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Residents urge better language access and outreach for comprehensive plan process
Summary
A resident who attended the comprehensive-plan open house urged the city to improve language access and outreach so non-English speakers and other underrepresented residents can participate in planning decisions, noting that most open-house materials were in English.
At the council's public-comment period, Edwin Vasquez urged the city to improve translation and outreach for the 2026 comprehensive plan so residents who do not speak English or who face other participation barriers can meaningfully contribute.
Vasquez, who said he lives on Brookside and attended the public open house, described the plan materials and comment boards as primarily in English and said that made engagement difficult for many residents. "It is so hard to participate...because they didn't have open access to simple...English," he said, and recommended written suggestions and better representation for Spanish speakers and other language communities.
Council members responded by asking Vasquez to put specific suggestions in writing so staff and the council can review them and consider changes to the engagement approach. Staff earlier in the meeting had said the city is exploring the cost and logistics of producing a Spanish translation of the roughly 250-page plan.
