January 12, 2024
Dear Ms. Lens,
I want to provide a personal update and give notice that I plan to resign from the Hayward Planning Commission, effective January 31, 2024. In this regard, please see the below message I shared at our most recent Planning Commission meeting. I would be grateful if you can share this with the City Council.
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I would like to provide a personal update and inform my fellow Commissioners that I plan to resign from the Planning Commission effective the end of January. This was not a decision that I took lightly, and I will greatly miss serving on the commission. It has been an honor and a privilege to serve as a commissioner, particularly over the last year as chair. I want to thank city staff and my fellow commissioners for all their support, friendship, and mentorship in this unique role we serve in, and I want to thank the previous Council who put their faith in me by appointing me to this role three and a half years ago. Thank you to my family for their support, my wife, my parents, my niece, who all have often been the lonely single members of the audience at some of my meetings, and for their support.
I have done my best to weigh each project that comes our way to the standard of what is in the best interest of the City of Hayward and its residents, and I am proud of the work I have been a part of through this process. I set out to join the Commission to satisfy my desire to give back to the city and to my community- and I felt that serving on this body would be a unique way to meld my professional and academic backgrounds. As I step away from this position, I am certain the city is in good hands. In my time alone, I have seen 4 of my fellow Commissioners join the City Council; I have no doubt this body before us will continue to produce leaders of our city in the future and I will be cheering you all on. I would leave by simply sharing with my fellow commissioners that you have a unique platform- don’t think your voice is too small - stand up for what is right in what you believe in- here in Hayward and globally. And thank you for all this role has given to me.
With Appreciation,
Aidan Ali-Sullivan
Chair, Hayward Planning Commission
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