Sound check sound check
Okay, so it is seven o'clock and I am calling to order the city of San Leandro City Council meeting today is Monday, June 1st
2026
At this point in time if you're able to stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance, please do
Madam Clerk, would you please take our role to establish corm.
Council Member James Aguilar.
Present.
Council Member Victor Aguilar.
Council Member Simon.
Present.
Council Member Bowen.
Present.
Council Member Bolt.
Here.
Vice Mayor Viveros-Walton.
would like to tell my son that I am present at work. Thank you. Councilmember Aguilar,
Victor Aguilar, if you are on the Zoom call, we are looking for you. Councilmember Victor
Aguilar is presently absent. Thank you. And I am present. Just saying. Let's have some
fun. Okay. So a couple of announcements. First item 10A, the appointment sworn in of
new Youth Advisory Commission has been removed from the agenda as the appointee is graduating
from high school and is no longer eligible to be part of the Youth Advisory Commission.
For item 4a, our proclamation recipient is going to be a little bit delayed, and so we'll
just kind of handle that. We'll try to weave that in when the recipient arrives. And for
this evening, we have a presentation that was scheduled under 9a that's relatively short.
from the um regarding the 2026 California Association of Local Economic Development
Caled Award of Excellence and Collaboration for the Real Estate for in Real Estate and Finance
and I'd like to move this up to section four and recognitions because it's basically a recognition
of city staff and great things that are happening in the city and so if there are no objections to
that we will move that item into uh our slot number four for our agenda. Okay let's see if
satellite and conduct orderly meetings to fulfill its mandate discriminatory
statements for conduct that would potentially violate the federal Civil
Rights Act of 1964 and or the California for Employment and Housing Act. California
Penal Code sections 403 or 415 are per se disruptive to a meeting and will not
be tolerated. Please see the City Council handbook and City Council meeting rules
of decorum for more information. Madam Clerk, your announcement please. If you
would like to make public comment during the meeting you can do so in
person or via zoom. If you are present at the meeting please complete a speaker
card and submit it to the city clerk before the item is presented then wait
for public comment on that item to be called. If you wish to participate in
public comment via zoom you can use the raise your hand tool when the item is
called. During the public comment session speakers will be invited to speak and
we'll have a set time to share their comments. A countdown timer will appear
for their convenience. And when the time is up, the microphone will be muted. All raised
hands outside a public comment will be lowered to avoid confusion. Once public comment is
opened, hands may be raised to speak. There will be a 30 minute window for public comment
on items not on the agenda, which will take place under item seven, public comments as
per the published agenda. After this time is up, the council will proceed with the rest
of the meetings agenda. If you have not had the opportunity to speak during the
initial 30-minute period, there will be another chance to do so after item 12,
the City Council reports. Okay at this point in time we'll move to our closed
session report out. Was there any reportable action taken? No reportable
actions were taken in closed session. Direction was provided to staff. Thank
you for that report. So at this point in time we will take our agendaized item on
on the recognition, the presentation
from the California Association
of Local Economic Development.
Do we have that team here ready to go?
I believe that we do have economic development manager,
Katie Bowman, who's going to make the introductions
to get us rolling on this item.
Welcome.
Thank you.
As you mentioned, I'm Katie Bowman,
economic development manager with the city,
and here we're very excited to have partners here
the board of commissioners on
the board, and I would like to
come back from Caled to present
to the city, as well as be three
the developer, a state award and
economic development, and we
have with us today, Jennifer
McLean here a motto. She's
executive director of economic
development with Ontario,
California and also serves as
chair of the Caled State board
and Stephen Bader, who many of
you may know he's the executive
and so this award was we we also talked about this award today at the facility
if people have not seen there is a lot going on inside the rear of Bayfair and
throughout the Bayfair area looking to the future and a new future for this
mall area and so it includes converting over 400,000 square feet of space at the
of them all. We have flexible work space, we have Carrington College and
San Joaquin Valley College as well as incoming space, very nice incoming space
for Asian health to offer senior day services and so this facility offers a
lot of opportunity for jobs and so at its height you know this could have up
to 400 jobs paying at a higher rate than the previous retail rate so looking to
to continue to create good things here.
And with a lot of staff manpower and staff work,
we've been able to leverage a relatively small amount
of public grant funds with the developer putting in
over $33 million that they'll be putting into the project.
And so today we were out at the facility
really thinking all of the staff really,
this award is, I'm the conduit for this award
to really recognize all the work that the staff has done
and the developer B3 have done,
and really from building to fire to planning,
as well as engineering, environmental services,
police department, city manager's office,
really beginning with the city council approving
an updated plan for the area,
as well as supporting updated zoning for the area,
and then on a day-to-day basis with the staff,
really working hard, being nimble and innovative
as we talked about today in their review,
allowing for new things to come into old space.
And that takes work and it takes creativity,
problem solving, and so we really want
to recognize staff for that.
And with that, I'll hand it over
to Jennifer just to tell a little bit more
about the award and then we can present it here to the mayor.
Great, thank you.
Good evening, Mr. Mayor, members of council.
It's really a pleasure to be here, in part,
because it's a bit of a homecoming.
I did grow up just not too far away from here
in Castro Valley, so I shopped at this mall,
and I'm reminded that I'm old.
Things have changed a bit, but it is really exciting
to see the development that you've done,
and first and foremost, this is a big deal,
and it should really be celebrated tonight.
But earlier today, as Katie mentioned,
we had the opportunity to go out with the city manager
and the mayor, your city team, and the developer,
And really three things stood out to me.
And as mentioned, I work for the city of Ontario
and my volunteer gig, I'm the chair of Caled.
The first is that this is not a new story.
We hear of shopping malls closing up and down the state
and across the country.
But what makes this project remarkable
is how quickly you are able to reposition it.
A developer step forward and the city of San Leandro
embrace that opportunity to reimagine
what the site could become.
Not all cities seize that opportunity
and you should really be recognized for that.
Second, the city didn't just support the vision,
it acted on it.
I asked the developer two questions.
First, why buy a mall?
That seemed a little bit risky.
But second, what assurance did he have from the city
that the city would actually support it?
I mean, this is a significant investment.
And his answer was simple.
The city delivered.
The fact that you were able to rezone this
within a three months time is significant.
Again, I work for Ontario.
We're very proud at how quickly we can move things.
I think that you've now really set the bar
on what the standard should be.
And the third is that this project
builds upon San Leandro's success.
You reflect a community where developers continue to invest,
businesses continue to grow, and innovative companies
continue to choose San Leandro as their home.
Caled in our capacity, we recognize and appreciate
your leadership, your vision, and the commitment demonstrated
by the Council and your whole city team that made this happen.
Our hope at CALEDD is that we celebrate these examples so that you can serve as examples
to other communities, and with that is our honor to present to you this well-deserved
award of excellence for the City of San Leandro B3 Investors Speedway at Bayfair Project.
So congratulations.
And I think Steven Bader wanted to say a couple of words as well.
Just very quickly I guess a good evening council members mayor so Stephen Bader executive east bay economic development alliance and vice chair of Caled
Yeah, it was out there this morning. It just it's great to see the fantastic
Growth is starting to happen at Speedway. Thanks to all of your support and investment
It's it's not often that you get the Caled share here
So it's really great her city also won one of these awards a couple of years ago
So she knows a thing or two about how much work you're doing
I think it's high praise that speaks to it saying to the mayor that we know this is a really important
of activation, and East Bay DA stands here
to really help support you in that work.
So thank you, and congratulations.
I offered a few words today at Speedway,
and I said, you know, we can have a tagline
like San Leandro City where kindness matters
and innovation flourishes, but it's not about the words,
it's actually about the actions.
And in particular, innovation is flourishing
because of the actions by staff.
When we had an opportunity to act quickly, we acted quickly.
And so, you know, I said that privately
and I'll say that publicly, that all of this
is because our staff has acted quickly
in response to changing market conditions
and that's particularly important.
Of course, we're grateful for the investment
that's happening in our city,
but very grateful that staff is responding,
pivoting to address those opportunities.
So again, thank you, staff.
At this point, what I'd like to do is I do not believe
we've got our recipient here.
There you are, right?
That's Corey way back there.
Your timing is impeccable because we're ready.
Come on up.
We had it organized here.
We're going to do this little song and dance routine,
and we're going to figure out how to adjust
until he got here.
And your timing is perfect.
So we're very grateful.
I wanted to say, you can hold that.
I'm going to read this.
So our recipient, Corey Blanchett.
Blanchette, Blanchette.
Dr. Corey from Golden Bear Chiropractic.
Just a quick look at the website,
shows you that it is a very welcoming chiropractic practice,
specifically focused on inclusion.
And so I thought it was very fitting and proper
that you be our recipient today.
So whereas the city of San Landro celebrates
and cherishes the value and the dignity of each human person,
and appreciates the importance of equality and freedom.
And whereas the state of San Leonardo denounces
prejudice and unfair discrimination based on age, gender,
gender identity, gender expression, race, color,
religion, marital status, national origin,
sexual orientation, or physical attributes.
We abhor these as an affront to our fundamental principles.
And whereas Pride Month is celebrated
In the month of June to commemorate the 1969 Stonewall
uprising in New York City, in which thousands
demonstrated against discrimination
and against harassment of lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgender, and queer people.
And whereas the city of San Leandro
appreciates the cultural, civic, and economic contributions
of the LGBTQ plus community, and thanks these residents
for strengthening our community
and for enriching San Leandro's diversity.
And whereas many LGBTQ plus residents
and citizens across the United States
have provided decades of hard work to organize constituents
and have made personal sacrifices
to pave the way for the civil rights that we enjoy today.
And whereas everyone in our community,
regardless of sexual orientation,
gender identity or expression should feel valued, safe, and empowered, supported
by their peers and by community leaders. Now therefore, I find what's also third
mayor of the city of San Leandro do hereby proclaim the month of June 2026
as Pride Month and the city of San Leandro and encourage residents to
demonstrate their support for the LGBTQ plus community, especially in this month.
Thank you, thank you, let's take a quick, remember posture, so with that we will close
out both item 9a and 4a and move to our consent calendar.
first I will take any amendments that will go to public comment then I'll come
back for a motion are there any amendments to the consent calendar
vice mayor I don't have an amendment but I do have some questions regarding 5e I
appreciate that would you please ask your questions sure this is regarding SB
1 funds and I have specific questions about one of the projects regarding
Anyway, so it's SB1 on streets. Thank you
And director Marchesis will you be addressing?
The question so first if you can ask your question
Yes, so I'm referring to item 5e for those of the folks that are following us online. It's regarding Senate bill 1
which
allocates funding to cities across the state. San Leandro is estimated to receive 2.5 million
Attachment A-1 talks about the four projects
that will be funded through this fund.
And I specifically wanted to zero in on item three,
which is Lake Chippewa Road Stabilization Repair Phase One.
And I was kind of, I just wanted to get a clarifying
question on the project.
On the project page, it says that phase one,
which is specific to slide locations one and four,
was going to be funded through a grant
from the Federal Highway Administration.
I'm just wondering, can you just talk
about how these funds are gonna be used?
Is it complimentary to this work?
I'm just trying to understand kind of the composite
of the funds.
Correct.
Thank you.
Good evening.
Sheila Marquez's Public Works Director.
To answer your question, the funding that's identified,
it's also the funding sources are listed
on the project website.
There is $2.09 million for the federal highway emergency relief grant funds that you referenced.
And then we also have the local capital improvement program funds, which is about $720,000, which
includes some of those SB1 funds. So that is part of our local match to receive the federal highway
emergency relief grant. So it does supplement those funding sources.
Thank you. So I just want to make sure that it's clear again in my goal of making the implicit
explicit. So there is can you tell me again what the total cost for phase one is?
The emergency relief fund is 2.09 million dollars and then 720,000 of local funds.
So the cost for phase one is the first number you gave?
The total is $2.8 million.
Okay, so 2.8, and then we have federal,
we have grant funding for some of that,
and then we're gonna complement
some of the other funds that are coming from SB1,
and so the actual city investment,
you said it was 200 and something thousand?
720,000. 720,000, okay.
So just to clarify, we are combining essentially
a lot of funds to ensure that phase one is completed.
Correct.
Thank you very much.
I just also wanted to apologize.
I usually send these questions in advance
and so I just want to apologize.
I usually do that and I apologize for putting you
on the spot on kind of zeroing in on the numbers.
Appreciate and know that obviously they're amazing
and are able to answer these types of questions.
I also wanted to highlight some of the other projects
as I have the mic, that are of, I think,
all of our colleagues and the folks here in the room.
Overall, local street maintenance,
annual street ceiling projects,
MacArthur Superior Roundabout Project.
So we're looking at some kind of city-wide impact,
and then some of those locations
that have needed a lot of love over many years.
So thank you to the team for putting together
and leveraging all the kind of different funds
to move these projects along, thank you.
Those are all my questions.
Thank you.
And just for the record, I do want the public to know
that Council Member Aguilar, Vic Aguilar is in the meeting
through the remote participation location
identified in our agenda.
Seeing no other, we do have a question
from Council Member James Aguilar.
No, can I make a motion?
Not yet, but thank you for asking.
We'll go to public comment on the item at this time.
Mayor, we have not received any comment cards.
We have one hand raised online.
So we have opened and now closed public comment in person.
We are opening public comment online.
We're up to three hands.
And the first speaker is Douglas Spaulding.
Thank you.
Good evening, Council, on this beautiful first day of June.
I had a couple of questions about a few items.
One I know was 5D.
I'm just trying to pull that back up.
And I guess it's permitting the city manager
to enter into consulting agreements
with a lot of civil engineers,
of which there are 19 different firms listed.
And what it says here in the item
is that civil engineering, construction management,
inspected consulting services,
and an amount not to exceed one and a half million dollars
within a three year period with each firm.
I just wanna be assured that that's not one and a half
million dollars times 19 firms.
That's overall, I hope that is.
And then I just wanted to say I'm happy to see
not only 5D on here, but also 5B,
which is also transportation money from Measure BB
and vehicle registration fee.
It looks like the Measure BB and VRF funds are a long time coming.
It's the first time we're receiving those, but I'm hopeful that those will help
with our budget, our very tight budget.
I don't know if, I assume they were accounted for in your budgeting before,
so it's not like a windfall or anything.
But good news for the city of San Leandro.
Thank you.
Thank you.
The next speaker is Alvaro Ramos.
Can you hear me?
Yes.
All right, so item 5E,
I just, I feel like I need to get my perspective
out on this.
I think that by the time that,
like Chabot Road drains public resources,
I wouldn't expect anything left
for MacArthur Roundabout Annual Street Ceiling
or local street maintenance.
There are significantly higher infrastructure priorities
in Lake Chabot Road.
And there hasn't even been a funding source pass for this.
And I mean, you're talking about already dumping tax dollars
that there's not even enough specification, I think,
about what your phase one involves, aside from some,
talk about construction, stabilization, and repair
on the text.
And I would have thought that city staff would have made
it clear last year that it's impossible to restore
Like Chabot Road.
I think that throwing money at the problem
is not gonna make it go away.
The risk of fiscal crisis is too extreme
and it wasn't bad enough, you know?
The perception really should be that the city cut back
on all the, is gonna cut back on all the public services
in the next fiscal year.
And it feels like, you know,
but now we're focusing on funding like Chabot Road
and possibly, I don't know,
accelerating the city's structural deficit,
which would, you know, dam us to permanent debt.
This is just worse than a multimillion dollar money pit.
It's the Hayward Fault.
And I have never heard of any government
fighting an earthquake fault
because geology makes it totally impossible.
And I think that the, you know,
the desires of one district should not be above
the needs of the rest of the city's districts.
There's a real opportunity here for the mayor
and the council members for not taking a serious discussion
here about alternative transportation options
that would provide accessibility to the rest of this city.
I mean, many of the residents who came to complain
were senior citizens, how much longer are they gonna be?
Are they gonna be driving?
That's the question you should be asking.
Thank you.
The next speaker is actually,
there are no more hands raised online, Mayor.
So we'll close public comment online,
come back to the council for any further discussion,
or I will take a motion.
Council Member James Aguilar.
Mayor, I'd like to move the consent calendar.
I have a motion from James Aguilar, council member.
Council Member Bowen.
I'll second that.
No, we've got a second from Council Member Bowen.
Any other discussions?
Seeing none, please vote.
Council Member Victor Aguilar.
May we have your vote, please?
Aye.
Thank you.
All votes are in,
and the motion carries unanimously with all members voting yes thank you council we'll
move on to item number six city manager report thank you mr. mayor good evening council and
community members i have two announcements today the first one i'm excited to announce and um it's
our cherry festival our annual cherry festival this saturday um i hope to see everyone there
It'd be an exciting, fun time with live music, vendors,
local food options, a fun zone, and many more fun things
to do in lots of cherries.
So we have our parade starting at 10 AM going through 11 AM.
We also have our pride flag raising ceremony
at the San Leandro Main Library at 1130.
And then there's the festival from 11 AM to 6 PM.
So I hope everyone gets a chance to come on out and have
some fun with all of us this Saturday, June 6th.
And my next announcement, I am extremely happy to announce
that San Leandro has a new chief technology officer,
Alicia Hernandez, who began with the city on May 26th,
last Tuesday.
Alicia brings more than 20 years of experience
leading complex technology initiatives in local government.
Most recently she was with the city of Fremont and throughout her distinguished career she
was successfully modernizing technology systems, strengthening cybersecurity programs and enhancing
the reliability and effectiveness of services provided to both employees and the community.
Our new director Hernandez, her expertise and dedication to public service will be invaluable
to San Leandro's technology infrastructure and expanding digital services.
I'm excited to welcome director Hernandez to San Leandro and I look forward to the innovation,
collaboration, and strategic vision she will bring to our organization.
Please join me in giving a warm welcome to our new director Alicia Hernandez.
Thank you. Good evening, mayor, vice mayor, council members and community members.
I am honored to join the city of San Leandro as your chief technology officer.
I believe that technology is at its best when it's not about technology at all, when it's about
the people, when technology is about the people it serves. And I believe that my vision here is to
use technology to make services faster, easier, and more accessible, all while being good stewards
of public resources. I look forward to partnering with the great team that is here at the city,
the wonderful community and
And with and to help the city of San Leandro
continue on its path of
innovation and continue thriving and
I'm also looking forward to the cherry festival
Thank you
Thank you for choosing San Leandro
It's good to have you here at this point in time
We will go to public comments is the time for the public and offer comments on items that are not on our agenda
That are within the subject matter jurisdiction of that council
Madam clerk. It appears that you have a number of cards in front of you
How many do you have today there? We've received 12 cards
We have 12 cards and it looks like you might have another one coming a different card. Okay
So we will proceed with the 12 cards that we have in person and then we'll see if we have time left
Remember, we take 30 minutes of public comment
at this point in the meeting.
If we have time for some more, we will take it online.
And then we will continue with public comment
towards the end of our meeting per our agenda.
Our first three speakers are Mariquita Banks,
Gloria Strom and Jack Strom.
I know parking may not be a big deal to you guys.
I was here about two months ago on April 6th in the meeting
and I was told someone would get back to me.
No one has gotten back to me.
The parking signs are still up in District Two
near San Angelo High, still not allowing residents to park
from 7 a.m. to 5 a.m.
The schools will be lighting out this week.
There's gonna be an empty high school
and empty Bancroft with us not being able to park anywhere.
Some of the parents are teachers where they're
going to be out for the summer and they're getting ticketed
because they're not allowed to park on Bancroft.
I've spoken with the city.
The city said they're not the ones who put up the signs.
I was told that San Leandro School District
put up the signs.
I spoke with them.
They're pointing the fingers back at the city saying,
everyone's just pointing fingers everywhere.
So I'm not getting any resolved.
I'm not sure at this point,
if I need to present it to the media
for them to investigate and find out
who has these signs up where we're not allowed to park
so they can investigate,
even just a few blocks down the street on Bancroft
in front of Jefferson School.
These signs aren't up and that's the elementary school,
which is more difficult for the elementary school kids
across than the high school kids.
The high school kids may have issues with parked cars
because they're not walking in the crosswalks.
They're just walking back and forth
in the middle of the streets.
So for us not to be able to park
just because they are saying that the high school kids,
it's unsafe for them, that's untrue.
They need to walk in the crosswalks
so we can have access to being able to park
on the streets on Bancroft.
Once again, Jefferson, there's apartment buildings
over there and they're able to park with no problems.
And I know they said that these signs have been up for a while, but we all have to pivot.
We all have pivoted since 2019.
Thank you.
A lot of us collapsed.
Thank you.
Our next three speakers are Gloria Strom, Jack Strom, and Carol Haber-Coss.
Good evening, Mayor Gonzalez and council members.
I want to speak directly to the mayor tonight.
I've yet to hear you directly address the fact that women have not been safe at City
council in any meaningful way. The city settled a gender discrimination lawsuit
with the former city manager for 335,000 taxpayers paid for that. We also paid
approximately 100,000 for an independent investigation into complaints made by
councilmember Bowen. That's more than half a million dollars spent on dealing
with the consequences of how women have been treated in our government. You can
community. You can push fire
is not pretending this didn't
happen. Moving forward is
telling the community how it
will never happen again. So
tonight I'm asking you to do
three things. Tell this
community that harassment and
gender-based hostility at city
hall are unacceptable. Tell us
what concrete steps are being
taken to make city hall safe
for women. And tell us how you
intend to rebuild public trust
after taxpayers have spent more
more than half a million dollars paid for the consequences of this behavior.
Behind you, the sign says a city where kindness matters and you actually
quoted that today. Clarity is kindness. Integrity is kindness. Mayor, safety is
kindness and that's the standard. Thank you. The next three speakers are Jack
Stroum, Carol Habercross and Gunnar Hasam. I'm Jack Stroum. I'm here regarding similar
subject regarding the independent investigation report detailing the
harassment bias and retaliation against women in City Hall. I'm disappointed and
unhappy over half a million dollars of our public funds have been wasted on
lawsuits and investigations entirely because of shameful actions of the men
who made them necessary. After reading the report and the behavior described, it looks
like junior high popularity in fighting and it's not what I expect out of our local government.
This includes trying to minimize the seriousness of what happened and sweeping it under the
rug. Pushing these issues aside and hoping they disappear is not how the city moves forward.
It destroys public trust and it leaves a toxic environment in place. We don't need more public
Relations statements. We don't we need actual structural changes and we need real accountability from leadership
Taxpayer money belongs to our community not to fix self-inflicted legal disasters
City Hall must be safe for everyone. Thank you
Thank you. The next three speakers are Carol hyper costs
Gunnar his home and Craig Williams
Good evening City Council mayor vice mayor staff
I'm going to talk about rent stabilization. So first I want to thank the City Council and the staff
for making this happen
This is such a good thing
It's a huge step for renters in our community and I look forward to working together with you to make sure that we
Get you know get this out into the community and help renters sign up for it
I also agree on the ordinance prohibiting the pass-through of the rent stabilization fee to tenants
So that part I can't let you talk about
because it's on the agenda.
Sorry.
OK.
So the whole topic, so just stay away from anything
that's on the agenda.
OK.
But we are not done yet.
So we need to protect tenants by adding a new just
cause ordinance for eviction ordinance.
So Oakland, Berkeley, Antioch, and Concord
currently have enforceable just cause ordinances.
Just cause tenant protections are designed
to stabilize housing, protect long-term residents
and prevent unjust evictions.
They also include provisions for vulnerable tenants.
For example, people over 60 or people with disabilities
who may be at higher risk of displacement.
So this ensures that protections extend
to those most in need.
In short, just cause tenant protections
are needed to prevent unjust evictions,
protect long-term residents and maintain stable
affordable housing in a city
That you know is it a high rents are so high and so and they balance landlord rights with tenant security
so I've been a renter for about 16 years and
You know, I want to continue being a renter and I also want to work with you know
With all the other renters in the city. So
We all we look forward
To working with you and adding this important ordinance
to truly make San Leandro a fair,
equitable place for renters to live in.
Thank you.
Thank you.
The next three speakers are Gunnar Hissam,
Craig Williams, and Judy Square.
Reset that timer.
Hi, my name is Gunnar Hissam.
It's good to see everyone here.
I'm here to speak about the MacArthur Roundabout.
Surprise, surprise.
It's an ongoing project.
The city's been working on now for 20 years.
And to my understanding, it's fully funded, and yeah, we're still waiting for it.
So what I wanted to say is I live on the corner of Lewis and MacArthur,
and we have witnessed quite a few car crashes.
We thought that the CHP getting T-boned would be the pinnacle of our list.
but we also had a pregnant woman with a child
in the back flip her car over.
It's a dangerous intersection
and we wanna make sure that the council
understands that as residents here,
safety is I would hope the top priority
and I would hope that you would prioritize
finishing this project
for the safety of all those who live here.
So yeah, please just prioritize this thing and get it done.
Thanks.
Thank you.
The next three speakers are Craig Williams, Judy Square,
and Woody Square.
Hello, my name is Craig Williams.
First of all, I'd like to thank the council
for their great work on rent stabilization.
At the Democratic Party convention in February,
they highlighted on one of the housing committees
the work that you guys did.
So they applauded you, you know.
But I'd also like to talk about just cause.
You know, just cause is something that's universal
in other countries.
Throughout Europe, it's universal.
They say, you know, it's a sad thing
that Americans don't have just cause protection.
It's something that we really need here.
And hopefully we can get it on a city council.
As Carol mentioned, there are numerous cities
throughout the Bay Area that already have just caused.
Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda, Antioch, and other cities.
When I think about this issue, I think about,
is this something that you would want for your children?
If you had a child who was a renter,
would you say, yeah, let's make sure that my child
has just caused protection.
I think almost everybody would say they support this idea.
And the final comment I'd just like to make
is that people in the Bay Area and California
pay some of the highest rents in the country,
yet at the same time some of the lowest property taxes.
And that's something that the city should investigate
because it's, you know, that difference is really something
that is a shame, but please support Just Cause.
Thank you.
Thank you.
The next three speakers are Judy Square,
Woody Square, Brian Sanding.
Good evening, Mayor and council members.
First, I want to acknowledge
the tremendous workload you carry.
Every week brings new challenges, new requests,
and new issues that demand your attention.
At the same time, there are important projects
from years past that still require leadership,
focus, and follow through.
So I'm here tonight to respectfully ask you
to not allow long-standing commitments
to be pushed aside by whatever new issue
happens to be most urgent this week.
And one project in particular stands out,
the construction of the roundabout.
It is a project that has been discussed, studied,
and anticipated for nearly 20 years.
And over that time, this council and previous councils have repeatedly assured residents
that the roundabout remains a top priority for our city, but a priority is only a priority
if it remains at the front of the line when competing demands arise.
It is easy to focus on the newest challenge, but true leadership requires honoring commitments
that have already been made.
Tonight, I urge you to keep your promise to the community.
Stay committed to the roundabout project.
Keep it on the front burner.
dedicating the attention, resources, and urgency necessary to move it forward
regardless of what other projects come to the fore. So the residents of this
city have waited patiently for two decades and they deserve to see this
long-promised project become a reality. So thank you. Thank you. The next three
speakers are Woody Square, Brian Sandin, and Sarah Bailey. I'm here on Gonzales as
well as council members so grateful to be here and grateful for all of you and
for the way in which you are helping our city to grow and to maintain a quality
of life that's amazing it was mentioned by Jennifer I think Miramoto earlier
that you are a group that delivers and we're grateful for that and right now
we'd like to ask for you to deliver on behalf of us we do need a roundabout
this round about to be taking care of it's been on the docket for 20 years I
believe and I think different it's been brought before different council members
and nothing is happening and we're still waiting the CHP has been t-boned a mom
and a child and a little baby have been turned their world has been turned
upside down I don't know what kind of dreams they're having right now but our
prayer is that before it's too late for somebody that a roundabout be taken
care of. Thank you. Thank you. The next three speakers are Brian Sandeen, Sarah
Bailey, Leo T West. City Council, thank you for your time. My name is Brian Sandeen. I'm a 26 year
resident of San Leandro on Lewis Avenue and I'm here to speak about the roundabout.
I remember going to my first meeting about the Roundabout.
Boy, it must have been at least 15 years ago.
And so the longer that it takes,
the more Lewis residents feel
like it's just never gonna happen.
And so I'd encourage you not to let it slide to the back
that you'll keep it at the front of the priority list.
It means an awful lot to us
and we appreciate your attention to that.
Thank you.
Thank you.
The next three speakers are Sarah Bailey,
Leo T. West, and San Leandro Chamber of Commerce.
Hi, I'm Sarah Bailey, and Council Member Bowen
will have a, make a statement later tonight, right?
Okay, so I wanna take this opportunity to thank
Council Member Bowen for standing up for all women
who have swallowed their voices
when they have been physically violated
in the workplace.
We all did this to get along.
We did this to avoid professional repercussions.
An email went out in advance of the assault
to describe the incident before it happened.
Councilmember Bowen was set up to be assaulted.
This is grotesque and cruel,
and whoever did it is grotesque and cruel.
We support you.
Thank you for using your voice to support us.
Thank you.
The next speakers are Leo T. West
and San Leandro Chamber of Commerce.
I will lead on a Bromore Plaza senior housing
in San Leandro for six years.
At that location, I've been under attack by management
for exercising my rights as a tenant.
I've been harassed, threatened, bombarded
with fraudulent accusations of violation of house rules.
In 2024, I ran a petition denouncing management
neglect, arbitrariness, and abuse.
It was signed by more than half of the tenants.
The harassment against me escalated.
Last February, I ran a petition opposing management request
to house for a rent increase.
A group of 15 tenants signed the petition,
but this time management issue a memo asking tenants
not to sign.
They also called them to the office,
an intimidation tactic.
On April 29, I was served with a 60 day notice
of termination of tenancy.
So after 10 years advocating for tenants in San Leandro
in 30 years resident of the city,
I'm facing eviction at the age of 85.
Now the city of San Leandro made a financial contribution
to develop the problem plus a facility.
The current, the current suspended chief of police
came to that place for a meeting with tenants.
I believe that the mayor and the council member
also came to a party there last year.
I was not home.
So is the city going to intervene to prevent human goods
from putting me in the streets at the age of 85?
You had a cloud to do so, will you?
Now, their agencies, they are doing no help,
like central legal,
their eco-housing,
their legal assistance for seniors.
None of them will provide any legal assistance.
It's a fraud, no state, no county.
Thank you, sir, your time has elapsed.
Our next speaker is San Leandro, Chamber of Commerce.
Hello everybody. Good evening. I'm Emily Grego. I'm president, CEO of the San Leandro
Chamber of Commerce. I'm here tonight to talk about two issues. The first issue is the business
license tax that we are going to be looking at at the June 8th meeting. As you know, and I've
shared with lots of staff members and city council last week, there's a lot of concern about this
business license tax amongst our members, how it's going to work, how it's going to be implemented,
and how it's going to impact their business, especially in a time with so many other rising
costs to do business in San Leandro and actually throughout California. I do want to thank
the city staff. They have given us some more information about specific category rates
and a calculating tool so that businesses can see how much it might cost them to have
a business license tax here in San Leandro. We're putting that information out to our
members. We're going to be collecting data and hoping to share more of that with you
guys next week at the June 8th meeting. The second item I'm here to talk about is the
illegal street food vendors.
We've got a hotspot on Marina,
make sure I'm getting the right street, Marina Drive.
And we had a round table last week,
which we invited our senator, Grayson's office,
assembly member, or assembly members, Ortega's office,
and also our supervisor, Lena Tam's office.
We had a really robust conversation.
We heard from businesses,
and we really wanna get to an end result
with what's gonna work best for businesses
that are currently here,
that have been paying their taxes,
that employ people, and how we can overcome this.
So we look for more work on that.
There might be more work to be done
with the city ordinance, but we are really focused on that,
and I hope that you guys are too.
A lot of these businesses have been here for a long time.
They commit their tax dollars,
and we wanna also protect them as well.
Thank you for your time.
Thank you.
Mayor, that concludes the comment cards we have
Okay. So let us proceed. So we'll close public comment. In person. Let's open public comment online.
Our first online speaker is Chris Urban Res Life.
Good evening relatives. My name is Chris Urban Res Life Longoria. First I'd like to acknowledge the Ohlone people whose territory we occupy.
I'd like to acknowledge the whale relative that landed in our bay.
Currently it's naturally decomposing as it's the safest and most environmental appropriate
option for us.
I really appreciate how the City of San Leandro dealt with this and kept the community updated.
I hope the City keeps notes on how they handled this dear whale relative as I'm sure we will
encounter this again due to climate change. I also want to acknowledge our young people
who are graduating many blessings on their new journey to the class of 2026. Gratitude for this
amazing progress with our rent stabilization. Don't stop now. Keep going. Next step is just
caused as a long time renter 41 years in San Leandro. I really appreciate this work. Ajo, thank you.
Thank you. Our next online speaker is Jesse. Good evening. In the HR investigation that
resulted from Councilmember Bowen's complaint against Councilmembers Aguilar and Simon,
We read that after she was sexually assaulted at a conference in Florida and emails started
circulating alleging that she had been drunk, flirtatious, and suggesting that she had ended
up in the mayor's room later that night. As video surveillance has shown, those accusations were
categorically false. However, I was appalled and honestly enraged to learn from reporting last week
that the first of these cruel and libelous emails was actually distributed before the
sexual assault occurred. The only logical conclusion is that council member Bowen was
set up to be assaulted. The HR investigation referenced how council member Aguilar repeated
the cruel and untrue allegations from the email. Council member Aguilar, were you behind this setup?
the board. The voting public
deserves to know. Thank you.
The next online speaker is
Melissa Wong.
Oh, hi there. Good evening.
Since we briefly heard from our
new technology officer, maybe
that's a good time for me to
follow up on the status of a
financial system upgrade. I'm
financial system. I have the written proposal if it helps anyone. And I wanted closure since
this recommendation was deemed complete as I understand it from a prior city planning
session. Can someone from the city share updates on this effort? I think many folks know my
contact information. So if someone can get back to me, I would really appreciate it.
and I think from what I'm hearing from the public comments, I thank everybody for now,
and I look forward to hearing the rest of the agenda items. Thank you. Our next online
speaker is Jenny Chang. Hello, can you hear me? Yes. Hi, good evening. I would like to
comment on the hiring of our intern chief. My concern is why are we wasting taxpayers
money particular residents money in hiring a new chief when we already have an assistant chief
Luis Torres who's doing the job. We've already we've been through two chiefs and lots of
trauma and trauma. The community knows but seems to be hush hush about with the leadership. So I just
want to address this because it's a big concern of mine. And also lastly, I just want to thank
Mayor Gonzalez for getting back to me and also my council person James Aguilar for listening to my
concern. That's it. Have a great evening. Thank you. The next online speaker is Douglas Spalding.
I made it. Can I get two minutes so to talk? There we go. Well, I'm an old guy and I still
believe and practice that thing called dialectic materialism. And I'm happy to report that a
healthy debate has broken out in our fair city over the merits of competing revenue measures
the citizens' parcel tax that folks were out getting signatures on and then the potential
re-modernized business license fee. And you know, I had a lot to say about it. I've been writing some
and been going door to door a little bit. But I've been listening too and I've been learning
things as well. And my belief is that you as a council will make some good choices and we as
voters will make some good choices and we'll end up in a better place after the November election.
But I do have to pause for someone to say I am a little disturbed by one thing I've heard from
more than one person and that is residents who, you know, the knock came to the door,
somebody was there looking for a signature on the petition and they indicated they weren't really
in favor of it but somehow ended up signing the petition because they felt pressured to do so.
and I just think come on dude like you know you're gonna get your signatures they really need that
one signature it just doesn't really strike me as being that democratic. So with this regard I
guess the the more important thing I wanted to address is measure F which is on the ballot
which everybody needs to drop in the ballot box by tomorrow do not mail it at this point and please
do vote yes on measure F because we have district elections coming to St. Leander whether we vote in
favor of it or we get taken to court for it and you know some of the concern in the past has been
oh gosh if we have district elections then we're going to create little fiefdoms and and actually
the city works a little bit like that at present because districts one and five kind of dominate
debate this will help people thank you sir your time has elapsed may there are no more hands
raised online. Okay so we will close public comment as has been my
long-standing tradition I don't tend to comment or have any discussion on public
comment unless they're objectively false statements that have been made so
it is objectively false that we have not communicated with a resident about
parking in front of the high school. There are emails going back and forth
with that individual and so I'll just leave it at that. There is no confusion
about who has the right to put in no parking signs. It's the city that would
put in no parking signs, not the school district. There is no confusion. We're not
confused about that particular topic. There is a question that has come up.
Obviously we have the city projects page with respect to the status of projects. A
question has come up with respect to the MacArthur roundabout and I'd like to just
get clarification on whether there is funding. Do we have full funding for the
MacArthur Roundabout is that funding at risk or anything like that. So if I could
get just clarity of that answer because there's been some apparent confusion as
to whether we're fully funded and whether that funding is at risk and to
the extent that it's at risk if you could please inform the public about any
potential risk there. Good evening, Sheila Marchesis, Public Works Director.
Currently we have about 7.2 million dollars committed to the project. At this
time that is our best engineers estimate for how much the construction the total
cost of the project would be. At this time I don't I'm not aware of any risk
to those funding sources. Thank you. And the only other question is that clearly
there has been delay over the years and I think that Councilmember Bowen and I
I talked about how this project would be launched in 2025 or maybe 2026.
How confident are we about the current timeline?
The current timeline, we have several agreements in place with the City of Oakland and Cal
Trans.
We do have on our project website, we are currently scheduled for a start of construction
in early 2027, May 2027 with the completion in early 2028. Assuming all those agreements
proceed as planned, that would be our project schedule as it stands.
So early 2027 meaning if I'm counting correctly within a year. Okay, thank you.
At this point in time we'll move beyond public comment on non-agenda items.
and we'll move to a public hearing. We've got a public hearing to adopt a resolution,
potentially adopt a resolution, and to have the introduction of an ordinance as laid out in our
agenda. So to introduce this item we've got Assistant Community Development Director, Avalon Schultz.
Is that working? Yes. Okay. All right. Good evening, mayor and council. Quick refresh
for the community. As a reminder, the city council adopted a rental registry ordinance in April of
2025. And then later in February of 2026, rent stabilization ordinance. Together we're referring
to those two programs as the rent program. And then recently in April and then in May, there were
actions taken related to implementation of the rent program, including budget
staffing approval and shifting the rental registry deadline to January 2027
to align with rent stabilization. So the program will launch in coordination in
January. On April 20th, the council took several actions including establishing a
special revenue fund for this program, appropriating the fiscal year 2027 budget
for the program and authorizing six full-time equivalent staff positions as well as amending
the deadline as I previously mentioned, which the second reading and adoption of that ordinance
was on May 4th. And at that April 20th meeting, there were a few actions discussed that were
not finalized by City Council and direction was provided to come back at a future meeting,
which is why we're here tonight for three items. One was to update the general fund
loan interest rate term and that has been updated based on guidance from
council and the next was to update the rent program fees it was shared with
staff that the petition fees didn't make sense and that it was preferred that
there just be the base program fees for the two programs and no additional
petitions and so the result of this is that the base fees went up by a dollar a
piece. We have an updated fee study and we also heard from council some
interest in eliminating the fee pass-through to tenants and so the
prior ordinance allowed 50% of the rent stabilization fee to be passed through
and we were hearing that there might be consensus about eliminating that pass
through and so there's an ordinance for your consideration tonight that would do
just that. So first the general fund loan the prior recommended rate of 3.76%
interest was based on the city's investment portfolio return and we heard
from a few council members that there was an interest in looking at a
different benchmark and so we're returning with an updated rate of 4.03
percent that is the average of the five year and seven year Treasury daily par
yield curve rates an average because this is a six-year loan and so if we
average five and seven we get six and so there's some equivalency there so the
rate increased slightly and again this is a proposed loan to get the program up
and running before revenues start coming in and the payback period would be three to six years
because we're not sure exactly how revenue is going to track and we'll provide updates along
the way. Depending on the payback term this will yield 280,000 to 487,000 in interest revenue to
the general fund when it is paid back and just the first year interest alone is roughly $90,000 at
at this rate. So moving on to the fees we you'll see here an updated fee table
that does not include any petition fees so included in the program costs would
be any property owner or any tenant requesting a petition to increase or
decrease rents and those would be heard for free and the costs would be recovered
through the general program fees not specific fees for filing. I do want to
clarify on this table that the 9,500 units that are subject to the rental
registry are inclusive of the 6,500 units that would be rent stabilized so
rather than adding these two numbers together the total unit count assumed in
the fee study is 9,500 total. So rent stabilized units would be responsible
for paying both fees for combined $258 and I know at the last meeting there
were some questions about why the base rent program fee revenue is so much
higher than the rent stabilized fee program revenue and so the next slide
provides I will not go through this in detail and but the next slide provides
kind of a how did we get here in terms of the development of the staffing and
budget estimates for this program and so originally we know we were just looking
at a rental registry that was not going to have much enforcement and it was
going to be a pretty lean program of two staff with six hundred fifty thousand
dollars and when the policy discussions developed and we heard there was
interest from council in pursuing rent stabilization we started looking at
combined programs and found that it was really hard to extrapolate for existing
combined programs in other cities which percentage or proportion of those was to
administer the rent registry versus the rent stabilization because they
typically operate as one unified program so we did come back to Council in
December with refined cost estimates and we're really looking at a combined
program model at that point or a rent stabilization only without a rent
registry and the red text highlights shows the direction we received from
Council at those meetings and so that enhanced enforcement option with six FTE
1.3 to 2.2 million dollar estimate is the direction that we went in but when
we really worked with NBS to do the fee study and figured out which costs could
be attributable to administration for all units versus just the rent
stabilized units. That's where we came up with the split in revenue that you see
here and that really has to do with having a more heavily enforced program
and really the heavy lift it takes to work with a community across all units
and have them register and you know understand how to use a software and
understand how to give you the information necessary. We've learned that
it's very time intensive and that the actual review of the rental price data
is is less time intensive than some of just getting everybody in and getting
them to register. So wanted to provide this just for transparency and just to
explain you know how we got here. We are also proposing tiered late penalties. We
really want to drive people to register on time. The penalties originally stopped
at 100% and we heard from some council members that maybe that wasn't going to
be a strong enough penalty to offset you know all the all the time and money we
spend trying to get people into the program and and wanted to look at more
stringent penalties so we worked with legal team and established a
recommendation to go up to 150 percent penalty for 120 days late and we are
also looking at leaning or putting special assessments on properties that
rent stabilized that are not coming in and paying and so that is something that
we've discussed with council along the way and that will be something you can
assume after the first program year has completed. Alright moving on we heard
there was some interest in exploring elimination of the fee pass-through and
so as mentioned currently up to 50% can be passed through to tenants and to
equal installments and the proposed ordinance tonight would prohibit the fee
pass-through option and make the program entirely property owners
responsibility to pay for. And the first reading would be tonight if Council's
interested in adopting this ordinance. Second reading is tentatively scheduled
for June 15th and it would go into effect July 15th ahead of our January
registration. And so tonight these actions would propel us forward with
implementing this rent program by giving the program this startup general fund
loan with the updated terms and providing clarity on the fees so we can
get those into the master fee schedule and then the ordinance if the council
wishes to modify the pass-through provision that would be for your
consideration and we are just for a quick program update we're moving full
steam ahead on the software development and working on all the next steps which
is going to be a very robust community engagement process that you can expect in the fall leading
up to the January deadline. So we've heard from you guys lots of great ideas for how
we can reach the community and get people to be aware of this requirement. So that's
what will be coming soon. And having finality on the fees will be really helpful so the
public understands what to expect. And we're available if there's any questions. And we
have our fee study consultant available on Zoom if council has questions for her. Thank
thank you very much so prior to opening our public hearing we'll take some
questions seeing no questions I'll ask a couple will we be tracking the costs
associated with the properties because we have a you know whatever that split
was two-thirds one-third will we actually as we implement track our cost
to see if they aligned to that yes I won't commit to a level of specificity
with the time tracking but absolutely we'll be figuring out how much
activities related to the program will take for staff. Thank you. You mentioned
leaning but you qualified it for the rent controlled properties. Not all
payments of fees would be subject to leaning? That's correct and when we bring
the list of accounts that are in arrears that need to that could be placed as a
special assessment through the county's tax collection process we need to have
confidence that those monies are owed the city. With non rent stabilized units
it is very hard to say with certainty that someone is renting out their single
family home or their condominium and so we would not feel comfortable recommending
a lien in those circumstances. It's much more speculative which precise single
family homes may or may not be rented at any given time but with apartments
right non condominium apartments there's certainty that those are rentals
and then we would be much more comfortable recommending those special
assessments to the City Council. If you had sufficient proof would you be able
to or we would need a law an ordinance provision that enables you to my
understanding is that it's not a legal concern it's more one of a policy
decision based on proof so if we had proof we would be comfortable
recommending it's just very hard to obtain that proof at scale okay I just
want to make sure that if we need to change the order that we tweak that we
agreement city attorney yes ma'am that's correct thank you but good we will have
the language that would be able to assuming we would have the proof and we
can proceed under other code sections as well thank you okay seeing no other
questions the time is 815 and I am opening the public hearing on this
matter do we have public speakers mayor we have received four comment cards on
this item and there's presently one hand raised on mine please proceed in
person our in-person commenters are Jenny Madsen Robert Jones and Jennifer
Rizzo my name is Jenny Madsen and I'm glad to be back here and I'm glad to be
walking and I continue to be grateful to this council for the rent stabilization
ordinance and for the motions to eliminate the 50% pass-through fee. It
means a lot to tenants and they won't come and forward and tell you but I'm
telling you they say thank you. I barely believe that this is happening
sometimes but I need to also talk about just cause because it's specific to the
rent registry I think the city is going to find out how many single-family homes
are being rented over the years the people that have been put forward to me
to talk about all they've lived in this house for 30 or 40 years and all of a
sudden the landlord is saying oh no we need to raise the rent you're out these
people actually felt like this was their home. This is a family thing and it is unique I
think to San Leandro and the unincorporated area. I don't think there's as many rental
single family homes in other cities and I hope the city I hope the rent registry shows
this. This is unique in that I don't know any other city program where if you don't
make if you don't make your payment if you don't get your return on investment
for the general fund monies that are issued for a program that you have to
pay a penalty I understand why you're doing this your hiring staff I believe
it is very very important that the staff here understand the situation and be
committed to it it's just hard but I also want to thank staff because if they
didn't understand this if they didn't have the vision it wouldn't have
happened that is my thank you your time has elapsed our next three speakers are
Robert Jones Jennifer Rizzo and Michael McGuire
Clearly I'm not Robert Jones is that okay to continue good evening mayor and
council members my name is Jennifer Rizzo and I'm here on behalf of the
California Apartment Association and San Leandro rental housing providers the
issue tonight is fairness and fiscal responsibility as you may recall city
staff retained a consultant Baker Tilly consulting last year to conduct a
Research and provide staffing and cost assessments for the rent control program based on comparable East Bay programs
based on that assessment staff told you that the rent control program would carry quote a
Maximum annual fee of a hundred dollars per unit and that was at March 17th
2025 staff presentation now city staff is proposing housing providers pay
dollars for partially regulated and 258 for fully regulated units and that is a
major increase from what was presented to you when you agree to the program. The
proposed fee is also substantially higher than the other comparable programs
in the neighboring jurisdictions. For comparison, Alameda charges approximately
$114 to $170 for fully regulated, Concord charges $50 and $78, Oakland charges $137
and San Pablo which only has the rent registry charges $7.
And given these original benchmarks,
we respectfully urge you
to demand fiscally responsible management of this program.
We also oppose the elimination of pass-throughs
because tenants are primary beneficiaries
of the program, it's reasonable and equitable
that share the proportion of the cost.
Plus it's common practice in the region
to allow the rental program fee pass-throughs.
For example, both Alameda and Oakland
allow pass-throughs of 50% of the program fees to tenants.
How does this work?
In Alameda, housing providers pay $170 annual fee
for fully regulated, of which $7.33 per month
is allowed to pass through to the tenant.
Thank you, your time has relapsed.
Our next speaker is Michael McGuire.
Sorry, I thought one more person was ahead of me.
So incidentally, just as an aside here,
I find myself every once in a while actually
agreeing with Leo West on a problem he's having.
And tonight was just one of those times, him as a tenant.
So about the rent stabilization, what we all want
is a normal housing market for San Leandro
without sudden unpleasant surprises for either renters
or property owners.
What any business person also needs
is that their competition follow the same rules as they do.
Whether or not we change which family members of the owner
are allowed to displace current tenants,
we need to enforce those laws assumption of honesty.
Currently, there is no mechanism to check
that the family members allegedly moving in
really do move in without they have any desire
or need to move in.
They might have a very nice house someplace else.
Who does move in at least sometimes
is a tenant unrelated to the owner
who pays more rent than the previous tenant.
But a wall for children and other family members
renting for mom and dad if they actually do need a place.
somebody needs to check a little bit later
and return the former tenant to their apartment
in cases where eviction fraud occurred,
or for that matter to a nicer apartment
in the same building at the same rent
to compensate them a little
for the illegal disruption of their life.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Mayor, there are no more in-person comment cards.
We do have hands raised online, one hand.
Please proceed online.
Our online speaker is Douglas Spaulding.
Douglas Spaulding, if you are present, we cannot hear you.
Douglas Spaulding, public comment, if you're there.
So it's 822, and I'm closing the public hearing.
At this point in time, we will come back to council members
for any further questions or discussions.
If there are none, I am happy to accept a motion.
Vice mayor.
I just wanted to thank the team, the city team for putting together, I see the both
the councils and the communities, I see it reflected in the policy that one is on its
way to being enacted but also the pass through to tenants so I want to thank you for all
of that work. I would like to move item 8a and I'm just wondering if we need to do two
where we adopt the resolution establishing the fees or can we pair it together? Because
one is a RESA, one is an ordinance. So to city attorney, any problems with pairing them?
There are no problems with creating one motion to approve both.
I would like to make a motion to adopt the resolution establishing the rent program fees
and to introduce an ordinance amending the Sally Anderson section to prohibit the pass-through
of rent stabilization program fee to tenants. Councilmember James Aguilar. Happily, I would
like to second the vice mayor's motion. So do you have a motion for vice mayor,
Councilmember. I would like to
already had put this on the on to move but I wanted to thank staff for the you know that
presentation and um you know I think everything is lined up where we'd like to see it so thank you
like to move forward okay at this point in time please vote council member Victor Aguilar may we
have your vote please aye thank you all votes are in and the motion carries unanimously
Okay we have moved item 9a earlier in the section four. Similar for 10a was removed as described in
the announcements. At this point we'll come to item 10b. 10b is a motion by myself to reconsider i.e.
revisit last meeting's vote on an urgency on an urgent referral. The request for reconsideration
is based on a simple premise that upon further consideration, by myself, I don't feel that
it was an urgent referral.
So the motion to reconsider simply says let's open up that discussion again.
And I say open up the discussion even though, to be very clear, we did not have a discussion
because we were prohibited by our process from having a discussion about urgency.
So that's my request.
I will be pairing that just for your information,
should we decide that it's in fact not urgent,
it is my intention through the regular powers afforded
to me through the charter to bring forward a request
to city council to do that engineering assessment,
the long awaited engineering assessment
so we can determine the cost of reopening Lake Chabon Road.
But that's not yet on the table,
but just I just want you to understand
that that's where this is going,
I just would like to reconsider
whether that was in fact properly urgent.
But in order to do that,
you have to vote that says,
we're gonna go revisit that other question.
So my request, my motion,
I don't believe that needs a second, correct?
It's just the authority that I have for reconsideration.
My motion is that we open up that discussion again,
and I'm looking for your permission to do that.
will accept questions and discussion at this this questions before going to the
public and then we can wrap up our own discussion councilmember bolt please do
you need a second for that no okay so to be clear that the vote would now be is
it in fact an urgent item the vote right now is whether we have permission to
to explore that question. This is just a procedural action that lets us have that discussion.
First, we have to do this because we've already voted and said that it's urgent. I'm saying
I want to reconsider that vote. But I need, you know, we need to work together in order
to reach that question. Right now it's just permission. I have a motion that we open up
that other discussion, correct?
I'm just getting clarification on my word choice,
make sure that it works.
That is correct.
If this motion does not pass on the vote, we're done.
This item does not continue forward.
So do we actually discuss it now?
If we vote yes on reconsideration,
So we are voting.
We'll be able to then discuss urgency.
But first we have to agree.
It's just a process thing.
Okay.
Council Member Simon.
So just to clarify, if we pass this motion,
then we can discuss if Lake Chippewa Road
is an urgent item and if it should be
agendized per Council Member Vera Walton's
previous discussion.
So I'm gonna let City Attorney work on the language.
So if the motion for reconsideration passes,
then we come back to the item of,
that was originally the referral,
and whether the referral will continue as an urgency item.
We cannot discuss the urgency,
but it's really whether it will go
to a next priority session,
or if it's going to remain an urgent matter
that gets put on a future agenda.
Okay, I guess the difficult thing.
I'm going to stop right there
because it was my understanding
that this would enable a discussion of urgency.
Is that not the case?
Because it is now an agendized item.
So the motion for reconsideration
is to reconsider the action that was taken.
But interestingly enough, Mayor,
this is still just a referral.
It's a referral that, do you agendize it for urgent
and have it brought back because it is urgent?
Or does it just go automatically
to our priority work session?
The action that was passed was that this is urgent.
And so what you're asking is for the vote to be again,
whether we have urgency or not.
Okay.
I'm just processing because I came into this meeting
with a different understanding.
So at this point in time,
I'm gonna go back to Councilmember Bolt.
Yes, thank you.
My thoughts are it is not urgent
because we are willing to wait until July.
eliminating all urgency just in that thought process right there so if anybody
were to vote it is urgent then urgency to me means it comes at the very next
meeting those are my thoughts I want to come back to city attorney because I
don't want to run afoul of the Brown Act we've got our council handbook and we've
got the Brown Act and I'm trying to navigate both of those together city
attorney. Thank you mayor. That is correct. We are still in the process of whether
we're going because right now the item is moving forward. It is stopped from
moving because the motion for reconsideration has been set by the mayor.
That's his power to do so under the charter. The council is deciding are we
gonna pass this motion for reconsideration. If you do pass the motion
for reconsideration then we come back to the referral itself and the referral
is an urgent item. You will revote on whether it's going to be an urgent item
or if that motion fails it'll just go on to the next priority session. The merits
of the discussion cannot be discussed this evening nor can the urgency we're
just deciding that if it does go forward after this first vote you'll take a
second vote as to whether it's still urgent or not. But let's explore
something as they're trying to decide whether to vote on reconsideration. I'm
assuming that they can discuss how they're thinking about whether to vote
for reconsideration. Okay. So you're not out of order to say what you said. We
appreciate you being in order. Vice mayor please. Thank you. It's a conversation
kind of clarified a couple of my questions and the reason I also had
another understanding of what the reconsideration would trigger. I did
want to, there were some questions from my colleagues that I wasn't able to
answer in terms of my proposal which is why I wanted to bring back the
resolution in July that would enable us to have a conversation about that.
Essentially with the May meeting
where we voted on this item,
it merely scheduled it.
And I think for me, this reconsideration
was just a matter of process
so that I would be able to answer some of the questions
in terms of where I'm coming from,
what I've heard from the community,
my understanding of the project
and the reasoning for that.
but that the structure, or more so the process
did not allow us for me to be able to answer that.
And so I don't want to,
I wasn't aware that the reconsideration
would actually affect the urgency
and affect the scheduling.
That's what I would not,
I don't wanna have the unintended consequence
of voting for reconsideration
and then not being able to keep on as we have voted on.
Let me be clear, I will be bringing this item
through the powers that the charter gives me.
I will be putting it with working with the city manager
on the agenda and in particular to allocate money
to do the engineering study.
So that will come to us for discussion
and then we will be able to vote on that.
I will be agendizing that outside of an urgency process.
The challenge the reason that I have brought this forward is because I do not believe it meets the standard of urgency
That's all this is just trying to clean up process. I
Understand I see my back time to the chair and I'll address some of the comments from my colleagues and Mike
At the end when y'all are done I'll take notes and try to respond to all of the questions and comments
Councilman Bowman
Thank You mayor. I think we're we might be on the same page now, but I wanted to clarify for myself
that we are discussing a reconsideration
of whether or not it was of the vote for urgency.
And the vote for urgency was not a question
of the exact resolution that would be passed,
because again, in our agenda that we have tonight,
the request description was one sentence.
And the question, the vote that we took was,
is this one request urgent?
Does it meet the needs that are outlined
for future agenda items and urgent referrals?
And so any discussion to answer the questions of
is the technical considerations
for opening Lake Shepple Road
is not part of that urgency question
because this only the statement
is to only reaffirming the city council's intent
to construct the to open Lake Chippewa Road.
Am I understanding that correctly?
Yes.
Okay, and if we can discuss how about the urgency ice,
from my questions at this last time,
I still do not understand how this action,
this resolution would qualify as urgent.
Okay, so seeing no other hands,
I'm gonna go to public comment on this item.
Oh, yeah, and Council Member Simon,
I just saw you come in after I said that.
So please proceed.
Well, just a point of clarity.
I do believe that our council handbook needs to be,
I do believe that our council handbook needs to be cleaned up.
There's many areas, in particular this section,
requests for future agenda items and urgent referrals.
I think it's very subjective on what an emergency
or what an urgency is, depending on each council member,
depending on our life experiences,
depending on many different factors.
So for example, Council Member Bol does not believe
it's urgent.
I do believe it's urgent.
I have life experiences.
I lived through the Oakland Hills fire.
I do believe that things can be done.
and even though it's not done next meeting,
it's still urgent and it can protect the life
of those living, especially the seniors
that need to get out using Lake Chippewa Road.
So I'm fine with reconsidering it,
but I will continue my vote because I believe it's urgent.
To clarify this in the future,
to prevent us from doing this,
I think we need to completely revamp our procedure
where we decide on what comes forward to council
and I'm hoping my colleagues would support that
to clarify, to clean this process up.
I know it's not a topic for tonight,
but I do think we need to clarify this process.
Thank you.
Not seeing Council Member Aguilar's hands up.
Victor Aguilar, I'm gonna go to public comment
on this item.
Mayor, we've received two comment cards
and we have one hand raised online.
Please proceed in person.
We'll open public comment in person.
Thank you.
Our in-person comment cards are from Janet Everett and Sarah
Bailey.
This is not my jam.
Council members, mayor, city manager.
I wouldn't even know about this, but somebody came around
and asked me for my signature on a petition
that prioritized Lake Chabot Road repair.
So I just want to tell you what I did and what I saw.
I walked up there myself.
I've done it several times.
I've looked at it from below as far as is possible.
I've looked at Ascot Place, which is the,
what do they call it, earthquake acres.
And I went to every other site
that is mentioned in that petition.
And I think urgency means that this is the thing
that is urgent in our city, and I don't believe it is.
I saw urgency, I think maybe.
Wiley and Trojan, that whole corridor,
that looked urgent to me because that's widely used.
I saw streets, but I saw streets that look like
the city of Oakland. It's not a
and I know why that went the way it went and I don't see that with Lake Chabot Road. It's
just not equal. It's not oranges and oranges. So that's all. That was fun. Thank you. Our next
commenter is Sarah Bailey. Three true statements. Lake Chabot Road is open for emergency use,
both for emergency vehicles and evacuations. Two fire chiefs have explained that to us more
than once. Second, the number of evacuation exits and routes off Bay of Istahill has not changed.
It's the same now as before the storms. Third, if Bay of Istahill residents need to evacuate,
They can use Lake Shabow Road as long as the fire department directs them that way.
Staff has said they are working with the intention of opening the road to two-lane traffic. They are
always looking for outside funding sources for all major projects. This is an absolute given. It is
not urgent to tell them to do so, to do what they are already doing. The city manager explained last
time we were here that Lake Chabot Road moves every day. In 2023 the cost estimate for two
lane traffic was 10 million dollars. In January 2025 just two years later the cost estimate had
ballooned to 15 million. Lake Chabot Road should be stabilized and preserved for use by police and
fire and potentially evacuations putting two lanes of traffic on it the fancy word for that is
connectivity will accelerate the erosion and do more harm than good please vote yes to reconsider
your decision on the 18th and then vote no to the question is this referral urgent thank you
Thank you. Mayor that concludes our in-person commenters. So let's close public comment in
person and open public comment online. Thank you. Our first online speaker is Douglas Spaulding.
Boy I am awfully glad to see that unmute button. I did not see it the last time you were calling
my name over and over again. What's all this I hear about the need for an engineering study?
because I thought that was the basis for this urgent item.
You know, we have two geotech studies, one from 2011
and one as recently as August of 2025,
sandwiched around two additional assessments
which have deluxe engineering plans.
How many of you have read those?
I spent the day studying the August 2025 plan today
and I'd like to share with you a few of my notes.
First, good news. I've heard the the depth quoted by the city as being you know we got to go down
20 feet and some in some places as shallow as six feet but in some places it's as deep as 37 feet
and you got to go a five feet additionally to sink your pier so that's more than 40 feet.
Second, the quality of the rock, the bedrock is described as more competent than the weathered
sand, clay, stuff that's on top. But I think we should be really concerned when we read the
characteristics that this more competent bedrock is quote fractured, foliated,
spoled, and friable. That means it is part of the melange, it's part of the Hayward Fault.
That's just characters that are being in a fault zone. And the last thing is,
you know, in reading the report, I realized that the firm Haley Aldrich, which we just
promised some money to early in the agenda, downplayed the impact of the Hayward Fault. First of all,
it's that one is focused on site one, and they say, well, we're 200 meters away from the fault,
so, and then they rate it as low potential for ground rupture. I don't know, but maybe they don't
know about the big one in 1868, because that's well within the parameters of when you-
Thank you, sir. Your time has elapsed. Our next online speaker is Melissa Wong.
Hi there. First, a brief observation. When there's a vote, I do not expect the vote to not count
the next meeting, and I have seen it more than once, so I'm not sure if it's really listening
to the situation the city attorney advising appropriately so that we don't think that there
was a vote and then two weeks later it seemed like there was something else or maybe more confusion.
As far as the urgency, this is where maybe I would have to disagree with my council member.
I think that there are plenty of urgency so I really can't say that this one is urgent to me.
And I'm sorry, there are a lot of elderly folks everywhere.
I would agree with all of the three previous commenters.
I am just not sure.
I think that if you ask somebody in the manner,
they will have plenty of other places where it's urgent.
So I think you have to be very careful
and not set a precedent.
You wanna make sure you actually know the language.
If it's not good, then reword it
and vote when you really know.
Otherwise, you absolutely should abstain
and there's nothing wrong with that
because that means that you really need to know more
about this before you can vote.
It's not just yes or no.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Mayor, there are no more hands raised online.
So we'll close public comment online,
come back to the council
to see if there is any further discussion.
And again, this is my motion,
a motion for reconsideration. So I'm requesting your permission to go back to the original
question that Vice Mayor had proposed at our prior meeting. So is there further discussion?
Seeing no discussion, Vice Mayor, please. Thank you. Let me just have some notes that
I wanted to address. So let me go back to the item. So though I just wanted to clarify
again making the implicit explicit, I do want to have the opportunity to answer some of
the questions and specific concerns around that that we weren't afforded. So I'm willing
to vote for reconsideration only with that goal in mind.
And then, you know, any who just wanted to leave that there.
I also wanted to just talk about the impact of the closure is not just about that road
itself. But the impact that it's having on Astor and on View Drive, those roads are not
meant for that type of traffic. We've talked about traffic counts. We've talked about the
impact to those neighbors. There are near misses and some property damage.
I think I'm getting a tug on my ear over here that we've got a point of order. I'm going
We are simply on whether we are going to reconsider the vote that was taken, which was to move
this referral as an urgency item, and the urgency, the referral, which was an urgency
item was a resolution reaffirming the City Council's intent to the rehabilitation of
Lake Chabot Road for community safety, connectivity and infrastructure resilience.
Certainly it was named as an urgency item.
If the Council had voted that it was not urgent, then it would just have passed to the next
priority setting session, right?
But the Council did vote to say, yeah, this is urgent.
So the mayor has filed a motion for reconsideration on that question, on the urgency question.
So this original referral doesn't die, it'll just go on to the priority setting session,
but to get to that question, we have to answer the question as to whether we're going to
reconsider or not.
I understand.
Okay.
So we're just on the question, are we going to reconsider this or not, take the vote.
If the motion doesn't pass, then the item will stay as it is and will come back at a
council meeting in the very near future.
I understand.
So regarding to the item one, I will support the reconsideration only to have that discussion.
Councilmember Simon.
clarify mayor I understand you said you would put forward a motion or you would
add to agenda item a geotechnical study but just to confirm vice mayor had
requested a resolution reaffirming the City Council intent would you also would
that also be part of your yes great and I also just want to clarify whether this
this is my district four or any district in our city,
I would support seniors who had limited access
in an emergency.
It's not just about any particular district.
I represent like all of my colleagues,
everyone in our city.
So if my residents in the manner had very limited access out,
I would be supporting that too.
So I wanna help our seniors make sure that they have
adequate access in a fire.
Thank you.
Councilmember Bowen. Is it possible for me to call the question now because I am
afraid that many of our comments are not directly related to the urgency of the
motion which is what is up for reconsideration. We've been having a
discussion that I don't feel comfortable with. So the question from my Council
colleagues are you ready to vote just by head not for motion reconsideration.
the motion on the table is to reconsider our vote. The yes vote means that we will go back to the
original question. All of that is provided in the context that I've offered about what I will be
doing in terms of our future agenda. Councilmember Aguilar, Victor Aguilar, do you have your hand up?
Thank you Mayor. I think in all this talk I think my question for you is,
I know we're talking about a resolution in the urgency,
but the motion for reconsideration,
I had mentioned with council members,
Simon had mentioned I'm a vice mayor,
but would that also include a plan
to get an estimate for all portions of Lake Chabol Road?
That's what I believe some of the confusion has arisen
because there's some discussion about,
well, there are engineering estimates, blah, blah, blah.
there has been a geotechnical. I want to turn to city manager to make sure we're all on the same
page, same language. Okay, so the parliamentarian agrees with you. Councilmember Aguilar would you
like to take it in a different direction? I think there is the urgency. So I'll just leave it at
that and we can call the question. Okay, so I think everyone that wants to speak has spoken.
this is a motion to reconsider the decision that we made last week. So yes means we'll move back
to that to that to that motion. No means we're done. Please vote. Thank you but thank you for
asking. Please vote. Council member Victor Aguilar may we have your vote? Aye. Thank you.
I apologize. I cleared the vote too quickly. The motion carried unanimously with all members voting
yes on the motion to reconsider. At this point in time we have a motion. I do not remember who
seconded that motion last time. Was it you? I'm sorry. So last time you had an urgent referral
and there was a there was a someone had to second that it was urgent do we remember who
council member james agular so i just want to kind of lay the foundations we had a motion
for an urgent referral from the vice mayor with a second from council member uh james agular
a last time we are now that motion is back on the floor now we are limited in what we can
Discuss I'm going to rely heavily on the parliamentarian to kind of position that
So
Councilmember councilmember city attorney. Well, I actually don't have anyone who wants to speak at this time. So if you want to speak, please
Put yourself in the queue councilmember Bowen
Thank you, this is on whether it is urgent
the motion for urgency I
I mean, sorry, this is the so we have a motion on the floor because it's from last time. We've kind of
Unpeeled or back to where we were we have a motion from the vice mayor with a second from councilmember James Aguilar
Thank you. I'm looking at the referral request that was submitted
The ordinance or the the resolution ref reaffirming the City Council's intent to the
Rehabilitation of lakeship O road for community safety connectivity infrastructure resilience
Specify reason for urgency.
The reason for urgency is to clarify the intent of the Council to rehabilitate Lakeshore
Road to look for alternate funding sources.
That's the reason for urgency, and it clearly states in our agenda, in our handbook, an
urgent referral must meet the following criteria and be defined as part of the referral.
The criteria for urgency is defined as an action necessary to immediately preserve the
to respond to health, health and safety of the community.
Or failure to respond in an expeditious manner
could result in harmful legislative
or financial consequences for the city.
I do not see that as included in the reason for urgency.
I think that the criteria as written,
what we could clarify would be actually to include
what would be those financial and risk to life
health and the safety of the community. Look, I'm sorry, I'm kind of waiting for my for like,
so I understand but you're giving the reasons why it is or is not urgent,
but you're saying you could fix it. No, I did not say that.
Well, you said we could it doesn't matter. I said the handbook could be cleaned up to
specify that explicitly. But what how I read what is in front of me is what I stated,
That this is the criteria. I do not believe that the referral as submitted meets that criteria
But that's now becoming discussion. Is it not?
If we were to start debating that but that's clearly she's making a point. Yes
So you've made a statement we what we cannot do is go back and forth on
Sure. I I'm sorry. I I will refrain from making that comment now
Okay council member bolt I'll go back to what I said in the beginning
Urgency that's what we're talking about urgency if it was urgent
We would be hearing this at the very next council meeting
But that's not what was proposed. We actually put it
About a month and a half out
Come by in line here. I'm out of
I mean, I'm just going off of what we're talking about urgency urgency means now and
and we are not doing that we're saying come back in july that means it's not urgent we should let
know once again you have to make individual individual council members have to make their
own assessment as to whether the referral meets the criteria under your handbook for urgency
truly you are this is under the city council handbook we want to be careful not to discuss
the nature of the urgency because then we'll get into the – it could cross us over, which
is already happening, into the merits of the discussion. And so either we will accept that
it is urgent, and you've made your – you've both made points that to your – you made
statements to make a point. But the council, according to your own rules, you should not
discuss the nature of the urgency. Under the Brown Act, you may vote to put items on a
future agenda. You've made a rule to say that we will automatically put items on our priority
setting session unless we as a council find that it is urgent to do so. So we're not in
violation of the Brown Act. And if we have a full-blown discussion about putting an item
about the item itself before putting it on an agenda,
and then we would stop and say,
we can't have the continuation of this discussion.
You, the council, has elevated the rule a little bit
to talk about just basically the urgency
of bringing it back.
So at this point, my advice to the council
is you have a referral in front of you
that states that it is urgent.
Individually, if you feel that that doesn't meet
criteria, then your vote should reflect whether that continues or not as an
urgency item. It takes five votes to make it an urgency. If that vote fails, then
it'll go automatically to a priority setting session, whether whenever that
gets scheduled. Clearly you don't have, you have an automatic priority setting
session at the beginning of each year. As a matter of equity, fairness, there have
been two statements that have expressed an opinion.
It strikes me that the motion maker should
be afforded an opportunity to not rebut,
but to very briefly affirmatively state her opinion
if she shall wish this because I see you in key.
Thank you.
I do believe this is an urgent item.
and I believe I've submitted several items that were,
I have submitted several items regarding Lake Chippewa Road
with a lot of information in context
and that still doesn't seem to change to move the needle.
However, the urgency is defined in the council handbook
talks about immediately preserving
the life health safety of the community.
and failure to respond in an expeditious manner
could result in harmful legislative
or financial consequences to the city.
If we are not able to reaffirm clearly what our intent is
and to, and I've been working with the mayor
to find sources of funds that would be able to
get a full geotechnical report to truly understand
what we have is a well please the chair has not interrupted me so please so a
point of order has been raised please make your point of order council member
bolt what is your point of order regarding urgency we are getting into
dialect on what the process is going to be in the future if it's agendized we
we should focus on whether this referral is urgent or not.
And it is intended to be a very brief statement
because we did have some brief statements made
and whether we crossed line is neither here nor there,
but I wanted to afford you equity.
I appreciate that.
I still believe that it is urgent
and I would, let me just confirm what,
what the presentation talks about.
And so, the motion for reconsider is from pass
and the city may then reconsider.
Okay, so then I still ask for your,
does a yes vote, can you explicitly talk about
what a yes vote means?
So the motion on the floor is that there's a motion
for an urgent referral.
And in order to be an urgent referral,
that means that council members have made the assessment
that it is urgent.
And then in which case it would come back to the date
that you proposed, I believe is July.
A yes vote just carries what we affirmed the last time.
Yes.
Okay, okay.
So I would ask for a yes vote.
Thank you.
Council member Simon, again,
we're trying to watch that line, so please be careful.
Yeah, I just, I just want to clarify,
just to clarify for us as council
and for those watching and listening,
all we're trying to do is vote on
if we're going to talk about this item.
We're not approving Lakeshore Bow Road.
We're not approving geotech reports.
We're approving none of that right now in this vote.
We're just trying to vote, can we talk about this?
That's it.
That is correct.
And to be clear, when we will talk about that.
But that's it, we're not approving funds.
that we're trying to bring to
the council. We just want to
talk about it. Correct. Thank
you. Seeing no further
discussion. Please vote on the
Council member. I get that you
have your hand up Victor. I get
that you have your hand up now.
Thank you, Mayor Gonzalez. I
think you know this is an
if that potential happens so I'd like to move forward with this urgency to
prevent anything like that from happening. Council member thank you
council member Vic Regula recognizing council member James Aguilar. So I'm
really struggling with this one and sticking to the topic of urgency I voted
this last time because I and I bring it up because council member Aguilar kind
sparks what I voted yes for. I almost lost my grandfather on the Skyway in
Paradise and I think about that when I think about this issue. I also think
about what what are we trying to say about our role as a governance team
about a really confusing because now we've been going in circles about a
a conversation about urgency about it defining an immediate preservation to life health and
safety of the community, failure to respond in expedition manner and resulting in harmful
legislative yada yada. When circling back and this is this is my struggle and I and
maybe the vice mayor can can kind of clarify. This is a discussion about a reaffirmation
rather funding but not necessarily the opening of the road. I'm having a
hard time because I do think that this opens a can of worms and now this is
why we're all going in circles and so I'm just listening and I would like
clarification on where we're really headed with this and what specifically
urgent okay so yeah thank you we're now getting into like really
questioning because you're you're asking I very much understand that the biggest
struggle that we have is that our legal guidance is that we're not really
supposed to be discussing the pros and cons and we can revisit in the future
how we address that. The question before us right now is whether this satisfies
the condition of an urgent referral. The only thing that I will add is I have
given context to how this decision is being made. If we don't really have any
further discussion without getting into the debate about urgency, which we're
trying to avoid, we should go ahead and vote. And so the question, the motion on the table is
that we have an urgent referral to reaffirm the City Council's intent to the rehabilitation of
Lake Chabot Road for the community safety, connectivity and infrastructure resilience.
And that it is an urgent referral. So you either agree or disagree. Please vote.
motion carries. Thank you.
Council member Victor Aguilar your vote please.
The motion fails to carry with three yes votes from council members Simon, Vice Mayor Vivier-Schwaltze, and Council member Victor Aguilar.
And no votes from Council member James Aguilar, Mayor Gonzalez, Council member Bowen, Council member Bolt.
So moving on to number item number 11 council request to reschedule agent council request to schedule agenda items
Do we have?
requests at this time
City manager says yes, let us proceed
Councilman Bowen
Thank You mayor. Um, I have a few items. I got a lot pulled them up right now
the first
Request for future item is
ordinance to adapt to home hardening ordinance to prevent wildfire and home
fires from spreading especially in high-risk fire zones. Home hardening is
the practice of increasing a building's resistance ignition from fire.
Wildfires can ignite homes in three ways flying embers radiant heat and direct
flame content. Embers are the most common cause they can travel miles that
have a fire and landing gaps gutters and vegetation around your home. So I just
added some information about the different zones,
but to look into that for an ordinance for the city.
The second item is an ordinance to adopt an ordinance
for food service packaging reduction and reuse.
The primary objective of the ordinance is to address,
is to reduce the demand for and consumption
of problematic single use food wear items,
such as plastic and paper cups, plates and utensils
that contribute to litter, ocean pollution,
contaminate compost and recycling collection programs
and contribute to consumption related greenhouse gas
emissions.
Stop waste has a model ordinance that many cities
have adopted and we would use that as a resource.
The third item, future agenda item is a resolution
to reaffirm the city council's intent to construct
the MacArthur Roundabout for community safety,
connectivity and infrastructure resilience.
we heard public comment about why that is an important project to make sure that we
complete. And then sorry one more. And then the final one I have that I will be talking
about is an amendment to a city ordinance. We have city code that outlines the hours
I would like to say a few
words. I'm pleased to announce
that solicitors can visit
residential homes. Currently it
is from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. I
would like to. I'm and the
ordinance to reduce the hours
that a solicitor's can knock on
residents homes. Thank you.
Council member James Aguilar.
Yes Thank you, Mayor. So this
that the City Council in a working setting develop and adopt a council
self-assessment or a self-evaluation. The goal of which would be to monitor and
discuss the council's process and performance annually and identify areas
of growth as a governance team and at least a couple of weeks before the
annual planning session having a little bit of a distribution of a self
evaluation and then having that discussion at said planning session as
as to provide us data on how we're doing
and what we can do to better improve our performance
as a team and essentially affirming to us as a group
that we are a working team and that we,
as much as we evaluate our staff,
we also should be evaluating ourselves
for areas of improvement.
Thank you to both of you for those.
At this point in time, seeing no others,
we will move to item number 12.
Council reports, calendars, announcements,
beginning with vice mayor.
Thank you, I attended the US Green Building Council's
conference this past week at Berkeley.
It was very instrumental and came back with some,
it was a really interesting and exciting
learning session for me.
And I came back with some ideas
that I'm still putting together.
I had a great conversation with the city manager
about some of the ideas that came up in my discussions
and in my learning that day.
So I'll be coming forth to my colleagues
with some of those ideas for discussion
at the council session.
I also wanted to adjust,
I'm excited about the Cherry Festival on Saturday,
I will be there.
My particular float will be pride themed.
So I will be celebrating along with some of children
in the car and we'll be celebrating both San Leandro
and uplifting and affirming our LGBTQIA friends
and family, neighbors and community members excited
for a great cherry festival.
And that is it for now.
Thank you, going to Councilmember Bolt.
Yes, first I'd like to highlight a stand down
for Veteran Resources Fair for Homeless Veterans
in Alameda County.
As a part of the Alameda County Veterans Commission,
we try and do it a couple times a year.
We're doing it June 28th of this year
and it'll be in, or excuse me, June 15th this year,
and it'll be in Oakland at the St. Vincent de Paul,
which is 2272 San Pablo Avenue in Oakland,
very close to the VA Center.
If you guys know any veterans out there,
please either get in contact with me
or you can go to the Alameda County Veterans website.
And we have a flyer and everything up.
There's legal assistance, employment, housing,
connect them with their own veteran benefits, health care,
teeth cleaning, showers, laundry, overnight shelter.
There's just all kinds of stuff going on,
along with a couple of hot meals.
We do it for a couple of days.
So if you know any veterans, please send them there that way.
Another thing that we're doing, or excuse me,
another meeting that I went to, EBITDA.
I was appointed to the EBITDA, East Bay Discharge Authority,
had our monthly meeting talking about different projects
and ways to keep the costs down,
costs us to actually get rid of some of this water we use in the city and
That the focus was was all about that
Additionally, not because I am such a great commissioner, but I was appointed to the chair, which is awesome after two meetings
Only because it was the city of San Leandro's rotational turn and I wasn't going to give up on us. So
I will in July start the chair of that
Lastly, a fun note, which I believe you will talk about it as well, Mayor Gonzales, but
Kiwanis Club did project literacy in the city of San Leandro.
A couple of our local unions helped donate the funds.
There was a great team out there, all kindergarten and first grade at Garfield Elementary in
Alkeen received three books. The reason we haven't gone further is strictly about
funds but we have a plan to scale up and hopefully next year it will be bigger
but on Friday I was at Garfield Elementary enjoyed the opportunity to
pass out the books that were given to the children and I believe mayor you
you went today, so I think that's awesome.
It shows a good effort by us getting in the community
and doing everything we can to help out the kids.
And I am looking forward
to Saturday's cherry festival as well.
Thank you, council member James, thank you, Larry.
Thank you, mayor.
I just want to elevate a few things.
First and foremost, met with the HR director,
Emily Hung last week.
And I really just want to publicly recognize the hard work
that her team has done to transition to Workday,
which is gonna be super transformational
for the city of San Leandro in also the idea
that we are trying to play catch up on things
like infrastructure like that.
And so I'm really just grateful to their team
for the immense work they put into transitioning us
to Workday.
I also want to recognize Happy Pride Month.
And this is a really important time
for us to recognize the issues that the LGBTQIA community
is going through and the advocacy that's required
to keep our community whole.
And so Mayor Gonzales, thank you for the proclamation today
and recognizing that the city of San Leandro
is a place where LGBTQIA plus people can live,
love and work, and this is the space to be.
I also wanted to uplift Sergeant Watson at SLPD
for helping me organize a ride along last Saturday
with Officer Sanchez and Officer Kuches,
both of which were super welcoming.
I appreciated their perspectives
and I was met with nothing but professionalism.
It was very informational and I appreciate that.
Finally, I'm really excited for the Cherry Festival.
This will be my first as a council member,
so it'll be a little bit of a different perspective
than I've seen.
And I really just can't wait to be with community.
I can't wait to be with you all.
So I'm excited for Saturday.
Thank you.
Coming back to Vice Mayor, OK.
Oops, did that run?
I forgot to mention one event that I
went to that is actually part of a series
that I think many of us would benefit.
But in May, I attended a affordable housing tour.
And we had a policy conversation on the state of housing
and how it's being funded through federal, state, county,
and local monies, and it was a great conversation.
And then post that policy breakfast,
we went on an affordable housing tour
where we visited different types
of affordable housing sites.
And we went to one ribbon cutting.
And this is a series put on by Partnership
for the Base Future.
and it builds non-ilage tools and leadership capacity
to shape Bay Area's housing future.
There are one, two, three, four, five future events
as a series to one, increased capacity,
increased power building, increased knowledge
on what is the scaffolding of policy
that we will need around housing
to keep people housed, protect folks
who are currently in the rental market,
but also kind of activate different types of ownership
and different types of housing needs
that different folks have
that are not only met by single family home ownership
or condo ownership,
but that really we need a diverse set of housing options
to meet people where they are.
And so I just wanted to elevate the partnership
for the base future and their learning series.
It, that first one was incredible
and I absolutely recommend my colleagues to attend.
I'll happy to kind of share it around.
And that's it.
That was the only thing that I neglected
to include in my council comments.
Thank you.
Council member Simon.
Thank you.
I want to recognize the Alameda County Fire Department,
Chief Willa McDonald, as well as Station Engine 13.
They came to my community chat last month.
It was really nice to see all the staff on the engine,
Captain Benancourt and his two engine workers.
And we got to get a personal experience
of what it's like to work at Station 13.
Unfortunately, it is not really up to standards from Seismic.
Also some health issues, just the way the doors open.
Most new garage, most new fire stations have two doors,
one on entrance, one on the exit,
so trucks can drive through,
but it improves the ventilation,
which makes it safe for those fire workers,
helps prevent them from getting cancer.
Unfortunately, station 13 does not have that.
I know that's on the city's list to fix at some point,
and I'll just mention as the Citizens Initiative
had that station 13 to be repaired.
But my main focus is I want to give a shout out
to Chief Willie McDonald and Station Engine 13.
They do incredible work for our city.
Thank you.
Thank you.
We'll go to Council Member Victor Aguilar next.
Thank you, Mayor Gonzalez.
On a Wednesday, May 20th, I attended the National League
of Cities ITC committee meeting.
On Friday, May 29th, I attended the Balayo Conference
and the awards in Napa are received a scholarship
to attend this event.
And they featured a panel discussion
of four amazing Latinas who are supervisors in San Mateo,
Napa and Sonoma counties who are doing amazing work.
And I would also like to, since it is pride month,
as the first openly gay council member
in our city's history,
I would like to take a moment to recognize
and celebrate pride month.
Pride is a time to honor the courage, resilience,
and contributions of LGBTQ plus people
who have helped shape our communities
or state and our nation.
It is also a reminder that progress is made
when people are willing to live openly,
authentically, and without fear.
As someone who has spent years advocating locally
and nationally for LGBTQ plus equality,
I am deeply honored to serve this community.
I recognize that my ability to serve openly today
is possible because of the countless activists, leaders,
and everyday people who came before us
and demanded a more just and inclusive society.
One of those leaders was Harvey Milk,
supervisor Harvey Milk,
who reminded us that hope will never be silent.
Those words continue to inspire generations
of LGBTQ plus people to be visible,
engaged and committed to public service.
Tonight I also wanted to recognize our LGBTQ plus individuals
who serve openly and proudly in government,
education, public safety, nonprofit organizations
throughout our community. Representation matters and when people see themselves reflected in
leadership, they gain hope, confidence, and a sense of belonging. Pride is not only a celebration of
how far we have come, but it is a commitment to continue building communities where everybody is
welcomed, valued, and treated with dignity and respect. I invite everyone to join the City of
San Leandro this Saturday at 11 30 m right after the cherry festival cherry parade at the San
Leandro main library as we raise the pride flight and celebrate the diversity that makes
our city stronger to all members of our LGBTQ plus community. Happy pride month. We see you. We
celebrate you and we are proud to stand with you. Thank you. Those are my comments. Thank you Council
I get that one moment
Okay councilmember bolt it sounds like there might be an update on an announcement
Yes, sorry about that. Thank you city manager for
Getting there quick. I said June 15th
It's June 26 and 27th and it's important for me to get the dates right because I if anybody were to send anybody that'd be horrible
So the the veteran event is June 26 and June 27th
Same location. Thank you for that. And that's a st. Vincent de Paul Center in Oakland in Oakland. Yes. Thank you so much. Thank you
Okay, so at this point in time in coordination with councilmember Bowen
I will be going before she does and then I will give her the floor when when I am complete
So some of the things that I've attended over the last couple of weeks
celebrated the opening of the Leap Center,
right there along MacArthur.
Beautiful location, wonderful work being done.
There are special thanks to staff
who worked particularly hard
and worked with the owner who has faced
some trying circumstances with contractors.
Very grateful for the team around the messaging
for the whale, the deceased whale on our shoreline.
It was a difficult situation.
It's not something that's in the mayor's handbook
or the city manager's handbook
or the assistant city manager's handbook,
or even in the comms team handbook
about how to deal with a whale.
But I thought that the information that we put out
was clear and it was concise and it was scientific.
And I think that we did the right thing in the right way.
And I'm really grateful
because that was an opportunity to have a big mistake.
And I think we hit the ball out of the park.
Grateful to Maru, formerly known as the Korean Center
of the East Bay, that a beautiful, beautiful art
exhibition around belonging.
What does it mean to belong in America these days?
And to see the artwork, and Dion Lim
was there, former ABC 7 news anchor,
just a lot of energy in the space
celebrating being American from different perspectives,
different lenses.
The fire station.
We pushed into service a new fire engine.
We talk about the investments that we need to make.
And we have engines that break down.
And very grateful for the investment
that taxpayers have made in bringing a new fire
engine into service that will significantly
increase reliability of that engine.
I was honored to be the Memorial Day speaker
at the Veterans Hall for their Memorial Day event on Monday
and for their flag raising ceremony.
I am grateful that we have veterans groups in particular
that keep upholding the tradition of moving beyond.
It's just a day that we can have barbecue
to remembering why we have this day.
And it's because many people have given their lives
over the years in service of country.
Like Council Member Volt, I'm excited to report
that the Kiwanas in coordination
with various community groups,
and it sounds like some of our local unions
collaborated to deliver free books to students
in advance of summer, free books,
and also free books to the teachers.
So very grateful.
And I know that I attended Hakeen Elementary.
It was just the joy on children's faces,
The sheer excitement at getting a bag of books
is hard to describe.
But I just got to tell you, it's just very, very beautiful.
I did also have the ability to join a, I'll call it an AAPI,
celebration focused on the dual immersion schools
that we have for Mandarin speakers
here in the San Leonardo community.
So went to Yuming Charter School and went to Madison
Elementary to celebrate teachers and the administration that's
focused on helping children maintain
some of the culture or culture of heritage, become bilingual,
and at the same time, be fully conversant in English.
And to me, that's very powerful as we figure out
what it means to belong in America for immigrant children
in particular, to see the celebration of that,
very, very powerful.
On more kind of technical and administrative notes,
I'll highlight that the Bay Area
Air Quality Management District is focusing on efficiency,
and I said on the efficiency task force,
about how can we make permitting work more effectively,
more efficiently, take the lessons learned
from the mistakes and the delays in getting permits issued.
Also, I have good news to report
from the Alameda County Transportation Commission,
where I represent the city.
We continue to take ongoing steps
to move the East Bay Greenway forward.
We should expect first steps of construction
of that greenway in the near future.
Pizza with the interns.
You know, at City of Santa Linda,
we work on workforce development.
We actually bring interns into the city and we help people.
In this particular program, we hope what I will call
non-traditional folks.
So not folks that are going through that four year college
and they're 19 and 20 and 21
and looking to get their first job.
We work with people that are a bit not traditional,
that might be 27, 28, 30.
And we give them that opportunity.
And so I've spent time with the folks in that program.
And last time, I'm happy to announce
that the mayors of Alameda County
have elected me to serve as the president
of the Alameda Mayor's Conference for the coming year.
With that, I will close and turn to Council Member Bowen
for our final remarks.
Thank you, Mayor.
I love hearing everybody's remarks
because it shows how diverse we are
and all the things that we care about.
The first announcement I wanted to make
was that the Alameda Family Services
is doing a free diaper and wipe distribution event
on June 11th.
You can sign up for it by contacting staff
at FRC at alamedaafs.org.
Second today was the first day
of the summer reading program,
and you can go to our main library
and the Manor Library to sign up for it.
Love talking about all the books that the kids are getting,
but they have a wonderful incentive system for them.
The third thing I wanna talk about is an event
I went to last weekend that I'm going to mispronounce
as my children make fun of me for,
because I cannot speak Spanish,
but Liberando Nuestras Vosis is a wonderful organization
that works out of the San Leandro Library
every Wednesday night for a year.
And all of the Latino girls, middle school,
age Latino girls that attend either John Muir or Bancroft,
so they're serving San Leandro schools.
They're currently not supported financially
by San Leandro or the Arts Foundation,
but I think that that would be something
to look forward to.
I went to their final poetry reading and art exhibition,
and it was really, really beautiful to see.
I cried because they just came into their own
and it's such a wonderful thing to do for young girls.
The last thing I want to mention about ACTC
that the mayor did not mention,
I sent it to staff as well,
but we had just recently approved a proposed budget
for the 2028 comprehensive investment plan
and that includes a $4 million carve-out
for safe routes to schools programs
and I just wanted to make sure that if that is something
that we can look into
because we have done the safe routes to school assessments
and are well on our way to be willing to make sure
that our kids are safe getting to and from school.
And then the last thing that I wanna share,
and I'm gonna try to stick to my notes
so I don't get too emotional.
There has been a development in the criminal case
against Daniel Parra, where I am the victim in the crime.
In November of 2024, I made the difficult decision
to report an assault and pursue justice
through the legal system.
A resolution has now been reached in that criminal case.
Mr. Parra agreed to enter a first-time offender
intervention program that includes mandatory consent
training and community service.
I am grateful to the Tampa Police Department and the Hillsborough
County District Attorney's Office
for taking this matter seriously,
conducting a thorough investigation,
and pursuing accountability through the judicial process.
But tonight, I am here to talk about more
than the legal resolution.
I'm here to talk about what happened after I spoke up,
because what I learned through this experience
is that the violation itself is often only the beginning.
What follows can be disbelief, it can be rumor,
it can be character assassination,
it can be people searching for reasons
why what happened wasn't really that bad,
or why the person harmed somehow bears responsibility
for the harm done to them.
After I came forward, I learned that false allegations
about my character and conduct had been circulated.
The fact that these rumors were being spread
even before the assault occurred, is deeply troubling.
I was horrified to learn that in the immediate aftermath
of my assault, and months later,
in his interview with an HR investigator,
my colleague on this council,
Councilmember Victor Aguilar, made disturbing statements
that I could only describe as victim-blaming,
harmful, and fabricated.
According to his own words,
as recounted in the investigation report,
Councilmember Aguilar said that I kept sipping from drinks,
that I was persistently asking Para to dance,
and that if Para did kiss Bowen,
Then it goes both ways.
I want to share that those statements
are categorically false.
The facts are clear and supported by evidence.
I did not initiate or encourage physical contact.
I never even had a drink in my hand.
But what I want to be very clear about something,
even if I had been, even if I had accepted a drink,
even if I'd asked someone to dance,
even if I had done every single thing
that was falsely claimed,
none of those things would justify assault.
None of those things would excuse unwanted physical contact.
None of those things would make the person harmed
responsible for the actions of the person who caused the harm.
Because consent is not complicated.
And accountability should not be conditional.
When we suggest that someone's behavior invites misconduct,
we shift responsibility away from the person
who committed the act and onto the person who reported it.
When we do that, we send a message
to every survivor watching.
We tell them that if they come forward,
that they be forced to defend themselves
instead of having the harm they experience taken seriously.
We tell them that their choices, their personality,
their clothing, their actions, or their reputation
will be put on trial.
And we tell them that speaking up
may cost more than staying silent.
This is how cultures of silence are built.
This is how predators are protected.
We have had very high profile protectors
that we are, or predators, that we are still questioning
how they were able to do the things that they were able to do.
I'm sharing in my own experience how they were able to do it.
But because too many people are willing to make excuses
for wrong when it becomes uncomfortable to confront it,
as elected officials, we have a voice
and our responsibility is greater.
We do not have to agree on every issue.
We do not have to be friends,
but we do have a responsibility to tell the truth.
We have a responsibility to reject misinformation
and we have a responsibility to ensure that no one is blamed
for the misconduct committed against them.
This is bigger than me.
It is about the kind of community we want to be.
A community where people are believed
when evidence supports them.
Community where accountability does not depend on status,
power, relationships or political influence.
A community where survivors can come forward
without fear that their character will be attacked
more aggressively than the conduct they are reporting.
And a community where women not only feel safe living,
working and raising families,
but also feel safe serving in elected office.
Because when women who step forward
to lead or met with harassment, retaliation, victim blaming,
or attempts to discredit them, the message
sent is not just to one person.
The message is sent to every woman and young girl
there who is considering public service.
We should want a government where
women are encouraged to lead, not warned
about the personal cost of doing so.
If this experience contributes in any way
to building that kind of community,
then speaking up was worth it.
And finally, to everyone who stood beside me
during one of the most difficult periods of my life.
Thank you.
Thank you to those who share their support
through letters and public comment,
shared your own difficult experiences,
checked in on me and reminding me why this mattered.
Your support gives me strength when I need it at most
and for that, I will always be grateful.
Thank you.
Thank you.
At this point in time, we will move to our last item,
which is adjournment.
It is 940 and I do wanna thank council
for kind of running through our break, hanging in there,
because I think it was important that we get done.
Thank you to each of you.
A special thanks for Council Member Bullock.
With that, it is 9.40 and we are adjourned.