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David Fabian said he is a resident of Woodside, and after evaluating both private and public schools, they choose Sequoia High School for their son who is now a junior. He said that part of his background is in the mortgage banking and real estate fields and he opined that there is a direct correlation between desirability of a community's schools and the community's property values. He said that if the school were to lose its reputation as a safe, high quality high school, the long-term impact on property values and property tax revenues would impact the already exacerbated city budgets. He said that investing in the Sequoia's SRO is a direct investment in property values and ensuring that property tax revenues decline no further. Bonnie Hansen, principal of Sequoia High School and a resident of Redwood City expressed her concern for the proposed cut. She complimented the Police Chief about how good the SRO is at their site. She said she lives three blocks away from the school and is grateful for the increased value in her home. She said that she has been in conversations with the Police Chief and Police Captains about the possibility of losing the SRO and wanted it to be known that both the Police Department and the school have already done investigation into this matter and that this is a last resort. She opined that it is a mistake to cut the SRO for 1,850 students on campus and she cited other schools that have either full or part-time SROs on site as a standard practice. She noted that in the past two months, there have been incidents at other schools that include a pipe bombing, a shooting, and a rape and said that now is not the time to make school sites a lower security priority even with Sequoia's safe track record. She asked that Council to not cut the SRO position at the school. Council discussion One Council Member spoke about the renaissance of the Sequoia High School and how he disagreed with some of the comments and the nature of the emails received. He explained that youth and education have been a priority for Council and community building in his view includes jointly finding positive solutions. It was mentioned that as Council looks at Council priorities this matter will be discussed again. Chief Cobarruviaz responded to questions on the reasoning for the current cut. He explained that it was his intention to support the school as best as he could. He explained that two positions were considered plus the PAL position. He elaborated on the juvenile detective and how he completes mandated tasks and the SRO does not fall under any state mandate. Regarding the PAL position he said that there were some talks about moving this over to the Parks and Recreation Services Department. This did not come to fruition and he could not recommend that the 10,000 youth that take advantage of PAL go without this position. Council asked about the four tiers and what packet four impacts might be. The Chief explained the tough choices associated with this level of cuts should these come to pass. Mr. Ed Hernandez, Police Captain, interjected and explained how packet four was put together by the Police Department and how none of these cuts would be easy. This would include the elimination of various positions crucial to the community. JOINT CITY COUNCIL/REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY BOARD NOVEMBER 9, 2009 MEETING MINUTES PAGE 9 MINUTE BOOK NO. 62 Page No. 520