Thank you all for being here.  Santa Cruz neighbors is a non partisan group. We sponsor these forums every election cycle to illuminate our candidates perspectives on current and important civic matters. Santa Cruz neighbors does not endorse or oppose any specific candidate and we do not attempt to sway public opinion on who to vote for or any issue at hand. We sponsor this forum solely to provide an opportunity for neighbors to hear the thoughts of our current candidates. We have received many questions from our neighbors and a wide variety of topics. We thank those neighbors who took the time to submit those questions. We have faithfully categorized all of those questions and will now ask each candidate to comment on seven questions to address the most pressing topics. It's an exciting time. This is our chance to determine who will join the city council for the next four years. There are four open seats. Thank you to our candidates who are taking the time to care about our community and represent all of us. We do apologize for our time constraints and intend to limit this forum to less than two hours with this being our first zoom forum as well as nine candidates running. We will try to move along seamlessly as possible. Each candidate will have two minutes for an opening statement. We will try Then we will proceed to our seven questions allowing each candidate one minute to comment. Our forum will end with each candidate presenting a 30 second closing statement. Candidates will be asked in alphabetical order by their first name. We will start with Elizabeth and then go to Kayla will I mean Elizabeth will start opening and Kayla will start question one and we are going to post the questions in the chat. Thank you to our timekeeper Steve is under Robert Arizy's name for keeping us on task. Steve will give you a 15 second warning and his sign will be perpendicular to the screen and he will like wave it like he's doing right now. That's your 15 second warning and then he will push stop when you're to stop for your answer. This is a time to listen to our candidates. If your topic or specific question. This is for our audience was not addressed this evening. Feel free to send your inquiries directly to the candidates and their email addresses can be found on the city clerk's website. Thank you in advance for attending this forum. We plan to record this and share with others and it is recording. So let us begin First Elizabeth will you start us off with a two minute introduction. Hello everyone. My name is Elizabeth Conlon. Happy to see some of you and a couple cats. I'm so glad to be here this evening. I am a renter. I live on the east side of town right near shoppers. I work as a scientist at Driscoll's in Watsonville. I'm a relatively recent arrival to Santa Cruz a recent neighbor and I have really fallen for the city for a lot of the same reasons why I'm sure a lot of you love Santa Cruz. The opportunities for outdoor recreation. You know the great live music here and really the great community here. And so I'm running for city council because I want to address the urgent crises of the pandemic and housing which I see as the most urgent issues facing our city. And I'm running now because these crises are really at a breaking point and they can't wait. I know this year has really enforced for a lot of us how important it is to have safe stable reliable housing between the pandemic and you know many people in our community losing income losing their jobs. Being in a precarious housing system situation due to that due to the major problem with overcrowding in our community. You know that's also a health risk and then with the recent fires. I'm sure like many of you you know we knew people who were evacuated. And so I really want to put this issue of making sure that people in our community have safe and affordable housing at at the forefront. That's one of my top priorities and I really am supporting that an outreach focused approach to homelessness and I would like to make Santa Cruz a model sustainable city. And with that I look forward to sharing more of my opinions with you. Thank you. Okay. Thank you Elizabeth. Next we have Kayla. Hi. Good evening everyone. Kayla Kumar here. I hope everyone's doing well and in good health. A little bit about me. I work at a place called food. What we serve young marginalized people through food farming and community. I'm on the board of salute for the gente which is a health care clinic. I'm on the board of community ventures which is an economic justice organization and I serve on the juvenile justice and delinquency prevention Commission of Santa Cruz County. I hold a master's degree in economics focusing on minority owned small business. I'm running because we've been brought to a turning point by crisis and we have big decisions to make about where we go from here. I believe those decisions belong to the average everyday person of Santa Cruz the people who show up strong and still struggle to make it by here. The people who have informed and driven this campaign. And I'm running because I'm willing to do the hard work of creating authentic relationships with our community and making decisions from that place of collective vision. And so on the campaign trail I've learned a lot from folks about what what a vision is here. The first is around having an equitable COVID-19 recovery that centers our collective wellbeing keeps people housed keeps mortgage holders from foreclosure and keeps small business afloat. Second transformations in the way that we create community safety that is both life affirming and also creates root level sustainable cost effective safety that can be experienced by all. The third real actual affordable housing the kind of which that can be accessed by those experiencing the brunt of our housing crisis, the very low the low and the moderate income levels. And lastly, I hear people calling for bold climate leadership and environmental justice the preservation of our sacred groups of green and blue spaces and the centering of infrastructure that allows people to live out their climate values and get around town and greener ways. So this is the vision I've heard from Santa Cruz I will work very hard to turn this vision into the new better normal here in Santa Cruz. Thank you. Thank you very much Kayla and Kelsey. Hi everyone thanks so much for having me here today I hope everyone's lungs are doing all right after the horrible air quality. So my print my story is pretty typical for a lot of people here in our community I went to school here. I'm a renter I make a modest income I've worked two to three jobs it wants to be able to stay living here. I'm wary of UCSC growth concerned about how our community will look after we get out of the weeds of this pandemic. And I'm running for Santa Cruz City Council because in these intersecting crises with COVID climate change, the ongoing struggle for racial justice we need representation on the dais of the regular working person here in Santa Cruz, and someone who will navigate this moment with integrity and with compassion. So professionally, I'm a media specialist at the Romero Institute along alongside an intern director. My work revolves around indigenous sovereignty on the national stage and then advocacy for climate justice at the city, regional state and federal levels. The way that I'm approaching this race as I mentioned is that we're facing converging issues and I will be a leader that deeply engaged with engages with the community. And with the complexity of these matters and getting insight from community groups and neighbors like yourselves. So my campaign is predicated on four foundational issues one building affordable housing and seeking solutions to houselessness to recovering from COVID-19 through balancing the budget in a way that doesn't disproportionately impact workers or the essential services they provide exploring new streams of revenue and protecting the spirit of Santa Cruz that makes it unique like small businesses and neighborhoods.  And for transforming transforming our community safety systems and ways that more adequately respond to the crises that cause concerns in our community around feeling unsafe and cause undue suffering in our community. So overall I'm committed to building meaningful resilience economic resilience climate resilience so that as we come out on the other side of this crisis we come out stronger thanks for having me and I'm looking forward to questions. Thank you very much. Maria. Thank you for having me. My name is Maria Cadenas. I'm the current executive director of Santa Cruz community ventures where we work to address income and wealth and equality in both Santa Cruz and Monterey County. I'm the secretary for the board of podiatric medical health, the medical board for the state of California, as part of the Department of Consumer Affairs, where we really we deal about issues about the lack of care, especially, especially scare and rural communities and small communities like Santa Cruz. I'm running because at the heart of this issue is that crisis is that we're seeing as a result of the pandemic, where really crisis is that existed before the pandemic. It's just been accelerated. The housing crisis was there before the pandemic. The, the, the loss of retail and the hardness of a small business to succeed was before the pandemic. The racial inequalities were there before the pandemic. We're facing a moment in history where we're seeing issue after issue coming all at once just as you're alone between the pandemic and the fires, our communities need to find resiliency and creative innovation on how we address these issues. My strong background really comes down to being innovative, looking at complex issues, having a vision that's residing on values, but really focus and making sure that we make pragmatic sustainable solutions that is collaborative in nature that works with the people who are impacted, as well as the staff and the city leadership to make things happen. At the end of the day, what we're looking for is not only the election of the next four years, but a fundamental team of players that will work together to establish the foundation of where we go eight years from now. Santa Cruz has come a long way we've done tremendous things. It is time for us to address issues that we have left behind, and make sure that everybody in this community feels that they belong, and that we work together to achieve that. Because to build community we have to work in community and listen to each other and rebuild the trust among neighbors to make sure that we have the Santa Cruz for tomorrow and the families that are living now have a chance to stay. Thank you very much. Martin. Thank you for having me. So my name is Martin and I'm a current city council member. I'm also the former mayor for Santa Cruz. I've worked in education for over 15 years on really cradle to career programming. I grew up in Santa Cruz County and my husband and I are really fortunate to be raising our two daughters here on the east side in midtown. I'm so privileged I get to work from home and my husband who's a teacher also is working from home. Our kids go to their neighborhood elementary school and I know for so many that's just not the case. And I think a bit of the silver lining from working from home and sheltering in places that I get to talk to my neighbors daily, and I understand the challenges the needs the ways to work together, and to support one another. And I'm committed to Santa Cruz community and I'm invested in the future. And I've worked on solutions to complex issues for a really long time. So I'm not only committed to these causes. I have produced results, such as creating the dedicated Children's Fund that is now being used to support some of our city workers to have the resources for childcare, participating in community informing housing policy solutions, preserving our affordable housing, creating more affordable housing, but also maintaining our community character in neighborhoods, and fighting for climate justice and the taxpayers of Santa Cruz with other climate mayors when I was mayor, and also instituting the timely health and policies initiative, which is ensuring that we're making decisions through a lens of health equity and sustainability. And one of the policy goals that I spoke about wanting to accomplish when I spoke to you four years ago, and I want to continue to build on our successes, because I believe we can use this pivotal moment to transform our systems to improve outcomes for all. And as we do, we should absolutely apply a climate lens for recovery, because our policies can yield multiple benefits, we have an opportunity to strengthen our community, incentivize economic growth, and preserve our environment. So thank you very much. Thank you, Martin, and now Sandy. Hi, I'm Sandy, I'm running for reelection to the Santa Cruz City Council and I appreciate the opportunity to be here and talk with you tonight. I am running for reelection because I believe that our local government should reflect our community values. And for me that means supporting policies and programs aimed at developing our affordable housing stock and accountable development. So increasing the number of affordable units to be built in new developments, dedicating city property for affordable housing, and demanding that there are community benefits in new development projects. Environmental justice protection and neighborhood quality of life. So we're planning our and improving our parks and open spaces tackling the climate crisis with new bike and pet infrastructure planning for sea level rise in and other climate disruptions which disproportionately affect low income people and neighborhoods adjust COVID recovery. We must pursue an equitable approach to how we rebuild our local economy. Right now, for me that means making cuts that are furthest away from the direct services our community relies on providing support and protections for workers renters and small businesses, business tenants who are struggling due to the COVID pandemic, a critical support services for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. I believe that the way to achieve these things is to practice principles of good governance for me that means transparency and communication. As we navigate these the challenging road ahead the kind of conjuncture of all these crises that people have been talking about. And I believe that now is the time to meaningfully engage now more than ever. It's time to meaningfully engage the public about how we recover and rebuild. Thank you. Thank you, Sandy, and now Shabra. Thank you for this opportunity and thank you to all of you Santa Cruz neighbors who've joined tonight. My name is Shabra Calantari Johnson. Santa Cruz has been my home for the last two decades and it's felt like home since I came here for the university 20 plus years ago. I'm an immigrant from Mozambique on Iran, which is located in northern Iran near the Caspian Sea. And although my hometown is literally worlds away from Santa Cruz, the two cities are very reminiscent of each other. They're relatively small coastal towns where many people know each other and there's a strong sense of community. And this is one of the reasons why I love Santa Cruz our constant commitment to building a resilient and inclusive community. I wear many hats.  And importantly, I'm a neighbor. My neighbors in my community are very important to me. It was a resilient and inclusive community that helped my family make it as new immigrants in this country. And it is building resilient and inclusive communities that I've dedicated my life and career to. I've done this through supporting youth through early care and education and youth substance youth prevention, working on local city and county policies, securing over $30 million to fund issues that range from immigration rights to criminal justice reform. And in the last months, co-leading the emergency response team to help unhoused youth find a safe place to shelter in place. I've done this by bleeding with a pragmatic mind and a compassionate heart. Today, like many of you, I'm concerned about the unprecedented challenges we face. Life has been unpredictable and hard. And I go into this race knowing it will get harder. And in fact, this is why I'm stepping up to serve. I know that our path to recovery won't be simple or quick. And I know that no one person entity or city can do it alone. It will take all of us listening to one another, uniting and building partnerships and working together to find solutions that bring about positive change in this town that we love so much. Thank you. Thank you, Shabra and Sonia. Good evening. My name is Sonia Brunner, and I wanted to share a little bit about myself and why I'm running for council. I moved to beautiful Santa Cruz in 1992, and my son was born in 1995. I was a single mom who worked and went to college, worked downtown and grew very resilient, responsible and resourceful. Ever since I can remember I've been drawn to roles of service and helping people from volunteering as a reading tutor at Del Mar Elementary School for ESL students volunteering for countless other community events, causes, boards and organizations to jobs and customer service. I currently live in the Seabright neighborhood. I've served overall seven years on the Housing Authority Board of Commissioners supporting hundreds of low income residents with affordable housing units programs and funding to those years while I was a low income public housing tenant myself. I've worked over the last 15 years with the Downtown Association of Santa Cruz the last five years on staff with small business support and managing programs such as the information kiosk and the downtown ambassadors. I've learned that being engaged in my community has the greatest impact. Some specific things I'm invested in going forward are building a healthy equitable and sustainable community, which includes economic development and keeping things local supporting other and our small local businesses, equity, exploring ways to create more equitable policies and public safety, ensuring that public spaces are safe and healthy places for everyone. Climate change, for example, reducing our carbon footprint and housing we need more housing and opportunities for affordable housing. As someone who has served in this community and is still committed to giving back, I would be honored to serve on City Council and would greatly appreciate your vote. My name is Sonia Brunner. Thank you very much. Thank you. Good job candidates right on target with your timing. So our first question, and I am typing this in the chat, and I would ask our community and our guests to please refrain from typing your own personal comments in the chat room because I am going to be putting the comments there so that the candidates know what's coming as we go. So on to our first question. Tell us about one neighborhood or community based project that you have work done. And Kayla, you are starting off on our question number one. So, I think the first one that comes to mind is what I'm doing right now in COVID-19 around volunteering directly in the community. I'm volunteering in a place called Barrios Unidos on the east side. And what we're doing is having very, very low barrier access to critical food sources of nourishing food. We are seeing food insecurity was severe in this county prior to this crisis. It has, it's gone to ungodly proportions here. And so what we're working on at Barrios Unidos is reaching folks who don't feel comfortable accessing and not access public resources because of their status because of language barriers and the like. So that one has a lot of meaning to me because it is an opportunity to reach those who are not being reached through the more mainstream support systems that we have in place. And that kind of work is really important to me, especially when we're talking about collective vision where the links are willing to go to reach people. Thank you. Thank you. Kelsey, and I will repeat the questions if you do want me to but Kelsey you are next. Thanks so much so I want to take a page out of my actual campaign trail, just because I think that it would, it would evidence my, my desire to have community input in the processes on the city council. But I was approached about the Felix, the proposed Felix Street development near neary lagoon and I actually didn't know a lot about the project I had never, you know, seen the lagoon myself why I knew folks that live near it and I actually toward the lagoon with neighbors I had other concerns about building density I did the homework around the general plan and the rezoning that would happen in that neighborhood around that project. And I called into city council I spoke with more neighbors to make sure that they were talking to the right people. And fortunately that project, the council voted against it. And that's a really good show of my role as somebody who will listen to the community and really weigh the issues that neighbors are experiencing before making an informed decision. Thank you, Maria. Recently I founded on docu fund Monterey Bay. And this was in response to the pandemic. A few weeks later, after the pandemic was announced I, I know the data of our county I know the data of our city and I know that the most harm will be those who were not qualifying for any relief, and that I'm unlikely to qualify for any federal relief. So launched on docu fund out of heart and out of commitment for our community. I'm proud to say that to date we raised and distributed $3 million to undocumented workers. Many of them in the city of Santa Cruz is our hospitality and retail workers who have lived here on average for 20 years, who are our neighbors who are living in overcrowded conditions, and who, even though they were full time are not able to take care of their families. So to me it is a representation of areas that we can work together to improve our community. And I'm very proud of the work very proud of the local donations and donors who stepped up to make that project viable couldn't happen without neighbors who really gave in and stood up for the neighbors in our neighborhoods. And that's our undocumented neighbors. Thank you. Thank you, Maria. Martin. Thank you. And I think I guess I'll highlight just a few things as a city council member. It's our job to hear from our neighbors, whether it be an issue or an idea like slow streets and how we can get something like that underway, or to hear from our community needing to support or find access to our city government so it's our responsibility to be responsive to our neighbors. Just sort of recently with the fires I was able to participate in bringing some supplies that we had at the county office of education to one of the warehouses so that we could get some of the evacuees and children supplies for our insects so finding ways to leverage those partnerships and then mostly just helping around with our neighbors and we have elderly neighbors neighbors who are experiencing other types of health challenges and so how are we supporting them with projects or shopping or giving them some of the fruits from our garden. That's sort of how I feel these last few weeks have been in terms of how neighbors are helping neighbors so just to name a few. Thank you, Steve. Thank you, Sandy. So I actually have been involved for the past 30 years I've lived in Santa Cruz in a variety of community based efforts through local nonprofits and then on my own. I've worked with mutual aid organizations I'm doing a lot of that kind of work right now in response to the crisis. And most of that's been interfacing with people who are homeless who are at risk of becoming homeless. But I want to talk for a second about another project that I just worked on a community project and I'm going to continue to work on and it was a response to neighbors who were having trouble with the parks and rec department around the some space on Bethany Creek.  So I intervened I went over there I worked it out I worked with the neighbors I worked with the parks and rec department and now we have an adoptive park program, coming there, and it's a place that many many children and neighbors visit on a daily basis. Thank you, Andy. And, Deborah. I'll focus on youth substance use. I've worked with our county coalition community prevention partners for over 15 years and through that work I've brought in multiple grants most recently we just secured a million dollar grant to address cannabis and vaping for young people in our community. And we built partnerships across sectors and across jurisdictions. I've worked with the city of Santa Cruz, all four cities, and the county on alcohol ordinances social host ordinances deemed to prove ordinances, and county cannabis ordinance. And that includes engagement of young people and having young people involved in creating strategies I helped develop the five year strategic plan for substance use prevention in our community for youth. And one data that I'll share is we saw 10% reduction in binge drinking over four year period, which was twice the amount that we had anticipated. Thank you. Thank you, Chevra, and Sonya. I'd like to focus on my downtown neighborhood, and our local small businesses have been hit extraordinarily hard as a result of COVID-19 16 have already closed their doors while several have shifted to online sales only. But sustaining our business improvement district and really working to promote downtown through marketing efforts, working in collaboration to attract and keep businesses downtown, expanding employment opportunities, activating public spaces downtown, helping businesses be flexible and transition to outdoor dining, working with city staff at economic development to, you know, create streamlined processes for that. And really working with employees and residents to address the needs and there are various needs that go into our downtown neighborhood. Thank you. Thank you, Sonya. Elizabeth, you are the last one to answer a question number one. Great. Yeah, so I'm involved in some local housing advocacy. I also do some tutoring locally but what I'd like to talk about a little bit is I also like to organize trash pickup events I think like many of you I prize all the great outdoor spaces all of our great parks in the area. And so every once in a while, I'll email some friends, email some colleagues and a couple months ago, we did an after work one in Watsonville and currently working on planning a cleanup event in coordination with the virtual beach cleanup events that save our shores is doing all this month to sort of replace their normal big community event. So we'll be having a physically distanced cleanup event next week to to clean up the beaches that we all love and enjoy. That's great public service announcement right there. Question number two. Kelsey, you will be starting and the question is, consider the past city council actions over the past four years. Name one action that you liked what they did and name one action that you disagreed with or didn't like. Yeah, for the action that I agreed with and I liked I'm going to go with the expanded street opening to deal with the pandemic on Pacific Avenue. I thought that that the council approving that was a really innovative measure to make sure that our downtown businesses had all the tools in their arsenal to be able to continue conducting business in a safe way. In terms of a move that I did not think was savvy on the part of the council, I would say moving forward with the garage library project without more input or compromise, given the fact that the community wrote in on a four to one opposition ratio against the library garage project. Thank you, Kelsey Maria. Hi, so one. It's so hard. What I would say is that I, I like the recent Black Lives Matter mural in front of city hall I think that's a good decision to approve it and to have it done. One item I didn't like is really the decision that was done around the street vendors on the boardwalk I think that it needed to be further reviewed. The decision did not really take into consideration the issues that are going down there and who was deeply impacted. I think that needed further insight and conversation with the city manager and how it was approached. Thank you, Martin. Thank you. So having been on the city council, I guess I will share the things that I'm really proud of one being the city leading the tobacco flavors ban, which then led to other jurisdictions than flavor limiting and banning flavored tobacco creating the Children's Fund which is now supporting our childcare and our essential workers getting childcare but also prevention and vulnerable youth. So it's a great decision around electrification and green building design. Definitely the health and all policies initiative and that community engagement process that led to a really robust ordinance that was voted upon unanimously. And then the housing blueprint I think laid a really great foundation for what we need to do to begin implementing some more of those solutions. So I think that by selecting on the past four years, one of the things that I think we need to remember is how we can work together and find areas of compromise find areas of commonality and seek to highlight and work with one another on our shared values and not try to divide our community. Thank you, Martin and Sandy. I'll just say ditto to many of the things that Martin just listed as things that you know I'm really proud of having been on the council. I would add that, you know, one of the things that I am really pleased we were able to do was officially direct staff to do a reset on the corridors project the east side corridors which you know a lot serious community opposition and not very much community input into the process so I was really glad that we were able to do that and and direct that the priorities for future consideration of land use and planning on the east side be, you know, that neighborhood protection and neighborhood input be the top priority and affordable housing be also a top priority. So in terms of the things that I'm not as pleased about I'm just going to say, I'm going to just ditto Maria's thing, her concern about the vendors we allow we. I voted no but we allowed a an executive order to go through which really shut off livelihood for some of the most vulnerable people in our community. Thank you, Shabra. So one of the things that I am also proud of in the last four years and last year is the health and all policies I supported this process and have used the health and all policies and my work in the last 20 years and this is a framework that focuses on three pillars of environmental sustainability equity and public health as the three pillars to make government decisions, and it focuses on cross cross sector partnerships. And I've used this work around childhood obesity prevention substance use prevention so I'm really, really glad that our city is leading the effort in our community and countywide. In terms of what a decision I didn't like I think it is more around the sentiment of not being able to work together and I think that some of the, some of the not working together has come in the way of really important projects, including acting swiftly and moving forward with building housing in our community which is much needed. Thank you. Thank you Shabra Sonia. Hi, I would like to say, most recently, declaring racism a public health crisis, and to me that speaks volumes to our commitment and in Santa Cruz. I've been sitting on the last few months in work groups with members from our black community working on various issues and creating equitable and sustainable solutions here in our community, and ties in with the Black Lives Matter mural just really making a statement and a commitment to acknowledging that. I think it was a lot of a decision that was made that I, I didn't like in the last four years. I can't think of anything off the top of my head that comes to mind. I definitely have had issues that, you know, have there have been so many, especially downtown that I've been involved with. Thank you. Okay, Elizabeth. Yeah, I agree with many of the others about positive things they like some of the things that I've been excited about is this rollout of the slow streets program. I think it's great to have more opportunities for people to get outside to bike to walk safely. And especially during this time when we're limited in indoor gathering it's great to have that outdoor space. I also would like to applaud members of the council who voted for the emergency protections for renters and the eviction moratorium. I thought that was absolutely critical given the novelty of the pandemic and how how frightening and dire the situation was and I think that has helped prevent a wave of evictions which I think would be much worse for our community in the long run. One of the policies that I find troubling is the the raise raising the inclusionary rate to 20%. I'm worried that this will actually prevent our community from getting more affordable housing given that report said that it would not be financially viable. Thank you and lastly on our second question Kayla. It's great to see how much alignment there is I echo many of what's what's been said already by my fellow candidates I want to pull out the corridors plan vote in particular. I experienced that I was actually working at bars and needles at that time and we're part of that engagement process and I really saw that community come together and organize develop relationships with council members, a council member Brown voting voting against and listening to the community I thought I watched that I was in the city council meetings and I thought that was a beautiful way that we saw the city council listen to to the community. And as far as things like part of the reason that I'm running things that I think we have a lot of growth to do is around community engagement and figuring out ways that we can incorporate meaningful meaningfully the communities responses and ideas and wisdoms to some of the projects and create community buy into some especially these housing developments. I think there's a lot of miss opportunities there so I'd like to figure out what we can do process wise around that. Okay, thank you very much and thank you again for all staying on task with the time. I hope it's working well for you. I'm trying to keep up. Maria will be starting our third question. The third question is, if the city and county expand the number of places. People can sleep or camp at night. Would you be willing to support enforcement for those who choose not to comply. Why, or why not. And we are starting with Maria. Thank you. This is an important question and I just wanted to go back to the root of the issue and which is housing. We need more affordable housing. You know, our on house neighbors are not the main reason they're on house is because there's not enough affordable housing. I'm open to short term solutions that allow for for land and collaboration with the county. And I emphasize county because I do think that this requires extreme collaboration with the county and also with the state. You know, when we're looking at home key and other projects available that can provide funding to help us around house neighbors. I do believe that the biggest issue we have to address is the development of affordable housing for low income and extremely low income individuals, and figuring out how the city can use the city to go and negotiate and advocate in Sacramento for more funding so that we can provide the surrounding services that low income and extremely low income families need and that are none of nonprofit developers can actually execute the development in our area. So I think the main issue here is housing and not enforcement. Great. No, thank you. I know this is such a complex issue and I guess I always try to take a moment to remember that we have also kind of with my education had on a thousands of youth who are also homeless so prevention has to be our key in terms of how are we stopping homelessness from beginning in the first place in terms of how to handle and mitigate it. I kind of think of it as another kind of program I'm involved in which is restorative justice and that involves really three things, you know, personal accountability community and then competency development so how are we able to meet people where they are to hopefully get them out of homeless and meet their needs. How are we thinking about community impacts and how are we also being aware of personal accountability when it comes to our role in things if there's any kind of crime associated with that. I think with the public space is we can't have some of the health impacts and that requires that we do have accountability and enforcement to a certain extent. And the most important thing we have to have though is a way to help get them to success and so it's a balance of all of those aspects that lead to a holistic strategy. Thank you, Martine. Sandy. Thank you. Yeah, I think it depends on on what we mean by enforcement. You know, I, I do believe that if we're talking about appropriate management of safe spaces for people. Absolutely. I think that's it's very important that we have that infrastructure in place, as well as the, you know, the management also involves having resources for people so hygiene facilities waste management, mobile showers, the kinds of comforts that people need in order to just manage their daily lives and create some stability. So I think that that's where we should be focusing on rather than just piling up citations that never get paid. And I think that some appropriate management of those of those encampments would be very important to to ensure that the impact is mitigated in, you know, for neighbors and others in the nearby areas and in our parks. Okay, time out. I just need to give Kimara a message to re re establish the chat because now I can't type the questions. So, side note, sorry. Okay, you are next. And do you want me to repeat the question. No, I've got the question. Thank you, Deb. Okay. Yes, very important issue and complex and multi layered. I do think we need a holistic approach and we do need to look upstream 28% of our point in time count our youth under the age of 25 who are homeless and who are from this community many of them who are from this community aged out of foster care. I think it's a public health issue and it is a quality of life issue for those who are unhoused and community members who are impacted. I think we have some resources and we can expand on those resources including our downtown social workers who are the experts who can respond to this. The law enforcement has a lot of work to do and it's it would be more appropriate to have experienced licensed social workers who can respond to folks who are on the streets and who need support and get them connected to resources and on a pathway to housing. But it is a public health issue that needs to be addressed. Again, for those who experience houselessness and and neighbors and businesses downtown. Thank you. Thank you, Deborah. Sonya. We definitely need to ensure that our neighborhoods are safe spaces for everyone. With enforcement and camping. I think what I'm hearing from a lot of people is the issue of the activities and the behaviors that come along with it. And that includes drug activity. It includes trash and garbage and public defecation and and those aren't safe spaces for our neighborhoods. We need to understand the different causes and reasons why people are unhoused and create solutions that address those specific needs citations enforcement with citations aren't always the effective solution. And so really it's, it's, it's a matter of working with our county and creating solutions that will be sustainable and enforcement with accountability that it's effective. Thank you Sonya Elizabeth. I just want to acknowledge that, you know, I understand a lot of that a lot of people in the community, you know, do have safety concerns. I mean a lot of people are upset that so many of our neighbors are unhoused that they're unhoused that our, what the status quo is failing our community and failing the homeless population. I think this question is sort of a big if I think that, you know, it would be great if there were established camps and better homes provided for homeless people but again that is a very short term solution we really need to be looking at longer term solutions. There's good evidence from other cities that things like permanent supportive shelters, where homeless people are connected with their families, they need whether it's substance abuse, mental health, job training, things like that are are really effective at actually, you know, resolving and ending homelessness. So I think as neighbors we should say like yes, that's the community I want that's what I want in my neighborhood. And that's so much better than having people in the park. Thank you Elizabeth Kayla. So I agree with some sentiments that have been shared already about the getting to the root level of homelessness and acknowledging that managed a transitional ways of housing folks might work in the short term. And we need to keep our eyes on the longer term sustainable root level vision, a housing first approach 100% supportive housing for folks where they're not only receiving shelter but also services that they need to work through whatever they're working through. And so for me, I agree I think the SCPD itself has even shared that they cannot solve homelessness and it's unfair to expect that in terms of the actual the question of enforcement so for me it's how do we how do we address the issue is the ways I use and I agree having someone that shows up to a situation where someone's not complying I think the word is having someone that's a social worker someone that's a housing navigator someone that is trained in mental health I think would be would get us a step forward to creating safety in our communities thank you. Thanks. So I also am supportive of supervised resources and spaces, but I'm more interested in investing in systems that enforcement more interested in investing in systems that make sure people don't have to sleep in their car on the street before reinforcing a system that sites people for performing a basic human function and sleeping I want to be clear is a human right. Similarly, I understand that everyone wants to feel safe that's a very shared basic shared value that we, we all experienced so we need to work together to make sure that folks on both side of the housing crisis feel safe but the priority here for me is ensuring that we are not pushing people who are already at the fringes of our society, farther to the edge, and that means investing in systems that can more adequately respond to their needs, such as the systems that have been mentioned in terms of social workers housing experts people that can get to folks to a place that they need to be in terms of getting them out of the situation where they're sleeping on the street. Thank you very much. Moving on to question for Martin you will be starting this question. There are 25 coastal California cities that have created a permit program for oversized vehicles to park in their city limits streets for limited times. Would you be in favor of this type of program and please explain your response, Martin. I'm definitely open to that type of program. I know that there have been also an increase of oversized vehicles in our city, because of the recent evacuees from our valley. So I think we have an opportunity actually at this time to really think about how we holistically want to support our own house and their needs that also includes a recognition that we cannot have another dense location similar to what we had with the Ross camp and I know there has been issues around areas with dense oversized vehicles in associated with criminal activity. And so how do we make those balances of really meeting people where they are there's a program that's in place where we're supporting families and having an opportunity to park at local churches so essentially how are we holistically looking at how are we meeting the needs of those in house as a county and working on how we're also mitigating the impacts to the neighborhoods as well as the environmental impacts and also limiting a dense areas where there's potential for a lot of impact. Thank you see. Thank you, Martin and Sandy. I absolutely would support a program like this, but I have to say that after 25 years of working on issues of homelessness issues in our community and four years on the city council. I can tell you that it is that as a no go we will never get anywhere. If we try to kind of isolate in particular parts of the city. There are there are just so many concerns that people express and it really really upsets neighbors. So I think we'd be better off while I would support it personally and happy to make my street one of those. But I, I think we need to be looking at other larger spaces where people can safely can't stay in their vehicles that can also be managed, and rather than moving people around constantly. And, yeah, I'll leave it there. Thanks. Thank you Sandy and Chevron. Thank you. As I said in my opening statement, these are unprecedented times so it takes all of us coming together and finding creative solutions. The oversized vehicles in neighborhoods isn't a long term solution. There aren't there isn't the infrastructure for those individuals living in the vehicles. And it does impact the community quality of life. I think we need to really think about long term solutions and as Sandy just mentioned, moving people from one space to the next and having neighbors unhappy and having public health issues, I don't think is the way to go. We need to be interested in looking for permanent spaces churches empty lots where these where these folks can live in safety and feel feel safe and feel welcome where they are, and it wouldn't have impacts on community neighbors. Thank you. Thank you and Sonya. Yes. This almost ties in with the last question. Again, having spaces for large RVs to park and be I would be in support of we currently do have some of those spaces I know the police department parking lot that's one of those locations. You know, looking at all the different reasons why people may be unhoused. They also want a safe space to be. But in our neighborhoods again it goes back to activities and behaviors that oftentimes go along with that and that's what we need to look at and in the long term. It is about housing and really continuing to work and expand on the homeless blueprint and supporting a navigation center and really addressing mental health and substance abuse care along with state laws that effectively make a difference for those treatments. And there's my time. Thank you, Elizabeth. Yeah, this is another one of those questions where you know I'm supportive of finding places for this but the question just stems from this deeper problem and the deeper problem is that coastal California is not affordable. It's like it's even a struggle for a salary professional like myself to ever think about buying a house here. And so I think we really need to get serious about building housing for people at all income levels that means, you know subsidized low income housing. That means missing middle housing for middle class people need opportunities to be able to live in California and it would be much better if people in Santa Cruz were, you know, living in a duplex living in an ad you living in an apartment building instead of being forced out to Watsonville and driving in and commuting and making highway one a nightmare every day. So I really think that's where we need to focus on. Thank you. Thank you, Kayla. Yeah, I have to say as a leader in this community. It's really difficult to to even fathom and talk about like where's the right place to put a family that has to live in an RV. Right, it's not it's not what I want for Santa Cruz it's not what I want for people. And it breaks my heart, you know really I just I have to share that. I have experienced homelessness myself it's it's hard to think about. And I agree I've actually talked to some neighbors who have a few RVs living down the street and I've talked to folks that are not comfortable with it and the folks that are living in those RVs and seen a lot of opportunities for commonality and have actually started acting as kind of like a go between people. This is what they're telling me so I just bring it up to say that I think there's, I think there's an opportunity to as a council member to be modeling how to understand each other. At least I echo the sentiments that this is not. Oh, I've lost the guy with the stop sign. Oh my goodness. Yep, I figured. Okay. Thanks. Don't lose track of Steve. Mr. stop sign. Thanks. So I've also experienced houselessness and I'm aware that a vehicle oversized or regular maybe the only barrier between someone holding down a job being able to stay healthy and being totally unhoused and having to sleep in public spaces like we were just talking about with the previous question. So I'm sympathetic to this concept and I'm also aware of the concerns the neighbors have around hygiene and the streets as safety and I think that I want to echo Kayla on the sentiment that I think that we need to put these communities and conversations with each other. Additionally, I'd like to expand the safe sleeping lots that exist in faith networks in community organization lots. You know, organizations whose values or goals align with the value of caring for our community members who may be struggling to have a brick and mortar roof over their head. And as we're seeing with this wildfire mobilization to keep evacuees safe, we have a lot of capacity in our community to take care of one another. We just need to tap into those resource networks a little bit harder. Thank you, Maria. I'm moving on to question number five. Hold on, Debra. Let me answer that question. Oh, Maria, I'm so sorry. It's okay. Okay, go. I echo everything that's been said. Look, we can look for more humane ways versus forcing people to move from street to street. We can look into the policy, but at the end of the day, what we really need to do is look at housing. And as Chevron mentioned, we have a lot of youth who are on house. Now I worked on a project that looked at youth aging out of foster care and develop a housing solution that including support services for them to thrive. We have a lot of models for us to provide housing that is innovative where there is looking at the land use zoning rules where there's looking at the capital that we bring for supporting efforts, but in the short term, we can look at ways to look at oversized vehicles. I said it before and I'll say it again I rather have somebody in an oversized vehicle than on the street. So if we need to figure out a way to humanely talk as neighbors to find a way to find a space in the short term that may be a permit process, we can also look at a way that looks at safe spaces for them to sleep in, but we cannot and absolutes focus on the fact that we need to develop more housing in our city. Thank you, Maria. And yeah, you guys have to keep me in line to appreciate it. Okay, so moving on to question five sandy you will start with Santa Cruz facing massive shortfalls and revenue resulting in significant budget cuts. What programs or services would you propose to cut to meet budget demands and be very specific please. I will I'll be very specific. I, you know, having served on the city's budget committee now for three years of being on the council and looking at the crisis that I mean there there's really no way to describe how severe this is and we we have the potential to run out of cash to, I mean literally for the first time that our city manager can can remember. We do have to be very serious about this, I think we need to make cuts that are furthest away from direct services. I think, you know, quite frankly we have some administrative and consultant bloat that we could be looking at and we need to take a hard look at that. I believe that we also can think about the ways that we use our police department to address problems that, you know, rightfully should be dealt with through community programs and other services.  Thank you Sandy and Shabra. Thank you I think one of the things we need to look at is federal bailouts we won't be able to do this on our own. We've never faced this type of a budget impact I think in the history of our city. We have to get very, very aggressive about grants and resources that are outside our community. I think we also need to have a balance of cuts and looking at where we can generate revenue from some of our services. In terms of cuts I would look at where we have some capital expenditures that we can pull back on where there are some projects that can be postponed. And I would prioritize not cutting where it would impact low income families and people of color. Thank you Shabra. Sonia. The city budget must prioritize resources and services for our most vulnerable community members. And I know each department as I'm learning and diving into this each department has been tasked with cuts and, for example, eliminating unfilled positions advertising uniforms, which is great we need to take people first approach. That is serious and we are in an unprecedented crisis with, you know, loss of revenue from shutdown services so the least amount of cuts on those who need it the most and utilizing city reserves which is for this type of crisis scenario. And in advocating for state and federal funding to help reduce the impact and maintain a strong base as possible. Thank you. Thank you Sonia. Elizabeth. I want to let Garrett know that black lives matter. And then I'd like to say that I appreciate the sacrifices of city staff that they've already made in the face of budget cuts. I agree with what's been said that this is a good reminder that we all need to put pressure on our representatives in DC that both the state and localities really need the federal bailout. I agree with what I would look at cutting locally I agree that we need to prioritize to make sure that cuts don't disproportionately fall on low income individuals and people of color in our community. And also that we aren't short changing ourselves by making cuts that will actually exacerbate the depth of the recession. I agree that we should look at cutting consulting fees. And I also support looking at the police department budget and reallocating that for public safety that might include counseling and other forms of outreach. Thank you, Kayla. So I agree with with this sentiment that's been shared around I think the budget is going to be one of the most important things a city council member does for the next few years. I'm sure my energy will be in learning the ins and outs we're going to have really long meetings going line by line. I'm personally already reaching out to staff and experts and, you know, other other government officials at the state level to learn more about what's going on. I think it's a matter. It's going to be a deep study and a lot of hours and I'm prepared to do that. I agree the social services services that are reaching those most vulnerable most impact most impacted are often the first on the cutting block. It will not be the case for me in my vote at all. I will start far this away from those services and focus on folks that can bear the brunt of these cuts. These aren't hard. These aren't easy for anybody but you know, placing these cuts on folks at the income levels and the the roles that aren't as essential as these. Thank you, Kelsey. Thanks, the. Yeah, I want to start by saying yeah black lives matter that is not a question that's up for debate. And then I want to also say that I want to, we should tackle bloat in the budget, we have consulting fees that are sending our dollars outside of our local economy. This could be one of the first things that we decide to chop. Right now we need to be prioritizing keeping all our dollars inside of our economy. And when we cut social services we need to keep in mind that we can deepen our inequities that we're experiencing in our community so any cuts that happen have to be made through a lens of compassion and integrity. And I want to look at the big budgets in our, our general fund places that can be cut such as our police budget. Additionally, I think that we should be postponing the large projects that are no longer economically viable under a cobit 19 recession. Thank you, Maria. Black lives matter. It needs to be said, I'll say it and so many times so we need to say it. One of the budget, it matters there to budgets reflect values. And when we're looking at a shortfall we need to be very specific about the opportunity this actually presents for us to prioritize the values of our city and who we want to become. It'd be hard to cut but we need to keep essential services prioritize the well being of low income and communities of color, and quite frankly focus the recovery on those most harmed by the by the pandemic which is people color and women. And that means that we really need to be working regionally with the state and federally to bring in dollars to our city there there's not our city can only do so much. But let's remember that the largest industry have is hospitality and tourism that's not coming back fast. So the need to look for new revenues that need to look for other funds to come in is crucial, and we need to do it collaboratively and regionally. We are neighbors to great cities and we should all be working together to make sure that as a region we can thrive and invest where we need to do which includes our small businesses and our workers. Thank you Maria and Martin. Yeah, thank you. You know it's going to be really hard and it's really unfortunate having been on the council where we anticipated a surplus that we're now experiencing what we are in terms of our budget. There will be cuts to services, even after we draw down our reserves and we postpone capital projects this is unprecedented in terms of our budget crisis. We have basic infrastructure in place clean water waste removal fire, clearly, and public safety and how can we also preserve our parks and programs. We can look at strategies like we already have in terms of incentives for retirement merit freezes, not filling positions that are vacant, as well as sort of postponing some of the programming that we had in place that really isn't applicable at this moment. So there will be immediate cuts but in the long term we need to have community engagement and work with our partners to leverage resources for co benefits and come together to identify how we can continue to maintain our services and apply an equity lens as we do so. Thank you, Steve. Thank you. Shebra you will be starting out question number six. Currently, our Rangers patrol our parks and public spaces. City staff is recommended to cut the Ranger program to meet budget shortfalls. This approach. If so, how would you propose to keep our parks and public spaces safe for all. And if not, what would you cut in the budget to keep the Rangers. Thank you. Important and difficult question I recently read an article that pre COVID pre the fires that the cuts that we've seen at the national and state level to our Rangers has caused overgrowth in our state parks and and up the coast and that we would be experiencing a tremendous fire that would have a major impact. This article was written by a colleague and it turns out that we this is exactly what we experienced in the last month. I think the work of the Rangers in our community as essential and not only to keep the space safe and clean but to address the climate, the climate changes that have been happening in our communities. So in terms of what would I cut instead. Difficult question what I will say is the approach that I would use is the tool that we have recently in our communities the health and all policies, which we look at health equity public health equity and sustainability to make these decisions so I would use that framework to make the decision of what what I would cut in its place. Thank you. I want to clarify we're talking about our Santa Cruz police Rangers that are. So, if you want to re answer that question I should have clarified that because everybody's minds are on the fires and I get that. So it's not California Rangers. It's the Santa Cruz PD Rangers which moved from our parks and rec department over to our police department so. Okay, I see. Thank you. I think I'll just say that I'll, I think that using the health and all policies as a framework to see where where the other areas that we can look at for cuts. When we're making cuts. How do they affect. Are they equitable. How do they impact climate action. How do they impact the public health. And I'll just keep it to that. Okay, thank you. So yeah. Okay, our downtown Rangers are great and I interact with them on a weekly basis. You know, since they've been under the police department we do have several foot patrol Rangers that walk downtown on our very proactive they don't they aren't armed. They don't have anybody but they can issue citations and they can just be a quick asset for any situation. So my understanding as I'm learning more about this topic is, well I don't want to see them go I understand that there are unfilled community service officer positions and Rangers can apply to those positions, which are also unarmed positions equally active in proactive situations and I would definitely support that I can't say what I would cut instead without knowing more and speaking more to to that. Thank you Sonya Elizabeth. To be completely honest one of the great things about these forums and questionnaires I get is I learned a lot more about Santa Cruz. And I'm not personally that familiar with the Ranger program so I have homework to do to read up on it and to see whether I think that that should be a priority when we are making these up decisions. In general, I think that parks and public spaces like should be accessible they should be safe. And that's definitely a top priority and yeah so I should read up and see if there are other mechanisms for doing that and if you have personal experiences with the Ranger program, feel free to reach out and let me know what you think. Thank you Kayla. Yeah, so I can share a little bit about how I think about these decisions the first is to ask the the relative, the relevant stakeholders here, I want to talk to the union unions are going to be really important to making that this economy recovers in an equitable, strong and humane way so I would want to check in there I want to see what scenario planning was done in which this was rendered the best scenario I want to see what cuts were for for gone in order to make these cuts. This isn't one. Again, this is one that is on the end of serving serving social services right and managing public space. So that's, that's one that I wanted just automatically put on the chopping block. At first again, what I want to look at our higher higher end income levels what at what rate can those levels bear a cut in a more equitable way than say some some of these lower paying jobs and so that's how I'd be looking at this cut. Thank you very much. Kelsey. A really great thing said, in a similar fashion, given that these are good union jobs, I don't want to say that I would guarantee that these Rangers would be cut without having them have a seat at the table so I can discuss, you know, possible alternative scenarios, you know when I was endorsed by SEI you, I told them that I would make sure that any cuts that are made to union jobs are given where they're given a fair ability to negotiate so I don't want to say that yes I would cut the Rangers. Additionally, I feel that you know there's alternative cuts that we could make to over patrolling in our police budget. There's cuts that I feel that we could be creative around in terms of our equipment costs with our police budget and if we're making cuts to public safety, I'm not convinced that the unarmed Rangers who patrol our public spaces are going to be the most appropriate places to cut. Thanks. Thank you and Maria. There are unprecedented times that has been said before and there'll be very difficult decisions that will have to be made. And I will echo the process of really looking at where is our priority in the cuts and where does this cut fit in into the other cuts that are being done, including to those are that are on arm justice, I mean we are living in a time where we really have to evaluate how we provide safety as a community, who we hire to provide that safety, and how it's being executed. I think this is an opportunity not only to look at the role but really at how we want to approach safety in our community in general, and looking at budget appropriate levels of how we want to do that. I would gladly talk to all the stakeholders and look at it this close closer by the end of the day, regardless of the decision on this particular line item. The other line items are going to be impacted, whether we want to or not, just because of the reality of our fiscal space as a city, and it's important to be just be thoughtful about that and recognize the difficulty that we're sitting in. Thank you Maria, more team. Yeah, I think I know that this has been something that's been floated in terms of kind of, I haven't actually seen the proposal and I haven't had a chance to actually talk to all that are potentially impacted. So that being said, I think holistically we need to think about what are the results that we want to see, and what is the sort of economic trade off as we make these types of decisions, and really balance that in terms of community priorities and values. So as we approach our budget adjustments, which we will shortly, how are we thinking of it through kind of the results and impact we want to see. I know that this has been something that's come up and I, and I will just commit as the council member who will be making this decision that I will do my due diligence to best understand the proposal approach and potential fiscal impact and where we would have to draw those dollars if we were to make that type of cut. Thank you. Sandy. Well, I don't want to violate the Brown Act here so I have to be a little bit careful. I, so you know what I can say is that I have had, you know, I have a tremendous amount of respect and appreciation for the work that the Rangers do. I think they interface with the public in a really different way and, and that there's a real benefit and value to that in our community. And I can also say that I've had some some really productive conversations I've talked with almost all of the Rangers now. And, you know, and, and I'd like to find a way forward. But I think I need to leave it there.  You have a free day in Santa Cruz. I know this is going to be difficult. No work, no campaigning and no responsibilities. That's your dream day in Santa Cruz. So where are you going, and how are you going to enjoy your day in Santa Cruz. And we are going to start with Sonia. I have a quick question. Does the 30 second closing statement follow immediately after that. No, we're, we'll go through everybody and go through the whole. And you the 30 second closing. Does not include the 30 seconds. My free day, no work, no campaigning would be amazing. I had a day off in six months so it would definitely include roller skating, it would definitely include paddle boarding stand up paddle boarding from the sub shack. It would definitely include some beach time and definitely include somewhere downtown. And I would say that would be my nutshell, I would be very happy to enjoy that day. Well, I hope you get it soon. I hope all of you get this day soon. Elizabeth. I'm going to throw a coronavirus vaccine into this. So my Santa Cruz day would include probably getting a pastry at the buttery. Going on a bike ride up to UCSC campus. And then coming back, how are we going for a hike in I see marks and then in the evening, grabbing a beer at a brewery and then hopefully some live music at catalyst or the Rio or something like that. That sounds great to Kayla. Yeah, I'm having I need a clarifying question of what no work is, like, I'm going to try. I think I've I've seen it on other people before so I'm going to get, I'm going to take a guess. That's got to be it. It's moving. Look, well, things moving. Wait a minute. Sorry, I think Darius is not there you go. Okay. Well, I'll tell you, it's going to involve ice cream, several scoops and a dog. I think I need, I need to go to the Pogo Nip and just be around the trees I was really concerned. A couple of weeks back with the fires and just had that kind of moment of like, oh man, what, you know, didn't think it would really happen but it just reminded me I love that place so that's where I'd go. Thank you. Hi, Kelsey. Thanks. No campaigning. I'm like, what does that even look like. I would definitely want it first of all to be in late fall because I think that is the most magical time in Santa Cruz. And I'd want to go to brunch, either at crow's nest or Harbor cafe, probably head up to Garden of Eden, splash around a little bit. And then catch a flick at Del Mar and then go to Santa Cruz Mountain Brewery on the west side, hopefully one of the nights where they have the dogs there that you can pet. That would be my ideal day. Very cool. And Maria.  It's quite frankly so maybe walk in the morning walk down to the war walk we're like 10 minutes away and see the sea lions a little bit.  Have a lovely brunch, hang up the hammock hang out with her play some games that she likes to play talk to the neighbors and just, you know what I love barbecuing I would love to have like the coronavirus place where my friends can come over and we can just have a nice time in our backyard and I don't know maybe go to the penny for some ice cream and then bookshop Santa Cruz do around that the day but at the end at night what I would really love to do is I like to do movies in the backyard with my daughter and our friends and just relax and close the day so just family and friends that will be the best day. Thank you. Martin. What a great question. Thank you. Gosh, I think you know for me I think a free day is sort of being free from all of that's in your mind and on your to do list and then just being present and definitely spending time with my daughters. They have gotten me into surfing so if there's some waves will go to cows and I'll wipe out a lot and they'll do great. Then we have this really small inflatable boat we've been going out fishing and catching some fish and seeing our beautiful city from the ocean which is just an incredible perspective. And then just sort of being present whether it be at a park or on the beach or in the backyard and experiencing the beauty in the sun and sort of just the freedom from from the mind which usually has massive to do list and and enjoy what a beautiful blessings I have in my life. Thank you and Sandy. So I'm going to assume that there is swell on this day and the weather is cooperating. I would start the day off with a wave check and hopefully serve one of my favorite spots. And then I would take a pit stop at the tabby cat cafe and get a cup of coffee peruvian in the morning Ethiopian if it's the afternoon and talk with people there. I always run into people all that I love and love talking story with and catch up on the news. And then I would, I get to walk in the polka nip a lot so I'm going to I would say the polka nip but I'm going to say if the weather is cooperating I would go to the north coast and hike in one of my favorite spots. And then I would go home read a book and then round out the day with a nice meal with friends. Sounds good and Shabra. And then came up a bunch and I just have to share that I had a bowl of ice cream in the middle of the day the other day. That's like hasn't happened in years anyway, I would go for a really, really, really wrong long run and listen to an audio book that's just a silly book to get my mind off of the list. I would go to the beach with my sons and my dog and my husband and they've gotten me into boogie boarding lately so I do that with them.  Great. And I, I want to say I hope you all get those days that you wish for with today's blue skies and sunny, I have to say I was, it just changed my whole perspective like yes this is what Santa Cruz is and, you know, just, it was a real bright spot today so I hope all you get, all of you do get your days. So if we did not cover something, we would like to give you an opportunity. And, and I'll say, I'm going to change Steve to a minute, because we do have time so a minute of closing statement if we miss something or we, there's just, you know, something that we really need to know about you. That has been said already. Please share that with us and we're going to start with Elizabeth. Yeah, so I think a lot of the questions this evening really reflected one of the main reasons why I'm running which is to try to address the housing crisis there are many manifestations of it. It impacts our community both in terms of our homeless population in terms of striving towards sustainability it impacts students at the university. You know, I know that many of my friends in the community have had children move back in with them or parents move back in with them because of the economic situation. And we just really need to take serious action regarding housing affordability and that's both like deed restricted affordable and housing for the middle class I really think that, you know, that's the Santa Cruz we want to live in where, you know the people who work in the community can live here and then we can all be neighbors with with the people who who work here and recreate here and go to school here. So that's my vision for the city thank you. Thank you Elizabeth Kayla. It's been a hard time coming back from my ice cream walk in the Pogo in it for this. Thank you for, for, I don't know. Yeah, thank you for for bringing that into this and I think it is something I want to think about and wish that for everybody, you know, there will be a light at the end of this and we all get to imagine our days and the new normal and I wish that for everybody here too. I think this community is in a place of needing great healing and we need a city council that can model that and and I guess what I'll leave you with is is a dedication to be a good faith, honest, fierce person in that endeavor. And I'm committed to that I'm committed to to listening to everybody. I'm committed to making sure that when we disagree that it's generative and still leading us towards that that kind of ultimate north star we need to be focused on our healing right now and moving forward and I just want to share that that is a commitment that I hold. Thank you. Thank you. Kelsey. Thank you. I also appreciate that question about our dream day I think that after talking about really difficult topics like the pandemic, our budget cuts we need a little bit of levity so I appreciate that. You know, in my run for city council this isn't something that's it's easy to do this is something I'm doing because I'm stepping up for my community in a time of crisis. I imagine my favorite season in Santa Cruz, which is autumn being spent in a pandemic doing zoom forums, or campaigning in safe ways but here I am and it's because I am committed to to you and to our neighborhoods to our small businesses, to the families that are struggling to keep a roof over their head. And our city council works for our community members and as an elected leader I'd be certain to bring a community vision to the dais to engage with community members on the issues that matter. We can care for each other in ways during our recovery that will build back strong resilience for the next emergency, whether that emergency is a climate emergency or another economic emergency I really do believe that with Boulder leadership on the city council dais we can build structures that will keep us safe in a long lasting way. So if you'd like to learn more about me and go to Kelsey health board council calm thanks so much. Thank you Kelsey and Maria. I'm, I'm grateful for being here tonight thank you for hosting us. I'm grateful for the amazing women who are also running. I'm really to serve our city Santa Cruz is home. This is where my family is my daughter and I have made this our home, or chosen families here, and I believe that we are so blessed to be in this town that it is our utmost opportunity to serve the city in this moment of time to see where we go I have over 20 years experience working both developing global and international programs, state programs, local programs that I hope that my experience can be of service at this time. We need innovation we need creativity and and we need love we need love and to recognize where we're going as neighbors and where we and how we want to approach it. And at the end of the day it is an economic recovery, or an economic recovery into what, and I think the challenge to all of us here is to connect that this is the next step of growth for the city. And it means that we make sure that it is home for everybody who lives here. And that includes our neighbors who are undocumented that includes our neighbors that are on house. And I think we all have the heart to make that happen. Go to vote Maria 2020.org. Thank you Maria. Sandy. Thank you. So, I guess I want to say a little bit about myself since we have that extra 30 seconds. I. So you know I really did I grew, I grew up with a lot of instability in my life, family issues, you know, economic issues and challenges. And I really didn't have a home until I came to Santa Cruz. I've been so lucky to get to spend most of my life here to have found community here, good mentors, you know people who love me and, you know, support me and that and kind of and give me strength to be able to do the same for others in our community and for our community as a whole. I have worked locally in the nonprofit sector I've worked in organic agriculture farming I've also now I'm a university instructor, and you know in all of those spaces I have, I have developed an approach to public service I think that is motivated by this long commitments to advancing the goals of economic democracy, sustainability and social justice. And I want to continue to work in that vein I would look forward to talking with any of you more in the future. Sandy Brown for city council.com. Sorry. Yeah, we skip Martin. No. Oh, sorry. I'm sorry, Martin, then I'll go back. I think, thanks, Sam. Sorry. No problem. I guess for my, I guess for my closing statements. I guess I'll just, I'll say that I want to meet the challenges that are before us today they're unprecedented we have the pandemic we have sort of a moving in terms of what human behavior will be after and then we have the catastrophic fires and how are we really thinking about meeting the needs before us right now and getting policies in place to achieve those those those results. I think right now we have an opportunity to really build the most resilient Santa Cruz for the future to inherit and that is our responsibility. And if we are knowing that we're going to experience more extreme weather events how are we building back a green economy how are we thinking about our infrastructure, how are we planning for a way to handle the stressors that will come before us in the future. And so there's a lot of potential for incredible innovation. One of the things that I feel we've found that we're more interconnected than we thought. If our water department doesn't have childcare than our critical infrastructure to get hundreds of thousands hundreds of hundred thousand people water isn't isn't functional so we have to think holistically and leverage partners. So I, I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you tonight and I want to say thank you Steve I really miss you Steve. I used to see you join the stop sign every day. Thank you Martin and now Chevron. Thank you all use my extra time to share that when I told my grandmother in Iran that I was running. She started crying because this would not be possible. Nine women running for city council would not be possible in Iran so I am really truly grateful to be in this space right now with all of you. I want to thank Santa Cruz neighbors for the forum. I want to thank all of you Santa Cruz neighbors who are here tonight for engaging for caring about your community. I'm running because I care deeply like so many of you I want community that is inclusive that is welcoming. And I know that together we can build this. I know that we've got a lot of work before us. But I know I'm confident and I'm committed that with all of you who care with all of us who care, we can come together, we can build partnerships so we can navigate those difficult conversations. And we can ask the difficult questions to co create a community that where we're all present together. Thank you. Thank you Chevra and so yeah. Consistently demonstrated my commitment to creating inclusive and equitable solutions for our community. Through my decades of civic engagement housing small business work and collaborations. I strongly believe the fullness of my life experiences community partnerships and endorsements like council member Matthew supervisor community and Mayor Cummings qualifies me as a candidate for Santa Cruz City Council. I'm running for city council is my commitment to support Santa Cruz as an invested community member as a mother as a multicultural woman of color. It has worked 28 years in this community and will continue to do so for the next four years of elected. I look forward to serving and supporting the safety and success of Santa Cruz. And I would be honored to have your endorsement and vote. My name is Sonia Brunner and you can learn more at Sonia Brunner.org. Thank you. That brings us to a conclusion here and I have to tell you thank you so much. All of the candidates who are truly dedicating their time running a campaign at this unusual time that we're dealing with. And, you know, giving that part of your own personal lives and I really was sincere about I hope you get that personal day to do all those things. And I can't be more grateful for everybody that joined us on this first time for Santa Cruz neighbors to be zooming. And thank you all for joining us sending in your questions and we, it is recorded and we will be passing this on further so many, many more people will be able to share this and Robert you have one more thing. I just wanted to pipe in I've received many emails that people could not get in tonight we were up to 100 people which was our maximum. So we will do our due diligence to get this video courting out to you I will make sure that all the candidates received the link for the video to share. Thank you all very very much and Deb you're awesome tonight. Thank you. Thanks. Robert's one of my keyboard members and other board members were on as well so thank you again for helping to all put this package together and make it a success. Really, really do appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you, guys. Thank you. Thank you. Have a wonderful evening. Hi, everyone. I haven't left it yet, Robert. Bye Robert. Bye Steve, thank you.


Dogs returning from war can suffer from mental fatigue and problems just like humans do. Some of these bomb-sniffing dogs have since retired from the military after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.  In this story, we visit with one hero dog who served his country and companion well while in Afghanistan. The dog's name is Staff Sergeant Helotus. He has been to war. He has worked long days, survived rocket blasts and firefights, and found lots of IEDs. We went through a lot of different situations, you know, I'd find IEDs, explosions. Helotus and one of them were getting rocketed one night and hit our hooch. When dogs returned from Afghanistan like Helotus, they suffered from a lot of the same struggles that humans face. Helotus wasn't performing well at work and was having trouble adjusting to being back for more. He would get frightened, start shaking, and become immobilized. In short, he had PTSD. So for medical reasons, Helotus was allowed to retire and his handler, Sergeant Justin Hagerty, adopted him. Now life for Helotus is full of family, food, and relaxing on his own, well deserved, personal couch. Today is a special day for both man and dog as his handler gets promoted. Hello to Sergeant First Class Helotus. After all they have been through, still side by side, their friendship and the story of their bond continues. For Army Broadcasting, I'm Specialist Johnny Hudson.


Trade it and upgrade it now at Appalachian Wireless and receive up to $700 off when you trade your old eligible device in and upgrade to a new iPhone 14 Pro Max or Samsung S23 Ultra on an unlimited Appalachian advantage plan because we are you. We are Appalachian Wireless. Do you like art? The Pot County Cooperative Extension Community Arts is hosting a digital art class that you do not want to miss. So most of what we do with Pot County Extension with our community arts program is support local artists and anytime we can bring in a local artist to help build the skills of other artists in the area it's a win-win. So we have Parker coming in to teach these new skills and build this creativity and inspiration for other people who will be in attendance and I personally am very excited to learn from Parker and I know other people in class will be too. The class series is free but all who attend must bring their own iPad and a stylus pen with the Procreate app pre-installed on device. The first part of the class, the first part of the first two classes is just going to be an overview of the basic features of Procreate and then we are going to jump into a step by step like paint with me style where I already have a set image in mind that we all sort of create together step by step and along the way like learn little shortcuts and things that are useful to know when you're using Procreate. Each class will be taught in groups lasting one hour with plenty of opportunities for one on one instruction. It's great opportunity like I really wish something like this would have been around when I was going to high school because it was really hard to get into digital art I love to do it then but there wasn't really any resources so I think it's a great thing to have for like people in the community to learn how to get into it. 10 years old, 20 years old, 50, we just want to draw together on iPads. Spaces are limited to begin your digital art journey, reserve your spot by calling 6-0-6-4-3-2-2-5-3-4. Reporting from Mountain Top News, I'm Ethan Miller.


But there seems to be a particular connection you have with your fans where they're really loyal towards you and, you know, will follow you anywhere effectively. Yeah, well, funny you say that because as I was saying earlier, being a musician, it's, it's a, it's not really a morning thing, it's a night thing. So I don't do well in the mornings and I was on my way up here and I stopped at a petrol station to get, you know, diesel and I went in to get a sandwich and I was just at the head on my, of a bear and the guy behind the counter was just like, oh, I've got any gigs today and you kind of, I just forgot myself and I was like, oh, I actually can't be that way. Like you can't have the head. I was going to say, normally, do you, do you, did you get petrol or diesel and they're asking what gigs are coming up? Yeah, yeah. And that kind of suit to that girl. I apologize for me with the head like a bear, but I also appreciate her. Yeah, but you keep it real anyway, don't you? I mean, that's your style, isn't it? There's no, there's no wears and graces.  Yeah, only human. So, uh, and fair player, she makes them mean flat white.


Under Australian law in order to provide immigration assistance you must either be a registered migration agent or exempt from registration. The Department of Immigration and Citizenship investigates complaints of unlawful assistance. If you are not registered or exempt and help someone in their dealings with the department make sure you know what you can and cannot do. You can help with clerical work, translating or interpreting, advising someone they need a visa or passing on information received from another source. You can't tell them what visa to apply for, how to apply for the visa or use your experience in immigration processes to help them. Immigration investigation officers can be sent to your workplace or home. Officers from the Federal Police can execute warrants to find evidence to be used for prosecution. If you are an unregistered migration agent in Australia you're breaking the law. The penalties are serious. If prosecuted you are liable for fines and jail terms. Advertising that you give immigration assistance, the penalty is up to two years imprisonment. Charging a fee or reward for providing immigration assistance, the penalty is up to ten years imprisonment. Falsely representing that you are a registered migration agent, the penalty is up to two years imprisonment. And giving immigration assistance when you are not a registered agent, the penalty is up to $6,600. Unregistered agents can also be issued with on-the-spot fines. Failure to pay the fine could result in prosecution. Multiple fines can be issued to the same offender. Always ask an agent if they are registered with the office of the MARA, that is the Migration Agents Registration Authority. If you're unsure you can check online at www.mara.gov.au If you use an unregistered person and they submit false documents with your application, you could have your visa cancelled and ultimately be removed from Australia involuntarily. If you know of someone who is operating illegally as an unregistered migration agent, or if you are a victim, report it to the department. Go to the department's website and tick the box for unregistered agent activity. Or you can call our DOB in line on 1800 009 623.