Joint Rules and Open Government Committee and Committee of the Whole Meeting - May 28, 2025
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Joint Rules and Open Government Committee and Committee of the Whole Meeting - May 28, 2025
The meeting was convened at 2:00 PM and adjourned at 2:37 PM. The committee reviewed final and draft agendas for upcoming City Council meetings, approved consent calendar items, and discussed a proposed temporary moratorium on new smoke shops in San José.
Consent Calendar
- Received and filed the Public Record for May 15–22, 2025.
- Authorized travel for Mayor’s staff (Michael Lomio and Stephen Caines) to attend the Harvard Young American Leaders Program in Cambridge, Massachusetts, from June 24–27, 2025.
- Approved free use and funding for the Silicon Valley Pride 50th Anniversary event on August 29, 2025, and accepted donations. The item was placed on the June 3, 2025 City Council agenda for action.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Blair Beekman spoke on several items: regarding the June 3 agenda, he expressed concerns about electronic billboards and smart kiosks, urging transparent public engagement on technology. On the June 10 agenda, he commented on the code of conduct for encampments, referencing challenges in San Diego and advocating for humane enforcement. During Open Forum, he discussed homeless issues and the need for responsible technology governance.
- Darcy Green (Executive Director, Latinas contra Cancer, East San José resident) spoke in strong support of the smoke shop moratorium. She noted that East San José has more than double the county average of tobacco retailers and that cancer remains the leading cause of death for Latinos, drawing a connection to the concentration of smoke shops.
- Danny Garza (community leader and advocate) spoke in strong support of the moratorium. He described his grandson’s experience at San José High School with vaping and smoking, and called for action to protect youth and seniors.
Discussion Items
- Review of June 3, 2025 Final Agenda: Chair Cohen reviewed items including consent pages and public hearings. The agenda included a sunshine waiver for item 8.3 (Consolidated Plan FY 2025-26). Public comment was heard. Motion to adopt the agenda with the sunshine waiver carried 5-0.
- Review of June 10, 2025 Draft Agenda: The agenda includes a closed session at 9:30 AM, regular session at 11:00 AM, and an evening session at 6:00 PM. Discussion focused on ordering items to balance the workload. Staff agreed to review the order. Public comment was heard. Motion to adopt the draft agenda carried 5-0.
- Temporary Moratorium on Smoke Shops (ROGC 25-197): Councilmember Ortiz introduced the item, stating it is a pause not a ban, to address overconcentration of smoke shops in neighborhoods like East San José. A Santa Clara County report found East San José has twice as many smoke shops as any other area. Cancer is a leading cause of death for Latinos. Staff reported that this fiscal year there were 18 new applications and 14 cancellations; total businesses dropped from 600 to 575 after the flavored tobacco ban. Councilmember Doan asked about Richmond’s 45-day moratorium model. Staff indicated they would look to peer cities. The committee agreed to refer the matter to staff for a workload analysis, to return in two weeks.
Key Outcomes
- June 3, 2025 Final Agenda adopted with sunshine waiver (5-0).
- June 10, 2025 Draft Agenda adopted (5-0).
- Consent Calendar adopted (5-0).
- Motion passed to refer the temporary smoke shop moratorium to staff for a workload analysis; item to return to Rules Committee in two weeks (5-0).
- Meeting adjourned at 2:37 PM.
Meeting Transcript
Okay, it's two o'clock, so we're gonna call the meeting of May 28th of the rules and open government committee to order. Let's start with roll call, please. Candeles here. Duan. Here Foley. Cohen. Here. We have a quorum. All right, thank you. We're going to start by reviewing our agenda for the June 3rd council meeting. Meeting is scheduled to start at 9 30 and continue at 1 30 for regular session. Were we talking about this one start having a potential early start or not? Not for June 3rd, but I believe for June 3rd. Okay. Okay. Um consent starts on page five and continues on pages six. 11 12. I feel like the count. Ha ha ha. 13. 14. And ends on page 15. And section three, we have the uh annexation area of community facilities district for number area, district number 11 and section 3.4, district number 8. Section 6, public hearing on sewer charges, public hearing on garbage charges, and public hearing on San Jose Muni water charges. On to section 8, 8.1, deferring the digital billboards. 8.2 community participation plan 8.3 consolidated plan fiscal year 2025-26. There is an ad sheet amending that item. We need a sunshine waiver. So the motion could should include the sunshine waiver first 8.3, 8.4, loan commitment for affordable housing development gateway tower. Scope of work for the envisioned San Jose General Plan 8.5. No items on land use. And we will start with public comment. Blair. Hi, Blair Beekman. I'm here for one more week. Hi to everyone. I'm interested in item 8.1 that's going to be uh deferred to June 17th, which is about uh the future of electronic billboards in the Willow Glen area, I think. And um it'll a study session process will be done. I I'm not sure if that's quite the right place, but a study session for future electronic billboard use. And I'm concerned um and worried about it as always, along with the smart kiosk projects uh for downtown San Diego. Um I mean San Jose. I'm not a big fan of uh the electronic billboards or the smart kiosk, and I hope within this study process uh an important study is the conversations that you had on previous electronic billboards at the airport, and uh what was that conversation with the public like and what how were you actually engaging with the public and what was shared, what information was safe in the public space to share. You guys have an incredibly hard problem to share technology information in the public space. It's a really important point of mine that I think you guys really have to make an effort as a part of this studies process to learn how to be more honest with the community about what the technology is going to be doing. I don't know why you guys can't do that. It I don't think it's that difficult, but you we've made it into this big national security drama where we have to re protect and respect everything, so we don't share anything, and that's a really wrong approach, and we gotta it has to be a community uh process in the future, a responsible process, and that means sharing the information of what's going on. Um we have ways to do that now. I hope we can all do it together coming up. Um good luck how we can do that. Uh thanks a lot.
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