May 5, 2022 Council Neighborhoods Committee

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[00:00:00] Unknown Speaker: With you with a chair. Yeah,

[00:00:02] Member Pat Showalter: so so has the Yes, we've started. All right, great. All right. Well, I like to call this meeting of the council neighborhood committees to order. Um, prior to the call. Uh, this meeting will be conducted in accordance with the state of California executive order in 2920 dated March 17th, 2020. All members of the council neighborhoods committee are participating in this meeting by video conference with no physical meeting location. As noted on the meeting agenda, members of the public may provide oral comment during the public comment period for an item. Any emails and voicemail messages received by 5 p.m. Thursday, May 5th, that's today, were forwarded to the council neighborhoods committee. emails received after 5 p.m. and prior to the close of the public comment period. For the agenda items, will be read into the record by staff, and any voicemail messages received will be played by staff. Now, let's have roll call. Absolutely, chair

[00:01:00] Anna Renozo: show, Walter. Here. Uh, Mayor Ramirez. Here. Vice Mayor Hicks? Here. Thank you. All

[00:01:10] Member Pat Showalter: right. So then we come to item 3 minutes approval. We we all got minutes for the February 18th meeting. And um, copies were posted on the city hall bulletin board. If there are no corrections or additions. A motion is in order to approve these minutes. Does any member of the committee have comments or questions about the minutes? Uh, Council member Hicks. I mean, Vice Mayor Hicks. I

[00:01:35] Member Alison Hicks: do not have comments. I was going to make a motion to approve the minutes unless, um, anyone objects. Excellent. Um,

[00:01:44] Member Pat Showalter: do we have a secondary? All right. So, we have a motion in a second, and, um, uh, can we just approve this by a raising of hands, or readapt have a roll call? Everybody in favor, raise your hand. Okay. That passes unanimously. All right. Um, and there aren't any members of the, I'm, I'm seeing no attendees, which is. But we do have attendees here. We do. Okay. Oh, that's great. All right, so do it, does it? Well, we'll have to backtrack a little bit. Was there anybody who was in attendance who would like to provide public comment? staff, do you see that? Any raised hands for public comment on the minutes? Okay, good. All right. All right, the next thing we have is oral communications. And um, this portion of the meeting is reserved for persons wishing to address the committee on any matter that is not on tonight's agenda. Speakers are allowed to speak on the topic for up to 3 minutes during this section. State law prohibits the committee from acting on non-agenda items. Would any member of the public on the line like to provide comments on non-agenda items? If so, click the raise hand button and zoom or press star 9 on your phone. Staff, do you see any, um, any raised hands? I do not, no. All right, great. Um, and so, did you receive any public comment on, um, on this item? No, we did not. Okay, great. All right. So, that ends oral communications, and we can move on to number five, which is unfinished business. We don't have any of that tonight, but we do have new business. Um 6.one. Uh, the 2022 neighborhood grant applications and um, that is the meet of our meeting tonight and staff will be making a presentation. Thank you.

[00:03:49] Anna Renozo: Thank you. Thank you so much, chair. Give me 12nd. Let me go ahead and share my screen so that I can share the presentation with all of you. Hopefully all of you can see it. So, 1st off, let me say thank you so much to everybody for taking the time this evening to, um, to me and to talk a little bit about our neighborhood grant application. Um, for those of you who don't know me, my name's Andre Noso. the new housing specialist here at the city of Mountain View and super excited to be here with you guys today. So, um, So just to recap, the purpose of the uh, grant is for neighborhood associations uh, to encourage participation and engagement within the neighborhood and improve their neighborhood conditions. The grant is also designed to assist in the formation of new neighborhood associations. The annual budget is 30,000, um, maximum grant awards are tier-based based on the number of households served by each of the neighborhood groups, and there is also a $100 bonus available for 1st time applicants. Uh, here you can see these are the tiers that the committee has approved, and those are the ones that have been utilized. To verify the households, industry standard mapping software has been used to verify the number of households in each area. This year, we had a total of 17 neighborhood grant applications. All 17 of the groups are past recipients, and the total amount requested was a total of $27,700. Um, staff, we are recommending uh, total funding of $27,200. Uh, there was one uh, group, Santiago villa, which requested more than the maximum which they are eligible for. We have staff are recommending that they receive the maximum for which they are eligible. And so here I've divided each of the groups in the following slides. Um, by their tier. in which they are eligible for. You can see that in the description of the grant proposal. There's a variety of activities for which the associations are seeking funding for, uh, a lot of it is a lot of block parties, uh, events around holidays, uh, you know, just events that will allow them to interact and come together, um, and, um, and be able to get to know each other. A lot of the neighborhoods have expressed that there has been a lot of transition in a lot of the neighborhoods. There is a lot of new residents, and so they're really looking to these, um, to these events to help welcome those new, new residents to the area. So in tier A here for a 1000 with the maximum award of a $1000. Uh, we have the Blossom Valley neighborhood association, Dutch Haven. Martin's Carmelita neighborhood, Santiago Villa, and Springer Meadows neighborhood association. In tier B with a maximum amount of 1500, we have Jamelo Neighborhood Association. We have Greater San Antonio Community Association. We have North Wisman Neighborhood Association, Rex Manor Neighborhood Association, and Varsity Park Neighborhood Association. And tier C for a maximum of uh 2000. We have Cooper Park neighborhood association, Montaloma neighborhood association, and wagon wheel neighborhood association. And in our final tier of tier D, which is a maximum of 2500, we have community action team, West Park Neighborhood Association, Old Mountain View Neighborhood Association, and Shoreline West Association of neighbors, so. For a total of 17. And so it is, uh, staff we are recommending the approval of the grants, uh, as outline in slide 6 through 9 and also outline in the packets that you received. And with that, I will hand it back over to Chair Show Walter to move forward with the meeting. Great. Well, um, I'm

[00:08:27] Member Pat Showalter: wondering if we should, if there's any public comment related to this, but 1st we'll have, we'll have council questions and then we'll have public comment and then we'll come back for public, um, for council deliberation. So, um, uh, vice mayor Hicks. I just have

[00:08:43] Member Alison Hicks: one question, does uh, staff or or uh, council member sharewilder? Maybe you know, because I know you were looking this over as chair. What neighborhoods are not represented? Do you know off the top of your head?

[00:08:58] Anna Renozo: Off the top of my head? Let me pull that up. So I remember one of them was St. Francis, and they didn't, they elected not to apply this year due to the fact that they did not have a full project team. So that was one. And then the other group. Give me 12nd. Later

[00:09:21] Member Pat Showalter: was and

[00:09:22] Anna Renozo: then the Slater Neighborhood Association, they reached out and they were unable to apply this year. So.

[00:09:31] Member Alison Hicks: Okay, so they're past, those are past recipients who did not apply. And are there any neighborhoods that just never apply?

[00:09:41] Anna Renozo: There are a few. There are a few. I did I don't have exactly which ones those are. I will say that we, that we do have a robust list in our constant contact, um, with everybody who we have contact for, and they did receive emails on a weekly basis and even right before, and the grant deadline was extended as well to give people enough time. And, um, and share show Walter also did some individual outreach as well. Okay.

[00:10:10] Member Alison Hicks: Yeah. Okay, great. Yeah. At some point, I'd like to hear who never applies, but I don't need to know that now. That's a good enough review for me. Thank you. And

[00:10:20] Member Pat Showalter: I think in response to that, well, well, Michaela, you might have a better answer, but I know when I was forming the save, the, the, um, the Cooper Park neighborhood association, it was really in response to the save Cooper Park. And I got the, I got the, um, the map of the neighborhood associations and sort of from my end of town. I just outlined the whole thing that wasn't already included in a neighborhood association. And, um, uh, and it was, it was a lot of it. So, um, it was a big area, but, uh, a lot of people, use Cooper Park on a regular basis and they, they see it as, you know, the focus of their neighborhood. So it seemed, you know, it seemed to work out okay. And we, uh, do things with the Dutch Haven neighborhood, which was organized. As well, but, um, I do think there are some other holes in in the map, um, other places that we could look at at another time. Um, Uh, Michaela,

[00:11:24] Michaela: did you want to comment? Sure, I'm looking at a map. It's old, I know, because I can see that Cooper Park, for example, it's not included here. Um, But I can see, um, for example, in the San Antonio neighborhood. Um, the area sort of, um, east of uh, Central Expressway, um, but before middlefield, those neighborhoods, um, and then some of the wagon, sort of to the South of the wagon wheel neighborhood, all, um, it looks like they don't have neighborhood associations yet. Or at least, um, in this old map, some of the new neighborhood associations may have popped up there and I might be corrected, but that's good. Yeah. Okay, well, well,

[00:12:03] Member Pat Showalter: it's it's something to strive for, I think, to have as many in the community as possible because they, they, they are fun, and, um, they're a good source of, of, as, um, Anna said earlier, meeting new neighbors. Um, Okay. I actually do have one more question. Is that

[00:12:21] Member Alison Hicks: a Villa? Where is that? Is that included within one of the neighborhood groups or would it be separate? That is a separate neighborhood group. And

[00:12:32] Member Pat Showalter: they have not applied. They they did apply. And they're on the list, yeah. Oh,

[00:12:38] Member Alison Hicks: maybe there's Sahara and Santiago, only one of them applied, right? Am I wrong? Um, I, I think just, uh, Santiago Villo applied. Did Sahara apply? I do not have somewhere. Yeah. So I'm wondering where they are. Maybe they fall within another neighborhood group, but I'm not sure. I'm just curious about that. Yeah, I we should,

[00:13:01] Member Pat Showalter: maybe we can check on that. I don't know. Yeah, those are questions for later. Thank you. Okay. Uh, we have a message from B. Hanson, who says that they haven't applied yet, and she's active in the, the mobile home tennis association. Maybe she'll speak in a minute. Okay, so um, do any members of the public have, um, have comments they would like to make? If so, um, please raise your push your raise hand button or uh, press star 9. So after you see anybody who would like to speak? Yep,

[00:13:38] Anna Renozo: I see. Mari Lou. So let me. Alright? Can I have 3 minutes? Yep. So, Marilou can go ahead and speak. Yes. Uh,

[00:13:51] Marilou: the members of community action team cat. Want to express our gratitude to the city of Mountain View? This grand means a lot to our neighborhood. Thank you for everything you do to support our community. Thank you. Okay,

[00:14:12] Member Pat Showalter: anyone else? Do you see any other public comment? I do not see any other. Um, I, is Stephen Freiburg, want to speak? I thought I saw his name. jump up. No, okay. All right, well, thank you, Mary Lou. Um, you're you're welcome. We appreciate it. Thank you. Yeah. Um, okay, so let's bring this back to the um, the committee for uh, deliberation and then emotion. Um, Mayor Ramirez. Sure,

[00:14:56] Member Lucas Ramirez: um, this might be beyond our ability, but I did want to, um, check with, see if this was possible. Last cycle, um, there was interest after we had already made the application from, uh, neighborhood groups that, uh, hadn't applied in time. Uh, and we had to have a separate meeting to consider that allocation, even though it was within our budget. Uh, so, can we authorize, if that were to happen again? Can we authorize staff to approve any subsequent requests as long as it falls within the tier and it's within the budget? Would that be appropriate or is that dot? If

[00:15:49] Michaela: that's the desire of the, um, committee, I think we would just need to make sure that there's a motion that's very clear about the money and what's being authorized, um, I think that would be possible, possibly. I think that would be possible in that case. Then, Anna, feel free to jump in if you think I'm speaking out of turn. No, I

[00:16:12] Member Alison Hicks: agree with that. Um, Vice Mayor Hicks. Yeah, so I would go along with that. I agree that we would need a clear motion and it seems like part of that would need to be that, um, yeah, the, the application has to be within the tier, not, not over the total amount. Um, and that if there were, you know, competing applications that were over the total amount, I guess we would have to meet, we may have to meet again.

[00:16:42] Member Pat Showalter: Okay, so, um, yeah, let's formulate emotion then. To set that up. Um, uh, Mayor Ramirez, would you like to take a shot at it? Sure,

[00:16:54] Member Lucas Ramirez: I'll do my best. So I'll move to approve the staff recommendations and also uh, direct staff, uh, to approve any uh, request for rant funding, uh, subsequent to this allocation. Um, if, as the vice mayor had just stated, um, the request falls within the, maximum allowed by that tier, uh, under that, the tier that that neighborhood association with fell under, and also is within, um, the, the budget, uh, the committee, uh, has been. Is that clear enough or? We can look at some additional parameters. No,

[00:17:36] Member Pat Showalter: I think that's pretty clear. Steph, does that sound? Clear to you? I'm seeing nodding head, so that's

[00:17:42] Michaela: good. All right, and meets the program guidelines. Yeah,

[00:17:47] Member Alison Hicks: and I would also like, if there's several competing ones that go over, you know, just saying that we would have to come back for another meeting if there's several competing ones that go over the the limits. Okay. All

[00:18:02] Michaela: right. Sure, Walter, can I ask one clarifying question? Um, it sounds like this is a rolling process. So if, if, you know, somebody applies tomorrow and it meets all those programs, we could approve it and then if somebody applies and then, you know, in 3 months and we're out of funding, that's when we would sort of just close it off. Is that what your intention is? Okay. Yeah. I

[00:18:30] Member Pat Showalter: think it would clearly have to be within the, you know, the fiscal year because, you know, the money is only to be expended that long. So, um, that would be, that would be clear, but, but it's, but it's possible somebody could come forward, you know, like in August and say, oh, we, you know, all of a sudden we, we, we've heard about this and we would like to take part. Okay, so, um, uh, We have a motion from Mira Ramirez and we need a 2nd um, vice mayor Hicks.

[00:18:58] Member Alison Hicks: Yes.

[00:18:59] Member Pat Showalter: Okay. So I think this is a real one, so we should have a roll call. For this one. So may we have a role? Oh, 1st I would like to ask if there's any public comment. Um, for this motion for people who are attending this meeting. If there is public comment, please, um, push your raised hand button, or if you're on the phone, press star 9. Do you see any public comment?

[00:19:29] Renozzo: I

[00:19:30] Anna Renozo: do not see any public comment.

[00:19:31] Member Pat Showalter: All right. Well, then I think we are ready for roll call.

[00:19:34] Renozzo: All

[00:19:35] Anna Renozo: right, chair, chair, show Walter?

[00:19:37] Member Pat Showalter: I.

[00:19:39] Renozzo: Uh, Mayor Ramirez. And Vice Mayor Hicks?

[00:19:44] Member Alison Hicks: Yes. All right. That's

[00:19:48] Member Pat Showalter: great. That passes unanimously. Well, just to, um, kind of, then we're, to sum up. I would like to, uh, 1st uh, welcome Anna, Renozo, am I getting your name pronounced properly, Renozo? To our Mountain View staff. She has worked the last few months, very hard to, um, finalize the grant applications, and I know it was a little confusing because we had Anna Salvador, who did it before, and now we have a new Anna, and, um, but the computer didn't just automatically send the emails from the old Anna's address to the new Anna. There was, there was a little, um, there was, there were some miscommunications that were corrected, but they did take a little while. So I want to thank Anna for working through all of that. And for answering lots of questions and, and for being very proactive, um, about, um, uh, contacting people who might have, um, missed the communication for one reason or another, even though, We're thinking the pandemic is over, it just seems like the uncertainty related to all of this just continues more and more. So, you know, we wanted to be responsive to this and um, and Ms. Renozzo was very responsive and we really appreciate that. So thank you so much. Thank

[00:21:15] Renozzo: you. I look forward to working with everybody and, you know, making it a smoother process for everybody in the future. Yeah, well. Um,

[00:21:23] Member Pat Showalter: and then the other thing I would just like to say too, the people who are listening is, um, uh, uh, The city council does really enjoy these events. So if it's appropriate to, um, to invite us, uh, don't be shy, but the chances are one or 2 of us would show up. If that's a that's a good thing. We, you know, let us let us know. We'd like to come. And um, and also, uh, there's, there have been pictures from time to time shared. And um, that has also been great fun to see um, the creativity that people have related to this program. So if you, you know, if you do have pictures that that would be nice. I mean, I know, for instance, um, the Cooper Park neighborhood association had an art contest, a chalk, uh, sidewalk art contest, and that was, we took pictures of that and shared some of those and they were, you know, they were just, just delightful. If there's something like that that's appropriate to share. Uh, please, please do share. We'd really enjoy it. Okay, um, all right. Any other discussion? No? From committee members? Okay. And then, um, Item 7. Committee staff comments, questions or committee reports? Uh, do we have any, um, staff comments or committee reports? No? Okay. We do not. Alright. When is our next meeting planned?

[00:22:53] Unknown Speaker: In September.

[00:22:55] Member Pat Showalter: In September.

[00:22:55] Michaela: All right, okay. The next regular, sorry, the next regular meeting is in December, actually. But you'll have plenty of neighborhood meetings. Right.

[00:23:03] Member Pat Showalter: Right. That's why I was wondering, when's the next neighborhood meeting?

[00:23:07] Member Pat Showalter: That will be next Thursday.

[00:23:09] Member Pat Showalter: Next Thursday. All right. Okay. Well, I'm glad that, um, I asked you. Check that. Okay.

[00:23:18] Member Pat Showalter: There are Ramirez.

[00:23:19] Member Lucas Ramirez: Thank you. That actually reminds me. I have a question about, um, I have, I have an equity concern about some neighborhood meetings being virtual and others being in person. It doesn't strike me as fair. So can staff share with us what you're thinking about which approach we're taking?

[00:23:38] Michaela: Sure. So we've currently scheduled meeting spaces for most of the, um, meetings, should we be able to go in person? The next meeting next week, Thursday will be virtual. So if the committee would like to remain virtual for the year, we could do that. I will share that um, Our neighborhood meeting schedule is a 2 year rotation. So we won't be getting to every neighborhood area this year anyway. Um, and I think you went virtual sort of partially through last time. So, I'm not sure what that means from an equity standpoint, but I wanted to share all those considerations.

[00:24:14] Member Lucas Ramirez: We're doing the best we can. It's, it's, I wish we could, um, have a person meeting sooner, but I completely understand. That's what we're planning for then. That's, uh, project coronality. Yeah. Well,

[00:24:28] Member Pat Showalter: I know, I, for one, think that this is a kind of meeting that really is better in person because, um, you know, there's so many staff members that are brought to it and and people, particularly before the meeting, uh, have have an opportunity to just have nice casual conversations with the staff. I mean, there was an ask them direct questions. And um, that, that's just a great opportunity. So, um, I would like this one to come back, you know, as soon as possible. That's my personal feeling. I don't know how other people feel, but we do have, we just have to be sensitive to what are the numbers and the logistics. Um, So, you know, I'm sure you'll, Staff, staff is, you're reassessing this on a, like a, practically a, weekly basis, right? So. Yeah,

[00:25:16] Member Alison Hicks: I agree that it would be better in person at the same time right now, there really is a surge. Like, there's a big surge. There are actually more people than I've ever known before among my personal circle who have it. So I think for next week it's appropriate to not be in person.

[00:25:33] Member Pat Showalter: It is. I agree. Yeah. I mean, we were looking at the numbers earlier today and it's like, um, 500 per 10,000, um, instead of, uh, or is it 100,000? But, but I mean, the numbers have gone up from like, uh, like 5 or 6 fold in the last few weeks, which is really alarming. Um, okay, um. So that's it, I think. Oh, I think that that's that's it for the meeting. I'd like to thank the staff for their hard work. And, um, I hope, uh, all the neighborhood groups will, will enjoy the get-togethers that they are gonna be able to, um, have with this, is funds. Okay, good night. Thank you. Good night.

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