Welcome to the December nineteenth, twenty twenty-three, the last city council meeting of this calendar year.

Let's have a roll call, please.

Councilmember Brownstone.

Here.

Councilmember Rabbeck?

Yeah.

Councilmember Reddock.

Here.

Vice Mayor Jimenez.

Here.

Mayor Penrose.

Here.

Do you have a quorum?

Maybe rise for the Pledge of Allegiance.

One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice.

May I have a motion to approve the agenda?

So all in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Seeing none, we will move on.

We will not have the hip housing program presentation this evening.

They aren't able to come tonight.

They'll be here in January.

So we're gonna go straight to the twenty twenty three State of the City address.

Our theme this year is one of resiliency.

And I think you'll agree that this year has been extremely challenging for everyone in our community as we all face two unforeseen catastrophic events.

Hit the area, resulting in evacuations, damage to buildings, down trees, road closures, beach and bluff erosion, and loss of internet and phone communication.

Thankfully, there were no reported injuries to community members.

The storms highlighted the need to shore up our infrastructure.

It is not always fun to talk about sewer systems, roundwater, and sewers.

But attention to infrastructure is essential if we intend to maintain our beautiful Half Moon Bay.

With the storms, the city and the community work to prepare for and endure the severe weather, from sandbags to an evacuation point and resource center, to preparing and restoring infrastructure, to clearing drains and repairing roadways, the city did its part, and we thank our exemplary city staff who worked so hard to ensure public safety.

Then the horrific shooting on January 23rd shook our community.

And even today we continue to mourn the senseless loss of life and share in the great sorrow and pain suffered by the loved ones of the victims.

These two events would test the resolve and determination of any city.

In Half Moon Bay, we can all be proud of the strength and courage displayed by our community in facing, processing, and moving forward through these terrible, unfortunate incidents.

In fact, that's part of the very definition of resiliency, the ability to adapt to difficult situations.

In both instances, our community and the city immediately responded with generosity and compassion.

We need to thank our community vitality division, our city manager Matthew Chittister, and each member of our city staff for the 24-7 caring response during this terrible event.

Their personal hands-on approach was a demonstration of the humane and loving way that our city's staff has shown when such tragedy occurs.

These and other efforts were accomplished in partnership with the San Mateo County Executive Mike Callaghy, its Department of Emergency Management, the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office, Coastside Fire Protection District, Sewer Authority Mid-Coastide, CERT Volunteers, and many, many more.

A special thanks to our Congresswoman Anna Eschew for her personal on the ground commitment to our city during these tragedies.

And you, the people throughout the community who came together to support each other through these challenges, caring for one another and helping keep our families safe.

After the tragic shooting, sharing our grief was and remains an important part of recovery.

Memorial vigils and other gatherings and victim remembrance events helped to bring together and heal the community.

The city helped with efforts to obtain housing and other essential services for farm worker households that were displaced by the shooting.

Alas and Coastide Hope established funds, and they along with many other nonprofits offered support to the victims.

The White House, Governor Newsom, as well as mayors of other cities where shootings have occurred, particularly Monterey Park, helped us with recommendations for useful protocols for establishing the Coastide Victims Fund, which was supported by the San Mateo Credit Union and Mavericks Community Foundation to help families of the victims with some of their long-term financial needs.

The cooperation support and continual communications we've maintained with San Mateo County during this time has been crucial, along with local state and federal elected officials, especially Senator Josh Becker and Assembly Member Mark Berman.

None of this would have been possible without my fellow council members, Vice Mayor Joaquin Jimenez, Councilmember Robert Brownstone, Councilmember Harvey Warbach, and Councilmember Debbie Rennick.

Through all this, the community continues to respond with funds and support and kindness and caring.

In light of these incidents, the resilience and fortitude of our community is particularly admirable and continues to help us all move through recovery.

We're leading a community-based effort to develop a memorial and to plan a one-year remembrance ceremony to honor the seven farm workers who lost their lives.

An unfortunate truth emerged after the shootings concerning the deplorable living conditions of farm workers in our area.

And this points to the general need for affordable housing in our community, certainly for farm workers and also for other vulnerable residents.

Overcrowded living conditions and unjust housing practices can be hiding in plain sight, especially in a region like ours with such a high cost of living.

This hurts families and children, seniors on fixed incomes, farm workers, and other special housing needs groups.

Much more work is needed to provide housing options, along with resources and services, so that everyone in our community can thrive.

The city partners with Eric DeBodey of Abundant Grace Coastside, which provides job readiness programming for homeless people, including coastside cleanup activities.