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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWritten Comments - CombinedFrom:Robert Carrillo To:MayorsEvents; D-SBCityClerk; Gabriel Elliott; Luis Portillo; Kenesha Boyd Cc:Yvette Romero; Ruben Mendoza Subject:Public Comment - San Bernardino 2050 General Plan | LaunchPad Collective, Inc. Date:Friday, July 31, 2026 11:40:44 AM Attachments:LPC General Plan Public Comment Letter 7-31-26.pdf Caution - This email originated from outside the City - Verify that the Email display name and Email address are consistent. - Use caution when opening attachments. Good afternoon, On behalf of LaunchPad Collective, Inc., please find attached our organizational comments on the draft San Bernardino 2050 General Plan. We are submitting these comments to the public comment email address currently listed by the City, which appears to remain associated with former Community Development & Housing Director Gabriel Elliott, and have copied the City Clerk and relevant City leadership to ensure the comments are received and included in the public record. We appreciate the opportunity to participate in this process and support the City's work to establish a long-term vision for housing, economic development, mobility, and neighborhood investment in San Bernardino. Please include the attached letter as part of the public record for the General Plan Update and kindly confirm receipt. Thank you, Robert Carrillo Founder & President | LaunchPad Collective, Inc. 501(c)(3) 909-521-8432 | www.launchpadcollective.org LinkedIn | Girls Wrestle Life"Any time you have an opportunity to make a difference in this world and you don’t, then you are wasting your time on Earth." - Roberto Clemente August 5, 2026 Mayor & City Council City of San Bernardino 290 North D Street San Bernardino CA 92401 RE: Oppose Authorization to apply for U.S. DOJ FY 2026 Model Cities Initiative Dear Mayor Tran and Councilmembers, On behalf of the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice and the undersigned organizations, I write regarding the U.S. Department of Justice Fiscal Year 2026 Model Cities Initiative. Although Agenda Item 16 was pulled from the August 5 City Council agenda, we remain deeply concerned that the proposal could return for future consideration. Furthermore, we remain deeply concerned that the City Manager’s Office and Police Department determined this proposal was appropriate to advance, given its stated priorities and the harm federal immigration enforcement has already caused in our community. We respectfully urge the City Council to reject any further effort to authorize the City Manager to apply for this grant or take any action to participate in this program. The Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice (IC4IJ) is a regional coalition of more than 40 organizations that work collectively to protect and improve the lives of the more than 1 million immigrants in San Bernardino and Riverside counties. As an organization, IC4IJ focuses on policy advocacy, immigration legal services, community organizing and education, and direct community services. We also manage the region’s Rapid Response Hotline and Network, a network of more than 200 volunteers that actively respond to and document ICE and Border Patrol activity in the Inland Empire. We are joined by a diverse coalition of organizations that work closely with us to protect immigrants from detentions and deportations, expand their access to resources and services, and limit the role of local governments in assisting in or facilitating President Trump’s inhumane and deadly immigration enforcement. While we appreciate that Item 16 was removed from the agenda, its removal does not resolve our concerns. It is deeply troubling that City staff and the Police Department sought authorization to pursue this initiative in the first place. It reflects an alarming willingness to align the City with a federal program that expands surveillance, militarizes policing, and prioritizes immigration enforcement. We believe this request for authorization was misguided from the outset and should not return for consideration. Over the past year, residents of San Bernardino have been subjected to the daily threat of violent immigration enforcement at the hands of masked, unidentified federal agents who act with complete impunity as they violate individual rights and tear families apart. Through our Rapid Response Hotline, we’ve documented over 200 confirmed immigration enforcement operations in the City of San Bernardino alone.1 We’ve also seen a dramatic escalation in violence in San Bernardino, including an incident that took place last August in which federal agents fired three gunshots directly into the vehicle of a local family.2 Federal agents also routinely conduct unlawful raids at sensitive locations such as the courthouses near the San Bernardino Justice Center, and they racially profile workers such as day laborers at the local Home Depot. All of this enforcement has made San Bernardino one of the cities most impacted by immigration enforcement in California. To expand this harm, the Trump administration introduced the U.S. Department of Justice Fiscal Year 2026 Model Cities Initiative. This grant should not be viewed simply as an opportunity to obtain additional federal funding, but rather as a dangerous expansion of this administration’s efforts to increase surveillance and enforcement. The City of San Bernardino should not pursue this partnership, particularly at a time when our communities are under direct attack by these same federal agencies. The staff report prepared for Agenda Item 16 stated that the Model Cities Initiative (MCI) could provide up to $300 million in federal funding to support law enforcement and intelligence-led policing, including expanded surveillance and the modernization of technology. While we recognize the City’s interest in securing resources to improve public safety, federal funds are not inherently beneficial if they come with policies, priorities, or partnerships that directly conflict with the needs and values of the communities they are intended to serve. These are not merely administrative decisions; they represent a public safety approach that prioritizes harmful collaboration and an expansion of the tactics and systems that have eroded trust in local law enforcement. These concerns are not hypothetical. The Department of Justice’s own materials promoting the Model Cities Initiative position this program as part of the Make America Great Again agenda. They also highlight examples of cities such as Memphis and Washington, D.C., cities in which the federal government intervened with the deployment of the National Guard and other military 2 Anabel Muñoz, “Federal Agent Fires Shots at Man During Operation in San Bernardino, DHS Says,” ABC7 Los Angeles, August 18, 2025, https://abc7.com/post/federal-agents-fire-shots-man-during-operation-san-bernardino-police-say/17562097/. 1 Data reported by the IE Rapid Response Hotline & Network. resources.3 San Bernardino should not pursue a program that normalizes this kind of federal intervention that relies on a militarized approach to public safety. Furthermore, we strongly believe it was an irresponsible use of limited municipal resources to prepare and advance this proposal, and it would be an even greater irresponsibility to seek this grant. The grant will only be awarded to 2-4 cities nationwide, and San Bernardino is already at a competitive disadvantage because it, like all other cities in California, operate within a legal framework that limits local involvement in federal immigration enforcement. This is directly at odds with the priorities established by the Department of Justice. The MCI fact sheet identifies “Directly supporting law enforcement operations (including immigration law enforcement operations)” as its first priority and states that “applicants must ensure that their initiatives align with” this priority.4 Given these stated priorities, the City Council must ask why San Bernardino would pursue an initiative that is not only unlikely to be awarded, but is also fundamentally misaligned with California law, the needs of our communities, and the trust residents place in their local government. The City of San Bernardino should not seek a partnership built around priorities that are actively harming residents. Public safety depends on trust. Residents must feel safe reporting crimes, cooperating with investigations, seeking assistance, and engaging with local institutions. Pursuing this application sends the message that the City is aligning itself with this federal administration and exposing San Bernardino families to greater scrutiny, surveillance, enforcement, and violence. The result will not be a safer community. It will severely damage trust in local institutions and make it less likely that victims of crime seek help. Although Agenda Item 16 was pulled, the underlying proposal remains deeply concerning. We urge the City Council to make clear that the City of San Bernardino will not pursue participation in the U.S. Department of Justice FY 2026 MCI in any form. The City should not devote additional time, resources, or institutional support toward a partnership that would undermine public trust and expose residents to greater harm. Should you have further questions, please contact Hector Pereyra at hector@ic4ij.org. Sincerely, Javier Hernandez Executive Director, Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice 4 U.S. Department of Justice, FY 2026 Model Cities Initiative, P. 7. 3 U.S. Department of Justice, FYI 2026 Model Cities Initiatives (MCI), Office of the Assistant Attorney General, 2026, P. 3, https://www.justice.gov/asg/media/1444021/dl?inline. Hussam Ayloush, M.B.A Executive Director, CAIR Greater LA Area CC: Mayor Helen Tran Councilmember Theodore Sanchez Councilmember Sandra Ibarra Councilmember Juan Figueroa Councilmember Fred Shorett Councilmember Kimberly Knaus Councilmember Mario Flores Councilmember Dr. Treasure Ortiz City Manager Eric Levitt Chief of Police Darren L. Goodman Outlook Oppose: Item 16 Notice of Intent to Apply for US Dept Justice Model Cities From Maribel Nunez < Date Wed 8/5/2026 12:39 PM To PublicComments <publiccomments@sbcity.org> Caution - This email originated from outside the City - Verify that the Email display name and Email address are consistent. - Use caution when opening a t tachments. Dear Mayor and San Bernardino City Council Inland Equity Comm unity Land Trust o ppo ses I tem 16 (on the consent calendar) is a Notice of Intent to Apply for the U.S. Department of Justice Model Cities Initiative Grant. The Model Cities Initiative program is a Justice Department grant, to a limited number of jurisdictions that demon strate a comprehensive vision for public safety (bullying immigrants and poor people and mass surveillance and a commitment to implementing evidence-based (lol) and innovative crime reduction strategies . A single award will range from $75 million to $150 million. Applicants are required to demonstrate partnerships with specific organizations (ICE, Customs and Border Patrol). Best, Maribel Nunez Inland Equity Community Land Trust Executive Director