CITIZENS ADVISORY 2013/01/10 CITIZENS ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON
ELECTIONS AND COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
MINUTES
Thursday, January 10, 2013
6:30 p.m.
East Anaheim Community Center
8201 East Santa Ana Canyon Road, Anaheim, CA 92808
COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT:
John Woodhead, Ex Officio Member
Peter Agarwal
Anthony Armas
Bill Dalati, Vice Chair (arrived late)
David Diaz
Joseph Karaki
Larry Larsen
Martin Lopez
Gloria Ma'ae
Vivian Pham, Chair
Vic Real
STAFF PRESENT:
Greg Garcia, Deputy City Manager
Robert J. Tyson, Deputy City Attorney
Caroline Morey, Recording Secretary
Spanish language translation services are available at the meeting upon request.
1. Call meeting to order. The meeting of the Citizens Advisory Committee on Elections and
Community Involvement (CAC) was called to order at 6:39p.m.by Chair Pham. Vice Chair Dalati
arrived late.
2. Flag Salute
3. Public Comments ((Individual audience participation is limited to three (3) minutes per speaker)
Action: Public comments on any agenda items or subject matter within the jurisdiction of
the Citizens Advisory Committee.
Ron Bengochea, lifelong Anaheim resident. He is against districting. He's attended all meetings with the
exception of Dec 13 and has addressed the committee. He believes there are better ways to than districting
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to improve the electoral process. He presented a concept he would like the committee and council to
consider. He outlined a recommendation to improve the process fairly without going to districting. He
said that this process could be implemented by early 2014 in time for the next election and would
represent a cost savings. It is a 2 -3 step process. A. He recommends a contributions cap limit for
candidates running for office. He stated $30,000 is a reasonable amount. No exceptions. Capping
contributions would help to provide fairness and level the playing field. B. He recommends candidates
have a background check by Anaheim PD and possibly e- verify if needed. This change would allow
people to feel like their one vote counts and increase participation. He recommends reducing the
unwanted wasted mailers and signs which become litter, some of which are still up. This would represent
a cost savings. Given the salary mayor and council being around $24,000, he questions why someone
would spend $100,000 on a campaign. He would like to see this recommendation considered to improve
participation.
Tom Johnson, 30 year resident of Anaheim. Strongly supports districts for council election. Not certain of
how many seats, possibly 6 with mayor still being elected at large. It is time for a change. It would lead to
better democracy. It would allow for better community representation. It brings up the many communities
of Anaheim that need representation and not just the resort. The resort has so much power in this city. The
people who live here deserve to have a larger voice and council districts is one way to achieve that.
Leonora Keys, employee of Anaheim High School and a resident. I was raised in Anaheim and my family
currently lives here. There are many problems in Anaheim that she believes would be alleviated by
district elections. She supports districts. Her family faces problems such as sanitation or trash. Her family
has faced many problems and they don't get a timely response. Her point of view as an employee at
Anaheim High School allows her to see the experience kids in Anaheim have. There is harassment,
underemployment, unemployment, poor wages, basic community resources not equitably available which
makes it hard for the average family. It makes it hard for the students to concentrate and go to school
when they need to help support or feed their family. District elections would help the working families in
the City of Anaheim.
Steve Perez, resides on North Topeka St. He is a lifelong Anaheim resident and 2 generation.
In 2008, he was a candidate for City Council. His campaign taught him that it is nearly impossible win an
election in this city with a grass roots campaign and actually compete in Anaheim. Anaheim is simply too
big to have at large elections. Running a campaign in Anaheim requires tremendous resources. The
population in Anaheim is equivalent to half the population in state of Wyoming. Each state is represented
by 2 congressional members, a pair of US senators and state legislatures. Does it make sense that in order
to run in his hometown of Anaheim that he would need to communicate with almost as many people as
the person running for the governor of Wyoming. In order to run an effective campaign here, a person
must be personally wealthy, have big money or be connected to personal interests in order to be able to
afford a campaign statement. It also is difficult if you have a family or a full time job to campaign
effectively. He has watches the meeting online and hopes that the committee and council will take the
candidates experience into account when making their recommendation.
Public comments concluded at 6:48 p.m.
4. Receive and file the report on Community Outreach efforts
Action: Receive and file community outreach report, upon presentation of outreach
efforts.
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Deputy City Manager Greg Garcia introduced Ed Velasquez with Burnside and Associates, who has been
assisting city staff in carrying out our outreach efforts as we make them more robust. Mr. Velasquez
provided an overview of the city's outreach efforts highlight on the flyer provided. Mr. Velasquez
referred to the Community Outreach plan which is available online. Please see website below.
Mr. Velasquez made a presentation on the outreach efforts stating the City has increased its outreach
efforts and made information for the meetings available in both Spanish and English. Banners have been
placed at the meeting location site to advertise the upcoming meeting. There are slides and information on
the local access channel along with information available on the City's website. Press releases have been
sent out. The meeting informational flyer is also now available in two languages: Spanish and English and
the flyers have been places throughout the city at public counters and libraries. Attendees who wish to
receive email updates may sign up by completing the sign in form. Mr. Velasquez also stated he attended
neighborhood council meetings and a community group meeting, Los Amigos. Mr. Velazquez also shared
the ability to translate the City's website into a multitude of languages using Google translate. He
encouraged the CAC members to contact him if they have any recommendations for meetings or places
he should be going to.
A committee member asked if he could report next time on which community groups you are inviting,
attending meetings or talking to.
Mr. Velasquez responded affirmatively and said that he just attended Los Amigos Orange County. Some
people here are a result of that.
Outreach information made available during the meeting and online at
www.anaheim.net /CACelections
Commissioner Agarwal asked how many languages the materials had been made available in print. Mr.
Velasquez replied 2 presently with plans to add additional languages. They are doing outreach to Spanish
language press and are open to other communities. They are also being sure to post at libraries in each
neighborhood to include various demographics and languages in each community. The information will
be shared with the Neighborhood Councils, PTA's as well. Commissioner Real requested that the flyers
be made available at the next meeting. Mr. Velasquez let the committee know he also speaks some
Spanish.
Commissioner Ma'ae motioned to receive and file the community outreach report and Commissioner
Agarwal seconded the motion.
Ayes — 10 (Agarwal, Armas, Dalati, Diaz, Karaki, Larsen, Lopez, Ma'ae, Pham, Real) Noes — 0 Absent -
0 The motion carried.
5. Overview and presentation of Anaheim demographics
Action: Presentation by Dr. Peter A. Morrison, Demographer.
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Presentation slides made available during the meeting and online at
www.anaheim.net /CACelections
Dr. Peter A. Morrison provided a presentation titled Anaheim's Evolving Demographic Setting, an
overview of local demographics. The purpose of the presentation was to better explain the demographic
setting and how it shapes minority voters' potential to elect candidates of their choosing. The presentation
focused on better understanding the current setting and how it is changing. His information, maps and
graphics were based on 2010 Census tract data, OC Registrar of Voters. OC Health Care Agency, State
Department of Finance, and the Center for Demographic Research at CSUF. The information illustrates
various voting data from recent elections and outcomes.
The full video of their presentations is available online at the address noted above. A question and answer
period followed the presentations.
Questions and answer period occurred.
Commissioner Real indicated that he made an observation from the presentation that based on the map,
the hills areas seem to be populated by whites while other parts of the city and central area are more
populated by the Hispanics. He indicated that there are 5 council members who are all white at this time.
Other than money, Mr. Real asked if Dr. Morrison thought there was an advantage that the whites had in
the election process.
Dr. Morrison said that based on demographics he did not have the information to answer that question. He
did say that this is fairly typical of many American cities with a range of ethnic population. The fact that
minorities are getting elected and represented over a decade of time tells me it's not a situation where
minorities are locked out. He said that's not to say that wealth or money might not have something to do
with whether they got elected. However, he did not have the information on that.
Commissioner Larsen stated that there are currently 2 of the 5 council members that lived in the hills but
if you look at the maps and how density is shown it's not in alignment with the last statement. Density of
population is greater in the west and central parts of the city and less dense in the east.
Commissioner Diaz stated there are 3 people on council who live in the flatlands and 2 from the hills. He
said that this was great information. It does show that voter participation would impact these outcomes.
and referenced Dr. Morrison's comments about examining the number of eligible voters.
Mr. Diaz shared that there was a very low voter turnout when it seems there should have been a lot of
people coming out to vote and it's important to get people engaged to vote. Mr. Diaz mentioned the
presentation by the cities of Modesto and Vista, which is available online and he encouraged residents to
watch the presentation Mr. Diaz said that the number one reason people weren't voting was because they
felt disengaged and didn't have the education and stated education was needed and once they were
engaged and educated, the voting turnout would increase.
Dr. Morrison stated he read the report from the City of Vista and he felt that was an excellent point that
Commissioner Diaz made with the outreach program. The City of Vista managed to accomplish, exactly
as you said, a situation where people who were able to be empowered, got empowered, got out there and
voted, and changed the electoral outcomes. That is really an important point for the city. Whenever you
have low turnout, you're not realizing your full numerical potential. Numbers don't account for anything
if the numbers don't show up to cast a vote. That is a very important point.
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Commissioner Armas brought up a point from the last presentation from the City of Modesto, that one of
the council members was elected from a predominantly Hispanic district, and he was white, NRA
member, he won that district with only 6 % and when we start chopping this up into cultures, it doesn't
guarantee anything.
Dr. Morrison said you are right. A great example would be taking Barack Obama. The people who elected
him were not all black. The idea that a Latino candidate is going to be elected by Latino voters or a black
candidate by black voters, or an Asian candidate by Asian voters, it's not necessarily the case. Sometimes
it's the case but not always, not even most of the time.
Commissioner Armas said he would hope that the community has evolved past that. He would hope that
we'd elect the best candidate. But if the education isn't out there of the people to make an intelligent
decision, we're going to get back into a challenge with stereotypes, assuming that only someone who
Looks like you can do a good job. That's not what we want in the city of Anaheim. We want the best
qualified person. How do we get from that to more of an education system, how do we educate people on
that premise and how do we get there.
Dr. Morrison said the way the political scientist look at this is that you have the popular person who is
elected first. However, the person who may come in second would be one who has formed coalitions who
has built relationships across several groups. The prospect of forming coalitions is something that unifies
a community by bringing people to get engaged and to turn out to vote. There are a lot of ways the
demography can work in favor of or to frustrate the given potential of an electorate system. The points
you make are valid. It depends on people wanting to get engaged and being involved.
Commissioner Dalati said that, for example, if, in the future it appears that Asians may be the minority,
there may be a need looking forward to pay more attention to that segment?
Dr. Morrison said that depends on several factors including participation. He did not know the
participation rates but he said it is common the participation rates may vary from one group to another.
The rate of participation among the ethnicities may be disproportionate to their voting inclination. You
may want to get that information from a political scientist which is challenging because they are not a part
of the standard published electoral data. As residents of this city you probably have some sense of which
group is participating more or which group is not participating as much as it could. From demographics,
Dr. Morrison did see that a significant fraction of adults in this community are not citizens and that is a
function of the way the city grew. Seeing that most of those under 18 are residents, shows you where the
city is evolving.
Commissioner Dalati questioned if we don't do a good outreach program to the other minority
demographics and to those who may becoming a minority that they may fade away.
Dr. Morrison said that is a good point. For any community especially if the community is a small portion
of the electorate, it is a critical factor.
Commissioner Lopez asked in your studies were you able to see any voting patterns that might make a
difference if we had districts rather than at -large voting?
Dr. Morrison responded that he did not do any analysis of that type. Commissioner Lopez asked in your
analysis did you see any racially or geographically polarized voting.
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Dr. Morrison responded that he did not do any analysis of that type.
Commissioner Lopez noted that it seemed the two Latinos who were elected in 2002, just after 9/11
happened to have been firemen when everyone loved firemen and were appreciative because of the type
of work they did in that crisis.
Commissioner Pham asked if staff could provide that sort of research would be able to be compiled for
the next meeting.
Mr. Garcia responded he did not think it could be prepared by the next meeting. As Dr. Morrison
addressed, it's a research project that would require hours and hours of research and analysis. Again, the
question of polarized voting is getting in to an area that's being litigated right now.
Commission Ma'ae asked if it would be possible to get info more about the possibility of geographic
polarization more so than racial. Chair Pham said she would be interested in the geography of it.
Commissioner Ma'ae clarified of those who were eligible to vote, how many voted, and of those who did
or did not vote what was the racial makeup of each individual group. For example, if we have 300,000
people in Anaheim, how many were registered, of those registered how many actually voted, and in both
those who were eligible and those who did or did not.
Mr. Garcia said that information we have and I think that we can provide. We can provide that
information with a little more depth. Staff will work on putting that together.
Commissioner Agarwal said that it was great information. One thing that stands out to me is voter
participation, but candidate participation is also important. If participation on both parts improved it
would level the playing field fairly quickly. An important question to ask is why aren't there more
Hispanic candidates running when the population is so evenly split between Caucasian and Hispanic -non
whites. He said he would like to see what was voter participation who voted for Hispanic candidate Leos.
Commissioner Agarwal said that if voter participation was as high among Hispanics as whites and others
he didn't think there'd be a problem.
Dr. Morrison said there are constraints with the data available from the local registrar. What they tell you
is that the people who are in this precinct, this is the percentage who turned out to vote. It's just a general
turnout rate it's not as specific as capturing ethnicity data. As Mr. Garcia said, it takes not only hours but
more likely days and weeks to conclude that kind of work.
Commissioner Agarwal suggested the committee look into how we develop our future leaders. City of
Riverside has Leadership Academy. This helps to develop candidates. How do they help to develop not
only Hispanics but all future leaders in the city. If you develop more leaders, you will have more people
running.
Commissioner Larsen, the 2 members who were elected in 2010 so none were elected in this past
election. If you combined the voted the two candidates who live in Anaheim Hills received, they would
have come in third. So the assumption that the hills controls or manipulates the elections of the city
doesn't or didn't play out in this last election. With 135,000 votes cast with 2 votes per person, again you
can assume everyone voted twice but I know for a fact they may not have. Commissioner Larsen asked
Mr. Garcia if they could determine if the voters who participated in the last election voted for council.
Dr. Morrison said that information may be difficult to extrapolate whether people voted for two
candidates or "bullet" voted just for one candidate twice. He said this may be an unknown quantity.
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Commissioner Larsen asked how you determine an eligible voter.
Dr. Morrison said an eligible voter is someone who is 18 or older and are citizens based on the Census
Bureau's Data. That's irrespective of whether they are native born, naturalized or non - citizens. That is a
much larger 18 and older population. Eligible just means they are able to register. That does not mean
they necessarily have registered. This is a person who is entitled to vote.
Commissioner Larsen asked if that was true if there might be residency issues.
Dr. Morrison clarified eligible requires:
• Resident of Anaheim
• US Citizen
• 18 or older
Commissioner Real to answer Commissioner Agarwal's comments, Anaheim has had through the years a
neighborhood academy where people are called in for a 10 week course and they learn about the inner
workings of the city. Commissioner Real recommends that that be reinstituted like every 6 months. That
was a very good program. He asked how many in the audience participated in the neighborhood academy.
At least 5 people raised their hands in the audience and 3 from the committee.
Commissioner Armas stated that it appears that we have a really well balanced city. He asked Dr.
Morrison if he could give his opinion. A majority of citizens are either white or Hispanic. How do we fair
in relation.
Dr. Morrison said Anaheim does typify the cutting edge demography that you're now starting to see
realized in Southern California starting in 1990 and moving forward. Anaheim looks like a lot of
California cities. It typifies the nations demography of how are nation is changing.
Commissioner Dalati mentioned Dr. Morrison left out cumulative. The two types addressed are the two
most common and the two types he is most familiar with. The reason he did not talk about them is you
would need to hear from those from a political scientist.
Commissioner Diaz stated that it was good information. He, himself is Hispanic, with the last name Diaz
as a 3 generation in California, but he has some concern when he heard the emphasis being about more
Hispanics or any other race. He feels strongly that they should elect the best candidate. He always votes to
select the best candidate. The lesson we've learned is that you can have someone elected who may not
ethnically represent the district, and there may still be the possibility of that set of people feeling
underrepresented. He feels it's important that they begin discussing these kind of concerns so they are
able to factor them into the recommendations before May 31.
Commissioner Lopez said he doesn't feel that this is about race but it's about giving people the chance the
to select their candidate. For staff, he would like to see more information about voting blocks and would
be interested to see since Mr. Leos or Mrs. Rivera has run twice with districting would he have had a
better chance. That would be for this last election and the previous.
Mr. Garcia said that they could provide information by precinct so you can review it.
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Commissioner Dalati said as Commissioner Diaz said it may be the best candidate does not have the
resources to run or the chance to surface with the current system. He thinks people in this room may be
surprised at how the voting results came out.
Commissioner Ma'ae asked to see if they could get a report on what each candidate spent on their
campaign & see how that impacted the results whether they won.
Chair Pham said based on what Commissioner Dalati and Diaz said, the issue that was raised when she
spoke with residents isn't that the minorities were locked out it was that the voters for Latinos were
diluted in an at large system that they are unable to elect the candidates of their choice.
Commissioner Armas was surprised by some of the information and has adjusted his perspective and
taken some questions of the table. It's very interesting.
Chair Pham thanked Dr. Morrison and opened Public Comment period 2 opened at 7:50p.m.
Marisol Ramirez, 21 year old West Anaheim resident, is in favor of districting. She feels her
neighborhood is neglected and needs attention. She feels that the city and council only responds to those
who have money. She feels like it will allow neighborhoods to be paid more attention.
Vanessa Martinez, West Anaheim resident comment about Mr. Lopez regarding the racially polarized
voting question. It may important for the advisory committee to delve a little more into so that the
committee may be better informed in making recommendations for the citizens of Anaheim.
Maria Ruiz lived in LA for 15 years and moved out of that city because it was a very violent city. There
were a lot of gangs. She moved to Anaheim because it was very calm. She enjoyed the city very much.
The city has now changed quite a bit. The city has changed very much with the violence against Latinos.
The leaders of our city are not listening to us. She said that it needs to change. She recommends a change
in elections and supports districting with the idea of 8 being a fair number.
Pedro Ramadan 32 year citizen in Anaheim and 25 year home owner. He has had a business in Anaheim
for 7 years. He worked for City of Anaheim for 20 years as an employee. He supports districting and
thinks there should be 8 districts for better representation. He thinks laborers need better representation.
Kenya, resident of Anaheim. She went to Magnolia High School and also works in Anaheim. She thinks
this is not about race or the race the candidate is, but it's about neighborhood they represent.
Duane Roberts, 40 year resident and candidate in the last election. First meeting he's attended. He said an
issue that the committee should consider with the size of the city and the size of city in regard to the size
of the city's population. It is one of the smallest councils in California for its size. He said the council is
too small. Historically 80 years ago when it was a small farming community it made sense but the city
has grown. He recommends 7 to 9 council members He thinks size is as important as the system. He said
that it's possible with a larger council Leos would have been elected because 3 would have been up for
election. He also addresses the time at which council meets. He said a 5 pm city council meeting is too
early. He recommends a later time.
Glenda Flora, 50 year West Anaheim resident and has attended all the schools here. She said it was good
info at the presentation. He provided good information about who actually votes in this city. There is a
need to get more people involved. She is actively involved with the Library Board. She said that term
limits people didn't want to get involved. Voter education for the general population is very important so
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they can be more of a participant. Still strongly supports At -large because the idea of having
representation of the whole city is important.
Mariana Rivera, South Anaheim resident, active member in the community. She has been a resident for
10 years. She seen a lack of community representation and believes better representation is needed. She
supports districting and recommends 8 districts. She has seen graffiti on the streets and on cars being
graffiti in her community even cars vandalized. Ms. Rivera said that they need that representation because
it causes great sadness to see kids in gangs. She does not like seeing children as young as 8 -9 involved in
vandalism. What do we need to do to create 8 district elections. People say they don't want to go vote if
they feel they are not accounted for. She asked that you please think about creating districts and thanked
everyone for their time.
VR Haywood was born and raised in Anaheim. He lives in Central Anaheim. He asked for more metrics
regarding past voter participation. The metrics should play a certain part in the recommendations. He
likes the idea of the commission. He said it's not just the system that may need to change but really
improving voter engagement and voter engagement/registration and participation. He is not hearing that
in the conversation and feels it is very important. He feels it's important to have milestone markers so that
they can compare where they were and understand changes and progress. If you have this info you can
tell whether or not it's working. He thinks there should be an increase in the number of council members.
Dr. Patricia Adelekan, Anaheim resident. She emphasized the importance of participation and
empowerment. If we're serious about participation and as leaders if we know that counts, this room
should be standing room only. She thanked Dr. Morrison for his report. Recommends the city provide
transportation for residents to attend the meetings. She indicated the best candidate is someone that
builds coalitions.
Ron Bengoshea thanked the presenter, Dr. Peter Morrison. He said you will find not surprising that more
shift against districting if they truly understand it. He is against council districting. He has worked in
labor negotiations and seen the negative impacts of districts and encourages voter education.
Eric Altman with the non - profit OCCORD who works with neighborhood leaders in Anaheim.
Participation is the key and the Committee has moved towards discussing participation as that is the data
that they have been presented. The committee needs to see if there are racially polarized voting patterns in
Anaheim or coalition voting patterns. If you are depriving the committee that information, you really are
depriving the committee some crucially important information to be able to do this job.
Grant Henninger. Thanked everyone for being here on committee. Is not in favor of districts and
recommends voter education.
Steve Perez. Many issues that he's heard about and he does not think there is a substitution for not
moving district to help with the issues. Each council member represents over 60k residents. If you are
encountering simple problems, that doesn't make them accessible. It's going to make people
unresponsive. There is no substitution for increasing representation.
6. Committee meeting schedule
Action: Approve future Citizen Advisory Committee meeting dates and topics.
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Deputy City Manager Garcia addressed the importance of the topics mentioned and covering all of this in
the time frame allotted. He said that staff has created a plan to address this which you have been provided
with between now and May 31.
Commissioner Karaki asked about how subcommittees would be conducted. Mr.Garcia said there could
be three subcommittees that will meet separately and do their work separately then delivery a report at the
general CAC meeting. The subcommittees could be- electoral systems and whether the electoral system
needs to change, participation strategies, size of the city council and whether you have a rotating mayor
or separately elected mayor. By having subcommittees, it would allow for more to be accomplished to
meet the deadline. Commissioner Karaki asked a question about the Brown Act and how it affects
separate meetings. Logistically, Commissioner Karaki said that he will be traveling and unable to attend.
Mr. Garcia said that as long as there is not a quorum of committee members present, it does not need to
be held in an open setting. Whatever the subcommittees decide, it will be brought to an open session for
discussion. Regarding availability there is an understanding of how ambitious this schedule may be and
how some may not be able to attend. Subcommittee meetings can be held separately at a convenient time.
Commissioner Karaki asked if all dates listed on the calendar were public meetings.
Mr. Garcia replied that all listed on the calendar are public meetings. Subcommittee meetings are not
listed here. Mr. Garcia also mentioned another facilitator will be brought in.
Chair Pham asked if staff would attend the subcommittee meetings. Mr. Garcia said committee members
were welcome to contact him directly for more information or questions.
Commissioner Dalati asked if the time of council meetings could be included.
Mr. Woodhead said that your charge is broad and if you wish to include it you may.
Commissioner Agarwal asked if location would be rotating with the recommendation that the last two
meetings be held in the same location.
Commissioner Ma'ae addressed the transportation issue.
Mr. Garcia said that scheduling could be accommodated as requested. He also said that is why we have
moved throughout the city. They are taped and online and ACTV. If they can't make it to a meeting they
are able to make comments to the meeting.via online.
Commissioner Ma'ae replied regarding transportation and that is why the meetings have been moved to
reach as many as possible.
Commissioner Lopez asked about discussions regarding electoral process.
Mr. Garcia affirmed that there would be more discussion and ample time to address it.
Chair Pham requested that the meeting in the south could target the Ponderosa area.
Mr. Garcia said the Ponderosa facility is smaller but it will accommodate.
Commissioner Diaz asked where the Los Amigos meeting was held.
Mr. Velasquez said they meet at Jaegerhaus Restaurant on 521 E. Ball.
Commissioner Diaz asked if anyone from the committee was there.
Mr. Velasquez said they were because he was just there to inform them of the upcoming meeting.
However, committee members can be included in the future.
Commissioner Diaz mentioned that several people spoke who mentioned the number 8 districts and we'd
like to understand why. He said it's important we insure we're providing accurate information to people
and they are aware of both sides.
Commissioner Armas motioned to receive and file the Citizen Advisory Committee meeting dates and
topics. Agarwal seconded the motion.
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Ayes — 10 (Agarwal, Armas, Dalati, Diaz, Karaki, Larsen, Lopez, Ma'ae, Pham, Real) Noes — 0 Absent -
0
The motion carried.
The approved meeting schedule is as follows based on Professor Tuckers recommended path to
committee recommendations:
Tentative CAC Schedule
January 31, 2013 Alternative Electoral 9ystPrns
Fe bruary 21, 2013 Voter participation and registration
February 28, 2013 Divide into subcommittees
March 14, 2013 Costs of electoral systems and begin public input
March 28, 2013 Panel of cities' experierces and public input
April 4, 2013 Subcommittees begin report, pubic input and discussion from other
members not on subcommittees
April 11, 2013 Subcommittees drafts discussed and revised in public, public Input
April 25, 2013 Submmmittees drafts discussed and revised in public, public Input, and CAC
appoints subcommittees to draft final report
May 9, 2013 First consoliclated drat of full report. public in put on draft
May 16, 2013 Final draft of report, public Input and final edits, report published
May 23, 2013 Public Input onfinal report, final report approved a sent to City Council
7. Committee Communications
Action: Closing comments.
Commissioner Agarwal recommended that everyone participate. If they are unable to attend meetings in
person the video of meetings is available online. He recommended that the final meetings are at the same
location in a central area to optimize public input. Tell everyone you know to attend the meetings.
Commissioner Real was very pleased with attendance and complimented staff and audience on the higher
level of participation. The committee will come up with a resolution that helps to solve the problem.
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Commissioner Ma'ae stated that she doesn't know if the committee or council can resolve all the
problems that were discussed tonight during public comments. She believes that they do have good
intentions and she said the committee will do their best to bring these issues and concerns to the council
but that not everyone may be happy with the results. The program Neighborhood Academy in the inter
city to encourage leadership and action is a great program which started on the grass roots level. Also
Leadership Anaheim does offer scholarships to those interested in participating in government. There is
an opportunity for the youth on the high school level to get involved. She said there is good info available
through that organization on coaching and educating people on government and the political process. She
extended her thanks to everyone present.
Vice Chair Dalati wished everyone a Happy New Year. He thanked staff for all their work and said it has
been a great learning experience. Whatever decision is made there are great leaders and he said that they
will come up with recommendations that will be best for the city, and the citizens. He wanted to respond
to the Hispanic speakers regarding problems with police brutality. Those issues should not wait. There is
great leadership under Mayor Tait and he truly represents a kind response. Chief John Welter is a great
leader and you can reach out to him.
Commissioner Diaz thanked all of the commissioners and said they will look forward to attending the
central, south, west and east Neighborhood Council meetings to share information about CAC meetings.
He said that these meetings cover lots of what goes on in each neighborhood and how you can get
involved. At those meetings, there's fire, police, code enforcement, and city staff there answer your
concerns. They will give presentations once a quarter. Get involved. They are occurring in the next 2
weeks in January. Commissioner Diaz agreed with Commissioner Lopez that education is very important
for individuals to understand how districting would actually work.
Commissioner Armas thanked staff. He said that it was a lot of work putting these meetings on. He
commented on the great turnout tonight. He hopes that the attendees were enlightened and learned. He
said that there are problems but don't wait to speak at a council meeting. Get to a neighborhood meeting,
these meetings or council meeting. He thanked staff.
Commissioner Lopez recognized the public and thanked them for sharing their opinions and respected
them for speaking. He said it's important to get more people to the meetings by inviting your neighbors,
friends and coworkers to raise awareness. The committee will continue listening and do their best.
Commissioner Larsen thanked the staff and the City Council and echoed his committee colleagues
thoughts.
Commissioner Pham thanked Dr. Morrison for his wonderful presentation and staff for all their hard
work. She said it was great to see an almost full room and they would like to see this more of this. She
would like to see if transportation is available as well as resident leader institute.
She looks forward to hearing more about the metrics especially 1 councilmember to 68,000 people . She
thinks the public is saying that there needs to be change and improved representation. She thanked her
fellow commissioners in advance for all their hard work.
8. Adjournment
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Commissioner Diaz motioned to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Commissioner Armas and Dalati.
The meeting was adjourned by Chair Pham at 8:48 p.m.
* * * **
Public Comment Period 2 opened by Chair Pham.
Public Comment Period 2 closed at 8:16 p.m.
Resfully S}ibmitt
1
Caroline Morey / f
Recording Secretary/
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