Please call the roll.

Thank you, Council President.

Councilmember Campbell.

Councilmember Whitburn.

Councilmember Foster.

Councilmember Von Wilper.

Council President Pro Tem Lee.

Councilmember Campio.

Here.

Councilmember Moreno.

Present.

Councilmember Ila Rivera.

And Council President Lacava.

Present.

Also attending the meeting are City Attorney Heather Ferber, Deputy Director in the IBA's office, Julian Andelina, 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, uh, City Clerk.

A quorum is now present.

We will begin this morning with the land acknowledgement and the pledge of allegiance led by Councilmember Moreno.

We respectfully acknowledge that the Kumiyai Nation are the original inhabitants of the unceded land, now known as San Diego.

Despite enduring the horrors of genocide and colonization, the Kumyai spirit remains unbroken.

We honor the resilience of their ancestors who fought to protect their culture and land.

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.

Please face the flag.

The clerk will now go over how the public can offer their testimony.

Clerk.

Thank you.

I'll highlight the slide on the screen that reviews how the public can offer their public testimony during today's meeting.

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 and place in the clear box.

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

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

Thank you, Council President.

All right, thank you, uh City Clerk.

We will now dispense with the approval of the proclamation items.

Please proceed with public comment.

The public comment period for the 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 34 and S500 through S503.

We have uh Gloria Gruse, if you can please come forward.

You'll be speaking on item 33.

And you'll have a minute, please proceed.

Great.

Uh good morning, council.

Um, I just wanted to thank you for the proclamation around Hispanic Heritage Month.

As you all know, uh, we are part of the San Diego LGBT Center, and we uh serve as a large uh population of our community here that lives in that intersectionality of being Latinx and um part of our LGBT community, and so uh myself and our director of Latinx Services are proud to be here in support of today's uh proclamation, and we want to thank you for uplifting our next community.

Thank you.

Thank you.

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

Million Mile Man, if you can please unmute.

Thank you for having me.

Please let me know which item or items you wish to speak to.

I would like to make a comment on the previous two speakers, please.

So then that will just be item 30.

You'll have one minute, 33.

I mean, please proceed.

I want to echo what they had mentioned, which is very important and critical now and forever, in that we are all members of the human race, one race, the human race.

Everyone, I don't care who you are, deserves respect.

I don't care if you're gay, lesbian, fat, tall, skinny.

We all deserve respect.

I don't care if you're a naked triathlete, you deserve respect.

Because I tell you what, we have a problem with conceptualization.

Look up the word in a dictionary.

Put everything into concept.

Don't be another simple mind.

That's how we got into this.

Your time has concluded.

Our next speaker is ending in 8700.

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

30, 32, 33, and S501, please.

Thank you.

You'll have three minutes, please proceed.

Joyce Henyata District 30.

Thank you, Mayor Galaria, and Council President La Cava for the City of San Diego employee appreciation.

In the month of October, my favorite words are 13,000 city employees strive to create a local government that serves the needs of 1.4 million residents and approximately 32 million regional visitors each year.

I send each of you, all of you employees, my panda bear hug.

Thank you.

Number 32.

Thank you, Councilmember Whitburn, for downtown clean and safe 25th anniversary day, which is today.

One New Year's Eve, a long time ago, I walked around downtown around midnight.

I don't recommend it.

The streets were covered with debris.

And then every very early the next day, New Year's Day, I got up and walked the same route.

And downtown was all clean and safe again.

It's unbelievable what they do New Year's Eve.

So five stars for each of our clean and safe employees.

Thank you, thank you.

Number 33.

Thank you, Councilmember Foster the Third, Campillo, Mourino, and Ilo Rivera for Hispanic Heritage Month.

My four got my four grandparents were all migrants, immigrants, were all immigrants.

Life thrives a diverse creative pool of possibilities.

Thank you to the 1.0 Latinos who flavor our San Diego region with new possibilities.

Love to all of you.

And then F501, thank you, Councilmember Marino and Councilmember Ila Gravira for the Logan Heights CDC day, which is October 10th of 25.

Thank you also to the Logan Heights Community Development Corp for being a trusted partner to the community.

Thank you, CDC for future achievers preschool.

Preschool, focused on science, technology, engineering, art, and math, also known as STEAE.

I can't believe that.

Thank you, CDC for youth empowerment and diversion program, mentoring and guiding at risk and system involved youth toward a brighter future.

Thank you, C C D C for more than 30 years of service and for your commitment to fostering opportunity, equity, and resilience.

People and organizations are what make me jump out of bed in the morning.

Thank you so much, CDC, and thank you all for listening.

Thank you.

Our final speaker, 1384.

The five-minute timer is about to expire here in Council Chambers, and no additional speakers will be taken.

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

You muted yourself.

There you go.

Yeah.

Ernie Casco, La Jolla resident, senior pilot at Tory Pine's Liderport.

Which item do you wish to speak to?

Open public comment.

This is uh proclamations.

I'll take you back at an on-agenda.

That concludes public comment on the proclamation items, Council President.

Um right, thank you, City Clerk.

Um, we'll now turn it over to my council colleagues for any comments and entertain a motion, and we'll start out with Councilmember Campillo.

Thank you, Council President.

San Diego employee appreciation.

Uh you know, the last few years uh and today, of course, will be no different.

I love to call out many of our city employees who've done tireless work uh for our constituents and and really shine a light on them specifically.

I know that our STPD officers keep us safe.

Our San Diego Fire Department staff uh fighting danger daily, especially earlier this year when I believe there's more fires within the District 7 boundaries than anywhere else in San Diego, and our stormwater staff that make sure all our water is flowing as it should be.

Uh in Parks and Recreation, I want to thank uh Lacey Bradshaw and our Mission Trails Regional Park Rangers, Julie Ahlitz and Rob Wheeler, Monica Demetri, Stephen Blankenship, and Jesus Fuentes, who do great work to keep people safe and educate them out in Mission Trails.

Uh our shoreline parks have great employees.

So thank you to Jesse Gould with Park and Rec, who my chief of staff sees regularly on his morning walks along Sunset Cliffs.

Uh, not only does Jesse perform his job well, but he's also an ambassador for the city for all those who walk along our cliffs.

Uh in fire rescue, Crystal Robbins and Alma Lowry, I have to call out and thank them for all they do.

And in our independent budget analysts' office, everyone in that office is excellent.

Uh but Noah Fleischmann and Sergio Alcalde have kept my staff well informed on many, many issues recently, and I want to thank them specifically.

And ECP and Transportation, Renee Schimmel and Anthony George for always answering our questions and keeping us up to date on response times from the department and our SCPD community relations officers in Eastern Division, Rob Rayner and Sal Laurel Torres and Western Division, Tiffany Adamek and James Harris, and of course the executive protection detail, who's often just out of camera view when CCTV is recording us, uh Ross, who retired earlier, Albert, Anna, Ryan, Kevin Gonzo, Nick, Jeff Marlin, Adam, uh, and more.

Of course, on the 10th floor, all of us would be not be able to do our jobs without Marianne Wallace and Ty Birch, Brett Sismmy, Sarah Jordan, Natalie Kessler, Abby Edwards, Malachi Bilecki, and Jackie Montias.

So thank them as well.

Uh, and uh I want to move on to uh four other uh particular employees that I'd like to call to the front.

Officer Adelafranco, Officer Tyler Peachy, Officer Ignacio Aguilar Luna, and Pert Clinician Simone Zip.

Uh this is for an item recognizing one of uh my constituents today.

Uh Nikki Hank, if you would come to the microphone uh for a minute.

Uh as as Nikki makes her way up, I'd like to highlight this amazing Tierrasanta resident, Cathedral Catholic High School senior who displayed extraordinary courage and compassion and quick thinking that saved a life of a woman in crisis uh a few weeks ago when a member of our community was suffering from various issues while lying down on the side of the freeway near the I 15 and Balboa Avenue.

Nikki, a complete stranger to this woman, had driven past with her mother and stopped right there alongside the freeway.

They chose not to look away.

Instead, she got out of her car and offered comfort and built trust and physically intervened to keep this stranger safe until emergency responders that you see here with us today arrived.

Nikki provided water, led the woman through breathing exercises, and worked to prevent that woman from jumping into the freeway multiple times.

The woman Nikki saved was in deep crisis, and Nikki showed courage and compassion, and she reminded her that every life still mattered, especially hers.

Her bravery reminds us that during Suicide Prevention Month, the empathy and human connection are powerful tools we can use to help our neighbors and strangers.

Nikki's choice to act with love and courage can mean the difference between despair and hope, and this time was the difference between life and certain death.

So, Nikki, thank you for embodying the very best of our city, compassion and integrity and service to others.

If you'd like something, uh if you'd like to say something at the microphone, you have some time.

Thank you.

See, she doesn't make the spotlight about it.

Thank you.

And that concludes my motion, Council President.

All right, thank you, Councilmember Campio.

We'll go next to Councilmember Moreno.

Thank you.

Happy to second the motion, and I'm gonna speak on a few items.

Um item number 33 proclaimed September 15th through October 15th, 2025 to be Hispanic Heritage Month in the city of San Diego.

Uh we started Hispanic Heritage Month a few weeks ago by recognizing Miss Fanny Miller, who's the owner of a Latino newspaper, which is the number one Hispanic newspaper in San Diego County, and the largest woman-owned Hispanic language newspaper in California.

Hispanic Heritage Month celebrates the histories, culture, contributions of Americans whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central in South America.

Although it may seem odd that the 30-day period spans two months, there's a very good reason for it.

Uh the first day, September 15th, is significant because it is the anniversary of the independence for Latin American countries of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala Honduras, and Nicaragua.

Mexico and Chile Chile celebrate their independence day on September 16th and September 18th.

And finally, the E de la Rasa, which celebrates the heritage and cultural diversity of Latin America is October 12th.

The culture, educational, and political influence of Latino communities are critical to the fabric of our city.

And we see that through everything ranging from the arts to politics to scientific research.

I'm proud to co-sponsor this proclamation with Council President Ilo Rivera, Foster, and Campillo today, and look forward to celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month over the next four weeks.

Item number 34 proclaims Oscar J.

Romo Day.

It's an it's an honor to recognize Mr.

Romo, a true environmental champion and visionary, if you would like to come up.

Raised in rural Mexico, Mr.

Romo was inspired early on to improve underserved communities through innovative environmental solutions.

He earned a bachelor's degree of science and architecture from La Salle University in Mexico City, followed by a master's in social housing from the National Institute of Social Housing in Madrid, and a master's in urban planning from Gamplutense University in Madrid, and a master's in computer science.

For more than 25 years, Mr.

Romo has served as a professor at UCSD, inspiring future leaders in sustainable development.

Since 1980, since the 1980s, Mr.

Romo has dedicated over four decades to environmental conservation with the focus in the Tijuana River Valley and cross-border operations.

As founder of Alta Terra, based in Logan uh Barrio Logan, he has led groundbreaking work restoring coastal economic systems by turning waste into sustainable infrastructure and empowering local communities through hands-on education.

Mr.

Romo has also influenced international policy as a former United Nations delegate and a member of the Border Environmental Cooperation Commission.

And beyond his academic and environmental work, he is an accomplished artist whose sculptures made from recycled material raises awareness of our shared environmental responsibilities.

Mr.

Romo's impact has been recognized with major honors, including the EPA Environmental Hero Award and the City of Tijuana's Environmental Conservation Award.

So today it's my great pleasure to proclaim September 30th, 2025 as Oscar J.

Romote in the city of San Diego.

Congratulations if you would like to say a few words.

Absolutely, thank you.

Good morning, Council.

This honor arrives almost exactly 40 years after I arrived from Spain to San Diego.

And this would be an extended extended to the people that helped me implementing successful projects in the Tijuana River Valley.

I wish I would kind of uh communicate with them, because without them, I I wouldn't be here today.

Uh this honor represents also the work of hundreds of people that support my projects.

Thank you very much.

Thank you for your work.

Um we let's give them a round of applause.

Moving right along, item S500 proclaims September 30th to be Cesar Lopez Day.

Mr.

Lopez is here.

Uh this proclamation acknowledges the contributions of Mr.

Lopez.

He's a community leader, an advocate, and Southeastern Little League president and South Crest Recreation Advisory Chair.

He's absolutely dedicated to the Southeastern Little League at the Shelley Curtis Whitefield in South Crest and is constantly lending his time and talent to benefit the community.

Under Mr.

Lopez's leadership, I will need my extra three times, three minutes.

Um Southeastern Little League has been able to field full teams across every age division.

And this past season he had full teams in the pre-teen and teenage bracket, which are the most critical years, especially in our community.

I want to thank you for being a role model to our youth and instilling a palpable sense of neighborhood pride, um, unity and spirit of possibility for our youth in South Crest.

And you're planning the seed for the future.

Thank you for your commitment.

Uh moving right along, um, item S501 proclaims October 10th, 2025 to be Logan Heights CDC Day in the city of San Diego, alongside with Councilmember Ilo Rivera, it's my honor to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Logan Heights CDC.

As an anchor institution in Greater Logan Heights, Logan Heights CDC was founded in 1995 out of the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal San Diego's oldest church, originally as BAME Renaissance Inc.

Within Logan Heights CDC's responsibility is a robust suite of programs that serve the community with cultural competency and with a commitment to bring greater access to economic opportunity.

As a parent, I appreciate Logan Heights CDC's establishment of their future Achievers Preschool, an early education program focused on STEAM for working families.

This year, Logan Heights CDC organized a widely successful Taste of Imperial event.

Thank you for putting that on in Logan Heights.

And thank you for putting putting Logan Heights on the map.

And here's to another 30 years of service and to many, many more.

At this time, uh I would like to invite Logan Heights CDC president and CEO Monty Jones to say a few words.

Thank you, Councilwoman Vivian Moreno and Councilmember Sean Elo for this proclamation.

30 years is a long time, but we still have a lot of work to do.

We uh dedicated to serving this community, has been overlooked and under resourced for many years, and that community and fitting with Hispanic Heritage Month.

We just here to provide all the services needed for a resilient family in a resilient community.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

And let's give them a round of applause.

That concludes my comments, Council President, and I'm happy to second the motion on the floor.

All right, thank you.

Uh so we do have a motion by Councilmember Campia and a second by Councilmember Moran to approve the proclamation items.

We'll go next to Councilmember Campbell.

Thank you, Council President.

Congratulations to all the proclamation recipients.

I would like to speak on 30, 31, and 33.

Uh, first of all, uh I would like to recognize our city employee appreciation month and our over 13,000 city employees who serve the community each and every day.

San Diego is the eighth largest city in the country, and providing services to 1.4 million residents is not an easy task, but our city employees take this difficult job and do it with grace and dedication.

City employees are police officers, librarians, electricians, engineers, clerks, maintenance workers, and many, many others.

The city of San Diego has such a diverse workforce, and I believe this is what makes us so strong as a city.

I want to thank all of our city employees for their dedication to service, their hard work each and every day to serve the residents of San Diego.

Thank you so much for all you do.

Item 31.

I want to thank Mayor Todd Gloria and Council members, colleagues Whitburn and Von Wilbert for joining me in bringing forward this proclamation, which celebrates the 25th Gay Bowl Day in the City of San Diego.

The Gay Bowl is an annual international championship tournament of the National Gay Flag Football League, bringing together LGBTQ athletes from across the U.S.

and Canada.

The Gay Bowl was first played in 2002 in Los Angeles.

Since then has grown into one of the premier LGBTQ sporting events in the country.

This year is especially significant as the tournament celebrates its 25th anniversary right here in San Diego.

Teams and players from across the country will be coming to our beautiful city, and this event will boost our local economy and showcase San Diego as the welcoming and inclusive city that we are.

The Gay Bowl reminds us that LGBTQ people are in every space, including sports.

Events like this one not only provide a safe space to play, but also send a powerful message of inclusion, visibility, and pride.

And last but certainly not least, item 33.

I want to recognize Hispanic Heritage Month, which is time to celebrate the rich history and culture of our country's Hispanic and Latino citizens.

Here in San Diego, we share more than just a border with Mexico.

We share a rich binational economy, culture, and history.

And because of this unique relationship, Hispanic Heritage Month is a meaningful celebration of a large part of our region's history.

As the representative for District 2, my district includes Old Town, San Diego.

Old Town is the birthplace of California and the historic heart of San Diego.

Because it is also City Employee Appreciation Month.

I especially want to give a shout out to Venus, Ruth, Manny, and Guillermo from my office staff and wish them and everybody a happy Hispanic Latino Heritage Month.

Thank you so much.

All right.

Thank you, Councilmember Campbell.

We'll go next to Councilmember Whitburn.

Thank you, Council President.

Uh, for City of San Diego Employee Appreciation Month, I too want to take a moment to express my deep appreciation for all of our city employees every day.

Every day they keep San Diego running, from maintaining our streets and parks to keeping our neighborhoods safe to delivering the essential services that our residents rely on.

On behalf of the residents of City Council District 3, we thank our city employees for their commitment, their teamwork, and their service to our community.

On item 31, I am pleased to join my colleagues at recognizing the 25th Gay Bowl Day.

We welcome the National Gay Flag Football League to San Diego for this incredible milestone, and we are welcoming flag football players from all over the country.

This week, our city will welcome hundreds of athletes, coaches, and supporters for a weekend that celebrates competition, community, and of course, inclusion.

I want to join my colleagues in recognizing Hispanic Heritage Month as we celebrate the profound history and contributions of our Latino American and migrant communities at a time when our federal government unfortunately is scapegoating our migrant communities rather than celebrating them.

I am proud that our San Diego City government champions the diversity that makes our region the welcoming one that it is.

And I'm pleased to bring forward today's proclamation recognizing the downtown clean and safe 25th anniversary.

For the last quarter century, the downtown clean and safe program has helped to make our urban core cleaner, safer, and more beautiful for residents, workers, and visitors alike.

Since its founding in 2000, this program has gone above and beyond keeping our sidewalks clean, planting trees, adding landscaping, supporting local businesses, and helping to ensure that downtown remains a vibrant and welcoming place.

And the results speak for themselves.

More than 19 million pounds of trash collected, 189,000 sidewalks power washed, 475 trees planted, and hundreds of thousands of safety patrols and business visits over the past decade alone.

And with the recent 10-year renewal, overwhelmingly supported by this city council and downtown property owners, this vital work will continue well into the future.

I particularly want to thank the Clean and Safe Ambassadors led by Alonso of Vivas, the executive director of the program for serving our community 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

They are the people who make downtown San Diego one of the most beautiful downtowns of the country, a place that residents are proud to call home, a place where more and more people are moving into our downtown every day, a place where businesses can prosper and people experiencing homelessness can get the vital help that they need, thanks to the program's safety ambassadors, unhoused care professionals, beautification experts, and support staff.

And I'd like to invite Mr.

Vivas up to the microphone to say a few words.

For 25 years, the downtown San Diego Partnership has successfully operated the Clean and Safe Program in collaboration with the city on behalf of property owners.

This work would not be possible without our ambassadors, who are truly the heart and soul of the program.

We're happy that some of them could join us this morning to celebrate.

Day or night, Raynershine, the Clean and Safe Program has been servicing the downtown community, making it visible and lasting impact.

We're grateful for the continued support for the downtown community and the positive collaboration with the city of San Diego to bring the program where it is today and where it would go in the future.

Thank you again to Councilmember Whitburn and the rest of the City Council for this honor.

Thank you very much, Mr.

Vivas, and thank you to Betsy Brennan and the entire downtown San Diego Partnership Board and staff for helping downtown San Diego side.

Could we hear it for the Clean and Safe Program?

Thank you very much again to all of you and your colleagues, and thank you, Council President.

All right, thank you, Councilmember Whitburn.

We'll go next to Councilmember Foster.

Yes, thank you, Council President.

I would like to provide comments for items 3032, S500, S501, and S503.

Starting with item 30, City of San Diego Employee Appreciation Month, I'd like to echo my colleagues in honoring and thanking all City of San Diego employees who work tirelessly across departments to serve our communities.

These employees keep our city the eighth largest city in the country running.

They support over one million residents and several million visitors who come to San Diego each year.

From our first responders to ensuring we have clean water, trash and recycling collection, infrastructure repairs, small business support, housing solutions, and so much more.

Your work and dedication keeps our city functioning daily.

Your efforts do not go unnoticed.

And just want to say again thank you to all.

Item number 32, Hispanic Heritage Month.

I'm proud to stand with my colleagues, Councilmembers Campillo, Moreno, and Ilo Rivera in bringing this proclamation for Hispanic Heritage Month forward today.

With more than a million Latino residents, our influence is felt across neighborhoods, schools, businesses, and throughout our city's culture.

The story of San Diego cannot be told without the story of Latino families and communities.

The same can be said for District 4, where Latinos make up nearly half of our district at 47%.

Hispanic Heritage Month is not only about honoring our rich history, but also about recognizing the everyday contributions we make to this city.

San Diego would not be what it is without the strength and leadership of the Latino community.

For these reasons and more, I'm proud to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, and in doing so celebrate our rich history and culture.

Item S500, Caesar Lopez Day.

I would also like to support Lopez Day.

As someone whose own family has a history tied to Little League, his recognition recognition is very uh meaningful to me.

Um and make sure you say hello to my cousin Jamie as you guys do the work that you're doing.

Southeastern Little League under Coach Lopez has fielded full teams across every age group.

He has provided the opportunity for countless young people to grow through sports, helping build character, learn discipline, and teamwork and skills that will help foster for our future leaders.

Coach Lopez has also served as a community leader, helping bring families, volunteers, and neighbors together, strengthening pride across Southeastern San Diego.

Coach Lopez, thank you for your service to our to our community.

I'd like to thank Councilmember Vivian Moreno for recognizing Coach Lopez today, and I proudly support this proclamation today.

Item S501, Logan Heights, CDC Day.

I just want to say a quick hello to my neighbor, uh Monty Jones.

I'm also proud to recognize Logan Heights CDC for more than 30 years of service and leadership in the community.

Logan Heights CDC has grown into an anchor institution supporting residents, small businesses, local organizations, and our immigrant community.

Their programs from career and financial support to small business development have created real opportunities for so many San Diego families.

Their commitment to equity and opportunity has not only strengthened Logan Heights, but also surrounding communities in southeastern San Diego and set a foundation for collective prosperity across our city.

Item S503, San Diego Climate Week.

I am proud to recognize San Diego Climate Week and the work underway to bring healthier air, cleaner water, and tangible benefits to our neighborhoods.

In District 4, we know firsthand the impacts of pollution from poor air quality to environmental challenges across our creeks and channels.

The January 2024 floods showed us firsthand how changes in our climate greatly impact our communities.

These are issues we must keep addressing head on.

Investments like the new all-electric microtransit pilot in our district show how climate action can also improve mobility and expand opportunity for residents.

San Diego Climate Week Week is about turning commitments into action, and I will support climate work that centers equity, resilient, and centers community voices.

And with that, that concludes my comments.

Thank you, Councilmember Foster.

We'll go next to Councilmember Ila Rivera.

All right.

Thank you, Council President.

Thank you to my colleagues for the proclamations that have come forward and the all the messages that have been shared.

I want to start by uh also recognizing City of San Diego Employee Appreciation Month.

Uh nothing that we do is is possible uh without our city employees.

Um, as we've said before, there is no um there's no public work without public employees or public workers, um, and and as we've made great strides in making this a better city to work for today is a reminder that we have work to continue work to do, uh, and our employees deserve every single single bit of that work.

Um I will also say thank you to uh Councilmember Moreno for for joining and recognizing Logan Heights CDC Day here in the city of San Diego.

Thank you, Councilmember Foster, for your words as well.

Um, Monty, thank you for being here today and for everything that you do in the community.

Um you all give back in a number of ways that are really, really important.

We certainly appreciate having you as a partner with our with our district.

Thank you.

And last but certainly not least, I want to um thank my colleagues, Councilmember Foster, Councilmember Campillo, and Councilmember Moreno for joining me in proclaiming September 15th to October 15th, 2025 to be Hispanic Heritage Month in the city of San Diego.

Uh, this feels especially important to do with a lot of pride this year, uh, as our community is under attack in a variety of ways, and all communities that have pride and believe that America is a country where we should celebrate our our diversity, our heritage seem to be under attack.

Um so I want to take a moment to recognize all of the different things that the Hispanic and Latino community do here in San Diego and um across the country.

Um certainly part of the story is uh is an immigrant story.

My grandparents came from Nicaragua and Panama.

But there's also folks who've been here for many, many, many, many generations that actually longer than this country's has existed.

And that is important to recognize as well.

But today in the room, we've got um folks who are I think a great representation of all that the Latino community and his the Hispanic community have to offer here in San Diego.

Um so I'm gonna ask some folks to stand up and be recognized for that work.

Uh we'll start with uh Lisette Islas and Amabi Castro from Lifeline Community Services.

Natasha Salgado from City Height CDC.

And if I miss anyone from the uh from your organization's apologies, uh please feel free to stand as well.

Um Liz Ramirez, Veronica Gomez, Andrea Martino, Jimmy Figueroa, Osiris Romero, Carlos Silorio, Lucero Maganda, and Jesus Martín Gallegos Munos from Chicano Federation.

Uh we'll go to Gloria Cruz and CK Calderon Vargas from the uh San Diego LGBT Community Center.

Alexis Crespo from Youth Empowerment.

Elsa, please stand from Emilio Nandaras Foundation.

And is Denora here?

Um anyone else who's part of one of these organizations, please stand up.

In the room right now, we see folks who help provide food, who provide health care, who provide leadership, who keep um young folks from falling um from falling into a bad path or or help redirect them from a negative path.

Um these are um community builders and bridge builders.

Um I just want to say thank you for everything that you do in the community uh for um being such a great representation of the uh Latino Hispanic community.

Um we know that there are a myriad of ways that our community um contributes from um astronauts to baseball players and musicians, um you name it, um, but I I think you all very much recognize represent what's the best of uh our community uh here in San Diego and want to say thank you for everything that you that you do for us.

Um and again, I think in this time where so many members of our community are feeling under attack because they are you are are not just standing up for them, um, but you're providing an example of um what it means to lead in a difficult time and to do that with grace and courage and in a way that really puts people first.

So thank you to all of you for your leadership.

Um I deeply appreciate everything that you're doing in the community, and I'm proud to recognize this month with uh with you all.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council President.

Council member, uh, we'll go to Council President Pro Tam Lee.

Thank you, Council President.

I'll start by thanking uh Councilmembers Moreno, uh Ilo Rivera and Foster for the recognition of Hispanic Heritage Month.

Don't need to repeat what they've said, but other than recognizing how important this is as a time not just to recognize the heritage of the past, but also the challenges that continue moving forward and how as communities, especially of immigrants uh in this time and era, how important that really is.

Um, I know there are a couple organizations here that I'm I'm glad to see recognize today.

Mani, nice to see you from Logan Heights CDC to Betsy and Alonzo, thank you for all the work that the Dantown Santiago Partnership does, especially through your Clean and Safe program.

Uh it's nice that we get that chance to honor that today.

Uh and then finally, um I wanted to also recognize our city employees and thank Mayor Gloria as well as Council President uh Lakaba for taking this opportunity to recognize our city employees.

Um I think I think all of us up here can recognize that that this is a very challenging time in the city.

Uh we've made a lot of progress um even in the couple of years under this administration, um, but there's a lot of challenges ahead, um, and not just locally from what we face fiscally.

Uh we're going through that each and every day, it seems, uh, but also what we're facing um from a federal standpoint as well.

And that's a lot for I think city employees who are um here to give their service to the public.

Um that is their interest.

That's why they're here despite the challenges, and the fact that they continue to choose to make this their home in terms of serving the public is something that I don't think we could ever be um fully grateful enough for.

So thank you for taking the opportunity to recognize that um today, and I know for many of us we'll do our best to help recognize it every day.

Thank you, Council President.

All right, thank you, Council President Um Templi.

Uh, not seeing anybody else on the lights, I'll kind of close it out and start with item 30, City of San Diego Employee Appreciation Month.

I'm proud to bring forward this proclamation alongside Mayor Gloria to give our employees the recognition they deserve on a daily basis.

They set a high bar and they continue to exceed expectations despite limited resources.

Serving the eighth largest city in the United States is no easy task with a population of 1.4 million residents and approximately 32 million regional visitors each year.

Takes dedicated employees to make our city run.

I want to express my gratitude for our outstanding employees and highlight the importance of the work they do every day without the tireless efforts of our employees.

The city would not be able to provide critical services such as public safety, provide clean drinking water, ensuring waste and recycling collection, making needed infrastructure repairs, expanding internet access and youth programs, supporting small businesses, focusing on housing solutions and addressing the climate crisis and so much, much more.

Council President, thank you for the opportunity, members of the city council.

You'll see I brought with me uh some of our executive team uh as well as our department directors, uh, all of us uh here to show our support and appreciation for your declaration of October as employee appreciation month.

Uh, we look forward to kicking off our celebrations formally uh tomorrow uh and to have events throughout the city uh throughout uh the remainder of that month.

Um I will uh say I appreciate all of your individual comments about our employees.

We are blessed and fortunate to have 13,000 public servants that understand their responsibilities to make the eighth largest city in the country work well for the people and businesses who are here.

And with your support, we've been able to do things uh like expand programs and services, uh, pay folks uh more appropriate uh levels of uh pay uh to be able to work here uh to do a number of innovative things that have resulted in our employee satisfaction surveys being the highest that they've ever been.

Uh none of us here are saying mission accomplished because we know that we have so much more work left to do, but October is the month that we set aside to pause and thank each of those employees for what they do.

You all understand it so well.

Uh, we're 24-7, 365, we never close, right?

We have folks working out in the middle of the night, standing watch over our communities, our homes, our residents.

Uh, we have folks working in very uh complicated and difficult positions at wastewater treatment facilities uh out in Point Loma every hour of the day.

Um we have folks that are picking up garbage in every part of the community, and while that may not be a glamorous job, those folks rejoice in being able to do those jobs and the actions that you've taken this year will make sure they can do it even better than before.

So I thank you for your support of our employees.

On behalf of our executive leadership team, we all get the privilege of being able to lead these incredible employees.

And I think I would speak for every single one of us who are here to say that yes, this is the month we set aside, but as Council President Pro Tem mentioned a moment ago, this is a daily thing that we must do of expressing our appreciation to those who make this city work.

So again, Council, thank you for your support of our employees.

I think we're on a positive trajectory, but we have so much more work left to be done.

But this month, let's pause.

Let's express our appreciation of these folks that do important and difficult work and know that after we uh have a few what may be ice cream parties or uh uh some uh coffee and donuts, uh that we'll put them right back out to work and they will be happily going out to serve the neighborhoods uh in each and every one of your council districts.

So again, Council President, thank you for the partnership on this proclamation.

Uh and to every San Diego City employee on behalf of your executive leadership team, thank you for what you do.

All right, thank you, Mayor, and a big round of applause for the employees.

And then item S503, San Diego Climate Week.

Starting tomorrow, October 1st, we begin this year's San Diego Climate Week, a week that is meant to create a space for collaboration, education, and action that accelerates local climate solutions and delivers resiliency and sustainability.

San Diego Climate Week aims to convert conversations into measurable outcomes and catalyze science-based, locally led immediate climate progress on the issues identified by communities.

Marginalized and frontline communities have suffered disproportionate health, environmental, and economic burdens from polluted air and water contamination.

These communities hold critical knowledge and leadership that are crucial in our fight against climate change.

The City of San Diego is committed to its 2022 climate action plan and its 2021 climate resiliency plan.

The city will continue to identify city resources and funding to implement projects shown to decarbonize, reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2035, and to accelerate progress toward climate equity and public health.

And with that, I would like to invite fellow climate activist Erica Rodriguez to speak a bit more on San Diego Climate Week.

So thank you to the mayor and the council members for recognizing the importance of climate work with this proclamation.

And now over a hundred and five organizations involved with San Diego Climate Week.

We created San Diego Climate Week to create space for collaboration, education, and action that accelerates local climate solutions and strengthens resilience in our communities.

And on behalf of our volunteers that joined us this morning, as well, uh, we look forward to seeing you all and Sandy again celebrating the inaugural San Diego Climate Week on October first through the eighth.

Thank you so much.

So with that, we have a motion by Councilmember Campillo and a second by Council Member Moreno.

Clerk, please call the roll.

And Cam from my office will help guide the pictures.

Well, after the celebration, the procs, if you could quietly exit the chambers and we'll continue on with the rest of the council hearing for this morning.

We will now proceed with the approval of the consent items.

Are there any requests to pull any items by my colleagues?

Not seeing any uh council member Yelo Rivera, you're not up.

Okay.

Um Clerk, please proceed with public comment.

Thank you, Council President.

Please note each speaker.

We'll 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 consent agenda includes items fifty through fifty-two and one hundred through one oh three.

We did receive one comment in favor of item fifty-two VR e-comment form, which has been distributed to the council.

We do not have any public speakers here in council chambers for our consent agenda going to those participating remotely, starting with eighty-seven hundred.

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

That's from Chief Logan in his memo.

So I'm very excited about this, and it's just an excellent move, and I'm looking forward to following it.

Thank you so much.

Hear me roar.

And I'm 101.

Yes to citywide safety shoes contract.

Here is my health list.

So thank you for listening.

Love to all.

Next is Blair Beekman.

If you can please unmute.

Blair Beekman, items 52, um 102 and 103.

Thank you.

Hopefully, my Zoom's okay.

I think it was my problem with Zoom actually uh yesterday.

So uh sorry about that.

Um to speak to begin with item one hundred three.

Uh this was a uh a council item or a committee item a week or so ago about uh airport planning things for Brown Airport, Brownfield.

Um I wasn't at that committee or council meeting, but I just wanted to remind the importance that we are working on a future of unleaded fuels for our smaller local airports.

Um it's an important concept because most airports are actually built in low-income areas these days.

So uh it's it's a good fight.

Uh good luck that we can continue that good fight.

Um, and that we organize ourselves around the different airports of San Diego, the smaller airports.

The accident at the other airport recently um highlighted the importance of of uh of organizing best practices.

Uh good luck in those efforts.

Uh for item uh 52, uh, which is uh a minimum wage ordinance for uh certain workers of hotels, uh museum parts, etc.

Thank you that Mayor Gloria was here today speaking.

Um I think this sort of item today really speaks to um the city council is trying to do some really important good work.

Uh Joy mentioned the uh shopping coupon things yesterday, the digital coupons.

Amazing work there.

Um you did try over the spring, you know, to really work towards equity for the budget.

I mean, there are a lot of good things we're working on together, and it it's important to bring that out.

Thank you that the mayor was here today and spoke.

It was just it's just a nice thing to do.

Uh I hope he can do that a few times a month.

Uh and be very welcome in council chambers.

Thank you.

Um so can continue good luck uh in those sort of efforts and then we can build uh dialogue with our issues and not confrontation.

Uh that's key, and we can do it.

Uh I think it's possible um to do.

Um yeah, um so uh to conclude.

I wish I could speak more on it, but I gotta move on.

Uh to item one oh uh let me see, 102, which is uh state of California land use for uh John Bacca Park.

I just wanted to speak on overall uh park issues that we're having in San Diego this time.

Um I think uh park uh people did an awesome job in in having to reassess uh technology use within the parks in this new Trump administration.

It's a fact of like we have to review our data collection and how we pass that along at this time.

So thank you for those efforts.

Um there are efforts going on in in South uh uh in uh Ote Mesa area for new park things.

That is admirable, understood.

I'll be ready soon.

I'll be ready soon, man.

Please, I'm on the phone, please.

Um yeah, so uh they're they're admirable what they're doing in uh uh OTA you know, Mesa and the park areas, but they have to acknowledge tech.

We have to be working and considering technology.

Your time has concluded, my apologies.

Next is Richard, if you can please unmute and let me know which item or items you wish to speak speak to.

Hi, can you hear me?

Yes.

Item 52.

You'll have one minute, please proceed.

Hi, Richard Ciava here, uh member of IAT Local 122, also a member of Lia, Lib Experience Advisors.

And I uh want to show support.

I'm in support of item 52.

Thank you, Sean Rivera for uh running that campaign for uh my brothers and sisters over here at the hotels and amusement parks for getting us a better wage.

Um also uh was I you know a member of Leo we support the better wage for all and we also need to look at what we'll do with uh fewer jobs or more automation.

Please make a plan for the future.

Also, if you can please look at the transient occupancy tax.

And that's all I got.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That does conclude public comment on the consent agenda.

All right, thank you, City Clerk.

We'll turn it over to council members for comments and entertain a motion.

We'll start with Council Member Ilo Rivera.

Thank you, Council President.

Um I won't take too long here.

I want to say um thank you again to all of the workers um who helped um share their who share their stories and advocated for themselves and their colleagues to take a step toward earning a wage that will allow them to live in the city where they work and that they love.

Um I want to say thank you to my colleagues for supporting the item uh when it when it was here um before us a couple weeks ago um and wanted to share with you all I I heard a um there was a gentleman who's a member of IATSI who I had a chance to speak to uh prior to the item coming to council, and he shared on a couple different occasions what increasing the wage would mean to him and his family as someone who's um about to get married.

And the increased wages he said are gonna make a huge difference for him and relieve some pressure as he's you know hopes to build a family.

And he said that um after the vote, he felt like uh that that day was a day where government worked for him.

And uh I know that we don't hear that often, and so I wanted to make sure that you all um heard that that that was the feeling in the room from the workers uh who saw us take the action that we took, and I want to say thank you again uh for your support of the item.

I'll say thank you to uh the representatives from the hospitality industry uh who stayed engaged with us in conversation.

Um again I'm really proud that San Diego will be taking a step forward to be in a place where um folks get a bit closer but to being able to afford to live in the city where they work, uh especially from a from an industry um that San Diego is well known for, and I think um we certainly never have to settle for less for our workers in order to maintain our competitiveness as a tourism uh destination.

So thank you, Council President.

I move approval of this uh of the consent agenda.

All right, thank you, Councilmember Elo Rivera, and we'll go next to Councilmember Moreno.

Thank you.

Item 103 is the approval of the Brownfield Airport Master Plan and preferred alternative and certification of the program environmental impact report for Brownfield Airport located in Ota Mesa.

This is a critical step in allowing the master plan to be implemented and moves forward phasing air side and land site improvements, uh, infrastructure upgrades, historical preservation strategies, and a robust redevelopment framework.

Uh this plan ensures continued compliance with FAA design standards, improves airport safety and capacity, and it also enables significant economic development while respecting the airport's historical character and community setting.

I want to thank our airport division staff for all of the work they've done to get this final action before us here.

Um lastly, I will record a no vote on item 51 and 100, which are uh cooperative procurement contracts for the purchases of very various vehicles and equipment, as I'm simply uncomfortable with how the city is perpetually issuing debt to fund vehicles and equipment for our fleet.

Um I will support the balance of the consent agenda, and I'm happy to second the motion on the floor, and that concludes my comments.

Thank you.

All right, thank you, Councilmember.

So we have a motion by Councilmember Elo Rivera and a second by Councilmember Morena to move the consent items.

And not seeing anyone else on the lights.

Um please call the roll clerk.

Start the voting system, please cast your vote.

Sorry.

That does pass unanimously, seven to zero with council member Campillo and Councilmember Von Wilbert absent.

And Councilmember Moreno voting no.

My apologies, I missed the item number.

Item 51 and 100.

Thank you so much for the record.

All right.

Uh thank you for that.

So we'll move on to opportunities for the mayor's office, city council members, city attorney, independent budget analysts, or city clerk for any comments.

Not seen any.

Um I'm gonna make a comment a little bit unusual, uh, but I know that there's been frequent um callings by the public about why we would not uh accept a waiver at Tory Pines.

Um councilmember Bree went through this, and now I'm getting criticized for this.

So I just wanted to give my colleagues and any member for the public that is very curious about this.

Uh, they did submit a waiver for hang gliding at Tory Pines, which I took very seriously and sat down with economic development on it.

And let me explain why we rejected the idea.

The um the claim is that the county of LA developed this waiver within four months.

County of LA based it on Dockweiler Beach.

And let me describe Docweiler Beach.

Now think about Tory Pines and what Torrey Pines is like.

Dockweiler Beach is generally considered a safe location to hang glide, particularly for beginners due to its soft sand and gentle slopes.

The beach has soft sand for landings and a low bluff, maybe 25 feet of max, which allows bent beginners to practice without becoming exhausted from going up and down the hill.

Now compare that to Tory Pines.

300 foot vertical bluff, much different.

That's why we reject the proposal for a waiver.

After four years, four and a half years now of listening to the criticism.

We took it very seriously.

That's why we rejected it.

Not seeing anybody else who wants to speak.

We will now take up non-agenda public comment.

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 with 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 are in chambers, please submit your speaker slip to the front of the room in the clear box.

And if you're joining us virtually, please raise your hand to speak by tapping the raise your hand icon, or if you're a calling participant star nine.

If I can have the following individuals, please come up to the front row.

Harry Bishop, you can come up to the microphone, then Robert Dina Hedel, Michelle Pfeiffer, Uma Thurman, and Sandy Snakenberg.

If you can all please come up to the front yellow reserve seats.

And Harry, you'll have two minutes.

Please proceed.

I'd like to say first good morning to all the council members and uh that's my first experience with city council and uh I'd like to say good morning to all city council members and does my first experience with city council here in San Diego.

It's quite an experience.

It's awesome.

Thanks.

Uh the reason I'm here is because I'm I'm a resident of the downtown San Diego partnership, Tent City, and I'm here to bring some attention to critical issues that are going on at the facility.

They're at uh Tent City.

Uh one of the main things is the rat infestation that exists here.

These rats are very aggressive and persistent.

And me personally, I've been bitten twice by rats at the facility.

You know, and just to say we we've gone to multiple different avenues to try to get somebody to do something about this, and nobody seems to want to listen to us.

So as a resident I'm coming poor.

Yes, as uh uh individual with cirrhosis and COPD there, a serious direction of my health.

Also, I've been waiting for housing for over a year now.

Is it just heart to see other others be placed before me because I've been there for a while now?

It's like people come and for a couple months and they're gone.

I don't understand how that works.

They say every case is different, but these are just going on.

Also, the behavior of the staff is totally unacceptable there.

And I'm just asking that the should you counsel take immediate action to address this problem ahead to thank you.

Next is Robert Roberto.

Council President, may I may I ask a quick question?

Apologies.

Um would it be possible for the mayor's office to uh provide some report out or um some details?

We've heard now on a couple different occasions about this issue of um of rat infestation um at our safe camping site.

Um and I want to make sure that it's not going unheard.

Yes, I was just about to go uh speak to the gentleman, but we can absolutely provide an update on a facilities report or something like that for both 20th and B and OLAT.

Um we can compile that.

I appreciate that.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Dorberla, please proceed.

Um yes, I am a street magician, and this past Friday I got a citation for being outside of the expressive activity boxes in Balboa Park.

Uh the reason why I wasn't in those expressive activity boxes was because they're all in the sun, and I wanted to have my crowd in the shade.

So when the ranger approached me, I asked him questions.

I asked him, well, um, if I can't have my crowd in the shade.

Um, can I just do card tricks for people?

And he said, no, well, you're gonna get a crowd.

They always state that um the the crowds are a safety issue, which isn't true because I stop the show and I bring people in and I leave plenty of clearance for the sidewalk for people to get through.

Um, and the next day I got a citation, the same one for being outside of the boxes, and I only performed for six people, and I still got a citation, and there was other groups that didn't get a citation, and I asked questions, but they were ignored.

Um, the officer, his name's Dylan, he just walked away, and I was the only one that got a citation that day.

Um this expressive activity ordinance, it's um it's under time, place, and manner restrictions, content neutrality.

Uh, to have those restrictions, um, they have to protect public safety.

So you can't just make boxes and tell people if you perform outside of these boxes, you're a criminal now.

There has to be a reasonable um well, anyway.

Yesterday um the court ruled the ninth district that the the yoga instructor that um wasn't allowed to um teach because of um he won.

He won.

It set precedent.

And uh, if you're a lawyer, I'm on the market.

Thank you.

Thank you, Michelle.

Hello, this is my like fourth visit to come down here and see you all.

And I have yeah, really good news.

I've been accepted in a city college, and um I'm majoring in kinesiology, which is really interesting.

I've been in since um uh June, and um I'm so happy that um I really am looking forward to doing more.

And I told you about my children and their foster care and the payments that I set up for uh me and them to have, and I would like for you to help me reinstate my Social Security payments.

Um I'm also at like I told you, a boarding house, and I'm hoping to get uh the Social Security payments so that I can move out and have um visits with my children and uh check and see if they're doing as well as I think they are because it's such a pleasure to come down here and tell you all what's going on and to have something happen just because of talking to you, it's wonderful.

That's all I wanted to say.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next is Sandy.

Your last speaker hearing, Council Chambers Thank you.

Um my name is Sandy Snakenberg.

I'm also known as the bubble pirate.

You may have heard of me.

I've been on the news a bit.

Um, also honorable mention during the last um mayoral debate.

Now, um it's a bit about history.

I returned to San Diego eight years ago.

I registered at 501c3 social nonprofit enterprise known as Bubble World Limited.

I am full compliance with city ordinances uh regarding insurance registered with the San Diego Department Rex.

I am a registered disabled homeless veteran.

I do represent some of these marginalized communities as well.

That being said, um uh my experience with uh similar to uh Robert's is um I got a ticket last year for performing.

Um now because of my compliances, they had to find something to get me on, which was liquid littering.

Um, which is not um now it is still up in the air, um have till October, it's still in the books for the courts, but nonetheless.

Um we are I'm representing the uh Buskers community.

Um some of their other experiences is everyone is subject to these four by eight spaces.

Okay, we operate under our First Amendment rights, which are not subject to four by eight spaces, especially my shows.

My shows are interactive, and they're also you can't put bubbles in a four by eight space.

Um, not sure if any of you have seen my show.

You're welcome to come.

I'm a frequenter at La Jolla Cove.

Um so the four four by eight spaces are are really the it shouldn't be.

Um we we follow our criteria of safety safety to the audience, safety to the environment, and safety um uh to the public, you know, the public uh areas.

Um we actually provide a public service with no cost to the city, and the Rangers are there as enforcers.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

I start the five minute time we're going to those participating remotely.

We currently have five individuals with their hands raised, starting with Blair Beekman, if you can please unmute all right, thank you.

Blair Beekman, thanks for the morning meeting today.

Um I wanted to um I guess you know, just thank you.

Uh you know, the ideas of cooperation and working together to solve our community issues is really important at this time.

Uh we're at a bit of a fragile time.

I think we're trying to work through it.

I've been trying to uh acknowledge the importance of what city council is working on, and uh they are trying to work towards best practices, and it's nice.

And I think that should be really respected.

How is community as counselor person el Olivera offered a community group working on parking issues?

They were really trying to work within the system.

And I think we can.

I mean, I really want to reduce the future costs of parking.

We we we have a standard of parking set, but I think we can reduce those costs.

How strong of a fight can we have in those respects?

And I I think that's a good fight and the good fight at this time.

That's how we develop our and continue the good fight practices of community, and I think it's a fair fight.

So good luck that we can uh have those conversations and and really work towards lower and lower parking rates in the future.

Um with that, you know, I think we really have to be concerned with how the Trump administration is acting with their uh ICE agents and our custom border patrol.

They cannot come into our local neighborhoods armed to the teeth.

I think that's uh shocking.

They have to learn to bring that down and tone that down.

And um for all that was said yesterday and the importance of having a fair argument between both sides and not inflaming things, that's important.

Exactly what I'm talking about.

We don't over militarize uh the questions of this time of customs and border patrol.

I I think that has to be the argument and the debate that we talk about openly.

And I think it will have work towards good good ends for all of us, actually.

So good luck that we work together in consensus building this fall.

Thank you.

Thank you, Madison.

If you can please unmute after that is 8700, and then Judy String Madison, there you go.

Hi, thank you.

Yesterday I spoke about protecting the mental health of our youth.

And today I want to add this.

And it shows that the brain is ready to learn and to take risks between ages 13 and 18.

That risk taking can be positive, like trying a new sport, or negative, like experimenting with substances.

It since 90% of addictions and we think that immunity are critical.

A UCSD epidemiologist recently warned that we're only at the beginning of a public health crisis use.

Meanwhile, the visibility of marijuana sore friends and advertising normalizes use for kids, sending the wrong message at exactly the wrong time.

But punishment alone doesn't work.

One high school replaced suspensions with restorative practices, immediate wellness checks, social worker support, impact reflections, and keeping kids connected to their teens and schools.

The result was healthier students, calmer families, and stronger relationships between kids and the adults who guide them.

That's what I want for San Diego.

Parents want policies that reduce exposure to harmful substances, while also investing in programs that build connection, resilience, and safe outlets for young people.

Because good mental health is one of the greatest gifts we can give the next generation.

Thank you.

Thank you, 8700.

If you can please unmute 8700, I have presently unmute, but you need to unmute on your side, star nine.

There you go.

Thank you.

Sorry about that.

That was my problem.

Okay.

So I want to continue.

Oh, first of all, uh, President uh Lakava.

Thank you for what you said about the Tory Pines thing, because I have been waiting for 10 years or more to hear that.

And I just can't tell you that something inside me just relaxed.

So thank you so much.

I I think the public in general is with you and thanks you for that, but I sure feel that way.

So I want to continue my talk about the um uh the issue with our drugs and our opiad deaths in San Diego.

And uh I've calmed down a little bit and had my cry, so you know, I'm settled in and just into sadness.

So uh three people die every day in San Diego from uh these drugs, OPS, fincelle, and whatever.

I I I went in and Googled the United States, and there's 250 that die every day in the United States of the same issue.

So, you know, county wake up.

You're supposed to be doing prevention and intervention, treatment and recovery, overdose prevention, harm reduction, task forces.

Where are you?

How can you possibly ignore this?

And so I want to say this County Board of Supervisors, Montgomery Step, you're my hero.

You continue to be my hero.

How can we reimagine our strategies to address and help the real cause of this tragedy now?

I just I know you're doing the best you can, but is there any, you know, you're so creative and innovative.

Your time has concluded.

My apologies, Judy String, and then our last speaker is Becky Repp.

Judy, there you go.

Good morning, San Diego City Council.

I came to share some information that my grandson provided to me.

He's going to be here in November for a major neuroscience conference at our convention center.

And it's being sponsored by the Society for Neuroscience.

We were talking about a webinar that we both participated in yesterday that was provided by Sir Robin Murray, the professor of psychiatric research at the Institute of Psychiatry in London.

He's considered one of the world's leading experts on psychosis.

He was one of among the first to propose that schizophrenia has a neurodevelopmental origin, and that there are many factors involved in it, not the least of which is substance use.

Yesterday's webinar was about the high concentrated marijuana we know as THC.

Marijuana is not a plant anymore that people buy.

It's a highly concentrated product that brings all of its seriousness of concern to our young people.

He mentioned in his talk yesterday that during the past year there has been a dramatic increase among our young people who have who have a risk of developing psychotic disorder due to their use of cannabis products, THC products, and that we need to critically look at the mental health of our young people and the contributing factors.

And we need to remember that prevention's the name of the game.

Treatment, too late.

Prevention when we're talking about our young people.

And it matters what they see here in our city regarding policies.

Thank you for letting me share this great conference that's coming next week and the science that we heard yesterday.

Thank you.

Thank you, Becky Rapp, your final speaker.

Please unmute.

Good morning.

My name is Becky Rapp.

I'm a public health educator and a concerned resident for the health and safety of our young people.

Yesterday I shared a real life, the real life consequences of marijuana use and the impact it has on young people's mental health.

Today I'd like to bring to your attention yet another detrimental consequence marijuana can have on fertility and child development.

A study published this year by researchers found that THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, directly harms human embryos.

IVF embryos exposed to THC showed widespread gene disruptions and a 9% increase in chromosomal errors.

These errors are a leading cause of miscarriages and severe developmental problems.

The science builds on what we already know.

Marijuana reduces sperm count and quality in men, interferes with normal brain development in children, and leaves lasting marks on DNA.

Despite this, the marijuana industry continues to market these products as quote, safe and quote, natural.

Pregnant women in particular are being misled and often turning to marijuana without being warned of the risks.

Our city can take steps to protect families.

I urge this council to require point of purchase education and pot shops so consumers can see accurate health information before buying.

Clearly stating the risks to fertility, pregnancy, and child development.

These are basic public health protections, no different from tobacco or alcohol.

By adopting these measures, San Diego can ensure that residents are making informed choices and that vulnerable groups, especially women and children, are not left unprotected.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That concludes on agenda public comment.

All right, thank you, City Clerk.

We will now adjourn for the noon recess and reconvene open session at 2 p.m.

or shortly thereafter.

All right, good afternoon.

We're going to get started here.

I will now reconvene the city council meeting of Tuesday, September 30th, 2025.

Clerk, please call the roll.

Thank you, Council President.

Councilmember Campbell.

Councilmember Whitburn.

Here.

Councilmember Foster.

Here.

Councilmember Von Wilper.

Council President Pro Tem Lee.

Here.

Councilmember Campillo.

Councilman Moreno.

Present.

Councilmember Elo Rivera.

And Council President Lakava.

Present.

Also attending the meeting, our assistant city attorney Leslie Fitzgerald, Principal Fiscal and Policy Analyst in the IBA's office, Jordan Moore, Council of Affairs Advisor in the Mayor's Office, Coda Zeiser, and myself, your city clerk, Deanna Fuentes.

Thank you, Council President.

All right, thank you.

So with that, Clerk, please introduce item 331.

Item 331 is the adjustments to water and wastewater rates in accordance with the cost of service studies and proposition 218.

If you'd like to speak to this item, now's the time to submit your speaker slips to the front of the room in the clear box.

If you are seating time, please be sure to submit all of those speaker slips together at one time.

And if you are joining us virtually, please press star nine or the raise your hand icon.

Thank you, Council President.

Right, thank you, City Clerk.

So because this item is being handled under Proposition 218, it's just a slightly different hearing, and we're going to try to explain it every step of the way.

So we will now open the public hearing.

I would like to note that we do have staff in the lobby of the city administration building available to collect any protests that may be submitted up until the public hearing portion of this item has concluded.

The public hearing will conclude at the end of all public testimony, at which time we will address the legal objections made in relation with Proposition 218.

We then may trail the item to allow the clerk time to tabulate the protests.

We will either continue the conversation or return after the conclusion.

Excuse me.

We will then continue the conversation to read the results into the record.

If a majority protest protest does not exist, we will proceed with council member questions and comments and vote on the matter before us today.

So with that, staff please introduce yourselves for the record and let us know how much time you need for your presentation.

Good afternoon, Council President and Council members and Wang Grow, Public Utilities Director, and we'll need about 20 minutes for our presentation today.

All right, begin when you're ready.

So as you know, drinking water and wastewater services are some of the most essential and often invisible functions that keep our city running smoothly.

From delivering safe, clean drinking water to responsibly managing wastewater.

Our department plays a critical role in protecting public health, supporting economic growth, and ensuring environmental stewardship.

As a reminder, PUD released its cost of service studies last December, which outline the revenue required to maintain our operations and the essential public health services that were responsible for delivering.

Following that, the environment committee and full city council voted in July to set a public hearing for today, September 30th.

Proposition 218 notices were mailed in late July, and three community meetings were held in August and September leading up to today's adoption hearing.

And if council approves the rates today on September 30th, they'd go into effect on January 1st, 2026.

We've covered this before, so today we'll provide a quick review of the water and wastewater system as a whole.

Here's a snapshot of our operations, our size, staffing, and scope.

We realize that this infrastructure is largely hidden and something most people never see, but it's essential to public health, equity, and quality of life in every council district.

Here's a quick reminder of where customers' water bills go.

About 40% pays for water purchase from the San Diego County Water Authority, the city's largest non-personnel expense.

The rest covers system operations, debt, technical support, billing, and pure water planning.

Most of these costs are beyond our control, so we plan carefully and communicate clearly to customers.

Now Lisa will provide an overview of our proposed rate adjustments.

So let's take a closer look at the proposed rate adjustments and how they will help ensure the long-term sustainability and reliability of our water and wastewater systems.

Before we dive into the actual cost, I want to underscore that we are very mindful of affordability for our customers.

Over the past year, our team has taken multiple actions to save nearly 360 million dollars and mitigate rate impacts without compromising service.

To put it in perspective, without these measures, rates would need to have been increased by an additional 30 to 35 percent during this period.

Here's a quick overview of the strategic efforts that we have taken.

First, strategic use of our resources, whether that is our stored water, fund reserves, delaying CIP, and adjusting our summer sales have saved us over 260 million dollars.

Our asset management system, our data-driven approach and pipeline assessments saved 87 million dollars.

And our in-house efficiencies by repairing key infrastructure and overtime reductions have cut cost.

Customer technology and engagement.

Our portal upgrades, tool realignments, and contract reviews improve service and saved 7.5 million dollars.

And then regulatory coordination, project rescoping and spill management reduce cost and enhance compliance.

Another proactive step we have taken to mitigate impacts to our ratepayers is softening our financial metrics.

On this slide, you will see key indicators like debt service coverage, rate stabilization reserves, and projected days of cash.

To main strong maintain stronger financial metrics, additional higher rate increases would be necessary to generate revenue.

We are allowing these metrics to fall below target, which reduces rate impacts on customers while keeping the system financially sustainable.

This approach balances fiscal responsibility and affordability, ensuring the system remains resilient and ready to meet operational needs in future challenges.

This chart shows the projected rate adjustments over the next four years, highlighting the difference between costs we control and those that we have limited control over.

At the top, you'll see the increases associated with buying water from our wholesaler, the San Diego County Water Authority.

This increase reflects not only the rate adopted by the Water Authority that goes into effect on January 1, 2026, but also additional volumes that we need to purchase.

The next lines reflect specific adjustments to public utilities water and wastewater system, reflecting the cost to operate and maintain our own infrastructure.

These are carefully managed to keep our system safe, reliable, and financially stable while avoiding larger costs in the future.

You will notice that by 28-29, the share of cost from the Water Authority decreases.

This is due to the launch of Pure Water San Diego, which reduces reliance on the Water Authority and our deliberate deferral of some system rate increases to 26 and 27 to lessen the immediate impact on our customers.

Modest increases in 28 and 29 support ongoing maintenance and infrastructure investments.

This slide translates the proposed rate adjustments into actual dollars and cents for the average single family residential customer per month.

In 2026, the biggest driver of the increase is the wholesale water cost from the Water Authority, adding about $16 more per month.

In contrast, the city's portion of the water rate increase would increase by a little over a dollar and wastewater by 80 cents.

You'll see a similar trend in 2027, with the city's water and wastewater costs modestly rising to reflect inflation, system maintenance, and infrastructure needs.

Still there remain the smaller portion of the total impact compared to the cost of imported water.

An all-in or effective rate increase adopted by the Water Authority does not translate into the exact percentage increase that needs to be passed on to our water customers.

The reason is our calculation is a sum of the Water Authority's fixed invariable charges and the volumes of treated or untreated water we plan to buy.

This results in the per unit rate increase needed for cost recovery.

Simply put, the pass-through costs are impacted by both the Water Authority's rate increases, whether that be fixed or volumetric, and the volumes of water purchase at the increased cost.

When there's an increase in our water purchase volumes, we incur higher fixed and variable cost.

You will notice that on the slide we've incorporated information put forward by the Water Authority that indicates their 8.3% is not necessarily reflective of the combined impact of volumetric rates in fixed charges and reflects the average impact across all of their 22 member agencies.

Additionally the information depicted on the Water Authority slide reflects rates based on FY24 sales information.

Our rate increase reflects FY26-27 sales that are expected to be higher than we purchase in FY24.

This chart offers a clear comparison of our rates across the region.

Despite the proposed rate adjustments, we remain below the average within San Diego County.

This is a crucial consideration given the expansive and intricate nature of our system.

So what happens if the proposed rate adjustments are not adopted?

Here's a quick review of the likely impacts.

We're projecting 105 million.

Oops, sorry.

Got the wrong one, sorry.

On the pure water cost update, since the 2012 recycled water study that serves as the foundation of the Pure Water Pro, the city has and will continue to evaluate alternative scenarios for phase one and phase two of Pure Water, looking at each option through the lens of cost and benefits.

Our program management team recently completed a memo that provides a comparison between updated cost estimates based on FY24 actuals and projections and the cost estimates developed during the original recycled water study in 2012.

The city's latest cost analysis confirms that pure water is a smart investment delivering value for both water and wastewater customers.

Without pure water, wastewater customers would face a 53% rate increase just to comply with federal regulations.

With cost holding studies since the original 2012 analysis adjusted for inflation, pure water is proving to be one of the most reliable, affordable, and sustainable infrastructure investments for San Diego's future.

As a reminder, Pure Water Program has a dual benefit, primarily to avoid costly upgrades to the region's wastewater system.

And secondly, to produce a drought proof locally controlled water supply.

The total per unit cost of pure water program is $3,527, which translates to a penny per gallon.

Since the regional metro wastewater system is paying to avoid upgrades to their system, their costs are attributed to a little over $1,400.

Whereas the water supply is $2,100 per acre foot.

In comparison, that is lower than what the city is paying for untreated water from its wholesaler and significantly less than the cost for the water authority to buy D cell water.

I'll turn it back over to Juan to talk about outreach.

So we'll share a quick look at our outreach activities from June through September, highlighting how we've engaged the community and shared information on the proposed rates ahead of today's hearing.

We translated our proposition 218 notices into 10 different languages to ensure all customers can understand the upcoming rate adjustments.

Approximately 286,000 notices were mailed to customers in late July of 2025.

Notices were also made available online on our rate adjustment web page for easy digital access.

These efforts are part of our commitment to inclusive, transparent communication with the community.

We've created a dedicated web page with comprehensive information on the proposed rate adjustments.

The page includes a short video, background on water rates, and a clear, easy to understand breakdown of where rates go.

Information was updated at key milestones, including the July 11th Environment Committee, July 21st City Council meeting, community meetings in August and September, and in advance of today's adoption hearing.

This approach helped the city minimize confusion and position the department as a trusted source of accurate rate information.

We created a short one and a half minute video to help our customers understand the upcoming rate adjustments.

The video explains why these adjustments are necessary and how people can get involved in the process.

It's been well received with over 2,000 views across all of our platforms so far.

We've created a series of social media posts to educate the public about rate adjustments.

These posts were timed to coincide with key milestones in the outreach process.

Together they've reached over 13,000 community members.

And they generated more than 300 likes, shares, and comments showing strong engagement from the community.

As of September 16, 2025, we received 64 objections from community members regarding the rate adjustments.

The concerns range raised cover a range of topics as you can see here.

All objections have been responded to, and the responses to the objections will be entered into the record at today's public hearing.

These are the requested actions as detailed in the staff report.

Thank you for your time, and we're available for any questions.

All right, thank you very much for the presentation.

I'm now going to turn it over to Jordan Moore of the IBA for additional comments.

Thank you, Council President and members of the Council.

Good afternoon.

My name is Jordan Moore, Principal Policy Fiscal and Policy Analyst with the Office of the IBA.

Our office released IBA report 25-31 on Friday, which provides additional analysis of the cost of service studies prepared by the public utilities department in anticipation of this rate hearing.

This report should be considered in conjunction with the two reports previously put out by our office with the assistance of Stantec Consulting.

These reports found that the financial plans put forward by PUD are sound, assuming that the rate increases are approved, and that the metrics placed in the report track with historical trends as far as estimated expenditures and revenue projections.

The latest IBA report provides additional analysis on the implications to the water and wastewater system of potentially delaying the implementation of rates, lowering rates, or not approving the rate increases proposed by PUD today.

As detailed in the report, the need to increase rates for both systems is driven by a combination of increasing costs of both systems.

Increasing costs are being driven by things such as personnel, energy, and supplies, with water purchases driving costs acutely higher over the next two years for the water system.

When considering these increased costs in combination with stagnant water customer sales and wastewater flows, this requires these increased costs to be supported by rate increases.

Projected financial metrics that you just saw for water are already projected to go as low as advisable, even with the rate increases proposed.

At this point, there are no financial levers that PUD can use to absorb rate reductions below the proposed rates, particularly in FY2026 and 2027.

In order to avoid serious financial ramifications during these years due to delay, lower rates or no rate increases, POD would be required to reduce its operating budget beginning with the current fiscal year.

As noted in the report, this could total up to 105.6 million dollars in reductions to the water system alone, which represents about 29% of that total operating budget minus debt service and water purchases.

This would have significant ramifications to the operations of PUD, including lower service levels that could lead to customer service delays, as well as more frequent broken systems and emergency repairs.

These reductions will also impact other funds throughout the city that received reimbursement for work done on behalf of PUD.

Additionally, due to the many shared services between water and wastewater funds, including administration and customer service, lowering expenditures within the water system will most likely have a spillover effect into the wastewater system as well.

Approving the FY26 and 27 rate increases at or near the proposed rates in the cost of service study is crucial to maintaining the operations of the water system.

Our report also notes that there is more room to lower rate increases in FY2028 and 2029, but that doing so comes with potential downsides, including not being able to replenish reserves that will be depleted in FY26 and 27, as well as carrying risks if the anticipated rate increases included in the report on water purchases from the County Water Authority do not hold.

Additionally, we would note that having multiple years of pre-approved rate increases does allow the department to do more long-range planning, both on its own finances as well as other work, such as in the CIP.

Having steady and predictable rate increases typically leads to more stable, lower and predictable rate increases in the future, whereas smaller and shorter rate periods tend to lead to larger and more unpredictable rates in the future.

The wastewater system in comparison is in a relatively healthier state, most likely due to being at the end of a previous four-year rate case that provided steady and predictable revenue for PUD.

However, even with the approval of the rates proposed, the wastewater system will also deplete its reserves by the end of its rate case.

Lower rates in the earlier years could therefore require reducing operation expenditures in the wastewater system to avoid serious financial consequences.

We hope that council finds this report helpful in your you to your deliberations today, and our office is prepared to assist the council further and answer any questions you may have.

Thank you.

All right, thank you, Jordan.

Always appreciate it.

With that, Clerk, please proceed with public comment.

Thank you, Council President.

We have 36 people currently here in Council Chambers and just a couple in the virtual queue with their hand raised.

We'll start with the following individuals.

If they can please come up to the microphone, and then the following individuals, please come up to the yellow reserve seats at the front of the room.

Stephen Clemens, if you can please come up to the microphone, and then the following individuals.

That'd be greatly appreciated.

You will have one minute.

Please proceed.

Good afternoon.

My name is Stephen Clemens.

And I know you're all concerned with the affordability of living in San Diego.

We have the highest electricity rates in the country.

We have some of the highest rents in the country.

We're now going to have the highest water rates in the country, and that's not something to be proud of.

So when when you think about voting for this, I I encourage you to look at it holistically, and I'm sure you have.

Look for ways to have efficiency at the water department.

One example, I wasn't billed for water for two years.

I wasn't the only one.

And I know that that was a problem.

So there's an infrastructure problem that needs to be fixed.

So I really encourage you to look at this.

I I've seen each of you talk about affordable housing, and it's not just housing, it's everything that goes with it.

Rents have or include rents have gone up, parking has gone up recently, trash collection has gone up.

And when you look at the hundreds of dollars for people who are living on the edge in San Diego, we're gonna find that people aren't able to afford that.

They're gonna be looking at do I do I get food?

I'm sorry, sir.

Your time has concluded.

I need to be fair with everybody.

Thank you.

I appreciate that.

Jan McNamara.

Jan, you have time seated to you by Patrick McDamer, if you can please raise your hand.

Thank you so much.

You'll have two minutes, please proceed.

Well, by looking at the size of the crowd here today, I would say you have finally broken the spirit of San Diego.

These council chambers have been packed.

Uh over the trash, over the parking in Balboa Park.

But we feel like we're beating our heads against the wall.

You voted for a trash fee that was clearly misrepresented, should have been sent back to the to the voters with accurate information.

Then recently you voted voted for paid parking in Balboa Park.

You did make some concessions, yes, but bottom line, we still have to pay to go to our park.

Now you want to increase water rates.

They were just increased in January by 8.7%.

Again in May by 5.5%.

Now you want to vote for a 62% increase over four years.

Sewer rates were increased in January by 3%.

Now they will be going up 31%.

When you need money to pay the bills for San Diego, you come to us.

Where are we supposed to go to get that extra income?

My husband and I are in our 80s.

Where do you suggest we go to supplement our income so we can pay all these increases?

To say that I'm upset with council is very obvious, but I'm also upset with the voters of San Diego who continue to vote for you because they will not leave their party affiliation.

Having a one-party operation in our government is not working, obviously.

So shame on the voters for not educating themselves and voting what is best for our city.

And shame on you if you vote for this water rate increase.

Good afternoon, council members.

And I'm one of those new ones.

This is my first time at a city council meeting, so thank you for having me.

As Jan had mentioned, the rates that are being uh proposed right now by the uh San Diego Water Authority, uh 62% and 31% respectively between water and sewer.

Um this city council in 2022 or early 2023, they actually voted for a 24.4% increase that would last from 2023 to 2025.

We are now feeling the effects of those that vote to approve that.

So over the six-year period of time from 2023 to 2029, the SD, the County Water Authority has and is asking this city council to approve over a hundred percent increase in our water rates in just six years.

What does that say about our future and our future costs?

These continuously exorbitant rate heights uh requests are unreasonable and unsustainable, creating further financial burdens for San Diego residents, especially those on fixed.

Thank you for that concluding remark.

If you do have written comments, we can take them and distribute them.

I actually gave all of you a packet that explains it has exhibits included.

Thank you for that concluding remark.

My apologies.

Lamberto Manzo.

After that will be Mike Lynch, Bar Barreras, Andres Alva Cárdenas, Dana Givitt, Courtney Brown, and Doris Yan Wynne.

Please proceed.

Good afternoon, gentlemen and woman.

I'm uh I'm just gonna let you.

What should I say?

I'm just here to let you know that uh sorry.

Oh uh I live on fixed income.

And uh when you had fixed income, you had no place to adjust whatever you're spending.

All the courses now are getting higher and higher and higher.

And I feel scared.

One day I'd be just a homeless person.

Not that the water, but electric bill, anything, gas.

So I just I'm scared.

That's all I can say.

Thank you for your time.

Mike Lynch.

How are you guys?

I miss you.

Uh I'm just here to make you aware Israel takes salt water and makes it for a dollar and a half, uh, 102 week feet into fresh water.

Your pure water claims that they can do it for 620 dollars.

Uh the Colorado River Authority sells you water for 700 uh an acre foot, which is uh a dollar and a half, 100 two week feet.

You you guys don't I haven't seen you pay over a dollar and a half for water.

You have one of the highest profit margins in the U.S.

Have you thought about having an IPO and selling stock in it?

You can do better than that.

You know, I I heard somebody mention that Colorado River water, but there's people who are just I have thank you.

Thank you.

Bob Barreras.

Bob Barreras, you also have time seated to you by Avelino Sandoval.

Avelina, if you can please raise your hand.

Which thank you so much.

You'll have two minutes.

Did you have slides that you want to present it?

Okay, then please proceed.

Can you hear me?

Good afternoon.

Gas in San Diego is a dollar fifty-six per gallon more than the national average.

Electricity is almost double the national average.

And this 63% water rate increase will make water unaffordable for many city residents.

From 2023 to 2025, there were four water rate increases of 27% when compounded.

This proposed 63% water rate increase will add $700 per year to the average water bill.

Water in San Diego is unaffordable, primarily due to the Carlsbad desalination plant and the pure water program, which are multi-billion dollar projects that require significant investment, debt, electricity use, and maintenance to convert sea and toilet water into tap water.

San Diego cannot afford a nine billion dollar pure water program.

Based on my 22 years with the City of San Diego Department of Finance, I recommend the following.

Require city management and PUD to submit a revised plan that lists actionable solutions to mitigate future water rate increases, including an analysis of California cities and counties with lower water rates.

Second, recommendation requires city management to provide an accurate estimate of the total cost of phase one and phase two of the pure water program.

The FY2024 ACFER show city residents per capital personal income was about $68,000.

So most city residents cannot afford another increase.

By comparison, 2024 council member time.

So most of us can't afford your time has concluded.

Thank you for that concluding comment.

Andres Alva Cárdenas.

You have time ceded to you by Tim Douglas.

Thank you so much.

You'll have two minutes, please proceed.

Good afternoon.

Andres Alva Cardinal, Senior Representative ASLOCO 127 speaking in support of the recommendations of PUD staff to increase water and wastewater rates to cover operational and capital costs.

Among others, our members work as heavy truck drivers, equipment operators, water systems technicians, water distribution operators, wastewater plant operators, and pure water plant operators.

In these classifications, our members perform essential public health functions.

Some of these functions include spreading gravel and materials on roads, excavating trenches, and installing, repairing, and replacing water mains.

Other functions include monitoring the flow of water throughout plants, regulating both raw and treated wastewater, and operating the equipment used for wastewater treatment processes.

Notably, these proposed adjustments are restricted.

These adjustments cannot exceed the funds required to provide water services, and these adjustments cannot be used for any other purpose other than the water services provided.

And if these adjustments ensure PUD can keep pace with rising costs of energy, chemicals, and regulatory compliance while also investing in infrastructure.

But without these adjustments, PD risks, deferred maintenance, and system failures, eventually costing taxpayers more.

Moreover, these broader there are broader fiscal considerations.

Although PUD is an enterprise system, it currently contributes approximately 38 million dollars annually to the general fund.

If the proposed adjustments do not go through, PD would need to reduce its general fund contribution by about 25%.

Accordingly, these adjustments secure funding for PD by supporting its workforce to deliver these essential public health services to San Diegans.

For these reasons or more, ASEAN Local 127 supports these recommendations of PD staff, even if amended by this council.

Thank you.

Dana Givitt.

After Dana Givitt, we have Courtney Brown, Doris Yan Wynn, Carol Webb, Mike Fred Tali, and Kayla Sims, if you can all please come up to the yellow reserve seats.

Please proceed.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Someone needs to focus on the big picture and those with limited funds.

$33 to 44 a month for trash, increasing annually.

A new fixed $24 a month SDGE charge, double to eight times increases in metered parking.

New parking fees for Balboa Park, maybe the beaches.

San Diego already had the highest inflation in the country before these increases.

At this point, it might be reasonable to consider renaming the select committee on addressing the cost of living to the select committee on increasing the cost of living.

These increasing costs are pushing people over the edge into homelessness.

Please do what you can to modify these increases.

Thank you.

Courtney Brown.

If you all when you call your name, can please come up to the yellow reserve seats.

That'll be very helpful.

Please proceed.

Good afternoon.

My name is Courtney Brown, and I'm a staff attorney at San Diego Coast Keeper.

CoastKeeper's mission is to ensure swimmable, drinkable, and fishable waters for all San Diegans and ensuring that we have a sustainable, affordable water supply is paramount.

CoastKeeper is also a party to the 2014 cooperative agreement that laid the foundation for pure water San Diego in exchange for allowing the Point Loma wastewater treatment plant to continue operating with only primary treatment of the city's sewage.

People are upset and confused and mad, and I frankly don't blame anyone.

But unfortunately, your predecessors decided to avoid addressing these rate increases in the past, leaving you in this difficult position.

But the fact remains that these are the lowest rates possible to allow PUD to continue providing essential services to San Diegans.

Thank you.

If you do have additional comments, you can email them in to City Clerk at Sandiego.gov and we can distribute them as well.

Thank you.

Doris.

Council members, thank you for taking the time to listen.

My name is Doris Nguyen.

I am a supporter of the Western Service Workers Association and a La Jolla resident.

You are being asked to raise water rates by 62%.

Please find another way.

Raising rates to these amounts will cause severe financial hardship for low-income and working families, potentially forcing them to choose between water and food or medicines or and other necessities.

Water is a human right.

There are other options to raising water rates.

Our current systems are already adding financial pressures on the working class.

Adding additional pressure is unconscionable.

Take the time to figure out what is best for Sandioga families rather than choosing the expedient solution.

Please find another way.

I know you want to do the right thing.

If you make the right decision, we will support you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Carol Webb.

The microphone.

Thank you.

Um I'm really struggling with this.

Um 62% is very steep.

And it's hard for somebody like me.

I can't work.

I'm on life support.

And then I have to deal with medical insurance when there's a cap for Medi-Cal and I need in-home support services to help me.

So um gosh, this is so hard.

I don't know what you guys want me to do.

I'm I'm trying my hardest, and uh like how can I make more money?

And then still afford to pay your fees and pay your salaries and all that, and I'm just I'm struggling.

I don't know where you expect me to make money when Medi-Cal has a cap.

So it's not just people who can work and they're working and working.

MediCal has a cap, and that's something I don't want you all to consider.

It's really hard.

And then there's another point.

Thank you.

Thank you for those comments.

Mike.

Uh, thank you very much for your time.

I'm asking that the council vote to support the rate increases and to do so unanimously to acknowledge some degree of responsibility.

The money has been spent, and now the bill is due.

Failing to increase rates will force the city to cut back on the maintenance of water and sewer infrastructure.

Given the condition of the Lake Hodges Dam and the construction of a pressurized sewer pipe through the Claremont and University neighborhoods, this would be very costly in the long run.

Current city officials are not solely responsible for the rate increases.

There's plenty of blame to go around from the city to the federal level, uh federal level.

But the city has done its part by increasing the costs of the public utilities department in particular and the city in general.

The public utilities department is separate from the general fund, but at the end of the day, all city expenses are paid for by your constituents.

The costs will be paid for either from higher sales taxes, higher water rates, or trash collection fees.

Unless reforms are made, San Diego residents will pay more money for less services.

If you're concerned with the financial well-being of your constituents, please take immediate action to reduce city expenditure.

Some level of rate increase is required, but rates hikes can be minimized.

Thank you for that concluding comment.

Michaela Sims.

You have time ceded to you by Rosalva.

Rosalba, if you can please raise your hand.

Good afternoon, Council members.

I am reading this statement on behalf of Gillian Burke.

I am here today to strongly oppose the 62% increase in water rates.

I'm an analyst at a local biotech company, and like many of us, I benefit from investments in this city in the availability of local labor to sustain these businesses.

The city has failed to address the rapidly increasing cost of basic necessities, pushing out vital labor and discouraging continued investment in the city.

But it isn't just about bills, it's about fairness.

The corporations with offices in our city will raise their prices.

Large property owners will raise their rents.

So it is only individual homeowners, renters, and small business owners who will have no way to pass this cost on to someone else less fortunate.

This rate increase is a tax on the poor and the working class of this city.

At past hearings, the city council has said they can stop a rate in or can't stop a rate increase or lower the rates because of Prop 218, which prohibits selective subsidization, i.e., using bills from some ratepayers to subsidize others.

But the workers' benefit council is not saying to subsidize rates for one grouping of workers at the expense of another, but rather to end corporate tax breaks and water subsidies for Fortune 500s, thereby freeing up money to reject this rate hike and have truly affordable water in San Diego.

I back the demands of the workers' benefit council and strongly urge you to reject this rate hike to prioritize both the hardworking residents of this city, but also the long-term health of our citizens and our economy.

Thanks.

Thank you, Margaret.

Margaret Barry.

Got a following individuals, please come up to the yellow reserve streets.

Margaret Barry, Douglas Kay, Greg Montoya, Terry Altorelli, Nick uh Nika Morozova, and we Tran.

If you can all please come up to the yellow reserve seats, starting with Margaret.

Is there a Margaret Barry?

Oh, okay.

And then you have time seated to you by Ken Hoaxy.

If you could please raise your hand.

Great.

You'll have two minutes.

Proceed whenever you're ready.

Whichever one of you is Margaret.

You can come up to the microphone.

Good afternoon.

My name is Margaret Barry.

And I was very shocked to learn about how families who were adversely affected by the floods in 2024 were charged for water usage in homes that were destroyed or damaged so badly, they were no longer inhabitable.

I am now alarmed that the public utilities department is proposing a 62.5% water increase over the next four years.

My bill for the last two months for two adults and one chill one child is 200 is 515 dollars.

It is scary to think that my bi-monthly bill could increase up to $834.

That means by 2029, the amount I'd have to spend per year on water is about $5,000.

I am a landlady, and I have a source of income that could possibly accommodate this increase.

However, it's likely I would have to increase the rent of my tenant.

There are low-income workers who would negatively be affected by this increase.

I think we're looking at a lot of homeless people here based on this.

Thank you for that concluding comment.

Douglas Kaye.

You have time seated to you by Aaron Edkins.

Aaron, if you can please raise your hand.

Thank you.

If you'll have two minutes, please proceed.

Distinguished members of the council.

My name is Doug Kaye, and I come here in solidarity with the demands of the San Diego Workers' Benefit Council.

San Diego has a wonderful climate.

It's a beautiful place to live.

Unfortunately, not all of us share the same quality of life.

According to a study by the San Diego Foundation, 335,000 people, 86,000, which are children, live below the poverty line.

Who are they?

They're some of your neighbors.

They include seniors, veterans on fixed incomes, individuals with disabilities, children, students, and the working poor.

When you add to their budget the cost of housing, food, medical expenses, education, transportation, their financial finances really are stretched with many of them living month to month.

You really can't live without water.

The water district already passed a 5.5 rate increase on May 1st.

Now this rate is going to be increased by 62.5% for water and sewer cost is simply not acceptable.

In addition, a small business like El S Carrito, a restaurant in Berriolung Logan, where the owner of Louis Santana explained that they use water for everything, which all and already has a monthly bill of $750, would see the rate increase by $50 with a 5.5 increase to $800.

He would really be impacted by a 62% rise in the price for water.

According to the public utilities department, the combined rate increase would cost the single homeowners $180 a month when fully implicated.

I call on the city council members to make the decision based on the needs of city.

Is that concluding remark?

Greg Montoya.

You have time ceded to you by Harold Roberts.

Harold, please raise your hand.

Thank you.

You'll have two minutes.

Good afternoon.

My name is Greg Montoya.

I am a delegate of the San Diego Workers' Benefit Council.

I am a victim of the January 22-24 floods.

We demand that you do not load on even more water debt to the flood victims by raising your rates.

Many of us cannot even live in our homes, yet are still being charged $207 a month as a base rate.

Last year, the City of San Diego announced its partnership with local government for sustainability USA, the largest global network of over 2,500 local and regional governments dedicated to addressing environmental challenges.

The city announced their focus on five of the sustainable development goals, including sustainable cities and counties.

The rainy season is starting, and the city is still not maintained the storm drains.

Well, flood victims yet to re to receive compensation for their damages.

I am calling upon each of you to stand true to your city's commitment to sustainable cities and communities.

You need to find the money without raising rates.

Reject the rate increase.

Charge no more than 3% of one's income per water per the UN guidelines.

Raise any needed funds by ending corporate tax breaks for the Fortune 500ths in San Diego, like Qualcomm and Setrum Energy, or demand it from the state.

Don't forget there are still flood victims.

There are still houses in that neighborhood that are completely destroyed, not having and they're still being built $207 a month.

How is that?

Can any of you explain why you're still building for abandoned houses?

Which was caused by city neglect.

Next is Terry, if you can please come forward.

You have time ceded to you by Ketler.

If you can please raise your hand.

Oh, Kathleen.

Oh, my apologies.

Uh Kathleen, can you please raise your hand?

Thank you so much.

You'll have two minutes.

Hi, my name is Terry Alterelli, and I'm a resident of San Diego and a delegate of the San Diego Workers' Benefit Council.

Our council finds that your proposed 62% rate increase over the next four years is unsustainable for working, retired, and unemployed people of San Diego.

This is the third rate increase in San Diego's this year, and the city's second rate increase proposal.

The sustainable development goals of the United Nations were unanimously adopted by 193 member states, including the goal of number six, which ensures clean water and sanitation for all.

US City Council members know about the SDGs because last year your council agreed to track their implementation in San Diego.

AB 685 states every human being has the right to stay safe, clean, affordable, and accessible water.

There are more solutions than there are problems, and you can find a way to make this happen.

You are responsible to do so.

The water authority states value emphasizing reliability, sustainability, equity, and transparency, and the city council members need to enforce this.

This rate increase is not sustainable for working people of San Diego, and our council calls upon you to one reject the rate increase.

Two, do not charge more than three percent of a person's income for water per UN guidelines, which defines affordable water as no more than three percent of a person's income.

And three, raise any needed funds by ending corporate tax breaks for Fortune 500, like Qualcomm and Sun for Energy, or get it from the state, which they have plenty of money.

If they do not give huge tax breaks to wealthy corporations, thank you.

Nika Nika, you have time ceded to you by Ricardo Rivas.

Can you please raise your hand?

Thank you.

And Jose Justo.

Thank you so much.

You'll have three minutes, please proceed.

Hello, my name is Nika Mrozova.

I'm a political science major and a student of San Diego State University.

I have seen and been an advocate for many low-income families that get their electricity shut off and are thousands of dollars behind on their water bills because they cannot afford the rates that they're already paying, not even thinking about the 62% rate hike.

Many families have to choose between paying for rent, electricity, or water, and as we all know, the rising costs of living in San Diego have it have had a devastating impact on our community.

However, these cost increases are encouraging huge organizations to place a financial interest in utility companies since there's a huge return on investment there.

According to the 2025 quarterly report of the Black Rock California Municipal Income Trust, based on their net assets, they've invested the following 1,500 into the San Diego County Water Authority into the last quarter, and 30,000 into the Sacramento Municipal Utility District.

BlackRock has also invested in other utility or energy organizations in San Mateo, San Jose, Central Valley, and many more cities, bringing their total net worth to 77 million dollars just for investment in utilities.

BlackRock has invested many more millions into school district elections, health facilities, university finance authorities, infrastructure, medical centers, and more.

And they do this because they know that they will get a good return on their investment.

They know that year after year, cities and states allow more and more rate increases and take out more loans and debt with more interest from big finance and uh at the expense of their constituents.

Why is the council more concerned with raising rates to pay off this interest than they are in finding sustainable solutions to bringing everyone in San Diego truly affordable water?

At the January hearing, this body told us to go to the San Diego County Water Authority.

We did, and the county told us to go back to you and write to our state representatives.

We need you to back the demands of the workers' benefit council, including to reject this increase and raise any of the needed funds to correct past errors made by ending corporate tax breaks for Fortune 500s.

If you have the if you do not have the authority to do this, you can assist us in going to the county or the state.

Join us, the people of San Diego, to fight for these demands.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Welcome to Big Voices, LaBuboo.

I'm trying to make this a little bit more fun.

Um my name is Jean Wee, and uh I am executive director for Big Voices.

I represent the Vietnamese community, low-income working class in the uh area like City Heights.

Um I'm here to support this very hesitantly because I know from my previous work of the city budget advocacy is that the city does not have money, and a lot of time the resources in my community will be cut.

It most effective deferred thing to go in my community because the last four years we had come out here and advocating for dope equity to restore.

But I'm also want to point direction to the person that who created a budget, right?

Which is the mayor.

We I've never seen in the headline the mayor create a budget is cut on the equities.

So we're gonna take all the money to revel like to give to the council, do the city to ensure the service to restore.

Can we also make sure that those services will not be cut?

Thank you for that concluding for my community and the working class.

Cynthia Aguirre.

If I can have the following individuals, please come forward.

Cynthia Garrett can come to the microphone.

Bonnie Bruno, Melody B.

Navarro, Will Harris, Esmeralda Juste, Jackson Cox, John Bradley, Brady, my apologies, and Nicole Lilly, if you can all please come forward to the yellow reserve seats.

Please proceed.

Good afternoon.

I'm speaking on behalf of Peter Hall.

I'm a resident of San Diego and have been working as registered nurse in the city for over 20 years.

A very high percent of the patients that I see in both my professional practice and in my volunteer work are in the lower socioeconomic segment of our local population.

It is for the sake of these people and the thousands like them that I protest any increase in the rates for water.

Water is essential for life.

It's required for all functions of the body.

It's needed to prepare food, and it's indispensable for purposes of hygiene.

Accessing basic amount of water is not a discretionary purchase decision.

And to commodify its use is to show a reprehensible and sensitivity and uh in uh sensitivity to humanity.

The sixth sustainable development goal of the United Nations is to ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.

With all the struggles that people are facing already, we can't add water and security to the list.

It's simply inhumane.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next is that was Bonnie.

Bonnie Bruno.

Yes, to the city council.

My name is Bonnie Bruno.

I'm a retired widowed woman in Social Security.

Social Security goes up every year, but it's still very little money to live on.

And everything else goes up more.

I'm a homeowner, thank God.

I'm here to represent the poor and the retired of this city.

The water rates are already outrageous, and a 62.5 rate increase is uncalled for.

And have gone on.

I can go on and on, but we know as poor people ourselves that we are often not considered in the decisions that affect our lives at all.

The rich are getting richer and the poor more and more poor.

We have become a third world country.

But we know there is money, there is a way to keep this.

Thank you from happening.

Melody.

Hello, members of the city council.

My name is Melody Navarro.

I study neuroscience and am pursuing nursing.

I am a native of San Diego, born at the Balboa Naval Medical Center.

Thus, I've seen the city grow over the past couple of decades, and would like to proudly state that I am honored to live here.

I dream of raising a family of my own here someday.

And so I am here to speak against the proposed water rate increase.

Policies that raise the cost of living ruin our city's foundation at the core, which is the ability for hard working people to afford basic living necessities.

There is no perfect place, but I can confidently say that wherever I've traveled, I admit some aspect of home here, whether it is our friendly communities, a diverse food or culture, lovely weather, and nature reserves.

However, reckoned as America's finest city, it would be impertinent to not acknowledge that ultimately it is the diligent individuals that live and work here that make San Diego so outstanding, not just simply our striking city skyline.

Policies like a 62% rate increase would drive out the very essential residents and keep our city running.

Will Harris Hello.

I am a resident of San Diego County, and I am responsible for my utilities and expenses.

I'm currently opposed to an increase in the water rates because it would be detrimental to my household economically.

I have already endured two rate increases this year.

The rising costs of living coupled with the uncertainty of our county and our country's future has caused tremendous stress.

For these reasons, I back the demands of the workers' benefit council, especially in not raising our rates for the third time this year.

Please consider Sandiegans incapability to afford these changes.

Enough is enough.

Thank you.

Is Meralda Juste?

Is Meralda Hussein after that will be Jackson Cock uh Jackson Cox, Nicole Lilly, Robert W.

Will Rodriguez Kennedy, Billy Johnson, and then Rachel Hayes.

Please proceed.

Hello, I am reading the statement on behalf of Alejandra Trujillo, a house cleaner in San Diego.

This proposed 62% water rate increases.

Increase goes through the prices will mean we will have to stop bathing, washing the dishes, and doing the laundry.

This rate increase is being discussed while Fortune 500 corporations in San Diego like Qualcomm and Sampra Energy receive massive corporate tax breaks for their water rates.

This rate increases this rate increase would be cruel and severe.

Therefore, I back the demands of the W BC and ask that you charge no more than three percent of one person's income for water as per the United States Nations guidelines that they find affordable water rates as no more than three percent of a person's income.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Is Miranda?

Hi, good afternoon.

I'm Jackson Cox.

I'm here representing a community nonprofit led by students called the Oak Park Youth Corps.

Now, we reached out to our community, and over 90% of the people we spoke to filled out the protest forms that we provided for these rate hikes.

We can't afford these rates, and I know the city can't either.

With the Colorado River drying up, it's it's getting more expensive.

But I urge you to not take the easy route and to take the hard path of trimming the government, making it more efficient.

There are ways that we can cover these rising costs without passing them on to San Diegans.

For example, we're spending two million dollars on providing city employees with boots.

I'm sure that's not the only place where the city is overpaying for its services.

Now, I trust you guys to make the right decision.

I know my council member, Henry Foster.

I've worked at his trash cleanups, and the rest of my volunteers have too.

We have a good relationship with our council member, and the community supports them.

But if you guys go ahead with these rates and you pass them, that relationship, your relationships with your districts are going to suffer.

Nobody wins.

Thank you for that concluding comment, Nicole.

Nicole Lilly.

After that will be Robert W., Will Rodriguez Kennedy, Billy Johnson, Rachel Hayes, and Robert Leckvin.

Please proceed.

Hello, my name is Nicole Lilly.

I am a young renter and young working person in San Diego.

I am already struggling with the increases that exist.

And further increases in my water bill would be a struggle for my budget.

And I have the honor of working every single day with San Diego's communities and looking at the devastating impacts of all of the cuts that our city, our county, our state, and our entire country are facing.

And I know the consequences of further cuts to other areas of the budget and other essential services like parks, libraries, schools, stormwater services.

And so I very frustrated to support a proposed increase.

But I think that there's a lot of work to be done.

I agree with a lot of the people who are opposed to these increases in that there is more work to be done to create actually equitable uh increases in city services and for the wealthy to finally pay their fair share.

But uh I encourage further action, both from the council and from the people.

Thank you for the including Robert.

Yeah, I had sent a letter with uh an attachment uh in advance four slides.

Can you put up slide number one?

Thank you.

So please look have a look at this on uh slide number one for a while while I'm talking.

Um, and I want to tell the council that I'm praying for you to be righteous in your uh representation of the city.

But I have a simple question.

How are these rates being calculated four years into the future?

I asked the PUD, they wouldn't give me an answer, they referred me to my council member.

Uh I did not get an answer from um my council member.

There's no real explanation how those rates are being calculated.

If you look on slide number two, you will see that these rates are actually you know include the commodity costs, which we understand is a pass through from CWA.

Okay, that's a fixed amount, right?

It's going up because of what CWA is charging, but why are the fixed charges, the metered uh meter service and wastewater fixed service charges.

Why are they going up in proportion?

That is not based on anything that's based on reality.

That's based off of some random ex uh some calculation that's not based in reality.

Um you submitted is also being distributed.

Will Rodriguez Kennedy Good afternoon, Council members?

My name is Will Rodriguez Kennedy.

Um I will say that I am the chair of the Democratic Party, but my position is not an official position of the party, and it doesn't represent my boss or any other organization.

Um I we have a problem, and there is a trust deficit in this city.

The single most important issue everywhere, everywhere, in the whether whether it's Maine to San Diego, is the cost of living.

It's the reason that the presidential mugshot that stares down at you at a federal building is orange.

It's why we lost so many elections.

It's why we don't have a congressional majority.

And rent, gas, parking, electricity, it water rates now, it's just too much.

What's worse, today, tonight in the Capitol, about they're they're they're talking about shutting down the government, which means that 369,000 people in this region will be without a paycheck.

The contrast of having that happen in in DC and then jacking up the water rates at 8 to 62% is unsustainable.

We cannot do it.

Thank you.

Push it back, do more work and get the number down.

Billy Johnson.

Good afternoon.

Billy Johnson from uh Fourth District in Canto.

I'm here as a concerned citizen to find out just to hear the information given today, and also maybe to uh hope to hear that maybe the investment the city has made in pure water will make these uh increases temporary, and also I'm gonna plan and see that maybe um desalization may be another option.

We have uh uh shuttered uh nuclear power plant with that with outfall, that maybe that may be a way to also um relieve the water increase.

Thank you for consideration.

Thank you, Rachel Hayes.

Rachel Hayes with Lived Experience Advisors.

I just came from the board of the Board of Supervisors.

Um excuse me.

I had no idea that this is what you guys were talking about today.

None.

I'm absolutely shocked that you want to charge the people that amount of money for water.

Water should be free.

Water should be free.

You shouldn't have to pay for water.

It's bad enough.

I live in San Diego Cedro and my water comes out of my shower and it smells like dirt because it's gray water.

It's bad enough that I can't even drink my water and I have to buy bottled water from the laundromat.

Thank God it's got a six-process osmosis water.

Thank you for that concluding.

Thank you.

Robert Lechvin.

Robert is our final speaker here in council chambers.

After that, we will go to virtual, and no public testimony will be taken here in council chambers once we go virtual.

Please proceed.

Yes, hi.

Um I'm a resident of San Diego.

I'm here to talk a little just briefly about senior citizens of which I am one.

Uh, luckily, we have a house in San Diego, but we're on Social Security for the most part, retired, and my current bill that I got a couple of days ago is 420.

Okay.

Now, how you know why not make it $800?

I mean, you know, if you're gonna go to 400, make it 800.

Why not make it $8,000?

I mean what I want to impress upon you is that here's your job description.

Affordable water for San Diego residents.

That's your job description.

Now, three rate hikes in one year.

Are you doing your job?

Can you look in the mirror and tell yourself I'm a good person, I'm really doing my job.

No, you can't.

You're going along with the corporate shill.

Let me give you a very what you could do.

Your time has concluded.

Sir, your time has concluded.

If you have additional comments, you can write them down and we can distribute as well.

We are starting the five-minute timer here in council chambers going to those participating remotely.

We currently have six individuals with their hands raised, starting with 2899, then Deanne, then Andrea.

If you can please unmute, you'll have one minute.

Please proceed.

Phone number ending in 2899.

You have to press star nine, star six.

If you can't unmute, I can't unmute for you.

I will have to move on to the next caller.

Deanne, if you can please unmute you are unmuted, but we do not hear you here in council chambers.

I'm not sure if the device that you're speaking into may be muted as well.

We've checked everything on our side.

We've checked everything on our side.

We will have to move on to the next speaker.

Andrea Ebbing, if you can please unmute.

Hi, my name is Andrea Ebbing.

And I just uh I definitely am opposed to rate increases for water and wanted to point out that there's a direct correlation between these monstrosity uh projects that are being pushed through mysteriously and the water use.

The amount of water that goes into these um developments that are outrageously inappropriate, uh outrageously large and well funded.

Um requiring a whole lot of water that we should not have to pay for.

Um and it comes down to an issue of now the community has been um against these decisions for these massive build outs, and now we have to pay for the water.

Doesn't really make sense.

Um I do want to make suggestion that we move away from cast in place concrete and look at holocore pre-cast solutions to prevent additional unneeded water use.

Thank you.

Thank you, Blair Beekman.

If you can please unmute Blair Meekman, sorry, if you can please unmute, thank you.

Yeah, all right.

Uh the unmute button came on.

Hi, uh Blair Beekman.

Boy, good luck with this item.

Um, it's my understanding, it's been here before that these initial 60% charges can be brought down a bit more to like 40%, and then we haggle between 40 and 25 percent uh for the future in four years.

Um, it's those numbers that I hope city council can really really work to bring down.

I'm really trusting that you want to bring these things down.

It's just a matter that we work together to really do that and make it those uh increases as little as possible.

And to note uh subsidy issues that are not allowed for our water issues, and that were actually fought for in closed session items recently to make sure that um we don't have subsidy for water issues.

I hope they're listening to this meeting today and how important subsidy is for the future of water issues.

I think we we have to work on ways to to better uh allow that and understand that process for our water and the accumulation of a ton of rates that I know council is trying to work on.

My apologies, Stephen Cordova, if you can please unmute.

Okay, up there.

All right, can you hear me?

Yes, please proceed.

Okay.

Uh thank you for listening to me.

I'm from District 9.

We all know the city and its citizens like have to pay our bills.

We want to be fair.

I think we're all tired of moaning about bails and hearing about the city won't cover us.

And we accept the wholesale water costs are rising.

The county waters authorities own adopted rate shows about 8.3% increase next year, and we're willing to cover some of that, but the proposal nearly doubles that almost 15% next year and 63% over four years, which you've heard over.

That's not a pass-through, that's a markup.

So that's where the leadership has to step in, not to rubber stamp markups, but to protect the public from them and some responsible decisions.

I hope that they can tie increases directly to wholesale cost, cap local add-ons to may say 3%, and require annual review review before going higher.

That makes this a little more sustainable for everybody.

That's what responsible citizens and leaders do together.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next is Rob.

If you can please unmute.

Rob Clapra.

Yeah, thank you.

Hi Council, thank you for hearing all the comments today.

I think we've seen an overarching theme here.

Um just keeps on going up in our city, and um, I think all the people that bothered to come down to council chambers and show up today and voice your concerns.

And I just would urge the council to go back and take a hard look at all the expenses and everything that's going on and really try to figure out how we can be more sustainable as a city because these cost increases are basically gonna push everybody out of San Diego except for those that are earning 200,000 a year or more.

And then who's going to be able to do anything else for us?

Who's going to serve our food at the restaurants?

Who's gonna wash the dishes, who's gonna sweep the streets, you know.

There's just you the people can't take this anymore, and there's no affordable housing.

All these houses that the mayor just touted on the news yesterday, they're all $4,000 a month.

That's not sustainable.

And it's a lie to the people.gov.

Please proceed.

Uh can you hear me?

Yes, please proceed.

The Shakespeare said this.

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

And of course, I'll say this.

Something is rotten in the situation of these proposed increased water rates.

It has also been said, nothing new under the sun.

What has been will be again.

What has been done will be done again.

End of quote.

After 18 years of doing this work, I know this to be true.

Dear public, here's what I suggest.

Keep speaking.

Keep being resilient.

Use awareness, acceptance, adaptation, and action.

I listen to you, I hear you, I love all of you.

Just keep doing life.

Love to you.

Thanks again.

Thank you.

That does conclude public comment on today's item three.

All right.

Thank you to City Clerk, and thank you to everybody that uh spoke this afternoon.

Before ask a little bit of patience before the city council actually starts deliberating on the water rates.

There is another matter that we have to take care of.

So let me jump right into it.

Consistent with government code 5375 9.1.

The city has adopted procedures related to the exhaustion of administrative remedies.

As provided in the notice of public hearing, these procedures gave interested parties the opportunity to submit written legal objections that explain why they believe the proposed rates do not comply with Proposition 218.

All written legal objections received by the city by the deadline have been reviewed and considered along with the city's responses.

All of which are included in the agenda materials.

State law further requires that the council determine whether the legal objections themselves warrant reducing the rates, clarifying the rates, or for the review.

If not, the council may vote to proceed with the protest hearing to be clear.

Oh, excuse me.

If not, the council may vote to proceed with the protest hearing.

To be clear, this is not a vote to approve the rates.

This is solely a procedural vote to proceed with the hearing and tabulate the protests.

A vote on the proposed rates can only occur if the tabulated protests do not reach a majority.

So with that, I will make a motion finding that the legal objections, not the public's objections, but the legal objections do not warrant reducing the rates, clarifying the rates or for the review.

And therefore, we may proceed with the hearing that you all came in to talk about.

Can I get a second for that?

Council President, um, just to make sure everyone's clear.

This vote will not determine whether or not there is a rate increase, correct?

That is correct.

It just will allow us to open up the hearing for the council to weigh in.

I will second your motion to open the conversation.

Thank you, sir.

Um, I'm assuming the uh folks on the lights are actually when we open the the hearing and deliberations.

So we have a motion by myself, a second by councilmember Ila Rivera, making a finding that the legal objections, the legal objections, not the public's objections, but the publical objections do not warrant reducing the rates, clarifying the rates, or further review, and therefore we may proceed with the hearing.

Uh city clerk, please call the vote.

I've started the voting system.

Again, this is just for that section of the item.

If you can please cast your vote that passes 8 to 0 for the objections with council member foster absent.

Thank you, Council President.

Okay, now we can get back to business.

So with that, the public hearing is now closed.

Uh Council President.

No, I think I can't.

Council President.

Yes, I can.

For the record, that will pass unanimously.

Thank you, nobody absent.

Do you need any time?

No, I can proceed.

Okay.

So the tabulation of the protests will be read into the record.

Thank you, Council President.

My office received a total of 5,225 total protests during the 62-day period between July 30th, 2025 and September 30th, 2025.

This figure includes the 21 protests received during the public hearing based on information provided by the public utilities department.

130,296 protests would represent 50 percent plus one of affected properties or customers at the time council authorized the mailing of the proposition 218 noticing regarding the proposed rate increase.

The number of protests lodged with my office is manifestly below the threshold of 50 percent plus one.

This concludes my report on the tabulation.

All right, thank you, City Clerk, and thank you to the public for your patience.

Added an extra administrative step when we conduct these hearings.

So we got that out of the way.

Now we'll uh move forward like a regular council meeting, and I will kick off the conversation.

So I want to thank Chris, Juan, Lisa, Alley, and the entire public utilities team.

Thank you, Jordan Moore, and the Office of the Independent Budget Analysts for your thorough review.

I also thank our government affairs team that is pursuing legislation in Sacramento to allow subsidies on water rates for San Diegans on low or fixed income.

We aren't there yet, but we are working on it.

There is never a good time for the rate increase, especially at this moment when affordability is on the minds of many San Diegans, as we heard quite clearly this afternoon.

In the past, this council has closely examined rate increases to water and wastewater, and have asked PUD staff and the County Water Authority to continue to identify and offer greater cost reductions.

It is evident to me that there have been many cost-cutting measures already, and I want to thank PUD staff for identifying those cost savings and sharing for the public's benefit the $360 million in savings that you already undertaken in advance of proposing the rates on today's agenda.

I also want to thank the County Water Authority and our City 10 for continuing to work to reduce their rates and provide updates to this council.

And I want to take a moment to invite County Water Authority Chair of the Board, Nick Serrano, to offer a few brief words.

Thank you, uh Council President and members of the City Council.

Uh Nick Serrano here, Deputy Chief of Staff to the Mayor and also the Chair of the San Diego County Water Authority.

When the mayor appointed me to the water authority, he gave me clear direction.

Fight for affordability, push down rate increases, and challenge the status quo.

And with this council's support, that is what we have done.

Year over year, when double-digit rate increases have been proposed at the county water authority.

I want you to know that the city has been the driving force to fight and lower them.

In fiscal years 24 and 25, projected increases from the Water Authority were 30%.

And the city led the effort to cut that in half.

This year, the initial projection was 18% in just May, and the city achieved consensus working with PUD to reduce that to 8%.

This council also asked me to pursue new solutions and further solutions, like selling off excess water supplies.

And we achieved a landmark settlement with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, opening the door to sell water to other jurisdictions that need it and generating revenue to start stabilizing rates.

And that is my next and utmost priority.

So, Council President, I appreciate the opportunity to share the work that it is happening.

I want to assure this council that working with Councilmember Whitburn and Chief of Staff Molina, we will continue that fight at the County Water Authority.

But most of all, you have my ironclad commitment to keep fighting to bring down water rates, protect the reliability of our system, and execute on the mission that the mayor and this council has sent me to do at the water authority.

Thank you again for the time, Council President.

All right, thank you.

So despite the good efforts that have been done so far, I remain concerned about the impact these rates over four years will have on San Diegans.

I would like a better understanding of how rates in the latter half of these projections might change should the council adopt a shorter term for these increases.

Therefore, I move that we continue this item to the council hearing on Tuesday, October 28th, 2025 at 2 p.m.

Furthermore, I request that PUD provide council greater understanding of the impacts of varying years of rate increases versus the rate schedule shown today, as well as take into account the issues raised by the public today.

So with that, I have a motion for continuance on the floor, and we will go to Council President Pro Tim Lee.

Thank you, Council President.

I want to start by thanking our public utilities department staff for the presentation and their work on this.

It's clear that the staff has put in a tremendous amount of work, and I do greatly appreciate that.

The Council President shared our thanks to Jordan and the Office of the Independent Budget Analyst for their continued analysis of public utilities and the cost of providing water for the city throughout the years.

And for the public who may not understand the dynamics of it, I think it's important to read the reports that the IBA does put out because you do take complex topics such as water rates and make it easier for both this council and the public to understand.

I also want to thank those who've made public comments to express their concerns regarding the proposed water rate increases from a cost operational and even trust perspective.

Let me start by stating that I believe we must invest in our water infrastructure.

But as I sit here right now, I am opposed to this proposed increase to water rates.

And I want to take a moment to tell you why.

As a result, this council has been required to make hard decision after hard decision.

Decisions that, at a time of sky-high costs of living, we must recognize are having a real everyday impact on the people that we serve.

I've chosen to make these hard decisions because I believe that they were the right choices for the future of our city, because they were the necessary choices in order to protect city services that residents depend on us to provide.

Paving streets, supporting public safety, keeping our libraries and parks open.

These are the very same things that we fought to uphold in each budget that this council has passed.

Yet the way that each unpopular proposal is presented and communicated by the city of San Diego, I cannot help but believe that the way that this administration is being led is eroding public trust.

We need better communication, both on the challenges the city faces and the real impacts that those are having on our residents.

It's not that this council hasn't agreed to make hard decisions.

We have.

And I'm committed to doing everything I can in collaboration with my colleagues and the mayor to achieve the change we need.

Until then, I'll be voting no on raising water rates.

Thank you, Council President.

Sorry.

Thank you, Council President Pro Tam Lee.

I'll go next to Councilmember Whitburn.

Thank you.

Look, I talk to lots of San Diegans every day.

They are not having this.

And neither am I.

The rent is too damn high.

The electric bills are too damn high.

Parking rates are too damn high.

Water rates are too damn high already, and they're going up another 62%.

No, absolutely not.

The rates will not go up another 62%.

This is a non-starter.

This is dead on arrival.

Let's go back.

Let's get this number down.

What I want to see is the absolute lowest possible number that protects our workers and our residents.

We can do better.

And I look forward to seeing something better when this comes back.

I'll second the motion to continue the item.

All right.

Thank you, Councilmember Whitburn.

So following Robert's rules of orders, we have a motion for continuance, and that has been seconded by Councilmember Whitburn before continuing further with Council Kalmans.

We will need to take public comment on the continuance.

Clerk, please proceed.

If you'd like to speak on the continuance and only on the matter of the continuance of the item being heard on October 28th, please come up to the microphone, and my staff will give you a speaker slip for you to fill out.

You can please line up in the yellow reserve seats.

You can just come to the microphone, you'll do the speaker slip after, sir.

You'll just go to the microphone and you can do the speaker slip after.

A continuance in this matter is just uh kicking the can down the road.

I just I suggest that the council vote no on this continuance, and there's a there's been plenty of uh opportunity for the uh public utilities uh um department to actually provide you what you were looking for, and so um if you if you don't like it, as I've heard from uh Councilmember Whitburn and Councilmember Lee, I think there's probably consensus here to say they need to go back, sharpen their pencils, and get to work on a real um proposal, and kicking the can down the road on this issue is um is basically giving them an opportunity to to delay that further.

Thank you.

Thank you, Rachel.

You can come up to the microphone.

I support it.

Kicking the can down the road as you put it.

Um because we can do better.

I know you guys can do better, and the people that you work with can do better.

I've seen you guys do better, and I can vouch for that.

You guys have done some amazing things for the public and for the poor and the unhoused and the housed and fair wages.

And the lists can go on and on and on.

And I personally thank you and I respect each and every one of you for stepping up.

And uh yeah, give it a pushback.

Let's see what they do.

Thanks.

William Rodriguez Kennedy, if you can please come forward.

You'll still need to give the speaker slip.

I'm sorry, you'll still give the speaker slip.

Please proceed.

Uh hey everyone, I support the continuance.

I think that's a good idea.

I mean, the reality is we built this city in a place when there's not much water, and obviously it's expensive, and we have to figure out how to get that number down.

We have to pay for the things that we do.

If we don't do it, then we don't have water, or we don't have like resources, or we have to do have water surges, or people have to get laid off.

That's obviously a bad situation.

So kicking it down the can down the road is not the right term here.

What's really the right term is is that we need to have more dialogue between council and staff and and the mayor or whatever uh to get this right.

I think you guys can do it.

You are a group of very talented individuals that I have honored, I've been honored to support.

Um, but we need some more work to do.

So I support the continuance.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next individual can please come up to the microphone.

I don't have your slips yet.

You can proceed and just leave your slip there in the in the box when you're done.

Um, we do not want a continuance on this bill.

We want a no.

We want a flat no to these water rate increases.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Um I would agree.

We do not want a continuance on this matter.

We want to flat out no, like the initial speaker said.

I believe that you can reach consensus and vote no on this issue, and so you should vote no on the water rate hikes.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Just come up to the microphone.

Uh hello.

Yes, I am in agreement with the past two people that went up.

Uh we can't afford a 62% rate increase.

And so for that reason, I would request that the council vote an outright no today in what would be a rare consensus in support of working people to be able to pay their bills in this city.

I suggest a unanimous no.

Next speaker.

I again want to urge for a no now and today.

You have the people here kicking it down the road.

We can't all show up next week.

You're not gonna get this kind of group again.

And I want to believe that you guys don't know that, and that you guys really want to see new information.

But we need to know now.

We need a decision now because the public is only tuned in now, and we can't stay tuned in for another week.

It's not sustainable for us.

Next speaker.

Hi, I'm saying no to the continuance simply because it seems you are in agreement with us that we cannot afford this as a city, as individuals, low-income workers are trying their best now with the rights that they have.

You agree with us that this cannot continue, so do not push this to another month.

Do it now, vote no today.

And I think we have one more speaker here in council chambers.

Well, uh, I'm in favor of uh voting no and um continuing the conversation today.

Thank you.

And ma'am, you can come up to the mic, we'll get your speaker slip after.

I vote for the continuance because this will give this is clearly a very important topic that uh the uh utilities department along with county water authority, they have done a lot of work on this.

This is not something we can just say no uh to give another month to try to negotiate and get these rates down.

I think that would be very helpful, it'd be an amical way to go about this.

I know there are other members of this council sitting here today that also do not support this increase.

Yes, I'd love to hear a vote, but I also understand we can't just cut off the head and and and walk away.

So uh I have a lot of uh confidence that this city council can go back a couple suggestions from 2023 to 2024.

Uh County Water Department payroll, payroll alone went up two million dollars in one year.

There's lots of things we can look into.

I take I understand it needs more time.

I look at uh utility department.

I asked, I just try to research how many people work there between 1600 and 2,000 people.

Your team is a fact that need to be identified and really sorry, I do have to be fair.

Ms.

Barry, if you can please come up, and I think you're our final speaker here in council chambers.

I see no more speakers coming up to the podium, so please proceed.

It's nice to know, Diana.

You recognize me from the first time I came.

Mr.

Lacava, you're my representative, and I want you to vote no.

I want everyone on this council to vote no.

What I'd like you to do is look for other alternatives.

I live in Pacific Beach, a mile and a half from the ocean.

I think I have lived here so many years and heard stories about exploring using the ocean water.

Why doesn't that continue?

Why hasn't that been a successful alternative?

But but having the sizable increase affect so many people, so many low-income people that will not survive this.

That's just an impossible situation.

Thank you for hearing me twice today.

Thank you.

That does conclude public comment on the continuance.

I'm sorry, the five-minute timer going to those participating remotely.

We have four individuals with their hands raised.

8700, if you can please unmute.

And this is just to the continuance for October 28th.

Please proceed.

You are unmuted, but we don't hear you here in Council Chambers.

I'm not sure if the device that you're speaking into may be muted as well.

You've muted now.

If you can unmute star six on your phone.

Nothing's changed on our end.

We will need to move on to the next speaker.

Blair Beekman, if you can please unmute.

Hi, uh Blair Inkman.

Um thank you for the words of Council Personally.

Uh I think I'm in favor of the continuance.

I'm definitely in favor of words of council person lee and uh uh council person whitburn.

Um they want um just to be more addressed by our mayor's administration.

Um we need to be working on these things.

I've been worried that our city council uh at the beginning of September was not going to be focused on working for community.

And we're getting back into the swing of things, and they're they're in their regular form.

And yes, they are, and they're working with community and really addressing the mayor's administration that has a tendency not to.

And um good luck in what we can be talking and working on together and co and and coalescing in the next month uh before the October, uh late October meeting, uh return of this item.

Um, just a thank you to everyone's efforts.

Um really talk about bringing things down, and that's key.

Uh good luck how we can do that uh as much as possible.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next is Francine Maxwell, if you can please unmute.

Good afternoon, Francine Maxwell, Southeastern San Diego resident, support um the continuance with the caveat that there's some community engagement.

Community members have long-standing ideas and hadn't had an opportunity to propose them so long ago with things that are just shifting so fast.

So hopefully, within the before the 28th, you mandate that there's community engagement, that they're coming and combining meetings, two districts together to one meeting, because we can't expect everyone to go everywhere in all nine communities, but you can absolutely combine some community meetings because we love our neighbors, and our community needs to be educated while they're going to be broke.

You need to understand completely why you are going to be broken, not being able to pay for your medicine or food because of SDGE, your trash fee, the cost of living, our sunshine tax.

So again, community engagement is key for this continuance.

I fully support.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next is Andrea Ebbing, if you can please unmute.

My name is Andrea Ebbing, and I want to support the um, I would like to support the continuance, and I do want to recognize the powerful speech by uh Kent Lee.

I really appreciate um the things he said and do believe these are issues that span well beyond water, um just in general.

I mean, come on.

It's just so obvious now.

And I feel as though we should really look at this as a community and as a council, um, in a way as if Todd Gloria weren't an office, because I'm quite sure he's going to be recalled.

So if we can look at how we're gonna solve these issues as if it weren't uh a Todd Gloria in office and what that will look like, that would be good.

I definitely think we should be um pushing this uh water fee onto the major developers and even the um homeless like encampment or uh uh tent city type places for high water usage.

Thank you.

And Stephen Cordova, if you can please unmute.

Uh thank you.

I do want to reiterate how appreciative I was of Kent and Stephen.

They seem to really embrace the fact that we embrace the community and some of our concerns.

I would vote whatever's most expedient a no if we really need to start over or continuance if there's a viable solution on the table that makes more sense and is more affordable, especially around just passing on increases and no markups.

But I think the creativity definitely is needed in the continuance or just starting saying no and starting over.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That does conclude public comment on the continuance of this item.

All right, thank you, City Clerk.

So with that, we have uh I've made a motion on the floor to continue this item to the council hearing on Tuesday, October 28th, 2025 at 2 p.m.

And it was seconded by Councilmember Whitburn.

Uh so we'll return to our regularly scheduled process and go to Councilmember Ilo Rivera.

All right, thank you, Council President.

Um I want to say thank you to the folks who are here today.

Um I remember your testimony earlier this year.

Um I think your engagement is unique in when I think about the conversations we usually have at council.

I I think that overwhelmingly what I heard were comments that were made in good faith about a desire to maintain affordability for yourselves and for your for your neighbors.

And I I appreciate that.

I also want all of us to recognize how challenging of a situation this is.

Um I heard from multiple folks a willingness to to try to find other ways to pay for what needs to be paid for, and I appreciate that, because there is a reality which has been recognized, I think a few times by my colleagues, and I'm going to as well, that the system does cost money to run, and our water system is not one that we want to shortchange.

I heard from multiple folks a willingness to try to find other ways to pay for what needs to be paid for, and I appreciate that, because there is a reality which has been recognized, I think a few times by my colleagues, and I'm going to as well, that the system does cost money to run, and our water system is not one that we want to shortchange.

It is essential that it be safe, that our uh the water is of of good quality.

Um to that end, I want to make one request though, that we do not make the conversation here today about rates, a choice between city workers and everyday people.

City workers are everyday people who provide essential services that we depend on.

So whether it's their boots or their pay, if they don't have what they need to do their jobs, we won't have what we need to live our lives.

That part's really important because so often, especially in this city, voters have been told, residents have been told that the reason why you can't have the thing that you want or need is because of city workers.

And it that is a lie, and we have to stop giving that lie energy.

I I want to uh ask some questions about some of the the ideas that were raised because I think they were fair ones, but I I also know that we're we're we're we're very boxed in from a policy perspective because of state law on this issue.

I would could not be more supportive in concept of the idea of a three percent income limit on someone's water bills.

Um whether staff, city attorney, or we'll actually start with Jordan with the independent budget analysts.

Uh could you speak to the legal issues with attempting something like that as you understand them?

I will leave a better explanation up to attorneys, but my understanding from a policy perspective is proposition 218 requires through a cost of service study that you apportion the cost of service to people in proportion to the service that they're being provided and does not allow for subsidation of some repayers at the expense of others.

That is my basic policy understanding.

I don't know if legally you want to say something different.

I would ask Chief Deputy City Attorney Melissa Ables if she has anything to add to that.

No, Jordan said it exactly right.

That is the law.

So as you understand it, it would not be legal for the city to base bills on people's income level.

Correct.

Per state law.

Correct.

Understood.

That's frustrating to me.

It it's it's probably even more frustrating to the folks out here who are advocating.

That's the way it should be.

That is absolutely the way it should be.

Um I I think that anti-tax proponents, the extreme conservatives from decades past, sold a false bill of goods to everyday working people.

They told Californians that they were going to help keep rates low by putting rules like this in place.

And it was just the opposite.

What they actually uh forbid us from doing is charging those with the most their fair share for what they are taking from all of us.

And so I I needed to point that part out because I want you to understand that I agree, I agree with the idea.

I want to explain why it's not something that we can put into place today.

Um there was a another another uh question I I wanted to ask.

Um, but I'm gonna get to the the continuance um specifically.

I I I support I support this and I support it for a few reasons.

I understand why folks would want to reject that out of hand and just say no.

Jordan, turning to you.

If we were to be rejected out of hand, what would be your recommendation to the city as to how to to weather the impacts of that decision at this point it's not a recommendation?

We are already in fiscal year 2026 is through this fiscal year that the rate impact will be felt.

Water purchases cost at this point are basically fixed, debt services basically fixed.

It would fall upon the public utilities department to come up with enough operating savings in the current fiscal year to avoid additional financial ramifications of having that of not having that additional revenue.

Understood.

And if if the public utilities department were not able to do it, then what?

I mean, what the analysis basically shows is we're talking defaulting on our debt.

Okay, thank you.

So the options are not great in front of us today if we reject this out of hand.

And I agree with everyone who said we need to continue to look for options.

So, Jordan, the one there was a very specific phrase you used in in the report, and I don't I don't want to um wordsmith too much, but it was that every lever has been pulled, and I I took that as meaning that every lever has been pulled that's in front of PUD today.

The one thing that I am not fully satisfied about is whether or not we've pursued every single non-rate revenue opportunity available.

And I know that that takes time.

But uh what I what I would like to see between now and when we come back, and I understand that the full analysis won't be done.

Council President, I'll need the three additional minutes if I may.

Um, is an analysis of the initial analysis of non-rate revenue opportunities that are available to PUD that should include but not be limited, limiting limited to leveraging public utilities department owned property, reservoirs, and facilities for solar and battery projects, exploring opportunities for power purchase agreements or partnerships with San Diego Community Power, assessing the feasibility of leasing under utilized PUD land for compatible revenue generating uses, and and other innovative financing tools or revenue sources that could reduce pressure on ratepayers.

And that analysis should also outline the way that that potential revenue, if generated, could provide relief to working families, locally owned small businesses, and seniors who would feel the benefits the most of I should say would feel the increased cost the most and the benefits of such a pro uh uh program the most as well.

Um to that end, um Mr.

Serano, you you made a comment about yours and the City 10's top priority being affordability.

And I have heard you say that repeatedly, but I don't think that the whole City 10 is on the same page.

And I'm frustrated, I'm very frustrated by that, because the city should have the strongest voice at the Water Authority, and we will only have the strongest voice at the Water Authority if everyone who's who we send there is actually speaking in the best interest of the city of San Diego and its residents.

And I'm continuously seeing that being undermined.

I also want to say thank you for those of you who showed up.

I encourage you to go, thank you for engaging.

That is super important.

The Water Authority has been acting has been operating and acting without the day-to-day public engagement that we see here at the council, and we we we deserve, you should give it to us, but you should give it to them as well.

And I've noticed that certain city representatives of the water authority continue to refuse to acknowledge this council's prioritization of affordability.

Instead, they've continued to defend every single decision that's been made by the water authority in the past and scapegoat some of the city's most important infrastructure projects.

So uh my request to the mayor's office is if uh you will work with council to consider the removal of water authority members of the so-called City 10 who are not acting in the best interest of the city.

Thank you.

Councilmember, uh yes, you have that commitment.

I I appreciate that because I don't know how we get to a better place if we're not acting as as a single voice in prioritizing uh ratepayers.

And again, I I I'm not seeing that that's disappointing, and uh, we need to do something about it.

So uh council president, um, with those requests in mind, and and if I can for staff, uh uh you know, one idea would be an RFP to solicit proposals for those non-rate revenue opportunities.

I understand that that takes capacity, but I don't know how we're going to get to a place where we can meet the needs of the folks who need we we need to to respond to the affordability crisis in our community.

We have to pay for the water system that we need, and that's going to require some creativity.

The last thing I will I will uh agree with everyone on is the necessity to tax the rich to do more for everyday people.

And so whether that means local efforts or statewide efforts, we're going to need to work in concert to ensure that again, those who are taking the most and take and take and take and take and have an endless appetite for more, begin to pay their fair share.

Because so long until that happens, it's going to be more and more difficult to provide the resources and the services that you all deserve.

One thing's got a budget, and if I have to choose, it's it's their lavish lifestyles, not your guys' survival.

So, Council President, I'll support the continuance.

Thank you very much.

All right, thank you, Council Member IL Rivera.

We'll go next to Councilmember Moreno.

Thank you.

And and thank you for the presentation.

Um thank you also to the IBA for your analysis on this item.

Um and I do want to thank uh the hardworking folks at the public utilities department for always making sure our system is up and running.

Uh we might take it for granted, but water is always available.

I know when I turn on my faucet, and I know that many San Diegans recognize that.

Um I have been very clear about my ongoing concern related to rates, um rate increases that have been implemented.

I truly believe that the additional increase to residence water bills that are being proposed, even with the continuance, will uh be a make or break situation for many families, especially families in district eight.

As prices increases, as price increases, uh many San Diegans will be forced to choose between paying for water or other bills like groceries, rent, or school supplies for their kids.

Much of the increase is due to the cost of buying water from the county water authority.

Simply put, we do pay a very high price when we purchase water from them.

Now I do compliment the work our public utilities department has been doing to reevaluate the city's water system, uh the CIP program, and strategically choosing to delay some major projects.

Do you mind pulling up that item action taken to mitigate costs?

It was an item you had up in your slide.

Absolutely, Councilmember, we'll just look for the slide really quickly.

Can you reiterate how much the City of San Diego is deferring?

As it relates to the CIP projects, we're deferring for the first two years up to 87 million dollars in regards to projects that we feel that we can delay without having taking risks to the systems at this point in time.

Thank you.

Back in July, I asked for the county water authority to take similar steps as the city.

Because if the city of San Diego is implementing project delays, then it seems that the county water authority could do the same.

It's not fair for the city to shoulder more cost, especially when the department has taken steps to reduce the size of rate increase through downsizing our own CIP projects.

Now, before I can support any further rate increases or a continuance, I need to see tangible and impactful action by the water authority in right sizing its own capital improvement project in order to help keep rates reasonable for member agencies like the city.

I strongly believe that San Diegans simply cannot afford additional hits to their monthly expenses until further steps are taken regionally to lessen future rate increases.

For these reasons, I will not be supporting the continuance before us today, and that concludes my comments.

Thank you, Council President.

All right, thank you, Councilmember Moreno.

We'll go next to Councilmember Von Wolpert.

Thank you for the presentation today and all of the work on our water.

One thing I do want to thank you for is providing clean and safe drinkable water for everybody.

You know, that is something that we don't take for granted that we can open our tap and get clean water.

Um I do have uh questions about the rate increases as well between CWA and PUD, and since everyone is here today in the same room, maybe we can get them answered.

Um, I'm quite confused about some things.

So the proposed rate increase that we would have voted on today if we weren't doing a continuance, would be around 14%.

And what I'm seeing here from PUD is that the CWA rate increase that you're passing on, and I don't know if you have a chart you can put up on the screen because I couldn't find the yes it's 13.6 percent.

So the CWA, their website, and what they told me is that they're it's here, it's it's it's public, it's on their website, that they are only increasing water rates for wholesale water by 8%.

So why is it the pass through 13% here and 8% from their sources?

Yeah, so you'll see on this slide.

Um the bar charts on the left side reflects the San Diego County Water Authority's information.

Their 8.3% is an effective rate increase for all 22 member agencies.

Okay.

You'll see it's hard to see, but you see, there's um orange bars in there's gray bars.

The orange bars are their volumetric charges, so that's on the volumes that you buy.

The gray line, the gray bar is on their fixed charges.

Okay.

They are sitting there side by side if you put them on to the top, which is what our impact is and what we're passing through.

So on the volume metric, we are only going up on the volume of water that we're the volume of water, that price increases 5%, the 5.3%.

Our fixed charges, because the changes that we have approved in the past in regards to identifying additional fixed charges, so for transportation, that is increasing by 5.4% for us.

Okay.

And then you add on top of it, we're buying more water.

That's about the 2.9%.

So our rate payers are combining those three impacts.

The 8.3 is kind of embedded into the commodity and fixed charges component.

But not every agency is going to see just exactly 8.3.

Some are going to be higher, some may be less.

Oh, so the CWA charges different rates to different water agencies?

No, they pay, it's all dependent on their fixed charges may be different by member agency.

But the volumetric is the same for everybody, unless you're buying different untreated water versus treated water.

Okay.

So then CW are increasing our rates by 13%?

No, they're increasing the all in by 8.3%.

Oh, this needs to be sorted out when this comes back because they're both using the same terms of rate.

Council member, if I could jump in, I will say a couple of things to this.

One, our report deals with this.

Basically, what's what they're reporting to you is we know how much revenue a 14.7% increase will generate.

We know how much the increase in water purchases is going to be from one year to the next.

When you compare that, you basically look at a proportion of the revenue that's going to be generated from one year to the next, and how much of that is related to water purchases versus non.

That's a city number.

And it's looking at it from a holistic system revenue perspective.

The one thing I will say, we've had a conversation about this going back to environment committee.

The CWA, and they're not trying to do anything nefarious, but they're also looking at it from the back end.

They're looking at an effective average.

So for instance, if we heavily utilize local water in one year, as we're buying more local water in next year, and that water is now much more expensive than it was back in 2024 because of years of rate increases.

So they have a way of calculating their number.

It would be hard to kind of figure out what that same methodology is and the true apples apples comparison.

Because again, every water agency, the way they absorb CWA cost into their rates in the county is different.

So they have to come up with a number, they have what their number is.

I can assure you what beauty is showing you right here is what the cost of service study is showing, is the impact, and it's the impact of the rates that they approved.

So I know it's hard because the numbers don't line up.

If you go back historically, there's weird things with how much local water you're using, not using where the numbers don't line up even historically.

Where one year they could say it's a big number, ours is smaller, the next year they can do a small number, ours is bigger.

And so I know it's confusing.

There's not a real good way to apples to apples it though, between how they calculate their rates and the way PUD calculates their the impact that CWA has on our rate charges.

What I can tell you is that the financial impact.

I'm good.

I want to ask them a question.

I appreciate you.

I read the backup material, it's fantastic.

I do want CWA to answer though, because I have other questions for them too.

Thank you.

I appreciate you.

Um I'm glad you're here.

This is the first time we've had CWA and the water bar department in the same room on the same hearing, which is how we should be doing this going forward.

Good afternoon.

So even the commodity price here, which is the price for for the water we're paying, it's not the volumetric chart, it's not our fixed charges.

That doesn't even say it's eight percent.

And so I'm very I'm just the public should be able to understand their water bills.

And so what is it that you're passing on to us?

I I agree very much with uh what Mr.

Moore said in terms of how volume impacts the way all of this is being displayed.

I do not agree that we're passing through a 13%.

But but we are passing through 9%.

The reason that number is changing is because when we pass rates, it's a snapshot in time of demands.

There's a demand profile that was created to pass through these rates.

PUD has come through and said that they're gonna purchase more water, and that's understandably so.

With that, what you see on the screen represents the bill they are paying.

It's not the rate passed through.

They're they're purchasing more water, therefore the costs are going up.

It's no more simple than that.

But we're we have the baseline math understanding, but it's the way it's presented that's different.

And we we had this conversation with PUD last week about it.

Okay, uh that I would understand if our bill goes up, but don't call it the same thing, a pass-through rate because they're not gonna say they're passing that through.

Just please figure this out for the next hearing.

Um, second is what are what is CWA doing on selling excess water to other jurisdictions?

One congratulations to you and to Nick Serrano and to Matt Vespi and vis everybody for settling the litigation with uh Metropolitan.

That's fantastic.

But now that opens the door to selling any excess water that we don't need to buy as a region and deferring our costs.

So, how are those negotiations going?

They're going well.

Um recall that we just settled with Metropolitan, I think it was back in June, July, right?

Through that, we set up a structure to where for the first time ever we'd have the ability to move water within the MEP family and arguably the Southwest.

Um we sent out open letter yesterday to the MET member agencies soliciting um feedback, their interest levels.

Um that went out to every MEP member agency.

We have a number of NDAs that are already in the works that I can't obviously talk about.

Um, parties within Southern California outside of California.

So the work continues.

I think that what will really determine how fast we can get something done has to do with hydrology, it has to do with storage levels when there's a need uh for this water.

Um the the interest uh is peaked, obviously a little bit more.

Perhaps we're heading into a dry period as we get towards the end of this calendar year, so um that may help.

The other thing that's gonna be really uh foundational in moving this water is the result of the basin states uh uh negotiations for the post-2026 guidelines.

I know that's a lot, um, but essentially they're rewriting the rules of the river, and the water authority fits in as a piece of this with 50,000 acre feet of water that we have the ability to move.

So I know I didn't give you a date, but that's about as good a status as I can.

Okay.

Uh I'm glad to hear it's going on.

I would like, I know we're gonna set up a time for the CWA to regularly update the council and the public, which is fantastic.

So I just would appreciate increased um updates at when you can.

I understand I'm a lawyer, negotiations have to be um under wraps until you have a deal, but we would like to hear it.

Uh also, what is the county water authority doing to reduce its own projected CIP projects in the future based on the region's change in how we are sourcing water with our pure water system here in San Diego?

We are not going to be needing to purchase as much water from the county water authority or from the Metropolitan or from the Colorado.

East County is also investing in their own pure water system to recycle their own wastewater.

So if as a region we are planning to purchase less water from the Colorado River, what is the county water authority doing to prepare for that and to defray costs for all of us?

For the CIP specifically, uh we haven't had any new water supply projects on the books for probably probably a decade, and there's no plans for new water supply projects going forward.

Almost the the vast majority, 80% of our CIP is asset management related, and that's that's repairing and rehabbing pipes.

Um we had a we have a data-driven real-time monitoring system.

So when things look like they're gonna go bad and break, we repair it.

Um we just had that system in place uh this past year, and we were able to stop uh a blowout uh up in uh North County.

Um the CIP right now we've stream we've streamlined it as much as we can.

We have a CIP prioritization workshop that's coming up in October to start to talk about uh how all these projects fall in line with the priorities of the region.

Okay, but you did just say that you're not plan the CWA is not planning on starting new CAPs to source new water because this is kind of the first time hearing of that.

Yeah, where we have no uh no need.

I I can't say uh we're gonna sell 50,000 acre feet of water and and turn around and say let's build some new supply.

Okay, all right.

Well, I'm happy to hear that.

Um, those are all my questions for now, and I just appreciate you being here.

I'd love for you to be back on October 28th.

Is that when we did our continuance?

Uh because if you know 40% of the bill that people are paying is not to PUD, it's to the water authority, then we should have the water authority here to answer the public's questions about why their costs are so high.

And so I I thank you for being here.

Thank you to Mr.

Servana for getting everybody here.

Uh, and we want to continue to hear about how we're going to lower cost people.

So I will I'll I'll support the continuance to go forward since you know it seems like we can get to a place hopefully where we're not doing a 14% rate increase because that's just too high.

Um, but I don't want this to impact our workers or our own CIP.

I understand the need to balance this, but we need to make sure we have people who work at PUD every day to deliver this water, and we value their services, and we also don't want um emergency water main breaks either.

So thank you very much for answering questions.

Thank you, Council President.

All right, thank you, Councilmember Von Wolpert.

I don't see anybody else on the lights.

So we have a motion on the floor.

I move that we continue this item to council hearing to the council hearing on Tuesday, October 28th, 2025 at 2 p.m.

It was seconded by Councilmember Whitburn.

So, clerk, please call the roll.

I've started the voting system for the continuance.

That does pass eight to one with council member Moreno voting.

No, thank you, Council President.

All right, thank you.

Thank you to all the members that took the time to show up this afternoon.

Uh as I hope you notice that the public uh the council members actually did listen to the comments.

Um, and this conversation will continue, be continued until October 28th.

Thank you to everybody at PUD for the good work in bringing this forward.

And so with that, City Clerk, please introduce item 330.

Item 330 is an informational item.

It is the City of San Diego Affordable Housing Fund fiscal year 2025 annual report.

If you'd like to speak on this item, now's the time to submit your speaker slip to the front of the room into the clear box if you are participating remotely.

Please raise your hand by pressing star nine or the raise your hand icon at this time.

Thank you.

I'm just gonna hang on a little bit until the crowd disperses.

All right, it seems to quiet enough.

We want to get on with the rest of our agenda.

So, staff, please introduce yourselves for the record and let us know how much time you need for the presentation.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

Uh the executive vice president of and CFO of the San Diego Housing Commission.

I'd like to request 10 minutes, please.

All right, when you're ready.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Council members.

Sekat the Allah Executive Vice President of Business Administration and Chief Financial Officer for the San Diego Housing Commission.

I'm here with Matt Higgins, principal of budget reporting, budget and reporting analyst.

Today we're pleased to present the fiscal year 2025 annual report for the City of San Diego's Affordable Housing Fund, which reflects our continued commitment to addressing housing affordability and homelessness in our city.

The Affordable Housing Fund is administered by the San Diego Housing Commission and funded through two primary sources.

First, the Housing Trust Fund, which comes from fees on commercial development and loan repayments.

And second, the inclusionary housing fund revenue, which is generated from the collection of fees from residential developments and loan repayments.

Developers have the option to pay the fees or build affordable units on site.

Affordable housing funds can be distributed through loans, grants, or indirect assistance allowable per the current model programs.

These model programs are presented to the city council for approval every year in the Affordable Housing Fund Annual Plan.

These funds are critical tools that allow us to develop and preserve affordable housing, support programs that address the homeless crisis, and leverage additional non-city funding to maximize impact.

This has been a very successful program, and since inception of these funds, the combined outstanding loans and principal interest is around 172.2 million dollars.

Housing Commission has used these resources to create more than 9,700 affordable housing units, preserve more than 400 affordable housing units, assist more than 400 first-time home buyers and assist more than 30,000 San Diegans experiencing homelessness.

In fiscal year 2025, the total affordable housing commitments and expenditures of $18.1 million, leveraged more than $155 million, far surpassing the two to one goal.

This graph shows the affordable housing fund commitments with a leverage of 9 is to 1 ratio.

Want to point out one of the projects in here is the Kindred project that leveraged close to 100 million dollars on affordable housing fund commitments of 2.8 million, 2.85 million dollars.

Matt will now share details on the metrics, revenue, and expenses in the fiscal year 2025 report.

Thanks, uh good afternoon, everyone.

This chart depicts the affordable housing fund revenues received in fiscal year 2025.

The housing commission received just over 19.5 million dollars in revenue from city collections and loan repayments, compared to a budget of 6.3 million dollars.

This represents a sizable increase on the $6.8 million collected in fiscal year 2024, primarily due to two large developments in city center and Curdy Mesa areas.

Here you can see how funds were expended during the year.

Following the reallocation of funds during the approval of the fiscal year 2025 affordable housing fund annual plan, there was a significant investment in homeless programs with 12.3 million dollars expended.

Rental housing finance activities also remained a key focus, with $3.9 million invested in the production of affordable housing.

The remaining funds were allocated to home ownership capacity building and administration.

I'll now take you through the outcomes and achievements for our programs.

With $12.3 million invested in homeless housing initiatives, we were able to assist more than 4,100 households in fiscal year 2025.

Emergency shelter services were provided at five locations and served 2,343 households.

Other programs supported by the affordable housing fund were transitional housing, rapid rehousing, landlord engagement, and prevention and diversion.

I'd like to highlight one correction, however.

The flexible spending item at the bottom of the table should say flexible spending shallow subsidy instead of flexible spending shelter subsidy.

The affordable housing fund is also supported.

Affordable rental housing primarily in the area of new construction.

With a $3.9 million dollar investment from AHF, the housing commission closed financing on $194 affordable units.

Vintana El Sur in District 7 and Paul Downey Senior Residents in District 2 completed construction, producing an additional 178 affordable units.

This concludes our presentation.

We, as well as program staff are available to answer questions.

Thank you.

All right, thank you for your presentation.

Um Amy from the Office of the Independent Budget Analysts would have a few more comments.

Thank you, Council President.

Amy Lee with IBA's office, and thank you to Housing Commission for their presentation.

During our review of the fiscal year 2025 Affordable Housing Fund annual report, we identified two items that might be of note to the City Council.

First, the total affordable housing fund revenue reported for fiscal year 2025 is 19.5 million, which is 13.3 million more than the budgeted AHF revenue and 12.7 million more than reported in the prior year.

As mentioned in the staff presentation, the notable increase is due to two developments that opted to pay the AHF in Luffy and underscores the volatility of the fund overall.

According to housing commission staff, some of the excess revenues are to be included in the housing commission's fiscal year 2026 affordable housing notice of funding availability or NOFA due later this fall.

Secondly, based on exhibit six of the report, the 28 affordable units recorded under the inclusionary housing ordinance in fiscal year 2025 appears lower than in prior years.

For instance, 425 affordable units and 564 affordable units were reported in fiscal year 24 and fiscal year 23, respectively.

At the same time, fiscal year 2025 marked the first full year of implementation filing the EHF fee updates trading $25 per square foot approved by council in December 2019.

Council may wish to ask for guidance on how to interpret the drop in the number of affordable units built in fiscal year 2025 and what factors could affect AHF revenue of trends and or the number of affordable units built under the ordinance moving forward.

We note as part of city planning's work program, a comprehensive review of the city's inclusionary housing regulations is also underway and projected to be included or completed in 2027.

The planned update aims to balance the need for affordable housing and the overall production of affordable housing to affirmatively further fair housing.

That concludes our remarks.

Thank you.

Thank you very much for those additional comments.

Always always very helpful.

City clerk, please proceed with public comments.

Thank you.

We have two speakers.

If John Brady can please come up to the microphone, and if Rachel Hayes can please come up to the yellow reserve seats in the front.

Rachel Hayes.

I don't see her here.

I think she went out.

Please proceed.

You'll have two minutes.

Good afternoon, Council members.

John Brady, Libit Experience Advisors.

Thank you for your time.

This is the solution here, right here.

We got to build housing.

Instead, we spend $500 million a year or more in the county doing what?

Pushing homeless people around and managing the effects.

We know that's the number.

It's consistent with uh Lay's number.

They did an in-depth study.

That's our we actually suspect it's more.

Um we're entering some really interesting times here.

I don't think that the news coming out of Washington is going to be really good on housing.

Uh I think the potential for creating interment camps for homeless people or transforming the existing camps that we're using for moving uh immigrants uh and foreign nationals out of our country, whether or not they belong here or should be here.

Uh is that that potential is high.

In fact, Sunbreak Branch has announced that they are now in touch with the Trump administration.

What a terror.

So I want to encourage you to support what we are proposing, which is to gather data collection on what is working and what is not, and develop an AI system that will augment our frontline case workers because our biggest issue in the system is that we have way too much turnover in the front lines, inconsistent services, and this is backed up by a survey that they will be releasing shortly of a hundred uh people who have been through the system, and it identifies inconsistent services, inconsistent information, and frustrating client handoffs throughout the system is the number one issues.

And if we start listening to our clients, and we're applying for funding from the county, and I'd like your support, we can start to address these issues, streamline our system, and make it more efficient, which is what we've got to do given what's going to happen with funding under the current administration's plans.

So thank you for your time and thank you for being a part of the mission.

Thank you.

One more call for Rachel Hayes.

Rachel Hayes.

We she is our final speaker here, so we will have to move on to those participating remotely.

I started the five-minute timer, 8700.

If you can please unmute you are unmuted, but we do not hear you here in Council Chambers.

Not sure if the device, the phone that you're speaking into, may be muted as well.

And that maybe is not allowing us to hear you here in Council Chambers.

You muted yourself.

More than help you to help uh help you through your technical difficulties if you come down to council chambers.

I am sorry.

We do not hear you here.

Blair Bakeman, if you can please unmute.

Okay, I gotta do make uh talk.

I'll be right back.

All right, uh Blair Beekman here.

Uh thank you.

I'm at a my bank right now.

I'm talking with my teller now I'm here.

Uh yeah, I had to quickly ask um or offer that for this item.

Uh, I'm learning the idea of acutely low income housing.

I often talk about extremely low uh income housing and how that's needed.

Um acutely low housing is is for people who live like at $18,000 and less, or maybe even $25,000 and less.

That's a significant number.

And I I never hear enough about extremely low and acutely low income housing needs.

And why why don't we talk about the those things more?

I think we're learning the importance of what PAF is doing and finding housing for people who are on housed, and it's not so much a matter of shelter as as it can be emphasized.

At least we're learning that PAP can house people in those income levels, and they're doing a good job of it, and that's important to learn.

So good luck in those continued good efforts.

Um, there was enthusiasm to talk about PATH and the open public process and public meetings and agenda items like this.

Um good luck to keep up those sort of good efforts and uh how we can house our acutely low and extremely low.

Uh good luck that that conversation can be more open and regular for ourselves.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That does conclude public comment on this item.

All right, thank you, City Clerk.

Uh, this is an information item, so there's no motion required.

We'll turn it over to council members.

We'll start with council member Gilo Rivero.

Thank you, Council President.

Uh, thank you for for the presentation on this.

I I have just one question.

Um the housing trust fund was adopted in 1990, amended to add the inclusionary fund in 2003.

Oh the allocation is still appropriate for what we need today.

Should should they be updated, should it be changed or on a regular basis?

That's probably a Lisa question.

Good afternoon, council members.

Um I think with the times we're in, which are in unprecedented, and the fact that our resources are not growing, certainly at a federal level, and our needs are looking at policies that shape things like the Affordable Housing Fund and whether or not those fees need to be updated or those policy priorities need to be updated makes a lot of sense.

The second part of that, so there's the fees part, but there's the the way we use the fees.

The way you use the fees.

Yes.

Just to kind of drill into that part more.

Um can you talk a little bit about the flexibility that you'd like to see the recommendations you'd have if you have any?

And what the benefits of that would be.

I think that's good for us to think about it.

Yeah, so the affordable housing fund has been used in a multitude of ways, right?

Obviously, um, we look at development.

Um we also need to think about prevention and acquisition in different ways, um, where it might be more cost effective to acquire previously private market developed units and turn them into affordable housing, not just looking at developing affordable housing, which often oftentimes costs more.

Um, looking at where we use our homelessness dollars, uh, particularly when we think about prevention, it's less expensive to keep people in their homes.

And um, so it's less expensive to acquire and put restrictive covenants on than it is to build ground up, and it's less expensive to keep people in their homes than it is to house them in shelter.

So, thinking about what our priorities are for this funds, and then you know how we or whether or not we maximize those funds as well.

It seems like this is the time to be making to be to be re-looking at that.

And in those examples, your your assumption based on the data that you are familiar with is that we would be able to support more people by being able to use the funds in those ways.

That's correct, yes.

All right, thank you, Lisa.

I appreciate that.

I think that's worth something that's you know worth us considering for sure.

Um appreciate the presentation again.

Thank you, Council President.

All right, thank you, Councilmember Yelover.

We'll go next to Councilmember Moreno.

Uh thank you for the presentation.

I too appreciate the work that the housing commission leadership and staff put into making sure the program that receives support from the affordable housing funds are successful.

Um, however, I remain disappointed that in fiscal year 25, the home ownership program did not receive funding within the affordable housing fund.

Um, this has been a successful program.

Um in fiscal year 24, it assisted 32 uh low-income households, including escrow on homes.

32 families in San Diego that can now call themselves homeowners, and that's a huge deal.

Um, this program is absolutely critical.

Uh, providing families with assistance to purchase their own home is life-changing, and it can provide not just housing stability, but also put somebody on the path to build generational wealth.

Um, I know that the fiscal year 26 Affordable Housing Fund also did not include any funding for this activity, and it's my strong um uh hope that we could reverse this trend for fiscal year 27.

Um providing funding for the accessory dwelling unit financing program is critical as well, as it actually does create new homes.

Let me repeat that.

It does create new homes.

In fiscal year 25, uh, one ADU enrolled in this program, uh one of them completed construction, and nine others are in various phases of development.

Um, every home we create is going to help the city climb out of the housing crisis we're in.

And um, seeing that the goal of closing financing on 169 rental housing units uh was exceeded, I believe, by 15 is great.

Um, I was also very happy to see in the 2025 annual report on homes released yesterday that the city permitted 8,782 new homes in fiscal in uh 2024, which is a major increase uh from previous uh years.

Um very happy about that.

But I also want to point out that in the very low income, out of those 8,782 homes, we built 276 in the very low income, and only 320 in the low income.

Out of those once again, 8,782 new homes, 7,721 were above moderate income.

I mean, it's important that we keep the momentum going.

Um we know we're very far behind the eight ball on the regional housing need assessment, the RENA goal.

Um, as we've only permitted about 27% of the 108,000 homes required for our arena goal.

Um so just to put that into perspective, the city would need to permit 78,978 more homes by 2029 to meet the RENA allocation.

So there's certainly significant um work still to be done.

Utilising the affordable housing fund to provide consistent funding to programs that build new homes is one of the many tools we need to um employ if we're we're gonna be able to close the gap on arena goals and have sufficient housing options for San Diegans.

Um I know that the uh housing uh commission staff will continue to do your best with the resources provided um in fiscal year 26, but I thought it was important.

Um there were um a few elected officials, including a good friend of mine that were touting those numbers just yesterday, and I just I want to bring things into reality that uh we're leaving the very um very low income and low income folks behind.

We need to do a better job, we need to focus this money um in the right direction.

So thank you for the presentation.

That concludes my comments.

All right, thank you, Councilmember Moreno.

Not seeing anybody else in lights.

Um I'll jump in and say, oh, yes, you want to respond.

Yeah, yeah.

Councilwoman, thank you for your comments.

Uh I I do want to say AHF does represent a portion of our total funding uh for homeownership.

You are absolutely correct.

We do not have home ownership allocated, but overall in the agency we do have $3.9 million dollars allocated for homeownership, and we do anticipate about 35 homeowners.

So thank you for your comments.

Um again, thank you for the good work um and producing this report, and I appreciate that the year-to-year stuff depends on so many other factors besides the the program itself.

Um so Ms.

Jones, I'm gonna ask you a question if you want to come up, but in the mean while you're coming up, the question I always like to ask, the housing fund comes from the in LU fee, and you're leveraging that nine to one, which is astounding that the threshold was only two to one.

Um, but I always wonder if affordable units had actually been built instead of the in LU fee paid.

How many units we did not get?

Is that ever tracked by the housing commission or does the city track that so we are working with um DSD to get a to get you a better answer on that?

Uh, we're working with DSD and the planning department.

They do have an upcoming annual report that's going to be released that'll all for additional um analysis on it.

The two issues that we have, and I know we've we've said this before, is the first one is we want to measure the full impact of the changes of building on site versus paying the fees.

And the second one is the many ways that they can meet the inclusionary requirement through density bonus and complete communities.

So we are looking at both of those.

Um if back of the envelope math, if it was forced to it, then we would take the amount that we're allocating for NOFAs divided by 100,000, and that's the number of new units that we create.

So that's a rough number of what we use as an analysis.

A part of it is just testing the mayor and the council's been so aggressive about housing, trying to stimulate housing.

We're seeing real numbers.

The uh announcement yesterday showed that we continue to have pretty robust what are we getting in exchange for all that accommodation to the private builders that were not billing to to the lower income.

Uh Ms.

Jones, thank you for coming up.

You said something to uh Councilmember Ila Rivera that I just wanted give you an opportunity to expand on.

You because you talked about the idea that actually acquiring existing properties can be more cost effective than building new properties.

How does that intersect with the preservation fund that we're talking about?

So that and when I mean existing properties, I mean properties that have been recently constructed under the private market.

So recently constructed through more traditional financing and not affordable housing development.

That's because they can often move more quickly than affordable housing development can, and frankly, because of the extra requirements we put on affordable housing development, which really has a lot to do with our society's priorities, right, can make it more expensive.

So it's still new housing stock, so it's adding to our housing stock, but then it's taking that housing stock that would have gone to those middle income, middle to higher income families and pivoting it to lower income and moderate income, like lower moderate income families.

So it's it's an opportunity to create more affordable housing more cost effectively.

Um that is certainly something that we think aligns with preservation, right?

Um which is taking existing housing stock that's new, so it's added to the to our total overall numbers and turning it to affordable.

So it's certainly something we are going to propose when we bring the full preservation fund idea to council, is that we look at that as a possibility too.

And it will say with some of the conversations that we've that question around inLU fees and are we getting more or less this way has come up again and again.

I think if we revisit looking at the affordable housing fund and what our priorities are within that fund, we need to dig in and get those answers as part of that conversation.

Okay.

I appreciate that.

And I don't want anybody to get real excited because I know there's a lot of implications of requiring delivery of 10%, 15% within your project as opposed to paying the in loop fee.

Um so don't get nobody get excited right now.

But I think we ought to test ourselves on as everybody has said, we ought to be testing what's working, what's not working, and make the policy decisions about how to go forward.

Well, yes, I mean I think when when when funding becomes more challenging and more restrictive, policy is one of our strongest tools.

So it is a time for us to reassess, and I know the city is doing that in a lot of areas already.

Okay.

I certainly appreciate you and your executive team that are constantly rethinking and differently, especially in a changing dynamic landscape.

Um, how do we shoot that?

All right, thank you again.

Uh, thank you for all that good work.

Uh, this was an information item and no motion was required.

And with that, we have come to the end of our agenda.

So we will now adjourn council to the next regularly scheduled council meeting on Monday, October 6, 2025 at 10 a.m.

Thank you all.