220310 2105 Fwd_ March 4 Weekend News and Notes_REDACTED+ Two businesses took advantage of the Business Recovery Program this week, Cypress
Dental Office and Daylight Transport. Both are new and had permit fees waived for
signage.
+ Late last week George Pardon contacted Planning to discuss building an accessory
dwelling unit on his property.
+ State Department of Housing and Community Development requires cities to notify
interested parties when there is a revision to the draft Housing Element. Notifications
were sent to 31 residents, and as of Thursday, two residents responded that they are
not in favor of placing all of the units on Lincoln Ave., rather they prefer allocating
additional housing units on LARC.
+ On Thursday there was a case management conference for the Makkouk property at
8121 Gay St. At the conference, the judge confirmed all paperwork had been properly
submitted for next week’s receivership hearing, which is scheduled for March 10 at
1:30 pm.
+ Public Works removed a deteriorated wood shade structure at Eucalyptus Park this
week. This was already part of the upcoming Shade Structure Replacement CIP. Due to
its current condition it was prudent to remove it now.
+
. We plan to issue a task order to Communications LAB to maintain
communications continuity while she is out.
+ Following-up on Council Member Marquez’s comments about Mackay Park Monday
night, PD reports that during the past six months there have been no calls for service at
Mackay Park related to drugs. PD routinely patrols the park (part of the reason it has a
low crime rate and almost no crimes occur at the park). Only one crime, graffiti, was
reported during the last six months at Mackay Park. You may recall that prior to the
redevelopment of Mackay School, that site was the single highest source of PD calls in
all of Cypress.
+ PD also did a two year comparison of calls at Evergreen Park, which went through a
complete bathroom renovation last year. There were only four calls for service
regarding the bathrooms in two years. Two of the calls were graffiti, one call was
construction noise, and the fourth call was about a homeless person smoking
marijuana (however Officers found no marijuana or narcotics). Thanks to PD patrols,
crime rates in our parks (regardless of which amenities a park offers) are very low to
nonexistent.
+ If you receive a resident complaint or concern, I insist you share it with me before
raising publicly it at a City Council meeting. Sandbagging city staff in this manner is
unprofessional and unacceptable. In this case, it also creates a false impression that
Cypress has crime problems in its parks which negatively affects residents, home
values, and hardworking staff in PD and RCS. While I recognize an uninitiated person
might be concerned that a restroom in a park might be an attractive nuisance, Council
Members simply have to engage with staff to know better. In fact, Council Member
Marquez has broached this issue with me in the past and is aware that there is no
connection between park bathrooms and crime in Cypress and that new park
bathrooms are designed with crime prevention in mind.
+ Orbis Management (the team building consultant working for RCS on the Festival) has
made contact and held in-person meetings with the Festival Association and the
Friends of Cypress Recreation and Parks. After digesting the information from the
individual meetings, a joint meeting will be held to develop goals, objectives, and
processes moving forward.
+ I thought you’d enjoy seeing Shea’s leasing brochure for The Square – it’s attached.
+ The General Manager of the Marriot Residence Inn invited me to play in a charity golf
tournament Monday and I will be out of the office, but available while I make sure
Marriot remains a happy business resident in the wake of our putting a Hilton on the 13
acre site.
Owen starts Champion baseball tomorrow and CSD drops it mask requirements on
March 14.
Have a nice weekend,
Pete
Peter Grant
City Manager
City of Cypress
Office 714-229-6680
Cellular 714-335-1685
pgrant@cypressca.org