All right, good afternoon, everyone.

I would like to call to order this meeting of the San Jose City Council for the afternoon of March 17th.

Tony, would you please call the roll?

Come?

Campos.

Present.

Tordillos.

Here.

Owen.

Ortiz.

Present.

Mulcakey.

Here.

Duan.

Here.

Kendallas.

Here.

Casey.

Foley.

Mayhem.

Here.

You have a quorum.

Great.

Thank you.

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

Pledge allegiance to the flag.

Thank you.

Today's invocation will be provided by David Mulvahill, Chief of Operations of the Nouveau Hospitality Group and downtown Stakeholder.

And Councilmember Tordillos will tell us more.

Thank you, Mayor.

Good afternoon, everyone, and happy St.

Patrick's Day.

Today we're especially lucky to have someone with true Irish roots joining us to deliver our invocation.

David Mulvahill moved to the Bay Area from Ireland in 2001 and now proudly calls downtown San Jose home.

Originally from the countryside of Tillamore.

Sorry if I'm butchering the pronunciation there.

Ireland, David often says that while San Jose is a big city, the warmth and hospitality of our downtown businesses and residents give it that same small town feeling he grew up with.

Many of you know David from O'Flaherty's Irish pub, where he began bartending over 15 years ago before becoming a partner in the business nine years ago.

Since then he has played a major role in shaping our downtown food and nightlife scene as a founder and partner of Nouveau Hospitality.

Through ventures like Five Points, Dr.

Funk, Hello Good Burger, Playback Coffee in the Press Room.

David has helped to make downtown San Jose a vibrant and welcoming place for both our residents and our visitors.

Thank you.

So that was my first introduction to the Bay Area.

And um this is the story of quite a few Irish emigrants that we don't hear about.

So you know, I started out on a construction site, not knowing what I was doing, bounced around from job to job.

I was an undocumented worker for 10 years.

So sometimes it takes a lot longer to get to the American dream than you think, but I feel like it builds your character.

I might as well give you a job.

So I started bartending and really found that um I loved uh people and working with people, uh, meeting new people, and I just felt a great sense of relief that um I'd actually found purpose in life.

And um I kept going with that.

Um I actually started doing yoga at the time.

Uh, when you're an undocumented worker, you know, you can have to start having some mental health issues when you're missing funerals, uh weddings, and missing your loved ones.

So I found uh yoga was a really good outlet for me.

And uh I don't know whether Rio Flathardy got wind of that or not, but um he offered to make me manager of a Flattery's Irish pub.

And at the time, you know, it was um you had to go away and be a yoga instructor.

You had to go away for three months.

And um I uh remember calling my mom in Ireland.

I said, hey, um what should I do here?

And she said, you can be a yoga instructor anytime you want.

And uh so I said, okay, Raya, let's do it.

And then of course, Ray got sick, and I was left uh looking after the bar with the help of the whole Flarity family, but they had their own career, so I felt like I was drawn to the wolves and not much experience in managing anything.

Uh I was barely figuring out how to manage myself at the time.

But anyway, we got it, we got it up and running.

We we figured it out and kept with it, and then you know, became a partner and then offered um, you know, you know, I got a group of investors together.

We did five points, and then we did um uh COVID hit, so I decided what the hell um I'm on a roll here, let's do Dr.

Funks and uh Hella Good Burger.

And um, kind of in the middle of that, I always talk back to about whether I should have been a yoga instructor or not.

And I was drinking quite heavily at the time, and I always said to myself, your health is your walt.

I said, What are you doing?

Like you you're you're being the stereotypical Irish bar owner drinking every night.

So five years ago, uh I decided to stop drinking, and then um that's kind of where I feel like I became really, really happy in hospitality and definitely found my way around 2013 as well.

I left out, I eventually got my green card and uh eventually got my citizenship, which uh I'm very honored to have.

But uh throughout the whole journey, a lot of people don't understand uh the emigrant story, especially um that's just a typical Irish emigrant story.

And there's obviously, I think San Jose is made up of 40 percent of the population is from outside of the country, and whether they're from Europe, Latin America, or Asia.

I think um uh most people have worked really hard to get them into position, to get themselves into position to be successful.

And um, through through everything, I feel like it builds character.

But the most important thing in San Jose is I never ever felt like an outsider.

Uh San Jose people, whether it's uh, you know, the people the customers coming into the bar, our local politicians, people working with City Hall, PD.

I mean, it's just such a such a great community.

Like, not once that I feel I felt like a celebrity, like you know, here, you know, you're walking around non-documented worker, meant to be keeping your head down, and people coming into the pub to say hello to you, or you know, it just it's just a phenomenal community, and we're so lucky uh to have the community we have, and uh I'm just honored to be part of it.

And this is one of the biggest honors of my life to be actually asked to speak here today in front of you guys.

So thank you.

I appreciate it.

Thank you, David.

That was beautifully said.

Loved hearing your story, your reflection today.

Great inspiration to start our meeting.

Thank you, Councilmember Tordillas for setting that up.

And we will move into our ceremonial items.

I believe we just have one today, Council members Condelas and uh Vicemor Foley, please join me at the podium.

We will recognize and proclaim March 21st as World Down Syndrome Day.

Thanks, I'm trusting.

All right, good afternoon, everyone, and happy St.

Patrick's Day.

Um, today, um, along with Vice Mayor uh Pam Foley and the City Council.

I'm uh proud to recognize March 21st as World Down Syndrome Day here in the city of San Jose.

Um this day is observed to advocate for the rights of individuals with down syndrome, a condition where a child is born with an extra 21st chromosome.

That is why uh the recognition falls on the 21st of March to signify the triplication of the 21st chromosome.

You may also notice many of us are wearing uh mismatched colorful socks.

I gotta point to my socks, you see.

Uh, as part of the Lots of Socks campaign, uh a symbol of the uniqueness of the individuals with Down syndrome, and it is meant to spark conversations about awareness, acceptance, and most importantly, inclusion.

Um in District 8, we have meaningful opportunities to celebrate and support.

We are fortunate to have the annual Baria Buddy Walk at Lake Cunningham Park alongside uh San Andres Regional Center, uh, who are also joined uh by today uh as well as many other partners.

I'd like to uh quickly highlight the work of uh the San Andres Regional Center, a community-based nonprofit.

And that's why I've invited Vice Mayor Pampoli, who uh does the annual disability uh awareness day here at City Hall.

Um, the regional center plays an important role in ensuring that individuals with uh development developmental disabilities have access to these services, resources, and support they need to live full and meaningful lives as members of our community.

As uh one of California's uh regional centers, it works to provide diagnostic services, infant education, specialized daycare, community living arrangements, and and much more.

Uh, thank you for all the work that you all do.

Uh, we are fortunate to count on support of some of these great great advocates, and uh now I have the honor of inviting you Lisa as Askernuga and Yakelin Campos, uh Councilmember Foley Stokaya to say a few words before the mayor presents the proclamation.

Come on up.

Um thank you.

Uh two sexy menela and cousin members.

Good afternoon.

My name is Julisa Ares Kurinada.

I am the first Sumba instructor who has Down syndrome.

We celebrate celebrate inclination, love, and diversity on syndrome, a wonder.

I am person who believe in opportunities, thank you, you guys when very one is included, very one shy.

Yes, my thank you.

Hi everyone.

My name is Jacqueline Campos, and I am the mother of Itzamaya Nunez.

And yes, she had an extra chromosome 21, and thank God she's very healthy.

And thank you, council members and mayor, for having the recognition of um acknowledgement of these uh individuals.

They all they also have a dreams and they have a purpose on life.

And I am so grateful, mainly for the mainstreaming and full inclusion in our community because they live in the community, they need to be inclusive in their community.

Um I face a little challenges when she started kindergarten.

Um it wasn't too common for a little kid with down syndrome to be in a regular mainstreaming class.

But when I explain them, they live in this community, they need to get to know their neighbors, they need to know to get everyone here.

So and thank you for the full inclusion.

My daughter went uh full included all the time.

Um I make her rights valid, and I thank all the parents that struggle to make these happen for us to enjoy and have this.

But I always told the teachers don't get discouraged, just keep focusing, and she will get social skills behavior, and a lot of stuff that you would it's priceless for me.

And thank God my daughter is very well behaving.

She has really good manners because of all this.

And I was at the hospital the sick the next day I gave birth to her.

I was getting in touch with San Andreas the next day.

Within seven days we're home, the social worker came and everyone, everything started.

So thank you for the services and recognition of these individuals that are just pure love.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you for the new great.

Fantastic.

You guys both like to hold this?

Well, this is going to take a picture of the phone.

Let's take a photo.

One, two, three.

One, two, three.

Awesome.

Thank you.

We've got to thank you guys for coming to the city hall.

Thank you.

All right.

We are moving on to orders of the day.

I'm not aware of any requests to change the agenda.

Do we have any?

Don't see any.

Okay.

We'll go on to the closed session report.

It's council met in closed session this morning to go over the items that were listed on the agenda.

With the exception of section B, um, the conference with the labor negotiators, items one, two, three, four, and five, and six, seven.

We're all taken off calendar, we're not heard.

There's nothing else to report at this time.

Thank you, Susanna.

All right.

Next is the consent calendar.

Are there any items council would like to pull from consent?

Okay.

Seeing none.

Do we have a motion to approve the consent calendar?

No vote approval.

Second.

Great.

Thank you.

Tony, do we have public comment on consent?

I have no cards for this item.

All right, let's vote.

Motion passes unanimously with Cohen absent.

Okay.

Thank you.

We are on to, and I'm sorry, Councilman Wilkehew, was that on consent?

Did I miss you?

I have your hand up.

Oh, sorry.

No, no, it's okay.

Okay.

Um, moving on to report of the city manager.

Uh thank you, Mayor.

I do not have a report today.

Okay.

Thank you.

Moving right along.

We're on to item 3.4 child care policy opportunities status report.

We have a staff presentation.

So we'll jump into that when staff is ready.

Good afternoon.

I'm Emily Lamp, Director of the Office of Administration Policy and Intergovernmental Relations, and we're here to present to you on child care.

Before we dive in, I'll briefly review what brings us here today.

On September 30th of last year, we came to you with our proposed focused area framework.

At that meeting, there were discussions of potentially adding a problem area related to child care to one of our focus areas.

In response, staff offered that changes to focus area scope are best accomplished through the budget process, but indicated that it would be possible to bring forward a high-level policy re overview on child care to NSE to provide context on the issue.

The City Council directed staff to return with a report to NSE in February of 2026.

Staff delivered that report at the February 12th, 2026 NSE meeting.

The committee then voted to cross-reference the report to City Council for March 17th, which brings us here today.

I'll note that during the NSC committee discussion, there were requests to conduct some additional research and bring it to this meeting.

So with that, I'll turn it over to Peter Hamilton on our team to go through the presentation, including the additional research in response to the committee's request.

Good afternoon.

Peter Hamilton, assistant to the city manager in the city manager's office.

So this report is really just a very high-level overview.

So it doesn't go into great depth, but the point is just to provide some context on the child care issue.

To that end, we did a very brief survey of other what other jurisdictions in the United States are doing.

And this is the kind of the information we presented to the committee.

California in this school year implementing a universal transitional kindergarten program for four-year-olds.

San Francisco in 2018 passed a local tax measure that provides almost 200 million a year for child care programs and allowing subsidy subsidized child care up to 150% of area median income for San Francisco residents.

New Mexico announced last year that they were intending to implement fully subsidized child care for all residents, primarily relying on oil and gas tax revenue to the tune of uh several hundred million dollars.

An interesting program in Michigan where the state employers and employees each uh can share one third of child care costs.

Uh but to be eligible, an employee has to have an uh participating employer and has to meet certain income thresholds.

So when we presented this to the committee, uh there were questions, you know, like a little bit more context about what other local jurisdictions are doing on the issue of child care.

So did a little bit more research on that uh for this presentation.

This is looking at large cities in California, other than uh San Jose and San Francisco.

Uh so Los Angeles uh during the pandemic initiated a licensed child care program where they planned for 10 licensed child care centers, uh, but it was funded with one-time money, which is now uh exhausted and they're transitioning those to other operators.

Uh San Diego established an Office of Child and Youth Success to implement their child and youth strategic plan.

One of the goals in that plan is to identify funding sources for child care subsidies, but I don't believe San Francisco San Diego is actually done that yet.

It's more a policy goal.

Uh Sacramento operates a number of workforce development programs for child care workers in Long Beach collaborated with a number of other agencies to form a nonprofit in 2017 that provides resources to both families and child care providers.

So note here that these these peer cities we don't see like a large local funding measure like we saw in San Francisco.

There are some smaller cities in California that have done local funding.

Santa Cruz in 2021 devoted about 20% of their cannabis tax to early care and education activities.

Oakland in 2018 2018 passed a local parcel tax.

Um but in this next slide really tried to get at that issue nationwide.

Where do we see other local jurisdictions, whether a city or county generating local revenue?

So we have a real mix here.

Uh voters in Seattle passed a measure in 2018 based on property tax, Multanoma County in 2020, an income tax.

Uh, and then the rest of the cities are could kind of combined jurisdictions like San Francisco, um, also uh Denver, New York, and Philadelphia also in various ways providing uh local funding uh for subsidized child care.

Uh so that's just a little little extra context for the committee questions.

So uh the next part here is just looking at what are kind of some typical child, what categories of activity for local agencies on the issue of child care and what is San Jose doing currently.

Uh so one um one area that many cities participate in is provision of child care at city facilities.

And this is a list of programs run through our Parks Recreation and Neighborhood Service Department that currently meet some child care needs, uh, notably San Jose Recreation Preschool for three to five-year-olds, it's three hours a day, four days a week, and uh last year served about 211 participants.

And the rest of them are you know after school or meeting, you know, providing child care for breaks in the school calendar.

So important to note here this is not licensed child care.

There's a kind of exception in state law for public agencies that provide recreational programs that do not have to be licensed under state law to provide child care, uh, but they are operate under certain restrictions, such as limited hours per week.

Um providing licensed child care would be um come with substantially substantial obligations, particularly for facilities as described in the staff report and uh would require some some investment to bring uh facilities up to uh state licensing criteria if the city wanted to do licensed child care.

Uh uh subsidies.

Uh the San Jose currently provides uh a little over a million dollars in subsidies for its various recreation programs that serve a child care need.

Um, this San Francisco provides, you know, as I mentioned, really very substantial subsidies.

So this is a kind of an area where you know the effort can vary really considerably based on uh based on available resources.

Uh funding for co-location and affordable housing is part of the 2223 budget.

The council allocated $900,000 to help fund child care facilities in ground floor retail space with city funded affordable housing developments.

Uh to date, one project has been completed and additional funding uh remains for additional projects.

Uh the zoning code regulates where child care facilities can be located.

Currently, daycare centers are allowed in most zoning districts with a special use permit, uh, which is approved at a planning director's hearing and appealable to the planning commission.

Um currently um uh child care centers co-located with schools or religious assembly uses are exempt uh from needing an SUP as our daycare homes.

Uh important to note that assembly bill 752 now requires us to exempt uh child care facilities co-located with multiple um multifamily housing.

So planning staff is currently working to bring forward the zoning code amendment to comply with that that new state law.

Uh training in business development.

So this is um training for providers or helping uh individuals who own businesses uh be successful at operating a child care business.

So the library operates the family uh friends, families, and neighbors network program, which helps individuals such as grandparents, neighbors, babysitters who provide child care and provides uh training and support for them.

Important to note that that uh program is slated to end uh at the end of this fiscal year.

And then the boost program, which is a grant of uh slightly over a million dollars uh out of CG CDBG funds administered by the housing department to a nonprofit called Upwards to provide business development support to um uh owners of family child care uh homes uh and served, I believe 211 uh businesses last year.

Uh the children use services master plan has an intersection with child care.

So implementation of the uh demonstration sites, the no wrong door uh approach to those sites aims to connect um residents who may need child care support with the services that may be available to them.

And it's also an opportunity for coordination in 2026.

PRNS staff convened an internal working group uh to um align um you know staff across the city with the um no wrong door approach and provide training uh to that end and also just a brief note of other agencies in the county that are working on these issues.

Office of children and families policy is an office at the county that's currently working on a um child care blueprint to um examine how um vulnerable populations and intersect with county services can have their child care uh needs met more effectively.

Uh the Santa Clara County Office of Education, which um helps connect families who need child care with available services and also provide uh training and support for child care providers and similarly uh first five, which is piloted uh number of programs that provide uh support for child care providers.

Uh and that's the end of our presentation.

Great.

Thank you for the report.

We appreciate it.

Tony, do we have public comment?

Um, yes, I have several cards.

Are we at one minute or two?

Start at one minute today given the high volume of comments expected, and then if we have to, we'll we'll take it down to 45 seconds later.

But let's stay at a minute for now.

Thank you.

Um, when I call your name, um please you can come down in no particular order.

First person, the microphone, just approach the microphone and start speaking.

The others line up behind.

I have Veronica.

I have Veronica, um, it looks like Alicia Zamudio, Alydia, and Amelda come on down.

And I will say that they all of these people put children and youth services master plan, but they may be talking about it for the budget message.

I'm gonna call all of the names.

If this is not the item you wanted to talk on, that's fine, we'll move on.

We'll call you again for 3.4.3.

Alma, Maria, Brenda, and Destiny.

Okay, I'm gonna assume you guys all want to speak on 3.3, and we'll call you back then.

Thank you back to council.

Okay, yeah, I'm seeing some heads nod, so I think that's right.

Okay, great.

Excellent.

Okay, coming back to the council.

We have a number of hands.

Let's see.

Oh, we have a couple.

We'll go to Councilmember Compos.

Thank you, Mayor.

I want to begin by thanking staff.

Uh, thank you to Peter Hamilton, Emily Lamb, and Angel Rios for this report and presentation.

I also want to highlight the work of so many staff across the many city departments that provide valuable services and support for families and children in our community.

This includes direct services provided by PRNS staff who support the San Jose Recreational Preschool, the recreation of city kids or rock after school program, Camp San Jose, and similar programs that allow parents and guardians to work knowing that their children are safe and nurtured.

This also includes the San Jose Public Library staff who support the extremely successful friends, family, and neighbors, neighbors, or FFN network program, in addition to operating library programming.

The return on investment of this program is very high since FFNs provide low-cost and accessible child care to parents and guardians who otherwise would not be able to contribute to our economy, finish their education, or secure credentialing.

However, the report also reveals the indirect and important work provided by other city departments to improve child care access in our community.

Because too often we forget that child care providers are also small business operators.

Currently, the city of San Jose has around 500 to a thousand family child care home providers.

Only 10% of those family child care home providers in our city are uh enrolled at maximum capacity.

If you all didn't know how our child care operators are paid, it's by attendance, not enrollment.

So first they need to have fully enrolled um businesses so that they can have that maximum uh income.

And what we're seeing in San Jose is that they only have 10% of what is needed to really make a living in our city.

On average, our family child care home providers are earning 38,000 a year.

That means over 66% of our providers are struggling to make basic to meet basic needs, such as food, housing, and health care.

The city of San Jose also has a 39% capacity gap for families who need access to child care.

What this means is that one in three families with a child care voucher have no place to access child care in our city.

These are parents who could otherwise participate in the workforce.

Planning, building, and code enforcement staff assist these small businesses who must comply with local regulations in our zoning ordinance and in council policy 614 guidelines for child daycare.

Critically, state laws override our land use regulations governing child care operators and require regular updates to our codes.

PBCE staff also work on environmental review that child care operators are subject to.

Regular updates can reduce the regulatory burden experienced by these small businesses.

Housing department and library staff collaborated to administer a grant program that brought child care co-located with affordable housing to our community.

Department of Staff, uh Department of Finance staff carefully enforce Senate Bill 234 that ensures businesses operating a family child care home are not improperly paying business fees and business taxes.

And this memo and presentation elevate work that often is taken for granted and sometimes invisible to us.

What I hope to convey is that the city plays a major role in child care.

We are the land use authority that determines where and how child care can operate.

We impose and collect taxes and fees that affect the economic viability of child care as a business when margins are razor thin.

And we even provide direct services and recognition of the reality that child care is often neither affordable nor accessible.

Child care is crucial for San Jose's economic infrastructure and provides a stable foundation for San Jose to thrive as a business friendly city.

Because when families lack access to affordable child care, working parents are forced to arrive late to work or leave early.

They forego promotions, they postpone the pursuit of higher education or work training programs, and sometimes they leave the workforce altogether.

I know we have many parents on this council and on this day is today, and I'd like to you to reflect on what kind of support you and your family received when you were raising your young children that allowed you to be where you are today.

I appreciate my colleagues on the neighborhood services and education committee for cross-referencing this item for the full city council to review, and I move to accept the report, and I look forward to continuing the discussion during the budget message approval later today.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Let's go to Councilmember Casey.

Thank you, Mayor.

I want to thank Councilmember Campos for her passion in this area and continue to push this topic.

It can really hit you in the pocket book and make things difficult.

My concern, and I think we should do everything we can as a city to encourage the marketplace and pull whatever levels we can in order to create a robust child care market.

I'm concerned though with Mission Creep.

And we showed San Francisco as an example and the idea that at some point we're gonna use some taxing mechanism as a funding mechanism to pursue an opportunity to create child care from the city perspective.

And we live in a regional workforce area.

The problem I have is if we do find a funding mechanism, and I don't need to go into that, I'm not a big tax guy, but putting that aside for a second, just a practical matter.

If San Jose provides child care, child care, we have most of our workers are working in Santa Clara, Sunnyville, and these different areas.

So effectively, we're gonna be subsidizing other companies in other cities, their workforce through child care mechanisms that we fund.

And it's only going to exacerbate the job to housing imbalance that we have here today.

So I'm not sure how we would practically if we did, and this is again assuming hypothetically we're gonna move toward the mission creep is gonna happen, we're gonna move towards creating a funding mechanism and providing child care as a city.

This is a regional problem, and it's a regional problem that should be addressed on a county, state, and federal level.

So I would just caution us.

Uh, my concern would be in terms of practical application of this.

We're gonna provide daycare effectively for companies that are outside of San Jose and subsidize their workforce's child care, and that's that's just a concern of mine uh moving down the line.

But I I appreciate your passion, and I do think it's a serious concern, and one that we should be addressing, but we should be creating a marketplace here in San Jose, pulling all the levers we can to really support folks that are in this industry.

Thank you.

All right, thank you.

Appreciate the dialogue.

Let's go to Councilmember Kameh next.

Thank you.

Um, I'd like to also thank Councilmember Campos uh for bringing this forward.

Uh, you know, this is uh this is a topic that is not just gonna be for today or tomorrow or the next year.

I think this is something that we as a community really need to uh take in.

Uh many of us who have been in education know of the declining enrollment and the shift, even though it was good to be able to introduce TK in our system, it pulled all of the really good child care workers who were able to make more money, and it was a good thing to be able to make more money, but it's harder from zero to four uh to be able to have the the uh the uh workforce to be able to do um the uh important work of when they're really, really young.

And of course, the ratio to to um uh to each teacher is is um is different when you have the younger ages.

So I think that um you know we we should keep this in mind.

We know that uh you know, a couple of years ago uh there were studies done that uh really emphasized that child care was now the number one issue for many workers and companies, that it was no longer health care, but child care that was really taking over.

And um I think that we should keep that in mind.

I know that we're in a very difficult budget crunch right now, but I think that that that is something that, in terms of trying to even attract talent to our workforce.

I will say that when I was at the uh Valley Water, um, we actually provided, we had a facility where we provided affordable child care for our employees.

It wasn't free, but it was very reduced in terms of what it would uh charge for uh child care, and it was right there next to Valley Waters headquarters.

Uh it was something that everyone thought, oh, you can't do it, you can't do it.

Yes, you can do it.

And it was a tremendous benefits for those moms and dads who worked at Valley Water right there on Almadone Expressway.

So I think that uh even if it's uh small steps, I think that it also is a great way to provide uh tremendous amenity to uh working families.

So um I think that um in the future we should keep this in mind as something that um we're not looking for mission creep or anything like that, uh, but I think that there are many who are very interested in what can be done, especially when you look at how expensive child care is becoming.

So thank you, Councilmember Campos.

Thank you, Council.

Let's go to Council Tordillos.

Thank you.

I wanted to start by also just expressing my thanks to Councilmember Campos for her leadership here.

I was struck uh by one of the comments from Councilmember Casey about you know any local, locally driven child care policy does have the potential to kind of disproportionately benefit employers outside of the city.

I think that that is definitely true.

Uh but I would note that the families that are struggling with child care costs are largely people who are living in our communities here in San Jose.

So I think it's about finding that balance.

And to uh Councilmember Kamei's points, I think if we are able to have some movement here and helping to support our working families with child care costs, that could actually make San Jose a more attractive place for new companies to set up shop and generate those jobs that we want to see locally.

Uh but to Councilmember Casey's point, I do think that this is a regional problem.

I think as we move forward would make sense to see if this is something that makes more sense to do as a city or as a county, uh, given that we know that the impacts extend far beyond San Jose.

So thank you.

Thanks, Council.

We'll go to Councilmember Ortiz.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, I want to thank my colleagues for their comments.

Thank you, Councilmember uh Campos for elevating this very important cause.

Um, when I was on the Santa Clara County Board of Education representing uh San Jose, also uh back then it also represents my trustee represents District 7 and it would be downtown.

Um I saw just how important it was to invest in early childhood education and how by supporting youth we're really meeting um a variety of goals and not just education, but um by investing in youth you're supporting public safety by investing in youth you are um supporting a uh a future competent workforce to go uh uh generate a a strong uh economy.

Um not to mention how we saw during COVID-19 um the disproportionate impact uh to women in the workforce, uh a lack of child care uh caused for our our community.

I could also you know see my colleagues' perspectives on um on this being a regional issue, um and I think we could have an approach of yes and yes, it's a regional issue, yes, the county um needs to play a leadership role, but the city can support as well.

Um and so I I look forward to this conversation and um I I support um the contents of of the report.

Thank you.

Thanks, Councilmember uh Councilmember Campos.

I just want to appreciate all my colleagues for their their comments, um, their interest in this topic.

Um really appreciate Councilmember Kameh uh bringing up the affordability component because we can't have this conversation and not talk about affordability when child care is the second highest expense in a family's budget.

And we should also not forget that even though they can't vote, children are still our constituents.

And so the idea that the responsibility is for the county or the state only, uh, as Councilmember Ortiz said, this is not an either uh or conversation, this is an and.

How can the city be a stronger partner to our children, our youth, the the partners and the agencies that serve them because we do not operate in silos as government agencies, we complement one another, we work together.

And the U.S.

Chamber of Com Commerce uh foundation has always seen child care as a two-generation workforce issue, essential to support the workforce of today and vital to develop our workforce of tomorrow.

So given that we have so many uh council members who were school board uh trustees before this, you should understand that third grade uh reading level milestone is a huge marker and indicator for future success.

And when children have access to child care and early learning experience, it not only supports their parents, but it supports them, our children, in being prepared for kindergarten on day one.

And if they are not ready on day one, it is a sprint to catch up to that third grade uh reading level milestone, and that's why as a city it we should be even more inclined to make sure that we are setting up not just our current but our future workforce for success.

And so I I'd just like to again thank my colleagues for their interest and their comments on this topic.

Thanks, Councilmember.

Councilmember Duane.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Council Councilmember Compose for putting this to attention of another community.

I appreciate um Councilmember Casey point of it's a regional problem.

But I would believe this.

We can be the leader in this region.

We can start and then we can adjust, but if we don't do anything, we're still exactly where we started.

We never start.

And so I think it's extremely important that the preschool allow our children to be on point when they go to K1 through eight.

In order to create the intelligence that we need right here in the what you call the capital of Silicon Valley.

And being a parent of three kids, trust me, I I understand the struggle of finding child care, getting affordable child care.

And then having your child in a place where you feel safe.

They feel safe.

You feel safe.

Therefore, the family unit can come together at night as one.

And I think it's important that we start now, not later.

And um, I will be supporting.

Thank you.

Thanks, Councilmember.

I'll just add my thanks to Councilmember Campos for uh her strong advocacy for a uh service that uh certainly foundational.

Appreciate all my colleagues' comments.

Uh good to hear the diversity of viewpoints and the um respectful dialogue.

Uh certainly is uh the case that accessible, affordable, high-quality child care is foundational for healthy families and a healthy economy.

I think we'll have a lot of discussion over the coming years about the city's role in supporting that ecosystem and doing what we can to make sure that it is available, that child care that is accessible, affordable, and high quality is available to families here because we know how important it is.

Uh challenging, of course, in this budget environment and with all the other core services that the city uh is relied upon uh to provide, but an important conversation, and one that I know we're going to continue.

So thank you.

Tony, let's vote on the motion to accept the staff report motion passes unanimous unanimously with all present.

Great, thank you.

Okay.

We are on to land use.

A couple of items.

We will start with item 10 point two, which um is the amendment to Title 20 to add Senate Bill 79 Industrial Ordinance, and then we have item 10.3 analysis on Senate Bill 79, Assembly Bill 130, and historic resources and policy recommendations.

So we will have a joint presentation on items 10.2 and 10.3, and we will hear them at the same time, including the public comment on both items, but we will vote on the items separately.

And we do have a staff presentation.

So, Chris, when you and the team are ready, go ahead and jump in.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh Chris Burton, director of planning building code enforcement.

I'm joined today by Meneer Sand here, the deputy director for planning, Jared Ferguson, Principal Planet and uh Citywide Planning Team and Dana Peak, our historic preservation officer.

Um so yes, as you mentioned, we'll be giving you a joint presentation on items 10.2 and 10.3, um, which are related to the city's implementation on Senate Bill 79.

We've been busy since we saw you last earlier in the year, uh, working a way to establish the local framework uh that will exempt qualifying industrial hubs uh throughout the city to preserve our key employment lands while remaining compliant with state law.

And then 10.3 uh provides the requested follow-up analysis on how SB 79, when used in conjunction with Assembly Bill 130, affects the city's historic resources and provides some recommendations that we believe uh will help provide clarity uh around those issues.

Um and so with that, I'm gonna hand it to Jared to lead off the presentation.

All right.

Thanks, Chris.

Jared Ferguson, uh principal planner.

Um first, just a quick background.

I I know we um spent a lot of time talking about SB 79 in January, but just as a refresher, um so Senate Bill 79 was signed on October 10th, um, takes effect July 1st of this year.

Um it streamlines housing development and makes housing an allowed use on any site currently zoned for residential mixed use or commercial within one half mile of qualifying transit stops.

It also sets maximum heights and densities that this that a city can't preclude a development from achieving.

And I'll go through um what those qualifying transit stops are in a minute.

So, first, just a recap from our January 27th City Council meeting.

The city council direction from that meeting first was one to designate qualifying industrial areas identified in the general plan as employment areas as industrial employment hubs and exempting residential or not sorry, non-residential sites within those areas from the provisions of SB 79.

To return in the future with an ordinance exempting sites with no walking path less than one mile from the location of the TOD stops after further analysis.

Additionally, to come back with future action to add minimum densities in the downtown core and to explore minimum densities in other growth areas based on further analysis.

And then lastly, to return with analysis on the adequacy of CEQA to protect historic resources under SB 79, given the new CEQA exemption created under AB 130 last year.

So we're here today, as Chris mentioned, to talk to you about one and four within that direction here.

So getting back into the recap and background of SB 79, uh it creates two tiers of transit-oriented development stops that qualify under the uh SB 79.

The first tier, tier one, is applicable in San Jose to our electrified Caltrain stations, our current BART stations, and our future BART stations.

So we have 10 total uh tier one stations in or adjacent to San Jose that can be classified as tier one.

And then tier two stations are all of our light rail stations, both uh planned and current stations, as well as bus rapid transit with dedicated lanes.

So we have a total of 46 in or adjacent to San Jose and Tier 2.

Um this is our our draft map to the right there, um denoting the two tiers of stations.

Um the purple is the tier one stations, and then the blue, the light blue are the tier two stations.

So as I mentioned, um SB 79 creates standards, both height and density, um, that this that the city can't preclude a development from achieving.

Um, and it sets those standards within each tier, and then there are three layers to those tiers.

So the highest density is afforded to those parcels adjacent to directly adjacent to the TOD stop, so within 200 feet of the pedestrian access point, um, and then uh density decreases as you get into the quarter mile radius and then decreases again as you're into the half mile radius.

So, as we covered in that January 27th meeting, there are a number of ways in which cities can exempt either parcels or areas from the provisions of SB 79.

One of those is the industrial employment hub exclusion.

So this is a very specific uh exclusion, um, one that the city advocated for, including um, so that it was able to exempt its key employment areas.

Um so this applies to uh areas of at least 250 acres uh that are contiguous employment lands that were defined in a general plan prior to January 1st, 2025.

And then all parcels within those areas must be primarily dedicated to industrial sites.

Or industrial use, sorry.

Uh in San Jose, we have five of those areas.

So North San Jose, Berriessa International Business Park, Lundy Milpedis Bart, East Gish, Mayberry, Monterey Business Corridor, Old Edenville, and Old Edenville Transit Employment Center.

So these are all employment lands areas that were dedicated that were dedicated in our original or designated, excuse me, in our original general plan in 2011.

So meeting all meeting that standard in terms of time.

So all of these areas exceed well exceed the 250 acres and all have substantial amounts of land designated to industrial uses in the general plan.

So with the lowest being 70%, but most well above that.

So kind of going through the areas in more detail, we've created these detailed maps.

So this map contains the first three hubs that were designating.

The first North San Jose, the largest.

You'll note here as well on this map, we've noted which sites have residential overlays or have an underlying designation that allow for residential uses.

So those sites are not going to be exempt from SB 79, but all other sites within the employment area, employment, sorry, industrial employment hub would be excluded from the provisions of SB 79.

So this map shows the three areas, North San Jose, Berriessa Industrial Business Park, Lundy Melpedispart, to the Northeast, and then to the southeast East Gish Mayberry.

And the circles there are showing you the half-mile buffers from the stations.

So moving south, the next area is our Monterey Business Corridor.

This has several parcels adjacent to the Tamian station area.

You can see the buffers there.

And then our last hub, the old Edenville, Old Edenville Transit Employment Center, adjacent to the Santa Teresa Light Rail and Cottle Light Rail Station.

So just going through the timeline for our ordinance.

So we're here before you today for the first hearing on this ordinance.

We'll come back next week on the 24th for a second reading.

Immediately following that, we'll submit the ordinance to the Department of Housing and Community Development, HCD, for their review.

And then the ordinance would take effect 30 days following that second reading, so on April 23rd 2026.

And then that's before the July 1st effective date of SB 79.

And I'll pass it to Dana to continue the presentation.

Good afternoon.

As part of the SB 79 discussion on January 27th, the council also directed staff to provide additional analysis on whether the city could adequately rely on California Environmental Quality Act to protect historic resources under SB 79, given the new ministerial process and CECA exemption for housing development under AB 130.

Staff started the work by doing GIS analysis to understand where identified historic resources are in relation to the transportation development or TOD areas.

There are 56 transit stations that are impacted by the provisions of SB 79.

Staff identified approximately 17 TOD areas that contain designated storic resources listed in the historic resources inventory.

The highest concentration is within six TOD stop areas within and adjacent to downtown.

The figure on the slide illustrates the concentration of historic resources around St.

James and St.

Santa Clara TOD areas that include the Hensley, St.

James Park, and downtown commercial historic districts.

These smaller scale historic resources will face significant development pressure because SB 79 specifies maximum heights and densities within a half mile of these transit stops.

Staff analyze the interface of SB 79 with AB 130, another state housing law.

AB 130 exempts most residential projects in urban areas from environmental review under CEQA if the project meets certain criteria, like consistency with the general plan, land use designation, and or zoning, minimum density requirements, specific site size, location requirements, and criteria related to environmentally sensitive sites.

Projects that meet SB 79 criteria would be considered consistent with the general plan and zoning for the purposes of AB 130, and both state laws could be used.

So, how would historic resources be treated under AB 130 using SB 79?

First, AB 130 cannot be used to demolish a historic resource listed on the historic resources inventory.

By demolish, it would mean removal of more than 50% of exterior walls with no distinction about historic features or facade elements.

So a project proposing to demolish a historic property would proceed through secret review.

With existing definition of demolition, more than 50% of exterior walls, AB 130 would not require SQL review for projects that involve demolition of 50% or less of exterior walls and significant alterations of historic resources.

If a property is not a designated landmark or located in a city landmark historic district, no historic preservation permit would be required, and there would be no other historic dis no other historic review without CECWA.

One example is the former YMCA building.

Oh, located in the downtown commercial district, listed on the National Register of Historic Places that would not be subject to review under AB 130 if significant alterations were proposed.

The other implication under AB 130 is that significant properties that are not listed in the historic resources inventory could be demolished because AB 130 provisions only include properties placed on a national, state or local historic register.

One example of this is the Sakaiwe Farmhouse, which was identified as part of the environmental review analysis for the Seely Avenue project.

This would not have occurred under AB 130, which could have exempted such a project from CEQA review.

Based on this analysis, staff has provided some options for city council consideration.

The first is to direct staff to draft a definition for demolition in the San Jose Municipal Code that would provide a narrower definition for historic resources.

This would address the otherwise wide latitude provided under AB 130 for the alteration of historic resources without actually demolishing them.

The definition could more specifically address demolition in the context of historic resources to require SEQA review for alterations to significant historic fabric.

An additional option is also to direct staff to prepare an ordinance to temporarily delay the implementation of SB 79 for historic resources to allow staff time to plan for state mandated density by developing a TOD alternative plan.

Developing an alternative plan would need resource allocation, including inclusion in the budget and potentially redistributing staff work plan priorities.

The alternative plan would not permanently exempt out historic resources, but growth could be steered away from historic properties or development standards could be adjusted around them.

The density would remain the same, but could be redistributed to still meet SB 79 statutory housing targets.

Staff also recommends continuing with the identification, evaluation, and designated designation of historic properties so that we can proactively plan for their incorporation into the city's growth and development.

And this option would also require budget allocation.

So that includes staff presentation.

We're available for questions.

Great.

Thank you.

Tony, let's go to public comment first.

Yeah, I have three cards for this item.

Brent, Triana, and Roland come on down, Mayor Council.

I'm wondering if you go back up to slide number 10.

Um, because what I want to do is to show you what a general plan looked like prior to December 2013.

Okay.

You have Highway 85, the basic cut district two in half.

The bottom half is where the VTA Light Real is where I live.

I used to be the president of neighborhood association.

Initially, the entire 32 VTA acres was only for residential.

In December 2013, this council, your predecessors, swapped the zoning with the other side of the freeway to basically turn the ISTAP also to residential.

That generated in excess of a hundred million dollars of revenues that were used to basically finance a via stadium.

And I'm asking you that you don't make the same mistake again.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Good evening, everyone.

My name is Tronic Crichton, senior planner with the VTA.

Speaking on behalf of VTA with highlights of the letter that we provided on March 9th, that should be in your packets.

First VTA staff is very thankful for having been able to meet with City of San Jose staff over the past few months regarding FPS 79 and then other things such as the city's general plan for you review.

And we were recently able to meet with staff from the mayor's office.

So very thankful for that.

With that, VTA strongly encourages the city council to direct staff to work with VTA to analyze residential capacity at the VTA owned Thoronian Fanatic sites in the EIR for the general plan four-year review.

Regarding non-VTA owned land within the half mile radius of the Barrieth and Melpedith BART stations, as applicable, VTA strongly encourages adopting policies that intensify industrial and commercial densities within these areas.

These could also be pursued through the general plan four-year review, and we'll complement the substantial transit investment in these in these areas.

We look forward to working with the city moving forward.

Thank you.

Back to council.

All right, coming back to the council.

We'll start with Councilor Cohen.

All right, thank you.

Umor, I think we might have a couple more public comments.

Is that correct?

I have cars submitted for tip 10.3, and the other person for 10.2 didn't line up.

Are we doing 10-2 and 10-3 public comment combined?

We are doing 10-2 and 10-3 combined.

So let's pause for a minute.

Do we have others who wanted to speak on 10-2 or 10-3?

I have Mike and Mary just submitted cards.

Okay.

We'll give Mike and Mary, you said.

Yes.

Mike and Mary a moment to come down.

We're taking 10-2 and 10-3 together.

This is the last call.

I submitted a card earlier.

Okay, come on down.

Go ahead, Ben.

Thank you, uh Ben Leach Preservation Action Council.

Thank you to the mayor.

Thank you for staff for this uh very comprehensive um analysis of impacts to historic resources.

I want to highlight, I think a very good idea that came from uh Councilmember Mulcahy's memo.

Uh um recognizing that even among HRI properties, there are established concentrations in historic districts and conservation areas that would be um not very staff intensive to um temporarily exclude for the purposes of um watching how this rollout would impact historic resources citywide.

Uh historic districts are council designated areas that have long been prioritized for consistency of form and mass, and um that is a uh a reasonable approach.

Um we also strongly agree with continuing to invest in more preservation planning and updating the historic resources inventory, and I think stronger TOD alternative plans can come from better analysis, but for right thank you that's your time.

Next speaker.

All right, I I'm Jimmy Kogura representing uh San Jose's Japan Town.

I just want to say thank you for taking this into consideration.

Uh Japantown's definitely one of the bright spots I feel of San Jose, and we're facing a lot of different blight in the neighborhood, and it's been a lot of generations.

I've grown up around this.

I can see the financial burden for a lot of people trying to make investments here.

And you know, it's one of those things that I'm hoping the council with the wording takes it wisely and carefully.

Um I can see some ways it can maybe go a little bit too far, but I think this is the the right step.

So thank you for having this in consideration.

Have a nice day.

Thank you, next speaker.

Good afternoon.

Hi, I'm ready.

My name is Brent Van Brocklin, and I'm a TOD project manager at VTA.

I'd like to focus my comments on the Santa Teresa and Ceroni sites together.

These represent over 60 developable acres and are the two largest sites in VTA's TOD portfolio.

VCA is fully supportive of the city's desire to maintain these areas as important employment hubs, and is we are willing to commit to preserving significant space for industrial and commercial uses.

However, we believe these sites can and should accommodate mixed use development that includes housing alongside jobs.

I also want to note that the city is currently utilizing both of these sites for housing related solutions, including EIH at Syroni and safe parking program at Santa Teresa, which underscores both the feasibility of housing and the need within our community.

Given the scale and importance of these sites, we respectfully ask that council direct staff to continue working with the VTA to identify a path forward that allows for mixed use developments at these two sites.

We also encourage the city to incorporate mixed use solutions in these areas as a part of the upcoming general.

Thank you, that's your time.

Next speaker.

So I still don't know how this shit works, but I'm waiting for a call from the guy that um controls the CB California State License Board.

I'm gonna give him my card.

Do you have a card for open forum?

Huh?

Um your card is for open forum, which is not what this topic is, your Jose?

Yeah.

Yeah, so um the open forum for topics that are not on the agenda comes at the end of the meeting.

At the end of the meeting?

Yeah.

Okay.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon.

My name is Mary Ang.

I represent opportunities for change.

And I heard about this meeting 15 minutes ago.

And hence you know that I'm uh not fully prepared.

But I am here to be the voice of about a hundred men who've been part of our opportunities for change, 501c3 transitional reentry housing.

These hundred men are roughly 52% Hispanic from East LA, East LA and East San Jose.

45% black, three percent indigenous or Caucasian.

They live one block south of Valley Medical.

We provide um uh an effective support program, not because of me, but because of my two founders, and we're thrilled to be a coalition with set with San Jose here.

Uh producing productive men.

Something like 60 percent have gotten uh have um gotten promotions in the earned income jobs we give them, and we are in support of ADU-based.

Thank you.

That's your time.

Next speaker.

Hello, Mike Sodegren Preservation Action Council.

Um first of all, I want to thank staff and uh council member Mulcahy and Council Motor Tordios who all weighed in on this particular issue.

Um anybody that's looked at at SB 79 knows that there's gonna be legal challenges, nonetheless from Los Angeles.

So we'll see if it actually starts on July 1st.

But we do think it's appropriate that the city has set its sights on getting that in so we don't have something like builder's remedy to deal with again.

Um we do so uh we encourage you not to leave an option on the table to do a temporary delay.

I would point out that the word temporary is really quite long because it's um one year past the next housing element, which by my math would be years from now.

So I would encourage you to take the recommendation that you have from staff and from your liaison with the historic landmarks commission and um move forward the memo from Councilmember Kehi.

Thank you.

Thank you, back to council.

All right, thank you.

Coming back to the council, I think I was going to Councilor Cohen first.

Thank you, Mayor, and thanks to staff for bringing this forward.

I'm I'm just going to address item 10.2.

We're we're gonna handle the motion separately.

Um thank you for uh the work to quickly bring back the um policy to help us exempt important industrial lands, a lot of which are in District 4 in North San Jose, and I appreciate um that effort.

And so um, but I just want to ask a question back to the VTA concern about Cerone.

If we can put the map back on the screen, I just want first want to find out are those circles, those circles are pretty accurate on your map in terms of what lands fall in.

It looks to me like the VTA Cerroni site is actually just outside the half mile radius.

Is that correct?

Back a couple slides, I think.

Back.

No, no, it's I'm sorry, forward.

Right there.

Yeah.

So is that that CIC land on the top is just outside the circle.

That's the VTA Cerone site.

Is that correct?

It's covered, so as long as any part of the parcels touching, then the whole parcels are.

Oh, so it's so yeah.

So because the tiny corner.

Okay, I just wanted to understand that a little bit better.

Okay.

Um, but but having said that, you know, we we're very supportive of mixed-use development in North San Jose and and considering um repurposing land for some housing and end industrial uses.

That Bay Point area where VTA Cerony is located is has a lot of housing going up, and it is appropriate to consider further housing there.

I I think that conversation should happen outside of this discussion today and and be something that we're looking at in our general plan and also just um as proposals come forward from VTA, um, just as we did at River Oaks, where we put a housing overlay there to so that they could convert what was industrial landed at River Oaks property to housing.

We should be considering the same thing up at Cerone, presumably also at Santa Teresa, although I'm not gonna uh speak on that one since it's about as far away from my district as you can get.

Um but um so I I just want to just ask uh Chris I I want to see if we have a commitment that you'll be working with VTA during the general plan process to uh uh understand what they want their long-term use of that property to be.

Yeah, absolutely.

We uh, you know, we got to have very early to start the conversations with VTA just in more broadly around impacts of SB 79, and those two sites came up relatively quickly in that conversation.

Um we've you know certainly committed to continue that conversation.

As you say, there's a great opportunity to have a really strategic look at both of those sites through the general plan process and ensure that we're maximizing those opportunities.

Okay, thank you for that.

So I will um move approval of the staff recommendation.

Thanks, Councilmember.

We'll go to Councilmember Mulkey.

Sorry.

Okay.

Was that true for you as well, Councilmember Trudias?

Okay.

So we will vote now then on item 10.2, and then we'll come back to continue the conversation about 10.3.

Tony.

Motion passes unanimously.

Okay, thank you.

Let me give colleagues a moment to put up their hands for item 10.3.

Does anybody want to kick us off?

Councilmember Mulcahy.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, thanks to those of you who came out to testify and submitted letters to us on this item.

And as the one who raised the concerns over impacts of SB 79 on historic resources, appreciate the conversation today.

Appreciate the memo from my colleagues as well.

I don't think anybody on the Dais wants to pass policy with known unintended consequences in how the city responds to SB 79, such as limiting much needed development and or demolishing properties in our historic neighborhoods, but we do need to pick a path.

I want to say a big thank you to our planning staff.

Um so many curve balls have been sent your way, SB 79, AB 130, and all the SBs and ABs that have been coming your way.

They're complex pieces of legislation with deadlines that you've got to perform at.

So thank you so much for your effort um to get us on the road to implementing these policy directions.

So as we've discussed over the past several months, SB 79 significantly expands ministerial approvals for housing development near transit.

While AB 130 limits the applicability of CECWA, naturally that raises concerns about how these changes affect neighborhoods across San Jose, including many of our historic resource neighborhoods, not just how it might impact downtown.

Staff's analysis has shown us that many of San Jose's transit-oriented development areas contain some of the highest concentrations of historic resources in the city.

And as I noted in my January 27th memorandum, we can't rely solely on CEQA to protect those resources moving forward.

AB 130 means the city may have even fewer opportunities to evaluate impacts to historic resources through the EIR process.

We have traditionally relied on.

Because of this, it becomes even more important that we clarify our local standards, including the establishment of clear definitions, such as what constitutes demolition of a historic resource, so that the city retains consistent tools to address potential impacts as projects move forward.

I again want to acknowledge the memo from my colleagues, Councilmembers Kameh, Campos, Tordillos, and Cohen.

However, I want to clarify a few areas because I believe my memorandum was either misunderstood or perhaps taken out of context.

Their memo asks staff to conduct additional study of historic resources, framed in contrast to my proposal.

In fact, in practice, as we just heard from staff, that request would likely require significantly more staff resources while producing less immediate policy guidance.

By contrast, my memorandum asks staff to return by December 2026 with a delayed effectuation ordinance focused specifically on historic districts and conservation areas consistent with SB 79.

These areas are already known by us, identified and mapped.

They represent cohesive neighborhood scale and historic environments rather than individual buildings.

Historic districts and conservation areas differ from individual historic structures.

Their significance comes from the collective character of the neighborhood, the relationship between homes, streets, and public spaces that together create an intact historic context.

When redevelopment occurs incrementally without coordinated planning, that character can gradually erode over time, even if buildings are replaced one at a time.

Many of these districts are also located near existing or planned transit corridors, which means they could experience increased redevelopment pressure under SB 79's state mandated density provisions.

For that reason, the request in my memorandum is intentionally narrow and practical to focus on historic districts and conservation areas that the city has already identified, and to name a few Scheley, Guadalupe, Washington, Hensley, Willowglen, and possibly Palmhaven, if that's determined in the map to be within the zone of impact.

The approach in my memorandum would likely require less work from staff than the alternative proposed in the other memorandum.

The proposal directs staff to conduct a new historic resources survey across pre-World War II areas of the city.

That would involve reassessing and cataloging thousands of properties and updating inventories that have not been comprehensively reviewed in decades.

I think 2004, as you heard earlier.

By contrast, my proposal focuses on areas that the city has already identified and studied, allowing staff to develop a targeted ordinance rather than undertaking a citywide survey effort.

In district district six, I'll cite one specific example that would be impacted by SB 79, the Sheley Subdivision off the Alameda and Stockton.

Much of that neighborhood still resembles the homes built there in the late 1800s, many designed by Theodore Lenzen.

It is a cohesive historic environment, and like many historic districts across San Jose, its significance comes from the neighborhood as a whole.

As Ben Leach, executive director of PAC SJ pointed out in his letter and at the Dais, this issue does not affect the downtown core in quite the way the other memorandum suggests.

Many downtown areas are already zoned for densities that meet or exceed what SB 79 would allow.

My concern is primarily about historic neighborhoods outside of downtown, where redevelopment pressure could fundamentally alter neighborhoods that have remained intact for generations.

D6 has been a leader in building housing, particularly affordable.

I'm proud that our district demonstrates that housing can be built in many forms, from single family to high density development along major growth corridors.

Planning for housing and preserving historic neighborhoods are not and should not be considered as mutually exclusive goals.

The approach outlined in my memorandum is intended to strike a balanced path forward, one that recognizes the urgency of building more homes, while also ensuring that we do not unintentionally erode some of San Jose's most historically significant neighborhoods.

Finally, I think it's important to acknowledge that the policy landscape around these laws is still evolving.

We initially analyzed SB 79 in isolation as we later discovered with AB 130, that was not the full picture.

There will likely be additional state legislation or lawsuits that may change the context of our decisions.

Given that uncertainty, asking staff to return this December with a targeted ordinance delaying effectuation in historic districts and conservation areas is a measured and responsible step.

It allows us to continue moving forward with housing production while ensuring that the city retains clear planning tools to protect the historic neighborhoods that help divine San Jose's character and history.

With that, I motion to approve my memorandum on 10.3, which would approve staff recommendations and then also ask that staff to come back to council with a delayed effectuation ordinance by December 26 for our historic districts and conservation areas.

All right.

Thanks, Councilmember.

We'll go to Councilmember Tordios.

Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, staff for all of the research and analysis that has gone into even getting us to this point in our SB 79 implementation discussions.

And thank you also to the other members of our Brown Act and uh Councilmember Mulcahy for the thoughtful consideration of how SB 79 interacts with historic preservation.

I do want to acknowledge that the desire to protect our historic properties in San Jose is a valid goal.

The city is rich in history, and I'm proud to represent one of the districts that has the highest concentration of historic resources, many of which date back more than a century.

I also live in a historic home in a city landmark district, so I believe I have some understanding of both the nature of these neighborhoods and also their potential for supporting new infill development.

As a council, I believe we have a responsibility to drive progress towards our city's housing goals while balancing that against sometimes competing goals like historic preservation.

I think staff's uh proposal to come back with a narrower definition of demolition for historic properties under AB 130 strikes that balance well.

And I do have some concerns that going any further than that, including any sort of form of delayed effectuation, uh, has the potential to backfire and create unintended consequences that will hamstring the city in meeting our housing goals.

I think it's important to note that parts of the city that would be most impacted by such a delayed effectuation policy are the exact same parts of the city that we've previously identified as good candidates for new infill development.

Uh places that are close to our downtown core, places that are near transit and jobs, uh, neighborhoods that are walkable, well connected, and close to existing resources.

Moreover, as the council member representing some of the highest concentrations of historic communities in the city, I want to highlight that district three would be disproportionately impacted by any delayed effectuation ordinance that is targeting historic districts.

As the staff report notes, of these six transit-oriented development areas that have a high concentration of historic resources, all six of them touch district three, and five of the six are either entirely or very nearly entirely within the bounds of my district.

You know, new laws coming down from the state, as well as our own long-term planning work like the general plan.

And I want to note that during last week's presentation of the City Council focus area status report, staff actually noted that the downtown ministerial approval ordinance was delayed until Q2 of next fiscal year, in large part due to reprioritization of staff resources for state policy work, including SB 79 implementation.

So the additional staff time required to complete the delayed effectuation ordinance would risk further delaying other critical PBCE work, not just the downtown ministerial ordinance, but uh recommendations coming out of the four-year general plan task force review.

And I do not believe that pursuing a short-term delayed effectuation ordinance that's going to make it harder for us to meet our housing goals is the best use of that limited PBCE staff capacity.

Moreover, I do want to clarify that the ordinance would not actually help with all of the challenges that were called out in the staff presentation, uh, notably the uh potential impacts to unlisted eligible structures.

To the extent that those structures have not been identified, they are not within the bounds of existing historic districts.

Delaying effectuation within historic districts is not going to help protect those resources.

Whereas the direction that our memo includes to have a workload analysis for an updated historic resources survey has the potential to actually identify those resources which are not currently on the uh inventory and get them into a protected status where they will be eligible to have that higher threshold of environmental review and consideration prior to any significant alteration or demolition.

I also want to clarify that the recommendation in my memo with council members uh Kamehkohen and Campos is not to conduct a full uh you know resource uh update through this budget cycle, but to perform the workload analysis that we can be informed about how to balance those competing resource uh initiatives within PBCE and obviously our uh constrained budget at the moment.

Uh when it comes to our kind of broader approach to housing in San Jose, I'm very grateful for the work that this council has done in recent months and in recent years to promote housing production, but I think it's important that we look at all of that work in the context of our actual performance on housing.

And I think when we do that, we can see that we are still falling very far short of our housing goals.

In 2025, the city permitted 2,269 units, which comes out to just about one-third of our state mandated uh arena target of 7,775 units per year.

I'll also note that other cities have managed to integrate infill development into existing historic districts, like the Midtown District in Sacramento, a city that I'll note has built three times as many homes per capita as San Jose has in the past five years.

So for me, it's difficult to see how exempting some of our most centrally located and well connected neighborhoods from infill development for the next six years is actually going to help us earnestly move forward with our housing goals.

And since there was the discussion of staff resources, I think it's important to note that any delayed effectuation ordinance will only take uh these properties off the table until 2032 in order to protect uh our historic districts and any properties in those districts beyond that date would require staff to come back with a transit oriented development alternative plan, which looks to shift around density within the existing TOD areas.

And that becomes very complicated in the context of historic districts, because many of the historic districts in and around downtown take up a significant portion of the TOD areas.

And uh state law currently limits us to exempting 10% of the land within those TOD areas as part of any sort of TOD alternative plan.

Uh so I really struggle to see the longer term approach here to protecting wholesale districts, and I think that pursuing those TOD alternative plans would itself be a very significant burden on our city staff.

Finally, I I think it's important uh to note that any action that temporarily exempts large swaths of downtown and central San Jose from the impacts of SB 79 does raise in my mind questions of fairness for the rest of our city.

Uh and if we take developments off the table in many of these centrally located and resource rich neighborhoods, it will mean that more demand for SB 79 style info projects is going to be pushed out into our more suburban parts of the city uh into less well connected uh transit oriented development areas in places like D8, D9, and D10.

And so, with all of that said, understanding that there are different perspectives on this dais, I want to thank again everyone for the collaboration and all of the conversation.

And I would like to move uh make a substitute motion for approval of the memo written by myself and council members Cohen, Campos, and Kameh, which would approve the staff recommendation to update the definition of demolition, to provide those stronger guardrails for AB 130, and would also uh direct staff to prepare a workload analysis so that we can make an informed uh decision about any sort of future facing investment into a new historic resources survey.

Thanks, council member.

Thank you both for your comments.

I'm just pausing a moment to see if we have further discussion.

Otherwise, we'll move to a vote.

Okay, seeing none, Tony, let's vote on the motion, the substitute motion.

Motion passes 10 to 1.

With Mulkey voting no.

Okay.

So that's item 10.3.

Thank you all.

Okay.

Welcome everyone.

It's great to see a full chamber.

We're now moving on to our final agendized item.

Also, our most significant item of the day, maybe the year, item 3.3.

This is the approval of the fiscal year 2026-2027, mayor's March budget message.

I have some opening comments.

We'll also have staff in the box available to answer questions.

There's no staff presentation, as this is my annual March budget message, but I do, I will give slightly longer remarks than usual.

Before I do that, though, let me just um thank everybody for being here.

It's always great to have a full chamber.

I know we have a lot of folks here to advocate for important services and needs in the community, uh, presumably representing many different perspectives and experiences in our community, and that's something we should celebrate.

That's what a healthy democracy looks like.

When we get to public comment, I'll share a little more, and or our clerk can if I forget, on just how we can all participate fully and respectfully and make this a productive process.

Let me start though with some opening comments.

And I want to start with uh gratitude.

Uh, starting with my budget Brown Act, I want to thank Vice Mayor Pam Foley and recognize that this is her eighth and final budget cycle on this council.

So, Vice Mayor, thank you.

Thank you for your years of service and always being a voice of uh of reason and bringing all you that you do to bring people together and move us forward.

Also I want to thank uh council members Kamei Cohen and Tordillos, who were also in my budget Brown Act this year.

What that means is we're limited by law and how many colleagues we can we can speak to as we're putting forward legislation, but being able to have colleagues to discuss trade-offs with, hear feedback, incorporate you know their best ideas is really important, and um my budget Brown Act certainly made the March budget message stronger.

So just want to thank them for their engagement.

Also want to thank my team who put in countless hours, uh including through the entire weekend.

Um thank you to Stephen Keynes, who's my our chief innovation officer and budget director in the mayor's office, Keith Hertzberg, budget innovation advisor, Alejandra Lenis Chantres, acting chief policy officer in my office, of course, my chief of staff, Sarah Sarate, and the entire policy team and mayor's office for all of the work you did to get us to this point.

Uh I know it's been many, many hours over the last couple of months collaborating with city staff and and colleagues and listening to community members.

I want to thank our city manager, Jennifer McGuire, Deputy City Manager Lee Wilcox for their partnership and being really steady hands through the initial planning for what will be a difficult fiscal year, a year in which we are closing a significant deficit.

So I want to recognize that City Manager McGuire took proactive action early to do everything possible to lessen the impact on our workforce and our residents as we head into leaner years.

We know our economy is cyclical, therefore our revenue is cyclical.

Unfortunately, our costs don't tend to be so cyclical.

They tend to just kind of keep going up every year, uh, though we do our best to manage those responsibly.

And then the city manager's budget office, led by Jim Shannon, supported by Bonnie Young, Claudia Chang, and many other members of the budget office who provide real expertise and guidance, and also we're available nights and weekends to my team and uh and me, and I really appreciate that.

And then all council colleagues who um are participating fully in the process, number of thoughtful memos and a lot of good engagement.

So I'm looking forward to the conversation.

Um, my actual opening remarks um, good afternoon, council colleagues.

I would like to introduce item 3.3, my March budget message for fiscal year 26-27.

As required by our city charter, this message provides initial policy direction to guide the city manager in preparing the proposed budget that will come before us for deliberation in May.

As a council, it's important that we strike a balance between providing clear and direct guidance and also ensuring that the city manager has ample space to find creative ways of resolving our projected deficit.

It's vital that we all acknowledge this year that we are facing a $56 million shortfall.

And once resolved, we are still projecting a further $28 million shortfall.

And as I've mentioned, uh, while we do overall have a six billion dollar budget, so I want to put that in perspective, and our general fund is quite a bit smaller, about one and a half billion.

This is still a very meaningful number, and it's driven by the fact that our revenues are slowing down.

Our property and sales tax revenue growth is slowing, just as we continue to have rising costs in terms of labor and other service core services we've committed to.

So today, with a vote on this message, we will set the framework for how we align our resources, our available resources, with the priorities our residents have consistently told us matter most.

Safer neighborhoods, cleaner public spaces, more housing that people can afford, a stronger local economy, and responsible stewardship of limited taxpayer dollars.

Over the past few years, this council has worked hard to sharpen our focus around these priorities, and we're seeing progress.

But we're also facing real constraints, fiscal pressures, rising costs, and growing service demand.

So the goal of this year's budget direction is simple.

Stay focused on what works, protect services utilized by residents and vulnerable communities, invest in results, resist the desire to add new unsustainable programs, and make disciplined decisions that protect the city's long-term financial health.

I think it's important to note that public trust has significantly strengthened in recent years as we have focused on these core community needs.

In fact, trust in City Hall and our annual community survey is up 40, nearly 40 percent in the last four years.

I think it's important that we take heed of that progress, the feedback from residents, and ensure that the FY, the fiscal year 2627 March message continues to build upon this momentum, which has been driven by focus.

So I want to take a moment to outline our areas of focus in a little more detail for all of you who did not make it through the 40 page budget message.

First, we must continue to make our neighborhoods safer and cleaner.

Public safety is the foundation of a thriving city.

Our police department is doing remarkable work with a lean workforce, protecting a city of more than one million residents with fewer than 1,000 street ready officers.

We need to continue to support them with the tools, technology, and staffing strategies that allow them to be effective and efficient.

At the same time, we know that safety is about more than enforcement alone.

It also means investing in prevention, particularly programs that serve young people and connect them with education, mentorship, and job opportunities.

These investments help reduce crime before it starts and strengthen the long-term well-being of our community.

Clean and well-maintained neighborhoods are also essential to residents' sense of safety and pride.

Over the last year, our teams have removed tens of millions of pounds of trash from encampments, creeks, and public spaces, expanded beautification efforts, increased enforcement against graffiti, chronic blight, and illegal dumping.

This work matters.

It improves, we've seen an 18% reduction in graffiti on public land.

It improves quality of life and helps restore confidence that City Hall is responsive to residents' concerns.

Next, we must continue making progress on reducing unsheltered homelessness, which consistently ranks as our constituents' number one priority every year.

In 2019, going back about six years now, San Jose had one of the highest rates of per capita unsheltered homelessness in the country.

Nearly 85% of our homeless neighbors were living outside.

And we had hardly anywhere to refer these individuals to come indoors.

Since then, we have invested in new and expanded interim housing and shelter, deep collaboration across our city departments and with our nonprofit, nonprofit, and philanthropic partners to deliver meaningful results.

Today the city operates over 2,000 shelter placements across interim housing, safe parking, and safe sleeping, including 1,000 new placements opened since the start of 2025.

Over the same time, unsheltered homelessness has dropped dramatically.

By the last count, we had reduced unsheltered homelessness by well over 20%.

With the that that was before the 1,000 new placements.

We think with our next count will be over a third, maybe closer to a 40% reduction.

And we will have reached a point where a majority of our homeless neighbors are living indoors, not outdoors on our streets and in our public spaces.

Last year, this new interim housing system served 2,135 people coming out of encampments, of which 70% remain indoors with access to supportive services.

Of those who exited, roughly 30% secured permanent affordable housing, 30% transitioned to another sheltered destination, 8% entered institutional settings, and 7% secured unsubsidized permanent housing.

Our strategy now must shift from system expansion to system optimization, strengthening collaboration with other agencies, particularly the county, to ensure clients are accessing services and support needed to move toward permanent housing and self-sufficiency.

At the same time, we must continue restoring heavily impacted public spaces, particularly along waterways and key commercial corridors, while ensuring that outreach and referral systems are working together more effectively.

The direction in this budget message asks the city manager to continue refining those efforts, measure outcomes carefully, and prioritize approaches that deliver the greatest impact for the resources we invest.

Third, we must build more housing.

Housing affordability remains one of the top concerns for residents across San Jose.

Nearly half of renters and homeowners in our city are spending more than 30% of their income on housing.

If we want a city where working families can stay, where young people can build a future, and where seniors can age in place, we must increase housing supply and remove unnecessary barriers to building.

This budget message calls for continued work to streamline approvals, increase transparency around development fees, and ensure that projects that meet our zoning and planning rules can move forward without unnecessarily unnecessary delay and cost.

It also asks staff to explore ways to reduce costs for affordable housing and create new pathways to home ownership for first-time buyers.

Fourth, we must strengthen our economy by revitalizing downtown and our key business districts.

Downtown San Jose is beginning to regain momentum as a destination for culture, dining, entertainment, and innovation.

Events earlier this year have already brought hundreds of thousands of visitors into the city's core, filling our hotels and supporting small businesses.

Councilmember Ortiz brought forward an innovative proposal titled The East Side Revitalization Plan, which aims to leverage philanthropic dollars to support businesses and organizations on the East Side and support their long-term health.

That is included in this message.

But we know there is more work to do.

This budget direction includes evaluating programs that support business activity, exploring strategic infrastructure investments, and continuing efforts to attract employers and visitors.

We also want to maintain our three business outreach roles that provide valuable services to our business improvement districts and to our large employers.

And finally, we must maintain strong fiscal discipline.

San Jose has been recognized for responsible financial management, and we must continue that tradition.

The reality is that we are operating in a constrained fiscal environment.

Revenues are not keeping pace with all of the needs and expectations placed on our city government.

That means we must make careful choices.

We should prioritize investments that produce measurable results, address deferred infrastructure needs, and leverage technology or partnerships to deliver services more efficiently.

It also means avoiding ongoing commitments without reliable funding sources.

Balancing our budget is required by law, but good stewardship goes beyond balancing the books.

It means ensuring that every dollar we spend advances the priorities of our residents and protects the long-term stability of our city.

In response to my March budget message this year, the members of the council authored four memos, which included 30, I'm sorry, 63 unique pieces of direction.

We're in an unusual year with a large deficit, and we are introducing an abnormal, I'd say actually unprecedented amount of direction via responsive memos.

My team in the mayor's office wanted to ensure these items each received an independent evaluation.

And we worked through the weekend.

Again, I want to say a huge thank you to my team for uh dropping everything over the entire weekend to work tirelessly to produce the reconciliation memo you have in your agenda.

Thank you to the city manager's office for making themselves available to answer our questions and help us understand the various resource and staff limitations so we could make clear in this reconciliation memo what can be done with the resources available or through existing work plans and where trade-offs need to be made if certain items advance.

Their responses to our questions assisted us in developing the document before you today.

This memo includes an appendix that separates each piece of direction by council member author, states whether it should be integrated into the budget message, provides a rationale for this disposition, and also includes additional context or amended language as appropriate.

My sincere hope is that this reconciliation memo will help us traverse the discussion today more effectively and efficiently and in a more informed way.

Regarding the proposal to explore expanding mobile home parks to include residents living in RVs, the reconciliation memo accepts the recommendation from the group memo to strike this item.

We have also taken out the Ellis Act proposal, and we have accepted Councilmember Campos's single author memo proposal with modifications to set clear and reasonable expectations about the next steps needed to convert one brand lane into permanent affordable or supportive housing, which has long been the long-term goal and will take some time to execute, but is a very worthy goal.

So, colleagues, this March budget message is intended to guide the next phase of our work.

It reflects the priorities we have heard from our community and the progress we've made together over the past several years.

Thank you again to the council, our city manager and her team, our city workforce for your partnership in this ongoing process of holding ourselves accountable to deliver the greatest possible impact for our residents.

I'm looking forward to the discussion today and continuing our work together as we prepare the proposed budget in the months ahead.

So with that, uh and before I open up the discussion to my colleagues, we are going to go to public comment.

And as I promised, I would say just a few things on that.

So these bigger items where we're talking about really important trade-offs can elicit a lot of emotion, a lot of feeling, and that's reasonable at the same time.

We have a few hundred people here today who would like to be heard.

Couple of ground rules.

Number one, if you have a sign, please do not hold it up in blood in a way that blocks anyone behind you or around you.

Everybody deserves to be able to fully participate in the meeting.

Along with that concept, we take people's first amendment speech rights very seriously.

At any given moment, there should only be one person speaking.

Who has their time to share their perspective?

No booing, no cheering, no just keep your opinions to yourself as they walk back to their seat.

If you want to show support with your silent jazz hands, that is highly encouraged.

But uh, we need to keep the meeting going.

If you are disrupting the meeting, even booing or cheering, you'll be given a warning, and if it continues, you will be asked to leave the chamber and you will be removed from council chambers so we can maintain an orderly meeting and make sure we hear from folks who have taken a lot of time today to be here to express their speech rights and their opinions.

Tony will be managing public comment.

I think that more or less covers it.

Tony, how many cards, how many speakers do you believe we have?

I have 150.

Okay.

So with 150, we will uh we'll go to 45.

We've been at a minute.

I think we'll go to 45 seconds to try to get out of here at a reasonable time today.

And we'll keep you updated as we get.

We may get additional cards.

Sometimes the way this works is we will get we may get 50 or 100 more over the course of the process.

So we are going to continue.

By the way, you can also reach each of us through the city website at our council office emails, as I hope you all know.

Okay, I'm gonna ask folks to quiet down so Tony can call the first public commenters down to the podium.

Yes, I'm gonna call about five to seven names to start.

The names will also appear in the captioning over here.

Um I will do my best to call the names correctly.

The timer is over on the left.

Um, I want to just add to the whole like jazz hands and cheering.

Um, there are 150 speakers currently, we'll probably have 200 total at least.

That's one of the reasons we don't want you to cheer is that we want the people who are waiting for a really long time to be able to get up here quicker, and so we want to keep it moving, not because we don't want to hear you, but we want to make sure everybody gets to stay here the whole time and say what they want to say.

So that's my piece.

I'm gonna call the first few names.

I have Ed Davis, Anil Babar, Leah Tennisgetter, Yesenia, Yasenia Campos, Julian Lake, and Cecile Madrigan.

Come on down.

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

Uh good afternoon, council and mayor.

Uh, despite the economic challenges and their projected shortfall in the budget, maintaining core city services and addressing the overall operations of the city are important, and that's why I support the mayor's budget message.

But I'm also here today to address the memo authored by council members campus, Casey, Done, Ortiz, and Candelas in particular.

I appreciate the authors for raising the awareness of the difficulties when it comes to navigating the code enforcement department.

However, the memo calls for penalizing property owners for the difficult their for the difficulties in the system in navigating a complex system, which is wrong.

The mayor's member rightly instead suggests allowing staff to continue their work and addressing those challenges.

And the California Apartment Association is ready to partner to aid in this process.

Thank you.

Perfect.

Thank you.

Before the next speaker, Mayor, did you want to make an announcement?

Okay, thanks.

Uh Tony.

I can do that when we come back.

I did just also I was remiss, I missed my notes here.

Really important for everybody to understand this is the beginning of the process.

We also have budget study sessions.

The city managers proposed much budget in May, and then a June budget message with a full public hearing the day before the actual budget vote in June.

So I just I also want folks to know that while we have we're gonna have a couple hundred speakers and try to move through it officially today.

It is certainly not the last opportunity to weigh in on this message.

We'll have a full public hearing that typically goes four or five hours when we get to June as we get closer to actually voting on next year, next fiscal year's budget.

So just wanted to make sure everybody had that context.

I'm sorry, go ahead.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council members.

My name is Yacenia Campos.

I was born and raised here in San Jose.

I'm a responder with the Rapid Response Network, a Chispana Latina Coalition of Silicon Valley, a commissioner of the Race and Health Disparities Board, and a proud daughter of Mexican immigrants.

This city is my home and my commitment runs deep.

And now my community is targeted and vulnerable.

I don't speak from fear, but from experience.

In October of last year, I was detained by ICE outside the ISAP office in South San Jose while legally observing their detention of members of the community that you represent who were loaded into vans and take it away.

Fear, uncertainty in their eyes.

These are lifelines.

Please do not scale back.

San Jose must remain a place for all families to live in.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon, Mayor and City Council.

On behalf of the Bay Area Council, which represents almost 400 businesses and organizations around the Bay Area, I want to thank you for this budget and express our strong support for the priorities it outlines for San Jose.

We strongly support the budget's commitment to public safety, uh fighting homelessness and innovation and economic development in the region.

In particular, uh the emphasis on reducing homelessness by expanding and optimizing interim housing, which has achieved significant progress, reducing homelessness by 33% since 2019.

By contrast, the state saw a 13% increase during the same window.

The Barry Council thanks uh the city council and the mayor for this effort, and uh best of luck.

Thank you.

Next speaker, I'd also like to call Eric Nigam Negomir, Jiyang Fan, and Larry Ames.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council members.

Leah Tennisder, President and CEO of our San Jose Chamber of Commerce.

Economic development is really the core driver of city revenue.

Cost control and necessary cuts are immediate actions, but long-term fiscal health is going to depend on growing our economy.

That's going to require more housing delivered faster and at lower cost.

We support streamlining permitting, reducing regulatory barriers, rethinking fees, including deferring until occupancy and moving towards more predictable structures.

A safe and clean and well-managed city is the foundation of our strong economy.

Continued progress on public safety and homelessness directs directly supports residents, businesses, and vibrant business districts.

We have significant opportunity with the sports and entertainment economy, and feel like if we can focus on this full ecosystem, we'll continue to drive revenue.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon, Mayor Mahan and Council members.

My name is Cecile Medriaga, and I work for Silicon Valley Leadership Group.

And I'm here today both in that capacity and as a longtime San Jose resident of 36 years.

This city is home to me and my family.

And like many many residents, I care deeply about keeping San Jose safe, vibrant, and full of opportunity.

I recognize the difficult budget decisions before you, and I appreciate the responsibility you carry.

The mayor's budget message offers a strong framework, and I respectfully encourage your alignment with that approach.

Thank you for your time and for your service to our city.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council.

My name is Orlena Mejia, the president of Lone Bluff Center Neighborhood Association.

I'm here to support the direction outlined in the Mayor's March budget message.

Over the past few years, we've seen real progress in areas residents care about, especially around reducing homelessness, improving public safety, cleaning up neighborhoods, and supporting new housing.

I encourage the council to support this framework and continue working towards a balanced budget that protects essential services while keeping San Jose moving forward.

Thank you for your time and work on behalf of our community.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

I'd also like to call down Larry Whitaker and Elaine Mawid.

Go ahead.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council members.

My name is Ian Fan.

I'm the SVP from Silicon Valley Leadership Group and also runs the Institute for California AI policy.

We support Mayor's budget message because it recognizes the critical importance of continued growth in San Jose's innovation economy.

AI, other emerging technologies and advanced manufacturing are the cornerstones of our local economy and offer immerse future potential.

We must ensure San Jose remains the top choice for the world's most innovative companies.

Mayor Mahan's budget message takes the right approach.

We urge your support and thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Mayor, Council members, thank you for uh be here.

My name is Eric Nagamir, like my colleagues you just heard from.

I work for the Silicon Valley Leadership Group.

We represent over 80 member companies, including global technology leaders, research institutions, and service providers.

We support this budget message because it protects and promotes San Jose's business competitiveness.

Robust housing options, modern infrastructure, and a safe, clean city form the foundation for attracting businesses and workers to San Jose.

We want to recognize the city's hard work in recent years and ask that you continue to prioritize these areas as recommended in the mayor's budget proposal.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Larry Ames, longtime park advocate.

Your challenge is to balance the city budget, but please don't do it at the expense of city parks.

Parks are invitable or vital to making San Jose a livable city.

As we address our housing shortage by building condos and apartments and by filling in existing backyards with ADUs, our city parks will have to serve as the backyards for our new residents.

The city's park maintenance budget was cut after the 2001 dot-com bust.

And then again after the 2008 Great Deep Recession, and then after the pan COVID pandemic, please don't cut it yet again.

On the list of California's 15 largest cities, San Jose comes in dead last in terms of park maintenance funds over and just one-third of the over median average budget.

Please do not cut the budget anymore.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Sam Ho and Lynn Vu also come on down.

Good afternoon, Mr.

Mayor, members of the City Council.

Louis Powell, Executive Director, Santa Maria Urban Ministry, uh proudly serving working families and newcomers to our city, as well as people experiencing homelessness since 1983.

We know there's no single solution to homelessness.

And we know that the earlier we intervene and the more broadly we reach, the better the outcome, both fiscally and emotionally for our city and for our families.

When prevention, stabilization, and housing work together, families stay housed, children stay in schools, and we spend less money.

So when government works, it helps working people achieve their full potential in the next speaker.

Madam Baseminer and Council.

My name is Larry Whitaker, and I live in District 9.

I'm here today to speak in support of the mayor's March budget message.

The city should rebid contracts for the interim housing and shelter system so we can reduce the operating costs and make the system more efficient.

As a San Jose resident who cares about ending unsheltered homelessness, I am asking that you vote for the mayor's budget message in full.

Thank you.

Happy St.

Patrick's Day.

Thank you.

I'd like to call Vasundara Tatamedi, Gary Cooper.

Hong Kow and Tin Cao.

Please come on down.

Go ahead.

Thank you.

Hello, my name is Alan Lloyd, president of the VP Community Association in District 2.

We support the entirety of the mayor's budget message.

Public safety is the foundation of everything we want this city to be.

San Jose has earned its reputation as one of the safest big cities in the country.

And that's the result of disciplined leadership and smart use of resources.

As a technologist who uses AI in my everyday work, I can personally vouch for how it creates real efficiency by taking time-consuming tasks off people's lives or plates.

Right now, SJPD officers spend roughly 5,000 hours a month on reports.

AI assisted report writing would reduce that time by up to 65% and put them back in the neighborhoods where they can best serve.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, next speaker.

I'm too short.

Hi, good afternoon.

My name is Lin Wu.

I'm the representative for my uncle, the Kim Hung jury.

It bin Rob.

Everybody knows about it.

And I would like to come here today to say that please have some uh issue with the safety, public safety in San Jose in number one, and number two, it's the homeless.

I still see a lot of homeless.

And when I meet the new people, I invite them to San Jose.

They say, uh no, because your city is still a lot of homeless around, and then it's not safe to come.

So I don't want to hear any word from any stranger from the outside country or everybody say that things about in homeless uh and uh safety in San Jose.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Good afternoon, thank you very much, Mayor Maehan, uh, Vice Mayor Foley and Council members, as well as our city leadership.

We uh want to come here to say thank you, thank you for great leadership you guys have been providing over the last years.

Homelessness is less, affordable housing is more.

And uh our small businesses are thriving better.

Uh great GTC uh conference going on, thousands of people in our city, and all these things happening and blight, we are cleaner city.

Thank you.

It's working.

Keep focusing on those five major issues and spend every dime we can to take care of our city because in order for us to have a safe city, we must have all those working together at the same time.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Felicia Mute Ho and Agarval Ranu.

Come on down.

Go ahead.

Hi, uh, my name is Hong Kau.

Good afternoon.

Um, mayor and the castle member.

I'm Hong Kow.

I'm retired Shival Junior and also the for six year resident of San Jose.

I'm very proud to be city uh citizen, and uh, we understand you know building housing is uh the key issue for the city.

Uh by building the house, the city can generate the income and also you know we can rezone the crisis of the housing and biding so the city needs to simplify the process also to make sure the certain fee will be applied for the housing development, and I earn up you of the council member to support the mayor message of the budget.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council Member.

I am Deacon Netho from the Diocy of San Jose.

I live in DC City for 47 years.

And today I come here to speak in support of the mayor Mark Budget.

I support Mad Mahan Homelessness.

But stopping homelessness before it start your cost effective measure to keep people off the street.

And of the government to keep more families houses.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Um, I'd also like to call Viru Vupala, Prasad Manjina, and David Burkhart.

Come on down.

Go ahead.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council.

My name is Dinka District 2.

I'm here to support um Mayor Budget Message.

We are glad the county is doing its part.

The city should better integrate its interim housing system with the county coordinated entry system.

Show more people can move into permanent housing first.

In full thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council.

My name is Ranu Agirwal, and I'm a resident of Waterford Park in District 2.

I'm here today to speak in support of the mayor's March budget message.

And I'm doing so because to me, this budget message represents a sensible, smart and responsive approach to the right mix of priorities in our city.

For me particularly, what is striking in this budget message is that it recognizes recognizes and there is a cognizance of the mutually supportive relationship between the priorities of more housing, effect efficient shelter system, clean neighborhoods, public safety, and economic growth.

To illustrate this point, in my own neighborhood, we were faced with decline in neighborhood cleanliness with litter on the sidewalk and sanitation concerns.

Thank you.

That's your time.

Kaelin Katamori, come on down, Herb Bowen, Melissa Lopez, Vencott Matapati, and Josephine Caruso.

Go ahead.

Hello, my name is Felicia Martinez.

I am a youth fellow with the Young Women's Freedom Center.

I'm here today to strengthen and stand in strong support of building Moxa.

Often our neighborhoods are stigmatized, overlooked, and underestimated.

When resources are taken away from our communities, it's our young people who feel it the most.

Spaces like Moxa essential because they give young people a safe space to grow, to go to grow and feel a sense of belonging.

When young people lack safe spaces and guidance, the response they often receive from society is punishment rather than support.

But what our youth need, our youth don't need more punishment.

They need investment care opportunity to thrive.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um I don't have people lining up, so I'm gonna call a bunch of new names.

Sal Caruso, Ramesh Khonda, Ram Dota, Vijaya Asouri, Greg Koopman, Margie, Sam Lum, Steve Gann, Mary Wynne, Brian Kurtz.

I see movement.

Go ahead and speak.

I can't I got my time.

You got your time.

Uh good afternoon.

Mayor, council, uh, herbone pushing the San Jose neighborhood cert in our CERC community.

Uh I'm concerned about some cutbacks, but I've got some uh commitments by some of the council members to help our organization build out our neighborhoods.

Uh, we'll be working with the all district group, Greg Peck and that group to start getting more neighborhoods set up and prepared.

So we'll need a little funding, and I'm hoping, Miss McGuire, you can help us maybe get some time or 501c3s can help you with the budget and get through some stuff.

So waiting for that meeting.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Lisa Doyle, Veronica Gowie, Alicia Zamud Zamudio, Alydia Venegas, and Amilda Bueno come on down.

Go ahead.

Hello, Mayor and Council.

I'm Steve Cann.

I live in the Cambrian area that borders Almaden near the Guadalupe Creek.

And I can't point to any hard numbers of the number of homeless that used to commute from that creek area off onto uh Blossom Hill, but I I've noticed zero come out of there, so I suspect that the program currently is working and uh the efforts to stop the homeless people from living in those areas.

Uh I'm in support of the mayor's budget, and why there's a shortfall on the horizon.

This seems to be a common sense approach, and uh I hope it passes.

It seems to be fair for all.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Hello, Mayor and Council.

My name is Sam, and I'm president of the Hamilton Place Neighborhood Association in District 6.

I'm here today to speak in support of the mayor's March budget message.

My neighbors and I are intimately familiar with the consequences of long wait list to PSH in San Jose and the impact it has on our parks.

We recommend the following four items for consideration in the first draft of the budget.

The city should pilot a community paramedicine program for field treatment.

We recommend inclusion of funding for the SJPD bike and trails patrol.

San Jose should better integrate its interim housing system with the county's coordinated entry system.

Please do not cut the parks and recreations budget.

Vote yes on the mayor's budget message.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Hello, my name is Greg Koopman.

I was born and raised in San Jose.

When I was young, I was addicted and homeless and felt helpless until somebody reached out and gave me a chance.

Still, others today can't get work right here in San Jose because they have no address.

Coincidentally, today marks 30 years of me being in my home.

I'm so grateful.

In the past few years, I can see that San Jose is safer and cleaner.

Most of all, I feel better knowing that many of our unhoused mentally ill and addicted citizens are coming indoors as this is becoming San Jose's priority.

Support Mayor Mayhan's March budget message.

This continues the progress that he has put into this wonderful city.

Keep the focus on what's thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Mayor, Council members, good afternoon.

Brian Kurtz, San Jose Downtown Association, and D3 resident.

SJDA submitted a letter providing substantial support for 15 directives in the mayor's message and the subsequent memos.

I thank each of you for the marathon and the work that has gone into this process thus far.

We equally appreciate the more than 25 direct downtown references and the dozen plus other inclusions that will directly support downtown San Jose, from stitching districts to sports entertainment, pressing needs that exist in community safety, behavioral health, each support economic development in our community.

That it has the potential to be.

Thanks to all the workshops and certifications, I've had an early childhood education.

I am here to show my strong support for maintaining the same level of commitment to the children and youth services plan as a child care provider.

Thank you.

That's your time.

Next speaker.

I see firsthand how the no wrong door approach helps connect families in our community.

Thank you for your time, next speaker.

And mayor, uh my name is Margie.

I was a resident at Brandon Lane, and I'm speaking on behalf of all the clients and residents that has been experienced very unprofessionalism there.

Um my proposal is for you guys to pull the funding from that program because it's very unprofessional living there.

I've been called races by the staff, and I have gone over and beyond and end up getting kicked out.

I have never done anything to do drugs or alcohol or anything.

I always helped my fellow residents with food to having gas money to go to work and stuff like that.

Um it's heartbreaking that uh, you know, you live at this place thinking that.

Thank you.

That's your time.

Next speaker.

Mayor Mayhan, Council members, good afternoon.

My name is Veronica Goey.

I'm the executive director of Grail Family Services.

I represent the Mayfair Pocaway demonstration site responsible for the implementation of the Children Youth Services Master Plan.

Together, city, county, nonprofit agencies, and the community have invested in this project to ensure that systems work with families, not against them.

We strongly support the joint memo from Councilmember Candelas Car Campos, Ortiz, Duan and Casey.

Prioritizing youth investment is not only a social equity issue, but also a strategic economic and community development decision for the city's future.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, next speaker.

And the person who just passed me know the answer is yes.

Go ahead.

I am a graduate of the ABC Jobs to Grow program of Gray Family Service in the community of Madrid in East San Jose.

I am currently in the process of opening my own business in.

Thanks to my strong support and continued commitment to the city's Master Plan of Services for Children and Youth.

Investing in young families through the Maestro Plan helps strengthen our communities and create opportunities.

My name is Brenda Arenas, community navigator for Gray Family Services and resident of the Mayfair community.

I have worked for over 20 years directly with the community and participants of the Jobs to Grow program through case management, helping them connect with essential resources.

The master plan has had a great impact on the lives of our families.

My community members.

Well, I am a graduate of the ABC Jobs to Grow program of Gray Family Services of the East San Jose community.

I am here to show my strong support and maintain the same level of commitment.

I have the Child Care Services Master Plan.

The proposed half million dollars some represents 50% of the original investment by young families through the Master Plan.

To help and strengthen our community and create opportunities for families in East San Jose.

Thank you very much for your time as a mayor, Vice Mayor, Council members.

I'm my name is Issa Edge Laurie.

I'm president of Safe for San Jose.

I'm also the chair of the CAC for number one Branham, EIH.

We had nearly 100 emails written in to support of Councilmember Campos' memo.

We basically are only gonna have a couple speakers to save time, but I hope you take the time and read those emails that came in.

And I'm here in person to support Councilmember Campos memo as written as permanent housing is expedited if possible.

I know there's some hoops, John.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Mayor Mahan, uh Council members, Milton Cadena here with Catholic Charities, the Senior Services.

As a concerned San Jose resident and community worker, I urge you to find and prioritize some funding for the senior health and wellness services, fully aligning with the recommendations of the senior citizen commission.

It's squarely in our city's best interest to be a senior-friendly community.

This vital program suffer very low cost prevention against isolation, depression, and chronic illnesses that plague our aging population.

The benefits multiply healthier seniors, strengthened family units, enabling caregivers to contribute economically, boosting the local spending and reducing health care burdens.

Please fund and find some funding for health and wellness services in San Jose.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon.

My name is Linda Phillips, and I'm with SourceWise, the nonprofit and area agency on aging to Santa Clara County.

I urge the council to invest in critical preventative health and wellness services for older adults.

Funds currently support our health insurance counseling and advocacy program, providing free unbiased Medicare education and 101 counseling.

Funds pay for a part-time bilingual Spanish speaking counselor.

Today we are seeing an increase in demand for counseling services due to a growing aging population and federal changes to Medical and Medicare redeterminations impacting thousands of older adults who may no longer qualify or will lose financial assistance.

Please continue to ensure that older adults can access the care that they need.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Go ahead.

Tanya Payapelli, Cassandra Mahana, and Amanda Flores come on down.

Go ahead.

Good afternoon, Mary Mahan and Council members.

These programs support seniors, many who are low-income, isolated, or limited English proficient in staying healthy, connected, and independent.

Our programs like Kenco Living Series and the Enhanced Fitness Program are not just classes and services, they're lifelines.

Without them, many seniors will lose access to central care that they can afford elsewhere.

I'll keep this short.

So just please, I please uh ask prioritize older adult health and wellness funding for the upcoming budget.

Thank you very much.

Have a great day.

Thank you, next speaker.

Good afternoon.

Georgia Basile, Directing Attorney of Senior Adults, Legal Assistance or Salah.

We provide free legal services to San Jose residents, 60 or older.

We target clients that are low income or at risk of abuse, housing instability, or loss of independence.

Our funding from this uh grant supports our services at nine senior nutrition sites, including Alma, Camden, Cyprus, Eastside, John 23rd, Mayfair, Roosevelt, South Side, and Willow Glen, and we thank you for that.

We address a range of matters impacting our clients' lives like problems with social security, clients that are facing eviction or displacement, or clients that are victims of elder abuse.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Good afternoon, Mr.

Mayor, Ms.

Vice Mayor, and all of the councilman.

My name is Bao Chiu.

I am the executive director for Vivo, the Vietnamese front reformism.

I would like to echo all of the speakers before me asking the council to reconsider reinstalling the program for the seniors, the owner adults.

It has been a tremendous uh beneficial uh program for all of us, especially in vivo.

We offer the senior to get come together to get together to come out of isolation to be together, avoid loneliness, and most uh importantly, avoid depression and which may lead to uh suicide.

So I would like the council and to reconsider.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Brenda Bell Brown, Linda Hutchins Knowles, and Yann Trong.

Come on down.

Honorable Mayor and Council members.

My name is Tanya Bayapoli.

I am the CEO of Breathe California, and I commend you on your work in keeping San Jose clean and very welcoming.

But I'm also concerned about the older adult health and wellness program being completely eliminated.

Over the past eight years, we are um we have served over 10,000 senior adults and kept them outside the ER, um, prevented lung diseases through our critical breathing exercise programs, lung health screenings, and even prevented lung cancer, maybe uh by bringing them early to um hospitals.

So I would like you to reconsider and re-evaluate um the funding for the older adult health and thank you.

Next speaker good afternoon, Mayor and Council.

My name is Cassandra Magania, and I'm here representing West Valley Community Services.

San Jose is facing a serious affordability crisis, and our budget must reflect that reality.

Housing stability must be the foundation of our investments if we want to keep our communities intact.

We support the memo from Council members Ortiz, Candelas, Campo, Stoan, and Casey, along with the priorities outlined by the real coalition state framework.

Preventing homelessness must be central to this strategy strategy.

It is more humane and far less expensive than responding after someone loses their home.

That means expanding eviction prevention, strengthening homeless prevention system, and ensuring families can stay housed before we before reaching crisis.

We also support the want to highlight working families, housing and funding for children, youth and family master plan.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Hello and good afternoon, Mayor and Council members.

My name is Amanda Flores, and I'm community organizer working with Cassandra at West Valley Community Services, and we all facilitate our lived experience advisory committee.

And we continue to remain concerned that the mayor's budget message continues to center San Jose's homelessness strategy on the emergency interim housing system.

This system has required hundreds of million dollars in capital and operating costs while permanent housing production has not kept pace.

Prioritizing interim housing creates an ongoing budget burden and cannot solve the housing crisis on its own.

The message calls for optimizing current strategies but optimizing approaches that are not producing durable housing outcomes that will not resolve this crisis.

San Jose should focus more on resources, on strategies and on demonstrate.

Thank you.

That's your time.

Next speaker.

Brenda Bell Brown, West Valley Community Services.

To make California forum livable for everybody, we ask that we stop using public monies to support unincorporated areas that corporations repay relief funds granted during the pandemic, and that we develop a unique stream of charge and taxation for all offshore concerns, benefiting greatly from California-based interest.

I am also concerned about proposals to reduce interim housing costs through resident fees or shared responsibility models.

Charging fees is particularly disconcerting.

The city should prioritize strategies to help residents stabilize financially and move into permanent housing.

I thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

I'm I'm Wyan Trung of D6 with Mothers Out Front.

Please maintain climate smart's current levels of staffing and funding so that staff can continue to apply for grants, especially for equity.

Heat waves are intensifying faster than science can't predicted.

We need to fund balcony solar and wind turbines to reduce cooling costs for our most vulnerable low-income residents.

Mitigations help reduce cost of living for as our food, medical, and now gas costs continue to rise out of control.

With climate impacts accelerating, we must also accelerate our thank you.

That's your time.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon.

I'm Linda Hutchins Knowles with Mothers Out Front Silicon Valley.

We sent a letter in.

I won't repeat it.

I want to begin by a quote by something one of you said two years ago.

Who said this?

We were the first major city to pledge to be carbon neutral by 2030.

And SJCE is keeping us on track with innovative partnerships that ensure clean and reliable power, generate economic growth, and ensure our low-income neighbors are not left behind.

Who said that?

That was you, Mayor Mahan, in the news release celebrating the five years of SJCE.

We agree with you, Mayor Mahan.

We mothers and allies, as well as the 209 residents who signed the petition submitted to you from Silicon Valley Youth Climate Action.

Unfortunately, our city is no longer on track to reach carbon neutrality by 2030.

Thank you.

That's your time.

Next speaker.

Hi, my name is Lisa Doyle.

I'm a resident near one Brandon Lane.

I support Council Member Council Member Campos Memo joining the about 100 community members who also submitted emails supporting the transition of one brand of lane to permanent low-income housing for the 55 and up community.

I speak on half of the neighborhoods surrounding one brand on behalf of the neighborhood surrounding one brand of lane when I say we should sincerely appreciate an expedited change in operator and approval process so our quality of life, public safety, and property values can be restored.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Mayor Man, City Council members, Ed Davis, the chair of uh San Jose Chamber of Commerce.

I was called earlier and ran late, so here I go.

Uh good afternoon.

Uh we're in support of item 3.3 in the mayor's proposed budget.

Downtown is still carrying the weight of job losses in key sections and reduced investment, but we also know that what works keeping the area safe, clean, and welcoming, accelerating housing, adaptive reuse, and supporting the small businesses that anchor the street level activity.

Continued progress on homelessness reduction and the stronger behavior health coordination is essential to restoring confidence of workers, residents, and visitors.

We should protect the services that maintain downtown's clean cleanliness and safety streamlining, permitting to uh bring new housing and retail online faster and priority.

Thank you.

That's your time.

Next speaker.

Hi, I'm Jeff Levine, a resident of the Roosevelt Park neighborhood in District 3.

I'm here today to support Mayor Mark Mayor's March budget message.

I acknowledge that the projected budget deficit will require difficult decisions.

However, I urge the council to remain focused on the priorities that affect all residents of San Jose.

My primary concern is community safety.

I encourage the city to pursue a modern effective approaches to support our emergency responders.

This would include piloting a community paramedicine program that will allow paramedics to provide treatment in the field and connect uh individuals to follow-up care, reducing unnecessary uh crowded um emergency room care.

Let's let's keep the focus on what works.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

I'd also like to call Ally Victorine, Domingo Armendez, Lords Alvarez, and Hector Hernandez.

Go ahead.

Good afternoon.

My name is Gabriel Manrique, the community organizer representing Luna and the real coalition.

I'm a resident of district three.

We appreciate elements of the council memoranda that prioritize investment in youth and families, including increased funding for implementation of the children and youth services master plan and continue support for programs such as VES and other youth violence prevention initiative.

Sustaining and expanding this program to remain a priority.

The memorandus recognition of child care affordability is also important.

We support unit to find alternative funding options to sustain the family, friends, and neighbors, caregiver support network, and encourage continued collaboration with the Santa Clara County and community providers to strengthen child care access for working families.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Deb St.

Julian D2 Surge, rapid response.

Budgets show leadership's focus.

The San Jose budget proposal proposal largely reacts to people who end up downstream versus investing in upstream proactive solutions.

The budget focuses on the bottom of the waterfall, where we find people without adequate resources or housing.

San Jose's leaders need to look up.

You need to ask what are some of the things that would keep people from flunging off the waterfall?

And people have been mentioning them in this meeting.

These are preventive top of the waterfall solutions.

These are public safety solutions.

Yeah, look up.

You need to fund programs that keep people from falling over and the RRN that protects our thank you.

Next speaker.

Allie Victorine, president of the D7 leadership group and Seven Trees Neighborhood Association.

We support the mayor's budget message as it aligns with the concerns of the D7 community.

We support sheltering the unhoused and increasing staffing and technology for police and fire departments.

Beautify SJ's anti-graffities illegal dumping and neighborhood engagement programs have helped transform and strengthen our neighborhoods.

They should be fully funded.

While police stop the crime, it was code enforcement is the reason at least two illegal gambling houses, both next to schools, are now well-maintained rental units.

No encampment zones and the monitoring team is the reason families can enjoy the Coyote Creek Trail again.

We support youth intervention programs that prevent crime and gang, but wonder about our park.

Thank you.

That's your time.

Next speaker, Alejandra Aguilar, come on down, Sandy Perry and Lori.

Hi, my name is Lourdes Alvarez Halstrup.

I'm a community organizer with Working Partnerships USA.

And I'm here to advocate for an affordability agenda through this year's budget.

Our community is being hit all over, grappling with Steve Costa's housing, child care groceries so much more.

We urge you to support working families housing and innovative collaborative approach to unlock thousands of new affordable homes, build cheaper, faster, and good, well-paying unionized jobs.

If the city commits to exploring working families housing, San Jose will truly lead the way on housing.

Our community can quickly move towards testing a locally controlled system for housing where renters and public have more agency and we have can effectively bring everyone together in the power of organized labor committee developers and local governments to ensure everyone in San Jose has a place to call home.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

And Otokanaboli.

Oh hello, hi, my name is Helte Hernandez.

I'm uh Tony Member from Isaiah San Jose.

I'm here to um to advocate for a lot of unhost hope folks are here in uh San Jose, but having actually uh more affordable housing uh procedure.

That's why I'm here to support the affordable agenda as outline the memo from Council Member Ortiz Campus Casey Duan can let us uh for for preventing homelessness caring for your you for our youth and building homes and preventing layouts and protecting core services.

Also, I'd like to um I'd like to urge to preserve the women and daughters and funding allocated for um from last year for deportations defense legal services, know your rights outreach and response network.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Um afternoon, members of the DIES.

My name is Domingo Armandis.

I am a community organizer for working partnerships USA, and I'm here to ask uh that we um move forward with the apologies that we look over with the working families uh housing initiative in order to um collaborate to approach to unlock uh thousands of new affordable homes for our city.

Uh these will be built cheaper, faster, and with good well-paying unionized jobs.

Um, and if the city commits to exploring working families housing, San Jose would truly lead the way on housing.

Our community can quickly move forward toward testing a locally controlled system for housing where renters and the public have more agency and we can effectively bring together this power of organized labor, community developers, and local governments to ensure everyone is San Jose.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Hello, my name is Alejandra.

I'm coming for Give Workers by Nichols USA.

Um, support working families and affordable houses.

Uh, no remove the program for these ladies.

It they're showing their this program, they're working.

They're working right now.

And we need to support single mothers, a lot of single mother that use this kind of program, and they help your families.

Uh necessitamos programmas para mujeres solas con sus hijos familias in general que difficultan cada día más.

They in general make it increasingly difficult to find a home due to high rental costs.

So please help for the opportunities and find a thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, Mayor and Council.

My name is Lori.

I'm a 23-year resident of San Jose, District 6, and a member of Surge, Santa Clara County.

True public safety is built on people thriving.

When everyone in San Jose, no matter who you are or where you from where you're from, has what we need to thrive.

That is what makes our city healthy and safe.

Surge urges our council to incorporate upstream prevention and racial equity into every area of the city's budget.

Permanent supportive housing, investing in homelessness prevention before homelessness starts, including renters' right to counsel, children and youth services, violence prevention and trust non-police crisis response.

This is what you next speaker, Kristen Link, Cindy Bautista and Joanna Bacera come on down.

Speaker Kristen Link, Cindy Bautista, and Joanna Becerra.

Come on down, hola, buenos tards, me nombre, Celia, Patricia.

Years working as a supplier here in the city of San Jose.

I am an active member of the CCP.

I am here to demand that the city council direct the city manager to include child care within the budget priorities.

Well, all the children I've had in my care since the country closed have been referred by the same mothers to whom I've offered my services.

I'm here to urge the state and the state and the city to stop killing daycare.

Daycare is business, killing daycare and a privileging NGO.

We are small business and a stakeholder because you own homes here.

We live here, we pick taxes here, and we work here.

Calling three more names, Jeremy Baroose, Marina Licenosa, and Ms.

Rain Mendoza.

Good afternoon.

I'm Sandy Perry.

I'm with South Bay Community Land Trust, but I'm re speaking for myself today as a resident of District 3.

Uh the mayor's well, I call on the council to reject the mayor's budget as it's originally written.

It puts out a welcome map for Silicon Valley billionaires and dirty data centers and sends a message to all low-income residents and people of color to get out.

Does not even mention the fact that we've been in a displacement crisis in San Jose since the 2008 recession, and that people, low-income people have been forced to move to Modesto, Merced, and Sacramento, which by the way, it's not a good look for someone who's trying to run for governor.

I am a community organizer for friends of Guadalupe.

Thanks to the million dollars invested last year.

It was possible to help many families who were filled with fear and uncertainty, not knowing when they would be separated from their families, leaving them unprotected.

And on behalf of my community, I ask the council to continue investing the million dollars so that we can continue supporting our community with legal services and one million dollars.

It's not just a number, it's a bit of peace of mind, protection, and hope for many families who live in constant fear of going out to work, going out to school, or going out to do their shopping.

Thanks to the mayor for including us in his budget message.

But we hope he fulfills his promise to raise an additional 500,000 on top of the million through philanthropy.

And I would like to make it clear that these are the afternoon.

We are the first line of defense for our immigrant population.

We're there letting them know that we care and that we want to protect them and keep them as part of our community.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Good afternoon, Jeremy Bruce with Amigos de Guadalupe Center for Justice and Empowerment.

And we urge the council to preserve the one million dollars for immigration services that was in invested last year and urge the mayor's office to raise an additional 500,000 with philanthropy.

We are encouraged by the mayor's budget message, highlighting reinvestment in these services, but we cannot afford to backtrack.

This funding is not just about legal support, it's about honoring our values, ensuring everyone in San Jose can thrive.

With the one million invested last year, we were able to scale up with departition defense legal services and emergency legal services and dispatch with the rapid response network.

Let's meet the moment with the leadership San Jose is known for.

Thank you.

I'd like to call a few more names.

Felicia M, Cole Cameron, Kimberly Wu, and we Tran.

Come on down.

Go ahead.

Good afternoon, everyone.

My name is Marnelli.

I'm with Lead Filipino overseeing their health equity work, and I live in San Jose District 6.

I'm also representing the real coalition.

We support the March memorandum.

The memo directs the city manager to evaluate strategies to explore increasing the share of measure e-funds for prevention and reinvest interim housing savings into the homelessness prevention system programs.

When residents receive timely support, such as eviction, prevention assistance, or flexible housing help, they are far more likely to remain housed.

When we canvassed across San Jose last year, our Filipina AXO elders and families have expressed how hard it is to pay rent and have resorted to living in multi-generational house households.

Even the cost of living is slowly pushing out families who have lived here for generations to avoid homelessness.

When folks are housed, they resense they retain a sense of dignity, can work in San Jose and contribute to the next speaker.

This of course means stability, protection, and hope.

Because in the end, like I told you before, a government is measured by the way you treat your most vulnerable.

Gandhi said that so let's keep it going.

And also I need District Six and District One to answer the email.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Shake it a little bit.

You're going at it.

I'd hate to be a budget person as I've done in the past.

It's a challenge, and I appreciate you taking it on.

Uh being a part of our various mayor's D9 section.

Um senior instructor research and a veteran.

I don't see a couple of things listed, but I didn't read the 40 pages.

So my question is with housing for veterans.

We have a number of school sites that are having to be vacated, so there's another resource of existing buildings or the site.

Cooper, did they give you the microphone?

Oh, okay.

Good evening.

I'm gonna give right to the point.

I thank you all for doing a good job.

My priority is number one safety.

Number two is get the homeless off the street, you're doing a good job.

In the number three, is think about the veterans, the veterans.

I have a lot of my families in the Air Force and stuff like that.

And I'm concerned about the mental patient out on the street because that's the issue.

So far, I'm very pleased with the job you're doing.

It's not easy, but make the wise decision on the budget to keep the certain things priority.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Next speaker, I'd like to call Ozelle Kirkland, Kathy Cordova, Orlana Mejia, and Sean Passial.

Come on down.

Go ahead.

Hi, I'm Kim with Siren.

We strongly support Rio's truly affordable staying for more to keep families in San Jose.

And we must also protect the need to keep families together in San Jose.

Thus, we also urge the city to heed rapid response networks in IPEN's request to sustain and solidify the one million dollars in ongoing funding for immigration protection services and actualize the mayor's promise of getting the additional $500,000 from philanthropy.

Due to the federal budget cuts and mass deportations that kidnap broad owners of families and the anti-immigrant agenda, restricting work eligibility and sources of income, our immigrant families are facing attacks from the federal government on all fronts.

The state framework is vital, as well as the 1.5 million funding is also vital to keep our families together, and that's how we keep our communities safe.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That's your time.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon, Council members.

My name is Sweetran, Executive Director of SIREN, and we're part of the steering committee for the Rapid Response Network and for the real coalition.

San Jose did something historic last year, which is to invest a million dollars into immigration services in a time of unprecedented fear.

While we have not seen the dramatic raids in other from other places, that does not mean that ICE is not here.

Our county has seen three times the number of detentions as any other county in the Bay Area.

We are one of the most impacted counties, if not in the state, if not the most.

What this should make clear is that the threat is not gone.

We urge the council to continue the $1 million in immigration services that it allocated last year and secure the additional $500,000 through philanthropy.

We also support the state framework for the real coalition because as much as we fight for you, that's your time.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon, Mayor Mayhan and Council members.

My name is Kathy Cordova, and I'm here as the co-chair of Real, the nonprofit race equity action leadership coalition.

I have lived in San Jose for more than 50 years and I'm currently a resident of District 6.

The real coalition submitted a letter in response to the mayor's budget message and the March 13th memorandum from Council members Campos, Ortiz, Dawan, Condelis, and Casey.

We appreciate those council members for elevating affordability as a key priority in highlighting issues that align with community concerns, including homelessness prevention and support for families, youth, and older adults.

As the city council begins difficult budget deliberations, we urge you to center decisions on affordability, racial equity, and household stability.

Thank you.

That's your time.

Jennifer Keller, Yula Idomoto, Ray Brampson, Carmen Martinez.

I'm gonna call a few more names until I see movement.

Um Samantha Rojas, Diane Gaskill, and Joe Nieto.

Go ahead.

Mayor and City Council, I'm Osell Kirkland of the Cataldi Park Neighborhood Association.

I support the mayor's budget and the focus on making our homelessness response more efficient, faster, and preventative.

Preserving measure fund E is a smart investment that keeps the families from falling into crisis.

In my own encounters, I've met people who appear able and want to break that cycle.

And this funding is a real opportunity, not just to manage the homelessness, but to end it.

We should prioritize self-sufficiency like job training and other structured pathways out of dependency and the goal long-term resilience, dignity, and independence.

I urge this council to support the mayor's budget in the full and ensure its funding to break the cycle, not sustain it.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Hello, my name is Heula Itamoto, and I'm a resident of District 6 and a longtime early educator.

I'm here today on behalf of the educators who can't be because they're caring for our children as we speak, so parents across San Jose can show up to work.

Child care is a central infrastructure, just like transportation or public services.

It allows families to participate in our economy and it prevents them from falling into being unhoused.

The return on investment is clear.

For every one dollar invested in child care policies, pro-child care policies, returns can be up to $12 when investments are made equitably.

Investing in child care supports working families, strengthens a workforce led by immigrant women of color, and shows our children that San Jose believes in their future.

I'm also a mom, and I'd really love to raise my son here in San Jose, so I would love your help in doing that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Can I pass?

I'd like to wait until the mayor comes back.

You can go to the back of the line.

Is that okay?

And before you speak, I just want to let you know.

When the council members go in the back, there's audio playing back there, so they can hear you.

Um they can't escape it.

It's it's uh the audio plays everywhere in the back rooms.

I just want people to know just because you don't see people on the dies doesn't mean they're not listening.

Okay, go ahead.

Perfect.

All right, hello, council and mayor.

Uh I just want to let you guys know.

My name is Joe Nieto, and I'm in District 5 with the Plata Royal Neighborhood Association.

And I am here to thank the mayor for putting the uh budget message that keeps the focus on the basic public safety, blight, trying to end a homeless, improving our neighborhoods.

I hope council will stay focused in the city and uh do the most basic responsibilities.

I do realize it's a tough budget, but it's something that we need to do, and let's just try to do the right thing for the people.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Hello, City Council.

My name is Cottman, and I'm here representing the real coalition.

Recent discussions in the public safety, finance, and strategic support committee highlighted concerns about the city's enforcement focused approach to homelessness.

Hundreds of enforcement actions have been taken against unhoused residents under the city's code of conduct approach.

Yet this strategy has produced zero documented placements into shelter or housing as a result of police outreach.

At the same time, San Jose continues to face a severe shortage of deeply affordable housing and limited capacity and prevention programs.

Enforcement alone cannot resolve homelessness.

The city should prioritize strategies to address the root drivers of housing instability, including expanding homelessness prevention, increasing deeply affordable housing, and protecting tenants from displacement.

So fewer residents fall into homelessness.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Also, Danny Garza, Stella Slingstad, Michael Bryant, Nigel Hanson, and Bob Brownstein.

Come on down.

Um, my name is SMAT, and I'm representing Defensoras today.

I urge council to protect and fund immigrant defense and community protection services in this budget.

Right now, many patients with unsatisfactory immigrant status are simply avoiding going to their medical appointments.

People are delaying cancer treatment, cancer screenings, primary care visits, and urgent treatment because they are afraid of ice presence or immigration enforcement, particularly in ease and downtown San Jose areas where many health care resources are located.

As a result, some patients are left with delayed care.

In the past few weeks, patients and community members have shared that when neighbors when neighborhoods and streets are secured by community by trusted community-based approaches, not ICE, they feel safer seeking care.

That sense of safety directly impacts whether someone shows up to a clinic or avoids it entirely.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon, Mayor, Vice Mayor, City Council, Ray Bramson, Chief Operating Officer, Destination Home.

On behalf of Destination Home, I'd like to thank both the mayor and council for their support of the homelessness prevention system.

During times of difficult budget crises, we have to make tough decisions and support initiatives that work for our most vulnerable residents.

Homelessness prevention is fast, effective, and saves our community money and time.

The more we invest, the better we'll see.

As we enter into the community planning process over the next few years to work on ending homelessness for our community, we'll need to invest in all of the above strategies, which can help our community thrive.

I thank you.

I thank the housing department for their excellent work and this collaboration going forward.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Hello, I'm Jennifer Kelleher Cloyd.

I'm the executive director of First Five Santa Clara County, and I'm going to ask you to join us and the County of Santa Clara in investing in our children who are our City of San Jose residents.

Our children are not a regional issue.

They are a local San Jose issue.

How can you do that?

First, you can invest as much in the children and youth master plan as the city did in planning it.

We've named child care as one of those priority areas, and we need to deliver on that promise.

Second, we can support the family friend and neighbor program at our local library, which is hugely successful and well attended by our communities who need it.

Third, you can support child care who are our local businesses and can thrive and help other.

Thank you.

That's your time.

Next speaker.

Welcome to the afternoon, lads and losses.

My name is Diane Gasco.

I'm a former U.S.

Navy pilot, project manager, and what they called an efficiency expert.

If you want to find out how to do something easily fast and at the least cost, ask somebody from the Navy.

I'm also a member of the City of San Jose Community Emergency Response Team, a pilot for the state of California emergency response team, and a former project manager for a Silvic Silicon Valley nonprofit that builds homes for the elderly.

I'm not here for me.

None of that stuff matters.

Matt, um Mayor Matt and Council, I read through the entire budget.

It's amazing.

I can see how many thousand hours.

Thank you.

That's your time.

Next speaker.

Hello, my name is Nigel, president of the Thousand Oaks Neighborhood Association in District 9.

I'm here to speak in support of Mayor Mahan's budget message.

We need to continue supporting growth in the police department as we head into increasing retirements.

If we fall behind on staffing now, we will suffer the consequences in years to come.

And uh lastly, although the city does not directly influence funding for it, I would hope to see support for our public school system to the fullest extent possible.

This, along with pushing affordable housing in San Jose, so that young families can plant the seeds for a strong San Jose.

Thank you, next speaker.

Good afternoon, Honorable Mayor, uh Peter Ortiz, City Council, Angel Reels, Lee Wilcox, John Risto, Olympia.

Uh all of you have contributed to our neighborhood success, and so I'll be brief.

First, uh we Platte Oil support and encourage more funding for San Jose police officers.

Without without them, the East Valley would be lost.

Second, we're looking to also encourage more park funding.

It's really simple.

That's a quality of life issue, and the last thing in three seconds is how'd you get on the daily show?

Thank you, next speaker.

Thank you.

Bob Brownstein, District Three.

I support the memo from Council Members Compost Stone and others because it is a serious effort to correct the major fiscal errors in the mayor's strategy on homelessness.

The mayor's message claims San Jose can achieve functional zero for homelessness at a cost of 225 million one time and 234 million ongoing.

This is massively inaccurate.

These figures are based on a number of homeless people counted in February of 2025, but the city's own data shows an inflow of new homeless persons of about 2400 a year.

The city's prevention programs are nowhere near adequate.

The council members are right to emphasize more prevention.

The mayor is wrong to oppose those actions.

Thank you, next speaker.

Alison Cingalani, Stephen Samuel, David Burroughs, Dave Peterson, and Carl San Miguel come on down.

Good afternoon, Mayor and City Council.

My name is Michael Bryant.

I live in District 10, South San Jose, uh down in between uh Burnell and Cottle.

Uh I agree with uh your proposal and the things that you're planning on doing.

I've seen the great changes uh down in our area between uh where the Lowe's uh store is on Cottle and Costco down on Burnell.

That whole corridor there was tents and encampments and trash, and that's all been changed greatly, and I appreciate the way that's all been done.

With that being said, I'm also a member of CERT, and I'd like to see something done there.

And I also would like to see the parks covered as well.

Best you could do.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

I don't know how you do this.

I'm exhausted.

Mr.

Mayor, Council members, I am a resident of District 9.

During one of your speeches on homelessness, something you said stayed with me.

Mr.

Mayor, you said they deserve to be treated with dignity.

And you're right.

Hearing that shifted how I look at the housing issue.

So far, you've inspired me to get involved in cleaning up the city I was born and raised in.

I love my city, and it's clear you do too.

In fact, I lost an outfit painting one of your walls.

I ask Vice Mayor and Council to vote for the mayor's budget message in full.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Hello, everyone.

My name is Stephen Samuel from District 10, where Matt Mahan was our council member.

He served us very well, and I thought it important to acknowledge and commend the governance that we've had.

I'm a great believer in representative government, and in order for that to work, I believe that our representatives have to have honesty, integrity, courage, and kindness.

And our mayor has all of those.

I hope you'll all join me in my support of our great mayor and the proposed budget.

I'm also a great supporter of the idea that in order to reduce crime, we invest in our young people in our community.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Go ahead.

Hi, Dave Peterson.

Uh, District 10.

Uh, thank you, George, for being there, going through all of your stuff and all of you for sitting through this wonderful event.

Wouldn't it be great if it was like this every week?

I just want to point out the small business component of this uh uh budget message.

You need money, you gotta spend the money.

Whole bunch of people want to spend your money.

So you need to create the money, and you're gonna create that money by having small businesses uh start, create, grow, thrive, employ people, and develop a message by which this city can continue to grow.

Without that, the the income from those small businesses, you will not be able to do all of what these folks want to do with your money.

37 years in business in San Jose, not a penny from the city, and I uh am proud of that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon, Council, Mayor.

Uh I'm here to support the the March uh budget.

Um there's a lot of good points to the budget, but I'd like to hone in on one, and that's the one that establishes development fee framework to defer payment of all housing impact fees and taxes until a certificate of occupancy, which is the very last item of the construction and new development.

It's important to do this because the developers need as much incentive to start their projects and not to be bogged down with the huge expense of all the the fees that uh are contributed to it.

And I would ask one last thing that you vote for this budget before Matt is forced to move to Sacramento.

Thank you, next speaker.

Um, I just wanted to say I'm getting quite a few duplicate cards.

I still have a lot of speakers left.

If I haven't called you, it's not because you didn't like I I missed you.

Um I'm just still getting through them.

So thank you for your patience.

Go ahead.

Okay.

Good afternoon.

My name is David.

I'm a resident of District 3.

Um I saw in the San Jose spotlight recently that one of our nearby cities had uh did agreed on doing having 42 focus points for this next uh fiscal period.

Um that kind of makes my head explode.

I don't see how anyone can keep track of 42 items.

I want to underline the um sort of the thing I appreciate about the budget here, is trying to keep focus on a small number of things.

I know budgets are tight, and um uh I know that these are long-term efforts, but I hope that as we as we revise the budget and move forward, we really really keep focused on the these focus items.

Thank you.

That's your time.

Mary Ng and Jeremiah Leinberger come on down.

Good afternoon, Alison Singalani, Director of Policy with SV at home.

We're pleased that Ellis Act language has been removed from the message and that the compost memo on conversion of Brandom Lane to permanent affordable housing is included.

We appreciate support for affordable housing via construction tax waivers in the March budget message, but this applies to a limited pool of projects, and additional tools are needed to support AC rehab projects and new construction with project-based vouchers.

We support the inclusion of items 10 through 15 from the five signature memo on proactive code enforcement, including housing element program S3.

We're pleased to see from the five signature memo items supporting PBCE, included supporting their absolutely critical work.

Structural reform alone cannot close the affordability gap, and new funding is needed for the affordable housing production and preservation we need.

We ask each of you to that's your time.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon.

My name is Helen Brock, and I'm a 54-year resident of San Jose.

And I'm here to support the mayor's budget message.

In spite of current budget issues, I urge you to stay laser focused on the very issues of the key issues of importance to San Jose residents.

You have produced measurable results in reducing the number of unsheltered homeless, increasing public safety, and removing some of the impediments to rapid home building.

Please continue making permanent housing more plentiful and affordable to the adult children of your constituents, bringing the unhoused indoors and ensuring the safety of our community by finding other ways to meet your budget challenges.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Kaya Huff, come on down.

Maria Carmen Via Lobos and Matthew Fraser.

Go ahead.

Esteemed Mayor and members of the council.

My name is Dimitri from District 3.

I speak in support of Mayor's budget proposal.

The budget process as our democracy overall is an exercise in prioritization.

The top priority should be making our city the best place to live.

And this means we need to stay focused on housing affordability, public safety, and reducing homelessness.

The mayor's framework builds on the process and progress we already made and focuses on practical solutions.

There are difficult trade-offs given our city's uh fiscal situation, but I believe the budget plan strikes the right balance and serves our community best.

I urge the council to support the mayor's March budget message.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good evening.

My name is Vasindra Tarimeti.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

I'm from D10.

I support Mayor's March budget message, especially its emphasis on breaking the cycle of untreated mental health issues and substance abuse.

Why do we continue to see the same cycle?

Contact release under written to the streets without treatment.

Without treatment programs outlined in the budget, such as aligning judicial and behavioral health system and expanding treatment placements, our neighbors suffer in a cycle that they cannot escape alone.

Also, in the spirit of compassion, I wanted to request for increased funding for spin Utah Services for Animal Shelter, whether it's a person or individual compassion is not is needed in a crisis.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good evening, Mayor.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council.

My name is Jeremiah Lamberger.

I serve as a development and data analysis at the African American Community Service Agency and a current doctoral student.

So I understand how important it is for the city to invest into our youth to gain opportunities and access.

My concern is access and opportunity for our youth.

As the city continues to lead in AI and innovation, I want to ensure that all youth, especially black and brown youth are gaining access to internships, career pathways.

And I urge the city's budget to implement that for our youth and to provide consistent access for our youth to gain paid internships, workforce development, and career exposures throughout the year.

Investment in our black and brown youth is essential as we continue to thank you.

Next speaker, Neil Valenzuela, come on down.

Brianna Hernandez, Julissa M, and Jonathan.

Go ahead.

I'm Mary Yang, and my um goal is to affirm all of you for your courage in these times and your dedication.

And I offer uh two quotes from the last century.

Uh the first one's Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who actually quotes somebody from the 1800s.

Uh, the mark of a society is not how far those who have much can go, but how far those who have little can go.

And on the other end, on the right side, I quote Margaret Thatcher.

The problem with progressives is they eventually run out of other people's money.

So I offer these two as you go through your budget crisis here or with the deficit.

And I had a third one from John F.

Kennedy, but goodbye.

Thank you, next speaker.

Good afternoon.

My name is Kaya Health, policy and advocacy intern with a focus in child care systems and support at the African American Community Service Agency.

I want to highlight the importance of child care.

In San Jose, child care providers, especially small, home-based, and community-rooted providers, are essential to working families.

They are not just caregivers, but they are small business owners and trusted pillars in our community.

Yet many of them are struggling to stay in their businesses due to rising costs and limited access to resources.

I strongly urge you to continue investing in child care support efforts such as Family Friends and Neighbor Support Network and by strengthening partnerships with community-based providers while also taking notes from San Francisco, New York, and New Mexico providing free and subsidized child care.

Please make providers and their sustainability of their business a priority when supporting.

Thank you.

That's your time.

Thanks speaker.

Good evening, leadership.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak.

My name is Matthew Frazier, native of San Jose.

I'm a columnist with Times Media Inc.

in San Jose, and very briefly I wanted to advocate for increased funding where possible for journalistic and creative writing programs across the schools, colleges, and universities, and even the uh creation and expedition of vocational traineeships and so on.

As someone who's been writing since the age of four, I highly uh applaud everything that you've done collectively and would like uh consideration for increased funding for writing, if possible.

Thank you each for your time.

Thank you, next speaker.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council members.

My name is Brianna Hernandez.

I'm a 12th grader at the Eastside Union District's William C.

Overfell and a core leader at Californians for Justice, CFJ, and the Youth Building Coalition.

At Californians for Justice, we work to advance racial and educational justice within our schools and districts across four cities.

I'm also a part of the Destination College Advising Corps and the Boys and Girls Club of America.

On my school, it's very rare to take risks, and it's even more common to never leave Eastside.

In a low-income area like Eastside, it's not uncommon for a lot of students to have part-time jobs to support their family.

With DCAC support and enrichment programs, I was admitted early decision to UC Berkeley.

But due to budget cuts, a lot of my peers won't have the same resources.

That's why it's crucial we invest in these opportunities to give students like myself the ambition for the same opportunities.

I urge you to invest in our education, to invest in our youth, and to invest in our community.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Greg Peralta, Vicky Ramirez, and Dan from D10.

Come on down.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council members.

I'm a 12th grader from Eastide High School Overfell and a core leader at Californians for Justice, AKA CFJ.

Today I want to talk about funding safe places for art, music, cultural expression programs, sports, and physical activities for youth.

Currently, I am wearing a mariachi chato suit.

Growing up, I was part of the Air USD Mariachi program, but we had very limited space with many participants and limited instructors.

Max I can provide children with these resources.

Once my older brother was able to take advantage of it for soccer.

Through Maxa, he built community, learned how to expand his sportmanship and much more.

I was passionate about all the arts I was offered growing up, and the future generations shouldn't be denied their own.

Through CFJ, I learned I could make this possible by advocating for Maxa and joined the Youth Building Peace Coalition to guarantee the youth and their families can be accommodated.

Overall, investing in youth programs will enhance enhance community prosperity in the long run.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Good afternoon, everyone.

My name is Neil Valenzuela, a senior at Overfell High School and a leader with California for Justice.

Today I want to talk about why student voice matter.

My personal story, student voice matters so much to me growing up.

My father had to work three jobs.

But during my 10th grade year, he was sent back to Mexico in an instant life change.

This experience opened my eyes.

Many students carry invisible struggles like financial hardship and family separation that most people never see.

We understand these challenges because we live them.

I joined a youth building peace coalition, so students like me can advocate for the support we need to succeed.

Investing in the leadership, investing in the future of youth who sounds like when we uplift students' voices, we help every young person to reach their full potential.

So I urge you to invest in our education in our youth.

Thank you for your time, City Council and members.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

My name is Jonathan, and I am an 11th grade student from Overfell High School and an immigrant and civil rights activist with WCO for the people.

As the son of a hardworking low-income immigrant family, something I have dealt with growing up was lack of resources for our big immigrant community.

As it was very clear from a young age that at any moment my parents could be taken from me.

Thanks to nonprofits like Amigos de Guadalupe, my parents have started to get the legal help they deserve, which was largely kept me at ease.

Additionally, other organizations like the Rapid Response Network are essential to keep our community safe.

This is why I urge the mayor and the city council to preserve the one million dollar fund for legal defense and for the merits furthermore expended by 500,000 through philanthropy.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Um Jean Marie White, come on down.

R.

Consiglio, Oscar QM and Morgan.

Steve leaders.

Oh, sorry.

And one more Moigan Mahades.

Wait, Mahdi Zeday.

Uh, sorry, I practiced that one.

I think I butchered it.

Um, go ahead.

Uh Steamed leaders, I am Dan from D10.

Uh, in the city budget, public safety is number one.

And I think you know that, but you know, we do have the least number of police officers per capita of any large city.

Uh San Jose Fire, they represent our survival, you know.

So keep up with that.

Congrats on helping with the homeless crisis.

It's not over, but it's it's working.

On the other hand, watch out for NGOs.

I mean, they made 24 billion dollars disappear in California, okay?

So I trust the city staff, be careful with the NGOs.

Uh, don't sue any government agencies, and uh, frankly, I worry about funding rapid response network.

Are we gonna get Minneapolis here?

Uh thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Good evening, mayor and council member.

My name is Edu Viga Ramirez, and I am a family child care provider in San Jose for 10 years.

Thank you for prioritizing child care in the city budget.

But I need to be very clear.

We are in crisis.

The freezing estate childcare funding is not a small issue.

It is actively forcing providers like me to close our doors while families are still disasperately looking for for daycare.

This is not a supply problem.

This is an access problem.

California promised a mixed delivery system, no a system that pushed family child care providers out of the market.

We were essential workers during COVID 19.

We show up when no no one sells good.

Now we are asking you to protect us.

Invest in subsidy child care in San Jose, because without us, families cannot work in our country.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon.

My name is Greg Peralta.

I'm a resident of District 6, and residents across San Jose, including myself, want to see continued progress through addressing encampments and improving conditions in all of our neighborhoods.

On a personal example, this um I had a friend who visited me last month who used to live here.

She noticed the tremendous improvement.

So I want to say thank you.

It's working.

But at the same time, um, in my district in front of the building I live in, we had a man who was pretty aggressive living there for a month, a month, sorry, a week.

And um, after three visits by the police, he did leave only to return one night and knocking on doors trying to get into homes.

So we still have work left to be done.

I encourage the council to support the mayor's March budget message.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Hi, Mayor Mahan and Council members.

My name is Mojgon Mahti Sade.

I'm a community organizer.

I'm here to express my support for Mayor's March budget message.

Uh, one of the priorities that uh residents care about most is uh ending legal dumping and continuing to clean up our neighborhoods so residents can take pride in the places where they live and work.

Illegal dumping is something many of us see regularly, and it can be frustrating when it sits there for weeks before anything is done.

A practical solution is allowing beautify SJ teams to send warning letters sooner, which would help the city respond faster and reducing the timeline from nearly two months to closer than 10 days.

This would help prevent repeat dumping and also save the city time and resources.

As someone who cares deeply about the quality of our neighborhood, a risk.

Thank you that your time.

Next speaker, Dashiel Leeds, Joe Schvenison, Victor Vasquez, and Dan Mount Sear, come on down.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council.

My name is Jean-Marie White, and I live in Nagley Park.

I want to talk about public safety and homelessness.

A few days ago, my gym coach was walking with his four kids on the Alameda and had to explain open drug activity on the sidewalk.

Around the same time, my neighbor's cat was killed by loose dogs from an encampment along Coyote Creek.

And those dogs have been chasing joggers.

These are real impacts impacts on families.

The city has made progress, reducing unsheltered homelessness, and this shows why continuing that work matters.

Getting people indoors improves safety for everyone.

Council members, please support this budget message in full.

Thank you, next speaker.

Esteem leaders.

The time of reckoning for a balanced budget is here.

Before you cut our services, there needs to be some accountability for some of our unclassified employees who you know are not very good at their jobs.

You know what the audits say.

Um their performance has cost us millions.

Um please stop the bleeding and whoever wins this budget fight, balance the budget.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Um Victor Costa, come on down.

Foo and Fred Brew.

Hello, Mayor and Council.

My name is Dan Mount Sear.

I'm a small residential builder that has been working in San Jose for over 30 years.

I ask you to vote in full for the mayor's March budget.

I have worked on permanent housing and shelters as well as housing for families, individuals, and seniors.

I appreciate the budget's effort to fund and support E, all of the above.

We need every type of housing.

There are two phases of uh every development project.

The first phase is the one where money is going out, and the second phase is the money is where money starts coming in.

And allowing us to pay some of the fees that occupancy makes projects more feasible so that we can actually break ground.

Uh I do appreciate that hard choices need to be made.

Again, please support the mayor's budget in full.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Victor representing Youth Building Peace Coalition.

We have a youth crisis.

We have the highest youth homelessness rates in the country.

Most of our youth that are in juvenile facilities are Latino African American.

Latino residents make up half of the homicide victims, and the suicide rates have sharply increased.

We do recommend a memorandum investing in one million the children and youth master plan.

But most importantly, we also want to call attention to the 10 youth empowerment demands that we email to you, and you can check your inbox right now.

Invest in the youth empowerment fund, invest in building youth centers like MAXA, providing young people services to prevent violence, youth leadership and early learning, dealing with mental health abuse.

There's a list less longer, but I also ask you to agendize these items at 6 p.m.

Thank you, Nick's next speaker.

Hello, my name is Dasha Leeds, District 4 resident and conservation coordinator for the Sierra Club Loma Prieta chapter.

Members of the San Jose Youth Climate Action Team would like to attend today, but they cannot due to the timing of this meeting.

Climate change affects our daily lives, our health.

We suffer here from some of the worst air quality in the nation, and unfortunately, our city is not on track to meet its climate targets.

San Jose's focus areas do not include climate change or the natural environment.

The annual survey doesn't even give us the option to tell you that climate change and the natural environment are important to us.

In critical meetings like today, climate change and nature are a part of your memos or statements.

Please take stronger action, adopt a building electrification reach code, protect our parks funding, protect our immigrants, and consider the risks of data centers.

Thanks for your time.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

I'd also like to call Krista Delatory and Ibrahim Diallo.

Come on down.

Go ahead.

Good evening.

My name is Fred Brew, and I'm a resident of District 10.

I support the mayor's budget recommendations and urge the city to continue the progress it has made in course services and cost management.

Given the current fiscal restraints, the city should pilot AI-assisted report writing to reduce administrative time for police officers and get more value from our existing public safety staffing.

Related to this, I believe the city should embrace practical AI solutions where it is safe and it makes sense in reducing cost.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Um Rebecca Selden and Neil Park McClintic.

Come on down.

Go ahead.

Cool.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council.

My name is Victor Costa.

I'm with SIU Local 521 and Childcare Providers United.

I urge that you adopt the affordability agenda memo from Council Members Candela's Compose, Ortiz, Dwone, and Casey.

Our community is already stretched thin.

Families are already facing rising costs for housing, child care, groceries, and gas.

Uh we must prevent homelessness by building affordable homes with good union paying jobs through the working families housing initiative.

We must invest in our kids by doubling funding for the children and youth master plan, supporting subsidized child care, our libraries, and after school programs.

And we must protect essential services and prevent layoffs by creating the community and services stabilization fund.

Austerity measures won't fix San Jose's challenges, nor is that a rev revolution of common sense.

Please adopt this memo and prioritize real affordability.

Thank you, next speaker.

My name is Phil Van, and I'm a resident of District 7.

I urge you to preserve the $1 million in funding allocated last year for deportation, defense legal services, know-year rights outreach, and rapid response network.

I support the mayor's commitment to raise an additional 500k through philanthropy, filantry for this work, but I do not support your sweeps and removing encampments policies.

I have seen police breaking into tents and dragging unhoused neighbors out, beautiful beautiful SJ stealing birth certificates and IDE, be people being ghosted after saying they they want to get into interim housing.

And I also want more restrictions on AI because there are many types of real children doing sexual acts from just spectators and removing jobs, especially in the creative industry.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker, um, Joe Brown, come on down, Antonina and Andrea Munoz.

Go ahead.

Good afternoon, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council members.

Housing affordability remains one of the biggest challenges facing San Jose families.

Too many residents are spending an unsustainable share of their income just to stay housed.

The mayor's budget message recognizes the increasing housing supply and removing barriers to develop our key to improve affordability over time.

These are practical steps that move the city in the right direction.

I encourage the council to support the mayor's March budget message.

Thank you very much.

And happy St.

Patrick's Day.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon.

My name is Krista Delatore, and I'm a D6 resident and here on behalf of IFPT Local 21.

We represent over a thousand city employees here from engineers and architects to senior librarians and many more.

We ask you to support the affordability agenda outlined by council members Ortiz, Campos, Casey, Done, and Candelas, which focus on preventing layoffs, protecting core services, addressing homelessness, supporting youth, and building affordable homes under the family's housing plan.

Balancing the budget should not come at the expense of essential services our community relies on.

We support creating a community and services stabilization fund to protect city workers who keep our neighborhoods safe, parks open, and libraries running.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council.

My name is Neil Part McClintic, and I'm speaking with Working Partnerships USA.

I'm also a resident of D6 in San Jose.

I would like to thank Council members Candelas, Campos Ortiz, Done, and Casey for their memo and speak in full support of the memo as well, including its asks for supporting children, families, and seniors, preventing cuts to after-school programs and libraries.

We thank the authors for including working families housing, and thank the mayor for including this in his revision as well.

Working families housing represents an innovative third way for us to fund thousands of affordable homes faster, cheaper, and with good dignified jobs by partnering with the labor movement.

Luz Aguilar, Russ Baker, Cesar Palink Harris, and Doris Garcia come on down.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members.

My name is Andrea Munoz, and I am the community resource coordinator for the Children and Youth Services Master Plan at Catholic Charities.

I work directly with some of the most vulnerable families in the Santee and Seven Trees neighborhoods.

The work we are doing through the Children and Youth Services Master Plan is vital in creating spaces where families and youth feel supported, connected, and empowered.

Through this work, we support families facing immense fear and stress, especially in relation to the immigration.

Our youth are absorbing the stress, and it is crucial that we continue to provide opportunities and safe outlets for them to express themselves.

This program ensures equitable access for youth in impacted neighborhoods to access services they would not be able to receive otherwise, such as after-school programs, summer camps, and enrichment activities.

These programs have also been critical in helping families navigate school closures and transitions, ensuring children.

Thank you, next speaker.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council.

My name is Antonina, and I live in Hyde Park in District 3.

First, I want to thank all of you for the accomplishments this last year.

Please continue to follow through and stay focused on expanding safe, dignified interim housing and shelter.

Please consider, please continue focus on our core issues with the city too.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Oh no.

Hello, Mayor and Council.

My name is Russ Baker.

I am a city employee and a city resident.

Been here for many years.

Everyday city workers keep sound as they livable, staffing libraries, maintaining parks, responding to emergencies.

The city navigates a difficult budget.

We support a community and service stabilization fund to phase in any reductions, responsibility, avoiding abrupt layoffs and cuts to essential services or residents depend on.

I spoke here about 15 years ago, and we were in a similar situation to this.

Whole lot of different people sitting up here.

And uh we made some decisions back then that hurt, and that uh we can do better this time.

I'm sure you guys can uh make make me proud.

Thanks.

Thank you, next speaker.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

My name is Lucia Guilar, and I serve as program coordinator with Catholic Charities under the Children and Youth Services Master Plan, working directly with youth and families in some of San Jose's most impacted neighborhoods.

Well, I appreciate the mayor's proposal to include 500k for the Children and Youth Services Master Plan.

I urge you to support the one million dollar recommendation for implementation.

Current conditions highlight the need for continued investment in youth services, particularly in communities with higher needs.

Through the master plan demonstration sites such as the Franklin McCounty Children's Initiative and Somos Mayfair, along with programs like Best Recreation Camps and Safe Summer, are connecting youth and families to services and opportunities.

From what we are seeing on the ground, Danita's growing, not shrinking.

That is why it is now the time to scale back investments in youth.

It is time to strengthen and expand what we know is already working.

I urge you to support the one thank you, next speaker.

Alina Alma Jacobo, David Noel, and Ofisa Patty, come on down.

Go ahead.

Good afternoon or good evening, Mayor and Council.

My name is Doris Garcia, and I serve as program manager with Catholic charities, working directly with youth and families in some of San Jose's most impacted neighborhoods.

The youth and families we serve face significant daily stress and fear, especially those from immigrant families concerned about immigration enforcement.

Adding to this, school closures have removed crucial safe spaces for support support.

Safe structured environments like rock after school, best, recreation camps, Saturday night lights, and safe summer initiatives are now more vital than ever.

From our on-the-ground perspective, this is a time to strengthen, not decrease our investment in youth.

The children and youth services master plan provides the roadmap.

I respectfully urge the council to support the recommendation to set aside one billion dollars and receive that's your time.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members.

Uh, my name is Cesar Palancares, and uh I urge you to adopt the affordability agenda outlined by council members.

Our community needs real solutions to prevent homelessness, support youth, build housing, and protect essential services.

Please support the working families housing initiative to create more affordable mixed income house quickly while creating good jobs.

We must also continue to invest in children and youth master plan, protecting after-school programs and library hours that families depend on.

Finally, protect the city services and work and workers by supporting the stabilization fund to avoid layouts, layoffs and maintain the services our community relies on.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Good afternoon, honorable mayor and constituents.

My name is Ibrahim Diallo.

Uh I live in San Jose.

Uh I'm here today to urge you guys to fight uh to stop the homelessness.

The United States is the biggest economy in the wood.

And the state of California, we refer it as the great state of California, where we live, is the fourth economy in the wood.

And many countries like the Scandinavian countries or other countries in the world do not have homelessness.

So if they were able to stop avoid or eradicate homeless homelessness, we should be able to eradicate and stop homelessness.

We can do better.

Thank you.

That's your time.

Next speaker.

Yes.

So that's your time.

Your time is up.

Yes.

When each of you were sworn to office, you swore an oath to the U.S.

Constitution, the California Constitution, and on our city constitution, our city charter.

Mayor Mahan, I've heard you speak on the importance of honoring the will of the voters, the mandate, which is Measure I, a direct response to the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 approved by voters in November 2022, requiring the city council to adopt equity values, standards, and assessments and making certain decisions.

This includes the city budget.

This is also unanimously adopted by council.

This isn't an ordinance or a policy.

This is our city constitution.

The mandate applies to council and to staff.

So how will the decisions of today advance racial and social equity or improve or worsen it?

And as you stated, this is the beginning.

I, as well as the rest of San Jose, California.

Go ahead.

Good afternoon, Honorable Mayor and City Council.

I'm Dave Noel, a longtime resident, neighborhood leader, and president of the Orix and Neighborhood Association in District 9.

I urge you to support the mayor's budget priorities and strategies to achieve them.

In the past few years, we've implemented a focus on our residents' highest priorities, supported by metrics and accountability.

It is making a measurable difference in our quality of life and economy.

So please stay the course.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members.

My name is Salma Cacobo.

I'm here to advocate for an affordability agenda in which our more vulnerable vulnerable families have access to affordable housing and rent control, medical attention, child care and groceries.

Please remember our more vulnerable families serve us all, either working on the fields, hotels, restaurants, cleaning or gardening services.

Please do trust to their labor.

Also, our young people, the future generations, they need solid education.

It's essential to create free programs where they have easy access to sports recreation or any extra good uh extracurricular activities.

Please help us to create programs where they can be out of the street.

Thank you.

That's your time.

Floor de Leon, Jonathan Borca, Sean Baker.

Come on down.

Go ahead.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

My name is Zofisa Pati.

I am the IRC lead at Asian Americans for Community Involvement and a member of the real coalition and a resident of DA.

The council memorandum appropriately emphasizes prevention and community investment, including protecting programs such as Project Hope and strengthening youth programming.

However, the mayor's budget message continues to prioritize enforcement-based strategies and expanded surveillance technologies while investing comparatively less in community-based responses.

San Jose and Santa Clara have made important progress in developing alternative crisis response programs such as trust, which connects residents experiencing mental health crises with appropriate care rather than relying solely on police response.

Protecting and expanding programs like trust would improve outcomes.

Thank you.

That's your time.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council members.

By the way, happy St.

Patty's Day.

One of the most important things San Jose can do to address our affordability crisis is to remove the unnecessary barriers to building homes.

Streamlining approvals and cutting fees will unlock projects that have been stuck in the pipeline and help bring more housing online and faster.

We will continue to see our communities, young families leave San Jose if we don't stop talking about it and start removing the barriers to housing production.

The mayor's budget message continues the work and keeps the city focused on increasing housing production.

I urge the council to support the mayor's March budget message.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Hello.

Hello, I'm Day Ogustine, the family child care home provider for 18 years and a constituent of Council Member Domingo Candeles.

I'm here to ask the council to accept the child care policy opportunities status report.

Child care remains one of the biggest economic hurdles family face in our community.

Too often, parents are forced to reduce their work hours or leave the workforce entirely because they cannot find or afford child care.

Our continued the continued lack of access to subsidized child care.

This proportionately impacts families, our colors, and contributes to a cycle where children fall behind early in their education.

Thank you, that's your time.

Next speaker.

Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council members.

Um I'm here to speak in support of the mayor's uh budget message.

Um, and I also want to thank you for the improving unhouse situation in my neighborhood in Berriesa, as well as the uh condos I see going up uh along the light rail corridors on Capitol Avenue and the returning vibrancy in the shopping areas in that same corridor.

You have a very difficult job with the budget.

It's a lot of uh priorities that you're managing with very limited resources, but I ask you to continue us on the path that we've had for the last few years.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Um, before you start, Ashley Antonich Sarabia, Kylie Clark, and Jean Cook.

Go ahead.

Good evening, everyone.

My name is Flor de Leon.

I am a community member in the side of San San Jose with Somos Mayfair and the Youth Building Peace Coalition.

As you may know, we'll be we we have been working tireless to open up Maxa Community Center.

I am today here to ask you for your support to prioritize funds to revitalizar Maxa Community Center, stand up for our children's or youth.

And it's overdue.

I don't know if you guys know you guys don't know this, but I know a lot of families that had kids that had commit suicides in our neighborhood.

We don't have the space.

We don't have open space for them, and I think if we uh rebuild Mazda, our community sector will provide a safe space safe space for these kids.

That's your time.

Next speaker.

Good evening.

My name is Sean Baker from District 5.

Uh, last year you allocated a million dollars for the funding for deportation, defense legal services, know your rights outreach, and the rapid response network.

I really appreciate that.

I'd like you to do it again.

Uh I also support the mayor's commitment to raising an additional 500k in philanthropy.

And finally, I'm asking you to support the real coalition's priorities for housing affordability, homelessness prevention, and support for families, youth, and older adults.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Um, I'd also like to call Mateo Colson and Mike Krause.

Good afternoon, Mayor Mayhan and City Council.

With an impossible 45 seconds, I'll get straight to it.

My name is Jonathan Francisco Borca, and I'm speaking on behalf of the San Jose Public Library Foundation.

We understand this is a difficult budget year with very real trade-offs.

We appreciate the mayor's messaging pointing to a longer-term library funding solution and the co-authored memo by Councilmember Gandalas, Campos Ortiz, Duan and Casey prioritizing library hours and investments.

But these signals only make it more important to protect our libraries now.

Libraries are one of the public services residents rely on daily for learning, technology, job seeking, safety, and connection.

Last year alone, we had more than 3.8 million visitors and serve more than 755,000 cardholders.

Our ask is simple.

Please keep library funding flat and avoid further cuts.

San Jose residents use, need, and deeply value their libraries.

We ask that that budget reform.

Thank you, next speaker.

Good afternoon, Mayor Maehan and members of the council.

My name is Jean Cook.

I am a San Jose resident and technology executive who has spent my career building platforms that create opportunity.

And I'm here to support the mayor's budget priorities.

This technology will reshape how cities operate and people work faster than most of us can imagine.

We need to engage proactively so our workforce can adapt and thrive.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Hi, my name's Ashley Antonich Sarabia.

I'm a rapid responder and a resident of District 5.

I'm here today to ask you to preserve the $1 million in funding allocated last year to deport for deportation defense legal services, know your rights outreach, and the rapid response network.

I'm a fourth generation San Josean.

I'm the proud daughter of a Mexican American combat veteran.

As such, I know that San Jose, our great city of San Jose, was built by immigrants, and they're the reason we continue to thrive.

Now, when they're under attack, when our neighbors are under attack, we owe it to them to stand up, fight back, and continue to fund these services to do what we can to save them.

In addition, finally, please support the real coalition letter.

And Matt, thank you so much for raising or committing to raise 500,000.

I've seen what you can raise in one month.

Thank you.

That's your time.

Carlos Marillo, Angela Elsey, Neil Collins, and Brian Porz.

Come on down.

Good afternoon.

I'm Kylie Clark with SVCN and the Real Coalition.

I want to remind you all that affordability pressures in San Jose are not evenly distributed.

Rising housing cost displacement and economic instability disproportionately affect black residents, Latino residents, immigrant communities, and other historically marginalized groups who face decades of housing discrimination and unequal access.

In San Jose, black households experience some of the highest rates of rent burden, displacement risk, and housing instability.

As the city evaluates difficult budget decisions, it should do so consistent with the racial and social equity ordinance and the equity values and standards policy.

These require the city to identify and address policies that exacerbate disparities and to center the needs of communities most impacted by inequity.

Budget decisions should thank you.

That's your time.

Shirley Stager, Matt Hammer, and Ekemi.

Go ahead.

Hello, Mayor and Council.

My name is Mateo Colson, and I am a student at Santa Clara University, and I am also in their student government.

I'm here today to speak in support of the mayor's March budget message.

Despite economic uncertainty and a projected budget shortfall, it's essential that we remain focused on growing the local economy to support jobs and students, especially for young adults and students like me looking for work in a tight job market.

Let's streamline the storefront activation grant program and seek philanthropic partnerships to aid more businesses without straining the city budget.

We should also build on our boom for our local economy with a long-term vision for a downtown sports and entertainment district to attract more private investment, more tourism, and boost our economy.

Vote yes.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

Uh my name is Mike Krauss, and I'm the president of the Penitencia Neighborhood Association in District 4.

Uh I'm also a member at large with the Barry S Citizen Advisory Committee.

I am also the board of directors for the Barriest Art Festival Foundation.

I say this just to emphasize the fact that I do have my ear to the ground with community.

And I can tell you that I'm here to support the mayor's budget.

Okay.

Um for this year.

But the budget continues to focus on the priority of not only me, but also the community members that I engage with.

Those are the reducing homeless.

Thank you, next speaker.

Good afternoon, Mayor, City Council.

My name is Neil Collins.

I'm the CEO of the Santa Clara County Association of Realtors and a resident of D10.

Uh I'm here tonight to support the mayor's budget message.

Uh specifically his commitment to build more housing by streamlining services, deferring payment of impact fees, and providing more transparency to home builders.

In addition, San Jose has a chance to lead the way once again by creating an ADU home ownership program for first-time home buyers.

So let's continue to do the good work and stay focused on the priority of our residents.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Hello, my name is Shirley Steger, and I'm living in District 10.

And recently, our community has been able to participate in some wonderful activities sponsored by the city.

As a volunteer with housing for 25 plus years now, I have I'm excited to witness that many of our homeless are now housed.

Also with a growth in low income housing, yet we still have a lot to do.

With a major city deficit, the mayor's proposed budget with focus on back to basics.

I support safety, fire, police.

And also got your time.

Oh thank you.

Next speaker.

Fernando, I can't read the last name on Fernando, but Fernando, come on down.

Greg Huascar Castro and Irene Zuniga.

Go ahead.

Good afternoon.

I'm a community volunteer in San Jose.

And uh first, I want to support the memo proposed by Council members Ortiz Campos, Casey Duan and uh Candelas, and ask that you um follow through on the affordability agenda.

Um we need to be frugal, yes, but we can't withstand blind cuts.

We need effective creative solutions like the modernization, like the work working families housing initiative and the uh investing in the youth master plan.

Um, second, I want to request that you not only preserve the one million dollar funding allocation to immigration services, um, but also the additional five hundred thousand.

Um, their programs, uh Amigos de Guadalupe are is a national example of protecting our communities and make me proud to live in San Jose San Jose.

So please help them.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Happy uh St.

Patrick's Day to you all.

Mayor, Vice Mayor, City Council members.

I want to speak in support of the mayor's uh budget message.

I appreciate the efforts that have gone into the cleaning up of the city and handling the home homelessness situation over the last year, primarily based on the buzzet message from last year.

I now is not the time to take the uh our sights off of the in goal here.

We have a lot more to do.

As you've heard, we've made progress.

Please continue to do to do it and support the mayor's budget message.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Hello, thank you for your strength in continuing to listen to all that we have to share.

Uh Kemi with IPEN and also a volunteer with the Rapid Response Network, and I'm here to share the real coalition's concrete priorities that stabilize households, which are essential for stabilizing our community.

First, expand funding for the homelessness prevention system and related stabilization programs with flexible support to keep families in their homes.

Second, pilot a code enforcement linked right to council program so that tenants facing displacement due to code enforcement actions have access to legal representation.

Third, sustain and strengthen violence prevention and youth programs, including community-based initiatives and such as BEST.

And finally, maintain and expand immigrant.

Thank you.

That's your time.

GFM, Aurelia Sanchez, Citali Martinez, and Ashley Guerrero come on down.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council.

My name is Samuel Lopez.

I'm with the Barrier Council Economic Institute.

This budget represents an important step towards addressing several of San Jose's most urgent and interconnected challenges, reducing unsheltered homelessness, increasing housing production, strengthening public safety, and supporting a resilient local economy.

Increasing housing supply is one of the most effective long-term strategies for reducing unsheltered housing, as it makes it easier to deliver new housing, especially options such as the ADUs and interim housing.

The city can help relieve pressure across the entire housing system and create more pathways for residents to move indoors.

At the same time, policies that improve coordination, streamline processes, and reduce unnecessary barriers also contribute directly to public safety.

When communities are stable and more residents have access to housing and when projects can move forward efficiently, we see a stronger, safer neighborhoods overall.

This budget also thank you.

That's your time.

Next speaker.

Thank you that your time.

Next speaker.

And I'm here to request that child care be one of your budget priorities to prevent more providers like us from having to close our businesses to working partnerships.

As we all continue to understand what the effects of affordability are, we see those really big impacts and components like housing care and programs for youth services.

Really, we should be looking at how this budget can tackle those issues and in looking at priorities such as working families housing, which is going to help unlock tools to further the feasibility of affordable and mixed income housing that is union built and providing good jobs.

In that, we'd like to express our support for the memo put together by Council Members Candelas, Ortiz, Casey Duan and Campos, and also would like to thank the mayor for incorporating the recommendations around working families housing into his updated memo as well.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good evening, leaders.

GFM communications coordinator at Housing Choices, standing with the Rio Coalition.

At Housing Choices, we support individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities who face even greater barriers to finding and keeping housing.

With billions in federal cuts to Medicaid, we must act intentionally at the local level to support the disability community who rely not only on affordable housing, but also accessibility, cross-disciplinary services, and long-term supports.

This makes investing in homelessness prevention more critical than ever.

Budget is never easy, but please prioritize the three P's of housing.

Older multifamily buildings often provide some of the most affordable options for low-income residents with disabilities.

If these homes are lost due to redevelopment without strong protections, a surge in homelessness is inevitable.

We support Council Member Campos Menmo.

Thank you all for your work.

Thank you.

That's your time.

Next speaker.

Hello, my name's Aurelia Santos, and I live in District Three.

I'm here to support the mayor's budget because it's going to this is just as good as it's gonna get.

So what I'm here for is to support the budget, but also to caution people.

Don't spend more than what we have.

Especially me as a senior.

Thank you.

That's your time.

Next speaker.

Um Valeria Carlos, Juan Carlos, Audrey, Quiroz, and Sonal Nayar Lee.

Come on down.

All right.

Hi, my name is Ashley Guerrero, and I'm a I'm here with the Youth Building Peace Coalition, and I'm proud to serve as a youth organizer with Jovenus Activos at Somos Mayfair.

Over the last year, I've had the privilege of working with the young people in Hoveness Activos, and I'm here today to urge that you invest in our future, which is our youth.

Young people have been organizing through the Youth Building Peace Coalition, including folks like CFJ, raising the bar, um next door solutions, but without investment in efforts like the Children and Youth Master Plan, programs like best that support Joveness Activos and spaces like the Max Youth Center, we risk leaving them behind.

We support the member by Campos Ortiz Candelas Don and Casey to ensure investment in youth well-being.

So young people in San Jose have safe, supportive places to go.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Vice Mayor and Council members.

Thank you very much for being here.

I'm a resident of San Jose, and I'm really proud to be in San Jose because San Jose is paving the way for uh a lot of our issues, housing affordability, reducing homelessness and safer neighborhoods.

So I strongly urge uh council support mayor's March budgets.

Uh just San Jose itself has 1500 approved ADUs, that's possibly uh 1500 families that can move in there.

So that's a part of uh uh mayor's budget to make uh ADUs homeownership a possibility.

So we support it, we love it, and then we're very proud of San Jose.

I think we're leading the way for a lot of cities, so keep it up.

You guys are doing great, thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council.

Um, I'm here with Joveness Activos to advocate for youth.

Youth is our future, and we definitely need to start prioritizing prevention over incarceration.

Um we definitely need to start funding um spaces for them to be safe, for them to grow, to learn, to be the future of this community that we want to see.

Um, and also for housing, once they grow up, it's very hard for them during college to get housing, to be able to afford staying here in their community.

We need to focus on um alternative housing, like housing co-ops, like New York is doing.

So we definitely need to start funding a lot of these things that will definitely make a clear change.

So thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

I'd also like to call I think it's Tashel.

Um I couldn't read the handwriting on Nav hints uh, so I'm not sure if I said the first name correctly.

And Dave Luhan, come on down.

Go ahead.

Hola, my number is Valeria Yesuke.

Um ahead.

Just like my name is Juan Carlos, and I am in seventh grade.

Hello, my name is Juan Carlos, and I am in seventh grade.

I'm here to ask for your support for young people for my family like mine.

I collect bottles to help my parents so they can pay the rent.

And I, and at the same time, I are you there?

I'm alas, Escuela Para Ayudar a Miss.

For everyone.

Next speaker.

This help creates.

Good afternoon, Mayor and City Council members.

My name is Audrey Kiros, and I'm with the Youth Building Peace Coalition.

I'm calling on city leaders to prioritize youth mental health and substance use prevention in the budget.

We need a city youth empowerment fund that invests in youth-led programs, mentorship, counseling, and leadership development.

We must also invest in youth community spaces like the Maxau Youth Center, which are safe spaces where youth can gather, learn, and receive support while staying away from harmful environments.

Finally, the youth master plan must be expanded with long-term funding, not short-term solutions, because our well-being should always be a priority.

This matters to me because I've been able to learn and grow as a leader, building up the courage to come here and ask you prioritize investing in youth centers like Maxa.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Hello, Mayor and Council.

My name is Sonal, and I'm a resident of District 2.

I'm here to support the Mayor's budget.

Uh, even with the current budget challenges, it's important that we focus on what the residents care about the most, and that is to keep our communities safe and clean.

Uh illegal dumping is a real issue in many of our neighborhoods, and it's frustrating when it takes weeks for action to be taken.

A simple and practical improvement would be to allow beautified San Jose teams to send warning notices sooner.

Reducing response times from two months to about ten days would help in preventing decent dumping and make our neighborhoods cleaner faster.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

I'd also like to call my final two cards, you Lalia and Joanne Pascual.

I have now called all 186 cards that were submitted.

If you did not hear your name, this is your opportunity to line up.

Go ahead.

Hello, Mayor and Council members.

I'm Toshal and a resident of District 2.

I'm here to support the direction outlined in Mayor's March budget completely.

The direction to review spending for efficiencies, product services, and look for reasonable new revenue sources is a responsible approach.

Public safety, housing, homelessness solutions, and neighborhood quality of life will ensure limited resources are used where they make the biggest difference.

I encourage the council to support this framework and continue working towards a balanced budget that protects essential services while keeping San Jose moving forward.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Hello, Mayor and Council.

My name is Nahun.

I'm here to support the mayor's message.

Even with economic uncertainty, it's important that we stay focused on the results our residents are asking, especially in regards to unshelter hopelessness.

As we see, that's been proven that reducing it has been solvable, especially with people sleeping outside, has dropped about 10% since Mayor Mahan has been in office with priorities and actions taking charge, along with a thousand new shelter placements last year being made.

Thank you, next speaker.

Good evening, Council.

My name is Dave Luhan.

I'm the founding member and executive secretary of the Monterey Quarter Business Association, the MCBA, and I'm here today to urge the council to support the mayor's budget message as proposed.

We are facing a difficult deficit, but this budget focuses on the basics that every resident and business deserves.

First, public safety.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

So, Mother, here in San Jose, many families are struggling to get ahead.

Many parents cannot work because they do not have access to child care, and this puts them at risk of losing their homes.

That's why I'm here today to ask the city council to direct the city manager to include child care as a priority in the budget.

Gracias.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Access to child care is not a luxury.

It is a necessity so that families can work.

Fatal hit and run on 680 off ramp claims life of 63-year-old San Jose woman.

Woman fatally struck by vehicle while crossing 101 in San Jose.

The driver, a 24-year-old San Jose man, attempted to avoid the collision but struck the pedestrian.

He remained at the scene and cooperated with investigators.

My plea to this council is to put immediate and additional funding into beautify San Jose's partnerships with Caltrans to remove every encampment along every off-ramp above every freeway in San Jose.

We are at a crisis point.

Thank you.

That's your time.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon, Council members.

My name is Daphne Hernandez.

I'm a youth leader with Joven and Sactivos and with the Youth Building Coalition.

Today we are calling city leaders to prioritize youth mental health and substance use prevention in the budget.

If we had youth centers like Maxa, I would receive the support and resources needed outside of school to help me achieve my dream of becoming an immigration lawyer.

Being first generation, I see the issues facing my community and my own family.

My parents on a small stand where they work countless hours to provide my for my sisters and and me.

The fear of ice is a constant pressure that affects my family, not knowing if something will happen.

Reminds me of the same fear affecting my community and other youth my age.

There are many youth who live on the streets, nowhere to go, and no one to talk to.

How can you thank you?

That's your time.

Next speaker.

I'm sorry, that's your time.

Next speaker.

Stop talking resources from the name is Oscar Queros Mandrano.

I'm a coordinator with Solomon's Mayfair.

We have the same conversation every year.

And uh I take a moment just uh for us to think outside the box.

You come and listen to us every year, you come in and hear communities saying, Oh, we need you to fund this, we need you to fund this.

But at the same time, what are we doing to really reimagine the opportunities in front of us?

If certain campaigns can raise millions of dollars, why can't our city officials raise the same amount of money needed to support our communities?

If tech billionaires are willing to support campaigns, how come they can't support our youth?

How come they can't fund other resources needed in our community?

Instead, we're here um playing catch-up for a long history of disinvestment.

And so I urge you to really think outside the box now that you sit in that position.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon, Council members.

My name is Michelle Ortega, and I'm the youth core the youth program coordinator at Salmos Mayfer.

I urge you to prioritize funding for the youth programming and MAXA in San Jose.

Investing in our youth people youth um is one of the most impactful decisions we can make to strengthen our community, both now and in the future.

Accessible well-funded youth programs and centers provide safe spaces where young people can learn growth and build meaningful meaningful connections.

Without these opportunities, many youth, especially those in underserved neighborhoods, are left without constructive outlets to support our systems.

This lack of access can increase vulnerable vulnerability to substance youth involvement in harmful activities and untreated mental health challenges.

Thank you.

That's your time.

Back to council.

All right.

Coming back to the council.

Thank you to everyone who addressed the council this evening.

That was a great turnout and great range of issues and perspectives.

I think you're speaking at open forum was my recollection.

That's at the end of the meeting.

Sorry, sir.

Okay.

Um so we're gonna continue on with the budget, uh, March budget message item.

Uh I gave some opening remarks, so I'll uh turn to colleagues now, and we'll start with Councilmember Condelas.

Um thank you.

Um I wanna I want to start off by thanking uh everybody who came out to speak, especially our youth.

Um you know, especially joven que habló con la collection de los botes, para ir a los papás pagar la renta.

I hear you.

So for my colleagues who read it, uh the young man who came out to speak in Spanish actually said that he goes out and collects cans to to trade in and and help the family pay the rent.

And and so um it uh that's that's uh it gets me emotional because that that's indicative of of the in income inequality that we're seeing, the um all the all the reports that we read, whether it's from uh the the Silicon Valley Pain Index.

Um and so I I hear you and you know uh you know I'm I'm I'm happy that our our youth and and everybody came out to speak on this, and and this is um uh you know a great start, an engaged start to a process that I'm glad the mayor mentioned it is um is just the beginning.

And so I hope to see the young people involved and continue to come out as we um not just you know kick off the March budget message a conversation, but the study sessions, um the the town halls that we all put together so we can hear from you after the budget is a little bit more baked, so we can hear from you.

Um, you know, uh thankfully, you know, in in our city, I'm I'm a proud product of San Jose.

I love San Jose.

Um San Jose raised me, and we in our city have a um a different form of government, a a council manager form of government, a uh uh a government where the mayor leads the budget message, but this is the forum that we as a council get to engage in dialogue um and have an opportunity to revise and change the message as we deem advisable.

This is part of the democratic process, and you know, where in June we come away with a hopefully a highly collaborative final product that reflects our community's priorities.

So I I do want to thank folks who came out.

Um I also want to thank my colleagues uh for their work in the group memo we we put out last week.

Uh it was a sprint from when we uh got the budget message, uh, which was 41 pages.

Um and uh and we we put out something a few days later, and uh obviously it would not be possible without the help of you know Jim Shannon, Lee Wilcox, and members of the city manager's office um that helped us collaborate as we put together a quite frankly a substantial um uh document that was rooted in reality.