Alright, we're good.

Alright.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

Welcome.

Good afternoon.

Great to have you all here.

It's my pleasure to call to order this meeting of the San Jose City Council for the afternoon of October 21st.

I'll just note for the record that Rosa Song Tatari, our uh chief deputy city attorney, will be sitting in as the city attorney for this meeting as Nora Freeman is away.

And with that, Tony, would you please call the role?

Kamei Campos, present.

Tordillos.

Here.

Cohen.

Ortiz.

Present.

Well, Keyhi.

Here.

Juan?

Here.

Candellas?

Here.

Casey.

Foley.

Here.

Mayhem.

Here.

You have a corn.

Great.

Thank you.

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

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.

To require it, we just dance.

Under God, indivisible liberty and justice.

Thank you.

And welcome once again.

Good to see you.

Fairly full chamber here.

We're on to our invocation, and today's invocation will be provided by Chris Pounders, General Manager of the School of Rock of San Jose, and Vice Mayor Pam Foley will tell us more.

For today's invocation, I'm thrilled to be joined by Chris Pounders.

Growing up in San Jose, Chris began his musical journey as a drummer before expanding into singing and guitar.

His career highlights include touring with Stomp and performing on America's Got Talent.

The Conan O'Brien Show with 30 Seconds to Mars, The Vans Warp Tour, as well as sharing the stage with artists artists like Katy Perry.

Today he serves as the general manager of School of Rock in San Jose, the company's top performing location located in District 9.

As a longtime supporter of the arts in our community, I can say that we are so lucky to have talent like Chris introducing the world of music to students throughout San Jose.

Chris, thank you for providing our invocation for today.

Thank you, Vice Mayor Foley.

Sorry.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

It's been a long journey to get to this point where I'm standing in front of you.

Well, it started when I was 13 years old driving around with my friends, listening to a Green Day record called Dukey.

I was taking drum lessons at the time, but after I heard that record, I knew that I wanted to pursue more in music.

It was very inspired.

My parents divorced when I was eight years old.

He was a drummer as well.

And he used to take me to his band practices and performances.

So from a very young age, I was surrounded by that energy.

The music, the creativity, the lifestyle, and it became a huge part of who I am today.

The summer after I turned 18 and graduated from high school, tragedy struck.

Everything changed again for me.

The general manager at the time, he had resigned, and I decided to go for the position.

I had never been a GM before.

Not even close.

But I believed I understood what the teachers needed.

I understood what our students needed, and I understood how to connect with the parents.

So everything else I knew I could learn.

They gave me the job.

Woo!

I told them when they gave it to me, I want to make this the number one school of rock in the company.

They laughed.

We love that spirit, Chris.

Fast forward to today, I now manage the leading school of rock in the company right here in San Jose.

Thank you.

We uh at one point last year we had 423 students learning rock and roll.

Everything I learned on my musical journey, I now pour into the kids and students and teachers who come through those doors.

I help them chase their dreams just like I chased mine.

My experience in children's rock and roll education has really opened my eyes.

I've seen so many students walk into our school unsure of who they are, and they leave as confident young adults, some even applying for the Berkeley College of Music.

That kind of impact is very powerful, and it needs to continue here in San Jose.

Giving children purpose, helping them excel in something that they're passionate about, can change lives and can even save lives.

And those students grow up and they go out into the world and they share that love with music with others, and that ripple effect never stops.

San Jose, I plan to build the greatest music community the city might have ever seen.

Do you love my spirit?

In many ways, I'm just getting started.

My name is Chris Pounders, and I'm not done making an impact here in San Jose through music and arts.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chris.

We look forward to seeing the impact you'll have in our community in the years ahead.

We appreciate it.

Thank you.

And thank you, Vice Mayor.

Thank you.

Alright, we're on to our ceremonial items.

Vice Mayor Foley, if you would join me at the podium, we will recognize J and P.

Cosantino Family Farm.

We have some family members coming forward, so I'll wait for them to get here before I begin.

This is really an exciting opportunity for me and for the city of San Jose.

Phil, please join us.

Proudly rooted in District 9.

Since 1945, this family-run farm has been a part of the Valley of Heart's Delight, growing from a small orchard into a local landmark that now spans five generations.

The Cosentino family has kept our city's agricultural roots alive as the last working orchard in San Jose.

With over 600 fruit trees and dozens of heirloom ver of and dozens of heirloom varieties, they're preserving a beautiful piece of our community's history.

And if you haven't seen it, you need to go take a look.

What's made what makes Cosentino Farm truly special is how they welcome the community in.

From their year-round farm stand, which I enjoy stopping by, to field trips, farm tours, and classes.

They've created a vibrant place that connects people to local food and history.

More importantly, they are true believers in buying local and supporting small businesses.

They regularly host pop-ups with other local small businesses and partner with nearby farms to bring the best local goods to our community.

As we celebrate their 80th anniversary, we also celebrate what they represent.

The spirit of a family that holds the land dear and works to preserve it as their legacy.

Cosentino Farms is a small business that honors family, community, and the earth.

Today, beyond on behalf of Mayor Mayhan, myself, and my colleagues on the city council, we're proud to recognize and commend Cosentino Family Farm for 80 years of dedication, tradition, and community roots in here here in San Jose.

And before I introduce Carrie and Mary to you, I'd like to introduce you to Phil Cosentino, one of the founders and his wife Jean, who are the J and P of J and P.

Cosentino.

And he Phil is a living legacy, and he turns 95 in December.

It's an honor to have you here, sir.

With that, Carrie and Mary, would you like to say a few words?

Or Phil, do you want to jump in?

No.

Hi, and thank you so much for having us.

Vice Mayor and Mr.

Mayor and the council.

Thank you so much.

We're really proud to be here.

I think we're pulling up some photos of our farm.

They're a little brainy here, but over the years, our farm has uh gone from one of many to the last man standing, and we're pretty proud of it.

So if you aren't familiar with the farm, it was originally purchased by our grandfather Dominic Constantino, who came over from Sicily with his family originally landing in Youngstown, Ohio, with his wife and his four sons, one of which was our father Phil.

But they found Youngstown weather not delightful.

They didn't love the snow.

So our grandfather planned to go back to Sicily after World War II, but had a cousin who had come to the Bay Area and said, Dominic, you don't need to go back to Sicily.

Come to the Bay Area.

It is just like Sicily, and there's tons of farms.

You can be a farmer there.

So he packed up his family, moved to the Bay Area with the hopes of buying a citrus orchard.

At the time there's no citrus grown here.

It was apricots and prunes.

So he found a 10-acre plot of land in San Jose.

Didn't know the first thing about taking care of apricot trees or prunes, but luckily, surrounded by local farmers who helped him learn the crops and took care of it for decades with the helps of his sons.

When he could no longer care for it, he gave the land to my dad and his brothers.

At the time they were very successfully running Constantino Markets and weren't interested in being farmers.

So they were play they planned to have the land developed, had the trees ripped out, all except a few, but at the last moment, luckily my dad had to change the heart.

At the time, lots of family farms were being sold off because farming isn't as lucrative as building houses and condos.

But luckily had a change of heart and realized that this is our family legacy and found a way to buy out his brothers and take on the farm really by himself, a bit with the help of Carrie and I as kids.

We would be out there packing fruit with him and moving irrigation lines and working the farm stand.

My dad took care of it by himself until he was in his 80s and then passed it on to my sister and I about six years ago, and now we have the privilege of completing that family legacy that our grandfather started, and we get to share it with the community that doesn't realize what the Valley of Hearts Delight used to look like.

So they get to come and see a little snippet of the magic that we get to see every day.

So if you haven't come by and see us, we'd love to have you.

Yes.

There you go.

That's why I brought it off.

We can take the photo if we want to come over this one.

I'm gonna watch the flags in the background.

Congratulations.

If it wasn't for the farm, I haven't got one.

I'll bring it on.

I've been on it.

Absolutely.

It's beautiful.

Well, thank you.

We appreciate you being here.

Congratulations, guys.

Thank you.

Alright, we're on to our next ceremonial item, Councilmember Condelas.

If you would join me here at the podium, we will recognize and proclaim Diwali.

And we'll invite our guests to come on down as well.

All right.

Come on, fill in behind me, everybody.

I know.

We don't have cool pictures of what San Jose used to look like, but we got we got good uh good flyers for an upcoming event.

Um, you know, as as we're we're gathering here today, I'm honored to recognize and celebrate uh Diwali.

Uh this proclamation does more than just acknowledge the beautiful tradition of Diwali, it's also a recognition of the Indian American community in my district and broadly in San Jose.

I want to especially recognize the contributions to the diverse culture and community that we have, which makes this city such a great place to live.

Uh Diwali's timeless message of tolerance, compassion, and peace resonates deeply with the values that we hold dear in our city.

Diwali stance as a festival where families come together and communities and cultures share and connect.

Uh through these traditions and connections, millions of people uh are united across borders and cultures and reminds us of the strength we draw from our differences and the harmony we build when we stand together.

Uh this sense of unity is not only reflected here in San Jose, but also on a larger scale.

The holiday significance continues to grow and is recognized across the state.

In fact, uh just recently Assemblymember Osh Kalra um uh led uh a law uh to officially designate Diwali as a state holiday, and that passed in the California legislature.

So that kind of leadership uh is is what makes uh you know the testament to that's a testament to our Indian American community uh here not just in San Jose but in in in the entire state of California.

Uh to everyone celebrating happy Diwali and thank you for making San Jose shine a little brighter.

Uh I happen to be joined by the Association of Indo-Americans, AIA, a coalition of many Indian American organization organizations that aims to uplift the Indian American voice here in San Jose and shameless plug this Saturday.

Uh they're uh they're gonna have their Diwali festival at Plaza de Cesar Chavez.

Uh and and last year uh we had a huge party.

We're gonna have a huge party this Saturday from three to nine.

Um and so if you're planning to come to my fall festival from ten to two, come right after.

Um so anyways, that being said, I'd like to invite you to share a few words.

Yeah, and it's free entry too.

Thank you.

Even better.

Thank you, Mr.

Candeles and the honorable mayor and esteemed council members on behalf of 58 plus organizations that form Association of Indo-Americans.

Happy Diwali to all of you.

We're proud to say that San Jose is the home of two major festivals, which is the Holy The Color Fest and Indian Independence Day, and two major festivals in the entire California.

And this year, thanks to Mr.

Gambi and his entire team, we are proud to bring Diwali Fest, Diwali Carnival to City of San Jose, and I request Mr.

Gumbi to say a few words.

Uh happy Diwali, everybody, and I'm so happy to be working with this extremely passionate and gifted group.

Uh, the um Association of Indian Americans.

Um I'm so happy to be able to bring the Diwali Festival here to San Jose uh again this Saturday, 3 to 9 p.m.

at the Caesar Chavez Park.

And it's such a representation that we have three hundred thousand uh Indian Americans or Indians within the South Bay, sort of trying to represent them.

And the idea behind the Duali is it's for everybody.

You don't have to be Irish to represent on St.

Patrick's Day.

You don't have to be German for October Fest.

You certainly don't have to be Indian to come out and celebrate with us.

Uh for Diwali.

So like it's for everyone.

So thank you much and looking forward to seeing everybody on Saturday and looking forward to many more of integrating with the uh with the multicultural.

I'm gonna go ahead and say San Jose, one of the most diverse country uh cities in this country right now.

Thank you.

Well, sir, thank you.

I just quickly want to take the opportunity to thank our honorable council member, Mr.

Candeles, always up front and being, you know, leading us along with the rest of the council members and also honorable mayor, he's always there for our events and supporting the entire community.

Please give them a big round of applause.

And on uh behalf of the entire community, we invite all of you to come and be part of the festivities.

And uh Mr.

Mayor, you must be there, and along with your entire council members, thank you.

And from all of us, happy Diwali!

Happy Diwali.

All right, here we go.

Let's back up a little and move that way.

No, our ladies, all the ladies.

Thank you.

Thank you, ladies.

Thank you all.

Happy to follow you.

Thank you.

Thank you all.

I've been dividing you.

Happy to follow you.

I will try my best.

Happy Divali.

I'll see you guys.

From our work partner, oh my goodness, it's so beautiful.

Thank you.

Oh wow.

Okay.

Sure.

Yeah, one of my studies.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Soon I'll try to be there.

Thank you.

I love it.

And there's a bag over here.

I just never.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Take care.

Happy Diwali.

All right.

We're on to our next ceremonial item.

I'll invite Councilmember Ortiz down to join me at the podium.

And we will recognize and proclaim the 34th anniversary of the Paris peace agreements.

Thank you, Mayor.

I'd like to invite members of the community to please join me down here and stand for the con uh for the proclamation.

Proud to be joined by uh prominent leaders from the Cambodian American community.

Thank you so much for being here.

Good afternoon, everyone.

My name is Peter Ortiz, and I'm proud to serve as City Council member for District 5.

Today we commemorate the 34th anniversary of the Paris Peace Accords, a profound turning point in the history of peace and diplomacy.

The signing of the Paris Peace Accords on October 23rd, 1991.

This landmark agreement brought together four Cambodian warring factions and 19 nations in a unified effort to end decades of conflict, genocide, restore national reconciliation, and lay the foundation for peace, democracy, and stability.

With this proclamation, we honor the courage of those who laid down arms in pursuit of peace.

We acknowledge the tireless work of the international community, particularly the United Nations.

I will love to be here.

With this proclamation, we honor the courage of those who laid down arms in pursuit of peace.

We acknowledge the tireless work of the international community, particularly the United Nations, in supporting the Cambodian people through a time of great transition and hope.

The Paris Peace Accords were a declaration that peace is possible, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable division.

Let this proclamation serve as a lasting reminder of the power of dialogue over violence, of unity over division, and of peace over war.

May we continue to learn from this historic achievement, and may it inspire us in our ongoing pursuit of peace and human dignity for all.

I'm honored to be joined by Mr.

Poli Car Prom, a compelling advocate for democratic progress.

He has tirelessly advocated for freedom of speech and fair elections.

Mr.

Prom was voted unanimously by his peers to receive today's proclamation on behalf of the Cambodian American community.

And I'll invite him to please share some words.

Thank you, Mr.

Otis.

My name is Polycarp.

I've been just recently retired from my job, 35 years of electrical engineering manager.

I'm here.

Belong with the Cambodian American for democracy.

In a few days will be October 23rd.

Speaking of the October 23rd, we gather to honor the finding moment of our shared history, the signing of Paris peace agreement, which is my main topic today.

I speak on behalf of the voice of the silent.

Thirty-four years ago, the nation of the world joined hand to help the most painful chapter in Cambodian past, and open the new path toward peace, reconciliation, and national unity.

This peace, this peri-peace agreement was not merely a diplomacy achievement.

It was a beacon of hopes.

It brought together once divide faction and remind us that dialogue and compromise can triumph over conflict and despair.

For the Cambodian people, it marked the rebirth of sovereignty, democracy, and human rights.

On the day of the October 23rd, 1991, there was a signatory to honor and respect our proposition of peri-peace agreement.

These are four Cambodian party and 18 other international countries, including all the three neighboring countries to Cambodia.

They promised to honor, to honor the sovereignty, democracy and human right for the Cambodian people and their country.

The spirit of pari peace agreement continue to inspire us and protect our peace to strain our democracy.

Unfortunately, our people in Cambodia have gained very little from this spirit.

Most principles of Paris peace agreement have been violated.

One, democracy and human rights.

In Paris Peace Agreement, I will call from now on called PPA to make it short.

In PPA, it supports multi-party democracy, but today only one party rule.

In 2017, the main opposition party, CNRP, was banned.

Its leader was jailed or exiled, leaving Cambodian effectiveness one party state.

And PPA is supposed to be free and fair election, but the ruler has systematic suppression of opposition.

Opposition candidates have been harassed, arrested, or disqualified, which the ruler party dominate state and institution.

The election since 1998 has been criticized by the UN, EU and Human Right Group as unfree and unfair.

In PPA, it's supposed to have human rights and freedom, but the ruler have arrests censorship and land abuse.

Independent media outlets such as Cambodian Daily and Voice and Democracy was shut down or heavily restricted.

And PPA is supposed to have land rights and no forced eviction.

Actually, land confiscation and forced evicts have affect 10,000 of Cambodian families.

This act violate PPA human rights commitment, especially the right of property, living hood and security.

For rule of law, ruler politicized and corrupt judiciary.

Even people who spread the knowledge about the principle of PPA to the other, they got arrested.

And they are still in jail till today.

Court are used to punish opposition members, activists, and journalists rather than uphold impartial justice.

Corruption and illegal land system, erodic citizen rights and fair treatment.

Sovereignty.

As I mentioned earlier, sovereignty is a part of the principle of the PPA, at which all neighboring countries have signed to honor it.

The Cambodian demarcation of the border and the French colonial map 1904-1907 treaty was clearly defined and become the legitimate map in the UN.

Based on this fact, International Court of Justice, ICJ, have had verdict favor Cambodia on 1962 and 2008 border dispute.

Unfortunately, the war still existed, which it should not be.

As a result, many civilian casseries, including children, and over 160,000 internal displacement persons, Brave here temple, which is built by our ancestors and currently belong to UNISCO World Heritage site, was severely damaged.

Ultimately, I would like to call all of the signatory country to help Cambodian civilian innocent people to enforce Cambodia ruler government to ensure to respect for democracy and human for its own people.

I also urge the neighboring countries who have signed PPA, please respect Cambodian sovereignty according to national law, international law, so that our people can live in peace and prosperity.

Thank you for listening.

Thank you.

Thank you to my colleagues who brought forward commendations.

We are on to orders of the day.

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

I'm not seeing any.

We do have an adjournment today.

Today, the San Jose City Council will adjourn our meeting in memory of Barry Swenson, a visionary builder, lifelong San Jose resident, and generous civic leader whose work helped shape the skyline and spirit of our city.

Last night I spent a little time reading through various articles about Barry, and I think my favorite quote was short and sweet from Mark Ritchie.

Nobody did it like Barry Swenson ever.

I'd like to think that's because Barry knew that building buildings was really about people, about community.

Barry built places for our businesses to grow, for professionals to build a career.

He built homes for our families to build their version of the American dream.

Barry built so much of what the capital of Silicon Valley is today.

And you don't have to look far from here to see those words ring true.

Barry believed in downtown San Jose early in his career, earning his reputation on renovation projects like the iconic Hotel De Anza, built by his grandfather.

Years later, when most developers and investors had soured on downtown, Barry stood his ground.

He built San Pedro Square, the grad, and so much more.

If you'd never met Barry, you might think that his large resume would come with an equally large ego.

But no matter how big Barry's portfolio grew, he always stayed down to earth, though he did wear a pretty cool hat.

I've had the distinct pleasure of getting to know Barry's son and successor in the business, Case Swenson, over the last many years now, and I've come to learn that Barry's humility came from his commitment to his family, which I know carries on with Case and the rest of the family today.

No matter how long the day or how big the project, Barry always came home to sit at the dinner table to spend time with his family.

So thank you, Molly, Barry's wife, Case, and the entire family for sharing Barry with our city.

Whether it's investing in our underserved youth or supporting the San Jose Museum of Art, your family has always valued giving back to this community.

And I'm so grateful to you for that spirit of civic pride.

We're going to hear from Case Swenson in just a moment, but first I'd like to invite Councilmember Mulcahy to say a few words.

Thank you, Mayor.

And um, Barry was a remarkable person, um, steady, generous, deeply devoted to his community.

His wife Molly, as the mayor's pointed out, is here today, uh, deserves equal credit for the Swenson family's generational impact.

Together, they have given time, leadership, and heart to projects and causes that have made our city a better place.

Barry was a transformative builder, known for landmark projects, and I know that he would be very proud that the Grande Dame Hotel De Anza, he helped save is getting a massive reinvestment by another family, the Panchalls, who see the opportunity in San Jose, like Barry always did.

Barry, the Ah Shucks, man in the hat.

He'll be remembered for his kindness, humility, humor, and nuts.

He had a way of bringing people together, finding common ground, and reminding us that deal making is in the relationships you build.

And it was Barry's stories about their early days, starting out as competitors, then becoming friends, that made me feel more connected to him, and I'm really forever grateful for that.

And we're joined by um fellow members of our Silicon Valley Steakmasters, a social group focused on good friends, great stakes, honest reviews.

Case Swenson is a member, and we had the good fortune to dine with Barry a couple of years back and made him an honorable member.

And Barry's other family is here too.

His dear colleagues and valued coworkers who revered Barry.

They're all here from the Swenson companies.

If you could just stand up for a moment and show if you're able to please stand up.

Tamra and Becky are also here, and their husbands and Case's wife Lisa.

And so Case, come on down.

And you know that your dad would be expecting a few wisecracks, right?

Well, thank you so much to the mayor.

I appreciate your kind words and also yours, Michael.

Um I know that my dad had the utmost respect for you and your dad.

And um I also enjoyed those stories about your dad and how much he really respected him as a businessman and as a great human.

Um we uh yesterday we had a canon that we had to celebrate, a groundbreaking, which was uh a great deal to see, and it got me so excited because every time my dad had a groundbreaking, he'd always bring out the San Jose State Marching Band.

And um it just reminded me of him and how much he revered being able to break ground, and they used that phrase for a reason.

Things are groundbreaking.

Um he had a humble way about him while doing business, but he was not humble when it came to San Jose.

He started out sharing his excitement, being a cheerleader for San Jose State Spartans, and he ended up being one of the head cheerleaders in my opinion of San Jose.

One thing that he did not get real excited about was red tape.

Everything.

Every day counts when trying to move a project to stabilization.

He had no shame when trying to get things done.

He even had his office right next door to City Hall so he could go over and bother the planners and the building department uh to try and get things over the line.

So um, but all that said, he could not have done it without all the great people in the City Hall and how hard they worked to try and put all the details together to make these projects successful.

Um he saw the lack of housing and he was pushing density back in the 1980s, and um kind of to talk to the Cosantinos point who were here earlier.

Um he hated to see that sprawl that was taking up all the farms, and so he was trying to build high rise, and nobody was buying into it because what they wanted to see was the farms, but what they didn't know is that that was uh the beginning the yang of the whole thing.

And so um he he did, he kept persevering for 20 years to finally get the first high-rise housing permit in San Jose from the mid-80s till the early two thousands, is how long it took for him to actually persevere um to actually go up instead of out.

Um and so, and one of the big problems during that time was the San Joseans that wanted to see it as a cannery or as the orchards that they remembered, and so that was one of the things that kept holding them up in all these um different times um that he was uh trying to get approvals.

Um, but history was not lost on him in any way, shape, or form, and you can see that by all of the historical buildings that he rebuilt down in San Jose and just bringing them back to life.

Um, just to refer to a comment mayor made yesterday, we've created six jobs for every one housing unit that we've built um in the last uh couple of years, and clearly this is not sustainable.

And I just want to say thank you so much for all the support that we're getting um during this time, and anything that we try to get through at City Hall is the leaps and bounds better than it's been um in years past.

So I want to thank all of you guys for keeping that energy up and um the people their attitudes is it's really it's really been healthy to see.

Um he gave back to San Jose in so many ways, but I think the Children's Discovery Museum was one of his crowning jewels.

Um in my opinion, it had the most impact.

Uh my mom was the president, and my dad and their team, they really went to work to try and make that happen.

And um it has brought so many families and kids down into the downtown, and I think that that's really had an incredible impact, and I love seeing it every time I drive by.

So even if it's purple.

Even if it's purple.

Um and uh many parents pass down things to their kids, and I'm thankful that he passed his passion for San Jose and building to me.

We're so excited to be able to work with you and carry on a legacy with you.

You people that also share the passion for San Jose.

Um my family and I are so thankful that you recognized my dad for everything he's done in San Jose and put it on the record, and it's I'm certain that we all feel um that he's on the record in our book, and he's definitely on the record in mine.

So thank you guys very much for his honor.

Sorry I'm losing it, thank you very much.

Thank you, Case.

That was beautiful.

Molly and family, we're very sorry for your loss, which is truly a loss for our entire city.

We are on to our closed session report.

I do not do not believe we have one because we did not have closed session this morning.

So we are gonna move on to our consent calendar.

Uh I understand Council Kameh would like to pull it in 2.10.

Were there any other requests that I missed?

I don't see any other hands.

Councilmember, I'll turn to you for comments, and then if you'd like to move consent as a whole, please do.

Thank you so much.

Um, I guess uh I'll be brief, and I want to thank uh the director of IT um Director Collie Um Toffic that uh answered many of my questions.

This has been a constant thorn on my side in terms of the 311 app, and you know, it's great on uh certain things, but um on the things that it is not good on, it is terrible.

And so I uh want to emphasize that yes, in fact, this uh demonstrates the possibility of a two-year transition.

I really think it's too long.

I think that um if there's any possibility, and I have been assured that yes, in fact, um the the goal is to do it sooner rather than later, uh, to transition from uh where we are now into the the Salesforce app.

And and I just I just think that there's a two-part uh section that I want to make my colleagues aware of, which is that this is the technology side, but there's also the implementation side.

So come 2026 and we're talking about budget.

There's a tremendous need to be able to make uh SJ 311 functional on the implementation side because we don't have that taken care of.

And so when people call in and there's a lack of resources, we need to say what is important.

So I just wanted to point that out as we start moving into next year's budget, and um, you know, know that these trade-offs also cause a lot of pain because if you don't have someone out there going to uh check on parking compliance or whatever, there is a cost.

So with that, I'd like to move the consent item.

A calendar rather.

Great.

Thank you, Councilmember, and I really appreciate those comments.

I uh prior to being mayor in my first year as the council, I chaired a council subcommittee that no longer exists or smart cities subcommittee.

Spent a lot of time I know with Colin and the team there, and uh, this was an item we talked a lot about, and I do want to acknowledge that we have made some real strides in language accessibility and some of the other components of 311.

But uh to your point, and I've written about this pretty extensively in my budget messages as well, and we have pretty consistent council direction around this.

The user experience needs to be better, and the back end fulfillment is critically important as you point out, and we have to have use data to identify what isn't working and hold ourselves accountable because in too many services that we provide, we're not giving clarity or fulfilling at a level that's generating the kind of customer satisfaction that we all want.

So I really appreciate your comments.

Uh, and we do have a motion, Tony.

Did we have any public comment cards on the consent calendar?

We do not.

Okay.

So we'll come back to the council to vote on consent.

Motion passes unanimously.

Great, thank you.

Next is the land use consent calendar.

We're on to item 10.1a.

There's uh no staff presentation.

Let's go to public comment first if we have any.

It looks like Armando.

Okay.

Armando, welcome.

And we're on item 10.1a.

This regarding the outdoor vending.

Correct.

Uh good afternoon, city council, honorable mayor.

My name is Armando Ricardes, and I am here with Prosperity Lab.

I'm here uh in support of the city ordinance uh regarding the outdoor vending permits as a small business ally.

I know firsthand uh the problem that exists right now with the uh street food vendors, and this is a city and county problem.

I could drive around because I know the ordinance, I could drive around through sales and give you hundreds of people who are out of compliance with uh city ordinance with uh code enforcement and the county uh environmental health, stepping up enforcement.

These people are forced to move from one place to the other and getting fines.

I strongly urge city council to pass this resolution to change the city ordinance so we can get these people permitted.

Thank you very much.

Back to council.

Great.

Thank you.

All right, we're coming back to the council.

We have a uh a group memo.

I'll turn to Councilmember Compost to say a little more.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, I want to begin uh by thanking the planning building and code enforcement department for preparing these amendments uh that will support the activation of more private lots and support small businesses during the 2026 events.

With the recommendations, uh we are simplifying the application process, extending the number of days vendors can do business, and reducing restrictions for vendors that are operating near specific zoning designations.

After the 2026 events, small businesses and property owners will reflect on our temporary events and wonder how can we make this permanent?

And that is the spirit of the memo that my colleagues in our Brown Act and I have submitted today.

What our memo asks staff to do is return to council with potential amendments to the municipal code that will reduce barriers when property and business owners work together to establish outdoor vending facilities on private properties.

During the public health emergency in 2020, we rapidly changed regulations to support small businesses and promote placemaking in San Jose.

We listened to our business community, and with their help, we were able to rethink how we used open and underutilized spaces.

San Pedro Square is a perfect example of this innovative and collaborative thinking, and 2026 will show us a proof of concept for these microenterprises.

The same way that mobile vending is a proof of concept for our small businesses, 60% of whom are immigrants pursuing the American dream here in San Jose.

We should also provide clear and consistent regulations for our partners serving our communities.

In District 2, we saw a mobile food vending plaza that housed several vendors was abated after nearly a year of operating out of compliance with several city regulations.

And many of these vendors were monolingual Spanish speakers who did not know that they were operating illegally.

Now they are scrambling to find a new private lot to do business, and unfortunately, my office could not do anything for them.

And the property owner needed to comply with code enforcement's directive.

And so we have vendors asking for our help in finding a new location.

But how can my team in good conscience recommend a new location on private property when there are still laws on the books that prohibit such uses?

It is crucial that the city take the spirit of these amendments and channel them toward a pathway to long-term private lot operations that promote economic development and support our vibrant, diverse local food industry.

We understand that our planning staff may have concerns about capacity.

However, our memo provides staff with broad discretion to propose amendments within a timeline that allows the department to coordinate internally based on their capacity and existing workload.

Thank you again to my Brown Act group for your help and support with this memo.

And with that, I move to approve the joint memo.

Great.

Thank you, Councilmember.

Thanks to our colleagues who contributed to the memo, Vice Mayor Foley, Councilman Mulcay, Councilmember Casey, and then of course uh Councilman Campos and myself.

Thank you to my team for their work on this.

Okay.

I don't see any other hands.

Tony, let's vote.

Motion passes unanimously.

Great.

Thank you.

Well, to our regular agenda.

This is item 3.1, report of the city manager.

Thank you, Mayor and Council.

I do have a report today.

I want to talk about the International Day of the Girl.

International Day of the Girl is an annual celebration that takes place on October 11th of each year.

The day is dedicated to championing the rights of girls worldwide and empowering them to dream big.

I want to begin by acknowledging the more than 20 female city leaders who attended the International Day of the Girl event hosted by the Boys and Girls Club on October 8th at San Jose State University.

They served as mentors and shared their career paths to inspire young girls so they too could play a vital role in the city's future.

Would you please stand, ladies?

I'm very proud of you all.

I've got several of them in this audience.

Thank you.

And they're wearing some of their pink shirts that they received at the event.

These amazing leaders represent a diverse group of women at the city with a vast array of careers from multiple city departments, including the city manager's office, energy and environmental services, human resources, parks, recreation, neighborhood services, and police, just to name a few of them.

As the only the third female city manager in the city's history, and a mother of two girls and a boy, this day holds a special place in my heart as I aim to inspire young girls and help them build confidence to become future leaders.

As I reflect on my career, for many years, I noticed that I was often the only female in the room.

I thought that was very odd.

Given that women are smart, savvy, and have very important perspectives and lived experiences to add to any conversation.

Over time, the demographics in the rooms have changed.

However, it is imperative that change continues to ensure that women have their rightful seat at the table.

I'm committed to ensuring that our policies, practices, and operations assist in creating the conditions where gender and other social dimensions no longer factor into or determine one's life outcomes.

This is why racial and social equity is one of my one-team leadership values and expectations, and closing racial and social inequities is one of my five foundational strategic support focus areas.

I want to encourage everyone to show their support and stand with girls as well as inspire their leadership every day.

Before I close this item, I also want to acknowledge Vice Mayor Foley, who provided open remarks at the event, and Council Member Mulcahy, who was present and supported the event as well.

Thank you both very much.

That concludes my report, and thank you very much, ladies, and everybody again.

You guys rock.

Thank you, Jennifer.

Appreciate your report this week.

I apologize for not making the event, but you didn't need me, you had the vice mayor, so you're you're good.

Appreciate those reflections.

We're going to move on to item 3.3.

This is our city manager's annual report.

We do have a staff presentation, so we'll just give everyone a moment to settle into the box.

Good afternoon, Mayor, members of the city council.

My name is Jim Shannon.

I'm the city's budget director.

I'm joined down here with assistant budget director Bonnie Duong, Deputy Budget Director Claudia Chang, and Financial Status Coordinator Selena Gubondo, and we're going to provide a brief overview of the city's 24-25 annual report, which complies with the city charter and is the city manager's vehicle for summarizing and analyzing the city's budget performance for the preceding fiscal year.

The report provides a technical comparison of budget to actual revenues and expenditures in each budgeted fund for last year, and as appropriate, explanations concerning material differences between these amounts.

It also provides the city council with a comparison of estimated to actual ending fund balances for all of our funds, as well as a summary of the 24-25 year end reserves by fund.

Based on this analysis of prior year performance, updated information for the current fiscal year and past direction from the city council, the annual report recommends a number of 2425 budget adjustments for your consideration.

As we looked across all of the 140 or so funds that the city manages, revenues overall performed generally as expected, and overall expenditures ended the year within or below budgeted levels.

In the general fund, we had a very small, very, very small surplus, and most other funds ended the year with balances at or above estimated levels.

For context, the general fund ending fund balance truly available was 0.03% of the budgeted combination of revenues and expenditures.

So we've got recommended actions to close out 2425, adjust 2526 as necessary in compliance with city council policy, recognize some grants and reimbursements, and address a few urgent needs and some special and capital funds.

Starting with just a few economic indicators, just to give a flavor, I think you know, still relatively soft economic environment that we're in is reflected by these figures here.

So jobs are pretty flat, very slightly down.

You know, job growth is one of the main drivers of the city's general fund revenues.

So to the extent that jobs are growing, revenues are growing, to the extent that jobs back off, revenues back off too.

And so we're we're starting to see some of that.

Unemployment rate ticked up just a little bit.

On the real estate side.

Uh, transactions were a little bit higher, even though the overall relatively lower levels, the median single family home price remained flat.

And we did get a little bit of a tick-up in our construction activity in the private sector.

Looking at a few of our major general fund revenue categories, the good news is we had property tax growth of 5%.

That's important because that's our largest general fund single revenue category.

I think that the more sobering news is the last three years that had grown by a range of six to eight percent, and now it's grown by five percent.

So we do see some softening in that as we look into the future.

Uh, sales tax is down about two million dollars.

Um, it ended uh just a little higher than what we thought it would end by the end of the year, but still lower than the prior year.

Um, and that's uh over the since 2023, that revenue category has dropped by about twelve million dollars, um, and about what's about three and a half percent or so of uh that category on the utility tax side and the franchise fee side, we see some of the increases there based on our rates and usage, a little bit in business tax.

Um, transient occupancy tax did have a pretty good year over year growth, getting to 17.2 million, although that is still below the pre-pandemic levels of about 20 million.

Looking at the general fund in particular, we've got a 2425 ending fund balance of 21.9 million dollars, which is above what was assumed in the production of the 2526 adopted operating budget.

However, um we have to account for 20.1, sorry, 20.7 million dollars or so of cleanup or rebudget actions to carry forward funds for projects and programs previously in process.

And so when you really look at the available fund balance after those cleanup and rebudget actions, we've got uh only about 1.2 million dollars of funds that are remaining.

Um and we do have recommendations there to make some budget adjustments based on uh you know new information of uh revenue and expenditure cost and uh valuations, um, uh some technical cleanups that get us to about one 1.2 million dollars for some required fixes in accordance with city council policy one-818, and we'll walk through those in a second.

And then we have a few net net net zero uses recognizing grant revenues of 2.6 million and corresponding uses of that same amount so that we fully allocate the remaining fund balance with really um none extra having only 1.2 million dollars is really white knuckling it through the end of the fiscal year, so that's a very, very uh small amount for us to have.

And so when you see the red numbers here as a partial list of some of the general fund adjustments, those are subtractions, so taking funding from that available general fund balance and allocating it to certain things, and you see the white numbers that's adding fund balance centrally back.

Um, and these are all uh required things.

This is actions that the city council is already you know given action on, or we have new information based on uh a past council action.

So I just want to step through a few of these.

The first one is uh transferring two point one million dollars back to the real property transfer tax fund.

Those were encumbrances of measure E related expenditures that we had since liquidated those encumbrances, but now that measure E is in its own separate fund, we need to transfer those proceeds back to the measure of fund.

We did have some year-end net year-end savings in the multiple housing fee program, which is a cost recovery program of $900,000, and we can't keep that in general funds.

We have to use that to support the program for next year.

So we'll put that in a reserve.

Then we've got $600,000 of increased cost related to the oversized vehicle tow service based on higher number of recreational vehicle tows, particularly driven by some of the work at Columbus Park, along with the higher per unit tow value of the recently amended contract.

Additional cost to continue the senior nutrition program at the same level, so the cost per meal is is going up.

A little bit on the adjustment on the net revenue reduction of 131,000 related to the card room regulation program modification that was done in August to eliminate a couple of positions and to reduce the fees.

There is a little bit of net revenue loss there associated with the overhead assumed in those revenues.

So you can see those red amounts are already more than the 1.2 million dollars of available fund balance we had available, and so you know, we need some more resources here to do these required fixes, and so we kind of advanced some of the work we would normally do as part of the proposed budget process to see where savings are or or other misses or adjustments that we need to make.

One of them is good news.

So we had a transfer in the adopted budget of 10 million dollars from the general fund to the emergency reserve fund to account for potential losses in reimbursement from FEMA due to pandemic-related costs or winter storm costs.

The good news there is I think we starting to get more reimbursements than we had feared we would not get, and so we can reduce that transfer from ten million dollars to seven million dollars.

So that provides us some cost savings there.

Um we've got $728,000 coming in from Valley Water for the Purified Water Program.

They support about two and a half positions.

This is funding that should have been in the adopted budget.

That was just a miss on our part, so we're making sure that we put that back in.

And then we have some additional interest earnings from the Measure E resources that are now in the real property transfer tax funds.

Last year was the first year we had Measure E in its own separate fund.

We've always captured the interest to the general fund, but it took a little while to get that allocation right.

Now that we've got a full year of that, we can adjust the budget accordingly.

So those are just some of a snapshots of what's in the annual report.

Many, many more things, of course, in the entire 300 pages.

Uh just touching on a couple of the capital funds here and special funds.

Um, these are revenues associated with our building instruction, our construction excise tax funds, and those are the smaller bars, those um support our traffic capital program, and then the yellow bars is our construction and conveyance tax revenues, which support um our parks, libraries, fire stations, communications, and a few other uh capital-related resources.

So those overall are doing decently.

Um I think you can certainly see we're down from the pre-pandemic highs, and uh a little bit weaker than we would like to be, but but did have overall growth.

Although I'd say we had thought that CNC revenues would end the year better than they did.

Um, and so um we are will probably see um probably uh uh adjustment to the 2526 estimates later on in the year as we keep monitoring real estate property trends.

And on the airport, all the airport operating funds are doing well, they're tracking within budgeted levels due to careful budgeting and management.

The overall activity is down on a year-over-year basis, and we've sort of been dropping a little bit since 2223.

Might not meet that 11.3 million dollar estimate, but again, sort of overall indication of a little bit of the softness in the local regional economy.

And then we've got a number of adjustments in the special and capital funds that are related to some cleanup actions and uh for reconciliations, re-budgeting other technical adjustments, or to recognize some grants and reimbursements or some updated cost estimates and timing.

So we have for you is the recommendation, just a light slight tweak, if you wouldn't mind.

So uh approving items A through D, which is accepting the annual report, amending the budget 2526 for various operating capital funds, approving just a position shift between the city manager's office of economic development, cultural affairs, and planning building, code enforcement department.

And if you wouldn't mind if the maker of the motion could modify um recommendation E.

Um, we had uh there are numbers, about seven funds that were sub-accounts to the construction excise fund and the traffic capital fund for ease of clarity and for um administrative um transparency.

We're having those as official budgeted funds.

There's no new money in here, we're just formally recognizing these funds and putting them in the municipal code, but we were a little too restrictive inadvertently in the language for the eligible uses of the transportation elements for VRF Measure B, VTA measure B, and we want to have those reflect the authorizing ballot language of those measures, as well as the state gas tax payment maintenance fund.

Want to cite the approved guidelines relating to gas tax expenditure for cities and counties to make sure it's inclusive of the various transportation and payment related improvements authorized by those by those funds.

So we'll uh if you make a motion, could in uh include those modifications as outlined by the budget director in their motion.

We'd appreciate that, and we'll have the final ordinance for the second reading.

Um, with that technical, I really want to thank management team that you see here.

Um I really want to also thank the budget office uh who works really, really hard during the month of September.

This is the hardest document that we put out.

We put it together in about three and a half weeks, and so I'm always in awe of of what we can do together, and I also want to thank then the department colleagues, senior staff of which are represented here, who contributed to all of the content for this um document.

So with that, we will pause for public comment and questions.

Great.

Thank you.

Uh Jim, want to thank you and your team of the budget office for the all your work on the annual report.

Very informative as always, and uh we'll start with any public comment if we have it.

Yeah, I have four cards.

Lynn, Lisa, Carol, and Cynthia.

Come on down.

You can come in any order.

Um, you are not required to speak in the order that you were called.

Again, that's Cynthia, Carol, Lisa, and Lynn.

My name is Lynn Paulson.

My comments actually pertain to the verbal report by the city manager rather than this.

Sorry, we're on the annual.

Your comments have to be specific to the annual report of the budget.

Did I fill out the card wrong?

We don't take public comment on the city manager's report.

I apologize.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon, Mayor and City Council members.

My name is Cynthia Chigoya, and I'm with the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley.

Today I am joined by several of our housing legal service partners and wanted to ask as the city reflects on FY25 and makes necessary budget adjustments for FY26, that the city also consider lifting the pause that was placed on our service contract with the city in late June, just before the new fiscal year started.

We asked this so that we can continue to provide critical housing services for tenants in the city of San Jose.

We've been providing these services for just about 10 years, and the city has come to rely on our services, making direct referrals to our organizations or tenants themselves who walk in for assistance.

Our services include education outreach for housing investigations, short-term service, and full scope representation in eviction lawsuits.

The current pause uh that was imposed by the city, while we recognize the the dynamics given the federal shifts have begun to cause harm and pause in terms of the services that we're able to offer and resulting in tenants being turned away, vulnerable tenants being turned away who are coming to us for help.

Um, and of course, this includes families, seniors, veterans, individuals with disabilities, and uh is an important resource in preventing homelessness and keeping housing stability in the city.

Um, in terms of reach and impact of our services, I just wanted to name collectively our services reach over 750 residents in the city.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Good afternoon, mayor and council members.

My name is Lisa Newstrom.

I'm the managing attorney at Bay Area Legal AIDS Santa Clara County office.

Um, and I am also here to speak about the impact of the decrease or pause in the housing legal services funding in the budget.

Um, this is funding that helps our neighbors stay safe and housed and helps preserve the vibrant communities that I think we've seen on display here in today's council meeting.

Um, and that makes San Jose such a special place.

And when those neighbors are displaced, when those tenancies are lost, it is impossible to replace them.

Before this change in funding levels, tenants in San Jose and Santa Clara County were already disadvantaged compared to others around the region.

Um, as we have the highest ratio of tenants in eviction to legal services attorneys in nine counties around the Bay Area.

There are 400 tenants being evicted every year for every single housing legal services attorney.

Um so there's clearly a need that cannot be met.

Um, and that compares to 67 tenants for every one housing attorney in San Francisco, which has the lowest ratio.

Um, so just to give you a little example of the difference these housing legal services make.

Um, at Bay Area Legal Aid, we had a client and her disabled sister living in an apartment, suffering leaks, mold, broken floors, a serious health danger to the pair.

The city had issued the landlord a notice of violation, but his remedy was to evict the tenants.

We represented the tenants in getting the eviction case dismissed and seeking enforcement of the landlord's duty to repair.

When the housing became untenable, we helped convert the subsidy into one that would allow them to relocate.

So that rather than continuing to pay public funds.

Thank you.

That's your time.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council Members.

My name is Carol Kahn.

I'm the executive director of Project Sentinel.

We've been active in the city of San Jose, providing comprehensive housing services for over a decade and in the county as well.

On behalf of Project Sentinel, our partners in the House Fair Housing Consortium, I want to speak about what's at stake for San Jose residents with the loss of fair housing funding.

Our shared mission is simple but urgent to fight the housing crisis and homelessness by keeping people housed and keeping the doors to housing open for all, free from discrimination.

Today that mission is in jeopardy.

At the federal level, we're witnessing a rollback of key housing protections and enforcement.

The National Fair Housing Alliance 2023 Trends Report documented over 34,000 fair housing complaints nationwide, with the highest number here in California, at over 8,600 complaints, fully one quarter of the total.

And more than 75% of those cases were handled not by government agencies, but by private nonprofit fair housing organizations like our own.

The need for fair housing services is growing, not shrinking.

At Project Sentinel, we investigate about 400 discrimination cases every year using testing interviews and document review.

In about 30 to 40% of those cases, we find credible evidence of discrimination.

But what these numbers really mean is that families, seniors, veterans, survivors of domestic violence would otherwise be losing their homes.

Let me share just two recent San Jose cases.

One was an immigrant family threatened with deportation.

An immigrant family in a low-income housing complex was harassed by a neighbor who posted a letter threatening to report them to deportation because of their babies' noise.

Our attorney intervened under VAWA, the Violence Against Women's Act and California law, advocating for a transfer to protect the f family's safety.

After six months of persistent support through us, they're safely relocated instead of displaced.

The other case.

Thank you.

That's your time.

Back to council.

Right.

Thank you to our public commenters.

Just as we come as we come back to the council, Jim, would you and the team maybe share a brief update on where we are with legal services?

I know that you all have been actively working on that.

Yeah, thank you for the question, Mayor.

I'll just um if I get anything wrong, I'll ask the housing program to come up.

I think we've been uh the funds in that were noted here were related to some of the funding that we received from the federal housing of urban housing and urban development.

And so uh as part of the sort of uncertainty around some of the federal funds, we had to sort of work through some of what the legal challenges are.

I think we're at a spot where we uh feel relatively confident about where those are.

I think we're gonna start moving forward with the execution of the grant agreements, and we can start moving forward with execution of the contracts too.

Okay, that's good news.

Great.

Appreciate the update.

Thank you again to those who uh who spoke.

We're gonna continue on with colleagues, and I'll start with Councilmember Ortiz, who I know submitted a blue memo, which you should all have a copy of.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh, thank you uh to our budget director and and team for their for their hard work on this um update.

Um I want to thank staff for their flexibility and collaboration meeting with my team in preparation for this this memo.

Uh the request that I have you all have a blue memo in front of you is simple but meaningful for my district.

Uh we had made a budget request.

I think it was either my second budget year for $53,000 for an Alam Rock Village, a welcome Alam Rock Village sign.

Um, unfortunately, there was many barriers to the overall execution of creating that sign, and so we're we're interested in expanding the usage of those dollars for things like public art and community beautification uh efforts, such as a mural that will then say welcome to Alum Rock, as well as uh other users like a decorative banners.

We've been working with the Allen Rock Village Business Association as well as RVAC in order to determine how those funds uh should be should be used.

So I believe this this approach will preserve the original intent of the allocation, will allow us to actually do something that we can um maintain for years to come in the Alam Rock area, and I think it gives public works the flexibility to actually uh get it done.

So I just I really want to thank Jim for meeting with my staff or guiding me through this um process and just being responsive uh to my to my team.

And then I'm also happy to hear about the um the legal services as well.

I guess I just have one update.

Do you know that?

Because I know my understanding is once they accept a client they're happy they have to represent them regardless of whether they're getting paid or not.

Could they essentially put submit some of the work they're already doing to be reimbursed by those dollars?

I need help for that.

Maybe if you could come up for that one.

Thank you.

I imagine they may have that question, that's why I wanted to ask on the dias.

Good afternoon, Sarah Fields, Deputy Director with the Housing Department.

Um so a few things.

Um the primary contract um with uh legal services is around uh anti-discrimination work, not around evictions.

I just want to uh clarify that.

Um that being said, um I have a real-time update for you, in fact.

Uh the city continues its eviction prevention program, which includes our court clinic and eviction diversion program.

Uh in fact, we work with uh Bay Area Legal on some of those diversion cases.

Okay, great.

Thank you.

I think essentially that was a yes or all right sounds good.

Appreciate that, and I look forward to you know connecting with um the advocates and making sure they get everything they need.

With that, I'll make the motion uh to approve the annual report.

I want to include the modifications as recommended by uh um staff as well as my blue memo with the slight language adjustment to the uh budget allocation.

And I look forward to the new art coming to Alamrock Village.

Thank you.

Great, thanks, Councilmember.

Appreciate it.

I remember that uh budget docs.

We've put it in our uh in the June message, and uh I think I think what you're envisioning still falls under placemaking.

So I think that I appreciate the clarity in the blue memo.

I think that's helpful.

Let's go now to Vice Mayor Foley.

Thank you.

Uh first I just want to thank Jim, you and your team for a really uh detailed annual report.

It was uh really informative and it shows where we are financially and where we have to really tow the line financially too.

We have to be really cautious and conservative.

We don't have any additional funds going forward that we thought we might have, and it's it's just prudent to stay the course as we are, and it just says that we're in effectively tough times ahead as we move towards 26 27 uh budget adoption.

But I want to thank you for the briefing that we had yesterday and all uh the detail, the report, and all of your staff for the many hours that you put into this.

And I want to thank uh council member Ortiz for approaching an issue that doesn't increase the budget at all but uses the funds that was allocated in the way that you see you utilizing it.

So I'm happy to support that and uh and approve the motion.

That's that's it for me.

I don't have any questions.

Thank you.

Great.

Thanks, Vice.

Let's go to Kelsey Rock Kamei next.

Thank you.

I I too will be brief.

First, I want to say thank you to your staff, Jim.

Uh that is that is awesome.

Uh and uh everything happens uh sort of in a crunch, and somehow the team gets it done.

So I applaud that.

Um, and um, you know, I want to I want to say that uh you have been really so accessible uh whenever I had a question and you respond right away.

So I want to say thank you.

Thank you to the team, thank you to you for being careful, diligent, and really looking out for uh the citizens here in San Jose.

Thanks, Councilmember.

Uh right, we've got a motion.

Let's vote.

Motion passes unanimously.

Tony, did you get Council Member Cohen's vote?

He's joined us.

I didn't.

He just voted verbally.

So it's it's 110 and 110.

I was just looking, I was used to seeing 10.

There we go.

Okay, great.

Uh we are on to item 3.4.

City attorney appointment and compensation package.

There's no presentation, but um, as part of the Brown Act, there's to be a brief oral uh report summary of the recommendation on compensation.

The city council will be adopting a resolution appointing Susanna Alcala Wood as city attorney effective November 9th, 2025, and approving compensation and benefits as described in the agenda recommendation for a total annual salary of $390,000.

With that, we'll see if there's any public comment.

I have no cards for this item.

Okay.

Coming back to the council, do we have a motion?

Great.

Let's vote.

Okay.

Looks like that was a unanimous 11-0 vote.

We'll move on to item 3.5 is a resolution of support on state proposition 50.

There is no presentation.

Let's begin with public comment.

I have no cards on 3.5.

Okay.

Back to the council.

We'll go to Councilmember Cohen.

Yeah, I'll be quick just because I think everyone's aware of the proposition and knows about it, but um don't have to let everybody remind everybody that we're in unprecedented times and uh we've been dealing with the effects of the administration in various.

Councilmember, I'm sorry, it looks like we maybe have folks who were hoping to speak and did not understand the process.

Tony, are we sure we didn't get cards?

Um all the ones I have say measure the measure A item.

On measure A.

Okay, that is our next item.

Then I apologize, Councilmember.

Please continue.

Um I'm sorry.

Yeah, as I was saying, we are we're in unprecedented times and uh one of our only um checks on this is a fairly elected um U.S.

Congress.

Uh California did the right thing by by um creating an independent commission, but unfortunately, it's really really hard when only one state does the right thing and the rest of the states don't.

Um so uh as you're all aware, this proposition would temporarily allow the redistricting and it was and it's asking the voters to approve the maps as opposed to what other states are doing, which is creating maps without voter input, and um would then reset back to the independent commission after the next census.

So I move uh the council support proposition 50.

Second.

Okay, I don't see any other hands.

Tony, let's vote.

Motion passes unanimously.

Thank you, Tony.

Okay, coming back to the council.

We're on item 3.6.

This is a resolution of support on Santa Clara County measure A.

Again, no staff presentation.

This is brought forward by colleagues.

Uh and we will go to the public first.

And Tony, you do have comment cards on measure A.

I have six comment cards.

Um, I'm gonna call the first four.

Um the you don't have to speak in the order that you're called.

Just come to the microphone and start speaking, and then I'll add the last two in a minute.

Mary Gloner, Ray, Victor San Vicente, and Dan Stegnik.

Come on down.

Mayor Mahan and City Council.

Councilman.

Uh I'm Ray Frays.

I've been asked to speak on behalf of Rishi Kumar, who is in an unavoidable work meeting.

Here's what he had to say.

Quote: My name is Rishi Kumar.

I chair the no on measure A committee.

I authored the ballot argument uh argument and rebuttal, and I've been quoted in more than two dozen media and TV pieces on the issue.

I would urge you to vote no on measure A.

The details are in the San Jose Mercury News op-ed and at Richie Kumar slash measure A.

The bottom line: Santa Clara County is projecting an annual 4.4 billion deficit by 2030.

Measure A would only raise 330 million or so, a fraction of the gap, with no credible plan for the remaining billions beyond other than more tax hikes.

Without a plan, the county could very well declare bankruptcy in the near future.

That wouldn't be good, would it?

Residents are asking for belt tightening and real accountability, not new taxes.

The next door outrage grows by the day.

They're also concerned about the county funded glossy mailers that look like a covert campaign for measure A.

This is why our no on measure A to me team is preparing legal action for misuse of taxpayer dollars.

Please do the right thing.

Reject Measure A, as the city of Cupertino recently did.

And speaking on my half of myself, my wife, we're sick of the tax increases that just keep going up and up.

Government has to become more accountable.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Also, Max come on down.

My name is Victor Sandicenta.

I'm in from Venezuela.

So I know what problems we have here.

And we're heading to that way right now.

Promises, but not commas is done.

I put up this sign.

We want to vote no on measure A.

When you add more taxes to this city, what's happening or this county?

What's happening is the poor people cannot afford to.

That little kid is going to bed at night without a dinner.

He's going to bed hungry.

That little kid, that little boy or good is going to bed hungry because they can't afford the extra tax on their food.

When they're getting up in the morning, they get up hungry because they can't afford it.

And that poor person who's trying to pay their rent.

They can't pay their rent because it goes up more, and they become more homeless.

And you want to add to the homeless, then you vote no on measure A.

If you want to decrease homeless, you vote no on measure A.

I'm from Venice.

I know what happened.

It happens like that gradually and until you can't what you call it, fulfill your promises anymore.

And when you can't fulfill your promises, what happened?

Everybody suffers.

Everybody suffers.

It's a communist idea.

I've seen it.

The communist, that's how they work.

So I believe every one of you in your hearts, you better vote no one and measure A because I believe if you don't do that, you're a communist.

Absolutely.

Look to your heart and think to your heart.

You're going to put that little boy or little girl going to bed at night without a dinner, but getting up hungry.

And you can't allow that.

That person who's trying to afford their home, they can't pay that extra taxes.

So they're going to go homeless.

So you're going to add more to the homeless.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, next speaker.

David Manetta, come on down and Kylie Clark.

Hello, my name is Max.

I actually put in a card for 50, but I think you guys didn't get my card, so hopefully we can still talk about that.

But for measure A, let's talk about why we have an HR1 federal cut.

Santa Clara County is a sanctuary city state, and we are paying in California $13 billion or sorry, $10 billion for Medicail for undocumented immigrants.

This is why we are getting a federal cut.

Now, if we had a surplus in Santa Clara County, I would probably be more open to being more compassionate to undocumented.

But upon research, I found that Santa Clara County already has a 250 million dollar deficit.

Why should we be taxed for the county's ineptitude of managing our tax dollars?

If this was so important for measure A for hospitals, ER, and staff, why wasn't this set up as a special dedicated fund instead of a general fund?

And now I see ads on TV, YouTube that measure A is going to go to fighting crime as well.

What happened to the urgency for saving our hospitals and our staff?

Now, we also have to compare against our neighbors in Alameda County and also uh San Mateo counties.

We are spending 2.5 to 10x more than our neighboring counties.

It's not even close, guys.

It is about 3,800 per capita.

What we should do instead is reform like our neighbors in Alameda and San Mateo counties.

One, expand outsourcing, two, advanced advanced integration.

Three, bolster prevention.

The projected savings from these strategies is six hundred fifty million to 1.2 billion.

Bring it back to measure A.

It's only raising $330 million.

Let's fix the spending.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Also, Dominic, come on down.

Good afternoon, Council.

My name's Dan Stegnik.

I think I've met all of you once or twice.

I'm from a little up north.

First of all, I'd like to thank the good mayor for holding out on this one as long, you know, as long as he could.

And uh you're kind of suffered by, you know, a tidal wave of support for this thing.

That's not necessarily mandated.

As uh one of the few democrats protesting this, I'd like to thank the bipartisan absent tripartisan if you count the the two second and third largest political parties that have opposed this.

Um of your residents are not internationally born, they're not U.S.

citizens.

You've got another 330,000 that are uh H1Bs that really can't vote, and they're all gonna get suffer from Medi-Cal.

I don't blame you for voting for this, but it's a bad deal for Santa Clara County.

Um, it's bad planning.

As recently, as April, uh Margaret Abel Abe Koga said in a uh uh newspaper interview that they had four billion dollars of single-year deficits this year alone.

Um, the six hospital the four hospital system from the last six years is expected to have a four billion dollar deficit by 2030 alone.

Um, these emergency?

If it was, I would suggest that all of you pass a resolution today to put the good mayor on a first-class ticket to DC and have him spend two weeks, you know, working the crowd and getting money.

I think that is a real possibility for you guys.

I don't think that ship has sailed on there.

I'd also like to finally call out the double taxation of residents in El Camino Healthcare District, Sunnyville, Cupertino, part of Palo Alto, part of Mountain View, uh Los Altos sales in Los Altas already pay into a hospital district.

They will now be essentially um triaged up.

Thank you.

That's your time.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon, mayor and council members.

My name is Mary Glooner.

I live in Council Member Mokay's district.

For more than 30 years, I dedicated my career to advancing community health across Santa Clara County, including in the past decade, leading youth mental health, suicide prevention, and resiliency efforts.

I urge you to endorse Measure A.

Santa Clara Valley Healthcare operates three of the five hospitals in San Jose, including the only level one trauma and burn center in the region.

More than 70,000 residents, including those experiencing mental health crisis such as suicide attempts or a transport to these emergency rooms in just two years.

These hospitals anchor prevention, early intervention, and long-term recovery for both physical and mental health.

When hospitals close, families do not disappear.

They turn to already overburdened facilities.

Weights grow longer, costs rise, and preventable crisis become emergencies.

Public health begins where people live, learn, and work.

Keeping local hospitals open preserves the trust, stability, and continuity of care that sustain resilient communities.

Measure A is our local solution to a federal funding crisis.

Please stand with the residents, families, and youth by endorsing Measure A.

Thank you for your leadership and commitment to San Jose's health and safety.

Thank you, next speaker.

Hello, Mayor and Council.

My name is Kylie Clark, and I'm here today to encourage you to endorse Measure A.

To start, you can't budget your way out of a $1 billion hole in the budget.

You all know that better than anyone.

You also know that in June, the county passed a balanced budget, has been fiscally responsible, and that because of HR1, we are in this crisis.

So just want to start there.

I want to remind you all of the folks who spoke in support of Measure A at a previous meeting.

We weren't going to take your time or theirs to have them be here today.

We are out trying to get this passed in the community, but as you know, there is a great deal of support for Measure A, including many cities that have already endorsed and many, many elected officials, groups, community members, and leaders.

The other speakers are correct, the folks who spoke in opposition to Measure A, that life is very, very expensive.

And the measure is built according to that.

Things that are not taxed include rent, groceries, education, child care, all of those basic expenses are not going to see an increase.

So if we're thinking about hungry kids, if we're thinking about people entering homelessness, that can only be worse if folks have less access to health care.

We see so many families fall into homelessness because of a health care bill, and we all rely on the county's health care system in so many ways, whether indirectly because of the burden that the hospitals are taking off of the system or directly because it is where we will go if we are in a tragic car accident or have a head injury, anything like that, we are going to be relying on these facilities.

So I encourage you to endorse Measure A.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Good afternoon.

First, I want to thank you all for serving our community as elected and career staff.

At times we may see issues and solutions differently, but in the end, we all uh wish good on San Jose and its residents.

That said, uh I come to you today as CEO of Alan Rock Counseling Center located at 1245 East Santa Clara Street.

I am a resident of District 9.

Uh and I I come to you in support of Measure A.

Allen Rock provides mental health services to children, teens, and families, and I worry that with the upcoming federal funding cuts uh from HR1 that we will not be able to meet the community's mental health needs as we have to date.

And moreover, health services at large in county hospitals and clinics will be reduced from the estimated $4 billion plus dollar reduction in federal funds.

I think the choice between bad and worse is not unfamiliar to this council.

We are in a moment, and I ask that you, on behalf of our behavioral health services providers here in the county and in San Jose specifically, is to meet the moment.

And to do as many other city councils have done in the past, not along party lines, but just for the best betterment of the community, is to see our way through and to vote yes on, albeit uh a tough measure.

I to be honest.

Um, but it is the moment, and I'm asking all of you to stand up to the moment.

Thank you all very much.

Thank you, next speaker.

Um good afternoon.

I'm a proud district nine resident uh speaking to you today about my support for Measure A.

I've learned that in the entire state of California, there's only one other county after our own, Santa Clara that ranks lower in terms of population served adjusted for number of hospitals.

That county is San Mateo.

So I see that the Bay Area is struggling to deliver hospital service, despite our relative prosperity and our transparency of government service and our quality of life.

I hope today that the council will endorse this measure.

There was some talk earlier about how the county needs to cut services, and one of our other speakers mentioned that you know it's difficult to fill a third of a budget cut, especially when these cuts are coming from federal Republicans and the county delivered a balanced budget just before HR1.

In addition, I was speaking with a volunteer with Measure A, who has worked as a nurse in this community, and she worries that the quality of care will decrease, even among the private system, as trauma beds struggle to absorb the cuts that will come to hospitals we rely on, especially in district nine like Valley Medical Center, and lower our standard of care to a great degree.

I'd just like to add the county already is trying to come up with inventive techniques to try and shoulder this loss.

But regardless, um, measure A deserves this council's support.

Um I'm optimistic that this council considers this measure, and uh thank you.

Back to council.

Thank you, Tony.

Appreciate it.

I'll be real brief on this, and I'll turn to colleagues.

I know there's divergent views, which I respect.

I'll say for myself it was quite a struggle to get to a place where I would support the measure.

I had to really think long and hard about it because I think we should always be asking government to get better, not bigger.

We've done a lot over the years to make government bigger here, and our desire to provide a lot of services, amenities, infrastructure, but at some point we price out working families and we we contribute to cost of living.

Uh there is a there is a breaking point there.

At the same time, the extensive cuts that HR 1 present for our county are too much too fast to mitigate in a in a short period of time.

They will take a transition period, and that's uh that is what the measure offers is a brief stopgap measure for a transition period.

I think in my conversation with county leaders that there's an acknowledgement, which I appreciate, that this system needs to be made more efficient and needs substantial reform.

We have more public hospital beds per capita than any other county in the state.

We are a close second to LA, which is five times our size.

We have uh some real challenges with the system and its fiscal viability, but again, we don't solve that in one year when facing a billion-dollar cut.

There has to be a thoughtful multi-year reform effort to right size the system to get control of costs, to adopt technology, and to get to the place I think we all want to get to, which is robust public services, but at a price tag we can afford and tax levels that working families can afford.

It needs to invest and look very different on the other end of these five years, not just more of the same.

Uh, I appreciate the new uh integration that county leaders have brought forward on their end, and that we will be discussing on our end that would allow us to better optimize and integrate our homelessness and behavioral health systems with county teams coming on site to interim housing communities, with the county committing to a desperately needed expansion of in-patient treatment beds, especially and primarily sub-acute locked treatment beds.

Uh, over two hundred and twenty of those beds, primarily in San Jose, serving San Jose residents on our streets who are not able to come in off the streets.

So I think there's a a new level of pragmatism and partnership there that we've been seeking as a city, and uh I think there's an opportunity to enter a new chapter with our county.

Uh, but again, even that is not uh likely to happen if the county is trying to face a billion dollar cut in a matter of a year.

I don't see that in the cards if that's our reality.

Uh, so that's what has led me to get to a point of being comfortable with this as a stopgap measure, not as a something we should assume is a permanent ongoing extra tax.

And I'll just reflect it.

We face a similar dynamic with our transit system.

That's not the item, it's not germane, so I'm not gonna dwell on it, but we have to use the revenues we're asking today, in my opinion, if voters trust us with them to reform and improve these systems so they are more productive, more efficient and and more fiscally sound on the other end of the expenditures.

We can't just assume we can keep stacking more taxes and perpetually renew them.

That's my opinion, but I I need to put that on the record because I have come out tentatively, I have come out in support of the measure with those with those caveats.

So not an easy decision for me, certainly, but uh that's where I'm at on it.

Okay, uh, I know we've got a bunch of other opinions, which is great.

Let's go around the horn and see what everybody has to say, and we'll start with council member Casey.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um I will not be supporting the resolution, and here's the core issue for me.

Measure A is sold as a hospital rescue, but the vote is for a general sales tax because the money is fungible with no dedicated legally restricted health services fund, there's no guarantee or add services or even stay in health care.

Asking voters to approve measure A without a structural plan to fix the underlying deficit is asking for a blank check.

That's not a plan.

It's ballot box budgeting, and the math is indefensible.

The county cites over one billion in losses.

Measure A raises roughly one third of that.

The gap doesn't close, it festers.

Meanwhile, new regional taxes are around the corner that will make rates we pay in taxes even higher.

Measure A offers no structural roadmap, no multi-year redesign of the health system, no governance or partnership strategy, no cost control plan, no workforce pipeline, no ER diversion plan, and no primary care expansion targets.

There's no one-year line item schedule of programs, FTEs, clinics, or beds.

There's no maintenance of effort rule to prevent supplanting, no measurable outcomes, no independent performance auditor, and no cap on overhead, just slogans that play on emotions and ignore logic.

I can't vote for no plan.

The county didn't do its job, which requires them to present a structural fix that closes the billion dollar gap, that ties every dollar to specific deliverables and locks in an anti-supplanting measure and performance enforcement enforcement.

Until those guardrails are in writing, the only responsible vote for me is no.

Thank you.

Thanks, Councilmember.

Uh let's go to Councilmember Condelas.

Uh thank you.

Um, you know, I I want to start my comments, which won't be too too long.

Uh, you know, thanking folks who came out to speak uh both in support and oppose.

I I think this is uh part of our democracy and part of why I cherish and value uh living in a city like San Jose.

And so, you know, even my colleagues um who who spoke out and um, you know, I I think this is we we while we recognize that you know measure A may not be a complete or perfect solution.

You mentioned one of my colleagues mentioned the billion dollar um hole that we have to fix, and this is only a third of that.

I guess that just goes to paint the urgency that we as uh as as leaders have to have to have with regards to dealing with the the issue ahead of us.

It's uh a necessary and critical step to mitigating the devastating and immediate uh actions of of the federal of the federal cuts.

Um, you know, it's a challenge.

Um I we'll I'll admit that, and and the truth is everyone will feel the effects of the reductions to Medicaid.

Uh here in the city, uh uh the mayor mentioned it, and you know, there there's a lot of challenges that we're trying to tackle with regards to um people who are suffering on our streets, issues around homelessness, uh, people who are suffering substance abuse issues, behavioral health challenges, dual diagnosis, who have drug dependency and alcohol issues.

You know, if if this is not successful, the the success of what we are doing in the city um may falter.

And so, so mayor, thank you for your leadership on that to especially integrate the continuum of care and find some synergies with the county.

I know a long time a lot a lot of times we as uh as elected, it's easy to say, oh, they're not doing this right, and and not taking a look at the mirror, but this is an opportunity to say, hey, you know what?

Here's where we can have an opportunity to partner and fix certain things that the community may not may not feel is working.

And so uh, you know, it's temporary, and and and while um, you know, this five-year uh sunset clause is integrated in the in this tax and won't be permanent.

Um I think um this is an opportunity for the county to find some efficiencies and and and to to tread water without it.

Um the the impact to our community will be devastating.

We just uh, you know, in in East San Jose, we were we were suffering, we didn't have a hospital.

Uh if you if a baby's being born, they have to be delivered.

If you're uh on Medicaid or Medical or Healthy Families or any any any any program, you have to go to VMC.

VMC is about 20 minutes from where I live.

25 minutes, 45 if there's traffic, an hour.

Um, and so now with um with uh regional medical center coming within the portfolio of our safety net system, this is a lifesaver.

If somebody suffers a stroke, that 15-minute, 20 minute is a difference between life and death.

And so um, you know, it's not easy, it's not easy making these decisions, and obviously this is not something that we all run for saying, Oh, we're gonna adopt taxes, but you know what?

Having the courage and the necessary um uh guts to to do something about it when our communities uh at risk is is the difficult part about being a leader and and something that we that I take pride in.

So um, you know, I I appreciate my colleagues who uh uh who put this for for debate and for for collaboration and uh urge uh an I vote and I'll I'll move uh the memorandum in support of measure a.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman Condelas.

Let's go to Councilmember Broties.

Uh thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, colleagues.

Uh, want to thank uh Councilmember Condelas for authoring the the memo.

Uh and today I strongly urge this council to adopt a supportive stance on Measure A.

This isn't just another ballot measure for East San Jose residents, for working families, and for health care workers and community advocates.

Measure A represents the next step in protecting the hard-won safety net gains uh in protecting our residents and ensuring our community has the care it deserves from birth onward.

Let's just recall earlier this year when our community faced a serious threat when Regional Medical Center announced it would downgrade and close key services in East San Jose, including its trauma center, as well as other critical units.

Um it's important to remember that our community didn't stay silent.

Healthcare workers, labor organizers, and working families came together to advocate.

I was proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with them to determine uh to demand that our residents deserve the same level of care as any other part of this city.

Thankfully, the county stepped in, purchased regional medical center, restored essential services, uh and just last week reopened their maternity ward that have been closed since 2020, which is a victory for health equity and for our families and for our East Side.

During the years in which it was closed, a majority of the babies uh born at other hospitals in our county uh went back to East San Jose families.

That just shows how much of a vital service this was for our community.

So measure A is the next step in protecting those gains, right?

There's there's no question that um if measure A doesn't pass East San Jose, District 5, District 4, District 7, District 8 will be impacted.

It provides the funding needed to sustain hospital services across Santa Clara County, services like labor and delivery, trauma center and emergency responses that literally save lives.

So without stable funding, our public health care system cannot continue to deliver the quality accessible care that our community deserves, right?

And it's important to understand, you know, even this this isn't just for individuals on government health care.

You know, my mother was a Kaiser health care worker, worked, you know, there for 30 years.

When she had a heart attack, she couldn't make it to Kaiser.

She went to regional medical center and the trauma center there saved uh their lives.

My brothers were young.

You know, my brothers were also uh getting impacted at a young age.

They were stabbed and uh actually really very hurt, they almost died.

It was regional medical center who saved their lives, even though they were a Kaiser patient, because regional medical center um is the industry standard locally when it comes to those types of services.

And so by taking an official supportive stance on measure A, the City of San Jose sends a clear message that we stand with working people and we stand with our health care workers.

We stand with our neighborhoods that have been fighting for equity in care, and we intend to help them in making sure that they get the same quality of care as anywhere else in this in the city and in this county.

So I I please ask my colleagues to join me in support of measure A.

Thank you so much.

Thanks, Councilmember.

Let's go to Councilmember Kamehameha.

Thank you.

Um I want to thank um Councilmembers Ortiz, Candelas, Campos, and Coin for their leadership in bringing this memo forward.

Uh, you know, we are we are called to make uh sometimes very, very difficult uh choices, and uh certainly you know, making a decision to support or not support.

Um a lot of us have uh really reflected and done a lot of thought on this.

Uh it's not uh just a whim to increase taxes.

We know that we are the stewards of the people's money, and we have to use them uh diligently.

So uh I I take this uh responsibility very, very seriously.

Um, but you know, one of the things that happened uh this year is HR1, which really threatens critical funding in Santa Clara Counties, public hospitals, and you know, it really directly affects many, many San Jose residents and our local health care system as has been um mentioned by my colleagues.

I understand the need for a better plan as has been mentioned by Councilmember Casey, and understand that uh uh there is a need to have something more fuller.

Uh but the financial stability has really been shattered because of HR1.

And so I think that uh the support of our commitment to our community and public health and the collaboration between the city and the county um is um is something uh that's really really important, and especially during this time of uncertainty.

So I will be supporting uh the um draft resolution of support on behalf of the council uh on the measure A.

Thank you.

Councilmember, let's go to Councilmember Duan.

Thank you, Mayor.

I'll keep this brief.

As a former firefighter slash captain, uh, I'm in this to support it because it will save lives.

When you transfer a patient from regional to VMC, it's a long distance.

Even without traffic, people are gonna die.

And when are we gonna put the value of someone mother, father, brother, and sister to the cost, and I do understand it is a five years temporary tax, and I expect our county to come up with a very clear plan how to reduce that amount of money that they owe, and how do we continue to be efficient and effective in the amount of money that we spent.

They have to be fiscally responsible.

And I think majority of our colleagues will agree that the county need to be fiscally responsible.

And I'll yield my time.

Thank you.

Thanks, Councilmember.

Let's go to Councilmember Mulcahy.

Thank you.

Um I've spent a lot of time reflecting on my position regarding measure A, not a decision that I take lightly.

Um we've heard from constituents that the cost of living remains one of their greatest concerns.

While we may not have direct control over every factor of those costs, our residents have made it clear, both you know, in countless conversations at their doors and certainly in my nine months at the dais that affordability matters deeply to them.

It's important to acknowledge that measure A would increase the sales tax rate in San Jose to 10%.

That's second only to Campbell at 10.5% out of the 14 Santa Clara County cities.

That reality gives me pause, as I know it does for many of us.

San Jose would definitely be pulling its weight.

We've heard the presentations detailing the severity of the crisis and the potential consequences if Measure A fails.

I want to highlight a point in particular.

San Jose's District 6 has more county hospital beds and specialty services than any other district in our city.

If this measure does not pass, we could see significant reductions in critical health care infrastructure that directly serves our residents.

And then you have to consider the surrounding small business ecosystems that support it.

Like the Bascombe Corridor in D6 that serves Valley Med's massive main campus and the soon to open 160,000 square foot clinic down on Bascombe Avenue, right near Hamilton Avenue, or the generational medical community on Forest Avenue around O'Connor.

Now I want to thank the mayor for including me in conversations with our county supervisors and key staff, and I want to recognize them for their collaboration with us, especially to bring our most vulnerable residents indoors and ensuring they receive the care and treatment they deserve.

And as we move forward, I will continue to advocate for accountability and oversight to ensure that funds dedicated to health care and homelessness prevention are used as intended.

I'm hopeful that the county's commitments will strengthen our ongoing collaboration and improve outcomes for the people of San Jose.

And for all these reasons, I will be voting in support of San Jose taking a position in favor of Measure A.

Thank you.

Thanks, Councilmember.

Let's go to Councilmember Cohen.

Yeah, thank you.

And I'll just start by echoing some of my colleagues in my feeling about the gravity of the decision about that I was making when I first decided my position on this measure.

Um clear that we don't prefer regressive sales taxes, but one thing that is far more regressive than sales taxes is our health care system.

And what's more regressive than sales taxes is closed emergency rooms and closed hospitals.

So that was where I came down.

That was that was the um what it came down to for me.

I just want to point out a couple of other things.

First of all, you know, there's been a lot of talk about whether it's responsible or not for the county to expand its domain over hospitals.

Now many other counties have separate authorities that run their hospitals.

The counties don't always do that.

So we have a different setup here.

Um, but when the hospital regional was acquired and whether hospitals were acquired, rev it's not just the operational cost that come along with it, but an expectation of revenue from the provider from the people who pay for that health care.

That is private insurance and public insurance.

When an unexpected major cut in public insurance comes through, that is not, and that results in a deficit.

That is not the fault of the county and the and the operation of the hospital, but unfortunate um behavior that we've we were talking about that I mentioned before under Prop 50 when we were talking about Prop 50.

Um I also want to um just point out that we're not alone as a county asking for a tax.

It's been implied that we're the only county doing this.

Fremont has a ballot measure this November as well.

They don't, it's not a county measure because the hospital system there is another is a public agency that's independent from their county, but Washington hospital system has a uh measure on the ballot this year to help fill their deficit, and Marin County, hospital authority is discussing putting one on the ballot next year because they also are concerned about the effects of HR one on their hospital system.

So there should be no under no belief out there that somehow Santa Clara County is in a position that that it's in because of some irresponsible behavior here.

This is something that's going to happen to hospitals around the country, and many rural hospitals are already working on closure plans in other parts of the country where residents don't have the wherewithal to be able to help fill that gap, and we fortunately do have that wherewithal as distasteful as it's as it ends up being.

Um and then the last thing I just want to mention is you know, the county and the city often have been a little bit at a difference in on some of the paths that we take.

Um I definitely think it's important that we move past that.

I think we're on a path to move past that.

The conversations I've had recently with members of the County Board of Supervisors have been productive.

And I was actually at a meeting last night where we were talking about how important it is that we are aligned, but not necessarily aligned in everything that we do, but aligned in our ultimate objectives.

We have different lanes that we operate in.

The county has certain objectives that things that it needs to do, and the city has certain things that we need to do.

Both have to be successful in order for us to achieve our goals.

And I think I'm optimistic that we we're turning a page and we're beginning to move forward appropriately as partners.

So I will be supporting the motion.

Thanks, Councilmember.

Likewise, um, feeling more optimistic about our system integration in the years ahead.

Uh let's go to Councilmember Tordillos.

Thank you, Mayor.

And uh thank you to all of the members of the public who came out to speak as well as all of my colleagues for their thoughtful remarks.

Uh, you know, I'm definitely sensitive to the concerns around the high cost of living and the burden that that imposes upon all of our families in San Jose.

Uh so I agree that we really do need to scrutinize any new tax measure that has the potential to exacerbate that burden.

Uh, but at the same time, I think we really do need to be clear-eyed about the source of this current crisis, which is the devastating budget cuts from this federal administration and our current Congress.

I also just want to point out, since there's been talk about the new costs imposed by measure A, uh, that we're not evaluating just a new tax versus business as usual.

We're evaluating a new tax to support our hospital system or devastating impacts to our public health care network.

Uh, you know, that billion dollar number keeps getting thrown out in terms of the total hole in the county's budget.

Uh, and there's simply no way that we're going to avoid costs associated with HR one.

Uh, but by passing measure A, we can choose to proactively manage those costs rather than just having our system collapse.

Uh, and without measure A, we will be staring down the barrel of service cuts, hospital closures, longer ambulance and ER wait times, uh, and our residents and the general public on private insurance and public insurance alike are the ones who are going to be paying those costs.

Uh, you know, I think it's also important to note that HR one was only signed into law less than four months ago.

Uh so there's been talk about this fact that we don't have a full plan to close all billion dollars of the new hole in the county's budget.

I think it's a little unrealistic to expect that full plan to come into place in the span of just a couple months.

Uh, but I think measure A is an important first step in that plan that's going to buy us some time to manage the efficiency improvements and the right sizing and all of the other work that the county is going to have to do over these next several years to close the remainder of that gap.

And it's gonna buy us the time to do that work in a way that minimizes impacts to our residents.

Uh my family relied on Medicaid growing up, so I know how important our social safety net is and how devastating the impacts of HR one are gonna be to many people in our community.

Uh, but I know that if we fail to pass measure A, the impacts are going to be all the more severe for our residents.

Uh there are no good options on the table, uh, but I believe that passing measure A is the best option that we have here, and I hope that we are all able to come together and pass this resolution today.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember.

Let's go uh let's turn back to Councilmember Casey.

It's inaccurate to say that HR one is the root cause of this.

The Mercury News even mentioned that this was in the works for years.

That's why they were able to get it on a ballot so fast.

They have structural problems with all the hospitals they purchased.

This was an issue that was gonna bubble up anyway.

So this idea that HR one suddenly caught them with their pants down is a misnomer, it's a red herring.

They are not a fiscally responsible organization.

They're taxing us because I mean, I I I don't want to go back and forth and back and forth, but I think there's a lot of misinformation.

The fact that they've passed a ballot balanced budget a couple times has been mentioned.

Anyone that reviews this will be fully aware of the fact that they are structurally in a bad position by purchasing all those hospitals, and that's why this tax measure is on the ballot and whether or not HR1 came down the pike or not, this measure would have been on the ballot.

And even if it does pass, they're still going to shut down O'Connor.

There's still going to be health cuts.

So all they're doing is spreading the pain and shoving their hands into our constituents' pockets because they can't keep their fiscal house in order.

Thank you, Councilmember.

Casey, let's go back to Councilmember Tordillas.

Thank you, Mayor.

You know, if we reflect on the recent presentation that we had when folks came out to speak on measure A, there was a lot of information that was shared about the county's public health care funding and the fact that a relatively small portion of that funding comes from the general fund.

The real situation here is the fact that with the cuts to Medicaid and Medicare, they're not able to reclaim the revenue that our hospital system depends on to keep services running at the level that they have been for several years now.

I agree that there may need to be some right sizing in place here.

I think that Measure A buys us the time to do that proactively as opposed to just having a cascading failure throughout our public health care network.

And I would certainly prefer that uh the planned approach rather than just the chaos that we'll see if measure A does not pass.

Thank you.

Great.

Well, thank thank you all, and I appreciate the divergence of opinion.

That's how this works.

And I actually think there's uh there are there's a fair bit of truth across the spectrum of opinions here.

I tried to tie a few of those together in my comments.

Um, but I I do appreciate the robust discussion.

Thank you to our public speakers.

I don't see any other hands here on the dais, so we'll vote.

Okay, Tony.

Yeah, I have motion passes nine to one with um Councilmember Casey voting no and Pam fully vice mayor fully absent.

Okay.

Thank you, Johnny.

Thank you all again.

We will move on now to item 4.1.

This is the amendment to the agreement with Axon Enterprises Incorporated for evidence management solution products and services.

Uh I have noted here a very brief staff presentation.

I see the chief of the team coming down, so we'll give them an opportunity to settle it.

Good afternoon.

Paul Joseph, chief of police.

So the purpose of this uh amended agreement is to consolidate some of the various contracts that we have and try to save some money in the process of doing that.

Um as you know, we're increasingly reliant on technology in law enforcement, and a lot of these contracts have been entered into at different points in history.

Uh, but they are many of them are with the same vendor, and so um as one contract has come up uh to the end of its life and it needs to be renewed.

Uh we pursued an option of bundling some of these services to get an overall savings.

So uh currently the taser 10 program, taser 10 program is the newest version of the taser.

The current version that we have is no longer going to be supported after this year by the company uh by its warranty service, so it needs to be updated, and there are various improvements to this newest design.

Uh similarly, the body worried cameras that we currently use.

Every officer is outfitted with one, uh, also are with the same company, which is Axon.

Um, there is the vehicle in vehicle camera system, which we have as required by state law in our transport vans to monitor a prisoner in the back of a van while they're being transported.

Um, additionally, in this most recent budget cycle, we purchased the Axon Fusis uh real-time video management system for our our real-time intelligence center, which is this uh the video system in which we're able to access the feeds from the various uh public safety cameras around the city.

Additionally, all of our digital evidence storage and digital evidence tools through evidence.com it's cloud-based evidence management system that also is with axon um when detectives interview a suspect or a witness in a crime uh the interview rooms have recordings and that digital evidence uh the cameras are are uh maintained or provided I should say by this company and the digital storage goes to evidence.com in addition with this contract we get training and professional services and we're extending the warranties on all these products um so as you can see it's a pretty comprehensive program uh the cost is large then I'm not gonna try to hide that however uh through our bundling of these various contracts like I said many of which were um begun at different times in history we've managed to save uh over six and a half million dollars during the life of this contract so um that's what we're asking you to decide on today and I know there will be some questions here.

Thank you chief appreciate the presentation and the recommendation Tony public comment I have no cards for this item okay thank you uh coming back to the council uh chief I'll just say uh I support the recommendation and appreciate your brief presentation uh particularly excited to see that uh purchasing all of them under a single master agreement um will save us uh over a million dollars a year so 6.6 million over the five years that's that's a good thing what one concern I have that I just have to give voice to is um platform dependence and um it's not clear to me how competitive this market is it doesn't appear to have a whole lot of actors that are providing these specialized services and I just am curious to what extent you and our finance department are thinking about that and how you're thinking about that are there are there ways to support competitiveness uh and cost efficiencies in the space of technology procurement because it's becoming a larger and larger line item over time for the city you're absolutely right mayor and as I said at the at the very outset we are increasingly reliant on this technology you know particularly with the police department our size uh but this is not just us this is police departments all across the country we would be foolish not to take advantage of all the technological innovations that allow us to be so much more effective um it does create some reliance for us however we are constantly vigilant constantly on the lookout for a better solution a cheaper solution a more efficient solution and in this contract um if we are to find such a solution during the life of the contract we're able to cancel with 30 days notice great that's great and I don't I don't mind our reliance on technology so much as I don't want to be relying on on one provider and just want to make sure we're continuing it sounds like you're saying this to explore the marketplace pilot new tools be nimble and to the extent that any of our policies are in the way of piloting tools and kind of injecting that or encouraging that competitiveness in the market I think we'd love that feedback I would think but um yeah you've at you've accurately described our approach and and yes that I think that nimbleness does exist.

Great I'm glad to hear that okay great let me turn to colleagues Council.

Thank you mayor uh thank you Chief for the uh presentation um I do have a couple of questions within the city the the the county do we have any other bidder to support our local businesses besides axon.

Um I'm not exactly sure for when you say supporting our local businesses which particular uh one of these products do you mean yeah don't we have vendors that can do the same thing as Axon versus we're going out of state right I believe this company is in Arizona I I believe you're right about that we have you know we have searched all the various vendors that offer products like these in and the mayor's right, there's not many.

It's a pretty niche market.

However, we believe that Axon makes not only the best product but the most cost-effective products for us to use.

Believe me, I wish I wish that Axon was in San Jose, California.

I wish there was a vendor in San Jose, California that would allow us uh to buy their our products from them uh but unfortunately, that doesn't exist right now.

All right.

Well, thank you very much.

And and I do believe that by bundling, you we're we're saving over six million dollars over five years.

Now, can this extend is this technology available to go instead of five years to 10 years?

So that way our bundling could cost, you know, even save more money.

Thank you for the question.

Uh Judy Terrico, I'm a deputy director of the Bureau of Technical Services at the police department.

Um we are currently most of the axon products have a five-year or it is an annual subscription fee that that they uh charge us.

Normally it's a five-year-like for our body worn cameras, they replace them out every year and a half, things along those lines, and it's within our budget.

So some of these things like tasers and things along those lines.

The vendor axon does put an end of life to them, and they say there's five functional years on them that you should use them, and then looking at replacing them.

So there's same thing like with a computer at your desk or something along those lines.

It normally runs about five years, and you should look at replacing it.

We work with Axon to see if those are options, but it's really dependent on the individual technology.

So, like a body worn camera, they replace out about every year and a half or every two years in our interview rooms that we're using.

That technology can go much longer past those five years, so it's different for each individual tool.

Thank you.

And um I just want to conclude to say thank you to your department.

We didn't get to be the safest city in the nation by not doing everything we possibly can to protect our or citizen, and I want to congratulate the department of arresting the eight individual with the Kim Hung um Jewelry store, and or 100% homicide solve within the last three years, and continue with the good work, and uh we're here to support you.

And I move to accept the recommendation.

Thanks, Councilmember.

I'm gonna turn now to Council Member Kamehameha.

Thank you.

I think you partially answered my question regarding um the life cycle.

So each of the different components are going to be different lifecycle because I was wondering about uh the Taser 10 if it had the same life cycle as the Taser 11.

I mean Taser 7, uh, which is in that five-year range.

But you're saying that that depending on what it is, uh, it would have a different sort of turn turnover.

Yes, that's correct.

Um, but currently with Tasers, Axon does make that recommendation.

You know, with our Taser 7, it's a five-year life cycle, and they make that recommendation that it is replaced.

Oh, and then and then for the for the 10 will be five years as well.

Is that what their estimate is?

Or is that or they don't tell you?

Uh I don't have that unfortunately right now on the taser 10.

This is the brand new taser that the department is looking to purchase.

Is it phased in or is it all going to be completely turned over?

And the it's gonna be fully.

We purchase all 1200 tasers and we get them rolled out and trained out to the officers as quickly as possible because the taser seven is hitting that five-year mark.

I see, I see.

Okay, well, thank you so much, and thank you for your good work.

Thanks, council member.

All right, let's vote.

Motion passes unanimously with fully absent.

Okay.

Thank you.

We have um a few more items here that do not have staff presentations, and then we still have a land use item that does have a presentation.

So we're gonna move on now to item 5.1.

This is the San Jose Meneta International Airport Marketing Strategy and Execution Services Agreement.

Again, no staff presentation.

Tony, do we have public comment?

I have no cards for this item, okay.

Okay, coming back to the council.

Move for approval.

Okay, waiting just a moment.

I don't see any other hands.

Tony, let's vote.

Motion passes unanimously with fully and co-in absent.

Okay, thank you.

We're now on to item 5.2 is a report on bids and a word of contract for the uh 10492-2025 local streets resurfacing west pavement measure T project, and there's no staff presentation.

Tony, do we have public comment?

I have no cards for this item.

Okay, coming back to the council.

Do we have a move for approval?

Great, thank you.

Not seeing any other hands.

Let's vote.

Motion passes 90.

Okay, great, thank you.

On to item 8.1 actions related to the agreement with the County of Santa Clara Office of Supportive Housing for a home buyer down payment assistance program.

No staff presentation.

I did think it was interesting though.

These are revolving funds essentially, previous homeowner down payment funds that have come back into the city that we're deploying again to enable more home ownership, which I thought was kind of cool.

Tony, did we have public comment?

I have no cards for this item.

Okay.

Coming back to the council, Councilmember Command.

Sorry.

I just had a very quick question in terms of um, you know, the lucky people that are eligible for these, and and uh is that the county's criteria or do we'll have housing staff it looks like.

Come on down, and then uh we'll answer that question.

And I think we were jumping ahead to a vote, but we'll still wait on the motion.

But let's let's get the question first, please.

Come on down to the podium.

Welcome.

I didn't get the question again.

Can we so I was I was curious, you know, uh to be eligible for this.

Is that the county's criteria, or do we add to that, or how does it this is on right?

Um we have a memorandum of understanding that we're working on with the county.

So our own criteria will be uh we'll ensure that it's an aligned with theirs.

Um, and if it's if there's something that's not, we'll add it into the MOU.

And are these San Jose residents who would be part of the eligible group?

You know, considering that the county is wider than what we are.

Yes, it would be because the developments that we are funding with the 9 million, the two projects are in San Jose.

Okay, great.

Thank you.

Some lucky people, thank you.

Thanks, council member.

Council Duan.

Uh, thank you, Mayor.

I just got a quick question.

I thought both the county and the city and the state is looking at the high density living and and to get resident into apartment versus a condominium or a townhouse, which reduces the amount of um effectiveness on, you know, have people in more housing.

Yeah, council member, um, I'm actually not entirely sure what you're asking.

So let me rephrase that.

Please.

So we're looking to high density living, right?

Yes, town home costs a lot more than apartments.

Sure.

I would think the money would be better spent to get people, you know, either instead of townhome, perhaps even condominium, it's less uh expensive and it's more cost effective.

That's what my point is.

Um we all look into high-density living, but now we're going back, give incentive to town homes.

Uh it's kind of yeah, so there's a few things going on here.

I think one is sort of a bigger question than what's uh the dais right now, which is uh high density uh home ownership, which would be condos, uh is not a product or a very limited product right now in terms of new production.

Um housing, we'd be happy to meet with you and talk to you about sort of the reasons why condos aren't built right now.

That's a a state issue and a litigation matter.

Um, but since this is a focus on uh a home buyer down payment, um, we're we're dealing with the economy that we have right now, which is where uh homeownership opportunities are available.

And the the other go ahead.

Uh I do want to add that the funds we're using are called begin funds, they're from HCD, and the purpose requirement of those funds is that they go to towards down payment of home buyers.

Okay.

That's the main reason.

Uh thank you.

And have we ever looked at the program of getting people into the manufacturer homes?

Uh, do you mean pre-manufactured?

I'm not sure.

Oh, mobile homes?

Yeah, prefab homes or or even mobile home, if you will.

They call them prefab manufacture home.

I'm sorry, the question is what exactly I'm I'm not clear.

Have we ever thought about getting people into like the old term is mobile homes?

Using that as something they can down onto a mobile homes.

So a few things.

Um, there are nearly 60 mobile home parks across San Jose.

Um, you know, a mobile home product is typically an owned home and rented land.

So it's not, so there's still some obligation around uh a rental payment.

Um, there isn't a down payment assistance program around mobile homes, although um generally they're understood as naturally occurring affordable housing.

Um, obviously, if you look at mobile home prices today, compared to to traditional construction, uh, the the pricing is quite a bit less than uh the price points for traditionally constructed homes.

Thank you.

I just thought that it would get more people into some type of housing, right?

Is less less cost, get more people into housing, and that that's just my point.

Well, thank you very much.

I'll yield my time.

Thank you.

Thanks, Councilmember, appreciate you asking uh questions about cost effectiveness.

Uh did you you did not move the rec?

Is anyone would anyone like to move the staff rec?

Did you, Councilmember Kamei?

I'm sorry if you did.

I didn't I didn't hear it.

Did you would you like to move it?

Okay, second from Condelas, thank you.

Apologies.

All right, I don't see any other hands.

Let's vote.

Motion passes 9-0.

Okay, great.

Thank you all.

We're on to our final agendized item.

This is item 10.2, conditional use permit amendment for the project located at 58 South First Street.

We'll start with a staff presentation.

We have Manura here.

Yes, good afternoon, Honorable Mayor and Councilmember.

So I'll be presenting this item, which is related to a conditional use permit amendment uh for the fuse bar located at 58 South First Street.

Um so the applicant is requesting conditional use permit amendments um to amend the conditions of the previously approved project um for file number CP 16-005, which is approved by the count city council in 2017 upon appeal, um, and which approved the late night use of a public drinking establishment until 2 a.m.

Uh when this CUP was approved in 2017, the council imposed a maximum capacity limit of 250 people on each floor, although the building allowed for a higher occupancy, and also required services during lunch hours uh pursuant to a city council policy for nightclubs and bars.

Uh the applicant is now proposing to remove this limit of 250 people per floor and uh allow for additional people based on the occupancy uh as uh approved by fire and building departments and extend the daily hours of operation for all uses up to 2 a.m.

Um except for some limitations on um an outdoor amplified uh noise uh related to the the patio and deck, um and also they're requesting to remove the requirement of providing lunch as part of this use.

The project was reviewed in conformance uh with the uh the city's general plan, the zoning ordinance for downtown commercial uses, um, as well as city council policy six-23 and six six-6-30 associated with outreach um and CEQA, the California Environmental Quality Act.

Uh, in terms of city Council Policy 6-23, back in 2017, the council imposed a lunch requirement because this policy uh required uh or rather limited the number of late night um hours without daytime use along certain blocks, and that uh limit is at uh 30 percent frontage limit.

Um, since then, my understanding is that some of the uh original bars along that frontage have closed.

Um, and now if this amendment is to be approved, uh the project uh can meet this requirement because the total number of late night uses that would be along this block would be a 23%.

In terms of public outreach, uh an on-site sign was posted in June of 2025 for this project.

Uh notices were mailed at a 500-foot radius, and uh we have received about 15 emails after the notice of this public hearing was sent out, uh, and may have in fact received additional emails uh since uh the publication of this packet.

Uh, one of the key issues that uh the public comments uh brought up was related to amplified music uh on the outdoor patio that was that the applicant was originally proposing until 2 a.m.

Um as part of their amendments.

Um since then, the applicant has worked with these uh neighbors and has uh come to an agreement to allow for this outdoor patio amplified music to be restricted from Monday through Thursday until 10 p.m.

Umly allowing on Fridays and Saturdays to be until 2 a.m.

and then restricting it until midnight on Sunday.

With that, uh staff's making a recommendation that the city council adopt the resolution approving the CEQA exemption Section 15301 uh for this project and also modify the conditional use permit um amendment um to remove the condition that mandates the business be open during lunch hours, uh, to remove the condition that requires the banquet facility to close at midnight and extend the hours to two a.m.

for the restaurant, the bar, and the banquet facility.

Uh remove the condition that limits the occupancy to 250 people on each floor and instead allow the maximum building occupancy subject to review and approval by the city's fire department.

Um, and again, we we did add it, we do what would like to add the condition that depending on the type of assembly space.

Uh, this may require an occupant load analysis combined with the California fire code uh by recommendations from the fire department.

And then finally, uh limit the hours for the outdoor patio amplified music as described in the previous slide.

This concludes staff's presentation.

Uh, my understanding is the applicant is also here and may want to do a presentation as well.

Thank you.

Great.

Thank you, Monero.

Let's uh now allow our applicant, uh Jenny Wolfs, to give a brief presentation.

We always give the applicant up to five minutes to speak in these uh on these types of items.

There it is.

Good afternoon, everyone.

My name is Nate LeBlanc, I'm the economic development director for the San Jose Downtown Association, and I'm associate uh I'm assisting Ms.

Wolves with her application today, and we appreciate you all hearing us.

We do have a brief presentation.

Rena very capably summarized the issue, but we just want to kind of give our side of the story and uh tell you a little bit about how we got to this point and ask for your support today.

Uh Fuse is an event venue uh downtown on South First Street.

It's about a block from my office.

I walk past it several times a day.

The conditions that um we are here to talk about today are basically just getting us back to what uh we were looking for in the 2016-2017 time frame.

We have a little bit more about to say about that.

Basically, that that process just kind of got away from Jenny back then, and we're here today kind of to get back to how few should be run according to standard nightlife policies.

And uh, we feel that she's been an excellent neighbor downtown.

Um, there are no complaints about the venue that it's mostly become an event venue these days.

There's some uh photos on our slides of weddings, corporate presentations while we were just meeting this morning to go over these slides.

She was receiving calls for uh corporations and uh various Home Depot stores about their Christmas parties.

It's like honestly quite wholesome, except for you know a little bit of nightlife action on Friday and Saturday, but that's what downtown is for.

So you've heard that what we're looking for, and we just want to say that um we have heard the concerns of the neighbors, we have met with them, we have toured the venue with whoever we could take.

Uh, Jenny has extended her personal cell phone number to people to try to get ahead of complaints before they become an issue.

Um, she's offered to voluntarily bring the hours down on the backdoor patio, I think in a very generous manner.

And uh now I'd like to turn the floor over to Jenny Wolfs to speak a little bit about this process.

Good afternoon, Mayor and members of the council.

Thank you for considering this CUP amendment today.

My name is Jenny Wolfs, and I've been a member of downtown small business community for almost 20 years as a manager owner and operated several businesses.

I currently own multiple businesses in downtown, both on First Street and Santa Clara.

In all my years as a hospitality entrepreneur, I have done my best to provide safe, well-run establishments for people to enjoy themselves here in our beautiful downtown.

I'm a hands-on operator, I am downtown seven days a week at all hours of the day and night, and have seen it all in my several decades in the nightlife scene.

In 2016, I leased a beautiful space at 58 South First Street to open a new concept.

I applied for what I felt was a very straightforward conditional use permit that was needed to run my new nightlife business, but encountered bitter opposition not only from neighboring businesses but also from some of the members of the city's political establishment.

Um the way this played out in the permit process damaged not only Fuse's brand but the property value immensely.

Despite that, I put my head down.

I worked hard and I built Fuse into one of downtown's premier event venues, hosting meetings and celebrations for wide variety of private and corporate clients multiple times a week.

Fuse is mostly an active nightlife venue on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights, which is why I was more than willing to meet with neighbors concerned about the guidelines in the CUP amendment application to reduce the hours where noise on our beautiful outdoor patio may disrupt their rest.

My staff contractors and I worked hard every single day under the previous permits conditions to not only run a fun and profitable business, but to make best of the conditions imposed by the city last time we went through the process.

Despite the trauma induced by the last go-around, I'm standing before you today asking to please approve the draft resolution so that I can make fuse an even better part of downtown's ecosystem by hosting more people, more parties, bringing more much-needed vitality to downtown by running the business the way I know it would work best.

Thank you.

And lastly, we just want to thank a few people.

Yes, thank you to the planning department, Rena, and Alec very much for all their help over the months.

Uh, the residential neighbors, especially Kirk from the 88 for meeting with me, taking the time to look at the process and coming to a compromise.

Um, district three, thank you very much.

San Jose Downtown Association, and of course, mate, very much.

That concludes our presentation.

Thank you.

Great.

Thank you.

Thank you, Jenny and Nate.

Okay, we are now going to turn to public comment.

Tony, I assume we have a few comment cards.

Yes, I have um Kirk Pennington.

Come on down and Gumbee.

How are you all doing?

Gumby from the San Jose Downtown Association.

I'm coming out here in support of Jenny Wolf's uh petition to have her conditional use permit um extended.

Sorry, a little out of breath running over here from my office.

I'm just watching online.

Um but look, the downtown right now in San Jose is leaning into this work, play, live and trying to find out that bounce, and certainly we're all learning into leaning into the play aspect of it.

That's what our downtown's about the gathering spot, the living, um, certain conditions and people are working forwards uh to make that happen.

And Jenny Wolf has been around this game for years, and she's been a good operator this whole time.

Uh, have a little bit of a history in the nightlife myself, and I know the good operators from the bad operators, and she certainly deserves a chance to be able to contribute to the vibrancy of the city uh to add to that play aspect of the downtown.

Um furthermore, we need to be sending that message that we want that play.

We want these types of uh businesses, uh, we want a thriving downtown and having a thriving nightlife, having the ability to go ahead and attract these events, which we're gonna be filling these venues up, particularly with the 2026, is so important.

So, thank you very much.

Thank you, next speaker.

Good afternoon, council members.

My name is Kirk Pennington, and I serve as the Board of Director for the Homeowners Association at the 88 on East San Fernando.

Uh, the proposed conditional use permit for the fuse bar and grill is a major concern to downtown residents because it sets a precedent for all the nightclubs throughout the city.

To my knowledge, no existing nightclub in downtown uh San Jose is currently permitted to operate with outdoor amplified music until 2 a.m.

on work nights.

Those of us who choose to live downtown fully understand that weekends and holidays come with higher noise levels and a more active nightlife.

I live approximately 500 feet from the fuse bar.

I can tell you firsthand that these establishments have a substantial impact on the residents.

I've lived in the neighborhood all I live in a neighborhood that's already challenged by crime and homelessness, and now we're being asked to extend nightclub hours with little regard for the hundreds of residents who need to wake up early to go to work.

If the goal is to maintain a vibrant downtown, it's essential to consider the perspectives of all stakeholders, including residents who contribute daily to the local economy.

I met recently with Jenny, the owner of the Fuse Bar, and we had a productive collaborative discussion, which I truly appreciate.

Together we have developed a compromise proposal that we believe is fair and workable for both parties.

Monday through Friday, Amplified Sound ends by 10, Friday and Saturday, Amplified Sound ends at 2.

Sunday, Amplified Sound ends by midnight to accommodate three-day holiday weekends.

I want to thank Jenny for her willingness to work with the community, and I respectfully request that the city council adopt this compromise as part of the final CPU.

Thank you for your time.

Back to council.

Thank you to our public speakers.

Thank you again, Jenny.

And we'll now go to Councilmember Tordillos.

Thank you, Mayor, and thank you to the members of the public who came out to speak on this project.

I think projects like this one speak to the challenging balancing act that we sometimes play in downtown, where we're simultaneously trying to grow downtown into a major job center, have it be the epicenter of future residential growth within the city, but also really leaning into the uh entertainment economy and arts and culture, including late night uses.

And that often requires that we're able to integrate different uses uh that have different needs in close proximity.

In this case, residential uses and nightlife.

Uh so I just want to thank Jenny, the project applicant and the team from the Downtown Association for being so thoughtful and engaging, uh, you know, respectfully with the surrounding neighbors.

Also, want to uh, you know, just give kudos to the neighbors uh for being willing to uh kind of engage in good faith, come to this compromise agreement that all parties can live with.

I think that uh helps us to have just a fairer process for all for both our business owners and our residents.

Uh so I would like to move the blue memo from our office, which formalizes the outcomes of those discussions, uh accepts the staff recommendation with the adjustment to the amplified music on the patio to be 10 p.m.

Monday through Thursday, 2 a.m.

on Fridays and Saturdays, and midnight on Sundays.

Thank you.

Great.

Thank you, Councilmember.

Let me turn to Councilmember Kamehameha.

Um, thank you very much.

I I want to thank the planning staff for um uh responding to my concern regarding uh the ingress-egress issues, and I know that it is the fire marshal that will determine that, but the additional recommendation, if necessary, of a fire analysis, I think really helps.

Um we want this to be a great place, but we also want this to be a place where if something were to happen that you know public safety is you know prime.

So I um I do appreciate that and and just wanted to make a note of that because I know that I um had had a few uh calls, and uh my my um my intention was that if we increase the occupancy number that you know we wanted to make sure that it does in fact follow rules to be able to make it safe for everybody.

So thank you very much.

Thanks, council member vice mayor.

Thank you.

Uh thank you for bringing forward the modifications in the C UP.

I think it it creates uh fairness of all the businesses that are operating on that street.

And I remember when it was the Bell, that property was the Bellamia, and when Bellamia was hopping with activity uh upstairs with the various events that that were there.

Remember those days?

Some of the old timers we remember we remember that we remember shh.

We're not talking about that.

Anyway, I I really appreciate the compromise too because over the weekend as I was going through the recommendation, I uh made contact with a few people I know who actually live in the 88 and and reached out to them about their concerns and also some business owners who live in the area, and they were concerned about operating till two o'clock every day of the week.

So I support the compromise.

I think being open till 10 makes sense.

Uh two on Friday and Saturday makes sense.

Uh midnight on Sunday, and as long as there it is a compromise, so it's a joint discussion between those in the 88 and uh the business owner, and I I really appreciate that.

I do have a question, and some of the questions that are the comments about not just that property but other properties in the area was noise level.

So my question is along the lines of how do we monitor decibels and how do we uh make sure that the decibel level is within the code compliance.

Um currently in downtown, uh, my understanding is that there are um no specific noise decibel requirements.

There is a noise ordinance that we have that is enforced through the police department.

So if there were noise levels that were exceeding late in the night, for example, uh somebody would have to call the police department who could come out to verify that.

Uh we do have conditions that are imposed as part of the CUP.

So, for example, in this instance, the CUP requires that there should be no amplified noise outside on the outdoor patio past the 10 p.m.

or the the 2 a.m.

time depending on the day, and uh should that be exceeded our code enforcement staff can go and verify whether the conditions are being met.

Uh but I I'll turn to Director Burton if you want to add anything.

So uh let me just add on a little bit, maybe Vice Mayor.

Um so noise is always a tricky one, right?

Because it's a sort of a moment in time, and the ability to get accurate noise readings with calibrated equipment and dealing with ambient noise is very difficult.

So we tend to not do sort of like have somebody out there and inspector out there with a noise meter that's trying to sort of catch around a specific decibel level.

Typically, as Meneira said, it's a joint approach where if it's a moment-in-time issue that a uh resident is complaining about that usually goes through to PD and they come out and speak with the operator and sort of assess the conditions.

If we see repeat issues or concerns around how a use is operating, then that's when code enforcement gets involved.

And the way we craft these conditions tends to be a little less around a specific decibel threshold.

Again, because of the difficulty of actually getting sort of a true reading, um, and more about sort of what are the conditions that could present noise.

So in this case, it's about that sort of outside use on the patio, not past a certain time because the assumption being that once it's moved inside, it reduces that overall noise issue.

So just to follow up, it's it's complaint driven.

Yes.

A neighbor hears amplification at 10 30 on Monday.

Uh they uh report it to the police.

That's where the that's how it would be reported, and then the police might report it as a code violation, or how how does code know that they've exceeded the hour?

Yeah, so obviously we do coordinate with police on these types of issues, and typically if there's sort of a number of issues or multiple issues where we'll hear about it, that's when we'll go in and look at the conditions and make sure that they're operating appropriately.

Um, and if there's anything there that we want to either look at, speak to the operator about or potentially revise in the future.

Okay.

That's helpful.

I appreciate that.

Thank you.

Thanks, Vice Mayor.

Appreciate it.

Appreciate the compromise and the community engagement and collaboration there, and uh thank you, Council Dios, for you and your team leaning in and the memo with that uh and the motion.

I think we're right about the motion passes unanimously.

Great, thank you.

Thank you all.

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

Turn it back to Tony.

Yes, when I call your name, you do not have to come down in the order that you're called.

Lynn Paulson, Elena Perrell.

Ha True, and Long Ding come on down.

Go ahead.

Hello, my name is Lynn Paulson.

Um at these meetings, the city manager should include a report on the San Jose Animal Care Center status.

This topic has the attention of the public and the media.

City leaders should accelerate the resolution of audit items and make their oversight and attention more visible.

My experience with attempting to rescue a dog last year in April indicated issues from top management and down through public service staff.

Cassie was a 16-pound stray dog with a broken right rear leg, a tumor hanging off her chest, and a feisty attitude.

I saw a posting on the center website that she would be euthanized on May 20th if not rescued.

I spent weeks going to the center, filling out a forum, emailing, and unsuccessfully attempting to see Cassie.

I tried repeatedly to find out what I could do to help rescue this dog to no avail.

With the scheduled euthanasia day rapidly approaching, I only succeeded in making progress when I reached out to a family friend who used to work for the center.

She got me in contact with a contracted rescue coordinator at the center with a good record of matching dogs to rescue groups and adopters.

The rescue coordinator let me meet Cassie and a rescue group and get set up to foster her.

I was able to get immediate assistance from a vet on the day I picked up Cassie.

She narrowly missed being killed and unnecessarily spent many extra weeks in the sterile environment of a kennel without adequate progress on her needs.

Thankfully, I was able to rescue her.

While some blame falls on irresponsible pet owners, my experience showed that this center needs to be more efficient in maximizing opportunities for adoptions.

It is taking too many years after the center's issues were identified to hire and put in place staff that will provide the leadership and support to ensure sufficient care of the animals and encourage public participation in rescues while improving relationships with rescue groups.

Please accelerate the additional needed hiring and resolution of issues.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon, uh, Mayor and council members.

My name is Elena Percell Schrader.

It's great to see you all again.

I'm here on behalf of Rebuilding Together Silicon Valley.

First, I want to express our deep appreciation for the City of San Jose's long-standing partnership, more than 20 years of working together to keep low-income residents safely housed.

That partnership is vital and it's made a difference in thousands of lives.

This year, we were honored to be awarded 1.5 million in federal home funds through the city to continue this work.

However, as you may know, this shift in funding type from CDBG to home has come with major changes to our organization.

Specifically, no funding available for administrative or staffing reimbursement.

Unfortunately, that shift made late in last fiscal year has left us with a 420,000 shortfall for this current fiscal year.

Without a sustainable path forward, we simply cannot continue serving San Jose at the level your residents deserve.

Despite these challenges, our commitment has not wavered.

Since July 1st, we've continued to process applications, 62 in quarter one alone, and remain focused on preserving affordable housing and preventing homelessness.

In that spirit, I've sent you all several invitations via email to each of your offices for our upcoming rebuilding day events.

The first being this Saturday, October 25th.

I know it sounds like there's a lot of events happening on Saturday, but we're we're gonna be having projects from 7 30 in the morning till 4 30 in the afternoon, and we'd love if any of you are able to attend.

Thank you so very much for your time and your continued leadership in the city of San Jose.

Thank you, next speaker.

I'd also like to call Van Lee and Connie Wynne.

Good afternoon.

Dear mayor, my mayor, council member, and a member of public.

For this photo of my wife and I would like to thank all of you.

Include uh council member, because Ms.

Quingo has stopped mocking us on Facebook.

Thank you.

However, she recently mocked three other individual who spoke here two weeks ago in Shipwork for me.

This car the behavior is deeply concerning this respect community members who participate in good faith and undermine the integrity of this public process.

Following the meeting, me quinning all host the video on Facebook that includes a parking dog, Sal, Ricky Q and this credit, the speaker who had expressed their view.

Respectfully, the Kai up online harassment is courage, civic engagement, created division and waste, valuable time and energy.

And respect that we expect from the connected to public office.

Thank you for your attention.

Thank you, Dr.

Time.

Next speaker.

So we hope Yangbing Yang Bang Pong Bing Bing Duang.

In it, she speaks for the sake of ridiculing and belittling those husbands.

Such behavior sends the wrong message that citizens who speak out in front of public officials are being publicly ridiculed by the city's own employees who are paid by taxpayers.

We urge city leaders to take this matter seriously.

Such behavior erodes public trust and discourages those who want to engage in business or civic engagement.

The post appeared the next morning around 10 a.m.

It is reasonable to ask whether this action was taken during city business hours.

If so, it is not only thoughtless but also a possible misuse of city resources.

So we respectfully ask.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council.

My name is Van Lee, community activist and board trustees.

I'm taking time for my busy schedule to speak again at today's open public forum.

Leadership is not about power, it's about character.

The way our public servants treat residents, even on social media, shows whether they truly serve the community or serve themselves.

Sadly, we've seen an example of the opposite.

This is not a joke.

It is disrespectful and shameful.

It discourages civic participation and damaged public trust.

When city employees use social media to humiliate residents, they silence voice that care deeply about the city.

The post appeared the morning after the city council meeting on October 7 around 10am.

We asked, was this done on city time?

Using taxpayer resource that deserves investigation and accountability.

If your own staff behave this way, mocking residents who spoke with respect, what would you think?

Would you allow it?

Is this attitude we want representing San Jose?

Is it so shameful to see this kind of behavior coming from a public office?

Public service should be about listening, not mocking.

Let's restore respect, transparency, and integrity in how we serve our community.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Greetings to all council members.

My name is Kaning Wynn.

I came along with other community members who spoke at the last public meeting to support President Hatchu.

Before I begin, I'd like the council to listen to this.

This is the sound from the council member Bing Duan's office staff member.

Use a tactic on social media to mock the community speakers like myself.

Vietnamese culture, young generations must respect elderly.

I am 66 years old.

Vietnamese and Americans do have the same cultural values.

My message when I spoke last time was simple.

To recognize years of dedication and community service that Mr.

Chiu has given to our city and community.

Speaking less fluently English in front of council members is not a crime.

Like many others, I came here as a good faith citizen, believing our voice would be heard respectfully.

But instead of fostering dialogue, Miss Quinning Mouse compare us at barking dogs.

That was the worst disrespectful, humiliating to the elders and the community members.

No one should be mocked for speaking in front of public forum.

Public servants have a duty to treat everyone with fairness and dignity, even when they disagree.

Respectfully yours.

Back to council.

With that, we are adjourned.

Have a great evening.