 Welcome to the 9 a.m. public portion of the closed session of the June 23rd, 2020 meeting of the city council. If a member of the public would like to comment on items that are session now is the time to call in using the instructions on your screen. In this part of the meeting, the public council will see full testimony there after the public closed and inaccessible. Please mute your television or streaming device once you call in and listen through the phone. Please note that there's a delay in streaming, so if you continue to listen in television or streaming device, you may miss your opportunity to speak. All council members are participating in this meeting remotely. I want to thank the public for staying home to be today's city council meeting. When it is your time to speak, there will be an announcement that you have been unmuted. Time will be set to two minutes. You may hang up once you have commented on your item of interest. I would like to ask the public to please call the roll. Hey mayor, council member is Byers. Council member is Byers. Here. Matthews. Here. Brown. Boulder. Here. Watkins. Vice mayor Myers. Here. And mayor Cummings. Here. If there are any members of the public who would like to comment on items on our closed session, again, now is your time to call in. And Once you are on the line, you will be unmuted and you will have to move. I think no. Members of the public would like to speak on this item. I'll turn it over to we're going to go into closed session. Good afternoon and welcome to our 12th 30th session of the June 23rd 2020 meeting of the city council. I have a few announcements and then we'll move on to our regular meeting. Today's meeting has been broadcast live on community television channel 25 and streaming on the city's website cityofsanacruz.com. All council members are participating in this meeting remotely. I want to thank the public for staying at home to view today's city council meeting. If you wish to comment on an item, on an agenda item today, call in at the beginning of the item you are wanting to comment on using the instructions on your screen. Please mute your television or streaming device once you call in and listen through the phone. Please note there's a delay in streaming. So if you continue to listen on your television or streaming device, you may miss your opportunity to speak. When it's time for public comment, press star nine on your phone to raise your hand. But if you're time to speak during public comment, you'll hear an announcement that you have been unmuted. The time will then be set to two minutes. You may hang up once you've commented on your item interest. And with that, I'd like to ask the clerk to please call the roll. Thank you mayor. Council member fires. Here, Matthews here, vice mayor Myers and mayor Cummings. Here, we begin today's meeting. I just want to acknowledge a very tragic and unfortunate event that took place in our community. On June 25th, 2020, Alison Ender was struck and killed by an alleged intoxicated driver in the Seabright neighborhood. Alison was a public servant who was committed to fighting structural inequalities. She's worked for many Santa Cruz elected officials, including former assembly member John Laird and county supervisor Ryan Coonerty. Has worked on numerous campaigns and will be remembered as someone who is dedicated and passionate about fighting injustice and supporting her community. My heart goes out to all the Alison's family and friends because I know she will be dearly missed. In honor of her life's work, her life's work and dedication to our community, the city will be flying the flag to have staff in coordination with their funeral services. And before we hold a moment of silence, I would like to offer an opportunity for other council members and staff if they would like to share any words of condolence at this time. Council member Watkins. Thank you, Mayor. You know, I just, I want, I want to thank you for taking the opportunity to have this moment of silence and to honor and remember Alison. I had an opportunity to meet her about five years ago and just an incredible human being and when I had questions about things like trying to figure out how to do a children's fun when I first started City Council, she was always available to be a thought partner. And I think your comments around her commitment to the social justice and Santa Cruz, it's evident in everything she did. And it's absolutely tragic for her family. And I know that they're looking at doing a few memorials or remembrances for her. One at Galt Elementary, which she loves dearly. And I know both her daughters went there and other ways to give to the family. So feeling kind to support support either of those causes. I'm sure it goes really appreciated. So very tragic. Thank you very much. Thank you. Council member Mathews. Thank you. I think everyone who knew or worked with Alison is still this reeling from the loss of this, this beautiful spirit. Who was so dedicated to the public good and pursued her work with graciousness and seriousness and was just a joy to work with on everything. Whether it was really complicated public policy issue or just getting, putting together the Galt Street Halloween parade. I mean at every level she was just such a gift to all who knew her. And she will be truly missed. Thank you for acknowledging this. And I look forward to supporting efforts to keep her spirit alive. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you, Mayor, coming for taking the time to recognize Alison today. I just, yeah, I just want to express my condolences to her family and all of her colleagues. And just seeing a lot of the sentiments expressed about her by people from all over the county and, you know, even broader than that, she just had such a large impact on so many different people. And, you know, she's leaving a legacy of it as a public, public servant that, though not an elected, she, she guided so many successful outcomes for people in our community. So my heart goes out to her husband and her daughters. And thanks for, for recognizing her today. Thank you. Yeah, I would just echo the comments made by my colleagues about what a special, what an amazing person Alison was and her contribution to the community. I met her, it's been almost 30 years now. We were working together on, you know, various electoral campaigns. And I, you know, I just appreciated so much her enthusiasm and her engagement. And, and then over the years, as she then moved into work for elected representatives in this community, she just always maintained such a commitment to being responsive to the community, to constituents. Her, she was, she was such a positive person, you know, her equanimity and her positivity just really, really will be missed. And I, my heart goes out to her, her husband and her daughters and to everybody in the community who loves her. And I just, in following up on Council Member Watkins, I know that family has asked for contributions to be made to Gold School through the Santa Cruz School's website in her honor if you're inclined. So thank you very much for the opportunity to reflect on Alison's contributions. Thank you. With that, I'd like to ask that staff, council members and members of the public join us in a moment of silence to remember Alison. I'd like to acknowledge that the land on which we gather is the unceded territory of the Oaxaca-speaking UP tribe. Some moments in tribal bands comprised of the descendants of indigenous people taken to Mission Santa Cruz in San Juan Batista, Transmanus colonization of the Central Coast. It's today working hard to restore traditional land stewardship practices on these lands and heal from historical trauma. On our agenda, it's a proclamation declaring July 2020 as Black Lives Matter. Now there's been a lot of physical and social unrest around the continued events of African-Americans in our country and people of color in general. There's still discrimination against women all the way through sexual orientation and given the fact that we've been seeing Black people at the hands of police officers who are using excessive force, I just thought that it was an opportunity for us to acknowledge that there's still work to be done to bring about meaningful change in justice around the community and our country, one and two, and two, claiming July as Black Lives Matter month, to remind our community that we are still fighting for human rights and social justice for all members of our community and that we should never forget that. And so with that, I also invited Joy Flynn. I'm not sure if she is on the line, but I invited her. She is a member of the public who led the first action after the death of the murder of George Floyd, which really brought our community together to begin speaking out about this here in Santa Cruz. It was an opportunity for us to come together socially distanced and truly reflected our community's desire to come together. And so I invited her today to receive this proclamation. And so I'll read some of the warehazards. Whereas Black Lives Matter is an international human rights movement originating from within the African American community, which campaigns against violence and systemic racism towards Black people. And whereas on July 13, 2013, hashtag Black Lives Matter was founded by Alicia Garza, Patrice Cullers, and Obo Tometi in response to the quiddle of George Zimmerman, a white private citizen who's responsible for the murder of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. And whereas Black Lives Matter Foundation Incorporated is a global organization in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada whose mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene and violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes. And whereas the statement of Black Lives Matter is not meant to highlight the fact that Black Americans are two and a half times more likely than white Americans to be killed by police and is a call to the end of systemic racism, violence, and the oppression of Black people. And whereas on May 25, 2020, George Floyd was murdered in broad daylight by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chalman in active violence that sparked outrage across the nation in a demand for justice, acknowledgement that Black people are not treated the same under the law, and demand for police reform. And whereas Santa Cruz police chief Andy Mills has openly spoke out to condemn the actions taken by the Minneapolis police officers that ultimately resulted in the death of George Floyd and it's called on police departments throughout the country to put an end to systemic racism, discrimination, and excessive force used in police culture. And whereas on the morning of May 30 of 2020, Santa Cruz community member George Flynn Wall led a peaceful action that brought our community together to honor the life of George Floyd and bring attention to the continued fight of Black Americans for equal treatment under the law and ignited numerous actions to bring about change in the Santa Cruz community. And whereas during the weeks after George Floyd's death, members of the Santa Cruz community have come together through peaceful action to acknowledge the unjust treatment of Black Americans and people colored by law enforcement in our criminal justice system and to demand an end to systemic racism and policing and police violence. And whereas Santa Cruz mayor, police chief, and city council are committed to working with the community to improve the relationship and secure trust between the Santa Cruz police department, the Black community, and other underrepresented communities and end systemic racism, excessive force, and discrimination in police culture. Now, therefore, I, Justin Cummings, mayor of the city of Santa Cruz, do hereby proclaim the month of July 2020 as Black Lives Matter month in the city of Santa Cruz and ask all residents to listen to and acknowledge the voices of the Black community members and support the continued fight for equal rights and treatment under the law to ensure people with diverse, inclusive, safe, and stable communities. So at this moment, I'd like to invite Joy if you'd like to say a few words. Thank you, Mayor Cummings. And the city council, I am honored. And, you know, I did that because I wrote here. My intention was to break the silence of the Black community and allow us to come together and start a conversation and have that conversation move towards action and have the people of color in Santa Cruz be seen not only by one another, but by our White community members as well. So that there is an awareness of our presence here and of our collection. And I'm so proud and so honored to be a longtime community member, Santa Cruz County community member. And that that action was not in vain. And that we figured and that, you know, there's been movement and movement still. So thank you very, very much. Again, I'm very honored. Thank you. All right. With that, we'll continue through our meeting. We have a very long meeting today. And so we'll continue moving on. But thank you, Joy, for joining us. I have a few announcements and then we'll move on to our regular meeting. Today's meeting is being broadcast live on Community Television, Channel 25 and streaming on the city's website, cityfantacrues.com. If you wish to comment on an agenda item today, instructions are provided on your screen. We will provide these instructions throughout the meeting. Whenever we move into an agenda item, they'll be opened up for public comment. Please note that public comment is heard only on items the City Council is taking action on and not on regular updates and reports. Items will be open for public comment during today's meeting and our numbered items to read through 38 on our agenda with the exception of item 35. So I'd like to start by asking the council members if there are any statements of disqualification today. Councilmember Mathews. I will be disqualified on the single business issue in the evening meeting, the decision, discussion, decision on the library. So I will be watching as a member of the general public, but I will not be participating in any way in the council discussion or vote. Thank you very much. Is there any other disqualifications? Seeing none, I'd like to ask the clerk if there are any additions or deletions. There are not, no. Oral communications announcement, which is that oral communications is an opportunity for members of the public to speak of items that are not on the agenda. We will do our best to respond to any questions once oral communications concludes. We are not able to engage in dialogue with each caller. Oral communications will occur on around 6 p.m. and will be held for 30 minutes. Next item on our agenda is a report on a closed session from our city attorney. Good afternoon, Mayor Cummings and members of the city council. This morning's council meeting commenced in a closed session at 9 a.m. with the following items to be discussed, which are also identified on the posted agenda. Item A was a conference with legal council involving liability claims, the claims of Linda Badarini and Nina K. Deal. Those are also listed on your consent agenda this afternoon as agenda item number 13. Council received a report from its labor negotiator on the following bargaining groups, police officers association, fire IASF local 1716, fire management, police management, OE3, mid manager and supervisor employees, FEIU local 521 and unrepresented employees. For the police management, FEIU 521, the mid management, OE3, mid managers and supervisors, fire local 1716 and fire management. Those are also agendized this afternoon on your consent calendar as item 14. Council also received a report from its labor negotiator on an economic hardship program that is being discussed and developed. The two items of pending litigation, first item is a matter entitled Jane Doe versus the city of Santa Cruz, Superior Court case number 19 CD 03688. The second item was ocean street extension neighborhood association versus the city of Santa Cruz, case number 18 CD 03212. On the latter item, the ocean street extension neighborhood association item, council received a report that last week the petitioners in that matter filed a notice of appeal of the trial court judgment to the sticks the pellet district court of appeal. And the council voted to join in a cross appeal being prepared by the real parties in interest in that matter. The action was taken on a 4-3 vote with vice mayor Myers and council members Watkins Golder and Matthews in favor and mayor Cummings and council members Brown and buyers voting in opposition. And then there were also two items of anticipated litigation involving significant exposure to litigation in which the council received a report from legal counsel, but there was no reportable action. Great. Thank you. Next up, city manager report. I'd like to call the city manager report, provide any updates about committee council on events and business. I don't have a report today, but there'll be one at the next meeting on July 2nd. Next item is our council meeting calendar. I'd like to ask the clerk if there's any updates to the calendar. Nothing from what was added to your packet, but just a reminder, we have a special meeting on July 2nd. I'll circle back to item number 34 on our agenda. I know that that item got continued, so would that be considered a deletion? That is continued, no, because it was agendized as continued. So yeah. Our agenda is the consent agenda. These are items 3 through 29 on our agenda. For members of the public who are streaming this meeting, now is the time to call in if you want to comment on any of the items numbers 3 through 29. I know that there are members of the public who are wishing to speak to items to item 5, and I'm wondering if we can provide those instructions in Spanish to ask people to call in. We do have Peter on the slide for translation. If you'd like to call in, please dial the numbers that are on your screen. Please remember to mute your device and then press star 9 to raise your hand and listen for the cue saying that you have been unmuted. All items will be acted on in one motion unless an item is pulled by council member for further discussion. Are there any council members who would like to pull items? I just have a question on item 20. I won't pull these items. I just have a comment on item 8 and item 24. When I mentioned in closed session that I'd like to see it let into two different sections of residential and commercial on item 5, and I don't know if that would need to be pulled to do that? While we pull it, it might be for the discussion on that. Sorry, thank you. My question was having also related to number 5. I'll just raise the issue now and we can deal with it later when we have the discussion. But it seems to me that, as Consent, it said consider additional potential options, which is very open-ended and that seems very similar to what we're talking about later on in the afternoon agenda. There's a lot of overlap there. So I don't know whether we want to focus on it for this item or I think it's 26. Not sure the number, but it seemed like practically the same item in two places, or at least a lot of overlap. Maybe that language wasn't removed and should have been part of the conversation later this evening. If we could not have the same conversation twice. I'm sure I'm not muted. I also just have a comment on item number 14, just a comment. Thank you. I would like to speak to items. Well, actually I guess we could start with the comments, questions, and then we can move those items along and then circle back to item number 5 after we move the other content items. So why don't we start with Council Member Brown. Do you have a question on item number 20? Thank you, Mayor Cummings. I am just wondering, so I appreciate getting the update on SB1 funds. And I know that the lift that we got as an attachment, which is required by the CTC, just has kind of general road repair and other and striping and other items that are allowable under the SB1 funding conditions. I'm just wondering if, because we don't have a list of specific projects, and I know that's not really possible to provide a list that's definitive that every pothole that's going to be filled. But I'm just wondering if you could give us a sense of maybe some examples of what that money is going to do. I think it's really important for the public to kind of know I do this with respect to Measure D as well, but these funds have really helped us move forward. So I see Mr. Schneider is here. Perhaps you could give us a few examples. Sure. Good afternoon, Chris Schneider, Assistant Director of Public Works. The SB1, which is the increase to the state gas tax, which was approved in 2017, has been used in the last two years. And this coming year that's identified in the Capital Improvement Program is to pave streets for street reconstruction and the rehabilitation of catch basins and corrugated metal pipe storm drains, which are over 50 years old. They're failing. And so it's been an ongoing problem for the city. We, when we come back to council with the authorization to advertise and paving projects, you'll see the list of projects that we're going to do at that point. Currently, we're looking at Fairmount pretty closely. It's in bad shape, potentially Chestnut, if we can find funding for the storm drain, which is having some big issues and a number of other streets. But you'll see the list, as well as the list of residential capesial projects in probably in the fall. And I hope you're welcome. Okay. Do you have any further questions? I don't seem like it. So we'll move on to Bison and Myers. Would you like to share your comments on item number 824, 814 and 24? Yeah, I just wanted to recognize our staff on these items. I, on item 8, this is the pursuing a revolving loan fund program county-wide as needed because of the COVID-19 impacts on our local businesses. Our county, our city staff is taking the lead on organizing this application. And I just want to recognize our economic development staff for this work. And also our partners at the county. I think this is the kind of leadership that we're showing in terms of really pulling together as a county and a city to try to do what we can do to bring resources back to the city and the county as quickly as possible to help our local businesses. So this is creating a revolving loan fund that would be accessible with a successful application. So I just want to recognize the efforts of our economic development department in doing this work. I also pulled item 14. This is the item recognizing and basically approving the cost reduction agreements with our bargaining units, the executives and the city manager for fiscal year 2021. The city is facing a significant budget deficits. And I just want to make a personal thank you to all of our staff and all of our units that they came to the table and we were able to get this done before the end of our fiscal year. And I just really appreciate all the sacrifice that people will be making. And just want to publicly recognize and thank everyone for their work on that. And also our HR director as well and our city manager in helping put those items together. And then finally just on consent item number 24 just for purposes of again recognizing the way that our city staff and the way that the city is supporting people in times of need. This item which is a little bit buried on the consent agenda is recognizing that the economic hardship that's ahead for many, many people in our community will be deferring our water and wastewater rate increases for a full year in order to help people offset some of the costs that they're experiencing due to the issues of COVID-19. So I'd like to just recognize our water director, Rosemary Menard and our public works director, Mark Dettle, this generated out of their own initiative and just a testament of how our staff is really thinking and considering ways to help people offset these impacts from COVID-19. So just wanted to also thank those two departments directly. And that's it. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you very much. All right. Are there any further comments from council members? Hearing none, looking for a motion to move the consent agenda with the exceptional item number five, oh wait, no, sorry, we have to open up for public comment. So this is an opportunity for members of the public to speak to any item on our consent agenda with the exception of item number five, which we will get back to after we have moved the other consent agenda items. So there are members of the public. If you haven't already called in, now is the time to call in. And when you have joined the meeting, please press star nine on your phone. And we will unmute you and allow you two minutes for public comment. Seeing no members of the public interested in the comment on this item, I'll bring it back to council to move the consent agenda. And so I see Council Member Browne at the hand up. Yeah, I'll move the consent agenda. Thanks. Okay. Motion by Council Member Browne. Council Member Golder, sorry to hand you up. So we have a motion by Council Member Browne. Seconded by Council Member Golder to move consent agenda with the exception of item number five. And I'll start to do a roll call move. Thank you, Mayor. Council Member Byers. Vice Mayor Myers. Aye. And Mayor Cummings. Passes unanimously. So we'll bring it back to item number five that I think was initially pulled by Council Member Golder. So I turn it over to you. Just want to acknowledge that residential and commercial leases are two different animals. And so I'm just moving forward. We should maybe address them separately. And so I don't know if it needs to be pulled up or I don't know where to really go from here. But just that I know with, you know, if you have a business and like I was saying this morning in closed session is just I'm so sad to see some of our local businesses closing up shop. I was talking with Jocelyn Dubin who has a she's a black woman business owner downtown in their closing shop for good. And it's just so heartbreaking to hear that they weren't given any opportunity or, you know, and I just, I don't know. And so I think the business one might need to be a little bit longer or different than the residential. And I don't know. So that's the point. I just wanted to acknowledge that. I think two things. What made me a council member Goulders referring to is something like economic support or negotiating a reduction or something this has to do with simply adopting the ordinance preventing evictions due to nonpayment of rent, which is different than a business's decision to close. So they're both important. But I think your issue probably has to do with the item we'll be dealing with later. What are some of the measures that city could take? So just the clarification on that. And then regarding the item two here, considering additional potential options, I do want to raise again the question whether it would make sense to just eliminate that second part from this motion and deal with that issue in the afternoon. That's a larger question. So if that were the case, I would be prepared to make that motion. Move the adoption of number one and delete number two. And I think that that might have been, as I mentioned before, an error when we were Yeah. Yeah. It's a technicality. Yeah. Yeah. And I do want to ask the city attorney, given our item that's in the evening, should the council want to take further action? Would it be possible at that time, given the public conversation? And the fact that that was a report and there wasn't the direction for the action in item number 36? Just bear with me a second here. I think that should be, I don't see that being a part of the evening session agenda. But I think there is an item later in your agenda where some direction could be given. And I would assume that it would be in the nature of direction to return to the council that a future meeting with some specific measures or for the council to consider. So I do think that there's an opportunity to give that direction at some point later in the meeting. Yeah, go ahead. Just to continue on that. For item 36, the recommendation just for the benefit of the council and public receive a report on actions to date to assist local residents and businesses and provide direction and potential action on consideration. So it seems to me it's entirely consistent and duplicative. I agree. And I just, I suspect that the agenda report for item five was prepared, contemplating that it would not be on the consent calendar. And it was just an oversight when it was, when the decision was made to put it on consent. Yeah, I wanted to ask the question again just for the benefit of the public regard that I asked in closed session regarding changing the expiration date on this emergency ordinance to August 13th. This is a request I've made. I think this is the third time now that I have requested that we just move it to that date because that is the next time the council will meet after our July 2nd meeting. And our emergency, local health emergency is set to the extend for 60 days. And that goes well beyond August 13th. So I'm just kind of hoping that we can use that date rather than July 30th in order to just make that clean and know that nothing really, nothing could really happen to change the trajectory while we're on break. To the attorney? Yeah. So the question is, what's our, you know, the legal exposure related? Sorry, I didn't ask the question. I already got the answer. But so do you think that this would put us in a vulnerable position to just change the date? Yes, the current draft, the senior packet was written to coincide with the governor's executive order relating to local measures to protect residential and commercial tenants against evictions in the COVID-19 emergency declaration. And were the council to extend the date beyond, and just for more information, the expiration date is in the current draft of July 30th, or if the order is extended by Governor Newsom, then it would correspond with the date of the extension. I don't see a high degree of risk, should the governor allow his executive order to expire. And then in the 11 days subsequent to that, before the council can consider further measures, I don't see a great deal of risk associated with that. Thank you. Any other comments from council members? Seeing none, we'll turn it over to the public for public comment on this item. So if you're a member of the public, now is an opportunity to call in to comment on item number five, which is an extension of our eviction protection for residential and commercial tenants. So you'll call a number on your screen. Once you've called in, please press star nine on your phone. And when you are unmuted, you'll be able to comment on this item. Okay, so there's one member of the public who's called in. So who has a hand or a session set? Okay, you are on the line. Hey, good afternoon. I'm here coming to and council members. My name is Jorge Savala. I'm a COPA leader with Holy Cross Church in Paris here. We wanted to express our support for this to extend it. You will hear from other members from COPA later on today and leaders in our community that have been connecting with hundreds, about 100 families so far. They've connected with 81 families out of the 281 that we're calling that have visited a food pantry in the last months. I've managed the food pantry in the last three months. The volunteer, coordinating other volunteers, there's a lot of need. We've been able to feed people, but they cannot pay their bills. And they're slowly returning to work at this time. So we do support this extension and also looking forward to speaking more on item number 36 of the agenda. Thank you and have a great time. Great day. You have my time. Thank you. Are there any other members of the public who would like to speak on item number five? If so, now's the time to call in. And you'll need to press star nine on your phone to raise your hand. And then we will unmute your line and allow you up to two minutes. Seeing no other members of the public who would like to speak on this item, I'll bring it back to council for action deliberation. Councilmember Brown. I'd like to move that we adopt the extension of this ordinance. And I, but with the change that we include August 13th as our expiration date, rather than July 30th. And that's in section six of the ordinance draft, the bottom of page four. So that is my motion. So just to, sorry for interrupting, but just to be clear, the language would state that the ordinance shall expire on August 13th, 2020, or until executive order number 28-20, issued by the governor, is further extended or rescinded. I'll second that motion. Okay. I'll second that motion. To the motion by councilmember Brown, seconded by vice mayor Myers to extend the emergency ordinance temporarily extending moratorium preventing residential or commercial evictions for nonpayment of rent as a result of economic losses related to the coronavirus with the change that the date will be, the date for expiration will be changed to August 13th. Councilmember Mathews. And just relative to the motion is restricted simply to item number one and does not refer to item two. Standing for the discussion from council. None. I'll turn it over to the clerk for the roll call vote. Mayor, councilmember Byers. Aye. Mathews. Aye. Brown. Boulder. Aye. What? Vice mayor Myers. Aye. And mayor Cummings. Agenda, consent public hearings. These are items 30-33. And for members of the public court streaming this meeting, any of these items are ones that you would like to comment on. Now is the time to call in using the instructions on your screen. Are there any council members who wish to pull items 30-33? An opportunity to comment on items number 31. If you'd like to comment on these items, please call in using the numbers on your screen. Once you've entered, please press star nine on your phone. We will unmute your mic and you'll have two minutes to comment. Any council members who wish to do it on the line? I think there's a delay. I think whoever it is, it's listening to maybe the stream. And so there's a delay because I can hear you in the background. The following item is a comment on items number 31 using the numbers on the screen. Once you've entered, please press star nine on your phone. Is it the last digits, four digits? I mean, number 6401, you're on the line. I think we're going to move along with this. So unless the person with the last four digits 6401 would like to speak to items numbers 31, 32, or 30 during our public hearing, please press star nine on your phone to raise your hand. Otherwise, we're going to move back on to our regular meter. No one wanted to comment on those items. We'll bring it back to council for action and deliberation on items numbers 31 to 33 on our consent public hearing. Council member Matthews. I will move the consent with the exception of 30. Okay, so we'll motion by council member Matthews. Council member Watkins. I'll second the motion. Okay, second by council member Watkins. Bring it back. Are there any further comments or questions on these items? Seeing none, we'll bring it, we'll call on the clerk to do a roll call. Thank you, Mayor. Council member Byers. Aye. Matthews. Aye. Brown. Aye. Boulder. Vice Mayor Myers. Aye. Mayor Cummings. That passes unanimously. Consent, our consent public hearing, which is the second reading and final adoption of ordinance number 2020-13 amending chapter 6.91, Canvas retail license to allow license transfer. I just wanted to comment on this, well, comment on this item and potentially see if there are council members willing to take additional actions on my behalf since I can't make motions. But one of the things that I thought was really good was that myself, council members Watkins and Brown were able to form the subcommittee that was going to address the percentage requirement to allow for license transfers to kick in for businesses. And throughout that process, I felt like we worked really well together with the industry to come up with what we all initially agreed on, which was option number one. We then worked with staff and received more feedback on option number two. But then when we had our discussion last week, it was pretty apparent that one of the conditions that we wanted to raise was one of the conditions we wanted for approval was worker owned businesses. And with option two, that would mean that any change in ownership would trigger a new application process. And so personally, I just felt and after hearing from other members of the industry during the comments that day that there was a desire for us to have this application process kick in with changes more than 50% like to bring it back to council for consideration that the language, you know, all the other conditional languages, the changes that we made last week, that those don't change, but that we do increase the percent that would require the cannabis business to reapply for the city license. So we would increase that from 30% to 50%. And then the cannabis businesses, we need to inform the city of any changes to ownership under 50% as it was described in option one. So I wanted to just put that out there for my colleagues to consider. We can open it up for public comment or if some of them have questions, I think now it's time for them to ask, but if there aren't, we can turn it back over to the public for comment on this item and then bring it back to council for action or version. I see that Katherine Donovan from Planning has raised her hand to speak on this. Katherine, you can go ahead. I had trouble unmoving muting. I just wanted to point out that changing of employee ownership, generally there is a block that is owned by employees 20% or 40%, you know, some given number that the corporation allows as employee ownership and individual changes in the employees that are part of that block would not trigger a new application. And one other item is that we tend to think that 50% means if there's a less than 50% change, then it is not a change in the overall influence of who is making the decisions, but if you have a business that's owned by two people and those two people sell 50% of their share to one other person, then the person who owns 50% is now the majority shareholder and has the ultimate say in whatever happens with the business. So while 50% appears to be a number that keeps the business in the same ownership, it is not necessarily the case that that's how it really works in real life. Thank you. I'm happy to answer any questions if you have any questions. Okay, questions from council members? Seeing none, I'll go to members of the public. If there are members of the public who would like to comment on item number 30, which is the second reading, the final adoption of ordinance number 2020-13, emitting chapter 6.91 canvas retail licenses to allow license transfer. Now is the time to call in the numbers that are on your screen. Once you've called in, please press star nine on your phone and you will have up to two minutes to comment on this item. The last word is or 1-8-1-0, you are on the line. Yes, this is carrot. Phillip, I'll go through it again. Is there no amount of explaining how absolutely awful and misguided your requirements are for new cannabis licenses? Again, see one of the possible required elements of obtaining a license is the other factors, 6.91.090, license requirements, review factors. See, a majority of the business is minority or woman owned, even though you don't really describe what a minority is. But this means if you are a white male, you cannot qualify for this requirement. It is 100% in the hands of the council or not to discriminate on the basis of gender or race, and it appears you have taken that route. While racism is classically defined as a belief and racial superiority combined with discrimination or advantage of one race over another, this is nearly identical, but the opposite. It implies racist and gender inferiority of the same kind, assuming the gender female and race's minority that is non-white are inferior and cannot compete on a level playing field. This is an awful insult to these peoples, and I cannot see how you live with yourselves for asserting this. Since everything is in your hands, this is not regulation of others' behavior, i.e. is not justified for a matter of action, but outright reverse racism and sexism. All of you who voted this forward to today need to explain your vote on this matter. This is permanent law, and how you figure punishing people who's only wrong is being the wrong color of gender, according to you, is beyond comprehension. I would like to quote Jordan Peterson. The idea of collectively held guilt at the level of the individual as a legal or philosophical principle is dangerous and precisely the kind of danger the people looking for trouble would push. A cursory glance at 20th century history should teach anyone who wants to know how unacceptable that is. And that's it. Bye. Are there any other members of the public who would like to speak to us on this item? If so, please press start on your phone to raise your hand. And once you've been acknowledged, you'll have two minutes to speak. Hearing none, we'll bring back the council for action and deliberation. Council Member Brown. Thank you, Mayor. If I understand correctly from your comment, what you're interested in reconsidering is in, for a second reading of this ordinance, under 6.91.160 license requirements, that we on the number... I'm looking... Now I thought I had it, I had it right here that we changed the requirement from 30% for a new license from 30% to 50% plus one. Is that correct? Okay, I had it right here. So I would go ahead and make that motion. And I'm looking for the number within that... 6.91.120, number two. Number two, thank you. I thought it was number five and I just kept looking at it. So yeah, number two. So just with that one change from 30% to 50% plus one. So motion to Council Member Brown, Council Member Watkins. I'm prepared to move forward with the original. So I'll just vote no on that motion and we can revisit that at this time. I'm not seconding this motion. Okay, I'll second the motion. Council Member Brown, Council Members on this item. Council Member Mathews, I'll handle it and then... Yeah, not a question. Have we heard from the public to the extent that we are? Yes. Okay, yeah. I'll just say I prefer the original one so I won't be voting for this one, just YI. Okay, Council Members. Seeing none, we'll bring it to... I'll turn it over and see if we can roll call vote. Thank you, Mayor. I do just have a quick question. Does that change need to result in another first reading? This would be considered first reading. I will come back first, second reading. Okay, so that it'll be introduced for publication ordinance with that change. All right, Council Member Byers. Aye. Mathews. No. Only clear about the difference, the change in this one. Well, if there's a change in ownership of the campus business, that can result in more than 30 percent change, then the applicants would have to go into a process where they'd have to reapply for license with the city. Right. About 30 percent. But the motion is before us, it's only 50 percent, which is what was originally agreed upon by the subcommittee. And so anything below 50 percent would need to be reported. Any change below 50 percent would need to be reported to the city. Any change above 50 percent would require that the business owners and the interested parties would have to go into this process of reapplying for license. Council Member Golder. Yes. Watkins. No. Vice Mayor Myers. Vice Mayor Myers. Unmute. Sorry, I'm no. And Mayor Cummings. So that motion fails with Council Members that the Mayor Cummings voting in favor and Vice Mayor Myers. Oh, and I'm sorry. That happens. Yeah, I was thinking passes. With Council Members Golder, Fires Brown and Cummings Mayor Cummings voting in favor. Council Members Matthews, Watkins and Vice Mayor Myers voting opposed. So that will, this will be a first reading. So the first reading will come back at the next meeting for the second reading. And Mayor Cummings will have to come back at the first meeting in August for the second reading because the Charter requires the ordinance to be finally adopted at a regular meeting. On our agenda. So item number, I'm going to say item number 34, which is 914 and 916 Seabright. This item has been continued to the August 11th City Council meeting. And additionally, item number 35, the fiscal year 2021 proposed budget adoptions. Just so members of the public are clear, this item has also been continued to the live second 2020 special City Council meeting. To our next item on our agenda, item number 36, COVID-19 pandemic response options for consideration to assist local residents and businesses. So members of the public court streaming this meeting, if this is an item you want to comment on, now is the time to call in using the instructions on your screen. The order will be a presentation of the item by staff for the council members who brought forward the item followed by questions from council. We will then take public comment and return to the council for action deliberation. Over to Bonnie Ellipscomb, director of economic development to start this item off. Thank you, Mayor. And good afternoon, Mayor and members of the City Council. I'm here today with Rebecca Unitt, who's our business liaison at the City and Economic Development, and we're going to co-present this item. But I did want to acknowledge actually the hard work of multiple departments and portions of the data that's going to be presented today. And of course, in some of the concessions and the work that they've done to lessen the burden on our businesses and residents from the impacts of COVID-19. So a lot of this information today really stands to all of the departments across the City. And as was discussed earlier today, if we're also going to be talking about additional commercial or residential tenant protection specifically on this item, obviously that will involve and engage the City Attorney as well as planning director Lee Butler as well. So I just wanted to acknowledge a broader discussion. We're focusing initially in this presentation on specifically on what we've done to date around support we've done around businesses and residents. And then we'll open it up for a broader discussion. Okay. Some of you will remember you've seen this before. I just wanted to briefly touch on the three stages of resiliency support and where we are right now. I mean, we're still, now the businesses are largely, not exclusively, but largely reopened or allowed to reopen. Some of them haven't been able to reopen. But we are in the survival rescue march through May and just starting to go into stabilization. And of course, there's a lot that goes into that. I think some businesses are starting to feel the recovery and some are just not there yet. So these are not exact time frames, but they're general enough for our discussion today just helps to frame our discussion. So a lot of what we've done today will be in this sort of dark keel category, survival, rescue, immediate needs, deferments, other business assistance, CBBG CARES Act. And then we're starting to move more into the stabilization, south door expansion program, some other grant long-term, larger grant programs and some loan assistance. And then longer term, late 2020 and beyond, we'll move into some of those larger capital needs, permanent working capital, fixed assets, and some of the work that the recovery council, council subcommittee will be working on as well. So what have we done so far? We have done residential and commercial eviction moratorium. You discussed that earlier today on your agenda as well. Emergency rental assistance for income qualified residents, and I'll give a recap of that in a little bit. Rent deferment for almost all of our city of tenants, so that includes businesses on the war and the parking garage in downtown, some of our former redevelopment agency tenants, cafe extension areas, et cetera. City utility and parking fee payment flexibility, alternative city tax payment schedules. This is our DOT moving from monthly to quarterly collections to allow some relief for our hotels. The city's executive order limiting delivery fees on food delivery from some of the independent companies have really, really helped a lot, heard back from a lot of residents and restaurants on that impact. Resolution supporting business interruption insurance to the state commissioner, and then community support platforms like Right Out the Waves, that have really made such an impact in our community to support local businesses while they were closed by being able to purchase gift certificates and others. I'm going to turn it over for a few minutes to our business liaison to talk about some of the resources on our website. Hello, Rebecca and our business liaison. So, beginning on March 13th, we first launched our information for businesses in response to COVID-19 page on choosesantacruce.com, our economic development website. This has become a really valuable source of information to the public and it's been utilized county-wide. We've actually received inquiries from businesses throughout the county based on the information that we've been able to provide. Since the launch of this page, we've had over 6,700 page views since March 13th. So, it's really getting out into the community. And when we launched our micro loan program on April 20th, we had over 800 page views just on that day alone of people interested in that program. And all in all, we've had 11,000 new visitors to the website since that initial launch in March. So, this has become really valuable. Next slide, please. Built out the website to provide new information as we've gotten new guidance from the state and the county and as well as the new programs that we've developed internally. So, when you go to our ToSantaCruise.com slash coronavirus website, you'll see this section that provides the different topic areas that we've created. So, providing the latest news on the county and state executive orders about rule changes, financial resources provided by different agencies, then the preparing for reopening and the temporary outdoor expansion programs where we've been spending most of our time lately. So, providing information about what industries are open now, that information was changing really rapidly over the last two weeks. So, keeping that up to date for businesses. And then our temporary outdoor expansion program providing the application portal there and all the information for that program for businesses to go to access it. Next slide. So, also in stage one, as Rebecca mentioned, we implemented the Santa Cruz Resilience Microloan Program. And this was funded through our Economic Development Trust Fund. It was $500,000. And it really provided critical funding to cash-strap businesses. Easy online application. In the first two days we had it open, we received over 90 applications. And given the amount of the funding, we actually had to close it. So, close the online portal and we were able to review those within a week and award the funding within two weeks of the program. And part of the focus of the program was really and it really was an emergency response. It was trying to help businesses who had applied for PPP funding but they were caught in a waiting period and they didn't know if they could continue to be open or they were closed and they were not sure if they could make payrolls. This is really sort of a bridge gap funding for many, many businesses out there. So, there were a few of the businesses who actually took advantage of our really short-term bridge financing three months, no interest, just to sort of bridge this gap until their PPP funding came through. Also, we were really looking at businesses not well served by other lending programs and so we had some flexible financing as well. Specifically, on looking at statistics, just in the first two days, we received requests for over 700,000 and loans requested. We were able to loan an award fund to 500,000 of that. You should mention, and I would be remiss if I didn't, this was with an incredible partnership that we developed with Center for Community Credit Union. They are amazing to work with. They're actually doing all of our loan servicing now. So, we vetted and approved the loans on our end and we deposited our 500,000 with Center for Community Credit Union and they're doing all the monthly servicing for us and they have been an absolutely great partner. 51 businesses were funded, 4% in entertainment, 25% restaurant, 33% retail and 37% service. This geographic distribution, I'll show that in a second, and 59% of the loans were granted awarded to women-owned businesses and 25% were minority loans. And this is just to show you sort of a snapshot of where the loans were made city-wide. As you can see, it's largely along from our major commercial corridors, obviously a big concentration downtown. Some on the east side on Soquel, Seabright, Harvey West and the Sashmill were where the majority of the loans and a few on the west side. Here are just a couple of quotes. Here's one from the crate place that is definitely heartfelt and really made our team feel good about the impact. And then here's a few more from Homework, Childish Toy Shop and John's Electric Motor Service. And we can do a fuller debrief, those of you who are interested, we've been definitely in response mode ourselves, but we do have a lot of information and details about the program to share if any of you are interested. Now I'm going to turn it back over to Rebecca to talk about our Jumpstart Your Restart Kit. Thank you. So our Jumpstart Your Restart Kit, we were able to acquire hand sanitizer from Smith and Van Beter in Watsonville and floor signage from community printers, as well as printing some posters for businesses about social distancing that we also had printed by community printers and masks through our 10,000 mask program. We had supplies. We anticipated being able to give out possibly 200 kits based on the supplies that we had and we've actually been able to give out close to 300 now. We still have some supplies that we're recirculating out into the community. So this has been a really, really successful program and something that's had a tangible impact as businesses have been reopening. And we have some pictures here from our initial give-out day where we did a drive-by pick-up for the kits, which was a really great deal. It connects with the business owners and we have a really brief video of that activity as well, so I'm going to show that. You know, I'm challenged with the video of Rebecca because they've put in the wrong spot there. They've put in the wrong spot. Yeah, we can not go on. So we just want to provide a bit of positive feedback as well from the community. As you can see, people are really appreciative of the support and being able to provide these really essential supplies because a lot of the supply chains have become really impacted and limited and so the businesses were able to utilize these resources when their normal suppliers didn't have the supplies that they needed. Next slide. So then our temporary author expansion program, we officially kicked this off. The applications began being accepted on June 8th. This was a result of the executive orders that Shane Manager Martin Bernal issued. We have so far permitted 24 businesses through this program and we have about 12 in progress and continuing to do outreach to businesses as they're interested. We've provided a map here to see where the distribution is so far and it's largely in the downtown right now and then quite a few businesses. There's actually a the cluster over there is the Swift Street Courtyard being able to provide some extra space for the wineries over there. So there's been a lot of strong interest and a lot of appreciation from the businesses about how we've really been able to streamline that process for it and be creative and creating new opportunities for them. And so we also have the street closure as active on the 1100 block of Pacific right now and then last week we opened up the eastbound lane of Calf Park in front of Blue Glow and Hula. So next slide. I just want to provide some images there. So this is the most recent closure on Calf Park. You can see Hula's end on the left and Blue Glow on the right. And just been really exciting. I saw from Blue Glow over the weekend that they filled out food the first day just had really great demand and it's been really successful for them to be able to reopen their dining in service. So I'm looking forward to seeing that continue to be successful for them. Next slide. And this is the Pacific Avenue closure, SNAP Taco and Piontees. And it's been really great to see the creativity of how the businesses have been able to set up these spaces and lots of good feedback from the community as well that has a really appreciating these closures and the opportunity to use our shoes a little bit. Definitely. Next slide. So we're definitely still processing applications and interested businesses are encouraged to visit our website for this program to standardcrews.com.com. And I'm always happy to be a resource as well to walk people through the process. And then moving on still to survival. One of the early feedback we heard from a lot of businesses who particularly during the closure were those that had no online presence. And so they didn't have a way to continue and communicate to customers about their business. They couldn't sell online. They didn't have that platform. And through conversations with the local tech entrepreneur, Toby Corey, of course you all had a presentation from get virtual at your last council meeting from the students. So I won't go too much into detail on this because you recently just had a presentation but how this came together and the support and connecting the students at UCSC to local businesses has been such a huge impact. And we're continuing to hear appreciation. They have over 100 businesses now in the queue. They've completed websites and e-commerce platforms for more than 40 businesses now. And they do need some further assistance. This has been done all through the university for the coursework. And then through some volunteer donations actually Toby Corey donated 20,000 to keep it going. But they want to continue for those students to be able to work over the summer and early fall to get the rest of those businesses in the queue up with their websites and e-commerce platforms. So this is making a huge impact locally with our businesses. And I'll tell you in a few minutes about some of our survey responses and existing needs out there. And having online infrastructure and support to develop that is one of those things we're hearing about. Here's just a list of a few of the businesses that are being helped. And I said there's over 100 in the queue right now that GetVirtual has agreed to help. And being able for local businesses who aren't familiar, this is out of a comfort area for some of them, being able to use virtual tools having really straightforward simple e-commerce platforms has made all the difference in the world. And it's been an incredible experience for the students to be able to make that, really that direct connection to what they're learning at the university and the programming and seeing that impact local businesses. It's been pretty incredible. So moving on from that, I'm going to switch gears a little bit to some of our CARES Act funding, CDBG funding additional assistance on top of our normal CDBG allocations that you approved a few months ago. So there are seven. We received 283,000 through the CARES Act CDBG allocations. They're through Community Bridges, Media Action Board, Second Harvest, Santa Cruz Community Health Center, BNCIS, Farmers Market, and Hope Services. I'm briefly just going to describe a little bit about each of those programs because we didn't have a whole lot of time when the pandemic, we were first experiencing a bidding when we came to council. It was emergency, we approved it. And so I received a lot of questions on what this funding went for. So I wanted to just explain a little bit. Community Bridges was awarded two grants. One was for the Elder Day Program. And this is really to develop daily enrichment activity for senior services to really reduce the isolation, particularly since they're a most vulnerable population right now. So Community Bridges created the Elder Day Program and expanded services to help them as well as expanded their at-home delivered meals for older adults, 60 years and older, for on the Meals on Wheels Program, impacting 500 participants. Community Action Board, additional 30,000. This actually allowed them to leverage some additional home funding that we were able to grant to them. And this allows for the tenant-based assistance program for extremely low, very low and low-income residents who cannot pay their rent due to unexpected job income loss. On this administrative side, on the home side, we were able to give them 200,000 to implement this program for rental assistance. Santa Cruz Community Health Center, 30,000. This is to provide medical visits for COVID-19 and also urgent care for non-COVID-19 services, testing, tracking results, as well as a food pantry and expanded food distribution services. 30,000 for Santa Cruz Community Health Center. Deantis providing low-cost dental care. This allowed for continued emergency care and implementation for safety protocols and measures for continuation of services to 28 underpatients during the pandemic. And so 46,000 to be in this for that. And then the Santa Cruz Community Farmers Market, 30,000. I think initially in their application, we were just looking for the month of June. We've actually been able to leverage this 30,000 to go through the end of this calendar year. And this is actually going to provide expanded supplemental nutrition assistance, commonly known as the SNAP program, by providing fresh food purchasing assistance at the Farmers Market. It's a three-to-one value for low-income and non-income individuals and families. And this is serving 400, currently 404,000 participants at the Farmers Market each week. Second Harvest Food Bank, 51,000. And this is increasing the food distribution to 25,000 individuals and families in our greater community. This is a tripling over their usual distribution. Services, close to 18,000, which is really helping transition their clients with developmental and intellectual disabilities to distant learning service models. Those include providing internet connectivity at their home, Chromebooks, laptops, tablets, headsets, and really support for home setup for approximately 57 clients in our community. And then also on the CARES Act side, some of the leveraged funding and with our home and Red Cross funding, we were able to provide to the Housing Authority of the County of Santa Cruz 125,000 from our home funding and another 11,000 for Red Cross through our security deposit program. And this is paid directly to the landlord and at least 90% of the households must be at or below 60% of area meeting income. More than half of those served are actually below and generally at the 30% of area meeting income. And at least 50 families or households are expected to be assisted with this funding. And then the Community Action Board, this is the program I was referencing earlier with the leverage from the CARES Act 30,000. This is 200,000 in home funds, 30,000 in community development block grant and another 11,000 in Red Cross. And this extends existing eviction prevention program to our existing program with CAB to provide up to two months of direct rental assistance to income eligible households. That's those earning 30, 50, and 80% of area meeting income. Additionally, we have 20,000 to California Rural Legal Assistance to provide tenant legal assistance and another 20,000 through our core program. So 40,000 for legal assistance. And then through this year's CDBG allocation, we also have 457,000 for homeless prevention infrastructure in our current year budget. And an additional 35,000 in CDBG for homeless program services. Okay, I'm going to shift gears again to talk a little bit about some of the community outreach that we've done around issues related to the pandemic. And this first one is just a really brief snapshot. I know we're coming back to council later with a fuller debrief. There is a survey that's been out a little over a week and a half for tenants and landlords. And right now in today, we have 119 responses. So as a protest to the mayor and some members of the public, we are continuing to keep this survey open. So we'll provide a more robust response of some of the survey responses in the near future. But I thought it was really interesting to just share this right now. Of those that have responded so far, 81 are renters, 29 are landlords, and 11 are either of those or are outside our community or homeowners that are not landlords that responded to the survey. And of those that did respond to the survey, 61% said that they had not lost their job as a result of COVID-19. Almost close to 40% had of those that responded and asked whether they had experienced a reduction in pay or reduction in income. Over 67% of those who took the survey said yes, that they had experienced a reduction in pay or reduction in income. As I said, we are getting some really interesting responses. There's actually about 11 questions. And so we will come back to you when we have, you know, when more members of the public are able to respond. And this is just a snapshot at this time of some of the data that we're getting in. Additionally, we've been doing, since May, another actually pretty detailed survey on businesses and industry outreach. And so we have some detailed information. I'm going to, again, just highlight some of it today. It's pretty dense. And we are continuing to keep this open. We are doing targeted outreach and to different sectors in our community business sectors, industry sectors, and gathering information and feedback. And so we have some interesting data to share with you today. So far, we have 90 responses to date. Approximately two-thirds of the respondents had five employees or less. And I think that's interesting when you just look at the snapshot of small businesses in our community, about a third of those were sole proprietorship owners. So in our community, 59% or 57% of respondents had had to lay off for furlough workers due to the pandemic. Three businesses out of the 94 that have responded to date actually have had to close permanently. And obviously, I know we each have heard of many other businesses in the community. So again, this is just a snapshot of those 94 that have responded at this time. We are actively reaching out by industry sector on getting additional data. So we will have more to share in the future. This is just showing you representative of who's responding and what businesses are being covered as far as our industry outreach. So you see anything from cannabis to construction, retail, medical, hospitality, and tourism, personal services, ports and recreation and creative services represent who's responding and really is representative of the industries that we have locally in our community. This is just, there's a section of the survey where they could provide qualitative responses of what their top needs are and how we as a city could help them. And a summary of some of the top needs that we heard time and time again from those in the food and beverage industry has been and not surprising as downtown is now reopening, but needing more foot traffic downtown and being able to assist in whether it's marketing, getting the word out. And part of this can be something we've been working on at the county level and with the community foundation and the local businesses on the Economic Recovery Council. But in that pledge of it's safe to come downtown, it's safe to come to the east side or the west side or it's just safe to come to our businesses. The businesses are making a pledge on safety protocols and procedures. And now with the governor's order to wear a mask and the public and places of business, how to in a friendly way really demonstrate to the community that their employees are following safe practices and encouraging any to come into their store to follow them as well. So that people feel safe actually going into brick and mortar retail, going to restaurants and eating outside. This is Rebecca sort of outlined in our Outdoor Expansion program. A lot of feedback on needing assistance for outdoor seating and eating. This is some of the feedback we had early on that really prompted us. But quickly working on trying to get and working with, I will say, and acknowledge our planning department and our public works department, our fire department who came and filled all the payrolls and parks and rec department who was there to help whenever we needed anything. I mean, this has really been a whole city team effort to make the Outdoor Expansion program successful. And we've had great feedback on that. Rebecca shared some of it and will continue to reach out to businesses and areas. One area that we have guidelines for but we haven't received any applications for is expanding into the alleys. And we do have some guidelines that are hoping that we can do some Outdoor Expansion into the alleyways as well to really help activate those spaces and draw more people downtown and outdoors. We've received quite a bit of feedback on commercial rent landlord assistance. We do have from some of our just, you know, listservs, templates for how to negotiate with your landlord to work out payment plan rent for Barron. Again, you know, we're not trying to provide legal assistance. We want to make sure we're staying away from that. But there are a lot of models out there and their resources. So we're sharing those on our website for those templates that are available and making sure that we participate in webinars and with our agency partners, you know, at the Chamber and SCDC to make sure these resources are getting out for businesses in our community. And then back to the city again, feedback on sort of city cost control of water, garbage fees, infection, expedited permits, et cetera. And I think as a city, we've been really responsive on that just including the staff recommendation that you approved earlier today to deferral of the planned water and wastewater rate increases as well as the hardship of being able to delay utility payments and not having utilities shut off, reduction of garbage services, reduction of parking fees downtown. Summary of needs for retail, really needing to get that traffic. So sales through events online and in-person events, one of the virtual assistance models they provided for Pacific Trading Company was being able to have sort of these concierge online services where you could enter sort of like a trunk shopping service of various information and how the owners come back with recommended clothes online for you to sort of go through and then set up a special appointment where you can come in and try those on. So really creative ideas like this are different things that are happening. Assistance really saying trying to balance those safety needs. Again, it's sort of that wanting to make sure they're communicating to the general public it's safe to come to the businesses and then also at the same time wanting their employees to feel safe. Like how do you manage that if a customer comes and doesn't have a mask on? And so providing some assistance and best practices around that is some feedback that we're receiving. Again, assistance taking on new business models, going to more online platforms, online infrastructure and signage and communication about reopening for some of that information that we had in our business kits as well as working on this pledge with the Economic Recovery Council. Services and other industries including hospitality. Again, across all of these sectors including we're hearing employee and customer safety is really a top priority with proper protocols, additional supplies, particularly early on needing bulk sanitizers and masks. We're still, as I said, handing out those where we had extra and could provide those. We're providing those back out to the community. Request for rent abatement for small businesses anything you can do to assist. Looking again we've had some feedback on the micro loan program assisting with new modes of operations such as website content writing and again enhanced marketing and advertising to reach a new client base and refine offering. This is something that we definitely is an area that we can help with as far as collaborating with different organizations, BTA, Eastside Business Groups to really help them with their marketing so something that we see coming out of this that we'll want to do. Rounding out what we're doing in sort of this current stage that we will be on for the next you know five, four, five months is the what you approved earlier today was the application for us to partner with our other jurisdictions and the county in applying for a revolving loan fund program through the Economic Development Administration. We've had a really good working group as we're working through what some of the program details will be who will be our administrator underwriter and working through match requirements with our EDA rep has really been a good process so far. And then at the last council meeting you approved moving forward on some infrastructure that we needed on the war and so we've actually already submitted that grant now following the last council meeting so we're just responding to questions from EDA at this point we're really hopeful we'll be able to move forward with that infrastructure. Additional two other things you approved today is the local housing trust fund match. This is the program where we take what's in our local affordable housing trust fund and it's a state program they have 50 million statewide and we're really hoping that that fund amount increases we're eligible to get a full match which goes up to five million but it really will be dependent upon state funding availability so that was approved by you today and we'll move that forward without application this month. And then our permanent local housing allocation is 1.5 million that will be over a five year period that also will go into our affordable housing trust fund and we'll be able to use that to leverage affordable housing development. We have a number of projects that we've been working on over the last couple of years per se metro project is one of them. One of them is the first phase of that which is really looking at property that we control plus an adjacent assemblage that we'll be bringing back to you next week on July 2nd. And then depending on what happens tonight on the library next week project the recommendation is to include 50 units of affordable housing. If that's approved this could be another project that we could use for some of this affordable housing funding. And then continuation expansion of existing programs definitely see the outdoor expansion for restaurant and retail expanding potentially additional treat closures that must be some piloting of an alleyway just working through case by case some of the special needs that are out there. And then there's quite a bit of legislation and bills that we're following in addition to there's a number of them outlined in the staff report but they're both for residential tenant support as well as some overall relief for economic recovery, housing development and homelessness prevention. So there's a number of bills that we're tracking very closely. And while I don't have it in the recommendation today it would be great to have direction or have council direct staff and really put out support letters for some of these bills that are currently at the state level in the Senate and the Assembly. They're really worthwhile bills that can provide a lot of relief to our local residents and businesses. Stage three, we're not there yet but I did want to highlight a few things that I think really could make a big impact on our recovery and rebuilding efforts starting sort of into this year into the next couple of years. And obviously the work of the Council Subcommittee Recovery Committee will really guide a lot of this effort but capital improvements including mixed-use affordable housing development, downtown revitalization. Downtown's changed and it's across the country it's not just in Santa Cruz. The pandemic has really changed and that are people that feel comfortable coming into brick and mortar stores. So downtown, east side people are seeing people and loyal supporters but we need to do everything we can to make people feel safe when they're coming to our commercial areas. So supportive existing projects from the pipeline getting more people living downtown and living in some of our commercial corridors will really help provide some of those essential services that really keep businesses thriving in times like this. Really looking to our partners you know we're all in this together so creative partnerships with ECST like Get Virtual Foundation Monterey Bay Economic Partnerships some local tech companies and other companies and non-profits Community Foundation. All of these partners are working hard to address issues related to the pandemic. And working together I think we'll be able to do some pretty impactful things. We currently have our Go Santa Cruz program we may consider an expansion of that and some additional community reinvestment funding working with local banks. Obviously the revolving loan program if we're successful on that could have quite a bit of impact. And I think additionally we've had an NRCIP budget for some time some funding from our former redevelopment bond funds that have been set aside for reinvestment for key commercial areas. So we have some for Ocean Street some for downtown revitalization we've been trying to time some of that some for the farmers market. So being able to invest and revitalize will really encourage reinvestment and support our local businesses. Finally just to the recommendation again we're back to to stage two where we are right now and beginning of stabilization you approved earlier today the EDA revolving loan grant application consideration is one recommendation of around two of our microloan funding. You know we definitely heard back from some businesses we had one of their criteria criteria that you know we gave more points for business who had been in business for longer than a couple of years and the rationale behind that is obviously the first few years of whether or not a business you know can be successful or not. And we just from a risk perspective we chose to emphasize more points for those that had been in business longer and I think as we're looking for a potential round two microloan funding that could be a criteria where we make sure we focus on businesses across the spectrum even if they're new businesses. It's 500,000 it did go quickly there's definitely need for more so that's one consideration and recommendation following looking at the work that management partners is doing for the city with the slot team and with the council committee budget committee looking at that forecasting model and seeing if it makes sense to recommend an additional commitment from our economic development trust fund for microloan funding. And then a consideration of 30,000 and again in the economic development budget from the ED trust fund to allocate to getvirtual.org to enable that program for those businesses that are already in the queue with Get Virtual to be able to complete those online web presence and e-commerce platform through the fall is a recommendation. And then finally to direct staff to return to city council in August with an update and preliminary overview of longer term recovery recommendations along with the work that is commencing with the recovery committee council assembly. And with that that concludes our presentation and we are available to open it up for the larger discussion. I know you also want to talk about tenant protection as well. So open it up for the larger staff team here at the city to respond to your questions. Thank you. Great. Thank you for that presentation. There's a lot of information in there and a lot of useful information for our community. So thank you for kind of pulling all that together and compiling it in such a clear way. I'll turn it over to council members for any questions they have. Vice Mayor Myers. Yeah, thank you. Bonnie and Rebecca for the presentation. Really great to have all of it in one place and really thankful that you're doing so much work on gathering so much information and really helping our businesses express sort of the different things that are affecting them. So it's really helpful to get both the industry breakdown in terms of the needs and also the kinds of problems that we're starting to see surface with either businesses or residents in stabilizing themselves here in Santa Cruz. So thank you for all that work. Not quite sure where you're finding all the time to do all of this but just want to appreciate the work that you guys are doing. Quick question on some of the recommendations and I think you might have just answered one of them on the microloans on number three under your recommendations. So you are suggesting that that we do that through the forecasting model by management partners and that would come back for example in a later date since we sort of have this we sort of have a working budget approach right now is that is that sort of what's captured in your number three. Yeah I wanted to be sensitive to the fact that you haven't had the opportunity yet both as a counselor away on our budget since that's being considered next week and then budget council committee also really wanted you to have that information of what the forecasting model is what our revenues and expenditures prior to us making those decisions about our overall budget just felt like you needed that information I think you need that information before you committed additional funding with that said this is a recommendation from our economic development trust fund so it's not general fund money but I want to be sensitive to the process and your evaluation of the budget and then my other question Bonnie is and I'm sure you're doing this either through the countywide economic committee or just internally there at Edd but I know the the governor just finished the budget are we also are we also obviously trying to mirror or assess any opportunities through state through the state now that the budget has been settled and maybe if you just can explain a little bit how your staff processes that information so that you know we can look at how that might hit here here locally because it's unfortunate obviously that are the you know the the fifth round of the federal support has not is not being acted upon so just curious about how you're evaluating and looking at that state those state times of opportunities and those are my questions thank you yeah I mean we're following closely and just actually with the budget just coming out really just starting to get deep into and through the governor's budget and those recommendations to see how they're going to impact we're still tracking down trying as an opportunity to follow up on that additional three billion of CARES Act funding that's supposed to come through CDBG as an opportunity you know there was initially a lack of clarity and still sort of continues on what amount of that funding may be available at the local level and so in working with our lobbyists and working with representatives and actually through the mayor's assistance as well and getting those phone calls with our state you know and federal legislators and trying to make sure that you know if there's funding available that we're aware of it and we can apply for it and bring it home you know just tracking you know whether it's through the leads you know Caled and our local economic development statewide program and lead organization on different bills that are out at the state level different you know bills that are at the national level we're tracking those you know and we're also working with our planning department who's tracking those also on that side as far as you know permitting and getting development moving forward so we're looking at it from all angles and that's kind of you know what we're doing at this time I don't know Rebecca if there's some other things that you want to share you're also participating with the Silicon Valley Economic Development Alliance and so there's a lot of good information that's coming through there also of opportunities of what's happening at the state and federal level so we're communicating sort of across our various with serves our neighboring jurisdictions and really trying to partner and leverage and share information where we can thank you yeah I think it's particularly important for our community to understand the balancing act that we have right now with our own budget deficits and you know employee furloughs and impacts to our own to our own internal needs and also trying to be creative and provides as much support as possible so it's easy to get out of balance and unfortunate you know with but the unknown length of time that we're faced with with this so just important for our community to understand that we can do we're trying to do as much as we can obviously you guys have done a huge amount so but we also have some real real damages to our to our own budget as well so thank you thank you to Bonnie and your whole team for all the work that you've been doing to support the community with this I have three questions the first one is how would one know about the survey is there a way it's being advertised other than just being on the city website landlords and tenants in addition to being posted on the main city page we also send it out to all of our partners so we send it out to the housing authority we send it out to who else do you send it out to cab we had it translated into Spanish so we've been distributing it out to the community it's out there pretty broadly for the industry outreach survey again we have it on our main page under COVID resources page and then we are actually we divided up based on our business licenses lists by industry sectors so that we can get a good sampling and we are actually outreaching to them individually and council member Matthews is helping actually on the hospitality side and we have room for more if any of you are interested in making calls but it's a pretty detailed survey actually if you've had a chance to look at it it goes it goes deep into each industry sector and really tries to pull out you know questions on their impacts and what would help them move forward so that's that's what we're doing we're also sharing it with our partners you know whether it be the chamber you know at CDC some of our other other partners to get the word out that both both the surveys are available and then okay and then oh sorry that's a good one I also add sorry we're also sharing it on social media we're doing some targeted ads as well for that okay and they spend on the city Facebook page and the economic development Facebook page as well so just trying to get as much of a reach as we can thank you so my other two questions one of them is coming to me from people asking what they can do if they feel like a business isn't following the social distancing guidelines or can't follow the social distancing guidelines like what can they do as a citizen or an employee yeah we we've had questions about that too I mean we'll do a courtesy call we've done a few of those if it's an actual code violation we would work with planning and the code enforcement division on that but we first start with just doing outreach and making sure the business has you know some of our information on the six foot distancing for queuing and the new you know requirement to wear masks before with the recommendation is now a requirement the posting of the safety protocols you know those posters you know we if if they don't have them we'll make them available they're also available to downloadable on our website under the resources available for reopening so you know we're we're really are there to make sure that the businesses feel comfortable and members of the community feel comfortable as well thank you and then my final question I promise we'll shut up is is there any talk about how we can support businesses that are not going to survive through this and meanwhile while they're not closing up shop yet they have months of back rent that they might owe to their landlord and other expenses and how can we help those individuals that own those businesses transition out of business ownership you know without being a huge financial debt yeah I mean that that's a real need you know we're just starting to have some of those conversations from some of the businesses that will not be able to reopen it's a really it's a really tough a tough position to be in that I think if the months go on we'll hear more businesses in that position there are a number of state and federal resources as well as HR benefits and assistance that are out there so we're guiding those that are in need that are reaching out to those basically resources and services that are available there's also some legal assistance for how to go through that at CDC has some webinars for some businesses that are available if they're in that position now so I you know we're at this point we're going to have to handle that you know as information as we get requests on a case-by-case basis thank you very much I'll come on Matthews and then I'm going to insert myself in the queue and then it'll be Councilor Brown and Watkins so Councilor Matthews thank you for this report you guys are just spectacularly hardworking and productive I'm just amazed at so many levels so I had I'm going to jump first of the recommendations on our agenda report you have five items and I just want to confirm what's the direction you're looking for right now it looks like we've approved the grant application for the revolving loan program and then the grant application to support get virtual is that an action we should take with with this item here well did we already do this like it well I think for that for the get virtual that one was one I mean you could approve it today if you I do think the impact is huge and it would be a relief for them to be able to continue but you know in the recommendation it does say that we would come back you know potentially we could come back after you look at this is for specifically also the micro loan funding yeah yeah so for the micro loan funding I would say since it's a bigger commitment that we would come back after the council reviews the budget forecasting but for the get virtual if you could approve that today for 30,000 this would be part of next year's fiscal 21 funding absorbed in our budget coming from the economic development trust fund so that they could continue through the summer and the fall getting those businesses online and with the e-commerce platforms that would be that would be great so that's the financial ask today directly in the recommendations before you okay I would like personally to do that because it's on the scale of things are relatively small amount and it seems that that is that piece that so many businesses that kind of cooked along pre-covid is that leap to virtual that it's not in their wheelhouse to do on their own and that's so critical and I'd like to just see that get going so that would be items two and four to act on and then considering the micro loan program from the trust fund would defer to budget discussions if I understand correctly we would and then directing you to return in august that's obvious yes let's do more and then a comment that I had just in addition to the fact that even those businesses that are continuing it seems like so many either have or or must evolve their business models and what kind of help is available are you turning to SBDC for that other outside consultants et cetera yeah I mean that's something that we're starting to get information on as well from our survey industry outreach so SBDC is our main partner that we we work with regularly on business planning business models and changing and through the funding we provide them they're actually investing in more consultants to help with that programming particularly as the need has increased through the pandemic so that's one of our our main partners I would say through the SEDS the community economic development strategy report that was just completed and submitted to EDA that does allow for us as a county to look at needs and again responding to the pandemic that's what's enabling us to apply for the revolving loan program so I think there are other opportunities that have been identified in the SEDS that allows us to work together countywide on the initiatives that benefit benefit our local businesses so I see and one thing that's changed with the pandemic is you know we and all of our partners probably across the country but locally are doing a lot of webinars and people do seem receptive to them so being able to find the experts in the field and put those panels together to really walk through the businesses of you know this is what you do in this situation here's the practices here's different models for your business that you may want to consider now so there's a lot of information out there and I think one of the one of the the things that we're working on together is how to kind of go through the massive amount of information that's out there right now to really get to what our businesses need locally and how to navigate that because they don't have time to you know they're just trying to make a business alive and survive they don't have time to pull through all of the information that's out there I did want to comment on the CARES grants to the safety net providers obviously in some instances when we do grants like that we restrict them to city residents in this case it was just the providers but when you think that really I think 50% of our workforce doesn't live city I mean the city's workforce generally I mean we're really that's an investment in broader community wellness like to the health center and the food bank and that sort of thing so those those were just I happen to know just incredibly essential grants to those safety net providers just made a huge difference finally in terms of getting people back downtown just my observation and so many people comment well I'm wearing my mask but I go downtown I mean let's not even talk about the beach but I go downtown you know people aren't wearing their masks I mean what now the governor's directing that people aren't doing it should we be passing out paper masks on the street and saying folks or maybe having the screaming hand I mean really safe we'd love to have you but use your brains you know and I think that's part of the comfort because I know people say I'm not going downtown yet there's too many people walking around without a mask it's busy now in a way but it doesn't feel safe yeah and that's that's the feedback we're getting through our industry outreach as well is that they want assistance in being able to in a friendly way but communicate how important safety is to you know their businesses and communicating that their restaurants are safe their following safe practices and they want that's what this whole pledge idea at the county the economic recovery council so there will be a marketing campaign around that to try to get the word out locally both to our residents but also information out there for our visitors as well but we take this safety very seriously in Santa Cruz it's almost not a big deal it seems more necessary for the visitors in a way yeah I also want to add that I don't know if you have been downtown lately you might have noticed the new banners that have been put up the DTA actually has some banners specifically around masks trying to make a friendly welcoming message about that and so we're trying to attack you at all the different angles to to get that message across for sure but even have give a bunch to the stores let them or you know whatever I'm done yeah we've also talked with DTA we've also talked with DTA about using the visitor kiosk as well yeah exactly yeah some potential collaboration there cool comments do we know if any of the businesses that have received lots of any of those closed their doors or are all of the businesses that receive the bonds that is still going okay you know we'll have to go back and look at as I said we gave 51 loans out so we'll go back and look at those and check I don't I don't have that right now Rebecca I don't know if you have any information on that yeah I don't either I'd have to confirm but nothing that I've heard yeah but I will add to that though that the majority of the businesses that received some of us did use it for payroll to really bridge that gap to their PPP loans came in so you know we'll we'll we'll get information on them because there's also you know we'll get our monthly reports coming up now one month then from the community credit union so we'll find out about loan servicing and and sort of what the status is of those loans right on the next question is related to the SNAP program with the farmers market so is that so if somebody has benefits do they then if they want were to go to the farmers market for identifying whether they would meet the needs for that program yeah so that um so nation and you know they're each week at the farmers market downtown and I think they may have expanded it to west side as well now but they're handing out the tokens related to the SNAP program so that you can leverage and you get that and you said that you know 4,000 residents are taking advantage of that each week I mean that's pretty it's pretty incredible and impactful okay great yeah it's fun to make sure so that we can communicate that to residents who may be on uh next question I was wondering if you could just speak a little bit more about what program that's helping with bill payment or if someone has trouble paying their bills on what where they should go and kind of what can be covered are you specifically talking about like utility bills garbage this type of thing if you go to Santa Cruz municipal utility on our website and we also have if you end up on ours Rebecca's not in on our website on choose Santa Cruz we have links to that as well and that's what this is and residential is it just for residential it's for any utility payments garbage utility water hardship declaration form just so you know what to look for and then that question I did I didn't have a question this came up on a different discussion but I thought I might want to bring it to the attention this is for the city attorney I was just wondering if there's any just so the public might be aware or a question of we might be able to raise this in public is there anyone or any potential for filing a lawsuit against the federal government for failure to protect and defend general public tiring state of emergency I bring it up just because you know we're not getting the resources that we need from the federal level or it's taking a lot of time and as a result we're seeing this negatively impact you know businesses are closing people aren't able to afford their rent and mortgage and they're you know we're trying to protect them from losing their homes but they're going to be shouldered with a lot of debt and so I'm just kind of wondering if anything has been happening at that level excellent question mayor Cummings I'm not aware of any litigation challenging the the response of the federal government to the COVID-19 epidemic those types of actions are typically brought by a coalition of attorneys general on behalf of state governments and there are a handful of cities that maintain affirmative litigation practices that such as Santa Clara county city and county San Francisco Alameda county that oftentimes will bring their own separate litigation and and city of Santa Cruz is involved in one such lawsuit brought against the quarter nine major petroleum and carbon energy based industries whereby we are essentially riding on the coattails of the of the entities that have significant resources devoted towards affirmative litigation certainly will be continuing to monitor that and exploring opportunities to you know to to join in litigation that might be taking a shot at the federal government's you know complete inaction in terms of effective responses to the the COVID-19 pandemic and will certainly keep the council informed of any opportunities that may arise great thank you I'll hold up on my other comments until after the return so I'll move over to councilmember brown but thank you for that information Joni thank you for the update thank you for all the work you've been doing in economic development and across departments I had a question about the survey that was distributed that you suggested was going to stay up for a while longer and that had been distributed to stakeholders can we get a list of those stakeholders one it was is that possible to get kind of where it's been not right now but just sent to us and then how much longer do you intend to leave it up I'm wondering because I saw the survey prompt come from mayor Cummings but I haven't seen it really circulating through some of the e-networks that I'm involved in and I'd like to kind of facilitate that but I don't want to be duplicative so just wondering how long and can we get a little more detail on who it's gone to yeah absolutely and I think the amount of time to keep up right now I think it's fairly fluid I know that it's really mostly being dictated by our desire to get the information back to you when we have opportunities to present at council so we're happy to just continue to bring you snapshot analysis and keep it open for longer if that's what you would like we can you know they're really good questions we're getting good good information so it's really up to you of how long you want to keep it open we can continue to collect the data and then we can give you a list of where it's gone and I think the more people who see it so I don't think being duplicative is a problem I think you can send it out as widely as you can we want to get the responses okay great I just I also wanted to just say you mentioned that council member Ralphies is helping with some of that industry surveying our region you asked if other council members would be interested I'd happily sit down and make some calls if you want to give me a list or maybe meet in advance we have lists oh I think right now this is great yeah we need calls we need the system thank you you can add me to the list too great thank you wrong one I won't repeat some of the questions that it already been asked but I just want to thank you for your work I appreciate the comments around the resources to our most vulnerable and then just the ongoing need to support our businesses one of the things that came to my attention recently when thinking about reopening schools is just the need for child care for staff and I'm wondering how that has played into the conversation around opening up businesses or needs for business owners and you know I'm not sure I mentioned that in the survey results but that is actually one of the responses that we got from some of the businesses is that needing reliable dependable child care so obviously businesses are reopening some of those are reopening as well but that is an area of need so we need to do we need to figure out how we can help in that in that area but that is part of the industry specific feedback we received with how critical that was for businesses and their employees to be able to come back to work safely definitely so however I we can support that work and and making sure that we're connecting that industry because it's all interconnected in terms of our needs as a functioning society I think it's really critical that we do so and I know that there's also just constraints in terms of the capacity and cohorts and so on so really wanting to make sure that's covered so that we can get everybody up up and going safely and successfully thank you I had a couple comments I just wanted to think before we go to the public one thing I think would be really great to understand is how these street closures impact businesses over time because I know for some I don't know there's been some hesitation around which blocks because some say that it could impact retail because you don't have as many people able to pull up to businesses but it seems like if you create a space for dining and people are you're attracting people in that way the retail might still be okay so it's kind of understanding how it impacts these businesses where we just shut down streets the other item I had and I'm sure we might hear about it in our comments is that I've been meeting I've been I had multiple meetings with members of the Latino community and one of the things that they mentioned just so you all know is that a lot of folks a lot of folks in that community it varies obviously but there's a sentiment that a lot of people don't have computers and they don't have internet and so the use of computers and internet skills aren't that high for some members in that community and so it might be worth even whether it's with the different food pantries or identifying who's going to have connection with that community whether there might be a way to partner those organizations with the city so they can distribute surveys where they can make calls to those individuals that take surveys and I think that some of those some members in those communities people who are doing work are already already have some service that they're distributing as well so it might be worth some communication with COVA and and so we can kind of a lot of efforts around getting information from that community as well but I think I think those are all the comments I have just thank you mayor I just one follow-up on your first comment on the street closure that has been something that we've had a lot of discussion internally as well as far as how to you know making sure we're balancing and trying to be responsive particularly to the restaurants that really need to expand into the street and or you know into the public right away in order to even make it financially possible for them to open and balancing that with you know retail stores that traditionally recover you know really rely on parking and close proximity to their businesses so we're trying to to balance that as best we can that the two pilot closures that we did we did choose the 1100 block primarily because there were a lot of probably that's the the densest block in downtown with a number of restaurants on that block so we're trying that and you know working with businesses and receptive to feedback on how that's impacting them and then on Kathart you know as you notice it's just a partial closure so you can still get that traffic through working again with the businesses between Lupalo and Hulos just to make sure that that's working for them and then you know as that goes forward looking at it on a case-by-case basis and making sure we're balancing those needs and have that feedback from the businesses and the and the property owners as well so it is it is a balance and we're you know and regularly in discussions also and on safety you know with public work and with fire to make sure that you know as we contemplate closing a street that we've thought through all of these issues so that we're safely closing them so for those that are in cars and for our pedestrians that are on the streets as well. Great Oh and then I remembered I did have one other question which is I wonder I don't know at what point it would get to this information but I think it would be good at some point to understand how many businesses have closed permanently due to COVID-19 because I've been walking around downtown and I feel like every week I see more and more store fronts that are empty and so it would just be good to get a sense of how many how badly we've been impacted and I think that will also help as we're you know really trying to to have these discussions with our state and federal representatives that we're demonstrating with them that this is having a really big impact and we need resources so that would be great as well Council Member Matthews Yeah a couple quick questions or comments relative to your observation about people that don't or families that don't have access to computers it seems to me that many individuals have cell phones even if they don't have computers in the home and this are our surveys and so far they're those cell phone friendly or is that another way to reach out that's a really good question we'll we'll see if they have a if they're if they're have a mobile platform I mean there well we're about to I think you you can you can just get to a whole lot of people yeah okay great thank you if you have a smartphone yeah yeah yeah on the closures it would be very valuable I mean I agree with your observations useful to know how we're comparing with broader trends I know that that's one thing does it Santa Cruz does in its statistics is how it's Santa Cruz county comparing with state figures with our comparable jurisdictions and so forth because truly this is hitting all communities but how is it hitting us and what can we do to make a critical difference for survival and recovery yeah that's a that's a really good point and I think our partnership that we have with the Silicon Valley Economic Development Alliance as well as with Caled on the California level you know we're communicating you know more you know almost daily with you know what's happening their community versus ours and we share weekly information on that so that's something that we can we can touch base with other jurisdictions in the Bay Area and bring some real information back to you and and comparable communities could include our visitor comparables as well because so much of our retail and restaurant is visitor related so different a different lens thank you counselor Matthews so if there's no further comment at this time from council members I'm going to turn it over to the public so if you are wanting to comment on this item which is COVID-19 pandemic response options for consideration to assist local residents and businesses if you haven't already called and please call in at this time using one of the numbers on your screen if the number on your screen is busy please try a different number until you get through once you've entered the meeting you need to press star nine on your phone to raise your hand and after you've raised your hand you will be unmuted and you will have two minutes to speak for those members of the public who are calling in who speak Spanish for the purposes of translation we'll give you an extra minute and we also have Jorge Zavala from COPA who was given four minutes to speak to us on the title and so Jorge when you if you're listening when it's your time to speak please let us know who you please identify yourself so that we can then increase your time and with that I'll go to the first caller you are on the line Buenas tardes mi nombre es Gloria Palomo y soy participo en la iglesia de Holy Cross y soy miembro de COPA estoy unida a este grupo de promotores y estoy muy impactada con las historias que hemos escuchado de personas que hemos hablado con ellos ahorita están en el problema de cómo es posible que puedan pagar sus rentas y los problemas de que están aislados por falta de comunicación en como en estos grupos que nosotros hemos estado conversando y estamos viendo la posibilidad de cómo ustedes se puedan unir a este grupo para que escuchen ustedes especialmente estas historias que nos impactan y a ver que es lo que se puede hacer porque pues es trabajo que ustedes y nosotros tenemos que hacer para poder ayudar a estas familias hay niños de cinco a 13 años y personas que ya están así desalojando sus casas porque no tienen ya para pagar y los dueños ya no pueden esperar yeah i'm here do i speak on my phone or how do i get how can i get back we can we can hear you okay so let me across translate for her so she's affiliated with Holy Cross and she just wants to share that she's been very impacted in her community and especially what she's trying to see is like she seems to have like a little group of people with them and they obviously with copa and they want to see and they've had several family members and several member of the community have joined I've reached them and they would like to see how they can break with the city their frustration and problems and how they can both unite copa and the city is pretty can you unify to respond they've had several families with members of their family who are five year old to 13 year old that they're in the brain to go on the street because they cannot pay any more the rent for loss of income and they're just you know they've been isolated and they just wonder how they could get help and she's reaching out we'll see you and estamos formamos este grupo de promotores para poder ir hacia los hogares por medio del esto estos del teléfono para hacerles esas preguntas como se sienten como están que necesitan y las personas están ansiosas por querer que los escuchemos en esas necesidades que esta pandemia está dejando en todas esas familias por favor yo les pide encarecidamente que se unan a esto, a este grupo para que podamos darles esa luz a esas familias que están en estos momentos en crisis, por favor. So she'd like to, she's begging and so that's one of the things that she's been doing is through the, she's been knocking on doors and kind of doing their own survey of how people are doing and she's asking for as much help as possible to unite and to help them attend the needs that they've been doing going to door and that these people are very anxious to get some kind of help. Thank you for all of you who have listened to me. Hello, my name is Mereida Robles. I'm a social worker. I work for Santa Cruz City Schools. I'm also a co-founder of Penderos, a non-profit organization that serves the Latino community and I'm also participating in the meetings that Copa has with the Latino president. As I've been living in San Cruz for more than 10 years, this pandemic has affected all of us in general. In our community, the low income families and the new families, the immigrant families are heavily impacted. People have no work for more than three months. Santa Cruz is a place, it's a tourist place, you know, so the jobs are mostly in restaurants or hotels and our low income community has lost their jobs. They are, they owe two or more months of rent. They're getting in debt to losing their jobs, you know, loss of income. With my job as a social worker, I heard many, many stories from the school district families and from the Penderos family. I'm asking for the City Council to support extending to the moratorium because this will bring a huge relief in the community. As I say before, this pandemic is affecting everyone, but it will affect a lot our children and youth in many ways. The stress and anxiety can affect their mental health and their education as well. You know, it will also send a message, the moratorium, it will also send a message of support and empathy to the low income families. I work directly with people. I call them, I text them, and I just would like to remind all of you that are listening right now that low income families or immigrant families do not visit websites. We, please, City Council make the services, please, agencies are out there listening. Make services acceptable for people. You know, just for an example for me, I struggle with making a phone call to you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Jorge Savala had been out there for four minutes and then I was going to be here. So if that person is watching or listening, please call in. And if there's anyone else who'd like to speak to us on this item, please call in on your phone screen and let's find out on your phone what you're going to be doing. And you will be given two minutes. First thing on the line. Good afternoon. This is actually Jorge Savala with one of my leaders here, Tariq. Go ahead and start now. You're coming from Yes. I would like to introduce Stephanie, which will be speaking for the group. Can you go ahead and start the timer for four minutes, please? I was going to say, if there's going to be translation, Bonnie, why don't we give them at least six minutes so we can have time for translating back and forth? Or actually, better yet, when we have the translation, we can just pause the time so that we can allow for translation to occur and not have that even to the top of that. Stephanie, could you go ahead and tell us a little bit about what you're trying to do? Let me see. Go ahead. Okay. My name is Stephanie Vasquez. I'm the leader of the Holy Cross and the Senderas organization. I'm also one of the promoters connecting families with resources and hope during these difficult times. Here, together with the COPA organization, I would like to give you the opportunity that all of you with COPA, please, present yourself and print the number nine on the phone. I, as many as we are, are leaders of the Holy Cross, involved in the Ministry of the Holy Cross with André. Here, I am with the leaders of COPA and we are allied in this effort to support our families and we support agenda number five for the protection of the development of immigrants in our community. Alcalde Cummings and members of the council have heard the stories of the community. Families are indebted or have wasted their savings because they did not know that they have rights. They are afraid of the political climate. Families are forced to pay for their rent or with many that have already left the area with fear. Families are working very hard because they are barely seeing some businesses. I think Peter could, since you're listening, can you translate what you're sure you're still listening okay in this medium? Okay, so this is Stephanie Vasquez and she's also affiliated with Sandero and the group COPA. And she's asking the member of the other Latino community who are also listening to us in the general public to press number nine and add more comments. And then she's also saying she's affiliated with the Holy Cross, with leaders of the Holy Cross. And she's asking that to also please support the issue number five that is brought to the city council. And she's also desperate needs because she's heard already of many community members from our community who have left because they just can't support themselves anymore. And they're also afraid of stalk, especially with this political and the atmosphere that we have lately. So there's a lot of fear for people to talk and just talk about the real issues that are happening these days. La ciudad lanzó una encuesta para involucrar a los residentes hispanohablantes. Diputieron la encuesta en el sitio web de la ciudad. Y creemos que muchos residentes no han podido participar plenamente, tibicamente, en dar su opinión debido a su falta de exceso de la tecnología o la nevargación en la misma. Desde el 14 de junio del 2020 yo y más de 14 voluntarios de la comunidad se han capacitado como promotores y promotoras. Y han comenzado a llamar a 281 participantes de Holy Cross with Pantry y estamos construyendo la base de relaciones de confianza necesarias para tejer un tejido social fuerte que responda a más largo plazo. Los efectos más sistémicos del crisis del COVID. Durante las llamadas realizadas, una evaluación de las necesidades de la familia, mientras obtienen una conversación culturalmente competente que brinda al receptor de la llamada un espacio para compartir las luchas de su familia. La evaluación de la familia se centra en varias áreas, incluyendo el acceso a los alimentos, el acceso tecnológico, la estabilidad de la vivienda, el empleo y otras necesidades que su familia pueda tener. Otro tipo de líderes. Definitely. Necesito decir lo que estás diciendo. Desculpa, te voy a parar y voy a preguntar si Peter puede traducir. Peter, could you translate what she said? Yes. So they have, so she among other people in her group have been training themselves to be promoters and they've basically since obviously the city you know we've heard before the city talking about this survey that has already been started since the June 14th and what they're basically doing is train themselves to try to share with the community and sort of create a space among themselves by phone to talk and they've already talked to 281 participants but she says to just slowly trying to build a trust and a network social network to talk about the COVID crisis and basically we just this is a very important conversation by telephone they need to evaluate how much people are in desperate needs of work and of access to food. So this is what I put up quite a bit on just for clarification where the group is calling 281 families but have made contact with 81 thus far. That's what I put up. Thank you. Thank you much Stephanie. I'm going to talk about the community of families. Until now we've referred to 20 families of carities, catholic carities to receive additional support in terms of PVT and call fresh. Our petitions for you are the following. We would like the city to create an order to allow the residents of the city 12 months after the local emergency to pay for the rent that they owe. We would like the city to extend its prevention moratorium according to the state. And work with leaders. So basically she's with this leader a group of leaders and they're doing a follow-up and basically they're so far have been able to help 20 families to receive some support from the CDBG funds and they're asking the city council if they could extend for 12 months the ordinance not to have to pay rent and then also the extend the moratorium would be evacuated from your house for rent. I'm Stephanie. I'm sorry to declare it to be referred 20 families to catholic carities not for CDBG funding but for access to additional support services. Once we do a needs assessment of the family we then refer them to other partners which we'll be doing the same with Community Action Board and other nonprofits in that area. Okay and I think maybe after like this if we could have an opportunity for translation that'll be helpful. I don't know if you can accept me, but I'm okay. Los invitamos a participar en juntas caseras que nosotros mientras que conectamos con las familias de Santa Cruz para que conozcan sus historias. Estamos haciendo este trabajo con el Departamento de Policía de Guatulio. Mientras del concilio están participando y la comunidad ayudaron a recomendar dos pólitos para relaciones con la comunidad, la ciudad y la Policía. Correct. We're working with community leaders and from COPA and we're trying to involve as much as people Latinos possible and to hear their needs and basically they're trying to create more work and Communicate the extension needs to connect families who are in need and they're also working in the Watsonville with the police department and they're creating two different policies. Okay. She's asking then she's also asking to invite us to have a meeting with the member of the community so we can talk about these issues. Okay. So what she's saying that she like I said she would like to invite us to have a meeting with her then she wants to share a personal experience with them that people you know didn't know exactly how to get help and it's just hard to just be listened to again with this Uncertainties and for example she knows of a member of her the community that just what did you know lost her house and was not able to get wrong Our own anymore and so she was living with her eight year old and a year and eight one year and a half old in her car and tell a family member had pity on her and just decided to have her in her couch. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. I said that she should reach me and I know Jorge Sabala has my number and I will try to reach Jorge Sabala to follow up. Next speaker. You are on one. Yes. Good afternoon. And commentaries. If you can stop a moment or enter the different status so that our title can be translated in English. Very good. Okay. And my name is Berta Lara and I am a member that I am going to the church of our Mrs. Estrella del Mar and also a member affiliated with this group that is helping the community. My commentaries are about the help that the government is offering to the families and migrants who do not have documents. They ask if they are working and if they work a little bit they deny the help. Okay. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Okay. So she's her name is Berta Lara and she works, she's a member of the church of the star of the sea or Estrella del Mar in Spanish. And she's saying her comment is saying that when the folks who are in need of help and government help, then the government, one of the questions they ask them, especially the help of undocumented needs, people who are undocumented and they ask them if they do work, if they actually are working or not. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. So what she's saying that she thinks it's unfair that in general they ask the undocumented people if they're working or not in order to receive help whereas the people who have documents they don't add, they don't have any questions. So for the undocumented even though they're working a lot less but they do a little job here and there when they answer that then they don't get any help whereas the other people have no questions asked and she does some things there. I would ask Hisi to give it a go. Hisi, why don't they do the same with all the families? Why don't they help them the same? The pandemic is affecting everyone the same. It's fair that everyone helps us the same. So she's saying she thinks it's unfair and the pandemic, the COVID affects documented as well as undocumented people and she doesn't understand why there is such a discrepancy in this question and to ask please to help her and her community. Thank you very much. God bless you. Does anyone else on the line who would like to comment on the items before us please press star nine on your phone and you'll be given two minutes. Seeing no one I'll bring it back to council for action and deliberation. Is there any council member who would like to move the recommendations that are before us or add additional recommendations on this item? Councilmember Mathews. Yes. I'm looking back to the agenda item would like to appreciate the report given to us. Specifically move the recommendations from economic development regarding number one is done. So two, three, four and five moving forward in the immediate term with two and four regarding the get virtual.org support for local businesses and as soon as possible when we have the budget discussions getting a sense on the microloan program. So it would be moving items well two through five from economic development and continuing the request to track state and federal legislation related to support something particularly for residents, for businesses to come back as well and to come back to us regularly with programs that we can take advantage of and promote and also to continue their work with our community partners particularly regarding the needs of our very low income and immigrant communities. The motion is to move items number two to five from economic development, continue tracking state and federal legislation to come back regularly with reports on progress and then to continue working with community partners who are closely with low income and immigrant communities. Yeah, that's close enough and that items two and four would move quickly on the get virtual. You have that pretty well captured. I think I got it online. I need to read it. No, I got it. Thank you. Maker of the motion would be willing to include an additional direction to staff to as part of the ongoing communication with low income immigrant communities to work to also let's see how to do this to connect with the Community Action Board and Housing Authority and return to Council with recommendation on the viability of providing additional rental assistance. That's I think that's a really important point that we've been hearing and we heard it at our last meeting when the cab representatives told us that this was what was keeping people housed and they're going to run out of money really pretty quickly. So I'd like to keep that on the table for discussion. So that's a hopefully acceptable goal. Most likely so and I want to check with Bonnie, it's my impression that we are continuing to work with cab and our housing partners for additional funding, whether various sources that we can allocate to them to increase the resources, community resources. Is that correct? That's correct. I mean, I'm not sure if I have someone from our housing team on the panel. I think I think I see Jessica Dewitt, but we're in regular communication with those cab and the Housing Authority and just to see where they are with the funding that we've allocated and yeah, we will continue to do that and recommend additional funding. We have it and I think definitely, you know, the need is there and we are monitoring that and checking in. We did offer them some additional funding and asked them and they still had funding the last time we checked in with them, but we recognize that this is going to be an ongoing need. So I'll just say I hope this gets to what you're saying because I think it's entirely consistent with what we're doing, but continue our active partnership with community organizations to identify additional funding sources that can expand housing resources for those that are most affected. Yeah, I mean, I guess I'm specifically and it sounds like this is happening, but I'm specifically speaking about, you know, rental assistance. Yeah, yeah, yeah, so housing resources, I prefer rental assistance. Yeah. Yeah, thank you. I'll second them. The tenant based rent assistance. Yeah, that's what I meant. Yeah. How many did you catch for that? I did, but I would need clarification on whether or not that that is a friendly amendment that's accepted or if you're changing your motion language. I'm just adding to my motion as a suggestion of Council Member Brown. And the amendment goes away. Okay. I got it. Yeah. Is that okay with you? Yeah. Vice Mayor Myers, you had your hand up so I just wanted to acknowledge it. Yeah, thank you. And thank you to everyone who spoke this afternoon to us and to Peter also who is our liaison and obviously very helpful in understanding the needs of the community. I had a question about or I'm curious about I want to make sure we're not losing track also of the need to provide outreach to the community Bonnie that is not not computer based or internet based. And I don't know Peter if there's a way that we can do either some workshops specifically in some of the communities that, you know, where small businesses that maybe don't know of the resources that we're offering. I just, I'm not sure if that's needed, but Council Member Matthews, I just trying to not lose track of the business part of this as well. If people do need that outreach, but I'm happy to hear from staff on that or just get a sense of how we could potentially make sure that that also can be addressed in the motion if needed. Thank you. Yeah, I'll just add we're very open to that. We're very happy to meet with COPA or other representatives. We're in regular, you know, communication with our partners that we fund. But, you know, we want to get the word out of our resources as widely as we can. So we're happy to meet. And I'm happy to add to my motion. Invite suggestions for expanded outreach to for both commercial and residential programs from both community and council members. And I'm wondering if maybe I'll do that. Council Member Brown mentioned early on that she'd be willing to promote to her networks. I think we've all got our networks. We can all promote to them. And, you know, I, I haven't seen that survey either. And it's the sort of thing we can all copy and paste to our various networks and say, please propagate. Please spread this. And I think that's easy. It's easy for staff because you don't have to do it. Just send us, you know, send us a short description of links and we can help you out there. I just sent it out to the chamber. So I'm going to just pour that to you all. Yeah. Good. So then that's a short addition to invite suggestions for expanded outreach for both the residential and commercial programs. And I guess if I maybe answer Donna's comment, I'll see about the workshop. It seems like B-flat and Lower Oceans is a lot closer to us. We've been, I've had some presence. And I think I will try to, my strategy will be to try to reach to these people through this COPPA and Jorge Savala, who seems to already have a group of people highly involved and heavily needs. And I'll see how I can mediate between economic development and the rest of the city and move on from there. Okay. And thank you very much, Peter, for your help on it. And I just want to thank you. I would include the schools. I mean, you know, there are all these parent networks too. So include them in the outreach. Yeah. I appreciate that. And thank you, Vice Mayor Myers for raising the issue about technology access and how it is that we do outreach to the community so that everybody can know about the programs that we have and, you know, other ways to get assistance. I would say, and thank you, Peter, for stepping up to follow up on that. I would be willing, you know, I'm happy to help. Or with that, or if the folks who came and spoke today want to have some kind of meeting with members of the city council, you are welcome to connect with me. And maybe I'll just also connect with you after the meeting, but I wanted to say that this is really big priority for me. And so I do want to be, you know, be involved in it as much as I can. Even things like, you know, Maria just said from Sundaros and then from Cocoa said, you know, she had difficulty, you know, calling in. And so people who are kind of connected to these networks even can be challenged. And, you know, we don't, how do you even know the number to call if you don't have cable or, you know, a computer. So we talk about see the number on your screen and not everybody can do that. So I do think this is an area that we could definitely work on and, you know, kind of improve our processes and are, you know, so I'm happy to help in any way with that. Thanks. And I was just having meetings with those members from Colicross and from COPA. And so if I have any other meetings I'll let folks know or we can maybe figure out a way to connect all of us. I'm wondering if you might be able to read back the motion that we have before us. I can read you my chicken scratch. For immediate action numbers, I don't know what they were. They're now one and two. Approve additional grant application and then consider the $30,000 in the new budget, which is immediate. And then as soon as possible, the other two items. Continue request track, continue to track state and federal legislation. Come back regularly with programs to take advantage of and promote and continue work with community partners, specifically very low income and immigrant community. Invite suggestions for outreach from both community and council members for residential and commercial programs. And the rental assistance piece I think was the one thing specifically the council member Brown. Yeah. In the tracking the state and federal programs it was for both residential and commercial recovery assistance. I'll turn it back over to you. So we can do the roll call vote. Council Member Byers. Yes. Matthews. Aye. Brown. Boulder. Watkins. Vice Mayor Myers. And Mayor Cummings. That's unanimously. And I also want members of the public to know that we did approve the extension of the eviction war time. So if you weren't on the line during that portion of our call, I just wanted to make sure people knew that that was approved for within the city limits. Thank you Bonnie and Rebecca for the great presentation and look forward to getting an update on how the progress made. Thank you. Thank you very much. With that, I think let's take a like to continue with our next item. Three thirty. Can we have five? Members of the back, if you can turn your video on, we can go ahead and get started. Council Members, if you turn your video on, once you get back, see your seats. If you're sitting in front of your computer, once you get everybody back, we'll go ahead and get started. So the next item on our agenda is item number 37, general business with the display of the Pan-African and Black Lives Matter flag at City Hall. An approval of a Black Lives Matter mural. And so I'll leave this item off. After the murder of George Floyd on May 25th, 2020, there was a lot of action that obviously has taken place throughout the country in the forms of different types of protests and actions, condemning the use of the excessive use of force by police officers in Minneapolis and really recognizing that communities still need to continue in the fight for equal justice, especially for Black people within the country, across the entire country. Here in Santa Cruz, there have been numerous demonstrations and actions asking for a review of our police policies and people really wanting to find ways that they can support the Black community here in Santa Cruz. We've seen many members of our community go out and support the Black Lives Matter movement. And today one of the things to afford you is a motion to approve the display of the Pan-African and Black Lives Matter flags. I just want to read a little portion from the discussion, which is that the display of flags at City Hall symbolizes solidarity with our community and movements around the world. The Pan-African flag, the tri-coloured flag, consisting of three equal horizontal bands of black and green, which was designed to represent people of the African diaspora and symbolize Black freedom. The phrase Black Lives Matter highlights the flag that Black people are not afforded the same treatment within our society and under the law and represents the ongoing struggle for equal rights and justice under the law. By displaying the Pan-African and Black Lives Matter flags during the month of July in front of City Hall, the city would send the message that the city embraces our Black community members and guests and that the city is committed to ending systemic racism and discrimination of all forms in our community. I've also offered the use of funds from my discretionary account to cover the cost of the flags. It's similar to what we've done in June in remembrance of Pride Month and to honour the LGBTQ community. This will be a way that we can also honour the ongoing struggle for equal rights for members of our Black community in Santa Cruz and in our condition as well. The second item that's going to be brought to our attention is a number of community members have brought forward an ask of the council to approve the installation of a Black Lives Matter mural on Santa Street between Church and Locusts at City Hall and direct public works to issue a regular encroachment permit upon submission of the required documentation. At least two of the community members are with us today and wanted to show a short presentation on the proposition of the mural. And so with that, I'll unmute and turn on the video for Abby Mustafa and Sean McGowan. And I'm not sure if Taylor, I don't see Taylor Line hold on here, but if he signs in then I can also add him to the meeting. Can you hear me? Yeah, I can hear you. Sean, are you on? Yes, I am. Okay, I can't do a video, but anyway, I'll turn it over to you all for your presentation. If you could allow me to share my screen on how to go to the slide presentation, please. Yeah, we see it. Thank you. Okay, my name is Abby Mustafa and I'm a local artist. And, you know, it came to our attention that this could be a really cool thing to do in Santa Cruz. The idea of this mural isn't just a mural on the ground, necessarily it's not just what's beautiful, it's a call to action to everybody in our community. So the idea and intention behind it is that every year to keep up maintenance with the mural, another organization will have the opportunity to repaint the mural and also say what they've done for the community as far as dismantling systemic racism in their business or in their practice. And so it's really a call to action and that's the whole purpose of this mural. We also have a couple of suggested dates. I don't know if the council can vote on that today, but we suggested Monday the 6th and 7th or the week after that. So the second and third week in July for the permit and we're asking for permanent encouragement permit from the city. Next, we have the location of the mural. We suggest that it would be put on Center Street between Church Street and Locust Street in front of the, sorry, in front of City Hall. And then we have funding. So we originally decided to go with private funding for this because we wanted to be able to completely do it ourselves, not have to ask for anything from the city. But as we've been going on, we've actually found so many people have been on board with this that it's not actually going to take that much to come up with all of the funding for this. And the first year has already been sponsored by the Yoga for All movement. It's a local nonprofit organization and she's decided, or the organization's decided to get us started with several thousand dollars and then they will match our funding as well. And we've had several other organizations offer to match our funding. The, I guess the other point on this that Sean will be able to talk about with safety and liability and Taylor is actually, he is on a project right now in Florida, so he wasn't able to join us right away, but Taylor Reinholt is part of this as well and he's had a lot of experience in these areas. So, go ahead Jen. Hi, my name is Sean McGowan. I'm currently the vice chair of the Arts Commission and part of the Uncensored Proposal Subcommittee. Just want to talk about safety and liability. Our goal is to have a community-driven, socially engaged, collaborative mural painted while still maintaining social distance procedure. We'll be directing volunteers to help keep participants in safe distance from one another and require mass struggle. I've spoken with Ed DeRosa from STOPCO who's been working with the city for decades on road closures. He's agreed to supply air cave, signage, and a traffic control plan for the city. Taylor Reinholt, a local muralist and one of the organizers for this mural has agreed to enter into a contract with the city for a 10-year maintenance program. He has several, several similar agreements in the city including the Oceanscape on Meryl Emission, Emission and Bay, excuse me. I, Sean McGowan, have submitted a certificate of insurance noting Santa Cruz City as an additional certificate holder. I've also spoken with Public Works Department to clarify these requirements. I have also spoken with Rich Smith, the city street supervisor and obtained cal spec item numbers for paints required to comply with street safety, community responsibility, and follow-up initiatives. As Abby said, this mural and its maintenance are a statement of intent and accountability to our community. We intend to submit future proposals to the Arts Commission asking the equity, inclusivity, and environmental justice subcommittee to be involved in ongoing maintenance of this project. We'll be asking them to be responsible for organization, partial funding, and as an identification of partner organizations for a yearly community-driven action to repaint the mural. They will also be recommended that this committee examine the City Arts Commission's commitment to its own equity and inclusivity guidelines and draft an annual report of their findings. Further, we'll suggest that City Council create an annual report to coincide with this event regarding their commitment to the Health and All Policy, which is the city's policy for equity, inclusivity, and sustainability. This is a list of the supporters and community representation that we've found. Most notably, we've gotten endorsements from the Museum of Art and History, the Santa Cruz Chapter of the NAACP, the Bahara Valley Community Trust, and special thanks to Shadar Gill and the Yoga for All Movement for financial supporting her first year. And we have so many contributors that it had to go on two slides. Abby, would you like to say something before we finish? Yeah, no, I would just like to thank you for even hearing our proposal. It really means a lot to me because it is, like I said, I don't want it to just be a type of performative allyship. The entire project and it continuing on for several years means actual community engagement and really taking action on what's going on with civil rights right now. So I appreciate you hearing us. And special thanks again to Shadar Gill for being our first year fiscal sponsor in office. Any questions? And Sean, I will bring it back to council to see if there's any questions for me regarding the flags or for the muralists and artists who want to bring forth the mural. By the way. Thank you for both of these proposals. Regarding the mural, I like the idea of ongoing community engagement year after year in its maintenance. My impression is that the expectation would be each year a different group to raise the money and recruit the volunteers and as you said, report on what they're doing. Have I understood that correctly? Yeah. Okay. And it sounds like after year one, the responsibility for coordinating that goes to the arts, the city arts program. Is that right? Yeah. You know, that's probably manageable because it's pretty straightforward, but it will be a regular ongoing commitment for, I think, organization more than anything else, but it's really it's a great concept. So just knowing that after year one this will become a responsibility of our arts program. I agree that I like how it's going to be continued year after year and I just have one question since it's going to be painted on the surface of the asphalt, correct? Correct. So when they're doing, is there talk about when they're planning, I think we just talked about it hours back, when they're doing street paving, like when is that in the schedule? Would it be possible to get that part of the street paved, I don't know how long pavement lasts, but paved in advance so that it doesn't have to be paved over in a few years? You know what I'm saying? Yeah, I don't know the logistics like that. I know that the portion of street that we chose is currently in like decent maintenance, but we didn't plan for that. I think of that we are using a certain type of paint, so the paint that's going on the road is for pavement. So even the logistics of potential maintenance in the future, we should have paint left over that can be used and it really should keep pretty long. So to do it in the future, you know, it'll be a little bit more like symbolic than it will be necessary for the maintenance to be painted for the first couple of years. I just think it'd be great if we could coordinate with the public works department if they're planning on paving that section in the next year to just do it now ahead of the mural. This is Chris and I are public works department. We don't see any need to repave the street at least in the next five years. That's all I was hoping to hear. Thank you. Council Member Watkins. Thank you for the proposal and for the presentation. Such an important time and powerful message. Shout out to Shawnee from Yoga for All Movement. What a great organization. We're willing to step up. They do a lot around equity. I don't know if it's more of a comment as opposed to a question, but I definitely want to show appreciation for the alignment to the health and all policies work, particularly as it relates to equity and health equity and want to make sure that I don't know if it's in the recommendation, but as we move forward, I'm happy to continue the conversations with staff around how to integrate this into the reporting and to the work that's happening around health and all policies. I'm not sure if anybody's on here, but I just wanted to make that statement because it's definitely in alignment and synergistic with that work. Those are my comments. Council Member Mathews and then Vice Mayor Myers. Just to say, I believe the arts policy and Shawnee are on the arts commission already has a very strong commitment to equity and so that I believe is an expressed policy already of the commission. And whether we need a separate report on this project particularly maybe not, but fold the idea of our health and all policies framework being reflected in this as well as many other things we do and also acknowledging the commitment of the arts commission. As for the date, I think that can probably be left best to the project coordinators and public works. I don't think we need to set the date right now. But obviously in the near future is what you've got in mind. And I'll just say that by not setting that date, it provides flexibility. That's what we're trying to do whenever you all are ready to do it, let the community know and allow you to get your permits and move forward. I think that's wonderful. Vice Mayor Myers. Yeah, I just wanted to thank community members and the mayor for bringing these two items forward. I support them completely. For the initial painting I wanted to just have the dates that you're thinking about maybe repeated because I did not get a chance to write them down and I just thought and I know I heard a couple of dates thrown out as possibilities maybe we just repeat those. Yeah. We were hoping for either July 6th and 7th or the 15th and 14th. So it would give us a week to two weeks to prepare. Okay, great. Thank you for that. And yeah, I think I'm very supportive of the effort and really pleased to see this, especially going out in front of City Hall and then, you know, the part of the city where we just get a lot of movement between the library and various facilities that are in that area, the Civic Auditorium, City Hall, all of it. So thank you for bringing it forward and thank you for yeah, just thanks for doing this for our community. Okay. Just a quick question to public works. Do you have any comments on dates or dates? No, but if we get all the information that's needed for the encroachment permit which sounds like that's imminent, any date will work. I think we just leave that to you guys to work out. Yeah. Are you going to comment from the public now? Okay. And I would just ask that, you know, when this happens because it sounds like there's a lot of support for it that you send an invitation to council members so we can... What do you think? Absolutely. Absolutely. With that, I'll turn it over to members of the public if you would like to comment on the item before us. Please press star nine on your phone to raise your hand and I will click on, I'll and once you're ready you'll have two minutes to speak to this item. I think the idea of a BLM street mural in front of city hall quoted the black Marxist Malcolm X. I also have Malcolm X quotes for you. Quote, respect everyone, but if someone puts his hand on you, send him to the cemetery or show me a capitalist, I'll show you a bloodsucker. Malcolm X was a Marxist black power activist in the 60s and was no Martin Luther King. He believed in violence if necessary. He was coming from the wrong place in 2020 and we do and do we need to follow a failed city like Seattle? Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrice Cooler is admitted during a Friday night interview with CNN that our goal is to get Trump out. She said in 2015, she and Alicia Garges are trained Marxists. The UK BLM founder Natalie Jeffers wants followers to fight capitalism and quote, dedicate ourselves to revolutionary power politics. None of those things are about police abuse. A black person is two-and-a-half times as likely to be killed by police. It is also true black murderers and violent offenders have an even higher demographic percent per population than other races. Consequently, violent criminal black men do encounter police disreportionally. This overlooked conversation statistic does not support a charge of systemic racism. It sadly makes sense although I'm with you on a discussion of police review to ensure the civil rights of all Americans are protected. The BLM movement didn't come out early including vandalism, rioting in response to George Floyd's death and there sure are a ton of people still doing extreme violence in the name of the BLM. They should not be rewarded and I want to hear your condemnation of protest violence. Don't insult us to say this black power BLM billboard is art and that brand name now has tainted politic. The Ferguson killing, the riots, the looting in 2014 and the foundation of the BLM movement was based on a lie. It was found no evidence existed all testimony of such recanted that Michael Brown ever had his hands up and said don't shoot. An officer Wilson was acquitted because Brown tried to assault then steal the officer's guns and later continuously charge the officer full speed. Yet the BLM chants this still. Does no justice no peace sound nonviolent to you? Thank you. Next, you're on the line. I thought I noticed on one of the earlier slides a $2,000 or $3,000 expenditure for film crew. Can you explain what that is all about? Thank you. Yes. What we normally do is go through the comments and so any other member of the public would like to speak to us on the item before us. Now is your time. Please press star and I on your phone to raise your hand and you'll be able to comment on this item. They know the members of the public would like to speak to us on this item. I'll just state that and please chime in Abby or Sean, but my understanding is that this is going to be privately funded as you mentioned before and the costs are being covered. So there's no cost to the city and but if you want, if you'd like to speak to a little bit more to the comment that was raised please go ahead. That's not a necessary expenditure either way. We have people who are willing to do the filming of it and we thought that it would be nice to document. They are willing to do it for less or for free. That would be the minimum of what they would charge outside of doing it for us as a favor and so we included that and we will include that in our extra fundraising but like we said none of this is going to be funded by the city. This is all privately funded so it's coming from us and that's something that we would like to have and to do to offer for other people to be able to see how it happened. Just to document the whole thing. Thank you. Are there any other comments from council members on this item? There's not then I would like to, I think we can move the item council member Matthews. Yeah, I'm prepared to go ahead and do that. I would like to thank those involved in bringing this to our attention and move approval of the recommendation to display the flags in front of City Hall in the month of July and also to approve the proposal for the installation of a Black Lives Matter mural with private funds on Centre Street as described with the expectation that this would involve community the community for I'm going maintenance under the supervision of the art commission. Okay. We have a motion by council member Matthews. Council member Brown, I see your hands raised. Yeah, I wanted to make a comment but I think I see council member Watkins had her hand up and that might have been just second. I'll give it to you if that's what you wanted to do and then I'll just make a comment after that. I was going to second the motion. Motion by council member Matthews seconded by council member Watkins, council member Brown. I just really quickly wanted to say thank you for bringing this to us since we saw the one in DC emerge and then kind of across the country this happening. I've talked with people about how great would it be let's make it happen here and I'm just really thrilled to see such a capable team bringing it to fruition so thank you for this and I'll leave it there and I totally support. I just had a question but I forgot it I guess I'm going to move on. I just wanted to check with the motion as it was stated that I was wondering if in that motion or if the intention also was in the recommendation this every year through the month of July and I just wanted to see it. Yeah, this as stated. All right. Well, those are the comments I guess I'll turn it over to city clerk to call the roll call the question. I wanted to ask the I'll ask my question afterwards Bonnie I'll turn it over to you for the vote. Council Member Byers Matthews Hi Boulder Vice Mayor Meyers and Mayor Cummings receiving our invitation to this event and helping the parties debate. I would like to say that with the research for all of this I believe that we are the second city in the U.S. to vote on this. The manager if we're intending to send the press release out I'm just going to just want to ask the press release out. Sweet, we could do that. Thanks. All right, thanks Abby and Sean. Thank you. Thank you so much. Can't wait to work on it with everybody. Thank you. Council Member Matthews This will probably be picked up quickly anyway but I think the press release it sounds like the date is imminent and that might I mean if it's a matter of waiting a day or two and get the date in there. Yeah. Let us know when you guys have a date figured out. Thank you so much. Our agenda item number 38 which is the surveillance ordinance and recognition technology and predictive policing. I'll turn that over to Chief Mills and he'll be weighing in on that item as well. Actually I don't know if Chief Mills was on currently 2019 I was asked to be on the panel regarding facial recognition technology and its use for policing and also been approached by other members of the community who had some concerns around the use of predictive policing. I began having conversations with the police chief on whether we should consider banning predictive policing even the negative impacts it can have on people who are from communities of color and the police chief informed me that the technology he had stopped using the technology in the city of Santa Cruz and then during the conversation on facial recognition technology it became apparent that the technology has not been fully developed to a point at which bias has been removed. This item was initially brought to council in January by myself council members Cron and Glover it went to the public safety committee it was supposed to come back to council but because of COVID-19 we had to stop on many of the items that were already in motion during that time and given the given what's happened around George Floyd and the concerns around excessive use of force and the use of technologies that may impact people of color within communities throughout the United States we thought that it was appropriate to bring back this item because it's very it relates to everything that's going on right now is do what we can to protect members of communities of color with policy and so this has been the recommendation that we brought forward and it looks like Chief Mills just joined they can provide more background and information about what's happening with policing currently in the city of Santa Cruz and the changes we're trying to make to protect our residents and if you're ready I'll turn it over to you well I apologize for being tardy we're having a meeting here in the office to discuss these very topics and if somebody can help me with sharing the screen for the PowerPoint slides I can get it real quickly hang on I apologize if you're not able to figure it out we'll have it and are prepared to run it if you will the second part of this motion today is actually asking for the establishment of a committee establishment of and I can provide some language for recommendation though that to ask but the demonstrations and the police chief and I's commitment to really trying to work with the black community work with the community to address some of their concerns we've been we hosted the initial webinar of the full community and we've met the past two weeks with members of the black community on multiple occasions to really try to understand what are some of the needs and concerns coming out of that community in particular and what I will say is I will also as a council member was enjoying those conversations and saw what was going on and realized that we really need to try to have some kind of a formal or structured way of moving forward with these different conversations so we can pull together information from all our community members and bring forward items that we can take action on and then also recommendations for the longer term and so when we come back I'll have an ask from the council regarding that but at this point I believe he's prepared a presentation with what Santa Cruz Police Department has been doing and some of the conversations that we've had so chief I'll just try to overview you. Well thank you Mr. Mayor for stalling for me I appreciate it and if you can go to the next slide please Bonnie. So this presentation has a couple of objectives first is to introduce the ordinance that would prohibit the acquisition technology and predictive policing technology and police technologies have been proven to safeguard the civil rights and liberties of all people and not perpetuate bias. The National Institute of Science did some research and found out that Asian women and black men were up to 100 times more likely to be misidentified through face recognition technology and predictive policing has been shown over time to put officers in conflict with the communities rather than working with the communities so we feel and we support the mayor who brought this forward to me some time ago to ban these technologies until such time that can be peer reviewed and scientifically proven that it wouldn't hurt that. In addition you've already discussed developing an ad hoc committee by council to make recommendations for institutional reform so that it can be institutionalized here in Santa Cruz and councilmember Watkins is very instrumental in helping us with this language not only the African American community but also the Latinx and LGBTQ plus communities. And then also I want to give you an update on police reforms in regard to social justice so you can go to the next slide please. Update on police reform changes we've already been working on them for several months we've had mandatory de-escalation training and then a reward for officers who take the risk personal risk to de-escalate to the right you can see a picture of a pin that we issue to our officers once they've successfully de-escalated a potentially violent confrontation and we've given out many of these awards up to this point. We also purchased an upgraded equipment so make sure they have less lethal technologies in all of the vehicles to prevent the use of lethal force and in order to help de-escalate that. We've also changed our use of force policy to include the terminology reasonable and necessary as well as rather than eminent use of threat it must be an immediate threat before an officer is able to use lethal force. This may not seem like a significant change but it actually is in terms of it's not that what we anticipate it's what's taking place currently in front of us. We also after talking about for six or seven months completely banned the choke hold or what is also known as the carotidary restraint and then a few days later the governor's office put a hold on it for the rest of the state not because of what we did but because the heat felt it was the correct time to do this. And then we've also formed the community group with the mayor of members of the black community certainly not all are able to help guide us have these discussions and so that we can help the allies and advocate together for lasting change not just temporary change and I think that is the key element is that we begin to build this relationship of trust that we collaborate together and find a way forward that celebrates all of our communities but more importantly institutionalize this change here in our inner city and we're also examining additional changes you go ahead and do the board please so banned the carotidary restraint this is just a reflection of that we did that on June 5th and the policy all these policies are online and people are welcome to go and view these policies for themselves and we're happy that that has taken place and we're moving forward ahead require de-escalation rather than using force whenever possible we use what we call time talk in tactics we do training annually as well as regular scenario based training here at the station as well as monthly videos and analysis of incidents that are taking place elsewhere to be able to dissect them to be able to break them down and determine what we might learn from those in order to do better and these are really interesting conversations initially officers really didn't want to criticize cops in other locations and now they're able to actually dissect these things and talk about how they might be able to de-escalate better I think that's a very positive step to be able to look at these events please forward we have a duty to intervene we have a little mantra here if you see it you own it you can no longer just stand idly by and say well that wasn't me so we have a duty to intervene in our policy and it says that they shall intervene in the use of force there's reasonable belief to be excessive officers shall immediately also report that excessive force to supervisor in failure to do so may result in punishment up to and including termination and depending on the situation that was in advance please also require a warning before shooting when it's possible that's not always possible as you might understand but when it's possible we want officers to let them know that they are the police that they're in uniform and that any reasonable when it's reasonable to issue that warning again that's part of our policy these are all by the way as part of the eight can't wait campaign and so people can reference that by searching online also exhaust all other means before shooting we call that tactical de-escalation which you see there is a picture of a shield so that we can deploy those to give us extra cover to buy the time the distance for the sake of the concealment in order to be able to de-escalate some of these events one it's one thing to talk to people and to talk them down that's not always possible it's an environment in which we wind up operating sometimes you have to do it in different ways and this was recently used by a man threatening suicide with a broken bottle and rather than hurting the guy we were able to wrestle that away from him go ahead we also ban shooting at moving vehicles to and from moving vehicles officers are prohibited from shooting at or from a moving vehicle it's part of our policy and we direct officers that they shall move the vehicle whenever that's possible the only exception is that the driver is using the vehicle is reasonably believed that it's a weapon of mass casualty in other words they're trying to drive into a crowd and one of the things we saw for instance in the recent protests and civil unrest in the nation is that there are 18 according to media different incidents of people driving into the crowds and unintentionally and so we want to make sure that our officers have the ability to protect the vehicle in a in a crowd situation go ahead please we have we required very comprehensive reporting what you see on the right is our use of force worksheet so every time a use force is used on anybody the officers have to fill out worksheet so we can do several things one account for and then two measure the effectiveness of the types of force we're using that's one of the reasons we felt very comfortable in banning train the effectiveness and the frequency is not there so why not get rid of a very risky maneuver such as that we also capture this in our internal affairs IA pro captures use of force is our earlier warning system immediate supervisor does always does an investigation anytime there's a use of force a deputy chief has to sign off on this form that you're seeing we review the body worn cameras to make sure that the force was was appropriate and reviewed by a supervisor and we also have to report to the state all uses of force that require hospitalization and then we also report this out to public safety subcommittee on a regular basis as well so there's a comprehensive reporting system on two different levels obviously also right police reports the detail very very clearly why they need to use force and that's required by the supervisor to make sure that it's appropriate please advance require use of force systems the level of force used shall be escalated only when it's reasonable and necessary to effectuate arrest or no crime resistance this is the matrix or the the continuum that many have talked about and if you go to the next slide please this is what it looks like in order to in order to use force it must be appropriate to the level of resistance involved so in the left column you'll see the threat level the level of resistance in the right column you'll see the level of force that is officers can use now please don't think of this as vertical this is more of a circular type of policy because if you get out of your car and somebody shooting at you you don't have time the opportunity to go through all of those those stages which need to do is be able to respond appropriately but what the officers realize and what the officers are instructed to do is take a look at the level of of the threat and respond proportionately on the right side so some is just being passively resistant or non-compliant we don't want them spraying them with pepper spray we want them to use control holes and the other things they can do to get them into custody and to use handcuffs this is very important because it makes it the use of force proportional and to go to the next slide please additional reforms that we're taking look at and we are going to implement it's just a matter of getting it written into our policy calling it the brand of Taylor Rule which means that we're prohibiting no-knock search warrants which is the entry of police officers unannounced into an occupied building only the chief of police can approve that and we do need to have it available for instance in a hostage rescue that's about the only time we would have to use it and now it doesn't happen very often but we still need to have that tool available and then the other rule is we're having a uniform police officer present invisible during the execution of every search warrant so that there is no question as to who's hitting this house with the search warrant that we want to make sure that everybody is well aware of this police and if you go to the next slide please that's it we've done a lot in a very short period of time but I really want to make this clear this is just a triage this is just to stop the bleeding this is not the endgame the endgame is to find systemic changes to institutionalize racism not only in policing but in other sectors of society as well and so this is just the beginning part of the conversation there's been 400 years where we're going to have to overcome trust is going to have to be rebuilt with our communities and that can only come through time and working shoulder to shoulder with them but I want our community to know that we are 100% committed to work with the community also I miss the community but particularly right now the black community has the greatest needs and certainly if you have any questions we'd be happy to answer them thanks chief for that update and presentation and I want to let folks know I'm not sure if I've received it yet today but we're also going to be holding of the meetings that we've been holding with the community we're going to have an update Thursday evening at 6pm similar to the first webinar we had it'll probably be about an hour long and we'll be able to report out on the conversations that we've been having in the black community and we'll have an update a similar update from the chief on these different policies so that more people in the community can be aware of the actions that we're taking and that we're really taking this situation seriously and that we are trying to be proactive and are continuing this momentum towards actual systemic change Erin thank you chief I just wanted to thank you for involving me in the effort as well and being connected to this group and trying to make some of these major changes I want to acknowledge you chief for really having the willingness to be bold in terms of some of these immediate changes you seek now I was actually just reading something earlier today about how if you want to see less violence then hire more women too so I think there's there's a lot more to explore as well but I think you said it really right that there's a sort of unresolved history that we have when it addresses a nation that is it's percolating at this moment it has throughout the years and until some of those bigger shifts occur we have some of the things that we can do here locally right now I do also just want to say that it's been really wonderful to have a unique opportunity to hear the black voices and to hear their thoughts specifically as it relates to policing and really wanting to embrace that moving forward knowing that the city has a really strong foundation particularly as it relates to the health and all policies framework in place as well as the recent acknowledgement of racism being a public health issue I feel that for some of those big institutional shifts that we seek that the voices of the black community seeks and I think that the community at large seeks as well could really fit into some of those bigger shifts so as this moves forward I really look forward to having really intentional policy come out of this and the council being apprised and supportive moving forward as well so thank you for making this happen today Thank you I just want to follow up as well because I do want to mention that part of the reason why we're going to be asking to form or to give direction from the mayor to form a working group is because we have been receiving a lot of feedback on what the city should be doing but often times in a lot of the recommendations we've been receiving what folks are saying that we should do defunding the police and where that funding goes often times it doesn't mention how it's going to support the black community and it usually isn't coming from the black community so I think what the chief and I are really intending is to really hear from black community members and community members who are impacted and understand what their needs are and what kind of needs they would like to see the city council suggest moving forward and so while I know that there's a lot of conversation around this idea of defunding the police I think what we're really intentionally trying to do is hear from the communities that are the most impacted and understand how we can support those communities moving forward and so that's been a big focus of our conversation just so that the public and the community can see what can we do that's going to have the greatest impact on providing safety to the black community and the other communities that are generally affected by police violence. Council Member Browner. Thank you Chief Mills for the overview and thank you Mayor Cummings for bringing this forward and taking some leadership here in engagement with the community around this issue I think clearly this goes beyond the defund the police demands that are being made into kind of thinking about how we do how it is that we fight institutional racism in our community at large and so I just wanted to ask Chief Mills and maybe Mayor Cummings if you've thought about this so I'm trying to figure out how to say this because my experience I have heard from people of color in this community who are really who are engaged in the defund debate and so I don't think that it's simply a small subset of white people who are doing this and I think that this call is going to continue and I struggle with the language around this and what I'm hearing is that there is a pretty widespread obviously attention to the police budget and legitimate demands to evaluate the city to reevaluate how we spend our money in the law enforcement arena and so I guess I'm just and I know you've written a message about this so and it was very thoughtful and kind of responsive to the current climate but I'm just wondering if you've thought about in moving forward with the working group and an ongoing discussion with the community how you will approach that question and people who are coming to the table who do want to talk about that if you've thought about that a little bit it would be helpful to hear because even though the kind of discussion has been happening it hasn't really with people getting together and having a discussion right it's been kind of making statements and we get emails and all of that but I'd like to know how that will kind of how you think that will feel or how you'll approach that in conversation well just before we came on I was having that very discussion with members of the black community that's why we're actually here having that discussion I think that's the wrong question I defunding not defunding I think the issue is effectiveness what are we going to do effectively to manage how we deinstitutionalize racism in our society in all that that means and listen policing has hundreds of year history with being on the wrong side of racism so it's not like we're not without fault but to me the issue is how do we effectively engage with the communities of color the black community and specific and create the environment for them to thrive and prosper and be free of violence and so to me that is the bigger issue and the issue comes up of well what about mental health and homelessness and drug addiction there's not a cop in this building that doesn't agree that we are not the resource for that and we shouldn't be the resource for that but we're the only ones have been saddled with it and so this is a very difficult discussion and so when the county and we need to get the county engaged so when the county engages with us and we're able to maybe back off on those types of things then we can certainly assess you know the budget and the staffing levels and all those things but I've been doing this 42 years and I've yet to see adequate services to handle that not saying it can't take place but that's a big discussion and a complete systemic change in thinking not only by us but by the county by the state by the federal government and if we can get everybody in the same page and right now is the time as one of the ladies here today said we've got the momentum it's the big mode so now is the time to make that happen just to kind of give you a sense of what we've been hearing so we've had at least I've been involved in at least four meetings now at a minimum one was with the UC in double ACP the chief and I held one meeting shortly after I think it was the third day after George Floyd's murder and then the following week we had a meeting we've had three meetings now one was another one was a broader meeting and then lastly we held the zoom meeting and what I've been hearing coming out of those meetings just a brief summary people in the black community have been expressing is wanting equal treatment on the law they one of the things we've done is ask people how they're being treated by the police and Santa Cruz and the conversations that I've been having and the emails I've been receiving from people who identify as African-Americans is that they actually feel safer in Santa Cruz than they have in many other places in the city that the way that the police have been treating them in the city of Santa Cruz is just like any other person for the most part overall I have heard instances of when people had bad encounters but overwhelmingly people, especially people like myself who I grew up in Chicago which has a history of violence against communities of color I've spoken with other people who grew up in a land with just Santa Cruz and we all felt that we don't feel threatened by the police here in Santa Cruz so that's some of what we've been hearing from members of the black community many people are concerned with how people are treated and they want to see police officers treat people of color the same as they would treat anybody else when they approach them there's a lot of conversation around accountability and transparency and I think that's something that we can further explore in terms of how we can make policing more transparent and more accountability and the other thing that's come up is that the police shouldn't be a catch-all the chief just pointed to that everybody is saying that a great example is with homelessness I think we can all agree it would be great if there's an agency that is maybe based out of the public health department who would be able to answer these calls for mental health but it doesn't exist and I think that one of the things I'm encouraging people to do as they look at the police budget is to also look at the budget of the county and see how are they spending their funds are the programs that they're implementing effective if not what should they maybe consider doing and as I was mentioning with police shouldn't be a catch-all we've seen with COVID-19 now that the county health orders and the state health orders are coming down and that we're giving these orders over the enforcement of these orders over to the police department so the governor has said not wearing a mask is a misdemeanor so do we expect all of our police to be running around trying to ticket anyone who doesn't have a mask or trying to ticket every single person who's on the beach I think that it's proven to be overwhelming and the police correct me if I'm wrong but I think that we're just constantly loading more and more on our police department and to the extent to which we can work with the community to clearly identify and really hone in on do we need to change the role of the police department and have them have specific roles and those other roles can be taken by other agencies I think that's a big part of this conversation but really at the core of it many people in the black community don't want to see this opportunity to change systemic racism to be hijacked to address all these other issues that are going on in our community as it relates to homelessness and drug addiction and mental health so I think that's why it's really important that we're focusing on our police department in the city of Santa Cruz and we're really working towards these changes to end structural racism and policing I'll turn over to one of the buyers by the way Catherine I hate that just thinking I've only got about four months left on the city council it's really a short term and I can't think of any issue that this agenda item is today it's sad it's a difficult time but for me I'm here with this agenda item is extremely exciting it is real change between the leadership chief meals you've given and our mayor it's just overwhelming in this very very short time and in fact to me I know it's just the beginning because you're setting up a working group by no means are we just having one meeting and take a boat that's over with so I'm just pleased and thrilled and I sort of smile when you're talking about the meeting you just had and how you are having to deal with the mental health and the homeless we just had a board meeting on the housing matters and all we just talk about we need other agencies to take over the mental health problems that we're dealing with and not the police they're always having to call the police and we have anything not to have the police appear for whatever reason unless it's really something violent so it's there and I don't even know where to begin I've got to be a lot of discussions with the county definitely having a social worker on the what's the county I think I think the county and city split the cost that is a tiny little help but it's a help but programs like that have got to be instituted but anyway thank you very much and keep up the good work it's very wonderful thank you are there any other council members who would like to speak to us on this item I do also want to make council members aware and Tony might ask you I know that there were some changes that came in we've received some feedback from the ACLU to include additional information which the chief and I were able to review I don't know if that was sent out to council members or we should show it on the screen the city clerk was able to post it on the drop-off in the agenda packet as well yes I updated the updated item in there yeah it's in there any members of the public would like to speak to this item now is the time to press star 9 on your phone you'll be given two minutes to speak on this item and I'll turn over to members of the public you're allowed to speak Hi my name is Reggie Meisler I'm a six-year resident of Santa Cruz and I just find it interesting how much time is spent talking about use of force when the FPCD seems to spend less than 15% of their time responding to actual violent crime and 85% responding to nonviolent crime a 2018 department analysis found that only 15% of calls for service were categorized as crime while 43% were just checks and suspicious activity that same analysis self-reported 30% of all calls for service were regarding the homeless that they could do nothing with and the disproportionate percentage of the homeless is black and brown it seems like that police spend more time looking for trouble than responding to it the fact that police spend so little time responding to violent crime but still managed to enact a lot of violence on people is a signal that this is a systemic problem with how our society works and how it uses police I believe that we don't need better trained police, we need less police and I do agree that we do need to replace a large majority of the work police do with social workers and first responders but also services the police budget is very large 30 million dollars a year we spend almost nothing on safe parking transitional encampments and communities of color beach flats seemed incapable of receiving of pittance of funding they had to ask for an impact fund and that barely raised anything if we could use 50% of the police budget 15 million a year to fund real services for the homeless in these divested communities of color we could really do something that's transformational for them and that's what I wanted to say, thank you thank you Hi, my name is Matt Cagle and I represent the ACLU of Northern California we're speaking today in full support of the proposed bans on the acquisition and use of predictive policing and facial recognition by city departments including the police the recent police killings of black people such as George Floyd and Breonna Taylor have sparked a nationwide reckoning on how we approach policing and by extension how we approach surveillance Santa Cruz needs to listen to the calls of this movement as a first step Santa Cruz has an opportunity to pass a law introduced by mayor Cummings to ban predictive policing for recognition, tech use and acquisition by city departments these technologies are both known to be racially biased today's legislation is just one step towards wider police and surveillance reform face recognition is a racially biased technology that poses a threat to our safety and constitutional rights it ushers in a world where we can be tracked for attending a protest, a house of worship or the doctor's office it fuels and exacerbates racist policies predictive policing software reproduces racism and historical bias in our criminal justice system decisions about public safety should be made by this city council working with the public and the community not by algorithms of profit-seeking companies so there's no place in Santa Cruz for racially discriminatory policing as folks were discussing or policing technologies that fuel racism nearly 350 local residents agree with us and have signed a petition that is before the council right now so the city's council we encourage you to pass this full ban on predictive policing and facial recognition because anything less does it to service to this moment and to the people of Santa Cruz thank you so much thank you next speaker you're on the line thank you we're way more articulate than I could be but I do want to say that details matter facts matter and the heinous crime in Minneapolis that's what it was Minneapolis is not Santa Cruz Santa Cruz PD is not Minneapolis PD and because a terrible crime happened there and because there's systemic things happening there that doesn't mean it's the same in Santa Cruz and that's not the design you know issues here but keep funding the police in Santa Cruz at the present time without all these other systems in place that both Mayor Cunning's and Chief Mills spoke about it's just insane and we don't have the systems in place and I do believe that people are just taking these slogans and running with them without any thought so I want to thank you for your efforts that's all thank you next speaker yes hi good afternoon this is Tracy Rosenberg from Oakland Privacy and I'm speaking on behalf of a coalition of 45 human and civil rights groups that have sent you a letter in favor of today's ban on facial recognition and predictive policing I want to emphasize what Police Chief Mills said to you that we are looking for permanent transformational change not temporary shifts we're at a point in history where we really need to take stock and look for systematic real change these technologies in addition to being racially biased as we really are are really authoritarian tools to crush dissent and to racially profile and track people who for whatever reason are on the wrong side of society's divides so the reality here is that we have to make some decisions about the future world that we want to live in are we going to continue with 400 years of systematic racism or are we going to start to turn a corner it's encouraging to hear the City Council today saying we want to turn that corner and I want to encourage you to be brave and to be bold technologies, facial recognition and predictive policing they are not new development now for a decade or more so I want to encourage you when you are saying that you are banning the use of this software in the city of Santa Cruz not to be afraid to actually ban it there is no chance that these pieces of software are suddenly going to become unbiased and non discriminatory they are not so thank you for bringing this forward Mayor Cummings and Police Chief Mills and I encourage you to move ahead and to move ahead as I said bravely and fully you don't need to have a a backstop in this legislation it's a ban, it's an appropriate ban it's a first step it's more work to do and Santa Cruz will be fine you don't need these technologies in your town as Chief Mills said there are many, many ways to keep people free and flawed racially by a software is not one of those ways thank you yes speaker my name is Avery Beck, I'm a member of some rising groups in Santa Cruz I'm calling in mostly support of the surveillance ordinance I support the ban on facial recognition technology, predictive policing I'm happy that SCPD several years ago stopped the use of predictive policing I would also agree with the last caller and that it's not necessary to have this backstop in this legislation which requires the approval of the city council in order to use facial recognition in specific circumstance urge the council to just remove that portion and just institute an outright ban on these technologies but also encourage the council to look at other military technology that SCPD may be using especially for many surplus under DoD program 1033 and this is not like conspiracy like the UCSC police use federal surveillance technology on graduate students who are fighting for cost of living adjustment probably spending more money than it would have cost to simply give them the adjustment but in general I'm very happy that the council is attacking this issue and I encourage you all to keep fighting for that, thank you thank you speaker and online Peter Gelblum and I want to just make two points one is one that reflected by the last two speakers I'm hearing a bad echo, are you guys hearing an echo? No if you're listening on multiple devices you may want to turn off whatever you're using to watch this. There you go, that's better how's that? Okay is that the as Tracy Rosenberg said as the last caller referred to this technology may get better at identifying people of color but it is never cannot by its very nature protect the civil rights and civil liberties of all people because of its invasive authoritarian dystopian nature that is just not ever going to be possible regardless of how much more accurate it ever becomes you're always going to have that problem so you're going to have it being invasive and authoritarian for everybody instead of just for some group so that test in my mind is never going to be met and the second point I wanted to make is that as Mayor Cummings referred to this was a broader ordinance originally when it was brought to the council in January and when I went to the public safety committee and they approved it and I really urge you after your summer break to get back to the broader ordinance which doesn't ban anything at all all it does and it really is hard for me to imagine any legitimate opposition to it to require a public process and transparency with any city agency wants to adopt acquire or use any kind of surveillance technology if they come up and they say this is what we're going to use it for this is how we're going to use it and the city council approves it then it can be used all it requires is the process and we know that that is required because we just found out that the SCPD without public notice recently installed ALPRs like the SCPD in beach flats is very heavily Latino community and we know that without the city council's approval thank you thank you for that my name is Madison I'm a long-term resident of Santa Cruz and I'm calling to express my concern about the predictive policing ordinance as it is currently defined there's a very big loophole in the ordinance which stipulates that the police to continue to use predictive policing technology if this technology needs scientifically validated and peer-reviewed research to protect and safeguard the civil liberties and rights of all people and will not protect race bias as determined by the city council or in other words if the city council thinks it's fine but as any Andy Mills just affirmed in his presentation the point of banning predictive policing is that it is an inherently racist technology that encourages bias policing practices and insurgencies on our civil liberties if this loophole still allows for dispersions in use so I encourage city council to strike this loophole from the language of the ordinance to adopt a true ban on the use and purchase of predictive policing technology I'm speaking on the line hi there my name is Stacey Falls I am on the local ACLU board and I wanted to echo some of the comments made by the previous two speakers I am opposed to both predictive policing and facial recognition technology and I'm opposed to them for a couple reasons first of all they're obviously racially bias and I think chief Mills gave us some pretty compelling statistics that the faces of people of color are disproportionately misidentified 10 to 100 times more often than white faces but I'm also concerned just generally about the encroachment on our privacy so that even if all of the problems with racial bias were worked out and it was a 100% accurate technology I live in a democracy I don't want the government or the police department to have be able to scrape my facebook profiles and run photos of protests through databases and figure out who is there again even if it ended up being perfect technology that just scary big brother stuff so I'd like to see a full on ban I don't think that I agree that this idea that if city council decides eventually it's fine technology then we can use it it should just be banned we live in a democracy and I appreciate that chief Mills is willing to stand in front of city council and say he supports this but the whole point of living in a democracy is that we don't have to ask the police to not invade our privacy and I just want to make sure that even if chief Mills retires or we get a new chief police that we'll have the same kind of protections afforded to us by our constitution Thank you Is that me? Can you hear me? Hi my name is Rachel Kippen I'm a city of Santa Cruz resident and I first wanted to say thank you so much and this ordinance and I agree with a lot of the comments that have already been stated that it's a really important first step but an actual full ban seems like the direction that we need to be moving towards especially as we had a council and police chief in the past that believed that predpull was an appropriate technology to bring to town and then secondly in relationship to the ad hoc committee that's being created and further use of technology through social media I'd like to voice my concern over the Santa Cruz police department and chief Andy Mills personal individual social media accounts and the posting of photos of individuals who are apprehended this to me seems like a very unethical practice I'm not entirely sure why it's needed but it also seems to be contributing to racial bias in our community so I'd love it if you folks could look into that as well thank you so much again thank you hello can everybody hear me yes good evening hi hello my name is Oscar and I am a resident of Beach Flats neighborhood I want to thank you all for meeting today and given the speakers of the Santa Cruz voice thank you chief Mills for opposing and standing in front of the city council today and fighting for our democracy I agree with the previous comments shared before as a person color here in Santa Cruz I still fear the police department here since arriving here by no fault at all I've had just talking about the situation right now is making my heart beat and that says enough in terms of why I'm against the surveillance ordinance and facial recognition technology and the predictive policing the fact that you're being watched for no problem for no fault it's just a scary thought and the fact that you're just being watched it's even more alarming to me it brings tears to my eyes knowing that this is the generation that we are going to be raising kids in as I see in public media today there are kids hiding from the police when they see them pass by growing up we always fear the police there was never a moment where I felt safe around a police person and I just don't want to grow in that anymore and I want to abolish that and I want you to be in the right side of history today with your decision I want you to look at the budget and really think about whether this is an investment and where is that really going why can't we invest in better things in affordable housing and growing the food that we need to feed the people who are suffering with not getting enough not giving children enough computers to just go to school right now why are we not paying our teachers enough why are we discussing these things here right now but at the same time I thank you all and I hope again you are in the right side of history and please continue to do the right work thank you so much does anyone would like to speak to us on this item who hasn't spoken already please press star 9 on your phone to raise your hand and once you've been unmuted you'll have two minutes I would like to see these things banned permanently and not just the technology and question but all technology like license plate readers that the police have used in beach flats and this thing called a stingray which is a fake cell tower that in understeps people's cell cell calls or you know there's other things coming down the pike that we don't even know about yet that are you know probably the CIA are using already and that they will offer them to police stations around the country so I think we need to have a ban on all technology into the future not just until the technology has worked out better there's a lot of problems with this and importance with our constitution we need to ensure that people have the right to privacy and that goes beyond just the privacy when they're inside their house but I realize you know if somebody's outside walking on a public street that they're right the privacy is limited but it doesn't mean that they get to have some technology you know bring up a file on them because all of a sudden it recognizes who they are and that's something that doesn't need to be happening right now and whatever happened to good old fashioned police work you know where the rubber meets the road and stuff and as far as policing goes in this town we really need to address how the city police force harassing homeless people endlessly is not a good use of police time with that I'll bring it back to council for action deliberations on this item with regards to the second item I'm just going to share my screen so that council members can see regarding the second item since I can't make a motion I'm just hoping that I can at least provide some direction and so what I would like to ask is that the council right in number two the council authorized the mayor to establish a Santa Cruz police review working group which can contain up to two other council members and establish a mayor's community advisory committee to review Santa Cruz police policy and in conjunction with the community bring back recommendation that strengthens our police department's commitment to eliminate racism, discrimination and excessive use of force and policing in the city of Santa Cruz between city of Santa Cruz police officers and the broader community to see anyone so I'm going to stop sharing briefly, council member Golder if you're looking for someone to make the motion I'm prepared to make a motion okay, this is for the second item for the general pardon for the entire items and then I guess the second item and the recommendation the mayor provided that's for clarification I understood the motion was for the introduction of the ordinance and for the authorization of the mayor to establish a committee as described in the wording I was going to second it or did you second it? I didn't so I'm happy to second it and just to clarify I think I understood on the second item was that you would have both a working group which was exclusively three council members working with staff and then also a community group correct? Correct and there would be some expectation that there would be a time limited function for that yes and what I can do is I can work with those council members and then bring back our meeting in August or possibly the second meeting in August kind of an outlier plan for how we're going to do engagement or I can provide that sooner if the council members would like to meet and then that way and I can provide it as a memo and that way we can continue moving forward and if council has questions we can bring it to a meeting but the intention would be to work with other council members in the community bring forward a committee and then a timeline for bringing back recommendations well I think what you're seeing here is agreement for this course of action so just a memo would keep us in the loop get it going and just update that you feel appropriate would be good. Thank you I appreciate all the work that's gone into this and I want to appreciate Chief Mills for stepping up and having the conversation with the mayor and now and with the community and now with us I definitely I'll support the motion I do wonder though about this question in the ordinance related to the language about it's in 9.85 .030 B sorry A about need for city council approval based upon the city council findings that the technology scientifically validated peer reviewed research and protects the efforts so I agree with some of the speakers I don't think we're ever going to be there with respect to this kind of technology and but I also agree that the there should be a public process for the public to know and the city council to be involved in the decisions about introducing future technology so I'm just wondering if I guess maybe that's something that you all can talk about in the room but I do feel like I don't know why we need that I guess if we just want to say that the city council has to approve it and that there should be public input then couldn't we just say that but for now I'll give them the support and my support I'll I'll just leave it there with respect to the working group and community advisory group did you want to include or could you answer the question about how you intend to select members of the community to participate in this arena sure yeah the plan was to create an application process that we could then get out to the community and select members of the community based on right of criteria do they identify people of color how long would they live in the community and what their background is in this topic and be able to we can get a diversity of people really trying to lean on communities of color to ensure that their voices are the ones that are being reflected in this conversation but really trying to find people who will commit the time, energy and time and energy to working collaboratively with myself and the police chief and other members of the council on this item we can put the motion up on the board there's a words missing thing I'd like to address which it's police review is sort of a title of committees that review the behavior of the police and I just think we could and it was what was called our police review so I think it may be to establish practices of police because people take a police review as you know when they get into trouble and there are complaints again and there's a body that reviews so I think we can just drop something to establish a working group to review the practices somebody else if I could comment here as the seconder I think the saying police practices working group I agree there's history that goes with that term what you're talking about I am practices that's exactly what it is is that okay with the maker of the motion yes of course that's great give me one second sharing and then Vice Mayor Myers yeah I just wanted to in the interest of time I just wanted to express my support for both of these actions I think when the community is asking to understand more about what their city government is doing that's a call to action for the elected leaders to take the appropriate action and I do believe this is the appropriate starting point there could be additional actions that come from gaining more information and doing a much more intensive set of conversations with our community but I do believe this is a very good first step and I do think that what has been proposed today is appropriate for where we are right now and so I thank you for putting the materials together and proposing the process and certainly we'll be supporting both of both of the activities both of the proposals in the motion today so thank you yeah Council Member Watkins Similar thoughts as as expressed by the Vice Mayor I just had one question for clarity in regards to the Mayor's community advisory and the ad hoc were you how do you envision the interplay of the two would that be an advisory established by you that you would oversee and then inform the ad hoc or do you see them working together just for clarity in terms of the ask yeah and you know it could be that rather than it be Mayor's community advisory committee it could be the working group community advisory committee so that that group is the collection of that group is informed by the committee and myself and then we and that committee would work with us so that as we're receiving information from the broader community that we can kind of distill things down into one of our priorities for the city however the council I just for clarity in terms of just the relationship for the information in terms of how you know that information goes to the working group and so on so if you may prefer to have it as a Mayor advisory or if the ad hoc wants to be that partner with you it's totally up to you in terms of the motion maker I'm supported by I would just recommend for the sake of simplicity that you consider authorizing the Mayor to establish an ad hoc working group with input from the advisory committee I think that's probably the cleanest way to do it and I don't think that would require modification of the motion language that was placed on the screen as well helpful more methods that issue is kind of what I was thinking of also my thought was that we would be expecting that you would appoint this would be your committee you've taken a lot of initiative on this and given the intent that you've expressed I think that's great and you've said you want a committee that will be diverse in its viewpoints but united around the goal I think it's good to have a job description of what you expect of these people you know what the goal is you expect collaboration and solution oriented blah blah blah and to the extent you have an application form or something that's great I do not see this as something where we will vote and select the members for this it's your deal so just to clarify that I think being having an application form seeking a diverse and productive committee and being clear about your expectations it'll take work and commitment for the time they're doing it right and that's the intention of this I just want to make sure that the public understands that we are continuing those conversations around our surveillance policy in previous council meetings we voted to have those and we voted on a number of different items to have them recommencing on those again but just so the community is aware given that we're still in a pandemic we're trying to make sure that we are addressing that those issues are almost critical at this point in time as well councilmember Mathews I do want to make one more comment because most of my comments have been kind of technical but I do want to say they were very informed and effective in their presentation we had a huge amount of public input on this all of it I think focused on the same objective so I just want to acknowledge that I really appreciated the quality of input that we got and I absolutely appreciate the I would say the courage and leadership of our police chief and department to confront this I know there has been effort over the years at being more sensitive and improving our practices and this is just a major step so thank you mayor and police chief and all involved for that leadership thank you one thing I was wondering and this is just I'll try to make this quick but kind of trying to address some of the community's issues or some of the feedback we've heard from the community I'm wondering if in item A if I don't know this chapter it shall be unlawful for any city department to obtain or obtain access or use predictive policing technology and or based recognition technology prior to obtaining council approval by resolution based on the council's finding that the technology meets scientifically validated and peer-reviewed research protects and safeguards of civil rights and liberties and does not perpetuate bias I was also wondering if maybe there could be a just a word enter that finding that the technology and data meets scientifically validated I was just thinking that one of the biggest concerns is the data that informs these these this particular policing technology the biggest issue is that if policing itself is biased therefore then the data that's informing those models will be biased and so I was just wondering if we might be able to include some information on data that's collected that it needs to be determined that the data informing the technology is not collected in a way that's biased that's the language that you're looking for is the technology and the data that informs the technology that would just be inserted after the word technology in the second to the last line of that paragraph so would that be okay with the maker of the motion great and the seconder of the motion is that an excessive amendment and again I think that by including that data that information around that the data is not biased I think that really puts us on the track to trying to remove bias and discrimination from policing so I think it's an added benefit that is acceptable at this time Council Member Byers I Matthews aye Boulder Watkins aye Vice Mayor Myers aye and Mayor Cummings Thank you all Council Member Matthews did you have your hands up? Already Thank you Chief for joining us on this item we're going to adjourn until 6 o'clock so 45 minute break we'll come back when we come back we'll start with world communication Donna and Catherine if you are here you can turn these videos on and Martina I'm trying to it says you cannot start your video because the host has disabled this I know same with mine same with mine videos yeah I guess when I was waiting for Martina I was like we have pretty long session of the June 23rd 2020 meeting of the Sanctuary City Council I'd like to ask the clerk to please call the roll Thank you Mayor, Council Member Byers here Matthews here Brown Boulder here Watkins, Vice Mayor Myers here if you want to comment during world communications now is the time to call in instructions are on your screen world communications is an opportunity for members of the public to speak to us on items that will not be on our agenda you're interested in addressing the city council please after you call in please press star 9 on your phone to raise your hand you'll have 2 minutes to speak it's your time to speak with an announcement that you've been alluded we request that you clearly and slowly state your name before making your comments so we can accurately capture the meeting however that is not required please remember that this is the time for the council to hear from the public we are not able to engage in a dialogue with each member of the public but when we are able we will address the questions that are raised after world communications has completed you would like to comment on all communications and I'd just like to let the public know that we will not able to get your communications at that time so you know the city council to share your comments and with that I'll open it up to the first quality you're on the line good evening my name is Alex Miller and I live at 224 Villa Mar Vista in Santa Cruz I've lived there for 20 years I love Santa Cruz and one of the things I love about Santa Cruz is that we encourage recycling bin and I have a trash bin and for some reason the city of Santa Cruz keeps on taking my recycling bin and they don't return it they take it and I don't get it back and I'd like my recycling bin back I've asked the city manager who ignores me I've asked city staff who has ignored me but I like my bin back and so now I'm going to continue going to every single council meeting that you guys have until I can get my bin because it's crazy I don't have enough room so I'd like you to please follow up on this my phone number is 408-893-6119 I'd like to hear from the city manager about why you're taking my bin thank you four digits are 4241 hello can you hear me yes good evening hi my name is Madeline I wanted to point out that the 18 Santa Cruz police department operations analysis reported that 80% of total calls to the police were related to issues of house movement and 43% of calls were categorized as either check or suspicious incidents it's clear that what we need is not more policing but instead a much more robust social services and that we need a reallocation of city funds last year the police department budget settled over 30 million most of which was taken from the general fund and the numbers from the operations analysis show that this money would be much better spent handling the houselessness crisis that our city faces our goal should be to provide safe and comfortable housing for all of our houses people and to provide ample social services for our communities so yeah basically define the police thank you my name is Myles Stanford and I live in Soquel actually sent you an email Mr. Cummings recently concerning this issue I believe that we need to reallocate a lot of our funding towards preventative measures for concerns about crime and I think that it starts at a different place than just trying to put a band-aid on it after something bad has happened so I was doing some research I think the people in Eugene, Oregon have a good platform with their cahoots program and I know that city council members in San Francisco are aiming to follow that and are starting to and I think we should follow in their footsteps and maybe adapt their program to fit our specific needs as suited I think that's all I gotta say so thank you thank you hello my name is James Ewing Whitman can you hear me good evening hey good evening so unfortunately I spent about four hours in my time working on a agenda item number 38 but I had appointments and I missed my opportunity to comment I do want to say that I really thank City Clerk for getting back to me within an hour and that was a little bit after seven this morning I didn't like answer but I did appreciate that she gave me an answer so what to talk about let's see I've been a contractor in this county for 26 years and been working with the county of Santa Cruz for more than 20 years and I've had at least 500 inspections where I was the responsible party yesterday I had an inspection with the county and I don't think I've ever laughed so hard with an inspector in my life and then that inspector asked me something that was also very funny and I just said yes and I'm gonna hold confidentiality about that I have been engaging with a lot of law enforcement the last year and I am just amazed at the patience of all these men and women people are talking about defunding the police and they're saying there should be more social services there should have been better social services 300 years ago in the United States so I want to thank the police and particularly the sheriffs and the rangers who I've mostly been dealing with we're doing an outstanding job and when you come back and talk to them when you've just observed them and you compliment them and they compliment we all need to work together we are all in this together so I would love to go on about a bunch of different subjects but I'm just looking at expecting more of myself and I'm glad that I have the community involvement and I would like to know actually how many people listen to these city council and county supervisor stuff I'd like to hear those statistics so thank you very much thank you guys are doing the best job you can I'm done good evening my name is Amy Leibachuk I've been a resident in Santa Cruz for nine years and I work as a social worker with the county I wanted to speak about chief mill's op-ed in the Santa Cruz Sentinel recently on June 17th he recently spoke with a sergeant about defunding the police and they said if someone could take the homeless issues entirely away from us and stop us from responding to mental health calls please take the money chief mill's went on to say the sad reality is that no one else has stepped up as the first responder to these issues and he put the responsibility on the county while I certainly encourage city and county collaboration given that the 2019 homeless point in time count found that 55% of people experiencing homelessness in the county reside in the city of Santa Cruz I would argue it's very much our problem to solve as a community we rely on police to respond to all non-medical targeted crises we expect police officers to be part conflict resolution specialist part social worker, part mental health professional and part public safety officer these are unfair and unrealistic expectations what if we had a 24-7 mobile crisis intervention team as an alternative to police intervention this team could respond and assist to an individual having a domestic disturbance, sorry a family having a domestic disturbance, an individual having a mental health crisis disorder or a person who needs a safe place to sleep as another community member mentioned earlier Eugene Springfield metro area in Oregon implemented the CAHOOTS program also known as the crisis assistance helping out in the streets program and in the city of Eugene they found that they were able to divert approximately 20% of all 911 calls to the CAHOOTS program and saved an estimated $15 million per year to the Santa Cruz police department and reallocate these funds to expand mental health substance abuse and harm reduction services including establishing a 24-7 mobile crisis team thank you Hi, can you hear me? I'm a resident Santa Cruz I've been living here for six years now and I'm calling again to like a rails to support the defund the police movement I believe that one of the things that needs to be made really clear is just about simply let's get rid of police but it's about reinvesting that money in social services and mental health in various investments in our community that could lead to an actual reduction in crime and in particular we need to focus on the fact that police are not people who are best suited to deal with the calls that they receive as the last person saying the majority of those calls are to deal with the homeless population in Santa Cruz which is as she said a large portion of our population and we would be better served by having people who are best suited to work with those and police officers are extremely expensive with all the equipment and so forth that money could be better used towards actually providing homeless for people, for providing job training for providing crisis intervention drug intervention and so forth and I would urge you to take massive and significant steps in this year's budget towards reallocating that money away from our police department and towards the services that will actually help our community to move forward thank you can everyone hear me hi my name is Keana Mose I was born in Santa Cruz I've been a member of this community since 1991 I am here to ask the city council to defund the police as the first step towards abolishing the police in our community I was born in this town and I've seen first hand the abuses of our residents at the hands of the Santa Cruz police department it is not just what we ask them to respond to it is the way in which they are part of an organization that exhibits extreme racism in the way that they police our communities they engage in political retribution and surveillance of some of our community members and the criminalization of homelessness has targeted our most vulnerable community members I've witnessed the targeting, beating and incarceration of family members as they engaged in activism that supported the health and wellness of our community that the community right now does not invest in through municipal funds I have lived through illegal surveillance and spying by plainclothes officers of the Santa Cruz police department in my own home in 2005 in my community we know not to call the police in any kind of emergency because of all of the times we've witnessed our family members and community members assaulted, harassed, dismissed and incarcerated by officers who are not committed to the health and wellness of our town and they are engaged in infrastructures that are predicated on great supremacy I would like to demand that in this pandemic that we are experiencing when we understand we are facing serious budget reductions not just within city council but all of our institutions including the University of California in Santa Cruz that we seriously consider removing the funds that we provide to police officers that support the racist behavior that incarcerates our most vulnerable populations and reallocate them I don't know if this is fair do I get to speak twice? I'd love to I apologize I'm off I apologize yes hello my name is Lori Palmer I live in Santa Cruz and I'm also calling to support defunding the SCPD and I want to emphasize that this means acknowledging that the police as an institution comes out of slave patrols and night watches it's a deeply structured white supremacist and racist history that we have to unravel before we can move forward together and so defunding the SCPD means transferring money as many people have already said from paying police to do jobs they aren't trained to do and in fact as several people said do not want to do to other services in particular to support unhoused people who don't have places to live, who don't have healthcare, who are suffering from disease and mental illness, who struggle with substance abuse and who don't have jobs or other tools to help them out of poverty defunding the SCPD also means collaborating in creative ways with community members on participatory budgeting measures which means opening up the process to other people in the community who will have really good ideas for how to use that transferred funds. So I would support not only switching the money but also inviting people to help come up with creative ways to reallocate that funds. Thank you. Here. I would like to thank you for taking comment. Thank you for being here and stopping us from responding to mental health calls. Please take the money. From the massive demand I've seen to defund the police I would say we hear you. Also, during a meeting with the city manager Martin Bernal and mayor Justin Cummings hosted by UCSE's NAACP Bernal repeatedly stated that police officers did not sign up to answer calls and the human services department. I know these are county level departments. I demand you work together to meet our city's needs, which could mean giving the money to county or creating a new department in the city. You've stated a problem. People are giving a solution. Please listen. What's the additional time for speakers and organization, the Democratic Socialists of America? I did not receive your communication in time, so I'm sorry, but hopefully next time we'll get that, but for now you can have two minutes. Okay, so the Democratic Socialists of America enthusiastically joins the call to defund the police that is resonating with such force around the country in the wake of the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless others. Led by people of color, many of whom have been organizing around this issue for decades, the call for defunding is, at its heart, about reimagining our entire society and beginning the hard work of undoing centuries of white supremacy. It is about following the lead of radical black thinkers like Angela Davis and Ruth Wilson Gilmour and recognizing that throughout these centuries, police forces have been the central institution propping up a system that values white property over black lives. While Santa Cruz is patting itself on the back for having, quote unquote, good police officers and contemplating extremely mild reforms, other cities across the country are taking this movement much more seriously, realizing that addressing deep structural racism will in fact require deep structural changes, not just modified policies on when police officers are permitted to escalate to deadly force. Defunding is the first crucial step towards those structural changes. Defunding is about divesting from an approach based on and reinvesting in communities of color and in social equality. While abolition is our goal, defunding is a concrete action that can be taken now. Defunding is the first step towards the democratic reappraisal of all of our city's priorities. And it is a step that other cities are already taking. Defunding involves redistributing funds to more effective and less violent forms of public safety. Santa Cruz spends $30 million a year on policing, nearly a third of our general fund and the largest single expenditure. For this money, we get an armed force that is overwhelmingly asked to address nonviolent property crime, a force that spends over 80% of its time dealing with the house with population, meaning that we deliberately aim our cops squarely at the most racially diverse segments of our city. Thank you. You're out there, but I'm trying to be, trying to give everybody a little more time. All right, next speaker. Thank you. This is Intervention Team. Hello everyone, my name is Brian Macaron and I would like to speak as a city resident and longstanding manager of a downtown local business on Pacific Avenue. I often see individuals experiencing mental health emergencies in the downtown area. I've seen on a number of occasions, SEPD officers showing up in groups standing around and over individuals who are experiencing a crisis. My question is, do these officers have education and expertise to administer proper care? If so, what are these education requirements for our city law enforcement officers? Lastly, are guns necessary to carry out proper care for individuals having mental health emergency? Let's institute a 24 seven crisis intervention team as an alternative to police intervention. Thank you. Thank you. Hello, my name is Cappy Israel. I lived here 25 years. I've worked in a mental health facility and a psychotic break was a periodic event that would happen to somebody and not ever was anybody killed as a result of it. They had very particular ways of handling that situation. I feel that there are people around right in Santa Cruz who have developed very practical ways of dealing with the unhoused people dealing with storage, with cleaning, et cetera, taking a tent and a blanket away from someone who owns nothing but a tent and a blanket. Seems like a useless proposition and heartless and unethical. So I'm with the other people that the police don't want to deal with the homeless and why should they? They don't have the training. They don't have the education. They don't have a humanistic education that would let them know about the history of people. So I think that it would be better to put this very difficult problem in the hands of people who know a little bit more about it. And I'm acknowledging it's a very difficult problem. It begins at the national level but we have to pick it up at the local level. So it is difficult in that way. We didn't cause the problem but we have to solve it. I have one other request of the city council and that would be in Berkeley and in other places there is barbage pickup and I feel that that would be very useful. Thank you. Mayor Cummings, you're muted. Oh, next speaker, you're on the line. Hello, my name's Adam. I'm calling in today because last time, two weeks ago I called in and I asked you to agendize reviewing or reducing police funding and I noticed that you did not do that. So I'm calling to ask you again. I've brought a little visual aid. I don't know if anybody can see my icon but it's a chart from the New York Times that they published in an article on Friday about how police spend their time. They surveyed three different jurisdictions and they found broadly similar results for each. The police only spend about 4% of their time doing anything to do with violent crime and nowhere did they find the police spending more than 35% of their time dealing with any crime related activity whatsoever. So I suspect that things are very similar here in Santa Cruz, I don't have actual numbers for Santa Cruz, I don't know if the city tracks that but the vast majority of what the police do really could be done by other parts of the city bureaucracies that are not really trained in violence and empowered to fight and chill citizens. So I would ask that you consider doing that and I'd ask you to agendize forming a subcommittee or doing something, some kind of action on changing around our police and reducing their funding and hopefully eventually eliminating as much as possible of them and giving their responsibilities and personnel to other city departments. Thank you. Thank you. My name is Rachel Mendelson. I am calling because I would also like to add my voice to all the people asking that we do for the police and I especially would like to see that as the first step to abolishing and replacing the police system entirely. I especially want to address the idea that we can reform the police. I think that there is so much evidence that more training doesn't work. There are studies that show inclusive bias training does not reduce incidences of brutality against people of color. Minneapolis had implemented all kinds of police reforms before all of this started. After Ferguson, all of the police offices started wearing body cameras and time and time again, we just see accounts where they were supposedly dislodged or not turned on by accident or we just get graphic videos of police violence with no prevention and no accountability. There's so much evidence that vulnerable people don't trust police and they do not call police for help out of fear for their own safety and I don't think any amount of increased police training will fix this. I would also like to see a new system of crisis intervention that is actually trusted by the community and for that to happen, I think it needs to be entirely separate from the police force and needs to have unarmed people trained in mental health crisis addiction and other problems that don't require violence. Thank you. Grace Edwards and I recently moved to Santa Cruz from Los Angeles. Over the last few weeks, I've seen an attitude towards protests here in Santa Cruz that mischaracterizes the demands deep on the police is the work of white college kids in order to dismiss them outright. In the last week in LA, black leaders from Black Lives Matter LA sat in front of the city council to present a people's budget that would invest funding from the police and reinvest in communities. These are the demands that are being made across the nation from LA to Minneapolis and it can't be ignored here in Santa Cruz. If we fail to meet this moment and be fund, disarmed and eventually dismantled the Santa Cruz Police Department because of a false narrative that Santa Cruz is somehow different, we are creating an economic and social condition that continues to make Santa Cruz inhospitable to many black and indigenous people who are affected by racialized cycles of poverty. Racism and classism are based in institutions policing. Cannot say that a fair and equal system with 28% of our city funds are going toward the criminalization of poverty. Thank you. Thank you. Hi, I'm Lane Edwards. I live in Santa Cruz County and I'm calling because I'd like to echo the demands that have been made for decades by black activists nationally and locally. For example, during the forum on defunding the police held by the UCSC NAACP as well as at the rally on June 10th and calling the city council to defund the police department. Well, many would like to pretend that these demands are not relevant locally. They very much are. As a privileged and house-white person in Santa Cruz, I live in an unclear existence. I've never been approached by the police. They do not patrol my neighborhoods or ticket my existence. But there are a number of the Santa Cruz community that are policed daily. They're experienced criminalizing ticketed, subjecting to campsites and kept under constant surveillance. The unhoused population faces the front of this violence. The city of Santa Cruz is only 2% black and 0.4% Native American. Well, according to the homeless census Santa Cruz's homeless population is 8% black and 10% Native. Black and indigenous people living in poverty are criminalized daily in the city. According to policescorecard.org, 6% of the people arrested by the SCPD are black. There are many, here's some more facts about the SCPD from the policescorecard by vision zero. They have a higher misdemeanor, arrest rates in 98% of the PDs in California and solved fewer percentage of homicides than 78% of departments. Additionally, farmer homicides with Latinx victims were unsolved compared to those with white victims. Only 4% of arrests were from violent crimes. Why does the city of Santa Cruz devote a greater proportion of its budget to policing than 63% of departments in the state? These numbers are damning. Who does the Santa Cruz police department protect? I agree with all the calls of my community members to divest from the police and reinvest in the community. They want to specifically state that law and make seem like an appealing solution to them funding other systems of care without defunding the police would not be enough. Our bloated police department is an active agent apartment community and defunding, defunding, and eventually disbanding the department is the only solution. I'm calling on the city council to defund the SCPD by 50%. Stop all new hires to mount early retirement and develop an ongoing strategy to shift funding away from policing and to prevent children from such as affordable housing, economic development services and housing security at harm reduction mental health. Thank you. Okay, next speaker, and I will just let you know that you're going to be our last speaker of the evening. So those of you weren't able to get to for all communication this evening, please send in your comments and send in your requests to the city council so that we can address this at another point in time. And so the person who's on the line, you'll be our last speaker. Hey, thanks for hearing me. Yes, good evening. Thanks for getting my call today. My name's Devin. I'm a resident of Santa Cruz. And you're coming to need to disagree with something you suggested earlier, which is that the subject of defunding the police is somehow separate from the nationwide uprising against police violence towards people of color. It feels like you think that the residents of Santa Cruz asking for change or just opportunists trying to capitalize off of the national conversation. The national conversation is about police brutality. If you want to end racism, you need to address systemic racism. Police across the country have institutionalized racism. This is an anti-racist movement. I like this quote from Angela David, which is that there's an unbroken line of police violence in the US that takes us all the way back to the days of slavery. I'll say that I am a person of color and there are so many other people of color like me who have been protesting and calling into these city council meetings and sending you emails and asking, why don't we have better services for the homeless in our community? Why do we continue to criminalize social problems? What am I supposed to make out when I find that nearly 80% of calls to SCPD are homeless related, who are disproportionately people of color, and nearly 90% of crime in Santa Cruz is nonviolent property crime, yet police patrol alone takes up a sixth of the city's full budget. We're spending nearly a third of our budget on SCPD, their own internal focus groups say that they don't have the tools and resources to deal with our issues. You can look this all up in their operations analysis on the SCPD website, here are some direct quotes. Officers have no tools or resources to deal with homeless population. No services in county to service the homeless. Officers are doing useless work that doesn't go anywhere. Heavy workload results in mistakes and reports and evidence booking. There are no guidelines for responses to incidents. And there's more of them. We are wasting money. We need to stop criminalizing social issues and start solving them. We have an opportunity to invest in food, housing, healthcare, education, and so much more. If we want real sustainable transformational change, we have an actual opportunity right now. Please give funds to the police. Thank you. At this point in time, we're going to be moving on to our evening item. And I just want to let members of the public know that our budget discussions will be occurring next week. So they were supposed to occur tonight. However, we were looking at a 20 hour plus meeting. And so we had to create a special meeting for July 2nd. And that's when the city's budget will be discussed. So next item on our agenda. Item number one of general business is the mixed youth downtown library project. For members of the public or streaming this meeting, if this isn't an item that you would like to comment on, how is the time to call in to the number on your screen? The order of today's item will be a presentation by staff and council members brought that item forward, followed by questions from council. We will then take public comment and then return to council for action and deliberation. And so with that, we have myself, Amanda Rattala, Susan Nemitz, our library director, council members Brown and Vice-Matter Myers, who will lead the presentation this evening. Mayor. Yes. I would like to announce as I did this afternoon that I have a conflict of interest on this. And so I will be leaving this meeting completely. I will neither participate nor vote in this item. Thank you. Thank you. So I don't know if Amanda's on, if you may wanna, if Amanda's there. Hi, Mayor. I am here. Can you see my screen? Yeah. Great. All right, so I can, I'll kick us off this evening. A year ago or more there was a desire from the community to have more information and a broader discussion on what the city could get out of the measure as the library funds for renovation of our current library. City council formed a subcommittee to evaluate what we could get in terms of a remodeled library with the given funds that we currently have. After receiving reports from Jason Architect, there was a desire to see what we could also get with the same funds in a mixed use project. Those, both of those evaluations of projects were conducted the first by Jason Architect, the second by group four architect group. And the options before us were a renovation of the current existing library or a mixed use project consisting of a library with low income housing, parking, one commercial space for total, and one commercial space for total fitness. After a year of input from architects, the community, the subcommittee has unanimously recommended for option D for council approval. And tonight's presentation will provide the public with information on how we landed to this decision. With that, I'll turn it over to our city staff. Great, thank you so much, Mayor. This is Amanda Rotella, principal management analyst with the Economic Development Department. And my portion of the presentation is to walk us through, there we go, the process that our subcommittee members went through. So in May 2019, May of last year, the council voted to hold on the project and further explore and investigate the options for the downtown library project. And so over the course of the year, the subcommittee has been incredibly busy. And I have had the honor of staffing this process and working closely with the subcommittee members to really develop this process. And the goals for our subcommittee process has been to create opportunities for all voices on all sides of the issue to participate, to be as responsive as we can and to be transparent and additionally to get as much information out to the community about the project and the options and do some additional sort of studies and assessments. And this process really built off of really years and years of prep that has gone in, starting with the 2013 library facilities master plan project, all the efforts that went into passing measure F during the 2016 election, moving into 2017 when the council created the downtown library advisory committee, which is a group of volunteer community members who went in to look at both the programmatic needs that we need from the library as well as the various options given our budget. Then the 2018 campaign where we engaged with a lot of the downtown stakeholders and then now moving into this process. And so this is just sort of a little snapshot of what this process has looked like. We developed a project webpage, www.cityofsandcruise.com, downtown library and we've had over 2000 views of that page over the course of this year. The subcommittee members held office hours. There was a five hour stretch where they were sitting and meeting one-on-one with community stakeholder groups which I really credit them with doing. We had community meetings and presentations from architect groups and also put out a survey and had over 400 respondents just in the course of a week when that survey was open. So moving on, just a quick snapshot of the subcommittee website. This website sort of details all of the meetings. There are video and audio recaps and all of the reports and past council meetings have all been cataloged here. So really what the goal is making sure that information was easily accessible and easy to find. And so I created this webpage. And a big piece of this has been about stakeholder and community engagement. And as you can see, we, this list here, the subcommittee kind of met with over 30 stakeholder groups over the course of this process either in those one-on-one office hour time slots, people who attended meetings and were invited as participants on various topic areas as well as input at some of our presentation meetings that we've had from the architect team. And really, I feel like the quote that keeps coming up during this process was, we come to better solutions when people participate. And I think we were all very excited by the amount of diversity in the groups. You can see on this list, there's really just a huge number of people that are represented by these groups and just across a wide variety of interests. And so that was the really exciting part of the process. And then the final piece here is the cost assessments. So the subcommittee members did two partner cost assessments. The first one was done by Jason architecture. They did an assessment of the renovation project and that happened in the fall. And then the mixed-use cost assessments sort of the partner comparison piece was completed by Group for Architecture early this year. And both of these architecture firms were hired on to answer the question, what can we do with the library, with the budget, with the money that we have, the $27 million? And so both of them were, that was their scope was to answer for that question. Now, the renovation cost assessment also, they also looked at the current library facilities and did some assessments of the existing building and provided sort of their take on the current conditions and what would need to be renovated or replaced or built out. So that was an additional part of their scope. And then for the mixed-use cost assessment, Groups for Architecture also looked at the two other components, the housing and parking components. And while they didn't design for those, they were looking at how all the pieces could fit together. And both of these reports are available, again, at the Subcommittee's webpage, www.SantaCruise.com plus downtown library. So you can dive into those and see sort of the full breakdown of what the floor plans look like, some renderings, which are, again, just sort of preliminary sort of conversation starters and all of that information is on the website. And with that, I will hand it over to our library director, Susan Nimitz. Can you hear me now? I'm Susan Nimitz. I'm the Santa Cruz Public Library Director. And we're gonna get into the weeds a little bit. One of the things that the subcommittee really wanted to look at was what were the programmatic needs of the library? In 2017, the Downtown Library Advisory Commission consulted with almost 2,500 people about what we needed in our new library. Some main themes came through. We wanted to maintain the collection size. We wanted a larger, dedicated children's space. We wanted a team area where teams are comfortable in using the library. We wanted abundance, comfortable seating, program room, small study rooms and small group rooms, adult literacy spaces, spaces for local history and genealogy. All together, the committee identified the need for about 44,000 square feet to meet our programmatic goals. Now I'll have to say that both the architectural studies do not contemplate a 44,000 square foot building. We have a limit of $27 million through Measure S. Each of the options provide different space levels. If you'll go to the next slide, Amanda, in the end, the IIS Library Director in recommending the multi-use project. And I just wanted to talk a little bit about why. The big reason is that the multi-use option gives us 5,000 square feet more than the remodel. And the remodel is contemplating about 30,000 square feet down from the 42,000 square feet we currently have. The multi-use contemplates about 35,000 square feet. And with that space, we are able to achieve a lot of our programmatic goals. First and foremost, it would protect the size of our collection. The remodel actually would require us to reduce our collection size pretty dramatically. Would it be able to do a full line of adult services, including genealogy, local history, and adult literacy? We would be able to provide a space for teens in the libraries. What's interesting about option D is it really allows for space zoning, where we can have different audiences in different parts of the library and potentially have separate entrances. For example, to something like the children's room. It could reduce our maintenance costs. We would have no costs for parking, parking maintenance. It would reduce our utility costs. It would reduce our security costs. And it would reduce our landscaping costs. It provides infrastructure we desperately need, like appropriate bathrooms, because we provide bathroom services to a lot of people in our community. It gives us the capacity to be greener. For example, allowing us to do solar panels. But I think one of the greatest opportunities through the multi-use facility is it allows the library to be open for the two years that it will take to construct the library building itself. If you could go to the next slide. I just wanna say in the multi-use options, we looked at both option C and D. And I actually really liked option D. It provides incredible street frontage along Cedar Street. It also allows the ramp to be the, I'm sorry, it's a Minnesota thing. The parking garage would be actually a separate entity next to the library and the housing. And it would not be within, on top of the library and housing that you see an option C. With that, I would like to go to the next slide. And I think it's Donna that's gonna talk about community benefits. It starts at Sandy. It's Justin, Mayor Humming. Oh, I'm sorry, Justin. So in addition to, so in order to get to this decision, we also went through an evaluation process evaluating the various options that we had in front of us. And the committee landed not only on option D because of the services that it would provide and the goals that it would meet in terms of the library and the services, but also option D provided much more community benefits. So it increased affordable housing, increases affordable housing in the downtown. And affordable housing is one of the goals. Increasing affordable housing in the city of Santa Cruz is one of our goals and what many people have been saying to us today as it relates to defunding. I think one of the things that people are saying is we need more affordable housing. So this project would provide at a minimum 50 units of low income housing, increases shared parking in the parking district. So there are a number of lots that came to our attention. They'll be coming offline and some of that parking can be consolidated in this one spot. It supports visitors to the downtown, increased durability and lifespan as opposed to the renovation. It does that we did note that it does have impacts to the farmers market and the antique fair. However, there is a plan to move the farmers market to a permanent location in the city. And so that was also taken into consideration. It supports public art in the building itself. So there's an opportunity for it to display local artists within the building. It's close to the Civic Center, although it's not directly across from the Civic Center. We do understand that that was some concern that was raised, but it is. Within walking distance of our Civic Center and it's proximity to businesses. So being in the downtown, it would provide a lot of support to businesses in the downtown area. And I'm not sure who's up on the next slide. Are we on, I think there's a little bit more on the goals before I do the evaluation process. But I can do this one if you want. Go ahead. All right, I gotta get back to it. And I can't read it on this screen. So now I have it on their screen that. Okay, so are we on 11? Amanda, are you there? Sorry. No problem, we're on number 10, five, number 10. We still are on 10. Okay, just wanted to make sure because I see Justin's name under this one, but I'll do it. In terms of the, some of the, sorry, I wasn't prepared for this one. I'm prepared for the next one. So we did talk about how this project could really meet the many of the city's goals and also intersect with some of our other plans that we've developed as a city. So our climate action plan, obviously is one of them. I'll just, you can read them, but the downtown plan, I think, which calls for additional affordable housing and the mixed use project model. I think that it's really important that we think about also the work that came before. So for us, it was very important to do that. So we looked at the library facilities master plan as well. We looked at the housing blueprint recommendations and those were clearly with respect to affordable housing and leveraging resources for affordable housing on public lots, on city-owned lots and it was a part of that. It also, and the general plan, so we wanna make sure that we're in compliance there, but then it also does meet some of the parking districts longer-term operational goals, which has been, I think, an issue for quite a long time with public works and our parking kind of shifts in our parking program and moving to this model of shared parking model. So I think overall, I'll just sum up to say this is, this will be creating and re-investing in our community spaces with a new modern library, obviously consolidating surface parking lots, which I mentioned for higher uses and also implementing the council strategic plan of entitling new workforce and affordable housing units in the downtown. That is, for me, one of the key components. And so that is the rest of the goals. Do you wanna move on Amanda, to the evaluation process? Thanks. Okay, now I have to look at the one where I can read. I'm sorry. My computer just doesn't let me look at these things. So I guess I'll just say that for me, I wanna start by saying this process was very rigorous and really involved. I was so pleased to be a part of it. It really was an effort that took a lot of work on the part of staff. We had architects and many other experts come in and talk with us. We received feedback from stakeholder groups, kind of over the course of the process, as well as at our June 2nd meeting, where we got input about the evaluation matrix itself. So these were kind of the list, this is the list of the criteria that we use for evaluating. It's a little bit challenging or it was, I'll just say a little bit challenging to sort through how we would characterize each of these criteria. And we really tried to take the input that we received both at our June 2nd meeting and also in feedback we received from the community via an online survey. And that's included in the agenda packet. So you've all seen that, hopefully. And so you can kind of see, I won't go through the rankings of the various criteria, but you can kind of see through our process where we came out on the criteria that were listed here and where each of the projects stood. And we did renovation, and then option C and D because those were sort of different. There were some minor differences there with respect to the criteria. So I think I'll leave it there. Yeah, just really want to reiterate the quality of the process. I learned a lot, I think everybody was really dedicated to getting us to a decision about getting the best library we can get. I think everybody's committed to that. And so I'll leave it there and I'm happy to answer questions about, or any of us I suppose, about the evaluation matrix later. And I think Justin and I are supposed to tag team, possibly the next two slides. So Justin, you can add in here as you see fit. So our process, as everyone can see, was very rigorous as Council Member Brown said. I think also of note was that we did bring in a number of experts as well to help us understand the different options and some of the questions we had. We had a municipal finance expert come in, for the housing expertise we brought in to understand opportunities as well as how to put these projects together specifically if we went with the mixed use projects that we brought in a lot of programmatic expertise that way, even that we're outside of our immediate city staff. And what we really did after we did our evaluation was really took the time to think through the project again and really think through what are the kinds of things that we may want to change or adapt about the project that was originally recommended in 2018. You see our subcommittee recommendation here. This is also was in the agenda report. And just a couple of things of note that we did specifically want to call out in the recommendation, which wasn't in some of the work that was done previously. Most notably, we felt it was important to set a minimum amount of low income dwelling units that we wanted to see in the affordable housing component of the project. So you'll see in our recommendation number two that we call that out specifically. So we are putting a sort of design standard or a design expectation out there. Additionally, we have reduced the parking garage to a restriction with no more than 400 spaces for that garage. In looking at everything, the actual sort of garage parking, excuse me, garage, library, housing, mixed use item that was sort of supported by the original approval by council had not really fully ever been designed. And so, but really reacting to the concerns of the community about all of the goals previously discussed by council member Browne, we felt it was important to identify the 400 parking spaces as sort of the goal to meet for the garage itself. And then finally, we fell through a lot of the community comments and a lot of the office hours and all the other communications we had with folks that we wanted to be consistent with the existing heights in that immediate area. And so we are also recommending that the total height of the building not exceed the height of the University Town Center development. And if that isn't possible, based on all these various objectives that we are trying to achieve, especially notably the affordability of units that the 1010 Pacific would be the standard that we would design to. So those are some of the major recommendations that sort of changed sort of the outcome of what the building would become. And I'll go ahead and hand it off to Mayor Cummings for the final recommendations as part of our presentation. So is there one more slide? Yeah, I'll reiterate to the amount of time that we spent engaging with members of the community to really understand what the community wanted to add. Obviously between the two options, there's the weighing of what services we could provide in the library and then also considering the other additional needs that people in the community really want. And I think that kind of speaks to what Sandy discussed earlier and how this meets a number of our general plan goals and the goals of many plans we have here in the city. And personally, when I first was even campaigning and heard about a six-story parking garage on top of the library, I wasn't happy with that. But I think that this, and I know that regardless of what outcome happens tonight, that there's still gonna be things that people don't like about either option. But this option definitely seemed to meet a lot of the needs within the community. There were a lot of concessions that were made. And it seems like this might be the option that could have the, you know, the... It's not, we're never gonna come to a perfect solution, but this one at least meets a lot of the needs of the community. And so we're gonna, the second part of our recommendation is to authorize staff to proceed with the selection of an owner's representative to manage overall project implementation and a competitive RPRQ process for selection of the design-built project team. We're gonna direct staff to work with the selected owners, representative and design-built team to initiate the community outreach process on project design based off preliminary option D concept delivered by group four and to return to council with the preliminary project design options for consideration. Prior to the start of construction of the mixed-use project, we'll initiate a public process to consider reuse options of the current library sites, including affordable housing, community commons and other public uses. So this really tries to get to some of the other options that were raised by members of the community. Direct staff to provide a report to city council at the earliest possible time, but no later than three months containing the detailed financial information regarding each component of the mixed-use project, a work program and timeline for implementing the affordable housing units, library and parking garage to include a public engagement process, generate the schematics showing the integration of the library, housing, parking and commercial use components. And then number six, direct staff to re-engage with the farmers market and move forward with council direction from June 12, 2018 to execute the agreement to develop a design for current downtown farmers market on parking lot seven, located at the corner of Cat's Heart and Front Street. And if I could have the next slide, we will go ahead and close out the presentation so that we can answer questions from our colleagues and hear from the community. So I just wanted to, on behalf of the subcommittee, I want to thank everyone that has gotten up here to this point tonight. Specifically, I want to recognize our library director, Susan Nimitz and the library staff who have been just incredibly helpful during this whole time on top of a lot of other things going on, as we all know. So thank you, Susan, and your staff for all your work. Our economic development staff person, Amanda Rotell, has been amazing. She has worked really hard to make sure that the community input has been well-structured and valued and presented to us immediately and has really just done a stellar job of being the staff for this process. I want to recognize my colleague, Mayor Cummings and Council Member Brown. I really enjoyed working with you on this important project for our community. And I believe we really all each brought perspective to the table and we're very engaged and wanting to hear from each other. And I just think we, I just want to personally thank you for the process. I think it was really great. Our public work staff was instrumental in helping us understand some of the opportunities around looking at both sides as well as location of the parking garage. And I also want to just recognize all the community groups and individuals who have taken the time to contact us, come to a meeting and engage in this process so that we could come to a conclusion that is based on significant information that we have made available to the community. And that was really our goal at the beginning was to really try to answer those questions that people didn't feel like they had the information for. We also had excellent consultants in municipal finance and library design that helped us. And then finally, I want to recognize the members of the Downtown Library Advisory Committee and their continued involvement as individuals to help us understand the broader value of libraries to communities. And I can't close this out without really reflecting on my experience when I went to the opening of the Fulton Library, the new Fulton Library in February. And it was an amazing day. And there was kids that were 20 deep waiting for the doors of this library to open up. And it was something that I think we hadn't seen in a long time in terms of the celebration of the civic building. And Scott Valley had done their work a few years earlier, but really exciting to see the community really wanting to use this new brand new library facility. And if you haven't been up there, it's a place that you really wanna go see when the libraries do reopen. It's got amazing, beautiful art in the building. There's chairs that resemble birds nests for kids to climb into. There's a really neat little cozy fireplace for reading. And then a wonderful outdoor patio with giant rocking chairs that people can sit in and read. And that's on top of all the thousands of books and resources that the community gets to enjoy there. To top it all off, there's also hand-blown glass butterflies hanging from the roof and that just makes the whole space feel really magical. And I think that Selton is one of many of these libraries that we're all engaged in right now as a community and we've chosen to renovate and rejuvenate and rebuild and construct new brand new libraries in our community. So the other people we need to thank is ourselves, the voters, because we've passed Measure F and it is one of the largest investments into the families and citizens of Santa Cruz County. So I wanna recognize the voters and what we've done. Really, this has come down to really recognizing that we couldn't divorce the library decision without really understanding the impact that it provides for a whole downtown. And which is really starting to change from not just the place to work, but actually a place to live. And with this decision, the council is really being strategic and accomplishing multiple things with a single project. We're gonna get a vibrant library. We're gonna have an anchor tenant for downtown because libraries have been shown throughout the world to become quite a draw for visitors from all over the world. And I would anticipate that we, since we have visitors from all over the world, this library will do the same thing. While those visitors are there, they're also gonna shop and eat and do other things in our downtown. So this is a really anchor project for our downtown. We're gonna consolidate our parking instead of a single surface lot throughout the downtown. We're gonna stack a few on top of each other and we're going to have a more efficient use of our urban core by doing that. We're also gonna find a permanent home for our farmers market, which has been a desire for that long-term and well-loved to co-organization and feature in our downtown. And I just wanna recognize that really, this is a culmination of years of planning, community engagement and thoughtful consideration. And I think it's just an exciting moment that the council gets to take action on this tonight. And I look forward to creating a library and a housing project. We can all be proud of them. So thank you for everyone that participated in this and we'll turn it over to Dr. Mayor Cummings and the rest of the process. Thank you. Thank you, Paul. And at this time, I would like to see if there's any questions from the other council members, council members or buyers. It's referred to as a mixed use project, but what is before us, I think is just the library. And we haven't approved the garage yet and we haven't approved the housing yet, yet the conditions speak to those. So does that, in fact, approve the garage and does it, in fact, approve the, so I'm good. I thought maybe I've missed something, but usually you have a mixed use project and you have all three of the components and you look at them together. First thing I looked at when I went to look at the drawings, the beautiful book on the library and it never showed the parking garage on top of it. Now I hear it's not on top of it's beside it, but this just hit me tonight when I was looking back at that beautiful, that wonderful display of the options and looking at it. So it just confuses me that we're approving all this, but none of the other two components have even come for the city council's approval. And it's a big deal. Most, so many of the letters refer to the garage. I mean, building a garage is a very controversial and a huge, big deal. And I'm just one of the conditions in fact to me just as well, we approved it, something I don't know. So maybe I don't know who can answer that. This question about planning, city planning and downtown planning without really anything in front of us to approve it. So if you want to respond? I mean, I'm happy to hear from my colleagues. I can take a stab at that council member buyer. As you can see, the recommendation is what we have brought forward is really the recommendation for it to be a design build process that would basically identify those three components. So it would be a mixed use building that would include the library, the 50 low income, minimum of 50 low income dwelling affordable housing units and then a parking garage that would be limited to 400 spaces. And then all of that under the direction to achieve compatible building heights with the preferred building heights at the town center. So we... I understand that. Yeah. Right. Our recommendation is to basically move forward with a mixed use project, which would then be designed following the solicitation of a qualified status consultant. And I'm happy to have our economic development staff jump in if needed. Or Tony, I don't know how to comment, is city manager. Yeah, I can help here. So what you're doing this evening is approving it conceptually, the mixed use project. And then that initiates the process of the design. There'll be environmental review. There'll be the land use process. And there'll be a number of decisions that come back to you as well as contracts for services, architectural services. So the whole series of decisions and actions that the council will have to take in the future. This is just moving forward with the initial phases of it so that we can begin that process of hiring the architects and the various consultants that we need in order to get, take it from a concept to design that the council can then consider. Then you'll have also a set of the plans that then we can put out to bed. We also have to look at the financing side of it and how to do that, just the housing component. So all of the things we've put together and brought forward to you. I don't know if Bonnie wants to sort of add to that. But today it's conceptually of designing and moving forward with a project that includes these elements to a library, parking structure, and a housing element to it. Oh, that's a huge help. Thanks, Martine. And I think from what the words you use, the other two components will go through rigorous environmental review and design and public hearings and et cetera. Yes, it'll come back together. It will be one project with different elements. But yes, it'll all come back to you. That's very helpful. Thank you. I think we're clarifying maybe for the public. The images that are on the screen right now, these are schematics that were developed when we were doing the analysis. The actual building is yet to be designed and it would include as suggested in our motion or in our recommendation that a robust community engagement process would be key to that and with various aspects discussed during that period of time. And I would add that there's also associated decisions that'll come back to you around the farmers market and the other portions of the recommendations here. So those also will require future actions to budget for that, to move forward with design, for example, as well as the vacated building and the future use of that building. This is Amanda, pre-flow management analyst. One more contextual piece. We did a number of study sessions back in 2018, one specifically on the parking and another specifically on housing and then a third one, I believe, on the larger downtown picture. And I think as a council member, Meyers or vice mayor Meyers said sort of spoken to, there was a lot of unanswered questions specifically about the library, which is why we really dove in and looked at these two options. But a lot of that conversation happened sort of in the build-up to the September 11, 2018 decision. So just a little more context there as well. Thank you. And also just to clarify a little bit more, while it's a conceptual project that you're proving, there are some criteria that you are defining here. Those are under item one and you see A, B, C and D. So those are sort of parameters that you place around the corner. With respect to the housing and the number of units, with respect to the parking and the parking, with respect to height, and with respect to how the library is located. So those are, again, while it's conceptual, you also have created some parameters around the project. One other question if I may, mayor. There's some reference that the money has to be spent from the bond measure. And these planning, these other two components are certainly gonna take a couple years, I would think, maybe a year. Are we okay on that? I can answer that. Yeah, I have you. It's yes, yes, yes we are. We have knowing that the project that we have a conceptual approval, we can develop the financing plan and then issue bonds accordingly. We can begin to use them per the bond requirements and also to leverage them in the best possible way. So we should be absolutely okay with the financing and the bond measure. Great, because I know that has been brought up several times. I think delaying it for a long, long time would be problematic, but at this point I think we're okay. That's one, and one thing to that, which I think is the public is aware, because there was a lot of concern over the library getting buried under a parking garage, whether there's gonna be market rate. And I think that by kind of moving this conceptual design forward, given that we, the evaluation that we did realizing that the site was gonna meet the library needs and that we didn't wanna see certain, this become certain other types of projects, but we're really trying to ensure that this is gonna meet the most community need and have the most public benefit. And so this can move forward the way that it is currently right now. Another thing with regards to the parking, there was a lot of concern over having that embedded within the building and that not being able to be converted and by putting it adjacent to the building, if there's a need to demolish that parking garage in the future, it provides us with an opportunity to demolish parking and reutilize that space should we not want parking in the future. So we just, I think that throughout this process, we try to do the best we could to incorporate all the different needs of our community and really try to strike a balance. So I'll move that. So there are any other questions from council members at this time? Seeing none, I'm gonna open it up for four groups that reached out extra time. The downtown commons asked for four minutes. The campaign for sustainable transportation asked for four minutes. The Sierra Club and the library will also receive three comments or the amount of information that we've had as it was laid out earlier by Amanda. We're gonna only have one minute per individual for public comment during this time and we're gonna try to limit the amount of time we're on this item so that we are not going deep into the evening. The council's been working since nine a.m. We've received a ton of public feedback. And so with that, we're gonna go to public comments and also if you are calling in to speak to this item, please press star nine on your phone to raise your hand. You will be unmuted and after you've been unmuted, you will have one minute to speak to us on this item. And I don't see any of the names of the people who called in for starters. And when if you are John Hall, Rick Nott Blondinati, like a prisoner or Gene Brocklebank, please let us know when you've been unmuted so we can give you the extra time for your group. You're on the line. Combination Library Parking Garage, it's kind of doubted like a bit of a silly project. But this presentation has assuaged my concerns. We can't really hear you. If you can speak louder into your phone. I was just saying that this presentation has really assuaged some of the concerns I had about a combination library parking garage. It doesn't really look like that's what it's gonna be. It looks like it's gonna be a library, also a parking garage, and also some housing. I guess my only critical comment is, how did we decide on this size of housing? Why not more housing units? Don't we need more housing units? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, you're on the line. Hi, can you hear me? Yeah. So my name's Sean Cutler. I am for city council as libertarian and I fully support this. Hearing none. Next speaker, you're on the line. Hi, this is April Welch. I've been a resident of Santa Cruz since 83. And I just found out actually about this whole proposal because I've been out of the area. And I guess my main concerns, it looks like that the allocation is for 27 million. And I would assume that it's gonna be a lot more costly than that. Secondly, I'm very involved with low-income people in Santa Cruz County. And I have not seen that the low-income housing has really been effective. There was housing that was built around the corner from the Sycamore low-income housing that was supposed to be low-income housing. And it didn't happen. So I really have some concerns about that. I really feel like that the location of the library and the preservation also of our downtown heritage trees is something that I haven't heard that to be addressed at all. And also displacing the farmer's market to the backside of downtown as opposed to being in the center of our town is feels really sad to me, so thank you. My name is Joy Schendeldecker. I've lived in Santa Cruz for five years. And I just wanted to comment that while I want an improved library and more affordable housing, I'm concerned that this isn't the right project at the right time in the right place. I think that we do not need more parking garages in our town, the investment in them and the return on them is not worth it. I also don't want to see the size of the farmer's market reduced. I think we need the footprint that we have now and in this time of coronavirus when we get to socially distance we need more open spaces for outdoor community events and essential services rather than less. I also think that we need to create a green commons, not take it away. Thank you. Okay, thank you. Am I on? Am I speaking? Hello, am I speaking? Okay, my name is Elise Caspi. I have been following this Measure S since the very beginning. I'm a community activist. This entire project is very typical of the city government that we have right now. Cynthia Matthews, Martine Bernal. It's what you call a sleight of hand. When Measure S was sold to the public, it was sold as a remodeling project of an aging library system, including downtown. The 27 million is geared to a remodel. This whole plan about putting a library with a garage on the site of the farmer's market is being forced upon us. The hallmark of this project since the very beginning is what I continue to see here. I just also want to say that I've been to as many of the community meetings with the architects, Jason Architects, the affordable housing guy here at the police station meeting. And it's all the people on the site of the farmer's market. And yet it continues to get filled as all you did all this community outing about the enormous majority of people that are against this project. And that's because it has been a bait and switch to Cynthia Matthews, Martine Bernal. The whole idea of parking department had a dental consultant that... Oh, hello. I'm a student hung up. Okay, well, we'll move on to the next caller. Can you hear me? Yes. Yes, thank you. My name is Bob Morgan. I'm representing the Sierra Club. I'm an executive committee member and chair of its transportation and political committee. I'm stepping in for Michael Posner tonight. So, Cap, I just want to make sure that the Sierra Club was given three minutes. I just want to make sure that they had that time. Thank you very much. I probably missed coming to not take three minutes, but thank you very much. As I mentioned, I am stepping in for Michael Posner tonight. He's had a family emergency and he gets, he cannot share these comments. We collaborated on this statement from the Sierra Club. Since 2016, the Sierra Club with upwards of 6,000 members countywide is on record opposing this excused project. We reaffirmed our opposition in May of this year. We support Jason Architect's rebuild design of the current library. It can be started tomorrow. Based on the city's own parking data, presentations and presentations for parking consultants, we are unconvinced in adding another garage to our current parking inventory is needed in downtown. And also that building a garage is not in alignment with the city's climate action plan. Instead, this project continues promoting the use of fossil fuel vehicles, increases traffic and decreases on-site, on-street safety for both pedestrians and bicyclists. We promote transportation alternatives, transit, ride sharing, multimodal transportation and a walkable downtown. And our position aligns with the Sierra Club national transportation policies. We ask that the city council have a full public airing of the recent Nelson Nygard downtown parking study released last year. Both the council and city residents deserve to have this comprehensive study openly reviewed. We advocate for affordable housing on other city-owned blocks, not lot four, our last largest unbuilt public space downtown. The proposal does not meet the 2017 general plan to keep a village character on Cedar Street. In correspondence with the city's health and all policies ordinance, we want to see lot four enhanced as a green public space for residents and visitors. Yes, Eric, the Sierra Club would collaborate with the city and work hard to make this public deposit the downtown commons for all. We ask the council honor the will of the voters who approve measure F. It is clear that voters approve the measure, believing that the 2014 library master facilities plan outlined the current library project. We want to build the current library application. In addition, Mr. Poser wanted me to share that he sees the Jason Architects rebuild proposal given the overwhelming support of Santa Cruz residents to rebuild the project as analogous to the desalination issue some seven years ago. Namely, the decisions affecting all Santa Cruz residents were made without transparency. Now and then, the Sierra Club respectfully asked the city council to put this question to the voters. The Sierra Club chair asked that the council put this important decision on the ballot and let voters decide. Thank you very much. We appreciate your hard work, councilor. I figure you're on the line. Hello, this is Kristin Sandel. I'm the local engagement coordinator for Extinction Rebellion Santa Cruz and I'm speaking to Poser's project. We all want affordable housing. We all want a library, but linking these things to a new parking garage that we don't need contradicts the city's own climate action plan. It's not a good use of space or resources, especially in light of the increasingly severe effect of climate change. We instead support the creation of green commons. Also, what assurances can the council give that there will actually be affordable housing in this project? My understanding is that most developers simply pay the in lieu fee instead. And if you can require developers to build affordable housing, then why have most developers been allowed to simply pay the fee and not build affordable housing? Please don't continue forward with this project. Thank you for your time. My name is Kalai Herrick. I've lived most of my life in Santa Cruz. My parents moved here when I was a baby in 1970. I would like to express my dismay at the proposal to define the library with a parking garage that may or may not be needed. Mayor Cummings mentioned that because the newest just next to parking garage lightly from the library that the city wanted to take it away, the parking garage later, then that possibility has a complete base of money at the current time. Please remodel the library where it is. Use the expansion possibilities of the old Sentinel parking lot and keep the lot four as open space. Our downtown and attractive and livable and enjoyable place to be with the farmers market and a room for events. Thank you. Hey all, this is Kyle Kelly. I just want to say thank you so much for putting this all together. I'm really proud of the city for putting this together and especially to see Justin, Sandy, and Donna come together to move this forward. My only kind of addition to it is that the number of affordable units is set to a particular amount while lowering the limit or you know, lowering the keeping the height limit down. I hope that it doesn't make it so that family units can't come in. And then, you know, if you restrict it too much, you're going to end up with smaller units and smaller unit sizes, which makes it harder for a lot of the families that are commuting in to work in Santa Cruz and really should deserve a chance to live here. I also want to note, I'm also a Sierra Club member. I'm a big Santa this project. It matches the national intel policy and I'd really like for people to see the forest for the trees in terms of what we do for mixed use. Thank you. Hi, it's Rick Longinati and I sent in some slides to Bonnie. So Bonnie, could you let me know when you bring up your slides? Hey, Rick Longinati, we've got great community goals that we agree on and I'd like to persuade each of you one thing tonight that we won't succeed in reaching these goals unless we stop expanding auto infrastructure. The next slide please. The financial cost of auto infrastructure, it's clear that every dollar spent on parking is a dollar that could be spent on affordable housing or other community benefits. So if you consider the savings from not building this garage, which staff say is set $87 million, we could build a lot more affordable housing than we can with the money in our housing trust fund. So ironically, the good intentions behind the affordable housing on this project is going to wind up with a lot less affordable housing than if we didn't build all the parking that we're talking about. Next slide please. Some plan considers providing open space a priority and that's a social equity issue. Apartment dwellers in the downtown need outdoor space like everybody else. Next slide please. I really wanna get across to you that building a garage goes against the concerns met with the planning and downtown commission in 2015. At that meeting, Janice Rhodes told the commissioners reading from the middle paragraph, no agency will make enough on user fees to pay for all that new parking space. All three of us professionals and all my peers in the industry have become very conservative, maximizing existing inventories before we step out into that arena of financing new resources. And she says you put all those things in place before you consider doing a new garage. Next slide please. The council heard the same advice. Patrick Siegman revealed a little-known fact that according to the city's annual parking census, parking demand has declawed 2008. Significant parking surplus that the city currently enjoys is slightly reduced by the loss of surface parking spaces and new development. So it's not accurate what I'm hearing a lot of people say and it's not accurate to state that we need a garage to replace surface parking spaces. The plan comes out before you consider building a new parking structure. I had no idea at the time that staff would never bring to the council's attention. And this is the elephant in the room tonight. I believe that the most important issue before you tonight is not the library or garage or housing, it's the public trust. You make your decisions through an honest process. I've heard the word robust going on tonight. This has not been a robust process regarding parking. I want to invite you to try a thought experiment, a friend or a family member whom you trust to be honest with you. And imagine calling up this loved one and telling them this to prove a multi-level parking garage. The problem is that we have a downtown parking strategic plan, but we've never seen it. What do you think I should do? Thank you. Dean Brocklebank, speaking on behalf of hundreds who are part of the Don't Bury the Library campaign to have the downtown library restored and upgraded to become a first class library in both function and form. We're looking at two projects tonight. One is funded, the other is not. Both projects would result in essentially the same smaller library of about 30,000 square feet with the same amount of collections because the mixed use project is not yet funded. Director Nemitz's option D actually starts at 29,660 square feet. The as yet not even designed mixed use project must be funded and built before the library can be added as a tenant in that structure. The roadblocks for the complicated misuse project are enormous. Meanwhile, the delays inherent in that project threaten to diminish the secured measure as money due to the decreased payback period of bond debts. The city is facing a $10.4 million general fund deficit. City Manager Martin Bernal recently stated, quote, we do not have enough data and knowledge about our immediate future to make reasonably adequate projections. The level of change and uncertainty is extraordinary, end quote. With a vote tonight to allow our standalone library to remain at the civic center, design and planning can start tomorrow while creating fundraising by the public could continue during the construction process to provide desired enhancements. The public record on this matter is clear. By 5 p.m. today, over 560 letters were received by council with more than three to one, that's 434 to 135, favoring renovation of the library. If the message had been a 50-50 split, it would have identified the proposal before you as merely controversial, but with more than three to one opposed, you have been given a clear mandate to vote no on the mixed-juice project. We respectfully suggest the city play it safe financially by voting on a motion that can provide all three vital services that are important to the community, housing, parking, and the library. Simply give the city manager and all needed departments direction to do the following. One, immediately start the process for renovation and renewal of the downtown library in collaboration with Jason Architecture. Two, inventory and prioritize city and private properties in the downtown area for the purpose of building affordable housing with parking. Three, place lot four in reserve for five years, allowing its continued use as a parking lot and weekly farmers market with a strong possibility it may become a beautiful downtown commons. Thank you. And may you band to get around? Let me just say something. That car is not small. I can't parallel park to save my life. We suffer truly. But here's the thing, I've never had any trouble parking whatsoever downtown between, and this really kind of adds in to what people were saying about this not really being, we don't need more parking. So between that and my satisfaction with the current Santa Cruz library, I have something I want to stand as proposed development. So this project will create a needed extra parking with so-called affordable housing that is most likely going to end up being market rate and therefore not really do anything to drive down the obscene cost of housing here. And we decided this was more important than addressing the multiple demands deep on SCPD. Y'all close stack on one of the biggest movements of modern history to push forward 400 parking spaces. Do you realize that that is about the most tone deaf thing that has happened in this meeting since someone suggested giving the police merit badges for not shooting people? There's so much that I could say about this. The fact that we're moving the place not only used for the farmer's markets but also where our pride parades are usually our pride festivals held. But really out of time, let me just say this. If I put those past, I'd like to represent that those badges is Michelle Bozak from New Jim Crow. Thank you. Good evening, this is Jesse Briscoe with Plumson Builders. I'm a development project manager. We send in a letter of support for the mixed youth downtown library proposal. We just want to highlight that as experienced builders starting from scratch versus trying to remodel and reuse the library, it's much more difficult. We're able to reuse the library and be more efficient on the parking lot. It would be an easier build and you wouldn't run into a lot of unknown costs. Again, we just like to highlight that the parking is going to be, there currently it's a parking lot and the new parking lot or parking structural replace that parking. Again, we feel the location is much more central. It'd be more symbiotic with the downtown vision to have the library mixed youth and parking structure and you know, there's a debate regarding what type of vehicles will be parked there but we've seen a paradigm shift with hybrid, electric, alternative fuels. So we support overall and the oriented development in favor of the committee's recommendation. Thank you. Thank you for calling in. If you could turn down whatever device you're listening and I'll help to reduce the background speaker. I'm on. Thank you. Catherine Herndon, Santa Cruz City resident. I call in vehement opposition to hijacking our library and putting it inside a monstrous 400 space parking garage project. This is not what we voted for with measure F and you all know it. Please do not betray us. Keep our beloved library building in its own present cherished location in the Civic Center. Hire Jason Architects to renew it. As they have shown us, they can do so well. Vibrant downtown is popular at City Hall. Concrete garages are not vibrant. They are dead, deadening. A vibrant downtown is where we save all our big trees, cultivate a beautiful green commons on lot four, sidewalks to make them decent and good looking. Affordable housing now. We would like to commend and thank the subcommittee for its year-long diligent and exhaustive evaluation of a multifaceted choice. We support the subcommittee's recommendations to council. We hope all council members will say yes to each of the recommendations. Please vote yes for affordable housing. Thank you. Can you hear me? Thank you. My name is Lisa Ekstrom. Thank you guys so much for your time and all your work. Almost all of you have mentioned community engagement. At every meeting I've attended on this matter, going back to DLAC meetings, the sizable majority of public opinion has been against the new parking garage or mixed use project. Over the last couple of years, the emails to the city council and library subcommittee have been overwhelmingly against this project. And that was in spite of a nonstop, well-funded professional PR campaign to sell the new structure to the community. This is in spite of having heard the various and changing arguments for the new structure on lot four many times over. During all this time, I've seen almost no recognition from the city and council members that your community is largely against building a new enormous building on lot four. In the light of all this, how are you representing us? How are you recognizing the voter? Measure S would never have succeeded with voters if the current plan had been presented. Thank you again. Comment that I voted for the library. I did not vote for a bigger project. And I fear that if the city council goes forward to this mixed use project or money to be passed, voters are gonna reject you because they won't trust you. Cummings and members of the council, my name is Martin Gomez and I'm president of the Friends of the Santa Cruz Public Libraries. We have nearly 1000 supporters and five chapters throughout the county. I wanna thank the council for the thoughtful consideration about this downtown library project. I'm speaking in support of this project. Downtown library will serve as the hub for programs and services for the entire 10 branch library system. It'll also be a source of community pride for the city of Santa Cruz. As Vice Mayor Myers mentioned, Fulton library has already achieved that goal and we would like to see this library in downtown Santa Cruz mirror some of that pride as well. This will be an acre development project that addresses housing, retail and parking issues for the city. On behalf of the Friends of the library, we support the recommendations of the subcommittee and urge you to vote to approve their recommendation. Thank you very much. You guys hear me? I'm Peya, I'm part of Youth for Climate Justice and I'd like to express concern about the climate impact of the potential parking garage. No matter what decision gets made about the library, it's crucial that we prioritize the environmental impact as much as we can. The biggest problem with the parking garage is that it is a parking garage. We need to work toward the future without gas powered vehicles. Yes, currently driving is the only way that many people have to get around and taking away parking won't actually fix that problem. We can just ignore the very real problems caused by driving and the potential for an unnecessary increase in driving from a parking garage. According to the IPCC, we have to get at least a 45% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030. We are nowhere near that mark. So the question becomes, is this really the way to get affordable housing and a renovated library that brings us closer to a livable future? I sincerely hope that you will take into account the carbon impact of its use, as well as the construction of the building for the sake of everyone's future. Thank you. Well, speakers have already spoken well to the environmental problems of increasing car infrastructure, even when setting sure that we don't need more parking and that the world keep me in the Lord car driving. I want to speak to the floor that I voted and thousands of voters about it from the library that would not have voted if it was for this project. And so in addition, I voted for Mayor Cummings because one of his major platforms that can't be was that he was going to put this project. And so this feels like another example of the type of politics that makes people politicians or nothing matters in this chapter in the city. Well, you're in charge of this chapter and in charge. I just want to say, I just want to say one more thing. Please, I just want to say that it's actually good for the community and not just development for the government's sake. I'm speaking on the line. Hi, this is Reggie Meister again. I just find it hilarious that the only four people who called in to support this plan, one of which was a radical right-wing politician, another was a YINB organizer and the last two have personal conflicts of interest. Why even reach out to the public? Do you care about what we say about the library? Do you care about what we say about defund? I mean, you cut us off. It doesn't matter how many of us show up, how many of us write letters. I just don't understand the point of this process. I honestly wonder if housing is being tacked onto this garage specifically to take advantage of certain fast-tracking benefits that housing gets with the environmental review process. I don't know what to think about this project and how it's being handled. I don't know what to think about how police reform is being handled. But honestly, I would prefer, and I think most of us would prefer, if you renovated the library in place and didn't waste more of our money, look at that new library in an 87 million dollar garage and you instead of public housing, not this measure-o condo crap that you're probably planning here and you use the police budget to fund it, act you defund police. Thank you. Good evening, Mayor Covington, city council members. My name is Alexia Garcia and on behalf of the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership, I'd like to express our support for option D of the proposed downtown library mixed-use project. Option D addresses several goals outlined by the community, including addressing current infrastructure problems, allowing for potential greener infrastructure and maximizing affordable housing. And that housing initiative supports the construction of housing in our region that all types and income levels in appropriate locations near existing jobs, transit and services. Through our climate change initiative, we also advocate for the construction of transit-oriented housing development and climate resilient infrastructure. Mixed-use housing near existing public transit like the proposed project will decrease vehicle miles traveled. For these reasons, option D is in alignment with our housing production and climate change resiliency goals. And that further supports staff's recommendation to include at least 50 units of affordable housing on site in order to maximize affordability and sustainable land use. The city has an opportunity to expand library services while also addressing our community's urgent affordable housing needs. Please vote to maximize community benefit while preserving and extending this important public facility and approve option D. Thank you. And next week is on line. Hi, hello, my name is Oscar. Thank you again for being with us here. I know you mentioned you've been here since 9 a.m., but so have many other people have been here with you, although you may not see us. We are here to speak out on behalf of our opinion against building this mixed use of the library. I think in reality it should really be called misuse of money. You talk about 50 units for affordable housing. How does that even look like? Who gets to pick? Who are those 50 people? And then you sell it as having a solar panel and being environmentally friendly, is that pretty much it? And I also wanna let you know that we are on unceded territory of the Alwasa speaking UPI tribe, the Amamutin tribal band. This is stolen land. Where were they in the engagement plan? Where was the land next engagement group? How are they being impacted? And the pictures that they show of the future building of the library, it doesn't really represent what the downtown library already looks like. The last time I walked in there and it's been like that for a while, there's a lot of houseless people using all those resources. How come they're not really being represented on those images? It doesn't look like that. Business class people, professionals working in the library, I've never seen that type of crowd every when I go in there. So I just wanna keep the difference of their minds until impact. Thank you so much. Hi there, this is Stacy Balls, long-term resident at Santa Cruz. I voted for measure S and I voted yes on measure S because I wanted a renovation of the library. I did not vote for a parking garage. And if I knew that voting yes would have gotten me a parking garage, I would have voted no. We don't need a new parking garage. The city has plenty of parking. Every time I go downtown, I find parking, no problem. I have never not found a parking space close to where I'm going. We are steering the climate crisis in the face. It is the existential crisis of our time. It's worse than COVID-19. And you guys are prioritizing a parking garage so that we can have more single-use car trips. I know you say like, oh, we'll eventually have some housing downtown and then people will need the parking. But if you're so keen on mixed-use projects, you can certainly build some parking with the housing if it's actually needed. In the meantime, you should do parking mitigation and make sure that people are prioritizing not driving so that we can reduce our carbon footprint. Mayor Cummings, I voted for you. I supported you. I was excited about you being on City Council because I thought with your PHD and environmental science who would stand up against this, it's gonna be hard for me to support you in the future. Next week, I'll be on the line. Hi, I thought a lot of people brought up some great points about the parking structure. It really is a cause for concern when we're talking about climate change. I also agree. I always find parking downtown. I've never had a problem with that. On top of that, I really wanna stress that if we're creating low-income housing, I think it is the job of the City Council to be on top of making sure that happens. As far as I know, the 1010 Pacific Apartments, those are supposed to include some low-income housing. None of those are affordable. None of those apartments are affordable. So when you create low-income housing, it really is important that year after year, there continues to be the same amount of units that you proposed in the beginning for low-income residents. That's about all I have, but thank you. Thank you for your reading on Zoom. The Civic Auditorium could have been used for this, but instead you hide behind your computer screens. This is terrible. This should have been a public meeting, not a Zoom meeting. This is a very important decision that's gonna be made here. Garage idea come from. Well, that whole scheme came from because the Taco Bell Arms condo units have enough parking for the number of units. So what the city staff said, well, we'll just build a parking structure and that way you can send your overflow cars over there. Well, why are we paying for some developer's parking lot? That's crazy. And then when that parking structure was met with resistance, they said, oh, well, we'll just grab the library in there and then people will like it. Well, when that didn't work, then they sprinkled in affordable housing. Who wants to live in a parking structure? Do you guys get it? Housing in a nice place, not inside of something that looks like a prison. Just a minute. Hi, sorry about that. My name is Barbara Lawrence and I'm a school librarian in Santa Cruz. And I know many of you on the city council. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak. I support libraries and I supported Measure F and I asked my community to support it with me. I voted to improve the libraries but I didn't vote to build parking. A parking structure downtown is an entirely different issue. Please do not inflate these two projects. In reading over the language of Measure F, I feel that including parking is a misuse of these bond funds. I support the Jason architecture remodel. I reviewed the design and it fulfills what I want to see in the library. I think it's sad that an important civic project like the library would be diminished by putting it in a parking structure. I'd like to look forward and make Santa Cruz a livable city and move ahead from outdated projects like this parking structure. Please put this question to the voters so there's transparency and voters who voted for Measure F do not feel that they've instituted or swindled. Thank you very much for the time. Yeah, yeah. Thank you. My name is Chelsea Coray. I am calling in to oppose this project. The last thing that we need is additional parking as someone that lives near the development that is being built on 350 oceans. I can tell you that it is incredibly inconvenient. It is an eyesore and the minimal housing that will be affordable that is going into that unit paled in comparison to what you're saying is gonna be projected here. You will not be able to fulfill that. Keep our spaces open. Leave lots for open. If we are really concerned about social and economic issues, you should address the ineffective police response. We should not be spending one-third of our general budget there. Redirect it. Thank you. Defund the police. Okay, you're on the line. Yes, my name is John Golder. I'm a 36-year resident of Santa Cruz and I'm with a city building inspector. I've been in construction all my life. I've been listening to all the comments here. As a city building inspector and solar designer, I think opposite to C&D residential units will not serve the climate goals very well. They'll be virtually impossible to even naturally cross ventilate and require air conditioning entirely. I think it's unfair, if not illegal, for you guys to do a detour around measure-S funds. And I'm in full in support of all the opposition to spending that money with the parking needs. I think the parking needs need another closer look as the effects of COVID-19, the vacancies and business closures will be happening over the next several years. No one has mentioned that the parking garage is a security, actually qualifies as expected since because break-ins are worth the impossibility to check even with security cameras. And I'm down town commissioner, one of seven of us. I have contacted each of you, but I did want to just reiterate those of you that know me well know that one of the mantras in my life is reduce, reuse and recycle. And when I analyzed this project, all of us in this community clearly want affordable housing. All of us clearly want a wonderful library. What there is extreme controversy over is parking. And I've just started my term on the downtown commission and clearly one of the main issues for us is examining parking. And it's very clear to me just in the first several months of being on that commission that we do not necessarily need 400 more parking. In fact, the analysis that I've seen shows that it's highly unlikely that if we build it we'll actually be able to pay for it from user fees unless we jack them up so high that it becomes even more of a problem. So I guess the real question and I understand from a political perspective how it seems like it's not a bad idea to just move this down the road and see if we can get all three of these done properly and for a fair price. And I understand that that may seem like the palatable political approach. However, clearly. I'm sorry, I don't have to cut you off because everyone's been alarmed and I need to continue moving through. But thank you for your comments. Next speaker. From making a connection earlier between the need to defund the police in order to reallocate the funds towards city projects that would actually provide services to our community. The library is the most robust social service we have for a house of community that we should defund the police to instead renovate the library and pay for significant amounts of low income housing units in the city rather than spend it on parking. Thank you. In general, these options C and D suffer from the usual misconception of the purpose and guiding principles of the city government here. The council is always more interested in their version of leftist social justice worrying than the principles of the city providing city services to serve the pervasive many theoretically hopefully potentially everyone who pay the bills in exchange for these services. A permanent selling of the public property airspace above the library to serve perhaps 50 units of people who after all are still gonna be paying rent is not as favorable to the pervasive public good as retaining public ownership of an improved public property designed as a commons market in parking. Selling airspace is permanently selling a public property to the benefit of the few and the developer. Also three words, ain't we broke? How can you consider anything that isn't fully funded at this point in the coming depression? You know, the one the government caused. I have no problem with more parking in general or cars and problem with affordable housing. Got no problem with a newly renovated library as to what all three of those actually go together in one space at some unknown price for any time. I doubt but the city's staff proposal seems ill timed and a SJW sell out of public property. Thanks. Thank you. Okay, next caller. My name is Bo Dunn. I'm a 21 year old, financially independent young person living in Aptos calling against the mixed use development project being proposed downtown. I've worked at the Crucio building and so I'm working remotely there. Very close to the library and to the lot in question. And I get a lot of enjoyment out of going to the farmers market there. Of course, when we're not in the pandemic, I also see the proposal. I moved to Santa Cruz inspired by the environmental attitudes of the city bodies and I'd see increased parking, especially unneeded increased parking as very lacking inspiration towards what the city meant to me when I decided to move here just a year ago. So I am against the mixed use project for environmental reasons and the farmers market. Hi, this is Brett Garrett and I want to say first, do not flood the library. This project is in the middle of a flood zone. Lot four is in the middle of a flood zone. It's six feet lower than the existing library location. The group four drawings show the library right at the ground level. It will flood. I don't know when, but it will flood. Second, I want to say that I oppose the parking structure. And third, I want to say if you do go with the recommendation, I think the 50 units requirement for affordable housing is rather weak. The guest commentary from Vivian Rogers, she promised 60 to 120 units, so why settle for 50? And you could also specify a number of square feet. You could specify an income level that it needs to be affordable to someone with very low income or extremely low income. So I do oppose option D, go with option D, please thank the affordable housing requirement. On line to speak during public comment. Where is any democracy right now? Now I'll get on the topic of the library. Use the bathrooms, to use the internet, to use the computer. What are you gonna do when people come? You call them, you can press star nine on your phone. It will raise your hand and you'll be able to speak on this item. So next caller. If you urge your support for the mixed use project, support that you were limiting the height of the building to match some adjacent buildings. The housing is such a need in our community that make it allow one story higher than the adjacent building. A little more affordable housing in our community for those who so desperately need it. That's been the resident Santa Cruz for seven years. I voted for the renovation of the library, but I did not vote for a parking garage. If the vote was between the library renovation or affordable housing for the homeless, I would have voted for that instead because there are homeless families in our community that are in a constant threat of police violence. As you may know, Santa Cruz police department arrests has 98% more, or has more misdemeanor arrests than 98% of all California police departments. They also use more force than 23% of all California police departments. We have a homeless population that is prevalent and this issue will only get worse unless we prioritize affordable housing. There are homeless that I've been arrested for committing nonviolent property crimes because these are people, human beings without life necessities. And it's a dangerous situation for them and this is what we need to prioritize. Thank you. You're on the line. It is me. I can't even answer questions. Good evening. Oh, good evening. Hi, my name is Nadia Peralta and I'm a, is it double that you hear me or can you hear me well? We can hear you well. If you are getting an echo, turn down your, whatever device you're watching the meeting on and then just speak to the phone. Thanks, my friend just helped me with that. Yeah, I'm a Santa Cruz resident and I'm calling with an opposition to the project. I want to reiterate a lot of the great things that people already said about I voted for measure S, I would not have voted for measure S if I had known that this would be the case. I thought that the young man who pointed out that this is unceded territory that belongs to the watchtower saloon people is extremely relevant in this and that the images for the library really didn't represent the people who use the library. It would be so wonderful if these measure bonds somehow worked for public service works that really improved houseless and housing services and then it worked on the existing library as we have it and turned the space a beautiful place. I feel like my time got cut short because of Zoom and that's also really unfortunate and it's unfortunate that we can't meet properly. And I really encourage all of you to do the right thing because they don't think you're doing the right thing right now. My name is Elizabeth Conlon and I'm calling to voice my strong support for this project. I think the two most important parts of the mixed use library project is that it is the best plan for the library. The current downtown library has 1,000 visitors a day and if we renovate the library, that will be close to them for two years. Secondly, housing, we all acknowledge it's crucially needed since it's a city-owned land, this will be affordable housing and we should zone it for more and to address the environmental concerns that people raised. I agree that climate change is the most pressing issue we face and that having density downtown is ultimately the best for the environment. So with that, I strongly urge you to vote for the mixed use library project. Thank you for your time. Good evening, Mayor Cummings and council members. Thank you for holding this meeting. Unfortunately, it's not in public and I wish it would be, but I wanted to recommend on behalf of the Santa Cruz County Chamber of Commerce and our 600 members and 23,000 employees countywide that we support the project in the downtown, the mixed use project. It brings affordable housing that is necessary. It brings transit, bike and pedestrian first approaches and next to a transportation hub and it expands opportunity for local residents to live in the downtown and work in the downtown. It's the right thing to do for Santa Cruz. It's the right time to do this and I hope that the city council will move forward. Thank you. Thank you. This is Robert Singleton, the Santa Cruz County Business Council and I just want to speak in favor of this project for a lot of different reasons. If you just look at the potential of this project from an affordable housing perspective, we do expect to get between 16, 120 units of affordable housing. That would be the single largest affordable housing project that our city has built since the Great Recession. So I want to keep that in mind. We also not going to be built in a vacuum. We expect around 500 new units of housing in other places downtown, whether it's Laurel and Pacific, Front Street and Pacific, Calvary, first off going to be developed. The new metro center is going to be developed. All of these can be community facing. All of them are going to have an affordability component and sadly they do require parking. I would be happy if we decided we want to reduce parking limitations for new development. I think most developers would want that and I think increasing the height to allow for more units only in the conditions that are affordable is also a worthwhile endeavor. The library is an ultimate form of public comments. It's accessible to everybody. It's information. It's community space. It's services that can be available to people. We've been through four years of process. I've bought your work so far and I encourage you to support this project. Next speaker on line. Hi, this is Darius Mosini. If you took the largest, most powerful supercomputer in the world, infused it with the most powerful sophisticated AI software in the world, it would pop out this project. This hits all so many key needs of Santa Cruz, affordable housing, a renovated library. I mean, the current one is completely unusable by young folks, given it's become, a lot of homeless folks are there. It's not very inviting. It's not as scary. So this project looks, you know, they'll track young people, which is really where, you know, good values and learning to start with a robust library. And second, of course, I'm not gonna say affordable housing, but there's nothing more to say about it. We need it. But third, all these folks being very short-sighted in 20 years, half of the cars or more will be electric. Having a parking garage allows a center for charging. So this concept of climate change and so forth is actually mitigated with a parking garage. Thank you. Yeah, final. Hi, I'm a student studying urban planning over at Stanford University. I want to go ahead and say that first of all in Santa Cruz County, 48 units for every 100 extremely low income residents, there are only 48 units for every 100 extremely low income residents in Santa Cruz. The second thing is that in 2018, nearly 2,100 of all 3,500 renting households in the county were considered cost burdened. Of those households, nearly a third paid over half of their income on housing within the city of Santa Cruz. There's a desperate need for housing. And in the last rena cycle, the city of Santa Cruz only built 43 units for low and very low income households. That's out of a 298 unit lead need. We are in the midst of a housing crisis and systems are prioritizing their nimbyism over building housing. Maybe it might be because it's housing that doesn't go towards that. There wasn't a parking garage instead of nimbies complaining about too many parking spaces. We would have nimbies complaining about too little. There comes a time when elected officials must choose between making the popular decision and making the right one. I'd encourage you to make the right one, the right one and support of this project. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, next speaker Yonalana. Hi, this is Matt Ferrell. I'm vice chair of the downtown commission. And I wanna thank the subcommittee for their courage and diligence in bringing this recommendation forward to the council. I think that the library at this location will allow the system to have 19,000 more volumes for users and provide better services to vets, the homeless and other people that currently have services at the existing branch. And finally, I think that affordable housing and shared public parking are important needs that need to be addressed in the city. This project will not add to parking. It will replace parking that's going to be lost as part of redevelopment of the south portion of downtown. Thank you. Thank you, Yonalana. This is Ed Fry. I wanna encourage all the members of the council to think about what might have happened in all of the lobbying efforts that Cynthia Matthews has carried out. Has she poisoned the well? All these experts that you've consulted, did she get to them first? She's not supposed to have any influence whatsoever over this project. And yet the word is that she has been lobbying secretly for months. So I would suggest you inquire of her exactly what she's done to encourage this project because there's a real strong purpose behind the law that disqualifies her from voting. And that is that she should not be able to take advantage of her political strength and office to build her own state. Thank you. Speaking on behalf of downtown commons advocates. Yonalana. Thank you, Mayor Cummings and council members. Tonight, you really have two alternatives. John, I'm gonna pause you for a sec. Bonnie, I just wanna make sure that John has the four minutes and find John's number on here. One alternative, an out of scale box takes up all of lot four. It eliminates 10 heritage trees and relocates the downtown farmers market to a smaller interior location. The library itself gains the aesthetic appeal of an airport terminal concourse and creates a more dead streetscape at the heart of downtown. The last best chance to create a great public space would be eliminated. Hundreds of downtown commons advocates strongly oppose the lot four project. We advocate the alternative. First class downtown library that solidifies the civic center where it has been for 116 years with one demolition and reconstruction. Affordable housing built on city owned lots elsewhere than lot four. Park and demand management instead of an unnecessary costly parking garage and creation of a downtown commons on lot four with the primary farmers market. Unfortunately, the lot four project has become a scapegoat to atone for central failures of city government. Failure to deal with our housing crisis. Failure to create a homeless navigation center. Failure to create a vibrant downtown for businesses in the community. Failure to require developers big box projects to provide their fair shares of affordable housing and required parking. Conversely, because city planning has failed Santa Cruz Santa Cruz must build another failure. There are two big interrelated problems. First, the subcommittee evaluation matrix shows that in comparison to the basically shovel ready civic center library reconstruction project the lot four project is less likely to be completed before the library bond deadline. The lot four project faces unpredictable planning funding environmental review and political challenges. Second, as you've seen the public is overwhelmingly opposed to lot four development. But what about affordable housing you asked? Lot four is not needed for affordable housing. Money not land is the obstacle to developing affordable housing. One thing really calls me about the proposed project the makeup for the library funding gap quote unquote air rights of $50,000 are to be charged for each unit of affordable housing. As a proponent of affordable housing I want to see every dime of income from affordable housing fees used to leverage the development of more affordable housing units. Affordable housing money is money for affordable housing. It's not money for the library. We can do it all. We can raise money to make up the funding gap for the downtown library where it belongs to the civic center and its main entrance moved to face city hall with adjacent parking with outdoor patios for the children's library in the community room. Its efficient floor plan will eliminate currently wasted library building space reduce operating costs and provide as much public user space as we have now. This will be a library for the 21st century and a civic investment in our community. When the library is reconstructed the civic center when we build affordable housing elsewhere we can transform lot four into a much needed public space to anchor downtown businesses and community life. We can build the pavilion for a permanent farmer's market on sunny Cedar street and we can create a downtown commons there to be ringed by restaurants, cafes and businesses for public events and concerts or meeting old friends and making new ones. We can reverse joining Mitchell on paving the parking lot to create a little more paradise. Thank you for listening. I urge you to vote no on this resolution. Hopefully you can hear me. Thanks for posting this virtually. I really love the virtual commentary. Hopefully we can use it to get in the future even when COVID is over. I wanted to say I'm a young adult. I grew up in Santa Cruz in terms of background. I am soon to have a child or a young family. I do own my own home. I think this mixed space project is a great idea. It's a great path forward. It makes me really excited for the future of our community. Projects like this are exactly what I expect to come out of the city and I am very strongly in favor. So I hope you vote yes for the work that we proceed with this project. I really hope to see this, especially having a young child and being able to go downtown and see this project in action in the next few years. So strongly in favor. Thank you for your time. And I want to oppose this project and I want to identify several key reasons. It's it proposes a relocation to a multi-use construction construct that has parking we don't need an affordable housing it could go elsewhere. It's been packaged through a planning process that's been laced with representation and incompleteness and the evaluation matrix of 53 supposedly comparative criteria totally lacked priority weighting or any analysis of risk or secondary effects and implications. As a person who was a 30 year CEO if my planner or planning consultants had brought me this, I would have said, you know, you got to refine this and you got to sharpen it. This is not the basis upon which any experience and competent governing body would normally accept as adequate foundation for sound thoughtful decision making. Thank you. Hello, my name is Candice Brown. The public trust is at stake with its decision and so it's imperative tonight that you vote no at stake is good governance best practices and actually the issue of whether this project is even totally funded, which it is not. Those numbers have not been totally revealed to the public. It's not been completely transparent and ultimately the voters did not vote for a mixed use project when they voted measure S. The public trust is at stake and it won't be violated with a vote yes tonight. You must vote no and we must bring this before the voters to make final decision. It's that important. Thank you. Little rough for seven, two, five, four. You are on the line. Can you hear me? Okay, thank you. Yes, I've been listening intently and I noticed that only of, yeah, you are only saying benefits of the project and no loss, the loss of possibility of an equitable public space and the Civic Center. We do not shatter the Civic Commons forever. This triangle will forever be weakened and damaged with the library pulled out. For 116 years, the library, city hall and Civic Auditorium worked together to set energy for our city. This is priceless and cannot be replaced. A 92 year old woman who came to the pop-up demonstration of over 60 people standing for the library to be renewed and rebuilt and redone at its current location said her mother was the head librarian when that building was constructed. She did not want her work to be forgotten. Let's create a place downtown people will love and protect. That is definitely not a library in a box or anywhere USA project. Thank you. Thank you. Hi, I just like to say that what our city needs is not another 400 car parking garage with a handful of barely affordable units, rather a plan to dismantle our racist and wasteful police department and make significant reinvestments in public housing, expanded mental health care and social services for our low income residents. Thank you. Thank you. Cassandra Brown. And I've been a resident here for 29th since 1997. And I would strongly wish that the city council vote no on this proposal. I agree with John Hall, all that he said. I do not want an unesthetically or non-aesthetically beautiful library, the library where it is, be more beautiful and renovated where it is. And I want us to keep the trees, the heritage trees and the farmer's market and lots for a plaza and to consider other places for affordable housing. And it just doesn't make any sense to cut down beautiful trees in time when we have climate change and to make for a parking garage and to have a library below a parking garage. I'm an avid reader, I'm a writer and I'm a landscaper. And thank you for voting no on this project. Public comment, we're gonna bring it back to council for action and deliberation. I was wondering if it's to council by some reminders, but I didn't wanna see if we could have some time to address some questions, but I'll acknowledge Vice Mayor Myers first and then I can save my questions for after. I'm fine, yeah, thank you Mayor Cummings. I'm fine if there's additional questions that need to be asked, I'm happy to wait. Okay, I just, there's a lot of questions that came out of the public comment and I think it will be good for maybe staff to provide some clarity. And so I wanted to see if we could have our economic development director join us because there's a lot of questions around how to make or maybe the same manager could speak to this, but there's a lot of questions about how we can make the affordable housing work and what's the potential for increasing. And I just wanna let members of the public know that the 50 units is not, we're not restricting the affordable housing to that. So I think that our objective is to maximize the rate of affordable housing on this project. And so I'll turn it over to our economic development director. Very good. Good evening, Mayor and members of the council. This is Bonnie Lipsom, director of economic development. The affordable housing piece, we actually today earlier at council approved two grant applications to actually increase our funding for affordable housing. And if you do approve this mixed use project tonight that includes affordable housing, I think the 50 units that's in the recommendation is our starting point. I think one of the reasons we didn't include or the actual conceptual design said it could be up to a total, I think of 110 to 120 units is that we wanted to bring back to use some options of affordable housing and potentially and also combining that with market rates to get offset some of the other costs of the project. I know that one of the speakers was really concerned about air rights and that the affordable housing would be subsidizing and that's not the case and that's not our vision for this. It's the market rate units that would be subsidizing the affordable housing and potentially also subsidizing the library component. The affordable housing, we have funding set aside at the city and we have a short list of affordable housing developers that are ready to move forward with the city on a project. So with the opportunity to develop the land for free for affordable housing and to be able to apply with the city as a partner on low income housing tax credit and then using and leveraging our affordable housing trust and we feel confident that we're going to be able to move forward on the affordable housing component of the project. Thank you. And I'm happy to answer any additional questions. Thanks. The next question I had was for maybe somebody from our public works on transportation department could answer because a lot of questions came up around parking and this idea that we're going to create more spaces when the meetings that we've had and have suggested that the parking because there's a number of locks that are coming offline. So I was wondering if somebody from transportation and public works could speak to that. Locally, I'm the transportation planner with the city. I'm the, yeah, it looks like I'm taking this one. I'm just checking. So related to parking, some of you council members were on council during the time that we went through an extensive public process to look towards our future parking needs. I haven't got any, you probably don't, but I'd reference the September 11th, 2018 council session that we went through where we did an extensive analysis on the supply and demand and the rate of parking in order to project forward if this would be what we needed and how we would pay for it. At that point, we were modeling off of the 600 space parking structure and we found that that even with aggressive transportation demand management strategies through our gross and increased program would be insufficient to meet our future demand. So under no scenario, do we have a planned parking supply that's going to be in excess of any modeled demand, but it will be something that is a step in the direction of addressing one component of our overall transportation system in tandem with supporting our other multimodal transportation programs. The presentations that we received is a number of lots that are supposed to be developed and I was just wondering if you could point out those as well or if you could speak to. Yeah, absolutely. Amanda, I don't know if you have that graphic handy if you're on, if not, I can't. Which one, Claire? The graphic that we show of the planned lots that are coming offline. Oh yeah, just give me a second to pull it up. Just one second. Okay, thank you. I'm sorry, on my Zoom I need to use my non-city-length side of my computer, so I don't have that file handy. But yes, we do, overall when we went through those various presentations, what we had identified was that there in the next 10 years we considered our pipeline of projects of where we are planning to see the demand increase. Thank you, Amanda, for pulling this up. So here you go. So the orange lots that you can see here, which are sprinkled throughout downtown, but mainly in the southern half of downtown, are lots that we anticipate coming offline in the years stated. This is about two years back, and so some of these have moved, but we still do feel confident in the fact that these lots will be going away, moving from north to south. Lot two is behind 1547 Pacific Avenue, which is just finishing construction now. It's a Swenson project now. They owned it, and we had been renting it from them for, I believe, a dollar a year for a very, very long time. So those 19 spaces will be coming offline there, fully offline now. As we move south, the Calvary Church lots, that's 106 spaces that we sell 120 permits in. Those we do anticipate that that project will become part of a future housing development there. If you have questions on that, I believe Bonnie Lipscomb can likely talk more about that. Lot 23, which is the corner of Laurel and Front Street, was contributed as part of a future mixed use housing project there. So that will, when that project goes to construction, be coming offline. Across the street from Lot 27, which is on the other corner of Front and Laurel, that we lease and we would anticipate that at some point in the future, we estimated 2025, our lease would not be renewed because there's a better and higher use, namely housing of surface blocks within downtown. Lot 12 is adjacent to Metro on Pacific Avenue, just south of the Metro Center there. And the city council did decide in years past that this lot would be dedicated as part of a future mixed use affordable housing project on that site. And then finally, Lot 22, which is 25 spaces, which is on Front Street, about midway between Laurel and Soquel, was privately owned and the city maintained it. And when the NIAC property was sold, that property was also sold. So we'd anticipate that that comes offline as well as part of a planned housing development at that location. I hope this was helpful. The key thing to remember as we look at this is that the blue that you see on your screen, those are existing parking structures that the city has over time since we formed our parking district has bonded for to create parking. And about every 10 years we created a new parking structure. So we're planning for the future growth of downtown and the intensification that supported our downtown recovery plan, which has now been amended to be our downtown plan. If you notice in the southern portion of downtown, there is no consolidated parking facility. And it's one of the areas that we have a lack of parking and with the majority of the lots that are coming offline, being in the southern portion of downtown, creation of a consolidated parking facility in that location is part of the overall parking strategy for downtown. Great, thanks. I guess Bonnie, could you let that economic development director, could you provide an update or just provide any information on Calvary Church and some of the other housing that's supposed to be going into downtown? The Calvary Church is a private lot. We do have an extension, a current extension on that lease for another year. They have indicated, they have selected a developer and indicated that they will be moving forward with a housing project on that site. The planning director and I probably about a month ago met with the developer and they're refining some of the aspects of that project. Sort of the level of affordability, how much affordable units, some of that is still being developed. They're looking at some of the new legislation that's passed that may hopefully actually end up with more affordability in the project. So they're looking at that, they're looking at parking requirements. And one of the things actually they did mention was the fact that if we were developing parking across the street, whether or not if they develop affordable, would they be required for parking? And one of the latest pieces of legislation that passed actually allows developers not to build parking with their projects if they're doing all affordable. So I know that is one of the things they're considering. I don't know if, since we met, I think that was last month, if they have made a final decision on that. But that is one project that will be moving forward. There's a couple other projects downtown. One of the projects that we're moving forward on will be coming back to you next week. And that's with a purchase sale agreement to purchase the last piece that we need to assemble with the three parcels that were dedicated to the city for affordable housing development last year. And so we'll be bringing forward to you a project for an 80 unit affordable housing project just south of the Metro project next week in both closed and open sessions. And then there are two other projects on Front Street that are each, I think with the density bonus, essentially 175 units a piece on Front Street. And they're going forward with the mandatory, a minimum 20% affordable housing. However, they do the density bonus, that number will change. And then there is the project with Anton Development to purchase from DevCon the project on lower Pacific. And so that project timing is still, I know that they resubmitted for some of the architecture. So our planning director, Lee Butler, may be able to give a better sense of the timing of that particular project. Oh, Lee, you're muted. Sorry, thank you. Good evening, mayor and council members. Lee Butler, the planning director. And as Bonnie was mentioning, we've been in communication with Anton Development. They are doing some revisions to the project between Pacific Front and Laurel. It contains the parking lot, the public parking lot behind the former Taco Bell site. And we're expecting that they resubmit in the coming months. And they're hoping to break ground sometime early next year at the latest is what they're targeting. And then I had a question regarding, quickly we might be able to bring back recommendations from a nonprofit developer because I know there's been some conversation with non-profit developers and projects throughout town. So I guess how soon could we have somebody come back or we could have an idea of getting like an RFP out and getting some feedback from affordable housing developers to whether or not they can make this happen. Yeah, mayor, I'll answer that one. We did put out an RFQ last year for affordable housing developers and received responses from nine different affordable housing developers. So we have a short list. We've given them descriptions. It's the same group of developers that we were planning on using for the Metro phase one and two. However, we told them of other projects that the city had downtown and did list the library as a potential project in the future. So we can put out an RFP pretty quickly and get a response back on affordable housing developers that are interested. I think with the fact that the city is contributing the land and additionally, potentially some gap financing, I think we'll have a pretty robust response. I wanna see some other hands up. So I'm gonna defer some of my questions and allow other council members to speak. So that's Mayor Myers. Thank you. I have one, just one clarifying question for I guess probably the public work staff. So where as clear as possible, we will not, it's my understanding. And again, I appreciate all the public comment that we've had. And I do wanna follow up on this one question and one comment that we've heard a lot tonight. My understanding is that the parking garage is not going to be built with measure F funds. Is that correct? Absolutely. Okay. Thank you. Yeah, I just wanted to in the sort of interesting time and to maybe get into a discussion around action with the council. I was intending to put a motion on the table, but I don't know if there are additional questions of council. I wanna be respectful of our process. So I don't know if there's other questions. I know council member Golder, I don't think we've heard from her. So I don't know if she has questions or additional comments, but I'd be happy to put a motion on the table so that we can begin to deliberate. Thank you, mayor. Council member Brown, Golder, and then Byers. Yeah, thank you. I do have a couple of questions that are kind of more in the weeds related to the recommendation that's both for us. And I think for Bonnie Lipscomb mostly, you get all the questions. So I'm wondering about the timeline for, you said you think you can move through sort of getting an RFP out and potentially securing an affordable housing developer. What kind of, what's the timeline do you think on that? It would be nice to be able to kind of get that back in the fall or as early as possible. So I'm wondering what you're thinking is on the timeline there. That's one. And then another question that I have for you is about what would be the kind of procedure for applying for project-based section eight vouchers for this project? Would that happen with the developer or when would that decision get made and could we build that in? Those are the two I have for you. I think the other is for Tony. Yeah, on the timeline for the developer, we could definitely do that this summer. We actually, and I don't believe Jessica with our housing manager is on this evening, but we have been building calls regularly from the affordable housing developers that are very interested in any opportunities that might be coming out from the city. I think they recognize just with our past experience and projects and with our partnering with the city, they have a better chance of getting those low income housing tax credits. So they're definitely very willing partners. So that's, it's very feasible for us to come back to you after the summer with some recommendations on your selection of a developer. And regarding section eight, we would definitely, we could actually look and apply now for project-based vouchers with the housing authority. That's something that in general, we're in contact with the housing authority fairly regularly on this. And so I think that will likely, particularly if we're committing to, and I believe that there's a desire and a commitment to do that to very low units, that will be a good fit for the housing authority. So that's something we can do as well and bring back to you. Great. And then my last question, it may be for you as well, Bonnie. The question came up in some of the discussions I had over the weekend about the feasibility giving preference to a particular group. So for example, downtown employees as part of the project, I mean, is it possible to give that kind of preference? I feel like I've heard different things or I just maybe, I haven't been able to quite interpret what we're allowed to do and what we're not, so. Yeah, if we're using any of our affordable housing trust fund funding with the source of that, some of that funding coming from federal sources, we can't preference that for city employees. However, it is income eligible. So city employees that meet the income requirements of course are encouraged to apply on the market rate side. And some of that could potentially be workforce housing. That's something we could look into, depending on how we structure, if we end up even doing market rate units, I don't know if that's going to end up in the project at all. But depending on how we structure that, if we do an air ride steal, that is something that potentially could be negotiated with the developer. Thanks. And then Council Member Byers and then Council Member Watkins. First of all, I want to thank my colleagues, Council Members Brown and Vice Mayor Myers and Mayor Cummings for working so hard on this complicated issue. And so I appreciate all of your thoughtful analysis. And I just have a couple of questions and I'm not sure who can answer them. But one is, I think everybody knows that I would love to see a more pedestrian bike friendly Pacific Avenue and greater downtown. And so I'm just wondering how many surface parking spaces there are just along Pacific Avenue and schools were to be potentially eliminated for all or part of the day or at some point in the future, how many spaces could be replaced in a parking structure? If anyone knows, I don't know if anyone knows now or could tell me later. Yeah, we could get back to you on that number. I think there's about a hundred spaces on Pacific itself. There are 800 meters in the whole building. Oh, okay. And then, thank you. And then my follow-up question kind of piggybacks on what Council Member Brown asked in that for the affordable units, and I know you can't discriminate, but is there a way to ensure that the residents that would be moving in would be members of our community already, like living or working in the county and not just applying, getting on a list and then moving here for the affordable housing? Not that I don't want people to move here, but I just wanna support the people that are already here, if that makes sense. Council Member Golder, I would need to defer that question to our housing manager. We haven't specifically restricted to residents before. I mean, primarily that's the population that we're serving, but I would need to get back to you on that if we could have a preference, potentially for local residents. We have been successful and we've stood legal challenge in the past. For example, the Tannery Art Center Project is one where we had an artist preference. When we built that affordable housing, recognizing that we really had a need and we're losing a lot of our creative community. So we successfully had a preference for artists. So it may be possible to have a preference for residents, but I would need to get back to you to confirm that. Thank you. Thank you. Council Member Byers, I think you were next. I don't see your hand up there anymore. Oh, and you're muted, you're muted. A little blown away that we're not, no one's talking about the library. All these people, well, quite a few people spoke about parking, but Martina, I have a question for you, City Manager. And I'm looking at the recommendation. So right tonight, we are, the motion hasn't been made yet, but I'm assuming it has been. It's called the Mid-Use Downtown Library Project. But am I correct, tonight we are, yes or no, on the library project. Well, there's a series of recommendations and actually before you. Yeah, and they do parking and they do, yeah. Right, right, and they all involved a project, a mixed-use project, which has these three different components in it. And then there are very specific actions that you're taking around each one of them, but the project is a whole. So what you are, assuming this is what the council brings forward, you are directing some pretty specific actions around this project that is intended to include a housing component, a parking component in the library. And then within those different aspects of the projects or parameters that are recommended within these recommendations. And so far as the library is concerned, the parking is concerned, the housing is concerned, and they're outlined here before you, as well as processes with respect to the engagement process with the community, with respect to, well, also with respect to the farmers market, with respect to the old building, if the existing library building and the process for community engagement with respect to that. And then also with respect to some of the steps that will be coming back to you, such as a work program, a timeline, a financing plan. So there's a whole number of actions in here that really involve this project, which again is these three components, the various steps to bringing it back to you and the various features of each of those components. Now I understand these, I have no issue with them. That's why I think a lot of the people ended up talking about parking and housing. Yeah, and the library process will include a, there's been some engagement process already, but there'll be more engagement process to design and to really flesh out how to specifically how I'll be laid out and all its various features, including the arts component of it and all these other features. I don't know if Susan wants to sort of weigh in on some of those pieces of the library and some of the features. Yeah, no, I totally understand that. I just want to be assured that the housing project and the parking project will come back full blown, a project, environmental review, public input, public everything as we're doing with the library. Yes, because it's one project. So it's all gonna come back. It's one project with all of these things. Because they all have to relate. Two more components have to come back. And they interrelate from a, the individual financial perspective. So they all go together and they all have to come back together. They can't really separate them necessarily moving forward. But we will come back as, two will come back. We'll done the third or we've done the first and two left to come back. Well, all three will come back to you as a project. So the next steps with respect to the project which includes all three elements, all three elements will come back to you before you as a project includes these three elements. And those will continue to come back to you. Okay, I think I got it. All right, good, I got it. Thank you. I'll come back when I want to make some comments. Council member Watkins and then Vice Mayor Myers. Yeah, thank you. I too will reserve my comments, but I just also want to echo what Council member Golder shared which is just appreciation and gratitude to the staff committee for your hard work over these past months, 12 months a year, really engaging the community on what I've known as a challenging topic. And so I just, I know that you've done your due diligence and I just greatly appreciate your work. I just have a quick clarifying question and I apologize if I didn't hear it when you did the presentation, but in terms of the timeline, and I know Council member Brown brought this up, what was the timeline associated with sort of the farmer's market being relocated and or a sort of a temporary location for them while this could potentially be underway? And maybe that would be, I don't know who, could it be Bonnie or I'm not sure. Yeah, I think Bonnie may have really connected so much as needed. Sure, we've been keeping in contact with NACH and a few of the members of the farmer's market board and I'm actually going to their next board meeting and Council member Watkins, I know that you are sit on that board meeting as well on that board from the Council. So maybe we could set up a meeting and discuss kind of where we are in advance of that meeting as well. Over the last, I'd say a couple of months, NACH has met with independently, I think at least one or two developers who are interested in development on lot seven. And so there are some interesting ideas out there for the farmer's market. Of course, we had done that work in 2018 for the farmer's market on that site and having some just sort of conceptual rendering. The farmer's market is very open to discussing a permanent home. And I think that's their primary goal is to locate a permanent location. And NACH recently spoke at the last meeting, public meeting for the mixed use project and shared that one of the most important elements for him and for the farmer's market is to be able to have that permanent. And he recognized that lot four has, of the city owned lots, has the greatest development potential from a mixed use perspective. So he is definitely willing to work with us and does have some concerns about the lot seven site. However, we've also had some discussions with the adjacent property owners and may be able to expand that site to include some additional land, which is pretty exciting. And there's some opportunities to also have that nexus with the development on one of the projects that has that 60 foot public right away that connects up to the Riverwalk. So there's some really interesting aspects being able to expand the public space around the farmer's market that connects to the Riverwalk that we're all pretty excited about, including the farmer's market board. So we have the meeting with the farmer's market board in July and we have set aside funding. It's been in our capital improvement project budget for a couple of years now to move forward on the farmer's market piece. So with the direction that you give us, we'll be able to move forward on that with the board. Thank you, Bonnie. And to clarify what I think I know, I know those conversations are coming and just from that work is obviously just a dire goal. And the hope would be and the commitment is that we won't also not have a look into them in that process of acquiring a permit let's say to commit a site for them. So I know that's part of it. And that's what it is. I'm glad my colleagues had additional time to kind of talk through some of the specifics. I'd like to make a motion to conceptually approve subject to appropriate environmental review and the required permit process and give direction to staff. I'm getting a lot of feedback. I don't have anything on in my, and give direction. Okay. And give direction to staff to proceed with the design and development of a mixed use project on parking lot four by adopting a resolution with the following provisions. To relocate the downtown library to the ground floor of a mixed use project on lot four include an affordable housing project containing a minimum of low income dwelling units which should be targeted at the lowest levels of affordability including section eight vouchers. And hang on one second. I'm looking at my notes here. Special programs vouchers or other ways to achieve the deepest levels of affordability with the discretionary permit applications for the affordable housing component of the project to be submitted no later than the start of construction of the library. Include a parking garage with no more than 400 parking spaces which will provide the required number of parking spaces for affordable housing units associated with the mixed use project and replacement parking public parking spaces in the downtown area. And the restrict the total height of the building not to exceed the height of the university town center development or if this is impossible the development at 1010 Pacific Avenue. I would add to that specifically if additional height may provide more additional affordable units. Number two in the motion is to operate staff to proceed with selection of an owner's representative to manage the overall project implementation and a competitive RFP RFQ process as soon as possible for selection of a design build project team under, sorry, I'm just gonna move this up. Under item number three in the motion is to direct staff to work with the selected owner's representative and design build team to initiate a community process on project design based off of the preliminary option D concept developed by group four and to return to council with preliminary project designs for consideration. Number four is prior to the start of the construction of the mixed use project initiate a public process to consider reuse options of the current library site including affordable housing, a community commons and other public uses. Number five is direct staff to provide a report to city council one to two months following the selection of the design build team containing detailed financial information regarding each component of the mixed use project be a work program and timeline for implementing the affordable housing units, library and parking garage to include a public engagement process. The general schematic showing the integration of library, housing, parking and commercial use projects components, excuse me. And then six is direct staff to re-engage with the farmer's market and move forward with council direction or updated information to execute an agreement and develop a design for the permanent downtown farmer's market on parking lot seven located at the corner of Cathcart and front streets. And just one brief, quick comment on sort of as we start to work through this. My support of this mixed use project really relies on the outcome for the library. And I understand the frustration and the really the very compelling argument to not build more parking to support more carbon into our atmosphere. And there's a lot of good arguments of why we essentially should not be doing this parking lot but I think at the end of the day what really influenced me is really the quality of the library that we will achieve by providing this mixed use project. And specifically the effects on not having a library for two years, the impacts of not having adequate life learning and adult services with a smaller library, the loss of collections up to 19,000 items in the collections, the loss of our local genealogy and local history aspects. So at the end of the day, trying to be respectful of the voters to get a proper library and a solid library for our community that's really influencing sort of my interest in making this motion and in support for this project from my colleagues. So I'll stop there, thank you. Okay, so we've been motioned by Vice Mayor Myers to move forward with the recommendations that have been provided to our package today. House Member Watkins. I'll go ahead and second the motion. And I just have a few really brief comments, if I may. When I guess I'll just, I'll go back to just showing and expressing my appreciation to you all on the subcommittee for your, just your hard work on this to really get us to this place to as Vice Mayor Myers pointed out to get us to a really a library that is fitting for our community and is in alignment with what the voters sought when they voted yes on Measure S. And as we've heard from our library director that libraries are really just pillars of inclusion and equity and information and free access. And as we evolve and there's digital access it's critical in having a 21st century library. So with that and with a sincere appreciation to the community, to the subcommittee and to those who got us to this place this evening I just, I will happily second the motion. To the motion by Vice Mayor Myers, seconded by Council Member Watkins. I wanted to see if the library director could just step in for a second because I will say that what got us to this option was the fact that we compared the two options that we had, the renovation versus the creating a new library. And what really stood out as we were doing the evaluation is that we were gonna lose a lot of programmatic capabilities at the current library site. We were gonna lose square footage. So just wondering, and this ream heart of this new library option actually maximizes our ability to meet a lot of the goals that have been set up by the voters than previously and had come up in many public conversations. So Susan, I was wondering if maybe you could speak to the two options and kind of what you gained from the second option or what you're gonna lose if you would go with the renovation. I've never been very fond of the renovation in that I think Abe Jason architects are wonderful architects, but they clearly articulated that we really needed $7 million more to do the renovation. And that the kinds of things that they were taking out were going to have significant impact on the ability of the library to function. I think the biggest would be the loss of print collection. I know we're moving to digital collections, but I still believe that there is a strong role for print play over the next 20 to 30 years, particularly with children, but we have found that print collection still maintain high usage. I was really sad to see how much the adult services were reduced in the renovation. We do all sorts of adult programs, everything from ELL programs for new immigrants, legal aid, tax assistance and services for people experiencing homelessness, as well as a series of arts and cultural programs that I think are central to make a vivacious aging community have educational opportunities throughout their lifetimes. And those were greatly going to shrink in the remodel. And then I just think that the multi-use building and its site created some new opportunities for us like the zoning issues. When we did the community survey, hundreds of people really talked about safety issues in the downtown library, and our mission is to really serve everyone. We do believe we have a mission to serve the people experiencing homelessness, but we looked nationally at how libraries were managing this. I think our best example was Madison, Wisconsin, and they really created zones in the libraries and entrances and exits for different patrons and the urban nature of the two sort of frontiers. On the street, really gave us some opportunity to do that. The other thing was the old facility wasn't gonna allow us to do a lot of the green updates that we had hoped to do, like have solar panels. But last and not least is we would have been closed for the renovation for at least two years with no budget for a temporary space. And the truth is there would be costs associated with the staff and the collections, regardless of whether they were recognized or not. This way, we'll be able to keep the library open the entire time and simply move to a new site. This is my understanding from the presentation that this could be a lead certifying, help us mitigate it. I'll just say briefly before moving on to my colleagues as well, is that given the impact of COVID-19, one thing that concerns me as someone who cares about the environment and works on climate issues is the fact that many people are likely not gonna be very interested in getting into mass forms of transit. So I don't envision that we will be packing people on the buses similarly as we did previously for students who are wanting to go to campus. And I also believe that as we're moving forward, a lot of folks are gonna transition to electric vehicles, which I think is great. And I'm hoping that the infrastructure we can provide would actually support more electric vehicles that have a lower carbon footprint on our environment. But I don't think that in the next 30 years, we're gonna see a dramatic shift in people moving from cars into solely using multi-mobile forms of transportation. And I would hope that we could go in that direction, but I think that by providing some additional parking, but not very much, it's fairly minimal, given that we'll have a lot of lots coming offline. My feeling is that as we continue to see drivers get to use that there are other lots that we can also consider taking offline to reduce parking over time, if that is in fact about what needs to be, just to climate change is commuting, and we are not affordable housing prices, which is why I think that these components that we can get out. The library meets our community standards that we are providing some more parking for the lots that are coming offline, and that we're providing housing to really make sure that there's a good opportunity and a lot of help and benefit of a huge amount of parking here. Yeah, actually, now that you've brought, and I can ask her some specific questions. Many of the people who spoke tonight were willing to do fundraising. Did the architectural firm, I was out of town through that whole thing and not around, so if I had been, I probably wouldn't know the answer to this. Were they just given this budget and could you design something within this budget? But if we were able to have another 10 or 15, $20 million, could we meet many of the goals that you articulate are so important, and I agree with you on the library. I know all those programs are extremely important. So did they look, or did you stop at the $27 million? We did, in both cases, look at some of the ad alternates we could add with additional resources. I would say that our budget's still very light in the multi-use building as well. We're spending about $600 a square foot. Our other libraries are coming in at almost twice that. So I expect we will do an extensive fundraising even out of that campaign regardless of the project. Talk about, when I moved to town, I went down to the Carnegie Library and of course it was demolished and the public library moved over on Grant Street to some empty building and they ran the library there for over three years. It is possible to, something would have to accommodate it, absolutely. It's not impossible that you just find another. And then you've got Gault which is less than a mile away. So people do have access to a library. So it's just, I think back the day I moved here and that was happening and I watched it all. Believe it or not, it's been 50 years so. But yeah, it is hard. I've also run a temporary library. I just would say it would have a cost and the cost would be probably a half a million. And I hate to spend it on a temporary library. I'd rather spend it on the project. And Catherine, can you shift either I don't know if it's on your end if it's still a lot of the literature like it's coming straight into. I'll turn it off in a minute. We have a motion in a second. So I thought I could make my comments and I need that light on to see. Obviously then. If you can shift your screen a little bit because. Oh, oh. Is that better? Yeah, I don't need the screen. Is that better? Yeah, it's a little bit better. Yeah. Okay, thank you. Yeah, now we've got the motion. I'll go ahead and make my comments. Okay. And I'm going to read it because I've got so many quotes from the bond measure that I want to be very specific on it. Four years ago, voters approved a $67 million bond measure whose stated purpose was to modernize, upgrade and repair local libraries across Santa Cruz County. The argument in favor of that ballot measure outlined its purposes as follows. Upgrade, outdated inadequate electric wiring, replace worn, tacky, leaky roof, improve spaces for programs serving all ages, students, seniors, young adults and community groups and ensure fully accessible libraries and programs. Most of the 18,080 people sitting voters to approve that ballot measure might have reasonably expected that the city's portion of the bond money would be used to upgrade the main library across from city hall. Very few of those voters I think could have, could never predicted that the upgrade and repair money would be used to construct a brand new library and the multi-use parking garage elsewhere. Even though the language of the measure included the power to construct or expand library facilities where necessary, I believe that very few of those who voted to approve this bond measure think that removing the existing library to another location is necessary by any stretch of the imagination and I certainly concur with that. Convenient perhaps for those who intend to construct a new downtown parking garage, but necessary, that's a stretch. Surely with millions of dollars available to spend, it is beyond, it is not beyond our capacity to find ways to modernize and upgrade our main library in the current location, even if it's necessary to store the books and maybe the people during the library rehabilitation. This would be in complete accord with the intent of the original bond measure. I've been a professional librarian my entire career. To me, a library is more than a building with books. It is one of the oldest and most prized institutions that can grace a community. Our town, our main library has occupied that area for over a hundred years. Not, and I will not be able to vote to move it because I don't find that it is necessary. So therefore I will be voting against the motion. Thank you. Council Member Goldner. This has been a super complicated issue and we can't even get consensus here at the Golder House around the dinner table. But as I think about it, and every day I work at Santa Cruz City Schools and we strive to ensure like our mission statement that demographics don't determine outcomes. And I heard a lot of people speak about the unhoused population that uses the library. But I also want to speak about the children that use the library and like the causes of poor literacy among low income children are complex but access to books is one of the biggest obstacles and perhaps the biggest opportunities. So I think making books available to children, especially from low income backgrounds can have significant and it can have like a profound effect and can help us dismantle this, you know, systemic racism that we've been talking about all evening and can really contribute to a student's academic literacy skills and academic potential. And in Santa Cruz City Schools, we have got about 7,000 students from K-12 and none of them were able to vote on this measure. And as a reading teacher, like I have to argue that a modern library would be a resource not only to the children of the community but for children of the community for generations to come. And it would show that we have, we're leaving a legacy of people that value reading and learning and research and equity. And so it's not just like a gift to us but to our children and our great grandchildren as well. And so I also love the idea of the outdoor dining and pedestrian access on the mall and that started in response to the COVID-19 crisis. But the more I think about it, like a flat parking lot seems to be the most inefficient way to park cars. And then I think about the farmer's market and I think that I hope that that can move and find a permanent home. And I know we're kind of like expanding the footprint of downtown. And so I don't think we're moving the library from the center of downtown. We're kind of relocating where the center of downtown is and hopefully like expanding along the river levee and making downtown bigger and more beautiful and robust. And so I got a ton of outreach from people in the community in favor or against this project. And the opponents of the project are very well organized and it appeared to have like a lot of time. But with some people that I've had to actually reach out to because they're, you know, my constituents, they're busy and they're young families and they don't have time for the level of civic engagement, but overwhelmingly they were in favor of the mixed use project. And so ultimately I think I'm in favor of the project because ultimately there's never going to be a solution that's going to make everybody happy. But we do need more housing. We need a modern library. We need more efficient urban parking. And I studied the Santa Cruz Public Libraries Facilities Master Plan from 2013-14 and the mixed use building with an option throughout the entire process. It's not like a new idea. It's just being like sprung on us. And so I keep hearing from the community that we want pedestrian and bike and friendly downtown. And we need more affordable housing but then every project that comes forward I hear people saying, yeah, but not here. And so I'm not a politician. I'm just a, I'm a teacher. I'm a mom and I'm an active member of the community that wants to support the businesses downtown. And not everyone has the luxury to walk or bike downtown. And I'm optimistic that the garage will include electric charging and bike parking and provide parking not only for the residents of the housing but also shoppers and workers downtown. And so I think with this project we can get the biggest bang for our buck. And I've lived downtown and I've worked downtown and parking was hard for me. And so I think the more flat parking lots that can be eliminated and built more efficiently I'm for that. And I've heard the design is yet to be determined. So I get kind of like cringe when I hear people say it's gonna be ugly because we don't know it could be a beautiful building. And I would hope that in the planning with a robust art council that we can repurpose those trees that have to be removed and they can be removed and they can be made into like beautiful furniture or art that can be used within the library. So there's my soap bar. Oh, shut up now. Thank you, Council Member Golder, Council Member Brown, Council Member Watkins. And thank you. So I do have a few comments I wanna make before the vote. So this is not a decision that I have made easily. I have been really pleased to participate in the subcommittee process, which I think we sort of naively thought we were gonna get through in about three months or so. And it's taken longer than that, but I don't regret spending the time and really diving in to kind of all the angles we could come up with and getting as much information as possible. And I'm really pleased to get to the point where we could bring this recommendation of the council tonight. You know, I'll just reiterate that I really believe we did our best to achieve an inclusive and thorough process and engage the community on the library programmatically, citing wise environmental and social equity criteria. And there's a lot of difference of opinion in those areas about what would best serve our community. And yeah, it just really was a pleasure working with Mayor Cummings and Vice Mayor Myers on this. And I wanna give a special shout out to Amanda Rotella. She is amazing. And you know, moved us through this process and helped us kind of track and curate the information and organize our activities. And you know, it just was like so helpful and just a really pleasure to work with. Susan Nemitz as well for, you know, just really caring about the library so much. And that really, you know, kind of rubbing off on, at least on me in the discussions we had. So I just really appreciate it. And I think everybody involved really does want the best library for our community, the best library we can get. And so, but I also will say, you know, I've not been a supporter of the mixed use option historically. And what got me to consider being a part of making this recommendation was, one, a sense that the council, it was moving, you know, pretty crystallizing support around the mixed use project. But also the possibility of a meaningful contribution to our affordable housing stock. I mean, that is my biggest priority as a council member. It will continue to be. So that's it. I'm glad that we were able to kind of move in the direction of hopefully getting some meaningful affordable housing in terms of the number of units and the level of subsidy to allow for very low income residents to access those units. And so I worked, you know, I worked to build in some conditionality around that. And I'm glad, I think we have a better proposal as a result of all the work that we've done. But I still, I have to say that there's so many unknowns and so many variables about how this could work. You know, where will the funding come from? What would it compete with other affordable housing projects that we are planning in the downtown? And so moving through this process has really given me the space to see a lot of the positives. And, you know, I wanna feel, you know, I wanna feel like I can wholeheartedly support it. However, I have concerns, I'm just gonna say now, I have concerns that outweigh the benefits that I see despite the kind of moving through this process, you know, so thoroughly. I just feel like there are too many unknowns and even with conditionality, it's hard to kind of guarantee, I mean, I don't think we can guarantee that these units will be affordable. I, yeah, so those are some of my concerns. And I'll just say in my role as a subcommittee, member, I feel like my charge was really to really actively engage in that process and be, you know, genuinely a part of it and really genuinely wanna come to a recommendation we could all make and to take it seriously, to, you know, to do all the things that we did that have been kind of listed and discussed here, so I won't repeat them. And, you know, to really, so that's a technical aspect to really, you know, roll up our sleeves and get into the weeds and I feel good about having done that. In my role here tonight, I think that, you know, my job here is to represent the public and to represent the public interest. And in my time on the council, I have never seen a more lopsided correspondence. I mean, people have said three to one, but, you know, as I've tracked it over time, it feels to me like it's closer to four to one, opposing the mixed use project. I don't wanna go in to repeat the litany of concerns that people have raised, many of which I share, but I do think that the unknown, so I'll just say the unknown potential to realize the affordable units, concern about the timeline and the completion questions, I mean, Mid-Pen says that, you know, some of the projects that have recently been approved in the unincorporated part of the county will take at least five years to kind of pull together, the, up to five years to pull together the financing to build those projects. So that kind of makes me nervous about the timeline as well for doing a project this way with the library. I obviously have concerns about the use of lot, the loss of lot four. What do we mean when we say hire better uses? I think that means different things for different people and that's been really clear in the communications we've received. So, I guess the final concern, and this gets back around to my feeling that I really need to be a representative of the public, the voters, and based on what I've heard, I think we, you know, I have a real concern that we will lose the public trust, the voters trust in doing this. We've talked about the potential loss of voter trust if we don't deliver a 21st century library, but I'm not sure exactly what that means. I worry more that we'll lose the public trust if we spend the money on something that they did not believe that they were voting for. So with that, I, having been involved in making the recommendation, and like I said, feeling very good about being part of that process and what's come out of it, I am not gonna be supporting the motion on the floor this evening. I do look forward to working, to continuing to work on the library project and whatever form it takes. And really, thank you for everything you've all done as well to get us here. I'm gonna leave it there. A few questions related to, rather than questions with factors to consider, because it sounds like we have a number of factors in this. And, you know, letting for office and then getting elected, I think that there's a responsibility that we have to ensure that we're using our tax dollars to maximize them to the greatest extent possible to bring about the greatest amount of good within our community. What we have been proposed and what we have been shown in terms of the remodels of the two libraries, given the resources that we have, I personally believe that Jason Architect had mentioned that he would not get a fully adequate library. And that is one of the things that's first and foremost that I'm thinking about is how can we get the best, most quality library with the funding that we have. And given the time that's gone by, it seems like, and just based on what we've gotten in terms of architectural conceptual design, which we all agreed on and that we're discussing this issue of trust. I think we went into this process together. We agreed to keep our minds open and we brought forward a recommendation that we all agreed upon. And if there had been a need for further discussion on these two options, we could have had that discussion. But when we walked into what we're proposing tonight, we'd all agreed that this was the best option. And so I'm gonna honor similar to one of the items we had earlier related to Canada. I'm gonna honor the work that we did together and the agreement that we agreed upon and move forward with this option, which I think there's a lot and reaches a lot of the goal that we set out for in our community. We've mentioned that it's more environmentally friendly than the previous option. It will allow us to provide affordable housing, which is critically, which is where we're at with a lot of the crisis and it's a critical need in our community. It's the best design for the library thus far or the best use of funds. And so, when I ran for all, and I'll also say that there's a lot, personally, I felt like there was a lot of misleading information when I was running, I did oppose, and I still do oppose, a six-story parking garage going on top of the library. But I was not aware at the time that there were opportunities for other options. And I had numerous forums or a few forums when asked if I would consider housing with the library. I actually was open to that idea because we are in so desperate need of affordable housing in our community. And had I known that this could have been an option, at that time, could have been supportive of an affordable housing project on top of a library or mixed into the use of a library. So, I just wanna share that because, again, I'm also not a politician, I'm somebody who really deeply cares about this community. And I really wanna see us meet our goals around housing and providing all the infrastructure for our community. So, I'm gonna move forward and honor the process that we went through in meeting with the community. I do, however, have a number of concerns that have come up that I would like to see if we can consider adding to these conditions. And I sent those over to Bonnie. So, Bonnie, maybe if you could put them on the screen. And maybe we can put them on briefly and discuss how best to incorporate them into the recommendations that we have before this evening. Mayor, I don't have them. So, did you maybe send it to Bonnie Lipscomb? Maybe I didn't. Mayor, why do you have that? Here, if it's possible to add just a couple of comments. I just wanna share my deep appreciation for everybody's perspective and comments brought forward. And I just recognize the difficulty of unknown and the various perspectives and the challenges associated with these types of decisions. I do want to also just really reiterate what Councilman Golder brought up, which is the library for the future for our next generation. And as a parent of a child who has dyslexia, there's that interface between technology and traditional literacy. And that shouldn't be for only the privileged parents to work for their kids, but for any parents to be able to access for their child. And that's the nexus, I think, of a future library for our kids. And just standing behind what our roots of libraries are around inclusion and equity and access to information for every single person, no matter what, there's so much power in that, especially as we move forward for generations with the interface of technology. I also just want to share, and I don't think it needs to be added as a friendly amendment, but we talked a little bit earlier today as well about this huge deficit of childcare. And as we think about our potential use of facilities, whether it be the current location or the reuse of the current location and or the potential integration into the new location, I'd like to see the city staff to explore what a childcare facility could look like in that conversation. And then also just briefly want to share my appreciation and support for what Mayor Cummings brought up, which is that we have an opportunity to make this a very green building in terms of climate sustainability and how we could explore tax and cash incentives to be able to move us in that direction as well. I again, also just really want to thank the subcommittee for your due diligence on this topic. I think it was obviously a very thoughtful and difficult process with conflicting ideas on both sides and with the integration of the affordable housing and the criteria used and with at the heart of it being a future library and the best potential library for a community. I really respect where you landed. So those are just sort of my brief comments and thank you for the time. Thank you. So I sent some additional considerations over to Bonnie, but maybe she can put on the screen because I do also share the concern with making sure this actually happens that we do get affordable housing into this project because again, I also wouldn't have been supportive of this, would we have not been able to get high quality library and also the affordable housing if this had none of the project that was parking on top of the library. I don't think that that would have been a good use of community funds. So a couple of these I think might already be built in, but maybe we can after people have a chance to take a look at them, we can see where best to incorporate them into the motion. But the first is that we direct the affordable housing component of the project be the highest project priority for funding from the low income housing trust fund. So just ensuring that we are using the funding to actually make that affordable housing happen. And if there's other ways we can get the funding or future funds to make that happen, then we do so. That we direct the economic development, release an RFP RFQ process as soon as possible to return to the second meeting in August with a recommendation from the nonprofit developer for the affordable housing component of the project. Also like to see if we get the, well, I think what we should do is move forward with that being the goal and if we need additional time that we can do it. But I think the intention is that we get this out immediately and we see what we can get and what developers will be interested in taking on this project. The third is to direct economic development staff to apply to the County Housing Authority for section eight project space vouchers for the affordable housing component of the project. I think that was brought up earlier by the economic development director and she said that is something that we can do. So I think to the extent we can, we should immediately move forward with that. Express the city council's interest intentions that to the extent feasible downtown employees be given preference for the affordable housing project units. Again, we discussed that earlier. And so to the extent feasible, but we can do that that we incorporate that as well. Should we not be able to move the mixed use housing project forward, the city council move forward with the renovation and that is really trying to address this timeline and this honest intention of getting this mixed use affordable housing and library project. And should we not be able to make the affordable mixed use housing and library project work with additional parking that we move ahead with the renovation because I would hate to see us in this situation where we then have to have another six months of discussion of what the mixed use product will be. And I think that it really is a way that we can hold ourselves accountable for ensuring that we will get more affordable housing. And then one that was left out and maybe can come back on a later date is that the parking is created that should it go to housing that only go to affordable housing units. So I think that there's a major concern that parking is going to be created of market-raised units to get out of their housing with the parking requirements. And if we are building parking, then I think that it should go to going to get love. If it's going to be shared with housing that it only go to affordable housing units. So the parking one is an additional one. It's number six that I just came up with. But those are the items for consideration for the maker of the motion and the seconder of the motion. Thank you, mayor. I just, I have a question. I just, I don't disagree with number one, but I also know that we have at least two other affordable housing projects that we're also trying to put together right now. And I just want to, I just want some comment back from staff on your number one so that we're not setting up competing. My goal is that we get affordable housing built. And I understand the concern that people have that this may be smoke and mirrors, but I just, I just want my, I just like to do the due diligence with staff if we can on number one real quick. Bonnie, do you have a comment on that? I actually can't see the screen share for some reason. So I was listening, but if you could let me know which one is number one. Number one is to rest with the affordable housing component of the project be the highest priority project for funding from the low income housing trust fund. So just to clarify that priority over other projects that council has approved affordable housing funding for. That would be yes. And because I think the concern that I've heard from folks in the community is that they want to ensure that this, that that we are actually intentionally kind of putting in affordable housing. And many people are concerned that if we move forward with mixed use that the funding won't be there. And then we'll say, we can't do the, we can't do the low income housing. So we're just going to move forward with something else. And so I just want to know how we can ensure that we're going to have affordable housing. And this is a mechanism, if this needs to be done, then I think that we should, we've been, I think it should be done. If there's another way that's fine, but I think we need to have some assurance that there's going to be low income housing that's produced and this is one of the mechanisms. So I'm just like, I think with the commitments that we already have on the Metro project as well, we have considerable financial commitments. I'd be more comfortable if we identified both projects as priority funding for the affordable housing trust fund just because we've invested a considerable amount and have a developer who, and we're submitting an application next month for that. I do think that our funding applications, one, which is by formula of the state for the 1.5 million over the next five years will come forward. And I do believe we'll get a portion of that match that you also approved earlier today. So I do think that they'll be funding to commit to both projects, but I don't know the exact dollar amount since that balance in our affordable housing trust fund, which is a little under three million right now. Hopefully we'll be able to get that up to six, seven, maybe even eight million in the next year. And then I do think we'll have enough funding for both projects, but I think it also really depends on the number of units that we want to do and what that bridge funding that's needed. But I definitely feel comfortable committing it to both projects, but I don't feel totally comfortable with prioritizing one over the other. Yeah, and for that reason, I mean, it just, to me, it just, it takes away the end. It's just hamstrings are all of our other affordable housing work that we've been working on. And I just feel, I won't accept the wording as it is. I'm happy to work on some wording that we can agree on certainly, but we have other projects that have been that we've been working on as well. And we need to balance, we need to balance, I guess, the trust in our community that we will deliver on the projects. And so, I'd like to work with you, Mayor Cummings, on maybe some language that we could agree to, and I would be happy to do that. Well, if it sounds like this project and the Metro project, which is another 100% affordable projects are the two priority projects then one of the project and the Metro affordable housing project be the highest priority projects for funding from the low income housing trust fund. We are intending on making those two projects the affordable housing work. I will accept the, I will accept the amendment, but I would like to just make a statement that if we go with the renovation, we don't get any, any housing. So again, I mean, I think we need to, we need to keep the larger picture in mind in terms of the opportunity that comes along with this ability to look at a different strategy around getting a library that meets the programmatic needs of our community. So I'll just state that, Bonnie, I'd like to just double check is that going to, I just want to be very realistic about all the money that we're talking about and making sure that we're not going to defeat either project if we can, if we can avoid it. Yeah, I'm just, I'm looking through the recommendations now. The only other thing just as I'm reading and thinking about that I just want to bring up is the timing. While I feel comfortable releasing the RFP. Wait, wait, Bonnie, just hang on one sec. We're still working on number one. If we add, if we add language that also acknowledges specific station. Okay, okay, so I'll accept that. Okay, so my comment on number two, go ahead, Markine. I'm sorry to interrupt. The one other thing I just wanted to point out is one of the things that's part of the recommendations here is that we're supposed to bring you back a detailed financial information regarding each component of the project. So as well as the timeline in a work program for each of the items. So there will be an opportunity for you to evaluate that here and then decide whether it's going to be financially viable or not. It's part of what we have to do is obviously we have, we've done a general financial analysis at the ability analysis, but we do have to do some additional work. We have received interest on the part of some financial consultants who have done mixed use projects like this. So we do know that there's a variety of different financing options available to us. Obviously we haven't done a lot of detailed analysis. I'm not knowing whether the project was going to move forward. But anyway, I just want to remind the council that we will be coming back to you with a detailed financial analysis in any case. Because, and so I would suggest obviously being relatively flexible there. Yeah, and so I think that it's nice and it comes back and there's additional financial mechanisms that we can obviously change this. But I think that we need to have some level of assurance that we're going to be committing seriously, making a serious commitment to the affordable housing component of this. So just so I'm clear, Mayor Cummings-Wood, the following wording work directs at the affordable housing component of the project. Along with the Metro project be the high, remain a high priority project or remain, I guess remain the highest priority project for funding from the low income housing trust fund. Does that sound right? Okay. Yeah. And my question for Bonnie on the RFP, RFQ is, I know when I've responded to RFPs and RFQs by the time they get out, you usually have at least 30 or some plus days. So I'm just curious about this timeline considering the, where we are. We're, well, yeah, it's almost beginning of July, right? I know that that's exactly what I was thinking about. I was thinking about, we, you know, it'll probably take us at least a week to get the RFP together. We will try to fast track. As I said, we do have nine developers that are anxious to move forward. But this is a complicated project and just sort of thinking through these things. I'm just thinking through the elements that we need to put in there. With the fact that we're applying for these two state funding, affordable housing funding sources, you know, one thing that's out there that may not mesh really well with this, with this timeline of the second meeting in August is that we may not have, I'm thinking we probably won't have the feedback on what those awards are for our affordable housing trust funds from the local housing trust match and the other PLHA match. So by then, and those are significant sources of revenue. And that's probably going to impact the developer's response on their commitment to the project just from what the city is going to be able to provide. So I'd love for there to be some flexibility of putting something in the RFP where we define what may be possible as far as financing and get a response from the developer at that and then come forward to you with some recommendations and options based on that. Because I do think there's going to be a few moving pieces that we won't have settled that could impact the selection of the developer based on our funding availability. Is there flexibility, mayor Cummings, on either a report out from staff on the status of the RFP and the timing of its release with regards to understanding more about the possibility of the grant funding. So I would change this to say direct economic development to return to council at the second meeting in August with an update on the release of the RFP. I would just, I think to make it simple, end of the sentence on the status of the RFP, RFQ process and grants for affordable housing. So that way we feedback on how this process is going. We get to know the status of the grants. If we're receiving them or not, I think that that's a, that would be appropriate. Okay, thank you. I accept that. I believe number three was part of my changes to the motion. I identify both section H, deep affordability, section eight and also special program vouchers. So if that's amenable, I think I captured your, maybe your intent in number three. I think that's correct. I know we talked a lot about number four. I believe there's some due diligence that needs to be done on whether or not we can legally do a preference-based project. Is that true? Yeah, I'm, Tony may wanna, our city attorney may wanna weigh in on this as well, but we need to make sure we're following fair housing laws as well. So that preference, while we've been able to use it before really has been a preference and not a requirement. And there may be more legislation that has come since we did that project at the tannery. So we definitely would wanna circle back on that. And I just wanna point out that the reason why it says to the extent feasible is to really allow that flexibility if there are legal constraints that prevent us from giving preference to downtown employees. I think that obviously we won't do that, but I think that to the extent that we can, we really wanna try to get people to live where they work, which has been a big point of the discussion of impacts to climate. So to the extent that we can focus on having people who work downtown, living downtown, I think that's the intention of this portion of the motion language. And the city manager, Martin Bernal, do you have a hand up? Yeah, I had it from earlier, but the one thing I can just add since you're recognizing me in terms of just bringing back the various items that the council members have mentioned, council member Watkins mentioned exploring childcare facilities. And so that's something we can do to see whether that's something that's viable with respect to the mixed use building or I think she suggested also potentially the old building and whether that might be something that can be incorporated. So if we can certainly do that, if that's council wishes us to do that. Yeah, I'd like to add that into the motion. So number four, I'll accept that amendment. Number five, I believe Martin mentioned that our existing motion is to direct staff to come back basically with the financial information. Based on that, Martin, would we have an updated recommendation on whether or not the mixed use is a viable project or I mean, obviously we have to meet the voters objectives. We need to do appropriate upgrades of our library. And so I'm happy I can accept this language, but I believe the intent is included in the existing motion under item five. I mean, I think if you're asking me, yes, we should when we come back with the, when we do the financial on the losses, I mean, we should know whether it's viable and what else is needed. And so then that would be the opportunity to then provide direction about what to do next, which, at this point, we would be left with looking at a renovation project. A project, but I think if we have that in and then we will see what we can get at the next meeting, at the meeting in August, I imagine is we're really trying to get the affordable housing component and if we can't maximize those benefits, then we'll likely need to move forward with renovation. As far as the timing of the financial analysis, I have to check with Bonnie on that, but select the design bill team. And then after that, they would assist us with the financial packaging or information as well as the work plan and timeline. So, Bonnie, do you have a timeframe for that? Yeah, Martín, that was exactly what we were talking about from the timeline as far as getting the design bill team and then moving forward because we need to figure out some of those elements as far as the design and the housing and how many levels and before we can do some robust cost estimates. With that said, with some of our partners, we have been looking at general financing, financing sources already, both for the affordable housing component and we can't get some feedback within this timeline on that. So, I think in the spirit of the earlier recommendation, as far as coming back in August, we'll continue to get all the information that we can as it's available and bring it back to council, but to have really detailed cost estimates we are going to need to have at least the schematic design that council has approved so that we can move forward and get a little more accurate numbers on that projection. With regard to that, I think I will not accept your number five mayorcomings because it sounds like it's sort of inherent in the existing motion, is that acceptable to you? I just will then, if that's not acceptable at the point in time, I will say that when this comes back, I just want to be clear that like part of them are not made to our intention of moving forward. This is that there's been a confidence that we can make affordable housing project work on this site and I think that we've already kind of set our standards, but I'm willing to withdraw that because I think we've already set our standards with having a minimum of 50 affordable units and if we can't make that, then we're gonna have another conversation on this topic. So I'm happy to remove that at this time and then we'll have to, based on the financial projections and our ability to meet the affordable housing, the low income housing, we'll need to revisit that when we have these conversations around finances. And then the one that isn't shown, and I think we can also talk about at a later point, but this idea that we're not building parking for market rate units. So I was parking for housing units to only go to affordable units. I'm happy to include that now. If that's acceptable, if not I'll be making it again at a later point in time, but I think that we shouldn't be building parking for to accommodate market rate housing. If it's a minimal to you, Mayor Cummings, I think that there's so much information that we should be getting back, hopefully in the next 60 days that with that additional information, I think we can potentially shape a stronger recommendation if you think that's appropriate. So we can revisit that, capture that in the minutes, obviously, but maybe not include that in the motion this evening, if possible. Okay, yeah, because we'll have to revisit this again and it sounds like in about a month or late August, assuming that this is coming back in late August, it seems like, based on some of the conversation we've been having, I don't know, Martín or Bonny could weigh in on that, but. I would have to defer to Bonny on that. Bonny, do you have that sense of the timeframe? I think definitely the second week in August would be more realistic, the second meeting. Okay. And that would be more of a preliminary sort of financial analysis without all the detail of the particular project. So that would come later, but we can give you a sense of general feasibility. And with regards to the requests from Council Member Watkins, I'm very interested in that concept, obviously. I do know that in working with the library staff over the last year, the square footage of what may be possible in this mixed use is programmatically meeting some of the objectives, but certainly not all. So I'd like to make that as an intent statement or direct that potentially be looked at as one of the options for the existing library site. If that's amenable to you. I think trying to load, I just don't know enough about child care centers combined. I just don't know. I think it's a bigger decision point, and I'd like to acknowledge it, but figure out a way that it also has some flexibility. And especially with regards to looking at the existing site, existing library site as possibly a place to look for that. Are you amenable to that? Or just an expression of child care as another use? I guess I just wanted to share that. One of the things about sort of a location for a mixed use building where you're gonna have housing and walkable communities. And part of that is we're increasing density downtown is access to child care. And that's also where a number of our businesses are. And I think we heard earlier that's a huge need in terms of reopening our economy. And so just recognizing that's part of the fabric of our society to function. Having not been part of a subcommittee, I wasn't able to sort of express that in that context, but didn't want to miss the opportunity to express that as part of this conversation. And I also recognize that it might, it's fluid purely and there's lots that we are gonna have coming to us in the future, but don't wanna lose really the intention and opportunity that we could have around making that a priority. So I'm fine with not taking it as a specific directive, something more moving forward. Okay, thank you. So I accept. So Bonnie Bush, did you catch the language on number one? I accept that. I think we are fine with number two. Number three was already part of the motion I made. Number four is fine. And number five, we won't accept. And I looked at my seconder, if council member Watkins is amenable to these friendly amendments. Yeah, thank you. Thank you, mayor. Yeah, and I'll just say that when we bring this, when we bring this back to find out more about financing, I'm gonna be really interested in understanding what extent, the extent to which we can meet these goals around providing affordable housing. If I may, and vice mayor, I just wanna make sure that the, or maybe it's Bonnie, that the minutes reflect the childcare direction, even if it's not specifically added to the amendment. Just to clarify that, because the minutes are action items, we wouldn't typically minute it. So do you want it to be a statement for the record? That's fine. You can make it a statement for the record. I don't have your exact language in front of me. So I'm wondering if you could read the motion language and then we can read what's on the screen in front of us and then we can take it to a vote. Yes, let me. Rather than rereading the whole thing, can I just narrow in on the changes that I did? Changes that I did make, is that okay, Bonnie? I know it's gonna take a little bit of time, but I just think for the sake of the public, just hearing what the final motion is. Okay, okay. Absolutely, thank you, mayor. So I'm making a motion to conceptually approve subject to appropriate environmental review and the required permit process and give direction to proceed, excuse me, with the design and development of a mixed use project on parking lot four, located at Caskart, Cedar and Lincoln streets by adopting a resolution with the following provisions. Relocate the downtown library to the ground floor of a mixed use project on lot four. Include an affordable housing project containing a minimum of 50 low income dwelling units, preferably with, I believe it was, with deepest affordability possible. Including section eight and special program vouchers. And then the sentence would continue with the discretionary permit application for the affordable housing component of the project to be submitted no later than the start of the construction of the library. Include a parking garage with no more than 400 parking spaces, which will provide the required number of parking spaces for affordable housing units and replacement public parking spaces in the downtown area. And de-restrict the total height of the building not to exceed the height of the university town center development, or if this isn't possible, the development at 1010 Civic Avenue, especially as regards the housing portion of the project. Authorize staff to proceed with selection of an owner's representative to manage the overall project implementation of an administrative RFP, RFQ process for selection of a design build project team. And number three, I'm trying to make sure I fit yours in here. So part of that, yeah, so under number two, we should add that the under two, it should say authorize staff to proceed with selection of an owner's representative to manage the overall project implementation and a competitive RFP, RFQ process as soon as possible. I'm looking at Justin's number two language to return at the second meeting in August with a recommendation for the nonprofit developer for the affordable housing component of the project informational update for council should the RFP, RFQ process not be completed. Is that amenable, okay. We got number three is done. I think the only other piece of that is a report back on the RFP process and funding for the project. And funding, okay. I'm trying to capture your number one here. I think we'll make a new, let's just continue on direct staff to read with the owner's representative. Number three will be direct staff to work with selected owner's representative and design build team to initiate a community outreach project process on project design based off the preliminary option D concepts developed by group four and to return to council with preliminary project design options for consideration. Under number four, prior to the start of construction of the mixed use project, initiate a public process to consider reuse options of the current library site including affordable housing, community commons and other public uses. Councilor Bisoner, if I may interject just briefly, I wonder if that could be also a place that we could have including affordable housing, a community commons, taxpayer facility and other public uses. I'm amenable to that. Okay, that would be added before I have the recommendation. Thank you. Under number five, direct staff to provide a report to city council one to two months in one to two months following the selection of the design build team containing a detailed financial information regarding each component of the mixed use project be a work program and timeline for implementing the affordable housing units library and parking garage to include a public engagement process and see general schematic showing the integration of the library, housing, parking and commercial use components. I'd like to make a new number six and that will be, that is Justin's number one. Sorry, mayor coming to number one which is direct that the affordable housing component of the project along with the metro project remain the highest priority projects for funding from the low income housing trust fund. And finally, our new number, this will be number seven, be engaged with the farmers market and move forward with council direction from June 12th, 2018 to execute an agreement and develop a design for a permanent downtown farmers market on parking lot number seven located at the corner of Calfcart and Front Street. I believe I've captured everything with that rereading. It will be number four, which is on the screen related to employee preference. Oh, yes, thank you for catching that. When you talk, where you describe the affordable housing project aspect of it. Yeah, I can play there. So in one B, the language is currently there. I guess it's a lot of questions. No, but. Any further comments from council members on this item? No, we'll have to watch the video tomorrow. Seeing none, let's take a break. If you wanted to itemize a roll call vote. Matthews is absent. Brown. Aye. And Mayor Cummings. Aye, that passes with Senator Meyers, may I come in favor? Council members Brown, buyers voting opposed and council member Matthews refusing herself from the discussion and action. The council meeting, looking forward to having this discussion again when we understand better the financials and how we're able to make this affordable housing move forward. And I want to thank you all for a happy day and happy evening. Night. Thank you.