October 13, 2022 Council Neighborhoods Committee

Video

Transcript

[00:00:24] Unknown Speaker: We'll

[00:00:25] Unknown Speaker: give everybody a minute to

[00:00:26] Anna: log in before we, I hand it over to Churchill, Walter, to officially start. Great. Alrighty. I think we're, it looks like our attendings are pretty steady, so sure, Walter, would you like to start? Yes, well,

[00:00:58] Member Pat Showalter: welcome everybody. Um, I'd like to convene the council neighborhoods committee neighborhood meeting tonight and welcome you all. Uh, where, this is, this meeting is being held, um, Completely virtually. So um, We're all gonna do the best we can with Zoom. Uh, The council neighborhoods committee, um, is made up of 3 people myself, uh, Vice Mayor Hicks, and, um, uh, Mayor Lucas Ramirez, and, um, Vice Mayor Hicks and I are here tonight. Um, to make sure that we hear every word you have to say about, um, issues and questions that are important to you. Um, and if possible, uh, mayor Ramirez will, um, join us at the end of the meeting. I want to read the official verbiage about, um, a virtual meeting. During this declared state of emergency. This meeting will be conducted in accordance with California government code section 54953E as authorized by resolution. Please contact city.clerk at mountain view.gov to obtain a copy of the applicable resolution. All members of the council neighborhoods committee will participate in the meeting by video conference with no physical meeting location. Members of the public wishing to observe the live meeting, may do so, at um, HTTPS, colon slash slash mountain view.gov slash meeting, or, um, HTTPS, colon slash slash mountain view.legistar.com. We're going to have Spanish interpretation at this meeting. So at this point, I'm going to turn the meeting over to our interpreter, Elena, so she can explain how that's going to work. Nimbeni, let's see, when it's not chiff, uh, verunión esta noche del comite de vicingari del consejo. Ah, but I interpretacional Español, y un momento, si esque occuper la interpretación, por favor, precione el, icono, al inferior de supantaya, que dise interpretación, y selecione el Español. Gracias. Okay. Well, what's the purpose of this meeting? Well, the purpose of this meeting is really to, um, Uh, go out into the community and sort of little regions or neighborhoods once every 2 years to provide an opportunity for the residents to directly ask questions of our city staff. And, um, These meetings are also a great opportunity for the council members who are on the committee and the city staff to hear ideas from residents. So this is a good idea, good time for the exchange of both questions and ideas. We want to learn what the city's doing well. And what we can be doing better. Uh, comments at this meeting really help the city council and the staff understand what concerns residents and how we can improve city services. We always put together a neighborhood update. They're pretty substantial, um, you were mailed one with your uh, invitation. It's uh, this one I think is. 12 single space pages. Um, but there's a lot of information in there about an um, website links that, You may want to refer back to over time. Um, so I'm just going to, I'm just giving out a plug for this, even though it's 12 single space pages, um, you, it's, I found it worthwhile time to read it. Um, the agenda for this meeting is really pretty easy. We, you know, we say hello to everybody and explain what's going on, which is what we've done. We always have a, um, a little bit of information about our, uh, community emergency response, um, program. Then we're going to have special presentations tonight about, um, the rent stabilization program, particularly the mobile home one that, um, was uh, started just a few months ago. And then we go into the question and answer period. And um, 1st we'll ask the question that, um, The questions that you sit in sent in earlier. There were very many of them, so I hope that you're thinking of more questions and we'll put them in the Q and A. And then, um, and then we'll, uh, we'll have closing remarks. But the goal is to answer, as many of your questions as we possibly can in this meeting, verbally. And if there are things that we need to do research about, then staff will get your contact information and we'll get back to you later. For fun. I always keep a little tally of who answers the most questions. So I'll do that again tonight, and we'll see which staff person, um, comes out the winner. So, uh, Anna.

[00:06:27] Anna: Thank you, Chershaw, Walter. App appreciate that. So before we, um, pass it over to Robert and Anki for our presentations these evening, I do want to go through some housekeeping issues, um, with everybody, the participants this evening are going to be, uh, remain muted throughout the entirety of the meeting. Uh, The public can go ahead and submit questions and comments through the Q and A box starting now. Um, depending on your view or version of Zoom, you, that Q and A box may be on a different location on your screen. And in addition to that, if there are those who are phone only users, uh, later on during the live questions, you can press star 9 to ask your question and we will unmute you. Um, again, we, as Churchill Walter mentioned, we have divided it into 2 sections. One, we will go through the pre-submitted questions, which aren't uh, a whole lot, um, and then we will open up for the live, uh, Q and A, and we will look to the Q and A box 1st. So, um, thank you so much for everybody, buddy taking the time this evening and I will pass it on to uh, Robert Maitland from our Office of Emergency Services. Thank

[00:07:45] Robert Maitland: you, madam. I certainly appreciate it. Again, my name is Robert Maitland. I am your office of emergency services coordinator for the city of Mountain View, and without any further ado, I want to talk to you about our cert program, and what is, sir, cert is our community emergency response team. Here for the city of Mountain View. It's a FEMA program that's centered on educating individuals about disaster preparedness. And what we do is we organize teams of volunteers like yourselves that can support your community during times of a disaster. Our city of Mountain View has 18 recognized certain neighborhood groups. And we participate in cert academies, refresher trainees, drills, exercises. It's really a good time. As a matter of fact, and I'm done here. I need to get back to our academy where I've got several dozen of your neighbors and assert class right now, and that could be you for our next academy coming up in March. Our idea is to get people to think about disaster preparedness. We want to prepare citizens to take care of themselves and create a core of trained volunteers to encourage you to get out there and interact with your community and work hand in hand with our great fire department here. Can you go to the next slide, please? So, if you want to get on our wait list, you want to sign up for that academy, you want to be part of our certain drill that we've got coming up in November. If you want to go to our skills day, we have coming in January. If you want to be part of that next Cert Academy that we've got coming up in March. Reach out to me. Call me, email me, and follow that link that you see in front of you on your screen, and we'll get you signed up, follow us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, go and watch what we're doing on next door, be a part of this great program. And I really look forward to seeing you in class. Thank you so much. Thank

[00:09:25] Anna: you, Robert. Appreciate that valuable information. And now I will hand it over to Onki Van Derson. Uh, forgive me if I mispronounced your last name, monkey. She's our rent stabilization program manager.

[00:09:39] Anki Van Dersen: Good evening, everyone. My name is Anki Van Dersen. I'm the rent stabilization program manager here at the city of Mountain View. And our program includes implementing and administrating the mobile home rent stabilization ordinance. Um, I also want to introduce tonight, Martin Eichner, who many of you probably recognize he has facilitated the mobile home CNC meetings for quite a number of years. As well as guaranteed a man, who is our special counsel to the rental housing committee. That implements and makes decisions about the mobile home resident mental stabilization ordinance. Um, the move home rent stabilization ordinance or the MHRSO. Um as we in the city like to abbreviate a lot of things. Uh, went into in fact on October the 28th last year. And the purpose is to stabilize rents to provide eviction protections for mobile home tenants. And to ensure a fair rate of return, uh, for the park owners and mobile home landlords. Next slide, please. Uh, the coverage is for both mobile home owners. Um, that rent the mobile home space, so the space rent is subject to the MHRSO, and it's also applicable for mobile home renters who rent both the space and the mobile home itself. Um, a lot of details can be found on the following information page if you can switch to the next page. Um, the city of Mountain View rent stabilization program administers this program. Um, every other Thursday afternoon, we're in the public library where you can come visit us with any questions or problems that you have. We also have regular weekly office hours at our office on 298 Escuela Avenue. And below, you can also find our phone number, email, and website where you can find a prove of information about the mobile home rent stabilization program. Back to you, Anna. Thank you,

[00:12:00] Anna: auntie for that. Appreciate it. So we'll go ahead and get started with the pre-submitted questions. So, uh, the 1st pre-submitted question I have is regarding, um, how the city can help an internet service provider, uh, obtaining the permits they need to install, um, the equipment needed so they can provide better internet to the residents in the area. Thank

[00:12:27] Don Cameron: you, Anna. take this question. I'm Don Cameron, public works director and just for more specifics. The question was from, um, residents of new Frontier mobile home parks saying they were having difficulty with internet access. They've tried calling AT&T regarding this matter. And they tell us the city needs to permit them for them to install what is needed to provide better internet. Can the city allow the necessary permit for AT&T so we can all have better internet. So we have, um, thank you for submitting this question in advance, allowed us to do a little research into this. I will say that we have searched our excavation permit. That's what we call them, files, and there is no application on file right now from AT&T related to providing internet service for the new frontier mobile home park. We are now reaching out to AT&T to ask them about this and see if there is something we can do to help them submit their permit. Thank you. Thank

[00:13:28] Anna: you for that, Don. Appreciate it. Our next pre-submitted question is, um, wants to know regarding, um, Traffic concerns regarding, uh, the Live Nation contract and the concerts that occur in the area.

[00:13:50] John Marchant: Good evening, my name's John Marshant and the Community Services director. Um, yes, uh, we are aware of the traffic concerns during live nation events. Live Nation does hire a professional traffic and parking management service to provide traffic control for concert days. Uh, they do do determine based on the number of attendees they are expecting, how to staff up for each of those events. Um, And they do communicate with the police department on site if there's any incidents, accidents that are out of the ordinary to, hopefully, uh, continue to help ingress in egress. Uh, at the beginning of the concert season, we did have some, some issues arise that we were able to take care of early in the season to help, um, increased traffic flow throughout. Um, and then, you know, as we move into the next concert season, at the end of this concert season preparing for next, we will do a postseason wrap up with police live nation, their, uh, their management, their parking management. Um, service as well as community services and see if there's any other ways that we can help traffic during the concert season. Thanks. Thank

[00:15:09] Anna: you for that. App appreciate it. And I think, uh, we have our next pre-submitted question. Um, ask about if the MHRSO would consider, um, aligning with uh, the rent ordinance of a different city. Um,

[00:15:29] Anki Van Dersen: I can take that question. Um, the MHRSO is aligned with uh, the CPI of a lot of other, uh, jurisdictions that have rent stabilization, and it's currently set at 100% CPI. If the question is to change that in the ordinance, that would be a policy question, and that would have to be considered by an elected body, and this proposal is currently not on our staff working plan. Thank

[00:15:59] Anna: you for that, Onky. Appreciate it. And so now that we've, uh, that completes the pre-summitted question, so we'll move over to the live questions. And the 1st live question we have is regarding uh, Sunset Estates and uh, rent control. Anna?

[00:16:16] Member Pat Showalter: Before we go to that, um, I uh, I neglected to invite the vice mayor, the other member of the uh, council neighborhoods committee who's here to say hello. So, um, let's, let's take a brief break while and give uh, Alison an opportunity to talk. And um, that'll also give people a little time to think about their questions. Sure. So, Allison, or Vice Mayer Hicks. Okay,

[00:16:45] Member Alison Hicks: sure. Hello everyone. welcome to my house. I, um, it's a pleasure to hear, uh, your, hear your common questions. I think the only thing I miss is that I was on this committee before we met virtually and I was able to mingle with people before and afterwards and see exactly here and and go into detail on some of the questions. So maybe at the end, I'll ask what you prefer. I know it's really convenient for all of us to come virtually. But I'm wondering if you like to get togethers as well. So again, thank you for taking the time. Thank

[00:17:23] Anna: you, Vice Mayor Hicks. We appreciate that. So, um, I'll go back to uh, the uh, live question that's been typed into the Q and A, um, uh, regarding Sunset Estates and the rent control. Yeah,

[00:17:43] Unknown Speaker: this is guaranteed. I can answer that question first. So the question is a number of people at Sunset Estates have been worried about how with rent control our owner might find himself unable to continue to make enough profit to want to continue running the park. Could one of you explain what part of the mobile home rent stabilization ordinance addresses this problem and how it could help him? So under the mobile home rent stabilization ordinance, there is a provision for property owners, park owners, to petition for an individual rent adjustment. The MHS MHRSO guarantees that park owners will maintain a fair return on their property. So the park owner would have to file a petition with the rental housing committee, that petition would be heard by a hearing officer, and if the park owner is not maintaining the same operating income, that he was maintaining before rent control went into effect. Then a rent increase could be granted to ensure that he continues to maintain that amount. So the goal of the ordinance is to ensure that property owners don't suffer such a significant decrease that they're not maintaining a fair return on their property and they have to go out of business.

[00:19:07] Anna: Alrighty. Thank you for that. Appreciate it. I think our next, um, question is regarding, uh, also from Sunset Estates and, um, the not having cable or fiber, um, as it relates to their internet.

[00:19:27] Don Cameron: Thank you, Anna, Don Cameron, public works director. The question is Sunset Estates next door does have an agreement with Ridge Wireless and an on-site tower. Not sure if there's a way to share our tower or if there's enough bandwidth to support both parks. We don't have cable or fiber, so have had to resort to wireless. So this is a private agreement, then, between sunset estates and rich wireless, for both the on-site tire, tower and the provision of wireless services. And in that case, if there is interest in both parks sharing in that wireless service, it would have to be a private arrangement made between the parks and ridge wireless. So we would encourage, um, maybe the residents could talk to their management and talk to each other about the possibility of sharing these services. Thank you.

[00:20:23] Anna: Thank you for that, Don. Um, so we have another question regarding the types of plants that can be um, placed in mobile home parks.

[00:20:37] Martin Eichner: I

[00:20:37] Martin Eichner: think I'll be the person to answer that, but Anna, can you read the question?

[00:20:41] Anna: Um, the question says, can people plant uh, marijuana in uh, park uh, mobile homes?

[00:20:50] Martin Eichner: Um,

[00:20:51] Martin Eichner: that's an interesting question. Um, The, the mobile home residency law, which is the state law that regulates uh, activities on mobile home parks and it has a number of uh, regular, restrictions and permissions for both the park owner and the, and the mobile homeowners and it regulates a great deal of their relationship. Um, the closest part of the mobile home residency law that I can find it approaches this question is that a tree, a mobile home owner who wishes to plant a tree on their space needs permission from the park owner in writing before doing so. But, uh, as for marijuana, the other issue would be whether it's what's called a nuisance under the mobile home residency law. The homeowner, uh, can find themselves in trouble with the park owner, if any activity on their space or in their house constitutes a nuisance. And the nuisances by definition includes any violation of uh, criminal law. So, I'm not a big criminal law expert, and I, but I, so if it's still illegal to plant marijuana in, in California, then that would be a nuisance, and could be grounds for, uh, action against a homeowner, including potentially eviction.

[00:22:20] Anna: Thank you for that, Martin. So the next question we have is regarding speed bumps on Sulliman Avenue.

[00:22:30] Lorenzo Lopez: I'll take that. Lorenzo Lopez City Traffic Engineer. Um, the question is, is there anything in the works to slow down speeders on Sylvan Avenue? Speed bumps, et cetera. Um, we actually did a, Part of the neighborhood traffic management program. Uh, a few years back, the neighborhood came to us looking for something similar and, um, We had put out, we had a neighborhood meeting and we requested feedback from the, from the residents about what kind of items that they would like along Sylvan. And they actually vote, they were, it was put to a vote, a post, postcard survey was sent out, and Speed humps did not qualify at that time. Um, You need to have 67% in favor of speed, speed hops. And at the time it was, it was at 50% in favor. So I know recently some residents, um, had requested something similar, and we, we had reached back out to them saying, you know, we can go through the process again. They would need to follow that neighborhood traffic management process if they did want to request um, speed humps. So that would, uh, I can provide that information to the to the gentleman that submitted the question. I can put it in the chat. But to answer the question, there is nothing in the works right now.

[00:23:59] Anna: Thank you. Appreciate that. Um, the next question we have is uh, regarding how the calculation on the fair rate of return.

[00:24:12] Anki Van Dersen: Uh, thank you, Anna. Um, the question is as follows, how is the fair rate of return calculated? That was just explained by guaranteedeman, and the fair rate of return gets calculated for a landlord to see if he makes um, an reasonable rate of return. The 5% rent increase. They are wondering how that was determined and how we protect the fixed income residents when rent seem to be going up. Just because they are allowed. Not necessarily based on a hardship from the landlord, it would be good for a landlord to have to prove hardship in order to justify a rent increase. Um, so currently the 5% rent increase or any annual general adjustment of the rents, as it's called, AGA, is dependent on the CPA, which is the index uh, for this region. And there is a limitation. There is an upper and a lower limitation. It cannot be lowered than 2%. And it cannot be higher than 5%. Um, the actual inflation this year was higher than 5%, so that's why the rental housing committee had to set the AGA at 5%. So that formula is in the ordinance, it is not something randomly decided by the rental housing committee. As regards to the fixed income of the residents, Um, we understand that the question is, like, can we maybe uh, put the CPI lower? Or in this case, can we adopt that a landlord has to prove hardship in order to justify a rent increase? Again, those are policies, questions, and they should have to be considered by the elected body. Thank you.

[00:26:04] Anna: Thank you, Onkey. So our next question is as it relates to funding for to address internet issues. No, okay, so we'll, I'll make a note of that one and I'll do some more research with, uh, the rest of the team. Um, and we'll definitely make sure to post that on our website as well. Um, the follow-up question, so I will save that one. Um, and I believe, um, Michael, did you have, um, uh, some additions to add to an earlier question that was made about, um, planting um, marijuana?

[00:26:45] Michael Canfield: I do, Anna. Thank you. Hi everyone. Michael Canfield? I'm a captain with the police department. Just for clarification cannabis. It cannot be planted outside. There is a moratorium on external or outside cannabis planting in the city of mountain view. Uh, inside a, um, one of the homes would be not a criminal violation, whether it's a civil violation wouldn't be a matter for the police department, and if it violated, did the rules that were fed earlier, the nuisance rules. But in interior grow would not be illegal. exterior would be,

[00:27:18] Martin Eichner: is the short answer for cannabis.

[00:27:21] Michael Canfield: And any questions that anybody has specifically because cannabis does get a bit nuanced. I would encourage anyone to reach out to the police department. We do have some very well trained specific officers that can work with you on answering your legal cannabis consumption and growing questions.

[00:27:40] Anna: Thank you for that. Appreciate, uh, you providing additional, uh, information. Uh, the next question I have is regarding enabling solar panel.

[00:27:52] Danielle Lee: Good evening. I can take this question. My name is Danielle Lee. I'm the chief sustainability. the officer with the city. Um, uh, I don't have a full answer on all of the constraints that, um, a mobile homeowner may face in terms of installing solar. I know that there have been improvements in the technology in terms of the weight of the units and whether a mobile home could structurally hold solar panels. And then, of course, I think the questioner also mentioned, um, other considerations related to the sourcing of electricity.

[00:28:27] Don Cameron: So I'd be happy to commit to following up

[00:28:30] Danielle Lee: and researching this question further. And I'll provide my email address into the chat.

[00:28:37] Anna: Thank you so much. Appreciate you sharing the information and also sharing your email in the chat. Um. So the next one is a very similar question. Uh, Danielle, I don't know if you saw it regarding uh, solar on the actual homes. If you would like to speak to that?

[00:29:01] Danielle Lee: Yeah, I think this is probably part of the same larger discussion, so there would be individual unit constraints related to the weight of the panels, um, and then larger site considerations as well. So, um, again, I'll put my contact information and would be happy to follow up, um, with additional information.

[00:29:22] Anna: Thank you. Appreciate that. Um, the next question comes regarding the promotion of the rent stabilization program.

[00:29:33] Anki Van Dersen: Yes, thank you, Anna. Yes, we hold a lot of outreach meetings and workshops. Um, and if you maybe can reshare the, the slide that we put up before, with all our contact information and the website that we made specifically for the mobile home rent stabilization program. And there is a lot of information to be found. Please reach out to us by phone, by email, drop by our office, and we are there to help you with any questions or problems that you may have. Thank you.

[00:30:09] Anna: Thank you for that. Um, the next uh, question is regarding uh, Drivers on Sullivan Avenue and um, not maybe necessary not keeping clear on certain areas.

[00:30:36] Michaela Holman Tinshaw: And just to add, I think this might be for our, our traffic team again. I think there's a clarification this relates to 237 specifically.

[00:30:46] Lorenzo Lopez: All start the response and I'll kick it over to our police department. Um, We could, uh, Lorenzo Lopez traffic engineer. We can go out to this site and look at if there's any griping, um, enhancements we can do. Maybe the striping is faded. We could also look at some signage that may be missing or can be added. And then, uh, as far as the enforcement goes, we don't do the enforcement on our side, so I'll hand that over to the police department.

[00:31:12] Michael Canfield: Everybody, Mike Campfield again from the police department. Um, certainly we're able to go ahead and take a look and and collaborate with Lorenzo and his team. And make sure that the signage is appropriate for us to conduct enforcement. It would be helpful to have maybe a little bit more specifics about the time and days of the violations. My guess, because it's probably heavy commute hours, um, which, you know, isn't ideal for enforcement because that's the time that everybody needs a little bit of additional enforcement. Um, but if whomever submitted that question, maybe you could just enter into either the notes, uh, or into the general, um, Q and A portion, the specific times and any more specifics about the location, but absolutely directing the patrol of our, uh, traffic enforcement team, our motorcycle officers, is something that we can do that can help alleviate that problem. And I have not seen that been notified or sent to us in the past. So that would be a good one for us to put on our radar. pardon the pun. Um, and also always feel free to reach out to us directly for traffic enforcement issues.

[00:32:15] Anna: Thank you, Michael. Appreciate that. So, um, Next, uh, one I have is, um. Regarding the establishing of a homeowners association.

[00:32:29] Martin Eichner: Right, I guess that's, I guess that's for me. Um, I'll just read it quickly. Our park owner has openly stated that they aren't in favor of establishing a homeowner association. What resources are there to help us establish one? If there is fear of retaliation and eviction by some. So, um, Again, looking at the mobile home residency law, the state law, it guarantees the right of mobile home owners to meet, uh, with the park management either individually or as an organized group, and the managers, and the owner must meet with either the individual or the group, upon written 30 days written notice, and the participation in that kind of activity is specifically, uh, protected against retaliation under the mobile home residency law. So, you have a right. There's actually a series of free speech rights under the mobile home residency law, including the right to meet with the owner and also to use the community room for political meetings and with certain limitations. They have political signs on your home. So there are all these rights under the law. Here's where I give my, every 2 year warning about the mobile home residency law, though, because The enforcement mechanism is not great. The main enforcement mechanism for any of the violations of this law is to, uh, for the homeowner to take the park owner to court, which is often cumbersome and difficult, and if it's outside of small claims court, it can be expensive. So, enforcement is not great. I will mention that they just, uh, established a new program called the mobile home residency protection program, which is supposed to begin to allow, um, homeowners to make complaints to the in a California Department of Housing and community development. And they are supposed to investigate and we're appropriate, refer that to a legal aid provider. So there may be some additional health these days, although it's a new program. It's been difficult to predict how effective it actually is. Um, so that's the rule for meeting with the residents. I just want to say one other thing, which is a related topic, under the mobile home residency law. There is a, if the park is for sale, uh, the, the, residents or their homeowners have a right to form a nonprofit corporation and to bargain with the park owner for sale to their group as a nonprofit. In other words, they convert it into a, a common interest of development where the, Mobile homeowners become the owners of the park. And then again, there's a requirement if they're organized as a suitably as a nonprofit, the, um, park owner has to negotiate with them as part of the sale. I did, here's the question I have, though. going to kick it over to Karen. Karen, under the ordinance, what protections are there, if any, again, for, uh, protecting homeowners from retaliation for engaging in activities such as meeting with the management?

[00:35:52] Karen: So the amateur SO doesn't address that directly. Um, you know, as you already mentioned, the, um, mobile home residency law protects, um, mobile home owners, from eviction, except for limited circumstances. And the MHRSO protects mobile home occupants who may be tenants of a mobile home with eviction protection. So, they can only be evicted for limited, reasons, so that would protect you from eviction. But, um, there isn't anything explicit about harassment in the MHRSO.

[00:36:36] Anna: Thank you for that. Our next question is regarding, um, the, uh, assistance of CSA.

[00:36:47] Michaela Holman Tinshaw: Thanks, Anna. I can answer that. Michaela Holman Tinshaw and the housing and neighborhood services manager here at the city. Um, and the city has a couple of uh, programs to support um, CSA, the community services agency, which is one of the uh, safety net agencies that does quite a lot of work in Mountain View, as well as other nonprofits that do excellent work to support our Mountain View community. Um, we provide uh, grants through an annual process, um, out of the city manager's office, and then we also have a, um, program through our federal funding source, uh, the community development block grant. That we also provide grants through on a biennial basis, and we are actually just about to do our annual grant cycle again. Um, this December, and we encourage all nonprofits to apply, CSA almost always does and receives grants. Um, but we do always look for ways to increase their capacity and support them. So, um, certainly, we will continue to work with our partner nonprofits to see how we can support them. If there is an area where, You know, you felt that you haven't been able to to get the services that you quite need, um, would be happy to look into that as a particular area of need as we consider funding in future years. Thank you.

[00:38:04] Anna: Thank you for that, Michaela. Um, the next question we have is regarding. and I think Audrey has more to chime in there. Oh, I'm so sorry, Audrey. Um,

[00:38:14] Audrey Seymour Rambert: thank you. I was considering whether or not to raise my hand just to add to your excellent answer. Hi, Audrey Seymour Rambert, assistant city manager and chief operating officer. Um, I, I also, um, can note that the city partners with CSA, um, through a number of contracts, in addition to the grants that were mentioned to provide support for them in their more general programs, they, um, received significant funding from the city of Mountain View to support, um, rent relief to residents during the pandemic. Um, and they are also our contract partner to administer the city's guaranteed basic income pilot program.

[00:39:02] Anna: Thank you for that, Audrey, and my apologies for not seeing your your hand raise. It's hard for me to see everybody on, on, on one screen, my apologies. Um, the next question we have is regarding PG&E and installing direct service.

[00:39:19] Don Cameron: Thank you, Anna, Don Cameron, public works director. The question is, can the city get PG&E to install direct service to the parks, 4 parks or 7 metered? We had 4 outages in the heat wave a few weeks ago within 24 hours and PG&E points fingers at the park at the park points fingers at PG&E. And then a few years ago, PG&E went in and connected 2 parts to 2 parks directly. The answer to the question is PG&E service is an arrangement between PG&E and the property owners. The city does not and cannot regulate PG&E and how it provides its service. They are actually regulated through the California public utilities commission or PUC. Uh, what we do do is we issue permits to PG&E for them to use our right away to, for their electric transmission lines, for their equipment so they can provide service. And should, you know, arrangements be PG&E were to come in and request permits, uh, to provide direct service. We, as a city, would naturally work with them and cooperate and get them the permits they need to do so. But it really does have to be something that PG&E initiates and and is going to be the one to deliver the service. Thank

[00:40:45] Anna: you so much for that, Don. Appreciate it. We have another cannabis question. And

[00:40:53] Canfield: I think I can take that one. Um, again, Mike Campfield from the police department. Um, the question is regarding the uh, lawful consumption or smoking rather of cannabis, uh, in the city of Mountain View. Inside your home, the the smoking or vaping of cannabis is lawful. It is legal Outside, you can think of it like where you could drink a beer, essentially. Um, it is not legal. It's not lawful to walk down the street and smoke cannabis or to vape cannabis. Um, I do not believe there's any laws against edible consumption of cannabis, but for smoking and vaping. It is illegal. And again, we can, uh, even a not. Pardon me, even anonymously, we can answer your questions about cannabis consumption. So I'd encourage anybody to um, email me, michael.canfield at mountainview.gov. If you have any questions about cannabis and I can answer them and or direct you to the best person. Thank

[00:41:48] Anna: you for that. And Audrey, I see. You have your hand raise? Yes,

[00:41:53] Audrey Seymour Rambert: I do. Thank you, and thank you, Captain Canfield. Um, I would add that the city has a, a smoking ordinance that relates to multifamily residential properties, where um, smoking is prohibited, um, inside units for any type of, of, um, tobacco, um, uh, products. So that would be, um, the exception to the previous answer. Thank

[00:42:26] Anna: you both for that, for adding that, really appreciate it. Um, so the last, uh, or the last, uh, live question that I'm seeing right now is, and I hope I'm summarizing this correctly is regarding uh, rush hours and not and uh, drivers maybe not paying attention to uh, certain painted areas. Hi

[00:42:57] Lisa Alice: Anna, I can take that question. I'm Lisa Alice, this and public works director. Well, we will take a look out there and see if the legend or the, the note on the street for keep clear is faded, if it is, uh, will, will uh, refresh that. And I'll see if um, police wants to add any further comments. Yeah,

[00:43:19] Canfield: um, It sounds like this is kind of piggybacking on some of the issues that we were talking about on Soban before. Um, and we're definitely gonna, now hearing this is rush hour, which makes sense. Uh, I will circle back with our traffic enforcement team and Sergeant Goff and make sure that that Sylvan Avenue and the, um, the, the roadways during traffic hours, high peak traffic hours, our exam and then enforce them, we're looking specifically for this problem. Thank

[00:43:48] Anna: you for that. Appreciate it. Um, we'll give, um, oh, I have here another question regarding uh, noise complaints. This one might be

[00:44:10] Canfield: for me, but I guess it would depend if it's shoreline related or not, but if it's related, I guess, in general to a allowed party, um, or, uh, maybe allowed vehicle or something like that in the driveway. Um, those are certainly things that we can handle and can address as a, uh, police department. They don't always constitute violations of the law. In fact, uh, we don't have an ordinance for, um, uh, noise complaints specifically in the city of Mountain View, but there are penal code sections that do apply. Um, so I would encourage anybody to call our non-emergency number, uh, and report the incident to the police department. Uh, I believe it's the current number that we're, we're using is 903-6344. And you can let us know and we can address those. Often, um, if you don't feel comfortable addressing the issue. Law enforcement can be a pretty good mediator in those cases. Sure. You know, if I can

[00:45:07] John Marchant: jump in, I will look for the, um, Noise complaint hotline for live nation, and I will put that in the chat when they find it. Thank

[00:45:18] Anna: you so much to you both. Really, really, um, helpful to share that that information. So, and I don't see any more new, uh, questions in the live Q and A, so just a reminder to everybody that you can type in your questions in the Q and A, or if for some reason you are on a phone only, uh, function, you can go ahead and hit star 9 and we will unmute you to ask your question. I'll give everybody a little bit in case somebody needs a moment to type their their questions. Anna,

[00:46:14] Michaela: if you'd like while we're waiting for people to submit more questions, I can share the, um, website of what I have here. Oh, I see we have a hand raise from a call-in listener.

[00:46:21] Anna: Yes, let me, let me go ahead and allow our call in listener, um, and then I'll have you share. How about that Michaela? Good evening, how are you? Oh,

[00:46:40] Public Speaker: hi, Michaela, have you renewed rebuilding togethers, Grant? Hi

[00:46:48] Michaela: nice to connect with you. We have reached out to rebuilding together to get a sense of their capacity and their need, and um, they will have an opportunity to apply for funds during the next funding cycle, which will begin this um, December. So, um, So, if they apply and the funds are approved by, um, the review committee, the human relations committee and the city council, they'll have an opportunity to to receive funds, but we have reached out to them to see if they are interested and, um, we'll be sharing with them the information about how to apply. Thank you

[00:47:23] Public Speaker: Yeah, well they told me they told me they applied, so I was just wondering, thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[00:47:38] Anna: I don't see any additional hand raise? And I don't see any, um, more questions in the live Q and A. So I'll let, uh, Michaela, do you want to, or hold on? I've had a few more. Let me go ahead. Uh, and uh, unmute our caller. Good evening.

[00:48:11] Public Speaker: Does everybody know about the Mountain View uh public safety uh foundation program? Thank God and praise Jesus. They gave me this senior citizen, a new water heater. I got their information through the CSA senior services. Thank

[00:48:32] Anna: you for sharing that we we appreciate. Mhm Any other, um, I see an, uh, I see a question in, in the Q and A about how to listen in Spanish and we do have a live interpretation. So on the bottom of your screen, you should see an icon, uh, similar to, we have it on the screen for interpretation, if you select that icon, you can listen to the, uh, the meeting in Spanish. Is

[00:49:14] Audrey Seymour Rambert: it possible, Anna, Anna, to ask, um, Anna, to, um, or sorry, it's Elena, who's our interpreter tonight, to, to say that in Spanish?

[00:49:24] Anna: Well, I, I, I don't want to mess with technology, so I guess I'll go ahead and do it. I'll use my Spanish. So, when I launch this, but I'm specialas, que occupan interpretación en Español, within Mira en la parte de abajo, de supantaya, in Mira en elicono, que indica interpretación, Sio prima, nese cono, vanapoder, escucharla presentación, toda la información en Español. And I also see a follow-up, uh, clarification on the, um, talking a little bit more on the PG&E, uh, possibilities that were spoken about earlier. Oh,

[00:50:20] Don Cameron: Don Cameron Public Works director. Um, Again, the, The arrangements with PG&E are between the property owner and or building tenant and PG&E. So, The vest options are to contact PG&E, and Obviously, actually, now that I think about it, it really needs to be the park owner or management firm that would contact PG&E, so you would need to talk to them and talk to them about what it would take to get direct service rather than being submetered, and see if they want to pursue that with PG&E. And as I mentioned before, The most the city can do is that if there is a project proposed by PG&E, then to upgrade service lines or make changes to provide direct service and they need permits from the city to do work in our right away. We will certainly work with PGE to get them the permits as expeditiously as possible. But it really needs to be PG&E taking the lead on this. Thank

[00:51:33] Anna: you for that. Appreciate it. So let me go ahead and roll down and double check to make sure there are no hands raised. I don't see any more questions typed into the Q and A. Um. So with that and again, we'll give every, uh, hopefully this will give an opportunity for somebody to type in their question or raise their hand if, if they would like. Um, Michaela, I know you have a list of resources, you've been collecting through throughout the meeting. Um, if you want to share those. Yes,

[00:52:14] Michaela: thanks, Anna. Just give me 12nd.

[00:52:31] Anna: Lisa, you may have to stop sharing your screen. I've

[00:52:34] Michaela: got it. Oh okay. So here we have some of the resources that were mentioned. The 1st is the rent stabilization website on the mobile home. Um. Rent stabilization ordinance. I do have the CPUC website. That's the commission that regulates PG&E that Don mentioned earlier. The non-emergency police line and the live nation noise complaint line. I like to share the slides of folks if they want to can just take a quick photo of the screen. Um. So they can have that. Martin, I see your hands raised. Did you want to have me add something to this? You're I think you're muted, Martin. I

[00:53:21] Martin Eichner: don't have the text to give you right to second, but the references I made to the mobile home residency law and the protection program. You can get to those by uh, Googling State of California, Department of Housing and Community Development, and you'll see a link to mobile home issues, and um, they have a fair amount of information on their homepage that are helpful to mobile home cases, and you can follow up on some of the questions that have come up tonight that way. I

[00:53:53] Michaela: see a couple more questions have come in. So while we answer those, I'll try to add that to this page for folks. Thank

[00:53:59] Anna: you, Michaela. So while she answered that, um, so we have another question, uh, regarding the, um, the live nation traffic. Good

[00:54:14] John Marchant: evening, once again, John Marchant Community Services director. Um, so as I stated earlier, at the end of the concert season, we will do a debrief with Live Nation, there, um, parking management, um, professionals that they hire to help with traffic mitigation as well as police and others. Um, some of the things that we are also looking at are ways to get, um, people to arrive early, whether that's through incentives or otherwise so that not everyone is arriving at one time, rather trying to spread out some of the traffic. So there are things that we are looking to try to help address. And I don't know if police would like to jump in with anything

[00:54:54] Canfield: else on their end. No, I think, um, you know, quickly, there were some some mitigating efforts that were made, kind of working with John and his team, as well as with the private parking or traffic enforcement company, and we did see some improvements out at Shoreline for traffic. Um, but obviously during kind of high peak need times, it's a congested area, but we're going to continue to collaborate with with John and with the, the, uh, The traffic enforcement team out there. Thank

[00:55:30] Anna: you for that. Appreciate it. Um, so, uh, the next one, I think, uh, Don, you might be able to assist with that one and it's regarding uh, contacting PG&E. At

[00:55:45] Don Cameron: this point, I, the best I can suggest is contacting PG&E customer service and asking them who you could talk to. Uh, about your concerns. I know that their website is PGE dot com. Uh, And again, um, If you have your mobile home has an account with PG&E, the bill probably has a contact information as well, and an account representative that could be contacted.

[00:56:20] Anna: Thank you for that. App appreciate that. And so, uh, we have a next, uh, question regarding, um, A dangerous turn on El Camino? So

[00:56:35] Don Cameron: I'm, this is Don Cameron Public Works director. I'll start answering this question and then turn it over to Lorenzo Lopez, our city traffic engineer. Um, We have been out to the site for the Sahara mobile park from El Camino Real. And and even reviewed it with, um, management there, and talked about the possibility of, um, uh, additional signage, and, and other options that we can do that can help improve visibility for those turning into and out of the park. Um, so, Lorenzo, is there more that you want to add at this time or do you want to visit the site again? Uh,

[00:57:22] Lorenzo Lopez: a little bit of both. Lorenzo Lopez traffic engineer. When we met with the management at the mobile home park, Um, we looked at the, the number of lanes that are at this location, and there's an upcoming project that will change the striping in this area, um, along El Camino. So this will help push vehicles a little further towards the median. Which could help that turn into the site. But, um, this is Caltrans right of way, so we have to kind of determine what is within our jurisdiction and what is within Caltrans jurisdiction and and, um, Figure out who who can do what, if anything. So, um, it is, it is something that we would have to go back out and really determine uh, what's out there and what, what the challenges are because we, we do understand there's a, there's multiple lanes and then it kind of chokes down the road chokes down in this specific area where people are trying to turn into the, into the driveway. So it will, it will require further, um, further investigation in the field and then contacting Caltrans. Thank

[00:58:36] Anna: you for that. Appreciate it. Um, I think the next question is uh, for John Marchant. Um, Can did we lose him?

[00:58:50] John Marchant: I'm here, thank you. Um,

[00:58:52] Unknown Speaker: so the question is, I, um, seems that,

[00:58:55] John Marchant: uh, traffic has not improved and and interesting getting together and talking about it more from the, um, little home association. So, um, pre, uh, pre-COVID, we did have, uh, For several years in a, I want to say it was 3 years in a row. We um, engaged the North Bay Shore, um, some of the businesses. I believe we had representation from the mobile home park there. And so we can look at bringing that back prior to the next concert season and engaging that group once again. Um, now we can, uh, have a conversation.

[00:59:34] Anna: Thank you for that. And I see the uh, next uh, item typed in the Q and A is, um, revising the retroactive date for mobile home rent. Hello,

[00:59:56] Anki Van Dersen: this is Anki Van Dersen rent sterilization program manager. Um, um, this again, uh, sounds like a policy. Um, question that would have to be addressed by uh, the elected body and currently that is not in the staff's work.

[01:00:21] Anna: Thank you for that. Appreciate it. Um. The next question is regarding, um, bicycles, um, on El Camino and going the wrong way.

[01:00:44] Lorenzo Lopez: Lorenzo Lopez Traffic Engineer. I think this might be a question for Mike and police department.

[01:00:50] Canfield: Yeah. Thank you so moving off the notes here. Um, we do have problems with bicycles, you know, going the wrong way, uh, and and riding dangerously, um, as we do with cars driving dangerously. They're, you know, congested roadways. There are improvements that are going on in many of our roadways, specific to El Camino in that area. I think the access to the trail probably brings in a lot of bicycles that want to jump onto the trail there. That's something that I can make sure that our traffic enforcement team is aware of. But probably the best effort would be an educational approach.

[01:01:26] Don Cameron: If, if I may, add on, Don Cameron Public Works director, Also, to make a note, again, that Caltrans will be coming in in a next summer and starting the repaving project for El Camino Real throughout Mountain View and Palo Alto, and the city has been working closely with Caltrans, as they design the pavement repairs and the paving project to add in bicycle and pedestrian improvements all along El Camino Real within the city and m view. One of the key improvements that we are looking at and work with Caltrans on is to add bike lanes. Where we can, we would like to add protected bikeways, where there is enough right away. Uh, where it gets a little tighter, it might be more buffered bike lanes where it's more the striping with an extra buffer area. And for us, what we're working towards then is to create a more bicycle friendly facility as much as you can. It's still, you know, a 6 lane arterial carries very heavy traffic volumes, but by creating an actual space for bicyclists. Uh, we hope that will provide the bicyclists more options. And one of the key ways this space is being provided. It is something that the city council has approved. Is to remove all the on street parking from El Camino real. And this is what will help us create the space that we need to add the bicycle facilities. Thanks, Dawn.

[01:03:00] Rhea: and this is Rhea Hood's Parrot Low. the transportation manager. I just wanted to add one more thing, that the city is, the city has a safe routes to school program, and um, so, uh, as part of that program, we're, we're doing training at all of the schools, so if it involves students, in the last 6 months, uh, we've delivered training to 3200 students, including information on, you know, making sure that students write in the, in the same direction as traffic when they're riding on the roadway. And we're reinforcing those messages. Also, if I can just add that we have a bicycle circus as part of the monster bash that's coming up on October 29th. It's a free event. And if you want to bring your kids to that, they can also, you know, hone their skills on safe um biking as part of that. Um, So again, it's October 29th at Ranksdorf Park between 10 and 2. And um, as part of that also, there's free bike repair, which is a value of about $100 each. So, It's a great event um, and 1st come 1st serve in terms of the bike repair. Thank

[01:04:06] Anna: you for that. So I, let me just double check to make sure and um, make sure nobody's hand is raised. I don't see anybody's hand raised, and Um, Rhea, I think, um, there's a question in the Q and A regarding the last, um, the event you mentioned, um, regarding the time. I think you're on mute, Ria. Um,

[01:04:48] Rhea: I'm going to uh, find the URL just a moment. Yeah,

[01:04:53] Michaela: I've got the flyer up. I post it 12nd. Oh, great. Thank you. Thank you. Oh,

[01:05:09] Rhea: you can, so it's from 10 AM till 2 PM. And there's, um, you can find information at mountain view.gov slash safe routes. I'll put that in the chat. Thank

[01:05:24] Anna: you. I appreciate you guys sharing and placing in the chat. So, let me just, oh, I see one attendee with their hand raised. Let me go ahead and unmute them. Good evening.

[01:05:43] Gloria Mungo: Yeah, good evening. My name is good evening. My name is Gloria Mungo. What's up with the mobile home park monitoring, the gas, and it's not being transferred over to PG&E. What's the rule on that?

[01:06:07] Don Cameron: I'm sorry, I don't think I understand the question.

[01:06:12] Gloria Mungo: The question is, why does the mobile home parks monitor the gas? So, and put it, put the gas amount, the prices on your statement and it's not monitored by PG and E. It's separate from PG&E. We have this is walking mobile home park and we have our own electric uh PG&E electric meter so we're billed individually but we're not billed individually for our gas.

[01:06:49] Don Cameron: I would need somebody else that's uh more knowledgeable about mobile home parks to respond to that one. It's not a public works related item. Thank you.

[01:07:00] Michaela: Martin, can you weigh in? I think this relates to the sub metering that um, many parts do.

[01:07:08] Martin Eichner: Yes, it's sub media.

[01:07:10] Michaela: Martin, I think you're on mute. There you go.

[01:07:12] Martin Eichner: So, Just looking at this, the answer through the lens of the mobile home residency law. The parks have a fair amount of discretion to have sub metering or master metering, and to pass that along to the homeowners, as long as they don't include any of their own costs in the bills that the homeowners are paying. So the homeowner, regardless of how their meter should not be paying for any utility, including gas, unless that's a utility or service they directly use, or they park owners also allowed to include a fair ratio of the common area utility costs for each homeowner, but it has to be a portion correctly based on the number of homeowners, and it can't, it can't be applied unevenly. So they can charge you for your own use, whether it's submediate or a master meter, or they can, and they can add in your share of the common areas. And the bills, again, whether they're coming directly from PG&E or from the park owner, have to break down the charges and the rates that are being applied. So you can check to make sure you're not getting overcharged. So that's the rule under the mobile home residency law.

[01:08:39] Anna: Thank you for that, Martin. Um, I don't see any new questions in the Q and A, and I don't see any. Let me just take a look, any hands raised. Um, Michaela, I know you were gonna add to your resources slide. Do you want to share that one more time?

[01:09:01] Michaela: I would love to. So in addition to some of the resources we had previously. I added this website that Martin mentioned, this is the state website about, um, state mobile home parks rules, so that's right here. And then the last website I added is the safe routes website that Rhea mentioned. So I'll just leave this up if folks want to take a screenshot or hold their phone up to their computers and take a picture. Uh, sometimes I like to have those to reference later, just in case I need them.

[01:09:45] Anna: Thank you for that, Michaela. We'll just give everybody a little bit of time to go ahead and screenshot. I don't see any, uh, additional.

[01:10:09] Michaela: Well, I did just see one additional website that is always a winner in these. So I'm going to add it. You guys are going to see my real-time editing. But it's mountain view.gov slash. Is it NTMP? Yes. NTMP. This is where you can make, um, request relating to, um, traffic. And things like that. So I'm not even going to format it beautifully. Ill just make it as big as I can. So folks can see it right there on the bottom. Moundview dot gov slash NTMP. And this is where you can make roadway, uh, concerns. Here, Don, you tell what it's about.

[01:10:48] Don Cameron: All right. That's the neighborhood traffic management program. It's where if you have concerns related to traffic calming in your neighborhood, and you would like to, uh, explore possible measures to deal with traffic calming such as your concerns that the vehicles may be speeding in your neighborhood or you may be experiencing cut through traffic. If you have other roadway related concerns, uh, the best method is to use the ass mountain view, uh, channel to cement those concerns. So that would be mountain view dot gov slash ask MV. And there you can submit not only concerns about road and traffic issues, but any other city related issue there. There's a whole slew of topics, and when you do submit your concern through there, then it starts to get routed to the various departments and staff that can help answer your concern and respond to you. There's our there's our plug for Ass Mountain View tonight. Thank

[01:12:01] Anna: you for that. So it doesn't look like there's any more in the Q and A, and it, I don't see any hands raised. Um. So well, if that I will give everybody a moment in case they want to add something. Um. So it doesn't seem like it. So let me go ahead. I know, um, Cher show Walter had to switch over to phone, uh, phone only, so I will go ahead and, um, Mute her and she can provide us with our final comments. Chair show Walter.

[01:13:01] Member Pat Showalter: Hi, everybody, um, I, uh, my internet service died in the middle of this, so I'm joining my phone, and I just wanted to thank everybody again for taking part, and um, and really, um, just hope that you, uh, take make good use of all these, uh, um, websites and phone numbers that have been shared. Um, it really does, uh, take the eyes of everybody to make sure that, that the city keeps up with, with all the things that need to be kept up with. So, um, if you, you know, if you have a question or concern or you see something that you think needs, um, attention, please let everybody, please let the city know, and. You know, you've been given a lot of, a lot of ways to do that. Ask Mountain View is one of the easiest. Um, that you can also find that on the home page just along the bottom. There's a little sort of dime size circle that you can um push. So I, I'd like to thank everybody, uh, particularly Anna and Michaela, and um, it sounded like Dawn answered the most questions, but frankly, I was off so long, I wasn't sure, and I'd like to give my, um, my, uh, uh, fellow committee member, ice mayor, Alison Hicks, an opportunity to say the final goodbye. Thank you.

[01:14:27] Member Alison Hicks: Well, this is the final good night. I have to say it's fascinating to go to these every neighborhood has a very different set of questions and particularly the local home parks. So it's always, so it's very interesting to see how they vary. Good night.

[01:14:45] Anna: Thank you. And before we go, I did want to give a big thank you to Elena Garcia for providing our interpretation this evening.

[01:14:54] Anna: Thank you, everyone. And the meeting is adjourned.

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