We need a big turn out to show City of Redmond that we demand transparency and democracy.
On Tuesday, March 19th
5pm to 6pm – Sign waving in downtown Redmond. Find us along Redmond Way and join us.
6pm-6:30pm – Meet outside the Redmond City Hall ( 15670 NE 85th St, Redmond, WA 98052). PROTEST!
6:30pm – Go into the meeting room, and sign up to give a public comment.
7:00pm – Council meeting starts. It is very likely that the mayor will put the public comment at the very end. She may also let her people speak before us. Please be prepared to stay late. Over 200 people at Kenmore stayed past mid-night to give the public comments. Their mayor was sweating. In the end, they won.
What to prepare:
Print out this flyer to pass out: https://safeeastside.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Redmond_Plymouth.pdf
Print out the signs and bring them to the council meeting: https://safeeastside.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/signs.pdf
Suggested talking points:
• Redmond city council should rescind its public land transfer decision. The public land transfer to Plymouth was passed recklessly. The city did not go through an open RFP process to select a provider that was in the best interest of the city of Redmond. Plymouth’s track record is concerning. The city council did not do its due diligence and ask questions Kenmore City Council asked, such as public safety, compliance, tenant screening, Plymouth’s application process, etc.
• Council President Vanessa Kritzer misled the public at the Special Meeting on February 13th. She posed a question to Director Carol Helland, which led the public to believe that the Operational Agreement would come back to the Council for final approval and that the public would be able to give input. This is a lie. Kritzer should resign from the Council President position.
• Director Carol Helland, who also serves as Chair of ARCH, said she wanted to help ARCH, and did not want to allow public engagement. She knowingly provided inaccurate information regarding the disability requirement, yet she refuses to publicly correct it. Helland should be investigated for conflict of interest and should recuse herself from the Plymouth project.
• Help our low income seniors, veterans. The city should publicly declare that disability is not an eligibility requirement for affordable housing at the Cleveland parcel (16725 Cleveland Street, Redmond)
A clarification on the definition of disability. According to the state law and the common practices of the state, county, and city, mental illness and substance use disorder are all considered disabilities. Although admitted privately, the city has been refusing to publicly announce that disability is NOT an eligibility requirement for Plymouth Supportive Housing in downtown Redmond. The city wants to fill the Plymouth building with drug addicts imported from Seattle. They do not want to help Redmond’s low income seniors to get housing relief.
Please commit to pack the room on Tuesday, March 19th at 6:30pm. Location: Redmond City Hall (15670 NE 85th St, Redmond, WA 98052 ).Please sign up at https://safeeastside.com/2024/03/02/calling-for-volunteers/ .