How do we give us a hug So, uh, so...

Um.

Everybody, welcome to our afternoon session of our country.

Today, Tuesday, July 15th, 2025.

We don're going to call the meeting to order.

And a portion of this city council meeting is conducted by teleconference with Councilmember Rash, participating today by teleconference from IER.

Uh Hawaii in accordance with the Ralph M.

Brown Act.

Her remote location has been identified in the agenda for this meeting.

Councilmember Rush, can you hear me well?

Yes.

Were you able to hear our proceedings on this and up until now?

Yes.

Do you have a copy of the agenda for this meeting?

Yes.

With the agenda posted 24 hours prior to this special meeting at your location.

Yes.

Is your location accessible to the public such that any member of the public could participate from your location if they wish to do so?

Yes.

Is any member of the public there with you who would like to participate in the public comment portion of this meeting or otherwise address any agenda item for this meeting?

No.

And then for everybody in the chambers, can everyone clearly hear Councilmember Rash?

Yes.

The Brown Act requires that any votes taken during the teleconference portion of this meeting be taken by roll call.

And I'll pass it to Clementine to do roll call and share with the public some announcements.

Thank you.

Councilmember Barber.

Council Member Rash.

Here.

Councilmember Smith.

Here.

And Mayor Williamson.

Here.

And the record will reflect that Councilmember Garcia is absent.

And public comment and participation information is provided on this meeting's agenda, which is online at Monterey.gov slash agendas.

In person attendees, please keep your electronic devices muted to prevent audio interference.

And thank you for participating in your city government.

Okay.

All right, we're going to go ahead and start with presentations.

The first presentation is recognized July as Parks and Recreation Month.

With that, I will pass it to Nat for staff introduction.

Thank you very much, Mayor Council.

Aloha, Councilmember Rash.

Good to see you virtually.

We're so proud of our parks and recreation team and uh to recognize July as Parks and Rec month.

Uh, you know, as you all know, the parks and recreation team, they do not only support our community, but they also create community.

Uh many folks in parks and recreation, they talk about parks and rec serving individuals from cradle to grave, and our parks and rec team does just that.

Uh they partner with uh Alliance on Aging, Food Bank for Monterey County, mules on wheels, and of course, deliver a variety of programs from prenatal classes all the way to uh providing uh uh services uh and at uh various uh divisions.

The recreation division, just as one example, I'll share with you uh has had over 70 years of Camp Keensabe, the overnight youth camp, which is very unique, and it makes a big difference in people's lives.

We hear often about how camping sabe is just one program and one example, and we learned yesterday uh that uh it doesn't only build team building skills for folks, but often it's the first time students and these kids are away from home, and it makes a big impact on their lives.

And many of the campaigns uh students and counselors have grown to become full-time members of our city recreation team and city staff.

We have an award-winning sports center.

We have a parks division that doesn't only provide community and neighborhood parks, which is what most city parks divisions provide, but also campgrounds, beaches, and running a full-fledged cemetery.

So uh with that, uh I'm gonna introduce uh to all of you Shannon Leon, our longtime recreation manager who started as a recreation assistant at over at Hilltop Park and has grown in the organization along with many other members of the parks and recreation team.

So uh let's uh let's hear from Shannon.

Thank you.

I feel like I gave you a bunch of information yesterday when you toured Camp Gensabi.

Thank you.

So this is the 40th year of um parks and recreation month, and this year's theme is build together, play together.

Uh parks and recreation month celebrates the vital role parks and recreation professionals play in fostering a sense of belonging in the community by providing and well welcoming and inclusive programs, essential services for all ages and abilities, and safe accessible spaces to be build meaningful connections.

The um city council vision and value drivers, Monterey is a beautiful place, special, beautiful, special place to live, work, and visit onda.

That beautifully fits into part what parks and recreation does.

We make Monterey a beautiful place to live, work, and visit.

Uh, they again, with the key value drivers that city council has for quality of life, protecting our environment, fiscal stewardship, developing and retaining a quality workforce, active mobility, and transparent and inclusive government.

Communities and businesses thrive where parks and recreation services are strong.

The Parks and Recreation Department vision also states that we have a services are essential to the quality of life and economic strength of the city, providing beautiful natural and developed resources for recreation, fitness, wellness, relaxation, and to play for the and play for the community and visitors alike.

It's generally considered important for a community member to be able to be within a five minute walk or a quarter mile of their house.

And Monterey is very blessed to be in that space.

Parks and recreation services programs and facilities are being seen more and more as the prescription for prevention of poor health and support from wellness and communities.

They are protecting, not only protecting our environment, but also helping us stay physically healthy, become less of a strain on our health care system, and as Monterey ages, providing resources for our older adults to age well and be as healthy as possible.

So our we could move to the parks slides.

Our parks operations division is actually much bigger when you think of parks.

It's parks, beaches, campground, cemetery, and forestry.

And that includes 37 parks, almost 800 acres of parks, beaches, open space, sports fields, the Monterey Recreation Trail, the cemetery, campground, all parks touches all the mediums and parking lots responsible for all public trees and supports individuals with their private trees.

They respond to emergencies, all of these winter storms that we are having.

They're conducting fuel reduction and meeting year-round.

They support city events and offer their own city events, including Cutting Day and Parking Day.

They are incredibly important to also supporting recreation programs as well.

They help us get our camps together at the neighborhood parks and even camp in Sabi.

They are responsible for helping us offer over a thousand softball baseball games every year at a variety of our parks.

But you could see the things that our parks division does, and they do so well.

A million visits, 19 of those, 19% of those are residents, 81% of those were non-residents.

And that's just Dennis and Menace not talking about our beaches, which we know are a draw to both humans and animals alike, because our parks division also handles the uh sea lions that come and uh you know take over.

So if you just think about the impact of people coming to Monterey, going to Dennis and Menace and the constant maintenance of that, um, it's huge.

And to do all of those things with a very small crew, uh, and that's TICE and Steve and Andre and all of them.

And then we've got Mike Taupe, who is our city for assistant urban forester and Dominic, who were responsible for all the trees and the green belts.

Um it's just a massive undertaking that just continues 365 days a year.

So, you know, they make Monterey a beautiful place to come, whether you're here for a conference or just to enjoy the for a day trip.

Um, I can't say how great it is that we have such a wonderful natural resource that contributes to the overall benefit of living here and also visiting.

And I think that's one of the reasons I hate to say it.

And we've seen a huge increase in our parks usage and our programming because people had an outlet when there was nothing else.

So I think Monterey did a very good job of providing that.

So we've seen that demand.

People got out into our parks and our beaches, and they never went back home.

So that's very, you know, something to be proud of.

So here we've got photos from parking day, our conic um bridge from Dennis the Menace, our crew getting ready for cutting day, a tree planting, because they are we are Tree City USA for decades.

So that's our parks crew there.

And then let's see, there's more.

And again, they're helping us set up the poll.

Um there's parking day, cutting day, uh, Christmas tree lighting, all of those wonderful things.

And then maintaining um San Carlos Beach Park and Sister City Park.

Those are just I could go on and on about all the things that parks uh the parks operations division does for us.

So then and Monterey Recreation is uh responsible for all of our community center operations, the city special events, um, the uh outdoor field sports leagues for with youth and adults, a um our all of our summer camps, which is Nat mentioned, Camp Kinsabi, this is our 72nd summer.

Uh Day Camp is 68 summers.

Our playground program is actually even older than that.

We've actually had uh field sports leagues, even longer than both Camp Kinsabi.

We've had opportunities for adults to recreate and um play um field sports um since the very beginning of parks and recreation.

Um, for instance, right now we're getting ready for some games.

We've got uh 700 over 750 adults and 51 teams playing summer league right now.

Uh so we it's a huge undertaking.

We generally operate about 160 hours a week during normal uh operations and during the summer.

We've got about 420 hours of programming happening across four different buildings and 11 different outdoor sites, and that's all done and thanks to the crew here.

Um, Rachel at Hilltop, uh Chris Russo at uh El Estero, Sarah Reed at Schultz, and also we're offering programs such as gymnastics and preschool and ceramics and all those things that are just ongoing year-round, in addition to all of the summer programs that we bring on, um, giving you can see our ceramics program, which is now expanded to four nights a week at Hilltop.

Um there's a picture of Camp Kinsabi there.

There's our art camp at El Estero.

Um we also support uh delivery of meals for holiday distributions, serving over 15,000 individuals this year, which is just something that started during COVID and has continued because there's still such a need.

So uh we've got a variety of programs to keep everyone happy and healthy and build that community in addition to like the Fourth of July and the Bunny Hop Photo Op and the uh Saturday with Santa.

So lots of different things that recreation does and in partnership with the other uh two divisions, parks and sports center.

So moving on to there, we've got uh donuts with Santa, Youth Fitness Day, some of our counselors at Whispering Pines, our uh some of the staffed from our midsummer retreat, our steam in the park, which we offer at the Montecito Park, and we have a senior travel program.

So this is you know, very short uh presentation on, and it's really hard to capture everything that we do here.

So moving on to the Sports Center.

Um Sports Center is 75,000 square foot facility, but it's not a swim gym, it's not a fitness center.

It offers everything.

Um, and I want to kind of consider you guys to consider the Sports Center as it's an over a hundred-hour-a week operation with all these layers stacked on top, like a layer cake.

It's oh it's from the time a staff person goes into that building to get things um open to the time that that last staff person leaves after cleaning that building.

We're looking at over 100 hours a week.

It's open 96.5 hours weekly, with all of those operations going through that front desk.

We have 8,272 memberships, over 11,000 visitors each week.

Um, Lori Ataid and Marcia offer 70 group exercise classes a week, and then this past year had over just under 6,000 personal training sessions were offered.

Um then you add on swimming operations, just the pool being open, lifeguarding, swim lessons.

In total, there were over 17,388 swim lessons taught annually, which are incredibly helpful to make sure that people or kids in particular are safe, water safe.

Um, and then sports camp with Ryan Nunez, he offers sports camp, and that serves about um just a little over 1,100 um youth each year, in addition to offering the gym and the volleyball league and the basketball league and all of those activities.

So tons of things happening.

So if you see there may be one building, but then there's another, you know, 80 hours of programming just for the pool, and then another 80 hours of programming just for group exercise.

So it's it's a big operation.

Um, and I would say that in terms of both recreation and sports center revenue and attendance is all um greater than 2019.

Um so we're really happy to see there's still continued demand.

Uh the sports center also has had a big year in terms of facility improvements alone.

So the pool, as you guys all are probably aware of, is been refurbished.

It looks beautiful.

The cycling studio, which you can kind of catch a little glimpse of it, is up there.

Um, and that is now opened and kind of it gives the uh like a class cycling studio experience that you would expect from like a Peloton or some type of um uh opportunity.

So that is huge.

The gym floor has been done, the weight rooms been reorganized, everything has been addressed.

The exterior of the painting of the building was done not too long ago.

So the sports center is in really, really good shape, and we're looking forward to the sports cafe opening very, very soon.

So um, yeah, that is some of the sports center.

There's many, many things, but just a lot of that.

We've also got uh our Dia de los Muertos and our pumpkin plunge, which staff are actively planning for right now.

Um, those are photos from the anniversary party on June 1st.

Um, in addition to staff, both recreation and sports center are going to be going to the um back to school um activities in the community, trying to get more people um involved in programming.

Um about that.

And then there's a photo of the pool area during construction, a photo of it now that it is all reopened and then the cycling studio, um, kind of kind of give you an idea of what that's about there.

So in general, parks and recreation kind of I I don't want to say parks and recreation recreation implies that it's just always fun.

It really is an essential social community service.

Um, and we touch every aspect of everyone's life um in Monterey.

Um, and we um we also are very much working with all of our other departments, including public works and city attorney and finance and risk in order to offer these services i'd like to acknowledge as well the over the easily couple of hundred part-time employees that are working right now that could not be here today and who we would not be able to offer our programs without them because they're now at Camp Kinsabi they're at the playground programs they're at day camp they're um checking kids out from sports camp they're offering swim lessons those are our things that we could not do without them they are our future recreation um part time recreation staff typically end up uh continuing it's a training ground um for the city we've had parks and recreation staff go on to either become full-time parks and recreation staff but we've got uh former employees day camp director is at uh monterey fire department we've got two Monterey police officers we've got someone in HR so it really is kind of the entry level and I what I like to tell our summer staff is no matter what you will um have learnt this will be the foundation for the rest of your life what no matter what job you choose this will set the the uh foundation for either yourself in a career or personally at home just and dealing with conflict resolution raising your own family this is um our entry level positions they are critical and they are our future so that is parks and recreation month thank you that was a wonderful presentation thank you for it um um the thing I appreciate about our parks and rec staff um is the work is not just work it's it's a lifestyle and you can feel it when you go and visit our facilities or you see our staff around town uh the pictures reflected that very well with a lot of those smiles um that we saw folks posing in those pictures um so I I just want to give gratitude to the entire team for um um fully living the the value of of what you all do and it and it shows through through the product that that we receive as as residents um in the city um I I'd also share that we all play a role um in the physical fitness piece in particular and setting that model setting that example um you know it's very rare that I don't ride my bike into work and we might think that um you know cheat day drive a car but if we can all um do our little part to make a difference um people will see us out and about moving around and um we're all leaders in the community and so um just encourage folks to to take up that mantle um when you were describing in the presentation around um the impacts of of the work um one thing I wanted to add to it was that social factor and I think that we felt that a lot when we had the discussion around um the sports center in particular um but it's really all the parks and recreation activities um that's a social outlet for folks and um and so it's not only a a physical space but it's a it's a mental um and so I think it's important that we keep that in mind um you all are saving people's lives um truly and so I hope you all take that to heart and um know the impact that you're making for our community lots of gratitude to you all so much so that you're not just taking care of people but you're also taking care of the critters as well as indicated earlier so thank you all for what you do please let's give it up for them and why don't you always come up come up and take a photo we're gonna make it not to worry about I don't know let me get a stool let me just don't stand in front of Dr.

Barber.

No, no, he's just being funny because I'm so short I know and I get lost in the crowd.

It's okay though.

I'm fine with it.

I'm short, but my short.

I'm afraid.

What do you say yeah he's he's patronizing it.

No, that's all.

That's all you need to know.

Can you get Gene in here too in the corner?

Mike?

Oh, yeah.

She's there.

Oh, yeah, it's here.

Okay.

All right.

One of you.

All right.

Awesome.

Let's give it up to them again.

Thank you guys.

Congratulations.

Now you have to stay for the rest of the meeting.

Actually, before you all leave, um, I just want to turn to my colleagues.

You all have any comments.

Please.

I just want to say thank you.

Um, really quickly.

Um, I this parks and recreation has always been a great part of my life, no matter where I live.

Um, my father used to be the commissioner for parks and recreation back east.

So I've always had that be a part of my life.

And so I know all the things that go on in the background that makes it look easy out front.

You do an amazing job, and we thank you so much.

Uh, more thinner, you know, you kind of have my heart, you already know that.

My son started there, and it became family, and you can tell how they they treat everyone is they treat you like family, and so thank you for all that you do every day.

What we don't see and what we do see, because I know even during 4th of July, I had the pleasure of just talking to a couple of you guys that with the hat with the new hat that you have.

She knows what I'm talking about, and we had a great time having the conversation, and and she was wonderful uh talking about the process and coming up with the logo, and I mean, but you always make people feel good, and that's impacting quality of life for everybody.

And life is too short to not have good quality of life, and it's because of you.

Thank you.

Um, yes, absolutely.

I want to say thank you again because it's so relevant with July 4th.

Again, thank you for all the staff's time, extra effort from the morning to the late afternoon.

You were all busy, and so the community thanks you, and we thank you for all of your time and effort uh that you display on the days leading up to July 4th.

We know that it's not just that day, but there's many, many moving parts that you are involved in leading up to that big important day for the community.

But thank you for July 4th.

I want to say um I want to tell you a very brief story that I had two and a half weeks, uh wonderful weeks with our two grandchildren that live in Jupiter, Florida.

My daughter's two daughters, eight and eleven, Stella and Hadley, and our household screen time is limited, and so it's we're gonna get outside.

So what we did was we created this matrix with the help of my wife, and they had a parks list of a matrix and a beach list.

So every day we hit a beach and we hit a park, and their job was to go out and enjoy the park and rate it on a scale of one to ten.

And we hit park in the city of Monterey, and I want to tell you by no surprise, the big winner on a scale of one to ten was the Dennis Minnesota's park was eleven.

Also tied with the Pacific Ocean, because they are Atlantic Ocean folks, and they loved our ocean in comparison.

So they they gave you a score, and there was no park that got less than an eight, and the denismen's park was an eleven, and the beaches were also an eleven.

So I told her I would deliver that message to the parks and records folks, and she's doing a video of all the parks that she went to, and she is miss.

I'm gonna meet you if I see a stranger at the park.

So she's got little snippets of the people she met and videos and pictures, and they had a blast at the park.

So that's the way we spent our two and a half weeks.

So that's part of a significant story of our grandchildren's experience of being here for the summer.

So you not only touch every life that people that get out of their house and away from the computer and get outdoors, you touch everybody's life, and you touch so many people that make this place the number one place for anybody to choose a place to vacation.

So thank you for being part of all of that, but bringing the health, the quality of life, as um Dr.

Barbara's mentioned, but you enable and uplift and support those that are touching the park that will become great contributing older humans someday when they come back.

And they will always forever have Monterey and the parks the number one in their heart.

So thank you for all that you you do and the way you serve and the way you were able to get your energy in the morning, in the afternoon, and sustain it throughout the entire day because your smiles shine and people see it and really appreciate it.

So thank you for all you do and congratulations on this important month to recognize parks and recreation month.

But thank you.

All right.

Yeah.

Caffeine helps.

Donuts in the morning help too.

Some of those those carbs.

Yeah.

Councilmember Rash.

Thank you.

Ed, I loved that story about your grandchildren.

Audio is you sound a little bit distant.

Let me try this.

Is that any better?

No, not really.

But better.

Yeah, check your volume, or maybe is your your um mic volumes.

Your the mic that you're using, maybe as well.

Let me see.

You never know.

It's electron electronics.

I sounded good when I checked in.

I'm really just talking to for you to tell me if I sound any better.

Any better?

That sounds better.

Okay.

I love the story, Ed and to all the parks and recreation team.

Um you do make Monterey such a beautiful place to live and be healthy in.

But what I wanted to reaffirm was the social connection, you know, watching what happened in COVID, and then watching us pull out and how extra meaningful it was to watch the connections happen rehappening at the sports center and and how that seemed to matter even more after COVID that people could come together.

So thank you for providing that that arena that is so essential to community and people coming together, and the parks and rec team is the cornerstone of that in Monterey.

So thank you very much.

All right.

Please, yes, absolutely.

I forgot to mention we're already having an end of summer celebration on Friday, August 1st at Jack's Park from five to seven.

So it'll be an end of summer Monterey Library will be there.

Recreation, sports center, having a Zumba dance party, Wheelie Mobile, Kona Ice.

I can't believe we're already talking the end of summer, but yeah, you're all welcome to join us.

Awesome.

Wait, before you leave, what are you serving for dinner Monday night?

I'm gonna come see.

It is spaghetti.

Okay, awesome, which is what we had yesterday.

Yeah, so good.

Monday nights are always spaghetti.

Yeah, always delicious.

That's my nickname, you know.

Eddie Spaghetti, Eddie Spaghetti.

Love spaghetti.

That's it.

That's how I'm gonna call him now.

Eddie Spaghetti, please take it away.

Uh no, no, you're not.

No, not literally.

Uh, look forward to seeing you on uh Monday night.

You let the cat out the bag, so yeah, there's plenty of nicknames.

Do you want to tell us more?

No, we could do this for the rest of the council meeting.

It's not about me.

All right, let's go ahead and open it up for public comment.

For those that aren't familiar, what we do is we identify the folks that want to speak during public comment at the beginning of the public comment period.

Once those folks are identified, we close it off, and then only those folks get to speak.

So I will start with folks on Zoom.

You can use the raise hand function while you're navigating your way there.

I will check with folks in the chamber.

Anybody in the chamber wishes to speak on this item.

Please go ahead and step on up to the left of the mic.

This is specifically for the parks and recreation month item.

Specifically parks and rec.

This is not general public comment.

Okay.

So we have one in the chamber, anybody else?

And I'll navigate back to Zoom.

I'll do a countdown to five, four, three, two, one.

And we have one on Zoom.

So we'll go and give three minutes.

We'll start in the chamber.

Hi, my name is India Weeks, and uh, hello everybody.

Hello, Mayor.

Um, I grew up in Monterey, and um, you know, Dennis the Menace Park was like almost akin to going to Disneyland.

Of course, I didn't get to go to Disneyland.

So Dennis and Menace Park was the most thrilling thing you could do as a kid.

Um, I grew up right by the Oak Newton Park, and I remember sliding cardboard box.

We had a for some reason we had a concrete slab slide.

And so you'd have to bring boxes and then you would slide down the concrete slab.

We thought it was the greatest thing.

But I I wanted to comment on the changes that have been made because when I was growing up, Dennis Menace Park was, I mean, you took your life in your hands and and out of there with all your fingers.

You know, you had to be a really coordinated or lucky kid.

So I was I was just gonna say there must have been so much work that was done to like make it safe.

I remember there was a thing that used to go around like this, and then you would hop on and helicopter uh oh yeah, helicopter ride.

Remember that?

And that was a that was a finger crusher, man.

You had to and then there was I kids would fall off the train because back then we could climb up on the train.

There was always a kid flat on his back who had the wind knocked out of him.

You say it's you'll be okay in a sec.

Just breathe, you're okay.

Anyway, so I just wanted to say um we've taken our grandchildren to Dennis the Menace Park, and it's it's safe, it still maintains the whimsical fun, and it's still just a terrific thing.

And I just want to anyway, say thank you so much.

It's a wonderful, it's a wonderful set of parks we have in this community.

Thank you for sharing those memories.

Those are great.

All right, we'll go to our Zoom caller online.

We'll hear from Astor.

Good afternoon, everybody.

I just want to, you know, reiterate all the thanks that everybody's giving.

I want to specifically um mention a few people that I've had a lot of direct um contact with for over the years.

So um I remember going to the sports center when I first moved here almost 20 years ago, and still, you know, to see some of the people that started out there come up in the ranks is really is really nice.

Um I've worked with Shannon so much and Karen, who's not there now, it's so nice to see that Shannon got, you know, promoted.

Um Shannon works, you know, with our neighborhood um board whenever we want to have um, you know, uh meetings or or anything at the Kona Center.

Um always super accommodating.

Everybody has, you know, um at the sports center and uh ties, I wanted to give a shout out to for having worked with us so hard on Laguna Grande Park and Santo.

This park has never looked better, and we have no encampment, you know, issues right now, which is you know, testament to the partnership between the parks and MPD.

Um, you know, we've just been really, really happy and grateful to have such attentive um park staff.

And you know, I'm sure there are people that I'm that I don't even, you know, can't even remember their names are at this point, but um yeah, I just wanted to join in and say that you know we're really really grateful for everything that they do, and it absolutely makes Monterey um stand out from other places when when we have such great staff in our beautiful parks.

So thank you to all of you.

Awesome.

All right, we'll go ahead and close public comment.

Let's give it up one more time for our parks and rec staff.

Right, and with that, we will go to the agenda um presentation by Mayor Williamson, yours truly.

Uh, and sister city visit to Isola della Femine uh Sicily.

Take care.

So welcome um everybody.

Uh I I uh appreciate folks being here.

Um I'm actually gonna ask um Dr.

Vince Malfitano to come up and if you want to sit in the in the seat here, and that way you can just jump in whenever he's gonna co-present with me here.

Um Dr.

M went with me.

Uh, he's a member of the Friends of the Sister City.

Um, and so he was one of the members that went and um, and so I asked him to to co-present this with me.

Um I'm really excited for for for this presentation.

Um I couldn't have imagined that the trip would have been um as amazing as it was, not just um professionally through the role, but but personally as well.

Um, and so I look forward to sharing a little bit about that experience and um that journey.

Um and so with that, we'll go ahead and jump to the next slide, please.

So why this relationship matters?

Um Monterey and Isola share strong familiar and cultural ties.

Um that's what in a significant way led to um the establishment of of the sister city relationship.

Um, as many know, um the uh Sicilians came to California.

Um, and and one of the interesting things that I learned um on the trip is that a lot of so there's three sister cities in in the state of California with Isola, it's Martinez, Pittsburgh, and Monterey.

And a lot of the Sicilians initially came to Pittsburgh, and when the fishing industry kind of dried up there, um they ended up might migrating down to to Monterey.

So a lot of the Sicilians came from Pittsburgh, came to Monterey through through Pittsburgh.

I mean, a lot of that had to do with with fishing industry.

Um also the traditions of food, as many of us locals know.

There's a lot of the local restaurants think fishermen's wharf um that uh derive from that experience um from the sister city relationship.

Um, and there's a decent deep sense of community, and and we feel that through a lot of the community events that are still hosted today.

Um think Festa Italia, um, which is one of the largest events that I see on an annual basis um hosted in Monterey.

Um so these the sister city relationship um honors these historic bonds while creating new opportunities for connections and collaboration.

And I'll just do a quick pause for Dr.

M if you wanted to jump in and share any initial thoughts here.

Let's see.

There you go.

There you go.

You had it.

I got it.

All right.

What a trip that was, huh?

Yes, sir.

Um I went along on the trip uh representing the Friends of Isla, um uh nonprofit, and it was the Friends of Isola back in 1992 that uh uh initiated the sister city relationship with Monterey.

Um, done with a lot of the old timers.

Some of them are not with us, but uh Friends of Isola is going strong, raised a ton of money for scholarships.

Um I only got to go along because I carried the mayor's bags everywhere again.

That's not true.

That's not true.

It's embarrassing, but it was a long way to go.

But uh yeah, that this was great.

I uh I'll have more comments as he as he goes through, but I just wanted to mention that I was there on behalf of Friends of Isla, but I also was there um with one eye toward opportunity uh for Monterey and uh FOI as well.

We'll speak more to that.

Um before we jump off the slide, I just want to emphasize uh that that this trip wasn't just about travel or celebration, it was about seeing our history reflected in others and recognizing how those stories continue to shape our our local identity.

And it's a little bit of a theme for me, I think, throughout this presentation and the experience.

Um and I'll I'll speak more to that later, but a little bit of a reflection on the photo that's here.

Um this is a statue, um a fisherman's statue that's um in Isola, and um for folks that are are wanting to get more engaged.

This might be an area that the friends of the sister city um are working towards.

This was dedicated to Isola by um Pittsburgh, and it's it's getting a little bit damaged.

Um there's some water damage to it, and so they need to replace it.

They're gonna be selling bricks.

So if there's anybody that wants to sell a brick with their name on it, I don't think that they've finalized the details and how that's going to work.

But that's what we're standing in front of.

And then the last thing I would point out about this picture is that you see multiple generations represented here.

So there was young and old involved in this trip and um really uh amazing experience and opportunity.

Mayor, if I could just please uh with regard to the statue that was sculpted.

Uh Friends of Isola had that sculpted in 1991.

Uh it's it's bronze.

Uh a local sculptor from Pittsburgh uh came up with the concept.

It um signifies an old fishing guy pulling the net.

Um, that was made uh in San Francisco.

Um we had it cast and we uh brought it to Isla and had it mounted.

There's a replica, an identical statue that's at the foot of the harbor in Pittsburgh, California as well.

Um I am currently working on the third statue uh that I will probably come to council with later on in the year, because I think it would be appropriate um to have one of those statues here at our waterfront as well.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

Um we can go to the next slide, please.

Um, so just to give a little bit of history, and I already spoke about this a little bit, but this was the founding document back in 2017.

The agreement was signed um between uh Monterey and Isola.

Um the council, I think just one month earlier to this date, um uh gotten unanimous support from the council to to move forward with the sister city relationship.

Um, and then in 2019, the first delegation um post the implementation of the sister city, the formation of the sister city relationship um came out from Isola uh to Monterey.

Um and so Mayor Clyde Roberson was um the mayor at the time and graciously welcomed that delegation, and it's been a strong bond ever since.

Um I think I spoke to some of these points already, so I I will skip them.

I'm gonna ask a quick question actually before we go to the next slide.

Who in here has visited?

I know some folks on our staff have who in here has visited um our sister city in Sicily.

Only one.

Okay.

Gotta go.

Hopefully, next time we do this presentation, there's some more hands up.

All right, let's um navigate to the next slide, please.

Um, just to get a bearing of where it's at, um, uh it's on the northwest um side of of Sicily.

Um I had a video that was gonna zoom in for you all, but we're trying to make this a little bit quicker.

So we can go ahead and go to the next slide.

Just sharing a little bit about um Isola, so you guys have a little bit of understanding of of what this town is like.

Um it's a town um pretty close to Palermo.

Uh in fact, a lot of the events that we went to were in Palermo, and we took a van ride over what would you say, 15, 20 minute ride?

Got it.

Pretty close by a town of about 7,000 residents, 1.2 square miles.

Just to give reference to the city of Monterey, I think we're somewhere around 12 square miles.

Um it's known for its historic tuna fishing port.

Um, its economies based off of fishing tourism and local agriculture.

Um, and then it the attractions where and the Islet where it gets its name from, um Isol Isola uh delle Femine.

Um there's the marina and then the beaches and snorkeling.

And the town, um, while we were there, it's kind of broken up into two parts.

There's um the the beach side where all the resorts are, and then the other side is where all the residents live, the downtown is the city hall, the statues.

Um, and so that's kind of what you see.

Um, do you have the mouse in front of you?

Uh Vince?

I do.

Can you kind of like circle where like the downtown is?

So just folks have a reference.

Yeah, it's like right right below this this big mountain.

That's the city of Isola.

If you were to go just right around that, 15, 20 minutes away is Palermo, which is the capital of Sisley.

This little island here with this little tiny, what's left of a castle is called Isoloto.

Its claim to fame was during the war when the Americans made their way that way, and um things were hot and heavy.

Sicily got um bombarded a lot.

But just this little piece of uh castle, it's only a little piece because during the war, our navy would come outside in that bay and they would shoot target practice at that little uh thing.

So that's a remnant of it.

Love it.

Um, one thing I I forgot to bring up earlier is, and you may need to correct me on this, but I know that there's a lot of the folks that are are of Sicilian descent that are in Monterey are from uh their families come from Isola.

Um, but there's a uh maybe a perhaps a larger number of Sicilians that come from another town in Sicily, Moretomo.

And so we were hoping to maybe pay them a visit while we were out, but the the trip was packed.

And and I'm in fact, I'm not even gonna be able to talk about all the things that we did while we were there for for sake of some level of brevity.

Um, but maybe on a future trip we can make that sure.

And I probably 60% of the Sicilians in Monterey are from Maretomo, and the rest are Isolanis.

So we still we still love you folks that love that.

And by the way, everywhere we went that the mayor went, which was a big deal there to those people.

He got an award that I had to carry back.

I just want to don't worry about it.

Clearly, we had a good time while we were there.

All right, let's go to the next slide, please.

And I'm gonna sit on this slide for a second.

Um, I just want to describe some of the cultural celebrations um that we participated in while we were there.

So we're gonna start with the top left, that photo of myself, and then that's um mayor Neveloso.

Um Orazio Neveloso.

Um, and you can see the reef behind there.

So our first official event, um, I had the honor of of representing Monterey at Italy's national holiday, Festa della Repubblica or Republic Day, and it's somewhat similar to our memorial day, which was a week later after our memorial day.

And this commemorates the 79th anniversary of the founding of the Italian Republic.

This photo shows uh me with Mayor Neveloso of Isola della Femine in Pisa Vittorio Veneto, standing in front of the Palermo's own, what they call Statue of Liberty.

The monument was originally erected to commemorate the unification of Italy with its foundation laid on May 27th, 1910, exactly 50 years after the Palermo insurrection.

Um the next one, the Sea of Roots, is the one on the bot on the bottom right, um, is located along the newly developed uh Vespucci shoreline in Isola de la Femine.

Um they have a beautiful shoreline that they just remodeled, and they have completed the part that's in the more residential part of town.

They're still working on completing it in the in the um resort part of town.

So that that's one of the mayor's efforts he's working on.

This powerful piece was created uh to celebrate the identity and shared heritage of coastal communities connected by sea, especially those whose families immigrated from Isola to places like Monterey, Pittsburgh, and Martinez.

The sea in this way becomes not just geography but legacy.

As part of the ceremony, Mayor Neveloso and I each had a handprint casting that has now been installed at the base of the Sea of Roots statue, complete with our signatures, leaving our mark quite literally on a shared legacy.

There are also two open spaces left for the mayors of Pittsburgh and Martinez, symbolizing the three sister cities in California with historic ties to Isola.

Monterey locals were also there visiting Isola.

Uh a group in particular was there for a family wedding that same week.

Um among them were Orazio and Catherine Ayo Ayello.

Uh, some of the some of you may know Orazio as the tenor who performs at many of our local events and festivals.

He was actually born in Isola, where his family owned a bakery for generations before he and Catherine eventually made their home in Monterey.

We shared a lot of meals.

In fact, I even worked out while I was there, but I still somehow gained weight.

But the picture to the top left is an example of that.

Dr.

Barber, and this meal um was hosted by the previous mayor.

And so Dr.

Barber and I first met the prior mayor Stefano during his visit to Monterey last year for our festa Italia celebration.

So this dinner felt like reconnecting with old friends.

Around the table were nearly 20 local residents, business owners, and community leaders.

It was a chance to share stories, laughs, and more than few plates of incredible Sicilian food.

What made the evening so meaningful was the conversations, particularly the strong ties, many of them still hold with Monterey.

It was a reminder that this sister city relationship are built not just on formal agreements, but on friendships and shared values.

Our final day we visited Palermo's world-renowned Teatro Messimo, which is not pictured here, but that this is Italy's largest opera house.

It's said that even a whisper from the stage can be heard from every seat in the house.

Some of you may also recognize it from being in.

Nobody, nobody knows.

Godfather through Father Three.

Yeah.

Those final scenes were filmed right inside.

And then that last picture there, via Monterey.

Yes, there is a street named after Monterey in Isola.

We gathered for the unit unveiling of a brand new hand painted tile for Via Monterey, one of the streets in Isola, rededicated in honor of our sister city's bond.

Mayor Neveloso and I had the honor of pulling back the cloth together.

This tile replaces an older sign that had faded with time in its beautiful hand painted detail is now a lasting symbol of the friendship between our two communities.

All right, we can go to the next slide, please.

Yeah, please stop me at any time.

Yeah, I just wanted to point out that this sculpture here was done for this particular celebration for uh um mayor Williamson and um his group.

It's uh a ceramic um uh sculptor with a hole in the center, and it looks kind of like a wave.

And what it signifies, it was kind of an emotional thing at the time.

There were about three or four thousand people that came to see this unveiling, represents, frankly, is the people from Isola, the old fishermen went through that the ocean across the ocean to America.

And uh now what's happening is a lot of us, uh, the descendants of those people are coming back through that same level, which was um that was a big deal.

And to think that they did it, uh, worked hard on it, uh, paid for it uh for our visit uh for Sister City.

That that was a big deal.

So, I certainly certainly appreciated it.

Um, one additional, I there's so many fun facts uh uh from from this trip, but one thing in particular about the Sea of Roots statue is it it was set up in a way um that the sun aligns perfectly in the center of the circle there once a year.

So during summer solstice, it aligns perfectly there along the most beautiful coastline in Sicily.

At this dinner, oh first of all, this right here.

Just a side note, uh, this area, that's where the tomb of the own unknown soldier is.

Right, this dinner here was really nice to pay for it.

It's not true either.

Other than that, this is a nice slide.

Right.

All right, so now the more uh diplomatic highlights.

Um, one of the most formal meetings of the trip was an audience with the vice president of Sicily, Eddie uh Tamaho, who also serves as Sicily's counselor for productive activities.

Our meeting took place inside the Palazzo dei Normani or the Royal Palace of Palermo.

Uh, the oldest royal residence in Europe and the seat of the Sicilian Regional Assembly.

After we met in the adjacent room for this photo, they took us over to the assembly hall, which was a beautiful space to be in.

And then as a gesture of friendship and shared culture, uh, I presented him with a first edition of John Steinbeck's of Meissen Men, a novel written in our region that speaks powerfully to themes of aspirations, friendships, and belonging.

Um, it was a meaningful way to introduce Monterey's cultural heritage while honoring the ties with we hope to continue building.

Uh, I want to especially thank John Turner, the general manager from the Intercontinental.

Um, it was his idea.

I I was bouncing some ideas um off with with folks around how do we get some meaningful gifts um for our our hosts.

And he came up with the idea, he he pre-purchased it for us um and and had it ready for us to go before we left um to head to Sicily.

So just wanted to give a shout-out and appreciation to John Turner.

Um, and then we also, while we were there, we also met with the police chief of Palermo during our visit.

That was during the um Republic Day event.

We also met with the mayor of Palermo.

Um, we also met with all the regional mayors, and you may have saw, can you go back to the last slide real quick, please?

Um Mayor Neveloso is wearing a sash um with the Italian the colors of the Italian flag.

All the mayors wear that, it's a thing that they do.

And um they were even encouraging me to bring one with me.

I thought that that was too much.

So I stuck with the uh Monterey tie if you notice the tie that I'm wearing.

So all right, we can go forward now.

Two slides.

Oh, sorry, looking ahead.

I think we went one too far, maybe.

Oh no, I'm sorry, you were right.

I apologize.

I was in the wrong place.

Um, so personal reunion and connection across time.

Um, I this is a personal story for me.

Um so before I get to kind of more of the conclusion of this, I was working from home one day and um and I was on a call and I saw two women opening the front gate of my house.

And so I got off the call and I greet them.

Um it's not every day I have two folks, random folks coming up to my house.

And so um I come out and they said that they used to live in in my house, um, which interestingly enough is is on spaghetti hill, and that's kind of some of that shared heritage between our our communities.

Um, and so I said, of course, come in, please come in, take a look.

And when Ivan and I moved into our house, we completely gutted the entire inside and remodeled.

So it looks completely different than it did when, of course, they they live there.

Um, but as soon as the mother walked into the door, she just started bawling.

And um the daughter shared with me, she lives in Seaside now, um, and her um brother owns um a coffee shop on uh Fisherman's Wharf.

The mother now lives back in um Isola.

And so um they we exchanged contact information in my preparations for going on this trip, um, I made it a point to stop by her house to visit her.

So um brought the mayor of Isola by, um, and you can see her embracing me warmly while we were there.

And um, she every so often just checks in on me.

Um, but this is what the relationship is all about, um, is that is that connection and making sure that regardless of our differences that we can reach across and and be able to appreciate and understand each other a little bit better.

Um, so anyways, I just wanted to share that little bit of a personal experience that I had while visiting there.

So the guy there to the left is is her husband, and um that's my mom to the right.

If you haven't had a chance to meet my mom, my mom was there on the trip as well.

So it was a wonderful experience.

All right, so looking ahead, um, as we wrap up this unforgettable journey, I want to share two key next steps that are already in motion um as outcomes of the visit.

There's some other things up here, but I I'll speak to these two items in particular.

Um, first, we're working closely with vice president of Sicily on a commercial exchange.

Um, Dr.

M has already picked up those discussions since we returned home and we're looking forward to continued progress in that space, building tangible economic and business ties that benefit both sides of the ocean.

And I'll just pass it to you for a second, Dr.

M.

If you want to speak any more to what's going on.

Sure.

When we went to the uh parliament building, and uh the vice president spoke to us, Mr.

Eddie Tamayo, real nice man.

I asked if I can have five minutes one-on-one with him after his presentation.

He granted that.

And uh he's a very influential person there.

He started uh international commission on commerce, wherein the his sole purpose is to have commerce between the smaller communities of Sicily uh and export some of their goods.

We talked about that.

Um I've been in communication with Mayor Neveloso a lot recently.

There's a lot going on.

They're very interested in forming this collaboration.

My ask of the vice president was uh on behalf of the city of Monterey, uh, is to get a seat at that commerce table to see if we can create bonds.

I know that we can, um, both tourism, um, hospitality and commerce itself.

I know uh Dr.

Barbara has an interest in uh educational exchange.

That's very doable, very doable.

So I think that there's a lot of opportunity that's budding right now.

Um, and the mayor, uh, let me just say this about the mayor if I could.

He represented Monterey in an extraordinary way, very professional.

He was um, he just everywhere he went, he was greeted with uh much warmth.

And he did everything he could to represent in a very positive way.

He got a chance to meet some very influential dignitaries there.

And absent his involvement, that would not have taken place.

So uh I want to personally thank you.

It was that was humbling.

But uh great job.

Thank you.

Thank you for carrying my bags.

Yeah, yeah, thank you.

Oh no, thank you.

That was a joke.

That was a joke.

Um, thank you for that.

I appreciate it.

And and it kind of gets into the second point that I was going to share, which is um conversations that have been going on with uh president of MPC about launching uh a potential Sicilian cultural program.

Um, so those are two main things kind of coming from the trip that um we felt are pretty substantial that um we can pick up the ball and move forward.

Um then I'm gonna throw another one too, which is maybe more pie in the sky.

And I don't, and I don't know.

I think it's doable.

I think it's really possible.

Um, their sea of roots statue that they have.

Um, I think it would be wonderful to have somewhat of a replica in Monterey, and that way we can have a little bit more of that kind of uh uh physical bond tie to to Monterey.

So maybe Sister City Park, I don't know where where the best location is, but wow, um yeah, great idea.

That's my my little added thing there.

Um I'm gonna end on the next slide here.

Gratitudes and and future partnerships.

Um, I want to stay, I want to start by giving a heartfelt thank you to all the members of the Izola delegation who welcomed us and all of the officials from Palermo in the Sicilian Assembly.

I want to particularly thank Mayor Neveloso, who, though his leadership through his leadership not only uh prepared an amazing experience for us, um, but is also somebody whom I'm proud to consider a friend.

Uh he cares deeply about his community and sees the value in strengthening the sister city relationship.

I also want to give a special shout out to Giuseppe and Tonino, um, who I also consider friends.

Um, but they did an amazing job of acting in the role as our interpreters while we were there.

Um, and they did an amazing job of it.

Um I'm deeply grateful for the people here at home who are keeping the Italian culture alive from the passionate Festa Italian organizers to community leaders like Vince and the Friends of Isola Group to those who simply share stories, food, and memories that shape our local heritage.

When I was putting this slide together, and I this is my third version of the slide deck.

I had one that was like 50 slides long.

I was like, no, this is too much, obviously.

But I I went to there's a Italian heritage site that just has so many photos, historic photos that you can go on and look at, and you can see spots in Monterey that used to be that are no longer here.

Um, or you can see things that are more familiar.

So it's just um a really cool experience to just go down uh that little path.

Um, in addition to the local folks, um, I also wanted to thank um uh Frank Bruno, who is also part of the Friends of the Sister City.

He it he represents from Pittsburgh.

Um, and he went out of his way.

I mean, paid for his own trip to go.

Once he found out that we were going, he wanted to go and support.

And and that's how strong the bond is, and how much there's a passionate group behind um continuing this sister city relationship.

So I just want to give a shout out to to uh Frank.

Um I also want to thank councilmember Dr.

Kim Barber.

Um, she was the driving force behind getting this whole thing started again from the city's perspective.

There was a little bit of a lull in city's engagement with the sister city relationship.

And so Dr.

Barber got a lot of this going.

Um, and uh well it's unfortunate she couldn't make it on this trip this time.

Um, I'm gonna end with this.

We have to make this work.

Um, it's too important.

I'm not Italian, but this experience showed me how valuable it is to understand people who come from a background different than my own.

And honestly, that's what's missing in politics today.

We need to be able to listen to each other.

We need to appreciate where people come from, even when it's not our story, and find ways to move forward together.

Um, so thank you all for being part of this story.

Let's keep building it together.

So thank you all.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Thank you.

I don't leave yet.

We're gonna go to public comment.

I don't know if anybody else has anything to say.

I'll check with my colleagues first before we go to public comment.

Anybody on the council?

Uh, are you going to the public first?

Council first.

Okay.

Um, if I can start.

Please, please do.

Uh, thank you, Dr.

M for uh making this happen and and coordinating this with uh our mayor to be able to go and and thank you for your presentation and uh the insight.

And it's all all very good.

And it's very, very good to constantly rekindle the sister city um, you know, connections.

And I think it's important to you know keep these ongoing.

I think the intent of the sister city was we know that there's times where it seems like there's lull, but really the lion's share of this is the associations, and we really appreciate your involvement in the association to keep it alive, and we love to see those that come and visit and as we can visit.

I know many residents of Monterey that uh are from Isola.

My next door neighbor's family was born in Isola.

Uh, and so we hear the stories through others about the connections.

And so when the association is strong, that means that benefits the community because that means that there is that 24-7, 365 days connection.

Correct.

And so the government can kind of come in and out and we're here, but we know the lion's share of this work is because of the association and their members.

So thank you very much for that amount, sir.

Of work.

I also want to say, um, because I know there was a little bit of a, you know, uh, we had a little bump in the road about going and thank you for going and and thank you for making this work out of your own budget.

I know that there'll be some people watching this and they're gonna rekindle and still have the same questions.

So I want to say that there was no city funds that made this happen.

This was on you, and and if you had donations, that's your business.

But the association and you, and thank you for going there.

And I want to make sure that the public knows that it was not uh any city expenditure of of funds.

Because it was a successful trip.

It's meaningful that we have the connection, that we have opportunities moving forward as we keep in mind the spirit of of sister cities is friendship, business opportunities, and supporting each other, no matter where our sister cities are.

And when we take on the philosophy of like the UN, we have relationships.

We stay away from international conflicts and wars.

And we become a stronger planet by having international relationships where we solve our problems with diplomatic process and dialogue and not resort for not resort in horrific conflicts that result in war.

So this is one of those things that we can do as a society in the United States is to have strong sister cities throughout the world to make sure that we have a spirit of resolving any conflicts that we have through agreements and compromise and dialogue and not by fighting.

So thank you very much for You're welcome, sir.

I know you didn't carry the bags, but thank you very much for let me just say thank you for opening the doors and helping for him to have the interpretation he needed and the language that he didn't always understand.

My pleasure.

I'm sure you got a few uh Sicilian language words now.

Ciao.

That was that's all we brought after seven days.

Yeah.

So you know, so yeah, Bongiorno.

So if you want a little slice of uh Isola, pick out any Italian restaurant in Monterey and you'll get it.

Yep.

Thank you.

It's true.

Thank you, sir.

Anybody else on the council want to speak on this one?

All right.

With that, we'll go ahead and open it up to the public.

For folks on Zoom, you can use a raise hand function.

Anybody in the chamber wishes to speak on this item.

All right.

Seeing none, I'll go ahead and do a countdown for folks on Zoom to five, four, three, two, one.

And we have one person on Zoom.

We'll go ahead and take our public comment here.

This is a telephone caller with the last three digits, five zero zero.

You can go ahead, please.

This is Wendy Brickman.

I'm president of Old Fisherman's Wharf.

I'm Mark at Festa Italia, and also the Stanton Center.

And I just want to thank Tyler for going and the everyone else who went.

And I think it's very, very important to discuss this at a city council meeting because it's these relationships that build economic commerce and friendship and long-lasting relationships, as he said.

And every time I go to the fisherman statue, which was erected in 1979 at the end of the finger pier, or the Santa Rosalia statue dedicated to all that make a living from the sea.

Now I will think of Tyler and everyone else.

And I want to encourage people to go to the Stanton Center where there's an exhibit from the Italian Heritage Society and the Fest Italia Foundation called Bounty of the Sea, which will give you more information.

And also, of course, thanks for mentioning Festa Italia, September 5th through 7th.

And finally, Tyler, I want to come see the rest of your pictures.

So maybe you could do a presentation at the Stanton Center near the Bounty of the Sea exhibit.

Thank you.

Thank you, Wendy.

With that, we'll go ahead and close public comment.

And I'll just make one final comment.

And I appreciate your comments, Councilmember Smith.

Since being on the council, there's been an interaction with a couple of our sister cities, whether I've been able to visit there or they've come here.

And the one thing that I appreciate is a lot of us think about international relations from the perspective of national politics.

But really, it's really at the local level that those relationships are formed and those bonds are created.

We're going into locals' homes.

They're coming into our homes and we get to break bread with them in a way that is not such pomp and circumstance that's seen at the national level.

And we experienced that through several meals that we had while we were in Ezola.

So I just want to give kudos again to to Dr.

M for all the work that he did and um and Dr.

Barber.

I mean, there's this was a lot of um work and effort that led to this trip happening.

And I know that there's gonna be more work to come.

So, yes, sir.

Thank you.

Thank you, Roll.

Yeah.

All right.

I need to stop talking.

I'm gonna go to it number three presentation on residential parking permit program updates.

I'm gonna pass it to Nat for staff introductions.

Great.

Thank you very much, uh Mayor and uh and council.

The city's first residential parking program began in 1985, and it was intended to support residential parking in neighborhoods based on the various impacts from commercial districts, visitors, and schools.

And it's been a robust program that's been very successful, 18 separate zones now.

But what we've found out is over the years the program structure has been outdated and consistent with the city council's policies and goals to uh to be more fiscally responsible and to change the way we do business.

If you may recall the core strategy, to see changing the way we do business to be more streamlined and our revenue enhancements that uh look at cost recovery.

Uh the parking division team, they've uh launched an effort to uh relook and retool the residential parking permit program.

There's also an equity element that's important in terms of addressing low-income households as well in Monterey.

And so uh staff has a presentation to share with all of you about where we are, how we've engaged the community and where we're headed and how our revitalized program is going to not only help support our residents and the goals for residential parking, but also help improve effectiveness in terms of how that works with our parking division operationally.

So, uh presenting the report is Christy Steffi, our parking superintendent.

Well, thank you, and thanks for that synopsis.

So good afternoon and uh mayor and council members.

I just wanted to thank you for the opportunity to be here as I mentioned.

I'm Christy Stephia.

I'm serving as a parking superintendent.

Um I appreciate the opportunity to be here this afternoon and provide a brief um uh preview of some of the proposed updates and it to our existing residential parking permit program.

This has been a project that's been in the works for quite some time, and our goal is to modernize the residential parking program so that it is easier to access, more equitable, and financially sustainable.

To help us to achieve this, we have um partnered with Dixon Resources Unlimited, who's done a lot of work with the city in the past, and they are a nationally recognized parking and mobility consultant.

Together, we're currently developing a residential parking action plan, which we plan to bring back in the fall as a roadmap to the final recommendations.

So, just as this is just going to be kind of a preview of what we're looking at, what we're wanting um what we're seeing as opportunities for change and improvement.

So, why are we updating the program might be the first question?

So the first residential parking program began in 1985, and this was addressed, as Nat said, to address the overflow of parking impacts that were from commercial districts, schools, and tourist destinations.

Well, over the years it's grown to include the 18 different zones, and today the system is outdated, it's difficult to manage, it's inconsistent, and it's not financially sustainable.

So the key message on that is that our current system doesn't match today's needs, and that's that that's our chance now to rebuild a smarter and more balanced residential parking program.

And the one thing to remember about a residential parking program is that it is initiated by the residents.

The program is community driven, meaning that they are if they have a parking intrusion from a nearby commercial school or venue and they identify a need for parking, it's up to the resident to then petition and get support from the neighborhood and then bring that petition forward.

Currently, that requires 50% of the residents to support it, 50% plus one, and then they bring that to the city.

And then as the city, it's our job where we currently provide a framework to help support the neighborhood in managing their needs.

So what that means is that we're not imposing any of the rules, but rather we're supporting the residents with tools that we use citywide to help manage what the parking demand is.

So since the residents are a key component of the program, we have made sure that we've done a lot of community outreach on this one.

So we have already hosted three town hall meetings.

We've conducted two community surveys to gather feedback, and then we have out ongoing outgoing um outreach pro efforts through our have your same Monterey um page.

We have a page dedicated to this project.

And so these proposed updates are not only rooted in like what is the best practices, but also taking into consideration the community feedback.

So, what are the five areas that we are currently reviewing as opportunities for improvement?

So the first one would be modernizing the program.

It's as of today, the resident comes into the office.

It's all managed on paper, and we're issuing decals as well as guest permits.

So the decals are stickers that go on the bumper, paper permits that go on the dashboard.

So those are difficult to manage.

They're not connected to anything.

And if we move to an online system, that gives us an opportunity to modernize it.

It gives the opportunity for the resident to self-manage their permits.

And it also gives us the opportunity to make the license plate become the permit rather than having a decal or a paper permit.

With that, it also ties into our existing technology, which is the license plate recognition, which I would also refer to as LPR.

And that also is a benefit for enforcement.

So it's easier for residents, it improves enforcement and it aligns with modern best practices.

So the second one is that we want to introduce modest permit fees.

So currently the permits are free, but managing the program is not free.

The proposed fees would help cover costs that include signage, administrative support, as well as enforcement of the program itself.

The free structure, the fee structure.

We are also looking at how do we incorporate a low come low income or income-based option, and that's to ensure that it is equitable and fair.

And then the permit fees would support support a sustainable and equitable program that can go long term as well.

The other one is we're looking at our third one is looking at our petition process for establishing zones.

So currently it's set up that it's done block by block, which creates inconsistencies.

So we are looking at considering a minimum, like something as like four block minimum, and then that helps ensure that it's not moving the parking problem one block to the next block.

We're also looking at higher petition thresholds.

As I mentioned, it currently only asks for 50% plus one.

So looking at a higher percentage threshold would also ensure that it's encourages stronger community census to request the program.

And the reason we want to look at new petition process is to ensure that the zones will reflect the parking demand and that we'll have broad support from the residents for it.

We're also looking at permit limits per household.

So currently the system allows unlimited permits, and it leads to overuse and overcrowding and undermines the effort or the intent of the residential parking program.

So we're considering capping permits to make the curb space more available and for and fair for everyone.

And the last one, the fifth one that we're looking at is a requalification and a zone consolidation of our existing zones.

So all of the existing zones of that are the 18 that we have, we want to look at that as an opportunity since we are making changes to have the residents have a say in that that one that this program is still needed and wanted and supported by the residents.

And then we would in that process still use the same threshold that they used to qualify in the first place, which would be the 50% plus one resident to buy back into the new program under the new terms.

And then with that, we'd like to also look at an opportunity to consolidate the zones because over time they have become fragmented.

So looking at 18 zones with the possibility of being able to narrow that down to six zones.

Doing this approach would help us align our current zones with modern goals and improves our consistency citywide.

So those are the key five areas that we're looking at that are major changes to the program as it exists today.

And so that's just a preview of what we're looking at.

And so what would come next is that we anticipate returning in the fall of 2025.

And with that, we would bring with us the final recommendations along with the residential parking action plan.

That's the roadmap to how we would roll the new changes out.

And then it would also be accompanied by a draft code amendment, which would also be for council consideration to be able to support the new program.

So as I mentioned, this is just a preview of what we plan to bring forward.

And it's this is our opportunity to redesign the program, not just to fix what's outdated, but to build something that's more equitable, adaptable, and responsive to community needs.

That's my broad overview if you have any questions on that.

Awesome.

Thank you for the presentation.

Open up to the council for questions.

Please, Dr.

Robert.

So thank you so much.

So yeah, definitely.

I see modernizing it.

I mean, I mean, the paper and trying to keep up with all of that, I think that definitely needs to happen.

I do have some questions.

You talk about the license plate recognition.

And I understand it is that's can connected to parking, uh, kind of how in some, you know, a lot of cities how they you put your license plate in, and that's how you actually get the permit.

Now that's not connected to the license plate reader that the system, I just want clarification on that that the police use.

I just want I'm just trying to because when you said that my mind went there, and I just want to get clarification.

So yeah, a parking does use a license plate recognition.

We'd actually we've had it in place for I think in 2001 we had our first one, and then we upgraded our equipment in the 2022.

So we do have currently three scooters that have the ALPR, so the automated license plate recognition.

That's how we're enforcing our um paid parking.

We updated all of our pay stations.

So when the customer goes to the pay station, they enter their license plate, and then the enforcement uses the license plate readers, they read the plates, they come up as paid, and then that's their license plate is their permit.

So, similar to the residential parking program, it would instead of being a sticker decal or a paper permit that goes on the dashboard, the resident would use their plate number and their plate number would become their permit.

So it's a virtual one, and enforcement then uses the LPR when they're doing down doing their enforcement, it's reading the plates, it registers it's a permit, it's a permitted plate, so then it's exempt from the post-it time limit.

So, clarification.

It's not being used as part of the police reader system, the license plate reader system, but used in as far as just parking for parking um enforcement.

Is that correct?

Yeah, I mean, we're not tied into the police license.

Okay, yeah, if it's connected now.

There are two separate systems.

That's correct.

That's what I'd like to hear.

That's what I need to hear.

So that's what I understood, but I needed to get clarification.

So it's two different systems.

Okay.

Um, also, um, you said something about wanting to do more um uh for the the threshold 50 percent plus one.

So you you're looking at trying to get more than 50 percent plus one for neighborhood to be able to go forward with something.

Yeah, so to ensure that there's enough consensus on that.

I mean, we have found that when the petition does go out and we're adding new zones now, we find that you know they do reach that threshold that we have now of the 50% plus one, but then that leaves a lot of the residents that are not necessarily bought into the program.

And if the program's changing and there's now a cost associated for the permits, we want to ensure that as a community or as a neighborhood that they do have consensus.

Again, it's not anything that we're forcing upon them, but that's why we want to make sure that we have the community buy-in.

Um, and then uh one other question.

Um, uh notice with the low income parking permit, you had um a scale structure of first two being free, and then the third one 25 and the fourth one fifty dollars.

Would that come into play with what you're talking about with the limit for household?

Yeah, and those are still just like considerations, those are examples of like these structures that we could um we could consider.

So you but yes.

Yeah, it's $50.

That's that's a lot for a lot of and that was just a sample for like, but not our final recommendation.

Absolutely.

Okay.

Thank you.

Yeah, thank you very much, Christy.

Um, yeah, I think it's it's time for the you know, innovation to be embraced and and to um take a chance to examine this.

A couple comments um on the draft reading, and I know it's not finalized yet.

Um, I heard you say we have about 18 zones currently or 18 neighborhoods that are currently enforced.

Correct.

Um, so that means it's a big lift of staff to manage the permitting process.

So, really, this is about revenue recapturing of the actual cost to run the programs.

But the feedback I've heard from residents is that um they've identified their neighborhoods as very difficult parking and they would like to do the program.

However, they struggle with the outreach of actually contacting their neighbors and getting a yes or no or a maybe.

So, is the city in a position that if we were to revamp this, that we could assist with uh providing the information to assist with the ask of can they get qualified?

Because I think the biggest problem is that it relies on a neighborhood association, or it relies on going door to door and trying to get people to commit where they say, yeah, I'm I'm part of that, count me as part of the 50 plus one, and I want it.

It's the outreach that I think residents struggle with, and I think that that's why we have not seen some problematic neighborhoods not be moved forward because they can't figure out how they can reach to get people to vote and say yes, they're down for it.

So if we go to a high threshold of 80 percent, I venture to say we'll never have a neighborhood be able to get to 80% unless the city takes that burden on the 50% plus one.

I don't have a problem with it, but we've also struggled with getting some neighborhoods to even get to the 50.

Even though we know we have a problem with it, we we don't acknowledge that we're gonna help.

So I'd like to know more as we proceed.

How can we actually help those concerned neighborhoods that are not currently permitted and regulated to actually get to that 50%?

I'm very concerned about going to 80% because then I think that just makes it almost impossible to get a new neighborhood that needs resolution, and it will continue to be a problem, which then impacts calls to the police department, neighborhood conflicts, red zone violations, uh double stacking, so it's not regulated.

So I'm concerned about the 80, and I'm concerned about not assisting the neighborhoods with the outreach.

Okay, um, and so maybe that's something you can just kind of take back and include in some um thought process.

Um, the other thing is that I know that we have some legacy neighborhoods that have been involved for many, many years.

Um the technology is a good thing.

Um, how do you see us converting converting folks to actually register their license plate and move away from the hard permit to actually filling out a form so you can update your system?

And is there a transition period that will have to build into that?

Yes, I mean, yes, absolutely.

Um, we would definitely have a transition period.

We would work with each of the neighborhood associations to help facilitate that, especially in the um requalification process.

Um, and then I'm sorry, what was the second part of the question?

Well, the other thing is the transition time because when you transition from going to the parking office now, you want somebody to access a portal and fill out the information.

And I, you know, and I'm one of the surveys that was one of the questions we asked about modernizing the program, there was a lot of support for that.

There is an interest in it.

A lot of people ask when they come in.

It is sometimes difficult to manage, you know, getting your permits.

You work full time, our office is open the same hours.

We don't really have hours that are convenient for somebody who's so they're trying to come in on a lunch break or take time off to be able to come in.

And I think that it would be well received to have something that's an online, you can access it, you can register, you can submit your documents, it's still reviewed by your staff.

And then for those who maybe that's not an option that they want, our office staff is still available.

We're still open Monday through Friday, eight to five, and we can still provide that person that service in person, or we can also do it by phone.

But it's a your question of like modernizing and getting people online.

We've already um kind of tested out the online process internally.

Like our own staff has signed up as residents.

We signed up as the admin, we're looking at it, and it I have to say, even kind of pushing it out to other city departments to help me test it.

The feedback I've gotten is that it's really easy to use, and I think that it'll have a positive rollout when again getting people to transition, but it does come down to communication, working with the different neighborhoods.

And you know, I think part of the requalification is where we're gonna get that engagement.

So it is I I anticipate there's a lot of community outreach on it and support.

And we currently require proof of residency, so through a utility bill.

Correct.

So is there a way that we could just automatically preload through the systems we have, like sewer, uh PGE addresses that are already known through utilities.

So your staff doesn't have to verify and upload a document.

So they're scanning, they're scanning something.

So I went to I had to uh renew a vehicle, you've all done it.

Registration time, I go get it smogged, that goes to DMV.

I then go online, I pay the bill.

There's no insurance required.

There's no proof of my smog required because it's connected to the smog.

So if we could access the data of utility companies for proof of residency to avoid having to have someone scan, upload, and staff have to verify that there is an attached utility bill to that address.

It's one more step that we eliminate so they don't have to worry about scanning.

We would be able to access their proof of residency by the utility bill that's paid to that residence.

Yeah, I've I've never thought about it from that perspective, and I'm not sure what that would take, but it is a very interesting one.

So I think in anything that avoids having to physically copy, scan, attach, and then you receive an email, and then you download it.

I mean, that's really where your staff time is connecting the application to the proof of residency to then issue the permit.

So if we could do this more automated to the address and a utility of confirmation of who's paying a utility bill, yeah, that would save a whole lot of staff.

No, I think that would require the utility sharing that information too.

And then that is one of the aspects of it, but the other one is that people are using rental agreements and lease agreements because not everybody has a utility.

So I mean, those are the two that we do accept or property tax bill.

But I I I hear what you're saying.

I see that how that could be an automated and save time.

I mean, there's always going to be the exceptions where that's not gonna work, automate it's not gonna work, but you're gonna have to get a uh proof that they've got a lease, a proof that they're a resident, they're they're a child of somebody who owns the home.

So the there's always the variations, but if you could take out 70% of it by some network of proof of address where there's a utility, yeah, that would that would save you a whole lot of labor.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

Okay.

Councilmember Rush, did you have anything?

No, thank you.

My questions have been asked and answered.

Thank you.

Same here.

So we'll go ahead and open it up for public comment.

Um, for those on Zoom, you can use the raise hand function.

In the meantime, I will check with folks in the chamber.

Anybody in the chamber wish to speak on this item?

See one taker, anybody else?

All right, two.

Anybody else?

Yeah, all right.

So we have two in the chamber.

I'm gonna go ahead and cut it off in the chamber.

We're gonna check on Zoom, do a countdown to five, four, three, two, one.

And we have nobody on Zoom, so we'll go ahead and start in the chamber.

Good afternoon, Mayor Williamson, council members.

Uh, my name is Mark Kraftchuk, and I first I also would like to express my appreciation to parks and recreation.

Uh, I attended uh Whispering Pines, I survived Dennis the Menace, and I have lived here all my life and have watched the um uh the park, you know, Vaporizo be transformed from a dump into the beautiful park that it is now.

So I just want to say appreciation for that.

Um, I'm here today on behalf of my neighbors.

In early November 2024, the 600 block of Larkin Street submitted an application for residential permit parking.

This is a single block just between Madison and the Monterey High School.

Several of the homes in this small block do not have driveways and rely on street parking.

Residents have struggled with the lack of on-street parking due to the proximity of Monterey High School, as well as an increase in multiple cars per residence in nearby apartments.

This has only been exacerbated by the construction at the school.

The res the residential parking action plan changes the thresholds of affected households in order to apply for a permit.

In communications with Ms.

Steffi, she has indicated that this 600 block of Larkin will be included in the updated program.

Residents on this block have been patient for the last nine months, and we are hopeful that these new thresholds will not apply to the application that was submitted back in November.

I appreciate Councilman Merce Smith's uh comments about the threshold level because it is difficult to go out and canvas the neighborhood or reach out to your neighbors to to reach that threshold.

We feel that this block should be qualified and consolidated with the existing contiguous zones on Larkin already in place.

Residents near Monterey High School have been frustrated by the traffic pattern established by the school for pickup of students, especially during this construction.

As noted previously to the council, this has led to unsafe traffic conditions, and we are hopeful that with this the implementation of the action plan that that consideration will be given to all the residential streets impacted by the school traffic and student parking.

Thank you.

Good evening, mayor, city council members.

My question for the previous speaker would be maybe the amount of spaces available for parking, um, is there a certain percentage set aside for disabled people?

And if not, who determines or how is that figured out because a simple an area um one of the busiest areas in our city?

Um I believe in that area.

There's 250 available parkings, and um if only let's say a dozen or less spaces available for disabled parking, um, can the city or the person in charge of this um maybe look into um exploring expanding um disability disability parking?

It's an important issue, and I know there's I see because I spend so much time downtown, I see a lot of uh, and I actually watch people and people come up to me and question where to park and how to park and how to pay, and I let them know if you don't pay, you will get a ticket.

And the city is very good at issuing tickets, and I'd like to see that a bigger effort for um disability parking would be made available.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, with that, we'll go ahead and close public comment and bring it back to the council.

Dr.

Barber, did you have something else to add there?

Um, just at some of the things that they already have on there where they're talking about some of the areas that are already kind of congested with parking being issue, like Canary Row, Lighthouse, and um some of the other areas.

I think that's Nova.

Oh no, but I know I just want to make sure that they're paying attention to those areas that are already uh dealing with a lot of congestion dealing with parking as they are working on this proposal.

Okay.

Um, sorry, and I meant to go to staff about the question around disability.

Uh, I'm assuming we're compliant with the requirements associated with that, but I didn't know if staff wanted to provide a response to that public comment.

I just wanted to add that um also they can park in any 24 minute spaces or any meter spaces by using their placard, and they don't have to pay the meters and they can stay more than 24 minutes as well.

So, that helps with the availability.

We are compliant with um required handicap spaces, current ADA requirements.

Perfect.

And then um, how does it relate to the residential are there requirements associated?

Like if we have a parking program where residents get parking permits, is there a requirement for us to have or is there something in our program that we put in handicapped parking spaces for for residents?

We have an existing program where they do get a green space and the green space they can park um up to 72 hours.

Okay, just like any other parking space.

Okay, okay, thank you.

Anybody else on the council have anything on this one?

Um, please.

And I know um and a Monterey High School was brought up.

Uh we've learned this week from Monterey Punisher Unified School District, they're on track to complete the parking lot project by before school year begins.

So a lot of those issues hopefully will be resolved.

So, yep, perfect.

Thank you for that.

Um, on the I actually do have another question.

Um, when we do the vote threshold, how is the vote conducted?

Um, is it is the vote based off of only those who submitted a vote one way or the other?

Or are we looking at total registered voters?

Like how is the vote tabulated in order to get to the 50% plus one threshold right now?

Oh, for the petition process.

Is that what?

Yeah, okay.

So and many of the residents.

So it it just as long as they meet that threshold.

So let's say there's two thousand people that live on a block, and if only 500 of those people vote, only those 500 votes count towards that 50% plus one threshold.

Yeah, and it's one per address.

So it's of the total addresses on the said block, yeah.

And one signature per address.

Okay.

So thank you for that.

My my two cents on it all.

When you were when um you were describing that, my initial thought was that it was low.

Um, and I, and how you present it in regards to having a higher threshold as a means to get more community support.

To me, does make sense.

Um, I appreciate council member Smith's comments around how can the city support um a community that's uh a block or however we define who the how the threshold is developed.

Um, how do we as a city support them in that effort?

Um, I think is something for us to think about.

Um, but I would say that having a higher threshold is important in order to have that larger community buy-in, um, which is I think important for something like this.

Um, and then and as it relates to the permits, um, for the particularly for the low income, all about supporting low income folks.

So I think that the way that it's presented is not necessarily bad.

Um, I'm thinking if somebody is if if there's a low income family living in a household, um, they're probably less likely to have more vehicles.

Even if you have a household that has maybe multiple families living in it, um, they could probably pull to, I mean, if and if they end up going up to four vehicles, they could probably pull together funding to help equalize the cost.

So I'm mindful of, you know, getting to a fourth permit and that being $50, but they just got two free permits.

Um, and you know, when you're tight on a budget, you have to be able to make it find a way of making it work.

And we do have to find a way of being able to pay for the program.

So just my thoughts.

Um, and just to clarify, the permit fee is per year, not per month.

Thank you.

Yes.

If I said per month, I I apologize.

I did not mean to say that if I did, um, but yes, yeah, um, okay, I think that's it for me.

Thank you for the presentation.

And with that, we are gonna continue to flow on with our presentation unless you had any last minute.

Um, could could I ask you to state again when does this come back to us?

Because I know some folks might have gotten lost from what you said.

We will see this again when in the fall, so between September and October.

And we're working on some of the code amendments right now, and we're finalizing the parking action plan, which would then become the roadmap and then bringing both of those together to be at one time.

Okay, great, great for information for the public.

Thank you.

Perfect.

Thank you.

Do I have to extend?

Oh, okay.

Um, all right.

With that, we're gonna go ahead and open up for general public comments.

Um, these are for items that aren't on today's agenda.

So I will check with folks on Zoom to use the raise hand function.

In the meantime, I'll ask for folks in the chamber.

Anybody in the chamber wishes to speak for general public comments?

See, one, two.

Three, this is general general public comment.

This is for items that are not on today's agenda.

One, two, three, four, five in the chamber.

Anybody else other than the five that are currently standing in the chamber?

All right, so we're gonna go ahead and cut it off to the five.

I'll do a countdown for folks on Zoom to five, four, three, two, one.

And we have two on Zoom.

I'm gonna leave it to two minutes for sake of time.

So we'll go ahead and start in the chamber.

Good afternoon, Mayor Williamson, council members and city staff.

I'm Anthony Gonzalez, a long-term resident as well as the co-owner and community relations officer for off the charts Monterey, the city's first and only dispensary.

I'd like to take uh for you guys to take a fresh look at the Monterey's 20% tax on sweetened cannabis beverages.

Right now, customers already pay 19% state excise tax, which recently moved from 15 to 19 just this month on July 1st.

They pay a 19.25% combined state and local tax.

They pay an additional 4% city tax, as well as a 1% potency tax.

That's an and then an additional 20% more for sweetened beverages.

So in plain terms, a $9 beverage in our store sells for $15.

That's an extra $6 in taxes, a two-third increase over the price that it should be.

So that steep uh steep jump hurts those who serve uh those that we serve in our community.

So we're asking that uh this the city council relook at that tax that 20% sweetened beverage tax and look at potentially lowering that uh to make it more affordable for you know uh for our consumers and our residents of Monterey, Pacific Grove, and those that visit our store.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Hi, I have a three-minute speech, but I'll try to rush it through.

Okay.

My name is Joyce Hoffman, and I'm a board member of Monterey Fly Safe Coalition.

We are bringing to your attention concerns expressed by our group to the airport district board.

These concerns are shared by many residents in the city of Monterey.

Residents of the Monterey Peninsula are grateful that previous Monterey Airport District Boards between 1979 and 1981 acted to protect the community from excessive airport noise by passing ordinances 308 curfew 309, touch and go restrictions, 310 altitude restrictions, these ordinances adopted decades before the ink of the 1990 were necessary then, and they're even more uh critical now, as the frequency and intensity of aircraft operations have increased dramatically.

As confirmed by substantial going.

Well, the point is I'm making is that the current board now wants to rescind these three ordinances.

Um they're gonna do that tomorrow at 8 a.m.

The board has failed to explain who benefits from the repeal, who bears the cost, particularly in terms of noise sleep disruption, stress-related issue, and loss of community livability, repealing these ordinances without completing sequel review would constitute a clear violation of the state environmental law.

Uh, what we want is the board um three.

Well, also we want you to know that the board recently had an effort to repeal 900 ordinances, and now these three specific ones requested by our foyer raise a serious questions.

Why now?

If the ordinances are truly ineffective, why is it repealed necessary at all?

We'd rather that they enforce the system warrants.

Thank you.

Hello, I'm Jim Burns.

Um, what a great day.

Celebrating Parks and Rec.

Uh, sister city.

Uh, my children all had their birthday parties at Archer Park, the little neighborhood parks were such a gathering for everyone.

Uh, kids learn to ride their bikes, and uh I really believe in civic equipment and how it facilitates personal relationships like your uh granddaughter meeting all those people and involves the community.

You know, you get involved.

So I had some ideas about Monterey, and one of them is have you ever been to Puerto Vallarta?

Um, okay.

They have that mosaic plaza, and my friend was on the committee that did that.

And right now there's arts in the park uh money available for the state park.

I want to talk to the state park, and like all those white walls could be mosaics, you know, and what they did was it was sea theme in Port of Ayarta.

It's whales and dolphins and all that.

And another thing I thought was uh we have city sidewalks on Canary Row.

And there's no such thing as an environmental walk of fame anywhere in the world.

And like we could put environmental walk of fame, like there's the slope landing bronze thing at the front of the fisherman's wharf.

You could start with like Julie Packard and Leon Panetta, because of his work with the National Marine Sanctuary and hers with founding the aquarium and then do Rachel Carson, John Mirror, and it could go up and down the street of Cantery Row to help draw the people out of the aquarium.

The other thing was that Cantery Row, the sidewalks are inadequate for the amount of people that the aquarium draws.

So either a people's proposition or a city council thing of closing it down.

They close it down for a pedestrian stroll during car week just to show that it's not needed as a thoroughfare on the busiest weekend of the year.

They put all the Ferraris and Lamborghinis.

So just a pedestrian stroll, environmental walk of fame, and uh the mosaic plaza.

You guys could push for that with the state parks.

Hi, I'm back.

My name is India Weeks.

I'm from Monterey, California.

I grew up in Monterey.

This is my hometown.

I grew up with the monkey at the wharf.

I grew up going to Dennis the Menace, the Dream Theater.

I may have even dressed up and gone to Rocky Horror a couple times at the Dream Theater.

And I'm really proud of my hometown.

And I'm really uh love being involved with the city politics.

I've really enjoyed this process.

And um, these are very dark days for our state right now.

There's this horrible invasion attacking immigrant communities, and people are being stripped of the rights, but there's a bright side, and that is the Safe Sidewalk Vending Bill 946 that was enacted in night.

Um, oh geez, sorry, I'm having a brain fart.

Um, it was enacted in 2019, and it was enacted to protect immigrants and low-income folks from being subjected to ice raids, and then and then given a ticket, which was a misdemeanor, and then they could be deported.

And so the civil rights uh attorneys group put together 946 to prevent misdemeanors in immigrant communities under the because of the Trump presidencies.

So, this this sidewalk vending bill is a direct state action against ice for immigrant communities.

And I would just say that now is the time is when legacies are made, when times are very serious like this, when times are tough, when we're faced with terrible onslaught of evil, and this invasion has to be fought in every way possible, just like our grandparents fought in World War II.

You know, this is when we decide are we pro-ICE or are we pro-immigrant?

And our our very souls are at stake here today.

Thank you.

Um, Mayor, I just need to make a comment.

Wait, let's finish let's finish public comment.

All right, please.

Hi, thanks for having me.

I'm Diane Delormier.

I am the current chair of the Board of Library Trustees, and I've come here to talk about the Monterey Public Library.

Um, a few weeks ago, this body made recommendations to the NCIP committee for funding a list of uh work needed in various city facilities, and the library didn't appear to be on that list.

Our library is sorely in need of repairs to many of its basic systems just to be ADA compliant and to continue to serve our community, especially in times of need like power failures or other emergencies.

Um we serve as a community resilience center.

Uh, the library also needs upgrades to its archival storage so that Monterey's historical heritage continues to be safely preserved.

With the support of the library trustees, um, we are submitting a proposal to NCIP for the most urgent repairs and upgrades, and I hope it will be approved.

Prior to 2020, this council received and endorsed a feasibility study from an architectural firm that outlined the need for renovations and expansion of the current library.

This would have cost many millions of dollars and as history rolled out.

It wasn't meant to be.

I hope to see it sometime in my lifetime.

But for now, it is our responsibility to keep the old facility up and running so it can continue to serve the many needs of this community.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And with that, we'll go to our public commenters on Zoom.

First, I'll call on Devin.

Devin, you can unmute and go ahead.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members.

My name is Devin, Vice President Adam Bark.

I want to thank you for the opportunity to provide a brief update and respectfully request your leadership.

Unfortunately, the North Fremont zone is not a financially viable option for successful cannabis operations.

After months of due diligence, we can confirm that none of the eligible parcels are viable.

The city manager acknowledged this challenge in his letter to us, noting that there are 16 eligible parcels in North Fremont.

Property owners are now aware of the significantly limited compliance sites, and as a result, prices have been increased and are inflated.

Compounding this challenge is the reality of an oversaturated local market.

Monterey Peninsula has one dispensary per 7,600 residents already below the industry benchmark of one per 15,000.

But the North Fremont Seaside Delray Oaks corridor is even more concentrated with one dispensary per 5,000 residents.

This saturation makes launching a successful operation extremely difficult.

Average annual sales per dispensary in the region are around 2 million, well below the 3 million statewide average.

According to industry standards, dispensaries must generate at least 3 million to break even.

When adjusted for local market density, a North Fremont dispensary is projected to generate only 1.3 million annually, less than half.

We've also seen the economic constraint play out locally.

Element 7 in the city's current downtown designee is under court appointed receivership, with its marina location having been sold to satisfy creditors.

Urban Leaf and Seaside closed after its parent company declined to renew its license.

Given this context, we respectfully ask that the council direct staff to consider one of two potential solutions.

One, amend the ordinance to allow for a second retail license in the downtown overlay zone.

Or two, if element seven does not operationalize their permit, allow embark as the first place applicant to assume the downtown slot.

The downtown overlay zone contains the highest number of eligible parcels and is more compatible with the long-term goals of the cannabis program.

It is also the zone we built our application around as the highest scoring applicant in the city's process.

We are committed to serving Monterey and look forward to delivering on our commitments.

We simply ask for a feasible path forward to be to do what we were selected to do.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

And our next speaker is Wendy.

Hello, this is Wendy Bricklin again.

I serve as the marketing director of the North Fremont Business District and also as president of the Fisherman's Wharf Association.

And I'm calling in to also respectfully urge the council to direct staff to work with MBARC to identify a solution that allows them to relocate to the downtown overlay zone.

As you know, over the past several months, MBARC has done everything possible to make a North Fremont location work.

And unfortunately, the reality is that it simply isn't financially viable at this time.

The downtown overlay zone offers significantly more compliance sites, a better opportunity to integrate appropriately into the community, and the ability to meet the revenue projections originally submitted as part of MBARC's application.

Remember that MBARC was the first place to applicant in the city's competitive merit-based process.

Since then, they've worked in good faith with staff to find a path forward that would allow them to serve the community.

They have a proven track record with 16 storefronts across California, all won through similar competitive processes, and they deliver community benefits and importantly, local tax revenue.

I know that MBARC is genuinely excited to bring that same commitment to Monterey.

And as a long-time member of this community who look forward to seeing them open their doors, I just respectfully urge this council to support them in doing so.

So please direct staff to work with MBARC to find a viable solution that again allows them to relocate downtown where they originally planned to operate and where they can fulfill the commitments they made to the city.

Thanks so much.

With that, we'll go ahead and close general public comment.

Thank you for all those that provided a comment.

And council member Smith, you wanted to make a comment there.

Yeah, just a brief narrative.

One of the speakers tonight spoke in terms of uh her sorry, real quick.

I know I I apologize.

I want to be careful that we don't discuss something that was made during public comment and create permanent.

It's too late.

Council comments is about violence.

I just want to be careful to not um I understand.

Uh set a precedent, and then there's an expectation for other residents.

We can do it a different way.

Okay.

I'm gonna make a council comment about wanting to make sure that we never promote violence in any context.

And I heard words tonight about fight and fight and push back.

And in just in the context, like we talked about in the sister city spirit, we look for resolution, but that does not mean we give up our first amendment rights.

First amendment rights have no correlation to violence or fighting.

So I just wanted to insert that after a comment that I heard tonight.

And I would always say we never solve problems with violence, and that should never be anybody's speakers' words that we as a council would accept.

I just want to put that as a benchmark that we do not accept violence against ICE or anyone else.

Okay, and with that, um, I'm just gonna try to move us along here because we have a tight agenda.

We can't take any more public comment at this time.

It's not appropriate.

I'm gonna go to the consent agenda.

Um, is there any item that the council wishes to pull from consent or or remarks?

None here.

Not seeing any.

Nat has there any bit been items requested to be pulled by the new ammunity?

Not at all.

Okay, so no public comment.

I'm confused by this by the script.

It looks like we don't go to public comment.

Well, you already did public comment.

So we can move on to the next item, I believe.

Okay, so we're gonna go ahead and go to public comment on consent items.

Anybody on Zoom, you can use a raise hand function.

In the meantime, I will check with folks in the chamber.

Anybody in the chamber wishes speak on items that are on consent agenda, all right.

Seeing none, we'll go ahead and do a countdown for folks on Zoom to five, four, three, two, one.

And there's nobody on Zoom.

Bring it back to the council.

Is there a motion?

Um, yeah, I'll make a motion.

I want to make sure I'm doing this right.

It's consent items for approval number four through item number sixteen.

Okay, is there a second?

Any other discussion?

All those in oh, sorry, roll call, please.

Councilmember Rash.

Yes.

Councilmember Smith, yes.

Council Member Barber, yes, and Mayor Williamson.

Yes, we'll go to public appearance item number 17, adopt local road safety plan, pass it to NAT for staff presentation.

Yes, we'll be very brief uh with this presentation.

But as you may recall, City Council established itself as a vision zero city in 2017, and that's with the goal to reduce serious and fatal injuries to zero.

During this council meeting, there was actually an e-bike accident with a vehicle.

Luckily, not uh serious injury, but when you heard sirens earlier, it was that was uh what our police department and our fire department was responding to.

Um our engineering team has been hard at work to develop a five-year local road safety plan for you to consider adopting this afternoon and presenting to you this evening.

Is Marissa Garcia, our engineering assistant too?

Good evening, mayor council members.

Um, we're here today for the final adoption of the local road safety plan, which was previously presented to you guys at the meeting on May 28th.

So this is a grant-funded effort, and the city was awarded an action planning grant from the federal highway administration in the first competitive cycle of the safe streets and roads for all grant.

As part of this project, we are setting the city up for future grant funding opportunities as a document like this is required for many of the safety-focused grant options.

Um, as a direct result of this effort, the city applied for an implementation grant from a project that came out of this plan.

Well, a longer running city project, but one that was identified in this plan, with using that same program in the most recent cycle of the grant program.

This plan, which is included as an attachment to the resolution is a living document that relies on current safety trends and collision information.

As a result, this plan is valid for five years, and we will be coming back to you every four to five years to update this plan and keep ourselves eligible for future funding.

So we do this because trends can change land use behavior.

A prime example of that is what happened with the COVID pandemic, and that definitely had an effect on our safety trends.

So we will be back with this again.

There are always more opportunities to participate in the plan.

But with that, I will turn it back over to you for any questions.

Thank you, Mercy, for the presentation.

Council, are there any questions?

No questions.

All right, seeing none, we'll go ahead and open it up for public comment.

Anyone on Zoom, you can use the raise hand function.

In the meantime, I would check with folks in the chamber.

Anyone in the chamber want to speak on this item?

That mention left after all of that.

So we'll go ahead and close it in chamber, check on Zoom, do a countdown to five, four, three, two, one.

And we have one on Zoom.

So we'll go ahead and take our one public commenter.

Esther, you can go go ahead.

Thank you.

Um commenting as president of the neighborhood association for Laguna Grande Park.

Just giving you the latest accident that we had yesterday on the Casanova highway that we have over here.

Um we've got our radar sign up.

And unfortunately, it's not really slowing down people.

And yesterday we had an accident here.

So while we're trying to make ourselves out to some kind of safe city, um, hopefully that's going to include our neighborhoods, not just the, you know, the tourist areas and wherever else that's going to be commented on because, you know, this neighborhood has been asking for the city to give us a stop sign on this street that has the longest stretch of any other city street without a stop sign, which is why there is an opportunity here for people who speed to pick up speed.

So we're gonna, you know, keep having accidents here, and we're gonna be keep asking for it.

And maybe at some point, you know, after a decade and a half of advocating for it, we'll have enough accidents.

Luckily, uh, this one, it didn't seem like there was an injury at the beginning, but I don't know if there was because I saw the fire trucks coming in afterwards and I left.

But you know, I hope that it doesn't take a fatality or something more serious for us to get this street handled with a stop sign.

Thank you.

Okay, bring it back to the council, entertain a motion.

Uh I'll go and make a motion.

Or you're right.

Okay.

Okay, I'll make a motion that we uh we accept the report and uh adopt the uh Monterey local road safety plan agenda item 17.

Okay, second motion and seconded.

Any other discussion?

Excellent report.

Yes, yes, thank you.

I've already said a lot about this, so I'm not gonna like belabor the points.

Um so thank you for all the work that you all are doing.

And I know there's gonna be more to come.

So um roll call, please.

Councilmember Smith.

Yes.

Council Member Barber, yes, Council Member Rash.

Yes.

Mayor Williamson.

That's a yes for me.

And with that, we'll go to um public comment on closed session agenda items.

Um, item number 18 is conference with legal counsel existing litigation pursuant to government code section 54956 Tech 9D1.

United Public Employees of California Local 792 versus City of Monterey.

Anybody in the public wish to speak on this item for folks on Zoom, you can use the raise hand function.

Anybody in the chamber.

All right, seeing none, we'll go back to Zoom.

I'll do a countdown to five, four three, two, one.

There's nobody on Zoom.

So with that?

How do we give us a h do we give us a h do we give us a h do we give us a h do we give us a h do we give us a h do we give us a h do we give us a h do we give us a h do we give us a h do we give us a h do we give us a hug Awesome.

Welcome back for those that were here for our evenings or afternoon session.

Going to call the meeting to order.

Um and we will.

Sorry, give me one second here.

Um go ahead and do continuation of general public comments.

So for items that were not for items that are not on today's agenda.

Um if you didn't have a chance to speak for general public comments in the afternoon session, we'll offer you that opportunity now.

Just to remind folks what we do is we identify those individuals that want to speak on each item at the beginning of the public comment period.

Once those individuals are identified, we will close off that opportunity to speak and only those people that were identified will be able to speak.

So I'm gonna go ahead and check on Zoom.

For those on Zoom, you can use a raise hand function while you're navigating your way there.

I will check with folks in the chamber.

Anybody in the chamber wish to speak for general public comments?

You already spoke for general public comment in the afternoon, so this is only for those that didn't speak for general public comment earlier today.

Anybody, I saw a hand go up.

This is general public comment.

This is not the um uh the the agenda item.

Okay, so did you speak earlier during general public comment?

I think you did speak earlier.

So yeah, okay.

Okay, anybody so you can come on up.

Anybody else in the chamber wishes to speak for general public comment?

All right.

So I'll go ahead and close it off in the chamber and I'll do a countdown for folks on Zoom to five, four, three, two, one.

And there's nobody on Zoom.

Please, sir.

Yes, hello, my name is Daniel Mandez.

Um I kind of speak on a lot of issues because I feel like I should participate.

If I don't speak out, then uh my voice isn't heard.

And important issue I want to bring up is um as a community, as a gathering, we need to be able to, as a gentleman suggested earlier, not argue, not fight, get along, have the community feel like a community, have um the separation between our ideas as every time I come in here at professional, like-minded, hopefully everyone that hears me talk can agree with a portion of what I'm having to say because I only try to speak on issues that are um important.

And my idea right now is I just want to bring up about um sometimes, especially when we're talking about building relationships with you know today it was with the Italians.

And I'm trying to um be comfortable and feel like a part of the community when sometimes me being um a part of our community, but yet in some ways feel like um maybe and this gentleman brought it up about the amendments, and I feel like sometimes my fourteenth amendment rights are being violated because sometimes um I'm sought to look like maybe the little little person when really I'm a part of this big picture and I don't feel like it's um a comfortable feeling to always be pushed aside and and maybe um even though I'm always around and pushed aside like oh, he's not the internet, he's nobody and I want to be recognized as a person that can be a part of this community and not feel ostracized or left left to the um idea that any less important than anyone else in this community environment or this country.

Thank you.

We definitely don't want you to make you feel like you're not part of our community.

Glad to have you here.

So um thank you for sharing your public comment with us today.

With that, we'll go ahead and close general public comment and we will move to announcements from closed session.

Yes, there's one closed session item, conference with legal counsel, existing litigation pursuant to government code section 5495 6.9, subsection D, subsection one, United Public Employees of California, local 792, the city of Monterey, uh on a roll call vote of uh four in favor and one absent.

Council member Garcia specifically absent.

Confidential direction was given to legal counsel.

Perfect.

Thank you.

Um and then I think I don't know if this was an accident or if we're intentionally shifting things around on the agenda.

Um but Pledge of Allegiance was supposed to be during the afternoon according to the agenda.

So we'll go ahead and do it now.

Um so I'll ask Councilmember Smith to lead us off here, please.

My privilege.

Please join us.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic, which stands one nation under God, individual liberty and justice or all.

I don't know about y'all, but when I say the Pledge of Allegiance, it takes me back to like elementary school.

Um so anyways, proud to be an American.

All right, I agree.

With that, um, we will go to um our evening session item, which is a public appearance item number 19.

It is the first reading of the sidewalk vending ordinance update.

And with that, I'll pass it to Nat for staff introduction.

Great.

Thanks so much.

And the Pledge of Allegiance takes me back to elementary school as well.

So I think it does for all of us.

So my case further back.

It's all relative, that's right.

Well, you know, today we bring back to you a first reading of the sidewalk vending ordinance update as as council.

You may recall after public engagement and feedback from the community and discussion with the city council.

Council passed a draft ordinance to a second reading uh on April 15th.

And uh there was actually going to be uh a uh second reading on May 6th that was scheduled, but staff recommended that the item was tabled or would be tabled so that we could further engage and consult with vendors.

And we've had an opportunity to do that over the last few months.

Tonight staff will walk through feedback from vendors.

Staff will also detail our recommendation on vendor spacing, display height, operating hours, and vending area dimensions, all based on uh health and safety.

Uh, we uh staff, as well as I think all of you members of the council recognize and acknowledge that many of the vendors rely on sidewalk vending as uh primary source of income and their livelihoods.

We also recognize the importance of maintaining a safe buffer between vending and the recreation trail, as well as the sidewalk vending and the heavily traveled seawall walkway between the wharf and the harbormaster's office.

We know that no ordinance can ever be perfect, but this ordinance we believe is strong because it uh meets the needs of our community and also addresses the physical limitations that we have at this site.

So we feel this recommended ordinance does strike the right balance between allowing as many vendors as possible, but also maintaining a safe space between vendors, between themselves, and as well as between heavily traveled areas.

And with that, I'd like to introduce our planning manager Levi Hill, who will deliver the presentation.

Kim Cole, our community development director, unfortunately, wouldn't wasn't able to make it tonight.

So uh we've got Levi here on our team.

Thank you.

Leave by.

Thank you.

Thank you, Nat.

Um, good evening, Mayor, Council.

Uh, as Nat mentioned, I'll be presenting the next item, which is the proposed amendment to chapter 32 of the city code, which pertains to sidewalk vending regulations.

Uh, as Nat mentioned, and as you may recall from the discussion uh at the April 15th uh city council meeting, staff presented a proposed draft ordinance for first reading uh that would make adjustments to the operational and locational standards and requirements for sidewalk vendors.

Uh that ordinance passed its first reading at that meeting.

Uh, and those changes, which I'll summarize in more detail in a moment, were scheduled for second reading at the May 6th uh city council meeting.

And as Nat mentioned, it was tabled so that uh staff could meet with an attorney group who reached out on behalf of some of the vendors uh to discuss and propose some modifications to that draft ordinance before it went forward to second reading.

So that item was tabled at the uh May 6th meeting.

Um we did meet with the attorney group and some of a handful of the vendors on May 20th and uh discussed some proposed modifications uh that they had in mind, and then we got written uh correspondence with them that actually proposed specific changes to the ordinance on June 19th.

Uh the proposed modifications which have been uh explained in pretty full detail in the agenda report, uh, generally uh they were reviewed by staff.

Uh, some of those changes were already included in the existing regulations or in the proposed regulations.

Some of those uh recommendations from the vendor group have been partially incorporated and some have not been uh recommended for inclusion tonight.

Uh a primary topic of conversation at the April 15th meeting focused primarily on the waterfront area, whereas uh you know, sidewalk vending regulations uh pertain to the city at large, but it has been uh it's come to our attention that the waterfront area seems to be a preferred location for vending.

Uh so much of that discussion revolved around balancing the needs of the various user groups of that area, uh which includes pedestrians and cyclists of the rec trail, tourists, visitors of the wharf uh wharf one, and of course the vendors themselves.

Uh staff has proposed the amendments included in the draft ordinance before you tonight that would ensure the health and safety of all those user groups, including uh that would provide for the free flow of circulation and limiting hazardous congestion that's been observed in that area.

So, as a recap, the draft ordinance to be considered for first reading this evening proposes dimensional limitations and individual for individual vendor display areas as well as setback and location standards.

Uh specifically, the ordinance proposes a four by eight, 32 square foot uh maximum vendor area for each vendor, uh, in addition to some display height limitations.

And those are uh the display of goods for sale are required to be between 28 inches and 60 inches from the ground.

And any ancillary equipment such as shade canopies or sun umbrellas are limited to a maximum height of eight feet.

And that's uh the purpose of that is to limit hazards associated with strong winds and safety visibility concerns.

The ordinance would also require the vendors be set back 25 feet from the center line of the recreation trail and at least 12 feet from the railing or the rock causeway that's located between the harbor master's office and wharf one.

Additionally, the ordinance would require a 10-foot setback between uh from vendor to vendor and a 15-foot setback from any decorative fountain, statue, or monument.

Uh there are some other setback requirements like distance from uh curb ramps and crosswalks that are also included in the ordinance.

And those are listed in full uh in full detail in the uh draft ordinance in your packet.

Um we have prepared a conceptual map to help kind of visualize what the proposed ordinance would look like in the waterfront area.

And this may look familiar, it's it's pretty similar to what you saw uh on the April 15th meeting.

Uh, but if you do recall, originally the ordinance proposed a 15-foot separation between uh individual vendors and the council uh directed staff to reduce that to 10 feet, and so that has happened.

So the image will show uh that map will show uh what's currently being proposed, which is that 10-foot separation from vendor to vendor.

Um another secondary topic of conversation from the April 15th meeting spoke to the process of how vendors would actually acquire vending spaces, specifically in the waterfront area if demand uh seemed to outweigh the capacity for the uh area given the setback requirements.

And as drafted, the ordinance would allow vendors to occupy designated and marked vendor spaces in the waterfront at a first come, first served basis.

However, the ordinance also authorizes staff to develop staff to develop a lottery system in the event that uh capacity becomes an issue for that area.

And so, with that, staff is recommending that the city council adopt an ordinance amending chapter 32 of the Monterey City Code to amend the sidewalk vending regulations as drafted.

I'm hence happy to answer any uh questions or get into any more detail for any specific part of the ordinance that you'd like.

Thank you.

Thank you, Miracle for the presentation.

Any questions from the council?

Um, yes, I I'm going through the list uh, and I wanna make sure that I understand the display sizes as I understand it.

Their proposal is uh 28 inches with a maximum height of 60 inches.

But then further in the reading, it looks like um there's a maximum of eight feet.

So if you could explain the difference, what is the intent of the eight feet being used?

And what's the maximum height of 60 inches related to excellent question?

Yes.

So the 28 inches to 60 inches is specifically for the display of items for sale.

So that would be, and that's uh that's uh was derived by staff to kind of hit the average height of what a sales table or counter would be, but also allow enough height off the ground for things like clothing and apparel to also be displayed uh and and um so that's specifically that that's 28 to 60 inches is specifically for items that are for the sale.

The eight feet is for ancillary equipment like a shade canopy or structure like or an umbrella like that that's not necessarily an item that's being sold, but is ancillary to the activity of vending.

Okay, um, and what about signage?

If there's a vendor who wants to have say a brand, a name, you know, a website, uh phone number.

Are they required to obtain a permit for that sign of advertising?

And does that sign also have to be lower than 60 inches and not incorporated in part of that eight feet?

So the sign would not be subject to the 28 inch to 60 inch rule because it's not one of the items for sale.

It would be subject to the eight foot maximum height, however.

Okay, so in other words, someone could have a banner sign at the eight foot level and a gap between the bottom of that sign down to the 60 inch level where merchandise begins to be advertised for sale.

So the existing so there's no proposed amendments to signage for sidewalk vendors.

Uh so um I'll be so citing the existing regulations.

The maximum sign uh displayed can only be two square feet for a vendor.

Okay.

Um it doesn't look like there's specific height requirements uh in the existing regulations that speak to signage, so it would be subject to that eight foot height maximum.

Okay.

So you could have a banner sign potentially that's at eight feet height, but it could not be any more than two square feet.

Okay.

Uh I'll pass on questions and they come back.

Okay.

Anybody else have questions?

Okay.

Thank you again, Levi, for the presentation.

We'll go ahead and open it up for public comment at this time.

So for folks on Zoom, you can use a raise hand function while you're navigating your way there.

I will check in with folks in the chamber.

I'd ask that you stand to the left of the podium.

Or if you choose to remain seated, um, you can identify yourself by raising your hand.

So we have one sitting.

We have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten in the chamber.

If I can do my math correctly, two, four, six, eight, ten in the chamber.

All right, we'll go ahead and close it off in the chamber and then we'll do a countdown for folks on Zoom to five, four, three, two, one.

We have one on Zoom.

We'll go ahead and give three minutes.

We'll start in the chamber.

Um we brought in the best experts in the state so that they could who wrote 946.

And they are also the people that are liaisons that work with cities all over California for coming up with plans that work for the vendors and work for the city.

And um what one of the things that they said is that a lottery system has been tried in many communities and is their words, unmitigated disaster.

There is a reservation system that is working very well in Santa Cruz.

And there's even a liaison to the vendors that works with the vendors in Santa Cruz, and he is willing to come and advise staff on how that very successful reservation system works and it works very well.

Um, another issue with the staff proposal is the measurements are off.

So there's um saying that 12 by 12 spaces would be too big or would limit the amount of vendors.

That's not true, but it would accommodate every person who comes every day.

I mean, we we usually have an average between 10 and 18 vendors when it's really busy.

Um, and 12 by 12 would lead tons of room.

And so, and then the other thing is that they said that we couldn't be on the other side of the back bike path, which is also city property, because we have to be 25 feet from the center line of the bike path, which is about 19 feet long further than what Caltrans requires as a safe distance from the center line of any obstruction on a type one bike path.

So it's a very extreme measurement, 25 feet from the center line of the bike path, and also the other side of the bike path is not is more than 25 feet.

So one of the things that in staff's report is they said you can't be on the other side of the bike path because you'll be less than 25 feet, and that just isn't true.

And my final point about the staff proposal is that um we weren't given an inch, they came with four foot by eight foot.

We were waiting for an appointment to meet with them and discuss with them.

The lawyers suggested that they meet with us personally so we could hammer out an agreement.

The next thing we know, we're having this vote tonight.

The vendors were never contacted to have and make any kind of agreement with staff.

So staff put out their proposal.

We put out our proposal, they did not give us an inch, they just went with four feet by eight foot.

They said four feet by eight foot.

We said how about 12 foot by 12 foot, which would be much smaller and give wider walkways.

We never heard back from them, not even acknowledgement that they had received the email.

So we have gotten no opportunity to discuss this to compromise.

To be honest, the city council or the mayor, anybody could come down and say, Hey, you guys, would you shrink your booths to be smaller and and make the walkways wider?

And we'd all just go voluntarily, yeah, we will.

So I don't even know what we're doing here.

It's except to just pick on us because four foot by eight foot, nobody can make a living off that.

And why are we not compromising with vendors?

Why aren't we coming up with something that's fair?

And your measurements are off.

The measurements are off.

You can't have good afternoon, council members.

My name is Rafiel Siniso, and I'm here again.

Um there's two reasons I'm here today.

One is to question uh whatever happened to the vendor proposals drawings that I submitted.

I got a copy right here.

I don't know if you can put it up.

Um I was never contacted by the planning department to ask for my opinion, to us for my information or nothing.

Um, I don't think that's fair.

They haven't contact us at all.

Anyway, uh, the only council member that contact me was uh Jean Rush.

She sent me an email and um I was pretty proud about that.

So it was something that I worked very hard on it, and I really tried to make a war for you and us without causing any hardship on either both of us.

I would like to know what this wasn't taken to wasn't taken in consideration by the planning department.

As you can see on the drawing.

I suppose it's 10 by 10 spaces with the 48-inch space, even can be uh five foot space between boots back to back, and that gives the space for 20 to 24 vendors.

Uh we only have we only proposed two vendors by this by the waterfront, to think that's minimum.

They're not invading the whole wall, and I also put some vendors on by the Stanton Center.

It's only three or four vendors over there.

So that gives us a total for enough capacity for everybody.

So what is this taken in account?

Why does it have to be their way and not try to work something out with us?

The way they're doing it, they could they're only going to be able to fit what a vendors on that space.

Of course, it's going to be problems.

So anyway, I urge the council members to make please stop the planning department to just trying to apply for this reading and uh to have them sit down with us and discuss this matter.

Thank you.

Good evening, city council members, city manager and staff.

My name's Athena Zenizo.

The first reading of the initial proposal voting on my council on April 15, 2025, wasn't so much emotional for vendors as it was a hard slap in the face, leading to feelings of shock.

Vendors were already in talks and coming to agreements.

Your staff without engaging in any valid negotiation with vendors possibly presenting counsel with the proposal based on what other businesses and business associations want.

The majority of what was written and is still written does not fall in line with SK 946.

And I'm hoping that there is some vetting going on to ensuring that residents are not affiliated with part of or joining a business association.

The conflict of interest was also extended to those considered of the following hometown business owner, local entrepreneur, local business owner, community business owner.

Distancing vendors more than five feet apart, which ADA requires only four feet, is more than what the city requires from businesses nearby, which have the same amount of foot traffic as the stat and waterfront plaza.

There must be money somewhere by now to pay for overtime.

Parking.

Parking is a citywide issue.

The city manager claims that staff has been out to oversee vendors on the weekends.

To my knowledge, staff has only been out when city council has requested staff to do so on the weekends.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Kirk Brock.

I've been a vendor for 35 years.

I've been a street vendor down there for three years.

The proposal I heard tonight is kind of a classic, where uh we're not going to say you can't do it, but we're going to make a set of rules that are impossible for you to comply with.

And that's the way we're going to get rid of you.

Uh, I'm sad to hear that.

Uh 32 feet is ridiculous.

Um, and like she said, when the main problems down here, uh, you have we've had no supervision whatsoever, no oversight whatsoever, and no enforcement whatsoever.

Never have I seen anyone down there enforcing any of the current rules here.

I have a permit here that's good till April 15th next year.

When I entered into this contractual agreement with the city of Monterey under this set of rules and regulations, I have complied with every rule and regulation there.

The city has not complied with it by not doing anything.

They have done nothing, absolutely nothing, and just let it be a free-for-all.

What you need to do is start enforcing your own rules that are in place now.

So my question to all of you here is you and I have a contractual agreement here.

And my question to you is does the city of Monterey do you or do you not honor your contracts?

Because I have a contract with you, and you're not living up to your end of the contract.

Well, I am living up to my end of the contract.

And what do you propose to do about that?

You're going to make a new set of rules that are impossible to comply with.

That's ridiculous.

Why don't you look at the rules?

Have you any of you read these rules?

Do you know these rules?

All right.

Why aren't they being enforced?

I I before I heard, oh, the enforcement officer, he works uh nine to five, eight to five five days a week.

You need to authorize them overtime for him to come on Saturday and enforce the rules.

And that would solve almost all the problems down there.

Instead of making these ridiculous rules that are impossible to comply with and are economically unviable for us.

Thank you very much.

Hi, Mayor.

Thank you for giving me the time to talk, Council members.

I'm Judy.

I'm a registered voter, 11-year resident of Monterey.

I frequent the warfare and the bike trail and pretty much every part of Monterey frequently.

I um here um in support of the vendors.

However, I also believe that there are some safety and perhaps health issues, sanitation issues that might need to be addressed.

And it sounds like this could be a course uh code enforcement issue, a compliance issue.

One of the big ones that I've run into, which seems to cause uh some of the vendors to react in a very aggressive manner would be the removal of garbage.

And that's a big sanitation because when they remove the garbage and then throw it onto the porch of the custom house area, I think it is, then they're dragging all the the mess that goes with that, as opposed to having somebody a city official or somebody take care of it.

I also do know that the parks department has been assisting the city in removing the garbage, but it is an issue that needs to be taken care of.

Um, another in the in the safety and risk issue would be the space coming from the um sailboat area as you walk into that main harbor area where the vendors are.

Um there's often a very large table, and I do support smaller tables because the larger tables lead to um more of an uh um less of an impasse.

So a big bottleneck of people, but we can't get around the table because um along the seawall because the vendors put their personal items there, and we can't always walk, excuse me, on the other side of the table where we should be walking because of the huge amount of foot traffic that's in that area.

Once again, um, I do support um the vendors that are out there.

I do think that this current proposal needs some work.

And listening to them, I also want to say that the map was really awesome.

I think a lot of time was spent on that and measuring it and making sure that things fit, so perhaps evaluating that as well.

Um, but we need to have some harmony here so that we can reduce the conflict so that I can feel safer when I'm down there and safer from the aggressive attitudes of people, but also from the garbage that um accumulates.

But thank you very much for your time.

Maya council members, my name is Marina.

I'm actually an immigrant from Germany.

I've been a Monterey resident since 1983.

So I'm old.

But anyway, I wanted to comment on your comment earlier, did you get the earliest session?

I appreciated that comment that you mentioned that uh you appreciate the diversity and backgrounds and different nationalities, and you have an appreciative attitude toward us for people being united and working things out peacefully.

And that's very important in our community, but also in every other community.

And I feel like uh the street renders, we have a diversity, different nationalities, and we all try to work together, and I feel like we all should work together to be able to find a common ground so that we can all survive and and do it peacefully.

As far as the garbage that was mentioned, me personally, I didn't even bring my garbage because I know tourists, they leave a lot of garbage when they eat.

And so I personally leave my stuff at home and don't bring any garbage anyway.

Thank you guys.

Go ahead.

You're next in line.

You're next in line.

Um, yeah, just I want to build on what Marina said.

You know, we've had 14 countries represented down there.

We have Egypt to Pakistan, Britain to Mexico, Germany to Ghana, Brazil.

It's amazing to talk to these people and find out, you know, what life was like growing up where they were.

And uh, and you know, we are all strangers down there, and now we're all kind of a family.

I mean, we've all been there six years.

Anybody who comes that's brand new, we find them a space.

We've got uh 14-year-old boy now who does woodworking, and uh, you know, and then he switched over to keyboard, he plays that.

Uh, we've got a little girl who makes these.

Uh, she's the girl scout.

They did the raising the flag in front of the custom house plaza, and it's just neat to see her parents come.

And just even recently, we just had another two little girls show up with earrings that they were making custom for people.

They don't have a permit, it's all good.

We all make space for them.

And we've had Bill, the magician.

Um, we had a cello player come, and he asked me, he said, 'Hey, your name carmouflage.

That's really cool.

Have you thought of trademarking it?

And I thought, no, I don't really believe in intellectual property.' Turns out he was uh trademark lawyer, and he said he'd just graduated, he'd do it pro bono.

So last week I just got camouflage.

I like own it in the intellectual property sphere, you know.

So none of this would happen without this space.

And we have people come down and you know, we're taking care of the homeless.

Um, I do sweatshirts, hoodies, um, I give them to Steve, the lizard guy.

We've got Bucket J.

We've got Lawrence.

Lawrence is probably the most popular person in town.

You might not know him, but he is the coolest.

I mean, he's your friend, you know, and I mean it's it's amazing.

And what it is is that civic space where we can establish relationships because you can't have a relationship with a Costco employee or a Target employee, but you can actually come down and hang out in our booth.

You don't even have to buy anything.

I mean, we've got Zeke and Jace is from Australia, and they pretend they're pirates and they crack everybody up.

I mean, it's just a real incredible environment that we've created down there, and we've had no police actions, no tickets.

Um, we were down in San Diego, San Diego uh doing Balboa Park, and what the city did was they took away the trash cans and they started to overflow the trash and they said it was health and safety.

That was how they moved on the vendors.

But I came to Monterey, Robeson was mayor, we had HAFA, we had Dan Albert.

I mean, these were all the old timers that we grew up with.

Albert, I mean, De Wa Sala, you know, all the people, and and they made room for us, and we've worked it out.

Um, all the accidents I've ever seen on the bike path happen when there's no vendors there, believe it or not, we slow the traffic down and nobody gets hit.

There's a blind corner coming out of the custom house plaza there.

There should be a mark.

Tourists don't know, they just walk right onto the bike path.

We have to go, whoa, whoa, whoa.

So thank you.

Hello, um, thank you for having me here.

My name is Elvia Avila.

Make sure you speak right into that mic so folks can hear you.

Um, I usually don't come to this council.

I am involved, I do follow rules.

I'm a vendor there.

I work at a restaurant as a restaurant.

I'm a supervisor and I follow all the regulations, the health annotations.

And so when I come at vending, I fall, I take I take it very serious and following regulations and such.

But now with all these new regulations that are trying to come into place now, it's kind of unrealistic.

And I feel like the purpose or the idea is because you guys care, because you guys want to follow safety hazards or whatever.

It's fine if it's realistic we'll follow the rules it's just I feel like you guys need to come out and show us what you guys want because I feel like we do follow all the rules um and yeah that's it um that's it for me tonight thank you thank you I have some photographs Mr.

Mayor please speak from this microphone or yeah what why don't you speak while they're getting set up why don't you go ahead no please please go ahead I want to make us go efficiently here okay good go ahead please I'm gonna start with this short video testing as my family we came back here from voicey item because last year about this and we can't find this anywhere except here I love it it's my favorite see that's nowhere else and that's the reason why we changed Monterey today was for these businesses for this we can't find this anywhere else there's nowhere like it and so we just love this place the energy the people are kind of and uh yeah we look forward to all the way from voicing every single year it becomes several times.

Are they here we're here all right so we're just happy to be here you guys really appreciate it.

And I don't know if the mic was on for the start of my little presentation but since we kind of missed a portion of that I'll just just one more before I need to I come down here the first time I came down I came down from Capitola my friend and I both got um beautiful bracelets.

They can custom make earrings here's nothing like vibe around here with the other sellers it's just it just it was such a great atmosphere and it's such a great day to come down and spend um the time down here shopping I came down here again from Capitola got this absolutely gorgeous opal um just amazing jewelry I hope that doesn't so just to start with that just so it doesn't and I did add a couple items into I sent them in I don't know if they're available or I sent a picture of the area um the vending area and and one of them is so congested from other activities going on next door at the other plaza and it's difficult when we're trying to manage so much but yet there's no restrictions for there could be 3000 people at the event next door and there's no rest according to Libra there's no restrictions on anyone coming in from the other event and there could be thousand there could be 4000 people walking through there blocking the bike path and according to Leva it doesn't affect the city because that's believed to be um the property of the state and uh we um the decisions have nothing to do with our area and it's difficult that we have so many structured rules and a portion of the rules are actually um once again violating our rights because even some of the new ideas and and our paperwork was 700 pages into the agenda and you find other write ups and if you read through the write ups a portion of it says that um and it's just discriminating again because it's a part of it is just someone's idea and not really any standards or any having to do with health and safety and the reason why I am a little upset is because I have other businesses other organizations that started off this whole subject matter by saying we don't belong there.

And that's earlier when I made a comment when the whole thing with um the um amendment for the 14th amendment I feel like I'm being discriminated against because I'm fully not seen as equal when it's some of these big businesses trying to tear us down.

Thank you.

Morning, Mr.

Morning.

Good evening, Mr.

I let her to uh staff, which I hope we've read, but I just want to go through briefly why uh I suppose your mic on.

How about now?

Yep, we got you.

Sorry.

Uh Anton Lombardo, good evening.

Uh I'm supporting the staff recommendation.

Uh, and I think these few pictures will show why it's needed.

Sorry, so don't interrupt, don't interrupt him talking.

Um, this is a picture of Tay.

These photographs were taken one day last weekend.

As you can see, the causeway from uh the to the wharf is completely obstructed.

Uh there's no way to get to the railing at the harbor.

There's no way to get to the uh monument at the front, and there's no way to walk to the to the wharf without walking and obstructing the India.

Can we pause the timer real quick?

India, India.

India.

If you say one more word, I'm gonna ask the police to escort you out.

That's it, no more.

All right, please continue.

Sorry.

Um here's a photograph.

You can see the vendor's structure and the person standing in the rec trail uh obstructing the rec trail.

And the other side, which was mentioned earlier, uh, also has the vendors right up to the edge of the rec trail.

Here's a picture taken from the reverse angle.

You can see the edge of the rec trail, a small child in a cart obstructing the rec trail and bicyclists walking through the crowd.

Another picture of uh pedestrians completely obstructing the rec trail and the bicyclist being stopped.

Another photograph of a bicyclist that's being again the same photo with the child uh being parked on the rec trail with a bicyclist having to go into the opposite lane, so to speak, in order to get around the crowd.

Uh, group of individuals in front of the vendors blocking the trail.

Uh another hazard that occurs results from uh structurally, I guess for a better word, unsound uh situations.

Here's a uh tent or a umbrella sitting next to the vendor.

Here's the same tent laying in the rec trail.

Uh the the problem is these are not anchored in any way to the ground, and they blow into the rec trail.

Here's a vendor holding down his structure, another one holding down the structure.

So the ordinance proposed by the staff is definitely needed.

Uh the spacing will allow the public free and uh good access to and from the wharf and prevent the public safety hazards that exist from the condition that exists now, because I don't think it's a matter of if someone's gonna get hurt, it's really when that's gonna happen with bicyclists and pedestrians blocking the rec trail, trying to share the same space.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

All right, and with that, we'll go to our Zoom callers.

Wendy, you can go ahead, please.

Wait, sorry, real quick.

Sorry, real quick.

We're gonna go ahead and recess for a second.

Um and then I'm gonna ask that we have her go out, please.

Let's get up and stretch our legs.

Let's take a break for a second, I'm not You don't use those language.

I know right we are solved.

I think that's all.

See, we're okay.

I'm alive.

Session two.

Here we go.

So we were going to finish public comment and we have those zoom callers.

So please, I apologize for that.

We're gonna go ahead and finish public comment.

So now I'll call in Wendy.

Wendy, you can unmute and then go ahead.

Wendy, um, if you're there, telephone caller.

Yeah, go ahead, please.

Yes, I am.

Yes.

Good evening, Mayor and members of city council.

My name is Wendy Brickman.

I serve as president of the fisherman's wharf association.

I appreciate everything that has been said this evening.

However, I'm speaking tonight in support of the proposed ordinance that will bring much needed safety and structure, the sidewalk bending along the city-owned portion of the causeway leading from the city's waterfront parking lot toward old fisherman's wharf.

I commend the city for developing a thoughtful and comprehensive set of guidelines that will fairly establish sufficient regulation in an area that is increasingly lack adequate oversight.

These regulations are essential to enhance public safety, especially along the busy Monterey Bay recreation trail where vendors and shoppers and babies often sprawl into pedestrian and electric bike pathways, as we just saw in the photos a few minutes ago.

Currently, the absence of sufficient regulation has led to growing congestion, making the area unsafe during emergencies and difficult to navigate for locals and visitors alike.

The ordinance provides clear standards that will help mitigate these issues while supporting a fair and well-managed environment for sidewalk vendors.

Without this ordinance, we risk allowing the situation to deteriorate further, increasing safety hazards and detracting from the positive experience.

We all strive to provide at one of Monterey's most popular destinations.

So on behalf of the Fisherman's Wharf Association, I respectfully urge the city council to adopt this important ordinance and help maintain a safe, organized and welcoming environment for all.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Oh, I thought there was one more.

All right.

With that, we'll go ahead and close public comment, bring it back to the council for motion and deliberation.

Please, Dr.

Barber.

Okay, go ahead.

No.

Don't fight over it now.

So I wanna I want to talk about a couple of things.

And I think I may have a couple of questions as I as I get into this.

Some of the commenters and some of the submitted responses and comments throughout the last couple of months, as well as some of the depictions of graphic designs uh offered and volunteered.

But thank thank you for doing that because it does help to have the communications come from the public.

But I want to point out that as I understand it, and maybe staff can correct me if I'm wrong, but the red brick on the custom house side of the recreational trail is entirely state property.

So that's a question of staff.

The red brick on the side of the custom house plaza, and we call that sort of the blind corner.

There's a tree, a blind corner.

Frequently there are events held by the custom house plaza.

Talk to me about the actual border.

So great question.

And then we have a uh the map displayed here uh that kind of shows that.

And if you see that kind of teal, the teal lines represent property lines and property boundaries.

So the there's not really a simple answer to the question that falls necessarily the red brick.

So what you need to be looking at is that teal line on the left of the rec trail.

Could you put your cursor on it?

Um, yes, that one right there.

So that's the separation between the city property and the state property.

So it doesn't follow the red brick exactly, but it's pretty close.

It's a good assignment, it's definitely if you're on the red red brick, as you can see, you're definitely on state property, but there is a portion that extends just slightly beyond.

Okay.

So that entire area, if we call it state property, some of the photos we saw actually had a table display by a vendor sitting on state property.

Potentially, yes.

It did appear.

No, we saw it appeared that way.

Yes.

Um, the other thing is um with the state property, they are exempting having to accommodate vendors.

From I understand what the law is.

The state of California, when they wrote the legislation, exempted themselves from it.

That is correct.

So my line of thinking then means that we have to assess the actual property that we have available to use.

That's correct.

So you've outlined what we know to be the city property that's usable.

And by council action tonight, we will determine the conditions of this ordinance.

Your other orange lines, or I'll call them bright brick orange lines.

If you would define and tell us what those are that are closest to the state property, and then across from that, there is another one.

So could you explain that?

Yes, happily.

So the both the bands that you see that uh run parallel to the recreation trail represent uh a 15-foot setback from the boundary of the rec trail.

Um, that's for kind of visual ease of understanding what that setback would look.

The ordinance reads 25 feet from the center line.

So that's gives someone the ability to make an exact measurement because the outside boundaries of the rec trail are not currently marked.

So we wanted to give some kind of point of reference that can be easily found that someone could measure and determine whether or not they were 25 feet from the center line.

But what you're seeing here is to depict from the exterior boundaries of the recreation trail that last 15 feet that also would be prohibited for vending.

Okay, and so the other, and to the to the top of the the map there, that other band represents that minimum 12 foot separation that's required from the railing along the cosway and the rock uh the rock outcropping there.

Okay.

So where that large tree is on the upper left of the band, I would call that just past the bad curve.

If you're on a bicycle and you're coming around that corner, it's it's caution zone.

There are two trees there.

The second tree under the canopy of that second tree is the end of that band on the left-hand side.

The distance from that edge to the other side is also 25 feet.

We just can't see it because it's under the canopy of the tree.

Well, it becomes state property at that point, so it's prohibited for a different reason.

Okay, so do we maintain sufficient space in that area for a fire truck?

With this configuration, could a fire truck come from unity lot one and go down the trail and arrive at wharf one to fight a fire?

I don't know the specific dimension that would be required for a fire apparatus, but there's gonna be at least um feet occupying the rec trail.

It could be tight between that planter where you see uh there, I would normally say absolutely, but because of that planner that I'm looking at, uh, I'm not sure what that distance is from the state property edge to that planter.

Yeah, and so I want to focus on that in terms of agreeing on a resolution that says if we have a setback from the center line, then we're also accommodating a potential fire safety vehicle that's gonna have to drive under that tree.

So I'm concerned about that last space to accommodate fire apparatus that may have to come from that side.

Sure.

Um, so other than that, I I agree this visual is helpful.

Um, and so let me move on to something else.

Um, I'm I'm wanting to know about uh anything in this ordinance, verbally say only vendor stations on the ocean side of this boundary, and I'm thinking in terms of enforcement.

So if we're accompanying a map and we're accompanying the resolution and we have the ordinance for enforcement abilities, we aren't using anything on the opposite side of the ocean that's available for vendors.

Is that correct?

So this is a conceptual map.

And so what staff would do if uh if the ordinance was adopted, we would field verify all measurements and mark and designate the maximum amount of spaces that we could fit into the area that met all the distance requirements.

So for enforcement, we we we also thought about that and wanted to make it abundantly clear and and have DMARC spaces based on the parameters that are included in the ordinance.

Um rather so it's kind of hard to say, but this is uh an approximation based on scaling in our GIS system, but there is a margin of error there.

So we hesitate to say yes, absolutely, there would be no on the ocean side or or that there would be um nothing on the opposite side by the anchor.

Correct.

Yeah, yeah.

So my preference would be that we eliminate crossover, because when you have a vendor on one side and vendors on the other side, and then you have pedestrian strollers, bicyclists going down in between.

I think the mere fact that everything is on one side eliminates part of the safety issue that we have is that we currently have vendors on both sides, and I don't think that's appropriate.

I think with the space constraints, I think we based on this ordinance, it should be all of it on one side and not on both sides.

Yeah, the ordinance could be uh that could be incorporated into the ordinance to more clearly prohibit the ending any vending on that side of the rec trail if that was uh the preference of the council.

Yeah, and I would say that for safety reasons.

Um last question.

Uh, how much is a permit?

Oh goodness.

Um, so we just adopted the new fee schedule.

It's between two and three hundred dollars, if I recall correctly.

Okay, and that lasts for one year.

Correct.

Okay.

And if this goes into effect with the first reading tonight, a second reading is uh 30 days later, thereabouts.

Um, five days from the first adoption.

Oh, okay.

It would be effective 30 days after second reading.

Yeah, okay.

So we had some a speaker tonight talk about he just just renewed.

He has a he's paid 200.

Is there a provision for someone to say, well, under the new laws that have been passed by the city council, I no longer want to do this.

Can I get my money back?

Would we be able to prorate and refund the applicant who holds an application now with the new laws that say these are the conditions and they can elect to revoke or submit submit their permit?

Do we have a provision where we would rebate that permit?

We don't currently have a provision for that.

Okay.

All right.

Thank you.

Absolutely, Dr.

Barber.

So I can first of all I can appreciate and encourage entrepreneurial spirit.

Um I definitely applaud those who have been doing this, uh, whether it's here or somewhere else.

I know that that can be definitely very trying sometimes, especially uh in the economic um state that we're in now, but I would say that um it's also important to make sure that we have structure and that those that structure is enforced so that we have health and safety.

I think health and safety is very, very, very important, not just for the businesses and entrepreneurs that are there, but also for the pedestrians, the tourists, and also for residents that are utilizing the trail.

And so I think with that, it's important for us to be able to have these stipulations and it looks like 13 tables.

Is that correct?

What I'm seeing.

So you're looking about 13 tables that would actually be able to fit with this new ordinance if this were to go forward with it.

And for that reason, I feel like we have to start somewhere with providing some sort of health and safety uh structure.

So for that reason, I can you call me up?

Okay.

Maybe you called the planner.

You guys call me up.

Okay.

Um, get to my script here.

Please do not disrupt the orderly conduct of these proceedings by continuing to speak out from the audience.

If you continue, you'll be ordered to leave the meeting.

I would be default.

You have been given a fair warning and have elected to disrupt the meeting.

You are now ordered to leave the meeting.

So you're you are tired of the two-minute side.

And the thing is is what's going on.

Stop that.

Okay.

We're gonna go ahead and recess.

Thank you, everybody.

You know, you can't have somebody get up and do that and then say, not ask us the truth about this.

We all need to go to the state or the property that's disputed.

Did you see 13 or 14?

No, I thought that's one three.

13.

All right, all right.

I mean, if I can uh finish my my uh what I was saying.

So I say all that, and I also say to staff, thank you for the hard work you've done.

Uh Levi, thank you.

Um I appreciate the hard work that you and your staff have put in because it does take a lot of time.

And we've actually met with both sides from what I understand with the staff.

We've met with businesses that are there and brick and mortar.

We've met with all the different um entrepreneurs and even held it and tabled it so that we could actually talk more with them to be able to make sure all voices are heard.

So thank you for that.

Now I'm finished.

Thank you.

All right, Councilman Rash, please.

Uh, thank you.

Picking up where uh Dr.

Barber left off.

Thank you, Levi, very much for your excellence and your intellect and your openness to the community.

We we did delay this to hear people.

Um, I spoke with some of the vendors and I uh hoped for new ideas.

Um, but the ideas were basically we want it to stay the same.

Um, to the vendors, you are important, you are part of our eclectic, diverse and enriched community.

We want you to stay, we want you there.

I said it before you have been successful to the point where we need to have expansion of the concept and space for all our visitors to come, enjoy themselves and frankly spend money everywhere, spend money with the vendors, spend money with our our brick and mortar stores and enjoy themselves, not be too confined, and so I look forward to your expansion into San Carlos Park, window by the bay.

I I really want to hear that you see some opportunity because that's what I feel.

I feel there's opportunities.

I think vendors are successful.

I think we need to look at it that way.

Um, I think the limitations that the staff are providing are reasonable, and again, they allow for growth.

And if if the eight by four, thirty-two square foot limitation is too severe.

Remember, other communities do it that way.

And and I hear that it's a painful reduction, but you could get double that space for another 200 dollars, and yes, you'd have to provide another employee, but I, in my mind, a family member in a family business.

So I don't see that as a real deal breaker when the problem to the city is this mass concentration of density.

Um, I have a long history with NCIP, and I'm gonna say it again.

Every year there were proposals and and for curing the problems on the trail, the density, the impacts, ideas that were good, ideas that were bad, ideas that can't happen because we share it with different cities and we share it.

It's a it's a transportation route.

The problems on the rec trail are real and they need our intervention.

So I'm supportive of reducing all that congestion down there.

And I don't think that applying a structure that gives us more space, um, is a problem.

And I don't I don't believe that coming in with uh more authorities or or police people to kind of oversee the problems.

I would much rather limit that impact of a police presence or a monitoring presence.

I would much rather use a structure that gave everybody more space throughout the whole city.

You have a you have a policy that allows you to be where and anywhere except where it's accepted in Cantery Row.

You can't be in the state areas as as council member Smith reminds us.

And these are reasonable constraints, and let's let's develop another successful place on Windows by the bank.

I I see opportunity and I'm I'm sorry that some vendors don't.

I think that will change because you'll have to go out and create more opportunity.

The locations are there and the and the people with money are there.

They're gonna spend money.

Thank you.

Okay, um, I think my co colleagues said um a lot of it, and um frankly, it's it's I know that it is um uncomfortable when things are taken away.

Um when you have more and then you have to end up with less.

Um so I'm empathetic towards some of the response and what we're seeing tonight.

It's it's it's hard because the city is looking at taking a direction that is taking away something that you've been entitled to.

So I completely understand that.

Um I want to echo what my colleague said and give gratitude to staff, but particularly Levi.

Um, staff is doing what the council has directed them to do.

So for anybody in the public to attack our staff, our professional staff is completely inappropriate and is not gonna be accepted by this council.

Um so again, kudos to staff.

I appreciate you.

Um this is a difficult decision.

It's taken up a lot of time and capacity um for our community, for the the vendors, um, for the council and for staff.

Um and so um I think that it's appropriate for us to move forward um with the with the proposal.

Um I think we have to stay open to changes, and if there's ways that we can make it better, then let's consider that.

Um I'm trying to look at my notes here, give me one second.

I I I heard one of the arguments being said around um having a reservation system.

I know that was one of our big topics from the last meeting.

Um, honestly, I could go either way.

Um, I think that I trust staff and knowing that we're gonna execute this um and do the best that we can.

But again, if there's if it's not working, then I know that we'll be right back and having a conversation so that we can tweak this and get this right.

Um as far as um the spacing.

Actually, I have a question.

How many tables did we have before?

Or how many tables we did allow it to be for?

How many are they allowed to have?

The prior version of the ordinance existing, okay.

So right now it's there's some ambiguity to that standard.

So sorry, let me clarify my question.

When we were discussing the proposed changes to the ordinance at the council meeting.

April, yes.

So at that time it was the same proposal for the number of tables and the size of tables, four by eight.

Okay.

Um it was the distance between the vendors that changed.

But it didn't create space for more tables.

Uh we reduced it from 15 to the uh 10 feet that you see, and it did it.

You're talking about the number of tables, yeah, that's correct.

That's correct.

Yeah, I believe it did add two more.

We were at 10, and then it added two after we made the reduction.

Right.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

Um obviously not ideal.

It adds more flexibility.

I I can't remember who said I think it was Dr.

Barber.

Um, we were supposed to have this done months ago, and and we're still having this conversation, and I think it was staff's effort of making sure that we do our due diligence and try to um make this better.

Um, I appreciate what council member Rash said at our last council meeting, which was trying to find that space um for vendors to be located in other locations outside of this area, which seem to have some reception from um some of the vendors.

Um, so I don't know where the conversation goes from here as it relates to that, but this isn't to say that we're completely restricting um vendors' ability to be able to operate, it's just trying to find what works in this area.

And I've walked in this area and have been uncomfortable trying to get around during certain parts of the day.

So I know from firsthand experience in regards to some of the challenges associated with it.

I know that some folks might appreciate it and they come from out of town and they love them.

And this isn't to say that we don't love you being there.

It's just trying to have it established in a way to where it works for everybody in our community and our visitors.

Um this space was not made for vendors, but now that we do allow vendors there, how do we find a way of making it work?

So I'm not going to continue to belabor the point.

Um, I'm gonna go ahead and make the motion to approve staff recommendation.

So it's moved and seconded.

Any other discussion?

Yeah, just a quick comment, please.

Yeah, I just want to say um I too have heard a lot of um informal complaints, comments.

I ride my bike through there all the time.

Walked with the grandkids recently through there, and my desire is to have a resolution that lands on the right balance to accommodate the vendors, but also accommodates and and cares for the safety of everyone who is in that area, and to continue with what we have does not provide that level of safety that I think that Monterey owes to everyone who was using that tight space.

It's just like when you're trying to remodel a house and you're constrained, you've only got so much land, we don't own the whole the whole area.

We are constrained by the state, we want to demand the safety and the free passage of what we need to make sure we navigate.

So it's district two is what I represent, but this entire city council has visited that area, and and they see that we need the structure that's going to work better than what's worked in the past.

And I get complaints and phone calls and emails, I'd say weekly on the chaos that is observed on many, many days.

So it's time to have the right resolution with the right footprint.

And as anything else, whenever we we try something and we work it out and it comes back, we we always um try and land on the right thing.

So it's not a resolution for the next 50 years.

Our resolutions are adopted and changed and amended um pretty frequently.

But this resolution I think is the right balance between what we need to ensure safety.

Appreciate the vendors' efforts and their contributions and communications, and one more comment to uh Levi and and planning.

Uh, we really appreciate your input.

The public input is over.

Anybody else on the council have final comments?

Council Member Rash, I see your hand up.

I'm assuming that might be legacy hand.

Yeah, like I said, I I will say, and and I'm in no way trying to disparage anybody, but I think the public comments around um some of the attitude and approach from some of the vendors was clearly displayed tonight.

And it doesn't help the cause for all the other vendors.

I sat down with India and James and had a chance to give them a conversation.

I also sat down with some of the business owners on the wharf.

I met with both sides.

And I imagine that both sides weren't happy that I didn't continue having conversations on and on with them about it.

But I gave that time to have a conversation.

And look, the opposition is still here, being respectful and sitting.

We have to be respectful of each other.

And to me, it was very clear tonight in regards to how some people are treated.

We have to treat people with respect even if we disagree.

And it's it's actually frankly really disappointing.

So I'm gonna go ahead and call the question.

Yes.

Councilmember Barber?

Yes.

Councilmember Smith?

Yes.

And Mayor Williamson.

That's a yes for me.

With that, we'll go ahead and go to council comments.

Who wants to start us off?

No.

Is she shaking her hand?

Thanks, guys.

You say no.

Are you good?

Gene?

I'm good.

Okay.

Who else?

Please, that's you.

Okay.

I got a whole list.

But it's gonna be quick.

Uh I've already said it at our celebration of recognizing public safety or public uh parks and recreation again.

But to staff, kudos.

July 4th was a wonderful time.

Um it's good to see all the council members and the celebration, um, the food, the entertainment, the parade, and thank you very much for OMBA and all the volunteers that were phenomenal and everything they did.

And that continues on for staff and volunteers at the Battle of the Bands and Music.

Um, and if you don't like Santana, sorry, try again.

But I love Santana and really enjoyed that uh for the cover band.

Uh Camp Kiwasabi, I'll see that on July 21st.

It sounds like I'm gonna get my favorite food spaghetti.

So that's great.

Um, I talked about the parks trips and my um the winner was uh Dennis Menis Park and truly enjoyed going to the beach and going to the park uh for the last uh two and a half weeks.

And um for those parents.

Now I'm a grandpa, so I don't have to do this on a daily basis.

It reminds me what it's like being a parent with daily hourly responsibilities of raising children.

And so for those parents that are in this room that are still involved in the day-to-day operation of those little critters.

Hats off to you.

It does get better when they get older, but thank you.

And the love of parents is uh never ending because it is a chore to be a loving parent and to give children the nurturing time that they need.

I get to do it occasionally as a grandparent, and believe me, it's way easier than being a parent.

Uh so you parents look forward to being a grandparent.

Um Thursday night, I will be attending the Chamber of Commerce Excellence Award.

And I know that there's uh a few City of Monterey businesses that will be receiving those excellence awards.

So I'll be at the embassy suites uh representing the city.

And also, I don't know that I announced that I've secured a conference I'm going to attend uh my role as a board member for Monterey Salinas Transit.

Uh, it's receiving an award.

I know I mentioned that, but there's a Americans uh American Public Transportation Association Conference.

It's one of the largest ones.

There's like 2500 people attending in Boston in September.

So I'll be attending that conference uh to be there with some other board members as MST receives a very prestigious um apta award.

And mayor, that's all the council comments I have.

Awesome.

Thank you for that.

Um, I'm just gonna give one quick update in regards to um M1W.

We are tracking for the expansion of the Pure Water Monterey project.

Um, we're expecting for that to be online by the end of the year.

Um so that's exciting.

The water management district has already issued us um our water allocation.

And so um the assumption, all assumptions are that this spring there will be hopefully a decision made to the statewater resources control board to potentially have uh a change in the CDO that allows some flexibility and getting some housing developed.

So we will see more to come there, but that's my update.

With that, I'll pass it to Nat for City Manager Reports.

Great.

Just a few quick uh updates.

Uh thanks, Councilmember Smith for acknowledging July 4th.

We had a great celebration.

Uh Pancake Breakfast, the fire department, uh recreation, public works, all the departments that came out to celebrate not only that event, but uh the parade, the lawn party uh went well.

Glad to celebrate America's independence.

Um we did announce recently we are launching our first city academy.

Uh this is uh for City of Monterey residents ages 14 years and older.

So folks who are either new to the city or maybe they're a longtime resident, wanting to learn more about city programs and events, how local government works.

We're uh encouraging folks to apply by uh the 21st of July and our it's gonna be an eight weeks one week sessions on Thursday nights from 6 to 8 30, starting August 28th, running through October 16th, and we'll have a graduation ceremony on October 23rd.

So folks can apply at Monterey.gov for slash first city academy.

And again, a great way to get involved in the community, learn about city government.

The uh last announcement, we do have a end of summer celebration for our Parks and Recreation Department as well as our library and museums department.

So they're teaming up.

It will be at Jack's Park on Friday, August 1st from 5 p.m.

to 7 p.m.

Again, Monterey Recreation, the Monterey Library and the Sports Center in collaboration with my museum, a great uh community partner that we have.

We're offering free activities, face painting, bubble fun, tie-dye crafts, a slime lab, whatever that is.

It does sound like a little bit of fun, uh carnival booths and a Zumba dance party.

So everyone's welcome.

Um the sports center will also have free swimming in the two indoor pools from 7 to 8 30 p.m.

This is the second annual event that celebrates the end of summer, and uh it's uh all to celebrate the day camps, the playground programs, camp camp teensabe, all of the great stuff uh that uh we put on for our community.

So that's my report.

Thank you, Nat.

With that, we'll go ahead and adjourn.

Have a good evening, everybody.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

Bye, Kyle, yep.