Permanent and temporary housing is necessary A need that we should look at we need to look at wraparound services for those people that want those services There are people in those encampments that simply don't want help We should focus on the people that do we need help As robert and maggie pointed out local sources are limited. They're finite We have one time funds from the state coming here. You should use them wisely Judiciously and make sure you're you're using it for the best benefit of the entire community One second. Thank you. I'm proud of the city staff and I appreciate the comments Thank you, and you can feel free if you want to submit your comments. Okay So we have one last presentation And that's brad angel from the grant park neighbors And you'll get four minutes as well. It won't take that long. Okay Good evening council. I appreciate your hearing us. My name is brad angel and I live on cullson avenue I'm a founding member of the grant park neighbors. There's a few of us here We meet every other week and we care about our neighborhood and we are concerned about how the city's decisions impact us And that is why we are here On december 9th 2018 11 of us met at the park to discuss how to manage the impacts of the park reopening full time again This was because after the closure of the river park camp or the san lorenzo park camp The grant park was extremely impacted and it was basically closed down for for quite a while And then it was open again for the weekends, etc So much so that it had to be yeah closed Please do not make this mistake again The grant park neighbors lie in the pedestrian path between the county's the county's services downtown and the city's homeless services There's a direct causal link between Your actions here and our day-to-day life directly Your actions impact our safety our personal security and the potential from our The potential for our children grandchildren pets and our own bodies to encounter encounter real hazards to our health Safety and the quiet enjoyment of our neighborhood is Of our utmost concern I wish to thank the neighbors especially the parks and rec department the santa cruz police department and Generally the city administration For listening to our concerns so far and working with us Thank you in addition. I applaud the efforts to Seriously coordinate with the county. I think that's great and And I hope you guys can find a joint solution to this emergency. Thank you So that concludes the group presentations that reached out in advance to request the additional time I would now ask that urnistina Um Please have two minutes and we'll have public comment for two minutes And then we have altera who will then go next and then we'll open it up to the line Good evening. No good night Mayor and members of the council I want to start by saying That I hear a lot of the stereotypes with which the people who came before me are Describing homeless people Many of you know because I have told these stories several times in these chambers I was homeless. I have been homeless twice In nevertheless, I am here. I am clean. I'm sober. I have never been in any use of drugs therefore Thinking that all people who are homeless has a mental disability or are drug users. It's a stereotype It's a stereotype of the people who have the Blessing of having a place where they can be and probably doing the same that people in the tents are doing Um, urnistina, I'm sorry to I'm sorry to interrupt you. I just want to make sure okay Go ahead. Yeah, okay We are talking in here about having um A place for people to live in a permanent Way is very important because as a person who live in shelters and have to live there at six o'clock in the morning Raining or shining didn't matter I had to live by six o'clock in the morning And I had to stay out of the shelter until five o'clock where I could be back on there So I had to find a place where I could eat I have to find a place where I could eat something warm Because I did not have a place to cook And also I had to find a place to go to the bathroom because We poop okay, so that's very clear So I want to make the the point that You need to take that into account because if you are going to have to live by six o'clock of the The morning in in a ship from the shelter that you are planning to have it's not going to work It's not going to work because I'm going to try to prefer to stay in another place And because I see that my time is leaving Is ending so I just want to say that For all those people who say that all people in the shelters In the camping are using drugs come and visit my home You know as soon as I get into my apartment complex, you can smell marijuana everywhere So what else they are doing in there? Who knows? So and I'm really pretty sure that many of the people who are here are also doing the same. Thank you Thank you. Thank you everyone for taking this issue of homelessness so seriously I really appreciate your work and the suggestions that you've made tonight I am hearing however a problem solution model and the main aspect of that is I'm hearing a Problem of the current residents of frost camp and our current homeless as the population And this is an ongoing problem. This is an ongoing issue. This is kind of our new reality We're going to have homelessness going forward every major city in the u.s. Has it we have amazing economic disparity Maybe since the Great Depression maybe since the French Revolution. I'm not sure But this is our new reality. So we need to meet the needs of the future homeless populations of Santa Cruz I want us to think about that as we're going forward and how to meet the needs of our future homeless issues. Thank you so much Thank you Okay, so now we'll go ahead and start to my left and you'll be given two minutes. So please Madam mayor councilman and women I'm going uh, I'm michael sweat Um, I live at the encampment over there reason why I live there is because I have Friends that are homeless and uh I've been homeless ever since I moved here 23 years ago legally. I've never rented an apartment because The rent's too high. That's your number one problem. You don't have affordable housing um number two is that you keep depending on Uh research from people who are going out there After the fact these people never come and talk to us or ask us questions or talk to me I've never seen them once down there and I live there. I'm there every day.  You don't know that But if you come and talk to somebody who can tell you what goes on you could what these people need I'm gonna end up just for just a second. You could direct the council at this time. Okay. Thank you What these people need you can come to me you can come to the there's people there that will talk to you uh Justin came out the other day and talked to several people and had they had ideas on what to do about the camp and everything and It just it amazes me how people can convince you so much that they know so much about people But they never go to them. That's the problem. You never come to the homeless and ask what do you need? What do you want? How can you help us? Because you're not trying to help us You're just trying to do what you do with that money and push us to the side And it's not going to happen. We're not leaving on the 15th because Nathan versus boys. The Idaho says we don't have to Hey folks I'm louise gars. I live at the tannery and i'm here on behalf of my household To discuss the matter of the ross camp in relation to security at the tannery The tannery is in serious trouble right now Crime in my neighborhood has skyrocketed since the city county and police have abdicated their responsibility and the protection of our neighborhood And we've had increase in uh in reported crime upwards of 30 percent A short list of crimes include theft vandalism prostitution Violence against women amugging two of my neighbors had all their tools stolen from their trucks A guy was shooting up in broad daylight outside of the 10 30 building in plain sight of where our kids Play and ride their bikes. Um the worst of the matters that our kids cannot ride their bikes on the levy path to get to school anymore It has been reported that our children have taken to riding down river street and crossing the highway to get to school Our children are crossing the freeway at river street Okay, because it's safer to brave traffic than it is to bike past the ross camp I say this now in front of all you folks so that you won't so that you won't say that you didn't know And then heaven forbid that one of our kids gets hit by car What we need we need you guys to move the sand Just move the camp put put it over at san lorenzo park You didn't need 200 beds to move those people there to that mud pit. It's horrible And you don't you shouldn't need 200 beds now to move them back to the park We also need police protection, especially after dark We need a car blocking ingress to our property after dark one first alarm guy sitting in his car Just checking his phone all night long. It's not going to cut it. You guys know that Um Where people we pay taxes we're business owners and yet for some reason we don't merit the same security as the west side nor Nor the golf course nor the downtown area And we're completely undefended by our city or county and most egregiously by our police department Okay, so we've lost faith in you folks, but we're really really asking you guys for help move the camp now Station some police on our site. Help us out, please. Thank you Hi, my name is linda cover. Um, I also live and work at the tannery I'm here to speak on behalf of myself. Um, I'm I have trouble myself going to town on the levee um, the porta potties the porta potty trucks the The garbage The people that are gathering make it really difficult To get by on the levee. That's just me The children aren't our tannery can't get by either Women are uncomfortable because they've had issues with people Because they're so close to the levee and the levee is public That should be it belong to all of us and we should all feel safe Walking on the levee and I know of course you don't always feel safe everywhere, but this is so intense That everyone is choosing alternative routes and it's really not fair for the kids To not have the safest possible route to go to school Or to go downtown or meet their buddies And much less have issues when they go by which has happened Um, I know you having you're working on getting beds. That's great Could you also work on taking care of what is already there? Just do do what you have to do to take care of what's there and and and because the beds will come But it's not going to come like tomorrow So you need to pay attention To the impact the footprint that that has right there. It's just the camp needs to be Made in such a way that we can still use the walkway and feel relatively safe. That's all. Thank you so much Hi, my name is gary ingram. I live at the tannery also and All I can give you is my perspective Because everybody seems to have studied this issue really well The other day I was walking back from bay federal And as I was getting it back up onto the river walk, uh, there were three of Three young teenagers Who walked by me who I knew lived there And I said hi and they walked in front of me and I Was walking behind them And no less than six old men Cat called them the whole way in this little four foot narrow path I can't imagine how they felt Being treated that way on the way home I'm sorry. I can't continue. Hi. Um, i'm carol paul hamas and first I want to Acknowledge mayor wackens and vice mayor commons for their work on the two by two committee Which I learned a lot about from councilmember mires the other night. I think that's the way to go I encourage you to keep keep doing that And I apologize for reading the rest. I'm exhausted. Um In november 2017 a teacher was in the middle of a lesson in his high school class on swift street When a mentally ill man carrying a large machete entered his classroom The teacher got between the man and his students back the man out the door and called 911 The campus and three adjoining schools were locked down until the subject was eventually apprehended That teacher was my son and that day might have turned out very differently if he hadn't acted the way he did to stop What happened? We were told that the man had been arrested previous times for assault Including assault with a deadly weapon against a police officer and was homeless and camping nearby with others in the park You may think school lockdowns are just a way of modern life But you need to know that a school lockdown is a frightening and traumatizing experience for students Especially young ones and their parents and often has a lasting negative effect and makes students fearful of coming to school There have been three other lockdowns since then at that school Under similar circumstances within four blocks of Delaware four blocks There are six schools two high schools two preschools a head start program a special ed program and soon gateway Which will be a combined 1000 k12 students in that four block area near Delaware Those kids deserve to be able to bike and walk to school safely and be in school safely And we need to do everything we can to protect them Please do everything that you can to keep our schools safe for these kids and their teachers. Thank you Good evening Hello council It's been a long time since i've been here. My name is jenny mitchell jenny mitchell collins to many of you who knew my husband marty collins of the digital media factory Passed away a few years ago. I'm a fourth generation santa cruzan and I say that Not to boast. I say that because I've seen the changes in this city I've seen the changes from when we used to like dance around hippie-dippy in front of the cooper house And it was all nice and fun and games times have changed The homeless that are here now are different We are talking about safety issues. I live on the west side of santa cruz We had our business on the west side of santa cruz I am not talking tonight about tents Okay, i'm not talking about the homeless in tents and I do have compassion I do have compassion. I feed the homeless. I help the homeless I'm talking about those people who have been forced to live in their cars and in their rvs. That's what i'm talking about tonight I'm not opposed to them having a safe place to park overnight They need a safe place to park overnight. All i'm saying is please don't let it be delaware we've got long We have longs we have longs marine lab, which is a sensitive environmental place We finally got the pond antinelli's pond to the place where people feel safe walking around We want a place. I think parking I would say for ucsc if they have said no go back to the table They need to be um accountable to being in this area and that parking lot Could have a lot of safe people. I think it should be a program where people are held accountable And they can be you know, I know that it works in san diego I know that it works in other cities. We are no different But I i'm not talking about those folks who are on drugs Thank you very much. Thank you One second, sorry Hi, i'm abby Um the staff states that they want to close the camp due to health and safety So all of a sudden you care about our homeless residents. Where were you when my House list friend bob had just gotten out of the hospital after having a stroke Had nowhere to stay. It was raining outside. He's decided to stay underneath an awning At loudon nelson center where he stayed before and the police came and kicked him out. He explained he had a stroke Please let me stay here out of the rain. They would not let him Where were you when you cared about the health and safety of our homeless friends when at city hall There was a man a houseless man who was so sick. He was Really sick. He didn't want to go to the hospital And he was kicked out. We begged him to let him finally sleep and they wouldn't let him sleep Under the overhang at city hall. He was kicked out into the street And the next day he was found dead right at the corner of city hall So where were you when you cared about the people? All of a sudden you care about the people at the camp and you say it's overcrowded But you keep on putting the fence further and further in so there's less room to have tents Now a point in time of first of all On the report low barrier housing. There's something called the four p's which i'm sure you've heard about about people possessions and pets and problems people with substance abuse mental disorders navigation centers Seattle has one portland has them that is incorrect information the point in time Count what do you mean? You just go up to i did point in time count You don't go up to someone and you ask them how many people are there? There's 198 tents one to two people in each tent three to four in the bigger tents.  You really think that we're going to find one safe parking What about a city lot what's unique about santa cruz? It's a level of nimby is an uncompassionate people here how people get treated as homeless people They get drinks thrown on them. They get and that and then you think that they don't that they're not upset and they won't go crazy My name is kurtis relafort and i'm with the follow your heart action network And can i have permission to speak? Go ahead. We'll we have your time on the okay. I uh I'm just coming from the heart And to my heart is telling me There's kkk blood up in here right now and that energy is running strong Anybody who sat down and wrote all them fancy letters the fancy cards. Did you have any love? Writing that out Did you have any empathy writing that out when you were sitting there? These are human beings? Ask me what? Go ahead. If possible, please address the council These are human beings that we are talking about We wasn't put here on this earth to control nobody We have us a problem.  We wrote all them cards. You don't wrote all them fancy letters You got polis. You got councillors. You got these folks and did all that research Damn man. You got the that's the solution. You want another solution called kurtis?  This ain't your land. You're first You already asked permission from the hopes the nation that was here before This is black history month.  They're suffering. They didn't have a mommy and a dad like you doing up here control issues Back it up, man. Come up here with empathy and love and the solution that this guy's talking about Good evening and thanks very much for the opportunity to speak here tonight I'm a resident of deans of santa cruz And I live just inside a fence from del or avenue where we've recently had overnight parking Since been banned. I personally don't have a problem with it I can tell that a lot of people do because what was it new leap market this This meeting is well attended When I was at new leap market on saturday, someone saw fit to go around to every car in the parking lot And put a sticker on it advertising this meeting Encouraging everyone to come out against this proposal because of all the issues I didn't have the money or resources to make up Signs to tell people to come out in support of the Resolution I did the next best thing. I walked the whole parking lot picked up every banner that was put on every single car So all that time and money you spent made it into the recycling bin. That's number one number two people compare A complaint about crime. I'm empathetic to that. I was once knifed I was once held up at knife point with a knife to my neck. I've had my car stolen My car has been broken into many times I can't say that any of those instances the perpetrator was a homeless person I'm not saying that that doesn't happen, but crime is crime. It's going to happen everywhere And for us to turn our back on other crime going on in town And saying we got to kick these homeless people out of here to me. It sounds like NIMBY as far as trash I have a service animal that I walk every morning and we go out on the cliff over natural bridges I'd like to see the people that everyone's complaining about that are trashing natural bridges because I don't see anyone out there Early in the morning the parking lot is locked down at night. So people are not going in there at night So I I don't see it to be that big an issue. I respect people to say it is to me. I don't see that The smell. Thank you. Thank you very much Hi, my name is kelly bloom and I too am a resident of deans of santa cruz Um, I live there a relatively short time and I do have to say that I'm a little nervous coming up here and speaking Because many of my neighbors are here and they very strongly disagree with my personal opinion. Um, that being said I'm in favor of allowing overnight parking on a temporary basis On on Delaware at the end of santa cruz or the in front of our neighborhood. I'm not very articulate today Yes, there's trash. Yes, there are some issues, but there are some mountable issues instead of coming and saying no Don't let them go there. How about offering some solutions pump trunks that can pump out septic tanks Garbage dumpsters volunteers to go clean up garbage increase patrol and security I'm willing to go pick up garbage and I'm sure I can find other people who would be just as willing to go pick up garbage Um, I also am empathetic to the concerns over natural bridges I have a doctorate in natural resource land management And so I completely understand how fragile our environment is But again, there are ways to mitigate that that I think people aren't willing to discuss Because they're so Prejudiced against what they see as being someone who is less than them Hi, my name is Jennifer. I am the manager of dianza santa cruz I'm also a resident. I've worked and lived at dianza santa cruz for 10 years I've witnessed the evolution of growth in the community of santa cruz and the community of dianza I'm here today because I'm opposed to the lifting of the restriction on Delaware for overnight parking As the manager of dianza, I'm responsible to ensure that my residents have a peaceful and quiet enjoyment That they follow the rules that I enforce the rules and that they follow the rules of the community That includes individual sites for cleanliness Um, fortunately, I have a great community. They're very proud homeowners and they respect their home sites and their neighbors They make my job pretty easy Also as manager and representative for the landowners We have worked diligently With the city coastal commission and the state to ensure that we are compliant as well as respectful to the sensitive environment What you propose contradicts what you require from us As a resident it has been a few years since I felt safe walking along delaware avenue Currently there is the pengeance smell of urine and sewer There are needles and trash left without regard It is a health and safety issue as well as an obscenity upon the environment Since the increase in rvs, we have installed cameras and gates while this has significantly decreased the vehicle activity We still suffer from noise pollution vandalism gas siphoning bicycle theft Use of our spa or facilities for bathing and drug use While we manage to maintain a desirable community your proposal to increase the rv population on delaware Severely undermines our efforts while i'm sympathetic to those hardworking families that cannot afford housing I am not sympathetic to the majority that are looking to live in our neighborhoods for free without conscience or respect If you allow this to happen you will be contributing not only to the degradation of our community and environment And please do feel free to leave if you want your comments, okay council members staff I'm a local physician at palo Alto medical foundation in santa Cruz I'm also a former ucsc student who was unfortunately homeless for the better part of a year due to lack of affordable housing This is a complex issue and I do not at all pretend to have the answers But what I see in caring for our homeless community at the hospital Is that they need real solutions such as short and long-term housing mental health and addiction surfaces And that this should be a comprehensive plan that is well thought out The average weight for an inpatient bed at janis, which is a perinatal drug treatment Or a drug treatment, but I take care of pregnant women for a woman who's ready to get clean The average weight for a bed is 10 to 14 days This band-aid proposal I fear is not the right solution I'm particularly concerned with its location near our schools a senior citizen community As well as some of our community's most precious natural treasures Illegal campfires could have a devastating impact on migratory monarchs Human feces would certainly infect natural bridges tide pools And I foresee the real possibility of a hepatitis a outbreak as well as the increase in crime, which has already been mentioned What we need is real creative solutions councilman. Glover you appropriately asked for us to provide solutions Um, and again, I don't pretend to have the answers But I hope that the answers would provide our homeless community with safety and dignity This should be done in a flat area for ems to easily access Patients in the case of emergency one with services available such as adequate lighting to improve visibility and safety for all homeless People in particular women and children a dump station for sewage Sharp containers for needles and on-site counselors to provide resources for those that are willing and able to get treatment We are a compassionate community And yet we unfortunately have compassion fatigue What we need real solutions, but we cannot do this at the expense of our housed community And the safety of our environment Mayor council and everyone else. Thank you My name is steve denies and i'm a board member of the non-profit santa cruz triathlon formerly known as the sentinel We are in our 37th year of running this triathlon event here in uh in september Last year we granted $75,000 back into the community nearly $15,000 of that to the three santa cruz city school organizations and sports programs Our permit states that the race morning delaware avenue is to be clear for the racer safety I see the ability for unrestricted overnight parking on delaware avenue to potentially cause delays to the start of the race As we would have to utilize police to move them to adhere to our permit or the towing service to tow them If the start of the race is delayed or the racer's safety is compromised That leads uh towards less racers coming up for the race That is a direct impact on the children. So We pride ourselves in running a clean and safe race And please allow us to continue to do so Hi, my name is jennifer landford brown and i'm here to talk about um some of the things that you guys mentioned But I think we're forgetting homeless prevention. One of the ladies said she'd been homeless twice I actually had owned my own home owned home or lived in military housing And came here and became homeless for seven months Landlords like mine put people on month-to-month leases. We've got to remember that We have to stick To making sure especially disabled people people with substance use disorders People um who are seniors people with children They have vouchers. They will not get into another house or be able to have the credit to get housing So then i'm going to go back to the ross camp. I go there um three times a week I know just about everybody camping there if you ask them who jennifer is they can tell you they know me um So we forget the cdc has We have harm reductionists that date back to The 80s because of aids um elizabeth taylor She made a commitment to life And she was one of the first harm reductionists because we forget about aids what if We don't take care of the people. What if we don't have a commitment to life? We should instead of just opening a safe camp or safe parking Why don't we have a camp where everybody who has a substance use disorder can go? How many people ask me a day How can I get into janice? How can I get help? I don't want to be addicted to drugs anymore. I can't help them Please help all these people. My son is 25 on the east coast can't come visit. Why? Because there's too many drugs on the street Those people need to be inside. Thank you I'm major in uh city council um The one thing I can see you know by coming these meetings. Um, I Is like second or third time that I come and what I notice is that the you are very Compassion and I see the community is very compassionate about the situation And then it's a really complex situation and I see you know, it's a lot of controversy How we can find the best solution What I am here is to add the city council is to support that the uh the city manager To do their work and then don't keep putting more Like delays, you know to get the work done. Um, I know that everybody we had the best Intention in mind but I think We have to be clear that you know, we can be compassionate But um, we don't have to be so permissive You know, there is there is rules that can be put on I think you know, why does it, you know, we put a A stop sign because people run the stop sign we have to enforce it. So that would be an accident removing Um overnight parking on a street that they for years they were to get overnight parking and removing it, you know, I don't think that's that's a good option Last time I came and I was asking to get An overnight parking on my street because we have an issue. So if we don't have a problem I don't think we need a solution and then and then right now we have an you know, a problem with people now finding On the street so that the the city money that they're doing it the better they can and then and the the um The as the virus is working on trying to find solutions. So I ask asking, you know to Support each other and then we can try to solve this problem all you know all together. Thank you I'm here at philip. I uh Hope I don't ramble too much. I like what the mayor is doing by the way. I think she's doing a good job I um, I kind of don't get the uh Emergency ordinance the whole idea of it because when I look at the data as I'm sure you have for the census in 2017 and 15 13 of homeless The percentage of unhoused homeless has always been about 75 80 percent That's not An emergency that's like normal almost even I'm not saying it's a good thing I'm just saying if you look at the county of santa claire, they have records go back 10 years I mean it's been 25 percent housed forever and so I don't know if it's a good thing bad thing, but calling that an emergency is is weird Uh, it may be in your mind and and maybe it is personally for the homeless um If you look at just for perspective, I I don't think Everybody realizes uh that santa cruz The emergency is the percentage Of homeless for such a small city And you know in the united states 17 out of 10,000 people are homeless In california. It's like double that um In santa cruz. It's about six or seven times that We should have 215 homeless if we were a Typical california city We have about a thousand too many homeless Uh, I think uh, I mean we need to we need to lose about a thousand homeless. I kind of think That's that's really rough to say that but There's that is the emergency and we need to answer the question why Why does santa cruz this city have six seven hundred percent more homeless? And I don't have the answer and it would have been nice to ask those people Thank you to find that out Good evening. My name is michael dealy. I'm a Part of the neighborhood of grants grant grant street neighborhood Thank you curtis for mentioning this earlier that i'm a mootson Tribal band are the living descendants of mootson and awasua speaking peoples who have continually occupied the greater monoray bay region Thriving for thousands of years and countless generations prior to european contact So i'm glad i got to follow this gentleman here because uh, he's talking about normalizing a certain percentage of homelessness This is a moral low Okay, uh now when we talk about this land just 200 years ago or before european contact I'm quoting howards in here in the villages and i'm quoting The the franciscan priest who visited Who saw the eriqui in the villages of the eriqui land was owned in common and worked in common Hunting was done together and the catch was divided among the members of the village houses were considered Common property and were shared by several families the concept of private ownership Of land and homes was foreign to the eriqui A french jesuit priest who encountered the eriqui in the 1650s wrote back to the crown Quote no poor houses are needed among them because they are neither mendicants nor paupers Their kindness humanity and courtesy not only makes them liberal with what they have But causes them to possess hardly anything except in common Can we be that town can we regain that spirit for each other? I hear you generation x no Generation baby boomers no i hear you when you voted for trump i hear you but we are coming We're a millennial generation that cares for each other that will stand with the homeless I know the homeowners stood against the renters this past year But I promise you homeless people renters will always stand with you forever I'm just going to go ahead and pause Can I get a sense of how many folks still are interested in speaking to the council on this item? Raise your hands and keep them up. Okay Deliberation is starting to midnight I'd like to um reduce the time to 90 seconds just in the interest of the council having adequate time to uh To deliberate over the very robust conversations that we have in proposals before us So we'll go ahead and reduce the time to 90 seconds at this point. Thank you. I'll do my best. Thank you for understanding Okay, uh, so my name is jeb and I'm one of the owners of the tabby cat cafe that just opened up Right around the corner here. It used to be cafe bene And a few days ago I got an email from the downtown association asking downtown businesses to come and weigh in on this issue Someone I guess thought that the council should hear from downtown businesses As supposedly I guess one of the important stakeholders in this conversation So I am here to do that and in what follows I will be speaking for the entire business community of Santa Cruz So listen So the first thing that I want to say and and frankly I think it's pretty disgusting how how this fact tends to drop out of the conversation on houselessness when we start Thinking about this as a matter of balancing different stakeholder interests Is that the people that we're talking about are our neighbors They're not a problem in our community to solve. They are they are our community We hopefully interact with them every single day And would be wise not to forget that every single one of them is an expert in the real problem facing our community Which is one of its profound inequality and the callous indifference this city has towards the immense suffering that this inequality creates At the cafe every day. I see this this misery I see people who are starving on the streets people afraid that they're going to get shoot away for like dogs If they stay put in one place for too long without paying People battling serious drug addictions unable to get methadone due to unexpected clinic closures And it would be staggeringly narcissistic for a business owner to imagine themselves to somehow be the ones wronged in this situation To even imagine that their interests and and their problems. Thank you. Thank you your time is up Thank you. And please are on the same scale as as those that we're talking about Do I have 90 seconds 90 seconds Hello council members staff community. My name is christie bitner. Um, I've been in santa cruz. So going on almost 30 years I'm not an expert in the homeless situation and I wasn't able to make it to the last meeting But I've been reading some of the stuff and and the presentations tonight And it looks pretty exciting the things about Okay, um, you know There are homeless that that don't want to be there. They want to get out of it Some of these programs and proposals sound like They could they could do that. I'm I'm in support of that. I also love that. Um, I know the ross Camp is not the way anybody wants it But I love that they put up bathrooms there because you know, that's that's it I am very against The Delaware proposal as stated It's flawed. You're rushing it. You're making some of them same mistakes Um in in mr. Glover's uh presentation talked about the ross one of the problems was there's it wasn't set up Well, there's no monitoring. Uh, originally it didn't have sanitation. That's what you're doing out of Delaware Safe parking is three parts I've done some surveys. I've read some of the surveys It's safety from police harassment, but it's also safety from harm from other people and safe sanitation If you're gonna do a safe parking Do it right mayor Council vice mayor Um, uh, so I really want to speak to people who uh, uh, maybe not not knowing who they're gonna vote on this The difference so the distinction between ross camp in camp campant and the the sort of transitional encampment is key I think you asked the question, uh, justin Uh, mainly the ross encampment has these three layers of security So it just successful on the basis. It can't go wrong in that regard It's the neighborhood is safe, but a transitional encampment the hallmarks are we didn't speak to Many of the hallmarks because it's mainly the the the city Aspects that we're discussing but in these encampments some of the guidelines are people have to do 10 hours of volunteer service That creates safety from the inside out. In fact, it's like a Built-in downtown streets team of residents who who live there So you end up seeing crime go down wherever transitional encampments are located They're much uh more cost effective than than, uh, almost any other type of program Definitely when measured against the ross encampment people move out of They're called transitional encampments because people transition to something better than than any other shelter model anything like that So, uh, so I strongly advocate I've been researching these for a very long time Uh, and I'm just trying to say when we're Considering the ross encampment or as a transitional encampment. I think it's actually well cited Especially when you look at Eugene all of these places are in light industrial areas You can measure almost every aspect Similarly perfect for transitional encampment ross Hi, my name is Stacy falls and i'm a resident of the west side And I have been paying attention to homeless issues for a while I think it was maybe five years ago that I stood up here with mr. Adams And we presented our idea for a santa cruz sanctuary camp Safe camping places sort of modeled after some of the camps that susie described in her presentation dignity village Some of the places in uh, seattle, etc And the reason that we were advocating for that is because we were responding to the fact that You know Solutions based on the idea that if we're just mean enough to homeless people they'll go away That somehow we're gonna lose a thousand homeless people just that's unrealistic. I've been paying attention to homeless issues for a while People are still here. They're not going anywhere and just by pushing them around. We're actually making things worse We're not giving them a chance to rebuild their lives and what we found with these Transitional camps is that people actually have a chance to get out of homelessness clean themselves up and move on to bigger Better things the the problem with homelessness is that it exacerbates the problem with homelessness So you have people who are afraid of engaging with the law and so they start doing methamphetamines You have people who are afraid of other homeless people And so, you know, they start to kind of become violent and edgy themselves And so we're not doing ourselves any favors by just continuing to ignore homeless people and hoping that they'll just go away And in fact because of the decision and martin v. Boise We're not legally allowed to do that. We have to do something effective to address people's situation That means transitional camps and safe parking places Hi, i'm nancy cruzo and I wanted to say much of what stacy said. So let me just add this I joined with reading about sanctuary camps now called Transitional encampments five or six years ago and was so sold on the idea that I committed all my time to Trying to find a way to help meet the needs of people who live outside in our city and I'm excited that it's on the agenda. That's great I want to say about the fear item All the data that we have and it's ample Is that these camps actually Please neighborhoods Neighbors do not want them to leave after they've been there for a few months The quality of life does get better if you give people a place that they can call home A tent is better a tent with people you know is better than being on the street and kicked out in every night It creates coherence. It creates a sense of community and a possibility of getting Of healing and it also creates neighbors And if that's what we want good neighbors, I think these camps Certainly create them So Hello, my name is Eric Harris and I'm also with the grant park neighbors Brad angel spoke on our neighborhood behalf earlier. Thank you for that opportunity I'm here with a slightly different take perhaps than what I've heard a little bit this evening And that is a take of accountability Not only for the homeless to try and get their own House in order so to speak but also for you folks as elected council members to represent the interest of housed and unhoused citizens accordingly as well as Taxpayers we need to be accountable for the taxpayers money and the business taxes money and how we pursue solving these problems Councilmember Glover you had provided these stats and I'll be off a little bit here But I think I saw in seattle was like 45 people ended up being housed out of a population I forget whether 1200 or 2200 but in any case Whatever that number is it was a very small percentage of people that were helped for the millions of dollars that were spent And so I would advocate that that there's probably not enough money being put towards those people that want to Opt themselves out of their homeless situation And probably too much money spent on those that are chronically homeless and it would spend years Not being housed and probably have not a lot of issue with it despite how they're living So I guess I put forth to all of you as well as to everybody out here Whether you're housed or unhoused it takes accountability to yourself and to our collective to make the situation work and We are out of there's a finite amount of both housing cash and compassion on this issue. So thank you My name is Megan and I have been a resident of this county since I was seven years old Um, I'm actually seven months pregnant and living on the streets because there is no room in any of the shelters for me There is no room. I'm seven months pregnant I have been homeless since January 1st of 2018 because my landlord raised my rent from $2,000 a month to $2,400 a month Overnight I had section eight. I lost it because no one would accept it I managed to raise a 20 year old who's about to graduate from cabrillo as a member of the honor society She was a valedictorian of her high school. I am not a drug addict I've never been an alcoholic. I am poor I am disabled because people have repeatedly victimized me and not stood up for my rights that I Am entitled to because it was easier to push me off to the side. I also aged out of foster care I don't have anyone to speak for me. This needs to be solved and it's a mental health thing by and large This is not okay for everybody to sit around and be like, oh, well, this is something this is It's ridiculous that we have people That are on the city council that are renting out 80 us in their backyard For $2,500 a month When homeless people can't make more than 800 Thank you staff mayor the city council members Um, your report was amazing and comprehensive and it shows just how complex this issue is I'm going to throw out some ideas. Uh, I would suggest a town hall style meeting for Just the homeless with you Keeping the rest of us out so that you can actually have time to really Dissern what their needs are what the categories are There's people that are using drugs. There's people that are not there's people with children There's people with pets all those have different needs So I think it would be faster and more efficient to meet with them in person in closed chambers I'm only hearing about short-term solutions and I'd like to see some more attention paid to long-term options High-density housing and neighborhoods What would be the cost benefit of creating a tiny house community? What city-owned land could be appropriated for this use long term? Can some of that 10 million dollars go to building a high-density apartment complex strictly? To designated for homeless women family children To and who would adhere to the behavior conditions required? How much would a large apartment building cost to build? And how does that compare to spending 70 to 90 thousand per month on a parking lot tent city? Rather than open up parking in neighborhood city on property could be reworked to accommodate safe parking i.e move city storage of work vehicles from behind The train tracks down by cosco the dump trucks the old buses etc. They could be stored somewhere else and the safe parking place could be instituted. Thank you Good evening council. I'm Cynthia burger with Santa Cruz tenant association. I would like to see More concrete list of places. I would love it if you could present that at your next meeting I mean actual places that could be considered um You know, there's a map of city land, but I don't know what's on every piece of it And that would feel like there was some concrete action happening I do think that having a thousand more than someone thinks we should have probably is an emergency And since we have such a high ratio I think that we should be getting a lot more money from the state because if we have the highest ratio in the state And we're the poorest county in the state next to la then the state should be giving you more money For this particular issue and it is an emergency. It seems really patently You know obvious that it's an emergency if If we have the highest ratio for a city our size, so thank you Hi, my name is Dave Allen ball and first of all, I'd like to put Chairperson Donna Myers at ease. I'm out here to talk about pickleball So anyway, um, I live in de Anza mobile home park and Delaware. So you obviously know where I'm coming from Um, we have about 80 85 percent of our people are over 60 65 a lot of them over 80 We have some over 90 Most of us can't hear very well a lot of us can't see very well We're very vulnerable to thefts burglary violence, whatever helps Now about four or five years ago before we had a lot of security We did have a lot of homeless problems. They go in our hot tub. They go in her swimming pool We got a great swimming pool and a hot tub in a sauna and we got a fitness center And you know, we got a barbecue pit. We got all that stuff there And it won't take long to discover that we have all that stuff there. That's what I'm worried about Now I understand that homeless is a problem is a problem in this city and it's not just your problem It's our problem and there's no doubt about that. It's our problem So we got to figure it out together and I understand that but I think it's extremely dangerous to maybe put a bunch of RVs on Delaware, especially when we walk And uh councilman, you know, Glover, I don't ever remember you coming to De Anza and talking to us I don't remember any council member coming to Delaware or coming to De Anza and talking to us and say, hey, you know what? We got a proposal. We're thinking about it. Let's talk about it I invite any one of you are all you to come to De Anza I will set up a meeting at the clubhouse and you're all invited. Thank you Good evening council, um, i'm greg banks and i'm a uh resident of the ross camp resident of santa cruz I'd like to thank i saw chief was here earlier chief Mills was here He's one that invited me to go there or asked a bunch of us to go there from the beach several months ago And I've met incredible people there had awesome experiences Um, also had terrible infections all sorts of stuff The people that are there, I've gotten to know a lot of them I love every single one of them even though they're they're near de wells perhaps, but um, they um Each and every one of them have stories and a lot of them are have been chewed up and spit out by society before And they're going to make it through this whatever happens again. Um, keep that in mind that uh Have from a young age a lot of these people had bad things I'd like to thank uh council members crone and gliver working with them on some stuff and talking to um Justin Cummings as well I'm going to go home and have a Good sleep and my home is Ross camp. Whatever happens there. Um, I've been to 52 countries traveling and I totally feel safe there. Um, and um Cops never hassle us. I do appreciate, you know, I'll get beat up like this I've for talking about like this, but I do appreciate the the good things that do happen here. It's a complicated issue. Um, It's not going to go away, but we can work with it Thank you Issue that I want to deal with on this is Oh, thank you, please. The issue I want to deal with doesn't on this or bring the light on this is toxic waste dumping in our area And this is something that has affected the homeless over five of the last eight years that I live here Okay on the street on the west side mostly by the safeway area It was dumped in the safeway parking lot into the groundwater right there They have recently capped off one of two areas that they can do that Okay, and they did this and I am witness and my name is Gregory Lee Smith And I'm saying that I would testify in federal court and this is an issue I know it's coming to hand and it's about human waste such as liposuction waste That was held in a containment area across the street from our homeless shelter That has people that are that are grown men that should not be near children And a homeless shelter for families and won't address the issue of feeding homeless people that they just quit one day Because there were too many they advertised for them to come here All right, and that toxic waste was very bad They had to claim that there was a leak in the freon at safeway when this happened in order to explain What was going on in the area to anybody that might ask a question Okay, it was most of the people that were indoors didn't understand why the people were coming home acting like they were Okay, you said meningitis kids You can get a few ways from black mold and you can get it from a brain injury Which you do not get rid of the blood that's on the brain and you can I I I know what I'm saying and I just Need to say that I'd like to address it with anybody who wants to be Thank you Hi, my name is Elise Kazby and I'm a homeless advocate and activist. I have been investigating homelessness since 2009 Every single one of those years has been vital in terms of me trying to come to terms with the issue of homelessness Who are the homeless? Why is there homelessness? No one it no one can do justice to this issue no matter how well meaning By visiting a camp and suddenly becoming sympathetic and the reason I say that is the city has a history of being tremendously duplicitous and and cynical and Unsympathetic to homeless people having said that I agree with Tina. I do think this is a new day I think we have some opportunities here. I also really resent that my time was reduced I feel if you take this job to be a city council member be prepared to pretty much sign away your life in for the public good So I just want to say, um, you you know cutting my time off is not right The stakeholders in this issue are the homeless people That's who the stakeholder is. I'm really disturbed when I see the stakeholder list top with nonprofit operators One of the best and well-meaning nonprofit operators the faith community shelter Forced the homeless to go to a different church every single night That's extremely hard on the homeless people. We haven't begun to even begun this dialogue with homeless people We need to really come to terms with that. I like some of the plans up here, but we need to shelter homeless people They are all people Thank you all for your time tonight. My name is Caleb Baskin. I want to speak to the Delaware parking issue specifically What assistant to the city manager o'hara said earlier about the need to match Services with the population need really resonated and I think on the safe parking issue That is particularly important. Unfortunately in a lot of this discussion tonight and in some of the correspondence with the community There's been a pretty heavy conflation of the data supporting transitional encampments in the northwest With trying to use the same data to support safe parking as a solution Safe parking is different and it may well belong in the continuum of services that the city decides belong there But if it does it should be able to survive a deliberative process And choosing of those sightings and I would be surprised if given the intellectual capacity arrayed in front of us tonight We can't come up with a location that doesn't contain 1100 k through 12 students As well as ecological preserves within the four block radius around which the proposed location would be put As much scrutiny should be given to those locations as any regular development if not more given the potential impact With my remaining time. I wanted to just finish up what mr. Prado wanted to say What he didn't get a chance to tell you was that the reason he was here Was because of those roughly 1100 children that go to school and live in that four block area Around the proposed parking location. They don't get to vote But they're heavily impacted on whether or not that's there and it deserves appropriate deliberation Environmental review and public safety review before you open it. Thank you very much Mayor council members, my name is Clayton Markle To follow up on what the previous gentleman said Since my time has been reduced I'd like to speak primarily to the Delaware issue councilman Glover you talked about The issues the common issues people had writing into uh opposing specifically opening Delaware I haven't heard those issues addressed so far in this proposal and Again, I've lived here for 45 years since I was 12 years old grew up here on the west side still live here And yes in a house And I'm lucky to have that house. I realized that I worked as a firefighter for 30 years I've been in and out of homeless encampments. It's a hard life All of you That are homeless you're working really hard just to stay alive. I don't know how you do it It's a really complex issue that's been revealed. I'd love to see what the what else the working group comes up with I think mayor as you put it This is an important issue. We cannot rush to judgment. You've cut my time down so you can have enough time to deliberate I'm with the previous Speaker this is an important issue that has been brought before the community We all deserve a chance to speak and have our say If it's not that important if we can't speak out loud, let's not rush to it I look forward to hearing what you what you guys come up with. Thank you for your time Good evening. Uh, my name is Amy Liebichuk. I'm a social worker with the county and first I'd like to say thanks for the wonderful comprehensive presentation that was presented by city staff Um, secondly, I'm really disturbed to see the two polarizing camps that I've heard about in Santa Cruz And honestly, this is the first time I've really started to get active this year of coming to city council meetings I see folks that are concerned about safety in the community And then I see folks that are really concerned about social justice and human rights issues Um, I don't think I think we all want the same things. We want kids to feel safe as a woman I want to feel safe walking around town at night. I don't but I don't feel that way in san francisco or Any other city maybe in foreign countries. I do feel safer to be honest So I what I want to ask is that folks on the left we have to be patient. We're not going to see progress overnight. Um That's going to be hard But I think we have to be patient and then I asked for folks further on the right or more moderate folks So let's try out some of these programs. There's already people Parking on Delaware acquiring hundreds of dollars of tickets. They can't pay them Um, and they're just going through this cycle of where am I going to park tonight? Um So let's try these things out if they don't work then There's always a chance to try something new but if we just say no no no Then what's going to get done? Thank you First of all, I just wanted to say that I keep hearing how we are not Compassionate because we have a problem with some of the things that are happening in town and that's not true It's just that our compassion is not unlimited. It has limits I live on the west side. I've lived there for 25 years.  So you have the Ross encampment which has exploded And it's disgusting looking and I'm sure it's very difficult to live there So now you want to now take rvs put them on the west side and have the same thing happen over there Except potentially worse because they all have places to go to the bathroom their rvs and I've seen them dump it I have pictures in my wallet It's just going to cause an environmental catastrophe as well as Safety issues obviously for the children with the schools and the preschools that are around there People walk their dogs. It's a pretty place tourists come It's a state park And let's leave it nice. Let's have one side of town at least that people can have a respite from what's going on here and figure out from um from From facts from data What's working because the numbers that you stated? 63 percent don't want to be thank you Um Hello, I'm tom powell. I live near natural bridges park and I am Not wanting to see the parking restrictions lifted for a few reasons Um when I was in better health, I rode my bicycle around town a lot one of my Most frequent rides was the san lorenzo river trail I have I it's I called myself three or four times of people that had odied and driving through there the um emergency response vehicles Were it was they were out there time and time again Our children don't need to be walking by with a body somebody dead in an rv or laying on the side of the road um So that that's one of the reasons and I uh the park itself The last year and the year before Fires were intentionally set in the park I on two years ago I was I had an outing planned with friends. I walked out of my house smoke was roiling Right in my direction All the homes over there are in the direction of the air current air current The fireman that morning Told me that we were very lucky if there had been Less humidity Thank you. Thank you You could you could feel free to leave your comments or email them for us. Thank you You could you could either leave your comments or you're welcome to uh to um Email them to us as well, but your time is complete for tonight. Thank you Hi pat mello, um I've been lucky enough to live in a house in santa cruz for my entire life And i'm trying every day to keep it that way just like everyone in the room. I'm sure I just want to thank the council and especially staff for coming back so quickly with the detailed report I know that's a lot of work and it's appreciated You know, I want to add something to the conversation when I was growing up You know When I was 19 or 20, you know, my dad worked full time but temporary worker at the university And was able to live out of a pickup truck in nising marks Park for a year and a half until he got cancer and moved into somebody who you know let him live Rent free and uh, you know what I gained from that lesson is a lot of the time as policymakers I think that in public we think about what can we do and I think sometimes we need to think about what can we stop doing And I think the first thing we can stop doing is stop criminalizing survival behavior You know and And that shouldn't be a controversial partisan thing and I think I've seen presentations in this very room Maybe a year ago about how much law enforcement Resources are put forward on this and how much it doesn't work and I've also seen presentations in the county building About you know, specifically women in jails and the county population and how almost to every single person There's a history of trauma and we don't want to repeat that trauma And you know, I don't know if solutions are here in front of us right now But I know that getting money from the state with the county is a good thing And I think that you know the some of these extra ideas are really good things we should explore. Thank you All right, thank you for the opportunity to speak to you tonight. I live in dianza bubble home park I've been there for 20 years my back fence But's up to delaware avenue and I've seen I've seen everything there In the last three years. I've been forced to call the police three times two over meth cooking operations that the police did show up the people were apprehended arrested bail And we're back two weeks later One was a bicycle theft ring Somebody and these are all the motor homes that are always parked there same guys that I walk by and ride my bike by every day He unloads 15 bikes and I ride by on my bike and says Do I want to buy some bikes cheap and I know exactly what he's got and I call the police They arrested him got rid of him countless times people Dumping their holding tanks right on the street and it's not just gray water.  I rode on I did I did let the Thank you. That's quick Thank you I would ask of you tonight to please look at all aspects of what is before you today Your staff has given you some very good information and there's a large sum of money involved I hope that you're going to look at what is sustainable And I would ask you at this time to stop name calling This is someone's son or someone's daughter It is you and I one incident away This is someone who is dealing with homelessness not labeled as homeless I will ask that you think about a few things Safety for all as I have gone down into the encampments as I have gone out in the street as a health care provider I hope that you are looking at People being the priority keeping the people in our community safe Including those dealing with homelessness And that you will look at our police officers and how important it is to keep them safe and in a healthy environment And creating that environment means not just moving an encampment, but finding a long-term solution I hope that you realize That access to care Is a right not a privilege and that includes essential things that I am not finding as I go do my toothbrush exchange program That includes water and a toilet health care and a bed A right not a privilege. I hope that's going to be on your mind tonight because you can be the difference. Thank you Hi, l. West wise leanest resident president as leanest monterey county homeless union Also on this california homeless union as well So we're we're branching out and getting bigger Martin vs. Boise is one of those things that you're really going to have to worry about You're going to have to open as many spaces as a thousand people will take in Intents and and it's going to have to you're going to have to open up more streets and only Delaware You're actually going to have to Bow down to this because it's it's like raising a kid You know, you can not pay attention to him and he's going to end up being a brat Or you can scaffold this person and and raise him up to be a child You know, um, we really got to look at this As homelessness issues and homelessness problems not homeless problems, but the people the homelessness problems And and that's the way that it's supposed to be approached. Supposedly that's what we're going to do But you don't have enough space available for everybody right now So so you got to count for 20 I'm thinking, you know 400 400 square feet in a tent, you know, instead of 400 400 acres in a mule or whatever 40 acres You know 20 by 20 And and you said as as a standard, you know That's still a really small area And it doesn't allow much privacy But it is it is a venue you're gonna have to have wet camps. You can have dry camps You can have zero You know zero tolerance, but you still have to take care of these people. They have to go somewhere If they're on the sidewalk, you don't want them on the sidewalk. Well, then open up a lot Hi everybody, um another long night. Um, I'm danny. Uh, I grew up in santa cruz Naptal specifically And I grew up struggling with addiction really heavily and I'm not going to get super into that tonight I'm sure I'll have a chance to do that in the future But I really resonated with what the earlier person said about being one incident away from being homeless I was like one fight away from my parents one serious incident away from just being ostracized, you know and I lost, you know, there's a lot of friends I can't speak to anymore because they're still struggling with addiction that I only hear from when there's an overdose or something There's friends of mine that live on the street And because of all these like experiences that I've had I support a few things that I'll get into quick tonight transitional encampments As an evidence-based approach that will work And we'll address the problem that I haven't heard mentioned a lot tonight that a lot of people that are living in the ross camp right now Are not going to be able to sleep in a shelter for reasons of trauma For reasons of criminal record for lots of reasons They won't be able to go into a county or city shelter program and we need to have camping options available for them I also support an extension of the eviction deadline for the ross camp. I think march 15th There's not going to be those beds available even though people won't take them I really hope that can be pulled out and voted on And lastly, I look forward to a future Conversation on harm reduction because it's something very close to my heart. Thanks And before before you begin I want to get a sense of if there's other additional speakers okay So if you could please line up to my left And uh, well you do you want to go last? Okay Okay Ready you ready. Hi. Um, my name is alisha cool. I've sat here and listened to a lot this evening I'm here because I am an rv dwelling drug-free technically homeless person I'm not scary. I'm not going to dump sewage all over Delaware. I'm urging you and supporting you to ignore fear-based Comments and complaints you've heard a lot of those tonight About needles and sewage. That's not a common thing. That's a minority of the homeless population Not a majority I feel like if you gave this program a shot and let us park on Delaware you can address that small percent make an example out of them Um, but don't just take that off of the table because people are scared of it It's time for some radical changes. Um, obviously people are going to be scared, but There are and there are children and preschools in that area. I heard a lot of that. Um, I have kids too My kids count as well, you know, we need a safe place to sleep at night We were attacked rrv was attacked at night by people who didn't want us in their neighborhood for no reason at all This evening. I had somebody tell me get in my rv and go to a different neighborhood I feel like we need to have compassion over this issue I'm also against closing the ross camp unless low barrier options are available for every resident there And we're having a workshop tomorrow at two There Hi, i'm gary garcia. Thanks for the great work you guys did in pulling all that data together. It's really helpful I have three things I want you to know. Um, or hope you'll consider First, uh, santa cruz is a very given community, but we can't do it by ourselves In many respects, uh, this the data driven, uh, analysis about transitional camps It is compelling In its microcosm The problem is is that and it's been said before we have a greater Population of homeless relative to our resident community Then most other communities So that tells us that we have to work with the rest of the county and our neighborhood cities to have programs that span Across multiple cities second point. I'd like you to consider is if we do have transitional, uh, camps There has to be something to transition to that has to be part of the plan and I haven't heard What happens next? And the third thing I'd like you to consider is, uh, there has to be, uh, services for any transitional camp. There has to be A plan for paying for a sewage treatment fresh water bring brought in Or don't do it don't do it badly doing it badly is worse than not doing it It's better to to have a measured approach and do it right the first time. Thanks a lot Let's go ahead and freeze Hello, my name is joy karegalyano, and I live in Dela Cruz on op Delaware And I I have so much that I would like to say but I I feel that we've gone homeless But we are really forgetting the people who live in the neighborhood And who have worked all their life from the time they were children themselves have gone through burned homes have gone through Parents and hospitals have gone through wars And I just want you to know that I've worked hard all my life.  He fell down. He broke his nose. He has Alzheimer's And we had three lovely ladies who stopped If we put these Mobile homes on Delaware because we've already gotten stuck with a couple that are there all the time and they have feces And they do all these things that we've been hearing about just a few of them if we have these Do you really think our people are going to be walking down and one of my husband fell down and no one was there to help him We live in this community. I've lived in this community for years. I've lived in scott's valley I've lived all over here for at least 45 years. My children went to school here. I paid for that. I worked hard They worked hard Please take into consideration our homeless people Please take into consideration The people who've worked all their damn lives and raised good kids. Thank you very much. Your time is now This is so important. I hear you. I haven't heard it tonight. I thank you very much. Okay My name is Sarah and I I have Asperger's A form of autism and I've been homeless and Santa Cruz four times since 2003 But I don't use any hard drugs and I have zero criminal history It's because I can't find supportive services to help me. I have no intentions of Doing any crimes or thrashing out anybody's neighborhoods and I live in fear that if I ever lose my housing right now that Because my income is half of what an average studio would go for or even less than a room share that I have no Future with housing. Um, there's no social services for me. I don't qualify for mental health services I don't qualify for drug rehab And also I was pregnant and I spent Six months of my pregnancy In Santa Cruz on the streets and the only people who helped me as a catholic mission that told me I had to sign the baby over But I didn't do that. I kept her. She's eight years old. She's top of her class in school But what will happen if I ever lose my place? What will be her fate? Thank you Summer rose and I'm speaking from a personal place where I have been homeless also in this town and You know safety was an issue for me being homeless Being in houses you are not necessarily safe. I've lived in houses where I wasn't safe So the idea of safety seems to be number one for every everyone and it does seem like there's money in this council in this city where we can have Police officers other people go down and stay at Ross camp and be there 24 7 There's no reason why they can't since the money is there until we find a solution If it does seem like the number one issue is safety and that kind of seems like a simple solution I mean the money's there. Let's just get people there now and Have cops show up and just be patrolling and neighborhood watches people in the neighborhood who want to be there Until we find a good place for people to be because it's important I know these people can't It's really hard to get off your feet and get on with your life if you don't have a home. It's really really serious That's the biggest safety issue you have your home. You can keep your kids in your home for right now I guess that would be you know a solution if you don't feel safe You know at Ross camp or whatever drive your kids figure out another solution But you know have have groups of people walk your children to school with a cop I mean, I don't really see that there is an issue here other than a lack of people Spending the money today that we have today to address the safety issue. So that's number one and I guess the only one. Thanks Before you speak, I just want to confirm that you'll be the last speaker unless there's any I have no idea Okay, so you'll be our last speaker because I'm seeing nobody else. Go ahead. Good evening. I'm scott graham and I think that you should declare a homeless crisis and We had another crisis in this town years ago. It was called an earthquake and Right across the street here at the civic center that became a shelter after the earthquake for months There was people living in there Why can't we do that again? you know And as far as uh car parking goes who's got the biggest parking lots in town I would say the county does They got the parking lots over at amaline. They got ones over there on ocean street And then the boardwalks got some giant parking lots too that they don't use in the winter time And then there's a bunch of streets over there in the harvey west area that used to be Where people could park but they made that no overnight parking And so those those could be lifted also And as long as there's some accommodation for you know Some kind of trash refuse pick up and you know, maybe porta potties I don't see why there'd be a problem And uh, I hope that you guys can do something to really help these people because they are people. Thank you Okay, so at this time, I'll uh go ahead and close public comment I want to thank all of those who Are still here with us this evening who are no longer here but showed up Or had contacted us in advance We um all share Commitment to addressing this this topic this issue this very complex issue And I appreciate the decorum and ability and willingness to allow everyone to have their voice heard And appreciate you coming out to express your your opinions with us this evening Before we return for action deliberation. I'll just make a few brief comments One of one of which that comes to mind quite frequently for me when thinking about the complexity of balancing this type of issue Is my experience working in restorative justice and restorative practices and one of the things that we always approach that through a lens of Of accountability through a lens of a community and through a lens of competency development Which is essentially looking at everybody's individual circumstances and how do we balance those? So it is truly recognition of just there are very very many there are many aspects that are Considered and impacted when we're thinking about how we do our work in our balancing of the very complex issues the other that comes to mind is My experience in my master's program where Secretary Pineda often said we either find ourselves governing from a place of crisis or from a place of leadership And we see a governance at this time from a place of crisis if we think about some of the things that we're experiencing In terms of the federal level and relationship to the immigration approach and I hope that No matter what even as we experience crisis that we are able to think of solutions and come up with solutions through a commitment to leading and seeing aspects of Accountability and results along the way that said I asked that given the complexity of the topic and The experience from the previous meeting that if the council members are interested in being Recognized that they go through myself and I will do my best to acknowledge both sides of my body and Seeking recognition of council members who wish to be to wish to speak on the topic As I also know that we want to have real clear understanding of how to move forward and where we want to go So at this point I will open it up to The council for action and deliberation Is there any council member who wishes to speak at this time? Never mind Try to make this brief Well, thank you everyone for came who came out tonight and is still here at 11 30 at night It's always hard to talk about this Gravity of a situation at 11 30 at night and so I apologize that We're doing this kind of discussion right here right now, but We are going to keep at it and I've been here a long time and Santa Cruz has been keeping out this problem for a long time You know, we talked about data tonight and I I do want to reflect on some What I perceive as some movement in the right direction I was looking back at some of the reports we've received recently As well as the letter we received this week from the homeless services center And between those, uh, you know within about a six within about a nine to 12 month period unless i'm Misunderstanding these reports It looks like we were able to transition about over about 400 people into either transitional housing or permanent You know supportive housing In this nine to 12 months. So so we are doing this And again, I don't know what that number compares to maybe Other people who are coming I don't or or aren't being our part of the system So one one thing I think we need to understand is a little bit more about How people are being um, you know being, um, I guess, uh How our programs are working and whether or not we can pile numbers from different programs That would be very helpful for me to understand Is the number always 12 or is it moving at various times of the year? Um, so it's hard to be to to make policy and progress when I'm not exactly clear How these numbers are fitting together so I can give the staff the numbers that I used So it could be incorrect, but these are numbers that I'm seeing Um in terms of the in terms of the actual, um, proposal tonight I'm I'm supportive just for a second if you could we've we've had a chance to hear from the public at this time It's now our opportunity for deliberation. So please Please keep your voices down go ahead. So I'll make this quick. Um, there's a couple things. I I'm a little bit confused about so We're talking about transitional encampments. I don't know if the river street camp qualifies as that I think we're thinking of it more as a shelter, but I don't know that we're that far off in terms of the facilities that we're talking about and it may be that We're talking about the same thing, but the the model has not been completely identified yet. So Uh, I think we have an emergency resolution that is Currently working. Uh, it's defining the types of things that we need for the state. It's defining the things that Um Are outlining the shortages in our community and finally It's helped us receive some of the money from the state already Uh, I think the safe parking program also I don't think that we're ready to do it anywhere quite yet I saw on the staff report two weeks ago that there was a mention of trying to do a pilot program I think several people mentioned that today. Let's make sure we if we do something like this Let's make sure we know how to do it Um, let's not put it in the Delaware neighborhood. It's it's not I haven't heard anything that is Makes me want to say yes go and do that and open that area Um, there's no services there There's distance from it just doesn't make any sense to go to put that over in that neighborhood Um So I'm supportive of trying to continue to work forward. I think we have some solid plans I'm not seeing I'm I'm confused by what we're talking about because I feel like we have some plans and some solid ideas And we are making some progress and we have done some demonstrations and we've done pilots Let's keep trying to figure this out keep moving forward with some of these things Um, but I won't be supporting. Um, I'm sorry, but I won't be supporting the emergency resolution only because I feel like we have one in place And I'm not ready to support anything over on Delaware avenue until we really have a safe parking program And a a nonprofit partner and some other things that we've learned from looking at other jurisdictions I just want to make sure that we have those things in place before we do anything Mr. Norris if we could please allow us to have this conversation I'll consider that a warning and then at this point we'll go ahead and have our council deliberations We had an opportunity to hear from the committee. Thank you Okay Thank you Yeah, really wonderful to have so many people come out and share their perspectives. It's great to uh See the discourse in action as well as I really appreciate those of you that did provide Some form of tangible solution or input as to what it is that You'd like to see Some potential solutions. I again want to appreciate the staff for uh being able to produce this initial language of the resolution for the declaration Of the existence of a local homeless emergency So just to move forward on the process so we can start Whittling down the things that are in front of us I'm going to make the motion that we adopt the existing language as provided by the staff for the declaration of homeless emergency to be able to create a Statement not just about shelter, but about homelessness because of the ways that it's stipulated here in the different areas outlining the importance of Looking at not just the shelter issues, but also the humanitarian and human needs of people So moving on to the next in that motion in addition to the declaration of local emergency Requesting the staff to return back on march 12th with a comprehensive list of all possible city-owned locations For both encampments and safe parking programs so that we can begin discussing potential locations And then also on march 20 or excuse me to return on march 12th with language for the first reading for both A transitional and cam and permitting ordinance so we can begin the community outreach process as well as a safe parking program permitting process Based off of the previously submitted materials Okay, there's a motion by council member clever I'm just going to ask yeah, so we're we're taking off the table the delaware RV parking right In your motion. I yeah, I haven't that's not included in that motion. We can discuss delaware later I just want to get moving on some of these things because it's okay. I'll second that because I don't I don't support necessarily parking in delaware So I'm just going to say that And I second your motion Okay, so we have a motion by council member clever seconded by council member crone I just have a quick question and I want to again Think the staff for the short turnaround in terms of the research and work And I also haven't been on the council for a couple of years No, but there's been a lot of commitment and work given. I think what I see is a real consistency in terms of Intention behind the recommendations tonight as well as some of the movement existing Do you have recommendations and to what you're seeing is already kind of unfolding in terms of our continuum of care ongoing efforts in terms of the two by two and work with the partnerships in the county and such that would Encompass that as well Thank you I need to think a bit as I answer We referenced earlier. I know it was a couple of hours ago that there are This conversation tonight has been about the immediate Income and the immediate crisis and what we can do to address it the the suffering the public health the public safety issues At the same time we are working very diligently on Other plans to deal with homelessness in our county from the midterm sheltering plan Can we come up with an area? In fact, we have a joint city county adopted plan to try to identify Additional shelters spaces that would come online July 1 And we'll be reporting back to you by April 1st with the report on how we're doing We have the heat money that's out there as an opportunity And in addition, we also have in and susie reference this This eye of looking at a system-wide view Of how What homeless services are out there an assessment and evaluation of what's available? What is the system of care? What does that continuum look like? How does one navigate through the homeless? Homeless services system the entire spectrum across the county So there are many levels of work that are kind of ongoing on a concurrent way and they all braid together in I think in a productive way that as I've said several times I really do feel we're in a different space and time than we have been in the past In terms of our recommendations tonight You know, we are trying to balance this urgency of action Which is very clearly communicated by the city council and by the community in which we share To come up with good solutions and we're trying to balance that with also making sure we have a solid process And that i'm community engagement is also a strong value of this council Of staff of the community. So that's why we came up with the charter The project charters all around the transitional encampments and the public facilities So these are things that we are in agreement Our worthy of exploration and and this was our Best shot our best thought at like this is a thoughtful way that we think we can balance all those needs for urgency and action But also inclusive conversation Involving a variety of people including, you know, the topic comes out a lot around Including also people lived experience as well in it. So what we would recommend I mean, we've put this forward as our recommendation for action around around the transitional encampments in the public facilities As for the other two items here that was really a council's discretion or whatever the council wished to do So that's what we put forward is thinking we think that this can harmonize with council action What we're trying to do on the ground immediately the midterm plans And then a final question you had mayor Watkins or an aspect of it was a two by two committee And I think a really essential part of this is that the city is not going at it alone We have a very strong partnership in the county and Mayor Watkins vice mayor Cummings you're exemplifying that partnership You're very committed the two supervisors are very committed and I think that joint planning that's I think a very Important and careful space to have those conversations So I would want us to make sure we're communicating really strongly with them and that we're planning in conjunction Because there is a sense and an acceptance from all the jurisdictions that this really is a countywide issue And we need to be thinking on that level as well. So that those are just some thoughts that come to my mind About you know the entire system short term midterm long term problems or Challenges opportunities funding is two by two county It's a lot yeah I'd like to add just based on today's discussion because I think it's important I think we might miss an opportunity with our evaluation of transitional encampments and moving forward with ordinances around these other types of programs That we see the rest the rest stops The dusted on programs tiny tiny house villages These are really different types of projects and programs that meet different needs in our community And so I do think that council support of that project charter process Should actually be inclusive of looking at different modalities of support for folks Transitional encampments may be where we end up thinking is the best approach But I would hate to rush that process and and discount these other approaches as well Thank you And if I'm sorry if I may make one more point I'm just a point of clarification around a process required and the planning director reminded me of this Depending, excuse me on the ordinance that comes back if that's council's wish If it's a title 24 a zoning code change Per our our rules that would have to go to the planning commission first So it could not be heard before you use the first reading but it could be brought back for discussion So just a technicality if there's something that interfaces was zoning It couldn't actually come back to you first reading it has to go through the planning commission first Just wanted to double check. I thought I saw a hand on this side I could have not I would like to know what the motion was councilmember clever So Was that to ask the question or to answer a question? I thought I saw a hand up over here But it sounds like there's a question and you had your hand up anyways If you want to make your comments and then respond to the question that would be a problem. Thank you I appreciate that I just want to clarify because What I heard from you Susie just a second ago was a kind of like a dichotomy of like either or Transitional encampments or the other ones in the original documentation that I submitted asking for Ordinance language it included all three of the things that you the dust tilt non program the safe parking spaces and the transitional encampments So I'd love to see an exploration of all of those Looking at the timelines associated with some of the things that were brought forward Which as I really appreciate the the estimation and the time Projection but I do think that there's a concern with the earliest that any of this could happen For the parking program if I have it correctly as may And then the transitional encampments is august I think that there I mean and you'll be meeting with brent and All of them to talk about implementation and all that kind of jazz But there's language that exists from the different municipalities And I think that's the logic that i'm getting out with the declaration of homeless emergency Is because what you mentioned tina about the need to take it to the planning commission and then have the planning commission Look at it and then come back for us to do a first reading It's my understanding that we can circumvent certain processes if need be so that we can move forward with the First draft reading and then we can open it up and members from the planning commission can come and speak at that meeting And share their perspective as to whether they agree with the stuff I want to clarify that with the city attorney as to if that is in fact something that is Able to be done underneath the declaration of homeless emergency and then the other thing just On the parking is I wanted to get clarification if y'all know if the Coastal commission ever gave us a permit to actually enforce No parking in the area on delaware or if we're just doing that on our own volition So I wanted to know if you have that information and then i'll also tell you with that response and then i'll tell you the Motion that the parking restrictions went in in 2004 on delaware avenue And I don't know of any enforcement action, but I don't know with certainty exactly what that Approval process was so I will find out and report back. Thank you So our our code provides that an amendment to the zoning code, which is title 24 of the municipal code Is first required to be reviewed for a recommendation by the planning commission before the council takes action on it That being said And and by the way just Going back to the motion that was adopted on february 12th There was language that referenced similar ordinances that were Put in place by I think eugenia and seattle and I looked at the seattle ordinance and it looked like it was a zoning amendment that Tracks pretty consistently with what the What the motion language was and so that could be adapted to a sanacris ordinance, but if it were to amend The zoning code Um Then that would have to require That would require planning commission approval. Um, the city council can adopt an interim Urgency ordinance without planning commission review that can be in place for a period of time I believe that requires five affirmative votes But that would be something that could be put in place while the planning commission was doing its work If that's the direction of the council And then to my answer yeah, and then to answer council member mathews The motion was to adopt the language presented by the City staff on the declaration of homeless emergency To return on march 12th of the next meeting with a comprehensive list of all city-owned locations for encampments and safe parking locations And then to also return to that meeting with language for review of The transitional encampment permitting ordinance and the safe parking programs based off of the previously submitted materials And if I could just follow up on that I I interpreted the previously submitted materials to include that packet of of seattle materials Yeah, and then also in the transitional encampment agenda item there was a sample ordinance language that was essentially a fusion of the Eugene and seattle ordinances so there was for the transitional encampment zoning conversation And then there was also rest stops and dust till dawn programs included in the packet and then in the parking program Transitional encampment ordinance agenda item. There's a list of very specific stipulations that govern trash safety And admittance into the camp as well Council member mires and then council member brown and then council member I just have a quick question for council member lover. Um, so with the Transitional encampment process The staff had sort of lined out sort of a number of of steps including community outreach So if we move so i'm just trying to understand the the parts of the motion and how it fits sort of into the staff charter process in terms of how we um, for example vet any of these things back to our community because um Some of this uh, Delaware is probably a good example of you know that being a location and obviously Brought brought our community out this evening. So i'm just curious if you could clarify I'm I just don't I can't quite follow where all of this Kind of gets put on the ground. So are we going to work off of this the charter? It's uh, the charter process as was presented Or i'm just trying to figure out how that works council member clever. Um So, um to clarify with regards to the staff recommendations compared to the motions that I made just currently Um, I really appreciate that the charter process that the staff put together I it was great to see all the different minds that are on it and I understand the process It's the timeline that uh worries me especially with the admittedly lacking Bed space that we currently have and the population that we Need to provide sleeping space for so my proposition is to either a Come back to the next meeting with a first draft for a first reading But after listening to what um attorney kandadi said that unless we do an emergency action That's not possible without going through the planning Planning department first or is there a way through this through this declaration? Uh, does that loosen up zoning Processes um the emergency declaration by itself Um provides a mechanism for Or loosening up Our existing regulations specifically i'll just read from the applicable statute um during a local emergency The governing body May promulgate orders and regulations necessary to provide for the protection of life and property including orders or regulations Imposing curfew within designated boundaries where necessary to preserve the public order and safety So it contemplates that um, this provides the legal foundation within which to promulgate regulations that implement emergency actions in response to the declaration So my understanding of that personally, and maybe i'm incorrect is that if we do adopt the declaration of homeless emergency Then there's a mechanism within It to allow us to move Expeditiously in the process now Through that first reading will be a time for community members to participate as we found out from the agenda items tonight People are very capable of writing emails and making phone calls about how they feel about specific agenda items And then also we'll have to come back for a second reading of the Ordinance so that's two public hearings and as much opportunity as they want to write their opinions into the governing body to decide Um, you know that transparency and community input are incredibly important to me But as is finding fast and proven solutions to the issue of homelessness Okay So, uh, thank you for the clarification just to confirm the motion is pretty much consistent as previously stated And that was seconded by you correct councilmember crown. Okay Councilmember brown matthews and then by smear comings and then back to council member Okay, I would um, I I really want to think i'm just going to say it again. Thanks staff for the the presentation of the clarity and all of the work that you've clearly put in Including a staff member Forgoing a trip to pal's books Family vacation to do that to actually have those conversations And so I really really appreciate all the work you've put into it. Um, um, I too um, uh, I I like the The um project charter idea and I appreciate all the work that went into Putting those together so we have a clear understanding of what it would take to kind of to pursue um those Um measures and I too am though concerned about the timeline in particular when I heard August I mean it in especially I mean one the urgency of the the issue the item I just think that's a long time to wait But it also Gets us into the next budget cycle and does not give us an opportunity to consider Should it be necessary any additional resources required to operationalize? any of these things If resources were needed from the city general fund in addition to the hat and and heat funding that's available So um, so that's a concern for me and then I have a question because I'm really still trying to wrap my mind around the The I mean I get the difference because I read through the the california at the state statutes related to the different kinds of emergency shelter emergency and um a local In this case homeless emergency But I'm just trying to figure out what um might not be enabled by the the Resolution that we have um And if we and or if we were to expand it or kind of revise it because it is really specific to It suggests one site One managed campground So I do think either way we would want to to do some revisions of that But I'm just trying to figure out what we can't do If we don't do the homeless emergency that we that so Clarification between the shelter crisis and emergency still not clear to me even with all the reading that I've done here My question is along that same line. So I ask it at the same time. We answer them both at once My reading of the state legislation on declaration of an emergency is is that it is very much Defined in the context of a an unexpected sudden emergency like a natural event Fire flood earthquake et cetera that has a a sharp beginning And has to be dealt with in a very immediate sense As opposed to what is really an endemic crisis and our staff mentioned that the existing declaration of shelter crisis That we have qualified the city for Funding that that was really useful to us in terms of Attracting resources, but that it could it was also developed for a specific Point in time and it could very well stand to be updated in view of the discussion that we're having now So my my take on it was that the declaration of homeless emergency Didn't really meet the Definitions or triggers defined by the state but that we could incorporate a great deal of that Into a revision of the declaration of we could call it shelter and homeless crisis So I would just put that out as an idea and see if If that makes sense or so I heard two questions one is the difference between the emergency and the shelter crisis and two if there's a way to Further understand whether or not the emergency declaration Constitutes what the state standard is if i'm interpreting the question correctly get the best of both and how to integrate maybe the two I guess the best way for me to just attempt to describe it is that the The declaration of a homeless state of emergency In my mind and and the declaration of a shelter crisis are sort of overlapping With regard to whether or not the circumstances presented here are adequate to to constitute an emergency I would just sort of harken back to the discussion we had about the emergency rent freeze ordinance that the council adopted Back in february of last year in which the council made emergency findings that That received some negative comments about whether or not the the rental housing market situation was was in fact an emergency and The way I read the law it contemplates That determination being in the nature of a quasi legislative determination for which if challenged courts are Required to give some deference to the city council's determination of what constitutes an emergency they're overlapping because of the emergency Declaration statute is intended first to enable the city to avail itself of emergency Funding should it be available from another source second to promulgate regulations that are necessary in order to address the circumstances constituting the emergency The shelter crisis declaration is similar in that it Um States that the provisions of any state or local regulatory statute regulation or ordinance prescribing standards of housing health or safety shall be suspended to the extent that strict compliance would prevent hinder or Delay the mitigation of the effects of the shelter crisis But then also that the city may in place of such standards enact municipal health and safety standards to be operated To be operative during the housing emergency consistent with ensuring minimal public health and safety. I look at the The attempt to come up with some regulations for transitional shelters as Sort of consistent with the second part of that statute that there There's relaxed standards that aren't strictly in adherence to the building code and the uniform housing code for instance But that are deemed adequate by the city In an emergency to provide some minimal shelter for people who are experiencing homelessness and then the other part of the Shelter crisis declaration is the Some protection to the city for from liability arising from Some incident that occurs due to the lack of adherence to State or local regulatory standards. So those are the different parts. They're overlapping as is The shelter the transitional shelter ordinance. It's really It's it's sort of a tapestry of attempts to move forward with some Some practical solutions And if I could add as well Ideas that the city attorney and I talked about to bolster The existing shelter crisis declaration is and and councilmember brown points out it was a bit tailored for Circumstances we're in in january of 18 For instance at the bottom of page two be it further resolved that the council directs the city manager or his designee To apply this declaration of a homeless crisis shelter to the city's proposal For temporary managed homeless campground and interim day services A navigation center building site and other subsequent actions to provide homeless shelter So while we do have that clause in there which has the door open Nonetheless, we think that we could strengthen it with some revision to generalize the language in maybe Having it be more open to have the flexibility depending on what our future course takes us Moreover, the city attorney also said that we could have a clear language about particular exemptions Siding things like um sequa and other things as well So just lay that out explicitly in a revision So it's much clearer if i'm characterizing that accurately So those are the things that we had talked about informally before this meeting as ways that we think that this could be a strengthened instrument for you Vice mayor Cummings and then council member miers I think we're in a very unique situation that we haven't seen Potentially in decades Where the county has received we declared a Shelter crisis the county has now received 10.6 million dollars And we're at the beginning of being able to utilize those funds to address many of the concerns that were mentioned tonight And I think that Given we haven't had an opportunity to move forward in any meaningful way to actually deal with these I mean we've I've I take that back staff has been moving forward to come up with ways in which that we can Utilize these funds to help in some of the suffering that's on the street We've partnered with the county and this is a regional pro This is a regional problem and I think that we need to start looking at Issues like homelessness as a regional problem because it's not for every individual city to be addressing It's for our counties To be partnering with our neighboring counties and the entire state I mean it's it's a problem that we're having all over the country We're not alone as we've heard tonight with The fact that this is something that's occurring in places like Eugene and portland in seattle We know it's happening in oakland and san francisco. It's happening here It's happening everywhere and this is the first time in a very long time That we've actually been able to begin working collaboratively on addressing these issues And I treat states of emergency very seriously I don't think it's something that we should be throwing around And I think what we should do initially Is begin working with the county and begin collaborating On ideas and ways that we can utilize these funds to begin addressing homelessness And if it turns out that we need more funding and we're able to demonstrate that we're able to use these dollars effectively Then we can move forward with this declaration of a state of emergency So I won't be supporting the declaration of a state of emergency at this time. However I would later move to If there's revisions that would strengthen our Our shelter ordinance, I would move staff later after this motion has been taken care of to do that Yeah So we have a motion and a second correct. I was going to call the question unless there's other Comments we can call the question in every visit and then yeah I just it's getting so late and I mean not that that matters, but So you're calling are you calling the question? I'm looking and seeing If if what's before us is to vote on the entire package of the motion on the floor Okay, so the question I mean if the question is called I believe that there's no There's no uh additional To be clear, I'm Calling the question requires a second Is is done by a motion so that would be a motion to call the question that the council can can vote on Okay, are you making that motion at this time? I'll withdraw the motion at this point. Okay Councilmember Glover and then did I see councilmember brown and No Okay, great. I'd like to separate my motion and have the First part be for the declaration of homeless emergency Uh, the second kind of do I can't do so I'll just start with the motion to the declaration of homeless emergency in Santa Cruz Okay, so if I Susie I'm just gonna recommend to bonnie to put up councilmember Glover's motion That was on his presentation. It might be helpful for the public to see that So we'll go ahead and maybe move through each of the components I think this is a little bit different potentially, but that's okay I think I don't think it's as complicated as it could as it was last time potentially So I think we can get through it if it's not possible to get up But if I'm understanding correctly, we're going to break the motion apart and vote on it as individual action, right? That's fine. I can understand the first one But honestly, I couldn't write fast enough to get the others So when the others come up, I would appreciate having them typed and put up on the on the screen So, um Okay, so we'll go ahead and vote on whether or not to declare a local Emerge uh, I'm sorry a declaration of a local emergency as opposed to a revision of the shelter crisis That's the motion by council member Glover seconded by council member crown. Okay. Can I can I ask for clarification on that? I'm I apologize for Bringing this up again The recommendation that was presented in the power plant was return to return on march 12th with a draft for first reading of the declaration Just for clarification. Is it to return with a resolution or to adopt the resolution that's been presented this evening So, uh, like I mentioned during the presentation, I made this before I knew that y'all were coming with a draft today because you had said you didn't have it before so One has changed to Adopting the existing language that you have and then there's two and three and striking four Okay, so we're adopting the resolution the motion on the floor is to adopt the resolution this evening Okay, all those in favor, please say aye Aye Any opposed no no Okay, so that fails with council member crown council member Glover In support and council member Myers council member brown council member matthews vice mayor coming to myself and myself against Okay, um, so the let's deal with the alternative Is that where you're going the alternatives? Okay. And I mean I will just say I would be supportive of revisiting the language for the shelter crisis that we already have in place and then also in in terms of the the project chart charter Outlines that have been provided by staff, which I think Offer a roadmap to get us in many ways in the same direction as we wanted to go So I'll just put that on on the floor Yeah, what movie It's really late. We're like getting Freckin Ralph at this point Okay, so we could do this Okay, council member, uh, actually vice mayor Cummings council member matthews Um I wanted to use this as an opportunity to make a few statements just given what the public had stated earlier um Around homelessness and the state that we're living in in Santa Cruz And the fact that we have so much homeless In our community and I think that it's important that everyone remember that we are Considered the fourth most expensive place to live in the world And that's given the fact that we have a tourism economy That is unable to keep up with paying their workers the amount it costs to Rent a place to live in this town and you know, I know that a lot of people Had things to say about people who live in their cars and in their RVs But these are also people who are working tax paying people in our community So I think that's really important that we remember that and for those people who maybe don't have jobs And live out of their vehicles There may be barriers that we're unaware of that's keeping them from working or you know Maybe they're receiving other things like social security that allows them, you know to live off very little And that's the only way that are they're able to survive in this community um I go down to the camp at least a couple times a week. Um, I've actually I bank at Bay Federal And um, and I talk to people who work down there and many of the people who work in that community Do have compassion for the folks who are at the camp and um, Many some people from that camp also go in and spend their money In those coffee shops and in those those businesses because they need things too and they also spend money in our community So I think that it's also very bad for people to you know Demonize the people who live in that camp and having gone down there Um, a number of the people who are here tonight They walked me through and said hey come on in if you want to meet people Who are in the camp and if you want to talk to them so Um, I don't like you know a lot of the language going around saying that um that everyone down there is a criminal And um because I'd also point out that they deal with these the same things that we deal with as well Um, there's a lot of people down there who as with people in our community feel A more secure sense of safety and they feel a sense of community there There are people who are there who are We're using drugs and there are people there who may be up to no good and stealing and you know Just because they don't have homes and these things are happening there Doesn't mean that there are people with homes who aren't doing the same things within our community So, you know the types of activities that we see happening there We also have with people who are in sheltered populations In our community as well With that being said, um I know that the staff is moving forward Expeditiously trying to get things on board and they're really trying to do it in a way that's very thoughtful Um, I do have some concerns and there's a a lot of people in the community with concerns Around the closure date and just the rate at which we're able to move people into shelters So, um, at this point, I want to make a motion to remove the closure date at the gateway camp And to provide signage at please please don't clap. Please don't clap Provide signage at the camp about alternatives Including the vfw hall the salvation army and information around the other alternatives that are going to be coming on board Um, and that we move to finding a site For a transitional camp and we continue to explore the idea of a transitional camp And just so people know a big reason why this is happening is because There's fear not only in the community of folks who are living there But also I've been hearing from people who live in the areas and people who live in other parts of Santa Cruz Who've actually expressed that While the camp isn't perfect. It's something for people right now It's we have to remember that it's winter We still have a lot of storms coming and this year has been exceptionally wet and cold and if people didn't have this type of Shelter since we're not able to provide shelter ourselves We may actually be we may have actually been dealing with more deaths associated to people getting hypothermia And we wouldn't know where the where these people are because we wouldn't have um, they wouldn't be concentrated in one area um And so I'm going to move forward with that motion at this point in time second So there Is that a substitute motion That was going to be my question. Okay, my question is also that I believe there were Have a motion on the Part of councilmember glover's motion is still on the floor separate Yeah, I believe there's a count there's the second part of the original motion which is to address the Additional considerations which included the ordinance language And moving forward with that and the safe parking language if I if I remember correctly the transitional encampment ordinance So if there's a substitute motion then the council has to vote on whether to accept the substitute motion Then if it is accepted then you can vote on the substitute motion And then if it's appropriate you may return to the main motion and vote on that. Okay So is that a substitute motion? Yes So your your your motion is to consider this And to not consider the Points two and three from councilmember glover's motion regarding transitional encampments and a list of Potential sites I thought that by separating the two motions that um, they hadn't been those have not been considered So you're you're recommending your your motion is to substitute the ross encampment extending the date which is a kind of a different issue for councilmember glover's motion or you are both May may I suggest that we potentially withdraw the motion for the time being We'll go ahead and vote on the original motion. Then you could revisit your second motion We could take action separately on that. Does that feel appropriate councilor matthews and then councilman Yes, I was going to say there's about three items in that substitute motion And also, um, I I believe we have not dealt with the idea of Directing a revision of the Crisis the I was going to make that motion after we get through the rest of this So why don't we do this? We've withdrawn the motion. We'll revisit that at another time Let's go ahead and move forward with the council weighing in on the second part of councilmember glover's motion And then move on to other subsequent potential action I would like to see the language Of the motion that's now on the floor Okay, happy to just say it again because I don't have a way to project it up here Okay, do you want to state it again? Really? I mean bonnie can't we type out the Or I believe it was items two and three of the recommendation that was uh, on the powerpoint Let's look at items two and three. Okay, so now I can all know because my internet doesn't work now because it's dead, but uh This is outdated like I mentioned before This is not the same things the first one that we can change it. Thank you to bonnie is uh the Uh Adoption of the language of the declaration of homeless emergency. I know that didn't pass But just for the record so that it's in the document Number two was for staff to come back at the march 12th meeting with a complete list of all city-owned properties with Potential locations for transitional encampments and safe parking programs And then the third one was to return by march 12th with first Uh language of the transitional encampments ordinance and the safe parking ordinance And after talking with attorney kandadi invoking the Expediting process But since that didn't pass That kind of becomes a moot point. Um Depending on whatever language is revised for the declaration of shelter emergency as we kind of anticipate to most likely here after this so, um Short answer is number two come back with a list of city-owned properties for transitional encampments and parking spaces Okay, so uh councilmember matthews. Yeah, and then councilmember round. Oh, yeah, so I'd like to comment on that um I believe this is consistent with the Direction of the joint resolution that was adopted by both the city and county which called for exploration of safe Parking programs. Is that correct? That was that's already incorporated in that jointly adopted action Did that refer to transitional? Locations as well well the the joint action plan does contemplate A full evaluation of all alternative shelter options So I would imagine if there's interest on behalf of the council to provide some specificity to that We would already have direction to to do that. This is consistent with our jointly adopted action and the one thing I would Request adding to this would be to Directed that Information be shared with the county encouraging Um Maximum collaboration for pursuit of those Opportunities of both the pursuit of the opportunity. Yeah Because what what we've found is that our staff has already done a great deal of research on both the safe parking and transitional encampments And that that as part of this direction returning with a list of possible city-owned locations We should also share our research with the two by two committee and urge their Their pursuit of these possibilities So It's not clear to me that We can't um also consider ordinance language for both transitional encampment Encampments and safe park up safe parking program strike three Count So, but it's so councilmember Glover said that that would is moot because we are not we um did not Vote majority did not vote for the declaring the existence of a local homeless emergency But that was my question with a shelter emergency I believe that we still could do those things So I don't I don't if I if I can what my interpretation was that it couldn't happen to the level of expediency That was originally anticipated or hoped for by councilmember Glover's original proposal that accompanied the emergency component of it But it still could go through General processes if that was interest of the council is that corrects We just go through the planning department. Yeah, so it's rather so that I'm confused The question is whether or not we could still move forward with the direction to have this ordinance language return to us And my understanding is yes It would just not it would go through our planning commission before it is able to What I what I would envision is that we would bring the ordinance back to the council on the 12th the draft for your review the council could Direct that we bring it forward as An urgency ordinance and if it obtains sufficient votes the council could put that in place on an interim basis Or you could Review it and either forward it to the planning commission for a recommendation or modify it and forward a modified version of the planning commission for a recommendation Neither of those actions would require as a prerequisite that you adopt The emergency resolution I would I would basically look at those as complementary actions. Not not one requires the other I would just add that if there is an opportunity for some of the ordinance language to fit in to A provision of the municipal code outside of the zoning ordinance then that process of The mandated process of going to the planning commission first could also be avoided I think we need to evaluate whether or not that's a possibility and whether it fits within other sections of the code But that may be Another approach that could get you to where you're trying to get to Thank you okay I'm sorry. Would you mind repeating? I mean, I'm just um, so Direct staff to return on march 12th with ordinance language for a transitional encampment permitting ordinance and safe parking programs permitting ordinance Based off of previously submitted materials with uh, recommendation about The process for adoption Okay, this process period the process. Yeah, does that work for you council member? I'll accept both of the friendly amendments Okay Okay, so that would be a friendly amendment to modify number three By council member brown and an additional friendly amendment by council member matthews to incorporate Number four for clarity. Okay Are we just speaking on the motion at this point? We can speak on the motion. We can start voting on the different components However I just want to make one comment based on the Some of the testimony that we heard that or I think it was the research that suzi was done that presented that Really transitional encampments Realistically are not necessarily transitional for some people. They are a supervised encampment that where they may live for A number of years couple years several years. So the transitional People have a concept and maybe it works out that that's a very temporary encampment until something more stable comes along but In a way, that's a misnomer. So I wonder if we want to just say transitional slash Supervised encampments or something. I just put that out to people as trying to be as realistic as possible about what we're talking about Okay, you can work on that when you bring that back. Yeah, I mean I I think What will be valuable for ongoing discussions around the ordinance is the intentionality of the intention Yeah, the intentionality of what we're trying to achieve with a transitional and encampment. I mean, I think that Um providing a safe place to sleep Providing a dignified and humane place to be Is something that we need to have a lot of clarity around because there are other different ways to meet those objectives And those different program models Require different siting considerations different operational considerations different financial considerations. So I think as council member Glever suggested, I do think We should consider ordinance language that kind of looks at that full spectrum of alternative shelter options and then give the council Implanting commission or whoever other stakeholders that might be involved an opportunity to do much like what seattle and others did which is really in intentional neighborhood engagement around what conditions would be considered effective In creating in our harmonious Kind of incompatible program within the neighborhoods that we are considering So, I mean that would be one one point of caution that I would suggest you contemplate as you think about this process is While and we all know, you know council meetings are a difficult place to provide public comment What alternative forms? Forms of engagement would be required to ensure that we're not only doing something quickly and urgently I'm getting tired. I'm sorry, but also that we will have success with we want to be successful I mean I staff wants this these programs to be successful too And I think that we need to take some little little bit of time to think about what that's going to look like So susie if i'm hearing you correctly, you're essentially outlining what was described in the charter Project plan. Yeah, and I mean we certainly can return to the question of urgency and timing I mean we we built these things in a matter of hours the broader few days But I'm really having a better idea as to what that stakeholder process would look like so we can build programs that are going to be sustainable Okay, well and I do excuse me, but I do and also comment that that's my concern with these With this motion is to say okay bring bring us back the list bring us back the ordinance. Bam. Let's go do it It needs structure. It needs thought on how it's going to be operated Okay, so much of that for success and um, I don't want this to sound like it's a blank check and All these things are going to open up partly for that reason because I think the thought behind the structure and operation Accountability, etc. Is absolutely critical to success and also history has shown us, you know, I can see the headline tomorrow Camping in Santa Cruz Green light going down. So I'm I'm concerned about our sending that message So if I could I think there's a so the in the interest of Moving our discussion along There is the motion on the floor as presented here before us in terms of the various components We voted on the first component that failed So now we're on if we want to go through them To the next component and vote on that we can do that or make modifications if Accepted by the maker of the motion and I'm open to other strategies But in the interest of trying to get us through this in terms of outcomes for this evening Early morning at this point Where where can we go? I think we can either vote on this and Decide where we want to be or come up with a diff