Letter in support of Item 7-B Approval of West Midway Term Sheet

Dear Mayor, Members of the City Council, and City Manager;
I am a resident of housing provided by the collaborative partners – Alameda Point Collaborative, Building Futures and Operation Dignity. While I am grateful for the opportunities provided here, the housing we are living in is in need of replacement. Water and sewer main breaks and electric outages are all to common now at Alameda Point. The housing itself is old, scattered too far apart from each other and from services, for us to be able to easily access, and takes money to maintain that could better be used for services. Our dream of getting new housing has been a long time in coming.
The residents here have been working closely with the Collaborative Partners and Mid-Pen housing to create a new community that will better serve the residents, provide easier access to services, and better connect us to the surrounding neighborhoods, employment centers and transit hubs.
Bringing a market rate developer in to develop the infrastructure and our building pads was a necessary step for the RESHAP project to move forward. The Catellus/Brookfield project will:
• Help Alameda meet ABAG/MTC Regional Housing Needs (RHNA) requirements by adding 789 housing units to Alameda's inventory
• Construct a new food and beverage hub at the corner of Pam Am and Tower Streets (across from Almanac Beer Co.) to extend the Point's commercial corridor.
• Create a pedestrian and bicycle focused network of green paseos, small pocket parks and pedestrian-oriented interconnected streets.

But above all else, the project as proposed in the term sheet will replace aging infrastructure to build new, supportive housing dedicated to serving formerly homeless veterans, families, seniors and singles by Alameda Point Collaborative, Operation Dignity and Building Futures with Women and Children. We, the residents who will be living in this housing ask that you approve the term sheet as submitted, and enable this very important project to move forward.

Sincerely,