Well, good morning everybody. Welcome to our 10 a.m. Public portion of the closed session of the October 8th 2019 meeting of the Santa Cruz City Council and this part of the meeting the council will receive public testimony Thereafter the council members will move to the courtyard conference room for closed session I'd like to ask our clerk to please call the roll. Thank you mayor council members crone here Here Brown here Matthews is currently absent Vice mayor Cummings and mayor Watkins here Are there any members of the public who would like to speak to us on our closed session agenda items? Please come forward and you'll have two minutes Eric Nelson I'm an attorney here in town. I represent Deborah workman. She has submitted a tort claim that I understand you guys are reviewing Today I'm not here to argue that this was the most egregious police act ever and I'm not a Zealot against the police force. I Do conflict work for the county? I believe in government believe in police and I understand that they have a job to do and that's to protect us in this Specific instance they were caught out to miss workman's home because her son had said that she was depressed and had a handgun in The police went to the went to her house they secured the area they secured miss workman they Determined that there was a firearm in the house and they had her sitting safely on the count. I mean on the curb and then They determined they were gonna take her in for 5150 to make sure she was safe and She was sitting on the curb and they grabbed her about to lift her up to handcuff her and she kind of yelled out Please don't hurt me. I have an injury and they didn't They didn't stop to see what was gone. They just grabbed her and twisted arm as it turned out they broke her arm and They broke it pretty badly. It was in a cast for a while.  I mean her arm is really broken There's video that shows that the police broke it So at this point we're not arguing It's the most egregious thing and they beat her and abuse her and I understand they have to be able to handcuff people But they did break her arm and she's injured by it and she's gonna be permanently injured by it But you're welcome to leave any documentation you'd like with us if you'd like okay, thank you so much I appreciate your time Are there any other members of the community who would like to address us on this closed session agenda items? Okay, seeing none. We'll go ahead and adjourn to our closed session Okey-dokey well before we begin our regular council meeting We need to have the annual meeting of the board of directors of the industrial development authority IDA and the Santa Cruz public improvement financing corporation corporation City council members serve as board members on these boards which were created for the purpose of providing the city an instrument to issue bonds annually while the bonds are in existence the board members are legally required to hold a meeting of the IDA and the SCPi FC which is the Santa Cruz public improvement financing corporation The meetings are procedural and for the purpose of approving minutes and electing new board members Before we begin I'd like to call to order the October 8th 2019 annual meeting of the board of directors of the industrial development authority And I'd like to ask our clerk to please call the roll. Thank you directors crone Here Here Brown here Matthews here by two fight Vice chair Cummings here and chair Watkins here Are there any members of the public who would like to speak to us on this item? Okay, I'm now looking for a motion on item number one I'll move Item number one. Okay. Okay. We have a motion by council member Myers seconded by councilor Matthews All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay. That passes unanimously So we'll move on to the second item And I'm now looking for a motion for the second item to elect new officers of the industrial development authority by-laws as follows I will move these slate of officers as described in the agenda. Okay So there's a motion by council member Matthews seconded by vice mayor Cummings any further discussion any public comment Okay, seeing none. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay. That passes unanimously I'd like to call to order the next one, which is the October 8th 2019 annual meeting of the board of directors of the Santa Cruz Public Improvement financing corporation and I'd like to ask our clerk to please call the roll again. Thank you directors Crone Yeah, lover here Myers here Brown here Matthews here by chair Cummings. Yeah chair Watkins here Are there any members of the public who would like to speak to us on this item? Okay, seeing none. We'll go ahead and see if there's a motion for item number one Which is to approve the minutes of the Santa Cruz Public Improvement financing corporation Okay councilmation by council member Brown seconded by council member Matthews all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? That two passes unanimously. I'll go ahead now if we have the election of officers as presented in our packets I'll go ahead and see if there's a motion to bring those officers forward. I'll move the Election of officers. Okay motion by council member Myers seconded by council member Matthews any further discussion all those in favor Please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? That two passes unanimously. We'll go ahead and adjorn that meeting So we're now at our regular meeting Okay, good afternoon everybody and welcome to our 11 40 a.m Session of the October 8th 2019 meeting of the Santa Cruz City Council And I'd like to ask our clerk to please call the roll again. Thank you mayor councilmember. It's crone Here lover here Myers here Brown here Matthews here vice mayor Cummings here and mayor Watkins here Before we begin I'd like to let the community know that we will have over flow seating at the Tony Hill room over at the civic auditorium for our 430 p.m. Meeting agenda It will be the final agenda item before we have to adjorn by a 6 30 p.m. This evening So if I could ask our clerk to please lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance so we are at the point of our agenda where we get to meet our new employees and We have our risk and safety manager Patti Heyman who's here to introduce some new employees I believe It's Patti here. Yeah, Patti's here The boys I hear okay, it's a couple of minutes early 1140 starting.  Maybe if there are other employees. Oh, okay So when when the new employee that Patti will be introducing arrives We'll go ahead and have that heard but if not and we have the other employees We'll go ahead and invite up our director of libraries Susan Nimitz to introduce her new employees Okay Why don't we go ahead and pause for like three minutes until we are letting our new employees in This is like Okay, perfect, so technically we're at 1139 right now We're good. We have okay We're in all in okay, and I think we're right here. Yep. We're Seconds away from hitting 1140 So It looks like maybe we have is Patti ready with her new employee here Okay, why don't we go ahead and Patti come on up and we'll go ahead and introduce your new employee, please Thank you, sorry It's my pleasure to introduce Annie Martin who is finances new accounting assistant to Annie's a longtime local. She's born and reared in San Jose's called Santa Cruz home for many years She enjoys frequent walks on West Cliff and in Henry Cowell and likes to travel to Hawaii We'd also like to know that she's a huge share fan Before coming to work for the city Annie worked for the city of Mountain View and for several years had her own business Which was a pet store in San Jose? She's been working in finance as a temp during this last year, and we are delighted to now have her in the accounting assistant position Welcome Annie I'll go ahead and see if we have Susan Nimitz here for libraries to introduce her new employees But a beautiful day Hi, I'm Susan Nimitz. I'm the director of the Santa Cruz Public Libraries, and I have the honor of welcoming Riley Garduno and Kyle plus say where's Riley? I'm not sure you're aware but the library realized really heavily on Using a lot of temporary employees And I think these are both great examples of people who've worked in the library for a while And now we're going into permanent employment, and we're really happy to give them this long-term opportunity They've both proven to be great Riley it's been here a while and has been doing some amazing things working at Capitola He worked on our jail programs, which we're very grateful for he's worked with children's programs And now he's being hired permanently for a position in the to be opened Capitola library so we're really excited to have him and Kyle grew up in Sacramento and it's been working for the state controller's office Working in the legal department a law library and about two years ago Started working for us part-time to and is moving into a permanent position in the library And we're just really grateful to be able to attract such amazing young people and Keep them Thank you here here great. Thank you. Welcome Welcome Riley and Kyle I'll go ahead and see if our parks Director is here Tony Elliott to come on up and introduce his new employee All right. Good afternoon mayor and city council. It's my honor to introduce Lindsay Bass Excuse me. Lindsay is our new principal management analyst for parks and recreation So she's a key key player a key leadership member of the parks and recreation team in fact her first day She very eagerly jumped in and drafted a council agenda report that you all read so her first day she sprung right into action Lindsay came to Santa Cruz originally from Indiana For UCSC to study marine sciences She worked at UCSC for 10 years as a project manager In in IT and on strategic planning She worked at the World Wildlife Fund for 10 years in corporate water stewardship And she worked on six different continents. So we're glad to have her here now settled in Santa Cruz Lindsay's husband's name is John. They have two dogs. She is an avid open water ocean swimmer So yeah, that's really it. You can find Lindsay across the street 323 Church Street at the parks and rec HQ. So please join me in welcoming Lindsay Wonderful welcome Lindsay and last but certainly not least we'll invite at Mark Dettl of public works to introduce his employee Afternoon almost afternoon Mayor and members of the council. It's my pleasure to introduce able Campos. He's our new service maintenance worker for the streets department He was born and grew up in Colima, Mexico Currently lives in Soquel He has a wife and four boys and a girl and a dog to keep some busy when he's not working Past experience. He's he worked with Ralston concrete for five years So we really appreciate the concrete experience and when he's not working or spending time with his his kids He plays soccer. So that's his interest. So please join me in welcoming able Welcome able So I have a brief announcement the public works department and the transportation of public's works commission Invites the community to a project open house on Monday, October 21st from 5 30 to 7 p.m In galt elementary schools multi-purpose room This special meeting of the commission offers an opportunity for the community to dialogue with commissioners and public work staff on 10 projects including the Murray Street bridge seismic retrofit State-manded food waste collection and much more all the details are at the city of Santa Cruz comm And we hope to see you all there The city is also proud to be a sponsor of open streets, which takes place on a car-free West Cliff Cliff Drive Sunday, October 13th. We're going to have five different city booths there Resilient coast Santa Cruz Santa Cruz public libraries parks and rec Santa Cruz police department and Street smarts and if you're able to get your passport stamped at all five of our tables You'll be eligible for a rough raffle ticket with a chance to win an adult hybrid bicycle and youth bicycle So details are on the city's website And we hope that you and your family will enjoy this once a year opportunity to walk bike and play on West Cliff Drive free from vehicle traffic I have one other Announcement that I'd like to take an opportunity at this time to have and so for those who don't know the diversity Center of Santa Cruz is celebrating their 30th anniversary on October 12th And I know we have Sharon Papo here from the the diversity center and while we won't be doing a formal presentation I will just like to do an opera to have an opportunity to share the proclamation with her and invite her up Although it's not formally agendized is Sharon here. Oh good Three oh and three of your board members wonderful. Well, welcome welcome up. Thank you for being flexible here today So I I'm happy if you'd like to introduce yourself and the board members and then I'll go ahead and give you the proclamation Sharon Papo executive director Mark Samet board presidents Angel Cruz board member Ron Indra treasure Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for being here. It's really an honor to have this opportunity Just briefly today to be able to present the proclamation I'd like to just read a little bit of it and then I'll come down and hand it to you if that feels program. Okay So where as the diversity Center was founded in 1989 as the Santa Cruz lesbian and gay community Center to advance the causes and priorities of the lesbian and gay community in Santa Cruz County and Whereas the diversity Center's mission is to advocate for to support and to celebrate the lgbtq plus community And whereas the diversity Center thrives To and thanks to the generosity of hundreds of volunteers and donors who give their money and their time to help support The programs and the services offered and Whereas during its tenure the diversity Center has received countless awards in accolades And whereas on Saturday October 12th 2019 the diversity is celebrating 30 years of their services to our community So it's my pleasure as mayor of the city of Santa Cruz to hereby proclaim Saturday October 12th 2019 as the diversity Center day and I encourage all citizens to join me and congratulating it on its 30th anniversary and expressing our heartfelt appreciation for the numerous contributions to the Santa Cruz community I'm glad we were able to make that happen today So we'll go ahead and move on to our presentations And we have a presentation of a 25-year service print pen and it's a recognition And I'll go ahead and invite up Rosemary Menard to go ahead and take us there. Good morning, Mayor and Council It's my pleasure to be here in front of you today to recognize Chris Barry for 25 years of exemplary service to the city of Santa Cruz Chris started at the water department in October 94 as an entry-level temporary this sort of store you hear all the time Water quality lab assistant and 25 years later He now manages some of the most potentially impactful programs for our community and for the department Currently holding in the watershed compliance manager position that oversees Lachloman recreation area all of the department's land holdings And our water rights and dangerous species and environmental compliance programs He also is a hundred percent committed to the department's mission of delivering clean reliable water to our 100,000 customers and there are times when these two sort of issues have some tension between them and He has shown us every day how we can work together and with the community and regulators and other water agency partners To accomplish both goals environmental compliance and resource stewardship as well as water supply in addition to his day job of ensuring active stewardship of our water resources and environmental resources Chris sits on a number of local volunteer boards and commissions including the county water Commission Fish and Wildlife Commission Local fire safe council and has also served as a member of the Gavilan College's water resources management advisory committee Last as if he had any time left over He's he is able to make time to shred at steamers lane backpack the Pacific Northwest trails and other Sort of areas in our state and out of state and to attend grateful that Contribute concerts that he can think of and before I present his pin I'd like to ask another sort of really exemplary water resources leader in our community in our state to come and make a few comments And then I'll present the pin John Laird Madam mayor and council members my name is John Laird. I'm a pensioner from Santa Cruz And if you haven't cleaned up the graffiti, I've written my name in at least five of your drawers It was very important for me to be here to honor Chris today in my role as secretary for natural resources Across the state going to watershed conferences fish conferences and frequently I would run into Chris Because he was representing the interests of the city and making sure he was up to speed on money that was in Available laws that might be enforced against the city Making sure that that that tension that Rose Berry mentioned between sort of water supply and Watershed restoration and protection were things that could be managed and he made relationships in the different departments He made relationships with different people around the State it's something you might not have seen but he represented the city really well and really ably in doing that and the other thing to just mention is that These days it is not totally popular to be a public employee And it is not something that is widely recognized and yet when people spend 25 years Looking out for the interest of the people of Santa Cruz just making sure that while other people are doing other things They're watching the store. They're making sure things happen It is some of the finest public service that goes on and he is one of those people that is just an Exemplary public servant so it's very important for me to come here today and Recognize him because you've been getting great service and he deserves the recognition for 25 good years. Thank you I'd like to call Chris up, but before I do that I'd like to ask those people in the audience who might be here to also send their good wishes to him on this Good occasion to maybe just stand people in the back This has had a really strong amazing effect on our community and it's my honor to present him with this 25 year pin Thanks, everyone. I am totally unprepared and overwhelmed Coming from a long line of public servants, I've just felt honored to be able to serve the city I I'll just tell you I was homeless in Santa Cruz. I was a grad student. I was living in my van out at steamer Lane. I Pursued that lifestyle in order to develop to put down roots here To be able to surf the lane and have a job in a city. I love doing what I studied to do So I feel like it's been a long and windy road But I am blessed and grateful and I've seen the city go through a lot of changes And I this morning I was thinking what happens if I get asked to say something So I thought well, you know I've seen the the city is faced with great peril and great promise and I hope that Understanding that you all will proceed in that spirit understanding that well the whole world faces great peril right now We do have promise ahead of us and these Seemingly insurmountable challenges intention can be worked through if we work together and we work hard and we maintain a long-term Commitment to our people the people that we serve so anyway. Thank you We have you move on Chris. We'll go ahead and see if I know a couple of the council members wanted to say a brief word Sorry, you're not quite done yet But I'll just I'll just start by saying thank you so much for your 25 years of service I don't think you could have said it you said it perfectly that it is a commitment And we're here to serve our people and we're really lucky to have had you and to have you in our community for these Past 25 years. I enjoyed our time together at the set you did that was nice And I know councilor Myers also wanted to say a few thanks so much mayor Chris you and I I think met right after you started working for the city So we've been longtime colleagues, but most importantly longtime friends, and I just wanted to congratulate you you've brought a tremendous commitment to our watersheds and maintaining our native fish and wildlife and I've spent many hours sloshing around in creeks with you and I don't think I know anyone that meets your commitment to really trying to meet Both the goals of providing water for people and water for fish. So thanks and frogs. So thanks for everything you do Well, thank you And I know councilor Brown. I would just really quickly say add my congratulations and Say that I have been so amazed at your ability to navigate the challenging regulatory environment but what really struck me was the day that we went out on tour and Just to be out with you in the watershed and kind of how excited and enthused you are about being out there and Your understanding of the watershed ecology and habitat and commitment to its protection. So, thank you Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you all for your hard work Hey, and thanks to the supporters for being here as well So I have a few announcements before we get on with the regular agenda So today's meeting is being broadcast live on community television channel 25 and is streaming on the city's website at cityofsanacruz.com our rules of decorum are on the windowsill To my left and it's my job to keep the meeting running without Distruption and we ask that you respect your fellow citizens when you are inside and outside of our council chambers I'd like to ask now if there are any council members who have a statement of disqualification today Hey seeing none I'll go ahead and see if our city clerk administrator has any additions or deletions to the agenda. No, we don't okay I Have a brief announcement about oral communications So oral communications is an opportunity for the members of the community to speak to us on items that are not on the agenda Oral communications will occur immediately following this afternoon's agenda items and will end no later than 6 30 p.m An observance of Yom Kippur and per our council policy 14.6 I'll go ahead and turn it over to our city attorney at this time to provide a report on closed session Thank You mayor Watkins members of city council This morning the council convened in the courtyard conference room at 10 a.m. To consider the following items Item a was liability claims First claim was of Ruth and Michael mayor Second claim was of Debra L. Workman Those items are also listed on your consent calendar this afternoon as agenda item 5 There were two items of pending litigation The council received a report from and gave direction to the city attorney On those items first is the case of Robert Gomez senior and Robert Gomez junior versus the city and county of Santa Cruz Second item is save our big trees versus the city of Santa Cruz There was no reportable action on those items. I will note for the record However, that council member crone recused recused himself from the save our big trees Item and was not present for that portion of the discussion There's one item of initiation of litigation in that item The city council unanimously voted to join a coalition of cities and counties in petitions in opposing petitions filed in late August by the wireless industry association before the federal communications Commission the petitions that the wireless industry Association filed seek to alter the 2014 infrastructure order Which is an FCC regulation that interprets key terms of the federal telecommunications Act The petitions filed by the industry would further erode the the ability of cities and other local government agencies to Regulate the placement of wireless telecommunications facilities in our community and on that basis council Voted to join in that effort. It's a regulatory proceeding before the federal communications Commission Lastly, there was one item of real property negotiations and the council received a report from it's real property negotiator Which is the executive director of the economic development department? concerning the property at 125 Coral Street owners James P. Gillespie and Jean Gillespie trustees and Harley F and Sandra I. Gillespie co-trustees there's no report of election on that item Thank You mr. Condati. We'll go ahead and turn it over to our city manager for his report Yes, thank you mayor. I just wanted to do a brief update on some happenings this month of October start with See the major Activities that are happening around the earthquake this year marks the 30th anniversary of the earthquake Which is a 7.1 quake that struck at 504 on October 17th of 1989 and essentially you know really changed the course of history for the city of Santa Cruz in many ways and Of course many many members of the community employees and others have dedicated a lot of work and efforts to rebuilding the city Which has largely been rebuilt. I think the last hole and is still under construction, but almost completed And so throughout the month of October the city has partnered with several groups and organizations to present a wide range of Local events exhibits displays and discussions to mark the 30th anniversary One of the featured events will be happening this Sunday October 13th from 12 to 4 where our fire department will be hosting an emergency preparedness and safety event Here at the Civic Auditorium several resource booths and historical photos will be available to the public and Then I believe the fire department is going to do a presentation on that at the next meeting as well And then with respect to Another item that's going to be happening with respect to the earthquake is our long-term long-term Economic development and redevelopment manager Joe Hall has shared a collection of photos taken from October 18 1989 the morning after the earthquake through December of 1996 he has this collection of photos and they are dedicated to the residents of the city of Santa Cruz and Participants in the vision Santa Cruz process and city staff members who worked To ensure Santa Cruz emerge from the earthquake as a vibrant prosperous community The full full list of events is available on the city's web page So just go to web page and just on the search page type earthquake and you'll get the full list of events that are happening also this month is October is affordable housing month and our economic development department has put together a series of events To answer some questions and to provide information about affordable housing in our community The events include an affordable housing finance class and an affordable housing bike tour Well, which would conclude at the grand opening of the water street apartments, which are currently under construction and they look very very very nice And here are some of the details around that. So It's a Monday October 21st from 6 to a.m. Is the class and It includes looking at the factors that need to be considered when developing affordable housing. How does financing work? Space is limited to 50 participants. So you could RSVP on event bright to reserve your spot The bike tour is Saturday, October 19th from 1 to 3 And it will go around looking at a variety of affordable housing apartments in the downtown And it will highlight some of the most recently built properties and give you a preview of those that are on in the Horizon because there are some major projects that are we're working on particularly in downtown to provide additional affordable housing units Space is limited so you can RSVP to Jessica Miller over at the economic development department to reserve your spot And then with respect to the grand opening at the water street apartments that's Saturday, October 19th from 3 to 4 And you can join the developer the future of housing for for the future of housing at the grand opening It's at 708 water street and take a tour of the grounds and see the apartments inside again They look very very nice And you can RSVP to communications at eahousing.org to confirm your attendance So if you have any questions you can also reach out to the economic development department and they can give you all the information and details as well And then finally The other thing happening or this this month relate to our Go Santa Cruz program Which on October 4 first launched the expanded Go Santa Cruz program Based on the council's approval to expand a funding for a variety of alternative programs alternative transportation programs and there are a number of Incentives to help downtown employees choose options rather than driving to get to work These includes free transit passes which are being distributed free bike locker cards Reloaded with $20 discounted jump bike Memberships a carpool incentives commute information and carpool ride matching as well as bike safety training. So the this all be kicking off this month with a variety of events and presentations throughout the downtown and in the community So that's there's a lot more things going on But these are some of the highlights for this month that I just wanted to present Thank you for that. Okay wonderful So we'll go ahead now and move on to the meeting calendar, which is attached to the agenda And I'll look to our city clerk to see if we have any changes to that. We have no addition Okay, so we're moving right along to our consent agenda And that's items number three through fourteen on our agenda All items will be acted upon in one motion unless an item is pulled by a council member for further discussion Are there any council members who are interested in pulling an item today? I want to pull an item. I just want to make a comment on item number eight. Okay Council member clever question on number ten. Okay Okay, so we'll go ahead and See if we want to go ahead and have council member Crohn speak to item number eight And then we'll move on to item number ten and then we'll look to the community and make a motion Thank you mayor Just want to say this is executive employees compensation and for the record I am voting no on this item because I believe we could have handled this in a better way. I supported apartment heads I Converse with most quite often on issues of city business. I find their council quite useful informed and at times erudite Knowing this knowing that there is great need in our city And with needs outstripping resources my approach this year with respect to salary negotiations was to channel the most city Resources to the lowest paid employees. I only have the most respect for our department heads But the resources to raise those at the bottom have to come from somewhere And it makes sense to me given our budget constraints and also after consulting with numerous Community members that those at the top might better be able to be able to weather the difficulties of the Santa Cruz cost of living This is why I stand by my decision to vote no at this time on an executive pay raise Although my vote could change in the future depending upon the economic fortunes of our city Thank you. Okay, so we'll go ahead and log that as a no vote for a okay for councilor Cohn vice mayor Did you have a comment? Okay, any other comments? Okay, we'll go ahead and move on to item number 10 and there was a Comment by councilor clever and then by councilor Matthew. Thank you So just there were some as a more question there were some community members that had contacted and were curious about the differences Because in the language it's a friendship city So just wondering if there was someone that could clarify the difference between a friendship city and a sister city for anyone watching on TV or It looks like our city clerk can maybe speak because we had that I had the question also a friendship city You're a friendship city for two years, and then you then move on to be a sister city. Okay, and what's the Benefit of it if any Okay, councilor Matthews Friendship city is kind of a probationary exploratory process sister city relationship is intended as a more long-term Continuous process and we before you go does that answer your question or did you have additional questions? It was just With regards to just if people could hear how sister cities and friendship cities are chosen I think we might have to have our Commission come back and speak to that at a certain point to be on what they described here in our agenda report Okay, okay councilor Matthews and then council member vice mayor Cummings Or did you want to speak to that city clerk? Did you have a response something in your agenda? We do have in our packet it starts at page 10.17 the Santa Cruz friendship and sister city adoption policy and It's it's a fairly detailed Process and it's very much a volunteer and community driven So I would just suggest for details talk to the staff and learn more about the background on that I Did look at this and noticed that it's somewhat out of date. I talked to staff. So I'm not bringing any surprise on them so a couple of the Friendship cities have expired and are not being pursued Another of our named sister cities is inactive and there The committee went through quite a process. I'm going to say plus or minus five years ago in developing this just how to keep the the various relationships fresh and provide a mechanism for new ones and So I'm quite happy to support the recommendation, but I would ask that the that the sister cities committee Update their their policy refresh it So we'll go ahead and add that as potential direction as soon or it can just be casual. We've talked okay consensus if I'm consensus We'll go ahead and have did you have additional questions I was just one it was just more of a comment that followed along with that line of questions was just to make sure that as we're Moving forward with identifying additional friendship and sister cities just being conscious and and intentional with regards to emphasizing the diversity of engagement and diversity of location one of the concerns that I heard from different community members was severe lack of black and brown cities incorporated in The sister cities programs so as well as friendship cities So just something to look into and I would encourage the sister cities commission or the those involved with this selection process I'll definitely reach out to them But also to be cognizant of that when making decisions and exploring potential friendship and sister cities, okay Vice mayor Cummings, and one more comment by councillor Matthews and we're gonna open it and I just had a Brief comment because similarly learning that some of the Relationships that we have with certain sister cities already on the books aren't being maintained as much I was kind of curious why we're bringing a new sister city on board because I know there are costs associated with that and then similarly I know that there's been folks who have expressed potentially having a sister city Relationship with Ohaka, Mexico or other places in Latin America where we have people from our population who are representative And so just trying to understand, you know kind of a little bit more what goes into this process and seeing if we can you know Make sure that when we establish these relationships We're maintaining them and if there are new ones that we need to explore we can do that And if there's ones that we need to maybe not maintain anymore for a variety of reasons and we can look into that as well Councilor Matthews, then we're gonna go ahead. Yeah, I appreciate that I I'll just say the committee itself is very well aware of that all of these sister cities have been formed based on different Relationships over time The in order to be active they do have to be maintained on both sides So if that doesn't happen then they become they expire I will say I felt very I've been quite involved with the sister city program for years It is very much volunteer driven. We don't have the staff's time to support it actively with staff and so We really have to I think not Have an abundance of enthusiasm in adding sister cities that we can't maintain over a period of time the whole idea is to have this be an ongoing relationship and Over the years have been many people come forward. Oh, I want a sister city in China. I want a sister city in India I want a sister city here there. So I think we should be open to new ones, but also Really do a good job on the ones we have I agree with the point you've raised Okay, is there any member of the community who wants to address the council on our consent agenda? This is items number three through fourteen Okay, seeing them. We'll go ahead and return it back to council for action Anybody want to move the consent agenda? Okay, I'll second that so vice mayor move consent agenda seconded by myself Logged no vote on item number eight by council member crone further calm comment and Direction on item number ten Okay, any further discussion all those in favor, please say aye aye any opposed Okay, that passes unanimously So we're going to go ahead and move right along here to our general business item and first on the agenda is item number 15 and That item is the resolution declaring October co-op month in the city of Santa Cruz and providing City support for development and growth of local work worker cooperatives and the process is General for general business items to have a presentation by either council members or staff Then opening it up for questions amongst the council public comment and then returning back for action So we'll go ahead and see if the council members who brought this forward want to introduce the item And we have I see here economic development director Who I'm assuming worked with you on the items the council member Matthews Maybe I'll just say on behalf of all of us. It was a really enjoyable process working with the community group They're coming to us with a concern Learning what services the city already has for small and encouraging small local businesses working with our department It was thoroughly enjoyable So I think with that comment. We'll just turn it over I look forward to this being a first step in an ongoing Relationship and work together with co-op Santa Cruz and other organizations Thanks for bringing it forward and welcome Bonnie. Thanks Bonnie Lipscomb director of economic development And I'm just gonna add a couple of brief comments. We've met a couple times with co-op Santa Cruz They've been great meetings. I think we're all on the same page and we support on the concept of Worker cooperatives and Santa Cruz. So we were all aligned. So I'm excited to be part of this I think my you know my team's excited for these recommendations today and with that I'd like to actually turn it over To faz from co-op Santa Cruz who has a brief presentation Great. Welcome first. I know that you originally wanted some more additional time We're ahead of schedule. If you want to take the you know up to eight eight minutes, Tim It's you're welcome to do that Yeah, I think for the second time I can keep it brief Yeah, but I appreciate it We have a tight meeting today that we have to get through All right, hello council members Yeah, you probably know me by now. My name is faz. I really appreciate the the reception from council members the positive reception from from Bonnie from the Economic Development Department and You know co-op Santa Cruz we've been around we've been active for about a year or a year and a half now And so we've decided that maybe it's time to pursue Potential long-term partnership with the city in developing our workforce of the future So I really appreciate Your your converse your conversation around this issue and moving forward with it. So thank you So I'll just go ahead and start talking. I mean, you know a lot of y'all probably already know I think this is also in part for the community as well for folks watching we want to Kind of just go over this real quick. So basically Yeah, so we're introducing right is the resolution We feel like in a time right now in our country We're you know, we're almost heading towards a recession right working-class people have to work longer jobs around lower wages, right? wealth inequality is ramping up a bit more at a higher point than any time in his recent history, right? So I think that worker quite we feel like worker cooperatives, you know as co-op Santa Cruz is Is one of the many solutions that we can do towards Towards closing though the inequality gap in our community. So the National Coalition of Cooperatives is kind of You know Unofficially declared October Cooperative Month, but we really want to have that in paper and really make that a trend moving forward. So We are pushing them have it as worker Cooperative Month and there's about a hundred forty million Employees across the country who are worker who are doing worker cooperatives Would say the highest density of worker cooperatives probably in Spain and so we hope to get to that level at some point in the future. So So some of y'all may have heard about the silver tsunami I'm not probably Bonnie. I imagine may touch on it again, but you know in Santa Cruz County, right? We have 24 2410 business owner businesses owned by baby boomers. That's a statistic from the project from project equity And so it's 17,360 employees recovered under that But I think that the big challenge right with the silver tsunami is that the idea is that you know, baby boomers who do know businesses are You know, and eventually at some point will retire right whether it's now or whether it's later But the idea is that we want to make sure that they have a succession plan, right? Because we've seen a lot of Corporations kind of pop up in Santa Cruz and a lot of local businesses unfortunately struggling I know that's one of the things we pride ourselves in Santa Cruz is being able to you know To support our local businesses, right? And we want to be able to maintain them So I think it's really we feel like it's really important that those business owners have a succession plan But over 85% of those owners lack a succession plan, right? We want to keep those jobs local.  So So yeah, so we want to make sure we can keep locally owned businesses and retain that those heritage businesses that we all value, right? One of the one of the suggestions right is by transitioning to employee ownership So we hope that moving forward right not just in this resolution and future ordinance But moving forward that we can kind of support our community and being able to do that a lot of local businesses have actually approached us Wanting to figure out a way of how they can transition their business into worker cooperatives, but they lack the resources They lack the technical assistance and there are some community groups that are doing work But we feel like it's really important that the city get involved in this process given the resources that you have the staff that you have And it sounds like there's already some buy-in which we're really thankful for but we really want to be able to help those businesses in whatever way we can By transitioning them into worker ownership And so, you know local businesses contributing three times more money back into the local economy The national chains. So we feel like that's really important There was a federal bill which was really great. It was actually bipartisan bill This was introduced in the House of Representatives and ended up passing which would expand opportunities for employee owned Businesses through loans and through other services as well So some of the things right financing transition of existing businesses to worker ownership Training education tracking right all the things that a lot of local businesses really need And one of the things that we we did kind of outlined some of these stuff in the resolution There are some other things that we were proposing it looks like Kind of at this moment, you know staff is not really exploring that right now Which we understand we hope that we can have ongoing conversations about some of those things But you know some of the things that I think we think would be really great to start off Right is providing those business tax and land use incentives right a lot of local business owners that we talked to not even worker cooperatives Just local businesses struggle with being able to afford to rent in Santa Cruz in terms of their business right not just in terms of living here But you being able to continue paying the commercial rent that a lot of corporations have absolutely no challenge doing so tax use Business tax land use incentives would be really great effective city tools Services and technical assistance right are really huge people You know business owners cannot really think about like how do we technically do that where we put in the ownership You know, how is the filing work right? There's a lot of technical challenges that exist and we hope that the city can Kind of support and move forward with that Education and awareness, you know, not a lot. This is a growing movement, right? But not a whole lot of folks know what worker cooperatives are and know kind of what they look like or what the benefits of what it could be Education awareness or a very easy thing that the city could do And in collaboration with the community And then grants, you know, it costs a lot of money to start a business let alone a worker-owned business Right and learning how to navigate that and all that stuff is really it can't be a challenge But I think funding having Some sort of funding starts whether it be fully funded from the city or whether it be a collaboration with local community groups Is something that we hope the city can explore moving forward As I mentioned before there are some local groups that do the do do this kind of work So Santa Cruz community ventures on some of y'all may have heard about it They do some work with cooperatives and providing that technical assistance Project equity, which is like a national nonprofit. They specialize a lot in In that what we're talking about business conversion converting local business businesses into employee ownership Democracy at work Institute, which is kind of this national nonprofit that's doing this kind of work Sustainable economies Law Center, which actually worked with the cities of Berkeley and Oakland to pass similar resolutions like this and working with them and their city staff to Kind of develop ongoing support The hub for sustainable living There's you know, some folks there who are their worker cooperatives, right? They're they're looking to develop and be able to expand And then of course the county right the county is always a county and city partnership something like that would be really great Exploring that the workforce development board and we actually have a member of co-op Santa Cruz who is involved with the county So there's a really great connection there And of course the city of Santa Cruz moving forward so we hope that we can build that ongoing relationship and do really cool Stuff like this moving forward So yeah, so I think with all these groups, you know, we are there are community groups doing work co-op Santa Cruz We're doing advocacy work, right? But I think that this is a really great first step. We're really thankful for the city for Working with us on this and we're really excited about it. This is a great first step I'm not sure if y'all understand how historic this is, right? But this is the beginning of a potential long-term partnership and being able to really transition our economy to a more democratically owned democratically operated society. So we're really thankful that the city has taken this up and Thank you So unless we have any questions, I'll go ahead and open it up to public comment at this time Any members of the community want to address us on this item? Please come in come forward and you'll have up to two minutes Okay, Garrett Phillips and Cruz once again I see the council is preoccupied with yet another resolution that is too far left of American values the litany of whereas's Justifications are just statements which give no credible evidence such as stating worker-owned cooperatives are more efficient than other kinds of businesses Really it's reads like you're just making that stuff up You assign no fiscal fiscal impact to the directives but the staff time and certainly development expansion of a grant loan program or the related resources Is a cost I would love the idea if the council intends to make it easier to start a business in Santa Cruz generally But if the council wants to put its considerable big toe in the water to prioritize Collectives over non-collective business entities. It has fallen in and off the mainland drifting leftwards It is similar to the often heard unequal praises of unions labor and numerous resolutions faring globalist ideas I've heard here. I want you to hear one thing and this one thing very clearly Membership and a collective is always voluntary in the United States. It better be Collectives have advantages and disadvantages personally own a condo and an association with amenities I would never have been able to afford I pay a price though by losing my control or decisions made or liabilities assumed It is the same with unions These worker-owned businesses would be the same and I doubt ownership or control would ever really be equal as if that really means Anything anyway in a country based on individual liberty The government should always neutrally stay out of the business of taking sides favoring collectives over individuals partnerships and corporations But encourage instead prosperity a word. I never have heard here therefore including Worker cooperatives in the city's local preference policy for city contracts and procurement of goods and services It quite explicitly would now favor such over other forms of business Tilting this voluntary mechanism at a public cost. This is quite un-American and wrong Therefore also considering the creation of business tax and land-use incentives Any other members of the community want to address us on this item item number 15, please come forward and you'll have up to two minutes My name is Michael and I just completed a build-out just filed for my DBA I'm a downtown Santa Cruz business owner And I just want to say at the having completed my full project from beginning to end it took about a year and a half The cost was anywhere from it's about five hundred thousand dollars Just to open up a food prep place and so costs are astronomical and As silver silver wave is like a really interesting term for what's about to happen majority of boomers are 64 right now having been born in 1955 that was the highest peak of birth rate during the boomer period and So 64 so in the next five years, we're gonna see an enormous amount of boomers retiring 29% of the population holds about 40% of the wealth And there's a lot of boomers in Santa Cruz County And so that's gonna beg the question are they gonna spend more because they have more time or less Because they don't have that expendable income from their previous employment And so this could be poses a potential recession for a tourist economy like ours and so It yeah, that's pretty much my only point is that a recession may be coming to our tourist economy Thank you. Hi Pat Milo for the last couple years I've had the pleasure with working on and off with co-ops and a cruise on this issue And I'm really excited to see it up here today I also serve on the board of directors of WAM the oldest medical marijuana collective in the country and you know with We are looking at transitioning from a medical collective into some sort of multi stakeholder worker co-op Entity to fit into the new state regulations. So this is really encouraging at least for that project and you know just a comment on the last Statement, I think that the burden of entry to any business is so high that you know normal folks can't get there usually And so any way that you can lift You know those burdens of entry for the type of businesses or type of work that we need to see in the community I think is a really good idea. I think this co-op thing is a beautiful start to that And then also just as a community member. I think that this is you know in a sense the It touches on the deepest issue that we have and that's equity in our community and by equity I mean ownership and if we could have a different ownership model within this community I think we'd have a lot of different discussions than we've been having So I think that this is a wonderful positive step forward and thank you guys all for your work and everything you're doing My name is Rob Yanagida. I'm a Santa Cruz resident and a volunteer lawyer with the Sustainable Economist Law Center I'd actually like to read a statement from Maria Cadenas Executive director of the Santa Cruz Community Ventures who unfortunately couldn't attend because she's in a conference on asset building in Los Angeles Businesses are an integral part of our daily lives They are pathways to economic mobility and the backbone of our local economies through jobs services and goods they offer This makes our local businesses critical to addressing the income and wealth gaps Putting our economy's diversity identity and ability to thrive at risk Santa Cruz Community Ventures believes worker cooperatives are a way to build democratic ownership And vehicles for community members to participate in the economy and build wealth As baby boomer owners retire local businesses will go through shifts Converting those businesses to employ own cooperatives will be critical To keep many of those businesses locally owned and Benefit workers by ensuring better pay benefits asset building and that profits stay in the community Education financial literacy Employment and even home ownership do not eliminate the wealth gaps we see in our communities But cooperatives do allow Community to move away from addressing Addressing access to existing financial systems That is not working Toward creating an economy that works for workers This resolution is part of helping build a strong and vibrant local economy. Thank you Hi there, my name is Ben Pearl and I'm a relatively new transplant to the Santa Cruz community A resident about a year I moved from Davis, California similar in a lot of ways in terms of our proximity to a large state employer and a lot of the Subject to a lot of the similar forces in terms of the squeezed economy affordable housing, etc And I just want to commend the council for taking up this issue and looking at cooperatives I know there's been a lot of emphasis on worker co-ops housing co-ops as well These are just sort of basic tools that we can add to the city toolbox in addressing a lot of the growing wealth and equity and Creating opportunities for buy-in from local residents So yeah, just wanted to appreciate y'all and appreciate city staff for I know it will be good work on this issue Hello, hello, my name is buyers. I am definitely in support of this resolution And I also just wanted to one thing that wasn't mentioned that I didn't see but maybe I was a little bit late was that California also packed the past the California worker cooperative AB 816 in 2016 so we're not Totally pushing the envelope on anything crazy new And then the other thing was mentioned about like how far left this was which I thought was kind of fascinating because the first co-ops were Electricity going into the rural areas of the United States. So in the 1930s President Roosevelt and the Tennessee Valley Authority Act also did this whole Cooperative movement for to get electric electricity out to rural farms So this isn't insane. I think it's very reasonable and I really hope you support it. Thank you I Would like to make the motion Which declares October Co-op month in the city of Santa Cruz and provides city support for development and growth of local worker cooperatives I'd like to make a couple of comments. Okay, so we have a motion by Councilor Matthews seconded by Councilor Cron Comments by Yeah, I'm sorry seconded by Councilor Glover. Yeah, and then comments by Councilmember Cron I did see something go up and then comments by Councilmember Brown Matthews Brown vice mayor all on board. Yeah Okay, why don't we go ahead and have comments by council yeah, thanks for bringing this to the council really? I'm just wondering a lot of times when things are brought to the council and there's no fiscal impact or no nothing attached to it or What's what's the future look like? I'm just wondering from both of you What do you see is this going to die on a shelf somewhere or are we going to continue? I'm sure it's up partly up to the group that has presented today, too But how is the city that's what I'd like to know how's the city of Berkeley for example involved in worker co-ops And is there a financial some kind of loan program or what is it? Okay, because that was part of what we discussed and different communities do it differently different size communities I think we were very clear in our discussions with the group And in the language of the resolution as presented That we are very committed as a city to supporting acknowledging and supporting the value of worker co-ops They we are already I think this may have been a bit of a Learning experience for some of the people that brought this forward we do a lot already in our economic development department to support local business and small business and There we have a robust program of support within the department and Very good relationships. I noticed one thing that wasn't listed on the presentation was the small business development center Which is not our entity, but it's a very useful entity and a partner for us So I think our feeling and the others can can kick in was that We are very much geared to supporting small local businesses And we see the co-op movement as Yet another variety of that and so without giving necessarily preference to to co-ops. We do for example, we have a local Contracting bidding process for goods and services co-ops would fit into that. So there's some things we can readily do at no cost Through our partnerships and relationships and I'm trying to respond to your question about fiscal impact and in terms of grants Given the city's fiscal situation, I don't see us taking a big plunge in that but we do have relationships with state and federal entities who Do investments in economic opportunity? So I think there's a lot we can do without taking on direct Additional financial burden to this city to support a really important component of small local businesses. Does that answer your question? Yeah, first the first step. Yeah, it's definitely a first step. Councilmember Brown, vice mayor Cummings I'm I just want to say I am so thrilled that we are doing this. I recognize that it is You know resolution is I see if this is a first step certainly I recognize having been involved with various producer co-ops Worker co-ops in the past, you know, I realize that it is a huge endeavor to try to either transition business to cooperative ownership It's there are major challenges. I was assigned to do that it for my And to kind of move towards worker ownership it takes a lot of effort and try to navigate the the system Capital is clearly an issue While and then I worked with worker with producer co-ops as well in Latin America. It's hard to start them Capital is a major issue. I don't believe the city will ever be in a position to provide be a major resource in that regard However, I do think that as we open up this conversation with the co-ops Santa Cruz and other organizations And I'm so glad to see that other organizations turned out to Want to be involved in this That we can begin to better understand what What? the community Would be helpful to businesses who are looking to transition and we can In the future move in that direction accordingly. I think And I want to be part of that conversation But I think as council member Matthews suggested some of the things we're already doing That we can try to be make more accessible or more raise the profile in conversation with Advocates in our community I'm also really excited to see this come forward and really happy that the members of the community brought this to our attention because it seems like there's a lot of interest in Really trying to support co-ops and kind of to what was presented earlier just the difficulty of Navigating the technical field of trying to transition small local businesses to co-ops is one piece of you know This conversation that was brought to our attention in addition to that We through our meetings were also disgusting ways that we can partner with local businesses in our community The city to put on events to raise more awareness Whether there are workshops that we can have to help educate folks on how they can transition their businesses and so this was really a first step and We are very much committed to seeing how we can continue to raise the profile of Co-ops in the city of Santa Cruz to support local businesses and figure out ways that we can have technical Assistance for businesses and the the things that we can do currently with the resources that we have and as more resources come Online and more opportunities become available. We can you know explore those at that point in time Why don't you go ahead now and then we'll go ahead and have councilor Myers. Oh, sorry So I guess with that I just want to To highlight the desire for a continued conversation and for those Of you who are listening in or here in the room from sustainable economies Law Center Co-op Santa Cruz community ventures others. Please stay in touch with us and kind of encourage us to Continue to work with you. So we will do our part and but but keep Come in communication with us about how to move forward customer mayors Yeah, I'm gonna I'll be supporting the motion. I just wanted to thank everyone for bringing it forward And just a little bit of personal sort of reflection. I've worked for worked for two co-ops over my time here in the city And I think it really is a great way to Especially for younger people who are who are starting work here It does it can be a really beneficial way to to earn higher wages and have flexibility to To succeed and so I think they're a really interesting model I had really good experiences with the two that I worked for and So, thank you for bringing it forward Here here comes in for clever. Thanks. I just love cooperatives So it was really wonderful to have this up and props to everyone that helped to make this happen and put it together I think one of the stories that always sticks out to me when we got a chance to meet was when y'all told me about the pizza Delivery person that started at like $12 and then in a boning part of the business and started making like $20 to $23 an hour or something like that So that possibility I think if we think about it extrapolated out throughout the community can make an incredible impact not only on Dressing issues of displacement from housing since we have some exorbitant rent prices that we're dealing with right now But also in the potential of home ownership, which I think is really exciting because of the potential of cooperative Land ownership as well as food distribution and all the other kinds of things that this kind of opens the door for those Conversations, so I really appreciate all the work and will definitely be supporting it because yeah co-ops Repeat what everybody said some and very much with them on that And I like the way this offers opportunities and stuff and I think we we need the group to keep pushing and coming back to council and and for you know Getting a notion of what that bond might look like between a co-op and local government Great, okay all those in favor, please say aye. Any opposed, okay that passes unanimously. Thank you Well, maybe have a like maybe a two-minute transition before we have the next item, which is item number 16 on our agenda Okay, we'll come back to the meeting here and we're on item number 16 of our general business calendar Items and we have now at the Chinatown bridge naming and public art proposal. We have Bonnie introducing the item Good afternoon members of the council again Bonnie Lipscomb director of economic development and normally it would actually be Beth Toby our arts program manager Here presenting. She's worked on this project for some time But she is out of town today. She'll be coming back this evening, but unfortunately, she's not here in time for this item So I get the honor of briefly introducing these remarks and then turning it over to Greg pepping So the motion before you today is to approve the naming of the pedestrian bridge Chinatown bridge and approve the Chinatown public art project as Proposed by the coastal watershed Council there were four Chinatowns in Santa Cruz at different times Over over the years the last Chinatown was located near the river Where the gallery are currently sits and was destroyed during the 1955 flood Except for a plaque in the gallery at a courtyard There's very little little visible recognition of the Chinatown residents and the culture of a community who played a prominent role in shaping Santa Cruz over the last century The coastal watershed council is a long local nonprofit organization whose primary mission is to preserve and enhance the San Lorenzo River Brought forward the idea under Greg Pepping's leadership naming the pedestrian bridge Chinatown bridge Conversations between coastal watershed Council and George Al jr. Led to an idea for a public arc plaque piece which eventually became this beautiful piece that you see Before you today Consisting of a non-traditional Chinese style gate with a mosaic Tiled water dragon on top of it this came before council in June of last year and council directed it be considered by the Parks and Rec Commission and The Historic Preservation Commission and then ultimately it also went to the Arts Commission all three unanimously Approved this art piece and the naming of the bridge in September and so now it's back before you today There's been extensive community outreach and Over the last couple months leading up to this project and then the selection approach with the with the artists leading up to this There the actual structure itself is a steel armature With a foam interior and a concrete sort of skin around it. It is very durable Or we're anticipating it to be very durable It's a similar process that's been used at playgrounds at some airports and some public Very publicly used playground. So we're hoping that it will stand the test of time And the fiscal impact to the city the arts commission is part of the city's economic development arts budget Approved 10,000 contribution to really enhance the ramps signage Educational elements and some enhanced landscaping that use you see there And this would be in collaboration with our parks and rec department to go forward to as part of the honoring of the Chinatown bridge and with that I'd like to turn it over to Greg pepping who has a brief presentation Good afternoon mayor vice mayor council members my name is Greg pepping the executive director of the coastal watershed council and Our vision the coastal watershed council's vision is the community's vision, which is a safe and healthy Healthy San Lorenzo River surrounded by safe and inviting parks And what we're doing every day to work towards that is we're getting kids out there It really changes to get youth out there 2,700 youth will earn this wooden badge You've heard me talk about a watershed ranger after they do a service project Work on the river and pledge to keep learning and share with others hundreds of volunteers will be out there planning over 2,000 plants and testing water quality to and taking action to improve water quality, and so We're that's what we're doing to connect and reconnect Members of Santa Cruz to the San Lorenzo River We ask them to spend time there to learn about the river We all rely on the river and we impact the river so to learn about that and to build an emotional connection to the river the levees are doing their jobs and Physically and visually emotionally and psychologically they're also disconnecting us from the river So we have to overcome that that barrier so speaking of learning about the river and speaking of Remembering and forgetting things. I'll give you some background on why an environmental organization Why why the coastal watershed council was bringing this project to you how these things are related when I'm meeting with donors or partners or Colleagues or peers. I invite people often for a walking meeting We all sit down many of you do in these long meetings and other work too often people are really game to have a walking meeting very often And I say Meet me by the bridge the pedestrian bridge going from San San Lorenzo Park over to Trader Joe's in the Galleria It doesn't really roll off the tongue So it was a very practical consideration. I thought we should name that thing What might we name that just really practical as I was as I would walk or bike it regularly I would think about what might that be named and The Chinatown Bridge came to me as an idea among other ideas So that's not something I should decide or the coastal watershed council should decide the conversation I brought that idea to George Al and He liked the idea and started talking to members of his family and his colleagues and Relatives and he liked it a lot. So the idea Evolved from the renaming into the public art piece you see before you the non-traditional Chinese style gate the water dragon And I want to talk a little bit about the water dragon its and its significance The things I mentioned that we do as a nonprofit I'm at the river all the time for stuff like that our office isn't the good times building right by the river I live at the end of price Street right by the river my kid is to and he goes to daycare at the end of Filker I'm on the river all the time I'm Professionally and personally committed to the river and through these conversations I started talking to George about the importance of this piece of history Chinatown right next to the river and it's forgot how it's forgotten and The role the significance of the water dragon when he went George walks the river regularly He couldn't be here. I think Bonnie said for because of another commitment When he walks the river he sees a water dragon sometimes multiple water dragons in the river He sees different moods in the river Dragons He'll see a really fierce river dragon when there's a lot of flow He'll see it meeting another dragon coming in with the pulse of the tide He'll see another dragon coming in where Brant's 40 Creek meets the main stem And he sees that change and mood and dynamic and energy of a dragon I See the river differently now because of hearing those stories and It's really moving for me to hear George talk about how stuff like this remembering learning and reconnecting To that history and all those people It feeds the ghosts is or that's the those are that's the language he uses it feeds hungry ghosts And that's our duty if we want to honor them so That's the emotional piece to offer with the intellectual and the practical so we're here for any questions you have Thanks Thank you for that great Presentation that was really really helpful and I like the concept of feeding the ghost I was wondering how if I just add Is it 14 and 5 19 feet that's is that's the Height of that right there That is high as it goes somebody was asking me this and they thought it was Higher than that you're looking at the width and height and Dragon as you see the dimensions there is is 12 feet long so we should 5 feet high for the dragon and I think the 18 on the gate is the height so about 23 in height That makes sense. It says 14 feet by 14 feet by 18 inches, right? So is that anyway for the gate part 23 feet? Okay, that's what I wanted to know because somebody was asking that question And I think is that going to be open at all where it is now is there going to be any changes to that? Grill work or cement area or you know stepping through the gate. Is that something that is envisioned? So that half that round that half circle will kind of be under the gate So the most that you can walk through the gate is to step into that and you're kind of walking under But you don't really walk under it and keep going I think I think it'd be better if we did what you're asking about and it's also sort of a It's more engineering. It's more cost. It's more design So right now no and hopefully later There's also been a discussion to maybe us some similar Attractive art piece on the other end of the bridge, but this is phase one That's great. Thank you for Helping to move this forward and it's important for us to be acknowledging and recognizing the history of The Chinese residents of Santa Cruz. How long did the process take from the inception of when you first You know coordinated with mr. Owl to now Probably a year and Ten months and maybe you're in eight months. Yes, wonderful. Well, thank you for that diligence Thank you. Welcome I just thank you for bringing this forward. I'm really excited about it and Just the partnership between you and the artist And the city is exciting I did just have a question. I'm not sure if it's for Bonnie or you I just wanted to make sure I understood How the maintenance of a piece like this is is All right, this is a high traffic area and and I just wanted it says in the staff report The city will maintain the piece as part of the public art inventory. Is that something that we we have? Funds in our So so if if it gets any damage or anything like that And that would include I I hope not but something like a skateboard injury or a little graffiti here there We'd be able to get out there and repair it quickly Yeah, we have a general as part of our budget maintenance category and it's sort of it's for everything So depending on on what else, you know Is if there's other maintenance needs, but typically it's available for any any art project Great, and then I just want to make a note Mr. Peppin that there's actually a dragon on the other side of the river I was going to mention in the playground the San Lorenzo urban river plan committee, which was a committee of 24 members of our community Intentionally left that dragon in that playground and then had a local artist named Kathleen Aboud paint it into a dragon And renew that as a dragon. So it's definitely a dragon for the kids over in the playground And I hope we retain this vision of a dragon along the river. It's super Uh It's just very fortuitous that these two Images have come together this this far apart. So there's one over there, but use one more have a friend soon, right? Thank you for your efforts Any other questions at this time? Okay, seeing none for one more thing before you close It's just that I forgot to acknowledge beth toby Who really guided us on this we went through three commissions That's the the recommendation you have before you includes going through three commissions And beth was really the staff lead amongst others on that. So I wanted to thank her for that Thank you for doing that council member brown a question and then i'm going to open it up to public comment We'll come back to you Is there any member of the community who wants to address the council on this item? This is item number 16 on our general business Okay, come on forward and you'll have two minutes or you're welcome to step up Okay, great. Go ahead and come on biotech funding Shanghai And my experience dealing with the chinese is that things like dragons and Similar kind of things have great significance in chinese culture And I wondered if this type of a dragon in this color Had any significance that we should be aware of in the chinese culture That's my question. I don't know the answer, but that's my question. It's the I'll give you an example A japanese firm built a skyscraper in in In Shanghai and they had a big round sign on the top And the chinese said well that looks too much like the rising sun. You got to take it down And so a lot of sensitivity things like that Thank you Okay, any other member of the community wanting to address the council on this item Okay, seeing them. We'll go ahead and return back to the council. We had council member brown Matthews I mean council member brown Matthews Glover and then vice mayor Cummings And I don't know if there was an answer to the question that was posed if you want you're welcome to do that before we go ahead and So the the question was about appropriateness and cultural The considerations that a lot if you're not from a member of this culture, you might not understand a few things came up during the community outreach meeting at the ma and in our outreach to artists and historians And members of the chinese-american community The color is Is appropriate this type of dragon Is appropriate The gate there was some discussion around the gate some folks think that certain gates should only be at temples And there was a variety of opinion on that. This is a non traditional style gate So anyone who would have that opinion Might be more accepting of this the the dragon should not look down Even though it would be nice for you and I standing under it because then it can't fly those are the types of nuanced things that matter And we also learned from projects in chinese And you know in chinatown and portland had a really bad example of how they kind of fumbled on some stuff like this So we tried to do our due diligence George and Kathleen particularly and others Great. Thank you for answering the question. Appreciate that Okay, council member brown comments council member matthews customer Glover vice mayor Cummings I'm really excited to see this project come to fruition and I want to thank everybody who's involved George owes not here Mr. Pepping. Thank you also for Providing us with some literature that also helps tell the story of the very rich history of the chinese in Santa Cruz in this area on the Coastal coast of california which stretches back To before the spanish so a long long history and some some great material for us to also Digest kind of the bigger Bigger history there and so thank you for that and thank you for all the work you did. Thanks to the various commissioners and our staff And I think that I'll leave it at that Councilor matthews. Yeah, I love this project and again. I want to commend Um This is just a perfect example of involving a community nonprofit A value the community shares Private philanthropy and a public entity all of which have contributed to make this happen. It's just wonderful Um I am personally as someone who loves local history. I really believe in creating Reminders of our history and this is a perfect example And I also worked with many of these same people on the chinese gate at evergreen. Um, so we are just so lucky to have The resources and interest in making a project like this happen I did want to mention i've spoken to the principals here. I'll just for the benefit of others This is a pretty high impact zone And I did raise a concern again with the artist And and greg on on the fragility or apparent fragility of some of these The features on the dragon particularly And it's been explained to me the composition of this and it would be very strong And um, it is something that I want to have be beautiful and lasting For years and years into the future. So um, I just wanted to mention that as a concern that As this this is conceptual as it moves forward that that high attention is paid to the durability Of this of the artistic feature But with that I I am happy to move the item before us I'll be approving the naming of the pedestrian bridge and approval of the chinatown public art project It's a great project Okay, so we have a motion by council member matthews seconded by council member crone Further discussion counts more clever. Yeah, I just had a question that came up from that public comment. Um, what? What artists were engaged in the design of the Features I guess within the the gate and the dragon. I noticed, uh, were there any people that specialize in chinese? uh design or tradition or mythology With regards to that. I know there was the public input process But I'm looking at the lead designers names and I don't want to judge based on their names But I think from my experience with them then neither one of them are of chinese descent Yeah, george owls specifically approached kathleen crachetti because of her extensive Work in santa cruz also on the pedestrian bridges with the mosaics and together they did reach out to Community members in the chinese community specifically for their engagement in the process I also actually want to recognize tom ralston who is here Who is also one of the artists involved with the with the project and he may have a little bit more to add to that Okay Thank you. Yes. Um, I built the uh, chinese monument in the evergreen cemetery five years ago It's a project that lasted that went from august to April I think just an amount of time This will be all of that eight to ten months Um, as far as the design goes, I researched the designs thoroughly as thoroughly as I could for chinese gates and chinese bridges And came up with a whole amalgamation of design and some that I thought would work and look really good And the chinese memorial. Have you seen that in evergreen? You should take a look sometime because I think you'll be um You know just impressed with what I would call the authenticity of a chinese piece and some of you have been there This piece is going to be that and actually more If I can get my have my way But um, I uh, I'm using concrete in here. That's almost uh, 8,000 psi and normal concrete is 2,500 So as far as my end goes in the structural integrity Barring a nuclear warhead hitting directly on it. It's going to be here for a lot longer than the roman coliseum So the dragon, I think cathleen had addressed that with you synthia That uh, there are works of art using this method that have stood the test of time and um We uh, we think it's going to be a really cool Design do you have any other questions? Um, yeah, so I was looking at the Chinese memorial and santa cruz. It is it looks great My main concern or just curiosity had to do with the intentional outreach that was done to people that specialize in Asian historical analysis as well as Asian tradition specifically chinese tradition Chinese architecture and Making sure that their voices were prominent and taking into consideration I know that there was the concern mentioned about the placement of gates not associated with temples So I don't know what kind of a resolution was made around that or whether those were taken into consideration But then ultimately decided on establishing a gate here. Um, just you know coming from Someone with a diverse background. I could understand the perspective of some that may Celebrate this absolutely, but then others that may feel if there was not enough inclusion or um Kind of a valuation of it with the Incorporation of many different voices from that community to make sure that everyone has the buy-in to appreciate I completely understand your concern. We had a meeting at the um Ma the museum of art and history and there were chinese people present and there was one Woman who's very active in chinese history and art and she's over the moon with this She's thrilled with it. I took two visits to moma the museum of chinese ancestor ancestry In new york city and I actually Broach this idea To one of the curators who thought it was a great idea too And as far as the lettering goes on the chinese memorial in the evergreen we actually sought the advice of a Professor in chinese in sacramento and he not only Um Scripted the chinese character, but he said do you want to go pre-mal or post-mal? And so there was They were they agreed it should be pre-mal and I imagine the lettering here will probably Replicate that but I can't speak to that completely But I just really feel that we've Collectively done our homework To make sure that we're including Anybody of chinese heritage and ancestry to make sure that this is authentic and something that they would approve of Thank you for that Thank you all so much for your hard work and then we'll go ahead. I just want to also um say You know to the points made earlier It's wonderful to have these types of efforts come forward to us and to celebrate And one of the things that I did notice about the agenda report was really the call out to the equity and the Inclusionary as well as the sustainability and I think it really encompasses all of those elements So thank you for your due diligence and your hard work in bringing this forward to us I know councilor matthews have one last comment and oh, I'm sorry Councilmember vice mayor Cummings has a comment and then councilor matthews and we'll go ahead and see if we could Councilor con Just want to say thank you to greg pepping the water said council our staff the owl family and all the folks who really Put a lot of hard work into this. I think it It's really important that we Educate, you know the people of santa cruz and the people who visit santa cruz about all the cultures They're really contributed to the city over time and I think this is a great way to honor our chinese Historian culture in santa cruz and additionally. I'm just very excited about you know another Really significant piece of artwork that's going to draw attention to our river and really activate our river space because I think that this is another opportunity to also Not only bring attention to the culture of the chinese people who have helped make santa cruz what it is, but also Engaging people in our natural spaces and getting them to appreciate the beauty of our river And so I just want to say how much I appreciate this and its placement and and everything it means for the city Councilor matthews and then councilor the question was raised about How the artists were selected and I think correct me if i'm wrong, but I think Our arts program envisions two paths for public art one is Selecting a site and doing a request for proposals something like that And the other is an unsolicited proposal which this one was where someone has an idea and comes to the city and so These are the artists that george out particularly Selected himself and brought forward as a as a package and again. I just want to thank Tom And the quality of artists involved in this and the the really thoughtful approach to to making it culturally right We're we're really lucky. Yeah councilor crene Just a question on because it came up on the design We've had two emails on it too. Are the lettering what what does it spell? What how would you translate it? Well, it's one question and the other one is will it be translated on the site as well So people who don't speak chinese know what it says um, I'll address that because um, the last Monument that we did was just uh dedicated to the chinese that helped build the Monterey and sanctor's community and then the two Pieces on each column were were actually chinese poet poems And I envision that this will be much of the same and I pretty sure that george out has Someone of professorial quality that will Make sure that this is and if it needs to be approved what they say It's so be it but if not, I mean that's where we're going to go with it And we're going to probably have the same format poetry on the sides and then A chinese statement saying I don't know welcome to china town or this was china town in 1885 or china town 1870 to 1949 or whenever it was no more I just that's still a little bit in development But it's going to be something of that nature. Thanks. So this isn't for lettering, right? No, this is not thanks And I just want to point out two issues in a row that I think we have a lot of enthusiasm And unanimity and um, I know we haven't voted yet on it, but I just it's really nice to see see that I agree here here. Okay. All those in favor, please say I am. Hi any opposed. Okay. That passes unanimously Thank you very much Okay, we're going to go ahead and move on to item number 17 And that is the residential rental inspection services update and options for modifications And we have lee butler and laura coming forward to present the item Good Good afternoon mayor and council members. I'm lee butler the director of planning and community development for the city and with me I have laura landry. She is our code compliance manager and we'll let laura kick off the presentation Good afternoon mayor and city council members I'm laura landry with code compliance manager with the community and development department Thank you The residential inspection services is a self-funded proactive inspection service That was enacted on august 2011 It was created to improve and protect the tenants. It was created to improve and maintain the housing stock and protect the tenants of our community By assuring that the minimum habitable standards are met The sole purpose of the residential inspection service is again protecting our community. Here we have a concrete driveway That after inspection it was found to be collapsing due to several main posts being deteriorated or That they were completely Did not have any support as you can see from the underneath the driveway You have the main post that's completely deteriorated or it's not being supported as well as The detachment of the site because one of the supports has been completely deteriorated In this particular instance one of the tenants that was living in this unit And this single family dwelling Was irate thinking that they were going to need to relocate due to the condition of the driveway because it's considered to be unsafe After explaining to the tenant what the situation was and how important it was for this to be addressed They were able to understand the situation and work with the rental inspection inspector Here in these pictures are two unpromitted Water heaters Just by looking at this picture. You could see that one is pretty obvious. It has no venting. It has no strapping While the other one might not be as obvious The other Water heater that you can see that there's a vent that actually was venting into the walls And also into the attic space of a single family rental unit The one with no venting was actually in located in a place where a child care center was being conducted Unfortunately both the the rental inspectors in this case is were able to assist the tenants and get The condition rectified promptly Well, these two may seem obvious I mean but well these two may it may not seem obvious The next picture you see where a wide ununprevented water heater is very obvious The inspector was out there Notice the darkening around the water heater waited for the pilot to go on in their flames This is on a four 14 unit apartment complex that was also close to other water heaters that could potentially been catastrophe It could have been a catastrophe for all of that were involved And I just jump in here and say The council has seen some of these photos through the weekly updates But these are all recent occurrences. This is something that our team is out doing Protecting the lives of our community members on a daily basis And I'm really proud of the work that they all do to keep our residents safe These all happened in the last few months and it's something that we come across on a very regular basis is Serious life safety threats to our community that our team is out there addressing Here we see stats of the rental inspection services Approximately we have approximately 11,400 registered units in the city and conduct approximately 3700 inspections a year Out of the 3700 inspections 14 percent pass the first inspection Meaning that 86 percent require additional work in order to improve the conditions of the tenants in these locations And only between one and two are vacated a year due to hazardous conditions This fiscal year the 2019 only one was vacated due to hazardous conditions In may 9th 2019 direction was to bring back for discussion four items one Shift the program to a complaint based only to maintain landlord fees to fund the program Three codify sp 1226 that was adopted by last year allowing for enforcement of codes and effect at the time of construction And for bring construction up to code at the time of sale Two additional considerations Are also listed here for the council's consideration One is expand outreach and two is the amnesty a pilot amnesty program which will be described later on in this presentation Currently the rental inspection services is a mandatory program that provides services to all tenants without the fear of retaliating by the landlord The housing voice outreach Confirms that tenants often live in unsafe dangerous condition and do not report these situations due to fear of retaliation or fear of eviction Moving this program to a complaint based program will leave the most vulnerable of our community members They will leave them vulnerable I would also like to say again that based on the stats, which is 86 percent of the Inspections that are conducted conducted fail We strongly recommend that this program not switch to a complaint based program and be made mandatory Council requested that this program remain cost Self-funded Which we completely agree at this point in time the fees are approximately $76 per a single family single family dwelling Which includes the cost for two code compliance specialists and one code compliance technician We further would like to expand our right outreach program to include other community Organizations as well as other community departments to organize additional events and educate the community on tenant resources Thanks, laura. I'll wrap up the presentation here with a few things first off the council provided direction to bring back a discussion related to the codification of sp1226 and sp1226 would allow the and does allow the Building official to apply on a case-by-case basis Codes that were in effect at the time of the construction of an unpermitted unit or a Unpermitted addition for example and This is current state law It is incorporated into the health and safety code. And so we do not need to codify this into our code We are already implementing the use of sp1226 in our Evaluation of unpermitted units and unpermitted additions Speaking of those unpermitted units and we have about 450 that we have identified those units remain occupied And the the vast majority of them are still occupied. We do end up As laura mentioned issuing vacate orders to one to two units per year based on health and safety violations that preclude occupancy But the vast majority of these are still housing individuals We have about 158 in our current Unpermitted dwelling unit legalization process We have fully legalized 32 of those 15 of those the owners have chosen for whatever reason either Compliance with planning requirements or cost associated with With having the structure meet the applicable codes 15 of them have been removed 17 more are Issued they've been issued building permits. And so they're they're close to having A legal unit and then 94 in various stages of the process preparing plans In plan check and so forth We have about 300 that Are in the queue and some of those have been in the queue for quite some time I mean we've got some that have been there for five years and one of the things that we do is when we've got these units Our goal is to legalize the units. So if we have a unit that may be benefit may benefit from A law that may be coming down the pipeline from the state or from us locally We set that one aside And that's part of those 300 units that we have pending We we the last thing we want is people to remove units and then to find out A few months later that oh You know the state would now have allowed that we try to keep these units online And we try to make sure that we can get them permitted and legal so one of the Actions that the council requested discussion regarding was point of sale reporting requirements council direction was to bring back for discussion the Consideration of structures being brought up to code at the point of sale And we saw a number of members of the public writing about The impression that old homes would have to be brought up to current code And that isn't What we took the the council's direction as we took it more as looking at unpermitted units Looking at unprevented additions and potentially looking at health and safety violations that would need to be rectified and potentially If eligible Using sp1226 to apply the older codes. So I just wanted to clarify that um the the council also because They this was not agendized when the direction was given there. There wasn't a discussion about the intent of the motion and so the Statement of at point of sale Also would need some clarification The council didn't discuss this but the agenda report identifies a number of reasons why um having Structures either legalized or get permits prior to a sale can be very problematic because that process is really time-consuming it it and People have to prepare plans.  They have to get inspections The timelines associated with property sales often don't allow for that. So any type of action that the Council considers staff would recommend that if it's a legalization or permitting requirement that the council is looking at that That wouldn't actually happen After the sale occurs The government code does allow for cities to require point of sale Reporting and both selenus and seaside have done that in different manners. Um, the Report here on the screen is a sample of what selenus does They essentially run a report that shows here all the permits that Have been pulled and that's that's included the city of seaside goes a little bit farther They also require an inspection and so there's an inspection and that inspection compares What's out in the field to the permits that have been identified on their research and There has been a fair amount of discussion amongst The community comments about the effects that something like this may have on sales price So i'd like to delve into that for just a moment First off as indicated in the agenda report there have been multiple studies that show an inverse relationship between sales price appreciation and Filtering rates and filtering rates are the rate at which rental units become more affordable over time and While this is a very complex relationship the studies have shown even in high demand markets like ours this inverse relationship of units getting more expensive inversely relates to rentals rental filtering And so over the course of decades a reduction in the escalation Rates of sales prices could result in lower rental rates than they otherwise would be and i want to be clear here that I can't think of much Maybe anything that we can do that will actually lower Sales and rental prices in this community That's going to take some larger macroeconomic forces to actually lower the prices But we can do a number of things that have the potential to Lower the Rate at which increases occur. There are lots of things that we can do to lower the rate at which increases occur and There is a potential that a point of sale reporting process in some instances Could Lower sales prices. It certainly wouldn't in every instance, but there's the potential and i'll give you an example A buyer could think that well this unpermitted unit has been on the market Or has been in existence for 20 years and the city doesn't know about it. It's rented I can just keep going on as is and not invest any money in it and have that revenue without any costs If the city is aware of that unpermitted unit and requiring that it be legalized Then that potential owner could Take and take that cost into consideration in some instances. It wouldn't matter to the owner or to the new to the buyer I should say but in other instances it may Is this a proven fact? Of course not and You know, could it happen? Yes in some instances. It certainly wouldn't but Because there's that potential and because this point of sales Reporting program could Help us to identify and legalize additional Unpermitted units. We are suggesting we are seeing value in that and suggesting that council provide direction to research and do outreach and Then come back with some ordinance updates. We've got a number of things on our plate right now particularly in the Rental inspection service. We're looking at automating a lot of the payment systems and the registration systems And so that's really a priority right now but We could if the council is interested in doing something like this we could take up an effort like that in In six months or so now There are a lot of things that the council could consider in relation to this first off you could just say Nope, we're not interested in point of sale reporting if you are interested in it Then you don't have to answer all these questions, but if you have Thoughts surrounding that that could help inform our discussions with the community The point of sale reporting options could be Permit history only similar to what Salinas does it could add basic findings So someone reviews that and says based on what we see we think only one single family residence should be there Or it could add mandatory or on-request inspections It could Be inspections of just unpermitted units or unpermitted construction Or it could cover the life safety items that we typically do with a rental inspection similarly There are options in relation to corrections and permitting Would we just be looking for unpermitted units? Would we be looking at unpermitted additions? That have to then be permitted Would there be a specified time frame or would we just include those with the existing legalization program? Which as I mentioned sometimes, you know, they they can sit there for five years or more So really what we need to understand from the council today Is based on the direction to bring back a discussion about this Do you want us to pursue a point of sale reporting option or Would you Suggest that that we do not do that at this point in time The final item for discussion Is something that wasn't explicitly directed But it's in response to a number of the comments that we heard from individual council members And certainly from members of the community Where individuals have expressed concerns about units being taken off of the market as a result of the residential inspection service And In most cases If not all cases the The unit is actually being taken off the market. The residential inspection service may identify it But it's not meeting planning requirements or it's not meeting building requirements And that's why the unit would have to be taken off the market You know, we mentioned before that there's only one or two that are vacated per year And there have been 15 in our legalization program that have opted to to To go out of the program, but Those the inconsistency with building and planning requirements is what brings them offline We have very little flexibility in What we can do from the building code perspective we can utilize sp1226 But those are state codes that are put in place now on the other hand We have a significant amount of flexibility as it comes to Our planning requirements And so if the council really wanted to value the The keeping these unpermitted units And legalizing them then We could pursue an amnesty program. There are 31 units right now that do not that we know do not comply with current planning requirements and We could pursue program that would allow for Those units to be legalized in exchange for example for affordability requirements There are some significant trade-offs there Certainly, we'll have some who may not be in favor of the units in the first place or some that say Hey, I wanted to do something like this and I was playing by the rules And so there are very significant trade-offs here And there are also some very real threats to putting a program like this together one Particularly if there are affordability requirements Some owners could be unwilling to Proceed and certainly if if the city doesn't know about their unit They might be more unwilling to proceed and then of course sp50 Some owners may not want to proceed because of sp50 coming down the pipeline which was made a two-year bill this year And could if it's approved allow up to four residential dwelling units on all single family properties throughout the state So that particular You know if if someone didn't meet the density requirements, for example They had four units on a property where there could only be two according to the planning density They may say hey the state might allow me to do this next year without any affordability restrictions So again with this We have a full plate. This would fall on to our advance planning team. We have We have an approved from council six month work plan that was just approved last month And so we've got our our chart our Our path is Chartered for the next six months And delaying that Would actually be better if you wanted to pursue something like this because then we would know better where sp50 is is heading so that Sums up the The approach that we are suggesting maintain the current residential rental inspection service enhance our community outreach research conduct outreach and prepare a draft ordinance for residential point-of-sale reporting and then Provide we're asking council to provide direction on whether or not you would want us to Pursue some sort of temporary amnesty program and laura and i are both available for questions councilmember mayers I just have a couple quick questions Um Could you remind me was it 11,000 something like 11,400 units? That's correct total rental units In the rental inspection program. Yes, and do you have an estimate of how many do you feel like that's pretty much capturing? Most of the units in town or are you Those are the ones that we have currently registered in the rental program It also includes the units that are exempt also from the rental program meaning that they're being inspected for instance by housing authority, so it also includes those as well and these would include apartments And and multifamily types of situations as well Thank you. Thank you for the presentation. Um, so interesting or curious about this amnesty program idea So you there were 450 unpermitted units that you'd identified 31 of them have been identified as potentially being applicable for the amnesty program, but it Mentioned that they're expected to be more that qualify. So i'm just curious What process was used to identify this initial 31? and How far have you gotten in analyzing the 450? Compared to that 31 so like have you gone through 399 of them and then you've only identified 31 or have you gone through 50 and identified 31? So out of the 450 units that we have identified right now 158 have gone been going through the legalization process So we do have a figure of where they are in the process approximately 300 What uh, one of the planners did and the person that's also involved with the legalization process She went through and just scanned to see one Based on the zoning regulations based on setbacks based on just the planning Regulations, which ones would be able to move forward through the legalization process In which one would not be able to move forward with the current planning regulations and 31 approximately 31 were identified as not going to be able to move forward with them There's certainly the potential that more could be identified. You know, that was that was the first cursory review quickly looking at things that often Come up as roadblocks But as you dive deeper into the analysis other things could come up that number could grow and certainly You know, it's it's intentionally identified as 31 known because there are undoubtedly units throughout the city that we are unaware of and We're not sure whether or not those meet planning requirements or not Thank you. And with the 15 that have been removed that you cited on there Is that after contacting the 450 people or owners of the units Of that initial contact 15 of them were removed While the 300 are still pending or how does that work like with regards to You have 450 Did you send out letters to all of them? They were identified as having issues and then they voluntarily remove those units Or was it that they were being enforced on like they weren't on the queue anymore? And then they were moved into that process of having to fix it for instance the 300 that are Currently pending what we do is a batch of 25 We do batches of 25 and move those through the legalization process to be able to assist the property owners And detail and go through the process. There's six steps that goes that Occurs during this process and it's during that process after the property owner has already obtained all the information of how much it's going to be in order to legalize the unit And it's through this process and after the property owner has been Informants given all the information that they require that they think okay, whether am I going to continue to pursue the legalization process Or if I'm just going to convert it back to what it was originally and out of the Again the 125 that've gone through the legalization and some of them will come forward on their own Does it mean that it's particularly once that we're already moving through that process? They'll go ahead say no We'll just go ahead and obtain a permit to convert it back to what it was originally So out of the I mean I could probably do really quick on my computer But out of the Amount that have been processed through the 25 at a time batches what percentage of those have been removed from the market About 10 percent we've got 158 in the process I 10 percent have been 15 have been removed. So roughly 10 percent. Okay, so it's 158 or is it 125? No, 158 158. Okay Um, a wonderful and then so about 10 loss which is concerning with regards to units and people being able I mean granted that they're out of Out of code or building Other question, uh, you'd mentioned the tenants may I clarify one thing? The 15 units that have been removed from the rental inspection services. Um, those are the ones for instance that Have decided obviously not to go through the legalization process Now the legalization process um has started it started I believe in april in 2017 That's how many units 158 that have um gone through the process These some of the units could have been removed prior to that So it doesn't mean necessarily that it's just been in this Period of time that all these 15 units have been removed. Thank you for that Um, I think I only have about one more question and that has to do with the statement that was made about Not having to be complaint based because of the concern of the threat that tenants would face because You mentioned the tenants don't complain because of fear retaliation and eviction So besides keeping it as a anonymous complaint based anyone can complain and that triggers an investigation thing Which has caused a lot of problems for different tenants in the community Um, what are some things that you would recommend that we could implement that would protect tenants from retaliation and evictions so The program as it currently exists Provides through its proactive approach protection for improving the quality of life health and safety of these units Without tenants needing to fear of retaliation because of its proactive nature um If it turned into a reactive complaint based program then A landlord would likely assume Anyone who is complaining about the living conditions in the unit would be the tenants and even with the new state law 1482 sb 1482 that is I'm gonna Assuming the governor signs it as he likely will I'm gonna put in place Sorry, it's ab 1482. Thank you That's going to put in place rent control and just cause eviction protections That fear and the knowledge of that in and of itself may not be out there in the community And that fear of retaliation regardless of that particularly if individuals, you know are vulnerable in terms of very low income or undocumented status Could drive individuals to not report the program and so The state is Putting in some provisions that can help to address that In relation to the the program now I I firmly believe that As a proactive program We protect tenants substantially more than would be the case in a reactive one Great. And then is it local or state law that um Units if they don't have bathrooms have to be physically connected to the main property One moment You know the answer to that I'm gonna I see uh, john mclucey john mclucus who is our Interim deputy building official who can speak to that That's a basic requirement of any dwelling unit. It has to have a bathroom for the state or for the city The state the state. Okay. Thank you Thank you Okay, I'll just do a quick kind of time check Given kind of our time constraints for this today's meeting Can I get a sense of how many members of the community want to address the council on this item? Okay, okay We'll um, we'll have an opportunity to hear from you. This is a big item So we're going to likely have to take it bit by bit and hopefully get through majority of it None of it is very pressing. I don't think in terms of needing to have a time kind of immediate action by the council I know we have some additional questions I'll just sort of kind of ask my council members to be aware of that And um, and then we'll come back and have a chance to kind of get into what the specifics will be So I had vice mayor council member brown and then council member crown Thank you for the presentation and personally I see how these programs can help by being Non-voluntary because of the concerns around retaliation against tenants that landlords could impose should they want to report mold or any other kind of Condition that might be unhealthy for for living I was curious around the Of the 450 Unpermitted units. What are some of the more common things you're coming across that makes them in violation of the city's code? So I know that some of the examples you showed earlier With you know, for example, there are buildings that might have failing garages. They might have exposed wiring they might have the The water heaters that were you know on the flames were coming out of them being concerns are those Some of the conditions where we find these units coming offline or is it other things like ceiling height? ADA accessibility can you just kind of speak to What are some of the ways that these units or rooms might be coming offline? some of the conditions that um, would uh, where the Inspector would have to post it vacate would have to do with for instance egress That's one of the major issues where there is no egress Um, if there's for instance a water heater in the bedroom, um, that those would be the the situations that Would cost for these units to be vacated I think it vacated. Yeah, that was Because I was really trying to understand for some of these that have been removed, you know like It seems like some of them that that might be an easy solution right trying to relocate a water heater inside of a house But some You know other situations where I've met with people in the community and They have issues around like the height like ceiling height in the houses and that being You know a reason to potentially pull something offline although Some people might be fine living in that kind of situation So just trying to get an understanding of yeah, we have had for instance Structures Unpermitted structures where there is no sanitation where there is no cooking facilities where there is again No egress so there have been instances where it's not considered to be a habitable unit For a person to um be able to stay in those units. It would be considered unsafe And if I could just add correct me if I'm wrong, um, but a ceiling height issue. I have also um talked with a community member who had a unit taken offline and and that's I've had that experience not only in this jurisdiction but elsewhere due to ceiling heights and the the challenge there is the The state codes and you know if It met a state code at the time it was built through one two two six Then we could take that in consideration But if it hasn't met any state codes, then we're very much challenged to do so and and I asked the correct me if I'm wrong In an instance like that, um, that would not be Requiring removal of the tenants We would just put them in through the legalization process and they could for example Try to excavate or try to raise the house as has been done in in certain instances, but that can be costly Thank you for the the report I have two questions. Uh, the first is could you refresh My memory perhaps our collective memories on how When you say it's page one two three on page three Approximately 450 dwelling units have been identified. How are they identified? um, I understand the process after they the contact is made and they um The six steps and all of that but how are these units identified? Well, they're identified through two um Two methods one of them. It could be the proactive inspection program Um Inspection services and the other is also through a complaint base So the code compliance division is made out of the rental inspection services as well as code compliance So they it could be both this number of 450 Identified units could be from either or not just necessarily for from the rental inspection services Follow-up question then If there are units that are not enrolled in the rental inspection program The only way then for them to be identified would be through a complaint Yes, so then the same challenge applies I guess i'm just getting at the the challenge that you talk about going to a complaint only system The same challenge applies for tenants who are living in units where they're not in the rental inspection program Yeah, and we have found that some of the units that um, for instance, we receive a complaint on that are A reactive program goes out there and identifies They're also rental units and therefore we do communicate with the rental program as well as the legalization program So it does get um entered into the system Thank you. And then my second question is um on page six You know then we've discussed it that the city does not have the ability to reduce building code standards below those adopted by the state um However There are some flexibility now with 1226. Uh, what is this the city's? Responsibility to and for enforcement are we required to enforce all of these codes state codes? When we find out about issues then yes It's incumbent upon us to make sure that if people are inhabiting dwellings that they are compliant with the with the state codes and There can be alternative ways in which that compliance is achieved whether it's through sp1226 or through an alternate means and methods of construction There are ways in which An equal amount of protection can be achieved or you know, we we try to exercise flexibility through those While ensuring that the intense of the codes is met Our objective is to legalize the units and to make sure that they're safe and In doing so we look at everything on a case by case basis But we do have those codes that are sort of our boundaries for doing so We're legally required to enforce Correct I'll kind of turn the question around a little bit Is the city legally liable for not enforcing its code? There's another way to look at that there is generally immunity in the government code for failing to enforce the law however recent precedent has sort of altered that and i'm thinking specifically of the ghost ship fire in the city of oakland in which A lawsuit was filed against the property owners the city and others In connection with the tragic fire that happened there The city filed a motion based on its statutory immunity to Essentially taken the position that it didn't have a legal obligation to enforce its own codes And the court rejected that so that that's become an issue that will be litigated but I think there is a risk inherent in Just looking the other way when code violations come to our attention that the city could be ultimately liable for for not Taking steps to address known hazardous conditions Just I just want to say i'm not that i'm suggesting we go that route I just wanted to get a better sense of what our role and responsibility is as we consider Moving in directions that where we may have more flexibility about What we enforce with 1226 Okay, thanks Before we get to more questions from council members and I know councilmember crone you're next for questions I'm going to go ahead and open it up for public comment And then we'll come back and we'll get your questions answered so that we can eventually maybe get some Direction on this item since we're at limited time today So those who are interested in speaking to us on this item, please come forward Anybody who wants to speak briefly in about one minute? You're welcome to come forward first Is anybody wants to briefly speak?  What what have you in one minute? Let me know Any one minute public comment speakers? By show of hands Okay, seeing none. We'll go ahead and open it up for two minutes Good afternoon council members rick longinati with the campaign for sustainable transportation So our group has as part of its mission preservation of affordable housing and so this is a great opportunity for you I think that the staff is asking for direction They're already have a priority to preserve Units and to legalize them and I think that bringing forward their amnesty program Is is really the opportunity that you have to encourage them to to continue with that We might have had an amnesty before doing the rental inspection ordinance, but now we get a second crack at it So I would ask that you that you do that. There's certainly Many planning regulations, you know a distance from property lines and so on that that That we have the the power as a city to change And it would be just a real shame to to lose units on account of that One of the downsides that was pointed out by the staff report was that people might be resentful because you know Hey, I played by the rules and somebody else gets an exemption. Okay. I get that but If you compare that to losing a housing unit, what's more important? Thank you. Thank you Next speaker Please come forward. You'll have up to two minutes I'm um She and just and I'm um an evil landlord If you could just if you could if you wouldn't mind facing the council. Thank you I'm an evil landlord and um I uh I really resent the the classic characterization of landlords as evil and greedy I have worked as a teacher And at a second job in order to pay for these houses The only people that's making money on these houses this 25 years that I've owned them is the banks And so I've been contributing I go after work to take people's garbage to the dump in my own truck Even at my age of 74 Because I can't afford to pay it. Nobody's doing the math. We don't get to keep the money I have a first mortgage a second mortgage repairs taxes Rental inspection fees Um, so I just love people to consider that when they're doing these things My tenants are my friends. I have students I have I don't discriminate I have elderly people. I have one woman who was hit By a forklift at work. She's disabled. I have people with children. One has cancer The child and it's breaking my heart because of stuff the city inspectors Have done and how they're condemning my units Which they've inspected as safe and good for for five or six years. Suddenly. It's a catastrophe Everybody is going to die if I don't do something. They're safe. There's not a problem It's an eighth of an inch difference in a size of a water meter People these people are going to be out and these people are not going to find another place They don't have the funds to go out in this market and find something the place is safe They love it. They want to be there. I care about them I'm a human being. I'm not just a landlord And uh, I've always done the right thing even if my house isn't right I always see to them first because I committed to that and I know I can't talk anymore. Thank you next speaker Thank you Hi, sandy hawkman. I support the landlord. Um, when you guys are taking these programs like you did just cause Um, I sell real estate and we actually were going around interviewing other co-workers During the time the just cause argument was going on how many people were actually selling That were rentals and are becoming first-time homeowners, which is going to happen Which is going to be nice as well. Maybe a lot of first-time homeowners are going to be able to afford west side Maybe a little more, but you're going to have higher rents You're going to have more students or other people not able to afford rentals You're going to have a lot of people who Um think that this is helping them and actually it's going to only hurt them in the future uh just um From the sewer laterals that the owners already have to pick up right now as well as low flow toilets and everything you're not talking Like $500 you're talking right now with a sewer lateral and if everything is any issues 30 plus thousand dollars so to put on top of that um bringing Certain properties up to code that may or may not be it could turn into just a primary family residence and it may come off of The rental market and that's going to really actually increase rents not decrease. So thank you very much Good afternoon. Darius mostening I'm actually opposed this Measure here for on two two fronts. Let me just talk about the point of sale That's actually rather tricky because it can actually shift the burden of disclosure From the seller Actually to the city the city can't possibly know all the history of a home My brother for instance was sued selling out after he sold a home in berkeley because he didn't disclose that a raccoon Came into the basement or the crawl space and they went to binding arbitration and settled for like 50 000 A city inspector won't know that and anybody and any of the realtors i'm sure there's several in this room will know that they infer Agree that they advise our clients to disclose disclose disclose So so i'm reading these charts and what is asked of being disclosed is Just a fraction of what sellers At least those that get it and are want to avoid further litigation Disclose i just sold a home. I disclosed unfriendly neighbors I disclosed deer coming up on the property raccoons coming on the porch In addition to the unpermitted outlets that i replaced and things like that But if now we use the city choose to go th