Correspondence #16 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Middleton, Samuel From: Nathaniel Greensides <mynci90@gmail.com> Sent: Friday, December 2, 2022 3:38 PM To: eComment; Hernandez, Johnathan; Sarmiento, Vicente Subject: Property Acquisition for New Willard Park (Item 16, City Council Meeting Dec 6) Hello, I write in opposition to this item. A park is definitely needed in Willard and the other surrounding neighborhoods. Yet I question that this particular housing unit should be destroyed to expand the park when the current lots should suffice. Furthermore, the currently vacant properties used to have housing which was razed before the City acquired the lots. I was saddened to walk by one day and see the house boarded up for destruction when only a few weeks prior, a senor and a few others sat on the porch(see photo of Google street view from 2019 below for reference). Willard has historically received what I would consider an unjust reduction (destruction) of detached single family homes due to government re-development during the construction of Civic Center starting in the late 1970s. While I am aware that this property acquisition would not constitute eminent domain as the landowner has listed it for sale on and off since December 2021, I take serious issue with the notion that yet more housing should be destroyed in Willard. As the staff report notes,there are currently two families who live on the property as renters. I actually toured the property at one point myself in 2020 when it was listed for sale prior to the current owner "Gamsey Corp" (a business entity formed in Delaware because it affords additional levels of property/investment ownership obfuscation to the detriment of local communities here in California than what is required and disclosed under California state law)purchasing it. It appears that the current owner has repeatedly tested how much profit could be made by constantly listing and removing the property for sale (as offered by the listing history on Zillow.com). It is saddening that once again residents of this particular corner of Willard will be subjected to further displacement because of this particular landlord's desire to profit above all else. Additionally, it is saddening that the City instead of spending over $750,000 on making the currently owned space as best as it can be to serve residents of Willard is proposing to spend over $750,000 on procuring a property at top dollar rates from an absentee corporate landlord on top of the funds that will be necessary for relocation of the tenants currently residing in the property. It is evident that the current owner is aware of the shortage of housing units and is attempting to capitalize on it as much as possible to the detriment of local community on top of our tax payers all while this proposal from local government seemingly does not attempt to creatively meet park space goals and ensuring stable housing supply for current residents. There also exists the possibility of shared public-private park space which would be a much more suitable alternative to completely destroying more housing units in Willard for continued government re-development if this property acquisition is to proceed. 2019 This property (right across the street from the property that the City aims to purchase) was razed and now sits vacant: i