Tim Johnson 11-15-2021 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Banuelos, Lynda From: Tim Johnson < Sent: Monday, November 15, 2021 7:22 AM To: eComment Cc: Gomez, Daisy; Lopez, Jessie; Sarmiento, Vicente; Penaloza, David; Bacerra, Phil; Mendoza, Nelida; Phan, Thai; Hernandez, Johnathan Subject: Item #1 (Ward Boundaries- 11/15 Special Mtg) Council (cc to I have reviewed the presentation that you will be receiving this evening and the 3 Draft Plans A, B & C along with our current boundaries. I am a 15+ year resident of West Floral Park. I have been active in our community in Ward 3 and enjoy living in our great city and our awesome neighborhood. I am ultimately very concerned about Draft Plans B & C and urge you to not consider those or any other proposed plans that would split the neighborhoods of West Floral Park, Jack Fisher Park, Floral Park, and Morrison Park (also known as Morrison -Eldridge Park). These four neighborhoods have common community interests which have been established over many years, decades, and generations. Our neighborhoods (and hence the residents) share common neighborhood events such as the Home Tour, Garden Tour, movies in the park, Easter Egg hunts, 4t" of July Parades, progressive dinners, etc ... Some of these events may be organized or held by one neighborhood (and/or its association), but rest assured that there is much cross over in our neighborhoods and participation in these events. Additionally, the presence of Santiago Elementary in the West Floral Park neighborhood serves many our children in all 4 of those neighborhoods. Schools bring families and residents together and should be a high consideration in this process. Further, our two common public parks including Fisher Park and Morrison Park, whose community benefits are also shared by all four neighborhoods and its residents. These parks bring families together. There are two other parks in our neighborhoods also (Sarah May Downie Herb Garden and Eldridge Park) which are also creating shared bonds among neighbors and although they are much smaller, they are still important to our community. I would go further that there are two other common community features just outside of our technical 4 neighborhood boundaries in Bowers Museum and Discovery Cube. These two museums also bring families in our neighborhoods together. This is also another reason that we should also include the neighborhood of Park Santiago in our community of interest also. Our neighborhoods also share common interests with Park Santiago including Santiago Park, Main Place Mall, City Place and also Bowers and Discovery Cube. Further I would also say that Riverview neighborhood is also connected to our neighborhoods referenced above. Riverview golf course and Riverview Park which includes Santa Ana Pony baseball all are creating common bonds in our community. Plans B & C both have West Floral Park separated from our highly connected neighbors in Floral Park, Fisher Park, Morrison Eldridge Park as well as Park Santiago. This is not right and instead of keeping a community of interest in place is separating a community which is not the goal of this process. Flower St is not a geographical divider... it is a small neighborhood street just like so many others in our neighborhood. I understand that it is good to look at options, however I believe that Draft Plan B & C miss the mark. When you are considering these boundaries, I urge you not to separate the neighborhoods referenced above. Of the 3 draft maps, Draft Plan A is the only one that is viable in keeping our community that shares so many interests together. Tim Johnson, CPA