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Susana Barrios
From: Adele Richardson <
Sent: Monday, March 2, 2026 10:12 AM
To: Public Comment <publiccomment@anaheim.net>
Subject: \[EXTERNAL\] Please vote NO on the Shea/Festival Center apartments – It's a safety 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.
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.
Sincerely,
Adele Richardson
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