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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSupplemental Communication from Sara Anderson Dana Engstrom From:Sara Anderson <sara.anderson@me.com> Sent:Monday, June 01, 2020 6:54 AM To:Schelly Sustarsic; Joe Kalmick; Thomas Moore; Mike Varipapa; Sandra Massa-Lavitt Cc:Jill Ingram; Kevin Ortiz; Gloria Harper Subject:External Email : Re: Closure of Edison Community Gardens -- THANK YOU! I just wanted to say THANK YOU for your decision to re-open the community gardens. It’s been a couple of months now, but I just wanted to let you know how grateful I am that I have access to my plot. I appreciate the decision you made to re-open as I am now reaping the benefits of the veggie and flower seeds I planted a few months ago. The psychological benefit of being able to actually go somewhere, to participate in growing things and putter around outside in the open during these distressing times has been immense. I have never felt unsafe there. It is never crowded and social distancing is easy to maintain. Thank you again for all you are doing to keep Seal Beach safe and well. Sara Anderson 235 16th Street Resident of Old Town since 1988 On Mar 31, 2020, at 3:27 PM, Sara Anderson <sara.anderson@me.com> wrote: Dear Mayor Sustarsic and Members of the Council, I am writing to you to express my hope that you will reconsider opening the Edison Community Gardens. I expressed my thoughts in an email to Mr. Kevin Ortiz, Park and Recreation Department and received a timely response from the Mr. Philip Gonshak, Chief of Police. (Both emails are attached and are dated March 24, 2020.) Thank you for your consideration of my comments and thank you for all you are doing to keep Seal Beach and its residents safe during these unprecedented times. Stay safe, Sara Anderson th 235 16 Street Resident of Old Town Seal Beach since 1988 Begin forwarded message: From: Phil Gonshak <pgonshak@sealbeachca.gov> Subject: Re: Edison Community Gardens Date: March 24, 2020 at 1:02:26 PM PDT To: "sara.anderson@me.com" <sara.anderson@me.com> Cc: Nicholas Nicholas <nnicholas@sealbeachca.gov>, Michael Henderson <MHenderson@sealbeachca.gov>, Mike Ezroj <MEzroj@sealbeachca.gov>, Kevin Ortiz 1 <kortiz@sealbeachca.gov>, Jill Ingram <jingram@sealbeachca.gov>, Patrick Gallegos <PGallegos@sealbeachca.gov>, Les Johnson <LJohnson@sealbeachca.gov> Hello Ms. Anderson, I hope this email finds you well. I appreciate your very kind email this morning, as several of them haven’t been so polite in nature. With that, thank you for considering the especially anxious times we are living in. The decision to hopefully slow and/or stop the spread of this virus in Seal Beach rests with everyone who lives, works and visits here. Similarly, I want you to know the recommendation to take these drastic measures came from me, as your Chief of Police. I’m certain you can understand that if someone does actually pass away from Covid-19 in our beautiful city, which I live in as well, I would feel terrible and truly be ashamed for not doing my absolute best to stop it - especially since I have the actual power to do so with these preventative measures. That would be a very heavy weight on my conscience and I hope you understand. I unfortunately had to give my family gardening plot away a few years ago, because my girls became too busy. Nonetheless, as with any public access park location, there are slow times and busy times. It is unfortunate we cannot piece mail certain locations, as this decision is a wide casted net with the hope of releasing some of these restrictions in due time. As far as the entire city - my wife, kids and grandkids love our beach and frequent it often. The pier, in my opinion, looks the best I have ever seen it and we enjoy standing on it to watch both the sunrises and sunsets. Along with you and many other citizens of Seal Beach, we are making the sacrifice as a whole. With this global pandemic that has already gripped our state and nation, we are living and experiencing a time of both uncertainty and angst. Because of this, my recommendation to close the gardens, parks, beaches, trails, and pier, comes with a heavy weight of responsibility, all the while knowing it may upset a few but hopefully may save the life of even one. It is because of this that I hope you don’t naturally respond emotionally (as we all often do). Rather, I ask you to seek some understanding, as the following entities/cities who have followed suit by closing some and or all of the same areas include: California State Park Campgrounds, San Diego, Carlsbad, Laguna Beach, Huntington Beach, and Long Beach, with several more that I have been told will soon follow within the next few days. Furthermore, my objective for the City of Seal Beach Police Department during this time of uncertainty is to “Educate First”. I can assure you it is not our goal nor intention to be out and about looking for violators in the gardens, parks, piers, and/or beaches but rather give the warning first if called, then if challenged, cite only when absolutely and critically necessary (see attached government codes). Our goal has and always will be to protect the citizens of Seal Beach, and during this challenging time it may mean that we have to do so in ways we are all uncomfortable with. I hope you know that I took an oath to each and every one of you in this community to do everything in my power to ensure its safety, and I intend to do so always. If interested, below I have attached a link to the briefing we gave to the City Council via an emergency meeting last Thursday night: https://sealbeach.primegov.com/Portal/Meeting?compiledMeetingDocumentFileId=3861 If you have 30 minutes, please watch and/or at least listen. Once finished, I invite you ask me any questions you like and I’ll try my best to respond given the available time I have. In closing, thank you for providing me an opportunity to explain this decision and please let me know how the City of Seal Beach can help better serve you in the future. All the best, Phil Philip L. Gonshak Chief of Police City of Seal Beach Police Department 2 911 Seal Beach Boulevard, Seal Beach, CA 90740 (562) 799-4124 (Office) (562) 493-0634 (Fax) <image001.jpg> <image002.jpg> <image003.jpg> Civility Principles: 1. Treat everyone courteously; 2. Listen to others respectfully; 3. Exercise self-control; 4. Give open-minded consideration to all viewpoints; 5. Focus on the issues and avoid personalizing debate; and, 6. Embrace respectful disagreement and dissent as democratic rights, inherent components of an inclusive public process, and tools for forging sound decisions. For Information about Seal Beach, please see our city website: www.sealbeachca.gov NOTICE: This communication may contain privileged or other confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient of this communication, or an employee or agent responsible for delivering this communication to the intended recipient, please advise the sender by reply email and immediately delete the message and any attachments without copying or disclosing the contents. Thank you. From: Sara Anderson \[mailto:sara.anderson@me.com\] Sent: Tuesday, March 24, 2020 8:41 AM To: Kevin Ortiz Cc: Patrick Gallegos; Jill Ingram; Nicholas Nicholas Subject: External Email : Re: Edison Community Gardens Kevin, It was devastating to read your email this morning. While I wholeheartedly support the need to restrict public areas where people have been getting too close to one another and not observing social distancing, I don’t think the Edison Community Gardens is one of them. I was there yesterday. When I arrived at around 2:00 pm there were two other cars in the parking area. When I went to get something from my car about an hour later, my car was the only car there— I was alone. When I left about an hour after that, there was one other car. The entire time I was there (over 2 hours) I didn’t actually see anyone! I saw their cars, but not them. This is a fairly typical experience for me. The visit prior to that, I think I said hello to two people. We kept our distance. Which is easy to do when you’re standing in your own plot. The garden has been a bright spot in this crazy, scary time. It has been a relief to be able to get out of the house and go somewhere SAFE. I can be outside doing something useful, physical and therapeutic. I always come home with a handful of fresh veggies— great for the immune system and the psyche. I’ve counted the garden as a blessing these past several weeks. Although, I tend to visit the garden about 2 or 3 days a week, the shut down has got to be even more devastating for the “old timers” who frequent the gardens more often. 3 Access to the Gardens is limited already to those of us who pay annually and have access to the gate combinations. My hope is that the decision makers can re-evaluate the Community Gardens’ closure. Perhaps a compromised schedule could be arranged. I was thinking that an odd/even schedule might work. Those of us with odd numbered plots can go on odd numbered days. Those with even numbered plots can go on even numbered days. This scenario at least halves the number of eligible gardeners on any given day. I’m sure other precautions can be taken. For example, I wore gloves the entire time I was there. I understand that these are unprecedented times and not everyone is taking seriously the nature of the Coronavirus (COVID-19). Hence, the need for our government to step in and enact broad restrictions. I realize that you are simply the messenger, but I sincerely hope that you can impress upon those with authority, to reconsider this action. You visit the Gardens regularly and you know that it already has restricted access, is spacious, and that it is not a place where people congregate. Thank you for your consideration of my comments. If you could please acknowledge that you have received and read my email, I would greatly appreciate it. Stay well, Sara Anderson, Plot #10 562.619.9102 On Mar 23, 2020, at 7:12 PM, Kevin Ortiz <kortiz@sealbeachca.gov> wrote: All Gardeners, The City of Seal Beach is monitoring the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and is proactively working to stop the spread of the virus. In order to help stop the spread of infection and prevent the transmission of the COVID-19 virus, the Director of Emergency Services for the City of Seal Beach has ordered that th several public areas of Seal Beach will be closed until further notice. Effective March 25, 2020 at 10:00pm the Edison Park Community Gardens will be closed until further notice. Please practice social distancing while visiting the gardens for the next 2 days. If any gardener needs help finding food during the closure period please contact the City of Seal Beach as there are other options that the City can find. If you have any questions please contact Kevin Ortiz at (562) 431-2527 ext. 1307. Kevin Ortiz, Recreation Coordinator City of Seal Beach 211 Eighth Street, Seal Beach, CA 90740 (562) 431-2527 Ext. 1307 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. <Govt Code and HS Code statutes.pdf> 4 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. 5