Okay.

Please call the roll.

This meeting is called to order at 5.08 p.m.

Councilmember Kaplan.

Councilmember Dickinson.

Vice Mayor Talamantes.

Councilmember Plucky Baum is expected momentarily.

Councilmember Maple.

I'm here.

Mayor Potem Gana.

Here.

Councilmember Jennings.

Councilmember Vang.

Here.

And Mayor McCarty.

You have a quorum.

Thank you.

Councilmember Vane, can you lead us in the land acknowledgements?

Absolutely.

Please rise if you are able.

To the original people of this land, the Nissanon people, the Southern Maidu Valley and Plains Mewak, Putwin, and Wentu Peoples, and the people of Wilton Racheria, 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 land by choosing to gather today in the active practice of acknowledgement and appreciation for Sacramento's indigenous peoples, history, contributions, and lives.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Please join us in the pledge.

I pledge allegiance to the United States of America.

And the Republic for which it stands.

Mayor, we have three special presentations this evening.

The first is Pride Month, presented by Councilmember Maple.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

So today we are here to celebrate Momentous Occasion.

We did on the first of this month do the Progress Flag raising in front of City Hall.

So, really welcomed everyone and want to thank everyone who participated.

And today we're presenting a resolution in honor of Pride Month on behalf of the mayor and the entire city council of Sacramento.

So Pride Month is a celebration and it's also a reminder of something very fundamental.

Every person deserves to know that they belong in this city.

Do they feel welcome?

Do they feel safe?

Do they feel seen?

And do they know that they are valued exactly as they are?

So our hope, my hope is that every LGBTQ resident, city employee, and young person who still may be figuring out who they are.

May knows that Sacramento is a place where they belong and where they are loved.

And so that's why this matters today, this resolution.

It's a piece of paper, yes, but it also is a signal that the leaders of this community in this city see you and hear you.

And so with that, uh, we have a very special interns and presentation.

I'd like to welcome up the lavender chorus and Jim.

Yes.

I'll say just a couple of words and then do a song.

This is a great privilege.

And if I'm uh correct, you just had your very first concert recently, is that correct?

Congratulations.

This one, yeah.

There you go.

Hello, Sacramento family.

I'm J.R.

Keith, and I'm one of the singing members of the Sacramento Lavender Chorus.

I have been a member of the Sacramento Gaiman's course for many years, and uh I'm also a board member of that same chorus.

Uh, we were able to give some beautiful seed money to uh the Sacramento Lavender Chorus being a part of this chorus.

Um, I got a frog.

Last night we were able to have our first concert, and we were hoping to just have a nice turnout at uh Trinity Cathedral.

Um, the uh music minister had to keep coming in and telling us we need to hold house because there were still people out in the street wanting to buy tickets to get in.

So uh we had to hold the house for about 15 minutes, and it was a full house.

They even had to clear the children's section of the sanctuary to put in more chairs for uh for overflow.

But uh we're the first SATB Soprano Alto Tenor Bass Chorus uh queer course here in um Sacramento.

We are a sibling course of the Sacramento Women's Course and the Sacramento Gaiman's course.

So uh family of Sacramento, um thank you for welcoming us.

And now we're gonna present a song.

Have you ever felt forgotten in the middle of nowhere?

Have you ever felt like you could disappear?

Like you could fall and no one would hear.

So let the lonely feeling wash away.

Maybe there's a reason to believe you'll be okay when you don't feel strong enough to stand.

You can read reach out your hands.

Someone will come running, and I know we'll take you home.

You will be found so that the sun comes strain in as you reach up and you rise again with your hand look around.

You will be home.

If you only say the words, someone will come running, to take you home, someone will come running to take home, even when the thought comes passing through, when you need a friend to carry you, do you want to go to the sun?

All is new, and the I see, you are not home, you are not alone, you are not alone, you are not alone, you know, you are not alone, you are not alone, even with the catch, crashing through, when you need someone to carry you.

Wow.

Thank you so much.

And then just very briefly, we'd like to invite up Jennifer Dolan Wyatt from our city's LGBTQ employee resource group.

And please, if you're a member of the ERG, please come on up as well.

Thank you.

Councilmember Mabel.

Hi, everybody.

Jennifer Donlin Wyatt, public works, but I'm here today in my capacity as a member of one of your employee resource groups, the LGBTQ Plus.

Got some of our folks here today.

We're small but mighty, but we're not this small.

And I wanted to say a few words about what it means to be staff and have this resolution happen with us today.

Oh, Eric, Elena, could you hold that, please?

Thank you.

Um Pride Month is more than a celebration.

It's a reminder of the courage it took and still takes to live openly and authentically.

It honors your LGBTQ family and allies who are here today, who sit up when it wasn't safe, who demanded dignity when it wasn't given, and it paved the way for so many of us today.

But pride is also about the present.

It's about recognizing that we are still not finished.

Our community still faces discrimination, simply for being who they are.

This resolution means a lot to staff because today we're celebrating love.

We're celebrating the power of visibility, the freedom to be seen and to be heard, and we celebrate building a world where everyone belongs.

Pride isn't about being proud of who just being proud of who you are, it's about making sure everyone has the chance to be proud too.

So thank you, Councilmember Maple, Mayor, Council.

We really appreciate this resolution.

Thank you.

And then we have David Heitzman in the audience.

From the LGPTQ Center.

David Heitzmith.

Oh, please.

I'm sorry, my voice got drawn out.

Um, thank you so much for being here.

Thank you very much for the invitation and thank all of you, Council members, mayor, city manager.

It means a great deal to have seen so many of you out at Pride Weekend this past year celebrating joy with us and marching in solidarity with us at the march.

Um, I really appreciate this continued tradition of uh recognizing Pride Month here in the city when so many places and organizations are sort of shirking back from that visibility, and at a time when folks in our community are feeling really scared to live their authentic lives every day just going to school and work and to access healthcare.

So it's really important that um you are all standing in solidarity with us to say that this is a safe place for everyone, and we are gonna continue to work toward a city where all LGBTQ people thrive that is inclusive and safe where everyone feels like they have they belong.

So thank you again very much.

That was so beautiful.

Everybody just a round of applause for them again.

He stole my heart.

Happy Pride Month to everyone and to our LGBTQIA Plus community.

We love you, and the city of Sacramento is here to support you every step of the way.

Thank you.

And then please, please come join us for a photo up front.

The whole team.

Let's all fitness.

You guys can go down.

Yeah, it's a big you have the big group.

So I'm bad.

But like they could, you couldn't worry about performing.

Katie Dub.

Hey.

Always good to see you.

Okay.

They're pretty tight.

All right.

As long as you can see us, we can see you.

All right.

Hello.

One, two, three, happy cry.

She was counting.

Yay.

Okay.

Look at that.

Look at that.

Okay.

Watch one of them fall off.

Yeah.

How are you?

Yay.

We now move to our second special presentation, which was moved from our 2 p.m.

agenda, the 50th anniversary of Green Haven Soccer presented by Councilmember Jennings.

Thank you very much.

I have the opportunity for all those who are out there in Green, called the Green Haven Soccer Club, to celebrate with them their 50th anniversary.

They were founded in 1976 as the Green Haven Soccer Club and started with a program that was relatively small, and the belief that every child deserves the opportunity to play, grow, and belong, belong to something bigger than themselves, regardless of their financial circumstances, with a focus on building community through the sport of soccer.

Green Haven Soccer Club has grown that vision over the years, over the last 50 years to proudly provide high quality soccer experience that officially expanded as a full service club offering options for children of all ages from the age of three to the age of 18.

So I got to tell you a quick story in the middle of this conversation.

I had never coached soccer in my life.

But those kids got out there and they started playing soccer, and I started watching soccer on television, and I learned to coach by watching soccer on television.

And those kids taught me how to get that ball in the net, how to play defense.

So they helped me to become the coach that I am today for all of them on the day.

So the philosophy of the club is that we are one community.

And it's developed a meaningful relationship with many local youth organizations, schools, scout troops, and other sports programs in the Sacramento region to better serve families and strengthen communities.

It also does a lot with community-based organizations, as well as events that take place in the Green Haven area.

Fundraising for the JFK Soccer, the Sacramento Food Bank and Family Pro Services, Easter egg hunt.

They never miss the Easter egg hunt.

Uh at Garsha Bin and Fourth of July parades as well as annual toy drives.

Now, here's a great thing.

They have collected over 9,000 toys over the last eight years, and those toys go out to the communities of need.

That deserves a round of applause.

So one of the things that's really important that for the last 50 years, they've done all the great things of helping the community, offering kids competitive soccer or fun soccer, whatever the case may be, programs that really make a difference in the life of a kid.

But for the last 50 years, they have brought people and soccer and service together, reflecting its devotion to upholding a commitment to community service, outreach, giving back, and creating opportunities for connection.

Beth, where are you?

Stand up if you will.

So Beth, I'd like you to come to the microphone real quick and just introduce some of the leaders of the club.

Come on up.

And all the kids, come on up now.

We're gonna take our picture.

So we'll stand up here.

Yep.

Yeah.

Okay.

You guys call me Councilmember Jenny?

You guys go all the way around because it's like, we got mayor.

Yeah, just something brief.

Thank you so much, Councilmember Jennings and all the city council.

On behalf of the generations of families that have participated in Green Haven Soccer, we can't thank you enough for this honor.

It means the world to us.

As Councilmember Jennings said, our motto is we are one community, and we're looking forward to another 50 years of serving this fabulous city and community.

So cheers to 50 years.

Thank you all.

That's a soccer song.

We are one.

And uh while while you're walking out, I did want to take a moment to embarrass my chief of staff by saying that she indeed deep she played on the Green Haven soccer team between first and twelfth grade.

So that's Katie Hanswick, the soccer fellow alumna of Green Haven Soccer.

I'll take the liberty here.

I just want to thank Beth as well.

Uh my kid got a chance to play at Garsha Bend for the soccer tournament, and you did an amazing job with all those teams that came everywhere from Yolo County to Sacramento here to play.

And uh, but thank you again for all you do to for our soccer community in Sacramento.

So, yeah, big round of applause to Beth, everyone.

So we have one more special presentation, Gun Violence Awareness Month presented by Councilmember Kaplan.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

And you know, sometimes at Council we have presentations that truly uplift our soul and our principles, and just like we did celebrating Pride Month and 50 years of a soccer club, but also sometimes it's about calling attention to the most severe challenges that we face and the importance of coming together to address them, just like um you know, the song we heard, you are not alone.

I I think as we celebrate pride and knowing that the universal language of music and love transcends lifting us up as well as addressing uh tragedy.

June is recognized nationally as gun violence awareness month, a time to honor the lives lost, stand in solidarity with our survivors and grieving families, and renew our collective commitment to building safer communities, which I know all of us want.

Every year, the devastating impact of gun violence tears through communities and families, moms, dads, grandmas, aunts, uncles, friends.

Nobody is left untouched.

It leaves behind grief and trauma and generational harm.

However, in the midst of our darkest tragedies, we can find hope in the best of human spirit and the drive to forge new meaning through striving to mend our broken world around us and the trauma many have experienced.

We have many honored guests here today that I just want to call out for the work that they do day in and day out, the organizations they lead.

They often aren't recognized.

We don't see the work that they do, but they are embodiment of the spirit of we are better as a community together in uplifting.

So thank you.

Leah Shank, who's the founder of Impact, Merv Brookens, brother to brother, Daniel Antonio Silva, self-awareness and recovery, Janine King for Victory Outreach, Devante Clark for I Am Sack Foundation, Paris Dye for Impact Sack, Barry Axius for Voice of Youth, Bill Knowton for Macroad Partnership, Carla Isalt for Gang Awareness and Prevention, Dexter Baker for who's a gang awareness prevention specialist, Luginia Whiteside, helping our people eat, and Sorita Zabala helping our people eat.

Those are just some of the main organizations.

So let's give them a hand for what they do.

Thank you for trying to make Sacramento free from gun violence.

And according to the police department, I think it's important to call out that shooting incidents in Sacramento have fallen from 725 in 22 to 476 in 2025.

And the number of gun violence victims have also fallen in the same period.

So the work that is done on the ground every day sometimes doesn't feel like enough, but it is making an impact.

And progress shows where I'm so proud to serve on a council that invests in youth violence and violence prevention that community violence intervention works.

It reinforces the city partnerships that we have, doing the work on the ground that all of us represent.

But we know we still have much more to do.

We hear of young students losing their lives, we hear of violence on our schools, randomness outside of a club of kids and young adults losing their life.

But here's the thing we must never lose hope and our passion for change, and that's why we must acknowledge that gun violence exists and there is awareness and there's education and getting guns out of the hands of our youth and those that there is a better way, and violence is not the answer.

So if I there's a privilege of a family that I met through tragedy, but have watched their strength of spirit and their hope to keep their son's uh memory alive.

Miss Shelley Tevis, would you come and give a few remarks?

And if I called you out as an organization here to support, would you mind coming up and standing behind Miss Tevis?

Um, I think this is a uh an effort of love.

Hi.

Thank you.

Thank you, everyone for having us here.

Today, my husband and I.

Um, it's today has been 633 days since my son Colby was tragically taken from us.

We watch the news and we learn about another person's life that was taken due to irresponsible, preventable criminal act of violence.

The story may grab your attention for a moment.

You might briefly look at the TV.

And because it's so common and happens daily, most Americans just hear the news and in passing, they begin to get ready for their day.

They shake their head in disbelief, but we're not surprised by what we've heard.

Everyone is assuming someone, anyone, is doing something to stop the gun violence that has gripped our city.

I was one of those Americans.

Until it landed uninvited, unwelcomed on my front doorstep, as if it had a personal VIP invitation into our home, which changed our lives forever.

I'm now a part of the National Gun Violence Memorial website, which was established by just one person in December of 2015.

He wanted to put a face to the people who had lost their lives to senseless gun violence.

To date, there's over 164,000 people listed.

There's an average of 108 people killed a day in the U.S., which includes suicides, homicides, and accidents.

And this site, it gives us a little comfort and a little outlet that we can go to daily to light a virtual candle to honor our loved ones.

This is a small way of keeping Kobe's memory alive.

Kobe has almost 15,000 virtual candles lit.

He's 125 people away from being the top person featured on the website, and we'll we won't stop until we reach the very top because my son's life mattered.

And that's the QR code if you guys want to light a candle for him.

In the days following Kobe's murder, I said, I do not want to be a part of gun violence crusade.

Nor did I want his death to be used as a political cause.

However, I've come to realize that if I'm not a part of the effort, then how can I expect meaningful change to happen in hopes to prevent another mother from experience the unimaginable loss of losing a child to gun violence?

I do not wish this pain on the devil.

Kobe was our only son.

He was our youngest child.

Killed at the age of 22.

It's still unbelievable to us.

Never in my life would I have imagined, and I'm sure none of you as well, that you would lose a child.

And certainly not by gun violence.

As our oldest daughter stated at a candlelight vigil, Kobe was not perfect, but he was perfect to me.

The truth is, Kobe was 22 years old student attending San Jose State University.

He was home for the weekend to celebrate his oldest sister's birthday.

He was majoring in communications and he planned a secure his dream job at ESPN working with film.

He was in his junior year and he was scheduled to graduate in the fall of 2025.

We didn't want Kobe to work, but he had two jobs while he was attending college because he didn't want to ask us for money, but we gave it to him anyways.

Kobe was that person that if he saw someone standing alone, he would approach them and include them and make sure that they joined in.

He was a friend who could be always counted on.

He loved and he accepted everyone.

He was loyal, respectful, and kind, and he loved his family fiercely.

Shortly after his death, there were two scholarships established in his memory to help other students as they pursue a higher education.

Our family will continue to honor Kobe's memory, every opportunity presented to us.

Being here, telling a little about his life and our story is a blessing that we count as an honor.

Receive support and love from our church, our community, and people like council women, Lisa Kaplan, who out of nowhere got sent, and has been fighting on my behalf, unbeknownst to me.

And of course, our former district attorney Maria Wilson, who recently retired, she was handling my son's case.

Whether we want to be or not, we're all impacted, whether we know it or not.

We all have a duty and a responsibility to get involved, find out how we can help.

Change happens when people decide to stand up and get involved and refuse to accept this as normal.

Don't put your head in the sand and think this is someone else's problem.

If you live in Sacramento or surrounding areas and or live in California, guess what?

It's your problem too.

Now whether you plan to do something about it, it's solely up to you.

But from a mom who said she doesn't want anything, any part that has to do with gun violence, and specifically said I do not want my child to be a poster child for bringing awareness or associated with gun violence.

But guess what?

Here I am.

Look at my beautiful baby, he was taken from me from us.

Oh, no way.

It chose me.

But I'm no longer running from what I thought originally destroyed me.

I'm still standing by the grace of God.

So I guess I'm publicly changing my mind and asking, Lisa, how can I help?

Two things I know to be true.

Bad things happen to good people.

And even though I'm sad, and my heart is still shattered in a million pieces, God is still good.

Thank you for your time.

I really do appreciate each and every one of you.

So that's true.

You're gonna squeeze it a little bit on this site.

Thank you so much.

Very good.

Okay, thank you.

Daniel, could you come in a little bit this way?

When are we here?

One, two, three.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next item.

Thank you.

We now move on to a public hearing.

Florin Road quick quack car wash.

Did you ever do it just to make my voice?

Good evening.

Uh mayor and council.

I am Danny Abbas with the community development department.

Um the planner for this item, which is a request to construct and operate a quick quack car wash on Florence Road near Franklin Boulevard.

Uh this request was originally denied by the Planning Design Commission, appealed, and heard by city council on April 28th.

At that meeting, council directed planning staff to return here with findings and conditions for approval.

Uh these can be found in attachment two of the report.

And that concludes staff's presentation.

Mayor, I'll open the public hearing.

Okay, thank you.

I have one speaker on this item, it's Sandra Fritz.

Everyone, hired by a don't we?

Great.

I'm a resident of Thacamola County.

I've been here since my son was a baby.

He's 19 years old almost.

I'm calling behalf of I live in Oak Park.

And there's been issues in Oak Park resident area that has that address, is that in there?

I've been calling and calling and calling about so much stuff happening.

It's is to the point that my kids want to move out of the city, out of the city.

And I got a grown daughter right here.

She's 26th one in school, and she does not like her area she's in.

Because the area is to the point that's like to me garbage.

Okay, everybody, uh I can um have a pause for a moment.

We're talking about floor and road quick quack car washes at the top.

Oh no, I'm gonna be waiting.

I don't know who that is.

You're not talking about the car wash.

No, okay, I'll put you.

We'll come back to you for matters on the agenda.

Thank you.

And mayor, I have no more speakers.

Okay.

Exactly.

Thank you.

Oh, close the public hearing and move the item.

Yes.

Thank you.

We have a motion by Councilmember Cat Maple as second by Councilmember Kaplan.

The public hearing has been opened and closed.

Okay.

There we go.

All is in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any no's or abstentions?

Hearing none, item passes nine zero.

We now move to council comments, ideas, questions, and eighty one two three reports.

Start with.

Vice Mayor?

Is that you?

No.

Nobody.

None?

Okay.

Public comment.

So I have 13 speaker slips for public comment management on the agenda.

The first is Michael Harris.

Um Habik Ahmad.

Barbara Boyce.

Tim Poole.

Marvel Wilson Jr.

Michael.

Grandpa said get old, but don't get old.

I done done both.

Yeah, I I.

Jimmy Tavis at Tevis of Tevis family.

I grew up with them and just amazing people in.

That's just heavy, heavy, heavy on my.

I ain't seen Jimmy in probably 10 years.

And to see him like this today is like.

Okay, so I'm here to thank y'all.

For getting it crossed the finish line, Juneteenth.

It's a hundred and sixty years, sixty-one years, and most of y'all know uh city attorney Martinez, I don't know you.

I know everybody.

Yeah, I know everybody also.

Most of y'all know me.

I'm born and raised here.

And uh I call myself now the Black Son of the West, because what there's like history is what I do.

And uh city manager, I've I've never formally met you.

Look forward to having a conversation.

But but the idea that the people that fought, bled and died for freedom, particularly the 1,918 that left California, went back, never been honored.

The people that left here singing, they like the choir was singing, they were like, oh my Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord.

Because they had to go fight that night, and half of them didn't get back.

So I I don't know, somebody gonna take the flag, and next year we're gonna do a formal flag raising ceremony with the city, and uh uh I I'm not gonna single one person out, but last year one of y'all uh had tents and everything at the state capitol.

We'll do that again.

But the idea we can have the biggest Juneteenth uh in Northern California here in front of the Capitol on the mall in in a good thank you for your comments.

Your time is complete.

Um Hybeck, Ahmad, and Barbara Boyce.

Um please let me know when to start.

Okay.

Good evening.

My name is Hiba Ahmed.

I'm advocate with the Borgan Project, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing global poverty through advocacy.

Can I pause you for a moment?

Will you move the microphones down?

Really hard to hear you and speak right now.

Okay, thank you.

Um I'm here today to urge the Sacramento City Council to support efforts to protect the international affairs budget and to support humanitarian aid reauthorization legislation, including the Global Fragility Reauthorization Act and the Global Tribe Thrive Reauthorization Act.

Around the world, 736 million people live in extreme poverty, and one child dies every 10 seconds from hunger-related causes.

Investments in global poverty poverty reduction save lives while also advancing U.S.

economic interest and national security.

These investments also matter locally.

Therefore, I respectfully ask the Sacramento City Council to send a letter to Representative Matt Sui, Senator Padilla, and Senator Schiff expressing support for maintaining the current international affairs budget and emphasizing the importance of global development programs to both humanitarian efforts and our community's economic interest.

I would be happy to draft a letter for the council's consideration to send to our congressional leaders if there's interest in this request.

I have a sample letter on hand.

I also have flyers with more information.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Thank you.

Next speaker's Barbara Boyce.

If you have a handout, you can give them to the clerk.

Thank you.

Barbara?

Barbara Boyce here.

I don't see Tim Poole.

Following Tim is Marvel Wilson Jr., Celina Guevara, then Allegra Taylor.

Good evening, everyone.

My name's Timothy Poole.

I am the CEO of people had been acknowledged for um keeping Not on Violence here in Sacramento.

And I stand before you just to ask a question.

Um I've seen where people have been uh honored um for um keeping votes safe.

And I appreciate that.

Um what I don't see is um our officials um coming into our neighborhoods um without having to have an agenda.

I've been watching that for the last 15 years.

That's how long I've been having my uh nonprofit, and I'm kind of like baffled um because the work that we do, um Barry Axis, uh Greg King, Daryl Roberts, um, I can name a whole bunch, Miss Shona McDaniels, um, just a whole bunch of uh good hard working people trying to make sure our city is safe.

And the reason I'm up here is I want to know why is it so hard for us to get funding?

I want to know why it's so hard for us to see you in the spaces that we're in.

I see you.

Uh some of you I see a lot of times.

Um, and it's good to see you where you're at, but I need to see you on the front line with us.

I really do.

Um, because it is rough in Sacramento.

You all know that.

And um, I've been fighting a good fight.

I've never been invited to uh I don't think anything from the city.

I've never got a grant from the city.

Um, maybe yes, I have.

I did a work, uh I took 12 young men to clean up.

Thank you for your comments.

Your time is complete.

Our next speaker is Marvel Wilson, then Selena, then Allegra, the DeMarcist.

Marvel.

Marvel Wilson Jr., okay.

Sorry.

We just heard name.

That's all right.

Thank you.

Uh, good evening.

My name is Marvel Wilson Jr.

I'm the founder of the Men Accountable Project, and I'm here speaking on behalf of Hooked on Fishing Not on Violence.

Um, my colleague, whom I've known for a number of years, has been dedicated to the premise of making sure that we build community and allow our youth to have an opportunity to drive.

Right now, he's running back because he has a Tuesday night meeting that he hosts with our youth.

It's called the Youth Healing Circle.

Under the umbrella of Hooked On Fishing Not On Violence has spawned a number of social organizations, a number of groups that are working in tandem to make sure that we give our youth the opportunity to be able to see themselves and to be able to find themselves and to be able to help build community because where we live, we live in a neighborhood.

We don't live in a community.

We're building community.

So what I'm asking, well, I don't know, I want to ask a question.

I'm just gonna pose something that I've observed, that is that this man has not been acknowledged uh even just now.

You just acknowledge a whole bunch of organizations who work with youth.

You didn't mention hooked on fishing, not on violence, and I'm curious to know uh if that's because you haven't recognized the work that's been done, or if you have, then there's just an omission.

But either way, at this point, it's fair to ask again, what would it take for this organization to get some some support, financial support, or some sort of structural support and acknowledgement because this organization has done quite well in representing the goal that all the other organizations have been in place to do.

So it's it's only fair that I propose to you that we want to get this to the agenda, and if you could share with me what the course of action is to get it to your vote, I'd like to know that, and you can refer me to whoever.

Thank you for your comments.

Your time is complete.

Our next speaker is Selena, then Allegra.

Hi, my name is Selena Guevara.

I am speaking on behalf of my mother.

Um, it's a very sensitive subject.

Um, my name is Selena.

Her name is Denise Carranza.

She's Aviana's grandmother, and I am Aviana's aunt.

Aviana was only nine years old.

She was her granddaughter and my niece.

Uh she was the heart of our family.

She was tragically killed in a hit and run in this city while riding her bike with her dad.

Who remains in the hospital fighting for his life still.

Meanwhile, the woman accused of causing this devastation to my family, and she's out on bail um, living her life, and today her arrangement was canceled because investigators say they need more time.

My family does not have the luxury of more time.

Every day we wake up to the reality that Aviana is gone forever.

Every day we wait for answers while trying to survive a grief no family should have to endure.

I'm standing here today because no grandmother, no family at all should have to bury their nine-year-old family member, you know, um, a child.

I'm standing here because someone in this room has the power to make justice and it's pursued that no other family has to experience this unimaginable pain.

Um I ask what is being done to ensure that this woman is held fully accountable.

What is the city doing to make our streets safe enough for children to simply be children to ride their bikes to play to come home safely?

And what support is available for the families like mine who are grieving while watching the justice system move at a pace that feels unbearable.

Aviana deserved the chance to grow up.

She deserved birthdays, graduations, dreams, and a future.

And I deserve the privilege of watching my niece, our young family member child become the amazing young woman she was meant to be.

We are heartbroken, but we are not silent.

We are not giving up.

We are not going away until there is accountability and meaningful action.

We owe that to Aviana.

Justice for Aviana.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Allegra Taylor, then DeMarcus.

Allegra Casmer Taylor, CEO of the Village Advocates.

Listen, I'm here to stand in solidarity with the organizations that's doing the work regarding gun violence.

I'm also here because gun violence, although you guys show some stats that says it's reduced, it's more, it's more common today.

And we don't want it to become the norm, which it is becoming the norm and nowhere is safe.

My granddaughter and great-granddaughter went to a friend's apartment across the street from Cal Expo just a few days ago to swim, only to be out there at the pool with their children.

These are young women with children.

Only to find three youth with their ski masks on, come on, one of which had a gun.

Turned out to be 15 kids out there with a gun looking for a kid that they were gonna jump and they did jump.

I've also brought one of our youth here because it hits home when it affects you personally.

So the pool in an apartment is not safe.

We've got parks that are not safe.

We had to cancel our park engagement this year because it's not safe.

And I've got our youth that's gonna speak on the park issue and how it's affected our village.

So I don't know what you all are doing, but I know what I think you might need to do.

You might need to invest some money into some social workers.

Put them out in your districts to find out what's happening in these homes that's causing these children to run amok and wreak havoc on the city of Sacramento.

People are leaving.

I'm leaving.

We're done with all of the confusion that's going on.

Look at these parents in here and their pain and their trauma.

You all are responsible to make Sacramento a safe place.

And that's what I'm expecting you all to do.

So I know I haven't been here for a while, but guess what?

I'm coming back.

Thank you.

Next speaker is DeMarcus.

Um, hello, I'm DeMarcus Winston.

Uh I'm with uh Miss Allegra Taylor.

Uh specifically the park incident that happened.

Um the parks aren't safe no more uh because of gun violence.

Uh you you can't go anywhere.

I was with my sister and my niece, and we just went up there to play basketball.

And nine boys came up there all with ski masks, and they jumped me um while I was in the middle of playing basketball.

They stole my chain.

Um, and they beat me to the ground.

And after I finally got back up, uh, I had multiple bruises over my body.

And as I was trying to grab my niece and walk back to my car, um, they followed me.

And he uh one of the males pointed a gun to my chest and threatened to take my life if I had any of more valuables on me.

And meanwhile, they just all sat there and laughed, laughed it off, and they posted all the videos all over social media.

And it's not just me that happened to it, happened to another boy that same day.

Um actually that same boy who also came to the park.

And they've been posted up around that same park, and I'm I just am wondering.

I got multiple police officers and investigators to find those people, and so far I haven't had no contact.

Um we gave them information on multiple of those same people that were a part of it, and there hasn't been no justice about it.

So I'm I was just wondering what happened to protecting your citizens of California and Sacramento.

Thank you.

Can I ask you uh two questions?

One, uh, what park was that that you read?

Uh the park name was William Caston.

Aston Park.

Okay, and then can you go to the back of the room and our our staff will um talk to you and just get some more information to see what we can do to follow up?

Yes, sir.

Sharing your story.

Thank you.

Thank you, Demarcus.

Next speaker is Ray Lazato and Daniel Silva and Sandra Fritz.

No back, it is all right.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council members.

It's great to see.

I was sitting back here going across.

I'm like, you know, we have so much potential here in our city, and I think uh as much as we hear about the stuff that's going on, uh, there's just as much opportunity uh if we can work together.

Uh I'm a Ray Lazata, uh retired probation officer, uh, and currently the uh the director of the office of safe schools here at Sack City Unified School District.

Uh we've been working uh with a lot of our community partners who uh you've named here today uh as well as trying to work uh to develop a strategy that works more where we collaborate a little more consistently with our school district.

There's a lot of uh uh things that are happening on campus, uh but safety's not just about what's happening on campus.

We're worried about our students uh, you know, and things that are happening on the weekends and around the clock.

Um we're working uh together and here in support of the gun violence awareness month and in support of the organizations uh that are striving to bring safety to students uh and and you know it's problematic uh more so because we're seeing school-age students on uh falling on either side of the gun, whether they're shooting or being killed.

Uh, I mean it's just going, it's just happening so frequently, and uh I think it's a call to action for us to start working together.

Um, we have the gun map process uh probation, law enforcement, the city support.

Uh we're working towards a uh we're having a meeting next Tuesday to establish a framework so that we can really start working out the kinks and getting something done uh and informing our community partners exactly uh you know who we need to be working with, and so I'm looking forward to that.

Uh, and I thank you for your support and listening to the concerns of the community.

Mr.

Mayor, if I can, really quick.

Yes.

Um Mr.

Lozada, I want to say thank you.

Um, thank you for meeting with myself, Councilmember Jenning and Vang last year, and for the work that you've done to not only create an amazing program that's seen a lot of success in the school district, but help advise the city as well and the work that we do, and really looking forward to collaborating with you.

Yes, I'm excited about it.

All right, thank you.

Next speakers, Daniel Silva, then Sandra Fritz.

Good evening.

Council members, specifically council member Kaplan, uh Mayor, and everyone here today.

I really appreciate this certificate here that we received today.

Um I took the time earlier to write a brief uh speech.

So let me let me just go into the speech so I don't forget nothing.

Right now I'm a little excited.

Um I want to thank you, everyone, for recognizing our work and again uh council member Kaplan, her commitment for making Sacramento safer for all residents.

At Self-Awareness and Recovery, we work every day with youth, young adults, and adults who have been impacted by violence, trauma, incarceration, substance use, and other life challenges.

Our mission is simple.

Help people heal, build skills, reconnect with their communities, and create pathways towards positive futures.

Through trauma informed mentoring, cognitive behavioral interventions, workforce readiness training, re-entry support, violence prevention, services, and behavioral health programming.

We help individuals develop the tools needed to make healthy decisions and break cycles of violence before they lead to tragedy.

As someone who works directly with justice involved individuals and those that at the highest risk of violence have been firsthand, the public safety and community healing go hand in hand.

Prevention is not just responding to violence after it occurs.

Prevention is about creating opportunities before violence happens.

It is about helping young a young person.

Thank you for your comments, but your speaking time is complete.

Thank you for your comments.

Your time is complete.

Sandra Fritz, then Minister King, then Leah Shank.

I'm back now.

Okay, as I was saying, I'm part of Oak Park area.

And my problem is this.

It's the parking.

I actually come into my parking lot after living in Sacramento Housing, and I can't have time to get in there because they're parking illegal.

I have to blow my horn and get out the parking lot.

Then they park on no parking zone.

You guys know Fifth Avenue, right?

There's no park at any time.

At the all the time, the blow of horn and get through traffic.

They won't move.

You know, and go to the park, it's not safe.

You know, I try to walk through the park a lot of times and people be disrespecting you.

And the area is horrible.

Excuse my French, horkable.

It's it's disgusting.

You know, and it's like then they go outside if they throw the trash in the ground, and I'm not no matter my maid.

My mother too.

One right here, one at home.

And I feel like I should, my kids should be safe to walk outside and go somewhere without me harassed.

I even walk outside to a clean environment.

No, I didn't call the code enforcement several times.

No one took an issue to do anything about it.

You know, I should be able to walk outside and be feeling comfortable.

I'm almost 62 years old.

I shouldn't deal with that kind of nonsense.

I came from the area, came out here with my kids to be raised up, which they did to a safe environment, but the area is getting to the point where we want to move.

And I don't want to my kids.

I have disabled husband, you know, he didn't can't do too much anything.

So the fact is it's not comfortable and not safe what we get right now.

Because the traffic is horrible.

They block the street, they do donuts in the middle of the street.

It's not that they don't care about it.

I'd be complaints since I've been there.

And we moved there.

What do you remove there?

2017.

And it means still the same way.

Nothing changed.

No parking zone.

It's just pack of cars all your loan.

Officers drive by and look at them smile.

Are you serious?

Nothing happens.

So I just want to find out what's how you're gonna stop them from doing this.

This is it's not comfortable to me.

I don't like to live like that.

I just want to correct that.

That's all I want to say.

I'm just I'm I'm tired.

Thank you for listening.

My time is up.

Thank you for your comments.

Uh Minister King, then Leah Shank.

Don't see Leah Shank.

Don't see Leah.

Um Gennardo Pantriosa.

No, um, Nikisha Woods.

I don't see any movement.

So, Mayor McCarty, their business is complete today.

Okay.

Thank you for that.

We oh, we do have an adjourn in memory from Councilmember Dickinson.

Thanks, Mayor.

I I wanted to take a few moments this evening to recall a very important member of the county family and of the Sacramento community.

Former executive director of the California State Association of Counties, Steve Zaly, who passed away recently at the age of 81.

Steve served for 10 years as executive director of CSAC from 1995 to 2004 and was instrumental in taking CSAC into a very influential representative of counties at the state capitol.

Steve was not a person to shy away from any challenge.

Taking them.

Steve was also a guy who loved whatever he was he was doing.

And one of the anecdotes that I certainly appreciate is that during the opening season of the Rivercats in 2000, he was invited to throw out the first pitch at one of the games.

And so having been a college baseball player, he didn't he didn't take this as just a ceremonial honor.

He made sure he he warmed up in the C-Sac parking lot before he went over to the field and and of course threw a strike for the for the first pitch.

When Terry Shutton retired as a Sacramento County exec, my colleagues and I turned to Steve to step in as as our county executive on what he and we thought was going to be a very uh temporary basis.

That temporary basis turned into about a year and a half to two years, and Steve was absolutely essential to the work that we did as a county as Sacramento County to get through the Great Recession as as best we could do, and funding was in short supply, and layoffs unfortunately were required.

I've been trying to keep trying to keep service levels for all the residents of the county at the level they had been was a daunting challenge.

Steve's wife Diane Cummins was known as the good local government person in the Department of Finance for years.

Lived uh just down the street uh on T Street in Elmhurst.

Steve was Steve was someone who uh it was extremely easy to work with, and I had that good fortune both as a member of the board and the executive committee of CSAC as well as during the time he was the interim county uh uh exec.

But Steve's interests ran beyond local government too.

Um he was a docent at the railroad museum, uh, and served on the board uh of the foundation, the railroad museum foundation.

In fact, um he had just completed his term on the on that board uh before uh his passing.

Steve was a very special person who contributed an enormous amount to Sacramento, to Sacramento County, to the state of California.

Uh and the contributions he made will endure.

So I ask uh this evening that we adjourn uh in Steve's memory and in recognition of those contributions.

Thank you for those uh words.

Uh Councilmember on behalf of Councilmember Garrett and I, we'd like to um join you in adjourning his memory.

I I know and knew Steve very well.

I didn't know he passed until five minutes ago, so um, I'm just going through my head and remembering him.

It's just like you said, and I know he's he he led Sacramento as the interim county exec and served as a leader in state organizations.

Uh I always remember him as a neighbor and see him walking around the streets and this weekend is the annual T Street Wiffle ball tournament.

And while he couldn't play, he always came out there and talked about his highlights playing college baseball in California.

So he was um somebody who gave to Sacramento and the state, and certainly have fond memories and uh pass my condolences to Diane and his family, and with that we adjourn in memory of uh Steve Zaly.

Thank you.

Oh, Councilman Garrett.

Uh no, uh thank you, Mayor.

I also, you know, want to give my condolences to Diane and also just uh again uh recognize what a true public servant was he was and um and really committed even to this council uh to help us understand you know the structures of the county and his early um uh involvement in trying to bridge the city and the county together.

Again, uh we were fortunate to have him uh as such a committed public servant to the state of California, but specifically here in Sacramento.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you.

With that, we will adjourn.