Special and Regular City Council Meetings January 15, 2019

0:02:49will the city court call roll

0:02:52council member abelson

0:02:54present council member fidelity here

0:02:57council member quinto here mayor pro tem

0:03:00lyman president mayor pardue akimoto

0:03:04president

0:03:07all right um we will now stand for the

0:03:09pledge of allegiance led by

0:03:11councilmember clinton

0:03:14i pledge allegiance to the flag of the

0:03:17united states of america and into the

0:03:20republic for which it stands

0:03:22one nation under god

0:03:24indivisible with liberty and justice for

0:03:27all

0:03:33all right do we have any communications

0:03:34from staff

0:03:36yes we do thank you your honor i'm karen

0:03:38pinkes city manager

0:03:40um

0:03:41i would like to introduce our new city

0:03:42clerk to you and to the community her

0:03:45name is holly charlottie we are very

0:03:47excited to have holly she comes to us

0:03:50from the vallejo flood and wastewater

0:03:52district where she was the board clerk

0:03:54prior to that she was a deputy city

0:03:56clerk in the city of sacramento she's

0:03:58got a ton of experience and we're just

0:04:01really excited to have her on board so

0:04:03welcome holly to your very first meeting

0:04:06i'd also like to publicly she's not here

0:04:09tonight but thank sherry kelly who is

0:04:11our acting city clerk many of you in the

0:04:13public met her and the council members

0:04:15worked directly with her she is a

0:04:17wonderful person she's a retired

0:04:20city clerk who came to help us in our

0:04:22time of need when our previous clerk

0:04:24sheryl morse

0:04:25had to suddenly go out on medical leave

0:04:27and so we just want to thank her and

0:04:28acknowledge her excellent efforts

0:04:30throughout the election and kind of

0:04:31keeping us going

0:04:33and lastly when cheryl morris is feeling

0:04:36better we'd love to bring her back here

0:04:37and acknowledge her retirement so let's

0:04:39all keep

0:04:40her in our thoughts as she continues to

0:04:43recover

0:04:45thank you

0:04:46thank you we have communications from

0:04:48the council

0:04:51go ahead paul

0:04:52yes

0:04:55thank you today i with uh with uh mr

0:04:58lyman attended the chamber of commerce

0:05:00uh lunch where

0:05:01karen pinkus gave her maiden speech to

0:05:04the business community in el cerrito it

0:05:06was a great day

0:05:08um

0:05:09last week um the trail trackers had a

0:05:12meeting on fire hazards up on the

0:05:15hillsides which was well attended in our

0:05:17community center

0:05:19and i attended that and one of the

0:05:21themes that was brought up is

0:05:23about being ember aware

0:05:26making sure that embers that might come

0:05:28from any kind of fire we can

0:05:31prepare our homes and be ready for that

0:05:32sort of

0:05:34uh response

0:05:36um

0:05:38council men quinto and i attended a

0:05:41meeting with the league of cities the

0:05:42local

0:05:44elected officials in our east bay area

0:05:47with our new assembly member buffy wicks

0:05:50to talk about her goals and for us to

0:05:52talk about our goals to her fire was a

0:05:55big issue with her a big concern that

0:05:57she had and there's a variety of issues

0:05:59that we'll be working with her together

0:06:01on

0:06:02and in this in this new year i just

0:06:04wanted to say how good it is to have a

0:06:06minimum wage

0:06:07going into effect here and in other

0:06:09cities around the bay area really

0:06:11excited about that

0:06:13and on a lighter note so to speak

0:06:16we still have now another year where we

0:06:18haven't had holiday lights in our el

0:06:21cerrito plaza it's not a big important

0:06:23issue but as far as economic development

0:06:26and making our city

0:06:28our place making for our city

0:06:31i think it's something we need to talk

0:06:32about maybe in our theater district next

0:06:34year we need some lights on those mature

0:06:36trees so i'm going to continue to talk

0:06:38about it

0:06:39we need to celebrate who we are and in

0:06:41the holiday season i think we can all

0:06:42celebrate some lights in el cerrito

0:06:44thank you

0:06:47member yeah in in addition i was going

0:06:49to echo or i will echo mr fideli's

0:06:52comments about the city manager's

0:06:54presentation at the chamber today was

0:06:56it was uh

0:06:58full of sizzle and those that were here

0:07:01you had to be there

0:07:03um however i'm going to do two other

0:07:05announcements i actually don't hope i'm

0:07:07not stealing somebody's thunder

0:07:09martin luther king parade

0:07:11is coming up on

0:07:13next monday

0:07:15i've got the right date yes monday

0:07:17meet here at 8 30 and we'll uh parade up

0:07:19to the high school and uh

0:07:21do the

0:07:23ceremonies at the high school that day

0:07:25and although i can't make it on the

0:07:27preceding day there is a movie at the

0:07:30high school

0:07:31at four o'clock

0:07:33that is

0:07:34um

0:07:35anybody remember the title of it

0:07:38cracking the codes uh so hopefully those

0:07:42two events are ones that you can attend

0:07:44and then my other announcement would be

0:07:46that

0:07:47march is when we renew our

0:07:51terms

0:07:52at the boards and commissions so now is

0:07:55the time for

0:07:56you to cons hopefully consider a

0:07:58boarding commission

0:07:59so that we can start doing uh

0:08:01considering applicants for our boards

0:08:03and commissions

0:08:04so thank you

0:08:05councilmember quinto

0:08:07yes thank you

0:08:10i have the

0:08:11honor of meeting with uh my

0:08:14uh sierra club executive board members

0:08:16which includes uh the chair of the

0:08:18sierra club igor traeger uh the vice

0:08:21mayor

0:08:22excuse me the mayor of

0:08:24albany rochelle nason

0:08:27former mayor norman leforce and myself

0:08:30met with buffy wicks and

0:08:32we did discuss many things including

0:08:36the fire prevention

0:08:38situation so what she is on the budget

0:08:41committee and uh

0:08:43so

0:08:44that is on her list

0:08:46and uh so i look forward in in uh

0:08:48meeting with her more uh regarding that

0:08:51and then uh last week uh

0:08:54along with councilman fideli we did uh

0:08:56attend with

0:08:58the other mayors and council members

0:09:00from the east bay division of the league

0:09:02of cities

0:09:04that was reiterated

0:09:06to get more money for

0:09:08cities

0:09:09to prepare for

0:09:12fire prevention so

0:09:15so she knows that is on the list that

0:09:18all the cities have asked for

0:09:20and i am on the

0:09:22environmental quality committee for the

0:09:24league of cities so uh

0:09:26i'm sure uh all of the mayors and

0:09:28council members there will support that

0:09:31uh to ask the governor uh for more money

0:09:34for fire prevention for cities

0:09:37so

0:09:38with that i'm on the third i attended

0:09:42the beautiful ribbon cutting with uh

0:09:46councilman fideli was there and and

0:09:49council member abelson was there

0:09:52for the grand opening of the richmond

0:09:54ferry

0:09:55boat and

0:09:57that was an important route for many

0:09:59many years i'm glad to have that

0:10:01back and

0:10:03it's

0:10:05one of the great things that uh we're

0:10:07putting richmond back on the map and and

0:10:09we're getting uh uh i took a ride on

0:10:11that i was very uh quiet and and smooth

0:10:15and uh i know uh councilman abelson took

0:10:18that right as well so

0:10:20i look forward to having

0:10:23more ferry services and i know here in

0:10:25west county

0:10:26hercules has promised a

0:10:30ferry terminal there as well so

0:10:32hopefully this will alleviate i-80

0:10:35headaches that we all experience every

0:10:37day

0:10:38after that we had the contra costa

0:10:41mayor's conference and i joined

0:10:43mayor pardue okimoto at that event

0:10:47and at that event

0:10:48we did have someone from ccta

0:10:52let us know about

0:10:54what it took

0:10:55and how the community got together

0:10:58to

0:10:59find funding and to secure funding

0:11:02for ferry service in richmond and and i

0:11:04know council member abelson played a

0:11:06huge part in that uh for many many years

0:11:10with that meeting i was also

0:11:13um they uh nominated me and appointed me

0:11:17as vice chair

0:11:19of the contra costa mayor's conference

0:11:21and uh so this is the first uh the last

0:11:24uh council member to have the spot was

0:11:29jane barkey in the early 90s 91 or 92

0:11:33so

0:11:34you know we're finally representing here

0:11:36in west county and i know

0:11:38uh many of us will continue to do the

0:11:40same thing and to join the regional

0:11:42boards that we've been uh

0:11:45cut out of for many many years

0:11:48so

0:11:51i think that's it

0:11:52okay

0:11:54yes what i'd just like to add about uh

0:11:57the ferry service and the funding of it

0:11:59it's actually primarily funded by major

0:12:02j

0:12:04uh which is a half cent sales tax

0:12:07that

0:12:08is paid in throughout contra costa

0:12:11county

0:12:12and um

0:12:14so um

0:12:16it it wasn't so much the community it

0:12:18was it's the whole county

0:12:20that's paying for it but what we were

0:12:22able to do more locally is select the

0:12:26projects that would go into the major

0:12:29and so there were still some of us

0:12:31around who were in fact did participate

0:12:34in that

0:12:35uh decision making in um

0:12:38and so it was really fun to see it come

0:12:41to fruition although

0:12:43i think i got a big sense of just how

0:12:46long these projects can take

0:12:48because

0:12:50at the point we were doing it there were

0:12:52you know where there weren't even

0:12:54uh routes for uh ferries there weren't

0:12:58even agreements that there could be

0:13:00docks you know there all of these things

0:13:02none of this stuff existed

0:13:05and even today not too much of it exists

0:13:09but in

0:13:11richmond

0:13:12today there is a

0:13:14stable

0:13:15ferry service and

0:13:18it runs it'll run

0:13:20and it is running

0:13:22monday through friday

0:13:24for commuter hours

0:13:26and if you get an opportunity i really

0:13:29do recommend that you go over

0:13:31and try it because it really was a great

0:13:33ride and much improved over

0:13:36a ferry service that i've seen

0:13:40previously in other places

0:13:43there's no comparison so it was really

0:13:45very special

0:13:47and it seems like that

0:13:49[Music]

0:13:50the

0:13:51that area is just

0:13:53a magnet i was there again today as was

0:13:57council member

0:14:00quinto and also mayor

0:14:03pardue okimoto and i

0:14:06yeah that and we

0:14:08were privileged with seeing um

0:14:12john joya installed as uh

0:14:15president of the board of supervisors

0:14:17for contra costa county so that was

0:14:20pretty special too because that means

0:14:22our it's our county part of the county's

0:14:25turn to do that

0:14:27and

0:14:28i always feel like well maybe we'll get

0:14:30something extra that way

0:14:32at least i'd like to hope so so that was

0:14:34um

0:14:35really a nice thing to do and and there

0:14:38and they had ferry rides again

0:14:41because during the midday there is no

0:14:43ferry service so they can

0:14:47run the ferry in little trips around

0:14:50just for people who want to try it

0:14:52so it was that was really

0:14:55nice and that's about all i have to

0:14:57report okay

0:15:00so

0:15:01i also attended the contra costa mayor's

0:15:04conference and it was my first time

0:15:06sitting as a voting member and once

0:15:08again congratulations to councilmember

0:15:10quinto a unanimous vote for him as vice

0:15:12chair of the committee

0:15:15while we were there

0:15:16as they had mentioned they talked a lot

0:15:18about the ferry service and i don't want

0:15:20to repeat what they said but

0:15:22in case you weren't aware

0:15:24it will be nine dollars for an adult

0:15:26one way to san francisco

0:15:286.75 if you're a clipper card holder and

0:15:32450 for youth uh disabled

0:15:35persons and seniors so um it looks like

0:15:39it's

0:15:40going to be a great way to get over to

0:15:41san francisco i'd advise everyone to

0:15:43give it a shot

0:15:45they also

0:15:47one of the very interesting things that

0:15:48came up it was on the public comment

0:15:51portion and they were going to give us a

0:15:53more

0:15:54thorough presentation later but um

0:15:59mtc and abag have come together

0:16:03for this committee on housing which i

0:16:05think some of you guys care about in the

0:16:06audience

0:16:08and it's

0:16:10going to

0:16:11share its recommendations

0:16:13on what they think they should do to

0:16:16solve the housing crisis in the greater

0:16:20bay area and beyond

0:16:22and we are going to be getting a bigger

0:16:25presentation on that a future mayor's

0:16:27conference and i believe they will also

0:16:29be giving us a presentation at the east

0:16:32bay league of cities

0:16:35that's upcoming on the 24th so

0:16:37um their preliminary report looked very

0:16:39interesting a lot of things that we're

0:16:41already talking about here in el cerrito

0:16:44plus some more things and so i believe

0:16:46we will be hearing a lot more about this

0:16:48in the future

0:16:50in addition to that um

0:16:54that was uh pretty much

0:16:56the kind of big items that happened

0:16:59one thing i wanted to just also share

0:17:02and i'll pass this to the city cork

0:17:06the sprinkler fitters are in case

0:17:09anybody is looking for employment the

0:17:11spl sprinkler fitters are

0:17:14doing a job search and they would like

0:17:16to have more employees so i will pass

0:17:19this along

0:17:20so that we can include it and make sure

0:17:22that anyone that is out there looking

0:17:23for a job there is a nice union job to

0:17:26be had

0:17:31in addition to my mayor's conference i

0:17:34just went today to the

0:17:36alta bates save ultibate subcommittee

0:17:39and once again the city of berkeley had

0:17:43sent a letter to

0:17:47alt debates

0:17:48and asking them to be very specific

0:17:52about what their retrofitting costs are

0:17:55they've given publicly

0:17:56the reason for the closure as or

0:17:59potential closure as retrofitting cost

0:18:02yet they haven't quoted to anyone what

0:18:04those costs would actually be

0:18:06so the city of berkeley sent them a

0:18:08letter

0:18:09requesting some more hard data so we

0:18:11know exactly what we're working with

0:18:13and i will give you another update about

0:18:15that after our next meeting in march

0:18:21and i believe that is all for my

0:18:24subcommittee

0:18:26reporting

0:18:33so next we will go to oral

0:18:35communications from the public

0:18:38i just wanted to make sure that you

0:18:39reported out a closed session oh okay

0:18:42so um

0:18:44there is nothing to report out of closed

0:18:46session

0:18:50all right so on to oral communications

0:18:53from the public

0:18:55at this time anyone wishing to speak

0:18:57should complete a speaker card and give

0:18:59it to the city court

0:19:01remarks are typically limited to three

0:19:03minutes per person

0:19:05however depending on the number of

0:19:06speakers i may reduce the time limit per

0:19:09speaker please state your name and city

0:19:12of residence for the record

0:19:14comments regarding non-agenda items and

0:19:16consent calendar items will be heard

0:19:19first

0:19:20comments related to presentations public

0:19:22hearings and policy items will be heard

0:19:25at the time

0:19:26the city council deliberates on each of

0:19:28these items

0:19:31will the city clerk please call the

0:19:33speakers

0:19:34we have about 10 speakers for

0:19:37either the consent calendar or matters

0:19:38not on the agenda the first three

0:19:40speakers are james joseph de la berto

0:19:44nick

0:19:45zamarona

0:19:47and paul duncan

0:19:49all right go ahead

0:19:54first first of all thanks to the

0:19:56council and the staff for their service

0:19:58del cerrito

0:20:00i'm here to make a premature

0:20:01announcement that i'm establishing a

0:20:04small free open-air public museum on my

0:20:06property to protect what seems to be an

0:20:09important coast to know and

0:20:11heritage site

0:20:12and

0:20:13i'm making a premature announcement

0:20:15because before i get things going very

0:20:17much i would like to get the ohlone

0:20:18involved and i've over the years i've

0:20:21had a heart i've been unsuccessful to

0:20:23this point in getting them in touch with

0:20:25them and so if anybody in the

0:20:27staff or the city or in fact in the

0:20:29audience has anything has any way to get

0:20:32me in direct contact with somebody from

0:20:33the illinois side very much appreciate

0:20:35it

0:20:36since i can't go into all of it it's a

0:20:38very

0:20:40long story i thought at least i might do

0:20:42is to end

0:20:44with a

0:20:46quick show-and-tell of the thing that

0:20:47got me interested in this in the first

0:20:49place

0:20:50and because of the fire district i had

0:20:51to clear our backyard and i decided not

0:20:54to hit this with my pickaxe and this

0:20:58i didn't know what it was so i took it

0:20:59to cal this is a

0:21:01wonderful specimen of what's called a

0:21:03bacolite it's about 67 million years old

0:21:06if you believe in that sort of thing

0:21:08and

0:21:09the plains indians apparently covet this

0:21:12as a sign of the buffalo spirit

0:21:15however and of course the maloney here

0:21:17traded salt and shell with other peoples

0:21:20but this by itself is an interesting

0:21:22story because not only is it perhaps one

0:21:24of the finest examples you've ever seen

0:21:27but it's also apparently been worked and

0:21:29apparently has served as a tool and i'm

0:21:31sort of guessing it might have been used

0:21:32to stamp lentils of salt for trade

0:21:36and perhaps most important and most

0:21:38interesting about this is

0:21:40when it was first told when i first

0:21:41showed this to cal they said it was

0:21:43perhaps from redlands but when i saw the

0:21:45field expert this last cal day he was

0:21:48sure where it came from and this came

0:21:49from the pierre shale deposit in south

0:21:52dakota so apparently it just goes to

0:21:54show something about the tribe that we

0:21:56had that was in charge or a clan we had

0:21:58that was in charge of the largest shell

0:22:00mound and the largest complex of shell

0:22:02mounds was that they were able to trade

0:22:05across the united states

0:22:07probably before lewis and clark came out

0:22:09with their um

0:22:11uh there uh what is it um

0:22:15uh a core of discovery that's right so

0:22:17um

0:22:18there'll be more about this if anybody

0:22:20can get me in touch with the olonis i'd

0:22:21very much appreciate it if the city

0:22:23would like to hear much more about this

0:22:24i've certainly got more and we've got i

0:22:26mean this is not the most important

0:22:28thing we've found there's there's much

0:22:29more important things than this and we'd

0:22:31very much be happy to come back and talk

0:22:32about it but anyway i think el cerritos

0:22:34got a feather in its cap thank you thank

0:22:36you

0:22:43good evening nick samurano resident of

0:22:45el cerrito i'm here tonight to talk

0:22:47about trees

0:22:49in relationship to fire's

0:22:51danger and hazards to human life and

0:22:54personal property

0:22:57first of all hazards for humans in

0:22:59regards to eucalyptus trees and fire

0:23:01hazards the two most common hazards of

0:23:03eucalyptus species to people are fire

0:23:06and falling branches eucalyptus oil is

0:23:09highly flammable it ignites trees have

0:23:12been known to explode

0:23:14bush fires can travel easily through the

0:23:16oil rich era of the tree crowns

0:23:18almost 30 years before the oakland

0:23:20firestorm in 1991 a study of eucalyptus

0:23:23in the area warned that the litter

0:23:25beneath the tree builds up very rapidly

0:23:28and should be regularly monitored and

0:23:29removed

0:23:31it has been estimated 70 percent

0:23:33of the energy released through the

0:23:35combustion of vegetation the oakland

0:23:37fire was due to eucalyptus

0:23:42now on january 6 there was an incident

0:23:45where a look at eucalyptus tree reaching

0:23:47a height of 250 feet fell

0:23:51and killed the man in his car on gili

0:23:53road in front of the greek theater on

0:23:54the uc berkeley campus

0:23:57the results of negation is underway uc

0:24:00berkeley is conducting their

0:24:01investigation as to what caused it

0:24:04certainly there was

0:24:06damage due to the high winds

0:24:08i think that day was 50 to 60 miles per

0:24:11hour

0:24:13and

0:24:14the rain was severe

0:24:16and

0:24:17perhaps there's other factors involved

0:24:19and one of the things that they're

0:24:20looking at is how often that the uc

0:24:22arborist inspected those trees

0:24:25and in regards to the condition to

0:24:27disease and truth

0:24:29root removal

0:24:31in fact there's some um

0:24:33discussion about whether the

0:24:35construction that was centered around

0:24:36the greek theater may have caused it

0:24:39there was a certain arborist from the

0:24:42bartlett tree experts and a berkeley

0:24:44resident

0:24:45that said that the reality is that trees

0:24:47don't always give clues as to their

0:24:48inner health

0:24:51the state's recent drought was a major

0:24:53stressor for this uh trees falling and

0:24:56the heavy rains can also create problems

0:24:58there are a lot of hidden factors a lot

0:25:00of conditions within trees and below the

0:25:02ground we just can't see when it comes

0:25:04right down to it trees are complex

0:25:05organisms and they respond in ways we

0:25:07don't fully understand now we all know

0:25:09and we can all agree that trees are

0:25:11beautiful and they probably provide a

0:25:12lot of benefit but they also can be

0:25:14hazardous to

0:25:16personal life and personal property and

0:25:18as you look around el cerrito there's a

0:25:21ton of eucalyptus groves there's also

0:25:23other trees that are dangerous

0:25:25in our own properties and in our

0:25:27neighbor's property surrounding our

0:25:28homes and if you look over there on

0:25:30mosher and sea view there's a big

0:25:33eucalyptus tree that's leaning over and

0:25:35looks like it's going to fall right on

0:25:36moser lane there's also a grove of trees

0:25:39over on

0:25:41brewster and arlington and every time

0:25:44you have to

0:25:45you pass down that street you have to

0:25:46move to the center of the lane to avoid

0:25:48hitting the branches that are

0:25:51falling over on onto the street so i

0:25:53just want to make people aware of that

0:25:55and i'd like to leave this with the city

0:25:57council members for your reviews and the

0:25:59pictures

0:26:01thank you

0:26:03thank you

0:26:04next speaker is paul duncan

0:26:11good evening my name is paul duncan i

0:26:13live on king drive near king court

0:26:16back in september i made an appeal to

0:26:18you to start doing something to mitigate

0:26:20the extreme fire risk existing in the

0:26:22eucalyptus groves and hillside nature

0:26:24area

0:26:25thick stands of huge trees with abundant

0:26:27fuel ladders up to the crowns are too

0:26:29risky to maintain in an urban area

0:26:32not long after that september meeting we

0:26:34all watched in horror as the town of

0:26:35paradise was destroyed and 86 people

0:26:38lost their lives back in 91 we saw it

0:26:41happen again in the oakland hills we

0:26:43want to keep something like that from

0:26:44happening in el cerrito

0:26:47in order to advance this goal many of

0:26:49our neighbors 30 so far have banded

0:26:52together we have had several meetings

0:26:54and for one thing decided to name our

0:26:56group we will be known as make el

0:26:58cerrito fire safe

0:27:00our goals and objectives are mitigating

0:27:02the fire risk in hna and to advocate for

0:27:05the establishment of clearly designated

0:27:07and marked safe evacuation routes within

0:27:10the city and surrounding areas

0:27:12members of our group will be contacting

0:27:14each city council member individually in

0:27:17an attempt to involve them in mutual

0:27:19efforts to establish a specific action

0:27:21plan

0:27:23also

0:27:24isn't it about time to put this topic on

0:27:26a future agenda

0:27:29we are glad to see a little progress

0:27:31toward the goal with the fire department

0:27:33burning a few slash piles gathered by

0:27:35the contractor

0:27:36a couple of isolated dangerous trees

0:27:38have been removed the fuel ladder is

0:27:40still there it's very scary to look at

0:27:42the steep slope above the recycling

0:27:44center thick with explosively flammable

0:27:47eucalyptus trees leading right up to the

0:27:50corey grove

0:27:51much more work is needed

0:27:54back in september i stood here and

0:27:55requested that a city council liaison be

0:27:58assigned to work with our group

0:28:00that didn't happen i know that city

0:28:02council members are assigned to be

0:28:04liaisons to city commissions does it

0:28:06make sense to have one city council

0:28:08member with whom we can communicate back

0:28:10and forth

0:28:12it seems to me that would expedite the

0:28:14flow of information so that we can work

0:28:16together more efficiently toward the

0:28:18common goal of making el cerrito safe

0:28:20from deadly and destructive wildfires

0:28:23in summary

0:28:25let's continue to push forward to make

0:28:27el cerrito fire safe

0:28:29thank you thank you

0:28:31the next speaker is marlene george

0:28:33followed by gary prost and susan duncan

0:28:39good evening

0:28:40my name is marlene george and i reside

0:28:43in el cerrito and i'm one of the 30

0:28:45individuals who is a member of make el

0:28:49cerrito fire safe

0:28:52related to that

0:28:54at the last urban forest

0:28:57committee meeting

0:28:59there were a dozen or so of us community

0:29:01residents who attended that meeting

0:29:04and we

0:29:06asked to give input in fact we did give

0:29:08input into the draft ordinance

0:29:10of the city council that's amending the

0:29:13chapter

0:29:1413.28 of the municipal code regarding

0:29:17trees and shrubs

0:29:20we were

0:29:21asking

0:29:22the committee

0:29:23to

0:29:25look at the language that declares

0:29:28trees

0:29:30not only declares but a finding and a

0:29:33declaration

0:29:35that

0:29:36trees are a natural resource

0:29:39and a thing of beauty

0:29:42and that we would like language to be

0:29:44included that they also potentially

0:29:48pose a risk to life and personal

0:29:51property and i think that it's pretty

0:29:53self-explanatory

0:29:56why we would like to see that included

0:30:00also the city has a prohibited tree list

0:30:04and i don't know if that's an ordinance

0:30:06we couldn't really get clarification at

0:30:08that meeting but there is a list of i

0:30:11think it's five trees that are

0:30:13prohibited in el cerrito

0:30:15and we could not find

0:30:17what the significance of that is in

0:30:20terms of policy or ordinance what what

0:30:22is the city staff

0:30:24or the community supposed to do with

0:30:26that list

0:30:27so we're we're asking that

0:30:30this list of trees being included in the

0:30:32ordinance and that the city through this

0:30:35uh new amendment

0:30:38specify what we want done with this

0:30:40prohibited list

0:30:42[Music]

0:30:44the committee i only have one second the

0:30:46committee voted to delay the approval

0:30:49and we will be working collaboratively

0:30:51with the committee regarding the final

0:30:54language in this amendment

0:30:56and i will my assignment is to be

0:30:59reaching out to councilwoman abelson

0:31:02to talk to her about fire prevention and

0:31:04i look forward to meeting with you

0:31:05individually thank you

0:31:08thank you

0:31:09next speaker is gary prost

0:31:13good evening i'm gary prost el cerrito

0:31:16i'd like to bring to your attention

0:31:18what a few other cities are doing

0:31:20regarding fire safety

0:31:23red flag warnings and evacuation routes

0:31:27los angeles and santa barbara have red

0:31:29flag warnings and they enforce very

0:31:32strict rules about street parking

0:31:35berkeley

0:31:36fire department has a document called

0:31:39wildfire evacuation plan

0:31:42it specifies evacuation routes

0:31:45we have nothing like that we have no

0:31:47evacuation routes even though we have

0:31:50red flag warning days

0:31:52there's such thing as brush fire

0:31:54clearance zones in los angeles county

0:31:58where

0:31:59private properties are required to clear

0:32:01brush

0:32:02especially along roads a minimum of 10

0:32:05feet for all flammable vegetation we

0:32:08have nothing like that

0:32:10in 2003 the city of kelowna in british

0:32:13columbia

0:32:14had a devastating fire

0:32:16that burned right up to the outskirts of

0:32:18town 27 000 residents were evacuated and

0:32:22237 homes burned after that they enacted

0:32:26a strict community wildfire protection

0:32:29plan

0:32:30that includes among other things

0:32:32community education programs

0:32:35identification of critical

0:32:36infrastructure water sources backup

0:32:38power

0:32:39annual training for first responders

0:32:42emergency evacuation plans

0:32:44exterior building materials standards

0:32:48and ordinance mandating vegetation

0:32:50spacing and clearance on private

0:32:52property

0:32:53roadside mowing

0:32:54prescribed burns grazing programs and

0:32:58monitoring and maintenance

0:33:00we have nothing like that as far as i'm

0:33:02aware

0:33:04i would encourage city council to meet

0:33:06with your counterparts in berkeley

0:33:08richmond oakland

0:33:10and the councils of santa rosa and

0:33:13paradise if you haven't already done so

0:33:16and then report back to us the citizens

0:33:19of el cerrito on lessons learned thank

0:33:21you

0:33:22thank you next speaker is susan duncan

0:33:32good evening susan duncan el cerrito the

0:33:35ellie times ran a story on december 30th

0:33:38about the campfire entitled here's how

0:33:40paradise ignored warnings and became a

0:33:43death trap i've left copies of it for

0:33:45all of you in case you haven't read it

0:33:47yet

0:33:48there are several takeaways from this

0:33:50story

0:33:51that the el cerrito and surrounding

0:33:53communities need to act on immediately

0:33:56one paradise ignored warnings especially

0:33:58regarding the dangerous east winds which

0:34:01we also have known as the diablo winds

0:34:03and two

0:34:04they had an evacuation plan

0:34:06but didn't

0:34:08plan on or practice for their worst case

0:34:10scenario because they thought that the

0:34:12fire would always stop at the city

0:34:14limits as it had in the past

0:34:17the story states quote in truth the

0:34:19destruction was utterly predictable

0:34:22the community's struggles to deal with

0:34:24the fire were the results of lessons

0:34:26forgotten and warnings ignored has el

0:34:29cerrito forgotten the oakland berkeley

0:34:31hills firestorm

0:34:33is it ignoring warnings and not

0:34:35eliminating fire hazards such as ladder

0:34:37fuel to create an ember storm in the

0:34:40eucalyptus crowns

0:34:43their greatest risk was an east wind

0:34:45fire quote the same type of fire that

0:34:50impacted the oakland berkeley hills in

0:34:52october 1991

0:34:54the california department of forestry

0:34:56and fire protection wrote in 2005 quote

0:35:00the greatest threat to the ridge

0:35:02communities is an from an east wind

0:35:04driven fire that originates above the

0:35:06communities and blows downhill through

0:35:08developed areas

0:35:10we have those east winds once again the

0:35:12diablo winds they blow in october our

0:35:15driest time of the year before the rains

0:35:17start

0:35:18it is past time for el cerrito to act

0:35:21and to begin thinning and reducing the

0:35:23great fire hazards that exist in the

0:35:25eucalyptus groves it is past time for el

0:35:27cerrito to work with surrounding

0:35:29communities to develop sign and practice

0:35:32evacuation routes for the worst case

0:35:34scenarios a firestorm

0:35:36el cerrito

0:35:38should obtain the traffic sim simulation

0:35:40software referenced in the article that

0:35:42fema puts out

0:35:46paradise is but another warning heed it

0:35:48and start working now thank you

0:35:51thank you

0:35:53as the next speaker is scott perry

0:35:55followed by dave weinstein and sherry

0:35:58dropner

0:36:04scott perry el cerrito

0:36:07before i start my comments i too was at

0:36:10the trekkers meeting and and thought

0:36:12that

0:36:13it was an outstanding meeting and

0:36:16their guest

0:36:17sheryl miller

0:36:18rocked

0:36:19she really presented

0:36:21some great information in a very concise

0:36:24way

0:36:24along with david gibson from

0:36:27el cerrito as well

0:36:29i'm here to speak to you also

0:36:33about fire safety in el cerrito and and

0:36:36my comments are going to be directed

0:36:37towards

0:36:39el cerrito's need and so far lack of

0:36:42evacuation routes

0:36:47i think that

0:36:51very simply put el cerrito needs to have

0:36:54marked evacuation routes

0:36:56we need strict vegetation restrictions

0:36:59on those routes

0:37:00we need parking on those routes

0:37:04to be

0:37:05no parking situations for red flag days

0:37:08and additionally on red flag days

0:37:12uh in an evacuation scenario i think

0:37:15that there needs to be some cooperation

0:37:17with

0:37:18sunset cemetery

0:37:20to

0:37:20access for people who live on franciscan

0:37:23and sunset and highgate and people from

0:37:26kensington coming down arlington to have

0:37:29access to fairmont avenue in a quick way

0:37:33and likewise some arrangement should be

0:37:36made with the golf course for people who

0:37:38live on the east side of the golf course

0:37:40as well so they can quickly access

0:37:43arlington

0:37:44get to barrett or portrayal or whatever

0:37:47the evacuation would be and i hope that

0:37:50the city would would work with your

0:37:52engineers to pick

0:37:54routes that are going to work out the

0:37:56best for people in these areas

0:38:01many communities that have wildland

0:38:03interface

0:38:05have evacuation routes and el cerrito

0:38:07does not

0:38:10we need clearly marked routes and

0:38:13i would suggest maybe to have

0:38:16routes that were marked most of the

0:38:18streets in the hill area have a fog line

0:38:20painted we could have a duplicate fog

0:38:23line

0:38:24something in a specific color that would

0:38:26indicate to a driver that this is the

0:38:28route out it's not only effective at

0:38:31night but during the day in a

0:38:33catastrophic situation

0:38:35there'll be so much smoke that it will

0:38:37be dark the sun will be blocked by the

0:38:39smoke

0:38:40so it needs to be reflective and i think

0:38:42that would be

0:38:43a low visual visible

0:38:47asset to have

0:38:49another idea is to have the reflector

0:38:52box dots that the fire department uses

0:38:54to mark where hydrants are we can have

0:38:57those placed periodically it's low

0:38:59impact be an easy solution it would be a

0:39:02focus for for drivers trying to get out

0:39:05small signs added to existing signs

0:39:08please summarize little little placards

0:39:10that would indicate an exit

0:39:13um and then the end of the route needs

0:39:16to have muster points

0:39:17which which

0:39:19is going to be important a very

0:39:21important

0:39:22comment i want to make is that of all

0:39:24the bay area cities el cerrito has the

0:39:26shortest distance from ridge top to

0:39:29shoreline

0:39:30so whatever happens is going to happen

0:39:32in a compressed zone not like richmond

0:39:34not like albany berkeley oakland it is

0:39:36very compressed so evacuations are going

0:39:38to be congested the fire is going to

0:39:41travel faster in our area

0:39:43and it's going to be

0:39:46a disaster

0:39:47waiting to happen

0:39:49thank you for the chance to make

0:39:50comments

0:39:51thank you

0:39:52next speaker is david weinstein

0:39:59mayor and council i'm dave weinstein

0:40:00president of el cerrito trail trekkers

0:40:02at the start of every year i like to

0:40:04come here and talk about our

0:40:06accomplishments and our goals so i've

0:40:08handed out a paper to you all and you

0:40:09can read it it'll be posted on our

0:40:11website i do want to focus also as

0:40:14people are talking about fire safety

0:40:16trekkers is going to make that one of

0:40:17our themes in 2019 we began the year a

0:40:20few days ago by doing a very good

0:40:22program

0:40:23about fire safety we're planning to do

0:40:25several hikes

0:40:27with people from the fire department

0:40:29both talking about how homeowners can do

0:40:31things

0:40:32to get better defensible space part of

0:40:34the hillside natural festival may 3-5

0:40:38will have

0:40:39a walk-through with the fire marshal

0:40:41talking about what the city does

0:40:43maybe he does not do about making the

0:40:45hillside safe so he should be some

0:40:47really good things

0:40:49as you know we've been from the

0:40:50beginning advocating for trails there

0:40:53are many urban trails throughout the

0:40:55city that have been blocked over the

0:40:58years or sometimes never used we began

0:41:01by kind of copying what berkeley

0:41:02pathwanders does

0:41:04and without thinking too much about it

0:41:06their model is for the volunteers to

0:41:09gradually improve those trails over

0:41:11years we're a much smaller city than

0:41:14berkeley it'll take us 30 years to

0:41:16improve all those trails so we get a

0:41:18sudden brainstorm

0:41:21some of these trails because we have

0:41:23streets that go like that and like that

0:41:24like that the trails go straight down

0:41:27but they're not passable what if the

0:41:29city council were to hire people to make

0:41:31these trails passable they will make

0:41:33really good

0:41:34routes

0:41:36for escape

0:41:38other things i want to mention about

0:41:39trail trackers we are still monitoring

0:41:41the fairview open space we really want

0:41:43that to remain in open space we gave 20

0:41:46hikes this year

0:41:48which really was a lot of fun and gets

0:41:50people out walking we're working with

0:41:52the rotary club to install an

0:41:54interpreter trail thanks to rory thanks

0:41:56to the rory club for their funding

0:41:58there's been some delay with

0:42:00establishing the various waymarking

0:42:03signs in the hillside area i think

0:42:06because the city's rec department was so

0:42:08involved with the park master plan

0:42:10trekkers played a big role in that plan

0:42:12because when they started working on it

0:42:14they totally ignored any of the urban

0:42:16trails we made sure they got counted so

0:42:18anyhow we continue as we enter our ninth

0:42:21year to do a lot of work that we think

0:42:23is to the benefit of el cerrito speaking

0:42:26of fire stuff we're working a lot with

0:42:28the eqc and with several schools

0:42:30including the montessori school to

0:42:32remove a lot of the french broom that so

0:42:35litters up the hillside area and again

0:42:37is

0:42:38very flammable

0:42:40so thank you

0:42:42for working with trail trackers open

0:42:44space trails trees are really valuable

0:42:48they're dangerous sure but we don't want

0:42:50to get rid of them so uh

0:42:52here's to a fulfilling year

0:42:55next speaker is sheri dropner followed

0:42:57by

0:42:59robin mitchell

0:43:01hi good evening city council mayor well

0:43:04first i wasn't planning to say anything

0:43:05but i just want to say i really

0:43:07appreciate

0:43:08all the residents who are working on

0:43:10fire safety i'm really impressed with

0:43:13how organized you've become and your

0:43:14ideas and and i do hope that the city

0:43:17council will put this on the agenda for

0:43:18further discussion and proposals and

0:43:20action it's really important and i don't

0:43:23live up in the hills but i feel like it

0:43:25benefits the entire community

0:43:27but what i really wanted to come here to

0:43:29say tonight was a real thank you

0:43:31to the fire chief and the paramedics and

0:43:33to all the people on the city council

0:43:35who so

0:43:37graciously offered support and help when

0:43:39on the december 18th meeting

0:43:41my husband was standing back there and

0:43:44apparently had it i was having a stroke

0:43:47and the um the great um

0:43:50support from the

0:43:53fire marshal the fire chief i'm sorry

0:43:55and the paramedics it was so timely they

0:43:58got him

0:43:59in the ambulance and to the hospital in

0:44:02a in a very short amount of time which

0:44:04is so critical

0:44:05in that period

0:44:07as first responders it was just so

0:44:09important and i really felt the

0:44:11community

0:44:12caring from all of you it was really

0:44:14really

0:44:16it really helped and to top it off his

0:44:19car was parked here

0:44:20for a number of days because we had

0:44:22driven separately to the meeting and i

0:44:24had called over to the police asking

0:44:25them not to tow it

0:44:27until i had an opportunity to get it and

0:44:29they said oh don't worry about it and

0:44:31when i did go to pick up the car a

0:44:33lovely woman from code enforcement and i

0:44:35believe her name was katie or kate

0:44:37came out and gave me a big hug and a and

0:44:40said you need a cup of coffee and a gift

0:44:43card to starbucks

0:44:45right

0:44:46so that's really how beautiful this

0:44:48community can be so i just wanted to

0:44:50thank you publicly

0:44:53thank you

0:44:55the next speaker is robin mitchell

0:44:59my name is robin mitchell i live in el

0:45:00cerrito and i just wanted to reiterate

0:45:04what people were saying about the trail

0:45:06trekkers presentation

0:45:08about fire safety it was a really

0:45:10excellent presentation by the woman from

0:45:12the diablo fire safe council and i think

0:45:14the city really needs to have those

0:45:16presentations as a standard fare i think

0:45:20you need to you should

0:45:22make the her available

0:45:25in presentations like that several times

0:45:27a year especially since everybody is so

0:45:30worried about what's going on you know

0:45:32what to do she talked a lot about

0:45:34how to make your vegetation safe how to

0:45:37things to do to your house and it was a

0:45:39lot of really practical information a

0:45:41lot of information about how fires

0:45:43you know sort of fire behavior and i

0:45:45really encourage the city to engage her

0:45:48to have those kind of presentations

0:45:50several times a year for the public

0:45:58all thanks that concludes the speaker

0:46:01cards i have at this time okay thank you

0:46:04and let's see

0:46:09that will go to the adoption of the

0:46:11consent calendar

0:46:16a we have minutes b transportation

0:46:19impact fee program

0:46:21c municipal pooling authority board

0:46:23members d successor agency

0:46:26recognized obligation payment schedule

0:46:29do i have a motion

0:46:32i'll move

0:46:34the passing of those four items second

0:46:40mayor pro tem has a first mayor pretend

0:46:42lyman and council member abelson is

0:46:45seconded

0:46:46all in favor aye

0:46:48as opposed

0:46:50motion passes

0:46:53all right so presentations none

0:46:57policy matters now we are on to the

0:46:59tenant protection ordinances

0:47:02i have uh the staff

0:47:05presentation

0:47:08i'm actually going to be doing the staff

0:47:10report this evening uh but melanie mintz

0:47:12your community development director and

0:47:14aisa shuri your affordable housing

0:47:16analyst are both here to address any

0:47:18questions

0:47:19um as the council will recall at your

0:47:21december 18th meeting you considered

0:47:23four ordinances that would provide

0:47:26additional protections to tenants of

0:47:27residential properties

0:47:29those were

0:47:30an ordinance to provide some review of

0:47:33rents

0:47:34an ordinance to set minimum lease terms

0:47:37an ordinance to regulate the termination

0:47:39of tenancies and an ordinance to provide

0:47:41relocation assistance to some tenants

0:47:43who are displaced as a result of actions

0:47:46defined in the ordinance

0:47:48after

0:47:50receiving public comments and

0:47:51deliberation the council introduced all

0:47:54of those ordinances except the rent

0:47:55review ordinance um including some

0:47:57amendments

0:47:59among the amendments was the addition

0:48:02of

0:48:03another circumstance that would qualify

0:48:05for relocation assistance which was when

0:48:07combined rent increases

0:48:09exceeded 20 percent over 24 months

0:48:12normally we would just be back here in

0:48:14front of you with the amended ordinances

0:48:16for adoption

0:48:18and in this case the three ordinances

0:48:20that the council introduced including

0:48:21those amendments have been brought back

0:48:23um and they are available for the city

0:48:25council to take action on them tonight

0:48:28um but for the reasons that i'm going to

0:48:29explain um the staff is recommending

0:48:31that you defer action right now

0:48:34in order to

0:48:35provide some additional time to

0:48:38review them and integrate them in light

0:48:41of some additional direction that the

0:48:42city council gave

0:48:44and that additional direction was

0:48:46to the staff to

0:48:48begin the process of developing a just

0:48:50cause eviction ordinance and an

0:48:52ordinance to enable the collection of

0:48:54data about residential rents which we've

0:48:56been referring to as a rent registry

0:48:57ordinance

0:48:58um

0:48:59so when after the meeting um the staff

0:49:02in my office um discussed the amendments

0:49:05that the council had made and the

0:49:07additional direction

0:49:09and

0:49:10came up and ultimately decided that

0:49:14we thought that the best course of

0:49:16action was to spend a little bit more

0:49:18time on the entire package of ordinances

0:49:21and request that you defer action for

0:49:23the time being on the three ordinances

0:49:25that you've already considered

0:49:28one of the major considerations that we

0:49:30took into account in making that

0:49:31recommendation is that um the package of

0:49:34ordinances that was brought to the

0:49:35council in december

0:49:37they all interrelated and were intended

0:49:39to work together

0:49:42and the just cause eviction ordinance

0:49:44and the rent registry ordinance that

0:49:46you've directed staff to work on would

0:49:48also need to work together um in a

0:49:51compatible form

0:49:52in a in a compatible manner with those

0:49:54other three ordinances

0:49:56um

0:49:58it may be that the ordinances that you

0:50:00already considered would require some

0:50:02changes

0:50:03to work with the other two ordinances

0:50:07or that we would have we would realize

0:50:09that portions of them were no longer

0:50:10necessary as a result of some of the

0:50:12policies that the council might cons

0:50:15might consider as part of just cause

0:50:16eviction or or a rent registry

0:50:19so

0:50:20as a result of that we thought that it

0:50:21would be both better in terms of policy

0:50:24making

0:50:24and more efficient to

0:50:26revise the three ordinances that you had

0:50:28already considered

0:50:30once you had given some direction about

0:50:32the just cause eviction and rent

0:50:33registry ordinances

0:50:35at present we don't know what the

0:50:37details of either of those two new

0:50:38ordinances would be

0:50:40so we don't really know what the whole

0:50:41package will look like

0:50:44and then finally if the city we

0:50:48we considered and talked a lot about and

0:50:50ultimately concluded that if the council

0:50:52proceeds to adopt the three ordinances

0:50:54that you've already considered

0:50:57there the staff is going to begin fairly

0:50:59promptly to um

0:51:01to

0:51:02figure out how to implement them based

0:51:04on plans that have already been

0:51:05developed

0:51:07there will be notices sent there will be

0:51:08communications with the public

0:51:10there will basically be a significant

0:51:12expenditure of staff resources directed

0:51:15at communicating out with the public

0:51:17about those three ordinances both

0:51:18tenants and and landlords

0:51:21if the council ultimately moves forward

0:51:24with

0:51:25the just cause eviction and rent

0:51:27registry ordinances and changes need to

0:51:29be made to the ordinances that you

0:51:30already considered there's going to be

0:51:32an entirely new set of communications an

0:51:33entirely new set of implementation

0:51:35measures

0:51:36and we were concerned both with

0:51:38conserving staff resources to implement

0:51:40an entire package of

0:51:43ordinances that regulate this area and

0:51:45also with

0:51:47not

0:51:47confusing both tenants and landlords

0:51:50about what the city's policies are

0:51:52so as a result of that we came forward

0:51:54with the recommendation that's in front

0:51:55of you tonight which is to defer action

0:51:58um there are three points that are

0:52:00listed in the staff report that are that

0:52:01are the totality of the motion that we

0:52:03would recommend

0:52:05and staff is anticipating at this time

0:52:07holding a study session with the city

0:52:08council and the public at the february

0:52:1019th meeting

0:52:12to provide some additional explanation

0:52:14about what what the legal constraints

0:52:16are on just cause eviction and rent

0:52:19registry ordinances what some examples

0:52:21are and to get some direction hear from

0:52:23the public and get some direction from

0:52:24the council about

0:52:26what form of an ordinance you would like

0:52:27to see

0:52:29as part of that given that there is

0:52:31significant public interest in the topic

0:52:34and that the just cause eviction

0:52:36ordinance and rent registry ordinances

0:52:38would have

0:52:39potentially broader

0:52:41application than the ones that you'd

0:52:42already considered staff intends to do

0:52:45some form of city-wide noticing about

0:52:46the study session to ensure that

0:52:48everybody has an opportunity to know

0:52:50about it and come and speak if they have

0:52:51an interest

0:52:53as i noted

0:52:54the three ordinances that the council

0:52:56introduced including the amendments at

0:52:58the december 18th meeting are in front

0:52:59of you

0:53:01it is an option for you to wave the

0:53:03second reading beyond the title and

0:53:05adopt those ordinances in the form that

0:53:07that are included in the agenda packet

0:53:09but staff's recommendation at this time

0:53:11as written in the agenda and the staff

0:53:13report is to to by motion defer action

0:53:16on those and the the components of that

0:53:18recommendation are spelled out in those

0:53:20documents um as i said um i'm available

0:53:23for questions and so are melanie and isa

0:53:25that concludes the report

0:53:28questions from the council

0:53:33council member fidelity

0:53:36um yeah

0:53:38so at the

0:53:40your proposal and and and there was some

0:53:42confusion from the last uh city council

0:53:45meeting um

0:53:47i'm happy to see some of the bigger

0:53:48issues the registry and the just cause

0:53:51discussed um

0:53:53and

0:53:54i think some in our community believe an

0:53:56ordinance might have been drafted to

0:53:59come back to us at that next meeting

0:54:01and some believe that it's a workshop

0:54:04you're saying now it's a workshop

0:54:06i'm saying that the direction that we

0:54:07understood was to

0:54:10follow the city's normal policy

0:54:12preparation practice which is to gather

0:54:15information

0:54:16to come back to the city council with

0:54:19the information that's been gathered and

0:54:21get feedback from the council and the

0:54:22public about the components of a new

0:54:24policy

0:54:25to take that direction and to draft an

0:54:28ordinance to come back to the council we

0:54:30do understand from the council that

0:54:31there is an interest in taking action

0:54:34on an accelerated basis but we wanted to

0:54:37make sure that we followed the practices

0:54:38that had been established and that's why

0:54:40we're coming back on the 19th with a

0:54:42study session rather than with an

0:54:43already drafted ordinance for you to

0:54:44consider

0:54:47well i i

0:54:48i think staff makes a good case for

0:54:51being efficient and using staff

0:54:53efficiently

0:54:56and

0:54:57getting all that we can into one package

0:55:00and i think some of the amendments from

0:55:02last time

0:55:03changed and confused some of the

0:55:05direction

0:55:06where we were going

0:55:08one of the questions i had was on an

0:55:10issue involving

0:55:12the 20 percent increase

0:55:15and because it was a motion that i was

0:55:16involved with i was concerned because i

0:55:19had thought we were talking about

0:55:21definitions

0:55:24in coming up

0:55:25and making those consistent and can you

0:55:27respond to

0:55:28the fact that somehow it turned into a

0:55:3020 percent increase for landlords to pay

0:55:35i was confused by that sure um

0:55:38the the

0:55:39the proposed amendment that um council

0:55:42member lymon made at the at the meeting

0:55:45and i do want to note that he did ask

0:55:48questions of staff about that during the

0:55:50question portion of that item i i

0:55:53mentioned that only because i know that

0:55:54there have been some questions about his

0:55:56questions

0:55:58but that said the the most the amendment

0:56:01that he ultimately proposed

0:56:03was definitional related it changed the

0:56:05definition of displacement

0:56:07um but the proposed change was to

0:56:10identify an additional circumstance

0:56:13under which relocation assistance would

0:56:15be required

0:56:16and that circumstance was when

0:56:19rent increases over 24 months exceeded

0:56:2220 percent

0:56:23um so

0:56:24by making that amendment um he was

0:56:27proposing and by thereby adjusting the

0:56:29definition of displacement he was

0:56:31creating a circumstance under which

0:56:33when a tenant was facing rent increases

0:56:37in excess of 20 over 24 months they

0:56:40would be able to initiate the process

0:56:42for

0:56:43obtaining relocation assistance if they

0:56:45met the all the other criteria

0:56:48in the ordinance because it was it's not

0:56:50available to all tenants in the

0:56:52ordinances drafted

0:56:53so that was the amendment that was made

0:56:56it was um i i don't recall i i don't

0:56:59recall who um accepted his who seconded

0:57:02his motion to make it but um it was it

0:57:05was procedurally sound and so when the

0:57:08city council moved forward with a vote

0:57:10on the tenant relocation assistance

0:57:11ordinance it was with that amendment

0:57:14included and so that is reflected in the

0:57:16the ordinance that's in front of you

0:57:17tonight

0:57:18and aren't there those that say that

0:57:20comes in conflict with costa hawkins

0:57:23so we have received communications from

0:57:26california apartment associations of

0:57:28contra costa county and

0:57:30contra costa realtors association

0:57:32asserting that

0:57:35that that

0:57:36change to the tenant relocation

0:57:38assistance ordinance would constitute a

0:57:40form of rent control

0:57:42my office researched the question and

0:57:44found no published case law that had

0:57:47adjudicated the issue

0:57:49so i can't say

0:57:50definitively yes or no that that is the

0:57:52case i do think that um the arguments

0:57:55are are good ones and typically el

0:57:57cerrito has not wanted to be um the city

0:58:00that that establishes new case law

0:58:03um and so our recommendation is to

0:58:05proceed with the assumption that that

0:58:08would be a form of rent control and so

0:58:09it would be limited in application the

0:58:12same way that rent control ordinances

0:58:13would be so then you're saying our staff

0:58:15will not move that forward in any

0:58:18context for us to discuss at a later

0:58:20date

0:58:21as of right now we are treating that as

0:58:23part of the package of um

0:58:27of

0:58:28policies that the city council would

0:58:30like to see implemented

0:58:33what we had what we have stated in the

0:58:35staff report is if the city council

0:58:37wants to adopt the tenant relocation

0:58:39ordinance as amended tonight that

0:58:41ordinance contains a provision for the

0:58:43adoption of administrative regulations

0:58:46and the staff would move forward with

0:58:47adopting regulations to limit the

0:58:50application of that particular

0:58:52qualification for relocation assistance

0:58:54to situations that are compatible with

0:58:56costa hawkins

0:58:57if the council instead defers action on

0:59:00this item we would

0:59:02unless we hear differently from the

0:59:03council tonight

0:59:04we would intend to come back after the

0:59:06study session on the just cause eviction

0:59:08and rent registry ordinances

0:59:11um as with

0:59:12um a a package of documents that would

0:59:17reflect that the application of the uh

0:59:20of that 20 percent provision being

0:59:23limited by costa hawkins

0:59:26okay

0:59:28um

0:59:31i i i would like um

0:59:34the bigger package to come back i mean i

0:59:36think the report stated pretty well that

0:59:39what we came up with and added

0:59:42um

0:59:43conflicted a bit with the package you

0:59:45presented and what we

0:59:47finally agreed to

0:59:50and i i think it will be important to

0:59:52talk about the two things that i think i

0:59:55think the mayor and

0:59:56councilman lymon talked about with the

0:59:59just cause and the rent registry

1:00:01um

1:00:02i don't know if you want to hear my

1:00:04ideas now about if in fact

1:00:06you're going forward but i think

1:00:08i think just causes

1:00:11is important

1:00:12um i think even though uh

1:00:16there are two very definitive sides to

1:00:18the question of moving forward on just

1:00:20cause

1:00:22i think obviously it's good for tenants

1:00:24and i think it's good for

1:00:26landlords that they have a set list of

1:00:29issues that they can work with and move

1:00:32on

1:00:33and deal with

1:00:35uh what i would love coming up and i'm i

1:00:37think this is me talking about

1:00:39supporting the defer

1:00:41of the first three that we have from

1:00:43last time and moving with the other

1:00:46ideas that were recommended

1:00:48is is to make sure that

1:00:54our staff deals with the concerns about

1:00:57just cause dealing with

1:01:00the possible discrimination that can

1:01:02happen initially if in fact we have this

1:01:06where people landlords may in fact be

1:01:08concerned about who they allow to rent

1:01:10their place in fact there are stricter

1:01:12rules

1:01:13to get them out and i'm concerned about

1:01:15that discrimination there are certain

1:01:16types of people certain landlords may

1:01:18not want to

1:01:19have as renters that's one issue an

1:01:22issue that i have

1:01:25are there

1:01:27places and cities where we have just

1:01:29cause and we don't have rent control

1:01:32they're always combined i would love to

1:01:34see

1:01:36examples of us just having the just

1:01:38cause does it not work does it work

1:01:42without the rent control added to it

1:01:45uh and finally i've heard from a lot of

1:01:47people in town as

1:01:48councilman gabriel quinto has mentioned

1:01:50about the mom-and-pop landlord

1:01:53good landlords who are trying to do

1:01:56their best and have had a bad tenant who

1:01:58have been either destructive mean

1:02:01drugs not paying their rent

1:02:03and it's cost them a ton of money to get

1:02:05rid of them and to go through the

1:02:07process

1:02:08so i would love mom and pop what what

1:02:11what is the level of mom and pop i know

1:02:13we have what 87 percent small landlords

1:02:17uh in this city that's their livelihood

1:02:19that's their money

1:02:22are we talking about four units eight

1:02:23units

1:02:25if we move forward with just cause but i

1:02:27think it would be a great exercise for

1:02:28this community to do so

1:02:31i look forward to the information that

1:02:32may come back i had thought maybe

1:02:35ordinances would have been developed and

1:02:36given to us on that next

1:02:38commission i think i told a few people

1:02:40in the audience that that might be the

1:02:42case but we're developing as some of us

1:02:44have said a unique el cerrito direction

1:02:47these are some of the components we need

1:02:48to work with and i will support

1:02:50deferring and coming back

1:02:52next month thank you

1:02:56mayor pretend yeah

1:02:58i have remarks that i'll say say for

1:03:01after um

1:03:03public comment but so we're in question

1:03:06portion

1:03:07and

1:03:08i will have to start by saying

1:03:11phenomenal job doing exactly what we

1:03:13asked you to do this is

1:03:15this is perfect and if i read through

1:03:17the

1:03:18the matter correctly we could enact

1:03:21these tonight but it would

1:03:23send mixed signals and would potentially

1:03:25not be able to dovetail with future

1:03:27ordinances that we would consider and

1:03:29the rent registry is certainly one of

1:03:31the future ordinances that i'm strongly

1:03:33uh advocating for and and

1:03:36that

1:03:38taking the time to have a public

1:03:40discussion may allow us to reach a very

1:03:42good solution for unique to el cerrito

1:03:45the questions that i have

1:03:48um

1:03:50you know

1:03:51your presentation has covered answered

1:03:52most of the questions the the discussion

1:03:54about the fact that we have not

1:03:56adjudicated whether or not the

1:04:00the

1:04:01a rent-based

1:04:03trigger for displacement

1:04:05is a

1:04:07um actual uh use of cost or is rent

1:04:10control or not is

1:04:12acknowledged and well presented

1:04:14uh but as council member abelson was

1:04:17over here chuckling we certainly don't

1:04:19um we don't have the resources to be the

1:04:21test case for

1:04:23for that and and potentially one of our

1:04:26uh larger sisters could potentially

1:04:29could take on that that idea

1:04:32um

1:04:35if i read this correctly we could adopt

1:04:3710 300 tonight with that administrative

1:04:40process that you outlined in your

1:04:41presentation

1:04:44that's correct

1:04:45okay and

1:04:46one of the concerns i uh have again that

1:04:49potentially as a result of having a

1:04:51longer dialogue would be potentially

1:04:54solved

1:04:55the staff report does touch on the fact

1:04:58that echo which is abbreviation for a

1:05:01housing organization

1:05:04is not able to provide services under

1:05:06this current

1:05:08version of the

1:05:11relocation assistance ordinance

1:05:13do you have any

1:05:15idea of what costs those are because it

1:05:17the staff report from december

1:05:1918th

1:05:21focused on thirty thousand dollars for

1:05:23these and primarily was mediation or

1:05:25thought to be mediation

1:05:26um and and not necessarily relocation so

1:05:30any sense of what

1:05:33cost where

1:05:35i know echo can't do it and you can

1:05:36expand on that if you want to but any

1:05:38idea of what the cost would be for the

1:05:41relocation assistance

1:05:43i've i've reached out to a couple of

1:05:44organizations and i should be having

1:05:47that

1:05:48back to you all very soon but ideally

1:05:49when we come back to the study session

1:05:51i'll be able to give you a complete

1:05:54more accurate sense of what that will

1:05:55look like in terms of financial

1:05:57implications as it relates to the

1:06:00relocation triggered by rent increases

1:06:02great thank you um

1:06:10okay no that's the extent of my comments

1:06:12tonight or questions tonight

1:06:14councilmember quinto

1:06:17i echo what my council members uh have

1:06:20just mentioned um

1:06:22again council member for delhi i

1:06:24appreciate you mentioning uh the

1:06:26importance of being mindful with our

1:06:29mom and pop landlords and you did say 87

1:06:31percent

1:06:33uh of uh the landlords here are our

1:06:36small-time landlords so um knowing that

1:06:39and i just want to make sure

1:06:41that uh we protect uh them as well

1:06:45my opinion is

1:06:48supporting

1:06:50the rent registry and looking into that

1:06:53more

1:06:54so

1:06:57when we spoke about that

1:06:59last month i thought that was just to

1:07:02look at prices on that on on the

1:07:05software and to look at

1:07:07the different ones that are available

1:07:09and then to check back with us to see

1:07:11how much

1:07:12all that costs we don't have money uh

1:07:16for uh looking at what our our neighbors

1:07:18next door are doing uh with their rent

1:07:20control we don't have any kind of money

1:07:22like that close to that

1:07:24more important things to deal with like

1:07:26fire prevention so but i don't want to

1:07:28get in a huge bureaucracy

1:07:31uh with rent control because that

1:07:33um

1:07:34yeah

1:07:35we don't we can't afford it we don't we

1:07:38do not have uh that kind of money to

1:07:41create a huge bureaucracy like what our

1:07:44neighbors of richmond have done and i've

1:07:45heard that they're using their general

1:07:47fund to pay for it because they don't

1:07:48have the money to pay for it so uh

1:07:51looking at that

1:07:53definitely looking at

1:07:55the cost of rent registry and

1:07:59and

1:08:00let's look at

1:08:02how much

1:08:05let's look more into the detail with

1:08:08tenant

1:08:09relocation

1:08:10that's that's what i support and so i

1:08:14definitely support

1:08:15deferring this

1:08:17matter to the 19th of next month

1:08:21council member abelson

1:08:23in addition to

1:08:24what's already been said i think the

1:08:26thing that would really interest me

1:08:29uh in looking at this again is um

1:08:32we're talking about the mom and pops

1:08:35and

1:08:36um

1:08:38i would find it interesting to get a

1:08:41sense of

1:08:43what mom and pops

1:08:45could afford

1:08:48and what they couldn't afford

1:08:51and um

1:08:53as i understand it look reading this

1:08:56over a few times is that one of the this

1:08:59never applies as i understand it

1:09:02to

1:09:04uh single-family homes correct

1:09:07uh just cause eviction ordinances can be

1:09:09applied to single-family um rent control

1:09:12ordinances cannot under cost oh the

1:09:14six months

1:09:17rental assistance

1:09:19is

1:09:20in this case in that case considered

1:09:22what category well

1:09:24the relocation assistance ordinance was

1:09:27never written to apply to single family

1:09:30ordinance single-family homes that are

1:09:32being rented regardless of whether or

1:09:33not costa hawkins applies to any

1:09:35component of it they were always

1:09:36excluded and we'll continue what do they

1:09:39cover

1:09:41what size units

1:09:43well it was

1:09:45so to clarify the different policies and

1:09:47it's one of the reasons that we'd like

1:09:48to come back in february to discuss so

1:09:50the previously the ordinances that were

1:09:53introduced the only one that applied to

1:09:55single family was the termination of

1:09:57tenancy

1:09:59when the amendment was made to ask to

1:10:02add the 20 increase as a criteria for

1:10:05relocation assistance

1:10:07as we've discussed i think it's staff's

1:10:09interpretation that that would not do to

1:10:11costa hawkins apply to single family or

1:10:14to development um

1:10:16um after 19 that has received received

1:10:19its certificate

1:10:20um and then my question that just cause

1:10:23is one of the things we want to come

1:10:24back and discuss which is which at what

1:10:26threshold would that apply to what types

1:10:29of units you've all used the term mom

1:10:31and pop but i think the other thing is

1:10:33number of units in somebody's

1:10:35local portfolio okay that's kind of what

1:10:37i was interested in discussing not the

1:10:40other things

1:10:41what i um

1:10:43and when i mean we have a lot if you

1:10:45think about

1:10:46what it looks like here in el cerrito

1:10:49there are a lot of duplexes there are a

1:10:51lot of four plexes those are we have a

1:10:53lot of those units i believe i don't

1:10:55know how many exactly and that's

1:10:58precisely what we hope to discuss in

1:10:59february because with uh going back to

1:11:02council member fidelity's point we

1:11:04didn't feel that we could get direction

1:11:05on that when when asked to return with

1:11:07just cause and rent registry we needed

1:11:09to come back and also discuss

1:11:11these items the thing that

1:11:15then i'm not clear about is whether the

1:11:17so-called let's say that let's say it

1:11:19was a four-flex even

1:11:21i'm not sure that the landlord

1:11:25has the funding

1:11:27you know money

1:11:29uh

1:11:30to provide six months rent even i mean

1:11:32you know i mean

1:11:34i was thinking gee what if i were that

1:11:36per i mean i know i wouldn't

1:11:38you know

1:11:39i don't own a four-plex either but

1:11:42you know i

1:11:44these are numbers that what you know

1:11:45like what would be an example of this is

1:11:48a number that could be

1:11:50um kind of high i think

1:11:53so i mean if we could look at it in

1:11:55terms of

1:11:56account just showing a sample

1:11:58calculation

1:12:00of if the rent were and the rent

1:12:02increase were

1:12:04then um how much money is the mom and

1:12:08pop landlord

1:12:10let's call it

1:12:11putting out i think a fourplex is

1:12:13probably

1:12:15a mom and pop because my guess is

1:12:18that

1:12:20this what happened is they

1:12:22they sort of saved up the mom and pop if

1:12:25you know in that scenario they probably

1:12:28saved up

1:12:29their money or they lived in it

1:12:30initially and um moved to the hills

1:12:35when

1:12:36they had

1:12:37children

1:12:39and but kept

1:12:41ownership of that initial property down

1:12:44in the flats that that's kind of to me

1:12:46the scenario of what i've seen people do

1:12:48in el cerrito um

1:12:51that i you know people that i actually

1:12:52know and

1:12:54that own a mom and po you know the mom

1:12:57and pops that i know that that's kind of

1:12:58what it looks like

1:13:00um so if it would be interesting to see

1:13:02the calculations on

1:13:05on the money and

1:13:07because i i mean i don't know if it

1:13:09would work in terms of we can say that

1:13:12this is what it is but if people can't

1:13:14pay it they can't pay it

1:13:16as a reminder and it's excellent to hear

1:13:18from you all tonight the types of

1:13:20information you'd like to have aisa and

1:13:23i staff come back with um and so we can

1:13:26look at

1:13:27what thresholds apply in other cities

1:13:29and try to come up potentially with some

1:13:31sort of operating economics but as a

1:13:33reminder i also want to point out it's

1:13:34only under certain conditions

1:13:37that

1:13:38the proposed

1:13:40relocation payments would apply so

1:13:42they're under very specific as we've

1:13:45heard from the amendment now it's when

1:13:47there is a significant remodel or

1:13:50demolition taking place that would

1:13:51displace people for more than a year

1:13:53and with the relocation payments it's

1:13:55when rent is increased by more than 20

1:13:57percent in two years

1:14:00that's one condition the other condition

1:14:02is that the tenants are making the

1:14:04household is making less than 120

1:14:07ami

1:14:08and the third condition is that they opt

1:14:10to leave so just as a reminder this is

1:14:12not a global payment

1:14:14when they opt to leave

1:14:16when he wants to leave if the tenants

1:14:18after rece if if they in fact receive a

1:14:2220 rent increase over 24 months

1:14:24decide that that is beyond their

1:14:26capability to absorb and decide to

1:14:30vacate and relocate

1:14:33that's when it would that's that's the

1:14:34only conditions under which it would

1:14:35apply

1:14:36okay but but it would be six months as

1:14:39we've stated it i think it's depending

1:14:41on the

1:14:42three three to five depending on the

1:14:44household

1:14:45three to five okay uh it's it just still

1:14:48seems like a lot of

1:14:50money maybe it's because

1:14:52i'm not rich

1:14:54but the um

1:14:57and uh

1:14:59so anyway some calculations that would

1:15:01show you know if

1:15:03such and such a condition occurred

1:15:05what's the the dollar amount and in

1:15:08particular at the lower ends

1:15:11um it would be

1:15:13and then the other thing i think it

1:15:15would be helpful for me to know and i

1:15:17have seen evidence of it just looking

1:15:19through literature

1:15:20is

1:15:21we're trying to build some units here

1:15:25and

1:15:27the

1:15:28my concern is is that we're trying we're

1:15:30still in the stage of trying to build

1:15:32some units

1:15:33and i would actually like is to provide

1:15:36some units

1:15:38because i think we have a real severe

1:15:40shortage of housing

1:15:42and so i'm really concerned about that

1:15:44and some the question i have is

1:15:47if we did whatever

1:15:49would it have a negative

1:15:51serious negative impact on our ability

1:15:55to

1:15:56see that housing completed

1:15:58i don't know

1:15:59how much of that you can actually do but

1:16:03i have seen it reported in literature

1:16:05though

1:16:06that

1:16:08you know there is a relationship

1:16:11and um

1:16:13so

1:16:14it's

1:16:15not going to help us at all if we

1:16:17don't have

1:16:18units

1:16:20we can we can discuss that at the

1:16:22meeting that is one of the um

1:16:24elements of costa hawkins and exempting

1:16:27new construction

1:16:29which is still for example dealing with

1:16:31construction loans and

1:16:33the stuff that we're talking about doing

1:16:37it may not be covered by costa hawkins

1:16:40right

1:16:41with the new ordinances that's the study

1:16:42session like just cause we could

1:16:44determine whether you felt whether

1:16:46council felt

1:16:47we could we could try to pull together

1:16:49how other cities have handled it and

1:16:51respond to some of your questions to the

1:16:52best of our ability but in the end it

1:16:55will be up to the city council to

1:16:57determine what types of units are

1:16:59included and to try to use the best data

1:17:02and information available to determine

1:17:04what those likely when you say

1:17:09we would determine what

1:17:10types of units

1:17:12aren't there certain ones that are like

1:17:14excluded like single family

1:17:17the as the city attorney said not with

1:17:19just cause ordinance that would be up to

1:17:21so a person who has

1:17:24um

1:17:24[Music]

1:17:27if they were renting out a house they

1:17:29could

1:17:30have to put out six months rent

1:17:33to the exiting tenant

1:17:36so that so the relocation or five months

1:17:38excuse me so as sky the city attorney

1:17:40mentioned the relocation ordinance would

1:17:43have some categories that would not

1:17:45apply such as units built after 1995

1:17:47single-family homes condos so that is

1:17:51separate now for the just cause

1:17:52ordinance for the eviction that could

1:17:54apply to any rental unit

1:17:57depending on how you all decide that we

1:18:00should design that ordinance so when we

1:18:01come back for the study session we'll

1:18:03definitely

1:18:05be covering all of those things because

1:18:06those are important things to think of

1:18:08as we craft this policy and come bring

1:18:10it back with you with exactly what you

1:18:12have in mind just to reiterate what

1:18:14melanie said we're talking about a

1:18:16number of different policies

1:18:18some of which

1:18:20state law has something to say about

1:18:22what kind of units they can apply to

1:18:23some of which are a council choice i

1:18:25think what we could do as part of coming

1:18:27back for the study session is to

1:18:29maybe build out a chart for you that

1:18:31would that would illustrate that

1:18:32information because i think we've now

1:18:34understood that there are questions

1:18:35about which would apply to which types

1:18:37of units and so we can provide that

1:18:38information to you at the 19 meeting on

1:18:40the 19th right it actually feels to me

1:18:43as a layperson

1:18:45that

1:18:47this is very technical

1:18:50and

1:18:51it's very so it's

1:18:53very difficult to kind of

1:18:55see what's you know what falls into what

1:18:58bucket so to speak in terms of all of

1:19:00that and um

1:19:02we'll see what we can do to simplify

1:19:04that information for the council so i

1:19:05think but i do think that one of the

1:19:07things i have a lot of concern about

1:19:09because of the what 87

1:19:13of the um

1:19:16um

1:19:18is that is that the right number

1:19:20we're wondering ourselves we

1:19:22we know the number has been used but

1:19:23we're not sure of the origin of it it's

1:19:25interesting to know what that number is

1:19:26i guess it's also going to it's also

1:19:28going to depend on the definition of

1:19:30course but yes we will we'll see what we

1:19:32can do to come up with that as well yeah

1:19:34just you know how um

1:19:37it could be you know how much of an

1:19:39impact is it on uh how many

1:19:41people how many people you know will be

1:19:45i know i certainly couldn't afford to be

1:19:47a landlord

1:19:48if

1:19:49i had that hanging over my head ever you

1:19:52know i would just not do it

1:19:54if if that were um

1:19:58let me get to my kids to move home or

1:20:00something if i were that person

1:20:02but um the um

1:20:05these are pretty high cost to me

1:20:08of us

1:20:10that um anyway

1:20:12i think i've kind of

1:20:13put forth my questions which is i think

1:20:15what we're trying to do now

1:20:18thanks yes i just wanted to reiterate

1:20:21that we're doing questions on the staff

1:20:23report

1:20:24so i only have one question

1:20:26and that is

1:20:28looking at this i feel like

1:20:30we made good progress in terms of some

1:20:33rental protections by passing the

1:20:35ordinance and if we don't pass

1:20:37the ordinances tonight we delay any

1:20:40protections and i know that that's

1:20:42you know there's people out there saying

1:20:44fire's an emergency and there's people

1:20:45out there saying that protecting renters

1:20:47is an emergency and we're delaying it

1:20:49even further there's potential

1:20:51consequences for families in our

1:20:53community right now by delaying this

1:20:56um

1:20:57that being said i know there's a study

1:21:01session in february

1:21:03what do you anticipate as a timeline

1:21:06if we were to move forward with a

1:21:08combined package after the study session

1:21:11what what are you guys looking at in

1:21:13terms of a timeline

1:21:15so we are looking at 30 to 60 days

1:21:17obviously the sooner the better so we

1:21:19will work with the city attorney as

1:21:21swiftly as we can

1:21:24to move this forward once we get

1:21:26direction at the february 19th meeting

1:21:29we will

1:21:30know exactly what we need to move

1:21:32forward with and at that point

1:21:34um we can work together with them to

1:21:36bring it back

1:21:38okay thank you so now we'll move on to

1:21:41comments from the public

1:21:43we have 12 speakers tonight

1:21:46the first is bill coleman followed by

1:21:48eric mayer and elizabeth

1:21:52torres okay let's please proceed

1:22:00good evening members of city council my

1:22:02name is bill coleman i live on lagunitas

1:22:04avenue here in el cerrito i encourage

1:22:06you to direct the staff to go back look

1:22:09at the ordinances again gather more

1:22:11input it it may not

1:22:13be readily apparent to people in the

1:22:15public who haven't followed this issue

1:22:17closely but there's been a lot of input

1:22:20from the different constituencies in the

1:22:21community that have gone into this

1:22:23process

1:22:24and i think that's that's made it a

1:22:27better process and i encourage you to

1:22:30give the staff more time to

1:22:32get more of that input i think one of

1:22:34the things that you've highlighted is

1:22:36that

1:22:37there is a significant percentage of

1:22:39properties that are owned by

1:22:42families

1:22:43in el cerrito and uh that's a challenge

1:22:47because some of those people probably

1:22:49shouldn't be landlords they probably

1:22:52don't take their responsibilities

1:22:53seriously enough and cause problems for

1:22:56the people that rent there

1:22:58they're the exception not the rule

1:23:01ordinances that can protect everyone and

1:23:05at the same and deal with the landlords

1:23:07and property owners that make it

1:23:09difficult for the renters but at the

1:23:11same time not jeopardizing our ability

1:23:13to grow the city and help landlords who

1:23:16try to do the right thing to be

1:23:18successful

1:23:19thank you thank you

1:23:28good evening madam mayor fellow council

1:23:30members staff

1:23:32eric myers i was might remember i spoke

1:23:34uh briefly last time

1:23:36where several different hats in this

1:23:38area it's a really important issue to me

1:23:40i'm a landlord tenant attorney i'm also

1:23:43a property owner and a property manager

1:23:46and i'm also a realtor now the immediate

1:23:49past president of the contra costa

1:23:50association of realtors i encourage you

1:23:53to take staff's recommendation as well i

1:23:55commended your staff last time i was

1:23:57here i'll do it again now that they they

1:23:59really get this issue and they get the

1:24:01need and they understand

1:24:04how to put this together but they need

1:24:06the time and they need the resources to

1:24:08do it right for the council and for the

1:24:10city and the community and so i would

1:24:12encourage you to accept the

1:24:14recommendation

1:24:15and i'd also encourage you

1:24:17in gathering information and doing the

1:24:19study session to reach out to us as

1:24:21realtors like you have already

1:24:24we appreciate providing input we're not

1:24:26just on landlord side we're on

1:24:28everybody's side we're for housing and

1:24:30we're for real property rights for

1:24:32everyone tenants have rights landlords

1:24:34have rights and we really have awareness

1:24:36of this issue and we really would like

1:24:38to help you by providing our input

1:24:41and i'd also encourage you to look at

1:24:43data that's out there on these types of

1:24:45ordinances and if they've worked in

1:24:48communities such as el cerrito i know el

1:24:50cerrito is unique but there are

1:24:51similarities with other communities and

1:24:54see if what we're trying to do is really

1:24:56going to solve an issue that we really

1:24:58have in this community if it's really

1:24:59going to work or it's just going to cost

1:25:01us a lot of money use our time and

1:25:03really just frustrate

1:25:05progress that we're trying to make so

1:25:07thank you

1:25:09thank you

1:25:10next speaker is elizabeth

1:25:12thorschus

1:25:17hello

1:25:18i'm elizabeth thorsness

1:25:21um

1:25:22and i just i heard after the last

1:25:24meeting that you were talking about a

1:25:26rent registry

1:25:28which will allow you to get information

1:25:30and i just wanted to go on record that

1:25:32i'm so glad you're doing that because i

1:25:35don't think you have enough information

1:25:38about what rents really are how many

1:25:40nasty evictions do we have what is going

1:25:43on in el cerrito because i i i think

1:25:45that we do have a lot of mom and pops

1:25:48who um it's their livelihood and they've

1:25:50become connected to their tenants and

1:25:52have them for many years in many cases

1:25:54you'll be able to find that out and

1:25:56we'll all know that

1:25:57in the meantime when people do talk

1:25:59about certain things happening to them

1:26:02or to their tenant friends it'd be

1:26:04really useful if they would say what the

1:26:06rent was before it was raised 20 percent

1:26:09and how long the tenant had been there

1:26:11and that sort of thing give us some

1:26:12information and be sure it's in el

1:26:14cerrito because i think el cerrito is

1:26:18well it's not san francisco that's for

1:26:20sure so anyway that's all i wanted to

1:26:22say thank you thank you the next speaker

1:26:25is robin mitchell followed by howdy

1:26:28gowdy and sherry drobner

1:26:37my name is robin mitchell and um i

1:26:39understand the staff's desire to have a

1:26:41unified tenant protection package based

1:26:43on what the city council passed at the

1:26:45december meeting as well as their

1:26:46direction to staff to come up with

1:26:47proposals for rent registry and just

1:26:50cause eviction however because putting

1:26:52together such a complete package will

1:26:53take months the delay will result in yet

1:26:56more displacement by el cerrito renters

1:26:58due to lack of tenant protections

1:27:00therefore if that's the path the city

1:27:02council proposes to take it is even more

1:27:04urgent that you insist that an immediate

1:27:06anti-gouging rent moratorium be

1:27:08established along with just cause

1:27:09eviction ordinance both of which need to

1:27:11be in place while the complete package

1:27:13is being developed

1:27:15i urge you to review the human relations

1:27:16commission's resolution which was

1:27:18presented at the december city council

1:27:20meeting

1:27:21action items one through four and that

1:27:22resolution are what the city council

1:27:24should adopt while staff prepares a

1:27:25comprehensive tenant protection package

1:27:27and those steps are one immediately

1:27:30established just cause eviction policies

1:27:32specifically detailing the only

1:27:33circumstances under which a landlord may

1:27:35evict the tenant two immediately

1:27:37establish a temporary measure limiting

1:27:39rent increases to be within a certain

1:27:40percentage to protect tenants from rent

1:27:43gouging which will be in place pending

1:27:44the adoption of rent control ordinances

1:27:46three immediately establish a permanent

1:27:48citizen board or commission equally

1:27:50represented by citizen renters landlords

1:27:53and homeowners to advise the city

1:27:55council on matters of housing

1:27:57and four immediately establish a

1:27:58citizen-led task force separate from the

1:28:01above-described board or commission

1:28:03specific to the topic of tenant

1:28:04protections to be in existence for the

1:28:06full duration of the time period in

1:28:08which the city council and city staff is

1:28:10researching developing and implementing

1:28:12the affordable housing strategy to work

1:28:14alongside the city of el cerrito to

1:28:16provide a direct and consistent access

1:28:18point for it citizen input and advisory

1:28:20on matters of tenant rights and

1:28:22protections i thought that the

1:28:24resolution that they put together was

1:28:26very well thought out this seems like

1:28:27the perfect strategy to pursue and i'm

1:28:30kind of surprised that

1:28:32at least those last two things that the

1:28:35um permanent citizen board and the

1:28:37citizenless led task force have not been

1:28:39discussed at all i think it's really

1:28:41important for you guys to do that i've

1:28:42been on lots of those kinds of

1:28:44especially the task force part of it

1:28:46i've been on several of those when the

1:28:47city is putting together a master plan

1:28:49or something i think that it's really

1:28:51important to do that in this case and i

1:28:53would also like to say that you know i

1:28:55have been a renter in el cerrito and

1:28:58other places and just because you know

1:29:00it's a mom-and-pop landlord doesn't mean

1:29:02they're a good landlord i've been in

1:29:03plenty of places where there were mold

1:29:05problems that the landlord didn't fix

1:29:07and all kinds of other maintenance

1:29:08issues

1:29:10and i and i know other people that

1:29:12that's the same thing so i think it

1:29:14shouldn't matter what type of landlord

1:29:16it is we need regulations and ordinances

1:29:19that protect both landlords and tenants

1:29:22under certain circumstances and that

1:29:24should apply across the board no matter

1:29:25who they are and i'm also glad

1:29:28that the attorney stood up to the caa

1:29:30and the ccar regarding the brown act

1:29:32allegations

1:29:34and i also feel that if you think that

1:29:36the cost of hawkins doesn't apply to

1:29:38tenant relocation ordinance the city

1:29:39should stand firm on that and not cave

1:29:42to those

1:29:44influences

1:29:46thank you

1:29:50mayor and council members and my name is

1:29:52howdy gowdy and live in alcerio

1:29:55so i want to thank you for your

1:29:57direction at your last meeting i think

1:29:59it was really important that you

1:30:01introduced the um just cause and

1:30:04rent registry

1:30:06items for

1:30:08consideration

1:30:10um as well as the amendments that were

1:30:12made to the

1:30:14ordinances

1:30:15particularly the

1:30:1820 two-year relocation um

1:30:22and i agree with what robin just said

1:30:24that it if it can apply to all housing

1:30:27types it should apply to all housing

1:30:29types um one of the things that we need

1:30:32most is effective

1:30:36measures that can apply

1:30:38under costa hawkins and so i think it

1:30:40requires

1:30:42creative thinking about what will work

1:30:45in those

1:30:46circumstances so

1:30:49um

1:30:51you know the big picture here is that

1:30:53you introduce some

1:30:55meaningful improvements

1:30:58but it isn't a complete package and so

1:31:00it is appropriate to pause and collect

1:31:03and make a complete package

1:31:05in particular you know the biggest piece

1:31:07that's missing is actually something

1:31:11about you know rent increases which was

1:31:14left out of your further consideration

1:31:16and so i think you should add that to

1:31:19the package to be discussed

1:31:21um

1:31:22and

1:31:23that's a

1:31:24you know

1:31:26all of these things are going to be a

1:31:28prolonged discussion and so again it's

1:31:30important to look back at the hrc

1:31:32recommendation that was made

1:31:34put in a temporary moratorium to allow

1:31:37us the time and safe space to have this

1:31:39discussion without harming any

1:31:42more tenants and and then let's let's

1:31:46build this package

1:31:48um

1:31:50you know

1:31:51it's been said

1:31:53many times tonight you know

1:31:55this term of mom and pop landlords it's

1:31:58really not about

1:32:00the size or giving the landlords a

1:32:02folksy name

1:32:04this is about fairness right so

1:32:06most of our landlords are fair but these

1:32:10regulations are about constraining bad

1:32:12actors no one who does reasonable

1:32:16interactions with their tenants should

1:32:17be

1:32:18at all

1:32:19you know concerned about you know

1:32:22sensible

1:32:23constraints that you know are just about

1:32:26being fair you know it's like every one

1:32:28of those

1:32:29tenants is a mom or a pop and you know

1:32:31it's like

1:32:32they they deserve that same um

1:32:36sort of

1:32:37consideration that your

1:32:39offering this uh mythical mom-and-pop

1:32:42landlord so let's just

1:32:44back off and think about fairness this

1:32:46is about giving equal protection to both

1:32:49sides

1:32:50and

1:32:51really

1:32:52real protection to tenants which hasn't

1:32:55existed for so long so i hope you move

1:32:57forward with that thanks thank you

1:33:05hi good evening again i'm sherry robiner

1:33:07i live in el cerrito

1:33:08um first i appreciate the fact that you

1:33:12said that you we actually don't know

1:33:13where this 87 number comes from

1:33:16nor do we have the definition

1:33:18so i think that would be really

1:33:20important since it seems to be central

1:33:22to the discussion this evening i mean i

1:33:25hear we're not talking about tenants too

1:33:27much but we are talking a lot tonight

1:33:28about the mom-and-pop landlords so let's

1:33:31find out who we're talking about

1:33:33um the study session that you're

1:33:35proposing in february what i want to say

1:33:38about study sessions that i've noticed

1:33:39they're great for the staff and the city

1:33:41council to talk about these things but

1:33:43they don't allow any opportunity for

1:33:45dialogue for the community we come up

1:33:47here and we can make our comment we

1:33:49can't even ask questions

1:33:51so i go back to what both howdy and

1:33:54robin um have pointed out

1:33:56is that the human relations commission

1:33:59did

1:34:00bring forward a resolution

1:34:03that they had passed um suggesting

1:34:06a number of items and included in that

1:34:08was the idea of a task force of

1:34:10community members of landlords of

1:34:13tenants of homeowners to really discuss

1:34:15this

1:34:16in a very meaningful way so that we can

1:34:18think about some alternatives and there

1:34:21may be things we have not thought about

1:34:23that you know just because one city does

1:34:25it or does that maybe there's something

1:34:27that we haven't yet thought about and we

1:34:28need to think about that

1:34:30and i would think that would be very

1:34:32important to do for our city

1:34:34but i don't see a place i don't hear

1:34:36that as as a possibility instead i just

1:34:40hear us doing a more administrative

1:34:42approach again to this problem

1:34:45and if we are going to have a long-term

1:34:47solution and really think about it i'm

1:34:50going to have to again echo the idea

1:34:52that there is there is a serious issue

1:34:54going on for renters and i believe they

1:34:57do need some kind of protection and i

1:35:00would suggest that there would be a

1:35:02temporary rent cap and just cause

1:35:04eviction why this is happening i also

1:35:07want to mention the city of santa cruz

1:35:09which is not el cerrito but i just you

1:35:11know they didn't pass rent control but

1:35:13then the city council on january 9th

1:35:15did reinstitute just cause eviction and

1:35:18attendant relocation allowance for them

1:35:21and they included in it a 3.5 increase

1:35:25for the first year and a seven percent

1:35:28for year two so any increase that went

1:35:30over seven percent the second year uh

1:35:32would would trigger

1:35:34um the relocation so i just want to

1:35:36mention that and you can probably find

1:35:38that on the internet

1:35:40so those are my comments for this

1:35:42evening and i do hope that you would

1:35:44revisit the human relations commission

1:35:46resolution thank you

1:35:50the next the next speaker is iona clark

1:35:53followed by rory lynn antonio and

1:35:56jeffrey wright

1:36:04can you hear me

1:36:06my name is alana clark

1:36:09i live in richmond i have a duplex in

1:36:11richmond and i manage five units to

1:36:15support my father and those five units

1:36:16are in oakland

1:36:18i'd like to talk to you about just cause

1:36:21or eviction control it seems like a

1:36:23great idea

1:36:24arbitrary unjust evictions have

1:36:26devastating results for renters and they

1:36:29give housing providers a bad name

1:36:31unfortunately just cause has several

1:36:33unintended consequences

1:36:35first it creates an entitlement for

1:36:37renters who sometimes

1:36:39make life difficult for their neighbors

1:36:41their housing providers

1:36:43but ties the hands of the housing

1:36:44providers

1:36:46second

1:36:47housing providers under just cause are

1:36:49extremely careful about who they rent to

1:36:52and this accelerates rates of

1:36:53gentrification

1:36:56in these jurisdictions

1:36:58worse

1:36:59thousands of units in san francisco

1:37:01after 30 years of rent control and just

1:37:04cause remain

1:37:05vacant by choice

1:37:09even in the pricey market of san

1:37:10francisco

1:37:12just cause makes dealing with difficult

1:37:14renters or simply terminating a lease

1:37:17because the owners may want to use a

1:37:20space

1:37:21at some future point for a family member

1:37:24makes these situations prohibitive

1:37:26so they simply leave

1:37:29units

1:37:30vacant

1:37:31there's something wrong with a policy

1:37:34that results in further constriction of

1:37:36rental housing

1:37:38in the midst of a rental housing

1:37:39shortage especially as severe as the one

1:37:42excuse me in san francisco

1:37:45so please do keep this in mind when

1:37:48studying this issue

1:37:50and kudos to you all

1:37:51for setting up and gathering monitoring

1:37:54i think a rent registry is a great idea

1:37:57i think looking at reasons why renters

1:38:00leave

1:38:01is a great idea you need this

1:38:03information and hardly anybody actually

1:38:08gathers it

1:38:09and puts it to good use

1:38:12um i think that's it thank you very much

1:38:14for listening thank you

1:38:24hello good evening mayor city staff my

1:38:26name is rovio antonia with the

1:38:27california apartment association and

1:38:29wanted to

1:38:30be here to share what we've heard since

1:38:32the last meeting on december 18th

1:38:35after that meeting i heard a lot from

1:38:36our concerned local housing providers in

1:38:38el cerrito over the two actions that

1:38:40were taking that evening one was the

1:38:42inclusion of the rent trigger in their

1:38:43relocation assistance ordinance and the

1:38:46just cause eviction

1:38:48after i spoke with them they were all

1:38:49taken aback by the sudden decisions that

1:38:51um because neither one of them was on

1:38:53the agenda for an actual formal proposal

1:38:55they were concerned about the lack of

1:38:57process when the council discussed

1:38:59relocation assistance it was

1:39:00specifically centered around the

1:39:02triggers of when a unit is redeveloped

1:39:05or taken permanently taken out of the

1:39:07market

1:39:08the

1:39:09trigger regarding the rent increase 20

1:39:12was um not included in the staff report

1:39:14nor in the debate

1:39:15had this trigger been fully vetted i

1:39:17believe stakeholders would have shared

1:39:18with you that adding that um trigger is

1:39:21a form of rent control since you are

1:39:23setting a cap on the um allowable rents

1:39:27that

1:39:28property owners can take unless they pay

1:39:29the relocation penalty

1:39:31a lot of you in the past have talked

1:39:33criticized some policies and have made

1:39:35some reservations regarding rent control

1:39:38and because of the inclusion of this

1:39:40rent trigger i believe that the

1:39:41ordinance now is completely incompatible

1:39:44and it's got some provisions that's no

1:39:45longer um

1:39:47meet the needs of the original intent

1:39:50um

1:39:51on the just cause eviction your local

1:39:52housing providers are extremely

1:39:54concerned about this and that the

1:39:56council went ahead and approved this

1:39:58without proper

1:39:59discussion with the community

1:40:02just cause has an extremely negative

1:40:04impact on housing providers and a brief

1:40:06description on the agenda on the general

1:40:08topic of housing unfortunately does not

1:40:10constitute proper public noticing and

1:40:12the 11th hour of this approval is not

1:40:14good public policy making

1:40:17last month

1:40:18most of you expressed support in taking

1:40:20a careful approach because you didn't

1:40:22want to hurt

1:40:23your community create division within

1:40:24your community and hurt the mom and pop

1:40:26housing providers in your city which are

1:40:28over 80 percent

1:40:30the case

1:40:31moving forward with any type of

1:40:33relocation assistance tonight with this

1:40:34rent trigger and the just cost eviction

1:40:36is not consistent with that careful

1:40:38data-driven approach

1:40:39um that you were advocating for we

1:40:41believe the staff has done a wonderful

1:40:43job balancing the needs of all

1:40:44stakeholders and available city

1:40:46resources um when they proposed the

1:40:48ordinances last month please consider

1:40:50the work that they've already done and

1:40:52allow them to collect the necessary data

1:40:54to fully assess the policies that is

1:40:55right for el cerrito

1:40:57this will allow

1:40:59to protect the city and the taxpayers

1:41:00from costly problematic

1:41:02bureaucratic programs and prevent

1:41:05creating animosity between property

1:41:07owners and their renters

1:41:08thank you all again for the time that

1:41:10you spent on this issue um

1:41:12you know we understand how hard this

1:41:14topic is for you to balance everybody's

1:41:17needs and we all wish that we have the

1:41:18magic wand to solve the problem but we

1:41:21don't so the best thing we could do

1:41:23right now is be civil about this and

1:41:24really work together on coming up with

1:41:27solutions that are reasonable equitable

1:41:29and sentenced not punitive thank you so

1:41:31much

1:41:42good evening madam mayor members of the

1:41:44council and staff my name is jeff wright

1:41:47i'm an el cerrito resident

1:41:49there's been a tremendous amount of

1:41:50discussion about just cause i know

1:41:52that's a very important issue to

1:41:54many people

1:41:56interestingly enough

1:41:58just causes oftentimes a precursor to

1:42:01full-blown

1:42:03rent control

1:42:04and i know that not all of you

1:42:06necessarily want full-blown rent control

1:42:08but i'm sure that there are several here

1:42:10who would

1:42:11prefer to have a full-blown rent control

1:42:13ordinance

1:42:15so since that

1:42:17is a possibility down the road

1:42:20and our neighbor richmond hasn't been

1:42:22invoked in the discussion i just thought

1:42:24it would be interesting to share a

1:42:25little information with you about what

1:42:27it might look like and as how it looks

1:42:30in richmond

1:42:31i pulled some information from the

1:42:34richmond rent program

1:42:362017-2018 annual report

1:42:40their budget per their report 2.4

1:42:42million dollars

1:42:44number of employees in richmond in the

1:42:46rent department 13 people i think that's

1:42:49larger than the planning department

1:42:51here's an interesting statistic

1:42:532206 richmond households were served

1:42:56with the termination of tenancy notice

1:42:58in 2017 approximately 88 percent were

1:43:02for non-payment of rent so for those

1:43:05terminations of tennessee that took

1:43:07place just about nine out of ten were

1:43:10for non-payment of rent

1:43:12here's something i found interesting too

1:43:14they've created this huge very expensive

1:43:17bureaucracy

1:43:18which i believe is siphoning money from

1:43:21the general fund in the city of richmond

1:43:24i was just checking to see when their

1:43:25next regular meeting was going to take

1:43:27place it was scheduled for january 16th

1:43:30which is tomorrow but they had to cancel

1:43:32it due to

1:43:33a lack of quorum for the rent board

1:43:36tomorrow

1:43:38looking at some additional statistics

1:43:41we know in the last election proposition

1:43:4310 was on the ballot and that was a

1:43:45measure to repeal costa hawkins

1:43:48that was soundly defeated by the voters

1:43:50in california

1:43:52even speaking more locally

1:43:55right here in our area

1:43:57the 8015 candidate that's a strong

1:44:00backer supporter and pro and proponent

1:44:02of rent control soundly defeated

1:44:05former mayor of richmond who was

1:44:08at the forefront of rich rich controlled

1:44:10in richmond ran for lieutenant governor

1:44:12soundly defeated

1:44:15the vice mayor of the city of richmond

1:44:17who challenged the current mayor tom

1:44:19butt

1:44:21very strong proponent of rent control

1:44:22the challenger soundly defeated

1:44:26the

1:44:27rpa majority on the city council in

1:44:29richmond proponents of rent control

1:44:32no longer exist

1:44:34so i know rig control is important to a

1:44:36lot of people but as the facts have come

1:44:38out and more information has come

1:44:40forward especially

1:44:42our neighbor richmond the dynamic seems

1:44:44to be changing and shifting a bit i

1:44:48appreciate the efforts that the staff

1:44:50has put forward particularly melanie

1:44:52minton aisa shuri in

1:44:56dealing with this issue and i would

1:44:57strongly encourage

1:44:59the council

1:45:01to accept the recommendations that the

1:45:04staff has brought forth because they're

1:45:05very much in tune and they've worked

1:45:07diligently to collect

1:45:10proper information memorize your

1:45:11comments thank you

1:45:17the next speaker is jeffrey levin

1:45:20followed by peter pan

1:45:26good evening my name is jeff levin i'm a

1:45:2829 year resident of el cerrito and

1:45:30policy director with east bay housing

1:45:32organizations

1:45:34let me say first that we're pleased to

1:45:35see that just cause and a rent registry

1:45:38are

1:45:38on the table for discussion

1:45:41but not happy that this is being used as

1:45:44justification for not taking any action

1:45:46at all

1:45:48tonight we're disappointed that this

1:45:50means further delays and that tenants

1:45:52will remain unprotected until some

1:45:54unspecified future date tonight's

1:45:57recommendations frankly feel like

1:46:00back-peddling and future delays as we

1:46:03let perfection become the enemy of the

1:46:05good

1:46:07we are confused as to how development of

1:46:09just cause

1:46:10policies would require changing the

1:46:12other ordinances in particular we don't

1:46:15understand staff's argument

1:46:17that the need for a 90-day notice

1:46:19provision in the relocation ordinance

1:46:22would be eliminated if just cause was

1:46:24passed that would only be true if all of

1:46:27the triggering factors in the tenant

1:46:29relocation ordinance

1:46:32are

1:46:34not considered to be just cause and

1:46:36therefore not grounds for eviction but

1:46:38if they are just causes for eviction

1:46:40tenants will still need notice and

1:46:42relocation provisions so um it's not

1:46:45clear to us how just cause would

1:46:46eliminate the need for that

1:46:49notice

1:46:51and i think it's pretty likely that

1:46:53those causes

1:46:54will be considered just cause

1:46:56particularly demolition and other forms

1:46:58of removing rental units from the market

1:47:00since the ellis act will pretty much

1:47:02require you to allow that

1:47:05nor do we see how a future rental

1:47:07registry would in any way affect

1:47:09the measures that are before you

1:47:11we are similarly concerned that staff's

1:47:14proposing to exclude single-family homes

1:47:16and new construction from the relocation

1:47:18ordinance leaving a substantial share of

1:47:20el cerrito tenants again with

1:47:22no protection from excessive rent

1:47:24increases and the mere threat of

1:47:27litigation with no um basis in law the

1:47:30city attorney has said they cannot find

1:47:32any

1:47:33statute or case law to back this up that

1:47:35this violates costa hawkins that should

1:47:38not be grounds for taking something off

1:47:40the table

1:47:41and we do want to note santa cruz just

1:47:43passed

1:47:44a relocation ordinance and they did not

1:47:47exclude units that are exempt from costa

1:47:49hawkins

1:47:50we

1:47:51understand and share the council's

1:47:53concern about protecting mom and pop

1:47:55landlords from excessive costs but we

1:47:58really wish we were hearing an equal

1:48:00amount of concern about the cost to

1:48:02tenants of excess of rents and the risk

1:48:05of displacement we need to be thinking

1:48:08about the costs not just to our

1:48:09landlords but to our tenants as well and

1:48:12remember that those costs mean being

1:48:15forced out of el cerrito

1:48:17some of you have expressed concern about

1:48:19not creating barriers to new development

1:48:21um we share that we are strongly

1:48:23supportive of the development that el

1:48:25cerrito is doing but i want to point out

1:48:27that in just three years you have hit

1:48:29150 percent of your arena goal for above

1:48:32moderate income housing

1:48:34that goal was for an eight year period

1:48:37similarly you were bumping up against

1:48:40the limits in the um san pablo specific

1:48:42plan which is why the eir may have to be

1:48:44revised to allow you to produce

1:48:47more units so we're not in danger of

1:48:49discouraging new development here all of

1:48:51this underscores what we've been saying

1:48:54yes we should take time to figure out

1:48:56what our long-term policies are but we

1:48:58need immediate protection for tenants

1:49:00please consider again having an interim

1:49:04protection while we move towards these

1:49:06final things otherwise we just leave

1:49:08tenants at risk and exposed to come to

1:49:11the market thank

1:49:12you in the final speaker on this item

1:49:15peter pan

1:49:20uh thank you everybody for

1:49:22uh giving me the opportunity to speak

1:49:25i am

1:49:26a was a river resident for over 20 years

1:49:31and i have been working for almost 30

1:49:33years as a real estate broker i deal

1:49:35with a lot of tenant and landlord issues

1:49:38i also built house in north cerrito too

1:49:41so um i'm on the ground so i

1:49:45you have my phone number if you really

1:49:47really need some input from what's

1:49:49happening out there i would be happy to

1:49:51offer my my tastes

1:49:54um

1:49:55in 2017

1:49:57el saluto city council adopt

1:50:00california state's managers

1:50:03to

1:50:03make

1:50:05global accessory units easier

1:50:08and this is the right direction to take

1:50:11because

1:50:12the bottom of the problem is that we

1:50:14need more

1:50:15[Music]

1:50:18residential units

1:50:20however this rain control thing

1:50:22especially for the just course

1:50:25or cure whatever incentive that people

1:50:27get

1:50:29by you know tributes accessory units

1:50:36just cause eviction in plain language

1:50:39is that you it's almost impossible

1:50:42to evict anybody

1:50:45except non-payment of rent

1:50:48so as as people mentioned most of the

1:50:51landlords in north cerritos are

1:50:53mom-and-pop properties they probably

1:50:55live in one unit they run the next unit

1:50:58to a

1:50:59people

1:51:00adventure or they have a single family

1:51:02house they have an inline roommate they

1:51:05have people live next door to them

1:51:06selling their garden and everything

1:51:09but which just cause control

1:51:12just that just cause eviction

1:51:15that

1:51:16you is impossible to get rid of any bad

1:51:18tenants and they will put your family

1:51:21everything in

1:51:22at risk

1:51:23if you are

1:51:25not lucky enough to get a bad ones

1:51:27um

1:51:29just cause efficient just to turn a

1:51:32regular mutual benefit commercial

1:51:36contract into a

1:51:38tremendous risk

1:51:40for a landlord

1:51:42and

1:51:43so

1:51:44no wonder that in san francisco the 10

1:51:47of the london earnings

1:51:49or

1:51:5040 000 rental units are taken out of the

1:51:53market because of

1:51:56essentially due to just cost efficient

1:51:58because people just can't deal with all

1:52:00this

1:52:01you know risks

1:52:03so

1:52:04think about this you know

1:52:06um i want it everybody has good

1:52:08intentions you know wants to do the

1:52:10right thing

1:52:11but

1:52:12there's the same goals that

1:52:15the the world

1:52:16you know the relative to the graves are

1:52:19paved with good intentions

1:52:21think about the the you know the uh

1:52:24consequences of unintentional

1:52:27consequences we are such a small city

1:52:30and we was considering

1:52:33establish a full brown rain control

1:52:36ordinance

1:52:37to regulate

1:52:3970 80 percent money probably landlords

1:52:42as the gentleman just mentioned 2.3

1:52:44million dollar budget 30

1:52:47full full-time you know stuffs please

1:52:50you know consider and

1:52:53i hope that after that sorry my end

1:52:56thanks

1:52:59right are there further

1:53:01questions or discussion from the council

1:53:06go ahead mayor pro-tem thank you

1:53:09again i want to

1:53:11thank staff for the work that you've

1:53:13done on the ordinances and putting them

1:53:15together and in there i want to

1:53:17acknowledge that they're in a shape that

1:53:19we could pass tonight

1:53:21um given the fact that the

1:53:24ordinance that uh the the displacement

1:53:27uh

1:53:28the relocation assistant ordinance

1:53:30would be administered uh through a

1:53:34uh through

1:53:35to

1:53:36avoid the conflict with costa hawkins

1:53:38through the administration process so so

1:53:40i want to thank you and acknowledge that

1:53:43your work is something that we could

1:53:44move forward on tonight

1:53:48the best strategy

1:53:50for el cerrito is one that promotes

1:53:52long-term property ownership

1:53:55and investment

1:53:57maintenance

1:53:58and long-term tenancy

1:54:02the city benefits from stable housing

1:54:04for both the owner

1:54:06and

1:54:07the renter

1:54:11there there is a perspective that as a

1:54:13council member

1:54:14i could be focused on revenue for the

1:54:16city

1:54:18uh which would make me interested in

1:54:20promoting sales of properties and

1:54:23increasing the property tax revenue that

1:54:25we would get as a result of

1:54:27re-baselining the property

1:54:30the prospect of new affluent tenants and

1:54:33their disposable income generating sales

1:54:36for el cerrito

1:54:37really a nice prospect

1:54:41however our mission statement

1:54:44the city of el cerrito serves leads and

1:54:47supports

1:54:48our diverse

1:54:50and transit-rich community by providing

1:54:53exemplary and innovative services public

1:54:55places and infrastructure ensuring

1:54:57public safety and creating economically

1:55:00environmentally sustainable future

1:55:04leads me to find try and find another

1:55:06solution

1:55:08this last weekend i was listening to the

1:55:10radio and there was a piece on barbara

1:55:12charlene jordan a congresswoman from

1:55:15georgia in the 70s

1:55:17who chaired the commission on

1:55:18immigration which is why they were

1:55:19covering her the immigration issues that

1:55:21are out there

1:55:23however uh

1:55:25the article attributed a quote to her

1:55:27that i researched and couldn't find the

1:55:29precise quote

1:55:31the

1:55:32paraphrase of the quote that i heard

1:55:35is that it's a legislators have a moral

1:55:37imperative to compromise

1:55:42in my limited research i did find

1:55:45this quote

1:55:47a good compromise

1:55:49a good piece of legislation

1:55:52is like a good sentence

1:55:54or a good piece of music

1:55:57everybody can recognize it

1:55:59they say

1:56:00huh

1:56:01it works

1:56:03it makes sense

1:56:07so although

1:56:08i've established that we could pass

1:56:10these tonight i've heard the uh i've

1:56:14heard the sentiment from my partners

1:56:15here

1:56:17that

1:56:18it's better for us to take the time

1:56:21to potentially work on the full package

1:56:23to develop a solution that works for el

1:56:26cerrito

1:56:28mr stugner spoke to try and get us

1:56:31dialogue time for dialogue not just a

1:56:33work session but dialogue

1:56:35and that should potentially fit within

1:56:37the timeline that we've already been

1:56:38talked about as the mayor has pointed

1:56:41out and as one of the one of the

1:56:42speakers several of the speakers pointed

1:56:44out

1:56:45we are

1:56:46running a foul of timeline

1:56:49and

1:56:50somewhere in my notes

1:56:52it's very clear of the psychological and

1:56:55physical problems that come from

1:56:57uncertainty

1:57:01i want to thank everybody for their

1:57:02comments on just cause tonight but be

1:57:04very very clear we were not considering

1:57:06just cause ordinances tonight okay so

1:57:09just be really clear we're actually

1:57:11talking about just cause for a future

1:57:13um

1:57:14for me and and i actually started this

1:57:16process back in august thinking oh we

1:57:18can potentially do something to have

1:57:20felt to preserve affordable housing in

1:57:22our community and i've come to realize

1:57:24through costa hawkins that that's not

1:57:26something that's realistic

1:57:28what is more realistic

1:57:31and i focus on is displacement

1:57:35we need to find a tool that limits

1:57:37displacement of tenants

1:57:39because those are the tenants who add to

1:57:41our current diversity of community which

1:57:43is what we value in our mission

1:57:45statement

1:57:48so thank you for your your comments on

1:57:50just cause i've got a few myself

1:57:53um

1:57:55because it because for me we need to be

1:57:56focused on different on displacement

1:58:00and so in some ways

1:58:02and maybe it's not legal

1:58:04but the solution should benefit

1:58:05long-time property owners and long-time

1:58:08tenants

1:58:10and not necessarily benefit short-term

1:58:13property owners and short-term tenants

1:58:17because it's

1:58:18the culture we have now that we're

1:58:20trying to preserve protect

1:58:22production's the third p right

1:58:24um

1:58:26so

1:58:28maybe there that means that the tool we

1:58:30put in place the

1:58:31for just cause is we have to find

1:58:33something that avoids and two or three

1:58:35people talked about this a consequence a

1:58:37real consequence of just cause is the

1:58:39tougher screening at the application

1:58:41phase

1:58:42and so maybe we need to have a just

1:58:44cause that is

1:58:46not

1:58:46what everybody has else has but

1:58:48potentially does preserve some of the

1:58:52provisions

1:58:53in the current eviction

1:58:55laws

1:58:56that you know we

1:58:58that are there

1:59:00portland

1:59:01has

1:59:02a

1:59:05what is it called i've got it flagged

1:59:07hang on portland has essentially a

1:59:11a no cause

1:59:12eviction

1:59:14clause

1:59:15and

1:59:16uh it allows you to

1:59:19evict no no cause eviction trigger but

1:59:22no no cause eviction clause but it

1:59:25triggers relocation ordinances and i

1:59:27understand uh council member abelson

1:59:30that you you are concerned about the

1:59:32cost of paying the relocation assistance

1:59:36in most cases the relocation assistance

1:59:38is

1:59:39not only have we established tonight

1:59:41that it has very limited triggers but in

1:59:44most cases

1:59:45it is going to be related to the sale

1:59:48value of the land and

1:59:51the people that are either about to sell

1:59:54that property as a result of it being

1:59:55vacant or the people that just bought

1:59:57that property have probably factored in

1:59:59some of those costs into it so in

2:00:02addition to ms abelson's request for

2:00:06calculating the

2:00:08and i have this written down somewhere

2:00:10too calculating the urban development

2:00:12fair market rate for contra costa county

2:00:15uh as the the monthly displacement cost

2:00:17of the potential displacement cost can

2:00:19we estimate the sale

2:00:21value of a unit that that that that

2:00:24would be uh applying to

2:00:31one of the things that i certainly want

2:00:33to point out

2:00:36has to do with

2:00:38where we are

2:00:40um

2:00:41in december i talked about the book how

2:00:43to kill a city

2:00:45mr vidalia has it

2:00:47where gentrification is a bad word

2:00:50and in conversations with co-workers and

2:00:52and people in the community i'm reminded

2:00:54that transition

2:00:56is a in a community is natural

2:00:59this council and i'm as part of it we

2:01:01have adopted plans and policies to

2:01:04promote transition along san pablo

2:01:06avenue so to say that transition isn't

2:01:10isn't something that is going to happen

2:01:12is it would be foolish

2:01:14it's the rate of transition and the

2:01:16consequences of transition that we are

2:01:18struggling with now

2:01:22the insertion of new housing in el

2:01:24cerrito is creating an incentive for

2:01:26property owners of older housing stock

2:01:29to increase their rates

2:01:33as older units approach market rate

2:01:37those renters

2:01:40are removed from the marketplace and the

2:01:42demand for new units

2:01:45goes away

2:01:47so

2:01:48the the transition that we're promoting

2:01:51along san pablo avenue that is trying to

2:01:54bring in market rate

2:01:57has a secondary problem if we don't

2:01:59somehow protect the the older housing

2:02:03units and the

2:02:04rental rates that those are there

2:02:06because what ends up happening is people

2:02:08who find el cerrito

2:02:11because of metro 510

2:02:13or

2:02:14one of the other projects that's in town

2:02:17say you know what i'm going to see what

2:02:18else is available in el cerrito and then

2:02:20they pick

2:02:21another unit that's not quite at market

2:02:25rate

2:02:26and that person is now no longer looking

2:02:29at a market rate project that's on san

2:02:31pablo avenue and they've taken they've

2:02:34given cause to displace somebody who's

2:02:36in an affordable housing today because

2:02:38they're there demanding or accepting the

2:02:41market the

2:02:43increased rates on older houses

2:02:48i could talk about adam smith and his

2:02:50economics but i will skip that

2:02:53um

2:03:01the issue for me is displacement

2:03:04um

2:03:06i mean there's many programs we could be

2:03:08looking at there are some programs for

2:03:10example that could provide legal

2:03:12services to both landlords and tenants

2:03:15so that

2:03:16our

2:03:18small economically challenged business

2:03:20owners

2:03:21and our

2:03:22economically challenged renters

2:03:25both

2:03:26receive

2:03:27services

2:03:28um i think

2:03:30the mayor said it well last time

2:03:32i'm i'm not looking for a solution that

2:03:34penalizes one group or even pits one

2:03:37group against the other i'm looking for

2:03:39a solution that

2:03:41achieves and now i've actually figured

2:03:43out what i'm trying to achieve i'm

2:03:45trying to achieve

2:03:48trying not to displace our current

2:03:50population

2:03:51and that

2:03:55you know our current population is going

2:03:56to move they're going to transition

2:03:57they're going to go on to where they

2:03:58need to go

2:04:00but we need to find

2:04:02ways to to allow them to stay in place

2:04:05while

2:04:06still affording

2:04:08our

2:04:09property owners their right

2:04:12to fair reasonable return on net

2:04:14operating income

2:04:15um so that

2:04:17that

2:04:18and i i don't

2:04:20i think that through

2:04:22the ordinances that we're looking at if

2:04:23we can

2:04:24protect the displacement without

2:04:26necessarily going all the way as mr

2:04:29wright has

2:04:32suggested all the way to rent control i

2:04:34think we can use the ordinances that

2:04:36we're looking at to achieve

2:04:39the goal at least that i am now focused

2:04:41on which is limiting displacement of the

2:04:43fabric that makes el cerrito the place

2:04:46that we all want to live in

2:04:55and the last p is course production

2:04:58and that's something that

2:05:00i learned today that we are getting some

2:05:03additional units we've got the guitar

2:05:04center under construction we've got the

2:05:06el dorado houses under construction

2:05:08we've got a project later today on our

2:05:12agenda for more projects so if we can

2:05:15continue to do production

2:05:18i think that would be a great way to

2:05:20relieve some of the stress on the older

2:05:22housing stock as we take those people

2:05:25who can afford the higher rents and put

2:05:28them in market rate housing so thank you

2:05:35any additional

2:05:36questions

2:05:38discussion

2:05:41um

2:05:42my my assumption is is that we're going

2:05:44to be having more discussion

2:05:47so that we don't really have to

2:05:50have our mind all made up at this point

2:05:53in time and in particular i think we

2:05:57need to include the public i was

2:06:00kind of

2:06:01was very concerned about the fact last

2:06:03time

2:06:04we seemed to be just rushing through

2:06:07without

2:06:08comment

2:06:10from

2:06:13council members

2:06:15and so that we give every uh

2:06:20everyone an opportunity to express their

2:06:22opinion

2:06:24and um i heard a comment made by a

2:06:26member of the audience tonight

2:06:29that they think when they get before a

2:06:31council meeting

2:06:33that there is a more limited opportunity

2:06:35to speak and i actually agree with that

2:06:37comment and the reason i agree with it

2:06:40is that we have a thing called the brown

2:06:42act

2:06:43and so we're we're put under certain

2:06:46criteria about what we can and cannot do

2:06:49however if there were a public hearing

2:06:53in front of

2:06:55i don't know if public hearings the

2:06:56right word but if there were a meeting

2:06:58in front of

2:06:59with staff

2:07:00then i believe and somebody could

2:07:02correct me over here if they think i'm

2:07:04wrong

2:07:05that there can be a more open

2:07:08a freely open

2:07:10discussion um it's just that we can't be

2:07:13there because of the the brown act and

2:07:16then when it um gets here

2:07:19and it doesn't mean there has to be a

2:07:20lot of

2:07:21time in between but

2:07:24then when it gets here we can

2:07:27do as we are required by law to do

2:07:30follow the brown act

2:07:32and um

2:07:33but some of these

2:07:35what i'll call rough edges of any

2:07:36thought process could be kind of worked

2:07:39out in those um

2:07:41public meetings in front of

2:07:43staff

2:07:44looking at the city attorney if i could

2:07:47for a minute

2:07:48hello

2:07:49this guy sorry we were

2:07:51talking about am i it's what i'm saying

2:07:53true do you think did you

2:07:55about having meetings in front of staff

2:07:57so

2:07:58and and there being more free a more

2:08:00free discussion

2:08:02there were a significant number of

2:08:04public workshops held prior to the

2:08:06december 18th meeting so yes topics i

2:08:09don't know that yes um but we

2:08:12you are correct that that that would

2:08:14result in more dialogue i don't know

2:08:15whether or not members of the public

2:08:17feel that that that discussion should be

2:08:19with someone other than staff

2:08:21but um but what the city manager and i

2:08:24were just discussing is that it's it's a

2:08:26challenge because we've heard two things

2:08:28from the council which is

2:08:30maybe there should be more public

2:08:31discussion but we'd also like to get

2:08:33this done quickly so that we can get

2:08:34these protections in place

2:08:36when you also factor in the amount of

2:08:38time to take

2:08:39to to perform research and convert

2:08:42research into proposals and convert

2:08:44proposals into recommendations to the

2:08:46council and convert direction from the

2:08:48council into actual ordinances

2:08:50i'm not trying to devalue

2:08:53public

2:08:54public discussion in that process but it

2:08:56does add additional time and so it's

2:08:58just a challenge for us to

2:09:00respond to both pieces of direction from

2:09:03the council

2:09:05okay i hear what you're saying but but

2:09:07it is okay

2:09:09i hear what you're saying um

2:09:11it but it is an option right yes it is

2:09:14absolutely process-wise it's an option

2:09:15absolutely

2:09:16it's just that we and i think that if

2:09:18the majority of the council wanted for

2:09:20there to be public workshops about it

2:09:21staff would absolutely do that maybe but

2:09:23it would shift it would shift the

2:09:24timeline maybe even a workshop

2:09:28just as the

2:09:30members of the public get frustrated by

2:09:34instructions

2:09:36caused by the brown act i think council

2:09:38members do too

2:09:40it's kind of frustrating when we

2:09:42are

2:09:44unable to have an open dialogue

2:09:48about certain things um

2:09:51so i was just trying to figure out if

2:09:52there was a way to

2:09:56help take care of that with that was

2:09:58legal

2:10:02then i have a question

2:10:04uh there's just another question i guess

2:10:07the um

2:10:11if you had um

2:10:14the

2:10:15thing where there's a

2:10:19say a five months rent penalty for

2:10:23because you raised the

2:10:26rent more than

2:10:2720 over two years or whatever the

2:10:29numbers were

2:10:31um

2:10:32then

2:10:33um

2:10:37what

2:10:38um

2:10:39forgetting i was going to word this

2:10:42the um what i'm

2:10:45wondering about is if you had a lease

2:10:49okay and the lease ended

2:10:54can

2:10:55that carry you know and let's say there

2:10:57were a lease and

2:10:59and the

2:11:00the landlord said at the end of the

2:11:02lease

2:11:04they just want to terminate it

2:11:06without specifying what any reason say

2:11:10can they just do that

2:11:21um sorry i'm trying to think i'm just

2:11:23pausing to think through the

2:11:25it's a simple question but there are

2:11:27given the overlay of multiple laws i'm

2:11:30just hesit i'm hesitant to give a

2:11:32straight a you know a simple answer to

2:11:34it

2:11:35um

2:11:36at the i i believe though that in the

2:11:39absence of any

2:11:40regulations to the contrary just

2:11:42operating under state law and and

2:11:45typical

2:11:46um lease terms let's say that you're on

2:11:48an initial one-year lease which would

2:11:51normally roll over into a month to month

2:11:54that

2:11:55that the landlord can

2:11:57decide not to continue the tenancy into

2:12:00a month to month but may have to provide

2:12:03um the the typical the state required

2:12:06notices for the termination of the

2:12:08tendency to do that

2:12:10but there's not excuse me that they that

2:12:12that

2:12:14i don't believe that a landlord i

2:12:16i

2:12:17i would probably need to to research

2:12:20this to give you a definitive answer i

2:12:22believe that a landlord is not obligated

2:12:24to

2:12:25continue at least past the initial lease

2:12:28term but it may be required to give

2:12:31state mandated notice of the of the

2:12:33decision not to to continue the the

2:12:36tendency beyond the the initial one year

2:12:39in a timely manner yes exactly

2:12:42okay but but they could do it so that

2:12:44they if they wanted to

2:12:46[Music]

2:12:47prove

2:12:50if they were unhappy with the

2:12:51arrangement for any reason

2:12:54then i'm talking about the landlord here

2:12:56then

2:12:57at the end of the lease period or maybe

2:13:0090 days prior to the end of it or

2:13:02whatever the rule would be

2:13:04that they could um

2:13:07just

2:13:08say they just don't want to continue it

2:13:10and that's the end of it so are you

2:13:12talking about under the proposed

2:13:15um relocation assistance ordinance or

2:13:18state law i i'm just realizing that i'm

2:13:20not i'm not sure i don't know what i'm

2:13:22i'm just asking what happens if

2:13:26uh what if i what if i'm the landlord

2:13:28and i don't like

2:13:30but i need to know which law i think

2:13:32that the person plays or whatever you

2:13:35know i don't know anything just kind of

2:13:37anything i don't really

2:13:39i'm not so worried about what it is as

2:13:42well but it is i'm just wondering if it

2:13:44later then has an impact on

2:13:46on some of these other things well but i

2:13:48i'm it did the answer depends a lot on

2:13:51which laws are in place

2:13:55okay so which will make it which way

2:13:59state law would be basically the way

2:14:00that i just explained

2:14:02under the relocation assistance

2:14:04ordinance

2:14:05if they

2:14:06that under the circumstances of the

2:14:08ordinance

2:14:10for example

2:14:11if they were if they were going to

2:14:14convert a residential use to a

2:14:15non-residential use

2:14:17um it had nothing to do with the tenant

2:14:19but they intended to change the nature

2:14:21of the property

2:14:22and the type of property was one

2:14:26that the relocation assistance ordinance

2:14:29applied to so under as currently written

2:14:31not a single family house a multi-unit

2:14:33apartment building

2:14:35and they cho and the landlord chose to

2:14:37convert that from a residential to a

2:14:39non-residential use that would qualify

2:14:42for relocation assistance regardless of

2:14:44the of the other reasons but if that was

2:14:47the the reason i was thinking more that

2:14:49they just weren't going to do anything

2:14:50with it

2:14:55um

2:14:56then

2:14:57under the draft relocation assistance

2:14:59ordinance

2:15:01there if they just terminated the

2:15:02tenancy in the way that was allowed and

2:15:05then left the unit vacant

2:15:08i don't believe that relocation

2:15:10assistance would be required under the

2:15:11ordinances as drafted

2:15:15portland okay yeah so it currently

2:15:17excludes no fault evictions

2:15:20councilmember lyman cited the portland

2:15:23one that includes no fault eviction so

2:15:25again these are all things that we can

2:15:27come back and talk further about um at

2:15:30the study session on the 19th and you

2:15:33let's say that you're renting

2:15:35you were running to a um

2:15:38i'll call a stranger and now you're

2:15:39wanting to rent to your child

2:15:42uh or just have your child live there

2:15:45are those special circumstances those

2:15:47are special circumstances under state

2:15:49law and that's allowed

2:15:51um

2:15:52without it being a

2:15:55so the relocation ordinance as written

2:15:58does not include owner movements

2:16:02does not but it could but we could

2:16:04that's again so let's say that you

2:16:06wanted your kids to move back in

2:16:08with you for some reason

2:16:11then um

2:16:14you could be penalized for that not

2:16:17currently well not currently

2:16:18okay

2:16:22that's that's all my comments

2:16:25thank you

2:16:28so

2:16:30first of all i'd like to say that

2:16:33proposition 10 did not pass in

2:16:35california but

2:16:38the majority of el sardins

2:16:41voted

2:16:42in favor of it

2:16:44and i believe that they voted in favor

2:16:46of it because they believed that the

2:16:48rents

2:16:49are out of control

2:16:51as a statewide problem

2:16:53el cerrito and beyond

2:16:57and i believe that they voted that way

2:17:01because

2:17:03they want to protect

2:17:05the people that are being displaced

2:17:09and

2:17:10i was really surprised to go to the

2:17:12mayor's meeting

2:17:14last week and see the presentation

2:17:17by casa

2:17:18because i found that

2:17:21going to these regional groups i often

2:17:24find that

2:17:25many of our

2:17:27brothers and sisters around the bay area

2:17:29are

2:17:30much more conservative than we are here

2:17:32in el cerrito

2:17:33so i was surprised to see that the

2:17:35association of bay area governments and

2:17:37the metropolitan

2:17:39transportation commission came up with

2:17:41these as their top priorities

2:17:44and they said

2:17:45just as

2:17:47the mayor pro tim lyman said

2:17:50that we have failed to produce enough

2:17:52housing

2:17:53we have failed to produce existing

2:17:56housing and we have failed

2:17:58to protect current residents from

2:18:00displacement

2:18:03now

2:18:05their recommendations they will be

2:18:07taking

2:18:08to

2:18:09our elected officials

2:18:11in sacramento

2:18:12so that hopefully we can get state-wide

2:18:16laws not just city-wide ordinances but

2:18:19statewide laws

2:18:21on these

2:18:22issues their number one element that

2:18:25they came up i will read off the

2:18:27elements quickly

2:18:28element number one

2:18:30just cause for eviction policy

2:18:33element number two a rent cap

2:18:38element number three rent assistance and

2:18:41access to legal counsel

2:18:44element number four

2:18:46remove regulatory barriers to accessory

2:18:49dwelling

2:18:50units element number five

2:18:54minimum zoning near transit

2:18:58element number six

2:19:00good government reforms to housing

2:19:02approval process

2:19:07element number seven

2:19:09expedited approvals and financial

2:19:11incentives

2:19:13for missing middle

2:19:15element number eight unlock public land

2:19:18for housing

2:19:20in element number nine of course like we

2:19:22all do they need funding to

2:19:24finance their compact

2:19:27so once again like i said i was

2:19:29surprised to see

2:19:30that

2:19:32when all of the

2:19:33area elected officials and they brought

2:19:37in others they brought in developers

2:19:39they brought in landlords they brought

2:19:40in

2:19:41a wide group group of people to develop

2:19:45this

2:19:46committee to house the bay area or casa

2:19:51i was surprised with what they came up

2:19:52with together

2:19:56a lot of the things we've talked about

2:19:58here

2:19:59and looks like they're they're willing

2:20:01to go further than what it seems to me

2:20:04this council is willing to do at this

2:20:06time

2:20:08so with that um

2:20:10i know we're going to have a further

2:20:12discussion

2:20:13um

2:20:15and i hope that

2:20:17at the end of our discussion we will

2:20:20have fair return for landlords

2:20:23but ultimately protect our renters and

2:20:25protect

2:20:27as mayor pro tem lyman said the current

2:20:29fabric of el cerrito

2:20:31as it is today

2:20:35so with that i asked the council

2:20:39do we have any further direction sky do

2:20:41we need a specific

2:20:44um

2:20:46motion

2:20:49i just wanted to make sure that council

2:20:51member fidelity had an opportunity to

2:20:53i wasn't sure if you had already if you

2:20:55had made my statement

2:20:57right then we just then if the

2:20:59i mean we've laid out two options for

2:21:01you one is the staff recommendation and

2:21:03so we're proposing that that be made by

2:21:05motion and alternatively as also laid

2:21:07out in the staff report um you could

2:21:09move forward with the ordinances that

2:21:11you introduced at the last meeting so

2:21:13um it's up to the city council but there

2:21:16are two options in front of you

2:21:17do i have a motion

2:21:19well let me let me just ask it

2:21:21let me be clear

2:21:23one of the questions the mayor might be

2:21:24asking is do you need a motion to move

2:21:27this to a date certain

2:21:31um

2:21:32no i mean we're i mean if you if you

2:21:34want to

2:21:35absolutely schedule the the

2:21:38um

2:21:39the study session for the 19th you can

2:21:41but that but it is staff's intention to

2:21:43to do that

2:21:45so i don't i mean it's that is

2:21:47ultimately up to the city council

2:21:48whether or not you want to make it a

2:21:49date certain but there's we've we've

2:21:51checked the council calendar and

2:21:54that is the the main item for business

2:21:56that night

2:22:01i'm going to go ahead and make the

2:22:02motion to move to date certain of

2:22:04february 19 2019

2:22:07move these three items plus whatever

2:22:09other items the staff brings forward as

2:22:11part of their discussion

2:22:14so just to clarify is that

2:22:16the i guess i'm it's actually not moving

2:22:18these ordinances per se to that night

2:22:20because we wouldn't no there's ordinance

2:22:23right so are you i'm maybe now i'm

2:22:25confused about what the motion is like

2:22:28my my question is do we need a motion to

2:22:30to

2:22:31to move these to a to a future time

2:22:34because since we're not necessarily

2:22:35moving them to tonight

2:22:37the three ordinances correct if you want

2:22:40to spec no isn't that the three

2:22:42recommendations if that you're talking

2:22:44about we don't have to have a date for

2:22:46second reason not the three there's no

2:22:48need to so like so let me just clarify

2:22:50that there are and unfortunately now

2:22:52there are there there are two threes

2:22:54there are three items that are listed in

2:22:56the staff recommendation and there are

2:22:58three ordinances there is no requirement

2:23:01to set a date certain for a second

2:23:02reading on the three ordinances

2:23:06and

2:23:08so we if but if the council wants them

2:23:11brought back for potential action you

2:23:14could direct us to bring them back at a

2:23:15future meeting

2:23:17the staff recommendation was to bring

2:23:19them back once we had had

2:23:21held had the study session and gotten

2:23:24direction about whether about the form

2:23:25of the other ordinances that the council

2:23:27had

2:23:28provided direction about it and i see it

2:23:30says by motion those three items were

2:23:33rattled off so

2:23:35i'm more than willing to move that with

2:23:36the amendment that in item three we just

2:23:38say by on

2:23:40uh february 19th okay

2:23:42can i ask for a point of clarification

2:23:47city attorney which is

2:23:50if those ordinances