Good evening everybody, thank you for being here, I appreciate my colleagues up here at the front table but more importantly we appreciate all of your attendance to talk about something that obviously you know we all experienced as a community when it came to the storms that sort of ravaged this area especially the one in January but then compounded by the one in March and this is sort of an opportunity I figured to obviously talk about some of the good things that took place subsequent to those storms but also to hear where we still need to go and also hear about how we can do better in regards to the type of response that not just the federal government not just the state government but the local government provided especially considering what we are dealing with now when it comes to climate change and our knowledge and I hate to say it like this but the confidence that we're going to have another storm we're going to have another extreme weather event and we just wanted to I felt this was appropriate to do to just to be sure that obviously when we go forward that we know what we've done right what we've done wrong and like I said how we can improve now I know that there were other areas in Santa Cruz County and the 19th congressional district that got hit as well in January including San Lorenzo Valley that's why I did two town halls up there and continue to work with that community and then come March we also know that there are other parts of Santa Cruz County that got part hit like Pajaro County that is not in the 19th congressional district that's in the 18th congressional district and I will continue to work with Representative Bill Loughborough in her leadership in ensuring that the federal government is present down there but Capitola is in the 19th congressional district I proudly say it's in my district and that's why we're here tonight to talk about where we've been since January where we are and where we're going and it's an opportunity to be frank like I said to talk about the disaster relief the ability to recover the ability to rebuild but most importantly our resiliency our resiliency as I think is the key word especially knowing what we're going to have to face now that chain that January storm I believe tested us the rain and the storm surge where the landmarks being destroyed businesses being battered and as we saw homes actually absolutely being devastated unfortunately but we endured and even as we dealt with the resulting disruptions in our daily lives the power outages the road closures the damage infrastructure and then that other storm in March we endured however we did that we did that and what we did during times like that is I believe is what this community what Santa Cruz County does best in the face of those types of challenges people step forward people step up and they lean in to basically making sure that we get on the right track when it comes to recovery you did it the government did it at all levels because we wanted to make sure that the resources were there for like I said that immediate relief that recovery that rebuilding and now on to making sure that we are resilient now at the federal level I did my best to ensure that the federal government played its part obviously seeing the damage knowing that it was going to meet the threshold of a natural in a presidential disaster declaration and having dealt with numerous disasters on the central coast unfortunately just the nature literally in the nature of where we're at I made sure to start lining our ducks up right away and I have a relationship unfortunately or fortunately how you look at it with the fever director the regional director who you've probably seen dealing with the Maui fires right now a gentleman by the name of Bob Fenton who I have a cell phone reached out to him immediately reached out to Nancy Ward of Cal OES immediately and after that reached out to the White House immediately and let them know that that request is coming down the pike now because of that we instantly got the federal emergency declaration that's just the immediately immediate declaration that allows local governments get reimbursed by the immediate relief that they provide then we had to push for the presidential disaster declaration these are two separate declarations that get made the presidential disaster declaration is a little more difficult but it means a little bit more coming a lot more coming into our community with a SBA and FEMA as well and so we work with the city and the county for the assessments I had a great relationship with that busy as she was drinking from a fire hose the mayor coming into her position and dealing with that right out of the shoot but did an excellent job at least with working with us and I believe working with all of you in regards to putting that together that assessment and that was kind of then reversed order then we had to push it to OES of the state the state then had to push it to the Region 9 director of FEMA the Region 9 director FEMA then had to push it to the governor's office the governor's office and pushed it to the White House and basically we're able to get our disaster declaration and I think by that push that's why we're able to get the president's attention and we were fortunate to have him here and the one thing I remember that stuck out to me with that visit was not that that what he was here but what he said was that we not only are here now we will remain here and I think FEMA and the SBA have done a good job and not just being there for that immediate recovery but also following up and continuing to be here when it comes to the claims the numerous claims that we were there now part of that push was the fact that I led up the entire California delegation that's 50 back then it was 53 before no 52 52 in January 52 members of Congress and our two senators got on this letter letting the president know we need that disaster declaration and we got it we got it which was very very good and that's why we had FEMA and SBA here on the ground responding now what we saw was the whole of a community effort I think we can all sort of agree to that it's not just the federal government not just the state government definitely not just the local government but all of you all of you and the businesses that endured the the unfortunate damage that we saw here in Capitola and that's why we had the discovery recovery excuse me the recovery centers that we did now when the storms hit this winter we made a commitment to keep the pressure on the federal government to stay engaged until we're back on our feet Nate's eight months later we are continuing to keep the pressure on because I think all of us kind of understand the work isn't finished we know we have more to do and that's part of the reason for this meeting tonight now as we were billed we don't just want to get back to where we were like I said but we want to be resilient to withstand the next storm we just know unfortunately it's going to happen now some of the major projects that we're focused on we're going to hear about tonight obviously it's the capital war capital warf excuse me and what I've come to realize and what you know is that it's not for tourists but it's for us that's sentimental that traditional value that it brings to Capitola to those here in Santa Cruz I think is very very meaningful and that's why you have the commitment the commitment of all of us to rebuild that war but also but also to make it more resilient like I said and I think what you saw demonstrates how important it us it is to us obviously we are able to get 3.5 million for the warf and then use it for the rebuilding we had state funding thanks to John Laird and our local assembly members we had the local measure f thanks to all of you and we had local donations the next project is cliff drive obviously a key evacuation route if it gets blocked off and that's something that we want to continue to rebuild make more resilient and that we can protect this community from the next severe weather but I'm continuing my efforts to secure federal funding be it through the appropriations process but also working with the Federal Highway Administration as well and making sure that they step up it's a continued push and then the Stockton Bridge sort of reinforced not just the pilings but obviously making it a little bit more resistant when it comes to debris that flows down as we've seen over and over during those storms and those surges and then of course we had the FEMA relief for various projects around Capitola the removing debris repainting the streets replacing the fences repairing the electrical and reinforcing the luffs as well close to 2.5 million in retrofits that we need to undergo and then we had FEMA relief for individuals in Santa Cruz County where we secured 1.5 million for them and then SBA support right here in Capitola just in Capitola alone one million dollars for home loans business loans and EIDL economic injury disaster loans as well so we got millions in federal funding for Capitola for Santa Cruz County for its residents the residents and for our businesses that's a lot but a lot more can be done and I think all of us understand that and that is our commitment as we sit here at least my commitment I can tell you as I sit here in front of you in regards to what the federal government can and can do I'm obviously proud of what happened in regards to the response but I also know it wasn't perfect it wasn't perfect and that's where I can learn and we can get better because like they said for that next storm that's coming down and that's why we're here tonight to discuss not just the progress that has been made but the work that lies ahead and how we can get better now joining me I'm very very honored to have a panel of leaders in our community who have been absolutely instrumental in not just the day-to-day governing the day-to-day operations of Capitola but have an instrumental in our road to recovery so what I'd like to do before we open it up to all of you is to go through and I'll I have the order in front of me go through this list and they're gonna have have them say a few comments about it as well and obviously the first person that I'd like to introduce to say a few words and thank her for hosting us tonight and all of the service that she really demonstrates every single day but leaning in just absolutely leaning in to that disaster that we all experienced and that's the mayor of Capitola Marlipizer. Well thank you everybody for coming I will keep it pretty brief but I think seeing everybody show up here tonight is really special and important and it says a lot about Capitola and our community and their surrounding communities. Yeah so I was a mayor for about a week and then the store said and it was a pretty remarkable experience but I was so comforted by the fact that people from Mr. Pineda's office, Laird's office, I was getting phone calls, emails, checking in, what can we do, how can we show up, what do you guys need and it just was a really heartwarming experience to feel supported by those that are around us and our representatives and along with FEMA and the SBA, Cal OES as well. Like Mr. Pineda said we sustained a lot of damage, $2.5 million that's that's huge you know and we've done a lot too. That's not including the war for a quick drive or anything like that. Right so these are the smaller projects about probably 18 to 20 projects I think all around all around the city and we're a tiny city so that's kind of a lot when you when you think about it but putting it out there so many people have stepped up. Community, federal, business owners, everybody really rallied and came together and it was something that you know I think we need to plan further ahead for these storms to either hit bigger, harder, stronger, sooner you know it's a pretty scary thought but if we can be prepared when President Biden was here one of the main takeaways was we'll build it back but we'll build it back better and I think that is the only way that we can really push forward and have confidence in doing so as a community and as other representatives that are here to help hold us up. There's been a lot of volunteer efforts, a lot of work on the fence up on Clifdrive or not Clifdrive, Brand Avenue up on Depot Hill that was all volunteer based. A lot of business owners, a lot of community members came up for business, sorry beach cleanup, business cleanup too that happened for sure with all the debris and things like that so this is just a great opportunity for everybody to kind of see each other's faces in one tiny room sorry it's so small we probably could use the other room today but I'm just really glad that everybody that is here is here we will continue to work with Cal OAS FEMA. Senator Laird also helped get us lots of funding but thank you so much to Mr. Panetta's office for we already had a large portion of the work funded this just expanded a lot quicker than we anticipated so I appreciate everybody's understanding what I've learned by sitting in this seat is this stuff doesn't happen quickly and in there can be a lot of expectations put along local government federal government things like that and it is a slow process a lot of these things there's a lot of red tape there's a lot of eyes dotted T's crossed it's pretty crazy so just to keep that in mind as we're moving forward we're going to continue to have some construction dust around town just be mindful we are working we are trying to get that work up and running it's going to feel so good our groundbreaking is this month the 22nd yeah so everybody get ready it's going to be a process but hang in there we got this we've already shown that Capitola can build better so just stay along for the ride and thank you guys so much for the support. I gotta say Councilwoman Brooks has been she unfortunately for me has my cell phone and she lights me up all the time when it comes to the issues of Capitola but I gotta tell you one of the big reasons that we were able to secure that 3.5 million was because of Councilmember Brooks I cannot stress that enough she reached out to me early on she talked to me talked me through walked me out there and basically explained to me how important this work is and this was before the storm and so if it wasn't for her dedication and commitment to this community you know I can I can attest that that probably would be here and so I really want to give my appreciation to her givers time to speak to you as well so Councilwoman Brooks thank you so much I know Councilwoman Peters Peterson's here I'd like to invite her to say a few words after Councilwoman Brooks if that's okay too you know our work began in 2021 when we started thinking about what we needed to do to complete our work project it's been on the docket for years we had plans we knew about the certain things that just needed immediate assistance and yes just because I had a phone number I called and said hey let's do something and our congressman got right to work and we were I I mean when you get that call that something can be done there's no there's no way to describe how excited you are and how excited I was for our community because we knew that was gonna happen and I would say two months right up two months after the storm happened and I said oh no congressman this is not enough money we're gonna need a lot more to get this project done and about two to three days after our congressman showed up for a tour and this is when everything was still a mess we had debris all over the beaches five feet high the waves were still really strong and we took them out there next to the Venetian so he could see the the damage to assess it and about a five foot roadway came over us and I just thought to myself oh no if we kill the congressman we are not going to see anyone you know back towards the water which is not ever a good idea if you're a surfer here you know don't turn your back on the ocean but we did because we didn't know what else to do but we made it and what was really inspiring because everyone was already out to work cleaning up our community I mean a day into the storm the storms being over that community members came out our congressman was there shaking hands talking to them getting the stories from folks and it's just was a sight to be seen so when we talk about a community effort you know when you can work with somebody at the federal level to come to get funds for your community it is really something special so I'm really grateful for your time here congressman and I'm appreciate everyone that that's here in attendance thank you love to give you know have you saved your words based on your service and your community as well the work that lies ahead thank you thank you so much hi good evening everyone my name is Kristen Brown the vice mayor of capitol thank you so much congressman for being here we are so incredibly grateful for all the work that you have done for the city of capitol and of course as the mayor mentioned just really trial by fire in their first week as mayor to have to deal with this kind of crisis in our city but I think it's truly a testament to the power of community that we had our member of congress our senator John Laird our assembly member Don Addis we had our supervisor Zach Friend we had our mayor Margo Piler everyone working together to try to bring some support to our community and of course our community members themselves who have stepped up as mentioned in volunteer efforts in donations to enhance the war for not just rebuild it truly community is what has gotten us this far and it's what's going to bring us as we move forward through these these repair and recovery efforts so again thank you so much congressman for being here it means so much to us thank you the city manager I think it's still stuck in mud out in the death of the Nevada but I'm fortunate enough to have the public works director here we're fortunate enough to have Jessica to talk about the work that has been done and where we need to go so just thank you and then FEMA FEMA's FEMA will be next and thank you congressman for inviting me to speak this evening as our council members said we have about two point five dollar million dollars worth of damages which is a lot for a really small city like this it's spread over about 20 projects I have for professional staff and so we are definitely still in recovery mode it is definitely been a great effort we've been very fortunate to have really good partners with PG&E and our regional transportation commission to really help us get through some of these things that we really knocked out early on with our staff getting all of our public access reopened as much as we could immediately but there's definitely still work to do there's things that you hire a lot of permits a lot of red tape like our types are said a lot of things that are seasonal like on the creek on the drive that are just going to take a lot longer to repair and have them on score and have the time to get to with our staff and contract staff so we really appreciate this community's patience with us we're trying to get through it as fast as we can we appreciate all the volunteer efforts this community is really resilient the name of the game for us now is resiliency like you all know our work project is getting started here in the next month or so not only is it doing the repairs to what happened during the storm but it's making it wider it's making it more resilient it's making it less likely for the staff and again same thing name the game is resiliency with Cliff Drive and with our Stockton Bridge just so when these events continue to happen that we are more prepared for them in the future and we're really appreciative of the congressman and Senator John Laird and all of our other partners really speaking for this community and getting us the funding we need to do these really large projects because frankly the staff on its own here we don't have the resources of some other agencies to go out and go for those funds so we are just very appreciative of our electives and of our community who keeps coming out and supporting us and like you all are at sea thank you thank you digress real quick as the 19th congressional district here 19th congressional district our 19th congressional district stretches all the way from South San Jose Lake Cunningham up over the hill down in the Santa Cruz down the Monterey County coastline all the way to Cambria and then you go all the way out to the Kern County border so kind of looks like an L it's pretty diverse pretty big but I get to see experience away a lot of I guess I'll say counties work with work with each other inside that county and I can tell you here in Santa Cruz County we really have a partnership amongst the government agencies be it with federal and capital being with federal and state or Supervisorial we all working together very very well I cannot stress that enough and that's not just you know in times of emergency but in regular issues that come up there really is a partnership here in Santa Cruz County that I'm proud to be a part of and and I got I got to give a lot of credit to a supervisors act friend it's unfortunate that he's not running again but he is an amazing job representing this area I feel very fortunate to serve with them I hope you feel very fortunate to have him as your supervisor but he was very instrumental in this storm as well so I just want to give him a shout out and thank him for his service to Capitol and to Santa Cruz County FEMA federal coordinating officer Andrew Grant is here and I can tell you you know FEMA was like I said they really stepped forward when it came to this emergency I saw it not just here in Capitol I saw it up in SLV and the fact that they immediately set up the I think we had two or three disaster recovery centers here in Santa Cruz County two here maybe one down in Spreckles the other part of the district that got hit and I can tell you the fact that you're here tonight says a lot about FEMA and I really appreciate that I know that you know there were some difficulties but I'm glad that you guys were here and actually didn't hesitate so I really appreciate that and I demonstrates your commitment to continuing to work through some issues obviously I know because I hear about it as I heard about it today before coming here speaking with a constituent up in the hills that sometimes there are certain applications that don't get filled out appropriately and there are certain words that are used and you might want to put another word but that's also why my office is here as well manual Garcia is somewhere around here where he's outside yeah he's my FEMA guy you know I'm sure if you had a problem with him you probably work with him but that's something where I want you to know be it you know I guess I'll say anything in the future or if there's something wrong with your past application for these previous storms please know that you can come to our office and in dealing with kind of the bridge to FEMA and back so please know we work very well with FEMA because they have a commitment to making sure that you're made as whole as possible through their resources so I really appreciate you being here tonight thank you great well thank you very much for being able to come down here I I've been to Capitola so many times you know FEMA cadre we can be anywhere for an event if we're called upon as an appointment to a disaster declaration but I've been very lucky because I'm Californian and this jewel of a place you call Capitola home it's it's been our beach as well for my whole family we've gone to all the restaurants we've enjoyed time I've dragged my stuff on this parking lots where I parked tonight down to the beach and and left it better than we came there so it's really really amazing I know it was tragic in many ways for the event and how it hit and the impact it had but also to be able to participate in supporting the recovery for Capitola but it's it's not just of course capital it's an extension of the larger community Santa Cruz this gentleman next to me and and we're always guests of the state you and I spent a lot of time together walking the streets here the streets in Pajaro in Watsonville up in the San Lorenzo River area our engulch we've been to Belton we've been to all those places as well I know that you have the emergency manager for Santa Cruz is here tonight and we've we've worked with him extensively in his team to make sure that this entire full community is maximizing whatever the federal government can do on the return for investment that you've made to us as taxpayers and people who insist that that assistance come as fast as it can and as much as it can one maximum that regional administrator Fenton has for me in any event that I take on and in fact I've been next to a regional administrator Fenton when the congressman has called multiple times I've been there and he's given me a big elbow and said get it done is to fully maximize the return on the statutes that we have that we can use that we can leverage sure there's limitations those statutes themselves have limitations about what we can do ethically morally and within law we're going to do and it does take time but I would tell you that time is sometimes to your advantage because we want to make sure it's done right there's a lot of dollars being moved around there's a lot of projects we want to make sure the inspections are done completely the work is fulfilled completely so recovery is stronger and more resilient long-term so please be patient with us we've done things fast too we have DRC's up in four days that's unheard of across the nation to have DRC's these disaster relief centers up in four days in Santa Cruz and a lot of that had to do with the experience of the Santa Cruz emergency managers and we knew where we were going to go what we were going to do on top of all of the state's support for everything that do they do to to fulfill the mandate when they ask for a declaration so it's great to be here tonight take any questions that I can answer if I don't have the answer tonight of course I'll get back to you up one comment about what the congressman said regarding his office absolutely if we get any understanding or direction coming from the representative's office we're going to do what we can we have teams of people help you interpret and better understand how the applications are the repress for assistance come through in fact in California we've done a unique thing where we've actually brought a lot of those individuals to help with those direct appeals or the questions around the applications in-house in California not just a processing center nationally and that's been a request of the state to do that to make sure that we answer those questions to the best that we can in the fastest that we can so it's great to be a part of tonight appreciate always coming down to Capitola let's recover better together thank you many of us know or at least as we learn right there with FEMA is a small business administration and they've definitely been instrumental in ensuring that those who need assistance being individuals with businesses at their homes or being individuals that have businesses out in the public you know get the relief that they needed and so I really appreciate having SBA public information officer Mary Bradfield here tonight first of all congressman thank you for having us I'm going to take a quick poll how many of you have heard of the US small business administration good can we get a picture well thank you so I'm not going to bore you with a lot of information what I am going to talk about something slightly different because we do individual assistance we've heard about the public assistance side but in a presidential disaster declaration SBA is an automatic partner with FEMA and what insurance and other sources such as FEMA don't cover we can offer low-interest affordable loans and we our goal is to make it affordable for you unlike bank we're not going to make a profit we're here to help you get rebuilt and go from what I call survive to thrive and most of us do this job because we have already been through it ourselves and so we we come to that you know what we have done it specifically for this well for these two storms actually as the congressman mentioned a million dollars is been lent just here in capitol but 22 million in Santa Cruz County and 140 million throughout the whole disaster of declaration so far and we still have more in process so that's just to start our aim is to keep not only the individuals and the businesses up and running but to keep the economy and the tax base going so that you can go to the pizza parlor instead of just spending every dollar you have at the moment at the home Depot or wherever to get done and we are here for the long term with the long-term recovery piece and we are here with resilience instructions as well we have it on our website and I brought some checklists and folders and flyers on how to be better prepared especially for businesses how to prepare for your employees but we're committed to helping you and we've been committed since day one and I believe we're sitting where some of you probably came to get assistance from our customer service representatives and congressman you have been amazing to work with so thank you now I do want to point out a couple of things because SBA is not done the physical deadline or the deadline to apply for physical disaster assistance has since passed but for those of you who are small business owners you have until January 3rd for the second storm to get your economic injury disaster submitted and you have a filing deadline of October 16th for the first store and I've even got one one better which is if you sustained physical damage due to the second storm we have given you a grace period until September 16th so if you miss getting your SBA application in please do so because we are still working with you and you don't have to make a decision now get your application in you have up to six months to put it on hold if to see if you need it or want it and then we have 12 months with 0% interest so you can get on your feet before you have to start making the payments and we also offer some medical medication loans which is part of the preparedness information we have so that you truly can it's we help you build back stronger by giving me up or not giving you loaning you up to 20% of your verified losses to get your property rebuilt so you can withstand better in the future can you give us those dates again sure that's okay and take my glasses off so I can read better if that's enough okay for the first storm the filing deadline for economic injury is October 16th 2023 so that's coming up yes and for the second storm that deadline is January for a kid this is for economic injury okay these are for small businesses private nonprofits and small and programs that's January 3rd 2020 excuse me what second story you speak March oh the mark I'm sorry just in case okay let me the first incident period was December 27th to January 31st the second incident period because there were two presidential declarations was February 21st through July 10th so that's a very long window and I've got some fact sheets on that in the back as well that will give you better explanation but again for the first one economic injury for small businesses October 16th January 3rd for the second incident period and that's 2024 and you have until September 16th if your business or your home or if you're a renter and your personal property were damaged to get that application in for to help you repair it this year yeah it gets confusing sometimes and they've changed the deadlines have changed a lot and I believe congressman I'm going to be sending this information over to your staff so they can put it on your website as well as thank you thank you yeah so absolutely so so SBA deadlines are so we work so closely together her deadlines are my deadlines so there's really no well for her loan process for our individual assistance and public assistance which are the two specific programs there are deadlines those have passed there is an appeal for an extension that can be made and those can be looked at from a case-by-case basis we have received the projects that are specific to the city of Capitola for our public assistance which is a non individual so it's not non residential or personally based assistance that we will provide I'm sure we'll talk about some of those but that's generally speaking for the municipalities the state receives public assistance if there's a declaration but for the individual assistance that is ended I will just go back and kind of re-explain so yes there were two specific declarate declared winter storm events okay the first one you're probably more familiar with it was the one that did most of the damage here in the city of Capitola problem okay and that one actually started on 27 December but they make a decision on the date of the incidents for when the declaration will be and what damages will be covered and so they made a call for what that first one and that first one's called 4683 4683 it's just a nomenclature to capture what that is the second one which we meant which was extended 4699 for storms that started in March through July and the reason for that why it was so long how we didn't have storm that's that long was that there was 300% average snow melt sitting above the mountains above the central Inland Valley to include parts of Kern where the congressman represents and we made sure just to the border just to the border just to the border but it could have topped over beyond Kern but that that snow could have come down and had severe impacts luckily it wasn't as severe as it could have been but intentionally the president asking from for assistance of the governor asking for assistance for the president kept that open long after you'll recover the potential damage so that's why we're talking to storms it's also storm along with this threat that remained in California for a long time through the summer just by your explanation thank you thank you cap that like I said Cal Cal OES is pretty much instrumental in the process that I described in regards to getting that federal disaster declaration and ensuring that the governor gets the appropriate information across his or her task as it was Gavin Newsom so I really appreciate them being here and I think we have but Eli Owen and Bill Simonson yeah I'm here for a bill stay behind I thought I could cover it all exactly good thanks Eli thank you congressman so it's a pleasure to be here thank you for having me my name is Eli Owen I'm the assistant director for recovery operations at Cal OES so within that is the public assistance that was spoken about so the city of Capitola has the 19 projects the 3.4 million dollars my teams go out and conduct in conjunction with Andrew's team and SBA the what we call damage assessments after the storm has passed we send the teams out to roll up all these numbers and then we write a very big letter from the governor to the president my teams fed into that process and and got the county into the DR 4683 so obviously we've been through several disasters with you all I started in 2020 so the fires there were a big deal I know to the community in the county we're gonna be with you through it the entire process I've got teams that do technical assistance so they wrap around the public works teams for example and they were out at the harbor looking at the different the wharf and the different park projects for example so yeah I'm excited to be here I'll answer all the any questions you have and if I don't I'll get you a timely response and I'll give you my work cell phone so thank you thank you appreciate that I have a couple of business owners here I'm not sure if Dominic King is here as I thought yeah I thought I recognized you when I saw you walk in there Dominic please give if you could give us your insights as to the process how it worked or didn't work for you if that's all right yeah I'm sure they all know you but just introduced the my time I own my time beach this is also Pat is my neighbor yeah so obviously the community response is amazing the Santa Cruz Foundation really came through I think they gave us money and then obviously there was donations from the community so we definitely appreciate it all that in terms of the funding process from the federal government I haven't gotten any money from that I don't know anyone did you apply we did right we got what happened twice and what would they say what happened the first time I think it probably was like a wording thing or something like that and then the second time I think they were concerned about our because they use our tax returns from the previous year to gauge our ability to pay back unfortunately that previous year was dirty so obviously gonna be lower than then shouldn't be to go so we were denied the second time I think especially during that process because I mean I saw all the owners so busy trying to get things up and running can literally spend 12-14 hours a day in town and doing whatever that the cost to leave trying to do paperwork I mean like the people were helpful that we're here but the cost of leaving trying to do paperwork trying to go is figured out while trying to get up and running was just a lot so after the second time I think I personally got pretty discouraged and sort of more or less gave up it's nice to know that the deadline hasn't passed that we are up and running again so I mean we'll keep applying maybe I shouldn't ask this have you reached out to my office me personally no okay we know for your application for my application if you would like please please do be happy to look into that for you okay but yeah so I'm very much still in the recovery phase I know resilience is a big word once you snide in it's getting harder the longer time goes by I know things are you know most of our sales down there like a fraction of what they were last summer so we're still hanging on and all of thank you thank you for sharing and please know that my office is there about what your neighbor like to say oh well the process for the SBA loan is quite frustrating I mean I've been I've had my loan kickbacks before can you introduce yourself please my name is Patrick Len I on the Bay bar and grow the only one that's still not open but I'm working on it it was kicked back four different times for three and I but the problem is that they won't tell you why they're kicking it back and they only do it via letter they don't email you they don't call you and say you know your your loan is being returned to you because of some issues and it'll say it may be one of these things being being seen go back to the recovery center and they help you fill it out again but the first two times the first time it was because I was living in a different place than I filed my taxes in the previous year so I fixed that set it back the second time it was because my father was living in a different address and the PO box that we get our our mail at hearing capital is not where we there's not the address where we file taxes and this every single time it's kicked back it takes about I don't know how long it takes from the time they decide to return your loan to the time it gets to you but I'm assuming at least a week and then you have to go through the process again fill out another 4806 C is that what that is I think 45006 C with all the get it signed your event that submitted and then it takes weeks for them to review it because you're just right but they don't give you a priority so that that happens when that happens three times we're talking months of time that at a time when we're not getting paid when our income is zero and we're draining our our savings if we have it and what we have it's very very difficult and I have been through your office I quite honestly I haven't gotten any resolution from it at all and I just gave up I am really good at the problem is there's no I felt I feel like with the SBA there's no real advocates there there's no one to get a hold of once it gets past the the the center where you were you where they help you out after that there's no one to call there's there's no one to call you can call the office whatever the SBA number is but they don't know they really are are not informed well they can't help you with the questions that you have so then advocacy office an office of advocacy would be amazing I've went through but I felt I feel about three congressional inquiries three at your office with Eduardo who's for trying to help me a manual a manual sorry a manual excuse me and I've and I've received nothing from any of them the first time I didn't get any response at all the second one I got a phone call when I was I was in a position where I couldn't take the call I didn't have any paperwork she didn't call me back and the third one I'm still waiting on a response from from this is from the SBA this is from the King Mike congressional inquiry that I filled out he annual happy fill out another one I have not heard anything from it at all and I don't know how long ago that was maybe a month and I mean I was shocked when he called me I thought oh man so someone's still thinking about this for me but to this day I haven't had any resolution there's no advocate to say hey this is what is wrong in your application the tic-tac-y little things are just it's soul brushing in a time what we need help understood understood that's all I know and I thank you for my time on saying that because they're really no and that's like I said this is why we're having this okay because we want to hear this all right we want to hear how we can get better and obviously not just in the congressional office but I'm sure Ms. Bradfield want something to say as well after me but obviously know that you know it said Emmanuel takes the information he forwards it but I'm glad he followed up we'll continue to follow up with you Ms. Bradfield yeah I first of all thank you for telling us this because these are things that we want to hear and we want to know nobody's perfect and no government entity is perfect so the more information and feedback the more we can take back I do want to just mention that that 4506 C is the form that we is required to get the tax transcripts from the IRS and the IRS it's an electronic system so I'm gonna take that back and see but if you would you've already signed the privacy waivers okay all right well I will follow up and find out first of all I can't guarantee anything except that I'll say Congressman Panetta said but I'm a former congressional staffer I'm used to that so but the thing to remember is a no is not always enough and it's frustrating it sometimes is they need more paperwork and that's goes for FEMA too sometimes and I'll let but and you have the right to first have a reconsideration and then there is a second reconsideration or appeal and that one is final so you want to have everything you can pull together and you have something called a small business development center that will help you with not necessarily just paperwork or disaster but the kind of paperwork that we require that's required for any business loan a profit loss trying to help you figure out how to get your tax returns and your updated tax returns you have another appeal that can help you with how to do that they can help you with resiliency they can help you with recovery they can help you with risk planning for the future and this is free to you we also have women's business centers veterans centers and you can find out which one is closest to you by going on to the sba.gov local assistance you put in your your zip code and it will tell you where the closest places they will help you with even if you just want to start a business or grow your business they're there and this is your tax dollar at work so please understand sir we have one more person before we open it up and I wanted to talk to have Chuck Hammers say a few words based on his work on desponade as well as throughout the 19th congressional district with that successful small business owner and experiencing having to endure through a lot of these extreme weather events but still we continue to go forward so Chuck please love to have your impression of what's going on you know for us at pizza my heart the the village store is the heart of our company and as is the village to all to the entire town here and our hearts are ripped out it was devastating to walk through that building and even worse to walk under the building and look at the damage and all the plumbing all the structural the things you don't necessarily see and I want to thank you were one of the first ones down here and and then followed up by Governor News and President Biden a number of us were under the building the day before president came and it was four feet deep and seaweed and seaweed and we're in the muck and trying to figure out this building to stand up and to take that day off and have the hope of knowing your governor is coming in was really at the same time you also think he was going to come along and all a check and find out that's not actually how people works and they they help with the infrastructure in town so as a building owner there I was lucky to have flood insurance which maybe covered half the damages Zelda's had flood insurance but you know one of the flaws and I would love for you to take this up is the limit on what you can buy has been kept for I don't think 20 years and the amount that I can buy for four restaurants is the same as Zelda's for one restaurant because it goes by the building and it doesn't go up at least put an escalator in it with inflation building cost for outrageous so that needs to change these guys need to be able to buy their own flood insurance if they want it but they can't get it because there's only so much for building but that would be that would be our ask and beyond that you know your staff the capitalists staff has been unbelievable trying to rebuild this building has been like building a flying airplane and it's like we would see a little crack in the stucco and go that better come down because if you fall and you take it down and you find out he was a hundred-year-old building it's all rotted the whole building was rotted and you know they've worked with us on a day-to-day basis Katie and planning the entire building department so thank you I know you guys after that thank you so we have a few minutes obviously I'm willing to go past seven we're supposed to go to seven I hope the panelists are well too but we're gonna open it up now and I'll try to manage it by picking people raise your hand I got a first one right here I'm gonna set the timer at two minutes so that we can get through people and you'll hear my my phone ring I'll let you know that that's kind of it so if you could when you speak please state your name before you speak so just that we have a record of that please ma'am I'll go you next my name is Joanne Nelson I live in Paradise Park and my home is flooded five times on the San Lorenzo River and FEMA did help me with some of you know what they could I still am trying to fix stuff up under my house tons of mud but I mean I finally have that all out they wet my concern and I've been many times you'll recognize me I've been here office in Santa Cruz so often he saw me and recognized me and I what the gentleman over there was saying I filled out letters I email your office in Washington DC I have sent a letter I have come down to your office here locally and I never get an answer and my problem is this after the 1982 flood the Army Corps of Engineers came and cleaned out the river Santa Cruz City cleans up to the city limits but anything beyond that which is County on up Felton all the way up is so overgrown I can't even see I live on the bend of the river and I cannot see across the river because following the 1982 flood there were droughts and willow and cottonwood and there and what happens the things big logs come down the river and they are they're caught in the trees the trees fall down and then they shoot up new new limbs and roots and everything and so it's like a log down and I can't seem to get a response from your office at all on this issue right here yes on the river issue yes but you got a response on on on regards to other things in regards to FEMA you say yes okay my house all right but but your question was basically why isn't it getting cleaned out is that a question basically yes and we're told that we can't clean it out ourselves because of the their native plants or if we get all these stupid book and I'm sure manual is still with this and I'll have them follow up right now but obviously it's not I mean a federal entity when it comes to that with the federal government doesn't have any purview but I'm sure let me finish I'm sure that he has directed you to the supervisor's office what have you done yeah so since 1980s environmental regulation has changed significantly since the Reagan administration and I believe that we reached out to fishing game for the state of California Salar is a river there's still a drought it's a endangered species so a lot of the structure they're actually putting in structure in some creeks that can't just simply be taken out and so I have contact at the office of the appeal regarding this I believe we spoke this in our in our last conversation right yeah and then we did want to see if it was possible to then clear you know perhaps above the water line or other areas that are being overgrown with the county so yeah so it's it's it's a complex issue there's a lot of different jurisdictions right because of the endangered species that are in the creek they can't just clear cut you know as it was done in the 80s or or tape structure out of the river but as multiple jurisdictions are going to have to come together to try to mitigate that and also as frustrating of an answer as that is I tell you that's kind of the reality of it when it comes to dealing with you know the multiple jurisdictions but like I said we may not give you the answer you want but at least we'll direct you like we did to Assemblywoman Pellerin's office to Supervisor Friend's office to ensure that they understand because they're going to the ones who can have authority I mean besides my house flooding we got a lot of people here I know I just wanted to say that 81 homes were flooded in that immediate area understood what we're going to we will continue to follow up with you and continue to direct you and make sure that the other local agencies who do have authority over that creek are responding okay thank you Ms. Nelson thank you sir and then I'll go to you next my name is Bob John Murthy I'm from BAPCHA last name M-U-R-T-Y and this is my neighbor Dr. Sam Mills I'm going to take about a minute and I'm going to give her a minute so on the 4th of April I contacted your office regarding FEMA help and I got some standard answers in fact I talked to a person over there called Victor I don't have the last name and he gave me some useful advice but it was more at a personal level so our road was more than destroyed because of landslides and it's under the purview of CSA 33 which is you know illegal structure for collecting taxes and paving roads our CSA officers were slightly negligent in not doing the right thing at the right time and did not know that they had to fight for federal assistance do we have any recourse because it was not done on time since the storms have been additional damaged because you know cars go on the road and if part of it was washed out the rest of so some do you want to make 45 seconds no I'll go for for what recourse do we have with CSA our CSA leaders do we have any of course when you say CSA that stands for county service area it's a quasi legal so we have somebody from the county if you would like to yeah why don't we could try to connect my name is Dave Reed I'm with the officer response recovery so I know what my CSAs are and let's chat maybe afterwards and I'm gonna get your contact information so it's good thanks thanks for being here man appreciate it that was a minute 55 don't worry I'm gonna go to this young lady and then I'll go to you sir okay first of all thank you so much for being here really appreciate it my name is cat cat follow he I'm with the Santa Cruz free guide where a Virginia homeless services nonprofit in the county and within like 48 hours of the January storm sitting us we were contacted by the city to operate a severe weather shelter and between the city and of Santa Cruz and the county kind of putting together a budget we were able to operate severe weather shelters from January to March in Santa Cruz and in Watsonville and I'm just curious to hear more about both like this you know the city of capital of our congressional district and FEMA what type of funding is there in emergencies for people who sleep outside because poverty is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States and so people who sleep in their car and people who sleep outside are already so much more vulnerable than the average population and then when something like this hits it's just you know exponential tragedy some security more yeah and we actually opened up a facility here in capital as well as justice over yeah at our jade street Park Community Center and so you know one of the things that the city of capital it doesn't apply for funding through CDBG grants and other opportunities that the state and federal at the funds that we access and we can utilize those dollars on them so we continue to do that and our council members continue to prioritize that annually that we we apply for these grants so we can continue those services we offer grants to the community it's on a three-year cycle and so for nonprofits you could apply for a local grant here to help fund your your nonprofit and we have it all broken up in different categories I just wanted to point out that the Red Cross is here and they're part of our resiliency partnership both FEMA and SBA do you want to give them some guidance as well because you also work with other nonprofits yeah I'm gonna say any children stood up whether it's a city or a county everyone's welcome at the shelter whether it's a city one county run American Red Cross run or county partners set up everyone's welcome at the shelter so even our unhoused population are welcome at those shelters and they receive food mental health services and the unmet medical needs even if they had unmet medical needs previous to disaster we help meet them there so everyone's welcome you know we don't give out grants for that but we support those sheltering operations for as long as needed so just know that we're a resource as well and we we provided assistance directly to people experience just like people who own a residence live in a residence so it's in policy the law says we can do it what do we do we tailor things to what their local the valuable items that they have it's a 10 or whatever losses are we we tether it in some cases we can provide rental assistance to get them you know if they choose off the streets for a time being so we just take those in and actively pursue those cases and in fact for Santa Cruz and Monterey both they were leading areas where we assisted people who were experiencing homelessness thank you sir and then the gentleman my name is a Rick Fister and I just had a general question it deals with the concern about FEMA running out of funds there's been items in the news lately the president by inquiring are submitting a request to Congress like to know what the status of that is that won't have anything to do with this situation and what I mean by that is those were additional requests by the president by the administration to Congress to basically have based on the numerous natural disasters from Hawaii to Florida at this point now look could there be a government shutdown and will that be affected yes if that's what happens at the end of September so we got to be prepared for that but in regards to certain funds for this type of incident I don't think you're going to see you know FEMA basically we don't have any more money for it sir good evening I'm Bill Beecher from the Bajaro Valley Historical Association we've got a hundred and sixty three years of flood information and we'd be going for it consistently number one issue is debris in the stream beds the flood in January in Watsonville was the South Beach Creek debris you look at your beaches here that was all debris you look at all the flooding in the county debris everybody attacks something else they never clean up the the stream beds fishing game has been intolerant and they forget that when we have flooding it takes out the water habitat but it also takes out ground habitat and so they don't focus on the ground part of it at all their heads in the same clean up the debris as it's coming again this winter and we'll have more debris on your because true thank you for that Mr. Beecher sir and then I'll go to this gentleman back here I'm not do you have a question but not yet but yet this gentleman this gentleman and I'll go to you next day I'm with Brazil 73 year resident of the county and I don't I want to remind you about the CZU fire victims it's been three years now and only 42 homes have been built 900 people are still out of their homes and I don't see any board of supervisors in here from Santa Cruz County so be aware that this could be an uphill battle I've been fighting for my client for three years they lost they lost our file for one year took us two years to get permits on a home that was built in 1996 and the state contractor that cleaned up the property screwed the property bad and it's going to cost her another hundred grand and they want a hundred grand for screwing it up so please don't forget the fire victims I'm only talking from one person and Santa Cruz County has wore me out I'm giving up my contractors license I'm not building here anymore no thanks before I haven't done it myself then apologize it wouldn't be the first time I can sit to it I don't know I don't know a lot of time that you are a true statement you in spite of the way I treated the first time you spent an hour about an hour with me and was late to your next appointment so I appreciate that you got my vote no I always say you know good governing is good politics we do our job and that's how you know if we want to stay on this job that's how it should be look trust me as I told you then and I'll continue to tell you you know when I came in to this position and you know the redistricting gave me that CZU area you know I that was obviously the previous representatives issue with some of these recovery efforts from the CZU when I started talking jamming forward my stuff from these storms and then hearing from people like you that you guys had had any recovery from FEMA like what the hell was going on I couldn't believe it so we immediately immediately contacted FEMA and we're gonna continue to keep my staff doesn't like when I say this you may not like it when I say this but I'm telling you and no offense to FEMA and SBA but sometimes when it comes to bureaucracy you got to keep your foot on their toes and you can't let up and we don't let up we continue to be a pain in the butt but that's my job I one of the toughest things and biggest surprises I can tell you of this position is making bureaucracy work for people it's very very difficult we're lucky that we've had people here who kind of are on the ground and are listening and hearing because that really is what it's about and please know that that's an issue that we are going to continue to push forward when it comes to the FEMA now obviously with the county issues we understand that we're hearing that and we're talking to the local supervisor up there now and there's going to be a new supervisor in there next year as well so we're continuing to work with them on that issue. I want to point out to you that I hear exactly phone number to about 12 supervisors meetings I have got one phone call from one supervisor. I'm sorry. I got 45 year building experience in this county and I got a lot of history and I know where all the skeletons are buried and no one wants to know about it. But anyway I do appreciate you. Thank you. I appreciate that. Thank you. Sir in the back and then this gentleman and then you please.  We're together. We're here because FEMA's kind of marginalized us they kind of kicked us down the street along with the SBA. FEMA's denied us seven times and SBA's denied us four times and we have a major environmental disaster on our hands. The one that massive landslide happened that came down and went subterranean and came out under our house out under our driveway took out four trees and continued on down into Soquel destroying everything in its path. And we have been relocated we are now staying at my wife's family's property on top of Loma Chiquita. We used to live in a million dollar house on San Jose Soquel and Stetson. And now we're basically chapped. I came here to bring you my file in person. Thank you. I appreciate that. Be happy to look at that. Be happy to help you out with that. I'm sure FEMA would as well. Thank you. I was just going to say when we dealt with FEMA I think we got a lot of misinformation because we have a business as well.  You're getting a grant here from FEMA. That's what you're applying for. So we only want you to put your income on. Don't put the rest of your wives or anything. So that ends up he doesn't qualify for a small business loan and then FEMA denies his claim. So I mean it's just been and then every time you call FEMA I think this is something that's good to hear. You get a different representative and I think you should have the same representative every time you call because every time you get a different representative they don't understand. They're less interested than the last one you talked to. Well, we've got to delve into the case, right? Just after your office has to do. No problem doing that. It's not perfect. One of the things I mentioned that we do with the state here it's somewhat unique frankly is that we actually do the reviews in-house. We bring them into our joint field office and so you might not get the same person but it's one of five people who are taking on these active cases. We probably know the case well. That's one answer to it. I was thinking about that for SBA as well. In terms of advocacy. But we just need to simply unpack and see where you are if you've received any assistance at all. If not, why work through these cases. I've done them myself personally. There's some things that are no-question surprises to people who don't realize they can't receive assistance for that reason. We also are stuck with form letters. We've tried to get around form letters to leave emails, calling people, texting, letters of the way it happens. That's what the lawyers say we have to do. But let's see the case and see what we can do. Thank you. Thank you. Can I just point out that from the SBA's mission, we're trying to make you that loan. So let's delve into it a little bit more and see what's going on. If you get to talk to the loan officer and you should have a loan officer assigned. Now sometimes they call on a toll free number and sometimes they'll email. Get that message. Call them back on a toll free number that's our customer service. Ask for that person to make sure you know that it's not a spam call or a scam call. But sometimes they reach out and people think that it's a scam. And they don't respond and that the private self will get them declined after so long. So make sure you do that. And if it's an email, it will be from at SBA.gov and when you get either the case manager or the loan officer, make them your new best friend and that's coming from somebody who has been a loan officer both in the private sector and for SBA. Because they should be able to walk you through it. And you do have the two appeals or two reconsiderations. Plus sometimes and I hate to say this but I'm going to and that is if you go to your congressman it raises it up one level and you may get a more experienced loan officer. Maybe you got one that is less experienced or maybe there is something that can be corrected but you have to sign a way a privacy waiver. We are a lender. And I really got to give credit to Andrew and Mary for being here because it says a lot about them and it does say a lot about SBA and people like that. They're willing to come back in here these types of things. So thanks for bringing that up and thank you to both of you. Sir and then you. This is very quick and it doesn't relate to anything your name. Gene. Thanks Gene. I have been dealing with a planning department in Santa Cruz County that is unaccountable even to the supervisor. Zach can't help but he won't and I'm in my 80s and one of my solutions is checking out which I don't want to do but it's just the particulars of what I've been dealing with and I don't know where to go with this and I can talk with Manuel but I just need to put this out because it's a matter of life or death for me. Thanks Gene. A manual will follow. I appreciate that. Thank you very much. Thank you. Sir and then you. Carl Forrest, I'm here in Capitola. I've heard resilience used several times as far as building, being used in building things up more stronger let's put it that way for another event. I'm more concerned with 50 years from now for my children. Resiliency over I've seen simulations with six feet of predicted sea level rise. The village won't be here anymore with an event like that with six feet. It's just going to be gone. You're not going to rebuild it and we're spending money rebuilding things in a traditional manner responding to crises. I'm wondering about the coordination between short term get the businesses back up, get everybody going, get houses rebuilt. Medium term, what do we need to do in these events as they occur over five or ten years and then longer do we need to, how do we coordinate all this for a planning of are we going to have a migration away from the ocean, are we going to raise the village are we going to start planning that now because if we wait for crises to happen this is not going to be here. So I'm just wondering about how the coordination of longer term plus short term is being considered. Very well said. Look obviously when it comes to climate change and the effects of and you know to be frank the lack of response that has been it's something that we continue to deal with at the federal level as we did last year by passing the most largest investment in human history when it comes to reducing our carbon output in the inflation reduction act. Obviously there were tax incentives uncapped tax incentives that were put in there. They actually estimated it was going to be about 800 billion. Now they're looking at it over 1 trillion who are going to take advantage. 1 trillion dollars worth being taken advantage of and seeing how beneficial these tax incentives are. So I think at the federal level you're seeing a lot of past people have talked about it. We actually did something about it and I have to say with the leadership of this administration to pass that bill that you're seeing a lot of people and a lot of people not just in blue states but in red states take advantage of these incentives to help them pivot to reduce their carbon output. So that's what we can do at the federal level. Now when it comes to planning at the local level obviously you're going to have to talk to each and different entity. I think you're starting to see that in Capitola, correct me if I'm wrong, with the way they're going to rebuild warf with the work way they're looking at rebuilding lift drive and sort of you know what sort of I guess technical construction aspects that they're looking at but obviously you know you bring up an excellent point that with sea level rise what we're experiencing it should be a little bit more coordinated and I completely agree with you going forward. And Carl, I'm more than happy to sit down with you to talk to you about more of the specifics that are happening here in Capitola. Our congressman mentioned lift drive you know and what kind of piling here we're doing for the warf. Jessica has been with her staff fortunately and unfortunately been tasked with working with Katie Hirely in our, oh my god, planning the other department community department on looking at our climate plan. Because right now to be honest our climate plan shows that we're meeting all of our goals because of where our city gets our energy from. But the truth is that there's so much more to do and so I heard the river today you know and we have different types of projects happening now that I can share with you. And also thank you congressman my daughter needed her passport really quickly and she contacted you and it came the next day. I got good staff and we got unfortunately real used to dealing with last minute passports this summer. Thank you and I appreciate it. Sir please. My name is Bill Miller and I wanted to leverage his question regarding long term sustainability, climate change anticipating the future in the coastal area and policy change. And actually the sustainable Santa Cruz it's a part of the city government there and they do have open meetings I've been to them and they're dealing with this issue right now and they're getting research out finding out what the kind of predicted flooding areas is and they had some pretty interesting maps and what they can do for a predictive policy changes, predictive expectation of what's going to happen so you can still either build you know build to resist this you know global sea level rise in high or whether or retreat that was another thing. But they're actually making a real big effort I don't know if the capitol is involved with that group because you know their maps start to stop right at the border and it's not like the water is not good. But the amount of material you need, the amount of intelligence you need to predict you know what probabilities and costs in that would be maybe advantageous to leverage what Santa Cruz is doing because they need a lot of data, a lot of science and then use it for your smaller community. Because you know you are rebuilding back the pier in that but you know 20, 30 years down the road what's happening and then also on policy on if you're living right by the coast here you know how much would it cost to retain that piece of property that's going to be flood walls or whatever and just start thinking this stuff ahead of time so it doesn't become an emergency where everybody has to be pulled in but then we can as you said build back more resilient but with some intelligent long term. So that's the resource I saw is that they sustain the community there in government there. I think you're right and we do have a lot of work ahead of us and there's a lot of partnerships that we have, a lot of people that we need to include in those that die a lot from our business owners to our who've been there for decades including them in those conversations as well as what's feasible. You're sitting in a building that's literally in a flood zone right now and that's our city hall or police department and we're having those very real conversations at our council meetings. So that's really important. Thank you. I know citizens climate lobby is here and they've been very instrumental in talking and having these types of conversations not just with me regularly but with many members of Congress back in Washington DC and it's not just it's local groups like that that come back and put this issue on their radar. It really helps them thinking that it helped us and I got to give a lot of credit to them so thank you and thanks for bringing that up. I appreciate that. I just want to remind you that SBA has a program that's called Mitigation. Up to 20% of a verified loss on an approved loan that you can then add to your loan to build your own individual property back in a safer less flood resistant way. We have some materials back here that will tell you what to do, how to access that. There's also something called ready.gov and flash.org that will give you some good ideas and I know the bread process shaking their head because they use those too so I just wanted to give you as individuals some things you could do There's a lot of talent in this community that could add to that Great. Thank you. The last two questions I'm going to go to you and then you. That's okay. My name is Tyler Haas I've lived here my whole life. I just come back from university. It's a great feeling to have a whole community around me. It's a good time to be moving back in. Specifically with regards to the district, the redistricting's gotten a lot more coastline in this district really all the way through Big Sur and then there's been storms, there's been fires with CCU with this last winter. There's a lot of coastline facing a lot of erosion. We see it on East and West Cliff. Storms coming at it from the water, fires and rivers and what not coming at it from the mountains and what not. I'm curious with regard to a lot of the omnibus kind of builds in the pipeline and what not. If there's federal funding potentially coming for sea walls and longer term resiliency beyond just restoration but specific stretches of Big Sur that's been washed out for a while in West Cliff that's still struggling to get off the ground. Thank you for the opportunity. Thank you and I appreciate you coming back to the place you call home. Thank you very much after your college. Look I think obviously what we're saying is it's a very diverse coastline that we are so so fortunate to call home and let me just tell you we do live in the most beautiful congressional district. Let's make that clear but that being said we also know there are certain responsibilities that all of us have and that I have as the representative from this area. I was proud to be in the 117th Congress when we passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act which will provide millions, billions of dollars towards building our infrastructure, focusing on those communities that historically never got the type of investment low income communities especially. And so I mean you are seeing that. I mean look to be honest with you that's one of the reasons why we got the Pajaro River Flaverist Management Project funded from the federal government was because it was a low income community because before the government wouldn't take that into account it would actually be used against them and the benefit cost ratio score that the Army Corps was using. The fact is we got the IIJA funding 150 million plus what good work John Laird did and the good work that friend did because it was that type of community. So I think you're seeing government slowly change the way it looks at its investments and I think the Pajaro River Flaverist Management Project is a good thing to do but I think you know obviously when you look at Highway 1 in Big Sur that's sort of that's Cal Trans issue and they've been working very good. I mean it's amazing. It amazes me how each and every time when they restore that highway they do it in the timeline that they do and they do it in a more secure way and you've driven down Big Sur I can imagine and you see some of these areas where they're rebuilt and rebuilt accordingly so I do believe that it's being taken into account and how you do it. Obviously there's some controversies with armoring and how we do that and this type of planning that we need to do to whether or not we start having a conversation about retreat as well and that sort of balance that I firmly believe needs to be there and the long-term discussion that needs to be had in regards to what type of investment you want to have in each of our community. So this is an ongoing conversation but I just kind of give you that snippet to let you know that I've seen it just in my short time in Washington D.C. especially with this administration the change of thinking about how we invest and where we invest. So I do believe that we've provided a foundation upon which we can go forward in regards to your concerns. Thank you. Last question and then like I said I want to thank them, my panelists for sticking around an extra half hour. Thank you. I'll make it really quick. It's a pleasure to speak with you Congressman and thank you for being here. Thank you for your service. My name is Drew Mather. I work for the Natural Resources Conservation Service Quick Commercial for us. We're a federal agency. We used to be called the Soil Conservation Service. I'm actually here with Lisa Lurie who's a resource conservation district manager and we work in the same office together. We have some other representatives from that office. We do soil conservation work. We do natural resource conservation work and I would love to speak with anyone who's interested in doing the kinds of questions that you're bringing up about long-term conservation work. So my question is actually to basically just being included and I'd love to be included in the discussions about climate change with this area. I've lived in Watsonville. I've worked in Capitola for the last four years and I've lived in this area for quite a while. So yeah, I have some information. Cameron McDonald here. We work in the same office. We have some winter preparedness, soil erosion and flood and fire information. So I just wanted to make a quick commercial ad. Thank you again for the time. I understand. Thank you guys. Thank you very much. We do site visits for homeowners and anyone concerned. Rich can sell us here as well. We did almost 300 site visits this last winter and we have lots of resources like can help you with lots of people after they experience damage. They don't know where to go to next, what to do, what agencies can help them, or what to plant in their yard. So the resource conservation districts, we have tons of resources, various publications like this one, slow it, sink it, spread it. All that's for the community. It's non-regulatory and it's free for you. We're here year-round so we'd love to communicate more with all of you. Thank you. Appreciate that. National, National Resource Conservation. You should be soiled. Look everybody, again let me thank the panelists that were up here and went the extra half hour. I appreciate not just being here tonight. I appreciate their service to this community and I definitely want to thank FEMA and SPA for being here tonight. That means a lot to this community. It demonstrates their commitment that not only do they show up when the storm hits or soon after they're staying here. And so I really appreciate that and I think this is a good opportunity. And please note that that's my attitude as well and look forward to continuing to work with you. And thanks to all of you for being here on a Tuesday night after Labor Day weekend to be out here and it shows what type of commitment we have from our public and our capitalists and citizenry here. So thank you very much. Have a good night. Again, please contact my office when you have a problem with federal government. I cannot stress that enough. Thank you everybody.


It certainly creates a much stronger conditioning when the reward is variable, unpredictable. So you want a variable reward? Here it is, right here. Because when that email goes off, you don't know if it's good or bad. It's the lottery. It's the slot machine. You've got a slot machine in your pocket. I think there are actually multiple processes involved in what leads to these unhealthy relationships with smartphones. So there's social anxiety, there's our desire for approval, there's avoidance. So when we don't want to really confront uncomfortable things, we can use our phones as an escape. All of these kind of things were always with us, but this technology is amplifying all of them. Most people, especially around here, have jobs that require them to use computers. And computers have now become this force that has kind of inserted itself into our lives and we can't extricate ourselves from it voluntarily. There's this interesting, rising tide of, hey, maybe we should be teaching ethics, maybe we should be teaching emotional intelligence and diversity and inclusion equity and authentic, relating, divergent thinking. In addition, you're typing while you're talking to the patient instead of talking to the patient. There's no eye contact. The entire humanity of the medical discourse is gone. When your child's born with an iPad rather than your child's born with looking at the eyes of other humans. Clinical depression is up 18.5% worldwide. Wow. 4.4% of all people on the planet now carry a diagnosis of clinical depression.