All right, good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the public safety committee meeting of March eleventh, twenty twenty-six.

Our committee leads on Sarah Jordan provide information and instruction for the public to participate in today's meeting.

Sarah, please proceed.

Thank you, Chair Von Wilbert.

While members of the public are able to attend the meeting in person, this meeting is being televised and live streamed on the city's website, and the council administration will continue to make arrangements for the public to comment using the Zoom webinar platform.

Members of the public who wish to provide testimony via a call-in or internet-based service option must enter the virtual speaking queue within five minutes after conclusion of in-person public testimony or before the virtual speaking queue is exhausted, whichever occurs first.

Sure.

And Chair Von Wilbert, present.

Also attending the meeting today is Daniel Orlaw from the Office of the City Attorney.

Fakou Patel from the office of the IBA and CODIS ISER from the office of the mayor.

If you are in person, please complete a speaker slip located at the entrance of chambers and place it in the box indicated at the table at the front of the room.

Please do so in a timely manner to ensure proper meeting management.

In-person testimony will conclude before virtual testimony begins, and members of the public can join the webinar by computer tablet or smartphone by accessing the link which is listed online in the preamble language of the agenda on the city's webpage.

To join the Zoom webinar by telephone, please dial 1669-2545252.

Inputting webinar ID 161398 0144 pound.

This information is also available on the agenda and it will appear on the screen during the public comment period for each agenda item.

Please note that if you're watching via City TV 24 or online, there may be delay.

Please participate via the audio on your phone and mute your TV or computer when it is your turn to speak.

If you wish to speak to a particular item, please wait for that item to be called and then raise your hand to speak by tapping the raise your hand icon, or if you're calling participant by pressing star nine on your phone.

If you raise your hand during a non-comment period, your hand will be lowered.

Chair von Wilpert.

Thank you very much.

Uh quorum is now present.

And as a note to the public, I want to tell you how we're going to be taking our agenda today.

After consent item number one, we'll take item five, then items two, three, four, and six.

So we'll go to consent and item five, then uh two, three, four, and six.

And uh, I want to take a moment of personal privilege to wish one of our committee members a very happy birthday.

High birthday to Steve Whitburn.

Steven is turning 35 today, and we're very proud uh that he's a great member of our committee.

So at some point, if you anyone wants to bring a cupcake, I'm sure we'd all have one.

Um, yeah, thank you for being here on your birthday, council member.

Uh and we'll now begin with any none non-agenda public comment.

The council members respect and appreciate the public's input and are fully committed and protected every participant's free speech rights at council and committee meetings.

Sarah, please proceed with non-agenda public comment.

Thank you, Chair von Wilbert Perule 2.7.

Non-agenda public comment is an opportunity for members of the public to comment on items that are not on the agenda but are within the subject matter jurisdiction of this committee.

And each speaker will have two minutes to provide their non-agenda public comment.

If you're watching on City TV or the live stream online, you can dial 1669-2545252 and input webinar ID 161-398-0144 pound.

We will begin with our speakers here in chambers.

Paul, if you will please approach the elector, and you will have two minutes and you will be followed by John, Derek, Blair, and Catherine.

And I will call those names once again.

Hi, my name is Paul Scott.

Before you guys wants to uh complain about some of the issues that are going on at Lot B's safe sleeping site.

Um it's happening again.

Uh, the care coordinator, the person in charge of that is is they yesterday they wrote up uh 27 of us for uh in in in exited in them for literally having just like one or two items on the outside of their tent.

And then some of those they immediately exited, and some of those they gave 30 days.

And you know, these people who some of some of them were working on like a bike or whatever, then they and they were writing them up for that.

And and now they're shooting them off.

And in you know, this same the same care coordinator is is is part of a dog stealing uh scheme that's been going on for the last year.

We reported to the upper authorities, but nobody did anything about it.

That man should be put in jail.

I mean, what he did was illegal, and he's abusing the powers of his office, and and we we have really no other no other course of action except to come in here and and and put it on y'all and to realize you've got a you know your own important things to do, but this is something that's really impactful.

I mean, a lot of the these are all good people, some of which had never even been written up for anything before.

And then we're talking about petty write-ups and they're exiting the mile on the street, and that's so necessary.

And uh we just need some help down there to do to do something about that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is John.

Good afternoon.

Thanks for your time today.

To speak on the behalf of Conservante Valve.

I have a business that does for water conservation efforts.

Every year, thousands of thousands of wet barrel fire hydrants are damaged, whether vehicle collisions, natural disasters, or vandalism.

When the hydro shears off, it results in a geyser and catastrophic water loss in just a few minutes.

Three to five thousand gallons on a six-inch valve can be lost per minute.

Flooding neighborhoods, damaging property and the straining are already limited water resources.

My patented device was designed to solve this problem and attaches directly to the water infrastructure in San Diego County.

And mechanic closes in the event of a shear-off.

The moment the hydrant is compromised, the device activates, stopping uncontrolled flow instantaneously, protecting infrastructure and conserving valuable water.

This isn't just about saving water, it's about protecting communities, reducing emergency response costs, and ensuring the utilities can focus on service instead of repairing preventable damage.

In water stressed areas like California, every every water, every gallon of water matters, and this device can save tens of thousands of gallons per per event, that millions per year.

Cities are already investing heavily in water conservation measures inside homes and businesses.

My approach takes conservation outside directly in one of the most vulnerable areas.

By protecting fire hydrants, we're protecting both communities and water resources we all depend on.

With my support, we can deploy this technology widely, helping utilities, municipalities, fire departments, safeguard infrastructure and prevent unnecessary water waste.

Together, we can make every drop count.

And if there's any interest for additional information, I'm available now or after with business cards and additional information, or if you have additional resources of who I could contact would be very helpful.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Derek.

Good evening, Council.

My name is Derek Baker.

I'm a participant at your safe sleeping lot B.

As Paul noted earlier, our staff is I think they're violating some type of rights.

They're making people exit uh just for simple storage of um tools and items.

Uh I received a termination letter today.

Um on the bottom, it has the San Diego City.

Um, I guess uh as a council protection of them.

Um the dreams for change, they were exiting me for uh storing um storing of belongings like my walker um out front of my tent.

Um I'm uh also I'm suffering from a disability.

Um I had to go through uh multiple steps to prove and claim my disability.

They finally gave me uh a tent of that uh for mobility issues, it has a ramp.

Um, and I just received this tent uh last month.

I've been a tenant there since November of 2023.

Um I definitely want somebody to look into their ADA Act and um uh see how their violations should could be corrected.

Um yeah, there are a lot of people that are suffering uh from homelessness.

We came there for shelter and safety, and they're putting us back on the streets just for simple storage of items.

Um I I'm I'm uh honestly I'm kind of nervous because I only have 30 days um to get this corrected or somebody to speak with them.

Otherwise, I'll be back on the streets.

Um so if you guys could kind of look into it, a lot of people are suffering down there from this.

Thank you.

Thank you for your testimony, Blair Beekman.

Hi, Blair Beekman.

Um thank you for the public comment.

Uh previously, uh, I really hope it's a as a full community process.

We can be working on the safe site uh camping issues together.

Um I've been speaking this week in the importance of um I want to be able to address uh the international levels of war that are going on and how that affects us here at the local level.

Um whatever your feelings are about the current war situation.

Uh this country is once again uh engaged in.

I really believe we can be working on best practices here.

We have a way to be doing that.

Um, it's important.

Also important, we have to be really mindful that there are national security risks at this time locally, and we have to be working together to acknowledge that.

And it means we have to be sharing good information with each other, and we can't be hiding and secretive and and um so debonair that we don't want to talk with each other.

Um the more we talk here at the local level, the more we're clear with each other, sharing good information.

We build best practices, and when we build those best practices, the national and international level, they need that from us right now.

They are actually trying to work towards peace.

We need to deliver that to them and give them best things, and then they slow down.

And that's my goal.

That's what so it's important we continue to work on stuff here.

I feel the good stuff, the really good stuff, and not be fearful of that.

With that said, thank you that so many uh SDPD is here today.

I mean, we really want to be working on flock issues, a different company besides Flock as an APR ALPR vendor, possibly reducing our uh surveillance tech overall in cities like Oakland and in the Northern California Bay Area, uh, Mountain View, Santa Cruz.

They're working with their police.

The police are sharing good ideas and they're working together to end those programs to come up with new ideas.

Let's try to do that here in San Diego.

We still can.

Thank you for your concluding remark.

And our final speaker here in chambers is Catherine Rhodes.

Hello, Catherine Rhodes, and I have a um something to bring up here.

And um, this is something, you know, I was hearing Richard Bailey talk, and how he wants to increase like the police budget and stuff, and tries to say that you we're spending less money on police.

So I actually, of course, I went to the annual comprehensive financial report.

This is something I didn't even know.

Um, in 2025, we spent 719 million on police compared to 2022, which is 533.

So, in a three-year period, the police department expenses increased 35% or 186 million dollars.

Not part of your mid-year budget monitoring report, not part of any budget monitoring reports ever.

How come we didn't know this?

How come I didn't know this?

This is shocking to me.

So, um, you know, uh the in three years, the expenses increased 35%, mainly due to um budgeted overtime, I would guess, or unknown reasons.

What are the reasons why it increased 35%?

Do any of you know?

I'm sure you don't because I don't know.

So, anyway, um, you know, this is something about your budget monitoring that that I have a problem with, you know.

For example, or your budget in general.

Um, just this right here would solve all of your budget problems.

A hundred and you know, 186 million dollars.

Your budget problem is done.

Just there.

No time.

Follow your actual budget.

Go back down to your budget in 2022 and keep it there.

So, anyway, um, for your underground surcharge, you always say you'll spend 100 million, but some years you actually spend zero dollars, zero.

Um, but for 2025, you budgeted 144 million for underground surcharge.

You only spent 44 million, you only spent 30 percent of what it was.

It was not part of any budget monitoring report.

Why not?

Why aren't you guys actually looking at these line items in your budget monitoring report, and you're just blowing them off?

Um, I I don't know.

So, anyway, your budget documents mean nothing.

The only thing you and because they don't have to be here to the only thing that matters is your annual comprehensive financial reports.

Thank you.

Thank you for your concluding remark.

I will begin the five-minute timer for those in the virtual queue to indicate if they wish to provide non-agenda public comment at this time.

We currently have seven hands raised, and we will begin with Becky Rapp.

Please unmute and begin.

Good afternoon.

My name is Becky Raff, and I'd like to begin by thanking Councilmember Vaughn Wolpert for her leadership in yesterday's budget meeting, as she highlighted the importance of prioritizing communities most affected by drug use and addiction, specifically the LGBTQ community.

She referenced substance use prevention as a priority for the 2027 budget.

That is important because it acknowledges the very real public health and public safety costs that drug use places on our communities.

Across our region, local governments and county agencies are investing significant resources into overdose prevention, substance use, education, emergency response, and community outreach.

These efforts exist exist because drug use has consequences, not only for individuals, but for families, neighborhoods, and taxpayers.

The idea of implementing the seed program or the social equity and economic development program.

Um, and the proposal to add 36 additional marijuana retail permits seems counterproductive in a time when we are acknowledging the need for more prevention, treatment, and education around substance use.

Expanding policies that may increase public health impacts is neither fiscally responsible nor consistent with protecting the well-being of our communities.

Please consider how implementing the seed program could be crippling to our city.

Thank you.

Thank you for your testimony.

Our next speaker is Madison.

Please unmute and begin.

Hello, good afternoon, Council members.

I wanted to bring your attention to a substance that many parents and community members may not even realize is being sold in our neighborhoods.

It's called 7 hydrohydroxy mitogene.

Sorry, I don't know how to say that.

Often shortened to 70H.

It's a powerful psychoactive compound that comes from the Kratom plant, but the products being sold today are not simply natural plant products.

They are highly concentrated substances, often manufactured in labs and then marketed as if they were natural kratom supplements.

These products are easy to obtain.

They're sold online and in retail locations like gas stations and vape shops.

They come in forms that look familiar and harmless, like chewable tablets, gummies, vape pens, oils, and small liquid shots.

The packaging option resembles energy drinks or candy, which can give the impression that these products are safe or a mild alternatives to prescription medications.

Kratom and 70H have not been approved for medical use and have not been proven safe or effective.

Reported risks include liver toxicity, seizures, substance use disorder, nausea, rapid heart rate, and breathing difficulties.

Regular use can even lead to symptoms similar to opioid use disorder, including severe withdrawal.

These are powerful psychoactive substances that have not been proven safe for human consumption, especially for developing brains.

Products like 70H should not be sold in places where young people can easily access them or packaged in ways that resemble candy or energy drinks.

I urge this committee to take a close look at the risks and consider stronger protections so that unregulated substances like these are not quietly entering our communities.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comment.

Our next speaker is the original DRA.

Please unmute and begin.

Thank you to the two gentlemen who came forward from the supposed safe sleeping sites run by Dreams for Change and Teresa Smith, uh Stephen Whitburn, those are your constituents.

Your constituents are also the ones who I was reporting to you who had passed away at Tent City and you left.

I think it's time you start taking the reports from Tent City seriously because there is a huge public safety issue taking place when you guys refuse to act upon the negligence that is taking place in there.

Everything that those men said was true.

And there are many, many, many others, other victims that have experienced the same.

Why should that man stay in Tent City since 2023?

And you can sit here and say that your programs are working, that they're getting people into housing.

Obviously, that is not true.

Obviously, they have ADA uh compliance issues.

Obviously, there's code violation issues.

Obviously, there is a problem with getting people into the housing that they need to get into.

They will sit there and wait and wait.

And many have died waiting, waiting.

There's drugs being distributed throughout Tent City.

I think it's time, Stephen Whitburn, instead of you know giving him applause for his birthday when he is sitting there and he will laugh in my face about Tammy dying when I came and reported it.

And you guys aren't taking this serious enough.

And I think you should look at the people that are coming in that are that it this is their first hand experience.

They have lived experience there.

And I'll say if you guys want, call me at 619-678-1442.

619-678-1442.

Thank you for your testimony.

The five-minute timer has concluded.

We have five hands remaining in the virtual queue.

We'll take no other callers beyond these remaining five individuals.

Francine Maxwell, please unmute and begin.

Francine Maxwell, Southeastern San Diego resident.

Um happy birthday, Council Member Whitburn.

I'm wondering, has this committee done and asked to do a budget review of the CPP?

We have had numerous, of course, staffing changes.

We're excited about our new executive director, but the civil service, I cannot find where they've changed job titles.

And so before some job titles were approved by the civil service as it changed, and it's time for us to get a report on what has been occurring, what has been accepted, not accepted.

We absolutely can go on the website and read things, but this committee needs a presentation from the CPP.

Also an update on our meet and confer.

We completely understand the POA may need more time, but it's nothing to just give a word of encouragement and also give us an update on where our independent attorney is.

Um we have a couple of attorneys that are absolutely fabulous commissioners on the CPP.

We enjoy the commissioners.

We appreciate them and the time that they spend away from their home and their families to help us build this bridge of trust between the CPP and SDPD.

It's time for us to get a presentation.

Um completely understand when you have to adjourn the public safety meetings, but those need to be made up now before people move on to their next um election, their next seat.

And so again, no annual report.

And I don't expect our most current executive director to give it, but there should be something.

And also I need someone to give us a budget update on the CPP.

Thank you so much for allowing me to speak.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is phone number ending in 8700.

You can unmute by pressing star six, and you will have two minutes.

Two quickies, uh happy, happy birthday to my CD3 uh council member Whitburn.

Uh I hope you're having a beautiful day.

You certainly deserve it, and I appreciate your work so very, very much.

And then also, Francine Maxwell, I want to tell you too how much I value and you appreciate your work with the CPP.

It's a long-term uh process.

You've been hanging in there from the beginning.

Thank you to everybody else, and let's just keep on keeping on.

Okay, so here's the reason for my call, my main point.

Uh, in the um audit committee meeting this morning.

I'm not gonna be able to say what I want to say, but that's okay.

Uh, emergency medical response was a uh process was an agenda item.

It was a big one, huge and and very eye-opening and very scary and and in a way kind of shocking.

And I I can't really go in to really uh tell you what that's all about, but thank God it's coming back in June, and they will be bringing further uh better outcome data and so forth.

But uh as a public, I just didn't get it.

We weren't talking about ambulances.

I guess it's the contract.

I don't know.

We were talking about fire trucks and fire stations and and you know, not giving getting fire stations.

And I just wanted to talk about people in ambulances and how they were being taken care of and if they were able to live a life after that experience.

So can we just keep it simpler and tell us really what we're doing for the people that are hurting at that moment?

I just don't get while we're speaking about it the way we are.

So thank you for listening.

I'm gonna speak on this issue again before June.

I want to get more clarity on it, and I love our ambulance, our firefighters.

Thank you.

This does conclude your time.

Thank you for your comment.

Thank you.

Our next caller is phone number ending in 7234.

You can unmute by pressing star six.

Good afternoon.

My name is Terri Ann Stelly.

I'm a planning group member, a parent, and a public health educator, adding my support for your interest in electric bike safety regulations.

And due to the conditions of many of our roads and sidewalks, we need careful attention to the many attributable factors when we look at pedestrian rider and driver safety.

The number of drunk and drug-impaired traffic crashes continue to gather state and national attention, and spring break is coming.

In the past, San Diego Police Department has issued press releases about spring break graduations and the summertime.

Which said, and I quote, we are reminding the public not to drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

And officers are making impaired driving patrols across the city.

End quote.

Driving under the influence doesn't just refer to alcohol prescription medications, over-the-counter drugs, and marijuana can also impair, especially in combination with alcohol and other drugs.

Recently, the National Safety Council fact sheet repeated that, and I quote, again, it is unsafe to be under the influence of cannabis.

Because marijuana use slows reaction time, impacts memory, and impaired skills essential to driving.

End quote.

Like my friends and family members, we appreciate that the city does and will not encourage marijuana sales in our city.

Thank you for hearing my concerns this afternoon.

Thank you for your testimony.

We have two hands remaining.

Continuing with Peggy Walker, please unmute and begin.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

I want to thank you for the City Code update banning the marijuana leap from store signs.

This is a protective move for youth, public safety, and public health, because the marijuana lead symbolizes too often.

It's misconstrued as signifying safety or medical endorsement, and it's none of those things.

To further protect youth, I urge a ban on marijuana billboards.

It's time.

Legalization has altered the ways that youth perceive and use marijuana.

And studies show billboards only serve to normalize, condone, and promote youth use.

Too many ads, including billboards, make unsupported health claims, even though peer-reviewed scientific studies show no evidence of medical benefit from smoked or ingested weed.

Data show adolescents who frequently see billboard or stove front ads for marijuana are more likely to use the drug weekly weekly and become dependent.

Five percent of high school seniors use POT daily, placing them at high risk for addiction.

So until subject to FDA standards, pot should not be advertised as a medical product nor marketed to appeal to use.

We ban tobacco billboards and should do the same now for POT.

It's at the root of alarming substance abuse rates, health issues, and high social costs.

I also urge you to oppose the social equity program.

We do not need 36 more businesses further exposing you to high potency THC accessibility in neighborhoods, especially those neighborhoods most affected by drug use.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And the final speaker in our queue today is Judy Strang.

Please unmute and begin.

Good afternoon, public safety committee.

Thank you for this opportunity to call from work today.

I too had a chance to listen into audit committee this morning and was deeply moved regarding the medical personnel response audit and came away worried and concerned about the resources devoted to them that don't seem to be enough.

And what the future holds, and more importantly, the people in the city who will suffer because the resources aren't there or don't respond fast enough.

I have a brother who has utilized the medical personnel response teams, unfortunately, too many times.

One when he had a heart attack, as it turned out.

Another when he had a severe psychotic psychotic break.

As it turned out, both of them the result of his marijuana use, which is why one of the reasons why I often speak to it.

What I have found out, and probably so have you, was the role of marijuana use in poor heart health.

The American Heart Association reminds us that cannabis use poses significant heart health risk, increasing the likelihood of heart attacks, strokes, and heart failure, even in young, healthy individuals.

This was the experience with my brother.

By accelerating heart rate and rising blood pressure, straining the arteries.

And it goes on to talk about the role that smoking, vaping, and edibles, marijuana smoking, vaping and edibles play in care in creating these sorts of risks.

I think it's a good reminder here for public safety, the role that marijuana use could play in creating public health demands, public safety demands.

And we certainly don't need more of those type of facilities in our city.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And Chair, this concludes non-agenda public comment.

Thank you very much to everyone who participated in our non-agenda public comment today.

And now are there any committee mayor, city attorney, or IVA comments?

Um I just have one and love to welcome the Girl Scouts to City Hall.

Uh, I was a CDO Girl Scout and got my gold award, my senior year in high school, and I'm not going to tell you how long ago that was, but uh very excited you're here.

Please stick with Girl Scouts to help make me the leader that I am today.

So welcome.

Glad you're here.

Um do we have any?

Do we have any requests for continuance?

Hearing none, we will now move on to our consent agenda, which is simply item one.

Do we have any requests to pull?

No.

Uh now uh please move forward with public comments, sir.

Thank you, Chair.

We've received one speaker slip here in chambers.

Blair Beekman, if you'll please approach the electron, you'll have one minute to speak to item number one, which are the approval of the committee minutes from January 30th, 2026.

Hi, Blair Beekman.

I hope this my words can be relevant to the approval of the item on um the uh data retention center item that you had uh in January.

I just wanted to quickly offer a touch of uh input that um uh it was talked about uh well it's my feeling that uh data information centers uh we're not knowing how to better talk about them in our public process.

And I thought by mentioning that here at this time, it can help how you discussed the item and uh what we need to we need to be able to comment on it in in our public discussion in the future on agenda items like what took place at the audit committee today.

That Joyce is not a nicely mentioned, so I thought it mentioned it here at this time.

Good luck that we uh, as we consider our items that we include the the use of the domain of awareness center in how we talk about our practices.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That concludes public testimony here in chambers.

So I'll begin the five-minute timer for anyone in the virtual queue to indicate if they wish to provide comment on the January 30th, 2026 meeting minutes.

We'll begin with the original.

Please unmute and begin.

You have one minute.

Yes, you were talking about prosecution of anti-Semitic felony hate crimes committed in San Diego.

I wanted to ensure that that uh includes all semites because it seems that we are only focusing on certain ones and not all of them, and so some get targeted and some don't.

And I feel like if you guys want to be equitable, that's what we should be doing.

And then for our ghost gun prosecutions and reduction of gun violence.

Um, this is really just something that is coming after the people's guns because of, you know, and in reality, I mean, if you guys took an oath to the constitution and the second amendment shall not be infringed, then anything that you're doing for gun control, because that's what it's about, um, is actually unconstitutional.

And so you should probably course correct because there is a lot of litigation that comes into the city, and we just don't want to have to pay any more money for litigation that comes forward because you continue to uh violate everyone's constitutional rights.

Thank you for your concluding remark and chair.

This concludes public testimony on item one.

Thank you.

Do I have any comments from council members or a motion?

So moved, seconded by councilmember Campbell.

Please take the vote.

And the meeting minutes pass unanimously, 4-0.

All right, thank you very much.

And uh now we're going to move on to discussion item number five.

Uh please to Gary Freding, wonderful.

Please join us.

And item number five is the electric bicycle safety regulations pursuant to assembly bill 2234.

And if you're watching on City TV or the live stream L9 and you'd like to dial in to speak to this item, please call 1669-2545252.

And when prompted, input webinar ID 161398 0144 pound, Chair.

Thank you very much, Chair.

Please introduce yourself and let us know how much time you've received in Council or Campbell.

Would you like to open up the item?

Thank you very much, Chair.

I would just like to introduce my deputy policy advisor, uh, Carrie Shaw, who's worked uh very diligently and hard on this for several months, and she has a great presentation for the uh committee to hear.

All right, please proceed.

Thank you, Chair.

Uh, I will need about seven minutes for my presentation today.

Uh good afternoon.

My name is Carrie Shaw, Deputy Director of Policy for Councilmember Kempio.

Today's uh today I'm presenting electric bicycle safety ordinance, which implements the state's San Diego electric bicycle safety pilot program, also known as AB 2234 by assembly member Warner.

It's also important to note that e-bike regulation is primarily under the state's jurisdiction.

The city can only act within the authority that state has given us.

I would also start with next slide.

Okay, perfect.

Thank you.

Um I'll start with a brief overview of current e-bike laws, explain the authority the city has under AB 2234, shared data that illustrates the rising rate of youth e-bike injuries, and then walk through the proposed electric bicycle safety ordinance.

To round the conversation, here's a quick refresher on how California classifies e-bikes.

Class one is pedal assist only.

The motor assists while pedaling and cuts off at 20 miles per hour.

No throttle is allowed.

There's no age restriction, license requirement or course requirement.

Class two, these models include a throttle, so they can be operated without pedaling, but the motor still caps at 20 miles per hour.

Riders can choose to pedal or throttle.

There is again no age restriction, no license requirement or course requirement to be on the road.

Class three is pedal assist only, up to 28 miles per hour.

There must be a speometer and throttles are not allowed.

Statewide riders must be at least 16 years old, and there's still no license or course required.

What's important to emphasize is the current is that under current law, children of essentially any age, five, eight, ten years old, can legally operate a class one or class two e-bike capable of reaching 20 miles per hour.

And note on what this ordinance cannot address.

This policy does not apply to e-motorcycles or high powered electric vehicles that are often marketed to youth but exceed the legal e-bike classifications.

Under existing state law, e-motorcycles are already illegal to operate on public streets and highways, but many families are unaware they are buying A e-motorcycle for their child as they are being deceptively sold as e-bikes.

I is to our office's understanding that Senator Blakespear is currently working on legislation to work to address e-motorcycles to clarify to clearly uh differentiate legal e-bike classifications from e-motorcycles as this legislation advances our office continue to will continue to support their office.

The safety concerns driving this ordinance are real and growing.

From 2019 to 2023, the number of e-bike injuries involving children in San Diego rose by more than 300 percent.

We're also seeing higher rates of head injuries, internal injuries, multi-system trauma compared to traditional bicycles.

And youth riding e-bikes are four times more likely to sustain an extremity injury than those riding pedal only bikes.

This does exclude incidents involving a vehicle.

These trends demonstrate the need for more structured regulatory framework, especially for younger riders and the need for parents to be educated about the risk.

California Assembly Bill 2234 isn't a statewide ban.

It's a local pilot with potential for broader impact.

E-bike technology has quickly grown, but as injuries involving children increase, there's a real need to look at what rules the state can and should set.

A B 2234 originally proposed stricter statewide limits, but state lawmakers chose a different path, a pilot program.

Among its key provisions, cities may choose to prohibit children under 12.

Cities in San Diego may choose to prohibit children under 12 from riding class one or class two e-bikes.

If so, cities must conduct a 30-day public information campaign before enforcement begins.

This has to include public announcements and major media outlets and press releases.

After that grace period, there is a $25 fine, which can be waived if the rider completes a certified safety training program, which the state does also provide.

If the training course is not complete, parents or guardians are responsible for the unpaid fine issued to their children.

Under this pilot, any city or county that adopts a local ordinance must track what happens and reports back to the legislature.

Law enforcement agencies must report all e-bike related stops, searches, and citations, along with demographic information, how often officers misidentified a rider's age, crash data involving children under 12 before and after the implementation of the ordinance, and how many violators choose training instead of paying a fine.

Within San Diego County, several cities have already adopted ordinances under AB 2234, including Carlsbad, Santee, Coronado, Chile Vista, Powway, and San Marcos.

And importantly, if data is being collected to influence state law, shouldn't the largest city in the region contribute to that data set?

The pilot program runs through January 1st, 2029.

All data is due to the state January 1st, 2028, and the legislature will evaluate its effectiveness based on the data collected.

Based on an authority granted under AB 2234, the proposed ordinance would prohibit children under 12 from operating class one or class two e-bikes in the city of San Diego.

Establish the education first model for enforcement, consistent with the grace period and training provisions required by AB 2234, and reinforce it and reinforces existing state laws, including helmet laws for both operators and passengers, and passengers are only allowed when the e-bike is specifically designed and equipped for more than one rider.

Today's recommended recommended action is to direct City Count City Council District 7 to work with the Office of the City Attorney to draft municipal code amendments consistent with AB 2234 and forward to City Council for consideration.

That concludes my presentation, and I'm available for any questions.

We also have staff from SDPD collision investigation unit available.

All right.

Thank you very much.

And now we'll take any public comment on this item.

Thank you, Chair.

We've received 19 speaker slips here in chambers.

We'll begin with a first group made up of 11 people.

The speaker who has been seated time is Stephanie Briston.

And if I call out your name after Stephanie's, if you can just please raise your hand showing that you're here in chambers.

Emma is Emma here.

Thank you.

Ava Blair.

Emily or Amelia, excuse me.

Thank you.

Grace.

Madison.

Olivia.

Raven.

Sophia.

And Michaela.

Thank you.

So that's a total.

Each speaker has a minute and a half.

The group presentations could not exceed 15 minutes.

So 15 minutes will be placed on the clock for Stephanie Burston.

And there's a clock right there in front of you so you guys can monitor your time as we're moving through your presentation.

Hello, Chair Von Wilper and members of the Public Safety Committee.

My name is Blair, and I'm here today because my troop and I care deeply about wheel safety, especially e-bike safety, because it is a real problem.

I love riding my e-bike.

I ride it to school, to our rec center, and to parks for my sport practices.

I always wear my helmet and follow the rules of the road so that I can stay safe.

But while riding around our community in San Diego, I noticed some very dangerous habits.

I see kids and adults riding without helmets, people riding way too fast and recklessly, more than one kid on an e-bike, and with no back seat.

I also see large groups of kids riding in ways that can be very unsafe.

I have seen accidents happen too.

Last August, a kid in our community was riding against traffic and was hit by a car.

And I remember talking to my mom about it.

Thankfully, this kid survived.

But it made me realize that we can do much better to keep everyone safe.

That's when my Girl Scout troop and I decided to take action.

We reached out to our school principal to see how we can help.

We designed a two by three-foot metal safety sign to support the walk your wheels campaign.

And it was made for our school in January of 2026.

We as a troop have set up tables at our school's bike cage with information and candy to raise awareness to encourage e-bike safety and those kids who walk their wheels.

We also reached out to the San Diego police department, and I wrote a letter to the officers so that we would be prepared to learn from the best.

When we met, we all listened, learned, and talked about how we can all make our streets safer for kids and families.

Finally, my older sister and I designed another safety sign that is to be placed at our busy rec center.

It will be metal and two by two feet in size.

This metal sign will last for years and will have a lasting impact to remind everyone on wheels to slow down and walk their wheels at busy locations.

My troop and I have taken a lot of time to learn about different laws, e-bike safety, and e-bike awareness.

We believe that small actions can make a very big difference.

By working together, we as a troop have done some things that you will hear today.

And we are trying to raise awareness and we can all help our community better and make sure it's safer for everyone who rides bikes.

We would also like to thank Councilmember Campillo for working on a policy that will keep us kids safe.

Thank you for listening to me.

Remember, safety first, San Diego, and walk your wheels.

Hi, my name is Sophia.

I'm in Troop 4343.

Our mission as a troop is to raise awareness about e-bike safety and potentially save a life in our community.

Our walk your wheels campaign has begun at Day Patola Middle School.

Many kids have already gotten hurt by being on an e-bike, and many kids are aware that there are laws that they have to follow to stay safe.

In our community, we have seen many dangerous acts on e-bikes, such as speeding around children at play, riding traffic, doubling up on one e-bike, even though the e-bike was not designed for it, and speeding past stop signs.

To me, this mission means keeping our community safe and happy.

We have put a lot of effort in making e-bike safety a lifestyle.

As for me, my individual act of contribution to this mission was to reach out to the city council and write an email to get approval on the sign we made.

My mom and I spent time composing a letter to the city council to propose our mission and ask permission to hang our walk your wheels side at the Pira Santa Rec Center where many kids go after school and zoom around on e-bikes.

Councilmember Raul Campillo was kind enough to invite us here today.

Thank you for the opportunity and allowing our voices to be heard.

Hi, my name is Emma.

I am responsible for complying the statistical data of bike accidents in the city and county of San Diego and the United States for our troop.

Here is what I have to share.

In the city of San Diego, approximately 500 bike collisions occur annually.

Nearly all bike accidents cause harm to the cyclist, with around 25 resulting in serious injuries, and another 300 causing visible injuries like cuts and broken bones.

Out of these collisions, about five result in fatalities.

Certain neighborhoods and Pacific roads, such as Pacific Beach, Downtown, and North Park report a higher frequency of bike accidents.

Most of the collisions are head-on side swipe and rear-ending collisions.

Broadside collisions make up to 34% of all bike crashes, while side swipe account for 13% of bike accidents.

In the United States, over 120,000 non-fatal injuries occur annually.

Almost 50,000 are seriously injured, and over 1,100 cyclists die yearly, with 22% of these fatalities involve alcohol impaired riders.

These statistics highlight the important and increased awarenesses inheritance to traffic rules, improving bike bicycle infrastructure, and safety measures to keep everyone accident free.

Hi, my name is Raven.

For our troops walk your reels awareness project, we're hoping to raise awareness about e-bike safety, encourage the use of walking your wheels on school campuses, and to save lives.

In our Terra Santa community, our Girl Scout troop has seen a lot of kids getting hurt or not following e-bike safety regulations.

Of specific concern are not using hand signals, fighting against traffic, riding with multiple people when they shouldn't, and especially not wearing helmets.

Our troop wants to help change this prevalent problem in our community by bringing awareness to the kids and their parents with the goal of improving safety of riders and the people around them.

This mission means a lot to me because the number one cause of kids in emergency rooms in San Diego is e-bike crashes or collisions.

Our troop has put in a lot of hard work to ensure that our walk your wheels safety awareness project is mainly focused on raising awareness on bike safety to kids and their parents to keep them safe.

My role specifically in this project has been to do a lot of research on bike safety regulations, classifications of different e-bikes and bikes, and to learn more about the regulations pertaining to bikes on sidewalks.

I also interviewed people who have had encounters with kids using their e-bikes or epic or bikes unsafely to learn the other perspectives of the people around us and to gain their insights on how we can better serve our community with this project.

Thank you.

Hello, my name is Ava.

Our Girl Scout Tilbert Award is based on e-bike safety.

This project means a lot to me.

And it's very important because you can be um get seriously hurt by not abiding by the rules and regulations.

I've made an informative board on e-bike safety laws and regulations.

I have also interviewed and asked questions of neighbors, family, and friends on bike safety.

In my opinion, some things that need to change are the minimum age to ride um ride an e-bike and better ways to regulate speed.

I believe we can make a small impact by informing as many people as we can about these new rules and regulations.

Hi, my name is Madison, and for our silver word project, I made e-bike safety baskets with Grace to encourage kids to be safer and to walk their wheels.

My favorite part about this project is that I get to help kids stay safe and to make our community a safer place.

I think it's important for kids to prioritize safety instead of trying to look cool.

I've seen kids try to pop wheelies without helmets and they almost hurt themselves.

Thank you for listening and supporting our effort to keep our classmates safe.

Hello, my name is Grace.

My contribution to this project was helping make the wrathful baskets to promote bike safety.

I've worked with Madison to put the baskets together.

Our baskets included in a wall of water bottles so they could always be hydrated.

We also included an e-bike repair kit in case anything breaks, a bike pump, and a small first aid kit, safety flags, and um a bike safety vest.

This isn't very important because there are kids who ride their bikes without the proper equipment.

This project matters to me because bike safety is really important, and sometimes people ride their bikes without the right equipment, which can make riding more dangerous.

By creating this raffle basket, we hope to encourage people to think about bike safety and make sure they have the things they need before their ride.

Working on this project also helped me learn about how to stay safe on a bike and how educating others' actions can help others in our community.

Hello, my name is Emmy.

Bike safety is very important in our community because many kids who ride e-bikes, skateboards, and scooters are getting injured or even killed.

This happens often because they're not following the rules and not riding safely.

I've noticed a lot of kids in my school not wearing a helmet, double riding, not focused while riding or not walking their wheels on school property.

To prevent this from happening, me and my girls got true friends all work together and made a sign and booth at our school to encourage riders to follow safety rules and walk their wheels.

I helped by creating a bike safety pledge to inform or remind how to stay safe while riding an e-bike.

I provided them with a reflective bike sticker to put on their helmet or vehicle to make them more visible while riding in the dark because a lot of teens now wear dark clothes.

And there should be a minute age to operate these e-bikes.

I hope we'll be able to bring everybody's attention to this important issue and remind riders about safety rules to prevent some serious injuries and make our kneeprints safer.

Hello, my name is Olivia.

Good afternoon, City Council members.

As you can see, our troop has been working on their silver award.

We noticed that e-bikes rode by tweens and teens in our community were not riding safely.

This I have taken this has sparked an idea for our silver award.

I've taken on various leadership roles with my troop to encourage bike safety, supporting our walk your wheels campaign.

Specifically, I created a poster that featured our troop interview questions for the San Diego Police Department.

In addition, I have also created a display board with encouraging slogans to motivate our middle school bike riders to sign our walk your wheels pledge at Dafers Holy Middle School.

I have also contributed to our e-bike safety basket raffle.

Lastly, I have attended all Girl Scout meetings and activities supporting our walk your wheels campaign project to learn everything I can about bike safety.

In conclusion, this project has meant a lot to me and my troop has and I have been a part of a larger change in my community.

And this have and this have been and I have been there every step of the way.

Thank you for the taking the time to speak with our amazing troop and listen.

Thank you.

Hello, everyone.

My name is Stephanie Britson.

I'm here today with my co-leader, Michaela Ara.

I lead Troop 4343, and I am very, very proud of these Girl Scouts today who have been brave enough to come and speak to support this cause for bike safety.

The Silver Award is a team-based leadership project completed at the middle school level.

These girls have come up with two root causes: bike awareness and e-bike safety.

A key component of their work is youth leadership and ownership.

And these girls have done much of the work themselves and supported by us troop leaders, our school, the city council, thank you, Mr.

Raul Campillo, and the police department.

Uh specifically officers McGurl and Officer Holmes, who are not here today.

And I would also like to thank their parents who are great supporters of our troop.

To say the least, we are very proud of them and their efforts to save lives because that's the goal one day.

In conclusion, Girl Scouts, we are here to make the world a better place, and we encourage everyone and this committee to support the common sense e-bike reform.

Thank you very much.

Thank you for your comments.

Our next group presentation is Mandy Havlik.

And Mandy, you have been seated time by Don.

Can Don please raise his hand?

Thank you.

Catherine Rhodes, thank you.

And Angela.

All right.

So each speaker gets one and a half minutes, so I will place six minutes total for you on the clock.

Yes, and I believe there was a video submitted if you can mute that and play that right now for the group.

Thank you.

This is a picture of e-bikers on I-5.

This made the news and went viral in the last few days.

Good afternoon, Chair and Committee members.

My name is Mandy Havlik.

I'm a candidate for city council, but I'm also the first vice chair of the Peninsula Community Planning Board.

The last eight years I've advocated for my neighborhood on a variety of issues, whether it's land use, traffic safety, infrastructure.

First, I want to thank you all for having this conversation.

It's really encouraging to see the youth here advocating for change in our neighborhoods.

I want to thank Tasha Berner, State Assembly member.

She sponsored this bill.

And I want to bring to the to light that the Peninsula Community Planning Board, we did approve a letter back in November of 2024 asking the city to adopt this legislation.

So our communities have really been seeing this in our, you know, antics like this all over.

And we know even then that the city needs clearer rules and tools to address safety concerns.

This is long overdue, and I'm very encouraged to see the city of San Diego taking much needed action when it comes to accountability and safety standards for e-bikes.

E-bikes have had a real impact on our communities.

They've really opened up some options for people to get around.

And honestly, they're a lot of fun.

I encourage any of you get on a bike, you'll feel like a 10-year-old again.

So the issue at the same time is the rapid growth of these.

The e-bike use has created safety concerns in our neighborhoods, especially near schools and in busy coastal neighborhoods.

Residents are seeing riders traveling at high speeds on sidewalks and boardwalks, young riders on powerful bikes that exceed legal classification, and increasing near misses with pedestrians and vehicles.

The reality is that the rules have not kept up with the technology.

That's why AB 2234 is so important.

It gives cities the tools to clarify classifications, it improves accountability, and it creates a framework for safer use of these devices in our communities.

But policy alone isn't enough.

We also need education and community partnership.

Over the past year, I've been able to bring an e-bike safety program to Correa Middle School.

It was required for students to be able to park their bikes at school.

San Diego Bike Coalition and Scripps, their trauma prevention unit, were there educating parents and students alike about the challenges and the dangers of e-bike safety and how to properly navigate those to our neighborhoods.

And so the way it's set up is that you have a three-strike warning.

The first, you know, everyone gets a good warning.

Second warning, you get a call home, and there's a conversation with your guardian or parent.

The third, um, and the final consequences is you lose the privilege of parking at the school.

Um, I believe that we need to positively incentivize these kids.

So another portion of that is positive reinforcement, right?

It's cool to follow the rules.

So one of the ways we've done that is by purchasing like $25 gift cards to raffle off at the end of the semester to the students to incentivize them to make better choices.

Um, I want to share why this is really important to me.

Um, when I was nine years old, my friend Andrew, he got struck by a city bus on his way home.

He was seven years old.

He became a quadruple that day.

He eventually died of his injuries at 20.

But he blinked and communicated through his eyes until that day.

And he lived with those injuries.

I saw the impact it had on his family, the financial burden, his eventual death, the divorce of his parents.

And now, as a parent myself, I see how many students they rely on these e-bikes to get by and get through the community.

That's why it's so important that we have clear rules, education, and accountability mechanisms in force to keep our young people safe.

San Diego has the opportunity to lead on this issue.

I know that there's other cities in the nearby region that have adopted this policy and legislation.

And again, this is a strong step forward.

I want to thank you all for the work that you do, and I want to encourage you to approve this item, send it on the city council so that we can keep our kids safe.

Um, AB 2234 is much needed accountability mechanisms.

And I think a lot of it has to do with parent education.

There's a few things you don't know about e-bikes.

The the higher the class, the faster that they go.

The the grade of helmet that you use.

You can't use a regular bike helmet.

And a lot of parents don't even know that.

So having the properly graded helmet for the type of uh speeds that your e-bike has is very important educational component.

But the other issue has to do with the type of e-bikes or these electric motorbikes.

Um, one of the funny things that came out of the conversation, uh, the bike coalition was there along with the scripts, reps, and we had a conversation as they they called out the illegal e-bikes that were parked in the school facilities.

And so they've created them where they're kind of deceptive.

You don't know if it's an e-bike or not.

They've added kits to conceal the fact that they're really electric motorbikes.

And so we need accountability around this.

I'm very encouraged.

Please adopt this legislation.

It really would be such a benefit to our communities.

Thank you for your time.

That's all I have to say.

Thank you for your comment.

Our next speaker is Ross Tritt.

Good afternoon, Chair Von Wolpert and members of the public safety committee, and happy birthday to Councilman Whipburn.

My name is Ross Stritt here, representing assemblymember Tasha Berner.

On behalf of the Assembly member, I speak in support of item five.

And I also want to thank Vice Chair Campio for his leadership on this issue.

The assembly member originally authored this legislation because there was a surge of youth riders having e-bike collisions throughout her district.

And really, this is just common sense change that is going to be protecting our children.

So I respectfully ask for I vote and thank you so much for your time and consideration.

Thanks.

Thank you, Blair Beekman.

And Blair, you will be followed by Deborah Adams.

Hi, Blair Beekman.

It's nice to hear there's another Blair in this world, and she's female.

My mom named me Blair to for it to be interchangeable, male or female.

Thank you for this item.

Councilperson Lee, about a year ago or so now, perhaps a little more.

We had issues around scooters in the downtown area that were having accidents.

And the concepts of the electric fence, the geofencing was brought up then very nicely.

He was able to talk about the subject openly, and it was really helpful.

Any, you know, the work I do with tech accountability, any ways you can talk about the uh geofencing ideas that will be involved with this project, uh, it'll be helpful.

I know yesterday you had a uh consent calendar item dealing uh developing uh land and park issues uh in the East Village area.

It's a big project, it's and it has a lot of smart city components to it that um can relate to e-bikes, I think, and and the whole technology purpose around smart cities.

And uh I thought I would mention it this time as ways to be preparing uh for our smart city future that is going to include a lot of e-bikes.

And uh so good luck uh how you can be talking about this and how those practices uh for the young people here can be uh the tech involved can be open, clear, and accountable, and they don't have to fear having those conversations here, and we none of us do.

Thank you.

Thank you, Deborah Adams.

Deborah, you have been seated time by Catherine Douglas.

Each speaker will have one and a half minutes, so I'll place three minutes on the clock for you to manage.

Thank you for giving me this opportunity, and thank you as a former Girl Scout leader for doing such a great job.

I know you put a lot of work into it.

Um, I am uh resident of District One, and I'm part of a volunteer group that works year-round to maintain the safety of a public paved trail that connects Pacific Beach and La Jolla.

And so I see a lot of young e-bikers and bicyclers daily, um, many of whom ride respectfully and safely.

I want to point that out.

Um throughout the city now, we see young e-bikers riding in groups, performing tricks in congested traffic while they poke fun at confused drivers who are trying to maneuver in order to avoid hitting another biker or crashing their own car.

Both public and private property has been vandalized by e-bikers riding over landscaping and often removing signs and destroying vegetation.

I have seen e-bikers entertain each other while they buzz unsuspecting pedestrians, some of whom have fallen when they can't move out of the way quickly enough.

Many of them are seniors.

Objects like water balloons and rocks have been hurled at passing cars.

Some have manipulated the governors on their bikes to increase speed capability, speed that they are not mature enough to handle.

The Ray statistics speaks for themselves.

We have a problem.

Young lives are being interrupted by dangerous behavior.

Um, and often and often the older kids encourage the younger kids who probably are not even capable of handling these e-bikes.

I would go further than this ordinance in suggesting that we need to help our police uh rein in some of our repeat offenders, and perhaps that could happen by insisting that any bike entering a school campus needs to be registered with the picture ID.

That way we we know if we have repeat offenders, we can reel them in a little bit and speak to them and give them some strict warnings.

Um I clearly think too that we need consequences that are backed up so that these children know that they are they are accountable, as are their parents.

And I feel really uh strongly that whatever you're doing with the city ordinance is very important, and I applaud any effort that you're making to keep our children safe, and also the people that are subject to to reckless and malicious uh dangerous driving.

So thank you very much for your attention.

Thank you for your comment.

That concludes testimony here in chambers.

So I'll begin the five-minute timer for all those in the virtual queue to indicate if they wish to provide comment on item number five.

Each speaker will have one and a half minutes.

We currently have 13 hands raised in the virtual queue, and we will begin testimony with Lance Murphy.

Please unmute and begin.

Lance Murphy, please unmute and provide your public comment for item number five at this time.

All right, Lance, we will come back to you.

Moving on to Leaf Gensert.

Hello there.

My name is Life Gensad.

Um, I'm a citizen of North Park.

I do have an e-bike, I have a class one e-bike, and I'm very sympathetic to the call to providing higher safety to e-bike riders.

I really am, and we're in this weird situation where I agree with almost everybody that spoke, but almost everybody that spoke fails to show how the ordinance will change, will make a difference on what they actually want.

The e-bikes riding on the I5 will not be affected by this ordinance.

This ordinance addresses class one and class two e-bikes.

Class three e-bikes need to be ridden by kids 16 and older.

I'm very sympathetic to the Girl Scouts putting all of this effort, and I really uh I really like their cause.

Um, it's interesting that people say you feel like a 10-year-old again when this ordinance will actually take e-bikes away from 10-year-olds.

So in order to show that this actually has an impact, what you need to show is not only the number of e-bike crashes, you will need to show how many of these were in class one or class two e-bikes, and how many of the riders were under 12.

And then additionally, you also need to show how many of the riders are at fault for that.

So it is interesting that we have this ordinance that doesn't address any of the concerns that the people in the room have.

It just takes away the e-bikes from 12 years old and under.

So if you're under 12, no matter what e-bike you're at, no matter how safe you are, you will not be able to ride the e-bike anymore.

Thank you for your concluding remark.

Our next speaker is Zach Sturgeon.

Please unmute and begin.

Thank you.

I'm calling in from District 5 to speak against this.

Um last year, San Jose State published an analysis of e-bike safety in California that was commissioned through CA Stan Senate Bill 381.

Among their findings are that nearly 90% of the machines commonly thought of as e-bikes that children are riding are electric motorcycles that are already illegal.

We already have laws prohibiting these.

And that was found through a survey of schools that were beginning to check the illegality of e-bikes that children riding to school and uh banning e-bikes that were not legally class one or class two uh from their campus.

These machines are commonly labeled as e-bikes and accident reports by first responders.

Um because this is a new thing, and we don't have training on how to identify these.

San Jose State also published policy recommendations based on their findings, several of which are already moving through state legislature, such as AB 1557, which will address the uh some of the issues with illegally modified e-bikes.

None of these recommendations included an age limit on class one e-bikes.

None of these suggestions indicated that directing law enforcement to harass and chase children who look like they might be under 12 would benefit their safety.

This legislation reads like a knee-jerk response to me, and we deserve better to address this safety issue.

I urge you to vote no and use the San Jose State study to craft policy that will actually keep children safe.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Harry Bubins.

Please unmute and begin.

Good afternoon.

This is Harry Bobbins with respect Bird Rock.

I urge you to table or oppose this effort that would ban Sandy again's from riding some pedal assisted bikes.

I share the goal of keeping everyone safe on our roads, but this ordinance targets the wrong problem and punishes the wrong people.

It's a slippery slope of car brain to government overreach and dracronium bans via stunts to subvert parental authority.

If the goal is safety, we need to focus on the primary source of danger.

Cars and trucks.

Don't react to car brain anecdotes rather than evidence.

Dangerous behaviors are already illegal.

And if you bike or walk for more than one minute, you will see car and truck drivers speeding and blowing through red lights and stop signs, usually holding a cell phone.

That is the root of the collision data.

We kindly heard already today from the wonderfully engaged people.

We should enforce those laws for all road users, not create new restrictions that penalize families and San Diego's of all ages who ride responsibly.

E-bikes are a solution, not a problem.

I prefer all ages of students on pedal assist bikes rather than have them lining up in an armada of black idling or speeding SUVs in front of schools every morning and afternoon.

I smile seeing kids on bikes.

Let's build infrastructure that separates people from fast-moving vehicles rather than banning different ages of people from using clean mobility options.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Returning to Lance Murphy, please unmute and provide your comment.

Lance Murphy.

Moving along to Paige Apperson, please unmute and begin.

Good afternoon, Chair and members.

My name is Paige Apperson, and I'm here on behalf of State Senator Catherine Blakesphere.

E-bikes are an important part of a modern transportation landscape.

They provide affordable low emission mobility, help people replace short car trips and make bicycling accessible to more residents across our communities.

Because their popularity has grown so quickly, it's important that we put thoughtful safety measures in place, especially for younger riders.

The senator appreciates the city of San Diego's leadership in considering participation in the pilot program authorized by AB 2234, which allows local jurisdictions to prohibit children under 12 from riding e-bikes as a common sense safety measure.

At the state level, Senator Blakesphere is also working on this issue through SB 1167.

Legislation focused on addressing higher-powered electric motorcycles that are being marketed and sold as e-bikes.

We appreciate the city's leadership and look forward to continued collaboration to keep e-bikes safe and accessible.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The five-minute timer has concluded.

We have 10 hands raised in the virtual queue.

We will take no other callers beyond these 10 hands raised.

Circulate San Diego, please unmute and begin.

You will have one and a half minutes.

Good afternoon.

My name is Arya Grossman, and I'm the policy manager at Circulate San Diego Circulate advocates for improving safety for cyclists, and we're all for the city taking action to save cyclists' lives.

But I am not convinced that this will make anyone safer on streets.

The bicycles that would be targeted under this proposal are class one and class two e-bikes.

Assists on these top out at 20 miles per hour and a pedal bike can reach these speeds.

Further, many of the bikes shown in the vis video presentation earlier of uh bikes on the I-5 were not e-bikes, they were emotos.

This proposal will do nothing to protect against this unsafe riding shown in the video, which is already illegal.

Further, the radies data cited in the ordinance includes both e-bikes and emotos.

Further, we don't know if the e-bike or emoto itself was at fault in the crashes or if it was a vehicle.

How can we be sure that the class one and class two e-bikes targeted under this ordinance are actually causing these spikes and injuries?

It's just unclear the direct danger that class one and two e-bikes present to children under 12.

And I'm concerned that we don't have enough evidence to justify this proposal.

The proposal could have unintended effects, including unequitable enforcement, disincentivizing young people from cycling, setting us back on climate goals, and just limiting the mobility of San Diegans.

I ask that you begin a dialogue with circulate and the other bike safety advocates before enacting this sort of measure.

Thank you.

Thank you for your conclusion, concluding remark.

Our next speaker is the original.

Please unmute and begin.

Yeah, see, this is interesting because you guys and I I do want to start off by commending the girl scouts for coming in and um speaking to the um committee.

It's important to have public engagement, especially um as young people to come forward and understand how important this is throughout your life.

It doesn't stop now, it continues.

Um, but the things that you guys want to implement, and as you hear other people calling in and saying or speaking and saying that you know what you're doing is not really going to prevent what you claim.

And of course, we want to have public safety.

That is an imper a paramount um topic to to bring up and discuss.

But when you guys do the opposite, and it's kind of like a bait in a switch type of thing.

And when we see that you're implementing all of these things, and when some kind of new uh mode of transportation per se comes forward like this, um, you guys are going to be implementing the same things as people who drive cars have, like a license, like all of these regulations, like you're gonna have to have insurance.

So as you do these things, um, people need to look at the bigger picture and start to understand that everything that they do has a bit of control uh mechanism in it and to control the movements of the people.

And that's what you guys have been doing, trying to get us out of our cars, um, saying that we need to walk bike or public transit, but you're not providing the avenues in order to do that that is in a conducive manner for everybody to engage in.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is San Diego County Bicycle Coalition Coalition.

Please unmute and begin.

Good afternoon.

My name is Ian Hembry.

I am the advocacy and community manager for the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition.

Our organization opposes adopting an under 12 e-bike ban as permitted by AB 2234.

We have five primary concerns.

First, many of the issues raised about youth riding e-bikes can be addressed by enforcing existing traffic laws.

Second, this ordinance does nothing to address the group most responsible for the region's traffic safety crisis, dangerous drivers.

Third, the funds required for the public information campaign mandated by AB 2234 could be better spent elsewhere.

Those resources would likely have a greater impact if directed toward traffic enforcement.

Fourth, this policy would add another responsibility to an already overburdened police department.

Recent reporting by KPBS highlighted that the San Diego police department has reduced traffic enforcement in the city, limited enforcement capacity should be focused on dangerous driving behaviors that are killing people.

Fifth, e-bikes per provide important independent mobility.

Additionally, Councilmember Kempio's office did not consult our organization or other street safety groups to evaluate the potential benefits and drawbacks of this proposal.

We were also not engaged on the education component, meaning the overburdened police will have another responsibility added to their plate.

Finally, much of the conversation contains misinformation, many dangerous incidents involving youth riders, involve illegal electric motorcycles capable of speeds over 30 miles per hour, not legally defined class one or two e-bikes.

These vehicles are already illegal for riders under 16 without a driver's license.

Notably, no statistics in the press release news coverage or staff report show how many children under 12 are being injured on legal e-bikes.

Without that data is unclear what the benefits are, while the loss of mobility for kids could create unnecessary negative consequences.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is phone number ending in 5003.

You can unmute by pressing star six.

Phone number ending in 5003.

I see you have unmuted.

We cannot hear you here in chambers.

I'll give you another opportunity to speak at the end of our listing.

Our next speaker is Josh.

Josh, please unmute and begin.

Hello, my name is Josh Kenschall.

I am a resident of the University City in District 6 and also a CPG member.

I echo everything that has been said by the callers before me and will not repeat it.

E-bikes are a really magical tool that enable Sandy Higgins to get around our sprawling urban developments and through our difficult terrain.

We should be very careful in restricting their use.

Ordinance like this requires a scalpel, not a hammer.

But when all you have is the hammer, everything starts to look like a nail.

So this really feels like we're applying a van hammer when it's all we have at our disposal.

There are three tools that should be available to city government.

Those are enforcement, education, and engineering.

And all this does is enforcement when, as was highlighted by the Girls Council earlier, and thank you very much for your presentations.

This is an education problem.

So what they're doing is really addressing the problem of bad behavior using this magical tool.

The ordinance at hands, let's be clear, is going to ban kids from riding bikes.

That's what we're talking about here.

And that just seems like it's not going to solve anything as has been highlighted by the callers before.

So I really urge you to table the ordinance and go back to the drawing board and apply a scalpel, a much more targeted and more effective ordinance.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comment.

Our next caller is phone number ending in 8700.

You can press star six, and you will have one and a half minutes to provide your comment.

Thank you, Sarah.

Joyce in out of C D3.

Uh, Council Member, excuse me.

Um Vice Chair Campio.

Do you remember how you blew me away with your ability, your brilliance on the scooter issue, and how you took me through the many layers of regulations and codes that we had missed on some of them and how complex it is.

I'm sure you have covered those issues on this ordinance.

Thank you.

Now I want to say this.

They look like a bike, but they're loaded.

I just Googled it.

They can go up to 50 miles an hour.

They ride along where the yachts are by the Hilton.

And I walk there at night, you don't want to do it.

So I don't know what's happening with those huge bikes.

They don't look like motorcycles, they look like bikes, but they're huge.

So that's where I need help downtown.

Otherwise, I'm gonna leave this up to you, uh, Vice Chair Campill, because you're brilliant at working with this stuff.

Be sure that you've covered, I know you will cover all the legal bases that affect this ordinance, but give my issue some attention, whoever's listening.

Thank you, love to all.

Thank you for your comment.

Ne Bernardo, please unmute and begin.

Uh yes, this is Corey Bernardo, Nico is my son.

Uh avid cyclist or motorcyclist here, cycling industry over 30 plus years, designer, fabricator of bicycles, published in cycling magazines, uh, as well as a cycling merit badge counselor for scouting America.

I believe that while there's a positive intent with this ordinance, we do need refinement.

I would concur that it is about education.

Uh, some examples currently our law enforcement education videos focus on what looks like a motorcycle as opposed to some of the additional uh issues.

We need to consider uh we need to consider bicycling laws and signals, motor vehicle laws, uh, the proposal and the proposals.

Um, they tend to focus on speed.

And candidly, what I can say is that when you look at the I5, when you look at some of these infractions, it's less about the speed, which we'll come back to.

It's about uh throttle-based throttle assisted class to uh bicycles.

In addition, um we do any simple YouTube search will show the children and their parents.

Uh countless examples of the parents removing the governors from these throttle-based uh bicycles.

Uh so there are a number of uh issues here, and while I'm not sure.

Thank you.

This does conclude your time.

Thank you for your comment.

Our next speaker is Rachel.

Please unmute and begin.

You will have one and a half minutes.

Hi, my name is Rachel Graham, and I'm a resident of district five.

I want to make it clear that I'm very concerned with children's safety, um, especially many of the children who are riding e-bikes and other wheeled vehicles.

However, I am opposed to this measure because many of the bikes, as others have said, that these children are riding, aren't actually class one and class two e-bikes.

They're emotos that are already illegal.

We need to begin by focusing on the laws that we already have.

This can begin at the point of sale, so the kids aren't even having their parents buy them for these.

In addition, I think that we'd be better served by doing more to keep all kids safe, whether they're on e-bikes or more traditional bikes.

If children had more safe places to ride, we wouldn't see those bikes on the sidewalk, which I agree poses a risk to pedestrians, such as my mom, who is afraid of getting run over by a bike.

So let's give them a safe place, a protected bike lane to ride on instead.

In addition, let's focus on those dangerous drivers almost every single day.

I now wait about five seconds after the light turns green before I go because I'm expecting to see a car blasting through the red light.

So it's really the cars that are the problem, not these legal class one and two by e-bikes.

So let's focus on children's safety together by pursuing that.

Thank you.

Thank you for your testimony.

And the final speaker in the queue is phone number ending in 8813.

You can unmute by pressing star six.

Oh my gosh, thank you for taking my call.

I accidentally put my hand down in the queue, and then I instantly put it back up after the five minute timer.

So thank you so much.

Um, because I didn't know it was down or up.

Or anyways, okay, go and swallow here.

Okay, go on swallow here.

Um, okay, I'm all about safety, and um, but I do want to specifically speak to the girls in the chambers.

Um, there's nothing like having government tell you what and where to pedal and what and where you can drive.

This item is just another step towards penalizing the people while pretending it's about safety and efficiency and also drivers.

I hear a lot of people talking about talking bad about the drivers because that's what they want.

They want us not driving, they want to control our mobility and have your parents tell your parents where and when they can drive, and that's what this is about.

So we've seen this pattern over and over again.

Government control is almost always disguised as safety.

Be very careful what you ask government to protect you guys from.

Because once they step in, they rarely stop at protection.

They expand authority, create more rules, and collect more data.

And of course, collect more taxes.

Okay, remember that.

And the easiest way to sell it is always the same.

It's for the children, or it's for your safety.

That's how they sell it to you.

They like to do that.

Thank you.

This does conclude your time.

Thank you for your comment.

And Chair, this concludes public testimony on item number five.

All right, thank you very much.

Um, thank you to everyone who participated and commented.

And now you've been here at City Hall and you see how government and democracy works in action.

And I'll turn over to my colleagues for any comments, questions, or a motion beginning with Councilmember or Vice Chair Campio.

Thank you, Chair Von Wilbert, and thank you to the members of the public for your participation today.

As a parent of two young children and a former fifth grade teacher, this issue is very personal to me because we are seeing very real and significant injuries, serious life-threatening injuries involving children on e-bikes.

And I will no longer wait for another tragedy to strike before we do everything we can under state law to protect our children and our families to do the maximum that the law currently allows.

AB 2234 gives cities in San Diego County that tool.

And this ordinance before us is using that tool responsibly.

I'm grateful to Assemblymember Tasha Berner for her leadership on this issue.

She has been fighting to make e-bikes and roads safer for years, and I really thank her.

And I know additional legislation is pending from Senator Catherine Blakespear, and I intend to fully support her pursuit of more safety regulations.

Today we focus on AB 2234.

I also want to highlight the volume of written in-person and virtual public comment received in support of this policy.

I want to thank our Girl Scout troop from Tirasana, 4343, for expressing your concerns to my office.

Families and educators are clearly telling us that they want safer conditions and stronger education for children and parents alike.

This is the heart of this item.

Education, not punishment.

Implementation, of course, will be critical.

The state requires a 30-day public education campaign before enforcement.

I'd like to ask the mayor's office if they can go on the record today to fully commit to fully communicating this plan out to our entire city.

Yes, council member, we can fully commit to that.

Thank you very much for that.

I've also been speaking with uh San Diego Unified School Board Trustee, Shana Hazen, who supports the safety goals behind this ordinance.

Schools are essential partners in this important work.

We've also seen excellent examples at Poway Unified School District, which worked with SDPD and other law enforcement agencies to create a mandatory safety training video and a simple e-bike permit system for secondary students.

Parents or guardians must register the make, model, and VIN number of the e-bike before a student can ride it to school.

And after the city of Poway passed its own ordinance under AB 2234, the district prohibited e-bikes on elementary school campuses to protect their youngest children.

That goes beyond AB 2234.

But it demonstrates an important principle.

Schools can and should play a role in promoting student safety and responsibility in a way that the city cannot alone do.

So thank you very much to our city attorney's office, Assemblymember Berner, Senator Blake Spear and her office, and SDPD for your assistance, as well as our Girl Scout Troop number 4343 for providing public comment, and of course, our researchers at Scripps Hospital and Rady Children's Hospital for their continued work advocating for the safety of young riders and providing critical injury data to the public that shows we should pass this item.

I look forward to crafting the ordinance, and with that, I will move approval of the staff recommendation.

Thank you, Chair.

All right, thank you very much.

We have a motion on the floor.

Now we'll turn it over to Council Campbell.

Thank you very much, Chair.

Uh, and thank you very much for the presentation.

It was wonderful and very clear.

And I also have to thank my colleague, of course, Councilmember Campillo and uh all his staff uh involved, but especially you, Gary, for working on these safety regulations that are so important.

I before I forget, I want to second the motion right away.

The highest priority of this council is the safety of our residents.

The proposed e-bike safety regulations in front of us today are a pilot program and a first step to ensuring our young kids are safe on our streets.

So, in other words, this was passed by the legislature as a trial event to get data gathered so we know what to do better to ensure the safety involved with this new technology.

And in order to get legislation passed, especially on the state level, a lot of times you have to make compromises.

So even if somebody who was involved in this, such as myself, I'm a physician.

I would rather that any electric device ridden by children would start at age 16 at the very minimum.

So, but this starts at 12.

Now they had to make compromises in order to get this passed in the first place.

And remember, a pilot program means like it's a test run to get some data to see how it works.

So you've heard a lot of people speaking today, some for, some against this, for various reasons, and that's how it is in a democracy.

So we listen to all sides, and then we decide well, what is best?

And we on council are here to decide what is safest for our residents, as many of you have pointed out.

And I thank you for that, and I thank you for being here.

The e-bike issues impacting many neighborhoods across the district, including mine, and I can't in good conscious conscience allow for this to go onward without any safety regulations.

E-bikes can be dangerous as we know.

In the year 2025, Radie Children's Hospital tells us they had 262 pediatric e-bike case traumatic cases.

So these are big injuries.

Uh, and that law is also called the scooter law.

You might have heard of it, but it actually does apply to motorized vehicles of all types.

And uh it began because of the problem of electric scooters being rented by people, and then they ran into people and hurt people, and so we had to pass legislation for safety.

As it turns out, the scooter business didn't do too well and has pretty much left the city uh for now.

But in the meantime, now we have these e-bikes.

However, that law from 2019 still makes it illegal for those bikes to be ridden on boardwalks in Balboa Park or in Mission Bay Park.

So there's already a law in the book that's uh books that's helpful uh in many ways, but we need more, obviously.

So I am supportive of this item.

Children must learn the rules of the road so they can be safe as bicycles, even bicyclists without motors, and so later they are safe as drivers and have an easier time passing their driver's test because they already have learned the laws.

And so uh I am very much in favor of this, and uh I want to thank my colleague.

I look forward to the time when we have a stronger uh set of regulations on this.

I I agree with the registration.

I would like to see registration of all bikes.

I think that would help tremendously when bikes are stolen to get them returned to people.

However, there's a lot of other things we'd like to do, and we have to go step by step.

So I thank you very much for bringing this forward.

Um I think the 12-year-old thing is hard for a lot of people who are in favor of it because they do prefer it to be on a higher age, like 16.

However, uh, this is what we have.

This is the pilot program.

When you have a program like this where you're doing a study, you have to keep everything as even as you can.

So we've got to stick with the 12 years old at this point.

So thank you very much, and uh I am in favor.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you for the second.

And now turn to Councilor Whipburn.

Thank you, Chair.

Uh I want to thank Council Member Campillo for bringing this item forward.

Uh thank you, Ms.

Shaw for the presentation.

Uh I appreciate Mr.

Tritt from Assemblymember Berners Office for being here.

Uh, and thank you, of course, to Assembly Member Bruner for authoring AB 2234.

Um and uh Senator Blake Spears staff for weighing in on this as well.

I was very impressed with the presentation from the Girl Scout troop.

Uh I think it is great that you are taking action with the walk your wheels pledge uh that Blair outlined uh during the presentation.

Uh Emma pointed out that two of the neighborhoods with the most collisions uh are in neighborhoods that I represent, downtown and North Park.

I appreciate you calling attention to that.

Um to know that the Peninsula Community Planning Board has weighed in on this matter.

I also very much appreciate those who called in uh representing organizations uh that have been advocating for increased mobility options and bicycle safety.

Two things that I absolutely support, as we all know, as they know, uh, and they have been very effective in securing policies and infrastructure that have made bicycling safer and more possible uh in our neighborhoods, and we certainly owe them a debt of gratitude.

Too many bicyclists have died or been injured uh on the streets uh in San Diego and certainly in the neighborhoods that I represent, uh and I have strongly supported efforts to reduce those deaths and those injuries.

The way I look at it, uh this item is an extension of those efforts uh by improving the safety of kids on bikes by limiting their exposure to danger.

I agree with the points that were made by the mobility advocates today.

We should do more to enforce our existing traffic laws.

I think that most in our police department would agree with that.

Um we have found our officers stretched thin, and it has been a question of resources.

Uh I also agree that vehicles are the greatest danger to bicyclists, that public education is supported, and also that we don't necessarily have proof that precluding uh that precluding kids uh aged 11 and younger from riding class one and two e-bikes will have a big impact.

But this measure certainly isn't going to make it less safe for those kids, and I think that it may well make it more safe.

We will see.

Uh I will look forward to seeing the data that will be gathered as a result of AB 2234 in conjunction uh with this pilot program, and in the meantime, I am going to err on the side of safety.

Um I also want to note that kids under 12 will still be able to ride standard bikes.

Like I did when I was a kid, not to sound like an old man, which I'm rapidly becoming, but there was a day when we just had standard bikes and we all got there.

So uh, but this only applies to uh to e-bikes, uh, and I will be in support of this.

So thank you.

All right, thank you very much.

Um, thank you.

We've heard from our our colleagues, we have a motion and a second the floor.

I also want to thank uh Carrie for your presentation and the work on this very important issue, and thank you to Councilmember Campillo for taking this on as well.

Um, I also want to thank our friends at the assembly.

Uh Assemblymember Brunner has been a great advocate on this effort.

I remember when I got to see her e-bike video that she produced and uh enjoyed, and to Senator Blake Spear, who's also taking this very seriously.

And I know that their efforts come from some pretty tragic incidents up in North County where children have lost their lives on e-bikes, and it's been really awful to see.

Um I don't think the state of California would be taking action on this if it wasn't something so serious to the lives of children.

I also do understand the need to get people out and on bicycles, as Councilmember Whitren noted, regular bicycles will still be allowed under this ordinance.

Um I've personally ridden e-bikes, and I've been quite surprised by the the quickness with what say accelerate as well.

Um, not just the top speed, but suddenly I'm used to pedaling and having to work up a momentum, but you hit that throttle and you are just going.

And that surprised me as the adult rider.

I can't imagine being 10 or 9 years old and being able to hit a throttle and hit a maximum speed in a park.

Uh, we just saw a really horrific accident in Scripps Ranch at Jerobek Park with an 11-year-old who had massive trauma after an incident.

It very well could have been an e-motorcycle.

I do understand what the advocates are saying that there are differences between these.

Um, but we've seen other incidences in our district as well with e-bikes.

So I do have a couple of questions.

Um there was a somebody who wrote in a public comment.

There was a significant amount of written public comment on this as well, which is available for the public to see.

I highly recommend people read them.

And one of the questions was could the city require a clearly visible coder color-coded registration sticker to be affixed to an e-bike.

That way parents, teachers, law enforcement can definitely see, oh, this is a class one or class two e-bike versus uh an e-motorcycle or a class three.

And so I just we'd have to, I don't know how we would implement that, but I just thought it to think about going forward in the future.

Um I also agree that we should participate with the school districts and educating young folks.

I love um, you know, Mandy, what you said about you will lose the privilege to park your bike here if you don't abide by basic rules.

And that applies when students turn 16 as well in driving cars.

You will lose the privilege of a driver's license if you do not abide by the rules of the road.

Um so I'm glad to hear that uh Shana Hazen um is also on board.

And if you need anyone in Powell Unified School District, I'm sure the folks up in my neck of the woods that also be happy to help.

Uh I know they're already doing quite a bit of education Power Unified.

Um, but and also for the the coalition, you know, I I appreciate the bicycle coalition calling in and circulate San Diego.

Um, there is still plenty of time to engage in this discussion.

Today's vote is actually not on an actual ordinance, although I do appreciate my lawyer friend here in Vice Chair Campio drafting an ordinance for public review, uh, but it has not yet been through our formal city attorney process.

So today we are not actually voting on the rules or an ordinance.

We're simply voting on taking action for the council to engage and council for Campio to bring an ordinance forward for full council.

So there's still plenty of time for the bike coalition and for Circulate San Diego to engage.

I would love to hear their thoughts on this as well in my office because it is an important discussion.

We do want increased mobility options in our city.

At the same time, when I wake up and I see the front page of the Union Tribune a few days ago, having an article from Reedy Children's Hospital showing the increased trauma to children, and when we have actual Girl Scouts, the people who are affected the most coming down here and telling us about their own lived experience as young people and asking us to draft this ordinance that weighs heavily on my heart.

So I appreciate you uh very much for being here.

Um we'll have more questions as it goes forward, but again, this is just to start the conversation and get something on the books.

Um, there's plenty of time to talk and advocate to your city council members before this goes into full uh a full council hearing in the future.

So I just want to thank you very much for taking this so seriously.

Thank you again to all the young people here who are calling in.

Know that your voices matter.

Um, and uh I will now take the vote.

And item five passes unanimously four zero.

All right, wonderful.

Thank you very much, and thank you to everyone for coming in.

We're now going to move on to our next item.

We're going back to the top of our agenda.

Uh Sarah, please introduce item number two.

Thank you, Chair von Wilbert.

Item number two is authorization to enter into a contract between the city of San Diego and PMAM Corporation to provide an alarm permit software as a service.

And if you're watching on City TV or the live stream on line and you'd like to dial in to speak to this item, please call 1669-2545252.

And when prompted, input webinar ID 161-398-0144 pound.

Okay.

Chair.

Thank you very much.

Our presenters come in.

Please uh introduce yourselves for the record and let us know how much time you'll need for your presentation.

Good afternoon, Council members.

My name is Lieutenant Dan Hall, San Diego Vice Unit.

I'm here with uh uh my sergeant and alarms uh expert in uh alarms permitting.

We anticipate our presentation be roughly seven minutes.

Okay, please proceed.

All right.

Uh right now we are gonna discuss the authorization to enter into a contract between the city of San Diego and a PMAM Corporation to provide an alarm permit software as a service.

City of San Diego requests approval to enter into a contract with PMAM Corporation to provide an alarm permit software as a service for a total term of 10 years, and a total not to exceed amount of 96 uh 946,383 from the police department's general fund.

Proposed action adopt an ordinance authorizing the mayor or his designee to execute for and on behalf of the city contract with PMAM Corporation for the purchase of the alarm permit software as a service in the amount not to exceed $946,000 383 for a term of five years with the option to renew for an additional five one-year terms for a total of ten years.

Adopt an ordinance authorizing the chief financial officer to appropriate and expend an amount not to exceed the again stated amount 943 946 from the general fund police department over a 10-year term of the contract, contingent upon adoption of the annual appropriations ordinance for the applicable fiscal year and contingent upon the chief financial officer furnishing a certificate certifying the funds necessary for expenditure are or will be on deposit with the city treasurer.

Chapter 3, Article 3, Division 37 of the San Diego Municipal Code establishes a regulatory framework for police regulated burglary and panic alarm systems within the City of San Diego.

The police department is responsible for the administering and enforcing the alarm permit program to ensure compliance with permit requirements and false alarm reduction standards.

Operationally, the alarm permit program requires the department to process new alarm permit applications and renewals for residential and commercial alarm users.

Maintain an accurate database of active alarm permits and alarm company regulation restrictions or registr registrations, I'm sorry.

Track alarm activations and identify excessive false alarms in accordance with municipal code thresholds.

Assess and collect permit fees and false alarm service fees.

Generate financial compliance and performance reports to support cost recovery and program oversight.

Administer and track formal appeal process, including independent review of submitted documentation, issuance of written determinations, adjustment of assessed fees in accordance with municipal code requirements, and reinstatement of alarm permits when applicable.

Due to the volume of permits, alarm activations, fee assessments, and appeals processed annually, efficient system management is crucial to ensuring accurate record keeping, timely customer communication, consistent enforcement, and reliable revenue collection.

Implementation of a modern software as a service platform will enhance automation, improve tracking, and documentation of appeals and enforcement actions.

Strengthen reporting capabilities and support all operational efficiency within the police department.

This action requests approval expend a total not to exceed amount of $946,383 from the police department general fund.

The fiscal year 2026 not to exceed the amount of $197,500 and a available in the department's general fund.

With that, we'll conclude our presentation.

Thank you very much.

All right, please open up for public comment.

Thank you, Chair.

We've received one slip here in chambers.

Blair Beekman, if you will please approach the lecture, and each speaker will have a minute and a half to provide comment on item two.

Hi, Blair Beekman.

I wish I had a better understanding of this item to provide information.

It sounds interesting in forms of information sharing and clarity and how to work well internally.

Umternal reporting is important, I can say.

Thank you.

And I'll begin the five-minute timer for all those in the virtual queue to indicate if they wish to provide a comment on item number two.

We will begin with phone number ending in 870.

You can unmute by pressing star six, and you will have a minute and a half to provide comment.

Uh thank you, Sarah.

How much time do I have, please?

One and a half minutes.

Thank you so much.

Uh Joy Sonia C D3.

Uh, first of all, before I make my comments on the EOC, I I don't know how you do enforcement with the false alarms and enforcement in general.

I'm beginning to get more and more how critical it is that we don't have enforcement because of vacancies and so forth.

So thank you for all you do.

We understand what you face.

Okay, so workforce uh report, EOC, uh total employees 30, all in admin, uh five employees are black female, ten employees are Hispanic female.

So those are interesting statistics under representation, African American in sale, female in tech.

Uh now I'm gonna look into this in the future, because I noticed it says subject to cities CEO, C E E O outreach program, ordinance 18173, community code section eight sections, contracting ordinance, non-discrimination, seven sections.

I don't know what that's all about.

It's a bunch of numbers to me, but I'm gonna Google that and they'll Google tell me they're getting so good at telling me.

So I'll look into that and see how that relates to the underrepresentation and how we're monitoring it and improving it.

So thank you.

This does conclude your time.

Thank you for your comments.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is the original DRA.

Please unmute and begin.

You will have a minute and a half.

Man, you guys love making people get permits for everything.

I feel like at a certain point it's like just to breathe, we're gonna need a permit, or even to hey, call in or even participate in the meetings.

It's gonna be like you need a permit to do it.

We're not sure if you're gonna be able to meet the requirements and able to do that.

And it's always like this revenue source.

You know what I mean?

It's like first of all, you you require alarms to be in certain places, like if somebody wants to do like a cannabis uh outlet or whatever.

You're like, you need to have an alarm system, like the police have to come, there's all these regulations, and you you require that, and then you penalize for like having a false alarm, right?

And it's like, would that not be whatever the alarm system is?

Then you're the people that actually paid for that alarm system.

You're like, we're gonna charge you extra money because we had to come out because it was a false alarm.

I mean, it's just it's like any way you can encroach on people's ability to just live freely, you guys do.

And it's crazy because it's all about revenue and compliance, and you guys don't comply with anything.

You don't comply with your oath that you took to the Constitution, you guys violate that all the time.

I mean, it's crazy.

Compliance.

I mean, how about you comply and not let people you know die at Tent City and have to have people coming in and being like, I'm gonna be kicked out.

You probably didn't even go and talk to those people.

It's just it's so nuts.

It's like, I mean, we're gonna have to let you know if we're gonna go number one or number two eventually.

So at least you guys will make money off of it, right?

Thank you for your testimony.

Our next caller is phone number ending in 8813.

You can unmute by pressing star six, and you'll have a minute and a half.

Phone number ending in 8813.

I see you have unmuted.

We cannot hear you.

Oh, sorry about that.

My device was muted.

Can you hear me?

We can hear you, please proceed.

Okay, great.

Thank you.

Okay, yeah, no, I'm just chiming in to say I'm paying attention.

I'm here.

I don't exactly really understand the item, but yeah, more permits.

Um, as the previous uh concerned citizen just mentioned, the caller, uh Audra.

I uh totally agree with everything you just said.

That's my comment.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And chair, this concludes public testimony for item number two.

All right, thank you very much.

Um, we'll turn over to my colleagues for any questions or comments or motion, beginning with Council Cable.

Thank you so much.

Thanks for the presentation.

I just have a couple of really quick questions.

Um is this this the same well, first of all, let me say thank you because uh having been a person who had these kinds of systems in the home, it has been extremely helpful to know that you guys were on it.

It really was.

And so I want to thank you for that good work.

Um, of course, they have to be permitted, otherwise, there's no way you would know that they exist, and you know, onward and onward, just makes good sense.

So thank you for for all of that.

And I uh I wanted to know if this is the same company as has had our past uh contract.

Good afternoon.

Um currently we're using a system is called CRIWOOF, and they're no longer providing services once the contract ends.

Okay, well, I I want to I want to thank you for that information, and I'm glad that you found a vendor that you feel can carry on and do a good job.

And um I I wanted to ask you if we could say that this would be an example where civilian workers who work with the police department or employees of the police department uh can handle a lot of the work that's involved with this.

Of course, you wouldn't go out on a burglar alarm to catch the burglar, but otherwise, all the work that's involved with with keeping the registration current and the software up to date, etc.

Currently, we do have a professional staff of civilians that do assist us with this.

Uh there's a lot of uh mailing and exchange of permanent fees and issuance that is largely done by our civilian staff.

I think that's wonderful.

I I so appreciate them taking a little bit of something.

Um your list of a million things that the officers have to do.

So uh I would like to make the motion that we approve this and uh approve staff's recommendation, and I want to thank you for bringing.

Thank you very much.

Um now, Councilor Whitburn.

Thank you, Chair.

I'll second the motion.

Uh just one quick question, understanding that the current software that we're using is not going to be available any longer.

Uh is the new software that we are acquiring going to be able to do as good or better job than what we're currently using.

Actually, that will be much better, Councilmember.

Uh currently the system we're using now does not interface with a lot of the software that we're currently using.

So, as far as transparency, tracking, the ability to show better data, huge increase.

Good to hear.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

All right, thank you very much.

Um seeing other questions or comments.

Thank you for the presentation and the work on this.

And now uh let's take the vote.

And item two passes unanimously 40.

All right, thank you very much.

We'll now move on to item three.

Sarah, please introduce item three.

Thank you, Chair.

Item number three is authorization to execute a second amendment to the contract with PWG LP doing business as POWA weapons and gear for firing range rental services.

And if you're watching on City TV or the live stream and you'd like to dial in to speak, please call 1669-2545252 and putting webinar ID 161-398-0144 pound.

Chair.

Thank you.

Uh please introduce yourself to the record and let us know how much time you'll need.

Good afternoon.

Um my name is Mike Ramsey.

I'm the captain of training division for the San Diego Police Department.

Sitting next to me is my range master, Sergeant Justin Tenenbaum.

I will need about seven minutes.

We're here to um obtain authorization to execute a second amendment to the contract with Pow A Weapons and Care for firing range rental services.

The San Diego Police Department requests approval to execute the second amendment to the contract.

Uh this request is approval to amend the contract to with Power Weapons and Gear to increase the not to exceed amount of compensation by 1.1 million dollars for a total not to exceed 4.1 million dollars.

The proposed action is to adopt a resolution authorizing the mayor or his designee to execute for and on behalf of the city a second amendment to the contract with Powway Weapons and Care for firing range rental services.

And like I mentioned, to increase not to exceed the amount compensation of 1.1 million for a total not to exceed 4.1 million.

A quick overview of the needs for the training division when it comes to firearms training for the San Diego Police Department.

This is the duties and responsibilities of the unit.

The department trains its officers to perform their duties to the highest standards and to make decisions that are fair, lawful, and based on good judgment.

The San Diego Fire San Diego Police Firearms Training Unit is responsible for the training and qualification of all San Diego police personnel on firearms, all firearms platforms.

This includes pistol, patrol rifle, and shotgun, and less lethal munitions.

Firearms trainings and qualifications are conducted for all sworn employees, authorized civilian staff, and several San Diego fire rescue personnel.

Additional duties of firearm training unit staff requires a firearm range, included agency-specific training and qualifications for new police academy graduates, quality qualifications for retired law enforcement personnel, remedial training, coaching for personnel failing to maintain the required standards, testing and evaluation of firearms and less lethal platforms and facilitation of San Diego PD crime lab firearms testing.

In September 2022, the San Diego Police Department executed a sole source contract with PAWA Weapons and Gear Range Rental Services for a one-year period with four additional one-year options to renew for a not to exceed amount of one point 1.755 million dollars.

Under the agreement, the contractor provided a 50-yard indoor fire range that meets the minimum requirement for other qualifications.

In January 2023, the department with a modified sole source certification amended the contract to increase not to exceed the amount of $1,755,000 to $3 million.

In September 2025, purchasing and contract it certified an additional modification to the sole source to increase the not-to-extend exceed amount from three million to four million one hundred thousand dollars.

And I will give you a um background informational details on how we got to this point.

In May of 2022, um you probably most remember that the San Diego Police Home Avenue range was closed.

Uh at that time, the department executed an agreement with Power Weapons and Gear for a not not to exceed amount of the 1,755,000 for one year with a four-year option to renew.

At that time, the contract was to provide only three days of firearm services a Monday, uh Tuesday and Thursday of exclusive use of their range.

The department later determined that three days was insufficient for its training needs to amend the contract to increase the not to exceed amount.

That's where it creased to the three million dollars.

The amendment was amended.

The amendment to the contract uh allowed five days a week of training, which is Monday through Friday, essentially 16 hours a day.

This change increased the fees from the daily rate of 2025 to a weekly rate of 17,500, thereby accelerating the depletion of the contract not to exceed amount.

Initially, it was unclear how long home avenue range would be closed, and the department anticipated returning its training operations to home avenue, not uh realizing the um working with the county what the re remediation of that property would involve.

Currently, the home avenue range remains closed with no anticipation of an opening date in site.

The department is requesting authorization to spend the additional 1.1 million dollars to have sufficient funds on the contract for the fiscal years, the rest of 2026 through 2027 and a couple months in fiscal year 2028.

The contract exp itself the uh for execute the five years of the of the contract option ends on um 912 of 2027.

Any questions?

Okay, thank you very much for the presentation and uh please take any public comment.

Thank you, Chair.

We've received one slip here in chambers.

Blair Beekman, if you will please approach the elector, and you'll have a minute and a half to speak to item number three.

Hi, Lawyer Beekman.

Uh I've been noticing with your city services programs uh in the past few months.

You've been bringing items, uh new contract issues that have been surprising and exceedingly long.

That you know, they've been like 10 years, 15 years at a time, which um in one way is kind of interesting.

It offers a bit of a guarantee and uh I don't know, a good a good trust, I suppose that can develop.

In other ways, it just seems a bit unrealistic uh and in working that way.

In this item, you're at least I I can hear the words of five-year uh contract, which is a reasonable to me amount of time.

I'm questioning what also I'm noticing recently is that it's been really high numbers of what uh you know, additional add-ons to contracts that have been asking for.

Um you had an item uh just in this past week that uh I I really seriously I can't remember it now, but I really questioned it.

Uh it didn't get any question from council that was surprisingly high.

It was over a million dollars for things, oh, copying issues.

You had a copy uh c with your copy uh, you know, facsimile things, it was over a million dollars in new services that this sort of item is doing the same thing.

I mean, I'm used to numbers of like 500,000, not a million in updating contracts.

Can that be questioned here overall in city policy at this time?

Thank you.

Thank you.

That concludes testimony here in chambers.

So beginning the five minute timer for all those in the virtual queue to indicate if they wish to provide comment on item three at this time.

We will begin with phone number ending in 870.

You can unmute by pressing star six, and each speaker will have a minute and a half.

Thank you, Sarah.

Uh Joyce and yeah, the C D three.

Uh, I have to say this.

You know, last year when I really studied uh what a police officer has to go through when they respond in in a crisis.

I was blown away.

Uh I'm a former body worker.

I was blown away by what the eye has to do, the eye, the mind, the brain, everything.

I was just blown away by the extremely tiny window they have to use their gun to do their responses.

It's unbelievable that they can do it.

So this kind of uh preparation and range is you know, the range is just so terrific.

Um I love the pledge of compliance that was combined with the workforce report.

It ended up being 19 pages.

Uh it included living wage ordinance, which was a separate item, the uh living wage ordinance certificate of compliance.

I'm not used to seeing that, so that was great.

Twenty-eight employees, uh, ten white male, seven white female, five Asian male, uh in the EOC under representation with Latino female in services.

So this is so so vitally important to our police officers and everyone.

Thank you for your work on doing this, and thank you, SDPD.

I love you for what you do for our community.

Thank you.

Thank you for that concluding remark.

Our next speaker is the original DRA.

Please unmute and begin.

Man, any contract you guys get into, you're like, because it's the government, they always charge us more.

What are what are we getting for this kind of money that's being spent um at this range?

Uh a million bucks, and it's like you guys always do your contracts and say this is a not to exceed amount, and then we're gonna exceed this amount by this not to exceed amount so that this next not to exceed amount cannot be exceeded.

I mean, why do you guys keep saying that when you just always exceed it?

It's I don't like shouldn't you just kind of change the way you're doing things now?

Because you just want to pull wool over people's eyes.

But again, like no wonder why the police department has you know t word like severely in debt because of them, and they need so much more money.

It's like because of this.

Why can't you go somewhere?

Like, and I again I just why is that costing so much?

Like, what is the breakdown of that cost?

And is that beneficial to us when it's like you guys want to sit here and take our firearms but make sure that you know all these people in costumes are very well equipped to use theirs and against too.

Who's the threat?

Is it the people?

The people are the threat that you need to know how to use these firearms against, because the police have killed a bunch of people um due to negligence and just opening their firearms on them, all while you want to make sure none of us have a way to protect ourselves, but that you guys and your mafia does.

Good to know.

It's very clear what you guys are doing.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is phone number ending in 8813.

You can unmute by pressing star six.

Okay, Quinsola here, still paying attention.

And uh wow, that was really excellent.

That was excellent points that um the previous concerned citizen just pointed out.

Gosh, so much to think about with this item.

And um, yeah, I too appreciate the police.

But yeah, just as um Audra pointed out, you know, it's like when they're the only ones with guns, it's kind of like who's the threat, you know.

People gotta really start thinking.

I mean, honestly, you guys should have these um these meetings like live on on the TV, you know, where people can just really start to critically think and pay attention to what these meetings uh consist of, and it's just gosh, it's amazing, amazing information that we get from the people, actually.

We get a lot of the same from the people on the dais, but when the people chime in, you get a lot of great uh points, and I just I gotta think of ponder on what Audra just said.

Gosh, that was amazing.

Amazing.

That's all.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And Chair, this concludes testimony for item three.

All right, thank you very much.

I'll turn over my colleagues, um, beginning with council member Campillo.

Thank you, Chair, and thank you to uh our uh our police department for their good work on this.

Uh, thank you for your presentation.

Uh this is um it's one of those things that we have to have as a city if we're going to be able to operate and uh fulfill our obligations for public safety, uh considering that this is the only qualified vendor capable of meeting our required operational safety and scheduling needs to train for firearms for our police officers uh and supporting all mandatory California post qualifications for 1,800, more than 1800 sworn staff and other authorized civilians and some fire rescue personnel.

Uh, this is one of those things we have to have.

So I really appreciate uh your good work putting this forward.

Obviously, uh a much more ideal situation would be for us to have a city-owned operated firearm training center that we could then charge other people to come and use from across the county.

Um but since this is our our best and only alternative, I appreciate your good work.

I will move to approve staff's recommendation.

Thank you very much.

Um Council McCampbell.

Uh thank you.

I'd like to second the motion and second everything uh my colleague just said.

And uh I am delighted to hear the training is included in this.

I think that's probably the most expensive part.

I really appreciate the training.

Uh and I I appreciate the whole system because this is so very important.

And I'm sure that safety in use of these uh weapons is also included.

I know that.

And um, so training training them to be able to think clearly and just a flash a piece of a second uh when to use lethal force is very, very important, as well as then using it correctly.

So I I really uh just want to say that I am in favor.

I was glad to hear that I believe this is about 20 months of of coverage for this item, which makes it again not nearly as expensive as sounded.

Um I at first I thought it was only for a year extension.

So I'm glad to hear that it goes through to September 12th of 2027.

I think that's uh very reasonable, and I want to thank you for all the work on this.

And I second the motion.

Thank you very much.

Uh thank you for bringing this forward.

I know that actually CNDOPD requires our officers to go through more training than a lot of our competing jurisdictions around us when it comes to firearms, which we should.

Um I've actually visited the range and um Sergeant, you did a great job explaining to us exactly what people need to go through to keep qualified on a variety of different firearms.

If goodness for it, they have to be used.

I'm glad that we are doing the qualifications and using the extra time.

I too am sad that we are not able to have a city-owned range at this point, but that is another example of the city not taking care of its infrastructure and letting it go too long, uh, long before any of us in this room had control over it, and uh we're not able to use it.

We also need to make sure that our officers who are in the training rooms are safe from exposure to lead and other things, so it's critical we do have a firing range that does make sure that happens.

I do hear we are going to be switching to lead-free ammunition at some point.

Is that correct?

Yes, that is something we're gonna be in the process here soon, at least start to implement that.

Okay, fantastic.

I do remember when there was a statewide law to do that with uh hunting ammunition, so that when there's um animals who might get it in the forests in the wilderness, they're not lead poisoned either.

So humans, I think we should be doing the same thing as well.

Um I do have a question.

So the reason that we are increasing the not to exceed now is because we're exercising the additional year options.

Correct.

Okay.

Um what is what what are the thoughts and plans going forward for after the uh September 2027, which will probably come quicker than we think.

Uh so that's what we're working very hard on to look for those options.

Um, and so that's our main focus and number one goal for the training division at this point moving forward.

Okay, got it.

Um I know that's not easy to find a firing range that we're willing to give up so much time to the city to do training.

So uh let us know how we can be helpful in the future.

But I'm glad that we are making sure our officers are trained as we go and that it's a safe environment for those who are providing the training.

So I will um thinking other questions, comments.

Nope.

Okay, then uh please take the vote.

And item three passes unanimously four zero.

All right, thank you very much.

We appreciate you.

Um we will now go on to item number four on our agenda.

Sierra, please introduce item number four.

Thank you, Chair Von Wilbert.

Item number four the authorization to execute a first amendment to the contract with file on Q Incorporated to provide software, licensing, and maintenance and support services for the property and inventory management systems.

And if you're watching on City TV for the live stream online and you'd like to dial in to speak to this item, please call 1669-2545252.

Inputting webinar ID 1613980144 pound.

Chair.

Thank you.

Please introduce yourself for the record.

Let us know how much time you'll need for your presentation.

Oh, you'll need to turn on the little microphone.

There you go.

My name is Joseph Schneider.

I'm a program coordinator for San Diego Police Department overseeing IT operations and applications, and I'll need about five minutes.

Okay, please proceed.

All right.

Uh good afternoon.

Uh as I stated, I'm the program coordinator here with San Diego Police Department.

Um I'm joined today by subject matter experts from our crime lab property room and operational support to discuss this proposed contract amendment for a suite of file on Q uh applications.

Okay.

So a general overview.

Uh the department seeks to extend this contract with file on Q for software licensing, maintenance, and support services for the following three applications.

Uh, first one evidence on Q, our property and evidence management system, start on Q, the sexual assault response team application used for sexual assault evidence kit tracking, and finally, quartermaster, which is in the asset and inventory management system.

These applications are designed to integrate with each other.

Uh, for example, start on queues, start kit impounds connect to impound records and evidence on queue.

Uh summary for the proposed action the the current agreement with file on queue is set to expire at the end of this fiscal year on June 30th.

So we are requesting a contract extension for these applications for an additional one-year term with four optional one-year terms and a total not to exceed term of 10 years with a not-to-exceed amount uh by $650,000, bringing the total contract not to exceed amount to 1.3 million dollars.

Okay.

So the first application, evidence on Q, um, is the property management system used by the department.

Uh, the system tracks all impounded property and evidence all the way from intake to authorized release or disposal.

System features include automated notification systems, information gathering, and chain of custody accountability, enable our property unit staff to be more efficient and effective in their critical work for the department.

Second application is SART on Q.

Start on Q facilitates the tracking and processing of sexual assault kits from hospitals and allows stakeholders, including nurses, detectives, and lab technicians, to upload required information into the Department of Justice's sexual assault forensic evidence tracking database called safety.

And in compliance with Senate Bill 215, uh the DOJ's survivors of sexual assault website allows survivors to access kit status information stored therein.

And lastly, quartermaster.

Uh quartermaster is an asset management system used to track and assign equipment to persons or commands units throughout the police department.

Uh equipment such as helmets, digital recorders, body restraint devices, tasers, body warrant cameras, stop sticks, and others can all be tracked by the equipment type, serial number, or assigned user location.

Okay.

And just to reiterate from the earlier slides, so the fiscal consideration here I already touched on earlier in slide two.

And lastly, just to conclude, um, our subject matter experts, as I mentioned, are here to answer any specific questions on the individual applications.

I'm just a humble IT guy, so I don't want to speak for them on the operational side of things.

We just kind of support it on the back end.

Um so uh that concludes my comments, and we're available for any questions you have.

All right, thank you very much.

Um please take any public comment on this item.

Thank you, Chair.

We've received one speaker slip here in chambers.

Blair Beekman, if you'll please approach the lector, and you'll have a minute and a half to provide your comment on item four.

Hi, Larry Beekman.

Thank you.

I don't know if I quite said it clearly previously.

Uh Oakland is in the process of leaving Flock.

They've made a compromise plan that over the next few years, Flock will still be in Oakland.

But in that meantime, they'll be looking and scouring for a good new ALPR vendor, and that's a whole community process to work towards that.

I think it's a great way to view uh how to address the future of issues like Flock for our communities.

Uh thank you.

Uh, I wanted to quickly mention um, well, I wanted to mention that um this item uh is similar to uh two items ago, and that it's good to hear uh the internal review mechanisms going on uh within uh police and that it's here at the public process.

Thank you.

Um the work of body cameras and the like is really important.

Um to quickly mention I hope we're doing good health studies on the effects of body camera usage on a person's chest day after day, year after year.

Um I hope that can help this process in some way and overall uh data and collection statistic taking.

Um yeah, just a good luck that we are working uh that these uh these sort of this sort of information can be an open public process, and then we work towards that, and thank you that you are here.

Thank you for the words of Council and Campbell uh previously about uh spending, how spending can be used for de-escalation training.

Thank you.

Thank you for your concluding remark, and I'll begin the five-minute timer for all those all those in the virtual queue to indicate if they wish to provide comment on item four.

And as a reminder, each speaker will have a minute and a half.

We will begin with the original.

Please unmute and begin.

It's interesting you want to protect animals from lead that are being hunted with firearms that have lead in them.

Anyway, it's equity all around, right?

Um, yeah, this is interesting because all of these software programs that you guys have, and this is for property and inventory management systems, which involves you know, even sexual assault kits and different things, and we sit here and we talk about ALPR and the data that's being shared, but we have all of these other software programs that are collecting data on a massive scale.

And what are those subscriptions like for the uh software uh providers and entities that they uh contract with as a get third party um that they're selling this data information to it's very detrimental.

So if we're gonna be talking about protecting one certain demographic or group of people uh from you know sharing data, then we should encompass that with everybody in our community and make sure that the data that is being collected is not being sold, is not being shared for any kind of reason that is going to uh bring detriment to the people.

And you know, when you are putting things in there that have anything to do with the the property, even I mean, that should be something that is um needs to be protected as far as the city goes because nothing is secure, no matter how you guys want to put all this stuff in the cloud system and and act like you're putting in all these measures where there's always going to be a nefarious actor, and I don't think that we're accounting for that, and that needs to be mitigated.

Thank you for your concluding remark.

Our next speaker is phone number ending in 870.

You can unmute by pressing star six.

Thank you, Sarah.

A minute and a half.

Yes.

Thank you.

Sorry.

Uh okay.

Uh 10 years.

Uh it's okay in one late, but it's too long for me living in the new digital world that I do almost full time and wait.

Um, I'm an older adult.

But uh make sure that in that contract you talk about updates to the equipment, okay?

That's critical.

Uh all three components of the keys or however you label them, they're so valuable.

Thank you so much.

I I rather uh appreciated extra the uh quartermaster information.

So here we go, workforce report, 36 employees, all admin, 15 white males, 11 white females, EOC report, underrepresentation, female, African American in tech, Latino, and tech and sales.

So I I really support you.

Uh this is just critical.

And it's just another piece of the police department that has to be in place, it has to be monitored.

But one more thing, humble IT, I get it.

And it was beautiful, beautiful way that you said that.

And I put a high IT weight to the top of the list.

So anyway, uh thank you.

It was uh uh very appreciated and an intro to all.

Thank you.

And Chair, this concludes comment on item four.

Thank you very much.

Um, and I will take any comments, questions, or motions from council members in starting with Vice Chair Campio.

Thank you, Chair, and uh thank you to our staff for their presentation.

Uh, of course, this is incredibly important for us to actually prosecute crimes that are being uh where defendants are being arrested to make sure people are being held accountable and victims are receiving justice, also to prove innocence of people who are accused of crimes as well.

This all works in our system of justice.

Uh I'm happy to move approval of this item, uh staff's recommendation of this item.

I just got to give a quick shout out to uh Travis Hambe, a former part of the executive detail who's a good friend of everybody up here to see him here and knowing he's doing a great job uh with our property and inventory management.

It's good to see you, Travis, and I salute you.

And that concludes my motion.

Oh, one last component.

I do want to absolutely mention this.

The the start on cue, the sexual assault tracking kit and reporting, we know from many uh constituents of ours, that is absolutely a critical piece, super important.

I know every council member has talked about this at one point or another, and I know our police department takes it seriously.

So thank you for including this and continue to do the good work on that and keeping up to date so that we can continue to uh have justice in that area of criminal law as well.

And that concludes my motion.

Thank you very much.

Uh we'll turn to Council Mark Campbell.

Thank you so much.

I uh uh just adding on to what my colleague just said, I have a question about the system uh for tracking sexual assault kits among other things that that system does.

I'm wondering how fast now we are able to get results.

I know when I first started council seven years ago, we were backed up a couple thousand rape kits, and that was taken care of and um caught up to date.

And I just wondered do you have any data on how fast we go now?

Good afternoon.

I'm Captain Michael Swanson over the crime lab.

Um we've eliminated that backlog that used to cause the delays, and so now we shoot for 60 days to get those uh results back in.

Get the DNA results within 60 days.

I know it takes uh quite a bit of lab work to get those back.

And then I'm really happy to see that the victims now.

It sounds like the victims can actually look up their results online because of the system.

Is that correct?

That is correct.

Yeah, I think that's that's really helpful.

And their attorneys, I assume, if they give their attorneys the privilege of doing that.

They would they would have access, so whether they give access to their attorneys.

Yes, right.

I know it's hip a laws.

Yeah.

Excellent, excellent.

I'm just um so proud of the of the uh progress that has been made and that you guys are doing such a great job with it.

And I want to thank you for that.

I second the motion.

Thank you very much.

Um I also had a similar question about making sure that we are on time with our sexual assault kits.

Uh so one of the things that this is enabling victims to do is to electronically interact with their own kids and see where they are in the process.

Correct.

Okay.

That's in compliance with uh 215.

Okay, got it.

Um that is hugely important.

Um maintaining our evidence uh chain of command is also hugely important.

Otherwise, as counselor campio noted, we would not be able to prosecute and use evidence in court.

So I'm uh happy to support this item.

I just have one comment to make for both PD and our humble IT, which you shouldn't be more than humble.

We we rely on you every day for everything.

Is it the software providers?

If we need changes made for our own systems, or we we notice a flaw or something, do we have to then ask them to make the change on the back end, or are you able to kind of manipulate the software on yourself?

So it depends on the extent of the change, right?

Um so an example of that would be if we just need to add a new field to a form, let's say, right, that someone's filling out.

Um the current system is is amenable to doing that without uh intervention from or too much intervention from the vendor.

But if we're talking about kind of a much larger scale change, right, um, that would require uh vendor uh input.

Okay.

We often sit up here and we approve extensions to contracts with software programs because they're working genuinely well, but I also know from being at the city for seven, eight years now that sometimes our vendors are not as amenable to making the changes that we need.

And so my advice is just simply use this council opportunity as a way to maybe bring down the hammer sometimes on a vendor if you need a change that uh might not be as hard as they might make it seem to say, hey, well, we're coming to council soon, and then you know, we need to get this done before they're gonna approve an extension.

Because believe me, if any of you come to any of us up here in the dias and say, hey, we're having real problems with this vendor, we want to keep them.

However, we could use a little more flexibility on their end, we would all support you in that.

Uh having been a deputy city attorney and knowing some of the case management files that we sometimes had to clog our way through.

I'm happy to help make sure that our software vendors are performing to their fullest extent.

The taxpayers are getting the best deal for their banger for their buck.

So just know we up here would support you if you ever did need help making sure everything is working properly.

So um I appreciate you very much.

Thank you for your good work in this.

And that goes to any city staff or department who needs help with the software vendor.

Uh so I think those are our comments or questions.

Thanks for the great work.

And uh, Travis, very good to see you again.

Uh we miss you at City Hall.

But um, I'll take the vote right now.

And item four passes unanimously four zero.

Thank you very much.

All right.

And now we'll move on to our last item, item five.

I want to thank our presenters for sticking it out with us today.

Uh for item five.

We had quite a few young people speaking in the beginning of the uh of the meeting.

So we want to give them uh all our full time and attention.

But now we'll take up our is it item five or six?

Oh, I'm so sorry.

Item six.

Uh we'll now take up our information agenda.

Item six, Sarah, please introduce our final item.

Thank you, Chair.

Item number six is the no shots fired intervention and prevention program update.

And if you're watching on City TV or the live stream online and you'd like to call in to the meeting to speak to this item, please call 1669-2545252.

Him putting webinar ID 161-398-0144 pound.

Chair.

All right, thank you.

Thank you again for being here today.

Um please uh turn on the mic and introduce yourself and let us know how much time you'll need for your presentation.

All right, beautiful.

Hi, Council members.

Nice to see you again.

We'll need about 10 minutes, and Bishop is gonna take the lead on this.

Okay, please proceed.

Oh, there we go.

Well, thank you, uh, Chair and Councilmember Martin von Whipard and to the council members of this committee's public safety.

Thank you for having us here today.

And um it's been an honor, been a while, but good to see you all again.

Um I want to give I want to give a report on um the cost of violence report.

Is it's kind of like a summary.

The whole report you can you I sent Eric a link so you can download the PDF and get the whole report on the cost of violence report that the uh national uh institute for criminal justice reform actually uh did a study on the violence here in the city of St.

Nagel as far as dealing with gun violence and what the cost would be for homicide and what the cost would be for an uh a gunshot injury.

And so I I want to give a I'm gonna I'm gonna give some summaries on that.

Uh but before I do that, I did just wanted to share with you all some of the work that we are doing here in um uh the city of San Diego and even the region of San Diego.

Uh right now we have um a contract with um SBCS and we go into the achievement centers and some of our team members here, they go in there.

We also have a contract with uh San Diego Youth Services and Spring Valley.

We go we go in there and facilitate groups with them.

Uh also with Core Six, was formerly known as Pavement Grade Futures.

We work with their youth, uh Sandigal organizing project.

Uh we work with their youth.

We actually um this month wanted to King Chat Vest and start working with those students.

Uh we also work with Logan Hike CDC and we go in and facilitate groups with them also.

We have a gun diversion program that we've had for a few years now.

And um we from in any given time we have about 40 to 50 individuals that are in the program.

And it's based on a state law that if they complete the program, our program, which is 12 to 18 months, they can um have their second amendment's rights restored because the charges will be dropped.

Uh these charges are misdemeanors, charges will be dropped.

Uh we collaborate with uh the public defenders and the judges, and also from time to time with the city attorney's office.

And so that with that program, what we also do is have them to uh take the California um public safety test farts for for guns to be able to uh purchase a gun.

Now you have to take a safety class and you have to take a state test.

And you have to pass maybe 75%.

So we cover all that for them.

They go through that class also.

It's mandated that they take that class because there's some real good information in there for them to uh learn about uh gun safety and and so on.

So uh those are some of the things that we go, of course.

They go through that class also is mandated that they take that class because there's some real good information in there for them to uh learn about uh gun safety and and so on so uh those are some of the things that we go of course we're uh still doing violence interruption disruption gun violence prevention gun violence intervention we also have a contract with UCSD now where we can when there are shootings and individuals um uh like if we get notified from the police department we can notify um UCSD of the individual because most times they go under a trauma code so it's hard to find them and they won't let us see them unless we have their trauma code.

So we have a uh contract with UCSD and so we reach out to the trauma coordinator and they will find the the the uh the patient the victim and then we are able to get in there connect with that individual and offer wraparound support services our focus has still been um gun violence that relates to gangs that's the primary focus we've been focusing on but our team has been state certified uh to do domestic violence also and anger management so those are some of the areas we are looking to dive into also uh and the last thing I'll just say before I get into the presentation here is uh we have an app I know look at the time we have an app that we that we're creating and we're waiting for the app store to approve it or what have you but this app my son he's uh one of these and we call him a geek nerd whatever but he knows all that good old stuff so I asked him to create an app for me for when there are shootings right so this app will do a lot for us um and it can bridge the gap and we uh for community intervention and for social services providers the tools that provide is public safety day data risk analysis uh community treat triage tools and it helps identify emerging violent violent hot spots and so uh we just click and it shows us where the incident happened the street and so on and it notifies us when when incidents do happen it covers about seven days or so I'll be more than glad to come back and share that but I I'm really excited about that because I think that's gonna really help us to get on top of a lot of the uh the gun violence and different other types of violence that happens in our city and in our community and that's why we're here because we really want to um share with you all about some of the human and economic uh toll of gun violence in the city of San Diego and so um uh as I mentioned earlier the National Institute of Criminal Justice Reform they actually did this um study for us they reached out to the police department uh DA's office uh EMT and um the D uh uh the the um the sheriff's and so on to get a a a uh what is the cost for shooting for a homicide or what is the cost uh for an individual that gets injured and so what they came up with when they when they looked at this they they found that um there is a huge amount talking about in the millions that the city has to pay for each homicide and for each gun uh shot injury so they looked at from um 20019 to 2023 and they broke it down into categories and so they looked at violent crimes um they said it increased this was during COVID from 2021 to 2022 uh there was a slight increase in violent crimes in that time we know during the COVID everyone in every state and every city saw violence crime rise uh they the basically said the homicides average is 28 annual and I'll touch on another piece on that because it it goes up higher when you look at a different year.

And they the study found that this it uh gun when you're talking about gun homicides and shootings it disproportionately impact the black residents.

Uh black residents are 9.9 times higher homicide rate than white residents when it comes to gun violence and so the impact of the violence you're looking at the immediate response costs emergency response medical care investigations it's four million per shooting when you're talking about homicides and and so the the of course the community toll we're talking about trauma uh we one of the things that we've always said is that when an individual when a shooting happens in our community it doesn't just impact that individual but it impact over 250 people in that area and so you're dealing with a lot of trauma in the community when you're talking about gun shootings especially with someone die or someone get injured.

I also want to know as a team we got Bobby Bobby Wood, Robert Wood, and um Alvin Hayes Alvin Hayes got shot in in uh January of this year doing this work um got shot in his calf or what have you he's recovering now we thank God for it but just shows the danger of the work that we do when we're out there because we have to go into these hot spots where the where the gangs are, where the drugs are and violence sometimes can disrupt and happen if we go at the wrong time can't uh can happen if we go at the wrong time.

So I did want to acknowledge that and my team members some of the team members that are here today and so on.

When you look at when you uh uh compare from 2019 to 2023 and 166 non-fatal shootings uh each year uh uh if you look at that time.

And so the cost for uh we're talking about the estimated cost is four hundred and eleven million dollars if you look at those 48 homicides.

And um and per shooting, as I mentioned earlier, it was four is four million, and non-fatal is one point three million.

And so one of our goals is to reduce gun violence, right?

You know, when we talk about the homicides, we're talking about the shooting.

So reducing gun violence by just 20 percent could save 82 million dollars a year when you when you look at the work that we do and you look at the cost of gun violence and so on.

That's the kind of money that the city can save uh in regards to that and so on.

So we're we're taking a proactive um uh strategies and and we're doing a lot of different things, uh as I mentioned earlier.

But one of the the the study the the study, one of the things that they found is that they looked at the uh the CalVIP that I think just ended with the city.

City had a uh 3.65 uh million dollar uh three-year contract uh grant, I should say, with the uh the state, which is Cal VIP California violence intervention and prevention.

That just ended.

I think they kind of extended a little bit, but it just ended.

Amanda's been working with them on that.

Shafad and the no shots fire, we we're not a part of that that uh that funding there or what have you, but Bevelin Bravo, who works with uh UPAC at Monster Man Action, she works closely with us, and Core Six, forming on the pavement grade futures, they work closely with us.

So we do work with those two groups, and they do support us in the work that we're trying to do as far as getting out there and um trying to uh interrupt the violence, working with victims and so on.

So I I did want to um mention that.

And so when you talk about community-based programs, they the what the uh the study showed is that we should be targeting youth and gang violence, right?

A lot of times when you hear individuals say that they're doing um programming, right, especially when it comes to gun violence prevention.

Many times these individuals that are that they are are providing services and support to, these individuals are really not involved in the gun violence, right?

You know, they they might be in a in a at-risk area, high-risk area, and so on, but many of them are not involved.

So, what we do is we actually target the gang members that we know that are doing the shootings that we know that have the highest risk and highest potential of engaging in gun violence.

And so we go specifically and directly to them and engage them.

That's one of the things that Alvin was doing when he got shot when he was out there in the community and so on.

So that's I would say that's the difference between us and many other different programs is that we actually go to the individuals that we know are committing the violence, so we don't play with numbers and say, okay, we reached a hundred people, but maybe only five of them was actually uh engaged in gun violence.

So instead of going to the 100, we go to the five.

So that and and we can um that way save the city a lot by identifying those individuals that are actually involved in the violence.

One of the things that uh study um uh some research has shown is that if you're going to reduce gun violence violence, uh you have to identify specific crime, uh especially when you're relating to gangs, and go after that, right?

And so that's why we identify gangs and we identify gun violence because SANDEC reported that 100 percent of homicides in gangs, the weapon that was used was a gun.

So that's why we chose the gun crime as far as uh uh dealing with uh gangs and so on.

So one of the things we we we want to do is continue to prioritize prevention to save lives and tax dollars, and that's uh what this is all about is so we our call to action is strengthening our partnerships and funding to break the cycle of a violence and so on.

And so uh we want we and we thank we we're thankful for the city for investing in in us, right?

And we really appreciate it, and we want to continue to build those partners to invest in safe uh private neighborhoods for the city of San Diego and so on.

And so, of course, with us, they uh the uh the cost of violence report did mention us because we don't want to commission them to do this report, and we get 250,000 from the city.

But one of the things that showed is that serving 60 youth at $4,000 each, that's $240,000 right there, and we serve several hundreds of youth each year.

Um if you look at all the work that we're doing.

And and so um uh let me uh I'm gonna go down right here, kinda run out of time here.

So targeting youth intervention could prevent costly violent incidents, saving millions per case.

And so when you look at our program success, 97% of the individuals that went through our program and we followed them, and we used to arrive with SDPD six months after they complete our program, 97 percent were not rearrested.

And then when we look at uh the resiliency, we test them.

Uh we do R and Rs before they come into our program and then after, and there's a 96% increase in resiliency.

So our program has been effective in really helping and working with these individuals and bringing change to our community, and we just want the city to know that and we appreciate everything you've been doing for us, and we're looking forward to continuing to doing this work with you all.

Thank you.

Thank you very much for the great presentation, and now we'll open it for public comment.

Sarah, please proceed.

Thank you, Chair.

We've received one speaker slip here in Chambers.

Blair Beekman, you will have a minute and a half to provide comment on item six.

Hi, Blair Beekman.

You know, I was here back in October, you know, trying to work on flock issues and tech and good tech practices and all the good stuff.

And uh I went up to Oakland and the Bay Area, and man, they're working so well on this stuff.

I mean, they're the city of Oakland.

I mean, they're really making a really coordinated effort to um for all parts of the community to be addressing you know tough issues of gun violence and with social services, not police, not technology, you know, and and it was it was so refreshing that to talk about technology in terms of how it's relating with people, you know, trying to help the situation.

They spent a lot of time on it.

So when Trump came in, you know, with all his uh, you know, new uh government agents last fall, uh he left the Bay Area, partly I think because of all the good work that Oakland is already doing.

We don't need they don't need uh, you know, additional officers because they're their their crime rates are way down.

They're doing amazingly good work.

Um San Jose has a very uh traditionally good uh gang uh task force that works with community.

Uh they can be really good reference points for yourselves and what you're working on with this, and uh boy, just never forget the work of what uh Oakland is really striving for.

I think they're creating a real example for the country at this time, and uh good luck what you can do here.

Thank you.

Thank you for your testimony.

I'll begin the five-minute timer for the all those in the virtual queue to indicate if they wish to provide comment on item six, and as a reminder, each speaker will have a minute and a half.

We currently have four hands raised.

We'll begin with the original.

Please unmute and begin.

Yes, of course we care about gun violence, and we want to protect our communities.

Um I just see a bigger picture here where you guys are coming after everybody's guns, and so you use different things to do that.

Um I appreciate the work that the community does, but I think we also need to look at you know the circumstances that lead to what is taking place when when you know the world around us is crumbling, you know, people make irrational decisions.

And so I feel like if things were better in the life around us, which is your guy is his job, you're supposed to be making things in our community better, not worse, not making people you know get to a certain point where say they had to go rob a store just to get food because they can't even you know afford to buy it because of the amount it costs for them to just live in the community that you guys have created, and we don't get to the root cause of the problems much of the time.

You want to go after like a weapon or whatever it is to control the people, but if instead of just you know uh automatically medicating people and things like that, we need to be getting down to the root cause of the problem of even like why people are homeless.

Why are they in dire straits?

It's not because they choose that, of course.

Well, there's gonna be some people that do, but for the most part, these people have been put into a situation and they're just trying to survive.

So, you know, if we change the world around us, all of these types of things will will change within that realm.

Thank you for your testimony.

Our next caller is phone number ending in 8700.

You can unmute by pressing star six.

Uh Sarah, do we have a minute and a half?

Correct, minute and a half.

Okay, thank you.

Uh Joy Sunyata C D three.

Thank you for the excellent presentation.

Dear Speaker, you are the real deal.

You are a hero to me.

You go to the five.

Thank you.

Yeah, I want to kill you welcome.

I want to go to my uh introduction to gang violence.

And it was the agenda item was uh like you're doing today, and in the audience with a gentleman, a young man who had come up with the gang uh environment and had a story to tell, and he told me it after the meeting, and he told me about how generational legacy that this way of living your life is in the family, and it's it was passed on to him generation to generation to generation that blew me away.

And I have so much compassion for these gang members.

I just if any of you are listening, I love you.

I understand what you're going through just a tiny bit, and I just want you to know you have my compassion, and and we're out there to help you in any way you can we can.

So thank you for the work.

It's thank you.

This does conclude your time.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comment.

Our next caller's phone number ending in 8813.

You can unmute by pressing star six, and you will have a minute and a half.

Okay, concolo here.

So what I uh wanted to say was thank you for that presentation um to the gentleman.

It was uh very thorough, but it was missing a few things.

You mentioned things like anger and uh the COVID lockdowns and how people were uh more violent back then.

That was all by design, that was all on purpose.

Um, but what you didn't mention was the source as to why this violence takes place and what um you know the reasons why it goes on for generations, as Joy was mentioning that she was talking to somebody anyways.

The thing is is that the source you can't get to the source because government is at the source, and they'll never take the blame.

They'll always give you band-aid solutions and fund this, fund that.

But they don't want a peaceful society, and they want everything uh they want control of everything, and including your guns.

So, as um the previous speaker, Audra mentioned, this is just an incremental way to go about taking the people's arms.

This is exactly what is happening.

And it's so sad that people are not paying attention and they don't see that, and they're not supposed to see it, because as I said, they move incrementally.

So all of a sudden it's just like, oh, there's a violent gun story here.

Thank you.

This does conclude your time.

Thank you for your comment and chair with no other hands up and the five-minute timer exhausting.

This concludes testimony on item six.

Thank you very much uh for everyone for commenting, and we'll now turn over to our council for comments or questions to begin with Councilman Whitburn.

Thank you, Chair.

Thanks for being here this afternoon, and thank you for the presentation and of course for all you do to interrupt and deter gang violence uh in the city, uh, particularly uh with young people.

Uh and I wanted to specifically uh express appreciation for the work you did with those who were involved in the pellet gun attacks in Hillcrest, uh, so that they could better understand the impacts of hate crimes on members of the community.

Uh that was impactful and uh appreciated.

And you also said monthly updates to our office, which uh we get and we uh thank you for that as well.

So thank you, and thank you, Chair.

Yes, thank you.

Uh yeah, thank you for being here today and for your continued work over the years with the city.

I want to one say thank you very much for helping us be one of the safest big cities in America.

Again, uh, you know, public safety is a whole community effort.

It involves not only police officers and firefighters and ambulance drivers, it involves community advocates in schools and after-school programs and um all of you in the No Shots Fired program.

Albert, I'm very sorry to hear that you were shot in the process.

Um, I'm glad you're okay.

Uh, but thank you for doing the work that you've done uh to literally intervene in gang violence.

And the fact that our murder rate was down in the city of San Diego again this year is is thanks in part to your organization.

Um, you are part of our public safety apparatus, and we're very grateful that you do the work you do.

Uh, I know that I've spent time with all of you when we have the National Gun Violence Memorial, for example, and we hear from the victims who have lost not one but multiple members of their families sometimes to gun violence, and um I see the way that you stick by their side and you don't ever give up.

So I just I appreciate you also explaining the true cost of gun violence, uh, you know, because we here at the city have to deal in fiscal terms all the time with budgets, but the rip the ripple effects that go through the community of gun violence uh mount quite a large fiscal cost in in addition to a human toll as well.

So I think it was a good idea that you have a study to show us exactly what's happening.

And and can you just give the community an update?

I too, all three of us actually up here on this dias are all you know, members of our LGBTQ community, and so we're grateful for the work you did uh when there were the hate crime shootings in Hillcrest.

So can you just give us an update about how you worked with the the shooters to change their behavior?

Yeah, it was um full wraparound.

So I usually don't work with Menties, but I am also part of the LGBTQ community.

So we were doing a presentation at the gang commission, and one of the private lawyers was um representing one of the young men, and she on the side was like, Hey, would you be willing to work with him?

And I said, you know, we have our no shots fired program that they can go through.

But she said that we needed to do an LGBTQ component.

So me and uh Tyler Renner from the San Diego Pride, I brought him on board.

I was really uh careful about it because I was in this position where I'm from the community, but I'm also very restorative working with No Shots Fired.

So I approached um Bishop about it, and then all three other lawyers said, Hey, can you take all the defendants?

So we started off with uh Bishop and then James, James and then Jonas, right?

And Alvin.

So there was about four mentees working with them for the first six months, and then for that first six months, myself and Tyler were in the background coming up with the curriculum.

We had never done it before.

Again, I don't usually mentor mentees, but I I took it on with Tyler.

So once we were ready to launch that, uh, we met with them on a monthly basis and went through different elements of the history around the LGBTQ community, and they just really got to voice what it was like for them.

And you know, I know it's a little controversial saying this, but it wasn't ever intended to be a hate crime for them.

They were really just young men driving down Hillcrest, not even knowing what they were doing where they were, but they really got to see the harm that they caused, and so we did that for a whole year.

So it was the first six months just with no shots fired, and then we brought in Tyler each month, and then we did the presentation and report.

We gave it to the DA's office.

We worked with D with the DA's office and all four defendants or public defenders throughout the whole process.

So it was very, very wrapped around collaborative ecosystems approach.

Um, and then on the day of there was a victim that came out and did a testimony, but also showed um compassion for the defendant.

So it was just it was just an incredible process.

You saw them taking accountability, and then you saw one of the victims who you know said that he was still traumatized, but still had compassion for them.

So it was just it was one of those moments where it truly restorative process worked.

Yeah, so that's that's where it is.

And we're gonna be doing um a media uh next week with Bishop Tyler and Chief Wall.

So we're trying to keep up with um the the young men, and they're continuing, right?

With with the mentorship.

I don't want them.

Yeah, yeah.

What a couple of them they're they're not required to anymore, but they saw the an impact on it, so they're continuing with us.

Fantastic.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

You're welcome.

Yep.

Um, Bishop Amanda Alvin, everybody, thank you for your your incredible work here.

And uh that's you know, you couldn't think of a better outcome of of not only just accountability but also healing in the community.

So um very, very grateful for your work, uh, very grateful for your partnership with the city, and we look forward to continuing to make San Diego the safest city, uh, largest city in America.

Uh, but thank you for your continuing to work and for coming in here today and for being part of our very long meeting.

We appreciate you.

Uh shorter than the budget season, so yes, yes.

Uh but uh I appreciate you guys um doing the work you do, and we can we look forward to continuing our partnership together, and um I think that's brings that to the end of our meeting.

So thank you very much for your this is an informational update, so no item or no motion is required.

Um, but we will now uh bring us to the end of our agenda.

And thank you to everyone who participated today.

Thank you to our staff, our IBA, our city attorney, um, our our uh council admin staff.

I will now adjourn this meeting of the public safety committee meeting to our next next regular scheduled meeting on Wednesday, April 15th, 2026 at 2 p.m.

We are adjourned.