Tuesday, January 10, 2023
Mayor Helen Tran, City of San Bernardino
Hybrid Meeting In-Person and via ZOOM
Minutes
Present: Deborah Barmack, Peter Barmack, Carole Beswick, Rebecca Boydston, Greg Bradbard, Mike Burrows, Rachelle Bussell, Chris Carrillo, Mark Cloud, Ken Coate, Josh Cox, Michelle Decker, Kevin Dyerly, Dr. Sam Gibbs, Louis Goodwin, T. Milford Harrison, Mark Kaenel, Lena Kent, Lowell King, Steve Lambert, Mike Layne, Bill Lemann, Michael Lewin, Darcy McNaboe, Miguel Mendoza, Jacquelyn Mercado, Tomas Morales, Dan Murphy, Vikki Ostermann, Bansree Parikh, Catherine Pritchett, Thomas Rice, Michael Rivera, Elizabeth Romero, Dan Schenkel, Kristine Scott, Patty Senecal, Paul Shimoff, Eric Ustation, Lupe Valdez, Pete Van Helden, Reggie Webb, and Frank Zabaleta.
Guests: Caroline Elendorf, Lashyra Nolen, John Tang, Christine Tran, and Marisa Yeager.
Announcements: 1) Due to the holidays, the reservation deadline for participating in the Washington, DC trip has been extended to January 20, 2023. The group was reminded that Inland Action is scheduled to meet with legislators in Washington, D.C. the morning of Wednesday, March 8, 2023. Those attending the advocacy trip should know to book their tickets for late afternoon or evening. 2) The Governor’s office announced that California interagency leaders and the Dept of Finance will hold a stakeholder webinar to discuss proposed climate investments in the state budget. The webinar is scheduled for today at 2:00 p.m. Please inquire with staff if interested. 3) The San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District will hold an Upper Santa Ana River Division 1 Water Forum on Thursday, January 19, 2023, at 9:00 a.m. at the Sierra Lakes Golf Club in Fontana. 4) The Little Hoover Commission will hold a webinar on Equitable Economic Development across the State on Friday, January 20, 2023 from 12-1:00p.m. To register online go to https://bit.ly/3WKa9BX 5) The San Bernardino Black Culture Foundation will hold their 30th Annual Black Rose event on Saturday, February 4, 2023. For more information contact Kristine Scott.
Motion by T. Rice/Second/Passed: Minutes from December 20, 2022.
The second reading of prospective new member: Mexican American Opportunity Foundation (MAOF). Dr. Cid Pinedo, CEO will serve as their Primary representative. The membership will be asked to vote next week. For more information, please go to https://maof.org/
Thomas Rice introduced newly elected Mayor Helen Tran, City of San Bernardino who joined us in person. Mayor Tran is very familiar to the City of San Bernardino as she had worked there for nearly fourteen years in human resources and served as the Director of that department for four years. In 2019 she worked for the City of West Covina as the Director of Human Resources and Risk Management prior to returning to San Bernardino. She assumed office in December 2022 and is the city’s first Asian American mayor.
Mayor Tran ran for the mayoral seat because she cares deeply for San Bernardino and has a vision for the future that is highlighted by engagement and connectedness. She has a great deal of energy and won’t stop until a problem is solved or bottleneck is cleared. She indicated that she has been clear with staff, community, and City Council that she does not have a personal agenda and will remain transparent. There has been a dramatic shift politically with the city council and she believes the council members have lots of “heart” for the city and she can work with all of them.
A big component to transform the city is their newly launched “Investment Playbook”. The San Bernardino Investment Playbook will catalyze investment in the building blocks of an equitable, sustainable, and prosperous San Bernardino. An Investment Playbook for San Bernardino developed in collaboration with the Aspen Institute Latinos and Society Program, the City of San Bernardino, California State University, San Bernardino, and dozens of local stakeholders, with support from the James Irvine Foundation. The Playbook sets out concrete, actionable investments that advance climate readiness, boost equitable economic growth, and improve daily life for all residents.
Over the past year and a half, the federal government has embarked on a massive effort to accelerate climate action and equitable economic growth in American communities. This unprecedented level of federal funding has created new possibilities for transformative investment at scale. If cities hope to maximize return on these extraordinary investments, they must organize now.
Local knowledge and expertise form the backbone of the San Bernardino Investment Playbook. Unlike traditional economic development approaches that rely on outside knowledge and one-size-fits-all replication of investments made elsewhere, Investment Playbooks begin and end with community input. Dozens of in-depth individual and group interviews with community stakeholders provided invaluable information about the concerns and aspirations of San Bernardino residents and provided context and inspiration for the Playbook as a whole. These conversations identified six priority areas—Capacity, Infrastructure, Housing, Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Community—as well as the individual projects within each category. Each Playbook investment takes one of three forms:
Ready to go projects are largely complete, with clear design, costs, and plans for implementation. The proposed ready-to-go projects currently total roughly $1 billion.
Last mile projects are intermediate-stage projects that need to get specific on design and cost.
Exploratory projects are in early-stages and will need more development before they are ready to fund and implement.
To learn more about the Investment Playbook go to https://www.sbinvestmentplaybook.com/
Top priorities for the city are increased safety and the homeless.
A Q & A period followed.
Meeting adjourned at 8:30 a.m.