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February 7, 2021 <br />Dear City Council, <br />After reviewing the staff report and the video from the 1/25 Council meeting on the <br />Transit District / Sequoia Station, there are some questions and concerns. In both the <br />staff report and the presentation there was great emphasis placed on the survey that <br />staff conducted with the help of AECOM and filled out by over 650+ people. It was used <br />as the basis for some conclusions on height, density, and land use. <br />Many of the conclusions reached by staff were based on a flawed process -- a survey <br />that most likely was often completed by non -Redwood City residents. Frankly, it does <br />not comport with many other data points. Contrary to this, I have a petition (to be sent <br />under separate cover) that is signed by 500+ people who simply want much more <br />housing than what is currently proposed. <br />I urge you to evaluate the concerns detailed below, do not advance the project as <br />designed, and ask staff to increase the polling and outreach to Redwood City residents <br />from all neighborhoods before we advance this project. <br />The City survey raises more questions than it answers: <br />1. Why were the questions for this survey created by staff and not by an <br />independent third -party with expertise in creating objective surveys? <br />2. Is having only 2% of respondents from primarily Spanish speaking homes truly <br />representative of our City? <br />3. Why wasn't there a question asking the respondents where they lived? Given <br />the large number of housing advocacy groups at the 1/25 Council meeting that <br />weren't from Redwood City, why shouldn't we believe that this survey was <br />aggressively peddled to non -Redwood City residents? <br />4. How did staff come to the conclusion that the RWC residents are fine with <br />increased density and height in the proposed Transit District when we have no <br />way of knowing if RWC residents responded to the survey? <br />5. For questions on the survey (see example below) that asked residents if they <br />were okay with taller buildings, why weren't they given a point of reference? <br />Taller than what? Taller than one-story buildings that are there today? Or taller <br />than what is already allowed in the Downtown Precise Plan? <br />