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Home My WebLink AboutSupplemental Communication from Goldberg-Stober-Kirkpatrick-Knighton-Loopesko1 Gloria Harper From:Robert Goldberg <rgoldberg@live.com> Sent:Thursday, March 26, 2020 10:00 AM To:Thomas Moore; Schelly Sustarsic; Mike Varipapa; Sandra Massa-Lavitt; Joe Kalmick Cc:Jill Ingram; Gloria Harper; Charles M. Kelly; Jeannette Andruss; Phil Gonshak Subject:External Email : Public Comments for Today's Closed Session Attachments:OC Parks.pdf; CA Parks.pdf; Governor.pdf Dear Council and Staff, While I am supportive of staff’s decision last Monday to close various park amenities and parking lots, I think some of the closures go beyond what is necessary for the reasonable protection of public health. Specifically, I would recommend that the Council allow pedestrian access to the Old Town beach, Gum Grove Park, and the Edison Park Community Garden. The following comments address the beach and Gum Grove, as you have already received comments regarding Edison from users of that park. The purpose of the closures is to enforce social distancing. In some park areas, like tot lots, and during some park activities, like basketball, this is not possible. However, social distancing is very feasible on a beach as wide as Old Town’s, and on the long hiking trails of Gum Grove. Yet closure of these two areas to pedestrians denies Seal Beach residents access to open space, a unique wooded area, and the ocean—areas that provide not only exercise, but also emotional comfort during this very trying time. The importance of these considerations has been recognized by the Governor, the State Department of Parks and Recreation, and the O.C. Parks. As of yesterday, all of these entities are allowing pedestrian access to beaches and trails (see attachments). Similarly in Orange County cities, Laguna Beach is the only city that has closed beaches and trails (per OC ERC release 3/24/20- attached). As I write this in the early morning, I am watching people strolling and enjoying the beaches on Surfline cams in Newport and Huntington. In reopening the Old Town beach and Gum Grove, social distancing could still be encouraged or enforced if necessary without burdening our safety staff. Gum Grove has only two public access points, from the Hill at the end of Avalon Drive, and from Heron Point adjacent to Seal Beach Boulevard. Access at Avalon Drive is now closed by a gated fence that blocks all vehicles and pedestrians. There is no way to selectively allow pedestrians to pass while securely blocking vehicular access to the park’s primary parking area. Therefore, I would propose that this gate remain closed, but that parking and pedestrian access be allowed from Heron Point. At the Heron Point entrance, there are only ten parking spaces and no street parking is possible. The net effect would be to only allow ten parties into Gum Grove at any given time, and provide more than adequate “crowd control” to promote social distancing. Regarding the Old Town beach, I have observed a Marine Safety Officer driving the beachfront throughout the day on many, if not most, days of the week. Given the lack of swimmers in the water, I would think that educating any non-family beachgoers who fail to social distance could be safely 2 added to this Officer’s responsibilities. If per chance, a group of beachgoers fail to “get the message,” this could then be conveyed by a Police Officer. In summary, limited access to the Old Town beach and Gum Grove Park could be safely allowed and without undue demand on City safety staff. With crowd control via parking lot closures and active beach surveillance, no lives will be imperiled. Therefore, I ask the Council restore a semblance of sanity for our collective mental health. Thank you very much for your consideration, Robert Goldberg 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. 1 Gloria Harper From:Marc Loopesko <MLOOPESKO@roadrunner.com> Sent:Thursday, March 26, 2020 1:36 PM To:Gloria Harper Subject:External Email : Fwd: EDISON PARK COMMUNITY GARDEN -------- Forwarded Message -------- Subject: EDISON PARK COMMUNITY GARDEN Date: Thu, 26 Mar 2020 12:13:57 -0700 From: Jan Stober <kiwijan@verizon.net> To: ssustarsic@sealbeachca.gov, tmoore@sealbeachca.gov Dear Mayor Sustarsic: As you are aware in the last few days our Edison Park in College Park West has been closed and this has encompassed the Community Garden. I have been a plot owner since 2003 enjoying the privileges and opportunity to plant vegetables and flowers throughout those years. On a given day while at the Garden there may be only a few other gardeners tending to their business and many yards apart from each other's plots. There have been many other gardeners who have expressed their concern about this denial. We do understand what the restrictions would be of us and solicit your help in retaining our privilege at our Edison Community Garden. Sincerely Jan Stober 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. 1 Gloria Harper From:Marc Loopesko <MLOOPESKO@roadrunner.com> Sent:Thursday, March 26, 2020 1:46 PM To:Gloria Harper Subject:External Email : : Re: Edison Community Gardens ----------------------------------------- From: "Jan Stober" To: Cc: Sent: Wednesday March 25 2020 5:55:58PM Subject: Fwd: Re: FW: Re: Edison Community Gardens Hi Tom, I am forwarding this to you in our desperate attempt to solicit your help in retaining our privilege at our Edison Community Garden. Please do your utmost to see that your College Park West neighbors and those in Seal Beach will not be denied the pleasure! In Appreciation! Jan Stober Garden Member since 2003 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. 1 Gloria Harper From:Marc Loopesko <MLOOPESKO@roadrunner.com> Sent:Thursday, March 26, 2020 1:38 PM To:Gloria Harper Subject:External Email : FW: Closure of Gardens at Edison Park From: "Kirkpatrick,Charlie" To: "ssustarsic@sealbeachca.gov", "tmoore@sealbeachca.gov", "Jkalmick@sealbeachca.gov", "mvaripapa@sealbeachca.gov", "smassalavitt@sealbeachca.gov" Cc: "MLOOPESKO@roadrunner.com" Sent: Thursday March 26 2020 10:38:23AM Subject: Closure of Gardens at Edison Park Good morning and thank you for all you are doing during this crisis. I understand that you are discussing the closure of the Gardens at Edison Park today among other things. I would like to suggest that we keep the gardens open. I know it is much easier to create degrees that cover all areas and harder to manage individual settings like the gardens. But I do believe much good is derived by the gardens being open.  It will get folks out in fresh air, with very limited exposure.  The exercise will be good for us.  We are doing something productive when at the gardens, with long term benefits.  Working in the garden is a great stress relieve.  Lastly, its planting season and many of us want to take advantage of the nice rains we have had. While at the garden, we tend to be focused on the work that is needed to be done and it is easy for us not to bunch up. Since many of the gardeners are old (I???m 60), we know to stay away from each other. I do hope you will keep the gardens open going forward and you can be confident that we will be respectful of the guidelines that have been established to keep us all well during this COVID‐19 outbreak. Thank you in advance for your consideration. Charles Kirkpatrick 20 year participant in the Edison Gardens. E-MAIL CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The information transmitted in this e-mail and in any replies and forwards are for the sole use of the above individual(s) or entities and may contain proprietary, privileged and/or highly confidential information. Any unauthorized dissemination, review, distribution or copying of these communications is strictly prohibited. If this e-mail has been transmitted to you in error, please notify and return the original message to the sender immediately at the above listed address. Thank you for your cooperation. 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. 1 Gloria Harper From:Marc Loopesko <MLOOPESKO@roadrunner.com> Sent:Thursday, March 26, 2020 1:43 PM To:Gloria Harper Subject:External Email : FW: Re: CLOSURE OF EDISON GARDENS From: "Sherrie Knighton" To: MLoopesko@roadrunner.com Cc: Sent: Wednesday March 25 2020 6:08:52PM Subject: Re: CLOSURE OF EDISON GARDENS I don't think council thought this through. They've probably never even been to the garden, think it's just another park, and have no idea of the size and plot separation. Ridiculous and an example of a knee jerk reaction. Sherrie and John Knighton #136 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. 1 Gloria Harper From:Marc Loopesko <MLOOPESKO@roadrunner.com> Sent:Thursday, March 26, 2020 1:50 PM To:Gloria Harper Subject:External Email : FW: : RE: Edison Community Gardens From: "Marc Loopesko" Sent: Wednesday March 25 2020 11:33:02AM Subject: RE: FW: RE: Edison Community Gardens 1) it's not a "public park" locked entrance that only renters have combo to 2) no gatherings of people 3) plots are yards apart 4) at most, we have never seen more than 2 other people up there at the same time ‐ this morning, the last day to work it, there were only 2 other people there and me 5) we are tens of yards apart 6) we need the veggies that we are now growing, can't get in the markets now 7) it's totally over run with weeds due to no management enforcement by city staff, the few of us that care up there need to continue working the grounds or it's going to be non‐recoverable 8) OC has an exemption that all agricultural facilities may stay open 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.