I'm sorry.

Call this meeting to order.

Please call the roll.

Thank you.

Councilmember Kaplan.

Here.

Councilmember Dickinson.

Here.

Vice Mayor Talamantes.

Here.

Councilmember Plekibom.

Councilmember Maple.

Here.

Mayor Pro Tem Guerra.

Here.

Thank you.

Councilmember Jennings.

Here.

Councilmember Vang.

Here.

And Mayor McCarty.

Here.

You have a full quorum.

Okay.

First.

Landed government and pledge.

Who is in charge?

Mr. Tannett.

Okay.

Can we have Councilmember Maple do the land acknowledgement and pledge?

Please rise if you are able.

Please rise for the opening acknowledgments in honor of Sacramento's indigenous people and tribal lands.

To the original people of this land.

The Nisenan people.

The southern Maidu.

Valley and Plains Miwok.

Putwanyan two peoples.

And the people of the Wiltson Rancheria.

Sacramento's only federally recognized tribe.

May we acknowledge and honor the native people who came before us and still walk beside us today on these ancestral lands.

By choosing to gather today in the active practice of appreciation of acknowledgement and appreciation for Sacramento's indigenous peoples history, contributions, and lives.

I remain standing.

Salute.

And pledge.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.

And to the republic for which it stands.

One nation under God.

Indivisible.

With liberty and justice for all.

And all of the things that we have to do to make sure to be.

Thank you.

So Mayor we have two special presentations.

The first is pride month.

Presented by council member Kaplan and council member Maple.

All right.

Thank you.

I will kick it off.

Recognizing June as pride month.

And it is an honor to co-present this with my colleague council member Maple.

Um, the month of June has been designated as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer plus month.

Also known as LGBTQ month plus in commemoration of the Stonewall rebellion which occurred during the weekend of June 27th through 29th in 1969 in New York City.

Which truly gave birth to the modern LGBTQ civil rights movement.

Since 1994 June has been designated and celebrated.

And we celebrate the notable achievements of millions who make up our LGBTQ plus community.

Along with their valuable contributions to the nation's cities and states.

And, um, today, acknowledging this, honoring our LGBTQ community members is even more important than ever.

As they are being under attack.

As they are being under attack.

And other eyes.

And disvalued.

Which constantly puts in danger.

Because I know from my time of being a school board member.

The highest percentage of students that commit suicide are those that identify and belong to the LGBTQ community.

We are putting in jeopardy.

The lives of so many children.

Who wonder if they belong.

When we as adults fail to recognize the identity of those who identify in our LGBTQ community.

They belong.

They are one of us.

They are the same.

They deserve equal rights no matter what.

And so this month.

It is important that we acknowledge Pride Month.

We acknowledge that there are rising hate crimes.

There are rising division amongst legislation to discriminate against our LGBTQ community.

And put in division amongst our community.

So I would like to thank those who are in attendance with us this evening.

Including our cities.

LGBTQIA.

Employee Resource Group.

And the Greater Sacramento LGBTQ Center.

The Stonewall Foundation of Greater Sacramento.

Stonewall Democrats of Greater Sacramento.

And others who have expressed their support.

Whether they are here.

Because we are starting a little later.

Or not.

I see you.

I hear you.

I support you.

I will fight beside you along the way.

I will stand in front and protect you.

So at this time.

I would like to turn it over to my colleague.

Council Member Maple.

To make a couple of remarks as well.

Thank you.

Council Member Kaplan.

For kicking us off.

And just thank you also to the mayor.

And all my colleagues.

I know.

That we are co-presenting this.

But we also know that this is from all of you.

And that was shown by the flag raising outside of our city hall.

Anyone can go out there and witness.

And see where we stand as an organization.

As a city.

But I think it's really important.

That we also do this resolution.

Because we know that this is an especially difficult time.

For our LGBTQIA plus community.

We know that when we look at the news.

We know that when we look at statistics.

Of what happens to our young people.

As was mentioned.

That it's more important than ever.

That we stand up and acknowledge.

What's happening.

And that we also honor and show those.

That are a part of this community.

That we care.

And that we see you.

And so I'm.

We've taken significant strides in Sacramento.

To ensure that rights and well-being.

Of transgender individuals.

Are taken seriously in our city.

So much so that we were the first city.

To become a transgender sanctuary city.

In the United States of America.

And so I think that's a huge.

A huge deal for us.

We also proudly fly the progress flag out front.

So and with all of this.

I want to encourage the broader community.

To make sure that we're.

Doing everything that we can.

To hold those safe in our communities.

And that means showing up.

That means standing up.

When you hear something.

And when you see others doing.

When you see others doing things to others.

That we must stand up for them.

But I think one of the most important things.

That we have as a city.

Beyond the things that I just mentioned.

Is that we have an incredible.

Employee resource group.

Otherwise known as an ERG.

That is made up of our LGBTQ staff.

And I think what that says.

It's not just about us up here.

And what we say.

It's not just about a flag that's outside.

It's not just about a resolution.

It's about all of our employees coming together.

And supporting one another.

I think that that is one of the greatest things.

That we can do to help show support.

And so with that.

I would love to invite up.

Kelly McAllister and Jennifer Dolan Wyatt.

To say a few words about why.

This is important to you.

In the city of Sacramento.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Mayor and council.

I have a tremendous amount of gratitude.

As a member of the LGBTQIA plus community.

But also as a city employee.

Of nine years.

These nine years.

I have felt the utmost affirmation.

And celebration from the city.

As an employer.

And also as a constituent.

I would be remiss though.

If I didn't acknowledge.

The progress pride flag that we see today.

And all that it represents.

It includes the original rainbow colors.

Of the pride flag.

And it also includes the colors.

Of our trans non-binary communities.

As well as the black and brown communities.

And our communities of color.

All marginalized people.

Currently under attack.

By the federal government.

The progress pride flag.

Exists for many reasons.

It's an acknowledgement of pride.

Diversity.

And inclusion.

But it's also displayed.

So that those who feel unseen.

Undervalued.

Unheard.

Or afraid of who.

And what they represent.

Know.

That we recognize them.

And they are seen and celebrated.

So if you are out there now.

And you see this flag.

You drive by.

And you see it displayed outside.

And you see any part of yourself.

Represented in this.

I want you to know.

That the world.

This country.

And the city.

Is a better place.

Because you exist in it.

Let us not forget.

That no one is free.

Until we are all free.

.

I'm good.

I'm really good.

Are you sure?

I am good.

Thank you.

Well back.

Back over to you.

Councilmember Kaplan.

Yeah.

So.

I'd like to have.

I'm good.

Jennifer Kelly.

Come on up front.

Anybody else.

Part of our.

LGBTQ.

ERG community.

Councilmember Mae.

May I join.

I join them.

I join them.

And I join them.

And I join them.

To the community.

So.

Councilmember Maple want to come join me.

If I have to get in there, Ryan.

Okay, here and then, oh, sorry, I'm on right.

I know I'm on right.

And then let me grab one on here.

Sorry, I'm doing them for everyone.

Thank you all.

I think your phone was set to video.

That's okay, can you just send me the picture?

I'll send you the photo.

I was.

Kelly has a good time.

Okay.

Oh, excuse me.

I'm so sorry.

And Councilmember Kaplan, you have our second special presentation, Gun Violence Awareness

Month.

Thank you.

Not my intent to do two in a row, but we didn't have a council meeting last week.

And I think it's just as important that we acknowledge June as being Gun Violence Awareness Month.

There is too much violence among our community and among our youth.

And we have to recognize that gun violence is real.

And it's a time that we honor lives lost to gun violence, uplift voices of survivors, and recommit to our efforts to prevent future tragedies through education, policy, community investment, and advocacy.

Every year we know that more than 47 Americans die from gun related injuries.

Of those, 3,200 being from the state of California.

And that's not including others impacted by non-fatal shootings and the lasting trauma that follows from everyone who's been impacted.

In our city, we experience between 70 and 100 firearm deaths, injuries on an annual basis, with approximately 40 being related to homicides, 24 being related to suicides, and others related to accidental deaths.

We also know firearms are the leading cause of death for children and teens.

And by early February, more Americans are killed with guns than are killed in our peer countries in an entire calendar year.

I want to thank Deborah Grimes, Moms Demand Action, and the Nagy Grimes 212 Anchor Foundation, Academic for Athletes,

and Barry Axios Co-Founder of the Voice for the Youth Foundation, and their panel discussion and free watch party of Put the Guns Down film this past Friday, which was also held on Gun Violence Awareness Day.

As we talk about budget and funding and the hard decisions we have to make, I'm a big believer in why wait for someone else to help others?

What can I do opposed to what I cannot?

Back in December 2024, I started convening a violence discussion roundtable.

We don't have a lot of money in the city of Sacramento, but gun violence waits for no one.

And to say we have to wait until we have funding is to dismiss where we can begin collaborating and working together as a community.

And that's just part of what each one of us in this room can do to know that we all play a part in bringing gun violence to an end and educating the community.

Right. Yes.

We have a lot of work to do and more work to do to come in our community.

So I'm proud to support this resolution.

I am proud that we have so many of our community partners that are here tonight to say that we can do more and we can bring an end to gun violence and especially our youth and address our youth and the violence that it brings.

So good things come when we work together.

And I really want to thank Deborah Grimes, you know, who is the chapter lead for Mom Demand Action.

And many of you know I have known Deborah for almost 20 years because I knew her son from my time being a school board member to his time being a coach at Intercom during football to unfortunately to his murder a couple of years ago.

It impacts everyone.

And so Deborah, thank you for making this tragedy a mission to do something about it and not remain silent.

I'd love for you to say if you can a couple words if you want to take a seat and use the smaller microphone down there.

You are more than welcome to.

Right here.

You want to take a seat?

We've also got a handheld one for you Deborah.

Oh, thank you.

Well, thank you so very, very much.

Mayor McCarty and this wonderful council city council.

So what I'd like to say is that as Councilmember Kaplan said, you know, we did lose our son.

He was taken.

And on the 4th of July, next month, we will be at the cemetery and we will be with our son for his third year angelversary.

In the last three years, what we have learned is that we have become shoulders that people can lean on.

But we've also learned that we are standing on the shoulders of so many people who do so many awesome, wonderful things in this community, such as the Daryl Roberts of the world and so many other organizations.

We are very fortunate.

We are blessed to have council members such as the champions, Lisa Kaplan and Katie Maple and Rick Jennings.

And there are certainly others as well as our mayor, but champions who do more than just talk the game.

They are really serious about ending gun violence.

And we are just so fortunate as a people to have them.

And I just want to thank you so, so much for making this an awareness day or awareness month.

Pardon me, it's gun violence awareness month all over the nation.

And this is something that we need to recognize.

And I'm just so grateful that we in Sacramento are now recognizing it.

Thank you so very, very much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Go ahead.

Thank you.

Councilwoman from District one.

First, Councilman Kaplan.

Thank you so much for bringing this resolution to the council to recognize gun violence, particularly this month.

And Deborah, just thank you for all the great work that you do.

And I didn't want to say this was timely because, you know, last week there was a girl that was shot in Medivue.

The week before that, there was a 15 year old boy that was shot and killed at Coral Gables, Villa Hardeen in Medivue.

Two weeks before that, there was a young adult that was shot and killed in Valley High.

Right.

And, you know, gun violence, no, no boundaries, no district.

And these incidents aren't isolated.

Right.

And they really demand a deeper attention from, from our, from city, from county in terms of the work that we need to do.

And so I just want to say thank you, Councilman Kaplan for bringing this to our attention.

And that we just not only pass a resolution, but that we also make sure that we back that up with dollars in our budget.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I, I had the opportunity to be at the showing of the documentary on Friday, the 6th at the Guild Theater.

Uh, and it was a packed house.

Uh, not only did we see the documentary, but we were also had the opportunity to have a panel of, uh, parents and brothers and sisters and loved ones and cousins and aunts, whoever was there that had also lost someone to gun violence.

And to hear their experiences, to listen to them, talk and to hear the pain sometimes in some cases, many years later, that pain is one said, never leaves.

It is always there.

You just have to learn how to control it and go out and talk to others about how they can make sure that they don't suffer the same, um, situation.

So I just wanted to acknowledge you and all the mothers that demand action because you have a plan in place.

And I told you that it would be my job and my, my, my privilege to work with you to find out where we can take this documentary and put it in our schools, put it in where our parents can see it.

And we can start using this movie as a way, this documentary as a way of motivating the change that we all want to see.

And so I'm willing to commit my time to help with that plan to put in place, to do all with the great work of all the mothers that are demanding action in order to see if we can make that film help us here in this great region of Sacramento.

So, thank you.

I want to thank, uh, council member Kaplan for, uh, bringing this resolution to the, to the council tomorrow, to mark this month.

Uh, there is no question gun violence is a, a scourge in our communities and across the state and the, and the nation and youth violence in particular, uh, is a horrific, uh, aspect of, uh, what our youth, uh, and families face, uh, uh, in some neighborhoods, uh, on an all too frequent basis.

But nobody, nobody is, is immune.

Uh, the son of someone who worked for me when I was a county supervisor was a victim, a fatal victim of, of gun violence.

Uh, someone who council member Kaplan and I know extremely well, who's council member Kaplan served, served with lost, lost her son to, to gun, to gun violence.

Uh, this is something that touches us all in some way, uh, or, or another.

I'm, uh, I'm heartened, uh, by what we do here, at least in the city of Sacramento and in the state of California, in addressing, uh, gun violence, uh, and, uh, moms demand action.

The Brady campaign deserve enormous credit for the grassroots advocacy they, they bring to illustrate a piece of legislation that, that, and the mayor will remember this, that, that I introduced that would have taxed ammunition to provide money for, uh,

youth mental health.

I couldn't, I couldn't get it across the finish line, but last year that legislation, thanks to mom, mom's demand action and others was signed into law.

So, you know, there are things we can do.

There are things we are doing, but we realize, and I think recognize that it is the investment in our young people, in our community, in our neighborhoods, providing positive alternatives, giving, giving children and families, uh, a safe environment by, by creating those, uh, those, uh, those, uh,

those, uh, those options that are, that's really the, the answer.

And so that's where, uh, we need to be focused as, uh, in what we do, what we say, and what we, what we believe in.

Thanks.

So, uh, if you want to say a couple comments, otherwise I'm, I'm biting you down.

I'm biting you down.

After you're done.

So, uh, I just want to thank, because I didn't, um, I know that impact all in together, gang awareness prevention, I am SAC, impact SAC, self, uh, awareness recovery,

Mack Road partnership are in the audience, um, because y'all working together and amongst more, um, after the mayor makes his comments, I want to invite him and you all down to the dais, uh, to the, to the bowl, so we can take a picture.

Mayor.

Yeah, thank you.

And, um, you know, this is always an important topic and never more important than the night that we adopt our budget.

So maybe some of your stick around and, uh, the values are important, not just to adopt a resolution, but what are we doing as a city to prevent this?

And I will say that our budget that we're adopting continues, uh, funding for our youth programs.

And then through our measure L, um, implementation will be quadruple or more investments in our young people.

And I'll just want to note that, you know, as a young council member, I'll always vividly remember those first calls I got from our police chief or captain telling me that a 15 year old lost their life in our city through senseless gun violence.

And, and we've worked on laws or legislation to combat legal gun trafficking in our communities, but we need so much more.

And a lot of it is for our, our youth.

I know that I have kids in high school myself, so I see it.

And, and I will note just a positive note that, that Mr. Dickinson's right.

You know, 10 years ago, you had the courage to, to introduce a law that, that places a surcharge on, on gun and ammunition purchases.

And last year, some member Gabriel authored and I the same bill, and it was signed by the governor and the city of Sacramento is currently applying to get even more money for, for successful, uh, gun violence intervention programs.

And so, you know, we believe in this work, so we don't have to hear the stories and those calls that we get from our police officials.

So, uh, thank you for, uh, the work that the community does in that.

And yes, let's come down and take a picture.

Thank you.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Thank you.

It's not taking the charge.

Okay.

Thanks.

Thank you.

It's not taking the charge.

Okay.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah.

All right.

Scoot in, fellas.

Yeah.

Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah.

All right.

Scoot in, fellas.

Yeah.

Yes.

Come on, Barry.

Slide in.

Okay, it's all right.

Right.

All right.

We got a couple more coming.

Can we have some of you come to the other side?

Yes, thank you.

All right, everybody right here on 3, 1,

2, 3.

1, 2, 3.

We're good.

Thank you.

Mayor, before Barry Axios walks out the room,

I just want to acknowledge him for doing a great job of emceeing the panel this past Friday.

He did an incredible job, a very tough job because there was a lot of emotion.

Fortunately, he came prepared.

So anyway, great job, Barry.

Thank you, Barry.

Thank you, Barry.

Thank you, Barry.

Thank you, Barry.

Thank you, Barry.

Thank you, Barry.

Thank you, Barry.

Thank you, Barry.

So, Mayor, we now move to the consent calendar.

That's agenda items 1 through 15.

Do we have any council members that wish to pull an item or comment?

Yes.

I see no other people punched up.

So, Council Member Maple, item 14.

All right, I'll be brief.

I know we've had a big day and more to come, but I really felt as though I needed to say something about this.

So, this is approving an application for a grant that would go to the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District, which I, you know, very proudly serve as the vice chair of.

And this would go towards providing the water and the planting skills needed in order to plant trees along Franklin Boulevard.

This is a huge deal because that part of Franklin Boulevard, they live very close by.

It is a heat island.

There are a lot of people there who are, you know, low income.

They rely on our public transit system.

They walk, they bike, and it's very, very hot in the summer and very difficult for them to get around.

So, luckily, thanks to our Franklin Boulevard Complete Streets project that's currently under construction there, we are putting in the necessary pedestrian and cyclist safety that we need for that street.

But that means that we also need to put the trees in because people need the shade.

It's a part, it's just a big part of life.

We need to be cool in the summer.

It's only going to get hotter with climate change.

And so, just really want to appreciate our staff for being forward thinking and especially right now while things are tough in terms of getting federal money and just thinking outside the box.

So, thank you and thank you for your work.

Okay.

I have seven speakers on the consent calendar.

The first is Howard Nuxon and he's speaking on matters not on the agenda from the 2 p.m.

So, Howard?

Unfortunately, we had a little bit of celebrating so our meeting got to turn quickly.

Thank you, Council.

Good afternoon.

My name is Howard Knutson.

I'm a certified public accountant and former IRS agent of 10 years.

I currently operate a small tax accounting practice in District 1 in Natomas.

I'm speaking before you today because I'm concerned about the travel expenditures being incurred by the Chief of Police.

The Sacramento Bee has published an article today by Joe Rubin which goes through in detail just issues with reimbursements being made by the city to the Chief of Police for first-class plane travel, including three first-class plane travel trips conducted in May 2004 for two consecutive weeks.

We need our city, our Chief of Police here in the city not traveling 37 calendar days a year on taxpayer expense.

The Sacramento Bee goes into detail about the reimbursement she submitted, how she did not submit receipts, just screenshots of alleged purchases.

Our city is funding first-class plane travel with taxpayer money.

This is unacceptable.

We need real internal controls by CPAs reviewing this so that we can prevent taxpayer money being used for personal travel expenses.

Thank you for your time.

Have a nice day.

I waited over five hours to speak.

Yes, two minutes.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Zion Taddis, then Lambert, then Marbella Sala.

Zion is speaking on item 11.

Thank you.

Okay, so on item 11, I was just going to talk about, you know, before Sacramento become a farm-to-fork city, Queen Sheba was a farm-to-fork.

I know you're trying to do some urban farming around that area, so I'm just interested.

I just wanted to make sure that I am included when it comes to, because I'm trying to grow my food so I can serve it at my restaurant.

So I just want to be able to get involved in that grant.

That's what I wanted to say on 11.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Lambert is speaking on item 13, then Marbella Sala on 9.

Number 13 is called suspension of competitive bidding.

That's another word for bid rigging and bid peddling.

As a person who owns a business, I've never been part of a bid process that was suspended.

It even says in the language that you have to have experience, expertise, and capacity.

Well, even if you have the expertise and capacity, you're eliminated because of this wording.

There should be, there should never be no competitive bidding.

In the paper, in the Sacramento Bee, there was a shout out to the Sacramento Bee.

There was a scandal of how people were getting contracts and they weren't bidding on them.

That's an example. You can give it to your relatives.

In San Francisco, they showed where people were giving contracts at City Hall to relatives.

That's what that happens when you have suspended competitive bidding.

And I want to send a shout out.

This is the millennials telling me this because I don't really pay that much attention to social media.

They handle that for me.

But I want to send a shout out to Vice Mayor Telemontes because they told me today I was on the road.

They called me and said that she was saying very kind things on social media.

I haven't even seen it.

So I wanted to say thank you.

I have no idea what I'm thanking you about.

But I'm thanking you because they said whatever you did is starting to get us a lot of business.

And as the weather gets hotter, that's when the cheesecakes take off.

So thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Our next speaker is Marbella Sala.

Calling Marbella is Brandon Martinez.

And for the people at the back of the room, please, there's plenty of seats up front.

We can't block the back doors.

Good evening.

I'm here because I just want to point out how unique this SACA grant is that's coming to

part of Garden Land Northgate and District 2.

And it's a coalition of culture, the Urban League, the Mutual Network, and GNNA.

But importantly, it's also with the city.

And what it's designed to do, it's a SACA grant, is to build infrastructure, community-driven solutions

for transportation, mobility, and access, infrastructure, and emergency preparedness.

It's the first time that I know of that we're going to do such a collaboration with District

2 and our District 3 and in this unique coalition of community-based organization.

And I'm hoping that this is only the beginning and we'll be able to do this more because we

really have very similar issues.

And I want to thank Mikel Davila because he did a lot of work in helping us complete the grant process

and putting this coalition together.

So thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Brandon Martinez on items 3 and 12.

And Amber Stott on item 12.

Hey, y'all.

I came to echo that sentiment.

It's amazing what's going to happen in District 2 and 3.

And also District 4.

So I came to bring up that Plucky Bomb, this is your moment to shine.

And I'm happy for everyone here who gets to take part in what's happening in North SAC 2.

But let me not forget what's happening in D8.

So I totally want everyone to know that this is a sign of the times.

There needs to be more EVs out there.

And this is a step in the right direction.

So I definitely urge everyone to look into that.

Thanks.

Thank you for your comments.

Amber Stott on item 12.

Good evening.

Thanks for having me.

I am here in support of the SACA grant also.

And very proud to operate one of Sacramento's probably best examples of government gone right,

Floyd Farms.

And this site, it doubles as both a student farm and as a community park.

And so we're going to be using these grant funds to go into the community and conduct visioning sessions,

which essentially are needed because the original project started so long ago that many people

don't really know what happened.

The walls went up in the pandemic.

And we really want to make sure the community not only knows it's there, but gets to have a

say and a voice in some of the programming that we develop in this new beautiful space.

So we're excited to have an opportunity to partner with the city and work hand in hand to do visioning

sessions across our community and bring that feedback back to implement pilot programming to

really embrace the needs of our community.

We're in a community where we have a 40% childhood obesity rate.

Food access is an issue for many of the students that go to the adjacent school,

we had taught to Floyd Elementary. And we want to really address the mobility gaps to getting access

to that healthy food. So thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Mayor, I have no more public comment for the consent calendar.

We can entertain a motion.

I'll second.

The motion is second.

Mr. Dickinson.

Got it.

Okay. I'm sorry, Mayor. I overlooked this, but I would like to be recorded as a no vote on item six.

Not because I think this doesn't go far enough. I think it goes too far in reducing the discount for

those who have EVs and our monthly parkers. The predicate is that EVs have established themselves

and they don't need any more incentives. I don't hold that view when they're only 20% of the vehicles

on the road. So I just would prefer to be a no vote on this item.

Thank you. So you have a motion by Council Member Geta and a second by Maple.

No vote on item six for Council Member Dickinson.

Thank you. All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

You know, sir, abstention. Noted for Mr. Dickinson.

Measures pass. Next item.

Thank you.

We move to item 16 is a public hearing.

Public hearing on renewal of downtown Sacramento property and business improvement district number

2025-01.

Good evening, Mayor and members of City Council. I am Suzanne Tan with the Finance Department.

The item before you is the public hearing for the renewal of the downtown Sacramento PBID for another 10-year term.

Renewal of the downtown Sacramento PBID will continue to provide services and activities that

create a special benefit to assess properties within the district.

At this time, staff recommends opening the public hearing. Upon the close of the public hearing,

staff will count the ballots and come back to Council as a consent item on June 17th with the ballot tabulation results.

Thank you. Michael Alt with the downtown Sacramento partnership is here and would like to say a few words.

Welcome.

Thank you very much.

Ready for your big moment?

Yeah, no, this has been a good day to say the least.

Vice Mayor, members of Council, City Manager, Michael Alt with the downtown partnership.

It's important to note back in 1995, and I'll be really quick because I know you've got a full agenda.

This was the first business improvement district in the state of California.

There's been a lot of involvement, I think, in this movement as far as districts creating

additional income to provide enhanced services over and above baseline. But we have spent

the last couple of years meeting with our property owners, meeting with our businesses,

talking about the future. And candidly, you can't make up some of the things that we've dealt with

the last couple of years as it relates to charting a path forward. We're seeing economic development

come back. We're seeing employees come back. We're meeting with owners. We're meeting with consultants,

talking about what level of service we need to provide to our constituents and make sure that

as we start looking towards the future that we are creating a downtown environment that we're proud of.

I said in our State of Downtown Breakfast, you know, regions are defined by their downtowns and the

involvement not only of this organization but the work that we're doing, I think, makes a difference in

how the city is viewed and treated from a respect standpoint. This is a special place for us.

I want to acknowledge my staff. I'm going to make them stand up just really quick. Stand up. No, I'm torturing you.

Yeah, do that. But I also want to acknowledge specifically Danielle Biller. Danielle is my Deputy Director

She and I have been doing this for close to 30 years. She is the heart and soul of this organization

as it relates to this work. And she, when this organization renews and we feel confident, we

rule anew. We will renew. We're not taking it for granted, but she has been the champion that we have

had. And the senior team that we've got here believes in this. So we appreciate the support,

the partnership with you, Board Member Mel Stein. I think what we do makes a difference. And when this

community looks at the partners we have, there's no better partner than the city of Sacramento. So thank you

for what you do. Council Member Pluckybom, we feel very fortunate to have you on board, not only as a

board member, but as a champion and this council in general, you have made a difference in this community

and we are your partners moving forward. So thank you.

Thank you. And you do great work. So, um, one public comment. I have one speaker, Mac worthy.

And then after this, if Mr. Pluckybom would like to open and close the public hearing.

And move the item.

And move the item.

Oh, yeah. You know, I would hear when that downtown thing was created in the

end and said, let's crown downtown. How many jobs have it created downtown to money?

See, this is part of your corruption. Every time you come up here, you get these people say, oh,

we're doing this. People that you're paying these people to stay quiet and say you're doing all right.

As much corruption is here and you still spending money and can't identify where the money went. Downtown.

Downtown used to have water running down. That didn't work.

Some of the first money came here.

It's like redevelopment money was old Sacramento. Still that don't work.

Why you can't have an outside audit of where the money is going?

People, what's downtown? Nothing. I was downtown the first time. I ain't never been in an arena.

You've got a situation that I want to show the LP agent downtown. You got some real shit going on downtown and youths involved.

You just don't go. But you're not telling the people really what's going on downtown.

You have some of the worst crime having here was downtown. It's a drunk, a drunk alley is downtown.

That's all. Get drunk and go out on the street and show your ass. That's all you got downtown.

Nothing else. Nothing else to have people. That's what you call socialism.

It's there and people accept it because you are deating your way through.

Theater. Oh, I'll keep you laughing. We're going to do this. We're going to do that.

And you haven't done a damn thing downtown.

Vice mayor of no more speakers. Thank you.

Uh, council member Plucky Bob.

Open and close public comment. Move staff recommendation.

Perfect. We have a motion and a second. All in favor, please say aye.

Aye. Abstentions.

Nose. Seeing none. Congratulations downtown PBID.

Thank you. So that passes unanimously with mayor McCarty absence.

So vice mayor, we're going to reorder the agenda and take item 18 next,

which is the Sacramento Children's Fund grant awards.

All right. Wonderful. We want to get city staff to come join us down here.

And I just want to thank members of the public for being here again.

I know a lot of you came two weeks ago. Um,

and a lot of us were looking for more information on the programming and the

details of the programs that we were going to be funding.

So city staff had time to go back and do a little more homework for us to

fully understand what we were awarding.

Okay. This is going to be a very quick and short presentation.

My name is Renee Koston program manager for the Sacramento Children's Fund.

Uh, thank you for having us again, vice mayor and council.

So based off of the, uh, direction that we received,

uh, just to give a little recap scenario,

one that we presented previously funded 24 programs and projects with the 50,

50 split that was set in the strategic investment plan.

And it had an emerging set aside for grassroots scenario two funded 16 programs and projects

with the 50, 50 split with no adjustments to the funding, um, allocation.

We provided a ranked application list with description as requested by council at the previous council meeting.

We, uh, added a ranked application list by fun goal with descriptions,

a rank application list by district served with dis with descriptions.

And then we also added a social vulnerability index, the SVI at a 20% overlay as requested by city council at last city council meeting.

So this just briefly gives an overview.

That grid area is going to be what the SVI expanded upon the seed and COI overlay that was already included

in the RFP and the strategic investment plan for assessment when we were looking at applicants.

Um, the SVI does align with the seed and the child opportunity index COI and expands eligible opportunity areas.

Uh, this basically means that a hundred percent of eligible applications to the Sacramento children's fund

serve the SVI identified opportunity areas as well.

Um, so it expanded the areas, but our applications already served, um, much of what was expanded.

Just a little recap on our Sacramento children's fund timeline.

Um, we're here now June 10th for award recommendations presented to city council for approval.

Uh, we hope that our contract execution and fund disbursements happens probably closer to the end of July.

And then July, 2025 to June, 2028 will be the grant award time period for this first set of grant.

And I'm going to take a seat and let you all continue the deliberation.

Thank you so much.

Um, we do have 28, uh, speakers for public comment.

So the city clerk will start reading off names and then we'll do a council comments and delivery, deliberations.

Thank you, vice mayor.

Um, as you said, I have 28 speakers.

So I'm going to call a few of you might line up.

Um, Jamie Gersick, Gersick, Jeanette Carpenter, Darrell Roberts, Omar Turner, Brenda Yvonne,

Jamie Gersick, Amy.

Good afternoon, mayor and council members.

My name is Jamie Garrick and I'm the chief program officer at the Sacramento LGBT community center.

LGBTQ plus youth are in crisis and they urgently need your help.

They're more likely to face trauma, homelessness and mental health challenges,

yet have fewer affirming services available.

Nearly half of LGBTQ plus youth seriously considered suicide last year.

For transgender and non-binary youth, it was more than half.

The center supports LGBTQ plus youth through our drop in space, youth enrichment, housing,

employment and mental health services, all of which align with the goals of the Sacramento Children's Fund.

I know you have all been strong advocates for the LGBTQ plus community in the past and I urge your

support for scenario one funding for mental health services for LGBTQ plus youth.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Jeanette?

Good evening, vice mayor and council members.

My name is Jeanette Carpenter.

I'm here on behalf of Child Action.

We serve 17,000 children and their 9,000 families in Sacramento County.

We empower families and child care professionals with the tools and support services they need to successfully care for children.

We applaud the city for their progress with one-time investments in child care.

However, this is not a sustained funding strategy despite naming early childhood a priority.

Few Measure L proposals support kids zero to five and our initiative is one of the only child care focused proposals.

It targets the city's highest needs zip codes and proven demand and offered direct support for both families and providers.

With existing infrastructure and evidence-based models, this is a scalable high-impact investment.

Ongoing city support is essential to meet the real and growing need.

Thank you for your time.

Daryl Roberts and then Omar Turner.

Good evening, members of the council and city manager.

I'm Daryl Roberts, CEO and co-founder of Roberts Family Development Center and a resident of District 2.

I speak on behalf of our co-founder, Tina Roberts, our board of directors and the youth and their families that we serve.

We're pleased that staff ranked us as the number one scored non-profit in our category of violence prevention.

However, I am tempered by the recognition that there are many other worthy organizations who are not selected.

And I stand before you to request that not only your support for the 1.3 million dollars suggested and your staff report and championed by council member Maya Vang and others.

But I also think you should look to the 25 vacant police positions to add any money from those 25 vacant positions to the violence prevention line in the city budget.

I'm also suggesting that community meetings to better explain the grant process for the children's fund occur in District 2, 4, 5, and 6, and 8 to assure nonprofits fully understand the rubric used to score their applications.

Our organization benefited from 25 years of doing this work well.

Having a vision which has allowed us to build sustainable funding this year alone touching 5,000 youth and their families and employing more than 125 young people and mature adults.

And documenting success.

But we also had, and you get this if you remember, the public scrutiny that caused us to have to strengthen our organization fiscal department and provide the necessary documentation, including annual audits, which cost in excess of $45 each year.

For some nonprofits, that $45,000 is nearly half their existing budgets unacceptable.

We have also funded partners and supported them.

Many of them are.

Thank you for your comments.

Your time is complete.

Our next speaker is Omar Turner, then Brenda Yvonne.

Thank you for your comments.

Your time is complete.

Thank you for your comments.

Please take your seat.

Your time is complete.

Our next speaker is Omar Turner, then Brenda Yvonne.

Unfortunately, we can't do that.

Everyone needs to be treated equally.

Thank you for your comments.

Please take your seat.

Thank you so much for your comments and all that you do for our community.

We do have two minutes per person.

Thank you so much.

Our next speaker is Omar.

Good evening, Council.

I'm Ed Kassmerich, the Executive Director of Campus Life Connection.

We appreciate being considered and asking you to consider full funding.

We do work with youth.

We've talked tonight about youth violence, and we've talked about youth mental health.

That's where we focus.

I want to let Coach Omar Turner share some more.

Just sat down with a young man that came through our program, and he's right now in the process

of becoming a therapist.

He has his master's school in social work, and he's going to be one of the ones that's

going to be helping us with our program.

And we think that we're going to touch a lot of young people, their mental health, helping

them with their education, staying away from gun violence, all of those things because

of the program that we have.

And we've been doing it close to 30 years and seeing a lot of positive outcomes from it.

And we just want to, again, say thank you, and hopefully you guys will give us the maximum

amount.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Brenda Yvonne, then Christine Smith.

Hi, good evening.

Hello, Mayor and City Council members.

My name is Brenda Scioli, and I am the Youth Wellness Manager at La Familia Counseling Center,

and I'm joined by Yvonne Collin-Smith, who is our Program Manager for our Birth and Beyond

program.

On behalf of La Familia Counseling Center and Rachel Rios, we would like to extend our sincerest

gratitude for recommending us for funding for our AIM High program, which is a vital resources

for children ages 0 to 5 and their families in Sacramento.

The first five years are critical, not just for a child's development, but for the well-being

of the whole entire family.

AIM High is built on the belief that children and families deserve support every step of the

way, helping them navigate each milestone with confidence, care, and connection.

Your support strengthens our mission and reflects a meaningful investment in our youth.

We're excited to move forward together in creating a lasting impact for families across

our community.

So thank you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for your comments.

Christine Smith, then Christy Gray, then Ashley Powers-Clark, then Mercedes Parker.

Good evening, Vice Mayor and Council Members.

Christine Smith with Sacramento County Office of Education, and I'm here tonight to thank

you for considering approval of staff's recommendation to fund Books for Brighter Futures, which will

expand the Dolly Parton Imagination Library within the city.

The Imagination Library provides books delivered directly to children's home monthly from the

time they enroll until their fifth birthday, and additionally will provide literacy workshops

for families and connections to resources through Help Me Grow.

This investment by the city is matched 100% by SCOE and will boost access to literacy across

the city.

We at SCOE, along with our partners United Way, who serve as the 501c3, appreciate your consideration

and support of our proposal.

In addition to showing our appreciation, I do want to also acknowledge that there is

a need for continued investments, as you are doing here tonight, in early learning and in

our youth by the city.

It is essential to continue the excellent work by those in this room and out in the community,

so please continue investing in our future and our youth.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Christy Gray.

Hi, Christy Gray, Deputy Program Officer of the Sacramento LGBT Community Center.

I have been there for three years, and I'm coming as an administrator supporting the team

that supports the youth, but also as a mother.

I see my team and myself see the folks that come in in desperate crisis, and this program

will not only support continued mental health services at the center, but also we will be

providing an opportunity to train future clinicians for mental health.

So I'm here to ask and thank you for the support of the community, but also to ask for you to

vote for option one.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for your comments.

Ashley?

Good evening, City Council.

My name is Ashley Powers Clark.

I'm the Homeless Education Services Coordinator for the Sacramento City Unified School District.

And I'm here to just thank you for ranking our proposal so high.

We scored the second highest out of all of the applications.

And the reason why that happened is because the work that we are proposing to do is completely

aligned with the values of the city.

This work is going to fund youth leadership to help prevent homelessness at two specific

school sites, that being Luther Burbank and Hiram Johnson.

I believe there's no place better to invest if you want to prevent youth homelessness than

working within the schools.

I know there are some concerns about public agencies funding public agencies.

And I will say that the first phase of our project is empowering young people on the ground

who have had experiences with homelessness to make their schools safe to come out and identify

as unaccompanied and get the support you need.

And I'll tell you as a social worker that has a lot of experience on the ground working

with this, there's nothing worse than being at school on a Friday night at 5 o'clock

and having a family walk into your office and having absolutely nowhere for them to go.

This is why we need strategic and cross-sector involved investments in this work.

And that's exactly what our proposal plans to do.

So you can hold us accountable for that.

You can expect results from us.

I'll say since taking over the program and since our investments in COVID, the Sacramento

City Unified School District has stepped up their investment because of the advocacy that

we've seen from our young people and the advocates that we've built in the community.

So you can hold the district accountable for holding the line on their own investments.

And you can trust that you'll be hearing from our young people here and at those board meetings.

So thank you so much for your consideration.

Thank you for your comments.

Mercedes Parker, then Malachi Chaney-McLean.

Good evening, Mercedes.

Resident of District 4.

I'm here representing California Youth Connection.

We are a youth-led organization that serves current and former foster youth advocating for policy

and practice and legislative change.

Very huge supporters of the Children's Fund as well as the Guaranteed Income Program.

I'm here today to stand in solidarity with the SAC LGBT Center.

And when we reflect on the original purpose of the Children's Fund and the issues that it was intended to address,

homelessness, mental health, violence prevention, substance abuse prevention, queer youth are at the intersection of that.

And of course, are overrepresented when we talk about homelessness, when we talk about foster youth issues.

So I just want to make sure that we are prioritizing them and that I also want to support previous comments

that suggested that we look into the overspending that's occurring in financial mismanagement happening within the SAC City Police Department

to secure additional funding to make sure that we are doing right by our children.

I also just want to add that in the next RFA process, I also agree with previous commenters that we look into making sure

that that is an equitable process in supporting nonprofits and meeting the requirements to support a successful application.

That's it. Thank you so much.

Thanks for your comments.

Malachi Chaney-McClain, then Keon Bliss.

Malachi, then Keon Bliss, then D'Angelo Mack.

Good evening. My name is Malachi LeSean-McClain.

I wanted to stand in solidarity with the LGBTQ community,

as well as with former foster youth and current foster youth.

I have an older brother.

I do hold that identity with me in every room that I walk in.

And I am also a transmasculine individual.

I use he, him pronouns.

And 30% of former foster youth identify as LGBTQ.

This statistic is quite high compared to other communities.

And I just want to make sure that this funding is placed towards communities of care,

communities that have not turned their back on former foster youth.

We just got AB 562 to get past kinship care practices.

And with that, we're seeing that kinship looks different for everyone.

It's not just one individual family plan.

And I just want to emphasize that,

that our community is vast and very diverse,

and it does not look the same in every setting.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Next speaker is Keon Bliss, then D'Angelo Mack, then Kenneth Duncan.

There's really not much I can say better than the youth organizers

and young folks in this community that have been coming up to you

demanding the resources that is rightfully theirs.

But I can point to you the fact that you have a fiduciary duty

to actually manage our budget responsibly,

and this council tonight is leaving no less than $9 million sitting on the table

because you're too afraid to cut police department vacancies.

I mean, we listened.

Besides just the scandals that have been popping up in the Sacramento Bee and other media,

we listened on May 20th to the chief of police

and the Sacramento police officer's president lie through their teeth at you

to claim that their vacancies aren't actually real,

that those are filled positions that they will have to lay off or cut

if you dare consider addressing those.

And even by their own best measurements,

by the true vacancies that they just magically made up,

that's at least $11 million that you could be contributing to youth services right here.

Public safety, the police and fire department alone,

make up no less than 66% of our discretionary dollars.

That's in the general fund.

And none of you are considering even cutting that?

They're getting $254 million this year.

There are at least 107 vacancies that have been vacant for more than six months

and at least 35 vacancies that have been vacant for over two years.

And you're too chicken shit to cut those positions?

You've got to be kidding me.

There's a reason for this for those of us that pay attention,

and I'll get to that here.

Thank you for your comments.

Your time is complete.

Our next speaker is D'Angelo Mack.

Your time is complete.

Keon Bliss, you've exceeded your speaking time.

Please stop speaking and take your seat.

By continuing to speak, you're disrupting the orderly conduct of the meeting.

You're in violation of Chapter 5 of the City Council Rules of Procedure.

You do not stop.

You'll be ordered to leave the meeting.

Our next speaker is D'Angelo Mack.

I like this going good today.

I like it.

Good evening, y'all.

This is the first time I've been in front of a new guard.

So I'm D'Angelo Mack, resident of District 7.

I used to be the director of the First Response Transformation Campaign,

which saved cities millions in public safety.

I actually helped frame the actual public safety resolution,

one of the original framers.

And I started the very first hospital-based violence intervention program here in the city.

So in regard to beliefs and money, we're just not brave anymore.

I know you're afraid because you're fearful people.

Some of you weren't brave kids, so there was no way you'd be brave adults.

For those of you who consider yourself brave kids,

I want you to think about why you were brave then.

Bravery usually rises when bigger, more boisterous obstacles present itself

as a challenge to those who are simply looking for a peaceful and safe existence.

For those of you who were brave kids,

you may remember bravery wasn't a thought, it was a reaction.

Before your mind could really process, your bodies were already set in motion.

You had no clue what the outcome of this motion would garner.

You just knew you had to do something differently.

Fear causes you to make the same mistakes every time these obstacles come your way.

We've done this before, and we are where we are because of that.

It's funny, we fill these chambers and pour our hearts out

when most of the time your minds are already made up.

But take just a moment and ask yourself,

am I making my decision today based on cowering under the shadow

of a bigger, more boisterous obstacle present?

Or will I remember the kid or somebody's kid

and choose to react with brave?

Thank you for your comments.

Your time is complete.

Our next speaker is Kenneth Duncan, then Aki.

Kenneth, then Aki.

How you doing, council?

I stand before you with my daughters.

Hopefully we'll be future leaders here in this city.

Hello, Renee.

Rick Jennings.

Phil, we met earlier this week.

I stand to represent Marina Vista, CV Circle,

the forgotten community here in Sacramento.

We're an active nonprofit there in the projects.

Let's just be real.

What it is, it's the projects.

I've been there on the shoulders of Mr. Roberts,

who actually gave me the grace to come into the community

as a young college student.

I've been there for almost 12 years now.

I asked to be considered for the Measure L.

Like Mr. Roberts said,

we would like to be explaining these processes a little better.

We weren't in the top 10 scores, but we're doing the work.

We're in the community three to four times a week.

Just this last two weeks, I had two kids shot.

And then last year, at least three.

So it's getting to a point I can't even keep count

of how many youth were losing and being wounded

to gun violence and senseless gang violence.

But we're more so a prevention program.

We're working with the babies from first grade

all the way to 12th grade.

And then we get called and, you know,

ask for favors to do more things in CB Circle

after a baby is killed.

But we're doing the work when babies are living and thriving.

We got kids in college who get overlooked

because they're not the kids being killed.

I got kids at HBCUs who are in Ball Out Academy.

They're in Black Boys Build.

And they're in these prevention programs

that need support from the city.

So I stand before you asking for you all

to support our organization

and think about the babies my daughter's age

who are walking around CB Circle with no support.

It's walking distance.

It's walking distance from here.

Thank you for your comments.

Your time is complete.

Thank you for your comments.

Your time is complete.

Our next speaker is Aki, then Lambert.

Next speaker is Aki, then Lambert.

I do want to remind members of the public

you have two minutes to address the council

and the timer is on the screen behind me.

Yes.

Please proceed.

So good evening, everyone.

My name is Aki Ramirez.

I am representing CYC,

but right now I am representing LGBT Youth Center.

I am a youth, actually.

I'm 16 years old,

and I come from Elk Grove to use this space.

And for me to be in there

and seeing the budget cuts,

I mean, it's frightening

because I don't know where would I go.

I mean, I use therapy for that.

I have mental health.

And for me, as a queer person,

I'm gender fluid.

And while it's frightening to see

that they're getting rid of some things,

sections are cutting off,

and while for me, I mean,

at times, okay,

at times I feel like hopeless,

and while sometimes I just feel

I want to kill myself, suicide.

And while the thing is,

that place gives me hope and joy,

and while it's wonderful to be there.

And while I choose the section one,

I choose the first person who spoke here

because it's hard to be by myself.

That community is my family.

I am in foster care right now.

I'm by myself.

But that place is hope for me to be living.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Our next speaker is Lambert,

then Mack Worthy,

then Jaash Roussel,

then Kaylee Tran.

I'm hoping that the Sacramento Bee,

the Sacramento News and Review,

and the Sacramento Observer

needs to step it up, too.

Now, the Grant High School Pacers football team

won the state championship,

and when they came into these chambers,

I was here.

And what did I tell them?

When you finish taking your photo out,

you let me step in there.

And what did I ask for?

For those of you who don't know

what it's like to win it all,

to the victor go the spoils.

The kings know nothing about winning it all,

neither does the Sacramento Republic.

No, no, it has nothing to do with mockery.

We're talking about winning it all.

And these are teenagers.

What did I say?

What did I say when I came up here?

You should be paying attention, coach.

You should be helping with this.

For instance,

when you win it all,

you should have a parade.

The city of Sacramento

never gave these teenagers a parade.

They never did give them any tickets

to go see the kings play.

They never did give them banquets.

They never gave them anything.

And by the way,

some of them graduated last week.

So they'll never have a parade

because they've gone on.

And this $17 million,

a lot of it comes from cannabis.

This type of money

should be coming to Del Paso Heights

because of what they're doing for this city.

They're making this city look great.

And you mean to tell me

you can't find money

to give these teenagers

what I just stated?

I was here

when you were doing your photo ops.

And I said,

what about job applications?

They still...

Thank you for your comments.

Our next speaker is Mack Worthy.

Then Josh Rosal.

We can't hear her while now.

Money for youth.

You know,

I live here a long time.

All is theater today.

And you give two minutes about youth.

You know,

I got something

happening at my house.

Guns.

I can't get the report.

I'll get it in front of you

before I want to go

to the FBI, John.

But you got corruption

in your law enforcement.

Very serious corruption.

You got some of the best

that I've met

in your law enforcement.

It's sad, people,

to have the corruption

that you have here

and nobody

address this corruption.

It's sad

that you can't get

a report back

for four to six weeks

from the police department.

Now,

that's a camera

and I...

in that camera.

You could have people

sit down

and get that out.

But you rely on

a lot of bullshit

when you should be...

Theater,

you use today.

Why do you use

that theater tonight

to help people

with their babies?

It's because

of your egressive.

No leadership.

No management.

Some people here

should be in jail

here making decisions.

The corruption.

Why is the corruption

there and you accept it?

Why are people

getting awards

with the corruption here?

Because we don't have

the people in the city

the neighborhood

can stand up

because they are

on a little grant

here.

And go back,

I told your previous mayor,

you cannot make it

off grants and bonds.

You gotta invest.

You don't have

the wealth in this town

that pushes

the investments

that can come here.

People are pulled here

and they'll do anything

for a dollar.

Next speaker is

Juash and Kaylee Tran.

Good evening,

mayor and council members.

My name is Joshua Saul

and I reside

in District 8.

I'm 18 years old

and I'm here

as a youth advocate

representing

the Reclamation Project

at 916.

That is a 100%

youth-ran grassroot

social justice organization

dedicated to supporting

the marginalized communities

within Sacramento County

and throughout

the state of California.

Now I'm here today

to remind us

who this fund is for

and to think of

what support of this fund

means long term.

As someone who works closely

with our most vulnerable community,

these being my friends,

family, neighbors,

I'm grateful that efforts

are being made

through this budget

to support our youth,

but these efforts

can only continue

with the full support

of this fund

as building up our youth,

our future community leaders,

is something that can only happen

with time and attention.

Now we need to focus

on making sure this fund

is one that truly invests

in the future of our community,

not just one-time solutions.

We need to make sure

that it is with the city's

full intention

that the goals put in place

through this budget

are with our youth in mind.

The city has a duty

to invest in preventative

rather than reactive actions.

We must focus

on ensuring the future

of our youth,

the ones who will be

inheriting this community

and who will tend to it.

If we do not plan

for long-term investment now,

future generations

will be left to correct

the consequences

with no foundation

to build off of to do so.

Our young people

are our future

and our present.

How we respond today

will define how safe,

equitable,

and livable our city is

for decades to come.

Please ensure

the general fund

includes equitable

youth investments

and prioritizes

youth violence prevention,

mental health,

and homelessness prevention.

I thank you

for your time and leadership.

I believe we can make

lasting progress

with thoughtful,

forward-looking investments.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Kaylee Tran,

then Cao Yee Tao.

Good evening,

Mayor and Council members.

My name is Kaylee Tran

and I'm an incoming senior

at Sheldon High School.

I was born and raised

in Sacramento.

As a resident

who is part

of the developing generation

that will be responsible

for Sacramento

in only a few decades,

I'm here today

to urge us all

to think about

the long-term impact

of this budget.

I appreciated seeing

the Council's support

and facilitation

of our growth

by restoring violence

prevention funding

and protecting city roles

that support equity

and inclusion.

It gives youth,

like myself,

reason to become better people

and build a better future.

We can't just focus

on one-time solutions.

Without support systems

and available resources,

many are left

with no choice

but to rely on crime

and violence

to make it out

of their unfortunate situation.

These are preventative

and cost-effective solutions

that provide a restorative path

for youth to thrive

and become the productive citizens

of Sacramento that we need.

If we continue

to prioritize short-term fixes

and reactive spending,

future generations

will inherit the consequences,

both fiscal and social.

They'll have to redo the work

this Council failed to do.

Is that the legacy

that this Council wants to leave?

This budget deficit

is not just a financial issue.

It's a moral one.

Please ensure

the general fund

includes equitable youth investments

and prioritizes

youth violence prevention.

Thank you for your time

and leadership.

Thank you.

Good evening,

Mayor and Council.

Listen to our youth.

Listen to our youth.

Yeah, that's right.

Earlier,

we talked about Pride Month

and Gun Violence Awareness Month.

So I know that this Council

supports these things,

but show us

in your investments.

Don't just say

that you care

about youth and families.

Show us

in the budget.

The reality is that

if you wanted to,

you could actually fund

all of these youth programs.

All of them.

All of them.

Measure L

was never enough.

And I can't imagine

if we didn't have Measure L

what baseline

we would even have.

Measure L

is not enough.

It is less than

one percent

of our budget.

That's right.

So you all talk about

supporting our youth

and families,

but instead of

investing in our youth,

you are increasing

the police budget

while making significant

cuts to youth parks

and community enrichment.

Two programs

are actually employing

our young people,

preventing crime,

and making our neighborhoods

beautiful and safer.

Investment in prevention

saves us money,

and it is fiscal responsibility.

I am disappointed

that this council

did not explore

all options

when only one council member,

Council Member Vang,

dared to evaluate

reallocating police vacancies,

and we know

that there are inefficiencies

and mismanagement

of those overtime funds.

It shouldn't take courage

to evaluate

all options on the table.

This is the minimum,

the minimum of your job

as a policymaker.

So please be a responsible

policymaker.

And that means

being transparent.

We've been waiting weeks

for you all to consider

these two scenarios.

So if there is something else

that's floating around

that we, the public,

have not been aware of,

that is a breach

of community trust.

Fund all of that.

Thank you for your comments.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Sandra Vang,

then Marbella Sala,

then April Javist.

Good evening, Mayor McCarty

and council members.

My name is Sandra Vang,

and I am a youth organizer

with Long Intervaling Politics.

I am from District 8.

I want to take a moment

to express gratitude

towards the organizers

behind the Sacramento Children's Fund

and our commissioners

for holding down the work.

They truly have the youth's

best interests in mind.

At times when things feel uncertain

at a federal level,

it's even more critical

that we protect our local investments

in youth people,

or young people.

These funds are created

with a purpose,

and using these funds

as a replacement

not only breaks trust,

but also puts our future

at jeopardy.

Aside from the two scenarios

that was presented

a few weeks ago,

there has been news

that there's a third scenario

floating around right now,

and it's really important

that if that's occurring

that we're transparent

and staying true

to the SIP still.

Please do not further delay

getting funds out

to our community.

Thank you for your time

and happy pride.

Thank you for your comments.

Marbella, then April.

Good evening.

I just realized

that when I come up here,

I don't introduce myself.

I'm Marbella,

and I'm the Measure U

Commissioner for District 3

and also President

of our Land Northgate

Neighborhood Association.

I'm here just to reiterate

what I said last time

a couple weeks ago,

but I also want to just commend

Darrell Roberts

for acknowledging the fact

that he ranked number one

because he had the infrastructure

to complete that application.

He had the wherewithal to do it,

and he also acknowledged

that smaller community-based organizations

that are doing difficult work,

that are doing the work

in the community,

didn't have the infrastructure

to respond to an application

that was designed.

I don't know if it was consultant

or whoever.

The application was designed

as a barrier

to those smaller community organizations,

and I hope as you deliberate,

you take that into consideration

and make some modifications.

And my last point,

it still is a shame

that we read the land acknowledgement

of the importance

of being on Native American land,

yet not one Native American

community-based youth organization

is receiving this money,

and that's a shame.

That's it.

Thank you.

Next speaker is April Javist,

then Maximilian Rosa.

Hi there.

My name is April Javist.

I'm with the Sacramento Literacy Foundation.

I want to thank the staff

and the supervisors

for allocating funds

to our organization

to our culturally relevant book giveaway

for patients zero to five

at WellSpace in scenario one.

WellSpace primarily serves

low-income, undocumented,

and homeless patients,

which is why we're working with them.

Research shows that reading

is correlated with nearly every positive

and negative life outcome,

including mental health,

health, employment, and incarceration.

I know all things

that people here are concerned about.

Research also shows

that books in the home

is as important

to a child's college trajectory

as their parents' education

and job attainment level.

So right now,

more kids cannot read

at grade level than can in Sacramento.

Council Member Vang,

I would like to thank you

for your leadership on this initiative.

I really appreciated the words

you had two weeks ago.

Very clear, very understandable.

Mayor and Council,

thank you for your partnership

in getting kids ready to read,

and I look forward

to working with you over the years.

Thank you for your comments.

Maximilian Rosa,

then Nadia Nazi.

I have 10 more speakers.

Good evening, Mayor and Council Members.

I know many of you

through the work I do in the community.

I'm the Director of Sustainability

for Sierra Service Project,

the CEO for Shroom House Mycology.

We're opening up a mushroom farm

in Rogers District,

also my neighborhood

where I grew up in Del Paso Heights,

and I'm one of the Measure U

community advisory commissioners as well.

I had some remarks prepared,

but I'm going to speak

from the heart tonight

because I'm feeling very motivated

by some of the youth

who commented earlier.

We are being recommended

for funding,

and we're very grateful for that.

Also, the scale of funding available

is very minimal.

I've spent a lot of my career

grant writing to fund the work

in my community

that needs to be done

because a lot of opportunities

just don't exist

for us in North Sac, South Sac,

and many communities

across the city.

The scale of work

that needs to be done

to address issues of youth,

which I've spent my career

focused on

because as a youth,

many of those programs

did not exist

except for Darrell Roberts

in the Roberts Family Community Center

who's been around forever.

So much appreciation

to the work they do,

the work they do at CFF.

That was one of my first jobs

out of college.

And I'm here to say

that there is a lot of collaboration

that could be encouraged.

I wrote our grant,

and we scored

one of the highest scores.

I'd be happy

to provide technical assistance,

workshops,

host them at my office

so folks can have

enough time

and opportunity

and figure out

how to craft

a compelling

and strong narrative.

That will still not address

the issue

of there not being

enough funding

for everybody.

I say this

as somebody who asked

for the absolute maximum

that I'd be willing

to sacrifice

some of our money

to make sure

some of these other organizations

can get funding as well.

And the last point

that I need to make

to the young lady

who said she considered suicide

is that we love you

and we are...

Thank you for your comments.

Nadia.

Nadia.

Nadia,

then Heather Haight.

Good afternoon.

I'm Amy McCarty

and City Council Members.

My name is Nadia Niazi

and I currently serve

as the Vice Chair

of Sacramento County's

Juvenile Justice Commission.

I've also been a proud

resident of District 7

for over 30 years.

I've spent much

of my life working

to support young people

in our community,

particularly those facing

the most difficult

and vulnerable circumstances.

In my role,

I work closely with youth,

navigating conflict challenges,

aging out of the foster care,

re-entering society

after involvement

with the justice system,

or struggling

to find stability

with family

or community support.

These young people

aged 16 to 24

are often the most at risk,

including LGBT youth,

youth of color,

and those with histories

of trauma and disconnection.

Without meaningful intervention,

too many of them

will fall into cycles

of homelessness,

incarceration,

and unemployment.

To address this,

I founded Fitra

seven years ago,

a nonprofit based

in Sacramento

that provides paid job training,

life skills,

development,

and long-term mentorship.

Fitra is one of the most innovative,

impactful programs

we have in Sac County.

What makes us different

is our approach.

We don't focus

on managing problems

through mediation

or crisis response.

We help youth

become their own solution.

We proposed expansion,

including critical education

on issues

that includes their life,

including drug

and gun violence prevention workshops.

Despite our proven track record

and deep community roots,

I was disappointed to see

that Fitra was not included

on either of the funding scenarios

presented to the City Council.

I respectfully urge

the City Council

to revisit the allocation

of Measure L funds.

Even partial support

will allow us

to continue delivering

hands-on training,

structure,

and mentorship

to youth

who are too often

left behind.

Due to the recent

federal funding cuts,

we are at risk

of losing essential resources

to keep our program running.

This is a critical moment,

not just for our organization,

but for the youth

who rely on us

to help them navigate

a way from us.

Thank you for your comments.

Our next speaker is Heather Haight,

then Michael Melton.

Good evening,

Mayor and Council members.

My name is Heather Haight,

the Executive Director

of the Greenhouse

in District 3.

I'd like to speak

to both the budget

and to Measure L.

I want to thank you

for the great questions

that you asked last meeting

about Measure L

and the work that you've done

since in response.

One thing I've been thinking

about since the last council

that stuck with me

is that there were

no native and indigenous CBOs

or efforts on Scenario 1 or 2.

There are many tribes

that we acknowledge

at the beginning

of each city meeting

to express gratitude

and honor

to the many tribes

who have stewarded the lands

that we live on

for generations

upon generations

and to put this gratitude

into action

to reciprocate

in some ways.

I would ask the council

to prioritize funding

these CBOs

in our budget

and in Measure L's distribution.

And I also appreciated

the comment made

by Julie Roten

from Stanford Settlement

who observed

that 85% of applicants

for Measure L

were CBOs

and agree that it makes sense

to offer 85%

of the funding

accordingly

to the most vulnerable

and marginalized youth

in our community

along those lines.

and finally,

it has already been raised

by many on the council

and our youth here

that the youth

are the future

who are going to be sitting here

on the dais

in the future.

And so,

I would ask

that the budget

reflects this critical investment

in our youth

in the future.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Michael Melton

and Amber Scott.

How y'all doing?

I'm Michael Melton,

the rapper named Red Boy.

Off top,

I want to say

it's crazy

that y'all thinking

about giving the police

the drug money,

you know,

after years

of arresting people

for selling drugs

and then turn around

and want to give them

the drug money.

Y'all need to give that

to the youth.

Okay.

It's either you give it

to the youth programs

or the youth

is going to be programming

in juvenile hall,

jail,

or prison,

or dead.

You know,

the Robinson Center

changed my life

for the better,

you know.

I worked there

when I was young.

That was my first job.

You know,

amongst others,

Darrell Roberts

is a great mentor.

And, you know what I mean,

his after-school programs

was real good.

It was tutors there.

It was help.

You know,

if you played basketball,

you know,

a lot of people

grew up, you know,

stayed out of trouble.

A lot of,

I put my sons there.

They played basketball there.

St. Paul,

we played basketball there.

That was a good place.

And then moved

to Del Paso Heights

and it's still a great place.

And I want to just let y'all

know that y'all need

to put the funding

to the youth,

you know,

because without giving it

to the youth,

it's like out of time

is a devil's playground.

You know what I'm talking

about?

That's where all this

violence is going on.

We don't want to fund

the police

to put our kids in jail.

We want to fund programs

to keep our children

out of jail.

We want to,

we want to,

we need wood chops.

We need metal programs.

We need all kinds

of different things

because what if California

separates from everybody?

It looks like we might,

we might even separate

from Trump.

From,

from,

what if we become

our own country?

We need to train

our children up right.

They are the future.

We need to,

we need more programs

to stop the violence

and,

and,

and to help the youth.

That's,

that's all I'd like to say.

Thank you guys very much.

Give your comments.

Amber Scott.

Following Amber is

Abu Sai.

Amber.

Amber.

Amber.

I have six.

So,

following Amber

is Abu Sai.

Oh,

I thought you said

Amber stopped.

Pardon me?

I thought you said

Amber stopped.

I did.

Please proceed.

Great.

Food Literacy Center

started right here

in Sacramento

at a school

in Oak Park.

As the founder

and CEO,

I am excited

to announce

that this year

we reached 23 schools

just 14 years later

and the Sacramento

Children's Fund

grant offers us

the opportunity

to make significant

progress on our goal

to expand.

Over the course

of the grant,

we plan to double

our reach

and our nonprofit

is significantly

poised for growth.

We are currently

the most requested

after school program

in Sac City Unified

and we serve all

of the schools

in Roble Unified

and we have

a wait list

of schools

that are interested

in our program

across the city.

Demand for our program

is high

because it works

and kids love it.

In a community

with a 40%

childhood obesity rate

which primarily strikes

children who don't

have enough to eat,

our program

offers a food justice

solution

that builds both

healthy habits

and resilience.

Our solution

to this problem

received a high score

because we have

years of successful

program delivery

under our belt.

Our program works.

94% of our students

fearlessly taste

a new fruit

or vegetable

every week

in our hands-on

cooking and nutrition

program.

Kids tell us

that the favorite

part of our program

is getting to try

new foods.

In the most recent

school year,

we reached

Sacramento students

in districts

1, 2, 4, 5,

6, and 8.

We're eager

to do even more

at a time

when the need

for our programs

is at an all-time high.

So thank you

for your consideration

of the Sacramento

Children's Fund.

Thank you for your

comments.

Ayub and then

Lauren Puello.

Good evening

to the Vice Mayor

and all Council members.

I'm here to represent

FITRA.

FITRA.

I'm a volunteer

there.

And pretty much

we're a non-profit

organization that

helps youth

who are coming

out of detention

centers or juvenile

to stay out of

homelessness.

And we give them

paid jobs

and show them

how to get

a paid job

and keep it.

We lost our

funding due to

their federal

funding cuts.

and right now

we're having

a hard time

staying open.

Any funding

would be appreciated.

We didn't make it

to scenario one

or two.

It's really hard

right now

with the way

things are.

We don't have

an AC system

in our warehouse.

So that's kind

of hurting

the youth

in the summer.

but as of

right now

any funding

would be great.

I'm here to

ask any of

the vice

I'm here to

ask the vice

mayor, mayor

or any of the

council members

for help

and it would

be muchly

appreciated.

Thank you.

Thank you for

your comments.

Lauren

Polito

then Barry

Accius.

Good evening

city council

members.

My name is

Lauren Polito

and I'm here

as a lifelong

resident and

member of our

LGBTQ plus

community and

to show strong

support for the

Sacramento LGBT

Community Center

when considering

investments from

this measure and

future budget

allocations.

Thank you to

council member

Vang for

emphasizing the

need to back

resolutions with

meaningful financial

and budget

support and

thank you to

Katie Maple

council member

Maple and

council member

Kaplan for

bringing forward

this resolution

celebrating LGBTQ

Pride Month

and LGBTQ

people.

I don't

believe this

is purely

coincidence that

along with

funding for our

youth we're

hearing on the

same evening as

honoring this

resolution.

As a city that

proudly became

the first to

declare itself as

sanctuary city

for trans

people Sacramento

carries a

responsibility not

just a symbolic

one but tangible

commitments to

safety equity and

support for

LGBTQ youth.

We know the

statistics surrounding

LGBTQ regarding

mental health

suicidality and

about the dangers

our youth face

when they do not

have affirming

spaces but beyond

the numbers are

real people.

Young people a few

from what you

heard tonight who

need our support

now more than

ever.

The Sacramento

LGBT community

center is one of

the only places in

our region where

LGBTQ youth can

access culturally

competent mental

health care affirming

services and

community.

As federal funding

continues to be

stripped away we

need our city to

step in and step

up.

I urge you honor

your sanctuary city

commitment not just

in words but in

action.

Include the LGBT

community center in

our city's budget for

youth mental health

because our youth

can't wait and they

deserve more.

They deserve to

survive and they

deserve to thrive.

Thank you for your

time, your leadership,

your consideration and

hopefully your support

in including the

Sacramento LGBTQ

community center in

investments.

Thank you.

Thank you for your

comments.

I have three more

speakers.

Barry and Kim

Talker, then Alberto

Rigaldo.

Good evening, city

council members.

Barry Axios, voice of

the youth, founder and

CEO.

I stand here more than

frustrated but

disappointed that time

and time again, you

know, we have to fight

for the crumbs of the

city to save our youth.

To continuously have to

go back and forth with

other deserving

organizations that do

the work and to be in

this pit of fire to

figure out who can have

the best narrative on

paper.

But sometimes that

doesn't translate in the

real work on the ground

and on the floor with

people that really do the

work on a day-to-day

basis.

I'd rather get your

funding than get your

recognition.

I don't need awards.

I just need the funding and

the support.

And if individuals are

telling me, because each

one of the districts, I have

youth there that

participate in the Voice

of the Youth program.

Each one of your districts,

I've probably done a vigil

there.

I've supported families.

So I'm being pat on the

shoulder and being told

you're doing a great job.

Thank you for all that

you've done for our youth.

Where does that show in

the funding?

Where does that show in

the support?

We're in June and we're in

the middle of mayhem when

it comes to violence with

our youth.

And we still have no

funding for any

programming.

Bodies upon bodies, vigils

upon vigils.

I could promise that I've

probably been on more

vigils than I've probably

went to graduations.

And I've went to a lot of

graduations.

But the frustration is we

know every year what is

going to happen.

Around April, May, things

start sparking up.

For the simple fact that we

always have to come back to

this table and fight for

funding and we all have to

be pit against each other to

get funding, it's

asinizing, it's diabolical,

it's frustrating, and it's

not fair.

Everyone, and I clearly say

everyone should be funding.

Stop showing us that you do

not care.

Thank you for your

comments.

Your time is complete.

The next speaker is Kim,

then Alberto.

Kim, then Alberto.

Can I go first?

You mind if I go?

Kim?

Is that okay?

That's fine.

Okay.

Thank you.

All right.

My name is Albert Regalado.

I'm the president of Sacramento

United Soccer Club.

We serve over 1,000 kids each

year, kids from all over the

city.

I'm here, first of all, to

thank you for investing in our

youth as they are the key to

our future.

I think we all agree on that.

I'm here to support utilizing

Measure L funds to replace the

all-weather field over at

Granite Regional Park as it will

offer many benefits to the

greater Sacramento community,

youth, and the Sacramento United

Soccer Club in furthering our

mission.

Here's some ways that we foresee

that funding benefiting everyone

relating to everything we've been

hearing about today and

empowering our youth.

Measure L in Sacramento aims to

support programs and services for

children and youth under 25 years

old.

Key goals of Measure L support mental

health and emotional health of

children and youth.

This involves providing mental

health counseling.

We have a mental health resource

page trying to normalize the

discussion and remove stigma.

We believe that participation in

sports like soccer can have

significant positive benefits to

mental health, reducing stress and

anxiety for young people.

We believe that we help to prevent

youth violence through engagement,

discipline, promoting an active

lifestyle.

We provide all these resources

through our programs.

We are educators.

We serve ourselves as educators who

utilize soccer as the tool to better

prepare our youth for the world

ahead.

This field allows us to provide

resources year-round to many low-

income families.

We keep many kids safe and off the

streets.

We do this through our leadership

opportunities and our youth

mentorship programs.

We have work programs for the kids

to get real-life experience and work

experience there.

We work in partnership with the city

utilizing the facility that we may

maintain with pride and we really have

a sense of home there.

So once again, we want to thank you

for the-

Thank you for your comments.

Our next speaker is Kim.

Hi, my name is Kim.

I have two children, both boys, and

they belong to Sacramento United as well.

I wanted to come here tonight to provide you a little bit more of a background to our club.

Statistically, our club is broken down in terms of 63% are minority.

About 49% of the club members are Hispanic and Latinos.

In addition to that, 47% of our members reside in a Title I area.

So in that sense, you can tell that we definitely need your support and your consideration for Measure L for our club.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Weissner, I have no more speakers.

Okay.

Thank you so much.

Well, I punched up to speak, but I'm sitting in the mayor's seat.

So does anybody want to go first or just go for it?

All right.

Cool.

All right.

So I recognize that tonight is a decade in the making.

A lot of ballot initiatives that went through to get us to where we're at today.

And so I just want to thank everybody for coming out two weeks in a row to have this conversation.

To the Sacramento Children's Fund city team, thank you for doing your best to navigate, to be fair, to be transparent,

to not have bias, to just like be a stickler to the charter and what was passed by the voters.

And to the commission where we all selected different commissioners in our community to advocate for these funds.

I just want to make clear that two weeks ago when the scenarios were presented to us, scenario one, two,

and then we had a community member send us scenario three,

the two scenarios that city staff gave us that day were strictly examples of what was possible.

Something for us to react to as mayor and council.

And I just feel like a lot of those scenarios gave organizations the impression that they would be receiving a certain amount of money

and that it was set in stone.

But at that council meeting, we were still having those conversations because it was our first opportunity

to see who applied, what their score was, what their priority was.

And at that time, we didn't have the description of what these programs would do, us as mayor and council,

because there was no summary, which is why I requested for it to be continued so that I can know and understand

what the programs were that were being evaluated.

And today, obviously, there's going to be people that walk away thinking, hey, I lost some money, or hey, I gained some money,

or hey, I just was never even considered because of, you know, the ability to write grants.

And I think that there's no easy scenario that will make everyone here happy or full mayor and council happy.

And each of us has had the ability to ask staff to create, you know, different scenarios based on geography, fund goals, and districts.

And we can do our best to balance the fund goals and districts equitably.

And so this is the question for us today.

I mean, we have the two scenarios.

We can still, or we can create our own tonight of what we would like to see.

And I think that the questions that we ask ourselves is, do we pick one of the fund goals and funnel all the money to that fund goal in this round,

based on the highest scoring applicants?

Do we pick one of the most underserved districts and funnel all the money there for this go-round?

Philosophically, do you choose fewer organizations who get more money or more organizations who get less money?

So instead of the 80%, do you pick 70%, do you pick 60%?

And if you pick 60%, then you're able to, like, fund more nonprofit organizations that applied,

more nonprofit organizations that maybe didn't have the ability to write fancy grants,

which last time we had this conversation, we heard that from everybody here saying, like,

hey, like the people that don't have professional grant writers just didn't score as well as the people that do.

So if we decrease the percentage of our nonprofits of who is getting money from 80% to 70% or 60%,

then it could give the opportunity for some of the lower scoring nonprofits to get some money.

And that's a decision that, you know, we can make here tonight.

Do we give less percentage of the ask or more?

And then some organizations requested the most, you know, some organizations apply for $1.5 million,

while some organizations apply for $300,000.

And then the ones that did score for $1.5, sometimes those are the ones that have more professional grant writers

and are getting more money, and that leaves out the $300,000 grant application of that really tiny, small nonprofit

that, like, did the best to their ability.

And so I think that as we deliberate today, council comments and questions and move forward as a next step,

that's a question for all of us to ask.

Do we go with one of the scenarios staff has already presented?

Or do we say, hey, we want to fund more nonprofits,

and maybe we reduce the percentage of 80% to 70% of what they requested?

And so I do believe that the process can be better.

As mentioned, you know, there's smaller organizations that were left out,

and we can do this again in three years and make some changes and work with the commission to help set these parameters.

You know, there was five categories that we could have chosen from, from zero to five, gun violence,

really learning, you know, in what I think for the next time the commission should focus on, like,

hey, which of the five priorities that people can apply for funds do we want to focus on?

Gun violence today, we passed a resolution on that, so maybe we should have focused more of the monies,

40% of the monies, to gun violence versus only 20% to zero to five.

And so for the future, I think we need to be more thoughtful on this so that everybody kind of understands

the direction of what we're looking for and the values of the city of Sacramento

to be able to just be more fair and transparent in this process.

So that's all my comments for right now.

Councilor Mayor Bank.

Thank you, Vice Mayor Talamontis.

I didn't queue up because we have a proposal in front of us that was given by your staff,

and so I was hoping that you would explain this proposal before I make my comments.

But I'm happy to make my comments, and then if you want to present your proposal,

that would be great just because I want to have a better understanding of it.

Oh, sure.

Yeah, so if you can present that because it was just given to us on the dais so that we can share that with the community,

that would be great.

Okay, cool.

So I worked with Council Member Dickinson on a proposal that allowed for, well, that reduced the community.

So right now the community-based organizations that were listed in scenario one were being funded at 80%.

And so I thought, why not give an opportunity to more organizations and fund them all at 60% instead of the 80%.

And if we did the 60% of the awarded, it allows for three new organizations to also get a bite at the apple,

and maybe more can-

Thanks, Mindy.

If you can pull that up, that'd be great so the public can see it.

Thank you.

Can we get the document camera, please?

Doug, can we have document camera, please?

It's not-

It's not-

It's basically like scenario one, except for we reduced it from 80% of the organizations getting money to 60%,

and that allowed for three new organizations to be eligible.

Go ahead.

Can we have camera approved?

That's okay.

That's it.

That's it?

Okay.

So I'll make my-

Okay, thank you.

Yeah, so yeah, I guess I'll just repeat it.

Okay.

So right now staff has two scenarios, and the first scenario, it's 80% of nonprofits being funded at the level that they were asked.

If we do it 60%, it allows for three more organizations to get a bite of the pie.

Okay.

If that's okay with my council colleagues, great.

They know grassroots.

Oh.

Because we were trying to figure out how to incorporate grassroots into grassroots organizations.

Because last time we had a lot of council colleagues say, hey, we want grassroots organizations to be able to, like, get more funds.

But they got more points through the grant application funding for being grassroots.

Thank you.

I'll-

Yeah, just point of order, Vice Mayor Talamantes, so that you don't have to respond back to the audience.

Because I know this is the debate among the council now, so I just wanted to-

Okay.

So just a few things.

So first, I just want to-

First, let me just-

I just want to say thank you to all the young people and community organization who showed up today.

I am always inspired by our young people because you all give me the courage to do the work that we do every single day.

So I just really want to say that you are all brilliant, intelligent, beyond measures.

And I'm just grateful that you were able to have the ability to show up in this space and share your lived experiences.

I know that this vote was delayed two weeks ago because we wanted to make sure, as mayor and council, if we had more questions, if we wanted other scenarios, what would that look like?

And so I did support the delay of the vote in particular and wanted to be a good team player to ensure that all my colleagues had all the information they had.

And so we are here today.

It is three years since the passing of Measure L.

And I just want to thank the Oversight Commission, all the commissioners that I see in the room today.

Thank you for all your hard work.

And I also just want to take this time to thank Renee, Julie, and Jennifer again for your hard work.

I want to acknowledge that the process isn't perfect.

There are critiques that I have about the process as well.

And I know that there are many lessons learned.

And I'm hoping that we will apply those lessons learned to improve the process.

And I'll provide those comments shortly in terms of how we can improve.

But I really just want to take a moment to say thank you again to the young people who worked really hard because they knocked on doors, campaigned so that we could force this mayor and council to set aside funding for young people.

And as I shared before, many young people who fought for this, fought for the ballot measure and fought for this funding are, many of them are actually no longer youth themselves.