When I hear the end you pass on kissing you soon subsides I'm in love with me reaches in your tire me up.

I'm tired of love.

I lost myself is better than I said now.

It was a thousand one in a million two time gold down flames and taking you close to the end.

I'm sad one day we'll be in the game, can you imagine time on the truth fell free song?

Death of a dream close to every story for pride.

I will never regret that doubt I will live that down.

I will never forget that now.

I will never regret that now.

I will make my love.

It's hard to live in the city.

Yes, it's hard to live so hard to live in the city.

I've been found before blocks, and I wish that you'd stop and tell me your name.

But I couldn't understand what you told me as you ran.

So just weigh your head down alone.

Don't let anybody know that it's hard to live.

Don't let anybody know that it's hard to live to live in city.

So live city.

This is just a little bit while you went out.

Why you carry ourselves?

And I got just one time.

Take it off me.

Take it off.

You better stand.

Take it off me.

Take it on me.

Take it on me.

Take it on me.

So you don't feel it.

Take it on me.

Cross lines I shouldn't have cried I was lost how long was she away how old she would pay how was she away I was scared I was scared tired and under prepared But I wait for it If you go if you go leave me down here alone and I wake up was she away how old was she away so back on state Crawl and sing it out and now I call it sing it out to me I mean come back and sing in my place in my place with lines that I couldn't change and I was lost oh yeah oh yeah Tell me what's wrong with society when everywhere I look at sea young girls died to me on TV and won't stop till they freak their dreams value pills surgery photoshop pictures in magazines telling them how they should be it doesn't make sense to me is everybody go crazy is anybody gonna save me anybody tell me what's going on tell me what's going on if you open your eyes don't see that something is no I guess things are not how they used to be there's no more normal families

I guess we're all just too dead busy.

And money's our first priority.

It doesn't make sense to me.

All right, folks, we're going to get started.

Good morning.

I will now call the city council meeting of Tuesday, September 16th, twenty twenty-five to order.

Clerk, please call the roll.

Thank you, Council President.

Council Member Campbell.

Councilmember Whitburn.

Here.

Councilmember Foster.

Here.

Councilmember Von Wolper.

Council President Pro Tem Lee.

Here.

Councilmember Campillo.

Councilmember Moreno.

President.

Councilmember Elo Rivera.

And Council President Lacava.

Also attending the meeting, our city attorney Heather Ferber, Deputy Director in the IBA's office, Jillian Andalina.

Council of Fairs Advisors in the Mayor's Office, Coda Seizer, and myself, your city clerk, Deanna Fuentes.

Thank you, Council President.

Thank you, City Clerk.

We will begin the quorum is now present.

We will begin this morning with the land acknowledgement and the Pledge of Allegiance led by Council President Pro Tem Lee.

Today, they carry their legacy forward, ensuring that their traditions continue to thrive in gratitude and strength.

We stand with the Kumeayay Nation, connected to our past and committed to a thriving future.

One nation under God.

The order can be found on the agenda summary found online or at the table in the back of the room.

If you are in person, please complete a speaker slip located at the entrance of chambers and bring it to the front of the room into the clear box.

Council ambassadors are available near the entrance and can assist with questions and speaker slips.

No further input person testimony will be taken once the council begins virtual testimony.

Thank you, Council President.

All right, thank you.

With that, we will now dispense with the approval of the proclamation items.

Clerk, please proceed with public comment.

Thank you.

The public comment period for proclamation items is now open.

Each speaker will have one minute per item per person.

If you would like to speak on three or more items, you will have a maximum of three minutes.

The proclamation items being approved are items 30 through 33, S501 through S504, and S508.

We did not receive any comments on proclamations via the e-comment portal, and we do not have anybody here in Council Chambers.

Oh if you can please come to the microphone, Audra.

You'll have two minutes.

You're speaking on items 31 and 32.

Please proceed.

Yes.

So we have um San Diego Hunger Awareness Month with uh Whitburn here, who is engaged in Tent City, who is allowing people to die.

So it's a little bit sad when we have people that are we have awareness of things, but it's like we don't really do anything to stop it.

So it's like it doesn't really help that we're just like this is here.

It's like, are we gonna do anything about that?

Are we going to make sure that people aren't you know starving and you know, you increase fees and stuff like that, making it very difficult for people to eat, and then with the federal government cutting funding for services because of the decisions that public officials have made, it's just really sad to see that we like you know just do things for awareness.

Um making sure that you know we know it's happening.

Good for you guys.

Um, it'd be nice for one day for it to not need to be an awareness for you guys to actually mitigate the issues, but it's a business.

Anything that you would get rid of wouldn't bring in any more money, so why would you stop it?

Um, and then National Service Dog Month.

This, you know, would seemingly be good too, but then we have like, you know, the humane society and all of these um, you know, uh entities that are supposed to be, you know, helping dogs and stuff, and they're actually putting them to sleep because they're you know too nice or different things like that, and they actually go into Tent City and force people to either get rid of their dogs or you know, uh spate and neuter them and different things.

And these people, this is their livelihood.

So it's just you guys like to sit up here and virtue signal like you're really doing something good, but you know, just the world around us is a reflection that that's you know not true.

And so for you to be doing those things all the time, it's like it'd be proof in the pudding if if things around us actually changed and got better and didn't just continually start to just like go downhill on a constant basis.

It's really sad, but good for your proclamations.

I'm sorry, the five-minute timer here in Council Chambers going to those participating remotely, starting with 8700.

If you can please unmute and let me know which item or items you wish to speak to.

Yes, good morning.

Uh 30, excuse me, 31, 503, and 508, please.

You'll have three minutes, please proceed.

Thank you so much.

Uh 31 San Diego hunger uh awareness month.

Uh estimated total 349,000 in the city of San Diego.

That's astronomical.

Uh 83,000 are children, 68,000 are adults.

So we've got two very vulnerable populations there.

Thank you, Jacobs and Cushman.

Uh San Diego Food Bank.

Thank you, San Diego Hunger Coalition.

My favorite whereas is the San Diego Food Bank continues to expand its reach, nourishing those in need, and advancing the vision of a better informed hunger-free community.

I love that.

A better informed hunger-free community.

We must be better informed on the hunger issues.

Thank you, everyone.

503, San Diego Fire Rescue Foundation Day, which is today, uh, September 18th, 2025.

For 20 years, provide they provided resources, equipment, and support, and a bridge between the community and first responders.

For 20 years, provide, they provided resources, equipment and support, and a bridge between the community and first responders, enhance safety and resilience of the city of San Diego and its residents.

I just love those two beautiful words, safety and resilience.

And any time you can provide a bridge that people can cross and be together and compromise and compromise and cooperation.

It's it's it really is beautiful.

Thank you to the entire foundation for all your work.

From a whereas, love these words, taking advantage of our glorious natural assets, the sunny and starry skies of San Diego.

Thank you, Harriet Gill, founder of the Friends of San Diego Architecture.

I attended and love, love, love, love the meetings, the monthly lectures, excuse me, the monthly lectures at the New School of Architecture.

I met so many fabulous people there in the world of architecture.

It was new to me, and I loved every minute of it.

And the whereas, thank you to everyone who continues to carry the torch lit by Mrs.

Gill.

President Lakava, I love the prox being at the beginning of the meeting.

Thank you, everyone who made that.

Thank you for letting me speak.

In recognition of National Service Dog Month, I would like to acknowledge that the these dogs service on behalf of veterans, service dogs paired with veterans suffering from PTSD, are about 66% less likely to be diagnosed with PTSD.

In recognizing the importance of service dogs, please, I would like the city to please recognize that veterans living in states with service dogs may have fewer PTSD, higher quality of life.

And also please recognize that the veterans' homes, the low-income housing that the claim is for veterans, be able to accommodate their service dogs as well, and putting them in densely populated apartment buildings with no recreational outside facilities and not enough room to walk around 450 square feet, is not barely enough room for one person, no less a dog.

So thank you for taking that into consideration.

Thank you.

That concludes public comment for the proclamations.

All right, thank you, City Clerk.

I will turn it over to my council colleagues for questions and comments, and we'll entertain a motion as well.

We'll start with Council Member Moreno.

Thank you so much, Council President.

Um, I have comments on S504.

Uh, yesterday was the beginning of Hispanic Heritage Month, which is celebrated from September 15th through October 15th.

Uh, this month um uh honors the rich history and vibrant culture and also countless contributions of Hispanics and Latinos.

That is why it's an honor to stand here today and recognize Miss Fanny Miller, whose leadership vision and impact have shaped not only San Diego's Latino community, but the national conversation around Hispanics in media.

Ms.

Miller is a pioneer at just 21 years old.

She founded El Latino Newspaper.

If you want to come up, Fanny, yeah, please.

Let's have her come up.

So at 21 years old, she founded El Latino Newspaper, now the number one Hispanic newspaper in San Diego County, and the largest Hispanic woman-owned Spanish language newspaper in California.

For nearly four decades, El Latino has given a voice to our Spanish speaking community and told stories that matter.

In addition, El Latino has offered invaluable historical perspectives and illuminated pivotal moments that have shaped the course of history.

She earned she's earned numerous national honors, including Women of the Year in Media, the NFL Hispanic Heritage Leadership Award, the Hispanic Marketing Lifetime Achievement Award.

Beyond her work in the media, this is not it, you guys.

Beyond her work in the media, Miss Miller has lent her leadership to numerous, too many boards and commissions to uh to list off here, and also community organizations.

She's also dedicated herself to improving the lives of children in need, impacting the lives lives of over 500 children, and adopting three into her own family.

God bless you for that.

Ms.

Miller, your work has informed, inspired, and transformed lives.

You have built platforms, opened doors, and created lasting change.

And so today, on behalf of this uh city of San Diego, I'm proud to proclaim September 16th, 2025 as founding Miller Day in the city of San Diego.

Congratulations.

I also I'd like to cede my time if you'd like to make any comments.

Wow.

Muchas gracias.

Thank you, Vivian.

So this is my first time here.

I mean, not in this space, but the first time actually receiving a proclamation, so I don't know what to do.

So I just want to say, you know, it's uh been a privilege to serve San Diego.

I am um, like you mentioned, I started I was 21.

I am from Colombia.

I came to the States at the early age of 13.

Um, love my community.

There's so much more to do.

Um, you know, I I'm not that really that old.

I just started early, uh, but I'm really thankful for you know everything that you do, and thank you for everything that you guys do for our community.

And you know, we're here um 38 years, and we'll probably be here for another 38 years.

I know that Hispanic print or any print doesn't have you know a good rap, and we don't talk very positive about it.

But just want to let you know that since I started in 1988, I've been dying and I'm still here.

So newspapers are just a different venue.

We serve.

We have 40,000 copies every week uh throughout the county.

We started in Oceansay and we go all the way to um you know to San Isidro and um, you know, welcome all of you guys to be part of it.

I know that uh uh Councilman Campillo send a you know um a video and he's very he sends me a lot of stuff.

So uh, you know, we would we do want to publish what you guys do to our community, and we do do it in Spanish, and we also have a platform in English.

But thank you very much.

Um agradezco de corazon.

Muchas gracias.

Thank you, thank you.

And Council President, with that, I'm happy to make a motion uh to move the proclamations.

Thank you.

All right, thank you, Councilmember.

So we do have a motion to move the proclamation by Councilmember Moreno, and we will go next to Council President Pro Tem Lee.

Thank you, Council President.

I'll start off by second seconding the proclamation's agenda.

Uh, and I'm going to be speaking to item 31, which is San Diego Hunger Awareness Month.

Um want to thank um Councilmember Campio, who um I know couldn't join us today, uh, but their office helped to bring this proclamation forward.

Uh, and we're joined by Councilmembers Whitburn and Councilmember Von Wilpert in proclaiming September to be uh San Diego Hunger Awareness Month here in the city of San Diego.

Um hunger affects nearly 350,000 San Diego residents, including children, seniors, veterans, students, and countless working families who struggle to access three nutritious meals a day.

Hunger Awareness Month shines a light on this issue and calls on our community to come together with compassion and action to ensure a hunger-free region.

Um today we're especially proud to highlight the work of the Jacobs and Cushman uh San Diego Food Bank, which is the county's largest hunger relief organization and their vital role that they play in combating hunger throughout this um throughout the greater county of San Diego.

Um I will say I've had the opportunity to volunteer at the food bank back when I was a student uh at UCSD.

We've had an opportunity to work together, and we're very proud to call the San Diego Food Bank um home in District 6.

And so I'm gonna invite Casey Castillo, who's the chief executive officer of the food bank to share more about their great work.

Thanks, Councilmember.

Uh good morning.

I'm Casey Castillo, CEO of the Jacobs and Cushman San Diego Food Bank.

First, I'd like to thank Councilmember Campillo, along with Council President Pro Tim Lee and Councilmembers Von Wilpert and Whitburn for this proclam proclamation recognizing September as uh Hunger Awareness Month in the city of San Diego.

Hunger hides in plain sight and the consequences of not investing in solutions affect us all.

A recent uh study conducted by San Diego State University for us found that the primary need for our services is a direct result of rising costs.

76% of respondents cited this as the reason for visiting the food bank, with 45% of respondents adding that they just don't receive enough income to manage costs in our region.

With 45% of respondents adding that they just don't receive enough income to manage costs in our region.

Last fiscal year we ended this past June distributing 19.3 million pounds of food.

That's equivalent to 16 million meals just here in the city of San Diego, and more than 44 million meals countywide.

Serving as a food safety net for more than 400,000 people per month requires many impactful partnerships, and I want to thank the City Council and Mayor Gloria for their incredible support.

These partnerships are more important than ever as more than 96,000 CalFresh recipients in San Diego County may be impacted by HR 1 and its changes to the program.

We know the path forward to meet this challenge requires collaboration, and we are committed to working together with elected officials of all levels to find innovative solutions to keep people enrolled on CalFresh our best tool to fight hunger.

Today also I would like to thank publicly our 450 nonprofit distribution partners, our amazing 16,000 volunteers, and our dedicated board of directors, and all the incredible generous donors who support our programs and services each and every month.

And finally, a special thank you to a launderist, CEO of the Hunger Coalition, and I have Joseph here with me today.

We want to thank the whole team at the Hunger Coalition for partnering with us on Hunger Awareness Month and for all the work they do countywide.

Thank you again for this recognition.

Your support and collaboration helps us ensure our ability to assist thousands of families, veterans, military families, and seniors in the city of San Diego, each and every day through our regional network of services.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Council President.

Thank you, Casey and the entire team, as well as the Hunger Coalition, for the work that you're doing in Advocacy.

Every year.

All right.

Uh thank you.

So we have a motion by Councilmember Moran, I'll second by Council President Pro Tem Lee.

We'll go next to Councilmember Von Wolford.

Um thank you to my colleagues for bringing forth fantastic proclamations.

As usual, um, congratulations to everyone here.

I also want to thank um Casey for all the work you do at the San Diego uh food bank.

It's been an incredibly hard time as well, given the cuts to nutritional programs that the federal government has been making recently, and I know it's hit everyone from our food distributors to our farmers to our food banks very hard.

So thank you for the resilience in the work you're doing to make sure that San Diegans are still getting access to safe and nutritious food.

I too have volunteered at the food bank, uh, especially during the pandemic, and it was an incredible experience.

Um I highly recommend uh volunteering there.

Um, I also want to thank the San Diego Hunger Coalition for the work you do year-round to bring attention to this issue.

Um, we have incredible partners here, including Mama's Kitchen and Meals on Wheels and others, and uh, it's an incredible place uh to volunteer at any of these organizations.

So I highly encourage people to do that.

Um, I also want to recognize National Service Dog Awareness Month.

It's incredibly humbling to be able to think that service dogs uh are able to open doors and access for people in ways that we human beings can't do.

Um, they're more than companions, they're actually highly trained animals that are eligible to be in most public places under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

However, we're seeing that they don't always have access that they need to have.

So that's why awareness and education is so critical.

And also remember, when you see a service dog at work, uh please don't pet or distract the service dog unless you ask permission, of course, um, even though I know they are very cute.

Um, I also a very big supporter of canine companions that are service dogs across our nation uh as well as all the therapy dogs out there.

I've been to many hospitals, especially veterans associations and seen how well people respond to service dogs uh in in our nation.

So thank you very much to everyone who's promoting service dogs today.

And also uh San Diego Fire Rescue Foundation Day.

I'm honored to present this proclamation recognizing the 20th anniversary of the San Diego Rescue Foundation.

The foundation was created in 2005 to provide critical resources, equipment, and support to our San Diego Fire Rescue Department, including our lifeguards.

Uh, for the past two decades, the foundation has served as a vital bridge between our community and first responders, and they fill the funding gaps to make sure our firefighters and lifeguards have the tools, training, and technology they need to protect people's lives.

Uh, beyond equipment and training, the foundation has also invested in community wildfire preparedness programs, workforce development initiatives like the Girls Empowerment Camp and the Women's Fire Prep Academy, to incredible programs.

I am very, very supportive of.

We need to get more women into our first responders' ranks.

Um, and these efforts are made possible through the generosity of donors and volunteers and have directly strengthened the resilience of San Diego.

So as we celebrate this 20-year milestone, we honor not only the foundation's impact but also the commitment of everyone who has contributed to this mission over the years.

And I'm very excited for the event coming up on Thursday, so we can proclaim September 18th, 2025 as San Diego Fire Rescue Foundation Day.

Thank you very much again to my colleagues for the incredible proclamations, and I will support the motion.

All right, thank you, Councilmember Von Wilpert.

We'll go next to Councilmember Ela Rogero.

Thank you, Council President.

I'll make this super brief.

I just wanted to um say thank you to my colleagues, Council President Pro Tem Lee, Whitburn, Von Wilpert, and uh Campbell for bringing forward the San Diego Hunger Awareness Month proclaim proclamation.

Thank you to our friends at the food bank and uh the Hunger Coalition for the work that you do.

Um, as has been mentioned, it's increasingly important as more and more people are depending on the the food that you all provide to ensure that they have what they need.

And um, last but not least, um thank you, Councilmember Moreno for um recognition uh for bringing forward the Fannie Miller Day proclamation.

Um the individual uh uh accomplishments of Ms.

Miller, I think are certainly worth uh recognizing on any day, especially important uh to recognize as we kick off Hispanic Heritage Month and see the broad spectrum of contributions that the Latino community, Hispanic community have um have made here in San Diego and across the country.

So thank you for doing that.

Um thank you, Council President.

All right, thank you, Councilmember Ila Rivera.

We'll go next to Councilmember Campbell.

Thank you, Council President, and thanks for all the proclamations and congrats to all the proclamation recipients.

First of all, I want to start out by saying congratulations to our neighbors to the South, where Mexico and other countries are celebrating their independence over the next few weeks, and Mexico today is independence day.

Um I would like to speak on PROC S502 and 503.

Uh thank you uh for recognizing Pacific Beach Town Council's 45th Annual Police and Emergency Services Appreciation Night, otherwise known as Paison, which in Pittsburgh, where I moved here from means Italian.

So when I first heard about this, I thought, oh, we have Italians in San Diego.

That's great.

I'm sure we do have some anyway.

But this wonderful event is hosted by the Pacific Beach Town Council to recognize and thank the first responders who serve our city day in and day out.

And you know what?

Maybe uh council president Lukava.

Hey, pays on.

I love it.

In Pittsburgh, about half the people were posed.

Okay.

For the first four years of my term, I was proud to represent the Pacific Beach community.

I now want to thank the Pacific Beach Town Council for hosting their event each year in honor of our city's first responders.

This year's Paison will take place September 24th at D Anza Code Park, and we'll be dedicated to San Diego Life Guard Services for all their incredible work, keeping residents and visitors safe at our city's beaches.

Each year they actually save thousands of lives, people who are drowning.

That's amazing how many they save.

They have a difficult job to do, and to help make it a little easier this year.

I've secured funding for a new ATV for the department to be based at the OB Lifeguard Station.

As city leaders, it's important that we make our first responders to be able to have the resources they need to continue to protect our residents and to keep them safe.

Next, or uh speaking of the wonderful fire rescue department, I'd also like to recognize San Diego Fire Rescue Foundation Day.

The nonprofit fire rescue foundation was established 20 years ago by former firefighters and community leaders.

They support the city's fire rescue department by ensuring that they have the technology and training they need to protect San Diegans.

The Fire Rescue Foundation does more than just supplement funding, as Councilmember Moreno, uh I'm sorry, Councilmember Von Wilpert pointed out.

They also work directly with the community by hosting a variety of programs like fire preparedness and prevention workshops.

Congratulations to the Fire Rescue Foundation on reaching this milestone, and thank you for all that you do to support our firefighters and lifeguards.

And thank you, Councilmember Moreno, for your recognition of this fabulous woman who's here today with us and for our Independence Day.

Thank you.

All right, thank you, Councilmember Campbell.

We'll go next to Councilmember Whitburn.

Thank you, Council President.

Uh item 31, uh September being hunger awareness month is a stark reminder that too many of our neighbors are still going without enough food.

And here in San Diego, thousands of children and families and seniors struggled with food insecurity every single day.

It's unacceptable that it's up to all of us to change that.

And I want to thank our local nonprofits and food banks and volunteers who work day in and day out to make sure that San Diego's don't go hungry.

Their selfish work saves a lot of lives.

Our police officers and firefighters, EMTs, and other first responders, their dedication, courage, and professionalism, ensure that Pacific Beach and other neighborhoods remain places where people can thrive.

But I want to acknowledge the Pacific Beach Town Council for fostering this tradition of gratitude and community support.

And on item five, S503, uh thank you to Councilmember Vod Wilper for bringing forward San Diego Fire Rescue Foundation Day, where we honor the incredible support of our fire rescue department.

Over 1.4 billion San Diego visitors rely on our expertly trained firefighters, lifeguards, and paramedics.

Uh no matter the challenge these met, and women deliver top quality emergency response services every day.

Uh special thank you to Marcella Escobar Lug with the Foundation's executive team and board of directors for their leadership and tireless dedication.

Thank you, Council President.

All right, thank you, Councilmember Whitburn.

Uh, not seeing anybody else on the lights, I'll jump in.

Uh let's see, S501, La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club's 90th anniversary, established in 1935 by founder Frederick William Kellogg, a La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club is nestled in the heart of La Jolla Shores and is now led by fourth generation Kellogg, William Kettellog.

The club remains deeply connected to the La Jolla community, reflecting the Kellogg's family's during enduring commitment to the community.

The La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club is a landmark for championship tennis matches, drawing renowned athletes and countless tennis fans to the La Jolla community.

And despite periodic remodels and upgrades, the Kellogg family has maintained the integrity of the property's 1930s origins.

And I invite William Kellogg to come up and say a few words.

Thank you, Council President Lacava and the entire council.

I've only been on the job for 46 years at this point.

But uh, you know, it's I'm proudest of what the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club has been able to do for the community over the years.

My great grandmother was Florence Scripps Kellogg, the uh the niece of Ellen Browning's scripts, which she probably know what an impact she had in the community.

Our families continued that.

Florence Scripps Kellogg donated Kellogg Park to the city to ensure that there would be public access to the beach.

And uh they uh and the club has uh played a pivotal role in keeping uh the area clean and trash free.

Uh my uh great-grandparents also set up the deed restrictions for lots in La Jolla shores that guaranteed that it wasn't going to turn into a Miami beach.

We ended up with low-level houses in the front.

It has a neighborhood feel, and they've had uh really an amazing impact on the community.

My grandfather William Scripps Kellogg, uh many people may not realize that he was president of the Scripps Clinic uh for uh for uh twelve twelve or thirteen years, 1946, I think, to 1943 to 1956, and then was also president of Scripps Memorial Hospital.

And uh, you know, I've gotten pretty involved in community impacts too, including Mount Soledad and uh the uh development of the Barnes Tennis Center down in San Diego.

So I think that uh we've been good stewards, and we look forward to uh many more years of supporting the community and helping it grow, and and I thank you very much for this uh terrific reckon recognition.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir, for those good years.

And I'll mention when we discontinue the fireworks at La Jolla Cove.

Uh Mr.

Kellogg and the Beach and Tennis Club stepped up with fourth with uh drone show on the 4th of July of the past three years.

Item 508, S508, Friends of San Diego Architecture 40th Anniversary Day.

Want to congratulate uh the organization on their 40th anniversary.

Was founded to bring design professionals together with the public to explore our built environment.

They continue to present monthly lectures at the new school of architecture and design, which is now held at the History Center in Balboa Park.

And before being elected, I loved attending those uh dialogues.

So thank you for continuing that dialogue between professionals and the public, and I invite Mike Stepner to say a few words.

She founded it for people to understand the importance of the quality of design for the broader community and for design professionals to understand how what they do impacts the quality of life in our community.

So I'm very thankful for the proclamation, and thank you to the council.

I'll join in with Councilmember Campbell to recognize S502, Pacific Beach Town Council's 45th annual Pizon Day, which raises awareness of the work done by our uh police and emergency services, appreci uh services, uh, and an annual recognition uh as we affectionately called uh Pizon.

For those who aren't familiar, as Councilmember Campbell relayed, serves to raise the money for our first responders who valiantly serves the city of San Diego, and during each event, the Pacific Beach Town Council provides first responders with a community barbecue and award ceremony that recognizes outstanding lifeguards, firefighters, police, park rangers, and park maintenance staff.

This wouldn't be possible without the dedicated Pacific Beach Town Council.

Thank you for hosting one of the most beloved traditions in now, District One.

Uh, and then I'll close with uh since Councilmember Campillo is here, but something that's a little personal to me, item thirty, which is recognizing the Edwin Benjamin Branch Library, uh, sixtieth anniversary, which is located in Ally Gardens.

Some of you may know that I grew up in Alley Gardens about two blocks from this library, and yes, I was there on opening day sixty years ago.

Uh, and got quite in trouble because I lingered in the library and I didn't tell my mother I was going to come home late.

And being at the library was apparently not a sufficient excuse for being late.

Uh anyway, but congratulations.

Uh, sixty years uh is a lot to uh be grateful for and how important that library is in the heart of Allied Gardens.

So with that, not seeing anybody else on the lights, we have a motion by Councilmember Moreno, second by Council President Pro Tim Lee.

Clerk, please call the roll.

I'm sorry, the voting system, please cast your vote.

And that passes unanimously.

Eight to zero with Council Member Campio absent.

Thank you, Council President.

All right, we're gonna do some pictures in the pit.

And Heidi, please guide the recipients.

Thank you.

All right, as everybody settles in, we will now proceed with the approval of the consent items.

Is there any request to pull any of the consent items?

Seeing none.

Uh, clerk, please proceed with public comment on the consent.

Thank you, Council President.

Please note each speaker, we'll have one minute per person.

If you would like to speak on three or more items, you'll have a maximum of three minutes.

The consent agenda includes items S five oh five, S five oh six, and S five oh seven.

You're speaking on all three items, and Evelyn is seeding you time.

So you'll have um six minutes, please proceed.

I mean, it's about control, obviously, but we don't really talk about airplanes and you know, the pollution and all of the greenhouse gases that causes, and the fact that this airport is right above homes and has had many crashes happen and destroys some homes and people have died and due to faulty equipment at the um airport and different things like that.

And obviously, if you're going to rehabilitate it, those would hopefully be things that you're going to fix, but you know, why don't we talk about that kind of stuff?

You know, we don't talk about how, you know, people that are pushing all of this, you know, sustainability stuff, or people who have private jets that fly around and you know, are the ones emitting greenhouse gases.

It's like we always just want to, you know, share one side of it like we're we're really just, you know, doing something virtuous.

It's like we always just wanna, you know, share one side of it, like we're we're really just you know doing something virtuous, but when you lie to the people, it's like how many planes are gonna be used or go from that airport that are you know, um, spraying chemtrails that you guys pretend are contrails or that don't exist that actually affect the people.

I mean, lead fuel, you're offering you know, lead-free fuel at the airport, but like I mean, it's flying right over home.

So, like, when do is it just sometimes that you care if it's you know something that's gonna make you look good if you're running?

I mean, because you claim to care about people, but it's like only in certain situations, right?

Like Tent City, we don't care about them.

Doesn't matter if they die.

I'm sure 10 more people are gonna die by the time you guys do something about it.

But I mean, we allow all of this stuff to take place, you know, and then it's like all your stuff you were doing yesterday with the parking, it's like that doesn't that money ain't gonna go where you guys say.

But it is to push people into a place where we're not gonna be driving.

That's why you get rid of parking spots.

That's why you take away lanes, that's why you don't even fix the roads.

And it's just sad because it's like if people could really see what you were doing, and if you understood it, because it's like if you understand what you're doing and you're doing it anyway, like socialist Sean, that's disturbing.

But it's even more sad to know that if you're doing it and you don't understand it and you don't think that there's chemtrails, but you're not willing to go and look.

I mean, that's spraying nano particulates on the people that are deadly.

It's like, I mean, we even put fluorine in the water, but hey, that's okay, it's good for your teeth, right?

So I mean, you can't on one hand push something like that and say, like, you know, we want to save the planet when you're engaged in things that go against that.

I mean, do you really care about the planet, Marnie?

Like, why why can't we look into the cloud seating that was happening with planes, right?

Above us.

They have experiments that they do, they have these programs that they do, and then people suffer, people will die, they lose stuff, and then it's like you guys can't keep up with the infrastructure either.

But I mean, why don't you care about that kind of stuff?

You just think it's propaganda, you just don't want to look into it.

I mean, I would love it if you would prove me wrong.

I would love it if you would do some kind of study for the things that you guys do and for the climate stuff, and not just listen to people that are pushing an agenda, like a globalist agenda, like the United Nations.

Like, listen to people who have studied it.

I mean, even from the weather, uh, the weather guides like they've been talking about this kind of stuff for a long time that they can control the weather.

And if you do care about the planet, you would think that you would wanna go, well, then we should stop that.

We should stop them from cloud seeding and creating storms because they say there's a drought and it's gonna make it better, and then it winds up flooding.

Instead, you guys just wanna act like you know, it's crazy talk.

And it's just it's like, what?

I mean, and we our money is spent to poison us, like you're giving us back our own sewage, saying it's pure water, and now we're talking about it doing it with the Tijuana River Valley.

I would say that kind of stuff is jokes, but that's the sad thing is that that's what we do to the people, and then you're like, we gotta spend billions of dollars on it when we could go and drill for water.

You can, they tell you the table's too low.

It's it's sad that people are a business to you guys, and people have to suffer because of the choices that you make.

Oh, well, you gotta go home and you get to sit up there and you you live a you know pretty lavish lifestyle compared to the people in San Diego who come here and try and talk to you and ask you to do things for them.

And then you're like, this is gonna be horrible for my community, and then you voted through anyway.

So it's just very telling with the times that we're in.

And I just hope that people can start to see, and that you guys can have a change of heart and start to like that God will convict your heart and make you want to look into those things.

Because if you really do care, it would prove it.

But by you just brushing it away and saying like this is not happening, man.

That leaves you guys in a predicament where you're really harming in people for profit.

And there's always time to like turn away from that and change your ways, but it's a choice.

Everything you guys do is a choice.

That does conclude our public comment speakers here in Council Chambers going to those participating remotely.

I see no speakers with their hands raised, so that does conclude public comment on the consent agenda.

Thank you.

All right, thank you, City Clerk.

We'll turn it over to my council colleagues for any questions and comments and entertain a motion.

Um councilmember Whitburn will move the consent agenda, and Councilmember Campbell will second.

And not seeing anybody else in lights.

Again, we have a motion by Councilmember Whitburn, a second by Councilmember Campbell to move the consent agenda.

Clerk, please call the roll.

Sorry, the voting system, please cast your vote.

That does pass unanimously eight to zero with council member uh Campio absent.

Thank you.

All right, thank you, City Clerk, for that.

So uh do we have any comments from the mayor's office, city council members, city attorney, independent budget analyst, or city clerk, council member Von Wilbert.

Um thank you.

Today in Minnesota, they're hosting a special election to fill the seat once held by former state speaker Melissa Hortman, who was shot dead in her home with her husband creating a vacancy in the assembly.

And the state of Minnesota is also preparing very soon for memorials for the children who were shot dead in their church pews at their school.

And we've seen political violence, or Charlie Kirk was killed, supposedly because of his political beliefs.

And so Melissa Hartman was a Democrat.

Political violence is not a partisan issue, it's not a liberal issue, it's not a conservative issue, it is an American problem.

And gun violence in general is an American problem.

And I am very hopeful that as people go to the polls today to fill the seat of their assembly member who was shot in her home, that they will be able to vote for somebody who is going to curb gun violence and political violence in our country.

Thank you.

All right, thank you, Councilmember Baum Wilbert.

Not seeing anybody else wishing to speak.

Clerk, please introduce item S500.

Item S500 is the performance audit of the city's grants program.

This is an informational item.

If you'd like to speak to this item, please be sure to submit your speakers to the front of the room in the clear box.

And if you are participating remotely, now's the time to raise your hand by pressing star nine or the raise your hand icon.

Thank you.

All right, thank you.

And staff, as you settle in, uh introduce yourselves for the record and let us know how much time you need for the presentation.

Uh good morning, Council President, Councilmembers, Andy Henas, City Auditor.

Can we have about 10 minutes, please?

All right.

Whenever you're ready.

Thank you.

Um, so as you mentioned, we're here to present our performance audit of the city's grants program.

And as we get started, I would like to thank uh staff from the mayor's government affairs team, the department of finance, uh, and many other departments across the city for their assistance uh on this audit.

Grants are a timely and complex topic.

Uh, and the city's grants team provided us with a lot of information and documentation that we we needed for this report.

We had some really good conversations, they were very collaborative, and I think we landed on some good solutions for for the issues that we identified in the report, so we really appreciate all their help.

Since our last audit of uh grants management and FY 2018, the city has made a number of improvements to the grants program, which helped uh the city increase the value of grants funds awarded from 271 million in fiscal year 2019 to 491 million in fiscal year 2023.

Uh so that's notable progress, uh, but we found that uh other large California cities receive 66% more grant dollars per capita than the city of San Diego, which indicates opportunities to build on the progress that has been made.

We recommended that government affairs develop an annual grant strategic plan to help direct the city's limited grants resources towards the most worthwhile efforts, and also highlight resource constraints such as lack of staffing and matching funds that are holding the city back from being more competitive for grants.

Management agreed to all 13 recommendations, uh, which will help the city be as competitive as possible for grants, and that'll be especially important as changes in federal and state policy are shrinking the pool of available grant funds.

Uh with that, I'll introduce the audit team uh here with me today in chambers, which is principal performance auditor Megan Jaffrey, Assistant City Auditor Matt Helm, uh, and performance auditor Nadia Torkman.

I also want to recognize uh senior performance auditor Valerie Grenstedt uh from our office who worked on this project as well, but could not be here today.

So I'll turn it over to the team to discuss the details of our findings and recommendations.

Thank you, Andy.

Good morning.

My name is Megan Jaffery, Principal of Performance Auditor on this project.

Our objectives on this project were to determine if the city is competitive in planning for and pursuing grant funding, and to determine if the city's policies and processes for grant research and application are followed and align with industry best practices.

To address these objectives, we performed an in-depth look at the first half of the grants process from grant research up through grant award from fiscal year 2019 through fiscal year 2023.

The grants process includes many actors throughout the city.

During this audit, the grants team included the Department of Government Affairs and two program coordinators reporting to a DCO.

Now the grants team is part of the mayor's office.

While departments are largely responsible for seeking, applying for and managing grants, the city's grants team is responsible for helping coordinate these activities.

In comparison with other cities, we found that the city consistently received a smaller share of grant awards as a portion of total revenues during our review period.

This is the case even though other cities have a unique grants process and various factors that affect their relative success in obtaining grants, like agency priorities, location and population, and political priorities, for example.

As seen on this exhibit in blue, while San Diego increased its grant awards as a percentage of its total revenues from 7.8% to 11.5%, other cities' awards also increased, some of which is due to the receipt of COVID relief funds, which San Diego received as well.

While there is no specific percentage of aid a government should aim to receive annually, we found that there is room for the grants team to improve upon the city's successes.

I will now turn it over to Nadia to discuss findings one and two.

Thank you, Megan.

Good morning.

My name is Nadia Torkman, performance auditor on this project.

In our first finding, we found that a citywide grant strategic plan can aid the city in proactively planning grant activity and addressing resource capacity issues, which in turn will likely result in increased competitiveness and more grant awards.

According to our research, we found that on average, other large California cities received about 66% more grant dollars per capita compared to San Diego.

To strengthen proactive planning, we recommended integrating strategic planning into the city grants program.

Limited staffing capacity to apply for and manage grants and the city's ability to provide matching funds are key challenges affecting the city's grant competitiveness.

As seen on this slide, when adjusting for cost of living, San Diego's government revenue per capita is 15% lower than the average of other large California cities.

San Diego's limited capacity to apply for grants likely contributes to its lower grant revenues per capita, especially for capital improvement grants, which typically require applicants to supply a larger amount of matching funds compared to project grants.

We found that other cities receive on average 85% more capital improvement grant dollars per capita than San Diego.

The absence of a long-term strategy to address common resource capacity obstacles that many grant active departments face makes securing and managing grants more challenging.

This slide shows the current grants planning process at the top in our recommended process below.

Currently, city departments plan for grants at varying degrees.

The grants team periodically meets with departments to discuss their grant activity, but there's no formal way to consistently capture and share department needs, priorities, and capacity issues across the city, including with the city council.

The bottom shows what the process would look like with a grant strategic plan.

The plan would streamline the grants planning and prioritization process among departments and strengthen communication between departments and city leaders and city council.

Therefore, we recommended the grants team create and publish a grant strategic plan that would include information from department's annual grant planning memos and would summarize each department's grant priorities and constraints.

The plan should include strategies on how to address capacity limitations.

In our second finding, we determined that the grant review process could be further clarified to ensure timely review and accurate tracking of the department's grant applications.

The grant review process, overseen by the executive level grant review team, or GRT, was established in response to our last grants audit to ensure grant opportunities align with the city's strategic plan and assess funding requirements before submission.

We found that departments do not always seek GRT approval prior to submitting grant applications, and not all grants are required to go through the GRT process.

Therefore, the GRT is unable to review all city grant application requests to ensure they meet criteria outlined in the grants administrative regulation prior to departments submitting applications to funders.

Furthermore, because not all departments comply with the GRT process, compiling the city's annual grant application activity requires the reconciliation of several data sources, which is time consuming, redundant, and may not be reliable.

We made recommendations to improve GRT tracking and reporting efforts.

Additionally, we recommended the grants team finalize a decision-making checklist tool to aid city departments in considering grant opportunities during the strategic planning process and as grant opportunities arise.

I will now hand it over to Matt to cover the other two findings.

Thanks, Nadia.

Morning, Council President, members of Council Matt Helm, Assistant City Auditor.

So we're going to shift focus a little bit as the report does and move from the strategic to some tactical issues that we identified in the next two findings.

And these deal primarily with clarifying roles and continuing to improve certain aspects of the grant processes.

And our recommendations on these issues are informed by extensive conversations with peer cities, the grants team, and grants management departments, and we thank them for their input.

And as we've discussed, we're sinking in these findings and then the recommendations to build upon the good work done to date by the grants team.

Our third finding acknowledges the progress the city's made with the grants program, but we found that the roles and responsibilities for the program coordinators, which were added in 2023, should be clarified in the applicable AR.

We identified other potential process improvements for management to consider.

These would require a uh financial outlay, so we do recommend uh a very kind of straightforward cost-benefit analysis.

So our recommendations here call on a few key things.

Uh one to formalize the grants coordinator program coordinator roles set forth in the grants administration administrative regulation 1.80, and then consider subscribing to a service that filters grant opportunities based on curated specifications and consider uh retaining an as-needed contract with the grant writer to assist with high priority and/or large-scale grant applications.

I'll note that these last two we we had a number of conversations with peer cities, and they found uh these to be useful in some certain circumstances.

Uh a key part of the last finding is aimed at improving resources for training.

So, given the inevitability of staff turnover combined with the complex and changing grants environment, we identified the need for the city to assess departments' grant training needs and develop program to address those needs.

And we cite the need to establish a process to document and make accessible lessons learned from both successful and unsuccessful unsuccessful grant seeking efforts, so an after-action report library, if you will, uh, with the intent of using the past to better inform our future decisions.

So our agreed upon recommendations here seek to identify realistic ways to address the needs I just summarized.

The core actions are shown here and include updating the city's internal grants website to host information such as training materials and online uh and annual training plan and include a summary of training needs in the grant strategic plan that Megan talked about at the beginning.

Uh and secondly, to create a process for departments to submit grant applications in debrief notes uh to a centralized library linked to the grants training website.

And so I'll lay on the plane here because I just heard the tone, but uh we'll state the obvious.

So obviously, our fiscal situation is such that we need to be creative and intentional about how about uh competing for the process.

My apologies.

There's something going on with the audio, I guess it's all of them.

Uh if you could use the other mic to see if that's helping at all.

Great.

Uh figures a little echo there.

I can speak loudly if that helps.

If somebody is on the Zoom here, guess what?

It's me.

Um, please continue.

My apologies.

I don't know how I got unmuted.

Uh I won't backtrack all the way, but uh so we need money.

We all know that.

Um, given the recent state and federal policy changes, we know that the universe of available grants is is getting smaller.

And we have limited resources internally to pursue these grants.

So we and especially our audit team, by that I mean management recognize these realities and the audit and the recommendations that the management agreed to will better position the city to undertake a focused approach to pursuing grants uh that best support city priorities.

So, as Andy said, they agreed to all 13 recommendations.

Uh we have some good news.

We've been working with management on the status of the recommendations.

One of them is already implemented, the other ones are in flight and appear to be on track.

And with that, we will uh stand by for any questions.

Thank you.

All right, thank you for the presentation.

I believe uh Walt Bishop from the mayor's office would like to make a few comments.

Thank you, Council President.

Um, we want to just thank the auditor and the team for working uh with us over the past year to compile these recommendations.

Uh since the original audit back in 2018, our our grants operations continue to formalize its operations, uh, resulting in consistently more grant applications and awards coming to the city, taking advantage of a healthy state budget environment and the federal funding available from the five-portion infrastructure law and inflation reduction act.

As I said, back at uh audit committee, while no one here is claiming victory, uh, there's been undeniable progress made over the past four years, which has brought in over a billion dollars in grants and a year over year increase in application activity.

As pointed out in the audit, our team is uh also taking upon ourselves to annually conduct an internal review of the way we have done things to streamline our grants operations and ensure consistency.

Through this internal review, we've made several changes to our grants operations, including most recently moving our grants review team process onto Ombase.

And with the broader organizational restructuring, we've moved our two operational grants leads under the uh government affairs staff, which addresses some of the recommendations made in the audit.

We've already begun to act on the recommendations as was just said, and expect to have all non-budgetary recommendations completed by mid-2026.

In closing, uh, I I don't think I'm breaking news here.

It's a currently very challenging grants environment, given the Trump administration's doge actions, slow walking the release of funding opportunities and new requirements being placed on funding recipients to advance their policy agenda, such as around immigration enforcement and DEI.

I wish I could say this will change course over the next three plus years, but that is not likely to be the case.

You have my commitment, they will continue to leave no stone unturned when it comes to applying for competitive grants at any level of government.

In a few short weeks, we'll be releasing our annual grants report that I will believe show the aggressive nature that we continue to go after funding.

I'm incredibly proud uh that I'm lucky to oversee uh such a great team, including Brittany Bailey, Audrey Porcella, and Bernadette Winterville, who work tirelessly with city departments to ensure more funding is coming our way and our communities are well served.

Appreciate the time today and look forward to answering any questions the council might have.

Thank you.

All right, thank you, Walt.

Uh, with that, um Clerk, please proceed with public comment.

Thank you, Council President.

Allegedly, Audrey, if you can please come forward and Evelyn is ceding her time.

You'll have four minutes.

You know, went to people to help stuff, like instead of just nonprofits, NGOs, nefarious gangster operations who you know, much of the time self-report.

So there isn't really any accountability and transparency when the money goes to them, but they do the dirty work of the government that the government can't handle.

And then it still doesn't get handled by these people like Teresa Smith with Tent City, right?

And Dreams for Change, Stephen Whitburn, right?

We like to just give our friends money and then see what happens with it, right?

We murder people and we don't feed them.

We allow rat infestations to happen, right?

Sexual assaults, so we use that to hire people who will sexual assault people.

And it's just interesting because we also used grant money during the COVID days uh to you know really screw up people's lives.

It's really sad.

And then we continued to use those funds to do the same while people had to shut their businesses down, and then you guys come back and you're like, we want to support small businesses.

Only the ones that capitulated when we said you must shut your doors to the people who aren't vaccinated or um wearing a mask, just like you guys for hiring all those people, making them capitulate to injecting themselves all of the grants that go towards the sexual sexualization of children, right?

Affirming that they're a different gender when they never will be.

That's what's so sad.

We use a lot of this money to do very nefarious things.

Yeah.

It's disturbing.

And you know, you guys want to just get more and more money, but I mean, you guys were using this money for the invasion on our border as well.

Grants, giving it to people, right?

That's a protected class of people, right?

Sean, those are non-residents, but it's different for them.

And then it's like we don't even have any money to provide services for people, because then you just give people raises and it's like services are just lacking.

That's okay.

You know, at least someone has a job, right?

To not provide what needs to be provided.

And then we tell people we need more money from you if you want us to provide these services that we don't even provide to you.

Just gonna go into paying someone's paycheck, and we'll help like 10 people.

It's good.

But it looks good, right?

Makes it seem like you're doing really really good for our people.

Right.

And as long as it's like you're giving that money to somebody else, you're not really responsible for that.

Right.

It's good.

What else?

Life is interesting when it's like you can't even like do the staffing for to get the grants.

And you can't match the funds because you guys are in a deficit.

But don't worry.

I mean, it's like the Pride Promenade.

Good thing we're doing that too.

That's really gonna bring public benefit, you know.

All the homeless people can go walk by there and wish they just had some of that money to go towards them.

Right.

It's interesting, and part of that's coming from the parking meters.

Good.

Right?

It's really gonna help people.

So let's seeing what you guys do with money.

It'd be interesting, like if you guys were the ones that had to fund the deficit that you've created.

Wouldn't that be scary?

You'd have to give up everything you have.

And probably everything you guys all have wouldn't even equate to that.

But it's cool, you can just come after the people for it, right?

It's good, it's good.

All while you look them in the eye and say, I'm helping you.

Good job.

That doesn't include public comment here in Council Chambers going to those participating remotely.

We currently have three speakers in the queue.

Zoom, if you can please unmute.

You'll have two minutes, please proceed.

After that, we have 8700 and then Blair Beekman.

Oh, yeah.

Hey.

Thank the good.

Can you okay?

Thank God for the doge team.

Thank the good Lord for the doge team, man.

Bring it on.

We need a San Diego Doge team.

Maybe District One.

There's got to be some young guys that are that are uh make America great guys from Alajoya.

They could just occupy the seats.

Just bring all your buddies down here and just take it over.

That'd be great.

And anyway, this audit team strategic.

Yeah.

That's that sounds pretty good.

The strategic.

We got to get one of those strategic, read out the guys that celebrated Charlie Kurtz's death.

We got to go strategic on that.

Now that all the board members are female their constituents about who who rejoiced with Charlie, maybe the audit team has some guys there that done that.

They kind of look like it on front.

They could be some Charlie rejoicers on the team right there.

I'm sure they know some.

Hopefully they'll be able to turn them in when we have the uh they don't want to turn in themselves.

It'll cut down on the pension funds, and it'll actually move our city forward.

And then I was thinking about let's bring out those uh Mexican Independence Day celebration stuff at Tijuana River.

I wonder why they disrespect us so much like that.

Why do Mexicans disrespect our city like that?

I don't know.

They need a news editor lady needs to write an article about that for decades of disrespected our young kids that live in Imperial Beach.

That'd be a good article.

Letters to the editor.

Maybe O'Shong there could uh respond to that comment.

Why do Mexicans disrespect us so much?

Your time is concluded.

Next speaker in 8700.

After that, Blair Beekman, 8700, please unmute.

Thank you.

Uh Julie Signata.

Thank you so much for the two minutes.

First of all, a great, great progress.

I uh didn't write the figures down, but it was a big jump.

A really, really great jump.

So in the award, so thank you, thank you so much.

Uh yet now, as has been pointed out, we have a 66% carrot that we can uh reach for, and we can do it.

We can do it.

Uh I want astute eyes to be on the Fed policy changes.

We absolutely must be very, very diligent to see what's happening with that and what the impact is.

That's really number one.

And it's too complex.

We need to bring it together.

The strategic plan sounds great.

And I don't think we have a director of grants.

I want a separate department called the grant department.

And I want a director of that department who bring all the departments together as far as their needs are concerned.

They will consolidate what needs to be done because it's an art form and it's extremely complex, and you can't diffuse it and have each department doing its process.

It is impossible to reach that 66% level if we don't make some changes.

You're doing great.

There are too many cooks in the kitchen.

Let's bring the power of grant awards focused and harnessed by one director and one department that will align everything.

Your time has concluded.

My apologies, time has concluded.

Blair Beekman, you're our final speaker.

Please unmute thank you, man.

Thanks for the meeting.

Thanks for the previous words if you're interesting.

Sorry, I uh night, um learning important things.

Um thanks for the meeting today.

I wanted to quickly comment for this sort of item that um grant issues started appearing on my uh radar screen about a few years ago.

Um there was a new uh city council person in Oakland being elected at the time who was initially on the Kamala Harris uh staff, I think it's when she was vice president, and she won a council seat in Oakland, and she had a really big deal about uh what grant programs can be doing for ourselves.

So uh when I'm hearing this sort of arm, it's encouraging uh to consider that we can be having a democratic focus on the concepts of of what grant things are gonna be.

And I know that can make other really upset, but good luck that you can do it responsibly and do it well.

And uh I it's hopeful in time, uh the sort of program ideas we can come up with.

Uh good luck in those efforts.

And to end it quickly offer it's a shame that in this post-COVID era.

I mean, uh one of the big problems was with COVID was that we were at a time to start really talking about how services could be a lot more free, uh, bus services, utilities, and COVID kind of uh hex into all of that.

We got a ton of new money from COVID things, but yet we are no longer talking about free services and programs that money is not an object.

Yet we're now, you know, we're just fighting for that scrounging for that last dollar again.

We're in that sort of frame again.

But look how we can work out uh how this grant program can help lead the direction again, and we can talk in the terms.

Thank you for that concluding remark.

Item S500 is concluded comments for that item.

All right, thank you, City Clerk.

Reminder, this is an information item.

Uh no motion is required.

We'll open up for comments and questions, and we'll start with the chair of the audit committee, council member Moreno.

Thank you for the presentation and uh thank you to the city auditor for uh conducting this audit.

Uh, my call for San Diego to do better in its grant applications predates this administration uh when I came into office in 2019.

Um that was one of my first calls is um especially being in district eight where we border the international um where we have the international border, a sovereign country is right next to us, and the working waterfront, it was really apparent in the northern part of the district.

The working waterfront in the northern part of the district.

It was very apparent to me that the city was really falling behind in its grant applications.

Um I do want to recognize the increase in grant funding that has come into the city since the last audit in 2018.

Um, I think you and your team are doing a fantastic job.

Um, and I do recognize that it is um a very difficult time right now to get grants, but one of the things that I've noticed in my tenure here in the city for 15 years is that we're playing the long game with a lot of this funding.

So um I do want to point out that this audit does show we're still lagging behind other large cities in California.

Most striking were the cities that the city of San Diego only receives $337 per capita, while Sacramento, whose population I want to point is 526,000, receives $770 per capita.

So while we are improving, we clearly have a long way to go.

As I was mentioning when I began working as a council member, one of the main things that needed to be done in my district in Otay Mesa was to improve La Media Road, which was an agro a deemed agricultural road, which really is an international thoroughfare with about 3,400 semi-trucks carrying American product into Mexico to get assembled.

And really the backbone, I think, of our cross-border commerce, Mexico being our number one trading partner for the state of California.

Everybody, I think in politics and in the business world, knew that this uh would take significant resources.

Uh so I began working with stakeholders and the city to identify how we could pay for it.

Uh in 2019, I focused in on the California Transportation Corridor funds.

It was a perfect fit, and we heard from stakeholders and people within the state government that this project can absolutely would be a wonderful project to get funding from that particular program.

Um a few engineers had come to me letting me know about the plans on applying for then, I believe it was a fast grant, federal grant for the 805 and POM.

Um I literally during that meeting begged them to apply for La Media Road.

Um I was met with some hesitation, um, I will say, and um thankfully they uh we applied, and I even said, look, if we don't get it this round, let's just keep on trying for the next round.

Um I educated the CTC.

Um I I shouldn't say I educated.

I contacted the CT the CTC, the California Transportation Commission more.

I did my due diligence by contacting the executive director and also some of the board members to educate them on the importance of the media.

Um, and I think that worked really well, um, especially considering that uh environmental folks were went into that meeting talking about no expansion to roads, which I don't disagree with, but not on the media.

La Media was a particular circumstance, um, very complicated, obviously, backbone of our binational economy.

Um, and so we did receive 22.7 million dollars for La Media Road.

The mayor and I broke ground on La Media Road in March, um, which uh was to the delight of many businesses in Otai Mesa.

So I you know, things have improved uh and there is uh much more willingness now to aggressively go after funding.

Uh the past in the consent we had three items for the federal aviation administration airport infrastructure grant, um, but the result of this audit says we still have work to do.

Um I was concerned uh to see that the auditor indicated that when looking on to uh look when we're looking only at the capital improvement grant, other cities are receiving 85% more grant dollars per capital per capita compared to San Diego.

Um the city's projected to reach 6.5 billion um 6.5 billion infrastructure deficit over the next five years.

Uh seeing that we're so far behind other agencies in getting capital grant funding is very frustrating, uh knowing that we had we have such a huge deficit and you know we cannot continue on not getting our fair share, something that I will say.

Uh in finding one, the audit says that some departments state that there can be a disconnect between government government affairs efforts and the department's priorities, which can lead to pressure to apply for grant awards that do not meet their operational priorities or capacities.

Um that this pressure has in some cases caused them to accept grant funds for lower priority projects and uh prioritize um prioritized higher priority projects.

Um clearly a disconnect between our management department and the government affairs team is the first thing that needs to be solved.

Um I know in the management response that you disagreed with the sentiment that there is a disconnect, but the auditor has established that this disconnect like likely exists through the many interviews with various sources.

Um so creating a strategic plan as described in recommendation 1.1 through 1.3, I think is absolutely key to increasing how much grant funding reprocure each year.

Are we on track to make that implement uh implementation that the auditor recommended?

Uh thanks, Councilmember, guess uh we are currently aligning it for to be completed uh July 2026 to align with the budget annual budget process, so having a sense of what projects have received funding through the budget process to help us also understand like what has current match investment.

I think a lot of uh what was in the auditor's report as well as some of the things you stated as well, is a lot of this comes down to what matching funds we have.

And um, I think that is if you if you ask me what if I can wave a magic wand, what would be the one wish I'd have is to have more funds to go out and get matched to be able to go out and have projects that can meet sometimes that 20% match threshold to make us more competitive.

So I think uh to answer your question, yes, we're on track for uh July 2026 to have that strategic plan, and I think it's gonna be quite helpful in in saving our limited staff time and be able to act uh nimbly uh for when opportunities arise.

Thank you for that.

Uh do you foresee any obstacles that could hinder implementation of the audit recommendation?

More broadly or just uh for that individual component just in general.

Yeah.

I as I stated, I think we're we meet every week, my team to uh make sure that we're hitting our checkpoints that we need to hit for all of the recommendations.

Um again, we're we also hope that we get department buy-in on the strategic plan.

Um this obviously can't do this alone, and we're gonna make sure that departments are at the table and meeting their checkpoints that need to occur for the strategic plan to be successful.

But uh you have my uh commitment that this will be done by July 2026.

So is that the only hindrance you see is uh the departments not buying into this plan?

No, in regards to some of the the budgetary items.

It's again uh for example on the match side, it's additional revenue that's needed uh for grants writer again.

That's a resource uh question as well.

That would be helpful.

Um but uh again, under the guise of control what we can control in regards to our department.

Uh we're working every day to make sure that these recommendations are met and met on time.

Thank you.

Um if I could have the extra three minutes, Council President.

I I think that's one of the uh biggest issues.

Oops, excuse me.

That's one of the biggest issues we have I have seen in the past 15 years working in the city.

Um, is we need to have the department buy-in because with applications that are so complicated, like the CTC application, you need the engineers to buy in, right?

You need the engineers to respond to some of the very technical questions.

Um I know Sandag has been instrumental in getting just I think at this point, billions of dollars for the region, and each of their applications, I was told is seen by about 43 different eyes.

So we absolutely need to get buy-in from the departments.

So I would ask the mayor's office uh to nudge our directors to make sure that we are buying into this because, in essence, it's money that I'm not gonna say it's free money because we're certainly paying our taxes.

Um, so it's money that comes back to the city that doesn't come out of the general fund.

Um, so you did say that July 2026 is the implementation date.

Um, I would like to formally ask that you present the strategic plan to the economic development and intergovernmental relations committee.

Um in on July, um, I think a strategic plan will be helpful in identifying what we need to put aside for matching funds also each year.

I think that's important.

Also having this um uh this amount be known to the council and the public is something that could help communicate how critical it is that we have matching funds because if not, we're essentially losing money.

Um I only know what I know, and that's district eight, and like I said, I have the international border right next to my community.

I have the working waterfront.

Um, so I I definitely have state and potential state and federal um funded projects, right?

So I don't know the rest of the city.

I do know that we're a huge military town, so there's certainly other districts that whose streets and roads could benefit from um uh more attention, if you will.

But um I do want to thank you for um your um honestly walt just for being you.

You you definitely have um set the bar higher.

Um it's my uh responsibility to push on you and say, hey, let's get more funding and let's be strategic about this funding.

But you've done a phenomenal job, you really have, and I do appreciate it.

Um I also appreciate the auditor for showing us and what you know um giving us information that we didn't necessarily have about this before.

Um I know a lot of it for me was speculation, and here it is in data.

So I appreciate that.

Um and I look forward to seeing all the recommendations implemented, and please let us know how we could be of service in D8.

Um sometimes it does help to have uh the council member contact the executive director of the California Transportation Commission and a few of the members.

So with that, I am done.

Thank you.

All right, thank you, Councilmember Moran.

I will go next to Councilmember Elo Rivera.

Uh thank you, Council President, and uh thank you to the Office of the Auditor.

Uh, thank you, Walt, um, for your participation here as well.

Um, as always, appreciate um seeing what the audit um the auditor has to offer in terms of um pushing the city this the city to to do better um operationally and and in doing so do better by its people.

Uh I'm certainly supportive of um strategy.

Strategy is really really important, and without a strategy, um it's unlikely that we're going to be able to achieve our goals.

And that actually got me kind of looking for and trying to understand better what the city's goals are as it comes to pursuing grants.

So can you talk to me a little bit about how the audit how you all approached um the assessment of of goals for our grant program?

And then Walt, if you want to chip in afterwards about how um how you all think about that as well, because um in my mind at least, we set goals, we develop strategy to pursue those goals, um, and then the tactics uh need to follow in alignment with with those two things.

Um yeah.

Councilmember, I can take first crack at it if you want, Andy.

Um so you're keying in on your keying on one of the very first issues that we kind of came across, which is what what uh why are we pursuing the grants that we're pursuing, you know, and is there a cogent kind of structured rationale for what we're pursuing?

And sometimes there is, right?

Sometimes they're very deliberate and intentional, and these are grants that we're gonna pursue every year.

And in other times, um, you know, there are a lot of different uh inputs, and people are just kind of looking what's coming down the pike, and it looks like it might fit, and then we're kind of in a scramble to do it, right?

And Walt can talk more about this, but you know, when a grant notification is made, we're we're probably already too late, right?

So that's part of the the planning process that we're envisioning is that and and I think Walt and his team are in lockstep with that um to try to get more intel about what's coming and then get out in front of it.

But I'll let Walt talk a little bit about the specific priorities.

Uh thanks, Matthew.

Um yeah, so council member, I would say break into two things.

We have um a specific project or plan that needs funding, and then we look to find the specific grant that could then help fund that project or planning opportunity.

And then I would say there's a second uh flip side of that coin, which is the specific grant and then finding a project or plan that might adapt to that.

So there are, for example, certain opportunities we know year after year are gonna come out on the discretionary side.

So, like the example I use, and I think I point to it in the audit is like the US Department of Transportation raise uh grant, which is now called build.

You know, we know for a fact that discretionary opportunity is gonna be there every year.

It's one of the bigger opportunities.

So, what we'll do, and again, this is where I think having the formalized strategic plan will be a big help is having that uh set of project priorities longer term set out and writing that we know has this project gone through environmental.

Does it have match capacity for us to be able to go after those funds?

Um so having that on paper.

So it's really been a two-prong approach of taking a project that we know needs funding that is a priority, and then finding the actual grant that can help fund that.

And then there are the opportunities where a grant might come up and then we want to go after and then finding the project or plan that can we can apply for.

Thank you.

And if I could just briefly add to that, um, and I think another benefit of the strategic plan, you know, per your question, you're asking what the strategy is.

It's communicating to all of you what is the strategy, and also what are the capacity issues that could be limiting us from achieving the strategy and getting additional grants, knowing hey, you know, this department needs a few more staff, they're at capacity to manage these grants, what are the matching fund needs and how much additional more money, you know, do we think we could get in grants if we had these matching funds?

So then you obviously have uh you all have very difficult decisions to make during the budget process, but you would have that information to know hey, that you know, there's a four to one return on investment if we put some money here, and it helps you all with that part of your job as well.

Thanks, Andy.

Um so uh it's less that I'm I'm trying to understand what the strategy is and and more that I'm trying, I really do want to understand what our goals are because while even in your response, I I which I I appreciate it that actually feels somewhat tactical to me.

Um we have a program that we want to fund, we're gonna you know see if we can find a grant.

Um there's a grant floating out there, does that align with the with the with a uh a program that we're running?

So I I think it's important to have an even higher level goal for our grants program.

Um so I know that's not in the audit.

I just I wanted to share this that I do think it's a thing that's missing, and a strategic plan almost always has to have a goal up front that you're we're working toward, and so it would probably be developed.

But a goal could be to pull in as the maximum number of dollars possible from the from federal and state governments that could be a goal.

I don't know that that would be the most strategic goal, um, because there and this I think there's lessons to be learned from um from nonprofits and and even businesses.

Um mission creep is a is a real thing.

And if you start chasing dollars without having a a goal and strategy attached to that, you can exert a lot of time and energy and not necessarily be working and be successful in securing those grants and still not necessarily be successful in uh in pursuing the mission of the city.

So you know, uh personally I think that it it might be better to to think about you know what would be the absolute maximum impact of of grants for our city, and then think about a strategy that helps us pursue that goal.

Um and certainly we we don't want to let I I can understand the desire to not allow dollars to kind of float by without grabbing them, and I I also know that there's opportunity costs that ever where our staff is so um stretched that every grant that they are pursuing means that they're not pursuing another grant.

And so I I just think that taking that step back and really being thoughtful about what the goal of our of our um grant program is could be really really helpful.

Um and I'm certainly supportive of developing the strategic plan.

I just want to make sure that we're really thoughtful about what goal or goals we've set in place before that strategic plan is developed.

Um, because it's super important that we um we maximize grants that are available, and it's even more important that that effort be directed in the most impactful way possible.

And while it is certainly the case that more dollars are helpful for the city, it does it is not necessarily true that that um simply grabbing the greatest number of dollars possible will have the greatest impact.

So uh I don't want to belabor the point.

I just I thought it was as interesting as I was processing this, it made me curious about how we're defining goals to help um us uh develop strategy and and hope that um we can all be on the same page about what those goals are so that we can assess that the um that the the goals uh excuse me that the the grants that we are pursuing are actually um help uh helping us pursue the goals that we've we've agreed on.

Thank you, Council President.

All right, thank you, Councilmember Yelbera.

We'll go next to the chair of the budget committee, council member Foster.

Hey, thank you.

Um council president, and thank you, um Andy, to you and your team um and and Walt Um to you to your team as well.

Um I share in the sentiments of my colleagues that uh there has been um a significant change I want to say from what the city would pursue um as I first came on board with the city to where we are now.

Um but not to say we don't need obviously room for improvement there.

Um I will say this um uh if I recall back in 2012-ish, somewhere around that time frame, there was um a very large audit that was conducted.

Um and it was conducted by the um, if I recall at the time, the um federal um highway um the um administration, the FHWA, right?

Um and one of the things that was said and it was said here by my colleague that um based on the size of our municipality, we really do uh leave a lot on the table in regards to um grants um that are available.

Um and so it's something that's been um an issue for quite some time.

And I'm also pleased to hear that there will be a strict or you know, a strategic plan that will be coming forward.

Um I also like the fact that um and I wish um something like this when it comes to city council.

Um I just have to say I think it's important that the COO be here.

Because at the end of the day, if we're having conversations about an administrative regulation, I think that falls directly in the lap of the COO and how he is going to provide the necessary tools, the necessary resources, and the guidance to make sure his staff is or his organization is uh moving in one accord, so that as we set the strategic plan, as we identify goals and objectives, that the operation is working on one accord to achieve that.

And so um I would ask that as we are bringing this strategic plan forward, that we also um understand what the administrative regulation update will look like, because I think um that will tie the the pieces together as how we will implement that strategic plan that will give a department director such as um Walt authorities to have certain conversations with department directors uh because I've said this on numerous occasions.

Another department director cannot go and tell another department director how to run their book of business unless they are specifically given that authority through an administrative reg regulation or some sort of process.

So I think this is the timing is good timing.

Um I think engineering and capital projects are a big piece of this as we talk about leveraging um dollars matching funds.

I think we really need to understand our CIP, what dollars are there, and how we can uh leverage those to um help to um as we go after grants and to um ensure programmatically that we are achieving the overall objectives as we look at paving overlays, things to that nature.

Um I think one thing I will say when we received the grant for um paving a a couple years back, um I think that was probably the most significant amount of paving that my community has seen in quite some time.

And so um I hate um to be dependent on grants, uh, but I think with our financial outlook and our financial future, it definitely is a very large piece.

And I think we need to um be creative.

I think we need to be intentional and make this a major focus in our efforts.

So I think the timing on this is good.

I think there's much more conversation to be had, but I can't stress enough the importance of as a strategic plan is developed, that we have a strong AR in place, that everyone understands their roles, responsibilities, expectations, um, and we go out and execute um to get the work done for the people of the city of San Diego.

So um thank you for this, and I look forward to um having an item at uh economic uh at EDNIR as we continue to monitor and close this out.

Um one thing I would like to have some more conversations just if some of this, Walt, is you know, we work closely as as we are dealing with the budget process at the state at the um at the federal level, um, but I would like to have somewhat of an understanding of just what grants are out there and and seeing if is do we have a place where each director and their um subordinate staff have a place to go, have access, who has access to identify um the potential grants and that we are moving um in one accord.

So um that's the type of information I'd like to see and understand better because it's uh from everything I've seen, we leave a lot on the table and we need to fix that.

So thank you for the um time, Council President, and that concludes my remarks.

All right, thank you, Council Member Foster.

Uh not seeing anybody else in the lights and kind of continuing the thread.

Um, I you know, A, I appreciate you drawing the nexus between um what the state and federal government is knowing in terms of putting out there and what um funding bills do get through Congress and uh bring funds available uh and even with the business improvements that we're talking about here, we may not be more successful because there just isn't the funding, whether it's the financial condition of the state or um the lack of anything from the federal government because not of what we're doing, but because there's a different mindset in DC.

Um what I'm kind of curious about what I find particularly helpful was the not just the business improvements, which is always a good idea, but whether there was a deeper dive into the audit in terms of did we not secure grant because our application was weak.

Did we actually miss a grant opportunity because we weren't focused?

Because I don't want to create an expectation that if we just do these in business improvements or we produce a document called a strategic plan, that suddenly we're going to get more grants if we don't actually understand that as the bar charts show that we have less success, apparent success than other cities without understanding why do we have less success.

You know, what counts towards Sacramento's numbers, what is Los Angeles getting, what unique grants may have popped up that jacked up their numbers that were not available to us.

Um to the point that I think Councilmember Ilo Rivera said of our strategy of what we're going after, even though there may be larger pools of money that even if we had a better system, we wouldn't have gone for anyway.

Um can uh Matt or Andy or anybody really kind of speak to that deeper dive that said here's where you missed because, or here's where you didn't apply where you should have.

Uh Councilmember Moreno gave one great example.

Sure.

Um I'll I'll kind of get it started and let the let the team jump in.

So our our scope was kind of higher level than that, not looking at each individual grant.

There's a lot of them.

We did try to benchmark individual grants with other cities.

You know, we got this grant and and they didn't, or vice versa.

The databases both for the state and the federal government are not reliable for that purpose, so we couldn't do that.

Um the thing that we we point out in the report, and I I think Walt can add more on this, um, that that you were just mentioning.

Um when you don't win a grant, there is uh the opportunity to meet uh sometimes on the grants with the with the agency that was awarding the grant to kind of do a debrief.

Um the city does do that um uh on some of the grants, but they're not all stored in one place.

And so that's one of the recommendations in the report is help other departments leverage that experience, you know, not only be able to see the grants from your own department that we didn't get, but across the city.

And uh and that's just one thing that we're recommending be in this database, a lot of um uh information that will help them kind of do better next time.

Yeah, just to piggy piggyback off that, um yeah, so I think one of the things in here is creating a grants library repository for our application.

I'll give one example.

When we were coming in in 2021, um we applied for a grant, uh USDOT grant, which I had no did not realize the previous administration had applied for that grant, right, and had uh an application and whatnot.

So I know I'm not gonna sit in this chair forever, so I want to make sure whoever's in it after has that institutional knowledge of what we've applied for.

And then also as as Andy said, Um, we've made a requirement that if you're applying for a grant and you're not awarded it, that you're doing a debrief if again if possible with uh whatever that agency is.

So we can get that feedback, and then if we want to go back to the well on that next year, we can make those adjustments and be able to do that.

I will say in in especially some of the debriefs I've said in our the quality of our work product uh has definitely gone better, especially on federal grants.

It's just super competitive on the discretionary side.

Um so uh and then one of the things too is we've uh as part of the audit process as well, which we've just completed, is uh what we're calling a go no-go checklist for departments.

So basically uh here's what you need to do, you know, are you grant ready for a specific project or a specific plan?

So it's basically a uh sort of roadmap for department staff to go through, say, okay, have do I have matching funds to this?

If it's a capital project, have I gone through the environment CEQA or if it's federal NEPA and go uh so on and so forth.

So I think we're doing everything we can to control under what we can control uh to make sure that we're prepared and moving what I think could be uh competitive projects forward, and then following that up to make sure we're making improvements or we can and go back uh and apply for those funds again in in subsequent years.

All right.

Yeah, and Andy, I appreciate the scope of work, which you have to balance with all the other assignments you're doing, kind of thing, but it and you've heard this from me in the past, me and the engineer uh doing it bar comparing us to other cities doesn't help me because I don't know if we're comparing apples to apples or apples to oranges or apples to broccoli, you know, kind of thing.

Um but the public and the media picks up on that, and we don't actually know that it's a fair comparison and why we're getting different every city has its own particular um flavor.

And and I think I heard you say we don't include local grants, so anything that we get from Sandag, I guess would be perhaps the only local source of money is not included in those calculations.

And it's not including anybody else's calculations either, if I'm understanding correctly.

Well, we we used what's reported in each city's annual comprehensive financial report.

So that's about as apples to apples as you can get.

And then we did to your point.

Um I I agree, you can't do a perfect apples to apples.

We felt it was notable to point out just because we're so far below every other city.

Um that uh the funding that's that's reported um is it's sorry, I lost my train of here.

Um then uh for the benefit of me and perhaps benefit of my colleagues, and I don't know who wants to add answer this question.

If we apply for a CIP grant that requires a matching fund, we're gonna 50-50 match, 10 million dollar um or a five million dollar grant.

We have to put up five million.

Do that five million go in a lockbox on the day we file the application and it sits in a lockbox until we hear about that grant, or do we just have to know that we have five million someplace that we can pull out if we're successful?

We know we've earmarked those for potential purpose until we hear that award.

Um but again, that could be various different things, like again, under the fiscal constraints we're living in.

No, we've had to become a little more creative, for example, like thinking about doing in-kind match, which is you know, staff time, staff hours.

Um but yeah, like most of most of the time it's an 80-20 split.

Um, but yeah, we've we make note that if there's a specific uh pot of money um that is being earmarked for match that we're we're indicating that.

Okay, fair enough.

I still like the El Gore lock box rather than uh federal earmark.

Okay, I'll conclude my comments.

I don't see anybody else in the lights.

This was an information item, so no motions required.

So thank you, Andy.

You're in your team and Walt for attending and telling us what you're doing.

Uh so given the hour we'll take up non-agenda public for those that are in chambers right now, and we will defer dial-in, call-in um public comment until the end of this afternoon session.

Uh so the council members respect and appreciate the public's input and are fully committed to protecting every participant's free speech rights at council and committee meetings.

Clerk, please proceed only with public comment for those that are in chambers.

And again, we will pick up uh remote dial-in, call-in public comment at the end of this afternoon session.

Thank you, Council President.

Apparently 2.7 on agenda public comment is an opportunity for members of the public to comment on items that are not on the agenda but within the subject matter jurisdiction of the city council.

Each speaker will have two minutes.

Please note if there are eight or more speakers on a single topic, the maximum time for the topic will be 16 minutes.

If you're in chambers, please submit your speaker slip to the front of the room in the clear box as noted by the council president.

Virtual non-agenda will be taken at the conclusion of today's meeting.

Evelyn and allegedly Audra, if you can please come up to the yellow reserve seats, starting with Evelyn, you'll have two minutes.

Please proceed when ready.

Hello.

Um do I talk about?

Oh, yeah, you guys um trafficking children.

Is that where your funding is going again?

Guys haven't answered that.

Guys, I don't think you guys will ever answer that.

Do you guys know that more than sixty thousand kids go missing a year here alone just in California?

No, you guys don't, and you guys don't care, right?

As long as you guys are getting paid.

And how you help people who need papers over here, but you guys don't help the people in the city.

That's ridiculous.

We're the ones that need help, they don't need help.

Why?

Why are you guys helping them instead of helping us first?

We're the first priority.

We're we're in the community.

You guys don't care.

And I don't think you guys ever will care.

What even goes on.

My kids were dumped inducted for me.

Taken.

When I asked for help.

I had postpartum and I was even diagnosed with it.

And um they're like, no, it's domestic violence.

No, it wasn't.

They didn't even care to read my case, and they just took my children.

I left, I actually left with them out of state.

Because they gave me permission to leave the country.

And then when I came back, I got arrested for kidnapping my own children.

That's ridiculous.

And you know what?

I should have just been a book and release.

But I was in jail for five days unlawfully.

Yeah.

You guys are horrible people.

So I want to talk about Charlie Kirk's assassination and what they're trying to say.

Or the patsies or the red herrings that they're putting out, it's reminiscent of JFK.

And it's sad because you know, they like to exploit people, and so right now they're pushing trans shooters.

Right.

When in fact, Charlie Kirk was going to stand against Israel.

He was he was moving in that direction, and we all should, because Israel is very dangerous to our nation.

And it's been created by very nefarious people.

And people use the Bible and say that, you know, this is what God wanted, and it and it isn't.

But Israel's going to bring in the surveillance state that you guys are, you know, helping bring in by trying to get rid of people having guns, by allowing the invasion.

Because we should be able to protect ourselves, Marnie.

We should.

But as long as we demonize all of these things and we can push us a specific thing, but it should upset you that you know, our own government is using trans shooters as a patsy for what happened.

That was a professional hit.

And it's sad because anytime there's something to be pushed, people get exploited, whether it's children, illegal immigrants, trans, you know, um, you know, Jewish COVID deniers or supporters.

It's a way to divide the people.

But we're not being told the truth about what's going on.

And the truth is it's extremely important to navigate this realm.

And when you guys sit and engage in lies and things, and Sean, when you when you incite things, it's dangerous.

Because it encourages people to do things they shouldn't do.

And it's just sad because you know, we're screwed if if we continue to let Israel take over our nation.

That concludes non-agenda public comment hearing council chambers.

Thank you, Council President.

All right, thank you, City Clerk.

And again, a reminder that virtual uh not agenda public comment will be taken at the end of this afternoon session.

So we will now adjourn for the noon recess and reconvene open session at two PM or shortly thereafter.

All you want to do is business.

Don't look before you left.

Look ugly in the photograph.

Flash books for this is the camera can see.

I've seen him the clothes you make.

See the beauty.

Wow, this is the quietest crowd ever.

Now that our city first.

Oh no, that's right.

There is uh anyone who's standing in the back.

We do have capacity issues, and the fire marshal will also close down this meeting.

The council does not oversee that.

So we do have overflow in the back room, committee room.

You will be able to hear your name.

There's plenty of seating, and there are TVs where you'll be able to hear the live meeting.

Thank you so much for making it later overflow.

Thank you, Council President.

With that, good afternoon.

I will now reconvene the city council meeting of Tuesday, September 16, 2025.

Clerk, please call the roll.

Thank you, Council President.

Councilmember Campbell.

Councilmember Whitburn.

Here.

Councilmember Foster.

Councilmember Von Wilbur.

Council President Pro Ten Lee.

Here.

Councilmember Campillo.

Councilmember Moreno.

President.

Councilmember Elo Rivera.

And Council President Lacava.

Present.

Also attending the meeting, or Assistant City Attorney, Leslie Fitzgerald, Deputy Director in the IBA's office, Gillian Andalina, Council Affairs Advisor in the Mayor's Office, Coda Zeiser, and myself, your city clerk, Deanna Fuentes.

Thank you, Council President.

All right, thank you, City Clerk.

A quorum is now present.

Please introduce item 330.

Item 330 is the consideration of nominees for appointment to the commission on police practices.

This item is not subject to the mayor's veto.

And if you'd like to speak on this item, please submit your speakership to the front of the room in the clear box, or if you're attending virtually, now's the time to press star nine or the raise your hand icon if you'd like to speak on this item.

Thank you, Council President.

All right, thank you, City Clerk.

Uh, prior to taking public comment per council policy zero zero-13.

We will hear from each nominee, and each council member will have an opportunity to ask questions.

Following that, the city clerk will review the process for balloting prior to council members' voting to fill the vacant seats.

Those that receive nominations are listed on the staff report for this item and will be called up by Clerk Fuentes by name, who will also list which category they are nominated for.

I traveled to some 38 different countries of the world.

And uh I for a period maintained an apartment in Calcutta, India.

I have seen the other side.

I've been a manager of purchasing for General Atomic, manager of contracts for General Dynamics, Engineering Manager for Lockheed Corporation, House Counsel for FMC Corporation.

I spent a number of years on the Tierra Santa Community Council and was chairman of the Planning Commission for the City of Tigert, Oregon.

I was on the Bar Association Attorney Client Dispute Resolution Forum for many years.

I'm married to a lady who's a lawyer in Mexico, pero no hablo pañuelo, por favor.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for those comments.

Next, we have we will now hear from nominee Walter Jordan J.

Sayner, the fourth, who has been nominated for the Council District 7 and at large categories.

Please come up to the podium and begin when ready.

Good afternoon, Council members, uh ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests.

My name is Jay Sayner, and I'm honored to be here considered for this appointment for the District 7th seat on the San Diego Commission on the police practices.

I've spent more than two decades working closely with people across our city in a professional and civic capacity, listening to concerns, resolving conflicts, and helping communities thrive.

Through that work, I've learned that public trust is earned when institutions demonstrate fairness, transparency, and accountability.

If appointed, I would approach this responsibility with an unwavering commitment to impartiality.

I believe our duty on this board is not to advocate for one side or the other, but to uphold the principles of due process, equity, and justice, ensuring that community members are heard and that our officers are treated fairly and respectfully as well.

My experience and oversight, structured decision making, and public service has prepared me to weigh facts carefully, ask hard questions with respect, and render judgments grounded in evidence, not emotion.

I am committed to fostering mutual trust between law enforcement and the community and to advancing public safety in a way that honors everyone's rights and dignity.

I do thank you for your consideration.

Thank you.

We'll now go to those participating virtually, starting with Chen Yang Rickard, if you can please unmute.

You'll have two minutes.

I'll have the timer going here in chambers.

You should hear a ding.

Please proceed.

Good morning, uh council members and distinguished guests.

My name is Chen Yang Sunny Rickard, and I'm honored to speak here today as a candidate for the commission on police practices.

In my professional life, I serve families as attorney.

That work has taught me how to listen with care, way facts impartially, and uphold a due process.

Skills I believe are essential for this commission.

Equally meaningful is my community services.

As a founding book member of the Alliance of Chinese American San Diego, I have worked many of you here to support our youth civic internship program.

You have spoken in our ceremonies, mentored our interns, and given them the gift of inspiration.

For that, we're internally grateful.

I will also bring with me that my heritage and the perspective as an Asian American and a first generation immigrant.

Equality is not just a work to me, it's a lived experience.

And it's precisely in this moment that the work of this community commission is so critical.

It strengthened the trust, insured accountability, and make every voice in San Diego feel heard and respected.

I believe that CPP should not only continue to uphold transparency and accountability on police practices and also to serve as a bridge, a bridge between law enforcement and the public, and the bridge cross neighborhood cultures and the community.

Moving forward, I believe the CTP can amplify community voices and to ensure that accountability and fairness are not just ideals, but a daily practice here in San Diego.

It will be my privilege to serve and to bring both my professional skills and my community perspective to this role.

And thank you again for the time.

Thank you.

Next, we will hear from Kirby Nip, who has been nominated for the at-large category.

Please unmute and proceed.

You are still muted.

Oh, sorry about that.

Hi everyone.

I hope you all can see this.

I prepared some slides.

My name is Kirby Kinnip, and I currently serve as the strategic initiatives manager at UC San Diego School of Medicine.

I'm also a North Park resident of eight years, and I have a deep commitment to justice, accountability, and community engagement.

Why I'm seeking the appointment today is to advance the independent oversight of policing in San Diego, also to strengthen community transparency, accountability, and trust between all the relationships across the city.

And I would like to contribute my expertise in equity focused programs and stakeholder engagement.

My relevant experience is I currently lead strategic strategic initiatives and accreditation, compliance, and institutional accountability at UCSD.

So really working in policy and aligning what the needs are of a community and making sure the policies reflect that.

I am a former uh assistant director of assessment of organizational development, so creating and aligning strategic planning with equity outcomes, and I've led a lot of different uh civic dialogue forums with the community members in La Jolla and with the San Diego uh UC San Diego community.

Um in both 2020 and 2024, I co-chaired uh the university wide committees on civic engagement, free expression, and diversity trainings throughout the election process.

Um, so working closely with police officers in the area and community members to be sure that uh do process all of these things that go with these committees are uh in line with our strategic planning.

I'm also personally a son of a former police officer.

Um I also have a commitment to community.

I am a board member of the LGBT leaders in higher education, which is a nationwide organization that centers on mentorship and empowerment programs, and I do have a career focus on elevating underserved voices and building inclusive structures.

I'm also just dedicated to ensuring community perspectives are heard in decision making.

We are very lucky to live here, um, and I hope that everybody's voice is heard.

So, with that, I'd like to ask for the uh support for my appointment.

I bring a lot of accountability and transparency in my mindset and an experience and dedication to our community.

And I thank everyone for their time.

I know it's it's a busy meeting, so I appreciate it.

Thank you.

That does conclude the presentations from the nominees.

Thank you, Council Professor.

All right, thank you, City Clerk, and thank you to uh the members who have either been nominated or self-nominated in your presentations.

So we'll now go to council member questions.

Please note per council policy 00-13.

This is only an opportunity to ask questions of the nominees.

Any comments will be taken prior to balloting.

So, do any of my colleagues have any questions?

Councilmember Bon Wilbert.

Um, thank you to all the nominees who are putting their names for today and volunteering to serve on this important commission.

Um, I have a question about just this will be a fact-finding body that you'll be serving on.

And as an attorney, I know how important it is to be impartial before you see the facts and to make sure everyone feels that they have fair treatment.

And that includes you know, statements you may make or applause you may make to other comments.

You will be watched by all sides who want to be treated fairly, just like they do when they go into a courtroom.

And so I just want to hear from every nominee that you are committed to fairness and neutrality and impartiality before you hear the facts of every case.

If you can have to come up to the mic, thank you.

As a lawyer in California, Oregon, and the US Supreme Court membership and as a corporate executive for many years, I was required to learn if I hadn't already known how to exactly to do that.

And I pride myself on that ability.

Thank you.

Thank you for the question.

Um, I'm a strong believer in justice and prudence and fortitude.

Um, justice is that due bound and restraint, which helps us to navigate our way through things.

And I believe that impartiality is paramount to achieving true justice.

Thank you, Councilmember Ms.

Wilpert.

Uh, as attorney is a professional requirement to listen to find to be the to find the facts and I haven't served as a point of uh court point of guarding the light and in many proceedings and understand how important is he being partial in that role to serve the best interest to my clients.

So if I can serve on the commission, I would continue to apply that principle as as commissioner for this organization.

I will just add that with a history of working in policy and um community.

I am utmost commitment to transparency and um and being you know uh guided by fact finding and justice and and working closely with the peers in this committee to ensure that um we all do the same.

Thank you very much.

I appreciate it.

Thank you, Council President.

Those are my only questions.

All right, thank you.

Um not seeing anyone else.

Um I just wanted to do one quick fact check with Mr.

Kinnep.

Uh you mentioned that you are the son of a police uh former police officer.

Where was he employed?

Uh so I'm originally from Kansas, so um, it was the Kansas City police department.

Um so he was a police officer for 18 years.

All right, thank you for clarifying uh that we wanted to make sure.

Um trying to remember every language that's in the uh ordinance.

Um has your father been separated from law enforcement for more than five years?

Sorry, yes, for 20 years.

20 years.

Okay.

He's retired.

All right, great.

Thank you for clarifying that.

We just want to make sure Dr.

I started there.

Yeah.

All right, see no one else asking for any questions.

We will now take public testimony prior to council member comments and balloting.

Thank you, Council President.

If we can start with Robert, if you can please come forward after that will be Evelyn and then Cesar Javier.

If you can please come up to the yellow reserve seats, Robert, you can come up to the microphone.

And you'll have a minute and a half.

Yeah, all right.

So uh my name is Robert.

I'm a veteran.

I served honorably for 15 years, and I'm also uh a father.

So it's a little hard for me because a lot of situations that have been going on have been like what the heck's going on in our city.

So it's just like a lot of things have been unlawful, and I don't know what to do.

So I just I need to get this off my chest, so I don't know what else to say.

So I'm just thinking, you know, what to do right now.

Like seriously, because there's a lot of things that are going on right now that the police are are are just taking advantage, and I don't know, it's just I've had it with it, so that's all I gotta say.

Thank you, Evelyn.

Evelyn, you have time seated to you.

No, allegedly Audra, you have time seated to you by Evelyn.

And you'll have three minutes.

Did I write it in the wrong way?

They were just um in the wrong order.

So it's interesting with these um commissions on police practices, it's kind of like Clerb citizen law enforcement review board, where people just give suggestions because there's no real enforcement that can come.

Um and you know, Kirby's the only one that seemingly has any kind of maybe you know, experience with the police or would have some kind of knowledge of that.

Um, and I just feel like these commissions that they're brought forward to act like things can get done, but I mean the mayor is the boss of the police.

So if things needed to get done, he should be the one that's doing it, and he's not going to.

And so, you know, we have these commissions come forward, and I mean, I was assaulted by the sheriff at the Board of Supervisors for speaking publicly, and it went before Clerb, and they said I should have known that because he was wearing a badge, I was being arrested, which I'd been arrested two times before, and the protocol wasn't to slam somebody's head into the ground and jab your knee into their back and cause them to knead a cane.

Um, and then it led the San Diego police department to say I was a threat to them and lab personnel because I was assaulted by a sheriff.

So it's just, you know, do these these commissions or boards really do anything?

Do they protect the people?

Or is it just a way for it to seem like something is being done?

But then it's like at the end of the day, you know, who's really going to enforce it?

I mean, granted, sheriff is different because she just can say she doesn't want to do whatever.

But I feel like you know, Todd Gloria doesn't do the enforcement that he should with his own police department.

And people shouldn't be, you know, there shouldn't be all this excessive force, like people being murdered by you know them unloading their weapons all while you guys come after the people and say we need to take your weapons.

So, you know, we just live in an inverted world, and it there should be other measures in place where it's like you don't just go to something like a commission that just offers suggestions, like there should be justice that comes, but it's sad because that's not really the world that we live in.

And you know, but I think people need to understand these things that it's all a bunch of like smoke and mirrors to you know make it seem like these people are gonna be held accountable.

I mean, but it's like I can't go to the sheriff and get accountability for them being it's like you're going to the people that did it.

So that's why much of the time nothing happens, is because they choose not to do those things because they want to protect their own.

And they're supposed to be protecting the people, but now they've turned into something totally different.

And it's like that's exactly why people should be able to protect ourselves and not have to worry about you know if somebody's mentally ill and they can't, they're not equipped to deal with that, and they unload their weapon on them, and then they're dead, and then we have to pay money because of you guys get into litigation for it.

Your time has concluded.

Caesar Javier, if you can please come forward.

You have time ceded to you by Burita Javier.

It's okay, no rush.

No rush, and she does not need to come up.

Say, sir Javier.

I cannot speak here without my loved one.

My loved one, Sandikans, my loved one fellow citizens, the brave and honest, ready to sacrifice.

Who is qualified among you now to answer our dream?

They need help, and that's help coming from us since 2021, voicing our community concern.

We need one from the commission.

Caesar, could you speak to the qualification of the candidates?

Yes, sir.

We need five human dimensions, which is missing.

Right, this eleven queens and kings.

The queen of Portalitz, Doctor Campbell, the king of threshold.

Those qualified commissioner apprehend.

And so with Lakaba.

Death environment.

I have to talk like this because I am a graduate of university of educators.

Oh, sorry.

Forgive me.

And I mean doing my hope they hear my body language.

We need the moral dimension.

Moral dimension, meaning they know what is right.

They know what is right, they know what is right.

Attorney, you should be there.

It's not the city attorney.

You are the city authority, right?

Caesar, please address the council.

That's what you're spotted.

You even dictate to me my liberty.

We have been colonized, and thank you for this people who are spoiling voluntarism.

We need you.

Upprehend this guy, apprehend that guy, apprehend them.

Well, because they need to be shut in public.

They are destroying our San Diego.

Okay, you have crossed the bounds.

I'm gonna ask you to leave.

My staffer Brian Elliott will meet you outside, and he will arrange.

No, you cross the line there.

I will arrange a meeting in my office to discuss your concern about the kiln.

No more, sir.

Thank you.

Okay.

I started the five-minute timer here in Council Chambers, and I'm going to those participating remotely.

Started with the gambler, if you can please unmute.

You'll have a minute and a half, please proceed.

Um my peers that I went ahead and expressed multiple times to the board of supervisors.

You guys refuse you I I'm definitely understand that we are controlled by another country through our election process.

You guys refuse to go ahead and look into the registration cards.

You guys go ahead and create vision to go ahead and obfuscate this.

You're a you push out agendas that you know that you don't can't afford, and then you prey upon the people, knowing that you're gonna get more fake votes by kicking out citizens, not helping them.

Gambler, can you please address the qualification of the candidates for the CPP?

I have asked you to unmute.

You can unmute and discuss the subject matter at hand.

Your time was paused.

I can't unmute for you.

There you go.

There we go.

Why did you go ahead and mute this?

Because you got we do not know if you were elected or selected.

We need to determine because of the vote by mail system that I clearly put on my Twitter account that anyone could go ahead in there and take a look and find out what is wrong.

Just look, ask any question you have on election security.

If it doesn't come up, use my lens, and you can find out what is actually going on.

There have not been any investigations on the registration cards from APEC and all these different uh APLU.

And so they're making the decisions.

They need money, so we that we are their freaking pocketbooks.

And that's BS.

They are not getting the federal money, which is good, and they shouldn't be taking our money.

But they are because everyone wants to believe that they were elected and not selected.

Their time has concluded.

Catherine Douglas, if you can please unmute.

Good afternoon, Catherine Douglas.

Um, I'm encouraged that we have more members that are willing to serve on the commission on police practices.

Um, I attended the last meeting remotely.

And uh I hope going forward that these meetings will be much better for those of us who are watching online.

I looked at the back of people's heads.

I couldn't see the people at the head of the table uh speaking when they were speaking.

I the people across the way were so far away from the camera that you couldn't tell who was speaking.

The only good shot we had was of the um people from the community speaking, and that's great.

But the these meetings going forward need to be broadcast so we can all see and understand what's going on.

Uh I just came up uh off of a ride-along this morning with um neighborhood policing.

I did one last week, and I hope that everybody on the commission will be required to do ride-alongs with divisions or neighborhood policing or things like that.

So when they're making decisions, I'm fully supported of an oversight board, but I need to know that these people serving on the commission see both sides of the coin and are required to do certain amount of training.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next is Francine Maxwell, if you can please unmute.

If you can please unmute.

Yes, we can.

Thank you.

Okay, there was a delay.

My apologies.

Francine Maxwell, Southeastern San Diego.

CPP has a robust training schedule, and our people even go up in the helicopter.

Thank you so much uh for your service to the first gentleman, and thank you, everybody that has um shown interest in CPP.

A little concerning about attorneys because there's that professional relationship that they have with our city council, and I'm sorry, with our city attorney, who is the police department's actual attorney.

And so there's there may be a conflict there.

I'm hoping that the one city council member or even two city council members will ask the questions about how do you feel about sustained findings?

What um what impartiality will you have have towards the police department that don't give you the materials that you're requesting?

We want to make sure that when there is an action brought up on an officer, that it is um dispensed swiftly.

There have been um officers for years that have sustained findings and have yet been held accountable.

Remember that accountability is not the enemy, and we absolutely want to build a bridge with our police department, eighth largest city, one of the safest cities in in the nation.

We keep winning that.

Um so but we have a lot of issues when it comes to transparency and pretty much almost like a cover-up.

So we ask for things as the community to our CPP, our CPP commissioners, and we appreciate them donating time from away from their families.

Again, thank you so much.

CPP is a wonderful commission that's independent.

Thank you.

That does conclude your time, and that did conclude the five-minute timer.

We have two speakers in the queue, no additional speakers will be taken.

8700, and then Blair Beekman are our final two speakers.

8700, please unmute.

There you go.

Uh thank you.

Uh Joyce and Yata District 3.

Thank you so much, candidates.

I just love you for being willing to do that.

And uh I did the one the gentleman that spoke first, he just sort of uh resonated with me because I've been to India and uh he's done many wonderful things, but being the Calcutta India, I know it changed me as a human being forever.

So uh thank you for your service and thank you all for being willing to do this work.

Uh best of blessings and luck.

I have a lot of work with the CPP in you know, working through the council and following the uh process from the very beginning when we re you know, together we started reimagining the CPP.

It's been a long process, and thank God we're still doing it.

So I want you to know that here's what I tell everybody through these years, and I want you to listen up, candidates.

We are all flawed.

We are all biased, we are all wounded, and we all bleed red.

Now, if you listen to what's happening here at City Council today, right now, and you listen to the humans that are participating.

We are all biased, we are all clawed, we are all wounded, and we all bleed red.

So you come out of that with compassion, your experience, and your willingness to build trust, and you'll do it.

So thank you again and love to all.

Thank you.

Blair Beekman, if you can unmute your final speaker.

Hi, thank you.

Uh Blair Beekman.

Um I hope uh the current police review board is is going well and um changes are taking place.

Um the biggest one is how uh police can be more accountable with uh the board itself and can be wanting to give information and and help and ideas.

Um it's a learning process to do that, and uh just my advice to the uh candidates here today on how they're going to have to uh they're going to have to be it's a major issue that has to be worked on.

Um I know the privacy advisory commission uh that works on you know tech issues and and our future policies and and tech accountability.

Um they they've been working and gelling together for about the past two years, three years now, and um they have had their own serious work, as I've tried to explain before, in trying to better address uh the police department and and to de build and to build trust uh a rapport and that you know information can be passed back and forth easily without hassle.

Um it takes some skill and practice to do that.

Good luck in how uh the new commission here can do that.

And and hopefully uh the privacy advisory commission is is creating some good examples for that.

And we really need the police to be giving of information.

Um they they work well internally, they have to learn how to share that information.

Good luck in our efforts uh working together.

Thank you.

That does conclude your time, and that concludes public comment on this item.

Thank you, Council President.

Thank you, City Clerk.

Uh there's now an opportunity for any general comments by the council members, and I see Councilmember Whitburn is first on the lights.

Thank you very much, Council President.

Uh, our colleague, Councilmember Campillo, is out today, so I'd like to note on his behalf that he nominated Walter Jordan J.

Sander the fourth for the district seventh seat.

Uh we heard Mr.

Sanders speak during candidate introductions.

He has significant experience serving on boards, and I know that Councilberry Campio thanks Mr.

Sainter for his willingness to serve on the commission on police practices.

Thank you.

All right, thank you, sir, for that.

Not seeing anybody else in the lights.

There is one category that has only one vacancy and one nominee.

So I would like to dispense with that appointment first.

It is the D5 candidate on for the D5 seat.

Uh Councilmember Von Wolbert.

Uh thank you very much, and I'm happy to make the nomination uh and make the motion in support of Chen Yang Rickard to be our district five nominee.

Uh I want to thank you for your very thorough uh letter and essays that you wrote, uh submitting your nomination.

It was beautiful to read all of your dedication to public service.

Um the work that you have done as a Guardian ad lightum is not only incredibly important to our judicial system, but it it shows that you do know how to make impartial independent judgments.

Um you have great recommendations.

Uh some friends of mine have also recommended you as well, including Dr.

Chang.

And I just really appreciate the fact that you're willing to step up and serve.

Um, I'm very excited that you're gonna be our nominee for district five, and I'm happy to make the nomination.

Thank you.

All right, thank you, Councilmember Vaughn Wolper.

We say we have a nomination for Ms.

Ricard.

Uh, Councilmember Campbell.

I would like to second the nomination.

Thank you.

All right.

So we have a motion, a second.

Um, not seeing anybody else on the lights.

City clerk, can we call the vote?

Sorry, the voting system, please cast your vote.

That does pass unanimously.

Eight to zero with Councilmember Campio absent.

Thank you.

All right.

With that, we will now continue.

Since we have uh multiple candidates for single seats, we will have to go through a balloting procedures for the remaining vacancies.

So the first seat to be filled uh is the district seven seat with a term ending on June 30th, uh, 2026.

The remaining nominees are Francis Tepidino and Walter Jordan J Sr.

So I think we're having ballots being passed.

Yes.

Remember to cast one vote and to also an issue initial at the bottom.

Please raise your ballot when you're done so staff can pick it up.

I'll just say a reminder for to please note that if no one receives at least five votes in the first round of balloting, the nominee with the lowest number of votes shall be dropped from the next round of balloting unless the lowest vote getters are in a tight situation.

This procedure includes nominees who have received zero votes.

New ballots would be distributed and a new round of voting would be taken.

Voting will continue in this manner until a nominee receives at least five votes, and all seats for each category are appointed.

Thank you.

And thank you for your patience as we tabulate.

And Councilmember Campio was absent.

Congratulations to Mr.

Seyner for being appointed for the district seven category with a term ending on June 30th, 2026.

Thank you, Council President.

All right, with that, so we have the district five seat filled, the district seven seat filled.

And now we will have there's one seat to be filled at the at-large category, again with a term ending on June 30th, 2027.

They will pass out the ballot.

Ballots will be distributed.

Please be sure to cross out uh Chen Young Rickard and Walter Jordan Saynar from eligible nominees for this at-large seat.

So the only two nominees uh available are Frances Tippedino and Kirby Nip.

Thank you.

Again, when they are completed, please raise them so that my staff can pick them up.

Thank you.

I will now announce the results of the first round of balloting.

For uh Francis Depadino received a one vote, and Kirby Nip received a seven votes.

Congratulations to Kirby Nip who is appointed to the Commission on Police Practices for the at-large category with a term ending June 30th, 2027.

Thank you, Council President.

Right, thank you.

So the at-large category is now filled.

Uh I want to express my thanks to Mr.

Teppedino for putting yourself out there or take the time to show up and speak to us uh today.

So thank you.

Congratulations to the other three that now fill those seats.

Uh I'm sure you will be contacted to be sworn in uh and advise about next steps to take your position on the commission and the good work associated with that.

So with that, uh clerk, please introduce item S five oh nine.

Item S five oh nine president, can I make a comment real quick before we close the commission on please practice?

Oh, yeah, yeah.

I'm so sorry, Deanna.

Um I was gonna let this go, but I can't.

Uh I want to thank everybody for uh volunteering to serve and um you know we need to promote trust between our law enforcement and our communities, and we just have to escort somebody out of this chambers because he just made a comment that all of us should be apprehended and shot in public.

All of us on this diet should be shot in public, and he was just escorted out for making that threat.

Um, today in Minnesota, there are long voters going to the polls to fill the vacant seat of former Speaker Melissa Hortman because she was shot and killed in her home.

These threats are serious.

A man was killed in a university for making a political speech.

And that just happened right here in this chambers.

Everyone on this diet has a family to go home to.

And so I just want to take down the temperature going forward.

We're about to have a very con what could be a contentious discussion, it should be.

We should have democracy, we should have debate.

We should also treat each other with respect.

We're all neighbors in this city in this county.

We're not enemies of each other just because we have different ideas.

So I want to thank you for being here and showing up.

And just please, let's all be neighbors again.

So thank you.

All right.

Clerk, please introduce item S509.

Thank you, Council President.

Item S five oh nine is the hospitality minimum wage ordinance for certain workers at hotels, event centers, amusement parks within the geographic boundaries of the City of San Diego, and related amendments to the living wage ordinance.

If you'd like to speak to this item, please submit your speaker slip to the front of the room in the clear box.

If you are seating time, please be sure that you are submitting all of your speaker slips together in one package.

And if you are participating online, now's the time to raise your hand by pressing star nine or the raise your hand icon.

Thank you, Council President.

All right.

So I see the district nine is seat at the table.

So please introduce yourself for the record and let us know how much time you need.

Yes, a couple of introductory remarks before I hand it over to Maya.

Um the idea behind this proposal is as simple as it gets.

And that is that the workers who power our economy should earn enough to live in the city where they work.

Put even more concisely, we believe that San Diego should work for San Diegans.

And the struggle to make that idea reality has led to the workers in our city to ask which side are you or we on.

That was a theme at the Labor Day rally a couple weeks ago.

That's the question for us today.

Every decision while crafting our policy proposal has been grounded in the needs of and led by impacted workers.

So we are here to choose, we are here choosing to stand on the side of San Diego's working families.

And with that, I will hand it over to Maya for you to introduce yourself and make your presentation.

To maintain the protocol in chambers, we have a standing rule that if you're holding a sign, please do not hold that up and block the view of the person behind you.

I'm sure they want to see what is displayed on the screen.

So if you want to hold the sign up and you want to hold it up high, back of the room is the best place to be.

Thank you, Council President.

Thank you, Councilmember Ila Rivera.

My name is Maya Rossas, Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy.

On behalf of Councilmember Ela Rivera, I'm here to present the proposed hospitality minimum wage ordinance for certain workers at hotels, event centers, and amusement parks within the geographic boundaries of the City of San Diego, and related amendments to the living wage ordinance.

The requested action for this item is as follows.

Adopt an ordinance amending chapter three of the San Diego Municipal Code relating to the minimum wage for hospitality employees with the following changes, which are for further clarification of our intended impact.

Section 3120104.

Hospitality employer means any person who owns, operates, or manages a hotel event center or amusement park.

B, any contracted leased or sublet premises or facility on the grounds of a hotel, event center, or amusement park, and which are directly related to the operations of the hotel, event center, or amusement park for at least 30 days in a calendar year, or C, any contracted housekeeping, janitorial security, parking, valet parking, food preparation, ushering, ticket taking, concession, retail store, massage or spa, restaurant, bar, or landscaping services that are provided on the grounds of a hotel, event center, or amusement park.

And changes for clarification purposes to section 3120105A.

Hospitality employers shall pay employees no less than the minimum wage for all hours worked within the territorial boundaries of the city.

Hospitality employers must pay all wages owed employees under section 3120105, whether the amount is fixed or ascertained by the standard of time, task piece, commission basis, or other method of calculation in a manner and frequency consistent with the California Labor Code and wage orders published by the California Industrial Welfare Commission or the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement.

And adopts an ordinance amending chapter two of the San Diego Municipal Code relating to the living wage ordinance to eliminate overlap between the living wage ordinance and the hospitality minimum wage ordinance.

On February 27th, 2025, the Select Committee on Addressing the Cost of Living voted 3 to 0 to direct the Council District 9 office to work with the city attorney's office, the independent budget analyst, city staff, and impacted workers and businesses to draft an ordinance that establishes a minimum wage for hotel, event center, and janitorial service workers in the tourism sector.

After extensive discussions with impacted workers and businesses, we developed a draft ordinance and presented it to the committee.

On June 25th, 2025, the committee voted 3 to 0 to direct the Council District 9 office to work with the city attorney's office to prepare a final hospitality minimum wage ordinance for city council consideration.

Following the June committee hearing, our office again held extensive discussions with impacted workers and businesses.

The ordinance has now been updated to incorporate feedback we received from committee and through good faith dialogue with a wide range of stakeholders.

I'd like to especially thank Elena Min in the city attorney's office, who was essential in getting the ordinance ready for today.

San Diego has long been a tourist destination.

It is part of our city's identity and for good reason.

According to the city's economic development department, tourism is one of San Diego's four base sectors of the economy.

Just five years ago, the COVID-19 pandemic shut down tourism and brought the economy to a halt.

The hospitality industry was able to recover from the pandemic relatively quickly, and by the end of fiscal year 2023, the San Diego Tourism Authority was celebrating its success.

With 32 million annual visitors in fiscal year 2024, an increase of 2 million from the year before, San Diego is one of the most visited regions in the United States.

Now San Diego is a top five travel destination for U.S.

residents and a leading destination for international visitors.

According to the Tourism Authority, by September 2024, San Diego hotels had recorded 76% occupancy in 2024, ahead of Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Francisco.

Unfortunately, due to uncertainty and instability created by the federal administration, we are all again navigating economic uncertainty.

By May of this year, the San Diego Tourism Authority was anticipating a slowdown in the local tourism sector.

Yet, even with unprecedented unprecedented uncertainty beyond our local control, the tourism authority said that the county's tourism industry, quote, is insulated from some of the pullback in longer haul travel because it has a close-in drive market of some 40 to 50 million people from Southern California to Arizona and Southern Nevada.

The UT then quoted the tourism authority's director of research.

That confidence in the tourism industry's ability to weather uncertainty in the economy is reflected in recent news.

In June, the UT reported that tourism hiring is on pace to break a record, and in May, the paper reported that the Manchester Grand Hyatt, owned by an out of town publicly traded company, is undergoing a 100 million dollar renovation, which will update nearly every piece of the property, including all 1,628 guest rooms.

The hospitality industry in San Diego is large and is resilient.

Tourism in San Diego will persevere.

The hospitality industry and San Diego's economy are intertwined to support one another.

San Diego has supported the hospitality industry in a number of ways for decades, including but not limited to establishing and maintaining the San Diego Tourism Marketing District with a budget of 62 million dollars for FY 2026, using city staff time to lobby for cruise and airline routes to San Diego, administering special promotional programs focused on increasing tourism, promoting artistic and cultural amenities, attracting businesses and economic activity, and supporting visitor-related facilities.

Implementing props proposition C and Measure J, which require that most lease revenue generated in Mission Bay Park be appropriated to capital improvements in Mission Bay Park and maintaining roads, water, sewer, and stormwater utilities that serve the hospitality industry.

And at the same time, San Diego and the hospitality industry benefit from the millions of visitors we receive annually.

Visitors staying in hotels contribute to paying our transient occupancy tax or TOT, which is the city's third largest source of city tax collections.

That yellow bar reflects the $311 million in TOT collected in FY 2024, more than any previous year pre- or post-pandemic.

In addition to paying TOT to the city, visitors spend $14.7 billion in San Diego in 2024, supporting our hospitality industry and local businesses.

And as demonstrated, the hospitality industry is strong and resilient, supporting the city's budget.

Now it's time to support the workers that let the hospitality industry grow into one of the four largest sectors in the region.

One in eight workers in the county contribute to the tourism industry, or 91,000 workers supporting the industry in the city of San Diego.

These workers are also city residents who must support their families in this high cost of living city.

Unfortunately, workers in the hospitality industry have not experienced the same post-pandemic rebound as the industry has.

The Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit nonpartisan think tank, found that among all industries in the U.S., leisure and hospitality possess the largest share of workers earning less than $18 an hour.

On the screen, you can see that mean hourly wage of occupations in the hospitality industry in San Diego County compared to the city's minimum wage.

Yet the Massachusetts Institute of Technologies Living Wage Calculator shows that a single person household would need to earn $30.71 per hour in San Diego County to support themselves working full-time.

It's no secret that San Diego is one of the most expensive housing markets in the country.

And as the UT reported, San Diego has the highest inflation rate in the nation, and it keeps getting more expensive.

San Diegans should not be priced out of San Diego, forced to live with multiple roommates, or skip food or medications while supporting our hospitality industry.

Therefore, Councilmember Ila Rivera is proposing a hospitality minimum wage to increase the minimum wage and the quality of life for some of San Diego's lowest paid workers who work for large employers in the hospitality industry.

The ordinance establishes a $25 minimum wage for workers at certain hotels, event centers, and amusement parks.

To minimize the economic impact of this wage, increase on hospitality employers to minimize the economic impact of this wage increase on hospitality employers.

We have incorporated a phase in that begins July 1, 2026.

Once the $25 per hour wage is in place, the wage will adjust annually for inflation.

The first type of facility is amusement parks, which includes SeaWorld San Diego.

Amusement parks are defined as for-profit facilities comprised of at least 75 contiguous acres open to the public for the purpose of entertaining or amusement, contains permanent amusement rides, and operated pursuant to lease, operating agreement, or other contractual agreement with the city.

Hotels are defined as privately owned facilities designated or used for lodging or other related services with at least 150 guest rooms or suites.

This threshold is based on input from committee members, hotel owners, and industry data that shows smaller hotels are more likely to be owned and operated by local proprietors.

Small hotels are also more likely to be limited service hotels, which are almost entirely dependent on revenue from room from rooms.

Limited service hotels have less flexibility for how to absorb the increased minimum wage rate.

Larger hotels above 150 rooms are more likely to be full service with multiple bars, restaurants, and other revenue generating amenities that can help absorb the wage increase.

The hospitality minimum wage applies to all restaurants, bars, banquet halls, event spaces, retail shops, parking facilities, spas, and other facilities located on the grounds of a hotel.

The city's earned sick leave and minimum wage ordinance currently applies to amusement parks and hotels.

That minimum wage is currently $17.25.

When this ordinance goes into effect, minimum wage employees will receive a 10% raise from the current wage with significant increases annually on July 1st until $25 per hour goes into effect in 2030.

Event centers include the following four facilities: Petco Park, Pachenga Arena San Diego, San Diego Convention Center, and Civic Theater.

The city's living wage ordinance, which is higher than the citywide minimum wage, already applies to these facilities because they are a part of a city facility agreement for the lease use or management of a city facility.

These are large facilities that draw national and international entertainment acts, which attract tourists and regional visitors as well as city residents.

The living wage ordinance currently applies to event centers.

The current living wage is $17.67 in a cash wage and $3.39 in health benefits, which adds up to $21.06.

The event center's phase-in begins at that wage as a cash wage.

This phase in also reaches $25 by 2030.

The ordinance also prohibits or the ordinance also provides additional protections from workers.

The ordinance prohibits retaliation against an employee, provides remedies to an employee or the city to enforce the hospitality minimum wage ordinance, allows for an employee to file a complaint with the city's enforcement office, and matches the federal, state, or city minimum wages if such wages for the relevant occupations exceed the hospitality minimum wage.

Amendments to the living wage ordinance include removing employers who are covered by the higher minimum wage required by the proposed hospitality minimum wage ordinance, which are the event center facilities.

In closing, staff recommendation for this item is as follows.

Adopt an ordinance amending chapter three of the San Diego Municipal Code relating to the minimum wage for hospitality employees with the following changes to section 3120104.

Hospitality employer means any person who owns, operates, or manages a hotel event center or amusement park, B, any contracted leased or sublet premises or facility on the grounds of a hotel event center or amusement park, and which are directly related to the operations of the hotel event center or amusement park for at least 30 days in a calendar year, or C any contracted housekeeping, janitorial, security, parking, valet parking, food preparation, ushering, ticket taking, concession, retail store, massage or spa, restaurant, bar, or landscaping services that are provided on the grounds of a hotel, event center, or amusement park.

And section 3120105A, hospitality employers shall pay employees no less than the minimum wage for all hours worked within the territorial boundaries of the city.

Hospitality employers must pay all wages owed employees under section 3120105, whether the amount is fixed or ascertained by the standard of time, task piece, commission basis, or other method of calculation in a manner and frequency consistent with the California Labor Code and wage orders published by the California Industrial Welfare Commission or the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement.

And adopts an ordinance amending chapter two of the San Diego Municipal Code relating to the living wage ordinance to eliminate overlap between the living wage ordinance and the hospitality minimum wage ordinance.

Thank you so much.

All right, thank you for the presentation.

All right.

So this time we'll hear a presentation from staff with the independent budget analysts office.

So please introduce yourself for record and let us know how much time you need to.

Thank you, Council President Lacava and members of the Council, and good afternoon.

I'm Aaron Noel with the office of the IBA.

We need about 12 minutes, and our team is just assembling now, and we'll be ready to start momentarily.

Our team includes Amy Lee and Gillian Andalina and myself.

Thank you.

All right.

Well, please begin when you're ready.

Thank you, Council President.

Council members, I'm Gillian Andalina with the Office of the Independent Budget Analysts, and I'm joined here by Aaron Noel and Amy Lee.

As requested by the Select Committee on Addressing the Cost of Living, our office released a report on June 18th to help inform committee and council discussions about the potential impacts of a proposed hospitality minimum wage ordinance and to offer some potential mitigations.

The presentation provides an overview of that report.

In our report, we provide a literature review on the related economic studies, share feedback from stakeholders, present what we found in other cities' minimum wage policies through benchmarking, assess the potential impacts on transient occupant occupancy tax or TOT revenue, and conclude with policy and implementation considerations.

Some of the most important ones have been incorporated in the current proposal.

I'll skip over a review of the ordinance and head into our key findings.

We found that the economic research does not offer a clear consensus on impacts of minimum wage policies, and that those impacts can be dependent on several factors, like how much the new wage exceeds current wages.

For instance, the further you are from the target wage, the larger the impact there will be.

Other factors include the pace at which it's implemented and how employers decide to address the cost increases.

Although there's contrasting views on the research, we do know that instituting a $25 per hour minimum wage for hospitality workers will increase wages and overall labor costs.

Our benchmarking study shows no direct correlation between minimum wage and TOT revenues, but we do note possible negative impacts to the overall financial health of the hotel industry.

Also, economic conditions do matter in terms of impacts in that robust economic growth could allow employers to better support increased labor costs, but our current economic environment is particularly uncertain.

Finally, we offer a number of considerations in our report.

The most important being phasing in the proposed minimum wage to minimize significant disruptions in the hospitality industry.

This was incorporated into the proposal before council today.

Now I'll turn it over to Aaron.

Thanks, Jillian.

I'll just start with some brief background.

As you know, the city currently has both a citywide minimum wage ordinance and a living wage ordinance, which are enforced by the compliance department's Office of Labor Standards and Enforcement.

The bar chart here shows the distribution of hotel sizes for the total 385 travel accommodation options in the city.

The proposed ordinance exempts hotels with fewer than 150 rooms that are rented for 30 or fewer days.

This accounts for 282 or 73.2% of the total, which are exempt.

This means that the ordinance does cover 103 medium large and conference or convention hotels, and this is about 26.8% of the total.

Regarding local employment in the industry, estimates provided by Sandeg indicate at the low end, about 53% of the 19,000 accommodation jobs in the city are filled by workers who live outside of the city, but they would nevertheless benefit from the proposed hospitality wage ordinance.

Our office reviewed a significant body of economic research and met with several labor economists and found the academic research does not offer a clear consensus on the impacts of minimum wage policies.

Although studies differ on overall impacts, a $25 an hour minimum wage for hospitality workers would raise both the wages of affected employees and the overall labor cost of employers, which in some cases could be as high as a 45% increase for workers who are currently making the city's minimum wage of 1725 an hour.

The level of impact would depend on several factors, and I'm going to discuss those in the next slide.

First, note that key economic benefits of instituting a minimum wage identified in several studies, include wage increases for impacted workers, spillover effects for other workers, increased consumer spending, living standard improvements, reduction in wage or income inequality, improved job quality, and worker retention.

On the other hand, several studies identified economic risks and challenges associated with the minimum wage.

These include job losses, reduction in hiring, higher operational costs, and price increases, challenges for small businesses, and non-labor adjustments, for example, the use of technology in place of workers.

We met with a wide range of stakeholders to identify potential economic benefits and risks and challenges to impacted hospitality employees and employers of workers in hotels and event centers.

Based on discussions with labor organizations, represented impacting workers, a diverse group of hospitality workers at hotels, event centers, and other affected locations would benefit from the proposed ordinance, including housekeepers, banquet and restaurant servers, audio visual technicians, and janitors, among others.

For these workers, the minimum wage increase could provide financial security, increase quality of life, and economic stability by helping hospitality workers support themselves without needing multiple jobs, reducing reliance on welfare benefits and subsidized housing.

To understand the potential impacts of instituting a minimum wage on hotels, we met with hospitality industry representatives as well as several hotel owners and managers representing various hotel classifications in locations throughout the city.

We found the degree of economic impact will depend on the size of the increase above current wages of covered workers, the attributes and ownership model of the hotel, as well as how affected employers choose to address the cost increases.

For example, employers may address the increased labor costs through eliminating positions, reducing services, increasing prices of services, or reducing reinvestment in capital expend expenditures, such as for renovations.

Other options which are more challenging to implement and therefore limited in use, including increasing room rates and decreasing profit margins.

We also spoke with select event centers, some of which since have been removed from the proposal.

Reported fiscal implications were significant as labor costs make up a large portion of operating costs.

Each of the entities is unique, but estimated increased costs for some were in the low millions to low tens of millions.

Some were more constrained than others and absorbing higher costs due to multi-year agreements already in place, and because increased prices could negatively impact competitiveness for booking things like conventions and concerts.

We also raised two policy considerations with regard to these centers.

First is the inclusion of tipped workers, and Amy will discuss that shortly.

Second is the impact to San Diego residents, as it was reported to us that for many of the event centers and amusement and amusement parks, many visitors are San Diego residents.

Now I'll pass it off to Amy to discuss benchmarking with other cities.

Thank you, Erin.

To help inform economic impacts, we benchmarked with other California cities that have similar ordinances.

Although we didn't find any cities in the state that included event centers, we did identify six cities with a higher minimum wage for hotel workers as listed on the slide, along with the time frame for adoptions.

As far as economic insights, research was somewhat limited.

One report from the city of Santa Monica found that many other factors contribute to how the local hotel industry performs, including consumer demand, cost of goods, and overall economic conditions, concluding that its ordinance did not appear to substantively impact the local economy.

The more rigorous economic studies mainly focus on the city of Los Angeles and echoed earlier findings, mainly that there are economic trade-offs.

Some research suggested that overall growth in LA's hotel industry stagnated due to the higher operational costs from the higher minimum wage, affecting the appeal of the hotels as an investment.

As you can see in the figures on this slide, we also compared inflation adjusted TOT revenues in blue and minimum wage schedules in orange for four cities.

And overall, we do not see a direct correlation.

TOT revenues can still increase when minimum wage increases, as you can see in the late 2010s in Los Angeles and Santa Monica.

But this also coincided with general economic growth.

Post-pandemic recoveries also suggest a lack of correlation as Santa Monica is closer to recovering to pre-pandemic levels than Los Angeles, which has the same minimum wage schedule, and Bubble Hills, which doesn't have direct wage pressure as its hotels follow the statewide minimum wage.

This analysis suggests that TOT revenue is influenced by a variety of factors beyond hotel worker minimum wage, most notably general economic trends and travel demand.

Turning back to San Diego, real TOT revenue has declined in level dots since recovering from the pandemic around fiscal year 2023, and the current fiscal year projection is essentially flat.

Between fiscal year 2025 year end and early actual receipts from the current fiscal year, TOT revenues continue to trend slightly below projections.

As was previously mentioned, TOT revenue can grow during robust economic growth, but the current economic environment is more uncertain given federal policies on top of an already cooling economy.

Our office's assessment does not anticipate major declines in TOT revenue due to the proposal, but there could be slower TOT growth along with the potential longer-term strain on the tourism industry.

Here we list policy and implementation considerations for council.

I'll note that first among these was a phase in schedule to minimize the disruptive impacts from an immediate sharp increase in hourly wages.

As noted in the staff presentation, phase in schedules for covered entities are reflected in the drafted ordinance before council today.

Second was a recommendation that upon further investigation impairs infeasible, which was to keep tipped employees at the citywide minimum wage.

As mentioned in our report, state law prohibits tips and other gratuities from being credited towards the applicable minimum wage.

Therefore, we understand there is not a feasible path forward to carve out tipped employees from the ordinance.

Lastly, regarding enforcement, we suggested that compliance input regarding effective implementation and enforcement be considered.

We understand that some modifications in the drafted ordinance before council reflect input and requested changes from the compliance department to support effective enforcement.

Also note projected resource needs for the compliance department include two additional FTEs, which was estimated at 386,000 as detailed in our report.

In conclusion, the proposal, the proposed ordinance has economic trade-offs.

The proposal could benefit impacted workers by improving quality of life and high cost of living, potentially increase employee retention and consumer spending if they live in the city.

However, these benefits could be offset by higher labor costs, potential job losses, and challenges for businesses to remain competitive.

The ultimate impact of the proposal on the city's local economy will depend on the aggregate effects of circumstances and decision making and the employer level, which may differ for each employer as we previously detailed.

Council should consider these trade-offs carefully.

Based on our assessment, some of the most important policy and implementation considerations, such as a phase and schedule and input from compliance, have been incorporated in the current drafted proposal or explored and deemed infeasible, as is the case with exempting tipped employees.

That concludes our presentation, but we're happy to answer questions at the appropriate time.

Thank you.

All right, thank you for that detailed presentation.

We always can count on you to deliver on the analysis.

So with that, the clerk, please proceed with public comment.

Thank you, Council President.

We do have uh over close to 90 speakers here in council chambers, and currently just nine in the virtual queue with their hands raised.

We will be going down to a minute apiece.

If I can have the following individuals, please come up to the yellow reserve seats, and then Bret C Brennan, Betsy, Brennan, please come up to the microphone.

Then we'll have Ricardo Garcia, Benella Young Carrick, Steve Pinard, Eric Jenkins, Andres Alba, Cardenas, Mark Van Looney, and Ansermio Estrada.

Please come up to the front row in the yellow reserve seats.

Betsy, you have time seated to you by Clayton Fowler.

If you can please raise thank you.

You'll have two minutes.

Please proceed.

Great, thank you.

Hello, City Council.

Good morning good afternoon, Council President Lacava and Council members.

My name is Betsy Brennan, president and CEO of the Downtown San Diego Partnership.

For more than three decades, the downtown partnership has worked to advance the economic prosperity and cultural vitality of downtown San Diego.

Great downtowns across the world serve a critical role in their local economies, both as workforce centers and as key tourism assets.

There is no difference in our downtown, where the hospitality and tourism industries have a significant connection.

And today I am here on behalf of our more than 400 businesses and businesses and 14,000 members of the partnership.

In fact, downtown's transient occupancy tax contributes significantly to the entire city of San Diego's budget, including police, fire, parks, and libraries.

Well, we agree that paying fair wages is important.

This action unfairly targets a single industry and will severely impact San Diego's ability to compete as a world-class destination, reduce investment in our downtown, lead to less jobs, and decrease the City of San Diego's overall revenue.

We cannot afford to put downtown's economic prosperity and cultural vitality at risk at this time.

Therefore, we urge you to vote no or to please continue these conversations and come up with an acceptable compromise.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Ricardo Garcia.

Good afternoon, uh Council President, Council members.

My name is Ricardo Garcia with Paradise Point Resort in Mission Bay.

And I worked in the hotel and resort industry here in San Diego County for the last 30 years.

It's a tough business, highly subject to the consumer confidence in spending, travel, and economic concerns.

It's no secret that this is a challenging time for tourism in 2025, as it is for many other businesses in San Diego.

A big jump in minimum wage happening in the foreseeable future is not going to help us add jobs, create additional offerings to attract guests, and ultimately contribute more to the city of San Diego directly through the transient occupancy tax or through increased visitor spending.

Please consider how gradually faced increases can mitigate the difficult decisions that businesses will have to make.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Benella Young Carrick.

Thank you, Council President and Council members.

My name is Janita Young Carrick, and I'm with Paradise Point as well.

We deeply value our team members and fully recognize the hard work they put in every day to create memorable experiences with our guests.

At the same time, we do we are facing significant increases in the cost of goods, supplies, insurance, and ongoing investments on our properties.

These pressures are mounting just as we are seeing.

Conferences cancel, a slowdown in both international and domestic travel, and real impacts beginning to take place right here in San Diego.

While I understand the intention behind raising minimum wage is to improve our workers' quality of life.

The ripple effect can create an unintentional challenge for both employers and employees in this sector.

We respectfully ask you to consider the dedicate, delicate balance between involving a mandated significant wage increases, which would make you for that concluding remark.

Thank you.

I appreciate it.

Steve Afternoon.

I'm not a large out-of-town hotel corporation.

My name is Steve Bernard.

I'm the owner of Action Sport Rentals, a family-owned water sport bike and rental company.

It's operated in standing over 33 years.

The wage mandate is unfair to small businesses like mine for the following reason.

It will cause an unfair playing field.

The other water sport rental companies that are not at hotels but located sometimes right next to us will not be required to implement this wage increase.

I'll have no other choice except to raise my rates well above them.

I also struggle with the fact that there's 182 hotels, have 149 rooms or less will be exempt from this mandate.

How is a small water sport rental company in a better financial position than those businesses to absorb this increased labor cost?

Also, the average employee I hire in the summer is 18 years old.

Many of them have first-time jobs, zero working experience.

Their kids on summer bake from high school, college, just trying to make a little money.

They simply do not need a $25 an hour wage.

I respectfully urge the city council to consider how this is going to affect small businesses like mine.

Thank you.

Eric Jenkins.

Hello, council members.

My name is Eric Jenkins.

I represent Sancia La Jolla Hotel in uh La Jolla.

And I rise in opposition.

Um I think this is well intentioned.

Um I question the uh approach.

$25 doesn't even get us to the $30 required living wage.

If you were faced with a 45% increase at your largest expense, what decisions would you have to make?

Uh raising revenue through taxes and fees.

We'll have to raise uh revenues through rates and fees, and right now we're in declining rates and occupancies, so there's a challenge there.

Uh you would have to eliminate positions uh to try to streamline and decrease uh expenses.

Uh that's a decision that I don't want to be faced with.

Um further investment in the hotel uh will be shrunk, and um I think that there's better ways to do this.

I urge the council to give this more time and take a more pragmatic approach, um, maybe one that addresses more cost of living issues and and less uh wage issues for uh businesses.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Andres Alva Cardanas, you have time seated too by Tim Douglas.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Council members.

Andrés Salva Cárdenas, Union Representative Aston Local 127 speaking support of this hospitality minimum wage ordinance and proudly standing in solidarity with our labor family, the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council, specifically unite here, those are the ones in the red, and Its eat those are the ones in the black.

This ordinance demonstrates responsible wealth redistribution.

It redistributes wealth more equitably and fairly to the employees who actually perform the work in a multi-billion dollar industry driven by corporate greed.

Further, this ordinance forces the invisible hand of the market or corporations to pay their employees more livable wages for providing their respective services.

If the city, with this ordinance, does not legally require corporations to pay their employees more livable wages, corporations will not do the do so themselves.

There is no trickle-down effect.

Although this ordinance goes only so far, it is a necessary step in the right direction.

Notably, the hospitality industry is one of the largest economic sectors in San Diego.

Yet it pays some of the lowest wages.

According to MIT's living wage calculator, a single person household will need to make three dollars and seventy-one cents per hour in San Diego County to support themselves while working full-time.

Many of these employees of this industry do not currently make this.

In fact, they make much, much less.

Thus, this ordinance established an hourly minimum wage of $25 by 20 2030, which gets employees closer but not quite there yet to meeting the demands of cost of living increases.

This is how the ordinance remedies an economic issue of the working class.

So compel corporations to adjust their budgets and stand in solidarity with the labor movement.

To reiterate, ASE Local 127 proudly supports established establishing this hospitality minimum wage ordinance.

Thank you.

Mark Van Looney.

And then I'll be on Sarmi Austrado.

Is Mark not here?

Going once, Mark.

After that, I'll be Carol Kim, Robert Gleason, Christian Ramirez, and Rachel Janet.

If you can please start making your way up to the front row.

Please proceed.

Good afternoon.

Sorry for the delay.

My name is Mark Van Cooney.

So I I didn't think I was on the list, but I think maybe there was a misspelling, which is why I came forward.

So anyway, uh City Council President Council, I wasn't prepared to speak, but I am speaking to you as a hotelier and as and a resident.

Um this week we're celebrating International Housekeeper Week at our hotel, and I think all the hotels in the city of San Diego were celebrating our workers.

We provide transit passes, we reimburse for the bus passes and the transit passes are a hotel, and all that will probably go away if this passes.

You're saying that we're the low, you know, people are saying we're such a low rate for our housekeepers and our janitors.

We don't have janitors, we have housekeepers, but I'm sure the city does too.

So I'm not sure why our industry is being targeted to pay a rate that you're not even gonna pay your city.

In addition, we're being targeted for our parking in front of our hotels now.

They're trying to reduce the space that we have in front of our hotels, which is taking away convenience from our guests.

So I just don't understand.

Thank you.

And Sarmi Estrada.

Hey, good afternoon, City Council.

My name is An Semel Jacostrada, political director for the San Diego Building and Construction Trades Council.

Uh, we're here to support this ordinance because that was we know just like the prevailing wage ensures construction workers are able to support a family, make rent, participate in the local economy, raising the wage for tourism and hospitality workers will do just the same.

This is a virtuous cycle.

Raising the wage creates good jobs, which in turn generates more local tax revenue and consumer spending.

And we're gonna hear a lot about the possibility of corporate flight from our region.

Yeah, we are told to ignore the families, the working people who have already been forced out of San Diego.

This implies a sense of symmetry where none exists.

Make no mistake to deny this wage increase is to allow for the continued exploitation of your constituents, your neighbors, the workers on which this hospitality industry was built.

Support this ordinance and show your working people, show your uh constituents your intention to govern differently to improve the material conditions that we all live under.

And please remember greed is greed, no matter how hard you try to intellectualize it.

Carol Kim.

You have time seated to you by Susan Orlovsny.

If you can please raise your hand, Susan.

Am I missing it?

She's in the overflow room.

If you can please come forward in order to seat your time, Lucas O'Connor as well.

Thank you.

Um, Susan, I I can even see her from the doors, but I do need to see her.

I see her raising her hand.

Three minutes, please proceed.

She's right there.

Yeah, she was waving from the hand.

I could see.

All right.

Good morning, or good afternoon, actually, council members.

Uh, my name is Carol Kim, and I'm here representing the San Diego County Building and Construction Trades Council, probably representing over 35,000 union construction workers throughout the county.

We're gonna be hearing a lot of comment today, including comment from those in opposition here.

And we've just started.

And already I can't help but think about how familiar it sounds.

Um, it sounds so familiar because it's the same argument we've heard whenever we've dared to suggest that people should make enough to live on.

Every single time, every single place, our entire lives.

And in the end, they always have the same pitch.

The only way for workers to make more is for workers to never make more.

They've said it throughout this process, just like they've said it the entire time when we raised the minimum wage in San Diego nearly a decade ago.

We were promised that restaurants would disappear, the economy would collapse, every business would flee, unemployment would sweep the city.

They were wrong.

They were wrong because of every reason we always know to be true.

Spiraling income inequality is bad.

Extracting wealth from San Diego to other places is bad.

Sentencing hardworking families to lifetimes in poverty is bad, and it's expensive.

But putting money into the pockets of local families is good.

They spend that money here, they support our local small businesses, they stay healthy, their kids get good educations and they stay here to start new businesses and raise the next generation.

It's the society we should all be aspiring to build.

We've tried their version where they pay the bare minimum permitted by law and suck up every other dime.

It's a system that's been built very much on purpose to produce the exact outcomes that it's producing.

It's gotten us all the problems we're facing today.

This action today is not a silver bullet.

It isn't supposed to be.

It will not solve the cost of living problems, but it is one piece of what we understand has to be done.

And the only way to get from where we are to what we need to be is to take this step.

It's important to understand the numbers we're talking about here today and to keep them in perspective.

Even at its full five uh phase in, five years from now, and they're saying four, but it's really five, practically speaking.

The workers who actually get full-time hours will still only be making fifty thousand dollars an hour.

That's less than 40% of San Diego's area median income right now.

When the phase in begins next fiscal year, the new rates begin at or around 30% of AMI, which is threshold for extremely low income.

I drive this point home for two reasons.

One, to underscore how egregiously insufficient current wages are, and that this is a modest step towards a real solution.

All of these people who have opposed this because they think it should be applied more broadly.

I look forward to partnering with you on the future efforts because we will be back to continue working towards a true living wage for San Diegans.

And two, to make sure it's clear that we're aren't just considering hyper business transactions when we talk about wages.

Thank you.

Thank you for that concluding work.

Next we have Robert Gleason.

You have several people seeding your time.

If they can please raise their hand.

Chris Thornburg.

Chris is part of the organized.

But we'll be putting all your time together.

So just to make sure I can put the 15 minutes on the clock.

Did you want to?

I was gonna say you guys are so good.

Let's do this for thumbs up because you like it, and this for thumbs down when you don't like it.

Thank you, Council President.

Uh Chris Thornburg.

Jacobs Gaivara.

Jacob?

Thank you.

Matt Adams.

Thank you.

Faraiah Ahmed.

Orlando Alvarado.

Jamie Jane Asfin.

Anthony Belleff.

Julia De Beers.

Alexander Goura.

Richard Wallace.

Heather Lawler.

Leanne Mitchell.

Bryant Moore.

Stefan Prochka.

Thank you.

Christian Woodland.

Christian Woodland.

Thank you.

And Lily Williams.

Okay.

15 minutes is the maximum.

Please proceed, and you guys can manage your own time.

Thank you.

I'm Robert Gleason.

I'm the CEO of locally owned and operated Evans Hotels and chair of the San Diego County Lodging Association.

We represent the 38,000 hotel rooms in the city of San Diego.

And collectively, we are the employers of the most number of workers directly impacted by the proposal.

Let me start by acknowledging the obvious.

This is a frustrating time for all of us.

For workers, for businesses, and for municipal governments.

All of us are struggling with our budgets in a time when the economy is faltering and expenses continue to rise.

Balancing budgets, whether for a household or a hotel or a city, has never been harder.

That's why we've continued to express concerns about the impacts of this proposal.

I recognize and sincerely appreciate that everyone engaged in this effort.

Workers, businesses, and policymakers are doing what they believe to be the right thing and have all been actively engaged in the process.

As hotels, we do our best to offer a great product at a competitive price and attract visitors to San Diego.

We work hard to pay our workers a competitive wage and to invest to improve our properties.

But all of that can be at risk.

Just like a city budget, revenue is not necessarily guaranteed, and added expenses require tough decisions.

Occupancy is still behind where it was in 2019 and actually declined in the most recent 12 months.

Current San Diego Tourism Authority projections show continued occupancy declines through this calendar year and next.

And it's occupancy that drives employments, employment, providing hours for our employees.

At the same time, the average daily rate, that's the price of a hotel room, is declining and the decline is accelerating.

Hotel revenues now lag behind last year, and that translates directly into lower transient occupancy tax collections that impact the city budget.

It's clear that many of these factors leading to this decline are self-inflicted by the White House.

But the economic chaos created shows no sign of improvement, and every forward-looking economic indicator is in decline.

This revenue challenge comes on top of mounting expense challenges that we all face for energy, water, insurance, workers workers' compensation insurance, property and casualty, as well as labor.

At Evans Hotels, our workers make an average of 60% more than they did four years ago.

And San Diego minimum wage has increased in the last decade four times the rate of inflation.

It's indexed currently to inflation and is already higher than the minimum wage in every state in the country.

But for workers, the stresses are the same.

Groceries have never cost more, gas is expensive, utilities and water are increasing in double digits, and housing costs are an all-time high.

Hotels didn't create those challenges, and they're beyond our control, but we're being asked to solve them.

Against this backdrop, we've said the original proposal was a challenging policy at a challenging time.

To quantify both the expected and unintended consequences, the lodging association commissioned a series of economic studies.

To discuss those now is Dr.

Chris Thornberg.

He's a PhD in economics from UCLA and an expert in labor economics.

He's the founding partner of Beacon Economics and consults frequently across California for both private and public sector entities.

Dr.

Thorber.

Thank you so much.

Good afternoon, City Council members.

It's a pleasure to be with you.

As noted, I'm Chris Thornberg, founding partner of Beacon Economics.

And I've studied this issue of minimum wages and the impact on the broader economy for many, many years now, really, since uh before I even started Beacon Economics.

And look, um, I appreciate it's good public policy to reduce poverty rates and raise incomes for struggling families.

But we have to remember that all such policies must be considered not just for their motives but also for their efficacy.

All policies like this have some negative secondary effects.

It's there is no free lunch.

That's that's the basic rule.

The extreme view is that the claim that some regulatory interventions in the market can be costless.

This is a social scientist equivalent of snake oil or cold fusion.

It just doesn't work that way.

Efforts to help those families in need to focus on policies with modest unintended consequences, such as the earned income tax credit and snap food assistance programs.

This program, the proposed San Diego tourism minimum wage, is the opposite.

It's the exact opposite.

This is an example of a policy that certainly creates some positives, but the negatives will more than offset those positives because of the impact that this wage floor will have on the broader local economy, the city's budget, and of course, some of the most vulnerable residents of your city.

Look, there's already been significant increases in local wage floors.

We know that.

In 2013, in San Diego, the minimum wage was $8 an hour.

Today it's $17, $20.25.

That's over over 100% in just a decade.

Now you have a new $25 minimum wage that's going to basically being assigned to hotels and convention center, places that, by the way, typically pay more than the standard wages inside the economy.

This law is not helping the truly needy within the San Diego economy at this particular point in time.

And who's going to pay for these rules?

Minimum wage increases don't just affect the low the lowest wage positions in a hotel.

Everybody has to get a bump because you have to keep levels of experience and seniority in the system, even up to management.

At $25 an hour, the minimum wage for an exempt employee-based management is going to be a hundred thousand dollars a year.

Once you include, of course, all the benefit costs, workers' comp, the insurance, and all this kind of stuff.

Easily many of these institutions will see their labor costs go up from 10 to 25% and perhaps even more.

And who's going to pay for this in the end?

Look, I understand the nice idea is that somehow or other this increased payroll costs will come straight out of CEO pay and corporate profits.

But unfortunately, that's not how the world works.

In a competitive market, most of these costs will be passed on to the final consumer in the form of higher prices, higher prices for events, higher prices for hotel rooms, higher prices for the services and the food and the drinks being served in these institutions.

And of course, when prices go up, sales will fall.

That is the first rule of demand.

When you think about this, right, this is an you're going to have an overall decline in people coming to these hotels, coming to these facilities.

And by the way, that means fewer jobs.

That means fewer hours for the workers who work there.

So, yes, some workers will absolutely benefit.

They will see their earnings go up, but other workers are going to see their hours go down.

And on net, they're not going to make see much change.

And other workers aren't going to have an opportunity to work there at all.

And those folks will suffer.

So even within the industry, there's going to be winners and losers.

If you don't think this is going to happen, consider the very fresh example of California's Fast Act, which of course raised the minimum wage for corporate-owned fast food restaurants to $20 an hour.

According to one study, fast food prices in the state have already gone up by 15% as a result of this.

And by the way, you can go look at the data.

The industry has already shed 4.5% of its jobs.

33,000 jobs have been lost in fast food in California since that wage went into place, since that minimum wage went into place.

That's a very real effect.

And of course, remember San Diego competes with other places around the state and globe.

Higher prices mean fewer visitors, and this, of course, is going to weigh very heavily on other parts of the local economy that rely on this spending.

Retail shops, rental car agencies, restaurants, tour companies, and the rest of the tourism ecosystem will all be hit by the decline in folks who will be who will be coming here to San Diego, and they will in turn have to reduce their employment, their hours, their salaries for their folks.

So, yes, you create winners and losers within the economy.

And of course, we have to keep in mind this is a particularly bad time.

You heard about the softness in the industry.

It's very real.

It's not just here in San Diego, it's across California, it's across the United States.

Here in San Diego, passenger traffic through the airport here has been flat, and the convention center has seen a decrease in attendance in its most recent fiscal year.

Hotel occupancy rates have actually been sagging, as are Rev PARs.

And remember, even as this is happening, labor costs continue to rise, putting a big squeeze on profits.

Look, overall employment in the in the in San Diego has been flat in the tourism industry for the last year and a half.

This is going to be a giant hit if those goes through.

And remember, all these secondary impacts are going to be are going to be intensified by the fact that this legislation only applies to the city of San Diego.

There's little doubt that Chula Vista, Oceanside, Escondido, and Carlsbad are all looking forward to the passage of this bill because it's going to cause many visitors to San Diego County to choose to stay in those cities rather than here, of course, attracted by the lower hotel costs in those particular cities.

What does that mean for San Diego?

Well, it's going to shift TOT taxes and sales taxes from this city to those cities, exacerbating, of course, the already dire budget situation here in the city of San Diego.

And by the way, that's going to hurt your efforts to help other vulnerable families within the region.

Look, we all agree that helping low-income families is a worthy goal, but how it is accomplished is important.

If the damage done by policy is greater than the economic relief it provides, then it's better really to do nothing.

The reality is that raising the minimum wage sharply above market levels has never been shown to be an effective policy tool.

It may boost the earnings for a small group of workers, but this is only achieved by reducing economic opportunities for other workers in small business.

The negative impacts of these regulations have been shown to fall particularly heavily on the most vulnerable of workers, young workers, disabled workers, recent reentrants into the labor market, the people who truly need an opportunity to work and gain experience and gain skills for their long-run success.

Again, this is not idle speculation.

Consider again that California has raised its minimum wage from $8 to $16.50 over the last decade.

And yet, have we seen any substantial changes in the state of California?

Poverty rates here have not fallen any faster than other parts of the United States.

There's been no massive increase in household income for the bottom 50%.

You haven't seen these changes.

For California youth right now, they are in the labor market, which has the highest unemployment rate in the nation for people of that age range, and that is directly linked to our very high minimum wage.

All these kind of regulations do is create winners and losers, and they don't really change the overall equilibrium.

They don't really change the overall situation.

Look, San Diego, the city of San Diego, I commend your efforts to help those who are most vulnerable.

But there are ways of doing it that are effective in their ways of doing it that are not.

And unfortunately, I I would ask that you not use this particular method, that there are better ways of doing it.

Thank you very much.

So with that backdrop, and since the last hearing, we've engaged directly and extensively with Councilmember Yellow Rivera proponents of the ordinance in order to mitigate the most harmful impacts.

We appreciate the movement that's been made for phasing in and modification of other provisions.

As employers, we share the goal of focusing our attention on our lowest paid workers.

In our business, though, that doesn't mean minimum wage workers.

The only employees paid at minimum wage in full service hotels are those who receive a majority of their compensation in other forms.

Mandatory service charges, peace rates, or voluntary tips.

That's 30 or 40 percent of the workforce, and they receive an average of about $50 an hour.

Contrast, workers who rely primarily on wages, like housekeepers and kitchen stewards, front desk workers make quite a bit more than the minimum wage, generally between five and eight dollars more.

This ordinance defines employers, but it doesn't apply or doesn't define specific employees.

We've um asked to focus on that, not to exclude particular classifications, but to include those particularly that we're trying to lift up.

Despite legal opinions from leading employment law practitioners and national firms, that proposal was not advanced.

And while we respect the attorney's uh city attorney's opinion, we continue to believe that such an approach is not only possible but lawful and continue to ask for its consideration.

The second request for us is a longer phase-in period.

Um we appreciate the four-year schedule.

There's been appreciate Ms.

Kim, there's been a fair amount of debate on four or five, but nevertheless, um we appreciate the uh current recommendation.

Finally, we appreciate the revision concerning leases that focuses on those tenants whose businesses are directly related to hotel operations.

However, we would ask you to exclude all leases at hotel premises or or at a minimum exclude those leases that are already in place where that are existing, where economic terms have been negotiated and agreed.

In closing, many of us and folks in this room have worked hard on this for the better part of the last year.

We appreciate the engagement from proponents and the compromises made, including the updated items in the recommendation you heard earlier.

Um it isn't perfect.

Um none of us are thrilled with the result.

Um some would say that that is a success.

Um, nevertheless, I would ask you to approve the recommendation made earlier today, but also ask you to consider the additional items we've presented in order to continue improving the ordinance.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Christian Ramirez.

After that will be Rachel, Janety, um, Casey Shirk, Greg Sasdrazzal, Jordan Sullivan, Fernando Flores, Chris Duggan, and Amy McKay.

If you can all please come forward to the yellow reserve seats, and you may proceed when ready.

Thank you very much, Council President, uh, members of the city council.

My name is Christian Ramirez.

I proudly represent SCIU United Service Workers West, representing janitor security officers, airport workers, event, and city workers, including many here in the city of San Diego.

You know, the billionaires will say that they have the best interests of the working class in mind.

They will say that the sky will fall, that tourism will come to an end.

But the fact is you've got to ask your constituents, especially your constituents that live south of the strict of Interstate 8.

Those folks, for those folks, the sky has been falling.

Not in an abstract way.

But they can make ends meet.

Tourism should be not just for those that come and enjoy the beautiful things our city has to offer.

Workers should also have an opportunity to still be tourists in their own city.

Not the struggle between having to pay for medicine or a gallon of milk.

Do the right thing.

You know what to do.

Thank you.

Rachel.

Hi, good afternoon.

My name is Rachel Janicini.

I'm the general manager for World Mark Mission Valley.

My property is a 165-unit timeshare vacation resort, and our financial model is fundamental fundamentally different from a traditional hotel, but we do fall under the category of a hotel.

Um we do not earn revenue from nightly guests.

Instead, our operating budget comes directly from World Mark the Club owners, and our HOA is legally required to balance that budget each year.

Our HOA rules strictly limit us to raising owner maintenance fees by no more than 5% annually.

The $25 minimum wage will add over half a million dollars to in an in annual expenses far beyond what our budget can absorb.

Even with the unique challenges of our budget compared to a hotel, we have been focused on taking care of our valued associates.

We have been able to increase our hiring rate to $20 an hour as of this year.

I would like to ask the council for clarification if this ordinance would impact a property like you.

Casey Shirk.

Hello, my name is Casey Shirk.

I am a proud SCIU local 221 union member and a county employee of almost two years.

And I am here to speak in support of the 25 dollar minimum wage increase for hospitality employees.

Let alone even consider other life goals, such as pursuing higher education or even starting a family.

But what this does, but what does this have to do with hospitality workers?

My answer is an injury to one is an injury to us all.

When one worker lives in poverty, it brings down the standard for the rest of us.

Raising the floor for hospitality workers raises the floor for every worker in San Diego.

We all deserve a wage that allows us to live in the city that we uh we work in.

Vote yes for solidarity, vote yes for justice, vote yes to make SD to make San Diego a city for that works for everyone.

Thank you for that concluding remark.

Greg.

You have time ceded to you by Sue Griffin.

Sue, if you can please raise your hand.

Or son, S U N or S U E.

No.

Then you have one minute, please proceed.

All right, I'll try to make this quick, Council members.

Uh my name is Greg Swiss Razul, president of ILC Local 122.

First, I want to thank the steadfast leadership of Mayor Gloria and the council member um Ilo Rivera for their dedication and commitment to working families.

Uh I stand in support of the hospitality and minimum wage ordinance.

This is a critical step towards ensuring that the workers who power San Diego's billion-dollar tourism economy, our housekeepers, janitors, kitchen staff, uh ushers, and yes, our AV technicians and stagehands are treated with dignity and paid a wage that reflects the cost of living in the city.

I want to be clear this ordinance is a win, uh a win.

It's a floor, not a ceiling, but it's a floor we desperately need.

The IBA's report confirms that we already know uh hospitality workers in San Diego face unaffordable housing, long commutes, and multiple jobs just to survive.

This ordinance will begin to close that gap.

We support this ordinance not because it's perfect, but because it moves us forward.

It creates momentum, it opens the door to raising the standards for everyone uh working in our cities.

Um, thank you.

Thank you, Jordan Sullivan.

You have time seated to you by Rudy Lombaria.

Thank you.

And Nick uh Gagan.

Thank you.

You'll have three minutes, please proceed.

Hello, my name is Jordan.

I work for Encore.

You've heard these corporations stand up here and cry poor.

They say paying their workers $25 per hour will actually put them out of business.

It'll kill the economy.

But it's been shown time and time again that paying workers more will actually bring more money back in the economy.

It was shown in the 1920s, 50s, 60s, and 90s.

These corporations have gone so far as to hire outside consultants to try to sway the statistics in their favor.

These corporations are willing to spend more money on stopping workers from getting paid what they're worth than they are to actually pay workers what they're worth.

This isn't about money.

It's about power.

They want to hold power over their workers at any cost.

They're willing to spend thousands of dollars opposing this measure when they could just be paying workers what they're worth.

Encore charges over 185 dollars per hour for their technicians.

Ben Erwin, CEO of Encore, receives a base salary of over 700,000.

That's not counting bonuses and dividends.

Stephen Allen Schwartzman, the CEO of Blackstone, Encore's parent company, he has a net worth of 54.3 billion dollars.

They can afford to pay their workers better.

Encore was listed as a Fortune 100 company earlier this year.

Did they give us bonuses?

Profit sharing raises?

No.

You know what they offered us?

An Encore branded backpack.

That's right, a backpack.

Something that we go down to five below for five dollars is what they gave us.

These corporations don't care about their workers.

All they care about is profits and lining their pockets.

This is corporate greed at its finest.

And that is why we're standing before you today.

If they were willing to pay even $2 more per hour, then we would not be here.

We're not asking for much.

Just enough to be able to live.

The way that skilled workers should be able to live.

Just enough to where we have people with college degrees who aren't having to live paycheck to paycheck in their parents' homes.

We want to be able to prosper, just like the workers of the 1920s, 50s, 60s, and 90s were able to do.

Thank you for your time and consideration, and I yield the rest of my time.

Thank you.

Fernanda Flores.

Fernando, you have time seated to you by Thomas Ferrell.

Thomas, if you can please raise your hand.

All right, one more time.

I'm going to ask you to really hold off on the clapping.

We just want to be respectful for everybody.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

My name is Fernanda Flores.

I'm the political director with the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees, Local 122.

We've proudly represented the workers who make life productions possible across Southern California, including 1500 state chants in Coachella and San Diego County.

First, I want to acknowledge the unwavering leadership of this council.

Mayor Gloria, his team, Councilmember Ilo Rivera, the champ championing this for workers and for standing with us, and the labor movement that stands shoulder to shoulder with every worker in the city.

Together, we are raising the tide for all San Diegans employed by tourism.

Tourism is one of San Diego's most profitable industries.

In 2024 alone, you heard it.

It generated 22 billion dollars.

The city invests over 50 million a year in subsidies and marketing to the tourism authority that fuel record hotel revenues and collects over 350 million in taxes.

Yet, when it comes to the local workforce, the housekeepers, the janitors, security officers, our stage hands who are the backbone of tourism.

Corporations tell us they can't afford fair wages.

According to the UC Labor Center study, workers spend more than half of their wages on rent, some having to choose whether they skip from buying lunch or to afford to pay uh their rent or keep a roof over their heads.

This is solely corporate greed.

The ordinance is about saying enough.

It says San Diego will no longer let corporations profit off poverty wages.

San Diegans have waited too long for this kind of leadership.

This is the turning point.

Workers matter.

We see you, we are you, and together we will keep fighting to make San Diego a livable city, a truly finest city for everyone, and not just corporations.

And this ordinance is not the finish line.

This is the starting point.

Corporations have been put on notice.

We are organized, we built this victory, and we are just getting started.

Thank you, and I urge your support.

Chris Duggan.

You have time seated to you by Sarah Mattenson.

Thank you.

You'll have two minutes.

All right.

Good afternoon, Chris Duggan with the California Restaurant Association.

I am here on behalf of our 45,000 or 4500 restaurants that employ over 70,000 team members across this great city, creating thousands of jobs and generating billions of re retail taxable sales for this city.

First and foremost, I want to thank the entire council for your engagement for your outreach and your honest dialogue with the CRA over the past few months in regards to this proposed ordinance.

Additionally, I'd be remiss if I didn't thank the IBA as well for their thorough detailed analysis as well and looking into total compensation for tipped workers in the city of San Diego.

I come before the council today on behalf of our men membership to highlight key concerns that we still have with the proposed ordinance.

But before I do that, I would like to acknowledge and let you know it is not lost that the proposal comes with a phase in.

However, as a previous speaker said, the phase in approach still would be double what we are seeing with the consumer price indexing over the next couple years.

So that is still a concern.

Because on August 31st, Buns Berger in Mission Valley decided it was time to close their doors after 44 years.

Reason being they are a property that leases from a hotel that would be impacted by this ordinance.

It is unbearable for them.

And so unfortunately, again, after 44 years, they have decided to close their doors in Mission Valley.

That is the issue we have with them.

Off property, we also have uh serious wage imbalance imbalances that we are going to see.

So we ask you to pause the ordinance.

Thank you for that concluding remark.

Amy McKay, if you can please come up to the microphone.

After that will be Bob Rausch, Britton Green, Cody S.

Allen, Scott Blen.

B L A U L Blau, and Chris Kate, if you can all please come forward to the yellow reserve seats.

Please proceed.

Hi, my name is Amy McCoy.

Thirty years ago, my husband and I started Adventure Water Sports.

We're a small family-run water sports rental business on Mission Bay.

We're a small business.

We're not a billion-dollar corporation.

We're being unfairly grouped with billion-dollar corporations, though.

Uh, because we are an on-site concessionaire at a hotel.

Uh, this ordinance will create an unfair business practice for the water sports concessionaires on Mission Bay, as it makes it unable for us to be competitive with those that are not located on-site at hotels.

So all the water sports concessions pay the same percentage to the city of San Diego.

We've been paying it for 30 years.

And now, how can we be competitive when someone down the street is not forced to pay the same amount that we're uh forced to pay?

Uh, most of our employees they are, you know, the high schoolers, college, it's an awesome summer job.

They love it.

I think we pay them fair.

But thank you for that.

Don't put us out of business.

Bob.

Council members, thank you.

My name is Bob Rush.

I operate two San Diego hotels where we've already adopted service and vacuuming robots to assist our team members.

If this uh proposal is approved, kiosk check-in automated food prep, AI-powered voice and chat bots who end up replacing people to stay competitive.

We value our team members and pay 90% of their health care.

We do not want to automate.

None of us want to do that.

But the fast food wage of $20 was a disaster, and this will be as well.

Payroll represents one third of our revenues.

Family owned hotels like ours, offer entry-level jobs and are very important to our neighborhoods.

This policy risks pricing out the small hotels and drives up inflation.

The industry is currently flat to down, and this proposal would require us to increase our rates by 15% to break even.

Coupled with the current interest rates, tariff uncertainty, new supply growth, and the government travel ban, small hotels will be completely automated with this increase.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Britton Green.

B R A T T L N.

No Britton Green.

Next is Cody.

Good afternoon, Council members.

I'm Cody Oslin, General Manager at the La Jolla Cove Hotel.

I care deeply about my team members and the people who make our hotel run.

From the amazing housekeeping department to the highly skilled maintenance team and the smiling faces at the front desk, I want the absolute best for all of them.

I respect the goal of this proposal.

However, I believe a 45% minimum wage increase will have consequences that unfortunately we don't want to see.

Mandating wages in a free market is not the way to support our team.

Mandating wages forces layoffs, reduces hours, and hurts the people it's supposed to help.

Letting the market set wages, preserves jobs, ensures fair competition, and allows pay to rise when it should.

To offset this increase, hotels may be forced to cut hours, front desk and concierge could be replaced by kiosks.

Daily housekeeping services could be eliminated.

Reduced hours will cause employees to lose eligibility for benefits.

The very people we want to support will be hurt the most by this proposal.

Good intentions cannot replace the realities of economics.

It's our responsibility to protect jobs, protect businesses, and protect San Diego's future.

I hope you'll take that into consideration when you make your decision.

Good afternoon, Council.

People earn wages for two primary reasons.

Promotions that bring greater responsibility or recognition of strong performance that adds a value to our company.

A blanket increase, however, does not necessarily improve productivity, performance, or morale.

This proposed risk of raising wages for all workers, regardless of effort, which could unintentionally reward poor performance.

At the same time, it would drive up operational costs for businesses already operating on thin margins, many of which would be forced to raise prices, discouraging visitors and consumers from spending money in San Diego.

Others may be forced to even shut down or reduce staff, resulting with higher unemployment and decreases in city revenues, which would only worsen the homeless crisis in San Diego as well.

Rather than strengthening our economy, this approach would backfire, creating more hardship for workers and employees.

This is neither sound policy or good business.

It's hypocrisy.

And I urge the council to consider the wider consequences.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chris Kate.

Do you have time seated too by Justine Murray?

Thank you.

Please proceed.

You'll have two minutes.

Good afternoon, Council President Lacaba, members of the Council.

Chris Keat on behalf of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce.

While we remain opposed to this proposal, we are thankful for the work leading up to today's hearing to minimize the impact, to minimize the impact of to San Diego businesses.

I want to acknowledge the work by Council Member Council Member Elo Rivera and our coalition partners that have demonstrated the impact rising costs will have on all San Diegans.

San Diego is expensive.

It's expensive to pay for housing, pay for utilities, or enjoy any of the amenities and attractions San Diego has to offer.

As much as anybody, I want more people to call San Diego home.

The more people that can afford to live here, the more people there are starting a business, or employees there are for businesses that are moving to San Diego.

We need a thriving economy to make San Diego the place we dream it can be.

The city needs this to be able to pay for the employees that provide the basic services, saying it's rely upon.

But every passing day, there is a feeling that that goal is moving further and further away.

Businesses have been asking the question, what's next?

What's the next thing that business owners will have to deal with to try to keep their doors open, to continue to be able to provide a service for their customers, and to continue to pay for their employees.

We stand ready to work with you all.

Thank you.

Bridget Browning.

After Richard Browning, I'll be Erica Castillo, CJ Valasek, Jesse Schmidt, Jen Kaye, Janika Frockner, and Barbara Pinto.

If you can all please come forward to the yellow reserve seats.

Bridget Browning, you have time seated to you by Jen Carlo Vega.

Thank you.

And Marco Briones.

You'll have three minutes, please proceed.

Okay, good afternoon.

First, I would just like to start and really recognize not only Councilmember Shawnee Lori Vera and the Mayor Todd Gloria, but also their staffs.

They were amazing through this whole process and spent so much time working on it, and really this couldn't have happened without you all.

So I want to recognize you.

I had talking points, but my mind is like about to burst.

Because I want us, so poor people should be happy to be poor.

Is that the message that we're telling people today?

Because that's what I'm hearing.

This is the boss's normal campaign.

You should be happy you have any job.

It doesn't matter if it's a good job.

Well, I I want to challenge that because this is an industry receiving 50 million dollars of taxpayer money every year.

They're so concerned about the city.

I don't hear them saying let's spend that on homelessness or let's spend that on the convention center.

If they actually cared about the city, you would think that they would be offering that to you all, right?

In this budget crisis right now.

Instead, they're saying that they're gonna automate jobs, which they're already doing.

I mean, if any of you have one of the Bonvoy or the Hilton apps, you all check in on your phone.

Very few people go to the front desk anymore.

They're threatening workers that if you dare to want to have a wage that you can survive on, we're gonna get rid of you.

That's the message that they're sending today.

And I just want to say that is completely unacceptable.

You have made so much money off the backs of mostly immigrant workers that do the jobs that nobody wants to do.

They clean the rooms, they clean the toilets, they wash the dishes while you're sitting in your mansions and your fancy suits, and you don't sweat a day in your life.

And this has to end.

There has to be a sustainable economy where people can prosper and not just rich people.

They cannot afford to live here.

They used to be able to live in Mexico.

When I started many, many years ago, almost all of our members crossed every day in Mexico.

But Trump has taken that away from them because if you're not a citizen, you can't live in Mexico anymore.

And I bet you most of them voted for Trump too, by the way.

I want to say that I am so proud of you all because you were standing up for invisible workers because for many, many years no one cared about our community.

As long as they kept their heads down and cleaned the rooms and did what they were supposed to do, everybody was happy with that.

But now times are changing.

We have to reinvent the economy.

You can be rich, but you don't have to be billionaires.

You need to share your money with your workers so that we can all afford to live here because it's not just about you, it's about all of us.

And if you really care about the city, I suggest that you give up some of your 50 million dollar slush buttons thank you.

Erica Castillo.

Good afternoon, Council members.

My name is Erica Castillo.

I'm a district nine resident, small business owner, and co-chair of advocacy at Business for Good.

I'm here in strong support of raising the minimum wage to 25 hours, 25 dollars per hour for hospitality workers.

For my entire career as a small business owner and advocate, I've heard the same claims from corporate backed business groups and lobbyists arguing against fair wages.

These claims never have compelling data or economic impact studies.

As a research-driven advocate, the data is clear.

San Diego tourism generated 22 billion dollars in profits in 2024.

One in eight local jobs are in tourism, and 60% of San Diegans are living paycheck to paycheck.

Business for Good has shared the research backed data and reports with your offices throughout the year.

Today we're asking you to act on this.

Please vote yes for fair wages for our local economy and for more equitable San Diego.

Thank you.

Thank you, CJ.

CJ, you have time seated to you by the following people.

Esperanza Soto, please raise your hand.

Greg Robinson.

And Linnea Marstrom.

She left.

Okay, so then you'll have three minutes.

Please proceed.

Good afternoon, Council members.

My name is Dr.

CJ Valisek.

I am a researcher and policy advocate at CPI Center on Policy Initiatives here in San Diego.

I'm here to speak in support of hospitality workers.

Too often policy discussions are made without workers ever having their voice heard.

Their struggles go unnoticed.

However, in our research and partnership with the UCSD Labor Center, we were able to spotlight a number of worker voices.

Thankfully, we have a number of workers here to share their stories, but um we were able to speak to 74 different uh hospitality workers to complete our surveys and do nine in-depth interviews.

So this uh research report, which is now on the UCSD labor center website, is titled Inhospitable San Diego Tourism and the Struggle for Fair Pay.

I'm going to speak a bit about those findings from those surveys and interviews.

Um, as you know that hospitality workers are struggling to get by, but what does that look like?

One worker told us I've worked more than 20 years in hotels and still I can't afford a decent apartment.

I live with my family, meaning their parents, um, and because otherwise I would be homeless.

Another recalled co-workers sleeping outside their lawn after long shifts.

They can't afford a lift home, he said.

And I've had co-workers that spent the night on a bench out in the city until they woke up the next morning to come back to work.

Think about that.

In one of the wealthiest cities in the country, people serving visitors to America's finest city are sleeping in cars, staying on couches, or worse, because their jobs do not pay enough to keep them stably housed.

Transportation adds another layer to hardship.

Nearly half rely on public transit, often spending hours commuting each day.

As one worker put it, I can't afford to live near my job.

So I drive from far away, pay for gas, pay for parking, and by the time I get my paycheck, it feels like I'm working just to come to work.

Food insecurity was present as well.

Uh worker described how shifts stretch without any meals.

Um, another emphasized family sacrifice, saying, I make sure my kids eat first, and sometimes I just go without.

That's what it takes.

Is that what you want to tell the workers?

But workers also told us what would make a difference.

About 70% said that a $25 minimum wage increase would finally let them cover rent, food, and health care.

More than half said it would allow them to save or pay down debt, and 90% said it would improve their quality of life in a real and lasting way.

This is not radical, it's not untested.

Um there's lots of citations in our report, so I hope you will read those that show the benefits to the community to workers and businesses if you increase the minimum wage, uh, which I hope you will do for all workers.

Even higher.

Thank you.

Excuse me, Jesse.

Good afternoon, Council President, members of the council.

Uh my name is Jesse Schmidty, State Policy Manager for Alliance San Diego here before you today uh in support of this proposal to raise minimum wage for our tourism industry employees.

Um, however, we would like to raise a few points for your consideration.

If we want to make the city actually livable, why should we wait four years to do so?

Uh Mary Yacht, year to date um through July 30th announced that they had just repurchased 6.4 million shares for over one and a half billion dollars.

Um Hilton's board of directors in Q4 of last year just authorized the repurchase of an additional three and a half billion dollars in common stock.

Um this is just a bleak reminder of the responsibility that if you get into this industry, if you run these conglomerate um hotel industries, you should in fact be held to account and be held responsible for making sure that your employees have a local wage.

On this day, sixty years ago, mehicanos were mobilized, and thank you.

Thank you.

Janica Faulkner.

I'm Janik with the line San Diego.

Thank you for for bringing this ordinance forward, Councilmember Ila Rever.

I'm here to strongly encourage you all to see the urgency of the need to vote yes on the house hospitality minimum wage ordinance.

Tourism is one of San Diego's biggest industries, but too many of the workers who power it are paid poverty wages.

If corporations can pay executive millions, they can pay workers fairly.

No one working full-time should be forced to choose between paying rent, buying groceries, or covering child care.

San Diego's cost of living is 46% above the national average, with our housing expenses being 112% higher than the national average.

I urge you to stand with workers and vote yes on the hospitality minimum wage ordinance.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Anna Ramos.

Anna Ramos, you're being seated time by Barbara Pinto.

Thank you.

You'll have two minutes if I can ask the following individuals to please come up to the yellow reserve seats.

Mikey Nabb, Tyler Andre, Rachel Cross, San Maseo, Casey.

That's a duplicate.

Jay Bys and Arshawn Patel, if you can all please come forward to the yellow reserve seats.

And Anna, you can come up to the microphone.

Hi, my name is Anna Ramos.

I'm a community organizer with the Alliance of Californians for community empowerment, and I'm here to strongly support raising the hospitality workers' minimum wage.

I think it's a long overdue policy that I know so many hotel workers have been vouching for for so long.

I also want to share that as a community organizer, I meet so many people of different professions, and by far the least paid and the people who struggle the most to pay for rent are hospitality workers.

When I go out to knock on doors in San Isidro and Barrio Logan, these working class neighborhoods, without fail, they'll tell they tell me that their number one concern is affording the rent.

Folks have even told me that in the past few years they've received one or even two rent increases every year, sometimes even higher than the le legality of what the state allows.

But regardless of legality, I think we can all attest to the fact that wages have not kept up with the cost with the cost of housing and living for far too long, especially for our hospitality brothers and sisters.

And to comment on the arguments made by the hospitality industry representatives, it's a shame that you are putting profit over people.

I think the nerve to suggest that doing nothing is better for the economy than to create and ensure that you are creating livable and decent jobs.

Maybe you shouldn't be in business if you can't make jobs that ensure that people can pay for the cost of living here in San Diego.

Maybe you shouldn't be in business if you can't create jobs without exploiting people.

So on behalf of ACE and our our working class members, thank you, Councilmember Sean, for putting this forward.

I think it's long overdue and it's a step in the right direction.

I think we need to stop putting profit over people.

It's it's very simple.

Maybe you can't afford another like freaking new car.

But at least people can give me voting remark.

Thank you.

Mikey Neb.

Good afternoon, Council members.

My name is Mikey Nabbs.

So back in 2016, I opened up the Union Tribune and I saw a story, and the headline said San Diego City Council considers minimum wage increase, which business opposes.

At the time I was running three restaurants and I was confused because I run businesses here, and I think people should be able to afford near to live near where they work.

So, spoiler alert, the council passed the minimum wage increase.

I remember the arguments in the article though, they said that jobs would be cut, robots would be the new staff, the economy would be ruined.

Um, another spoiler alert that did not happen.

Um, what did I do when I was confused?

I I worked with a bunch of other business owners who believe the same thing that shared prosperity is the true definition of success, and that's why we founded business for good in 2017.

So we're here to tell you that businesses in San Diego, locally owned family businesses want to support our workers, and we urge you to support this um this uh policy.

Thank you.

Thank you, Tyler.

Good afternoon, Council members.

Uh, my name is Tyler Andre.

I'm a Navy veteran, small business owner, and proud member of Business for Good.

Tourism is a 22 billion dollar industry, so why can't we pay these workers a better wage?

The essential workers.

It's not even a living wage, but it's a step in the right direction in its progress.

In fact, perfection is the enemy of progress.

We've heard today that raising their pay is going to burden the rest of us.

Well, let's share that burden.

These are our neighbors.

They are not just sales in a spreadsheet.

They have lives, and profit chasing has hurt so many people in this world.

Let this be a win against the seemingly overwhelming force of greed in this world.

Keep the money in San Diego.

People for profits, neighbors over profits.

Thank you.

Rachel.

Hi, good afternoon.

My name is Rachel Cross.

I'm here as a resident of District Three, uh, immigrant, a small business owner, and the vice chair of the Board of Business for Good.

At Business for Good, we believe that you can be pro-worker and pro-profit, and that those are not opposing ideals.

So, really, today's discussion boils down to a simple question.

How much profit is enough?

And only the owners and operators of these big corporations, and I want to acknowledge the family owned businesses that spoke today.

But that question can only be answered by them.

But today, you all have the opportunity to answer a different question, which is do we care as a city of San Diego more about feeding San Diego families, or do we care more about corporate greed?

Thank you.

Sam Moselle.

Good afternoon.

My name is Sam Asio.

I'm here in my capacity with Business for Good.

I am in support of this ordinance.

As a business owner of three different businesses that I own and operate in San Diego, I want to touch on a few of the things that have been said today because I don't agree with so many of them.

One of the things that was mentioned is that this ordinance will create winners and losers.

Right now, make no mistake, the losers are our minimum wage earners in San Diego.

Additionally, something else that was said that I want to borrow.

Greed is greed, no matter how hard you try to intellectualize it.

That has been the entire exercise of the opposition today.

And I would add to that that just because you're polite doesn't make it right.

Now, in addition to the many things that I don't agree with here, I want to touch on the fact that you your job is to work for San Diegans.

It is not to work for large corporations that enjoy their profits outside of this region.

It is for the San Diegans here that cannot pay their bills.

As it's been said, people over profit, not profit over people.

And in my view, economic theory doesn't pay San Diegans bills.

Please vote yes.

Thank you.

Next speaker, we do have two speakerships for KC Shirk.

The only reason I ask if it's a Duperna is because it does have two different addresses.

So does there happen to be an additional KC Shirk?

Just double checking.

Jay Bies.

Good afternoon.

My name is Jay Boz.

I'm a local business owner here and uh proud member of Business for Good San Diego.

Uh I'm here today in support of this ordinance uh and in solidarity with the workers who make the city great.

Uh and frankly, because there are uh people in this room with more money than I will ever see trying to convince you how very much they care about their workers, you know, just not enough to pay them.

Uh to those people, uh, I would say that if your business can't afford to pay a livable wage, if your business relies on exploiting the labor uh to run your business, the people that make your business thrive, then you need to seriously reevaluate your business model.

And to the council, I would just reiterate what's already been said that uh when workers are taken care of, they work harder, they stay in jobs longer, they invest that extra money here in the community.

It's good for workers, it's good for business, it's good for San Diego.

Uh urge you to vote yes on this measure, and I thank you for your time.

Thank you, Darshan Patel.

Good afternoon, City Council.

I am Josh Patel with DPA Attorneys at Law.

Today, as a member and ambassador of AHA, the Asian American Hotel Owners Association.

Uh I want to thank you.

I want to thank you for protecting small businesses.

We are a nationwide association that represents locally owned, operated, and for the most part uh owners that live in the back office of their properties themselves.

Uh I want to express appreciation to Councilmember Ila Rivera and his team, as well as the entire city council for considering us and making sure that we were protected when you drafted the ordinance.

Uh, specifically in regards to the exemption for properties that have less than 150 rooms, as well as the phase-in approach.

Both of those provisions will make it so that we can continue to survive and operate in this great city of San Diego and continue to employ all of the great San Diego residents that are within our staff.

So as we move forward, we look forward to working more together.

Thank you for your time.

Next, we have um Jayta Bakta, Aaron Sumratto Grassi, Mohammed Umar, Rano Abdu, Lucky Aidan, Sydney Fortune, Jim Miller.

If you can all please come forward to the yellow reserve seats.

Uh Geoda, please come up to the microphone.

My apologies if I mispronounce your name.

It's okay.

Good afternoon, Council members.

Really appreciate my time up here.

Uh my name is Jyoti Bata.

I'm the owner of a small hotel uh in the Poiloma area and a member of Ahoa.

I would like to thank the city council for including a carve out of smaller hotels and phase-in approach.

My family has been running this hotel for 25 years.

We've remained open, serving the count community and employing San Diego residents in good times and bad.

I appreciate that the city council is looking out for smaller hotels and smaller businesses when drafting the policies like these.

Thank you so much.

Have a good afternoon.

Thank you, Erin.

Hi, good afternoon.

Aaron Siramoto Grassi, Associate Director at Alliance San Diego, District 7 resident.

Alliance San Diego is here today to stand with hospitality workers and working families and strongly urges you to vote yes on the ordinance.

We see this as an important step forward in ensuring that all workers are paid a real living wage.

San Diego has an extremely high cost of living, and many of the community members that we work with are struggling to get by.

They're having difficulty choosing what they can pay for between rent, between groceries, between child care.

And as a result, they're working multiple jobs, driving long distances, sharing one bedroom apartments, and doing whatever they can.

This is simply not acceptable.

When corporations are able to pay some people million dollar salaries, there's no reason why they cannot raise the wages of their lowest paid workers.

At that point, it's not a question of ability to pay, but rather an unwillingness to recognize the value worth of all workers.

So we're here again to urge the city council to support this measure.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Last name, Omar.

Good afternoon, Council members.

My name is Mohammed Omar.

I'm a community organizer working for the Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans.

I'm here today to strongly urge you to vote yes on the hospitality minimum wage ordinance.

Tourism is one of the uh one of San Diego's biggest industry, but too many of the workers who power the paid poverty wages.

No one working uh full-time should be forced to choose between paying rent, paying groceries, or covering child care.

As a community member, I see how tourism workers, labor every day, cleaning rooms, staffing events, serving meals, and yet many cannot afford to live in the city they serve.

Um I urge you to stand with workers and vote yes on the hospitality minimum wage ordinance.

San Diego must work for the people who who make it work.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um Renal Abdu or RAH.

Could be an H and N.

Thank you.

Sorry.

It's okay.

Hello, my name is Rahmo Abdi, I'm the director of organizing and campaign with Pana, the Partnership for Advancement of New Americans, and also a proud resident of District 9.

As a refugee, I have seen people in my community work in San Diego's hotel and restaurant.

Mothers cleaning room late in the night, fathers working double shift, young people trying to support families.

Even with all that work, many still cannot afford to leave the city that serve.

I know families who spend hours commuting every single day.

Parent exhausted children sleep in the back of the seat until they get home.

This is not the life anyone deserves.

Now it is time for us to treat it that way.

Please vote yes on this ordinance.

San Diego must work for the people who make it work.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Lucky.

After that, if I can have the following individuals, please come forward to the yellow reserve seats.

Sydney, Jim, Emily, Ezekiel, and Serena.

Please proceed.

Hi, my good e good afternoon, Council members.

My name is Lucky.

I'm a youth organizer with Hannah and a proud member of District 9.

I'm here today to strongly urge you to vote yes on the hospitality minimum wage ordinance.

Tourism and hospitality workers make San Diego a world-class city, yet too many of them still earn poverty wages.

For me, this is personal.

When my mom first came to this country, she worked as a hotel housekeeper.

Even then, over 15 years ago, the pay wasn't enough to cover our monthly bills.

She had to take on a second job just to make end meet.

If wages were already low then, imagine what it means now with rent groceries and the cost of living climbing higher and higher every day.

Workers like my mom and so many others are the ones who make San Diego thrive.

Yet they are forced to make impossible choices between bills, food, and other family needs.

This ordinance is about fairness, dignity, and respect.

It's time to ensure that those who power our economy can also live in you, anyways.

Thank you.

Sydney.

Great penmanship, by the way.

Hello, my name is Sydney.

I'm a student and I'm also a lifeguard with San Diego Fire Rescue.

Um, so I know intimately what it is to be a vertebrae of the spine of the San Diego tourist industry and how often our labor is undervalued by the masses and elites serves alike.

Um, this very city council has approved a series of raises over the past couple of years.

Um these races have allowed me to breathe.

They've allowed me to return to school full time, they've allowed me to not have to make choices between basic needs and necessities.

And so I stand here in solidarity today with all of my fellow workers in San Diego and implore the council to keep that same energy for the people who are the backbone of the city, for the people whose labor goes denigrated and unseen so often by the people that it serves.

Um is nowhere near enough, but it's a start, and it's a start that needs to begin today.

Thank you.

Thank you, Jim Miller.