And we're going to call the um August 27th meeting of the rules and open government committee to order.

Let's start with roll call.

Candelas.

Here.

Duan.

Foley.

Here.

Camille?

Here.

Cohen.

Here.

We have a quorum.

Great.

We are going to start by reviewing the agenda for the September 9th council meeting.

Called for a 9 30 closed session and a 1.30 regular session.

We're going to have some meditation for our uh we can get calm.

All right, great.

Looking forward to that.

Consent starts on page four.

Continues on pages five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, and eleven.

And then in section three, we have our procurement audit report.

And a report on request RFP for banking lockbox and merchant card and investment custodial services.

Section four, a response to the grand jury report on our um fire department culture.

Section five, fourth amendment to the Zanker 101 VTA project.

5.2 Transportation Development Fund with Affordable Housing Project.

Section 6 Electrification Workforce Development, Existing Single Family Building Reach Code, and the San Jose Muni Waters Public Health Goals Report.

Do you have any public comment?

No public comment.

Alright, so we'll come back to the committee.

Any move approval?

Second.

All right, we have a motion and a second.

All in favor.

Well, let's vote.

All right, motion carries five-zero.

And now we're on to our consent calendar.

We have two items on consent today.

Is there any public comment?

No public comment.

Alright, back to the committee.

Move approval is consent.

Second.

All right.

Let's vote.

All right.

That motion carries five zero.

And now we have two memos, rules committee reviews.

The first is a memo written by myself and Vice Mayor Foley modifying the gift limit code, increasing the gift limit from $50 to $200.

We had a discussion as a council about a year ago about increasing the gift limit up to what was a much higher level that would have been the state level, about 400 something dollars.

I forget the exact amount.

No public comment.

Alright, back to the committee.

Alright, any comments?

Nope.

Let's vote.

And this can be referred to the next council agenda, Lee.

Yes, we can put it on September 9th if you'd like.

Thank you.

All right, now we're on to item two, which is a memo from Councilmember Ortiz.

Just on time.

All right.

We're going to let you uh kick us off with a little introduction of your memo and then we'll go on to public comment.

Thank you, Chair.

Rules Committee.

Uh that went by fast.

Usually I have to sit down for a little bit.

Uh but um colleagues, I appreciate your time, appreciate you uh reviewing this memo.

Uh for decades, East San Jose has endured the consequences of systemic neglect and disinvestment.

Intentional redlining, chronic underfunding, and the lack of public resources have left our community behind while other areas have flourished.

The disparities are undeniable, and the time has come for us to take meaningful action.

We only need to look at what we've done in other parts in the city for perspective.

Over the years, San Jose has invested nearly 18 million in developing and supporting San Pedro Square in our downtown area.

A privately owned piece of property that includes five million in redevelopment funds to launch the market, over one million for sidewalk and pedestrian enhancements, nearly 10 million to transform the block into a permanent pedestrian mall, and most recently, 1.8 million for public art on the Market Street Garage.

These were excellent investments.

I supported them, revitalizing downtown and helping to create a thriving destination that benefits the city.

And just recently, our city council voted to approve $325 million for renovations to the SAP Center, home of the sharks.

I proudly supported that decision as well, because I recognize how important it is to keep a world-class arena in San Jose.

But colleagues, if we can find $325 million for an arena, surely we can commit just a fraction of that level of investment in East San Jose, the community with the greatest need.

That is why I'm proposing the creation of an East San Jose Revitalization Fund.

But I want to be clear: this memo is not an allocation of 30 million dollars today.

It's simply simply direct staff to prepare a proposal for budget priority setting, a framework for how we can strategically identify and allocate these dollars over time to revitalize East San Jose's economy.

And this framework will not rely solely on the city's general fund.

What I'm asking is that we direct staff to come back with a plan that leverages state and federal grants, state budget line items, philanthropic partners, corporate investments, and city resources to reach that goal.

This is about leveraging every possible resource to finally make up for decades of underinvestment.

By establishing this fund, we can support small businesses, workforce development, and community serving projects that will uplift families and strengthen neighborhoods.

We can send a clear message to East San Jose residents that this city sees you, it values you, and it is finally ready to invest in you.

So, colleagues, this is about more than dollars.

It's about justice, equity, and making sure San Jose is on the right side of history.

We cannot undo the intentional neglect of the past, but we can choose today to invest in a more equitable future.

So I ask that we please move this uh memo forward, uh and we at least have the conversation alongside city staff.

Thank you so much.

Alright, thank you, council member.

Um, we'll turn to public comment first.

Jose, please go ahead and make your way to the podium.

We have two minutes to speak.

Good afternoon, council.

My name is uh Commissioner Abastida, and I'm with the Library and Education Commission.

I am representing District 5 here on behalf of my commission.

Uh, and I just want to say that we support the Council Member Peter Sorti's uh proposal.

Uh the reality is that you know, by funding cleaner by funding cleaner streets, stronger code enforcement, and safer public schools, we're helping education, we're helping the east side, and we're helping our streets.

When families can enjoy parks without fear, and when our libraries remain places of learning and not places overshadowed by blight, that's when education can flourish.

I know that every single one of y'all has helped in education, has helped businesses, and has helped keep your own districts clean.

We would love your help in keeping and helping us achieve the same thing on east side, not only for the community, but for the children that will be grown there for the next 15, 20, 25 years.

So we ask for your support on this.

I think the east side is due for some renovations, as you know, as some of y'all could have seen.

So we look forward uh, you know, to this conversation and essentially uh seeing the east side in a better situation.

Thank you so much.

Next is Danny, followed by Gabrielle.

Good afternoon, honorable council members, uh, city manager Wilcox and Mr.

City Attorney.

Thank you.

Uh it's been years since the last time we have had any money of this size, any funds directed to the East Valley, and and we can look back to the strong neighborhoods initiative that taught us that uh, you know what, we're not alone out here.

And and this funding is gonna also teach the newcomers, like my grandson, the intern for Peter, uh, that there is a chance still.

So, the Plata Royal Neighborhood Association, the La Raza Roundtable, and all of the other organizations I belong to, you know, urge you to drastically support this.

Thank you.

Gabriel.

Good afternoon, Chair and members of the Russo Committee.

My name is Gabriel Manrique, community organizer of Luna, and I'm also grew up in East San Jose, especially Story and King.

I'm here to support the East San Jose rehabilitation fund proposal because I know firsthand how much our community has been overlooked.

When I walk through my neighborhood, I see hardworking families, small businesses doing their best to stay open and young people full of potential.

But I also see the lack of investment.

Parks that need repair streets that are safe and opportunities that too often go somewhere else in the city.

This fund means more than just money, it means finally recognizing and investing in the people who make East San Jose.

It means that small businesses can grow, families can feel secure, and kids can see a future for themselves here at home.

I urge you to support this proposal and help us build the San Jose or community deserve.

Thank you.

Back to the committee.

All right.

Well, thank you for the public comment.

We'll start with Vice Mayor Foley.

Thank you.

Councilmember, thank you for your presentation.

It's clearly thoughtful, and you're looking out for the best interest of the Eastide community, and I am grateful for that and appreciate that.

And I'm not uh arguing with the merits of the proposal at all.

I think it's worth investigating and worth discussing further.

Um, but my questions are more process in how we address this.

This is a huge budget ask that is usual, and we just passed the budget, and we we have implications of next year's budget and how that budget will be.

So I see this more coming along with the budget process and the priority setting session, where as you'll recall, we have a study session where everyone offers feedback and the mayor, you know, he writes the March message, and then we weigh in on it.

And at that time at the at the study session, that's a good opportunity for you to raise these very issues and this very concern.

From there, the message is formed.

If it's not in there, you can always continue to advocate.

This isn't, this is whatever we do here today isn't the end of this, is what I'm trying to encourage you.

I think this is good work and um and important work.

And I'd like to ask staff, really, if what do you see as the best process going forward?

Uh typically we would say, well, okay, come back in two weeks with an analysis, but this is huge.

So I'm not sure two weeks is appropriate and it doesn't affect it doesn't influence the budget decision, which we won't be deciding until next year.

Absolutely.

Um thank you for the question, Vice Mayor.

You know, especially after reviewing the memo and appreciate uh Councilmember Ortiz, even the draft spending plan.

There's probably some things within the budget that'll happen this year that partially address or or impact some of these things as well.

So, you know, the budget calendar for 27 or 26-27 hasn't been put out yet, so we don't yet know the timing.

I would reference this memorandum to the mayor's March budget message or have the council member reintroduce it as part of that and ask for an MBA.

Um, because I definitely think doing a man manager's budget addendum would help us lay out in a better fashion some of these strategies or a conceptual plan that the council member outlines, but also the budget, like I said before, may impact some of this.

So a manager's budget addendum is meant to give more information in addition to the direction here, but also some of this could end up happening in the base budget around beautification, especially um as we continue to refine those services.

So I definitely think a reintroduction or referral to the March budget message is probably the most appropriate path for this analysis to happen.

Okay, so thank you for that.

I appreciate that.

So, council member, which route do you prefer?

Sure.

Because this isn't this isn't a no.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's a let's let's look at it in another context.

Absolutely.

And yeah, I totally understand, you know, this is a a large uh ask, and like I said in the presentation, I no way I know we can't afford to do from the general fund this this level of investment.

What I'm what I'm hoping to do is to get staff start starting to think about um you know east San Jose at a larger scale, you know, instead of just pick taking things piecemeal as well as getting my community organized and start visualizing the East San Jose they want to create.

And so I think in the memo, there were the request is to have it referenced to the budget priority assessment.

It's not to essentially have any sort of funds allocated or to have any staff uh work on anything until the budget allocation process.

So I'd I'd be happy with that if if you'd be willing to do that.

Okay, so in that case, is it appropriate to refer the item to the budget process?

The March budget process.

Is that the motion?

I think because the budget calendar isn't out um now that I'm reading it, I would just refer to the budget process and ask that this be referred as part of the March budget message because there's no way that the March budget won't occur because that is a charter related thing.

Right.

And it does need to be incorporated as part of that direction if we're gonna do further analysis anyway.

So it's probably the most uh seamless path forward.

Yeah, so just to clarify, there's no there's there's we don't know that there's gonna be a budget priority setting session.

Sometimes there is and sometimes there isn't, but we do know there will be a March budget meeting.

So referring this to the March budget meeting means the item comes back as a memo, whether it's incorporated or not into the mayor's much as the memo will be attached at the March budget meeting and then discussed by the council there.

Sounds good.

Correct.

Is that sure?

That's the motion.

All right, so we have a motion and a second from Vice Mayor Foley and seconded by uh Councilmember Candelas.

If you're you're done with your questions, yeah.

Thank you, Chair.

I I just got a few questions.

One for you, Lee, is that what are the current allocation for these departments already?

That's what I like to know within the report when we refer it to the March budget, if you will.

Um, and like to see with the history of how much have we allocated these particular departments?

Do you think that could be um doable?

You know, I think those are things that we would be going over in the 26-27 budget process through study sessions anyway.

I think you know, the the change in this, um, you know, as it was referenced by the council member, this is a, you know, we conduct the the budget as a program-based level and not necessarily a place-based approach.

So, as I think we kind of outline some of these things, you know, through an MBA, we'll need to kind of dissect that.

But obviously, you know, we've been doing deep dives into beautify SJ and all of the homeless outreach and engagement, anyway, and really kind of refining those services and trying to show you data.

So I think we'd be able to show where the impact is happening or where those resources are allocated throughout the city fairly easily.

Okay.

We can also do that during the council uh focus area report out as well.

Thank you.

Councilmember Ortiz, what is the East Side defined geographically, you know, in this proposal?

So it's a greater East San Jose, uh not defined to one district, but you know, of course, the King and Story uh area, you know, McLaughlin area is definitely a part of it, story road, uh Alam Rock, Santa Clara Street.

Perfect, because as you well know, the district seven is is part of the East I as well, and I always want to make sure that we're included in that if I decide to support it.

Thank you very much for your answer.

Of course.

Yeah, thank you.

And I was gonna ask a similar question, although we'll be discussing that more detail next year, but there's a lot of there's areas of need that are more broad east side than one district, obviously.

All right, Councilmember Kamei.

Thank you so much, and and thank you for the proposal.

Um I think that I I do agree it is a um a process question in terms of when it should come forward and the budget process obviously is the place to do it.

One of the things that um I think um as this moves forward, and I don't know if if it's something for the city manager or for you to think about, um obviously we don't have the 30 million just laying around, right?

And I think that when a lot of the big investments like the Mexican Heritage Plaza, the um uh many of the other initiatives, um strong neighborhoods initiatives, uh that money came from redevelopment.

One of your suggestions here says that to uh look at state and federal grants.

Obviously, the federal government is not uh cooperating uh as we would like.

So in the absence of that, and the state is facing a deficit in the five-year forecast, we in the city are also facing a deficit.

So I'm just you know, sort of like curious as we move this forward, right?

Uh, where are we going to take it out of?

No, great, great, great point.

And absolutely, we are in a deficit, the state's in a deficit, and I know the federal government um isn't necessarily uh collaborating.

Um, but I I think that this is not something that's going to be accomplished in one year or one budget cycles.

This is something that is going to give East San Jose hope.

This is talking about making promises and keeping them for the community and and thinking big.

I do think we have philanthropic partners who are out there that would be willing to make investments.

I do think, you know, as companies um and the community companies come into the city of San Jose, I can then take this and say, look, city staff helped me create this framework.

We don't have the money, but hey, do you think you could help us allocate some of these funds?

And so I'm not saying that the $30 million are going to be taken directly out of the budget.

In fact, you know, I know that it won't, because we we don't have the money.

Uh, but I'm talking about having a plan and moving towards it is a lot better than just saying maybe someday that will never come.

Thank you.

Okay, Councilmember Kindellas.

Uh, thank you.

Um, I just wanted to thank Councilmember Ortiz for for bringing this uh item forward, and you know, uh, you know, I think more importantly for bringing this kind of attention as well as you know, focus to uh part of our city that uh quite frankly has been historically disenfranchised, and you know, I know because we we share the east side.

And um, and for me, I think this is this is critical, and and I I look forward to keeping apprised of this, especially as it goes through the budget process.

And and then, and and most more importantly than that are are the funding mechanisms that we talk about, uh, given you know the heavy lift and the amount of dollars that we want to invest to make a tangible difference in our city.

And so um I look forward to hearing from the administration, hearing from staff and to to think creatively uh for how we can actually you know put together the kind of funding that's necessary to actually make the improvements that we all want to see.

Thank you.

I'm sure Lake Cunningham will be discussed as part of that framework.

So you'll you'll be all right.

Um, um I just I just want to say actually I I really appreciate the way you articulated the the thinking behind this and this focus is is valuable to be able to say here's a a framework for potential strategic investments over time to say to somebody these are things that we could use in our community that are needed, and here's things we can bite off as different different times during the cycles going forward.

That's actually a pretty powerful idea about what is it like it's almost like a master plan for a community cautioning that master plans often backfire and that people expect that when you build a master plan that everything is on it will happen.

So you have to do it in a careful way to make sure the community doesn't think, you know, now that we've written this out, every single one of these items has a path.

But to have a wish list, I think is a very valuable thing to do.

So I I think it's a pretty um pretty interesting, intriguing idea.

So happy to have that conversation during the budget process next year and look forward to it.

So I think we have a motion and a second, let's vote.

All right, that motion carries 5-0.

Thank you so much.

And now we are on to open forum.

Do we have any speakers?

James, please go ahead and make your way to the podium.

So today I want to talk about public safety.

Um when it comes to pedestrian related um accidents.

Unfortunately, he was off the leash, but he when it was in a crosswalk and he got hit by a car.

And that was unfortunate.

But I just really want to just express like the concern that I have.

Also the other morning, Independence High School, in the crosswalk, somebody was hit.

Literally, as I was doing a morning announcement, like on these the issues of public safety and, you know, being careful on the road.

So I think it's really important.

Design should not be the focus.

Saving money, you know, we need more lighting.

There needs to be brighter lights and not just like those little, you know, LED that are like dim and only show just a portion of the the street, you know.

Um I saw in Gilroy that a street light will actually turn on when it sees a car.

And I saw I thought that was really great.

Um so I think that it's something that I think uh should should happen more is more light, you know, walking walking at night for pedestrians and for the drivers as well.

Back to the committee.

All right, well, thank you so much for the comment.

And we are adjourned at 2 24 PM.