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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-01-2012 B1 ThomaGoodwin, Heather MAY 01 2012 Subject: FW: Vehicle Camping in business park areas of City SLOM CITY CLERK Attachments: Vehicle _Camping_and_City_Policy.docx From: Carter, Andrew Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2012 12:34 PM To: Schroeder, Sheryll MEETING 'q AGENDA Subject: FW: Vehicle Camping in business park areas of City DATE — y?� 'J_I Z ITEM For Public File. Andrew Carter From: Andrew Carter [mailto:ancarter(abaol.com] Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2012 12:28 PM To: Carter, Andrew Subject: Fwd: Vehicle Camping in business park areas of City From: Bill Thoma <BThoma(a)THOMAELEC.COM> To: Marx, Jan <jmarx(�D-slocity.org >; 'Andrew Carter' <ancarterCcDaol.com >; 'ksmith @slocity.org' <ksmith(a)-slocity.orq >; 'dcarpent @slocity.org' <dcarpent(cDslocity.org >; 'Ashbaugh, John' <jashbaugCc)-slocity.org> Cc: 'djohnson @slocity.org' <djohnson(cD-slocity.org >; 'Lichtig, Katie' <klichtig a().slocity.org >; 'sgesell @slocity.org' <sgesell(aD-slocity.org> Sent: Tue, May 1, 2012 10:31 am Subject: Vehicle Camping in business park areas of City Mayor and City Council members, Please read and consider the facts of my letter in making your decisions tonight at your council meeting. WE MUST NOT allow vehicle camping and parking in our business parks from continuing. This is a huge problem for those of us in business. Do not let this problem continue. Thank you in advance for your consideration and tough action. I know it is a difficult issue to grapple with, however you must do the right thing. Sincerely, Bill Thoma President hard co : ca�aii. Thoma Electric. Inc. n COUNCIL a CDD DIR 13 CITY MOR o FIT DIR a ASST CM 0 FIRE CHIEF 0 ATTORNEY 0 PW DIR G CLERKIORIO o POLICE CHIEF a PCB G PARK8 & REC DIR 0 TRIBUNE 0 UT1L DIR U NEW TIMES 0 HIM M SLO CITY NEWS o COUNCIL 0 C17YMOR 0 CLERK Agenda Item: Living in vehicles, sleeping in vehicles May 1, 2012 Dear Mayor and City Council Members, I am writing you today as I am unable to be at the Council meeting Tuesday night. As you may or may not know, I am dealing with a family health issue and am care giving for a family member and cannot be away for extended time especially in the evenings. I wish to address this issue and our concern as a significant employer in this area of head of household jobs for engineers, project managers, tradespersons, and administrative staff. Our headquarter offices are located on Empleo Street in San Luis Obispo and have been there since building our facility in 1986. Over the past 10 years or so, we have experienced a change in our neighborhood off of South Higuera St. on Empleo and the nearby business areas off of Higuera (Prado, Short, Empressa, Sueldo etc.). Our business is located in what is called the Commerce Park Industrial area and are zoned for Commercial Service primarily. The change has been the continuous camping or overnight parking of vehicles with people living in them on our street and related questionable activities that surround these vehicles and people occupying them. The vehicles are typically trailers, campers, vans, trucks, and sometimes cars that park on the street either in front of our place of business or just down the street. In general there are 3 to 5 vehicles of this nature in and around the neighborhood (just on our street alone). There are many more on the adjacent streets and surrounding areas ( in the dozens). There are often sewer drain hoses directed to the gutter, a BBQ set up on the sidewalk or in an adjacent vacant lot, a few bicycles and sometimes a dog or two tied up outside and sometimes another old car for their local transportation. During that same ten year period, our place of business has been burglarized or vandalized at least three times that we know of the most recent being within the past year. We have had employee automobiles vandalized and broken into when they have had to travel out of town and leave their transportation in our parking lot. We have had our employees report fist fights in the street between "residents ", drug deals, arguments etc. We have found individuals washing their dishes with our water faucet, using our employee lunch deck for smoking or "hanging out ". We often find the results of someone going through the waste bins looking for something most likely to recycle. We have had female employees find notes on their cars upon return to their vehicles after work of a sexual nature. We also have had to institute a policy of not allowing female employees to work late alone as we fear for their safety and I can say personally, that I have felt uncomfortable on my own property going to my car in our own parking lot as I hear noises coming from my garbage dumpster (which is located in our parking lot as required by City ordinances). We have had vehicle fuel siphoned out of their fuel tanks at night (now have locking gas caps). There is often trash left behind and one vehicle burned to the ground in December. If that fire had migrated to a building adjacent to it in the area, it could have been devastating to the owner of that business. We also fuel all of our vehicles at JB Dewar card lock system on Prado Road and have all experienced a person approach us while fueling our vehicles in the evening or for that matter even during the day that has made us very uncomfortable with a solicitation for money. It happens routinely to all of our employees. Since the station is unmanned, it is also a safety concern for our employees and us while fueling, especially when that person walks up with a lit cigarette. It is not a safe situation and it is not fair to us or to JB Dewar that we be exposed to potential dangers so frequently. This is a serious problem. I personally have given up money (felt like a robbery) when filling my vehicle and been approached in the middle of that process by a so called "homeless person" soliciting money just to keep from an altercation. I cannot tell you that these incidents are all directly related to those living in their vehicles on our street, but at the same time, they never seem to know anything about a burglary or never heard a thing at night when glass was breaking and alarms are sounding that help us seem to ever find a culprit. We have witnessed the people, the vehicles, the aftermath of the camping for too many years to believe there is not a link between these activities and the people who live in the vehicles. I can't help but think that some of our troubles in the neighborhood have something to do with the local transient "neighbors" that are living on the street in their vehicles. As a result of the last burglary we installed an elaborate camera surveillance system to hopefully catch the thieves next time, but it wasn't inexpensive for us to do that. We are a business park, not an RV park. There is no zoning that allows for overnight parking in our CS zoned property. These people do not belong on our street, in our parking lots, rummaging our garbage dumpsters, camping overnight, night after night and making our employees feel unsafe. We have an obligation to provide a safe environment for our employees, and due to this situation, we have been limited on the hours of operation and the cost of procedures we must employ to make it safe. This is not good for business for us or for anyone doing business in these areas. It seems that because we are located "off the beaten path" and out of sight most of the time little patrolling takes place and it has become a comfortable place for them all to hide. . Our firm has long supported the homeless services within our community having helped donate money, volunteer services and donated materials for both construction and design of both Maxine Lewis and the Prado Day Center. We have donated money to People's Kitchen as well. We have done this for over 20 years. We have helped provide services through our church as well. The people that live in our business park and leave their messes and contribute to the criminal element that I believe is going on in our area are not availing themselves of these services that exist for them.. If you allow these individuals to continue to camp in our business park, you are going to continue to see empty and unleashed properties with no new City revenue being generated. This is one of basically two industrial areas of our community. If you are not careful, you are going to kill the goose that laid the golden egg. A solution to this problem is not going to be letting five vehicles, City wide, park at the Prado Day Center parking lot. There are dozens of vehicles populating our business park areas. If you, as a council and we as a City, decide politically to accommodate these "squatters ", then you need to also commit your money where your mouth is and provide a parking site for them to legally park to camp over night, but not in the business parks. There is absolutely NO relationship between our business park and these or any other campers. They don't do business with us and they aren't working for us. The blight and the sanitation issues that has occurred as a result of these activities is not insignificant and is a concern for the safety of our work force as they walk to their vehicles. It is not legal to park and camp on the street in any other neighborhood, so why should it be ok to allow it to happen in our neighborhood because we aren't there to watch over things at night and see what is going on. It is out of sight and out of mind for everyone if we just don't say anything, but enough is enough. We have been inconvenienced long enough over the past decade. It is time to enforce the laws that are in place and DO NOT be persuaded to "soften" the ability for these transients to come make their messes on our streets and properties. This is not just a recent problem although it has certainly gotten worse in recent years as the word is out that you can live here in the industrial park and get a free meal down the road at Prado. We encourage you to aggressively enforce the NO camping in vehicles policy and especially in our business areas. The Police Chief understands the issue and knows what to do to get those that don't want to avail themselves of services to get out of homelessness to move on. That is what should be done. Do not make it easier for these folks to camp in our industrial, commercial, and retail centers much less our residential areas except on properly zones and uses that are compatible to them. Camping in our business park is not compatible in any way. Please be responsible to the citizens of the community that live here and pay taxes here. Sincerely, Bill Thoma Thoma Electric, Inc.