1 MINUTES
Regular Meeting of the
Gardena City Council
Tuesday, January 23, 2024
The Regular Meeting Notice and Agenda of the Gardena City Council of the City of Gardena, California, was called to order at 7:33 PM on Tuesday, January 23, 2024, in the Council Chamber at City Hall 1700 West 162
nd Street, Gardena, California; Mayor Tasha Cerda
presiding.
1. ROLL CALL
Present: Mayor Tasha Cerda; Mayor Pro Tem Mark E. Henderson; Council Member Rodney G. Tanaka; Council Member Paulette C. Francis and Council Member Wanda Love; Other City Officials and Employees present: City Manager Clint Osorio; City Attorney Carmen Vasquez; City Clerk Mina Semenza; and Deputy City Clerk Becky Romero.
PUBLIC COMMENT ON CLOSED SESSION - None
2. CLOSED SESSION - None
CITY ATTORNEY REPORT OUT OF CLOSED SESSION - None
3. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Adebola Akinsanya and Justin Bell led the Pledge of Allegiance. Both are in the 5 th grade and attend Purche Elementary School. Adebola is interested in becoming a doctor and enjoys playing basketball, his favorite subject is math. Justin is a great student, and he too enjoys playing football for the Gardena Mohicans for the last three seasons, his favorite subject is science, and he wants to become a firefighter when he gets older. Both students are in the STEM Magnet program and assist the kindergarten students during their recess as part of the school’s community service project. Both students thanked and introduced their parents and family members.
4. INVOCATION
Pastor Larry Dozier, of The New Earth Christian Church, gave the Invocation.
5. PRESENTATIONS
5.A March 5, 2024 Election Presentation - City Clerk Mina Semenza gave the presentation
5.B Recognition of Members of the City of Gardena Police Explorer Post #142 for their Successes at the 26th Annual Chandler Tactical Competition in Chandler, Arizona - was accepted by Members of the Explorer Post #142 and their Leaders Lieutenant Alex Rivera, Sergeant Octavio Saldana, Detective Marisol Bazan, Officer Victor Saldana, K- 9 Officer Mike Medeiros, Detective Liliana Pinela , and Officer Kiara Preciado. Chief of Police Mike Saffell spoke and shared information about the competition activities and gave the names of Post members and the high marks that were won in the competition.
DocuSign Envelope ID: A4E52572-C359-4B62-B69A-39ED39D1A5F2 2 Explore Advisor Detective , Tyler Nash thanked all members of the Council , Explorer Post members and the Gardena Foundation, and Chief Saffell for all their support . He expressed his appreciation to the Explorer Post for their hard work and dedication and to all his advisor staff . He also commended Team Leader, Captain Hailey Ibarra for her leadership. He stated that if anyone had questions for him to please contact him at
[email protected]. Mayor Cerda thanked them all for presenting the city and felt very proud.
5.C Gardena Events Video Presentation
6. PROCLAMATIONS
7. APPOINTMENTS – No Appointments were made.
8. CONSENT CALENDAR
8.A Waiver of Reading in Full of All Ordinances Listed on this Agenda and that they be Read by Title Only
CONTACT: CITY CLERK
8.B Approved Minutes:
Regular Meeting of the City Council, January 9, 2024
CONTACT: CITY CLERK
8.C Receive and File of Minutes:
Planning and Environmental Quality Commission, December 5, 2023 CONTACT: COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
8.D Approval of Warrants/Payroll Register, January 23, 2024 CONTACT: CITY TREASURER
January 23, 2024: Wire Transfer: 12617-12629; Prepay: 174700- 174702; Check Numbers: 174703 -174847 for a total Warrants issued in the amount of $2,569,470.51; Total Payroll Issued for January 12, 2024: $1,830,564.51.
8.E Monthly Investment Portfolio, December 2023
CONTACT: CITY TREASURER
8.F Personnel Report P-2024-2 1-23-24
CONTACT: HUMAN RESOURCES
It was moved by Council Member Francis, seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Henderson, and carried by the following roll call vote to Approve the Consent Calendar with the exception of Item 8.B:
Ayes: Council Member Francis, Mayor Pro Tem Henderson, Council Member Tanaka and Mayor Cerda
Noes: None
Absent: None
Abstain: Council Member Love
DocuSign Envelope ID: A4E52572-C359-4B62-B69A-39ED39D1A5F2 3 9. EXCLUDED CONSENT CALENDAR
8.B CITY CLERK - Approved Minutes: Regular Meeting of the City Council, January 9, 2024 – Item pulled by Council Member Francis
Council Member Francis asked for confirmation if the minutes reflected the comments made by public speaker Anthony P. Dixon. Deputy City Clerk Becky Romero confirmed that the minutes are accurate.
It was moved by Council Member Francis, seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Henderson, and carried by the following roll call vote to Approve Item 8.B:
Ayes: Council Member Francis, Mayor Pro Tem Henderson, Council Member Tanaka, and Mayor Cerda
Noes: None
Absent: None
Abstain: Council Member Love
10. PLANNING & ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMISSION ACTION SHEET
10.A JANUARY 16, 2024 MEETING
ZONE TEXT AMENDMENT #1-24
The Planning Commission considered a recommendation to the City Council on the adoption of Ordinance No. 1865 to repeal and readopt Chapter 18.60 relating to Temporary Use Permits and Temporary Events Permits, amending Sections
5.08.170, 8.16.030, and 8.16.050 to delete the requirement for a temporary use permit for circuses, carnivals, and fireworks, amending Section 5.04.160 of Title 5 relating to permits, and finding the ordinance to be categorically exempt from the provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act pursuant to Guidelines section 156061(b)(3) and 15304 as a minor alteration to land.
Commission Action: The Planning Commission approved Resolution No. PC 1- 24, by a vote of 4-0, recommending that the City Council adopt Ordinance No. 1860.
City Council Action: Receive and File. This item will be brought forth to the Council for review at a future City Council meeting.
This Item was Received and Filed. This item will be brought forth to the Council for review at a future City Council meeting.
11. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
1) Andrea Simental, Library Manager for the Gardena Mayme Dear Library; she came to announce library events for the Gardena Mayme Dear and the Masao W. Sato Libraries.
2) P
aul Randall, Director of Mama Rosa’s Food Pantry; thanked everyone for helping him obtain the special event approval letter and conditions of approval for the food pantry to continue operating. He also provided information on the food distribution that took place on Saturday.
DocuSign Envelope ID: A4E52572-C359-4B62-B69A-39ED39D1A5F2 4 3) Franco Morales, asked all members of the Council for support to meet his fundraiser goal. Mayor Cerda and Council Member Love extended their help and asked that he reach out to their office. Mayor Cerda commended him for all his community work.
12. DEPARTMENTAL ITEMS - ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES – No Items
13. DEPARTMENTAL ITEMS - COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
13.A 12-Month Pilot Commercial Façade Improvement Program Updates
City Manager Osorio presented the Staff Report.
Economic Development Manager, Jackie Choi gave a PowerPoint presentation and was available to answer any questions as Director of Community Development, Greg Tsujiuchi and MGD Consultant, Miguel Ramirez.
Mayor Cerda asked if anyone asked to speak on this item and if the Council had any comments or questions. There were no public speakers.
Questions and comments were made by Council Member Francis, Mayor Cerda, Mayor Pro Tem Henderson and Council Member Love regarding how there is no data or even a plan; the research that took place to identify what businesses require façade improvements; there not being enough data to support the work that has been done; what is the 90- day approval process as stated on the report; asked about the older structural businesses and most of them being contaminated with asbestos ; what were some of the responses from potential owners that may be interested in the project; what are some of the business owners concerns; how can the program become permanent and the total amount of funding that would need to be budgeted; how can the program be made fair to all businesses without increasing costs ; will the program be beneficial to the city and the business owners since we are only able to fund a certain amount; how do we manage that; Mayor Pro Tem Henderson, Council Members Love and Francis all gave their suggestions.
Manager Jackie Choi gave an explanation of the type of work that has been done, Consultant Miguel Ramirez spoke about different types of programs and funding , and Director Tsujiuchi provided additional information about the project and stated they are here looking for Council direction and answered all questions.
City Manager Osorio provided additional clarification regarding the options presented to the Council.
The Mayor spoke and gave her suggestion; she then asked all Members of the Council what option they want to move forward with.
• Council Member Francis stated she was in favor of Option 2. • Mayor Pro Tem Henderson stated he was in favor of Option 3. • Council Member Tanaka stated he was in favor of Option 3. • Council Member Love stated she was in favor of Option 3. • Mayor Cerda stated she was in favor of Option 3.
DocuSign Envelope ID: A4E52572-C359-4B62-B69A-39ED39D1A5F2 5 It was moved by Mayor Cerda , seconded by Council Member Love , and carried by the following roll call vote for Option 3:
Ayes: Mayor Cerda, Council Member Love, Mayor Pro Tem Henderson, and Council Member Tanaka
Noes: Council Member Francis
Absent: None
13.B Consideration of a Special Business Activity Permit for Care for the Children, a Non-Profit Organization, to Conduct Curb Painting Activities
City Manager Osorio presented the Staff Report.
Mayor Cerda asked if anyone asked to speak on this item and if the Council had any comments or questions. There were no public speakers.
Director of Community Development, Greg Tsujiuchi informed everyone that , the one thing left off the report was if the permit was approved and before the issuance of the permit, the vendor would be required to provide a name and number to contact at Care for the Children on the notice in case there are any issues with the painting.
Questions and comments were made by Mayor Cerda and Council Member Francis about the possible issues that can occur ; if this was the same company that comes around every year; how would the property or homeowner know that this company is approved by the City; will they have some type of identification; the suggested donations and background knowledge about the non-profit organization.
Director Tsujiuchi answered all questions.
It was moved by Council Member Love , seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Henderson, and carried by the following roll call vote to Approve the Special Business Activity Permit for Care for the Children to Conduct Curb Painting Activities and Add the Contact Information / Name and Telephone Number of the Organization to their Notice:
Ayes: Council Member Love, Mayor Pro Tem Henderson, Council Members Tanaka and Francis, and Mayor Cerda
Noes: None
Absent: None
13.C Preparation of The Façade Improvement Conceptual Design f or The Gardena Boulevard Revitalization Program
City Manager Osorio presented the Staff Report.
Mayor Cerda asked if anyone asked to speak on this item and if the Council had any comments or questions. There were no public speakers.
DocuSign Envelope ID: A4E52572-C359-4B62-B69A-39ED39D1A5F2 6 Questions and comments were made by Council Member Francis regarding what LiveBuild is; has the launch or kick -off meeting occurred; if there have been discussions with business owners to gather ideas; and with Metro that there is some way to encourage a stop at Gardena Boulevard. City Manager Osorio and Director of Community Development, Greg Tsujiuchi explained and answered all questions.
It was moved by Council Member Francis, seconded by Council Member Love, and carried by the following roll call vote to Move Forward with The Façade Improvement Conceptual Design for The Gardena Boulevard Revitalization Program:
Ayes: Council Members Francis, Love and Tanaka, Mayor Pro Tem Henderson, and Mayor Cerda
Noes: None
Absent: None
14. DEPARTMENTAL ITEMS - ELECTED & CITY MANAGER'S OFFICES – No Items
15. DEPARTMENTAL ITEMS – POLICE – No Items
16. DEPARTMENTAL ITEMS - PUBLIC WORKS – No Items
17. DEPARTMENTAL ITEMS - RECREATION & HUMAN SERVICES – No Items
18. DEPARTMENTAL ITEMS - TRANSPORTATION
18.A Approve Contract with TYLin International for Maintenance and Asset Management Software Project Management Services in the amount of $107,934 and a Project Total of $124,124.
City Manager Osorio presented the Staff Report.
Mayor Cerda asked if anyone asked to speak on this item and if the Council had any comments or questions. There were no public speakers.
There were no questions or comments made by any Member of the Council.
It was moved by Mayor Pro Tem Henderson, seconded by Council Member Tanaka, and carried by the following roll call vote to Approve Contract:
Ayes: Mayor Pro Tem Henderson, Council Members Tanaka, Francis and Love, and Mayor Cerda
Noes: None
Absent: None
18.B Approve Contract with Southern California Edison to Build Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure at the GTrans Facility
City Manager Osorio presented the Staff Report.
DocuSign Envelope ID: A4E52572-C359-4B62-B69A-39ED39D1A5F2 7 Mayor Cerda asked if anyone asked to speak on this item and if the Council had any comments or questions. There were no public speakers.
Council Member Francis asked if each charging station will accommodate only one bus, or is it more than one bus? City Manager Osorio answered her question.
It was moved by Council Member Love, seconded by Council Member Tanaka, and carried by the following roll call vote to Approve Contract and Authorize Signature by the City Manager or his Designee:
Ayes: Council Members Love and Tanaka, Mayor Pro Tem Henderson, Council Member Francis, and Mayor Cerda
Noes: None
Absent: None
19. COUNCIL ITEMS – No Items
20. COUNCIL DIRECTIVES
Mayor Pro Tem Henderson
1) Measure H Funding - The SBCCOG has received $2.8M for funding homelessness projects and initiatives; I would like for staff to look into that program and apply to see if we can support our homeless initiatives - Council Member Francis seconded it
Purpose: It would address the homeless issues and we could start benefiting from our Measure H funds.
Reason: H omelessness is an issue in our community.
Benefit: It will raise the quality of life for those that are potentially homeless.
Council Member Francis
1) The marquis sign at Rowley Park; would like to request a timeline of when we can expect the sign to be up - Mayor Pro Tem Henderson seconded it
Purpose: To get a timeline of when it is expected to be completed because the sign has been out for a number of years.
Reason: T he sign is necessary; we’ve missed many opportunities to provide accurate information about activities, especially during COVID, we had no way of notifying the community of what was going on.
Benefit: I t will raise the quality of life and for community safety.
21. CITY MANAGER REMARKS RE: DIRECTIVES / COUNCIL ITEMS
City Manager Osorio gave a verbal report of information to follow -up on matters that had been directed or requested by the Mayor and Members of Council. Those items were, as follows:
1) Results of the City of Gardena Employee Satisfaction Survey. 2) Memo regarding Community Development Department Monthly Report for December.
DocuSign Envelope ID: A4E52572-C359-4B62-B69A-39ED39D1A5F2 8 3) Memo regarding the directive for contractor selection for the CDBG Housing Rehab Program.
4) Memo regarding consultants Townsend and Public Affairs. Townsend was able to work with staff in securing a grant from the state that gives us another $123,000 to be spent on electric vehicles.
22. COUNCIL REMARKS
(1) MAYOR PRO TEM HENDERSON – Since our last meeting he attended the GPD drone demo at Purche Elementary, the Western States Carpenters event at BMO Stadium, the MLK Youth Program, the MLK Parade he said had a lot of acts out there and was a great day for our community. He also did a lot of community and business visits. He said he wanted to share one observation that he noticed, he continued to say we know its election time and good luck to all of those candidates, however we need to be mindful that the world is watching us, we don’t want to do any irreparable damage to the brand that we’ve been building as far as being business friendly and different things like that, we’re supportive of business and opportunity and investment in our community either from a national chain or multinational companies at our overall community’s wellbeing. He just wanted to remind us all to measure our words and temper our emotions and our behavior during this election season because once election season’s over we still now have to work with the business community and we don’t want to look like we don’t have our stuff together as a community, as leadership, so again he just wanted to remind everybody.
(2) COUNCIL MEMBER FRANCIS – Attended the Gardena Beautification Commission meeting, Martin Luther King Jr. Friday night Y outh Program in which she thanked Madame Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem Henderson for attending, said it was a wonderful program. On Saturday, she attended the 41st Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Parade. She stated that Director of Recreation and Human Services, Stephany Santin, and her staff were absolutely fantastic. She said anything that a committee member asked for was done. She thanked the staff and said a lot of hard work went into creating that two -day event. We’re the only city that has a two- day celebration with Dr. King. Immediately following the P arade, we had a Battle of the Bands and a Drumline competition, and she announced all the winners. She thanked the Recreation staff again for making it all possible. She attended Supervisor Holly Mitchell’s meeting regarding a new book by author Michelle Zauner called Crying in H Mart and it was at Satow library. She urged whoever has not gone to the Satow library in a long time, such as herself, to please go because it is beautiful and has been totally renovated and she was able to check out a book. She had the opportunity to check out the Japanese Culture Institute, they invited her over to say hello and showed us what they’re doing. She also mentioned, that she would like to discuss with someone, that they are in need of a stop sign and crosswalk at 162 nd and
Gramercy for the one hundred seniors that live next door. She knows there’s a lot going on with election season so we’re going to be seeing a lot of stuff going on, but as she always says, keep the faith, don’t give up, if you fall down get up again and keep going and by all means just know better days are coming.
(3) COUNCIL MEMBER TANAKA – Attended the City’s homeless count educational meeting to see how the app works and how to sign on. Attended the South Bay COG’s legislative briefing, unfortunately Assembly M embers, Senators and Congress people were all in session, so they had all their field reps come up and talk to them, but he thinks the biggest issue right now is the $ 69 billion dollar deficit. Everybody is DocuSign Envelope ID: A4E52572-C359-4B62-B69A-39ED39D1A5F2 9 worried about that because when you talk about homeless money, they’re hoping they don’t cut that and any other services. He attended the MLK essay scholarship event at the Nakaoka Community Center. He said it was a good event and thanked the MLK committee. The next day he attended the MLK P arade and agreed it was probably the biggest one he’s ever attended or participated in. Attended the South Bay Regional Communications executive board meeting and we are working on this year’s budget. Attended Coffee with a Cop at Superior Market, Battle of the Badges for a diaper challenge and thanked everyone for doing a great job on putting that on for the Rotary Club for all the diapers are going to Camp Pendleton Marine Corps.
The cities of Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, Gardena and Redondo Beach participated, and he thanked Redondo Beach for bringing an entire truck full of diapers. The next day he attended the Battle of the Badges blood drive, and he thanked all those that came out and participated in that because blood drives are important, you don’t realize it when you give blood you save a life, you help somebody stay alive so thanks to all those that showed up and came out. Lastly a couple things, he attended a good friend’s funeral Mr. Hirano; if anyone knows HTKY Insurance on Artesia, he’s the H in the insurance company. He also attended his good friend Sam Kaskanyan’s daughter’s wedding and that was a great event.
(4) MAYOR CERDA – Since the last C ouncil Meeting she had several things that she attended, but before she mentions some of the events that she attended she just wanted to clarify some things because recently people have been sending her posts that have been going out in the last couple of days and there was one in particular that she thought she needed to make a quick statement and clarify. She continued statements made like, “the city has a budget of over $200 million dollars, are you aware of which department gets the majority of it?” “The GPOA finances a large portions of certain candidates political race by signs, by banners and 3 people in particular on this council have been financed by the GPOA,” and also it was mentioned about empty C ouncil Chambers, you should know where your money is being spent and I’d like to just clarify something, yeah the city does have a very healthy budget it is over $200 million and she attributes that to a good finance department, great city manager and even our finance committee by making some really good decisions in making sure that Gardena is moving forward and so we are doing very well, but the statement that was made, “are you aware which department gets the majority of the money,” in just about every city out there, the police department gets the majority of the money, the reason why is for public safety. If you don’t feel safe in your community some of these other departments that you have out there, Public Works, Parks and Rec, she doesn’t want to say it doesn’t matter, but you won’t feel safe to go to the parks, you won’t feel safe going outside, whether your streets are clean, your trees are trimmed and so on. As a little girl, her grandmother used to live in South Central Los Angeles and it was really bad and unfortunately as a little girl she never got to go outside, the crime was really bad, there were drive-bys, there was drugs being sold everywhere and if you didn’t get home before it was dark, there was a good chance your house was going to get robbed and police just couldn’t keep up with it. We don’t see those kinds of issues here in Gardena and why? Because we have a decent sized police force, we make sure they have the necessary things to protect us and so again, just as she stated in the very beginning, in just about every city the budget you look at, the police department always does have the majority of it and again it’s to protect us and to make sure that we have a good quality of life. The other statement that was made said the GPOA finances a large portion of candidates in our political race. The GPOA is the police union, it is not the police department, the police union does not get their money from the City of Gardena, they DocuSign Envelope ID: A4E52572-C359-4B62-B69A-39ED39D1A5F2 10 pay their own dues out of their own money and when they choose to support any candidates, like any group out there, teachers, real estate agents and so on, they make their choice in who they choose to endorse. When you go to Sacramento especially on legislative day you see an array of people from teachers, real estate people, printers’ union, every union you can think of, they’re up there and they talk to politicians, it’s no different in the City of Gardena than it is anywhere else so that’s an important point she would like to make. Whatever they choose to do, any of the candidates, they have no control over it, they don’t even have conversations, whether they choose to do signs, a billboard as was mentioned, that’s up to them and that’s not up to any of the individual candidates. It was also stated that 3 people on this city council have been financed by the GPOA, the great thing about our city and just about any city out there is that we have financial forms, they’re called 410 forms, they’re in our City Clerk’s office and you can see how much each of them have paid into their own campaigns. She knows that she can personally say that she’s spent tens of thousands of dollars in her campaign here to get herself elected. Now if any organization decides to endorse and donate, they’re more than welcome to do it, it’s not just the Police Officer’s Association sometimes it’s the Pipefitters Union, sometimes it’s the Airconditioning Union, sometimes it’s all these other different groups not even in our city, they’re from outside of Gardena so once again all this information in their documents, you can look this up. When you see statements like this here and it’s inferred like this, she implores everyone to do their homework. We’re a very transparent city and we put all of this information out there for you to find out, as well as if anyone wants to find out how much the GPOA spent for these elections.
They’ve been doing this for many years. She can think back to when she got involved some 20-24 years ago, people like C ouncilmember Bradford, Councilmember Rachel Johnson, Councilmember Oscar Medrano, councilmember Ron Ikejiri; she can go on and on, it’s no different from what they did before to what they’re doing now. When these kind of statements are made and it’s inferred that maybe money the police department is spending is what’s helping fund their campaigns, that is not accurate, not at all. She also saw several comments about herself all last week saying the mayor this, the mayor that and it seems that someone is very infatuated with her and she suggests they might want to see somebody about that. The City of Gardena has support services for anybody experiencing any type of depression or wigging out, that is available for all of our council members as well. Since the last C ouncil Meeting she attended several events here. One was the City Selection meeting where they chose a representative from the county that would represent most of the cities here in the South Bay related to housing, to share their concerns with the county as far as what they could do to do better. She also attended the MLK Y outh Program and then the following day she attended the MLK Parade and then the following day she attended her monthly CCGA meeting as it relates to our card rooms, later on that day she attended the sanitation meeting and later on that night she attended the Aria LA Coastal installation and that is the Asian Pacific Islanders. Their local chapter regional real estate installation and it was a great event, there were elected officials from all over the South Bay there. The next day she attended Coffee with a Cop and the grand opening of Borjstar ribbon cutting, that is a great mediterranean restaurant which is located on Rosecrans and Normandie, she definitely encourages everybody to go and check it out as they have amazing food there. Immediately following that she attended the Ministerial Association meeting and then later on she attended the homelessness count training because it seems that several of them on the council will be doing the homeless count tomorrow night. Later on, that evening she had the opportunity to have dinner with our State Treasurer Fiona Ma and she was sharing some great opportunities for local cities to be able to get money for different types of DocuSign Envelope ID: A4E52572-C359-4B62-B69A-39ED39D1A5F2 11 fundings that we could use. On that next day, she attended the South Bay Association of Realtors as they had their installation of their new officers. She attended the Gardena Valley Lions 100th Anniversary Celebration at the Nakaoka Center, she wanted to mention it was a great event and during the event an accident happened down the street and the transformer was hit and the power went out, but everybody was having such a great time that it did not stop anything. Staff pulled out lanterns and flashlights and the group just went on and on and when the lights did come back on, they said turn the lights back down because it was so much fun, they danced all night long with a portable speaker and it was just a lot of fun. She was really happy to be able to celebrate the Gardena Lions 100th anniversary, which is even longer than the City of Gardena has been incorporated. On this past Sunday, she had the opportunity to attend the 2024 Okinawa Association New Year’s party that was held at the Carson Community Center. They are located here in Gardena, it was a great event that they have every year and she’s happy she was able to celebrate with them.
(5) COUNCIL MEMBER LOVE – She’s going to start off with the things that she’s attended, she attended Coffee with a Cop where it’s always great to see our law enforcement out there meeting and greeting with the community and making themselves available to answer any questions and take photos. She also attended the ministerial luncheon to hear from a lot of the churches and the Pastors in our community as well as attending the County Board of Supervisor Holly Mitchell’s book club where she discussed Crying in the H Mart, which was a well -written book about how we associate food in our culture and our identity. Attended the Gardena Lions 100th anniversary as well as the MLK parade, it was very good to see a lot of the residents attending the parade on the sidelines, it seems like every year that number is increasing. During the parade, after she got to the park, she had to take off and head over to Bixby Knolls because See’s Candies was opening another branch and she mentioned that because ever since we opened the Gardena branch, the Chamber hosted that grand opening and they had over 100 people standing outside in the rain and now every time See’s does a grand opening they always invite her because they said they haven’t had a grand opening that matched the one in Gardena, the sales had exceeded their expectations within that first month so it was good to go run over to the Bixby Knolls store and support them. She then came back to the park just to catch the tail end of the Battle of the Bands. She wants to address the comments and social media post s that she put up. When she ran her campaign two years ago she ran on transparency and community engagement involvement.
She’s only putting out information for the public to become aware of. She wanted to make it clear she does not have a problem with our Police Department, she’s not insinuating or making any accusations that there’s anything going on with our Police Department. She 100% supports our Police Department and has a great relationship with Chief Saffell. She does have a problem with the POA being involved in our election and as a candidate that had to run three times, she knows that it’s very difficult when an average citizen in this community who has the right to run for an elected position of any level, be it our city clerk, our city council, our treasurer, should be able to compete. With the POA being involved in our elections to the level and degree that they’re involved in, makes it unfair for the average resident in this community to run for a city council given the majority that the large number of the POA. She wanted to also make it clear that there is a huge difference between the GPOA, Gardena Police Officers Association, and the Gardena Police Department.
The Gardena Police Officers Association is their union, and she fully understands as a candidate who has ran three times that unions do get involved to support the candidates, but the amount of money that’s invested in the candidate to sit on this DocuSign Envelope ID: A4E52572-C359-4B62-B69A-39ED39D1A5F2 12 council is ridiculous. In all of her years of living in Gardena she has never seen a candidate be able to afford a billboard or the average candidate cannot afford to purchase the amount of yard signs that go up in the city and she personally thinks, as well as other residents have told her, it’s unfair to compete in a political race where the average person’s purse cannot compete with the POA. As far as her post s telling the city’s business, the city has no private business. Everything we say, everything we do, everything the departments do is all public knowledge, and she is simply trying to get the community more engaged and more involved in what’s going on in this community. If we have nothing to hide it shouldn’t irritate anybody, people shouldn’t get so offended and as far as somebody being infatuated with the Mayor, she has no idea who they’re talking about, but when the M ayor sidelines her by posting her address on social media publicly, she has a problem with that and she will come back and she will say something about it. She stated she does not have an infatuation with the Mayor, she has no issues with the M ayor, but when it comes to her sitting on this day and representing the community, the residents in this community, the businesses in this community, she’s going to do that and if they don’t like what she’s saying then they can continue to have these conversations which she doesn’t think is the time or the place because the people have the right to their opinions. She doesn’t have a dog in this fight, she doesn’t care who’s elected. She will sit on this council, and she will do what’s right by the community regardless of who wins this next election. She simply wants more people to get involved, more people to know how we run business and how we operate this council.
23. ANNOUNCEMENT(S)
Mayor Cerda announced:
1) Gardena City Council Candidate Forum, February 1, 2024; 7:00- 8:30 p.m., at Rowley Park Community Room, sponsored by the Gardena Hollypark Community Association.
2) Gardena City Council Candidate Forum, Wednesday, February 7, 2024; 6:30 p.m., at the Nakaoka Community Center, sponsored by the League of Women Voters. 3) Teen Night, Friday, February 9, 2024; 6:30 pm – 9:30 pm at the Nakaoka Community Center.
4) Parent Workshop, Friday, February 9, 2024; 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm at the Nakaoka Community Center, hosted by Rainbow Services. Topic: It’s on Us: How To Help Your Teen Build Healthy Relationships.
5) Kids Day Trip – Clippers vs. Pistons, Saturday, February 10, 2024; 11:00 am – 4:00 pm. Available for Ages 5- 17: $30.00 per child. Drop- off promptly at 11:00 am at the Nakaoka Community Center.
6) ‘ Love You to ‘Pizzas’ Dance, Friday, February 16, 2024; 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm. Join us for music, food, raffles, fun & more at the Nakaoka Community Center.
24. REMEMBRANCES
Mrs. Lidia Onderka , 87 years of age; longtime Gardena resident and beloved wife of Frank Onderka, former Gardena Valley Lions Club President.
Mr. Lamar Edison Sr. , 88 years of age; longtime Gardena resident of 51 years, Mr.
Edison was the sole proprietor of Edison Construction based out of Gardena where he operated his business for over 40 years, and also a faithful and active member at the Gardena Day Care Center.
DocuSign Envelope ID: A4E52572-C359-4B62-B69A-39ED39D1A5F2 13 Ms. Valerie Williams -Simmons, 67 years of age; long- time Gardena resident, since 1968.
25. ADJOURNMENT
At 9:57 p.m., Mayor Cerda adjourned the Gardena City Council Meeting to the Closed Session portion of the City Council Meeting at 7:00 p.m., and the Regular City Council Meeting at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, February 13, 2024.
MINA SEMENZA
City Clerk of the City of Gardena and
Ex-officio Clerk of the Council
APPROVED:
______________________________ By:_________________________ Tasha Cerda, Mayor Becky Romero, Deputy
City Clerk
DocuSign Envelope ID: A4E52572-C359-4B62-B69A-39ED39D1A5F2