HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOLLETTE MORSE From: noreolvCabaran icusideas.corn
To: Yasuda.Erica;Woodward.Carrie;City Clerk; E-Comments
Subject: New eComment for Regular Meeting of the City Council
Date: Monday,October 4,20217:52:31 PM
SpeakUp
New eComment for Regular Meeting of the City
Council
Guest User submitted a new eComment.
Meeting: Regular Meeting of the City Council
Item: PUBLIC INPUT—At this time, any member of the public may address the Council on
matters which are not on this evening's agenda, provided the matter is within the subject matter
jurisdiction of the City Council.
eComment: The established timeline for the City's redistricting process is not giving community
members adequate time to comprehend why the city is undergoing this process or how they can
share insights about their community as the city changes from city-wide voting to voting for a
council member within their specified district and an at-large elected mayor. This process feels
so rushed! The public workshops and City Council meetings were all conducted virtually during
working and evening hours given the current COVID-19 protocols for public meetings. I'm sure
many community members did not have the time to attend, were not able to rearrange their work
or home schedules, or were not even aware of these workshops or meetings. I personally
attended two public workshops and one City Council meeting for the redistricting, and I estimate
the public attendance was between 20-30 individuals for each. With a population of
approximately 80,000 in Tustin, less than 0.04 percent of the community has participated in each
of these three meetings. That is very low participation for something so important for our
community. I have not heard a good explanation as to why the schedule for this process is so
compressed (2 to 3 months), except that the Census numbers were not available until
September. Why was the community engagement process not started three to six months
sooner than it did? Why hasn't the City considered additional creative ways to engage the
community, such as collaborating with the school districts to disseminate information and maps
that school children could take home and mark up with their parents. The students or their
parents could return marked-up maps to the school and then have them picked up by the City.
Also, maps could be available at City Hall or other community events for community members to
pick up and then return them in person or online. The website for DrawTustin.org has useful
information, but I can imagine it is overwhelming for many individuals if they did not attend either
of the public workshops. What are you supposed to focus on and how can you meaningfully
participate in this process? Or how can you individually find enough spare time to watch the
videos of the City Council meetings or the public workshops? That is big ask of our 80,000+
community members. I was not aware of lawn signs placed throughout the community until there
was a mention of them during the second public workshop. I had not seen any throughout the
community before that workshop, but made an effort after that as I ran errands to see if I noticed
any. I did see a limited number of the small lawn signs along Irvine Boulevard and Bryan
Avenue/Main Street, which were hard to read while driving by. I did not see any signs posted at
City Hall or along First Street. They were not the most effective method to share information and
engage the community. Something more visible, like a banner across Main Street by City Hall
about the process, would have been helpful. I support redistricting for Tustin. But the limited
timeframe to inform and interact with the community does not feel genuine or inclusive. I worry
the limited participation will not result in four council districts that are equitable, representative of
all their constituents, or provide greater opportunities for future community leaders to serve their
district and their City. Collette Morse
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