06, 19, 34
Public Comment
From:Alicia Gis <
Sent:Tuesday, December 15, 2020 12:20 PM
To:Public Comment; City Clerk
Subject:Public Comment for 12/15/2020
Dear Anaheim City council,
This public comment is in regard to the nature of the council meetings, item 34, item 19, item 6, & items on
Housing Development.
I'd like to urge the council to allow for actual public comment from speakers.
First, Many cities have
invested in a system, like Zoom, to allow for members of the public to speak, see, and hear council meetings.
Currently, meetings are hard to hear, difficult to distinguish who is talking, and do not allow for the public to
voice their opinions.
item 34
The nature of the council meetings impacts my option on . While I believe that responsible local
governments should have input on the state's response to COVID 19, I do not believe the Anaheim City Council
or the OC board of Supervisors have behaved as responsible local government bodies. Therefore, I do not agree
with the council adopting a resolution for the purpose of urging the state to reopen Anaheim, when the Anaheim
Council won't conduct council meetings that allow for public input or hold serious conversations around the fact
that Anaheim is one of the OC cities hit hardest by COVID.
item 19
Regarding, it is great to see us looking at different ways to address homelessness in Anaheim that don't
result in houseless people being further criminalized. I really appreciate and applaud the Council for taking the
time and interest to invest in a community-based approach to houseless people.
item 6
Regarding , I gathered from the staff report that this is a "technical clean-up to align expenditures with
the approved budget", but I'd like to urge the council to work with organizations that do not have a history of
abusing houseless and marginalized people as the Salvation Army does.
Articles regarding the Salvation Army mistreating/exploiting the people they are supposed to support:
https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/12/16/21003560/salvation-army-anti-lgbtq-controversies-donations
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/review-finds-many-who-work-during-rehab-arent-being-
paid/2020/07/07/fed8e2ae-c062-11ea-8908-68a2b9eae9e0_story.html
items regarding housing
On, I'd like to urge the council to take on a perspective that COVID would not have
hit Anaheim so hard if we had a better housing situation. The difference between the zip codes hit hardest and
the ones hit the least has a correlation to their income levels and housing. If families weren't severely under-
housed in Anaheim, we would not see COVID spreading as we do in zip codes like mine, 92805. By prioritizing
VERY LOW-INCOME affordable housing you can help Anaheim recover faster and avoid being in this dire of
a situation if another pandemic were to occur. You can't have a healthy Tourism industry if you don't provide
affordable housing for its workers who are paid minimum wage or close to it.
Thank you for your time. I really hope you consider moving the council meeting to a platform that allows
Anaheim Residents to speak their opinions.
Alicia Gibbs
1
Anaheim District 5 Resident
2