10 (047)You don't often get email from gailberger12@gmail.com. Learn why this is important
Date:2/27/2026 10:32:00 AM
From:"Gail Berger" gailberger12@gmail.com
To:
"Public Comment" publiccomment@anaheim.net, "Ashleigh Aitken" AAitken@anahe im.ne t, "Carlos A. Leon"
CLeon@anaheim.net, "Ryan Balius" RBalius@anaheim.net, "Natalie Rubalcava" NRubalcava@anahe im.net, "Norma
C. Kurtz" NKurtz@anaheim.net, "Kristen Maahs" KMaahs@anaheim.net, "Natalie Meeks" NMe e ks@anaheim.net
Subject:[EXTERNAL] Please vote NO on the Shea/Festival Center apartments – It's a safe ty issue
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Dear Council Member,
I am writing to you as a resident of Anaheim to ask you to please vote "No" on the proposed apartments at the Anaheim Hills Festival Center. I
lived here during the Canyon Fire 2 in 2017, and I will never forget the feeling of being stuck in my car, watching the smoke get closer, and literally
not moving for over an hour. It wasn't just "traffic"—it was a total standstill. The thought of adding hundreds of new apartments and about 1000+
more people to that exact same escape route is terrifying to those of us who have actually been in that situation.
The reports for this project say that adding these cars will "only" add about 7 minutes to the evacuation time. But when you're already stuck for
three hours and the fire is moving toward you, 7 minutes is a lifetime. We don't have extra roads or "secret" ways out of the Hills; we all end up on
the same few lanes. Adding more people to a neighborhood that is already a bottleneck during a fire just feels like a tragedy waiting to happen.
It was so frustrating and frightening to know there was nothing I could do to escape to a safe place. My husband came home from work to help
me with the dogs, but the congestion and traffic was so bad that he parked his car in a parking lot at Imperial Highway and Santa Ana Canyon and
walked to our house close to Weir Canyon and Santa Ana Canyon. I have lived in Anaheim Hills since 2001 and witnessed 2 major fires where
you feel so totally helpless because you're a sitting duck with too many people tryimg to flee the fires at the same time.
I understand that the city needs housing, but it shouldn't be built in a place where people are already struggling to get out safely. Please don't make
an existing danger even worse just for a new development. We are asking you to prioritize the lives and safety of the people who already live here
and pay taxes here.