Item 1 - Desk Item and Attachments
PREPARED BY: JENNIFER ARMER, AICP
Senior Planner
110 E. Main Street Los Gatos, CA 95030 ● 408-354-6832
www.losgatosca.gov
MEETING DATE: 7/30/2020
ITEM: 1
DESK ITEM
TOWN OF LOS GATOS
GENERAL PLAN UPDATE ADVISORY COMMITTEE
REPORT
REPORT
DATE: July 30, 2020
TO: General Plan Update Advisory Committee
FROM: Joel Paulson, Community Development Director
SUBJECT: Review and Discussion of Pandemic Response, Environmental Justice, and Racial
and Social Justice in the General Plan.
REMARKS:
Attachment 6 contains comments from the Los Gatos Community Health and Senior Services
Commission.
Attachment 7 contains written comments received after the completion of the Addendum
Report.
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment previously received with July 30, 2020 Staff Report:
1. General Plan Vision and Guiding Principles
2. Summary Document Prepared by Mintier Harnish
3. Letter from the Santa Clara County Department of Public Health
4. Engaging Local Government Leaders (ELGL) Article, “What a Southerner Learned about
Housing Discrimination in the San Francisco Bay Area”
Attachment previously received with July 30, 2020 Addendum Report:
5. Committee Member Comments
Attachments received with this Desk Item Report:
6. Comments from the Community Health and Senior Services Commission
7. Public Comments Received before 11:00 a.m., Thursday, July 30, 2020
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1
Memorandum
To: General Plan Update Advisory Committee 2040
From: LG Community Health and Senior Services Commission (CHSSC)
Subject: Public Comments on Item #1, Review and Discussion of Racial and
Social Justice in the General Plan, July 30, 2020 GPAC Meeting
Date: July 29, 2020
On June 19, 2020, Los Gatos launched a dedicated webpage outlining our communities shared
values of diversity and inclusivity. The new webpage, Becoming an Inclusive Community,
clearly states our commitment to diversity and our strong stand against racial inequality and
injustice. At the same time, the town recognizes that there is still work to do reach the goal of
Becoming an Inclusive Community.
As members of the Los Gatos Commission on Health and Senior Services, we have been very
active in the effort to ensure that all the members of our community feel valued, safe, respected,
and secure. As a result of that experience, we would like to offer our perspective on the goals,
policies, and actions that the town should pursue in order to reach its overarching goal of
inclusivity.
Goals, Policies and Actions
Goals:
Los Gatos convenes and supports regional partners to advance racial equity.
Los Gatos meaningfully engages communities of color.
Los Gatos hires, trains and promotes a racially diverse workforce.
Los Gatos creates safe and welcoming services, programs and destinations for all races.
Los Gatos’ resource allocation advances racial equity.
Strategy
Focus on eliminating racial disparities in social well-being.
Advance the conversation about race.
Enact institutional changes.
Review resource allocations.
Develop metrics to measure progress.
Implementation
ATTACHMENT 6
2
Create success indicators, progress measures and behavior impacts.
Involve a diverse group of Los Gatos staff and community members.
Dedicate sufficient resources for action completion.
Provide a sufficient level of authority to complete action.
Establish accountability through community participation.
Create a model for continuous learning and improvement.
From: Kareem Syed
Sent: Wednesday, July 29, 2020 10:19 PM
To: GP2040 <GP2040@losgatosca.gov>
Subject: Public Comment
As we have seen an uptick in the number of incidents of People of Color in the community being
intimidated or harassed we would like to see more visibility in tracking such incidents and clarity on how
and what the LG PD can do in order to help mitigate the situation. Especially in regards to threats being
made over social media.
In addition we would like to see an increase city funds being used more for community education and
enrichment verses law enforcement which would aid in public safety efforts.
ATTACHMENT 7
From: Alice A Miano
Sent: Wednesday, July 29, 2020 10:31 PM
To: GP2040 <GP2040@losgatosca.gov>
Subject: Council meeting tomorrow evening
Hello.
I would like to attend tomorrow's Town Council meeting. As a member of the Los Gatos Anti-
Racism Coalition, two items I would like to see discussed are efforts to provide affordable
housing and improved community policing to our Town.
We need affordable housing that brings greater diversity to our Town while providing a home
for low-income, seniors, teachers, and others who may work in town but can't afford to live
here. The current plan I have seen would provide just four small homes for teachers to rent. As
an educator myself for over 35 years, I can tell you that teachers, like everyone else, want to
own a home, not rent. The effort currently proposed is minuscule at best.
In terms of policing, our community needs more emphasis on mental health, and I would like to
see a share of police funds diverted to mental health professionals. To give one example, I
recently viewed a TED talk in which an LGPD officer emphasized the police role of guardianship,
yet this officer showed a video clip of a distraught young man being hand-cuffed and hauled
away. What the young man really needed, as he wailed that he wanted to die, wasn't jail --it was
psychological intervention. Especially for our youth, we need more of a focus on wellness as
well as drug prevention and rehabilitation.
Thank you very much,
Ali Miano
_________________________________
Alice A. Miano, Ph.D.
Coordinator, Spanish Language Program
Stanford University
#BlackLivesMatter
Pronombres: ella/la, she/her
From: Jeffrey Suzuki
Sent: Wednesday, July 29, 2020 11:37 PM
To: GP2040 <GP2040@losgatosca.gov>
Subject: Public Comment Item #1
Hi,
I'm Jeff Suzuki. I am a Los Gatos High School alum and co-founder of the Los Gatos Anti-Racist
Coalition. Recent events, both nationwide and within our town, have brought to light the lack of diversity in
Los Gatos caused by systematic racism. Exorbitant housing prices prevent many economically
disadvantaged people—a significant portion of whom are BIPOC—from finding residence in our
community. The few minority families and individuals that can afford to live here feel isolated, and often
unwelcomed. A number of former BIPOC Los Gatos residents have come back to the neighborhood
during the recent protests to give testimonials articulating why the culture here compelled them to move
away.
There are a few options that would promote diversity via housing for Los Gatos that I would like the Town
Council to seriously consider. More subsidized housing and/or more rent -controlled properties in Los
Gatos would help break down the socioeconomic barrier to living in our town. Cooperative housing is also
a very promising method of fostering diversity. In this form of property ownership, tenants democratically
govern their own non-profit housing, setting their own rents and electing their own managers and leaders.
As someone who has studied and uses economics in his profession, I view housing cooperatives as a
powerful and sustainable tool to provide housing to disadvantaged communities.
Thank you for taking the time to read and consider this message.
Thanks,
Jeff
From: Cynthia Fan
Sent: Thursday, July 30, 2020 2:16 AM
To: GP2040 <GP2040@losgatosca.gov>
Subject: Public Comment on Item #1 for 7/30/20 GPAC Special Meeting
General Plan Update Advisory Committee,
Increasing food security and increasing access to healthy, local foods should be part of our town's
response both to the pandemic and to addressing environmental justice, racial justice, and social
justice.
In the General Plan, please include policies and actions to promote urban agriculture by:
- incentivizing development of community gardens and urban farms
- identifying public land, particularly areas within walking distance of high-density housing, that can be
made available to grow food
- collaborating with school districts to allow community gardens on school property
- encouraging edible landscaping and edible gardening for all types of housing and on school campuses
Thank you for the consideration,
Cynthia Fan
Los Gatos resident
From: Kathleen Willey
Sent: Thursday, July 30, 2020 8:12 AM
To: Planning Comment <PlanningComment@losgatosca.gov>; GP2040 <GP2040@losgatosca.gov>
Subject: Please submit these comments for July 30 General Plan Town meeting at 7pm
Dear Planning Commission and Los Gatos Town Council members, thank you for taking the time to read
my comments. Right now on the news we are overwhelmed with information about the current
pandemic. “What is the latest on the schools?” “ best way to protect ourselves and our loved ones?”
“Will there be a vaccine?” etc., I would like to talk about something that is widely talked about in most
media outlets.
“How do we prevent the next pandemic?”
What is on your plate matters.
According to the CDC, 3 out of 4 new or emerging infectious diseases in people come from animals.
https://www.cdc.gov/onehealth/basics/zoonotic-diseases.html
In the 1980s farming became industrialized. Don’t be fooled by clever marketing from the meat and
dairy industry with ideal images of animals roaming on rolling green hills. 99% of the animals people eat
here in the United States are mass produced in Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations.(CAFOS)
Thousands upon thousands of animals of the same species are packed tightly together, often in massive
windowless sheds with barely enough room to turn around. These animals routinely go through
perfectly legal mutilations and are routinely fed antibiotics to keep them alive in these horrific and
stressful conditions.
https://sentientmedia.org/u-s-farmed-animals-live-on-factory-farms/
In fact 80% of the worlds antibiotics are fed to farm animals which is leading to dangerous antibiotic
resistant diseases.
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/09/are-antibiotics-turning-livestock-superbug-factories
We have to wake up - factory farms are breeding grounds for pandemics. In the past 50 years, a host of
infectious diseases have spread rapidly after jumping from animals to humans. The HIV/Aids crisis of the
1980s originated from great apes, the 2004-07 avian flu pandemic came from birds, and pigs gave us the
swine flu pandemic in 2009. More recently, it was discovered SARS came from bats, via civets, while bats
also gave us Ebola.
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-
51237225?fbclid=IwAR3Oo5ZYeyxQ0QcJJwzr0kZtMJSOdihl8KIAfd0BhLrcfOXoK6LZ0MhdI7g
Dr. Greger, a respected physician and international infectious disease expert, predicted this pandemic in
his informative speech in 2008.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se9yqWNIG8A
Also alarming, as our world is becoming more and more populated and the demand for animal protein
grows, we are destroying natural habitats and our rainforests to make room for livestock. Already 56
million acres of land are used to feed farmed animals, while only 4 million acres produce plants for
direct human consumption. It takes 20 times less land to feed someone on a plant based diet than it
does to feed meat eaters. It is not possible to feed an estimated 10 billion people by 2050 a meat heavy
diet. Our planet simply does not have the space.
animal-agriculture-is-destroying-tropical-forests
In conclusion, eating meat is no longer a “personal choice” when it clearly affects every single one of us.
We need to encourage people to move away from animal products. We need education in our schools.
We need to start removing animal products from school lunch menus. We need to support legislation
that aims to try and end factory farming.
https://www.ecowatch.com/factory-farming-ban-booker-warren-2645970076.html
Please, let’s make this wonderful town of Los Gatos an example of how to pave the way to a safer and
more sustainable future.
Thank you.
Kathleen Willey
From: Kinsey Lee
Sent: Thursday, July 30, 2020 8:35 AM
To: GP2040 <GP2040@losgatosca.gov>
Subject: Public comment item #1
To Whom it May Concern:
Hello, my name is Kinsey Lee. I am a Los Gatos High School alum and co-founder of the Los
Gatos Anti-Racist Coalition. Recent events, both nationwide and within our town, have brought
to light the lack of diversity in Los Gatos caused by systematic racism. Exorbitant housing prices
prevent many economically disadvantaged people—a significant portion of whom are BIPOC—
from finding residence in our community. The few minority families and individuals that can
afford to live here feel isolated, and often unwelcomed. A number of former BIPOC Los Gatos
residents have come back to the neighborhood during the recent protests to give testimonials
articulating why the culture here compelled them to move away.
There are a few options that would promote diversity via housing for Los Gatos that I would like
the Town Council to seriously consider. More subsidized housing and/or more rent controlled
properties in Los Gatos would help break down the socioeconomic barrier to living in our town.
Cooperative housing is also a very promising method of fostering diversity. In this form of
property ownership, tenants democratically govern their own non-profit housing.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts on these potential strategies for improving housing
policies. Thank you for taking the time to read and consider this message.
Sincerely,
Kinsey Lee
From: Kira Barsten
Sent: Thursday, July 30, 2020 9:28 AM
To: GP2040 <GP2040@losgatosca.gov>
Subject: Public Comment item #1
Dear Committee Members,
Thank you for making the time to address critical and overlooked issues related to racial, social, and
environmental justice in Los Gatos. I have a few comments I would like to provide:
1) Los Gatos is not exempt from the lasting effects of redlining and racism in housing. We need to
prioritize affordable housing to combat economic segregation, and to make Los Gatos a more livable
place for more folks.
2) While LGMSPD has a limited history of police violence and misconduct, I still do not believe that the
millions of dollars we are funneling into the PD are the most effective way to spend taxpayer dollars. I
would like to see a reallocation of funds to support community mental health specialists, employment
programs, and so on. Actions such as these will allow us to build a stronger and more inclusive
community, and to pursue racial and social justice.
3) I strongly support the inclusion of environmental justice considerations into the General Plan.
Working with the farmer's market to accept SNAP/EBT would be one huge step towards food justice --
markets in Santa Cruz currently do this. It is an unfortunate reality that many folks do not have access to
fresh and healthy foods. I also would urge you to expedite the adoption of a free community shuttle to
help folks get around Los Gatos, and to support the expansion of VTA services. Accessing Los Gatos
without a car is currently quite difficult. A key and currently missing part of the Town as a whole, and
something that could potentially be included in the General Plan update, is an updated sustainability
ACTION plan, which could and should emphasize environmental justice.
I have heard too many stories over the past few months from neighbors and friends of color that feel
unwelcome and unwanted in Los Gatos. This is unacceptable. This is not an issue we can address by
making a few statements -- the Town needs to actively combat this issue, and weave justice into its
planning for the future.
Best,
Kira Barsten
Current Resident
she/her/hers
From: Barsten, Sierra
Sent: Thursday, July 30, 2020 10:03 AM
To: GP2040 <GP2040@losgatosca.gov>
Subject: Public Comment: Item #1
Dear Committee Members,
Thank you for allowing a space for people to express their concerns and needs regarding racial,
social, and environmental justice in Los Gatos. I hope that these issues, of which Los Gatos is a
byproduct, will be addressed in the ways necessary to finally bring equity to our community. I
have a few comments I would like to provide:
1) Los Gatos is not exempt from the lasting effects of redlining and racism in housing. We must
prioritize affordable housing to combat economic segregation, and to make Los Gatos a more
livable place for demographics outside of our white/affluent majority.
2) While LGMSPD has a limited history of police violence and misconduct, this is undoubtedly
related to the racial demographics of Los Gatos. The millions of dollars we are funneling into the
PD are by no means the most effective way to spend taxpayer dollars. I would like to see a
reallocation of funds to support community mental health specialists, employment programs,
and so on. Actions such as these will allow us to build a stronger and more inclusive community,
and to pursue racial and social justice.
3) I strongly support the inclusion of environmental justice considerations into the General Plan.
Working with the farmer's market to accept SNAP/EBT would be one huge step towards food
justice -- markets in Santa Cruz currently do this. It is an unfortunate reality that many folks do
not have access to fresh and healthy foods.
4) I also would urge you to expedite the adoption of a free community shuttle to help folks get
around Los Gatos, and to support the expansion of VTA services. Accessing Los Gatos without
a car is currently quite difficult. A key and currently missing part of the Town as a whole, and
something that could potentially be included in the General Plan update, is an updated
sustainability ACTION plan, which could and should emphasize environmental justice.
Over the past few months, I have heard too many stories from neighbors and friends of color
that feel unwelcome and unwanted in Los Gatos. This is unacceptable. This is not an issue we
can address by making a few statements -- the Town needs to actively combat this issue, and
weave justice into its planning for the future.
Kind regards,
Sierra Barsten (she/her)
Los Gatos Resident
From: Sandrine Chaumette
Sent: Thursday, July 30, 2020 10:40 AM
To: GP2040 <GP2040@losgatosca.gov>
Subject: Public comment item #1
Allocate a portion of police department budget to fund a community service officer (non-
weapon carrying) with a background in social work and non-violent de-escalation
to respond and investigate lower priority calls (including senior wellness checks, C.A.R.E.,
mental health, and drugs and alcohol).
Train and implement cultural competency programs in policing.
Sandrine M. Chaumette
From: Lisa Wade
Sent: Thursday, July 30, 2020 11:00 AM
To: GP2040 <GP2040@losgatosca.gov>
Subject: Public Comment #1
I would like to voice my support for racial, social, and environmental justice in the General Plan. I would
like to see Los Gatos become a more inclusive and diverse community with more affordable housing. I
would like to see police reform everywhere including in Los Gatos. I would like to see specific action
items for environmental justice to make sure those in our communities who are most vulnerable to
climate catastrophe will be protected. I would also like to see many more environmental programs in
this town and would like them included in the General Plan to help mitigate the worst-case scenarios.
Thank you!
Lisa Wade
Los Gatos, Ca 95032
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