All right.

Alright, good evening.

Good evening, everyone.

Welcome.

I'd like to call to order this final public hearing for the 2026, 2027 proposed operating and capital budgets, and the 2026 through 2027 proposed fees and charges.

Call this meeting to order for the evening of June 8th.

Tony, would you please call the roll?

Come in here.

Campos, present.

Here.

Cohen?

Here.

Ortiz.

Present.

Okay.

Here.

Swan?

Here.

Kendallis.

Here.

Casey.

Foley?

Here.

Mayhem.

Here.

You have a quorum.

Great.

Thank you.

All right.

Well, welcome everyone.

This is the council's opportunity to hear from community members about the proposed budget, your priorities, reactions to things that have been prioritized or not, so that we can incorporate your feedback into our final deliberations and the vote on the budget tomorrow.

We will be hearing from residents both here in the chamber.

And if you would like to speak, please submit one of the comment cards.

They're down here at the bottom of the amphitheater seating, and they need to be filled out and put into one of the clear boxes, and then the city clerk will process them.

We will also hear from folks remotely via Zoom.

Due to the very high volume of speakers, we are limiting public comment to one minute per speaker.

You can also use the wordly QR code, which should be up on the screen.

Is it up on the screen?

We will put it on the screen.

The wordly QR code you will see in a moment will allow you to hear this meeting in your preferred language.

And we also have it on our screen so we can hear you in our native language so everybody can participate equitably.

For those joining remotely, the zoom link is available on the agenda for tonight's budget public hearing.

If you are participating online and wish to speak, please use the Zoom application and select the raise hand feature.

Speakers will be called in order.

And when it's your turn, the city clerk will enable you to speak and a notification will appear on your screen, letting you know that you may unmute and provide your comments.

Also, one minute.

Now, to ensure everyone can be heard, I always make this uh point to folks.

We are here to hear from each member of the public who would like to speak for their allotted time and just them.

And it's really important that we protect each person's free speech rights.

So we ask folks not to cheer or boo, not to interrupt or disrupt the meeting, or we will be here all night, or we'll remove folks from the chamber if we have to.

We want to hear from one person at a time for one minute uninterrupted, and then folks need to be able to hear Tony, our city clerk, about who's up next.

So we ask you if you really want to express how much you support or love what someone has just said, just you know, some jazz hands or something like that.

But let's we will once it gets out of control, the meeting drags on.

We have to remove folks, it becomes really unorderly.

So I just asked folks to help us be focused and efficient.

Um, I want to thank you all.

I know many of you have been participating.

This process starts in February.

Council takes up priority setting.

We start getting input, we have discussions amongst ourselves.

I put out the mayor puts out a March message, we then have budget study sessions, we have town hall meetings, we had a in-person and a virtual town hall.

We then had the June message.

We're now at the final stages of this process.

Many of you have weighed in in person, in town halls, via email, online, and just really appreciate all of the engagement.

So tonight you will not be hearing council deliberation.

There will be no vote.

We are going to turn it over to the clerk in a moment.

You all will share your feedback.

We will incorporate that into our final discussions and vote tomorrow.

As a little bit of context, though, just so we're all on the same page.

This year we are closing a $50.3 million dollar structural or ongoing budget shortfall and have a projected $28 million dollar structural shortfall next year, even after we have resolved this year's shortfall.

And without belaboring it, essentially, as you might guess, our costs are going up faster than our projected revenues.

So while there are many things we would love to be able to expand, do more of and fund.

We are actually unfortunately in a moment in time in the economic cycles we go through where we are instead tightening our belts and figuring out what we can do without, though we know there is a lot of need out in the community.

But this council, and I want to thank my colleagues, has tried to be extremely diligent about weighing trade-offs as we close 50 million, a $50 million shortfall.

We have been able to reduce costs in terms of homelessness services out on our streets and our beautify expenses by over five million dollars.

And we have identified another 20 million in ongoing savings in the homelessness services and related programs.

I also want to note an important update.

Some of you may be here to speak on the June budget message allocates $1 million for immigration services, $500,000 as currently proposed.

That's $500,000 that can be deployed immediately, and $500,000 that can be deployed over time in the event of a ramp up in enforcement activities.

I also want to note that the voters of San Jose appear to have passed measure A, the transient occupancy tax update, which brings us in line with other large cities, and has also made this year's budget a little less painful than it otherwise would have been.

One other thing I just want to put on everybody's radar is in addition to closing a $50 million gap this year, the City of San Jose has a deferred maintenance and infrastructure backlog of 2.6 billion dollars.

So I say that not to depress anybody, but to just set a context in which this council is juggling much more need out there than we have capacity for, and we're doing our best to make very difficult trade-offs amidst a challenging overall fiscal position.

You'll hear more about uh what the budget entails tomorrow if you tune in.

But I do encourage everyone to read the June budget message, the memos from council colleagues, and uh with that, I'm excited to get into the public hearing and hear your feedback before we take a vote tomorrow.

Tony, I'll turn it over to you.

Hi, as a reminder, speakers must comply with the city's code of conduct for public meetings.

Please direct comments to the body, limit remarks to the agenda item and observe the time limit.

Conduct that materially disrupts the meeting or interferes with the others' ability to participate may result in muting or removal as authorized by law.

When I call your name, please come down to the podium.

You do not need to speak in the order you are called.

The first person the microphone can go ahead and speak.

Additionally, I have over 125 speaker cards.

So in addition to what the mayor said, I'm also asking to reduce like applause because the people who are number 125 on the list will be able to get through quicker if we can keep everybody sort of behaving.

So I'm gonna start.

And Tony, just before you do, I apologize.

There's one other point I always make that I failed to make, which is an important one.

Our council policy is that public speakers shall speak on public on city business and address the council as a whole, not individual council members.

And we find that's important for maintaining an orderly meeting and keeping us focused on what's really important here.

Thank you, Tony.

Okay, John Lithcomb, Maria Rodriguez, Sofia Hilario, Jorge Camacho, and Yesenia Cisneros come on down.

Again, no particular order.

And first person the microphone, go ahead, and then other people line up behind that speaker.

Um I will also call about 40 in person before I bump over to the Zoom speakers, and I'll go back and forth with uh the bulk of in-person speakers getting called first.

Go ahead.

Good afternoon.

Uh, my name, I'm with the City Peace Project, and here for the Mayor's budget hearing.

My name is Yasenia, and I am recently a high school graduate.

And during my time, I was dealing with a lot of stress from my personal life and school.

However, I was introduced to the City Peace Project, which helped me feel included and not alone.

My campus peacemaker demonstrated to me that there was someone in my corner and made sure that they were supportive and open ear when I needed them.

They helped me continue my education and pass my classes that I needed to graduate when at times I felt misunderstood and overwhelmed.

Um I thank them for a lot and it's also thank you for listening to me.

Thank you, next speaker.

Good evening, Mr.

Mayor and the City Council members.

My name is John, and I'm a lifelong resident of San Jose.

I'm here tonight to voice my strong support for the mayor's proposed budget.

I also want to specifically thank the mayor for shining a light on some overreaching laws coming out of Sacramento.

The state mandated policies that forced a heavy burden on our cities and residents, directly contributing to making California the most expensive place to live in our nation.

We need leadership that calls this out.

Finally, regarding the allocation of funds, before we consider increasing budgets for specific departments or programs, we must ensure that current tax dollars are being used efficiently.

We need strict accountability to guarantee any funding gaps are not simply the result of poor management or organization.

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

Thank you, next speaker.

I'd also like to call Audrey Tapetti and Amparo Prado with the City Peace Project to come on down.

Go ahead.

Hello and good afternoon, Mayor, City Council, and everybody in the room and watching online.

It's an annual series of events built around the week of 408 or April 8th.

First off, I want to thank you for supporting this work.

It means a lot to us.

Supporting this work means you're supporting the artists, the musicians, the small businesses, families, and neighborhoods that keep San Jose's culture alive.

Honestly, San Jose has too much heart to fit into one day, which is why this project has turned into a multi-day series of events that give people in our city more spaces to show up and be seen and feel proud.

As we look forward to San Jose Day next year, it aligns with the 250th anniversary of San Jose, and we have big plans to make sure that people are celebrating its history, its art, and its culture.

Thank you for believing in San Jose culture and helping us feel loud, proud, and soaked to be here.

I'm here to ask for your support in working with Councilman George so that the young people in our neighborhood can be better adults tomorrow.

We want them to be focused on their activities and not just messing around or doing other things.

And we want our neighborhood to be better and for the young people to be more engaged.

My name is Amparo Prado Rojas, and I'm an upcoming senior at Silver Creek High School.

This project helped me by giving me guidance, support, and people I could trust.

Before joining, I was a little lost girl who was always getting into fights and problems.

I often thought violence was the answer, and I would even struggle with my grades.

And even to the point where I had to switch schools because I was constantly getting into trouble.

When I was first introduced to the City Peace Project, things started to change.

They helped me grow as a person, learn better ways to handle challenges, build trust, and make better choices for my future.

Because of that, I was able to improve myself, stay focused on my goals, and become a stronger and more responsible person.

Honestly, if it wasn't for the City Peace Project, I believe I would still be lost in life, making the same mistakes and not knowing what direction to take.

Their support helped me see my potential and believe in myself.

I hope you guys will continue supporting programs like this so others can have the same opportunity.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

I'm here from the City Peace Project supporting the mayor's budget being passed.

My name is Andres Topete.

And before before I was involved with City Peace, I didn't have no motivation or hope to graduate.

I was I had nothing going on for myself.

And ever since I got involved, they helped me support through my support me through my education.

I just got my stuff done.

And these they just they're just a big part of my life to help me become the person I am right now.

So yeah, that's why I think thank you.

Thank you.

Viviana, come on down, Sandy Alvarado and Caitlin.

Good evening, everyone.

My name is Annabella Taylor, and I'm from the City Peace Project, and I'm here to support the mayor's budget being passed.

I've been a part of City Peace Project since I was a freshman in high school, and now I'm a college student, and I'm part of their organization as well.

Their support, mentorship, and opportunities I've received helped me grow into the person I am today, and City Peace has given me the chance to come back and do the same for the youth in our communities.

I hope you guys will continue funding programs like this so more youth can have the same opportunities.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Um before you speak, um, I've called a lot of names and people haven't come down, so I'm gonna call a few more because some people may have left or changed their mind.

Um, Madeline Taylor, Danny Sanchez, Lori Ramos, Chavez, and Hong Kao.

Come on down.

Go ahead.

Good afternoon.

My name is Valeria Baltasar, and I am an upcoming senior at Silver Creek High School.

I'm here to support the mayor's funding for the City Peace Project.

The City Peace Project has helped me grow in many ways I never expected.

Through this program, I built connections with people I probably would have never talked to.

And it helped me come out of my comfort zone and become more confident in myself.

Before joining the program, many people saw me as a student with attitude problems.

They judged me without taking the time to understand what I was going through or hear my side of the story.

That changed when I met Miss Sandy.

She took the time to listen to me, understand my perspective, and support me without judging me.

She helped me realize that my voice mattered and that I was capable of making changes, have making positive changes.

Having someone like this made a big difference in my life.

I hope, got I hope you guys noticed the difference that the City Peace project has done in many students' life like the way they did in mine.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Hi, my name is uh Sandy Alvarado, and um I'm here and thank you for that.

Uh supporting the City Peace Project or supporting uh the mayor's budget uh to fund.

Um, just realistically, all this kiddos that you heard right now and the more to come, they're my why.

They're the reason why I do what I do.

But um I can explain it to you guys day and night as to why you should help uh help support and fund us, but they explain it a lot better than I could.

So thank you very much.

Thank you, next speaker.

Hi, my name is Caitlin Taylor from the City Peace Project, and I'm here to support the mayor's budget being passed.

I've been involved with the City Peace since seventh grade, and I've spent the last few years volunteering with them.

Through City Peace, I've seen how much they do to bring people together and create positive environments in schools.

Being part of City Peace has given me opportunities to help at community events and meet new people.

I hope you'll continue supporting City Peace so more students can have those same positive experiences I've had over the years.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker, mayor, city council.

My name is Danny Sanchez.

Uh, I'm the executive director of the City Peace Project, and I'm here to support the mayor's budget passing to allocate funding for resources.

Uh our mission is to mentor and to advocate for youth so they can see their value and find peace with themselves and with others.

Because we know if our children have peace with themselves and with others, then we have peaceful schools and peaceful communities.

Our top priority should always be our kids.

They're not the next generation, they're the now generation.

These young people are coming up here to share because they know the importance of having positive adults in their lives and people that can help them to be successful and elevate them.

So thank you so much.

Thank you, next speaker.

Hello, my name is Madeline Taylor, and I'm here to support the mayor's budget for the City Peace Project.

The City Peace Project has helped me become more involved in my school community, build my confidence and grow academically.

It has encouraged me to step outside my comfort zone and support others.

I have seen the positive impact this program has brought on me and my friends that I have brought around.

I hope you'll continue to support programs like this because it will benefit more young people for these opportunities that I've been given.

Thank you so much.

Honorable mayor and council member.

My name is Hon Kao.

I'm a retired city employee.

I come here to support for the proposal of the mayor in the children's budget.

I have studied and I agree about you know the prioritizing with the uh rezoning uh the uh homeland homelessness with the uh housing with the business and also with the safety of the city.

Uh I have uh one shop chess, and you know, at the retirement engineer.

I would like to see the city should to do more to streamline to make the project of approval and reviewing the uh, you know, of project for the remodeling or development in that this way.

You know, we can uh have to show uh the the housing and also to bring in the revenue for the city.

And uh again, you know, I own the council member to support for the mayor, June.

But check.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker, I'd also like to call Michael Salcito, Caroline Saylor, and Robert McNair.

Come on down.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council members.

My name is Lori Ramos Chavez, and I'm president CEO of Connect Cent Community.

I'm joined by one of our board members, Patrick Love, and we have some staff here also supported.

We are here to express our strong support for the mayor's June budget message and respectfully urge the council to approve it unanimously.

We appreciate the mayor and city council for your continued commitment to investing in programs that strengthen our community.

We would also like to thank council members Bien Duan for his budget recommendation and ongoing support of our agency.

In addition, we are grateful to Councilmember Casey, Ortiz, and Compost for taking the time to meet with us and learn more about our work.

For 34 years, Connection had Day Worker Center has provided a safe and effective pathways for employment to thousands.

Thank you, that's your time.

Next speaker, um, Kathy McNeil come on down, Eric Negamir, Joan John Jackson, and Manny Ortega.

Go ahead.

Good evening, City of San Jose.

My name is Caroline Mineris Sailor, and I'm with Gonex Gentry Community Day Workers Center Program Manager.

I'd just like to tell you how grateful that um I am for you to give us this time and also for your support.

So last year we were able to have um at least um almost 44,000 temporary jobs.

Our services are for uh pro lease probation undocumented and homeless.

We also uh assist people that were um are on um SSI and also on SSDI if they're able to.

So we have very um a large uh group of um community-based organizations.

I'm sure they're also thanking you as long as well as Martha's Kitchen, Los Amigos de Guadalupe, Catholic Charities, the City of San Jose, re-entry, and I can go on and on and on.

And I know that my clients are also going to be very happy that we are gonna say that we have a green light.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Michael tells you, Connection.

Um thank you for the opportunity to address you today on the matter of profound importance to our community.

Forward 30 years, connection has stood as a pillar of support in Santa Clara County, delivering employment services, parenting workshops, and behavioral health programs that have transformed countless lives, including my own.

Thank you.

That's your time.

Next speaker.

Hello, my name is Robert McNair.

I uh refer to uh Connection by Home First, and uh connection is uh helped me to get back on my feet with uh employment services, and uh, it's just helped me a lot, and I appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Also, Larry Whitaker and Leslie Barton come on down.

Mayor, Vice Mayor, Councilmember, staff, thank you all very much.

I'm Eric Nagamir with the Silicon Valley Leadership Group representing the innovation economy in San Jose and the broader Bay Area.

We urge your caution and your diligence regarding potential modifications to the business tax outlined in MBA number seven.

Well, we are encouraged to see city staff recognize the untenable risks of a gross receipts-based model.

We are concerned about the impacts of any biz increased business tax.

San Jose is not just competing with neighboring cities, lower cost states are siphoning Silicon Valley industries.

Raising the business tax may exacerbate the city's challenge of attracting, retaining, and growing businesses of all sizes.

If funded, we ask that the city staff be thorough in their analysis, and we ask that you look to us as a partner in this work.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Not that my name is Manuel Ortega.

I'm proudly here to stand on behalf of Eastridge Little League, and as Easter Dilla League board member, myself, and a county employee, we fully um honor and support this budget.

With this budget, it's not only gonna change lives, but it's gonna save lives for the sports that um that help children and families come together as one.

Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you, next speaker.

I'm also here for uh Easter Zittle League.

Um board member also, and we do approve for the budget, and we just want everybody here to think about the kids because we're here for the kids, and they have nowhere right now.

Right now we're hoping the budget passes, and that's all I want to say.

Uh, just think about the kids though.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Juanita Avilis, Jeff Levine, and Cole Cameron come on down.

Go ahead.

I'm Patty McNeil, a member of the McLaughlin Corridor Neighborhood Association in District 7.

District 7 needs you to approve fire station 32, and this budget doesn't support it.

Station 32 is being built to relieve station 26, the 15th busiest fire station in the United States.

City Data Projects 32 will instantly become the busiest fire station in San Jose once fully operational.

It doesn't make sense to halt a station already being built with voter-approved major team money.

District 7 residents deserve faster response times, just like most of your districts have.

I support the mayor's budget, but I think it's short-sighted to not fully open station 32.

Thank you.

Hello, Mr.

Mayor and Council.

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

I am here to support the Mayor's June budget message.

The message makes sound choices, balances the budget, protects important services like libraries and parks, and keeps the city focused on results that people have been looking for.

One of my concerns is blight.

We need to end illegal dumping and continue cleaning up our neighborhoods so residents can take pride in the places where they live.

I support the mayor's focus on cleaner neighborhoods, coordinating illegal dumping response, free junk pickup, graffiti removal, and stronger vacant building enforcement.

Please vote to pass the message.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

This statement is for City Peace Project and supporting the mayor's budget to allocate funding for the organization.

Good evening.

My name is Leslie Oliver Barton.

I'm associate principal at Urbawena High School and next year Santa Teresa High School.

I am proud to offer my strongest support for the City Peace Project.

Their team has played a vital role in fostering positive school culture, creating meaningful connections with students and providing safe support supportive spaces for at-risk students to feel valued and encouraged.

Their work goes far beyond the classroom.

It provides students with the tools and guidance, the encouragement they need to navigate life's obstacles.

The City Peace Project inspires students to discover their purpose, embrace their potential, and become positive leaders who contribute to a peaceful and connected school community.

I wholeheartedly endorse the City Peace Project for funding opportunities, grants, and future partnerships.

Thank you.

That's your time.

Next speaker, Cheryl L.

Come on down and Vanessa Sepulveda.

Go ahead.

Good evening, Mayor.

Council members, my name is Juanita of Elizabeth.

I am the Vice President for Eastridge Little League.

Eastridge Little League is a nonprofit organization, baseball team.

We go anywhere from four-year-olds to 16-year-olds.

We have been struggling without a home.

Mayor, you are familiar with us.

With this budget here and the support that we're getting right now and the guidance of Peter Ortiz, which we'd like to thank.

We're hoping that with this budget, once it passes, it's going to be a little bit of a light at the end of the tunnel that these kids deserve.

Thank you, Mayor.

I appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

I'm Cole Cameron, one of the senior certain instructors in the city and county.

So I really strongly support that continued support you've all given it.

I also am just stepping down as the chair of the Veterans Commission for the county, and any program that can support them is really important.

I also, as an old finance guy, I want to thank uh Jennifer and her whole team for all the crunch that you've been through and continue to go through.

That's just uh after so many years of me.

I I know what you're doing is it's hell.

So thank you again, everyone, for all your support, all the efforts in the various areas.

And as we say and cert, you know, how are we going to take care of the greatest good with this tight budget?

The dance continues.

Thank you again.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good evening.

I'm Jeff Levine, a longtime resident of the Roosevelt Park neighborhood in District 3.

I'm here tonight to urge the City Council to adopt the mayor's June budget message.

I understand that difficult choices are necessary to balance the budget given the serious deficit.

I'm not here to advocate for any pet project.

What matters most to me is that the burden be shared fairly across all departments.

With that in mind, our top priority should be public safety, including adequate support for first responders and continued efforts to house people experiencing homelessness.

Public safety also depends on keeping our city clean by addressing illegal dumping and graffiti.

Will this budget affect priorities I care about, such as emergency preparedness and the community emergency response team or CERT?

I expect that it will, and that means that I will need to increase my volunteer efforts to help keep my district prepared and safe in all future disasters.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker, also Chris Scott, come on down, Aurelia Sanchez and Destiny Peña.

Go ahead.

Hi.

Yeah, I'm a resident of downtown San Jose, and I support the mayor's budget message because it strengthens downtown activation through sports, entertainment, conventions, etc.

And it backs our local business district, supports each size small businesses.

I was walking around Sunday morning and I decided to go downtown because I live downtown.

And I saw the bus in front of one of the hotels.

It was the Paraguay sports team.

And I was just standing there.

I'm like, oh, they're all getting off the bus.

And I stood there for a long time.

It's just that feeling of like something coming back to downtown.

I stood there for like a super long time.

And uh it's good because I go to Willow Glen, I'm like downtown Willow Glen energy, you know, Vietnam Town Energy.

I'm like downtown.

I've been here, you know, lived for so long.

It just felt so good for that minute.

It's just that feeling.

I want to see it coming back.

Thank you.

Please support the mayor's budget message.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

This Damon since it's a part of the City Peace Project to the Mayor's budget.

Good evening, everyone.

My name's Vanessa Sepulveda, and I am a student specialist with the City Peace Project.

I'm currently serving at Yerbawana High School.

I believe it's important for us to remain on campus because we provide a safe and supportive space where our students can be heard, guided, and encouraged.

We build a meaningful relationship with our students and support them through challenges, celebrate their successes, and help them stay on track through graduation.

The City Peace Project makes a positive impact in the young lives every day.

The continued fund allows us to keep providing these vital services to our students who need them the most.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Amy Lamb, come on down and Alma Garcia.

Go ahead.

Hello, my name's Aurelia Sanchez, and I live in District 3.

I'm here to support the mayor's budget.

Um, I just want to say I really like the direction our city is going.

I notice cleaner streets, safer streets.

Uh the homeless problem has been greatly impacted in a good way.

So I hope this budget continues with the basic services and what you're doing now.

What I am worried about is there's so much need right now that you're gonna go looking for more taxes.

So I just hope that in as we move forward that taxing is not the problem to everything.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Good afternoon, Mayor Mahan and Council members.

My name is Destiny Penny and I'm the jobs to grow manager at Grail Family Services, where I have the privilege of working alongside residents of the Mayfair community in East San Jose.

I help lead an eight-month program offered at no cost that provides child and professional development training, including certifications for residents interested in becoming a licensed family child care home provider or initiating their child care career.

I'm here today to respectfully ask that you fully fund the children and youth services master plan demonstration sites through the fiscal year 2027 by maintaining the one million dollar funding for the Mayfair POCOWAI and Seven Tree Santee pilot projects.

Through my work, I see firsthand the impact the master plan has on our participants and with its no wrong door approach.

It connects families to critical resources such as child care, health care services, and safety, creating job stability in a community where these resources are so scarce and ultimately uplifting the underserved Mayfair community.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Thank you, next speaker.

Lorena Gonzalez, come on down and Alicia Zamudio.

Go ahead.

Hello, my name is Chris Scott, and I'm a district 10 resident and the managing director of programs for Fresh Life Lines for Youth, also a grant best uh grantee.

First, I would like to thank the mayor and the city council for including MBA 11 and the June budget message.

We appreciate the council's recognition of the critical services community-based nonprofit providers deliver through the best program.

While we appreciate the investment and the recognition of these vital services, we urge you to continue to engage best providers and expand prevention services.

We were encouraged to see investments in intervention services, but we were equally concerned by efforts to reduce prevention programming.

Over the past several weeks, we have spoken to school partners and learned that fly and other prevention-focused services may no longer be available.

Their response when we met with the school partners was immediate and consistent.

What are we going to do?

So today I asked each of you the same question.

Our school partners asked us if these prevention services disappear.

What are you going to do?

Thank you.

That's your time.

Next speaker.

Also, Alicia Vanegis and the Mi propaganda hangover.

Haldeman and members of the City Council.

My name is Alma Garcia, and I own my own walnut nursery thanks to the free workshops and certifications I receive through Grey Family Service.

I can open my own business and improve my family's economic stability.

The Children and Youth Service Master Plan helps connect families and communities with essential resources and services for health, mental health, high quality child care, and economic mobility opportunities.

Therefore, we respectfully request that you maintain one million dollars in funding for Heifers pilot projects.

Not much, Santi.

Until next year, 20.

It helps communities like Madrid to thrive and grow, and it helps our children too, and families with low resources.

Good afternoon, Mayor Mahan and Council members.

My name is Amy, and I am the Children Youth Service Master Plan, Community Navigator at Grail Family Services.

I have the where I serve the privilege to working alongside residents of Mayfair Community Center in East San Jose.

With the No Wrong No Door approach, I assist families stay connected to resources to ensure high quality services, delivery is responsive and seamless so community members meet their needs.

My primary role is to ensure communication is streamlined while uplifting families with the creator to um career approach.

I am here today to respectfully ask that you fully fund the children and youth service master plan demonstration sites through physical year 2027 by maintaining the one million dollar funding for the Mayfair Polkaway and Seven Tree Santee Pilot Projects.

Thank you.

Buenas tardes, thank you.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon, Mayor.

And my name?

Sari.

Members of the Municipal Council.

My name is Lorena Gonzalez, and I am a child care provider in East San Jose.

Thank you for the free training, workshops, and certifications from gross family services.

I have been able to provide high-quality child care to children and families in the Mayfair community where these services are very scarce.

The Children and Youth Services Master Plan connects families with essential health, mental health, and family support resources, strengthening the entire community.

Therefore, I respectfully request that you maintain the 1 million dollars funding for the Pocoway and Sandy Triumph's 70 Sandy pilot project through fiscal year 2027.

This investment strengthens our children, families, and communities.

My name is Alicia Zamudio, and I'm a child care provider in East San Jose.

Thanks to families' free training, workshops, and certifications, I have been able to offer high-quality child care to children and families in the communities where we are located, services that are very, very scarce.

The Children and Youth Services Plan connects families with associated mental health and family support resources, strengthening the entire community.

Therefore, I earnestly ask that you maintain the funding of one million.

For the pilot projects of Maffer, Paco Wall Street, and up to fiscal year 2027.

This investment empowers our children, families, and communities with experience.

It proves that these programs work and transform lives.

Buenas tardes.

And what do you want to intend to do that?

In East San Jose, thanks to the free workshops and certifications offered by Gray Family Service.

I have been able to provide high-quality child care to children and families in Mayfair communities where these services are very scarce.

The Children and Youth Services Master Plan connects families with essential health, mental health, and family support resources, strengthening all communities.

Therefore, I respectfully request that you maintain the $1 million funding for the Mayfair Poco Way and Service Center Shanti Pilot Projects through fiscal year 2027.

This investment strengthens our children, families, and communities.

Emily, Brian Kurtz, David Noel, Brian, and Tina.

Just be prepared.

Go ahead, sir.

Good evening, City Council.

My name is Jaime.

Please support Mayor Mahan's June's budget message.

Residents are paying for homelessness response, and we deserve a system that works.

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

Hello.

The idea of having someone there to guide us about what was available was indispensable.

We ask that you keep the California room open to the public and keep history accessible, especially on the eve of San Jose's 250th anniversary.

Thank you.

Brian.

Hello, go ahead.

This strengthens safety, the public realm, and that feeling experienced by the earlier downtown resident speaker.

We also strongly oppose the business tax increase study and commend the mayor's decision not to advance it.

Downtown is predominantly small businesses still navigating rising costs and an uneven recovery.

The staff study indicated an unbalanced impact on small businesses.

Now is not the time to dissuade economic development investment in our community.

We urge adoption of the budget as presented and look forward to working in partnership with you.

Thank you.

David.

David Knoll.

Good afternoon.

Umorable Mayor and City Council.

Um I'm Dave Noel, longtime resident, neighborhood leader, and president of Erickson Neighborhood Association in District 9.

I encourage you to support the mayor's June budget message in full.

I'd like to thank Mayor Mahan and his team, his Brown Act colleagues and city manager Jennifer McGuire and her team for producing a balanced budget that protects core services and continues to make progress and optimize the great work being done that directly aligns with the issues that consistently polls our residents' greatest priorities.

I'm also grateful that the budget was able to accommodate many of the community serving priorities identified by each of our honorable council members.

I'm hopeful that the current momentum on economic development and housing will continue to grow and improve the outlook for future budget years.

For now, let's stay focused on our core services and look forward to better times ahead.

In closing, I'd like to thank you very much for making it possible to participate via Zoom tonight.

Thank you.

Thank you, Brian.

Brian.

Can you hear me okay?

Yes, go ahead.

All right, thank you.

First of all, thank you for doing the Zoom.

I appreciate it.

Um, and I just want to say to all the people there, I wish I could be there, but my I can't due to some physical issues.

And I'm very proud of all of you.

I if I had the money, I'd write a blank check right now.

All of you deserve the very best for what you do for your community.

I'd like to thank the staff and the um city council, and I support the mayor's budget, and I just wish it would be better.

But you guys are trying your best.

Thank you, ma'am.

Have a nice day.

Okay, before I call the last online speaker who's Tina, I'm gonna call um five names of in-person so you guys can go ahead and line up while Tina's speaking.

Greg Peralta, Gustavo Gonzalez, Carl San Miguel, Enrique Navarro, and Anna Marie Rousseau.

And Tina, go ahead.

Hi, good evening.

My name is Tina Morrill from District 3.

I support the memo of council members Tordillos, Came, and Cohen, which proposes one-time funding reallocation to support the California room this year.

The community clearly demonstrates time and again our priority to support the library services.

Also, I urge council to please direct staff to look at their processes as a potential money saving measure.

Time is money, and many of the city's processes are antiquated and unnecessary.

A current example is the upcoming two-hour community meeting to rename the former Plaza de Cesar Chavez in downtown.

How many staff are involved?

Two hours per staff person could be better spent on park-related necessities.

And the parks commission could easily rename the park in one of their public meetings.

We have to consider new ways, new processes, and the use of technology to save money.

Thank you.

Thank you, Greg or Greg Gustavo, Carl, Enrique Anna Maria.

Go ahead.

Sorry.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak.

I support the mayor's budget because it provides a balanced and responsible plan that addresses our community's most important needs while maintaining fiscal stability.

This budget invests in essential services, public safety, infrastructure, and programs that improve quality of life for our residents.

It reflects careful stewardship of taxpayer dollars and focuses on both current priorities and long-term sustainability.

At a time when many communities face financial challenges, this budget demonstrates thoughtful planning and a commitment to serving our residents effectively.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, next speaker.

Hi, good evening.

My name is Greg Peralta.

I'm here with this Santa Clara County Association of Realtors and a resident of District 6.

I'd like to mention that recently a friend of mine returned to San Jose.

She moved away about two years ago.

She noticed the improvement in eliminating the homeless encampments and wanted me to express the hard work that you've all done and positive results.

I've noticed them too.

So please keep that up.

And we support the I support the mayor's budget.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good evening, Mayor Mahan, City Council members and staff.

Thank you for allowing me a minute to speak up here.

I'm in support of Mayor Mahan's June budget that he's presented.

I think we're moving in the right direction.

I think all of you are doing a great job, so keep up the great work.

And I just want to say that I too am in support of that city peace program.

After listening to these kids, I think that's an amazing program, so keep that up.

And to the kids that spoke or young adults, thank you, because you educated me and you made an impact.

So keep speaking.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Debbie Owl.

Come on down, Jessica Jenkins and Andrew Siegler.

Good evening.

I'm Carl San Miguel, and I speak in favor of the June budget fiscal year 2026 and 2027.

Just another supporter of this new bill.

Uh, but I specifically picked out of there the multifamily housing incentive program by reducing the one-time fees, converting the outdated office space to housing, improving the ministerial system by creating the 90-day entitlement approval timeline citywide, and reduce by cost by eliminating excessive local building codes on top of the state requirement, and aligning all development fees so that they appear as a single easily calculated monetary contribution, and this decreases the turnaround time for developers.

Deferring the collection of the fees and taxes will have a faster decision on the feasibility of the project and supporting TIC financing at Tenet and Common.

Thank you.

That's your time.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council.

I'm Enrique Navarro Donald, the Santa Clara County Association Realtors, and I call on you all to support the mayor's budget message in its entirety.

San Jose has made notable progress in city services delivery while maintaining a balanced budget under challenging financial headwinds.

The budget is a critical indispensable factor in setting the stage for how our government operates.

And the budget at hand continues to focus on the core responsibilities and basic functions that we as a public expect the city to address: homelessness solutions, public safety, urban cleanliness, and reducing administrative burdens and bureaucratic obstacles to enable businesses to thrive and to unleash desperately needed housing construction.

The budget responds precisely to our most pressing needs and our visible issues.

Delivering results to meet the public's expectations is a benchmark for effective and responsible governance.

This budget demonstrates a commitment to continuing the successes of the past several years.

Please support the Mayor's June budget message.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Good evening.

My name is Drew Siegler.

I'm with Serge Santa Clara County, President of District 3.

So I support the Campos Ortiz Candela's Casey memo, and so please allocate the full one million to integration organizations now so they can continue to protect our most vulnerable populations.

Also, just you know, the city uh the city of San Jose has an affordability problem and should focus on providing resources, not towing, sweeping, criminalizing our unhoused neighbors, and punishing people struggling to survive the affordability crisis.

Which on that note, I support the Campos Ortiz Duan Candelas and Casey memo and make affordability a key focus area with metrics.

And then uh I also support the Kamehate's call and my memo uh to uh restore funding to the California room at the LK Duce Library.

And that's it, thank you very much.

Have a good night.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Also, also Lori Ketcher, Alan Moid, and Jill Toller.

Come on down.

Hi, my name is Debbie Ow, and I live in District 3, and I'm with Surge, and I want to support for the full funding of the immigration organizations, the one million dollars.

We need to protect our residents who are facing legal problems due to their immigration status.

We also need to address affordability in our in our city.

We don't need to be sweeping people away and punishing them for trying to survive.

And I support the Campos Ortiz Duan Candelas Case Memo that makes affordability a key focus area with metrics.

And I support the MLK library.

I'm also here representing AARP.

And we urge you to fund the older adults health and wellness grant program for 300,000.

This program enables the work of several established nonprofit organizations to provide critical help for those volcanic.

Thank you, Dr.

Time.

Next speaker.

Good evening.

My name is Jessica Jenkins.

I live and work in San Jose District 3.

I am here as a member of SERGE, also as an immigration attorney and as a rapid response network volunteer.

I am here to also ask you to please support the memo, which would allocate the full million dollars to immigration organizations now, so that they can continue to protect our most vulnerable neighbors.

Many organizations are facing funding cuts from all sides, even while the demand for services increases.

And they need support, especially as we face the threat of ICE facilities in Gilboy and Dublin.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Also, Bill Schrow, Jeremy Barus, and Joanna Bacera.

Come on down.

Go ahead.

Good evening, Mayor Mahan and Council members.

My name is Alan Moyd.

I serve as president of the BEP Community Association, excuse me, in District 2.

I'm here tonight in support of the mayor's budget.

The budget reflects the difficult reality that our city faces.

Despite a significant budget deficit, the proposal protects core services and continues investing in the priorities residents care about most: public safety, homelessness solutions, neighborhood quality of life, and maintaining critical city services.

No budget is perfect, and every spending decision involves trade-offs.

But this budget demonstrates fiscal responsibility while keeping San Jose focused on the basics.

It prioritizes the services that residents depend on every day and ensures taxpayer dollars are directed where they can have the greatest impact.

I appreciate the mayor and all of you in the council here on your focus and on getting this through, and I urge you to approve the budget.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Hello, my name is Jill Toller.

Council members, I urge you to support Mayor Mahan's June budget message.

We must continue to support and illegal dumping and keep our neighborhoods clean so our residents can take pride in where they live.

That means staying focused on coordinated illegal dumping responses, free junk pickup, graffiti removal, and stronger vacant building enforcement.

By investing in these services, we can ensure neighborhoods feel safe, cared for, and respected.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, next speaker.

Hello, my name is Lori Katcher.

I live in District 6.

I'm a member of Surge.

Despite what many in power tell us, we all belong to each other, no matter where we live, what our net worth is, as my comrade said, um, or what our immigration status is.

I support the Ortiz and groups memo to allocate the full one million to immigration organizations now to continue to protect our immigrant community.

I also support the campos's group memo to make reducing the cost of living a key focus area with metrics, and I urge you to ensure that our unhoused community members help shape how affordability is defined and measured.

The brunt of the affordability crisis falls squarely on the shoulders of our most vulnerable residents, including elders, immigrants, black and brown people, and people with disabilities.

Stop towing, sweeping, and punishing people struggling to survive the affordability crisis.

Instead, prioritize.

Thank you.

That's your time.

Ms.

Ray and Mendoza, come on down.

Lorena, Nora, and Yolanda Casas.

Good evening, City Council.

Um, Bill Schroe and I'm from History San Jose, and I'm here to support the mayor's budget message, but with a caveat.

Um, I'm thankful that there is money for History San Jose and continue to support the support and work, but at the same time, I'm very concerned the closing of the California room and what it will do to historical research for San Jose.

This is an important resource where people can come in and do and check out and look and see, and the building being closed is gonna give this resource closed to the public, and there's really gonna be nowhere else to go and actually librarians are so important, and to have a physical person to talk to.

It's it's very different when you do it in it online.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon.

My name is Johanna Becerra, and I am community organizer with amigos de Guadalupe.

We are set the city's commitment to our immigrant families and the recognition that they're the organizer with amigos de Guadalupe.

We appreciate the series.

Immigrant families and the recognition that there is a really need for supporting.

Families are already living in fear and uncertainty.

Workers are already facing risks.

Children are already worried about the possibility of being separated from their loved ones.

I ask that you release one million dollars so that we may prepare and support our community.

The best way to respond to an emergency is to ensure our community is ready before it happens.

If we wait until the last minute to act, the damage could be far more severe and far more costly for our city and the future.

Preparedness is not an additional expense.

Good evening, Jeremy Bruce with Amigos de Guadalupe.

We urge the council to adopt the budget memo authored by council members Ortiz Candelas Campos and Casey.

We applaud Mary Mahan for including one million for immigration services in the June budget message.

However, we ask that the council fully allocate these funds upon approval to community organizations on the ground doing the work rather than directing half to a reserve fund.

To reduce last year's allocation from one million to 500K available now means critical services for immigrants will be stopped or reduced.

This will negatively pack impact our most vulnerable neighbors who rely on these services and programs now.

There is enforcement happening now every day in our city.

We had arrests, ICERS over the weekend.

We had one or more arrests every day last week.

Since we started last year at Migos Immigration Help Desk has served over 700 individuals.

We reached over 1700 in know your rights education.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Hello, my name is Raina Alvarez.

I'm here with the City Peace Project.

Before joining this program, I struggled with fighting, being disrespectful, and making poor choices.

Because I didn't have guidance I needed.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Friends of Guadalupe and one of the many families that work and contribute to the city every day.

This million dollars is not just a number, it's a budget.

It's support for real people, mothers, fathers, young people, and children who need services, guidance, and opportunities to get ahead.

We all trust that the city will not turn its back on us.

That is why we ask the council to adopt the memorandum presented by councillors Ortiz Candilas Campos and Casey.

Thank you, next speaker.

Thank you.

Speaker.

Good afternoon, everyone.

My name is Nora Gonzalez, and I am the immigration justice leader for Friends of Guadalupe, and I come from District 5.

I am here to ask you to please continue supporting us with the full budget because our community needs us now.

They cannot wait for mass deportations to occur before they can receive legal help with their immigration problems.

I am a leader of the Friends of Guadalupe.

Thank you to the mayor for including one million dollars for immigration services in the budget.

I am here to ask you to make the decision to support the immigrant community that is being affected by what is happening.

People are being arrested now in our community.

We need those resources for our community organizations.

They know that these resources help us defend against deportations.

We can't wait any longer.

We don't want a reserve fund.

We want the full amount required.

And they know that if they don't support with the million, this would negatively affect vulnerable people.

With the proposed facilities in Eisen, Gilroy, and Dublin, we cannot cut those services or programs.

Thank you, that's your time.

Um next speaker, Marjorie Siegel, come on down, Christopher Smith, Yesenia Sausito, and Kim Guptal.

Go ahead.

Hello, City Council Mayor.

Uh thank you for the allocation of the funds.

Uh but we need the money now.

Um listen, all of you guys, 13 of you up there.

I had a speech, but I always go off the script.

All of you guys, 13 of you guys leave in privilege every single day, including my friend over here, district seven.

Even though he's an immigrant, he already has citizenship.

Living in privilege, you have to trickle down the privilege to the people that don't have that privilege.

It's plain and simple.

We need a million dollar funding right now.

We cannot wait, and we cannot keep building the plane as we fly it.

We cannot be doing that.

We have a uh a big machine with the federal government that they built a big machine of deportation.

We need to build the same machine to defend our people.

This is your duty, okay?

This is your duty, and this is your duty, and this is your duty, and I'm gonna keep telling you that this is your duty.

Okay, so thank you.

Next speaker.

Good evening, Mayor Mann and Council members.

My name's Marjorie Siegel, and I live in District 8.

Um, thank you to Mayor Mann for including including one million dollars for immigration services in the budget proposal.

However, as Ms.

Rain just pointed out, our community organizations need these resources now.

They can't wait.

Um, they need them for defortation defense, know your rights outreach, and rapid response network.

Our neighbors can't wait.

Enforcement happens every single day in our city.

It's already straining resources.

I urge the council to adopt the memo endorsed by council members Ortiz Candelas Campos and Casey.

As a rapid response volunteer, I've witnessed people being detained.

Thanks to the rapid response network, they were connected with emergency free legal aid, and their loved ones were notified instead of left wondering why they didn't come home that evening.

With proposed ICE facility.

Thank you, that's your time.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon, Council.

My name is Christopher Smith.

I'm a D8 resident, and I am a proud grandchild of immigrants.

My grandparents both moved here from Mexico back in the 60s.

I love my grandparents so much, they mean the world to me.

And they were able to come to this country and work so hard and succeed.

And I could never imagine them being abducted by Mask Gestapo and taken 200 miles south to an unnamed detention center with rats and human feces.

We can't let our community, we can't let our friends, we can't let our family meet this fate.

We can't have $500,000, half of the resources for this community be set aside after people are taken.

You wouldn't want to install a seatbelt for your child after a car crash happens.

You do it before.

We need to keep our community safe.

We need to keep them protected, and we need to allocate the funding now.

Protect your community and protect.

Thank you.

Hazazel Holmquist come on down, Deb St.

Julian and Sandy Carey.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council members.

My name is Yesenia Salcedo with amigos de Guadalupe and a district, a resident of District 3.

First, thank you to Mayor Mayhan for including $1 million for immigration services in the budget proposal.

However, our community organizations need these resources now.

I've been working with Grupo de Justicia Migratoria, and I've been seeing the need of know your rights.

Um outreach, rapid response network, and they've been doing a great job.

But our immigrant community community can't wait.

There's enforcement happening now in our city every day.

We urge the council to adopt the memo authored by council members Ortiz Candelas Campos and Casey.

To reduce last year's allocation from one million to 500,000 means critical services will either be reduced or stopped, which negatively impacts many vulnerable people in our communities where we're like, Thank you.

That's your time.

Hi, my name is Kim Guptil, D6.

I'm a member of SERGE.

First, I'd like to thank you all for listening to the people and digging deeper for funds to support immigrants.

I said something positive.

And I would also ask that you please vote for the Compost Ortiz Candelas and Casey memo to allocate the full one million up front because the crisis you'd be waiting for is already here, and we need all the resources possible to protect our immigrants and families and help them live in less fear, knowing that we have their back.

Secondly, I would ask that you focus on providing resources to unhoused people, not towing them or sweeping them like so much garbage, and punishing people for uh be unhoused, turning them into time.

Ashley Antonich Sarabia, come on down, Sean Baker and Ali Victorine.

I'm short.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council members.

My name is Azazel Homequist.

I'm a resident of District 6.

Thank you to the Mayor Mayhan for including 1 million for immigration services in the budget proposal.

However, our community organizations need these resources now for deportation defense, know your rights, outreach, and the rapid response network.

To reduce last year's allocation from 1 million to 500K available now means that critical services for immigrants will be have to be stopped or reduced.

This will negatively impact many vulnerable people who are relying on these services and programs.

San Jose has been greatly impacted by immigration enforcement.

There have been times when ICE disappeared 10 or more of our residents in a single day.

Santa Clara County is experiencing three times more detentions than any other county in the Bay Area.

The consistent feedback from directly impacted community was clear.

We need more attorneys to meet this moment.

With the one million invested last year, we were able to scale up the deportation defense and the rapid response now.

Thank you, next speaker.

My name's Deb St.

Julian.

I'm a D2 resident, a member of Surge, a trained rapid responder, and a member of the urban sanctuary faith community.

The foundation of my organizing is my faith.

My faith says we belong to one another.

All of us are siblings and neighbors.

None of us is more important than the other, no matter if we're housed or unhoused, recent or long-term immigrants.

I want a budget that deeply reflects this, that supports the most vulnerable immigrant neighbors via the COMPOS or Tees Condales KC memo to allocate the one million dollars in funds to immigrant organizations now.

That focuses on providing housing resources, rent control, tenant rights, not treating my unhoused neighbors like trash, people want hidden.

That focus on metrics of affordability via the Compost Ortiz Don KC memo.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Good evening, uh Mayor and Council members.

I'm Sandy Perry from District 3.

I think it's time to reconsider the whole back to basics message after it only pulled 4% in the governor's race.

Back to basics has meant building luxury high-rise housing that nobody wanted.

It meant building data centers that harm the environment and don't provide any jobs, and it's meant filling up our jails with low-income residents and black and brown communities.

Instead of going forward to bait backward to basics, we need to go forward to meet human needs.

We need homes for the unhoused, we need lower rents for the working class, we need child care for our families, protection for our immigrants, and we need it now, and protection for our older adults, children and youth services for our communities, and serious programs like trust for our public safety.

As Dr.

King said, nothing but a lack of social vision prevents us from meeting these needs.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

I'd like to call Adolfo Gomez and Alison Manning to come on down.

Go ahead.

Good evening.

Allie Victorine D7 leadership group with laryngitis.

We support the five major goals for this year's budget cycle and appreciate the tough choices and compromises being made.

Protecting homeless services, beautify SJ, increasing business, and of course, public safety.

However, we are concerned about the two-year postponement for the opening of Fire Station 32 and D7.

Our district, including Little Saigon and Santee neighborhood, has the lowest compliance rate in the city for the fire department's response time goal.

Less than 60% of the time.

The city has already invested millions of measure T funds to rebuild 32.

We ask you to find a way to find a way to open fire station 32 and provide D7 residents with the emergency response they were promised.

Hi, go ahead.

Before you speak, I just want to let people know we're not quite halfway through, so I'm going to remind you when you agree with somebody if you could do jazz hands so the people who are 140 on the list don't have to wait as long.

Go ahead.

Good evening, Council.

My name's Ashley.

I'm a resident of District 5 and a rapid responder.

I want to thank you for including a million dollars for immigration services in the budget.

However, I think withholding half of that is irresponsible.

If we wait, it will be too late.

ICE is already here.

Immigrant families are being targeted daily.

Members of our community are being disappeared.

ICE enforcement isn't hypothetical.

The full 1 million is needed now to keep deportation defense, no your rights outreach, and the rapid response network operational.

Cutting half the budget today would force immediate reductions in service, just as ICE plans on expanding operations through Gilroy and Dublin.

Someone here once told us, maybe twice, that San Jose is the third largest city in California, which should be on the forefront of this fight, setting an example by acting with the urgency this demands.

I urge the council to adopt the memo authored by council members Ortiz, Candales, Campos, and Casey.

There was also a previous pledge to raise an additional $500,000 through philanthropy.

I want to thank that person for their continued efforts.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Kristen Sarginger, Dana Weintraub, and Heather Burns come on down.

Go ahead.

Good evening, Council.

My name is Sean Baker.

I'm a resident of District 5.

Well, I thank the mayor for proposing $1 million for immigration services.

500,000 of these funds were proposed to be withheld in a reserve contingent on the council deeming the threat severe enough.

But our community can't wait.

ICE informants have enforcement is happening in the city right now.

And with proposed facilities in Gilroy and Dublin, the crisis is escalating.

Deportation defense, know your rights outreach, and the rapid response network rely on the full one million dollars to operate.

Cutting immediate access to the 500,000 would force critical services to be shut down or scale back, leaving hundreds vulnerable.

Last year's million allows us to expand legal support and protect families across 22 zip codes.

Now Santa Clara County faces three times more detentions than neighboring counties.

And San Jose is ground zero.

We urge you adopt the memo by Councilmembers Ortiz Candelas Company.

Thank you.

That's your time.

Next speaker.

Good evening.

My name is Alison Manning, and I'm a local Gold Scout and resident of the Catalyti neighborhood in District 4.

I'm here today to talk to you about the noise issue regarding the pickleball quotes at Cataldi Park.

Well, it's lovely to see our parks and resources being utilized.

It has unfortunately caused some problems in the neighborhood, including excessive noise and unsafe traffic.

I'm aware of the budget proposal for fencing and sound migration, Michael at Cataly Bug to help deal with how the noise issue is impacting residents.

I propose that on top of the current plan, a designate part of the budget be allocated to building a natural sound barrier that would be installed.

A sustainable natural sound barrier would further enhanced noise mitigation while also working to beautify the park.

This paired with a good quality sounding material on the funds itself can decrease salem by up to 20 decimals.

I hope you would take into consideration to approving the budget proposal that will allow the funds to be used to solve this ever growing community problem.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Also John Scaglione, Mercury Nunez, and Carl.

Good evening, everyone, mayor, council members.

I'm here to support strongly support the uh the budget for the uh for the mayor and you and the consults.

Um, I'm speaking on behalf of a small business owner, but also as a part of the San Jose Dante Association.

I want to thank you, Michael Mokani and Andino Tordillos.

You're putting a lot of effort to clean up our downtown.

Um it is super important for small businesses to have a biparen MBC downtown.

Um, our small business employ about 35 to 45 employees in different times, so we support 35 to 20 to 45 families living in San Jose.

Um I'll stop now so we can go quick.

Good evening.

I'm Dana Weintraub, CEO of Bay Area Women's Sports Initiative, Bosse.

Bossi believes that every child deserves the opportunity to play, build confidence, and belong.

We are deeply grateful to Mayor Mahan and Vice Mayor Foley for supporting funding for BOSE rollers in this year's budget, and to the city of San Jose for your longstanding support of BOSI programs that provide sports and leadership opportunities for local youth.

Bossi Rollers provides adaptive sport and physical activity for children with disabilities, creating spaces where children are celebrated for what they can do through movement, teamwork, and joy.

Students build confidence, friendships, and leadership skills while experiencing the power of belonging through sport.

For many students and families, programs like Blossey Rollers are about far more than physical activity.

They create opportunities for inclusion, connection, confidence, and community.

The city's proposed investment will help ensure that students with disabilities in San Jose continue to have acts.

Thank you.

That's your time.

Next speaker.

Um wait, before you start, um, Carly, Ralph, and Paula Brazil.

Go ahead.

Okay.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council members.

My name's Heather Burns, and I'm a teacher in a rapid response network volunteer and a resident or a resident of District One.

Um, as a teacher, I see firsthand how important the rapid response network is in keeping our immigrant community safe in these very scary times.

Um, we've had a lot of parents talk to us about how scared they were to take their kids to school and what would happen.

Um, and um when the parents share their anxieties about federal ice activity, we've been able to teach them about the rapid response network and everything it does and let them know that it's still safe to take their kids to school.

This year we had a mom who, when she went to pick up her kid, broke down because she didn't know who to turn to after her husband had been taken unexpectedly at his immigration check-in earlier that morning.

We were able to guide her to the rapid response network who located where he was taken, provided legal support, and eventually brought him back to his family.

I urge the council to adopt.

I ask for your support for the mayor's budget message.

Uh, specifically uh our continued investment on housing development and economic development.

Those two things will help our future budgets and manage the other aspects of our budget.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker, um, Ed Davis and Leah Tennis Getter.

Come on down.

Good evening.

I'm Mayor Curry Nunez, AD5 resident, and I'm here to urge you to fully protect funding for education, immigrant defense, and health care in this June budget on education.

This budget wisely invests in youth through the children and youth services master plan, the elevate math program, and high dosage tutoring.

Please commit to sustaining and growing these proven data-driven programs so that our most disadvantaged students do not lose ground on immigrant defense, legal representation, know your rights education, and rapid response are what stand between stable families and sudden displacement.

Please make the additional 500,000 available now to protect our neighbors and families before it's too late.

On health care programs like the older adult health and wellness grant program, funds much needed transportation and legal and health care navigation for seniors.

Please make these supports more than a one-year patch because the health of our most disenfranchised neighbors like our elders is essential.

The tight budget is about funding priorities.

We have to prioritize and fund the things that impact our most vulnerable first.

Thank you, Mayor and Council members for your time.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good evening, council and mayor.

Uh, first of all, I want to appreciate and I want to tell you all very much what you're doing for the city is really, really, really tremendous.

I'm a 71-year resident here, so I've seen lots of changes in San Jose.

Uh the homeless issue is getting better.

I appreciate that.

Uh, the housing we know has been a problem for almost two decades.

I know we're working on it, but if you could help with the time process of getting permits, if you could help with the cost of these builders and what they have to put up with, it would help encourage them to come in and do the building that we need.

You guys can make the difference.

It's a wonderful council.

You can make the difference.

Let's get it done.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Good evening.

My name is Paula Brazil, and I coordinate services for seniors at PASU, where we serve over 1,300 people every month.

Today, I'm here on behalf of the most vulnerable seniors.

We serve the homebound seniors who depend on food from our home delivered meals program.

Two years ago, the city came to us to contract a program to deliver frozen meals to low-income seniors, and we've been doing so ever since.

And now it's on the chopping block.

These seniors who are over 80 years old most, who live alone with serious health issues and disabilities desperately depend on our frozen meals.

While we sympathize with the difficult decisions the city have has with budget cuts, cutting meals from low-income homebound seniors shouldn't be negotiable.

Surely there's got to be a better option.

We respect respectively appeal to you to restore full funding to Pulse Senior Access and Health Support Program.

Eating is not a luxury, it's a necessity, it's a lifeline.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good evening, Mayor, Council members.

My name is Ralph Pierce, and I'm I'm a part-time clerk for the King Library's California Room.

I hope that by now that you're all aware of the integral and important role that the California Room and its small yet skilled staff plays in serving the entire community of San Jose and supports both county and city services.

We're not just about looking back, we're about helping the city of San Jose move forward.

Thank you.

That's your time.

Next speaker.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

Thank you for your work, city manager's work, and staff's work on the this year's budget.

We fully support the mayor's budget message and ask for approval of the full council.

In particular, your focus on fiscal discipline, public safety, housing production, and economic growth are extremely important to our business community.

We also appreciate that the proposed budget does not advance a business tax modernization study at this time.

With business already facing high costs, we've just passed two major tax measures.

We have more come in this fall.

It would behoove us not to be saying that the city is studying another additional tax.

As you debate the potential reallocations, we encourage continued focus on efforts that attract employers, speed up permitting, strengthen downtown, and support economic activity that will ultimately drive the city's revenue.

We look forward to working with you and bringing the voice of business to these discussions.

Thank you.

Go ahead.

Thank you.

Good evening, Ms.

Mayor and Council members.

My name's Ed Davis.

I'm the chair of the board for San Jose's Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce.

Appreciate all the work you do on this budget.

I appreciate how difficult these decisions are.

Our chamber represents many businesses of every size across the city, and more than 60% of them are small business.

As you consider this year's budget, we encourage the city to continue to focus on fiscal responsibility, economic growth, and small business.

Excuse me.

Voters have approved two tax measures already, and adding more on is going to be a problem.

So at this time, we oppose the pursuing the modernization of the business license tax.

Adding cost to local employers would make it hard for excuse me, harder for businesses to grow, hire, invest, and remain competitive.

San Jose's long-term health will come from growing the economy, attracting new business.

Your time.

Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor Mahan and members of the city council.

I'm speaking on behalf of our city forest and their president and CEO, Ron DeBerry, and want to thank the mayor and especially Councilmember Cohen for championing offer operational support for our city forest in the mayor's June budget message.

This is this support is incredibly important to OCF's ability to continue serving San Jose, supporting their fleet, materials coordination, AmeriCorps, and Climate Action Corps members, and their staff who deliver tree planting, young tree care, community engagement, workforce development, and stewardship services across the city.

It's especially important at a time when AmeriCorps and that federal funding stream, which directly supports OCF, remains uncertain and in flux due to federal cuts.

And as everyone knows, OCF's been San Jose's urban forestry partner for over 30 years, planted in every council district and zip code in San Jose.

And thank you again for your partnership and support.

Kelsey.

Hi, my name is Kelsey Coulson.

Thank you for the work you have all put into our city's budget.

And protecting the budget of our police and fire departments must be a priority.

I often hear from other community members how frustrating it is to call 911 and get a slow response or no response at all from police.

Cutting their budget will not improve call times, it will worsen them.

Keeping our community safe is a cornerstone of city government.

Thank you for continuing to work with our police and fire departments to protect their already limited budget.

Thank you.

Sorry, Bao, go ahead.

Um, yes, um, thank you, uh Mayor Um Mahan and Council members.

On behalf of Vivo's uh mall and stop and client, I would like to express our gratitude to the council restauration of the OHW funding for another year in this Zoom budget.

This will go a long way for Vivo and other OHW service provider in collaboration with SVCN to provide services to the community, and I would like to request the council to approve the Zoom budget.

Together, we both the service and uh many other case of Manasuman have been contributing to Vivo's effort to build the infrastructure for the community's immigrant and low-income family to observe and build up their new life in the US to become responsible citizens and to become self-sufficient.

Again, I would like to uh ask the council to consider and approve the Zoom budget.

Thank you very much.

Angelica.

Good evening, Mayor and Council Angelica Ramos Allen, District 6 Resident, Chair of the Library Commission, and President of the National Women's Political Caucus.

The California Room is where San Jose's collective memory lives and houses archives related to the history of the National Women's Political Caucus.

San Jose was once recognized as the feminist capital of the world during an NWPC convention, and the California Room helps preserve those stories and many others.

I support the MBA informed by Councilmember Kameh's memo to maintain public access to the California room.

I also encourage the council to ask what a sustainable long-term plan looks like, as this appears to be a one-time solution to an ongoing need.

Finally, as a private citizen on maternity leave and as someone who has spent my career advocating for children and families, I urge you to fully fund the Children and Youth Services Master Plan.

Thank you.

Okay, and before I let Vanessa speak, I'm gonna call five people, five or six people from in here.

Dana Evans, Maria Rodriguez, Krista Van Land, Sarissa Donda Moody, and JP Connolly.

Come on down and online.

Vanessa, go ahead.

Good evening, everyone.

Um, thank you so much.

Uh first to the council for their fund allocation to support the South Coyous project.

This is Vanessa from the Japanese American Museum of San Jose.

And it was really heartening to see council commit resources to a cause that they all agreed was simply the right thing to do.

And tonight I ask you to take the next right step in supporting any funding that will keep the California room accessible to the public.

Thank you to council members, Kamei Tordios, and Cohen for crafting a path forward to keep this invaluable resource open to the public.

Um moving to an appointment only model would have really effectively reduced public access in a way that would have really made history unaccessible and would have taken humanity away from our history.

And at a time when our federal administration is already working hard to alter erase and rewrite history.

So thank you.

And I ask for any and all support for the California Room.

Thank you so much.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members.

My name is Dana Evans, and I work in the homeless community.

And I am here to share my concerns about any reductions to outreach, because outreach is not simply just doing work, giving out food bags, water, and essentials.

It's much more than that.

The resources are important, but outreach also is an intensive case management, which requires repeated engagement, service coordination, and helping people move through the complex, excuse me, system while they are living outdoors.

Because there are not enough shelters, interim housing, transitional housing opportunities for everyone who is homeless, outreach teams, go out, connect, resources, help them navigate through the critical pathways while they're experiencing homelessness.

Outreach cage management also.

Next speaker.

If you wanted to turn in your written comments, you can give them to me.

Okay.

Good evening, Mr.

Mayor, City Council.

My name's Krista Van Land.

I'm a resident of District One.

I support the Mayor's budget with one exception.

I'd like to urge you to find a way to squeeze in the California room with ongoing services.

Barring that, I support the Kamai Cohen Tordios memo.

I know it's only for one year.

If we have nothing else, that would be great.

More than 5,000 users can't be wrong.

A lot of people depend on this room for permit information, history, their livelihoods.

I mean, there are people who use that for their work.

So please keep it going.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Also, Solomon Kay, come on down, Isaac Malgar, and Alexia Arona.

Go ahead.

Good evening.

My name is Sarisha.

I'm a student at San Jose State and an intern for Run on Climate.

San Jose residents need more investment in climate programs and the benefits they bring.

Well, the proposed budget invests more in most climate-related initiatives, clean energy programming for the community, local energy programs, and strategic support for environmental and fire services are set to be cut.

This means less internal support for delivering and supporting environmental initiatives.

At the same time, the Elviso Microsoft project near Coyote Creek, among many others, challenges San Jose's water stress, particularly our imported water system, which has financial and environmental problems we haven't really addressed.

You must not only implement clear environmental standards for data center development, but invest in these said programs to fulfill our goals of clean energy use and greenhouse gas reductions.

In closing, our community expects more investment in energy and environmental programs like Climate Smart that combat these exact water system strains and support resident prioritized development.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good evening, Mayor and Council, Jean Paulo with Working Partnerships USA, and I'm just here to voice my strong support for the requests from Amigos de Guadalupe and immigrant rights organizations for the full funding of the million dollars needed for immigration services in this community.

I want to thank council members Ortiz, Casey, Campos Candelas for your memo and for um fighting for us to get that money.

Every day our team talks to workers who express real fear.

We see it in their faces, and we see how access to resources, access to support can help relieve that fear, which means workers being able to show up and do their jobs and support the community.

So these resources are critical right now, and I want to thank the council members who have advanced a memo to make sure that we get that funding.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Good evening, uh City Council members and Mayor May Mayor Mahan.

Uh, my name is Solomon Kinchlow.

I'm the manager for the City Peace Project.

I'm here to um advocate for the Mayor's budget proposal.

Um funding for the city Peace Project will help us continue supporting all the students that you heard from earlier and the two that you'll hear from next.

Many of you have seen the work that we do in the community at our peace parties where we give warm clothes during Christmas time and toys as well as school supplies during the new school year to McKinney Vento and migrant families.

Beyond that, our work in schools is very critical.

Right now, the school districts are facing a big budget cut where our services will be limited.

So, with the support from the budget, we will be able to continue our massive impact with thousands and thousands of students every year.

Um so I really advocate for that.

Thank you guys for your support and continuing to support the community.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Carolyn Herb Bowen, Shane M.

Come on down.

Hi, my name is Isaac Melgar.

Y'all look really cool, especially you with the haircut.

Um I'm here on behalf of the C Peace Project to support uh Matt Mayhem's um June budget.

Um, the C Peace Project has been an absolute blessing, and um right now I'm the president for my school for an organization that we have there, and I've been able to see everything that they've been able to do.

Unfortunately, they're not here at the moment, but it's been a true blessing.

They've been helping everyone out.

Um, they've helped me in so many ways, and my main problems have been like loving people and expressing myself.

Back then I used to be a shy kid, and now I can express myself and people know me at school now.

I'm able to be out here, lead and be uh I'm sorry, I'm lost the words.

I never thought I'd be a mayor.

Um, my time's up, trying to make this quick.

Thank you, everyone.

Thank you, next speaker.

Um, good evening.

My name is Alexia Arona.

I'm here from the City Peace Project supporting the mayor's budget being passed.

I want to thank you for the opportunity to speak today.

The City Peace Project has had a meaningful impact on my life by giving me support, guidance, and a community where I feel welcome and valued.

One specific way it has helped me is by providing opportunities that have allowed me to grow as a person and build confidence in myself.

Through this organization, I have met people who encouraged me and helped me feel more connected to my community.

Because of these experiences, I've gained skills and confidence that will help me in my future.

Continued funding is important because it allows this organization to keep creating these opportunities for young people like me and for others who need support in a place to belong.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Dinah Mace, Alison Singalani, and Jen Masuda.

Come on down.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council members.

My name is Cheyenne, and I'm a law student at Santa Clara and a law clerk at the Council on American Islamic Relations.

Thank you, Mayor, for including the $1 million dollars for immigration services in the budget proposal.

I appreciate the city's continued commitment to supporting immigrant families and communities.

I would like to encourage the council to consider adopting the memo authored by fellow council members, making the full funding available to community organizations on the ground doing the work that provides deportation defense, know your rights education, and rapid response network support.

As you all know, immigration enforcement is happening every day in our city, placing tremendous strain on existing resources.

These services are lifelines that help keep families together.

Let's meet the moment with leadership.

San Jose is known for.

Thank you for your time, leadership, and consideration.

Thank you, next speaker.

Good evening, Mayor Matt, Council.

Mine's Herb Bowen with San Jose Neighborhood CERT.

Pushing it, pushing every community that we can to get prepared.

I appreciate all your support.

We continue to work for the neighborhood associations and throughout the community.

We did have a little pushback because 35 of our neighborhood associations didn't get funding this year.

So everybody's going to have to put some out of their budget, especially you.

He continues to do a great job.

We're, you know, and we're working in four and the different ones to get more neighborhoods prepared.

Our communities are not prepared for the next disaster.

So we're looking at the neighborhood associations as a way to get there.

So any help you can do it, and we do need to talk offline.

Also, I want to thank Sounds A Fire for doing the wildfire prevention.

I suggest everybody to do it.

We're out there with them.

The union is we have some major areas where we need to look at and prepare.

So thank you very much.

Appreciate you.

Call me.

Thank you, next speaker.

Good evening.

How are you doing?

I hope you're having fun and staying awake.

I wanted to express my appreciation for the inclusion of Spay and Neuter and Trap Neuter Return, and thank the council and the mayor for their ongoing support of animal services, which is greatly needed.

And I also wanted to say that the community is very excited to see animal services moving back under the parks department.

So thank you for that as well.

And as you consider the budget for animal services, I would like to urge you to focus on prevention and stray and stray cats and kittens are one of the largest drivers of animal shelter intake, and the demand for trap neuter return services is so extreme that last Monday it was at the shelter.

There is first come first serve, and people are lining up at 5 a.m.

The line is a block long, and that is not accommodating all the cats that show up while I was there.

20 cats were turned away.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Steve Navarro.

Come on down, Candy Umang Doshi, and Elizabeth Agramont.

Go ahead.

Good evening, Alison Singalani, Director of Policy with SV at home and a resident of District 5.

At a time when affordability for San Jose's residents is bad and worsening.

We ask you to prioritize affordability meaningfully and explicitly in the budget.

SB at Home strongly supports the memo from council members Campos, Ortiz, Dewan, Candelis, and Casey establishing a new council focus area dedicated to reducing the cost of living.

The city has demonstrated a real ability to be accountable for the numbers measured as part of the council focus areas, and reducing the cost of living is an urgent area of need consistently lifted up by San Jose's residents.

This memo's proposal closely aligns with the goals of the real coalition Stay and San Jose framework and reflects the reality that affordability must be treated as a core city priority rather than a secondary outcome of housing production or economic growth alone.

We also ask that you release the full one million dollars in immigration defense funding.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Uh hi, good evening.

Uh, Jen Masuda from UI Kai Japan Town Community Senior Center.

Um, I just wanted to express my appreciation for your work on this year's difficult budget.

Uh, we want to thank Mayor Mahan and Vice Mayor Foley for preserving $300,000 one-time funding to continue supporting eight nonprofit organizations serving older adults through preventative health wellness programs for the communities we serve.

I urge the county and the city council to approve the mayor's budget.

It's all about preventative care.

So thank you very much for your support.

Appreciate it very much.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Thanks.

Hello, uh, good evening, Mayor Mahan, Vice Mayor Foley and City staff.

Thanks for uh being able to hear us out.

My name is Steve Navarro, and I'm a longtime resident of District 7.

I'm actually uh part of the District 7 leadership group along with um one of the neighborhood associations.

Um I'm one of the board members.

I'm here to express support for the mayor's budget message.

I understand that our city faces hard choices that will impact projects programs, and that I and others care about deeply.

The alternative is that we do nothing that we sit idly by as problems grow out of control, and um, and they grow.

I mean, you know, problems get concertedly worse, which no one wants cutting alone won't solve our problems, nor can we tax our way out either.

We need a variety of tactics to serve the most need possible.

Um, I agree with um one of our colleagues that we also need to be fair in what we do, spread that pain around as much as is is reasonable.

Um, the last thing I want to say when the sub-seconds I've got is to also support considering funding station 32, you know, to serve our underserved.

Thank you.

That's your time.

Next speaker, Ben Leach, Kayla C, and Albert Carlson.

Come on down.

Uh Mayor Matt, uh, district member uh Council Cohen, Councilmember Cohen, and all the council members here, right?

Um, my name is Umang Doshi.

I live in front of Katali Park for about 12 years now with my family.

I have two kids, two young kids.

Uh I live about 40 feet from the Bickalwald courts, and noise at my home is normally around 70 dB, right?

And the the courts are open.

Well, the courts are always open, but people play from 5 30 a.m.

to 10 p.m.

most days, and some are, you know, the days are much longer.

And I want to.

That's what I feel or we feel throughout the day, right?

Um, cities are already planning 150,000 to soundproof it.

It's 40 feet from the court.

We think that it's been a good evening.

I'm Bonnie Montgomery.

I'm a professional that's on the city's list of approved historic resources consultants, and I'm here to support uh the memo from Councilman Kamei, uh Tordillas, and Cohen, uh, to approve for one year uh retaining 1.5 staff members at the California room, and uh having public asset access for eight hours a day.

Uh this will allow me to serve my clients who are property owners all over the city of San Jose, who have building permit applications pending and require historic research before their permits are approved.

Uh I can't do my work without some of the vital resources that are in the California room, and um this will help increase the housing stock in San Jose, and I know we all want that.

So thank you so much.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good evening, Mayor Mahan, Council members and staff.

My name is Frank Gancilla.

I am speaking in favor of the budget that Mayor Mahan has proposed, especially the mayor plan to create faster 90-day approval timelines, simply development fees, reduce unnecessary local barriers, and pilot new pathways to home ownership through ADUs is exactly the kind of direction we need to pursue in building more houses.

Where housing can actually be built, and I look forward to your vote in support of the budget.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Alaya Hunt, come on down, Mary Helen Doherty and Spencer Chu.

Go ahead.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

Uh, my name is Ben Leach.

I'm the executive director of the Preservation Action Council of San Jose, and I'm proud to represent the board, the members, and the more than 200 people who I believe have written in in support of open public access to the California room.

Um we're strongly supportive of the mayor of the memo um from uh council members Kamei Tordillos and Cohen.

That is a reasonable um and uh responsible uh funding mechanism that would maintain public access.

I also really appreciate the memos from uh city librarian Jill Byrne that really spelled out the impacts of full closure.

It would mean reducing from uh today's 5,000 annual users to less than 250.

You would create two-week wait times for some materials, total inaccessibility of others, and uh the cost of that to the civic health uh of the city.

I can next speaker.

Good evening.

Um, my name is Albert Carlson.

I'm a member of um Sacred Hearts Housing Action Committee, SHAC, and I'm a resident of district three.

Look, we all understand that working families are experiencing a severe housing crisis right here in San Jose.

And we know to address this, we need to promote policies aimed at increasing housing affordability and housing stability so San Jose can be a home for everybody.

Just right now, 50% of tenants are either a housing burdened or extremely burdened, putting them in danger of unnecessary displacement and becoming unhoused.

Um, for every one resident that's housed, uh that becomes housed 1.9, become unhoused still.

The city needs to adopt a budget that prioritizes building permanent housing over costly temporary solutions.

Um we need to increase funding for HPS homeless prevention services, and we need to adopt a right to council uh policy that uh protects vulnerable tenants.

So it's time for the city to adopt a budget that prioritizes these.

That's your time.

Next speaker.

Um, also Ward Anthony and Julian Lake.

Come on down.

Go ahead.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council members.

My name is Kayla, and I am a resident of District 3, and I work with SERGE as well as the Rapid Response Network.

I ask that we take measures to support the humanity of folks in our community.

Can we provide preventative resources to folks rather than undeserved punishment?

First, I'm asking that you allocate the full one million dollars for immigration resources.

I support the memo by Ortiz, Cotales, Campos, and Casey.

Our neighbors deserve the legal services and overall support available right now.

Second, I wish to express support for the campus Ortiz Stone Cal Dallas Casey memo that focuses on reducing the cost of living.

I believe the city should allocate towards affordability and resources rather than things like displacing and criminalizing unhoused folks.

Thank you for your attention.

Thank you, next speaker.

I'm town resident, I support the business tax increase study.

I stand in solidarity with the immigrant community regarding an immediate allocation of one million dollars for immigrant legal defense.

San Jose is 40% immigrants.

Our immigration system has been racist and broken for decades and continues to be.

Thank you, next speaker.

Good evening.

My name is Mary Helen Doherty.

I'm a resident of District 3 and a member of SHAG, the Sacred Heart Housing Action Committee.

As the real coalition budget letter states, housing affordability is the defining challenge facing our city.

The city must do more to prevent our housing crisis and preserve families and communities' stability.

Let's move upstream, get proactive and focus on preventing our growing housing crisis, particularly of folks from under-resourced communities, and invest in legal support when our neighbors are faced with eviction.

SHAC looks forward to the full-scale release of the housing department's eviction court intervention programs report that was received some months ago in the community opportunity for input and for your review and input regarding this findings.

Let's work together and invest in prevent thank you.

That's your time.

Next speaker.

Also, Javier, Mark Schroeder, and Doug Goss.

Come on down.

Good evening, Mayor and the women and men of the council.

My name is Keanu Ward, a member of Sacred Heart Housing Action Committee, as well as Brick Bellow.

I stand in front of you today as an advocate, a Hitler, as well as a future business owner of San Jose.

I also represent District Six.

And also allocating funding for more affordable housing.

With that being said, I also want to take my last 20 seconds to address to address the community that is here today.

You guys, we can make a difference if the people in this room right now who sit before us do not want to bring change come this year, 2028.

We need to start electing more people that look like us.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good evening, Mayor.

Uh Mann, Vice Mayor Foley, and members of the City Council.

My name is Julian Lake, and I'm speaking on behalf of the Bay Area Council.

First, I want to thank Mayor Mahan and city staff for putting forward a budget that prioritizes fiscal fiscal responsibility, public safety, homelessness response, and the continued vitalization of San Jose's economy.

While we support the overall budget message, we do have concerns about the proposed funding for a study exploring a new business tax.

Funding this study sends the wrong signal to the business community at a particularly challenging economic time.

Voters are simultaneously experiencing measure A, Measure D, um uh funding as well as the regional transit measure, which is expected to be on the budget this November for the election.

This is already a significant year for tax discussions around our region, and we while we recognize the importance of planning for the future and ensuring the city's fiscal health, we simply do not believe this is the right year to dedicate resources to studying a new business.

Thank you, next speaker.

This is Anthony.

I am part of the Sacred House House Sacred Heart Housing Action Committee.

I urge the importance of continuing investing the budget into our housing crisis, specifically the prevention of evictions.

Eviction prevention strategies are the most are some of the most cost-saving methods according to the recent eviction report published by the city, resulting in thousands of savings for each individual that we keep in their homes.

These lot these preventative measures and long-term programs will keep our neighbors in our in their houses, our colleagues in our workplaces, our children in our schools, and our loved ones in our lives.

We cannot invest in our futures when debt and rent are above the majority of our heads.

I thank you for your time.

Thank you, next speaker.

Also, Anna Cortez, Jennifer Lloyd, and Wolf.

Come on down.

Go ahead.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council members.

My name is Xavier Fella Bella Regolia, and I am part of community service organization.

I'm in full support of Amigos de Guadalupe.

Our community organizations need these resources now for deportation defenses.

Know your rights outreach and the rapid response network.

Our immigration communities can't work.

There is enforcement happening now in our cities every day, which is training resources.

We urge the council to adopt the memo authorized by council member Ortiz, Condelas, Compos, and Casey's to reduce last year's allocate from $1 million to 500,000 available now means that critical services for immigrations will have to be stopped and reduced now.

This will negatively impact many vulnerable people who rely on these services and programs now.

We're proposed ICE facilities in Gilroy and Dublin.

This is not the time to cut those services and programs.

Let's meet the moment with leadership.

San Jose is known for.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and City Council.

My name is Mark Schroeder, and I live in D3.

I have two budget requests.

The first is that I ask that we fund California Room, Tordillos, Kime, and Cohen's proposal.

The librarian had a really great proposal as part of that, and I it's so important that we have a walk-in availability to the California room.

My second request is a little uh a little different.

Um we have a blight problem, we have a vacancy problem with storefronts.

We probably have too much retail.

Um, we really need to consider a business storefront vacancy tax.

Um, it's rents are uh for businesses are too high, it keeps new businesses from starting up.

Um it would bring in revenue to the city and finally reduce blight.

So with that, I yield my eight seconds.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Good evening, Mr.

Mayor and City Council.

My name is Anna Cortez.

I'm a community organizer with CSO San Jose, who is in the fight for immigrant rights and a D7 resident.

Thank you, Mayor Mahan, for including one million for immigration services.

But we mean we need that now.

It is crucial that we protect our community members of San Jose.

We urge the council to adopt the memo authored by Council members Ortiz, Candelas, Campos, and Casey, especially with the proposed ICE processing center in Morgan Hill and the proposed detention center in Dublin.

We have to act now and not further delay these resources.

I do not want to see what has been happening in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Minnesota happening in my community.

We have to take all the measures and allocate these funds immediately to continue legal defense services and outreach to our community of San Jose.

I understand that you all may not have to worry about your immigration status and sorry, your work authorization permits, but I know plenty of community members who do.

So act now and protect the community you represent and provide your community with the much needed.

Thank you, that's your time.

Come on down, Kylie and Giannella.

Go ahead.

Good evening, Council members and mayor.

I'm Jennifer Kelleher Cloyd, I'm the executive director of First Five Santa Clara County.

I was here with you in April celebrating the month of the young child, and I want to first start by thanking you for honoring your commitment to young children by uh finding funds to continue to support the library program that supports our family friend and neighbor caregivers.

Um I would also love for you to consider increasing your investment in our city and youth master plan.

This city spent in considerable amount of resources on the planning and development of the master plan, and I'm hoping it will spend at least as much implementing it.

First five stands ready to partner with you, and has already invested several million dollars in the partners and the sites, so we please ask the city to join us in that partnership.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Also, Brooke Tran and Shannon Zhang come on down.

Go ahead.

Good evening, Mayor Mahan and City Council.

I'm Wolf, otherwise known as Roadman.

First of all, Mayor Mahan, thank you for doing what you did in bringing the light and sheddings you know subject and spotlight in Sacramento.

Um I really appreciate the students speaking up for the student project.

I think that's really good.

The immigration rescue project is also a really good thing.

It's necessary.

Homelessness is necessary, but a big part of that is mental awareness.

As I know, I was homeless myself, and you're aware of that, but now I have my own housing.

School safety is also a priority.

What's been happening in our schools as far as the whole gun violence thing?

That needs to be have stricter guidelines, public safety as well.

So I know when it comes down to voting for what is really necessary that you weigh the needs and balances of what will help San Jose.

That's your time.

Next speaker.

Good evening, Mayor, City Council.

My name is Serge Lee Lavoie, and I'm here to express concern about proposed budget cuts to homeless outreach services.

In the most recent Santa Clara County homeless point in time count showed close to 4,000 people experiencing unsheltered homelessness in San Jose.

At the same time, the city has fewer, far fewer shelter and interim housing beds than people living outdoors.

That means even if every person outside accepted shelter today, there would not be enough places for them to go.

Because of that gap, homeless outreach is essential.

Outreach is the bridge between people living outdoors and this housing system.

It's how we build trust.

Locate people when opportunity become available, connect them to essential services.

Reducing the outreach budget reduces the city's field capacity to respond to thousands of people still living outside.

It weakens relationships and case management needed to move people out of.

Thank you, Dr.

Time.

Next speaker.

Hi, my name is Kylie with the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits.

The Real Coalition submitted a letter this morning outlining our positions on a number of budget items consistent with the stay in San Jose framework that we proposed in March.

As you reckon with this challenging budget, please do not lose sight of how unaffordable our city is for many families and individuals.

We appreciate the leadership of Council Members Campos, Ortiz, Doan, Candelas, and Casey for proposing a new council focus area on reducing the cost of living.

Affordability is the defining challenge facing San Jose residents and deserves the same level of attention and accountability as the city's other major priorities.

We urge the council to adopt this proposal and ensure the community members help shape how affordability is defined and measured.

We also support the member from the memo from Council Members Compos, Ortiz Candeles and Casey, restoring $90,000 for business impact research related to future revenue measure exploration.

If San Jose is serious about addressing affordability and protecting essential services and needs good information on the impacts of potential revenue options, thank you.

Next speaker.

Hello, my name is Janela Rodonias with SUCN, and I am here to highlight another component of the real coalition letter.

We are happy to see MBA number 11 included in the June budget message, eliminating a previous proposed cut to the best program grant program and providing three percent COLA for best contracts.

We appreciate council and city staff for working to preserve best funding during a difficult budget year, and we would like to emphasize that critical violence prevention and intervention services warrant increased investment and expansion as we look into the next fiscal year.

Community-based violence prevention and intervention programs effectively improve community safety, strengthen neighborhoods, and help youth and families before crisis occur.

They also prevent more expensive downstream costs by addressing roof causes of violence and reducing reliance on enforcement.

Community-based providers have also played a critical role in significantly decreasing gun victimization rates by 70% here in San Jose, as highlighted in the June budget message, demonstrating uh the results these strategies produce.

We stand ready to work with council and staff to expand investments in both prevention and inter-thank you.

That's your time.

Next speaker.

Hi, my name is Shannon with SVCN, and I'm here to highlight another component of the real coalition's letter.

In addition to youth violence prevention and intervention programs such as Best and SJIA, San Jose must continue investing in community-based crisis response such as trust.

Community-based crisis response works and should continue to be supported as city resources remain constrained.

A funding source for trust is already available at the city.

Opioid settlement funds has been identified for which usage is particularly strict for, and they've already been approved for trust.

In addition, we strongly support maintaining funding for older adult services and appreciate the restoration in the mayor's message.

These are programs that provide legal assistance, health care navigation, wellness supports, and social connection that help older adults remain healthy, housed, and independent, especially for seniors living on fixed incomes and those facing housing instability.

Well, we appreciate this restoration, we urge the city to prioritize its seniors in the long term and fund older adults program beyond one-time funds every year.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And before you go ahead and go up there, but before you speak, um, I'm going to call the the five people online that are next.

So I'm giving them a heads up.

That's Stella, Robert, Ramesh, Catherine, and Chloe.

Just get prepared.

You will be next to speak.

Go ahead.

Good evening.

My name is Brooke Tran with SVCN.

I'll be speaking to another component of the real coalition's letter.

We support the memo from council members Campos Ortiz, Candelas, and Casey, distributing the full one million for immigrant protection services at the beginning of the fiscal year.

Community organizations cannot stand, cannot wait until a crisis escalates to build full staffing, legal capacity, outreach infrastructure, and rapid response systems.

Providing the funding up front demonstrates an understanding of how nonprofits function and the urgency of this issue.

We also appreciate the city's continued investment in the Children and Youth Services Master Plan and the Santian Mayfair Poco-Way demonstration sites.

Thank you, Council Members Campos, Ortiz, Don, Candalis, and Casey for protecting investments in children, youth, and families during a difficult fiscal year.

Investments in children and families should be viewed as essential infrastructure even during budget shortfalls.

Thank you.

Stella, mayor and council members.

My name is Stella, a born and raised resident of San Jose and of District 9.

I am speaking today in support of the mayor's investment in the Children's and Youth Services Plan.

Most importantly, the budget continues to prioritize public safety and service that help our community thrive.

Thank you for your services and your commitment to our city.

I encourage you to support the mayor's budget.

Thank you.

Robert?

Robert.

Okay, I'm gonna move to Catherine.

They they get a notice on their screen when it's their turn.

So it I'm on the online.

Um Ramesh.

I'm I'm calling Zoom callers.

Ramesh.

Okay, I'm gonna move on to Catherine.

I think I heard Ramesh unmute, so go ahead and raise your hand again.

Catherine.

Okay, I'm gonna move on to Chloe.

Hi, yes, good evening.

My name is Chloe Nguyen.

I work at the Japanese American Museum of San Jose, and I'm a graduate of SGSU.

First, I'd like to thank the city for supporting the relocation of the Sakaway farmhouse.

And I support the memo from council members Tordillos, Kameh and Cohen to maintain public access to the California room at the MOK library.

And I urge the mayor and council to adopt and explore long-term funding options.

The California Room is not just a resource for researchers or students.

It is where San Jose preserves and shares its history.

As our city approaches a major anniversary and our country faces the ongoing erasure of local history, this is the wrong time to reduce public access.

Moving the room to an appointment only model would only create barriers for students like me seeking to learn from the people, places, and events that shape our communities.

A city that values its future must also invest in access to its past.

Thank you.

Okay, Robert.

Hi, thank you.

Um, so I'm unhoused in your city here, and um all your programs offer us.

Uh is trauma is uh, you know, uh we don't trust the city, we don't we don't want anything to do with any of the programs they offer us because they lie to us.

Every time we turn around, there's lies.

Nothing but lies come from the this board, comes from the mayor.

It's all lies.

And it's it's horrible what you guys are doing to people.

It's trauma.

It's all you're causing is trauma to every unhoused person out here, and you need to think about that when you're cutting all these programs and you're doing all of this with all these uh other allocating funds here and there.

You're not helping anybody.

You're hurting people.

You're hurting the people of your city who are the most vulnerable.

So I hope you all can live with that.

I hope you all can sleep with that at night.

Um Ramesh.

Yes, can you hear me?

Yes.

Uh, thank you so much for giving me an opportunity.

My name is Ramesh Konda.

Uh, I represent the Association of Indo-Americans, it's a non-profit organization.

We do a lot of uh events in San Jose, and we have several members in San Jose area, and I support Mayor's June budget.

Uh, you know, in the critical time right now, businesses are already facing pressure from rising uh, you know, higher fuel costs and other supplements issues on inflation.

Uh, in the midst of everything, I think the June budget is very appropriate, and we support Mayor's budget.

Thank you.

Before I call go back to Catherine, I'm gonna call the next uh few in-person people to go ahead and make their way down.

Kira Kazansis, Rebecca Selden, Cindy Bautista, Sol Aribi, and Jorman Mina.

And I hope I got your names right.

Um, because sometimes I don't know what's written.

And Catherine.

I think I lost Catherine, so I'm gonna go ahead and go back to Kira, Rebecca, Cindy, Sol, and Jorman.

Good afternoon, Council members and mayors.

My name is Cindy Bautista, I live in district one and I work in district three, and I'm the Pasos Community Organizer Secret Community Service.

I strongly support a memorandum from Councilmember Campus Ortez Candelas and Casey to distribute a full amount of one million dollars to the to protect our immigrant community and for the services at the beginning of this fiscal year.

When immigrant families face legal challenges and certainly or fear, they cannot afford to wait months for support.

Early investment means families can access critical services where they need them most and helping them to stay stay safe, stable, and connected to our community.

I also support maintaining funding for the older services.

Appreciate seeing these funds restored in the mayor's message.

For many seniors, legal assistant, healthcare access, wellness programs, and social connection are not luxuries, their lifelines.

Their services help other adults remain healthy, house, independent, and engaged, especially those living in a fixed incomes or facing housing instability.

It's not fair to see a lot of thank you.

Next speaker.

Good evening, council staff and mayor mayhan.

Please support Mayor Mahan's June budget message.

San Jose has real economic momentum, and we should build on that.

The mayor's budget message strengthens downtown activation through sports, entertainment, conventions, the arts, and cultural events, while pushing the city to measure results and attract more visitors and investment.

As a resident who wants to see our economic economy grow for everyone, I ask that you vote for the mayor's budget in full.

And secondly, I wanted to say I support uh the animal services.

I personally took 15 male cats to be fixed on Wednesday.

So it's important.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker, um, Kay Gutnech to come on down.

Jean Dresden, Todd Langtory, and Deborah.

Go ahead.

Hello, my name is Kira Kasantis.

I'm with Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits.

And I'm here to highlight another component of the real coalition's letter.

We appreciate the mayor's additional investment in homeless prevention and urge council to continue strengthening programs that provide rental assistance, housing stabilization, and eviction prevention.

The most cost-effective homelessness strategy is preventing homelessness in the first place.

Every family and individual that remains housed avoids the far greater costs of shelter, emergency services, long-term homelessness, and unnecessary and cruel enforcement programs.

Especially with more difficult budget years to come, the city can't lose sight of the long-term benefits yielded by investing in prevention now.

Thanks for your consideration.

We respectfully urge you to support a budget that prioritizes affordability, prevention, racial equity, and community stability.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good evening, Mayor and council.

My name is Jean Dresden.

Please support the California room via the Kamei Tordias and Cohen memo to use one time money to provide open access hours.

And please direct the staff to develop a sustainable plan for increased access next year and in future years.

Here's some benchmarks.

Among the 12 largest California cities, all libraries have history rooms, and all but one have open access.

The current plan in MBA 28 is for only 16 hours of open access.

San Jose should aspire to be at least average and not less than the 12 largest cities in California, especially on the verge of our 250th anniversary.

Thank you.

That's your time.

I want to urge you to maintain the California Room at its current staffing and service levels.

First, because the room directly supports a key goal of San Jose's general plan, specifically increase public awareness and understanding of our city's history and its contribution to our economic and cultural vitality.

Also, in 2027, San Jose celebrates its 250th anniversary.

This is an opportunity to expand public engagement with our history, not reduce access, just as interest is likely to grow among residents, students, researchers, and visitors.

I recognize the choices are difficult, but a number of programs currently in the budget are not core city services and are more appropriately provided through other agencies.

While the California room is a unique community asset that cannot be replaced once its expertise and public access are diminished.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Also, Larry Ames, Arush Paturi.

Um, go ahead.

You can come forward.

Um, Beth Siebert and Ananya.

Go ahead.

Go ahead.

My name is Todd Langton.

I'm with Agape Silicon Valley.

I'm an extremely passionate advocate for the homeless.

The myths of homelessness.

Matt, I served on your homelessness committee.

I was shocked on the last day that you handed out a memo saying that you were going to force people into housing.

There's a myth that San Jose is doing a great job on homelessness.

We are not.

There's a myth that Matt Mahan is the guru of homelessness.

He is not.

San Jose homelessness program is extremely flawed.

There's what I call the 30% lie.

Matt, you went on national television many times.

So please stay on city business and direct it to the full councils, I asked.

Thank you.

Okay, you went on the there was a our mayor went on national television saying that he reduced homelessness by 30%.

He did not.

Homelessness increased by 3.8%.

Your abatements are extremely expensive and extremely immoral.

The pain and suffering that is caused by these abatements is what I call a desperate.

Thank you.

That's your time.

Next speaker.

Hi, my name is Deborah Townley.

I'm a person with lived experience of homelessness who is now housed.

Um, and PAF helped me get into housing.

Um PATS services are being diminished while the city is usurping the outreach programs.

Uh, specifically on page 288, 549 and 550 of the budget proposal.

There is an enhanced engagement program team that is going to make a concerted effort to criminalize people while working with the police.

This is wrong.

This is inhumane.

There's over a million dollars for six positions that are going to go out, identify people, and hand them over to police.

That is not housing for our most vulnerable.

Our most vulnerable have mental health issues, physical disabilities.

They are our seniors, our foster kids.

Thank you, that's your time.

Next speaker.

Hi, Larry Ames.

As I said in my letter, I urge you to support the City Manager's Compromise, now refined as MBA 28, to fund the California room in the MLK library.

The funding is reduced, but it will be enough to provide public some public access and to protect our historic archives.

San Jose is California's oldest city.

Next year we can celebrate this 250th anniversary.

Hopefully, you'll keep the California room open so that we the public can research the history of our own neighborhoods and can appreciate how we all fit into our fabric of our diverse and fascinating city.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Also, Robert Aguirre, come on down, Maria Beltran, and Anthony Montez.

I support the mayor's budget plan.

As a business owner, I'm pleased to see that in general the budget recognizes and tries to address the serious problems that the homeless crisis causes the business community.

San Jose needs to provide a safe and clean environment for businesses to operate.

Employees and customers have to feel safe entering and exiting our businesses.

This is not possible if the streets and sidewalks have encampments, RV dwellers, trash and loitering businesses along with their jobs and tax contributions will leave San Jose if the city cannot provide a hospitable place to conduct business.

Programs such as Beautify SJ, the Olive program, the Quality of Life Police Task Force, Interim Housing, Substance Abuse, Counseling, and so on need to be fully funded.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Sorry.

Um, good evening, Mayor and City Council members.

My name is Ananya Ravlani.

I'm a sophomore in high school, and I'm an intern with the uh Santa Clara County Democratic Party and the leader of the immigration team within the interim group.

Thank you, Mayor Mayhan, for including one million dollars for immigration services in the proposal budget.

However, our community organizations need these resources now for deportation defense, know your rights outreach, and the rapid response network.

Our immigrant community cannot wait.

There is enforcement happening right now in our city, every day, which is straining resources.

Example of this is the ICE facility that's trying to be built in Gilroy.

We urge the council to adopt the memo authored by council members Ortiz, Candales, Campos, and Casey.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Speaker.

Morgan, Mary Shriver, and Annika.

Come on down.

Go ahead.

Good evening to all.

My name's Ayush.

I'm also part of the Santa Clara Democratic Party.

Continue on to what Anonya said, to reduce last year's allocation from 1 million to 500K available now means that critical services for immigrants will have to be stopped or reduced now.

This will negatively impact many vulnerable people who are relying on these services and programs now.

With proposed ICE facilities in Gilroy and Dublin, this is not the time to cut those services or programs.

Let's meet the moment with leadership, San Jose is known for.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Well, my name is Robert Aguirre.

I think I can help you solve some of your problems with the, you know, trying to meet the budget.

Last year you spent 25 million dollars on uh sweeps.

So for the people that you've already housed temporarily, you've taken care of them, but there's no other place for people to go.

So if you continue sweeping people, you're just throwing money out the window.

So if we could stop the sweeps until we have a place for people to go, and also when the people come out of the sleep uh center, wherever that is, uh, if they don't have a place to go, what are we expecting to happen?

So that and it's it's very harmful to people, and I can attest to that myself, having been uh a victim of sweeps uh more than once, um, and so I I would ask you to uh reconsider spending money on sweeping people.

It doesn't.

Thank you.

Um Ted Lopez Juan Maya and Lupi Maya come on down, start this concejal de Martin.

My name is Maria Beltran, and I am a community leader.

I am here to demand that you support the memo to continue supporting the migrant community and distribute the million dollars.

We don't have to wait for the situation to get bad before we start acting.

We also support the councillors' efforts to continue supporting children, young people, and families during this difficult year.

And lastly, as a final point of support, I ask that they continue to support and invest in service programs for the elderly.

These services are especially important for elderly people living in them.

For those with low fixed incomes and those facing unstable housing or things like that.

Thank you for your leadership and consideration.

Thank you, next speaker.

Hi, my name is Morgan.

I'm from District Six, and I'm here today to ask you to please, please, please adopt the memo and release the entire immigration budget now.

Uh I'm a rapid response network volunteer.

Uh I've seen people being detained.

They are absolutely terrified for their lives.

And without the rapid network, uh without the rapid response network, we wouldn't be able to connect them immediately with free legal aid, and we wouldn't be able to tell their loved ones where they are.

Like, can you imagine going home at night and you don't know where your partner is or a parent is?

That is incredibly scary.

And you have the opportunity to fix this.

These are the necessary services that you will be getting if you don't release all of the money now.

They will lose the ability to operate for seven days a week, and with the proposed detention center in Gilroy looming, we need this money now.

Please do the right thing.

Please do your duty.

Thank you.

Vice Mayor, Council members, uh, you before I'm Ted Lopez, manager director for Christmas in the park.

Uh, I just wanted to be here in support of the Mayor's budget message.

Wanted to thank you for providing us funding this year for the important steam program that we're building.

It's gonna serve the entire community here in San Jose, and we're really excited to get it off the ground.

We really look at this as a foundational investment in what we're doing here for the next kind of future of Christmas in the park.

And I look forward to standing here a year from now with the students that you guys helped bring into the program and talked about all the successes that we had.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members.

My name is Punam Sulanki, and I'm here speaking on behalf of Brick California in support of Mayor's June budget message.

Even in a year with significant fiscal challenges, the mayor's budget makes responsible choices that protect essential services and support the health and well-being of San Jose residents.

I especially want to thank uh Mayor Mahan for including funding for the older adult health and wellness grant program.

This investment will uh support the health care navigation wellness programs and efforts to reduce social isolation among older adults.

These services help seniors remain healthy connected and independent while aging with dignity in our community.

As someone who works closely with the organization serving older adults, I have seen the importance of these programs and the positive impact they have on quality of life.

Thank you for recognizing the needs of San Jose older adult and uh.

Thank you, that's your time.

Next speaker.

Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members.

My name is Juan Maya, and I live in District One, as well as I am the part of the board member of the Calic Winchester Neighborhood Association, as well as I work for the PRNS.

And I fully support with the one million budget.

And as the previous commentators have said, please do so.

As well as I also wish to have support from District One Kameh and as well as Mayhan with more programs for our teens because we have no longer any more of those programs as they are slowly shutting down.

And as I said, work with young teens as well and being meeting with those uh kids with their families.

More of them join with the gangs, more of them have fall, and it is sad to see them perish each day.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

I'm also Inez Ortega, Anita, and Paul Fam.

Go ahead.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

I'm here tonight to express my support for this June budget message.

As of course, as it brings financial trade-offs, this budget message does a great job of protecting basic services that we all care about.

And I also appreciate that the budget doesn't lose big focus on important priorities that residents still care about today, finding smarter, more cost-effective ways to tackle like homelessness while the general fund is already strained and hopefully bring the budget back to surplus.

However, I also like to urge to reject MBA 7 proposal.

Uh San Jose is built on businesses that are already hurting from inflation and supply chains.

But to push you to potentially double our base tax rate is a bad move as more taxes don't always mean good, and it could suppress the very growth that we need.

And we already in the middle of a higher end of these taxes compared to the other cities in the Bay Area.

So pushing out the revenue that other cities and states essentially eat our lunch.

So I want to thank the mayor, the council and the city manager for working together and try to progress San Jose forward.

Thank you, that's your time.

While this funding is a good start, it is not enough to meet the long-term needs of our youth.

More investment is needed to expand opportunities and support throughout the year.

So please support us for our youth because this time it is really hard, and there has been so many accidents, and even this past weekend, there was an accident through my neighborhood.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

All right.

Hi, Mayor and City Council.

My name is Paul Pham and I'm the president of the Story Road Business Association.

I'm here to support the mayor's June budget message, which rejects the proposal to study the effects of business license tax increase.

In tough economic times, government have to make tough decisions and cutting services and bring in additional revenues.

No one wants to see services getting cut nor their taxes going up.

This includes small businesses.

As we've seen recently, taxes have and will go up in a city that is already very expensive to live and do business.

The idea of increasing taxes in order to protect city services may appear sound on the surface, but San Jose has a complex economy.

When small businesses are stretched thin and San Jose becomes less attractive to potential outside investment, how much revenue are we really going to bring in in the long term?

I urge that the council focus on growth by not pursuing measures to increase taxes at this time.

And please remember that businesses provide jobs for our residents in order.

Um, Sammy, come on down, a Kemi Flynn, Lisa, and Gerbin.

Go ahead.

Okay.

Thank you, that's your time.

Muy buenas noches.

So how do you want to design the last one?

Uh, my number is Maria Ines Ortega, presidente del Asociación de Vecinos, Cadillac Winchester Neighbor.

So, I think that's a good one.

Maria Inez Ortega, president of the Winchester Never Say Neighborhood Association, has been part of the association for more than 10 years.

I ask you from the bottom of my heart to approve Megan's trip, but also Rosemary Commonways.

District 5, District 8, and KC.

But at the same time, I ask you not to only consider a lightning project of 25,000 dollars.

Our community lacks resources.

Programs for our youth, for mothers and fathers who need to be educated about gangs.

We just had another incident.

How many more are we going to lose?

How many more young people are they going to recruit?

Let's become aware.

Let's work together, joined.

It doesn't matter which district we live in.

Let's raise awareness.

Thank you, if we make her.

Um, since I don't have many people in line.

No, go ahead and stand up there.

I just want to call a few names.

Um, Mike Sodergrin, Vasundara, Cody Jost.

Come on down.

Go ahead.

Mark Twain, drunk, destitute, and suicidal, came to San Jose at the invitation of Judge Williams at his bar on First Street, where he told revelers about his adventures in the Hawaiian Islands.

So successful, this was the invention of what we now call modern stand-up comedy.

He took this to a tour throughout the Bay Area, in turn, including returning to the Brochka House, Opera House, right across the street.

That was America's first modern day stand-up comedy tour.

The spitball in baseball, the band pitch, Gay Lord Perry's go-to, invented here in San Jose.

Ambrose Beerce, the humorist who went off to fight in the Mexican Revolution, and we've now learned he was executed by Pancho Villa at a firing squad.

Jack London, the adventurer, author of Call of the Wild, a true story.

He actually stole the dog here from a judge in San Jose.

Thank you.

That's your time.

I'm sorry, that's your time.

Next speaker.

Alright, I like to say I've been yapping so much.

The city clerk finally got my name right.

Just wanted to give you guys a quote.

You don't want to fund the binoculars from the other side of the swamp, but you rather fund the boots on the ground.

So that's a special shout out to Amigos de Guadalupe and all the other immigrant uh immigration services.

Um, as you guys know, I've been coming here yapping as a student youth, uh, just got a 1480 on my SAT.

Uh, very smart student, and one of the things that I think we need to look into is the San Jose Work uh Youth Jobs Initiative.

Uh just the fact that it's a very strong workforce program for the youth.

Um, the other thing is preventing and supporting the California room as we approach our 250th anniversary.

And the last thing that I really really really want to say to the council is that uh we consider changing our public comment for things like this from one minute to two.

Uh just because I know you guys want to go home, but guess what?

So do we, you know what I mean?

And I got homework and it's past my bedtime, and I'm here doing public participation, so I appreciate y'all.

Thank you.

Yes, sir.

Thank you.

Next speaker, uh Michael Lara, Mary Wynne, and Sam Ho.

Come on down.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council.

My name is Vasindra Tari Meti, president of District and Leadership Coalition.

I'm here to support mayors back to basics budget message with focus on preventing unsheltered homelessness, reducing blight, and supporting youth services.

Also, I'm happy to see high doset tutoring supported by City of San Jose, CPL Foundation, Teach for America, and uh local school districts to improve reading proficiency in students.

Also love the idea of having the youth empowerment summit collaboration with PRNS and resource paid with city departments, which extends the capacity of youth uh summit by 200 attendees.

Thanks to Campos Cohen, Candela's KC and Doan for this memo and thank you again for allocating funding for TNR for animal birth control prevention.

Please keep San Jose Animal Shelter and all the kittens and their moms in your mind.

Thank you so much.

Next speaker.

Thanks, Tommy.

Mike Sodergren, with the Preservation Action Council of San Jose, given it's our 250th anniversary next year, the California President Foundation is planning to bring its up to a thousand members to do business in San Jose next year.

And that we're doing an update of our historic resources inventory to the benefit of our development community and our public in general and our businesses.

We really do need to keep the California room open.

And the most important benefit of doing so is it retains our history, all of it the good, bad, and the ugly.

PAC supports MBA number 19 and 28 as authored by Joe Bourne.

We want to restore public access, retain the brain trust, and ensure access to the public.

We also support the budget for the HRI update, the Sakaway Form House Restoration and Enhanced Vacant Lot Building and Storefront Program as proposed, and we'd like to see that extended outside of downtown.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Wayne Astards.

My name is, and I am the leader of this community.

I'm here today to ask you to support the memorandum to continue supporting our immigrant community and distributing the one million dollar budget.

One million is one million, and we shouldn't wait for the situation to worsen before acting.

We must take action now to protect and support those who need it most.

These investments strengthen our community and help create opportunities for everyone.

Furthermore, I thank you for continuing to support and invest in programs and services for people.

These services are essential for many older adults living on fixed incomes and for those facing housing instability.

As a community, we have a responsibility to ensure that our elders can live with dignity, safety, and access to the resources they need.

Thank you.

Good evening.

I am here today to support um of Candelas, Ortiz Campos, and Casey to allocate the one million to migration service funding directly to the community organizations doing this work every day.

These are organizations on the ground having difficult conversations, responding to urgent needs, and supporting families in real time.

Through IPEN, we have conducted no URIs training, support our rapid response network, develop safety plans, and provide countless other resources to our community.

We did not do this because of the funding.

We did it because we care deeply about our neighbors.

Because we know united, we are better.

Our communities made of hard-working families, children and young people who are striving to build better futures.

It's now to reply back by supporting them and ensuring that we don't need our families to get killed or displaced by this administration.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

I'm Michael Lara, Librarian of the California Room.

Many of our patrons do not have a research background, though we ensure all patrons receive the highest level of reference, regardless of researchability.

The California room is also home to artists creating historically accurate representations of our community, whether you are at Monia Lewis or Timeless Art Collective.

We are a team of five leading a 121-year-old department.

Any reduction to our team of five would be an immense loss as we all support each other in areas of expertise and passion.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

If you turned in a card and did not hear your name, go ahead and line up.

I have nine hands up online.

I will go to them after we have the last card.

Go ahead.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and City Council, as well as the leadership of the city.

I want to thank you for your do you're doing a great job in improving our city in many fronts that you set out to do.

Number one, less homelessness out in the street.

Number two, better public safety, largest safe city in the US.

Blight, been taken care of every weekend that you collect all those trash and all so forth.

And uh economic, you have helped small business to grow.

We need to push more into that.

And also uh we also affordable housing, you have improved in that area.

Congratulations.

Thank you for your leadership and the city team.

Let's continue doing that and focus on what's been working, invest in that, but don't forget three things.

Number one, invest more as much as we can to close the million dollar on the services for immigrants on children and youth, and finally, business tax, make it less, not more, so that they can survive.

Thank you.

That's your time.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Hello, Mayor and Vice Mayor and Councilmember.

Um, my name is Mary.

I'm here today to speak to support a small businesses.

Um, I know they thought the economy is seriously going through a lot of crisis where a lot of corporations are laying off, and I would like here to ask you guys to consider making sure the business is uh growing and making sure that the jobs in San Jose are not in crisis.

Please support the small business growth and make sure they are stable.

Thank you.

Thank you, next.

Thank you, next speaker.

Good evening, mayor and council members.

My name is Maria Price.

I work in outreach case management, and I'm proudly serving our homeless population.

I am here to speak out against the budget cuts to the homeless outreach.

Outreach is a critical connection point between people living outdoors and available housing opportunities.

Outreach teams often have the strongest relationships with individuals living outdoors because they are consistently present in the field, building rapport over time and understanding where people are located and what supports they need to move indoors.

The Santa Clara County Office of Supportive Housing has relied on outreach partnership to locate and re-engage unhoused individuals who have been matched or pulled for housing opportunities.

Without outreach teams maintaining contact and tracking people in the field, many individuals could miss critical housing opportunities.

Outreach teams have also been instrumental in supporting the City of San Jose's efforts to move individuals from encampments into interim and permanent housing programs.

Next speaker.

Good evening, Sally Zarnowitz.

Uh, I'm serving as a chair of Advocacy for Preservation Action Council San Jose.

We want to be sure to thank you for the allocation for the Sakaway House and all the work that's gone into that.

Um, and uh as noted also by other members that of course we really want you to support that memo.

Uh thank you, Kamei Tordillos, Cohen for that memo that would give us a bridge on the California Room.

Uh again, a place that really gives meaning to the places that we love uh and and teaches us about them.

So uh it just gives us a bridge to be able to fund that working with the Library Foundation going forward.

I think if if the doors close, it's it's just very hard to open them again.

So thank you for that, and uh thanks for everything you're doing.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good evening.

My name is Jasmine Mina, and I'm a student at Notre Dame High School in San Jose.

Um, I'm here to ask for the reconsideration of implementing budget budget cuts and reducing public access of the California room at the MLK Library.

I'm a part of a group of students who is currently a part of a 175th anniversary legacy project for Notre Dame.

Our job is to curate an exhibit uh detailing the history of our school, we're one of the oldest Catholic schools in California.

So the California Room has been a really important resource for us, and it's very important to the city of San Jose and the students of Notre Dame High School.

I'd also like to thank Mr.

Lara who just spoke.

He really helped us out when we went over there, and we really appreciate him.

So thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Hello, San Jose City Council.

My name is Anika, and I'm a senior at Notre Dame High School, and I'm here to ask you to consider to continue public access for the California Room in the San Jose Public Library.

I am part of the Notre Dame Legacy Project, an internship researching Notre Dame's 175-year legacy in Silicon Valley and beyond.

A key part of my research was working with Michael Lara in the California room.

Mr.

Lara gave us a tour and taught us how to use the resources that were there.

Without his guidance and the work of all of the members of that room, my peers and my teacher, Miss Emily El Rod Cardenas would not have known where to start because of how much information the California room holds.

In a world that is constantly trying to deny and erase history, the city of San Jose, especially on the eve of its 250th anniversary, should work to keep places like this open for public access so that people can learn about the vibrant history of San Jose, Santa Clara, and California as a whole.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Hello, council.

My name is Hector Hernandez.

I am a resident of the Chicago 5.

Um, so pretty much I am here just to um to support two memos.

Well, first of all, um I was support the Candelas or T Campos and uh Casey Memo to fund uh for the fund immigration to one million dollars because although so far has been thankfully for the tranquil tranquil here in the area, you never know when uh those services could be used more and still need needed by community, right?

Yeah, because unfortunately, still many folks are being detained, and uh we need that funding to get the services that the folks really need to re-um stay calm and be community.

And then also um I will suggest doing getting the the funding from say the sweeps because I know yes last year it was so many mentioned twenty-five million dollars and used to to use to um in the sweep, so we use that money instead to uh fund the community and nice things that people need.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Thank you.

Hi, good evening.

My name is Lisa.

I live in District 2, I am.

Um sorry.

I understand the need for bud cuts due to the federal funding that was ripped from every municipality in the country.

What I do not understand is the need to create an EEP that will cost over a million dollars a year for six city employees to work with the police, thus making it more streamlined to criminalize and jail the poor and the homeless.

Homeless already won't work with the city or the police because of their harsh treatment.

What is going to what is going to be the ultimate cost of such a program?

What is the cost of incarceration?

What do you do with them once they are incarcerated?

I'll tell you what the cost is.

It's going to cost human suffering and more human loss of life.

Is this worth your budget cost?

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

When you have a fund for office, we see who backs you.

And that tells a lot about who you are as a person.

It does.

Are you backed by the realtors?

Are you backed by labor?

Are you backed by defense contractors?

Uh are you backed by people who do evil?

And some of you are.

And then when you're pushing this EP plan for more people to go to jail, for people to be exposed to ice.

Um, it makes us see the whole pattern of who you are.

Um, especially maybe the person who sits in the middle seat.

Um, and when we see this pattern right now with the budget, we are concerned.

EEEP just turns people over to the police, which is great because that's how you have a cost savings, because then they're the county's problem and not the city's problem.

We see you.

We see what's being done at the at uh the jungle every day.

The same people are being rolled every day.

They've already enrolled for a program, but there's no spot for them.

Why why take the police to them every day?

You are hurting people, you are killing.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That's your time.

I'm gonna move over to the final speakers on Zoom.

I'm gonna read a few names just to wake you up.

Um, DPAC, Jai, Deuce, Chand, Caller, Ending 2246, NVJ.

Um, get ready and D Pak, we're gonna go with you first.

So D Pak.

Okay, I'm gonna move on to Jai.

Thank you.

Uh good evening, Mayor and Council.

My name is Jay, representing the neighbors of Kitaldi Park in District 4.

Uh particularly the pickleball courts at Kadali Park is up under the life of those living nearly 40 feet from it.

The constant noise of the ball hitting the bat from 5 30 a.m.

to 10 p.m.

and beyond drills into your brain like nothing any of you have ever experienced.

You have tried all avenues of diplomacy to get parks and direct to move the courts out of the current location.

Now we found out, find out that we have another 150,000 allocated for sound medication, which likely is not going to help whatsoever and ignores traffic and facilities impact.

This should not be allowed or approved.

The only plan should be to relocate the court out of its current location.

I urge the mayor now that he has some more time on his hands to visit us to see the issue firsthand.

Thank you.

Deuce.

Hey everyone, thank you.

So I just have one comment.

I'm Deuce from Region One, and I think we need the California room preserved, and we need the 1 million dollar for immigration services now.

I think immigrants work so hard for cities, so it'll be unfair to punish them that way.

So please, could you reconsider it?

Thank you so much.

Okay, Chand.

Chand Trihan.

Okay, caller 2246.

Um Vijaya Vijaya.

Okay, I'm gonna call the next few names.

Um Georgia, Eunice, Jordan, and Dpock.

So Georgia.

Good evening.

Can you hear me?

Yes, Georgia Basil, directing attorney, senior adults, legal assistance, or Salah.

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

Salah and seven other agencies are currently funded by older adult health and wellness funding.

And we thank you.

Um we sincerely thank Mayor Mayhan for including $300,000 in older adult health and wellness funding to continue this funding next year.

We also want to thank Vice Mayor Foley for her efforts related to this funding in BD number 24.

We urge the entire city council to support the recommendation for older adult health and wellness funding in the mayor's budget uh recommendations, and thank you so much for the opportunity to be able to provide these comments.

Good evening.

Sorry, Eunice, followed by Jordan.

Good evening, Mayor Mahan and Councilman members.

My name is Eunice Chan.

I'm an executive director of a Korean American Community Services and resident of the District 3 and 10.

I'm here today to support the mayor's champagne message progress, such as all the other health awareness program helps seniors stay healthy, active and connected.

At CAS, we see firsthand how these programs reduce isolation, improve a health outcomes, and help a hundreds of San José seniors remain engaged at independent.

These investments improve quality of life for the others while strengthening our city's overall has abandoned I appreciate the mayor and house members' leadership in prioritizing these SSR services and supporting one of our residents during this typical year.

Thank you.

Jordan, followed by Deepak.

Hi, Jordan Moldow, District 3.

Thank you for all the conversation today, and thank you for the council memos.

I'd like to express support for all of the group memos from Compost Ortiz Candelas and Casey, as well as the Committee Tordios and Cohen group memo.

Please support the California room.

Please support immigrant defense funding.

I think that the cost of living focus area is a good idea.

I would like to point out that in a lot of families, the biggest aspects of the family budget are cost of housing and cost of transportation.

So I hope that the cost of living focus area, if it gets approved for study, will include a strong focus on transportation costs.

And I support studying the business tax.

Hi.

I wanted to talk about the People Wild Courts.

We've been fighting or or sort of trying to raise our concerns for you know almost 18 months since the courts have been open.

And instead of moving the courts, we now realize that the city is planning to spend additional 150,000 on sound barriers and gates.

I respectfully ask the mayor and the council members that please use the same budget and you should be easily able to relocate the four courts at Penitentia Creek Park.

The nearest house is 500 feet from the park, right?

Currently, they are the courts are located 40 feet from the uh from people's houses.

So please I implore or urge you to evaluate the situation, and you're more than welcome to come visit our houses.

Chand followed by caller 2246.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Yeah, this is Chan Trehan.

I've been longtime president of Almer Valley District 10.

I just want to express my strong support for the mayor's proposal budget.

I want to commend the mayor and the entire council for your dedicated focus on improving the quality of life for everyone in San Jose.

The current budget proposal is deeply aligned with the most critical priorities for San Jose residents.

I urge you to maintain this momentum, don't slow down and continue focusing resources on our neighborhood cleanliness, public safety, and addressing homelessness.

Thank you for your leadership and for keeping the core needs of our community at the forefront of your decision making.

Thank you very much.

Caller 2246, followed by Nisha.

Good evening.

This is Catherine Hedges.

Um, I've been a member of the Rapid Response Network, and something I like to say in advocacy is that a budget is a statement of values.

And right now, the funding situation with immigration groups is that you don't care about immigrants because ICE is all over the place detaining people.

And they're all out here begging for you to pay the money that you've already allocated because they don't have the resources.

This is just ridiculous.

It's just wasting resources, doing the wrong thing and harming people, and every why are we wanting to harm the most vulnerable people in our community, please?

Nisha, followed by Vijaya.

Seven days a week.

This is no longer just about recreation.

It has become a public health and land use issue.

Families have lost the ability to enjoy their home, open their windows, the park as it was originally intended.

The city is now proposing to spend more than 100K or not.

I respectfully ask has the city compared the cost and effectiveness of ligation with simply relocating the courts to a more appropriate location?

Communities across California, including Martinez, Los Catos, and Carmel by the sea, have learned that when the courts are placed too close to homes, barriers and other mitigation measures are often costly, difficult to enforce, and may still fail to resolve their bags.

Okay, back to council.

Okay.

Well, thank you all.

Uh trade-offs and have a vote tomorrow.

Thank you, Council Colleagues, for being here and staying through the whole hearing.

Really appreciate it.

And with that, we are adjourned.