All right, good afternoon.

Welcome back.

This is our first city council meeting of 2026.

It's going to be a big year for San Jose.

I'd like to call this meeting of the San Jose City Council to order.

Tony, would you please call the roll?

Kamei?

Sorry, I'm getting a feedback.

Campos?

Present.

Tordios?

Here.

Cohen?

Here.

Ortiz?

Present.

Here.

Juan?

Here.

Candela?

Here.

Casey?

Here.

Holy?

Mayhem.

Assuming we have quorum.

Great.

Thank you, Tony.

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, and to the republic for

which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you.

Today's invocation will be provided by Senior Sergeant Cadet Carolina Regalado of the SJPD

cadet program and councilmember come a will tell us more thank you so much and

and as I speak we could have them come down to join us and and have Carolina

prepare to give her reflections I'm very excited to start our year 2026 by taking

a moment to highlight our youth I appreciate our city staff for their

amazing work and to spotlight the amazing San Jose Police Department cadet program.

The law enforcement unit cadet program began in 1964 as a program sponsored by

the Boy Scouts of America and a goal of introducing young people to law

enforcement as a career opportunity. In 1968 the cadet program was transferred

to direct sponsorship by the San Jose Police Department. The program was also

open to women for the first time in 1968 with its first women cadet joining the

same year. In the 58 years since hundreds of young San Jose residents have

participated in this program gaining valuable experiences and strengthening

relationship between San Jose PD and the communities across our city. Many

cadets have gone to become full-time sworn officers with the San Jose Police

Department. In 2026, the program operates under San Jose Police Department

Recruiting Unit and plays an important role in developing and preparing future

law enforcement professionals. Thank you Officer Alfonso Hernandez and all your

team involved for your efforts in continuing this legacy of this program.

Today we are joined by Senior Sergeant Cadet Carolina Regalado who will

reflect on her experiences with the program.

All right.

Good afternoon, and thank you for giving us the opportunity

to come and speak with you today about the San Jose Police

Cadet Program.

For those of you who don't know me, I'm Sergeant Gary Anderson,

and I am the current supervisor for the recruiting unit,

which now houses the Cadet Program.

I've proudly served the city of San Jose for 20 years,

and I can honestly say that working with this cadet program has been my favorite assignment.

One of the most fulfilling parts of the job is watching the growth and development of these young men and women,

watching their confidence build, their leadership improve, and their sense of purpose grow.

I truly believe that these cadets will not only be valuable members of the San Jose Police Department,

but will also be strong members of the communities they live in and serve.

A prime example of what I'm talking about today is Carolina Regalado, who is here with me today, and she wishes to say a few words.

So I'd like to start off with saying thank you for the opportunity for having me here to come and speak.

So I joined the program when I was about 19 years old with limited exposure to law enforcement.

So from the outset, the cadet program provided structured hands-on training that allowed me to gain a realistic understanding of policing

within a professional, supportive, and accountable environment.

As a cadet, I participated in several events,

such as active shooter role-playing scenarios,

vice unit as a decoy.

This allowed me to gain valuable insight into undercover operations.

And through community outreach events and public engagement,

I'm allowed to engage with the community and create those relationships.

In addition to volunteering and training opportunities,

the department currently employs five part-time paid cadets

assigned to the recruiting unit. I am one of those cadets and I'm grateful for that role because it

provides meaningful experience and professional experience within the department and allows all

five of us to directly support recruitment, outreach, and mentorship efforts. Leadership

development is a core component of the cadet program. I was given opportunities to leave

workouts, mentor newer cadets, and take on increased responsibility which landed me the job of having

being a sergeant. So today the cadet program consists of 54 cadets and 60% of them identifying

as female. So this supports the San Jose Police Department's 30 by 30 initiative by the year 2030

having 30% women in law enforcement. And this focus, so the cadet program is a great pipeline

to recruiting young women. Long-term impact of the cadet program extends well beyond entry-level

experience. Former cadets now serve leadership positions in the department such as merge,

air support, and the robbery unit, and even at the executive level as former Deputy Chief

Jaime Jimenez. The San Jose Police Department cadet program is more than an introduction

of law enforcement. It is a proven pathway for leadership, development, professionalism,

and meaningful community-focused service. Thank you.

Thank you, Senior Sergeant Cadet Carlino Regalado. Thank you to all of our cadets

for participating in the program and Chief of the Department for making it

possible. Thank you, Councilmember Kamei, for the great invocation today. We

appreciate it. Great way to start our meeting. We're going to move on to our

ceremonial items. Councilmember Duan, if you would join me at the podium, we will

recognize and proclaim January as National Human Trafficking Awareness

Month.

Good afternoon, everyone.

Today I'd like to recognize a cause that demands our attention and action.

National Human Trafficking Awareness Month.

The International Labor Organization estimated that 25 million people around the world are subjected to human trafficking or forced labor every single day.

This reality persists despite global and domestic efforts to prevent it.

Human trafficking affects people of all ages, race, genders, and nationalities in communities

both near and far.

As leader and citizen, it is our responsibility to advocate for enforced laws that protect

the most vulnerable.

We must remain vigilant in identifying and addressing exploitation whenever and wherever

it occurs.

This month serves as a critical reminder that the fight to protect, support, and seek justice

for trafficking victims is far from over.

It's also a call to action that we can create safer, more just communities.

Let us honor this moment by renewing our commitment to ending human trafficking and building a

future where everyone is free to live with dignity and hope.

This point I would like to invite Shannon to have a few words and then the mayor will

present you with accommodation.

Thank you, Councilmember Dewan, and thank you City of San Jose and San Jose Police

Department who have been our longstanding partners in this fight against human trafficking.

In 2010, January was deemed Human Trafficking Prevention Month, but since 2003, the South

Bay Coalition and Human Trafficking has worked to build capacity to identify and respond

to human trafficking.

Just last year, our service providers provided crisis intervention services to over 360 survivors

of human trafficking. Legal services for human trafficking survivors were numbered at 177

individuals. Our child welfare system screened over 1,800 youth for potential signs of exploitation,

and they identified over 300 with potential commercial exploitation signs.

What we know in Santa Clara County is that we've had survivors from every part of the world here.

We've identified survivors from all kinds of backgrounds, all types of trafficking.

That includes sex trafficking online and in our streets.

We've seen labor trafficking in our salons, in our restaurants, in construction sites,

in the fields, and even with street food vendors.

We've seen domestic servitude and bonded labor in cases that intersect with domestic violence

and sexual assault.

Traffickers provide a false sense of hope and they lie about opportunities to coerce people

who want a better life. We each have the ability to learn about the indicators of human trafficking

in our community and know how to report it and get help. With three major sporting events starting

in just a few weeks, the city is preparing for visitors from around the world and around the

country. We anticipate great opportunity for our community. Similarly, there's opportunity for

exploitation and harm. Our coalition has been leading a regional work group called No Traffic

ahead and just this week we launched a website safety for the bay with the number four safety

for the bay.org is providing it's a resource navigator for the greater bay area and it will

link individuals to the help that they need not just for human trafficking but for any way that

they might be feeling unsafe whether that's domestic violence sexual assault immigration

protection even things like state violence so now is a great time if you're interested in

volunteering or you have a group that would be interested in volunteering because we need to

to spread the word about these available resources.

We want to put up stickers in public bathrooms

and different businesses.

We want to make sure we have posters up

so that anybody coming into our community

and community members alike know how to get the help

that they need as quickly as possible.

We all play a role in making our community safe,

and we hope you'll join us.

All right, and we'll ask the council members to stay here,

and I'd like to invite Deb Kramer and her team

from Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful to join us.

Today we are recognizing Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful.

Deb Kramer and the team are celebrating 10 years.

Hi, Deb. Happy New Year. Good to see you.

Celebrating 10 years. Welcome.

Bringing communities together to take action, learn, and enjoy a healthy Coyote Creek.

As the only community-based organization advocating for the entire Coyote Creek watershed,

Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful plays a vital leadership role in protecting and restoring this regional asset.

In 10 years, they've hosted over 200 cleanups, that makes me so happy, with more than 10,000 volunteers cleaning up 919,000 pounds of trash from our creeks, trails, and surrounding neighborhoods.

The organization is also deeply committed to education and youth engagement, reaching

children through its award-winning Scouts Adventure Program and supporting the next generation

of environmental leaders through college internships.

Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful is a valued partner to the City of San Jose, helping keep our

creeks clean, educating residents about local ecosystems, and encouraging greater use of

our parks, trails, and open spaces.

I make sure to join a few Saturdays every year with Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful.

I will see Councilmember Duan out there.

I know he's probably made even more of those than I have, and I really appreciate that.

I also love their BioBlitz event every year if you want to learn a little more about our local ecosystems and all the flora and fauna out there.

On behalf of the San Jose City Council, we are honored to commend Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful for more than a decade of leadership, service, and lasting impact in our community.

I'd like to invite Deb Kramer to say a few words.

She's done just an amazing job of being the vision and guiding light of the organization.

So it's my pleasure to invite Deb to say a few words.

Thank you, Mayor.

This is so great. Keep Kite Creek Beautiful started with a grant from the Environmental Services Department 10 years ago, and we picked up trash.

And we had a lot of support from the Environmental Services Department to do that.

But we went from one staff to now six who run all facets of our organization.

and with me are a few of our team members.

We've got staff, key volunteers, and also one of our partners with us here.

And in leadership with our board during our strategic planning process,

we enlarged our efforts to encompass not only cleanups,

but education to children and adults and recreation for all ages.

All activities support a healthier creek and watershed for people in nature.

I envision a Coyote Creek where people can play in the creek like I did when I was a kid,

and where our steelhead trout, which are now threatened, have their annual runs through Coyote Valley to spawn.

And over the years, Mayor Mahan has recognized the importance of including community voices and action.

And in particular, I'm grateful to have been selected by him to serve on the Mayor's Clean Neighbors Transition Committee

when he was elected mayor, and that was to continue his commitment with us to clean for clean and

healthy waterways. Thanks to the city staff, especially Environmental Services Department,

the Beautify San Jose Department, and Parks for all their support with staff and services,

we couldn't do our community work without you. And to the council members who each year have

provided KCCB with grant funding and tight budget years.

I thank all of you.

It's really important to have that kind of support.

And together we continue to offer hope and joy for a more clean and fun-filled place

we call Coyote Creek.

So come out and volunteer with us.

Awesome.

Congrats on 10 years, guys.

Let's get a big group of photos.

We moved this way just a little.

There we go.

Okay.

I want to walk you.

You're good.

Thank you.

We'll see you around.

We'll see you soon.

All right, and Councilman Tordias, if you'd like to join me here, we will recognize Muekma Ohlone Middle School.

Turn it over to you.

This afternoon, I'm proud to recognize Muekma Ohlone Middle School right here in District 3 for their upcoming family reading night.

We know that when families read together, we're not just sharing stories.

We're teaching children curiosity, transporting them to places and experiences beyond their daily lives,

and building memories and literacy skills that last a lifetime.

So before the mayor presents the commendation, it is now my pleasure to pass it off to Principal Vanessa Dean from Maloney Middle School

to tell you a little bit more about the wonderful event that we will be celebrating tomorrow night.

Thank you so much for the honor of addressing the council today.

Phi Beta Phi, Phi Beta Phi, sorry, and Reading is Fundamental partnered with Ohlone Middle School

to donate hundreds of beautiful new high-interest books to inspire literacy and a love of reading

for our students and our community.

We're also incredibly grateful for the extreme hard work and organizational skills of Mr. Mark Dooley,

our para-librarian who has really taken the helm on organizing this event. For this event, we have

multiple rooms for a book tasting, so each room features a different genre and types of interest

for students and families to come and select and take as many books as they can carry. We do provide

bags, so they can take multiple bags with them. We have community partners and vendors come and

table to give information, to network, to provide services, and to also provide prizes for families.

Our folklorical group and our cheer group perform for the event,

which are also two groups that we offer free of cost to our families.

And additionally, we offer free food for families who attend

because the event is from 5 to 8 p.m.,

and we want people to come out and enjoy reading but not miss dinner.

So the event is tomorrow night, January 14th,

at Muwekma Ohlone Middle School from 5 to 8 p.m.,

and we're very excited to continue to inspire joy, literacy, and reading for our community.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, we're continuing on with orders of the day.

I will ask colleagues at this time,

if anyone has changes to the printed agenda,

I am aware of one request from Council Member Ortiz

to make item 3.7 time certain at 3.30 p.m.?

Yep.

Great.

Let me see if there are any other requests,

and then we'll take a motion on orders of the day.

And then we do also have an adjournment.

But any other requests?

Seeing none, do you want to move?

Thank you, Mayor.

I'd like to motion and also include making 3.7 time certain for 3.30 p.m.

Second.

Second.

Great.

Thank you.

why don't we take any comments and vote and then we'll do our adjournment Tony

I have no cards okay then let's vote which requires two-thirds I believe

motion passes unanimously great thank you all today's city council meeting will be adjourned

in memory of Kenneth John Kelly, who passed away on August 7, 2025. Ken was a lifelong

volunteer, civic leader, and educator whose decades of dedicated service strengthened

neighborhoods throughout San Jose. Vice Mayor Foley will tell us more.

Thank you. Today I'm honored to recognize the life of Kenneth John Kelly, who passed away

peacefully at home on August 7, 2025, at the age of 86. Ken was a man whose kindness, humor,

and commitment to service left a lasting mark on San Jose. Even through the challenges of his

cancer diagnosis, Ken remained the person so many of us knew and admired. He was known for his warm

smile, quick wit, and Irish charm that could instantly put people at ease. Ken's life was

defined by service and community involvement. Born in Grand Island, Nebraska, and raised in San

Francisco, he earned his degree from UC Berkeley and went on to have many successful careers in

business, non-profit leadership, and education. In Ken's last career, he served as a master composter

managing the home composting education program for Santa Clara County.

Here he served as an educator who delighted in teaching and sharing,

often giving away plants he had grown himself.

But it was the warmth he brought to volunteerism and civic engagement that truly set him apart.

He served as the District 9 Library and Education Commissioner from 2017 to 2024.

He co-founded both the United Neighborhoods of Santa Clara County and the Responsible Landlord Engagement Initiative.

A lifelong volunteer and civic leader, Ken served in countless organizations and neighborhood groups,

always bringing humor, generosity, and a genuine love for people.

In 2006, the City of San Jose recognized his contributions by naming him Volunteer of the Year.

Those who worked closely alongside him remember not just what he did, but how he did it.

His sense of humor followed him everywhere.

And while he made himself available whenever he was able,

his absence was deeply felt when he could not be present.

Ken's legacy lives on in the neighborhoods he helped strengthen,

the institutions he served, and the many lives he touched, including my own.

Ken shared 26 years of marriage with his wife Linda Lazod, a former San Jose City Council

member, and together they demonstrated a deep commitment to this city and its people.

I'm blessed to have known Ken and privileged to adjourn today's meeting in his name.

He will be deeply missed and fondly remembered.

Linda, we're honored to have you here with us today, and we welcome you to the podium

to say a few words.

Good afternoon, everyone.

Thank you, Vice Mayor and your staff for this making today happen.

Ken would be a little embarrassed, but he will also be honored to have been remembered in this way.

And he probably would have accepted this recognition on behalf of all the volunteers that he worked with.

When Ken got his diagnosis, we talked about all of the volunteer work that he was doing

and, you know, what he was going to do, was he going to keep doing it.

He told me, he said, Linda, I'm going to keep doing what I can until I can't.

And so he did just that.

And two of his favorite volunteer efforts were with the library.

He was a friend of the Baskin Library, and he was also, as the vice mayor mentioned,

appointed to the library commission.

He loved books, and he loved the library,

and I'm very happy to say that several members of the library staff

are here today to honor Ken.

He so appreciated the mayor, the time that he got to know you,

and Councilmember Mulcahy, Vice Mayor Foley,

and Rosemary Kamei, who I've known forever.

But he just appreciated knowing you and working with you.

and always one for a good suggestion

as you well know

I think you must have been channeling him this week

because I think one suggestion

he would have made

would be to urge the council

to recognize volunteers

early and often

perhaps a different group

at every council meeting like you just did

so again I want to thank you so much

for honoring Ken like this

I know he's back there watching us

and thanking you so much

Thank you so much, Linda, and we're just deeply sorry for your loss.

I know service and giving back to the community is something, one of many things you and Ken shared so deeply.

So we're grateful to you and Ken for all the incredible impact in our community,

and our hearts are with you during this difficult time.

Thank you for being here today.

Thank you, Vice Mayor, for bringing forward that adjournment.

we are going to move on to our closed session report I have no record to make

today man okay thank you Susanna we are on to the consent calendar are there any

items the council would like to pull from consent not aware of any not seen

any hands all right do we have a motion on consent second great thank you Tony do

we have public comment on the consent calendar? Yes, Betsy, come on down.

Hi. I would appreciate it if you could add training in constitutional protections regarding

the personal property of homeless individuals. I am submitting this permit encroachment request

in order to protect my brother's belongings. He is disabled and has health issues.

Forcing him to move his trailer every 72 hours is insanely cruel and unnecessary. He will be in San

Jose. He has to pay about $45 a day in order to keep his trailer heated and stay warm, which is

almost, well, a little over $1,300 a month, whereas the average home has to pay about $250.

He will be somewhere in San Jose. The only question is, what will his space look like?

I would prefer to have it look like this, and so he could keep his stuff safe and make it look nice

and be a part of the community, but you can keep doing what you're doing. Thanks.

Back to council. Thank you, Tony. Okay, coming back to the

Council, I don't see any hands.

Tony, let's vote on the consent calendar.

Motion passes unanimously.

Thank you.

All right, we're on to land use consent.

Turning to colleagues for questions, comments, or a motion.

Second.

Great.

Not seeing any other hands.

Tony, do we have public comment on land use consent?

We have no cards.

All right.

Coming back to the council, let's vote.

Looks like that's unanimous.

Thank you, Tony.

All right, coming back to our regular agenda

and item 3.1, report of the city manager.

Thank you very much, Mayor, and good afternoon to all.

I have no report today.

All right.

Thank you, Jennifer.

Item 3.3, this is settlement of green

versus city of San Jose et al.

Do we have public comment?

I have no cards for this item.

Okay, going back to the council.

Again, questions, comments, or a motion?

Move approval.

Okay.

Not seeing any hands.

Tony, let's vote.

Motion passes unanimously.

Thank you, Tony.

We're on to item 3.4, Team San Jose Annual Performance Audit Report.

We have a presentation.

We'll give everybody a moment to settle into the box, and then Joe, I'll turn it over to you.

Good afternoon.

I'm Joe Royce, City Auditor.

I'm here with Adrian Perez from my office.

We're here to present our audit of Team San Jose's performance for fiscal year 24-25.

One second on the slides.

Since 2004, the San Jose McHenry Convention Center and several other city-owned facilities

have been operated on the city's behalf by Team San Jose.

Additionally, since 2009, Team San Jose has operated the San Jose Convention and Visitors

Bureau to promote tourism and provide services such as marketing, public relations, and convention

sales and services.

My office under the terms of the management agreements between the City and Team San Jose

is required to perform an annual performance audit to determine whether and how well Team

San Jose met agreed upon performance targets that are the basis for a performance-based

fee from the City.

the terms of the agreement. Team San Jose's annual performance is measured across five different

performance areas. These include gross operating results, booked hotel room nights, estimated

economic impact, theater occupancy, and satisfaction customer satisfaction rate.

Team San Jose met its weighted incentive fee scores and the convention and the visitor

bureau performance targets in fiscal year 24-25. Team San Jose exceeded its targeting gross

operating results, booked 133,500 hotel room nights, had an estimated economic impact of nearly

$95 million, held 540 days of events at the cultural facilities resulting in an occupancy rate of 97%

and received 97% satisfaction ratings on its customer service surveys. As a result,

Team San Jose Medes weighed incentive fee targets and qualifies for the performance-based fee of $300,000

as outlined in the agreement with the city.

We do not have any recommendations in the report,

and because of that, there is not a written management response.

Any feedback we receive during the course of the audit

has been incorporated into the body of the report.

I ask you to accept the report, and we're happy to answer any questions.

Representatives from Team San Jose, as well as the Office of Economic Development and Cultural Affairs,

are also here to help answer any questions.

Thank you.

Great.

Thank you, Joe.

appreciate the report and your presentation Tony do we have public

comment I have no cards for this item cards okay

coming back to the council see if colleagues want to chime in first we'll

go to councilmember come in thank you so much and thank you to the auditor for

his report.

One of the things that I realized,

because this came to CED

and I always ask a lot of questions

and I always wonder why

some of the percentages exceed a lot.

And one of the things that I found

and I just wanted to highlight

and appreciate Team San Jose reaching out

and really answering a lot of my questions

and really giving me a better understanding of what the numbers mean

because just looking at the charts, sometimes it doesn't tell you the whole story.

And there were certainly different events, you know, NVIDIA, Intel,

others that really make a big difference in terms of understanding

why the numbers are the way they are.

So I just want to say thank you to Team San Jose.

I want to thank the auditor for your information and your team.

and I'd move the item.

Great. Thank you.

Second from Councilman Cohen, who I believe wants to speak next.

Thank you, and I thank you for the summary of the audit.

It's good to see Team San Jose doing so well this year

and also continuing to make the most of the limited facilities

that we have in the city to draw business,

but I'm also excited to see the when I walk around downtown the active

all the activity happening here in the city it really does it really does show

there's a lot going on in our theaters many nights of the week it's really I

you can feel a difference from year to year and I think Team San Jose is largely

responsible I do want to I just do want to I know that that the scope of the

audit is around the specific measures that are in the contract that we have

with Team San Jose, but I kind of I'm going to just bring up a couple these

are questions that are probably not meant to be answered right now but just

questions that I have in general that I think are worth figuring out how we

capture in the data going forward and I have spoken to Team San Jose about some

of these questions. I was surprised I'm surprised to see that in the performance

measures we don't have a metric for convention center utilization because

it's just important I think for me to understand or for all of us to

understand how well we're doing with the space that we have, how much we're booked,

what kind of utilization there is, what opportunity there might be in the convention center.

So I don't see that particularly called out here.

It's obviously buried under some of the economic impact numbers and other things,

but it's not specific, and I think it would be very helpful to have that in future,

in the data that we see.

The other thing is, I know that the theater occupancy number is based on a convoluted calculation,

based on the available nights and other things

and only for specific nights of the week.

I think beyond this measure,

which probably is a useful measure for us

in terms of performance,

it also would be just nice to know

what are the vacancy rates at our theaters?

How many nights are we booking?

And what I'd really like to understand

is how we compare to similar facilities

around not just the Bay Area but the country.

What is our utilization rate and what could it be and how do we compare?

Because I don't know that we have a good handle on that or a good feeling.

At least I know I don't at all know what is an expected utilization rate in a theater

of certain size in a city like ours.

So I think it would just be great for us to understand that going forward.

Again, I'm not sure this is necessarily an audit question, but since the audit is focused

on the data, I just wanted to raise some questions about data that I think would be helpful for

us to understand in the future.

Thank you. I'm happy to see downtown thriving.

Thanks, Councilmember. And let me just say you made my job easier.

I was going to make many of the same points. I really appreciate that desire to get a better grasp on what's happening.

What does it look like in comparable cities to just better really understand the nature of this industry and its impact on the city?

I should say before I go any farther, I really appreciate the work team San Jose is doing.

doing. We're collaborating regularly. I see John LaFortune up there and Laura and we're

collaborating regularly on recruiting new business, making sure folks who are coming

here are happy with their experience here, their attendees are happy. And as Councilman

Cohen said, I know and I think Councilman Kameh was saying Team San Jose has a lot to

do with the level of activity in our city, particularly in the downtown. I too would

like to see metrics and this might be more for the city manager and team, Office of Economic

development and cultural affairs to think about. Some of the metrics don't make it as clear to me,

just as Councilor Cohen was saying, what exactly the potential is out of a 365 day a year. And

it's not like you can only have one event per day. And some venues might be able to have more

than that. I'd also be interested to understand impact. Not that revenue is the only thing that

matters, but are we, it's one thing to have an event and know that there's one there, but does

it sell out? Does, what are the ticket prices? What does it drive in terms of TOT? How much can we

kind of understand the overflow impact on hotel room bookings and restaurants and bars and the

food and beverage industry and parking? And we know these things are all interconnected and I'm

not suggesting we boil the ocean, but it would be really helpful to know how is our experience

economy performing given the assets we have the facilities the city has invested in the taxpayers

have invested in how are we performing relative to other comparable cities just from the perspective

of trying to understand can we learn from others can we push ourselves uh to do even more to do

better are there other trends we're seeing in other cities i'd really love to understand to

see a little more of that comparative analysis i think that leads to my one question and and i

I don't know if it's for the city manager and team or if it's Joe for you,

but when we see Team San Jose blowing its goals out of the water,

well done, performance metrics,

how do you all evaluate when targets feel appropriately calibrated

or maybe they're being set too conservatively and we should push

and how do we decide which ones we really want to emphasize?

I know the council plays a role in that,

but it just kind of begs the question,

given I think the weighted score was 195% of 100%, which means it could be due for adjustment.

Yeah, I'll start and then Carrie, it looks like you're prepared to answer more specifically on

Team San Jose. But in general, as we do review our performance measures each year, we do need

to challenge ourselves to make sure that they're reasonable goals, but they're stretch goals.

So not so high that we can't reach them because then we're also misleading the public and the

Council, and ourselves.

But I expect that review every year, and I think you see that reflected in our budget document.

But I'll let you, Carrie Adams-Hapner, our Deputy Director over Cultural Affairs, describe

that a little bit further of how it's being approached with Team San Jose.

Thank you, Jennifer.

Good afternoon.

Carrie Adams-Hapner, Office of Economic Development and Cultural Affairs.

Thank you, Jennifer, just for, you know, setting some context.

Every year we work collaboratively with the budget office as well as Team San Jose

in identifying the targets for the next fiscal year.

And then we integrate those targets in the form of an MBA, a manager's budget addendum, every spring.

And it comes to the full council for their review and approval.

That said, what we do at that time is we do some analysis around what are the existing events that are currently booked, what do they anticipate to be booked, and then furthermore, there is also another overview of the budget office in terms of not wanting to create escalated projections around the TOT,

because I think the council is aware, but I will reemphasize this,

is that both Team San Jose and other parts of the city organization,

budgetarily, they receive their funds based on projected TOT.

So there is some governance that supersedes the target

so that we do not over-inflate the target,

so that would, in turn, overinflate our budget.

So I just want to kind of set that as a tone for us

and what we're looking at every year.

We very much challenge Team San Jose to be, you know,

the highest and best use of all these magnificent facilities in our downtown.

And then at the same time, we are also cognizant of the fact

that we do not want to overinflate projected revenues.

So there is a balance in that determination.

Thanks, Carrie.

Just interject quickly on that, and I want to get to Councilman Mulcahy and move us forward here.

I think you're pointing to a tension that's worth further reflection, which is you're absolutely right.

We do not want to base a revenue projection and make budget assumptions based on ambitious stretch goals that we may not hit.

And so if those two were too directly tied, I could see a tension there and that being counterproductive.

On the other hand, setting aside, I'm all for conservative budgeting and not over expecting and overstretching.

On the other hand, you know, we did hit 195 percent of the goal, it looks like, and we still had an operating loss of 11 million.

And so I would suggest that we look at setting the goals, not just in terms of what's currently booked and in the pipeline,

but that we take maybe a multi-year look at comparable facilities in other cities, comparable kind of performance,

and really have a strategic plan that says, well, here's where we are today, here's where we want to be in three years,

and here's how this ought to ramp, and not just base the goals on what we already expect to happen, essentially, or some kind of estimated.

I think there's sort of a back and forth between the two, but something feels a little bit off when we're hitting 195% of the goal, but then still have this operating loss.

So I just, I don't know, I think we, it may be a longer conversation in the future, but I'd like to better understand how do we think, how fully are we utilizing these facilities, and what other benchmarks are we looking at to know what's possible, essentially.

If that makes sense.

Let me turn to Council Member Mulcahy.

Thank you, Mayor.

And Kerry, I think you did a good job of sort of explaining that sort of the fundamentals

of how we got to where we are relative to the performance measures and how they're set.

This question has been asked, you asked it a year ago when I, or a little more than that,

when I wasn't sitting at this table.

And I think it sends a message of, you know, sort of holding Team San Jose accountable

for rules that the city of San Jose sets for them.

And I think there's a way to get to a more,

you know,

a place to judge the organization.

And I don't know if you recognize that if for whatever reason

they don't hit one of those objectives,

they're automatically in default under the contract.

so there's a sort of feast or famine thing that happens right so I think it's worth a second look

but at the same time what you have to understand is internally you know this is a non-profit

organization made up of arts organizations that care as much about how many butts and seats there

are in their theaters as anybody we have the union representation that what matters to them

is we're putting as many people to work as possible.

We have the hotel owners at the table who, you know,

we want to make sure our hotel rates are as high as possible, frankly,

with all due respect, because that's what drives TOT,

and occupancy is what drives TOT,

which feeds a lot of the other partners in and around the city.

So I think it's important to sort of take into context

what the role of the organization is,

because if they blow at 195 percent,

It's not like they get to pocket six or seven million bucks as an organization.

They're just putting those monies back in to being able to take care of the business or the buildings through Fund 536.

So, you know, as the liaison to Team San Jose and somebody who's part of the founding organization,

I feel like I, you know, would love to have this conversation with staff and also be an intermediary with Team San Jose

to see if we could get to a place where we're not having the same conversation of,

are we getting sandbagged by these performance measures?

I don't think that's what's happening,

but I want to make sure that we're looking at it in the broader context.

And when we think about our competitive set,

if we're putting other cities in the mix of how they're doing with occupancy

and performance states, to David's question,

we also have to think about you know we have a convention and visitors bureau think what is our

budget at the convention and visitors bureau it's you know in the five ten you know five million

dollar range san francisco spends that you know a month right so if we're going to look at how

our occupancy is doing at our buildings we better start looking at how we compare with how much money

is going into marketing cities and how that affects us you know on our on our occupancy

so anyway that's it for the soapbox but I just want to add a little context yeah no I think

that's helpful I think it's great I think it's more I think the questions I'm asking certainly

and I suspect reflective of Councilor Cohen is just a desire to better understand the industry

the assets we have if they're fully utilized and that very much Councilor okay to your point

may be a look in the mirror as to goals we're setting,

budget priorities that we've adopted,

our investments as a city.

It's not a necessarily suggestion

that Team San Jose has done anything wrong,

but just a question of,

are we maximizing the impact of the assets

that the city owns?

So we'd welcome that follow up conversation,

probably through CED and whatever's the appropriate channel.

I don't see any other hands up.

So Carrie, I think you're off the hook for other questions.

And we did have a motion, I believe.

So, Tony?

I'm sorry, Joe.

Go ahead.

One thing.

So in the conversation, you mentioned the 196% in the prior years, 218%.

I just brought up some of the older reports pre-COVID.

And the weighted scores of those years, and so in 2018-19, they're at 118%.

17-18, 111%.

122% in 16-17.

So there was a period when they were coming in a little closer.

So I don't know if there was something changed in the projections.

I don't know.

I just want to bring that to a historical perspective that we were hitting 200%, frankly.

So I don't know.

I'm not part of the target setting, so I don't know if anything has changed.

Thanks for that context.

I think it's useful to know.

Appreciate that, Joe.

Okay.

Councilman Mulcahy, back to you.

I just wanted to respond to Joe's.

I mean, I think we're still in recovery mode, and we're gun-shy about the projections.

I mean, the reality is we are not back to, you know, expected business that we were, you know,

from the height of 2019 and the years leading up to that.

So I think, you know, some of this, you know, gross-out performance is related to projections

that we're making and still doing it in a conservative manner.

All right.

Thanks, Council Member.

I don't see any other hands.

Tony, let's vote.

Motion passes unanimously.

Great.

Thank you all very much.

All right.

We are...

Sorry.

Get my agenda here.

We're on to item 3.5.

In fact, 3.5 and 3.6 will have a combined staff presentation, but will be voted on separately.

Welcome to everyone, including Emily Lamb, our new director of the City Manager's Office of Administration Policy, NIGR.

Emily, when you're ready, I'll turn it over to you.

Thank you, Mayor.

Good afternoon, Mayor, Council, City Manager, and members of the public.

My name is Emily Lam, and I am the Director of the City Manager's Office of Administration, Policy, and Intergovernmental Relations.

I'm joined today by the Intergovernmental Relations team, led by Han Kong, the Chief Intergovernmental Relations Officer, who joined the city in October,

and Steve Stamos and Nicholas Ochoa, as well as our state lobbying partners Steve Cruz and Nick Romo from Cruz Strategies.

I want to thank them for working on these two items that they will present today,

the 2025 fall intergovernmental relations report and the 2026 legislative program.

And with that, I'll pass it over to Han to kick us off.

Wow, Emily, thank you so much for that warm welcome.

And I mean, I think it's exactly like the kind of red carpet that I know that this city

rolls out for the residents, visitors, and businesses as well.

So for today, first of all, good afternoon, Council.

And we'll actually start by providing a brief overview of the impact that the intergovernmental

relations team has provided for the city.

And this will be followed by both the advocacy highlights as well as a preview of the 2026

legislative session, both at the state and federal levels.

Now the bills that we cite in this presentation are really just a snapshot and you can find

the details of all of the bills and the city's positions in the federal and state legislative

logs that are associated with attachments A and B for item number 3.5.

Now, before I go into details about the impact, I really want to take this opportunity to

express my deep gratitude to both Steve Stamos and Nicholas Ochoa.

Steve, I know that you acted as the chief intergovernmental relations officer.

And Nicholas, I know that you really stepped up following the departure of my predecessor.

And so really, I think what we see in terms of impacts here are really attributable to

both of you.

So thank you so much.

And in terms of the funding advocacy, as you can see, with the federal government, we've

been successful in advocating for $7.5 million in earmark funding to support six projects

in the community. And this funding is included in appropriations bills that Congress is currently

deliberating on. So the last two that you see there, both $1 million each, the House

has actually passed those bills, and the Senate is actually considering those bills as we

speak. And then the first four that you see, that will be part of a package that we anticipate the

House will be voting on soon. On the legislative front, the city sponsored two bills, Senate Bill

753 and Assembly Bill 476. And really want to take this opportunity to thank Senator Cortese

for his leadership and partnership with us on Senate Bill 753 that really focused on abandoned

and shopping carts, and also Council Member Mulcahy,

really appreciate how you worked with us

and testified in really making progress

on this particular bill.

And then Assembly Bill 476 focused on copper theft.

Now, additionally, I also wanna highlight

Assembly Bill 382, which is a bill that addresses

speeding in school zones that the city supported,

as well as Senate Bill 158,

which required significant advocacy from the team

to accelerate the rollout of round seven

of the Homeless Housing Assistance and Prevention Program.

So at the federal level, in terms of look back in 2025,

really want to highlight

the intergovernmental relations team's work

throughout the federal government shutdown,

longest shutdown in history.

And in particular, the opportunity that we really leveraged to strengthen our relationship with the county,

and Santa Clara County in particular, to ensure that vital benefits in terms of food assistance

was made available to the city's most vulnerable residents.

Also, I would like to highlight some additional funding efforts in addition to the earmarks.

That includes submitting for the city's priorities for surface transportation reauthorization,

and also really advocating for public safety funding, recognizing that the South Bay will be hosting some major sporting events this year,

and the decisions on that funding is still pending.

Now, additionally, the city continues to advocate for the Housing for the 21st Century Act,

which was previously known as the Road to Housing Act,

and the Intergovernmental Relations team will certainly engage on this bipartisan legislative package as it moves through Congress.

Looking ahead into this year, again, on the federal side, we are really going to be doubling

down our efforts to support the Valley Transportation Authority on their pursuit of federal funding

for the BART Silicon Valley Phase II project.

And also, in terms of legislative reauthorization, really focusing on the workforce innovation

and Opportunity Act, which continues to be a priority for the city, but also for Santa Clara

County. And I think that we see this as an opportunity to, again, strengthen our relationship

with the county as well. And then in terms of how the federal government is set up, we are really,

really focused on the Federal Emergency Management Agency in terms of the reforms and how the

proposed restructuring could actually impact both the funding and our relationship with the federal

government in terms of emergency management. All right, now on to the state. So the city continues

to advocate for the full restoration of the homeless housing assistance and prevention program

as our top priority. We were successful in advocating for the Senate Bill 158,

in which there were assurances that were provided to local governments that round seven would be

funded in this year's budget and would be rolled out by September of this year. Now, the team has

also worked to protect the city's measure E, as well as the construction and conveyance tax revenues,

And this was really in response to some of the late legislative push last year to limit transfer taxes.

So very much this reflects the kind of collaboration that we have with the city-state lobbyist,

as well as city departments and, of course, the mayor's office.

On the regulatory side, I also want to highlight the team's success in quickly activating and engaging to protect the city's family camp,

really leveraging our relationship with Senator Cortese and Assemblymember Pellerin,

worked to clear some regulatory hurdles that allowed for the construction to resume,

and that also ultimately resulted in the partial reopening of the family camp for families and for residents of the city.

In terms of the preview for the state, I think that as many of you may have heard about the

governor's January budget proposal, we did facilitate a budget letter from the mayor

that again highlighted the city's priorities in which the state funding would be most impactful.

And so this included the work on the Homeless Housing Assistance and Prevention Program.

Now, in terms of what we learned from the governor, he actually projected a $3 billion budget deficit,

and it actually differs from the projections of the Legislative Analyst Office, which cited a figure of $18 billion.

Now, we were really pleased to see that the budget did include the $500 million in the

Homeless Housing Assistance and Prevention Program, and also additional funding for supplemental

nutrition assistance in anticipation of the federal government's budget reduction for

this program through CalFresh.

What the Intergovernmental Relations will also be doing is submitting an information

memo with more details about the proposed budget as we learn more from the governor's office.

We anticipate that with the governor in his final year, that cost of living, affordability,

artificial intelligence, and data centers will be a major focus of the legislature.

And so we'll be continuing to work really closely with all of you as well as the relevant

city departments to advance the city's interests in these policy areas.

Now, on to item 3.6 on the legislative program and priorities.

So this part of the presentation is really building on what the Intergovernmental Relations

team does every year in terms of bringing this program to the City Council for updates

and also for feedback to ensure that it remains aligned with the City Council's priorities.

So we'll discuss some of these priorities, highlight some of the key changes from the

previous year, and also give a little preview of some of the concepts for proposed legislation

that we would like to sponsor or support in this legislative session.

All right, so now as you can see, these are the five legislative priorities that guide

our work.

We are not proposing any changes, and part of this is because we really want to build

on the successes that we were able to achieve last year, but we also recognize that we're

actually midway through the legislative session, particularly at the state level.

Really want to take this opportunity to thank our colleagues across the city, departments

and offices, as well as feedback from many of you in our one-on-one that shaped this

legislative program.

So these really, what you see on this slide represents some of the substantive changes

that we are proposing in the program, and I just really want to highlight three of them.

So one is a specific call-out to support economic stability and mobility for residents, and

And that specifically includes access to food, access to housing, child care, as well as

health care.

And again, building on the relationships and the partnerships that we want to have with

the county.

Second is the specific inclusion of data centers, recognizing that data centers are a major

driver of economic development as well as local revenue.

And then the third is making sure that we expand access to opportunities, especially

for young people, to become paramedics, as well as other tools to address the current

shortage of this particular part of the workforce.

So this slide highlights some of the concepts of the legislation that we really see our

city in terms of sponsorship or support in the coming year, you'll note that these concepts

not only respond to the city's needs, but they also elevate the city's leadership in

these policy priorities.

So the first one is that we're exploring a potential bill that would actually raise the

threshold for abandoned recreational vehicles, and it's the value of these vehicles from

the current level, which is $500 to $4,000,

that would provide the city with greater flexibility

to remove blighted vehicles from the streets.

The second one is we're looking at legislation

that would actually incentivize the construction of condominiums

in ways that align with other states,

such as New York, Colorado, and Nevada.

Third is that we're exploring a CEQA exemption bill

for the Diridon Station Infrastructure Project.

And number four, recognizing that we are the capital of Silicon Valley

and that we are a leader in artificial intelligence,

especially with the city's convening of the government AI coalition.

We're actually exploring a statewide bill

that would provide other jurisdictions with a framework on the use of AI

in municipal government based on the work that the city is doing,

but also recognizing that we want to promote human-AI collaboration

and that even though AI can actually expedite processes,

it should never replace human judgment or human decisions on local matters.

And finally, we're also exploring legislation that would preserve local control

in a number of key areas, and that would include land use,

as well as the conduct of public meetings such as this one.

Finally, I really want to take this opportunity to highlight

just the range of partnerships that we have to make this work possible.

I've mentioned the County of Santa Clara several times,

But we also recognize that we are part of the big city mayors coalition.

Many of you have significant leadership positions with Cal Cities.

And also, Susanna, I really appreciate your work and your engagement as part of the Civil

Prosecutors Coalition.

Now in some of our briefings with some of you, you have mentioned the importance of

doubling down on our engagement with Valley Water.

And so we certainly will do that in terms of exploring ways in which we can work together

on some of the jurisdiction-specific issues, but also some of the longer-term issues as

it pertains to water access for the city.

Once again, I just want to reiterate the kind of collaboration that we really want to have

with the County of Santa Clara, especially with regards to work that we can do together

people experiencing homelessness as well as expanding access to affordable childcare.

And most importantly, I really want to highlight your roles as council members.

We recognize that many of you are leaders, especially on specific issues, and we really

welcome your engagement and your partnership with us as we advance the policy priorities

of the city through legislation, both at the state level as well as at the federal level.

Finally, we just want to take a moment to thank our city department staff, who are the

subject matter experts to guide the work, as well as Ryan Coonerty and Mackenzie Mossing

in the Mayor's Office for the close collaboration that we have that really strengthens and amplifies

our work.

And so this really concludes the presentation.

So we are asking the council to accept the IGR report and to reaffirm some of the city's

positions on legislation.

We recognize that some of the positions will change also based on feedback specifically

that we've received from you.

And we also ask for your adoption of the 2026 legislative program and priorities.

And with that, really thank you for your attention and welcome your questions and also your ideas.

is great thank you so much for the overview appreciate getting the rundown of the report

and the legislative program and priorities for this year uh tony do we have public comment on

items 3.5 and 3.6 yes i have three cards i'm going to call your name you can come down in

whatever order whoever arrives first goes to the microphone first um victoria susan

and the third card did not put a name on it.

So if you submitted a card on the 2026 legislative program

and you wanted to speak about it and forgot your name,

go ahead and come on down.

So again, Victoria and Susan also come on down.

Hello.

My name is Susan Hayasa.

I'm the co-founder of San Jose Nikkei Resisters

and an organizer with the Neighbors Not Enemies Coalition

of San Jose Japantown.

Please support H.R. 630, which is the Neighbors Not Enemies Act, and that repeals the Alien Enemies Act of 1789.

The Alien Enemies Act was used during World War II to remove and detain Japanese immigrant families,

which were American families with mixed immigration status, citizen children and immigrant parents,

and it denied any kind of individual due process.

Today, the Alien Enemies Act has been massively useful to the regime in attacking Venezuelan immigrants,

and by extension, all immigrants, also without due process.

It's inspired a war in Venezuela, and we must help repeal the Dangerous Discriminatory Alien Enemies Act of 1789.

We do that by supporting the Neighbors Not Enemies Act.

Repeal will not single-handedly rein in the anti-democratic excesses of this regime,

but it signals that the people of San Jose won't stand for it.

Some people in the United States' history were willing to risk their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.

We can, at the very least, try to pass the Neighbors Not Enemies Act.

Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker.

Honorable Mayor Mayhem, Council Members, I'm here to seek your support for the acceptance

of H.R. 630, the Neighbors Not Enemies Act.

My name is Victoria Takeda.

I'm a board member of the Japantown Neighborhood Association and the Japantown Community Congress.

I want to also thank you all for adopting the concept of increasing community safety

as a community focus.

As a descendant of incarcerees during World War II,

my family experienced the misuse of the Alien Enemy Act

with no protection of their civil liberties.

And today this discriminatory act is used

to justify targeting Latinos and other Asian immigrants.

The danger in the misuse of the AEA by our current president

to scapegoat creates an environment of fear, hate, and shame.

It silences and prohibits our neighbors' ability to live, work, and move freely about

as valued members of our communities here in San Jose and throughout our nation.

Your support for the Neighbors Not Enemy Act repeals the AEA

and will ensure that the most vulnerable in our communities are protected.

Thank you for your support for Neighbors Not Enemy legislation, and I thank you all.

Thank you. Next speaker.

Happy New Year. My name is Jordan Moldau. I'm a D3 resident in Japantown, and I'm a volunteer at the Japanese American Museum of San Jose and the Neighbors Not Enemies Coalition, speaking on my own behalf.

I'm here in support of my neighbors to call for the city to include a support position

on the Neighbors Not Enemies Act in its legislative program.

I believe that this is an appropriate position for the city to take.

It directly supports the increasing community safety, council-adopted focus area,

and complements other recent city positions and actions.

The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 gives broad, unchecked powers to POTUS

to declare foreign nationals to be alien enemies and to remove them without due process,

even if they are longtime permanent residents.

And as we saw during World War II with the forced removal of Japanese Americans,

and as we see in the present day with ICE,

the federal government has a history of racial profiling

and ignoring the human and constitutional rights of citizens as well.

The Neighbors Not Enemies Act would repeal the Alien Enemies Act.

This won't solve racial profiling, and it can't stop illegal federal actions, but it will remove one tool that authoritarians use to legally support their injustices.

The current Congress might be unlikely to pass this bill, but it's worth asserting our stance early and showing our residents that the city supports them.

In support of the immigrant communities of San Jose, please support this position. Thank you.

Back to council.

Great. Thank you, Tony. Thank you to our public speakers.

I do want to really just thank our IGR team, Steve, you and your team, for the partnership, all the good work we've done together.

As was highlighted in the report, we had some great wins last year.

I think the one I'm actually most excited about, we just recently learned about, which is that the governor did include $500 million for HAP in his budget.

It's only 50%.

I'll remind everyone.

I'm going to continue to remind everyone.

It's just 50% of what the state had consistently done for six years, I believe, and is not as much as we need.

It's been a frustrating and uphill battle.

I want to thank all my colleagues in the big city mayor's coalition for their tireless advocacy.

And I know our team pushed, provided a lot of data on how we've used these resources to invest in interim housing outreach prevention and have used it to move the needle on homelessness.

but I'm glad to see that at least there's some commitment there.

I think we should keep fighting to fully fund HAP.

I was up in Sacramento yesterday,

had the opportunity to meet with a number of legislators

and advocate for housing affordability,

public safety,

priorities we have on homelessness and other issues,

Deer Don Station,

a number of our priorities,

had quite a few productive meetings.

today we had an initial vote on condo deposit reform. As you all may know,

condos are one of the most accessible forms of home ownership and yet our

state only builds about 3,000 a year. Pretty sure that's less than the city of

Miami. It's pretty pathetic, frankly, which means that we create less supply,

less opportunity for people to buy into the market and get equity and save

through that mechanism. So there are some reform efforts moving through the

legislature had good conversations with assembly members Wicks and Ward and a number of others

yesterday focused on this issue and I think we heard Steve you can correct me if I'm wrong but

that first vote in judiciary went well today so so the condo deposit reform work is moving forward

is that right that that's correct mayor uh narrowly passed with uh just one vote to spare but it did

did move on it was a big hurdle so we'll continue to be able to have conversations on that bill as a

vehicle and hopefully subsequent legislation related to condominiums and some of the challenges

and perhaps by another author but we'll find out what bill introduction comes in next month.

Great appreciate that so I'm looking forward to working with our IGR team and big city mayors

to advance housing affordability funding for homelessness prevention and shelter

addiction and mental health treatment, a number of the other issues in the IGR plan. I think

recovery housing is another one where we have colleagues in San Francisco who have fought very

hard for a good idea and one that we've even funded here through the Salvation Army. It would

be nice to see the state get off the sidelines and be helpful there because we know it can work

as one choice amongst many. Data centers, I think it was highlighted in the presentation, but

critically important that while we ensure that we're protecting ratepayers in the environment,

we're also fighting to ensure that this investment flows to California and specifically San Jose as

we have all of this power coming online. And this is our single best opportunity to grow the tax

base and provide all of the services we all want through our parks, libraries, and other city

service lines. And then I've had, I know many of us have had really productive conversations with

our county partners over the last particularly six months about how we can finally more effectively

integrate our service delivery systems and do more to implement the mental health and criminal

justice reforms that we now have from the state legislature and governor as well as from the voters

of California in the case of Prop 36. I was concerned just to ask a couple of questions.

And as we know, voters of California overwhelmingly approved Prop 36.

We've seen a tale of two Californias, San Diego, Riverside, Orange County, implementing hundreds of people in treatment.

They've kind of gone back to drug courts working again with this new tool.

Many others, including our own, not seeing those outcomes.

Seems like there's a real role for the state to play in sharing best practices, funding capacity, supporting the build out of treatment.

And I'm curious what the prospects are this year.

I mean, I have a few thoughts from our meetings yesterday,

but is this finally, is there enough data for the legislature to realize

that they need to push the governor on implementation,

even if he didn't support the measure?

Yeah, thanks, Mayor.

Yeah, you're correct.

For the second year in a row, there was no money in the proposed January budget by the governor.

There were efforts last year by Senator Umberg in particular to try to include funding.

didn't make it until the final budget act. There was some funding, but much smaller than was needed

and hoped for. And so I do think there are a number of legislators on both sides of the aisle

that want to see something done. There's certainly a sense of frustration and a lot of finger

pointing as to why it's not being implemented. Certainly funding is a big part of that. But I

think the work that you're doing to sort of come forward with the data to point out where it's not

working and in cities, San Diego, as you mentioned,

has started a program to bring that forward

as some models to make it work.

And just honestly, we need to get more legislators

on board to support

to ensure that there's funding in the budget

this year.

I do think it was hopeful yesterday that some

of the legislators we met with

brought up 36 of their own accord

and seemed to be aware of the success San Diego

is having. So I hope that's a

beachhead for the conversation.

AI development and

data center construction is one of the few bright spots in our economy and the prospects for

investment and tax base growth. I worry though that the legislature is much more focused on risk

mitigation and regulation, which is an important part of the role, than the flip side around

economic development, innovation, keeping our innovation economy here and all of the opportunity

side. How do we as the capital of Silicon Valley better balance that conversation and make sure

that our state policies are enabling our city and region to continue to lead the global innovation

race? Yeah, no, I'm actually proud to say that we have been leading multiple fronts in this space.

So first, just in terms of policy and AI and how that it could be a tool to improve service delivery

and efficiency and cost savings, some of this work that San Jose is doing, we have been

outreached by the legislature to be a part of potential legislation this year to help

make that a model for other states.

The other side, in terms of artificial intelligence and the energy needed to supply them with

data centers, a big part of the agenda last year by the legislature and this year again,

the first, I think, wave of questions and maybe concerns is like, you know, how much energy,

how much water, what are the impact on rate payers? And I'm proud to say that what we've

been able to do is work with the team and start to have conversations to say, no, it can be done

properly without an impact on rate payers. In fact, as a revenue generator, Han highlighted

the governor's budget, the difference in revenue receipts. A large part of that was driven by

artificial intelligence-related companies.

It made a huge difference in this year's budget,

so certainly to support policies.

Of course, there will be conversations about workforce

and with employee organizations to make sure that it's balanced,

but I think we saw that Silicon Valley was a huge part

in ensuring that we didn't have a $30 billion deficit,

but the deficit was much smaller,

so we've got to ensure that there are policies in place

to ensure that that continues going forward.

Great.

Well, I'm glad our teams are working so closely

to share data from San Jose.

And then finally, as we prepare to welcome the world this year

for some major sporting events,

I'm certainly very excited for all that we have planned for our community,

but providing a safe and welcoming environment costs money.

And I'm just curious, in this budget context,

the governor, as you pointed out,

is now projecting more revenue than any of us expected.

How do we best advocate for state and to the extent applicable federal assistance for the security and other kind of basic needs around ensuring these events are successful?

Yeah. Again, I think we've been out front on behalf of the city and the region.

There was some money in the budget last year, but certainly it wasn't enough to cover the impact for public safety and transportation and in other areas.

I think you, Mayor, along with the city, has raised, I think, the profile of the city that, you know, in terms of that we are actually a home to these games or hosting a lot of the activities related to it so that there's more of a balance in terms of distribution.

It's not just where, you know, the actual game is taking place, but that where visitors are coming and where they're staying.

And so we have, particularly with our delegation, I'll just call out Senator Cortese, that want to work with us to push for potential budget language and a potential budget request to ensure that there's more balance there.

Yeah, okay. Sounds good. We'll look forward to continuing to work there.

And the shout-out to Senator Cortese a couple times today is well-deserved.

He and his team have been super responsive and helped us up in Sacramento a number of times.

Let me turn to colleagues, and we'll start with Councilmember Campos.

Thank you, Mayor.

I just want to thank the IGR team for the presentation.

Truly seeing the new leadership in the IGR team come together and do a phenomenal job in such a quick time,

I just want to give kudos to Emily Lam, Han Kang, Nicholas Ochoa, Steve Stamos, and our city manager for hiring such a stellar team to lead IGR.

I truly appreciate the IGR team evaluating two child care-related federal bills to see if the city can take a position in support.

calling out the Building Housing with Care Act, HR 646, and the Child Care Workforce and Facilities

Act, S169, is really important to making sure we have viable solutions in a time where we really

need action to be taken supporting a dual generational workforce issue that supports

today's workforce and tomorrow's leaders so um with that i will move to accept the igr report

and those are all my comments thank you thanks council member appreciate your comments on the

motion we'll go to council member duan thank you mayor thank you the the igr team for reaching out

and work closely with myself and many other councils.

And I think this is a brand-new direction that we're heading

to make sure the city's San Jose will be the leader

in a lot of these legislature and issues.

I am encouraged that the state and federal priorities

are stressing on wildfire resilience, emergency medical readiness,

and investment of first responder capacity is essential of public safety.

Since the wildfire in L.A. last year, I have been advocating for stronger wildfire protection here in San Jose.

And it's an important part of this preparedness is having enough trained firefighter, paramedic,

paramedic, and adequate emergency medical services would tie into the city safer San

Jose policy, position supporting funding to expand access and diversity while addressing

the shortages of paramedic in our fire and emergency services.

However, as important as it is to emphasize wildfire preparedness, we cannot honestly

or credibly do that while cutting MED-30.

I hope we make it a priority to reinstate the critical program that is so needed so

we can genuinely say that we are proud and supporting our first responder.

Thank you.

Thanks, Councilmember.

Let me turn to Councilman Cohen.

Thank you, and thanks to our wonderful IGR team for the work that you do throughout the

year.

I really love the legislative program book.

I mean, it's a great summary of our values as a city.

really is very comprehensive and shows just how many things that we are focused on and what's

important to us. I wanted to reflect just for a minute about our relationship with organizations

like the League of Cities. As you know, I'm very involved, but interestingly, when I first met,

and actually everybody at this table is different than the people I spoke to when I first

joined the board of the League of Cities five years ago, but it was an interesting conversation

I had, which was, you know, a briefing for my first meeting at the League of Cities, and I was told

by the folks that were the IGR team, you know, that they're different than we are. We're a big

city. They represent mostly small cities. We don't have as much alignment. It's okay. Go and

give your input, and, you know, and we won't necessarily always align, but that's okay. We

have our own team, and we'll do our own work, and I always have reflected on that, and I've

even shared that story with folks there to show how far we've come in our relationship with

organizations like that and actually being a respected partner with them as opposed to just

being an outside organ another outside group that is kind of operating on the periphery of the league

and we know our influence is much stronger now and it's not just because we have two now two votes

of the 55 votes on the board of the League of Cities but also because I think that we've come

to understand that we have a lot more in common with our fellow cities across the state than we

have differences, and I think it's been a very helpful relationship. When we had our meeting in

December to settle on our legislative priorities as the league, it was interesting because one of

the conversations we had was everything it seems we ask for is for more money, for funding, and we

did reflect on the, we kind of had an active conversation about we ought to be also focused

on what we can do in the, other than just ask for money, and I think we ought to be thinking the same

here in the times that we're in right now yes the prop 36 funding was a big

priority of the league but we understand that in the current budgetary times

we're not going to necessarily get what we want we have to find other ways to

try to collaborate on these things so I'm just just wanted to raise that I

appreciate our focus on data centers the way it's worded is a little bit weird to

me in our priority saying find ways to to build more data centers as opposed

to other language about building in good standards for data center development and making sure

that we're tracking and monitoring the impacts as we build them out without saying we're

opposed to building them, but we want to make sure that as we build them, they're built

right and California will be the leader on doing it right.

So that's, I think we ought to be a little more specific in what we're looking for on

data centers in our work.

I wanted to just comment on a couple of bills in particular.

I have already spoken to some of you about SB 758.

It's exciting that the state now has a bill to do statewide what we have been one of the early adopters for in San Jose, which is nitrous oxide, banning nitrous oxide sales.

The state has a bill now, SB 758 this year, to do that.

I will probably go to Sacramento to testify on that bill at some point, but I hope that we as a city will take a support position on that bill going forward.

I know you're still evaluating it, but I hope that we will continue to be a leader on that issue.

Second one, SB 222.

I hope we'll take a position of support on that as well.

That's a bill to facilitate the proliferation of electric appliances across the state

by making sure that there are planning processes in place for permitting

to make sure that there's not barriers across the state for that adoption.

We already do that well in San Jose,

but I want to make sure that we're supportive of the idea

that what we do in San Jose to facilitate that installation is happening across the state.

So hopefully we'll support SB 222.

And I wasn't familiar before today with HR 630,

but what I hear about that sounds like something that we ought to be supportive of for sure.

Now I'm skeptical that this Congress will support HR 630,

but it's very important for us to go on record on things like this,

about things that are certainly important.

We've talked many times about various elements of this administration

tax on residents in our country and I think HR 630 is another important bill

for us to specify our support for so thank you for what you do and I hope

you'll take those comments and keep them in mind thank you

thanks councilmember appreciate your comments and all your good work with the

League of Cities and congratulations on your your new leadership post there we'll

go to councilmember Ortiz next

Thank you, Mayor. I also want to thank staff for their presentation and their diligence.

I appreciate how clearly we are prioritizing economic development across the entire city

and uplifting educational and employment opportunities as core pillars of the city's advocacy.

That focus matters, especially as our families continue to desperately struggle with rising costs of living,

with too many single-family homes having to accommodate two or sometimes three families worth of residents

just to live in the city in which they grew up.

I know that I myself grew up that way.

Growing up, I never had a room of my own. I lived on a couch,

and so I definitely sympathize with many of our residents,

and I'm glad that our city is doing everything we can to elevate the concerns of our constituents.

That being said, I did want to, like my colleague, Councilmember Cohen,

touch briefly on the references to emerging technologies and data centers in the presentation.

We're seeing rapid growth in the sector, both locally and across the state.

I think that's great.

And it's becoming a more regular part of our own economic development and land use conversations.

As that continues, I think it's important that we're thoughtful about how we are approaching this topic.

So as we continue to support data centers and their development, as well as innovation more broadly,

are we working with our state and federal legislative partners to ensure appropriate environmental safeguards are being considered?

That was a question.

Thank you, Council Member Ortiz.

Nick Romo with Crew Strategies.

Certainly having that conversation, the IGR team has been engaged with Senator Cortese,

Senator Patrick Aarons, a number of other legislators to discuss what it means to appropriately

cite and construct these data centers.

I think this council will be reviewing a number of data center pieces of legislation this year.

Certainly we'll bring that back to council to discuss these things.

Okay, great.

Is there like a timeline for that just so that we can be aware?

Sure.

The legislative deadline for introduction is February 20th.

And so the following, the next following, early spring, late spring,

we'll be talking about the pieces of legislation that have been introduced

and all the different provisions within each of those.

Councilman, I would add too, if there are organizations,

we're not sponsoring our own legislation,

but we are responding and informing perhaps legislation from our own delegation.

But if there are organizations or there are policies that we should be aware of,

particularly if the organization is to direct us to,

we'd be happy to also meet with them to ensure that if there are priorities

in terms of the lens that we put on the policy,

we'd be happy to do that as well, working through the IGR team.

Great. Thank you.

Councilmember, I was just going to say on the staff side,

staff is coming forward in February to Transportation and Environmental Committee on data centers with

how we're approaching implementation from kind of permitting to environmental stewardship. So

council will have additional opportunities to weigh in then. Excellent. Thank you so much. I mean,

I agree with a lot of my colleagues when, you know, they say that these data centers are going

to be built somewhere. So it's better that they're built here in the city of San Jose so that we can

have some of the benefits as well as a degree of control on how these centers are being built,

but I also just want to make sure that we are focusing on the potential impacts to our community,

especially our environment, given our city's track record of being one of the most green-friendly

cities, I think the most green-friendly city in the nation. And so, yeah, I look forward to

those conversations. Then finally, I guess to return to some of the comments mentioned by

the public and then the other policy that was mentioned by Council Member Cohen in regards to

nitrous oxide. Will there be an opportunity to potentially weigh in on those policies before

there's a final decision made in Sacramento or in the federal government?

Yeah, on the state side, I would certainly say, yeah, it's a newly introduced bill.

So, this is the initial iteration, so absolutely we'll have an opportunity to weigh in and

we working through the team can put together a meeting with the author's office and certainly

have input.

We are in the beginning stages of that bill.

Great.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And then the, I think it's Neighbors, not Enemies Act.

Are you aware of this piece of legislation?

Does this have any possibility of moving forward in this government?

We are actually tracking on the progress in terms of following the introduction in the

House and then there's also a companion Senate bill as well.

This was, so first of all, really thanks to Victoria, Susan and Jordan for also your comments

as well and also to Councilmember Campos because I know you inquired about this.

So we are actually consulting with the Office of Racial and Social Equity and we took a

closer look at the bill and also in terms of our the proposed legislative program and we do believe

that the city can actually move forward with the support position okay any any timeline on when we

may bring that up for a discussion i think when we have we're we're always happy to engage with

the council in regularly scheduled meetings and also through one-on-one briefings as well

awesome i guess i'll follow up with you offline thank you so much

Thanks, Councilmember. Go to Councilmember Kameh.

Thank you so much for the presentation. And I kind of was curious in terms of as I looked at

the federal and state and, you know, we all have relationships with our local delegation.

I noticed that some members of Congress as well as some of our local assembly and senators

are not as active with us.

And I'm just curious as to is it because they haven't introduced legislation that we are

interested in or because I see that, you know, you mentioned the whole issue of local control

and of course we are tremendously impacted when local control is taken away, especially

some of these pieces of legislation that have passed.

And when you look at the voting record, right,

it isn't really sort of as consistent

with what you would imagine our local delegation to be.

So I'm just a little bit curious

as to what the approach is going to be.

You know, I see more legislation introduced

by Congressman Panetta than others.

And, you know, he's down in Monterey.

which is great because he, you know, works with us very well.

But, I mean, we have other representatives,

and I'm just wondering, is it us?

Is it them?

Do we have to work on it?

What do we have to do?

Because, you know, at the federal level,

I understand that it's an uphill battle.

I worry tremendously about FEMA.

You know, that thing is going, you know, downward.

And so, you know, I'm just curious as to,

as part of looking at the work that we have ahead of us, right?

I see that there are some who are working very, very well and close together,

and others, you know, like, what can we do?

And what are you going to do to be able to, you know, help us along with that?

Thank you for your comments, council member.

I think first and foremost really is having a good working relationship

based on communication, and then really always making sure that we're aware of each other's

interests and also what committee assignments that they have and how that intersects with

their interests and the city's interests, given what council is going to pass today

as our priorities.

And so some of it is opportunity, and we definitely, especially as new members of the staff, are

looking forward to looking for more opportunities to work with each member of our delegation

and then seeing where that intersection is.

Okay.

I think I'd like to thank the speakers who came out today.

And I wanted to ask, I know that HR 630 was just recently introduced,

and it is not a person of our delegation.

I was thinking perhaps this might be something one of our members of Congress would be interested in helping push.

And I just think that if it's not on your list of priorities, where does it fall?

So with respect to HR 630 in particular, actually when I took a look at the bill, I did notice

that representatives Lofgren and also representative Kana are co-sponsors.

And so we are going to take this opportunity to not only with an intent to submit a support

letter, but then also to actually meet with them through their district directors and

identify that and other priorities that we can jointly pursue together, and so making

sure that our federal delegation is more responsive to the city's needs.

We also recognize that the city, as the mayor mentioned, is hosting a number of sporting

events as well, and so we are going to, we do, we certainly would like for them to be

a part of these events, and also to work with us in advocating for the funding that we need

for public safety.

Thank you. That's really good news.

And I think that there's a good opportunity, since we have a new team, to be able to do that.

So thank you so much for that.

And I do suggest, especially on those votes that are not favorable to the city of San Jose,

that we continue to work with our local delegation.

because the impacts to us are tremendous.

And so anything that we can do to help that, let us know.

Thank you.

Thanks, Councilmember.

We'll go to Councilmember Torreos.

Thank you, Mayor.

And I just want to start by echoing everyone else's comments,

thanking staff for all of the work that went into this report

and this presentation and for really working with such a spirit

of collaboration with all of our offices throughout this process.

I wanted to just uplift one of the legislative priorities that was proposed, driving downtown revitalization and equitable investment.

Obviously something that's very important for us here in District 3, but also I know is a priority for many of us on City Council.

So good to see that in the list of proposed priorities.

And then in terms of sponsored legislation, very excited to hear the promising early progress on condo deposit reform,

so that we can hopefully encourage more affordable home ownership opportunities.

And then serving in my capacity on the Deeradon Station Steering Committee.

I'm also hopeful that we are able to get that CEQA exemption.

We received a briefing at our last meeting that we anticipate the CEQA process,

you know, taking multiple years and many millions of dollars.

So anything that we're able to do to streamline that process

and work more effectively here is something that I would be very excited to get behind.

And then finally, just uplifting some of the other potential legislation

when it comes around safe and affordable housing.

We heard in December with the cost of residential development study

update for 2025 the degree to which the high cost of construction is just really acting as a barrier

to building the housing that we need so particularly with assembly member wick's select committee on

housing construction innovation hopefully there will be multiple bills that the city can consider

supporting this session to really focus on safely and smartly bringing down construction costs and

getting more housing built so thank you oh and then i also just want to thank all of the people

who came out from japantown to uh speak on this item and echo comments from my colleagues that i

I would love to see the city come to a position of support on HR 630.

Thanks, council member. Council member Condollas.

No, thank you. I guess I just wanted to express my appreciation to our IGR team,

specifically with regards to the resiliency in dealing with both ever-changing priorities and

the budget challenges both in sacramento and dc so kudos to you all i had a question on the

2026 advocacy preview specifically with regards to the climate bond and and the the funding

opportunities uh there and i guess maybe steve or nick you can provide some insight towards

potential funding opportunities of what the legislature is looking at with regards to

dispersing of some of those dollars. I mean, it's been some time since the bond's passage,

and obviously the framework for programmatic details is always changing, but I guess what

can you anticipate with regards to some of those climate bond dollars going out the doors,

and specifically how does our city look like in prime to be able to tackle and take some of those dollars?

Yes, thank you for the question, council members.

So as a reminder, it was in 2024, $10 billion climate bond.

There was a 2025-26, there was a $3.2 billion tranche.

So some of the applications for the various programs are still there.

And I know the department, if I understand, has applied for funding in the various categories.

This year, the governor has proposed to dole out another $2 billion.

I know one of the areas in which we pay attention to a flood is obviously one of them.

So overall, it's down in terms of the overall amount to be available.

I think parks, Nick and I talked about that.

I think last year it was $460 million, and this year it's down $35 million.

But again, that $466 is still available for grants to be submitted.

So again, $2 billion this year, and we always look for opportunities to apply and support.

Because in addition to the department submitting, we try to figure out a way to work with you

and other council members and our legislators to put some political support, if you will,

around the applications.

But I don't know, Nick, if you had more to add to that climate problem.

So we anticipate a number of the NOFA applications to be available late spring, early summer,

kind of as a beginning.

so we'll be watching closely for those opportunities and work with your staff to get going on that.

Great. No, thank you.

I appreciate that, and I hope the administration, I guess, on our side is working proactively

to ensure that no dollar is left on the table with regards to these dollars

that the voters have passed and are available for us to be able to achieve these projects

given how constrained we are to be able to fund, selfishly speaking,

Lake Cunningham for example in the water quality project or water quality issues associated with

Lake Cunningham. I talk about this every year because if we're not proactive about it and if

we're not at the table Southern California will be and other areas that historically get dollars

especially these statewide tranches of dollars available and so I just don't want us to be

asleep at the wheel to be able to apply and be ready for some of these dollars and and thank

you for your work and look forward to the upcoming advocacy in the year ahead. Thanks.

I do have an additional comment for that. Given that every dollar that's out there is, you know,

hard fought, we are combing through some of the pots of money that are not earmarked for specific

things to see, for example, with some of our new regulatory requirements on the wastewater side

with needing to reduce nitrogen discharges into the bay.

There is some funding that we think could be used for that,

and we don't know what the scale of it would be,

but interestingly enough, we could have the legislature

helped to say that the intent of the money was for such projects.

And so we are looking for and combing through

every part of that bond to see if there's any monies,

because we know that every dollar counts.

Thanks, Councilmember.

I appreciate your point about project-specific advocacy and keeping it on the radar.

Let me turn to our Vice Mayor.

Thank you.

I'm very interested in H.R. 630, and you had mentioned that we can take a support position,

but I was going to add that to the friendly amendment, but actually, as a friendly amendment,

We're just accepting this report, and that would be more appropriate on the next item.

Is that correct?

Since the next one is the one where we're taking positions.

Is that right?

Item, I believe, Councilman Accomplice, you moved the report.

That was 3.5 first.

After that, we can take the—we'll see what the motion is.

Good enough.

Then I'll wait, and I'll make the motion at that point.

Thank you.

Great.

Okay.

Thank you all for your comments, questions.

Thank you to our IGR team, our partners at Crew Strategies.

Tony, let's vote on item 3.5.

Not seeing anything on my screen, are you?

I see 11-0.

I believe that's a unanimous vote.

Do you need to double-check that you have that?

Yeah, it says rejection on mine, but it says four on there, so I'll restart during the next item.

Did anyone intend to vote against?

Okay, I thought that was a unanimous vote.

Yeah, I'll just restart my computer while you guys do that.

Okay, well, I think we're about to tee up another motion here.

Let me come back to the vice mayor for a motion on item 3.6.

Great, thank you.

I'd like to move approval of item 3.6 and include support for H.R. 630, Neighbors Not Enemies,

and I want to say thank you to the members of the public who shouted out that issue

and how important it is that we take a position.

Second.

Great.

Thank you.

All right.

Tony, are we ready to vote again?

Let's do it.

It's working now.

Excellent.

Motion passes unanimously.

Great.

All right.

Well done.

Thank you again to our IGR team, Crew Strategies.

Appreciate you all.

Have a great afternoon.

we're on to our next item we have a time certain item that doesn't come up for another seven

minutes so we have some other items that do not have staff presentations so i believe we may be

able to get through a few of them so i'm going to go on to item 6.1 this is approval of a legal

services contract with hawkins de la field and wood to support the san jose santa clara regional

wastewater facility capital improvement program.

Tony, do we have public comment on item 6.1?

I have no cards on this item.

Okay.

Coming back to the council.

I'll move the staff record second.

Great.

All right.

So I don't see any other hands.

Let's vote on item 6.1.

Motion passes unanimously.

Thank you.

On item 6.2, this is approval of a design-build contract

with Jacobs Project Management Company

for the additional digester facility upgrade project

at the San Jose-Santa Clara Regional Wastewater Facility.

Do we have public comment?

I have no cards.

Great.

We have a motion from Councilman Cohen,

and I missed the second, but it's...

Tony, you can choose.

Okay.

I don't see any other hands.

Let's vote on item 6.2.

Motion passes unanimously.

Thank you.

On to item 6.3, this is actions related to the emergency repairs of Pond A18 Southern Gate structure located at the San Jose Santa Clara Regional Wastewater Facility.

Tony, do we have public comment?

No cards.

Coming back to the council.

Move approval.

Second.

Okay.

Not seeing any other hands.

Tony, let's vote.

Motion passes unanimously.

Okay.

Five minutes left.

We can go on to item 8.1.

Do we expect much discussion?

I'm just looking at colleagues.

Not a whole lot.

No long speeches from Council Member Mulcahy.

Okay.

We're on to item 8.1, Establishment of the Alameda Business Improvement District.

Tony, do we have public comment?

I have no cards.

Okay.

Coming back to the council.

Council Member Mulcahy, would you like to give a short speech?

Short being the operative word.

It's okay.

We can go.

I mean, I guess I have four minutes or less.

We can go a couple minutes over.

I'll do the best I can.

I just had a couple of questions on this.

So please.

I'm not sure who's here.

Well, if you start asking your question, I think we'll have Jen come on back.

We have staff here to answer questions, Councilmember.

So this is the BID.

I know we're doing Alamark as well.

or so we're creating a bid and if you look at the maps and you look at alameda business association

compared to the other bid's we have they're very linear right they sort of capture

the commercial specific district in this particular case with the alameda this is a broad swath so

It's trying to connect from the Alameda all the way up to Taylor Street, all the way over to Park Avenue.

And it's sort of encompassing a lot of rooftops, right?

So it's going to pick up all of the at-home businesses.

You know, and if you're an at-home business and you've got a business license that you're paying for,

you're now all of a sudden going to see another line item on there for the BID.

And I'm just wondering, you know, I know that staff is taking the lead from the community and from the business organization,

but it's more related to how much outreach has been done, more to that specific sector of the voting group.

So, good afternoon.

Jennifer Baker, Director of the Office of Economic Development and Cultural Affairs.

In addition to the mandatory notification, staff has fielded some questions about the

number and types of businesses impacted in the Alameda Business Improvement District

proposed specifically with related to home-based businesses.

And so we've conducted some preliminary analysis.

In this particular business improvement district,

there are proportionately more home-based businesses that are impacted.

And the response to the inquiries has been to acknowledge

that there is a special fee that can be applied

for companies that are home-based business

where there are not additional employees.

as well as artists and nonprofits that would recognize a lesser fee level for that community.

So in the interest of time, I do want to sort of jump to the end and say that I think it's going to be really important

that your staff continue to work with that business association to make sure that they're showing value.

I have a sense that this is going to pass and collections will begin,

And I think it's going to be really important that they show value because every year we're going to have to re-approve this, right?

So there's an opportunity that if they're not showing value, we're going to have all kinds of at-home business folks who are going to be coming and saying, you know, why am I paying $100?

In some cases, they might be $350 into this organization that I'm not really seeing benefit of.

When I, in Willow Glen, when we did the C bid, for example, many years ago, we actually

sunsetted the BID because I think some saw that as kind of a double dip to some of the

same resources and people that were contributing.

So I just want to, the business association is about to have their monthly meeting in

about five minutes.

So I want to make sure that we're reaching out, working with them to have them do that

to show value.

And then I think the last, oh, sorry.

Oh, I can quickly underline that for occasions where there have been social gatherings that have been conducted and outreach in conjunction with the ABA,

the traction has been with companies notwithstanding their specific domicile of the business.

So home-based businesses and business owners have been active in the conversation of the bid formation vis-a-vis ABA.

Which, and your staff has been great, and they've shared that with me,

but there are 542 of these at-home businesses in this area that have now been picked up into the bid.

So I know there's a number of folks we haven't yet heard from.

And then I think it would be, I wanted to ask,

is there anything being done to make sure that the businesses eligible for the reduced rates

are able to do so as easily as possible?

So if, you know, they can demonstrate that they should only qualify for the $100 a year,

$100 excuse me a year I just want to make sure we're being proactive around that absolutely we

can work on that process great all right thank you with that I'll move for approval

great thanks councilmember I don't see any other hands Tony let's vote

motion passes unanimously thank you all right and we are right at 3 30

So nice job, Councilman Mulcahy.

We're going to go back to item 3.7.

This is the adoption of City Council Policy 7-15,

prohibiting the use of city parking lots, vacant lots, and garages for civil immigration enforcement,

staging areas, processing locations, or operation bases.

I did not have a note for a staff presentation.

Is staff here to answer questions, or do we have a presentation?

Sure, go ahead, Angel.

I'll turn it over to you.

All right, all right.

Let's get settled in here.

Good afternoon.

Angel Rios, Deputy City Manager here with the City of San Jose.

And I'm joined here today by Sulmo Maciel from the Office of Racial and Social Equity,

Rosa Sogatatari from the City Attorney's Office,

and Matt Lesch from the Department of Public Works.

We're here to recommend adoption of a resolution

approving City Council Policy 7-15. This policy would prohibit the use of city-owned or city-controlled

parking lots, vacant lots, garages, and open spaces as staging areas, processing locations,

or operation bases for civil immigration enforcement. This action follows Council direction

issued in October 2025 in response to the Blue Memo submitted by Council Members Ortiz, Candelas, and Kamei,

which asked staff to identify properties that could be used in this way and to return with a policy that would restrict such activity.

The City Council direction stemmed from events in other parts of the country where publicly owned or controlled facilities

have been commandeered for civil immigration enforcement, an activity that is solely the responsibility of the federal government.

The unauthorized use of city resources, property, or personnel to facilitate civil immigration enforcement actions interferes with the city's authority over and its use of its own resources, property, and personnel.

The goal of this policy is to preserve community trust and ensure consistent, appropriate use of city property.

It also reflects San Jose's longstanding commitment to protecting the rights and safety of immigrant communities.

If adopted, the policy would provide clear implementation guidance, including standardized signage, access controls where appropriate, and reinforce existing reporting procedures for city staff.

If approved today, the administration will begin the implementation as outlined.

We're here to answer any questions you may have.

Thank you.

Appreciate the administration's work on this.

and thanks to my colleagues, council members,

Ortiz, Kamei, and Candelas for initiating this policy work.

Let me go to Tony first for public comment.

Okay, I have several cards.

I'm going to call about four to five names to begin.

When you hear your name, go ahead and line up.

If you are the first person to get up and reach the microphone,

you can go ahead and speak.

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

The other people can line up up this middle aisle.

and then I'll continue to call names as we go.

You'll have two minutes.

Your timer is above you.

So I'm going to start with Drew Siegler,

Kim Guptle,

Azazel Holmquist, I think,

Karen M., and Lori Ketcher.

Please come on down.

Good afternoon, Mayor, Vice Mayor and Council members. My name is Drew Siegler and I'm a

District 3 resident and a member of Surge Santa Clara County. I'm here in support of

this policy that they were just outlining. We need to ban federal immigration enforcement

from city property. San Jose is home to immigrant families who deserve to live and move through

our city without fear. DHS and ICE actions have caused trauma, injury, death, and proven to

organizations to be lawless. Immigration enforcement will make all of us less safe.

I urge you to pass this policy and make sure it's meaningfully enforced. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker.

Good afternoon, City Council. My name is Azazel Holmquist. Our country is supposed to be a diverse melting pot of many cultures and ethnicities and is supposed to be a safe place for those escaping injustice, poverty, oppression from other nations.

We are a sanctuary city, and we should honor this by not allowing ICE to operate on city property and other aspects of this policy.

Even ICE wearing masks should be forbidden.

We should honor our sanctuary city agreement and help set a tone standing against unethical practices for the rest of our nation.

As an American, I stand by our immigrants as our family, a population that I ask to please protect them and help set a tone.

that as an American we will not allow our immigrant friends to be forced into horrible facilities such as CECOT.

This is an unacceptable practice for the United States of America to participate in.

Bold local leadership.

The city of San Jose should not tolerate agents violating our residents' constitutional rights,

and we cannot allow the federal government to disregard our local authority.

in recent months we have observed across the country

the commandeering of locally owned facilities

for immigration enforcement.

An activity that is solely the responsibility

of the federal government,

local jurisdictions across the country

are refusing to let their own taxpayer-funded infrastructure

such as public parks and public school grounds

be used as staging grounds for immigration enforcement,

including Chicago and our own Santa Clara County.

San Mateo County and areas in Alameda

count. Sorry, sorry, I lost my points.

We cannot allow the federal government to disregard our local

sorry guys. Local jurisdictions across the county

are refusing to. Thank you guys. Thank you. Next

speaker. I'd also like to call down Cindy Bautista and Michelle Coleman to

come on down.

Good afternoon. My name is Kim Guptill, and I'm a happy resident of District 6.

For once, I'm not going to yell at you, so I'm going to just make a statement.

Last week's murder was not ISIS first.

Our friends and neighbors all over the country and right here in San Jose live in terror, and it's constant.

And this is not something we white people ever, have ever, ever in this country had to live with.

That's why we need to show up and speak up.

And Surge is here in solidarity with Passos from Sacred Heart, as well as all the immigrants in our city.

We can't permit this grotesque abuse of power and family-destroying kidnappings on or launched from city property.

It's simple, and you guys happily know that.

I also encourage the mayor and his team to work harder and faster on getting his contacts in philanthropy to donate more to protecting our immigrant siblings,

as he promised back on May 19th and then said in December that he's just, quote, getting started.

It's $170 billion to less than $2 million.

I don't think anybody likes those odds.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Council members, Mr. Mayor, Happy New Year.

I'm Karen, also from Showing Up for Racial Justice here in solidarity with PASOS and also part of the Rapid Response Network.

Like many of us, I have watched in horror as our federal government strips away rights, tears families apart, and surveils, detains, deports, and kills people just for a living.

I carry that fear and that grief with me, and that is why I'm actually really heartened by this proposal and this policy.

I am proud to be in a city this large and this diverse, rich in people, cultures, and ideas,

but the fear caused by federal actions such as ICE raids terrorizes the entire community,

and it drains us of our creativity, participation, and of our vitality.

The no staging areas policy is a clear, concrete way to protect the safety and dignity of everyone who lives here.

This is what real public safety looks like.

I urge you to pass the proposal and I stand with the whole community

because love and resilience matter as much as resistance.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Hi, Mayor and Council Members.

My name is Lori Katcher.

I'm a 23-year resident of District 6

and member of Showing Up for Racial Justice.

I'm also here in solidarity with Pasos Immigrant Rights Committee.

I also urge the city to pass this strong policy

that excludes federal immigration enforcement

from using our city's property

to execute their incredibly harmful agenda.

This federal regime is intentionally causing fear,

intimidation, harm, and death here in our country,

and it affects all of us.

We got to this place in our country

by not seeing ourselves in our neighbors.

We got to this place because white supremacy,

the false narrative that light and white are better

is in the air that we collectively breathe in this country.

It is our responsibility to dismantle this,

to see ourselves in every neighbor,

and to not let those in power divide us.

Our city must not let federal agents use local government property,

which is supported by our tax dollars to violate the constitutional rights and safety of our people.

We are only strong when we are united,

and we and our Bay Area neighbors must use every tool to proclaim that this is our place,

and city assets must not be weaponized against any resident in our city.

So I thank you so much for bringing this forward, item 3.7, and I urge the council to pass this memo.

Thank you so much.

Thank you. Next speaker.

Buenas tardes. My name is Cindy Bautista, and I live in District 1, and I work in District 3 as a Pasos community organizer at Secret Heart Community Service.

Today, I urge the City Council to pass a resolution and adapt a strong policy that keeps the federal immigration enforcement off our city property.

Our public land must be used not to separate families, not to kidnap, not to murder, not to violate our constitutional rights or to install fear in our neighborhoods.

Our tax-funded resources should be straining schools, hospitals, and safe communities, not to be weaponized against the very people that are meant to be served.

This is our home, my home.

Our city assets belong to the people of San Jose,

not to immigration enforcement that creates fear and separation.

I urge the council to protect our land, our values, and our families

by passing the resolution and also reinforce it for them to follow the city rules.

Thank you. Next speaker, Jeremy Beruce, come on down, and Ms. Rayan Mendoza.

Go ahead.

My name is Michelle Coleman.

I am a longtime resident of District 4 and a member of Surge Santa Clara County.

I asked the council to support the memorandum by council members Ortiz, Candelas, and Kamei.

Federal immigration agents are waging war on the American people.

Citizen and non-citizens alike, native-born and immigrants alike.

masked agents, literal secret police

are terrorizing American communities

abducting humans from the streets

using chemical weapons on children

brutalizing the people

and executing peaceful civilians

at point blank range

they show no restraint

they have no shame

the city and the people of San Jose

must send a strong signal that we stand against these unconstitutional and authoritarian attacks

on our community. The city must give no assistance, neither aid nor comfort to these terrorizing

jackboots. I urge you to pass the resolution.

Thank you. Next speaker.

Hello, council. My name is Janela Ardonias with Silicon Valley Council nonprofits and

I am also a District 1 resident.

I'm here to express our strong support

for the City Council policy prohibiting ICE

from using city property for enforcement activity.

We also want to thank Council Members Ortiz, Candelas, and Kamei

for crafting this council direction in October of last year.

Since then, the need for this policy has only multiplied.

What we have seen develop over the past two weeks

in Minneapolis, Portland, and across the country

Thank you.

immigrant communities and their allies in danger with no regard for our constitutional rights,

the law, or physical well-being. So it is up to us as a city, I'm sorry, and to you all as our city

leaders to keep San Jose residents safe. And this is the first step. So once again, we would like to

urge city council to approve this resolution and we reaffirm the council's and reaffirm the council's

commitment to protecting the rights and safety of immigrant communities. And thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

I'd also like to call Kimberly Wu, Kemi, and Lucila to come on down.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council.

Happy New Year to you all.

Jeremy Berrus with Amigos de Guadalupe, Center for Justice and Empowerment.

We're also part of IPEN.

These are not normal times, and we need courageous leaders to demonstrate their commitment to

community, not only in words, but in action through policy and resources. When the federal

government attacks the constitutional rights and the fundamentals of democracy, we are all under

threat, and we must stand with our most vulnerable neighbors. Thank you to the leadership of council

members Ortiz, Candelas, and Kamei. This policy is just another tool in our toolbox for protecting

our immigrant community. Our tax-funded public property belongs to the very people who live here,

not to the agents who are terrorizing them. I believe our tax dollars should be able to

strengthen schools, hospitals, and safe neighborhoods, not tear families apart.

I do not want any city-owned or city-controlled property, such as public parks, public school

grounds, and public parking lots, to be used as a staging ground for immigration enforcement

activity. I do not want to see a San Jose in which our streets are controlled by untrained

armed ICE agents. So I urge the city council to pass a strong ICE-free zone policy today

that prohibits the use of any city land to facilitate the staging, surveillance, arrest,

detentions, or deportations. Let's stand up and show our values as a city and protect our most

vulnerable in this moment. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker. Hello, Mayor Canso. My name is

Raina. I'm Good Amigos de Guadalupe, Center for Justice and Empowerment. This year I told you

something, but I was wrong. I mentioned there was going to be 10,000 agents, so it's not 10,000,

it's 12,000. So that's where it grew up, 20% more. So just to keep that in mind. Today I want to

speak about responsibility and the responsibility that we have as a city to protect our residents,

our values, and our rule of law. We talk so much here about the law. The city of San Jose should

not and will not tolerate any ICE agents violating the constitutional rights of our residents. We

also cannot allow federal government to disregard our local authority, okay, and misuse our resources

that belong to us, the community.

In recent months, like we have heard here before,

we have been seeing traveling examples through the whole county,

and they've been using the facilities, right?

Immigration, without disregard of anything.

Let's be clear.

Immigration enforcement should be the responsibility of the federal government,

not the local government, okay?

This is why local jurisdictions across the nation are stepping up, like Chicago, Santa Clara County, San Mateo County, and other counties like Alameda are refusing to allow public parks, schools, and other community spaces to be used for immigration enforcement.

And San Jose needs to do the same.

Here in San Jose, we are grateful for our leadership.

There are council members who have shown Ortiz, Candelas, and Camay, as well as a dedicated city staff.

Thank you for all the work you guys are doing.

Okay? We need to keep prioritizing safety, dignity, and constitutional rights, because the last time I checked, we still have them.

All of us, no matter where we come from.

The last time I checked this morning, the Constitution is still in place, and we need to enforce that.

Okay? Please.

Thank you. That's your time.

Next speaker, and I'd also like to call Emma to come on down.

Good afternoon, honorable council members.

I'm Kimberly Wu, and I serve as a community organizer for SIREN, and will also be a member of IPEN.

On behalf of SIREN, we respectfully urge the city of San Jose to pass this strong policy

that excludes federal immigration enforcement from using our city's property

to execute their harmful family separation agenda.

With the passage of H.R. 1, the federal administration will have $30 billion to upgrade their deportation fleets,

and they wasted no time in using this funding to increase their harmful operations by 120%.

This is a record number of 12,000 officers, as one of my fellow partners has said.

And unfortunately, the tragic and heartbreaking incidents of ICE's fatal shootings

of Minneapolis' mother, Renee Nicole Good, and Los Angeles' father, Keith Porter Jr.,

as well as the many deaths of our loved ones in ICE detention,

show the horrifying lengths of militarization and violence

that the federal immigration enforcement will commit without a second thought.

That is why we have no time to waste,

and why we must pass this crucial policy today.

Local jurisdictions across the country are refusing to let their own

taxpayer-funded infrastructure be used as staging grounds for immigration enforcement,

such as Chicago, our own Santa Clara County, San Mateo County, and Pinal.

And I want to say thank you to Councilmembers Ortiz, Candelas, and Kameh, and city staff for prioritizing the safety and constitutional rights of all our people, regardless of immigration status.

This is our community, and we must not let these violent, armed, and untrained federal agents exploit our tax-funded public property to violate the constitutional rights of our people and debilitate our neighborhoods.

Our tax-funded public property belongs to us, the people who live here, not to the agents who are terrorizing our families.

Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker.

Good afternoon, Council Akemi Flynn with IPEN, the Immigrant Protection and Empowerment Network,

which is a cross-sector, county-wide collaborative working in partnership with our very own city of San Jose.

I just have to say that my heart is pounding as I am moved by the speakers before me.

all of us I know have been feeling outrage, heartbreak,

overwhelm, and let us not lose the ability to feel that.

Let us not be numbed by the continuous violence

that we see being impacted in our communities across the country.

I want to thank you, the City Council of San Jose,

for your strong leadership in standing up in this policy

with Councilmember Ortiz, Campos, and Candelas, Apologies, and Kamei.

I know that at some stages we have said, some have thought,

oh, San Jose is special, the Bay Area is special, Silicon Valley is special.

You know, that's in some other places around the country.

Let us not be fooled.

We must be prepared for the worst while we continue to hope

and lift our community up for the best.

So I want to express deep appreciation for the leadership of this council

and our expectation that this will be a unanimous vote of approval,

our expectation that we will be coming back to you with more policies

to build more powerful protection for our community.

And I also want to deeply thank the city manager's office

and the city attorney's office for doing the hard work to bring this forward.

And especially the collaboration in this incident that we have seen,

in this situation, we have seen between the county and the city.

And city leadership is not only leading in these discussions, but also engaging cities across our county.

Both the administrative leadership and the elected leadership is challenging other cities to stand up courageously together.

One last appreciation is for the inclusion of signage for...

Thank you. That's your time. Next speaker.

Hello, Mayor and City Council. My name is Lucila Ortiz, and I'm here as part of Working Partnerships

USA, but also a part of IPAN. And I want to start by doing a round of thank you to the incredible

work that your staff is doing. I know that they're working tirelessly every day to ensure the safety

of our community and to uplift the core values of the city. And you're very lucky to have them

working with you, and we are very lucky to have them working for us. And so I want to start by

doing that, saying thank you. And on the topic in here, unfortunately, we are under attack. As a

Latina, as an immigrant, as a United States citizen, I am under attack from the federal

government. And in times like this, it's what caused local leaders like you to step up and do

something to protect our communities. Let's be clear about something. What is happening in our

communities is not immigration enforcement. What is happening is aggression, is violence,

and is murder that is happening out in the streets. And the city of San Jose must ensure

that you have nothing to do with these actions. The unlawfulness, the division, you know, and the

violation of constitutional rights must never be done on city property. So that's why it's really

critical that you're taking up the ordinance today. They would help you not only to send a

strong message to the community that you as local leaders are standing side by side with them and

that you will not let these actions happen to them, but it would also help to protect the city itself.

It will give you more ammunition to fight back against the federal government. And let's be

clear about something. Right now, when we're all under attack, we must fight back and use every

tool in the toolbox to do that. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker.

Good afternoon. My name is Emma. I'm here with Surge Santa Clara County, as well as in solidarity

with Pasos at Sacred Heart. As many have said, thank you, Council Members Ortiz, Condelas,

and Kamei, as well as the staff who worked on this policy. Everyone before me, I think, has said it

better than I could, but I think we all, hopefully we all in this room believe that our city resources

should be put to use for the people of San Jose, regardless of where we're born or where we come

from, and should never in any capacity be used to aid and abet agents who are here to tear our

families apart. Hopefully everyone in this room is in agreement on that point, and as folks have

already said up here on this stand, really, really hoping for a unanimous vote for ice-free zones

today and really hoping for many more examples of concrete action and leadership from the council

to come in defense of our immigrant communities. Thank you. Joy? And it's Joy Murrieta.

Hello, thank you for your patience and for hearing everyone today.

My name is Joy Marietta, and I'm a resident of San Jose and also the executive director for Kids in Common,

a data-driven nonprofit advocacy organization for youth in Santa Clara County.

I'm here today with IPEN to urge your strong support for Item 3.7.

This policy is vital for our youth and families, which over 60% of students in Santa Clara County belong to immigrant families.

And these families already face systemic barriers to health care, education, basic needs,

and challenges that are worsened by increased immigration enforcement and cuts to programs like Medi-Cal and CalFresh.

Aggressive tactics, as you know, have led to fear, trauma, family separation, and even illegal detentions of U.S. citizens,

destabilizing communities and harming children.

Immigrant families are essential to San Jose's economy and culture, contributing to technology, education, and enriching our region with diversity.

Protecting immigrant youth ensures that they can thrive, strengthening both their future and our community.

The urgency is clear.

The recent ICE shooting in Minneapolis and beyond has heightened security concerns around the Super Bowl and major events in our county, and they demand proactive measures.

So by adopting this policy, City Council can help ensure safety, stability, and opportunity for immigrant youth in San Jose.

Thank you again for your time and continued support of our city.

Back to Council.

Thank you. I want to thank all of our community leaders, everyone who spoke out on this important policy.

One more tool in the toolkit, as was mentioned.

Thank you again to Councilmembers Ortiz, Cami, and Candelas for bringing forward this recommended policy action.

I want to thank all of our community partners, especially Rapid Response Network and IPEN for your work,

and our city manager, Jennifer McGuire, and her team.

We heard from Angel Rios earlier, Solomon Maciel, Lydia Bustamante, Jennifer Shembrey, Chief Paul Joseph, and others,

and Matt Lesh and many others on the team

who have leaned in and really evaluated this policy

and how to best structure the ordinance.

I strongly support it,

similar to how SJPD doesn't enforce the tax code.

City resources should not be commandeered

for federal immigration enforcement operations.

and while we may not be able to interfere with or regulate immigration officials

and the enforcement of federal law in public spaces,

the city can protect its use of city assets for city business,

which is exactly what we're doing today.

And we're doing it for a number of reasons,

but particularly to build trust with our residents.

We want all San Jose residents to access and use city services.

We want all residents to know that they can safely come to their city to use the services we provide to work with SJPD to report and be witnesses to crime and all the many other vital services, essential services we provide.

Obviously, I have. I think we all share deep concerns about the way federal immigration enforcement is being carried out in our country right now.

Stopping people because of the color of their skin or the language they're speaking absolutely violates our Fourth Amendment rights against unlawful search and seizure and, frankly, our American sense of fairness.

and we don't want San Jose taxpayer-funded facilities or city resources to be used in supporting these unlawful actions.

As was mentioned, this policy is one of many tools in the toolbox.

We've passed restrictions on use of masks in enforcement actions.

We, of course, have our legal tools led by our city attorney and her team,

investments we've made in IPEN, Rapid Response Network, and other community

partners, and many more. So just again

want to thank my colleagues and our public speakers for pushing

for this very common sense policy. I look forward to supporting

it. And with that, I'll turn to Council Member Ortiz to say more.

All right. Thank you so much, Mayor.

I also want to thank staff for their tireless work on this

policy, I think, for the first city in the state of California to vote on a policy like this. And so

it's kind of hard when you don't have a blueprint and are essentially flying the plane while you're

building it. And so I just really want to elevate and appreciate the hard work of our team here

at the city of San Jose. You know, I speak today with a heavy heart and overflowing gratitude,

a heavy heart for the pain so many families are carrying, and deep gratitude that San Jose

is stepping up to advocate for every single resident in our community.

Before I begin, I want to honor the memory of Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three

who was recently killed by an ICE agent as she was attempting to document ICE operations

in her community.

And it reminds us why the work we do here in San Jose and the work of the Rapid Response Network matters so deeply.

This is something that I personally, in documenting the ICE activity, I personally have participated in,

members of my team have participated in, and it's horrifying to know that they could or I could have lost my life for exercising our very own rights.

Too often, people who come into contact with federal immigration enforcement feel fear instead of safety.

And that is something we have a responsibility to change.

I want to thank my colleagues and the many advocates who have come together to coalesce around this policy.

This is about defending and advocating for an entire community.

By prohibiting the usage of city-owned parking lots, garages, and open spaces for civil immigration enforcement staging, processing, or operations, we are sending a bold and unmistakable message.

City property exists to serve our residents, not to facilitate federal actions that undermine community trust or public safety.

This policy is thoughtful and carefully scoped.

It doesn't interfere with lawful criminal enforcement or lawful warrants,

but it does give our city staff clear direction, protect our public spaces,

and reinforce San Jose's commitment to being a city where people feel safe accessing their very own municipal services.

I do want to acknowledge that this policy has yet to be challenged in a court of law,

and there are questions about enforcing it.

That being said, just as we see the executive branch of our federal government expanding beyond its historical role to target our residents, so should we, in order to defend those we love and call our neighbors.

This vote will be a victory for dignity, for trust, and for public safety.

I'm proud to stand shoulder to shoulder alongside my council colleagues and the mayor,

as well as my colleagues in the Brown Act,

who stood beside us in supporting our immigrant community

every single time we've brought an item to this council.

And I hope we can continue in our efforts to ensure and advocate

for the safety of every resident in San Jose.

We've proven that when we act with courage,

compassion, and clarity of purpose, we can advocate and deliver real protections that

make a difference in everyday people's lives.

With that, I'd like to motion to approve today's staff memo.

Thank you.

Thanks, Councilmember.

Councilman Condollos?

Thank you, Mayor.

I do want to start off by thanking the advocates who are here and folks who took time out of

day to come stand in solidarity with our immigrant community.

You know, this is tough.

This is a very, very emotionally heavy issue.

But you know, I want to take a moment to thank my colleagues on this dais, specifically Councilmember

Ortiz and Kameh for helping bring this policy forward and to bring us to this moment.

out to Deputy City Manager Angel Rios, who's not only my sounding board on these issues,

but he's somebody who I confide in to de-stress about these troubling issues that are happening

nationwide and everybody in the team, Zulma, Rosa, and obviously Matt, but folks behind

the scenes, everybody in the administration working day in, day out, that's not here.

So I appreciate it sincerely.

You know, I've said it before, but it's worth repeating now more than ever that the city of San Jose is the safest city in the entire United States, undoubtedly because we are a welcoming city.

and you know with the passage of today's policy you know we take another up step a step of

uplifting our values of compassion of justice and and those are the values that make San Jose

great and and you know I will say you know for folks who are listening gracias a nuestra comunidad

that is present today.

And the city of San Jose is the safest city.

And it's the safest city because it's a city for everyone.

And with the passage of this law today,

we're taking another step in demonstrating

that our values based on compassion and justice

are what makes us great.

And thank you to my colleagues for listening, and thank you for your support of this policy

today.

Thanks, Councilmember.

Let's go to Councilmember Kameh.

Thank you so much.

So my compadres already took whatever I was going to say and have said it very, very well,

so I won't repeat.

I will just say thank you to the community, thank you to our staff, and thank you to my

colleagues.

I just want to say that I am so proud to be a San Josean.

I really, really am.

And, you know, any tool that we can add to the toolbox to help our community be safe

is certainly something that we need to do.

I did have a question on language accessibility, and I know that we're going to be posting

signs in different locations.

I was just wondering what the idea was in terms of ensuring that language was not going

to be a barrier, and I thought, oh, well, maybe you'll have a QR code or something or

some way of being able to ensure that, you know, the language issue is not going to be

a problem.

Thank you, Council Member.

Yeah, we'll use our traditional translated signage, even the idea of QR codes and things

like that.

So, yeah, the same will apply in this instance.

Okay.

Thank you so much, because I do know that that's also very important to make sure that people know what is being put up in terms of a sign, so that that's very clear.

Again, I want to thank my colleagues.

I'd like to thank the mayor and my two colleagues who helped bring this forward, Councilmember Ortiz and Candelas, on this issue.

So thank you so much.

Thanks so much, Councilmember, and we'll wrap with the face of the mayor.

Thank you. The situation over the last couple of weeks is heartbreaking as it's been over the last year or so.

This policy that we're setting today is so critical and important to show our community that we are not complicit in any way, shape, or form with ICE

and that we will stand in support of our immigrant community.

So I'm completely in support of this policy, and I truly am grateful to Councilmember Ortiz, Candelas, and Kame for bringing it forward, and to our city manager and staff for really jumping on it and making sure that we were able to adopt this so quickly.

I do have a clarifying question, though, and this relates to the properties that are involved in this.

The headline says staging areas, parking lots, vacant lots, and garages.

It doesn't say libraries.

It doesn't say community centers.

It doesn't say city hall.

is the, to clarify, this includes all city property and how, how this is, is this broad enough to include all city property, including the parks and things that I haven't mentioned?

So, Vice Mayor, thank you for that question.

That's an issue that we really had to work through.

We wanted to make sure that this policy, as we coordinated with the City Attorney's Office,

was going to give staff the latitude that we need in order to enforce this so that it's

a practical policy, not just a well-worded one.

With that in mind, the direction that we got was to prioritize the identification of city

home properties such as parking lots, garages, and open spaces that could be commandeered

for civil immigration enforcement. The key principle there is commandeered for civil

immigration enforcement, and we believe that those same principles apply to other city properties,

including community centers, parks, city hall, as an example. So it's written in a way that, yes,

we call these out as examples, but it still gives us the latitude and discretion to apply it

in a more broad sense. Okay. I'm satisfied with that. Thank you. It's important that all of our

facility, our city properties are included in this, and our parks are technically open spaces,

so I suppose they'd be included in that. Yeah, absolutely. In fact, one of the first things that

we did with Matt's team is identify the community centers and the libraries that, and the parking

lots that are adjacent to those facilities. So that kind of started as our baseline, and then we

kind of expanded from there. Great. I appreciate that and thank you for the clarification. And

finally, I want to thank all of the members of the public and advocates who are here speaking

on behalf of the immigrants and surge in particular for standing up and documenting activity that

is reprehensible. Thank you.

Thanks, Vice Mayor.

Councilor Campos.

Thank you. I just wanted to take a moment

to also express and share my gratitude for everyone who

came in to comment on this item for the work that you do

outside of these chambers in our communities,

standing up for those who are most vulnerable.

I know it's not easy, but I believe

wholeheartedly that you are making the right decision in being vocal about what it takes to

make sure that every person in our community feels safe and protected so thank you again for taking

the time today and for doing that great work outside of these chambers thanks council member

Councilman Doan.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you for all the speakers and staff and all the council members and the mayor.

We came together as a community.

We came together as friends and neighbors to address these issues

because it not only affects not only the Hispanic community,

it affects the Asian community tremendously as well.

When we united and organized, we can make a difference.

And I believe that we'll continue to stand up and fight for the right of our immigrants.

And I hope that the cloud above us will dissipate and we'll see some sunlight soon, somewhere in the future.

Thank you so much for doing what you're doing.

Thanks, Councilmember.

Okay.

I think we got everybody's comments.

Mayor, if I could just make one more.

I'd just like to acknowledge Lydia Bustamante from our team,

who is not in the box but has done an incredible amount of work

behind the scenes with a lot of this work.

So quick shout-out to Lydia Bustamante from our team.

Thanks, Celia.

Thank you for that.

That's great.

Okay.

Well, thank you all again for all your work on this.

Councilmember Ortiz, did you make the motion?

I'm trying to remember what you did.

Okay, great.

Tony, let's vote on the motion.

Council Member Ortiz.

Motion passes unanimously.

All right.

Thank you all.

We are on to, back to item 8.2 now,

which is the establishment of the Alum Rock,

Santa Clara Street Business Improvement District.

There is no staff report.

Tony, do we have public comment on item 8.2?

I have no cards for this.

Okay, coming back to the council.

Councilmember Ortiz.

Move for approval.

Great.

All right, not seeing any other hands.

Tony, let's vote.

Motion passes unanimously.

Great, thank you.

On to item 8.3.

This is the first substantial amendment to the fiscal year 2025-2026 annual action plan.

Do we have public comment?

No, not for this item.

Great.

Coming back to the council, we'll go to Councilmember Campos.

Thank you, Mayor.

I want to begin by thanking Director Sullivan, sharing my gratitude to you and to your team

for collaborating with Director Ristow and the Department of Transportation's traffic

safety team to secure pedestrian and traffic safety improvement projects through CDBG funds.

Considering the difficult environment that we are facing with federal funding, I am truly excited to

see that we were able to be creative with our block grant applications. These projects will

help make our streets safer and more welcoming, especially for our students walking to school,

families with small children who frequent Great Oaks Skate Park. So our office is grateful for

staff's partnership and their work to make South San Jose streets safe for all. Those are all my

comments. I just want to say thank you again and I will move to approve this item. Great. Thank you

both and we'll go to Council Member Ortiz. Thank you Mayor. Today's vote is an important one for

East San Jose and for how we as a city think about equitable investment. Approving the funding for

La Placita reflects a clear choice to invest where the need is greatest and where community

vision has already done the hard work. For years, residents, artists, and small business owners have

been organizing, planning, and advocating for spaces that reflect their culture and meet real

everyday needs. This investment helps the city finally meet that leadership with resources.

La Placita will serve as a hub for cultural expression, youth engagement, and small business

support while also improving access to healthy food and essential services. It is the kind of

space that strengthens neighborhoods not through displacement but through opportunity and belonging.

There's no question East San Jose should be a priority for this city. We are an economic engine,

our residents power the city's workforce, and our small businesses drive local commerce. Our culture

brings creativity, pride, and opportunity, and when East San Jose thrives, the city of San Jose thrives.

I just wanted to thank Eric Sullivan for his advocacy and his work in support of this.

Thank you.

Oh, sorry.

Thank you, Councilmember.

Great.

I don't see any other hands.

Tony, let's vote.

There we go.

Motion passes unanimously.

Great.

Thank you. All right. We're on to open forum, which is an opportunity for members of the community to speak on city business.

That was not on today's agenda. So if we have comment cards, we'll welcome folks up.

Tony, I have it looks like Melian and Alexander. Please come on down. All right.

Hi, my name is Melian. I am a member of District 9 and soon to be District 2. I also know some of you on the board, so hi, how are you doing?

I just have two things that I would like to bring up. Number one is the highway lights on Highway 87 and parts of 101.

They are off at night all the time, and especially with the really dense fog the past few months and the heavy rain that we get in December,

it's so dark and everyone turns their high beams on and they have the leds and you can't see

anything um so i don't know what's up with that so i just wanted to bring that to your attention

and the second one is um preserving our history in san jose there are a lot of buildings and um

places in san jose that have been very important to our history like the dole tower um the bank

of italy building down the street that are just sitting there empty and in ruins there is the

building off of St. James that used to be where CMT used to be back in the 70s that is sitting

completely decrepit and torn down and absolutely empty and it was really sad to see that we don't

really have too much local history and like historical buildings. I visited Pittsburgh

recently and they have some they've turned all their old historical buildings into like beautiful

gorgeous museums of their local history and like they put their courthouse in a castle like it's

crazy. So I would just love to see us put a little more emphasis into our history, especially with

the World Cup and everything coming up, and we're trying to get more people coming into the city

to see that we do have local pride in things that have been historical in the past. And I would also

like to give my idea of turning the Bank of Italy building into a San Jose history museum, since it's

sitting there empty and it's a gorgeous building no one uses it um so yeah thank you thank you next

speaker council members perfect so i want to apologize in advance this little off the cuff

here i got nothing written down this is just from my heart i should have joined them in 3.7 but here

i am right here um i just want to just talk about my concerns i know understand that we are having

the Super Bowl, coming to Santa Clara, and also we have the World Cup. That is, from what I believe,

is outside of your guys' jurisdiction. But I do want to bring up the idea or fact that we are

having public transportation. That is something that people and families and even tourists will

be using. I want to speak out and just, I know we voted for 3.7, but they didn't really mention

if public transportation will be off limits for ICE agents and such, as we see in Minneapolis.

We had a Hispanic lady just taken from the bus port, kidnapped, when she was trying to make her way to work.

So it is heartening, and I don't want any of our communities to suffer from anything like that.

So hopefully that brings you guys' attention.

And if you guys, for any reasons, do have jurisdiction over what's going on with the Super Bowl and such,

I have a concern for our community because we're going to be having a lot of tourists.

And again, we're going to have communities there celebrating and having a good time,

but also do not want ICE to impede and hopefully not use brutalizing force as we have seen in Monopolis and such.

So sorry. Thank you.

Thank you.

Back to council.

All right. Thank you, Tony. Thank you to our public speakers.

With that, we are adjourned. Have a great evening, everyone.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

make