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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-07-13 Human Relations Commission AgendaADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 1 of 24 HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION Thursday, July 13, 2017 Community Meeting Room Palo Alto Civic Center 250 Hamilton Avenue 7:00 PM REGULAR MEETING I. ROLL CALL: Commissioners Present: Stinger, Brahmbhatt, O’Nan, Lee Absent: Chen, Alhassani, Gordon Gray Council Liaison: Kou Staff: Kristin O’Kane, Mary Constantino II. AGENDA CHANGES, REQUESTS, DELETIONS Chair Stinger: Any agenda changes, requests, deletions? III. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS Chair Stinger: Oral Communications? David. Mr. David Carnahan, City Clerk’s Office: Thank you, Chair Stinger and Commissioners. David Carnahan in the City Clerk’s Office. I am here to share with you that the City is recruiting to fill positions on the newly created Storm Water Management Oversight Committee. As you may remember back in April, the City did a property owner election to marginally increase the storm water management fee. This fee is used to prevent flooding and now has a focus too on water we use for storm water. This Committee meets a couple times a year so it’s not as much as a time commitment at being an HRC Member but it provides a valuable role where the citizens review the planned expenditures of these fees to make sure that they are being used to the best possible project priorities. We’re looking for seven folks to serve on this Committee. Four of the terms are full 4-year terms and three terms are for 2-years. Applications are available on the City Clerk’s webpage; thecityofpaloalo.org/clerk. The application deadline is August 1st at 4:30 PM. I am going to give each of you a flyer and your homework is to speak to one or two community members that you think might be interested and ready to give back to the community a little bit; encourage them to apply. Thank you very much. Chair Stinger: Thank you and we’ll take our assignment seriously. IV. BUSINESS ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 2 of 24 1. Presentation by Mauricio Palma, On the Table, Silicon Valley Community Foundation. Chair Stinger: I’d like to do an introduction, and, I want to share a few words from a letter I received. Silicon Valley Community Foundation is holding an important public event design to engage thousands of Silicon Valley area residents in conversations about our regions housing challenges. It’s intended to create opportunities for civic participation. Well, those are two important concepts, housing, and dialog. You can imagine how interested I was in the letter so we requested an information report to increase our awareness of the community event. Mauricio kindly accepted, and I’ll turn it over to you if you would come to the mic. Mr. Mauricio Palma: Alright, thank you Commissioners for giving me the opportunity to share with you the story and work of On the Table. The Community Foundation was selected amongst ten Community Foundations throughout the country to implement On The Table by a generous grant from the Knight Foundation and the Knight Foundation is really interested in looking at how, throughout the country, we can experiment with civic participation. Looking at ways in which we can increase civic participation. Within the context of our current reality in the country, I think that more and more people are interested in looking at ways – creative ways of making that a reality. In the context of Silicon Valley, we have decided to embrace the challenge posed by the Night Foundation and explore how we can implement and how we can adapt and create our own approach to the implementation of the On The Table activity or event that has been created throughout the Country. Essentially On The Table is a day of community conversations that is designed to bring people together to have conversations that are critical to them around issues and concerns that they have around issues in their neighborhoods, with folks that they work with in the region at large. What Silicon Valley Community Foundation is interested in doing is utilizing On The Table as a way of addressing two critical issues that are impacting folks in our region. One of them is the disconnect that exists among many of us. Given the divides that we can enumerate in a region from issues related to class, sort of issues related to race, faith and the list goes on; again, relevant within the context of our current narrative in the country. We want to be able to use On The Table as a platform to bring people together. In addition, we continue to work on the issue of housing and want to use On The Table as a platform to bring people together to have conversations that will not only allow them to share the stories that gives us examples of how people are dealing with housing in our region but also, I invite folks to consider a possible solution and generate ideas that we can utilize in order to address the issue of housing. To share basic information about how On The Table is organized we have essentially one person, a host, anyone can be a host. You don’t need to be an excellent facilitator of any kind or have had any kind of training to be able to do this; just a desire to bring people together in your neighborhood. Folks that you might know and folks might not know. The idea is that host will invite between 6-10 guests and they come together at – anywhere. They can come together at home; they can come together at their local coffee shop or restaurant. They can make room somewhere at work and come together there. It really doesn’t matter. A park would be a wonderful place for people to come together or the beach for that matter and it can happen at any point during the day. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are usually the points of reference that have been used to describe On The Table but folks are also thinking of coffee break or just any point during the day that they can organize folks to come together that will do it. While we are not expecting the host to be an expert in facilitation or an expert on the initial housing or civic participation, we are going to provide basic orientation to the host so that they feel equipped to orient folks that come together. Basic why in which we are going to support them is by having ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 3 of 24 some question that they can utilize if they decide to use them. So, the questions will be embedded within a guide that we are going to be developing so that they can utilize it in preparation for the conversations. In terms of numbers and the impact that we like to generate with On The Table, we are looking at bringing together on November 15th of this year enough individuals that will be able to be organized in 1,000 conversations. If you do six or if you go up to ten, you can do the math. We’re looking at somewhere between 6 to 10,000 folks brought together through individual hosts to have this community day of conversation. Community Foundation is making a commitment – a very basic commitment at three levels and we believe that is important to be transparent and to articulate the fact that we are committed to listening and we want to listen to as many people as possible. If more than 10,000 come together, that will be fine but we want quality conversations that will allow us to hear the stories that people have and will allow people to share ideas as to how they would like to deal with the concern that they are experiencing right now with regards to the housing crisis in our region. In addition, we want to document the conversations and we are working with a national organization that’s going to be generating a survey that will allow us to capture some of those stories and ideas. In addition to the social media that will be telling the entire world what is going on with images and in writing. We are going to be capturing the information and be generating two reports. One will be covering what is happening with civic engagement across the country in the ten different communities that have decided to take on the challenge posed by the Knight Foundation. The second will be a local report that will be capturing what’s going on in the conversations that were generated by On The Table here in Silicon Valley. What we are asking members of the community, what we are asking you to help us with, it’s three basic things. We know that we cannot engage folks in our community by ourselves. We need your help and one way in which you can help is by being an individual host or by being an institution that decides to organize several different conversations with your networks. So, hosting and registering to be a host will be critical for the success of On The Table. We realize that we haven’t had an opportunity in our region to come together and have this type of a conversation in a public setting with this many individual and again, your support will be important to make that a reality. Sharing the On The Table idea with as many people as you can through your newsletters, through whatever type of news and information channels you have access to. Spreading the word is another thing that we are hoping that you can help us with. Finally, if there are other individuals within your network that you think might be interested in learning more about On The Table, we will be quite happy to share the information and a formal or informal conversation about what On The Table is all about. I would be more than happy to share the information that’s posted here on the slide but this information was shared with you through the letter that Erica Wood provided and I am more than happy to take question that you might have or listen to the comments and suggestion that you are interested in sharing. I don’t know what the protocol is so please excuse me but I also have a postcard and some – and a flyer that I would be more than happy to share with you. Again, not know what the protocol is, you let me know how to do that. Chair Stinger: Thank you very much. Can I open it up for questions or discussion? Commissioner Lee: I wanted to ask how do they host typically find the other participants? Is it random or do they invite people that they know? I mean I would imagine that the purpose is to try to interact with folks that you don’t typically interact with on a daily basis so you do sort of get that different perspective. ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 4 of 24 Mr. Palma: I would say all of the above, you are absolutely right. That for the most part On The Table has been designed with the desire to bring people together that normally are not able to do so. I would that at the essence of On The Table is a great desire to inject our community with the opportunity to practice civility. So, with all of that in mind, some folks are getting members of their church together and members of their synagogue together. Others are looking at the residents in their buildings, renter or homeowners looking at members of their neighborhood. There is a gentleman today who lives out in Pescadero and he said, I don’t know if I have ever had an opportunity to talk about critical issues like this with my neighbors and they live in farms so this particular individual indicated that he was going to go out and try to invite folks into his home. So, that’s the face to face, we live in Silicon Valley and technology is there to help us. One way in which folks are talking about engaging others if through their Facebook account. I am not a Facebook user but I was explained that there is a tool that allows you to create an event and through the event, you can invite individuals that you know or in the broader network. There are many different applications that will allow you to invite – create an event and invite folks that might be interested in do so. Just yesterday, a young woman in Mountain View went to a local coffee shop a couple of blocks away from where she lives and she asked the manager if they would be willing to collaborate with her and help her host a conversation on November 15th. They agreed and they offered her enough food and refreshments for 12 people but they said we don’t want to host, we want you to host and we will help you to tell our customers about it so that’s how she is going to get the folks to join her around the table. Commissioner Lee: That’s great and I want to encourage you guys to the extent possible to use technology to try to connect folks who may not be part of the same network or even the extended network. I mean I personally would be interested in hosting a conversation with folks who I don’t know or people who don’t – in some way connected to me, whether they live near me or in my network. I know that there is a company out there that teams up people together to have a conversation over dinner. People who have come from political backgrounds, right and so that’s one way to have a conversation that you otherwise wouldn’t have in this day and age when you can self-select where you live and live with people who sort of agree with you and come from the same way of life. So, I would really encourage you, to whatever extent that you can, to leverage technology to again, try to make connections where they otherwise don’t exist. It’s great bringing together neighbors and members of the same church and stuff, to the extent that they know or don’t know each other. That’s great but to extent that we can push the envelope a little bit further and again, try to connect people other who otherwise have no existing relationship or common affiliation would be fantastic. Mr. Palma: Thank you and if you know by name, any of those applications and tools that would work. Commissioner Lee: Yes, I mean I would be happy to work with you to bring some ideas of how we can make those connections online. Mr. Palma: Thank you very much, that would be great. Commissioner O’Nan: I had a question too. So, a couple of years ago we had an Our Palo Alto initiative and some of that was around housing. So, we had some very, very frank, candid and in ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 5 of 24 times heart-wrenching conversations with people who shared that they were being pushed out of our town, that their children were being displaced from their schools, that the parents had to leave the apartment that they had rented for 40-years etc. etc. It was somewhat cathartic that people got to share their stories but ultimately, you know it wasn’t that all productive in that we really weren’t able to do anything but hear them and see how much they were suffering. There really was nothing we could do so what is it about On The Table that’s going to make it more constructive? How are we going to move forward on things? Mr. Palma: Thank you for that and it is a concern that here we go again, have another conversation, people come together, they share their hearts, their minds and that’s the end of it. Our intention is to integrate the lesson learned, stories and the ideas into our work. Our work is not an event, the event is going to help us inform the work and we have several different layers of work that are designed to go over the course of 3-years. So that’s one way of answering your question. More specifically, we’re going to be looking at what the policy opportunities that On The Table can help inform. We also are interested in looking at ways in which existing organizations that are working on the issue, independent of the Community Foundation or in collaboration with the Community Foundation and to use the information that surfaces to provide continuity to the work as well. Again, we don’t just want the event to come and generate all this excitement and not do anything with it. One last thing that I could share is that the Community Foundation, in addition to the working On The Table is working through support from the Knight Foundation on trying to imagine what are some ways in which we can build a regional media collaboration in the Bay Area. One of the ideas that surfaced from members of the media collaborative was to invite a journalist to be hosts themselves and invite journalists to have presence – conversations that are organized throughout the region. Not necessarily to come and cover the stories but to come with a desire to have a deep understanding of how the different communities are experiencing the issue of housing. Help build a bit of trust that can help us shift the narrative that exists on the issue of housing and initiative, the building of the media collaborative is a 3-year long initiative as well. So again, we are hoping that folks that decide to take on that challenge of On The Table, themselves try to provide continuity to the conversations by infusing the information in the stories and the work that they are doing. Chair Stinger: For questions or comments? I had one additional question, is the work intended to be region wide or it the report out going to be make recommendations City by City, when you talk about policy? Mr. Palma: We are looking at the region and we cannot anticipate how Cities are going to step forward. This afternoon I spent a couple of hours in the City of Mountain View. They have expressed interest to participate. They are looking at ways of taking on the responsibility of hosting several different tables with residents to do exactly what you had proposed. I imagine that they are going to be looking independent of what’s going on in other Cities and how to address some of the local issues that they are facing. However, the Community Foundation is going to be providing the forum for a regional conversation. We will take the recommendations and the ideas to different communities and different Cities in the hope that folks embrace the information and utilize to advance their local agendas. Chair Stinger: Will there be room in the templet to tailor to a City? If we had some specific ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 6 of 24 questions about Palo Alto policies that are On The Table? Mr. Palma: Thank you for that question, that’s a very important question for the implementation of On The Table. Since we’re talking about technology earlier, think of open source technology for a minute when you think of On The Table. We are creating a guide that is going to suggest how communities can use On The Table experience to have a conversation about housing. We cannot control and are not intending to control every conversation or the conversation. So, with that in mind, if Palo Alto has some particular interest that would like to be addressed in the context of On The Table, you will have the space to do the adjustments necessary in order to inform the host that you engage to surface those issues that you are concerned about. So ultimately, we are creating an open source tool and hoping that as many people as possible use it and make it their own. That will require that you determine the direction of the conversations. Chair Stinger: Thank you. Any other comments or questions? Please. Commissioner Lee: When are you hoping to have the report ready? What is the time frame for that? Mr. Palma: The report most likely will be ready the beginning or middle of January. The organization that we’re working with that will be generating the report needs to first make sure that all the national experiments are completed for the first report to be created. They will then be working on the local regional report for us. One thing to mention about both the last two questions, we are the only region that’s doing On The Table. Most of the other communities are Cities that are doing On The Table so it is important for us to take into consideration the time that it take for them to create a regional story of our work so most likely the beginning to middle of January. Commissioner Lee: I definitely think that if there’s interest from the Commission, perhaps having you back in February or so to sort of go over what you’ve been able to pull together from these many conversations. Some initial thoughts I had would be that it would be great, as a City, if we could put together some of our own On The Table conversations, whether it’s each Commission does it or a cross section of elected and City employees. I think it would be great if we could have a couple of official On The Table conversations and maybe even leverage the power of Facebook live, to the extent that people are willing to talk to Facebook live. So that people get to hear and see the people’s stories and the conversations and even if they can’t be there in person, they can engage in with their whole stories by commenting in that feed. So, I think that might be one way to magnify these conversations. Having City’s sanction some of them, as well as using technology to broadcast these stories and engage folks that way. I think that would be a great way to involve even more people then. It seems like you guys are aiming for significant crowd but involving even more people. Mr. Palma: I am excited to come back, you let me know when and those are wonderful ideas. You let me know how we can support you in making them a reality. Commissioner Lee: Great, I mean I could suggest that for feature agendas, we discuss what role the Commission or the City might want to play with On The Table. I would like to make that ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 7 of 24 suggestion. Chair Stinger: I think that’s appropriate either for the next agenda or for the retreat priority setting. Commissioner Lee: Right. Thank you very much. Mr. Palma: Thank you all. Chair Stinger: Any last questions? Thank you very much. Is it possible, could you forward your Power Point presentation to Mary who you communicated with? Mr. Palma: I would be happy to do so. Chair Stinger: That would be great. Mr. Palma: Is it ok if I do it in the morning? Chair Stinger: I think that’s fine. Mr. Palma: I’ll do it right now. Chair Stinger: Number 31 on Friday’s agenda. Mr. Palma: I’ll take care of it, not a problem, thank you. Chair Stinger: Appreciate it. Thank you very much. 2. Presentation by Maria Love, Director, Office of Immigrant Relations Chair Stinger: Well, we have a full agenda of important issues. I want to move now to say there’s rhetoric, there’s actual hardship and there are legislation and the challenges to try to understand it and know what it means in Santa Clara County. So, to do that, I’ve asked Maria Love who’s the Director of the Santa Clara County Office of Immigrant Relations to speak to us and I’ll let you do your presentation and then I have a ton a question and I’m sure we all do. Thank you, Mary. Ms. Maria Love: Thank you very much for the invitation Commissioners. It has been a very popular topic within the county so I really do appreciate the ability to be able to speak today. I will be sharing some information with you about mainly some of the concerns that we have been hearing from many of the residents throughout the County, which includes actually some Palo Alto residents. As well as some of the strategies that the County has been engaging on and hopefully will be engaging on in the future to address some of those concerns. One of the things though that I wanted to talk to you about was the Office of Immigrant Relations and really the role that we’re hoping to play within all the Cities in the County. Our office hasn’t really been around that long. It’s only about 2-years old and one of the things that we really see ourselves as is the convener of sort of bringing all the Cities together to have the discussion and open the conversation about what are some of the impacts that Cities are seeing in their immigrant ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 8 of 24 residents. We know that in Santa Clara County it’s an extremely diverse County. Approximately forty percent of the County population is foreign born which it’s most certainly a large portion of the population. Out of that, the majority of the residents are actually of Asian descent, which is approximately six-two percent, excuse, me, of the forty percent overall. The second largest group is Latin American, with the third being European. So, we’ve definitely seen quite the change within the residents of the County and one of the things that we most certainly want to do, is we want to make sure that we have those conversations with the City so that we can better understand. Definitely I would say, not all the Cities are very unique and different in terms of what they offer in terms of how residents engage within the Cities. We definitely want to make sure that we take the opportunity to be able to better understand so that we can better tailor our policies from the County Board of Supervisors to really specifically try to be as inclusive as possible. The City of San Jose has been obviously the largest City within the County so they’ve been certainly working on a number of different initiatives but we want to make sure that the other Cities in the County have the same opportunity. Just because they have the largest portions of the population countywide, doesn’t mean that the issues are not as severe or as needed in the other Cities. So, we certainly want to make sure that we are looking at it from that perspective and not just because you have the largest group. The County has definitely shifted quite a bit on what it’s been doing since the election. There are really three main areas that we have seen that people are really bringing up to our attention that are concerns. One is the issue of fear and really not feeling that they are being supported in the sense of that they don’t know who is here to help them and who is not. All the rhetoric that we hear on the news every single day, it’s really having an impact on the residents. Within the first couple of months within the year, we certainly saw an impact of parents not sending their children to school because they were afraid that the parents would be deported. We are seeing a lot of children that are experiencing a lot of anxiety and we do hear that from a number of school districts. That they are more certainly very concerned about how children are just terrified that they are going to be dropped off at school and then they are going to get home and their parents will be gone. I brought a hand out of all of you on some of areas that the County is working on to address some of those issues. I think all of you probably have heard a couple of different executive orders that have been signed by the President. One of them has been securing of the borders, which has really, I think been the most impactful which is the one that would increase the number of ICE agents to expand the number of deportations that happen. I think the most we hear is about building the wall, in which seems that’s something that we hear every day. Then there is the Muslim ban which we thought we were more certainly going to be ok but as it turns out that with the Supreme Court ruling, it’s now becoming more of a bigger topic of conversation. They continue to create that fear with the Muslim communities not feeling safe. A couple of pieces that the County has been engaging in and I would say probably since beginning the fall of 2016, has really been involved with providing information in the formal proclamations to really emphasize and to let the community know that Santa Clara County, as a government organization, is here to protect you. There have been a number of those that have been passed by the Board of Supervisors. I think probably the most significant policy or decision that has been made by the Board of Supervisors was the law suit and how the County of Santa Clara sued the federal government and more specifically the President in the whole areas of Sanctuary Cities. What that would mean in the fact that Santa Clara County, as a whole, would seem to lose over a billion dollars if that would be implemented. Santa Clara County actually won the lawsuit and what that did was place an injunction County wide in every single State, that would keep the federal government from going after Cities or Counties that were ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 9 of 24 considered to be sanctuary. I think one of the biggest areas that we feel that we have really been able to tell the community that we are committed to really fighting the government on these policies that we find are unjust. Given the fact that there’s been a number of studies that indicate that sanctuary jurisdictions actually have lowered crime than those that don’t because people feel that they can trust the police even more. There have been a number of other pieces of proclamations about protecting the Muslim community etc. Santa Clara County also created a late Federal Legislative Advocacy Task Force that meets on a monthly basis that is composed of legislators throughout the State, as well as number of Board Supervisors on which severe issues that impact County residents in general are discussed. The main goal for this task force is really to be able to identify the impacts or try to anticipate some of the changes that may be needed to address some of those impacts. Whether that is in passing policies, whether that is with creating new local regulations etc., that will allow for the County to be able to prevent some of the potential negative impact that some of these federal policies may bring. So, they’ve begun to meet a couple of times and obviously the issue of immigration is one that’s regularly on the agenda. I think the other and probably the most, I would say the biggest change or the biggest initiative that the County has created by the Board of Supervisors in June – actually it was May, they approved a 3.5-million-dollar investment to create a deportation defense and education project that would fund community based organizations throughout the County to be able to provide education on know your rights in multiple languages as well as able to fund legal service providers to actually be able to provide deportation defense. That is probably one of the biggest areas that we felt that was where the biggest need was. There are definitely a large number of County residents that are either in deportation proceedings that are detained in detention centers or there is those that are in proceedings that are not detained but have deportation orders and that they need to find an attorney in order to get assistance so that they are not deported. There is definitely a large number of Santa Clara County residents who were trying to determine what cities those residents are actually living in and hope that as we work with legal service providers and we’re going to be able to have a better idea of what the impact is in the cities on the number of people that have a need for an attorney to help them through those deportation proceedings. The other part that I think has been ramping up quite a bit is the education part of it. In my office, the Office of Immigration, we are providing education to a number of different bodies. We provide know your right dedication to schools, to community based organizations, and pretty soon we will be doing it to the libraries. To really both train staff on how to potentially respond or what to do if let’s say ICE agents show up and want to get information as well as information on know your rights so those are the two of the biggest areas that we’re providing education on. Obviously, a lot of people that work, whether that’s in government agencies or non-government agencies, really want to know what do if an ICE agent wants to get information on someone or is looking for someone. So, that’s definitely one of the biggest areas that we see for need, for organizations and agencies that they’re looking for. In terms of know your rights, I think one of the most important elements I think is for people to understand and for the general community to know what really the rights are when they are pulled over or whether someone comes to their home, an ICE agent, and what are the rights within that. Do they respond, do they have to do what they say, that sort of thing, which is really the education part has been what’s the busiest with really being able to provide that type of information. So, we created a number of materials that we’ve shared at each of these trainings. Both materials that are specifically for parents in terms of what parents can do and prepare in what we call the Family Preparedness Plan. In situations when a parent unfortunately needs to think about if I get deported, who’s going to pick ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 10 of 24 up my children or what’s going to happen to my children? We are creating this in multiple languages, we have it in six different languages, but it’s available. We either have it on our website or able to provide to any organization that sort of wants to be able to make that available to the community. As well as the small little red cards that we have also created that people can carry in their wallet. That they can actually either give to an ICE agent that says I don’t have to talk to you or really provides them with information on what to do. So, those are, I think the pieces that we have been working on the most because that has been identified as the biggest need. Obviously, there is a lot more that we’re continuing to do but I think ultimately, what we really want is we want to engage, as I said at the very beginning, all the Cities in the County and hopefully we’ll be convening every City within the County fairly soon so that we can have a much larger conversation. I think Cities can more specifically share some of the issues that they are seeing in their Cities that may defer from the ones that we’ve heard of. So, that’s definitely one of the things that we hope that the City of Palo Alto will sort of join us with and we’ll definitely be able to provide or share some of the materials that we have available. As well as help us better understand what the needs to the residents of the City are. So, I’m ready for questions. Chair Stinger: First I applaud you and then I open it for questions. Commissioner O’Nan? Commissioner O’Nan: Yes, I was curious as to how are you working with police agencies throughout the County because a lot of immigrants are now afraid to go to the police but they do need police protection just as well do. Ms. Love: Yes, so there are couple different things that we’re doing. We are definitely directly engaging with the Police Departments to provide them some of these materials but also to give them some information as to some of the feedback that we’re getting as to why is that they are afraid and why is it that they don’t want to call the police. However, what we are finding is that it's effective to have community-based organizations actually inform the residents or provide information to the residents about its ok for you to report crimes. I think this project, which is to launch on July 1st, which it’s the Deportation Defense and Education, the majority of those agencies are legal service providers. For whatever reason, we find that residents really make that connection with community-based organizations and they trust them so if they have an attorney to say it’s ok for you to contact the police and if not, you can come to me and we can help you on what to say and what to do. So, that gives them more reassurance that it’s ok for them to do that. We’re doing that more than we are having police officers standing in front of the community and talking because again if they are already afraid of the police then they most likely are not going to trust them right away if they are standing in front of a crowd. We’re approaching it at that perspective and we’re seeing that is the most effective way. Commissioner Lee: Well, first I just wanted to say thank you for everything that you are doing and one of my hopes is when you convene all the various cities and entities within the County that not only is it a listening and learning experience but hopefully we can use it as a coordination opportunity because people move around quite a bit in the Bay Area whether it’s coming to work or they live in different spots. To the extent that we can create a uniform policy across different Police Departments, cities, school districts so that it’s easy for people to confident that the Bay Area, that this County is really strong advocates for them and are willing ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 11 of 24 to protect them. I think that would a tremendous help so that for folks, regardless of where they go, they can know ok, everyone is sort of on the same page. Ms. Love: Right, absolutely. Our residents are mobile in the sense that they live in one city and they work in another or vice versa. So yes, if we can have a consistent message and a consistent way of information sharing, then no matter where they are, they are always going to get the same type of information. Commissioner Lee: Exactly. Ms. Love: Which is one thing that I should mention is that the other piece that we’re working on is a countywide communication and media campaign. We are hoping to launch it in October and we’re working to really create a message and we’re hoping to engage all the cities to help us build that message. So, that we can then take that out to the community and let them know that it doesn’t matter where you live or where you work, you’re in a safe space. So, that’s definitely another piece that we find that is very important. There is so much information out there and you know, unfortunately, we all heard about the fake news. So, there’s tons of information active that is it no accurate so we want to really try to tackle that as quickly as possible. So that we can sort of not necessarily control the message but we can then be used as a trusted source of information. So that people do contact us directly so they’re not really getting this information. Commissioner Lee: At our last Commission meeting we had a number of folks from the community who here talking about wanting the Palo Alto Police Department to adopt some of the ACLU’s recommendations and such. So, that’s definitely an interest in various jurisdictions in this County, making their policies and stands on these issues stronger. I think that we are only as strong as our weakest link. So, while Palo Alto may adopt the strongest policies, if other cities in the county aren’t doing the same then the word about those policies gets out and people might not feel safe even in Palo Alto because they hear oh, well maybe Sunnyvale or San Jose doesn’t have stringent. We can only be a strong as the weakest link in the County so to the extent that you can help share our best practices and encourage folks to all rise to the highest possible level that we can be. Ms. Love: Yes, absolutely. I think it’s important though, even though we are really trying to take our message out to the residents in the immigrant population, we feel that it’s as important to really engage the community as a whole because we want to make sure that people feel safe going to their neighbor. That the neighbor is able to help them sort of go through whatever it is that they are going through. We are really hoping that that campaign, we’re not only providing a message to the immigrant community which is experiencing all this fear but it would also allow for what we call the receiving community to also be able to get involved and have that conversation and to be able to also share those same messages. So that it’s all really a true overall community effort. We definitely want that centralized hub for all the cities. We want to be able to make sure that the materials that are being created are being shared because as you mentioned, there’s a number of national organization that have created incredible materials but a lot of these are sort of targeted to whether it’s the State that the organization is in and it may not necessarily speak to the locality or specific cities. So, we want to create materials that do speak to the residents of the County so that they do feel that oh, you know what? This was created for ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 12 of 24 me. I call it taking the show on the road with all the cities so that we can really try to make sure that all the cities come to our office whether they’re seeking information so that we can then ensure that the right information is being shared. Chair Stinger: Do you know the status of SV54? Ms. Love: Yes. I believe SV54 is in the Appropriation Committee at this point. I don’t know specifically how quickly they are going to get through that process but I know the county itself has submitted a letter of support from the Board President directly to the authors of the bill because we are strong supporters of that. There are a number of immigration bills that are out there. I want to say that there’s over ten of them that are looking to address many different areas within immigration but definitely 54, we’re hoping it’s going to be one of the ones that will be fast tracked. Chair Stinger: If we were to look at the city’s regulations with regard to how to address immigration officials, if we made our regulations consistent with SV54 would there any gaps? Ms. Love: I would say it is but I think ultimately, one of the things that we try to look at is specifically with SV54, whether or not all of the elements that are being put forth in that specific bill will try to accomplish what we see as creating a safe community. Our legislative task force is actually looking at the various bills with the hope that we can pull the specific areas that we can then share and say these are probably all the different areas that are specific to this bill that you could potentially implement or incorporate into regulations within your city or whether that’s the county. I would say that’s probably a question that we would probably be able to answer at a later time. I think once we have more information and I think once the bill has moved more closer to getting ready because nothing is really final until the governor signs it, right? There could be major changes between now and that point. That’s why we say in that particular situation, we would have to, I would say wait until a final bill has been signed so that we can know for certain what’s in the bill and what’s being implemented. So that we can then provide some guidance to cities to say this is what we think you should incorporate within your policies. Chair Stinger: The Legislative Task Force, is that separate? Is that the Advisory Task Force that you described? Ms. Love: Yes, so that’s the one the Federal Legislative Advocacy Task Force. So, they look up both federal and state legislation and the impact to the county as a whole. Chair Stinger: Are you collecting any data or are you looking at incident reports or can you tell if there’s a difference in people who’ve gone to health facilities a year versus the number going now? Can you see any changes in behavior? Ms. Love: You know that’s an interesting question because we are seeing changes in behavior. In some of them, we are seeing people looking for more services versus others we’re seeing that people are forgoing services. One example is we have been working very closely with Valley Medical Center because they have been reporting a dramatic decrease in the number of people that are coming through the Emergency Room. They were curious why is it that is happening? ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 13 of 24 Why is it that all of a sudden people don’t want to come in and so they started asking a question? The two main reason that people were given was because they were afraid that their information, if they give any information to the hospital, that was going to be shared with federal authorities or if they came to let’s say the hospital or any other clinic setting, that ICE was just going to be able to come in and take them and deport them. We are working very closely with them to provide better education so that’s one piece. The other piece is we’ve definitely seen a dramatic increase in the number of people that are seeking legal service providers. Not only because they are in deportation proceedings but more importantly because they want to seek other affirmative relieve for immigration and how they can ensure that their situation or they become legal permanent residents or that they have a more stable immigration. It is very interesting one of the things that we are seeing that people want to become citizens now more than ever so that’s probably one of the biggest things, which is wonderful. There are a large number of people that are legal permanent residents that are eligible to become citizens. So, the legal service provider questions are the major of them want to say how do I become a citizen? I want to become a citizen because they feel that is the only way that they will be protected from deportation, which is a way it’s true and it’s not true. That is one of the reasons why the county decided to invest and create this program very quick because of the demand that people really need to speak to attorneys and they don’t have the money to do so they are so expensive. That’s definitely two specific areas that we’re seeing changes and we definitely want to get more data, to get more information and that’s the other piece. That we want to go to cities with, whatever type of information that you have that you are able to share. Obviously, general information as to the makeup of your city residents, then we do want to have that information so that it can help us shape a better picture of really the County residents as a whole. Commissioner Brahmbhatt: I have just two questions. In the beginning, you said that we give a red card so that they don’t have to speak with an ICE attorney and I was wondering because I’ve done some pro bono and immigration is not my field and I am an attorney. The ICE attorneys and the immigration judges, I don’t know all of them but my experience has been that they are very generous too and want to do the right thing and they are not necessarily the enemy who want to kick you out. Ms. Love: Absolutely. Commissioner Brahmbhatt: They are just trying to do their job and be within the law. Ms. Love: Yes. Commissioner Brahmbhatt: So, I was just wondering why do you have that card that says that you don’t need to speak with the ICE attorney if you don’t you need to. Has it been helpful? Ms. Love: The red card, just as a point of clarification, is in case that they are approached by an ICE agent. Usually, those, the ICE agents, are the ones that go around and want to identify people are undocumented and they want to put them through the deportation proceedings. There are certain rights that all individuals have, one of those rights is they don’t have to provide any information to ICE. That’s what those little red cards do because when people that are going through this process, most likely than not if they are approached by someone who’s wearing an ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 14 of 24 ICE shirt or anything like that they are not going to remember what is it that they are supposed to say or what they are not supposed to say. That’s the purpose of those little red cards but it basically provides a written statement that would be given to an ICE agent; excuse me, an ICE agent that would basically say I don’t have to talk to you. I don’t have to give you any information. The only time when actually an ICE agent can take someone and arrest someone is if they have a signed warrant by a federal judge that has a person’s specific name. So, if they are looking for someone specific, that little red card is not really going to do anything because if they know who they are there to look for, then that’s not really going to provide them with any type of security which we don’t really see very many of those unless they are in cases of criminals or that sort of thing. We did have a case last month actually, to where there was an individual that was going into court and because he had been charged with drug trafficking so ICE went into the Court House and that’s where they picked him up because they have a warrant and that’s one of the only cases that we’ve seen in the County. We find that those cards give people a sense of security because really knowing if I just give them this card, then I am telling them that I don’t have to talk to you and that’s ok. That’s the whole purpose of that and there have been a number of organizations that have created those little red cards. We are translating them in multiple languages so that people know exactly what it says. One side is English and the other side it’s in their language so that they can better understand. Commissioner Brahmbhatt: Are there ICE agents who are going beyond what they are supposed to do and knocking on people’s houses to figure out who are… Ms. Love: We haven’t seen an active raid in Santa Clara County at this point but one of the things that actually we are working on is establishing and it just went live in the City of San Jose last month, which is the Rapid Response Network. What this is that there’s a phone number that if people see a potential raid happening, whether if that is at a shopping center, whether it’s in a neighborhood. They call the phone number and what it does is it activates a team and that phone number is answered by a person 24 hour a day, 7 days a week. What is does is if there is a phone call that comes in and it activates both a legal aid serves, as well as an attorney that then goes to these locations and try to determine whether or not is this really a raid happening, is it not? There was a call today that actually came through but we don’t really know whether or not that was an actual raid or was just something else but again, people don’t know. One of the things we had heard was that I think this was mostly in LA, that ICE agents were actually wearing police jackets and they were introducing themselves as police. That was really troublesome to us because again, they are not the police. They shouldn’t be introducing themselves as police so that’s sort of the other piece. There was a press conference that happened were a number of the Chiefs of Police in all the different cities – I want to say that probably happened back in April, to where they were very clear about nobody except for an actual city police office can introduce themselves as police. So that is one of the other pieces that we’re watching very closely and that we are hoping that the Rapid Response Network will help us track as well. Commissioner Brahmbhatt: The other question I had was you said that even if somebody becomes a citizen, it may or may not help them get all the protection and I’m an immigrant that became a citizen so I am like really curious as to how… Ms. Love: We haven’t definitely seen any policies coming down from the administration that ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 15 of 24 says if you are a naturalize citizen, we can take that away from you but I think because of the majority of the information and the majority of the policies that have been put forth, to target pretty much everybody except for those that have natural born citizens or naturalized citizens. That’s the only thing we can say for certain, it’s currently keeping you safe but one of the things that we do tell people is that we want you to stay informed and even though we haven’t heard that they are targeting citizens, mainly naturalized citizens. We are providing information that would prepare people to be able to advocate for themselves or know when something like that would happen but no; we have not heard any policies that are coming forth that would target naturalized citizens at this point. Commissioner Brahmbhatt: You have in your mind looking at the policies that are coming down, you have that kind of analysis that it might happen in the future. Ms. Love: One of the groups that unfortunately right now, we are very afraid that it's being targeted is the DACA recipients, what is does is that program was created by the Obama administration that provides them temporary permits. So, in the news yesterday it came out that they are looking at terminating that program which would mean that it would terminate protection for 800,000 youth that are currently able to take advantage of that program and are able to work because it’s a work permit. They are going through every population that has some type of protection so that is why we are really very close and almost on a daily basis have to really be engaged with a number of groups that we talk to on a regular basis to know what’s new. What does that mean and how do we try to provide information and let people know this is how this affecting you or this is how this is not affecting you. Commissioner Brahmbhatt: Thank you. Commissioner O’Nan: I wanted to ask so often services like this are more focused on the San Jose population and we hear in the northern part of the county that people have trouble accessing these types of offices and services. So, can you tell us how you are doing outreach to the northern part of the county? Ms. Love: Yes absolutely. That is exactly what the Deportation and Defense and Education Program is hoping to accomplish. We were very strategic in the organization that was chosen for the grants because we want to make sure that all the areas within the county were covered. So, there is about 18 different organizations that receive funding that will be available and we have posted the list of all the different organizations and the locations that they are covering on our website, as well as on the Board of Supervisors website. We are holding our first grantees meeting next week to better coordinate the way that agencies can refer people to other agencies that may be closer to where they live. That is one of the things that specific program is seeking to address. Chair Stinger: Just have one last question; we’ve been talking about legal issues. What about immigrant relations? Do you cover immigrant relations, just hate crimes? Ms. Love: Yes, we are actually working with the Office of LGBTQ Affairs, which is one of the only offices in the nation and we’re going to be working directly with the District Attorney’s ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 16 of 24 Office on launching this line that will provide the ability for people to report hate crimes as well as for them to be able to share any type of information related to that. We sort of want to do it independently of the District Attorney’s Office for the main reason that hate crime has a very specific definition so we want to call them hate incidents, which happen a lot more often than hate crimes; according to the definition of it. We want to make sure that people are able to report any type of hate incident that they may see so that we can have a better idea is this an isolated case or this is sort of people that are being specifically targeted for certain things. We are working on creating a very specific line and system that will allow residents to be able to report any type of hate incident that happens to them or to someone else. Chair Stinger: Any last questions? We really used your time really well, thank you so very, very much. Ms. Love: Absolutely. Chair Stinger: I really appreciate you coming. Ms. Love: Yes, definitely. So, I will leave those and I will leave some of my business cards as well so those if there are any additional questions, feel free to contact me anytime. Thank you so much. Chair Stinger: We will be. Ms. Love: Thank you. 3. Planning of HRC Retreat held on Tuesday, August 15, 2017 Chair Stinger: We’ll do a little change from issues to planning. We have a retreat scheduled for Tuesday, August 15th and I want to talk a little bit about what we’ve done so far in our thinking about the retreat and then open it up for other ideas. It is an evening retreat, 5-9 and our main purpose is to identify priorities for our next fiscal year and then to focus our work plan to make it consistent with the priorities. I have some items that I would like on an agenda but before I go through my list, I’d like to hear ideas that the Commissioners have. Commissioner Brahmbhatt: In the June meetings, I was going to look at names of people who could come and present to the HRC regarding the effect of the brain on different smart phones and devices. I have three names from Stanford University who are doing high tech research in this field and so I was wondering, should I reach out to them to see if they are interested in participating in the HRC beforehand. Then figure out the next steps after that because I don’t know right now whether any of them would be interested in or not or has the time and bandwidth to come or is this something that we discuss… Chair Stinger: I guess my suggestion would be to bring it as a focus area and then see how it falls out with our priorities for the next year. If it becomes a priority and it’s something that you want to take on, then it would make sense to initiate the contact. Commissioner Brahmbhatt: Ok, so this would still be preliminary… ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 17 of 24 Chair Stinger: I think so. Commissioner Brahmbhatt: Ok, I get it. I just wanted to understand the process here. Chair Stinger: I really want us to focus in the August retreat on our priorities. I think sometimes we focus on ideas and programs that we want to do and that has been very successful for us. This year there are so many things we could be working on and I think that if we first identify the priorities that we want to work on, then we can start looking at programs. It will just help us to focus and manage our time. I mean we are Commissioners but we are also volunteers and have other lives and we want to be sure that we can deliver on the commitments that we make. I would encourage people to think about the things that matter to you; immigration, housing, mental health and let’s talk about that at the retreat. I would also encourage us to think about programs more creatively, more broadly perhaps than we have in the past. We’ve done a lot of successful forums but I’ve seen that other counties or commissions that have done some different study sessions, letter writing campaigns. I think it was Mountain View where the county prepared a document A Tale of Two Cities, that laid out disparities and living wages and education that helped them make a presentation to the Council to support a minimum wage. So, there might be some study sessions that we want to look at or recommendations that we want to make. I just want us to think more creatively about what activities we take on. Two things that we’re doing certainly are to have a presentation from the Council response team. You all remember that our Council passed a resolution for a safe, protective and inclusive environment. We’ve been working as a Committee to draft a response to that Council recommendation that would put together policy, program and campaign recommendations. We’ve been working with our summer intern, Ryeri who has done a fabulous job of looking at the data that we have and beginning to do interviews so that we can really get a pulse of the community. She’ll be presenting her findings at the retreat and then we will also be presenting some recommendations from the subcommittee for the whole Commission to review. We will be planning for a Council study session on that. Food requests? Topic issues? Anything? If there are between now and the end of the month, if people have some ideas that are important to include on the agenda, please communicate them. Commissioner O’Nan: Well, I actually do have an idea. One is it that I am concerned about the erosion of human and civil rights in the country since the election. You know a lot of progress that has been made over the last several decades are now rapidly deteriorating and we may have to really fight this battle at the grass roots level in the cities, the counties, and the states if we want to protect and preserve our civil liberties. I think this is a place where the Human Relations Commission, such as ours, should really be speaking up in support of human rights and civil rights. Chair Stinger: I hope that will be on the table. Commissioner Lee: One issue that I would like to address at the retreat is diversity in tech. I mean that has been a really big issue recently and to the extent that we, as a Human Relations Commission, and the city that is considered the heart of Silicon Valley to the extent that we can encourage, be a part of and facilitate that ongoing discussion and implementation of policies and programs that speed that. I think that would be fantastic. I have other topics as well but that’s one ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 18 of 24 that comes to mind at the moment. Chair Stinger: How did I want to respond to that? I think we’ve been talking a little bit about that in our subcommittee and to me, that’s a really rich area for us to investigate and prioritize. It’s also a place where we could start to look at more creative ways of looking at a partnership with the Chamber of Commerce, partnerships with different industry groups, study sessions. I think there’s a lot that can contribute to a very rich discussion. Commissioner Lee: Is the retreat going to be a brain storming session or is it one set beyond that? Should we have the brain storming down prior to the retreat? Chair Stinger: Usually we do the brain storming at the retreat and I’d like to continue that particularly since we’re four sevenths of a Commission but I figured we could do some self-brain storming and some self-thinking and really come prepared to present one of two priorities that are important to you – to each individual and I think it will make our discussion more efficient. Commissioner Lee: Would you like us to send those to someone in advance or just come with a list? Chair Stinger: I think to the extent that we can send them ahead of time. We’ll have a flip chart ready to look at them but then I want to be able to continue to add to it when other Commissioners are there. There is a form that Minka had made for us last year for a planning document and I am going to ask Mary to send that out as a blank form. We’ll give you a template to look at programs so if you get beyond your priorities and there are some particular implementation programs, you can think about how we would proceed. Commissioner Brahmbhatt: I mean along with the blank one, it would be good to see what happened last year so if we could see the filled in one from last year, then we can kind of go from there. Chair Stinger: I can send you the one that we’re using for the Elder Abuse program and we should also send out the activities for this year; the review of our proposed activities and our accomplishments. Good suggestion, thank you. 4. Update and discussion on work plan items Chair Stinger: The last agenda item is an update on work plans and I’ll turn that over to Committee heads. Commissioner O’Nan: I would be happy to jump in. I am on the Committee with Chair Stinger and Vice Chair Chen to organize an elder abuse awareness event. We are partnering with the Community Health Fair that’s co-sponsored by the Y and by the City of Palo Alto. The fair will be held September 23rd, here at City Hall. We have made a lot of progress over the past week. We met with one of the Co-Chairs of the Community Health Fair, [Jay Chow], and talked about the planning, the logistics, the speakers and so forth who will be presenting our elder abuse awareness event. Our plan is to reach out to a number of subject matter experts who represent ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 19 of 24 different aspects of elder abuse, people who work in the legal area who specialize on senior legal assistants, people who work in criminal justice and the Police Department or the DA. Also, social workers and sociologies and physicians who all work with the elder population and help them deal with abuse issues. Our goal is to organize the event so such that it can be both informative and interactive, which is one of the key themes of this year’s Community Health Fair. We don’t want it to just be a bunch of experts sitting kind of in a panel lecturing everybody. So, our hope is that we will have a lot of take away literature that people can take home with them if they want to learn more but also have our expert’s kind of strategically placed – they will actually be out here in the lobby because the fair will be right here in King Plaza and also inside. Then maybe have a moderator from subject matter expert to another and discuss that aspect of elder abuse and what can be done about it. Then people can come and ask questions and engage with the speakers instead of the speakers being really remote, kind of up on the stage and the audience out there very separate. We want to bridge that separateness and make people feel really comfortable talking to the experts who come and learn more about the phenomenon and learn what can be done about it and what can be done to prevent it. We hope just really help make our seniors a much safer population than they are now. We’ll be continuing to work with the Y and the whole planning Committee over the summer to nail down all the logistics and plans and get out speakers invited and of course, we hope all of our fellow Commissioners will come to the Community Health Fair. Right now, the time table would be Saturday, September 23rd from 10:30 to noon and we’ll be probably partly in this room. We’re not sure yet how we’ll use this room. It may be an audience setting, it may be a literature table, we may have – we may use the displays here to kind of pop up facts and factors about elder abuse so that people who are shyer and want to be on the periphery can be learning and engaging that way. Then have our speakers out here so that people who are a little more bold and more interested can all interact more one on one with them as well out in the lobby. Anyone who has suggestions or ideas, we would welcome to take that on board because we are still very much in the planning stage but we appreciate all the support that we’ve had from the Commission. Chair Stinger: Thank you, Jill. I have hinted to this and probably described it well enough but I’ll just flush it out a little bit. We do have a Council response team and that Committee is myself, Commissioner Gordon-Grey, Commissioner Alhassani, we’re working with Staff and our summer intern to give some legs to a value statement that was well put forth at the end of last calendar year. I think that we’re looking at qualitative data; we are looking at the national community survey of cities, some other data that we’ve seen from the Healthy Cities Initiative and now we’re moving onto some qualitative data by interviewing different people in the community. Maria Love was one of the people that we wanted to invite so that everybody could hear what the County is doing on immigration. We are a couple weeks away from actually looking at recommendations but we’re looking at them in a format of corrective issues, preventative issues, and community building issues and we’re looking at the different population's segments that are outlined in the Council Resolution. We hope to have a lot to present you on August 15th. Commissioner Brahmbhatt: I mean, I did not ask that to her but I was wondering, is the legal immigrant problem there in Palo Alto too? Chair Stinger: That was a question that I actually had for her also. We don’t have evidence of incident reports in Palo Alto. ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 20 of 24 VI. Reports from Officials – Chair Stone 1. Commissioner Reports Chair Stinger: Commissioner reports? Commissioner O’Nan: I will report that I, Chair Stinger and Commissioner Lee all were judges at the chili cook off, who was totally awesome and we hope all of the colleagues will join us next year. It was a great way to engage with the community. Oh, and Council Member Kou was there as well. Everybody rocked on that. You had to be there. It was just a lot of fun I think we do so much of our work isolated as either Council Member or Commissioners; it’s nice to be part of a big community event. Where there were just probably thousands of people, it seemed like swarming all over Mitchell Park and get to chat with people on a much more informal way and just have a great day celebrating the fourth. Chair Stinger: Agreed, thank you for inviting us to judge. I have a few things that I attended this month. One I wanted to report on was I am the liaison on Healthy Cities and at our last meeting, I guess it was June, the Palo Alto Art Center came and presented to say that they are sponsoring a season of play for the quarter September to December 2017. I wanted to talk about that because they are partnering with different community and civic organizations to foster a Palo Alto image to build connections. Get beyond the image of the City of Palo Alto being a place to work and leave but it’s a city to play and has a little bit of soul and can taste chili on July 4th and have some fun. Then, let’s see, Commissioner Gordon-Gray and I went to the County HRC meeting. They hosted the HRC’s from neighboring cities and that was a good learning experience. In the past, we’ve invited the Commissions to come for a brunch, this time the county invited us there and we got to see a little bit how the County HRC works. They are a much larger group that we are and they are organized into standing Committees, which we can’t do but they may be a resource to us in a couple ways. One they have a Social Equality Committee that’s working on a bias and hate accounting report, which is similar to what Director Love described to us. They are also working on safe housing as a human right and making Santa Clara County a human rights County. Those are avenues that we might want to look at as we develop our priorities. If they are a resource to us, we should take advantage of it. They have an Outreach Committee that is working on Human Rights Day for December 10th, 2017, and I know the people working on that Committee are going to outreach to us, whether we volunteer or not. We will be volunteered to be participants in that. So that was from the County level and we also heard what different cities are doing and there were a couple things that caught my ear. One, Mountain View is initiating an LGBTQ Needs and Asset Study and I’ve talked with the Commissioner who is doing that and we’re going to talk to the people of the county who are orchestrating that to see if there are ways to have that be reported consistently across the different cities in our county. They are also looking in Mountain View for pathways for non-citizens to vote, which might be something we’d want to explore in our immigrant work. I went to Elder Abuse Day. It was a program put on by the county to increase awareness of the abuse and situations and the resources available. I made some good contacts and shared them with our Committee and we’ll be inviting some people from the Districts Attorney’s Office. So, those are my reports. Commissioner Lee: I don’t have much of report other than the fact that I went to the chili cookoff but since it's fresh in my mind, I want to make a few comments about it. I think there’s ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 21 of 24 an opportunity potentially in future years. The fourth of July is a very American holiday. Using it as an opportunity to really explain what being an American means and being inclusive of the different backgrounds and cultures that make up America. You know it's not just about the stereo typical America or white America but sort of the melting pot. One of the things that I saw happen in Durum, North Carolina where I had previously served on the Human Relations Commission there is a use of the Fourth of July as an opportunity to really celebrate the different national origins of people in that community. The different flags up but we’re all Americans but we come from different places and we’re a nation of immigrants. So maybe we could integrate some of that aspect of what it is to be an American too at Fourth of July celebration next year. Maybe for the chili cook off, since it is sort of a melting pot, people can bring their various variations of chili. I am sure it’s something that different cultures have their own take on so that might be a way of exposing the community to something that is American but what is America? Out of our difference, we are one sort of idea. Since this Commission participates so much in that chili cook off that would be an interesting spin to put on the event next year. Ms. O’Kane: I can pass that feedback onto the Planning Committee. I think those are some really great ideas, thank you. Chair Stinger: One of the things that came out of the county meeting was I have an interest in doing more cultural affairs and cultural celebrations. There was a lot of interest in that but there was also a caveat that sometimes there needs to be a deliverable and I think the way you’ve addressed it in July – to do it around July 4th keeps it fun and valuable at the same time. I think it’s something to follow through on. 2. Council Liaison Report Chair Stinger: Thank you for coming during your break. 3. Staff Liaison Report Chair Stinger: Then lastly, Staff liaison report? Ms. Mary Constantino: I sent an email from Kate Young about their programs, the Palo Alto Housing programs and after I forwarded that on, she sent me another email and I know Commissioner O’Nan has participated in their digital leaders so this is a flyer for those programs. I just decided to print the flyer out and provide it at the meeting. This program is coming up later in July. I don’t know if any of you watched the video of the Council meeting regarding HSRAP. Council approved the subcommittee's recommendation for the different agencies so that was approved. Also, they approved another additional $44,000 to go towards HSRAP. So that $44,000 will be attached to the RFP that is going to be going out for which was ACS’s funding and that will be going out in sometime in August. Purchasing is really busy right now because it’s the beginning of the fiscal year and so they are setting up all the contracts so the RFP just has to get slipped in there and it will be done sometime in August. Chair Stinger: Thank you. ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 22 of 24 VI. TENTATIVE AGENDA FOR NEXT REGULAR MEETING: August 15, 2017 Chair Stinger: I think we are at the end of our agenda. Are there are any final comments or suggestions for the retreat on August 15th? Commissioner Brahmbhatt: I had that question for the On The Table, he had that specific day on November 15th and I was wondering if you guys got that? Why he wants all the meetings to happen on November 15th and not going – you could have another meeting tomorrow and then (inaudible). Did you guys understand what the reasoning behind having it on November 15th was? He wanted this 1 million meeting, like 1 million people to have it on that same exact day. Commissioner O’Nan: I think it’s a national program so it’s happening all across the county, city by city and that’s the date that’s been chosen nationally. So, for participating, we are part of a larger initiative. Except instead of doing it city by city, we’re going a whole region. Commissioner Brahmbhatt: Oh, ok. Commissioner O’Nan: But we’re still part of the national initiative and that’s the date that is set. Commissioner Lee: Sometimes it’s just more powerful to do it on one day, like national night out in sense is one night a year. Chair Stinger: I understood it for the momentum and the reporting sequence and they will have all of their data, all their documentation and then their reporting. Commissioner Lee: I wanted to make a suggestion if the next meeting is the retreat, either for the retreat or for the next regular meeting. I think in the email that we got there were a lot of comments about the RV situation around El Camino. So, I think that is an issue particularly for a discussion at this Commission. If it’s not resolved by November 15th, that’s something that I would be interested in hosting an event inviting some of those people to but I would love a discussion on that and to get an update on the city is currently doing, what their thinking is and perhaps have this Commission inform or be part of that process in determining what next steps to take on that. Chair Stinger: I think you need to repeat that at the retreat. I think that is an important issue. Commissioner Lee: Does the staff know? Do you guys know if the city is planning on making any decisions between now and our retreat on that particular issue that might require more expedient involvement from us? Commissioner O’Nan: I think that’s probably a better question for Council Member Kou. Council Member Kou: I know the City Manager is actually reaching out to other cities to come up with some sort of a solution in order to not in sense kick the bucket elsewhere and really look at the solution rather than just passing it along. So, it’s a regional effort and so he’s reaching out to some of the other cities. On the Council that hasn’t come up to discussion as of yet. Commissioner Lee: Before they do anything, they are going to bring it up before Council, after ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 23 of 24 discussing it with other cities or do they have the bandwidth to go and implement some stuff without Council at this point in time? Council Member Kou: I think the City Manager might want to report back to Council. I don’t know if it’s going to be an agenda item or not but definitely report back and give us an idea of what him and the other cities have discussed. Commissioner Lee: I mean to the extent that my fellow Commissioners agree, I think if it comes before the Council and if the Council is interested in the involving us with it, I would certainly welcome it. Perhaps others on the Commission would as well. Council Member Kou: Absolutely, I think it’s a great idea. Commissioner Lee: Thank you. Chair Stinger: I need my hand book. I am not sure if I can do this. Can I ask you to follow up or just keep current on that issue and bring us a status report to the retreat? That’s legitimate. Commissioner Lee: Did you want me to reach out to the City Manager to see what they are doing or just hold off until… Chair Stinger: I was thinking more of just following the press since the Council is on holiday until August? Council Member Kou: We return August 14th. Chair Stinger: So, I really don’t think there’s going to be much official response but just in terms of the press and… Commissioner Lee: Ok, that I can do. Ms. Constantino: I can also contact the City’s Manager’s Office tomorrow and see if I can get some information too. Commissioner Lee: If that’s permissible? Yep. Chair Stinger: Anything else? Commissioner Brahmbhatt: I was wondering since we have the retreat in August, will we have the Thursday meeting in August as well? Chair Stinger: The retreat will replace our standard meeting. Commissioner Brahmbhatt: Thank you. Chair Stinger: Can I have a motion to adjourn? ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 24 of 24 Commissioner O’Nan: I don’t think we need a motion. Chair Stinger: We don’t? Ok. The meeting is adjourned. Thank you all for coming. VII. ADJOURNMENT Meeting adjourned at 8:41pm