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20 (29) Susana Barrios From: Stephanie Burglin < Sent: Monday, May 6, 2024 11:48 PM To: Public Comment <publiccomment@anaheim.net>; Ashleigh Aitken <AAitken@anaheim.net>; Norma C. Kurtz <NKurtz@anaheim.net>; Jose Diaz <JoDiaz@anaheim.net>; Carlos A. Leon <CLeon@anaheim.net>; Natalie Rubalcava <NRubalcava@anaheim.net>; Stephen Faessel <SFaessel@anaheim.net>; Natalie Meeks <NMeeks@anaheim.net>; Nam Bartash <NBartash@anaheim.net>; Berenice Ballinas <BBallinas@anaheim.net>; Nadia Villafana <NVillafana@anaheim.net>; Kylie Allison <KAllison@anaheim.net>; Maria Moreno <MMoreno@anaheim.net>; Valeria Sandoval <VSandoval@anaheim.net>; Cameron Wessel <CWessel@anaheim.net>; Theresa Bass <TBass@anaheim.net> Subject: \[EXTERNAL\] Re: Petition Against the Proposed Closure of Magic Way Some people who received this message don't often get email from Learn why this is important Warning: This email originated from outside the City of Anaheim. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and are expecting the message. Good evening, As previously stated on the record, there are existing petitions opposing the closure of Magic Way. For your review and consideration ahead of tomorrow's meeting, as well as for the public record, the results of those petitions (through 05/06/2024) are attached here. Please note that the online petition remains open and is still gaining signatures. Sincerely, Stephanie Mercadate Anaheim Resident On Tue, Apr 16, 2024 at 2:44 PM Stephanie Burglin < wrote: Good afternoon, Ahead of this evening's meeting, and because I have only received one confirmation of receipt to date, I am resending this packet to you all on behalf of the signatories. As previously stated on the record, there are existing petitions opposing the closure of Magic Way. For your review and consideration, as well as for the public record, the results of those petitions (through 04/12/2024) are attached here. Please note that the online petition remains open and is now at 524 signatures. Sincerely, Stephanie Mercadante Anaheim Resident On Fri, Apr 12, 2024 at 7:02 PM Stephanie Burglin < wrote: Good evening, 1 As previously stated on the record, there are existing petitions opposing the closure of Magic Way. For your review and consideration, as well as for the public record, the results of those petitions are attached here. Additionally, I would like to request confirmation of receipt on your end. Thank you in advance for your prompt attention to this matter. Sincerely, Stephanie Mercadante Anaheim Resident 2 Submission of Signatures on Petition Opposing the Closure of Magic Way in DisneylandForward Expansion Project May 06, 2024 975 RESIDENTS OPPOSE MAGIC WAY CLOSURE For the past few months, efforts to circulate a petition in-person, and online, yielded 421 signatures in-person and 554 online, for a total of 975 opposing the closure of Magic Way, as proposed in the EIR 352 for the DisneylandForward expansion. The results of the in-person and online petitions are attached to this message as a PDF, and the online petition can be viewed, along with comments, at: https://www.change.org/p/save-our-anaheim-streets-from-disneylandforward-sign-this-petition. We are sure that Disney will submit some form of "community support" to counter this argument. We respectfully request that you look at the origins of that communication and compare participants with those opposing the action, to determine who best represents the views of your Anaheim constituents. All of the signatures on the hard-copy petition are Anaheim residents. Most signatures were collected within blocks of the Resort, and the last few pages were those who attended the Open th House at DTCC on April 10. The Open House attendees signed the petition on their way out of the event, after hearing the "outreach" of your professional staff and Disney's consultants. Contrast that with the support for Disney. Comments during the EIR review period, which ended October 30, 2023, were sent from literally around the world. Most comments were form-letters sent by clicking a button on Disney's website. The "community support" lacks any evidence that supporters were fully informed regarding the negative impacts the City Council appears ready to overlook with the approval of the Finding of Fact and Statement of Overriding Consideration. Ask yourselves which of these lists represents the voters who will remember this vote and hold you accountable for the impacts to our community. We respectfully request that you please enter this information into the Public Record regarding opposition to the City of Anaheim's abandonment and closure of Magic Way as proposed by DisneylandForward EIR 352, scheduled for possible discussion and reconsideration by the Anaheim City Council on May 07, 2024. USE OF TAXPAYER-FUNDED RESOURCES TO PROMOTE MISINFORMATION UPON WHICH THE PUBLIC AND/OR OFFICIALS MUST RELY FOR THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS Our own City staff have used taxpayer-funded resources to put out promotional materials that blatantly misinform the people of Anaheim about the "benefits" of closing Magic Way. th Promotional materials, including the City website invitation to the April 10 Open House, continue to claim a benefit of not paying for maintenance of the street once it is closed. The maintenance of Magic Way is ALREADY AN OBLIGATION OF DISNEY! Magic Way, Clementine, and Street Hotel Circle are all well within the boundaries of the Anaheim Resort Maintenance District, meaning that the property owner with frontage along the street pays for the upgraded maintenance of the landscaping, lighting, etc. for those streets. In each case of the streets being abandoned by Anaheim, they are already surrounded by, and maintenance funded by, Disney. City staff and City Council should have immediately known the claim of benefit to be false. The ARMD's budget and purpose are reviewed annually in an open meeting of the City Council (see June 2023 meeting for most recent discussion). A phone call with Rudy Emami and Ted White on Monday, April 8, 2024, confirmed this information, that maintenance for Magic Way and the other streets being considered for abandonment is covered by the ARMD. Additionally, Mr Emami was unable to find documentation that Magic Way had been repaved in known history, and he shared that a review of the condition of the street showed it would not require repair for many years. th Yet, TWO DAYS later, at the April 10 Open House, Ted White told another constituent the benefit of closing Magic Way was to relieve the public from the burden of maintaining the street. Disney's "public outreach" shared the closure of Magic Way as a "possibility" or "option," while claiming it was at the request of local residents. Disney has distributed materials to local residents continuing to present the closure of Magic Way as "optional." Yet, at the City Council workshop, City staff informed the Council that the closure of Magic Way was essential to Disney's plans. Disney misrepresented the closure of Magic Way as the request of local residents; Neither Disney nor the City of Anaheim have been able to produce evidence that local residents want Magic Way closed. Indeed, the street that is the focus for traffic calming requests is Walnut Street. Given that Disney claims "very few" drivers use Magic Way from Walnut Street, the closure of Magic Way is unlikely to alleviate traffic on Walnut Street. Ironically, it is Disney's delivery traffic on the southern end of Walnut Street that appears to cause much of the difficulty, as semi-trucks make multi-point turns that block the entire street in both directions in order to access the one delivery driveway used for the entire block of Disney services within the Walnut/Magic Way/Disneyland Drive/Katella block. That disruption will only become worse when the one driveway must also accept increased deliveries for a new theme park. NONE of this conflict was recorded in the recent EIR 352, or the Gibson Traffic studies. What is Disney's true purpose in throwing taxpayers off the street our bonds paid to relocate in Disney's last expansion? Disney admits they do not have a clear plan to develop the real estate around Magic Way. In fact, they are not building on the land at all, as they have agreed to maintain pedestrian access, access for emergency vehicles, and access for their own guests at the eastern end of the street toenter the parking structure. This land is not needed as the only way to squeeze in a new hotel, or other permanent, profitable use of benefit to Disney and the City of Anaheim. No, it appears there is a conflict point where pedestrian traffic has been crossing Magic Way at street level, mid-block, and not using the pedestrian bridge on the eastern end of Magic Way. It appears to be cheaper for Disney to buy the block and cut off local traffic than build another pedestrian bridge to keep their own patrons safe. So, the people of Anaheim are to have our commutes destroyed so Disney can save money? Who does our City Council really represent? ClosureofMagicWaypusheslocaltrafficintootherresidential areasnotequippedforthe additional vehicles; There is every reason to believe traffic will NOT tum onto Ball Road to access the freeway, as claimed in the Gibson traffic reports, but will instead remain on Walnut Street, north of Ball Road, to access the 5 freeway at Lincoln/Manchester. th During the April 10 Open House, Raphael Cobian entered a conversation on this subject with several residents and Gibson engineers. Cobian claimed that the presence of Betsy Ross Elementary School at the north end of Walnut Street acts as a deterrent to cut-through traffic, as the drop-off and pick-up times make navigating the roadway difficult. A)Does Mr. Cobian truly wish to go on record representing the City of Anaheim using school children as a traffic calming measure? B) Residents on Walnut Street do not agree with Mr. Cobian, as interviews with them reveal great difficulty in getting out of their driveways, due to cut-through traffic that they fear will get worse when Magic Way is closed. C) During that conversation, Mr. Cobian also claimed the City is already working with the residents of Walnut Street north of Ball Road, but one resident repeated that a traffic study by the city showed no evidence that traffic calming was required for the roadway, and the residents were left with the impression nothing would be done. If this is not true, Mr. Cobian needs to improve his public outreach abilities. Note that if residents' fears come true and the closure of Magic Way results in negative impacts to other residential areas, Disney will not be responsible for resolving the conflict, nor will Gibson Consulting. The people of Anaheim will be left to either fund mitigation measures or live with the impacts to quality of life. th The Anaheim City Council has another chance to make the right decision on May 07. Allow the lives of your constituents to be interrupted, with unknown, unstudied consequences that Disney will not be accountable for after these agreements are signed. Or demand that the obvious deficiencies in these agreements be corrected before you move forward with the agreements. A small delay to work on behalf of those you represent does no harm to Disney, who admits they have no solid plan in place, and do not have construction crews on stand-by. th Please do right by the people of Anaheim. Reconsider and reverse the decision of the April 16 vote and remove the Magic Way closure from discussion. Disney can build another bridge for their credit-card wielding patrons. Respectfully, Hard-copy signature collectors: Anaheim, CA 92802) Anaheim, CA 92802) Resident: Anaheim, CA 92802)