City Council Meeting: August 19, 2024b

started uh mayor and council we are alive my apologies everyone. We're getting a little bit of a late start. The council did meet in closed session. There's no reportable action. We took the meeting off briefly regarding the session. I do want to note that I had to recuse myself from item b because I own property within 500 feet of the two properties discussed. Thank you, mayor. Thank you. Roll call. COUNCILMAN Hampton is amsant COUNCILMAN Jones here. COUNCILMAN Lyon here. councilman massouda here. Customer service here. COUNCILMAN Williams, vice mayor madison here. Mayor gordo here. There's a quorum in the council present. Ok, service will you lead us to the pledge of allegiance? I would like to be of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation under GOD, indivisible with liberty. So we do have, uh, a couple of adjournments in memory of residents and leaders that we've lost over the last week or two. The first thing council member richard latorre who was a member of the california state assembly from 1973 to 85 and served on the los angeles city council from 85 to 99 after leaving the city council he was named by mayor tom bradley to the los angeles regional transportation commission, the forerunner of to the L.A. County metropolitan transportation authority and he was elected the first CHAIRMAN Of the mta and during his tenure championed the passage of the gold line and I would ask I knew council member alliot-marie well and worked with him quite a bit both professionally but also as a member of the city council. And I can tell you that he contributed greatly to our goldline efforts to ensure that the gold line went forward. But it was also a tremendous ally and friend of pasadena and mentor to many young latino leaders in in the area and frankly a mentor to many not just latinos. And so I would ask that we recognize his contributions to our state, to our region and specifically for his efforts on behalf of pasadena and the san gabriel valley to ensure that the gold mine continued not just in servicing the city of los angeles but he actually championed and ensured that it served pasadena and the san gabriel valley and I think we were all forever grateful for those efforts in his championing championing specifically of the gold line through pasadena and beyond. And MR. Jones, you also had there so I have unfortunately to adjournments one is war air buswell. He was a fashion designer and founder of his namesake brand. He was born in culver city but he was raised in the city of pasadena after graduating from john mayer he went on to study at sea son or cal state northridge and he began his career working for united talent agency and william morris agency and he'd always dedicated his free time to the city of pasadena and to building a better community. And so I'd appreciate if the council adjourned in his honor and then unfortunately the other adjournment is MISS Arsala jay valentine. This is my aunt. She and my uncle made a significant contribution to the community of pasadena in starting the woods valentines mortuary. She was the vice PRESIDENT And the co-owner. She was a licensed funeral director, a life insurance agent. She moved to pasadena where she met fred valentine and together they purchased the james woods mortuary and they built the business that we know of today and it's still thriving. And then even after she retired, she went back to school and pursued a degree in writing ucla and she actually published a book of poetry and self published a book about her growing up in in mt. Olive. So you know, we really appreciate all the text messages and the flowers in the cards we received. So I had asked the council to adjourn in her honor to thank you and of course we're sorry for your family's loss and I specifically want to point out MISS Valentine is your aunt's and the family's effort in the 1920s the valentine family to work to on the campaign the first african-american council member candidate to the passing the city council and it was in the nineteen it was in 1929 and you know the individual who ran was not only the first candidate for city council but the for one of the first african-american attorneys in the city of passing and almost won the election became very close and it was because of the efforts of the valentine family and specifically our zealous family that that made that possible. So we will adjourn in memory of these three individuals who contributed to our city and some would say MR. Jones whose family continues to contribute to this city. so with that actually everyone should do so with that will move on to public comment for matters not on the agenda in two minutes, alderman denham followed by joan chen followed by aaron villa the villa carna by kyle hazen. MR. Denham, if you hear your name please make your way to the front of the room. Ok, I greet everybody with a special greeting as always but I come here to proclaim we we know this is the anniversary the fourth year of the murder of anthony. This is the month that he was killed him four years ago and I've been confronting the city since then. I hadn't ever before there but it's been a call for me. Nothing has been done yet. The justice still has it happened and I'm still here standing up trying to find justice. I want to put I put the truth on the table and you know, I must say this I like each and every one of you, especially the ones of you I met. But I'm ashamed of all of you. I'm ashamed of all of you because you haven't done anything. You know, if you've looked at this case, you know, there was an injustice done. This young man was shot in the back running. There's the first black person he's been murdered or lynched in this country unjustly. We see that all the time. We see him two weeks ago when a cop shot young lady in the face because she rebuked him in the name of jesus. will I come in here representing him trying to put the truth on the table here I'm ashamed of pasadena because we had an opportunity to step ahead in this game, this fight against police abuse and systemic racism that's within that police department, within police force period. We had an opportunity to step ahead of the rest of this country in this race and you guys just walked over I came to you and fought with you or not what you confronted you for two years before I found out you guys don't even have the power to fire a cop that I'm ashamed of that you should be ashamed of yourselves. We were running this city and we don't even have the power to get someone we know is a negative person walking around our streets. Good is a shame. And I came you confronted you about getting the power and this is where the charter change came about. We've talked about charter change which you guys as the the charter change with all other issues about the charter change and you have not addressed the issue of giving yourself the power to get people off our streets so we no need to be off the streets. MR. Dimon, you don't see me out of my three minutes three minutes a very small for me to try to get a train of thought. Two minutes, MR. We know here there has been inherent wrongdoing in police departments, especially in passenger. I can name several things. we need to have a way for you to have the power to get them off our streets when the people want them off. Thank you mr de morphologies. Thank you MR. CHAIRMAN for your time. Joan chen, MISS Chen, welcome to MR. Mayor. MR. City manager and uh COUNCILMAN Jones and the council I was here three months ago to present to you that robinson need, um, maintenance and improvement um attention and care. I think it has been progressing with the work which uh I noticed because I walk around so I appreciate that and of course we are next door neighbor so we appreciate that a lot. Um, I am here today is my concern uh on the parking lot of robinson park on the fair oaks side entrance to the south parking lot, uh, the people congregate housing is progressing very the number is increasing is that if people just sit there and get gather congregate but now has become they have their beddings and what they're and if you go past by 6:00 A.M. You can see that people sleeping on the sidewalk sometimes across the sidewalk when the staff come and MR. MAY have to walk. I think that should be part of that on shoot because there are other important matters about that area. So I just want to come and ask for a attention. Uh, we need to work on that. Thank you so thank you and MR. Jones, I know you organized the walk for the neighbors. i know because I was there I was invited so and we did walk the neighborhood. You have an update, MR. Jones? Yeah. So you know, we've worked with the city manager and his team that we've developed the task force we have out there to three weeks ago offering services and if miguel could elaborate on the status update of what's going on in the south parking lot, we're continuing. Thank you, council member jones for the question we're continuing to work in an inter-departmental way both on the enforcement side having both police and our parking enforcement team up together. Also public works is looking at appropriately putting in other security measures and public works also has put on extra patrols or I don't know about patrols but extra service to clean out trash and whatnot. I did get a call this weekend on saturday evening that there was more people congregating. I did call the police chief and he sent someone out to take a look. I think by the time they got there it was fairly cleared out. But that's not to say they didn't come folks didn't come back later. But we'll keep an eye on it again. Enforcement public works, trash pickup, et cetera and we'll keep at it and provide the updates as necessary. Thank you. When we were out there one of the things that was noted is the increase in the wattage for the lights out in that south parking lot and so I would ask that we we look at that ok, uh, the next two speakers are virtual aaron miller kind of by kyle hazen. MR. O'connor. Yep. Go ahead. Yeah, two minutes. Thank you very much. Good evening. My name is aaron buchanan. I serve on the board of directors for the police officers association. I would like to extend my gratitude to the passing the city council for granting me the opportunity to briefly address the current state of the testing of police departments. Pasadena is a city with high expectations for its police department and rightly so. We pride ourselves on being well trained with specialized training and programs designed to meet the unique needs of our community. However, our department is currently facing significant challenges although we are budgeted for two hundred and thirty five sworn officers, we currently have two hundred and twenty two to seventeen of those on injury leave leaving us with just two hundred and five active officers. Alarmingly for the first time two decades of active force MAY fall below two hundred officers within the next three months. Twenty twenty one we have lost approximately seventeen sworn officers to other agencies seven of those within the last four months. currently several officers are actively seeking employment elsewhere or already in the background check process with other agencies. It should be noted that neighboring police departments offer more competitive benefit packages and higher hourly wages in pasadena these benefit packages are meant to retain their officers and attract new and lateral officers as well as are also required to work every roly-poly that that's twenty five weekends at a fifty two years the condition of our equipment has deteriorated rapidly due to the city's late retirement process which delays the acquisition of essential items such as vehicles for our fleet. This causes our personnel to look at cities where equipment purchases aren't an issue. We respectfully request that the passing of city council carefully consider these challenges and take corrective measures to ensure that our department remains strong and fully capable of serving this great city now and in the future. Thank you for your time and attention. Thank you. And kyle hazen, MR. Hayes and welcome MR. Mason. Are you there? Star six on mute. Ok, there we go. Good evening counsel. My name is kyle azin. I'm on the board of directors for the passionate police officers association. I would also like to briefly comment on the current status in the police department. Passion is one of the few departments with civilian oversight. While oversight is often viewed as a positive measure, it can become a deterrent when the disclosure when excuse me when the discourse from the oversight committee is perceived as hurtful, inflammatory or even dangerous ,this level of scrutiny drives officers to seek employment with agencies that do not subject their every action and intention to such intense examination, scrutiny and bias. For example, in 2023 the fact that the police department conducted over fourteen thousand six hundred and seventeen traffic stops resulting in zero instances of force being used. These same stops led to the recovery of thirty nine firearms. Additionally, approximately one hundred and eight thousand incidents were generated during that same year with force being used in less than one percent of these cases despite these positive outcomes, the cpc continues to criticize and undermine the department which contributes to the departure of personnel from our ranks. The cdc was created to build trust between the community and the police department. Yet several members do the exact opposite dividing the community and seeding distrust towards the passing a police department. Thank you very much for your time and consideration. thank you. And that includes public comment on matters not on the agenda. Ok, next we'll move to the consent calenders the motion on the consent calendar. I'm still item six and seven. I said a few quick questions. Ok, let's let's move the remainder of the consent calendar before we do that. Is that a motion to move it? Ok, I'll second set by MR. Massouda. Any objections holding back items six and seven to consent calenders approval move back to item six mr jones. Thanks mayor and I just wanted to know how did we determine two years of stockpiling was adequate? Do we have space for three years or four years and then also do you think that with the two years are we adequately prepared for an emergency such as an earthquake and then I'll just give you all my questions that one and then also the you know, are we stockpiling water chemical treatments? Are we also stockpiling utility poles? Yes. At the end of the day I just want to make sure that we are prepared in case of a emergency . Thank you, councilor jones. David reyes, interim general manager for water and power. I would like to take some of those questions but I also want to introduce for the first time mr mr abedian as our permanent agm for power distribution and he'll supplying some of the technical answers here. i wanted to share a couple of things. One is the contract in front of you for item six we did go out for a request for bids and we asked for a multiyear contract and this is for the submersible underground transformers. We didn't get any responses then so we followed up with some vendors and basically they said look, given the supply chain issues we can do a smaller response for you guys but we can't do the multiyear and so what we've done is worked with them and did basically another rfp for a shorter time period and that's what's in front of you this evening. It would result in about 400 transformers and what we think is based on our capital needs in terms of projects that the council's approved, it's about one hundred and seventy transformers which leaves over two hundred for maintenance and for emergencies. And so we think this is definitely adequate. We would come back in one year and we try again to ensure that we stay ahead of the curve and as far as water goes, I wanted to share that the chemicals on site to treat the water they are regulated, they're hazardous materials and there's a certain amount that we can store on site. We're about 85 to to 90 percent of our allowed limit. So we are at at the at the outer limits of what we can actually store on site. We feel good in the event of emergency. I think as most of you know we're aaa rated as a utility which is the highest rating that any utility can have. We received a platinum rating for reliability recently in the last couple of months. So we're really excited about that. But I do want to let mr mr vedi and maybe comment on anything that I missed in terms of emergencies or stockpiling them . So david switch sorry professor. So we're stockpiling for just two years right and every year we'll continue to order switches. We have about three years so we're doing our best to see what's out on the market. We also want to be responsible in two areas one the storage of those we have limited space at the yards but also in terms of payment so we could stockpile for ten years theoretically but we wouldn't be able to pay for it. It's on the ratepayers that we'd have to pass that along to. So we balance the ratepayers in terms of what they are paying for materials as well as the ability to store those materials. We think that two years is about the right time frame if there's a big emergency, a catastrophic emergency, all bets are off and we do our very best to make sure that we have the reliability that the community's come to deserve. Mr ian. Yes. Congratulations and welcome. Thank you. it's good to be here. I appreciate it. So just to add to what mr rees said so the two years how we came up with the two years is basically the lead time that we are seeing are transformers and that's how we adjusted with the two year basically elementary level that we need as far as power poles that you mentioned, we have enough for about eight months worth of power poles and that is fine because the lead time for power poles is about six, seven months and we order every four months. And as for distribution switches yet that you mentioned we are weak right now. We have two years worth of switches and the lead time for switches is not that long. It's about a year. So we're doing fine there to the only one right now is the underground transformers. Thank you. Ok, thank you. It's good to hear that we're we're playing ahead good good information for residents to have as well. You know the the earthquake we the series of earthquakes have reminded us that we should be prepared for any and all emergencies and so I think the same questions that mr jones of asked and the q mr jones for raising those could be asked of other departments what material might be necessary to ensure that city operations continue in the event of an emergency that causes us to to to not have the supply that we need available to us so having it stored would be very helpful. Thank and in the event of a emergency are we developing a plan to ensure that we know which households have life saving medical devices? Yes, and we'll probably be bringing a report to msi in the next two months. What we try to do right now is really just encourage anybody who has a life saving device to register online with us and we have a pretty good foothold of of who needs that kind of life saving support. We don't have a 100 percent just yet but we're working towards is the ability to send an automatic text message and then for them to be able to reach back out to the department and so we can send out a generator or whatever that needs might be, we're not quite there yet but we do have probably and it's hard to tell exactly but we think about 80 percent of all the life saving devices that are needed that are in the city, they're registered with us online. So that's a good first step and we can bring forward that plan to mse in OCTOBER. Could that be a bill insert as well or absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. I'll move to approve items six and seven commendation second. Ok, great. Six and seven. Yes two for one. Ok, any objections for the approval of six and seven. Those matters are seen on those matters approved and next we are going to move to item thirteen a little bit out of order but I think there's significant interest in this matter. mr clark. Oh I'm sorry mr city manager. One of you somebody somebody do somebody do something. MR. City manager. Thank you mayor and phyllis halliwell from public works will be making this presentation happy to answer any questions after the presentation? Ok, good evening. Honorable mayor and council members tonight I'm here to present the mac and jackie robinson family home memorial and historical marker project said this project has come forward at the request of the late council member john kennedy. He requested that staff develop a more visible memorial at the site of the robinson family home where jack mac and jackie grew up to develop this project staff consulted with various community stakeholders and members of the robinson family. This project, as we're presenting it tonight was presented to the public at the northwest commission and was well received on MAY 14th and JULY 9th of this year. So what you have before you on the screen is an example of the current marker. It is embedded in the pavement and as you can see on the left hand side is what the marker looks like which says jackie and mac robinson resided with their family at the site from nineteen twenty two to nineteen forty six. The current marker is between the sidewalk and the curb and the picture on the right is one twenty three peper street. the red circle is the marker so as you can see it's not very visible to somebody who doesn't know it's there. If you drive by you wouldn't be able to tell. So the current project the proposed project is a three sided raised memorial with with three metal plaques on the left hand side you see the plaque if you're standing on the street looking towards the house, we're going to paint the curb red so there's a no parking zone and right in front of the memorial we will be expanding the concrete and then installing the pole with three plaques which will form a triangle. The first plaque which was written by the family is to honor the matriarch MRS. Robinson and all five of her children edgar frank mack, william and jack the second switch from the back of the triangle one will be historical information on mack and jackie robinson and the third is a picture and a quote from each mack and jackie that was selected by the family. So today I'd like to invite up caprice jones who is here. She is the granddaughter of mack robinson and she will be reading the family poem which will be on the plaque the first plaque. MISS Jones, welcome. Thank you so much. Hello, COUNCILMAN And city council mayor and city council. First of all, I'm going to say please forgive me I left my glasses at home so bear with me. We've got plenty of them here. she's oh perfect. Thank you. I was trying to use my phone all right. At this very site once the house of the robinson family, a house formerly mcgriff robinson courageously sought refuge after leaving carroll, georgia a haven for herself and her five children uncle frank, uncle edgar, my grandfather mac ,william and uncle jack to not only exist in a country staying with violent racism towards black americans but to thrive you need a house where MRS. Robinson nurtured a sense of identity and empowerment in her children, imparting the belief that ownership was their birthright despite living in a time that denied this to black americans a house where a faith ,resilience and love were the cornerstone values but also were critical lessons of self-defense, fearlessness and unwavering demand for respect from others residing in a house whose porch became a space in this family, stories were told an unforgettable memories created shaping a legacy of strength and unity for generations to come a house where the robinson family took up space but also a home where they could flourish made this plaque stand as a testament to the home. MRS. Robinson crafted a place where the robinson family simply say we belong. Thank you. Thank you, MISS Jones. Thank you very much. I really want to thank caprice and dennis robinson. They really helped to take this project to the finish line. So thank you very much. I want to point out on the plaque is a picture of the house that stood at one twenty one pepper street. This is this will be on the plaque also so that people can see what the house look like. The house unfortunately was torn down in 1970 and that's the project as it's going forward. So this the estimated timeline. So tonight we're here at city council. After tonight we will order the plaques and the plaques take about eight to ten weeks to arrive. So we're hoping to start construction on NOVEMBER 11th with a completing on NOVEMBER 25th right before thanksgiving and we'll be having a ribbon cutting sometimes probably right after the holidays. Any questions? I think we have public comment then we can let's hear from the public and then we can come back to questions or comments from members. And mayor, if I MAY bring to harvey williams, assistant city manager this item is actually being brought for information only. Ok, but we did very much want because of the high community interest wanted to bring it to the council. Good point. Ok, go ahead MR. Clark. First speaker is rose robinson followed by a derice doxie, then lateefah doxy, then carice lee and then qio jamaal. Ok. Your name rose rose sorry so odera dearest c latifiya doxey are you here odorous. Anybody coming here. Name please. Oh dear s are you here. Yep he's coming ok might be easier to make up bring it to the microphone ok I really need one second one second you gotta to flip it on testing sir is your name address. Yes ok odas oh this ok all that's in the q it I came here to find out what we're going to do about jackie robinson's home and where he grew up what kind of honourary they were going to put in front of this house and because I asked someone where he lived and they said he lived on peper so they gave me the address and I rode up and down peper for about half hour and couldn't find a pa. So I'm hoping that whatever you decide to do that you do it with class and does don't put anything that's not classy because jackie and his brother were to classy people. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Uh, have latifa. Yes. Hi. I'm latifiya doxie here. Hello to everyone. I know some of the people in the room but I just wanted to make sure that the because what I'm seeing is not really honoring the the family that I knew and people are looking going who are they? But I happen to be mac was one of my my new teachers are not teacher but new people that helped us grow up. And john murai school that hurt each other. He was always there and he he always like to talk. I knew him personally because my my uncle lived with his son was killed so we knew him we knew kenny robinson very well. That was mackeson. So just to just to think about what his legacy was about and what he wanted to do. I mean he wanted to do more than he was allowed to do and I know that I'm not telling the family anything they don't they don't know about but just to let everyone know I've seen other plaques and I want to I want to encourage you to make sure like my husband said, that it's classy that people will be proud of it and that we can see it from more than one place because it's pretty small. What I saw and I almost stepped on it in fact I think I did by accident. But but anyway there are other places that have been doing doing renovation projects and so I'm just, you know, hoping that we do the classic like what we had with them because we don't we don't want to put up anything just you know, has too much too much riffraff in it. We want to make sure it's a nice project. Thank you. Is karris lee here? Did you want to speak now you can come to the podium. Come on. Hi again. So um I'm not sure when I got on board with this project this was the maybe about six months ago I got on board with this project and I got on board because we're talking about my family. There are people that know of my uncle jack, my grandfather but this is my family and so I felt as if let me go ahead and stand for my family and get on board with this project. And what I can say is it has been enjoyable. We have not clash at all. Everyone works very well with each other. We are in total agreement with the black the three sides the family approve of the writing, the plaque, how everything is going. I just want to come here and say thank you all for taking the time to to acknowledge my grandfather and my uncle because you didn't have to you could have just said the plaque is there. We did something but I appreciate you all going that extra mile to want to make it even more grand. So I just want to say thank you on behalf of the family. Thank you. Akiyo jamal MR. Jamal. He's coming forward. Welcome two minutes. Go ahead. First of all let me again introduce myself to you. I first introduced myself to you four and a half years ago. I came here and I spoke to you about this plaque and at that time as I remember very clearly everybody seemed to be very much in favor of doing something right away at that time I was told to speak to the council person of that district was john kennedy. I met with john and his liaison susanna portus the next day and I asked if they could pass out what I had written and I have to say that this was written before I came here. This was something we were working on this three or four months before I came in in FEBRUARY of twenty twenty that we came and said this is it and I want you to read and I want to go over it and I'll explain why I know you've given us the time limit. I'll try to squeeze it in as much as I can. Well it's a real time limit right. I understand this came up initially when jackie passed away when jackie passed away the city this council here not to refuse to do anything for jackie. They didn't do anything for mac either when he came back from the olympics. The only thing that I understand it was animosity within the communities and the community. The city council refused to do anything in 1972 and jackie passed one of the first people to come down here to speak to you about that was MRS. Ruby magnate williams. She came down and said what you you have to do something and the council continue to do nothing. One of your council members way back at that time his name was born during and he played baseball with jackie at the pieces here at that time pasadena junior college. and when he heard about he kept on that you have to do something when he was a he left here and he became the city the L.A. Supervisor for district five and the first thing he did when he got up there in nineteen sixty four jackie was still alive. Sir, your your time well a I know it's difficult for this story and not the time but listen what I'm saying is that we came here then I'm going to give you the same thing I said then turn this thing around. It's upside down and raise it up to a 45 degree angle so people can read it. It's very important that the young young people can see I understand they got a poll they want to put it on. That's that's not good. You need to have it so that young people walking up and down the street can see this is where in this community where you live these individuals lived here. They walk the streets here. We went to the parks and all of that is what you read there and what you read there is nothing what happens between 1922 and 1940 excuse me. My family, by the way, was raised with the robinsons, my family that means my mother and all that family even though I'm eighty I'm young compared to what they so what I'm saying is that that is still the same thing I'm asking for today. Nothing has changed. Raise it up so people can see it and as I say, bring it to the level that pasadena is known for class you know, first class and that's what I'm asking. I pass that around so you can read and see no one. You can't get that off the internet that right there is I just want to clarify so your request is or your suggestion I should say is that it be higher law law, ok, it should be on the border that ourselves and the property owners stated long time ago in twenty twenty we went over this we went outside they said no I don't want high profile this thing on a pole in front of their house. Think it's tacky to be honest. Thank you. And so that's the difference that we're looking for the next campaign against any of the robinsons matter of fact I think we're all on the same side, sir. Ok, thank you. I appreciate your comments and your your your your point. You clearly made the point that you're asking for it to be law. Thank you. Yes. Thank you. Rose robinson, MISS Robinson, welcome. Good to see you. Thank you. Mayor. Thank you all. It's a little emotional because I'm a long time the kennedy family and myself the families where we're family mayor you did come and speak at my mom's service. Thank you. Three years ago I'm coming and thank everyone so I haven't been been to a meeting in a while so I just want to piggyback my niece there basically so no one I'm max youngest daughter. So number two, I want to say that when I see his name in print and when I remember daddy writing his name it was always matthew mack in parentheses robinson so if that can be corrected possibly going down the line because that's proper and that's how he signed his name. That's what's on my birth certificate and we're just in favor of the plaque so nobody has to do anything no matter baseball, football, whatever. So I thank you for the consideration of something being put it down for uncle jackie. I don't know who this person is . He never visited our house. I have no idea so no one speaks for the robinson family but a robinson do a dna blood test robinson period. So we approve because we need to go on. There's other things yes. There was injustice done. We're past that. We need to move forward. So I'm just in favor. I used to come to city council meetings with daddy. He dragged me all over the place and I just want to say thank you because it's hard. It's hard. We're not arguing anymore about color. We're not arguing anymore about race. We're not arguing anymore. It's done. We've had we're having earthquakes. So let's focus on just you know, for our children to know history. Not only do they can they look at it plaque but put the you know, their texting down and read a book research. But just thank you for your consideration. I back my niece we the robinson family approves I'm child I'm daughter number nine dennis kids again. Thank you. It means a lot that you were there for our family and continue to be I want to honor john as well because john did kick off this in the beginning . So I do want to remember him. He was my friend three years older than me elementary junior high high school. So it's emotional as well because I don't like to hear when people just come up and just you know, it's in the past that's why it's called past. Let's put something nice. We approve it and let's move forward because I want christmas. I think that completes public comment on this item. Let me just say I had the great pleasure of as you know, knowing your mother it was an honor to to speak to her services and very classy lady and especially kind she was very kind to my kids when my kids were very young. And so I do think it's appropriate for you to come and express the views of the robinson family, your family. So thank MR. Jones. Thanks, mayor. And I appreciate MR. Jamal and his enthusiasm in his public comment. I also appreciate the robinson family being involved in this important endeavor and MISS Kennedy as well. And you know, I just wanted to go back to what MR. Jamal said . I think steve's watching cnn or something. MR. Jamal said the botox concept is that fda approved our public works department recommended this pedestal because it is it does comply with ada. It's at the right height a wheelchair could pull up and still be able to read it whereas the boulder had some some obstructions that they couldn't figure out a way to engineer around. Thank you. And also MISS Brenda harvey williams. We appreciate that you know something is finally going to get done so I appreciate your work on this. Thanks for thank you. I think the the ada issue is one that is important and I just want to understand so the boulder concept having it law was there a problem that that presented your having we do have public works from the back and can come out and answer this question. Oh he's here. Oh sorry sorry. Good evening. Council on mayor hey milbourne public works engineering. Yes there is an issue with the height requirement for the text on the plaque it needs to be at least 40 inches above finished ground. so therefore we were going to put a boulder it would have to be about five and a half feet tall. So that's why we went with the plaque design. Ok, ok, questions comments from members of the council. You know, I think you know this is one it's the right thing to do. My only regret is the home is no longer there. I mean, you know, to see that beautiful plaque with the home so we can envision it is absolutely the right thing to do and you know, it's important to point out that we you know, we can't correct what's happened in the past but certainly modern day councils, city councils have taken action to recognize the robinson family and mack and jackie and their great contributions not just to pasadena but to the country in the world and not just in sports but on the issue of civil rights and humanity. And we have a beautiful piece in front of city hall and when we took actions to bring a statue of jackie robinson and commemorate the robinson family in front of the rose bowl, we picked the you know, front and center right in front of the rose and that was the only place and the most appropriate place to recognize really the robinson family's contributions. And so when we went for that first statute it had to be joe jackie robinson and they had to be the robinson name that was there. You back robinson I think we all agree is right there with jackie and what's important is the robinson name and so I think this plaque certainly reminds us of the contributions right in front of robinson home and so I understand the ada issue is not something that we can step around so to speak and have to recognize MR. Madison in. I totally concur and I was going to mention the the rose bowl statue as well which we're very proud of and obviously other landmarks around town. But this is totally appropriate too. I mean you can't have too much pride in the robinson family if you have in pasadena I would make a friendly suggestion that we check those policies that we always seem to talk about when we have any sort of memento or naming rights or what have you. I know staff was looking those and we want to make sure that we're being totally consistent with those. And also I just quickly looked at some photos that I had of some of the plaques that we've cited during my time recently on the council. PRESIDENT Obama, for example, has a plaque that john kennedy and I were very involved in in in commemorating down on glenarm where he lived for a time in 1980 and 81. We have bogarde courtyard downstairs. There are others it looked to me like the plaques themselves all maybe are crafted by the same artisans or what have you and I think it would be a good thing if it's a city of pasadena plaque that that that had have the same look and feel so that as people move around town I'm not talking about the content. I totally defer to the to the family on that but just the look and feel of the plaque itself and the bogarde plaque downstairs is on up on a rod or a pedestal if you will, so that it's easily viewed by all and children can see it and I don't think there's an ada issue there. I mean it's not you don't have to look up, you know, so but I look forward I don't know if this will come back to the council ultimately it looks like it will or perhaps not. I don't know what is the expectation of staff on that? Again, this was an information only item. It does adhere to our monument policy because of the high interest in it. We did want to present it to council before it moves forward. So will it come back? Pardon? No. Ok, and is that I can see that's kind of what I'm talking about there on the the look and feel and I don't know if that was used just to as a placeholder on the visual there. Is that what we expect it will look like? Yes. This is what we expect it to look like and we did model it after the one that's in the courtyard and we are we will have the same look and feel it . Looking at that though, there could be an ada issue with that because it's pretty high up. So again, I defer to the family and the staff and all who've worked so hard on it. I think the the ada issue as I understand it is access and so being able to move to to it to it being here the plaque in a wheelchair and having it at eye level with the person in the wheelchair. And so I think that's what the issues that needed to be solved were in having a below eye level would not conform to that is my my understanding was the boulder would impede access for those who have walkers in wheelchairs, et cetera. That's what I believe. That's correct. And that's why we're adding we're also widening the concrete pad so that there's enough room to maneuver around so they can see see the monument from all angles and it is visible from and it is great that will be that that they go that's MR. Jones. Yeah. It's a quick question. I went out there on saturday and I talked to the residents and they were told from someone from the city that there is going to be a light over the monument. I don't think that's necessary but we actually are not doing that was an earlier version of the project. Some discussion had happened early, early along but there the goal is not to let this up at night. It's we did check the lighting on the street and there is a sufficient lighting so that for safety reasons but there's but we're not lighting the monument. Ok, thank you. You know, I wanted to also point out and give a shout out to the current residents of the of the home of the in the property who you know, not not everyone wants to invite the public onto their street and in front of their home. So I like to say thank you to the residents not just of that property but in and around the neighborhood for being willing to to work with us recognize the robinson family's contributions to pasadena and beyond by giving up their parkway. Yes. And and make in allowing the space for this commemoration of the robinson family. So with that anything else and MR. Jamal, thank you for bringing us to us. A few years ago I do recall when you came forward and I know that you envision something different but I think on balance the result is is a good one. So is there emotion? Oh no, there's no emotion. This is for information and this will be coming back to us in the future. Ok, thank you. Moving on to items twelve and eleven there. Ok, item twelve and as we start that item I just report out that the city clerk's office received thirteen letters in support of the rboc recommendation to get delegate the the making of findings to temporarily increase the number of displays been events within the central royo to the rboc board and were approved the proposed operating agreement between the city and rboc two letters and returns with the proposed changes the operating agreement between the rboc in the city specifically related to payment for cost of water limitations on how water is used or managed, new jurisdictions and neighborhood relations and one letter expressing concerns with the city delegating the required findings to the rboc board and the number of soccer games to be hosted by the rose bowl. All those letters sixteen in total have been distributed to the council are part of the record for this item and been posted online. Marriage is a point of order are we here in 11 and 12 together? No, no. Well first twelfth ok because you described a letter that spoke about number eleven, right? A lot of them were a lot of the letters were together cross over. Thank you also MR. Chatelaine. Yes, sir. Welcome back. I always a pleasure to be here, sir. This room should look familiar to you. Yeah, it looks good. I see the earthquake retrofit did its job. Yeah yeah yeah yeah. We fix the pipe. You got the pipe right. But everything else you got I don't need to be concerned way back when yeah this is the floor answer. Yes ok you're on the members of the city council city manager senior staff steve katelin, PRESIDENT Of the rose bowl operating company here tonight to speak on behalf and in support of the two recommendations that are before you and MR. Or is it okay if I my comments refer to both items shoura well, one set of comments by the two that we would appreciate that actually before I do so I'd like to acknowledge phil hockey who is not here with us. He's traveling he served as chair of the ad hoc committee. It developed these recommendations also want to acknowledge those who served on the ad hoc committee in addition to phil hockey, patty tavaris who was here with us tonight, michael hurley, rafael henderson and myself. I want to acknowledge the efforts of the rboc staff and putting this together was a multi-year process. Also recognize miguel and nick rodriguez for their efforts on behalf of the city and the negotiations of coming up with these agreements and any rboc board members that are here. I understand aaron has joined us regarding the recommendation to renew the operating agreement. We feel this is a case of don't fix what's working the rboc model has served the community well. The change to an evergreen agreement allows for changes if and when necessary and not at some predetermined time five years ten years from now we feel that the success of the rboc over the last 30 plus years is justification to renew the agreement as you consider the recommendation to delegate approval of up to 25 events through DECEMBER 2003, I ask that you have the following facts in mind first twenty to 25 events is a critical piece of the rboc recent financial success and the rboc ability to pay the bond at thus protecting the city's general fund. It was just three years ago and then city manager steve marmol forecast forecast that the general fund making bond payments of up to seven million dollars a year annually. What changed among other things ,was the increase in the number of events that and company have been able to bring the rboc I bring to the rose bowl as documented in the staff report, it is clear that the rboc ability to pay the bond debt and to continue to reinvest in the assets. The golf course and the stadium is dependent on the ability to count on the revenue generated by hosting up to 25 events on an annual basis. Second, and perhaps most relevant to the recommendation that is before you approve of the recommendation gives the rboc the necessary tool to act quickly and with flexibility to succeed in bringing these events to the rose bowl stadium in a very competitive los angeles market. Also approval enables the rose bowl operating company to develop longer term relationships with concert promoters soccer match promoters and etc. The longer term relationships creates more stability at the rboc which I think benefits all. Lastly, the rose bowl operating company has demonstrated the ability to manage and host 20 to 25 events a year as we have done so for the last three years and asking for approval. We are asking you to operate as we have done for the last three years. Thank you for your consideration. I want to thank vice mayor madison. He serves as your representative on the rboc too was influential in helping to put these together and MR. Madison, is there anything you'd like to add to those comments? I thought you were trying to convince us to vote against MR. Madison. MAY I? Mayor? Thank you very much. And I would really be brief and just echo what steve and really expressed gratitude to steve and aaron. I'm here from the board and patty and a number of the staff people perhaps jim jones will introduce them. But if you really think back to just you know, three or four years ago as was mentioned, there were serious concerns about the the the bowl and the rboc and it's all bowl operations and then we went through covid and yet darrell dunn retired. Jones took his place. He's got a fabulous team. The the 3d I think we're calling them derek doolittle the chief operating officer dominick correy who recently has come on to work on public relations community relations and deden rosarno with the legacy foundation, the private partnership that raises tens of millions of dollars to support the effort. You know, so you know, I'm a big one for making sure that the rules are being complied with and that the conduct conforms to the rules. And the truth is we've had this the fifteen limited I'm speaking a little bit about eleven now but you know we all think it makes eminent sense and from the the mission standpoint of the rose bowl it makes sense to grant to the rboc the authority to to have up to twenty five events so that they can go out and find those events. It's a very, very competitive marketplace in southern california for those and you know we've got a big one out in front of us though and that's the olympic games that'll be here and in four years and we just saw you know in paris what a what a home run looks like and you know, we aim to do better than that. The staff report describes how we looked at a lot of things and there are things that aren't even on this list and it's probably a good thing that they're not because you know, they might sort of curl your hair if you read it. But the committee and the board really followed the mandate of you know, be honest brokers for what you think the path to success is. And then in this process that steve just described, we've really narrowed them down to just a handful fairly modest proposals in the operating agreement that will allow jenns and his team and the rboc under the stewardship and oversight always of this council we can always come back to this council and reconsider anything that we've done or tweak it. But this is really the best model mayor for for future continued success at the rose bowl and at the rboc. So with that if we could hear from jenns and his presentation then I know you'll want to have an opportunity for council to win. Thank you gents. Yep. Thank you mayor. Thank you. Council vice mayor as illustrated I'm going to make michelle very happy here. We're going to focus on these things separately. So first we're going to talk about our operating agreement and then the next item is our 25 events. So I'll go through a little bit of background on the operating agreement here. This item has gone through through edtech. We had two stops the last one most recently in MAY and we got some great feedback there that we've integrated and brought to this this group here background operating room was signed originally in 1995 for a twenty five year term. It was extended in twenty twenty for three years and then due to the pandemic another two year extension was was signed the rboc pointed to ad hoc committee in JULY 2003 as steve outlined mentioned that was led by phil hawkie. We were very lucky in that through the city manager's office and nick rodriguez and phil hockey we had people that had been around for the beginning of this operating room and so they were very helpful in framing what was thought of when the operating agreement was was was first written and what we found through this process is a lot a lot if not most of the elements of it are still working to this day. A lot of that has to do with flexibility, giving the organization as much flexibility as possible while still staying within the parameters of of all the city's requirements, whether it's purchasing or hiring or whatever it MAY be reporting publicly. But that flexibility really enabled that operating agreement to work over a period of close to 30 years where you talked about a lot of changes in our business in our industry and it's proven to work pretty well as mentioned, these are the members the ad hoc committee I do want to state that you know, this is you know, as you're an operating company we did want to make sure that this wasn't just a laundry list of things that your operating company is looking for. We wanted to make sure that we were looking out for the city's best interest because if this operating agreement looks out for the city's best interest, that's in the best interest of the operating company in the stadium and will result in the best results. So once again, nick rodriguez and city manager marquez we're very helpful and as we went through this to not turn this into a laundry list of things rboc would like we don't want to pay for this. We'd rather not have to do this more. So what's working? What could work a little bit better and as you'll see there's very few large scale changes for that reason numerous matters were considered but not carried forward. You know, we discussed rboc having the ability to set rates. We looked at third party management where the city could hire an outside third party and pay them a fee to to be their management company and then cover all expenses. We looked at expansion of jurisdiction for the rboc. We looked at limits on payments for services and even the creation of a conservancy district. These are all things that were looked at. We wanted to be thorough but were not recommended here are some key recommendations that were the following changes were term evergreen as you noted by the the history here that it is a 25 year agreement with a three year and then a two year out on one of the things that became clear was that this agreement has to work for both parties and and shouldn't have a termination date. We don't want it to have a termination date sometime in the future if this isn't working for the city, evergreen allows the city to call an rboc and we can talk about what might not be working and vice versa if the rboc is finding that the operating agreement is challenging, gives us the opportunity to go and deal with that at that time that's not in the middle of a long term agreement recognition of future capital. One of the things that became very clear xbox finances have improved is that we still have a huge mountain to climb when it comes to capital we all own a 100 plus year old building and it has massive capital needs. We as good stewards of this building need to acknowledge those while we can't afford every one of those capital needs, we need to understand what they are. So as you'll see, one of the recommendations is that the rboc annually come present not just that upcoming years capital needs but a long term capital needs assessment annually so that the city understands the capital needs or for its building. We talked about insurance. Insurance is something that all of us that own a business or work in the state right now know insurance. It's a very tough market and while we we rely on the city and worked closely with the city when it comes to insurance and risk management, we did want to include some language that allowed the rboc to lean on our outside third parties to see if they're in certain instances as an ability to go out and get insurance and coverage for a lower rate than maybe we would get through the city and then numerous minor but other important cleanup items a handful of other items that we discussed was allowing the city to appoint the rboc a managing agent for other city properties or facilities with separate written agreement. So to be clear here, this is not the rboc without the authority city council operating in other areas this would enable the city though if it found that there was a use or a reason the rboc could be an asset. The the our management company is one of the most respected in southern california. We are an event management company. We're a marketing company. We're an event execution company and those skills and assets are part of the city's skills and assets and so if there's an opportunity for us to help, some examples could include maybe down the road of eaton canyon golf course was available could the rboc help manage that property on behalf of the city? You know, we've no on behalf of the city for the county as as eaton canyon, as a county. It's both in the county and the city. We also talked about other events throughout town. so this is not a matter the rboc trying to operate all over town. This is this was discussed as as flexibility. Another was allowing rboc to sell off and auction personal property. So what's the best example for us is that our seats in the stadium in the east and west, our pick seats as we refer to them are getting close to end of life. What most buildings do when they take those seats out they are they're using four parts which we're doing right now while we're waiting on a large scale sea replacement but then they auction them out for their foundation or for other folks that are really interested in that and they use that those funds for their foundation. So what we've asked in the operating agreement is to allow the rboc so still have board approval at a public meeting the ability to do projects like that is another example to others that we discussed and these actually came up but at edtech one of them came up on on rates so we pay the city attorney's office seventy five thousand dollars a year for the use of their office. One of the things that was discussed getting updated on that was putting a cpi or maybe even just putting a mutually agreed upon number in case this agreement does work for many years, we want to make sure that we're still reimbursing the city there. And then one other note that I did want to bring up because I know there was a public comment with regard to the rboc paying for for services most notably water the rboc has and will continue to pay for all of our costs. There is some language about the city not charging the rboc costs above and beyond the cost of service. The reason that was that is in the air is to make sure that you know, the rboc isn't used as a profit center as we all know we have massive capital needs and challenges at the bowl and we didn't want to turn into a place where there might be something targeted at the rboc that would fund other activities but we pay our way. We are one of the largest users of water in the city. We're also have one of those highest water bills. Our team is very proud about cutting that bill over time we've done turf reduction and we've worked really hard with water and power to try and reduce our water use. But we pay our bills. We're a customer, we have an account rep and just like anyone else we pay those bills. So I wanted to be clear so there was no concern there that that is not anything that the rboc is looking to do. It was also asked at edtech to come with with a couple of maps that were asked to be put in to the operating agreement that they give everyone an idea of what the rose bowl is operating area is this next one I actually think is probably the best map. So as you see here, the first map is the rose bowl area on any given day it's really just the golf course are paved lots does not include areas where you soccer and other activities take place. But on event day we we get bigger. We utilize areas that historically have always been utilized by the rboc and as you can see th