeah there's quite a bit of delay uh vce mayor mayor um Mr Anthony I I just need to check for understanding for my own perspective so the way I see this issue is that we have new developments that opened up people through the purchase of their home paid a park development fee they through that payment were somewhat promised a park the problem for the city is that the accumulation of those Park development fees is not enough to actually pay for the construction of the park is do I get am I getting it right that is correct with the exception the developers pay those fees for each unit the developers pay for you know it ends up turning around I'm sure the home home buyers actually paying for it so so now we have a policy problem I think all of us on this Di want to see all of these Parks built out but we really have a a problem of how we're going to fill that gap between the revenue that's generated through those Park development fees and the actual real cost today of actually establishing or building that park that's correct and so the master plan what I'm hoping for is for us to really observe what is that Delta right what is what is that amount for each Park and the total of the nine parks and then what is our plan of action so that we can systematically go through and actually build out these parks and then in turn go back into the community and as council member Freeman pointed out give them an answer yes give them a response yes so is is am I am I correct yeah that that's exactly what we're we're telling the communities now um I've get I've gotten tremendous amount of calls from the same community members probably that you're hearing from and it's the same thing that we are developing the master plan we're developing a strategy I can tell you early on it has to be a multi-pronged approach um as we mentioned already possibly lowering the level of service but also considering de uh raising the development fees um things have Skyrocket in terms of what it cost to build a park as well as the potential to um to also just start in phases so we won't have to take a large bite in the very beginning I iate all the Innovation apologize inter appreciate all the different approaches and the creativity I think it's required in order for us to meet this challenge I also like the idea of partnering with the different schools and seeing how we might be able to find some joint youth space uh that they can activate during the school hours and we can also benefit from for our constituents thank you council member Freeman would you like to take action on the item that you pulled 7 i1 yes I move to approve 7 i1 thank you you have a motion please catch your votes motion is unanimously approved thank you and council member Freeman now 7 I2 okay last one and I really a fairly short answer um does this uh this budget to extend the contract is is this for the the the 268 bed that are plant I don't know if they're all built yet or not we had a discussion maybe six months ago about adding 50 beds so I wanted to be find out is is the 268 does that include the beds we're adding and does this contract include servicing those because I know there was a committee discussion that Mercy thought well that you're pushing too hard I don't know how that got resolved so just to someone say this is does include that expansion of beds and mercy agreed to service them is that what we're talking about here Mr Valdez honorable mayor city council Anthony Valdez assistant to the city manager um so the amount before council tonight includes the 50 beted expansion so right now uh we opened at 150 uh expanded by uh another uh 118 beds uh and so the budget tonight before the council is authorizing staff to expand uh by 50 beds starting July 1st well this is really to service the 50 bed we already approve building them this is to so Mercy's contract has extended and includes those new beds we built that's right so the the 50 beds wouldn't the expansion wouldn't the 50 bed expansion wouldn't happen until after July 1st um the expansion doesn't come at a capital cost because Mercy house feels like they can fit another 50 beds in the existing dorms um so there's not going to be a ton of capital cost we may need to add some equipment to the kitchens uh make a couple other small improvements but this authorizes staff to move forward with the 50 this contract is to service 268 beds 268 plus the 50 bed expansion plus 50 more plus okay that's what I was trying to get yes so 318 we okay so we will have a Running Train will have 318 beds eventually and this contract at least for the fiscal year will cover servicing all of them thank you I'm I'm ready to move approval of s I2 you have a motion please catch your votes thank you Mr vales thank you motion is unanimously approved thank you colleagues we're going to take one more item unless you need a break now this one I think should go relatively fast and then we'll take a break unless somebody needs a break now all right so uh Madam clerk next item please consent calendar items 8 a through 8D for approval thank you it's now time for the consent calendar hearings the purpose of this section is to vote on all of the items listed under consent calendar hearings in one motion without further comment if anyone would like to speak on any of the hearing items the item must be removed from this portion of the agenda If an item is removed it will be placed at the end of the regular public hearing portion of the meeting at this time I'll open consent calendar public hearing items 8 a through D is there anyone in the audience would like to request that a hearing item be removed from the consent calendar if so please come forward this isn't the time to take testimony only to remove the matter from the consent calendar hearings I don't see any so does any council member wish to remove an item from the consent calendar hearings seeing none at this time consent calendar public hearing items 8 a through D is now closed vice mayor to approve consent calendar public hearing items 8 a through 8D motion is unanimously approved thank you and now we'll take a break can we be back here at 638 ready to start please [Music] [Music] first part e [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] ch no sorry not I did that's a good one his coaching philosophy and how he turned around the Alabama basketball coach came to him start [Music] I [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] something reconvening reconvening at 6:38 please at this time uh our next item is public hearings each side will be allowed 15 minutes it's 15 minutes for all speakers per side so it's important that you identify yourself and make your statements succinctly So Others May speak we'll hear statements from those opposed to staff's recommendation first then we'll hear from those who would like to speak in favor of the staff's recommendation if there's testimony on both sides each side will be allowed a 5 minute rebuttal there's a clock on the TV screens behind me which indicates 15 minutes please step to the microphone and identify yourself after 14 minutes a yellow light will come on at the end of 15 minutes a red light will flash indicating your time is up quickly end your statement you may ask questions during your statement but they won't be addressed until until the public hearing is closed if you have written comments that are longer than your verbal statement please give them to the clerk she provide copies to the council please be courteous to others who wish to speak Madame clerk please read the public hearing item public hearing for the fiscal year 20242 Capital operating and Capital Improvements program budgets a staff memorandum has been provided regarding this item transmitting correspondence thank you and tonight we do not have a staff's uh presentation and so at this time item 9A is open is there anyone who would like to speak in opposition yes wait we do not have that you're going to have to speak Mr Howen sure uh mayor and Council we have a proposed budget of $869 million 43,500 which comprises of both operating and capital thank you and at this is there anyone who'd like to speak in opposition to staff's recommendation hello welcome please identify yourself hi uh my name is Sandra Placencia and I am a current policy advocate with Leadership Council for justice and accountability as the city convenes today to to decide how to allocate funding for next year's budget we come here to urge the city to allocate 2 million from the psvs fund for the eviction prevention program in previous public budget discussions the city has stated that housing tends to be their main problem yet there was a $2 million cut to the affordable housing trust fund there is also no funding allocated for preventative Services such as the eviction prevention program which the community has been advocating for for years we reiterate to the city that they that just as they need to invest in permanent housing affordable housing and transitional housing and shelter expansions they must also stop the inflow of families into homelessness as Mr Valdez was quoted in the Californian for every six residents housed 10 more enter the system the city must be proactive in its Investments meaning you should also invest in preventative measures such as the eviction prevention program we also remind the city of its obligations to its residents this is our budget you're voting on our taxpayer money Community is asking for an eviction prevention program and they have been asking for years now now is the time to act we cannot wait another 6 months to a year for this program to begin 2,500 families have faced evictions in Kern County within the last year and they could have used this program we urge the city to move forward and allocate 2 million from the psvs fund for the eviction prevention program to ensure families live in live in safe healthy and affordable housing you have the money you have the community support and I'll bring it home thank you thank you anyone else who would like to speak in opposition welcome please introduce yourself yes hi my name is wendale Wesley City management city council there's a lot of money here on this page you know um I lived in areas where we had um theaters museums Opera theaters you know people that love those things will fundraise for those things there's probably a lot of things here as Mr rear was pointing out that maybe we need to slow our roll on you know because um we're just approving this and approving that while we're watching humans human lives being tossed out on the street what was that 6 to 10 so we're going backwards so the homeless population is only continuing to get worse we're not fixing the problem we're creating the problem so we really need affordable housing and we need it now and one ways to actually help that until we get these built is by funding its program we need $2 million a minimum of $2 million okay for right to counsel for eviction prevention and eviction protection now I was a landlord once too I know there's a lot of landlords that are worried about this okay I could have used this problem when I was a landlord back in terer County this program will also be there for landlords that have Financial issues that might need an attorney to represent them we're not going after good landlords we need good landlords we need good people but we don't need bad landlords okay this Cuts both ways or we want to be the the best city here in California I think we can be the best city here in California but we need to like really slow a roll a little bit and really work really hard to find the numbers that work right for everybody and you can't do that with people on the street and increasing those numbers numbers or just creating more shelter beds and spending more money on those separate programs they're okay they help but they're banage they're temporary so I urge you please support this program thank you is there anyone else who' like to speak in opposition welcome good afternoon mayor vice mayor city council members and City staff my name is Natalie Santa Maria I am a promotora community leader and I stand Here practicing this procedure of democracy once more and speaking up about or support and our ask for the eviction prevention program it's hard not to feel frustrated to be honest as we have brought up this many many times and we're here willingly to work with all of you to come up with Solutions one of them being the eviction prevention program yes it was already allocated some funding it is not enough it is not enough to prove its Effectiveness we want to keep putting bandaids that's what I hear and I interpret from the budget that is being proposed by City staff instead of being proactive we need to do both but we need to have more funding to be proactive and to stop this evictions I invite you all to hear the stories we're hearing in the community they are heartbreaking they make me want to be here today and continue to fight and lift up for those voices that simply want the opportunity to have access to access to legal council and also education to continue to be good citizens and just be part of this community so again please allocate the 2 million that we've been asking for for the eviction prevention program thank you thank you Miss Sant Maria who else would like to speak in opposition welcome please introduce yourself thank you good afternoon mayor and council members my name is Mariela organizer with faith in the Valley now more than ever families and individuals need a safe and affordable place to call home I along with community members in Bion in Bakersville where everyone is proud to live free from the fear of being evicted from their homes have access to legal representation ation and be part of a thriving healthy Community the current allocation of $350,000 for the inection prevention program it's not enough to meet the needs of our residents and prevent more families from becoming homeless without additional funding the program's not going to last long enough to have a meaningful impact and puts families a f risk of eviction as the City Works on finalizing the budget we urge the city of akersville to allocate $2 million from the upcoming 2024 2025 budget towards the elction prevention program to keep tenants house and protected thank you and we look forward to working with you to ensure this essential program receives the necessary funding to support our community thank you thank you and would you say your name slowly for our city clerk's record please marela Vega thank you who else would like to speak in opposition welcome please introduce yourself good evening my name is n and Escalante I'm here on behalf of Bakersville community policing and also ACLU criminal justice Coalition I am here with these individuals asking for the city to please allocate the $2 million necessary I have worked with community members in these last two years and the one story that we fail to hear is our children that are homeless these children are living in cars these children are going to school in the same clothing these children are living in the homeless shelter that is not even at a habitable capacity because we're waiting for a new one to be built $2 million is so small of amount when I hear 8 million when I see the budget for the for law enforcement $2 million is changed it would make the difference in these kids' lives you have no idea how heartbreaking it is as a mother to hear these kids stories of what it's like to be homeless the long-term effects it has on them I hope you take into account these children please stop looking at just the people on the street as I heard earlier this evening stop looking at our drag addicts on the street the adults on the street please consider our children that are homeless and they need a bed to sleep in the eviction program would protect these families the four that I worked with this year that were illegally evicted by the time they got in touch with me they already gone and their rights were already violated this is something that makes Bakersfield better and this is what we need thank you thank you Miss Escalante who else would like to speak in opposition welcome please introduce yourself uh J me sing uh with the jagar movement I'm a community organizer uh here in Bakersfield lifelong resident uh born at KMC hospital um I think the uh eviction Protection Program represents a unique approach to uh a problem that has plagued our city uh for years at this point um when I think of uh some of the docket items that we' talked about today uh Parks uh bike bike paths um green spaces uh for the community uh these places are also affected by those who are unhoused um and end up in the streets uh that's usually where um the unhoused folks uh end up congregating because green spaces are also cool spaces and we live in a very hot city um I think this $2 million it seems like a large amount um in terms of uh a portion of the budget uh but if we really think about the sort of resources that are spent on uh removing unhoused folks from these green spaces these Community spaces I think it it represents an investment uh from the city uh into our constituents uh who are the most vulnerable uh who work the hardest often working two jobs um to try and make ends meet um and I think it represents uh you know uh our city council and um our city government investing in our people um and and giving them a chance to stay in their homes um and use these green spaces that we're building for them um instead of having to live in them so I would also uh support the $2 million for the eviction protection program thank you thank you Mr sing and would you just say your first name slowly for the city clerk please CH me j a g m e t thank you is there anyone else who' like to speak in opposition welcome morning hi I'm Pastor Freddy Lewis Thomas II with jerusem Mission community church located at South Mar Luther King Boulevard area code 93307 W one um I'm here to speak on behalf of encouraging to allocating the funds for affordable housing uh we thank you and we appreciate so much for the schooling and education that has come into the area of w one including Dr montin Luther King Elementary School and the park that has been renovated but we're also seeing an uptick in homelessness we're seeing the uptick when it comes to uh tent cities and and people who are a who are unable to afford living in a permanent residence and we know that this is a problem that's been happening all around the nation and up taken homelessness but Bakersfield has an opportunity to be a staple of addressing that we have an opportunity to be seen as one who's able to address it effectively uh I'm hoping that we're able to encourage permanent Solutions and not just the stop Gap um Band-Aids that we are constantly seeing but we're able to afford um or we're able to come to solutions for permanent affordable housing for all of the residents and all of the citizens here in Bakersville City also encourage for uh any of the fundings that you have for the allocation of 24 to 25 uh to increase in the education uh of Bakersfield um Bakersfield City has been known to be on the lower tier of Education not just in California but in the nation and I'm hoping that we will do more to address that thank you thank you Pastor Thomas anyone else like to speak in opposition welcome please introduce yourself good evening my name is is Emma dear R Roa I'm the regional policy manager with Leadership Council for justice and accountability I'm providing a comment on behalf of Dominic who couldn't be here today and lives in the apartment or in an apartment managed by cler and Company as a resident born and raised in Bakersfield homelessness is one of the worst crisis in America I suggest the city take the $2 million ask seriously due to the current economic state of the county this will be a great suggestion I want to leave off with a quote to error is human but to forgive is divine I would like to add my additional comment um to to mention that if clemmer and Company sounds familiar that's because they were recently held accountable by the Attorney General's office for violating the tenant protection act according to a press release from the AG's office an investigation by California Department of Justice found that two individual land from Bakersfield each of whom own over a 100 units and a property manager cloring company unlawfully issued eviction notices in violation of the TPA one landlord issued over 40 eviction notices on the basis that the landlord intended to subst stantially remodel the units but the remodeling work performed did not meet the standards required under the TPA to justify an eviction the other landlord issued at least two eviction notices targeting tenants with Section 8 housing uh housing Choice vouchers on the same basis but performed no remodeling work these two eviction notices violated the TPA and constituted unlawful discrimination against Section 8 housing Choice vouchers recipients the property manager facilitated many of these unlawful evictions separately the SEC the second landlord also un L increased rent for dozens of tenants including by issuing multiple rent increases within within a single year that combined to exceed the tpa's 12mon rank cap and failed to return security deposits within 21 days of move out and to provide documentation of deductions as required under California security deposit law that happened here in Bakersfield and that's happening throughout right and Clem and Company is probably not the only corporate landlord who's issuing um or illegally evicting community and this is the reason why we need you all as city council members and staff to support this program so that you can also hold them accountable and so that you can also create change in your community we were fortunate enough to to speak to most of you throughout these last few months and we all agreed during these conversations that there is a housing crisis issue and we all agreed that we had to do something about it today you have the opp opportunity to do something about it so we do ask that you amend the budget the 24 25 um budget to include $2 million for the eviction prevention program thank you thank you Mr delosa we have a minute and 5 seconds left is there anyone else who would like to speak in opposition hi my name is Veronica monteroso um it's quick it's just uh I wanted to say that it's keep it's cheaper to keep people house than to House unhoused people and it's kind of appalling to have so many community members for the the last year or over a year coming here and asking you guys for this program and you guys not taking it seriously and underfunding it so we ask as a community member not representing anyone else just as a community member I ask that you guys um raise the two the set aside the 2 million for the eviction protection program thank you thank you Miss mosa is there anyone else who would like to speak in opposition seeing none is there anyone who wishes to speak in support seeing none at this time I will close the public hearing and return it to council for comment and action council member arus thank you mayor um first I just want to say thank you to all the advocates for coming out tonight um this is the perfect venue and the perfect opportunity for you all to share um you know some of the stories and the challenges of what I am starting to believe is really the number one issue uh facing uh residents and tenants across the entire uh City really even larger than this you know across the state um and and and throughout the the rest of the country um a couple of thoughts I think um I I just think it makes common it's common sense I I totally agree with Pastor Freddy Thomas we need to look for long-term sustainable Investments and solutions to the homelessness issue which must include affordable housing uh which must include um addressing some of the mental health behavioral health and substance use challenges but at the same time we must also stop the inflow of housing I think um Sandra brings up a good point for every six individuals that we place into affordable housing we somehow end up with 10 more on our streets so the problem is only continuing to get bigger and while we continue to make investments as a council while the county continues to do what they can as well to be good partners on this issue we time and again have to sit in the same meeting hearing about the point and time count increasing the number of individuals that are currently unsheltered and sheltered in in the city of Bakersfield so something's not working and I think that $2 million in the grant scheme of things is rather reasonable um and I think keeping family's house is also the Humane thing to do um so with that I just want to again commend The Advocates and tonight I just want to make um not a change to uh what is currently agendized but make a referral that when this comes back in two weeks that in conjunction with this um we also bring back a $2.1 million allocation for uh homelessness prevention services including the eviction Protection Program in addition to rental and utility assistance um coming out of the American Rescue plan act um uh framework uh it's my understanding that arpa currently has $2.1 million uh set aside in the disadvantaged neighborhood revitalization bucket um and I think if we're going to be targeted um and and really be very specific about how we can um how we can best spend our dollars um on supporting those families who are having the toughest time um in moments of crises um I think that this would be a wonderful opportunity um before I end my comments I I just want to Shar that I've been over the past couple of months on many different calls I've had many different conversations about the eviction protection or eviction prevention program EP um and there have been some very colorful conversations um and I appreciate some of the challenges that have been put forward towards that program but what I end up coming back to is that even if tenants do end up having legal protection and legal services provided to them to combat you know uh some landlords who may not be aware of current housing law or you know may be aware and are continuing forward uh to implement that unlawful rent increase uh or unlawful eviction my message to you is we are not going after the good landlords that has never been the issue and that has never been something that The Advocates have been saying what I end up coming back to is this and it's that if you are following the law then you have nothing to fear for and so as long as you are compliant with the law then there will not be any issues but what Advocates are telling you today is is that there is although a small percentage there are those folks out there and I've even heard recommendations that we should ask the district attorney uh to prosecute and be more active in Prosecuting we are not the District Attorney's supervisor or boss the district attorney is elected by the people of the county of Kern and we do not have authority what we do have authority over is creating and investing in this program to make sure that we can continue to advocate for the most vulnerable people in our community uh so with that I ask for my colleague support as we make this significant investment and I I recognize that this is a one-time opportunity these are one-time funds through arpa um and I think that it would be wise of us to make sure that we contract out these Services we don't add these folks to payroll um but it is my hope that we bring back good data uh to show that this program does help uh you know real people real families and make the case that in a year from now that this program should in some way shape or form be supported by ongoing funding including psvs thank you thank you council member arus council member gray thank you mayor um first of all I I do want to speak on this I was goingon to I was going to say something first but I do appreciate the sincerity of heart in all of you that come I mean you come I when I met with you in my office I was very impressed you came with respect like you do to these meetings and you are sincere in heart and um so I just want to thank you for that that you're that interested in your city and and um the residents of the city that you'll keep coming back so know that um I do have some questions but I want to recognize first uh the profession ISM of our staff and putting together this budget and presenting it to us in a way and and to today I was so pleased um when I was reading through it and um on on the computer screen and knowing that the residents of the city if they can get on there they can understand what's happening and what we're doing in past budgets I didn't feel like it was that user friendly so I really want to tell you great job I really I appreciate that um I also want to thank you for key to approach our budget this year from a conservative manner because we don't know what our future brings and I've I've talked about this before so I appreciate the fact that you've you're not trying to hire a bunch more people and you're not trying to raise but you're keeping it flat and you're also adding to our rainy day fund so I think that's great I I do have some uh clarifying questions just because I didn't quite understand what this is so probably assistant city manager Mr Howen if you can help me out under reliable infrastructure um I see $49 million for complete streets in total which um includes Chester Avenue 8 Street and and Dr uh Martin Luther King Boulevard what what do you mean exactly by complete streets I'm not sure what that entails what doing yeah I I can give a general uh description but probably Mr stackus can give you a little bit more uh detail so uh completing our streets is probably another another way to say it um right now we have very wide uh wide streets so being able to provide uh multimodal Transportation on those streets you know improved uh pedestrian walkways improved uh bicycle uh and already we have vehicular uh Transportation going on there so so really just improving the look and feel as well as the safety and how many different modes of transportation that we have on those streets uh Greg do you have anything else to add okay okay I thought that's probably the answer that I was going to get but I just wanted to make sure that before I made a statement and I know their colleagues on on this Di that are not going to agree with me and that's okay because I'm speaking for those people that do agree with me I have had so many people ask me what the heck is going in on in our city that our lanes are being narrowed I was out on Buena Vista Street uh just last week driving that and I could not believe what I was seeing that those lanes are so narrowed and I did not see one bicyclist and I am so I'm speaking for the people that are not in agreement with this not everybody is in agreement with this so we are spending $49 million on adding on making our lanes narrower and adding a whole Lane practically for bicycles and the data just doesn't support this and I'm just um and there's so I I wish the people that are hardworking and opposed to this would come talk to you about it come talk to us about it because not everybody is in favor of this so I'm speaking on their behalf I'm lending my voice no matter what anybody else thinks about it up here um I think it's I think it's something that we need to really be looking carefully at and getting getting more input because we are going to jam this City up so bad with traffic because of these narrower Lanes um it's going to get crazy the other thing under Economic Opportunity for all um I am very Pro downtown Baker sold so I don't want to anybody to misunderstand me for this Redevelopment fund but it was it was twice one said um included continued investment of $1.6 million in downtown Redevelopment fund and then there's just a couple lines down continued funding of $1.5 million for downtown Redevelopment so what's the difference between those two funds for down to why have we split them out sure I can I can speak to that and okay if I again need some help I'll I'll ask uh Miss Jenny buers to come up um with our economic Community Development but um some of those are for different purposes okay so it for the uh downtown Redevelopment uh some of that is set aside for uh infrastructure improvement in our downtown uh whether it's sewer uh or other other infrastructure improvements that are going on and then the uh downtown Redevelopment fund is also set aside for some property acquisition so there there are kind of different activities that are going on with those different pots of funds okay great all right I appreciate that thank you very much thank you council member G Council core thank you mayor um first i' just in response to council member gray I'd love to chat with the residents you've um who've expressed to you their dismay with some of the road improvements we're making and I think you should encourage them to attend our multimodal subcommittee and traffic safety uh subcommittee uh we actually just had a meeting last night and it was a full house every seat in the room was full so I want to thank my colleagues council member adius and council member Smith on um creating such an inviting space uh within that subcommittee it's also at 5:00 pm so it's after work hours we've made it accessible thanks to staff um but they're uh you know the community and residents and Advocates actually outnumber City staff as well as um the council folks that are in the in in attendance but if they attend they're able to kind of see the purpose and the why um behind reducing some of these Lane widths um and it takes time to change a habit I understand that we're a city of sprawl and we are car Centric but what do all these terminologies mean I get it they're buzzword in in in an Essence but we're trying to change habits so that we can reduce the amount of people who are literally dying in our roadways we share time and time again the amount of pedestrians the bicyclists even folks who are in vehicles even car accidents that are occurring the amount of car accidents that happen within our city that is not a normal occurrence and it should not be just the it should not be normalized it should not be the way of life should not be the way we've come to become accustomed and the safety or rather non-safety we've come to expect uh but I hope that we can all agree that even if one life is saved in implementing some of these research supported evidence-based practices that we're implementing um through our public works department even saving one life is money well spent in my opinion and I hope that we can all agree I want to move on to um council member ai's referral that he's made tonight and just join in supporting um the referral and then and just want to amplify that uh for staff and I'm encouraged to see uh what we can come back with and and having an kind of an outlined budget where we can draw money from in arpa and I want to thank all of the community advocates for coming time and time again for having the same message being consistent being a voice of the community um D having a diverse Coalition um and someone spoke to a point that I I'd like to emphasize is a lot of the times we're understanding our homeless neighbors our houseless neighbors as being those who are also in need of medical support um and that's probably the easiest assumption to make it's the easiest conclusion to draw but the children uh I think someone had mentioned what about the children the children who are displaced when um you know when a family can't make rent you're having to move school districts you are losing friends you are losing a relationship with your teacher you are losing an entire community at a young age and uh the psychological effects of that will last for a lifetime so this goes beyond um this goes beyond just one occurrence I mean it would be in kind of in comparison an adult as myself compared to a child losing their home losing their Community losing where they call home that is a much more painful experience and I want to just give appreciation for that example being shared with us today and that being a perspective that deserves value everyone's experience deserves value but housing and affordable housing is is cyclical it's um you you know in in any relationship you have with uh where you live you you know you might start in an apartment you're saving up you're working towards having more secure housing maybe dream of buying a home uh but I also think for those of us who have the power to implement policy and design policy we're also placing value on our residents as to you know is it a bed that you get and that's what we're investing in or are we investing in making sure you stay in the place that you call home that the place that is home for you um and for everyone that looks different um but it's not temporary it's not a Band-Aid and I would hope that this is just the first step that we take in also communicating our priorities and understanding um the displacement that comes with losing one's home and um so in in Sharing all of that I just wanted to thank council member adius for being creative and encouraging uh the the referral tonight um and I look forward to a continued conversation and I know this is just the beginning I would hope that this is just the beginning um and it's a multi-pronged approach many solutions uh will hopefully you know come into Aid because it's true there have been so many different every everyone who shared tonight made all of the valuable points that I would have made to um we all take on the cost burden of our our houseless neighbors as well and and so it's also something that we can share and coming to a solution as well um it's why we see the rent prices that we do in in the city of Bakersfield um and some might be surprised by them but if you're a renter you're not like you know the realities of that so um yeah thank you I just um that is that is all I have on that thank you council member core council member Freeman thank you mayor um well a couple of comments first just a question Gary do we have 350 allocated for the rent um prevention I mean the eviction prevention program in the budget we're looking at is that in there yes I can't you know in the detail I can't really find it but okay so at least we have that in there now uh and for some also some clarification on councilman rice is there 2.1 million of potential arpa funds out there which could be used for rental assistance for all sorts of things as as well as this is that right that potentially that could be obtained my understanding is yes they haven't been dedicated to any particular project and they are available to be able to be allocated for this purpose I did want to clarify that $350,000 is something that's already been previously voted done in the past it is not part of this current budget proposal okay wait a minute he it's it's a carryover right so it is it is a carry just so there is 350 in the budget right now correct um well in regarding that if there's $2.1 million call a free money I'm never going to object to that however I think we have to be careful that we don't make it if we have this free onetime money we we don't build an an automatic expectation that we can spend 2.1 million every year got to do a new budget every year we have to look at you know how much money do we have and so I would just caution maybe maybe that spent on ripped subsidies and other that but but it isn't all spent on a eviction prevention program because the following year we may not have the money um remember the costs are going up through many through government mandates and the revenues are going down so each year you're going to have council is going to have much more painful decisions on where do we cut it's not going to be extra money to spend on things we'd like it's going to be where are we going to cut which road that's crumbling are we not going to increase are we not going to fix which two are we not going to fix basic things we've sort of been spoiled with all of this free government money for a few years and I think it's going to be like a cold shower dealing with budgets as all the subsidies dry up where we would get some AR funds or this but all that would go away and we're going to be back to the way we were and it's it's going to be tight um I just want to remember that before we um lead people to expect things that we may not have the money for um I did want to well just let look the extra calp Pur payment that's above the regular payroll pension payments 40 5 million in the budget it goes up 6 million every year that's just the extra portion on top of the pension payments we make to pay all it will someday be a 100 million okay there's no tax increase there's no Revenue increase for that it cuts into all the services we can offer including even Paving a road it's a devastating I'm not saying we do anything about it we just have to say hey that's the reality we're going to have to deal with it is real the electrical vehicle manic that'll probably start at several million extra we don't get any value for it the next year could be five the next year could be seven the next year be 10 these are a new tax we have this we still have a tractor that works or a dump truck that works it didn't better dump truck but these are they eat into there's no tax increase for these they in all the service we want to provide people for so we're really going to have to be careful it's going to be much harder as the years go on unless we do measure P on top of measure n and I I don't think right now I don't think we could get something like that pass um I did want to ask about the 49 million that uh councilman gry mentioned could you clarify even if a round number we have X doll in here for you know repaving streets the basic things we have to do for our town you know how much we have uh budgeted to you know fix all this treat so we got to repay a lot of them every year and we're way behind in your index schedule you know we're we're not in good shape our roads are not in good shape we're behind but how much how much are we did we budget to spend next year just a round number if you know you give me um councilman for if you give me a moment just to pull it up here I saw that down okay um so in the streets and right of way Improvement category there's um $10 million allocated towards Chester Avenue and then other complete streets add up to the $46 million you added this complete street so I'm going to differentiate between spending to repave our street as they wear out and this thing called complete streets because I don't know which is which but a minute ago we're talking about it's only bike lanes and and Parkways and and medians enhancements nice to have that we're spending 49 million on and I didn't get that out of the budget if we're only spending it can't be that we're spending 10 million to fix all the roads in Baker field and 49 million to put in bike lanes that that can't be the case no no there's an approximately 20 3 to 25 million additional dollars being invested into Street resurfacing both by public Orcs Crews and by contractors that will go out to bid for okay so about 25 million to fix the streets now what is this 49 million for uh bike lanes and Parkway enhancements 49 million well I think that's the number tied to complete streets I'm not sure I complete streets okay is complete streets is that all out of our you know General fin or measure in none of it is an arpa money um there's a combination of sources for that funding much of it is grant funding uh you'll recall for Chester Avenue we did receive a $10 million Grant from the federal government under the raise category to allocate towards that $15 million project along Chester Avenue so so a good portion of that particular project project is funded with federal dollars there are other projects as well such as H Street um that is significantly funded by state and federal grant money well okay because it's for me it's confus I worry about the money coming out of our pocket I love the free money when it comes in I'm not as worried about that if we can do a Boulevard with with grant money stand is not our money great but could you could you you know send us a note I mean before that's canc I don't want to have to have a big council meeting speech I just just send me a memo here's how much money we're going to spend on repairing the streets in our budget the regular stuff here's how much in uh you know that let's say extra enhancements you can call them bike Lanes whatever and of that amount how much are grants versus coming out of our pocket because I can't imagine if we're spending 25 million of our money to fix streets that we would be spending more than whatever 5 million of our own money maybe 20 million in Grants from you know from from Grants I just want to see the ratio of of our regular money and there are some inh hand you know we do need to replace the medians there are some things that we do need to do from our own funds but I'm confused and I just and I don't want to be confused I don't know how much is coming from the government free one-time grants which of course we're going to spend and make things nice and how much is the regular budget we take right out of either general fund or measure end so we know that's that's our money because that's likely to repeat each year and the one time money's I mean the state says it's broke you know they don't even want to fund homeless okay there some the latest thing I'm going to cut back the homeless because you're not doing a good job cities so the free money is going to go away or a lot of it and we need to understand going forward you know is it we spend about 25 million RAR to roads and Parkways and stuff fine how much is that but but I think we've been spoiled and and a little confused in our budgeting because of the massive amount of government subsidies that are one-timers that we've been receiving I know I'm confused so that's that's the end of my comment thanks we uh council member we can uh develop a list of the sources of funds uh by uh based on some of the larger projects because like like uh Mr Sho said we have a lot of federal sources because there's lots of Federal grand dollars that we've applied for we've been successful uh MLK is another uh 5 million that was a federal Source uh of of that project which is complete street so we can we can provide a breakdown to kind of summary so it's easy to understand I mean I even noticed I was reading all the comments from the oversight committee and they would say and a lot of them were close votes five to four these were not all you know seven or 9 to zero and the comment was well this isn't in line with measure in whatever but it didn't ever say the notes I read oh this was that particular Improvement was all funded with arpa money or that was all out of our pocket well there's no I don't have any perspective on the people saying hey we unanimously approv this or five to four approved it without knowing well how much of that was coming out of our pocket and how much it free so even reading that I didn't know did they approve it because it was free did they approve it because or disagree because it came out of our pocket so those that it was a nice summary reading but I'm really confused how much is our money versus the grants at this point when I see these these big numbers okay so help us out there thanks thank you council member Freeman go to council member Smith and then back to council member core thank you Mary just as chairman of kog I will say you know Chester Avenue 8 Street got ATP grants got Cat Grants we got substantial grant money on on those projects and U I would also add that uh saving lives is what it's about the city of Bakersville always ranks high on how many people we kill violent deaths on our streets and to continue to design them the same way makes no sense so to change the way we design them and make them safer is our responsibility to our constituents thank you thank you council member Smith Vice May thank you mayor a few comments tonight first and foremost thank you to all of the um community members who came out to be present tonight for this particular hearing um and for lifting up your concerns regarding the um eviction um prevention uh program and also just homelessness prevention in general um obviously um this is a pressing issue regarding housing in our community and regarding homelessness and the continued increase and it's something that this city and this County and this state is continues to Grapple with and we look for um various different strategies uh in order to to respond um so I I appreciate that I appreciate um council member AR's um referral and look forward to having that conversation as we move forward um I do want to note because there was a conversation or a comment made about affordable housing trust fund that is something that we established thanks to um the public safety and vital Services initiative um we're currently budgeting uh correct me if I'm wrong $3 million in psvs this current year but I do also want to note that we have allocated $9 million um for um affordable housing and that is going to our community Land Trust where we will be constructing new housing uh for uh for our community um and then I think the the larger point is that we can't build enough affordable housing we can't build it cheap enough we can't build it fast enough and so the the broader conversation really has to be about uh reform uh in terms of how we improve our processes so we can allow for more Housing Development period in this community uh that's how we um I think the only hope we have to really get ourselves out of this housing crisis um so I I think that needs to be at the Forefront as well in any of these conversations um there's a lot of a lot of conversation tonight about um Safe Streets um I I agree with council member uh Smith full-heartedly this is about saving lives uh we just had a uh walk with residents in East Bakersfield along Niles of Monteray I was with my constituents and those individuals in my community are saying that we want safer streets for those who walk to school those who walk to work uh those who ride bicycles in the neighborhood which are many um and we've had far too many pedestrian fatalities over the last four years far too many um it it is frankly it's embarrassing as a city uh that we've had so many pedestrian deaths uh when you look at other communities throughout the country who are able to reduce them and get to zero pedestrian deaths when we realize that it's actually possible um and so I I would I I think we all need to pull together and figure out some solutions I would love to hear um alternative solutions to how we reduce the number of uh pedest pedestrian fatalities within our community um so um I I think finally um you know the this conversation really tonight is about the city's uh fiscal year budget for 2425 which includes our general fund and includes psvs um I think the the arpa conversation is really important to make and I council member Freeman actually underscores a really important point in that um those dollars are going very quickly and soon they will be gone and so it's really important for us to be very strategic into how we allocate those one-time dollars uh in the future um because uh my concern isn't for this particular fiscal year um but in this year we've seen that our discretionary spending the amount of money we actually have to to actually move around in our budget has shrunk considerably from last fiscal year we have far less room I think it's around $20 million okay that that's that's a concern uh because as you look towards 25 26 26 27 it's it's dire it's it's very scary to look at that and I've been on this Council when we've had to make cuts when we've had very tough fiscal years I've been on the Schoolboard when we had to make very tough decisions and we're not adding we're cutting and those are very very hard hard times and so um that's what I hope that we can avoid um in this in this upcoming budget thank you thank you vice mayor council member gray was that a request to speak or an accident no oh okay um and yours was an accident okay council member gray all right thank you I want to um continue on this path about pedestrian death it is very very unfortunate the amount of pedestrian and cyclist deaths that we have had in the city of Bakersfield but I want to remind my council members and and the public um a year ago I sent an email to our police chief asking him to send me the numbers for 2022 and 23 um of the deaths and what the circumstances were behind those deaths again any death any person that we lose is unfortunate they're they mothers fathers brothers sisters Aunts Uncles so I'm not taking that lightly but I want to remind you of the statistics in 2023 at the time that I asked the chief of police every one of those people that died it was because they were at fault I myself have almost hit three cyclists since I've served on the city council to where they actually stepped out in front of me or where they're riding their bike in the wrong direction right towards a car so if we're going to talk about this let's get our facts straight that most of those people died because of their fault now when we talk about the East side this was something that I meant to bring up earlier under reliable infrastructure right under the $49 million for complete streets we're only allocating 2.6 million for Street curb gutter sidewalk improvements and CBD cdbg eligible neighborhoods why do we only have $2.6 million you're just talking about the east side where they can't walk to school that it's safe because there's not sidewalks so why aren't we taking some of this $49 million of complete streets with all the green paint and narrowing the lines or the lanes why don't we take some of that money I would love to see that happen I would love to see the East Side receive the money for curbs gutters and sidewalks to me that's a much better investment than the green paint everywhere all over our city that in spite of the meeting you had there's a lot of people that aren't happy about it so I'm glad you brought that up uh council member Gonzalez about the about the uh sidewalks and curbing gutters because I forgot to mention that that's where I would like to see more dollars going I'm I'm glad to hear that um uh council member gray uh because complete streets actually includes enhancements to sidewalks um and it it includes often the building of uh additional Street enhancements for pedestrians it's not just about green paint uh it's actually about additional Street Lighting in some circumstances it's about additional treats uh to uh to improve the shade canopy um so it's it's far more comprehensive when we're talking about streets we're really talking about the opportunity for lots of different people to travel along that street not just vehicles but pedestrians as well so it does include the sidewalks why in this budget in these neighborhoods that need it the most why do we have this little bitty bit of money allocated when we have this huge amount of money elsewhere like buav Vista Street that's a very nice neighborhood out there why make that kind of investment when the east side of town is where it's really needing where they're needing the help yeah I I can uh council member I can address that so I think it's more calling out the amount of cdbg funds that we uh receive from the federal government and what we do with those cdbg funds is we invest them in curb Gutter and sidewalk and Street improvements so it's just calling out that we receive 2.6 million in cdbg funds and that's how we invest them so along with what uh vice mayor was saying on on many of these complete streets we do also do side we're just not calling out the sidewalk and other improvements with those complete streets so it's it's both um pets occurring right and and some funds um for some sidewalk enhancements as well yeah 5 5.5 million I Am pro taking care of those parts of the city that need it the worst first thank you thank you council member gray council member Smith yeah I just wanted to respond to the the bo of Vista comment that's we con we signed that contract last time and I think it's 3.1 3.2 million and and as I stated then 2% of that went to the the green paint it was really the you know it's $3 million for new Paving because it's an old Street it it had nothing to do with spending $3 million on green paint it was3 Million Dollar on new pavement and while we're doing that then we spend 2% of that on green paint thank you thank you council member Smith anyone else council member core um Gary if you could share the we actually at our multimodal and traffic safety subcommittee yesterday our Consultants prepared excellent Maps heat Maps actually that show where pedestrian deaths accidents uh cyclist accidents have happened if if we could email a copy to each of the council members I think that would be very helpful you'll see that it isn't just East Bakersfield that is isn't just downtown it isn't just kind of where we're expecting them to happen they are happening on these very wide roadways like buav Vista like Panama actually from East Panama all the way down Panama is the second busiest roadway in our city and that's uh by a lot of different measures it's also one of the measures that restaurants use as to where to bring their new food spots um as to see where traffic is Flowing but those kind of function as freeways in a way so um that is evidence-based and you'll you'll see the heat map really just indicates exactly where and it's color coordinated it's easy to follow you'll see where the highest density is it's red orange yellow so uh I think everyone could benefit from reading that um wow I think I had my request way earlier so there's a lot of different topics that we've talked about um but I am encouraged by the commitment to seeing improved infrastructure like sidewalks we also discussed at our subcommittee meeting yesterday different ways in which to create barriers between the car roadway um and the sidewalk and that being simple um Solutions like Landscaping separating those but this is a larger Trend and I think it's for the good of the public to also share that lots of times when you blame a pedestrian or you blame a cyclist um that this is not unique to just um the city of Bakersfield it's just how data is captured so while that data might come from our police department and that's how it is um captured and documented a lot of the times it's actually uh it needs to be a little bit more um holistic in how it's studied what is the existing infrastructure what were the kind of circumstances that caused that accident to happen um I myself have come across probably three accidents within my own award where a car was a car had hit a pedestrian I just happened to be passing by two of them were on Panama Lane um and I made the 911 call myself and um I can say that The Pedestrian was not at fault just from my own assessment of having to translate for some of these elderly folks um and and how can we really place blame on someone who's just trying to be active in the morning um and and don't anticipate being hit by a car when just by physics you can see that a car has a lot more autonomy um but this is a trend that's changing and I'm encouraged to see that we've had conversations and I know council member Smith has brought this up before too is even how our press releases go out from our Police Department as to how pedestrian or cyclist accidents um are documented and shared out to Media it matters because language matters and um and I don't think we want to get into the habit of particularly blaming um one party or another it really is just where we can make those different improvements but this is the step in um the right direction um I wanted to follow up also on our conversation about affordable housing or different kind of Investments we've made I think it would be beneficial for the good of the public if uh we could describe what a community land trust is if um council member Gonzalez if you could share um what we're doing with that and where those invest Investments are going [Music] so the thank you for the question council member core uh the the city has um established a nonprofit entity um that's um charged with the development of uh new housing units and there will be um there's a strategy that is developing we currently have a a consultant that we are working with to develop our strategy but one of the primary focuses is actually to develop a home ownership model so that with some of the properties that the city currently owns these vacant Parcels these vacant Parcels will ultimately be um utilized to build single family homes um these single family homes then will be sold to uh firsttime home buyers with the opportunity to build um generational wealth um the land underneath the home will be leased to the home buyer for up to 99 years uh and so this is a model that's been established in lots of different places throughout the community or throughout the country rather uh and it shows a lot of promise for us to not only add inventory for more affordable units but also helping us um identify strategies to move people into the middle class helping them build wealth through home ownership uh in addition to that um we are looking at at uh some potential rental units so that we can provide uh some affordable housing uh directly to our community and working with Community Partners to to actually uh run those facilities so that uh we can uh accelerate the construction uh and the availability of new affordable housing units in our community thank you so in the the way in which arpa dollars are um they kind of limit to CD dbg districts and so for um those who could benefit from learning and about this as well there's certain you can look up a map where there's certain cdbg districts within the city and um the arpa dollars arpa being an acronym for different Federal funding that's come down to the city are utilized um in certain disadvantaged communities and are limited to those um would this community land trust is there a limitation as to which parts of town um that Community Land Trust could be established and or where these rentals could be um obtained Mr Helen the I I could answer it um and I think um Jenny is here too she's ready to answer as well um so I think the short and as we utilize arpa funds we do want to focus in on those qualifying census tracks uh for the American Rescue plan and some of the sites that we're prioritizing currently are those properties that we actually own the city actually has identified has actually it's part of our part of our current inventory uh so those will be Priority One and actually my estimate is that those properties will probably are probably more than enough to expend the the dollars that we have available through arpa but long term if this Council and I hope we do uh allocates additional uh dollars either through Public Safety and vital services or the through um uh Bradley Burns we can actually uh expand uh the land trust um scope uh Beyond those qualifying census track so we can actually work in lots of different parts of the city and my hope is that eventually this Community Land Trust will actually serve uh the entire city that's great to know um I was having a conversation with one of The Advocates here and a couple of other constituents in kind of anticipation of uh today's council meeting who shared that um while it is encouraging for these efforts to kind of support where someone is already residing um you know these are still kind of our most disadvantaged neighborhoods and in order for folks to feel an opportunity um an an opportunity for Mobility it is also being able to live in other parts of the city um that they dream of living in and and having Mobility to live there and it might not be in the neighborhood that they're in right now so how do we also encourage that through some of these Investments that we're making at the city I think it kind of makes way for others to cycle through as well um so my ask is that whether it's the um it's the eviction Protection Program or it's our community Land Trust I'd like for us to also come up with solutions to um keep families you know whether they're in South Bakersfield and that's where they want to stay um how how do we also include non cdbg districts uh while also encouraging some of our residents to be able to seek residency in some of those areas or stay in those areas they may not qualify um based on the boundaries the arbitrary boundaries that might be drawn um but if there's opportunity for them to stay in their homes or purchase a home or for us to create a Community Land Trust in a neighborhood um that you know I guess in simple terms you know everyone wants to live in the nicer parts of town as well and so the opportunity should exists for all residents to have access to that um and to access those schools um a and to have upward mobility and I I hope we can build that in with both of these efforts um and that also be a priority for us at the city Council I don't see any other request to speak uh can we have a motion to accept all comments please motion accept all comments you have a motion please cat your votes motion is approved with council member we voting no thank you and now next item please Council and mayor statements still waiting for any requests Madam clerk do you need to do something vice mayor mayor uh colleagues uh on June 2nd 10 days ago um a historic structure a significant building in Downtown Baker caught fire and burned down the Great American antique building at 6259 Street at 19th and R um the firefighters Bakers firefighters did a tremendous job uh they were on scene right away as soon as they got their the call um station one was out there uh trying to put out the fire they were trying to main it as best as they could before it spread but unfortunately uh the the fire just there was a lot of fuel and the fire uh spread and got away from them um but they were out there for several hours I actually witnessed it I was there until well past 1:00 a.m. uh witnessing their heroic efforts um and and so uh I want to thank the fire department for all of their work and chief thank you uh for your Communications thereafter but I think it it it continues to underscore this underlying issue that we have with vacant structures particularly in downtown and in the urban core um we have adopted a vacant structural ordinance which I think is is helpful but I think we need to uh take a look at improving and enhancing that vacant structure ordinance and adding additional um requirements for uh those uh structures that are owned and remain vacant long term uh number one uh this particular building had no insurance on it uh and so I think one of the pieces