Correspondence - Item 24 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Arts and culture events Community meeting and event space This was the prevailing view of the community input, and is alignment with recommended use of the building by former Parks & Rec and Library Director Gerardo Mouet that goes back to 2006. This was expressed more recently at the Pacific Park Neighborhood Association's June 2022 meeting where community input on the Cypress Fire Station was on the agenda. As you know, the Cypress Fire Station is located in the Pacific Park Neighborhood. I left that meeting feeling sure that the input of the community was recorded by the staff and would be included in the recommendation to City Council. You can understand my surprise when I saw that the staff recommendation for the Cypress Fire Station included NONE of these recommendations from the community and instead prioritized use for the Santa Ana Police Department's PAAL program. While a small but forceful number of individuals has been pushing for PAAL use of the building, I have noted in a previous communication to the City and staff that these individuals engaged in concerted efforts to silence and stifle community input that was not in favor of the Cypress Fire Station as a PAAL location. Individuals who DO NOT RESIDE in the Pacific Park Neighborhood were among the strongest advocates for SAPD use of the Cypress Fire Station at the Pacific Park Neighborhood Association meeting. I have also demonstrated how this seems to be coordinated and in cahoots with the SAPD themselves. The SAPD's involvement in disenfranchising community members from use of a public building in their community would be highly unscrupulous and unethical behavior, and should be investigated. Additionally, at the August 2022 Pacific Park Neighborhood Association meeting, the SAPD announced that they would be launching the PAAL program in the Roosevelt Walker Community Center. While this announcement also caused concern, it makes no sense that the SAPD needs TWO PAAL locations in Pacific Park. Therefore, staff should NOT have recommended SAPD use of the Cypress Fire Station. Because of these alarming issues and irregularities, I strongly urge you to table Agenda Item #22 and explore other uses for the Cypress Fire Station that are more in line with what the majority of the community input requested and needs. I also urge you to direct City staff to engage the Santa Ana Unified School District, Santa Ana College and the Santa Ana Public Library on possible partnerships to deliver critical educational, technology and career development training at the space. 3