RECEIVED
2023 JAN - 9 PM I2: 33
Linda Vista-Annandale Association
Pasadena, CA
ORY OF FAEADERA
January 8, 2023
Re: City Council Meeting 1-9-2023; Agenda Item 17; 710 Planning Working Group/Task Force
Mayor Gordo and Councilmembers,
The Linda Vista-Annandale Association (LVAA) appreciates this opportunity to comment on the Staff proposal for the 710 Planning Working Group/Task Force. LVAA supports the proposal as outlined in the Staff Report and supports Council approval and adoption of the Working Group/Task Force proposal.
The need for a robust planning process for the 710 Stub rooted in broad City-wide public participation is obvious to our Association. As proposed, the make-up of the Working Group/Task Force, particularly the four members to be appointed by the Mayor, will ensure that diverse qualifications, interests, imaginative ideas and perspectives are represented in the group. As to the suggested Expertise and Background, we suggest adding Neighborhood Character/Vitality, 710 Stub Historical Knowledge/Background, and Open Space/Parks.
Thank you for your consideration of our comments.
Sincerely,
/S/ Nina Chomsky
Nina Chomsky, President
Linda Vista-Annandale Association
cc: LVAA Board of Directors
1/9/2023
Item 17
RECEIVED
2023 JAN - 9 PM 12: 33
Jan 9, 2023
Making
CHY CLERK lousing
CRY OPERADEA ommunity
Micah 4:4
Happen
Educating and Empowering
Congregations for Housing Justice
Dear Mayor Gordo and the Pasadena City Council,
We at Making Housing and Community Happen wish to thank you for framing the vision for the 710 Stub to accomplish restorative justice. This can put our city on the map as a leader in this national movement. This was the desire of the late John Kennedy. To ensure that this goal is accomplished. I wish to offer these points:
The city's working group needs to be shaped by this vision and framework, and should include people who were displaced represented in the task force.
John Kennedy was constantly about uniting our city and the removal of the 710 Freeway will be one step in that direction. "We are better together" is true-but depending on who is at the table. When the 1949 Housing Act was established, not one person of color helped to create this policy. While designed to address the housing crisis, too often it made room for new developments by declaring neighborhoods "blighted" by virtue of being working class neighborhood of color. Whole swaths of land were declared blighted in cities across the US resulting in many thousands being displaced. This happened at the Parson's site and other parts of our city. The 1956 Hwy Act, caused the same results, placing freeways through the heart of thriving Black communities. This happened on N. Lincoln and the 710 stub. We must learn from this history and get it right this time. We need historians, those displaced and people who care about racial justice and repair of the wrongs committed, to be part of the city's working group.
Please make this a stated goal of the scope of work. Thank you! Dr. Jill Suzanne Shook, Co-Founding Director of MHCH
Jill Shook, D.Min. Missions Door, http://www.missionsdoor.org/missionaries/shook-jill Co-Founding Director: makinghousinghappen.org
Author /Editor: Making Housing Happen: Faith Based Affordable Hausing Madels [email protected] Phone: (625) 575-1316
1/9/2023
Item 17
McMillan, Acquanette (Netta)
From: Blair Miller
Sent: Monday, January 9, 2023 12:36 PM
To: PublicComment-AutoResponse; Williams, Felicia; Lyon, Jason; Rivas, Jessica; Hampton, Tyron; Jones, Justin; Masuda, Gene; Madison, Steve
Cc: Reyes, David
Subject: Agenda Item #17 - 710 Planning Working Group / Task Force CAUTION: This email was delivered from the Internet. Do not click links or open attachments unless you know the content is safe. Report phish using the Phish Alert Button. Learn more....
City Council Members and staff,
I am writing regarding the staff report for the 710 Planning Working Group / Task Force. My comments are based on both positive and negative experiences as a member of the Civic Center Task Force, on which I was privileged to serve.
1) I support staff's recommendation that the Working Group be a Brown Act body. I request that the City Council go further than simply ensuring that this process is public and meets Brown Act rules, and create a structure that includes opportunities for engagement with community members at the regular meetings that go beyond 2 - 3 minutes of speaking to an agenda item.
Many community members, including now-Councilmember Felicia Williams, were regular attendees at the Civic Center Task Force meetings, and participated in small group discussions as various options were evaluated. That additional participation was welcomed by Task Force members and aided the process of ensuring that community members' views were incorporated into the final recommendations. 2) If there is professional facilitation, it must be very high quality. The facilitator that was selected for the Civic Center Task Force was not sufficiently educated in planning and design, and was not particularly well organized. I recall members having to explain basic concepts to the facilitator, and remind the facilitator of previous process decisions.
3) I applaud staff's recommendations in the August 2022 report that decisions made about the site will be historically rooted, community led, and ensure those who were displaced / directly impacted participate in and benefit from the redevelopment. I recommend that the Council hire an historian to work with the Working Group / Task Force to help the Task Force, the Council and the public learn that history and so that it can inform the City's decisions. Historical information was key for the Civic Center Task Force's decisions, and it will also be necessary for this process.
Thank you,
Blair Miller
1/9/2023
Item 17
1 McMillan, Acquanette (Netta)
From: John Williams
Sent: Monday, January 9, 2023 12:51 PM
To: PublicComment-AutoResponse
Subject: Item #17 - 710 Planning Working Group/Task Force Some people who received this message don't often get email from Learn why this is important CAUTION: This email was delivered from the Internet. Do not click links or open attachments unless you know the content is safe. Report phish using the Phish Alert Button. Learn more....
Public Comment to Item #17 - 710 Planning Working Group/Task Force To whom it may concern,
My name is John Williams and I am a resident of Pasadena. I live in District 1. I have lived in Northwest Pasadena since August 1986. I moved to Northwest Pasadena to work with Dr. John Perkins and the Harambee Christian Family Center. I also currently work in this city. I am a part of the 710 Restorative Justice Pasadena committee. / am writing this letter so that it is included in the public comments to the 710 Planning Working Group/Task Force, item #17 on the January 9, 2023 City Council Meeting.
I was encouraged to learn that the state of California has reverted the property connected to the 710 freeway to the City of Pasadena. I was excited to read in the Agenda Report that the proposed City Council Guiding Principles to determine the use of this property that restorative justice is one of three of the guiding principles. am in agreement with this term, however, the City must define this term. By using the term "restorative justice" there is an inference that an injustice has occurred. Therefore, before the City Council can vote on the usage of the land a detailed historical explanation must be provided to inform and support the City's and community's decisions. As such, my hope is that a historian must either become a part of the task force or the City must hire a historian who will excavate the personal stories of those harmed by the State's action of eminent domain, clearly articulate the complete racial history of our city, define what the harm was (and still is) and also the impact of the harm today.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
john williams
director of center for racial reconciliation
Schedule an appointment
madeforfellowship.com
Sent with Mixmax
1/9/2023
Item 17