Speaker 1: Consider addressing gun violence by sanctioning a town hall event on October 14th and creating a subcommittee to organize the event and create policy options for council discussion. This item was placed on the agenda at the request of Vice Mayor Knox White and Councilmember Odie.
Speaker 0: Okay, so which of you wants to take the lead? Okay.
Speaker 2: I could start.
Speaker 0: Okay. Councilmember Odie.
Speaker 4: I'm sorry. Public comment. I thought that was nice.
Speaker 0: So I'm so sorry. Had you not turned into speaker slip.
Speaker 1: You want to speak on the side of what they discussed?
Speaker 0: So did you want to speak on an item? Not on the agenda or on this one?
Speaker 4: This one.
Speaker 0: Okay, so we will have the item introduced and then we will have an opportunity for speakers. The item I called before, as we always give an opportunity for people who want to talk about something that's not on the agenda. And we didn't have any speakers on that. Okay. So we're in good shape. All right. So Councilmember.
Speaker 2: Odie. Oh, good. Thank you. So I think all of us recognize that gun violence is a public health epidemic. And to that end, the vice mayor and I are hosting a town hall. And so far we have a representative, we have our assembly member, Mr. Bonta, our state senator Nancy Skinner, and our district attorney, Nancy O'Malley speaking . You know, we're still working on other speakers, but our our goal out of this is to have a conversation on how we can best address this issue of gun violence, because it seems like every week somebody dies, somebody dies because somebody has an assault weapon. And if we say our thoughts are with you, that's not going to solve the problem. If we continue to just say platitudes, that's not going to solve the problem. And people are asking for action. And what the goal of this town hall would be to identify what specific actions we could do as individual citizens, what specific actions we could do as as a city, because there are some restrictions, but there are things we can consider. And then ultimately out of this would be, you know, maybe a laundry list of items that could be presented to the council that we could discuss and decide if we wanted to take any action on any of them. Like I said, there's a lot of state preemption, but there are there are things we could also do at the state and local level, like sponsor bills and make it make sure that, you know, maybe we give direction. I'm not saying we do this tonight, but one of the options could be, you know, we decide our federal lobbyist sponsors a bill in Washington or in Sacramento. So, you know, we'd like to have the city's blessing and, you know, be able to, you know, well, everyone's invited anyway, but, you know, agenda is it and allow staff to spend some time working on it and making sure it's very productive. But you know, what I hear from everybody that I talked to is that enough of the inaction? So we're going to take action. We'd like support. And I think this is a topic that's very timely. And I will kick it over to the vice mayor to add anything that he wants to add.
Speaker 0: Vice Mayor Knox, why did you want to add anything? No, I think.
Speaker 9: It was a fabulous summation.
Speaker 0: Thank you. Any questions from council before we hear from our public speaker? Okay. And we have one public speaker in Salem, Gordon Terrace, please.
Speaker 4: Hi. I'm Gordon Terrace.
Speaker 0: So if I could get you to speak right into the microphone, everyone will be able to hear you, including those who are watching on television.
Speaker 4: Okay. I'm Gordon Terrace. I'm a citizen here at Alameda. I was also a four year all-American rifle shooter in the NCAA ways and a candidate of the 84 Olympics. I would like to volunteer to help you in any way we can. Shooting is an Olympic sport. There are men, women, coed, individual team and Paralympic options. It's also an NCAA sport. Shooting provides scholarships and about 30 colleges and universities around the country. It is a coed sport and some teams are women. All me. As I said, I'm a I'm already a product of an NCAA program. It's a sport of mental discipline and fine motor skill. It's also a sport where men and women compete equally and where accommodations are built in to enable handicapped people to be equally. It is not a sport that selects primarily on physical power. Is a sport available for people who don't have access to other sports? As the coach of the local junior rifle team. My goal is to provide opportunities for youth in their prep years to prepare for college scholarships and Olympic opportunities. Our current state laws hinder our ability to provide that service. So I would like to participate to make sure unanticipated consequences of our actions don't hinder opportunities for people to also have their own opportunities. So that's why I want to volunteer to help. Thank you.
Speaker 0: Thank you. Okay, let's open this up to council discussion. Councilmember Vella, would you like to start?
Speaker 8: Yeah. So I think that unfortunately, the issue of gun violence has been a fairly timely and relevant kind of ongoing for the for the past few years due to the number of mass shootings that we've had and in in this country. I do also I guess my my question is, um, we have had some town halls. In fact, I think the Mayor and I both participated in one, um.
Speaker 0: The Episcopal Church.
Speaker 3: Here.
Speaker 8: And so I am kind of cognizant of, or a little wary of kind of reinventing the wheel. And I do know that we've also sponsored or not sponsored, but supported a number of different bills that have been carried, I think, both federally and statewide. So I guess my question is, um, you know, kind of getting out and you talked about this a little perhaps having some, you know, coming back with some suggestions or something like that. There was a there has been kind of a very involved conversation with community leaders, and I would hate to kind of throw that out and start all over again. So I guess my question is, what's the context of this meeting? I think the issue of addressing gun violence is fairly broad. And you mentioned that there's going to be a number of different, you know, elected officials from various levels. So obviously, there's a limit to what the city can do. So I guess my question and I think also when we had the town hall that we participated in, there was a long like a long laundry list of kind of the regulations that we currently have in Alameda. And so I guess I'm just wondering what the the goal for this meeting is as it relates specifically to the city and then who from staff would have to be involved if we're sanctioning it, if if that's the request.
Speaker 0: And then if I could just. I didn't mean to cut you off. Do you think so? Um, I do know, because I've been signing a lot of letters lately, and. And I think the council is aware to that. Well, starting with the, you know, there was that cluster of three mass shootings all at once. And Gilroy, California was one of them. And I think El Paso, Texas and Ohio. Dayton, Dayton, Ohio. And so the U.S. Conference of Mayors, of which I am a member, it's the mayors of medium and large cities where Medium City sent out a letter or asked for mayors around the country to sign on to a letter urging. This was during the the summer break some. A recess of the Congress, but asking Mitch McConnell to call the Senate back into session to take up gun safety legislation. And so today, 281 of us mayors have signed on. And to date, Senator McConnell has refused to take any action. But one thing I often tell people is that we do live in California, which has some of the most progressive gun safety legislation in the country. We really are a model to other other states. And and we've got a great attorney general in Sacramento who's taking on the administration in DC on a regular basis. But we do have a legislative agenda that the council approves. And I just want you to know that just this legislative session we have authored support letters to committee chairs, Senate Assembly and Senate floor alerts, and authored support letters to the governor on 11 state gun control reform bills. And I'm going to go over them really quickly. AB 12 extends the duration of an issued gun violence restraining order from one year to a period of 1 to 5 years. Abby, 61, allows an employer or coworker or an employee or teacher in a post-secondary school to file a petition requesting a gun violence restraining order. ab1 64 prohibits an individual subject to an out of state restraining order injunction from possessing, receiving, purchasing or attempting to do all of that of a firearm in California. If the out of state order is equivalent in its prohibitions, AB 339 requires law enforcement agencies to develop and adopt policies and standards regarding the use of gun violence . Restraining Orders. AB 340 Identifies Best Practices, New Strategies and recommendations for reporting requirements of gun violence reduction. Pilot programs in Alameda County is one of the participating counties. AB 879 requires the sale of firearm precursor parts to be conducted through a licensed firearms precursor part vendor. AB 1297 requires requires rather than authorizes a city or county licensing authority issuing a concealed firearm license to charge an applicant a sufficient licensed processing fee and deletes the current $100 fee. AB 1493 authorizes an individual who's the subject of a gun violence restraining order to petition to the court voluntarily relinquishing his or her.
Speaker 3: Firearms.
Speaker 0: Rights. Believe it or not, that doesn't exist. Currently, AB 1669 applies the same gun show regulations that apply to firearms dealers, to ammunition vendors. SB 61 prohibits a person from applying to purchase more than one firearm of any kind within any 30 day period, and specifically prohibits the application to purchase more than one long gun within a 30 day period unless the person has a valid hunting license. And beginning January one, 2021, prohibits the sale of a semiotic semiautomatic rifle to persons under the age of 21. S.R. 61 urges the United States Congress to enact an assault weapons ban following recent mass shootings. The city also supports federal gun control legislation, including H.R. 11, 12 and S 42, which would provide stronger background checks for gun purchases. As Councilmember Odie noted, cities are limited in what we can do. And by the way, i. R Assembly member Rob Bonta is the author, coauthor of I think a couple of the pieces of legislation I just read. I'm also concerned with duplicating staff efforts. We are sending our staff in a lot of different directions to staff various events. I'm wondering if there might be a way to possibly fold the idea use. First of all, I would certainly not say that we have just been issuing platitudes. I think what we are doing is encouraging stronger legislation, even at the state level and certainly at the federal level, because we can have the most progressive gun laws in the state of California. And as with the Gilroy shooting, that individual purchased his gun legally in the state of Nevada and brought it into California. So we need to also lobby for stronger federal action. We, of course, are blessed with some of the most progressive federal representatives in in Sacramento, in Washington, D.C., but nonetheless, coming up. In November is the United Against Hate campaign that is Bay Area wide, probably beyond the Bay Area. Actually, the week of November 17 to 22 community members are encouraged to participate in events, to raise awareness, to spark actions, to stop hate bird inclusion. Gun violence is among the topics that would be considered, and some of the innovative ideas are sponsoring a movie viewing. And there's there's a whole list of potential movies and book clubs. There's there are some books that are very, you know, innovative, inspiring to to read and kind of unite readers around these topics. And I'm wondering if there might be room to perhaps get council member Odie and Vice Mayor Knox White. Do you want to perhaps fold what you're trying to do into this united against hate campaign? And then I do also want to hear from Councilmember de SAC and Councilmember Vela.
Speaker 8: Yeah. And I had the question about, I guess, who from staff are they looking okay, work on this. And then also there was significant work done by Christ Episcopal Church members of the congregation. I think Sarah and Eleanor and Galen and Galen, there was another faith leader that worked on it. And so there was a lot of work done by them also to kind of review the status of kind of where we are from at the state level, where we are at the federal level. And then what Alameda specifically has done and Police Chief Ray Larry also participated in that panel and also did a significant amount of work and research in terms of kind of outlining all of the things that that we've done throughout in time as a city. And so I think part of it and if if the goal is to kind of maybe take all of that work that was done and kind of share it to let people know, hey, this is what Alameda has on the books currently in terms of our legislation and our ordinances, so that people aren't kind of just throwing ideas out there without necessarily understanding the foundation and framework for what exists. And I don't want to I also think that it's important and this was important work that was done, and I want to highlight this. It was done by a very, very active and involved group of women. And I, I don't think that this was an intentional thing of kind of just ignoring the work that was done. But I think oftentimes this work gets done and then sometimes we lose the fact that it happened just because time has passed, but it doesn't mean that it doesn't exist or that it wasn't done. So I just want to make sure that we recognize it and find a way to fold that in if we do move forward. And I like the idea of combining events to.
Speaker 0: Okay, I can't find.
Speaker 2: A lot to unpack there. I think I was accused of ignoring work that was done because it was done by women. So that was a little offense. I was a little offended by that.
Speaker 0: Okay. Why don't we just stick to the topic at hand?
Speaker 2: No. Well, I mean I mean, I will say I mean, as far as the staff, I mean, we have no I mean, I don't want to speak for you, John. You could jump in. I mean, I don't think we have any problem building on the work that someone else has done. And the whole idea of what the city can do and can't do. I mean, that's where we would involve the city attorney's office. And then, you know, there might be some publicity assistance, you know, with social media and, you know, fliers or whatever and, you know, maybe a little noticed thing. I mean, it wasn't we didn't intend on this to be a full blown staff thing. And, you know, I listen to that. And I got to ask, what affected that letter that you sent to Senator McConnell? Have nothing. And that's what people are sick of. People are sick of writing letters and getting nothing done. They want us to do something. And this is our opportunity to do something. Now, we don't exactly know what that is, but I can tell you, sitting around and reading a book and having a book club, it's not going to stop people. We there was a comment made that we had the strictest gun laws are the best gun laws in in the state or in the country. But then Gilroy still happened. And that work that all those people did a year ago, it's just sat on the shelf. Nothing has been done at the city level to promote it. Nothing has been done to publicize it. People on social media don't even know it's out there. And this is something this is a public health crisis and we need to act on it and we need to do something as a city. And then I heard a comment that we had the best gun laws, but then there was 12 rattled off. So if we had the best gun laws, there wouldn't have been 12. Really good idea. Years that came out of this year's legislative session. So there still is an opportunity for us to work on solving this crisis and solving this problem. And I appreciate the offer of assistance from the gentleman who spoke. But, you know, reading books and writing letters that go nowhere are not going to stop people from getting killed. I mean, to be brutally honest with you, it's going to take people doing something and they're looking at us, their leaders, to do something and to sit up here and, you know, have the idea kind of dismissed. You know, I think it's offensive to all those people that are out there looking looking at us, looking at us , their leaders, to stop the talk, stop the thoughts, stop the letters, stop the prayers and actually get something done.
Speaker 0: So I just want to interject a thought here that no one was accusing you. I'm quite sure, of ignoring ideas put forth by women that women do do a lot of good work. But amazingly, as far as as far as Mitch McConnell and Councilmember O'Day, you've been around politics as long as I have. And you worked at the state level. I think we both know that it's going to take a change in in Washington, some some election changes and some time excuse me, still talking, still have the floor. Sometimes the key among those 281 mayors were Republican mayors and sometimes Republicans. Listen to Republicans. I mean, I'm from California, but nonetheless, I wanted in I knew my council wanted us to be counted in that letter. I was not suggesting that we just sit around and read books, but I am unclear on the concept of what you're proposing. You're saying that just talking isn't going to make a difference, but I think a town hall involves talking. And as far as the laws in California, it's hard to measure a negative. But I do believe that our laws have made a difference, and I think we could both agree that even good laws can be improved upon and can be supplemented. And I think this is one of those areas that we don't need to pit one another against each other. I think we want to work collectively toward a solution. But I, I am just I'm mindful of staff time. I'm wondering if we could, you know, merge events because I think the United Against Hate campaign that's been around a few years is a worthy one. But with that, I see that Councilmember Desai hasn't been heard from yet.
Speaker 6: Well, thank you. It seems as though, you know, two sets of council members are extremely energized, and rightfully so, by the subject matter of dealing with gun violence. You know, I think within the purview of the Brown Act, I think there's room for for the different council member sets of council members to pursue the issues in. I mean, perhaps once one set of council members might deal with gun use intervention, you know, design policies and local policy and strategies regarding gun use intervention. And, you know, we we hear so much nowadays about, quote unquote, red flag. I don't know if that's the right word. Another set of issues that, you know, a councilman set of another set of council members might be interested in a set of policies regarding gun violence prevention, which has that hold dear, has a whole other set of and I think within the world of the Brown Act, I think it could be accommodated or not. You know, we'll have the city attorney tell us one way or another. So I think, you know, keep those those options open. You know, there's a lot of different sector by which you can approach this. Um.
Speaker 0: So Councilmember Villa.
Speaker 8: I guess my might ask is how is this different from the town hall or how is it going to incorporate how is it going to incorporate the work that was done? Because we did do an accounting of kind of the steps that the city itself has taken. And I think that's why I'm asking what's the what's the question that's being asked? We can have a town hall, we can have a meeting at any time. And and what we found, I think, at the meeting that we had was there was a lot of Q&A that happened. And it wasn't just one meeting. There were follow up meetings that occurred that both the mayor and I attended and that I believe Police Chief Hillery also attended. And so I think that, you know, if it's looping in additional people, I mean, that was a packed room. It was a huge crowd that came out over.
Speaker 0: 100 on like a monday night competing with Monday night football.
Speaker 8: Right. So I think, you know, if it if it's to build off of of that or if it's I think, you know, if you're talking. About, you know, having a forum where people can come and talk to their state legislators to say, what's the state of California doing? I heard you mentioned that. I think I'm just trying to understand what the what the goal here is. You're saying it's it's to not just talk about it. But I also understand that there is a limit to what the city can do. And I think we tried to do kind of an accounting of what we have done and if there was any emerging legislation that was local legislation that we could work on. But I also think to Councilmember Desai's point, there's nothing stopping us from working on these things and bringing back the ideas to say, look, here's the actual initiative, like here's the referral with the initiative attach that we're asking the city to consider. And I'm just kind of wondering about staff time as a whole. So I mean, I'm totally open to, to having us consider implementation of an ordinance if there's some sort of ordinance that suggested or recommended. But I also think that adding another event and with short notice, I'm just worried about the the the impact to staff and what what then gets kind of put on the wayside for us to to do that.
Speaker 2: Okay. Well, I think John and I, we're going to do most of the heavy lifting, as we've done already. And we did actually have a discussion with the police chief and the city attorney about this, you know, very brief, you know, but I think the police chief was supportive of this idea, the idea to gather our representatives , you know, at the local level who are doing good work in our district attorney and our representatives at the state level who are doing good work, and our assembly member and our senator. And I would I will speak for John, but I think we I will speak for myself. I'm more than happy to build on what's already been done and not have to reinvent the wheel, because I don't want to start over from scratch because I don't think we have time to start over from scratch. But, you know, I think the city's role should be limited to making sure that, you know, having the city.
Speaker 0: Okay.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Having the city attorney, you know, make sure that, you know, whatever we're doing, you know, it's legally allowed because, for instance, there are things we just can't do. And then a little publicity help from our Arpaio as far as getting the word out, you know, which I don't I don't think it's that much work. I mean, we could take care of, you know, setting up the speakers, you know, organizing the logistics. Well, we haven't figured that out yet. Maybe there might be some assistance with staff, might be able to use a public building if if if it was sanctioned. So I'm just I'm just a little bit stunned at the resistance. I just really am. I mean.
Speaker 0: So and I want to hear from the vice mayor, but I'd like to start with the end in mind. What what is it that you're hoping to accomplish?
Speaker 2: Well, I think it'd be an action plan that we could implement as a city, and that if I mean it, it could include legislation that we could pass. It could include legislation that or an action plan that we could sponsor. It could include ways to motivate citizens to take you know, to have their voice heard. Because, I mean, granted, this has been done, but it's been a year and nothing's been done. So, I mean, I granted there was a lot of legwork done already, but, you know, there's not a lot of organization and energizing. And, you know, I'm happy to be the one, you know, spearheading that. But I don't think staff has to be the one doing that. But, you know, there are some supports that, you know, we were hoping to get. And, you know, I honestly we were also hoping on getting a blessing that this council would agree that, you know, gun violence is a public health crisis. So and by not by choosing to not get involved, you know, it it just kind of perpetuates the inaction, in my view.
Speaker 0: Councilmember Vela And then let's hear from the vice mayor.
Speaker 8: I don't think that we're choosing to not get involved. I think that we've actually taken a very active stance in terms of supporting different legislation, in terms of our legislative, in terms of what we've actually directed our lobbyists to look out for and to and to bring forward so that we can actually actively support. I also think that, you know, some of the things that stemmed from this, where there was student action that occurred that was pretty substantial. Um, I think we can all remember that there was a student action that, that gathered outside of the, the.
Speaker 3: Um.
Speaker 8: The state of the city event last year.
Speaker 2: A year ago.
Speaker 8: Yeah. Yeah. And, and I think that there has been continued action. I just want to make sure that we're folding in the various groups that have been working on this continuously. And I think sometimes and part of the. Conversation that did occur were different things that individuals could do and actions that they could take as individual citizens. And so sometimes it's not that it has to be officially sanctioned, like they're going to go they have to act through us. There have been things going on. And I think that it you know, I think that there are groups out there that are that have taken what we what was discussed and have done something with it. So I don't want to discount that. I think, you know, if you're asking us to to make some sort of declaration, then then, you know, put that before the council so that we can vote on it. But I think that I guess I'm just unclear in terms of what the the outcome that we're looking for based off of what was attached to the referral
Speaker 0: . Let's hear from the vice mayor who's coauthor of this council referral. Are you there, Councilman? I'm vice mayor and that's my leg.
Speaker 9: The reason I keep shutting the operative I'm trying to go to unmuted. Hi.
Speaker 0: High technology.
Speaker 9: So I. I think I guess I will answer that question, but I like the opportunity to kind of make my comment that from the very beginning it was been a very interesting conversation. And I mean, I think, you know, it'd be from my perspective and from everybody and correct me if it is disturbing that you and I started talking about what we wanted to do in working on something, and we really wanted to make sure that we weren't getting so far ahead of this, that it's something we were stepping out and trying to be the only two people working on this issue. And so we wanted to kind of come back in and knowing that we were going to have to ask for some help in Washington, whatever else. So we were going to ask the council if they had something with great idea, let them do that so that we can start a more regular conversation at the council. I know for myself, you know, with.
Speaker 7: September 9th and we didn't get to talk about what was going on.
Speaker 9: And I can't remember the last time the city got put off the body and has addressed this issue in terms of the role of the city. And so but not all of it could have happened out there. And I think that there's lots of room or a lot of room to do, lots of work, lot there. And that I you know, I agree that there is a place for, you know, to get paid moving through red that we need to talk about understanding that we need to go motivated advocates around the community taking whatever role. But I do think that at this point in time, in terms of the issues of action, we haven't had that conversation. And I think we have to what I think we would have done all is to sit down and have a conversation, you know, with people who are energized around this draft and to talk about what are the actions that city can take. So not so much to start another convention where we're doing really great and in the case of action. But I don't think there's value in combining DC because I don't think the United States is looking to help the problem to make change in Alameda specifically. I'm sure they'd be very supportive of it. So I offer my point by point of view. I think.
Speaker 0: The realism is times.
Speaker 1: It says it's still time.
Speaker 2: I'm stunned. That's interesting.
Speaker 1: Oh, well, he's not talking, so she stopped it. But okay, you and I, should we hang up and try? We can hang up.
Speaker 0: And. Vice Mayor, can you hear us? The mystery.
Speaker 1: Which we just will hang up and try back to see if we can get a signal.
Speaker 7: It wasn't my fault.
Speaker 9: I can't hear you guys.
Speaker 0: Or hear us, but we couldn't hear you. Okay. Okay. If you. You were where I stopped typing. You were saying you don't see the value of combining the two events.
Speaker 9: You got to give value combining to the value of there being able to go back and downgrade. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you are you are engaged in that and as an individual person. And, you know, I don't see that that that needs to happen in my mind to be something that the citizens doing remain engaged city and the council thinks they can't. And I think that they're definitely going to continue the population.
Speaker 0: Real quickly, I just want to address the that this council has never addressed gun violence. I know we did a moment of silence after the Gilroy shooting and I said, you know, yet another shooting.
Speaker 9: I didn't say that. And if I could just finish my comment.
Speaker 0: Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know that yet.
Speaker 2: He's got the floor.
Speaker 0: Yeah, no, I didn't. I thought it was. Please.
Speaker 9: I just I didn't I didn't say the council had not done anything about it, not to my knowledge. You know, they hate campaign and hate that we've adopted in the city's campaign about gun violence, but we're not going to vote on that forward. How we want to do that. And I think, Councilmember, I mean, I just really thought this town hall as any place we could be, a place where people can bring their thoughts and ideas and happy to engage anybody who's done anything at all and then come back with some ideas, with our ideas. But also, obviously, an individual council member can bring their ideas as well. And we can have a big conversation at the council about what might make sense and how we might move forward.
Speaker 0: Yes. Uh huh. That was it. Okay.
Speaker 3: Um.
Speaker 0: So, um, anybody want to I whatever is done, i, i, i do think there's value in checking in. It sounds like neither Councilmember Oti or Vice Mayor Knox White perhaps attended the the town hall at the Episcopal Church because it seemed to cover a lot of the the the topics. But that's not to say you couldn't do the same thing again or, you know, updated to 2019. But okay. So what do we what do we think council?
Speaker 2: I mean, there's no reason to do rework. So I mean, I'm happy to connect with anybody as we finalize the logistics that wants to participate or invite anyone who's done work to give their perspective or provide research or whatever. I mean, it's not to reinvent the wheel.
Speaker 0: I think you find them valuable resources.
Speaker 2: I well, I, you know, I reached out to resources that I thought were valuable that are on the ground doing this. You know, the police chief, the district attorney, the assembly member, the senator. And if there's more I mean, this is not something that I don't think I can solve. So I'm happy to hear a variety of opinions and get a lot of input. And.
Speaker 9: You know, of like there are.
Speaker 0: People vice mayor here, but.
Speaker 9: We did get the names of and make sure that.
Speaker 0: Yeah, their voices continued.
Speaker 2: Into the program. Sure. The Giffords Law Center, you know, we're reaching out to them to see if they could provide some assistance, you know, so the city attorney doesn't have to do all the research. And a lot of this is done already. So but there's you know, there seems to be a gap in communication between a lot of people and what was done a year ago. And as the vice mayor said, you know, between anything that's been done here except for moments of silence and with all due respect, those don't solve the problem.
Speaker 8: We also. Councilmember Villa in the microphone. To our legislative priorities in terms of we did also talk about that and that was agenda where we said specifically that we wanted to support legislation around gun control, gun regulation and addressing gun violence. So there has been action from that. I mean, a large part of it was that essentially there wasn't much we could do as a city. There's been a lot of regulations that that were discussed that have happened at the local level. But it becomes an enforcement issue and a feasibility issue and an efficacy issue. So I think if if the goal is to not just engage in platitudes, I also don't want to have something come back to us that's going to result in not being effective. I'm out of time.
Speaker 0: So I council member decided. I see your hint. I did not know. Okay. I'm free to use my time.
Speaker 3: You're trying to has it?
Speaker 2: I mean, that's why you want to have this discussion. So there can be a level set on expectations and people can understand because you asked to come in person on the street or on social media, and they they don't have any idea what what we're allowed to do, what we're not allowed to do. And there's just a lot of angst out there.
Speaker 0: Councilmember Desai has found his voice.
Speaker 6: So I think I think residents, especially mothers and fathers, would want their city hall to be actively engaged. I think there's a lot of specific things that we can do as a city hall that throw out a policy discussions that are happening at the federal and state level. But our city of Alameda specific, while I won't get into that, I think, you know, those kind of discussions are worth having. I mean, there's big five really have to sell.
Speaker 0: Weapons.
Speaker 6: And near the counter there. When you go down to South Shore and Big Five, I don't know. So I think I think the residents want us to have specific conversations. And I know the Episcopal Church, I think that was one of the issues that the Episcopal Church and it would be nice to see, you know, some kind of resolution of that. But so I think let's have it because the residents want us to.
Speaker 2: Have it, that emotion.
Speaker 0: And this is yours. And I would just add that the topic of the big five did come up, and what they're selling are hunting rifles. They don't sell automatic or semiautomatic weapons. If you know, someone wanted to launch that campaign to get them to stop selling hunting rifles, I guess we just have to ask, does that that's
Speaker 2: . Not agenda is today's okay. We're not talking about specific specific items or retailers or whatever.
Speaker 0: So you're right. So that was something that came up at the town hall.
Speaker 2: Right. Mm hmm. I knew.
Speaker 0: I knew that.
Speaker 3: So.
Speaker 0: So it wasn't.
Speaker 2: They want us to. Well, I'd like to move approval of the. Of the referral.
Speaker 0: Vice Mayor.
Speaker 9: Michael. I like to think it, but it doesn't have a certain type.
Speaker 2: I thought i heard it did y.
Speaker 8: October 14th. That was my other question. Why people? Why indigenous peoples?
Speaker 2: Because that's the only that I could get the the three elected officials together at the same time.
Speaker 6: Well, you know, let me just.
Speaker 0: Councilmember Desai.
Speaker 6: Councilmember Jim Modi is asking, along with vice mayor, they're asking a very direct request for us to basically give our blessings or endorse the upcoming October 14th. To me. Okay, let's do that. On that thing, I think if other council members are interested in pursuing their slice of this issue, you know, let's let's let's also move forward on that. But for now. Yeah.
Speaker 2: That's.
Speaker 6: I, I got to support it.
Speaker 2: I think we all have a responsibility to our constituents to address this issue.
Speaker 0: I'm going to just call on the city manager.
Speaker 5: I'm just going to add one logistics issue. Just based on this level of discussion, I'm guessing that there could be more than two council members at this town hall. If that's true, then we will need to address that as a regular meeting.
Speaker 2: I would hope so. I would hope there's more than two.
Speaker 5: So we'd have to jeopardize it that way as a council meeting.
Speaker 9: If we make a city, if we make it a city meeting. That is true.
Speaker 5: If it's approved tonight.
Speaker 0: Even if it's not. Yeah. If you're talking about an item that could come back to the council.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we've done that before.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I just want to. I just want to bring up that logistics. Just everyone.
Speaker 2: Aware. I think I mentioned that in my opening.
Speaker 0: And what about staff time, Mr. Leavitt?
Speaker 5: Um. I'm getting a sense all you're looking for that you two are going to be organizing it and all you're looking for is more like communications. Is that what I'm hearing?
Speaker 2: Outreach. And then, you know, well, if we could use a city location, that would be great. And then, you know, any legal support on. But like I said, the Giffords center has done a lot of this work already. So.
Speaker 5: So the legal support would be more the city attorney's legal office. We could probably do some work on it.
Speaker 0: I just ask everyone to be sure to speak right into your microphone so the audience can hear. Mr. CHEN.
Speaker 5: Yes. If the Council does provide the direction tonight, we are prepared to provide high level analysis for the whole council. We are probably going to have to look at it on a high level because there's so much going on and provide more of an overview than specifics.
Speaker 0: And you should thank you.
Speaker 9: That would be perfect. Thank you.
Speaker 0: And Councilmember Daza, I.
Speaker 6: Guess my one request, as you pursue this and as staff assist you, is what are the specific things that City Hall can do to deal with prevent, you know, the type of things that happened in Gilroy, etc.? El Paso and Dayton. I mean, if there are things that we can do, I mean, I know that that that would be my subject, too. Well.
Speaker 2: I mean, that's the question we want to answer through this. So I think that's. I can commit to that.
Speaker 0: Hmm. Okay. Um, so and I the the caveat I would request, I think has been stated before is that you do touch base. I mean, you talking to the police chief, he was certainly on that panel. You can talk to your colleague, Councilmember Vela. She was on the panel. Well, not.
Speaker 2: Really, no, because it's a Brown act.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 0: So consult with the police chief. But anyway, and and I can. We've started getting done that once already.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Or give Eric names or even. And we can get them from you. From him.
Speaker 0: Okay. All right. So there has been a motion to support this this council referral to hold that a town hall event as described, and it's been seconded all in favor of approving this council referral. Have a voice vote. Any more discussion.
Speaker 3: On.
Speaker 0: You know, accounts of every day side?
Speaker 6: One thing I would suggest is to obtain the lessons learned from the discussions via the Episcopal Church, because if there's some policy implications there that make sure to make sure that your guys obtained the lessons learned from the Episcopal Church process.
Speaker 2: So I hate doing rework if it's already been done, if anyone doesn't know that.
Speaker 0: So. Okay. And Madam Clerk, you were saying something. Are you ready to do the voices? Okay.
Speaker 1: Councilmember Desai should not slight fire. Odie.
Speaker 2: Would you say? Oh, yeah, sure. Yes.
Speaker 1: Bella.
Speaker 8: Yes.
Speaker 1: Mayor as the Ashcraft?
Speaker 0: Yes.
Speaker 1: Okay. By five.
Speaker 0: Okay. All right. That motion passes. Thank you. Okay. We go on to item number ten. Council, Communications, Council and Communications. Let's start with let's start with the vice mayor up there while we've got him on the line. Any council communications.
Consider Addressing Gun Violence by Sanctioning a Town Hall Event on October 14, 2019, and Creating a Subcommittee to Organize the Event and Create Policy Options for Council Discussion.  (Vice Mayor Knox White and Councilmember Oddie)