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Erskine Hospital asked to attend the Scottish Games and have continued to do so for the last 5 years. A reception is being held in honor of their visit at 6 p.m. on Friday evening in the First Chieftains suite at the San Ramon Marriott. American Friends of Erskine is also hosting a booth at both First Wednesday and the upcoming games to provide the public with information and inspire donations. They will also be passing a collection jar throughout the grandstands with the assistance of 8 sea cadets from the USS Hornet. The funds collected will be used to replace the hospital's ambulatory buses. 14. Public Comment Dick Offerman, Pleasant Hill, expressed concern over the upcoming Urban Shield event to be held in Pleasanton. He explained that he and many others share the concern that this event, which is promoted as a regional emergency preparedness event, is intended specifically to facilitate the continued militarism of local law enforcement agencies. He said that in reality, the event is a military weapons tradeshow attended by many defense industry contractors. Cite!, the event's creator, is a private Pleasanton company started by a former Alameda County Sheriffs Deputy in 2007. Volunteers interviewed after the 2014 event held in Oakland reported that the SWAT team competitions were focused on combative crisis resolution rather than de-escalation, a mentality mirrored by recent deadly police actions. He urged the citizens of Pleasanton to ask why their own police force is listed as a supporting agency to a private company whose competitions promote combat over de-escalation and how much in tax payer dollars is being used to support this effort. He also urged residents to ask whether it would be appropriate for any member of their police force to wear one of the shirts sold at last year's event—rifle crosshairs with phrase "this is my peace sign." He asked residents to contact the Council directly to confirm that no city revenue will be used to support this year's event and request that they refuse to host next year's Urban Shield. Fred Norman, Pleasanton, asked the Council to instruct the Pleasanton Police Department not to participate in the upcoming Urban Shield Event. He explained that the event, which is supported by both the Pentagon and Homeland Security, is an attempt to militarize the local law enforcement departments of America by offering them the training and weapons designed to support occupation forces that no longer protect the people they serve but instead brutally punish those who do not obey orders on command or who wish to exercise their Constitutional rights of free speech and assembly. It is through Urban Shield that American police forces have acquitted the armored vehicles and military weapons that were used in Iraq and Afghanistan and are often trained in tactics used to intimidate the civilian population of those countries. He said he has always respected and appreciated the Pleasanton Police Department but not its willingness to participate in exercises such as Urban Shield. Ronald Marovich, Shadow Creek Condominiums, expressed concern about the proposed water rate increases. He explained that due to the way his complex is metered, he shares billing with 11 other families. In order to reduce his consumption as mandated and avoid the proposed fines, he must worry about his efforts as well as those of the 11 other households on his meter. He said that he is on a fixed income and any increase here will mean that he must do without elsewhere. He shared a copy of his latest bill, which totaled approximately $1,000 for the units. Of that, only $250 is for Zone 7 water purchases. He asked what efforts the city has made to reduce overhead so that ratepayers are not asked to shoulder the full burden of the drought. He also asked that the rate proposal include a program for automatically reverting rates back to the 2013 base year once the drought has ended. Jenine Spotnitz shared similar concerns to Mr. Offerman and Mr. Norman regarding the Urban Shield training exercise and trade show. She said that companies from around the world use this conference to sell the kind of military grade equipment that shocked the country when it was used in Ferguson, MO. This type of armament being sold and promoted at Urban Shield is often used to perpetrate human rights violations, including the gassing and arresting of journalists present to document the suppression of uprising that was fueled by the killing of Michael Brown. She quoted sociologist Nick Adams who wrote in his study on police escalation that "everything starts to turn bad when you see a police officer come out of an SUV carrying an AR-15. This study found that protests tend to turn violent when officers City Council Minutes Page 3 of 4 September 1, 2015