5 Newell Court | East Palo Alto, California 94303
www.nodisplacement.com
Kelly Beggs
Contract Principal Planner
City of East Palo Alto
1960 Tate St.
East Palo Alto, CA 94303
[email protected]
October 27, 2022
RE: Euclid Improvements - Response to suggestions regarding Relocation Plan Dear Kelly,
Thank you for your continued work on behalf of the City regarding the Woodland Park Euclid Improvements proposal. We have heard several concerns and suggestions regarding our proposed Relocation Plan. Some were raised during the October 4, 2022 City Council meeting, and others have been brought to our attention by or on behalf of current Improvement Area tenants by our residents, City staff, and City officials.
We take our promise of No Displacement very seriously. It is at the core of the Euclid Improvements proposal because we know it is very important to our residents, the community, and the City. We received hundreds of points of input from residents, community members, and City representatives and used it to create Relocation Commitments and the Relocation Plan. However, to address all the input we received required a comprehensive Relocation Plan that is long and complex. We appreciate this new feedback that some parts of the Relocation Plan may benefit from clarification or revision to provide more comfort to Improvement Area tenants.
Please note that references to the “Relocation Plan” refer to the draft from September 6, 2022 which can be found in English at nodisplacement.com/relocation and in Spanish at nodisplacement.com/reubicacion. The following table summarizes what we’ve heard from or on behalf of Improvement Area tenants, and our clarification, revision, or response:
What we heard: Our response:
1. Some tenants do not want to be
in “limbo” and required to stay in
their units for a year or two
before relocating.
Other tenants would like to stay
in their current units for as long
as possible before relocating.
Our timing is intended to ensure that each household
can make the choices that are best for that household.
Tenants who want to move earlier may move earlier
and Tenants who want to move later may move later.
Any date that may be prescribed by the City would limit those tenant choices.
Tenants who do not want to stay in the Improvement
Area are welcome to move at any time to a Replacement
October 27, 2022
nodisplacement.com
2 What we heard: Our response:
Some tenants want a timeline
with proposed move out
dates/windows.
Apartment elsewhere at Woodland Park. If interested,
they can visit the north side management office at 2043 Euclid Avenue and request an “Optional TenantRequested Move.” We will provide an additional notice of the Optional Tenant-Requested Move process.
Tenants who want to stay in the Improvement Area do
not have to move until one year after they receive the
Tenant Choice & Replacement Apartment Notice.
The Updated Relocation Commitments on page 20 of
the Relocation Plan walk through each process step-bystep, including timing. There is also an illustrative flowchart on page 71.
2. Some tenants want more time to
make a decision about a
Replacement Apartment or
before they move into the
Replacement Apartment.
We will provide tenants with more time to complete
the relocation process. Tenants will be given a
minimum of 90 days’ notice between receiving the
Replacement Apartment Notice and needing to move.
We understand the relocation process involves
important decisions, and we want our tenants to have
time to make the right decisions. The relocation plan
balances this need for careful decision making with the challenges of managing rental property. While we have
enough units to provide a Replacement Apartment for
every household, we do not have enough to hold
multiple options for an extended period.
As for the timing of a move, we can provide tenants with more time before their move begins. Once a move
begins, it is typically completed within one day. This
timing has not posed a problem for any of the tenants
who have participated in the Optional Tenant-Requested
Move program.
3. Tenants are concerned about
public safety as more residents
move out of the remaining units.
We have implemented several important security
measures to protect public safety in the Euclid
Improvement Area. Tenants who do not want to stay
in the Improvement Area are welcome to move at any
time at no cost to a Replacement Apartment elsewhere
at Woodland Park. If interested, they can visit the north side management office at 2043 Euclid Avenue and
request an “Optional Tenant-Requested Move.” We will
provide an additional notice of the Optional TenantRequested Move process.
October 27, 2022
nodisplacement.com
3 What we heard: Our response:
Our public safety measures include securing vacant
units, additional monitoring by our security staff, regular visits from staff, and careful attention to activities within these buildings. We have also worked closely with the
Police Department, and the City’s data do not show any
elevated public safety concerns in this area. We are
committed to continue monitoring and making any
adjustments that may be necessary for public safety.
4. Tenants desire a preference to
move into units on the west of
University Ave where their units
are presently located
We will work hard to accommodate all location
requests. To date, everyone who has participated in an
Optional Tenant-Requested Move has been able to
move to an apartment in the area of their choosing.
We understand that different families have different
preferences. We have asked, and will continue to ask,
each Tenant where they would like their Replacement
Apartment to be located
If there are Tenants who want to move into units on the west side of University, we ask them to specify this on their Tenant Choice Form.
5. Some tenants use enclosed
garages for storage and keeping
the tools of their trades and want
to have similar space in a future
unit
All households that currently have a parking space will receive a garage parking space when they return to the
Euclid Improvements. Any tenant with an enclosed
garage used for storage can please reach out to us and
we’ll work to find a suitable storage solution.
We understand and respect that some Tenants use
enclosed garages for storage and keeping the tools of
their trades. A small portion of apartments in the Euclid Improvements have such an enclosed garage, and we
understand it can be an important issue.
6. Tenants are concerned there is no
guaranteed free parking in the
right-of-return units.
Every tenant that currently has on-site parking is
guaranteed parking in the Euclid Improvements at no
extra cost. We have heard repeatedly how important
parking is to many of our tenants and so we understand
how this could be a concern.
This means that the Right of Return tenants will always have the same number of parking spaces as their lease
currently provides, even when they move into the new
Euclid Improvements. Their rights are protected by the
Rent Stabilization Ordinance and the Relocation Plan.
7. Some tenants feel that they have
two on-site parking spaces and
We are committed to working with each household
that believes it has leased more than one parking space October 27, 2022
nodisplacement.com
4 What we heard: Our response:
want similar parking in their
future unit
to understand the situation and to provide similar
parking to what they have now through the relocation
processes.
Nearly all the apartments in the Euclid Improvements
Area have a single parking space associated with their
apartment. A small portion of the apartments may have
additional parking that has been provided pursuant to
their lease. For these households, we understand that it can be an important issue. As we have said, every
tenancy can keep the same level of “housing services”
that they are currently receiving pursuant to their lease.
8. Tenants want an oversight body
over relocation matters.
We agree with community members and City staff that
the Rent Stabilization Program could provide careful
oversight because it already regulates rent stabilized
housing in the City. We work closely with the Rent
Stabilization Program on its existing responsibilities and would continue to work closely with the program
throughout the Relocation Plan implementation. We are
happy to provide regular documentation as appropriate.
9. Tenants are concerned that USPS
and door-to-door notification may
be insufficient and would like to
sign a receipt to confirm receiving
documents.
We agree that it is important for tenants to receive the relocation-related information. We agree to ask that
all tenants sign a receipt confirming delivery of the
documents but obtaining a signature cannot be forced.
Some tenants are very private and do not want to
answer the door or sign anything from the landlord. We
respect those tenants’ privacy rights. We would ask
them to accept delivery and to sign a receipt, but we
would not be able to require them to do so. All
documentation will also be available at 2043 Euclid
Avenue, which is in the Euclid Improvement Area.
10. Tenants have requested that all
documents be translated into
Spanish and hard copies be
provided.
We will continue to translate all documents into
Spanish and to provide hard copies to the affected
households once approved by the City of East Palo
Alto.
The information in both Spanish and English will also be available in our offices and online. The current
relocation plan can be found in English at
nodisplacement.com/relocation and in Spanish at
nodisplacement.com/reubicacion. We will provide hard
copies of the Relocation Plan to affected tenants.
October 27, 2022
nodisplacement.com
5 We appreciate the community’s feedback and questions regarding the Relocation Plan. We hope that this letter clarifies our approach and our commitments. As always, please let me know if you have any questions or would like to discuss.
Sincerely,
Michael Kramer