City Council Special Meeting: January 18, 2023

uh where libya welcome everyone to the JANUARY 17th meeting. I'm sorry. Eighteenth meeting of the city council. This is a special meeting with two matters on the agenda and actually three items but two two are related and one oh got it. Yeah there's the rosebowl has yet to follow up. Ok, two matters three agenda items, two related and we will jump right into the calling of the role kazmir hampton blessed to be here MR. Lion here COUNCILMAN Jones here. COUNCILMAN Madison here, house member here. COUNCILMAN Riva's here. Vice mayor williams here the out here there's a quorum the council present PRESIDENT And in person yes. Every member of the council let's the three of us if you leaders from the pledge of allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which stands one nation under GOD, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Ok, why don't we I'm going to do we have any public comment for matters or the special meeting special. Yes only matters. Yeah yeah no. So we'll jump into the agenda and I'm going to take a look for three and four together in advance of item one and so we'll just go ahead and open it up to the staff to make a brief presentation then. thank you mayor. And I don't know if anyone from the department of housing is here but in essence back on the OCTOBER 24th twenty twenty two meeting they're coming right now that they have much more detailed information. Let them MR. Wong, welcome. Provide the information. Ok, thank you mayor. Members of city council bill wong, housing director. So the city allocates resources for weather activated motel vouchers. This is in the absence of a bad weather shelter the last several a couple of years we have not been able to identify a location for a kongregate bad weather shelter. So we have shifted more emphasis towards a motel weather activated motel voucher program and the voucher program enables nonprofits and the public health department to place individuals who are in need when the weather is cold weather forecast is for cold or wet weather to put them into a motel for that entire weather event and this year though the weather has been especially difficult and especially intense and so we found out that that one of our operators was kind of trying to preserve their funding through the entire season or to pace their funding and we let them know right away, you know, don't do that, provide the vouchers to those who need them and then we will come forward as we were directed when we initially brought this to city council to come forward if the funding was not sufficient. and so that's what we're here for to proactively request an additional hundred thousand dollars for friends indeed. Fifty thousand to immediately amend their contract and another 50000 that the city manager could add to the contract in the event that the initial fifty thousand dollars is is not sufficient and that's what we're here for you questions or comments I do have a with MR. Hampton sorry myself out here. I guess you're good. Thank thanks for the the the presentation. It was under my impression that they weren't supposed to do that. Our partners aren't supposed to you know, hold on to the funds they were supposed to just give out the vouchers to whoever needs the voucher. So have we told all of our partners to please give out vouchers if people need vouchers because this is something the council had talked about a few years back. Exactly. Yes, we did. We we let them know that don't don't pasir allocation use them when they're when they're requested and that if necessary as directed by city council we will come back and ask for some additional funding and then who are all of the partners that we have? We have friends indeed we have union station and we have our public health department ok in the public health department how many vouchers or do they just have as many as needed? Manuel carmona, the acting director is here. I think there's a mike over there but no mercy to me. Oh, no flowers and you're carmona acting director for public health for the record in OCTOBER twenty twenty two the housing department allocated one hundred and fifty thousand dollars in emergency solution grant funding for temporary shelter in your partners who you work with. We don't have funding partners like housing does what we do is we allocate those vouchers through three programs. Our program are geriatric empowerment model link program and then our program which is transitional age youth program and then a final program is port pasadena outreach and response team. So I have spoken to shepperd's door and also some of our violence interrupters about having access to hotel vouchers or putting them in contact with people to give access to those hotel vouchers and this is between both of you guys because sometimes the individuals that they work with reach out to friends indeed or other organizations and they're turned they're turned away and so so I don't know exactly who point out I can take and ask that question and just for the record, there is the clark points out two agenda items related to emergency shelters. One involves the health department item three an item four involves friends indeed. Michelle, can we just take him together or do we have to do yeah so will for the rest will take both up together. ok and so I just wanted to reiterate, you know, that there are so many nonprofits out here that are doing some of the work and and there are individuals who feel more comfortable talking to certain nonprofits and so I hope that if those nonprofits reach out separate store or or even our intervention this reach out that they're not turned away and they're given the access that the rest of our community partners would receive for the usda funding that we get from the housing department. It's intended to provide temporary shelter. It's not restricted to only cold weather activity shelter. So we do offer support for individuals who are engaged in mental health treatment, substance use treatment or even criminal diversion programs and they're at risk or experiencing homelessness. Now one of the things about esg is that we have to verify that information that they are homeless and we do that through our ongoing caseload that we maintain through our programs and so we're able to verify all of that information. So if an individual is eligible based upon the requirements then we can certainly provide them a voucher for that particular circumstance. And so at the health department have you all looked at putting together a list of nonprofit similar to what the housing department has so bill can probably speak more to the contract by the health department? We don't contract because we ourselves are a contractor for the housing department so we maintain the funds we distribute the funds, we do the case management for all of our clients and we can contact friends indeed and friends and could assist them and evaluate for the motel vouchers whether activity motel vouchers. So let me get this correct so they would have to still get in contact. Friends in need to receive vouchers from you for cold weather? No, we can act so we do provide the support for individuals who are going to different types of services. But in cold weather situations where it's colder than forty degrees or forty percent rain we can activate for cold weather as well and it should be vouchers to all of our clients and they can also contact friends indeed who also has weather activated motel vouchers. So there's multiple avenues that people can use to access the motel the whether activated motel vouchers. And then my final question is how are you going to relay this message because it sounds like, you know, someone was holding on to those vouchers because they want to spread spread it out throughout the year. Are you actively talking to all of our partners who say do not do that? And yes, we immediately did that. Ok, down perfect and they know we're coming back here for additional funding and additional resources. ok, thank you so much to council member happens point the so the health department my understanding and correct me if I'm wrong but my understanding is the distinction is the health department and union station serve their client based where we're friends indeed serves the broader population as it relates to vouchers. Is that is that correct? It generally generally that is correct. Yeah. And you know, it was very disappointing to to see that people were turned away or maybe were they turned away is the question and by whom? Yeah, it was it was friends indeed. And so they were again they were trying to preserve the funds so they wouldn't run out and and so they they turned away a handful of individuals. We immediately indicated that they couldn't do that and they also were able to house those individuals through private donations. Ok and and at any point did where we contacted by friends and or any of the other service providers to say, you know, we're we're going to need more vouchers, more resources for vouchers given the situation that we're seeing the need that we're seeing because they receive the client correct requests were we contacted? We weren't. But we as soon as we heard about it we immediately reached out to them. Yeah, I would encourage us to to let our partners know as mr. hampton is saying, to let us know in real time as the need arises. I you I have a copy of the minutes and I just want to read from it because it was council member hampton. This is the OCTOBER 24th 2022 meeting of the city council. These are the minutes council member hampton asked staff to provide an update to the city council. Still with more funding is needed to support emergency shelter services for those individuals experiencing homelessness during bad weather events, cold or bad weather events and and it says in response to in response mayor gordon comments related to staff requesting additional funds. MR. Wong, director of housing confirmed that if more funds are needed, staff will return to the city council with an additional funding request. And so you know the I think our request stands as a city council that if more funds are needed we have to be informed. But I understand MR. Wong, if you don't know if you're not informed and it makes it difficult to do that. So two things. One, I think that's absolutely in no uncertain terms make it known to our partners that that more resources if needed are available. Let snow in real time if additional revenues beyond that or are needed. But I also think maybe we should expand the number of partners that work with the broader population. in other words, if union station in the health department are focused on their client base and we're relying on one contract, one contract or one organization a very good organization that I very much support friends indeed and does excellent work and in fact the the mayor's prayer breakfast I'll do a little commercial here which I hope you all attend the entirety of the mayor's prayer breakfast and the resources raised go to friends indeed so that they can continue this good work above and beyond what the city contributes so so I would suggest that maybe we look in different parts of the city to see if there are other organizations that might be willing to distribute to the broader population and or even our own health department in union station who already have the mechanism in place to assist with the need particularly particularly during these bad weather events. I was actually ironically I was at a friend's indeed on friday delivering a check in and nobody said anything to me. Mayor marighella, you're we need we need additional assistance. So I was disappointed that to learn like the rest of us did that additional resources were needed. So again, let's let's use this as a an opportunity to see how we might do things more efficiently, effectively including engaging potentially the health department, union station or other partners to to assist us with the thank you oh ,I'm sorry, MISS. Three of us followed by MR. Massouda. Thank you mayor and thank you bill and I go for your presentation. I just had a couple of clarifying questions to make sure I'm fully understanding especially since we're going into I guess you're three of the pandemic and three years of trying to and not being successful or finding a bad weather shelter site is is my understanding maybe I'm misremembering this that the first two years it was primarily because of public health issues and social distancing. Is that correct? What we find is yes and at the same time the the lease being canceled where it had been for several decades at a particular church and and it MAY also the underlying reason for canceling it MAY also have to do with pandemic concerns. So yes. Ah the bad weather shelter has been a kongregate shelter. It's been a gymnasium and with a pandemic the need to physically distance and put in all sorts of additional protocol safety protocols wasn't able to to happen and we lost at least all at the same time we have been we issued an rfp for sites for a bed where the shelter we didn't get get a response. We've been staffed this year. Yeah even yeah. For this year and and so we didn't get a response but we've continued to look for sites we think we have a a good candidate that we still need to work with together with friends and to make sure the site really works and there's some capital improvements that need to be made. So we need to figure out budget in that kind of thing. But there is there is a chance that we will be able to have a kongregate bad weather shelter next winter. Well, that's promising given the bad luck we've had recently but I just wanted to confirm so was there a difference this year and finding a site where the covid concerns the less of a concern or was it less of a concern? Yes, less of a concern and more just not the availability of a site. Ok, all right. Thank you so much for explaining MR. Massouda followed by MR. Williams and then MR. Madison well I'm sorry madison and williams we got a long list now don't leave me. Well, thank you emmanuel and bill for being here and working on this very important question when a person is in a motel with a voucher, how long are they able to stay at what we want our providers do is they provide enough time for that particular weather event like this past weekend we had inclement weather at the end of last week and then also and then a little dry spell and then also again later in the weekend and then even cold weather for these these days. And so folks are in there for the entire duration. So so this is one of the reasons why the motels are advantageous over a kongregate shelter in the kongregate shelter. Typically as you queue up at night you come in, you get dinner, you you sleep, get some food in the morning and then you you have to leave. But here they can stay and every day you have to come back in like that. But with a motel voucher program you can stay all day in your own room that you can lock with your own bathroom with your own things and and we can keep folks there for the entire weather event without having to come and go and come and go and come and go which is disruptive to the to the occupants and also difficult for the operator and difficult for the community people coming in and out and in and out all the time. Thank you for that and with this funding that we're asking for the hundred thousand I believe what is the waiting list looking like right now and what would it look like after we get the funding? Well, there wouldn't be a waiting list because people who need it who present that they needed they would be able to get a voucher. Oh yeah. And just so you know, the rough daily cost for a motel is around one hundred dollars a night. Thank amir. Thank you. Other MR. Madsen. Thank you, mayor and some of my questions have already been asked. I mean I guess what I'm trying to get my arms around is you are having a special meeting on a week where we weren't scheduled to meet is not the best way to make policy around our homelessness and so is am I hearing that staff's view is we should be skewing our resources toward motel vouchers and away from the cold weather shelter? You know, the the motel voucher is are preferable more more people are willing to take a motel voucher although not everybody will even take much more are willing to take a motel voucher then will go to a kongregate setting. But in a congregate setting you can assist more people you know more quickly and less expensively. So we hope to be able to continue to do both. So what efforts are we undertaking to pursue a replacement sheltered we are meeting with any possible candidate who's willing to talk with us about it. We issued rfp to see our staff followed up with many, many leads, reach out to many organizations to see if they would host the bad weather shelter and either they weren't able to or their facilities were not suitable or for the kongregate shelter bad weather shelter and so we issued an rfp to see if just anybody property owner, even members of the community who might know space would present a space and nothing came out. But we continue to look and so we have found a facility that looks like it's going to work but we have to do more investigation and we have to have the operator really look at it to make sure it works for them and and then we will come back with a specific transaction. So ironic right, because we hear a real human cry to have housing on church property. We know that faith based organizations are struggling. They're losing membership, they're losing attendance. Parishioners. Their budgets are suffering and here we have this big need with some resources to provide it. There should be a wait a couple all of that and incent, you know, faith based locations that have a real estate or the facilities to be able to accommodate this. So look forward to hearing more about it. Thank you. In the with regard to the special meeting, MR. Madison, you know this is not the long term discussion. This was an immediate need but the meeting as I thought you were aware because you are rboc PRESIDENT Was an issue I'm sorry a representative was initially to approve a concert that needed to be approved because the rboc took action last week to approve a concert and we had one of two choices we could go forward and allow the promoters they wanted to do to announce the event without giving the public an opportunity here at city council we're mandated to do and then the public would say, you know, you're allowing promoters to approve concerts, not giving us proper notice or we could schedule a meeting and allow the public to voice any concerns and give notice that the the the rose bowl is going to host an additional event. And you know, I didn't want to inconvenience anyone but I chose the route of giving the public notice. That's why we're here. And I I would say the rboc an extraordinary economic opportunity to get that little special meeting and I'm not crazy about any special needs if we're going to set policy. This discussion is much more about what our policy is and the council needs to give clear eyed direction of the staff about that. And you know, I the other thing is we have a four o'clock public safety meeting today so you know, we're able to devote the time today to have the comprehensive yeah. And it wasn't intended to I mean I think we can have the more the broader conversation this was just you know, let's allocate the dollars and leave no question that there are additional dollars in emergency . Ok, MR. Williams, thank you. Thank you. I'm very supportive of this and would like to move it at the time that it's appropriate just to follow up council members reversed and madison has two great questions about the shelter and so I look forward to progress on that and when that can come forward hopefully we can approve that before we need it. And is there a risk that we will run out of hotel rooms that are available that the vouchers can be used for with with tourism coming back, et cetera is a risk right at this point? No, I mean the tightest time is the new year's time. But time has passed and so our operators have been able to establish very good long, long standing relationships with motel operators to provide to access rooms. Ok, and then the second question is to follow up on council member madison. You know when at what point can we have a policy discussion about this to really delve into all of these different pieces and not just during the budget because we do deal that sometimes during the budget. There were also requests to increase the budget look at different funding sources report as well. So just wondering at what time we can have a full policy discussion of this. We've also gotten requests for on-street overnight parking for homeless. There's also some requests to have city facilities like community centers have parking safe overnight like safe parking. So just what point or when can we expect to have a full discussion that we are updating our homeless plan that we're required to have and so we will bring forward a draft plan and if the council would like you know, we could bring here and have a discussion, it's a long discussion. So that's updated on an annual basis not only like 10 years or more years. so what's the one you know, it's a housing element. Yeah, so so would that work its way through edtech? Yes. Normally I would go through usually. So we've already we've worked with a number of commissions and have additional meetings planned. It will also go to our continuum of care board. I don't know about any of the committees but we can probably bring it up. Normally housing issues will etiquettes to the committee with jurisdiction over housing issues and is can go through my experience over 20 something years and I would suggest that we bring it through to the full council. Ok, and then and we're doing the homeless count is in person . That is right. So there will also be isn't there also an update that we get from the homeless shelter so we can kind of address it based on what our current numbers are? Yes, ok, great. Looking forward to that. So there are homelessness plan will probably be ready to come to edtech before the homeless count results just uraba we're hoping around MARCH or APRIL for the homelessness plan and then a month or two after that we'll have the almost results and that's next tuesday from eight to 10 P.M.. That's right. And for the count and then wednesday from six to eight A.M.. yes. I'll see you all out there. Thank you. And I'd like to move the item. Ok, thanks. So it's been moved seconded. Mr lyon also comment and we also have public comment to go through. Thank you. Thank you mayor. Thank you bill and manuel for presenting so I think it is good for us to establish that we are willing and fully intend to provide whatever funding we need to make sure that our housing neighbors are sheltered. That's a good thing to establish I think for our partners though certainty is also probably desirable. And so my first question is does the funding you're asking for today is it your best guess that this will take us through the rest of the season even if we continue to experience extreme weather? We think it goes a long way and I I talked to friends and their executive director and he said yeah, he thinks the 50000 will be good and if the extreme weather continues to have another 50000, he thinks that should be sufficient. But depends on the actual weather and the actual need before the 100000 will give friends. Indeed a 30 percent increase in funding over last year's winter. Ok, and so you think it's going to get us there? Don't let the weather for more than 30 percent worse than last year though I think it's likely so far the weather's been more than 30 percent worse. But we'll see because the other thing we could do is put some contingent funds on the end of this and give you some discretion to to spend if you need to. But you're saying you think that's we think it's necessary at this point we don't think so. We're going to rely on the line the weather report and I'll keep you posted. And then the second thing is I think there's this question of expanding partners I think is worth looking into. I realize that that entails more staff time. But while you're looking at those if you're looking at those, I would would suggest and ask you to consider maybe some some people beyond the traditional service providers because what we know is that more than half of our in-house population in pasadena has been is only recently has been housed. They MAY not even know the resources that are available to them and so connecting with some community service organization that are likely to encounter people who are newly homeless coming into schools like maybe young and healthy organizations that would be beneficial I think. And if we can get them connected with at least some vouchers. Yeah, I think what would what would help get them connected to the service providers that have the relationships with the motels. it takes a long time to build up relationships, motels and most like like a young and healthy or whatever. They they don't have that but they can have a strong connection to the service providers that do have that so that they can get their clients if somebody comes in their door they can get connected. Right. So I guess that's a matter of making sure that information is in front of those organizations. Ok, thank you. Ok, so we'll work a homeless plan now that it's found its way through a couple of commissions to get to the full council and to COUNCILMAN Ridgelines question the minute they need extra funds they're going to get back to us right before you. Ok, I just want to make sure I mean yeah. Before they need it. Thank you. No one should be turned away is the bottom line. So my understanding the city manager and staff's proposal is it's two steps so the initial 50000 dollars goes to them right away. I think at the point if we reach the point where the second fifty thousand dollars needs to be accessed then I would expect to hear back from the staff and the city council to say look we're we're into the second fifty. Maybe we should allocate appropriate another fifty. So it's intended to sort of raise a flag if we get there is my understanding of the city manager's proposal that's correct. Ok, so we have for speaker cards recall kyra sorry raquel calderon andrew good joe long and anthony a new service will give two minutes. Is raquel here? Sorry. Go ahead. Welcome apologies. I thought I was being called up immediately. Go ahead. Thank you. So I am a passing a resident here today very concerned about the shelter issue. I do want to thank you guys for having this meeting to discuss this really important issue and I'm happy to hear that there is interest in expanding the motel voucher program. I should also mention I do work with homeless folks. I volunteer every saturday with a group called passino for all where we go to homeless folks in a couple of parks in pasadena and pass out sandwiches, tarps, other supplies that they MAY need. And I want to underscore the importance of while vouchers are a great solution, I want to underscore the importance of having a shelter that people can go to. I think that's been a traditional method. People are used to for getting shelter and I understand the city has attempted to find a replacement location and I know that hasn't worked out in the past but I'm just here to reiterate how important it is that we don't go another year without there being a shelter that there has to be some solution to send people to right now in the work I do we have been very scared to send people anywhere without the guarantee that they will get a motel voucher. But even when we can send people somewhere I think it's important to recognize these people don't often have a way to get to the locations they need to go to to access services. That's been a big issue. I tried to bring up the gem program to a woman I see every week and she told me that she just can't make it there. She doesn't have any way to access these services. So I also want to read I want to underscore that it will take a little more than I think just extra funding to solve the problem. I think this is also a problem that requires lots of coordinated planning to get help and shelter in the hands of those who need it. MR. Calderon, your time has expired. Thank you. Thank you, andrew good followed by joe long followed by anthony medusa's welcome as long as you're good. Oh I'm sorry mr good thanks very much. Just want to begin by saying thank you for having this meeting. You know it was great to see in the wake of the rains and cold weather that we had a quick reaction from our city to talk about this important issue. We are I do want to make a quick point. it was a little disappointing that there's no way to do virtual public comment anymore. There were a lot of people who are from our group. I'm also a volunteer with pasadena for all who wanted to be here today but aren't able to make it would love to share their perspectives in person. Please consider keeping that as part of the city meetings we're seeing the effects of climate change. We know that we're going to be seeing more intense weather events going forward. That's just the life we be the reality that we have. And so it seems like this is a life or death issue for some people that we need to be keeping in mind. The vouchers are great and thank you very much for for putting more resources into those. But my concern is that the vouchers are a band-aid and that they're not as much good as a shelter. I was at a northwest commission meeting and they were doing a presentation. I can't remember exactly when this was a few weeks back they were doing a presentation about the homelessness plan and a question came up about vouchers and they said that house people who use the vouchers use them more consistently but fewer people use them than did the shelters themselves. So I think it's still valuable. I think they're both great solutions but we want to see that the city is taking this seriously and making concrete steps to keep pursuing a shelter. Thanks very much. Thank you, mr good joe long followed by anthony minutos followed by bert newton was long welcome if the others who if you hear your name called if you could just step to your right or left in that we can move the meeting along. Thank you. Go ahead MISS Long. Thank you. MR. Windsor's hi everyone there. Thank you for having this meeting. I'm here to say yes I advocate for more funding for the motel vouchers and as my friends from pasadena frolov also said that we really need a actua shelter in pasadena because I actually had volunteered at the bad weather shelter before covid and I also have helped a number of people get into motel vouchers. So I know I know get into motel rooms sorry. And so one and also do a lot of outreach in the east pasadena neighborhood. One of the things I've noticed is that there are a lot of in-house people that are not connected to any of these organizations that we have been mentioned like friends indeed and they are the most vulnerable people out because they do not trust a lot of the organizations because the trust has been broken at some point they see caseworkers that come and make promises and it's not the fault of the of the organizations I really, really impressed with friends indeed and I think we should be not throwing anybody under the bus here. It's really the city council's responsibility to house people but oftentimes the caseworkers they are not able to give to actually help then house people are able to come through with motel rooms or shelter and so that trust is broken and during the last weather bad weather situation last week, a number of people they they they had nowhere to go. They're walking around in soaking wet clothes, soaking wet shoes and and they're supposed to then like trust when the caseworker comes back around that, you know, there's no relationship there and the role of the caseworkers from the non-profits and the organizations here is to build trust with house people and build a relationship with them and in order to do that we need to make sure that everybody gets housing absolutely everybody not just people who have underlying health conditions who are seniors but especially the most vulnerable . Your time has expired. Ok, thank you. Thank you. Thank you MR. Anthony in minnesota followed by bert newton, MR. Mendoza's thank you MR. Mayor and thank all of you all of you for coming here on a wednesday and showing your concern for people who are announced. That's really admirable and I really appreciate it. And what I'm hearing from you is a real sincere desire to address our homelessness crisis and I'm glad you're putting your money where the mouth your mouth is one hundred thousand dollars is a good start as others have mentioned, we need kongregate shelters. We need a plan and I'm glad to hear that our housing department is coming up with a plan that will address our homeless crisis, that this council will be considering strategies and let's aim high let's aimed and chronic homelessness in a city. We can do this if we work together. We've reduced our homeless count by 56 percent. Other cities are watching how pasadena do this. We did it because we work together churches, homeless service providers, advocates and all of you. We need to work together as a city and to really aim high end homelessness. I am so grateful to you all. I've changed my I was going to read some totally different but when I heard your hearts tonight when I heard you sincerely express your desire to address this issue, I put my notes aside to tell you from my heart to your heart that we need to work together to end chronic homelessness. Thank you so much. You know MR. Is in all the speakers. I appreciate that. You know, I know my colleagues do as well the tone of your comments because you know we all want to work together. We all want to do the right thing. Every member of this council you know and I think when we take a different tone it hurts the very people that we're trying to help and you know, any one of us I'm not saying I'm not suggesting you or anyone else. I'm saying anyone who inserts a different tone than you know, it sets us all back in our common goal of assisting the neediest of people and I look forward as MR. Madison highlights to the broader, more in-depth discussion that will come to us through adtech bert newton mayors city council echo a lot of what anthony said I wasn't here that the whole presentation I was running from another commitment that I had but thank you very much for taking money out of the general fund. I'd love to see that and I'd like to see more of it. I also want to echo the andrew good and some of the others were saying about needing a concrete shelter. I think I know this is complicated because I've done direct service and I know housing people especially the most vulnerable is not easy and we need a lot of different strategies. So I think we need both motel vouchers and kongregate shelter. I did talk with one pastor who I know I think bill is talking with about using the one of their church sites probably for next year because things have to be put in place and he was suggesting I agree that they MAY need to be to church sites but but yeah, I so I realize that that's in process and i really appreciate you working with the churches and with anybody really who is willing to do that and taking money out of the general fund to do it and yeah. Thank you very much. Thank you. That completes public comment on these two items. I'll also note that there were 11 letters received by the city clerk's office in support of items three and or four in support of the staff recommendations for items three and or four and for item four there were three letters expressing concerns with the staff recommendation and advocating for the c to increase the additional funding for motel vouchers. All the letters were posted online have been distributed to the council and as part of the record for these two items we have a motion and a second for both items three and four made by vice mayor williams and seconded by council member hampton. Great and again thank you to all of the speakers and for the work that you do not just your words today but the work you do every day and to our partners and friends indeed in the health department in union station, I mean it really is GOD's work that they're all engaged in and we want to be as supportive as we possibly can. MR. Hampton, I just have just two quick things. Bill, if you are familiar with passantino for all just passing for orlando you guys connect with each other because maybe they have some other locations for congregate shelters and then for the public speakers that were interested in virtual comments. We'll be talking about that our intake meeting JANUARY 31st. Thank you. Ok, motion in a second. Do we need to we don't need it. Oh my gosh. First thing we have a data roll call now in years and three years this is the first and this is wow what the record to reflect the first non roll call vote all those in favor I any any opposed no. Ok, yes. Outside of reinfeldt items were unanimously approved and by the way it was two hundred and fifty thousand dollars was the initial allocation just was that total for for all the partners in today's action is one hundred and seventy five thousand 75000 to the health department and 100000 made available to to friends indeed so thank you all and thank you to the staff for very quick work. Thank you. Ok next we go back to item one . This should be item two I'm sorry item two thank you. So before jenn's come out on one podium I would just note that there was one letter expressing concerns with item two with the number of displacement events for a year 2023 and the problems with neighborhood protection that that letter was distributed to the council as part of the record for this item has been posted online. Thank you. staff reports pretty clear another event did we have we can't say who went to the and when do they announce the is it this week? Monday. Yeah. So the plan announced is going to be this monday. So first and foremost I wanted to thank councilor and mayor for making themselves available. As was noted earlier, the rosebowl was the original reason for this special meeting and it's a reality for the rboc that that the day we wake up on JANUARY 1st all event approvals need to go through city council just based on the number of events that the rboc can approve. And so the the council making themselves available is appreciated not just by the rboc but also by our partners and we work with promoters of both soccer and concerts and our group being able to react quickly to this so that it can line up with their their global launch of this said tour is much appreciated by not just us but by them. But these events would be number 23 and 22 for the year for us they would take place on SEPTEMBER 30th through OCTOBER 1st or potentially one or two days off of that. They want a little bit of flexibility the next couple of days to make that call. The I did want to address the letter the public comment that came in touch on a few items. One was neighborhood protection we take very seriously our events have impacts on the neighborhoods we acknowledge that our job and our effort is to try and minimize those impacts and there's been a multitude of things that have come to us as challenges that we've we've we've tried to deal with probably the biggest being staffing. So coming out of the pandemic, getting staffing especially for the neighborhoods has been difficult. The rboc has done a number of things, most notably raising the pay rate for most of our staffing agencies to to try and improve that. And we have we have gotten much better at that. But there still are impacts and we acknowledge that and we know that with frequency those impacts seem bigger. You know, when we start talking about event number 22 and 23, it's different than event number fourteen because of just the frequency. And so we acknowledge that and work with our partners with pd but also meet very regularly with with the neighbors and talk about the challenges and concerns they have. The other item that was brought up was timing on a sunday. So and we acknowledge too that you know, going late especially on a sunday is difficult for for our neighbors as is the course for us. We always allow the promoter to go to 11:00. It's pretty much the industry standard. The reasoning behind that is is mostly because high level acts required in their riders to go out when the sun is down. and so it's mostly it's a timing issue, you know, at this time of the year when the sun goes down they need to put on a show and it usually goes past 10:00 but we will work with the promoters to try and minimize that as much as possible on sunday. But we will we would like to authorize them to go to eleven if need be outside of that I'm happy to take any questions on this item. I suspect people will like this particular performer. But you know, sunday evening is does make it tough for the surrounding neighborhoods. I think in the future. Well, I'm I don't need to tell you I mean I'm sure we did all we can to encourage a friday or even a saturday. I know fridays are tough for other reasons because of traffic but saturdays always the best. Yeah, no we're not in the world of perfect you know we're in a very competitive market so we want to be as attractive as possible and the more restrictions we have the more difficult that becomes. The good news in this case is that our interests are aligned with the promoter. It's not just the neighbors that are up late on sunday, it's the attendees. So for the most part they they try and end this early as they can on sunday to try and get people back. But but yeah, it's a challenge that we acknowledge ok, MISS Williams, MR. Hampton, thank you. Thanks for responding to the public comment that we received. Those are most of my questions very supportive of the rose bowl being in the black and appreciate all the new events and all the the new formats that you're supporting jen. So really support that. I think once once we sort of get stabilized with the rose bowl in their strategic plan and what projects are going to be doing down there, it MAY make sense to take a look at the oil lands ordinance just to see what we can do about right sizing the displacement events. If we are going to have more like 22 or so, maybe we should look at that but sometime in the future would be nice to look at the iranians ordinance. Yeah. Would you see right sizing the displacement events? I just want to well staff has an idea so we keep approving more displacement events if that's going to be the norm for them or we're going to have events under twenty five thousand maybe two that doesn't go into doesn't need approval. So I think we just need to look at that. We've had the smaller sort of festivals which have been a better format. So just trying to look at ways to update it. Yeah. Got less impactful to 20000 really was a number that was put out there and my understanding is that there's really no rhyme or reason other than I think it was a number that someone threw out there and that was the definition of displacement have been so we should revisit that together with the rboc. Yeah. In the types of events we do have changed quite a bit since that time. As an example, ten of our displacement events are music festivals and music festivals have they have sound impacts but for the most part they don't have traffic impacts because of lower attendance and because people show up throughout the day and then some people leave early because the fact that they pay to see played earlier in the day. And so the rbc has had some thorough conversation on that. I would also note that we've I've personally discussed with the city manager and rboc our operating agreement expires in JUNE and will most likely from rboc side be recommending an extension because of a multitude of factors, one of which being that our improved finances. But that could be another opportunity for council to weigh in on displacement events and how it relates to that operating agreement either in the extension or once the extension is over and has a little bit more of a long term look at it. But that's a good perspective. Thank you and congratulations MR. O. MR. Hampton. Sorry MR. Hampton. Thank jinsa in I was laughing over here because who was it? And I said it's a six nine machine and kelly called out by him and khania so I thought that was funny but I know that's not the group so anybody watching this is not a machine kelly or six not don't forget about eminem or m yeah or him or kanye at all so I did just reiterate the clean up at the end the the protections have been great. I haven't had any a lot of very minimal concerns about the protection so I'm really happy about the new protection plan and and also the historic protection plan that you guys have been doing. So I just want to make sure that that is going to stay in place. It will ok and then the cleanup though I've been receiving tons of concerns about the cleanup after after then so if we could actually have the crews fan into the residential neighborhoods after the event that would be great. I know that they come but there's some hillsides and also in the neighborhood people bring, you know, beer bottles whatnot and and toss them in people's hearts. So yeah, an event day what we've we've made our S.O.P is we we operate we have event managers in the neighborhoods after the events the cleanup and the removal of the signs like like was noted in that in the letter is actually handled by public works and we reached out to them a couple of times in this scenario looks like the weather has been a challenge for them. So all the rain has made it difficult for them to get all those signs in and make that and take everything down. but we work pretty closely with them and we'll try and make that a little bit quicker in the future. So the cleanup is done all by public works because I thought you had a contractor at one point in time that did the cleanup in the neighborhood so that what was noted in the letter and I've actually spoke with that that neighbor it's more about the signage. So there's still signage up that relates to no parking zones and JANUARY 2nd this is a one way so those type of signs are the ones that are still up and those are posted by public works when it comes to cleanup around the neighborhoods. We're happy to connect with you because we we helped supplement there to make sure that events get cleaned up as soon as possible when it comes to trash. Ok, that's the concern. Ok, hearing on elesund my my side of the royal the rose bowl it's just been the trash. There are some things left over from public works but I did reach out to them and they said that they were coming out but otherwise this is definitely a this is great work from rboc and rosebowl and it's much needed for our stadium to stay viable. So I'm supportive of this. Thank you, MR. Madison. Thank you, mayor. I mean this is exactly the kind of event that is so important to the rose bowl and the entire community by extension I think it's interesting that we're funding homeless services, you know, by a figure amount and then we have an opportunity here to to generate significantly more than that. Obviously that's rboc operations which the stadium needs but dollars are fungible as we painfully know. So I'd move the item I totally agree with nina and the others who you know are mindful of the impacts on the neighborhood. It is a significant sacrifice and we're going to do better in terms of protecting that as MR. Hampton all of us are committed to do so. But this is very exciting for the rose bowl. This is iconic to have this particular performance. Yeah, I know I had to catch myself to I who who the band is. Yeah. The performer. Yeah. And one thing to note and one thing to note customer williams actually vice mayor williams was very helpful in this but attached to the agenda report is actually an economic impact report which was run by the peacock and I it showcases over five million dollars in local spending with over one hundred and thirty thousand dollars in tax revenue for local here for passantino so it's not just what the rboc makes it also is it is an engine that drives that drives business here in town. No, absolutely. So thank you. Hats off to the rboc MR. Madison if you'll pass that along certainly for me for council and I appreciate MR. Hampton and and MR. Madison i know are constantly calling jenns and the staff related to the neighborhood concern. So it's not just today when we see an event that those communications are continuing. But you know, I along the point that MR. Madison raises I have the privilege of dealing with the surrounding cities and other local governments and I'll tell you the one of the first things they raise is how exciting leros all activity at the rose bowl is and the energy that and enthusiasm and activity that it brings not just to pasadena but to the region and that's somewhat you know, that's difficult to measure but it really is important because there is an important energy that's brought by the ball in activity at the ball again always balancing that against the fact that the ball is in a neighborhood surrounded by park space. But I do think it's an important component to keep in mind ok, motion in the second has been ok. All right. Any objections? No. Ok, it's approved unanimously. Thank think that completes our special agenda. Thank you all and we will