The City Council of San José met on April 22, 2025, at 1:30 PM in Council Chambers. The meeting began with ceremonial proclamations for Earth Day, Arbor Day (celebrating San José's 40th consecutive year as a Tree City USA), and National Fallen Firefighters Weekend. The Council then adopted a consent calendar, heard public testimony, and debated several major policy items, including the Welcoming San José Plan 2025-2030, the Market Street Garage Improvements Project, San José Clean Energy Programs, the Climate Smart San José semi-annual report, and the Consolidated Annual Homelessness Mid-Year Report. The meeting adjourned in memory of Nguyên Trung Chinh (aka Chinh Nguyên).
Welcome everyone. I would like to call to order this meeting of the San Jose City Council for the afternoon of April 22nd. Tony, would you please call the role? Campos. Present. Salas. Here. Cohen. Here. Ortiz. Present. Mulcahi. Here. Don. Here. Candeles. Here. Casey. Here. Fully. Mayhan. Here. You have a quorum. Great. Thank you so much. All right. Now, if you're able, please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. Thank you. Today's invocing will be provided by Ann Spainhauer of the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge. And Councilmember Cohen will tell us more. Thank you, Mayor. In honor of Earth Day, I wanted to highlight one of the great outdoor locations in District 4 up in Alviso. We along the shoreline there have the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Anne Spainhauer is the refuge manager for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. She has a master's degree in environmental studies and is an expert in endangered aquatic species and risk management. As a refuge manager, Anne manages 30,000 acres of bayfront lands along the southern half of San Francisco Bay that supports Self March Marsh Habitat, nine threatened and endangered species, and provides green space for people living around the bay to enjoy the outdoors and engage in nature study and recreational activities. Anne. Thank you very much. As we gather here today on Earth Day, please join me in acknowledging the deep interconnectedness of our communities with the natural environment. A little bit about Earth Day. Earth Day began right here in the United States just 55 years ago, and it's now observed all around the world. On this day in 1970, an estimated 20 million people, Americans raised their voices to say it was time to prioritize the health of our environment because our individual and community well being is deeply intertwined with the health of the world around us. Some tragic environmental events spurred the nationwide call to action, such as a massive oil spill that occurred off the coast of Santa Barbara that contaminated over 40 miles of California coastline. And then there was the Coyoga River in Ohio, which caught fire in 1969. And there was severe and widespread smog in cities like Los Angeles and New York that made it dangerous to breathe. These events galvanized people from neighborhoods to the national stage. People united around a shared concern for our future. Their voices helped launch a golden decade for environmental progress, leading to some of the greatest accomplishments in the United States environmental history, such as the passage of the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and the Endangered Species Act. It also led to the establishment of the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge here in your backyard, which was one of the first urban national wildlife refuges at the time.