City Council Meeting December 6, 2010

0:00:06welcome to the this meeting of the El Cerrito city council this may be more people than we have ever had before thank you all for being here and it's a joyous occasion um so with that we all uh start with roll call please councilmember Jones here councilmember Lyman councilmember Potter here mayor

0:00:28Pro tem Chang here mayor Abelson here uh the next item on the agenda is the pledge of allegiance to the flag and that will be led by councilmember Lyman I pledge allegiance of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and justice for all

0:01:01we'll begin with staff Communications and announcements are there any Council Communications I have one you have some okay thank you I just wanted to mention um we're entering the the time of year that celebrates uh Good Will to all and I just wanted to mention that um

0:01:24particularly at the senior center and the child care center that our employees and volunteers are very sensitive to maybe some individuals that aren't feeling so good will and and celebratory uh during the year that they go above and beyond to try to correct that and

0:01:45and see that these people have that they come into contact with and serve every day are having a better time in the year so I'd just like to thank our staff this happens year in and year out and uh I just think they do a real good job in that and want to uh thank them for all

0:02:02their efforts of going beyond their normal course of business thank you yes I wanted to report out for the arts and culture commission and it occurred to me that the arts and culture commission has been in existence for eight years and I've been the only city council liaison to that commission and

0:02:21since we haven't made our new assignments for the coming year I have prepared a report out to give a progress report on the San Pablo Avenue public art project and have made a copy for staff and the council the culture arts and culture commission met on November

0:02:3917th and reviewed icons for the San Pablo Avenue public art project and appointed a subcommittee to work with the artists to develop a final design um the city council approved that contract with the artist on February 16th of this year and we had anticipated the project

0:02:57would be complete by the fall of 2010.

0:03:01however there have been some delays and we're now expecting complete installation by the end of the summer in 2011.

0:03:09and the arts and culture commission will continue to meet at its regular monthly meeting which is the third Wednesday of the month so upcoming meetings to continue work on the project are December 15th and January 19th and it's anticipated that um a design proposal will be finalized and

0:03:28brought to the commission at their meeting on February 16th for consideration of the arts and culture commission and that a presentation of that final proposal would come to this city council in March I've attached to the um report a list of 45 conceptual icons

0:03:47that were approved by the commission at their last meeting and also examples of visuals that go with just a few of those I wanted to let everyone know and we're really fortunate to have a full house that the process for the public art project would be greatly enhanced by

0:04:03more public participation so folks who can attend the meetings that will be December 15th and January 19th and February 16th are encouraged to do so the commission meets here in City Hall upstairs in the hillside conference room at seven o'clock in the evening and in addition I wanted to note that

0:04:24the San Pablo Avenue art project is the first art project the city's undertaking under the new ordinance and I anticipate will increasingly have more of these types of projects and I wanted to present the idea that as we continue to recruit for the arts and culture

0:04:40Commissioners that we think about actively recruiting people who have experience in the RFP process proposal ranking and decision making for public art projects so it's been a pleasure to serve on the arts and culture commission and I look forward to seeing this project in its

0:04:58final State when everybody else can enjoy it on San Pablo Avenue are there any questions so I attended as liaison to the design review board last Wednesday where the design review got to wrap up comments on the coming Safeway at Del Norte BART station and they have been doing a great

0:05:21job basically giving very detailed comments having reviewed the proposed plans for the Safeway that's to reuse the target as a safe way over five meetings and Designs are coming along very well and really suit I think El Cerrito's character and and most importantly

0:05:39designing in and a cafe space that opens up onto the Ohlone Greenway which will really benefit folks using that stretch of a Loney Greenway there's also initial comments that they gave on the recycling center which is coming the designs are our last council meeting reapproved the

0:06:03um a contract with the consultants and um and they're they're now working on giving working on the design itself so that's it thanks okay I have a couple of things I'd like to mention first of all on Saturday if you're not too busy you might want to stop by the community center between the

0:06:26hours of 9 A.M and 11 A.M for our annual pancake breakfast the proceeds from this event will raise money for the David Hunter memorial fund which helps to pay for scholarships for those who are unable to afford to attend our classes and I and besides that you'll get a

0:06:47really delightful breakfast the cost is eight dollars and I happen to have tickets so see me afterwards and I'd be happy to sell you some and you can also get them at the door I also attended the mayor's conference this month and there was a presentation by the San Francisco Bay conservation

0:07:10and development Commission on the topic really was see level rising and it's a very um you know difficult topic but one of the things that a lot of people were have been concerned about recently was whether or not bcdc as they're known is going to be taking over the control of

0:07:34the land right next to the Bay which will be flooded and therefore not usable and they pretty well tried to assure people that that would not happen um so I think that's the bottom line about that I also went to the legislative briefings that were held in Sacramento by the league of California

0:07:56cities on all the different pieces of legislation that were passed in the past year that will affect cities and rather than go through this whole list which I don't think you all want to hear I thought I would give this report to the city clerk who can put it in our packet

0:08:14and I see smiling faces already I'll do that and um that's the end of my reports are there any staff reports okay I see that we've got an extra staff person with us tonight so uh Sophie Hannan and I think she's the most attractive person in the room [Applause] and

0:08:43um so the next item that we will go to is let's see my agenda just got a little out of order here there is um a present a very special presentation uh it really gives me a great uh it's a real privilege to be able to participate in this several different people have been involved

0:09:07in creating this Proclamation and um so I would like to read it and then I would like to ask Tom panas and um members of sukurikai especially Kimmy Honda and um if if Rich farkey would like to come up as president of the historical society that would be uh delightful and then I would

0:09:40especially uh encourage you all to join me in welcoming the daughter of Fred karamatsu whose name is Karen coromatsu and she's made a special trip over here for this presentation from where she lives in Marin County so um and the reason that we're doing this Proclamation is really to remember the

0:10:05many um people who were involved in the nursery business in El Cerrito in the Japanese Community who were interred during World War II and um Fred thought on behalf of them and now I'm just going to read this if you'll bear with me whereas on February 19 1942 President

0:10:29Franklin D Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 authorizing the Secretary of award to prescribe certain areas as military zones and on May the 3rd General John DeWitt ordered anyone who had at least one great great grandparent born in Japan to report on May the 9th to assembly Sinners as a

0:10:54Prelude to being removed to an internment camp this order leading to the incarceration of more than 120 000 Japanese Americans in the Western United States including many residents of El Cerrito individuals who were vital to the growth and economy of El Cerrito

0:11:12who were leaders in the nursery community and who were among the earliest residents of El Cerrito and whereas Fred coramatsu and East Bay resident refused to report to us Assembly Center because he felt people should have a fair trial and a chance to defend their loyalty at court in a

0:11:30democratic way and whereas Fred coromatsu was convicted in federal court on September the 8th 1942 for a violation of public law number 503 which criminalized violations of military order years issued under the authority of Executive Order 9066 and his conviction was subsequently upheld by

0:11:53the U.S Supreme Court and whereas in the early 1980s it was discovered that the U.S government had deliberately suppressed documents which concluded that Japanese American citizens posed no security risk but the military had lied to the Supreme Court and the government

0:12:12lawyers had knowingly made false arguments and whereas on November the 2nd excuse me November the 10th 1983 the U.S District Court in San Francisco formally vacated the conviction of Fred coromatsu and Mr koramatsu then devoted the balance of his life to educating

0:12:34Americans about civil liberties and whereas President Clinton awarded the presidential medal of freedom the highest civilian honor in the United States to Fred coromatsu in 1998 saying in the long history of our country's constant search for justice some names of ordinary citizens stand for millions

0:12:56of Souls fussy Brown parks koromatsu and whereas Fred koromatsu died on March 30th 2005 at the age of 86 and on September 26 2010 Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law assembly Bill 1775 establishing January 30th the birthday of Fred kormatsu as Fred koromatsu day of civil liberties

0:13:25and the constitution in the state of California now therefore be it resolved that the city of El Cerrito hereby honors Fred coromatsu by proclaiming January 30th 2011 as Fred cormott today in the city of El Cerrito and encourages all residents to contemplate the courage

0:13:46displayed by Mr koramatsu his life story and the circumstances in his tireless Devotion to educating others about civil liberties um I think what we need to do first is pass this resolution if the council is so willing and then we'll do the presentation so move second

0:14:06any discussion all in favor uh any opposition or abstentions motion carries unanimously with that if the council wishes thank you without if the council would like to join me we'll go down and do a presentation to Karen coromatsu and if the people I mentioned earlier would

0:14:30care to join in that would be great a little injury on the way thank you thank you very much on behalf of the Fred coromatsu family I would like to sincerely thank mayor Abelson and the El Cerrito city council for issuing this special Proclamation honoring my father and in recognition of

0:16:17Fred karamatsu day of civil liberties in the constitution on January 30th 2011.

0:16:23it is heartwarming to have this tribute in honor of my father after his original 1944 U.S Supreme Court conviction was overturned in 1983. my father's mission was education he felt that in order for the 1942 Japanese-American incarceration not to happen again in this country

0:16:46my father focused on telling his story of his fight for justice and the story of the Injustice that anyone of Japanese ancestry suffered during World War II just because they looked like the enemy the significance of Fred cormott today is the opportunity for education to

0:17:07bring focus on how one person can make a difference and encourage discussions of how my father's story and that of the Japanese-American incarceration relates to the issues of our civil liberties and the Constitution today I would also like to thank Tom panis director of the historical society and

0:17:27the board for being instrumental in helping to create this Proclamation and also for his work in documenting the Japanese American Heritage in El Cerrito unfortunately most Americans don't study their own history and we need our local historical societies to help remind us of our past

0:17:47and educate for the future in 2009 I co-founded the Fred T kormatsu Institute for civil rights and education in San Francisco and ever since the governor signed the legislative Bill designating January 30th in perpetuity Fred kormatsu day we have been very busy

0:18:04working on curriculum package kindergarten through 12th grade for teachers that we are planning to have ready for distribution beginning of January 2011.

0:18:16Ling Liu our koromatsu Institute director will be outreaching to El Cerritos school district and please let us know if there is anyone in particular that we should contact I would like to end with a quote my father often said when you see something wrong don't be afraid to speak up

0:18:37thank you [Applause] [Music] [Applause] thank you very much the next item is oral Communications from the public so this is an opportunity for members of the public to speak on items not on the agenda and if you would like to speak about uh any in Wrecking in recognition of any of

0:19:12the council members this would be an appropriate time to do that I believe is that right Cheryl yes I got that one right okay thank you so uh if you haven't already filled out a speaker's slip this would be a great time to do so otherwise we'll start calling names we

0:19:27have four we have four speaker slips the first is Richard lay good evening Matt Amir distinguished council members my name is Richard Lee I reside at [address removed] within the El Cerrito sphere of influence in East Richmond Heights my background is I'm a credit union CEO

0:19:57retired and I'm a credit Ecom I was a credit Economist for the economics uh program of the U.S government in the Western Hemisphere my subject is why El Cerrito City should Annex its East Richmond Heights fear of influence into its City boundaries El Cerrito city has exclusive rights to

0:20:27Annex this neighborhood with which no other city holds these East Richmond Heights residents pay 9 million 813 777 in property taxes according to the Senior Management analyst CAO of Contra Costa County I've submitted with my packet a letter of verification to that

0:20:53end applying the current El Cerrito general fund retention of 22 percent of property taxes to the nine million eight hundred and thirteen thousand provides an additional 2 million one hundred and fifty nine thousand two hundred and fifty one dollars to the El Cerrito general fund

0:21:16annually if this annexation is accomplished that's applying the 22 retention rate that I saw in your in your documents this additional funding from annexation could support replacing the drawn down Reserves and in looking at your budget last year I I believe you're withdrew something from the

0:21:45reserves of half a million dollars also this could help relieve and I don't have the figure on it any on uh funded liability the city may be experiencing due to its uh employee pension fund it would it's maintaining current police Staffing for special investigations

0:22:16neighborhood bicycle Patrol units controlling crime and gang prevention preventing the reduction preventing the reduction of fire and police Staffing preventing Forest furloughs of non-sworn employees and restoring services that already have been cut the sphere of influence is fully

0:22:44developed with respect to roads sewage street lights Etc and thus does not require Capital Improvements El Cerrito City Fire Chiefs in the past have strongly recommended this annexation which would give them abatement authority to protect current El Cerrito residents from the

0:23:09winds that blow down from the crest through East Richmond Heights to the city of El Cerrito excuse me there's one thing I forgot to mention and that is that you have three minutes minutes which have expired so if you could wrap up pretty quickly that would be great

0:23:24thank you thank you crime in East Richmond Heights is extremely low as reported in the last nine months by the Contra Costa County Sheriff's records department I've included that at that communication from the sheriff department in the packet East Richmond Heights sphere of

0:23:44influence contains 1406 housing units according to the 2000 census in the past the city has supported annexation in previous resolutions we feel this is a win-win situation for the city of El Cerrito and the residents of your sphere of influence thanks for listening

0:24:11questions an opportunity to speak it's not a dialogue okay then thank you thanks so much Nick concerto good evening Madam mayor and Council my name is Nick ronketto I am the new vice president for firefighters local 12 30 and I represent your firefighters I want

0:24:41to come here tonight to introduce myself um see you guys in person I've met a couple of you I represent uh your firefighters along with Pinal and Rodeo Hercules firefighters and I've been a firefighter in Rodeo Hercules for 23 plus years so I'm familiar with the West

0:24:56End and its issues and situations that we have out here I have known Chief Maple for many years and I believe that we have already established a great working relationship this is Gary Johnson a firefighter who is the representative for your firefighters and him and I are available

0:25:1124 7. should there be any problems or any needs to talk or have any questions we're there anytime you need so I just want to come introduce myself and say hi and see if you guys have any questions or same thing so okay thank you thank you Jane Barky good evening my name is Jane Barkey I

0:25:37reside in El Cerrito and it's wonderful to come right after the firefighters I'm here representing sir Optimus International of El Cerrito and also I want to tell you that as part of the El Cerrito Community Foundation we put up the shunda shoddy holiday display I want

0:25:55everyone to know that it is going up on Saturday December 18th the last day to see it with the lights of music will be Sunday December 26th we will be taking it down on Monday the 27th and I want you to realize we would not be able to do this without the firefighters you

0:26:14just saw because local 1230 has helped us every single year going back to when chunashati himself used to put it up on his property and without them there's no way I could carry those camels takes through five of them to carry a camel okay if you would like to donate

0:26:34there'll be an article in the newspaper for Martin snap this weekend it will tell you all about it and I also want you to start thinking in the community of stepping forward and doing some of the work some of us are starting to get a wee bit older so uh think about maybe being on a

0:26:53committee and right now I'm spending a lot of time redressing three life-size wise men so I'd like somebody else to step forward thank you very much Al Miller good evening mayor Abelson council members Al Miller [address removed] I just wanted to take a minute to

0:27:17acknowledge the eight years of service of council member Potter before she leaves and I can't lecture her anymore too many of us that live in the city I think don't realize the sacrifice that individual members like yourselves make when you accept the responsibility of

0:27:38being our city council members uh not only is it a responsibility for yourselves individually but your family's uh lose a lot of your time and we don't realize the impact that they can have on a way it's almost like you're signing up for the military only when you deploy you don't go overseas

0:27:57you don't really leave town you just leave in move into your cocoon where you do your homework you read your packets you do your studying and then you come back out our member of your family getting back to council member Potter I'd like to acknowledge her consistent

0:28:15and knowledgeable contributions over the years it's always although it doesn't happen very often I find that you know I attend a lot of the meetings that it's very enjoyable when you do kind of into kind of the minor arguments that you get to see the the reasoned approaches that come out of

0:28:34some of you and some of the unreasoned approaches but I enjoyed Sandy's the best because she always seems to remember what she said at the last meeting or a year ago when the subject came up and she's very consistent which is very difficult to do but anyway Sandy four all the time

0:28:50you've put in for your dedication and commitment to the city and what you've done thank you very much [Applause] [Music] thank you we have no other speakers for General comment but one more for councilmember Potter okay thank you um the next item then on the agenda is the recognition of city

0:29:21council member leaving office pardon me I'm sorry this one was the recognition of city council member leaving office so it's are there any other yes we have two other speakers yes we have two of the speakers Jan Bridges Sandy I too want to thank you are you connected

0:29:5529-year resident of El Cerrito I want to thank you for your eight long years of dedication to the city of El Cerrito you know you've done a lot of good for our city um some of these things are very tangible I know I'm gonna start crying you probably will too um

0:30:14you know you hired up our police force you built this beautiful building you gave us a very nice um place to go to in the down on San Pablo Avenue with our new theater um you've done some very good work um that'll be leaving a legacy for other council members things like the work you

0:30:36did on our commissions one of the things that was one of Al's favorite things was uh the the code of ethics for our city council that you developed Janet was a big part of these things too the work on San Pablo Avenue will be there forever for all of us to enjoy

0:30:56you've helped pass measures that have fixed not only San Pablo Avenue but also our creeks in our beautiful pool and you didn't do a lot of self-sacrifice you had young children when you came on this Council and I want to really thank you for all you've done thank you

0:31:18[Applause] John Frankel good evening council members my name is John Frankel District representative for Senator Mark sonier and Mark sent me out tonight to make sure that we extend our sincerest appreci appreciation uh for the work of council member Potter and

0:31:45also uh let the returning and uh new new council members know we look forward to working with uh with everyone in the coming days and months so thank you very much no other speakers at this time okay with that we'll um uh turn this over to the council and um I guess I'll lead the way if that's

0:32:07okay in making comments about Sandy I suspect that of the people on the council I may have known Sandy the longest although not as long as she was involved in the city because I happen to vaguely remember that Sandy in 1995 was on the Redevelopment advisory committee if I got is that the

0:32:34right name okay which has since disbanded which is why many of you probably have never heard of it um so she was on that and then in um it's in a 06 in 1996. in 1996 Sandy got on the Planning Commission in 1999 I got on the Planning Commission and that was when I met Sandy and

0:33:02Leticia Moore was already on the Planning Commission and Steve price who I see in the back was also on and some other good folks and we had a grand time on the Planning Commission and Sandy was a very much an integral part of that grand time one of the things that

0:33:22happened during that period of time was that the general plan that we have today was written I think that was probably the most noticeable notable thing the other thing was the approval of the current Plaza which there had been many attempts prior to that to to do but

0:33:41anyway it happened in those days then one by one some of us moved on to the council I actually was the first one to leave and then I think Sandy was next Leticia was next excuse me and then Sandy was in next and that was in 19 or 2002 excuse me so um so Sandy has been

0:34:03on this Council since 2002 but she's actually been serving our city since 1995. and she's been a real team player along the way she's the person on the on the council or the commission or the whatever that makes you want to come back um and a lot of you wouldn't probably

0:34:25know this but she's the social director for our Council really sound like a lot but you know what it really is a lot but because it's what I think um makes means the difference between you know you vote on something and then you go home late at night and you just think

0:34:46about how tired you are or something but with Sandy around you don't really get to do that because what you do is you're figuring out you know the next time we're going to make cookies together or something and seeing if the guys are going to get their cookies in

0:35:02um so we're gonna have a hard time now without Sandy because how are the guy how are we going to know the guys are going to get their cookies in that that anyway it's um it's been a real pleasure um Sandy working with you and I think on a technical level the thing that I'm

0:35:21personally going to miss more than anything is your knowledge about issues surrounding sequa and um water issues which from time to time do come up on our Council and you're always there and you've always been there and you've always made a really positive significant difference

0:35:39and I'd like to thank you for all of the work that you have done and making El Cerrito a better place so with that I'll turn it over to other council members maybe we'll start with you Bill a few sure thank you I've served with Sandy on the on the council for six years and I've got to

0:35:59say it's been very enjoyable first and foremost though about above anything else Sandy is a very nice genuine person and at the core a very solid and strong individual over the past six years I've come to respect Sandy on the council for a number of things and I'd

0:36:22like to highlight a few of them here she is really good at working to find Solutions and she doesn't have too much tolerance for conflict her she would work very hard to find solutions that would resolve the issue and we could go forward and this approach has helped the city

0:36:44out in two instances I know maybe even keeping us out of of litigation and lawsuits so her approach really kept us on track in that regard in particular when Sandy has been mayor and even when she hasn't been uh she really knows how to summarize the core issues and ideas presented when

0:37:11discussing the the topics and Sandy probably more than most of us in my opinion kept us on track and forced and focused towards the solution as the liaison with the Arts committee she's assisted that group in the Progressive growth of art activities in general that we've seen and that's

0:37:31really picked up the last three or four years in part because of Sandy's work and also with a very interesting and dedicated art Commission uh committee excuse me uh she's always the one that keeps us informed on the school district issues and how they relate to El Cerrito

0:37:54and she's also a great supporter by the way of our public school system in El Cerrito in particular and finally it was mentioned before that uh I greatly respect her expertise in sequa and environmental impact issues this has been especially valuable on issues that's come before us considering

0:38:21land use and development so I have sat with her as funny we were talking but four out of the six years Sandy has been at my side just the way the rotation comes up so it I've noticed when you sit next to somebody you notice a few things but uh first first of all

0:38:40she's always prepared and she's always thoughtful on the issues she she listens to people and comes forward and gives some really thoughtful opinions and thought out ideas and uh during the meetings especially when I was mayor of the first term she kept me on track uh it may not look all

0:39:01that difficult to run a meeting but it is because uh you're always thinking ahead of what we have to do and trying to listen at the same time and occasionally at least in my case I would lose where we were on the agenda but Sandy was always there to to help me out

0:39:18but what's real interesting sitting next to Sandy especially at times when something has raised their ire her her the temperature it's really entertaining um you can really tell I I don't know you know how it used to be the cars of these days don't do this but you know

0:39:39how you would turn the car and sometimes the starter wouldn't wouldn't catch well when something's bothering Sandy that's what goes on here and you can hear and it's re it is I found it very entertaining but especially when I was presenting an idea and I'd start to

0:39:59about halfway through I knew I knew I just lost one vote here I I had to convince the other three because I've just lost one here so it was really uh very interesting that and finally uh and I think most admirable her and her family are very proud to call El Cerrito their home they do a lot

0:40:21in the community they do a lot for El Cerrito High School and Sandy is always promoting uh El Cerrito along with Leticia Moore who's there she is still one of our head cheerleaders there for El Cerrito but no matter what the issue and I knew that whatever her position

0:40:41was and whether I would agree with it or not agree with it or put it another way whether she was right or wrong [Laughter] um she you could always trust that whatever she presented she was doing it because she felt that's what was best for the community and the residents and I and I

0:41:02don't think you can really ask for anything more out of a person who serves on the city council than that it's been a pleasure serving on the council with Sandy and I thank her for her contributions and her camaraderie as associate on the council it's been very enjoyable thank you very

0:41:20much [Applause] well I don't want to get too repetitive but all of those things are true I've gotten the honor to serve with Sandy for the last couple years in my first term uh first two years of my terms so she set a great uh pace and tone and I will really miss her presence on the council

0:41:48and and getting us together to um to really build a relationship amongst all of us I think has made my you know first time on the council really pleasurable and challenging but very rewarding and so I thank you for your great clarity your concision your presence and your ability to articulate

0:42:12it's I won't really miss that so thank you Sandy [Applause] foreign ly have only served with you for two years although we've certainly known each other for a few more than that um and and I will say that I really appreciate appreciate your understated style um having been and I see one of your

0:42:36daughters in the audience but I I only sympathize with you because when she admonished me once for one thing that I didn't quite do right it's that cold evil stare that she gives you and it's very understated very professional you're so I do sympathize with you

0:42:54um I I too will miss your uh the analytical mind that their your geological Sciences brings to all of these issues the the way you do um actually uh think through all of your arguments to the to the end and that's very much appreciated uh by us because it really helped as stated earlier

0:43:15clarify the issues and and help us focus on what is really their um and as the mayor Abelson said I really appreciate uh your uh contribution to the camaraderie of the team um and it's been a pleasure serving with you and at some sort of the events serving you thank you

0:43:38I I do look forward to seeing you around town continuing to volunteer and and put your time in so you just because you're you're cutting back on your workload doesn't mean you're done [Laughter] with that it Edition um first is the bouquet of flowers and then um some plaques or put a plaque and some

0:44:14pictures so um first we have um a plaque that recognizes your contribution on the city council from 2002 to 2010 serving as mayor in 2005 and 2009 so I'd like to give that to you thank you and then a couple of pictures so you won't have a you won't have to forget us

0:44:43that was a good shot this is and then here's your Council portrait thank you thank you so much and then if you want thank you so much um and it's my turn to talk yes I think so well it is really wonderful to see everybody here tonight and we have so much to celebrate but Bill Jones was

0:45:10said to me earlier he said there's as many people here tonight as there were when you first took office so you haven't made too many enemies but it truly has been my honor and privilege to serve this community on the city council and um over the years I've been really fortunate to get to know so

0:45:30many talented and enthusiastic people from the community on the city council on our staff and also our regional leaders and I just wanted to thank you all for your commitment and your support and your volunteer service I'm especially grateful to the people of El Cerrito for electing me and

0:45:50supporting our shared vision it's particularly rewarding in El Cerrito because we live in a community that really is positive about local government and I know that not every Community is blessed with that and I think the passage of measure R in this last election just validated again our

0:46:08resident's commitment to El Cerrito and our high level of service so I'm really really grateful for our community I'm deeply grateful and we are so fortunate to have our city manager Scott Hannan it's his leadership that's transformed our city and we owe a great debt to

0:46:30Scott and his management team Karen Pincus Cheryl Morse and Suzanne erla for their hard work and dedication in bringing this city into the 21st century and I want to take a minute also to thank our legal team Sky Woodruff and our Redevelopment attorney Karen Tiedeman who's here

0:46:50all of your thoughtful and up-to-date legal advice has really kept us on track and running a city is a difficult job and I know that bill alluded to this but I think we've done it with great ethics and um a lot of success I'm so proud of the staff's Innovation and Leadership it's put El Cerrito on

0:47:12the map in terms of fiscal responsibility transparent Government Street repair crime prevention environmental sustainability just to name a few and for that I want to thank all of our department heads Karen Pinkus Mary Dodge Mitch oshinski Jerry Bradshaw Monica quartz

0:47:36fire chief Lance Maples and police chief Sylvia moyer for your dedication to our city and for your collaboration with this city council I want to extend that gratitude to every single staff person in the city too many to name but every person who works so hard in all

0:47:55the Departments both at City Hall and out there on the streets at the community center your creativity and perseverance has made El Cerrito an award-winning City I've been struck by the exponential increase in those Awards and how they cross over all the Departments

0:48:13and I'm so proud of our recent accomplishments this city hall the Cerrito Theater San Pablo Avenue improvements improved fire prevention and reduce crime rates all aspects that when we run for city council we say we want to make improvements in and I really think that

0:48:34we collectively have done that and through the leadership of Scott Hannan we owe a great debt it's been my pleasure to serve with my fellow council members and I deeply appreciate your kind words tonight and I want to give a special thanks to Rich and Jane Parkey for being here and for

0:48:53backing me and believing in me back in 1995 they were instrumental in supporting me and Leticia Morris we got started in our public service and I want to thank Leticia and Jan Bridges who are also here tonight it was great serving with you as mayor I've had the honor to represent

0:49:10El Cerrito in Regional forms and the El Cerrito city council is known for its professionalism and mutual respect and our ability to work together with our staff and to collaborate with our neighbors to get things done and I am so proud of that and I want to especially thank Janet

0:49:28Abelson we ran two campaigns side by side we advocated for a number of local ballot initiatives and we served closely as mayor and vice mayor in a super Cooperative way and also Bill Jones as mayor and vice mayor and I'm sorry I annoyed you you can make it up to me at the next

0:49:52happy hour Dorito is a medium-sized City though Leticia Moore who was telling everybody in Pittsburgh last week says we are everywhere and we are mighty so fortunate to have enjoyed support at the county level and from our state elected officials and I want to thank

0:50:17supervisor John Joya for advocating for El Cerrito during his many years of public service and personally I want to thank him for his support and friendship and I also want to acknowledge Mark desangier and Lonnie Hancock and Nancy Skinner for all of their support that um

0:50:34we in El Cerrito all benefit from and finally I owe a great debt to my friends and family who have supported me in so many ways for the last eight years and I especially want to thank um former mayor Leticia Moore and my sister Debbie Potter who I see is here after working late to serve the

0:50:57community of the city of Alameda both of them have provided ongoing support and perspective especially during the difficult times and a special gratitude to my family Phil Martine my husband is here has been especially patient and I really appreciate it and Julia I appreciate you

0:51:20being here tonight I'm sorry Lindsay couldn't make it but you guys have always been so supportive and it's been a really great experience and I look forward to I'm going to miss you all but I look forward to spending more time with my art and With You Youth Sports at

0:51:35El Cerrito High School and finally I want to congratulate our newest council member Rebecca benazini and I wish her all the best that she embarks on this new beginning thank you all foreign [Applause] calendar [Laughter] um the next item on the agenda is the adoption of the consent calendar

0:52:25I'll move to adopt the consent calendar second all in favor please say aye aye any opposition any abstentions motion carries unanimously and with that we're going to take a brief recess um at which time council member Potter will step down and uh Rebecca benacini

0:52:47will join us but I think we can all step down right or we'll all step down for a minute how long is this break five minutes it's just that yep I just want to make sure it would be great if it was two minutes is that fine you want me to Sprint I don't know I'll help you though

0:53:31[Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] that was so good I can hear it a little bit [Music] yeah look at the boys [Music] can she walk there [Music] whoa real close one are these always on sale try to press it oh now you have to you do have to cook important part of the training

0:56:29that guy it's a that guy's shot I'm gonna go back and look at your first time thank you everyone would like to take a seat [Music] we're now going to proceed with the organization of the city council and I get to start out by acknowledging my family and my most of my kids are

0:58:05actually in college right now and uh it's finals week so guess what they're not here and um the other ones actually live far away now so I will not be forgetting to acknowledge my husband this year because he's the only one of my family here and so with that I would like to thank my

0:58:25husband Howard Abelson if you'd like to wave your hand there are putting up with all the times that I'm not around and don't get things done and um for continuing to put up with me during this time and I'd like to thank my children In Absentia for behaving during all of that time and I actually

0:58:57have seen them quite recently most of them as recently as uh yesterday or the day before that finals do call so um it I won't see them again again until the Christmas holidays but I'd also like to thank my friend Judy Rogers uh who's my best friend um who gives me lots of advice

0:59:24on any topic you might might ask and some some you might not she's very good and she's been a real help to me uh in very many ways and I've known her a long time and we know exactly how long it is because it's been since our children certain children were in first grade we met at Harding School

0:59:46and we now have a a club of parents that we met met in Harding School that we still hang out with um so I it's a lot of fun to live in this community where things like that can happen to people um with that I'm going to transition over to um the last year and what has happened and I I would not

1:00:11say that this has been a um a real fantastic year like some years have been uh in in terms of a lot of positive things have happened because it has not been a positive time however I think if you look at um the economy and look at all of those things and look at how El Cerrito has

1:00:35fared during that period of time and how our voters passed measure R then I think you would have to say we've had a very successful year given what we had to work with mostly what we didn't have to work with things have really gone as well as they could possibly go given the circumstances and

1:00:58so um I um I must say that it's been a um a you know a learning year this year as um Council but we have we have still done a lot of good things for and some of them you can see in progress like San Pablo Avenue street improvements that I think uh people are already beginning to enjoy

1:01:24but will enjoy even more upon completion uh we just uh approved the construction of the new recycling center which will be a model recycling center very exciting project and one of the things I think is really the most thrilling about this year is that we did successfully passed major R

1:01:48and that really to me says we have a future and I think that's more important than anything and that's because everybody work together our staff our Council and our community we all work together and I believe that major are passed in every single Precinct in town I was looking over the list

1:02:14Precinct by Precinct so I would like to thank if you don't mind our community right now foreign a lot of time from people's personal lives and it really will make a difference in our city and um so it's it's really great to be um here in a time like this because I

1:02:41know what we have to look forward to is an improved Community Based on the really good work that was done this year with our you know with major R in particular fighting together so with that um why don't we get this show on the road so I'll take it from here I would

1:03:01love to be very happy to be presenting to outgoing mayor Janet Abelson with a plaque symbolizing her service this last year 2009 2010 as mayor of El Cerrito beautiful [Applause] okay okay so I just I wanted to thank Janet for for being such a force in the community

1:03:35not only has Janet raised six kids um she has been on the oh I'm sorry I think I see myself as one of them maybe sometimes um five kids apologize neither do I well with five kids in addition to almost 11 over 11 years of service on the city council this finishing her third time as mayor

1:04:09um Janet has been when I first met Janet on the Parks and Recreation Commission in 2004 she got me hooked from the minute I heard all the updates and on what the council was doing she did such a great job to keep us informed and has been a constant um just Beacon of pushing the envelope

1:04:29in terms of Environmental Solutions to um just just warmth and compassion for everyone in the community and so I really appreciate Janet all your service that you've given both you and Howard have been such institutions and rocks of stability in our community and it really

1:04:45makes uh the next generation of leaders um very hope hopeful that there's been such continuity over the years and it makes it a lot easier to step into to the position that I'd I had so I really appreciate all the all the all the councils from Sandy to Leticia to Jan to

1:05:05the bark keys and and countless folks who I can't name but all of you have provided such a great atmosphere for the city of El Cerrito so I'd like to invite any other comments from the council members Jan thank you for running very efficient meetings this last year I really was a

1:05:28pleasure seeing us move through the agenda in a timely manner and it was a lot of fun your leadership on environmental issues uh your leadership on some of our ordinances that we passed in this last year was was much welcome thank you thank you what was it two or three times

1:05:45now three three times there's a for those of you don't know what city of San Pablo had a council member that just retired last year Joe Gomes and he was at 34 years and I think although Janet's been here 11 it's kind of a rookie when you put her up against Joe Gomes so uh you got a little

1:06:09ways to go here Jim thank you very much for everything see uh so I think it's time for her so clerk you to vacate us right it'd be a good time to swear in council member elect benicini and you did we skip something yes yes we did must be a different script because my script says something

1:06:44different okay [Applause] oh leave it straight to number eight oh he's good to reorganization yes so we should oh yes we have to declare the results of the meeting of the general election I moved to uh to declare and confirm the results of the November 2nd 2010 election

1:07:21all in favor aye any opposed attention motion cares and animals like [Music] I moved to confirm the passage and Adoption of ordinance uh 2012-1-0 imposing transactions and use tax to be administered by the State Board of Equalization by Declaration of the vote at the November 2nd 2010 general

1:07:52election we already moved and passed those yes I thought we'd do it again all right so you can tell where you can tell we're stumbling without a good leader at this time I believe that at this point in the meeting um it's time to um provide the Oaths of office to the

1:08:17two council members who were just elected pursuant to the election results that you just confirmed everybody knew yeah sorry about that so for the record I'm swearing in tonight I have the honor of swearing in Janet Abelson who has just been re-elected to her third term and

1:08:36council member elect Rebecca benicini who's on her first term with that um if you would raise your right hand Rebecca if you can stand and repeat after me I please State your names I Rebecca benassini do you solemnly swear you solemnly swear I will support and defend

1:08:54that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the State of California and the constitution of the State of California against all enemies foreign and domestic against all enemies

1:09:07foreign and domestic that will bear true faith and Allegiance I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the State of California the constitution of the net of California I

1:09:21take this obligation freely this obligation freely without any mental reservation without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion or purpose of evasion and that I will well and Faithfully discharge and I will well and Faithfully discharge the duties upon which I'm about to enter the duties upon

1:09:37which I'm about to enter congratulations [Applause] and Janet if I can swear you in if you raise your right hand and repeat after me I state your name I Janet Abelson do solemnly swear you solemnly swear that I will support and defend that I will support and defend the Constitution

1:10:07of the United States the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the State of California the constitution of the State of California against all enemies foreign and domestic they will bear true faith in the legions and I will bear true faith and

1:10:23allegiance to the Constitution of the United States to the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the State of California and the constitution of the State of California they take this obligation freely that I take this obligation freely without any

1:10:38mental reservation without many any mental reservations or purpose of evasion purpose of evasion and that of a well and Faithfully discharged and I will well and Faithfully discharge the duties upon which I'm about to enter the duties upon which I am about to enter

1:10:54congratulations thank you request your uh statement of Elections here that I'd like to present foreign so now do we move to the reorganization okay go back to that [Applause] declare office of Mayor and mayor Pro tem vacant and calling for nominations for the office of Mayor I nominate Ann

1:12:09Chang call for any further nominations I move nominations to be closed second all those in favor of selecting Council council member Chang as mayor indicate by saying aye aye any opposed motion carries council member Chang has been selected mayor of the city of El

1:12:32Cerrito foreign thank you everyone um to call for nominations for mayor Pro tem I nominate council member Bill Jones for office of Mayor Pro Tem any uh further nominations if no for the nominations I move that nominations be closed I second all in favor of closing nominations

1:13:17indicate by saying aye aye opposed motion carries congratulations Bill Jones Thank you thank you [Applause] okay so thank you very much um city of El Cerrito for putting me in this position um I'm very honored to be here I um if the moment is here has been thinking about this for a while and I

1:13:52really appreciate all the folks that I've gotten to to know in the last couple years to prepare me for um being here and um I think as as someone who grew up in the city of El Cerrito since I was five um I just I can't imagine I had no idea that the council was running that things

1:14:15are all these decisions were being made and to be able to learn about the process and how things work and to be able to step in and be a part of it has been a true honor and to bring out a whole different generation I think of folks who are ready to to be involved locally in our local government

1:14:34and El Cerrito and everybody's City your local government is really the the closest layer of government to you you know from the streets you walk down to the the police and fire the the services that come from local government are the most intimately involved with their

1:14:51community and I'm my mission to be here is to help bring to light all the the services and the great opportunities that we have when we step up and get involved with local government um I think I wanted to definitely thank um my husband Wiley Osborne sitting up

1:15:12front for being such a supporter of of my decision to do this he said yes um before I decided to run for Council um I asked him for his thoughts and he said sure we're getting married November 1st an election on November 4th should be doable and with that level of optimism support

1:15:38enthusiasm I got married on November 1st and elected on November 4th so I thank him so much for that and writing out our early years together like this I thank my mom Susie Huang sitting right behind Wiley for being such a rock of stability and inspiration my mom is planning to

1:15:59run a half marathon in Kenya soon so she's that's a rock star of inspiration I am so appreciative of everything she's provided for us my sister and I and of course my sister Kay Chang in the back who is a great such a wonderful graphic designer she did all my yard signs and

1:16:21website and she's such a brilliant uh burgeoning urban planner um and of course my in-laws friend and Wiley Osborne who probably came furthest from the east coast thank you so much for having such a great son for me to marry and also want to shout out very quickly to my cousin Ginger who grew up

1:16:45uh we grew up down the street from each other in El Cerrito just north of uh well petro navalir and that that was our corner and we would roam the neighborhood and get into trouble and I have to say that we I think we made it out okay um and I think what else so so I just wanted to

1:17:09thank everyone also my friends and my my great family of friends um you guys have been constantly supportive and inspirational and humorous and just really giving me the love and support to to be here so I thank you for that um I think so so just one one final thing just to

1:17:33recap all the great you know accomplishments from the city manager Scott Hannon and City attorney um police chief uh Sylvia Moyer and and all the department heads I don't want to spend too much time but just thank you so much for for getting us to where we are when I decided to run in 2008 I it

1:17:55was really a matter of keeping the ball rolling you guys were making such a great progress from giving us more things to do close by um and that has so much so many benefits in terms of Local Economic Development our local environment and health and getting to know each other as our

1:18:13neighbors and Community I I really am so grateful that we have such an amazing you know balance of support from Council staff to the community it really takes as Janet knows being out in the region that it is is it we really have a unique combination of really positive forces

1:18:36that and that's what it really takes to move things forward we can spend a lot of times councils are out there at each other's throats and I think that you know there's a lot of passion but we we all align together and we all you know work work our differences out but

1:18:53we managed to move it forward so I'm very grateful for all of the great work that everybody's done so with that I would like to turn over the gavel [Applause] really looking forward to using this okay thank you so much um so I wanted to open up to any other council members to make any other

1:19:31comments about family friends or I see you're looking at me so I'm going to take my turn thank you mayor Chang the first words I want to speak is a newly oath council member have to do with pledges people asked me what I was going to promise tonight I already took

1:19:48an oath of office to uphold the various documents that pertain to all of our lives but I want to make another one and this is one I can keep I'm not going to make promises that I can't do without these other council members so what I know I can do is I can conduct myself in

1:20:04a way that's consistent with our community norms and what I learned from uh doing volunteer work and serving on boards in El Cerrito is that we're a community that holds strong beliefs and we may get into conflicts due to those strong beliefs but unlike some other

1:20:19communities I worked in in the Bay Area unfortunately what we do very well is we come to a consensus we try to get a policy that works best for our city and then we move on and we let it go and that's the way I view myself as uh that I will be successful and happy with the

1:20:36way I serve over the next four years I can say that I did that I also pledge to respectfully listen to all sides of issues and then thoughtfully deliberate and come to a decision that as best I can judge is what's in the best interest of the community so that's my pledge tonight and now I will

1:20:54gush and gush over my friends and family in a very brief manner first I want to thank my husband Scott Lyons who fearlessly served as my campaign Treasurer and other various roles thank you very much my mother Priscilla benassini is here and my family members are also watching on television I have a

1:21:10variety of friends who were able to come and I really appreciate your time and you have all made me understand why Oaths of office and Oscar parties and any other ceremonies you see are filled with people gushing over their friends and family and the reason is that you

1:21:26literally cannot do this job or any other sorts of achievements that all of us in our lives strive to do without the assistance of your friends and your family and just the little bits of inspiration that they provide you thank you so much you helped me strive to be a

1:21:41better person and a better policy analyst so I intend to draw upon all of your support and experience in the years to come and thank you council members for your warm reception I'm happy to join a body with such great minds and such team spirit so I look forward to

1:21:56four great years working with you all foreign any other comments I look forward to the next year great so with that I think I would like everyone just to know we're almost we're almost there to Refreshments but if you can hang on through the reorganization of the Redevelopment agency as well as

1:22:24introduction of our newest member of our police force so um if with that if I can call for the reorganization of the Redevelopment agency clear the offices of chair and vice chair vacant and call for nominations of the office of chair I'd like to nominate a council member Lyman

1:22:45agency member Greg alignment for chair did I do it again it's tradition and if you would wouldn't mind a friendly amendment I would like to nominate uh Janet council member Janet Abelson as chair of the of the Redevelopment agency could you could you turn my mic off

1:23:11[Laughter] all in favor of closing nominations and selecting agency member Abelson as chair indicate by saying aye aye a new post no motion carries agency member Abelson has been selected chair of the Redevelopment agency thank you [Applause] um I will take nominations now for the

1:23:56office of Vice chair I nominee agency member Greg Lyman for office of Vice chair okay it's a motion to close nomination there's a motion to close nominations all in favor please say aye aye and then did that include um closing nominations and electing or electing sure thank you

1:24:37so damn we go back to the other one okay with that we're good so now I would like to introduce item number 11.

1:24:48um which is our introduction and badge pinning of the police department canine Officer King [Applause] thank you good evening honorable mayor Chang our city council our city manager Scott Hannan I am Sylvia Moyer your police chief and if the community would excuse

1:25:26my back for decades your police department has been committed to providing exemplary service and Public Safety to the community in the in the daylight and in the dark of night when officers with two legs were out finding evidence finding lost people and searching for violent

1:25:49subjects they would often do it alone or we would call upon our partner agencies to provide us a police canine to assist us in that search well some some very talented Visionary police officers in the city of El Cerrito said we want to have that level of service and call that canine our own

1:26:13because the services that we asked for are exemplary in the city of El Cerrito but budget times were tough a a unique group of officers led by Sergeant Ian Wong said we are going to do everything in our power to raise money and provide this level of service by buying our own police dog through the

1:26:35generous contributions of businesses our community and our partners in law enforcement are police employees Association raised over twenty thousand dollars to purchase and train King the police dog foreign [Applause] when he came to us but I was told there was a fine young

1:27:06man that served this city with this nation named Bruce King and Bruce King was a dog lover and Bruce King was tragically murdered and to honor Bruce King the police department chose to name the first police canine in the history of the city of El Cerrito King thank you

1:27:33now King has a partner and we chose Aaron Leone to be the first Handler in the city of El Cerrito Aaron was chosen because he is a dedicated public servant he's an extraordinary and compassionate police servant he's a tenacious crime fighter but he's also a very

1:27:51compassionate deliverer of service so Aaron was selected because he's got a cool head and he's a tenacious crime fighter and so with uh it is my great honor to swearing King the police dog and provide him with his badge and then some other complimentary things to

1:28:10invite him into law enforcement service so so Aaron and Cheryl oh my God [Applause] so King do you agree to follow our laws and do you we need to start your duties Faithfully the Yawn is yes we also have King's Official Police ID and because he is a a male it appropriately records his weight is 83

1:29:27pounds if he was a female dog we'd say about 79. he's uh he was born on 9 28 of 2008 he's two foot six and weighs 83 pounds ladies and gentlemen we have uh one more thing to invite King into the world of law enforcement and that is of course the donut [Applause]

1:29:54so no respectable police officer can resist the donuts that's a good boy good boy [Applause] and then because this is 2010 we also have a rawhide Bagel so ladies and gentlemen it is because of the generous contributions of the city and the committed men and women of the

1:30:16El Cerrito Police Department that I present you King the police canine [Applause] thank you so much and I think I have to say of becoming mayor on the one is one of the funnest nights with a dog officer um we do I understand we do have one public comment on this item we do Mindy

1:30:50Charlotte I'm Mindy charlap and from El sobrani California and for those that don't know I was Bruce King's girlfriend and I'm here speaking on behalf of myself and Bruce's sister is here as Bonnie as well as his niece Cali they're in the back and we would just really like to thank

1:31:22El Cerrito Police Association Police Officers Association for when I was thinking about it it was like acquiring King but I kind of put dogs as humans so I would like to say hiring King um and officer Leone for your hard work training because I know it's not easy

1:31:47training canines particularly for what he's going to be doing um that's right um and I honestly believe that King will be a valuable asset to the El Cerrito police department and long overdue and just on my behalf of myself and Bruce's family we really want to thank

1:32:16you for naming him king or renaming him King um in memory of Bruce and we just appreciate the tributes the dog park and now King that have been done on behalf of Ruth the tributes that have been paid to him and that's I just want to thank you very much thank you

1:32:53and at some point if you do get to meet King you can ask him how to teach you some German terms because he he speaks German from what I understand so with that I'd like to adjourn this meeting of the concurrent city council and Redevelopment agency the next regular city council meeting will be

1:33:12held Monday December 20th at 7 30 right here so thank you all very much and please enjoy the refreshments outside