Good evening, everyone.

It is five o'clock, so we'll go ahead and get started.

Thank you for joining our special city council meeting of May eighteenth.

We hold meetings in a hybrid format with both in-person and virtual participation available.

And members of the public may provide comments as follows.

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

Attendees who have joined us by Zoom will be called to speak after in-person comments have been given, and detailed instructions for public comment will be provided on the screen when the time for public comment begins, and with that, I'll turn it over to our city clerk to call the roll.

Thank you, everyone, for your patience.

We're gonna go ahead and get started.

Close session has concluded and there is no reportable action.

So we'll now reconvene open session and begin with presentations and acknowledgments.

And as tonight we're acknowledg excuse me, we're conducting interviews for the city's boards, commissions, and committees.

It's especially fitting to recognize two of our longstanding BCC members for their leadership and dedicated service to our community.

First, we recognize Alma Montalvo, member of the Housing and Human Concerns Committee for the past twelve years, and I'll read a few excerpts of the proclamation.

Whereas the city of Redwood City recognizes the invaluable contributions of dedicated community leaders who work tirelessly to advance housing equity, tenant protections, and the well-being of residents.

And whereas Alma Montalvo's dedication, leadership, and advocacy have strengthened the city of Redwood City's commitment to equity, inclusion, housing stability, and community well-being.

Now, therefore, be it resolved that I, Elmer Martina Sabayos, mayor of Redwood City, on behalf of the city council and the people of Redwood City, do hereby recognize and honor Alma Montalvo for her outstanding service, leadership, and lasting contributions to the community, and extends sincere gratitude and appreciation for her many years of dedicated service.

Congratulations, Alma.

And I now welcome you to our podium for remarks and to accept the commissioner.

Thank you.

Just I just wanted to say thank you.

I mean, it's I've learned a lot.

It's been very meaningful.

I'm really happy to be a part of this, and to the rest of my committee members that are here, and to everybody else, I just encourage everybody to try to get involved and roll.

Thank you very much.

And Alma, we have a proclamation.

We'd love to take a photo with you and the full city council here.

Okay.

Great congratulations, and thank you, Alma, for your service.

We are very grateful.

And with that, we'll go on to item six B.

Our next recognition is for another Housing and Human Concerns Committee member, Kate Adams Heaster.

Kate has led countless initiatives to advance the city's important work, important housing work that will benefit the community for decades to come.

And I'll need I'll read a few excerpts from the proclamation.

Whereas Kate has served as a member of the Housing and Human Concerns Committee, HHCC, for nearly a decade, contributing thoughtful leadership and steadfast commitment to addressing housing and community challenges in Redwood City.

And whereas Kate has served with distinction as both chair and vice chair of the HHCC for two years each, helping guide the committee's work through collaboration, advocacy, and strategic leadership.

And whereas Kate has served as the chair of the tenant protection ad hoc subcommittee, playing a key role in the development of the city's anti-displacement strategy and the subsequent tenant protection ordinance, supporting protections and stability for tenants throughout the community.

And whereas during her service on the HHCC, Kate contributed significantly to the major city initiatives, including the anti-displacement strategy development and implementation, the RV safe parking program, the housing element, and the tenant protection ordinance.

And whereas Kate's dedication to public service and her advocacy for equitable housing policies have made a lasting and meaningful impact on the residents of Redwood City.

Now, therefore, be it resolved that I, Elmer Martina Savallos, Mayor of Redwood City, on behalf of the City Council and the people of Redwood City to hereby recognize and honor Kate Heaster for her outstanding leadership service and commitment to advancing housing equity and community well-being and extend her our sincere appreciation for her many contributions to the city of Redwood City.

Congratulations, Kate.

And please come to the Cook podium for a few words, and we have a proclamation for you too.

I didn't prepare either, so but thanks, Alma, for taking that one.

Um yeah, I also just want to uh thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to um be part of this this process and learn so much.

Um I think when I was interviewing when I was in this group a couple of times, um I just was it was such a pleasure to be able to share the things that I had been learning, and I knew that that wasn't why you didn't appoint me because I got to learn, but uh it really has made such a big difference in my understanding of how our community works.

Um and I'm so grateful to be able to know so many more folks in the community and understand how um how we can work together to make it a better place.

And so thank you so much for that.

Thank you, Kate, and let's take a quick photo.

You're gonna get your steps today.

Thank you to both of our commissioners again.

Thank you so much for your work in the community and being a part of the Redwood City team.

And with that, we'll move on to item 6C.

Each year in May, the city celebrates Jewish American Heritage Month to honor the centuries of history, culture, and contributions of Jewish Americans.

Throughout the month, our public library highlights Jewish literature for both adults and children, sharing stories of Jewish American history and leadership that has shaped our community today.

And I'll read a few excerpts.

Whereas the Jewish American experience is a story of faith, fortitude, and progress.

It is a quintessential American experience, one that is connected to the key tenets of American identity, including our nation's commitment to freedom of religion and conscience.

And whereas the city of Redwood City recognizes both the continuity, excuse me, of the Jewish people and the intergenerational responsibility we have to heal the community for our children.

And whereas the Jews during Jewish American Heritage Month, we honor the Jewish Americans who, inspired by Jewish values and American ideals, have engaged in the ongoing work of forming a more perfect union.

Now, therefore be it resolved that I, Elmer Martina Sabaios, Mayor of Redwood City, on behalf of the City Council and the people of Redwood City do hereby proclaim May 2026, and each year thereafter as Jewish American Heritage Month in Redwood City, and encourage all members, all people to observe this month in honor of the invaluable contributions Jewish Americans have made to our community and to our nation.

And now I'd like to welcome David Ron and Alan Walker from Congregation Beth Jacob to the podium for remarks.

Jewish American Heritage Month is about celebrating the countless ways Jewish Americans have shaped this country, whether through science, education, civil rights, and the arts.

To name one, Ruth Peter Ginsburg, sorry, to name one, Ruth Peter Ginsburg showed us what it means to pursue justice, as she was a strong advert advocate for gender equality.

I've grown up looking up to her with her values continuing to inspire so many young people like me today.

We also saw Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel marching alongside Martin Luther King Jr.

during the Civil Rights Movement.

At that same time, Rabbi David Teidelbaum, who was the rabbi of CWJ at the time, traveled to Selma to march alongside King and Heschel.

Both Titelbaum and Helsh, both Titelbaum and Heschel's commitment to equality.

Sorry.

Both Titelbaum and Heschel's commitment to equality continue to be honored today as an example of how Jewish Americans, including members of our local community, have helped shape our country into a more just society.

For us, being Jewish is deeply connected to community and responsibility.

At Congregation Beth Jacob, we've grown up in a community that has taught us the importance of showing up for one another and helping repair the world through acts of kindness and service.

I'm a leader in Benabrath Youth Organization for our local chapter.

Through BBYO, we have the opportunity to connect to with Jewish teens from across the Bay Area and develop leadership skills rooted in those same values.

CBJ is the foundation for our involvement in our broader Jewish community.

Next year, I'll be serving as the president of my high school's Jewish student union and also as an intern at the Stan with us Kenneth Labenthal High School internship, where I'll work to educate others and combat anti-Semitism through dialogue and outreach.

Jewish American Heritage Month is so important because it creates opportunities for people to learn about Jewish history, culture, and identity beyond stereotypes and misinformation.

Especially at a time where anti-Semitism is rising, education and visibility matter.

Seeing the city recognized this month sends a powerful message that the Jewish community is welcomed, valued, and supported here in Redwood City.

Thank you again for this honor and for helping make this community a place where Jewish identity is celebrated.

Thank you.

Thank you both.

And if we can take a quick photo, and Mr.

Walker, Mr.

Ron, if you'd like to join us, please come on down.

All right.

Turning now to the public comment section of the agenda, we'll now take public comment on the consent calendar, matters of council interest and items that are not listed on tonight's agenda.

We welcome speakers providing public comment, but please be advised this is a limited public forum.

As such speakers must address matters within the subject matter jurisdiction of the city.

And if speakers do not, they'll be warned.

And if they continue to disregard city rules, their opportunity to speak will be limited.

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

And if you're attending virtually, 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 the speaker cards and raised hands and have begun public comment, no additional speakers will be allowed to queue up to speak.

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

Thank you, Mayor.

I have five in-person speakers at the moment.

So last call, anyone else who'd like to give public comment on this item.

And if you've joined us on Zoom, now is the time to raise your hand.

For our in-person speakers, there's a timer on the top of the podium.

The orange blinking light is your 30-second warning, and the red light with the beep means your time is up.

And we'll start with our in-person speakers and then we'll move to Zoom.

We'll start with David Grable.

And following David will be Rovey Antonio.

Welcome.

Good evening and thank you.

I'm David Grable, president of City Trees, a urban forestry nonprofit that has planted over 4,000 trees in Redwood City over the last 26 years.

The U.S.

Department of Agriculture stats on tree canopy in Redwood City as reflected in the Sustainable San Mateo County Indicators Report, or that in 2018 there was a 15% tree canopy.

In 2022, it was 13%.

Tree canopy beautifies the city, increases real estate values, cleans the air, provides shade, and reduces utility bills.

Redwood City is losing approximately 200 trees a year.

The Public Works Department and City Trees are not replacing these trees, not nearly replacing the 200 tree loss.

Obviously, the tree canopy in Redwood City is diminishing.

Redwood City has an opportunity in front of it.

You're going to hire Terrence Quise replacement and replace the 50-year-old tree ordinance.

What does City Trees ask of you?

We ask that you make sure that Terrence's replacement is a tree advocate.

We asked that we get public input on the hire.

City Trees will be mailing a more detailed statement to all of you in the next few days.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Roe V Antonio, who will be followed by Bill Newell.

Hi, good evening, Mayor and City Council Roe V Antonia with the California Apartment Association.

I attended your meeting virtually last week, but I fell off the queue to speak when I switched device from my laptop to my phone.

But I heard the comments from the council and understand that you guys are interested in learning more about the rental housing in the city.

And that's where I come in.

Thank you, Councilmember Howard, for um recognizing that CEA has been longtime partners of the city.

We looked at a data set of about 1,260 buildings, totaling about 16,500 rental units.

For property size ranging in three categories, small one to ten units, mid-size 11 to 50, large, 50 plus and up units.

79% of Redwood City buildings, properties are considered small size from one to 10, with the large buildings of about 50 and up, totaling only about 6% of the stock.

As far as the age, 89% were built pre-1980, and of this, 48% were built pre-1960.

And lastly, a criteria that's often overlooked are the class sizes of the buildings ranging from A, B, and C.

A meaning mostly newer, lots of more amenities, and typically larger.

In Redwood City, 91% of your rental buildings classify under Class C.

And what that means is that these are typically older buildings.

These factors are important to recognize, especially in the TPO, specifically regarding the right to return, because we are talking about older buildings, ones that need more repair, and the ones that need more capital in order to keep up.

And the reason why that's important is that we want to make sure that housing quality is not negatively impacted by the disincentivizing policies that doesn't promote repairs.

Because if you do that, you impact your market desirability, and that impacts poverty values.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Bill Newell, who will be followed by Christina Lee.

So when I originally uh planned to come tonight, I didn't realize till I looked at the city council agenda that some of my former colleagues, Alma Montava and Kate Heesu were being honored tonight.

And so I couldn't let that go without wanting to pay further tribute to them.

As one of their former colleagues on the housing human service commission um for several years, um I want to just say, as a commissioner, that those two commissioners who were veterans of that commission at the time I came on, really stood out for me as people um who are really good role models for what a city commissioner should be, with working with their colleagues from the from the city and that and what i mean by that is um acting as a manor and acting as very supportive people um on the commission not just as commissioners but it's just friends and human beings who really cared cared about us um so and i just want to say for alma and kate their service to the to our community goes beyond simply just not simply but all the great things they did on the housing and human service commission but also things that like Kate has done in her professional work with youth um and now around voter registration and getting more younger folks involved in the civic engagement and voting process and serving and targeting underserved youth in our community and all the other great things that I know alma's done in our community over the years as well so I just wanted to pay tribute tonight to them as a former commissioner and just say that I'm so happy to see the city the council honor former uh outgoing commissioners um for their service tonight and um I think it's great that you did that and I hope that um you can do it for more commissioners um after they end their service um like these two have thank you thank you our next speaker is Christina Lee who will be followed by Shishir Battle Hi I'm Christina Lee this is the first time I've ever attended anything like this I'm a retired business reporter on Wall Street and the LA Times where I had a weekly column and I'm used to standing back and not get involved because as a reporter you record you don't get involved in any of the issues but this is something that is very dear to my heart I read over the last week that there are plans to turn the parking space by the library into affordable housing.

Okay I've lived as a reporter in the big cities New York LA Hong Kong Tokyo and all that I've covered the big stories because I covered international trade and small business so if you just want to know where Redwood City is headed go to those cities where green areas is rare to see once you build a building in there it stays there for decades because it takes some time to take them down so plan carefully and that area the parking lot serves so many just not just the library but so many of the businesses in downtown Redwood City because on weekends while the children are out there in the library the parents are also shopping and doing other stuff it's a very safe place.

Once you put affordable housing near the library not across the street but next to it you're inviting trouble because I've seen that in New York City LA I've seen that in Hong Kong I've seen that I'm not from China or Hong Kong okay but what I'm saying okay.

Just thinking about thank you.

Our next speaker is Shishir Batt.

Welcome there are other places to put it the words thank you ma'am thank you for your comments we're going to Mr Shash good evening council um I'm just here on a matter um because on planning commission, in our last meeting, we were asked to review our capital improvements plan um and specifically evaluated for the criterion of is it conforming to the general plan?

Now I voted yes on that because it was.

Um but something stood out to me that staff advised that I come to council directly with since it wasn't in the scope of planning commission, which is that we in our capital improvements plan have a provision for automated license place plate readers and our current vendors fluck.

And I'm sure much of council has seen the news in the past year about the abuses of data from that vendor to assist federal immigration enforcement and do other activities that are not necessarily aligned with Redwood City's values.

Now I trust our Redwood City PD and I trust our staff to handle data appropriately, but oftentimes that trust is not enough at a technology level.

If data is stored in plain text, if data is not encrypted and data stored in a way that can be accessed with a warrant or by other law enforcement agencies, it doesn't matter how much goodwill and how much alignment our staff has with our values.

I would encourage council to adopt a formal data governance policy instead of relying on the idea that we can trust our own staff to do the right thing because I trust them too, but I don't trust our broader ecosystem right now.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We'll now turn to our Zoom speakers.

We have one speaker this evening on Zoom, Jennifer Lebseck.

Please go ahead and unmute yourself and begin your comments, and the timer will begin when you start speaking.

Okay, this is my first time, so I'll try to be as quick as possible.

Hope you can all hear me.

I'm a retired teacher, frequent library user, volunteer, um, for those that are in need of housing.

I have worked with the NAB Center, Redwood City Family Housing, etc., with meals, housing, and affordability.

So I also work with the aging who need transportation, two places like the library.

Um, so I'm familiar with usage of the library and where it's located.

It's in the heart of our city, it's in a historical building, and I feel like building um affordable housing next to it doesn't address some of the issues.

Maybe someone can answer my questions, but I think of all the programs, the tutoring, children's programs, the elderly that need close access to the building, and I feel with building a uh large building next to it, we're going to lose access to those programs.

People are not going to be able to get there because we do not have public transportation for those people to get to those programs.

They have to drive or have someone else drive them there.

That would be me parking, finding some place to park where I can leave an elderly person at the door.

It's already tough enough.

Um, the other thing is uh the overflow of parking in the neighborhoods, which has happened with all the building in Redwood City, and it's becoming um at sort of a critical point now with people jogging for parking places 24 hours a day.

What is the effect on our neighborhoods, traffic, water, and utilities, and what will be the rent of these apartments?

As I said, I am a volunteer, and I'm concerned that the clients that I work with would not be able to afford these apartments, even though we say they are affordable.

Um, so I'm also looking at what is the current occupancy in our rentals now for low incomes and are these local families.

Thanks very much for letting me speak.

I appreciate it.

Thank you, and that concludes public comment mayor.

Thank you to our city clerk, and thank you to everybody who joined to make public comment in person or virtually.

And with that, we'll go on to item eight, our consent calendar, and items on consent are routine in nature and approved in one motion.

Are there any items on consent from which council members are recused?

Not seeing any.

Are there any items on consent council members like to pull for discussion?

Not seeing any either.

Is there a motion?

So moved.

Second, there's a motion from Councilmember Howard, a second from Council Member G.

Could we get a electronic vote, please?

Motion passes with six votes.

Vice Mayor Aiken is absent.

Thank you.

Okay.

And we'll move on to item nine.

We the item everyone's been waiting for.

We'll begin items or excuse me with interviews for our city boards, commissions, and committees.

Tonight we're interviewing applicants to fill vacant seats on the board of building review, housing and Human Concerns committee, our Library Board, the Planning commission, parks Recreation and Community Services Commission, and the Senior Affairs Commission.

As we're excited to interview many applicants this evening, we want to make sure that we're staying on schedule to respect everyone's time tonight.

If you haven't already done so, please check in with staff at the back of chambers to let them know that you're here.

And the city clerk has provided all applicants with the interview questions in advance.

And the questions will also be shown on the screen just for your reference.

And the process for tonight's interviews are as follows.

The groups will be called in alphabetical order by BCC, and each of you will then be called to the podium one at a time based on the order published on the agenda.

Applicants will be given three uninterrupted minutes to address the city council by presenting your responses to the three interview questions.

And the timer will begin as soon as you start speaking.

Candidates are excused after your interview has concluded, but may remain in chambers for the rest of the meeting if you feel like just tuning in and hanging out with us.

And the city council will make its appointments at the regular city council meeting on Monday, June 22nd.

And that will be for all BCCs interviewed this evening.

You don't need to attend that council meeting in order to be selected.

The city clerk will follow up with everybody uh with the selection results after that meeting.

And with that, I will hand things over to our city clerk for public comment.

Thank you, Mayor.

We have two speaker cards for this item, and again, for our attendees on Zoom, feel free to raise your hand at this time.

We'll call Bill Newell.

Following Bill will be Shashir Butt.

Thank you, Honorable Council.

Um I give you my full uh support for your challenging arduous task you have tonight.

Every time I've seen this happen this process.

Um I just really want to say quickly, um, on my particular commission for the seniors.

We are basically reconstructing our commission.

We've losing five people, so we're being uh replacing two-thirds of our commission in this process.

Um, and so therefore I'd want to just call your attention as a member as a remaining member of the commission that um I endorse uh Mike Lynch, who's uh current um member seeking uh reappointment, and also uh Paul Bocanegra, as a new um applicant who's had a longstanding um experience in our community for many years, uh both serving seniors and non-seniors alike in our immigrant community as well.

And he uh lives like uh a couple blocks right across the street from the senior center, is faithfully taken his mother-in-law over to the lunch program for I don't know how many years now, uh several times a week.

So he has deep commitments to our senior community.

I also want to just add, um, as I'm also looking at the list tonight, um, I also want to endorse that you re-import uh reappoint Katie Getz, who is um has been our uh chair for that housing and human concerns uh commission, and she's an outstanding person who's contributed widely in our community around a variety of social justice and other uh concerns, beyond just her work with the uh housing and human services.

So I'd hardly endorse uh your consideration for reappointing her.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker, Shishir Bat.

Welcome.

Good evening again, council.

Um I promise I'm not up here to just get extra speaking time as I am not running for reappointment.

Uh so I first of all I'm very encouraged by the amount of people who want to contribute to our city and just seeing the grand audience is amazing.

Um, I was looking at the list of nomination.

I mean, list of uh Candace and I for Planning Commission, and um one name really stood out to me.

Um, um, Michael Rusia Cruz.

Um, he um has gone above and beyond in my time and plan commission of getting involved, both showing up to I think most of our planning commission meetings, um, getting really into the weeds and really grilling staff and commission on how do we are we all doing our jobs correctly?

I believe he has sent me a few white papers on how the city could do better, and I appreciate the amount of time he's taken out of my day to just read those.

Um, so I would I would heavily endorse Michael Rusa Cruz for the position of planning commission because he has already done the job in my view.

Thank you.

Thank you, and no public comment on Zoom mayor.

So I'll turn it back to you.

Great.

Thank you to our public commenters, our city clerk.

Before we begin calling up applicants, I'd like to ask our city council colleagues to introduce themselves to the candidates, and we'll start with Councilmember Chu.

Hello everyone, I'm Isabella Chu.

I'm the city council member for Redwood City District 3.

Oh, sorry, we'll go to Councilmember Howard next.

I'm Diane Howard, uh, Redwood City Council District 6.

Want to thank you all for being here this evening.

Really thank you.

And we'll go to Councilmember G.

Oh, good evening, everyone.

Jeff G, Redwood City District 1, which is Redwood Shores, and I want to say thank you for raising your hand, wanting to serve or wanting to continue to serve because it is a commitment, it's a dedication.

It's from the passion to serve our city.

Many of us up here have served previously on commissions.

Um I served back in the days when we had the architectural review committee that was appointed by the city council.

Now it's appointed by the planning commission, and then subsequently the planning commission.

So thank you for your interest.

Thank you for being here, and look forward to hearing your answers to night's questions.

Thank you, Councilmember.

We'll go to Councilmember Padilla.

Thank you, Mayor.

Hello, my name is Councilmember Marcella Padilla, and I serve District 7.

Um, I also had the pleasure of serving on the Parks and Rec Commission for 12 years.

So uh I'm happy to see everyone here today.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember.

And we'll go to Councilmember Sturkin.

Good evening, everyone.

Councilmember Chris Sterkin from Rev City District 2.

Um pronouns are he him and his.

And I just want to thank you so much for your interest in applying for one of our BCCs and also give two quick tips, if I may.

Indulge me, Mayor.

Thank you.

Uh, remember to breathe.

Uh, all right.

And also um, I did notice on some of the applications that if you haven't gone to one of the meetings for the committee commission or board you're applying for, please do that between now and when we uh make our decision.

All right, um, and you know, lobby some of the existing members.

I mean, have them come make a public comment like uh Bill and Shashir did tonight.

Uh right.

So uh those are some quick tips.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember.

And hey everyone, I'm Elmer Martina Savallos.

I have the honor of being your mayor.

I represent District 4, so from Sequoia High School down to Woodside Road up to Red Morton down to Stanball Street.

And um, like so many of our colleagues up here, I also got my start on one of our commissions.

I was on the planning commission and thoroughly enjoyed getting to work with my colleagues, understanding the work and working with our city staff, and then found my way onto the city council.

So the work that you all do is is so important.

It really does make our jobs easier and it makes the final product that much better.

So thank you all for throwing your hats out there and for applying for these uh for these seats.

And with that, I'll go ahead and kick us off with the first group, the Board of Building Review.

For the Board of Building Review, there are two full-term seats expiring at May 31st, 2030.

The board typically meets once every three years or as needed at the discretion of the city's chief building official to review updates to the city's building regulatory codes, hear appeals for building permits and ensure compliance with applicable building laws.

And I'll pass things over to the city clerk who will call on the applicants for board of building review.

Good evening, everyone.

Thank you for being here.

I'm Jessica Castro, the city clerk.

You've probably seen many of my emails.

Uh so glad to see you all in person.

And as the mayor said, we'll start with the board of building review candidates.

So we have four candidates for the Board of Building Review this evening.

We'll start with Enzo Constantini, who will be followed by Joanne Kerr, who will be followed by Daniel Navarro, who will be followed by Herman Rossbach.

And again, you'll have three uninterrupted minutes to speak.

Get situated at the podium.

We'll have the microphone turned on for you, and as soon as you begin speaking, the timer will start.

So as Council Member Sturkin said, feel free to take one last deep breath just to relax yourself before your interview.

And the questions will be up on the screen as well.

Hi there, everyone.

Good evening.

My name is Enzo Costantini.

I'm a resident of Redwood City for 31 years and a local realtor.

I'll read my responses to questions one and three first, as I believe they take priority over my second question answer, which has a bit of a personal excerpt in it.

I've been involved in construction in real estate since I was 12 years old, from helping my father and uncle work on remodels to going to house and property showings with my mother.

Naturally, I became deeply invested in preserving Redwood City's character, as well as how planning responsibly and development and community standards directly impact property owners, neighborhoods, and future generations.

I'm interested in serving in this board because I have practical insight on what young families' desires and needs are when purchasing a home in Redwood City that is often decades old.

These homes often need upgrading and reconfiguring, which shouldn't be as difficult as a new buyer without construction or real estate experience thinks it is.

I believe this type of progress is just as important as preserving the character and charm Redwood City is so coveted for.

I'll proceed to number three.

Back to number two.

Those were fun.

But I have to say the project I'm most excited about is the plans I have currently submitted for my new house in Redwood City.

My wife and I purchased this home from her family.

Her grandparents had passed away last year unexpectedly, and the family asked us to purchase it.

We were overjoyed.

They've lived there since the 1950s.

It's pretty remarkable.

They raised four amazing kids there who I'm very proud to call my in-laws.

We will raise our two-month-old son there, Leonardo, and create many more memories under the same roof and four walls as they did.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Our next candidate is Joanne Kurz.

Welcome.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council, for your time.

As a building official, plans checker, and building electrical inspector, who is recently retired, have both put forth code amendments in the jurisdiction that I worked in, worked on code adoptions for changes, approved plans, conducted field inspections, and I provided code review and interpretation when there's a disagreement with the plan checker.

As a member of the Sustainable Energy Action Committee, which is a national organization that I sit on, I have reviewed existing electrical codes, worked with the different committees on adopting new codes going forth.

These are national codes that then the state adopts.

And I've also worked on introducing pamphlets and handouts to help people understand why these codes are and how to interpret them.

Question number two.

What is the most exciting construction project?

In the jurisdiction that I worked in, we saw very unusual construction, large projects, giant homes, 21 foot deep basements.

But one of the things I hold the was amazing to watch happen was I've seen an emergency construction of a landslide repair that was about to take out three historical structures.

And I saw what could happen when a city, contractors, geotechnical engineers, structural engineers, everybody work together as a team to get this project done and save these houses.

It was amazing.

How do I feel I can contribute as a long-term resident of Redwood City?

I've lived here 34 years with my vast knowledge in construction and the building codes.

And it was a great experience.

I'm hoping that we can help preserve Redwood City, but make it fire safe, earthquake safe is really dear to my heart.

So to me, it's really those are my key important things.

Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you.

Daniel Navarro.

Excuse me, Mr.

Mayor.

Is there a way that the audience can see the questions?

We're getting them back up on the screen now.

Oh, okay.

Thank you very much.

I appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember.

Hello, uh, good evening.

My name is Danielle Navarro.

I'm an electrician by trade.

I've been part of home renovations and construction since I was about 10, helping my daddy worked in Stucco and couldn't afford daycare on the weekends.

So got my hands dirty real young.

Partly due to that, uh I've been a part of home renovations and multi-story building constructions in Redwood City.

And I have, I guess, a perspective of how changing buildings uh affects children, teenagers, and adults since I've lived in Redwood City for so long.

I would say.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next candidate is Herman Rossbach.

Welcome.

Good evening, City Council, Mr.

Mayor.

Everybody calls me Joe.

Uh so my the first question why your experience benefit the Board of Building Review.

So I started in the trades, um, been there for over 25 years doing high-end residential construction.

Um, so I understand work from the ground up.

You know, I've been in it, been swinging hammers.

Uh, for the past decade, I've been on the code and the code um side inspecting reviewing plans across building mechanical electrical plumbing systems.

I see what happened when code is applied well and when it's not.

Uh, I hold hold an ICC Master Code professional designation, and I'm a certified building official.

Presently I'm working for a consulting firm, and I maintain over 40 ICC certifications in the building inspection and plan review.

Um, in my consulting work, I've been embedded in local jurisdictions as a plans examiner and an interim CBO, which means I collaborate directly with designers, engineers, homeowners, and city staff to work through code challenges and bring uh projects into compliance.

My most exciting project, I've got so many of them.

I've been doing this for 10 years.

Inspections.

I think the best one that I'm working on right now is the uh I'm doing the remodel on the advanced light source building in Lawrence Berkeley National Labs.

And everything has got to be so precise, and it's just the detail oriented is pretty awesome.

So I really enjoying that.

I've also worked on did a bunch of the inspections on Redwood City Stanford campus, and even got the privilege of signing the their CEP plan off for their final inspection.

Um as far as contributing the local ordinances and building code review, um, keeping up with Senate assembly bills, California code updates, Title 24 energy requirements and accessibility standards.

That's part of the job for me.

That's what I do every day.

And knowledge, this knowledge maps directly into what the board does when reviewing local ordinances and code adoptions.

Because I work across multiple jurisdictions in the Bay Area and stay active in the ICC Peninsula chapter.

I have a real window into how neighborhoods neighboring cities are handling the same code questions Redwood City faces, what's working, what's not, how interpret how the interpretations are involving.

It means I can spot where outdoor outdated code provisions create real problems for builders.

I guess that's it.

Thank you, and that concludes the candidates for board of building review mayor.

Thank you.

And with that, we'll go to Councilmember Chu.

We will now interview applicants for the housing and human concerns committee to fill four full-term seats expiring May 31st, 2030.

The HHC, the HHCC meets on the fourth Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m.

and promotes affordable housing, monitors changing social needs in the community, and ensures that these needs are given sufficient consideration by the city council and planning commission.

The city clerk will now call on applicants for the housing and human concerns committee.

Thank you, Councilmember Chu.

For the Housing and Human Concerns Committee, we have now 13 candidates, and we'll call Nurshila Chand first.

After Nurshila will be Vanessa Correa.

Welcome.

All right.

Good evening, everyone.

My name is Nashela Chand, and I am, and my family has been a proud resident of Redwood City since the 1980s.

As an immigrant family, our story is deeply rooted here.

We turned our dreams into reality while actively contributing to our city's labor force, economy, and societal growth.

I have tremendous respect for the city and truly honored to be living here.

Uh question for question number two.

My deep admiration for public health and community advocacy began right here in Redwood City.

I've uh was a very much mentored child here.

So I've gone on to get higher education throughout the state of California.

And but my volunteering and work at Sequoia Hospital, Kaiser, and at the Fair Oaks Community Center and across various community-based organizations, have really shaped who I am and my long-term career pathway in public health.

And over the past 20 years, I have worked across California in population health from financial and data analysis to community participatory research and community advocacy.

And this is what I contribute to the to the board, to this uh committee.

Um, a proven track record of building services centered at the intersection of health equity, care navigation, and human-centered design.

I'm also dedicated to ensuring our communities and support systems are continue to thrive.

For question number three, I'm gonna first talk about housing.

I recommend Redwood City, I commend Redwood City for leading the way in affordable housing policies.

To continue this progress, we must broaden resources to ensure tenants know their rights, qualify for the support they need, and have legal backing, and can continue to listen to our communities and um have them propose their concerns, their comments, and can and take that into consideration as we continue to build and support um human and housing concerns.

For human services, we must continue connecting residents to employment development, food access, transportation, and behavioral health resources, like the 988 lifeline plaques that were that I noticed this past weekend at the Target parking lots.

I also want to ensure that residents easily find their health care insurance options, such as those that are offered to lower income individuals at Farrogs Community Center and other wellness spots.

I also am an advocate for the missing middle um group, also.

Is that it?

Oh, and also for the forgotten uh population, which is the seniors that continue to live in our city.

There's about one out of seven seniors that live here that own their homes, but they don't have the financial means to support themselves in the long term, so we can definitely do more to support these vulnerable populations.

I'm also um a preventative health care practitioner, so I believe in the blue zone values.

I and that is it.

I have so much more to say.

Thank you all.

Thank you.

Our next candidate is Vanessa Correa, who will be followed by Augustina Espino Diaz.

Vanessa, don't think she's here.

Max Disher was not able to attend tonight, and he did provide written responses, which are in your binder.

So we will move to Augustine.

Espino Diaz.

Welcome.

They said breathing, right?

So let me breathe because I am nervous.

Good evening, uh, honorable mayor and members of the city council.

My name is Augustina Spino, and I am humble to stand before you as a proud resident of Redwood City.

Where I have leave for the past 22 years, these three.

Um I care deeply about our community.

I am passionate about ensuring that every family, regardless of income, can continue to call our diverse city home.

Questions two.

I believe my service will bring to the HHC the perspective of someone with firsthand experience on the challenge of finding a safe, stable, and affordable place to live and raise a family.

My goal is not only to seek a better community for myself, but to help create a better environment for everyone.

Act to fulfill their needs.

Utilize public land.

I think the five city own land suitable for affordable housing and project, a strength partnership with collaborate with no profit local organizations and private partners, advocate for funding, seek a support, increase the funding source for affordable housing, support rezoning reforms, recommended change to zoning code to allow for a wider ranch or housing types and high density.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, Augustine.

Our next candidate is Katie Getz, and Katie will be followed by Edwin Gonzalez.

Sorry.

Good evening, Mayor and members of the City Council.

I am Katie Getz, and I currently have the pleasure and privilege of as serving as the chair of the Redwood City Housing and Human Concerns Committee, and I am coming to the end of my first four-year term.

My day job is serving as pastor of Woodside Road United Methodist Church here in Redwood City, and I'm a volunteer with the San Carlos Eaton Hills 4-H Club.

Thank you to those of you who have done things like Presentation Day with 4Hers, as well as with my kids' schools, Kennedy Middle School and Sequoia High School.

During my time on the HHCC, I have had the privilege of working alongside my fellow committee members on two main projects that aren't just kind of CDBG and HSFA stuff that we do over and over again.

This work kicked off with the passage of SB4 a little while ago.

Well, the tenant protection work is no longer before the HHCC, although who knows what the future holds.

The work on the ALI development continues.

Over the past few months, this ad hoc has been working in the this area and has gathered leaders from across Redwood City for a general housing conversation about developing housing on faith lands, as well as a broader countywide conversation just a couple of weeks ago with leaders from Habitat for Humanity about their work in the county and what roles faith communities could play.

This coming Friday, two of us from the ad hoc committee are headed to Sacramento to learn about a tiny homes project through Sierra Service Project, where not only is housing being developed, but young people are leading the building of these tiny homes.

It's like 18 to 23 year olds or some.

I can't wait to learn about this and bring it back to the HHCC and City Council.

I know that Redwood City has been a leader in building housing and affordable housing, and the Habitat Executive Director was so excited to come to Redwood City because of how supportive Redwood City has been of habitat.

But I also know that building ELI housing is the most challenging housing to build.

And so my hope is that with an upcoming term on the HHCC, we can find a property that will partner with the committee to pilot an ELI development, even if it does turn out to be small.

And through this anticipated development, we would then be able to create a model for other organizations to use furthering the production of affordable housing in our committee.

This is work I'm excited about giving the next four years to, and I ask for your vote this month.

Thank you.

Thank you, Katie.

Welcome.

Edwin will be followed by Scott Granett.

Council members and mayor, it is a privilege to be here, and thank you for the opportunity to actually absorb everything we've learned from the city council meetings and apply it to a board.

And it's this amazing feature that I'm glad I'm taking partaking in.

And I've grew up in use in the city of Roe City.

I've attended churches, I've attended different schools, and of course, serving coffee, also, and also planning treaties with different organizations.

So I'm I'm familiar with every nonprofit and every operation to improve Redwood City.

Essentially, the experience in school and experience from work is allows my adaptability skills to be improved.

And my adaptability service is what I believe is the most prominent is the most influential in the board.

The ability to apply different applications for either payroll or finances, such as Square or even QuickBooks, to even creative services for Photoshop and Premier Pearl.

These applications allow us to envision, have our own vision broadcasted, even marketed to different communities.

And I believe that Redwood City will benefit from our adaptability to not only have this evolving institution of Redwood City keep going, but also have our own foot forward and the chance to improve.

Is it equality that every person or every identity can actually apply to these houses, or is it proportionality in which we have certain criteria that we need to have people, you know, apply to these houses?

Or is it Rossy and Justice in which our own perception is limited to what our own position of power allows us to even have implemented?

And I believe that this defining of of equity allows us to be more of a proactive agency in which we are actively trying to implement regulations or even ordinances that allows us to better the community, but also to benefit the people who we rely on the most.

The agency in the sense that allows us to keep adapting.

And I believe my adaptability is the perfect service for this.

Thank you.

Thank you, Madmin.

Our next candidate is Scott Granett, who will be followed by David Kasuf.

Good evening.

Thank you, Council members.

I have some notes, and I just realized that I can't read my own handwriting.

Um so that's not gonna help me much.

So I'm a 32-year resident of Redwood Shores.

Um I used to write a column for the pilot, which is the Redwood Shores newsletter.

Uh, the column was called the Therapist Corner.

I'm a psychotherapist.

I my I might have an office in the Seaport Boulevard part of Redwood City.

I'm also a the former president and former founding board member of the Obsessive Compulsive Foundation of the San Francisco Bay Area.

I continue on the board to this day.

Our organization has been around for probably about 25 years now.

So in my work, I specialize in the treatment of OCD and related disorders.

And one of those disorders is hoarding disorder.

And I do treat a lot of people with hoarding.

And if Redwood City is like many other cities, I would assume it's a problem here as well.

I know that a lot of people who hoard uh wind up being evicted, and that causes all sorts of all sorts of other problems.

And so I am very familiar with that and having worked with many people who uh do hoard.

Now, one of the things I want to mention about working in Redwood City, especially the Seaport Boulevard section of the city, is that there have been many unhoused uh camps in that area.

Uh Redwood City, in my opinion, has done a wonderful job in helping to relocate these people.

However, I have noticed that I don't know the better word for this, but Redwood City does a sweep every so often of the camps, only to find that these people come right back.

Uh they may go somewhere else, uh, but they generally come back into the area.

And I'm always left with wondering what's you know what's wrong, you know, what needs to be fixed here.

And you know, as I look at question number three about ideas that I might have, is that you know, I struggled with that question because right now I don't think I really have any ideas uh about what might help.

What I do think though is that we need to understand what are the needs of these people.

Um a lot of people who are unhoused don't want to go into affordable housing, and I think we have to understand that.

We have to understand what their reluctance is, and we have to understand the community around as well.

And so while I may not have any answers per se tonight, I'm certainly willing to learn, certainly willing to learn what the community needs, and certainly willing to learn what the unhoused need.

So thank you very much.

Thank you, Scott.

Our next candidate is David Kasuf.

Who will be followed by Frida Sanchez?

David, have you joined us?

Okay, and for the council, Marlon Medina is not present this evening as uh is Regina Mercereau.

Also let us know.

They won't be present this evening.

So we'll move on to Frida Sanchez.

Good evening.

Good evening, everyone.

My name is Frida Sanchez, and I am a 16-year-old resident of Redwood City, and I am a current high school student at Woodside High School.

And uh I also work as a receptionist at a TATS office as a part-time job.

I come from an immigrant family that has personally experienced housing insecurity, which has strongly shaped my perspective on community issues.

Growing up, I've seen families live, family members live in garage garages in crowded homes while trying to save enough money for stable housing.

I've also watched many hardworking families in our community struggle to afford rent despite having multiple jobs.

Those experiences inspire me to become more involved in civic service and advocate for housing stability and opportunity for everyone in our city.

For my second for the second question being asked, is that although I may be very young, I believe that I would bring a younger and more community connected perspective to the HHCC board as someone from the generation that will inherit the long-term effects of today's housing decisions.

I understand the fears of many young people, such as myself.

Even though I may be young, I still think about the future a lot.

I still think about whether I'll be able to afford a house because I do plan to live in Redwood City permanently.

Um I work at the TATS office.

I've seen many families come in without proper rental contracts.

Why?

Because they live they live in these overcrowded homes because they can't afford to pay for the house by themselves.

They have to share with multiple families.

And I just believe that these are just very hardworking people who believe in building a better future.

Yet they are left behind because of the housing crisis.

I would bring empathy, responsibility, and strong listening skills, and a genuine commitment to serving the community.

I am very eager to learn from experienced members.

While I may not have a lot of experience, I am filled with passion and I am a very fast learner.

I have never stopped, um, I have never stopped myself from taking opportunities such as these.

And I am standing very proud here today, because although my family couldn't be here with me today, I know they're rooting for me at home.

And as for the third question, as an HCC member, I believe that one of the very most important steps into is to increase partnerships between the city and nonprofit organizations and developers to create more affordable housing opportunities.

A lot of people, as I sat here today, I've heard that um building new houses like in these new complexes will affect the um the businesses nearby in the library.

And I and although I see their point of view, we also have to understand the point of view of the people who don't have affordable houses and who don't have homes where they can feel safe.

And I believe that we need to recognize hidden housing and security because many people may not be officially considered homeless, but living in crowded garages and homes and overcrowded homes is not a good way to continue in this generation.

And lastly, community engagement is very important.

Young people, renters, immigrants, and working families should feel included in conversations such as these two.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Frida.

Our next candidate is Jennifer Tomasino, who will be followed by Janice Villoria.

No Jennifer Tomasino.

We'll move on to Janice.

Janice Valoria, are you here with us tonight?

Welcome.

Good evening.

My name is Janice.

I'm a Bay Area native.

I studied environmental science and I developed a strong interest in people, environment, and sustainability.

I was born in Mountain View, grew up in San Jose and Malpitas, went to school in San Francisco.

After college, lived in Campbell in Oakland, and after COVID, moved to Redwood City.

I love traveling internationally, and I lived in Costa Rica and Canada each for a year.

I am a renter in this city, an activist, an environmentalist, and a writer.

I am a problem solver, I'm resourceful strategic, and I'm a lifelong learner.

Professionally, I'm a licensed general contractor and a property manager for a handful of homes here in Redwood City.

And recently I completed the second cohort for She Should Run.

I'm here because I'm responding to the three and a half percent for my civic activation.

And I am here to promote democracy.

What I bring to the council would be my experience, not just in construction and property management, but also with nonprofits and community building.

I believe the resources that we have can be used in a more efficient way with rainwater collection, composting, different ways of using our sort our resources, and I am proud to be a community member of this city.

Thank you for making this a home.

Thank you, Janice.

I'll do one last call before I turn it back over to the council for Vanessa Correa, David Kasuf, Jennifer Tomasino.

If you've joined us late.

Okay, I'll turn it back to you, Mayor.

That concludes housing a Human Concerns committee.

Great, thank you to our city clerk.

Thank you to everyone who just interviewed.

We really appreciate it.

And I'll send things over to Councilmember G.

Thank you, Mayor.

We will now interview applicants for the Library Board to fill three full-term seats expiring on June 30th, 2030.

The library board meets every fourth Tuesday of the month at 6:30 p.m.

And serves as the community liaison for the Redwood City Public Library by advocating for literacy and soliciting community input to shape library policies and services.

City clerk will now call on the applicants for the library board.

Thank you, Councilmember G.

Three.

Thank you, Crystal.

We have eight candidates for the library board.

We do have a few that will not be present this evening, Suwaima Figueroa and Lindsay Verma.

And we will start with Caitlin Chambers.

Caitlin will be followed by Anthony Godlowski.

Caitlin.

Okay.

Our next candidate is Anthony Godluski.

Welcome.

Good afternoon, City Board, Mayor.

Thank you very much for having me.

My name is Tony Godluski.

I live in District 4 here in Redwood City.

And I am currently reading Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, which I got from our local library.

And sometimes a great notion by Ken Keesey, which I did not because so far it's taken me seven months to work through it.

I am applying to uh take the one of the open seats on the library board because as a remote worker and a lifelong bookworm, literacy is very important to me.

I uh volunteer with Project Reed to help enhance um adult literacy here in our local community.

And I uh I am the fun friend that always sends books to all of my buddies for uh for Christmas and their birthdays.

Um two of the uh two of the questions today are some ideas for ways that the public library can achieve greater greater equity and inclusion, and I believe that part of that comes from um bringing the library to where people are at.

Um we had great success with the banned books pub crawl uh last year, uh in which the public library partnered with local businesses.

And as Redwood City continues to gain more restaurants, especially in the downtown and Broadway areas, I think it's imperative that uh the pillar of the local community, which is the public library partners with these local businesses, and part of that might be through establishing library ambassadors through uh the private sector.

I uh also am a fan of the seat exchange at the Mountain View Public Library, and I think that we are very fortunate to have ample outdoor spaces that we can make good use of here, not least the uh the green area to the outside of the outside of the library there.

Um I believe that community gardening is an excellent way to bring people together and more than just uh like book literacy, the library of things as well as um online media platforms like Canopy, which uh which we can access through our local library accounts, um, really bring media literacy and uh involvement in our real world to the community and to people who might not otherwise have those opportunities.

Uh what do I think is the most exciting project or initiative of the library board?

I am a big fan of the bees.

I like the bees on the roof and the uh the pollinators.

I think again um capitalizing on our uh what we have in our community in terms of local ecosystem, the flora um available to us is really helpful.

But the um the library has uh lunch at the library this summer.

And I think that opening up um free lunches to families who might not otherwise have access to that is very important as a lifelong free review's launch kit.

Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you, Tony.

Our next candidate is Daryl Holliday.

I don't believe Darrell is in person.

He said he'd be on Zoom, but I don't see Daryl on Zoom.

So Daryl, if you happen to be joining under perhaps an alias, go ahead and raise your hand.

I don't see him on Zoom and I don't believe he's in person.

So if not, we will move on.

Ann Lane.

Welcome, Ann.

And following Anne will be Sierra Murphy.

Hello, my name is Ann Lane, and I am a Redwood City resident.

I've lived here for 13 years.

I'm a homeowner in District 4.

I have been a librarian my entire career.

I have worked in many different public libraries, including a stint for San Mateo County.

I've worked in various community college libraries, and I was a high school librarian for over 20 years.

So I feel like I have a good knowledge of different libraries.

As far as the Redwood City Library, well, one of the first things I did when I moved here was I went and got a library card because I've used public libraries my whole life.

I use the library extensively.

I think that as far as equity and inclusion, the library does a good job, but of course it could do better.

We have quite a lot of children's uh story hours and programs in Spanish.

We could probably have some more programs for older adults in Spanish.

We now have a Mandarin immersion school in Redwood City, so perhaps a Mandarin story hour would do well.

I also think that it would be helpful for young families to have some free parking that was close to the library.

I know the parking lot isn't very expensive, but these days families are on very tight budgets.

I know the parking under the movie theaters is free for 90 minutes, but if you've ever tried to get a stroller and a rambunctious toddler out of the car, up the elevator and all the way over from that parking lot, it's not that easy.

So I think that would encourage more families.

Um I think we should increase the library of things.

This is a wonderful program.

It gives people access to perhaps some expensive um cake pans or tools.

We don't have enough tools there.

We could use some gardening tools that citizens could have access to.

We have the seed library, so gardening tools would go along with this, I think.

More book clubs would perhaps help alleviate some of the loneliness that we continually hear about.

And I do think we need to be sure we keep up with disability software, things that can read a book to someone who is poorly cited, or for library programs, making sure that the text is on a screen so that someone who is has poor or no hearing can find see it.

And I do think that the pub crawl and the night at the library after hours are great programs by the library board.

It addresses a cohort of young adults that don't have children yet that we do want to encourage to be library supporters.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ann.

Our next candidate is Sierra Murphy.

Following Sierra will be Amy Swanson.

Welcome, Sierra.

Hi everyone.

I'm Kira Murphy.

Don't worry, it's Irish, it's spelled funny.

I'll respond to anything.

Um, but it's nice to meet you all tonight.

Um, I was actually born in Redwood City at Sequoia Hospital, but I grew up nearby in Foster City, and I'm really excited that about three years ago I was able to come on back, and I live here with my one-year-old daughter, and we have made extensive use of all three libraries and all of the various story times.

And so I can say without a doubt that the Redwood City Libraries are a great resource, and I'm really excited about the potential opportunity to support that because the libraries aren't great by accident or by chance.

It's deliberate work by the library staff and the existing library board that's made it so.

So, like everyone else has mentioned, the library has done great work in equity and inclusion.

I want to specifically highlight a real focus on um physical accessibility that I think is really positive.

However, I think there is an opportunity to increase some of our language accessibility.

Um it's been mentioned.

We have really, really robust English and Spanish programs, which is really great for me.

I'm hoping to raise my daughter bilingual with Spanish, um, the way I wish I had been.

Um, but I also think we've got a lot of other languages here, particularly Mandarin, and that's not necessarily reflected in our programming, both for young children and all the way through adults.

I think we've done a few um occasional programs generally tied to a cultural month, um, but some more programming, especially with some uh more unique languages that are not spoken by a majority or a large group of our community, would be very interesting to do, especially in a bilingual way to get more people exposed to those languages.

I think the in reading through, I went and read through all the minutes and the agenda packets.

Um, and one of the projects that I found the most exciting is the work on the downtown library park, um, which I know there was a recent discussion at a library board meeting about ensuring that that park would be accessible to the community.

And the idea of it is really um engaging to me to uh make more space where the library is beyond just the building, it's also our community.

It's where people can come and feel like they're a part of something.

They can play with the bees and see see the see the great work that the library has, and then go inside and take something from the library of tools to go home and execute themselves.

Uh so thank you for your consideration.

Thank you, Kira.

Our next candidate is Amy Swanson.

Welcome, Amy.

Hi, everyone, hello, council and mayor.

Thank you for having me.

Uh, my name is Amy Swanson.

I am a 13-now almost year resident of Redwood City, um, a recent empty nester.

Um, and prior to that, I spent about 20 years volunteering in this school space.

And so I realized once my son was off to college, I had a lot of time and passion.

I love Redwood City and wanted to get more involved at the community level, which is what brought me uh here actually last year to interview for the library board as well.

Um I was appointed a um uh shorter term for one year.

So I'm back hoping uh that I get four more years.

Um but I'm really proud to be a library board member.

I've learned a lot.

I'm uh libraries are my happy place when I was a kid.

I was the first one at the door to get down there for this summer reading challenge.

Um it was always a safe place for me, and I feel like that's the same here for our community, a lot of kids and and all ages in our community.

Um I've learned a lot about our library in this last year.

Uh a year ago, I didn't know a lot about our library.

Um, and also prior to this, I was a Park and Rec commissioner in Belmont and also a member of the Friends of the Belmont Library.

So have dabbled in community uh work as well.

Um I do think um to answer question two, we have done an amazing job um reaching out into the community and providing um opportunities for those that maybe aren't able to get into the library through a lot of online services, and we continue to grow that area.

Um, I also love that we are tapping into city, I'm sorry, state and then also neighboring city and counties resources.

So we actually have ability to share resources across counties, which is really cool, and I think includes a lot more.

Um, but really my the thing I think is most important is what Anthony said is going to where the people are.

We have over 700 active volunteers, and so being out in the community is the best way for it, I think as to include as many people as possible, hear from them what we can do better, and we can sit here and come up with as many ideas as we want, but we want to hear from the the people that actually have the challenges to be more included in the library programs.

Um we have tons of amazing projects and um activities.

I think what I'm most proud of is every month we have over 25 different events that are free to the public, and they range from uh really serving all age groups, and they can be a concert, it could be um a seed exchange.

It's, you know, we do all kinds of really amazing things, and so for uh our, you know, three branches to have 25 or more events a month is um pretty exciting.

I think that's something we should be really proud of.

Um I was recently appointed chair of the committee a couple months ago, so I hope to be able to continue in that capacity.

I think my passion and our uh my strength at the library is my um uh advocacy and also uh my ability to reach out into the community and um be kind of a voice for the library and bring back whatever I learned to uh improve our board and make it better for our community.

Thank you.

Thank you, Amy.

Our final candidate Lindsay Verma is not present this evening but has submitted written comments that are in your binder.

And with that, that's it for the library board.

I'll turn it back to you, Mayor.

Thank you, City Clerk.

Thank you to everybody who just interviewed.

It's great to hear from you all.

And I will pass things over to Councilmember Howard.

Thank you, Mayor.

We will now interview applicants for the Parks Recreation and Community Services Commission to fill four full-term seats expiring May 31st, 2030.

The PRCS Commission meets every fourth Wednesday of the month at 6 p.m.

and advises the city council on policy matters related to acquisition and development of parks and the formulation of recreation programming to meet the needs of our citizens.

The City Clerk will now call on applicants for the Parks, Recreation and Community Services Commission.

Thank you, Councilmember Howard.

All right.

We have 11 candidates for parks and parks recreation and community service community services commission.

Our first candidate, Natalie Badkar could not attend in person but submitted written responses.

So our first in-person candidate will be Ulduz Berenge for Rouge.

Welcome.

Did I get that right?

Awesome.

Thank you.

Welcome.

Good evening, and thank you for the opportunity to be here tonight.

My name is Uldus Branch Roosh, and I'm proud to call Redwood City home.

I live I live in the Woodside Plaza neighborhood, and I love this community so much that not only does my mom live there, but I ended up buying a home just a few doors down from her on the same street.

That was a very intentional choice because Redwood City feels more than just a city to me.

It feels like community.

And through parks, city events, and local programs, I've built meaningful connections throughout the city, which I would love to continue.

Whenever people ask me where they should move in the Bay Area, I proudly, of course, say Redwood City, climate bust by government test.

Where else would you go?

What makes this city special to me is the people and the strong sense of belonging you feel here?

I would bring a combination of community involvement, collaboration, and thoughtful decision making.

Professionally, I work in the people analytics world.

So I live I'm very comfortable evaluating needs, listening to different perspectives, and helping make informed decisions.

Outside of work, I regularly participate in Redwood City events.

I also serve on the board of a cultural nonprofit organization focused on community and cultural connections.

I come from a multi-generational immigrant family.

So I deeply value creating parks, programs, and events that feel welcoming for all generations.

Redwood City is so diverse in so many levels, and I think our parks and programs should continue to reflect that.

What excites me most is helping create spaces and experiences that bring people together.

I think the best engagement starts at the neighborhood level by making people feel included, heard, and connected.

Redwood City has done an amazing job creating events that bring residents together and also attract people from across the Bay Area.

We know this problem with our parking as during the weekends and events is just impossible.

As the city continues growing, I think it's important that we also continue investing in neighborhood-based events too.

So residents stay connected, not only within their own neighborhoods, but across Redwood City as a whole.

I'd love to see more neighborhood park events, volunteer days, cultural celebration that bring all the neighbors together and create that and strengthen the community pride.

At the end of the day, parks and recreation are about more than facilities, they're about the connection, belonging, and community.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you, our next candidate is Alice DeBiser.

Following Elise will be Alice Kaufman.

Thank you, and good evening, City Council.

As a resident who has lived in several of Redwood City's neighborhoods, including periods without a vehicle, I have a deep personal appreciation for how vital walkability and park access are to the daily lives of those who live, work, and play in Redwood City.

I am proud to have served this community for the last four years on the commission.

My professional background bridges a decade as an environmental science educator and program management in open spaces.

I'm here tonight seeking reappointment to continue to bring my skill set and community first focus to serve this vibrant and diverse community.

As the department navigates park acreage and funding constraints, my background allows me to think critically about how to turn high-level goals into everyday actions.

In my role as a program manager, I handle operational budgets, funding initiatives for new projects, public events, volunteer programs, and land stewardship practices.

This experience helps me serve as a practical bridge between City Council priorities, our wonderful department staff, and the community's needs.

On the commission, it also allows me to help translate environmental realities like extreme heat, flooding, and wildfire risks into straightforward decisions for durable park infrastructure and policies.

Looking ahead, I'm most excited to see our ongoing sustainability and equitable amenities audits through to completion.

These audits will provide us with a clear data-driven foundation to allocate resources in a targeted way across all neighborhoods.

In particular, drawing on my background as an educator, I am also deeply committed to expanding safe and accessible outdoor programming that aligns with the city's priority for supporting youth and teens.

The commission's initial engagement with neighborhood associations has created a foundation for deepening engagement by inviting association chairs to workshop style meetings and introducing dedicated commission liaisons for each association.

In active associations has already translated into productive collaboration, such as neighborhood-led pop-up events that have built immediate social connection and gives residents agency in shaping their local spaces.

Moving forward, we want to ensure that regular meetings with associations occur in order to maintain a continuous proactive feedback loop.

In the upcoming year, I believe these uh completed park amenities audits will serve as a powerful tool to continue engagement with the neighborhood associations so we can ask them to help prioritize park improvement projects and recreation programming specific to their neighborhood needs.

Thank you again for your time and consideration.

Thank you, Elise.

Our next candidate is Alice Kaufman.

Welcome.

Good evening, uh Mayor and Council members.

My name is Alice Kaufman.

I have been a resident of Redwood City since 1999, and I am about to complete my first term as a parks recreation and community services commissioner.

I feel very privileged to have been able to serve on the commission, work with a great group of people with our wonderful staff for the past four years, and I would love uh to be able to be reappointed to a second term.

I've been an advocate for parks uh since long before I joined the PCRS as policy and advocacy director for Green Footh Hills, an environmental nonprofit focused on protecting open space and wildlife in our region.

I have advocated for parks funding and for protection of parkland, both here in Redwood City and in other cities in the Bay Area.

I've worked on parks master plans, and I have even been a signatory on a park protection ballot measure in the city of Santa Clara.

I am most excited to be working on making our parks more green and sustainable.

Over the past couple of years, uh the PRCS has been working on this effort, and I've served on the ad hoc committee for green sustainable parks, and we are continuing work this year.

It's very exciting on the audit that uh Commissioner Devisor mentioned.

Um, she and I are both taking part in that, and um it's a lot of fun.

We get to go around to all the parks and do an audit, and it's a great way to actually engage with all of the parks.

Um, in terms of uh why I think the green sustainable parks effort is so important with climate change increasingly reality that cities must deal with.

Focusing on sustainability and climate resilience is critical for Redwood City, and our parks offer a unique opportunity for that.

We need to increase tree canopy and urban greening, uh, reduce energy and water usage, and utilize our green spaces to decrease the impact of uh heat waves and flood risk in our communities.

How we manage and develop our parks will play a key role in this endeavor.

With regard to um uh ways to engage neighborhood associations to support parks or programs.

Uh, during my time on the Parks Commission, we've worked to engage neighborhood associations in a variety of ways.

Um we've held commission meetings in different neighborhoods to make it easier for community members to attend, and we've reached out to neighborhood associations to invite them to one-on-one conversations with commissioners.

And I found that we get a lot of interest when there are specific topics that uh people in a neighborhood are interested in.

So I think that a good way to engage neighborhood associations would be when there's a parks related issue uh in the neighborhood, proposed new park of some kind or um capital improvements or renovations to existing parks.

We can reach out and maybe coordinate some community meetings or information sessions on that topic.

And with my last remaining time, I would like to put in a plug for my fellow current commissioners, Elise Deweiser and Ben Sario.

Um I would love to be beer appointed and to have be able to serve with them again.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Alice.

Our next candidate is Wendy Maltrup, who will be followed by Molly Neighbor.

Welcome, Wendy.

Uh good evening.

My name is Wendy Moultrup, and I thank you for this opportunity to speak before the council and apply for the Parks Recreation and Community Services Commission.

I've been a resident of Redwood City for more than 10 years, living just a few blocks from Red Morton Park, where it's easy to see the value of our parks, recreation, and community services.

But I'm here because I believe there's more we can do, and I'd like to contribute to the change I'd like to see.

Beyond a personal interest, I bring professional skills.

I earn a master of science and health promotion because I'm passionate about making health and wellness accessible to more people.

I apply what I learned every day, how to design effective interventions, make evidence-based decisions, and place the human at the center of understanding the problem to solve and the solution.

I also applied this knowledge as a former personal trainer, Pilates instructor, and running coach, among other certifications.

It was rewarding to see the joy, confidence, and sense of accomplishment people experienced when they conquered a challenge and engaged with others in a group, building the human connections that are foundational to a strong community.

With years of experience in nonprofits and resource-strapped organizations, I can also be creative within constraints, such as little to no budget or seeking grants to help support programs and services.

I have many interests and ideas, but there are two key areas where I see opportunity, bridging pandemic post-pandemic gaps, and promoting a safer community.

First, there's a gap in engagement opportunities or awareness of what exists for working age adults.

My evidence is anecdotal at the moment, but I've spoken to others in our community who see the same issues I do and would love to see more opportunities for them too.

Second, there is a pressing need to strengthen community safety and resilience.

I see and experience the trends in our neighbor our neighborhoods are facing empty buildings, open drug deals, and multiple shootings, among other concerns.

And when it comes to safety, I see the issues daily from my house near Jefferson Avenue.

The accidents, kids doing wheelies on bikes down Jefferson, and cars speeding at all hours of the night and day, just to name a few.

I know solutions are not easy, but we do know that a vibrant community can help.

We can give people positive things to do in spaces to for them to do it together.

We can begin to address the root causes of these issues.

And to address your final question regarding neighborhood associations, I have years of experience mobilizing, building and mobilizing networked with different disparate stakeholders through a proactive outreach, meeting people where they are, and finding ways to make to make sure they still heard through various channels.

Diverse perspectives are essential for whatever we create to benefit our broader community.

I'll close on a personal note.

I'm taking roller skating again through Redwood City, which is part of what inspired me to apply.

And you should stop by and see how animated and supportive that group is.

However, we all leave wishing we had more opportunities to connect, and I would love to bring that energy to the rest of our community.

Thank you.

Thank you, Wendy.

Our next candidate is Molly Neighbor.

Molly will be followed by Zayn Rozak.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members.

My name is Molly Neighbor, and I spend a lot of time in Redwood City Parks.

Over the last almost eight years, I've coached 18 youth sports teams here in Redwood City.

Having four children now ages six to thirteen gives me a lot of opportunities to coach.

But it's not just coaching that brings me and my family to the park.

My partner is out there in the morning leading an early bird fitness group.

My senior parents are going to the Red Morton Community Center gym or senior center for stretch classes every morning.

My children are in and out of the park all day for camps, the bike repair, youth center, sports teams, etc.

And I myself am there in the evenings either to part either to coach or to do an activity or play in an adult sports league.

I believe that my volunteer work with children from throughout Redwood City is what drives me to be interested in joining the Parks and Recreation Commission.

I want to continue the amazing work of our parks and rec department to ensure equitable and vibrant access to public space for kids throughout the city.

I also work professionally in the nonprofit development space and have experience on vetting the many trade-offs of maximizing public benefit.

I saw this play out and was very grateful last year when the city replaced the turf at Mitchell Field at Red Morton and prioritize that amidst obstacles and also the amazing collaboration amongst sports leagues and coaches to make it work with many, many, many children on a much smaller field.

In terms of neighborhood associations, I'll admit it's been a few years since I was very active in the Roosevelt Neighborhood Association.

I live at the border currently of Roosevelt and Central, but it doesn't, it doesn't keep me from engaging with my neighbors through block parties, social events, and of course visiting the park.

So I appreciate the existing uh neighborhood engagement described by current commissioners, and I would bring my enthusiasm and my desire to meet people where they are and understand their issues and try to meet them as best I can as a member of this commission.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Molly.

Our next candidate is Zane Razak.

Welcome, Zane.

Zane will be followed by Ben Sario.

Good evening, Mayor Martinez Saballos and fellow city council members.

My name is Zane Razak, and I'm currently a teen living in district run Redwood stores.

I currently serve as the outreach chair for the Redwood City Teen Advisory Board, and I am also a member of Key Club, which is a high school community service organization.

I was recently elected as the Lieutenant Governor, which is a role which I supervise eight clubs, I mean eight cities whose club form our local division.

These experiences have led to a lot of civic engagement on my part.

First of all, I've volunteered for over 100 hours, coordinating service events, and I've um helped to set up manage and manage uh major city events such as the San Carlos Annual Night of Holiday Lights and their hometown days.

I've also coordinated a wide array of events from thousand budget banquets to more casual events like water balloon fights, karaoke, color wars.

I think my background brings a unique perspective on community connection.

I moved here from Ohio a few years ago, and one thing I noticed was that my neighborhood felt more tight-knit back there.

Um there were a lot of like small events, block parties, things like that.

And my friends noticed that our local community felt more distant here in Redwood Shores.

We outlined a plan and pitched it to our schools, academic Foundation a few months ago, receiving some strong support.

Um, and uh pursuing Block Party as a plan is an initiative we've been planning to pursue over the summer to help bring our local community together.

In addition, as a member of the teen advisory board, I know how to communicate with my student teen demographic, and it's not just among like peer connections, but also through student audiences, because oftentimes teens aren't going to go search up local city initiatives, but they are all subscribed to school newspapers and those types of networks where if we tap into those email lists, we can advertise our initiatives better to that demographic.

In addition, as a staff writer in my high school newspaper who's covered newsbeats, including issues on Redwood Shores, having the perspective of journalists allows me to make sure that Redwood City initiatives get proper publicity and news coverage.

I'm most excited to emphasize smaller scale engagement, which brings me to the third question about neighborhood associations.

Actually, before preparing for this interview, I wasn't even aware about the presence of neighborhood associations in Redwood Shores.

So I think one way that we could improve them is to actually expand them, have them have more regular events, and be more involved.

In my opinion, the most important thing is that the community neighborhood associations feel more resident focused.

So instead of things like official city events, it feels more like a community-curated organization among peers.

Things like small potlucks and block parties with local musicians.

Once we have community members there on smaller levels, we can use them to drive further civic engagement with civic and initiatives.

Overall, I'm really excited for the opportunity to engage my community as part of the parks, recreation and service uh community service commission.

Even if not this, I'd also be happy to serve on like the arts commission.

And I'm still gonna thank you.

I'm Zane Razak.

Thank you, Zane.

Our next candidate is Ben Sario.

Ben will be followed by Becky Zhao.

All right, good evening.

Uh my name is Ben Sario.

Uh, I've lived in Redwood City uh for a little over 11 years now.

Uh I have three small children uh who all attend Redwood City schools.

Um, I'm also pretty active with their schools.

Uh I'm on the uh superintendent's advisory council and also on the site councils uh of each of their schools.

Um we actually chose to live in Redwood City when we were considering places to live specifically because of the events and organizations provided by the Parks and Rec department.

That was our deciding factor.

And because of that, um, I immediately wanted to join uh this group.

Um so I've been on the um commission for four years now.

Um I guess may I all back up a little bit uh why I believe my background.

So I was in HR for 20 years prior to now being a small business owner.

Um so now I get to deal with uh the a variety from end to end of issues uh beyond just you know human resources, doing lots of um kind of end-end thing for the business.

Um, some of the things I've really enjoyed about being on the commission uh is the the um diversity of projects that we've been able to work on.

Uh I've been a part of our sustainability project, our equitable access project, and I'm currently um working on our equitable field access, so a brand new one that I think we just um added to the work plan recently.

Um, ways that I would consider um to engage neighborhood um organizations.

Um, so one I would start with the existing ecosystem.

So I would connect with uh Redwood City Together, who's doing monthly um action team uh meetings to figure out ways to find out where there's some common ground and to solve problems and also uh add a little fun.

It's also one of the elements that I certainly like about our parks and parks and rec department is we do a lot of fun activities.

Um I would also look at hosting park and neighborhood roundtables with associations and leaders so we can again find where there's some areas that we can all work on together.

Um the next area I would think about is how to really make the neighborhood um associations true partners.

Um so that would, you know, rather than just informing them of what the um parks and uh rec departments are doing, how do we really uh share in the the items that we're trying to accomplish and also create some quick wins, things like um seating, murals, plantings, things like that where we can show very quick action to enhance um parks in the in the different neighborhoods.

Um, then I would also look at um how our uh neighbors currently participating.

Um so listening sessions, pop-ups.

I know we've done that with some of the other areas that we are considering um potential park uh expansions.

Um, those tend to work pretty well.

Um, maybe a movie night, uh, where the where it's part sponsored by the department, but then there's a quick um QA or a QR code where people can engage and provide ideas.

So kind of meeting people where they are in a fun way and making it easier for them to engage, uh, and then um building a program that uh reflects each neighborhood.

Um so looking working with the the parks.

One of the things I learned um from the last uh 4th of July float was people actually want branded park items.

So that's one of my other ideas.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ben.

Our next candidate is Becky Zhao.

And while Becky is coming to the Pium, I will say for the record that Zori Gomez is unable to attend as is Jason Simpson and Pratik Verma can't attend, but did provide written responses.

So welcome, Becky.

Good evening, and thank you for the opportunity to interview tonight.

My name is Becky Zhou.

I'm a resident of Rebel City for over 10 years.

I'm a working mom of two young children, and professionally I'm a finance executive of a healthcare company leading global operations and strategy.

I grew up in China, and over the years I've also lived in Oklahoma, the Washington, DC area, Toronto, and now the Bay Area.

I believe my background will help me bring both strategic thinking and an ability to connect with people from diverse backgrounds and perspectives.

Having lived in many different places and cultures throughout my life, I naturally became very open to different values, experiences, and ways of thinking.

I believe that will help me bridge differences, build connections, and approach discussions with empathy and openness.

I also believe my professional experience leading complex global operations and strategic initiatives will help me contribute thoughtfully to the commission.

My work often involves balancing the needs and perspectives of many different teams, building alignment across groups, and thinking through both long-term goals and practical execution.

My husband and I are working parents raising two young children entirely on our own without families nearby.

We learn very quickly what people mean when they say it takes a village to raise a child.

But for many families here, that vintage does not naturally exist.

Over time, we built our support network through friends and other parents.

Parks, recreation classes, community events and programs were often the best opportunities for us to connect and bond with other families.

And today, we truly feel that we do have a village, and that village is this community.

For many families like ours without extended families nearby, parks and recreation activities are really the heart of the community, and that is what I'm most excited to work on.

I would think about community engagement in three parts.

First, I think it's important to understand what residents actually need.

Different neighborhoods and families may want different things, and community needs may change over time.

I will be interested in exploring ways to gather more direct resident feedback and through surveys, neighborhood outreach, et cetera.

And second, I think communication and visibility are very important.

Speaking personally, I was not really aware of many of Reba City's parks and rec's offerings until another parent had shared the activity guides with me.

So I will be interested in exploring ways to promote and increase visibility of the wonderful programs and neighborhood associations available through social media, schools, and community networks, etc.

And lastly, I think strong partnerships are key to the long-term engagement.

Collaborating with community associations, local businesses, schools, and churches, and libraries can help create consistent and meaningful programs.

Thank you.

Thank you, Becky.

And that wraps up our candidates for PRCS Commission.

Back to you, Mayor.

Thank you, City Clerk.

Again, thank you to everybody who just interviewed.

It's great to hear everyone's experience.

And we will pass things over to Councilmember Padilla.

Thank you, Mayor.

We will now interview applicants for the Planning commission to fill two full term seats expiring June 30th, 2030.

The Planning commission meets on the first and third Tuesday of the month at 6 p.m.

and may hold additional meetings as needed.

The planning commission makes recommendations to the city council on the city's general plan and reviews and acts upon matters related to the physical development of the city.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Padilla.

For the Planning Commission, we have 14 candidates, and all 14 should be here except for one, Benjamin Arredondo, who has submitted written comments.

So we will then begin with Michael Arusa Cruz, who will be followed by Laird Bennyan.

Welcome, Michael.

Hello, members of City Council.

Thank you for considering my candidacy.

My name is Michael Arusa Cruz.

I am a Redwood City resident living in the D2 district.

My motivation for applying to be a planning commissioner centers on housing affordability and the work that I've done over the past few years, advocating for policies I believe can make Redwood City a more affordable and inclusive home for more neighbors.

For the past few years, I've been a volunteer lead for YMB Action and was the founding member of its Yes in Redwood City chapter.

As a lead, I have organized public events, educating people on housing policy, such as a recent event, walking through uh the recent State Senate Bill SB 79 and how it will impact the city's zoning.

I've also written white papers, such as our gatekeeper process deep dive, and more recently use publicly available ADU permitting data to quantify permitting timelines and make recommendations on how they could be improved.

I've met with members of city council and city staff and planning commissioners to discuss this work, and have not been afraid of diving deep into the wonky details of our zoning code and planning process as a result.

I've come to understand how important an effective planning process is when it comes to ensuring that our city is adequately able to meet its housing needs and can do so with the urgency the current affordability crisis requires.

I've also been no stranger to this podium over the past couple of years as I've given frequent public comment, advocating for more homes and for policy and zoning changes across city council, planning commission, housing and human concerns, and governance subcommittee meetings.

I've familiarized myself with the responsibility and time commitment that's required to be a planning commissioner and build an understanding of the processes of city government over the years of observing and participating in them.

Another aspect of my background is that I was born and raised in San Juan Puerto Rico, and I'm a native Spanish speaker.

I've had the opportunity to volunteer as a translator helping people fill out affordable housing applications, and I'm familiar with the difficulties some members of the immigrant community often have in taking part in city government.

If appointed commissioner, I hope to leverage my background to help ensure that they are able to take part in the city's outreach efforts and feel heard during the planning process.

That brings me to question three and my ideas for planning commission.

Right now, the financing environment for large multifamily is very difficult, which has slowed development.

But townhomes have been less impacted by the financing crunch, and we're still seeing new townhome developments welcoming people.

But demand for newer townhomes remains much higher than supply.

And despite new construction in Redwood City, as of today, there are no longer there's no longer a single townhouse available for sale in the city built after 1996.

Town homes are often more affordable than comparable than a comparable single-family home and are an important option for first-time home buyers and young families.

In the last planning commission meeting, staff presented a set of zoning code amendments intended to make development of small lots more feasible, which might help expand where townhouses can be built.

But our zoning code still outright bans them on many sites where they would otherwise be feasible.

Areas zone R2 currently allow for multifamily informed duplexes, but townhomes remain effectively illegal in those zones.

Thank you, Michael.

Our next candidate is Laird Benion, who will be followed by Cynthia Beckers.

Good evening, uh Mayor and City Council members.

Uh, my name is Laird Benyon.

I live here in Redwood City.

My wife and I have been here for seven years.

Uh our daughter and dog also love it here.

Uh climate best by government test.

By way of background, um, I was a chair of the Seattle Design Review Board for uh from 2013 to 2014.

I was also on the board starting in 2010.

Uh I no longer live in Seattle, obviously.

Uh my background, I have a degree in architecture and uh graduate degree in real estate development.

Most of the folks in Redwood City that have seen any of the work I've done here are familiar with uh we called it COB3, but 500 uh county center, the mass timber building that I did as the uh senior project manager for the county.

Um, that also ended up being uh uh net zero project.

It ended up being Mass Timber, which I'm extremely proud of.

We're trying to make a carbon negative, but there's a little bit too much steel involved owing to complications with code in 2019.

We built quite a few other buildings.

I've done now three mass timber projects for the county.

And when I was the vice president of development for Miramar Development, I uh worked on a great deal more multifamily projects.

This is all a way of me getting to where I'm at now, which is uh if I'm uh given the privilege of working on the planning commission.

My wife and I in particular talk about this every night.

Uh no city is better than its housing, and no housing market is better than a city's plan.

The private sector does a very poor job of planning anything longer than about five years.

And for us to have an effective government that's going to be able to welcome all people that want to live in Redwood City.

We need to have uh planning commission that's willing to take on 30-year problems, 50 year problems, 20 year problems.

And in so doing, we will actually pave the way for the private sector to be able to create housing.

We also need affordable housing that's pre uh that's done as either public private partnerships or by the public sector.

We need every kind of housing we can possibly get.

For us to have a vibrant community, for us to have a fair community.

We need to be providing housing and doing a better job.

That's not unique to Redwood City.

That's a California problem.

And I recognize that an awful lot of the problems we deal with at a city level are actually inflicted on us either nationally or by policy choices made at the state level.

However, we need to be making long-term plans and decisions that will pave the way for us to dig our way out of this hole.

I believe firmly that we are in the middle of a housing crisis.

I also believe that we need more supply in order to address that.

We are a very wealthy community.

We need to be building a larger table and not a higher wall for people to move here.

Thank you very much, and I appreciate it.

Bye.

Thank you, Laird.

Our next candidate is Cynthia Bickerstaff, who will be followed by Christopher of Cicero.

Hello, my name is Cynthia Bickerstaff.

I returned to Redwood City in 2018.

I have personally experienced two of the major impacts of climate change: wildfire and flooding.

The flooding was in the Eagle Hill area of Redwood City.

As a chemical engineer, my paid work life included development cycles ranging from class one clean room, plasma and electron beam processes to information security.

My post-retirement unpaid activities included work with two BSL 2 biolabs.

This experience within complexity would further the work of the planning commission as a review body.

As a private homeowner, my partner and I completed six construction projects over two very different home sites.

My experience in the design through build process will further the work of the commission at improving time to money.

With limited power or flexibility, the planning commission must ask questions with that identify holes in alignment with community values, money constraints, maintenance, and the inevitable physics of climate change.

With a specific focus on the strategy priority of increasing housing, especially affordable housing, here are five ideas.

Given the limited time here, the idea descriptions are necessarily brief, but all have basis and results from across the USA.

One, evaluate whether speculative deadlock is impeding larger development projects.

If we want to do large-scale projects at scale, removing regulatory barriers won't be enough without finding a way to keep the market liquid.

This might need city experiments with land value tax or things like taxes on vacant lots.

This is a hard problem.

Two, to increase affordable housing, focus more of our energy on infill development.

Compare the logistics of Redwood City's housing element and build workflow against the Portland residential infill project to identify additional logistical changes to increase infill housing.

Three, prepare for the rapid use of the California Chamber of Commerce's November ballot initiative.

This initiative's secret change to a checklist of regulatory compliance, provides more planning certainty, and might require us to adjust our in-house processes to keep the build workflow moving.

Four, we need more effort to avoid losing housing.

One shoreline's shallow groundwater rise overlay district includes areas west of ECR as far as Lowell Street.

It includes about half of Mount Carmel, most of Central, and crosses Woodside Road into Wedge of Redwood Oaks.

We should adopt objective design standards for the areas designated by the overlay districts as a category of distinction to prevent or delay housing losses from abandonment due to retrofit cost.

Five, create a city owned bank to provide sustainable prosperity.

Former thank you for listening.

Thank you, Cynthia.

Our next candidate is Christopher Cicero, who will be followed by Dylan Finch.

Good evening.

My name is Chris Cicero.

I am the CEO, the owner, and co-founder or primary founder of Redwood City Alarms, located at 463 Brewster Avenue.

I've also been a resident here for 18 years, both in District 2.

I'm a husband, a father, and a business owner who have chosen to plan as roots in this city, not just professionally but personally.

My company provides fire alarm services across the Bay Area, from San Francisco down to San Jose primarily.

That work puts me inside commercial buildings, inside family properties, and new construction projects at every stage of development.

I work alongside developers, property managers, contractors, and city officials, including the fire marshal's office.

On a regular basis, I understand how buildings come together, what compliance actually costs, and where good intent on paper can run into realities in the field.

When last minute alarm compliance concerns threatened the delay of the completion of housing projects at 612 Jefferson and 1304 El Camino.

Those situations taught me something about the difference between projects that finish and the ones that stall, often comes down to whether someone in the room understands both the code and the practical path forward.

That is what I believe I believe to this role.

Not theory, not operational experience.

What happens downstream if the decisions made at a certain pace and why?

Those questions protect the city, protect developers who are trying to do the right thing, and ultimately protect the people who live and work with whatever gets built.

On housing, I believe the commission's most important role is removing friction.

Uncertainty is expensive, and that expense always follows the people who can least afford it.

I want to be advocate for the streamlined approvals for the projects that meet the standard, stronger support for AD use development in established neighborhoods, and a real commitment to infill along our transit corridors where infrastructure already exists and density makes sense.

Redwood City is a city worth fighting for.

With the same care and precision I bring to everything I do.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next candidate is Dylan Finch, and Dylan will be followed by Jack Gurtage.

Hello, my name is Dylan Finch.

I'm 28 years old, a renter, and a transit writer.

I'm the co-chair of the downtown neighborhood association, chair of the Sam Trans Citizens Advisory Committee, host of a transit and city planning book club here in Redwood City, and a member of Peninsula for Everyone.

I've attended local community cleanups and school safety walk audits.

I've also volunteered out Octoberfest and served as an emissary to the Zope Circus last fall.

But most importantly, I love Redwood City and I want to help it thrive.

For question two, I'm a renter.

Expensive and increasing rents can make renting feel insecure.

I want my fellow renters to have affordable housing so they can feel secure in starting a life here and getting involved in our vibrant community.

I'm a transit rider.

Access to alternative transit is an equity issue.

Buses and bikes are cheaper than gas in a car.

And our focus on street safety is already paying off.

I see many people biking around downtown.

And for our youth, a bike is independent mobility and allows them to access friends.

Street safety is also good for business.

Broadway and Theater Way are packed on the weekends.

I'm also a resident of downtown.

The Greater Downtown Area Plan, or GDAP, is a focus right now, and I want to use my on-the-ground experience from living in downtown to help shape the plan.

I'm a learner.

I like walking around our city, talking to residents and reading staff reports to learn more about the challenges facing our city and possible solutions.

I'm a consensus builder.

I have my opinions, but I also want to hear others.

The planning commission should foster discussion, hear diverse community input, and build consensus on our city's future.

For question three, first, the planning commission must comply with state law.

I attended the Cal City's Planning Commission Academy and local training sessions on housing law.

Knowing the law lowers the risk of expensive lawsuits and allows compliant housing projects to be approved in a timely manner.

The GDAP can also add housing.

The rich community input process that staff is conducting will help us to get it right.

And the downtown precise plan was a generational success, and I believe we can do it again.

Change and development is a delicate balance, but I believe we can add much needed new homes, complement our historic resources, enhance the vitality of downtown, and support our local businesses.

And I would be honored to play a continued role in this plan.

The planning commission can also help with other zoning updates to allow for more housing.

Transit corridors like El Camino and Woodside could support facilitate denser development and affordable housing because of the access to public transit in less dense neighborhoods, townhomes, ADUs, and the occasional corner store could add units and convenience with less height.

Living in our city should not be a luxury.

And if appointed, I look forward to continuing to play my part to help make it affordable.

Thank you for your consideration.

Thanks, Dylan.

Our next candidate is Jack Gertage.

Jack Goetge, if you're in the building.

Okay, we'll move on to Bernadette Hadniki.

Bernadette.

Moving on to Dennis Murphy.

Welcome, Dennis.

Hello, Mayor Sabayos.

Council members Chu G, Howard, Padilla, and Sturkin.

My name is Dennis Murphy.

I've been a res Redwood City resident for 34 years, 10 of them in Redwood Shores in the last 24 years across town in a banana belt off the Alameda in D7.

I have a variety of public policy experiences at different levels of government.

I've worked on a portfolio of water building electrification and multi-family EV charging projects.

Most recently, the Air District's Rule 96 on water heaters as well as the House Transportations Federal EV tax and the highway trust fund deficit that's coming.

As well as a long list of progressive California legislation offering, often partnering with the Governor's Office of Planning and Research on their 10-year plan, the Building Standards Commission and Housing and Community Development on Building Code, the Department of Natural Resources on Climate Planning, and the California Earthquake Authority on Brace and Bolt.

As a matter of fact, I arranged for Redwood City Building Department to get Brace and bolt training because they were left out in the in an administrative error.

It went to Woodside and only Woodside.

Um only had one zip code.

I wrote the California Energy Commission's assessment on emerging heat pump technology, aka project negatherm, and manage the release of Governor Brown's executive order B 1812 on greening state buildings and fleets.

The Planning Commission has a recommending function, and it can only work within the constraints of projects brought before it.

It is about using the best available information to weigh consequences, consider context, and bring the benefit of collective experience to bear.

But by now, everyone recognizes the unaffordability of housing in California in San Mateo County and here in Redwood City.

The fair market rent for a two-bedroom apartment is now up to $4,090 a month.

It is vital for sustainable communities to have an economically diverse society with a wide range of housing options.

Redwoods City's ongoing development as a walkable, equitable, and sustainably built community needs to be fundamentally grounded in adding housing and especially affording housing, affordable housing through all AMI categories.

We know the need, so we need to make the building.

We need to make the building affordably easier.

There are a number of good affordable developers in the Bay Area to work with.

We need to get creative about making their projects move more smoothly.

And with that, I conclude.

Thank you, Dennis.

We'll now move to our next candidate, Jose Rubio Cepeda.

Welcome.

We'll be followed by Eric San.

Good evening, Mayor and members of the City Council.

My name is Josero Cepeda, and I'm a first-generation Honduran immigrant, higher education professional, and a community-centered leader who is deeply committed to equity belonging and public service.

Professionally, I serve as an assistant director for belonging at the Stanford Door School of Sustainability, where I lead programs and initiatives that help expand access, strengthen community, and support historically underserved students and scholars.

My background is rooted in community engagement, urban and regional planning, participatory outreach, and creating spaces where people feel seen, valued, and connected.

I believe my background would bring a strong combination of community engagement, equity-centered leadership, and relationship building to the planning commission.

My professional work has required me to think strategically about how institutions can better serve people from different socioeconomic, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds.

I've worked extensively with historically underserved and excluded communities, and I understand how important it is for public access and processes to feel transparent and also welcoming.

In addition, my background in community and regional planning, along with my experience in outreach and participatory engagement, would allow me to help ensure residents feel meaningfully included in conversations about growth, housing, transportation, sustainability, and neighborhood change.

And I would approach this role with empathy, collaboration, and a commitment to balancing growth with equity, accessibility, and long-term community well-being.

I also think the city should continue exploring partnerships with nonprofits, developers, educational institutions, and regional agencies to expand affordable housing opportunities for many of our working families, teachers, service workers, seniors, and young professionals who are increasingly priced out of the region.

And lastly, I think it's important to approach housing through both a sustainability and belonging lens.

Housing is not just about buildings.

We all know that.

It's about whether people can remain connected to the community, culture, school, jobs, and support systems.

Thank you for your time and consideration tonight.

Thank you, Jose.

Our next candidate is Eric San, who will be followed by Chris Smith.

Thank you, Mayor, Council members, for having me here today.

My name is Eric San.

I've lived in Redwood City for over 30 years.

I bring to uh this application 40 years of experience doing real estate work and finance development, property ownership.

I bring not uh any ambition for political office or any higher position.

I just looking to help the community do a better job at what they do.

And I'd have to say that having lived in Redwood City all this time, and maybe my first experience with the city was uh on the Citizens Committee helping with the downtown plan in around 2000 time frame and watching downtown come to life and get built according to that vision and seeing all the amazing projects that have been approved since through the city.

This city does a better job than any other city I've ever experienced, and I've done work up and down uh California.

So, you know, uh credit to everybody here and everybody in our community to see that that happens.

I'd like to be on this commission to bring common sense to the job.

As the planning commission, there's not a lot you can do.

You uh you address the projects that come before you did with the general plan.

There are things we could do better.

I mean, you listen to the debate for governor.

There are great ideas out there.

San Jose has created condominium interest for their ADUs, that's helped.

Um, in Palo Alto, I'm uh investor in a project that did a 66 is doing 66 units of affordable housing, all privately financed.

It was approved quickly, it was approved with no fees, and the city got 100% affordable housing for their teachers.

It's a great project, it's getting built.

We need to do things like that.

If you want affordable housing, part of the answer is let's get out of the way.

Get rid of the fees, give developers a little bit of elbow room when it comes to height or setbacks and things that make it hard, and we'll see more housing getting built.

It's really hard to do affordable housing.

The answer is really more housing.

Just do as much as we can wherever we can.

The biggest parts of the city are the areas that are really out of our sight.

You can see downtown, you could see El Comino Real, but there are neighborhoods where all the housing is getting older and older and more run down.

And those are the neighborhoods that could use support with better planning and support for homeowners.

There is a program in Texas where property owners can partner with nonprofits and convert market rate housing to affordable housing, and they get their uh a big portion of the real estate taxes waived.

And that's a way to sort of help make affordable housing and to create a subsidy to make it pencil economically.

So I'd like to be on the commission, bring some good ideas, bring some common sense, and help make our city even better than it has been.

Thank you.

Thank you, Eric.

Our next candidate is Chris Smith.

Chris Smith.

Okay, we'll move on to Jason Webb.

Following Jason will be Alison Zalm.

First, thank you all, and you're almost there.

Thanks for all your time.

About five years ago, my family chose to move to Redwood City as part of my uh relocation for work in order to make that decision.

We walked downtown, we went to the library, we walked parks and we toured schools, and as a family decided to move here, and we haven't regretted it.

Um my daughter Violet's actually on an eighth grade trip to Washington, DC as we speak.

We use it as an impromptu moment for civics lesson, and thankfully, we're more civil here than she's witnessing in Washington as we speak.

Um since living here, I've been super active in the community, many boards uh from sports to nonprofits, and I currently sit on the San Mateo County Chamber Board.

In addition, I've met with some of you folks here around downtown precise plans and other uh parts of my work.

I've really been into urban planning and design since I was a little kid when I was in seventh grade.

I came up with my first uh conceptual development plan uh in college business and urban design, and now I lead real estate workplace and workforce strategies uh here in Redwood City.

So I live and work here.

As we move forward, um, we're really thinking strategically about how we bring more employees to Redwood City.

Um, bringing about 300 uh in the next two years, and so we're trying to figure out how what does that look like from transportation, child care, housing, uh, and development.

So uh really uh the commission has an opportunity in front of us as we really look towards this downtown plan.

Uh parks, we've been listening to all the different committees, and how do we put this together into zoning and proper planning?

I think we're headed in the right direction.

Um of the work we've done around parking, um, the grant making, height restrictions, we've really started to make some some progress in those areas.

That said, I still think that time kills deals.

We've heard some other folks uh talk about how we can improve the the timing and how do we make uh more certainty.

I think at the end of the day, that's um maybe what we can tackle uh as a commission as we move forward is certainty for developers as we do that.

Uh we need to look at the three Ps, production, uh preservation, and um protections.

All three of those need to be very well thought out, however, because some of them may have unintended consequences.

Um, this creates predictability.

Uh, when there's uh not predictability, uh we get time.

And when you have time, you get cost overruns and really good projects might get shuttered because of that time.

Uh so the next uh four years, really excited and uh hope we can come up with a cohesive plan.

Thanks.

Thank you, Jason.

Our next candidate is Alison Zom.

Welcome.

Hello, thank you for this opportunity.

I'm Alison Zalm.

My husband and I bought our house in Friendly Acres in 1986, last century, and have lived there ever since.

I'm a retired optometrist and uh run a private practice.

My doctor of optometry degrees from UC Berkeley, and I also have a master's in public health and environmental health sciences from Berkeley.

My volunteering experience includes serving on the North Star Academy site council, and our son attended there, and more recently as a member of the Redwood City Community Emergency Response Team.

I feel my background as a long-term small business owner, including successfully adapting to the challenges of the COVID pandemic, will be helpful in navigating economic and regulatory issues the commission must address.

Additionally, I have lived through significant changes in Friendly Acres, including disruption of the community during construction of the Stanford Medical Campus and the resulting traffic congestion and air pollution.

And I feel that a voice representing our community on the commission is important.

I look forward to helping implement changes to address the housing issues in Redwood City, recognizing that so much is dependent on county, state, and federal help.

The latter most of which is likely to decrease.

For Redwood City itself to implement, I like the idea of taking measures to facilitate the approval and permitting of accessory dwelling units.

I'm also encouraged that Redwood City recently joined the San Mateo County Home Consortium.

I look forward to working with this commission to help our community prosper.

Thank you for considering me.

Thank you, Alison.

We'll do a last call for Jack Gurtage, Bernadette Hadnakey, or Chris Smith.

If we've missed you, you can still come up and interview if you're here.

Okay.

That wraps it up for the planning commission.

Mayor.

Thank you.

Thank you, City Clerk.

And again, thank you to everybody who participated in our interviews.

We'll now turn to Councilmember Storket.

We will now interview applicants for the Senior Affairs Commission to fill two partial term seats expiring May 31st, 2028, and three full-term seats expiring May 31st, 2030.

The senior affairs commission meets on the second Thursday of the month at 1 p.m.

And advises the city council on the enhancement of all matters relating to the social, economic, and personal well-being of the city's senior population.

So the city clerk will now uh call on applicants for the senior affairs commission.

Thank you, Councilmember Sturkin.

We have 11 candidates for the senior affairs commission this evening.

We'll start with Paul Bocanegra.

Paul will be followed by Cecilia Fay.

Welcome.

Good evening.

My name is Paul Bocanegra.

I live in Redwood City, California in Eagle Hill with my wife in our home, and my family also lives in the neighborhood in Emerald Hills.

My mother-in-law has been here since 1966.

She's only lived in two places on Whipple and her home today.

She is now 91 years old.

And she's she's aging in place.

But you could consider me a social justice advocate.

One of the roles that I play is a juvenile justice commissioner where I work closely with county as well as invested partners to advocate for programming, safer and healthier conditions, as well as just collaborating across the board with all service providers for that population.

Today I am uh executive director of Unlock Futures, an organization that works with system impacted youth.

And my office is here in Redwood Shores, right over the bridge of Whipple.

And uh I'd like to uh uh work and partner with uh this commission here to begin advocating for our seniors.

I recently attended our ribbon cutting here at our new uh veteran center where our mayor um took a picture with my mother-in-law, got to meet my family.

And uh, you know, I've been involved here at the senior center uh for several years.

I've lived in Redwood City since 2017, homeowner, and I spent a lot of time here at the senior center as well as Red Morton Park.

We have many of our family gatherings there.

Uh and my mother-in-law has been attending the senior center for 10 years.

Uh, one of her uh major things here is is just aging in place and connecting to services.

So that takes me to question number two, um, explaining to the panel why uh why I believe uh what you believe that my service uh what I can do to service this commission, and I think advocating um uh one thing that I am known for in this county is working with my community partners, invested partners, organizations, individuals, and trying to find um answers to some of the problems that we're faced with.

I think that I can do that here with my established relationships here in in the city uh to uh better advocate for for our seniors so that they're able to access all of the services that we offer, as well as listening to them.

Uh I'm spending more time now that I'm driving my mother-in-law to the senior center, and I know all of her friends there, and I'm beginning to become in touch with most of their issues that they're faced with there.

Uh aging in place, uh, mental health.

Uh, you know, we have summer coming along.

My mother-in-law does not have AC, so she'll be at our home.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Paul.

Our next candidate is Cecilia Faye, who will be followed by David Sue.

Hi, good evening, everyone.

Um, and everyone who stayed here, uh, kudos to us.

I know it's late.

Um, I'm Cecilia.

I also, I mean, my legal name is Um Shafan, and I also go by Cecilia.

I'm a master's and tree nursing student at USF right now.

Um, I'm actually a career changer with uh previous experiences in public health and as well as healthcare consulting.

Um, locally, I volunteer at Kaiser uh Redwood City Medical Center and also at Um Sutter Health, where I support patients by the bedside and families across diverse communities in our city.

Through all those experiences, I have seen how older adults often face challenges that's uh beyond healthcare, including care coordination, language um barriers, isolation, and difficulty navigating all the kind of re uh resources that's available.

I'm applying to the seniors affairs commission because I want to help our city to be a place where older adults can age with safety, um, dignity, connection, and belonging.

Um, I will bring three three strengths to the commission.

First, I would bring a healthcare informed perspective as a nursing student and a previous healthcare professional.

I'm trained to look at a whole person, both uh their physical and mental health, as well as their communication, um, family support, um, safety and quality of life.

Um, second, I will bring a lens of equity of access to health care and re resources.

We all know we all know that our city is a diverse um community, and uh, and we all know that um senior services must be accessible across language, culture, income, and health literacy.

My experiences uh supporting immigrant uh communities has shown to me how clear, culturally appropriate uh communication matters to many of us.

Lastly, I bring um practical problem solving skills from my healthcare consulting background, which I've worked for for four years.

I am used to listening to stakeholders to stakeholders, identifying gaps, and turning insights into actionable recommendations.

Um the project I'm most excited about how we can work together to support Redwoods, Redwood City's work toward becoming a more aging-friendly and inclusive uh community.

Uh to me, that means helping older adults stay connected, well supported, to have access to resources more easily and readily.

Um, I'm especially interested in addressing the issue of social isolation.

Sorry, and thank you so much for consideration.

Thank you, Cecilia.

Our next candidate is David Sue, who will be followed by Nancy Keegan.

Welcome, David.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council members.

My name is David Shue.

I was born and raised in San Mateo County and have been a Redwood City resident for the past 25 years, where my wife and I have raised two kids who are now both in college.

Professionally, I started in tech for about 10 years ago, but I just really spent the last more than two decades in the health care access operations and patient support within the biotech, pharma and med tech industry.

My interest in the senior Affairs commission is both professional as well as personal.

I helped care for my parents through significant age-related health challenges, including cancer care as well as diabetes, and that experience gave me a first hand insight on how difficult it is to manage for families to navigate services as well as support systems within the community.

I'm not at a point where I can dedicate more time to civic duty and service, and I'd value the opportunity to contribute to the Redwood City senior community.

So, in terms of services of what I bring, I believe the service I would bring is a combination of practical leadership, operational experience, and an understanding of how difficult systems can feel for service for seniors and families to navigate.

Throughout my career, I've worked across complex technical health care as well as Medicaid Medicare and Medicaid related environments where collaboration, problem solving, and careful decision makers making are essential to recommendations.

I believe those experiences will help me contribute constructively as the Senior Affairs Commission evaluates programs, discusses priorities, and consider ways to improve awareness and access to services.

I also believe it is important to listen carefully to residents, staff, and fellow commissioners, and I would approach the role from a collaborative mindset with a strong commitment to supporting the Redwood City senior community.

And then in terms of what's what is the most exciting.

I believe the most exciting initiative is obviously the opening of the new Veterans Memorial Senior Center, which I had the privilege of recently visiting and actually walking through.

It represents a significant investment in Redwood City's aging population, and it creates an opportunity to expand wellness programs, social connections, lifelong learning, as well as community engagement for seniors and their families.

What excites me personally is the ability to ensure that the center becomes a welcoming and accessible to our diverse cross-section of residents, not only through its programs, but also through outreach, clear communication, and strong community partnerships.

And I see the center as an important way to help simplify how seniors and families learn about available services and resources, supporting Redwood City's broader goal of building a more connected and inclusive community.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Thank you, David.

Our next candidate is Nancy Keegan, followed by Nino Lazaro.

Welcome, Nancy.

Hi, thank you so much.

I am breathing.

I'm a little nervous, but it's encouraging, though, for me to see so many people that are interested in applying for the Senior Affairs Commission.

And I don't know if it's like this every year, but it's incredible to see how much interest there is.

My name is Nancy Keegan, and my husband and I have been living here in Redwood City for just over 20 years.

And we have a young son in elementary school attending St.

Pius.

And our dog loves the new permanent dog park at Red Morton, so thank you for that.

Um I have been working in older adult services and nonprofits in our community for over 25 years, and um in our community, and uh my parents were the primary family caregivers for my grandparents who lived with us, and how it led me down my career path for what I do for a living.

So I bring personal and professional experience.

Currently, I'm the program director for an adult day health care center, and my I have experience with adult day services, um, home-delivered meals programs, meals on wheels, family caregiver support services, health promotion programs and health education, and senior volunteer programs.

I am most um oh, I also served on the Sam Trans Paratransit Coordinating Council for 15 years and was the chair for two years.

I'm most excited and interested about supporting the initiatives that support aging in place, increasing access to the services in our community, decreasing social isolation, optimizing engagement, and um I'm looking forward to I see there's a summer conference being planned as well, so I'm looking forward to that.

And um honestly, I'm just incredibly passionate about um advocating for older adult services in our community.

So thank you so much for your time this evening.

I appreciate it.

Thank you, Nancy.

Our next candidate is Nino Lazaro, who will be followed by Michael Lynch.

Thank you, Esika.

And I just want to say thank you so much to the city council for uh taking the time to interview all of us applicants and uh for your public service.

It means a lot.

And uh to echo what uh Nancy just said.

Yeah, I feel like I'm part of a very distinguished group of applicants here, so uh it's just an honor to be here and to be able to interview with you, regardless of what happens.

Uh, and I would definitely come back and I would um even if I didn't get anything, I would still want to try to help and volunteer in uh non-official capacity.

So would love to stay in touch either way.

Uh my name's uh Nina Lazaro, I'm a property owner in District One Revit Shores.

Uh my kids, uh they they're now uh 10 and 7, and I spent so much time at the Revit Shores Library, and I've I feel like I've become quite quite a master at uh navigating the community resources.

And I I'd like to take my my skill sets uh from from the youth field and transfer that over to the uh senior affairs commission because I feel like they're really intertwined.

Uh I think uh the skill set that I would bring is that I've always had uh a public servants uh sort of mentality.

I I uh I'm a veteran of the U.S.

Air Force, uh, and then my job now it does allow me to have a relatively flexible schedule, so I can still get what I need to do done and also attend all of the council meetings uh with you know very minimal uh business trips like throughout the year, uh, but I will be able to attend just uh all the council meetings, so so that's that's good.

Uh something that I would bring to the table in terms of uh skill sets would also be like just having a sense for collaboration, so uh maybe it was a curse and a blessing at the same time to have just to be able to uh listen to the applicants of the uh library commission and the parks and recs commission, such a distinguished group there as well.

So I would probably uh with with this position do my best to develop a sense for collaboration between especially those two uh those two first and foremost, those two uh commissions.

I know I don't want it to beep on me, so I'm just gonna say again uh thank you so much.

I'm definitely excited about the 1333 club, uh, the the senior lunches uh and I'm really just kind of diving in and doing my research right now.

So hopefully more to come with that.

Thank you, Nina.

Our next candidate is Michael Lynch.

We'll be followed by Rocky Mandiam.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

It's my pleasure to be here, be among you.

And uh I'm very, very grateful and surprised and uh gratified to see all of the applicants for senior fairs this year.

And it's gonna be a tough choice among you.

My name is Michael Lynch.

Um I'm a 40-year resident of Redwood City.

My wife Marilyn and I live in our home on Roosevelt Avenue.

I have a daughter, Chrissy, and her husband Kenneth, and three small grandkids that live on Farm Hill.

They all attend Roy Cloud Schools.

I'm a Vietnam veteran who served with a combat unit in Vietnam in 1969.

I work per part time at the Peninsula Community Center, and I've been a part of that um center for likely 40 years as well.

I am a senior affairs commissioner now, having served on the senior affairs commission likely for I think eight years, and I would love to serve another term.

If chosen for another term, I believe my continued participation in the senior affairs commission would benefit the commission greatly.

I think our commission will be seeing some new folks, obviously, uh here in this round.

Yeah, and I look forward to being a voice of experience among them.

There's also some significant trans uh staff transit transition at the senior center that is going to be taking place soon with new leadership coming on board.

I look forward to embracing them and being a part of their fresh input.

Housing transportation and community for all ages has been the focus of our senior affairs commission and will continue.

I want to really focus on the latter, the community for all ages, because that's where I feel I can really be effective in bringing people together.

I really want to work hard for the senior affairs to be collaborative with the youth department and other um commissions and committees in our city to create a truly multi-generational and multi-ethnic city that collaborate with one another and are open to that collaboration.

The most exciting project that was mentioned before is the opening of the new Veterans Memorial Building, Senior Center.

I was also at the ribbon cutting, and the speeches and energy that was displayed that day is one I want to be a part of and hopefully serve on another term at the senior affairs commission.

Some of the speeches um were quite good.

And one by Steve Young really stand stood out in my estimation.

And he quoted Bill Walsh in 1987, saying, I don't care what play we call, and I don't care what defense we run.

And what's quite good.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mike.

Our next candidate is Rocky Landaian, who will be followed by Angelo Pisani.

Thank you for this opportunity, and thank you, Chris, for the tip.

I took a deep breath right before I came here.

I'll answer the questions in order without breaks.

I'm Rocky.

I'm being considered for the Senior Affairs Commission and potentially the Library Board.

Uh I love Redwood City, and the longer I've lived here, the more I want to get involved.

And so far that involvement has looked mostly like volunteerism.

I began with the Samaritan House Mobile Meals Program delivering meals to uh senior centers and homebound elderly and low-income residents in San Mateo.

Uh, then I joined their food pharmacy program at the clinic here in Redwood City to help deliver uh or provide food for patients managing diet-related conditions like diabetes.

More recently, I just started with Project Reed here at the Redwood City Library, where I'll be just about to start giving free private English lessons one-on-one.

Um I applied to the commission because I care about our senior population, and I want to make sure their needs are met through my volunteer work.

I've helped seniors face things like food insecurity, limited mobility, inaccessible health care, language barriers, and social isolation.

Teaching English to senior immigrants earlier gave me exposure to some of these issues.

So did having a grandma.

I bring diverse professional skills to the table.

I have a background in digital tools, educational content creation, computer science, and AI, which prepares me or helps prepare me to ensure our residents are not left behind or worse victimized by developments in telehealth, online banking, AI-powered scams, and other changes.

I've worked as project manager, team lead, customer liaison, software engineer, technical writer, and have translated between technical and non-technical audiences and aligned stakeholders.

I'm conversational in Spanish, Portuguese, and Canada, and I'm always learning new languages, and that might be an asset in a city as diverse as this one.

What excites me the most about the commission's work, of course, the center was the recent opening of the center was exciting.

My general interest is resilience, how to protect against the turbulence and sometimes havoc wreaked by cuts to CDBG, Medical, Medicare, and other programs and benefits.

The Commission's mandate is not fundraising, and I'm aware of that.

I'm just curious, you know, what what what ideas uh I might be able to think of, maybe expanding volunteer engagement, for example.

Um briefly on the library board.

I guess social isolation is one thing that the seniors face, and I know loneliness is a big thing that the library board has focused on recently.

I'm an avid reader, I'm an amateur writer and a regular patron of the library.

I care about education and literacy, including financial and digital literacy, and I volunteer as a as a tutor in English and math.

I'm honored to serve the city.

I'm honored to uh be considered for the opportunity to serve the city, serve its seniors and all of us who will one day be seniors.

Thank you.

Thank you, Rocky.

For the record, Carolyn Mitchell withdrew her application.

So she will not be interviewing tonight.

And we'll move on to Angelo Pisani.

Welcome.

Um good evening, everybody.

Um, thanks for staying so long.

Uh my name is Angela Pisani.

I'm the uh proud owner of Sequoia Station Dental Care right down the street.

Uh and I just wanted to start with saying congratulations to everybody who was involved with putting the uh YMCA Senior Center together.

It looks beautiful.

I didn't get a chance to go to the ribbon cutting, but it looked amazing with some awesome celebrities.

Um a little bit about myself.

I grew up in Redwood City.

Uh my wife and I live here, and uh we have a three-year-old that is uh very happy living here.

Um, but that's not the reason I'm here today.

I want to uh to shed a little light on North Fair Oaks.

I was uh fortunate enough to work there for uh many years uh before I went on to dentistry, and uh I want to see a little bit of this magic that was given to the YMCA uh senior center to our North Fair Oaks community center.

Uh it serves a lot of uh really good people uh and it provides meals uh for senior citizens who uh need uh that help at home.

Sometimes uh uh I think we've all kind of touched up on the uh apartments and the uh rent control, but uh there's other ways to help our people.

Uh for example, through the brownback programs and uh for the people who are bed bound to help them keep in-house, uh are little things that come up to mind that I'd like to kind of uh bring up to the commission uh to see if there's something that we can do for that uh aspect of the community.

And uh I agree, I think we should make it into an old ages, and I think North Fair Oaks is a very uh good example of that.

I think some of uh the city council people have experiences with them.

I remember seeing some of you back in the day when I was working there.

Uh and I think even some of your uh senior uh family members are also been there.

So uh, anyways, thank you for your time.

Uh and uh have a good night.

Thank you.

Thank you, Angela.

Our next candidate is Marty Ye, who will be followed by Ira Yanko.

Good evening, uh Mayor and uh council members.

Um let me just echo everyone else who's uh spoken and saying uh what a great group of of candidates this is for this commission.

I didn't anticipate this level of competition, so it's uh it's pretty cool.

Um so um the reason I'm here is uh a couple reasons.

Um I am a longtime uh resident of Redwood City.

Uh, been here 30 years, District Six.

My kids uh went through all the public schools, uh Ryan Kennedy, Sequoia, and uh they're all doing their young adult things now.

Um but um one of my kids um helped uh serve meals during the pandemic to people driving through.

And um, he just told me how grateful people were and how how impactful that was in their lives.

And I just thought, wow, there's there's some really great stuff going on here.

And and maybe I really want to contribute to that.

And then the other reason is uh Councilman's member Sturk and I ran into him a couple times, and he said, Why don't you apply to one of those commissions?

So I'm finally fulfilling the uh the promise I made to him.

Um I'm a longtime uh primary care physician.

I um I brought up and ran um the uh there's three large wellness centers on the Apple campus, and uh I directed those centers.

I uh I started in the back of a small gym and uh just doing physicals and we built it into a worldwide program.

Um so I know how to uh innovate.

I know how to operate, and I know how to get things done.

That's my strength, but I also, before that, I was a longtime primary care physician.

So I was in San Jose doing a private practice for 15 years, and uh the stories I could tell you from the exam room is compelling.

Um, not only about health and end-of-life issues that seniors face, but things like estates squabbles and uh families uh breaking apart.

So I'm very interested in attack tackling those issues, the health issues, estate planning, tax, those sorts of things.

I think the 1333 club is a good entree to those things because they have great speakers that address all those topics.

And if we could build some programs and I can learn from the commissioners here that what they've already done and what they can do, then you know maybe we can accomplish some great things.

Thank you.

Thanks for your consideration.

Thank you, Marty.

Our final applicant is Ira Yanko.

Hi, Ryanko.

Going once, go in twice.

With that, Mayor, I'll turn it back to you.

That concludes all the applicants for the evening.

Thank you, City Clerk, and thank you to all of our applicants for senior affairs and waiting till the very end to interview.

We really appreciate it.

And we have our work cut out for us.

We have this many great applicants.

So thank you all, and we will have that conversation at the following council meeting again.

With that, we will move to item 10, our matters of council interest, beginning with any city council member reports, meetings, or conferences attended.

Not seeing any, we'll move right along to 10 B, our city council committee reports, and we have a quick report from governance that I'll share.

The governance subcommittee comprised of the vice mayor, councilmember G, and myself met on May 13th, uh Wednesday.

The city clerk's office gave an overview of new legislation, uh, Senate Bill 707, the Brown Act Modernization Act, which makes significant changes to the California Open Meetings Law.

The committee reviewed the draft Brown Act meeting technology disruption policy, and considered meeting process changes related to agenda translation in Spanish, remote meetings for city council, subcommittee meetings, city boards, commissions, and committees, and multi-jurisdictional bodies.

The committee also provided feedback on additional outreach methods to engage underrepresented groups and non-English speaking communities.

The committee discussed and recommended expanding 707 uh changes to all city Brown Act bodies for public transparency consistency, and these recommendations will be brought to the full city council at the our excuse me for final approval next month.

The cities, excuse me, all excuse me, my friends, hey y'all.

Sorry about that.

We just want to get through these couple items.

Sorry about that.

Um, the city's legislative consultant, Claire Sullivan from California Public Policy Group, CPPG, provided legislative overview, which included updates on the state's legislative timing, vehicle license fee, shortfall or VLF, and the city's current positioned legislation, as well as engagement on additional legislation affecting Redwood City.

In accordance with the 2026 legislative platform, the committee discussed and confirmed the city's position on key bills.

The next governance subcommittee meeting is scheduled for June twenty ninth.

And on our eighty-four one on one ad hoc committee, the ad hoc comprised of council Members G, Chu, and myself met May 15th, twenty twenty six.

The consultant reported on the project status, and the project team also updated the committee on next steps for the project.

The ad hoc meets next on June 26, we will now adjourn to closed session to discuss anticipated litigation as identified on the agenda.

Before we move to closed session, and I'll pass things over to ask the city clerk if we have any public comment.

Um, Al