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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSupplemental Communication from Debra Behnken1 Gloria Harper From:Jill Ingram Sent:Thursday, March 26, 2020 8:13 AM To:Gloria Harper Cc:Tim Kelsey Subject:Fwd: External Email : Edison gardens Jill R. Ingram, City Manager CITY OF SEAL BEACH 211 8th Street, Seal Beach, CA 90740 (562) 431-2527 ext. 1300 Begin forwarded message: From: Debra Behnken <pacificpottery@gmail.com> Date: March 25, 2020 at 7:41:15 PM PDT To: Jill Ingram <jingram@sealbeachca.gov> Subject: External Email : Edison gardens Hi, This is a well written summation of my feelings as well. Please vote to keep the private community gardens open Thanks, Ben Behnken To Mayor Sustarsic and City Council Members, We understand that there will be an emergency meeting tomorrow (Thursday 3/26) and that leaving Edison Gardens open and available to the gardeners will be one of your topics. We would like to submit the following to you in support of that goal: 1) When people work at the gardens, they are more than 6 feet apart in the plots. In fact, the plots are the epitome of "social distancing" as they are 12' x 24' with 2 feet between all sides. Anyone working in a plot, is at the least, 8-10 feet from the nearest person, and that is only if a neighboring plot happens to show up at the same time, which is rare. We seldom see any of our "next door neighbors while we work there. People are far closer at the checkout at the grocery store. 2) Many of the people who garden rely on those fresh foods. Why would you force them to have to call and get added to an already overburdened food pantry list when these foods are available? 2 3) These gardens are not "public", they are private. We pay to be there. The facility is locked down with a padlock. You must know that combo to gain entry. It is not like people are just going to suddenly "show up" there that do not belong. We also believe there may be an agricultural mandate by the County that stipulates that access be allowed, but we cannot quote that verbatim. We understand the need to close the parks and beach, etc, where public has not been following the rules. We certainly appreciate the need to keep people safe, healthy, etc. But allowing the gardeners out to take care of a food source a couple times a week (most people only go 1-3 times per week, and most are not there longer than 20 minutes average), should not be putting anyone at the kind of risk other contacts might. Thank you for hearing us out. We hope to hear positive news, as do many of the the gardeners at Edison who share our concerns. Regards, Elizabeth Kane and Marc Loopesko 562-493-1015 Sent from my iPad CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.