HomeMy WebLinkAbout6/16/2020 Item 10, Halls
Clerk, Intern
From:wallis8124@gmail.com
Sent: 17 PM
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:Comment on Agenda Item B on tonight's agenda
Please consider my comment regarding this item on the council’s agenda for tonight:
Page 5 Item B Resolution Declaring Racism a Public Health Emergency
I understand the idea here.
It is well documented that minorities are more frequently the target of police brutality;
Black women receive less prenatal care than white women and as a result suffer more problems with
childbirth;
Systemic racism is a fact, just like white privilege, white frailty, etc.
But this emergency declaration makes it sound like we have xenophobic race problems here, i.e., persistent regular
violence against minorities by the police and private citizens alike; de facto segregated neighborhoods and schools; de
facto segregation in housing resulting in fewer services to poor (read: minority) neighborhoods and subsequent higher
crime rates there; in short people living in fear of one another because of the color of their skin.
A little research shows that no one has been lynched here ever; the police and the sheriff have killed people in custody
(think Mr. Holland) but they have all been white; one of our biggest social issues is the homeless, who are predominantly
white males. This is by no means a perfect community, but racial tension is not way up there in our problems.
Some 70% of new homes in the city are purchased by people moving here from elsewhere. The last thing we should
want to do is give prospective buyers another reason to look elsewhere in the county while we are sitting on hundreds
of new homes under construction or already built. Vacant unsold homes are a disaster for the economy, invite
vandalism and crime, and send sales in a downward spiral.
I am not a realtor. I don’t have a horse in this race. But I really urge you to reconsider this at this time.
Leslie Hals
1359 Oceanaire Drive
San Luis Obispo, CA 93405
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