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5/18/2021 <br />Re: Closed Session Item - 625 Cypress Ave <br />Pacific Park/Eastside, Santa Ana, 92701 <br />Dear City Council, City Manager and Staff, <br />I am writing to ask for your support in halting the sale of the historic Cypress Fire Station. As a Pacific <br />Park/Eastside native and neighborhood leader, I want to emphasize that Pacific Park/Eastside is one of <br />the densest and most underserved communities in Santa Ana. The 92701 zip code has been the site for <br />great hardship with little to support or uplift residents. <br />I am also writing you as a member of the Santa Ana Healthy Neighborhood Alliance (SAHNA) whose <br />efforts to Save the historic Cypress Fire Station have included multiple neighborhoods and spanned over <br />a decade of advocacy in our city. <br />Rehabilitating the Cypress Fire Station and restoring it to public use could help the entire neighborhood <br />blossom and surrounding neighborhoods to thrive. Please retain this important connection to our City <br />History by removing the Cypress Fire Station from the Surplus Land list and rehabbing it as a public site <br />for public services. <br />Our SAHNA member Irma Jauregui has spoken with the Real Estate broker for the Dollar Tree lot and <br />asked for their cooperation in developing the Cypress Fire Station as a community space. They have <br />enthusiastically agreed to help with parking. <br />Rehabilitating the Cypress Fire Station is key to bringing safety, security and quality of life back to this <br />part of South Main. By working together with the City, SAPID and our Community Partners, and Elected <br />Leaders, we can turn the blighted firehouse into a major asset for our residents. <br />In the transition from it's current decayed state to a functional commercial site that provides a <br />community benefit, SAHNA proposes the following: <br />1) Residential Use —Art Residency for distinguished Artist to reside in and teach at the site for a <br />period of 2-4 years in partnership with a regional art or educational institution. If the property is <br />occupied, then it won't be necessary to have the city spend $18,000 a month in security. <br />2) Transitional Use — As a Historical and Arts resource space in partnership with a regional art, <br />historical and/or educational institution. As Commercial Permits are formalized, public uses can <br />be diversified. <br />3) Long Term Use —As a Digital Library, History and Arts resource space in partnership with <br />regional art, historical, technology and/or educational institution, foundation or corporation. As <br />funding enables capital investments in computers, construction, furnishings and fixtures, a fully <br />fleshed out Digital Library and Community Resource Hub emerges with practical service hours <br />(10-8pm), parking partnership with Dollar Tree, and local Multi -Generational clientele. <br />