Meeting Time: August 20, 2020 at 9:00am PDT
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Agenda Item

3-B ID 20-001046 WORKSHOP - Santa Clara Street Area Update

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    Jan Minami about 4 years ago

    Council President Arias and Council Members, I'm the Executive Director of the Chinatown Fresno Foundation. Our mixed-use neighborhood is included in the Good Neighbor District.

    First, we ask that we be actively involved in these discussions since we have such a big stake in the outcome, particularly referring to the Good Neighbor District and the Collaborative Security Plan. We ask that trained professionals be involved for treating mental health and drug-related issues and that the dignity of individuals without housing be respected.

    We are concerned that barriers proposed for the Santa Clara area meant to exclude drug dealing will only move that activity into Chinatown.

    We are concerned that the proposed transportation services will pick up people who are without housing from across the city and bring them to the Chinatown area. We are NOT in favor of that. That kind of thinking is why there are so many homeless people in Chinatown in the first place - they've been uprooted (or have migrated) from their home neighborhoods in order to receive services that are only offered in one place. We would much prefer that services be offered throughout the city for service to people throughout the city as previous recent plans have recommended.

    We look forward to ongoing discussion and workable solutions for this challenging issue, particularly layered on top of the pandemic.

    Thank you.

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    Dan Waterhouse about 4 years ago

    When will the City stop trying to force homeless into the Santa Clara area? It hasn’t worked. Take outreach and services citywide.