HomeMy WebLinkAbout7/7/2020 Item 12, Priest
Wilbanks, Megan
From:Donnie Priest <
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:Item 12, inclusion and diversity
July 7, 2020
Dear San Luis Obispo City Council,
I wish to express my opinions with regard to Item 12, which discusses a diversity and equality task force. I hope that you
make this task force with some teeth, while also being able to evaluate the actions of the San Luis Obispo City Council
and other powerful departments.
I am not a lawyer, and am just a citizen with concerns. I would really like a diversity task force to determine if my
concerns are valid and worthy of correction.
One thing I would appreciate this task force to consider is if the laws created by the city are proper with regard to the
development agreements and affordable housing. I have some serious concerns that these requirements for the
selection of affordable housing is not equal for all groups, including protected classes, both state and federal.
While I have many concerns, I can provide a few selected examples. The state of CA has a requirement that you cannot
discriminate based upon source of income. However, the city and developers agreed in their law (development
agreement passed by the city) that people working in a very small geographic area (less than the size of a county). Is the
city and developer basing their affordable housing based upon a source of income, which is done by a geographic area?
Further, is the city allowed to have an area less than the size of a county?
The second aspect of this is the de-facto exclusion of the disabled. Last time I checked, many people like to retire to San
Luis Obispo. A higher percentage of the elderly are disabled, and also on other sources of income, such as disability
and/or social security. However, by providing first choice of these affordable houses to those gainfully employed, is the
city maintaining a policy which has a de-facto exclusion of the disabled. The disabled are a protected class, both
federally and at the state level.
It would also be interesting to see if the geographic area the city has chosen for its preference for those qualifying for
affordable housing has the same demographics and racial make-up of the general population. I have read many articles
in the local paper that shows an impression that the area is not racially diverse. Is the city showing a policy that gives
the impression of circling-the-wagons to keep people out by these affordable housing requirements?
I have more examples of my concerns.
Please consider when you make this task force that it has the power to fix the issues, as well as a way for the citizens to
directly provide concerns that they have. Seeing as how the grand jury recently did a housing report without mentioning
the concerns I have, I am less than impressed by the oversight provided by the grand jury. I still highly respect their
volunteer work, but feel that there are limitations to their oversight.
Thank you for addressing these potential issues to make San Luis Obispo a better place to live.
Respectfully,
Donnie Priest
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