Councilmember Nicholas Dunlap was absent.

Mayor Fred Jung had no comments or reports.

Mayor Protem Dr. Shana Charles spoke during the meeting, saying, “I didn’t have the chance to make my comments after our marathon meeting last time, so I will share a few thoughts that are leftover. First, I would like to acknowledge that we are on Tongva and tribal lands. I believe incorporating this acknowledgment into our council meetings is important. Reflecting on my time as mayor, I regret not considering this earlier, and I will make it a point to include it in my future council comments.

“I also want to recognize the hard work of our former Administrative Director, Ellis Chang, who moved into a new position after many years of service. She skillfully led us through challenging budgetary difficulties, and I want to thank her for her efforts.

“On a positive note, happy Women’s History Month! Although we are already about halfway through the month, I appreciate this occasion. I also want to acknowledge the Fullerton Museum Center for hosting a wonderful Women’s Festival. Unfortunately, I could not attend this year due to being out of town, but I heard it was amazing, and I have already marked my calendar for next year. Additionally, Pride Month is coming up on June 7th, so I encourage everyone to save that date as well.

“I want to commend the staff and the Museum Center for two pieces of fantastic news: first, the housing element that we worked so hard on and that took many months, even years, to complete, has been accepted by the state. This is a significant achievement that we should celebrate! Secondly, we are planning to have fireworks for the Fourth of July celebration. While I don’t know the specifics yet, I am eager to hear from the staff regarding our budget and preparations. I know they are working diligently to address council concerns and collaborate with the organization that manages our fireworks display. I remember being the only one at midnight on New Year’s Eve, and I hope that moving our event to 9:00 PM on the Fourth will encourage more people to attend. I am really looking forward to celebrating this year!

“As we head into spring break, I can hardly believe how quickly this year is passing—it feels like it has already lasted three years! I want to encourage everyone to enjoy the nice weather and the outdoors. We’ve been discussing bicyclists, and we all must pay attention to our surroundings while out and about in the city. I urge drivers to slow down and not treat our roads like freeways. As the year progresses, we will keep working to make our roads safer for everyone.

“I look forward to my continued involvement in commission meetings, and I’m excited that the active transportation committee will be rebooting tomorrow night after a long absence.

“I’d like to invite anyone who hasn’t heard yet – to join me for my City Hall office hours, which are held on Thursdays from 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM. You are welcome to come in and talk to me, call me, or email me, and I promise to get back to you. I will also be out in the community at the end of this month in Chapman Park. We have a flyer available with my schedule for the year, and you can find it posted online as well. Please feel free to connect with me on Facebook or Instagram. Additionally, I will be sending out my council newsletter later this week, which will include updates on what we have accomplished and some useful information for our community.

“Lastly, I’ll also be attending the mosquito vector control district meeting, and I will provide a report on that next month. Thankfully, it has been very quiet, but as a reminder, please avoid having standing water around your home as you do your gardening and planting. I look forward to seeing everyone in April!”

Councilmember Dr. Ahmad Zahra said, “I don’t know what to say. I don’t have anything specific to report, but I do want to talk a little bit about kindness. It’s a term that is often thrown around and sometimes misconstrued as civility. However, it’s different. You can be civil while enacting laws that are cruel. Kindness goes beyond just being nice to someone; it means ensuring that our laws and policies towards our community are just and kind.

“I think it’s important for us to understand this distinction. I often reflect on my own life and reassess it, but I firmly believe in civility. At the same time, I believe in defending oneself and protecting the community against lies and cruel actions. My role here is to do just that. Everything I do or say is in the interest of the public I represent and in the interest of the city.

“For the past six years, I’ve faced criticism from individuals who have significant financial resources. They run blogs, fund campaigns, and have political action committees, yet no one seems to call them out for lacking kindness. I am here because I believe in doing what’s right, and I hope that is the message we can all think about: doing what’s right.”

Councilmember Jamie Valencia said, “Yeah, I was asked to go or invited to come to the police and firefighters award banquets this month, and me and my son went. We had a blast. It’s really awesome to see how hard these individuals work to get all these promotions. It was great to see it. Uh, the fire award ceremony was a little bit more spectacular at the water dumped on the promotion. Sorry, but the police had really good cupcakes and cookies. But congratulations to all the men and women out there that are doing great service for our city. We really, I really appreciate it. So thank you for all the hard work.”