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February 24, 2022 Mayor Vicente Sarmiento Mayor Pro Tern Phil Bacerra, Council Members Johnathan Ryan Hernandez, Jessie Lopez, Nelida Mendoza, David Penaloza, Thai Viet Phan City of Santa Ana 20 Civic Center Plaza Santa Ana, CA 92701 Dear Mayor Sarmiento, Mayor Pro Tom Bacerra and Councilmembers Hernandez, Lopez, Mendoza, Penaloza and Phan, These past couple of years have been extremely difficult for the retail industry and small businesses in particular. As you probably know, the vast majority of our 7-Eleven stores in our Franchisee Owners Association (which includes Santa Ana, Anaheim, Orange, Garden Grove and parts of other surrounding cities) are small businesses which are individually owned and operated. Despite the challenges from COVID and inflation, we've made every effort to keep our 250+ employees working and safe. We've also donated to many charities and causes to help local neighbors and families through these difficult times. To avoid further economic and emotional harm to our 7-Eleven small business owners, workers and customers, we strongly recommend you vote for "Option 4 on March 1 and take no action at this time and wait to see whether senate bill 793 goes into effect following a statewide referendum vote in November 2022 " We're starting to get questions from our customers in Santa Ana asking if the Mayor and City Council are going to force them to drive to other cities in Orange County to get their tobacco products. We let them know that we're working with you to minimize the impacts to them and preferably continue to work on the issue until later in the year when the statewide ballot measure is voted on. Based on statewide estimates, there are likely to be 20,000+ tobacco product users in Santa Ana. Before the City Council takes final action, we also have some questions that will help us better understand the impacts of the proposed ban and finalize our list of practical changes for the ordinance ban. 1. Will Police department or Code Enforcement department be responsible for enforcing the Council's ban? What's the enforcement timeline? Will the Police or Code Enforcement provide a dedicated period of time for letting all the retail tobacco sellers know the timeline, rules and enforcement? Can they come speak to our store owners in the West Coast Franchisee Owners Area before the Council takes action? Can the enforcement plan be included in the ordinance and shared with the impacted stores and sellers before the Council votes on the tobacco ban? W**4 The 7-Eleven West Coast Franchisee Owners Association (West Coast FOA) was formed in 2015. The West Coast FOA EIEYEn includes over 200 small business members, mainly in central Orange County, and is represented by 19 board members.