Special City Council Meeting: February 4, 2021

Okay good evening everyone um this is a special meeting of the pasadana city council and the purpose and it's a single purpose meeting to accept uh applications um and interview potential candidates for the district 5 seat that's currently vacant I'd like to welcome everyone to the meeting and why don't we start with the roll call mr city club thank you mayor uh councilmember hampton blessed to be here happy to be alive councilmember kennedy here Councilman Madison here councilmember masuda here councilmember williams here vice mayor wilson here mayor gordo here there's a quorum of the council present I'm going to ask uh felicia williams to lead us in council member williams to lead us in the pledge of allegiance okay everybody stand face the east ready begin I pledge allegiance and justice for all so as I mentioned we have four candidates who have qualified to represent district five and and join us on the city council as the representative for district five I you know like to begin by briefly describing the process the four candidates are I guess sequestered the question is the right one the appropriate term sequestered in separate conference rooms so there there's no sound in any of the conference rooms um and so each will have an opportunity to give a six-minute presentation upon which members of the council are able to ask questions once that process is complete we then will have a council discussion at which point we'll elicit a motion and uh in a second for any given candidate you know this is uh those of us that have run for office understand that it takes a lot of guts and to hold yourself out as someone who wants to serve the public wants to serve not just an individual district but wants to serve all of the people of pasadena as a member of this illustrious body we're all very fortunate and honored to be members of the city council mr wilson mr masuda mr kennedy Miss Williams mr hampton and mr madison and so today we'll welcome a new colleague who is expressing well we'll welcome four candidates who are expressing a willingness to serve and make the commitment be a part of a body that while we each represent different parts of the city what we're really asking for is someone who is willing to serve all of the people of pasadena always keeping in mind specifically their district but really being a part of a decision-making body that makes difficult decisions on the part of all residents of the city and so we should applaud all of the candidates for their willingness to step forward be criticized be uh willing to make difficult decisions uh and present themselves to the residents of district five uh who might consider to be uh uh just you know I I I've had the good fortune of serving district five and I'll tell you uh I love all of the people of pasadena but the residents of district five uh have always been and always will have a special place with me and my family and I'm a resident there and so I'm also going to help find someone who I know will represent all of the people of the district well and so I I thank all of you my colleagues for your willingness to uh participate in this process and I applaud all of the candidates for their willingness to to step up and all of the residents also who have uh sent in communications and made their feelings known so with that um why don't we go ahead uh mr mr city clerk and I'll look to you for to continue thank you mayor so uh we held a uh random drawing uh to to determine the order of the candidates uh presenting and uh the order uh when after we uh finish with public comments uh we'll start uh uh with jessica rivas followed by michael warner followed by martha shankenberg and finally followed by patrick amsby amsbree so with that I would report to the council that we received a number as the council knows because we delivered them today a hard copy we we received a number of letters and correspondence on behalf of applicants and then sort in in alphabetical order just to announce those letters received uh 44 letters were received on behalf of patrick amsbury 11 of those were from district 5 residents uh and 16 of those were from uh pasadena residents there were some that we weren't able to determine so there might be more pasadena residents on behalf of jessica rivas 33 letters of support were received 13 of which were received from district 5 residents and 10 were of pasadena residents in other districts uh and then on behalf of martha shankenberg there were 12 letters received three of which were from district 5 residents we did receive one letter of general comments in support of uh the council appointing a woman to the district five vacancy uh that was received from beverly morgan sandoz um on behalf of the commission of stat on the status of women uh and with that we have uh eight comments uh to read aloud uh and I will start that uh from david koher pasadena I am writing to support pat amsbury as others will detail in their comments pat has been active in pasadena for many years active donor active parent and active volunteer I write instead to support pat for his wise counsel perhaps lost in the discussion this evening is the need for doing the job of being a council member which as you know is about more than being an active community member it requires one to weigh difficult choices and make tough decisions sometimes unpopular ones for the benefit of the community I have had the opportunity to work with pat and benefit from his wise counsel he considered considered all the sides of the problem including some that I had not considered he weighed the pros and the cons and then he just he provided guidance of the most reasonable path forward this foreshadows pat's success as a council member when I do disagree with the council I at least know that our council members have made their decisions for the right reasons that is what I have seen from pat amsbury and expect from him in his service should you select pat as your colleague for district five thank you from ruth calichmann pasadena I'm writing in support of patrick amsbury for city council pat's heart work ethic and passion for our city make him the ideal candidate and I appreciate his deep commitment to public service pat's 25 years of success in both the corporate world and as a local business owner and entrepreneur provide him with the tools and experience to solve the problems our city faces and his commitment to inclusion equality civility and common sense solutions is exactly what pasadena needs at this time from dr alicia gonzalez pasadena I write on behalf of pat amsbury who has applied for the open district five city council position I have known pat for at least 18 years with witnessing now how he and his family have played an important role in leading efforts for our community his compassion and caring has shown brightly in his volunteerism benefiting children in our neighborhood schools needing reading materials and mentors his voluntary policing his volunteer work at the rose bowl and many more activities for which I feel that his leadership is much needed and will greatly enhance our community and our city council I believe pat would be a representative for all as he has proven through the years that he is fair non-judgmental and an ardent advocate for our residents the environment our safety and our beautiful city from lisa beaugard pasadena I've known pat and his lovely wife kate for over 10 years I've been privileged to be a part of several events both social and philanthropic where pat held a prominent role in organizing and running pat is an extremely thoughtful intelligent kind and generous man who puts his all into everything he involves himself in he has an amazingly fun and dynamic personality everyone who knows him loves him but pat is involved when pat when pat is involved you can be sure that things will run smoothly and seamlessly pat's dedication and energy seems endless and his passion and good-hearted nature is contagious pat and kate are both incredible human beings I am confident that pat will be a cherished member of the capacity of city council I am excited excited to see what amazing goals he will achieve from sonia alar pasadena I'm commenting in favor of pat ambsbury we've been neighbors with with the ansbury's amesbury since 2003. You couldn't ask for better ones pat is completely invested in making things better for pasadena he's been volunteering since he moved here with the aquatic center madison elementary pasadena police department and many other local institutions the amsburies have been our go-to neighbors if you need a recommendation for anything for your for your kid from a tutor to a piano teacher to a basketball coach you go to them because they know everyone and can and care deeply about their community especially the children in the community pat is generous with his business expertise his humor and his time he's dedicated to helping young people he's an example here's an example we have a friend of my son staying with us during covid since his college isn't open he's a first generation immigrant with parents from egypt and syria he's majoring in politics he and pat met briefly when pat stopped by pat found out his interest in politics and has since been sharing with him ways to get involved in local politics basically mentoring this kid he met once that's who pat is we couldn't get a better representative from alma juarez pasadena I've had the pleasure to work with pat ambry to support students and families of district 5. He is an advocate of educational equity and volunteers his time to work passionately for families and students of various socioeconomic backgrounds through his volunteering work he has developed great relationships with the residents and students and students have had the materials and support to be able to succeed from peter panel or pannell altadina this letter is in support of pat amsbury I peter panel and the panel family including dr william panel fuller theological seminary endorsed pat as he seeks to become a member of the pasadena city council we've known pat amsbury for the past three decades and in particular the pat of pasadena he has been an a vital member in public education safety and the wellness of pasadena in general and then the final public comment is from dr katie clark chair national women's political caucus greater pasadena area on behalf of the national women's political caucus greater pasadena area I strongly urge you to appoint jessica rivas this evening you've read our argument in favor of her appointment and you've you've received no shortage of personal endorsements and testimonials on her behalf so what I will add tonight is a question which applicant will bring a voice to the council that isn't already represented there's no question that the answer is jessica rivas from her professional background in public service to her outstanding personal qualities and life experiences she would bring a perspective to the council that is long overdue to be heard valued and considered you're called on to make a lot of tough choices but this is an easy one appointing jessica rivas will make the council better and it will make pasadena better thank you and that completes the public comment on this item uh with that mayor uh I will have the staff bring forward jessica rivas to start the interviews um great and and just for for the record there are uh how many total public comments that we did not read um in favor and support of all of the candidates and and all a total number um 89 and all of those are now posted and available all the public comments all the correspondence uh there were a number of public comments where they chose no so it was they were not read aloud and those were included in the correspondence so that's part of the 89 and all of that was posted online and is available of to the public great okay so we'll take uh maya yes ms williams uh I did want to disclose that um I've known jessica rivas for the past couple of years mostly through her community work and her volunteering she did volunteer a little bit on my city council campaign in 2019 a couple of weeks ago she reached out to talk about the council office after consulting with the city attorney my district liaison and I met with jess via zoom and we strictly discussed the logistics of the office and my experience in the office the good the bad and the ugly mostly good and um and so I wanted to disclose that but I don't feel that I have a bias here against or for any of the candidates that I'm willing to listen and make an important decision thank you great so let me can we I just Miss Rivas do you mind just stepping out for one second while we're just sorry I want to give anyone else an opportunity to respond and in the interest of uh of disclosure I I know all four candidates myself and all live within us you know a few blocks of my home uh all four have volunteered my city council campaigns and my most recent campaign from here um and I called all four of them as a part of this process to thank them for making their names known and for stepping up and willingness to to uh serve and wish them all luck uh in the process so I I don't think communicating with any of them is uh is an issue these are you know neighbors and friends of all of ours that we've come across in different in different roles as we move about and they move about throughout our city okay unless there's anything else yes mr madison if I could just a quick comment um not on the topic of uh you know communications or relationships but one thing I noticed that ms rivas is a deputy county council I assume that she's you know ready willing and able to serve but I wondered if we had confirmed on the city side that a member of that law office who represents the county is you know that they are permitted to serve in uh appointed or elected office at the local level this is michelle bonarise and when I did notice uh her occupation I did a little checking and there is actually an attorney general's opinion that suggests that it would not be a conflict for someone at her level in uh the county council's office to also serve on the city council there May be instances that May require some type of abstention or something like that but generally speaking it would not preclude her participation on the council and do we know in her case I mean does do we know for a fact that the county council does not have a policy or rule prohibiting that kind of service by members of their office again I don't know okay with the format of tonight is there a way for us to to confirm that while we're in the meeting well they can you can you can ask the candidate well I I can't because I was told only ask her one question that's pre-approved we can why don't we ask each of the uh I can ask each of the candidates uh you know you've you've cleared all you know conflicts with your work and your willingness yeah I can just ask in general all of the candidates I think that might be helpful to ask okay I appreciate that mayor and then the second thing is um she's also I don't know also a major in in the uh army reserve and we have a marine base in pasadena so I don't know if that [Music] May be a conflict with a small c but uh the uh the other thing I wanted to mention mayor if you already said it I apologize but we are not imposing any restriction on the appointed council member for standing for election at the next uh regular municipal election as I understand correct that's correct uh that that's an item that we took on early or an issue that we discussed early on and decided as as a group that we would not impose that condition and and I don't know frankly that we couldn't impose such a condition um as for and restrict someone from placing their name on the ballot no you could just ask them if they want to agree to that but but we agreed it's not enforceable thank you mayor I really appreciate it thank you thank you michelle so so mr city clerk with that I'll ask just make some brief remarks to each candidate and ask as we discuss with the council we're going to do the seven questions but if there was anything related to their background or any of their application material materials the council could ask a follow-up question so that falls in line with that why don't I just open it with welcome that's you that sounds fine okay okay I'm gonna get mystery great Miss Rivas well welcome sorry for the delay to procedurally um sorry we were just trying to wrap up some procedural questions and welcome and you know I've said to the public and to the council that it takes a lot of guts to be willing to serve and make the sacrifice to serve not only districts the members of district 5 residents of district 5 but the city as a whole and be a part of a decision-making body that looks out for the interest of the entire city and it's presumed that you've checked with your employer and there are no conflicts of interest there's in or policies that would keep you from serving in the role of a member of the city council in pasadena right I've checked on my end I've done my own research and also it's since it's directly on point the deputy uh I'm sorry the california department of justice attorney general's office has specifically looked into the issue of whether a deputy county council can serve as a city council member and found that there's no conflict and we're asking this of everyone who's coming before us there are no restrictions internally with with your employer that would prohibit you from uh yeah I've checked out things online okay great um with that uh we'll we'll commence the process we're going to ask each a few questions the city clerk has covered the process with you and I'll turn it over to the city clerk to begin the process yes and now you have uh six minutes to make a presentation on your background in qualifications and then the council will then in turn start asking questions so your six minutes is starting now all right good evening mayor gordo council members staff and of course all of our neighbors watching at home my name is jess rivas and I want to start by thanking you for the opportunity to share a little bit about myself I'm also also that I'm incredibly humbled and honored just to be considered to potentially fill this vacancy now six minutes isn't a whole lot of time so I want to get straight to it and I just want to share two things with you tonight the first is why I'm interested in the position and the second is why I would be the best candidate to fill it so honestly I never saw myself doing this sort of thing um I definitely never planned or I was definitely not someone who always planned to run for office um but about four years ago I like many people across the country became dismayed uh at the things we saw coming out of washington and we decided to become more active participants in our in our democracy for me that meant coming to council meetings it meant joining a commission and it also meant getting more involved with my neighborhood association now as I did all those things what I realized is that where the rubber really meets the road in our democracy is right here in these council chambers and I've been impressed by the bold and direct action that this body has taken to improve the lives of pasadena's over the past several years from establishing a small business relief fund to expanding our motel voucher program for our unhoused neighbors to establishing a police commission just to name a few I want to serve to join you in solving the big problems that both my district and the city as a whole face now over the past several months people have asked me you know jess are you sure you really want to do this right now given the magnitude of the challenges that we face and they often use more colorful language giving how exciting and the past year and a half has been the past year so it's been um and I always say absolutely I if anything it only motivates me more I am ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work now as for why I'm the best candidate there's several points I want to make the first is that I'm a public servant I've dedicated my career to public service and I've spent my entire career thus far in the public sector I've served as a deputy attorney general the state of california I've served as the deputy county council the county of los angeles I have served as an officer and a judge advocate in the army reserve and I've also served the city on city commissions first the commission on the status of women for three years two of which were as vice chair and currently on the northwest commission so in short it's my calling to serve the greater good the second point I want to make is related but distinct from the first and that's that uh as someone who has so much experience in government at the local state and federal levels I understand or rather I will be an effective advocate for my district uh and a helpful colleague to the council right off the bat I understand the day-to-day functions of government I understand the different roles of council versus staff I understand the broader political statutory and regulatory context that the council or and the city as a whole finds itself in and finally I think it's important that our governing bodies reflect uh the people that they represent and ideally this governing body would reflect the rich diversity of our city as a working mother with a small child I will add an important perspective to the council my family like many others is working hard to build and keep a life here and I understand the challenges that young families have faced or faced and especially have faced this past year I know what it's like to weigh the different child care options while trying to keep my family and everyone else around us safe I know what it's like to be exhausted at end of each day but still have a glimmer of hope that we are one day closer to getting back to normal and one day closer to my daughter being able to see her grandparents without masks for the first time since she was about two months old. Additionally, as someone who comes from a family of immigrants, I understand the tremendous leap of faith that people make when they leave everything they've ever known behind and come here just based hope they'll be able to make a better life for themselves and their families. I understand the courage and hard work it takes to come here and go to life from nothing where you don't know anyone, where you don't know the language. I will bring all of my life experiences in addition to my credentials to the table to the council to help us solve the big challenges that both my district and the city as a whole face. So with that thank you again for the opportunity to share a little bit about myself and I look forward to your questions . Thank you, Ms. Rivas. We'll begin with the questions from the city council beginning with the council member committee. Yes to the application you May have already taken a whack at this but it's my question to the uniform to all of the candidates why do you want to be appointed to the city council and the additional question is what do you feel you will bring to the position ? Sure. Yeah, I think I've kind of discussed this but just speaking more broadly I really just feel called to step up and serve when our city isn't so much need. I mean we are in a in a crisis ,you know, not just us but everyone and I feel compelled to step up and help in whatever way I can and I think I bring a lot to the table as I've laid out with my government government experience, I will be able to step right into this role and be able to correspond with members of the council and staff and I really won't need a lot of time to get used to the lingo and the different processes and procedures. I'll be able to step right into the role. Thank you. Next question is from vice mayor wilson mistreated. How are you? Thank you for joining us tonight. My question is about what your vision is for this city the past 10 years and now what does a city look like and why really a question about aspirations the city? I think operationally we have to look at what challenges we face and for sure, you know, hopefully 10 years from now we are well over covid so we can set it aside. But beyond that I think the big challenge that we face is affordable housing and homelessness. So as for that, I would hope we have greatly increased our affordable housing stock through a number of methods which I guess I can go into here through potentially using our excuse me housing ordinance by potentially looking to build either on city property, potentially on working with our our neighbors and churches and the school district potentially built there in terms of homelessness in addition to expanding affordable housing which is just one part the equation we also need to and increase our I'm sorry permanent supportive housing. So I would hope 10 years from now we've made great strides in addressing those two big issues of affordable housing and in housing our house neighbors. And the last point I would make us to that is that I think it's the council has made a good step recently in rejoining the san gabriel association. I think gabriel valley association of governments because these are broad regional problems that that we alone cannot solve and that we will need to work with our partners to figure out and hopefully made a big, big inroads on those problems 10 years from now. Thank you very much. Next question is from Councilman People council member hempton council member. Hempton, I really love your take on the on the page that everybody is. Thank you, Mr. Brewster. Serving as mayor. I'm sorry I can't remember anything good. Ok, on call your candidate riva's but I like that. What do you see as our biggest challenges facing pasadena in the coming year? I know you kind of touched on the last question but you know, maybe you could just dove deeper into it. Sure. In the next year in the immediate future for sure. The biggest problem that the city is going to face operationally as a public entity is our budget as we deal with the economic fallout and shock of covid I understand that in the past 10 months, however long covid has been going on, we have lost already 31 million in revenue which is roughly 10 percent of our general fund which is a huge hit. In addition, we've expended about 26 million in our response which is another big chunk that we weren't anticipating spending and which we hope to be reimbursed by the federal government at some point. But you know, that remains to be seen when or if that will happen. So thankfully we were in a good fiscal position coming into the pandemic in part due to madurai and just the good governance of the council and staff leading up to the pandemic. But if we don't if things don't get better soon, that's for sure going to be that the the big problem in the next coming fiscal years. Thank you, Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Next question is from council member massouda. May I call you jessica? Sure. For just you know, just I have a question and it's about possible and so is have you attended and or participated in any civic meetings and if so which ones and describe your participation as a commissioner? I've attended of course all the commission meetings I've that my commissions have held prior to covid I did attend a number of council meetings but I would not be able to tell you off the top of my head which ones without looking at my calendar . So yeah. Does that answer your question ? Have you participated in any of those those meetings? That's that's what that's what I was talking about like the submitting the public comment or something to that effect. Yeah. Something I not that comes to mind I May have submitted a public comment at at least one of them but I don't I don't recall specifically. Ok, thank you so much. Thank you. Next question is from council member bederson. Thank you mayor and thank you Miss Reba's not just for your your comments tonight but also for your interest in this position. You're to be commended for that and you certainly have a stellar resume. You know, I was sort of observing myself you've got you know, federal, state and local experience which is certainly invaluable. And my question is, you know, I recently heard an interview of a prominent governor and he said that, you know, we spend 90 percent of our time on what spurger in public life and only 10 percent what's really important. So I want to ask you what do you think is really important for the city of pasadena right now? And I would ask you to to name the three most important things . Sure. So again, I think you're kind of getting at the fact that the urgent thing in front of us is covid and are getting through covid and are getting into recovery. But beyond that I think the three most important things are those things that have always kind of been lingering there in the background and we're always trying to address but we still haven't quite made as much progress as we want to which are affordable housing and homelessness. Additionally, I think the other thing that the council has been addressing and has made great inroads already but it's still working process is standing up our police commission which is going to be a very important task. That's something that our city will have for years and years to come. So it's really important that we get that right. So be very eager and very honored to have a role in shaping that and so it can be the best commission it can be to make our police department the best department that it can. Thank you you and next question is from council member williams . Hello. Good evening to my question have to do with being personal conflicts and doing what's best for the city. So give an example of how you would resolve a situation where your personal philosophy is odds with what is best for the city. I like to think those would never be in conflict but if they were I think the important thing to do is to listen to our constituents, to staff as well because they've done a lot of the legwork in researching many of the issues and they are the subject matter matter experts in many things. So ultimately I think it comes down to really listening very closely to what everyone has to say and using you using that as a guide, whatever what everyone is hoping you know, sorry, strike that. Let me rephrase. Just listening to everyone and hopefully being able to reach consensus and find a place that I am also comfortable as well. So I think that's going to be a big factor if I ever did find myself in that situation. Well thank you and finally I know some of these questions this week was somewhat repetitive because they you know, it's it's hard to to point questions that are that don't involve your view of how the city should operating. But let me ask a question a little bit differently. So name some of the concerns of yours that base district by and or the city of pasadena. We sort of covered that ground but maybe you can talk a little bit about district five in the city in general. Yes, I would say that the top three concerns for district five are of course immediately or in the immediate future and present right now is covid. It is a threat to our health. It's a threat to our ability to make a livelihood and it's a threat to our ability to keep a roof over our heads. And then beyond that there's always affordable housing homelessness which have been exacerbated by the pandemic and finally the big issue I think in our district in particular in the northwest more broadly is the recent uptick in violence, especially in and around our parks. It has been terrifying for lack of a better word, especially right now during the pandemic when there's so little we can do for recreation other than go for walks and go to our parks. And right now our parks don't feel like a very safe place. So I know that's the forefront of everyone's mind in this district but thank you. The complete city council member questions for Mr. So we will thank Mr. Davis and then we'll bring up michael werner. Ok, so let's revisit this again. Thank you. It takes a lot of guts again to stand before the council on your willingness to serve is noted among my colleagues in the public. Thank you very much for being willing to put your name out and stand before us and importantly willing to be a part of a body that makes decisions that are always in the best interest of the residents. Absolutely. Thank you. So next we're expecting michael werner. Yeah, I have a quick question. You May see us in the chambers . Yes. Just so they can see oh, I'm waving bye bye. I like to go to we see the screens are on and then there's a flat screen at the podium going to take effect. Thank you for your patience everyone here because the candidates are in separate part city hall in conference rooms it takes a little bit longer . Mr welcome. Thank you mayor. We it's a long hike. It's it's so let me let me just begin by thanking you for your willingness to stand before us. I was saying to my colleagues and to the candidate before you that it takes a lot of guts and dedication to serve but also willingness to stand before members of the city council and the community in general not just residents of district five and be willing to be sometimes criticized or questioned about your views. And so we applaud you and we applaud all four candidates for your willingness to come here today and expressed an interest to serve as a member of a body that tries and works hard to make sure your body makes decisions, make decisions in the best interests of the city. So with that each member you'll get six minutes and to make your opening remarks in the city explain. Oh, thank you. We did have we're asking a question of all the candidates you cleared any potential conflicts on your end and again we're asking this of all of the candidates either with employers or former employers or although conflict no conflicts there the two conflicts that I would have if I was selected I've already made up my mind to resign from and that would be the code commission and sister city's committee. Ok, I knew that if I had to remain in the positions that I am there would be a conflict I'm not sure but I'm just guessing as much. But I made up my mind already to resign for them if I'm not selected and if I'm not the selected then it's up to whoever is the selected whether I remain on the commission or not as you well know. So yeah, as long as we're just asking all the candidates but I'm retired so I have no employers to worry about. Ok, great thank you and again thank you for your willingness to stand here and and present your four six minute presentation as to why you are the candidate to fill the district vacancy that each member of the council asked a question that's been asked of that will be asked of understood. So let me know when you're ready. So you have six minutes to make your initial remarks starting now. Ok, thank you. My name is michael worner. I am asking for you to select me for the city pasadena's council district number five I am a native of pasadena married to karen, my wife of 50 years with two children karola and michael the second four grandchildren three great grandchildren. My wife is a legal immigrant still with a green card which gives me some understanding of immigrant issues. I started my involvement in the pasadena community in nineteen sixty two when I attended pasadena city college. I have lived in my current residence since nineteen seventy one a nineteen fourteen bungalow in the bungalow heaven the first historic district impassive organized in nineteen eighty nine by the bungalow seven neighborhood association. I've served as a docent in the historic homes tour. I've also served several times in the heritage tours my first time considering being a candidate for the city council was when steve akre was elected john crawley took me to lunch and back then and gave me some help in directions that I should consider following joe heckmann was a strong mentor when I was vice chair and she was chair of pasadena's sister city's committee. I've been involved in many community activities. The centennial celebration in June nineteen eighty nine I volunteered with mayor bogarde when he was a candidate to be our first elected mayor with chris holden when he is a candidate for the assembly district many times for victor gordo who is a candidate for district five city council and his candidacy for the mayor of pasadena, I volunteered to bring food boxes to city hall for others to hand out to those in need this past year I've enhanced my community involvement which I believe has added insight and knowledge and appreciation for the community and our city council. I know that the city is not just the council as individuals. It is the collective group. It takes each person doing their part to make it work. All of the council members, the mayor, the city manager, the city clerk and our city attorney. Good. Michelle. I lost my place. The council members are not just individuals but they work together to bring the city to cohesive direction. I worked on this homeless issue in pasadena on the bad weather shelter. Many people in the community are upset because we're not doing the bad weather shelter the way we have in the past. I was involved for several years doing a small part to help this year. The this past year the trinity church was offering the use of the fellowship room to shelter the women. So several of the church members were involved in the planning for this year's bad weather shelter did not happen and it's not all about money or vouchers for wounds. The pandemic has brought so many other issues for all of us that it is impossible to solve them all. This is somewhat simplistic. However it caused me to reflect on our food bank and how I do my part in the group by ordering, picking up, setting up and helping out to hand out and to do it alone is impossible to be involved with others is important. Same with my military time. I was part of the mini which each one of us doing our individual part the people I know in district five are satisfied with the manner in that they are going to support a district five for many years he was our council person. I expect to maintain the same methodology I decided to try for this position when victor gordon announced he was going to be candidate for mayor idea that if he was elected that I would try out and having no idea who is going to be here not even knowing who the council members would be. When I received the forms from mark in December I still had no idea who would be here when we arrived today I did not realize until after I looked at the names from the community that the endorsements that I got from for this opportunity over half were spanish surnames because they are friends. I have known them for years and they are very willing to endorsement. Rose pekoe is one that when I asked her she told me that when she heard the position was open she thought of me and encouraged me to continue my effort. Part of why I'm here tonight when I was young I was raised by a single mother with two sisters and a grandmother. They taught me to be independent and to always respect a woman's viewpoint. I always have the area and el sarino where we live was an opportunity to deliver newspapers, mow lawns and do other handywork to earn money. My mother barely earned enough to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table no matter what. The extras weren't there. I even purchased some of my own clothing at times for schools to help her out. I was the oldest so I had to do a lot of the food shopping, cooking and cleaning to help. It helped me when I went to college to be on my own earning a living, going to school and knowing how to survive. We all learn how to study for an exam how we live our lives, how to be part of the city council person and how to be a good citizen. My time in the military also provided me with a lot of focus which brings me to a point I feel is important we as a collective society spend society spend too much effort on trying to be different. I feel we should look more at why we are similar. I'm out of time. We will dress different and different genders and some have different colors of skin even talk a little different. However, the most important part is that we are similar homosapiens wanting to be closed, sheltered and fed. I will leave my last paragraph for our council members. Council member williams council member massouda council member kennedy council member excuse me. Hi hampton council member madison and our vice mayor andy wilson and of course our mayor sitting in front of me. Good to be here. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Ward for your comments and your presentation. And again we'll go we'll give each member of the council an opportunity to ask you question. All these questions have been asked of each candidate and we'll start with councilor kennedy. Good evening. Why do you want to be appointed to the city council? What do you believe you will bring to the position we know mike, that you've already shared some ideas. Please elaborate a little deeper. The question is why do I want to be here sometimes I've asked myself that as I've been been made this journey in the past few months and mayor gado smiling I feel at my involvement in the community of pasadena and in district five that I have lived in since nineteen seventy one. It's always been the same district. The district boundaries change but the district itself has been the same. The people there, the people that I know the area, what we've done, what the city has done in that area I feel is important and I feel that I want to continue in that endeavor. I'm not here to make big changes. I'm here to get along and see that our district district five continues to be a vibrant part of the city of pasadena that I will leave. Does that answer your question? One council member kennedy yes . But if you wanted to share anything more the second part of the question was what do you feel you will bring to the position and I'll leave it up to you if you're finished on that. Primarily what I've reflected on is that I believe that I will bring a willingness to to serve the community and be part of the group. I have watched a lot of our city council meetings on television and I'm honestly impressed by the way the city council generally gets along and comes to a cohesive determination as to what is best for the city as a whole and I feel that that is important. I'm not looking to make any earthshaking changes. I would like to see district five which is what I'm here to represent continue in the same manner that it has in the past. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Kennedy. The next question is from council member wilson. Hi, mike. Welcome. Thanks for your interest. Thanks. Mayor wilson. So thanks for joining us. Mike. My question is about what your vision is for the city of pasadena ten years into the future, what does the city look like and why? A bit of an aspirational view of where you think the city could go that is probably the most involved question that you could ask vice mayor. The city in the years that I have been I'm a native but I didn't live here my entire life . I've lived here mostly since 1960 to which is is longer than a lot of you have been here but that's beside the point. I've seen a lot of changes and I know that we're going to have more changes looking down the road ten years or even twenty years it's I don't have the crystal ball that I would like to have the path that we have been on the path it will continue with good guidance from the city council is the important part. I can't say where I see the city. I know that we have a lot of issues out there as a city as a whole. I have talked to the people in my district and the district for the most part probably lake avenue you not any redevelopment there is probably the biggest issue for the people in my particular area but the whole district, the whole city has other issues homelessness we'd like to have some magic solution for that. I don't think it quite exists. The city council has tried to provide vouchers for those homeless people in the bad weather days and that is definitely a help. But how do we solve all these problems? How do we make the city better for ten years down the road? I don't have the answer. I would like to be part of the discussion and hopefully part of the solution. But in all honesty I don't have the answers at this time. Thank you. My thank thank you very much. Next is council member hampton. Oh hey look at that the water. Good evening. You always show your evening. It's good to see you. I look exactly like my picture. I tell you that all the time I was I have a question for you candidate warner. What do you see the biggest challenges facing cassidy in the coming year? Well, one part is pretty easy. This virus we've been dealing with for the past year is still going to be with us for this year and possibly even into next year. So I would have to say that that's the biggest issue the next biggest issue in my observation is our homeless population. I deal with it somewhat on a personal basis at our church. People love to camp there we have our food bank which hands out food to homeless people but dealing with it on the citywide level is is going to be a major task that's been addressed many times in the council. It's addressed by many people in the community. Nobody has a specific answer. It's something that's difficult to get our arms around. It's something that we have to deal with and treat with respect and dignity and still try to come up with a solution that will help the problem. I don't have an answer for the problem but again I'd like to be, you know, involved in that discussion and do what I can as I have in the past to make it better. I mentioned in my remarks that last year I brought food boxes that we picked up at the food food bank to the city hall because the city council reps were handing them out to people in the community that needed additional food and it's one of the ways that we can help our community but it's not the only answer that's been given. Does that answer your thank yes. Thank you. Next question is from council member massouda my. Good evening. Council member massouda. Good to see you. Even if it is I can michael I'm referring to pasadena. Have you attended and or participated in any civic meetings and if so which ones and describe your participation ? Ok, well there's a lot of a lot of civic meetings that I've been involved. A lot of them deal with the church that I'm involved in because of our homeless participation, because of our the bad weather shelter, because of our food banks. But I've also participated in sister cities activities that I feel are a big part of pasadena's continuing involvement in the community. It's a community that reaches across international barriers but yet we are all delegates of that community. We are part of pasadena. I've been to several community meetings that have been held none have been specifically come to mind where we talk about different issues I've been involved in a candidate's campaign for office when I'm racking my brain right now but I'm always willing to step out and hear another point of view which is a lot of the community meetings are expounding a point of view. We had a meeting the other day what should have I see the cat there, felecia? What should have been a twenty minute meeting ended up an hour and a half meeting and unfortunately many of our community meetings end up that way. So I can't give you any more specifics than that if you want more specifics, let me know. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Next question from a council member madison. Good evening. Thank you, mayor. Thank you, michael, for applying and for all that you've done for the city. You're no stranger to this council chambers and I have very positive feelings and recollections about all the great work that you've done. Thank you. Thank you very much. I I've mentioned that I recently heard an interview of a prominent governor and he made what I thought was a very interesting point which was that in public life you often find yourself spending 90 percent of your time on what's spurger and only 10 percent on what's really important. And so I wanted to ask you if you could give us three top sort of priorities for the city. What do you think is the most important presently for the city of pasadena? Well, I in one respect I've already mentioned at least two of the top priorities that I see for the city of pasadena and that is the virus getting the people vaccinated, getting the information out there, keeping people safe from one another as well as the community as a whole. The homeless issue that we have, the people that are in need of more than the city alone can provide and hopefully agencies are taking care of that number three on that on that list for me is a little tougher one what to bring to the forefront but pasadena does a lot in respect to the overall community of around pasadena, the state of california and even the nation as a whole. We have a lot of people that are involved in a lot of things. I was asked early on in this that how I felt about the new green deal. Pasadena does a lot with the vehicles that we have out there that are electric. There's a lot of people talking about all electric cars twenty thirty five by 2040. I'm not sure that's going to work. But keeping that thought in mind in the things that we do as we go forward I feel is important because I myself and I know you drive a tesla I didn't buy a tesla but I did buy a plug in hybrid that is working very well prior to it I had a hydrogen fuel cell that was just immensely working well it's one of the things that overall that people are talking about. It's not an issue that pasadena can directly affect but we can have an influence on some of these aspects that keep pasadena in the in the forefront and to me that is important probably important enough to probably make it number three on my list is that the things that pasadena does and keep us thinking about those things as we go forward. How does that answer your question? Thank you, michael. I appreciate it very much. You're welcome. Mr. Thank you, Mr. Wilson. Next council member michael, good to see you. Good to see you. The question that I have is give an example of how you would resolve a situation where your personal philosophy is at odds with maybe what is best for the city. Giving you an example is probably pretty tough because well, no it's not in one respect. As I said in my remarks, I feel I feel that more similarity that we all represent is more important than we give credence to and many times the aspects of the community is always trying to take us one way or take another way and that May be the direction that the group wants to go and I can go along with it but it's not the way I feel individually I feel that we should be concentrating more on how we're together and bringing us together rather than trying to divide us and make us all I mean we're all individuals and we're all somewhat different but collectively we're part of the whole we're part of the city of pasadena. We're part of the city council. We're part of the community of southern california. We're part of california as a whole. And that's the part that I think that at times I feel we need to concentrate more on and these divisional ideas I just I'm not always sure that that's the best way to go but I can go along as I say and as most of us say majority rules if that's the way the majority wants to go, then I will go along with it. But it May not be the way that I personally feel individually . Does that help you and help you on sister denise or until enforcement have you had to deal with this or maybe the other commissioners or committee members felt a different way from how you felt personally sister cities? Yes, there's a couple of places there I could cite one idea that I brought to sister cities many, many, many years ago. People turned it down and I felt disappointed. But then a few years later other people came up with the same idea and oh it wasn't so bad after all the code commission is is a very good example. Our ordinance that was initiated by mayor gordo, the deemed approved ordinance dog issues, animal issues are always decisive but the deemed approved ordinance was one that some of the commissioners wanted to go a little stronger than some of the other commissioners. I didn't believe that that was the best interest but that was the way we went initially and then it was turned down the last last month we had a case at the code commission where we were dealing with dogs unfortune lee the animals are the one that suffer the ones that really should have been penalized were the owners for not taking care of business. But I felt for the animals but I was the group went another way and so I have to go along with the group and those are probably the best examples that I can give. Does that help? Yes. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. Councilman Williams just wondered if some of these questions May sound repetitive but so I want to ask a little bit different. You know, you talked about some of the concerns citywide but maybe you can tell us you know and you talked about some of the issues facing district five but maybe you can be more specific some some issues that you'd like to talk about that could face district five and or the city in general that maybe you haven't already talked about or delve deeper into. Yeah, I'm I'm I'm thinking all obviously district five had a couple of new avenues in the last couple of days but they're not anything that any of us can individually resolve. We had a fire on lake at a restaurant and we had a person doing in my opinion somewhat stupid things on at another restaurant. But those are issues in the district that the district has to be aware of at the moment I don't know of any major issues in the district that we really need to discuss but of course there's always something in the works there. We have a good field rep here that has her thumb on what's happening but that's why I look to tomago. I have to share this particularly with mayor gordo back in November December back in November when I knew margo wasn't going to be in her current position, I went to her and asked if I was selected for this position would she consider working with me here? And she resoundingly told me yes and then come to find out that mayor gordo appointed her as the fill in there was rather surprising and very, very pleasing to my personal viewpoint because we need we need good people in our district and we need people that know what's going on. I have listened some parts and read other parts to candidates that we have besides myself are all people that care about district five. They care about what's happening there and as you pointed out, we've all made the effort to step up and be here tonight and put ourselves on the line so that is good. I don't have any particular issues that I'm aware of at the moment but I'm always open. Thank you. And as has been mentioned, you have a record of serving the city and in district. We'd like to thank you for your willingness to step forward. You're willingness to stand before the full city council and also the residents district five in the city in general. And thank you for your willingness to give everyone choices and thank you for your comments. Thank you. Ok, we'll have you go back to the conference room now. We will bring up the next candidate martha schenkkan bird thank you. Put this thing back on. Yeah, she can bird well welcome. Thank you. I just want to first thank you for your willingness to stand before us and together with your fellow applicants give the people of district five and in the city council choices all four of you are our very well qualified and involved with on behalf of the council I'd like to thank you for your willingness. It takes a lot of guts to to put your name on the ballot or even in an application and say I I think I'm qualified and believe I should be given consideration. So on behalf of the council, the district and the staff, I thank you for your willingness to do that. I have one quick question that we're asking of all the candidates and all actually all of the questions by each council member are being asked uniformly all the candidates. But one question in terms of employment or potential conflicts of interest with the employer or any for that matter of course run those to ground and you're comfortable that there's nothing precludes you from fulfilling your duties as a member? Yes. I am ok with that you'll have a six minute an opportunity for six minutes to give an opening statement and then members of the city council will will you just question Mr. Mayor, Mr. Kinberg has a powerpoint presentation. We're going to bring that up and your six minutes starts now . Ok, see the right takes me ok. Thank you very much for this opportunity. Thank you all for your service to our great city. Like to start out with telling you a little bit about myself. I grew up in the midwest, moved to virginia, alexandria specific alexandria is a lot like pasadena. It's very historical. It has a very strong community presence. I lived there what's called it uba and was a nurse in richmond for many years and and after graduate school I moved to charlotte and then atlanta and then I moved to pasadena and once I came to pasadena my short term I was originally supposed to come for three months. I ended turning into more than twenty years but one of the times I was here once I got here I thought you know what, people need an easy way to get to know pasadena. So I wrote this book it's the pasadena insiders guide and it's no longer published but it's a very user friendly book on how to find things in pasadena. So it was got so I got to learn pasadena through that process. One of the items on my yelp one of the things I did when I was traveling here on work before I moved I actually got involved in the pasadena community. I with two other women started the starts tutoring program we're starting stars will be twenty five years old in September. It's on villa the hundred villa on lake villa in oakland. I worked my role in starting stars was to put together the infrastructure, put together the programs, put together volunteer training all the sort of things that made it sustainable to this day. Over the years hundreds of kids have gone to college. They've been positively impacted. They've been lifted poverty and fornication. I still volunteer with some of the programs one of the deepest and most meaningful experiences for me was with stars was being a mentor to catherine and araceli. Both of them lived right by the 99 cent store. They both when I met them were in junior high school could barely read now I encouraged them help them through high school they went to college. They're now homeowners. Their mothers have very successful careers and I'm sure you probably can't read their testimonials here but I got to really know them very, very well. I was like a mom to them tell you just to go to school in rotc things it was great. So anyway they're wonderful really taught me an appreciation for their culture and the struggles that they faced growing up in theory that they grew up in. So it's about that my community service continue continues on. I was in the inaugural class of leadership pasadena and I know that you all know all about leadership pasadena. It's a great experience for me . I learned a lot about pasadena. We got to sit he