Introduction of an Uncodified  Ordinance Amending Uncodified Ordinance No. 3275 to Extend the Time that Tenants Must Pay “Deferred Rent” from 210 Days to 395 Days Following the City Council’s Rescission of the Local Emergency.  (Community Development)
When we're getting the word out about this, are we how are we going about getting the word out about these protections, one and two, are we doing it in multiple languages? So we. Let's see. We have we do have our Tenant and Small Business Assistance page on the city's website under the COVID 19. And all of our tenant protection ordinances are there along with implementing regulations. And this ordinance has an implementing regulation that we will be updating that that further talks about how how this is all being handled. I do not believe that we have put up anything in any other languages to date. We also the paralegal in the attorney's office is fielding questions about the about the rent freeze and the moratorium. So we are providing information as well as the rent program is and central legal who we are contracting with also has copies of our ordinance and our implementing regs. Okay. Any further questions, council member Vella? No. Okay. Any further clarifying questions before we hear a public speaker? Vice Mayor Knox White. All right. So the staff report and you mentioned stakeholder outreach. Do we have any information about locally how many people are deferring their rent, etc.? Like what the impact is? So I did have an opportunity on the 10th of July to to meet with Eastbay, the East Bay Realtors, Base Realtors, their local government relations committee. And it sounds like. People are feeling pretty good. They were saying maybe some of the folks who do property management were saying maybe 70, 75% of their tenants have been paying rent in full. And it sounds like there are tenants who have been availing themselves of different assistance that is out there. Our rent relief program is hopefully launching this week. So the program that the council approved last month, we hope to launch this week, so that that will also be promoted as a part of really at least providing an asset and a resource for folks to apply for assistance. So my sense is that landlords are concerned because the longer this is lasting, the kind of scarier and the harder it is. But it it kind of feels like. More than a majority of tenants are paying rent. And and those that are those that maybe have some challenges are getting some assistance, I guess is kind of what I heard. But I swear. Is that all for you? Yeah. Thank you. Okay. Okay. Sir. Madam Kirk, we'll go to our public speaker. Oh, I'm sorry. Councilmember. Yes, good. Question. When it comes to repayment, is there. If there is an agreement with regard to repayment, is there every expectation that the agreement has to be kept and that failure to keep the agreement risks jeopardizing the protection that that that, you know, our ordinance gives with regard to tenants who are in a who are repaying. That protection being a protection from eviction. So tenants are encouraged to enter into a payback arrangement or that kind of thing with their their landlord. However, they are not required to do that to to receive the benefits of that time period under this ordinance. So the encouragement is there, but it's not a requirement. Interesting. Okay. Councilmember O.D.. Sorry. Thank you. So if that if that happens, is that considered and that repayment is not made, is that considered a breach of contract that somebody can be sued on that agreement? Or is that considered a breach of lease where they can be evicted? Well, you cannot be evicted. The way the ordinance stands now and the way it's proposed to continue is you cannot be evicted for nonpayment of any deferred rent. For now, what will be the 13 month period? You will have to be current on your current rent, but you won't be able to be evicted for the nonpayment of the deferred rent until then. Month 14. Right, if you rent and that would be the basis. Right. But if you sign an agreement that basically says I'm going to pay, you know, X dollars per month over month, and then you somehow failed to pay that mean does that mean you can be evicted or is that just a contract? And maybe that's maybe that's a legal question. But my my concern is you can kind of see, right, that we have these side agreements and then people don't for some reason are unable to comply with them and then they're going to get evicted. And then someone can say, well, the agreement trumps the ordinance. Like the ordinance does not require an agreement. So beyond that, if you choose to enter into an agreement, then I guess I, I mean, I guess I would defer to the city attorney on what that then becomes a breach of. I guess when this was in your record. Then I think it would also depend on the nature of the agreement and the drafting of the agreement. This is. Highly unusual. So we won't. It's difficult to predict what a court would ultimately conclude. We think that it is likely. That a court would conclude that it's probably just a breach of contract. But because we're talking about hypothetical agreements and we don't. Know what they say, it's difficult to conclusively say what. They would be on it. It is our it is our thinking. That most likely those agreements. If these are these would be private agreements without any input from the city, nor could we, because they're not we're not a party to these agreements. We think that that there is a reasonable likelihood that. A court would construe those agreements to be contractual and not subject to. Unlawful detention. But we certainly could not render an opinion without knowing what the agreements substantively say and even if we did. Given the unprecedented nature of. This type of. Order and the lack of judicial guidance. Of course, we'll have to ultimately resolve it. Okay. I mean, you could tell it my concern is right, that, you know, these would be substituted for leases and or you know, we already know there's unequal bargaining power between a landlord and tenant. So, you know, I, I could see where someone could be pressured into agreeing to some waiver of rights that they're given by this ordinance and then, you know, suddenly being subject to eviction. So if there's a way to fix that, maybe we could think about it. Well, if I may respond to. Yes, but landlords require tenants to. Enter into those leases. It would have to be. Voluntary if a landlord required to do so, it would violate our fair housing of a well. Yeah, but we know there's unfair bargaining power positioning, so. All right. So we hear from our public speaker or speakers, please. Catherine Pauling. Good evening, Ms.. Pauling. Hi. It's just Katherine. Can you hear me now? Yes, I can hear you just fine. Okay. I'm I'm I'm honorable mayor, vice mayor and council members. The Alameda Renters Coalition supports the expansion of repayment and ordinance 30 to 75. We believe this action is also a necessary component of the recent declaration of racism as a public health emergency. Given the disproportionate impact of COVID 19 on too many communities of color due to systemic racism in terms of work, health and housing. Additionally, we are hearing many renters are confused about their rights under the various ordinances. Our requests that a greater effort be made to inform tenants of their legal rights and the resources available. As Council has noted, 25% of Alameda residents do not have online access. It's reasonable to assume that most of these are renters with local papers, limiting print editions and COVID 19 limiting gatherings. It's difficult to communicate with our diverse communities. For these reasons, ARC requests a mailing to renters be done by the city, possibly drawing from the rent registry and provided in multiple languages. Respectfully submitted the Alameda Renters Coalition. I also want to add our concern to families point. Debby Potter. Just Miss Potter just mentioned that tenants are being encouraged to go into agreements about repayment. And at a time when people are not back to work and don't know what their future income or employment is, I would request that you not encourage agreements at this time, especially given the tenant has to be able to go into court to present these arguments and so many ways the power imbalance really precludes going into this, or have them talk to an attorney or our legal service before they enter into any agreement so that they have some advice on this. Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay. So. And Ms.. Weisler, that was the extent of our public comment on this item we did. One more person raised their hand. So we have Janet. Jennifer Rakowski. Yes. Good evening. Hi. Thank you. Council members for contact. I staff a landlord tenant counseling line for a neighboring city. And so I can't speak directly to Alameda, but I can tell you that our phone lines are flooded with calls from people who are struggling to pay their rent even more. So we are constantly inundated with people who are seeing the writing on the wall with too short of a time period to pay back the rent that they are already owing. And so they are breaking leases because the prospect of paying it back on a really quick timeframe when they're still out of work just is overwhelming. And the reason. So everything from people who have personally had a health issue due to COVID 19, had a death in the family due to COVID 19, had roommates move out due to COVID 19, loss of job. Just the stories I hear on a daily basis are heartbreaking and the ways in which the city can take this issue seriously and look at ways that provide for. A reasonable planned expectation on the part of landlords, but also a pathway to stability that is achievable for tenants because tenants are already moving out because the prospect of paying off the debt too quickly is overwhelming. Thank you. And we have one more speaker. I understand now we have two more, so. Okay. Another one added Grover Whitman Brown. Yes. Good evening. Hi. Good evening, counsel. Grover Cleveland Brown from Eastbay Housing Organizations. And I'm calling on behalf of oppose membership to ask you to vote yes on this important extension of the repayment period. And also to echo the previous caller, the need for tenants to have protections is only growing as each month goes by and as unemployment insurance is about to be reduced for many thousands of residents. And so we ask that you consider the strategy that's been adopted by other cities and counties, which is to try to translate the unpaid rent into consumer debt so that tenants are not faced with eviction when they can't pay essentially two month's rent at once for six or eight or 12 months, which is unable most people are unable to pay two rents any month, let alone month after month after month once they return to work. So thank you for considering it, and please reach out to us if you have questions about how other ordinances are working. Thank you. One more speaker. At least one? Yes, just one more. Kevin. Lauren. Hello. I again. Hello again. Really in support of this because I am a fellow renter. I moved here about two years ago, leaving my family's home and taking care of my grandmother. So and I'm an artist and obviously there's no work to be done and everything is very uncertain. So knowing that Alan Miller would have my back in a situation and like want to keep me here, would make me feel really, you know, cared for in a the fact that something that we want to implement is really going to be for showing compassion to our citizens, especially if I'm struggling and I'm white passing. I can't imagine what people who are forced to work, who are, you know, of the minority groups like being black or because of color, like they probably are really struggling even more than I am. So I think it's really important to think of assistance in this situation. And then 1/2 everyone go over and have them probably like I think they make really strong points and I hope this passes. Yeah. Thank you. Now we have one more and then a public comment submitted in writing to next is Alexia Orocobre. Hello researcher. Hi. And I just wanted to quickly echo, support and urge that you all vote yes on this extension. I think it is very important not only for residents but to be able we all know what's coming. And I think it's important to protect the renters. And I just second everything that was also previously said. Thank you very much. Thank you. And a written comment, did it say. Yes, Rosalynn, to Courtney, property owners or not? The bankers have tenants. If the city wants to pay the rent through subsidized payments, that is up to the city. Thank you. And that's it. With that. I have a clause, my own commerce clause, have a comment and we will go back to the City Council for a motion and for the discussion. Who wants to lead this? Councilmember Odie. I'll start. No hands came up. I'd like to move approval of this, but if possible, in my companies that are amenable, give direction to staff to come back with an ordinance that allows us to treat any of these side agreements and even this type of unpaid rent as consumer debt that we we did this one in in March. So I use my CPR skills. April, May, June and July. So now we're coming up on five months of unpaid rent. And maybe the truest thing that ever came out of the White House was that the worst is still yet to come on this so mean we could be looking at another five months and then what ? We have tenants with one year worth of rent that you know, it will end up being double. And I don't want to see people get evicted over this. And there's to me, there's no action. You know, in our state capital, there was a bill to do this exact same thing to reduce consumer debt, and it died because the real estate lobby killed it. And, you know, there's nothing coming out of Washington anytime soon. So if we have the ability to do that, I'd like to see us try to do that. Um, I just to follow on to Councilor Brody's comments and other public speakers. I would actually like a clearer understanding of what. What exactly that looks like. And then the question I would have for counsel for the city attorney is, would that be a significant enough departure that the ordinance would have to come back to us? But. But can someone explain what how does that work for to convert? Oh, okay. I'm sorry. Yes, sorry. My suggestion was to give direction to direction, not to amend. Got it. Okay. So we could do that, too. Um, well, I would think that passing this ordinance is of the essence. Time is of the essence. But that's. I'm one opinion up here, so. Okay, so. But could I. Could I get an explanation briefly from the city attorney or from Miss Potter or whomever? How does that work? What is it. Is. I would like to defer to the city attorney who I think has provided direction on that issue of consumer debt previously, and I think has indicated, at least previously that it was maybe not something that he felt we could do. And I don't know if at this point like a federal issue to look at that. Okay. If we could just have one speaker at a time. That would be great. And actually, are you prepared to comment on this, Mr. Chen? I'll generally. Say that we're more than happy to look at ways to look at these side agreements. And to provide as much protections for tenants as possible. And we obviously strive to effectuate your direction to us. Whatever it may be. And we've expressed some concerns to you about a general conversion of renters debt to consumer debt, notwithstanding other jurisdictions having done so. But we're having express. Reservations, too. We're happy to take your direction and we'll effectuate it to the best. Of our abilities. All right. Thank you. Okay. So. Do we have? My iPad always has a moment where it decides to freeze, so help me out. Councilmember Vela, you had your hand up. Did you? I was just going to say that, you know, I think that I'm fine giving direction. I don't want to change the current ordinance before us. I think that we need to get it enacted and give people as much notice as possible that we're we're we're giving this change. I also think that essentially passing protections without notifying the most vulnerable of their rights, it means that we're essentially not passing protections. I have read a number of different articles. There's an article in the New York Times about a bar in Oakland and the people that work there. And many of them were concerned about making rent because they were worried about addiction. This article came out at the end of June. We all know that there have been a number of protections that have been passed preventing and effectively putting in a moratorium on evictions during the pandemic. So I'm very concerned that people don't know their rights. I've gotten some emails offered to the city attorney, and I'm not just talking about residential tenants. We have commercial tenants who don't understand their rights, and I think there's a little more. These are folks that have potentially have more resources available, things like that. And they're dealing with the same landlords, frankly, that that also have residential tenants. So I just I think, you know, we need to get the word out about what, you know, what the protections are. We need to do it in multiple languages, even if it's that we do a mailing and or require a posting in buildings, we require landlords to notify the tenants or we require postings in apartment buildings, on the community boards, things like that. I'm very worried. We also have a number of very vulnerable tenants who are not leaving their houses because of preexisting conditions or their age or a number of different things that put them at risk. Maybe they're immunocompromised. Some of these individuals do not have access to the Internet. They're not seeing what's being posted online. You know, I know of some individuals who didn't even know about the opportunities that the food bank and things like that or opportunities to get food delivered. And so at this point, it's really become a word of mouth thing. In the past, I'd also spoken with the mayor about doing something similar to what the city of San Leandro is doing and what some folks are doing in Oakland of going through and calling individuals. I just want to put out there that I'm more than happy if we do have a registry. We have phone numbers and things like that. I'm more than happy to volunteer my time to call through and let people know about the update, not necessarily to give legal advice, but to just let them know, you know, what the updates are and what services are available. Because I think the word isn't getting out to our most vulnerable. And I think that this is an opportunity for us to not just do the work, but make sure that it's the protections are really having the effect that we intend them to have. Okay. Councilmember. And you know it. And just a little housekeeping detail. It is 1054 and before 11:00, I'm going to have to ask for a motion. But do you have a quick comment or should we slip? I mean, I'd be happy to amend my motion to give some direction to notify people in whatever way you think is appropriate. You know, so that's perfectly fine. Okay. Would you like to do that? Yes, I would. But we can talk about that after. Well, I didn't know if we had a motion to vote. We take care of this item. But you think there's a lot more discussion still? Well, I don't know if. You know, if if what the customer suggested is okay with everyone or we needed to have staff come back with a plan that we wanted to review. And, you know, I don't I don't know. I mean, I'm open to whatever whatever my colleague feels is the most appropriate and effective way. Well, I think I heard the staff direction made that council member who remind me can call somebody. Did you make the motion? Yes, I did. Okay. And Councilmember. Well, you seconded, correct? Okay. Um. In less than 5 minutes. What can we do? Or we can. Do you if you want to. Oh. Yes, sir. Councilman, I mean, city manager. If if you want to just put direction. I'm all right. If you want to put direction at the end of the motion, the staff can create a communication plan and follow through on it and communicate it back to the council. We could do that, especially since we're going on break between now and September or potentially that way we could go ahead and get that communication out in this time frame. Makers of the motion. I mean, that works for me. We still have a second reading on this this ordinance. So I don't know how that would play in, but I think the sooner the better. I think in the discussions that staff has had, we would begin that. We've talked about starting the communication outreach after the second reading so we could test the materials and then after September one, knowing that it would become effective 30 days later. And then he knew what it was. Sorry. I hate to interrupt you, but I get nervous because the city clerk is counting on us to do this before 11 and it's 1056. So council, we have to. We've got a couple of remaining items to go. We have item six G, which should be pretty fast. We've, we've looked at this before and and then we have items ten A which is designation of voting delegates for League of California Cities Conference. I mean, that shouldn't take long with conferences until October, if I recall correctly. But anyway and then we have our two big is the two A and the five the continuation of five A. So do I have a motion? I tend to think we can get all this wrapped up the same evening by midnight. But he's got a motion. With 3 minutes remaining. I remembered that notion that we continue until midnight. Okay. With a motion to continue. All items until midnight. Do you have a second? A quick second. 6 seconds. Any discussion thing then? May we have a roll call? Vote, please. Councilmember de SAG. Yes. Next flight. Odie I. Vela. I may or as the Ashcroft. I. Carries by five eyes. Okay. Thank you. Good work, everyone. Now it's 1058. We had 2 minutes to spare. Okay, Miss Potter, I cut you off. Please continue. That's quite all right. I was just going to say, I think it would be helpful for staff if we had a little more direction. Part of the motion is council would council be requesting us to come back with an ordinance dealing with the side agreements and the consumer debt? Or would you like us to analyze that and come back with with. I was a little unclear about that piece of the motion. That's all. Understandably, the vice mayor has his hand up. He's got those. Plans. Jason has had his hand up for about 10 minutes. I'm so sorry. I just didn't realize that you. Had a lot to say before we get into. Yeah. Clarification. We might want to talk. Okay. So just. Further, thank. You very much for. Your time. Here's the thing, Councilor. You are low on the screen. Oh, sorry. You have to really wave to me or text me or something. I've got it. Thank you. Yeah, I did not see that. My vision, you know, it's just. I have to look out of the corners of my eyes. See, you are so Councilmember Desai. Great. Well, thank you. All in. Good. Just so my comment is basically this, you know, homeowners and renters alike are definitely struggling through this pandemic. But I think the census data clearly indicates that renters are especially vulnerable given that their incomes typically are half that of homeowners and the fact that they lack the assets that homeowners have. I mean, right now I'm in. Interest rates are so low, they're at historic lows for homeowners who are contemplating refinancing. So it's incumbent on city council to step up when it comes to helping out our tenants, our renters. And I see. And the and the item tonight, a reasonable effort when it comes to assisting renters. In addition, I believe that that it's a it's a reasonable effort that also were would benefit landlords in the end because it you know they can keep their their tenants around if they have a more reasonable debt load to carry . And basically, what we're what we're doing is amortizing it instead of over seven months, over 13 months. And I think and I think, you know, that's reasonable. We're not saying five years or anything like that. So. So. So that's why I definitely support this. I support this also because, you know, originally the ordinance did not have a loan payback provision and it was there was a modification to it. And I think the modification to it was reasonable. And the amendment that we're contemplating tonight is reasonable. As to the two other items, you know, if they're part of the motion, so be it. But you know how I feel about those two other items because I don't know I don't know about this consumer debt issue. And in terms of the other matter that was raised, I'm not too sure. But but I think for the main the main issue that we have before us in extending out the repayment time from seven months to 13 months, I think that's quite reasonable. And I think, you know, in this time that we're in, I think renters needed to know that we were on their side. Thank you. And again, my apologies for missing you. Okay. I need to raise my hand. Yes. Or wave or jump up and down. You know the simple vice mayor. Thank you. I will second the Councilmember Baysox comments and the comments of my my other colleagues. So I wanted to ask a clarifying question. So because we have to have a second reading, this does not pass on September 1st, correct? If it passes on second reading, the second reading is actually the beginning of. September and it actually becomes effective then 30 days following the second reading. But there is sufficient protections in the existing ordinance so that it will be a routine ordinance versus an urgency. Yes. No, I think I think that that that makes sense. I guess what I was trying to think of is, you know, given that that direction, which will be clarified about communications plan, you know, which I will absolutely agree, needs to be multilingual and robust. It would be very helpful to me that we are getting to that point where we may be asking certain certain people who might have a second unit or something like that. And we do hear from seniors who are who are impacted by this. It would be helpful. I don't want to undo this work. I think this work is important. We need to do it. But it would be helpful to me if maybe even during the second reading, we could have a presentation of what else we are doing or could do to help those landlords whose tenants are not paying work or are not are not able to pay rent. I'm not interested in, you know, subsidizing, you know, kind of corporate large corporate entities for whom this is just a giant investment. But, you know, if we have people who own one or two units who may actually be really impacted by not actually seeing rent for a year, which quite honestly is very possible, you know, if 25% of people are already not paying their rent fully, it just might be. I would like to know kind of what is available in terms of protections from the state and the federal. But also, you know, Councilmember DeSantis point out we do have a large reserve. And, you know, again, reserves are for rainy days if we need to be helping renters who can't pay their rent to landlords who can show a financial hardship, I do wonder if we should be looking at that as a follow on something as well as this, you know, as this drags on, it was much easier for me to say three and four months. You know, that that's a tough quote, but we can fight that. But if we're starting, my guess is this the state of emergency isn't over before the end of the year. So I just I just I want to start looking ahead instead of finding that people are in dire straits. And now we're trying to help them out of dire straits and just think think through that. So it would be great to have that come back sometime in the near future. I don't want to add a whole nother new priority, but if we could think about how we can have that conversation, I think it would be good. But I'm here to support tonight's resolution because I think this is a step. And I would just say maybe I think it's always good to have as much information as possible. And it's true that a lot of people are being impacted by people's inability to pay rent. It would be helpful to know. To the extent possible, how much people have been renters and therefore their landlords have been assisted by some of the programs that the city has set up the the grant program. And I know we've got the Alameda Strong Community Fund that has some allocation. It's more heavily weighted to local businesses that there's still some allocation for renters. So I would I think it would be useful to know that information. Okay. Let's see. So, you know, my feelings are this is is very necessary. And. Back when we were looking at this first one in April, we just had no idea. That's not cool. I know. I've got to stop. I'm just going to fold my hands in my lap and stop fidgeting. Of any way back in April, when we looked at this, I think it was April, we just had no idea where, where we were going with this. And we we still don't, although I'm hopeful, ever hopeful that, as I like to say, time and science are on our hand, on our side, if we can just get people to really comply with the COVID guidelines. So there's not a whole lot of them wear masks, socially distanced, watch it wash your hands frequently. Don't go into crowded places. We can make a difference. But in the meantime, people have not been able to go back to work. And and it's, you know, you think of all the stress that, ah, people are facing who are struggling to put food on the table. And, you know, to the extent that we can help out, I think this is a very thoughtful ordinance that came forward. But I also do agree that we need to make sure that the information is out there in multiple languages. So however, that can be done and and disseminated as widely as possible. But I think, you know, we've got the rent registry and we have other ways of knowing where the renters are. So I am sure that's doable. So then, okay, so we've had our motion, it's been seconded, we have staff direction, anything further that needs to be said before a roll call vote. Okay. Let's have that all covered, please. Uh, Councilmember de thug. Yes. Next week. I. Ody I. Vella. I. Mayor as the Ashcraft. High. That carries by five eyes. Thank you very much. Thank you, Miss Potter. And for your input to Mr. Shand. Very helpful. Okay, we move quickly on to item six, Madam Clerk, which you introduced that police. Recommendation to authorize the city attorney or designee to consent to law for Goldfarb. Whitman's request to waive conflict of interest in connection with call for legal representation of the city and city transactions and the County of Alameda and on the Rose, the Village Affordable Housing Project transaction and delegated authority to the city attorney or designee to consent , modify or reject future requests from Goldfarb to waive conflicts of interest in connection with Goldfarb. Legal representation of the City of Alameda on city transactions in the County of Armenia on future affordable housing transactions involving County of Alameda, A-1 funds or comparable county funds. Okay. And did we have any public speakers on this item? Ms.. Massacre. We did not. Okay. Any clarifying questions or. Well, do you want a staff report? We've we've covered this one before. Okay. Do I want a staff report? Could I get a motion? Councilmember Odie. Just one quick question. This is so the future delegation is just related to the county, right? That's right. Like I'm old approval. We have a motion by Councilmember Odie and a second by the Vice Mayor. Spaceman. Not quite any discussion seeing. Then maybe we ever roll call vote please. Councilmember As. I. Like slate my Odie. I. Avella I may. Mayor, as the Ashcroft. High. Carries by five eyes. All right, good work, people. Then we move on to the next page. So we've got. Okay, we've got City Manager Communications Council, Mr. Leavitt. Make you a member of the council. Would you like to be on the council. For a lot. Of. Fun? Marissa, Ashcraft and. And City Council. I just have two quick updates due to the time of night. I won't go into some other things, but one is just we are still we're working out one logistics issue, but at this time we're planning on having testing starting up this week, tomorrow at the 300. I think it's at the research park over over at the research park. So however way. Over. A been driveaway astronomer over the street and the city health's urgent care is going to be the provider. And I think everything's a go right now. We're hoping I'll be a go tomorrow. One last one. Logistics that you still working out to make sure it's tomorrow instead of Thursday. And then secondly, there's been a variety of concerns from residents regarding encampment outside the Webster tube off of Webster Street. It is Caltrans property. We've been working with Caltrans due to COVID issues. There's certain state policies we have to work through. And so that is taking time and working through that. As far as those encampments. Thank you, Mr. Levitt. And then we come to item eight, and I believe the city clerk told me that there were two comments that weren't able to be heard in the first public comment. So are those. Correct. Live? Yes. Well, no, Bethenny who she had trouble getting on, so she submitted it to me to have it read. And then another comment. Yeah. Okay. So Beth Canning. Yes. Sunday, July 26th, 2020 marks the 30th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Ada. It is remarkable how much more accessible our country has become since the passage of the ADA. It is equally remarkable how much more work we need to do to be a society that is fully inclusive of people with disabilities. I want to thank you for honoring the 30th anniversary of the ADA by lighting City Hall in blue and white this Sunday, July 26th. And the next is at Nairobi. Taylor? Yes. My name is Nairobi Taylor. I organize with youth activists of Alameda. And I wanted to say that as a 15 year old black girl who would like to go into nursing, I find it crucial for our city council to assist in changing the racist ways of Alameda. While some find heavy police presence necessary and even suggest that racism no longer exists. Black women are 2 to 6 times more likely to die in childbirth than white women. That statistic alone shows that there is much work to be done and therefore I hope that our city council members are putting the work in to revolutionize our city. Thank you. And those are private comments. Yes, that's okay. And then we. We have no council referrals this evening. Council communications. Anyone have anything quick they want to say, counselor over there. Oh, yes, thank you. I attended the airport noise forum last week. One topic that was covered was because a lot of Alameda residents were concerned about the sudden change in the schedule by Oakland Airport. When it comes to fixing up the runways and everything, they typically do it on night times. But because of COVID 19, they have begun to do it in daytimes, which as a result then has forced planes off of a certain runway that is creating daytime noise. The Oakland airport officials indicated that that they heard the what the residents concerns are, but that they're also in the in the they're wrapping that that work up as it is. So so so hopefully that will remedy itself. The second thing I want to report out of the Oakland Noise Forum was Walt Jacobs was once again our resident citizen. Walt Jacobs was once again voted as co-chair. So he did such a great job representing class. And I believe Walt worked with our mayor in putting together a letter, I believe. Is that. Yes. So I just. We're capable our capable staff. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for the work you do on that committee. Councilmember Desai, I appreciate it. And also the work of Mr. Jacobs. Anyone else? By Smirnoff's way.