10 (323)You don't often get email from vanpattenk710@aol.com. Learn why this is important
Date:3/3/2026 2:51:43 PM
From:"Vanpattenk710" vanpattenk710@aol.com
To:
"Ashleigh Aitken" AAitken@anaheim.net, "Ashleigh Aitken" AAitken@anahe im.ne t, "Natalie Meeks"
NMeeks@anaheim.net, "Natalie Meeks" NMeeks@anaheim.net, "Ryan Balius" RBalius@anaheim.net, "Ryan Balius"
RBalius@anaheim.net, "Carlos A. Leon" CLeon@anaheim.net, "Carlos A. Leon" CLeon@anahe im.ne t, "Natalie
Rubalcava" NRubalcava@anaheim.net, "Norma C. Kurtz" NKurtz@anahe im.ne t, "Norma C. Kurtz"
NKurtz@anaheim.net, "Kristen Maahs" KMaahs@anaheim.net, "Kristen Maahs" KMaahs@anaheim.net, "Theresa
Bass" TBass@anaheim.net, "Theresa Bass" TBass@anaheim.net, "alauffe r@abaheim.net" alauffer@abaheim.net,
"City Attorney" cityattorneysoffice@anaheim.net, "jsvanpatten@aol.com" jsvanpatte n@aol.com
Subject:[EXTERNAL] Festival Center/Redesignating Use of Movie Theater Property
Warning: This email originated from outside the City of Anaheim. Do not click links or open attachme nts unle ss you recognize the
sender and are expecting the message.
Dear Honorable Councilmembers, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem and Designated Staff Members:
My husband and I live in the eastern part of the city; and, we are less than a mi le away from the Feati val Center. Anaheim
has been our home for over twenty-four years and we have seen a lot of changes. In full disclosure, I attended and spoke
against the Salt development proposal at the critical planning committee meeti ng. Due to health i ssues, I am unable to
attend the upcoming council meeting. As a result, I am once again writing my concerns/issues within an email.
My first concern is the influx of approximately 447 units of "multi-family residenti al community" members. I am shocked that
you are all, once again, considering an exponential population increase. This issue has already been debated and
rejected. It was determined that adding mutliple reaident living facilities with the potenti al of exponenti ally i ncreasing the
existing volume of traffic and people in this specific area has the potential to further exacerbate an already dire set of
circumstances. More people, potentially hundreds, means hundreds more who will panic in an evacuati on situati on. The
citizens that already live in this area only have ONE thoroughfare to utilize in order to evacuate a fi re or disaster. In the past
fires, much like Lahaina, we were prevented from evacuating by the local authori ti es. Addi ti onally, please consider just how
dire our situation is at present: we currently CANNOT evacuate in a timely or safe manner! Adding hundreds of more
people will make an exisitng bad situation worse. You have already been informed by your C hi ef of Police and your own
Fire Department Chief that they WOULD NOT recommend or support adding hundreds of addi ti onal li ving domiciles in this
area. You are literally playing with fire AGAIN.
Secondly, the existing land use designation is such to provide services to the current populati on li ving east of the 55
freeway. Since the "mandatory lock-downs" of the COVID-19 era, we have yet to see a resurgence in servi ces and/or
businesses available to the citizenry here in Anaheim. In fact, we have considerably less servi ces/busi nesses available
now than we did over five years ago. It is plainly obvious by the graphics on the city's websi te that you seem to be focused
on select BIG MONEY entertainment businesses (e.g., Disneyland, Honda Center, etc.). However, you HAVE NOT created
a pro-business environment in which to lure lucrative, job producing and servi ce
provision focused businesses to our city and district. Nor do we get the impression that you are pro-resi dent i n your recent
actions. We have lost two significant entertainment/theater businesses within the last fi ve years i n D i strict 6 and nothing
has been proposed to fill those service/business voids. Yet, you continually seek to be courted by carpet bagging
businesses who are not vested in or pay taxes to Anaheim...why is that? We are starting to beli eve that large, dark and
corrupt money is the only thing that gets our city councimembers' attention. You consistently defer to bi g pocket
corporations and I'm starting to question your motives. Seriously, you literally had two planni ng commi ssi on members
admit on the dais during a public hearing that they participated in back hallway discussions that favored the proposing
corporation -- this could be misconstrued as a violation of the Brown Act.
My third concern is that a high density apartment building has the potential to further strai n exi sti ng and qui te li mited public
services currently available to us. For example, this most recent past Fourth of July you centralized the phone reporting
system regarding illegal fireworks usage. However, when we called to report i llegal fi rework usage, the person answering
the call didn't even know our street or where we lived in the city! Shameful!! You have not implemented or allocated
sufficient services in our area. This proposal you are now considering will lead to further service limi tations. We are losing
our faith and trust in Anaheim's City Council to make decisions in our best interest.
Lastly, our concern with a four-story commercial structure is not needed! At present, we already have at least 5 apartment
complexes within one mile of each other. It is superfluous to add yet another! Further, it would lessen police and fi re
services available to us. I recently was confronted by two angry people in the Target parking lot. Not havi ng done anythi ng
other than just physically being there they were outraged by my presence at Target. They veered out of thei r lane, pulled in
front of my vehicle and prevent me feom moving. They blocked me in with their truck and prevented me from leaving. One
person exited the the truck and began yelling at me all while using obscene fi gure gestures. The other person, the driver,
continued inching closer to my vehicle. I was concerned for my safety and called for help from the police. In the current
climate of public shooters and displays of violence, I was extremely scared. It took 20 to 30 minutes for any law
enforcement help to arrive. They had another emergency to handle. Services are already stretched to the breaking poi nt!
We DO NOT need additional apartments further expanding our population out
Please consider the thousands of people who already live and work in this parti cular area of your city. The lack of support
for and the severe dislike of this current proposal is immense! Why do you keep pursui ng these types of proposals?
Please DO NOT ignore the existing zoning and land use designations for this parti cular area. Please make a deci si on in
the best interest of those who will be directly affected" PLEASE prohibit the passage of thi s proposal!! Please fi ght for
your existing residents, taxpayers and citizenry. Please vote "No;" and, support your exi sti ng citizenry! Thank you i n
advance for your consideration and help!
Respectfully,
Karen Van Patten
312 South Anise Street
Anaheim, CA 92808
714-331-3313