CORRESPONDENCE- #04 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Dear City of Santa Ana Mayor, Council Members, City Manager and Managing Staff, PETITION We, the business and property owners of downtown Santa Ana, are petitioning for economic relief by the City as a result of the OCTA OC Streetcar construction. Our downtown was not been properly notified, consulted or given preparation of this massive project and it has resulted in revenue losses of 30-80% throughout the downtown. Our commercial spaces are unusable, walkways are hazardous, and it is impossible to conduct business. In order to allow the community to withstand the next 7months to a year of projected construction we are asking for your support of economic relief similar. Such financial support has happened in similar projects across the United States — why not Santa Ana? ECONOMIC RELIEF AMOUNT FROM CITY: the downtown must allocate a minimum of $5 million from the $25 million city budget surplus to this situation as this is an economic emergency. Currently $1.5 million has been allocated — but that is not enough to support businesses for the duration of construction. This amount will only sustain the affected area for 1-2 months, at best. $5 million will sustain the affected area for at least the first 6 months of construction. Other responsible parties should also be held accountable. DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS: distribution of fonds should be given on a month ly/bi-month ly basis in 2 tiers: direct impact ($10,000) and non -direct impact ($2,000). Direct impact funding are for 4th Street businesses directly in the construction zone, while non -direct impact will be for adjacent streets that are also affected. Direct impact funding is greater than non -direct, and priority should be given to those applicants. Currently, the City of Santa Ana distributed relief ($1.5 million) based on rent of each applicant. This is not effective, as each business is impacted differently and need the funds to cover different aspects of the business. All applicants must submit proper paperwork, business documents and statements of how assistance is being spent to continue funding. ADVOCACY FOR ASSISTANCE FROM OCTA: OCTA should additionally be held responsible for financial relief and the City of Santa Ana must advocate on behalf of its affected downtown small businesses. OCTA has been negligent to prepare for the project, failed to communicate with businesses before and during construction and failed to rapidly address issues such as signage for the affected area. All of these issues and more have resulted in lost revenue to downtown, and have led to a lawsuit against OCTA by the construction firm in charge of the OC Streetcar that alleges many of the above problems. I 2 ( _yya client/customer of a downtown Santa Ana merchant/business sulSport tlus petition and ask the city's support of the following actions. Sincerely,