Thread by @josephgeha16

Tonight at the Fremont City Council meeting, a large crowd of people have shown up to oppose putting a planned homeless navigation center near their neighborhoods. I haven't seen this much protest energy at a Fremont meeting in my career covering this city.

Here's my story from last week, in which the Fremont city council narrowed the list of possible sites for the homeless navigation center to two sites.
mercurynews.com/2019/07/10/fre…

The two sites are behind city hall in a parking lot off Capitol Avenue in downtown, or on a surplus city property next to a plant nursery in the northern part of the city off Decoto Road. The two main groups here tonight are each opposing one of those sites.

Sometimes one of the groups had broken into chants of "No Decoto."

Mayor Lily Mei, speaking to the packed meeting room, said there will only be 30 mins of public comment at the outset of the meeting, as there are multiple items on the council agenda they need to get to. There are about 250 people who want to speak.

Because the council doesn't have anything about the navigation center on the agenda tonight, those who want to speak about this topic normally speak at the beginning of the meeting.

After the 30 mins, Mei said the council will resume the rest of the meeting, and then at the end will come back to comments about the center if more people still want to speak then.

Some who are opposed to the city hall parking lot location have said that it doesn't make sense to put a homeless nav center here where the city has invested a lot in trying to make the downtown vibrant and lively.

Another man said it will ruin the "feng shui" of the downtown area. He quoted a Fremont economic development slogan "Think Fremont, Think Silicon Valley," said it would have to change to "Think Fremont, think homelessness."

Many of the people speaking in opposition to the Decoto location said it is too close to homes, too far from hospitals and other services, and too close to schools.

There's multiple things happening tonight at the city council meeting. Janitors for the city started a strike yesterday over the switching of the contractor with the city, claiming they will get lesser health benefits and are concerned b/c the contractor doesnt recognize unions.

Some of them are speaking tonight over their concerns, saying their health bills will rise "tremendously."

Also tonight, the city council will consider a tobacco retail license ordinance, which could ban flavored tobacco products including menthol, require minimum pack sizes or min prices for cigarettes, cigars and cigarillos. The council could also choose to ban e-cigarettes/vapes.

Last few speakers for now are speaking about the navigation center. One man opposed to the city hall location said he's concerned about safety. He said he thinks most homeless people are "drug users" and "drug users can do anything." Said he's worried his wife could get mugged.

Here's a video of what things look like in the courtyard of City Hall tonight in Fremont, as groups protest placing a homeless navigation center near their neighborhoods. They are chanting "No Decoto," and "Not in Decoto.

Inside the meeting, the council is discussing rough plans for a future Irvington bart station, but people are holding their protest signs up against windows of the council chambers.

Here are some flyers people have been circulating in the areas around city hall, and the northern area of the city near Decoto site. A note that "proximity to" and "vicinity" used in these flyers may be subjective terms.

Things are getting out of hand here at Fremont City Hall. After the council suggested cutting the meeting off at 11:30p, chants of shame break out, then people in the room begin yelling at each other, while the police chief Kim Petersen tries to interject to calm them.

Here's a video of that exchange at the Fremont City council meeting.

People were also chanting and shouting while pounding on the windows at the back of the city council chambers.

And more of that

The council ultimately decided to hear people out until midnight, then they'll end the meeting. Again, as a local reporter and a lifelong resident, I haven't seen this kind of energy and level of protest around any issues. One man said, "the community seems pretty galvanized."

One man, who said he was opposed to the Decoto location threatened the council with a class action lawsuit for the loss of home values if the city places the homeless navigation center there.

As I stated earlier in the thread, there was no item about the navigation center on the Fremont city council agenda, so the council wasn't taking any action or making new decisions related to it. The meeting just got adjourned.

One woman, on her way out of the council chambers, said "Good luck at re-election" to the council. Others said cutting off the meeting was not "good representation" for them.

Story coming soon

Here's the story from tonight's Fremont City Council meeting, where several hundred people protested forcefully against placing a homeless navigation center near their neighborhoods. mercurynews.com/2019/07/17/hun…