CITY COUNCIL STUDY SESSION
AGENDA
5:30 PM - Tuesday, March 11, 2025
In-Person
Zoom Information Amended 3/10/2025
SPECIAL MEETING AGENDA
PARTICIPATION: Members of the public may participate by being present at the Los Altos Council Chamber at Los Altos City Hall located at 1 N. San Antonio Rd, Los Altos, CA during the meeting.
Public comment is accepted in person at the physical meeting location, or via email to [email protected].
RULES FOR CONDUCT: Pursuant to Los Altos Municipal Code, Section 2.05.010 "Interruptions and rules for conduct": Understanding that the purpose of the city council meetings is to conduct the people's business for the benefit of all the people, in the event that any meeting of the city council is willfully interrupted by a person or group of persons so as to render the orderly conduct of the meeting impossible, the mayor, mayor pro tem, or any other member of the city council acting as the chair may order the removal of the person or persons responsible for the disruption and bar them from further attendance at the council meeting, or otherwise proceed pursuant to Government Code Section 54957.0 or any applicable penal statute or city ordinance.
REMOTE MEETING OBSERVATION: Members of the public may view the meeting via the link below, but will not be permitted to provide public comment via Zoom or telephone. Public comment will be taken in-person, and members of the public may provide written public comment by following the instructions below.
https://losaltosca-gov.zoom.us/j/81358708654?pwd=NipJxCZZPEw1JoW8RO55Dpvh9tsubg.1 Telephone: 1-669-444-9171 / Webinar ID: 813 5870 8654 / Passcode: 203454 SUBMIT WRITTEN COMMENTS: Prior to the meeting, comments on matters listed on the agenda may be emailed to [email protected]. Emails sent to this email address are sent to/received immediately by the City Council. Emails sent directly to the City Council as a whole or individually, and not sent to [email protected] will not be included as a public comment in the Council packet.
Please note: Personal information, such as e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, home addresses, and other contact information are not required to be included with your comments. If this information is included in your written comments, they will become part of the public record. Redactions and/or edits will not be made to public comments, and the comments will be posted as they are submitted. Please do not include any information in your communication that you do not want to be made public.
1 3/11/2025 CITY COUNCIL STUDY SESSION AGENDA Page 2 of 2 Correspondence submitted in hard copy/paper format must be received by 2:00 p.m. on the day of the meeting to ensure distribution prior to the meeting. Comments provided in hard copy/paper format after 2:00 p.m. will be distributed the following day and included with public comment in the Council packet.
The Mayor will open public comment and will announce the length of time provided for comments during each item.
MEETING CALLED TO ORDER
CONFIRM QUORUM
PUBLIC COMMENT
1. 03-11-2025 Study Session Public Comments
DISCUSSION ITEM(S)
2. The City Council will meet with the following Commission to discuss the 2025 Commission work plan:
-Park, Arts, Recreation, and Cultural Commission
ADJOURNMENT
SPECIAL NOTICES TO THE PUBLIC
In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, the City of Los Altos will make reasonable arrangements to ensure accessibility to this meeting. If you need special assistance to participate in this meeting, please contact the City Clerk 72 hours prior to the meeting at (650) 947-2610. 2 From: Pat Marriott
To: Public Comment
Subject: SPECIAL SESSION ITEM 1 MARCH 11, 2025
Date: Sunday, March 9, 2025 12:21:26 PM
Attachments: 3-11-25 public comment special session.pdf Please see attached.
3 Agenda Item 1.
PUBLIC COMMENT SPECIAL SESSION MARCH 11, 2025
Council Members:
There’s been a great deal of discussion and criticism about the PARC Commission’s lack of support for cultural events, particularly regarding the Iftar in 2024 and another scheduled for March 15, 2025.
I'm dismayed when my elected officials – who are supposed to represent me – behave in a disrespectful antagonistic manner toward other residents who sign up to serve the city.
Reviewing documents acquired through PRA requests, it’s clear the PARC commissioners have done their due diligence and made appropriate decisions regarding Iftar in the absence of guidance from Council and Staff.
February 20,2024 PARC Commission meeting
Staff report (attached) says: “The Muslims Around Los Altos group (MALA) is partnering with the Parks & Recreation Department to coordinate a few cultural events in Los Altos. … Discuss the programs and request for funding presented by the MALA group and decide if funding from the Cultural aspect of the Public Art Fund is appropriate.” The MALA item was added to the agenda at the last minute without discussing with the commission chair. PARC reached out to Staff and the council liaison on February 18 asking for information, specifically for “… all applicable ordinances, permit requirements, fee waiver process rules/criteria, and the like pertaining to these areas: (a) separation of church and state.”
Staff responded on the day of the meeting: “We do not have time. I also am not sure what is being asked.”
No information was forthcoming.
At the meeting, MALA asked PARC for $15,000 to support and promote an Iftar. After an indepth discussion, the commission voted 4-1 vote against the request, based on concerns the event was religious.
Having already categorized the Iftar as cultural, Staff waived the room rental fee. They’d been having discussions with MALA regarding banners and room availability as early as February 5th.
After the commission meeting, the city manager and council liaison both thanked the chair for “making sure everyone’s questions were answered and viewpoints were heard” and for having a “respectful and professional” discussion.
Some attendees of the March 31st Iftar told me they felt uncomfortable with the religious aspects, particularly the Call to Prayer. It appears commissioners were justified in denying support.
January 28, 2025 Council Meeting
The PARC commission was called on the carpet in a public meeting, given no opportunity to defend themselves against criticism, mainly from Mayor Dailey and Councilman Weinberg.
Newspaper reports surely proved embarrassing to the commissioners – and should be embarrassing to Council as well.
4 Agenda Item 1.
The February 23 Daily Post had a front-page article headlined, “Commission’s ‘culture of no’” with Mayor Dailey claiming the commission’s culture is “toxic” and it “has shown disrespect for Staff” – without corroboration.
The January 28 Town Crier headline was “Low-performing PARC commission under council review.” It ended with this paragraph quoting Councilman Weinberg: “If the response is, the Staff report is wrong, it’s biased, it’s full of half-truths, as someone who wasn’t there likes to call it, I am going to have a really difficult time finding a way to move forward with the commission as is.”
In other words, two elected officials passed a guilty verdict without hearing from the defendants, and any support for the defendants would only make their sentence worse! If Council was unhappy with PARC’s work, a more appropriate approach would have been to have a meeting with the commission to hear their perspective and discuss ways to ensure their efforts aligned with Council’s wishes.
It must be noted that two commissions were merged to form PARC: Parks & Rec and Public Art.
No guidance was ever provided about the new “cultural” aspect with respect to city policies, rules for evaluating financial and space requests, or how to distinguish between “cultural” and “religious” activities.
February 18, 2025 PARC Commission Meeting
Staff report agenda (attached) item 3: “Endorse the MALA Iftar Cultural Event.
RECOMMENDATION: Action to endorse the Iftar Dinner that is scheduled for Mach 15, 2025 as part of the PARC Commission’s efforts to increase cultural programming in Los Altos.” Staff again decided the Iftar is a cultural event and waived the room rental fee. PARC was told they had “an opportunity to endorse the event. … It’s just the public confirmation of accepting the event and that’s all.”
During the meeting, a commissioner said, “We as a commission need to make sure that we … understand the city's stance both legally and socially and legislatively to give us the scope where we know that we're okay making that decision and saying this particular cultural event is okay even though it may have certain elements that we individually might perceive as being religious.”
Again, the commissioners never received any information, instruction or guidance on how to distinguish cultural from religious events.
Another commissioner pointed out that “Council has already said that they want this in this year. lt's already on the calendar, the room’s already reserved, so I don't see that we have any choice other than to agree to it.”
The Commission Handbook says commissioners are appointed “to advise and make recommendations to the Council and Staff. … there may be instances when Staff’s recommendations on an issue may differ from that of the Commission.” Simply endorsing the Staff decision is counter to the commission’s charter, but commissioners obviously felt pressured to endorse Staff’s decision.
5 Agenda Item 1.
Culture or Religion: Who decides?
On February 11, I submitted a PRA request for “all documents the city uses to inform Council, Staff, commissioners and residents about what constitutes a religious vs. a cultural event.” I received this response on February 25: “The City does not own, possess or maintain any responsive public records.”
In other words, there are no documented city standards defining cultural or religious events.
That means every council member, every Staff member, every commissioner has nothing to go on but personal interpretations.
References to the display of Christmas trees and Menorahs in public places don’t provide adequate guidance to distinguish a cultural from a religious event.
Court decisions regarding separation of church and state reveal how difficult the decision can be. As one author wrote, “Court decisions have made the law a bit murky.” The ACLU noted that “the court has adopted an approach that would see the lines between church and state hopelessly blurred, if not eliminated altogether.”
Lacking a common framework, it’s grossly unfair to criticize commissioners for using their best judgement while assuming Staff always makes the right call. Threats and bullying won’t improve anyone’s performance, but will promote a toxic culture and demean the city.
I urge Council to promote a team spirit at City Hall instead of pitting Staff against commissioners and residents.
Respectfully,
Pat Marriott Los Altos
6 Agenda Item 1.
7 Agenda Item 1.
8 Agenda Item 1.
City Council Agenda Report
Meeting Date: March, 11, 2025
Prepared By: Manny A. Hernandez
Approved By: Gabe Engeland
Subject: 2025 City Council – Parks, Arts, Recreation, & Cultural Commission Joint Meeting
COUNCIL PRIORITY AREA
☐Business Communities
☐Circulation Safety and Efficiency
☐Environmental Sustainability
☐Housing
☐Neighborhood Safety Infrastructure
☒General Government
RECOMMENDATION
City Council will discuss the 2025 Parks, Arts, Recreation, & Cultural Commission (PARC) Work Plan with the Commission.
FISCAL IMPACT
Not Applicable.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
Not Applicable.
PREVIOUS COUNCIL CONSIDERATION
None
BACKGROUND
Annually, each commission discusses and prepares work plan based upon the City Council annual priorities and budget, which shall be submitted and approved by the City Council. The work plan is a list of the anticipated topics, assignments and goals that the Commission will focus on over a 12-month period. From time to time the City Council may amend the approved commission work plan in order to achieve the goals of the city. Once prepared and submitted, the Work Plan is discussed with City Council at a joint meeting where Council will review previous year’s accomplishments provide further direction and approve the proposed Work Plan.
ANALYSIS
At the January 28 City Council meeting, the PARC Commission was directed to do further work on their 2025 Work Plan for discussion at the joint meeting that would be scheduled for March. 9 Agenda Item 2.
This joint meeting would be scheduled for twice the usual allotted joint meeting time to also address concerns Council had with the current state of the PARC Commission.
DISCUSSION
City Council and the PARC Commission will discuss 2024 accomplishments, 2025 Work Plan and concerns City Council raised at the January 28, 2025 Council Meeting.
ATTACHMENTS
1. Commission approved 2025 Work Plan
10 Agenda Item 2.
2/18/25
Parks, Arts, Recreation, & Cultural Commission
2025 Work Plan
Goal Objective Projects Anticipated
Completion
Priority
Source
Assignment Done?
INCREASE
COMMUNITY
OUTREACH
Identify ways to gather
public feedback outside of
regular commission
meetings that will help
support commission
recommendations
Table at Farmers Market for public input
on upcoming projects
September Young
Gather public input, on-site, regarding
facility improvements as it relates to
pickleball at McKenzie Park
July Valadez, Morris
EXPANSION OF
PUBLIC ART
Utilize resources to expand
public art programs and
displays
Explore and create partnership with Arts
Los Altos for programming and displays
April Morris, Couture
COMMUNITY
EVENT
PARTICIPATION
Attend all community
programs as a commission
Table at Summer Concert July/August Couture
Host a project room at Family Fun Day November Morris
Host the Halloween Movie night at Grant
Park
October Couture, Morris
Assist P&R staff with Spring Egg Hunt April Young
INCREASE
CULTURAL
PROGRAMMING
Partner with cultural
groups and participate in
events as a commission
Partner with Greater Los Altos Chinese
Association at the Moon Festival
September Valadez
Endorse the 2025 MALA Iftar event and
work with them on ways the commission
can support the 2026 event
February &
June
Valadez
Support the Justice Vanguard events June Valadez
ONGOING PARKS
AND ARTS INPUT
AND
PARTICIPATION
Complete the regular
support of programs and
functions within the
purview of the commission
Select the theme and hang selected art in
the Community Center Gallery art twice
per year
August &
February
Couture
Update the public art listing and brochure
annually
January Corrigan
Select the movie for the Halloween Movie
Night
August ALL
Select call for art and artists for Art
Without Walls program
As necessary ALL
11 Agenda Item 2.