CC 2020-06-09_07 Supplemental No 1_RMEMORANDUM
TO: CITY COUNCIL
FROM: JESSICA MATSON, DEPUTY CITY CLERK
SUBJECT: SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION
AGENDA ITEM 7 – JUNE 9, 2020 CITY COUNCIL MEETING
COMMUNITY COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS
DATE: JUNE 8, 20 20
Attached is correspondence received.
cc: Acting City Manager
Police Chief
City Attorney
City Clerk
City Website (or public review binder)
From:
To:
Subject:
Date:
Santa Lucia Sierra Club
public comment
6/9 meeting: ExxonMobil Interim Trucking for Santa Ynez Unit Phased Restart Project
Thursday, June 04, 2020 2:09:41 PM
June 4, 2020
Dear Mayor Russom and Councilmembers,
At your June 9 meeting, please ask your staff to draft a letter of opposition
to Exxon’s Goleta oil trucking project.
In the May 19 edition of the Santa Barbara Independent, Katie Davis, chair
of Sierra Club’s Los Padres Chapter, described what it was like to live
through the Refugio Beach oil spill five years previously.
She wrote:
“You can’t completely clean up an offshore oil spill. The oil sinks into the marine environment, damaging fragile
underwater ecosystems, killing or contaminating fish and smaller organisms that are essential links in the food
chain, including the food we eat. The environmental damage can last for decades. More than 300 dolphins, seals,
sea lions, pelicans and other birds and animals washed up dead. Many others were found alive and suffering. Oil
clogs the blowholes of whales and dolphins, affecting their ability to breathe and communicate. It coats the fur of
seals and birds, impairing their ability to float, fly, and regulate temperatures. They die of hypothermia or toxicity or
starvation. They go blind or develop birth defects or tumors.”
Ms. Davis also described what it was like to live through the 2018 Holiday
Fire, turbocharged by global warming, while Exxon pressed for approval of
more oil projects that will lead to more oil spills and worsening climate
change. (Please read the full text of her article here.)
Exxon’s offshore platforms and Goleta processing facilities, major
contributors to greenhouse gas emissions on the Central Coast, shut down
when the Plains All American Pipeline ruptured onto Refugio State Beach in
2015 and have not reopened. Now, Exxon – in the midst of a pandemic and
an oil glut – is seeking a permit to allow up to 70 oil tankers a day to truck oil
from its Goleta facility to Santa Maria, and then across the Twitchell
Reservoir and the length of the Santa Maria watershed to the San Joaquin
Valley on Highway 166, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
In short: From the resumption of offshore drilling to a spike in regional
greenhouse gas emissions to impacts on a coastal watershed and the
danger to drivers on the 166 (and we saw a small preview of those impacts
last March), there is nothing good awaiting the residents of Arroyo Grande
and San Luis Obispo County in this dangerous and unnecessary project.
For residents of Santa Barbara, a touted $2 million increase in property tax
payments to the County General Fund from the restart of offshore drilling is
0.2 percent – one-fifth of one 1 percent – of the county's $950 million annual
budget. It cost $257 million to clean up the 2015 Refugio spill. Exxon and
other oil companies have made record profits while paying a pittance in
local taxes and employing a relatively small number of people.
It’s time to end offshore drilling, not bring it back to life. In response to
proposals by the Trump administration to dramatically expand drilling off the
California coast for the first time in more than 30 years while simultaneously
rolling back protections that prevent catastrophic oil spills, more than 80
West Coast communities have formally voiced their opposition to offshore
drilling, and more than one million Americans have submitted comments to
the administration demanding that we keep offshore oil in the ground and
not prioritize the profits of the fossil fuel industry over the interests of our
communities and the health of our oceans.
The Exxon trucking proposal is an opportunity for your council’s voice to be
heard in a significant way on a specific project that would impact the Central
Coast. Review of the Environmental Impact Report by Santa Barbara
County is scheduled to commence by the end of this month or early July.
Now is the time for the county supervisors to hear your voice in opposition.
At your June 9 council meeting, please consult with your staff for details on
the project and the EIR, and agendize a letter of opposition to the Santa
Barbara County Board of Supervisors as soon as possible.
Thank you for your attention to this issue,
Andrew Christie, Director
Santa Lucia Chapter of the Sierra Club
San Luis Obispo, CA 93406
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From:
To:public comment
Subject:Open Carry in Arroyo Grande
Date:Sunday, June 07, 2020 11:25:13 PM
This letter of concern is regarding the two occasions in which individuals decided to stand
guard over businesses during the protests, holding what looks like assault rifles and a shotgun.
According to the article in The Tribune
https://link.edgepilot.com/s/801525d0/F9q_UpKVEkyG1_ybbon9RA?
u=https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/article243327301.html, it states that police chief
Beau Pryor said "it was determined that the business owner/operator was possessing a firearm
on the private property of the business, which is allowed under the Second Amendment." Does
this also extend to the "volunteers" who were clearly not not the owners/operators of the other
businesses that they were sent to defend? Would it apply if they had posted up on the property
at the front of the store rather than the roof?
I understand the concern for potential looting considering the state of things, however if
police were present to check if everything was ok, shouldn't that be enough to deter would be
rioters and looters? If open carry is allowed in these situations, it sets a very
dangerous precedent.
California is obviously not an open carry state and shouldn't become one. When individuals
open carry despite the laws in place, it increases the potential of a protest situation escalating
unnecessarily to the point of someone getting hurt or killed.
In addition, and perhaps most importantly right now, this highlights the very narrative that
people are protesting in the first place, that armed white men are ignored at the same time that
unarmed black men are killed. It's disheartening to see this surface in our own community.
Thank you,
Gram Loomis
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link will be analyzed for known threats. If a known threat is found, you will not be able to
proceed to the destination. If suspicious content is detected, you will see a warning.
Thank you,
Kathie Walker
From:
To:
Kathie Walker
public comment
Subject:Re: John Hackleman and The Pit Martial Arts
Date:Monday, June 08, 2020 5:05:58 PM
Regarding my prior email, please redact the references to Mr. Hackleman's criminal record
from my email for the public record to protect him, as I do not have firsthand knowledge of
his convictions. My information is based on a message I received from a friend. Thank you.
On Mon, Jun 8, 2020 at 4:22 PM Kathie Walker > wrote:
Dear Arroyo Grande City Councimembers,
I have always known Arroyo Grande to be a quaint, peaceful town. My great-aunt and great-
uncle moved here in the 1940s, ran their own local business, Valley Auto Service, and raised
their family in their life-long home on Allen Street. Armed men on top of a local business
during a peaceful demonstration is not representative of the idyllic town I have known all
my life.
The actions that were taken by John Hackleman, owner of The Pit Martial Arts and Fitness,
are troubling for several reasons including the following:
1. The video message posted by Mr. Hackleman to his thousands of Facebook followers,
asking them to show up at his gym at 3:30pm on Friday, was not done in the spirit of
supporting the planned demonstration in Arroyo Grande. Instead, he used
condescending and inflammatory language, referring to the demonstration as a
"kumbaya" moment and directly told demonstrators to "walk fast" and/or "run" past
his business, and "don't even look" toward it.
2. The armed men were standing on top of his business as a direct form of intimidation
which is not in the spirit of a peaceful demonstration. These actions do not set a good
tone for our community and scared a lot of people, including children.
3. I have been informed that Mr. Hackleman has a criminal history which includes
violent crimes and, therefore, is not legally allowed to possess a firearm. I question the
commonsense (and legality?) of having vigilantes with firearms, on his behalf, within
his immediate vicinity.
Furthermore, I am appalled at the content of the second Facebook video released by Mr.
Hackleman, which intimidates and bullies a female Facebook user, , for using
a hashtag to boycott The Pit. He calls upon his followers to "look her up" as he proceeds to
intimidate her. I would be absolutely terrified if I was that woman!
During the video, Mr. Hackleman also brags that our County Sheriff, Ian Parkinson, was
with him that day and mocks in a laughing tone because apparently, law enforcement
on HIS side. I am disgusted at the thought of our law enforcement officials taking part in his
charade.
Although I do not have access to Mr. Hackleman's criminal record, I have been contacted by
someone with knowledge that Mr. Hackleman lost his RN license after being found guilty of
sexual assault at Atascadero State Hospital. Another woman was a court witness in a
separate case involving domestic violence that led to Mr. Hackleman's conviction. If these
things are true, any and all forms of threat, bullying, and/or intimidation should be taken
extremely seriously.
His criminal record also raises concern about his seemingly chummy relationship with local
law enforcement in Arroyo Grande and the Sheriff. The optics of the entire situation does
not look good at all. I am sickened and embarrassed on behalf of the community right now
and urge you to investigate the matter through an independent body that does not involve
Mr. Hackleman's "friends" in law enforcement.
Thank you,
Kathie Walker