Adoption of Resolution Amending the Capital Budget by Increasing Appropriations in the 2021 American Rescue Plan Project (C99300) by $1,911,000 for Replacement of Three Portables and Decking at the Midway Shelter, Food Bank Facility Repairs, and Purchase of Wireless Hotspots for Lending. (City Manager 10021030/Finance 10024051)
You know, improve the way in which they either deter crime or if crime happens, capture the people who perpetrate crimes. They're not perfect tools. And I don't think we're at a point where we can wait seven more years in hopes of finding the perfect tool, to be sure. You know, these are expensive. They're expensive in 2014 and they're expensive in 2021. But. We here in City Hall, we've got to amp up our game in terms of deterring crime and solving crime. And this is one tool that that I'm looking at that that I think can help us. You know, it's not the perfect tool, but I don't want to wait another seven years for the perfect tool. I think the issues of privacy are absolutely important. They're absolutely critical. But, you know, I have confidence in our city attorney's staff and I have confidence in our city Manor's staff, and I have confidence in our in our police staff and in our police chief that, you know, we will be very mindful of concerns with regard to privacy. So I think we need to move forward now, not just because, you know, we've got Easton homeowners associations concerned, but, you know, we've got West End homeowner's associations and and whether or even renters who are concerned about about crime. And we need to give them a signal that we're going to give our police a fighting chance in order to enable to to deter crime and to solve crime. And I think in LPR, I think that's what that that's what we're giving them. Thanks, Councilmember Desai. So here are my comments. I am very mindful of the comments that I heard from residents tonight concerned about increasing crime and also those concerned about privacy and other issues. But certainly anyone who follows the news knows that we are seeing some changes in the way that crime is taking place. Our attorney general, Rob Bonta, who happens to be a former member of this body and Alameda resident, has been on the news lately talking about the need to get tougher on some of these criminals. I think our technology can be a valuable tool. But based on what is in front of us today, this particular staff report, I'm not ready to move forward approving the use of this technology. I would like to give staff direction to come back to us. So this is this is what I would propose. And I will add that I did have a lengthy phone conversation with Chief Joshi this this morning or this afternoon sometime today, because I have a lot of questions about the staff for it now. We've heard some information presented tonight. It's not in this staff report. And I would like when if if when this item comes back to us, I'd like some of that fleshed out more because the as far as the cost of these of this technology, the amount that was given in the staff report was actually between 500 and $700,000. That's a lot more expensive. This is on page four in the staff report that had a fix. Our PR system is preliminary, preliminarily thought to cost 500 to $700000. Now we're hearing that it's under 3000 per unit. So I'd like some explanation of that. And also, there's there's the the cost of installing the cameras if if that is approved, if there's a majority to approve that. But then there's the cost of of maintenance. So what would that be? But we've heard many references to privacy concerns. And so I do want to know what specifically is the retention policy that's being proposed. We heard Chief Joshi and I also have huge regard, and I'm so glad he's our chief and other local resident, too. But he said that he would be willing to reduce the retention time that needs to be in a policy where we're just hearing, again, more anecdotal evidence. I would want to see that there's been talk about fix security cameras and also continuing mobile cameras. I'd like some more discussion about which actually might have the more chilling effect on residents. There's always that balancing act that when Chief and I talked today, I use the example of, you know, the the mobile unit with the camera that goes past the mosque at prayer time. So just some considerations I'd like to see fixed versus mobile or do we do both? And so the other question I'd like explored is the city of Berkeley, you may have heard recently approved the use of security cameras. Berkeley is also experience increase in crime. Berkeley's about as progressive as they get in Alameda County, and I have huge regard for their mayor. My friend Jesse Archean, we communicated about this Berkeley City Council, approved the use of security cameras in various locations throughout the city. And there are, again, tells me that the city manager I'm I'm guessing in concert with the city attorney is currently drafting the use policy for these fixed security cameras. I would like our staff to look into to communicate with Berkeley. What are they doing? What is their policy say? Might that be a way that we go about making our residents safer and and helping the police solve crime? And I do very much understand the need to free up our officers to do the kinds of patrolling and and covering our neighborhoods and business districts to make us safe. We need to do more with less. And then the other thing that I want addressed when if when this item comes back to us is how do you handle vehicles without license plates? Because in some of these mass retail thefts that we've heard about, these cars can be. And they don't have license plates. So how does what is an LPR do it appear to do in that in that instance? And then data retention and storage, where does it go? Who's storing it? What are the you know, what are the possible uses of it? And I do think we need to have some explanation of that Clearview snafu that occurred a year or two ago. Whatever happened to the folks who without authorization, were trying out this new software? I think that that's a fair question for the for the council and the public to know about. And finally, I want to encourage our city council to get behind supporting a b550. This was authored by Assembly member David Chu when he was still on the Assembly before he became a city attorney of the county of San Francisco. But it's now been picked up by Assembly member Friedman, who is the chair of the Transportation Commission, which is a good thing. But this is automated speed cameras and as you would expect of an assembly member, David Chiu, it's very thoughtfully designed so that, yes, if you're caught going over a certain speed, you do get the other citation. But there's a process for appeal for folks with low incomes to not have to pay that fine. But it is part of what is viewed as part of Vision Zero. So I want our city to join a big MTC, the League of California Cities and others. I understand that it got hung up in appropriations because the California Highway Patrol sees some threat to maybe their territory. But I think that's an important tool for for law enforcement and to help our cities remain a little safer. But anyway, at this point in time, I am willing to support giving a staff direction to come back in the manner I've laid out, but not to support the motion that's been made. Council days have been. Council are not. Swayed. Well, I'm just going to second Councilmember Patricia Spencer's motion. And with a yeah, I'm just going to second it. Okay. And, Kelso, we're not sweating. So you to go up. Yeah, thank you. I know I talked a lot earlier, but I haven't actually given my comments. We already support 8550. And actually, we were one of the few cities to send a letter when it was before we did. So it's good. And I appreciated the the lead him because I was going to say I'm not against cameras. I just think that if we're going to tell our community that we're going to install them, we need to have confidence that they're going to actually have an impact on the things that we're telling them. And we heard a lot of a lot of statements today, and I've read a lot of threads on next door in the past that make a lot of claims about what cameras are going to do. And I haven't heard one that actually accurately describes the outcome of putting these cameras in place. I think we you know, we have through many different and I want to say, I understand that our community has concerns about safety and crime. And I think we need to be doing as much as we possibly can. And I would be supporting these cameras if I thought they were actually a tool that was going to do that. And I want to thank our staff and our and appreciate the work they're doing. I also had a chance to speak with Qureshi. He knows I. He has my support. I greatly, greatly appreciate him. And I think this is just an issue that we're going to we're going to disagree. There is a reason that there are no studies that show that these do not deter or change crime. And the reason is because they don't. And there's a reason why we have to listen to anecdotal stories of one issue that happens in one city and one issue that happens in another city. And it's because nobody says that they have never solved a crime. It's that when you install cameras, they do not change what happens with crime in that city. In the years after Piedmont put in cameras. Assault went up twice as fast as it went up in Alameda with no cameras. Violent crime went up 104%. Alameda was dropped 4%. Robbery went up 20%. Alameda has dropped 4%. Firearm robberies went up 17%. Alameda is dropped 30. Aggravated assault went up 210%. Alameda has dropped. Burglary dropped 23 and a half percent in Piedmont, 33% in Alameda. We are overpromising if we move forward with this program that somehow putting these cameras in are going to have an impact on the crime outcomes in our city. And it's not going to. A 2018 study of Vallejo's use of these found that 37% of the license plate hit were wrong. That's 37% of the hits that our police officers chase down are going to be after. Things that are not are not crimes. People who are not involved in things, it ends up wasting time. One of the reasons why I'm concerned about this is that we are actually short of officers, and rather than using this to leverage the officers, we have to do more and better work. We're actually going to be taking away from the time they are spending on the streets doing the work that we need them to do. I appreciate it, Mayor. As the Ashcraft mentioned of the Clearview issue, I don't know how we move forward with with a new camera program until we've addressed the issues that that we still that are still out there about Clearview and our police force writing about how they know we don't like these cameras and yet still continuing to use them. And I do know that a lot of people didn't use it, and I appreciate that as well. But I would like to finish up that before we move forward. So, you know, for me, I'm not going to be supporting this because I think that it actually ends up being just security theater. We're going to spend $700,000 for trying to put things up on the bridge. We're going to actually pull away the resources that we have. And we're at the end of the day, a year, two years, three years after this, we are going to have nothing to show for it. But the companies that we have spent this, hundreds of thousands of dollars are going to have pocketed that money and are going to be on to selling us the next technological fix. Dozens of agencies in this Bay Area and in the country use these things and there is not one study that can show they have impact on crime. For me. That's all I need to hear. So I'm absolutely now I'm moving forward with this. I don't think we need to spend any time even asking staff to come back with more information. I think at such time that we can say to our community, hey, look, this has been used in hundreds of cities, and here's the data that shows us that actually it's effective. I will be there with you saying, let's put these in. But until then, I'm not ready to move forward. Thank you. Councilor Daisuke. You know, I just in my brief amount of time left, I just want to say, you know, we have had two, maybe three police chiefs who have been supportive of things like LPR. I think that that has got to amount to something. And, you know, the fact that, hey, there are other police forces employing it, I think that's got to amount to something. I you know, hey, you know, whatever a university professor in some ivory tower has to say, you know, great. You know, wonderful. But I'm going to have to balance that with what the men and women, you know, dressed in blue are telling us. I don't think they're just, you know, whipping out loopers for because they've got nothing better to do. I think if they're telling us that this is a tool that can help them in deterring and improving solving crimes, then and I think we owe it not just to our police force, but we owe it to our residents. So I don't know what more to say because it sounds like we're going to be waiting another seven years. And it was seven years when we first started this conversation. Now we're going to wait another seven years to find that perfect magic tool. Councilmember Desai I'm willing to consider moving forward, but after the questions I posed or answered. I think it was. I second it. Councilmember. So you did councilmember knox way. I guess what I would say and I and I didn't read it off my list but I think Alameda is actually police force has let us know what you know how overly useful these are we have four of them and two of them have been in the shop because we didn't take care of them and we haven't met and maintain them and they are out of commission and they were not deemed so important that we needed to, you know, prioritize fixing them and getting them back on the street. So again, I'm not looking for the perfect bullet. I'm looking for something that says that where you can where we can find where there's data that shows us, because there is so much data about crime fighting out there that shows us this can be impactful. Speed cameras is exists. There are reams of studies that show you this time. Speed cameras, slow speeds down, reduce crashes, make places safer, but not for these. So anyway. But we can just disagree. We have counsel for her, Spencer. Thank you, Mayor. I'd like to give the Chiefs the opportunity to respond to some of these comments. And there have been many made. So, for instance, just last councilmembers spoke in regards to the developers that have been working. But I believe I read in the report that part of the reason that you had to bring it back was that you want to hear from council what to do. But if you could address that, that concern, as well as the best use of the officers that we have. That was another issue that was raised. Actually. Councilmember Harry Spencer, I think it's time for a vote on your motion. I have asked for direction to have staff which would include the chief, come back with answers to questions. But I think it's time to take a vote now. If you want me to take a roll call vote. I mean. I do. I yeah. Okay. Councilmember Desai. Well, just a point of order. I mean, I think if the councilmember is asking a question that she would like our staff to answer, I think that's her prerogative. It is okay. And I'm going to need a vote to have more time. One minute. Actually, I think the question gets answered. Point of order. You can't just call the question without doing emotion. And you tried to do that. But I did have a question to the chief, and it's extremely disrespectful to not allow him to speak. However, I do have time. You do have a point of order. Yeah. I heard you. We had a staff presentation. The questions you were asking. The information was in the staff report. Council member Harry Spencer. So I'm not sure the value of hearing it from the chief again. But we can we can let him speak. But if you want to move this item forward, it's going to have to be from a different direction. But. Yes. What question would you you asked him about the unused IPR powers. Is that it? I'm sorry. You've been extremely disrespectful to myself as well as the chief. I've already asked the questions and I'm pretty confident he can answer them. You might not be able to remember, but I bet he can. And Councilmember Harry Spencer, I apologize if you think that I've been disrespectful to you. I am trying to run a meeting and I'm trying to also move this item forward, actually. So I will just remind all of us that we don't speak disparagingly to each other. I do know that we get a little frustrated at times. We don't see eye to eye, but we all have the city's best interests at heart. Chief Joshi, perhaps you could restate the question so I make sure we all understand what it is you were asked. I think the question was regarding the the Alps that are in the vehicles that are not in use as I think that's okay. So there were. So back in 2014 is when the department had the four cameras installed. Two of the vehicles are actually it's not that equipment is out of commission. The actual vehicles are out of commission. And in order to move the equipment from those out of commission vehicles into in commission vehicles would require. Go initiating another contract with this current vendor. And I just think that there are other vendors that we can we can work with. And I just I just that that's why it has not been done. So the two cars are out of commission and that's why they're not being they're not out there as much. May I continue? Council Member Harris Spencer. Thank you, I my chief, thank you for that comprehensive answer. My second question went to your professional opinion of the best use of the officers, our officers, and the use of this equipment to do your to do your job. I think there's value in in this. But I do want to say it's a tool. And so these crimes are solved by people. And so if there's a tool out there that I think can help, I think there's value in that. Councilmember Harry Spencer. Thank you. Thank you. That's all. At this time. It's. Well, we're about to take a vote. Did you want to ask anything else? Not at this. Time. At this time. Okay. Any further comments by Samir Vella? You know, I think and this has been said before, I think it's not whether and I understand what Councilmember Herrera Spencer was trying to get at, but it's not whether or not a tool can be useful. It's whether or not it's effective and how effective. And I think one of the things that several of us have raised are creating relative to also creating not only looking at efficacy and efficient use of public resources, but also creating limitations to protect members of the public as well and to not have a chilling effect. And so I think part of our job as policymakers is to evaluate all of those things. I guess we can listen to the recommendations of staff and but but ultimately, we need to make those policy decisions. And I think one of my concerns is that I feel as though we have made some of the related policy decisions , certainly around parameters relative to privacy. And I appreciate that staff is going to to do that analysis. But I also think that certain things need to be codified rather than just kind of, you know, decided after the fact or. Responded to after the fact. So that's all. Well. So anything further? Okay. Are we ready for a vote? I think we're ready for a vote in America. Councilmember de fag. Yes. Sir. Spencer. I Naxalite. So Vela. No mayor. As you. Know. That motion fails to two three. I would love to have the time to make another motion that perhaps could move forward, but I would need some time to do so. Councilmember Harry Spencer. Thank you. I'd like to make a motion. I'm not going to ask. Well, I can ask the clerk, but I don't think it's necessary. I, as the mayor, had asked for multiple things that she'd like to have this staff to come back with. And first of all, my question to the staff would be how much time do they think that they need to to address all of her concerns and questions? That would be Chief Joshi, I think, or maybe Chief Joshi and city attorney, whoever I'd like to answer. Okay. I think the question was on cost. Madame Mayor, and I think that you also asked looking at looking at cameras similar to what's being proposed in Berkeley. And I just wanted to cover whether whether other items I apologize. And there is no. And Madam Kirk, do you want to be the one to read that back? I wish I had an alternate. I've got I've got it in my notes. Okay. So the it is the cost, the delta between the 500 to 700000 in the staff report and the amount less than 3000 per unit that you told us this evening would like to have staff look at the security cameras. The city of Berkeley just approved and the the use policy. The city manager there is is drafting. Also, there was a statement from the chief that he would be willing to retain data for less than six months, 90 days or even less than 90 days. I think that's of great interest to us. And also on how to how Alpers would deal with vehicles without license plates and where the data goes and where it's both stored and stored, retained and other possible uses that could be made of it, as in sharing with other agencies. And I also want an explanation of what happened around the the consequences for members of APD who used the Clearview Software without authorization of the chief of the department. Those were the requests they made. Let's let the chief halcyon days of this year head and let's let the chief answer Councilmember Harry Spencer's question of him, which was how much time does it need? Would you need to provide that information? Yeah, all those questions are I could get to pretty quickly. I would admit the only longest item would be looking at the looking at Berkeley's proposal. And then yes, I, I don't, I could be ready pretty, pretty quickly at maybe at our next at our next meeting. I could be ready, but I would have to go with. The city managers at the next meeting. Okay. Yeah. The meeting is tomorrow. Oh, yeah. Okay. Hold that thought. Councilmember Desai, then City Attorney Councilmember Desai. So just a point of clarification. If there is to be a motion, is Councilmember Herrera Spencer going to make a motion based upon the items that mayor, as he Ashcraft had enumerated? So because he's out of time. And so just kind of clarifying what she said minutes ago. Yes. So through the chair. But wait whole if you would just wait whenever the city attorney puts his hand up, I feel I should call on him. Mr. Sharon. Yes. I just want to caution on the last request, which involves what happened to police officers, violations of policy. That's confidential personnel information that the police should not share with you in open session and entirely within the city manager's administrative control. And so I just. Very good to. Respectfully request that that item be that request, not be included in the report back. Okay, I will withdraw that request, but I would say that counsel might still be interested if there's some other way to say anyway, I will. We will leave that and I will leave that discretion. City Attorney Councilmember Desai, back to you. I think the question was, was Councilmember Herrera Spencer going to move? Right. Move those items. And I was I got to ask you through the chair, but I felt I needed to. And I'm glad I called on the city attorney, Councilmember Harry Spencer. Member de SAC. If you wanted to make a motion, I'm more than okay then I'm happy to make that motion. But with the. So I want to get back to the city manager. Then for me, time is of the essence. I agree with member de SAC. Seven years is seven years. Too many is what I'm going to say. Actually, as far as I know, Chief Joshi is the only one on the screen that is actually in law enforcement or has not any formal training in law enforcement. So with all due respect to the chief, so I do respect his opinion. And I'm not just saying that I am happy to have him. I'm actually going to listen to what he says. So city manager Eric Levitt, when you think this could come back. So based on some based on the request in my emails. Yes, please. Mr. Lovett. Yes. Yes. Based on the request, the privacy policy, bringing that report back to the Council. I remember, Andrew, it took a few days for him to put that together. Andrew Thomas Mr. Thomas, the planning director, it took him a few days to put that together when we brought back the last report. So there would be some of that. The 18th would be absolutely early if you could bring it back. But I'd have to rely on Chief Joshi, because there's. About five things. He couldn't bring it back on the January 4th meeting. And because that would be due tomorrow for him to bring back on January 4th, he would have to have everything done and complete review tomorrow. But January 18th is a possibility. Probably the first meeting in February would be a more likely scenario. So so I'm happy to move that the mayors requests the information. And I would say, you know, my preference is, of course, the 18th, because I do believe time is of the essence. And I actually that's what I hear from our chief also about it staff. The staff thinks they need to do it on, you know, whenever you can get to it within my motion. Okay. We had a motion by Councilmember Herb Spencer, Councilmember de SAC seconding. Okay. Any further discussion? May we have a roll call vote, please? I'll remember station. Guy. I, however. Spencer, I knocked. Right. Oh, well. No mayor as yet. I that motion carries 3 to 2. All right. I want to thank everyone for all your comments. This is not an easy issue. There are different a lot of different perspectives to consider. I am convinced that we can bring forward some more information, maybe more and better, and especially now that there's an understanding of some of the concerns that were raised tonight. So thank you, everyone. Staff council members, members of the public. Thank you. And we will get to this early in the new year. So with that, we finished all of our items that we would vote on. We have already heard. So, Madam Clerk, help me out here. Item seven eight Julie moved that to be item six on our next agenda. If, if, if the council wants to take a vote to continue it, otherwise staff can just place it back on under the regular item two. It's up to the Council's discretion. Okay. Member That's what. Have any thoughts about that one? Yeah. I don't know what else is on the agenda, but it seems like a good one to write like that. I mean, we just finished the one item we deprioritized in the conversation about police reform. And so I think maybe we should prioritize the things we actually prioritized for the beginning of our next meeting. Yeah. So if we do an item six and it gets up to the top of the agenda. I move to move item 7 to 6 A at the top of the next item agenda. Okay. And we do need a vote on that, right? Yes, please. Yes. So as vice mayor, I think you're reaching into a section. If we have a roll call, vote, please. That's a rotation. Yes. Her Spencer. I right. I avella i as Ashcraft. Right. That carries by five. All right. Thank you so much. And then finally, we go to item nine for all communication on agenda items. Do we have any public speakers on this? And we did one Jim Australia. Yes. Oh, do you know what? No. We did get back to. And this just drove on. Lawyers. Never mind. So welcome back, Australia. Yes, sir. I am commenting on Alameda Avenue between Park Street and Oak Street. I learned the other day that additional garbage cans there on Alameda Avenue attract flies and rats. Does the city have a plan to better manage the garbage situation on that part of Alameda Avenue? Also, at the last council meeting when you had seven Bays Signalized intersection, it was full of motions and superseding motions when even the city clerk had trouble reading back what the motion was. So the general public, at least I would like a clarification about what actually passed. What was AC Transit's reply to the pedestrian priority over transit priority and when will the City Council place a follow up agenda item to clarify? Lastly, they on the AB 550 actually has been silenced or is no longer in. It is not. There's no longer an active AB session. It said that traffic enforcement disproportionately punishes those who can least afford it and that's why they stopped AB 550. Thank you. Thank you. Any further public speakers? An oral communication? There are none. All right. With that, we will close item nine and we can go to Council Communications. Item 11 Councilmember notes wait. Thanks. Last week I came, I guess it was Thursday night I attended the supervisor named Miley, had a community workshop with 700 people to discuss removing the truck ban on Interstate 580. This is a project that is going to go through years of study with the air district and the Caltrans in order to identify that. Yes, indeed. It turns out putting all the trucks in the area where all the black and brown people live has a disparate impact on those neighborhoods. They are going to be engaging, I think the city managers and information afterwards they're going to be engaging with with San Leandro and Oakland. When you look at the air quality maps, the northern side of Alameda has significant noise and health issues as well related to I mean, you could just watch it travel along 80. I think this is an issue that the city of Alameda has to have some engagement with and can get involved with the committee. So I want to just use my time to say that it was a good meeting. I really appreciate the supervisor putting it forward. Everybody is being very careful to say we're going to study it before we make any decisions. But it's an issue that that Alameda can both lend our voice in support of our East Oakland and San Leandro neighbors with as well as look out for our residents as well at the same time stay on that I'm just going to say it's it's the end of another year. This is supposed to be the year that we're supposed to be in the part of the year where everything was going to be really exciting and we're reopening and everything's back to normal and we're at Christmas parties and whatnot and it seems like we didn't make it. So I'm going to go really low key on my wishes for 2022, which is I hope it's a good one for everybody, but I'm not making any promises because I don't want to. I've got to mitigate expectations for after this after this one. So thank you. Manage expectations always a good thing. Thank you for remarks by Vice Mayor Vella. Anything to report. Last week I attended the LED Abatement Board meeting. We had it a week early just to make sure that everyone could attend a few things. There are still issues with a number of different products that are kind of common products, especially different spices that are healthy homes, department staff thinks is is causing some of the lead poisoning cases. And so, you know, we we had a presentation on that and just trying to find out if there's some way to either get some sort of labeling or requirement testing requirement for spice folks in the in the spice business. One of the issues is that they source them from all over the world and some farmers have used lead to actually make the weight of their crops heavier and then lead gets in the food. And this is very common, I guess, with turmeric farmers from some other countries. So there's heavy, heavy metals in the soil and it's it's a common practice. And so there's remediation issues and some other things. And if you don't track and trace where the actual original produce comes from, it can contaminate a number of different batches. So this is something that we're we're looking at. There may be some legislation attached. We're not sure. There's there's several different recommendations. Additionally, we're hoping to get an update. We're really encouraging the county and the city of Oakland to get together and finalize the agreement relative to the lead paint settlement so that those dollars can go back to the communities that have been disproportionately impacted. So that's from the lead paint litigation. There was a fairly large settlement and we know that there's communities, especially in the Fruitvale and West Oakland, that that really need those dollars to help alleviate and prevent lead poisoning, especially in homes and daycare facilities for for many of our kids. The other thing that we covered, again, is just there's going to be there's there may be legislation again around mandating. Or requiring universal led testing for all one year olds. It's something that comes up fairly regularly. We also know that there's a number of children who have not been tested because it's an optional test. And during COVID, a lot of parents didn't want to bring their children in to get those tests. So we know that they have learning impacts is something we'll be watching. Additionally, the state of California I know is CBH has distributed a number of COVID tests, millions of COVID tests and made them available to our school districts to send home with with students. I think Alameda Unified was one of the districts that if they went through the CDP program or on their own, that set them home. So hopefully there will be more tests distributed ahead of our kids going back to school in January. Thank you. Thank you. Who else? Anything to report? Councilmember Harris Spencer. Thank you. I actually want to thank our city manager for his initial comments regarding the new care program. The care team with Alameda Fire Department and the Family Services. I'm very happy to hear that that this had a good first week. And I want to thank the fire department for stepping up on that program. I remember when they applied back there, it was them in Belton that applied. And I really trusted their program and them to step up and lead. And then my was very hopeful that our family services would be interested in supporting them. And and we all know that they did. And I want to also thank their director, Kathleen Schwartz, for all of her efforts to couple with the fire department and now bring this to realization. And I know our department has I think I think working with staff to thank our staff to be able to get the 5150 approval that they can do that. And so, honestly, I see this as a very big lift from our city. I think it's something that we can all be proud of, and I'm very much looking forward to continued updates from the city manager. How is working to thank you so much. Thank you. Councilor Bridges, like anything from you. Just quickly, like I said earlier, it was a privilege attending the hiring ceremony of three new police officers, along with the mayor as he Ashcraft and Councilmember Tricia Spencer. I guess on a somber note, you know, attended the memorial for the late supervisor Wilma Chan over at the Oakland Museum. And I guess, you know, one thing that I for those who are still watching and listening, I would certainly encourage Alameda is to come to city hall at night time to check out the beautiful tree. The holiday tree is very beautiful. Come and check it out. Thank you, Councilmember. I did so again. So I. And since we last met, I have attended a big regional planning committee meeting where we went over our legislative policy agenda proposals for the coming year I on Saturday, December 11th. And actually Councilmember Spencer was at both of these events. I had the privilege of doing the ribbon cutting for a great art installation. You are should check it out. It's called polymer, which is the Spanish word for squid. You've never seen a more adorable squid or probably a larger one, but it's an amazing metal sculpture. You know where it is? It's right. It's along the Bay Trail where the the lawn next to the Wheeler facility. So ride your bike out there to go check out the calamari. And then that evening, I got to do the ribbon cutting at the little ice rink, which is out in Alameda Point. Now, it's as I told Chris Seibold, who is generously underwriting this, we are trading street racing and donuts for ice skating because this is out almost to where dash sellers and urban legend wineries are. And it's in a big airplane hangar that had just been used for storage for BRICS beverages. But now it's an indoor ice skating rink, but very airy, high ceilings. There's a couple of great art installations out there, and there's a little courtyard as you enter with food trucks. So and there's some food you can get inside, too. But it's adorable to see the kids and families and teens and just everybody lining up to skate out there. It will be open until January 17th, I believe. And then on Monday, seven December 13th, there was a joint meeting of the Allegheny County Board of Supervisors and all of the mayors in Alameda County, because we are trying to come to some agreement and to work out funding arrangements to fund our homelessness programs. And so the money comes through the counties to the cities. Cities want to make sure that we're getting the money we need and that we're able to direct these moneys that are coming from the state to the counties and to the county and ultimately to us. So, you know, we've got to keep working at addressing homelessness. And then this past Friday, I was invited to see the distribution of gift cards. These were gift cards that our firefighters. Local 689. I for 69, I didn't know to their fundraising or whatnot. They came up with target gift cards, $35 apiece for families in Alameda Housing Authority, Headstart families, 1100 children altogether. Any family with kids got a $35 target gift card for each of the kids. So that was pretty sweet to see that parents out there, too, can pick up those gift cards and have a little merrier holiday season. So we are just about to the end of this day. But it was the winter solstice, December 21st, shortest day of the year. That means that every day after this, it's just going to get days. The day is going to get a little longer. There'll be a little more light. We can all use more light in our lives. Thank you for all the good work, the hard work, all of you staff, we appreciate you and council members. Thank you so much for your hard work on behalf of the city. I hope you have a restful, relaxing, enjoyable holiday season. I'm a crime is real, so just be super careful and wear a really good mask. Social distance. Just be smart about it. Test if you've traveled or been to a large gathering and we'll see you safe, sound and healthy in the new year by everyone. Good night. I wanted to add real quickly, I'm sorry, I forgot to mention and I didn't hear anyone else mention it. The Western Arts District did a very large mural on Webster and Pacific. I was able to go to their grand opening of it, and I really encourage people to go by. And I want to thank the muralist also Dave Young Kim, who worked with students to do it. But if you see it, you might not really understand what it is. So I encourage you to go super close and then pull back. And I'm not going to tell you that there's a lot to be seen there. So I wanted to share that also. Thank you. All right. With that, everyone, good night or good morning. Happy holidays. Happy New Year. We'll see it in the new year. Bye bye.