M. Khaled Ammari PLS 201.14 3/7/2018 Extra Credit On Monday, March 5th, 2018, I attended a city council meeting in Pomona. It was a great first time experience especially because I got the chance to see the Mayor, Tim Sandoval. When I arrived, I grabbed an agenda for the meeting, and sat down next to a group of people and noticed that most of the people who attended the meeting knew each other, seems like they are there whenever there is a city council meeting. I saw JROTC members march with arms and the American flag, it seemed like a great start to the meeting. After that, we recited the pledge of allegiance, and the mayor gave us a brief overview of the meeting. The mayor presented two proclamations proclaiming the month of March as “American Red Cross Month” and was encouraged to donate or give blood to this campaign. Another proclamation was approved and proclaimed March as “National Nutrition Month” where this movement is hoping to better the health of the people in Pomona, and invited the public to a 3-mile run every Tuesday. The mayor made a fascinating announcement that I would like to share in my paper, that a resident in Pomona recently turned 108 years old and she is now the oldest person in Pomona. Public participation took place after announcing the proclamations. Each speaker had the chance to speak for three minutes. Some topics that were discussed are the trash we see on streets, organ donations, homelessness, importance of religion in schools, unreasonable eviction notices, and story telling about the history of Pomona. This went on for at least an hour. After the public participation came to M. Khaled Ammari PLS 201.14 3/7/2018 an end, about 70% of the room was empty. I stayed there for a little longer because I was curious how they would tackle and pass the resolutions. The first resolution was to amend “Major Street Rehabilitation,” this resolution was passed in the first minute. Then a speaker came up to the podium and presented a slide show on the second resolution amending the FY2017-18 capital improvement program (CIP) budget by creating a new CIP project. This presentation went on for about 5 minutes. The important lesson that I learned from the meeting is that if someone has an issue with any local policies that may impact their day-to-day life then it is their chance to speak up and address the issue to the public and the council members. Overall it was a great experience and I am glad I got to meet the mayor, a humorous selfless guy, and would encourage anyone who has not been to a city council meeting to attend one.