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SANTA ANA ACTIVE STREETS April 20, 2021 City Mayor, City Council, City Manager City of Santa Ana, Public Works Agency M-43 20 Civic Center Plaza Santa Ana, CA 92702 eComment(? Santa-ana.org Re: Public Comment, Item 28: Ordinance Adding Article XV, Sections 36-706 through 36-710, Entitled "Street Racing" to the Santa Ana Municipal Code Prohibiting Spectators at Illegal Speed Contests and Reckless Driving Exhibitions Dear Mayor Sarmiento; Council Members Phan, Lopez, Hernandez, Penaloza, Bacerra, Mendoza, and City Manager Ridge: I'm writing to express our opposition to Item 28 street racing ordinance. Santa Ana Active Streets coalition works to advocate for a more accessible, healthier, and safer environment on Santa Ana streets. We understand the dangers associated with street racing and residents' safety concerns regarding street racing. One errant car can result in injury or death of fellow motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists, as we've seen happen on our city streets. We also understand that speeding and street racing has increased during the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Lockdowns emptied our streets, which in turn provide increased propensity for speeding and street racing, while residents have lost many opportunities for gathering and recreation. Our coalition disagrees with criminalizing people in public rights of way, as described in the following ordinance. People in a public right of way, even as spectators are still not participating in the illegal activity, and so we believe they should not be criminalized. Santa Ana has the highest pedestrian activity out of all OC cities, and under the current criteria laid out in the ordinance, it is unclear as to who is a spectator and who is simply a passer-by. Instead of enforcement strategies, we aim to resolve the root case of speeding and street racing in our roads. Simply put, Santa Ana's wide main roadways incentivize fast driving. While drivers speeding has grown more pervasive during the pandemic, speeding has always been present in the City's wider, freeway -like streets. In our view, speeding has become more common and faster, and it all comes down to how wide our roads are. People are naturally reacting to their built environment, and they are reacting to it by speeding. The City has invested and continues to invest heavily in improving street and traffic safety, and we applaud such efforts. We applaud the more than $50 million obtained through grant cycles to Santa Ana Active Streets 1450 West Fourth Street I Santa Ana, CA 92701 Tel. (657) 205-7306 1 www.saascoalition.ora I infonasaascoalition.ora