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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/08/2025 Public CommentREQUEST FOR APPEARANCE BEFORE CITY COUNCIL SOLICITUD PARA COMPARECER ANTE EL CONCEJO MUNICIPAL REQUIRED (OBLIGATORIO) NAME (Nombre):C AGENDA ITEM NUMBER(S) OR CITY TOPIC YOU WISH TO SPEAK TO (Numero(s) del tema de la agenda o asunto de la ciudad que desea hablar sobre): CITY OF YAKIMA RESIDENT (Residente de la Ciudad de Yakima YAKIMA COUNTY RESIDENT (Residente del condado de Yakima): OTHER RESIDENT (Otro Residente): ❑ ABOVE INFORMATION MUST BE FILLED OUT IN ORDER TO SPEAK DURING PUBLIC COMMENT LA INFORMACION ANTERIOR DEBE COMPLETARSE PARA HABLAR DURANTE EL COMENTARIO PUBLIC() OPTIONAL (OPCIONAL) HOW WOULD YOU PREFER THE CITY CONTACT YOU IF NEEDED (Como prefiere que la ciudad se ponga en contacto con usted si es necesario?): - PHONE (Numero de telefono) ( ) - ADDRESS (Domicilio) - E-MAIL ADDRESS (Direccion de correo electronico) • Please complete this form prior to the start of Public Comment and submit it to the City Clerk (who sits on the left end of the Council table). Por favor complete este formulario antes del inicio de los Comentarios Publicos y entreguelo a la Secretaria Municipal (que se sienta en el extremo izquierdo de la mesa del Concejo) When addressing the City Council, state your name and whether you live inside or outside City of Yakima limits. Al dirigirse al Concejal, diga su nombre e indique si vive dentro o fuera de los limites de la Ciudad de Yakima. Additional guidelines for addressing the City Council are on the reverse side of this form. Directrices adicionales para dirigirse al Concejal se encuentran al reverso de este formulario. Please note that the Council meeting is being televised on Y-PAC, cable channel 194. Tenga en cuenta que la reunion del Concejo Municipal esta siendo televisada por Y-PAC, canal de cable 194. REQUEST FOR APPEARANCE BEFORE CITY COUNCIL SOLICITUD PARA COMPARECER ANTE EL CONCEJO MUNICIPAL REQUIRED ((MLIGE ORIO) NAME (Nombre): AGENDA ITEM NUMBER(S) OR CITY TOPIC YOU WISH TO SPEAK T,0 Numero() del tema de la agenda o asunto de la ciudad que desea hablar sobre): :- <-- CITY OF YAKIMA RESIDENT (Residente de la Ciudad de Yakima): YAKIMA COUNTY RESIDENT (Residente del condado de Yakima): ❑ OTHER RESIDENT (Otro Residente): ❑ ABOVE INFORMATION MUST BE FILLED OUT IN ORDER TO SPEAK DURING PUBLIC COMMENT LA 1NFORMACI6N ANTERIOR DEBE COMPLETARSE PARA HABLAR DURANTE EL COMENTARIO PUBLIC() OPTIONAL (OPCIONAL) HOW WOULD YOU PREFER THE CITY CONTACT YOU IF NEEDED (Como prefiere que la ciudad se ponga en contacto con usted si es necesario?): - PHONE (Numero de telefono) ( - ADDRESS (Domicilio) - E-MAIL ADDRESS (Direccion de correo electronico) Please complete this form prior to the start of Public Comment and submit it to the City Clerk (who sits on the left end of the Council table). Por favor complete este formulario antes del inicio de los Comentarios Publicos y entreguelo a la Secretaria Municipal (que se sienta en el extremo izquierdo de la mesa del Concejo) When addressing the City Council, state your name and whether you live inside or outside City of Yakima limits. Al dirigirse al Concejal, diga su nombre e indique si vive dentro o fuera de los limites de la Ciudad de Yakima. Additional guidelines for addressing the City Council are on the reverse side of this form. Directrices adicionales para dirigirse al Concejal se encuentran al reverso de este formulario. Please note that the Council meeting is being televised on Y-PAC, cable channel 194. Tenga en cuenta que la reunion del Concejo Municipal esta siendo televisada por Y-PAC, canal de cable 194. Distributed at Meeting: 041-af- itern# City Council 41/8/2025 Planning Commission 4/9/25 Good Evening, I'm Ron Torres, here again as a lifelong Yakima Citizen, reading again tonight for Shelley White. We are here tonight sharing with you the research Shelley has done into the new WA State housing laws that eliminate Single Family Zoning. We're following the same path that she took in researching her original concerns about the new laws. She now believes there are three legs these new laws stand on. Or you might think of the three legs as the VERY visible Elephant in the room and the almost invisible TWO Giant Gorillas also in the room. Tonight we look at the VERY visible elephant..Illegal immigration. Before we do, we want to say that we are not opposed to immigration. As a country, our foundation is composed almost entirely of immigrants. Shelley personally stands on BIG immigrant shoulders. Her Maternal great Grandfather Swenson's cabin, where he raised 11 children, still stands in Mouse River State Park in N. Dakota and her Paternal Grandparent's original tar paper shack still stands on 9 acres of original 1800's Homestead land on the Klickitat River. It is impossible to calculate the contributions made to this country without considering the sacrifices made by Native Americans, slaves and immigrants. So...Last time we looked at current population stats that revealed that our country is suffering NOT from a wave of overpopulation but from a surprising decline in the U. S. population. Hence, we should have more housing available, not less...but that is not the case... Therefore, her question at the end of that last population info was: What was being done to combat this severe population decline? The answer has to be one of two alternatives, there are no others: 1. Grow more people faster from birth...which is obviously not going to be fast enough for the severe nationwide situation we have gotten ourselves into (by killing over 60 million children in the last 50 years)...OR 2. We need to import more people from other places. In the the U.S., our previous administrations chose #2 and have made multiple decisions to import people from other places, as rapidly as possible! They threw open our national borders, ignoring wise immigration laws and protocols to allow the chaos of between 10 to 20 million (depending on who you ask) unveiled, undocumented and unemployed immigrants into the country. Washington State, in it's desire to acquire more (than other states?) of this new population wave and its attending Sales Tax tax base, passed the Keep Washington Working Act in 2019 effectively making it one of 11 U.S. San ary States. We're not here to discuss that tonight, except as it pertains to pressure on the housing market. Hello, I'm Shelley White, here tonight as a lifelong resident of Yakima, and not as a member of the Planning Commission. So...What does this immigration wave look like for the U.S - and for Washington State? As a great illustration, turn to the very revealing attached colored chart from Pew Research for a national overview: Population Ch ge on Its Drivers. (Last Page of your packets.) tit, And if you will then look at the Office of Financial Management (OFM) chart below. It estimates Washington's population at 8,035,700 as of April 1, 2025. This marks an increase of 84,550 residents over the past year alone...(close to the current population of Yakima!) o s population illegal) yr . accounted for 82 (2021 was the height of the Covid lock -downs.) n s eft by net ct year .. o Year Natural Increase Net Migration 2024 15,280 69,270 2023 14,445 72,305 2022 13,806 83,619 2021 18,122 42,543 2020 26,323 98,169 2019 28,503 89,836 2018 30,974 88,432 2017 33,589 73,265 2016 35,158 95,441 2015 35,631 65,780 2014 36,315 59,449 2013 36,141 38,055 2012 37,903 15,869 2011 37,597 19,340 2010 40,736 11,541 any o n, (both legal and e previous year. Immigrant population: It is now estimated that about 13.7% of the state's population are immigrants totaling about 1.1 million people. That is It Yakitrta l Icould find no information, since 2020, on how many of these 1.1 are illegal immigrants. In 2020, that total was about, 00.000 - that we `known'. But back to housing: Many people don't realize that Non-U.S. citizens can buy property in the U.S., - and in this state. They can buy whether or not they have legal documentation permitting them to be here! Yes, you heard that right! Now anyone in business understands the ve simple and VERY ' U' of Supple and e a d. If you have a lot of people who want a product, but don't have much of that product, prices go up. If you have a lot of product and not a lot of people want that product, prices go down. Nationally, Non ELS. C r"<,en buyers purchased ;-2 billion wo tad .5. residential pe *es from. April 2023 to + rch 202.41 (Canada, China, Mexico and India were the top countries of origin by number of U.S. existing homes purchased.) Precise data on the percentage of housing in Washington State purchased by non -citizens was also impossible to obtain (again, probably because they don't want us to know?) Here's the issue with this: Again, according to stats, about half of undocumented immigrants in Washington State live below the federal poverty level. Many more live close to the same. But the median sale price (1 above and / below) of homes in Washington rose to $649,600, driven by sustained demand and limit affordability. In Yakima the Average Sales Price is $389,000 and the Median Sales Price was $369,000 thus making Yakima a more desirable area to buy property than the I- 5 Corridor. So where does that leave all our new Non -Citizens when it comes to housing? Obviously, not in very good shape! More next time Footnote: March 6, 2025 The Pew Charitable Trusts Why Pew Assesses Population Change Population trends are tied to states' finances, with demographic changes affecting both revenue and spending. More people usually means more workers and consumers contributing to economic activity as they take jobs and buy goods and services, which generates more tax revenue. A growing economy, in turn, can attract even more workers and their families. But a rapidly expanding population can also strain government resources by ashin up Dousing costs, overburdening transit and other infrastructure, and increasing demand for public services. On the other hand, a shrinking or slow -growing population can be both a cause and an effect of weakened economic prospects. Less economic activity can limit state revenue collections And although a smaller population can lead to a reduction in some spending, it also means fewer residents are available to help cover the costs of long-standing commitments, such as debt and state employee retirement benefits. 'The size of a state's poringat op az d nuai. l ang s to it also factor into how much ederal grants. Fiscal 50: State Trends And Analysis Population Change and Its Drivers Annual growth rates, 2009-2024, 50 states Growth due to natural change Growth due to net migration — Overall growth 15-year growth rate 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024 Ccs) March 6, 2025 The Pew Charitable Trusts REQUEST FOR APPEARANCE BEFORE CITY COUNCIL SOLICITUD PARA COMPARECER ANTE EL CONCEJO MUNICIPAL REQUIRED (OBLIGATORIO NAME (Nombre): AGENDA ITEM NUMBER(S) OR CITY TOPIC YOU WISH TO SPEAK TO (Numergf) del tema de la agenda o asunto de la ciudad que desea hablar sobre): CITY OF YAKIMA RESIDENT (Residente de la Ciudad de Yakima YAKIMA COUNTY RESIDENT (Residente del condado de Yakima): El OTHER RESIDENT (Otro Residente): ❑ ABOVE INFORMATION MUST BE FILLED OUT IN ORDER TOSPEAKDURING PUBLIC COMMENT LA iNFORMAC1t N ANTERIOR DEBE COMPLETARSE PARA HABLAR DURANTE EL COMENTARIO PUBLICO OPTIONAL (OPC/ONAL) HOW WOULD YOU PREFER THE CITY CONTACT YOU IF NEEDED (6Como prefiere que la ciudad se ponga en contacto con usted si es necesario?): - PHONE (Numero de telefono) ( ) - ADDRESS (Domicilio) - E-MAIL ADDRESS (Direccion de correo electronico) Please complete this form prior to the start of Public Comment and submit it to the City Clerk (who sits on the left end of the Council table). Por favor complete este formulario antes del inicio de los Comentarios Publicos y entreguelo a la Secretaria Municipal (que se sienta en el extremo izquierdo de la mesa del Concejo) When addressing the City Council, state your name and whether you live inside or outside City of Yakima limits. Al dirigirse al Concejal, diga su nombre e indique si vive dentro o fuera de los limites de la Ciudad de Yakima. Additional guidelines for addressing the City Council are on the reverse side of this form. Directrices adicionales para dirigirse al Concejal se encuentran al reverso de este formulario. Please note that the Council meeting is being televised on Y-PAC, cable channel 194. Tenga en cuenta que la reunion del Concejo Municipal este siendo televisada por Y-PAC, canal de cable 194.