City of
LEMOORE
CALIFORNIA
8/2/2022
City Council Special Meeting
Handouts received after
agenda posted
From: Ron VanDyke
To: City Clerk
Subject: Ronald VanDyke - Council Meeting - General Public Comment Date: Monday, August 1, 2022 10:55:52 PM
Good evening and thank you for your time.
My name is Ronald VanDyke and I have been a Lemoore citizen for 12 years.
I have been watching the council and planning commission meetings online for a while now and there were a couple of comments made at the last council meeting that really struck a chord with me regarding local businesses and the relationship (or lack thereof) with the city government.
Everyday when I pull off the highway I'm greeted with a "Welcome to Lemoore" sign that emphasizes our local businesses by encouraging people to buy locally. Week after week in the various meetings that are being held, the majority of the time is spent talking about another cannabis production facility, another gas station, another car wash, another convenience store, a 70 acre lot for a FEMA funded wrestling facility, new hotels, and new restaurants. All of which garnered a general consensus of overwhelming opportunity for our small town. With that being said, what is the city doing to help foster and grow a healthy relationship with the local business? The downtown area is struggling. Buildings are falling apart. There is not enough engagement with the owners, or with the community to really push the "buy local" mantra. The city does not need another gas station. The world does not need another Applebees or Buffalo wild wings. With the assumed commercial, industrial, and residential growth this city is planning for in the coming future, why aren't we hearing more about what we are going to do to help develop our local businesses. Is it the assumption that the franchises, gas stations, and hotels are going to give back to the community like a thriving local business scene would? The council said it yourselves; there is a great opportunity here. I guess all I'm trying to say is that I hope the energy put forward into it is directed appropriately so we do not become just another Hanford 12th Ave.
Again, thank you for your time. Have a good evening.
From: Philip Wren
To: City Clerk
Cc: Patricia Matthews
Subject: Public Comment - August 2, 2022
Date: Tuesday, August 2, 2022 1:30:32 PM
Submitting for public comment for the city council meeting on August 2:
This is Phil of Bird Street Brewing. I would recommend the City to utilize the calendar feature on the Lemoore web page to announce changes to the regular council meeting schedule.
On July 8th I was informed via text message by council member Orth the code enforcement phone number on the city website was a bad number and it will be updated accordingly. going to lemoore.com/code-enforcement , searching for "code enforcement" on the city's website, or searching for "lemoore code enforcement" on search engines such as google, bing, and duckduckgo still produce the outdated website.
On July 12th I had a long discussion with David Orth on the phone over various topics, one of which discussing the need for the city to provide outreach to the community and its businesses. One issue stemmed from an email list that Sheila used to communicate with downtown and councilman Orth's assurance that an email distribution list would be acquired to communicate about the downtown liaison situation. Another suggestion was to schedule a "town hall" type of open forum.
It has been almost one month since the phone number issue was brought to the city's attention and three weeks since the discussion about communicating to downtown businesses and there has been no traction either way.
The current council continues to assure me they are not like the prior councils and they want to change things. These inactions suggest otherwise. It doesn't matter who is sitting on council if you continue to talk without acting.
Thank you
1 Marisa Avalos
From: Alfred Trujillo <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, August 2, 2022 5:01 PM
To: City Clerk
Subject: Public comment
Hello, unfortunately I am not able to be here in person but my name is Alfred trujillo and I am the owner of the moon room that was located in lemoore. I would just like to say I hope the city takes the community and business owners complaints seriously at the lack of support the city has given which we experienced first hand. It has been over a month since the liason has left and we have heard no updates or plans And I understand that yall are busy. But seeing zero effort on the city's/ council behalf we decided as of 2 weeks ago to move our business elsewhere and have already done so, our closing day was last Wednesday. We do hope that change happens for the current business sake, and that someone steps in to help the amazing business's in downtown lemoore as they currently have no support it seems like.
Thank you.
Alfred Trujillo
administrator/owner
559‐572‐1073