From: Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft
To: Jennifer Ott; Yibin Shen; Lara Weisiger
Subject: Fwd: [EXTERNAL] Return to in person meetings
Date: Tuesday, February 7, 2023 1:58:07 PM
Good Afternoon All,
Forwarding fyi.
Marilyn
Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft
Mayor, City of Alameda
510-747-4745
Begin forwarded message:
From: beth kenny <[email protected]>
Date: February 7, 2023 at 1:11:05 PM PST
To: Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft <[email protected]>, Malia Vella <[email protected]>, Tracy Jensen <[email protected]>, Sarah Henry <[email protected]>, Allison Mullings
<[email protected]>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Return to in person meetings
Hello Mayor Ezzy Ashcraft, Councilmember Vella, Councilmember Jensen, Chair Mullings and Communications & Legislative Affairs Officer Henry, I am writing to express my deep disappointment that council and the boards and commissions are returning to in person meeting under the pre-pandemic Brown Rules. As I have expressed many times at council and the commission on persons with disabilities, requiring councilmembers and commissioners to return in person is making elected and appointed office inaccessible to immunocompromised people, high risk people and our family members.
Personally, like many immunocompromised people I have had 4 vaccines, 2 boosters and 2 Evusheld doses yet my body is unable to produce the necessary antibodies and Evusheld has been removed from the market for being ineffective.
We derive limited/no protection from the vaccines and there is limited/no protection in indoor public spaces. We can wear our masks that haven’t been fit tested and hope to be able to create social distance the whole time. I have been to many in person city council meetings in chambers and social distance is not really possible for those attending whether it be in the audience, bathrooms or hallways.
My 5 year old needs me to stay alive to be her parent and the risks of being in close contact with an unmasked person in the restrooms or hallways is just too great of a risk to serve my community. It’s too great of a risk for my wife who has been vaccinated & boosted and has a healthy immune system because she can’t risk transmission to me.
It is unclear to me whether the decision to utilize the exclusionary Brown Act rules is within city’s authority or it came from the state. If there is any way that you can utilize a modified Brown Act that makes public office accessible for those at high risk of severe outcomes from COVID-19, I urge you to utilize it. If the Brown Act decision was made at the state level then I urge you to lobby the state for changes to the Brown Act that make public office accessible to all including immunocompromised and high risk people.
I also strongly recommend you modify the safety measures you have in place. I ask that you introduce an ordinance to require high quality masks (N95/ KN95, KF94) in all city buildings and make available high quality masks (N/95, KN95, KF94) available for staff and members of the public. Oakland Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan worked to have a similar ordinance passed in Oakland in order to ensure that city government remains open to everyone. I haven’t been able to go into Alameda City Hall since March 2020. We had to pay for all the permitting to be done by someone else for our recent foundation replacement because there are no mask requirements at city hall that would have allowed us to do it safely ourselves.
The word equity is thrown around a lot as a concept. I am asking you to take action that embodies that concept rather than tacitly accept inequity.
Sincerely,
Beth Kenny