07-30-20 MInutes - GPAC
110 E. Main Street Los Gatos, CA 95030 ● 408-354-6832
www.losgatosca.gov
TOWN OF LOS GATOS
GENERAL PLAN UPDATE
ADVISORY COMMITTEE REPORT
MINUTES OF THE GENERAL PLAN UPDATE ADVISORY COMMITTEE
SPECIAL MEETING
JULY 30, 2020
The General Plan Update Advisory Committee of the Town of Los Gatos conducted a Special
Meeting on July 30, 2020, at 7:00 p.m., via teleconference.
This meeting was conducted utilizing teleconferencing and electronic means consistent with
State of California Executive Order N-29-20 dated March 17, 2020, regarding the COVID-19
pandemic and was conducted via Zoom. All committee members and staff participated from
remote locations and all voting was conducted via roll call vote.
MEETING CALLED TO ORDER AT 7:00 P.M.
ROLL CALL
Present: Chair Melanie Hanssen, Vice Chair Kathryn Janoff, Mayor Marcia Jensen, Vice Mayor
Barbara Spector, Committee Member Kendra Burch, Committee Member Todd Jarvis,
Committee Member Steven Piasecki, Committee Member Ryan Rosenberg, and Committee
Member Lee Quintana, and Committee Member Carol Elias Zolla.
Absent: Committee Member Susan Moore Brown.
Staff present: Joel Paulson, Laurel Prevetti, Robert Schultz, and Lynne Lampros
VERBAL COMMUNICATIONS
None.
DISCUSSION ITEMS
1. Review and Discussion of Pandemic Response, Environmental Justice, and Racial and
Social Justice in the General Plan
Laurel Prevetti, Town Manager, presented the staff report.
Open Public Comment.
Jeffrey Blum, member of the Los Gatos Community and Senior Services Commission
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- Provided written and verbal comments and stated that he was available to answer
questions.
Kira Barsten
- Commented in support of the new library project and sharing information about the
Town’s history of housing discrimination and redlining. Commented in support of
policies that prioritize affordable housing, promote EBT at the Farmers Market, and
address transportation and mobility around Town.
Alicia
- Commented that she has personal experiences that people of color are made to feel
unwelcome in Los Gatos, and so the Town needs a long term commitment to address
systematic racism, including improvements in schools to help future generations and
guidelines that differentiate between freedom of speech and hate speech.
Amy Nishide, member Los Gatos Anti-Racism Coalition
- Commented in support of comments from Kira and Alicia. Commented about
experiences of racism both verbal and physical at the high school. Commented in
support of affordable housing in Town for teachers, administrative staff, and police to
live here. Commented in support of budget to provide more community and
social/psychological services, rather than police enforcement.
Tammy Martin, member of the Los Gatos Anti-Racism Coalition
- Shared experience reporting racial targeting of her daughter at the high school , but
not receiving support because of their home location in unincorporated area of the
County.
Kinsey Lee, co-founder of Los Gatos Anti-Racism Coalition
- Commented on lower racial diversity and higher median income of the Town, and the
importance of affordable housing and more diversity in business ownership.
Sandrine Chaumette, member of Los Gatos Anti-Racism Coalition
- Commented on allocation of resources in the Police Department, and asking for a paid
position in the Police Department trained in mental health/social services.
Maria Ristow
- Commented on the value of hearing new and young voices in comments. Commented
on the need for more forward work to be done on sustainability, for example use of
reusable cups at coffeeshops. Expressed concern over the amount of garbage being
produced during COVID-19 from take-out containers is appalling. Commented that
the Town needs housing to support inclusivity in the Town, and that the Police
Department needs to do more outreach about our current policies.
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Ali Miano, member of Los Gatos Anti-Racism Coalition
- Commented on concern over many closed businesses in Town, and the value of
reaching out to business owners that are part of minority groups to revitalize the
Town. Would like to see more welcoming climate in Town for minorities, w hether
residents or not.
Jeffrey Suzuki, co-founder of Los Gatos Anti-Racism Coalition
- Commented in support of affordable housing and the need to address housing
segregation. Commented on the lack of diversity in Town, education, police funds
allocation, and affordable housing. Suggested cooperative housing units.
Donya Behroozi, member of Los Gatos Anti-Racism Coalition
- Commented on racism and death threats experienced since participation in the recent
protests, and requested updates be given on how threats are being handled by the
police.
Ana Jones, with Coalition for Anti-Racism, working with students on their protests
- Commented on dilemma of educating black boys to make sure they knew their
history.
Nika Sabouri, member of Los Gatos Anti-Racism Coalition
- Commented on behalf of people of color growing up in this Town. Grew up having to
explain their race to their white classmates and apologize for it.
Alana Martin, member of Los Gatos Anti-Racism Coalition
- Commented on her racial experience. Many signs of inclusivity in Los Gatos schools,
but didn’t feel included during the school year. Did not feel helped or supported in
response to a sexually assault at school.
Kiyoshi Nishide
- Commented that stories shared at this meeting have been very courageous. It is
important to act.
Mariseth, organized July 19th protest
- Commented on the blatant racism experienced, and that the Town’s posts on
Instagram are not enough. Commented that the Town needs to call out racists, or else
we are enabling them.
Closed Public Comment.
Committee further discussed the matter and provided the following comments and
direction:
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- In addition to the other work the Town is doing at other meetings, these issues
should be addressed in the General Plan, with the appropriate focus on long term
planning.
- The General Plan should address the history of planning, redlining, and risk
assessments.
- Additional affordable housing should be provided through the Land Use Element.
- Policies should be clear on where the Town has control, and where they will be
supporting the County or other agencies.
- The topic of pandemic response/health emergency should be addressed in the
Safety Element, but shouldn’t be too specific.
- Suggestions from the County are good, particularly page 4 of their comment letter.
- A new General Plan element should be created for Racial, Social, and Environmental
Justice.
- The Town should have a goal to make it easier to report harassment issues and to
track how those issues have been addressed.
- Consider an annual social justice report.
- Social justice and equity policies should include the “Adult educations and skills
augmentation,” “Diversifying our workforce,” and “Organizational efforts” language
from page 6 in Attachment 2.
- Should engage diverse communities within the Town’s processes.
The next GPAC meeting will be on Thursday, August 6, 2020.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 9:11 p.m.
This is to certify that the foregoing is a true
and correct copy of the minutes of the
July 30, 2020 meeting as approved by the
General Plan Update Advisory Committee.
/s/Joel Paulson, Director of Community Development