Convene for the 5 p.m.

council meeting at 5 50.

Good evening.

This meeting is being streamed live on YouTube in both English and Spanish with captions.

The captions are AI generated and could contain errors.

Councilmember Kaplan.

Member Dickinson.

Vice Mayor Telemontis.

Member Plucky Bomb here.

Member Maple.

Member Jennings.

Jennings?

Jennings, yes.

Member Bain.

Yes.

And Mayor McCarty, we have a quorum.

Okay.

Yes.

Councilmember Pluckybaugh.

Please leave us in the pledge and land acknowledgement.

Please rise if you're able.

To the original people of this land, the Nissanon people, the Southern Maidu Valley and Plains, Miwok, Patwin Wintu peoples, and the people of the Wilton 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 together today in the active practice of acknowledgement and appreciation for Sacramento's Indigenous People's History, contribution, and lives.

Salute.

I put the five of the United States of America.

One nation, under God, indivisible liberties and justice.

Tonight we have two special presentations, with the first being presented by Vice Mayor Talamantes and Councilmember Plucky Baum for Disability Pride Month.

Thank you.

I'm honored to present this resolution recognizing July as Disability Pride Month with Councilmember Plucky Baum.

With over seven million residents with disabilities, this resolution extends the recognition of the Americans with Disabilities Act, empowering every individual in the city of Sacramento to participate in education, health care, equitable housing, and overall civil life.

This is an opportunity to not only celebrate but continue the work the city of Sacramento has done to break the barriers in our residents' daily lives and remind them that the work is still progressing.

Today we celebrate the invaluable contributions of people with disabilities, and we recommend recommit ourselves to creating a Sacramento where everyone is treated with dignity and respect.

I know I've had the pleasure of working with Best Buddies, Pride Industries, and other organizations who support empowerment and employment of people with disabilities.

Thank you to all the commissioners on all their work that they have done to advance the parking at the Golden One Center so that we make sure that we have good drop-offs, and for all the work that they've done to bring us this far.

So if we uh if I could pass it on to my colleague, Councilmember Plucky Bomb, and then we'll have um our guests come up to the podium.

Thank you, Councilmember or Vice Mayor.

I want to recognize um Brandy and Sherry in the audience.

We'll call you up in just a second.

Um but first I want to um read just a couple of the sections of this resolution.

Uh you know, disability pride month is uh a significant um recognition of a landmark civil rights legislation that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities and guarantees equal opportunity and employment, education, transportation, public accommodations, government services, telecommunications.

It's it's more than just you know ADA accessibility.

This is about dignity and respect and equity and justice.

This is this is the stuff that America was made to make possible.

This is these are the the kinds of opportunities that I think we really need to celebrate.

And while there is more work to do, and no doubt there are many injustices and inequities that we still need to address.

The you know the overall arc here is good.

We are moving in the right direction, and the city of Sacramento is committed to making sure that there are greater opportunities and justice and equity in all of these spaces for people of all abilities.

So I'm super honored to um be a part of this uh recognition of uh the um disability pride month.

All right, and if we can have uh Brandy from Executive Director from California Foundation for Independent Living Centers, and Sherry, executive director of Society for the Blind come up okay good afternoon, and thank you, Mayor and Council members for recognizing Disability Pride Month.

My name is Brandy Blow and I'm the executive director of resources for independent loving, or RAL.

I'm a white woman with red hair and I live with multiple disabilities, including a speech disability.

I am honored to be here today because disability pride month is about more than celebration.

It is about visibility, acceptance, and action.

Disability does not discriminate.

At some point in life, disability will touch every single person in this room, whether through ourselves, a parent, a child, a sibling, or a friend.

Disability is not a bad word.

It is part of the human experience, and it deserves to be recognized, respected, and celebrated.

Growing up in a small town, disability was rarely talked about.

It wasn't until I began my internship at REL that I realized I was a person with a with multiple significant disabilities, and that there was nothing wrong with that.

That realization changed my life and gave me a career.

Yet people with disabilities continue to face significant barriers.

More than one in four American adults has a disability, and people with disabilities experience much higher rates of unemployment and homelessness, not because of disability itself, but because of barriers that we have the power to remove.

As our city makes decisions about housing, transportation, parks, emergency preparedness, employment, and community programs.

I ask that people with disabilities always have a seat at the table.

In the independent living movement, we have a saying, nothing about us without us.

The statement should guide every conversation.

The ADA is the floor, but we should do more.

Thank you again for recognizing Disability Pride Month.

I hope this resolution is more of a proclamation, and I hope it is the beginning of making Sacramento the most accessible and inclusive place it can be.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor McCarty, Vice Mayor Talamantes, Councilmember Placki Baum, and all the members of the City Council.

On behalf of everyone at Society for the Blind, I want to thank you for recognizing Disability Pride Month.

And also we appreciate the ongoing leadership and thoughtful efforts that you make in our community so that it can be a place where everyone can thrive.

At Society for the Blind, Pride is about celebrating that collaborative momentum.

Over half of our staff are blind, and like myself, many of us are low vision.

And just recently, two of our clients achieved a major milestone by securing full-time employment.

Because they received training in meta glasses.

One is working full-time at Home Depot, and another individual who lost his vision over a matter of months from an eye infection.

Uh, trained with us, and in a year, he's now working full-time for the state and pursuing an MBA.

Um, their success is a beautiful reminder of what happens when talent meets an accessible, supportive environment.

As we look ahead to new civic projects in the city, transit system updates and public spaces.

I want to encourage you to invite people with vision loss and other disabilities into the design process, those very early days to ensure we build a truly accessible community.

People with this lived experience bring unique innovative insights to the table.

And by all of us collaborating right from the start, we can naturally design features like audible cues, intuitive layouts, and tactile pathways that make our city welcoming and more navigable for everyone.

True inclusion is a journey we all take together.

So thank you again, Vice Mayor, Phil Placybaugh, and everyone, for your dedication, your partnership in this resolution.

Thank you.

Yep.

If you'll join us up front, we'll take a picture.

Not too many of us left, are there?

I know.

Here, come over here.

We get in the center.

You get the center.

You get in the center.

Yeah, you're tall.

You get it.

You're getting the center.

Wait, now we're now we're out of light.

Okay.

Here, come my way.

You guys need to even out for it.

Let's get a little balance here.

There you go.

Yeah, maple lined up to get the rest of people.

Okay.

Yeah, we'll just give it a second.

We're all here.

Thank you.

You are the you're the center of our team.

Oh.

Is that what you played in basketball?

Yeah, see?

Our next presentation, presented by Councilmember Kaplan, is the National Park and Recreation Month.

Thank you.

I am thrilled to present July as the National Parks and Recreation Month.

Here in the Sacramento region, we are incredibly blessed with a breathtaking natural landscape from the iconic trails of the American River Parkway to historic pathways of William Land Park and McKinley Park and North Natomas.

Our green spaces are the heartbeat of our city.

First and foremost, parks are really the heartbeat of our neighbors and our families.

They are the places where children potentially take their first bike ride, where families gather for weekends, picnics, where neighbors connect, laugh, and build lasting memories.

In an increasing digital world, these green havens are a vital space to unplug, slow down, and spend quality time with one another.

They offer accessible, inclusive spaces for all ages, all abilities to play, relax, and improve their mental well-being.

In fact, through the city's Forward Thinking Parks Plan 2040, Sacramento is actively working to ensure that every single neighborhood from North Natomas, Del Paso, South Sacramento, and the entire inclusive city has equitable access to safe, vibrant, and welcoming recreational spaces.

But the impacts of our parks goes beyond recreation.

Our parks are truly the guardian of our local environment.

Our parks and public lands act as natural lungs, filtering our air, protecting our local watershed, and providing essential protected habitats for wildlife.

They are the living classrooms where both children and adults can learn about conservation, sustainability, and the delicate balance of the ecosystems that sustain us.

Equally important is the incredible impact our parks have on the local environment.

We are, I know, I'm just gonna say it, we are the city of trees.

We have Sacramento's urban canopy is a vital environmental act uh asset, and one that we must protect and invest in.

But again, but really, none of this happens by accident.

This month, we also want to honor our parks rangers, our maintenance crew, our recreational professionals, our young uh adults that work in the summer to keep our aquatic centers open, and everyone that works tirelessly to keep these spaces clean, safe, and beautiful for all of us.

It takes the collective we.

So as we celebrate this month, I want to encourage all of us to step outside, explore our trails, hit one of our 243 parks we have in the city, breathe in the fresh air that they give us, and take a moment to appreciate the incredible environment that we have in the city of Sacramento, surrounded by these two rivers.

So let us commit to protecting and cherishing these irreplaceable treasures for ourselves and for generations to come.

So I'd like to invite Director Jackie Beecham up to say a couple of remarks and give specifics about what makes even the city of Sacramento and our youth and parks engagement department that much more special.

Thank you, Councilman.

I don't know if I can top that.

That was beautiful.

I'm Jackie Beecham.

I'm the director of the Youth Parks and Community Enrichment Department.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

Thank you for having us.

Uh July is Parks and Recreation Month, and this is in addition to recognizing our beautiful parks and recreation system, also a great chance to recognize the impact that parks and recreation have in our community and the people behind it all.

Here in Sacramento, that work is happening every day through our youth parks and community enrichment department.

Yep C has just over 1,000 employees that care for our 243 parks that span over 4,000 acres across the city.

We have 17 aquatics facilities and 15 community centers, along with dozens of programs and services that reach residents all across our city.

A lot of this work happens, as you know, quietly, behind the scenes, early mornings, in the evenings, right now.

That's where many of our staff are on the um on the weekends and often without us realizing that it's even happening.

So this month is a chance for us to really shine some light on the staff who make our parks and programs possible.

This year, the theme for parks and recreation month is the power of, and that is really easy to see across Yip C.

The power of play through our youth and adult sports programs and facilities, our summer oasis camp that's happening in our parks right now, our after-school programs, the Fourth R program, our over 100,000 visitors that we serve in our recreation swim program across our swimming pools and our aquatics programs.

The power of nature, like we heard from Council Kaplan in our parks and our open spaces and our trails that our residents are using every single day.

They're supported by our park maintenance staff and our park rangers.

We also have the power of community and belonging in our parks and our community center events.

Many of you probably saw Matt, who you see almost every weekend out supporting many of our special events happening in our parks.

And programs like Triple R, um, providing respite for caregivers and family members, Hart Senior Center, our L program, Summer at City Hall, who you'll be hearing from next week at Council, providing opportunities and supporting residents of all ages.

So this month, not just this month, but every month and every day, we want to say thank you to all of our Yep C staff, uh, full-time, part-time, seasonal, and of course, our volunteers, who we could not do this work without, for bringing the power of parks and recreation to life in Sacramento every day.

Thank you, Councilwoman.

Thank you, Vice Mayor, Mayor, and to the rest of council for acknowledging this work and recognizing the essential role that Parks and Recreation play here in our city.

Thank you.

Thank you, Jack.

I'd like to call parks.

I see some of your uh everybody who works every day in our our Yipsey.

Come on, Yipsi, we're coming down, we're taking a picture.

Yes.

Sorry.

We're all we're all just doing this.

It's okay.

So our next item is the proposed ballot measure, Sacramento City Employees Retirement System, also known as Scurs Termination Act.

Good evening, uh Mayor and Council members, Matt Riak from the City Attorney's Office, and with me is uh Mr.

Colville from the City Treasurer's Office.

Uh presented for your consideration today is a proposed ballot measure to be put on the November 26th uh November 2026 ballot.

Um, if approved by the voters, this measure would amend the Sacramento City Charter to provide a mechanism to wind down the Sacramento City employees' retirement system.

That system, also known as SCURS, is a defined benefit system created under the city charter, which provides retirement benefits to certain city employees.

It is a closed system.

Um there have been no new members since 1977.

The system's actuary indicates that there are sufficient um uh assets uh I'm sorry.

For all the benefits due under the system, there's approximate every dollar of benefits due under the system, there's approximately a dollar and ten cents of assets available for payment.

As the member surviving spouse and other beneficiary populations continue to decline, the system may continue to grow to uh have assets that are far in excess of what is necessary to pay all accrued benefits.

The city charter currently has no make mechanism to wind down the system or to deal with any potential surplus funds.

The proposed ballot measure that is before you tonight to be placed on the November ballot, provide such a mechanism.

Um, if you have additional questions about the details of how that works, um Mr.

Colville and I are here to answer your questions.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mr.

Colville.

Mr.

Mayor.

Did you want to present?

We're just here for technical.

I think Matt did a great job.

Okay.

Excellent.

I defer to him.

Okay.

Excellent.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We'll certainly come uh back to you with our questions.

We have public comment on this item.

We do have public comment.

If you'll line up in the aisle, please.

Ben Radterstorff, Dan Allison, and John Vignotchi.

Thank you, Mayor and Council.

Uh, my name is Ben.

I'm a board member with House Sacramento.

You know us, we are your friendly neighborhood housing policy wonks.

We are here, we are really excited, not because we care a lot about pension plans, although this sound really important.

We're here because we're very excited about the possibility of what the city can do with this money, which is to create a housing revolving loan fund.

Uh as some of you know, because we've been bothering you about it for years.

This has been a pipe dream for a really long time.

Uh the housing revolving loan funds, they are the hottest, coolest new thing in housing policy.

And the reason why we are so excited, and so many people across the country are excited about this model as it's emerging in different jurisdictions, um, is that it really represents a really fundamental transformation about uh in how cities think about themselves and their role in housing.

Uh it's a shift from a city just seeing itself as a source of subsidy to an investor in housing, an investor in itself in perpetuity.

Um, if this if if you all vote yes tonight and and the voters advance uh the ballot measure in November, um it means that we will create a housing loan fund, uh, a revolving loan fund that will be infinitely scalable.

It's a sort of uh the idea is instead of just using the the funds one time for specific subsidy with with the revolving function of the loans, it means that uh we can get that money back and loan it again and again and again.

It's a model that's worked really well in the places where it's been used, most prominently Montgomery County, Maryland, uh, where their fund, which is a little larger than ours, but they expect it to fund over 6,000 units over the next two decades.

Um so we could see similarly large numbers here with the fund.

Um we're very excited about this, and and most importantly, this is the sort of investment that that could long outlive any of us.

Uh, unlike the sort of things that we tend to spend housing dollars on, which which are one-time checks, this creates a mechanism that that could very realistically exist forever and fund housing for decades to come.

So thank you.

Thank you for your comments, Dan Allison, followed by John Vignotchi, and then Karen Humphrey.

Good evening, Council members.

Dan Allison, District 4.

I am in support of the ballot measure and particularly the follow-on, which is the seating of a housing revolving fund.

Um, due to the efforts of city staff and council and uh advocates, including House Sacramento.

Uh, we were removed most of the barriers to housing in Sacramento.

And Sacramento is a leading city in that sense.

Now the issue is financing.

Um city doesn't build housing, developers build housing, and the more we can do to support them in building that housing, the better off the entire city is.

So I support this whole process.

Thank you.

Thank you, John Vignotchi, followed by Kieran Humphrey and then Chris Valencia.

Is John here?

No.

You're not John.

Okay, Karen Humphrey.

Chris Valencia.

Chris.

Chris.

What's his first name?

Chris Valencia.

Mr.

Mayor and members of the council, thank you for uh offering us this opportunity.

I'm Karen Humphrey, resident of District 4, and I represent the Sacramento Area Congregations Together, SAC Act, a housing and homelessness committee.

I'd plan to speak after my colleague who will speak soon, Mr.

Lamas from Sacramento Housing Alliance.

We are in alignment on this.

I love your new system for signing in, but we'll have to see if it can be tweaked in the future.

Uh but I we are in com we're in complete agreement on this.

We support the proposal.

It's very good to have creative ways to approach uh or to expand the possibility of supporting housing, and the revolving fund is, as the gentleman before me said, very good way to do it.

We have a couple of qualifications in our support though.

One is that we request that the resources provided by the revolving loan fund be spent for low and very low multi pardon me, low and very low income multifamily housing.

That's where the greatest need exists uh as your housing plan shows.

So our housing elements shows.

So it is uh offering a restrictional limitation to that would be very desirable in making these funds usable because they're not going to be able to serve all the needs of housing.

Secondly, we ask that when the actual loan fund is set up and the program is implemented, that you include stakeholders in a discussion to help address specific issues and and and make it as effective a program as you possibly can.

And that we all have a chance to have a little bit more say.

I don't know there's any way to change the language in the ballot at the moment to accomplish that, but I wanted to be on the record as saying that priorities for the use of this money and collaboration and is useful be extremely important to its success.

So I thank you very much for considering this and uh appreciate your looking at this particular measure.

Thank you for your comments.

Chris Valencia, followed by Michael Turgeon and Connor Finney.

Good evening, Mr.

Mayor and members of the city council.

My name is Chris Valencia, and I'm here on behalf of the North State Building Industry Association, and it's over 500 members building homes right here in Sacramento.

We are in support and urge you to pass this on to the ballot.

We believe that a revolving loan fund will be just one more tool in the tool belt that this council has crafted to help uh increase housing supply here in Sacramento.

Uh upon it hopefully passing at the ballot box.

We look forward to working with you to craft uh whatever policy that does come out of this so that we can ensure that this city continues to uh address the housing needs that it has and our members who will be building uh these houses also look forward to working with you as well.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you, Michael Turgeon, followed by Connor Finney and Dobb Caden.

Uh yeah, Michael Turgeon, also here from um House Sacramento, also here to echo very enthusiastic support for the um draft ballot measure um before you today.

Really want to applaud the creative problem solving and thinking outside the box, right, of figuring out what levers we still can pull as a city to help build more housing, help build more affordable housing, um, and how to stretch our public dollars and put them to the best use.

Um, and you know, frankly, taking advantage of a you know terrible macroeconomic environment with like persistently high interest rates, a loan fund steps right in there and uses that that lower interest rate offered by the city as a form of public subsidy that doesn't actually drain the bank, and you can actually keep um the loans uh coming and you can keep the fund revolving.

Um, and I think it's a great tool, and it has a lot of promise.

And also applaud you on ballot measure language that clearly articulates the ask to the voters while also baking in flexibility to design a program that works, and we'll be with you every step of the way to um help design uh a loan program that uh works well.

So thanks again.

Thank you for your comment.

Connor Finney, followed by Deb Caden.

Thank you.

Hey everybody, uh thanks so much for taking the time.

Uh Ben and Michael and uh Dan have already given you know great arguments uh for this loan fund, so I don't want to belabor the point here.

Uh I think this is a very exciting idea.

Uh Montgomery County, Maryland is not the only place that have implemented this.

Indianapolis, uh, Atlanta, to name others, uh, are also getting in on this idea, are already building projects.

So this is a great example of just learning best practices from other cities.

Uh so thank you for uh you know keeping an eye on what's working other places.

Um I just want to say that uh you know something I really appreciate about this council is how consistently uh uh you're interested in pursuing uh solutions that we know work and we have seen work other places between the general plan update, between missing middle, transit-oriented development.

You've all been uh very innovative, and uh you know, we are seeing the benefits of this.

I would consider myself a beneficiary.

Uh, me and my partner actually moved in together last month.

Uh we secured a two-bedroom apartment in a building that was built within the last five years for $1,800 a month that is affordable for families between 60 to 80 percent AMI.

Um, rents are down for about four straight years now.

I think that this ballot measure has the opportunity to keep it going.

We can get rents down further.

Uh thank you for all your work on this issue.

Thank you.

Connor Finney, followed by Dobb Caden and Julio Lamas.

Yeah, good evening, uh Mayor and Council members.

My name is Dobb Caden.

I serve as the vice chair of the planning and design commission.

I'm here tonight, um, just in my personal capacity to to support kind of moving this this charter amendment uh forward to the voters.

Um, for my seat on on commission, you know, I see a lot of the the city's development pipeline, and you know, as is referenced before, thanks to your leadership, we've spent really the last decade kind of setting the table for that pipeline through um really progressive uh regulatory and process reforms.

Uh but unfortunately there are you know a serious chunk of that pipeline that is just sort of sitting dormant.

It's not because of process that really has been cleared, it's because of capital.

Capital is very expensive right now.

This is sort of a gap that our land use reforms really cannot close on pieces of paper, right?

But a revolving loan can actually begin to do that.

And Montgomery County has proven that this model works as was referenced before.

I think it's a fantastic sort of one-time opportunity here to sort of put our money where our mouth is on housing.

So once again, thank you so much for your leadership on this.

Thank you.

Julio Lamas, followed by Devin LeCluz.

Good evening, Mayor, Council members.

Um, I'm the executive director of the Sacramento Housing Alliance, and I'm speaking in support of the proposal to create an affordable housing loan fund using any surplus scourge funds that may remain after all retirement benefits have been fully obligated and met.

We appreciate the city's creativity in exploring new ways to address the housing crisis.

As we all know, housing continues, housing costs continues to rise, and too many low-income families, seniors, and individuals are struggling to find homes they can afford.

At the same time, affordable housing developments are becoming more difficult to build because rising costs and financing gaps.

That's why we see this proposal as a promising opportunity.

If surplus SCORS funds become available, we believe they should be invested in creating more affordable housing opportunities for Sacramento residents, especially those with the greatest needs.

As the city moves forward, we have three recommendations.

First, make sure the fund is focused on serving low-income, very low-income households, particularly those earning 80% of the area meeting income and below by adding specific language in the ballot measure to specifically address that.

Secondly, we would urge the city to commit to engaging stakeholders such as affordable housing organizations, um, developers, community members in designing the program so that it works effectively once it we get to that point.

And third, to consider using the funds to support early pre-development costs, which are often the hardest dollars for affordable housing properties to secure and can make the difference between moving them forward or not.

We support the council's efforts and look forward to working with all of you to ensure the opportunities has the greatest impact for Sacramento residents who are struggling most with housing affordability.

Thank you for your time and your leadership.

Thank you for your comments.

Devin LeCluz.

Good evening, Council and Mayor.

Thanks for having me.

Um first, just to commend the city council.

We're pro-housing city, let's keep doing that.

Uh, we desperately need housing, and this measure would obviously support that.

Uh, as a graduate of the city management academy, city planning academy, and the small developer incubator, uh, I can tell you that obtaining financing offer as a first project for a new developer is nearly impossible because most lenders need you to have at least one project before they'll finance one project.

So it's a chicken and egg that just can't be hatched.

Um so, in addition, as we saw with recent changes to the motel uh shelter program that adversely impacted dozens of people, we need to invest in protecting our most vulnerable neighbors.

So, part of the fund development um rather than using it for a pool of money that might be directly oriented to for-profit market rate housing, a wise use of these dollars would be to make them go a lot further to benefit more people.

This could be done by starting a public bank backed by the FDIC, where those fund public funds could be used to preserve and build affordable housing while also leveraging private banking partners, community reinvestment funds, community development block grants, and other existing financial mechanisms to help fund missing middle projects and affordable development projects.

SAC Act, League of Women Voters, and other organizations have been laying the groundwork to create public banking system that would help stretch that the 20 million dollars and go a lot further and help a lot more people ensure Sacramento has housing availability at all income levels.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That concludes our speakers, Mayor.

Okay.

Thank you.

Uh back to the council.

I I just want to start and thank our city attorney or city treasurer for working on this issue.

I know it has broad support of the council and addresses some of the top issues that we're trying to focus on in all of our districts and citywide addressing housing and homelessness, and I'll get to the second in a bit.

But just the big picture.

So tonight's action is to ask the city council to put the measure on the ballot, which would uh phase out uh uh kind of a defunct pension system and focus on what to do with the residual amount and put it to good use.

And this is a fabulous idea.

Um, I know the city treasurer went to all of our offices and asked us about ideas, and this came up individually.

I know uh Ben, you said your group has been talking about this.

Um, we didn't hear from you.

Uh multiple council members talked about this because we think that it's a great opportunity to focus on housing, but you know, sometimes we vote up here and put one-time awards for project, which is great, but we thought, huh, what if we could use it over and over and recycle the resources?

But we thought, huh, what if we could use it over and over and recycle the resources?

And you know, I I use this model as you uh may remember in the state for student housing, and just kind of love this idea because we're doing it today with this once in a generation opportunity.

What happens if we have a big you know AI surge and revenues coming to our city with explosion of technology and companies in five years, and we have one time money.

What could you do with that one time money?

Sure, you could build a new fire station or use money for infrastructure and so forth, but this is a great place to park one-time money to invest in the current and in the future with the replenishment factor.

So fabulous idea.

Um, I know there are some details that some people are asking questions about today.

If this measure passes the council tonight, and if the voters are engaged to go forward, we will come back with the program and focus on you know what the rules are, who would be eligible, what are some of the um you know, ways that projects could utilize it, how many projects, the kind of the details will certainly come back in the future.

But back to the to the issues of of housing and homelessness.

Certainly, this is about housing, but just think about homelessness for a little bit.

It's certainly an issue wherever we go, but in this in this past few months, we we got back our count for our point in time count for homelessness in the city of Sacramento, and unsheltered homelessness has gone down by about 20 percent.

Um sheltered homeless people in shelters and motels, tiny homes, wherever in the city has gone up significantly.

So, what does that mean?

People aren't able to graduate somewhere else.

And so we've seen some of these projects like the ones we're alluded to tonight, um, some of the ones we're focusing on in Mr.

Dickinson's district, where we can you know focus on projects that are you know way less than $500,000 per unit, sometimes two and $300,000, focusing on people that are formally homeless and really address that issue, getting people to get off of the streets into shelter programs and into permanent housing.

So this is a big um piece of the puzzle, and uh, you know, certainly uh pleased that our our treasurer was looking for innovative ways to tackle our problems, and um, this is certainly something that that came up uh tonight, and uh thank the uh the council for engaging on this as well.

I know we spoke about this a month ago, but I wanted us to spend the break engaging stakeholders, business groups, housing groups to focus on what this really was and come back and vote on it potentially uh tonight.

So, you know, at the right time, I I uh look forward to a um an action item on this, and with that, Councilmember Maple.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, and a really great setup.

Um I I first want to say um again, I want to thank the the treasurer for all the work that you've done.

I know um there's a little bit of background and history.

Uh he's not he's not here today, so I'll I'll sing his praises.

Uh, myself and Mayor Pro Tem Gera uh submitted a policy proposal about a revolving loan fund.

I think it's now been two years ago.

Um, and but it was an idea, it was it was a concept of you know, hey, here's what we're seeing in other cities, but frankly, we were like, well, we don't know how we would fund it.

Um, and so what do we do?

We went and met with uh the treasurer and said, you know, what do you think?

And and that's when uh this was first uh brought to our attention as an idea.

Um, and so we're just so grateful that the time that you spent to look into this as a possibility.

Um, and and mostly because this is I I can certainly say from my perspective, but I'm sure this might be true of the other council members on the dais that housing is the number one issue that I hear from my residents.

People are very concerned about their ability to stay in their housing, to find housing that they can afford, um, and especially on the ends of the spectrum.

So we have young people and we have seniors, and and and that's where the struggle is.

And so um it's it's I think of the utmost important that we create.

We continue to invest in creative ideas.

Um, as some of the speakers had mentioned, uh, we are one of the most progressive cities in the entire United States of America in terms of uh the policies that we have passed to make it easier to build housing.

I see our wonderful housing staff here in the audience who have worked on this for many years, and that's great, and we should be really proud of that.

Um but guess what?

Just doing removing those barriers alone doesn't make the housing come to fruition.

There's more that needs to happen, and that happens through development and through funding.

Um, and that's oftentimes where local governments struggle the most.

We don't have endless pots of money to to build housing.

We certainly don't build it ourselves.

Um, and so we have to create an environment where it can be built.

And so the genesis of the the proposal that we submitted was we had a lot of different um both myself and and Mayor Pro Tem Gera who represent a lot of the aging business quarters like Stockton Boulevard and Franklin and Broadway and Florin and Macroad.

We had a lot of projects that would would start and stop.

And they would stop because they would have most of their funding lined up, they would have all their approvals in line, and they just couldn't make that last little bit of money work.

They couldn't figure out where they were gonna find that piece.

And then when they went to the banks, the banks told them that they could they could sure you can get a loan, it'll cost you 10%.

Um and that just wasn't gonna work for them.

It wasn't, and then they wouldn't be able to build a project that would make sense to rent out or sell.

And so it wouldn't have made sense for the residents because they wouldn't have been able to afford the rent on what they were paying uh with the interest.

And so ultimately those projects stalled and failed.

Uh and those were all missed opportunities of housing in communities where we really desperately need it.

And so we got to thinking about what is a possible solution for this, and that's where the revolving loan fund come in.

And I think it's so important that the revolving piece is is we have a lot of opportunities at times for state and federal money where we get it, we get money that comes in and then it goes out, and it's a grant, and those are great because that can make one or two projects happen.

But once that money's gone, it's gone.

Um what's great about a revolving loan fund is we are we're loaning money out at uh reduced cost compared to what a bank might loan it for, and we're getting that back.

That means it's coming back to the people, and we're getting more back that then we can put back into other projects.

Um and so the tagline uh I can't take any credit for it because I got it from former mayor Steinberg was uh the idea is why don't we invest in Main Street instead of Wall Street?

So right now, you know, a lot of this funding goes into investing into the stock market, and that's great, and our treasurer does an incredible job, which is why we even have the money that we do in this fund um in those investments.

But now we can take that and have real tangible benefits in our own community, something that you can see you can feel that your neighbors can live in, that your grandparents can live in, um, and we can do that into perpetuity.

So that's the vision and the goal.

I do hear some of the speakers um uh and agree that the devil's in the details.

So the implementation plan is gonna be so so so important.

So um while it won't be in the language of the ballot measure, I I I maybe as direction and the motion that I'll make that we have um it that stakeholder process for implementation.

I think the other thing that we have to keep in mind here is this would be in perpetuity.

So the the problems that we may have now in our housing plans and RENA, whatever it may be, may not be the problems that we have 50 years from now.

And so having flexibility and and this council and future councils to determine what those needs are with along with the community is gonna be really important in the implementation, which is why I'm really glad that it's a separate process and not a part of the actual language.

I think we've seen what's happened in other ballot measures in the past is when you're way too prescriptive.

You end up with something that may not make sense 20 years from now with the with the conditions, and so uh I really invite everyone to be a part of that process.

Uh but we got to do step one first.

We gotta make sure the fund uh gets wound down in order to do the next step, and so I'm excited at this first step.

And with that, I will make the motion to uh approve a charter amendment ballot language regarding the Sacramento City Employees Retirement System Scourge Termination Act for placement on the November 3rd 2026 general municipal election ballot.

Second thank you.

Motion is second, Councilmember Dickinson.

Thanks, mate.

Thanks, Mayor.

Um I I applaud uh both the Mayor Pro Tem and Councilmember Maple for raising this idea.

I think it's one that we we have all gravitated toward in various in various ways, and the mayor mentioned it regarding student housing at the uh at the state level to look at how how we don't just use money one time, but we but we have uh a reoccurring source of money to issues on a continuing basis, and so uh we're in the fortunate position of this retirement system coming to a halt, coming to a finish.

I don't know if it's a halt, but it's a finish line uh that creates this creates this opportunity.

The one the one uh uh item I wanted to to just uh raise um because uh reflected the con the conversation we had the last time this came up just before the break was we talked about uh NIS specifically if we could include mixed use um uh development, including housing um uh in addition to what section three describes as uh as um affordable housing and market rate housing with affordable financing components, and so the uh the questions first question is whether uh mixed use could be accommodated within that terminology or not, if so, fine.

If not, perhaps we could we could add it.

Yeah, so um Matt, I don't know if you want to uh opine on whether you think it uh it fits within the contours of this language.

Yeah, if if so that's fine, but uh if not maybe we do.

I mean, this will be uh I I believe this will be the discussion and the details fleshed out when the council takes up the policy discussion if this measure passes.

Yeah, okay.

I I just wanted to thank you for that.

I I just uh on record have it on the record that we're talking about mixed use too.

So um with that uh let's let's gain speed and and hopefully approval in November.

Thanks.

Okay.

Council Vice Mayor Talamantes.

Thank you.

Uh I agree with a lot of the people that came up to speak that I'm just I know the details will be later, but I'm very interested in affordable housing, 30 to 60 percent AMI, the very affordable housing um as we come as we come back.

Um and also I just like kudos to our city treasurer, uh Mr.

Cobell.

Thank you so much for being creative, being innovative.

And I don't know you don't come to city council often for a lot of items, but this is like your big baby.

And here you are being able to present it.

And uh Terra City Attorney, thank you so much for your work on this.

Um, and really looking forward to next steps.

I don't know if you want to comment.

Well, well, I'd be remiss if I didn't Stacey Hussey's the one who came up with the idea.

She my chief investment officer, and she's the one who's really doing a great job since I turned over the portfolios to her.

I mean this year we did over 13 percent, our actual assumption six percent.

So the 110 that Matt mentions can probably be close to 120 percent.

That's amazing.

And then Matt and um Jeff Massey in the attorney's office, they've done great things for this.

So I'll take the credit, but I'll distribute it towards the well thank you, and that's why I just wanted to punch up real quick to give you and your office uh you know kudos on the work that you do since we don't get to see you very often.

So thank you.

By design.

Okay, thank you.

We do have a motion and a second.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any noes or abstentions?

Hearing none, item passes eight to zero.

So now that this item passes that two and three will be eligible for consideration, of course, and we'll hear those uh together.

City attorney.

Actually, it's me.

Um we're gonna have item two is the municipal election to call and give notice to the submittal of the voters and a question relating to the Sacramento City Employees Retirement System Termination Act, and the subsequent item is the November 3 municipal election calling for an impartial analysis and selection of the argument authors for one measure.

Okay.

The item two is the call and give notice to the submittal of the voters a question relevant related to the SCRS system and termination act.

It's the same item you just approved.

For item three, election code 9280 provides that the city council may direct the city clerk to transmit a copy of the measure to the city attorney for preparation of an impartial analysis.

The impartial analysis would be due back to the city clerk no later than July 31st at 5 p.m.

In order for the council to secure its position in the selection of the bar the ballot arguments, the in the event the clerk receives more than one argument in support or opposition, the council may select who will author and file the ballot arguments on the city council's behalf.

This action ensures that the city council's arguments have priority for printing in the official voter guide pursuant to selection criteria in the elections code.

If the city council or authorized members do not submit an argument for the measure, any individual voter who is eligible to vote on the measure, a bona fide association of citizens or any combination of voters and associations may submit an argument in support or opposition.

Up to five authors' names will be printed on the argument.

If the city council is a body chooses to submit an argument, at least one of the council members should be designated as an author.

If more than one argument is received for a given position, the clerk will follow the criteria outlined in Sacramento City Code, which revises the following author priority.

Excuse me, department director, or any eligible vote, any eligible individual to vote on the measure, a bona fide association of citizens or combination thereof.

Prior to the election, the city council shall adopt a resolution that establishes the res the regulations for prepare preparation of the ballot arguments.

Council took that action earlier at the 2 p.m.

meeting today.

Primary arguments are due in the office of the city clerk no later than 5 p.m.

on July 31.

Both supporting and opposing arguments must be received in order for a rebuttal argument period to be submitted.

If arguments both supporting and opposing are appropriately received, then each side will be given opportunity to provide a written rebuttal.

Rebuttal arguments, if required, are due in the office of the city clerk no later than 5 p.m.

on August 10th.

And that concludes my presentation.

Okay.

Thank you.

Do we have speakers on these?

We do not have speakers on item two or three.

Okay, thank you.

Councilmember Maple.

Mayor question, do we need two separate motions?

If you we can do item two and then item three separately, that would be good.

So I'll move item two.

Second.

Motion and a second on item number two.

All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

He knows or abstentions.

Hearing none, passes eight to zero.

Thank you.

And for oh, isn't it a specific one?

Yes.

Um, for item three, uh, and thank you for the background information on that for that item.

Uh, my motion would be to assign uh Mayor McCarty, Mayor Kurtum Guerra, and myself to work on developing ballot uh statement language along with stakeholders.

Okay.

All right.

We have a motion a second.

No speakers for that.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

He knows or abstentions.

Hearing none.

Item passes.

Thank you.

Congratulations.

Mayor, our next item is council comments ideas and questions.

Okay.

I have one.

A suggestion.

Is that allowed too?

This is my first one, I think, as mayor of Sacramento.

So all politics are local, local district issues.

So over in um, and I represent every district, of course.

So in Mr.

Uh Pluckybomb's district, we have um outstanding access to America River Parkway and our and our bike trails and walking trails and so forth.

And we have a new uh trail, it's recently uh finished on River Park.

Um, the Two Rivers Trail goes all the way to Sack State, and a new bike trail and bridge going over uh business 80, as we see that's about to open officially, but it's already unofficially opened.

Um there used to be an access gate through River Park through it.

Old city utility easement.

Uh city has has a gate there for the past several years.

It's been closed.

So as we've expanded these um bike and pedestrian um opportunities for Sacramento residents.

We want to make sure they're available for everybody.

So we want to focus on increasing access and opening up that uh gate over there in the river park neighborhood.

So want to um ask that the city staff work on that accordingly and make it happen.

Thank you.

Mayor, if I might before we progress when we made that motion, uh Councilmember Maple.

Was that for the argument in favor or the argument against, just for the record?

Okay, city attorney, is that sufficient?

Thank you.

Okay, thank you, Councilmember Kaplan.

Thank you, Mayor.

I have my AB 123 report.

I am an at-large director for Cal Cities, and we had a board meeting um this past week down in Redondo Beach.

There was a lot of healthy discussion of Cal City's positions on propositions.

Um we voted to support Prop One, which is the housing bond, uh, no position on Prop 45.

We were uh, which is a CEQA reform.

We were equally split.

And Councilmember Maple was it 43, the one that we voted no on uh for prop 43, which would make it actually harder for local jurisdictions to put uh citizen initiatives on the ballot, they'd have to pass by two thirds.

So thank your library bond.

Think of this, it would have to pass by two-thirds if Prop 43 passed.

So was it 43?

Yeah, yeah.

I don't know.

I'll look it up.

I think it was 43.

But that's my one, two, three report.

Okay, thank you.

Councilmember Maple.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, I also have uh the same AB 1234 report.

I also attended as a Cal City's board member in Redonda Beach.

Don't want to add to anything that Councilmember Kaplan did.

Great job.

And I have an additional one, two, three, four report.

Um so myself and Councilmember Jennings attended the Saint Cog Pier Region Tour in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

That was at the um end of last month, but I haven't been here um at a meeting since, and so I am making that report now.

And we had an incredible opportunity to learn um from their Metropolitan Council, their the various city councils of the of the twin cities, and learning about some of the innovative programs that they're doing there.

Um everything from transportation solutions, things like bus-only highway shoulders, transit-oriented development, and and many many more.

One of the things that I was most interested in as we've talked about doing um vacant to vibrant similar program in downtown, is they do something like that too.

Um, and they they call it chameleon shops, and there's all kinds so there's a lot of different opportunities um to to look at what other jurisdictions are doing.

Um, and Minneapolis is a true peer region to us, and not just in terms of um some of the programs that they're doing, but also in terms of population.

Um it's a very it's very analogous to Sacramento, so it was great to see uh a city that is similar in size to us and some of the similar challenges and how they're uh managing their solutions.

Thank you.

Okay.

Thank you, Councilmore Vang.

Thanks, Mayor.

I just have some announcement and also an AB 123 report.

Um, first, I want to give a shout out to my staff, hi Mr.

Vontis.

Um, if he's watching this.

Um, today Marks has eight years as full-time staff with the district office.

He actually started as my intern when I was a scheduler for a council member carr.

Um, was my intern for two years and then um was hired by council member carr.

Um, and then he stayed on.

Um, he's one of the um on the fifth floor, one of the longest standing staff on the fifth floor in the mayor council office.

Um, and then also want to give a shout out to Samantha too, because today uh she officially has been with my office for four years, and she is our director of strategic engagement.

So, shout out to uh the team.

As I always say, it's the team that makes the candidate, makes the elected.

It's never the elected, it's the team that you're with.

Um, and then just want to do a quick announcement.

Um encouraging folks to join the city's department of public works mobility and sustainability team for their urban biking and scooting one-on-one class this Thursday, July 23rd at Valley High North Laguna Library.

Um, you're come learn the basic of biking and scooting on street in Sacramento.

The class will be indoors and no bicycle or scooter is required.

Um, and you can sign up, get some free swag, go to Sacramento Bikes.org.

Um, and then for my one, two, three, four report, just wanted to report that this past month, I had the opportunity to attend a local progress conference in Baltimore and connected with many local city council members across the country, uh, really discuss uh lessons learned from Minnesota uh on the ways in which they were holding the line to protect immigrants.

Additionally, uh, it was really also really great to connect with other cities during the workshops about some really creative ways that local cities are actually addressing affordability.

Um, right now, I just some recent stats 60% of people across our country is worried about affording everyday expensive.

75% of Americans have cut back on non-essential expenses in the past six months.

57% have delayed major purchases uh in cities across the country.

And so I thought some cool solution I just wanted to share, and we're gonna be doing more research, is some cities are actually actually doing this, and I think Sacramento can also learn and figure out what worked for us.

Some of these solutions includes uh banning grocery from sharp from sharply raising prices to unfair levels, especially during city emergency.

We call it a city emergency in the city of Sacramento.

There are several cities that has done that.

Other city has also ended uh rental junk fees uh and passing other policy on corporate fees if they operate within the city.

Uh I thought that was really cool, and then also banning grocery and surveillance pricing in our cities because they could just uh change the price in one day within minutes, and so I thought those were really innovative ways to address affordability and have it directly impact our residents.

Um, and then lastly, um, this past weekend I had the opportunity to attend the AAPI lead summit this past weekend to represent the city of Sacramento as a proud uh only Asian American elected on the city council.

Uh at the summit, we discussed and shared a lot of lessons learned around language access uh in local government um and also ways to safeguard um AI and government.

Uh definitely a really robust debate uh during the summit about how to incorporate AI and government, uh, but took a lot of notes and really excited to share that with our city manager.

Um and those are um my report for AB 1234.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

Councilmember Jennings.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, I want to first find out if anybody out there likes a free concert that includes jazz.

Anybody out there like this?

So I'm gonna give you an opportunity to come this Friday, the 24th of July, at the Marriott Park in the pocket area of Sacramento to listen to the velvety tones of the Alex Reyes Quartet.

That'll take place from 6 to 8 p.m.

for this free, I did say free community event.

You bring your picnic chairs, your blankets, your friends, your family, and enjoy a relaxing summer evening.

And I hope I'll see you all there.

This is our second one.

We did Vivian Lee this past Friday.

We're gonna do Alex Reyes this Friday, and then the next Friday after that, we have another one.

So you gotta come to this one to find out who's gonna be at the next one, the third and the fourth one.

So we call it jazz in July.

Gotta come on out there, tell all your friends about it.

We want a big crowd like we had for Vivian Lee.

And then uh the final announcement is music in the park.

Uh this is gonna take place on Sunday.

Come meet the Curtis Park for music in the park from 6 to 8 p.m.

to experience the soulful sounds of the Northern California country and rock and roll with Steph Cali and the six-piece band.

Enjoy food from a variety of delicious food trucks and from Sacto Mofo and bring your lawn chairs and join your neighbors for another free and fun summer concert.

This is a great way to get to meet your neighbors, talk to your people in your neighborhood that you don't see.

They go in their house, they close their doors after work.

This opportunity for everybody come together and just have a great time.

So come on out.

I promise you, you'll enjoy it and you'll sit there and you'll do this all night long.

With me?

Yeah, I got you.

There we go.

All right.

Yes, okay, public comments.

Public comment matter is not on an agenda.

If you would please line to the aisle.

Karina Poland, followed by John Vignci and Marba Marbea Salah here in a mark.

I believe Karina is here.

Hi there.

Um I'm proud to be a disabled woman standing in front of you tonight.

I wasn't supposed to be here.

I was going to be an opera singer, believe it or not.

Now I have interpreters.

So take that what you will.

And the voice I thought I'd use my whole life was not the voice that would last.

So I found another voice.

I threw myself into research into policy and into disability justice, and I found a voice that could speak to you all today.

I'm proud of that girl who kept going when the first voice broke.

I'm also proud of the people who came before me.

The ones who sued, who marched, who refused to accept the violations of their basic human rights.

I'm standing on their shoulders.

Every right I have, they fought for first.

They were told to stay quiet and be grateful and said no.

They turned pain into policy and exclusion into a movement.

That is what disability pride is.

Not pride in spite of who we are, pride because of it.

I am proud.

And I feel it every day.

And even if you are not disabled, I want you to feel it too.

Not just tonight.

And here's how you can.

I submitted two written comments to you.

I've submitted a lot of written comments to you.

Sorry.

But they are not a complaint, believe it or not.

They are a record of what this city has promised disabled Sacramentans and what it has actually done.

Everything the applause tonight is supposed to represent is in those pages.

And I ask you to read them.

A proclamation is one day.

What I put in front of you is the other 11 months.

And it's waiting for you.

So I'm proud of my community.

I'm proud of you.

Thank you for your comments.

Your time's complete.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mary Tappel, followed by Sherry Martinez and Robert Copeland.

Hello, Mayor, members of the city council and city staff.

I'm I'm very happy to be able to address you tonight on my the continuing uh saga of uh our continued need for public safety and and public health cleanups along the Sacramento Northern Bike Trail.

And although when I went out today and in my vehicle to check to make sure I wasn't um out of date, uh, and I was delighted to see the police, and I know we are all um on their job, and they have been very necessarily involved in in cleaning up the bike trail, particularly the outlaw abuses that uh involved uh loaded weapons and and so on, and in our all too recent past of uh three years ago now.

But in any way, I still want to take put your attention to and all of our attentions to some of some of the continued uh uh problem areas that need uh continued monitoring and cleanup.

Also, we're all grateful to the park safety rangers and and our our city maintenance staff taking out the garbage.

But the uh there's a pinch point where you can enter along the Sacramento Northern Bike Trail to our Great American River Parkway, and it's the right you know, month, another national parks and recreation month.

It's the right month to continue to recognize this, and that's near where the old camp so-called camp resolution site was.

This was a very violent site, and periodically still people come and bring loose loose dogs who are acting aggressively and put up a tents and piles of garbage, etc.

The other one is the at the Grove and Altos um exercise um gazebo.

Periodically, it is so loaded with people who are not there to use use the exercise gazebo for for um publicly welcoming purposes, but to occupy it.

Um this needs to be continuously cleaned up so the general public.

Thank you for your comments.

Your comments are complete.

Sherry Martinez, followed by Robert Copeland and Russell Dawson Rowlings.

Good evening.

Um I'd like to back up what Mary said as far as our trail um at where the old camp resolution was.

There was really bad setup, and it had been cleaned up here recently, so that's great.

Thank you.

Now there's a bunch of rubbish, but I think you know, hopefully the city can get to that and continue to keep our trails clean.

Um I am proud to announce the D23rd annual D2 bike fest will take place on Saturday, October 3rd at 10 a.m.

at 11 a.m.

We'll embark on our short community bike ride, followed by a complimentary lunch.

We'll also have a free raffle of bikes.

I'd like to thank Sacramento Bike Kitchen, the American River Bike Patrol, Bike Party Sacramento, Sacktown Cruisers, West Coast Wednesday, Fairfield Bicycles, Attic Man Heating, Cooling and Air, Slowdown Sacramento, Hope Harmony and Healing, and Mayor McCarty for joining heard that today.

That was really great.

This is a completely free event, so we rely on community service and collaboration.

Um, congratulations to Mayor Kevin McCarty for earning a turnout jacket from the fire department.

I'm pretty excited for you about that.

And also the Tower Bridge.

It's the first vertical lift bridge in California Highway System.

It's the most iconic and most photographed bridge in Sacramento.

For the last three months, the Tower Bridge has been dim.

Each side of the two towers usually have lights that showcase the beauty of the bridge.

And only one of the four lights is working.

Every Wednesday evening, the West Coast Wednesday cycling community gathers at the waterfront to enjoy the view of the old Sacramento has to offer.

I'm pleased to see the wooden waterfront sign replaced.

Let's keep the momentum going and restore our tower bridge to its full potential.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Robert Copeland, followed by Russell Dawson Rawlings.

Hi, my name is Robert Copeland.

I'm a pre vice president of Doc, but with disability rights group here in Sacramento.

I spent more time at the Capitol at hearings.

Sacramento must do better for the rights of disabled people here in Sacramento.

Whether it's housing that's accessible, I don't want to hear that from any of you.

I mean that a lot of the hands are not ADA compliant that's being built.

And uh 30 counties in Sacramento, a one-bedroom apartment is more than entire SSI check.

And including Sacramento, and we're a pro-housing city.

I don't think so.

We need to build more housing that's low income and very low income.

And last of all, uh you want to make a non-smoking city.

There's gonna be a lot of people against that that are smokers.

And want to support my bank for Congress.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Russell Dawson Rawlings, followed by Lambert Davis and Brian Kral.

Sure, we're on our way.

Thank you, Mayor and members of council.

It's really great to be here with you all this evening.

Um I'm Russell Dawson Rawlings.

I am a proud resident of District 4.

And as you've heard from from many folks this evening, uh Sacramento's disability community is large and vibrant.

And I am super proud that we are finally acknowledging through resolution the presence of our community.

Uh, as a former chair of the disability advisory commission, I am aware of very severe problems that the commission, that's one of the longest standing commissions that the city's had going back to the passage of the ADA.

It's always been uh back burnered.

Um I recently met a commissioner who has yet to uh meet with any council members um officially, including the um PPE process that I went through back uh gosh, more than a decade ago when I was appointed to the council.

So I would um you know, I I really understand you know what disability pride means, but as uh you heard already, you don't get proud by just saying you are, you get proud by doing something.

You get proud by practicing.

There's a terrific poem.

I recommend you look that up.

You get proud by practicing.

And I would just note that the city's budget cycle wraps up immediately prior to Disability Pride Month.

Perhaps next year we can ensure that more city services and a fully dedicated ADA coordinator is present in city staff going forward.

Thank you.

Thank you, Lambert Davis, followed by Brian Kral.

Let's go right first.

So thank you for waking me up.

Oh, I love that.

Thanks for being honest.

We were in Southern California for the weekend, and uh what an incredible time we did down there.

Um I do want to emphasize to the city manager there's a lot of good reports coming towards you uh from uh inside Sacramento.

They're big fans of ours, and my suggestion and the city attorney should be on top of that.

It says city manager's report, it doesn't say just public comment.

So you want to make sure you acknowledge that.

It even said when I went to a lot of meetings that it just requires a brief report.

It doesn't even have to be long.

People who were here before you, they they just ran roughshod over until I put the pressure on them.

Then they start making up all kinds of stuff.

Uh I'm reaching out to Mayor uh McCarty in a good way because uh I don't think you deserve to be uh maligned like you are verbally.

Uh in the past, they used to have people remove people like that.

That sacrifices people like me who don't interrupt, and then I have to leave the rostrum.

I mean, I have to leave here.

So that that should be handled a lot more professionally.

I'm reaching out to Mr.

Dickison too, because the Sacramento Bee, as I said at two o'clock, I didn't even know about it until I got back.

The Sacramento B has nominated our business for the best dessert and the uh best customer service.

You cannot buy, you can't put a dollar value on that kind of endorsement.

Shout out to the Sacramento B.

Thank you, Brian Kral.

Uh good evening, uh City Council, Mayor.

Uh, can we all start off by giving ourselves just a big round of applause for doing the best job we can every day?

Just uh, yeah, you guys do a fantastic job.

Uh my name is Brian.

I'm the founder and executive director of the Sacramento Comedy Spot.

Uh we have been on 20th and J Street for 17 years.

Uh this is my 25th year making funnies in Sacramento.

Uh, I'm very happy to be here.

I love Sacramento.

I super love Midtown.

I'm here with a bunch of people from the Comedy Spot that help uh make this city uh funny place to be uh and spread laughs throughout the city.

And I'm here today because I just wanted to talk to you and ask you if we could possibly reverse uh rolling out uh restrictive parking on 20th around J Street.

Uh it's hurting business in that area.

And uh I think that we would do well to reverse that and uh encourage people to come to Sacramento.

I'll keep with my notes because I tend to go on tangents, but um parking citation is currently 77.

Uh that's a massive mistake for someone who comes down and uh wants to enjoy a comedy show or eat a dinner and then they realize now they have a $77 ticket.

Uh it in it it doesn't invest in Main Street, it divests in Main Street.

It encourages people to stay away from Midtown.

Uh so uh I would ask you to help us and other businesses in the area to reverse uh the parking restrictions between 6 and 10 p.m.

Uh also uh just so you know, I don't think there's adequate signage down there right now.

Uh just this past Friday, there were four cars lined up that all had tickets.

Um I don't think that they were all rolling the dice to see if they could get away with it.

I think that they just didn't know they had to pay.

And I don't think all four of those people will come back to Sacramento if they're from outside of Midtown.

Anyway, thank you for your time.

Uh, I really appreciate everything you do for Sacramento.

Have a good day.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comment, Mayor.

That concludes our public speaking.

Okay, thank you.

With that, we'll adjourn.