06-26-12 Items Recv'd at meeting old (o - Z(0
1-14/rn
6/26/2012 J t c u.ta'rt N25Ioi-44
Comments and Updates on the Safe Parking Program @ St Bamabas Church Q
Neighbors of Trinity Ave and Village Court, who attended the City Council Meeting of
March 6th, were under the impression that after the initial 3 months trial passed there
would be a City Council review on the progress.
I have since learned that there will be no review until the 25th of SEPTEMBER.
When the Council chose to implement a program such as this in a sparsely populated area
of the city with the fewest amount of constituents, it would have been of utmost
importance to study closely the ramifications on the neighborhoods.
This idea should have been opened to all charitable organizations in the City, not just the
first Church who brought it up to you.
It is important for a governing body to be impartial. It is important to choose to protect
your constituents. You have chosen to treat us different than the rest of the City of
Arroyo Grande.
This stigma will go on long after the Program ceases and so will our lost property values.
If this was a good idea than you should have spread the wealth around.
It was not a good idea to single out a private residential neighborhood and treat it as if it
. were zoned COMMERCIAL.
The notoriety that your decision has created and subsequently published in newspapers
and TV has put us on the radar of members of the transient community.
We are now a destination to test for possible places to loiter not unlike what has
happened to Prado Road in SLO. We have had 3 incidences in the last month where
indigents have tried to sleep either on our street or in the Church parking lot. I and my
neighbors and the Church Monitors check nightly on the lot since the Police Dept does
not feel the need, when there are no participants to check. No one without a police record
or street legal vehicle wants to participate.
We the neighbors no longer feel safe on our own block.