Afternoon, everyone.

Welcome.

It's my pleasure to call to order this meeting of the San Jose City Council for the afternoon of August 19th.

Tony, would you please call the role?

Kameh.

Campos.

Present.

Tortillos.

Here.

Cohen.

Here.

Ortiz.

Present.

Mulcahi.

Here.

Duan?

Here.

Kendellas?

Here.

Casey.

Here.

Fully.

Here.

Mayhan.

Here.

You have a quorum.

Thank you, Tony.

Now, if you're able, please stand and join us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Yes.

Indivisible liberty.

Thank you.

Councilmember Duan, do we need to uh do you need a little more time for the invocation?

Yes.

Okay.

We will hopefully we're able to do the scheduled invocation.

We will take up ceremonial items first.

So, Councilmember Mulcahi, if you would join me at the podium, we will recognize Voyager Craft Coffee.

Good afternoon.

So I prefer a cappuccino in the morning.

No laugh.

Unfortunately, most places don't know how to make them.

Too much milk, weak espresso, no balance.

Starting back years ago, my car would just drive to a great hip local provider named Voyager Craft Coffee on Stevens Creek Boulevard.

Now, years later, as the District 6 council member, who knew I'd get to host the grand opening this past April of their beautiful Park Avenue location, which includes a bean roastery, world-class bakery, and a dynamic cafe space.

And then a few weeks ago, Mayor Mayhan, Councilmember Kamei and I were able to help them celebrate their relocated cafe in their downtown hotspot at Market and St.

John.

So today it's my honor to recognize Voyager Craft Coffee, a local success story and a shining example of what makes our district six community and our city in general so vibrant.

It's the commitment, passion, and drive of our local small business founders.

And these founders are San Jose Natives, Sam Shaw, and Lauren Burns.

The dynamic duo built their cafes to foster welcoming spaces that embody the spirit of their hometown San Jose.

What began as a modest coffee trailer has blossomed into a thriving business with multiple locations, kiosks, and licensed vendors.

However, way more than incredible coffee, baked goods, and cool artistic spaces.

Sam and Lauren's brightest stars are their staff members who show kindness and care for their customers.

Voyager Craft Coffee exemplifies San Jose's entrepreneurial spirit, exceptional craftsmanship, and steadfast commitment to community.

We're proud to commend Voyager Craft Coffee for their outstanding contributions to San Jose and their ongoing dedication to excellence.

Now I think Lauren's gonna say a couple of words here.

She's gonna step forward, then the mayor will come forward and uh help me with the commendation.

Take a few photos.

So Lauren, take it away.

Thank you so much for those kind words, Councilmember Mulcahy.

And I just want to say thank you to the San Jose City Council, to the mayor.

Uh we're very honored to be here.

I'm a little nervous to be honest.

But we, you know, we are just so grateful for being in the city because the city has really lifted us up to get through a lot of hard times.

Uh COVID, we got through our store closing, another one opening.

Um, so our community is really what we want to say thank you to.

I wish they could all be here to say thank you, and also the city of San Jose in general.

You guys have helped us with countless build-outs with lots of different issues that we've come up with.

So we really do appreciate everything that you've done for us to help us get to where we are.

Um, and obviously, I want to say I want to thank Sam, my co-founder.

We've built this together and it's been quite the journey.

So thank you very much.

Thank you, Councilmember.

Councilmember Ortiz, if you would join me at the podium, we will recognize the Venerable Sa Dul Sun, and we'll invite our venerable monks to come down as well.

Thank you, Mayor.

Good afternoon, everyone.

It is my honor to stand before you all today as we recognize and pay tribute to a person whose leadership, compassion, and dedication has uplifted our community in so many ways.

Venerable Sa Dul Sun.

Venerable Sajasun is a teacher, a counselor, a cultural guardian, and above all, a steadfast and caring presence for so many of us here in San Jose.

He teaches us not only the Dharma, but also the Khmer history and culture through his gentle guidance and wisdom.

Many individuals and families have found comfort, healing, and deeper connections to their roots.

But his contributions go far beyond his temple walls.

In March 2023, Venerable Sado Sun played a key role in advocating for the official approval of San Jose's first traditional Kumar Campucha Krom temple.

Later that same year, he helped lead the organization of San Jose's very first Cambodian flag raising ceremony, a proud and emotional moment as we saw Cambodian heritage honored publicly by the city they call home.

Venerable Sadio San was also instrumental in holding the first Cambodian genocide remembrance ceremony at San Jose City Hall, giving voice to a painful history while also honoring the resilience of the survivors and the Khmer community as a whole.

So today we say thank you for your leadership, your service, and your love for the people.

You have helped write a new chapter in Khmer history here in your homeland and your new homeland of San Jose.

Venerable Sa Jo San, we are grateful for you, and we are proud to stand with you.

Thank you.

And I will now pass it over to you to say a few comments.

Thank you.

Before I begin, I would like to invite HD Hangzhao to join me on stage.

Would like to invite you to come here.

I sincerely thanks to the council member Peter Ortiz and Mayor Mahan and the entire council for the opportunity to speak today.

Since 2018, I have been a domain preacher and Khmer language instructor at what Kamia Kambuchi Kram, where I dedicate my chefs to promoting peace, understanding, and cultural heritage.

My daily responsibility includes organizing and leading ceremony that honor the Buddha's teaching, breaking stickings, and offering blessings to those in need.

I'm honors to provide comfort to individual facing illness, family loss or emotional distress, whether during community events, home visits or hospital visits, my work comes to heal and bring hope to our community member, for studying a sense of unities and compassion.

I also participate activities in communities, gathering voice concern and exercise my right to pre-speak alongside fellow monks and communities member committed to our CIA grow.

Today I'm humbled and honored to accept this commendation, and I thank uh council member Peter Ortiz once again for our ongoing support.

I also wholeheartedly thanks to ex Ding Yuan, all their respected Buddhism from Burma, Lao, and Khmer Gambuchi Kram, and Campbell Deer.

And our community member here today for standing with me on this memorable occasion.

Together, let us continue to strengthen our community through understanding, compassion, and say well.

Thank you very much, everyone, for being here.

Thank you.

Now I uh invite the mayor to please present the commendation.

Thank you.

Thank you for your shirt.

And I think recommendation.

Absolutely.

Why do we see you in the middle?

Thank you for everything you do.

We'll put you in the middle for a big photo.

Thank you so much, and you can't wait a little bit.

Thank you so much for if you have one.

Okay.

So we make a girl.

Yes, good as well.

Thank you.

Thank you for my uh, right now.

All right.

And for our third and final ceremonial item, I would like to invite Ray Reardon, our director of the Office of Emergency Management to the podium as we recognize and proclaim emergency management awareness month in the city of San Jose.

And I believe Ray will be joined by uh some staff as well.

Come on down, Ray.

And I'll get started with uh some opening remarks on emergency management awareness month.

Emergencies don't just schedule themselves on our calendars, they arrive suddenly, and when they do, they put lives, homes, and our environment at serious risk.

Oh, and our city manager general McGuire is coming down.

Awesome.

Here in San Jose, we're fortunate to have a dedicated office of emergency management that works across every department to prepare for, respond to, and recover from these challenges.

Guided by best practices from Cal OES and FEMA, they keep us ready when it matters most.

Since COVID first struck, our emergency management organization has been activated more than 16 times.

In every instance, their planning, training, and coordination helped reduce the impact and speed up recovery.

That kind of readiness doesn't happen by chance.

It comes from steady preparation and teamwork by OEM staff and our emergency management work group.

These professionals often work behind the scenes, but their impact is deeply felt and appreciated.

They remind us that resilience is not built in a moment of crisis.

It's built through preparation, partnership, and practice.

That's why today I'm proud to proclaim August as emergency management awareness month.

It's a chance to recognize the professionals who keep us safe, but it's also a call to action to confront the risks we know are real.

This year, through our budget, we've made wildfire preparedness a top priority.

We're reducing fuel loads in our wildland urban interface, partnering with experts and using new technology to identify the highest risk areas, expanding zone-based evacuation software to get people out quickly and safely, and strengthening our fire department with new stations and staffing.

But preparedness isn't just the city's responsibility.

It's something we all share.

Clear brush around your home, make a family evacuation plan, prepare a go bag, and consider becoming a CERT certified, becoming CERT certified to support your neighbors in times of crisis.

This Saturday, the Baskin Ridge Neighborhood Association is hosting a wildfire and emergency preparedness fair, a great chance to get connected with resources and take direct action.

Together, by planning ahead, we can keep San Jose safe, resilient, and ready for whatever comes our way.

Now I'd like to invite Ray Reardon, our director of emergency management, to share more about how his team is advancing this important work.

Ray?

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

I don't think I need to say any more after that, but um very much when the next significant earthquake comes, hits the Bay Area, or the next atmospheric river drenches San Jose, police and fire will not be able to have sufficient resources to do it all.

That's where emergency management steps in.

The goal of the emergency manager is to work to build a support team for our first responders.

We become a first responder to fill the void between what resources are normally available and those that are required to meet the needs of the whole community.

Emergency managers are responsible to build a team among all departments to plan, train, and exercise as a team and to prepare and execute when our worst experience is upon us.

The team we've built includes representatives of all 24 departments and the offices within the city.

During COVID, this team rose to the occasion to provide the best service to the public.

It wasn't easy, but the team prevailed to make us the most vaccinated city in the United States at 93%.

A feat only outdone by the pride and respect the team felt collectively when the force of the city was challenged.

Emergency management truly is a team sport.

I extend my appreciation to our small but mighty office of emergency management, the representatives from all the departments who built our emergency management work group, and the support from the city manager, the mayor, city council, and thanks also to the residents for passing Measure T in 2018, which built our brand new EOC that was dedicated two years ago.

On the walls in the emergency operations center, we have three pledges to maintain open, honest communication, to practice compassion in action, and act as one team.

The city workforce is ready for our next disaster because of their effort to expand emergency management responsibilities to all departments.

Thank you all the partners.

Thanks right.

Just want to thank you all for the work.

Okay.

We're ready.

I think we're ready.

Okay.

Today's invocation is getting started.

That's uh let's hold off for about a minute for the introduction.

We can do it afterwards.

We can do it afterwards.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

If you were uh dozing off earlier, you were awake now.

That was awesome.

Today's invocation was provided by Aztec Dance Group, Esplendor, Azteca, Ship, Sotec.

And this is the Council District Seven's month to organize our invocation.

So I will hand things over to Councilmember Dewan to tell us more.

Thank you, Mary, first of all, for allowing switch around the agenda a little bit to allow this uh this beautiful dancer to come here.

Well, that was the example of Splendor, a Texas.

That leads uh the invocation today.

They have spent more than fifty years preserving and sharing the tradition of Aztec dancing across the United States, Canada, and Europe.

With the support of the Captain Lucia Lucia, Cabajeros, the group remained over 40 active dancers and participated in cultural events throughout California.

Once a month on the first Sunday of the month, explandor Ateca Sipe Totec perform at La Placita Tropicana in District 7.

Their performances of prayer in motion, honoring the creatory, the four elements, and the memory of ancestor while fostering faith, spiritual, and respect for all living beings.

So thank you so much for being here, and please join me, give them another applause for the explandor ateca sipetotec.

Thank you, Councilmember.

We're on to orders of the day.

Does anyone on the council have any changes to the printed agenda?

Not seeing any.

We do have an adjournment today.

Today's City Council meeting is adjourned in memory of Frank M.

Taylor, who passed away in March of 2025.

We extend our deepest condolences to his wife Barbara, daughters Emily and Sarah, and to his grandchildren who are watching the city council meeting today from Oregon.

We have a number of other friends and former colleagues with us in the audience today, including former council members, former mayor Tom McHenry, and many others who have contributed a lot to our city and are here to honor Frank's life and show support to his family.

Frank served as the executive director of the San Jose Redevelopment Agency for two decades through 1999.

He was a man of consummate passion about his work, which was the art and science of city building.

His ambitious vision to reimagine downtown San Jose and its surrounding neighborhood business districts and industrial areas led to a spectacular array of public projects that bear his imprint to this day.

Strategically, that vision anchored the downtown to the south with the McHenry Convention Center and Biblioteca Latinoamericana, to the west with the SAP Arena, to the north with the Japan Town Historic District, and most dramatically to the east with City Hall and the Mexican Heritage Plaza and Gardens.

Within the downtown, Frank facilitated the design and construction of the Tech Museum, the Children's Discovery Museum, the Museum of Art Expansion, the Hammer Repertory Theater, and the Dr.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Library, as well as new housing, hotels, and office buildings that were supported by public investments in streetscapes, parks, and paseos.

Always with an eye towards beauty and practicality, Frank never lost sight of his dream to create an urban center worthy of the capital of Silicon Valley, a dream we share to this day.

He created the neighborhood business districts, many of which were chosen because they were the gateways into downtown, including the Alameda, West San Carlos, East Santa Clara and Alam Rock, and others such as Japan Town, Willow Street, 13th Street, Story Road, and Lincoln Avenue.

Public investments in the North San Jose, Edenvale, Monterey Corridor, Olander, and Julian Stockton Industrial Areas actualized his vision to create jobs and promote an innovation-driven economy.

In everything he did, Frank insisted on a commitment to excellence.

He was a big picture guy who was always in love with his city.

This is the legacy we honor today and for years to come.

And in acknowledgement of his great service to San Jose, we welcome many of Frank's redevelopment agency staff gathered here in the council chambers today and online from coast to coast to honor and pay homage to the man who inspired the indomitable spirit of public service in each of them to love our city passionately and serve our community faithfully.

I now invite Mayor Tom McHenry to say a few words about Frank and his extraordinary contributions to San Jose.

Thank you, Mayor.

I may have misread the glass box that's sitting in front of me.

It said, please deposit if you want to speak.

I thought I made it clear, Matt.

I didn't want to pay to have to come here today, but I'm very happy to be here and see so many of Frank's friends and so many others that value the things that he did here in San Jose.

Rue, you did a very good job and David and Dean and making sure we had the kind of turnout there is today.

Frank Taylor is being honored at what I always felt was the supreme and best time at any council meeting, the adjournment.

So I think, and I hope that will hold true today.

Frank was uh immigrant, like many people are to San Jose, and they come with what immigrants always have, with a special zest and an energy to make the place better, and with an awful lot of hope, too.

Frank and his wife Barbara and his daughters Emily and Sarah really had the best thing that I admire, the virtue I admire in people.

They loved San Jose, they love this city, and they did everything possible to try and improve it.

They came from Boston through Cincinnati, but San Jose was and is and always will be their home.

Mayor Matt pointed out very well what Frank was able to do.

He gave people what my predecessor, Janet Gray Hayes, once asked.

Let's make San Jose better before we make it bigger.

It used to be our goal to be as big as Los Angeles.

Well, that was shed very quickly, and thankfully still is today.

We don't want to be big, so somebody can say we're great.

We want to be a good city.

And we were able, with redevelopment in Edenville and in North San Jose, to give us a tax base we never had, cops, librarians, parks workers, all the things that people have desired in San Jose but never quite got.

Frank was an interesting character to say the least.

You know, he worked through that, but he always remembered the little districts too, the Willow Glens and the Almadens and the East Santa Clara streets.

The places that really meant a lot because the neighbors surrounded those.

And we wanted them to be interested in downtown and the litany that you said, Mayor Matt, of all the things that were provided here.

When all those things went in place, I think people got a good deal more.

They got a sense of pride and confidence in the city.

Maybe they always had it, but maybe they were able to shout it a little bit more from the rafters.

I know a lot of us did, and not just at Shark Games.

We were happy that we didn't have to drive other places.

Nice places like San Francisco and Oakland, but it's a lot better to do those types of things in San Jose.

You know, our people here always looked ahead.

Frank was a person who saw things very simply, but he saw them very clearly.

He was able to deal with the famous architects like Aldo Jurgola and the great Ricardo Ligaretta of the Tech Museum.

He was able to deal with them with the same type of precision he used with the workmen that were doing the manhole covers on the streets.

And take a look at those manhole covers sometime.

I don't think they exist in Rome or in London or in Paris.

That's Frank Taylor.

He was a special person.

And everybody here knows one thing.

You know, you want to make your time that you spend, the efforts that you put in with the sacrifices and the time you don't get to spend with your family or in other endeavors.

You want your time in government to mean something.

You know, you want to be able to say, you know, I left this place better than I found it.

Frank was certainly able to say that.

And he was one of many people, and many of them are here today, and a lot of them are gone and forgotten, as all of us will be.

But it's important to be able to have that.

To understand that you have done something that maybe wouldn't have happened without you and the associates and the efforts.

You know, it's been a long struggle.

And people in this audience and those in the dais know it very well that you want to make a difference.

Frank Taylor made a difference.

All the years we strive to make San Jose kind of a special place.

Janet Gray Hayes and Susan Hammer and Bonk Alvarado, Judy Stabil, so many, many others, again, that are just names, just memories, just like mine, and most of yours will eventually be.

But it's important to know that you've accomplished those things.

The work is never finished, the work continues.

And I know with uh Mayor Matt and this council, you understand that clearly, and we'll continue it.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

Those were beautifully spoken words.

I think we've all taken to heart.

Appreciate your leadership in our city.

And once again, we want to just uh honor Frank Taylor's memory, the sacrifices uh he and his family made for our city and thank all of his colleagues who I know learned from him, were inspired by him and worked alongside him to build a better city, as uh Mayor McHenry just said.

So thank you all for being here and honoring Frank and uh his legacy in the way that you have today.

We appreciate it.

Have a great afternoon, everyone.

Thank you.

Yeah.

And colleagues, uh, we are still on orders of the day.

We've not moved on yet to our next item, and and we actually do have a new item that I would like to add to the agenda, but it would require a two-thirds vote.

Let me just describe what this is.

This would be a new item uh listed on the agenda as item 2.17.

This is the amicus brief in uh the culture of life family services vont to reproductive rights and local enforcement authority.

Would like to add this under orders of the day for council approval.

That again requires a two-thirds vote to be added to the agenda, and then it could be taken up and uh ultimately voted on as part of the consent calendar.

Does that make sense to everyone?

Any questions?

Okay, I'll go to Councilmember Cohen.

I'll move approval of the agenda with the additional um 2.17.

Second.

Thank you, Councilmember.

Um, great.

And then we will uh vote on that unless there are any other items on orders of the day.

Tony, do we have any public comment on orders of the day?

I do not.

Okay, that's open forum, I believe.

Yeah, okay, great.

Tony, then coming back to the council.

Let's vote on orders of the day.

Motion passes unanimously.

Okay, thank you, and Nora, thank you for the reminder.

Um, okay.

We are going to move on then to closed session report.

Nora, do we have anything out of closed session?

Thank you, Mayor.

We do not have a report out of closed session today.

Thank you.

Great, thank you.

Um next is the consent calendar.

I understand, Vice Mayor, you would like to pull item 2.16, is that correct?

Yes.

Okay, and just before you comment, let me ask if there are any other items colleagues wish to pull from consent.

I am not aware of any.

Let me just check my screen here.

I think we're good.

Oh, Councilmember Tordillos.

Did you have an item?

I just had a quick question for staff on item 2.13.

Great.

Let's pull that as well.

Okay.

Thank you.

So we'll go.

Vice Mayor, go ahead and comment on 2.16 and then we'll go to Councilmore Tordillos.

Thank you.

Actually, this is uh 2.16 is boards and commission appointment.

And this specifically is an appointment for District 4, which I will support.

But I the reason I pulled this is that many of our council members may have vacancies in various commissions, particularly the senior commission, of which I am the uh council liaison.

And many of our commissions are struggling to meet quorum because we don't have enough people who have signed up.

So I'm going to call out specifically the senior commission, but there are ever very other many others that probably need uh uh appointments so I would encourage the council members to check and see where they have vacancies and please appoint.

But in specifically in the senior commission, and I'm raising it because today they have a retreat.

It was supposed to be last week, it was canceled because of a quorum, couldn't be established.

So the vacancies are in D1, D2, D3, D5, and the citywide appointment.

So, again, so the so there you go.

Those of you who I just shouted out, if you need help or want to talk about it, please let me know.

But I'd love to see a full commission.

So in case the the senior commission someone has to not attend a meeting, they can still perform their duty.

With that, do you want me to move approval of the whole?

Okay, then I will move approval of the consent, including 2.16.

I would like to note that the recruitment period is open right now.

It ends September 30th.

We sent out an email to council last week, so please put that in your newsletters so we can get a really good pool of people from your districts.

Great.

Well, thank you, Vice Mayor and Tony.

I really appreciate that PSA and the public accountability.

That's good, it's good to model.

Somebody in my office is in trouble.

Just kidding.

It's probably me.

Uh thank you, Vice Mayor.

And we have a motion, but I know Councilmember Tordillos had a question on item 2.13.

Thank you, Mayor.

Yeah, just a quick question on recommendation F, uh, the increase to the director's authority uh for awards.

Uh, understand that there's some implication there for our public works POAs.

I also just wanted to clarify that there's no immediate impact to the threshold.

Is that correct?

That's good.

So Met Lesh Director of Public Works, thanks for the question.

Yes, there's no immediate action here on terms of implications of the PLA, because obviously this is the first reading of it.

There'll be a second reading, and it is effective 30 days after the second reading.

We'll have an item coming in the middle of September that we're already working on with the building trades council for uh re-amendment of our PLA to have an acceptable limit.

Perfect, thank you.

Thanks for that.

Thanks for that question and answer.

I don't see any other hands.

Tony, did we have public comment on the consent calendar?

No.

Okay, going back to the council.

Let's vote.

Motion passes unanimously.

Great.

Thank you.

Next is land use consent.

We have item, and I'm sorry, do we have city manager's report?

I apologize.

I don't seem to have that.

Okay, please.

Oh no, I'm sorry.

We had land use consent first, then I'll come to Jennifer.

I apologize.

Um on land use consent, we have item 10.1a.

Do we have a motion?

Motion to approve.

Second.

Great.

I don't see any other hands.

Tony, do we have public comment on item 10.1a?

Not for this item.

Okay.

Come back to the council.

Let's vote.

Motion passes unanimously.

All right, thank you.

Now we are on to the report of the city manager.

I'll turn it over to Jennifer.

Thank you very much, Mayor and City Council.

Uh today I am very pleased to introduce you to Jen Baker, our new director of the city manager's Office of Economic Development and Cultural Affairs.

Jen started the position yesterday.

Jen, would you please stand?

Make you stand for a minute here.

Jen will oversee the Office of Economic and Development team of 61 full-time equivalent talented employees with an annual operating budget of approximately 67 million.

Jen will lead efforts to catalyze job creation, private investment, revenue generation, talent development and attraction, and a diverse range of arts, cultural, and entertainment offerings, create opportunities to attract and retain top development and support empower small businesses and business districts to flourish and thrive in San Jose.

She will be instrumental in executing the recently City Council approved economic strategy work plan that includes five objectives retaining and growing jobs and revenue and promoting innovation from large and medium-sized businesses in key sectors, sectors such as manufacturing and artificial intelligence, fostering small business resilience and creating thriving business districts, accelerating a thriving downtown, activating San Jose as the South Bay's hub for sports, arts, and entertainment, and preparing residents to participate in the local economy through training, education, and career support.

As the Office of Economic Development and Cultural Affairs is also an integral member of our interdepartmental team, leading the growing our economy and building more housing city council focus areas, Jen will be a key leader in driving those two priorities as well.

A little bit more about Jen.

She began her career in 2004 as an international trade policy expert with the U.S.

Department of Commerce.

There she developed her acumen in negotiating buy and multilateral trade agreements and served as a negotiation and compliance lead.

She facilitated the delivery of millions of dollars in trade capacity building programming to priority U.S.

trading partners.

In 2005, she served as a trade capacity building director for the Office of the U.S.

Trade Representative.

From 2008 to 2011, Jen worked as a consultant, which took her to Ethiopia, where she produced best practice materials for analyzing the country's existing trade law framework, and then to Port Via Vanuatu, where she prepared island country stakeholders with trade impact and policy considerations in the lead up to bilateral trade negotiations with Australia and New Zealand.

From 2011 to 2018, she was promoted from economic development manager to deputy director, then acting director for the U.S.

Small Business Administration in Portland, Oregon, raising brand visibility, ensuring delivery of quality programming that bolstered small businesses' access to capital and capacity building and led a multi-departmental team that grew the Lening Portfolio 275% from 220 million to 609 million.

Most recently, Jen served as the president and chief executive officer of the Columbia River Economic Development Council in Vancouver, Washington, in the state's fastest growing country.

County, sorry.

She developed and mentored a team to grow a sophisticated workflow for site selection, outbound prospecting, strategic incentives, partnership development, and prioritization of local infrastructure investments.

This team's successful business attraction pipeline and technology-informed outbound recruitment workflow added 1.69 billion to the county and almost 4,000 jobs from 2021 to 2024.

Additionally, Jen represented Pacific Northwest economic policy interests as part of the Silicon Forest Semiconductor and Microelectronics Ecosystem with several industry drivers and also served as an appointed advisor to Governor Ferguson's Semiconductors Work Group.

Jen holds a Bachelor of Arts in International and Modern Studies from Pacific University in Oregon and a Master of Arts in International Policy Studies in International Trade and Development from Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California.

Given John's Jen's strong foundation and extensive experience in economic development policy and strategy, I am certain her insight and leadership will significantly contribute to San Jose's continued success, prosperity, and culture.

I would also like to acknowledge Assistant City Manager Lee Wilcox for his leadership as he temporarily stepped in to lead the department during this recruitment.

So thank you very much, Lee.

One last thank and a very important one goes to all of the Office of Economic Development and Cultural Affairs Employees for their hard work and commitment to our residents, businesses, arts, community, and visitors.

Please stand up if you are in the audience.

I'd like to see some of our Office of Economic Development Employees.

Yay.

Thank you.

And with that, I would like to invite Jen up to share some remarks with you and introduce herself.

Thank you, Jen.

Well, good afternoon.

My sincere gratitude, City Manager McGuire, for this opportunity to serve and lead in your Office of Economic Development and Cultural Affairs.

Mayor, City Council members, it is a delight and an absolute pleasure to be here.

I know that there was considerable discipline exercised in putting together the economic strategy work plan.

And I'm quickly getting briefed up by OEDCA team members on how that plan is being implemented and ways that we can articulate it most effectively for the city.

In just 60 seconds, which was the time I was told I'm allotted, what I can share about economic development is that the communities that are getting it right are the ones that are proactively working together across districts and industry lines, and that one-team energy is certainly what's exuded by our OEDCA staff and leadership.

So I look forward to contributing to that.

Recent announcements from the city and PGE on 2,000 megawatts of new industry serving transmission capacity.

The culminating work with the San Jose Sharks and a roster of global sports and entertainment industry opportunities and activations in 2026 are really going to help us make a mark.

I have a make a mark poster right outside the uh 16th floor elevator.

Um those are each opportunities that we will seize and with the same commitment and collaboration and welcome that I received from City City Manager and the OEDCA team yesterday.

By all measures, it's a great time to engage in economic development and connecting with business and community members to drive revenue growth in the city of San Jose, and I'm proud and humbled to be the new OEDCA director.

Thank you.

Thank you very much and welcome again.

Thank you, Jennifer.

Thank you, Jen.

Welcome to our team here at the city.

We're so excited to work with you to drive economic development and opportunity for our community.

Lee, I assume Jennifer gave you double pay over the last few months.

I'll uh some extra thanks.

Thank you for uh stepping in.

Solid pat on the back.

Pat on the back.

Hey, not bad.

Could be worse.

Um thank you though, Lee, for stepping in and doing double duty there.

Um, all right.

So we are on to item 4.1.

This is the card room regulation fee.

So I understand that there is no staff presentation.

Everybody has the materials in the agenda.

I will start with Tony.

Do we have public comment on this item?

I have no cards.

Okay, thank you.

Coming back to the council, turn to colleagues, go to Vice Mayor Foley.

Uh, just briefly, I'm glad to see this come forward to create some efficiencies and reduce some duplications in our card room regulations.

So with that, I will move the staff or move the staff recommendation and our memo, which supports a staff recommendation.

Great.

Thank you.

Okay, I don't see any other hands.

So Tony, why don't we vote on that?

Motion passes unanimously.

Great, thank you.

So that brings us to open forum, which is an opportunity for members of the public to comment on city business that was not on today's agenda.

Tony, do we have public comment?

Yes, um, when I call your name, please come on down.

Translations are available on screen two for the council members and on the screen above or on your handheld device by scanning the QR code available in the chambers.

I have Ali come on down, Asazez, an anonymous one, and Jessica.

Can you please come on down?

Go ahead.

And you have two minutes.

I try.

Uh I forgot.

I'm sorry, I'm a disabled veteran and I do have a PTSD and major depression.

If I take your time with all respect, I didn't get the sicknesses by myself.

This has happened after the San José police brutality and torture.

And since then I've been telling all of you, writing all of you, and I never received any help or support.

It's been twelve years, I complain everywhere DA five times, even though they dismiss my case after three and a half years.

They go through me all those criminal issues in the beginning, like you know, two racist huge bully guy.

I'm 5'7, they were 6'3, 6'4, forced to fight with me.

They forced me to fight at three flame restaurant, and I defend myself and I try to stay alive against two individuals, and I create the issue there to make the police come to save us.

Even though police came later on, and I obey everything that police shot me, pepper spray me.

I was done and they were poking my eye with the bottled water, woke me up, and I say, What do you guys do?

He says, I'm helping you.

We don't want you to get blank.

I say, Hey, I try to defend myself against you, and I'm a veteran man.

Well, you don't, he kicked my head, he says to me, motherfucker's psycho, rumble.

I never forgot that word.

And even though they shot me, prepare me, I was handcuffed, they shot me again.

And I'm looking justice, and I'm asking this honorable city of council, CDU attorney.

Thank you, that's your time.

Next speaker.

I'm good.

I'm sorry, I think your time.

This is the market.

Uh, uh, thank you for being here, sir.

You may give that to the clerk and she'll distribute it to the council, and then as uh we discussed earlier, I will try to help you g get in touch again with the IPA and we'll see what resources may be available.

We we I'm afraid we have to move to our next public speaker.

I'm sorry, we give everyone two minutes, I apologize.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you for being here.

Members.

My name is Azazel Homquist.

I'm a resident of downtown San Jose.

You know, I'm at a loss for words.

I'm sad and I'm disheartened.

Public safety, right, is for everybody.

And they're sweeping Columbus Park and it's not safe for them.

Resources aren't given, things aren't in place.

There's horrendous issues happening.

I think this needs to be addressed and take a little more consideration.

Like that man mentioned, PTSD changes us.

I think a lot of us have undiagnosed trauma, and there's a lot of issues, and I hope that we can convene in another time to discuss this further.

Thank you, next speaker.

Hi.

Um, I just recently um found out about the sweeps of Columbus Park, and I've been down there every day for the past three days trying to help people and be there for them through what they're experiencing.

And I just want to say that I've spoken to the representatives of the city directly yesterday, and they said that they believe that all of these people have been offered housing and have been given options, and that they believe that all of these people have been given a compassionate approach, and I can tell you that that is not what's happening.

That's not what's happening there at all.

You have over a dozen of your people down there every day from 6 a.m., protecting these vulnerable Americans from you.

This is not police work, and this is not something police should be doing.

If you don't intend to treat these people with violence, do not send the city officials who are trained specifically in violence.

This is not police work, it is social work, and there needs to be social workers who care about these people who are representatives of the city to help them transition.

If you're saying the sweeps have to happen and there's no way we can stop them, we have to have them for public health.

Then those sweeps need to be done in a compassionate way to the people who are down there.

Okay, all of our rights are in danger when any of our rights are in danger, and I have been down there, and those people are not being treated like people.

And that's not because the police officers are bad, it's because they're the wrong people for this task.

Those people are not in immediate danger to themselves or anyone else, and there should not be a violent force from the government showing up to treat them this way.

You need social workers to help these people transition into the next phase.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Okay.

So do you know that there are sweeps happening in Columbus Park right now?

Do you know how many police officers there are on the ground in ratio to how many social workers?

These are people, they have lives.

These are people with RVs.

There's already a roof over their head.

And police officers right now are towing their vehicles.

Did you know that a man was getting his RV towed?

And when he asked for his ID and for his registration, that was literally inside of the RV that they were taking away, that he was denied.

Do you know that when he asked for his ID in his registration, they said you can maybe get it later?

And when he went and to try to figure out where his truck went, or sorry, where his RV went, it went to a junkyard.

It did not even go to a uh towing yard where he could potentially buy it back.

Did you know that uh the home first created deadlines and said that everybody had to be registered before a deadline, but we, the people who are on the ground as volunteers every single day did not know about this deadline until one business day beforehand, we had eight working hours to try to get everybody on this deadline.

Did you know that this deadline was well before sweeps even began?

It was some point in July, and we just did not know, and it was not communicated to residents.

Did you know that all of these people have been trying to get housing for years?

I kid you not years.

You ask these people, they've been on the list for two to three years, and when you talk to them about uh housing being offered, nothing.

There is they were never communicated that information.

And suddenly we try to get 400 people into housing at the same time, and you're wondering why there's so many people falling through the cracks.

It's because you're trying to do 400 at the same time.

Thank you.

That's your time back to council.

That's your time.

That was our last speaker.

Okay, thank you, Tony.

Thank you to everyone who spoke today.

That concludes our council meeting.

We will adjourn, and then we do have a special meeting with Valley Water beginning at 3 p.m.

Thank you all.

Okay.