Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Homelessness And Housing topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Residents urge more trees and local collaboration on homelessness as city explains housing-element issues
Summary
Public commenters at Norwalk’s Feb. 4 meeting urged the city to plant native trees and reduce concrete medians to reduce heat island and stormwater pollution. Local nonprofit leaders urged collaboration after the state decertified the city’s housing element and the council’s moratorium on supportive housing.
Several residents used Feb. 4 public comment to press the city on urban trees, median design and the city’s response to a state decertification of its housing element.
Brian Tindell urged the council to restore and expand the city’s tree inventory and to consider removing concrete from medians and parkways to reduce stormwater runoff and urban heat-island effects. Tindell said a renewed tree list should include native species and noted prior Environmental Enhancement and Mitigation Program (EEMP) grants in 2015 and 2020; he suggested reapplying for available grants.
Jesse Flores, identifying himself as executive director of the local nonprofit Norac Munides, said he appreciated the city manager’s recent letter to residents describing the state’s decertification of Norwalk’s housing element. Flores urged the city to collaborate with the county and state and to include local nonprofits in an internal working group on homelessness. He said Norac Munides provides regular food distribution to people experiencing homelessness and described supportive housing and affordability as central to long-term solutions. “The city’s current moratorium on supportive housing doesn’t support” that approach, Flores said, urging cooperation and attention to funding constraints created by compliance issues.
Resident Evelyn Nuno thanked the city manager for the mailed explanatory letter and recommended putting the letter on the city website, translating it into Spanish and fixing a broken link she encountered. She also suggested the moratorium period be used to convene a community working group of nonprofits and stakeholders to discuss localized approaches to homelessness.
Speakers referenced county and state programs and past efforts such as Roomkey and the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) while noting a need for locally tailored responses. No council action was taken during public comment; city staff and members acknowledged the comments and said they would consider next steps in coordination and outreach.
