Regular City Council Meeting and Concurrent Successor Agency Special Meeting December 17, 2024

0:00:12Hey, Mayor, we are ready to begin. Thank you for everyone's patience. Thank you, Madam city clerk.

0:00:18Good evening. Everyone. The December 13, th concurrent Redevelopment Agency, Successor agency meeting, and the regular city Council meeting is called to order at 6 0. 4. Will the city clerk please call Roll

0:00:31Mayor Redney, present mayor pro tem weisinger present council, Member Fideli, or Council member Mothiyama. Here, councilmember Quinto. Here we have a quorum. Since we have all members here. We're going to have a join me for a pledge of allegiance or a moment of silence.

0:00:51I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, and justice for all.

0:01:07All right. Thank you so much.

0:01:09If we could have a teleconference and public comment. Instructions from our city clerk. Thank you, Mayor. This hybrid meeting provides an option for participation in person, or via Zoom with closed captions available meetings of the City Council are subject to the Brown Act, and are held for the purpose of conducting city business. The Brown Act also ensures the right, the public's right to be heard, and while city council is not able to respond to your comments directly, your comments will be heard prior to Council taking action

0:01:35for members of the public who wish to provide oral testimony. The mayor will announce the time for public comment on each applicable item. Public comments will be taken in person only, and a request to speak can be submitted to the city clerk by completing a Speaker card.

0:01:48The Council's adopted rules of order and procedure, specify that public speakers address the city council in an orderly and respectful manner, proceed their comments with their name and city of residence, and be respectful of time limits. Thank you, Mayor, that concludes my instruction. Thank you so much. And the next item on the agenda is council and staff Communications

0:02:07city manager. Do we have any communications? Thank you, your honor. I'm Karen Pincus City manager, and, as you can hear, I'm getting over a cold. I'm going to throw it over to Assistant City manager to give the announcements.

0:02:19But happy holidays everyone.

0:02:21thank you. City manager just wanted to remind everybody about our holiday break schedule, and El Cerrito, City Hall, and the Recreation Office will be closed from Friday, December 20, th through Friday, January 3, rd and will reopen Monday, January 6, th in 2025,

0:02:39other city run offices, centers and programs will have modified holiday hours. This includes the Public Safety Center recycling center recreation programs and the swim center. I do want to note that anybody who has pre scheduled inspections. Those will be available on Monday, December 23, rd and December 30.th

0:02:59Please go to the city's website@cerrito.org for more information about the holiday break schedule. There's a banner right when you get on the website with that, said Mayor. That concludes my report. Thank you. Thank you so much. Are there any announcements from the council members?

0:03:24Maybe maybe one. Yeah. Go ahead. Yeah. I just was glad to go to the last holiday breakfast from the city. My girls and I went many years ago, and

0:03:33they're gone. And now it's good that the breakfast is back. Also, I just wanted to mention our famous down home music store here in El Cerrito. There's some great opportunities and fundraising efforts to save it. The building has been sold, but we need the fundraising effort to save that important

0:03:51musical history plays here in El Cerrito. If you go to their website down home music, you'll find out ways to do that. Thank you.

0:03:59Thank you.

0:04:00All right. I have just 2 quick announcements, one for the 4th quarter of 2024 that covers October to December. I'm recognizing El Cerrito centurions, Teresa Perella, who is our 2017 wall of fame inductee, and she will be turning 108 years old on Friday.

0:04:21Incredible! And this, if you live in El Cerrito, you can potentially, you know we're a longevity kind of city. And speaking of that, we have Peggy Hender, who turned a hundred 4,

0:04:32and both of them will be receiving a mayoral certificate of recognition, and for the record I'm formally disbanding the ad hoc committee comprised of myself and Councilmember quinto for salary negotiations for the city manager.

0:04:43So the next item we're going to move on to is oral communications from the public. Now is the time for members of the public who wish to provide public comments regarding matters not on the agenda and consent items request to speak can be submitted to the city clerk by completing a speaker card. Public comments will be taken in person. Only please remember to identify yourself and your city of residence at the beginning of your comments. City clerk. Please proceed. Thank you, Mayor. We have 20,

0:05:0928 total speakers signed up right now, if you could. Please confirm the time limit per person. We have 2 min per person. Thank you. And any other limitation on total time. Total time. Let's do 30 min. Okay, thank you. Mayor.

0:05:31Okay, we are going to as I mentioned, I will call ahead. So those that are in the lobby can hear their call their name called and know that they're coming up. So our 1st speaker tonight will be Janet Byron, followed by Peter Dunnigan and Stephen Price.

0:05:46So, Janet, if you can please step up to the podium and begin your time.

0:05:51Hello! I'm Janet Byron of El Cerrito. I'm a co-founder and current chair of El Cerrito, Richmond, Annex Walk, and Roll.

0:05:58and I also now represent West Contra Costa County on the Contra Costa Transportation Authority's countywide bike and Pedestrian Advisory Committee, which also puts me on its vision. 0 working Group.

0:06:11The proposed complete streets. Design for Richmond Street is fully in keeping with complete streets, planning that El Cerrito has undertaken for more than a decade.

0:06:21El Cerrito has a complete streets, policy in place since 2,016, and the active transportation plan of 2,013 proposes parts of Richmond Street as a bike Boulevard.

0:06:32including bike lanes north of Moser, as is proposed in the complete streets. Design is and is fully in keeping with El Cerrito's goal of making our streets safer for all users.

0:06:44Research shows that adding protected bike lanes, slows down cars, making our streets at least 40% safer for all users, pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers.

0:06:56The parking survey for Richmond Street showed that no more than 40 showed no more than 40% occupancy and substantially less in some areas, and there is plenty of space on this wide street to accommodate bike lanes as well as parking.

0:07:11Protected bike lanes will make many useful destinations more accessible and safer for kids and adults alike to arrive by bike.

0:07:19including the community center and pool, Cerrito, Vista Park, Korematsu school and Prospect Sierra.

0:07:26the Ohlone greenway cannot take cyclists safely to all destinations in town, and it shouldn't have to.

0:07:33For example, a middle school student living near Mosier and Richmond Street.

0:07:38using the ohlone Greenway to get to school at Kirimatsu would double the trip from a half mile to a mile.

0:07:45Our streets belong to the public, and not only to the people who want to park their cars on them, and I commend the city for including bike lanes in the complete streets. Thank you. Your time has ended. Our next speaker is Peter, followed by Stephen Price and

0:08:03Kyle Brunel.

0:08:07Hello! My name is Peter Degnan. I live in El Cerrito. I just want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak. I'm here to speak to you about regarding the proposed changes to Richmond Street that will remove half of the street parking on part of the street. I live in the area where the new proposed bike lanes would be added and the street parking will be removed.

0:08:26I'd like to begin by saying that we have. I have lived in Richmond on Richmond Street for with my wife and kids for 21 years my kids went to Madera Portal High School. My wife has been a teacher at Madera for over 15 years, and we love this community. We love El Cerrito, and while I'm in favor of plan of making pedestrians, bikers, and motorists safer, I'm not in favor of removing half of the parking on Richmond Street. I've already had my the parking spot in front of our house removed.

0:08:56Some years ago, and while this was inconvenient, I supported the change because it made pedestrians safer at the corner that I live on.

0:09:03Because of this. We now have to park on Gladys. We are now with 2 working adults have 2 cars and have noticed this is harder and harder to find parking on Gladys Street and the surrounding streets during the day, as people commute, leave their cars there, and take additional transportation into the city we've already. We already have the ohlone Greenway that is paved running parallel to Richmond Street, which is designated for pedestrians and cyclists

0:09:29away from cars. If this project meant to is meant to improve safety, why not start there? I used to take my kids on bike rides.

0:09:38We got time

0:09:40on the Greenway all the way into Berkeley, because it was safer to ride than on the streets.

0:09:44I read on the survey that 75% of respondents agree and or strongly agree with wanting to be safer for bikers and for walking. I'm in favor of a safer Richmond Street for all of us to use. It is not it does not make sense to me that the business, the busiest street between Elm and Fairmont would be the modified for bikers and for safety. As this is the reason for the change. If the bike lane is going to merge. Thank you. Your time has ended.

0:10:14Our next speaker is Steve Price, followed by Kylie Brunel and Jim Doganes.

0:10:23My name is Steve Price, and I live in El Cerrito city policy. As stated in the city of El Cerrito. Complete streets. Policy requires that Richmond Street is improved and safe. Bicycling be included in the upgrade.

0:10:39So making Richmond Street safe for bicycling is not an option. It's actually a requirement.

0:10:44Making Richmond safe is especially important, considering that north-south travel east of Richmond is obstructed by Rose Park, the Rose Park Condominium complex in the Pg. And E substation.

0:10:56These obstructions force bicycling onto Richmond Street.

0:11:00If a child lives on Everett or Novell, east of Richmond and north of Schmidt.

0:11:04we can no longer deny him or her safe, bicycling access to the swim center community center or Cerrito vista park.

0:11:12Simply continue the present application of sharo stencils in the middle of the auto lanes would not meet any parents. Idea of safe bicycling infrastructure.

0:11:21entirely removing all on street parking is not proposed in any of the designs floated so far.

0:11:27whether showing bike lanes on both sides of the street, or a two-way bike lane path on one side, on street parking would still be accommodated. If a motorist finds no curbside parking, one can easily park on an intersecting street. Walking half a block is easy. Users of any mode of transportation should expect

0:11:47a walk to be a part of every trip. So I definitely support separated bike lanes and whatever the implementation.

0:11:56thank you. Before I call up our next speaker, when you come up to provide public comments. If you could. Please try to speak clearly into the microphone so that those in the overflow area and online can hear your comments. Thank you. Our next speaker is Steve Price, followed by Kinell Brunel and Jim Dolganis.

0:12:15Oh, apologies, Kylie Brunel, followed by Jim Doganes and Henry Pickard.

0:12:21Good evening. My name is Kyle Burnell. I've been an El Cerrito resident for 25 homeowner here for 25 years now 24 years and I'm here just to comment on the Complete Streets project as our prior speakers have said. And I'd like to thank El Cerrito for all the work in the past to make El Cerrito safer.

0:12:41ready to ride a bike through

0:12:45and I'd like to express my support for adding safe bike lanes to Richmond Street. I'm a relatively experienced cyclist. I cycle thousands of miles a year, and even I'm intimidated by riding on Richmond Street.

0:12:59So. But I'm not here to ask

0:13:01it to be made safer for me. I'm here to be asked asked to for it, to be made safer for everyone, for for families, for children for people who want to travel across El Cerrito.

0:13:12and who are currently afraid to use Richmond Street because

0:13:15of how dangerous it is with the traffic volume of traffic and speed. I'm sympathetic with the concerns of the local residents about losing parking, but, as others have said.

0:13:26the El Cerrito survey shows

0:13:29currently about less than 40% usage of the on current on-street parking that's there. And all of all the bike lane plans

0:13:36look for retaining about 50% of the existing on street parking. So I don't think that doesn't seem to me like that would be a problem. I'd also like to point out that Richmond Street is a hundred percent residential street.

0:13:50It's only used as a highway like travel because of the current design leading to 2 to

0:13:57overflowing cars. High speed cars when there. There are thoroughfares like San Pablo Avenue, provided for that

0:14:06this long distance transit through El Cerrito. So again, I'd like to

0:14:10express my support for protected bike lanes that everyone can use children's family and experience cyclists. Thank you.

0:14:18Thank you. Our next speaker is Jim Doganes, followed by Henry Pickard and Stuart Sanatina.

0:14:29Thank you. Jim Delgonas, resident of El Cerrito.

0:14:34Mayor and City Council. I'd like to emphasize something that the Mayor touched on in your excellent presentation.

0:14:43and that is that our city is made up not only the city council, but the staff.

0:14:50and one of the roles of the city council is to hire a city manager. We have a good city manager, the good city manager in turn hires good staff.

0:15:04We really need to, you know, understand and recognize. We have a very well run City, and I appreciate your your mentioning that

0:15:12I'd also like to just end by thanking the mayor and Paul Fidelli for their terms. Paul! 8 years, Tessa, 4 years you put in a lot of time understand the time the diligence.

0:15:32How you understand all of these items that come in front of you I don't know, but thank you for your service, and I want to end with a plug for something that the city clerk mentions. Holly. There are some openings on some of our committees feel free to participate. Thank you. Thank you.

0:15:53Our next speaker is Henry Pickard, followed by Stuart, Sonatina and Gaia Sonatina.

0:16:02Hello! My name is Henry, and this is the 1st time I've been to a city council meeting, and I'm here because I want to speak out strongly in support of building protected bicycle lanes on Richmond Street.

0:16:14I'm a parent. I have a 9 month old, daughter, and in a few years or not a few years, but in 8 to 10 years my daughter is going to be using Richmond Street to ride to middle school.

0:16:24And there's gonna be a lot of kids using the street. There already are people biking on this street

0:16:28and painting lines on the ground is not sufficient protection. We can't just paint a bicycle on the ground or paint a line and put kids next to pickup trucks that hoods come above their heads and keep hoping for the best because things happen.

0:16:42People kids get hit by cars in this city. Kids get hit by cars in the East Bay people get hit and killed by cars. This isn't a theoretical problem. It's a problem happening right now that we've all become immune to because it's happening, but we can fix it. There are things that we can do to fix it. And in the immediate term building protected bicycle lanes on Richmond Street will fix it.

0:17:00or at least make it better there. And we shouldn't compromise because the standards of the Department of Transportation and the National Association of City Transportation officials say that when you have a road with 8,000 plus cars you should be separating bicycle traffic from car traffic. This is what other countries do that have low traffic deaths. This is what the research shows is clearly the safest option.

0:17:23I want to see a city where people don't have to fear for their lives when they're just trying to get from one place to another. I want to see a city where parents can feel comfortable letting their kids explore neighborhoods without fear. And this is a very solvable problem. But to solve it we need a shift in mindset, and we can't be prioritizing, parking and convenience over people's lives in our community. And if we do that, I think we can build a much better Richmond Street that allows people to get to where they're going safely and makes for a much better community. Thank you.

0:17:54Our next speaker is Stuart Sanatina, followed by Gaia Sanatina and Rihanna.

0:18:05Howdy duty? I'm Stuart, Sonatina Pacerito. Since 2018 East Bay. Since 2,009 I have 2 boys at Harding Elementary.

0:18:14Thank you for your continued efforts to make our streets safer for everyone, cyclists, drivers, pedestrians alike.

0:18:20We are fortunate that El Cerrito adopted a complete streets policy back in 2016, committing to building streets that serve all users, regardless of how they travel.

0:18:30The safe streets for all funding for the Richmond Street project was intended to transform it into a complete street. So for everyone who's going to use it.

0:18:38this means not just improving safety, but also ensuring better access for the entire community

0:18:43neglecting bike infrastructure would be a failure to meet those requirements. A protected bike route on Richmond Street complements the much slower alone. Greenway serving residents east of Richmond Street. Far more directly

0:18:54it provides safer, more convenient routes to key destinations like the community center, swimming pool, ceruda, vista, koelmatsu el cerrito high

0:19:02etc.

0:19:03Research shows that streets with added bike lanes reduce fatal crashes by 40 to 75% a benefit for all road users.

0:19:13Additionally, a recent parking survey found Richmond Street's parking occupancy never exceeded 40%. This leaves ample room to install bike lanes without compromising available parking. This is a clear win.

0:19:23Let's continue building a safer, more accessible, El Cerrito, by fulfilling the vision of our complete streets. Policy. Thanks.

0:19:32Our next speaker is Guy Sanatina, followed by Rihanna and Phoebe.

0:19:45Hello! My name is Gaia. I'm an El Cerrito resident. I have 2 kids. We bike basically everywhere.

0:19:56getting pretty tense out there. And I would just like to make a quick comment about how we all live in the same community.

0:20:04And we all basically want the same things right? We want to feel safe in the spaces that we

0:20:11frequent, and we want to feel safe in our neighborhood.

0:20:17I'm really excited about the proposed bike lanes for the north end of Richmond Street.

0:20:22I'm even more excited about the El Cerrito Walk and Roll.

0:20:26El Cerrito, Richmond Annex Walk and Rolls, proposed update, which makes it more of a protected, separated bike Lane away from the cars.

0:20:35A protected bike lane empowers people to make different choices about how they commute

0:20:40it encourages people to get out of their cars, and the fewer cars the less traffic.

0:20:45the less traffic the nicer our streets are.

0:20:49When people know how it feels to bike. They'll be more conscientious when they are behind the wheel.

0:20:54Hopefully.

0:20:56I know many folks are really upset about the idea of losing their street parking.

0:21:01but the city requires every residence to have 2 off-street parking spots on every property

0:21:08I like that's pretty substantial.

0:21:12When the street space is solely available to vehicles. Our streets are being wasted. Less than half of the parking

0:21:20on Richmond Street is used on any given day. That was a survey that the city did in

0:21:28preparation for this street design.

0:21:30and studies have shown that protected bike lanes, slow traffic for everybody, making it a much nicer street to occupy when you're not in your car.

0:21:41there's not really a downside to that

0:21:44richmond Street, and its residents will benefit from this design immensely. There'll be less traffic. And thank you. Our next speaker is Rihanna, followed by Phoebe and Miguel.

0:22:01Good evening, Mayor Council members. My name is Rihanna, and I live on Richmond Street, right near Potrero Avenue.

0:22:09My priority here tonight is to emphasize safety. I have 2 young children, and we use the front of Richmond Street on a daily basis.

0:22:19I know others here tonight are concerned about parking, and I understand that. And I also saw the data from one of the workshops showing the vacancy rates of parking during the day and evening on Richmond Street. So I think the data can speak for itself regarding that.

0:22:37Again, my priority is safety. I want to feel safe when I'm walking down Richmond Street. I want to feel safe, having my kids walk down Richmond Street.

0:22:47I want to feel safe driving down Richmond Street.

0:22:50We need slower speeds. We need streets that support safety for all of our users. Right now. The street is designed for driving at high speeds, and for people who are parking on the street.

0:23:06I applaud the design that is in the works and creating the bike lane. I applaud it because it is speaking to a multi-use level of use for bikes, slower traffic, and it will be better for everybody.

0:23:21I applaud the chicane structure to slow the traffic throughout the street, so ours just literally cannot drive the speed that they are driving now, and I applied the bull bouts at the corners to allow more visibility for pedestrians and bicycles crossing the streets, especially for the middle schoolers that cross

0:23:42twice daily.

0:23:45I also applaud the street trees, and I hope that the trees maintain their longevity in the design, and don't get short changed at the end and become an afterthought.

0:23:57So again, my priority is safety for the people who live here, the kids who walk down and across the street daily. Our next. Our next speaker is Phoebe, followed by Miguel and

0:24:10Hakanesh Priyasler.

0:24:18Hello! My name is Phoebe, and.

0:24:22as you can tell, I'm a child, but I feel very strongly about the safety on Richmond Street, because me and my family are residents of that street.

0:24:33and I have some problems that I would like to address.

0:24:38So the intersection at Richmond Street and Pochero is really bad.

0:24:44I have 3 reasons why.

0:24:461st reasons. Car come. Cars come really fast down the hill, and sometimes I really have to like stop in the street to make sure they're stopping for me.

0:24:58We could like

0:25:00resolve this solution by putting traffic calming measures like down that hill, because I really want to make sure I'm safe when I'm crossing that street.

0:25:10My second reason is, the cars also come really fast down Richmond Street and

0:25:18We can't pull out of our driveway sometimes for 3, 4, 5 min when we're trying to get to school. And

0:25:26it's just it's really hard and frustrating when we're trying to pull out

0:25:31and sometimes, or at least a few times, we almost got hit down that street. And

0:25:37we just we really want to make sure we're safe, and we want to feel safe.

0:25:43And then my 3rd reason is as a walker. I walk to Giovanni's, the Corner street

0:25:49multiple times a month and

0:25:53sometimes. This isn't really a safety issue, but it's like not pedestrian, friendly. Sometimes I have to push the button multiple times, and I just

0:26:04I. It would be better if there was an automatic walk sign there, so calls could

0:26:12totally stop. Make sure, and you can make sure they're stopping. And so when you're walking, you're just, you know that you're safe. Thank you. Your time has ended.

0:26:24Our next speaker is Miguel, followed by Harkanish, priestler, and Leslie Adams.

0:26:39Good evening.

0:26:41I want to welcome and offer my congratulations to the new Council members.

0:26:46I also look forward to y'all service to our full community.

0:26:51One challenge the public's council regarding this matter

0:26:55was the failures of Council members Kinto, Motayama and Rudnick to implement the wishes of the majority of our city

0:27:02by putting a ceasefire resolution on the agenda

0:27:06as a way to address Israel's genocide of the Palestinian people.

0:27:12It's not this Albon, and also Rudol for Palestine has filled

0:27:19hundreds of all, has gotten membership of hundreds of El Syrians that have done over 50 Palestinian related human rights events.

0:27:30such as most recently collecting over 300 signatures in only 6 days

0:27:38in the Mall, the illustrated across the Mall

0:27:40to get Trader Joe's to stop carrying apartheid and genocide enabling products.

0:27:46We're doing this really on occupied Palestinian land.

0:27:51So want to ask, we have of our new council

0:27:56is to support these community efforts, these altruism that is so.

0:28:03and the good people of El Cuido.

0:28:07and to engage our community so that we can put forth together a resolution for a ceasefire and arms embargo on Israel and divestment from companies not just Israel, but others.

0:28:21He doesn't invest in Israel and other human rights, violated countries that may be engaging in genocide and more.

0:28:29Thank you.

0:28:31Our next speaker is heart.

0:28:35I'm going to ask members of the audience to please refrain from any audible shows of support or opposition, so that we can respect all of our speakers tonight. Our next speaker is Harkanish Priestler, followed by Leslie Adams and Samaya Nasset.

0:28:54Good evening.

0:28:56My name is Haiganoush.

0:28:59Recently I have learned a new Arabic word, at least a new to me. The word is Ashla.

0:29:06If you look it up online, it reads the Arabic word Ashla refers to scattered body parts and dismembered flesh.

0:29:17It is a concept of concern that has been repeatedly emphasized by cousins

0:29:23for the last year people in Gaza have been going through Ashla to see if they can identify which of the scattered body parts belong to their children or their family members, and which are their neighbors.

0:29:36to keep count of how many people have been killed. They collect Ashla and weigh them. About 70 kg of body parts, or dismembered flesh is counted as one human being. My question to all of us here today is.

0:29:55what have we done today to try to stop this carnage, especially to our elected officials, who can do more than us. What are you planning to do tomorrow

0:30:08as much as we try to deny it without our tax money without the profits we are making by investing in companies that are supplying the arms, the equipment, the fuels to countries accused of genocide and crimes against humanity. Without our taxes and our support this carnage will not be able to continue, and maybe the word Ashla will disappear from our daily use.

0:30:39Our next speaker is Leslie Adams, followed by Samaya Nissa

0:30:54greetings outgoing city council, and welcome

0:30:57to the new city council, who, I guess, is not in yet.

0:31:01My name is Leslie Adams, and I've been residing in El Cerrito for 18 years

0:31:07over the years I've engaged with the city in various ways, mostly

0:31:12most recently this year, on agendizing a call for a city resolution on a ceasefire in Gaza.

0:31:19as we know, this call resonates for the majority of El Ceritans, yet we were unable

0:31:25to even bring this to the city agenda.

0:31:28Needless to say, we were quite disappointed.

0:31:32as our representatives should reflect the voices of those in their city.

0:31:38I want you to know we did a lot this last year without your support.

0:31:43We raised more than $25,000 to support families. In Gaza

0:31:48we created workshops and hosted community tables, spearheaded vigils

0:31:53held bake sales. Among many other things.

0:31:57what did we do? We strengthened our community and cared for each other

0:32:03through our shared goals of peace, safety, and dignity.

0:32:07My hope for this new Council is more listening to the community that comes to you in need of support.

0:32:14My hope is that this new Council will align its values with those of the community they represent.

0:32:21We look forward to working together to make El Cerrito a place.

0:32:27Truly everyone feels heard and seen and is honored.

0:32:31Thank you.

0:32:32Our next speaker is Samaya Nissef, followed by Yoko.

0:32:45Alright. Good evening. So a year ago I stood here for the 1st time asking the city council to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.

0:32:52Now, a year later, we have witnessed the live stream, destruction of the Gaza strip in its entirety. The murder of what experts experts say is at least 200,000 Palestinians murdered

0:33:01roughly, half of whom are children. We've witnessed the deliberate infliction of terror upon millions of Palestinians funded by American tax dollars. This city Council deliberately chose to support the funneling of our money to genocide and ethnic cleansing, while gaslighting constituents, by telling them to stay in their lane, silencing their dissent and prioritizing some voices over others.

0:33:24It was a deep shock and a terrifying realization to learn how the suffering of others was just a political inconvenience for some.

0:33:31So, despite that I'm grateful to have come that day because I met an individual who introduced me to others in the city that more accurately represented what leadership in this community should be

0:33:41because of them, because for him to acknowledge the humanity of others wasn't contingent on them, sharing the same ethnicity, religion, or skin color.

0:33:50So the New Year, in a slightly different city council, I hope this time around the representatives of the city, will actually listen to the constituents, all of them, instead of listen, instead of silencing them by turning off virtual public comments, prioritizing the voices of their friends and cutting off public comment

0:34:08for some, so I hope the new City Council will work for everyone instead of working to prioritize their own self interests.

0:34:16Thank you.

0:34:17Our next speaker is Yoko.

0:34:31Hi, I'd like to welcome our newly elected Council members who will be sworn in later today who are not before me right now.

0:34:38and I urge this new council to proactively engage with and listen to your constituents rather than create roadblocks to ending the genocide in Gaza as an El Salvido resident. I was appalled that the previous Council refused to acknowledge this genocide as a local issue. When roughly, $386,000 of our tax money goes to fund Israel's bombs on civilians. And you can look this up

0:35:00online on the Us. Campaign for Palestinian rights map of Us. Military funding to Israel

0:35:06this money could provide 45 El Cerrito households with public housing for a year, salaries for 4 elementary school teachers, and so on.

0:35:14However, I am incredibly proud to be part of this beautiful and diverse community that has united

0:35:20in Elsavan and Albany for Palestine. Month after month the group keeps growing bigger and stronger. These folks have boundless creativity, energy, passion, and humanity, and have kept me sane and hopeful for over a year of genocide.

0:35:33They teach me every day that we truly take care of us, and it is a people power that changes the world.

0:35:38In just October we stood in front of the El Cerrito Plaza every weekday for 3 weeks, handing out resources to educate the public, including voting guides, which were compiled through interviewing of city council candidates. Stance on Palestine. The overwhelming response was positive. The numerous dialogues and interactions our group has had with our other, with residents

0:35:58and all of our actions, has shown me that people here actually care very deeply about Palestine, and are simply not seeing politicians reflect this. So I urge the new Council coming in to protect the most vulnerable members of our community, including our undocumented residents and our siblings in Palestine. Please pass a ceasefire resolution, and divest from companies that profit from genocide in Gaza. Thank you.

0:36:21Thank you for your comments.

0:36:23May that we have reached 30 min of public comment at this time. Thank you. City clerk.

0:36:30All right. Next we're going to move on to our adoption of the consent calendar. It includes the following items.

0:36:37we have approval.

0:36:39We have approval of minutes. We have El Cerrito Historical society. 50th anniversary proclamation. Please. No disruption.

0:36:49no disruption.

0:36:53Right city attorney.

0:36:58ladies and gentlemen attending the meeting this evening. As the city clerk stated earlier. The City Council has adopted rules of decorum. Those those include prohibitions on the making of noises that disrupt the conduct of the City Council meeting. Ask that members of the public

0:37:20respect that this is a meeting with A, with a published agenda, with business to be conducted by the city Council and the City Council is going to attempt to conduct that business without disruption.

0:37:30Thank you very much.

0:37:33All right.

0:37:34To repeat the agenda items. We have, item a, the approval of minutes. Item B. El Crito, Historical Society, 50th anniversary proclamation, item C. Transportation impact fee annual report for Fiscal year 2023, 2024, monthly disbursement check and register report for November 2024,

0:37:54item E, designating primary and alternate Board members to the municipal pooling authority of Northern California, also known as Mpa. Agreement with city of Berkeley for year round. Automatic a

0:38:06item G. Adoption of resolution authorizing staff to apply for the pro housing incentive program. Item, H. Declare and certify the results of the November 5, 2024, general municipal election

0:38:20item, I redevelopment agency Successor Agency item, approve draft annual recognize obligations, payment schedule for 2526,

0:38:32and that's it. Would any item or any of my Council members like to pull an item.

0:38:38I I always look in this direction first, st I am getting the, but I can't help myself, so I do have a couple of questions. I have a question on, item 6 C,

0:38:49and item 6 F and 6, ICF. And I. Yes, right. Anyone else.

0:38:58Just a comment on 6 F, all right.

0:39:01So let's start with C, okay,

0:39:05I would like to know if the the tax increment funding applies to adus.

0:39:15Good evening, Mayor and council members. I am Yvette Ortiz, the city's public Works Director. The transportation impact fee does not apply to accessory dwelling units. They are exempt.

0:39:26Thank you.

0:39:29Right. Item F on item F.

0:39:34I had a question about whether or not we have mutual aid agreements with the East Bay Parks, Richmond, Albany, as well.

0:39:44we have automatic mutual aid with Richmond, which is an automatic dispatch. We do have automatic dispatch in the East Bay regional parks, East Bay regional parks, although they have a fire brigade, is not typically a fire department. So we split the Contra Costa area footprint of East Bay. Regional parks with el Cerrito and Moragarenda Fire Department. So we automatically respond to that.

0:40:09Then we have mutual aid with both Berkeley and Albany. We currently have an mou with Albany. The difference from automatic mutual aid and mutual aid. Mutual aid comes through a request.

0:40:20since it crosses a county line.

0:40:23Okay, so that's that's really helpful to understand, and then in the mou. It did say El Cerrito, and sometimes El Cerrito Kensington Fire Department. Are those 2 terms interchangeable in the case of the mou. They are interchangeable. They were one in the same.

0:40:40Thank you.

0:40:41Okay, Councilor Fidelli. Yes, chief, I just want to thank you for this coordination with Berkeley hopefully. Other cities.

0:40:48We'll also have similar coordination efforts. And I'm hoping I'm assuming that you'll give this update to our East Bay Wildfire coalition because that they're trying to coordinate everybody in the East Bay. This is a good 1st step toward total coordination. I'd be more than happy to thank you. Thank you

0:41:06all right. And then, item, I

0:41:08so thank you. On 6. I I'm more than excited that our we're doing our final rops report to the State for redevelopment, and I was wondering what will happen to that remaining balance of $11,576. So is that, does that come to us now that it's

0:41:29we're closing out. Hi! Crystal reams! Finance director. No. Anything that is unspent will have to be returned so the county could either choose to reduce our current payment that we're going to get. Or when we file our final Ppa, we would return the funds. Okay, so there's still one more closing out. Item to end our redevelopment obligations forever.

0:41:51Okay, thank you.

0:41:55Anything else.

0:41:57I'll entertain a motion on the consent calendar. So moved. Second, all right. Moved by Quinto, seconded by Motoyama. All those in favor, please say aye, aye, any opposed motion carries all right, and then we do have a representative from the El Cerrito Historical Society on their 50th anniversary. So if we could have Dave Weinstein.

0:42:21Hello, Mayor and members of the Council, I'm Dave Weinstein, President.

0:42:25but they also need a Historical society which

0:42:28this coming year we'll celebrate his 50th anniversary.

0:42:31and I've I've been writing a history of the Historical Society, probably the 1st real history of it, and we've had a lot of accomplishments, a lot of major things that have happened.

0:42:40But you know what one of the best was, and maybe even the very best was in 2010 when we moved into the Dorothy and Sundar Shari room right here in City Hall, and it's great that we have a very cooperative relation with the city, because historical societies you think that's all about the past. But that's not the truth at all. There are things that have happened in the city over the past 50 years that really impact how people live.

0:43:07Theater wouldn't be here were not for the Historical Society. Other Historical places have remained alive because of the Historical Society, and we continue to do things in the future. Some of our major goals that were enunciated by our founder, rich Parkey, 50 years ago. We still have not yet accomplished.

0:43:28I'm not going to annoy you by telling you what they are, but we have not given up on them. This history plays such an opponent role in giving the city its individual character. It's very easy for a small city like El Cerrino, not known for its history. It's not like Carmel by the sea. It's not like Charleston, South Carolina. History doesn't shout

0:43:47out at you from every street corner. It has a real history. It has historic buildings, historic places of real charm. And we're going to continue to work with the city, to do whatever we can

0:43:58to make the city a better place for everybody. And we're looking at the future, and thank you very much, for

0:44:04we're claiming our 50th anniversary. We're going to have a lot of events throughout the year. Look to see at them.

0:44:10Thank you. Thank you so much, and thank you for acknowledging our former mayor, rich Barkey, is one of the founders also wasn't mentioned. But I do want to. I'm thinking of Chris Chris Treadway and wishing he was here for this moment. So with that I would love to give this to you and have invite my colleagues down. And we'll take a picture

0:44:44history of these.

0:44:46Yeah, I'd love that

0:44:52hold on

0:45:24all right. And we're now approaching the main event, which is our presentations.

0:45:30We're going to start with a really exciting one, which is a resolution to honor lead, maintenance worker, Jose Jamarillo, for 38 years of service upon retirement.

0:45:41Please have a presentation.

0:45:51Good evening again. City Council. I am Yvet Ortiz, the city's public works. Director Jose Jare is here. He's making his way into the Council chambers. It was a crowded evening, so can we give him

0:46:05a few seconds to come in?

0:46:24Yes.

0:46:28all right. Here. He's walking into the room.

0:46:33Alright, I'll go ahead and start.

0:46:39No, no, no.

0:46:49thank you for this opportunity to recognize Jose Jaramillo this evening.

0:46:55Let's say this is an opportunity to honor him for his 38 years of dedicated service to the city of El Cerrito.

0:47:03Cosette joined the city of El Cerrito in September of 1986,

0:47:08as one of the city's earliest employees at its pioneering recycling center.

0:47:13He at that time carefully sorted recyclable materials and helped improve the center's operations.

0:47:213 years later, in September of 1989, he moved to the city's maintenance team.

0:47:26where he advanced to the role of lead maintenance worker

0:47:31over the years Jose's expertise and commitment to the community have been unmatched.

0:47:36He has taken great care.

0:47:39and maintaining public infrastructure and facilities ensuring that trip. Hazards were removed, roof gutters and storm drains were cleared.

0:47:47doors and windows were functioning properly, parts were well maintained, and much more.

0:47:53I had the privilege of working closely with Jose when we when I 1st started working for the city.

0:48:00and specifically I worked with him on the installation of traffic signs and markings.

0:48:04What stood out to me then, and still does is his attention to detail. He really does care.

0:48:11And he's always been proactive in identifying potential safety issues

0:48:15and making sure that El Salvita was a safer place for everyone.

0:48:20Throughout his career Jose has demonstrated remarkable leadership and dedication from emergency situations to special events. Jose, without hesitation has responded to innumerable incidents, including flooding tree failures, urgent roof repairs

0:48:37often disrupting his nights and weekends.

0:48:40and the goal of this is to ensure the safety and well-being of city employees, our residents and businesses.

0:48:46Jose also made sure. Key events, such as the Martin Luther, King, Martin Luther, King Day Parade, and 4th of July festival ran smoothly

0:48:56for nearly 4 decades Jose has been an integral part of the city's recycling and maintenance teams

0:49:02providing exceptional service to our community, and I'm truly grateful.

0:49:06Thank you, Joseph, for your significant contributions to the health, safety, and quality of life here in El Cerrito. Thank you to Joseph's family

0:49:15also here.

0:49:18Who has supported him and lent him to us on those nights and weekends.

0:49:22And so it's been an honor and pleasure to work with you.

0:49:25you will be greatly missed. Congratulations on your retirement.

0:49:51You know I am kind of shy, and usually I don't say that much just

0:49:57what I love to do is just do my work.

0:50:00But you know, I think that's the end

0:50:05of what I used to do so.

0:50:07But to me. It's a pleasure to be working for for the city and for all the residents of this town. So

0:50:16thank you very much. Thank you, Yvette, for all the your help and everything

0:50:21so, and all my coworkers, and every everybody who worked with me so was a pleasure to

0:50:28work for you guys, and that's it. Thank you.

0:50:51But do I have on my script that there's a

0:50:54council questions. However, I think that I don't know if there's any questions any more comments, so do I have a motion to approve.

0:51:01I'll move. I'll second all right. It was motioned by Motoyama and seconded by Quinto. All those in favor, please say, aye, aye, any opposed motion carries all right. Any council comments.

0:51:13congratulations.

0:51:15Thank you for your service.

0:51:17Yeah. Councilor Fidelli. Yes, Jose, thank you very much. I see you around town everywhere, especially in the quarry area, and you're taking care of one of our greatest jewels. Our recycling center, El Cerrito is famous for it. I could live there

0:51:32and since we're both retiring tonight, let's get together and have a drink somewhere.

0:51:40I just want to say congratulations, and all the best in your next chapter, and your retirement. So well done. Thank you, sir.

0:51:50and thank you so much for your service, and thank you for sharing your time with us. I can see you have such a wonderful, beautiful big family, and I hope you get to spend lots and lots of time with them.

0:52:03Thank you.

0:52:05Your colleagues have nothing to say but the most incredibly kind and important things about you, and we're really glad that you're gonna get to go into retirement. Also, like, you know, I'm going to retirement, too. But it is it's amazing that you

0:52:21have this amazing family to be there, and you get this time. Such, the gift of time is everything. So with that I would love to invite your family down. I'd love to invite you down, and we'll come down and take pictures with this incredible proclamation in your honor.

0:53:31Got it?

0:53:37It's your friend

0:54:17all right.

0:54:24Alright.

0:54:28I

0:54:32please do not interrupt. During our meeting we would like to continue on with our next item.

0:54:39Mary, would you like to read the next item, please. Next item is Item B, which is a recognition of the City Council members leaving office.

0:54:49The members. I'm going to that. The City Council is going on with the business on the agenda. If you continue to make noise. That disrupts the meeting and prevents the Council from conducting the business, we'll begin issuing warnings if the warnings are not observed, move on to begin. Asking the police department to remove people from

0:55:14Mayor, are we okay to move forward at this time with the doors closed. Yes, we'll continue on with the doors closed, but if it becomes loud or interrupting the business, then we'll have to continue with these warnings and then ask our police department to step in. Very good. Thank you.

0:55:30Alright. So the action proposed tonight is a special recognition of our outgoing council members.

0:55:37First, st we're going to start with my colleague, Councilmember Paul Fidelli, Mayo, for the year 2021, and Councilmember, serving from 2,016 to 2024,

0:55:48and that's I'd like to give a warning to the folks outside.

0:55:52This is interrupting the meeting for the members of the public who are outside the council chambers. But in the lobby I am at the north direction. I let them know that the amount of noise that you're making is disrupting the meeting. This is your 1st warning. If this continues, we're going to issue another warning, at which point we'll begin asking the police to remove people from the lobby area because of the amount of noise.

0:56:22All right.

0:56:26So tonight, on behalf of the City Council, I am presenting

0:56:30Council Member Pasidelli with a commemorative plaque.

0:56:35All right, that's a and we'd like to issue a second warning.

0:56:40We understand the lobby of the City Count of City Hall. Outside of the Council chambers. I am issuing a second second warning to you to let you know that the level of noise that you're making is interrupting the City Council's ability to conduct the business on its agenda.

0:56:56This will be a final warning if you do not cease the amount of noise that you're making. We're going to ask the police department to begin to escort people out of the lobby in order to allow the city council to continue with your business on its agenda.

0:57:22Do you want to attempt to continue the business? I will attempt? Yes, because you know, I think that public expression is incredibly important, and we have those times for it. And then this time right now is to honor my colleague, Councilmember Paul Fidelli.

0:57:40All right. I'm assuming a 3rd warning. Okay, this is the final warning. If the level of noise in the lobby does not decrease at this point, we're going to follow the rules of decorum that are adopted by the city council and that are allowed under State law and the Federal and State constitutions. And we're going to ask the police department to begin escorting people from the lobby area so that the city council can conduct business. That's on the agenda.

0:58:10All right. Thank you so much. All right. So tonight, on behalf of the city council, I will be presenting my good friend and colleague, Councilmember Paul Fidelli with a commemorative plaque for his years of service and flowers, as an expression of gratitude and appreciation for his service on the El Cerrito City Council.

0:58:32What kind of flowers. Are they

0:58:36knowing Councilmember Fidelli so well that are not from Trader Joe's, and they are not from grocery outlet.

0:58:45as I hang out there, too. Yeah, all right.

0:58:51and we will get to council comments and we'll we'll get there, I promise we'll get there. But this is what do you think?

0:59:00I think it's a great opportunity. If you want to do a photo. OP, all right, we're gonna do a photo. OP, okay.

0:59:05no.

1:00:05Right.

1:00:08Hold on.

1:00:11Is that the building alarm.

1:00:16not even by my house thinking history.

1:00:22They're amplified. Sound.

1:00:25Thank you, everyone in the audience, for your patience.

1:00:40Alright.

1:00:45So I

1:00:46I'm just going to say, Mary, as a reminder, if you wanted to take a 5 min recess to let the noise die off some that's always an option. But up up to your discretion. I'm gonna look to my colleague, Paul. Fidelity!

1:00:58What would you like, sir?

1:01:02Just let's just keep talking alright.

1:01:05Yeah. So I would like to take a sip from this amazing

1:01:12mug that, says Coffadelli. Good for El Cerrito with his face on it.

1:01:25There's so much that I would love to say about Council, member former Mayor Paul Fidelli. The biggest one, is, thank you, because there's no one who has the kind of heart and dedication and passion.

1:01:38That council member, Fideli, has. He is a good human inside and out. He loves his family, he loves what he does, and

1:01:47this role that I've had for 4 years very much. Yeah, I I really care deeply about all of my colleagues, but I have a special bond with the 2020 elected colleagues and

1:01:59thank you for all that you've done. I won't try to make you cry, but I just want to say Thank you. Staff gave me this.

1:02:08Here's your mug, and I have more for the entire family, and that's oh, empty!

1:02:21And would any of my colleagues like to share anything about Councilmember Paul Fidelio.

1:02:26We start from the oh, yeah, sure.

1:02:28Thank you, Mayor.

1:02:30Thank you. Councilmember Fidelli, I think. I hope that you will go through the list of all your accomplishments when it's time for your comments. But I think that you have done a lot of things for this city that I don't think people even realize how much time, effort resources you've put into making Elsrito just a little bit extra special.

1:02:54and I want to appreciate you everything from things that make life safer and better, like protecting station. I guess it's now 52,

1:03:04right, one to, you know the safe drop off location at the police station. I don't know if people even know that. Remember that it's there. But there's that was thanks to you and the lights by the theater. Our theater district lights display that you know little bit of joy that you bring to everybody in this town. It's been really tremendous, and I want to say, thank you for

1:03:31just modeling good counsel communications. I think I really appreciate. When you take a take a moment and explain your thinking, explain the issue to the public, so that we are all better informed.

1:03:47and that has made a tremendous impact on me. And I appreciate all the time you've taken to tell me, you know. Maybe you want to think about this, or maybe you want to think about that, and I really appreciate that. And I hope that you will continue to

1:04:02to point out where I might

1:04:04be going just because I'm old. That's why I do that. It's okay. It's because you're you're good at it. You're smart, so I appreciate it, and I hope that you will continue to do that, and I look forward to continuing to get guidance and wisdom from you. Thank you.

1:04:21I would like to say.

1:04:231st of all, Paul, you're just a little bit old, and

1:04:29and the and the reason I bring that up is because you have always, even before I was on the council, you were the conscious of people who have been here for a very, very long time you are. You have always been someone who stood as an ally for black and brown people in the city, and you made that clear long before I became to the Council.

1:04:47and I remember before, I guess I had already pulled papers, and I randomly went to a Bagel shop in Berkeley, and you were sitting in a corner with your big Council packet, and you walked up to me and you said, Are you sure you want to do this, and I said, I don't want to read 400 pages. No.

1:05:03but so I I thank you for that, because, as someone who also grew up here. It's always been important to have that wisdom. I always appreciate the insight of you and Supervisor Joya, who's in the room, who went to school with with my mother, and my aunts, and so I appreciate that, and I hope that you will invite me to your house more often. Now.

1:05:22now that we're not peers will do. Okay.

1:05:25yeah, thank you. Mayor. Paul. I just want to say, thank you for your 8 years. Yeah, you and I have many, many talks, and and I will always remember

1:05:39the 1st time that I flew out to Washington to meet members of Congress

1:05:43who you worked with when you were working at Capitol Hill, like Congressman Costa, who definitely remembered you, and in Sacramento to your colleagues in the different jobs that you had in Sacramento, where you met your lovely wife.

1:06:02So this is many, many years of public service, and I want to say thank you for that. I know it's been rough. It's been difficult, and you've seen administration from administration, and you see what's going on now. So. But thank you, Paul. You have always been the steady force here in El Cerrito. We had some forward we had some difficult years here.

1:06:26But you made things workable. And now we're a city that is known for good government now instead of bad government. So again

1:06:36I salute you, Paul, because you're the one that did that and thank you for your service. Thank you, Gabe.

1:06:42And before. So what we're gonna do is we're going to consolidate the public comments for both of the outgoing members. But I do want to invite, if we have representatives from some of our our partners in the State and Federal agencies who are here who would like to speak to Council Member Fideli before? I invite him to make his remarks.

1:07:05No.

1:07:06yeah, I I see it. We got our county. We got state. We got Federal. We got the whole the whole shebang here.

1:07:12Well, good evening. I'm your new State, Senator Jesse Adeguin

1:07:18for 2 occasions, one to recognize the outstanding council members who have provided incredible leadership, not just for for El Cerrito, but for the whole East Bay region, but also recognize that history is being made tonight with the

1:07:34hopefully, soon to be

1:07:38election of the new Mayor, Mayor Weisinger, the 1st out African American, Lesbian Mayor.

1:07:47in the at least the Bay area, if not California and the 1st Lgbtq plus Majority City Council in the Bay Area. That's an incredibly historic moment to recognize, not just for El Cerrito, but for the whole State of California. So I know history is being made tonight. But I wanted to take this opportunity to to thank and acknowledge the incredible service of Council. Member Fideli, who, as Councillor Quinto had said, has given decades of public service, and this is just

1:08:16probably not the last chapter in your your service to the El Cerrito and East Bay community. Thank you also for your regional partnership not just issues around healthcare access, but also wildfire safety.

1:08:28You have made a significant impact for the residents, not just of El Cerrito, but of Senate District 7. And to my friend outgoing Mayor Tessa Rudnick for your courageous leadership on behalf of El Cerrito. Thank you so much for all that you've done and your service these past 4 years. So on behalf of

1:08:47the residents of Senate District 7. I want to provide certificates of recognition to councilmember Fidelli and Mayor Rudnick on the occasion of of your retirement from the city council, and take this opportunity. Thank you on behalf of the California State Senate for your incredible service, and I'll pass these to Staff if you can give them to the Council members we do picture certainly have them come down and do a photo, and we'll just combine the 2 of us, and then you'll we'll make it happen. But since you're all here, we'll just be more efficient with our time.

1:09:21Well, okay, we'll have all 3 speak, and then we'll do the pictures, and then we'll move on to

1:09:28Honorable Mayor Council Hapree Singh, Sandhou, Senior District Representative Congressman, John Garimendi.

1:09:34Congressman can be here. He's in DC. Finishing up the season, but he wishes to send his best congratulations to Council Member, so I would just quickly read as Ms. Moriyama has talked about that you'll be saying much of it, but I'll say it for you.

1:09:49Congressional accommodation presented in honor of Paul Fideli in recognition of his service, El Cerrito, Councilmember December 17, th 2024. It is with great pleasure that I congratulate Paul Fideli on 8 years at the El Credo Council.

1:10:05Councilman Fidelli has served as a Mayor

1:10:08liaison to the East Bay. Wildfire Prevention, Coordination Group, Chair of the West Contra Costa, Transportation Advisory Committee.

1:10:15Commissioner on the Contra Costa Transportation Authority

1:10:19Council, chair of the El Crito. Bring back the 4th campaign

1:10:23chair of the West County Mayors Forum, and as a member of the County Election Commission Engagement group.

1:10:30he has been a member of the Sierra Club, Austria Demographic Club, Austria Naacp.

1:10:36Mr. Fideli has also worked, as mentioned, at the Capitol at the Us. Capitol for 8 years in Sacramento State Capitol for 13 years, and as a bar program manager for legislative and governmental affairs for 11 years.

1:10:50So, on behalf of the people of California's 8th Congressional district.

1:10:54Please accept my congratulations as well as best wishes for Bright. Freesher signed Congressman John Garamendi. Just one more thing. You had a wonderful friendship, Congressman Garamendi, and and

1:11:06he truly wants to make sure that I say that to you, because it's been not you, but your whole family has had a relationship with not just here, I mean, that's what's wonderful about all of you. Sometimes people think we only talk about you as the city of El Reto, but it goes beyond that on the State level and the Federal level to the Us. House of Capitol. So thank you and congratulations. Thank you.

1:11:30Good evening. I'm Contra Costa County Supervisor, John Joy, and honored to represent El Cerrito, West County for for a few years. Now, I will say, after listening to some speakers, talk about Richmond Avenue. It reminded me that when I went to El Cerrito high decades ago, I rode my bike to school along Richmond Avenue. At that time there were no bike lanes, and I felt like I was taking my life into my own hands.

1:11:52So it's great to see all your leadership and work to make that to make that avenue safer. So to save time, I wanted to combine my comments for both of the outgoing council members, and to both Mayor Rednick and Council, Member Fideli and and our work together.

1:12:09You know we have a great partnership between the county and the city of El Cerrito, and I think we've been able to work together on issues of expanding library hours. Plan. A new library which I know with the current and new council is going to happen to really address homelessness. And you know, we're building a lot of new housing for previously homeless individuals, including those who live in El Cerrito and your support of those types of efforts.

1:12:35our work together on transportation issues, our work on expanding health care. You know there are El Relo, residents who are immigrants who get health care from the county, some of whom are undocumented, and we provide healthcare to them. You've supported all of those types of things, including supporting small businesses during the pandemic, when we combined on a few issues at that time.

1:12:58So it's hard. This is a hard time to be an elected official today we said goodbye to Supervisor Glover. I've served with him for 24 years, so that was a hard day, and losing your commitment. Your knowledge. Is something that you know, takes time to make up, and and I want to say a few extra words. Regarding Paul. Since I've known Paul a long time for decades, and we grew up across the street from each other. He's a few years ahead of me wiser than me.

1:13:27That you know you don't have to be an elected official to make change and be effective, and all you you had. A really strong legendary career before you joined the City Council, your work at the Federal and State and Regional level. So you brought all of that institutional knowledge, all of that

1:13:50action and and experience to your work here at the Council, including on on transportation issues especially. So. This is this is this. This final chapter of 8 years was really just on top of all of that. And I just wanted to point that out. And I've appreciated working with both of you.

1:14:08Appreciate. You know your passionate courage and and our friendship over many, many years. Paul and look forward to continuing to work with you, and maybe appoint you to a county commission or 2. You'll see right that as we work on more

1:14:26we'll we'll be great. So I know it'll happen. So thank you for your service here at the Council. And prior to that, thank you, John.

1:14:34Okay, thank you so much do there? Can we do a photo? Yeah, we'll do some photos.

1:14:48I didn't bring a a proclamation, but let's go to coffee at well grounded. I'll buy you coffee or lunch.

1:15:42and for our resident journalist and writer.

1:15:45I would love to invite Council Member Fideli for your remarks.

1:15:52so get comfortable audience 6 or 7 min here and my greatest fear tonight is, you know, but crying. But I have been given kleenex, so I really appreciate it.

1:16:08I'll never have another moment like this. So thank you for allowing me to say a few words about my years as a city council member here in El Cerrito.

1:16:16This will mainly be a list of thank yous to others

1:16:21serving for 8 years, and one of one of those years, as your Mayor was the proudest professional experience of my life.

1:16:29I've always believed that elected official elected officials can get better with time.

1:16:34and I'm hoping that was the case with me as well.

1:16:40I have so many people to thank. Of course, my family, Michelle, Katie, and Christina.

1:16:46who got used to my events and schedules and seeing me study the packet in my big black chair in my living room.

1:16:53Sometimes they've even expressed pride in what I've done, do and what I'm doing, and that's made me very happy.

1:17:00Thanks to the residents of this town who voted for me. Those who came to council meetings to voice their views like the folks outside, and all those who came in person to discuss their concerns and ideas at my public hours.

1:17:13I've learned a lot from the one on ones that I had at the Natural Food amnes.

1:17:19and I've tried to stay responsive.

1:17:22and a big thanks to such a fine staff here at City Hall

1:17:27during some tough and lean times the executive staff, buyer, police, and all the city staff have held together as family. As we dealt with each new challenge

1:17:38because because of the pandemic. The

1:17:42only time in 2021 that I ever got to actually preside here on the diocese Mayor

1:17:48was on my last day when I handed the gavel to Councilmember Quinto.

1:17:52I knew it would be a challenging year 2021.

1:17:56My 1st phone meeting as mayor with our city manager. Karen Pincus was on January 6, th

1:18:02and my daughter Christina came into the room, interrupted and said, Dad, you need to look at television. The Us. Capitol where you used to work is going crazy.

1:18:12Covid changed. How this city functioned.

1:18:15and in 2021 we also had wildfire challenges demonstrations to defund the police after the death of George Floyd.

1:18:23and of course our financial crisis resulting in a State audit placing our city 6th from the bottom in the State.

1:18:30ruling with fiscal crises.

1:18:32So 2021 had to be a year of action.

1:18:36We responded to the State auditor's recommendations.

1:18:39cutting city staff, leaving vacancies, freezing, some salaries.

1:18:45cutting back on certain services for residents, and we tried to keep our spirits up through all that

1:18:52I want to thank again city staff and the council members. That year Tessa Rudnick, Lisa, Motoyama, Janet Abelson.

1:18:59and Gabe Quinto for their support in making the hard choices needed to develop a framework.

1:19:05a framework going forward toward a stable city budget with abundant reserves.

1:19:12We were also assisted by Federal covid response funds and revenue from our real property transfer tax.

1:19:19I especially want to thank our city manager, Ken pinkos for her efforts that year and beyond.

1:19:25We had many discussions about our fiscal situation.

1:19:29and while she and I may have had different on some of the issues and some of the directions that we should take, she was steadfast in efforts to get us on a more stable economic ground.

1:19:39Just this month we will sign off on the auditor process, and El Cerrito and Karen Pinkos will have a dramatic come from behind story to tell.

1:19:49So thank you.

1:19:50So. Our financial turnaround is the result of a city manager committed staff, committed counsel and an involved and loud public

1:20:00working together to fix a critical problem. Can I hear some applause out there about this, please?

1:20:12I also want to point out some other examples where I was able to work together with staff

1:20:18council members and the public to hopefully improve El Cerrito. Thank you, Lisa.

1:20:24Together with local businesses, we've been able to again support our July 4th World one festival

1:20:30after covid by making it truly community sponsored

1:20:34together. We assure that funds from our cannabis dispensaries will assist the homeless. In our city.

1:20:40We help direct transportation funds and assistance from our local transportation agencies like Rictack

1:20:47and the Contra Costa transportation authority.

1:20:50together with the help of make El Cerrito fire safe, we hopefully have enhanced the fire, safety and Wildfire prevention. When we establish the new Regional East Bay Wildfire coalition.

1:21:02We implemented a city ban on plastic food utensils

1:21:07together. Our residents pass, measure H to keep one of our greatest assets, our Rec. Pool and our parks up to grade.

1:21:14We pushed forward with Bart for new housing and a new library at the Plaza Station location, and we will get a new library, we will get a new library.

1:21:29and yes, our community supports holiday lights in our downtown because it looks good and it feels good, and our businesses like it. So thank you for that. All of these are examples of working together.

1:21:40We all and

1:21:42Speaking of working together, we all have Janet Abelson stories to tell. I see that her daughter Ruthie is here in the audience today. We miss Janet.

1:21:50She's the one over a 12 year period.

1:21:52consistently asking me every 2 years to seek this office

1:21:57I deferred because of work issues kids growing up and aging, parents winding down.

1:22:02So, thanks to Janet for her persistence, and also, thanks to Greg Lyman, Mark Friedman, Jan Bridges, and Supervisor John Joya, for encouraging me to run.

1:22:13and, thanks to my friend Rochelle Pabuokumoto for encouraging me to run again.

1:22:18I also want to wish this next council the best, and especially to Rebecca Saltzman and William Costanes, congratulations.

1:22:26and to our our new mayor, whoever she may be, let me know how I can help. Okay.

1:22:33family, however.

1:22:36I leave office in the same way. I entered 2016

1:22:41with Donald Trump entering the Presidency.

1:22:45You know, Thomas Jefferson called on Americans in their life's journey to be eternally vigilant

1:22:55in the defense of democracy, and as my life's journey moves from Mary Vista Grammar School

1:23:03to my 75th birthday next year.

1:23:06I hope I will remain vigilant.

1:23:09and I expect I report the state.

1:23:12the press of this country to do the same and to hold him accountable.

1:23:17Finally, I have a bunch of campaign signs to recycle if anyone would like a souvenir.

1:23:24The slogan on that was Paul Fidelli. Good for El Cerrito. Some people made fun of that, John Stastick. There you are. I see you over there.

1:23:33And on this last day of my term.

1:23:36as I do sit in this chair.

1:23:38Whatever may be said of my time here.

1:23:41I want to thank El Cuido because you've been very good to me. Thank you very much.

1:24:08But for the next part of this I'm going to pass on duties to the mayor pro tem

1:24:16mayor pro tem. Didn't have their script in front of him. Okay. The next Council member leaving office this evening is Mayor Tessa Rednick.

1:24:24Mayor Tessa Rednick was elected in 2020, and served as mayor in 2024 tonight, on behalf of the city Council. I'll be presenting her with a commemorative gavel plaque for her year as mayor, a commemorative plaque for her years of service on the Council and flowers, as an expression of gratitude and appreciation for her service on the El Cerrito City Council.

1:24:48Do I have any Council members who would like to make comment for Mayor Whitney. I'll start because I just finished talking.

1:24:54Oh.

1:24:56I would like to thank you, Tessa, because you were one of the 1st people who encouraged me to run for office along with Council Member Quinto, and I would also like to say to a lot of those who have not been here in the El Cerrito chamber for the last year. It has been a very hard and uncharacteristic El Cerrito City Council year, and I know that that has been very, very difficult for you, and I'm so sorry about that, and I know that I've had to learn a lot more about tact and grace, because I don't have nearly as much as you.

1:25:25and I've always been the one that was in the background telling you to be strong.

1:25:31Because I know how hurtful it was we? You and I both experienced some very hurtful, disrespectful quite frankly, racist comments in a couple of these meetings. So thank you for your service.

1:25:43I know that you will be going on to do what you what you want to do and what you're called to do, and I just hope that you never have to really encounter what you encountered here again. But unfortunately, in in the world that we are living in right now, it may be a reality, and I hope that this year has helped to strengthen your your resolve in that way.

1:26:08So thank you, Mayor Rednick.

1:26:11It's been an honor to serve with you for these past 4 years.

1:26:15It's it was

1:26:18really great to work with you and be able to make positive change. I think it was really exciting that we came in at such a low point. And now you get to leave at a very high point, and I think that is a tribute to your hard work

1:26:38and your ability to dive into the questions and dive into the details and be data oriented, and also your energy and your openness to to working with lots of different people.

1:26:55I'd like to echo what Mayor pro tem said about this year. I know it's been rough on you, and I think it's unfortunate that the cost of being an elected could be so high on your personal life and your well-being, and I don't blame you at all for saying, Well, maybe I will move on and do the next thing

1:27:21but

1:27:23I think you you handled it with tremendous grace. It was a really rough time, and

1:27:30I think you will want to come back.

1:27:36Whip.

1:27:38Thank you. I also echo what my colleagues just mentioned, and I want to say thank you for your service the last 4 years. It is this council that changed where we were going, and and brought us to this place, where, hopefully, we'll get some great fantastic news in the next couple of days. But I owe that to this council.

1:28:03Who worked together. We agreed to disagree and didn't keep any grudges. And this is a council that stayed out of ideology and politics. So, despite what other cities are going through the fiscal cliff

1:28:17around us. We're doing just fine here in El Cerrito, and I want to thank you for doing that, and especially your year as mayor. So again we are neighbors, and I look forward to seeing you in in walks, and and to see your family. So I want to see well done

1:28:36because you did a fantastic job, not just locally here in El Cerrito, but regionally

1:28:42and statewide as the Vice Chair of Public Safety for League of California Cities. I was hoping you would follow my footsteps, and you're going to do. You're going to follow Karen's footsteps instead. But I congratulate you. Well done.

1:28:57customer fidelity! Yes.

1:29:00Tessa, my friend, your your year as mayor has been both a civic and a personal journey.

1:29:06and you held strong through the whole thing. As I mentioned to you, I'm very sad that you're not running.

1:29:13but I totally get it, and I think the talents and the lessons you've learned. Will, some other city somewhere is going to get all that value that you we baked into you. So I appreciate that.

1:29:25I've liked working with you on projects like the Community Safety Committee and other things. Your family, you know, has become a symbol of this city, and Shara is the city mayor of the Kid, mayor, the kid mayor of this town. She's everywhere you are, and she's going to be a mayor herself someday soon, too, but the biggest thanks, and I think it's been mentioned by Gabe and others that when I was Mayor coming in in the class of 2020

1:29:51with Lisa being so centered on helping us, getting our financial self straight

1:29:56without the team effort that all of us, had we couldn't have done it without the city manager. It's really important. And and the proof of it's now. So you leave as Mayor

1:30:07great success. Thank you so much. I'm hoping we can always remain friends.

1:30:14Council Member. I'm sorry, Mayor Rednick, would you like to give public comment or give comment?

1:30:22There's a lot to

1:30:24digest from these folks who I really care and respect. And there's so many people in this room who I care and respect about. I just have deep appreciation for our staff who really have done an incredible job. Thank you so much. My family is watching at home. In blessed memory my father, my grandparents. I miss them. I wish they were here to see this as well.

1:30:47And you know I'm a public servant at heart. I've been in this space for 15 years, and I'm continuing on in public service just not in the policy role. I really love the staff work. I love

1:31:02providing great service to the city, and I really hope that in my term here serving the city of El Cerrito I was able to to give that gift

1:31:11and

1:31:13I'm just so deeply appreciative. And I said everything I wanted to say during the state of the city address, so I'll keep it moving because we all want cake.

1:31:22One more round of applause for our outgoing members as they leave the diet one last time.

1:31:51Oh, oh, oh, yes.

1:32:00and I am going to interrupt just briefly, and ask you guys to take a seat. For one more second, we do have a handful of people from the public who would like to provide some comments for both of you.

1:32:11If we do, you want to do that real quick. And then we can do one last photo. OP, okay, sorry. Okay, so I have. First, st did any of our

1:32:22Joya and Harpreet? Did you guys provide all the comments you wanted to? Harpreet? Did you have. Okay, why don't you come up first? st And then we have about 4 members of the public who'd like to speak

1:32:35perfect. Okay.

1:32:40thank you, Mayor.

1:32:43again commendation on behalf of the Congressman. But before I continue you know the reason I really want to read this is because, as in Mr. Fidel's case, some of us to see you, perhaps at a city council meeting, but it's all the work that you do on different commission that you sit on.

1:32:59That brings the power to the city. So thank you for the service. And as

1:33:04Mr. Weisinger said to a new, as you said to, Are you sure. What do you want to do this? But after the new Council for a time that you really, truly give to the city of El Reto, so I'll make it quick, because it's it is important, because the service you provided

1:33:19Congressional accommodation and presented to in honor of Tessa Radnick in recognition of a service elsewhere.

1:33:27It is with great pleasure that I congratulate El Credo Council member, Tessa Rudnick, on a 4 years with El Salrito, City council Councilmember. Rudnick is a sitting mayor of El Credo, Vice Mayor of the West County Integrated Waste Water Management

1:33:42Board, and also on the East Bay regional communication system, authority and Public Safety policy of the League of Cities of California. She has served as a chair of the East Bay Bay Area network. Jewish officials is a member of the Austria Democrat Club, and a 2019 graduate of the Government Alliance on Race and Equity

1:34:02Council. Member Rutnick has served in the city government of San Rafael.

1:34:07Berkeley, and San Francisco, and she loves to dance, Star Trek.

1:34:12and loves to read a good book. So on behalf of the people of the 8th Congressional District congratulations, and please accept my greatest congratulations and best wishes on your bright future. And also, I mean

1:34:25Congressman has been delighted in your leadership, and the Council.

1:34:29You have brought millions of dollars to the city on a Federal grant.

1:34:33Earlier. We talked about the fire mitigation. You have brought millions of dollars just this year to fight and make sure that the fire safety is preventable. Up in the hills of El Cerrito. Also the beautification and the redoing of the San Pablo Avenue. So congratulations. And thank you very much.

1:34:51Thank you so much.

1:34:55Okay, so we do have a handful of members of the public who would like to speak to one or both of you, so I'll invite them up to the podium now. So we will start with Nick Samarono, followed by Michael Fisher.

1:35:20Good evening, everyone.

1:35:221st I want to say happy holidays.

1:35:27Well, you know I'm sorry to see you both go.

1:35:30I just want to wish you good health and good luck. Thank you for your commitment and your dedication to the city and the residents, El Cerrito.

1:35:40So I want to say thank you very much.

1:35:44You both did a very well job all your years that you've been on console

1:35:49I want to wish you good health, good luck! Fare you well, and keep on trucking.

1:35:57My next speaker is Michael Fisher, followed by Sue Duncan.

1:36:05Good evening.

1:36:07My name's Michael Fisher, and, thanks to this Council. I have the honor and responsibility of being your library Commissioner.

1:36:19and you know as such I represent the library community, including both the excellent staff.

1:36:27and the many people of all ages, from seniors down to children and toddlers

1:36:34who use the library in one way or another.

1:36:39I can't let the opportunity pass without noting that I'm also concerned about our outdated and potentially unsafe building on Stockton Avenue.

1:36:51I wanna convey my very deep thanks both to

1:36:56council member and former Mayor Fideli, as well as Mayor Rudnick, for their staunch support.

1:37:05or the library during their time on the council.

1:37:11as well as the support of the entire Council, including our incoming mayor, who

1:37:19I had the pleasure of working with when she was a member of the Library Commission.

1:37:24and I look forward to continually working with all of you. I will miss you, Mayor Reddick. I will miss you. Council Member Fideli, but I will probably ask you to volunteer with me. Thank you.

1:37:40Thank you. Our next speaker is Sue Duncan, followed by John Stasik.

1:37:51Good evening. I'm Sue Duncan, a resident of El Cerrito, honorable mayor and city council.

1:37:56my husband and I thank councilmember and former Mayor, Paul Fideli, for his 8 years of dedication and service to the city and its residents. We know you have put in thousands of hours of work during your 2 tenures to make El Credo a better place to live. We also thank your family for sharing you. During this time, as you attended council meetings and studied all of the issues, you will be missed.

1:38:21We wish you well in this next chapter of your life with much more free time, and I have your on my calendar 6 months, so you can join our group in 6 months. We also thank Mayor Tessa Rudnick for her 4 years of dedication and service to El Cerrito and its residents.

1:38:40We thank you for your many hours of meetings, of studying the issues and for taking the high road during turbulent times you will be missed. We wish you well. We also thank your family for sharing you for 4 years. Thank you.

1:38:55Our next speaker is John Stash Stasik, followed by Igor Trigub.

1:39:051st of all. As for Tessa.

1:39:08thank you for 4 years. Excellent service. But I'm not the least bit sad to see you gone

1:39:14because you're someday. I swear you're gonna be in that corner. Office.

1:39:18There's so much of of a bright future for you, so good luck on your future endeavors. This is just a pause

1:39:26now for Mr. Fideli.

1:39:29Somewhere along the line.

1:39:31We got to talking, and I found out Paul Fidelly is a Jimmy Buffett fan.

1:39:36From that moment on I can swear

1:39:40you could run for any office in the world, and you got my vote, that's that's all it takes. We got. I had a parrot head in the on the city council.

1:39:48and you really have been good for El Cerrito.

1:39:52And and that's just not a slogan. It's proven.

1:39:56A couple of things come to mind.

1:39:58Well, let's start with those Christmas lights, you know. You wanted lights around the city on the theater block. And hey, what can I say? Yes, Paul, we're gonna do it. And we did it for several years raising money. You and I were the 2 big fundraisers. But there are others involved, and I'm glad we got them done. And this year.

1:40:20thank you.

1:40:22City of El Serino picked up the bill and made it a hell of a lot easier, and things look good, and every time I drive down that street at night I think of you

1:40:32and the other thing that you did that was unusual. Were the public meetings

1:40:38once a month down at the Annex.

1:40:40and I would sign up for that. I get a half hour slot in there. I go in there not to

1:40:46gripe about anything in this city not to ask for anything in this city, not to get the city to spend money. I just like

1:40:53shooting the breeze with you, and we could talk about, you know, sailing, traveling. You name it all those things we like music, you know the rock and roll hall of Fame and all those things you've seen. And that was just fun. And I did serve sort of a purpose, because I was a buffer between the people ahead of me that wanted this, this, this and this, and it cost a lot of money. And the people behind me that wanted this, this, this and this, you know. So yes, John, you were easy.

1:41:22Now, I wanted to give you this momentum, and you can.

1:41:29I'll make the big reveal.

1:41:31Because you're gonna love this.

1:41:36You're one of us select number of people that have been there. You go.

1:41:51Thank you very much.

1:41:54And there's only 5 of them in existence.

1:41:58And this is instead of San Pablo Avenue. Why don't you? And if you want to, we can do a photo. OP. We just have one more public speaker, and then they can come down. You can do a photo. OP with them. Okay, so I'll just ask our last speaker, Igor to come up.

1:42:32I that is a tough act to follow. But Mayor wadnick council Member Fadeli.

1:42:46What you said about democracy really touched me because what I have seen is that you embody

1:42:57the highest caliber of what it means to promote democracy

1:43:04and what it means to be a public servant.

1:43:08Of course.

1:43:10We in the city of Berkeley have always benefited from good partnerships

1:43:16that you have been able to read, but I also am deeply grateful

1:43:24with every fiber of my being to call you a friend and to have been mentored

1:43:32by the both of you.

1:43:35You have helped me feel welcomed.

1:43:42In the East Bay as a Ukrainian Jew.

1:43:46I remember when my nation of birth was unjustly invaded, you were the 1st jurisdiction that expressed solidarity

1:43:58with the people of my homeland, and with the strong democracies.

1:44:07I I know that wherever life takes you next.

1:44:12I'm looking forward to

1:44:16being there to continue to be mentored. And Mayor Rodnick, maybe with your newfound free time I will see you at

1:44:29some of our fine institutions.

1:44:32that involve Karaoke, perhaps in my district as well. Thank you so much. Thank you for your comments. We have one final speaker, Michelle Fideli.

1:44:43You have your tissue.

1:44:46Oh, gosh!

1:44:47It runs in the family. Good evening, Council! Michelle Fideli! I wasn't planning to speak, but just wanted to say a couple of things. Council member weisinger mentioned seeing Paul with his agenda packet

1:45:03and

1:45:06see I just want to say paul did his homework, and it is a lot of work. It's okay. It is a lot of work. And I know that the work that all of you do much of it isn't seen or acknowledged, or thanked so so on behalf of everyone. Thank you for for all of your work. Especially to you, Tessa and Paul.

1:45:28I know we went through cases of highlighters over these past 8 years. It's been a lot also Harpreet, mentioned

1:45:37many of Paul's

1:45:39committees and jobs and services. One of them was actually working for Congressman Gary Mendy when he was in the State Senate.

1:45:47and there were many others in

1:45:52Congress as well, and for those that are wondering what what Paul may do in the future. His 1st job there was an as an elevator operator. So you know he he may

1:46:06really for real indeed.

1:46:09but I just wanted to express our families. Thanks to you. We suffered along with you sometimes. But appreciate Paul and Tessa, for your service, and thank you very much. Thank you, Michelle.

1:46:30Alright. So we do have one item that we fail to go into, and that is the presentation of plaques and flowers for Mayor Rutnick, and we have a lot of

1:46:49we come down to the bottom.

1:47:15Oh, oh, I am running the meeting. We won't read it, but that's your honorary plaque and your honorary gift.

1:47:25Okay, and your certificate for recycle Moore.

1:47:48Great!

1:47:52Have a good day. Thank you.

1:47:55One more time for our outgoing.

1:48:08Thank you.

1:48:12The next item on the agenda, as our council members leave the dais.

1:48:17Do you need help? That's a lot of stuff, you bet.

1:48:31and it's marijuana.

1:48:35Thank you.

1:48:36I'll read the next while you're picking it up.

1:48:40Okay. So the next item on the agenda is the swearing in of our newly elected council members.

1:48:49and this when the city clerk finishes helping Mayor Rednick down. Then she will proceed.

1:48:57We do.

1:49:04He has lots of presents, if that's not

1:49:28like a bad lady.

1:49:37Pretty cool

1:49:50city clerk is the hardest job in the city boy.

1:50:01All right. CD, Kirk, if you can proceed.

1:50:04Okay, thank you, Mayor, pro tem. And thank you for everyone's patience. It's a lot a lot of really great things that we're celebrating tonight. So tonight I have the pleasure of presenting and facilitating the swearing in process for our 3 members who are elected to the City Council at the November 5th general Election.

1:50:22We're going to begin tonight with Council Member Lisa Motiyama, who's being sworn in for her second term, ending in December of 2028.

1:50:29She was 1st elected to City Council in 2020, and served as our mayor in 2023.

1:50:35At this time I would like to invite Council Member Mothiyama down to the front of the days to take her oath of office.

1:50:57This is so exciting, because my 1st swearing in was on zoom.

1:51:06Hey?

1:51:11If I take it off mute, I'm very excited to be able to swear you in tonight, Council Member, so, if you can please raise your right hand and repeat after me. I state your name. I, Lisa Motoyama, do solemnly swear or affirm, do solemnly swear

1:51:26that I will support and defend, that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States. The Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the State of California and the Constitution of the State of California against all enemies, foreign and domestic, against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States.

1:51:50to the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the State of California and the Constitution of the State of California, that I take this obligation freely, that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which I am about to enter.

1:52:15Discharge the duties upon which I'm about to enter. Congratulations, and thank you for your continued service.

1:52:48Thank you, William, for the save.

1:52:58Okay, so, Council Member Mothiyama, if you would like. Now is the time. If you would like to share any remarks.

1:53:05Thank you. City clerk.

1:53:06I just want to say thank you to my colleagues, my former colleagues, my future colleagues. This being city council member and mayor for the last 4 years has been one of the most exciting and interesting opportunities of my life, and I'm very grateful to be able to continue.

1:53:27and I would like to thank all the voters and people who helped me by holding putting up signs or delivering literature, or, you know, coming together for me. And it was really heartening to me that I think you guys think I did a pretty good job and want me to continue so, for that I am really, really, really grateful, and I look forward to working really hard for the next 4 years to keep

1:53:51us going in the right direction in a positive financial way, and making Elsritos even more special. So thank you very much.

1:54:06Council Member Quinto, if you would like to start with any council comments for Council member. Thank you very much. To my colleague. Thank you for. Yeah.

1:54:18Agreeing and running again for reelection. I know it's been 4 difficult years, but I see light coming in in the next couple of days, and and good news for us to celebrate. So we're not out of it yet. But I look forward to collaborating with you to make sure that we continue with. What we have started. So again, congratulations.

1:54:43Council Member Mutiyama. A lot of people have spoke tonight about councilmember Fideli doing his homework. But you really do your homework as a lot of you all have seen, even in a ceremonial meeting. So I definitely appreciate you, and how meticulous you are always in in making sure that we're staying on the straight and narrow, and I look forward to continuing that for the next 4 years. Thank you.

1:55:06Okay, so we are. As we mentioned earlier, we're going to hold any public comment for all 3 of our members until the end. So with that, I'm going to move on to the next member who is taking office tonight, which is Rebecca Saltzman is being sworn into her 1st term, ending in December of 2028.

1:55:24At this time I would like to invite her up to the front as well as Judge Vicki Kolo Koski, who will be delivering her oath of office tonight.

1:55:37What?

1:55:40So you want me over here?

1:55:42We we need you need a microphone, too. We both need a microphone.

1:55:49Okay, can I just ask, can I ask for an indulgence for just less than 2 min?

1:55:57This is nobody else here knows this but the this is the second time I've appeared before this body. The 1st time was over 3 decades ago when Council member, Norman Laforce asked me to come here to El Cerrito because I had been working with the city of Berkeley on domestic partner issues in that city, and he's asked me to come to talk with the staff, to talk with

1:56:22with the commissions here, to talk about how to best represent and honor the LGBT. Community here, and the couples

1:56:33who are working for, and proud

1:56:36employees of the city as well as citizens of it. And here I'm just so honored to be able to now swear in

1:56:46an old friend, Rebecca Saltzman, who, after she takes this oath, will be the 3rd and

1:56:57openly LGBT person on the City Council.

1:57:01historically making this majority. LGBT City Council. And so this is an historic night for me, and I thank you so much for inviting me to join this with you. Now, please, I'm just going to ask if you may repeat after me. Aye, aye.

1:57:16your name, Rebecca Saltzman, do solemnly swear or affirm, do solemnly swear

1:57:21that as a member of the city council of the city of El Cerrito, that, as a member of the city council of the city of El Cerrito, that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States, that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the State of California, and the Constitution of the State of California against all enemies, foreign and domestic, against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution.

1:57:50that I will bear

1:57:52full truth and allegiance to the Constitution and of the United States of the United States and the Constitution and the Constitution of the State of California, of the State of California, and that I take this obligation freely, and that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which

1:58:20discharge the duties upon which I am about to enter. I am about to enter congratulations, Council Member Saltzman.

1:58:44And I. I'm just gonna take a moment from right here because I want to introduce my family and have them join me up here for a photo. This is my daughter Zinnia, my wife, Caitlin.

1:58:56My mother-in-law, Peggy, and my parents, Irene and Frank, who are up here from La for this moment

1:59:50I'll even be shivering. There you go!

1:59:56Welcome to the day's councilmember, Saltzman, if you would like. Now would be the time to make any remarks.

2:00:03Yes, I'm so thrilled to be here, and just want to thank all the voters of El Cerrito for electing me and trusting me to represent the city. I have had the honor to represent the city for the past 12 years on the Bart board, and it was so nice to see. I don't see where.

2:00:21I guess that former Mayor Rudnick is. But to see in the state of the city tonight how many projects we have already worked on together, that you were highlighting and so I look forward to continuing to work on those projects, and many more, with all of my colleagues on the council, all of city staff and with city residents, and of course just excited to have my family and friends with me here tonight. Thank you for everybody who came

2:00:52control comments.

2:00:54I want to congratulate you, Rebecca. You and I have been doing this for a while now, and I'm grateful to you for stepping up and running for El Cerrito City council, and as well as moving here with your partner and family. So you're El Cerrito through and through, and your hometown girl. So you know we are grateful that you have agreed, and you ran, and you ran a great campaign.

2:01:19You know you and I were 8 M. Delegates together many years ago, and and

2:01:24but I also want to thank you for taking my idea of beauty transit, oriented development at the El Cerrito Plaza Bart station, and turning that into a reality. So your name will be on the plaque there, and I look forward to seeing that when we break ground, and when we have the opening, and as well as our library. So again, congratulations!

2:01:54Congratulations! Councilmember Salzman, I'm so happy, and you know when we talked about you, possibly joining the Council, I said that it was very important to me as possibly becoming the mayor of the city, that I really wanted someone who was going to center our working class, our bipoc communities. And I said, I said this specifically to Rebecca, I said, if you can sit between Latifah Simon

2:02:18and another unnamed Bart. Board director, who and I will stay on the dais. Then I know that you can do this job in the way that I would hope that you would be able to do it. So I'm I'm happy to have you here.

2:02:29Congratulations! I am really looking forward to working with you on council, and you know I really appreciate all that you have done for us already through the Els Rita Plaza Park Station, Tod project and helping to bring us additional dollars and leveraging infrastructure dollars for us there. And I think we can do great things here. So thank you so much.

2:03:01Okay? And with that we will move on to the last member taking office tonight, which is William Kitsanis, who is being sworn in also for his 1st term, ending in December of 2028. At this time I would like to invite him to the front as well as Betsy Basher, who will be delivering his oath of office.

2:03:32William, I'm so delighted that the voters of El Cerrito elected you to the city Council, and looking forward to

2:03:40your work on the Council, because I know you have such a great commitment to engaging all of the residents of the city, and your financial expertise is really a strong point, and looking forward to seeing you on the council.

2:03:53Thank you.

2:03:55I'm sorry your son and your partner could not be here tonight, but I'm honored to swear you.

2:04:02This is the part where you say your name. I

2:04:06I, William Kosanus, do solemnly swear, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend, that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the State of California, and the constitution of the State of California

2:04:25against all enemies, foreign and domestic, against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

2:04:31that I will bear true faith and allegiance, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States, to the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the State of California and the Constitution of the State of California, that I take this obligation freely, that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion.

2:04:57and that I will well and faithfully.

2:04:59and that I will will, and faithfully discharge the duties upon which I am about to enter, discharge the duties upon which I am about to enter.

2:05:09Congratulations. Thank you.

2:05:37So yeah.

2:06:07Welcome to the day's councilmember. Kitsanas

2:06:11now would be the opportunity. If you'd like to provide any remarks.

2:06:15Thank you. I will be very, very brief. I understand there is cake waiting for us first.st I want to thank the residents of El Torito for entrusting me with this responsibility

2:06:27the responsibility of serving our community. I am honored.

2:06:31I want to thank Tesla and Paul for their dedication and service to El Cerrito through all these years.

2:06:38Although I cannot fill your shoes, I'm honored by the possibility of following your path and look forward to that.

2:06:45I look forward to working collaboratively, collaboratively, and constructively, with the residents of El Torito, with the City Council.

2:06:52with the city manager and all the city staff.

2:06:55Thank you all

2:07:04any time for comments.

2:07:05That's right. Let you go. Okay.

2:07:07So congratulations and welcome to the Council. I know we've known each other for a really long time. So it's it's, you know. I'm looking forward to getting to know you as a council person and a colleague, and I look forward to your homework on the budget. So thank you.

2:07:28William. It's been great to get to know you through the campaign. I think. Probably both of us wore through a lot of pairs of shoes. As we were walking El Cerrito and talking to voters, so I saw how hard you worked to get elected, and I know you will do just as much on the Council. Look forward to doing big things with you.

2:07:47William. We had worked together through S. El Cerrito dams, and I've gotten to know you very well, and I am excited to have you here on the council because

2:07:57I said that I wanted to support you because we need to make sure all voices are represented. Someone, a lot smarter than me

2:08:03said that everyone deserves representation, and so I'm glad to have you here, and I look forward to the work we'll do together.

2:08:10Yeah, I echo what my colleagues mentioned. I also want to say congratulations well done, and you and I have have collaborated together, and I see great things ahead for you. So again, congratulations, thank you.

2:08:33But at this time. We have an opportunity for public comment. If anyone would like to provide comments to our incoming council members, they do have just our few representatives again, if you guys wanted

2:08:46okay, so we'll invite John Joya back up to the dais, and if anyone else would like to speak, please feel free to come up

2:08:56and to save time. I'm gonna assume that who the new mayor is going to be and make comments about the new mayor, so that I don't have to come up again later. John Joya honored to represent L. Street on the on the board of Supervisors. I just want to say.

2:09:09I'm looking forward to continuing the partnership that we have between the county and the city to congratulate the 3 elected Council members, 2 new Council members. I've had a chance to work

2:09:20with Council Member Saltzman and Motoyama and with. And I'm looking forward to working with Council Member Katsanis, and you know it's it's impressive to know that you're all taking on many issues, even though people are sort of saying, Well, finance, transportation, housing. I know you bring housing, transportation and finance background and expertise. But you're going to be working on other issues. I want to say, you know, when

2:09:45Council Member Motoyama and I made a presentation to the Contra Costa Mayor's conference on

2:09:50opportunities for housing for previously homeless individuals. All the mayors thought she was a housing director because of her expert knowledge and answering questions, not a council member, but as a

2:10:02as as an expertise in how, in in housing, as a staff person, and of course, with the Council member Saltzman, who really understands the relationship between housing and transportation. So it's perfect being on a city council and doing this work, and council Member Katsanis, who already has spent so much time on finance issues, and that is the important piece, can't do housing and transportation without strong finances. So, looking forward, you know, I talked about a few things on the partnership. But

2:10:33you know, we are looking forward to building a new library, looking forward to get to getting that done to partnering on some projects that address homelessness.

2:10:44they're working on protecting immigrant families. There's a large immigrant population, and at Contra Costa we have Contra Costa stand together, contra Costa, which is a service to legally represent

2:10:56immigrants at risk of deportation, and we want to work to help protect our hardworking, immigrant families here, including health care, we have free healthcare for immigrants, regardless of their immigration status through the county. So there are ways, I know, that we can work together with your large immigrant population.

2:11:16a couple of other. We are investing about 3 quarters of a million dollars into remodeling the veterans center and want to work with the city with others, to make that building a more usable and expansive space. A more welcoming space for, and there may be opportunities to partner with the city of El Cerrito. I am now going to be chairing the East Bay Wildfire coalition.

2:11:41which are the jurisdictions in Alameda and Contra Costa County, and how we work together on wildfire prevention with our fire agencies, with city law, with rules we may set on defensible space. So, looking forward to you, setting a new establishing, or appointing a new Council member to replace Councilmember Fidelli on that hopefully for our 1st meeting of the year in January or February.

2:12:06So I just want to acknowledge that having El Credo as a partner that's important. And finally.

2:12:12but not last to to the incoming Mayor fellow, El Cerrito, high Gaucho.

2:12:18although she was a lot younger than me, of course.

2:12:22and a lot smarter and wiser. I you know we we all learn from each other.

2:12:26I want to say that this historic event of being the 1st out African American female

2:12:38mayor in Northern California is 2 statements about that. It's a Testament to your overcoming

2:12:48discrimination, racism and obstacles to be the strong leader and smart leader that you are, and for the public to recognize that about you.

2:12:59And second, I think it's symbolic to your commitment to for equity

2:13:08across all populations, not just African, American, or Lgbtq population.

2:13:14but to our special needs, population, to our immigrant population, to our Latino population, that your commitment and equity to equity represents the larger commitment that you have to all for every resident.

2:13:30you know, we recently established an office of racial equity and social justice at the county we'd like and working with individuals with lived experience and partnering with us on projects that we are doing countywide. We're actually going to build an African American Wellness center in this county. So there's a lot I really look forward to continuing to work with you. You have as account we have as

2:13:51as a council member. And now, as the mayor and congratulations, fellow Gaucho.

2:14:02I would just say, diver, to what Supervisor said, but on behalf of the Congressman, congratulations to the newly elected, and Miss Murayama on reelection, and Ms. Saltzman and Ms. Desanas, we look forward to working with you on the Federal level. So anything we can do. And yes, the cake is waiting. So I will be brief. Thank you.

2:14:26Okay. So with that, we will move on to the next item on the agenda tonight, which is the city Council reorganization for the election of a mayor and mayor pro tem. To serve for the calendar year of 2025.

2:14:38I will now officially declare the offices of mayor and mayor pro tem. To be vacant. At this time nominations for mayor can be made a nomination does not require a second. Are there any nominations for the office of Mayor?

2:14:51I would like to nominate my colleague, Carolyn Weisinger

2:15:00there any other nominations?

2:15:03Hearing none do I have a motion to close the nomination period and select Council member Weisinger as mayor. I'll move.

2:15:11Do I have a second L. Second.

2:15:14I have a motion by councilmember, Mothiyama, and a second by Council Member Sanas. All those in favor, please say aye.

2:15:21I am any of those motion case. Congratulations, mayor liking your

2:15:38so at this time

2:15:48have this

2:15:50at this time I would like to invite Mayor Motoyama down to the front of the days as well as State Controller, Malia Cohen, who will be delivering her oath of office tonight.

2:16:03Oh, my goodness, I'm so sorry. Mayor Weisinger.

2:16:18Yeah, that's what she does. She's the controller.

2:16:21Sit down. Thank you.

2:16:24Hello, El Cerrito. Yes, how are you?

2:16:34History? You gotta be excited and fired up.

2:16:38I who I was sleeping on El Cerrito this entire time. I didn't know you guys had so much controversy. I felt at home when I heard the protesters.

2:16:46Yes, it was great. My name is Malia Cohen. I spent 8 years on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, 4 years on the California Board of Equalization, and now I am your representative as the State Controller.

2:16:57Thank you.

2:17:03Bye. Show of hands. And if you are able to stand up, can you show if show your love to Carolyn Weisinger. Let her feel it. Let her see it. I wanted to see participation.

2:17:25You see this.

2:17:27this, this audience is a room full of folks that have come out to witness, to bear witness to the oath, and when you take oath you're pledging allegiance not only to devote yourself to public service, but also to serve everyone, those folks that voted for you and those folks that didn't vote for you.

2:17:49You're here to serve the greater interests of the public, not just special business interests, not just the interests of any political party or specific agenda.

2:17:59Are you ready?

2:18:02Yes, all right. Will you please raise your right hand and repeat after me.

2:18:08I state your name. I, Carolyn Weisinger, do solemnly swear, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend, that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of California, the Constitution of the State of California against all enemies, against all enemies, foreign and domestic, foreign and domestic.

2:18:29that I will bear true faith, that I will bear true faith and allegiance and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States, to the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the State of California and the Constitution of the State of California, that I take this obligation freely, that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully.

2:18:54and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which I'm about to enter. Discharge the duties upon which I'm about to enter. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Mayor Carolyn Weisinger.

2:19:23Oh, hold on!

2:19:25Oh, okay, thank you.

2:19:58Thank you. Congratulations!

2:20:09That was ridiculous.

2:20:14This is.

2:20:15I agree. This is not as great of a gavel as what you use, although this is our oh, cerrito honorary gavel, which we have. How many years do we know? Do we know

2:20:259,100? We're 100 years old? Yes, we'll just. We'll say 100 years old. So for 100 years wink, wink we have been passing on this gavel mayor to Mayor, so I'm very honored to pass this gavel on. I'm going to put. This.

2:20:55Don't need to.

2:21:18Ms. Mayor. Now is your turn to provide any remarks if you would like.

2:21:22Thank you, city clerk, this is the day that the Lord has made.

2:21:30I will rejoice, and I will be glad in it.

2:21:33I am. That was probably my sister. I'm excited to lead the 1st Lgbtq super majority here in the Bay area, so give it up again for our super majority.

2:21:47The gay agenda is alive and well, and thriving in the quaint city of El Cerrito, and I'm gonna count how many times I get to say the gay agenda because I'm excited about it.

2:21:56Thank you to my council peers for allowing this moment and allowing me to lead you. For the last few months people have chided me because I keep saying, pending a vote of the Council, but I know very well, in our current political climate that you can't take anything for granted. Protocols are being thrown out every day, so I do appreciate your thoughtfulness around this matter. I want to 1st acknowledge someone who was here last year.

2:22:20Oh, I'm sorry. Was here with us 2 years ago, when I came to the Council, and who's not here with us now, and that is Janet Abelson.

2:22:27I thank you, Ruthie, for being here to represent your mother. One thing I want to say about Janet is that she chose me specifically to take her seat, because she said that she acknowledged

2:22:38that this city has not always been the best to black and brown people. Specifically our urban youth here in the city of El Cerrito, and she wanted to make sure that as we went into the future that I was here representing them, and she clearly did her work because she stepped off of the dais on December 20 second, and a month later she was gone. So that means that she did the work that she was called here to do, and I thank her for that.

2:23:01I want to acknowledge my family. I acknowledge my mother and my father, who are here, my mother, who is here from Louisiana. I want to acknowledge I want to acknowledge my grandmother. Our family came here as I liked it. Yes, if you want to talk about grandmother, there she is.

2:23:20We came up in the tradition, especially in the church, where you always have to tell the story. That's how you pass down the story to the rest of the community. Our family came here sometime in the in the late thirties and the early 19 forties, and grandmother is the only one that's still here of that group that came here from Dorito, Louisiana. She'll be 90 years old in February. She's probably going to outlive us all. So thank you to my family. I want to also in this moment eulogize the passing of

2:23:48Jim Mcmillan, who was a great friend of my Uncle Otis, who was one of the crew that came here and started car wise groceries, and really laid down the foundation for us here in West County.

2:23:58As I always say, whenever I run for anything, people always ask me, how do you get such high amounts? Because I didn't. I didn't fly here I grew here, the everyone here. No one here is really a lot of people are not here from El Cerrito. But you're all my family. We've all been here doing this work for so many years. So I want to thank you all for that. I want to acknowledge my campaign team.

2:24:18We talked about this a long time so champagne, who claims that I did not give her a reserve seat wherever she is, who still keeps me on the straight and narrow, even though she is my neighbor and doesn't want anybody to know where she lives. She lives near me. Y'all I want to acknowledge new Council member Igor Trega Berkeley Council. Member.

2:24:40I want to acknowledge, before I acknowledge the elected officials in the room. I want to acknowledge someone, special, because first, st I want to acknowledge the memory of my former barber, who always told me to go out there and be somebody, and I'm very, very sad that he's not here to see that. But that was always a foregone conclusion. So he already knew this was going to happen anyway.

2:25:00But from that relationship I got one of the closest friends I have in this world, and he thinks that I don't love him. So before I go into the elected officials, Warm Pulley, I want you to know how much I do love, and I do appreciate you.

2:25:13I trust you more than a whole lot of people. So I thank you. And because he trusts me. Sometimes he lets me hang out with his wife.

2:25:22And I would say about State Controller Malia Cohen, not a lot of women will take to some random woman who becomes friends with their husband. But you did that. I know I'm being very transparent, but you did that, and I appreciate you every day. For everything that you do to meet for me

2:25:39as a black woman coming up in this community and really trying to continue to break glass ceilings and black glass barriers. So I appreciate you. But just to let both of y'all know, Madison is my favorite, and y'all can fight over. Who is number 2?

2:25:55I wanna acknowledge

2:25:57my black lesbian, mom, Jeanette Bronson, who is here on her birthday. Happy birthday. Jeanette happy 60th birthday. Jeanette is one of the founders of black Lesbians United, which is an organization that was founded some 30 years ago, when I was literally here at El Cerrito, doing whatever I was doing. And through that I met so many amazing, amazing women sisters who support me.

2:26:22and who really taught me what it was to be a black Lesbian leader, not just in this city or in this state, but in this world. And honestly, if it wasn't for them, I wouldn't know about someone like a Barbara Jordan who was an out lesbian in our Congress. So I appreciate you so much, and I'm reminded of one of our sisters from Nia, who I met at Blue.

2:26:41who said, when I was the President of San Francisco pride, she said, we created this space to encourage, empower you to do exactly what you are doing. So I appreciate you, and I want to acknowledge a lot of the other black, queer organizations who are doing the work to support Black Lgbtq elected officials, such as the National Black Justice Coalition. I want to acknowledge. Where is Lisa? I see, George. I want to acknowledge Lisa from solar pride.

2:27:08I always acknowledge Lisa because she, he and I have fought some battles together, and they're in San Francisco. San Francisco pride, but she always taught me about how to support generationally, about how at the end of the day we are all that we have, so I want to acknowledge her

2:27:22on this zoom probably is all of my brothers from Sigma Omega Phi. I want to acknowledge them, because, quiet as it's kept. Yes, I'm making history here as the 1st black Lesbian elected official or black Lesbian mayor in history of State of California. But, truth be told, there are very, very few black masculine center women who are in elected office. Actually, I know all of them, because I can count them all on 2 hands.

2:27:46And so that organization and a lot of the younger organizations are doing the work to lay the foundation so that we can have more black Lesbian mayors. I know that I am a ceremonial mayor. I know that one day that there will be someone who will actually be able to go out and be elected as a mayor because they saw me do it. I want to uplift our new Oakland City Council, member, Rowena Brown. Maybe it will be her. I want to uplift one of our Alameda Council members. I'm sorry. Board of Education members

2:28:16acknowledge all of the Black Mass women who are tired of the system, who have never seen them in this particular work, and they can see me do it and be able to do that.

2:28:26And y'all know, I hate written speeches, but I'm gonna do my best. I want to acknowledge all the gauchos in the room I came.

2:28:33I came in in 2022, and I gave y'all a real loud mascot go gauchos. But now I'm 2 years in and I'm tired. So I'm gonna give y'all a Paul Daniels morning announcements. Just go gauchos and just go. But I do acknowledge you. I love being able to see some of my classmates who actually elected me as their senior class president some 24 years ago.

2:28:56I appreciate all of you, and you all continue to keep me going, and I want to acknowledge, because I always have to. Mrs. Edwina Elvi, who was actually a longtime black resident here in El Cerrito, and she was my mentor at El Cerrito High School as well as Mrs. O'brien. All y'all gouchers know, Mrs. O'brien.

2:29:13all of those that mentored me as a leader in this city. I know I'm going long, but who knows when we'll get another black Lesbian mayor. Y'all y'all just hang in there.

2:29:24When I originally chose to run for council, it was because growing up, I, or nor any of our peers ever truly felt welcome, or part of the city where we spent so many parts of our lives and loved so much. I was a black kid from the south side of Richmond and in El Cerrito that spelled trouble.

2:29:40That isn't to say that there haven't always been black people in El Cerrito, and I would like to take this time to acknowledge the years this year's wall of fame. Inductee, Miss Pat Durham

2:29:50and

2:29:52all, and all of the folks from the only black church in El Cerrito, Saint Peter's, Cme. And and the El Cerrito Naacp.

2:30:02A lot of times people limit them just to the work that they have done for the Mlk parade. But what's important to know, especially those of you who grew up in the tradition of the Black Church? The Mlk parade was just one part of the grand mission of what they do as missionaries doing work in the Church. That's what we do in the church is, we work towards literation, so I thank them so much for the foundation that they laid down. I want to uplift the name of Granny Morris Iris Morris from pilgrimage missionary Baptist Church.

2:30:30She was one of the 1st black people to ever move into El Cerrito, and she told me then that she had in 2 years ago. She's never paid attention to who was on the Council, so I thank God every day that I'm able to give Granny Morris a reason to actually pay attention to. Who is the mayor? 60 years later

2:30:46el Cerrito was founded in 1917, but it wouldn't have had its 1st black mayor until 2,007, when Letitia Moore took the gavel.

2:30:57and then just one more. In 2019, when Rochelle, Ardu, Okamoto, and I thought I saw her here. Thank you so much for your service, and and breaking those glass ceilings, there still have been no black men on our council.

2:31:11And now look, y'all got a black, gay mayor. The gay agenda strikes again. But the truth is, we always knew that in this city we were welcome, because that's the neighborly El Cerrito way, but also we were a threat to the traditional El Cerrito way, and there wasn't a football you could throw, not a dance. You could dance a ball you could hit, or or you could leave, that would change that.

2:31:33There was an unspoken socioeconomic divide in the city, and San Pablo Avenue. Was that line.

2:31:38So when the foot locker opened in El Cerrito Plaza several years ago, my 1st thought was, what's gonna happen on Jordan Relief Day, that was really my thought.

2:31:47There had never been, to my knowledge, a foot locker in El Cerrito. They had always been in the hilltop Mall rest in peace to the hilltop mall.

2:31:56I legit worried for the young black and brown sneaker heads who would line up for sneakers who was going to advocate for them if something happened who would be the one to green light extra surveillance in case something happened

2:32:08back when I was a teacher I left because I decided that I decided that someone who shared the kids experiences should be making policies instead of lesson plans.

2:32:17I promised them that I would focus on being in a position to lead them and create those policies. That's what led me to run for School board in 2020, and that's what led me to run for city council in 2022. It's my goal to continue to be that mayor for them, because they get so excited when they see they get excited when they see Council member in Jordan's. I can't make this stuff up.

2:32:39We'd love to talk about how diverse El Cerrito is. We write city mission statements, and we make sure to include the word diverse in every strategic plan. We are very proud to have designated as been designated as a pro-housing city, and even more excited to be a regional leader in building affordable housing in our city.

2:32:58Our city is stretching that term bedroom community until it wants to break.

2:33:03Karen insists that technically we are still a veteran community.

2:33:09I say that our city priorities say we won't be for much longer.

2:33:13As we build more housing, become more walkable, invest in our policies that will make it easier to sustain small businesses and invite larger businesses. Our population will continue to grow, and with it will our will be our diversity.

2:33:28Both Janet Abelson and Supervisor Joy. I don't know if he remembers this conversation, but both Janet and Supervisor joy made me promise to represent how our city will change in the next 10 years, and I will continue to honor that promise

2:33:42while maintaining our commitment to housing and businesses are a priority, so is protecting the work the previous Council did in solving our fiscal issues, we are committed to maintaining the city's overall fiscal health. Moving forward, we will continue to consider additional strategies to ensure long-term sustainability. While making sure we provide services equitably to our community.

2:34:05For me. Youth and families will continue to be a huge priority. But, as you may have seen in previous council meetings, I like to be more direct with my ask. In that regard, as we are building housing, we are bringing in more and more working class families of color into our city. We can no longer be a city who invites families in, but makes it hard for them to engage and live in the city. My priority remains that one that centers the working class families in the Flats and along San Pablo Avenue

2:34:33a short while ago someone who has known me my entire life told me.

2:34:38Carolyn, you came when you came out you became so angry you turned into an angry lesbian.

2:34:46I kind of smirked internally, and I thought about it.

2:34:49My public bio literally starts with the sentence. Carolyn Weissinger has advocated fiercely for the Lgbtq community for 2 decades, and it is true, fierce advocacy and righteous indignation that drives me most times, and I do get angry about mistreatment and disrespect amongst our community. I get very angry about racism and homophobia, misogyny, and all the isms that can be found in the rebel of all those things.

2:35:14I don't miss a chance to call any of them out as loudly as possible, and I will continue to be fierce and fight and yell even when I'm weeping inside for our community, it's the call to service.

2:35:26So finally, if my great grandmother was here

2:35:29she would end with her call to service, which is study, to show thyself approved unto God. A workman needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

2:35:40but for me my call to service can be, can be found in Isaiah 6 and 8,

2:35:45where, he said, I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send? Who will go for us? And then I said, Lord, here I am, send me. Thank you, Esrita.

2:36:04And having said all of that.

2:36:06The next item on the agenda is city is city council, local and regional liaison appointments. I know that most of us are new here. Oh, I'm sorry I forgot about that's okay.

2:36:26Okay, we. I'm sorry we marched from.

2:36:32Okay, I'm behind in.

2:36:36Do you have the call to vote?

2:36:37No, I called it up.

2:36:39Would you like me? I can. Certainly. Okay. I would be happy to do that for you, Mayor. So at this time we will open nominations from Mayor pro tem. Are there any nominations

2:36:49I nominate Gabe Quinto for vice Mayor?

2:36:54Are there any other nominations

2:36:57hearing none? Do I have a motion to close the nomination period and select Council member quinto as neo pro temp. So moved do I have a second.

2:37:05Second. I have a motion by Mayor Weisinger.

2:37:10and a second by Councilmember Saltzman. All those in favor, please say aye, aye, any opposed motion carries congratulations may approach them

2:37:22now we'll have remarks from our new mayor pro tem. Yep, I'll make this quick, and I just want to say

2:37:30I'm just so proud of this council, this new council. You know I came in here but 10 years ago on my 3rd term now and I you know Greg Lyman and I were were the youngsters

2:37:43on that council. Now I'm the old person in this council, so I welcome that. And I'm so happy to be with this 1st Lgbtq Majority Council, and to have Lisa Motiyama as our fantastic ally looking straight person.

2:38:05So but you know, the next couple of years, you know, we're gonna have a lot of things happening with a lot of transit oriented development. But as I take the Presidency for the League of California Cities next year, so El Cerrito values always West County values, and we will do this together. So I look forward to collaborating with my colleagues staff, and of course, City manager, Karen Pincus.

2:38:34We can't do this without you, so thank you for all your work. And turning this city around

2:38:42council comments, starting with Councilmember Motiana

2:38:46congratulations to you both. I look forward to working with you

2:38:50absolutely. Congratulations, and let's have a great year.

2:38:54I will say the same congratulations to you both. I look forward to working with you and sitting next to you.

2:39:00Well, I get to be the long winded one today. I want to say, Gabe, you know I don't know. I have no idea when Gabe and I met, but I know that Gabe was always trainings. You took the Victory trainings and you took the equality California trainings. And I remember seeing you at the audience. And when you wanted to do this, you wanted to do this back in 2016 2017. Remember, Fredeli ran me off.

2:39:25Oh, so now!

2:39:28How excited I am! You are a rock star to see all the work that you've done as President of San Francisco pride. You're going to bring those values and bring back here to El Cerrito, and I look forward to backing you up as your mayor pro tem. Well, I just want to thank you, Gabe, for always encouraging me whenever that was that we met, and it's so interesting that we're both gauchos.

2:39:50and we are also both Long Beach State 49 ers that is called Kismet, and I think yes, so I'm thankful to have your wisdom in in my back pocket, and you always knew that I would become the 1st out black Lesbian mayor in the history of State of California. And you were right. So thank you.

2:40:11Before we move on to the next item, we just have a few members of the public who would like to speak so.

2:40:19Excuse me. I will just invite back up to the front.

2:40:25we just have Dana Early and Courtney Weisinger.

2:40:30if you want to make your way up to the podium.

2:40:35Oh, boy.

2:40:46she's holding her mouth because she's scared. Praise the Lord saying.

2:40:50Thank you. Now the guy who's ahead of my life.

2:40:53my sister in Christ, the Mayor, council members, grandmother and Mama Weissinger

2:41:00today is truly a day that the Lord has made. I have known Carolyn since 2, thou not 2,000? I'm getting old 1995,

2:41:10I she kind of

2:41:13I was a package deal because me and her sister really good friends. Her sister is my sister in Christ. Carolyn is my sister in Christ. One thing I can say about Carolyn from the time I met her when I was in 9th grade and she was the upperclassman. Is. She is service. She has always worked in leadership. She has always been someone at the forefront of fighting for everyone who has been wronged or is not being treated right, and she instilled that in me.

2:41:42and made me be a person who stands up for justice, and is active in my community and votes all the time, and does what I need to do. And I am just so proud of her, and I just wanted to express that to you that I am truly truly proud of you and

2:42:00Last, but not least, I just want to say, just remember ecclesiastics 9, 11.

2:42:08I told Courtney, I said. Should I end it with ecclesiacs? 9, 11. She had to look it up.

2:42:13so I didn't.

2:42:15Grandmother, you gotta get on her, but she's gonna go ahead and read that for you, and we love you.

2:42:20Ecclesiastes. 9, 11. I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not given to the swift

2:42:27nor the bounces strong to the end of it, says, but time and chance happened to them all.

2:42:34Run the race you've been given. I told you 2 years ago that you've been placed here such a time as this.

2:42:40Do the work.

2:42:42The assignment has not changed, the assignment stays the same.

2:42:46We love you

2:42:54those the only comments. Yes, Mayor.

2:42:58all right. So now we will go to the next item. Yes, council and city council, local and regional liaison appointments. Do any of our current Council members have any appointment?

2:43:12I just want to state that I attended the Contra Costa Mayor's conference, and also a bag executive committee.

2:43:21Thank you. Council Member Quinto, all right. And with that

2:43:27it is now time, and we are adjourned. The next regularly scheduled city Council meeting is Tuesday, January 21st 2024 at 6 Pm. Please join us in the lobby for cake and refreshments to celebrate the many achievements and celebrations from our meeting this evening.

2:43:45Hmm, okay.