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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-17-2015 Public Comment Whitney 1Subject: FW: FW: Coordinated response to the Hathway roof collapse COUNCIL MEETING: 3 -(7 ^►S MAR 0 9 2015 IT From: Sharon Whitney [whitney.sharon @gmail.com] Sent: Sunday, March 08, 2015 10:59 AM To: Ashbaugh, John Cc: President Jeff Armstrong; Betsy Kinsley; Codron, Michael; Lichtig, Katie; Gesell, Steve; Gater, Jeff; Ron Yukelson Subject: Re: FW: Coordinated response to the Hathway roof collapse John, Thank you for your effort to step up to the plate. If I understood your intent properly, it is to let you know if we neighbors want to be kept in the loop from you as to how things are proceeding between the City and Cal Poly. Count me in for that. I definitely applaud your interest in this situation and your desire to have all leaders on the same page with respect to a response to the incident. Of course, the fact that off - campus hosted social gatherings by Cal Poly students attracts stupid behavior, including from non -Cal Poly young people and under - aged- drinking of alcohol, is part of what neighborhood leaders have been complaining about for years, and what our lobbied for City ordinances and Cal Poly policies were enacted to address, to little avail, it appears. I do think that you might include in your coordinated efforts leaders from the neighborhood activists who bear much of the burden of these social -media driven spontaneous "let's outsmart the ordinances" partying. I think not including us would be a serious mistake, and by including us, I mean more than keeping us in the loop with emails. I can tell you as a matter of fact that my next - door Cal Poly student neighbors did participate in this event. Moreover, if you want to hear about "irony" I have one for you: Saturday morning, about 8:00 am, I went to the next -door neighbors who were sitting on their enclosed front porch to inquire about the incident; the boys and girls each had green costumes on and were drinking beer; with them was the father of one, drinking right along -side them. He frequents the house often, and he is NOT the landlord. By- the -way, this house is a "registered off - campus fraternity satellite house" and a week or so ago, in t1hA Aft Arm A -h of thAi r nArtvr TATA 1-�arl a defecation incident on our private property (which I reported to President Armstrong, VP Keith Humphrey, Chief of SLO PD, Steve Gesell, and others) . Just one more example of the culture that we are facing: on Slack Street, I can often hear the chant go up, during daylight hours, "Drink m -f, drink; drink m -f drink." So, if you are going to ha force effort from leaders, mindful that neighborhood included in this effort. Sharon Whitney ve a coordinated task - I urge you to be activists should be P.S. Undisclosed recipients have received a copy of this email. z On Sun, Mar 8, 2015 at 9:48 AM, Ashbaugh, John <jashbaugh(aslocity.org> wrote: Hi Jeff, Eve, Sharon, Terry, Claudia, and many other neighborhood leaders - just sent the following communication to our staff and to the Cal Poly leadership. I've also learned from Ron Yukelson at Sierra Vista Hospital that the one student who remains in the hospital will probably be discharged today. Ron has informed me that ironically, this student does not even attend Cal Poly. That fact should tell us something. I've also just received emails from our City staff and from Cal Poly that they are planning a conference call today, and convening a meeting tomorrow, in order to provide a coordinated follow up and to inform our Council as soon as possible on the "lessons learned" from this experience. If you'd like to keep me informed about what is being done by the City of San Luis Obispo (together with Cal Poly), please let me know. Thanks! John Ashbaugh Council Member CITYOF Office of the City Council 990 Palm Street, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 -3249 E jashbaugh @slocity.org T 805.781.7122 C 805.550.7713 slocity.org From: Ashbaugh, John Sent: Sunday, March 08, 2015 7:10 AM To: Codron, Michael; Betsy Kinsley; Dr. Jeffrey Armstrong Cc: Gesell, Steve; Staley, Chris; Lichtig, Katie; Olson, Garret; Gater, Jeff; George Hughes (grhughes(abcalpoly.edu) Subject: Hi everybody, I strongly suggest that City and University leadership meet as SOON as possible to establish a coordinated and consistent message as to our response to the roof collapse incident. Perhaps we should consider developing a joint news release. Personally, I would like to thank President Armstrong and your staff for the prompt response carried in the news media yesterday, which expressed concern for the students who were injured. I share those concerns, particularly for the students who required hospitalization. I also want to acknowledge the solid information provided by our public safety personnel, and particularly the video statement by Captain Staley on the Tribune web site and the media release from Sgt. Sean Gillham late yesterday morning. Please keep that level of information flowing as we learn more about how many people were involved and the number of citations issued for the violations of our ordinances. Items that should be considered in a joint University /City meeting might include, for example, whether to establish a joint task force to investigate the incident and provide a report to University adminisiraiors and io the Councii within a coupie of weeks, or ionger as necessary. I'd iike io see a single report that is based on interviews with students who attended the party, those who organized the party, Greek leaders (if, as reported, fraternities or sororities on social probation were involved in organizing this "spontaneous" event), and our first responders. We should develop a complete and accurate timeline of what happened, beginning well before the first calls came in to the dispatchers. Most importantly, I'd like to have the benefit of seeing some "lessons learned" and recommendations as to how best to prevent such unruly gatherings from occurring, if possible. It appears that this incident developed very quickly, at a day and an hour when we were least expecting it. I would urge us specifically to find ways to step up our monitoring of social media sites popular with students well in advance of any established "safety zone." Property owners should be alerted immediately when it appears that one of their rental sites is being targeted for a party that might metastasize into an unruly gathering. Ideally, student leaders should be consulted and included in a joint statement. It is important that we all try to get "on the same page" in our expressions of regret, and our determination to take reasonable steps to re- assure students, neighbors, and all of the members of the University and the community that we are doing everything within our power to prevent a repetition of this type of incident in San Luis Obispo. Thanks, John Ashbaugh Vice Mayor r Office of the City Council 990 Palm Street, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 -3249 E mash baug(aD-slocity.org T 805.781.7122 C 805.550.7713 slocity.org We are all teachers and students for each other.