I'm going to get the number one. Double of them? Yes. Good afternoon. Let's call this council meeting to order. It's done. There you go. Good afternoon. Let's call this council meeting to order. Good afternoon. We're going to call this council meeting to order. Sacramento City Council. Please call the roll. Councilmember Kaplan. Councilmember Dickinson. Vice Mayor Talamontas. Councillor Member Pluckybom. Councillor Member Maple. Mayor Pro Temgara. Councillor Member Jennings. Councillor Member Vang. Mayor McCarty. Obviously here. Councillor Vang, can you do the land acknowledgement? Absolutely. Please rise if you are able. To the original people of this land, the Nisanan people, the southern Maidu valley and plains Miwok, Putwin and Wintu peoples and the people of Walton, Rancheria, Sacraman who is only federally recognized tribe. May we acknowledge and honor the native people who came before us and still walk beside us today on these ancestral lands by choosing together today in the act of practice of acknowledgement and appreciation for sacrament who indigenous peoples, history, contributions, and lives. Thank you. Thank you. Please go ahead and apply to relations. But I think it's due to five United States America and two United Thank you. I saw in the dollar. I saw in the dollar. I saw in the dollar. I saw in the dollar. I saw in the dollar. I saw in the dollar. I saw in the dollar. I saw in the dollar. I saw in the dollar. I saw in the dollar. I saw in the dollar. I saw in the dollar. I saw in the dollar. I saw in the dollar. I saw in the dollar. I saw in the dollar. and Office of Innovation and Economic Development presentations on operational program, planning and deployment of strategic resources and budget. Presentation started. Thank you. Good afternoon, Mayor and members of the City Council. My name is Michael Jaso and I'm the Assistant City Manager for the Office of Innovation Economic Development, the Department of Convention and Cultural Services, and the Department of Community Development. I'm also the of the Office of Innovation and Economic Development. Today I'm joined by my leadership team that works daily to advance the Betterment for City. Joining me in presenting today are Denise Mulvetti, Deputy Director for the Office of Innovation and Economic Development, Tom Pace, Director of the Department of Community Development, and Megan Van Borges, Director of the Department of Convention and Cultural Services. Denise has worked in local government for over 20 years, most of that time spent in economic development and redevelopment. She joined the City of Sacramento in 2004 as an economic development program manager and subsequently advanced in the city ultimately being promoted into her current role as the Deputy Director of the Office of Innovation and Economic Development in 2022. Over her career at the city, Denise has led a number of economic development programs, projects, and initiatives. As a Sacramento native, Denise has always demonstrated her commitment to be part of the continued revitalization of her hometown, and I personally am immensely thankful for her hard work, creativity, and leadership. Following Denise will be the Department of Community Development headed by Tom Pace. Tom Pace has 28 years of experience in community development, current planning, long-range planning, housing policy, and community engagement. Previously, Tom was the planning director for Sacramento and deputy community development director for the city of Stockton prior to that. Tom's experience includes work in brownfields, reuse, rail yard redevelopment, transit oriented development, short term, home rental policies, flood risk management, infrastructure financing plans, and development impact fees. And finally, closing our presentation will be the department of convention and cultural services headed by Megan Van Vorhis. Megan joined the city management in 2020, bringing over two decades of public policy and advocacy in the arts and culture. Most immediately, prior to being named as Sacramento's Creative Economy Manager, Megan was the president and CEO of Arts Cleveland. In 2022, we were fortunate to be able to name Megan as the director of Convention and Cultural Services. Megan has and continues to demonstrate an unparalleled commitment to the city's cultural life as a vibrant, creative and equitable place for residents, visitors, and businesses alike. As we present OIED, CDD, and CCS today, I would like to stress the following themes. Collectively, they help shape the physical environment, our efforts to address the need for greater equity, provisioning of housing, the success of our businesses and the vibrancy of our city as truly unique, as a truly unique and indispensable jurisdiction within the Greater Sacramento region. This team believes that we as a city need to be intentional on growth in a manner that recognizes the imperative for all our communities to participate in that growth and the determination of the future of our city. Secondly, our work is done collaboratively with residences, businesses, institutional, governmental, and educational partners. Less visible is that invariably that work is done through a highly cooperative approach within our government. You will hear of many projects, excuse me, projects and programs that cross departmental boundaries. With that, I'd like to turn over to Denise. Thank you. Good afternoon, Mayor and members of the Council. As Michael said, I am Denise Malvedi with the city's office of innovation and economic development and I'm pleased to be here today to share with you the great work of this team over the past year. So I want to start by thanking the entire economic development team for their hard work in commitment to the community. And if you wouldn't mind several of more here so I'd like them to just stand up real So you you can see some of the faces that I know many of you interface with Absolute pleasure to work with this group so in OID we are committed to growing a strong Inclusive and vibrant, and we do that by working to retain, attract, and grow businesses and support our residents so that they can participate in the city's economic growth. In order to achieve that, we are organized in the following teams. Community investment, economic development, workforce development, nighttime economy, housing, and community engagement. In addition to the FTEs listed on the slide, there are four of us in the administration unit that works across the team to assist with operations and implementation of many of the projects and programs. So here's just a quick snapshot of OIED by the numbers. It is a small but Mighty team. There are 34 FTEs and our general fund annual operating budget is just over $6 million. Over the past five years, this small and mighty team has distributed approximately $200 million in loans and grants to approximately 2,000 businesses and organizations. Most of that funding has come through federal and state grants to the city. I am also proud to report that we have been awarded approximately 27 million in competitive grants and earmarks. This does not include cares or arpa or hat funding. These are funds that we have pursued to leverage other city investments. Oops. Uh-oh. Oh, boy. Oh, boy. Let's go back. OK, so we often talk about our work as organized around people, place, and business. So I will start with people because we are here to serve Sacramento residents and our residents are also the most important asset in today's knowledge-based economy. Figure out these arrows at some point. The community engagement team fosters inclusive civic engagement by striving to ensure that all residents and businesses are well informed about city matters, resources and opportunities, especially those that have been historically underserved. You'll see on this slide some of the many ways the team engages the community. Two related strategies that I would like to highlight are the recent hiring of the city's language access coordinator and our ethnic and cultural media contracts where we contract with entities like the observer, for the first time in the world. The world is the first time in the world. The first time in the world. The first time in the world. The first time in the world. The first time in the world. The first time in the world. The first time in the world. The first time in the world. The first time in the world. The Community Investor Program is a partnership with the Community Development Department as part of our neighborhood development action team. It is a language and cultural justice program that pays residents to establish and maintain relationships with culturally diverse and historically underrepresented populations to broaden the city's reach into community. Last month we launched the 2025 Ambassador Program and this group of 18 ambassadors speaks 21 different languages. In 2024 we also hosted our second city management academy with 42 participants from throughout the city. Another impactful program managed Bar Office, is the Financial Empowerment Center which provides free, professional one-on-one financial coaching for residents over 18 through our partner International Rescue Committee and a number of representatives are here today from the Financial Empowerment Center. Since the launch of the program in 2020, the FEC has assisted over 1,500 residents with various financial needs. A couple major accomplishments of the program are the reduction of client debt by over $3 million and increased savings of over 800,000. I would like to repeat that statistic about debt reduced by over $3 million. Imagine what a relief that is for so many residents that have been relieved of that burden. The success of the FEC has also opened doors to additional funding, including a city start grant that focuses on addressing racial wealth inequities and a small business boost grant that will help expand the FEC work to support small businesses. Another way that our office supports people is through our investments in the workforce development system. In order for our economy to grow, we must have a workforce that is prepared for the jobs of today and tomorrow. Our focus in 2024 was the Californians for All Program, which is a state-funded grant to support youth and young adult employment in public and nonprofit career pathways. We were able to support over 600 youth and young adults, including nearly 100 young people here in the city, in roles in public works, in Yipsey with both the Landscape and learning program and summer at City Hall, and in terms with IT and in council offices. I am thrilled to share that about two weeks ago we learned that the state intends to award us with another 3 million to support continued programming through 2026. So we'll be back to accept that grant soon. And a big thank you to Kevin Daniel, who's our workforce development manager. So in addition to working to align training and employer needs, we must also remove barriers that prevent our residents from entering the workforce. One such barrier is the cost and availability of child care. Sacramento invested 1.5 million of ARPA funding to support expanding child care opportunities, and we have since secured an additional 1.2 million of federal funding to continue this work. A key highlight in 2024 was the completion of our first early childhood education apprenticeship cohort in partnership with Los Rios and Pivot Sacramento who provides the wraparound services. Apprentices are simultaneously enrolled at Los Rios, which is funded by the city, and they are getting paid work experience in local childcare centers. This program assists our residents with their career advancement and also assists childcare centers by helping address their workforce shortage. I am pleased to share that nine people completed the first cohort and we currently have 17 enrolled in the second cohort. I will now transition to place. We focus on place because we want Sacramento to be the place where people want to live, work and play and it has been a big year for place-based initiatives and the next few slides show just a few of the highlights. 2025 kicked off with the unveiling of the letters at Taco Plaza. The rendering on the screen shows what this space on Northgate will be transformed into from a parking lot to a vibrant gathering space. Taco Plaza is a public-private place-making effort, a partnership of the city, the property owners, the Sacramento Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and the Gardnerland Northgate Neighborhood Association. And it is one of the many efforts underway as a part of a $2 million arpa contract awarded to the Hispanic Chamber to support businesses on Northgate. the city's investment in Taco Plaza has leveraged additional funding from the state and that funding will enable the vision of Taco Plaza that you see on the slide to be realized. I think it goes without saying that it's also been a very big year for the rail yards with the opening of the Wong Center, which is a senior affordable housing development, Council approval of a preliminary term sheet late last year for the soccer stadium, and just last week, many of us celebrated the groundbreaking of the New Kaiser Hospital. There is no doubt that the momentum will continue in the coming year with the opening of the AJ, which is a mixed income housing development, and the new courthouse and continued progress on the paint shop and the soccer stadium. There's also been a lot of activity on the old Sacramento waterfront. Over the past few years, economic development has worked closely with public works and convention and cultural services on a two-pronged recovery strategy for the old Sacramento waterfront. The first being clean, safe, and marketing activities, which include the installation of LED fixtures, police pod cameras, wayfinding signage, and kiosks, painting of the public markets, and a soon-to-launch old Sacramento Waterfront Marketing Campaign to attract locals and visitors to start an end-game day in the waterfront. The second component of the Waterfront Reinvestment Program came before Council in November of last year and consists of six projects that can be seen on this slide. In the coming months, you will see solicitations for two waterfront redevelopment opportunities, the start of construction on the children's play area that has been designed in collaboration with the Shingles Springs Band of Miwok Indians and Wilton Rancheria and repairs to the deck. These initiatives paired with the forthcoming boardwalk replacement, K-street, barge repair, and revitalization of public markets will be critical to increasing the number of visitors and bolstering the local economy. It is also a monumental year for Aggie Square as the new Innovation Center prepares to open. Aggie Square is where university, industry, and community meet to create opportunities, and it was made possible, in part, by the formation of a city EIFD. In addition to enhancing the built environment along Stockton Boulevard, the project also provides numerous community benefits, including over 120 million in regional subcontracts during construction, 93 apprentices from targeted surrounding zip codes, and 1,700 people that have been assisted with housing stabilization. In order to bring more public private partnerships and place-based initiatives to neighborhood commercial corridors, the neighborhood development action team was established in 2019 as a collaboration of our office and community development. A couple of highlights from the past year are the completion of the first two end-up planning efforts. Mary'sville, Dale Passo, forward together plan and the Stockton Boulevard plan. End-up was designed so that community and the city co-create plans with the assurance that the plans will be put into action. Following through on that commitment, economic development and community development issued a solicitation immediately following the completion of the Forward Together Plan and are in the process of awarding 16 grants to the community to implement actions in the plan. Next up will be a similar solicitation to implement actions in the Stockton Boulevard plan. I would like to wrap up the place discussion on housing. Housing has been a top priority of the city and is also a critical component of economic development. In order to attract and grow jobs in Sacramento, it is critical for there to be plentiful housing and a range of housing types. This slide shows the pipeline of about 3,700 housing units that the city is actively supporting through various stages of development, and city in a city funding commitment to support the production of nearly 1,500 of those units. in addition to the city's support to create permanent units, our office also works closely with the Department of Community Response and regional partners to secure funding and develop programs to address homelessness. One notable accomplishment during this past year is the award of $5.8 million of the state encampment resolution grant funds. In January, we entered into a contract to implement the Street Housing Pilot and the first five households have already been placed into housing. So in our people place in business framework, I will wrap up this presentation with business because it is the core of what we do in the Office of Innovation and Economic Development. We strive to create the conditions for businesses to thrive in Sacramento. Our local small businesses are the heart of our community. They are a huge part of what makes Sacramento unique and it is critical that we support them, especially as we continue to face some challenging economic times. Cures and ARPA funding provided us the opportunity to launch programs and invest in our businesses and partners in an unprecedented way. We learned a lot from our work over the past five years, which informed the recently launched Small Business Assistance Center pilot that came before Council late last year. The pilot program includes an investment in outreach and engagement through our corridor p-bids, technical assistance in partnership with California Capital, micro grants and an investment in data and technology. One key component of the center is enhancing our business registry, which is on a Salesforce platform, so we can monitor businesses as they receive services and identify trends so that we can continue to evolve our programs to respond to the current needs of our businesses. We also recognize the importance of supporting businesses in various stages. economic gardening supports the scaling up and accelerated growth of second-stage companies. These are small businesses well-positioned to experience exponential growth. Businesses selected for economic gardening program receive intense technical assistance and expert market research from the National Center for Economic Gardening, which leads to recommended strategies to grow their businesses, and the city provides a matching grant of up to $50,000 to implement those solutions. The third cohort wrapped up at the end of 2024. So far, 26 businesses have completed the program, and they report increased hiring and revenues. The application period for our fourth cohort just closed earlier this month so we look forward to working with a new batch of businesses this year. Supporting innovation and entrepreneurship is critical to Sacramento's continued economic growth and competitiveness. One way our office supports growing the entrepreneurial ecosystem is the Sacramento Innovation Grant program which had been on hiatus for a few years while staff resources were directed to deploying cares and arpa funding. In late 2023 we launched a solicitation for innovation event grants and ecosystem building grants. The 2024 grantees are currently wrapping up, but we are already seeing some impressive results. Although the closeout reports are still coming in and some programming is still wrapping up, the ECO system building grants are already reporting that their participants have accessed nearly $1 million in capital since starting their programs. Based on the early reports of success on the ecosystem building grants and due to limited resources we focus the 2024 solicitation only on incubator and accelerator grants and we'll be working with six partners to provide services to local entrepreneurs through 2025. In economic development, we do not just focus on eight to five businesses. We focus on all businesses, especially those that create vibrancy and make Sacramento a great city. Nightlife is a vital part of the city's economy, culture and identity. It has been a busy year for the nighttime economy team. They completed a storefront economic study, conducted their quarterly pubs, clubs and bars training, assisted with facilitating entertainment permits for new venues and collaborated with partners provide trainings that support businesses and employees of the nighttime economy. As we look forward to the next year, it will also be busy for the nighttime economy team. You will be hearing from them very soon in partnership with Convention and Cultural Services to discuss the proposed limited entertainment permit and entertainment zones. Sacramento will also be hosting the annual International Responsible Hospitality Institute Conference for the first time, which is a testament to Sacramento as a leader in the nighttime economy. and we will continue to work with our internal and external partners to implement policies and programs to support Sacramento's vibrant nightlife. I feel like the presentation just scratches the surface, but here are a few other successes from 2024 that you can see on the screen which include wrapping up a couple of ARPA-funded programs including the Food Justice and City of Vestibles programs. So what's next? We have a lot planned over the next year. I would like to highlight our support of small businesses with the continued launch of the Small Business Assistant Center and enhanced business retention and attraction as we must be committed to growing our local economy. This is critical in order to have a thriving economy, vibrant corridors and neighborhoods, but it is also directly tied to the city's fiscal health. We remain committed to supporting Sacramento's people, places and businesses despite the challenging economic times. Our proposed 15% budget reduction strategies include the elimination of three vacant positions, one in each of the largest teams, community investment, community engagement, and economic development, and also the reduction of program budgets, some of which are for projects or programs that have wrapped up. The work in our office is very human-centered and high-touch, as we often are engaging one-on-one with businesses and residents. So impacts to staffing create limits to how many people we reach, how present we are in the community, and how quickly respond when new opportunities arise. I would like to wrap by sharing a video so you can hear directly from a few of our program participants and partners. Hopefully they can see up the video. I'm Melani. I am a lead teacher at Busy Beat. For a toddler class, I was in the early childhood education apprenticeship program. The program changed my life in a lot of different ways. I felt like I wanted to be a teacher and I wasn't entirely sure, but being in the program really gave me the experience and education at the same time. When I completed the program, I was offered the lead teacher position. I get to do what I kind of like, you know, dreamed about doing. My story, it started back in Placerville. I was a homeowner for 12 years, lost it because it's a dialogue. It came homeless living in our band for two years. We ended up at CityNet at the tiny houses. Was there a confinement? Still without the application. Enter the lottery for the Wong Center. We won. We removed in here. It was brand new. Nobody's used a toilet, nobody's ever cooked an egg on the stove. It looked great for the Wong Center and what they've created for seniors and sons of a home. And believe it or not since I'm in the high-dash program, the veterans of Ferris, I'm using my housing choice voucher to purchase a home and they pay that for 15 years. It's truly an honor to stand before you today. Knowing we are on the precipice of something great, Wilton Rancheria is deeply committed to building partnerships that strengthen our shared values. We are not just investing in a sports venue. We are investing in the heart of our community. In the future of our youth, the benefits of this stadium extend far beyond the soccer field. The stadium will serve as a hub for entertainment, cultural events, and gatherings that will enrich the social fabric of our region. The Sacramento Economic Guardian Program has been instrumental in the growth of KJD productions. Through their resources and expert guidance, we've gained valuable insights into market trends and strategies. The networking opportunities has allowed us to connect with other local businesses, fostering collaboration and innovation. Thanks to the program, we've expanded our reach and increased our project pipeline significantly. I highly recommend Sacramento Economic Gardening Program to any business looking to grow and succeed in our community. Our job is to create and design effective outreach and engagement strategies. And so our motto is, if it's safe to try, let's try it. We're trying to reach folks and we can't expect the emails or phone calls. We got to meet people where they are. So, you know, this is just another effort to try to reach people in a different way. I'm glad to be a part of this program and be able to provide them with information, help for information that can have a great impact on our community. Okay, well again I just want to thank the team and thank all of you for the support of our work and with that I will turn it over to Tom Pace, the Director of Community Development. Good afternoon mayor and councilmembers, I'm Tom Pace, your Director of community development. CDD is comprised of these five divisions that focus on city development, property maintenance, regulation of businesses and care for animals. Our assistant director and head of administration is Matt Hurtle. Our planning director is Greg Sandland. Our chief building Official is Chuck Clark. Our code and housing enforcement chief is Peter Lemos, and our animal care services manager is Philip Zimmerman. Our activities have a significant impact on the development and maintenance of housing, protection of public health and safety, and support for the city's quality of life and economic development initiatives. We are also integral to the city's infrastructure development, climate initiatives and homelessness response. The overwhelming majority of our staff and budget resources are devoted to activities that are mandated by law or essential to public welfare. CDD's budget that supports a staff of 318 full-time employees is about $63 million. We have a revenue budget of just under $32 million. And we have a net general fund cost of about $24 million, which is less than 3% of the general fund. our administration division provides centralized support for our department, and it also handles a number of development-related financial transactions for multiple departments. Along with the building division, the planning division plays a key role in the development of our city. The role of city planners is to help us anticipate and meet the needs of a changing world, especially as it affects us here at home. Planners analyze trends to see where we might end up, and they help us determine whether to embrace those trends or to take actions to change course for the better. Planners do this through long-range planning that looks decades ahead and current planning, which evaluates development projects happening today. They're supported by environmental planners who help navigate federal and state environmental laws, urban design architects and preservation planners who help shape the look and feel of new development and preserve our heritage. Zoning staff who provide customer service, keep regulations up to date, enforce zoning requirements and conduct public hearings, and new growth planners who focus on annexations and the special needs of the Natomas Basin. Our planning staff reviewed over 4,000 building permits in 2024, processed 414 planning applications, and conducted 644 zoning enforcement investigations. The other half of CDD's development group is the Building Division. Public safety is the top priority of the Building Division. Depicted here is the new Safe Credit Union Performing Arts Center, a project of our Convention and Cultural Services Department that was supported by the Building Division, which helped ensure that it was designed and constructed to protect the safety of visitors who come here. Our Building Division staff review over 23,000 building construction plans each year and perform nearly 72,000 building inspections, and nearly all of them are completed on time within the time frames that we commit to our customers. I want to also mention that over the past five years we've developed and processed development projects totaling $8 billion of construction value. headed by Mayor McCarty and Councilmember Plucky-Bong, the city has launched Streamline Sacramento. Stream Line Sacramento is a customer-driven, cross-departmental effort to examine the city's procedures for reviewing and approving development projects with an emphasis on housing. The goal is to identify and implement internal processes that speed up approval times and reduce the cost of construction. In the last couple of months, an internal working group with representatives from five departments, including public works, utilities, finance and fire as well as CDD, has formed and there have been several meetings with the development community. A number of action items have been identified as a result, and staff is looking forward to providing counsel with an update in the next few weeks. Code's focus is on maintaining the city's housing stock, protecting the public safety from blight, nuisances, abandoned vehicles, and dangerous buildings, and ensuring that businesses operate within state and local guidelines. A more recent focus area is addressing the growing demand of our nighttime economy for increased services to ensure the safety of our entertainment districts. Code staff also respond to a wide range of council priorities ranging from tobacco, enforcement, to vacant lot and vacant building regulation to ensuring safe street vending practices. Code inspected nearly organization that was known mainly for impounding and euthanizing animals to an industry leader that focuses on saving and enhancing the lives of as many pets as possible. In addition to providing the minimum services mandated by the state, this division sustains this legacy of life saving through the dedication of the staff and managers at our front street animal shelter and a small army of volunteers and donors. I'll just highlight that we typically see about 900 volunteers each year helping to provide those services. And I'm especially proud of our homeless outreach and assistance program that served 832 unhoused owners and provided services to 1,500 and 9 pets that were served by the program. priorities for animal care include addressing the backlog of veterinary and services. Providing spay and neuter surgeries is essential to getting the animals out of the shelter and into loving homes. And we've had some great success recently with a number of large scale spay and neuter services that we've offered and are diminishing greatly the backlog and making progress there. We also see that our kennels are often overcapacity and so we're constantly looking for ways to reduce intake of animals that do not need to be at the shelter. And we've conducted a facility needs study that has identified significant deficiencies with our existing facilities. And we know that over the long term, it's going to be a substantial cost, perhaps 40 to 60 million dollars to build a new facility. But in the near term, we're looking at using existing budgetary resources to make improvements that will significantly address immediate needs. Key priorities for the planning division include continuing to streamline housing development projects through citywide rezoning and updated zoning regulations to reflect the recently adopted 2040 general plan facilitating missing middle housing and helping build local capacity to develop these smaller scale housing solutions and responding to the thealanche of 110 new state laws relating to planning and housing passed over the last eight years. Key priorities for the building division include supporting the mayor's streamlining initiative, hiring and training new building inspectors due to generational turnover and retirements and advocating for sensible state legislation that balances regulatory streamlining and increased building safety and energy efficiency. Key priorities for code enforcement include recruitment and retention of our code enforcement staff so that we can maintain and improve our service response times. Managing an increased role for code enforcement staff as the city identifies ways to provide alternative public safety response, which has meant new programs like our 19 and its increasing responsibilities to help maintain a safe night life in our community. And addressing vacant lot and vacant building blight and safety concerns through increased regulation and enforcement. I'm a big believer in working smarter and supporting innovation. So I'd like to highlight a few of our recent technological efficiencies. The planning division has implemented a customer inquiry and response management system that helps us track the communications that we have with our customers and how quickly we're able to respond to them. Building is implementing virtual building inspections for minor permits and considering AI-powered building plan review. Code enforcement is implementing a new case management system. And animal care utilizes automated pet licensing renewal and efficient route planning for field services. Our fiscal year 26 budget strategy focuses primarily on cost recovery through revenue increases and offsets which would total approximately $2.6 million. The elimination of three vacant full-time positions for about half a million dollars and Reduction in subsidy for our affordable housing fee reduction program of about half a million dollars This concludes my presentation as you can see the community development department has a broad range of Responsibilities and services and the work we do is essential to the quality of life in our community. Thank you. Now I'll turn it over to Megan to speak to Convention and Cultural Services. Good afternoon, Mayor and members of Council. I'm VanVoris, Director of Convention and Cultural Services. It's my pleasure to be here today to provide an overview of operations, highlight key accomplishments and outline areas where future direction is needed. When I think back on last year's presentation, I'm reminded of where we began. With a shared understanding of the era we're in, a time when 64% of Americans don't believe they can have a respectful conversation across disagreement. When lowliness and isolation have the common epidemic. When our youth face mental health challenges and work to catch up from pandemic era learning loss, when our downtown's look and feel like nothing they once did. These challenges remain and have in many ways intensified, but this past year has only deepened my belief in the role of arts, culture, history, entertainment, and tourism, not as extras, but as vital tools in addressing the economic, social, cultural, and civic issues of our time. Convention and cultural services is the backbone of the city's efforts to support the cultural and creative life of the city, and a vibrant tourism and creative economy. Each division plays a distinct role in advancing our shared goals. We fund, permit, and support creative individuals and businesses who drive activity citywide and generate local, state, and federal revenues. We commission public art that builds identity enhances neighborhoods, promotes safety, and beautifies our city. We manage districts and operate facilities that attract millions of people and drive hundreds of millions in economic impact. And we collect, preserve, and share the region's vast cultural heritage. Our work is increasingly interdisciplinary and that's a trend we're embracing. My department is comprised of 124.5 employees who it is my pleasure to serve and support. Outside of the Safe Credit Union Convention and Performing Arts District, which represents about 68% of overall CCS employees, on average, the other divisions have fewer than 10. And I'd like to pause here just a minute to acknowledge all of my staff who are in the room and ask them to stand up. Last year's approved department budget was 31.7 million. 80% comes from the community center fund. 15.6 from the general fund and the remainder from other sources. The general fund measure you portion represents just 0.6% of the city's overall general fund budget. Yet it supports divisions that deliver outsized impact across equity, access, and cultural reach. I'll focus briefly on three of those divisions, the Office of Arts and Culture, the Center for Sacramento History, and Entertainment Services. The Office of Arts and Culture is the city's central interface with the creative sector. Guided by the Creative Edge Plan and its six goals, the Office of Arts and Culture plays five roles to train, inform, invest, advocate and convene. The Office manages public art, makes strategic investments and supports professional development, curatorial programs, and youth partnerships. The Office staffs the city's arts culture and creative economy commission, and serves as Sacramento County's state and local partner for the California Arts Council. It functions as a regional partner and thought leader, and regularly provides technical assistance, essentially acting as an arts and culture help desk. For artists, organizations and creative businesses. Internally, it serves as a thought partner to other city departments, offering expertise on grant making best practices, and the integration of arts and culture into broader city initiatives. One of the most common requests the office receives is support around access to affordable space, a critical fieldwide issue that we believe deserves greater attention at a system's level moving forward. The Art and Public Places team is responsible for percent-for-art program administration, collections management, and technical assistance related to public art and community-initiated projects on public property. It's a cost recovery program that also engages in consulting activities and grant seeking to support its work. In 2024 the Office of Arts and Culture had 213 grants under management. The previous year it was the largest grant administrator in the city by number awarded 204 with an average grant size of approximately 43,000. Through its signature grant program the Cultural Arts Award the city ensures all districts are served. Last year 67 grantees offered programming at over 2,000 locations within the city of Sacramento. Through the ARPA arts and culture nonprofit recovery program grantees generated 123.9 million indirect spending. Attracted over 1.5 million attendees, 309,000 of which were free. Partnering with Americans for the Arts, we learned that arts non-profits in Sacramento County drive 148 million in organizational spending, 94 million in audience spending, and generate 16.7 million in tax revenue. In short, the non-profits were funding or driving real economic value in the city and county. The art and 0.7 million in tax revenue. In short, the nonprofits were funding or driving real economic value in the city and county. The Art and Public Places team installed 19 new sculptures, three murals and hosted three dedication events. They led public workshops, handled a number of maintenance projects and facilitated temporary art projects with local partners UC Davis and Downtown Sacramento Partnership. We were proactive in working with our city colleagues to successfully identify and secure funding through Clean California for a number of significant projects shaping the way people experience our city. I like to call it too where the Office of Arts and Culture played a significant role. A five mile trail now runs from pocket metto view to land park. It was partially funded through clean California and half of the project budget was devoted to artwork. The project employed 27 artists involved 12 community events and resulted in new permanent public artworks along the trail. The art and public places team worked closely with the Center for Sacramento history to develop interpretive panels as well. The Office of Arts and Culture and DOU worked closely with community partners along Florent Road, led by the creative vision of the Sojourner Truth African Heritage Museum. While the most visible elements are found in murals, sculptures, landscaping, and banners, the project involved youth in community cleanups in partnership with Luther Burbank High School and youth led communications campaigns to promote litter abatement. We were also successful in securing a $4.75 million grant from the California Arts Council for the Capital Region Creative Corps. We provided grants and developed an artist and government program that deployed artists to develop creative messaging using various art disciplines to reach underserved communities around the issues of climate change, public health, social justice, and civic engagement. Lastly, through the everyday creative program with culture, we invested in six and 12 week accelerators that support creative entrepreneurs at the start-up and scale-up stages of their journeys, paired with financial resources. Let's hear briefly from program participants. The creative economy is important to Sacramento because there are so many creatives that live here. I specifically moved here in high school to go to a performing arts school. And so to go from a performing arts high school to then study dance and college and get a degree in the subject and then to come back and then teach within the community, it was so important for me. And so recognizing Sacramento as a creative hub is just what I know and it's what I see every single day. This is the richest amount of like information. This is all of the puzzle pieces that it takes to like make a business go to understand why it's working when it's working and to understand how to properly affect change when it's not working. I couldn't find this information anywhere else. And we've been looking. We have been looking. So to have access to this curriculum is astounding. It is important that creatives have a path to success and a community that can help them you know learn about what they're doing, learn how to scale their businesses and learn about their industry in this way and this cohort type of way and it's important for them to have this access. The Center for Sacramento's History's mission is to collect, preserve, and share the reasons Vast Cultural Heritage. What does that mean in practice? The Center houses the most complete set of local government records in California. This is a letter from the first city manager to council in 1922. It was about four years after the influenza pandemic. had had been a political shift to conservatism, and a rise in KKK activity in Sacramento. In this letter, City Manager CV makes clear the city would not tolerate white supremacist activity within its ranks. Private collections include personal papers from individuals, families, businesses, and organizations that document life and people in the Sacramento region. The Artifact Collection features tens of thousands of items documenting the cultural, social, and political history of the Sacramento region. Lloyd Dawson was a Sacramento and a paratrooper during World War II. He created his own flying suit to fly like a bird, and yes, we have it. The film archive holds some of the rarest and most valuable film in the nation, including 15 million feet of historic footage regularly licensed globally for major motion picture, documentaries and other local productions. Digitized films are available online and are accessed more than any other repository around the state. The photography collection is renowned and has millions of images in a variety of formats. We beat out the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland for the Tower Records collection. This photograph is part of that collection, Russ Solomon used to collect ties of the people he did business with apparently and he would staple their business cards to the ties. Yes, we have the ties too. Oral histories include key voices from Sacramento's LGBTQ plus, black and Latino communities just to name a few. Our collection would be impossible to access if not for our team of archivists. They work daily to process materials in the collection so they can be made available for interpretation and education. Post those materials to online repositories and support and respond to requests from researchers, educators, filmmakers, curators. You get the general idea. All those amazing questions, all those amazing collections, excuse me, power the center's ability to expand historical understanding through interpretation and education programs. Youth programs like Kids and Teens Collect connect students to their own stories. The VR who we are exhibit was the culminating exhibit of the Teens Collect program in partnership with American Legion High School. Personal artifacts were not as easily accessible to the student population as others. To solve that, the center partnered with the Office of Arts and Culture to pair a visual artist with each student to create an artwork based on their lives. And I just have to tell you, the students were just blown away. That by the idea that an artist was going to illustrate their story and that their works would become a part of the city's collection. The center's team engages in programming, community outreach, historic district management, and films. The production company on site in this photo is LeBron James' company. Seated with our archivist is a descendant of Daniel Blue, a formerly enslaved black man living in Sacramento County who made his fortune in the gold mines and who won a legal case freeing a young girl from slavery. It's the last known court case involving enslaved person in California, seeing the archival records brought generations of family storytelling to life. To wrap up, the center engages in public speaking opportunities, response to media inquiries and supports other departments. Here is the City Attorney's Office, engaging in an educational program focused on the history racism series. In FY24, digital repositories were accessed 291,000 times on social media the center earned 4.36 million views while YouTube garnered 262,000. Old Sacramento boasts 4.2 million visitors a year. We're expanding interpretation there to tell a broader story. We envision our partnership with the Sacramento History Alliance will lead to new programs and activations in the district. In the meantime, last year saw a considerable amount of interpretive work that will be installed in 2025. New interpretive panels will surround the Theodore Judah monument, as well the recently renamed Mary Gregory Park and 20 new directory panels situated throughout the district will illustrate the significance of specific buildings and areas of the district. The center has also been working with the tribes on new interpretive panels along the Embarcadero that will help illustrate their story in the district. We're proud of the history of racism series now used in classes at Sac State in UC Davis and the John Sutter film used as the opening film at Sutter's Fort. We're also happy to serve as a resource for many departments and department equity teams who have watched the films and participated in facilitated dialogues. Launched in FY25, the Entertainment Services Division brings together Sacramento Film and Media, the Office of Special Events and Entertainment venue permitting to better serve the public. The team oversees entertainment permitting, promotes Sacramento as an entertainment destination, supports the growth of local providers and connects the public to key resources. The entertainment venue permitting staff oversees about 70 entertainment venue permits in the city. That number is expected to increase with the introduction of the limited entertainment and the Premier and the Premier and the Premier and the Premier and the Premier and the Premier and the Premier and the Premier and the Premier and the the new division in February. The special events team is responsible for permitting events in our city's public spaces. Events permitting is a complex activity that requires extensive coordination with many competing interests and limited resources. And yet, the number of special event days has grown from 928 to nearly 1300 in 2024. We're already seeing some great synergies arise out of development of the new division. The team has been working on an online permitting project with other departments facilitated with support from IT and funded by ARPA. It's a huge undertaking that is expected to take a year to roll out. The aim is to streamline workflows, produce greater accountability for both applicants and staff and facilitate greater communication among all the necessary parties. A centralized website and communications campaign is also in the works to help improve communications with applicants in the public overall. The team is working in partnership with the Office of Nighttime Economy to update policies in regards to entertainment related sound. While we don't have data systems set up yet to track the impact of entertainment at venues and special events, we're looking to Sacramento Film and Media as a model for how this can be achieved. To give you a flavor for what that looks like, here's a taste of what our investments in film and media have yielded. In 2024, 74 films were permitted for 136 film days and generated 6.4 million in Sacramento spend, 953 local hires, 4,000 hotel room nights, and the Warner Brothers Pictures film brought 5.3 million in direct spend to Sacramento. Additionally, the $70,000 film grants program produced a return on investment of 4.6, and one grantee was accepted to Sundance. Now, the behemoth of the department is a safe credit union convention in performing arts district. The district includes the convention center, the performing arts center, or recalled pack, and the memorial auditorium. In FY24, the district hosted 244 events, 136 performances, over 800,000 attendees, and produced an economic impact of 166.1 million to the region. Thanks to the ongoing success of our repeat client, the Northern California Volleyball Association, we were able to secure a large regional event that draws teams from across the Western United States. Further strengthening Sacramento's profile is a destination for high-level sports competition. We also saw the return of naturalization ceremonies to the Memorial Auditorium, marking a profound civic milestone. Over the past year, an estimated 12,000 individuals took their oath of citizenship in our historic venue, reinforcing its roles of space-specific pride and community gathering. In the cultural and educational arena, we welcomed back the California All-State Music Education conference in a major way. Utilizing the Full Convention Center and Memorial Auditorium, the event brought together over 2,000 student musicians and 5,000 educators and industry professionals from across the state. Their commitment to Sacramento through 2031 ensures our city will remain a hub for music education and youth achievement for years to come. I'd like to take a moment to help you understand the operations that drive all that impact. Sales and marketing are split between Visit Sacramento at 12 plus months out and city staff under 12 months in the PAC Memorial. Other core city staff functions include theater and auditory management, event services, operations, box office and administration. We also have four in-house partners including Cedexo Live, on-course smart city and TIGAMESTER. Ravanu Streams include rentals, commissions, naming rights proceeds and TIGIFIs. CIPs are funded through TOT and TIGIFIs for TIGATED events. TOT cover bonds, payments, and subsidizes qualifying rentals. For example, if a convention meets certain room night thresholds, we'll wave the meeting space rental to secure the business, which directly impacts TOT revenue and other ancillary revenues for the city. Five organizations are in residence at the Performing Arts Center. The PAC also hosts iconic films paired with with live orchestral performances, as well as concerts, comedy, and other theatrical performances such as circuit dreams. The Memorial Auditorium is the historic jewel of the district, and we've spent a considerable amount of time unpacking its past, looking at the marketplace and identifying opportunities to achieve greater activation there. Historically speaking, the Memorial Auditorium has never had only one identity. It's been a place where people made memories. They graduated there. They became a citizen there. They saw a show there, they competed there, they attended a gala there. But one thing is clear, focusing only on one identity without also providing the necessary tools to be successful in that marketplace. Marketplace is not a recipe for success. We've seen progress with bookings. Battle of the badges and Sac State Collegiate Boxing brought us three new promoters in the fight segment, including all elite wrestling, Westside promotions, and Uriah Fabres A1 combat. As with the fight segment, our dance competition segment has grown. game's gay men's chorus, holiday hits with a splash of sass was also a huge success, and as a result, they would like to perform annually at the memorial. I'm gonna pause here and just say that we're undergoing a major paradigm shift to our sales strategy and booking structure. Effective April 1, we've centralized all booking functions for a booking office and we'll go after all segments of business without giving anyone preference to increase activation at the facility. We're looking at each segment and determining what tools and flexibility we need to be successful in each space and where we need authority, we'll seek it. Beyond this, we're facilitating greater interaction with other divisions within the department such as the the Office of Arts and Culture, the Center for Sacramento History and Entertainment Services. And we're leaning into existing partnerships, such as those with the Sports Commission, to advance key objectives. We look forward to keeping you fully informed as this new sale strategy unfolds and facilitating more conversation about our progress as we inch closer and closer to the memorial's 100th anniversary. Last but not least, I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge the role of the entertainment services to or that the administrative services division and keeping us running and compliant. They handle fiscal oversight, human resources, cultural partner relations, facility management, and old Sacramento Product Property Management in partnership with the Center for Sacramento History. So here we are. That's convention and cultural services in a nutshell. But before I close, I'd like to share one final moment with you. And for me personally, this may have been my most memorable moment of the year. There is something truly special about bringing back a beloved tradition. We hosted 30,000 people in old Sacramento on December 31, 2024, with 17,000 between the two-hour period surrounding the fireworks itself. It was a lift to be sure, and just when I thought we weren't going to be able to do it, with a partnership of Soul Collective, Stage 9, and DSP we pulled it off. And there's just nothing better than to answer the call of community and bring joy to business owners, families, and visitors alike. Thank you for the opportunity to serve. Yes, let's go to public comment first. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yes, let's go to public comment first. Thank you. Kai on. I'll call a couple and we can light up in the aisle. Kai on. Michael Andrew Barnbaum. Angela Lowe. Go up to the mayor and all councilmember. In January, I request the council to discuss SPD-Powime. It is fake police report that killed my father. In February, the UC Davis internship student emailed me the same fake. Point of order. Fund of order. This is not revealing the implementation of the required public comment. Right. the . . . . . . . . . . . . for 15 times. I understand. Low body from the city. Take responsibility. You'll have to pull back for regular life on the next call. Next speaker please. Next speaker is Michael Andrew Barnbaum. Is the journey guide thought to you? Next speaker. Mr. Barnbaum. Good afternoon, Mayor McCarty, members of the Council Commissioner Michael Barnbaum from your Disability Advisory Commission. I want to speak on the thank the presenters for this item, but I wanted to focus on the first presenter about the arts cultural community and entertainment, and that first presenter was Denise. I wanted to speak on behalf of the subtopic there of the City Connect Mixers. They have now been going for one year as of this coming April. They hold 10 community city connect mixers a year and they take November and December off for the holiday season. These community city connect mixers have been hosted by a community engagement manager Lynette Hall and she has done an outstanding phenomenal job in hosting these throughout the entire city limits I have since becoming a commissioner attended two and will be at the next one, which will be in district seven at the device brewing next to the pocket transit center. Considering the budget cuts that were presented. It would be very devastating if these mixers stopped. And so I'm encouraging for accessibility, bringing city hall out to the people and making sure that Lynette becomes even more successful than even she is now that you preserve the budget if not increase the budget to this program. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Angela Lowe. Good afternoon mayor and council members. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. My name is Angela Lowe and I'm here to strongly urge you to oppose the proposed budget cuts to the neighborhood development action team and the community engagement team. These programs represent less than 1% of the city's overall budget but they deliver an outsized impact especially to our most most vulnerable communities. Cunning NDAT by 50% would get essential support for neighborhood revitalization, small developer training, and direct community investment. Most importantly would eliminate partnerships with trusted ethnic media outlets like Sacramento Observer, SAC culture hub, KDE radio, Intervision, Outward Magazine, and others that ensure vital city information reaches diverse communities. These are more than media outlets. There are lifelines for people who depend on culturally relevant messaging. On top of that, community engagement team, which brought in over $700,000 in grants just last year, would lose their staff member dedicated to securing and outside funding. That loss makes no financial sense. These teams have led efforts funded by CARES and ARPA. Housing assistance, workforce development, childcare programs, nighttime economy, community reinvestment initiatives, a high impact, all community focused. Cutting this funding sends the wrong message about the city values and priorities. Let's not dismantle what's working, let's invest in what brings real, measurable results for the people of Sacramento. Please reject these cuts and continue to support inclusive economic development. NDAT and community engagement. Thank you. Thank you. Our next three speakers, we have Daniel Zavala, Tardiris, sorry, Mathis and Macworthy. Oh, good afternoon everyone. I'm so glad that I stopped to come and speak on this item today. And a lot of times when we're living in coolness and we don't get to stop and recognize greatness in real time. But to be able to sit here for the last hour and go through that presentation, and I'd be remiss to say that Mr. Jassel, you didn't introduce yourself and tell them how cool you are, and you should have a round of applause for everything that you've done as a steward of that department over the years. That is Steve Covey, Denise Melvady and her team, with all the ARPA grants and all the great work they've been doing, they literally steered the ship as the former director of the business improvement district for North Sacramento. I can't tell you how much we leaned on this department over the last four years to help us get projects to the finish line right now. We're doing several steel ARPA grants for facade improvements. The committee engagement team, the cool stuff they're doing online. This is the really fun and sexy stuff that we don't get a chance to talk about. We all know how important public safety is, police and fire, and the magnificent parks that we maintain in Sacramento. But this department, Tom Pace, what he's done and planning with missing middle housing in the zone and the housing element of our hall that we've done. It's been tremendous and we should become incredibly proud of what this group of folks have done. And lastly, when it comes to measure you, I was a huge champion of a resident of North Sacramento, the neighborhood of Old North Sacramento and the place like Del Paso-Bull and how critical community-based economic development or inclusive economic development is cultural and community Megan and your team you guys have been the stalwarts for for a neighborhood like Old North Sacramento The murals that we put up the alley projects that we've done and just thank you for being everywhere and hearing everybody out This is the department department. This team needs to stay intact. We need to do everything we can to keep Sacramento moving. Thank you for your comment. Your time is complete. Good afternoon. My name is Tadarius Mathis. I'm a client of the FEC. And the FEC has been wonderful and coaching me on my finances and keeping me accountable and financially setting my future up. I would recommend the FEC to my family. I have recommended to the family and friends of others. It's a wonderful program and I look forward to continuing with the FEC and every time, every time I talk to my financial coach, she gives me more information on banks and a lot of things to help me secure my future in finances. It's a really, really great program and I'm looking forward to seeing it around. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, Mac Worthy. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You know, people to hear the same thing over and over 12 years, critical grants and bonds. John Public, you can't survive all grants and bonds. Okay, we look at the housing. We wonder want to weather those people for a bit. Now, the central city on this other housing, you got all kind of little off of beddresses under when you come to Oak Park and there was actually no beddresses under. Now, who were designing that. I was pushing that. People that didn't know that asked me to hold on the ground about economic development. You can't depend on the government. The government didn't build this country. Free enterprise. What's going to happen when those dollars go which I hope Trump eliminated a lot of? You're going to be back on your ass again. If you go there and do it yourself, you will know what to do when you low. Are we going to dismiss your deficit organization? We heard in the previous meeting, the insurance people, people, when a person said they have the ability to help you in finance, ask them what that they develop in finance. We saw this when small businesses years ago come in. Just talked to a friend of mine when I did a lot of them in San Francisco. We know who got those small business loans. We know exactly who got them, but how many black folks got them? Just like the three people on the panel. How many black folks on that panel? Here, your city manager talked about racial equity. Where is the black folks? Where is one black organization in high, five blacks with a 15-ziled and other year income. Assume to me. Amen. Applause. Kwame Kure. Hesu Salas and Teresa. Good. Good afternoon everyone. My name is Clark May Curry. I am a local business owner in the city of Sacramento and I'm also a second year ambassador for the end debt program. And I'm just here to talk about that program just a little bit. basically opposed the cutting of the program. And I'm just here to talk about that program just a little bit. And basically, opposed the cutting of the budget. When it comes to the city and the community, one of the issues is, is that a lot of people in the city and the community don't believe in you guys because of the simple fact of they don't have the information necessary to get to get to the programs and stuff that's available for the city. And so utilizing people like us that are a part of the community that are business owners or residents and stuff like that, they trust people like us to talk to them. So if we come to them and discuss and talk to them about these programs and stuff like that, that gives them some slimmer hope that you guys do care. I had a lot more to say, but I just, I'm gonna use this last little bit of time to just talk to you guys real fast. The young Asian gentleman that was up here talking about the loss of his father getting killed and stuff like that, you give everybody two minutes. When it comes to the community and dealing with people of the community, it's about respect. It's about love, showing them love and stuff like that. And I understand it's not a part of what you guys were discussing, but you guys could have just let him speak his mind for those two minutes and then pretty much go from there because this is somebody that's a part of the community that lost the loved one and it's coming to you guys for help. And it's like he's walking out of here to scourge now. You know, I had a whole bunch of stuff to say, but seeing that, like I've already had to deal with that, even dealing with the city of El Grove the same way when I came to or council meeting speaking about my son almost being murdered and they wanted to tell me I'm over my time. So you guys just need to have perspective a little the city of Elgrove the same way when I came to a council meeting speaking about my son almost being murdered and they wanted to tell me I'm over my time. So you guys just need to have respect a little bit more respect for the people of the community. That's all. Thank you, Sarah. Hey, Sue. Good afternoon, Mayor and members of the Council. My name is Susalla, some of the financial empowerment center program manager. I'm not here to give you too much information about our clients because you were able to hear about the areas story earlier. He's one of our successful client stories and he forgot to mention but he's soon to be a homeowner as well. The entire coaching team is actually here with us supporting our clients and yes I mean it's our clients who do all the work they're the ones who make the sacrifices they're the ones who make the courageous steps to go to us a complete stranger and talk to them talk their personal finances, which is something, you know, so personal and difficult to talk about. And it's our job just to really provide resources, tools and information to help them achieve their goals. I did want to highlight the Small Business Boost program that Denise was talking about earlier. It's a great program that we hope to reach more small business owners in our city with and hopefully get them to either get started on the right foot or expand their business with their personal finances in line and in order. So thank you for supporting the Financial Empowerment Center. Your support allows for Sacramento residents to have access to these resources and achieve financial stability and also create prosperous futures for their families and themselves. So thank you. Our next speaker is Teresa. After Teresa we'll have Junior and then Zion. Thank you. My name is Teresa Riviera and I'm currently a community ambassador and I'm here to express my support for the community engagement team. I want to tell you guys it's a really, really good team that connects the community to the city services. Not only on one-on-one basis, but all the time when we go to attend events. So this is the best outreach in education and engagement team that the city has reaching all communities, providing information and how to access your services. Mayor, this is the best use of the tax dollar. Now I would like to share that this award-winning community ambassador program is led by Lynette and her staff who also empower us, the ambassadors, with information to share within the community. The ambassador team builds bridges by listening to the needs and providing information for potential solutions by presentations or attending events or one-on-one assistance. Examples of how the Ambassador program has been active in your community is Lisa, the Hampton Community Foundation presentation. Roger, the Benito Juarez Association and CARE. Phil, the CUNY Community Center. Carina, the Stanford settlement. Cat Katie? Sorry about the La Familia spent her in the presentation that was run there for the Mon community speaking. Eric, it's the Max Bear Park. Rick is the four plus one and I'm the one. My is a potential metal view community center, held in presentations. So the community engagement team in thank you for your comment your time is complete. Junior. Wow following mentors like Daniel Savala and Teresa is great. Anyhow Mr. Mayor of Steam members of City Council, madam City Attorney, City Clerk and City Manager, my name is Junior Gorris, I'm the proud president of the Doctor's Shores Community Association, one of the city's newest and growing areas in District 8. I am here today to urge you to look over the painful assignment of determining, as your determining painful cuts for, for CASTIC cuts, that you please spare programs as the City Management Academy, the land planning academy the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of to have a place at the table where decisions are made. Ms. Lawner and her team have made impact and security credibility back with the city and community partnerships. The department has so much more to accomplish. I feel cut for them will just undermine their work. Sending before you today is an example of the investment the city made. Because of the apartment support, I along with my neighbors not only formed a community association but help create dialogue with other neighborhood associations other elected and concern neighbors. Even one of our own leaders on City Council is an example the investment of New York, the city of New York, the city of New York, the city of New York, the city of New York, the city of New York, the city of New York, the city of New York, the city of New York, the city of New York, the city of New York, the city of New York, the city of New York, the city of New We are future leaders. What should the city look like? The community engagement department and its programs assist in ensuring we are preparing for the next wave of leadership and community partnerships. Many of you know and will agree with me that our success is in the management department and its programs assist in ensuring we are preparing for the next wave of leadership and community partnerships. Many of you know and will agree with me that our success in the city, the majority of them have been community led. Community led because of community engagement. Thank you for allowing me to share my input. Thank you for your leadership and South South Pride forever. Next speaker is Zion. After Zion. After Zion, we will have Jeffrey Tartaguia and then O. Shade Johnson. Hi everyone. Thank you for having me. For me, I absolutely oppose the cut. In fact, you need to double it up because this is where Sacramento is benefiting, especially the under-served underrepresented community. If you're cutting from the under-served underrepresented community, how are we better than a present Trump? Isn't that what he's doing and now we're doing even worse? Because we're really cutting from people like me who's been beneficiary, thanks to Lynette Hall. I've been hesitant here when it comes to outreach to our community, also some fund to be help us get our businesses and our events get going. But when you guys cut the fund from the people who needs it, you really hurt in the community that needs the most. So 1% is not enough. I would say 2%, 3%, 4% for our community, especially in Del Paso, the South area, Broadway is all rundown. So we really need to put, in fact, fund. Otherwise what is it going to fund to the real status, to the big companies in the name of contracts. So much our taxpayers money is being put into everywhere else but into our community, especially in our blood community. We need the racial equity. You passed the racial equity, we need to see the money invested into underrepresented community, especially the black community. And the mayor, you run on that to really support the community that is being left behind. I don't see where is the agenda, where is the proposal to help us move to the next step. So I really oppose the cut. In fact, double that out. That's what I would say. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, Jeffrey. Council. Kevin. This is a reminder of me when Kevin, you and I first met as dealing with higher education because this isn't education. Again, about what is here in Sacramento going on. Unfortunately, I look at it in say discussion and it's not saying for the budget. Whether that's a point of order or not, it is a question that, like other things, this council needs to understand how public comment does affect them and the importance of public comment. This is why I like to see the eyes that are watching and the eyes that are not. This is a problem that has been the last not eight years, but longer with City Council. Please improve it. Hopefully some questions that were asked, the City Manager will answer. I'm pointing it specifically, the egg question that is related to dealing with, I believe, also your budget. Other questions in there is, you have a complete, but I don't think page 19 of this thing talked, was talked about at all. Again, accountability. I may not be able to speak through later on of not on the agenda, but the last council member meeting. You had over 100 people waiting because they had participated in a rally at the federal building area. And so they did not get in when you adjourned your meeting. This is something that gives a black note to having not on the agenda your last item on your agenda. And with that, I will leave my public comment for all. Thank you for your comment, your time is complete. Thank you. Our next speaker is O'Shea Johnson. My name is O'Shea. I'm the director of IMF Power Academy and business on small business on the Sunshine I'm in District 2. I run a youth and community development organization. And I like to start off by saying that I don't believe that we should punish success. So when I look at this organization, my wife got married. She asked me, I did my balance. One of the things I used to action, I said, one man of action. I said, you never be worried about me not taking care of my responsibilities and being accountable. So when I look at the development, the neighborhood development action team, I see action. And I can testify that it has been action. They have been responsible, they have been accountable. And when I say success, my organization, We went for the net haul, it went to be successful. And when I say success, I organization, we went from the net hall, it wouldn't have been successful. And when I say success, I'm talking about, I went from 54 youth to over 120. I was able to funding, I was able to start a youth football organization and give children an opportunity to play football that would never be that replay. Right? When I say that, I mean fees for $300, $400 to fees for the last. I was an ambassador. By being an ambassador, I was able to meet other individuals, understanding that language is a problem, and I deal with youth. I have to talk to the children to translate to the parents. So, mixers, people in mixers, all these themes demonstrated success. And being an individual in District 2, booths on the ground, dealing with youth, dealing with community development. I've been a person. I was a CIV for Black Child Legacy Campaign. So, I reported to crime scenes. I decided to set side by side with police officers, side by side with infinials with people bearing their children and things like that. One thing I could say is that this program with the net hole has consistently. Thank you for your comment, your time is complete. Okay. Thank you. We have a number of public speakers. Thank you for your comment your time is complete. Thank you. We have no more public speakers Thank you feedback comments questions from council members I'll say something Please you on the queue. I want to yes, I'll just you know mainly just comments because this is a high level kind kind of overview of the departments. I really want to just take this time to think Megan, Tom, and Denise really for your leadership and all the great work that you do, everything from arts to basic city services of code, planning, to supporting our small minority-owned businesses, right? Even Denise, your department particular less than 1%, but you do so much even though you're less than 1% of the budget. I think we've said this, right? We are in the middle of this conversation right now. Reductions have been posted online of the potential cuts that may happen in the city. And what I will share with you is that, there's gonna be some really tough choices ahead. But for me, at the end of the day, when we make decision, it's gonna be really important for me that we don't balance this budget on the backs of our low income poor community. That's gonna be of utmost importance for me. I know that on the document, there are also levels of impact from levels one to levels four. And I know that we are slowly, not fast enough, but slowly to the best of our ability, implementing a racial equity tool to make sure that when we're looking at budget, we're actually looking at the budget reduction in a way that really speaks to equity, right? And a lot of the programs that you share today touch those communities, right? We are a growing city and we can only be a great city if we don't leave any of our residents and our neighborhoods behind and so I really appreciate all the great work that you and your staff has done and ready for the debate when it happens because right now it's high level overview but it will come down to priorities of this council, right? There are going to have to be trade-offs and that is in a few weeks and a few months we're going to have that conversation. And so just again really appreciate the department coming up here and sharing with us that if you had to make a reduction where would you make the reduction and even those reductions and make sense to me, right? You know 15% across the board is really tough because especially for a department that's already so small, you're gonna fill the impact, right? And so there's gonna be a debate up here and I just look forward to that conversation when time comes, but just really wanna say thank you for all your hard work. Okay, thank you. Yes, and again, just to the public, this is a big picture overview of what the departments do to provide us with comprehensive high level view as Councillor Manc said. When we have to make our budget decisions and none of the choices on that list so far are good. They're all terrible. But we have to step up and do our job for the City of Sacramento. So this certainly helps put everything in perspective with the big picture. So again, this was informational, no vote on this action item. No action item. Next item, Madam Clerk. Just for a note for the minutes, item number two, the transient occupant tax presentation has been withdrawn and it will come back on next Tuesday, April 1st. Okay. Our next item is item number three brief staff presentation as Council considers providing direction to staff regarding the cannabis opportunity reinvestment and equity program also known as CORE for storefront dispensary permit opportunities. The city's storefront cannabis dispensary business permit is the only cannabis operating permit type that is capped. Currently there are 40 available storefront permits, 29 non-core majority owned and 11-core majority owned. 10-core storefront permits were awarded via a request for qualifications process that resulted in a ranked list in 2021. The original 10-perman opportunities had three years to receive their business operating permit and begin operations. On January 23rd, 2024, staff reported to counsel that five of the ten had applied for a business operating permit and were operational. The remaining five were in various stages of business development with a number of those requesting additional time due to various challenges. Council adopted a resolution to extend the April 1st, 2024 deadline by one year to April 1st, 2025. Three core permit opportunities have a deadline of April 1, 2025, and have requested additional time regarding extenuating circumstances to apply for, complete the permit process, and become operational. One participant received their permit and is in process of becoming operational pending resolution of ownership structure issues, and intends on being operational before the deadline. One participant has stated they are almost complete with construction and indicated being close to operations. One participant's facility was damaged by a fire and has indicated they are in process of securing a new location. When a storefront permit opportunity becomes available, the next core participant on the RFQ list is offered the permit opportunity. The city's goal as adopted by Council is having 50% of all cannabis businesses in Sacramento majority core owned. The following are options Council could consider. The first, no extension. The three permit opportunities will expire on April 1st, 2025, and the next three participants on the RFQ list will be given permit opportunities. Option two, one year extension and no additional permit opportunities. Extending the expiration date to April 1st, 2026, and the next three part of the participants on the RFQ list will have to wait until another permit opportunity becomes available. Or option three, one year extension and three additional permit opportunities, extending the expiration date to April 1, 2026 and adding three additional core storefront dispensary permits providing the next three participants on the RFQ list the opportunity to apply for a permit, increasing the total of number of storefront permits to 43. That would result in 29 non-cor and 14-cor permit a storefront permit opportunities. Additionally, if Council grants an extension under options two or three, new core permit opportunities will be given five years to become operational. concludes my presentation and I'm available for questions. Thank you. We'll get a better ready. Clerk, I have how many public comments do you have? We have 15 public comments. Okay, let's see the first speaker. Our first three speakers will be Alexis and then Erin Cardoza and Daniel Zavala. Good afternoon. Mayor and City Council, my name is Alexis Ingulo. I am the founder of Pretty and Posh Canabis brand and I am next in line for the 2021 RFQ storefront opportunity. I stand before you today to express a fundamental concern with the continued extension of the deadline for a cannabis dispensary permits under the core program. The original intention of the request for qualifications process was clear. To identify the most prepared applicants, those with the ability, resources and readiness to establish and operate the storefront opportunity. This competitive process ensured that only the most capable candidates were given this opportunity. However, by repeatedly extending deadlines, we undermine that very principle. The three-year deadline was not arbitrary. It was designed to ensure that permits go to individuals who have demonstrated the capacity to navigate regulatory and financial hurdles in a timely manner. In February 2024, we were discussing a six- extension. Now we are looking at a 24 month extension, completely undermining the purpose of the RFQ process. The original agreement was clear. If a participant could not open within the set timeframe, the opportunity would be passed to the next qualified applicant. Applicants 11 and 12 have already received their licenses and by the original rules of this process, the next available permit should be awarded to the next three applicants in line. This is not just a matter of fairness, it is a matter of upholding the integrity of the system. As of March 3, 2025, there are only seven core approved VOP applications. One pending two of the other have never applied for their VOP. This means that two applicants may not even have secured a location with the conditional use permit, making the extension potentially pointless if they cannot move forward. At what point do we hold participants accountable for meeting their obligations? By allowing these permits to expire as planned, we uphold the fairness of the process and respect the intent of the RFQ. I urge you to honor the integrity of the system and let the process work as intended. Thank you. Our next speaker is Erin Cardoza. And if we could have people line up in the aisle please as your names are called. I want to call the next three., Erin? Daniel Savela, after Daniel is Mac Worthy and then Carla Black. Thank you. Yeah, it's totally understand where that first comment and, but we're talking about equity. It's really difficult. I think what you're seeing is that when you have core applicants at the intent of core was to give folks people the color women an opportunity to play in a business that's really expensive to navigate really time consuming. Even non-core applicants as many of you know had spent years if not hundreds of thousands of dollars on tenant improvement for buildings and architectures and going through plan check, it is a cumbersome process to go through and it just feels at its core pun intended wrong to call it quits on applicants who are selected. Cause they need help, they need some support. There is a new grant I hear from the state that's gonna allow the city of Sacramento to perhaps give some additional assistance. And I think that should be on the table as well. I'm not in support of an outright no. But with that said, I know firsthand that you have an excellent staff in that department. You have folks who know applicants, who know where they are, and know where there's capacity or where there's lack thereof. I would urge you to not weigh on the side of a complete black and white know who your time has run out, but also take a thoughtful look at perhaps a who has capacity continuing. What are they? If you haven't even have a location, it's been five years, I get it. But if you're almost at the finish line, it feels almost wrong to cut folks off so quickly, particularly on the back end of receiving a generous grant from the state to help get some of these applicants across the finish line. So with that, I urge you to think about it and just don't do a black and white note to some of these applicants who are perhaps just right there. So thank you. Next we have Mac Worthy, then Carla Black, and then Zion. I don't know why you're going with this. Now, how many liquor stores in a second minute? I think, how many liquor stores here have been owned by that? Only two. I don't say you're here, you bullshit the people and a lot of it. What it takes you to liquorize and write money. Now the canvas, you are abusing the funds that you have double taxed those hopes on. You are abusing those funds. Why are you abusing them? Not because race because of your pocket. It's not because of race. See everything you don't race is who controls the dollar, who makes you decisions here, a bunch of thugs. That should always be in jail. You got to wake up. You got to wake up and look, this is the most high-up pain in business, a black man, hell of being in the city. We can't even find a decent attorney here. Why? Because how you got the system set up, attorney's money. We went across town, we went across the street and beat a bullshit case here. We waiting on attorneys. I got attorneys all over America looking for somebody who has a really foul lawsuit here. That's pretty sweet. Whatever I say here, I can go across the street and hurt it, but people on this podium can't. So quick lines of the people and let these young folks go, you have a law that about youth involved in liquor. You can set the same policy on use involved in marijuana. But you prefer to keep as many down as you possibly can before they understand. We want to control our own down money. They're going to learn soon to control their own money and buy what they want to buy. Good afternoon, Mayor and City Council. Do I need a way for you to call me up or no? I'm not against the cannabis industry or responsible business owners. In fact, I support the resolution to extend the expiration date for the current three core permits to April 1st, 2026. But I'm also here today to urge you to stop the continued placement of dispensaries and smoke lounges in our neighborhoods. Sacramento already has more than enough. Cannabis remains a schedule one narcotic and is still illegal on a federal level. Locally, this industry has been built to its limits and it's barely surviving, propped up by subsidies and government support. Just look at the recent revenue reports the spendzaries have seen declining numbers for three years. That's not growth, that's a warning sign. More permits will only oversaturate the market, hurt small businesses and local businesses, driving more to fail. The city of Davis overlicensed and closed because of this very reason. Imagine investing all that millions of dollars just for the industry to fail. There's no justification for cluttering dispensaries or lounges in residential or mixed-use areas where families live, children's play, children play, and people expect peace and safety. Our neighborhoods should not be testing ground for cannabis expansion. This isn't about equity or access anymore. It's about volume and the volume brings increased traffic, odor, Lordering, and nuisance calls. It puts unnecessary stranged on infrastructure and quality of life. Let's be honest, these businesses are consistently placed in low income neighborhoods, communities that need youth programs, not more to spend series. That's not equity, that's exploitation. At some point we must say enough is enough to protect the safety, health, and integrity of our communities. There are already more than enough licenses to meet demand. I urge you to support Common Sense Zoning, reject further expansion into residential use areas. Our next speaker is Zion. After Zion, we'll have Dr. Jay Johnson, Jared Hill and Justin Jacinto. If you can please line up in the aisle. Yeah, hi again. So my name is. And I'm the founder of Shasha Mani Institute, a carnivorous institute I'm trying to build. And I think when we fought for carnivorous equity from the beginning to so black community and brown community are not left behind when it comes to the carnivorous industry. I think when we thought it, that was the purpose. But right now, it's losing the purpose. In fact, we, Black people, are not that many of us in the businesses. And instead, the money being used, in fact, to get other community, everything has been changed. Lenny, you have been doing miserable job when it comes to the carnivorous equity. Because I really honestly, I'd rather you not being there dealing with our fun, because you're taking your fun and giving it to everybody else. If our community needs to be renewed, why not? This is, they invested so much money, so much time, to get into the carn cannabis industry, especially the Aspira community, but you're trying to use anything whatever you can, now give us the fund, now give us the permit and then not renew when they need to. So I really, really want you to think about this only two, three of our community needs that extension and I encourage you to extend it for them. Why not? They spend so much money and their time, 23 years, and it takes a long time to build carnivorous industry. You know, Katie, how it is. And the same time Lenny is doing a miserable job. She's not even getting us the fund and instead she's giving you to everybody, but not our community. I don't even know how we trust her with the general fund. She thinks we need to be held our hands. Yes, we do. And then if we need our dispensary licenses on the next one, you need to release it too. Because we are, we need to get into the carnivorous industry. We're not going to be left behind. Thank you for your comment. Your time is complete. Dr. J. Johnson. Hey, Council, how's it going? I'm Jay. I've talked here a bunch of times. I'm new to some, so I'll keep it short and sweet. This is really an easy find. I would say I'm voting for letting the next three go up and continue to let the next three go if you want to give them another year. I mean, it's really very easy and logical. The whole purpose of the core program was to bring parity to the cannabis community and we have to get on an equal level of store for unopportunities. But some people have talked about oversaturation, the market's not doing that good, yada, yada, yada. I'm in the market, I've been in the market, I've had my license since 2018. The RFQ process as a whole to all of our new City Council members, I definitely invite you to look into that process and how people were chosen. The most ready were not selected. And that's just the cold cut of it. A lot of us are still waiting our opportunity. Open up the zoning so we don't have to be in industrial areas. Also to our city council members who are new. You guys did a study on the impact that cannabis companies bring to Neighborhoods. Are we a negative impact? Are we a positive impact? Overall, it's discussed. We are not a negative impact. We get traffic off the streets, we bring jobs to the community, and we bring education to the community. Also, in line with cannabis, we have to stop thinking of it as this and that, and where we're putting it at. You guys allow fentanyl and opiates to be sold on every corner, but we can't allow cannabis to be sold. We're a schedule one drug, But schedule one drug by nature says that there is no health benefits. Well, then how do we call a medical cannabis? It makes no sense. But that's on a whole another federal thing. You know, we're deemed illegal federally, but I pay the IRS six figures every year, tell me how that works. In closing here, I'll make it, like I said, try to be short here, but I get on a rant sometimes. Let the three continue but let the next three come up and let's even move further. Let's start the next readiness process for the next 10 group of licenses. Open up that zoning so we're not all sitting on top of one another. Let free market capitalism rise. Thank you. Chair at Hill. We have a new council. Happy to be here again today. I'm spoken with you guys on numerous occasions. Most recently, starting out on the 5th of this month, and every meeting since then, about this extension. Reading through the report from Ms. Mattson in the Office of Cannabis Management just wanted to make a point of clarification. We are the one who's built and burnt down. We were most ready. We came in the top 10. We earned our spot. We're still ready. We have found a new location also still in district two. Born and raised in North Sacramento, Strawberry Manners, North Sac Proud, 9116 Proud, we are Sacramento's own sons and daughters. And a lot of these folks in the crowd, we have reached out to them to partner with us, rather than partner with Monsanto, Marlboro, and the future big corporate folks that want to buy up cannabis and leave small mom and pop out. We refuse to do that. We're not going down without a fight. We're here for it. We're still here. We've overcome many challenges. We always will. We'll continue to fight for Sacramento. We're bringing jobs to the neighborhood. We believe in this and not just cannabis for people getting high and having fun and a good time. But as a catalyst to start funding some of the other businesses we believe in in our neighborhoods, rebuild in Del Paso and Mary'sville and Real Linda and North Sack and all parts met of you. The Metabue project you guys talked about last week so inspired to see that presentation, same things that happen in every underserved community and Sacramento. Cannabis can be a catalyst towards that and so many other things that you guys have an eye on doing. Let us help, let us be apart. We need your help now with this extension. Thank you. Our next speaker is Justin Jacinto after Justin, if you could line up in the aisle, Chris Tau Tao, Javier Hernandez and Christopher Pannon. Thank you, Council for this opportunity to speak. Council members, Katie Maple and my van for bringing this item to the Council. I don't disagree with upholding integrity, but all of us in the cannabis industry understand how difficult it is to navigate this space. Navigating limited zoning, limited real estate, limited access to funding on top of pedatory practices, you know, create a complex on foreseen challenges, you know, for the individual seeking an extension. Adding three more additional permit opportunities will provide more access, additional tax revenue, and continue to balance equity between core and non-core dispensaries. Dr. J said it really well, so come and pick it back on that. I am in favor of one year extension for those remaining seeking that as well as three additional permits from RFQ process. Thank you. Speaker is Chris Tauve. Hello. Thank you. Mayor Council and staff. I own a business in District 6 and I live in District 8. I respectfully ask Council to consider option 3 on this agenda item. This option has not been thoroughly discussed and presents a fresh approach. It provides a crucial opportunity to approve the current extension requests while allowing three additional applicants to begin their process. This pretty much satisfies whatever we want. Everything we want, and we're looking for right now. These people are deeply rooted in your communities. Their success directly benefits your neighborhoods. That they serve. We rely on council support and guidance to ensure we move forward to more equitable and sustainable cannabis industry in Sacramento. This is like get people to the finish line. It's been three years. I know people are asking for more time. This is a difficult industry. We're navigating federal utilization in anything local. Again, I support option three. Thank you for your time. Our next speaker is Javier. Good evening, Mayor and Council. Thank you for bringing this topic for discussion today. I think it's really important that it happens before the deadline given the gravity of what's on the line for everybody involved. I wanted to show support for option three. It acknowledges both parties, which are equally as important on one hand. You have those who have been waiting for the opportunity for four years, as well as those who have invested a significant amount of time and resources into their projects over those same last four years. Getting the cannabis license is one of the most difficult things that I've ever done personally in my life and maintaining is equally as difficult. So we understand how difficult and likely that process can be even when things go right. I will support the extension to five years from the current three years for future awardees as that has been pretty standard in other neighboring areas given a full five years rather than short three. Option three also ships away at the promise of reaching an equal amount of core owned dispensary storefronts. We currently have less than 10 that are operational compared to the nearly 30 that are non-store core owned. Sacramento has always shown that equity is important, especially in the cannabis industry, where there's an opportunity to make an impact in the beginning. Solution three will be consistent with previous actions of council, which have given us creates an opportunity that has led to more equity owned businesses that wouldn't have existed otherwise. Thank you. Applause. Our next speaker is Christopher Cannon. After Christopher, we have Rhonda Ernest, Valerie Bird, and Mike Swell. Well, sorry. Good afternoon, Mayor and City Council members. My name is Christopher Cannon. I'm a Sacramento Business owner. I'm a partner with the Jared and 420 group. As many of you know, we've been facing with numerous challenges that have tested our resilience and commitment to seeing this project be successful in Sacramento from but not limited to secure in real estate, secure in the capital spending time, all the time, yes. And the money navigating the major players and the snakes. And then a building catching on fire, all right. Despite these challenges, we are still here and we're ready to move forward. We're on the cusp. We're here at the apex of making our vision and our dreams of reality here in Sacramento. But now we're faced with a new challenge. Critical time constraints. So, you know, why have this important project become a failure because of, I don't want to say arbitrary, but because of time restraints when these group of people are so close to reaching their commitment here. So I recommend option three, adopt a resolution to extend the date for three permit opportunities and expire that April 1st date and to add three additional core members for their permits. Thank you for your time. Our next speaker is Rhonda. Hi, my name is Rhonda Ernest and I am the CEO of Natural High. I am here strictly because number three, adding three more dispensaries was not the process. If you hold on and you extend the dates for the next three that's there, then there's only ten winners. I don't agree that you just automatically go to the RFQ line. That whole process was flawed and you guys know it. You guys know that that process was flawed. You know that a lot of the stuff that happened, people were predetermined. You guys know that there was people that wasn't even verified at the time and won a dispensary. There's a lot of things that happen in that RQ list that is not right. But outside of that, there was only 100 participants in the RQ. Now we have close to 500 verified court members. I wasn't around at the time that this process was taking place. So if you go to the, I don't even get the opportunity, but I'm out here working. I am operational right now. I've been operational for the last three years, but I don't get the opportunity. I thought the next time we decided to open up for new dispensaries, we're gonna have a new process. That's what we talked discussed on August 20th, 2025. I just don't think it's fair. And I understand there's a lot of capable people, you know, court members in this audience that is ready to go because they are already operational and I see them, I see you, I do. But what I'm saying is that it's not fair to us that got up and running. I was in the last cohort class, cohort four and I was operational six months later. I am running a non-store front dispensary and I want to be able to compete in compete in this process You guys keep going back to that old quick list that we know is crooked We know that there were some things done that shouldn't have been done and y'all keep pulling from that pile Well what part of the list is good what part of the list is is fair what part of the list is real Man, I am so disappointed We need a so disappointed. We have six more speakers, our next three speakers, Valerie Bird, Mike, and Malachi. Good evening, council members, and the new mayor. My name is Valerie Bird and I am the CEO and co-owner of Smooth Elevations delivery. Can it be delivered? Oh. Oh, okay. I'm sorry. Get your time. Oh, okay. I'm sorry. Get your time. Oh, okay. I'm here today to address the proposed addition of the three new dispensaries. Even in the event that the council decides to extend the existing process. I would like to express my support for the extension of the current grantees, especially those from the previous RFQ. However, in looking at that, I am not for adding the three new dispensaries from the RFQ. Definitely not. As someone who was involved in the RFQ process, I feel it's very important to bring to light some concerns. Regarding potential discrepancies, issues within the original process. Specifically, I am definitely concerned about certain individuals that have been awarded this dispensary license under the questionable circumstances. For one example, there was an individual that was awarded a RFQ dispensary license and currently the co-owner of Embark Dispensary. And his name is Mr. Johnson. When I was in the class in cohort three, I was verified and I was able to participate in the RFQ process. However, mysteriously when RFQ came out, this individual was awarded. He wasn't even verified. I do not understand how he was even awarded a license. So looking at that and the people that on the RFQ who believe that they should be the next three in line or get a dispensary, some of them not even operational. I'm operational. I'm working every day. And saying that, given these concerns, I believe it would be... Thank you for your comment, your time is complete. Greetings, Mayor and Council. I'm Mike Snell, one of the original 10 awarded the right to apply for dispensary. I'd like to start by saying I support option 3 with the caveat of I do not support the sunset or Exploration for those that already existing in the pipeline The integrity of this process as you've already heard repeatedly before me. It's already succumbed to it's not Existent so we've already been making changes on the fly as it is this should just be another change on the fly I just opened it all the way up. We're already limited due to Real estate that's available for this special use so there's no need to add any additional manufactured barriers I Was hesitant to come and speak on this personally because I would not recommend in this current state of this program. I would not recommend it to anyone new coming. It's built on unstable soil and that's not even a pun. My watch to fellow member, Miss Betty Mitchell put up her retirement in hopes to open and run a successful indoor cultivation business. That was unfortunately cut short due to a consistent airborne cancer cause and contaminant tested positive and every harvest after this stringent process of opening mind you. And it was a contaminant that was airborne stemming from the soil at a neighboring construction site during the development of the Marisol Valk village, one of Sacramento's gyms of equitable housing. So I've witnessed rapid fraud, the grants and loans issued with no corrective actions to rectify the lack of funding available to the earnest community members, trying to start a business and build that generational wealth that's promised. But with all roads leading to local oversight issues, including, I mean in particular the city management, as mentioned in this month's edition of Inside Sacramento, a column written by former councilmember Jeff Harris. Notes, Laney qualified for the interim manager because she knows where the skeletons are buried. Ain't that the truth? Now, one quick question is that from us. Thank you for your comment. Your time is complete. Our last four speakers, Malachi, Brenda, Jacob, and Carlos. Greetings Mr. Beyer and Councillor Neill, we are Malachi and the chief executive of the Agrivo Rise Holdings. I'm here to respectfully ask that you carefully consider the matter of the application for my store for our dispensary, on March 4th I submitted my application well before the April 1st deadline, yet I now find myself at the mercy of a policy interpretation that doesn't align with the practical realities of opening a dispensary. While the deadline states applicants must both apply and operate on April 1st, the reality is far different. The account for the fact that approvals take time and that the 180 day review period is not required. The city's policy does not adequately account for the fact that approvals take time and that the 180 day review period is not required. The city's policy does not adequately account for the fact that approvals take time and that the 180-day review period must be respected. I have submitted my application and I ask that you honor the full due process afforded to me and vote in favor of allowing my application to move forward. Over the past four years I've leveraged approximately 1.2 million in private capital secured state grants and spent more than 3,500 uncompensated hours negotiating with predators pushing through zoning barriers obtaining permits and now I'm building a storefront that is 90% complete. The construction is progressing rapidly and I'm on track to begin operation shortly. All of you have been provided with pictures and evidence of my progress. To deny me this opportunity now after all of this investment and progress would be a tragic disservice to the spirit of the core ordinance. Thank you for your consideration. next speaker Brenda. Good afternoon, the amicardians. Thank you for your consideration. Back speaker Brenda Good afternoon, ma'am McCarty and city council members. I am with the Brenda Davis Law Group And I'm here representing one of the in process participants arise holdings LLC We support the proposed resolution to extend the April 1 deadline by one year as As Mr. Armin has testified during previous public comments and today, the extension would allow Arise to complete the city's permit application process already well underway, and acquire the state license to operate the storefront dispensary. The application precedes the operation and has its own set of rules and deadlines, which arise has been diligently pursuing since winning the right to apply. Arise has never surrendered this right and has a conditional use permit in place, has 90% or more of its construction improvements completed, and has met the deadline of April 1, 2025 to apply for a BLLP. As of March 4, 2025, he has been waiting for the city to process that application. We ask you to consider the core promotes equity, revitalizing neighborhoods, adding jobs and tax revenues at a time when there seems to be little patience for equity in our national civic discourse. It's a mean season in many ways, and depriving a rise of the ability to finish what it started after considerable investment of sweat equity and over a million dollars in financials would create a severe hardship. As proposed, additional core applicants would not be harmed by the one-year extension of the deadline to April 1, 2026, because any new awardees would have five years to apply for a storefront dispensary and become operational. Once the applications have been approved, a benefit not currently available. We asked the council to approve the one-year extension or at least acknowledge that a rise has met the deadline to apply for the storefront. Thank you for your comment your time is complete. Jacob Smith and then Carlos Ramirez. Good afternoon mayor and council members. My name is Jacob Schmidt. I'm a dispensary owner and a homeowner in the city of Sacramento. I appreciate the opportunity to speak. After hearing the comments, the e-commerce, I want to voice strong support to extending Malachai's license and consider COVID-19 shut down. That definitely took a little bit time off their plate. Based off the e-commerce, malachai invested a 1.2 million into his business. He hasn't even opened yet. That does not include cost of inventory, staffing, marketing. That's the kind of commitment Sacramento deserves. At the same time, I'm asking you to protect locally small owned cannabis retailers, core and legacy license holders. This business, these businesses are the backbone of Sacramento cannabis industry and they are struggling. Also protecting current operators and new by implementing a 2000 foot buffer from dispensary to dispensary. This would give some protection from aggressive Starbucks style operators. The current market is oversaturated since the end of 22, the cannabis industry has been in a decline. Economic conditions have worsened and adding more stores will only pit operators against each other for the same limited dollar. It also stretches the city staff even thinner. For context, our employee headcount is down 35%. We are working harder with less. This is not sustainable. Please listen to the operators who are already here. We've invested in this city. We're weathering the downturn and we will want to be part of the solution. Thank you guys. Carlos Ramirez. Hello, Mayor City Council. My name is Carlos Ramirez and I am the Chief Compliance Officer for the Sanctuary. I've been in this position since recreational youth went legal, so I'm very familiar with the obstacles and burdens that new operators have to go through. And with that, I also support extending the time limit for the three core operators. One, because the extenuating circumstances that they've encountered can be addressed within a year. And two, as a matter of fairness, it seems that they've all made substantial progress in becoming operational. They've made substantial investments. So it would be unfair for these resources to be wasted. And for that reason, I support option two. Thank you. Mayor, we have no more public speakers. Okay. Thank you to the public and for staff for laying out these options. I do have a perspective on one of the three, but just wanted to give just, you know, back of the room observations for somebody who hasn't been here for the past few years while the City Council has lit on this valiantly. But just going back 15 years, you know, the city of Sacramento was one of the first cities that stepped up inside of Takeout of the Shadows of this industry and regulate and legalize this. I remember people thought that we were not doing it and they would have political suicide but supporting some of these ideas. But time has come where it's mainstream across California but across the nation. So, I'm certainly proud that the City of Sacramento did that. It's a tough industry, you know. I do know that what we've legalized marijuana, statewide sales in 2018, there's more illegal sales now that it's legal across the state. And so, to be in this business is really tough. So for you that are in this business or want to get in this business, hats off to you. Because this is not an easy industry. People are pulling back. So we do have some difficult issues. And on this one, specifically, I was really proud to look at the city of Sacramento and their core program, focusing on those who wanted to get into the game, who had been left out, didn't have, you know, institutional money behind them, weren't netbook kids, people slapping down, million dollar leases for their properties to step it up. So I do value and embrace what the city of Sacramento led by a current mayor and some people on this council stepped up and created this this program. It wasn't perfect. Nobody was gonna like the outcome but we had a process we went and had people participate. We had a neutral entity with the blinders pick the ones who they thought were the best entities to be in the process. Maybe someone would say we should have picked people out of the hat, what happy, but we had rules and we picked people from a list. So now we're three years later and people are coming up on these deadlines and none of these options have universal support here. If I look at everybody that spoke, somebody was against or four, all three of them. So there is no perfect solution that's going to make everybody happy. But I believe that the best option that we have is number three, where we'll be able to pick three additional individuals that were on the list, as well as giving the three individuals one more shot to finish their work and one more shot, because I think we've already, you know, really pushed the envelope as far as flexibility, not just patients, but fairness, because I think there's arguments on all sides on this. But, you know, none of these options again are perfect, but this is something I think gives us the best path going forward to continue this work as well as come up with the Ferris solution. So that's my perspective. Thank you. Councillor Mayeville. Thank you, Mayor. And I think that was a great articulation of kind of how we got here and appreciate that. I had some prepared comments, but as I was listening to everyone speak, I wanna say first thank you for coming here and for sharing your perspectives. And I know as he mentioned, everybody's got a very different opinion. I'm sure we can pull this whole room and find the difference of opinion. But I think in part of the reason why we're here is because this is what a lot of local governments have done since since the introduction of legalized cannabis industry and in 2016 with Prop 64 of course Sacramento led and many years before and created our industry But some of what's happened has been arbitrary just by a function of of process and time So initially when there were dispensaries opened and then all of a sudden the council at the time was like, well, we have 30, that's way too many. Moratorium was put in place, which led us to the place where we had 30 retail licenses. And then we got to a place where there was a recognition that we didn't have operators of color. We didn't have people who had been historically criminalized by the war on drugs, having an opportunity in the industry, which is where the core program came from, and with that came a promise, this idea that we're gonna get to parity, we're gonna try to get to 50% at least, and we're gonna try to make it as easy as possible for people to participate in the industry that normally wouldn't have that opportunity. And so the challenge that we find ourselves in is, we're also balancing the desires and needs of everyone else in the public and people who had fears about there being more dispensary licenses and what does that mean for my neighborhood? What does that mean for my community? And so that led to this well, let's just pick a number. The number was 10, right? We created that number and then and then deadlines were picked. We won't pick to deadline three years, right? Not necessarily based on how long it takes to open up a store. It's just based on this seems reasonable. And I don't think any of those decisions were necessarily wrong. It's just the nature of how the process worked and why we're here. But I also think that that's part of the reason why we're having an issue. It is now where we almost have people pick against each other because everybody wants an opportunity. Everybody wants an opportunity to participate. And I personally believe they should be given those opportunities and they can't. It's just not the reality. We only have X number of licenses. because everybody wants an opportunity. Everybody wants an opportunity to participate. And I personally believe they should be given those opportunities and they can't. It's just not the reality. We only have X number of licenses and you have to wait for your turn. And so I've been pretty vocal about this, that eventually some day down the line, I think that we as a council need to revisit this and have a real conversation about whether we should treat this industry like we treat every other business. We don't go into coffee shops, we don't go into other places and we say hey, you know, we regulate from land use. We say you can't be in this space with this sensitive use buffer, but we don't necessarily say you can't have a coffee shop, you're in a coffee shop right across the street. And so eventually maybe we'll get there. I do recognize there's differences between coffee and cannabis for the record. for now, this is where we're at. And so I'm just really, I'm hopeful that where we can get is. in cannabis for the record. But for now, this is where we're at. And so I'm just really, I'm hopeful that where we can get is trying to get a face-or-face or create opportunities. One of the things that really struck me as I was reading through the staff report and then listening to the stories of the people who are just about ready to open or they're on their way with their permits is, we ask ourselves the question of why are we here? Why is it taken so long? This happens in government all the time, right? We have a project or they're on their way with their permits is, we ask ourselves the question of like, why are we here? Why is it taken so long? This happens in government all the time, right? We have a project, we say, here's the project that we're gonna build, it's gonna take this amount of time and this is our budget for it. And then we start breaking into the soil and we realize that there's soil contamination. Oh, well, that's gonna change our process our timeline. Then we go into the wall and realize, oh, there's this bestest in the wall, and there's lead in the paint. And all of a sudden, this project that we thought was going to be this amount of money and this amount of time is now... in our timeline, then we go into the wall and realize, oh, there's this busiest in the wall, and there's lead in the paint. And all of a sudden, this project that we thought was going to be this amount of money and this amount of time is now, we've now extended our timeline and our budget. That happens all the time in government. And by the way, it happens all the time in all kinds of construction projects. It's just the reality of the world that we live in. That's part of the reason why we're here, right? You have people who have identified buildings oftentimes, if you're gonna find a building that's in the specific zone, with the specific sensitive use buffers that we have put on the building. That means there's only so many in the city. You can take the map and you put all the circles on it. There's only a handful of buildings and then those buildings have their own challenges. They're in industrial areas or commercial areas, which means they might have problems with the buildings or the building is not itself set up to be used as a dispensary and it takes a lot of time and money and energy to get it there. That's the, that is the... which means they might have problems with the buildings or the building is not itself set up to be used as a dispensary and it takes a lot of time and money and energy to get it there. That is the policy decisions that we've made. And so I think that we need to be thoughtful and give grace about that. It takes time. It also takes time to get through our own city permitting process. Right? It takes time for you to get your conditional use permit. It takes time for you to get your business operations permit. There's a lot that goes into it and it's not all just set in stone. There's a lot of steps. And so I see that and specific to Mr. Amin's location. I live very close to that. I drive by it every day. I know that you're under construction there. It looks like it's so close to being done. And what would be really heartbreaking for me is that if you spent four years of your time in over a million dollars and you're literally a few weeks away from opening and weed as a city to say nope, on to the next. I think that would be pretty devastating. With all of that said, I'm supportive of option three. I think that we need to not only make sure that the folks were just about ready have an opportunity to complete the process that they've been working on, but it's really unfair that we have people waiting in line too. And I see Alex this year, like I can completely understand your point of view. You're like, I've been waiting, I've been doing the right thing, I was in line and I just want an opportunity. It's going to take you time to get open to you. So for the public that may be watching, this doesn't mean that we're going to all of us that don't have three additional dispensaries open overnight. They're going to start their process. It's going to take time. And all of this is going to happen gradually. And I think that's a good thing. That's a good thing for communities. That's a good thing for the industry. It doesn't mean that you have everything popping up. and they were trying to plan around that. So I would be happy to make a motion that we move forward option 3 which would be to extend the date for one year from April 1, 2026 for the three applicants in line to change the applicant timeline to five years. Again, recognizing that maybe that three year time frame that we put on is maybe not long enough given all of the challenges that can happen with buildings in the industry and then to also direct staff to add those three additional Course or front permits to the next applicants in line. Thank you We have a motion a second council member bank Thanks mayor. I'll second that motion from council member maple And just really also really want to say thank you to councilman maple as well because she's worked in the industry before so she knows a lot of the nuances that perhaps some of other Councilmember like myself may not know about the nuances because I've not worked in the cannabis industry so I really appreciate just her knowledge. I really just wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you to all the residents that came out today are entrepreneurs who came out to really just share your insight and your experience of the core program in itself, permitting the process through the city the frustration that I'm hearing I really just appreciate I think it's important for us to hear that and to understand the lived experience that you go through to go through the city process So I just want to say thank you for that. I'll keep my comments short because I've already Second the motion on the table, but just really also just want to firm on record that, the core program started before I was a council member, and the intent of the core program was really to address the historical harm caused by the war on drugs, right? And particularly in disproportionate communities that's been affected by criminalization, right? That's the whole reason why the core program was started, and it wasn't perfect for sure. But I think for me at the end of the day, the question I ask myself is that are we as a city creating opportunities in the industry for these folks? Like, are we doing that? And probably answers no, we're not doing enough, right? I think it's gonna be really important just as we move forward that we're thoughtful because as I heard earlier, you know, so much dollars in investment has been made even for the core participants that's in the queue now. And so the reason why I support recommendation number three in the motion from council member Maple was because I feel like it gives the flexibility for the core members in the queue to complete and at the same time allows for new additional core members to start the permit process, right? Because it's gonna take a while. And so that's kind of where I'm at. I also know that as a city, there's still a lot that we have to do in terms of just cannabis as well. And I look forward to learning alongside my colleagues, hearing from the advocates on how we move forward because it's still the beginning. Like all this work, it's still the beginning and I anticipate there's going to be studies. We're going to come back here again. Hopefully the three folks are in the queue. Hopefully we get a complete, but I'm not going to say that they might complete it. I don't know. I don't know because I'm not a business owner and I feel like what if something else happens, right? But I think making sure that we're monitoring the progress is important and if they're making progress, I think that's really, really important to make sure that we don't stop the process and we do everything we can to make sure that they get to the finish line. So those are all my comments, Mayor, and I'll second the motion. Thank you, Councillor McKapplin. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, everyone, for the comments. It's always helpful reminding about how construction starts and it never ends on time. A couple of things that maybe want us to think about and the motion and the seconder if they wouldn't mind considering because I'm good with the year extension. What I'd hope for is that we can get a six-month potential checkup of what's the progress with the three that we gave the year extension. I think it would be good because either they're making progress or they're not. And then I have a little angst with approving the next three, but I'm hoping we can add a little extra to option three because we created the RFP five years ago. We have new players in the industry that weren't able to apply and are not part of the core that I think we have to be mindful of. So I would like maybe as a mid that we approve these next three. But then that RFP list goes away and we look for the office of cannabis to come back. Yes, I accept that absolutely I'm comfortable with the first part. I think that's a great to do a six month check in. And then I know that there's a lot of things related to cannabis that are going to be coming to long-ledge. And so the next part of your comments, I think, will be addressed as well. Okay. Yeah, because I can't support beyond today the list that was created five years ago that doesn't look at the landscape of what has happened in the meantime. So with that, I know how things I'm supportive of that. I just want to see a six-month check-in and then I look forward to hearing back. Welcome out to the city of Sacramento who is our new cannabis manager, Office of Cannabis Management from Michigan. So to our one weather. Look forward to actually him having input on what the next process is. So thank you for everybody that came out today. Nothing's ever perfect, but I think we can try and find a balance on how we move forward. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor McGarae. Thank you, Mayor. First, one, I'll be supporting the motion today. And primarily, I want to thank Alexis Angulio for her comments. And her taking the time actually to kind of sit down and talk through the entire process and what everyone goes through to prepare for this process. And you know, one of the reasons I'm supporting this here today is one is we, the government or a regulator sends market signals and people are making decisions and investments based on those issues, they're preparing, they're financing, they're talking to people well before they even come to our checklist. And so I think it's important for us as we move forward that whether you agree with the policy of cannabis or not, that at least that folks who are investing their time and their energy, that there's a fairness in understanding how it goes through. Now where I think Council Member Maples' comments are, right on, I had written these down as that there's assumptions made at times on the timing of what it takes to accomplish these. The earlier permits given the zoning were probably the easier buildings, easier facilities to locate and work with and the limitations on zoning make it difficult for identifying other real estate. And the problem with the zoning, and I'll talk a little bit more about that later, is that it also creates this artificial market. And we saw it when we had, you know, the, on the cultivation side. The cultivation side created this very inflated market. And as soon as we put a cap in place, and that cap was met, the property value is all of a sudden changed back to the normal marketplace. So there is a place for regulation, and there is a place for making sure that that regulation is not overly restricted to make those false marketplaces. So I think one, I hope the Law and Luch Committee addresses the zoning piece for the issue of the folks that are getting through the process. They've gone through so much investment at this point that I think it's important not to end up with stranded assets and some costs. I think it probably benefits not only them but the city to make sure that those just get done. If not those neighbors adjacent to those vacant buildings are going to be dealt with those buildings themselves. So there's that issue. And then as far as for the new three, my only concern and hesitation here, and this is, I'd like staff to at least speak at the record here if you could come. And I brought this up last time we talked about the expand looking at additional permits. What does staff have the capacity to be vigilant in monitoring and again, there's an assumption that those that are applying are ready to go and that they've got their, you know, tees crossed in their eyes dotted and staff both at the code level as well as at the permitting level, finance level are they prepared and able to manage those next three applicants? Because that I think has been the consistent concern about where the city is in making sure that they can follow through on that. There it goes. So yes, we do have the capacity because it'll be three additional permits. And as council member Maple stated, it's gradual, so it's over time. So over time, hopefully, with the increasing number of permits, look at our staffing, but right now we could handle it in additional three permits. Good, thank you. And that's different than where it was before, where we had a big influx of multiple applicants all at once. And I think that's where the city found itself in a quagmire. It's trying to figure out how to manage that, the larger influx early on. The last thing, and I'd be remiss if I didn't bring this up, one thing moving forward, we're discussing dispensaries today. And that's important to make a distinction. There's a CUP process, there's a public process for communities, adjacent neighbors, to engage and that process to make sure that there's any unintended consequences even as issues of parking, you know, get resolved. But what I worry here, and I intend to bring this up again, and I hope the Long-Ledge Committee considered this because I did receive information and concerns from child action about our current zoning. And that is in last year the council took action in a very split 5-4 decision to allow smoke lounges. That dispensaries who meet certain requirements could become smoke lounges. And I do worry that the zoning and if dispensary permits are processed and a dispensary owner decides to become a smoke lounge. And they're allowed to be in or near any sensitive use, I'm not just going to use child care centers, but a sensitive use. Then all of a sudden now it's almost a bait and switch where you can become dispensary and then later without the CUP process Become a smoke launch and that I think is a problem So today we're just discussing dispensaries, but I want to put make sure that That moving forward that we addressed the issue of That of the issue of a converting places in the smoke lounges so So this I think, you know, I do believe that, as mentioned earlier, staff needs to look at the RFP process to ensure that we are getting those that are most ready, that are incapable of executing that. I think the timeline should be be reviewed because absent changes in different types of locations in the city. We're going to find that most of the buildings that they're looking at are buildings that are not going to be ready in a three-year time frame. They're going to have issues to ris off. So thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Councillor Rogenis. Thank you, Mayor. I'm in support of the motion as well. Supporting option three, I think it does create a win-win situation all the way around. I think I'm just trying to be clear that the concern that I heard from the speakers about the process that we have the venue to be able to address that properly. And I think you've been talking about that through a and ledge and I just want to make sure that that addresses the declining industry and also the flawed process that seem to exhibit so much anger among those who are going through the cannabis process. So I just wanted to make sure that this is the right place for those concerns and that we can spend time and address it where it's the only topic that's on the subject on the matter and it creates more of a workshop than just come in and just. Yeah, well. Yeah, yeah, so we'll have Lene address both those. Okay, great. Councillor Diccon. Councillor Diccon. Thank you, Mayor. I don't feel as if I'm in position to comment on the process that the council adopted in the past or what's transpired to lead to where we are this afternoon and consideration of this. And I see a variety of equities. I think the mayor noted that there are those here in supporter opposition to each of the different alternatives to there's no real suspense here obviously we can all count. And I intend especially with the Cotta Souls attached by council member Kaplan to support the motion. But I do want to say that my sense of community sentiment in North Sacramento and that is one of the equities as far as I'm concerned in addition to the others that should be including in the consideration here. The sentiment in North Sacramento is not for additional. that should be included in the consideration here. The sentiment in North Sacramento is not for additional cannabis related businesses of any kind. And I know one of these applicants is seeking to locate there and that's part of this. as we go into this discussion in the future of relooking at the zoning approach and whether conditional use permit should be required and other elements of that, it is something that certainly I will bear in mind as I listen to those whom I have the privilege of representing with respect to their views on this subject as well. So well I do think that it's reasonable and fair to allow those who are hopefully on the cost of completing the process and opening their businesses to do so. I think it is fair and reasonable to let the next three begin the process. I think there are also limitations on that, at least in so far as I detect community sentiment in my part of the city as we examine these issues in the months to come. Thanks. Thank you, City Manager. Thank you. The first thing I want to clarify is we're going to need to do an ordinance change for the additional three and talk to the Chair of the Law and Legislation Committee and we're going to come straight back to Council for that. We'll do a pass in full so that we don't have to take the time for P.F.P. So that should be fairly quick. I want to remind people that we're coming back to the law and legislation committee with the zoning changes that we're promised for the spring. Our planning staff has been working diligently through the fall to go through their process. They will come back with their recommendations. You may see that staff's recommendations will differ from that of the planning and design commission. Our goal is to reduce the amount of barriers to opening up. staff's recommendations will differ from that of the Planning and Design Commission. Our goal is to reduce the amount of barriers to opening up and to make it available in more places in the city so that we don't have only certain districts where this can happen. And Council Member Jennings, I'd be more than happy as I have documented already for the community the process by which the RFP took place. How the Raiders were selected. Who knew what when. I had no idea who was what number for the entirety of the process, the numbers were revealed after they were ranked. And we can share that process with you. And I think that what we have looked at are what are other opportunities for any future permits that might become available that have some criteria and then it becomes more of a lottery system. But we would want to seek input from our community also best practices from other communities that have done this. There is no perfect process that people don't like the outcome when they're not the winner. And that just makes it hard for anybody who's administering the process. So happy to do any and all of that in a very public manner. Okay, thank you. With that we have a motion and a second. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any no's or abstentions? Seeing none, hearing none, measure passes 9-0. Oh, aye. Nice. Nice. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks. Thank you. I'm going to go to the fire in the middle of that. Oh, hey, nice. Mayor, we have three speakers for matters that are not on the agenda. Our three speakers are MacWorthy, Mike Snell and Zion. I had an attorney to ask me why I recruit. Okay if we can get people in the council chambers to please take the conversations outside. Mr. Mcworthy, you may start. While I refer to this administration a few years ago as a whole house government, and you listen to it, there's not a number of people come up here, and what they are saying would happen to them. I would have to get a deposition on those people if I can get the right attorney to go to court. Now people here talked about claims. I'm not going under $100 million. People, we talk about some big stuff. Now, when you were here last Tuesday, when we saw the group of black people show up Out here okay now who Went out You Wanted over here any woman around now when the the previous trick here was mayor Say we saw y'all and junior. Okay, now you go back to the street sense when a Pimp chooses the whole way he catch that, when you're young and beautiful. So they can't bring them here. And then when we look at the authors here, they ask from the board of education and the one-learn board of education, what can they bring to the podium? Nothing. I saw them down the line. The vote of the education. Then you got a personal here saying, I'm at a training. And here you got an attorney said here, didn't even know when the brown hat was right there. They say, she'd be worked out in court on the oath. And we may move the city. Of that, you're sitting at Ghamu, because you got too many liars there and a lot because you are ignorant. How can this city move? And not go move. Roger. not go move because you got too many liars sit there and lie because you are ignorant. How can this city move? Not go move. Roger you got a job in front of you. Yes, stick around. I'll stick around. I'll go back here. Mike, smell? Greetings. So the last thing I just didn't get to touch on in regards to the ongoing conversation that I'm glad you, you spotlighted Councilmember Jennings with rectifying how do we do better, right, from the previous process. And so with, I think we will discover that a key thing that we should implement as a note, at least a secondary review of the applicants, that was not the process to begin with. It was all the applicants were just scored, and then the highest score got the awards, and that unfortunately opened the floodgates for fraudulent applicants that can embellish the entire application and get awarded an opportunity that they don't deserve. And so it's important to key in on that because cities like the city of Fresno were able to revoke applicants or applications before issuing condition use permits due to a process like that. They were able to discover inconsistencies within application or even information that wasn't revealed as such as, I believe, one of the applicants they had some felony charge for something that was criminal, I mean that was violent. So it's issues like that that we could have easily steered away from deteriorating the integrity of our program. And then lastly, just it's going to come up due to the budget. What is the efficacy of this program on the intended communities, right? So for instance, I was an owner, but now there's only one black owner. There will be two with or possibly three with the upcoming, but with the current landscape, what is the efficacy of this program to ensure the longevity and its and its intended purpose that's all Hi on Hi everyone again, so when we fall for cannabis equity why are we talking about right now? We have with Malakai and Brenda, so we can support the community that have been affected by war in drug. So they were able to give us the fund, whatever, $3 million, but right now 90% of it, if we check 80% of it, it spent somewhere else, but in our community. And that is the case with everything else. We fight for fun, we fight for space, and once we get it, we don't benefit everybody else, every other community benefit for our fight but ourselves. Right now, when we fought for cannabis equity, why we even fought for cannabis equity to start with because of dispensary? I didn't even get it. Everybody else who did not even supposed to qualify, they qualified them. That shouldn't have been from the beginning red flagged. That's how they do it. They we fight as black people community and the create the system so we don't benefit from that system that we fought for. That needs to be stopped. The needs to be stopped because it's not fair every time we black people, we don't have no racial equity. They put red lining so we don't get no grants, no loans. Now the loan is actually holding us hostage. They couldn't even give me my grant to be able to get to the next step because they said I haven't paid the loan, which I paid the loan, they still didn't give me. Oh, we didn't move to the next tier, they still didn't give us the grant. But where is it? It's going somewhere else. Please, I need you to take how many percentage of the fund is going to the black community or the black businesses. You will be shocked. Not even 0% of it coming to us. But we are being used to get the fund, but it's not coming to us. And I am tired of it, honestly. So you guys need to go and look at it. Thank you for your comment. Your time is complete. Thank Thank you for your comment. Your time is complete. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Zion. Um. comment your time is complete. Thank you for your comment your time is complete. Thank you. Thank you, Zion. All right, so we are adjourning this meeting at 448 and then we will resume the 5 p.m. meeting at 515. Thank you.