City Council

I'm going to call the mets 21st meeting of the davis city council to order let the record reflect that it is 6:39 P.M. And also quick announcement our council member, uh, colleague council member neville is not able to be here with us this evening. So you have the pleasure of just our 4 faces in front of you here this evening. So, um with that I will entertain a motion to approve the agenda. All right. We have a motion vice mayor vitin a second by councilman partida any further questions or comments on the agenda. All right, seeing none all in favor, please. Say I I opposed abstain. All right motion carries 4 zero and we have agenda. Okay, we are now on to agenda item number 1 which is ceremonial presentations of proclamations, uh recognizing MAY 19th to 24th. Is public works week? MAY pacific islander month MAY as jewish american heritage month MAY as bike month MAY as mental health awareness month. So the way we normally do this we wll um, we'll read the proclamation invite over was receiving the proclamation up to the lectern say, u to say a few words, uh, and we'll move to the next proclamation and then we're done. We'll take a short break and invite um, folks from uh, the recipients of the proclamations to the front of the lectern, uh to come down and have a photo with uh council members and then we will um, come back and go to item nmber 2. So with all that being said, I'm going to turn to my colleague council member arnold who is going to present MAY 19th to the 24th as public works week. Well, thank you mayor. Uh, I believe we have alexis eastwood and ryan chapman who will be joining us for this. Um, I am pleased to proclaim MAY the week of MAY 19th through the 25th as national public works week the services provided by public works personnel to the davis community streets transportation wastewater storm drainage water facilities urban forestry and parks infrastructure as well as administrative environmental engineering regulatory and fleet maintenance services are an integral part of our citizens every day lives. The sustainable health safety and comfort of the davis community greatly depend on public works to deliver cost-effective capital improvements. The future of the davis community is influenced by the design and construction of new developments managed by public works personnel. The efficiency of the qualified and dedicated personnel whose staff public works departments is materially influenced by the people's attitudes and understanding of the importance of the work. They perform now therefore we the davis city council on behalf of the citizens of davis. Hereby proclaim, MAY 19th through the 25th 2024 as national public works week in the city of davis and urge all and civic organizations to aquaint themselves with the issues involved in maintaining operating and improving our public works facilities and to recognize the contributions the public works personnel make every day to our health safety comfort and quality of life. Mayor chapman and council members on the half of you. I will now turn to vice mayor bite lab for MAY asian-american pacific islander month. Thank you very much. Celebrating asian pacific american heritage month provides the people of the united states with an opportunity to recognize the achievements contributions and history of and to understand the faced by asian-americans and pacific islanders. Asian-americans and pacific islanders have endured and overcome hardship and heartache. Have endured and overcome hardship and heartache. Feeling fear for themselves and their loved ones in the wake of anti-asian hate and acts of violence against people in asian and pacific islander communities. Persons of asian heritage or pacific islanders, which are critical part of our civic community. Having mde substantial contributions to our city our sate and our nation with of asian heritage or pacific island heritage serving in vital positions from front-line workers researchers healthcare providers community leaders to other essential roles. Now therefore we the davis city council on behalf of the citizens of davis do hereby proclaim MAY as asian-american and pacific islander heritage month in the city of davis. In doing so the city of davis will recognize and observe asian-american and pacific islander heritage month by calling upon davis community to uplift and show ongoing support to par persons of asian heritage or pacific island heritage now and in the future and to encourage institutions and organizations to recognize the month with programs and activities, I believe we have aaron wedger and alan way, it's lucy. And members staff and friends. My name is alan way. I'm a davis resident and a board member of the davis chapter of asian pacific islander americans public affairs association. I'm very delighted to introduce my colleague for fellow board member aaron wendra. Way and james and the cheryl join joining me. So my my colleagues and I are extremely grateful and honored and proud to receive this product information. It recognizes not only the rich and cultures that make up our communities, but also serves as strong testament to the ingenuity resilience and diverse contributions of by asian-americans in history today and beyond. A papa is a nonprofit organization funded the 20 years ago and currently has over 40 chapters across the country. Our mission is to inspire engage I power ai communities through leadership and civic engagement. We advanced this mission by thinking globally ating locally. We're rooted here in davis. Our chapter chapter is led by former mayor ruth. Asmen who regret cannot be here for health reasons, and we also have a dedicated student chapter at uc davis to serve the student population. We have developed internship program that collects that connects students with elected officials. This goal is to prepare next generation leaders for a by providing them with hands-on experience in public service and governance elected officials who have found them to be very valuable addition to their offices during the summer time. We're very grateful to all of you who have hosted or will host in terms from a popular interns this summer or in the past. And for those for those of you who still need more interns, we still have more students waiting to be placed in your offices during the summer time. they they are schedules are flexible to accommodate any task. You can assign them I can guarantee you they make very cool youtube or finally it with deep gratitude and immense pride and area and I accept this proclamation from the city of davis celebrating asian american heritage month. Thank you very much. Thank you. Our next proclamation is recognizing MAY as jewish american heritage month. I believe we have uh, rob aigle vice PRESIDENT Of the board of trustees for congregation that have re here, uh, jewish american heritage month is a national month of recognition and celebration that has been held each MAY since 2006 generations of jewish immigrants fleeing persecution and seeking opportunity have found a home in california and yolo county and here in davis. Jewish american history cannot be told without acknowledging the suffering persecution and genocide of millions during the holocaust as well as the suffering caused by violent attacks against the people of israel. To this day jwish americans still face persecution threats to their identity including in davis, which unfortunately is not removed or immune from recurring acts of anti-semitism. Recognizing american heritage month means committing to furthering education education on the history of jewish americans and preventing the seeds of an and preventing the seeds of anti-semitism from being planted in our community. Since 1961 61 congregations that have reim the jewish fellowship of david has acted as a safe space and a center of community and belonging for jewish residents of davis and yolo county local community members and are to be commended for their work to provide education and opportunity to learn about the jewish american experience. Now therefore we the davis city council on behalf of the citizens of davis. Hereby proclaim MAY 2024 as jewish american heritage month and reaffirm the cities of david's commitment to promoting cultural understanding fostering a sense of belonging throughout our community honoring the contributions of jewish americans to our society and teaching history in its truest form. So as to prevent it from repeating itself. Welcome rock evening, mayor chapman and council members. My name is rob eagle. I'm the vice PRESIDENT Of the uh board of congregation beth haven and I want to express our sincere appreciation to the council for supporting the jewish community in davis and celebrating. Uh heritage month in light of the rising levels of anti-semitism and anti-semitic acts here in davis and throughout the nation jews are feeling isolated fearful and stressed. We your leadership in adopting this resolution, which clearly states that anti-semitism and hate have no place in davis and in which the city council commits to helping to fight hate including anti-semitism here in davis and working to prevent the seeds anti-semitism from being further planted in our community. The jewish community in david strongly appreciate your support. Thank you for this resolution. You, and we'll now turn to comfortable partida for MAY as uh, MAY is mike month. And uh coming up to accept this is trish price PRESIDENT Of flight davis. Davis is a bicycle friendly city with 63 miles of off-street paths 120 miles of bicycle lanes and 30 grade separated underpasses and overpasses which remove barriers to getting around our community the city of davis and braces the healthy and environmentally friendly benefits of bicycling and it's convenient ability to adapt to any lifestyle for recreation commuting or enjoyment purposes. The city of davis is a world with known leader in innovative bicycling planning and engineering and has implemented multiple transformative strategies receiving the very first platinum bicycle friendly community award in 2005 by the league of american bicyclists and his continued to receive this highest level award for 20 consecutive years. The city of davis a world renowned bicycling destination with the us bicycle hall of fame street smarts and safe routes to school programs and many passionate bicycling organizations. Now therefore we the davis city council on behalf of the citizens of davis do hereby proclaim. The month of MAY 2024 as bike month in the city of davis to celebrate the unique power of bicycles. Good evening. Thank council for um issuing this proclamation. Uh, first I do want to recognize that we as a community have built, um a bicycle friendly city that we can be proud of and want to reassure you that bike davis will be here to continue pushing and cheering for our public works team to continue building. Um, good infrastructure and safe infrastructure and good programs that um will help us meet our climate goals also our lifestyle growth. Thank you. Okay, and our last proclamation this evening is a proclamation honoring may 2024 as national mental health awareness month in davis. I believe we have tuhan malard the behavioral health director at communicare plus olay uh here to receive the proclamation. Mental health is an essential part of overall well-being families and communities across davis nearly 1 in 5 americans experiences a mental health condition each year and everyone faces in life that can impact their mental health despite its pro, uh prevalence mental health remains shrouded in stigma preventing many from seeking help local support resources include communicare, ole and nami yolo county community care. Ole is a network of federally qualified health centers with sites across napa solano and yolo counties ofering comprehensive care to more than and no 1 has turned away due to lack of insurance immigration status or ability to pay nami yolo county's organization of people whose lives have been touched by mental illness with a mission to provide advocacy support education and public awareness so that all individuals and families who are affected by mental illness can build better lives. All people who are living with mental health conditions should be treated with compassion respect and understanding now therefore we the davis city council on the citizens of do hereby proclaim MAY 2024 as national mental health awareness month and call upon community members to raise mental health awareness throughout the community welcome. Thank you. Thank you, mayor chapman and council members and I am so honored today to be here to accept this award on behalf of communicare olay. But before we were communicare olay we were communicare health will communicate olay we were communicare health centers before we were communicare health centers. We were the davis community free clinic. We launched in 1972 when DR. John jones identified that people suffering from mental illness physical illness and substance. Use disorders. Had a right to help care behavioral health care and substance use disorder treatment. we are so proud to be able to continue his legacy and build on the footprint created here in davis, california and right here. We were s honored and proud to have launched the davis respit center during the early days of co 19 pandemic. Um, those times were very uncertain and the partnership with collaboration between communicare health centers and community care olay and the city of davis. Um, I think contributed to the wellness stability and dignity of people who are experiencing homelessness in this community. So thank you so much. Um, I am so happy to receive this and share this with all of my colleagues and the names community. Thank you. Right. Thank you for uh everyone who who came out this evening to receive the proclamations. We're going to take a brief, um recess and we will um, by folks who were here to accept to come out to where you were just speaking at the lectern. I will take a few photos and then we will reconvene our meeting. Thanks. From sacramento state. this is welcome back everyone. For your patience while we um. Spend some time with the recipients of proclamations hre this evening. Um, we will nw move to agenda item number 2a, uh city manager brief announcements and I will turn to our city manager mike webb thank you very much, uh mayor city council good evening a couple of announcements of keeping pretty brief tonight. Um 1 is uh our waste sorting, uh monitoring is begun. And yes, you heard that right? We are in fact, uh what we call lid flipping, uh, which is uh, and basically an audit process whereby the city as required by state law, uh under senate bill sb 1383, um is required of of cties to do annual collection, u monitoring, uh for waste stream contamination. And so the law is very specific about how cities are to perform this, uh monitoring. Um, so when um on the routes, uh for the waste hauling uh company, which is recology for us, uh, there's a number of containers, uh on each, uh route visually checked, uh for proper waste sorting uh by uh, the residents uh, and if contamination is found the city's required to provide additional education to our customers on how to properly sort the waste and so we they'll leave behind a tag to help provide that education and encouragement, uh to uh alter course, um in our case over 800 trash recycling and organics bins, uh need to be visually checked throughout the city each year that ties back to the state law, uh, this year to perform the tasks and to help us do that. Uh, we've hired a a a consulting firm that will help augment our staff for the specific task. And so when the route monitoring was performed last year, uh for the first time we had 81% of the survey of those surveyed, uh had uh, uh properly sorted, uh, their waist streams and recycling streams, which is uh a very good rate. We always want to continue to improve upon that uh, and if waste materials are sorted correctly, uh, they will leave behind a congratulations or a gold star tag saying thank you for your efforts. Um, so uh and doing a good job. So the again, uh, the staff, uh are appreciative of everyone's uh efforts and their patience as we undertake this effort over the course of the next several weeks, uh and get that completed. Um, so the next update is the upcoming festival. So 6 shows starting, uh, actually over the course of 2 weeks starting on MAY 24th. The first week is mae 24th 25th and 26th in week 2 is MAY 31st through JUNE 2nd. Um, this is uh, an annual uh, festival music festival, uh, and we will have events during those 2 weeks 6 concerts will showcase artists playing classical music, uh through local community level partnerships and collaborations between young artists from around the world melon music festival strives to bridge cultural divides among the power of classical music. This event is funded in part by uh city arts and cultural affairs, uh funds along with visit yolo and visit davis organizations, and for more information on the uh, venues and times and places. Uh, you can visit melon music festival that's with 2 l's uh.Com all right, and then to fnally, uh, my last announcement for tonight is uh of memorial day. So coming up on monday MAY 27th city offices will be closed that day and observance of memorial day emergency services, of course as always remain unaffected and we wnt to thank all those who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country. All my announcements tonight. Thank you. Mike. Uh, we are now we'll move on to agenda item 2b city council brief announcements in liaison reports from various 2 meetings commission board integer jurisdictional assignments to any of my colleagues have any liaison reports to report out here this evening. Sounds great, uh, seing none. We'll move to uh, 2c city council indication of intent to pull items from the consent calendar for discussion and my colleagues have and I would like to call I don't have an item. I have to call or want to call but I have an item that I need to abstain from okay, um out of an abundance caution because I'm an employee, uh, the phoenix coalition. I'm going to abstain from item b. Items 4 b on consent. Okay. Thank you. That is noted we will touch on it when we get over to the consent calendar, uh with that we're going to move to agenda item number 3, which is general public comment, uh general public comment is intended for um, any item that is not on our regular item agenda or for an item that's on consent or if you can't make it or stay for an is on our agenda. That would be the time to talk about that will be your uh your time to talk your 2 minutes. So with that I'm going to open up general public comment as a reminder, uh, general public comment is to 2 minutes long in front of me. You'll see a timer, uh, that counts down your 2 minutes, uh at 2 minutes. I will let you know that your time is up and request that you um, finish up your comments and return to your seat. Uh, so thank you. I appreciate following that so we will now open up general public comment and welcome our first public commenter. Uh, I'm glad I have an opportunity to talk. My name is a new 1. I'm the granddaughter of lost chinese empire and empires. I'm the owner of a new 1 so prop. I want to lt you know what happened to me on MARCH 19th. I was you know put on 5150 involuntary hold and locked into south hospital for 3 days 2 nights and the same to st. Joseph's mental health center. Actually I to fight on court. I want the case. I gain my freedom back and I'm forever, you know grateful for for this, uh, dino for free and the home of brave and uh, what happened is 2 days ago. It's a APRIL 19th 1 months later at the thomas shopping center 3 young men walk toward me and I was driving at the parking lot very slow to stand in front of me stopped in my car and another person my back from the side side sat and my window was open and the run away and it u, I called 911 eventually, you know the through my back out, but take my driver's license, you know, my uh library cards my banking cards credit cards. And my uc davis id everything and that's I just want to let people know. Um, I believe those young men that are chinese communist spies and it's all in davis and they are related to because during the campaign against the her and I told everyone sheila and what's my classmates from china? It is a sex toy spy. It is made by the russian kgb and what I say, it's all true. You just have to find out and what happened to me, you know, it's very disturbing sentimental hospital and robert is uh 2 days ago. It's MARCH 19th and APRIL 19th. That's what happened to me. Thank you. Nick. You. I um want to start out by applauding you for adopting te resolution tonight recognizing jewish american. Um history month. Um, but please don't tokenize us tokenizing occurs when a small number of unrepresentative jewish voices are portrayed as speaking for the jewish community. Despite the fact that the vast majority of jews including those in this country. That's 80 to 95% by different measures recognize some form of zionism as a key component of their and religious identity in many progressive circles including in this town. The only jewish voices allowed t prticipate in dialogue are anti-zionists the small fraction of jews who actively oppose the continued existence of israel. Jewish voices need a place at the table, especially now that anti-semitic incidents in this town are skyrocketing. Whether these incidents come from the right or the left the intention is to squeeze jewish people out of civic society and discourse and not only to terrorize us but to make the world apathetic to that terror. Of this effort is calls for a complete academic and cultural boycott of jews. Although the dog whistle. Zionist is used in a discussing display of what at best appears to be a mccarthy like witch hunt and even more so invokes the nazi era expulsion of jews from academia. Students and unions across the state for hve called for a boycott of jewish or zionist goods individuals and institutions including last week the the student union, excuse me student senate here brought forth a resolution that listed a group of jewish professors and staff by name and without a threat of evidence to fame them by accusing tem of a list of purported offenses if any credence is given to tis disgusting liable here tonight. It should be strongly denounced by your leadership. It is critical now more than ever that you address anti-semitism rather than and giving a platform to those who gaslight us by stating that anti-semitism doesn't exist on the left and is being weaponized by so I I'll just remind people that we have a long-standing tradition here in council chambers that uh, we do not show appreciation or disappointment, uh in anyone's public comments. We want this to be a safe place for everyone no matter what, uh, they're coming up and making a general public comment on uh, there are very few times as my former mayor. Will arnold said is we cheer, you know, are when kids are getting awards. Um, but we ask you to refrain from um, clapping booing any of that while we're here, uh, taking general public comment. So I appreciate uh, your willingness to go along with that with that. I will welcome our next public comment. Yeah, don't tokenize jews. We don't need freaking month. Um, so my name is alan miller and um davis enterprise reported that the day was police last week, uh arrested 42 year old man on felony battery charges after he assaulted a hotel clerk grabbed her any her neck with 1 hand poured coffee on her head. He then grabbed her neck with both hands and began to strangle her both fell to the ground where he allegedly punched her several times in the face. Same name 3 names unique a local trans 2022 a local transient was arrested on a federal assault charge last week after allegedly attacking a man in his own backyard speaking intelligibility walked up to the victim and punched him in the face and tried to hit him with a lawn chair and a ladder the victim managed to block those blows then a he threw a large rock at him. Estimating to weigh 10 pounds and they're only missing him on the same person's youtube page. He is filming a attractive blonde middle-aged woman. The youtube video is titled murder number 1 murderer number 1 and while filming her. I thought it was falling in love with my killer, but I finally found the woman who ordered the cyanide poisoning at floyds. Why are you denying it before I say a thing because I raped an ass. Where did you hear that from enough said devil the evil out. There are numerous similar videos of him taping women in coffee shops doing this. I will leave off the rest of the examples with the serial killer last year many if we could have seen it coming most said no in this case. Why is this person who committed felony battery in davis and he's showing signs of violent tendency and mental illness still in their community where they committed another felony battery punching people in the face what is wrong with our system? Well. Hello, my name is ethan stern and I'm here today making public comment on behalf of colere students davis chapter for california public interest research group and is a part o a broader national organization that has been fighting on environmental and social issues since the 1970s. Some of our all-time biggest wins across california specifically are things like seat belts and cars and baby clothes not being legally be flammable. We consider these issues to be really common sense and critically important for our community here in davis and more broadly. We were first founded on the principles of al gore he wrote a book about how student ativism could be and since then we've been working to elevate student voice both here in davis and beyond, uh, especially across california at other uc's and we're working to expand into csus and sat in california state universities. Um, the thing I I'm here to mention today is we are looking for uh collaboration going into the future wth the davis city council the davis, uh chapter specifically is working on 4 initiatives right now trying to ban plastic bags across the state of california that are not reusable trying to fight to elevate students voices and sudents to vote in the upcoming election trying to protect our marine coastal environments from over fishing and from new developments and for trying to fight hunger and house systems here in davis locally next year. We will be fighting on a slightly different set of issues, but council members. I assure you they are of similar importance and we will continue to fight on hunger and houses and alleviating it here in davis specifically. I think that this is a critical issue because many of our students community members beyond students experience. It and are it right now, and we would really appreciate the davis city council working with us going forward as we have 50 to 100 students at uc davis and many hundreds more aross the state and we are really working to elevate this campaign and we are hoping to partner with y'all as we can make progress and as we can make change here locally in davis for the betterment of the community. Thank you. Thank you ethan. Hi, um colleague so graciously introduced I'm with colere students. I'm the chapter chair of our group at uc davis. My name is reena cohen, and I'm a second year studying political science, and I'm the leader of our beyond classics campaign to ban quote unquote reusable plastic bags across the state of california as ethan said cowork students have accomplished massive wins for students and the environment including defending 2.6 billion dollars of pel grant funding and registering over 10,000 students to vote and the 2020 election, um from talking to hundreds of my peers at uc can tell you that young people overwhelmingly agree that our generation deserves a plastic pollution a minute of convenience turns into a hazard for marine animals ourselves and every single generation that will inherit this earth after us that's why thousands of students like me are looking to california leaders of today to make decisions that will help reduce the plastic pollution currently in our communities and prevent our generation from inheriting a plastics crisis. That's even worse that starts with banning the most unnecessary single-use plastics, like plastic bags. We've known for a long time plastic bags are wasteful plastic bags won't degrade and they aren't recyclable. So every plastic bag all of us have ever used is still out there littering our streets or harming wildlife and our ocean. Unfortunately california's current ban on plastic grocery bags is not working as intended es sp 54 was passed. In 2014 to ban single-use plastic bags, but plastic bag companies have circumvented the laws and tent by mass producing thicker plastic bags that are exempt from the law because they can technically be reused but the rality is that few people are actually reusing them as kullberg students. We really appreciate all that dvis has done for sustainability. We wanted to share the work that we're doing on plastics as well as our various other issues to promote future collaboration, um in addition a great way to support us is to sign a letter of support ab 2237. 6 sb 1053 which would ban these quote-unquote reusable plastic bags in california grocery stores. Thank you so much, and I look forward to working together. Reena. And thank you for the opportunity to speak. I am a veterinary student and resident of davis addressing the appointment of noon human resources commission members. This is a body that pioneers and champions diversity justice and equity in our in our city as someone whom this commission impacts 1 of the proposed proposed of appointees is responsible for impact in my experience as a resident and scholar in our OCTOBER DR. Nicole counter protested a peaceful student walk out during drawing attention to the genocide in gaza, DR. Koul yelled at and threatened students filming us without our consent. He approached our demonstration circle growing increasingly aggressive towards students. I was so devastated od and scared by DR. Cole's honest behavior, and I hope that this holistic view of DR. Amir cole informs the commission on who might be participating in our city's leadership. Thank you. Hello and thank you for having me tonight. I am here to also address the human relations commission position appointment, um for the city of davis, um, my understanding of the committee is that they worked to ensure the health safety in general welfare of the residents of davis, which is a direct quote from the website. Um, it is also my understanding that um, DR. Amir coal is off for appointment to this council tonight. um, it is this that I take it is with this that I take concern. I'm a student of uc davis school medicine the same institution where DR. Koul currently practices as a veterinary clinical pathologist. Um, I've been taught directly by DR. Coal and have seen that he was a very accomplished clinical pathologist and a great in this field. Um, so while he is an accomplished topologist, he is also 1 of the few professors that I've known both at uc davis and other institutions that have attended. Um who has made me feel directly targeted and acutely unsafe on my campus where I go to learn. I was at a dmonstration for a ceasefire on in gaza. Um on the vet school campus a few months ago. I was amazed by the solidarity of my fellow veterinary colleagues until um several professors and doctors came out to counter protest among them was DR. Koul. Uh, I was yelled at and threatened. I was filmed by DR. King himself while peacefully demonstrating against a genocide. Uh, this is a man who has who holds my schooling in his hands, um and could easily retaliate in might have done it. So if you choose this too, um, and he does have me on video. Perhaps it's my general misunderstanding of this committee, but I do not believe that shouting threats spearing false information. Filming piece with students without the cassette and generally supporting a genocide and falls within the goals and values of this committee. I just want to give you te full picture of who you are considering for appointing. I hope you take into consideration. Thank you. Thank you. Just as a as a reminder. We do have the commission appointments coming up as agenda item nmber 5, so if able to stay for agenda item 5 now would be the time to make that public comment. So, um know that there's general public comment coming up for uh commission appointments that would be the time unless you can't stay welcome. Thank you. Good evening city council. I just have a quick poll. Uh, how many people uh ran for city council saying they were going to raise taxes. Uh, no 1's raising their hands how many people ran for city council saying they wanted to repeal measure j? No, raising their hands how many people ran for city council saying they wanted to end r1 zoning and have no more detached housing in davis. I see no 1's raising their hands and yet some members of the council are exposing these very things. People? Advocated ending the commission system as it existed before. You very much. For calling thank you other members of the davis city council. Uh, my name is david seagull. I'm a member of this professor at uc davis of medicine. And I'm here in support of are cole who I've known as an outstanding teacher researcher and clinician at the veterinary school. Now, I'm not a psychiatrist. I'm an infectious disease person. Uh, but I actually have seen no better example of the psychological phenomena of projection than what tonight. We have a group of people who on the campus have systematically intimidated and harassed people and yet they turn around and accuse other people of that. I am a member of the day. This is 6 listed on this, uh, asucd proclamation I could tell you that in 44 years at uc davis and ucsf. I have not had 1 complaint against me by any staff member any colleague any medical student or patient yt? I am named in a complaint by individuals who I don't believe I've ever spoken to uh, it's rather peculiar DR. Koul. I know extremely well. He is an outstanding individual. Uh, I saw myself accused of racism on the news. I wonder where these people were when uh, I was working at san francisco general hospital with broad array of patients. I work at the va. I'm coming from rounds right now. My my team 12 patients 3 or 4 african-americans 3 latin x's asians whites and so on and I'm wondering who these people are. I worked on the global program on aids in tanzania. Okay, I rounded at hadasa hospital in in jerusalem on mount scopus. The patients are arabs and jews. The staff is arabs and jews and yet. I'm accused of racism. I don't know these people they're accusing me and by the same token. They're accusing DR. Racism and a variety of other. Uh, thank you david. Yeah, I I I frankly I'm shocked and dismayed that this goes on at the university. Um tonight I'd like to address bgotry and hate in our community. Um, I wanted to say first off that I know most maybe all people here tonight, you guys and people speaking can agree on our values. I see people mean well and they don't look best for our community, but we have a different set of information and a different side of the story. I asked when you listen to people's comments tonight to please listen fully with an open heart to the intention behind the communication. Is it intended to uplift marginalized voices? Is it intended to build understanding and compassion? I will say that the amount of bigotry directed towards jews in this town in the past 7 months specialty is the unbelief. I've been called slurs cast canceled and shaved so much hate and deaf defamation. I've seen it here in the council chambers both tonight and on DECEMBER 12th the 6 night of hanukkah. The 3d test for antisemitism is delegitimization double standards and demonization. Is the denial of the jewish people's right to self-determination. Double standard is the application of different sets of principles on similar situations and demonization is a portrayal of certain groups as evil. as you listen listen tonight consider how many of the comments fall into 1 of these 3 categories? Thank you. Do we have any any more in-person public comment? Okay. Have a a microphone. Thank you kelly. Thank you. My comment will be towards the 2 includes for davis school in transit. Because I will not be hre probably when we get to that item. So I'm a member of the unitrans, uh commission. And the meeting in the month of APRIL. I the issue that as a member of the senior commission there had not been a proper opportunity for this issue to hve been agendas. Um, and for people who would be impacted by the fee increase to speak. I'm glad to see that the fee increase has been moved back, but I'm also concerned because the commission due to um lack of a quart. Form not met an over 6 months. And I once saw young mother in the supermarket and she was counting the slices of bacon in a packet and even though the fee increased at 50 cents and you know, not everybody has 50 cents anybody's budget is different and so, uh seniors are becoming the fastest group of those who are unfortunately becoming unhoused. So my concern is if that there be a real effort to get this information out there let people know not only seeing if the people who are disabled as well that there will be a fee increase and as everything is going up and inflation is not transitory. It is real that um the cost of things are going up and hopefully there can be a grant or something written to help people whom this MAY have an adverse impact upon. Thank you very much. Do you have any more uh comments for general public comment. We are jewish. We are teachers students mothers and fathers and grandparents. we are fellow davis citizens who responsibly pay bills and vote. For only 2% of the us population, but we are at the receiving of more than 60% of religious hate crimes. Many lies are being charged aainst us right now in this town in our schools and that our davis campus. We all need to educate ourselves to learn the facts and the true history enough to look past the propaganda spread on the internet. We have stood with many of you for diversity equity and inclusion. So do you include us do you think and speak with respect for all people? Do you against bias and bigotry against every marginalized group? When it comes down to it, do you truly live by those values even when it comes to jews? Hatred any group hurts all of us thank you so much for the resolution you passed tonight. american heritage month it is an opportunity for my people jewish americans and residents of david to be recognized for our and our contributions to society. Thank you. Do you have any more uh, in-person public comment here in chambers? Okay sitting down. I'm going to close general public comment for in-person public comment, and I'm going to turn to um to zoe for any pre-recorded public comment. We have any this evening. Okay. Thank you. Name is harriet gabbis from the david resident and I'm speaking on the resolution for a jewish american by the kids. We are jewish. We are teachers students others and fathers and grandparents. We are favorite. Hello date who pay our bills and vote. We are only 2% of the us population, but we are at the receiving end of more than 60% of religious hate crimes. Many lies are being against us right now in this town in our schools and honor davis campus. We all need to educate ourselves to learn the facts and the history enough to look past the propaganda spread on the internet. We have stood with many of you for diversity. And for inclusion you include us? Do you think and speak with respect for people? Do you act against bias against every marginalized group when it comes down to it. Do you truly live by those values even when it comes to jews hatred against any group any group to hurt all of us? Thank you for this resolution for jewish american heritage month I MAY. It is an opportunity for my people jewish americans and residents of davis. Recognized for our thank you so much. This is gorman speaking on item 3 general public comment and speaking as an individual throughout the meeting. So I wanted to talk a bit about some of the commenters at the previous meeting and also about some larger issues that hve been arising in davis, but also more broadly and are continue to increase a specialty as we approach the NOVEMBER election. So as in the past there has been some increased fascist activity in davis including by some known. Fascists who often come to sacramento city council meetings but also buy more local groups and individuals who promote carry in and bigoted ideologies such as around transphobia and anti-semitism anti-palestinian racism. Are ideas and notions that have no place in davis and as a community we need to be actively condemning these types of ideas as well as the harm that lead to again whether they are coming from more local groups or groups that are coming in from out of town which we have had before and we appear to have again and it's unclear if that will continue but either way this is another example of the need for community to build solidarity between different marginalized groups and to work to all forms on both the interpersonal and more explicit and blatant level but also the structural and systemic and ingrained levels as wll. Hello. My name is robin. Datto d a t e l on the davis resident. Buy comments or an item for c relating to the child's ranch project. I am asking for you to not approve the third amendment to the agreement the dnsity proposed for this project 96 detached units on 1 2. 1 2. And by the way, those 96 units were reduced from the 108 first approved by the city. Te project vision for this development is 15 years old and no longer meet the needs of our community or state. Shortage of housing and it's very high cost as well as climate crisis points strongly toward higher density development featuring town homes. Again. These were included in the first approved development agreement. And department houses you MAY feel that a bird in the hand is worth to in the bush, but we don't have to in the bush in the new property owners say they intend to start construction meaning grading immediately, but then point out that there MAY be delays due to material shortages. If likely that we have to wait several more years for this houseing first approved in 2009. We might as well use some of the time to design a project that is higher density and has maximum climate friendliness. The davis housing design revolution needs to start now. Thanks very much. My name is scott stewart. I am commenting on the proclamation on. The jewish american heritage month jews whose family date to the 1850s and california. I have requested that the proposed date of jewish american heritage month resolution avoid some assumptive language. Thank you for the additional clause to the resolution that speaks importance of inclusivity and rights of all the potential in the expression of heritage hd written that the existing warehouse clauses 5 and 6 which both refer to what can and cannot be told about jewish american history or something non-inclusive, but I and other jews seem to think from the jewish. American heritage month resolution language is the history of the jewish scan for you know consuming as the torah know consuming as the torah schools lily greenberg the latest state department person to resigns and provided administration said of her jewish heritage. I was taught life is to say te whole world and every person is made in the image of GOD. When he left the quotes he is using my community as a justification for the slaughter making up the days of the american war machine. I don't think that makes us safe. Only through the city in a recent interview. I believe that I am living in my jewishness in the essence of what I was raised with but standing up for palestinian and by demanding their freedom I believe our communities jewish heritage should be celebrated. I do see the beacon of resilience contribution care. That is our jewish heritage. I look forward to davidson's continued commitment to promoting inclusiveness celebrating diversity preventing the spread of misinformation and rejecting hate and bias in all forms. Thank you for my time. I'm calling to commend the commission for recognizing jewish heritage month. I'm looking forward to this for a long it means a lot to me. Thank you. Hi, this is liz greene davis. For general public comment. Thank you so much for recognizing and passing a rsolution for jewish american heritage month. This certainly means a lot to our community. You. Okay, that was the end of our pre-recorded public comment. Thank you zoe. Uh, so with that we are going to close general public comment and we will now move on to our scent calendar, which is item number 4. And I will entertain a motion action on the consent calendar and just note that number of partita is abstaining from 4b. Thank you. We have a motion by COUNCILMAN Arnold second by vice mayor ba any further questions comments on the consent. Okay, seeing none all in favor, please. Say I I I oppose abstain motion carries 4, um just for the record. I would note that I know there are some folks here who were um for the uh pride month proclamation that is on the long range, uh scheduled for JUNE 4th, which is our next uh public which is our next city council meeting. So that's where you will see that uh, we are now on to agenda item number 5 our first regular calendar item, uh, commission and structures and scope. I will turn this over to our staff team. Um, looks like we have assistant city manager kelly stackowitz and our city manager mike webb and we'll start with you. right. Thank you very much council and uh, we will get this uh queued up here with the slides and kelly will do a review of o the item and then turn over to the council subcommittee. I'm in their chapman and vice mayor va for any additional, uh, comments and feedback that they MAY have before the account returned to council for questions and discussion and public comment. Thank you. Thanks the assist on the transition there. All right. I will try to go as quickly as but there is a lot to pack in here and I don't want to skip over anything. Um, so bear with me um, so tonight staff and the council subcommittee of myor chapman and vice mayor ba are bringing forward a series of recommendations to realign the council's advisory commissions. This process started over a year ago when the council appointed the subcommittee and the recommend recommendations this evening build on the uh, initial almost recent direction from the full city council from JANUARY of this year. After reviewing all 14 of the city's commissions and committees the subcommittee proposed realigning 6 of the groups into new commissions as well as updating wording for the purposes in the scopes of all of the commissions. 1 goal was to try to make clear alignments with the general plan and the general plan update process. Another ws to try to simplify the scopes to make it easy for the public and where possible staff of the subcommittee. Um, sorry public and were possible staff and members of the subcommittee, uh asked for feedback commissioners regarding the proposed purposes and scopes. So tonight we're going to be asking the council to take action to aprove, uh, both a general resolution outlining the expectations for all commissions as well as individual authorizing resolutions for all the commissions. I realize there's a lot of words on this. I don't expect you to be able to rad them all. U, this in the staff report, but we're going to go through each of the commissions. Uh, some will send a little bit more time on than others. So this first 1 is the proposed climate and environmental justice commission and its proposed from the combination of natural resources and the tree commissions. This newly structured commission would be expected to take the lead role on the implementation of climate action and adaptation plan. And the urban forest management plan as well as advise the council on issues related to the community's natural resources. If the council approves the recommendation the tree removal requests and and appeals formerly handled by the tree commission would be moved to a separate tree removal modification appeal board similar in structure to what we have for the city's subdivision committee. What you see on this screen is a chart summarizing the purpose and then the roles and responsibilities or I MAY refer to them as the scope of uh of the commission and we're going to go through this for each of the different commissions. Next proposal is for fiscal commission to be a combination of the finance and budget commission and the utility rate functions of the utilities commission. Proportions of the utilities commission mre focused on the utilities as natural resources would be under the purview of the climate and environmental justice commission. On this 1 I should note that discussions with the utility commission members and feedback from um, at least 1 finance ad budget cmmission member or mixed opinions in terms of interest in merging and uh wat they thought the appropriate scope should be and I should note that we um, either staff or the subcommittee, uh, or sometimes both, uh did attend almost all of the commission meetings to get feedback on the proposed scope and purpose. the transportation commission is recommended to be approved through the absorption of unitrans advisory committee into the bicycle transportation and street safety commission. So the uac um is only required to meet once or twice a year. And asucd student representatives the recommendation here is for the inclusion of those asucd representatives, um in the overall quorum numbers for just those 1 or 2 meetings per year where their presence is required. Um, that is slightly different than the rest of the the commissions. The next several slides, um are for commissions that are not recommended for any substantial changes. They are really just updates of the purpose and the scope so I'll try to go through them quickly, um open space and habitat commission continues to advise on matters relating to open space and habitat again 1 of the goals of the subcommittee was to try to make the purpose crystal clear. Uh, so that if you're a member of the public and you're looking to find out which commission you would want to go into talk about a particular matter try to apply for a commission. That's really clear what that commission does. Please accountability again, no substantial changes, um 1 of the comments that they did make at their meeting when they reviewed the scope was just wanting to make sure that they see things coming to council related to police accountability before they come directly to the council. Recreation and parks again, no substantive changes, but they were um interested in making sure that their their role as a public facing and commission, um their ability to do public outreach and really get out there with the community, uh in many of our different recreation and parks facilities and amenities, uh continued which we think we've covered that. Senior citizen commission again, no substantive changes. They advise on matters affecting senior citizens. Um 1 of the comments that the social services commission made was wanting to make sure that they would be able to continue to lease with our local nonprofit service providers. Um again, that is something that would be uh portion or part of their roles and responsibilities. Human relations and civic arts. So I want to start with those together. Um, if you recall in JANUARY, the initial proposal was to look at mrger for those. Um, the council asked the subcommittee to consider additional options other than that and so tonight staff and the subcommittee are recommending nt to merge those 2 commissions, uh, human relations is recommended to stay a substantially the same, um, 1 of the differences or uh, new things that's been incorporated is reference to the hate free together initiative that the city is part of and this would be um, this commission would be 1 of the or be the lead, uh commission on that particular effort. Arts commission is different. Um 1 of the proposals that was taken back to the civic arts commission was for it to become a non-brown act body. Meaning that council would not appoint the members and um, the the non brown act body. Meaning that council would not appoint the members and um, the the members would be appointed by the the arts staff o selected by the arts staff. Um, they would then answer to or work with the arts staff on any number of arts related issues. This provide them with additional flexibility in uh, making sure that they had a a wide variety of membership. Um and how they met and in in their ability to respond to different things in the arts community, um in addition to working with different arts organizations, te commission actually liked this idea and uh the bullet points that you see on the screen here, um of different responsibilities are things that they came up with and if council were to approve um, or I should say not go on with an arts commission then. The um this particular group would work directly with staff and staff would continue to come to the council with any changes, um in arts policies for recommendations, uh acquisitions anything like that that they that we would already do. Um, so no change in the council's ability to oversee and approve policy. Uh, you just wouldn't have a specific commission working on that. It would be a different a different format in different structure. So what are we asking for council from from council for this evening? We are asking yu to approve the resolution outlining the general structure and expectations of advisory commissions. So this sets forth, um what I a lot of the housekeeping kinds of ideas, uh, how many members of commission has what uh expectations are for participation what terms limits there are those kinds of things. Approving the a resolution concluding the work for the existing commissions that are being proposed to be realigned into new bodies. And then um, lastly we did not talk about historic resource management commission or the planning commission if you recall from JANUARY, we were working on the a mrger of those 2, but that was on a different timeline. So we're still on a different timeline with those but we are recommending at this point that um the city council reduced the membership from 7 members to 5 members, um, which puts it back at the the same number of mmbers that had for a number of years, um several years ago. So to summarize these 3, the climate and environmental justice the fiscal and the transportation commission are the 3 new commissions that are asking to uh for you to consider. Those are formed by mergers of existing commissions. And then there are authorizing resolutions for the 6 other commissions where there aren't um, substantive changes to their office or scope. Next steps um several of the changes if you make them tnight so we would bring that back to you, uh, depending on what decisions you make this evening. We would continue to recruit for a vacancies. Um the second part of the item this evening is for appointments, but even with um the appointments for this evening, we'll still have some vacancies. We will need to work out the logistics, uh again housekeeping issues for the merged commissions, uh when they're going to meet where they're going to meet user. Um once general plan consultant is selected we would return to with details on the commission involvement in community engagement for the gneral plan process as I mentioned at the beginning. This was really a motivating factor in a lot of the initial recommendations. So w've not lost sight of that. We're just not um, not bringing that back at the same time. We continue efforts to merge the historic resource management commission into uh, the planning commission. We would um we're still looking into other commission information some uh information about uh, clarifying routine engagement process. We heard a lot about that when we visited commissions, it's like like more guidance from the council, uh on on how communications between council and commissions would could and should work. Um things like potential commissioner benefits and then maybe some other other issues that council interested in. That is what I will conclude and turn it over to uh for additional comments or clarifications. Thank you. Kelly. You made that look extremely easy. Okay. Thank you. And thank you for the recap on all your work and getting the the staff report. I will turn uh to my um colleague in subcommittee for any other um, subcommittee comments. I had some general comments, but don't wait until we hear from our colleagues, okay? Yeah, I'm I the same boat we have any clarifying questions or comments? Um from will orary of our staff? Did a really good job. Uh, yeah, basically the staff report reflects what I wanted to say, uh, this is obviously been a painful process for some members of our community and um, I understand the concerns that um, some members would have wished this process to be more consultative. I that's a legitimate criticism. I think that when we as city council members try to weigh all the computing priorities, uh, sometimes the process of consultation isn't as deep as we wish it would have been uh, another if I had to do it over again. I think I can a lot earlier to maybe more commissioners. That being said at this point, we've talked to many many commissioners and uh, it's very clear that the majority are either supportive or neutral so that through respect to the changes. Uh, also just say just as a personal, you know, there have been a lot of uh apps made against me personally some of them quite delicious and I understand that's part of the job. Uh, unfortunately, it does hurt that much of what's said is just not true or involving members of my family and that that feels unfair and in violation of the principles of civility that we were trying to embody here in the uh again, isn't about me. This is about a uh, a body of process a issue in the city that every everyone recognizes regardless should be done almost everyone will recognize this is real which is that the relationship between council and staff and commissions is not as healthy as it could be um, and in our initial presentation of the item the mayor ad I chose to really strike a positive tone and sort of think about how the commissions could play a central role I I think I'll just speak for myself personally. I think uh, you know, our intentions were good in terms of trying to focus on the positive, but I think we might have aired not being crystal clear in terms of defining the problem exactly. And I think the parameters of that problem we're seeing very differently by different people. So a certain folks, uh point to let's say let's say lack of responsibility or transparency on the part of staff or council, uh, others points to council and say that giving commissions clearly defined tasks and not valuing their input and I think there's others that that uh, look at certain commissions and ask if they're being as productive as they could be or whether their agendas are being dominated by tasks that are not actually in the room and not tasking. So probably all of those are true to some extent. Uh, we might disagree the extent of which each 1 is relatively more important than