Stockton City Council Meeting: May 13, 2025 – Military Equipment, Street Vendors, and Summer Youth Programming
Stockton City Council/Successor Agency/Public Financing Authority/Parking Authority Concurrent Meeting – May 13, 2025
The Stockton City Council met concurrently on May 13, 2025, beginning with a closed session at 3:00 PM and the regular session at 5:30 PM. The meeting covered a wide range of items including the continued use of military equipment, street and sidewalk vendor regulations, budget approvals for the Holiday Park Maintenance District, a car wash development, and summer youth programming. The council took several unanimous votes and directed staff to conduct additional community outreach on the vendor ordinance. Councilmember Mariela Ponce was absent.
Consent Calendar
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Approved en bloc (with items 12.5, 12.25, and 12.26 considered separately) by a 6-0 vote. Items included:
- Resolutions for annual display of the Pride Flag (first week of June) and flags of U.S. military branches.
- Mayoral appointments to council committees.
- Approval of minutes from April 15, 2025.
- Adoption of amendments to council policy on letterhead.
- Ratification of SJCOG’s FY 2025-26 annual financial plan.
- Award of various contracts and grants (e.g., on-call land surveyor services, REAP 2.0 grant application, CDBG fair housing services, labor compliance services, participation in PRISM risk pool, laboratory services, water/wastewater treatment chemicals, AB 109 funding, alarm intrusion program, sewer rehabilitation, parks pump repairs, fiber segment construction, dark fiber agreement, LED street light conversions, street resurfacing projects, guardrail repair, and youth jobs corps grant).
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Item 12.2 (Second follow-up response to 2023-24 Grand Jury report) was moved to a June council meeting by a 4-2 vote (Enríquez and Lee dissenting).
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Item 12.28 (formerly 15.3) – Ratification of appointment of Pandora Crowder to District 5 Planning Commissioner seat – approved.
Public Comments & Testimony
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General public comment (matters not on agenda):
- Nancy Lamb, Pat Barrett, Cynthia Gail Boyd, Alyssa Leiva, Jensen San, Phillip Merlo, Vincent Cortino, Elena Mangahas, Alberto Gonzalez, Elissa Sok, Dan Richardson, and Julie Dunning spoke on topics including street vendors, homeless encampments, traffic safety, city hall revitalization, and park vendors.
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Public hearing on military equipment (AB 481):
- Michele Sherman expressed support, citing her completion of the Community Academy and appreciation for police transparency.
- Alyssa Leiva opposed the excessive use of police military equipment, stating police already have 75% of the budget.
- Alyssa Carson supported the equipment, noting its usefulness in school shooting situations.
- Julie Dunning corrected misinformation about police budget percentages.
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Public hearing on street vendor regulations:
- Over 25 speakers addressed the item. Many supported vendors and urged the council not to pass the ordinance as drafted, citing affordability, language barriers, cultural significance, and the need for community input. Speakers representing vendors at Angel Cruz Park requested bathrooms, multilingual materials, and education before enforcement.
- Some residents supported regulation, citing sanitation, traffic, and fairness to existing businesses.
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Public hearing on Pershing Avenue update:
- Dan Richardson and Julie Dunning highlighted dangerous speeding and urged funding for traffic mitigation.
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Public hearing on youth programming:
- Pat Barrett and Dan Richardson commented on pool openings, swim lessons, and long-term funding sustainability.
Discussion Items
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AB 481 Military Equipment (Item 16.1):
- Lt. Ryan Terriel presented the SPD’s annual report and requested continued use and future acquisitions (e.g., drones, armored vehicles, breaching tools). The council clarified that approval did not commit new funding beyond existing budget. Approved 6-0.
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Street and Sidewalk Vendor Regulations (Item 16.2):
- Code Enforcement Field Manager Matt Van Fleet presented proposed ordinance updates to align with SB 946 and SB 972, including $60 annual park use fee, licensing, and fines.
- Councilmembers Enríquez, Padilla, Lee, and Blower expressed the need for more community outreach and education. Councilmember Enríquez motioned to send the item back to the Legislative/Environmental Committee on May 27, 2025, with direction to staff to hold additional town halls in Districts 2, 5, and 6. The motion carried 6-0.
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Holiday Park Maintenance District (Item 16.3):
- Approved resolution authorizing $46,598 in assessments and a $130,898 subsidy from General Fund and Strong Communities Fund. Unanimous.
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Car Wash at 200 N Wilson Way (Item 16.4):
- Approved general plan amendment and rezone from Industrial to Commercial for a 4,500 sq ft automated car wash with water recycling. Unanimous.
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Pershing Avenue Traffic Safety Update (Item 15.1):
- Informational presentation by Director Chad Reed on efforts to secure funding for a complete streets project, including a radar speed sign and pedestrian safety improvements. No action taken.
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Youth Programming for Summer 2025 (Item 15.2):
- Informational presentation by Director Chris Farrow on free programs, teen trips, swim lessons, and expansion of pool hours. Council discussed pool openings (SUSE and Oak Park offline; McKinley mid-June, Victory July) and the need for more community center access.
Key Outcomes
- AB 481 Military Equipment: Approved (6-0) – authorized continued use and future acquisitions as outlined in the 2025 annual report.
- Street Vendor Ordinance: Motion to return to Legislative Committee on May 27, 2025, with additional community town halls in multiple districts – carried 6-0.
- Holiday Park Maintenance District: Resolution approved (6-0) – $46,598 assessment and $130,898 subsidy.
- Car Wash Rezone: General plan amendment and zoning ordinance approved (6-0).
- Consent Agenda (except 12.2 and 12.13): Approved (6-0).
- Item 12.2 (Grand Jury response): Continued to June council meeting (4-2).
- Youth Jobs Corps Grant (12.5): Approved (6-0) – accepted $3,618,275 grant from California Volunteers for youth employment.
- Planning Commissioner Appointment: Ratified (6-0) appointment of Pandora Crowder.
- City Manager’s Update: Noted upcoming job fair, pool openings, weed abatement, DC trip for federal funding, and street light repairs.
- Council Comments: Covered district-specific cleanups, police memorial, youth violence concerns, and proposal for an outdoor ice skating rink for the holiday season.
Meeting Transcript
Good afternoon and welcome to the closed session for the city of Stockton's amazing council. Let's go ahead and do roll call. Councilmember Blauer. Present. Councilmember Enriquez. Present. Councilmember Ponce is absent. Councilmember Padilla? Present. Councilmember Via Padua. Present. Vice Mayor Lee. Present. And Mayor Fugazi. Present. We have a quorum. Wonderful. Before we uh exit to closed session, do we have any public comments? We do, Mayor. May I have Devin Robson to the podium, please. Christina. I don't think he's gonna talk for five, but oh no, no. Yeah. Uh no, I just wanted to make uh just wanted to come in today and have a moment to express um along the lines of the uh evaluation of the interim city manager. So thank you very much for counsel for letting me uh be able to come up here and speak. Um I think it's I think it's a great thing to be able to evaluate who our employees and I think it's also great to champion their wins and then recognize some of their shortfalls um so we can all improve because we're all a team, right? Um some of the things that I've been presented with from other citizens or other um local members is that some of the positive. So I think it's just good to reflect on that before you walk back. Um that he's present, he's always he's been present since he's been here for the last three months. He's present in the community, he's present present at events, he's present in like at the homeless encampments and places like that. He's he's very actively involved in the community, and I think in as far as I've seen what I've been told um by other constituents out there, other people that are in the throughout the community that he's in everybody's district, not just one or two, which I think is pretty that's what uh the goal here is is a better city all together. Um he's involved, he's local. Um he's not from Cincinnati, he's not from out of the state. He he understands, I think, some of the the local issues and the local problems, which I think is a huge, huge uh picture to take in. Um as a team, you all took in, you all took in a lot of things that came in from the past. Um you all inherited a lot of challenges, extreme challenges. Um likewise. So did uh sort of the interim city manager. And I think that there's a lot of things that he's been trying to be helpful to be successful. I can have the homeless encampment stuff. Um just the governor today announced it's gonna be more intense and more push on the homeless encampment. Uh citywide payroll. 1.6 million. Short changed. Okay. Well, getting ASD, putting it into HR, having more oversight. So I again, I think some of those things are really important to just to bring to the forefront on what some of the things that have been accomplished in three months' time. When we had a city manager for years, and now we inherited you know all these things. Uh, we have to have a forensic audit. We've got you know, 130 million dollars in missing funds in measure A, or an unknown where they happen to be.
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