 Open the door, let's get going. Thank you for your servicing, good luck. Thank you for your work. Thanks, guys. Thank you for your work. That's where we did everything. Yeah. Thank you so much. Yeah. Well, my friends. Good afternoon. The afternoon session of the Santa Cruz City Council will come to order in the clerk. We'll call the roll. Thank you, Mayor, Councilmember Newsom. Present. Brown. Here. Watkins. Here. Brunner. Present. Calentari-Johnson. Present. Vice Mayor Goldert. Here. And Mayor Keeley. Here. For those of you unfamiliar with how our council proceeds, let me explain to you how we're going to proceed and what we're doing at this point. What we're on now is called oral communication. That would be the opportunity for anyone to address us for up to two minutes regarding any item under our jurisdiction, but not on today's agenda. So that's what we're going to be hearing from you folks about. What we'll do is we offer people the opportunity to address the council in two ways. One is to do it as you're doing it here in front of us in person. The other one is online. And when we have people both online and in person, what we do is toggle back and forth. I'll take someone who's here, then we'll hear somebody online, then we'll take another person's here. That's how we'll proceed today. Ms. Bush, right now we do have some people online. Is that correct? So let me begin with the first person in line. Come forward. Let me make it clear. We ask you, I want to be very clear about this point, for the record, we ask you to state your name. You do not have to do that. There is no requirement to do that. It's simply for the record, but we're perfectly fine if you don't want to state your name. And good afternoon. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Kayla Kumar. I am a resident of District 4. Hi. I'm here today to stand up against the genocide happening in Gaza and ask my representative to do the same. Before I go on, to those in the audience today, please raise your hands if you want an ethical ceasefire resolution passed by this body in December 2023. Councilmembers, I have seen you show deep and genuine concern for children while in office. The photos of injured babies squirming in pain, bloodied children being pulled from rubble, and wailing parents with dead infants in their arms have those images broken your heart the way that they have broken mine. Please, I implore you, call for a ceasefire now. Please call for a special meeting of the city council in the month of December. Please agendize a resolution identical to the Oakland resolution, which we offer in good faith as neutral and apolitical. Please pass that ceasefire resolution at that meeting. We want to send a clear mandate to higher government to use its influence and call for a ceasefire now. This matters. You are in a position of power. You have influence. Albeit a small step, it is an essential step. Please hear our calls. Please do something. Thank you. Thank you. Let's see if there is someone online, Ms. Bush. We'll take the person online, then we'll take the next person in line. So person online, good afternoon. Everybody hear me? Good afternoon. We can hear you, yes. Perfect. Aslamu alaykum, everybody. My name is Musa. And I'm speaking on behalf of CARE, the Council on American Islamic Relations. We want to urge the city of Santa Cruz to propose and pass the ceasefire resolution and call for a cessation of hostilities following suit with Richmond and Oakland up here in the Bay Area. 20,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel, nearly half of them being children. The average age of those killed is five years old. And 99% of those casualties have been innocent civilians. 25,000 Palestinian children have become orphans and Israel has displaced 90% of Gaza's population. There is more spilled blood and drinkable water in Gaza. And Israel is using dehumanizing language to justify their genocide in Gaza using phrases such as human animals and children of the darkness that abide by the law of the jungle. And that language has repercussions here at home. Many Muslims in the Bay Area and beyond are recalling the post-911 era of mass surveillance in Islamophobia. We've seen reports of employment terminations, hate crimes, surveillance, death threats, and more. By now, we've all heard about the six-year-old Palestinian boy in Chicago was fatally stabbed 26 times. And recently, the three young Palestinian men in Vermont who were shot, one of them left paralyzed. This is horrifying, and it won't end there. The language our electeds use matters. In a recent Reuters poll, 68% of respondents supported a ceasefire. Most of us do not support our taxpayer dollars going towards slaughtering tens of thousands of innocent people and babies. None of this is happening. We may have lost that, gentlemen. After you. Hi. My name is Sylvie Stein. I am a Santa Cruz resident and a mental health worker. And I am a Jewish person descended from Holocaust and pogrom refugees. I sent you all a letter at the time it was signed by 85 Jews in 24 hours. It's now been 36 hours. It is signed by over 100 Santa Cruz Jews, saying not in our name. What Israel is doing to Palestinians is and has been genocide. They are weaponizing our pain and our trauma to justify genocide. As I speak these words to you, Israel is bombing Gaza and murdering Palestinian human beings every single one of whom, as my Jewish faith tells me, contains the whole universe, every single one. Every single life is unspeakably precious. Santa Cruz can be a loud voice saying, stop. Cease fire right now. We understand the ceasefire resolution has not been put on the agenda today. This is what we want. One, call for a special meeting in the month of December. Two, put a resolution, one that calls for a permanent and immediate ceasefire and does not dehumanize Palestinians in any way on the agenda for that special meeting. And three, at this special meeting, vote to pass this resolution. With this resolution, Santa Cruz has the opportunity to be a leading voice against hate and violence and to stand up for the sacredness of all human life. Do not tell me. It does not matter for you to pass this resolution. There are Palestinians. There are Arabs. There are Muslims. There are Jews in this county. There are refugees of genocide. They want to hear from you. The state is listening. The country and the world is listening. Please pass this resolution. Our Jewish faith teaches us to kounolom that it is our responsibility to stop harm where we see it and try our best to repair the world. We would be so proud to live in a city that stands for the same. Thank you so much for hearing us. We'll now take the next person online. Good afternoon, person online. Yes, hello. Yeah, this is Garrett. I wasn't going to address this, but so far I haven't heard any of these speakers calling for a ceasefire. Acknowledge the atrocities of Hamas and the fact that the war is declared on them and people do die in war. And I'm not going to go through all the rest of that. But I haven't heard the other side here, and I don't think they're being objective. And our country has already vetoed a ceasefire resolution in the UN, so who are you to question that? Anyway, on to maybe a little bit of what I want to say, and I'm glad you're sitting down. I would say I have a few issues with your many unjustifiable one-sided adequacies. So first, I'm going to mention public unions. You are supposed to represent the entire city's people, not more so the city government or unions, and should tap the city manager on the shoulder and firmly explain no one is entitled to a job if their employer can't pay them nor has work. So you should be deleting the no furloughs concessions from future union contracts. It's not really negotiable. And I want you to stop with the end-trans hate narrative. That's not hate you observe. It's the public saying the fringe behaviors of deniers of biological fact have gone too far when they go after recruiting and indoctrinating children, assaulting women's rights, and making bullying demands of others to validate their fantasy, for instance, of men becoming women, or claim that children are of the age of consent, which they are not, or that chopping their general thought doesn't deny them any sexual satisfaction whatsoever for the rest of their life. And those who perform such child operations should be in prison. I would stop with the far left narratives that concentrate on things that could never change. No one can ever change their skin color. No one can actually change the past. People will never actually be equal. They are different. And both of them have, of course, their quality of income, their protection of personal property, just by solely, by the mere existence of those differences, protecting the best in itself and in justice, is cultural doom and kind of pink a cost. Okay, that was... Okay, let me just ask, we'll all be, we may hear some things we disagree with. Let's be respectful of these comments. You have been so far. Thank you for that. Next person online, good afternoon. Nice to see you, sir. Let me, just before you begin, let me just tell you what the clerk just did. Clerk went over there, turned on the external speakers so folks outside could hear the comments going on here as well. There we go. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. My name is Eric Statz and I live in the city of Santa Cruz and District 4. Since the horrific events of October 7th, Israel has endeavored to defend itself by destroying Hamas and preventing any future threat from Gaza. However, two months later, countries from around the world are condemning the response and cutting diplomatic ties. The Abraham Accords are in shreds and the U.S. was the lone vote against a ceasefire resolution in the UN Security Council. International support is essential for Israel's security, but they are losing it by the day. As Israel's closest friend, it is incumbent upon the U.S. to speak some hard truths. Israel is more isolated now than ever and they are sowing the seeds for the next generation of terrorism. Their actions are threatening their own security. It's been 75 years and the military approaches have not made Israel any safer. We cannot stand by and watch as this continues for another 75 years or even possibly more. Therefore, I come here to petition the City of Santa Cruz to join our voices with others, including the City of Oakland and declare our support for U.S. Congress Resolution HR-786, calling for a ceasefire and humanitarian assistance into Gaza. Thank you. Thank you so much. Ms. Bush? Good afternoon, Person Online. Hi, this is Joy Shendledecker. I wanted to be there in person, but I have a little cold, so thank you for continuing to provide the ability for us to zoom in to speak. I would like to add my comments to those supporting a ceasefire. I do think that this has relevance to us as local constituents, both in terms of our tax dollars going to military spending, instead of coming back into our communities for social services and other essential things like infrastructure, it also matters politically because we know that what we do at the local level influences what happens at the regional level, other municipalities, government bodies in the region, and it moves on up. This is democracy and constituents here and across the United States overwhelmingly support a ceasefire. Thank you. Thank you very much. Good afternoon. Good afternoon, thank you. My name is Greg. I'm a registered voter in Santa Cruz, an independent, and I'm here to speak in opposition to the acquisition of license plate reading technology or any partnership with the department. Here's what I'm going to do. That's actually on our agenda. We will be to that later on the regular agenda and you can speak to that at that time. It's either our last or very close to our last item. I'm going to guess that's a few hours away right now. So you don't want me to speak anymore on that topic? At this point, right. This is not on our agenda today. So we'll hear from you in a bit. I also wanted to speak in support of the ceasefire resolution. Fair enough. In opposition to the genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, it is intimately connected what the Israeli government is able to do, it's intimately connected to surveillance technology. Thank you. Thank you. We'll take the next person online. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Hello. Three. Two. Hello. One. Next person in line. There we go. Hold on. I'm very old. I didn't even hear somebody was talking. So excuse me. Person online. I beg your forgiveness. I didn't hear you. So please go ahead. Okay, great. Thanks so much for giving me the opportunity. Hello. My name is Sabina Holber. I'm a registered voter and a resident of the city of Santa Cruz. I'm a mother of two and I'm Jewish. My grandparents were Holocaust survivors. I'm calling in today to request that the city council call a special meeting to call for a ceasefire and to underscore that our community stands against genocide. A letter was sent to Mayor Keeley earlier this morning that myself and other Santa Cruz Jews have signed. Please call this special meeting to pass the resolution calling for a permanent ceasefire. Thank you. Thank you so much. Afternoon. Thank you for your forbearance. My name is Ellen and I'm a voter in Santa Cruz. I'm here in hopes that our city council does the right thing by passing a ceasefire resolution. I'm a Jew and the descendant of Holocaust survivors whose lives were ripped apart by war and genocide. I'm also a trauma therapist who works with children and adults, including refugees who have suffered horrible violence. Their agony and grief ripples through their families for generations. You might be hearing that supporting a ceasefire resolution is somehow anti-Semitic. It's not. I'm one of the hundreds of thousands of Jews. Thank you. I'm one of the hundreds of thousands of Jews who stand with the Palestinian people's right to safety and dignity. And I know that bombing hospitals, schools, and refugee camps is not one of my Jewish values. I hope you'll find the courage to help end this humanitarian crisis. Thank you. Thank you. Another person online, Ms. Bush. Person online, good afternoon. It's your opportunity here. Three, two, one. Please proceed. Hello. Can you hear me? Yes, please proceed. Thank you. My name is Carla Lobo and I'm currently on behalf of the Central Coast Democratic Socialist of America. We call upon this council to have a ceasefire. It is imperative that we stand in solidarity with those that are being murdered and children that are being taken far too soon. We know the importance of our taxpayer money and we do not agree for genocide to happen. I urge this council to continue the effort that these community members are currently doing now as a whole to have a ceasefire, hold a special meeting in order for us to have a ceasefire and set the example of what community, the United States, individuals want to happen. I yield the rest of my time. Thank you. Good afternoon. Good afternoon, council. My name is Jared and I have lived in Santa Cruz for almost 18 years. It is uncommon for me to talk about my political convictions in relation to my background because I believe that truth and justice are universal values. But because the government of Israel is currently committing genocide in my name, I now feel compelled to speak out on these terms. As a Jew, I condemn the atrocities being perpetrated against the Palestinian people by the state of Israel. Israel has now killed 8,000 children, 8,000 children. Have you seen the videos of the children trapped under the rebel of parents holding their non-responsive infants covered in ash? Israel kills 700 Palestinians every 24 hours and it commits these murders with American-made bombs and with funding from American taxpayers. With its illegal blockade, it has systematically starved the people of Gaza, denying them not only the kinds of construction materials necessary to build up its infrastructure, but also food aid and lifesaving medicines. 97% of the water in Gaza is unfit for human consumption. The list of horrors goes on. As a Jew, Israel's existence does not make me feel safe. In fact, it terrifies me. The war and the violence always comes home. The equation of Judaism with Zionism has been the latter's most powerful weapon on the battlefield of ideas. It's important to understand that the idea of a Jewish state has been championed not only by Zionists who think that the Jewish safety can only happen on the basis of expelling Palestinians from their homeland. What does that mean? So what that means is that your time is up, but what I would like you to do is take a few more seconds and finish your remarks, not five minutes, but a few more seconds. I appreciate that. Let me close just by stating to the council that it is our moral responsibility to fight for peace. That fight can only begin when Israel's American main bombs stop falling on the Palestinian people. I know that it takes courage to call for a ceasefire and that there are powerful political and financial forces allied against it. Nevertheless, should you adopt this resolution, history will be on your side and you will have the support of the Santa Cruz community, which includes all these peace-loving Jews that have come here to give you the support you need to carry the resolution forward. Happy Hanukkah to all of you. We'll take the next person online. Good afternoon. Greetings council. My name is Rachel Kippen and I'm employed in the city of Santa Cruz. I believe in our local governments and I believe in you, our elected officials and your accountability to us and your taxpayers. I believe that you're all good people and you've chosen to represent your community. So I thank you for considering this topic. I know it's become very divisive. I want to urge you, like so many others, to agendize and support a resolution that calls for immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza. Calling for a ceasefire does not equate to supporting Hamas and it does not mean you are an anti-Semite. Calling for a ceasefire reminds us that we are human and that nothing will be achieved and no lasting peace will be attained by obliterating apartment blocks of innocent civilians, by dismembering bodies and dismembering families, by creating orphans, by inflicting generational trauma on an entire population and by viewing tens of thousands of Palestinian deaths as acceptable collateral damage. These deaths cannot be considered self-defense. It is great disrespect to the thousands who have lost their lives. We must do everything within our power to urge the Biden administration to stop bolstering this massacre. The United States effectively blocked the UN's vote for a humanitarian ceasefire on Friday and their isolated stand reflects a growing fracture between Washington and some of its closest allies over Israel's month-long bombardment of Gaza. France and Japan were among those supporting for the call for a ceasefire. We believe this is your work at the city of Santa Cruz because our residents pay taxes that support these horrific decisions and because it should concern all of us when any population faces extermination. We learn as toddlers that violence begets violence. You can call for an end to this violence. Like so many others, I also encourage you to look towards the city of Oakland's resolution for a ceasefire and I thank you so much for your work and time. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. My name is Chelle Mandel. I'm a trans queer Jew. I love living in Santa Cruz. I work at the University of San Francisco in the Jewish Studies and Social Justice Department, pushing progressive Jewish values and educating thousands of students a year. I also serve the Jewish community out here as an Arab rabbi. I'll be ordained on May 27th at 2 p.m. After studying for five years full-time to understand deeply Judaism, Jewish values, and ideals. I founded the SimSum Collective about a year and a half ago and I've served over 150 Jews in the Santa Cruz area. And every week I get more and more Jews reaching out from other communities, looking for something new and fresh. So we're growing and expanding. Before this, I've been working in Jewish education for 12 years, teaching young Jews Jewish values. Let me share three of those Jewish values, three of the core Jewish values. Pekouach nefesh, to save a life. That is the most profound and important Jewish law we are obligated to save lives. Second, haknasah or heim. Mentioned 33 times in the Torah, the most common command, welcoming the stranger, someone who's different than me. I must open my space to them and care for them. And third, most importantly, low ta'amod aldam reachah. Don't stand by the blood of your neighbors. Don't stand by the blood of your neighbors. That being the Palestinian people. What is happening right now is trauma. Jewish trauma is playing out. That is not being done in the name of Judaism. That is not my Judaism. And that is not the Judaism of many people here today. Judaism teaches B'tzelem Elohim that we are all made in the divine image, each and every one of us. Jews, Palestinians, equally. Palestinian lives are important and sacred and they must be protected. I'd spent many weeks in the West Bank witnessing horrible things done to the Palestinian people before October 7th and it's only increased and the war on Gaza is absolutely atrocious. So I ask that you please pass a special meeting and a ceasefire resolution as a Jewish leader in Santa Cruz. We need this to protect Jews, but also Arabs in our community, Palestinian people. This needs to happen. This is urgent. Hello, can you hear me? Very good. We'll take the next person online. Good afternoon. Hello, can everyone hear me? Good afternoon. Hi, my name is Isabel and I'm a Jew living in Santa Cruz. I'm here to implore the council to call a special session and pass a resolution for a permanent and immediate ceasefire. Every day I scroll through videos of parents carrying their children's bloodied and dismembered bodies through the rubble that was once their homes. This is a magnitude of abject suffering that I don't know how to metabolize. These 66 days and 75 years of apartheid ethnic cleansing and genocide that my tax dollars have purchased and enabled. According to the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, Israel has killed at least 24,000 Palestinians since October 7th, including 9,420 children. 93% of those casualties are civilians. Hospitals, schools, residential buildings, refugee camps, government buildings and libraries have been blatantly targeted, amounting to obvious war crimes and showing that this is an attempt to exterminate Palestinian life in our name. A permanent and immediate ceasefire is the necessary first step to stopping this loss of life, which 66% of all Americans and more than 80% of Democrats agree with. Please, city council, use your power to call for a permanent and immediate ceasefire. I yield the rest of my time. Thank you. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. My name is Ellen Stone and I'm a proud, very proud Jew and resident of Santa Cruz District 4. I'm here in solidarity with the Palestinian people and I'm here to urge city council to hold a special meeting to support a ceasefire resolution today. What I see happening in Gaza right now reminds me of the stories that I've heard from my own family from a time when antisemitic pogroms resulted in the killing and displacement of so many of my people, my family. The Jewish values that I hold today pass down to me through the resilience of my ancestors, guide me in my belief that every living being deserves safety and freedom. I am also coming to you all as an elementary school educator. When I see images of children in Gaza crying, bleeding, broken, dead. Hold on just one second. I'm getting something else going on here. Just give us a second to correct this. I started it as in solar unit. We're going to pause here for a moment while we get this technical glitch figured out. Just one second, we'll be right with you. We good now? Whatever it was, we're okay. Please continue. Thank you. Like I said, I'm coming to you all as an elementary school educator. When I see images of children in Gaza crying, and bleeding, and broken, and dead, I can't help but think of my students. Every day that I'm with them, I feel an overwhelming sense of both joy and sadness with the knowledge that they are healthy and safe, and I pray that they'll never know the horror and unimaginable pain that the two children in Gaza are experiencing right now. Every single day with out of ceasefire means the death of many, many, many more children and many more precious lives. And immediate and permanent ceasefire is a first step to ending this violence and to ensure the safety of all human beings. Please, please, please support a ceasefire. Thank you so much. Thank you. Next person online. Good afternoon. Person online, we're ready to hear your testimony. Yeah, Zoom's kind of glitchy sometimes. I was having trouble unmuting. Hi, Councilor Bradley Snyder. Hello, am I audible at this point? Yes, you are. Thank you. I just, well, it's Bradley Snyder. I just wanted to, I guess, you know, I don't wanna exacerbate anybody's strong feelings on this matter, but I do feel like one of the reasons I dropped out of UCSC when I was a student there was kind of the fact that it had become a soap box for some very strident and I feel, you know, irresponsible expressions of political opinions. Obviously, a ceasefire would be a wonderful thing in Gaza. And I don't think, I don't think in Gaza, they would observe a ceasefire resolution any more than Israel would. And, you know, kind of for that reason, on a very primary level, I mean, I'm not trying to suggest that, you know, cobblers should stick to their last, but I do feel like it's kind of beyond the scope of the city council of Santa Cruz, California, to somehow affect the outcome of any world conflict. There's civil wars in Myanmar and Sudan and then Ukraine has been going on for two years now, it seems. And I just, I failed to find the logic in how city council should be involved in taking a stand on this, thank you. Thank you very much. Good afternoon. Hi, my name is Isabella and I'm the founder of Black Surf Santa Cruz. I'm a local Santa Cruz resident living in district two and I'm here to urge our council to urgently denounce genocide and call a special meeting in December to pass a ceasefire resolution similar to the one in Oakland. As a black Jewish person living in Santa Cruz, I can't help but highlight and acknowledge the intersecting points of hate, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and racism in our community and how they're a major threat to the quality of life of our Santa Cruz residents. The opportunity to call for a ceasefire as a community can send a message not only locally, but globally that our community does not tolerate and stands firmly against genocide and ethnic cleansing. I firmly believe that if we can acknowledge the systems of deep hate and intolerance here in our own community that we can all be more free. I ask our council members to take the requests of our community here today seriously and call a special meeting to move forward. Let's all maintain courage and lean into the call to do it differently and to do it better. We do have the power and an opportunity as a community to set lasting precedent locally and influence change on a state, national and global level, an opportunity and call to action to come learn, heal, grieve and move forward together towards a world that would never allow that pain to be repeated to anybody else ever. I ask you to please join us in our demand for scheduling a special meeting in December to call for a permanent and lasting ceasefire resolution identical to the Oakland resolution. Thank you all. Good to go. We'll take the next person online. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Hello. Hi. Guys, I'm Palestinian. I'm local. I did not have a statement ready. I'm stuck in work, but I was just so inspired by our Jewish brothers and sisters out there in the crowd and everyone's speaking up about the matter. And I'll have you guys know every moment that I'm at work. You know, my heart is with the guys and people. And I just wanted to remind everyone that Lockheed Martin operates outside, right in Santa Cruz, that, you know, they were testing anti-missile bombs just the other day off the coast of Santa Barbara. I do believe that the least that we can do as a community is urge you guys to help us in our mission of calling for a ceasefire. And I know that we're, you know, we're nobody at the end of the day. We're just local citizens and we don't run the state or run any of these big powers, but we couldn't, I mean, personally, I couldn't live with myself if I didn't come on here and speak today. So thank you guys so much for entertaining this conversation. And I truly really hope that something can come of it. Thank you guys so much. I know the rest of my time. Thank you. Ms. Kumar, right here at the microphone, I'm going to acknowledge you. You look like you have something urgent to say to me. I'm just saying the folks in the outside can't hear if the speakers could be turned up. They just texted me to say they- They should be able to now. I turned them up. Oh, okay. All right, that's it. Thank you, Ms. Kumar. Good afternoon. Hi. Hi, everybody. My name's Emma Ledvina and I'm here today to join the hundreds of people present to urge you to agendize and support a ceasefire resolution identical to the one passed in Oakland. For the past several weeks, I've been imagining that there's a woman like me with a 10-month-old baby in Gaza. I imagine how worried she must be about how she'll feed him tomorrow, about where they will sleep, about the bombs dropping around them. I imagine that she wants the same things for her baby that I want for mine, for him to grow, to learn, to live. So often, when we hear of tragedies, we say I can't imagine, but we can. We simply don't want to because it is too painful. So why do I do this? Because it reminds me that the 23,000 people dying in Gaza are not just numbers. They're humans. Mothers who want their babies to live just like I do. Many of you are mothers and so I know that you already know what I have recently learned. There's no such thing as other people's children. I am urging you to pass this resolution as a way to live into this vital ethic. I truly believe that if we put mothers in charge, no child would be unnecessarily killed in war ever again. I know that this is hard. My brother is an ultra-Orthodox Jewish man living in Israel with his wife and six children. Families have gotten real awkward as of late. I have been learning yet again that I can survive uncomfortable conversations and that I can survive disappointing the person who is most important to me in my childhood if it means that I get to stay in my integrity. I know that you all are hearing from Jewish and Israeli community members that are carrying so much grief and trauma. I understand their fear. I am also terrified of anti-Semitism for myself and my baby. And we can hold space for their pain and tend to their fears while also saying unequivocally that genocide is not okay. Not only can we, we must. A permanent ceasefire is the only solution that will lead to peace, safety for all people and create the baseline conditions necessary to begin to find a way forward. Fear is not the boss of us. Please lead with love and support this resolution. Help us create the world that we want for our children. Thank you. Thank you. Good afternoon. Good afternoon, next person online. Three, two, one. Hello, yes. My name is Rabbi. Good afternoon, Rabbi. While we're teaing that up, come on, let's go. Good afternoon, sir. Good afternoon. My name is Max Kaplan. I'm a resident and voter in the city of Santa Cruz. I'm probably Jewish and I am here to invite you all to join in the call for a ceasefire. Other community members here have eloquently presented the facts. We have come with our pain, our love and our hope. We are here because we cannot be silent. I unequivocally support the adoption of Oakland ceasefire resolution, the genocide in Gaza must end. Thank you. Back to the next person online. Good afternoon, person online. Yes, this is Rabbi Richard Littback. Of course we feel the pain and suffering of all the civilians that are being killed, but what will actually help them? It won't be this ceasefire. Keeping Hamas in power actually hurts the Palestinians. They have torpedoed every time that there's been a negotiations that's gotten Israel and the Palestinians close to a settlement for two states, they have undermined it. They have caused the conditions of suffering in the Gaza Strip, taking billions of dollars that would have gone through the Gazans and put them into terrorist tunnels and missiles raining down from civilian centers in Palestine to kill Israeli civilians. What we need to do is call on Hamas to move from using human shields of the Palestinians while they kill, murder and launch bombs upon Israel civilians. We need to call on Hamas to give the doorhouses of food and medicine that they've taken from the Palestinian people and given to them so they can have relief from their suffering. We need to see that Hamas not only is sworn to kill every Israeli and said recently they would do it over and over again October 7th again and again, but having their charters sworn to murder all Jews as a jihad, they shout Allah Akbar when they murder and massacre Jews in Israel. The Jews that have spoken in actually in the yet supporting Hamas. Do not realize that Hamas actually has the goal of killing them too. That is their sworn goal. But we do need to help the people in Gaza. We need to help the civilians, but this kind of resolution is absolutely free. Thank you. We need to turn on Hamas and pass resolutions that will actually create conditions of safety for the Palestinian civilians. Thank you. 50% of the Palestinians have said they did not want to be ruled by Hamas any longer. Thank you. And the head of Hamas is known as the butcher. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. My name is Windsor. I'm a community mental health clinician here in Santa Cruz and today is my nephew's birthday. He turns one year old today. He lives just down the road from here. And as I think of him, I can't help but think what his birthday would be like if he had been born in the occupied lands of Palestine. I think about the horrors he would be watching amidst ethnic cleansing, the hunger he'd be feeling and the immense possibility that he would not make it to this birthday. I think of the children who last month held a press conference in Gaza pleading for peace, inviting us to protect them. They told us they want to live. We have not listened. As of yesterday, it was reported that over 10,000 infants and children have been killed in this genocide. How many birthdays have been stolen? How many parents must mourn the loss of the soul of their soul before we say this has to stop? Let us show the people of Palestine today that we listened, that we recognize the sacredness of their lives. I'm calling for a ceasefire resolution identical to the Oakland resolution be passed here in Santa Cruz. I'm asking that the city join in the right side of history. Free Palestine, thank you. We'll do the next person online. Next person online, good afternoon. Good afternoon. Next person online. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. My name is Rebecca Gross, and I live in the Seabright neighborhood where I'm a registered voter. I also learn and work in Santa Cruz. I'm a graduate student and teaching assistant at UCSC. I'm here today not only as a Santa Cruz resident and worker. I'm here today as an anti-Zionist Jew and a member of UCSC Jews Against White Supremacy. I'm here to call for an immediate end to the siege on Gaza and the ongoing genocide in Palestine. I am here to say not in my name. The necklace that I'm wearing today is a high, the Hebrew letter that symbolizes life. It is one of the most sacred Jewish religious symbols. It has been unbearable to see Israel use US-produced weapons made with my tax dollars to kill Palestinian civilians, 9,000 children and counting among them. This is not representative of the Jewish commitment to high, to life that I wear over my heart. This is not representative of the Jewish value of sadik, justice is not despite my Jewishness, but because of my Jewishness that I condemn the US-backed actions of Israel. It is because I am a self-loving Jew that I cannot sit idly by as Israel continues to occupy Palestine, as Israel continues to desecrate Palestinians in their land, as Israel continues to turn what should be sacred into something profane. It is because I am Jewish that I am here to ask the council to call a special session and pass an immediate ceasefire, the first step towards a free Palestine. Thank you. Thank you. Next person online, good afternoon. That's your opportunity. Three, two, did I hear you? Hi. Hi. My name is Michaela Igno. At least 23,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel's bombing and ground campaign since October 7th. This includes at least 9,000 children. As members of your community, we are calling on you to represent us by calling for a permanent ceasefire. 66% of all Americans, over 80% of Democrats and a majority of Republicans, support a ceasefire in Gaza. Call for a ceasefire and we will stand behind you in support. This issue is critical for us as residents because the genocide happening in Gaza is made possible by our tax dollars. A permanent ceasefire is the only solution that will lead to peace and create conditions where all people are safer. Israel has bombed hospitals, schools, and refugee camps. Israel has cut off all access to water, food, medicine, and medical supplies, internet, and telecommunications. The treatment of the Palestinian people is grossly inhumane and the situation must be treated with urgency. Do the right thing, hear the voices of your community and represent us. Call for an end to this senseless killing, to this genocide. Santa Cruz, Arab, and Muslim communities have never been so vulnerable. This resolution will send a message that we care about their safety. You have seen millions across the globe marching for Palestine. You already know what the right thing to do is. Permanent ceasefire now. We will not give up as long as it takes. We will not quiet down or stop until Palestine is free. Thank you for your time. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. My name is Max, and I'm a student at UC Santa Cruz. I want to address the words of the rabbi that just spoke on Zoom and just say that this isn't about Hamas. It never was. On October 8th, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu told the world, and I quote, we will turn Gaza into an island of ruins, end quote. The president of Israel, Isaac Herzog, said, quote, it is an entire nation that is responsible, and we will fight until we break their backs, end quote. Israeli Army spokesperson Daniel Hagari proclaimed, quote, we are dropping hundreds of tons of bombs on Gaza. The focus is on destruction, not accuracy, end quote. In Israeli Reservist Major General in an article titled, It's Either Us or Them, declared, quote, creating a severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza is a necessary means to achieve the goal. Gaza will become a place where no human being can exist, end quote. The actual violence that has fulfilled these promises made by the highest leaders of the state of Israel, children being crushed by the rubble of their own homes, has been livestreamed to us for 66 days straight. Israel has indeed made Gaza a place where no human being can exist. My Jewish voice should not matter more than the voices of those children under the rubble. My Jewish voice should not have to come to you as a descendant of many ancestors murdered in the genocide of the Holocaust to explain how what we are witnessing is genocide and that what we are hearing from the perpetrators is admissions of guilt said so proudly it should shake us all to our core. Along with my other Jewish comrades here, I am demanding that the city do the absolute bare minimum of passing the ceasefire resolution in the face of this genocide. A city that cannot condemn genocide is a city that cannot deliver care and justice to its constituents. Our ancestors are waiting, Santa Cruz is waiting, Palestinians are being bombed at this very moment. You must act now. Next person online, good afternoon. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Next little thing. Next person online. Stay right here. Stay right here, you're fine. First person online, you need to react quicker so you're gonna be queued up next. Hi. Hello, my name is Gabiella Lerman. I'm a student at UC Santa Cruz and I run the Mixed Race Organization which has numerous anti-Zionist Jews of color as well as our entire community wanting a ceasefire. My dad is an Ashkenazi Jew and my mom is not Jewish, she's Venezuelan Spanish. Even why the images and horrors of the Palestinians over the past 75 years and especially right now look no different than Nazi Germany is because Theodore Herzl himself looked to Europe which just massacred millions of Jews for an economically successful country it would look like. He wanted a country that had a majority that wasn't indigenous to the area which made ethnic cleansing essential. He wanted a settler colony like all of Europe. He wanted to subjugate all Arab people including Arab Jews and he wanted to build a country that he knew was going to have resistance. These weren't Jewish ideas, these were the ideas of Europe at the time. The Wikipedia page for self-hating Jews has a quote from the Israeli ambassador, Abba Iban at the United Nations in 2014 advising the American Jewish community that the goal of Israeli propaganda should be to show that criticism made by Jews is an erotic form of self-hatred requiring psychiatric treatment. No country on earth makes criticizing a country built on the same white supremacist values as Nazi Germany make you speaking out of it consider it a mental condition requiring psychiatric treatment. A couple of years ago my Jewish family visited my mom's family in Spain, in Girona, Spain, a city we accidentally stumbled upon, a city that from 1627 to 2014 was called Castrilo Matajudeos, Jew killer camp. As many Arab Jewish writers discuss when Spain made it illegal to be alive in Jewish for 400 years during the Spanish Inquisition they also made it illegal to be alive and be Muslim. At the same time that they committed genocide of Jews and Muslims they also ethnically cleanse the indigenous and black people of the entire world. When people say our oppression is connected they mean that the similar rhetoric and strategies used to kill Jews and Muslims is used to kill the indigenous peoples and the black people of our world. During the 400 year period Eastern Europe Jews faced the programs and it was the Arab countries that accepted Jews fleeing Europe along with their Muslim counterparts when nowhere else in Europe would. There's so much connection to the oppression that our communities have faced together under Christian white supremacy. The community in this room is asking for a ceasefire is practicing radical love, compassionate connection that consists of many intelligent loving Jews who do not require psychiatric treatment for their ability to imagine a community of love and connection without violence. Next person online, good afternoon. Yeah, hello, good afternoon, Fred Keeley. Wow, it is absolutely so wonderful to see so many people in the community actually showing up. It would be amazing what would change if more people showed up to address other issues besides this very important issue. You know, I'm the only person that I know of with the initials due. My name is James Ealing Whitman. I didn't have an opportunity to share this in the supervisors meeting. The city council, fortunately, is more than a thousand fold more of a constitutional republic than the county of Santa Cruz. This is what I would have liked to have said. We, the people of the United States and the world we have been facing attacks by Zionists, members of secret societies run openly as philanthropic organizations, such as recently Andrew Carnegie, created what we have now, the World Homicide Organization. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Hang on just a second. No genuine anti-Semitism here, buddy. Hold on, hold on just a second. Ms. Bush just cut that off. Next person in line, let's go. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. My name is Jennifer Kelly. I'm here as a Santa Cruz community member, a scholar of Palestine and a mother. I'm a professor at UC Santa Cruz in feminist studies and critical race and ethnic studies, and both my scholarship and my teaching center Palestine and Palestinian studies. I'm one of two moms to our two year old daughter who has come with us to every action over the past two months, a child marching for other children in a world that shouldn't necessitate that. I'm here to support a ceasefire resolution that stands unequivocally against colonial state violence and the state sanctioned murder of a besieged population, the majority of whom are refugees from successive waves of displacement by Israeli settlement and ethnic cleansing since 1948. As we speak, Israeli bombs continued to raid down Angaza, murdering over 23,000 Palestinians, including over 9,000 children. Israeli airstrikes have destroyed hospitals and universities targeted first responders and bakeries, murdered journalists and professors, eradicated entire families, leveled neighborhoods and demolished safe routes on which Palestinians were told to flee for their lives. 1.9 million Palestinians have been displaced and over 42% of homes destroyed. Israel has denied Palestinians in Gaza water, medicine, food, electricity and fuel. These war crimes are supported by US tax dollars at the rate of 3.8 billion per year and 66% of constituents are saying no and demanding a permanent and total ceasefire. With deep respect for the organizing, many of you are already doing toward a ceasefire and with the belief that local ceasefire resolutions will pressure state and federal levels to act, I'm asking city council to one, hold a special meeting in December to pass a ceasefire resolution and to use Oakland's ceasefire resolution as a model for Santa Cruz's. Oakland's ceasefire resolution accurately names the genocide we are witnessing and demands that it stop. Please know we are with you. We will support you in calling for a ceasefire as your constituents and as your fellow community members. Every day in Gaza right now, Palestinians are teaching life. In the words of Palestinian poet Rafiq Zayada, while they are being subjected to death, they're making sure children have space to play in between bombs, they're comforting their babies as they flee and they're cooking for each other, they're pulling each other from the rubble, they're risking their life to make their stories heard. As they teach life, the very least we can do is amplify their pedagogy and demand a ceasefire. Good afternoon, next person online. Good afternoon. Good afternoon, council, can you hear me? Yes. Okay, thank you. I've been having some technical difficulties trying to get in. Good afternoon, my name is Zov. I'm a resident of district two, a Jewish person living in Santa Cruz. And I'm here to talk about the idea of Jewish safety. I grew up hearing a lot about Israel and the occupation of Palestine and a lot about the justification that Jewish people need a state. We need this place to be safe from anti-Semitism which rears up all over the world in many places where we've lived. And I have to say that there is no long-term safety for us in murdering Palestinian people. I'm sorry if I get emotional, but there can be no lasting peace or safety for Jewish people in Palestine as long as the Israeli state is allowed to keep bombing not just in Gaza, but also to continue its policies of mass incarceration without trial, dispossession of land, arbitrary detention, murder at checkpoints, stopping people from taking ambulances to hospitals to set a security checkpoint. Palestinian people in the West Bank live under a system of apartheid that many good liberals thought we did away with when South Africa abolished its apartheid regime but Palestinians live under one in Palestine today. Passing a ceasefire is necessary to set us on a path towards taking apart these systems which kill and dehumanize Palestinians on a daily basis. And I'm asking you to please pass a ceasefire resolution as a Jewish person who's scared for my own safety, the safety of other Jewish people and Palestinians everywhere. Thank you. Thank you. Good afternoon. Good afternoon, council members. My name is Melissa and I'm a registered voter in the city of Santa Cruz. I have lived here for a decade and I'm here to ask you to support a ceasefire resolution. Gaza was already a humanitarian disaster before October 7th due to the Israeli occupation and blockade. And certainly the attacks on Southern Israel were shocking to the world in a tragic event. The violence, collective punishment and the mass killings of civilians are unconscionable regardless of one's identity or religion. Due to Israel's indiscriminate attack on Gaza, my best friend who has been a resident of Santa Cruz since 1994 lost 12 family members. In one day, they were children, parents and grandparents. As Israel has continued to bomb homes, hospitals and refugee camps for more than two months, my friends have continued to lose family members. An unknown number are crushed under the wreckage that was once their home. As of yesterday, more than 23,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel's bombing and ground campaigns since October 9th and 70% of deaths are women and children. 9,000 children have been killed. A permanent ceasefire is the only solution that will lead to peace. Recent polling suggests that 66% of all Americans over 80% of Democrats and a majority of Republicans support a ceasefire in Gaza. We ask you to support a ceasefire resolution sending an unequivocal message that our community stands against genocide and ethnic cleansing. We believe passing ceasefire resolutions at the local level will pressure state and federal levels to act according to the will of their constituents. I hope our statements today help give you the courage to do the right thing and pass a ceasefire resolution. Thank you. Thank you, online. We have two more. Okay, we'll take the next person online. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Three, two, one. Good afternoon. Peace be upon you. My name is Evan Robles. I live in District 5 and I work in downtown Santa Cruz. I'm here today to support a ceasefire resolution. The siege on Gaza has been called a war, is an Israeli defense and other misnomers that help perpetuate the genocide of the Palestinian people. I have been fortunate enough to have lived in the Middle East with a significant portion of that time with Palestinian refugees who welcomed me into their homes, worked with me on community projects and taught me how to cook. I feel indebted to them and I must do everything I can to save their beautiful culture and people. Santa Cruz must answer this call to action. Our community must stand against the use of tax dollars to make violence and genocide possible. Thank you for your service to this great city. Thank you. My right, this would be the last person currently. I have two more of the other questions. Oh, very good. Okay, so the next person online, good afternoon. Good afternoon, council members. My name is Rex Hine, Western Electrical Contractors Association. Here to speak in opposition to the consent calendar item, creating a subcommittee to explore the feasibility of project labor agreements. Here's what we're going to do. That's on our consent agenda calendar. What we're currently on right now is oral communication on items not on our agenda. My guess is we're probably an hour or two away from the item that you are considering. So stay tuned. When we get to the consent items, we'll be glad to recognize you. Good afternoon. Hello, council. My name is Lori Palmer. I am a resident of Santa Cruz. I'm a voter here. I also am a professor at the university. I didn't actually prepare remarks. I'm so humbled and honored by everything my community is saying to you today. I came also to support the call for a ceasefire resolution. And I wanted to stand up and say something because I feel like that why does this matter that this body does this? And I think that part of it for me is not only that every time I brush my teeth, every time I cook dinner, I'm thinking of the people in Gaza who are not able to have the most basic life essentials. And so there's an immediate response with that. And at the same time, I realize our government in our name is sending billions of dollars and we're sending the precise bombs that are being dropped on the Gaza. And we are doing this. And so if this body can stand up and call for a ceasefire, it's one piece of representing a different set of values to the world, to the rest of the country, to ourselves. And I really want to urge all of you to do this. And I also support the Oakland version of this because it is a resolution that makes sense. So thank you for your time. Thank you. Thank you. No one. Good afternoon. Good afternoon, council. My name is Cassandra Borreco. I'm here today as yet another proud Jewish voting resident of Santa Cruz. I plead with you to do whatever you can in support of an immediate ceasefire resolution in Gaza. With my eyes, ears, and in my bones, I can recognize what I'm witnessing as a genocide. Anyone who has objectively studied the patterns of history can also see this. The needless suffering will not bring peace or safety to anyone here or abroad. 66% of Americans are calling for ceasefire. Please amplify our voices and stand with our broken, yet activated hearts. As our tax dollars are sent to rain down terror upon Gaza, the West Bank, and now Lebanon, so many of our own people here in Santa Cruz can barely afford health care or food and housing. Our unhoused population continues to rise. I ask you to consider why are we exporting any of our monetary potential for local resilience? How can we allow these tax dollars to contribute to exponentially greater issues in health, hunger, and houselessness elsewhere? We are witnessing a genocide live streamed directly into our hands. I wondered as a child, learning about history and critical thinking skills, how were similar terrors ever possible? We're seeing the unfold now. We know Hamas is corrupt. We know Netanyahu's government is corrupt. We cannot rely upon any corrupt entity to do the right thing. We are witnessing forged evidence and blatant propaganda continue to be used to justify the slaughter of Palestinian life. We must check our biases, and we must do whatever is within each of our powers to peacefully fight back with truth and humanity. I humbly urge you to tap into whatever first moved you to become involved with politics, to lead with the same fervor and tenacity that led you to the chairs in which you sit today, to use your power with the same compassion and bravery that got you here. Please do whatever you are capable of in pursuit of a permanent and immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Thank you so much for hearing our voices today. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. My name is Eva, and I'm a member of the county and a student at Carrillo. I wanted to say this to amplify some of what we've already heard today. Recently, Israeli activist Yuval Abraham wrote that one category of Israeli military targets consists of family homes or operative homes. The purpose of these attacks is to destroy entire households in order to assassinate a single resident suspected of being an operative. This includes those not involved in military activity, such as spokespersons. Palestinian testimonies show that many families killed do not include any operatives. An intelligence officer also said nothing happens by accident. When a three-year-old girl is killed in a home in Gaza, it's because someone in the Israeli army decided it wasn't a big deal for her to be killed, that it was worth it in order to hit another target. Everything is intentional. We know exactly how much collateral damage is in every home. Right now, the civilian deaths amount to more than 200,000, 20,000. The population of this city is roughly 60,000. That would be about 1 third of everyone in Santa Cruz. In a resolution for ceasefire, we want to communicate that the community of Santa Cruz calls for an end to this killing. If our resolution were to prevent the death of even one more child, wouldn't that justify our effort? Is that not worth our time? I know that many people are afraid to speak on this for fear of controversy. It is an uncomfortable discussion. However, discussion is the least we can do. Our inaction is compliance. Oakland resident Isabel Diamond said, I'm a descendant of people who have survived genocide, displacement, ethnic cleansing, and persecution because of who they are. And I refuse to be silent. Never again means never again for anyone, including Palestinians. Never again is now. To withhold our opinion is to say that this massacre is not worth our time. To watch safely from our comfortable position in the United States is shameful. Instead, let us act. Thank you. I have another person who is called in online. We'll take that person now. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. My name is Nairi. I'm a Santa Cruz resident and a voter on the West Side. And I'm here to ask you to pass a ceasefire resolution, similar to the one passed in Oakland. I am a descendant of survivors of the Armenian genocide. And I can't stand by, well, history is repeated yet again in Palestine. None of us should. It brings me a lot of hope to see so many people here in my community speaking up against the status quo of both our international and national politics and condemn what is undeniably a genocide of the Palestinian people. I want to see the city of Santa Cruz to condemn this genocide, too, and call for a ceasefire immediately. It matters for our city and community to stand up to injustice and genocide, no matter how far away it may seem. Thank you. Good afternoon, sir. After all, thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak. My name is Arthur Burns. I'm a registered voter in the city of Santa Cruz. And I'm calling on the council to, one, hold a special meeting in December. Two, put a ceasefire resolution similar to the Oakland resolution on this meeting's agenda. And three, pass the resolution. And here's why. In 1898, Theodor Herzl, the founder of Zionism, wrote in his diary, I have created a Jewish state in Palestine. The problem with this statement is that you cannot establish a Jewish state in a land full of Arabs. You have to remove the Arabs. The plan conceived 125 years ago has reduced Palestinian land from 90% in 1900 to 44% in 1947, 22% in 1967, and 10% to 15% today, due largely to the addition of 700,000 Jewish settlers appropriating additional land in the West Bank. In parallel, the people of Gaza have endured 75 years of refugee status and displacement, 56 years of occupation, and 16 years of living in concentration camp conditions. In other words, history did not start on October 7. This history demonstrates the clear intent of the Zionist movement to remove all Palestinians from the land of Palestine, as envisioned by Theodor Herzl, Klein-Wetzmann, Zeb Jabotinsky, and a host of other Zionist leaders. These are the true motivations for the destruction of hospitals, mosques, churches, schools, 60% of the housing stock, not to mention the denial of water, food, and electricity towards the goal of ethnically cleansing Palestinians using the genocidal attacks perpetrated by the people of Gaza by the IDF. Santa Cruz must adopt a resolution demanding a ceasefire in Gaza. Thank you. Thank you. We'll take the next person online. Good afternoon. Hi, good afternoon. My name is Sarah. I'm a local midwife and a Jewish person descended from program refugees. And I want to second what's been said so beautifully by the people there in the room with you this afternoon, who are calling on you to adopt a ceasefire resolution like that passed in Oakland. A ceasefire is the only and first step towards breaking the generations-long cycles of violence, occupation, and dehumanization in Palestine, and its ripples into our own community. By standing for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, you have the opportunity to stand also for the dignity, sanctity, and basic human rights of the many displaced peoples living in our own county here in Santa Cruz. Our liberation is undeniably intertwined. I yield the rest of my time. Thank you. Thank you. Good afternoon, sir. What's good, Joe? My name is David Antonio Rodles. I work with youth here in Santa Cruz County. And I just want to say, I know Santa Cruz is a very politically active place, but I don't normally do this kind of thing. I've never spoken at a city council meeting. But I've never felt this level of urgency. I started history for four years at UCSC. And I just want to say that this level of violence, some of the worst I've ever seen, if not the worst. And I just want to say that I'm here because I feel that city council is in a position to make a very powerful statement, not only about the children in Gaza, but also about children here in Santa Cruz. When children are dying, it's not hard to figure out what side of history you should be on. Whether you see it as war or genocide, whatever, this is a level of violence. 9,000 dead children, that should never happen. For perspective, we have 7,000 students enrolled in elementary schools, junior highs and high schools from Davenport, Soco. 7,000, imagine in a matter of weeks if every single one of those students was killed with a bomb that we paid for, I would expect every single person in every corner of the world to get up and say no. And that that's not right. So I'm calling on the city council to support a ceasefire resolution. In a statement that says not only would we not want that to happen to children in any part of the world, but we would never stand for it to happen here in Santa Cruz either. Thank you. Good afternoon. Hello. My name is Teddy, and I'm a proud anti-Zionist Jew who's lived in Santa Cruz for 15 years. I want to voice my support for a ceasefire resolution and urge city council to do the absolute bare minimum and hold a special session to pass a resolution identical to the Oakland one. My heart breaks more and more every day watching the tens and thousands of Palestinians be murdered by the Israeli government, aided by my tax dollars. A local resolution can pressure the state and the federal government to follow suit. Thank you. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Please be upon you. I am Santa Cruz District 2 resident. My name is Joelle, and I am here to ask for the calling of a permanent and immediate ceasefire. As over 23,000 Palestinian men, women, and children have been massacred, we have borne witness. As Santa Cruz residents, we are uncompromisingly against the genocide taking place in Gaza, the dispossession of homes in the West Bank, the starvation, the dehydration, the cutting off of fuel and electricity by Israel's illegal blockade. We cannot allow this to go on. We implore you to use your position to call for a permanent ceasefire in the Israeli bombardment of Gaza. We empower you to refer to international humanitarian law and to speak on our behalf that we do not want any more children buried under the rubble, any more babies left to wither and die in hospitals as doctors caring for them are forced out at gunpoint to abandon them, any more families ripped apart literally and figuratively. If we do not take heed and call for an immediate permanent ceasefire, as well as an end to the funneling of monetary and military resources that make this genocide possible, the United States will be rightfully deserving alongside Benjamin Netanyahu of that shameful title, The Butcher of Gaza. We encourage you to show the mercy we know you have and call for a permanent ceasefire resolution. It is the only way forward. Ceasefire now and forever, Free Palestine. Thank you. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Hi, everybody, and thank you for having us. And thanks for all the hard work you do to keep our community together. I know this is an issue that's tearing it apart. It's kind of you to say that. Thank you. And I also want to recognize the fact that I'm encouraging a no to agendize this resolution, this ceasefire resolution. And the reason I'm doing that is because I don't think that the resources we have available to Santa Cruz City Council are best purposed to call for a ceasefire on an international war issue. And so I'd like you to focus on the issues that most affect our community right now here locally today. I also want to remind everybody that there was a ceasefire. There was a ceasefire in place on October 6th. And it ended on October 7th. Israel didn't want this war. No, it was a humanitarian war. Thank you. Please, right here. Israel didn't end this war. It didn't want this war. And unfortunately, Israel is going to have to fight this war. The way that the ceasefire ended was by an organized terrorist organization, Hamas, attacking a peaceful music festival and beheading babies, kidnapping 250 innocent people. Hold on. Hold on for a second. I will not take this out of your time. Thank you. We are going to extend the same courtesy to every single speaker. We're clearing that. Thank you. Please proceed. Kidnapping 250 innocent people, raping women, murdering people in cold blood, that anybody can stand in front of this council and not strongly condemn these actions, highlights the morally bankrupt nature of some of our society. Shame on you if you're one of those people, but it's not too late. You can always come around and acknowledge that these violences took place. Two things need to happen before you can have a ceasefire. And sadly, we don't have a whole lot of control over either one of them. Number one, all of the hostages need to be returned. It's shocking to me that nobody's mentioned this yet. The woman who has a 10-month-old? Come here. Right. You're addressing me. The woman who has a 10-month-old, I feel for you. I understand the pain. I also have children. Imagine if your child was kidnapped and held in a tunnel for the last 60 days. The second thing that needs to happen is that Hamas needs to be eliminated. Our ceasefire resolution will not do that, unfortunately. In conclusion, I'd just like to know why we're spending our time and resources here today talking about this. I'd like to ask you again to focus on the issues that are most important to the Santa Cruz community and keeping the community together. Thank you. Thank you. Next person. Good afternoon. Hi, everyone. Thank you so much for hearing us. My name is Jennifer Barnett. I live on the West Side. I'm an attorney. My husband is a medical provider at PAMF. And I have two daughters, a five-year-old, who attends one of our terrific Santa Cruz City schools, and a two-year-old who attends one of our Sweet Bree schools. I cannot help but imagine what would be our fate if we were in Gaza right now. Hospitals have been bombed for more than two months straight. And the brave health care workers who are working around the clock to save lives are themselves being killed or arrested and interrogated by Israeli forces. My daughters, if they were not among the more than 9,000 children who have been killed in this onslaught, would certainly have been forced to flee our home with the other 1.9 million displaced people in Gaza with no safe place to shelter, not enough food to eat, no access to clean water, and certainly no ability to continue learning in school. The physical and psychological trauma is unfathomable. As a mother, I would not wish that fate on any child, anywhere. Children in Gaza are just like my children, just like your children. They deserve to live healthy lives, to have access to sufficient food, clean water, medical treatment when they're sick, to play in the ocean, to learn in school, to hope and dream for a better life. All human life is sacred. Gauze and children have been born into a brutal occupation and are now living through the most violent military assault in modern times. They need to know that they're not alone. We need to show that our community supports life, peace, equal rights, and love. Calling for a ceasefire should not be a political act. It is an act of peace. And it is the only way to address the humanitarian disaster in Gaza. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Good afternoon. Hi, everyone. Ruby here, community organizer, educator, volunteer, prescribed firefighter, activist, land steward. I'm also here as a descendant of survivors of genocide at the hands of the Fascist nation and the State of India, who is also directly tied to Zionism and the State of Israel. For a Palestinian child celebrating their 18th birthday today, it means that they are truly celebrating life. By this time, they have survived five wars in their lifetime. These are people with hopes and dreams. These are children, elders, land offenders. For the last two months and 75 years, we have been watching entire lineages be killed. We urge you to support a ceasefire resolution similar to the one in Oakland to show that the community of Santa Cruz does not support genocide, that we do not want our tax dollars funding genocide. It is our duty on the grassroots level to apply pressure to the state and federal government. The US opposed a UN Security Council demand for a ceasefire. America is constantly on the wrong side of history. The community here, all of us, most of us, have the opportunity to create change. So from stolen, aloney lands to Gaza, may all indigenous people be free. Thank you. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Hello. My name is Bee. I have lived in Santa Cruz County for 10 years, and I currently vote in District 5. I agree wholeheartedly with all calls for a ceasefire resolution. And I hope to add to the facts and statistics by sharing my family's story as proof of how important it is to speak up in the face of genocide. I am here today as the granddaughter of two brave survivors of Taiwan's massacre in 1947. My grandparents got lucky, but 28,000 of us didn't. That genocide was covered up by the government that inflicted it. For 50 years, the first mention of it by an official was in 1995. I grew up not speaking Taiwanese. I don't speak Taiwanese. I don't cook my family's dishes. And I learned about this genocide on Wikipedia seven years ago. I am disconnected from my culture in a way that I am just starting to understand. But as a community, we have the opportunity to speak up in the face of genocide as it happens in real time, with proof of devastation being broadcasted directly to the computers in our hands. I am particularly disturbed by the staggering loss of life that we are bearing witness to. Thousands of children have been killed and displaced from their homes, schools, hospitals, places of worships, and cultural landmarks. I mourn this loss and I think too of their descendants and all of the richness to humanity that our diversity brings. I urge this council to pass a local ceasefire resolution and add our voices to the calls for peace around the world. Thank you. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Hi, I'm Matthew. I'm a resident of Santa Cruz and I'm a graduate student at UCSC. I don't really have any new statistics to share or maybe not a new perspective, but I don't think it takes more than a sense of human decency to recognize that the abhorrent loss of life in Gaza. And I think like many of us, I feel kind of isolated when I read the news all the time and I scroll on social media to see videos of bombings happening constantly. And then we wake up to see that the UN passes a resolution that isn't in accordance with the views of the community. And I don't have a way to talk to our UN ambassadors. I don't have a pipeline to Joe and Kamala and I'm not saying that you do either, but our perspectives need to be heard and if we want some change to happen on the national level it seems like this is where things need to get started. So we ask you to support a ceasefire resolution sending an unequivocal message that our community stands against genocide. Like passing a ceasefire resolution at the local level will hopefully pressure state and federal levels to act, to act in accordance with the views and opinions of the community. I think that's been made abundantly clear today. So like other people have voiced for it would be great if we can hold that special meeting in December and put this ceasefire resolution on the agenda and pass that ceasefire resolution again to hopefully adequately represent your community. Thank you so much. Good afternoon. Hello, my name is Tam Welch. I've lived in Santa Cruz for over 20 years. I guess I'm in D2, I feel like I'm in the Hunger Games but here we go. So I don't usually make statements, this is actually my very first time here in city council making a statement but I really wanted to uplift a fellow Santa Cruz citizen who was not able to make it here today because they had to work. And so in that spirit, I'm just gonna go into the notes that they shared with me. So Tyree Richie is a community organizer and activist. Maybe you've heard his name before. He had to work so here's his words. As we as a community must stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters suffering in Gaza. I am deeply disappointed by the Biden administration and other elected officials who have demonized those in support of Palestine and a ceasefire. We must set an example as future generations will be reading this moment in the words that we have left today in response to the legacy of the military industrial complex and war of terror that has profited of divisions and hate off of divisions and hate. As a community organizer looking at police reform in 2020 after the George Floyd tragedy, many police officers and departments have been trained by the IDF, the Israel Defense Forces, who have been documented for acts of police brutality and violations of human rights. As the IDF continues to receive support and I'm assuming financial support by the US, they're supporting genocide. I say today, stand in solidarity with organizers and activists and community members and demanding a ceasefire and resolution. The fact that the city itself prides itself with a BLM mural painted on the streets as a result of some of those forces used for taxes by the IDF here in Santa Cruz. Thank you. Good afternoon. Hi, good afternoon. My name is Jane. I'm a resident of District 2 in Santa Cruz and the granddaughter of survivors of the Nekba of 1948 where 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced. 530 villages destroyed and 15,000 Palestinians killed. My grandparents were all expelled from their homes in Jerusalem, fleeing with only what they could carry and lived as refugees for the rest of their lives. My story is not unique. Every one of us, whether we are living in Palestine or a part of the Palestinian diaspora abroad has a similar story. There is no post in the PTSD of Palestinian lives. Every generation for the past 75 years has suffered as a result of the ongoing occupation by the Israeli government. And the devastating events that we are seeing now in Gaza is a continuation of the 1948 Nekba at catastrophic levels. You've seen the numbers, over 20,000 dead and missing 9,000 of those are children, 90% of the population displaced. When we look to our community of Santa Cruz, we all speak of the importance of human rights and our shared desire for collective liberation. But what happens when we, as a community, are called to put those values into practice and condemn harm? Collectively, we are now writing our history. Do we recognize the interconnectedness of all communities? Like we have seen here today, where this diverse group, my courageous Jewish brothers and sisters, all here seeking a ceasefire resolution. Do we recognize the current harm our own community here is experiencing by seeing so much death and destruction? Or do we continue to allow the erasure and ethnic cleansing of a people in the name of it's complicated? A people whose very lives are an act of resistance. Civilians, children dying, and years of ongoing trauma is not complicated. We ask that an immediate and permanent ceasefire be put on the agenda. Thank you. Thank you. Good afternoon, my name is Michael. I've lived in District 3 in Santa Cruz. I've lived here for 11 years. I'm a retired professor. I've watched a lot of conflicts unfold around the world in my 75 years, but none has come close to this one in terms of the horrors. They're really unimaginable, but I'm gonna ask you once again, as you've been asked to do a number of times, to imagine them. Imagine an area, the Gaza Strip, one third the size of Santa Cruz County with almost 10 times the population of Santa Cruz County. Why such a large population? Because more than 80% of the Gaza Strip consists of refugees. Refugees who ended up there because they were forced from their homes in Palestine by Israel over the 75 years of the colonization of their lands. Imagine a place like this, that size and with us population, that's often been described as an open-air prison because Israel has total control over who and what goes in and comes out of it. Now imagine that same place, how hard it is to live there, being bombed 42 times every hour. Bombs that kill an average of 15 people, six of them children every hour, and destroy an average of 12 buildings every hour. In two months in that tiny strip, Israeli bombs have killed more than 7,000 children. That's more than all the children killed in all the conflicts in the world in a year to put this in perspective, an area one-third the size of Santa Cruz County. When I see the pictures of the dead and the dying and the traumatized children, I really can't help but think of my two grandchildren, age two and five, around their ages. So it's simple, our tax dollars are funding this. They're funding genocide. And like most of the other speakers here, I urge you to call for a special session and to pass a ceasefire resolution modeled on the Oakland resolution. Thank you, sir. Good afternoon, my name is Eddie. I live and work in this county, and I, along with all my community members that you've already heard from, are here to urge you to call for a ceasefire. We have all seen the atrocities committed by Israel and Palestine. We have all seen the videos and heard the first hand of counts of brutality, torture, starvation, displacement, and murder. The IDF has targeted civilians, children, schools, hospitals, doctors, the press, and cut off all access to basic necessities of life. And not only since October, but for the last 75 years. We cannot be neutral. Being neutral is taking the side of the oppressor. I will not be on the wrong side of history and I hope you all will not either. This is not a conflict, it is not a war. What is happening in Palestine is genocide. It is ethnic cleansing. We must call for a ceasefire as the very first step in ending these atrocities and allowing for the self-determination and freedom from occupation for the Palestinian people. It is our duty as humans and especially as citizens of the U.S. whose dollars can create ripples of destruction across the globe, especially since it is our tax dollars funding this genocide. It is U.S. made weapons destroying entire towns and entire family lines. It is our duty to see and to act and to call for a ceasefire and end the occupation of the Palestinian people. We urge you to take a stand for humanity, for justice, and do what is in your power to call for a permanent ceasefire. Thank you and may Palestine live forever. Thank you. Hello, my name is Mavie Hughes. I am a District 2 resident and I grew up in District 5. I am here today to urge you to call for a ceasefire. I stand here with people around me that I grew up with, people I work with, people I've built a community with, and people I love. And I think about how thankful and how privileged I am to see these faces alive and well. I'm horrified and heartbroken by every child blown apart and bloody, every partner, parent, sibling, and child mourning a loved one who has been martyred by Israel's genocide against the Palestinian people. We are witnessing an ethnic cleansing, violent displacement, arrest without reason, torture, starvation, dehydration and lack of medical aid leading to disease and death on top of a violent occupation that has taken the lives of over 20,000 Palestinians. I am appalled by the way that I have seen my county suppress the people's voices and I am appalled that my tax dollars are paying for the violent crimes against humanity that Israel has been committing for the last 75 years. And I am appalled by the fact that I am standing in front of a group of well-educated people who have yet to look at this and call it what it is, a genocide. It is simple what we need, a ceasefire. This is the first step in many towards repairing and freeing Palestine, but it is vital we achieve this step. We the people will be heard and we will see a free Palestine. Make this community one that we can be proud to be a part of, stand on the right side of history, free Palestine and long live global solidarity. Now have another person online and then I'll be right with you. First online, good afternoon. My name is Vicki Winters. I'm a resident of district two and I wanna thank Sonya Brunner for meeting with some of her constituents to talk about this. And I just want you to refer back to Michael Gasser who spoke earlier about how many children are being killed, how many buildings are being destroyed just in the time that we have been talking to you here. And the time is now for you to take the action that you can. We have taken the small actions that we can and we're asking you to do the same. We have a faith that your resolution will make a difference in putting pressure upward in the leadership system to finally call for a ceasefire, call for ceasefire, put some kind of check or limit on what can be done with the arms we're providing to Israel so far unconditionally. And we've seen the harm and destruction that has happened from that. And I look at you, Mr. Keely, you're a little bit older than me but we have seen so much happen with our tax dollars in 20 years of war in Afghanistan that was supposed to make us safer. And it has just so many lives lost. You're not any safer. The same thing is happening now where you're asking you to do this little thing that you can to help stop this destruction and this genocide. Thank you. Well, thank you. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. My name is Aurora and I'm a resident of District 2. I am along with everyone else. I'm asking you to support a permanent ceasefire resolution following the example set by Oakland and other counties, sending the message that our community stands against genocide. Right now in Palestine, hospitals, schools, and residential buildings are being bombed. Children are being shot. Families are being crushed under buildings. Innocent civilians are being tortured in prisons for crimes they did not commit. Men are being rounded up, forced to walk naked through the streets and massacred in public view. It is our tax dollars and US-made weapons and bombs that have supported a 75-year violent occupation responsible for over 20,000 deaths just since October. That does not represent my values. It does not represent the values of our community. And we ask you to, therefore, do what we elected you to do and represent us in that too. A call for a permanent ceasefire, call for the US to withdraw aid, support, and troops from the apartheid state of Israel. We, the people, have spoken and it is now your turn to stand with us. Palestine will be free. Good afternoon. How's it going, everybody? My name is Alex. I'm a resident here in Santa Cruz. So a local business owner. I didn't prepare anything because this is easy. This is a no-brainer. We need to pass a ceasefire resolution locally. Every day we see children. We see elders. We see whole neighborhoods. Wiped off the face of the earth. And as Westerners, we sit back and we can look at it on our phones. We have the privilege to look at it on our phones. And then we have the audacity to question and hold meetings about whether this is we're for this or against this. This is a no-brainer. Just do your part. Use the power that you have now to be on the right side of history. Thank y'all. Next person online, good afternoon. Good afternoon. Hi, can you hear me? Yes. Great. My name is Katie Spencer. I live and work in Boat and District 2 and have for seven years. And I'm calling in today to add to the voices asking the city of Santa Cruz to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. Hundreds of Santa Cruz folks rode in with this request prior to this meeting. And now hundreds more are here to taking time off of work and school and caretaking to ask the same. And I ask that you hear their voices. It is too easy to say that this doesn't matter that Santa Cruz and the resolution is too small or out of scope. A resolution like this with a message that we stand with justice that we stand against genocide and apartheid and we stand for peace. I urge you to call for a special meeting in December. I'm in that meeting to use that time to pass resolution similar to what Oakland passed recently. Thank you for your time. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Thank you, the council members. My name is Annie Stafford and I live in Santa Cruz in district four. And first of all, I want to thank you all for your service and for hearing our voices. Forgive me, I'm speaking from my heart but I wrote it down because I get nervous. I'm here in solidarity with the people of Palestine to urge you to hold a special December meeting and pass a resolution for an immediate and permanent ceasefire. One that sends an unequivocable message that our community stands against genocide. The genocide in Gaza is happening on our watch supported by our tax dollars. Passing a ceasefire resolution in our city is a way to send a clear message to the federal government that supporting the ongoing atrocities in Gaza is unconscionable and unacceptable. Many people have spoken about what is going on eloquently today and have been inspiring me as well as breaking my heart. I'm inspired by and I stand in solidarity with black, brown and indigenous people in our community and all over the world who know all too well the impact of state-sanctioned violence, racism and genocide. I'm inspired by and stand in solidarity with Jewish activists in this room, in our community and all over the world who know that opposing the actions of a genocidal state is not anti-Semitic who clearly and courageously say, not in our name. By passing a ceasefire resolution, Santa Cruz will join cities such as Atlanta, Georgia, Detroit, Michigan, Richmond, California, Akron, Ohio, Salante, Michigan, Providence, Rhode Island, Wilmington, Delaware, Seattle, Washington, and Oakland, California. This list will only grow. This is a moment that calls for our courage and our moral clarity. Bishop Desmond Tutu said, if you are neutral in the situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. Let us not be neutral in the face of this ongoing tragic injustice. Thank you. Next person online, good afternoon. Good afternoon. Hi, can you hear me? Yes, we can. Hi, I'm Rachel Chavez. I'm a registered nurse, district two resident and another Jewish person begging the council to support a ceasefire resolution similar to the one adopted in Oakland. On November 16th, the UN Human Rights Commission said, there is evidence of increasing genocidal incitement over intent to destroy the Palestinian people under occupation, loud calls for a second Nakba in Gaza, and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory and the use of powerful weaponry with inherently indiscriminate impacts resulting in a colossal death toll and destruction of life sustaining infrastructure. As a healthcare worker, it has been devastating to see the way that Palestine's healthcare infrastructure at hospitals, providers and patients alike have been intentionally targeted and decimated by Israel. When I log into social media every day for the past two months and see fathers tenderly kissing their dead children's foreheads for people lying on the ground, hugging bodies wrapped in white cloths, stained red with blood, mass graves filled with people. Honestly, my first instinct is to give into the feeling of powerlessness and to shut down, but I fight that feeling and urge you to do the same. Instead, we can pull our power to do whatever we can to stop this mass and indiscriminate killing. As Palestinian activists and poet Rasha Abdelhadi has said, wherever you are, whatever sands you can throw on the gears of genocide, do it now. If it is a handful, throw it. If it is a fingernail full, scrape it out and throw. Thank you. Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is Dylan. I'm a resident of Santa Cruz and a graduate student worker who was called to the solidarity with the Palestinian struggle through facing my own Zionist intimidation in classrooms and the kind that we felt briefly in this room earlier. With students who would seek to remove me from the classroom and from my own education and my Kurdish teacher who faced their own ethnic cleansing through the recognition of Palestinian life. And that's all it takes. And I don't wanna be on that side of history and I hope you're not either. I also want to just recognize that the ceasefire that I support is just the beginning of the struggle and not the end. And the recognition of 100 year war against Palestine is mandatory and necessary. And recognizing that the technologies of war and genocide used against Palestinians is used at home here. And the laboratory of genocide in Palestine is reinforced by a laboratory of genocide here in America as well against brown, black and indigenous bodies and people where tear gas in Ferguson is the same tear gas used in Palestine. And the IDF soldiers are trained with American police abroad and at home. So this is the beginning and not an end. And I also want to just say that talking to Joe Biden is great, but you have your community's ear and whole hearted support here as well. So I wanna recognize that for people in this room to continue building mutual aid and if people here in this room that I'm looking at fail in their job that we have our own backs as a community and that will always be there and our heart will always be there. So thank you so much. Thank you. Next person online. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Three, two, one, you're up. Hello, council members. My name is Abby. I was born in Watsonville, raised around Pleasure Point area and now I'm a registered voter here in Santa Cruz. As we watch the genocide on Palestinians and Gaza surpass the two month mark, as we've witnessed upwards of 20,000 lives lost with the majority being children. And as many of these families gear up for the holiday season, our families gear up, we cannot and will not forget, ignore or leave behind our Palestinian siblings. I'm also a community organizer with Gabriella USA, a Filipino women's organization fighting for national democracy in the Philippines. We should be aware that what is happening in Gaza and in Palestine is not just happening to them but happening to all of us. Our US tax dollars that fund this genocide and the weapons and bombs dropped are the same from Palestine to the Philippines. The Philippines is the third largest purchaser of military weapons from Israel and those weapons that are used against Palestinians are used against Filipinos as well. I've even had family members who have visited Israel to visit a holy land and even them have faced racist discrimination just for looking Palestinian. So although Palestine is not my motherland, I am committed to fight for it as if it were. I'm inviting the council members to please take a stand at this time in history where majority of not just the US but the world stands with the people of Palestine to defend our Arab and Muslim communities who are vulnerable to racism and violence, to defend our youth who are overwhelmingly siding with Palestine against censorship and attacks from their school administration and to call for a ceasefire that would prevent the loss of thousands of innocent lives and the siege on Gaza and the occupation of Palestine and free, free Palestine. Thank you. Next person online. Ready for you. Good afternoon. Let's go. Next person in line. Good afternoon. My name is Teresa Binnings and I grew up in Santa Cruz and I've lived here for 40 years. I do want to just take a moment to thank you all for being here and also to recognize that I know a lot of UCD council members do a lot in our community for all the children here. And I'm here because I believe and I want to say this out of the context of what some people have said, but I think this speaks for a lot of the people here is that I want the condemnation of Hamas to be said with the same breath of the condemnation of killing children. And I don't believe any of us are speaking against that. So that's one of the points I want to make. And I really want to urge you to call a special meeting in December to call for a ceasefire. I continually am thinking about what I would have done in the Holocaust. I think the Holocaust was brought on by a dictator that was completely out of his reins and we have countries throughout the world that are calling this what it is, which is war crimes. And I think we as citizens of Santa Cruz County, which is a place where I've been raised with these values of liberty and looking at ourselves and valuing people of all colors of skin and all cultural backgrounds. I want us to step into our truth and step in and be called to speak up against this injustice. Thank you. Get my time. Good afternoon. Hi, my name is Robin. I live in Santa Cruz and I work as a teaching assistant at UCSC. I'm a scholar of Middle Eastern politics and history and I've spent time in Palestine and Israel working for Palestinian society organizations. I have seen Israel's system of settler colonialism and apartheid firsthand. The segregation wall, the brutal military occupation, the Jim Crow style laws, the checkpoints and the daily humiliation of Palestinians. I also develop friendships with Palestinian and anti-Zionist Israeli organizers working to end this system. Today, Israel is committing genocide in its latest war on the open air prison that is Gaza, killing approximately 20,000 Palestinians in just over two months. We are complicit as US tax dollars are funding this genocide. I ask the council to be brave and to take a stand, much as the Oakland City Council did and hold a special meeting in December to pass a resolution calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire as a first step toward ending US support for Israeli apartheid and achieving justice in Palestine. Thank you. I'm getting an indication from the, just set the stage for a rat. Seems like we have probably five more people online so we'll be toggling back and forth. Next person online, good afternoon. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. I'm Jasmine and I'm calling to implore you to pass a ceasefire resolution. I've been horrified about what is happening in Palestine. I have a friend who's Palestinian who's had multiple family members murdered in the genocide. And this issue is just very near and dear to my heart as well. I was born a Sunni Muslim in Bangladesh and adopted from there. America also turned their back on Bangladesh during the liberation war from Pakistan in 1971. It's actually a twice decolonized country. So I feel a lot of solidarity with Palestinians. I'd also like to urge you to do what Oakland did which is to vow counsel support of the US House Resolution 786 which calls for an immediate deescalation and ceasefire in Israel and occupied Palestine. I've seen you write letters of support for other bills or resolutions. And I feel like this could bubble up to make an international difference. I know it might seem like we're asking you the city to do this and what will that do? But this is how it bubbles up. At the very least, this will put our city on the correct side of history, the humane side. It also goes a long way to making Santa Cruzans feel safer against hate and violence as an answer. Again, as someone born a Muslim in Bangladesh, I feel very supported by this outpouring of support for Palestine. I actually feel much safer in the city. It's hard enough to be a BIPOC in America but to know that people don't stand for Islamophobia has been very comforting. Lastly, please take note of what the people are asking for. I appreciate you letting so many of us speak. I know this went beyond our normal 30 minutes of public comment. So since we all took this time and you took this time, I really hope you will back this with some action. Thank you. Well, thank you. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. And I wanna just echo what the last speaker said as well and thank you for letting so many people speak. I think it's clear that this is an issue that is close to many of us here in Santa Cruz. My name is Jess Fornir. I'm a Santa Cruz resident. I pay taxes here. I work here. And along with so many other members of our community, I'm calling on the council to pass a ceasefire resolution that condemns the genocide taking place against the Palestinian people in Gaza. Other people have already spoken eloquently about the depth of the grief, the sacredness of the lives of Palestinians and our connections to them, first and foremost as human beings and acknowledging the horror that is close to home for many people in Santa Cruz who are Palestinian, who have loved ones and families in Palestine and the Muslim Arab and Palestinian communities in the US including in Santa Cruz who are facing racism and extreme levels of violence and hatred. This affects us at home. We are witnessing a genocide based on ethnic cleansing and an apartheid system that has existed since 1948. It seems impossible that anyone can describe a war taking place when one side is carpet bombing, a captive population that is under occupation, backed by our country, the most powerful military in the world. This concerns all of us. This is a deep shame for Americans and it is our tax dollars, the funding and researching that happens at UC Santa Cruz, the military weapons development at Lockheed Martin that ties us not only to the people of Palestine but to oppressed people around the world. We are not powerless. We have an ethical responsibility to shift the actions of our own government and to stand with the people of Gaza and millions around the world and calling the US government to support a ceasefire. In doing this, we would not be standing alone. By adopting a ceasefire resolution in Santa Cruz, we would join the Monterey Bay Labor Council and other cities in California including Oakland and Richmond and standing on the right side of history. Thank you very much. We'll go to the next person online. Good afternoon, person online. Good afternoon. Can you hear me? Yep, sure can. Thank you. My name is Nicole Zom and I'm speaking today to ask you to call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire and pass a resolution similar to that in Oakland. I am a parent, a service worker, a voter and a taxpayer. Over the past two plus months, I've witnessed the horrific violent and strategic actions taken by the Israeli government on the Palestinian people largely funded by the US and resulting in 20,000 deaths. I've listened to the staff of Doctors on Duty stationed in Palestine describing the many children stumbling into their hospitals badly wounded and with not a single living relative. I've imagined my daughter dead or alone. I've imagined an entire city, our entire city in rubble. If the city council were to turn away from this opportunity to speak for what will save lives and to acknowledge genocide, where it is happening now, you turn away from your own people, your own community, women, children, parents, the vulnerable people, where we live, that may be or are targets of hate now. Please use your power and show us that you are willing to take a risk for what is right. Thank you. Thank you very much. Good afternoon. My name is Riley Collins and I am a Santa Cruz resident. I'm here today to urge you to support an immediate and permanent ceasefire resolution in Gaza. This would not be the first time that Santa Cruz's city council led the way and passed a resolution for global justice that expanded beyond our city limits. In 1983, our city council became the first in California to proclaim Santa Cruz a planetary city declaring that we must extend our citizenship responsibilities beyond state and nation in order to solve world problems, namely that of war. I cannot imagine a more urgent and devastating world problem than Israel's relentless and indiscriminate killing of Palestinian civilians, which we know has now reached over 20,000 people in two months. That is more than 300 deaths every day for over two months, barring one momentary respite. Dr. Asma Al Ashkar, a Palestinian doctor who was killed in an Israeli strike, stated hours before her death, we are being killed one after another and the entire world is watching. Who is helping Gaza? I asked today that we stop watching. I asked that we follow the United Nations that just one hour ago voted to demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. And I ask that you hold a special meeting in December and that you pass a resolution for a permanent ceasefire. Thank you. Thank you. Good afternoon, person online. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Oh, hi, is that me? It is you. My name is Rosalyn Schurinstein. I have worked as a physician in Santa Cruz for over 40 years. I would like to say that the war will end as soon as Hamas surrenders and gives up the hostages. There would be no violence if Hamas had not taken over Gaza in 2007 and used it to wage an endless genocidal war against Israel's existence. A ceasefire will not end anything. It will not cause any justice or peace. It'll just allow Hamas to get away with brutally massacring, raping and kidnapping civilians from Israel and other countries. Leaders across the political spectrum including Bernie Sanders and our own Jimmy Panetta recognize this. And this war, for the sake of everyone, the Gaza must, must surrender. That they violated the ceasefire. That's how this became a horrible event. And you're not saving any lives of any Palestinian doctors, children or people by permitting Hamas to continue their genocide against their own people. And just to do a virtue signal for something that's going to be ineffective and actually counterproductive is not gonna signal anything but a complete disregard for the realities on the ground. So I thank you for taking this time and I urge you not to waste your precious time or taxpayer money on giving policy for foreign affairs that will be counterproductive and against what the crimes of humanity Hamas has committed and which it is committed to continuing in the future. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. My name is Camila Hawthorne. I'm a voter in district two. I'm a faculty member in sociology and critical race and ethnic studies at UC Santa Cruz, a founding member of our university's faculty for justice in Palestine chapter and a member of National Alumni for Palestine, a network of Ivy League alumni calling for protections of academic freedom and the divestment of university endowments from military contractors. I also stand here as a black woman, which means that I have an ethical, moral, political responsibility to stand with oppressed people wherever, whenever and it is worth noting that Israel's own human rights observer, Beth Salem, has called the occupation of the Palestinian territories apartheid. And I also stand here as the wife of an Iranian partner with Muslim family who worries every day about his safety because of this dramatic rise and violence against the Middle Eastern people in our community and around the country and around the world. I am mobilizing for an immediate and permanent ceasefire because collective punishment enacted on a trapped civilian population is a humanitarian emergency, a war crime and a massive human rights violation as recognized unequivocally by the United Nations, Amnesty International and countless other bodies. Several people have asked today why a ceasefire resolution in a small city like ours? This matters also because it says to our neighbors who are Palestinian, Muslim, Arab, Middle Eastern that their lives matter, that we care about their safety at a time of rising hate crimes, violence and intimidation. I want to echo the overwhelming calls we have heard today for a special meeting in December during which a ceasefire resolution modeled on the Oakland resolution will be on the special meeting agenda and passed. And I also urge all of you to respond to the emails from your constituents and meet with them on this urgent matter. Thank you very much for your time. Good afternoon, person online. Good afternoon. Hello, can you hear me? Yes, we can. So my name is Elaine Miller. I've lived in Santa Cruz County my entire life and I'm here to support Santa Cruz joining Oakland in the passing of a ceasefire resolution. I'm sure you're all aware of the thousands of civilian deaths in Gaza and it's heartbreaking to see. I'm here to say that I am Jewish and there are many Jewish people like myself in our community who rejects the calls for further violence and want to see a permanent ceasefire. I want to highlight that Israel's crimes go back further than October 7th. And I decided years ago that they did not represent my values as the Jew. A ceasefire is the only way to ensure safety for all in this situation, including the Israeli hostages. I don't believe bombing the region where they are shows much regard for them. So we need to save as many lives as possible in this situation and I believe that starts at the local level in showing that we recognize the humanity of people in Gaza. So please hold a special meeting in December and if any of you would vote for this resolution, I would fully support you in that decision. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Schultz, good afternoon, sir. Good afternoon, council members. I am Jeffrey Smedberg. I'm a resident of District Two. Sherry Conable Presente. Sherry Conable, as you may remember, is the most prominent peace activist in Santa Cruz County for decades. If she were still alive, I'm sure she would be with us today. I am also the vice president of the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council, which is a union of the unions, 80 unions representing 35,000 union members in Monterey and Santa Cruz counties. Last week, our delegate body of the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council adopted a call for ceasefire in Israel and Palestine and I'm representing them in calling upon you as our local elected representatives to also pass a resolution calling for permanent and immediate ceasefire. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Next person online, good afternoon. Good afternoon. Hi, can you hear me? Yes, we can. Hi, my name is Stacy Garcia and I'm excited to speak with you today. I used to work at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History and also at the Community Foundation of Santa Cruz County and now I work for an international human rights organization and I'm calling to urge you along with many human rights organizations around the world, many cities and counties around the world and countries around the world to call for a permanent immediate ceasefire and also a guidance to international humanitarian law which has been broken by Israel numerous, numerous times. Urging you all to call for a special meeting in December to discuss this and put forward a resolution similar to the Oakland resolution. I was just at the County Supervisors' Meeting earlier this morning where many folks were sharing how this is not a local issue and I want to correct that and say this is a local issue. There are many Palestinian Americans in our community who are facing a rise in Islamophobia and anti-Muslim sentiments. We even heard some of that in our comments this morning at the County Board of Supervisors' Meeting which was appalling. So I urge you to take action on this issue for the Palestinian Americans that are living in our community and also because this is a moral imparity. Our U.S. tax starters are funding this genocide and that means that money that could be going to help our community locally is going to fund a genocide which is killing thousands of innocent people. So I urge you to take action, you're called upon to take action and I hope you do so now. Thank you. Thank you. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. My name is Arshad Muhammad and I am a Santa Cruz resident and UCSC student. I stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people as a Muslim woman. My community is not free until Palestine is free. As of now, 90% of the Ghazan population has been displaced and over 20,000 innocent Palestinians have been ethnically cleansed. I'm reminded every moment of the privilege I have when I enter my home and I'm safe there, when I can have a meal, quench my thirst, when I can end a call with my family and not worry about whether I will speak with them tomorrow and when I sleep at night, knowing I will wake up tomorrow. These are basic rights and yet the things the Palestinians can only dream of. When a tax dollar that should be going towards supporting and improving Santa Cruz are being used to torture and massacre the innocent, it is our responsibility to call for justice. I'm here today to ask you to hold a special meeting in December to support a ceasefire resolution identical to the Oakland resolution and to return your constituencies' emails and meet with them regarding this matter. I worry about the precedent this is setting not only for the future of Palestinian citizens but for the safety of our local Arab and Muslim communities. Santa Cruz must pass this resolution and stand on the right side of history. A ceasefire yesterday would have saved the lives lost today. Thank you. Thank you. Good afternoon, next person online. Welcome. Good afternoon. Hello, yes. Can you hear me okay? Yes, we can. Hi, my name is Casey Saadi. I teach here in Santa Cruz. I'm also married to an Israeli and I've been there a few times I visited. I am appalled at the misinformation and disinformation I'm hearing in this meeting. If Hamas simply released the hostages, there would be an immediate ceasefire. It's as if no one in this room understands this. They have 138 hostages, including children that are there without their families. They have raped, murdered, slaughtered, burned families alive, tortured, dismembered, disemboweled civilians that are completely innocent. And for these people to sit here and say, there needs to be a ceasefire now, there's ethnic cleansing, there's genocide. There isn't a genocide because the Palestinian population increases every single year. The focus here is on Hamas, a terrorist organization, and the hostages they have. When they release the hostages, the war stops. It doesn't matter how many people across the world say ceasefire, ceasefire, Israel will make that decision. Hamas can do it now if they release the hostages. Hamas uses civilians as shields. Anyone that studies this history knows this. They embed themselves in homes, hospitals, schools, fire rockets from there so that when Israel responds, it kills civilians. Why? Because they get funding through the UNRWA. When people make donations, that money goes directly to Hamas. But leaders of Hamas are worth billions and they live in Qatar. They're nowhere near Gaza. They exploit the children, they exploit the civilians. They are impoverished, they keep them impoverished so that they will buy into this pay for slay where if they bring back hostages, they get $10,000 US and an apartment. That is why these terrorists went out. They grabbed these people to bring them back to exchange for prisoners in Israeli jails. People need to go out and get some vegetation before they come here and talk about things they don't know about. Good afternoon. That was disturbing. Hello, my name is Veronica Hamilton. I'm a resident of the West Side and a delegate to the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council from UAW 2065, the UC Student Workers Union. And today, I'm asking you to adopt Oakland's call for a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to the occupation. We've seen labor step up and play a powerful role on this issue with longshoremen supporting actions to slow or stop weapons transports. Starbucks workers vocally calling for a ceasefire despite legal threats from Starbucks. Congressional staffers walking out in protest of congressional support for Israeli war crimes despite public support for a ceasefire and even Belgian transport workers unions calling on their members to refuse to handle military equipment being sent to Israel. The UAW, UFCW and United Electrical Workers have sponsored a petition calling for a ceasefire which has been signed now by at least 50 unions, including my own. The Palestinian trades workers union has urged people of conscience and international union members to end all forms of complicity with Israel's war crimes. This is the deadliest conflict for UN workers since its founding. Labor stands with the oppressed. Labor will not allow the U.S. to continue supporting war crimes, especially on our dime. The Monterey Bay Central Labor Council representing over 80 affiliated unions in Monterey and Santa Cruz counties, including more than 35,000 union members and their families, has voted to endorse a ceasefire in Gaza. Following a vote by the executive board on November 20th, delegates from the unions in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties voted overwhelmingly in support of the ceasefire resolution on December 6th. This resolution will be sent to the AFL-CIO and to our local representatives demonstrating that labor stands with the people of Gaza and calling for an end to their needless suffering. It's time for Santa Cruz to follow labor's lead. Listen to the voices of your constituents here. The atrocities against Palestinians are made possible nearly exclusively because of U.S. political support and military aid. It's beyond time for Santa Cruz to say that this is unacceptable. Join the majority of the world in supporting a ceasefire. Good afternoon, next person online, welcome. Hi there, can you hear me? Yes, we can. Hi, my name is Carisa. I work as a senior specialist with individuals with disabilities in the downtown area, and I am also a registered voter of Santa Cruz County. I wanna first thank our community for showing up for this cause. Council, I am calling on you to hold a special meeting in December for council members to return their emails and agree to meet their constituents on this matter and to put a ceasefire resolution identical to the Oakland resolution on this special meeting agenda and pass it. It is a privilege to be able to sit in front of our screens and witness this genocide instead of living it. This is why I urge you, council, to do more and act now. You have the power to support the greater good. Passing a permanent ceasefire resolution will add to Santa Cruz as a leading voice in social justice and racial justice. As Audrey Lord once said, sometimes we are blessed with being able to choose the time and the arena and the manner of our revolution, but more usually, we must do battle where we are standing. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Good afternoon, council members. My name is Cindy Dawson. I live in district two on the east side. I first wanna start by thanking council member Brunner for responding to my email and meeting with a group of us on Sunday about this issue. It's really important that we feel represented by our council. I'm here today to add my voice to the hundreds of people you've seen today and really the countless number of people around the world that spans religions, spans cultures, spans across the globe, asking for a call for an immediate ceasefire. I want to add that passing a resolution here on Santa Cruz is not performative. It matters. And it matters to our community members. It matters to our Palestinian neighbors. It helps them feel supported and safe. And it sends a clear message that Santa Cruz stands up against genocide and we stand up against the mass murder of children and civilians full stop. Every city that passes a resolution elevates the call to stop the killing now. There is no way forward without a ceasefire. I urge you to be the leaders that you were elected to be. I urge you to show us your compassion and show us your courage by calling for a special meeting this month and passing an immediate ceasefire now. Thank you. Next person online, good afternoon. Welcome. Good afternoon, can you hear me? Yes, we can. Oh, wonderful. My name is Claire Schoenstein. I was born and raised here in Santa Cruz. I'm a healthcare worker. I'm a Santa Cruz. Oh, sorry, can you hear me? Oh, we can hear you very well. Oh, sorry. Okay, I just heard someone speak. Okay. I'm a healthcare worker, a Santa Cruz voter and I am a proud Jew. I am against a resolution for a ceasefire in the Hamas Israel war. Let's be clear, the current war was provoked by Hamas terrorists and is between Hamas and Israel, not between Israelis and Palestinians. There are many reasons why a resolution for a ceasefire is not helpful. First, Hamas has a long history of breaking ceasefire agreements, including the most recent one. Second, Hamas remains committed to the death and destruction of Israel and all Jewish people worldwide. They openly announced this. The brutality of Hamas on October 7th where babies were beheaded, women were raped and mutilated and elderly Holocaust survivors were gunned down illustrates that the terror group is not interested in peace of any kind. They don't care about their own people. They use them as human shields. I've heard people speak today about how all human life matters. Very few people have mentioned hostages. Very few people have spoken of the people who were killed on October 7th. Hamas will use ceasefire to regroup and rearm this break of deadly consequences for Israelis and Palestinians alike. Fourth, a ceasefire may delay the possibility of returning the hostages home and we need them to be returned now. Lastly, removing Hamas would lead to a better future for Gaza and the Palestinian people. Please stay focused on our community where we desperately need solutions for homelessness, the high cost of living, the housing shortage and other local issues of importance. We do not vote for you to make statements on foreign policy, especially ones that only serve to promote anti-Semitism here in our community. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. My name is Carlos and I live in district two and this is my third year as a Santa Cruz resident. I wanna start off by acknowledging all of city council and say thank you for having the willingness to hear and receive my words for the next minute. I recognize that these conversations come at a risk of backlash. Yeah, I'm proud of those of you who sit on city council who are willing to acknowledge and keep her hearts open and stay connected to our shared humanity and community. As I navigate my own heartache and in my own processing, the word that continues to come up is hope. And I stumbled on words from Grace Paulsy that solidifies how I feel that the only recognizable feature of hope is action. Action is our antidote. And the action step moving forward is a simple one. To support a ceasefire resolution, sending a unified message that our community stands against the deliberate killing of Palestinian people. Thank you. Next person, we'll take the next person online. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Hello, can you hear me? Yes, we can. My name is Avichai. I live in Santa Cruz. I am wondering about what do you guys think a ceasefire would do? And what do you guys think a resolution from Santa Cruz will do to support the region? When you say ceasefire, how long of a ceasefire? There is this perception that Israelis are white and Palestinians are brown. And let me tell you, as a Mizrahi Jew born and raised in Israel, that is not true. Please focus on the facts. Let's support whichever side you want to support. There's no need for a town, city, a council, a district to make demands of different countries. This is lunacy. I understand the need to try to help. If you want to support your Palestinian neighbors, your Jewish neighbors, support the elimination of the terrorist organization that has terrorized both Jews and Palestinians for the past over 10 years. Thank you. Good afternoon. Good afternoon, council members. Thank you for your time today and hearing everyone realize it's a long time. My name is Lisa Navara or Hart. I am a constituent here in Santa Cruz. I've been here for almost seven years. I'm a mental health professional, social worker. I work with our families and our youth here. And seeing what has been happening for the last two months in Gaza daily to children, to families is horrific. It's easy to say, okay, two months, but moment to moment. Imagine what they're hearing, what they're experiencing. And here we are, able to talk, able to move around freely, eat, take care of our families. We can easily be so disconnected, so easy to be disconnected. And we are here also with the ability to actually make an impact. And this is why I believe so many people are showing up today because we believe in our community, we believe in you all, and we have the opportunity to step up and make a difference. So it's also, we are standing with 66% of other Americans. We're not alone in this and there is no downside to calling for a ceasefire. It is basic. Shall I pause? I thought I was getting a signal about something, but please, I'm sorry to interrupt you. Okay. It is basic. People will stand with you for supporting peace. So I want to request that you have a special meeting in December that you respond to your constituents through email and that we support a ceasefire now. Thank you. Thank you. Next person online, good afternoon. Welcome. Welcome. Hey, my name is Reggie Meisler. I've called you many of these meetings before. I stand in solidarity with the calls for a ceasefire. And unfortunately, I feel like we're not gonna get a ceasefire resolution through the city council, but I would like to be proven wrong. And that's why I just want to call and sort of throw that out there. Like, I know that there are some people that are calling opposed to this. I know that this is not something that this particular city council has a history of supporting things of this nature, but I really hope to be proven wrong. And I guess that's what I'm trying to say here. And if you do the right thing and you support the ceasefire, that'll be great. It's good for you guys on city council. And hey, you get to like, not sort of prove to this large coalition and generation of people that working inside the system doesn't work. So there's a little ancillary benefit for you that if you support the ceasefire, you make it happen. You can show people that electoral politics actually does something. But by sort of not supporting the ceasefire, you're kind of moving the escalation forward. And you just think about that kind of cost benefit. Thank you. Thank you. Good afternoon. Very colorful. Hi, thank you so much for having me. My name is Brenda Garcia and I'm an immigrant to Santa Cruz. I came here when I was seven and I've gone to Sokala Elementary, New Brighton, Cabrillo, and then UC Berkeley. And I'm also a union leader. I helped organize the first union in civic tech and I led it towards the strike point. So I'm very active in labor and I'm really happy to see all of the labor unions support a ceasefire here for Palestine. I wanna ask Santa Cruz County, how can we continue to compartmentalize our values? How can we say that we value environmentalism in Santa Cruz, but stay quiet when Israel is raising Palestine's olive trees and dropping cancerous chemicals on the land? How can we say that we care about racial equity in Santa Cruz, but allow our tax dollars to fund an upper hide state? And speaking about tax dollars, from 2018 to 2028, the US sends the upper hide state of Israel $10.4 million every day. Because our taxes fund this genocide, I reject the notion that the upper hide state of Israel has nothing to do with our city. We also have a large undocumented population in Santa Cruz. They pick your berries, they serve you food, they are students, they pay billions in taxes, but don't have access to many government benefits. Yet, their taxes go to fund Israeli settlers in Palestine. They fund Israel's free education, their free healthcare, and various other benefits. So again, this has so much to do with our city because our taxes go to fund their free government benefits. How many teachers can we train with the money that we send to Israel? How many injured undocumented workers can we give medical care to with the money that we send to Israel? I call on Santa Cruz County to pass a ceasefire resolution and to vow to divest and boycott any organization that upholds the illegal state of Israel. I call on the media in our city to have the integrity to accurately report on the genocide. Thank you. Thank you. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. First, thanks, the council, for spending the time to hear our thoughts today. My name is Weston Mossman. I am a constituent of Santa Cruz. I first moved to Santa Cruz in 2011. And I want to urge the council to move to put forth a resolution similar to the Oakland resolution for a ceasefire. So the situation is very complicated. And what isn't complicated is the overwhelming daily deaths of the innocents in Gaza. We are all human. We're part of a global human community. And our values as humans is to reduce the number of deaths of innocents. And being a member of a country, a citizen of a country that's whose military industrial complex has so much to do with this issue, it's our responsibility to take a stand and our responsibility to speak out and have our voices be heard on this issue. And our voices may seem small and your voices even may seem small on this issue. It's a huge issue. And we still need to speak up. We still need to make our voices heard in the same way that we're all lining up today to say to you that we need a resolution. I think if you make a resolution to our state, to our country, we can have a huge impact together. So thank you. Thank you. Good afternoon. Hello, my name is Skyler Sokulis and I am a voting resident in Santa Cruz. And I'm here with many others in support of an immediate and permanent ceasefire. And I'm calling on the city of Santa Cruz to hold a special meeting this month in order to pass a ceasefire resolution identical or very close to the Oakland resolution. We cannot turn away and ignore this ongoing genocide. Our city needs to do anything and everything we can to stop the genocide of thousands of people in Gaza. Our action cannot wait until January. Our tax dollars are supplying weapons of mass terror and destruction. Every day we lose more loved ones. Every day more children become orphans. Please listen to the people and support an immediate ceasefire and pass a ceasefire resolution as soon as possible. The city of Santa Cruz has an opportunity to do something. Please do it. Liberation for all of us or none of us. Thank you. Good afternoon. Yes. Good afternoon. My name is Myra Ventura and I am here as the daughter of parents who had to flee their motherland for their lives because of a civil war funded by the United States. The violence we're witnessing today in history is nothing new. A permanent ceasefire resolution is the least we can do for Palestine. Not staying silent in the midst of a genocide in Gaza is the least we can do. Acting in the name of resistance is the least our ancestors expect us to do. No one is free until Palestine is free. No one is free until all oppressed peoples across the world are free from the violent chains of settler colonialism. Change happens when we, the people, all of us hear before your eyes. Take action on the ground and elected folks such as you all, listen to us so I urge you to listen to us. I urge you all to find the humanity within yourselves because we will not stop and we will die trying in solidarity. So thank you. Good afternoon. Good afternoon, thanks for being here and thanks for hearing us. My name is Gillian. I live and work here in Santa Cruz over a decade now and I'm also raising my daughter here. I stand here as a mother who is against the killing of children anywhere and against the genocide of Palestinians. I'm also here as the wife of someone whose family survived genocide in Indonesia. This is a genocide that, like the one taking place in Palestine, was perpetrated with weapons from the United States. And I can attest that the wounds of genocide continue to hurt and that trauma passes from generation to generation to generation and that mass killing will only get more violence and pain. I urge you to adopt a resolution for ceasefire and use whatever power you have. Please, to stop the killing in Gaza. I urge you to use your voices to call for ceasefire for the people in Palestine who are under attack in this very moment right now for our Muslim sisters, brothers and neighbors here in Santa Cruz who deserve to feel safe in the place where they live and for our future generations who will be forced to inherit these legacies of violence. So please, I implore you to take swift action. Thank you for your time. Good afternoon. Hi guys, I'm Caroline. I grew up in Santa Cruz, so resident of pretty much 35 years, give or take. And I'm a Jewish American, grew up celebrating Hanukkah and Christmas that I had the best of both worlds and didn't really know a ton about Judaism to be honest. I went to college and learned a bit more because I was invited to go to free like Shabbos dinners. And that's when I kind of started hearing that I had this right to go to Israel and all this cool stuff. Still didn't really do a whole lot with that, didn't do birthright. But then, you know, fast forward to now, I am gonna totally just say I had a lot of ignorance. I didn't realize Israel was only founded in 1948. And then when I saw the mass killing that was happening, I was like, man, I really wanna better understand the situation. So I started looking back at the history, you know, the hundreds of years ago history, but also the more recent history. And it didn't take me long to realize that if I was a people who like, if my grandmother's house was taken from me violently, I would probably hold some resentment and be pretty hurt and frustrated. And then when I realized that, you know, a lot of these things that are getting bombed in Gaza are refugee camps. It's because 81% of the people in Gaza are refugees. I just wanna really quickly read, there's a lot of misinformation. So, and I do think that it's really important at the local level to do this, we've been trying to call our federal reps, they're not doing anything. And so we have like no other choice. And we really are depending on you guys to be our voice. But I would just wanna say that the Homage Charter specifically distinguishes between Judaism and Zionism. And I'm really freaked out about how Zionism is being equated to Judaism. I don't identify with it. And it makes me feel less safe. And so I just wanted to put that out there. And yeah, that's it. Thank you. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Hello, council members. Thank you for being here. Thank you for representing us, members of Santa Cruz. I come here today between six classes worth of finals. I have 21 credits, I'm so stressed out. And I'm sacrificing my time here, just like everybody else, because a regular day cannot go on. I can't go to school knowing that and focus on my studies, knowing that the children in Gaza who are just trying to go to class, just trying to find refuge in their elementary school were bombed for being there. They're bombing elementary schools and hospitals and students abroad, I mean students in Palestine might be murdered in their own homes just because they're trying to go to school. Sorry. And I just come here because I speak with my fellow students and I know that we're all tossing and turning in our sleep and it's really hard to feel like we're not being heard. There's been big protests at UC Santa Cruz. We know that the money that we give to our school goes to a government that's funding a genocide. And it makes us feel unheard and it makes us not have a lot of hope in our government. And knowing that there's been such overwhelming support of Palestine and America and knowing that America is still vetoing a ceasefire makes the young generation feel really disempowered. And so I'm really hoping that today you can show us that you stand with us and you listen to what your citizens care about and you're willing to enact policies and stand with a ceasefire and stand with all of us here. Thank you. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. My name is Kathleen Eschelpipes. I have lived in Santa Cruz for over 25 years and I am in Sandy Brown's district. I speak to you today. I have worn many hats in the time that I've lived in Santa Cruz including I'm a Presbyterian minister and a former campus minister at UC Santa Cruz as well as the mother of a child with severe disabilities. I also where speak to you as somebody who is a volunteer at Community Radio KSQD. And from that experience and from my experience in various media outlets, I know how much the mainstream media does not tell us about what's going on in Palestine unless an Israeli is killed. We are told every day that it's quiet in Palestine. It has been for 75 years. But people who listen to alternative radio like KSQD or young people especially who follow the news on the internet are more and more young people not just become young or idealistic but also are becoming aware about the real information that you've heard people telling you about today and are becoming active and caring about Palestine and that will continue forward. I'm also speaking to you because I'm one of the leaders in the Palestine Justice Coalition which is affiliated with the Resource Center for Nonviolence. And we stand every weekend in front of Starbucks with our banners saying ceasefire now and we get a lot of positive feedback. We started right two years ago when Bayt Salem said the word apartheid in a 200 page report and Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International followed and we've been getting all sorts of positive and some negative responses. But since this ceasefire, we've been getting more and more people saying quietly as they passed us, thank you. Thank you for being there. People have talked about the 80% of Democrats, over three quarters of Americans who support a permanent ceasefire, 80% of Democrats do and their voters in your districts. Need you to wrap this up. Yes, their voters in your districts, Santa Cruz voters, don't care, not only care about local issues but international issues. You're 53 seconds over your two minutes. Thank you for your time. I asked you three times, thank you. Next, good afternoon. Good afternoon, council. My name is Mel. I'm a Santa Cruz resident living in district two and I've been living, working and going to school in Santa Cruz for eight years now. I stand here with many friends and community members to urge you to hold a special meeting this month and pass a permanent ceasefire resolution identical to the one passed in Oakland to stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine and to stand against the genocide that is currently unfolding in Palestine. There have been so many deaths, thousands and thousands of children, parents, grandparents, animals crushed under the rubble of constant bombing and terror. Please listen to us here, members of your community taking time out of our days to talk to you, to have discourse, to have an open conversation. Please listen to us as we share how our hearts are breaking and as we try to mend them again by being here to speak up for people who are living under constant and daily state sanctioned violence. Further cycles of violence and bombing will never lead to justice and peace. Palestinian people deserve to live life without this threat of daily violence and terror. I pray that all people may be safe, free and liberated as that is what all people deserve. I pray that love will reign over violence. Please listen to our call and pass a permanent ceasefire resolution now. Thank you. Thank you. Hello. Thank you everyone for taking the time to be here today. My name is Mellie. I'm a healthcare worker, birth worker, youth educator and community artist. I am first generation indigenous to this land and have firsthand experience and witnessed the oppression and dehumanization of my own people done so explicitly by the US. It was no surprise to see that the US Empire continues to use dehumanizing language and tropes against my Palestinian siblings to make people forget that they are real people. It is up to our community and local city council members to put pressure on our government to do what is right and call for a ceasefire immediately. Doing so is crucial to ensure the safety of our communities amidst the rise of Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism. As a healthcare worker, it is my ethical and moral responsibility to protect life and a person's dignity. The idea that speaking out on these injustices is controversial is bizarre and only threatening lives the longer we wait and debate. We urge you to your moral obligation to join us in standing against genocide and meeting the three demands by a Palestinian solidarily coastal central. The US refusal to a ceasefire has proven to us that the US Empire will always use genocide and cannot be trusted. We urge our local representatives to do otherwise and apply pressure. There are no more words to describe the depravity being witnessed. Please do not be complicit in attempting to silence the genocide. Stand against US imperial interests and stand up for the freedom of Palestine. Free from occupation, free from violence, safety to raise their children into, access to necessities to meet their every needs. Free Palestine, we have a Palestinian land back now. Please show us that you are allies and we will back you up. Thank you. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. My name's Danielle West. I'm a resident here in Santa Cruz. I'm very grateful for the last comment Maley offered and many of the ones offered today. I'm also a director of a private foundation and a proud co-signer of the National Funders for Ceasefire. Before I got into that issue, I wanted to double tap against the license plate readers. I think that's a total waste of our local money. That's on our regular agenda. Okay. Thank you. Is it okay to send some love and support to those on hunger strike in our jails currently? Why don't you speak to the issue at hand? Go ahead. Well, to me, that's connected, right? Because the folks trying to advance alternative facts to y'all, right, Lake? And I'm not gonna go into them here. I would welcome the chance to receive a reply to my emails I've sent, would welcome the chance to talk actual facts with y'all. But yeah, between what's happening in our cages and what's happening with folks who are quote unquote hostages, the ask for all for all, the ask for justice. But I digress. The real reason I'm here today is to ask y'all to hold a special hearing this month in December. Personally, as somebody who has health risks, I would love to see it in a more accommodating facility than this. You know, there's gonna be a lot of people who wanna come talk to you again. So perhaps at the Civic Center. As one of the firefighters here was like, oh yeah, that would have been his choice. Anyway, appreciation to y'all. Appreciation for this opportunity to advance democracy. Would love to see y'all have had it on the agenda. Would love to see that special meeting and really hope you'll pass a resolution identical to the Oakland one. It's the one that makes me feel safer when I'm in the lineup here in Santa Cruz surfing. It's the one that makes me feel safer when I'm in community. And that's what I look for for traction from y'all as a resident here. So ceasefire now. Thank you for all your time. Don't buy the alternative facts. Hold on, just one. I'm gonna be with you in justice. Hey, I think we have some more folks calling in. So we're gonna take the next person online then we'll be right with you. Good afternoon, person online. Welcome. Person online, good afternoon. Thank you so much for taking the time. So this is all of us here. My name is Sierra Dudley and I'm a lifelong resident of Santa Cruz County. And I'm also calling in to employee wall to call an emergency meeting in December to pass a permanent ceasefire identical to Oakland. I believe that we have a responsibility to use our voices to resist genocide that's funded and armed by our government and by our tax dollars. We have a responsibility to people and the families in Gaza who are actively refused water and power and fleeing from their lives against missiles. We have a responsibility to journalists risking their lives to document the catastrophic destruction of their people and their cities and to the doctors who are bravely staying behind in hospitals without power to give care to those who are injured by bombs. We also have to be brave and stand in courageous solidarity with the people of Gaza and Palestine to act in any way we can. And right now calling for a ceasefire is one of the ways we can do that. So I implore you to consider that and call for a meeting in December. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Good afternoon. Good afternoon, council members. My name is Malakai. I'm a clear psychotherapist and business owner here in Santa Cruz. I'm thankful for the truth tellers in our community here today. And today we are asking you to stand against genocide and pass a ceasefire resolution. I have no doubt we will look back at this time in history with great remorse and regret for the actions that we did not take. For the ways our values were compromised by the status quo. For the ways we betrayed our own integrity for the protection of our comfort. We ask you to support a ceasefire resolution to send an unequivocal message that our community stands against genocide. Enough is enough. Please stand in the gap with us as we hold the tension between the world we live in now and the world that we want to live in. Where all peoples have the ability to thrive, experience safety and be free. We speak and action into existence. Palestine will be free. Thank you. Next person online. Good afternoon. Welcome. Thank you council members for hearing us all today. My name is Tanaya. I'm a Santa Cruz resident. I live on the west side. I'm a healthcare worker and mental health practitioner in town. And I am calling like many of you have come in today for y'all to do a December special meeting for a permanent ceasefire resolution in Israel and Gaza. You know, as somebody who works with elders in our community and someone who is deeply involved with trauma, you know, I think people have spoken to this. This trauma is impacting all of us right now. Like this level of violence is something that we have not seen before. Even in Afghanistan, even in Iraq, for all of our Palestinian-American friends who live in Santa Cruz, I have a dear friend who's a Palestinian-American who lives in Santa Cruz. We need to be standing next to them. We need to be standing in love with them. So thank you all so much for listening and for your time. We're hoping that we will see a special meeting come up and even just give the community, I think we're hearing it today, people need to be heard, right? People are feeling really helpless, really powerless and not trusting the government to do anything. You know, it's like, I call my reps every single day, nothing. So please, please listen to us and thank you all for being here and for sharing your voices. And yeah, thanks again. Well, thank you very much. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Hi, my name is Tobias Voorhees. I've lived here for five years. I just wanna thank you for your time. I wanna thank you for giving us past this 30 minutes, for giving all of us two minutes. Thank you a lot. I just wanna start with some statistics. In America, there's been an increase in Islamophobia by 216% since October. There's also been a rise in anti-Semitism by 388%. And I think it's our job as a community to make sure that we are protecting those most vulnerable in our community. And by passing this resolution, you will give us three gifts. You will give us a say in our government, a say in what happens, a say in what is happening with our tax dollars, and then you will also save thousands or countless of lives. And thank you for your time. Thank you. We'll take the next person online and then we'll be right with you. Good afternoon, person online. Welcome. Welcome. Yes. Hello. Hi. What? I'd like to say that talk of ceasefire at the city level, the city council level, really has no effect but to conflate the ongoing anti-Semitism. And this is a difficult political discussion, has lots of nuances, and people are seeing it as a presser. We're seeing a press. There's no talk about what has happened to the rape, the murder of Israelis and their displacement. And I just don't feel that talking about ceasefire at the city council level can do any good for our community. Thank you. Thank you. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. May I please have your attention? My name is Riku Aria and I am a Santa Cruz resident. I am an indigenous woman from the Huirarica tribe and I demand a ceasefire resolution for Palestine. I demand an end to the ethnic lending and genocide of Palestinian natives on their land. Indigenous peoples across both Turtle Island and Palestine have historically been displaced and killed through colonization, forced removals and genocide. Right here on the Water Street Bridge, three Native American and Mexican men were lynched here in Santa Cruz. I cannot sit here and watch history repeat itself as the Palestinian people relive the trail of tears. Scientists are destroying their homes, their archives, their olive trees, their people. As a mother and a human being, I cannot sit here and watch the killing of innocent civilians and children. I urge you to reject any statements made by extremists and racist calls for increased violence, specifically in the Santa Cruz Police Instagram page. The Santa Cruz Police Department allows comments that promote racism and hate. Some comments read, use canine units to break this up. Cue little terrorists. These are some of the comments that the Santa Cruz Police allow on their Instagram page. Liberation for Palestine means liberation for Turtle Island and all indigenous people. Liberation for Palestine means black liberation. I understand that some of you might be afraid to show support for Palestine, but I can assure you that we got your back no matter what, no amount of money or power is worth the killing of children. I also want to say something to the mayor. I've looked through your Instagram page and I see that you post a lot of pictures with community members promoting social and economic change. And I hope that that really reflects who you are. And if you were to pass this resolution, that would be even better. And I also want to say thank you for giving me two minutes because I've been to other city council meetings and they did not give me two minutes. Okay, thank you. Good afternoon. I'm a Santa Cruz resident. My name is Cara Rasmussen and I'm a certified nurse midwife in this community. The words I'm reading are supported by many other healthcare and birth workers in this community. Our work is rooted in supporting families of all backgrounds, religions and politics and receiving medical care that optimizes physical and mental health so that families can thrive. For many of us, this work centers on advocating and caring for those in our community most negatively impacted by systemic injustices. This work is not isolated to our individual practices but ripples into our wider communities including global communities particularly in times of crisis. We condemn the ongoing genocide in Gaza. The bombing attacks in Gaza have resulted in thousands of deaths of innocent people including pregnant people, children, medically fragile people and healthcare workers. These attacks as well as removing access to water, fuel and food have resulted in the displacement of thousands of civilians and are causing unfathomable trauma for those who have survived. These attacks and withholding of basic needs for human survival are inhumane and in direct opposition to the values we hold as healthcare workers. We recognize that reproductive justice includes not only access to basic reproductive health services that are unavailable in Gaza at this time but also to freedom from fear of violence, community with whom to raise children and access to housing, clean water and ancestral foods and land. As our work centers on dismantling injustices in our immediate context, we must amplify our voices to speak out against injustices in our global community. I add my voice to the many others here today asking you to adopt a resolution for permanent ceasefire, similar to the one passed in Oakland. Thank you for your time. Yes. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. My name is Amy Archanoff. I'm just gonna put this down. And I am a sociology faculty at the University of California at Santa Cruz. I'm a migration and human rights scholar and I've spent the past 10 years studying human rights violations against Palestinian people by the Israeli state. What happens on October 7th did not happen in a vacuum. I come here as a scholar but also as a new resident of this county. My family are sitting right back there, my beautiful children and my partner and I have moved here and it feels deeply important to come up and be part of a collective space that stands for human rights for Palestinian people. It is not something that happens afar that this is something that affects us all day to day. We've heard countless stories of the increase in anti-Semitism and Islamophobia and all of that comes when we allow these types of systems to continue to harm and continue to drop bombs on people across the world. I urge you all to have a special meeting to follow the resolution that took place in Oakland, the place that I am coming from and pass a ceasefire. It sends a message to our national leaders. It sends a message to the federal government that refuses to speak to us. I've sent countless letters to our state senators, state representatives and the Biden administration to be chastised like a young child for saying that I don't understand the issue. I deeply understand the issue. I am a scholar of human rights and have been doing this work for 20 years. And so we come up here not ignorant or uneducated but deeply educated in what the United Nations is calling for, which is a ceasefire but also the number of resolutions that the United Nations has issued against the state of Israel for their crimes against Palestinian people. And so I urge us all as a community to stand for human rights, freedoms, liberation and democracy, thank you very much and thank you for having us all here today. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Okay, my name is Nicholas. I came to Santa Cruz in about 2006 to pursue a degree at UC Santa Cruz where there's a very unique program or was the community studies program. I was drawn there because this program reflected my value that a focus on the local, our day-to-day interactions can have global positive repercussions. This is what drew me to this area and what keeps me loving it. This, we've heard a lot of people talk about who's right, what's the best sociopolitical move? That's beyond anyone in this room to decide unilaterally as far as what to do, how to move forward. But you're hearing voices today of people who are moved by this as I'm sure you have been over the past two months from all sides. It is human to feel horror at violence that you saw on October 7th, October 6th or October 8th. That's a human response. And that's why we're all here. So I just wanna thank you for taking the time to hear our voices. The decision on how you move forward as a body is in your hands and I wanna just respect that it is a complicated decision. I'm not gonna stand here and say that this is bad, therefore you should do this, then it will be solved. I'm not that naive. It is complex to take a stand on a controversial issue. You have constituents who feel very strongly on both sides. Ultimately, what this can do is add Santa Cruz to the growing list of cities around the country and nations around the world who are asking for a pause, a permanent ceasefire so that a solution can be found that helps my friends and family in Israel and my friends in Palestine to stay alive and live dignified lives. Thank you so much for what you do here and I hope you consider the global scope of it. Thank you. Thank you. Good afternoon. Good afternoon, hi. My name's Eileen. I'm a graduate student at UCSC as well as a student teacher here in Santa Cruz. I'm here today to share my support for a ceasefire in Palestine and urge you to create a ceasefire resolution identical to that of the Oakland Resolution, calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and all Israel occupied Palestine, as well as a safe and immediate passage of substantial humanitarian aid to Gaza and the end of US government funding of apartheid Israel and the Israeli occupation in Palestine. I ask that this resolution in no way dehumanizes Palestinians or Jewish people and that this resolution is placed at your agenda during a meeting in December and you vote in favor of it. It's critical that a ceasefire resolution is passed because the genocide in Gaza is being funded directly by our tax dollars. Israel is using our tax dollars to bomb hospitals, schools, refugee camps, cutting off all access to water, food, medical supplies and in the past two months alone, 1.9 million people have been displaced. Over 42% of housing is currently destroyed. As of yesterday morning, it was reported that the death toll in Palestine is up to over 23,000 people, including 9,000 children. And I'm sure you've heard this statistic before, but every 10 minutes, a child in Palestine is killed. With that, to put that statistic in perspective, it would take until lunchtime for all the fourth graders in the class that I teach today, not even the whole school day, it would take until lunchtime. So I ask that you use your power as city council members to show that the city of Santa Cruz stands with the people of Palestine and that we do not stand by and watch the genocide silently. Thank you so much for your time. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Can I ask the council or the mayor a quick question? You can. Yes. You just did one second one? Go ahead. Thank you so much. Was there a motion made by one of our city council members to place a special, no? Okay, okay. Noted. So my name is Hector Marine. I'm a community organizer and educator, a renter within the city of Santa Cruz. I come here because we recently met with council member Brunner who informed us that she would place a motion to ensure that Palestinian lives and that not only that, but also a ceasefire resolution would be heard within the council, right? And we need to ensure right now, this is grassroots community engagement. The community is showing out in droves. We're coming to y'all. Y'all are not coming to us, but we are coming to y'all. We're doing y'all's job in terms of civic engagement and telling y'all what is the best way to conduct ourselves as a city, to send a huge message and that is solidarity with Palestinian lives. There's an act of genocide going on. Me as a Mexican American, as a son of a migrant, I myself can resonate with that. When I hear the story of Palestine, when I hear the story of my Jewish brothers and sisters as well and my Muslim brothers and sisters as well, that reminds me of the story of my Mexican people too. And when I hear these stories, when I hear all these catastrophes and all of these casualties also occurring within this international world, right? We can be proactive and we can take the initiatives to make a change and to tell the world that, hey, we're in solidarity with the indigenous community throughout all nations, and we're all one nation, one nation. So with the city council, I urge y'all to do the right decision. Some of y'all don't want Gen Z on the council. Some of y'all don't want Gen Z on the commissions. Some of y'all don't want Latinos in the council. So please stand in solidarity with indigenous lives. Gracias. You get to be greeted as the first person who gets greeted as good evening. My name is Ren Kermode and council members, I ask you to support a ceasefire resolution, identical to the Oakland resolution. We as a community descend an unwavering message that we do not support genocide or colonization. We do not support the murder of any Palestinian civilian, the majority of whom have lost their homes and entire families. We do not support collective punishment and war crimes. Israel has bombed hospitals, schools, and most recently the largest and oldest church in Gaza. This is a second Nakba. We need action and we need it now. And the only solution is a special meeting in December where a ceasefire is put on the agenda and passed. We are benefactors of this violence and our tax dollars, it's perpetrators. Therefore it is our responsibility to do everything we can. And in anticipation that I had a full two minutes, I wrote this next part. This is a mass disabling crisis during another mass disabling crisis, which is COVID-19. That particular issue is important to me because I am barely standing here today. There is no healthcare in Gaza and no infrastructure to help. I am truly horrified as a disabled person and as a person who is privileged enough to get healthcare. Please listen, Free Palestine. Good evening. Crowd to follow. Hi, my name is Metalia. I was born and raised here and grew up here. A lot of you have made my points. I ask you today, members of my city council, to support an identical ceasefire resolution in the way that Oakland did. I had more prepared. Everybody said it. Thank you. I'm sitting here and I'm seeing parents dying before their children are dying, or vice versa. I'm seeing a lot of violence that is not new to me. We've gone through this before. We've heard excuses for murdering people, displacing civilians before, for land, for resources, or just for the sake of displacement. And I can't sit here and watch it. I've had many people here make many, many eloquent points before me, and I'm sitting here wondering, can you imagine taking just blood away? Earrings, pieces of clothing. That's all you have left. I cannot imagine, even with the family members, I dislike the most, only taking an earring. And it's emotional. I feel like all of us should be crying right now. I don't know how you guys are keeping it together. And I have more words, and I don't think any of them are gonna matter, because I'm not seeing it here. Maybe on, but maybe two faces. I need an end to violence. We need an end to this violence. We are voters. I'm a union member. I'm a registered voter. I'm a caretaker. I took off time today to be here. This is, I know you know this is serious. Let's treat it like it. An identical resolution this month to Oakland's. Land back, free Palestine, thank you. Good evening. Good evening. My name is Oregon Pinto, and I'm a resident of Santa Cruz County. I am a Jewish leader and an interfaith chaplain with ancestors from Eastern Europe and Morocco. I'm calling for an immediate permanent ceasefire on Gaza and asking that our community pass ceasefire resolution similar to the Oakland ceasefire resolution. My heart is broken into shards with each day that passes and more and more innocent lives lost. My father is Israeli, and I have family both in Israel and in the West Bank in the settlements, and I'm among thousands and thousands of Jews that are peeling back the lies that we have been taught as children that Israel is our safe place, and we must do everything to protect it. This is not my Judaism. We are made in Bethlehem Elohim, Judaism teaches us. That means we are made in the image of God. And the highest law of Judaism says that if one person is killed, that means that the whole is killed. That is why my heart is breaking in this time for innocent children, women, and elders that are just wanting to live their lives. Balmangaza is not making anyone safe. Balmangaza is only breeding more violence. Trauma breeds trauma, and this is what's happening right now in front of our eyes. Israel is committing the atrocities that it has been done to them. And I say not in our name, never again for anyone, and never again is now. Are you all standing on the side of war or on the side of peace? In this time of Hanukkah, the festival of lights let shine a light in the dark on the issues here and right here in Santa Cruz. I pray for an end to the violence. And I pray that you all can find the strength, the courage, and support one another in doing what you know is right and true in your hearts. I know that this resolution will not only contribute to the safety of our communities here as well, especially our Jewish and Muslim siblings. So let this resolution help us engage in dialogue and break through the barriers of separation. Please hold a special meeting in December on this. Thank you. Good afternoon. Good evening. Good evening. That's right. Hello, my name is Nereva de la O and I work at a local elementary school and I live just down the street and I checked in during my lunchtime, someone was live streaming this on Instagram and I was so excited to see so many people here. And I was hoping that by the time I got off work, I would still be able to catch it. So I'm excited to be here and I'm happy to see our community showing up. I also am urging this city council to call for a ceasefire or to vote on a ceasefire resolution. And the reason is there are so many reasons. In the past nine weeks, I have watched as the death toll has climbed up above 20,000 people. There's still thousands of people buried under the rubble that people can't get to because there's no fuel. Over 10,000 children have been killed. 1.8 million people have been forcibly displaced. 50,000 people are injured, horribly, horribly injured. And I'm watching it all happen on my phone. I don't know if people over the age of 40, I'm 40, so no offense, but if you get much over that are on Instagram too much, but we're all seeing it happen on our phones. We follow people who are in Gaza and we see mothers rocking their dead children and crying. We see the most horrific things we've ever seen in real life and we just want it to end. And yeah, that's all. Please take a stand, use this opportunity to take a stand and be on the right side of history and join the growing call for a ceasefire that's only gonna continue to grow and grow and grow. Thank you. We're gonna take another person who is online. Good afternoon, good evening, rather person online. Welcome. Thank you, am I on mute as sufficiently? Yeah, we can hear you just fine. My name is Susan Karen. I've been a resident of Santa Cruz County for 50 years. I am very disturbed to learn about this proposed resolution for the ceasefire in the Middle East. Everyone wants peace, but we vote for our city council to govern the city of Santa Cruz, not to make statements on foreign policy. I don't think that any of you sitting at the desks there would propose that you have more information on the Middle East policy and foreign policy and history in that region than anybody who lives there and is trying to solve the problems now. I understand that you as council members are being put under pressure from certain people and groups critical of Israel to vote on this resolution about the ceasefire without conditions from Hamas, which is a terrorist organization. There is no negotiating with terrorists, you should know that. A ceasefire without return of hostages and without removing Hamas terrorists as the government of Gaza will only lead to more massacres of civilians, both Palestinians and Gazans and Israelis. Hamas has already broken a ceasefire. What's to say that this would be enforced? This has been promised by Hamas leaders saying that what occurred on October 7th in Israel was merely a dress rehearsal. This was a massacre of brutality that the world has never seen before. Who says such despicable things about people? Israel is taking many precautions to minimize collateral damage in their efforts to remove Hamas and the murderous sadistic aggressors they have proven to be. However, Israel must remove Hamas to allow Palestinians and Gazans to reestablish their land and a new government, one that will support the people, not use them as shields and pawns. Please do not give into the mob mentality and request those who have limited insight and little historic understanding of the situation. Stay out of Middle East politics. This has no place in our local government and will only become more divisive in our already divided community. Thank you for listening. Thank you. Good evening. Good evening. Thank you for taking the time to be here. City Council members, I urge you to use the voice you have to represent the Santa Cruz citizens who showed up today. I don't think you can see through the Zoom, but the line wrapped around the meeting because everybody wanted to take time to show that they support the Palestine people. I asked the city representatives to call for the immediate ceasefire resolution identical to the one in Oakland. People are dying to uplift, preserve, and ensure the future of Palestine people. Bloodlines are being wiped out. I will say it again, bloodlines. Again, I ask that the city council call for a ceasefire and pass a ceasefire resolution identical to the one in Oakland. You have the opportunity to stand against genocide being funded by mine and your tax dollars. You have taken the time today to listen to your constituents. Please follow it with action. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening. Good evening. I would just like to apologize for not so good at speaking. This is my first time being here in this kind of situation. Do me a favor so people online can hear you. Just pull that microphone, you got a soft voice. There we go, good. Yeah, it won't be the last, so that's good. That ends up until 5 a.m. last night studying for finals. So good times, good times. I, so many others have come here today to urge you to pass a ceasefire resolution modeled after the one that was passed in Oakland. As soon as possible, preferably immediately, but you know, meeting in December, that's okay too. I think it's important to acknowledge that this did not start on October 7th. It started in 1987, sorry, 1897, when the first scientist Congress aimed to establish a Jewish state in Palestine by erasing all of the people who already lived there. It started in 1948 during the Nakba when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were displaced from their homes or deceased their land and assets through the absentee property law and the land acquisition law. It started with the thousands of children forcibly placed under indefinite administrative detention without access to legal counsel or to their families who were subjected to horrific conditions such as physical and sexual violence, inadequate healthcare, mental torture and anguish. This should have been a disgrace when it was happening and it is a disgrace now. The violence and cruelty that we have seen at the hands of the Israeli military is not an anomaly but a continuation of this colonial violence. The destruction of centers of worship and government, of libraries and community centers, of hospitals and homes is not an anomaly, is part of a long chain of the government of Israel backed by the United States to erase the history and spirit of the Palestinian people. Just as this did not begin on October 7th, the fight for Palestinian freedom will not end with a ceasefire but it is a crucial first step. Again, I urge you to pass an immediate ceasefire resolution and to support the freedom and liberation of the Palestinian people. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you. Good evening, sir. It doesn't seem like it's evening. My name is still James Ewing Whitman. I don't know how much time I have but I've never witnessed so many people here. It's absolutely amazing. So I was cut off on the phone and I kind of want to get some clarification. About four years ago, I didn't know, I thought someone else in the word had used a four letter word. Let me just pause for a second. You called in there, let your ride under our community. And was hung up on, for someone said that, I said something that was anti-semitic. You're good. I'm here to, well, I appreciate that. Okay. You're good too. I just wanted to check. So about four years ago, I was in a meeting and it was in the evening. I thought someone else had used a very colorful word that when my son uses it, he sounds just like his mother, but I was stopped. So later on Drew Glover asked Tony Condati if, you know, community members could behave like a Beavis and Butthead and just use four letter words the whole time. He said, well, we don't condone it but we can't really stop it. So my point is, I don't know, I can't stand talking on the stuff on the phone because you get hung up on it. If I'm gonna say something that's might offend the people listening, I'd like to do it to their faces. So this country was founded upon genocide and slavery. Like it or not, that's just the way it is. And that the United States government has been funding Israel, the government of Israel, which has nothing to do with the Jewish people. That's only $255 billion over the last 75 years. My point being is the October 7th is a false flag, much like many other false flags. I was in the county council and this was already voted no. I mean, I'm not for a ceasefire. I am for removal and the consequences of the government that controls Israel. I'm not for a ceasefire. Unfortunately, in the United States, the current, whatever you wanna call him, President, and Trump, and BK Jr. are for this genocide. So it's just really kinda challenging. I think it's wonderful that so many people were here in the community. I wish they'd show up to pay attention to other things. Because this is the charter city. These individuals are speaking to you that they voted for. But you guys are under the control of the city manager. So I appreciate the time. Thank you. Good evening. Hi. I know it's been a really long day already, but thank you so much for taking the time to listen to us. And I just wanna say I really appreciate every single one of you. I know how hard you guys all work. I am an intern for the Climate Action Program and I work for the city of Santa Cruz. And I know how much work you guys all put into your jobs. And I know you guys have listened to a lot of people and I know you guys have listened to a lot of people today and I just wanna say thank you, really, for taking the time to listen to us. And I was kind of just sitting in my office doing my work and listening to the council meeting and thought I should come and say something because I haven't heard anybody from the city talk up here and I think it's probably important that I talk up here, too. But I just wanna stand as a member of the community and an employee of the city of Santa Cruz and call for a ceasefire. I know during council meetings, it's important to talk about issues happening directly within our local community, but I think these are issues directly happening in our community. And it feels wrong to talk about anything other than the horrible events happening right now in Gaza. And I know there, I mean, I've looked at the agenda for the day, I know there's a lot to be talking about within our city, but sometimes it kind of does feel wrong to talk about other things happening. And I just wanna say, talking about this, I know it's a lot, but I also know it's not a waste of time because it's a way to support and to move forward and to have a better future for everyone, so thank you all, really. Thank you. Good evening. Again, thank you all for being here and listening to us because this really is the place where we can come together and you can help us to amplify our voice to speak out against things that are going on in this world right now. So I'm here, along with so many others, to urge you to support the ceasefire resolution that's modeled after the Oakland Resolution because we cannot continue to support war and support the bombing of innocent people and the land. Not only are people dying and homes are being destroyed, but the land is dying and being destroyed. Two animals are losing their home. The waterways are being poisoned even further than they already have been damaged under the Israel occupation of Palestine because they have used damage of waterways and cutting down of olive trees and as ways to further control and affect the Palestinian people. So right now we're at a time in the world when we're far aware of how little, limited resources we have. We're running out of water. We're mining the earth in many places and destroying this beautiful land that we have. And so much of those resources are being used in war and further destruction. That's not only killing people right now, but that's poisoning the land for future generations. So people are dying now. People are going to be continuing to be sick from the bombs that are dropping and we cannot continue to support war. We need to divest from war. And yes, this is important to talk about because it's affecting all of us. We're paying for this with our tax dollars. So it's very important for us to be talking about this and us to be taking a stand together as Santa Cruz against this. So thank you. Thank you. Good evening. Welcome. Hi. My name is Sophie. I grew up in Santa Cruz and I'm a citizen here. And we actually spoke on the phone a week ago, Mayor Fred Kelly, for about 20 minutes. And it was a pleasure to have an in-depth conversation with you. Thank you. Yeah. And so I felt very moved to come today despite different scheduling things. This is very important. And so I'm a settler on this land. I grew up here, but I'm a settler. My ancestors are from Europe. And because of that, our city and our country holds a legacy of genocide that I think we're all aware of. But as a settler, as a white person, I feel like it is my responsibility when we have the opportunity to interrupt a genocide that's happening now, that it is our responsibility to do that, do everything within our power. And I actually think we have a lot of power. And it is our issue in Santa Cruz. It is our issue in the U.S. because we are funding this genocide that's happening to the Palestinian people. So it is our issue when people say that it's not our problem as a small town, but it is. And so the last thing I'll just say, I believe in the dignity and humanity and liberation of all people. And I really encourage you to locate your own humanity in this moment and your courage. Find the courage and wake up to this. So yeah, and the ceasefire and pass the ceasefire this month, please. And a ceasefire resolution identical to Oakland's as well. And again, everything that everyone said, it's been a really courageous thing that people have said today in support of a ceasefire in the end to the genocide. So thank you for your time. Let me see if there's anyone else online. We have another person online, person online. Good evening. Welcome. Welcome. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Hi, my name is Dice Johnson. I use heave pronouns. I live in Santa Cruz and I am a UCSD graduate as well as a teacher here in Santa Cruz. I am calling in today to show my support for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and end to the genocide of the Palestinian people. We, your community, demand that the city of Santa Cruz pass a ceasefire resolution identical to that of Oakland. It is crucial that you organize a special meeting this month to address the issue because time is of the essence and every day that you sit in your safe home not doing anything. More and more Palestinians are violently dying. Use the power you have to do something about it. Please. It is your job as members of Santa Cruz City Council to represent your residents and constituents. All of the voting members of Santa Cruz are waiting and watching for you all to do the right thing. You have heard the mass majority of demands today and they are clear. Schedule an emergency meeting this month, in the month of December, to discuss the passing of a ceasefire resolution. The voting public is pleading for our city of Santa Cruz to do their part in stopping this genocide and pass a permanent ceasefire resolution, adding Santa Cruz to the list as a leading voice in social and racial justice. Let our city be on the right side of history. Please do the right thing and use your elected power to pass a ceasefire resolution as soon as humanly possible. I promise your city will not only have your backs, but we will be so proud. Thank you. Thank you. This will be the last call for anyone who would like to address us under oral communication. Seeing and hearing none, we want to thank all of you for being here. Under the rules of how we comport our business here, we can take no action under oral communication. So we're very clear about that. We do appreciate you all being here. We've heard what you have to say. Council members will decide what it is they want to do with regard to special meeting, et cetera. It is not possible for us to do that today. So again, thank you all very much. We are now on... I have a point of order question actually about... Let's start with your point of order. Are we barred from taking an action that would place something on a future agenda or call for a special meeting to the attorney? The limit of what you could do today is call for a special meeting. I'd like to make that motion. The motion is calling... I'd like to call for a special meeting in December and the placement of a permanency fire resolution on that agenda using the Oakland version as a model. So... Is there a second? I'd like to second. Excuse me. Excuse me. I know you're excited about this and God love you for your excitement. We did not do that to you while you were up here. I would appreciate it when we're speaking. You give us the same respect. You can open on your motion, Ms. Brown. Thank you, Mayor. I don't really have a lot to say. My heart is broken. And I just don't see any justification for killing civilians en masse. I condemn the attacks by Hamas. I condemn the sustained attacks by the Netanyahu government, the onslaught on the Palestinian people. I stand in solidarity with the people of Israel, the people of Gaza, the international community, all of you today who came out today, thank you. And now the United Nations. And I just feel an ethical responsibility to speak up. I wanted this to be on our agenda. I declined to put it on the agenda because of my concern about the lack of support. And I just can't be silent in the face of what's happening. I'll leave it there much more to say for those who haven't heard from me, you will. Those of you who, over 500 of you who wrote emails to us. Thank you. For the debate or discussion. Mayor, may I speak? Thank you. Thank you. I just want to acknowledge and extend gratitude to all of the people who came and shared. I think that is why we engage in this way. And oftentimes we have no one here for oral communications. This was really an exception. And I know that I've met over the last couple months with many people across the community and most recently with some neighbors. And even some of you sitting here today asking for this and asking for a special meeting in December. And I, you know, I did ask for a special meeting in December, but realistically that probably won't happen given that staff will be gone and offices will be closed and we might not even have a quorum. However, we hear the urgency of what you're asking of us. I want to just speak to the commitment I want to thank there are several people I'll be meeting with over the holidays to help write some type of peaceful resolution that we can bring to our next meeting. And, you know, we can ask for a special meeting, but realistically I'm not sure when that would happen before our next meeting, regularly scheduled meeting. So that was what I wanted to speak to. If we can get something sooner, which I understand is probably not going to happen, but either way I'm looking forward. I have, you know, the rabbis and even connections for mass leaders and different people in the community and neighbors where we can really find a way to, we hear you and I just wanted to acknowledge that. We hear your voices and even though we don't make policy in foreign affairs, we can share the voices of our constituents and it's not just Palestine that we have to consider. We have constituents that are pleading with us to not do a ceasefire and so for me working together with everyone in the community to make a humanitarian statement for peace is so important and so thank you for working with us and working together to move forward. Thank you. I heard a lot of folks today say can you imagine and it's hard for us to sit here across the world imagining. It's not hard for me to imagine. I grew up in a war-torn country. I experienced bombings. So the issue is very close to my heart. It's overwhelming to see and hear how much people care here in this community and it is complicated. The death of human beings is not complicated but this issue has decades and centuries of history. I don't support what's happening across the world and I want to do my part within the scope of what I have the power to do. I wish I had the power to stop the human suffering but I don't. I also know a lot of folks in this room who've spoke really believe in community engagement so when this all started to transpire a couple months ago I reached out to our local rabbis and I reached out to our Muslim mosque leaders and I met with them and I asked what can I do to ensure the emotional and physical safety of you and your community and there were some specific asks and I followed through. Whether it was making sure that there's increased patrol during Friday mosque or increased patrol when there's events at temples or connecting the leaders to our superintendent of schools to make sure that children are feeling safe at school. Those were the actions that are within our community and the actions that are within my scope and my power to affect and I continue to offer that. Honestly, I don't know what a resolution like this will do but create more divisive narratives among our community members. I am in support of something that calls for a humanitarian response of peace, of unity. I'm not in support of creating more divisiveness in our community. I will take action, concrete action like the ones I just named to help all members of our community and don't think that this doesn't touch my heart. It touches all of our hearts, we're all human beings but this is very close to home. I have first hand experience. I think I can say that no one else on this dais does. I don't know how I'm going to vote on this to be very honest. Not because I don't think it's important but because I don't think it's going to accomplish what all of you want it to accomplish. That's what I'll say for now. For the debate or discussion. I have a question. Council Member Watkins is recognized. Yeah, I know I thank you Council Member Callentari-Johnson for sharing because I know that about you and I don't know if our entire community does and it's important for us to hear. I just want to thank the community members for coming as was said. There's no question that this is something that touches everybody. I have a question though in regards to logistics because I think I heard two different things when I heard to have this as a special meeting with the Oakland Resolution and to not have it as a special meeting and a humanitarian statement. So I'm not clear on what is being proposed. The motion on the table is a special meeting in December. Use it with a resolution that is identical to the Oakland City Council Resolution. That's the motion. In December. Okay, is that your second? And you seconded that motion with no changes. Okay. Ms. Brown is recognized. Are you asking for modifications? I will accept those if it gets us any possibility of actually moving forward. I'm happy to do that. Okay. I'd like to see if we can get a special meeting scheduled. However, if not, then in January, our first meeting that we can have bring something forward as I have already committed to working with different leaders to write a resolution that really supports our community and speaks to their voices of peace and humanitarian, this humanitarian horror. So accepted. Ms. Brown. Accepted. I believe that at this point what we're doing is the motion would be to schedule a special meeting if that is not possible to hear this at the first meeting in January. And I didn't say identical to Oakland. I said based on the Oakland model. I'm happy to work with you on. Well, it takes a lot of people and I'm meeting with a lot of people to really, I mean, you know, our voices, everyone's voices in our community. They're speaking and that's why we're here. And I would be as certain as the presiding officer that I understand what the motion is because we've had more than one and we can only have one at a time. Ms. Bush, there was an agreement between these two council members where you read what that is. To schedule a special meeting if it's doable. Period. Hard stop. Scheduled meeting. What purpose? For a resolution I'll say it's in progress. Well, it seems to me that if you don't have a resolution anybody is free to advance any resolution they want when we get to that agenda. What I got the first time around was to make the resolution identical to the city of Oakland. Those were the words. Did I really say identical? Okay. That would be my preference but I am willing based upon what the seconder of the motion said to change that to suggest a ceasefire resolution developed through community input. Does that work for you? Yeah, because I make sure. Is the answer that yes? We good? Yes. If it doesn't say identical to Oakland then I'm fine with that. I understand the motion. Debate or discussion on this. I am assuming that we are not directing someone here to bring forth a resolution. The motion does not say that the city manager or you are going to do that. So how does this resolution get in front of us? What is your thought as maker of the motion? As the maker of the motion I also said that I am very much willing to be involved in a community dialogue. I think I said work with you but I got cut off so I couldn't say anymore. So I will say work with council member Bruner if there is another council member who would like to be involved to engage with the community. We've got plenty of people who have contacted us. I think we can get that conversation going pretty quickly. It's already over. Now let me ask the logistical question. Mr. City Manager let's talk about the reality of getting a special meeting before the end of the calendar year. Thanks for the question mayor. Special meeting is unlikely. It's not impossible. It's largely dependent on the council's availability. City hall goes dark the week of the 25th for the holidays so the meeting would have to take place next week and I believe looking to the city attorney also requires 24 hour noticing and of course time for you all to engage with the community to craft something so it would be tight. Mr. City Attorney any additions to that comment? No. I think the challenge will be in the drafting more than in the scheduling but I agree it would have to be scheduled by next week unless it were to come back in January. Thank you. All right. Now it's understood. Council Member Golder is recognized. I don't think there's any doubt that anybody in the room thinks what's happening in the Middle East is horrific. There's horrific things happening all over the world in Ukraine and Russia and Sudan and all sorts of awful things that we don't oversee as this body and I hear what people are saying is I don't think this is the way to do it. I really do not. I think if you would have sent those emails to our state and federal representatives it would have been more effective. We have a lot of business before us this evening that is within the scope of our jurisdiction. I've said repeatedly that I think part of what makes people not want to run for city council is the long meetings and it's great to hear from people and it's great to have engagement but we have a lot of actual work to do and getting involved in politics of the Middle East is not something that I feel educated, comfortable making decisions about or even recommendations. So I'm not going to support it. Our feedback is yours. No, excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Stop calling it the Middle East. Excuse me. Excuse me. I think that further exposes how divisive this issue is as a Jewish woman officer take care of that business. On Hanukkah on Hanukkah we're still having the meeting as the sun goes down because we spent four hours talking about this and so I think this is a divisive issue in our community and I'm not willing not willing to sign on to anything that's going to further divide our community. I'm sorry. The matter is still before the council. Is there further debate or discussion? Well, I'll make a couple comments. I'm still not entirely clear that we have effectively authorized two members of the council to bring an agenda item if this motion passes but if we do I'll make some comments. If you're seeking input about what will fly or not fly or what people are interested and not interested in. So we have heard four hours of testimony today and it has gone over quite a bit of subject matter. Some people have indicated they would like to see ceasefire for essentially humanitarian purposes without adding on to that additional comments effectively placing my characterization blame on the situation. Some have gone quite a bit farther. A lot of comments in fact the vast majority of comments also ask us to essentially support the notion that Israel has no right to be there as a state that was stated by dozens and dozens of people. There were additional comments about what some characterize as genocide in this situation. I'm not going to debate you about that. This is you've had your moments, more hours you're going to get more hours if this passes. I will say I will not support a resolution which asks which questions legitimacy of the state of Israel. So if you're going to bring that forward and you want my vote, don't put that in there. If this motion passes and you're going to bring a resolution I'm not going to support a resolution which attempts to characterize what's going on at this time as genocide. If you're interested in my vote on this, should this matter pass I am standing with Israel. So we're very clear about what my position is. Are there further questions to debate or discussion? Seeing and hearing none the clerk will call the roll. Council Member Newsom? No. Brown? Aye. Brunner? And I just want to say No. Aye. Calentari Johnson? Vice Mayor Golder? No. Mayor Keely? Aye. We're moving on now to item 5 which is a proclamation. We are going to have this item deferred until January 9th, 2024 presiding officer announcements. I will defer those to the end of the meeting. As a statement of disqualification I abstain on item 12 and so far as it is within 500 feet of my residence any other abstentions due to conflicts? Seeing and hearing none next item is additions or deletions. Are there additions or deletions to our agenda? Ms. Boyer? No. Deletions or deletions? All right. I just need to get through a certain number items, see if we can get through some items here. I'm going to jump over the issue Mr. Condati about reports and so far as we need to go back into closed session Ms. Bush, do you have anything on the council? Calendar? No. Calendar? No. We are going to stand adjourned into closed session. Santa Cruz City Council is back in session following our closed session. We are under additions and deletions to the agenda like to notify folks that item 25 on the core programs will be continued to our first meeting in January. Mr. City Attorney let me ask if you have any items to report out of closed session, sir. Okay. Certainly. All right. Thank you. Thank you for your patience and members of the City Council. Council met this morning at 10.30 a.m. in closed session. Continue the closed session at the end of oral communications this afternoon. First item on the agenda was liability claims. Those are the claims of a Janay Marie Herod and the claim of Elaine Vieira. Those claims are also listed on your consent calendar this evening on the agenda item 9. Second item was real property negotiations. Properties at 113 Lincoln, 119 through 123 Locust and 1016 Cedar Street as well as 302 and 326 Front Street. Council received a report from its real property negotiator economic development director Bonnie Lipscomb gave direction. We're also an additional items 5 through 19 list various properties along Brackney Road and Ben Lomond as well as real property in real property on Graham Hill Road. I'm not going to list all those addresses. They're listed on your posted agenda. Council received a report from the water department director who was the city's negotiator and gave direction. Council also received a report from legal council with regard to three items of significant exposure to litigation prior to the closed session the council adopted by motion a subsequent need item on an item of significant exposure to litigation that came to the attention of the city after the agenda was posted. There was a need to discuss with the city council and obtain direction prior to the next regular meeting. There was no reportable action on those items. I should note the real property negotiation items 5 through 19 are also on your evening agenda for action in open session. Lastly council conducted a performance review and a compensation review for the city manager and directed that an item be agendized for your first meeting in January in open session to consider an amendment to the city manager employment agreement to make a 5% merit adjustment as well as an extension of the contract to the year 2030 and that will be on your open session agenda at your January 9th meeting. Thank you sir. Is the conclusion of my report. Thank you sir. We are on the consent agenda for those of you unfamiliar with it we will have the opportunity for members to be able to pull comment or ask questions opportunity for the public to weigh in on the consent agenda as well. Let me ask if I will start with Ms. Brunner. Any items on consent? No. Comments on 14. This is Santa Cruz County regional transportation commission consolidated call for grant submittal. I want to thank our public work staff that worked on these. This is going to help bring protected bike lanes and sidewalks up to standard and paving of roads in the basery area. I want to thank them for their hard work and thank the RTC including councilmember Brown for approving those grants . Thank you. Madam Vice Mayor. Certainly. I just wanted to thank the water staff and everybody that is working on getting all those pipelines secured so we can have safe and clean water coming out of our taps every day. I appreciate it. Thank you. Ms. Watkins. Ms. Brown. Quick comment on number 8. I would like to thank our public work staff for agreeing to move forward with staff on a feasibility study for consideration of project labor agreement community workforce agreement ordinance. This is something that I have been supportive of in the past. We didn't get there. The last time it was brought to the council for consideration and I think that with this project we have a great path and I hope to see the product where I will see the product. Thank you. Sure. Just a quick comment on number 14 as well. Just want to echo councilmember Collin Johnson's appreciation to director Gwynn and transportation planner Gallagley on this agenda item and to RTC Ms. Brown. A dinner item will improve bike safety and roadways along Esalon and Bay and my district councilmember Collin Johnson just want to say thank you. Thank you Mr. Newsom. I will be abstaining Ms. Bush on item number 12 on the consent agenda. My home is located within the 500 foot I believe it's 500 foot limit which would disqualify me from participating in item 12. So please record me as not voting on that item. Let me ask if there's anyone with us who wishes to comment on a consent agenda item item 7 through 17. Do we have anyone on line Ms. Bush? We'll take the person on line. Good evening. Person on line, good evening. Yes, hello. Yes, hello. I'm Mr. Newsom. I guess you can hear me. Wow, I commend your patience today. Anyway, as to consent item number 8 I will remind you that it is every person's right to join a union and is equally every person's right not to join a union. Yes, not to join a union. It is not logically in the public interest to award no bid contracts stuffed with union labor agreements. I can only imagine it will cost the public more. Why wouldn't it? Unions have representation. They are unions. They don't need you to put your thumbs on the scale. This is more leftist collectivism aimed at removing employment choices for individuals and soaking the tax there. And I would cite the reason no furlough union contract clause of abuses. To think anyone deserves to be employed no matter what and others frozen out is so strange. You are supposed to represent the whole public not just collectivist unions. If you are interested in keeping costs down which clearly you never seem to be this probably isn't the way to do it. I'd like three minutes now to speak on item 13. I would mention though that I got bumps off a zoom and I can't rejoin. Excuse me. You have a minute and 43 seconds remaining to comment on any item on the consent agenda. I would like to comment on item 13. Well okay so you're not going to do what you've been doing. I get it. But well on item 13 I would say I strongly object to the bicycle advocacy because bicycles are not as safe as cars are walking. And I think that it's an agenda you have to get everybody on bikes a ton of money to spend on educating people about bike safety which really doesn't require that much money to learn bike safety. So I have a lot to say about it but you're not giving me the chance. I get it. Bye. Allow me to join zoom please. Thank you sir. Thank you for participating all year. We appreciate it. Anyone else? Next person online good evening. Good evening. Can you hear me? Hi this is Joe Thompson. I just wanted to thank the council members for bringing forward the consent item number eight for the community workforce agreements and project labor agreements. I really enjoy seeing this on the council agenda and look forward to the work that the council will be doing this ad hoc subcommittee on looking at the mayor council members walk in and do some to look and see how we can develop a community partnership with the Santa Cruz Monterey Building Trades Council. For me it's really important to see this on the agenda because it's showing that the council is supportive of our labor workforce and making sure the council is supporting workers in every way possible. So I really just wanted to thank you for that. I know it's been a long meeting so I won't take too much of your time but thank you. Thank you sir. Next person online good evening. Next person online good evening. I just wanted to speak on item 13. I find the million dollars for bicycle advocacy I do find that exorbitant. It's just a little bit less than a million nine hundred and ninety two thousand dollars to ecology action. I just find that really exorbitant and I had to say something about it. Thank you. Thank you very much. Anyone else online Miss Bush. Last call anyone with us wish to comment on consent. I want to make I'm sorry I did have an item on consent. I want to make a quick comment on item 1011 relating to parking fees. My comment is this is that I believe that we are heading ourselves in a very interesting direction where the state is saying you can't require parking in many instances and we have a climate action plan which wants to reduce vehicle emissions and yet we also want to have a downtown that residents can park in visitors can park in employees can park in and we're heading in a direction where that is going to be sorely sorely lacking so I hope and I am told that this is the case is that as we continue moving forward here we will be receiving reports on capital investments in the parking space. Thank you. So our motion to approve the consent agenda Ms. Watkins moves. Second by the vice mayor clerk will call the roll. Council members Newsom. Aye. Brown. Aye. Watkins. Aye. Brunner. Aye. Valentine Johnson. Aye. Marigolder. Aye. I with an exempt takes a I abstain on item 2. All right. We are on the consent agenda public hearing items. These are items 18 through 21 inclusive. We are going to see if there are comments on this item or a member wishes to pull the item. I'm going to start around comments if I wish to pull an item off. No. I'm going to pull 18. 18. Item is pulled. We'll take up the other public hearing so we'll return to that. Further? Yes sir, please do. I just want to think I just want to think Director Lipscomb man manager Dewitt for bringing this forward. You know this is we approve this project that I think about a month ago provide 128 units of affordable housing in our in my district in our community and this agenda item will help make that a reality so I just want to thank them for bringing that forward and I'm really excited to see this on the agenda. Thank you. Further on public hearings let me ask if anyone wish to testify on any items 18 through 21 inclusive this is your public hearing opportunity to do so. Seeing here no one's back in front of the council except for item 18 we will take up 19 20 and 21 on one motion. We have that motion. It's all been moved. We're good. Clerk will call the roll. Who was the first and second? I move them 19 and 20. And Mr. Newsom. Council member is Newsom. Aye. Brown. Aye. Watkins. Aye. Werner. Aye. Johnson. Aye. Golder. Aye. Motion passes and so ordered. We are on item 18. Excuse me council member Watkins you've asked this item to be pulled you're up. Thank you I won't spend a lot of time making a number of comments I know we've spoken about this item this is the ordinance requesting that we have tipping options for our delivery recipients of delivery drivers for our customers to do if they so choose we also got some feedback and I want to thank the folks who spent time to help us get feedback in short my hope is that we can move forward tonight and I'm prepared to move it but I do have additional direction I'd like to add should I do that now? Okay so I'd like to go ahead and make a motion at this time and let me make sure I have it up to approve the second reading with direction to return in January to amend the ordinance and reapprove for publication as follows at section 511 020 under subsection B, renumber items A through E as 1 through 5 and at section 511 030 renumber the subsection B to replace A through F with 1 through 6 and add new subsection 7 and 8 and new subsection B to read as follows 7 would be to delivery 7, delivery companies or delivery drivers who are engaged in interstate commerce thank you Bonnie 8 any motor carrier holding interstate for higher motor carrier operating authority from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration or any federally certified air carrier operating under authority granted by the Federal Aviation Administration and B, the exception in subsection A shall not apply to a delivery companies that both process customer goods orders and arrange for transportation in a single transaction and I'll look to our city attorney to help provide some context to this legal language if that's okay there is a motion let's make sure there is a second there's a second by Ms. Calantari-Johnson this is your motion you may open on it if you wish to ask Mr. Condadi a question yes we did receive some significant input from FedEx I would note that Mike Yadon from FedEx is here I think he might be interested in addressing the council we got some constructive feedback and they pointed out some of the logistics difficulties for a company that doesn't process consumer orders to basically handle these types of transactions so the language that was proposed here would create an exception for delivery companies like FedEx and DHL that would not exempt companies like Amazon and Zappos and Etsy and eBay that actually process the orders and arrange for transportation in a single transaction so they would have to set up within the next six months a system whereby either something is attached to the shipping label or to the invoice or to the receipt of those customers the option to tip their drivers I would note that Amazon is currently providing that option to their customers now on its website so the technology is clearly there they know how to do it thank you let me see if there's anyone with us who wishes to provide testimony good evening sir good evening Mayor Keely and council members I'm Mike Yadon with FedEx Corporation I know you've had some significant issues you've been addressing today and for what it's worth I applaud your willingness to allow your citizens to be heard rather than taking up too much of your time though today just let me acknowledge and share our appreciation for hearing all of our concerns in reference to the ordinance on behalf of its FedEx and its affiliated companies we're supportive of the amendments that have been proposed and we're looking forward to working with you in the future thank you very much thank you sir anyone else with us wish to testify on this item is there anyone online Ms. Bush matters back before the council debate or discussion seeing and hearing none the clerk will call the roll council members Newsom I Brown I Hawkins I Brunner I Calentary Johnson I Calentary two this is General Plan 20 36 Sewel Housing Element Update Mr. Butler good evening sir good evening mayor and council members I'm Lee Butler director of planning and community development for the city and I'm very pleased to be with you tonight to present our sixth cycle housing update along with minor updates to the safety element of our general plan housing element is a key and mandatory component of our general plan it provides goals policies and objectives for how we will meet our housing goals covering housing production protections and improvements. Our team started working on this about two years ago and we've had a lot of sprints to get to you this evening. We've alerted the council to this but I want to note for anyone who is not aware last Thursday we did receive notification from the State Department of Housing and Community Development that our plan as presented does meet the requirements of state housing element law. This is a really significant accomplishment and this cycle is substantially more challenging than prior cycles. We have increased rena allocations five times what we had the prior cycle. We have increased scrutiny on the sites that are included in the inventory that are planned to be or potentially going to develop over the next eight years and we've had a substantially greater focus on affirmatively furthering fair housing. This has really been a banner year for housing in the City of Santa Cruz. We received the states pro housing designation something only 30 jurisdictions in the state have and we had the fifth highest score among those jurisdictions. We met our fifth cycle housing production targets at every income level something only six percent of jurisdictions have done across the state and we had over 50 percent of our housing units come in at affordable levels and now we are here poised to have our housing element certified on time something that has been a significant challenge for many jurisdictions throughout the state. So under our council's leadership our city is doing a lot to promote housing and to promote affordable housing. I want to extend some thanks to our team Matthew Van Wa and Clara Stanger also retired planner Catherine Donovan and many others in the city who played critical roles in this including our economic development and housing department and Jessica DeWitt and her team also Kimley Horne our consultants and as Gilmiche was the project manager she's here with us this evening and many other people on the Kimley Horne team. Community members were instrumental in us getting this here we had community surveys online meetings 350 comments on the document and drafts we had many meetings with community members and especially want to thank Yembe and Copa they were right along with us the entire way and really came with progressive ideas for improvement. It was very clear that HCD was listening very closely to all of the community comments but particularly those from the housing advocates. I do have to really commend HCD they were tough but fair but they were really responsive and they made this a much stronger document and it's a much better document because of their involvement and they're pushing us. Finally the housing element subcommittee was really critical to being here this evening Mayor Keely and Council Member Calantari Johnson and Council Member Newsom we were able to really act quickly and get issues in front of the subcommittee to vet them and we were nimble because of your participation and really appreciate all the time and responsiveness to jumping into meetings with us when we had these tough issues. I also want to be clear that while this is a great milestone this is not the end of a process this is the beginning. We have seven goals 35 policies and over 130 objectives in this plan. We have metrics that will be reporting out to the community to the council and to the state on an annual basis and we have a work program here that lays out a range of code and policy updates for the coming years and I also want to assure the community that we are not just planning for eight years we're planning for closer to 80 years because that's how long these buildings are going to be there when they're developed. So that's 10 housing element cycles from now multiple generations of people. This project focuses on what we're doing during the next eight years and this is a start to how we're building the foundation for a more sustainable and more equitable future for Santa Cruz for many decades to come. With that I'll turn it over to you Anas Yamishi. Mr Butler as you do that I suspect you're gonna hear this. Thank you. This is extraordinarily good work. You and your team the consulting team the folks in the planning department the other folks you mentioned I think we're very very cognizant of that and thank you. This is being done at a time when literally the world is changing month by month on you HCD us the community etc be able to do the kind of thoughtful serious organized deliberate work and deliberative work you've done and testimony to you your team and fine staff that you have. Mr Van Waugh let me address you. You have about five minutes sir. Knock yourself out. Thank you mayor vice mayor and council Matt Van Waugh principal planner for advanced planning and this is Anas Yamishi our consultant with Kimley Horn and we have a short presentation we are gonna we are gonna fly through just for the folks listening at home. Thank you. Good evening. All right so jumping right in since the start of the update process the city has hosted a variety of meetings and workshops and created numerous opportunities for the community to stay involved. It's been over six months since we've submitted the first draft HDD for their first review we've had six total submittals and have made the revisions available each step of the way available to the public for for comments and have diligently responded to about 350 of them in total. Since our first submittal to HDD most policies have been revised to varying degrees for most this included adding quantifiable metrics and swapping non-committal language for exact actions for the city to implement. These edits also included strengthening AFFH policies to encourage development of affordable housing improve and encourage community conservation revitalization and displacement protections for existing residents. And then one of the one of the attachments that we included in the council packet is a work plan action item Gantt chart that shows all these in their timelines as you see in that chart and in the policy section of the housing element there's well over a hundred policies about 135 and each of them have objectives and metrics that that we're going to be following and a number of them are planning and community development related but some of them touch on other departments as well economic development and housing things like that. So this Gantt chart really illustrates the breadth and depth of what the housing element is going to mean for our work plan over the next eight years. There's a significant number of items we're going to be tracking and working on and bringing forward to council during that time. So now regarding sites updates have been made since our first submittal to HCD due to council council's direction, HCD feedback and further staff review. So as you see with the difference between the two tables here and we started with a total of just over 8000 units back in May. That's the first table and the total and the final housing elements before you tonight as shown in the second table has dropped by about 3000 units. So that drop is due is due to changes in projected units that we're accounting for on the UCSC campus and in the south of Laurel area. UCSC has two large housing projects that will be developed during the housing element planning period. However the Census Bureau deems dorms and student housing to be group housing and group housing unfortunately does not currently count towards units under housing element law. So housing on campus can only count towards re-knife. It's available to non-students such as faculty apartments or couples units for graduate students. Following feedback from HCD, this final version only includes those units that meet the census definition of a unit and the city is committed to working with the states on greater flexibility for accounting housing as established through objective 1.4C in the policy plan. Additionally, the first submittal to HCD included projections on the number of units to be developed through the downtown expansion plan as a whole. As the project has not been approved nor adopted by the city for housing element purposes we could not account for those draft assumptions. So instead this final housing element approved by HCD accounts for the existing capacity of the south of Laurel area based on the current zoning for select qualifying sites and this change in strategy resulted in a decrease of 475 units. And then lastly I'd like to note that given the decrease in units the buffers have gone down but remain within HCD's recommended range of about 15 to 30%. As you see the buffer percent for above moderate is higher than that of the lower and moderate income. This is largely due to the fact that the housing element cannot account for a hundred percent affordable housing developments that are often facilitated through the work of staff of staff and partner organized nonprofits. And this work was highly successful in the fifth cycle and we anticipate continued success through the next cycle. The unit buffers would be higher if the city could take into account the level of success in a hundred percent affordable developments that it had recently seen. And then specifically in the fifth cycle arena below market rate housing accounted for 57% of the total rena units and the city achieved 53% below market rate units while meeting every income category. This update to the housing element does trigger an update to the city's safety element to address climate adaptation resiliency as well as flood and fire hazards. As you have seen in the agenda packet the safety element update does not have near as many requirements as the housing elements and the proposed amendments are shown in red line markup. Both the updates to the housing and safety elements are exempt from CEQA review beyond a common sense exemption. Impacts from both are covered by the city's 2030 general plan EIR which has already been certified by the council. And then of course when required future residential development projects will be reviewed pursuance to CEQA concurrent with other permitting and regulatory requirements. The planning commission recommendation from November 16th included two proposed revisions. The first is adding mention of a navigation center in objective 3.3 E and the second is updating objective 6.1 C to reflect the latest status of the moving to work application which has been completed as now in the implementation phase. So now I have the great pleasure to once again emphasize that on December 7th HED found the housing element and substantial compliance with state housing law. And to receive official certification the city must submit an adopted housing element back to HCD. So staff will be submitting that version to HCD on the 15th. There is a clause in the resolution to council before you that allows that would allow staff to make a clarifying text edits for internal consistency and also non-sustantive edits to objectives and metrics. These are kind of things like working with community partners, we raised a certain metric by some amount and that new number wasn't reflected in a chart somewhere else. So internal consistency items like that and then for the non-substantive edits, for instance the planning commission edits, staff supports those and so has HCD. We've reached out to HCD and those are considered non-substantive and would be okay to move forward with those. One additional one to highlight that staff recently noted was the downtown plan expansion timing. We have a policy to put out public draft for that plan in November and we're now seeking to put that out in February. So minor changes like that to the timelines for those items and the planning commission edits are something that we'd likely change for that December 15th submittal. And speaking about that resolution, given HCD's letter finding substantial compliance, we did make some minor edits to the resolution before council. It removes council findings of compliance. Previously HCD would have required council to make another finding that showed that the housing element was in compliance just based on HCD's comments. And now that they found it in compliance with there's just new whereas clauses of that state that HCD has found that in compliance. So with that staff recommendation plus planning commission edits if council so chooses. Thank you very, very much. Excellent presentation. Thank you so much. What we're going to do at this point is we're going to see if there are questions. Let me move around the dias questions comments on this item. Comment please proceed. I just I'll be brief and thank you to everyone. This really represents our commitment to our future our future generations and really working at all the specific points and metrics. I think all of that is really wonderful to see reading through the progress. So thank you for getting us there. I'm looking forward to the next eight years. Yeah, I'll have a comment. I also want to thank everyone who worked so hard to get us an almost ready to go housing element and Lee you named everyone. Of course you didn't name yourself, but I want to acknowledge you for the tremendous amount of work you put into not just this document, but in everything you do in your department and across departments, you see where the dots connect and you help me as a council member see that. So I just want to acknowledge your incredible work and excited to see our community grow in a way that's a fit for our community in the next eight and 80 years. Thank you. I have a quick comment that I would like to make. I really want to appreciate the work that has gone into this. I mean, everybody's gone, you know, spent a lot of time on this. All the committee, the staff, Lee, I want to say, my director Butler, just to follow on what my colleagues have said. It's like watching your brain in work as you're answering questions from all of us and, you know, trying to navigate this is really it's a magical thing to see. I appreciate all of the work that you and your team have put in to this. I do, I would be remiss if I did not make a couple of comments about the some of the concerns that were raised by some of the partners that you mentioned. So Yimbi and Copa in particular who did note that they were concerned about a lack of urgency around in particular things like rent stabilization or ways that mechanisms for supporting low income tenants. And I do hope that just the lack of inclusion in this housing element does not mean that we won't be talking about those, you know, ways we can be supportive moving forward. I also just want to note that the the element suggests that we will maintain our current mobile home rent stabilization, which is suspended as of now. We don't have mobile home rent stabilization. And so I think there's a little bit of misrepresentation here. I'm just going to say it. I'm not saying this to hold anything up, but to suggest that our mobile home parks, aside from the one that I live in, which is a co-op, are not affordable with $2,000 to $5,000 a month space rents. So just wanted to point that out and hope that we can do better around those particular spaces as we move forward. But on balance, I just am so pleased to see the outcome. Thanks. Thank you, Mayor Keeley. My comments will be brief as well. And just the comments, I want to thank Director Butler for all his work and his staff for all the work on this project. I also want to thank my fellow members of the Housing and Alumni Subcommittee, Councilmember Kalinatari Johnson and Mayor Keeley for all their hard work on this, on this very big report. I think it's very great. And I think it will help this council continue the good work it's done this year on housing. I've done some quick arithmetic as Mayor Keeley says I'm not great at math, but I can do arithmetic and I try to help my sixth grade daughter do that. But over this past year, this council has approved 681 units and 371 of those units are 54% have been affordable housing. And I think that's really great work that we've done and something we should promote as well. And I think this document will help us continue that work. Thank you. Thank you. Great testimony, University of Tennessee for being there. Mr. Butler, you know I kid you publicly and privately mercilessly about if I ask you what time it is you build me a damn watch. I don't want you to change one bit of that. That's what we count on is that that's how your brain works. That's how that is a tremendous asset to us. Thank you to you and your team around around this issue. Let me ask if there is public comment on this item. Be glad to receive public comment. We do have someone online will take that person now than anyone else who's with us in chambers will take you person online. Good evening. Yes. Hello. Yes. Hello. This is Garrett. Hey, I still can't join online. It says the host has blocked me. But anyway, the sixth cycle housing update is among the most revolting topics under consideration for more reasons than I can possibly explain here. As far as the drive towards single family low density housing decimation genocide, there should always be some zoning that allow people to buy the best that they can afford for their families. And there are people that can afford it. Your surveys mean nothing as I seriously doubt anyone that has actually put the work and the money into and live in the SFR neighborhoods want to lose their neighborhood quality of life forever. I see no interest in promoting home ownership just the reverse. I can see how people who don't and can't afford to live in these zones would like the luxury and higher quality of life of low density without having to pay for it. Well, for as long as it lasts, which doesn't sound like very long now, when the first 10 flex goes on to a standard 50 by 100 lot, what can I say? There goes the neighborhood. No park, no parking note, more noise, a lot more crowded was well, relatively more poor people with nothing or dream to invest anything and improving the neighborhood that makes neighborhoods what they are now and soon to be worth. I think the language that is used is revoltingly, I assume, well, is revolting assuming anything other than sheer lack of money, mostly due to the inflation caused by animal and crop government isn't the housing affordability issue. Nobody is restricting access to anything anywhere based on personal characteristics other than they can afford it. No, we don't need this lowest common denominator zoning decimation coming from race and other victim hood baiting falsehoods, destroying higher income neighborhoods city-wide. I can't live in Atherton, Beverly Hills, or Martha's Vineyard. Gee, that's just too bad, huh? I live where I can afford and have moved many times to prove my life because where I was wasn't cutting it. No one has a right to be subsidized to live literally anywhere they want that they can't pay for. This is more of a cesspool of government dependence. People cite affordable housing needs, but that means price, not the end of capitalism and the free market and housing to do it. You do nothing to reduce building construction costs. Just the contrary, and you only increase density which has to minister returns on housing costs along with the resulting quality of life. The shrinking apartment size is no bargain for what they get any more than 11 ounce pound of coffee is, although yes, there's a market that needs for those, it just shouldn't come at others' expense destroying their quality of life that they have already paid dearly for. The idea neighborhoods can be too white according to Ambag is its own form of racism. They don't say too bad, too black, do they? This is agenda 21 forcing people into denser and denser cities so they can be more easily spied on, controlled, and just go to work at home like good little slaves. As far as Ambag's goal of interfering with the free market forcing high vacancy rates over five percent, so far to land control, that's not going to promote more housing. It just means more small landlords may exit the business or not build here anyway. You can subdivide and overbuild my parcel after prying it from my dead cold hands. Thanks. Thank you, sir. I want to make a quick comment here procedurally and that was that Mr. Phillip suggested that somehow he had been ignored. Somehow we had shut him off. I want to make sure that we're very clear what happened. We had lots and lots of people online who were watching. We then went into closed session. In order for us to operate in closed session we needed to clear all of those off of the incoming side of the technology here. As soon as we came back into open session that opened up again. So, Mr. Phillip, if you felt that we had either signaled you out or anybody else, I want to make sure you understand we wouldn't ever do that and we didn't do it in this case. Let me see if there is anyone else who's with us who wishes to comment on the item. Seen and hearing none. The matter is back before the council. Oh, we do. All right. Next person online. Good evening. Yes. Good evening, council members. This is Ralph Sonfeld on behalf of Santa Cruz EMB. Just calling in to thank the staff and council members and mayor for having had the courage to be thoughtful and lead on many of the housing policies that you're going to be approving this evening through the housing element adoption. And this has been, as we said, a multi-year process and the work isn't finished. We've got a lot of work ahead of us to implement the programs in our housing element. There are various deadlines that we have to do that. And I, for one, am looking forward to seeing all of the goals that we are setting out this evening implemented. There's going to be political challenges, I'm sure, to get it done. But I just thank this council for taking the initiative to make the commitment now to see those programs through regardless of the politics in the city, which we know can be challenging. So thanks so much. Thank you very much. Thank you for your participation. Next person online. Good evening. Good evening. Thank you for the chance to comment. My name is Ryan Mechel. I am also a lead with Santa Cruz EMB. I just want to call in and say that we support the staff recommendation to adopt the six-cycle housing element. Members of Santa Cruz EMB have been tracking and involved in all five elements in the county of Santa Cruz. Our priorities have included zoning to favor infill and multifamily development, including missing middle housing, centering equity throughout this process, making it easier to get permits and build housing faster, and incentives for walkable, bikeable neighborhoods, as well as enabling car-free lifestyles. We see these priorities in the city's housing element. We'll not only help produce more housing but do so equitably. We're very pleased and excited to see the December 7th letter from HCD that suggests compliance if you adopt and submit this housing element. Congratulations. I'd also like to extend thanks to the Council Subcommittee of Mayor Keely and Councilmembers Con Tari Johnson to renew some for your willingness to meet with us. We also'd like to extend thanks to Staff Lee Butler, Matt Fenflock, and all the others whose faces we didn't see throughout this process for the work that they did. It was tremendous and it wasn't easy. We've provided multiple rounds of input and they were responding, living collaborative in discussions with us. So thank you again. We do remain concerned about the constraints that upcoming ballad and measures may have on the city's ability to meet these commitments. But for now, we say thank you for saying yes to people and yes to housing. Well, thank you very much for your participation. Ms. Bush, anyone else? One? Two more. Good evening, next person online. Welcome. Good evening, Council. Bradley Snyder. I'm going to warn you, this is kind of a contrarian voice having grown up in Santa Cruz and remembering Santa Cruz from prior to the 89 quake, which over the following decade precipitated a lot of high density development in the commercial downtown area because of redevelopment funds. You know, these high volume, high density, fast forward developments that just seem so haywire to me, it's surprising. It's actually astonishing to me that current politicians on the council don't recognize or acknowledge that it's a little bit haywire. It seems haywire to people who have that much. I mean, it feels like an imported value, this idea of just planting these giant buildings in the downtown area. And I guess somewhere on the agenda, I noticed they were, you're discussing perhaps the Hubbard to May from Water Street block and doing something there. And in general, I just feel like at a certain point it's really, really excessive. It really, really is oppressive how much development is kind of being, you know, like rubber stamped. That's the only way I can put it. At some point, I think you have to recognize like the 555 building, you know, I heard kind of firsthand from somebody there that they can't rent half the units because 3,000 a month is just too much for people. And I know, you know, from just visually, when they were building it, I was able to visually confirm that, you know, that the size of those units are exactly as tiny as the other units that Barry Swenson built in, you know, other projects. So as far as the, I mean, you sat through two hours and 10 minutes earlier of about 80 speakers, and I commend you for that. But on this issue, this is exactly, you know, why I come to council to talk about because right now it does feel, as I said, rather haywire the development that's going on downtown Santa Cruz. Thank you. Thank you very much. One more person, correct? Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. Next person online. Three, two, ready to go? Here we go. Yes, my name is Candice Brown. Thank you for letting me speak, and thank you for your patience through a very long afternoon and evening. There are a few things I wanted to point out. The general plan originally was 840 single-family homes and 2,510 multi-family homes in the general plan. And the water advisory committee mapped their planning for the future with the general plan with those numbers. And so when you say you're exempt because of the general plan with numbers that are far higher, I just question how that is even possible. I'm really concerned about infrastructure catching up with the housing development. When Rosemary Menard presented to, say, Santa Cruz, I guess it was a year and a half ago, it was clear that there would be an increase in population of about 15 percent. And the one concern that she asked for our concerns said that the water infrastructure would not catch up with that in time. So it's misaligned. I won't go into traffic and parking and other concerns, but those are also a concern if you're trying to also build up a visitor-serving community and a viable commercial community. I also want to mention that the industrial area of town is very underdeveloped. And it seems to be, like the staff just refuses to consider that we are a third of our town is now an educational community. And so that is our main industry including government. And so we should embrace that and allow for part of the industrial zone to be for housing for graduate students and their families for staff and for student housing that could be considered housing as aligning with the the state housing mandate. The other final two things I wanted to mention is that ownership I think is really important in this community. It took me 18 years to save up to buy a home. And I think we should provide more opportunities and that's been postponed to December of 2026 on the Gantt chart. And there's one other thing that I'm forgetting but I'll let it be for now. I think it is overall though a very impressive result as far as all the work that you've done. So I do commend you for that. But I do want to point up these aberrations that need to be considered. Oh, and the other thing is that the Ocean Street area plan, I'm very surprised that that is being considered to be revised. There was like two or three million dollars spent in community engagement to ensure that that aligned with that whole area. And for that to now be up for reconsideration I was very surprised by. Thank you very much for your time. Thanks. Thank you so much. Anyone else Ms. Bush? Matters back before the council. So motion. I'll move. I'm sorry. Where'd we go? I'll move. There we go. I'll approve the recommendation as presented. I'll second. Second. Open on your motion. Thank you. I've you know as I said it's you know I think it's a great document. We've done a great bit of work. I want to thank again director Butler and staff for the work and my fellow colleagues on the subcommittee and thank you for the debate or discussion. Seeing and hearing none. Excuse me please Ms. Brunner. I just I know that I get asked a lot and a couple of comments asked it and so as we receive the metrics and as we go down this process I support this motion however the home ownership opportunities I think the public is very interested in understanding and learning and and just hearing more about that aspect. Are you able to speak to that? Sure. So thank you for that question council earth comment council member Brunner and when we are when we're promoting housing we are typically not requiring that a project is ownership versus it being rentals. Often they go in cycles when from from roughly 2000 to 2017 or so I believe the only rental projects that came through are maybe the only perhaps with a few minor exceptions were 100 affordable projects. Conversely in the last six or so years we have seen primarily again with a few exceptions rental units although we have seen a number of those projects mapped so what they will do is they will sometimes map the units and then not sell them until 10 years after their occupancy which happens to be the construction defect liability period. So we do have some projects out there right now that are being rented that could come up for sale in the future and I think broadly speaking the response to your question is that yes and yes we need all types of housing we need housing at all income levels and we need housing at rental that it's available for rent and we need housing that's available for sale and we'll be looking to promote both as part of this. Thank you. Click we'll call the roll. Council Member Newsom. Aye. Brown. Aye. Watkins. Aye. Brunner. Aye. Calentary Johnson. Aye. Vice Mayor Golder. Aye. Mayor Keeley. Aye. Congratulations. Thank you to everyone all around. We are on item 23 a resolution of necessity for the Brackney landslide area pipeline risk reduction project. We good evening sir. You don't even look vaguely like Rosemary Menard. That may be too bad for you. Quite possibly. Let me say good evening. Good evening. Good to see you sir. Vice Mayor. Council members. I'd like to actually address items 23 and 24 together. Certainly. In the interest of brevity because they concern the exact same project. I'm going to need you to get a little closer to the microphone. You have a soft voice. Thank you. Thank you. Mayor these hearings address whether to adopt a resolution of necessity that is required to acquire property necessary for the Brackney landslide area pipeline risk reduction project. This project will replace 2700 linear. Sir. Excuse me. I'm getting all kinds of hand signals from the city attorney here. I know you all recognize deputy city attorney Sam Hume but for the members of the public I thought I would reintroduce him. He is here to present this item. I also see water department director Menard on zoom. Okay. Very good. Back to you sir. Thank you. Mr. for introduction. The project will replace 2700 linear feet of pipeline of the Newell Creek pipeline which transports water from the Loch Lomond reservoir to the city's Graham Hill water treatment plant. The purpose of the project is to replace an existing pipeline that is at the end of its useful life and relocate the pipeline so it is protected from future landslides and geological movements. For the purposes of item 23 the private property that needs to be acquired for the project is roughly 0.19 acres of a regularly shaped unbuildable and unimproved land with steep topography owned by Helena H Chen. The water department would like to acquire 8,115 square feet of temperate for a temporary construction easement on this property. The temporary construction easement was appraised for $4,000 and an official offer letter was sent out on September 12th. The water department has not reached an agreement with the owner because Ms Chen is deceased and as of today no one has signatory authority on her behalf. Ms Chen's son Nelson Chen is currently in the process of acquiring the rights of the property through a small value real estate transfer procedure but he does not we don't know how long that procedure will take. He does not oppose the city's acquisition of this property but in the meantime to ensure that the city will be able to obtain the property in time we must proceed with eminent domain. In the meantime however the city staff will work towards coming to an agreement with him outside of this process. For item 24 the private property in question is roughly 28.97 acres of regularly shaped land owned by Julie Daniels. The water department would like to acquire three permanent easements totaling 19,068 square feet and two temporary construction easements totaling 108,244 square feet excuse me. I can heal the microphone coming in and out so I apologize. You're doing fine. The total property to be acquired was appraised for $22,700. An official offer letter was sent out on September 26th. The parties have not reached an agreement with Ms Daniels because Ms Daniels would like to obtain an independent appraisal and have an attorney review the documents but she has been unable to share a timeline for that process. The recommendation on both item 23 and 24 is to adopt the resolution of necessity to proceed with an eminent domain action. The resolution of necessity requires that council find essentially that necessity requires the acquisition of this property by eminent domain and four findings in particular are required. One is the public interest and necessity require the project itself. The and two the project is planned and located in a manner most compatible with the greatest public good and least private injury. Three that the property is necessary for this project and four that the offer letter and notice of hearing has been provided to both owners. For item 23 we sent the offer letter on September 12th and sent the notice of hearing on November 27th and for item 24 we sent the offer letter on September 26th and also sent the notice of hearing on November 27th. I'm happy to answer any questions about this. Thank you. Ms. Menard, good evening. Do you have comments you wish to make on this item? I do not sir. Happy to answer any questions. Thank you very much. Let me ask if there are questions from council members. I'll work my way around this item. I'm seeing here none. Is there anyone with us in the public who wishes to provide comment on item 23? Anyone online? Let's take up item 23. Is there a motion to adopt the resolution? Moved. Ms. Brown? Ms. Brunner? Second. On that debate or discussion seen and hearing none. Clerk will call the roll. Council members Newsome? Aye. Brown? Aye. Blotkin? Aye. Brunner? Aye. Calentari-Johnson? Aye. Vice Mayor Golder? Aye. Marickelee? Aye. Motion carries and is awarded. On item 24 do we have a motion on the resolution? Ms. Brown? Opposed. Ms. Brunner? Second. I'll second. On the resolution debate or discussion seen and hearing none. The clerk will call the roll. Council members Newsome? Aye. Brown? Aye. Blotkin? Aye. Brunner? Aye. Calentari-Johnson? Aye. Vice Mayor Golder? Aye. Marickelee? Aye. Motion carries and is awarded. Item 25, thank you all very much. Good work. Thank you. Excellent work. Item 25 has been continued to our first meeting in January. We are on item 26. This is a fiscal year 2024 State Homeland Security Program grant proposal relating to automated license plate readers. Good evening. Good evening, sir. Good evening, Mayor. We will receive, Chief, would you like to make any comments on this or would you like to answer questions? How would you like to do this? Either way is fine. I have just a brief presentation to run through real quick and... And Mr. Brothers, welcome. Nice to see you. Thank you. Chief, you're on. Okay. And I also have Mr. Solomon Valdez from the Flock Safety and as well as Stephanie Duck, I believe, from the City Attorney's Office for any questions. Again, we are presenting to Council requesting the approval of the installation of automated license plate readers within the City of Santa Cruz purchased through the 2024 fiscal year 2024 State Homeland Security Grant in the amount of 84,000. Thank you. And in turn, approving the proposal letter that would be directed towards the Santa Cruz County Office of Response Recovery and Resilience for the acceptance of that money. Next slide. I know that there was a lot of questions, a lot of issues around the efficacy of this equipment. So I wanted to provide... I know I provided a couple of these examples already in the first presentation a couple of weeks ago, but I'll briefly go through some of the information that we researched. With the single camera that we currently have located down in the beach flats area, we have had in the approximate 27 days, we've had an average of one hit on either a stolen vehicle, stolen or lost license plates. We've had a total of 27 hits in basically 27 days just for the month of November. The single camera that we do have has been extremely valuable in the investigation of a shooting that occurred in the beach flats that occurred on November 19th, 2023. We also have utilized the camera on a commercial burglary that occurred on the wharf in the city of Santa Cruz based on a vehicle description. That case is still actively being investigated. The vehicle and suspects have been involved in multiple burglaries across the county. As I mentioned before in the previous meeting, I talked about the robbery with a firearm in the downtown area in the collaboration with Roseville Police Department utilizing their cameras and apprehending for suspects involved in that incident. I also talked about the homicide which also included the five-year-old girl in the city of Fremont where our camera was able to alert our officers of the suspect vehicle in our city. Briefly, some very recent success stories you're probably very aware, but Capitol Police Department, they do not have license plate readers, but they utilize the city of Watsonville's license plate readers just about two weeks ago, three weeks ago, which was pivotal in their apprehension of the suspect involved in the fatal hit-and-run collision that occurred in their city middle of November and go into a lot of the details of how that happened, but it was the license plate readers in the city of Watsonville that assisted them in apprehending that suspect. Just recently, there was a occupied residential burglary in the unincorporated area of Aptos in the Santa Cruz Sheriff's Office, utilized the cameras and the system from the city of Watsonville to apprehend the suspects involved in that crime in Aptos. Again, Bakersfield PD, they've utilized and apprehended six suspects involved in homicides. Morgan Hill PD, they just recently in two years, they've had a reduction in 36% in burglaries, 14% of larcenies, and over 65% of catalytic converter thefts. South San Francisco, they've seen a reduction 80% of auto burglaries and 50% of motor vehicle theft and Benesha, I can continue to go on and on. Agencies are seeing a lot of success, however, a lot of this data is very short-term and to actually do a more thorough actual statistical analysis, you'd want to have a bigger, a larger group of time and number of license plate hits and all of that to do it more thoroughly. So based off of the last meeting and conversations with community members, with the police independent auditor, with council, I wanted to go through, next slide, sorry, go through some changes that we did and modified our policy from the last meeting. The one suggestion came from a community member to more accurately reflect the definition of the automated license plate reader. So in turn, we added to the definition that it captures images of every vehicle that passes through the camera's view. That was a more accurate depiction of actually what it does, and that was again a suggestion from the community. You will see in 415.2, and again this was all provided to all of you as well. We added the proper government code that more clearly defines the law as far as disseminating the information to any out-of-state or federal agencies, including out-of-state and federal law enforcement agencies for any information that we have through the ALPR system. 415.3, we deleted, there was a question and concern around the word's homeland security, we've deleted that, and we've tried to more clearly define electronics surveillance by adding in parentheses plotting the movement of wanted subjects or suspects. You go to 415.3.1, we've added several points of clarification there around. There was a lot of questions about the guidelines and procedures that had not been established as of two weeks ago. They have been established, they are later in the presentation, and they will be on our transparency portal. But we've added several points of clarification that I believe addresses a number of concerns and questions that came up at the last meeting. We'll go to 415.4, again there was a D, there was questions or concerns around if practicable, so we added that the officers shall make every reasonable effort to verify. One quick point there, and I know the concern is they want the information verified and confirmed through the California law enforcement telecommunication system, CLETS, before enforcement action is taken. However, there is a scenario where an officer may get behind a stolen vehicle and the suspect chooses to pull over prior to activating their overhead lights and sirens. That has happened. In those particular scenarios, the officer is not able to verify before taking action. Then at that point, once the situation is safe, they will be able to run and confirm the information to verify that the vehicle that they are behind is in fact stolen, that the ALPR system got it correct. If you go to 415.5, so probably there we go, we worked closely with the city attorney's office and we have deleted the minimum of one year and we have added the maximum of 30 days. So not only does flock safety delete the information after 30 days, if we do not determine that it is potential evidence in a criminal offense after 30 days, the images are gone. We do not retain them after that. We have redacted or deleted another phrase there and just a point at the end of that paragraph and stored in accordance with established records and retention schedule, again trying to comply with all of the other related laws. The end of 415.5 again is just adding that we will not share any of this information. There was another piece of information that was suggested by a community member. We added the sentence, nor will ALPR data be shared with any law enforcement agency for the purposes of enforcing prohibitions on reproductive or gender affirming care. That was a concern. We have no issues with that. We have no intentions on using the system for that. So anyways, we made that adjustment. I believe that is the entirety of our adjustments in our policy. I think the next part is just again the procedures and guidelines part to our policy and I won't go over all of this. It just touches again on the appropriate uses of the equipment, who and how people can access it, the training that will be required, who will oversee all of this information or this program. Again, the accuracy of the ALPR system and the requirement to confirm the information and then the data retention period of 30 days of storage. I believe that is all I have and I am available for questions. Chief, thank you so much. Let me see if there are questions from council members. Questions, Ms. Brunner. Thank you and thank you for bringing up and some of the information and questions I have had since the last one and the red line items were very helpful. My question, I had wondered about the, well, maybe I should wait for the usage policy or should I go right into that document? Were you going to speak separately to that? The 415 addendum? Yeah, that was just posted. I just went over just the highlights. I didn't get into. I had two questions on that and that was related to the, towards the bottom of that, the security section. There's some bullet A through E and the A refers to all nonlaw enforcement requests for access to stored ALPR data shall be processed in accordance with applicable law. And I was curious about the all nonlaw enforcement who would nonlaw enforcement be and going through this over the weekend. And so thank you for responding to me and also I was able to get clarification with city attorney's office. So I'm wondering if we could consider adding just a clarifying few words what who the law non nonlaw enforcement would be. And according to the city attorney's office, it would may include requests via subpoena criminal discovery or court order. Me that helps clarify what that would be. Would that be? Yeah, and I think we also discussed the potential for like a public records request, right? So that's another example of a nonlaw enforcement sort of. So we don't want to limit ourselves, but I think we're open to we kind of worked on some verbiage. Such requests include requests via subpoena, criminal discovery is another one, court order, public records request, those would be at least at a minimum the four potential examples where we would be compelled to turn over the information. Otherwise, I kind of reads open. So thank you. The last one was e the in that same section. And that the and or so a case number incident number and or reason for the inquiry. And again, some some recommended language. I'm wondering, like earlier with with the last presentation, it was, it seemed like there always had to be a reason for the inquiry. But that reason would have some type of information associated with it, even if it's out of Santa Cruz, some other city or county sheriffs, there would be an incident or a case number associated. And so having both associated with that just for security reasons. Yeah, that's a good question. I think one of the examples would be when we do our training, we have to be able to access so you can actually type in the required field training or test, which would allow the students to participate and play inside the system. So that would be one of those incidents where we wouldn't have a case number or we wouldn't have an incident number to input into that required field. Another example would be under exigent circumstances. And a prime example would be, you know, I'll use an active shooter incident, let's say at a school. We may not want an officer to tie up a dispatcher to call them for an incident number or a case number right at that moment. If we have a vehicle description and we can plug into the system and start searching, searching the cameras if a suspect vehicle is fleeing the scene. So in those particular cases, they would still put information into the required field. They would put something such as active shooter investigation, right, or training. It wouldn't be left blank. The system itself doesn't even let you go to the next step if you leave it blank. But there's still an explanation and a legal and legitimate explanation that can be audited later on in the policy. We do have a requirement of auditing the access of this information on an annual basis. So I believe that that sort of security is covered in the policy through the auditing as well as the system itself still requires an explanation even if we can't quite get to that case number at that moment. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. Go for the questions or comments. Anyone with us this evening wishing on this item, please come forward. Good evening. Good evening. Um, Bruce Walker, medical field. Um, thank you for your time for this. And, um, I disagree with and I'm shocked that these cameras are even being considered here in Santa Cruz. Um, there are positive benefits, it sounds like for them, but, um, they're also a negative. And, uh, I wish to thank you, councilmember Sandy Brown for pointing out last time that the red light cameras are for violations, not for everybody going through the intersection. Um, these are catching everybody going in and out of town. Um, I find it interesting that, uh, two of the backers are homeland security. Uh, I understand they changed the wording, uh, from their papers that they're putting in, but it's still homeland security. Um, and Northern California intelligence agency or committee. Um, why are they helping back the installing of these cameras, uh, homeland security and, uh, intelligence? It makes me wonder, um, the, uh, World Health Organization is working on getting governments to go along with our federal government to, uh, sign on to their agenda to take away all our rights around the world. And if they choose to using protection as the excuse, we also need, uh, to keep the world economic form in mind with this agenda. Um, plenty of agendas are happening right, right now around the world. Um, a key word that I came up, um, also I wanted to bring up that in San Francisco, uh, part of maybe the drop in, uh, auto mobiles being broken into is that they're using bait autos in town and they're watching those and catching people that way also, not necessarily through the cameras. Um, a key word here in my mind is data. The pictures belong to the police department, but who gets the data? There's also data behind these pictures. There's data with, uh, who's going in and out. There's data that can be used. If all of a sudden say this group that was here today all afternoon, um, they aren't in agreement with our federal government at the moment, so they could be called, uh, domestic terrorists and domestic terrorism is something that can be used against us citizens to track us, to keep, uh, keep us in line. Um, I just wanted to, um, say also that this seems to me that it's a beginning of the camera installation. Okay. Well, anyways, I wanted to finish up with, we know who, what, where, and when, but I will finish with a question and that question is why. Thank you. Ms. Bush, do we have anyone online? We'll go to that person now, person online. Good evening. Um, this is jazz. Yeah, again. Um, I wanted to speak up on this to say I strongly opposed the installation of these automated license plate readers, the LPRs within Santa Cruz city limits. First of all, this is expanding policing through surveillance. Um, it makes people feel less safe and it's an evasion of privacy. Once you collect this data, it can get out of SCPD's hands. I see in the ALPR policy manual that information will not be shared with, uh, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement ICE and Customs and Border Patrol, and it also stated, uh, quote, Norwell ALPR data be shared with any law enforcement agency for the purposes of enforcing prohibitions on reproductive or gender affirming care. And I appreciate that. However, what about subpoenas or any leaks of the data collected? How can SCPD really claim that this information will be protected in a world of threats to and weaknesses of cyber security? I'm a therapist who is bound by HIPAA and even my notes can be subpoenaed by a judge. Also, we have seen leaks of protected health information. So imagine if this somehow was still used to track out of state people going to Planned Parenthood. Also, aren't we a sanctuary city? What if this information ends up being used against undocumented individuals? Wouldn't that violate our terms of being a sanctuary city? Chief of Police Bernie S. Glante said he would use the ALPRs to quote, identify and investigate potential threats before criminal actions occur. That sounds a lot like Minority Report. For those of you who get that reference, we're really forsaking the whole innocent until proven guilty. Also, although there is funding for now, this is proposed to be a permanent installation, and it seems like this will end up using our general fund tax payer dollars down the road. I don't want any more money going to SCPD. They already get the most of our general fund. They get 24% I calculated of our fiscal year 2024 general fund more than any other sector. And lastly, if a violation of privacy and essentially what can be a violation of human rights is not enough of an argument for you, then I'd want you to think about the economic impact. I strongly believe that installing these ALPRs to use tourism would want to come to a city that will surveil them at every entrance and exit and major intersection and possibly use such info against them and trust that they will know due to the moral imperative to protect potential visitors and fellow human beings. If you pass this, I will organize people to advertise that Santa Cruz is doing this and you will see probably a reduction in tours. Thank you. Thank you. Next person online. Good evening. Welcome. Hi, Reggie Meisler here. Yeah, I think you kind of guys, you already mentioned it, right? Like this can be subpoenaed, this information. And as someone who like cares about data privacy and protection from like government surveillance and things like that, you know, subpoena kind of breaks everything. I mean, like when we're talking about someone getting an abortion in another state because it's criminalized in the state that they live in, the exact fear is that the judge, they would be sent to court and therefore a court could use discovery or a subpoena to get that information. So just saying that we're not going to do that, it doesn't actually protect you from that data being used against you, right? Because the whole idea of being like caught using abortion in a state where it is legal, but you live in like a state where it's criminalized, that is a court case. So I just, I don't know, like, I feel like, you know, case closed, right? Like this is going to be used for that. So I think we need to like just take a step back and think about that. And then I think the broader, I mean, this kind of leaves out other really perilous questions about the fact that we had licensed plate readers already in beach flats. That was our test community. The poorest, brownest community in Santa Cruz was where we put our surveillance technology as a test. I mean, the systemic racism of this is already just like, just incredibly on the front, right? And then the fact that like we're bragging that this catches people in stolen vehicles. I mean, who are people in stolen vehicles? People don't just go steal vehicles and drive around knowing that like, you know, they could get caught in broad daylight. These are, these tend to be poor people trying to get a vehicle often unhoused, right? And they're buying a vehicle on Craigslist for cheap, not knowing it's stolen. And so then what you're doing is you're punishing the poor person, like we did last month, where SCPD surrounded an RV with AR-15s pointed at them in an RV on Delaware Avenue, as though this person is some sort of drug kingpin or something. These are just unhoused people purchasing vehicles or cheap on Craigslist, not knowing these vehicles are stolen. So let's not like invent a reality that we're like achieving some great sort of criminal justice here. So yeah, I just wanted to sort of check on these narratives and just say that I oppose this. Thank you. Thank you. Ms. Bush, we have another person online. Next person online. Good evening. Welcome. Thank you. This is Peter Gelblum from the Santa Cruz County chapter of the ACLU of Northern California. I submitted a very lengthy email and spoke at length last meeting in November 28th. I'm just going to make a few points here. My key point before, and I also wanted to throw in please, next time you consider allowing open communications to go for four hours, think about the effect on the rest of the agenda. It's not a good effect. My main point last time was that there is no data who show the efficacy of the ALPRs. Chief Escalante in response to that for the first time has presented what he claims to be some data. There was no data on the initial presentation whatsoever and there was no data in the agenda packet. None for this meeting. Some came up today. It was not available to the public in the agenda packet, which I think is not fair. But it's not really data. It's got some information that apparently some crime was reduced by some percentages in some neighboring communities. There's no citation to any authority for that. And most importantly, there is no evidence that any of that had anything to do with ALPRs. Others have been reduced from what to what and when. It could have been all sorts of reasons other than the presence of ALPRs. There is still no data in front of you to show that ALPRs improve public safety. At the same time, there is a huge amount of information in front of you that there are costs. As one person already said, the general fund will be impacted at least after two years to the June of $66,000 per year. And there's undoubted invasion of civil liberties and privacy. A way against a very uncertain, if at all, existing benefit. Secondly, so I think that most of the stuff that the chief presented you were anecdotes. Let me give you some anecdotes too. They show that ALPRs are dangerous and can be and have been abused. In Menlo Park, an officer used ALPR data to track his girlfriend's travels. Texas is using ALPR data to track women leaving the state to get abortions. As Mr. Meister pointed out, that information can be subpoenaed here or can also be hacked here to track somebody here. An Ohio officer pleaded guilty to stalking his ex through the ALPR. A Michigan officer hooked up home addresses of women he found attractive. Two Miami-Dade officers ran checks on a journalist after he heard unflattering stories about the department. So once again, in summary, there's little of any data showing effectiveness and there's a great deal of information flowing of harm. And I urge you to deny the request for the ALPRs despite the improvement in the policy. Thank you. Thank you. Ms. Bush, we have two more folks. We'll take the next person online. Good evening and welcome. Thanks. Hey, it's Brad Slyder again. I find it vaguely dystopian that you're considering this. I think a lot of people would if they thought it through. There are reasons why pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong believe that the Chinese Communist Party realized so heavily on the facial recognition cameras and the data from these cameras. Integrating that is something that many attempts have been made to the ALPR type surveillance. It is a surveillance state sort of thing. It doesn't make it all bad that, you know, catalytic converters stop getting stolen and people who commit, you know, horrific crimes get captured and, you know, and crimes are prevented, but it's not all good. It's like 100 percent completely not all good, which is, you know, hard. It's hard to put it in the balance, but, you know, it's funny how the state is instituting or starting a program where they're they're tracking people's, you know, speeding, which, you know, lately in the state the last year in particular seems like there's been a rash of people driving in such a ridiculous rate of speed that it almost seems necessary. It just seems too convenient that it's being sort of done at the same time. I don't know. I mean, honestly, I think you guys should just put up those like fake dollar store surveillance cameras that are not real, like just have cameras that appear to be real, and maybe that'll help every bit as much. Sorry, had to make fun of it a little bit. Thank you. Thank you. Next person online. Good evening. Welcome. Good evening. Yes. Yes. Hello. This is Garrett. I must say I booted my computer twice and tried to join about six times on Zoom and continues to say unable to join this webinar. You were removed from the webinar by the host that cannot rejoin. I'm not saying you did on purpose, but I think there's an issue there. Anyway, this licensure item doesn't sit too well with me for the following reasons. It was clear at the first recent presentation of this item, and today it is and has easily a large majority of people with strong feelings and principles against it. So much so, in my opinion, rather than looking like you don't care who appearing dispassionately authoritarian, you table the matter only to bring it back two weeks later. I suppose you are hoping the opposition would disappear. I mean, what has actually changed in two weeks? In the past, say the Cold War, the focus of national defense was outward toward our enemies. But since the Cold War ended in after 9 11, especially recently, the focus of the CIA, DOJ, NSA, TSA and all the security is to become forces that have been turned inwards on the people with spying, a loss of privacy, even freedom and even used to silence political opposition, censoring control media. This is more spying on the people. There are probably consequences associated with it that you aren't really saying. After reviewing the application documents, I see you must meet one of 11 Homeland Security objectives. None of those are defined stolen cars. Almost all are either national security, involved data sharing or locally irrelevant, like emergency preparedness or election security. You name it, none of those have much to do with normal local law enforcement. And I suspect even those are just placeholders for purposes I can only imagine. Which exactly are these 11 Homeland Security functions? Did you plan to cite as a function now of our local law enforcement that meets these objectives that doesn't involve data sharing and spying? Once again, this is a classic example of taking the big money and doing what others want, need and are willing to pay for, besides whether the people of Zachary's wanted or not. You just take the money or whatever and wherever it comes from to do as they say, no matter even if it costs extra and no matter if the citizens wanted or not. From reading the documents, I don't think the previous presentation fairly described with these Homeland Security objectives really are. Why doesn't the state just monitor the state highways and freeze and they can do their own spying? Yes. On the other hand, if you really didn't have the license plate numbers of terrorists or systems that trigger on, that would be great. Do you have any? Why then store everyone's data for a month if you know who they are? They're going to be long gone by then. Thanks. Ms. Bush, anyone else online? Okay, last call. Anyone wishing to make comment on this item? Matter is back before the council. Be glad to recognize a member for a question, excuse me, for a motion. I'd like to move the staff recommendation and add those minor clarification sentences around the usage and privacy policy, the security section A and E. Okay, listen, let's just slow down. Take us to the place in the agenda where you would like to start making amendments. Thank you. It is the document titled the usage, okay, let me open it. Policy 415, Addendum Automated License Plate Readers Usage and Privacy Policy. Okay, so let's hold while Ms. Bush gets there. How would you? You want it up? Ms. Bush, how would you like to proceed on this? Yes, very good. Would that work for you? Is that understandable and clear? Yeah, do you also, while we're at it, do you want to add in there the public records request as an additional kind of such as? Uh-huh, let's see. So such requests may include requests via subpoena, criminal discovery, court order, or public records request? Yes. Okay, and we'll hold for a minute while Ms. Bush gets her down. It's under security, under policy 415, Addendum. It's past the policy. It's the usage and privacy policy. It's past that. Yes, go all the way to the end, security, and security and A. It says all non-law enforcement requests. And so it keep what's there and just add the next sentence would say such requests may include requests via a subpoena, criminal discovery, public records request, or court orders. Can I ask Stephanie Duck a question? She has her hand up. As soon as we make sure you could there. Okay, Ms. Brenner. I wanted to just recognize city attorney's office, Stephanie Duck, since she has her hand raised. And if you had input on this, that would be helpful. Yes. Thank you, Councilmember Brenner. Stephanie Duck with the city attorney's office. I just wanted to point out that the section, the language that you're modifying in the privacy and usage, usage policy in that Addendum is also included in the ALPR policy in section 415.6. And it's the same subdivisions A and E. And that is on page six, I believe, of the items that were included in the packet. So for consistency sake, if you're adding a language in the privacy and usage policy, I would recommend making those changes in the ALPR policy as well. Part of your motion. Yes, I will include that as part of the motion in both documents that that change is reflected. I think that clarification is really helpful. Ms. Bush, are we give you a chance to catch up again? Good to go. Oh, you need to, did you say you need time? I don't need some time. I just want to see it. I need time. Take such time as you need. Did you get a second? I'm happy to. Okay. We're with your motion. You're adding language to it. Ms. Caldontari-Johnson is willing to second as soon as we get this in the right and proper form. Thank you. Good. I can get it. Do you guys want to see it up? Because I can do it after the fact. You've, you've captured it. Correct. Okay. Good. I just didn't know if you wanted it. I think we're good. So Ms. Brunner has made that motion and Ms. Caldontari-Johnson has seconded that motion under discussion. Ms. Brunner, you're recognized open. Thank you. You know, I'm really appreciative of all the input we've received and concerns and appreciative of all the clarifications and understanding how this is used and how it's, you know, when we first started out with this item, there was kind of this perception that it would be some Pete Santa Cruz police officer surveilling people, like sitting at a camera and watching people as they drove through or drove by a camera. And so I appreciate all the steps along the way of really answering the questions and really making it clear for me that even though there's a photo of the rear of the vehicle and the license plate and not the person, and it's not even used unless your license plate is flagged for a relation to a crime, essentially an abduction or some serious stuff. And I think we have cameras everywhere. Even ring cameras are everywhere and everyone's recorded everywhere. I am glad we got to a point with the policy in place as we're voting on this, the security and usage in here. And I really hope that we can use the starting point, if this passes, the data, the metrics so that after the two-year program is up and it's reevaluated how it was used and how effective it was to consider if we continue with it. Because as I understand, it's not an automatic continuance after two years. And so I think it will be really important to measure from the baseline and how it's used. I think it could be a very effective tool in many situations. So I'm happy to support it at this point. Thank you. Thank you. Ms. Brown is recognized. Thank you, Mayor. And thank you, Council Member Bruner, for your comments and your work to put some additional kind of explanation and transparency into the policy, the guidance, and some modicum of guardrails, really. I wonder if the maker and seconder of the motion really towards the end that you suggested about getting data on the effectiveness, how we make a decision in the future about whether or not to proceed, what changes might be made. I did send the request. I'm asking if you would be amenable to an amendment that adds direction to SCPD to submit an annual report to the City Council on the use and effectiveness of the ALPRs. And I included some information here. Bonnie, I know you're sorry to ask you to do this when you're in the middle of something else. So I will just read them if people feel like you need to see them. We can do that. But the total number of scans, the total number of hits generated, number of arrests as a result of ALPR use, number of vehicles recovered as a result of ALPR use, and some kind of equity assessment that explains what populations have been affected. I think we have a statement in the summary report, the agenda report, that this is going to help promote health in all policies. And so I think that when we think about health and equity and our goals, it would be important to just understand who's been affected as a result. So that's my ask. I'm just an annual report written in memo form to the Council or as a presentation, I won't be here to receive that. So I would leave it to future Councils to decide how they receive that info. Let me make sure. Is that a, are you requesting that as a friendly amendment? Would you accept that as a friendly amendment? I would accept that as a friendly amendment to submit an annual update with that criteria. If that criteria, it looks like, I would hope that you would let us know of any of those criteria if there was some reason why you couldn't report on those criteria. But yes. That agreeable to the second? Can I see that back up the very last piece? I have concerns that if of the implications of racial profiling, because my understanding is that we're not collecting data on demographics through this. So if I can see the language of that last piece, equity assessment, based on what population have been affected. So maybe Council Member Brown, you can explain what you're looking for there. And then if the Chief could let us know, what do we collect in terms of the population? There was a question to Ms. Brown, Ms. Brown. Yeah, thank you. So the point is to identify who's been affected by follow-up actions based on the hits that are generated, not how many, you know, who, what demographics own what vehicles and license plates get scanned. I'm talking about just understanding I mean, you do collect that information when an arrest is made that those demographics are available for police enforcement actions. So that's what I'm asking for. Who's been affected, you know, the demographics of who has been affected by. And then I think you had a second question to the Chief about whether this was data available to be collected and reported upon in terms of the context of. Yeah, and if you remember at the last presentation, I showed a slide about which will go up on our transparency portal that Flock provides the vehicles that are detected in the last 30 days. That'll be updated by Flock. Hot list hits in the last 30 days, searches in the last 30 days. So that will also still, so it'll probably be a collection of all that information over the course of the year. I think for the most part, we'll definitely be able to determine number of vehicles recovered. And in most cases, we should be able to collect the data on race, ethnicity, gender, those sort of things on those subjects that are arrested. If in fact, they don't take off running from us or something like that, right? So we'll do our best to capture all that information. And yeah. Okay. Does that answer your question, Ms. Collin Tar-Johnson? This is still to you. Yeah. The answer is my question. I'm just trying to assess what we are going to determine from that. I understand the sentiment, Council Member Brown. And what I'm hearing from the Chief is that it's going to capture folks who are in the system because they've committed a crime. And so what we're asking for is to get the demographics of those who commit crime in our community, essentially. That doesn't necessarily mean it's an equity assessment. So I'm trying to understand how we get to what I think is the intent of what you're saying. That's a huge, bigger issue of the disproportionate minority confinement here in our community and in society. I just don't think that they're necessarily... I'm not interested in getting into a long debate about this. So if you don't like it, that's fine. If you don't want to accept it, I'm not going to debate it. I accept all the pieces, accept that last piece, because I don't think it gives us any information about equity. So I want to be certain the last piece to you is, say, when you said the last piece. The equity assessment based on the population. So the other portion of what the general lady is talking about makes sense, with the exception of the last item. Chief Claire on that. So still collect the data, but it's not necessarily making any connections towards the equity piece. Claire on that. Okay. Ms. Bush, I want to make sure you can catch up with this. Creeble all around. Okay. Creeble to make our Creeble a second. Let me ask if there are further amendments to be offered on this item by council members. Seeing and hearing none, Ms. Bush. Can I make a comment? Sorry. I just, I wanted to appreciate the additional information from the chief. Just say that I have spoken to some members of the community, since this was brought before us last time. And I want to thank Mr. Peter Gellblum for making time to reach out to me. And I read your letters and you asked some good questions. So I asked some questions in return. I asked for data on effectiveness. And I think what you showed us was a pretty good snapshot of improved public safety across various communities. We heard from our community that public safety is a high priority. We saw it in the polls that were brought before us a couple of weeks ago when we looked at the sales tax measure. Our officers put their lives on their line every day. And if this is a tool that will help them do their work to address what the community is identified as a priority public safety, then I'm in support of it. I think the additional pieces that council member Bruner added and the annual report that council member Brown added will make it even more transparent. So appreciate the work. And I'm obviously going to be supporting this. For the question, comment, debate, discussion. Just a very quick comment. I want to thank Chief Escalante for all the changes that he's made in for the additions of council member Bruner and council member Brown have added to this as well. And they brought me on the client to support this as well. So I just wanted to thank them for that. Chief, I'd like to thank you for meeting with me, meeting with other people. I appreciate that. As you and I have discussed this morning, I'm still not over the Patriot Act or the reauthorization of the Patriot Act. And I mean that seriously. I think that under the guise of attack on our country, we gave up enormous civil and personal rights in that process. I totally trust you. It's not about you. For me, this is a line. I'm not going to be able to support it as I told you this morning. I really appreciate all the folks that you have met with and how vastly improved this is. This is a principle for me. I'll be voting no. I appreciate your good work and the clerk will call the roll. Thank you, Mayor. Council members Newsome. Aye. Brown. No. Votkins. Aye. Bruner. Aye. Calentari-Johnson. Aye. Vice Mayor Golder. Aye. Mayor Keely. No. Chief, thank you very much. Thanks for a good year. We are on item number 27. These are comments by the vice mayor. I prepared an hour and a slideshow. Please use your time wisely. No, but I did write a couple of things down. I really do want to say how proud I am of the accomplishments that we've done on this council and under the leadership of Matt Huffinger. The staff is phenomenal and I'm really proud to be part of this team. I think another thing I'm really excited about is I got selected by the Monterey Bay Division President to do a one-year term on the Public Safety Policy Committee on behalf of the League of California states next year. So I'm looking forward to that work. My goals have not changed. I still want Santa Cruz to be safe, clean. People can enjoy a high quality of life. Residents, visitors, everyone alike. I've been really happy to see some of the changes downtown. I think we have decades worth of deferred maintenance that we're finally addressing. And with the beginning of these redevelopment projects coming to fruition throughout the next year, I'm hoping to see people living in those buildings, businesses there. And I'm really excited to see the San Lorenzo Park redevelopment and West Cliff Drive being repaired. I hope to see the river restored to some more natural beauty that we can go enjoy. And the wharf project getting started in the next year. And I just really wanted to thank everybody in the community who's helped support me in this work. I know I've made a lot of enemies, maybe even some more here tonight, but I feel a lot of support and love from the community as well. And especially from my close friends and my family, my sister, Lacey, her husband, Kyle, and the girls, and my husband, Mike, and the adults that live at my house. I just, you know, I'm really excited to serve another year as a vice mayor and translator to you when things get tough online and to work with all of you guys next year to get a lot of work done. So thank you. Thank you, Madam Vice Mayor. For those of you that think we're at the end of the agenda, you'll remember that I continued my presiding officer remarks to the end of the agenda. They are as follows. Mr. Huffaker, Sukhandadi, Ms. Bush, thank you for making our job. And Ms. Wood, thank you for making our job work so well in these open sessions and in the closed sessions. It's an honor to serve with you. I've served with hundreds of elected officials in my life. I couldn't be more pleased, proud, or happy than to serve with the Six of You. It has been a distinct honor this year to be able to serve as mayor and to work with you. What the gentlelady just mentioned as her list of thanks and appreciation, I guess, is that every one of us has a list, some of which would overlap with the Vice Mayor, some of which would be unique. And all of that thanks and appreciation that I know that we all feel for our staff and for each other and the great privilege we all have to serve in public life. And the burdens and responsibilities that we carry with us are on display on Tuesdays, no more so than today perhaps about the burdens and responsibilities that we carry around with us. The way that you do that with such dignity, grace, core values and principles articulating to that community, to the community, makes me even more humble to be in your presence. And I want to thank you for a great year wishing all of you the very best for the holidays. I know that we'll potentially see each other one more time this year, but in terms of our regular sessions, this will bring closure to our year of regular sessions. And God bless you. God love all of you. Motion to adjourn would be in order. So moved. Boy, the Vice Mayor. Just watching. Favor signify by saying aye. Motion carries in order. Thank you all very much.