Attachment 7 - Public Comments ATTACHMENT 7
From: Chris Wiley
Sent: Monday, April 03, 2023 5:48 PM
To: Maria Ristow <MRistow@losgatosca.gov>; Matthew Hudes <MHudes@losgatosca.gov>; Rob Rennie
<RRennie@losgatosca.gov>; Rob Moore <RMoore@losgatosca.gov>; Mary Badame
<MBadame@losgatosca.gov>
Cc: Laurel Prevetti <LPrevetti@losgatosca.gov>
Subject: For the 4th April Town Council Meeting
[EXTERNAL SENDER]
Good Day Councilmen of Los Gatos,
The April 4th, 2023 Town Council meeting is planning to discuss allocating $100,000 to assist the needs of our community homelessness during the times of the extreme storms and terrible
weather. Refencing on the agenda is a request from Councilman Moore:
OTHER BUSINESS
• 6.Discussion and Direction for Use of the Council Allocated $25,000 to Support
the Unhoused Residents of Los Gatos.
Mr. Moore is asking in, attachment 3 for $100,000, towards this issue discussed above. He is requesting the Town:
a. Hotel Vouchers for $70,000 b. Public Restrooms and Trash Collection $20,000 c. Shower program for $10,000
No use me repeating the exact details of the aforementioned request - it is the agenda.
As discussed in detail in attachment 2. of the agenda - there is the report from the County of
Santa Clara the 2020-2025 Santa Clara Community Plan to End Homelessness. It is the County that has the charter to work the homeless. They are the ones that supply many of the services that are requested for in Mr. Moore's request in attachment 3.
The Town of Los Gatos needs to first ask themselves, "What is being done for the homeless now?". "How much money is being spent and by whom?". is not Los Gatos already spending time and money by our Police? is that data being collected and put in this request to show what was spent?
My fear is that The Town of Los Gatos is getting in other organizations/governmental lanes. No mention in Mr Moore's request is what is being done now for these
individuals. How many vouchers are available from the County for this service? what are the organizations helping now? Salvation Army? Catholic Charities? etc How much FEMA has helped our citizens on the mountains?
Mr Moore has mentioned in his newsletter that "We will be working with faith leaders, our nonprofit partners, the Los Gatos Police Department, and others to decide what solutions will create the best outcomes for these individuals.". Where are the notes and data from the outcome of these meetings? Are the places of Faith going to be supplying
vouchers? Are they going to have places for showers? Who are the non-profit partners and what will they be planning to contribute?
ATTACHMENT 7
The Town of Los Gatos
- has let the San Jose Water Company run the water
- the main sewer lines are run by West Valley Sanitation District(WVSD)
- the public transportation is run by Valley Transit Authority, etc.
My suggestion is that before we decide to contribute tax payer's money to the
homeless problem, we should find out first what the County is doing for us? How they
plan to supply vouchers, bathrooms, showers, etc. Have Mr. Moore lead up Town
meetings with the organizations mentioned above and see how they can come up with
a resolution working with the county.
Possibly, after Mr. Moore have exhausted all these sources, he may come back and talk
with the Town of how they can add to the mix.
Side Note: Recently there was a sad situation where a woman was killed by a hit and
run driver. Her daughter was also badly injured and the family dog killed. Instantly,
her community put up a "Go Fund me". In less than a week, they raised over
$100,000. Thousands of dollars above their goal of $100,000 and monies are still
coming in.
IN SUMMARY: Have Mr. Moore and his partner Miss Clark used up all the
recourses available before using our taxpayers funds. They have experience of
working with non-profits.
Chris Wiley
University Avenue Los Gatos, CA 95032
When sending from my i-devices plaese excuz my typpos. And I do make many. thanx
From: Kelly Mathews
Sent: Thursday, March 9, 2023 1:54 PM
To: Maria Ristow <MRistow@losgatosca.gov>
Subject: Homelessness
[EXTERNAL SENDER]
Dear Mayor Ristow,
Hello, Mayor Maria Ristow. I am Dexter Torres from RJ Fisher Middle School and for an
English project, we are assigned to talk about an important issue. I decided to talk to you about
homelessness in the community. You have done an amazing job already helping the community,
but I want to propose a new system to help solve homelessness in the community. I propose you
can make it easier to get into a home/apartment so homeless people can start working until they
can get back on their feet.
I propose we make an area with small houses that people could live in for free, but as a
requirement you would have to get a job. Unlike a homeless shelter, this provided safety and
privacy making it better then a homeless shelter. In this article “Going to shelters more
dangerous for U.S homeless” by NBC it states being in a homeless shelter can be dangerous and
people have a high chance of being stabbed or raped. With my house system we can eliminate
this by everyone having their own small home. We can also set up cameras and other systems to
make sure the housing area is safe.
You might think that could cost a lot of money to build all the houses, maintain them, and
have them on electricity. In this article “The Business Case for Ending Homelessness” it states
that ending homelessness can positively affect our economy. The article says Healthcare costs
are reduced by 59%, emergency department costs are decreased by 61%, and the number of
general inpatient hospitalizations is decreased by 77%. This will happen because the majority of
homeless people are lacking health insurance and are 5 times more likely to visit the emergency
department than the normal person. On average a homeless person can rack up 44,400 thousand
dollars of medical bills. Taking homeless people of the streets and helping them can help pay for
it self by saving money used from medical bills.
In conclusion, I propose a solution to help solve homelessness by building a small area
for individual housing units so people can get jobs and be safe until they get on their feet. Thank
you for your time.
Sincerely,
Dexter Torres