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February 17, 2026 Mayor Amezcua and Members of the Council City of Santa Ana 20 Civic Center Plaza Santa Ana, CA 92701 Re: Item 17 Public Hearing - Purchase and Sale Agreement for 1901 W. Walnut Street Dear Mayor Amezcua and Members of the Santa Ana City Council, Please receive this letter as our enthusiastic support for the Purchase and Sale Agreement of 1901 W. Walnut Street, also known as La Colmena. As you know, Cooperacion Santa Ana is growing an ecosystem necessary to support community wealth building and advance health equity. We support Santa Ana and Orange County residents by promoting, training, and equipping the development of worker cooperatives—small businesses owned and controlled by their workers—as a viable solution to create dignified, sustainable work that fosters community resilience. Cooperacion Santa Ana has the pleasure of working with the businesses at La Colmena. La Colmena is a result of deep community engagement over the past decade, and we have witnessed the many benefits it has brought to the City of Santa Ana to date. The community land trust model of THRIVE Santa Ana empowers impacted communities to be part of the decisions of land use and development, addressing community needs and sustaining public benefit. We therefore steadfastly support the City in making La Colmena the first CLT-owned asset in Santa Ana. This proposed sale would result in a highly positive fiscal and community impact for Santa Ana. The City would generate $852,000 in unrestricted revenue deposited directly into the General Fund. La Colmena has already demonstrated its value by transforming a long-vacant and blighted property into a vibrant community hub that enhances neighborhood safety, economic activity, and quality of life. Since opening, the project has generated at least five permanent, full-time jobs and more than ten temporary jobs, in addition to over thirty jobs created during the construction phase. It has created commercial space beyond the permanent food and retail businesses through open air markets that serve as an entryway for entrepreneurs and small businesses. La Colmena supports workforce development through partnerships that provide training and capacity building for workers, and asset-creation through worker-ownership. Furthermore, La Colmena supports localized supply chains for food that is produced locally, reducing carbon footprint in transport,