220502 0946 Re_ April 29 Weekend News and Notes_REDACTEDFrom:Frances Marquez
To:Peter Grant
Subject:Re: April 29 Weekend News and Notes
Date:Monday, May 2, 2022 9:45:58 AM
Can I share the information with the first constituent who asked about the lights at
Katella/Meridian and Katella/Yamaha on Facebook? There were many other people who were
concerned about it on that post from last week.
On Apr 29, 2022, at 4:11 PM, Peter Grant <pgrant@cypressca.org> wrote:
Mayor and Council (via bcc),
+ Your next City Council meeting is May 9.
+ George Pardon submitted a Public Record Act request for the CVRA-related
demographer’s report. Pardon claims, “In City Attorney Gallante's response to Kevin
Shenkman, which has now been referenced by at least the Voice of OC, City Attorney
Gallante says ‘the City’s demographer found no evidence of racially-polarized voting.’ I
believe that this statement by City Attorney Gallante waives any privilege the City may
have had to prevent the disclosure of the demographer's work/report.” Not only does
Pardon misspell Fred’s last name, he does not understand the privileged nature of the
report. The City Attorney reports,
+ We followed-up with True North, the city’s survey consultant, about concerns surveys
invitations are being swept up by spam filters. Here is the response, “Thanks for
checking in with me regarding the survey, and the fact that some residents have
complained about the email invitation landing in their SPAM folder. With respect to
email invitations, we must include certain items in the email invitation to comply with
the rules for sending mass invitations – like an option to opt out of future emails. These
features can cause an email to be sent to a respondent’s SPAM folder if they have their
filters set to a certain level. There is nothing that can be done about that from our end
– it has to do with the settings a resident has chosen for their SPAM folder. This is why
we don’t rely exclusively on email for recruiting participation in the survey. We are also
using direct mailed letters, text messages, and telephone calls – four methods total.
This means that we can approach a respondent using different methods until we find
the one that works best for them.”
+ Panda Express at 5373 Katella Ave (Costco shopping center) is closing. An office use
has applied to fill the vacancy.
+ Starting June 6, Meals on Wheels OC reduce weekly Grab & Go Meals from six to
four due to limited funding. The Senior Center continues to provide one extra meal
each week (for a total of five). Participants will be notified of the change in May and will
be encouraged to participate in the Senior Center’s in-person Lunch Café program on
Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.
+ The Senior Center’s Senior C.A.M.P. will return this summer. Three C.A.M.P.s will be
offered, each lasting a week in June, July ,and August. Participants experience a wide
range of activities such as art and crafts, physical, cognitive, and social activities.
Registration is free and begins May 9.
+ The Festival Association received signed participation agreements from two of the
three primary participants (Kiwanis and Chamber of Commerce). Friends of Cypress
Recreation and Parks did not sign the agreement by the deadline and has indicated that
it will not consider the agreement until a new executive board is in place. Friends had
75% of its executive board (President, Vice President and Secretary) resign and is
meeting on May 4 to decide its next steps. As the Festival Association needs to start
planning, its is looking for a new partner for the chili/salsa area. Later this week, the
Festival Association will send out applications to the youth sport groups (CYB, PONY,
CGSL, AYSO, and FNL) and CHS Booster Club to gauge interest. The Festival has
indicated that it will be updating its bylaws to remove Friends as a Primary Participant,
but may reconsider if Friends regroup and reorganize.
+ After last Friday’s rain, field #5 at Oak Knoll Park was unplayable for Saturday morning
games due to muddy field conditions and standing water in the third base dugout. RCS
and PW reviewed the site and found that the Park is designed to drain towards field #5.
We are looking into short-term measures to address this challenge, including laser
leveling the field in the offseason, adding straw wattles in front of the third base
dugout, and possibly converting the dugout roof that slopes into the field to a shade
sail sloping away from the field.
+ We have been working with the Maggios to help them restore their home at 5189
Dresden Circle from fire damage. Their contractor left permit ready plans at city hall for
nearly a month, so we provided the Maggios with access to their permit applications
(through OpenGov), which enables them to login and track status instead of relying on
their contractor for updates. For example, we informed their contractor they needed a
Construction and Demolition Debris permit on April 19 and the contractor didn’t apply
for the permit until April 28. It was approved the same day and is pending payment.
+ Thursday Southern California Edison will replace a power pole at the southeast corner
of Denni/Ball. SCE has notified the affected residents/businesses of the upcoming night
work (9 pm - 6 am) and the temporary power outage. Our traffic signal maintenance
contractor will be on standby to reactivate the Denni/Ball traffic signal upon power
restoration.
+ Earlier this week Council Member Marquez relayed a complaint about the traffic
signal at Katella/Meridian and Katella/Yamaha. The signals have been temporarily
changed for a nearby street paving project. The project requires deactivating the in-
pavement vehicle detection system and, during the paving project, the system cannot
detect a vehicle waiting on either street. As a result, the traffic signal computers cycle
and provide a green light to each street in case a motorist is waiting. This temporary
condition is a normal part of the street resurfacing process. Regular traffic signal
operation will be restored once new in-pavement vehicle detection is installed in a few
weeks. In the meantime, Public Works has modified the amount of green light is given
to the side streets to maximize traffic flow along Katella Avenue and called the resident
who complained.
+ One of Amazon’s conditions of approval is purchasing fuel for its delivery vans in
Cypress. Amazon’s van primarily refuel at the Chevron at Valley View/Cerritos. For the
quarter ending December 2021 (pre-gas price hike), this location is by far our largest
Sales Tax producing gas station (we don’t have separate data on Costco’s sales). In
2021, it was up about 30% and is generating about 60% more Sales Tax then the next
largest gasoline Sales Tax producers (our two ARCO stations).
+ Friday night PD contacted a subject who was looking into vehicles and casing an area
to commit a crime. The subject was in possession of a ghost gun and a large amount of
narcotics for sale (quarter pound of methamphetamine – this is an astonishing amount
of meth). Ghost guns have become popular with criminals because they are essentially
a homemade gun with no serial numbers or traceable markings.
+ City administrative offices will open at 10am on Thursday, May 5 to provide times for
an event to recognize employee service milestones.
Have a great weekend!
Pete
Peter Grant
City Manager
City of Cypress
Office 714-229-6680
Cellular 714-335-1685
pgrant@cypressca.org
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