Agustin Estrada
From: Faraz Aqil
Sent: Tuesday, April 8, 2025 7:53 AM
To: Downey City Clerk - Public Comment
Subject: Item #1 Public Hearing - Downey City Council Meeting (April 8, 2025) Quick Summary: My first preferred redistricting map choice is still Map 105. My 2nd choice is Map 106, and my 3rd preferred choice is Lam 9 map. The rest of the new maps and Maps 102 through 104 1 am against.
Good evening Downey City Councilmembers.
My name is Faraz, I'm a resident of Downey who lives in the Rancho Los Amigos/Apollo Park neighborhood, and I'm the map maker of Map 105. After reviewing the newest redistricting maps for the 5th public hearing, I wanted to share my feedback regarding the new maps:
Favorable Maps:
*Map 106: Second most preferred map. I like how the Telegraph Rd neighborhood north of the 5 FWY stays together and the district is compact between Telegraph Rd and Florence Ave (although it unfortunately cuts a bit into residential Lubec St.). The map keeps Districts A-D mostly compact with no major "L" shapes and mostly keeps its boundaries to major streets (although I do wish that parts of where District B/C & A/D boundaries that are divided by Firestone Blvd's railroad tracks were instead divided at Firestone Blvd).
*Lam 9 Map: Third most preferred map. I like how it's similar to Map 105 by having a central district. But I don't like how it uses multiple streets when dividing Districts B/C (Firestone Blvd, Adwen St, & Stewart and Gray Rd) and I would have liked to see District C extend to Lakewood Blvd & Telegraph Rd. But this map is still much better than the below maps I'm against.
Against Maps:
*Map 107: This map suffers from the same problem with map 104 by having an "L" shape district A that is not compact.
Also it's too narrow (0.5 miles width between Brookshire Ave and Lakewood Blvd, & Imperial Hwy and Foster Rd) and at the same time it's stretching the district (2.4 miles from Rosecrans Ave to Firestone Blvd's railroad track, & 1.9 miles from Imperial Hwy/Brookshire Ave to the San Gabriel River). And I don't agree with dividing District B/C along Luxor St. (which is dividing up the neighborhood of a very residential area). *Map 108: Stretches District E from Rancho Los Amigos to Downey Adult School while having the district too narrow (0.5 miles width). Also this map splits my Apollo Park neighborhood (just like Map 104), but this time from the northwest & northeast parts of my neighborhood, and it does a worse job by using Hondo St (a very residential street) to divide up District E & B (which I am very much against). And it also has District E & B dividing up the Imperial Elementary School neighborhood by using Quoit St (also a very residential street), which I'm also against. *Map 109: Stretches District E from Rancho Los Amigos to Downey Adult School while having the district too narrow (0.5 miles width), and then the same district goes from Downey Adult School at Woodruff Ave to the Firestone Blvd's railroad track (making a "C" shape district that is not compact). It also stretches District E from Imperial Hwy/Downey Ave to the 605 FWY at Florence Ave (Honda World) while having narrow areas (0.5 mile widths) throughout the east side of Bellflower Blvd). And this map splits my Rancho Los Amigos/Apollo Park neighborhood (just like in Map 104), which I do not support.
*Map 110: 1 do not support how District E & A have zig-zag boundaries through different streets: Stewart and Gray Rd,
Washburn Rd, & and even through the Downey Adult School parking lot (which is not an official street/railroad track and shouldn't be used as a dividing boundary). Also Districts B/C boundary has a residential neighborhood divided along Luxor St. And Map 110 is dividing the Telegraph Rd neighborhood into 3 different districts (which is dividing up too much this narrow width neighborhood that lies in the border of Downey). *Map 111: District B & C are not compact with District B being too narrow (0.5 miles width) between Paramount Blvd & Brookshire Ave, & District C being even more narrow (0.25 miles) from Florence Ave to Firestone Blvd's railroad track. It's also splitting my Apollo Park neighborhood (just like Map 104) from the northwest & northeast parts of my neighborhood. *Map 112: District A is not compact and has a narrow area (0.25 miles width) between Bellflower Blvd and the San Gabriel River & between Imperial Hwy and Foster Rd. I also disagree with the statement posted on the Downey website that Maps 112 and 106 are similar because Map 106 keeps District A more compact with much less narrow areas compared to Map 112.
*Map 113: District E is definitely not compact and stretches from one end of the city to the opposite end of the city. From the west side to the east side of the city (along Firestone Blvd), it's 3.2 miles long. but then the distance increases to 4.7 miles if you travel from Firestone Blvd west side to Florence Ave east side of the city. This district is not compact to a specific neighborhood and if a councilmember was to run for election, they would need to use a lot more funding/resources to campaign in this district.
I also tried creating maps based on the feedback from the March 11th Public Hearing meeting. However, I was not able to create a good map that I felt comfortable in publishing due to either many neighborhoods being divided up, the districts not being compact/within a specific smaller area (to campaign in), and/or not following major streets for their boundaries.
All these criteria mentioned were raised by councilmembers that I did not want to break, which is why I did not submit any new maps. And as mentioned in many of these newly submitted maps, they're breaking many of the criteria that the councilmembers had wanted to avoid, which is why councilmembers should not support many of the newly submitted maps.
In conclusion, I still believe that Map 105 is currently the best map because it does the best job at keeping neighborhoods together, has district boundaries sticking to major/busy streets, and keeps districts compact within smaller areas. I thank you very much for your time in reading my public comment.
Sincerely,
Faraz Aqil
Agustin Estrada
From: Agustin Estrada
Sent: Tuesday, April &20254:26PK4
To: Agustin Estrada
Subject: FVV:Lakewood/Firestone Specific Plan
From: Desiree Corral
Sent Monday, April 7,20JS4:1OPK8
To: Abraham Luna
Subject: Lakewood/Firestone Specific Plan
Good afternoon -
I am thoroughly confused by the letter I received about the conditionally allowing the new land use of Commercial Recreation.
I have tried googling, searching the Specific Plan online, et al and have not really received a concrete explanation of what the Citio planning on doing.
How can I obtain more information or layman's terminology for what the City's plan is for the Lakewood/Firestone Specific Plan Amendment.
Thank you.
-Desiree Corral
Conoemned/CuhounRosident