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Flores, Dora From: Ross Pangilinan <ross@mixmixkitchenbar.com> Sent: Monday, December 07, 2020 5:24 PM To: eComment Subject: DTSA Ross Pangilinan Mix Mix Kitchen Bar 300 N Main st Santa Ana CA 92701 December 7, 2020 City Manager, Council and Mayor City of Santa Ana 20 Civic Center Plaza Santa Ana, CA 92701 Dear City of Santa Ana Staff and Elected Officials, RE: PLEASE SUPPORT DOWNTOWN SECURITY PROGRAM IN 2021 Downtown Santa Ana is hanging on by a thread through pandemic, civil unrest, massive construction, homeless impacts and wild economic uncertainty. Despite all these challenges, downtown businesses continue to open and serve the public as best they can despite very difficult times. As one of the most important economic engines of the City, DTSA has been able to create our own revenue funds (both parking and BID revenue) to sustain Downtown Clean and Safe Operations, marketing and communications and even capital improvement costs like building public restrooms. We also contribute to the City of Santa Ana through sales taxes, property taxes, permits and fees. During the pandemic, Downtown's self -generated revenue has been deeply impacted: in particular parking revenues are down nearly 75% due mostly to the coronavirus and in part due to popular programs promoting 2 hour free parking in downtown parking garages. Due to the revenue shortfall, the City of Santa Ana is proposing to help downtown sustain its Downtown Clean Team operations which clean nearly 86 blocks of downtown on a daily basis. But the City is proposing not to cover the cost of the $100,000 annual Downtown Security Team and to let that contract lapse. While we deeply appreciate the protection of the critical Downtown Clean Team program, we are appealing to you to one-time gap fund the Downtown Security program as well. The Downtown Security program is a cornerstone of downtown's success. The program is already 50% underfunded from what is needed, but still provides an affordable full-time protective force to downtown. Security is vital as a service to businesses and for visitor perceptions as "Lack of safety" and "Homelessness" remain two of the primary reasons people don't like to visit downtown according to studies conducted by the City.