All right, everyone.

It is six o'clock.

We're gonna go ahead and get started.

Good evening, and thank you for joining our special city council meeting of May 4th.

It's already been a full day with the opening of the Veterans Memorial and Senior Center building.

But we are back for more.

And we hold meetings in a hybrid format with both in-person and virtual participation.

The city welcomes public comment on topics within these sub city's subject matter jurisdiction, and members of the public may provide comments as follows.

In-person speakers will be called first.

Speaker cards are located at the back table in the council chambers and must be turned in to the city clerk here at the Dais.

Please be sure to indicate the agenda item number which you wish to speak on.

Attendees who have joined us by Zoom will be called to speak after the in-person comments have been given.

Detailed instructions for public comment will be provided on the screen when the time for public comment begins.

If there's a high volume of public comment this evening, we may decrease the time allotted for each public comment or limit the time the total time for public comment.org.

Written comments are not read aloud, but are made part of the public record.

And I'll now turn it over to our city clerk to call the roll.

Here.

If you're attending in person, please fill out a speaker card and submit it to the city clerk here at the day's.

And if you're attending virtually, please feel free to raise your hand on Zoom at this time.

Or press star nine if you've joined by phone.

Once we've gathered all of the speaker cards and raised hands and have begun public comment, no additional speakers will be allowed to queue up to speak.

And I will now turn it over to our city clerk to facilitate public comment.

Thank you, Mayor.

I don't have any in-person speakers.

So if you have joined us by Zoom and would like to speak under general public comment this evening, feel free to raise your hand on Zoom to be recognized.

Seeing no raised hands, Mayor.

Thank you.

Thank you, Jessica.

With that, we're going to go a little bit out of order in our agenda.

We will come back to our public hearing item, but start with our staff report item.

And so we'll begin with 7A.

Deputy City Manager Jennifer Yamaguma will give us a presentation.

An economic development manager Amanda Anthony is available for questions.

Good evening.

Thank you, Mayor and Council.

We'll get started, but I really want to take a moment and just thank all of the staff that helped with this presentation from city attorney's office, police, fire, public works, parks and rec, everybody did fantastic work on this, and I just really want to appreciate all of the effort that went into this item tonight.

So tonight we are bringing you forward a proposal to establish an entertainment zone in the downtown.

The recommendation before you comes from the ad hoc on special events, which met on April 28th.

And we have two of our uh council members and um ad hoc members, yourself, Mayor, and Councilmember Padilla, as there are as we go through the presentation.

If there's anything you'd like to add or questions, then please definitely feel free.

And Councilmember Chu.

Thank you.

Okay, so our presentation outline.

So we're gonna walk through the state authority that allows for entertainment zones, how other cities are using this tool, and our proposed framework.

I will say that we have a phased implementation as part of this approach, and so we'll walk through that a little bit more and cover our key policy elements and next steps.

Questions for council.

We're really looking for direction in four different key areas.

First, whether to establish an entertainment zone at the pedestrian mall.

Second, whether to use a city managed activation approach.

Third, whether the operating parameters feel appropriate, and whether there's any additional direction that you would like us to consider as part of this initial first phased implementation.

But start with what an entertainment zone is.

So at its core, this really allows uh alcohol to be purchased from local businesses to be consumed in a defined public space.

It's only allowed during designated times and under very specific conditions, and it operates within a structured set of operational and safety rules.

SB 969 was adopted in 2024, and as I just mentioned, it allows cities to create entertainment zones by ordinance.

It lets patrons buy alcohol from participating businesses and consume it within a defined public space.

This expands a model that was previously limited to San Francisco.

It still requires compliance with ABC regulations and local rules on boundaries, hours, and operations.

So this is really a local tool, but it has very clear guidelines and guardrails in place.

In practice, cities are using this during events and high activity periods.

So the goal is really to increase foot traffic, support businesses, and enhance overall experience for those that are in the entertainment zone.