The following is a press release from an organization unaffiliated with Voice of OC. The views expressed here are not those of Voice of OC.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, May 13, 2020
Contact: Tracy La, tracy@vietrise.org
In Letters to City Council, 406 Residents, 19 OC Organizations, Call on Garden Grove to Pass Ordinance Banning Evictions and Met with Silence by City Council
Following the evictions of 10 Vietnamese and immigrant-owned businesses in April during COVID-19 in Garden Grove, the businesses and workers partnered with community organizations and residents to launch a petition calling on the Garden Grove City Council to ban all evictions during COVID-19. As of Wednesday morning, the petition had 406 signatures, including other small business owners and elected officials, as well as 19 community organizations and non-profit agencies that signed on the call to action.
On Tuesday evening, over 55 public comments were sent in by residents and community organizations to the city council to take action to ban evictions. However, only 19 comments were received by the Garden Grove City Council during their official meeting, and none of the comments sent in by residents were read out loud. In addition to the call to ban evictions, residents are concerned by their ability to be able to publicly address the Council, given the council’s decision to cancel all in-person meetings. In a virtual era of governance forced upon residents by COVID-19, residents are questioning their accessibility to their own local government and whether or not their voices and concerns will be heard by the City Council.
As of Wednesday morning, there has been no official response from the City Council to the public about whether or not the City will consider agendizing an ordinance to ban evictions. Meanwhile, the 10 evicted businesses have been forced to relocate to other sites in cities across Orange County, and some are still struggling to find permanent lots to protect and run their businesses.
The residents will continue to engage City Council and are encouraging residents to continue signing onto the petition to ban evictions in Garden Grove. The number of signatures on the petition and the full petition can be found at this link: bit.ly/stopevictionsingg.
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