so for the benefit of people out there that got really quiet like we're all
ready to get ready we cannot start before seven o'clock because we told
people that we would start at seven o'clock so I'm up here just counting
down seconds until we can start our meeting even though we're all ready to
begin so that's the why of why we haven't started yet okay so it is seven
o'clock and I'm calling to order the San Diego City Council meeting today is
September 21st, 2026, like I said at 7 o'clock. If you would please join me in
the Pledge of Allegiance rise if you're able to. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Today we've got the appointment and swearing in as several new members of
the Youth Advisory Commission as item 10a and is my intention to move this up
to section four, recognitions in the interest of time if there are no
objections. I'm looking for objections seeing no objections we will adjust the
the order accordingly. The City of San Leonardo conducts orderly meetings to
fulfill its mandate and discriminatory statements or conduct that would
potentially violate the Federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 or the California
employment and Housing Act California penal code sections 403 or
415 are per se disruptive to a meeting and will not be tolerated. So please see
the City Council handbook and City Council meeting rules of decorum for
more information. Madam Clerk your announcement please. Thank you mayor and
I would like to note quickly for the record all members of the City Council
are present in person here in the council chambers. If you would like to
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 will have a count
and will 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 of 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 comments on items not on the agenda which will take
place under item 7 public comments as per the published agenda. After this
time is up the council will proceed with the rest of the meeting's 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 city council reports. So
for item 3 just be aware that we did not complete our closed session agenda so we
will be continuing that discussion after we complete our time here. However we
will need to return at the end of that just to identify any reportable actions
that were taken. So for people online please be aware. Was there any
reportable action taken during the first part of our time together? I think the
answer is no. Correct Mayor, no reportable actions were taken in closed session. Thank you. So at this
point in time we'll go to our item 10A that has been moved under recognitions.
Motion to nominate and appoint members to the Youth Advisory Commission for the
term ending August 31st, 2027. Madam Clerk, I believe you will introduce this item.
Yes, Mayor, thank you. This is Sarah Bunting, City Clerk. The item before you
this evening is a motion to appoint members to the Youth Advisory Commission
with terms ending August 31st, 2027. I do have one change to note for the record.
one of the mayor's nominees was unable to accept the nomination so Tory Chu is
declining the nomination and the mayor has selected Aliyah Ansari in her place.
Following council's action we have several appointees here in the audience
who will receive the oath of office this evening and with that I'm available if
there are any questions. Are there any questions at this time? Okay seeing no
questions, do you have a question, Vice Mayor? No. Seeing no public comment, we will take
seeing no questions, we'll take public comment at this time. Mayor, we have not received
any comment cards and there are no hands raised online. We will close public comment and now
I will take a motion. Vice Mayor. Motion to nominate and appoint members to the Youth
Advisory Commission for terms ending on August 31st, 2027. Thank you. Councilmember James
I will second. Is there any further discussion on this item? Sigma please
vote. All votes are in and the motion carries unanimously and with that I'd
like to invite the members of the Youth Commission to please come forward and we
will do the oath of office. Just meet me right in the front of the room.
raise my right hand and then you'll just repeat after me. In the beginning you'll
say your name and then you'll either say I swear or I affirm at that point your choice.
I please state your name do solemnly swear or affirm that I will support and
defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State
California against all enemies foreign and domestic that I will bear true faith
and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution
of the state of California that I take this obligation freely without any
mental reservation or purpose of evasion and that I will well and faithfully
discharge the duties upon which I'm about to enter congratulations and if
you guys can turn around and face the audience so that parents and friends and
teachers can get your picture if you can spread out a little bit so that people
can everyone can be seen by the pictures that are being taken shorter people
towards the front don't be hidden in the back there just push your way through to
front. All right great. So all the youth members please follow Gloria out and
sign your oath forms before you go. Check in with Gloria. Follow to the sister
city's gallery. Thank you so much. Okay this point in time we will continue with
item number five on our agenda the consent calendar. Are there any
amendments? Would members like to pull an item? Seeing none we will take public
comment on the consent calendar. Mayor we have not received any comment cards on
the consent calendar from in the room however we do have one hand raised
online. Okay so we will close public comment in person. We are now opening
public comment online. Our online speaker is Douglas Spaulding. Mr. Spaulding if
you're there. There we go. There we go. Can you hear me now? Yes. Okay, I was just
saying, my you guys are moving fast. All right, let me see if I can get back to
the consent calendar on my little phone here. Well, I guess that, you know, there's
a lot of money, a lot of money, a lot of money, a lot of money that goes through
this consent calendar. So I always look, I always look to see what is going on. And you
know, I noticed like here it is another five hundred seventy five thousand dollars in potential
litigation costs in the coming year, all around the bankruptcy of, you know, the the
marina development, the Shoreline Project. That's another day at the library, you know.
So, I hope that we don't have to spend that money.
I would also hope that maybe, you know,
if we're successful in litigation,
that we're able to recover our legal costs.
I know there's, you know, stuff in here that's so important,
like the sewer and the bridge,
but like the exterior of the golf course,
I didn't get a chance to look at the thing,
but I just, you know, like, I,
like, are there things that we're saying no to?
Or is just like everything coming through the consent calendar
It seems to me like very rarely is an objection to spending any of this money
I'm not there in the closed session
So maybe you're like hammering out there and talking about it in detail, but it just feels like we're spending a lot of money
That's just my sense. Thank you
Thank you, mayor. There are no more hands raised online. So we will close public comment online
and come back to the council for a motion. Council member James Aguilar.
Sure Mayor I'd like to approve I'd like to move to approve the consent calendar.
Thank you is there a second council member Bowen. One more time. Thank you very much, so I'm
seconding it. So I've got a motion from council member Aguilar, James Aguilar and a second from
Councilmember Bowen. Seeing no further discussion please vote. All votes are in
and the motion carries unanimously. Thank You council members this point we
moved item number six City Manager report. Thank You Mr. Mayor good evening
council members and community members. This past Sunday we had another
successful coastal cleanup at Marina Park with 109 volunteers collecting 30
We have 37 bags of trash, nearly double last year's total.
It was great to see so many community members
come together to care for our shoreline
and help keep San Leandro clean and beautiful.
I wanna give a big thank you to all of our volunteers
who took time out of their day to keep San Leandro clean
and to our recreation and parks team
for working tirelessly to put this event together.
It was a huge success and thank you to all.
That concludes my announcement, Mayor.
Thank you.
We'll talk about that some more at the very end
because that was an amazing, amazing event.
So number seven, public comment on items
that are not on our agenda already,
but are subject to the jurisdiction of this council.
Do we have any comment cards in that regard?
Mayor, we have received two comment cards
from in the room and there are three hands
Raised on mine. Okay. Let us begin in person with our two public commenters
Our in-person commenters are Leslie Watson followed by Judy Richards
So do I have to press anything or do I just start okay
Good evening, San Leandro City Council. My name is Leslie Watson. I live in floresta Gardens
I only have two minutes and I don't want to lie the last few years have made me question whether or not this body is
Effective enough to actually support the citizens of this city. I'm coming to you all because I'm desperate and I've exhausted all my other options
I invite you all to prove me wrong by helping my community and earning back my trust in city leadership
My neighbors and I are struggling with the feral cat colony that has completely overrun the front and backyards of at least 15 households
I've emailed my data to you this morning
Every day we're cleaning up cat feces infested with parasites watching cats jump on and spray urine on our cars
Fight mate and spread fleas in our yards the feeding situation also attracts other wildlife like raccoons rats and possums
I'm not talking five cats
I've estimated there's 35 cats right now and there's still new litters being born if you've never heard about feral cats before they're cats
That have been born and bred outside of a home without socialization with humans
They're effectively wildlife and most feral kittens don't survive according to the ASPCA
A pair of cats can produce two or more litters per year,
which can result in 400,000 cats in seven years.
Feral cats are not adoptable or safe to keep in shelters.
They're often infested with parasites and disease
as they grow up in the streets without vet care.
And cat feces spread parasites,
and the fleas they carry pose a constant disease risk,
making this a community health hazard.
Council members, your creation of enforcement codes
would enable city workers to effectively tackle this problem
so that people like me don't have to face the risks
associated with feral cats.
I mentioned earlier, I've exhausted all my options.
Here's what I've tried.
I called Animal Control who says they can't help
because there's no city code on the issue,
but added they get 12 phone calls a day about this
for the last six years.
Not this specific issue, but just feral cats in general.
I called Alameda County Vector Control
who collected data to confirm the problem,
but they can't enforce any of the codes.
I also tried speaking with and educating my neighbors
and they're not following through.
I've emailed you my ideas
for what city code could look like.
Will you listen to me and add this item to a future agenda?
thank you thank you the next speaker is Judy Richards and thank you for your
time I am here to address a glitch or a system error in the parking citations I
was not at a noted location never received the citation notice on the car
and the first notice of the citation was a delinquent notice received from the
third-party billing center months after the original citation. I reached out for
citation information and photo proof with no response. I have learned there is
no citation department here with numerous attempts to clarify this
situation. The third-party processing center is in Newport Beach and my
contact with them has been limited at best. There was a statement on the back
of the first notice I received, it said incomplete information will not be
accepted or acknowledged. I was very confused with this statement. In no way
did I assume that no response was their way of not accepting my request for
further information. This makes it hard for me to communicate on requesting
information. When I did reach out to a live person, there was no help. She just
wanted the payment and no justification of why I got the citation.
The date on the delinquent citation is February of 2006, which I received, was aware of in
June of 2006, when a notice was sent from the third party company.
And then I received another notice this September.
citation is not a small amount. It's $696. I'm asking to have this citation
dismissed. The whole ordeal has caused me much concern and stress and I thank you
for your time and consideration for this matter. Thank you. And so so thank you for
your comment we are having Eric Engelbart who is in charge of parking come
and meet with you to see what we might be able to address. Does that complete our comment
cards? Yes, Mayor. We will close the public comment in person and move online. Thank you.
Our first online speaker is Alvaro Ramos. Can you hear me? Yes. All right. Well, I'd
like to make an announcement to the San Leandro voters. Get a pen and some paper. You're
going to want to take some notes about the five bad propositions on your November ballot.
Proposition 39 is voter suppression. If you as a voter do not have your ID card on election
day, then you cannot vote. Proposition 39 rigs elections by stealing your voting rights.
Proposition 45 deregulates California Environmental Quality Act environmental reviews on destructive
projects by private developers.
Also known as CEQA, it's Governor Ronald Reagan's environmental legacy that he signed
to protect California's natural environment.
Proposition 45 delivers a bad environment and shorter lifespans for Californians.
Proposition 43 restricts local taxes from funding the public services that our local
communities need.
And the consequence of Proposition 43 is going to be that there's going to be cuts on public
safety, street maintenance, parks and recreation, libraries and senior services.
Proposition 42 and Proposition 41 are both part of the same trick to trick voters into
stopping the billionaire tax in Proposition 40. So if Proposition 42 passes, then billionaires
do not pay wealth taxes. If Proposition 41 passes, then wealthy people do not pay billionaire
taxes. So tell everyone you know to vote no. You got to vote no on the five bad propositions.
vote no on prop 39, prop 45, prop 43, prop 42, and prop 41. Vote no. Tell everyone you
know. Thank you. The next online speaker is Gloria Strom. Can you folks hear me? Yes.
Thank you. Council member Bowen, I want it noted in the public record that I appreciate
you and your work on behalf of our city. You show up time and time again with grace, kindness,
joy, and courage. You are the best of San Leandro. You are a light. Thank you. Thank
you for showing up for us. That completes my comments. Thank you. The next online commenter
is Douglas Spalding.
And Councilwoman Bowen is so generous that if you go to the
Boba and Big Ideas event, you get a free Boba. That was fun.
I purchased an e-bike earlier this year.
And it's been somewhat transformative for me.
I use the e-bike to go like everything around town,
assuming I plan well enough and have enough time,
I can get all the way over to Williams Street
to do bantering, I can get to the senior community center
to do a little computer work,
I can get downtown to meetings, it's been great.
And then it saves the battery on my old vault
doesn't have like a high capacity.
I can use that to go to other towns.
So the reason I'm bringing this up is that bike East Bay
and Ava Community Energy are having a test ride
for e-bikes on October the 11th,
and it's at Hayward-Bart station parking lot.
So I recommend if you don't have one, go,
you can get money to buy it,
and you can also test out different models
to see which one is comfortable.
That's what my friend Berisha Spriggs did to get hers,
and then I got information from her that helped me get mine.
So that's one thing.
I took my daughter to the ACT test.
To do it on a computer, I have to go all the way to Turlock.
So what do I do?
She's got taken the test all morning.
I went and looked for the solar covered canal
that the Turlock Irrigation District has.
And it's the first in the nation, the only one of its kind.
But you know what?
We could do something like the area in San Leandro
with the SODO Canal.
There's a few other canals.
So I'd like to promote that to our San Leandro City Council
and also Ava Community Energy,
because we can get some megawatts out of that.
I second what the person was saying about citation processing.
It's really impossible.
There is no good due process.
There's no way to dispute a ticket.
And I'll save my comments.
Thank you, sir, your time has elapsed.
Mayor, there are no more hands raised online.
At this point in time, we'll close public comment online
as well.
We don't have public hearings scheduled for today,
but we do have a presentation on the Llewellyn Interim
housing and drop-in center and it's our annual report for fiscal year ending
2026 June 26. We've got Deputy City Manager Jessica Lobadon I believe well
maybe not. Mr. Liao I assume you're subbing in. Well thank you mayor and
City Council so tonight Deputy City Manager Jessica Lobadon and myself are
very pleased to present the first annual report on the Llewellyn interim housing
and drop-in center. I also want to acknowledge our nonprofit partners that
are here tonight. We have executive director Liz Varela and program manager
Cecilia Flores from Building Futures and we also have executive
director Darren Lowens from Housing Consortium of the East Bay. So I'm here
to just provide some of the background which many of you have heard how we got
here and talk a little bit about the development but I think that I'm going to
hand it over to deputy city manager Lobadon who will really focus on the
operations. So, and as you recall, this project really began in this fiscal year, which is why
this is the first report. We wanted to highlight this data piece as to how we got here. And as you
can see, in particular, 2019, where we reached sort of a high in the unsheltered homeless in San
Leandro, right before the pandemic as well. So as many of you know, the City Council then realizing
issue here and are really in the region. Director Liao. Yes. What I'd like to be
able to do is show the presentation online, and so although we can see it in
the room, the folks online can't see it yet. So if you could just pause for a
minute. Thank you for your patience. Okay, can we go back and just show the the
other numbers very quickly just at least so someone can screenshot it if it's
important to them. And perhaps give just like a 20-second summary of what you
have there? Sure, just wanted to show this graph again of the homelessness in
San Leandro from 2017 to 2026, but in particular focus, how did we get to the
City Council prioritizing and investing in the Welling Interim Housing and Drop
In Center was from the 2019 data to about 20, you could see that we reach
sort of a high in the unsheltered population at 344 householder people. So
So going back into the history a little bit.
So the City Council in 2029 established addressing homelessness as a top priority.
And then they directed staff to look for a site for a navigation center to provide shelter,
support services, and to enable permanent supportive housing.
And one of the big investments because of the federal American Rescue Plan Act funding
that was available to us, the City Council at that time also initially committed $750,000
the acquisition and to really kind of stimulate this and directing staff, as well as some
general fund monies for operations. We've placed this in our acclaimed City Housing
Element Update as well as a priority to do under Housing and Homelessness. So just going
through a little timeline in, as you know, with success comes some step setbacks in 2022,
we did apply for the what was called the second round of Home Key Funding, but we had just
got into discussion of the property with the motel,
the former Nimitz motel,
and we had just set up a team at that time
with Eden Housing and our stall ward here
building futures.
So we really didn't have a lot of time,
but we really felt the need and pressure
because of the urgency to apply
and we did not get the funding, which we found out.
So fast forward to about 2023, round three came out.
So we were much more prepared.
We also retooled our team because we wanted to look
for a partner that was more geared towards
the support of housing.
So that was Housing Consortium of East Bay.
We fortunately had Building Futures still
on the team as well.
And so we did apply for what was kind of called
interim to permanent housing,
and we were successful in getting that grant.
And then in 2023, we also formally acquired the property
right about the time we got the grant award.
And so what we've proposed at that time
to the public and to the council, was interim housing.
So that was taking 29 of the former 33 units
that were there in the motel,
and then housing people and transitionally
until they can get into permanent housing.
And then also providing, which this is the unique feature,
I think, of our project was the daytime drop-in center.
So if you cannot be housed, you can get food,
you can get a laundry,
and you can also have facilities to use as well.
And so the idea with this interim to permanent category
under the home key grant from the state
is that we have to run it for at least five years
and then eventually we're gonna transition this property
to permanent housing, particularly geared towards,
you know, persons who are formerly homeless
after five years of interim operation.
So with the money in tow,
with additional amounts of funding that we leveraged,
we got money from the governor's office,
we got lots of other money, federal money from the county.
We were able to commence construction in 2024.
And again, I would say, and I think our team would attest,
this was a very fast track construction and rehab project.
And so we were able to finish construction in early 2025
and open this project basically in late spring,
beginning of the summer.
Again, I wanted to highlight our partners here,
Building Futures and HCEB. HCEB is not only the on-site property manager for
the city, we still own the property, but as you would call they were the
developer for the project given their experience. Building Futures you all know
has just been a mainstay in this community and they've been providing
the on-site services and really the consultations for us as well. And I
just want to share some of the before and after pictures for you all in the
public, so as you can see, here are some before of the exterior and the interior
parking lot, and while the family did do some work on the project over the years,
you could tell, you know, it was just kind of aging, and again, some
more before photos again of the parking lot and as well as the interior space.
It's just a little very dated looking inside, and then after, boy, what a
fresh coat of paint can do in some ways, and I think it was really important to
establish a different scheme, color scheme. Here's the ribbon cutting that we
had with federal and state officials. And of course you all there in attendance
that day celebrate the grand opening or the ribbon cutting at that time. And as
you can see just you know basically new furnishings and just cleaned up rooms
for a very dignified stable shelter space for the residents who were able to
to use the space.
We also provided both a dining area and meeting area,
a computer area as well for the residents,
as well as the daytime drop-in center people.
So you can see these were probably
formerly either rooms, or this was actually
the former Chinese restaurant that
was there on the ground floor that apparently made very,
very popular chicken wings.
So with that, I think I'm going to hand that over to our deputy
you to manage a little bit on to talk about the interim housing good evening
mayor vice mayor members of the City Council before I talk about some of the
outcomes of the program I'm going to invite up executive director Liz
Varela just to give a high-level overview of the interim housing portion
of the program so we are very proud of this program we have worked we have been
in San Leandro working on homelessness and domestic violence for close to
years. But we've worked closely in real close partnership the last 12 years
working with folks that are unsheltered, our unsheltered neighbors doing the
warming shelter, street outreach, we really started from scratch here in the
city. We didn't have much services and so this is having this happen is a
culmination of so many meetings and so much visioning and so we're really super
proud of this and we're so excited that the city took that leadership and did all this
work on buying the building and applying to the state is very exciting. I think what's
really impressive about this is if you all remember before this, there was no shelter
for men in the mid county area. And so this is what this offers. And also the drop in
is really important. I think what we're most proud of is that this is a place where people
can come for to be treated with dignity and respect and be welcome and well
cared for and really focus on housing all the pictures you'll see are folks
that were homeless from San Leandro these are folks that you might not know
or you standing in line at Safeway you wouldn't even recognize that they're
homelessness homeless but these are folks that were sleeping in cars or on
the streets in San Leandro and so Jessica will talk about our stats but
We're really proud of our stats too,
but wanted to tell you a little bit about the shelter.
What's really cool about this shelter also,
as opposed to Sister Me Home that's here we run
and San Leandro Shelter is everyone gets their own room.
So that means everyone is really can focus
on their own healing and they're focusing
on their next step, which is housing.
Thank you, Liz.
So as we've discussed, the shelter has 29 rooms
that serve as temporary stable housing
to help homeless individuals transition
into permanent housing.
And this is a photo of some of the current
and former residents of the program,
as well as the staff at Building Futures.
Who the program reached this year.
And again, this is just information
for the shelter portion of the site.
66 individuals were served across 61 households.
So that encompasses coupled adults sharing a room
or individuals with adult children,
as this program is just for those 18 and up.
Nearly 82% entered as chronically homeless,
and of the population, one veteran was served
who also was chronically homeless.
A majority of the individuals served
are those in the age range of 45 to 54,
as well as a majority served are men.
Here we have a race and ethnicity breakdown
of not only the shelter clients,
but we've also compared it
to the broader San Leandro homeless population
based on data from the 2024 point in time count,
as well as the San Leandro general population.
And when we break down this data
and compare it against the broader homeless population
and the general population,
It's really to look and see if there are any disparities
between who is identifying as homeless
and who is accessing services.
Broadly, the numbers for our shelter clients
match the proportion of the broader homeless population
in San Leandro with a slight under-representation
of Hispanic, Latino in our shelter.
For our health, disability and safety profile at entry,
there's a lot of data on this slide here,
but really the main takeaway is that nearly 90%
of those clients at interim housing
had three or more health conditions present at entry.
Nearly 90% experiencing a mental health disorder,
77% substance use disorder.
So this is a complex population
that is being served at the site.
For those at the site, a majority, 74%,
have been homeless for two years or longer.
And those, again, a majority are coming
from literal homelessness.
There is a small portion who are coming from emergency shelters
or who have received vouchers.
But by and large, it's individuals
coming directly from literal homelessness, which
defined as a place not meant for human habitation. And for length of stay and
exit destinations, the average length of participation or stay in the program is
186 days around six months. And a majority of those who are exiting from
the program this past year have exited to permanent housing. So we're we're very
proud of this accomplishment that 23 people have moved into permanent housing
And the majority of that housing is permanent supportive housing, which is housing with an ongoing permanent subsidy.
We have had some returns to homelessness, and this is broadly for individuals who have not been able to achieve program compliance after working with them repeatedly on following rules and following the good neighbor policy.
We've also had one-off situations with individuals who have had other housing
but by and large individuals are exiting to permanent housing. And I'll
invite Liz Varela back up once more to give a brief overview of our drop-in
center. I want to point out that this drop-in center really was what we were
talking about for the last 12 years. That this is, we work with April showers and
so inspired by April showers and what they did and like we needed more than
we needed that every day and so we still work with April showers they are awesome
but we wanted somewhere that people can come five days a week spend eight hours
a day and there's laundry you can get meals we have on-site support services
people can get their mail people can use a computer people can take a nap people
can hang out. And what's most important is people get to really meet a case
manager. So one of the other things we thought of when we started this
site was let's leverage this. Let's bring as much other kind of funding into the
drop-in in the shelter as we can. And so we are also get funding from the county
to be a coordinated entry hub. And so when people come to get their laundry,
get a meal, take a nap, get their mail, they also get connected to county
services and be part of coordinated entry and really get to focus on their
housing. So we really focus on getting people document ready so that they're on
the list for housing and that's really what we're there to do through street
outreach and our drop-in is let's be as aggressive as possible in getting people
document ready and signed up for housing. And so what the drop-in has us do is
is both treat people with dignity and respect
and give them what they need to live a dignified life,
but also use that relationship and engagement
to get them the services they need
and get them the housing they need.
And I just wanna point out really quick
that Cecilia and her staff are super dedicated.
We have lots of training and support for our staff
to make sure that we're treating clients
with low threshold, meeting them where they're at,
very non-judgmental, letting them be who they are
so that we can get a relationship so they can get housed.
And so the site is perfect for that.
So some data for the daytime drop-in center.
This past year, 669 unique individuals came in
and accessed services at the drop-in center.
That's across 666 households.
So again, we've got some coupled adults
or individuals with children.
Again, a majority of those who are accessing this service
are chronically homeless at nearly 70%.
A higher proportion of veterans served at drop-in center
than are served at the interim shelter program.
And also some youth served, still 18 and plus,
but this is in the transitional age use category.
For the age distribution, a slightly younger population
the interim housing with the majority of clients in the 35 to 44 range and again
seeing a majority of individuals served as men. Again here we have the race and
ethnicity breakdown both of drop-in clients, San Leandro homeless population
at large as well as the San Leandro general population.
One notable increase in those served in drop-in clients is a higher proportion of black African-American
accessing drop-in services than the San Leandro homeless population.
As well again as a slightly lower population of Hispanic Latino accessing services compared
to the broader homeless population.
Like the interim housing site, the client health and disability profile indicates a
complex population being served.
This is duplicative data, and so we see that there's many different disabling conditions
that clients are facing, 91 percent having a disabling condition. Also one statistic
is that nearly 68 percent had three or more co-occurring conditions at entry. One piece
of data that we're not able to directly track with drop-in clients is those who are moving
into permanent housing and that's just based on the county-wide data tracking
system that we we must use it would be a we'd have to manually go back and
search every client to see what their their housing status is but we do have
some notable achievements that we've been able to measure more through
qualitative data at one point in time we had 14 individuals at drop-in move into
permanent housing, supported by building futures through the move in process.
Several of the clients who access drop-in services are pending permanent
supportive housing placements. So it is a program that is still connecting
people to permanent housing, even though it is not the shelter side of the
program. We do have clients who have moved into housing who are returning to
the site to access services and continue their relationships with building futures.
And then we also have a list of our key partnerships with several of the nonprofits who
we partner with to come to the site and continue delivering really integral services that are
key in individual successes and moving into housing. I will just note that another key
partnership has been the neighbors in the areas surrounding the site. We've
started city staff have started meeting with our neighbors on a monthly basis
just to ensure that there's no ongoing impacts of this site in in the
neighborhood. So I wanted to say thank you again so much to our partners who
have who deliver these services on a day-to-day basis. These are not easy
programs to run and we really appreciate it so thank you to Building Futures and
housing consortium of the East Bay. With that we'll take council questions.
So we do have this as an informational item right and so what we're gonna do is
we're gonna take public comment on this item. We'll come back and we'll get any
questions or suggestions. So do we have any public comment? Mayor we have received
one comment card and there's presently two hands raised online. Let's proceed in
person please. Thank you. Our in-person speaker is Jenny Madsen. So I'm Jenny Madsen and I'm here
tonight because I promised my friend Kathy Ralph who I know wrote you. She does a lot of hands-on
work but this still this is so important and I'm really worried this is gonna be an extremely wet
winner, and we don't have a place for the 58 people who are still unsheltered at the
last count to go dry out. I'm concerned about that. I've written to Kathy with my ideas.
There's a courtyard at the Nimitz. I don't know. I can only hope Liz is prepared for
this because people are going to be showing up in bad states. I started looking at this
in 2015 when I met my friend Karen, 83 years old being pushed out of her place and we started
looking at what it was going to be like to be homeless and we were both stunned to learn
that you pretty much had to be homeless for two years, prove it in order to get any kind of
assistance. It's better now. There is more assistance but that number still exists two years.
I just tell anybody who asked me call 211 right away but finally the Nimitz gives people a place
to go in and literally I don't know get on the list because you have to be there for two years.
Karen didn't make it she's gone but i still do this for her i can be done thank you mayor
there are no more cards from in the room so close public comment here in person and open it up online
the first online speaker is alvaro ramos yes i i just wanted to uh remind us all that you know
we're in an election year, and it is also a good time to have a discussion about the kinds of
barriers that unhoused people, I imagine there's a spectrum, although I'm no expert on the topic,
of the barriers that folks probably would get into in trying to participate in this election year.
but it's also notable because I know I've, that house,
there is a housing proposition on the ballot and, um, you know,
I'd imagine people might take an interest in that. Um,
and of course also to combat the amount of voter suppression that we've got
going on. Uh, we can't tell people how to vote, but you know,
we can determine their eligibility and, uh,
make voting more accessible for people. Uh,
election year. And comment. Thank you. The next online speaker is Douglas Spaulding.
Thank you so much. Well I guess congratulations in order to Deputy City
Manager Lobadon, elevated from director of the Human Services Department. But it
based the question, what has happened to the human services department? Reading between
the lines, reading the tea leaves, it seems that has that department gone away? It seems
there's a reorganization, senior services sent to the senior community center, which,
you know, makes a lot of sense. I love seeing Pedro over there and homeless issues going
to the city manager's office properly. But is that increasing the profile of these issues?
Or is this like other things we've waded through where, you know, the friends of San
Leander Creek kind of gets tossed aside and our former sustainability manager gets elbowed
out?
I'm a little concerned about it.
I think if there was more transparency, I wouldn't have the same concerns.
Look, you know, the Navigation Center, as has been spoken for with its drop-in services,
is really a model program, and we need to keep it going.
It doesn't serve all of the needs,
but it serves a lot of them.
It's been fantastically supportive
and it's gonna close in 2030.
We need the next navigation center
and another year has gone by
and I heard no ideas about where it might be,
how we might pay for it.
It's not like homelessness is gonna go away
by the year 2030.
And as the previous two speakers spoke,
I mentioned, we need services for other folks
like the warming shelters, like safe camping sites.
Cause you know, one shoe doesn't fit all.
The statistics I think are pretty interesting
and pretty good.
You know, everybody comes through
the navigation center gets countered.
But I think we should go look at San Jose.
I heard on them on the radio where Matt,
what's his name was talking about,
the algorithm they use using police department,
fire department, lots of different metadata.
We should do that to make our.
sir your time has elapsed. Mayor are there no more hands raised
online? Okay so we will close public comment and then come back to council
members for questions or discussion to share their thoughts. Council beginning
with council member James Aguilar. Sure thank you thank you for the
presentation I think a couple of things um fantastic work it was not easy and as
someone who saw that work start before I was on council and to see it through on
on this annual update, it's beautiful.
And the numbers just reflect the success of your work.
And so I appreciate the work you've done.
I have a couple of questions.
It's a fantastic snapshot of the present.
And so I think a couple of things I wanna hear
are what challenges do you see upcoming?
What opportunities do we see upcoming,
at least maybe in this next year?
Testing, great, thanks.
Thank you for the question.
to clarify, you said in the coming year.
Yeah.
I think that there's a lot of opportunities
that we're seeing this coming year.
Now that we've run the program for, I mean,
it has been a little over a year as it was an end,
I think, in July.
But we've learned different lessons,
I think, particularly around ongoing engagement
of the businesses and our neighbors next to the site.
Sometimes these programs, even to the best of our ability,
they may have impacts in the community.
And that is absolutely something
that we want to make sure is addressed.
So that's one of the areas that we see
is both an opportunity and a potential challenge,
but we've made a lot of great progress
on setting up strong relationships
and having ongoing conversations
as well as looping in our partners
with the police department for issues
that extend beyond the purview of the site.
That's what I can think of off the top of my head.
No, that's great, thank you.
And then a question of curiosity.
I heard this idea of getting someone document ready.
So can you talk to me about what that looks like,
or that one-on-one service looks like?
Sure, I'm actually going to look to our partners
at Building Futures to provide some information
on what getting somebody document ready looks like
as it is quite an intensive process.
So getting document ready is really getting
all the documents you need to apply for housing.
And so the county does not put you on the housing list
to get matched to housing until all your documents are ready.
So you need your birth certificate, social security,
all the things that if you're homeless, you've lost.
So really take your, so driving,
we often drive people to DMV to get their car.
We set up their mail, so they can get the mail at La Welling.
Like we do a lot of work around getting them document ready.
One of the things is being qualified as chronically homeless.
That means you have to be able to prove
that you've been homeless more than a year,
and you have to document a disability.
So then you have to get connected to a doctor.
So all that stuff is quite intensive.
And that's why when we say we engage people,
create a trusting relationship to make them feel
like they can do it and we can support them,
takes a while.
So if you're like, why have I seen this person
on the street for so long?
It's because it takes a while for us to engage
in a relationship and get them document ready
and say, come into the drop-in, use the computer,
take a shower.
So all that takes a little bit of time.
So when we do it, we're very proud.
There was one day this year,
and it'll be in our annual report,
We housed eight people in one day.
They just all got matched and there was a new building open
and they all were posing with their,
in fact, a lot of the people in those pictures
were people who came back and wanted to pose in the picture
because they were so proud of themselves that they got housed.
And so it's such a big deal to get someone
from living on the street all the way to housed.
Council Member Bowen, please.
Thank you, Mayor.
First, thank you to city staff and to Liz
in the Building Futures team for this incredible work.
I wanna make a quick note about the presentation.
I'm not on the Zoom, but I appreciate us
making sure the presentation's online for folks at home.
One of the requests that I've been asked
by somebody listening who pays attention
to the Council meetings but is hearing impaired
is if we're able to possibly put the presentation up
while the Council members are having discussions
so they can kind of follow along
because we also referenced the meeting, the presentation,
but that's just, I wanted to,
I just, I remembered it as we were,
as you guys made that comment.
So I have a few questions.
The Navigation Center will transition
to permanent housing in 2030.
That's five years after it opened, correct?
That's right, about that time.
I mean, give or take a year or so,
because it's logistically, you know.
Sure, so two questions around that.
Who would manage permanent housing once that happens,
and two, what is currently in place
in terms of a second iteration of a navigation center,
or is that a TBD conversation to be had?
I think it's allowed, and I'll also defer
if my colleague wants to answer the second part,
but the first part I would say
that what we made very public was that
as you do the transition to permanent affordable,
we would likely look to do some sort of request
for proposals for qualified,
probably nonprofit housing developers
that have specialties in this area.
And then they would,
there's more funding sources for permanent housing
in some ways, so they would not only develop it,
but they would also own and manage it.
Okay, when you say would develop it,
do you mean that there could potentially be even more units?
Yes, so that is the idea.
That is one of the attractions I think to the city council
when we're in the process of purchasing
is because of the ability to potentially up-zone now
through the state laws and our own regulations
so you can get a denser,
affordable rental housing project there.
Great, thank you.
Thanks, I can address the second part of the question.
So it is certainly on our radar that in an ideal world,
we will find a second location
for a successor navigation site.
There are some practical challenges with that,
notably the cost for either land acquisition
or construction as well as the ongoing operations.
This was something that we shared with council
at the priority setting retreat earlier this year.
So we will continue to have that on our radar
and be looking for successor locations,
particularly with the upcoming availability
of county funding through Measure W
or other state funding opportunities,
so that's something we'll continue to look for.
That's great, thank you, really appreciate that.
So I forget which slide it was on,
but an average six-month stay,
and I'm not sure who this could go to,
but what could help folks transition
into permanent housing sooner.
Tom's back down.
It sounds like it's a lot of matching folks
through a county process.
And obviously, you're doing a great job
of getting people document-ready.
But what is a big barrier, whether it's
something that we can address or just so that we understand
where we can push for in terms of being
able to get people into housing?
This is really low.
It's way higher in our other shelters.
So this is incredible.
thing that's incredible is the 64% exit to housing, that's huge. That's way better than our other
shelters, that's better than the county average to getting people housed. And I think it's because
who's being matched to the shelter, they're already chronically homeless,
we're already been working with them for a while, we have all that housing help that's right there.
And so because this is so service rich and engagement rich, I think you see those two
really successful outcomes.
That's great, and I think that's a fantastic, obviously something to really celebrate,
but then also to build out as a model for how to, like, apparently fill in this gap,
right, between getting folks that are ready to be in purpose of housing and finding ways
to get the match.
So thank you for that.
That's really, the county really is the one that's matching.
We just got to get people in the list ready to go.
That's our job.
Wonderful.
And then a follow-up question around services.
page 20 there were a list of services that are provided and one of the ones I
was curious about is mental health services. Are there mental health
services and are the different partner agencies that are listed, the community
partners that are listed on page 25, I know the ARU was listed on that, but in
in terms of more comprehensive support
so that sort of all of the different stakeholders
are aware of what folks need
and then making sure that they're getting
mental health services.
So the ARU has been incredible when we have someone
who has a mental health crisis like never before.
We call them, they show up, and they help us,
and we have a real close relationship.
That has never happened before.
So to have ongoing, there is a dearth
of mental health services in this county.
and so we leverage, we work with some of those folks
on there to get that, but that is not something,
it's not something that needs to be strengthened
in this county, in the city, and on this site.
Okay, I would, yeah, that's why I wanted to bring that up
because I mean, there's absolutely the crises,
but again, just, anybody in general,
I am very supportive of constantly getting
mental health services, but certainly people
in situations that are going to be more stressful,
So I'm really supportive of that recognition
and the need to continue to add more.
Two more questions.
The 66 individual stayed.
If we can actually come back around
just because it's been about six, seven.
If we can go next to council member Simon, please.
Thank you for the presentation.
This is incredible.
Just awesome job in every sense in the word.
I do want to acknowledge all the staff
that put in so much time
and not just your regular work schedule,
but I know you've put a lot of extra hours,
extra days, weekends, everything into this
to make this happen.
So thank you, Building Futures
and Housing Consortium of the East Bay.
You are so much appreciated.
And even the motel owner,
I remember the hotel owner was a part of this
and helped the deal and made sure they were waiting for us
and ready for us.
So thank you, hotel and motel owner for that.
I do also want to reiterate the 2030 timeline
and would hope that we can get ready
and us council could figure out the funding,
the land acquisition, the other issues that are out there
and the operation,
because it's gonna come real fast 2030.
And the service like this is making a huge difference.
This is in my district, district four, the greenhouse
and our community is seeing a major improvement
over at the greenhouse in the general area.
So we definitely have to have another one.
I would also like to recognize Stephen Taylor,
who was killed in 2020,
and Justice for Stephen Taylor, Ms. Addie Kitchen,
and they had a large part in being community activists
in pushing and helping to support this movement.
It took a big community effort to make this happen.
I do have a question
and then I have a couple more comments,
but my one question is,
understood the getting document ready in showers and washing clothes but I'm
trying to understand how do you physically get a room one of these 29
rooms how do you get that room and then move on to the more permanent but this
particular room so the county has a coordinated entry system so when we
someone comes into our drop-in center or we meet someone out in the street we do
an assessment and they get on the list so they get it in either crisis queue or
or the housing queue or both.
So we go, we do street outreach all the time.
We have people come by the drop-in,
we get them on a list.
And so whoever is on the crisis queue
is the top of the been homeless the longest,
maybe the oldest has the biggest health problems,
that you pull off the top of the crisis queue
to match the shelter.
So Cecilia will pull the list,
she'll pull the top person off the list,
and if we can get a hold of that person,
they can come into the site.
And we're pulling ours, our area is San Leandro and Alameda.
So we will pull people from San Leandro and Alameda
and vice versa.
So Alameda has a site just like ours
and they'll pull from San Leandro and Alameda.
And so our folks get housed, sheltered either
in San Leandro and Alameda and vice versa.
And so that's how, that's how we get our folks.
But you'll see a lot of our people
are really from San Leandro.
That's really the majority of people who get into,
who we see and who we are serving.
Thank you.
Then getting a hold of people, do they have cell phones,
or how do you get a hold of them?
So some people have cell phones,
and we try to get people connected
and don't lose your cell phone.
Or we know where their encampment is,
and our street outreach team will go find them
and look for them.
There's also a way that you can look for people on the HMIS
team where you put an alert out.
If anyone sees this person and they got linked to housing,
or they got linked to shelter, so there's a few different ways.
Okay, and then I have a question on slide 15,
the race and ethnicity slide.
And kind of heard about the disparities
between the San Leandro general population
and the other two charts for black African-American
and as well as Hispanic, Latino.
Any idea why or what's going on,
why there is such a big disparity?
Well, as we know, racial equity is a problem.
So systemic racism is a big factor
in folks becoming homeless.
So you will see that in the numbers.
So because of all the things that people face
that are black African-American and Hispanic, Latino,
they will become homeless at a higher rate
than maybe you'll see in the general population.
And I think one of the things I'm really proud of
with us being in San Leandro
us seeing a big Hispanic Latino homeless, right, is that we have a lot of staff that
speak Spanish. And I think that's not always true in homeless agencies. And that's one
of the things we pride ourselves is having that language access so that we're able to
really serve those folks in a holistic way. Thank you.
I'll just add in briefly that we didn't want to overwhelm this slide with too much data.
also when you look at the broader Alameda County homeless population you
see disproportionately high rates of black african-americans experiencing
homelessness as well as American Indian and Alaskan natives thank you so come
back around to you so we'll go back to council member Victor I get that thank
you mayor to staff this is thank you for the amazing work that you have done I
this is literally have been this has been a dream come true like I know all
the hard work this is why I'm here to help make sure that we help the most
vulnerable and this is this has been this has been fruitful I think my
question is in looking at the stats what are we doing when someone comes with
kids like a family I just I was looking at the numbers as to the age gaps I mean
the ages and why why weren't zero to 18 listed on here I just want to understand
that aspect so we are a coordination we are a coordinated entry hub for mid
county west so Alameda and San Leandro we do not see families at this site we
see families that are fairway site our main site so we do see families you
won't see that here because it's not funded by the city of San Leandro. The
reason why we are not seeing families is here is we want this to be low
threshold. We want anyone who is single and homeless on the street to come and
be careful. We're not saying should keep your voice down. Oh like do the whole
when children are present we need to have a whole different kind of site and
a whole different oversight and we were definitely adamant that this needs to be
harm reduction, low threshold and safe and welcoming for folks that are coming
off the street, not be quiet, put your clothes on, you know, that whole thing.
We just want to make sure.
So we have a site, our fairway site is both a domestic violence
coordinated interest site and a family site.
So we're handling those folks.
They're right there.
We have two, we have shelters that we can put families in right away that are
homeless in San Leandro and Alameda.
So we have that covered just not at this site.
Gotcha.
So we're documenting families that come in that are being devoted or routed.
Yes, in a different.
Yeah.
Gotcha.
Okay.
Well, thank you so much for all the work that you do.
I think the next major step is to figure out
how we're going to fund the, once the funding runs out,
how we're going to fund this.
But those are my questions, thank you, Mayor.
Thank you, Council Member Boldt, please.
Yes, thank you for the presentation and more importantly,
all the hard work that has gone into this.
Thank you for the one veteran that was housed.
how many other veterans are in the system
if you have that number?
Okay, that's fine.
I'm positive there's more.
Okay, the slide says one, but you're saying,
through the shelter.
I can reiterate for the record
that we have housed other veterans through the shelter.
Right Cecilia?
Through drop-in.
Through drop-in, yeah, but one through shelter.
Got it.
I want to follow up because I was unclear on two things.
Council Member Simon said,
how do they get into these rooms at this shelter?
I don't know why it didn't connect with me.
I didn't hear the answer to that, I guess.
And so I'm trying to figure out, is there rooms?
So if someone comes in to the drop-in shelter
or the drop-in day,
Are there rooms that they can stay in that night at the shelter?
No, there's not.
Because there's not enough shelter for people,
they get assessed and prioritized.
So those people on the list that have the highest acuity,
they get pulled off the list.
So often people have to wait.
That's why street outreach is so important and drop-in
is so important that we get assessed as many people
as possible to get them on the list so we
can attach them to shelter.
And they might get put in our shelter,
or they might get put in another shelter.
But it's so important that we get out there
and we do those assessments to get them on the list.
So someone comes in, if there happens
to be someone moving out into permanent housing,
and they do rise to the top of that,
they could get a room there that evening.
Probably not.
No, not that evening.
Probably not.
Probably not.
Because there's gonna be other people
on the list.
There's a huge line.
Right.
We really do in this county,
And this county's done a great job in the last two years
of adding in more and more and more shelter,
but that just needs to keep happening.
So the six months that was asked about,
that's once they get into one of those rooms,
it's six months from that point
that they would get into permanent housing.
Right.
How long is it they come into the shelter
that they get into one of the rooms
in either San Leandro or Alameda?
Roughly, I know they could not have some.
Depends.
depends on the severity. They are and where they fall on the list and if it's
our shelter or some other shelter. How long is the list? 300 people. So it's so
one of our things that we're very proud of is sometimes like the list is as long
as the homeless count so that we are so we say we kind of think to ourselves oh
so if there's if there's 300 people do we did we get to everyone like are we
really out there signing everyone up and engaging with everyone close and that's
what's really important is getting all those people on the list. The pit count
that we did this year, how many how many did we hit in San Leandro? It has it on
the first slide. 296. So with that 296 it's it's fair to say they could all be
on the list if it's the list of 300. So we're we're making progress and at least
we know who's out there in our city where they're at and hopefully we can
move through the process. Yeah, I think the population we have the hardest time
with and anyone does in the whole county is folks that are really seriously
mentally ill and will not engage with anyone. That is that is like the whole
county's goal is to figure that out and to really get enough those of those kind
of outreach services available to that that kind of folk that kind of person. I
I see I see there's okay. No, nothing. We've got a little bit of additional context. Okay. Thank you. Mr. Mayor
Thank you, councilor abode just so I can make sure for the record in the room and those online your question was if the
The 296 is on the list of 300 and I'm not sure that's exactly accurate. Okay
I'm saying it we could be really close. It's not so it also depends on minder
This is a point in time, a specific day in time.
So the person we speak to may never be in San Leandro again.
And someone could be in San Leandro
and could be on the list or never talk to one of Liz's
or the staff.
It's true, but is it even?
Or are we like we're only on our list in San Leandro
is only like 40 people and then the count is so much higher.
That's what I was getting at.
We're doing a good job.
Because the population is so huge, they might not have it.
I mean, they may not.
Right.
Yeah.
It's hard for them to get it.
One last thing, I'm sorry, Mayor,
I just want to follow up with every,
what every one of my colleagues has said.
We have to do something now so that in 2030,
we are prepared.
And so it's upon us, this group here,
to start figuring that out now.
Coming to the Vice Mayor.
I also wanted to start my time with gratitude
to all the folks involved from previous councils
to previous staff and the ones working
to get us to where we are today
on behalf of the people served and the community,
just thank you.
I have three questions.
And one is around the state
of the kind of overall service provider landscape.
I'm concerned about there,
whether there is an increase of service providers
or a decrease of service providers,
or is there a like consolidation of service providers?
I'm just wondering about like, when we're heading,
if we're looking to expand beds and shelter
across the county, is, and the demand is high,
is it met with a set of service providers ready to take?
And is it a question of money,
Or is it a question of capacity or both?
Yeah, I can address some of this question.
So I would say that Alameda County
has had a longstanding group of service providers, some of whom
have the specific cities that they work in and specialize
with those populations and those cities.
Building Futures, for instance, has a very longstanding presence
here in San Leandro, as well as in the city of Alameda.
In the past, I would say, 10 or so years,
there have been some newer providers
to the landscape of nonprofit service providers
who have come from neighboring counties,
such as San Francisco or Contra Costa County.
But I will say that, specifically,
in some of the previous requests for proposals
that the city has issued for homeless service providers,
We've not seen new providers coming to the table
and some of our providers are stretched thin
and at their capacity to not be able to provide
the services that we're requesting.
Specifically I'm discussing for safe parking services.
So I hope that answers your question
that there are a lot of providers
who have been in this community for a long time.
We've seen some, I would say minor growth
in the last decade or so, but there's quite a bit of need
when it comes to this particular service.
Thank you.
And I think that leads to my kind of overall question,
and I'm thinking about our state and federal advocacy
and what that would look like,
because I think what I'm hearing is
that the need is really high,
and it's not unique to our county.
I think our county does experience in comparison
to other counties in California.
But just looking ahead, I'm thinking about
how to integrate this feedback and our experience
in running both a dropping center, or not us running,
but like a drop-in center and a shelter in our city.
And what that could mean for our advocacy,
and I just want to elevate that as we head
towards the end of the year and as we think about
our state and federal advocacy platform
that we're kind of folding this in
because I'm really concerned about the lack of capacity
that there is just in the overall system to meet
the need that exists today.
And that is just something that I'm gonna kind of
keep in mind and as we talk about our platform
that it gets kind of integrated on that.
I wanted to kind of double-click on the go kind of two levels deep in terms of the services
provided to folks.
And I'm thinking about my education is in education, higher education and workforce
development and so I'm thinking about what do those efforts look like in terms of getting
people into jobs and careers that essentially kind of they're able to build the futures
that they want for themselves.
Are there any kind of workforce development, training, higher education, post-secondary
enrollment?
What does that look like?
I know it might be difficult to do it at the shelter, but like once they are, you know,
once they get into the permanent housing, how do we keep them there?
And I think one of them is workforce and education.
You talk a little bit about what that looks like and kind of getting ahead of the problem before
So one of the things premise board of housing is for people who are chronically homeless to have a disability
So often those folks aren't those folks that are starting your career, but they do need something to do
So you definitely need to get them into volunteerism and those kinds of things
We just got an upgraded funding for our coordinated entry hub at the welling and includes
Funding for employment services and so those folks who aren't chronically homeless that aren't on the on the perms part of housing list
Do need to get jobs because that's the only way they're gonna get housing
So we're starting to focus on that a little bit more like this year
We've provided a guard card class those kinds of things and like had like weekly employment workshops those kinds of things
So we are doing that
The capacity issue is this county doesn't have a very strong employment agency
Which is like one of the goals of the county to get that or to or to?
Work on the capacity of existing providers to provide that so okay
I'll just add and this will be the end of my comments is that the the post-secondary landscape right now is very much focused on
students of high need
So there are a lot more resources than there were five years ago and helping students and there's six million
Californians who have some college no degree and some of them are
Trying to get back and some of them fall into homelessness for a variety of reasons
But what I'm trying to get at is that
in
The community college segment or the CSU segment and even the UC segment if folks are interested in going in that pathway
There's just a lot more support services and looking at student support services more holistically
Whereas if a student if a person decides to enroll even in a workforce development program in their community college
They're eligible for other services offered by the college. So you're able to kind of triage something else
I'm just offering it. I'm sure you know and are aware of it
But it's just the universe that's my slice of the universe. So I just wanted to elevate that again
And I just wanna close by thanking all of you
for your time and dedication to a high need population.
Appreciate your work.
Okay, so I'll go around for a second time
if folks have some additional questions or comments.
And if not, then I'll jump in.
So council members, Simon.
The photos on pets was really nice.
Is that standard for shelters to allow pets?
I can jump in just to save Liz from getting up and down.
We did design this program intentionally to be low barrier housing first, and so one of the
models and tenets of that is people, pets, and possessions, and so ensuring that this shelter
allowed pets so that people that wouldn't be a barrier to people entering into the program.
That was really great to see because the pets are like family to so many people,
so that's nice. Thank you for doing that. The second is after 2030, this becomes affordable
housing has to be built, I understand there. How does that compete with the land at the
corner of Beatrice in Washington that was also designated as affordable housing? Do
those two compete against each other or how does that work?
Not necessarily. And again, I think the timing will tell because we have five plus years
to get this going. So I would say that again, this is going to be sort of publicly sort
of bid out to qualified non-profits. So when you do the RFP, you'd want applicants to come
in with a plan. So I think in some ways it wouldn't be. I think right now that other
project has some issues that it's working through. But I wouldn't necessarily say that
they're going to cancel each other out. We need more housing in general, affordable and market
rate. So at this point, the more, the more, the better. Okay. And my last, I want to make a couple
comments. So this navigation center is just awesome. Every which way it's awesome. My concern is the
general area and safety for the occupants and participants of the navigation center. And I've
I've been talking about this for a while,
and this is the walkability.
How do you get there?
And the freeway 880 is right there.
The 880 undercrossing, and I'm just going to say this out loud,
it's not safe.
And why I say that is for two reasons.
One is walkability.
There was an ACTC walkability audit done this year,
and I know someone that was on that audit.
They couldn't physically complete the audit
because it was so dangerous.
And this is what they told me.
They just texted me.
We couldn't complete the walk because the cars going
onto the 880 northbound ramp never
stopped for a group, including seniors, children,
and disabled person on wheelchairs,
two dangers to cross over.
So as you're walking from the navigation center, heading,
I guess that would be east towards In-N-Out Burger,
Walmart, you're physically so dangerous trying to cross.
There's a big concrete column in front of you,
and then you have to peek around it as cars are flying onto the freeway.
So this is not a city, I would say, issue because this is county.
That area is county, Alameda County.
And our city is like sandwiched between this little sliver of county.
So I'm talking to the county, talking to Caltrans.
I've been working through this, but I just want to put it out there that we really
have to work together with our county partners, with Caltrans, and our city
to try to make this safer, because I would hate to see all this beautiful work
that we're doing, and then bam, an accident.
And our walkability study couldn't even be completed.
It's that bad.
And the second issue at the same spot
is there's mounds of bird feces on that sidewalk
that lead between the navigation center and the bus line,
or BART, same direction.
And again, I'm talking to Caltrans.
They clean it up.
Or excuse me, the county, they'll clean it up
every couple of years or something.
it's just we need a more routine annual way to clean this area up for the
residents not the rest for your people staying there because you're doing such
a nice job and they go out and not a safe condition I just want to put that
out there but we're gonna keep working hopefully with our partners at the
county and come up with solution because it's it's not okay but overall you're
doing an awesome job thank you coming to councilmember Bowen next thank you mayor
my questions were around the waiting list and also how people know about the
the Navigation Center and I think a lot of outreach like street outreach was
important the follow-up to that was around the 600 plus people that are
served in the drop-in how what does that outreach look like and is there a one
pager that like the safety ambassadors downtown for example to hand out or that
I can have access to or folks in the neighborhood that like email me.
Yeah, absolutely, we can share more flyers and information on what is provided at drop-in
services.
We do provide all of that information to the ARU, to the downtown safety ambassadors, to
our police department, to Public Works, who's also on the ground and, you know, doing a
lot of work in the encampments, and additionally, of course, we have Building Futures Mobile
outreach team and our other nonprofits who do outreach,
direct street outreach in the community,
we share that information.
But we can ensure to share flyers with you as well.
Thank you so much.
And then I just wanted to follow up
on Council Member Simon's comments about
just the safety issues around that neighborhood.
It's actually really timely because I was
in public policy committee for ACTC
and we did get an update on it.
We got it from, it's called the 4CP project,
but it really is prioritizing that entire corridor
around making sure that it is safer for people
to be able to bike and walk,
whether it's to the navigation center
or to San Lorenzo High School or just that entire area.
And they did a lot of outreach
and a lot of community engagement,
which your constituent was telling you about,
which is really good.
And so it's moving forward in the process.
There's funding for it.
And so there is a design period
and it's gonna come before ACTC's commission meeting,
actually on Thursday.
So if you want to be able to call in,
just in support of why it's such an important project,
that would be great.
Or anybody that lives in the neighborhood,
I think that would be really great.
But I'll definitely take that feedback
and then share it with the commission on Thursday.
Thank you.
Okay, so obviously, great work.
I really appreciate the data, the statistics.
You're making impact on people's lives,
and that's what really matters, ultimately.
I did want to address a couple of things.
This is first to you, City Manager.
So it's my understanding that we have moved
the homelessness related services,
the human services part of the department.
All the same people are employed, the same titles,
the same work is being conducted.
It just so happens that it's under the title
of a Deputy City Manager.
Is that accurate?
That is correct.
The only adjustment I would make
yes, everyone else has the same title except.
Fair enough.
Who was director Lobadon is now deputy city manager,
Lobadon.
Okay, so there hasn't been a reduction in services.
Okay.
Because I do think that it's important
that we just clarify our record.
There was also the public commenter made references
to someone described as a sustainability manager.
We did not have a sustainability manager.
I have dealt with that before, corrected that record.
So I'm not gonna dive into that here.
I do wanna say thank you specifically
for information that provides breakdown around ethnicity.
And I would like to look at that slide
because it was a little bit striking,
particularly when it comes to the Hispanic population.
So I just wanna make sure that I understand
this data correctly.
So in our homeless count, even though only 25%
of the people in San Leandro would be categorized
as white, the homeless population in our pit count
in 2024 was 34%.
That is correct.
And in fact, we're serving an even greater proportion
in the shelter piece.
And I know these are small numbers.
I have to be a little sensitive, because only 66 people,
if I remember correctly.
But then when I go over to the far side,
nearly 30% of the San Leonardo population
is Hispanic, Latino.
And that kind of mirrors the homeless population.
But it's substantially smaller in the number of people
that we are serving.
And I see a similar.
I'm going to let the mayor finish his question.
Yeah.
So I'm wondering if this is related
to just being small numbers or do we have a perspective beyond that?
Mayor would you like to look at this data or the drop-in data?
Well first I wanted to start with a shelter data because these are people
that have got at the top of the list they've gone into rooms.
I don't know but one of the things I can guess is that that the shelter was because of our application to the
state was for chronically homeless folks.
So that means they have to be homeless for a year
and have a verified disability.
And what I'm guessing is that's why
I want to see the drop-in to see if it's different,
because are we serving that population?
Because if it's different, it means
that these folks maybe aren't as chronically acuity
as a homeless, that's why I want to see the difference,
because are we not serving Hispanic, Latino people,
or are they just not getting in the shelter
because they're not meeting that criteria.
And I think that's a fair distinction.
Might also beg the question why they're not chronically
homeless.
Is it because there's community support in other ways?
Just really trying to explore the why.
Are they younger, et cetera.
So these numbers are small, but it's just
something that has caught my attention
that I think would be worth exploring.
If we could then, as Executive Director Varela was saying,
can we go then to the drop-in numbers?
And so I think that we see something that's similar here.
It's not identical, but it's that it's still
approximately half the rate for both Hispanic.
And obviously, for Asian, there's a significant difference,
also about a 50% difference.
So it's something that I just want to be mindful of.
I mean the numbers are what they are but perhaps as we have more experience over the next two
three four years and then if we could also reach out to the county to see if the county
sees similar thing similar factors ratios and other shelters that they have that would
be much appreciated.
Thank you.
Just here we go quick question from councilmember Simon.
Yeah real quick on that 880 I want to say a third item is to beautify it because your
shelter. It's not related to the shelter. It would make them uplift the
community if it's more beautiful on the area. I just want to say that with the
art commission on that. Thank you. So with that I think we've had you've
received the general impressions concerns obviously a lot of praise for
the work that's being done. Thank you very much for all that you're doing. We
look forward to the next report as more information comes and the data becomes
more robust more complete. Thank you. Have a beautiful evening and thank you for
sticking with us. At this point in time we will move to our next item which is an
action item. Item 10A we've already taken care of as we swore in our youth advisory
commissioners but we do have item 10B remaining and that's an amendment, an
action to potentially approve amendment number one of the city manager's
employment agreement. And here to introduce the item we have human
resources director Emily hung good morning excuse me good evening here in
City Council members so in accordance with government code section 5 4 9 5 3
section C 3 we are required to provide an oral summary when there are
recommendations for salary and benefits changes paid to local executives the
action item before you is a resolution to amend city manager Janelle Cameron's
employment agreement. The City Council recently completed an evaluation of the
city manager's performance and determined based on a positive review to
amend the employment agreement and the proposed amendment number one proposes to
extend the term of the agreement through June 30th 2030 so there are no other
changes proposed and that summarizes the recommendation. So at this point in time
just so the public is aware we have had discussion and closed session about this
item so what we're going to do is take public comment on this item to see if
there's any feedback from the public at this time. Mayor we have received one
comment card from in the room and we presently have one hand raised online.
Let's proceed in person so we open public comment in person. Our in-person
commenter is Mike Katz-Lakabe. Good evening, honorable members of the city council. My name is
Mike Katz-Lakabe. First of all, congratulations to city manager Cameron on the contract extension.
I would, however, say I'm kind of disappointed in the agenda item and the backup material provided
for the agenda item because what it does not do is give us the fiscal impact of the contract.
So yes, there's a copy of the original contract from 2024 which states that her base salary will
will be $350,000 and it talks about the salary increases
that happen after that.
But this item doesn't include
what those salary increases are.
And since they're matched to another salary schedule,
you'd have to go and find that salary schedule
in order to go and look it up and calculate it.
So I think it would be great
if in the interest of transparency for the community
that we had the full information
about what the fiscal impact of the compensation
and benefits are.
And I find it amusing that the oral presentation
is just as bad as the information provided
in the backup material to the public.
And hopefully the city council gets something better.
I don't know.
And again, congratulations to you city manager.
I'm absolutely happy for you
not to experience any misogyny in the city.
That was reported by the mayor about a week and a half ago.
So thanks once again, congratulations.
Thank you.
Mayor, there are no more cards from in the room.
So we'll close public comment in person and open public comment online.
Our online speaker is Douglas Spaulding.
Thank you so much.
You know, a city manager is hard to find.
And a great city manager, well, that's pretty rare, rarefied stuff.
So I'm happy for us that this contract is going to extend.
And we have turned over almost as many city managers
as police chiefs.
So the idea that you're committing to four more years,
I think, is really important to the stability of our city.
I share Mike's puzzlement.
thought well you can't be doing this for no raise and I agree that that
information like that it should just be shouldn't be something we have to you
know scratch and claw and research and go to the state website and figure out
what the salaries are it should just be presented matter matter of fact so
congratulations city manager Cameron I look forward to seeing you work and more
and more monthly reports. All right, thanks. Thank you. Mayor, we have one more hand raised
online and that is Chris Urban Res Life Longoria. Can you hear me? Yes. Great. First, I'd like to
acknowledge the Ohlone people whose territory that we occupy. I would like to congratulate
our city manager, Danelle Cameron, on another few years here in 2030 to continue to make our city
a great place to live. Congratulations, and I fully support you. Ajo, thank you.
Thank you. Mayor, there are no more hands raised online.
So close by the comment online coming to Councilmember James Aguilar.
Sure, are you able to take a motion, Mayor?
let me just see is there any discussion seeing no discussion please proceed okay sorry so if
you can just kind of signal me when it's discussion so go to vice mayor i just didn't want to let the
moment pass to just express my appreciation for your leadership um i i know that uh for
those of you who have at the pleasure of working with miss cameron brevity she appreciates brevity
so thank you for your dedication and thank you for your leadership.
Thank you and when the motion is there I'll second it.
Councilmember Simon. I just want to echo those comments Janelle you're doing an awesome job
and just for managing your staff to the technical side and your people skills are really there
and it's been challenging over the past two years I'm sure with everything that's gone on
And I look forward to working with my colleagues
to make it a better place for all of us to work.
So thank you, Janelle.
So is there any other praise jumping in, because, you know,
okay, I third a quadruple to praise.
That's why we're going to extend this.
So with that being said, I will take a motion.
Council member James Hecular.
and ditto the praise, it's an honor to work beside you.
I, Mayor, I would like to move to adopt the resolution.
Thank you.
Council Member Bult.
Second.
Okay.
Ditto the-
And then just to be very-
Compliments.
So thank you.
The one thing that I do wanna be clear on
when we talk about the raise,
the raise is simply the continuation
of the cost of living adjustment.
We haven't changed the core salary.
So sometimes when you have a contract renegotiation,
there's a 10% boost or 20% boost there's nothing like that all we're doing is
continuing the same contract with the same cost of living adjustment just so
that the public is aware with that we have no more discussion please vote all
votes are in and the motion carries unanimously so that will go to item 11
City manager, do you have any items? Councilmember Bowen, there you go, please
proceed. Thank You mayor and I have to acknowledge former councilmember Brian
Isavado in his many years of advocacy for this and so I'm actually bringing a
referral to update our current code around feral cat colonies and the health
safety sanitation and nuisance concerns they can create for surrounding residents.
This includes exploring approaches used by other cities,
including San Mateo, that outlines responsible feeding
and caretaker requirements, colony registration
and management, spay neuter, and the expedition
and appropriate enforcement and coordination
with animal control and vector control
that addresses any of the gaps that we can find.
Thank you.
Thank you.
With that, we'll go to item number 12.
Are there any announcements?
Council Member Bowen.
Thank you, Mayor.
announcements. I will be at the Kelsey's conference this week as both an
executive board member of the State Division as well as a voting delegate
for the City of San Leandro and we will be voting on resolution on Friday
morning so I will not be at Wednesday's Rules Committee meeting where the agenda
item is a discussion to consider facilitated discussions. Secondly, I
I wanted to say thank you to the city for continuing to support Councilmember Outreach
to the community.
This is my third season at the farmer's market of tabling and you know dear Dolly Parton
passed recently and in the spirit of her generosity and kindness I also gave out over a hundred
children's books to the community and really encourage folks to do that as well.
There are lots of members with lots of beautiful books for kids that they would be really happy
to read home as well.
I will also be speaking on a panel at the 2026 municipal management association in California
next week. I'm really excited to share some of the experiences that I've had on the city council
with city managers and staff and then finally I really wanted to do a staff shout out to both
public works and especially San Leandro PD for their continued work on safe routes to school
and the efforts and challenges we've had
at the school sites.
I obviously speak a lot about Washington
and Roosevelt and Bancroft,
and now that I also have a student at the high school,
I am very much living the life every day, all day,
for many hours of being on these busy streets.
And I just wanted to share that just today,
because of the work that SLPD is doing
with their campaign for outreach and education.
The principal at the middle school sent out
yet another message to parents
to remind us to follow proper traffic laws,
including not taking that left turn out of the parking lot.
It is really bad for everybody, especially for the students,
but it is something that's really important.
I know you're putting extra work into that,
so thank you so much, it goes a long way.
Also, families at Washington are putting together
bike walk bus which is basically getting kids, families to be able to walk to
school together or bike to school together because there's safety in
numbers and this is also something that is facilitated by the safe routes of
school program at ACTC and I would encourage all of the schools to do the
program if they haven't done so already because it is a really great way to get
folks out of cars and safely walk to school. So thank you so much for the
effort of staff. Thank you. We'll go to Councilmember Simon next. Yes I just want to
appreciation to the San Leandro Police Department. They had a coffee in the
park at Manor Park this past Saturday at 9 a.m. and it was really nice to see the
Lieutenant Cesarati and the other staff that were there meet some of the new
officers. It was really nice to see and some of them live local which is really
cool but that that involvement with the community and getting to know the
different cultures and everyone out there was really nice to see so thank
you SLPD for that and then also the pickleball group at the Manor Park had
a potluck as well last week and that was really nice to see a lot of good things
happening at Manor Park the good things happening are pushing out the not so
good elements that are there so thank you community and SLPD okay so I will
not duplicate any of the things already mentioned. I'll start with congratulations
to San Leandro Company's Zymo Camp for winning the East Bay Regional World
Cup Startup World Cup. That award was presented in Hayward last week, and so
congratulations to them. That sends them on to the finals competition where they
are eligible for a $1 million prize. I do want to acknowledge, thank SOS Meals on
wheels for their many many years of service to the community. They have had
this last week a 10 millionth meal celebration. They've delivered 10 million
meals and I had the opportunity to be out on a route with one of the folks in
around the Corvallis area and just the beauty of the experience, the
Interaction between the drivers the delivery folks and the the residents and I was particularly touched by a 95 year old
Woman who finds tremendous joy in the person that visits her every day
with a meal
it also afforded the opportunity to connect her and the SOS meals on wheels folks with some other services that she needed so I think
that just finding the way to take those avenues and
Elevate and amplify them is particularly important. I am particularly grateful for the many different community
groups neighborhood organizations, etc
That are throwing regular events in our city you mentioned the Washington Manor day in the park
There was an event at McKinley Court. There was a Chetland Chili cook-off
there was
Another event at Washington Manor. There was a Filipino gathering what I spoke to that
It was like 1,000 Filipino folks from across the Bay Area
had come to gather at the Marina Green.
So I just think that efforts to bring people together
and have shared experiences is very powerful
because that's how you build connection
and that's how kindness thrives.
I do want to highlight the community cleanup
and there was a fascinating fact
that came out of the community cleanup
Two years ago, when we started Beautify San Leandro,
we started with zero volunteers, with zero people
in our database of volunteers.
Today we have 645 volunteers signed up.
We hit people with emails and requests
to come and participate.
It's a big list.
And so my encouragement is that we keep growing that list,
but stop to praise and just say, wow,
that's an amazing accomplishment.
and that comes from focus and dedication,
so special kudos to the recreation and parks team
for that achievement.
The last thing that I'll leave us with,
September 30th.
September 30th.
We're talking about September 30th?
I think we're talking about September 30th.
So, September 30th, we will have the groundbreaking
for the Haas-Carry pedestrian bridge.
As you will recall, approximately three and a half years ago,
tree unfortunately took out the old bridge that was there and so we've
worked through so many different permitting processes. We had the benefit
of a very generous anonymous donation and we have worked through bridge
design processes and we are literally going to begin pile driving in October
and working on building the bridge abutments. That's something that finance
committee facilities committee specifically recommended. If we're going to
put it in a new bridge, let's put in some new abutments.
So we're following a process.
And with just a little bit of luck in the spring,
there will be a bridge for people to be able to walk over
that will bring the community closer together.
So we're very excited and we encourage folks
to come and join us and celebrate a little bit
as we break ground on this beloved bridge.
At this point in time, we are going to recess
so that we can go to our closed session.
We don't know exactly how long that will take.
It could be quite short,
or it could be an extended discussion.
So we will return when we return,
and we will report out if there is any reportable action,
at which case, at which point we will adjourn our meeting.
So for right now, we stand in recess.
So there's 917, I am calling this meeting
of the San Leandro City Council back to order.
We have concluded our closed session discussion,
and there's no reportable action.
It is now 918, and we are adjourned.