Hello everyone,

Last night the Brea City Council met and unfortunately, they chose chicken over the safety of our children. With a 3-2 vote (so close!), the appeal to prevent changing the Conditional Use Permit at Gaslight Square to allow building a Raising Cane’s, was denied. 

Before the council discussed and voted, the clerk summarized the 72 emails regarding the project, 56 emails opposing and 16 supporting. Many people from the community, including myself, spoke in opposition. The few people who spoke in support were Raising Cane’s employees in Texas and the main property owner at Gaslight Square. 

Even though I disagree with the city council’s decision, I accept it. I still firmly believe we are on the right side of this issue. Like I told the City Council last night, the BOUSD Board of Education, the Laurel PTA, and from our petition, 271 Brea residents and 615 people from our extended community (886 total), oppose this project. There is a reason why so many are opposed to this project.

Safety at Laurel has been an issue for a while, and even if we prevented Gaslight Square from turning into drive-thru central, there are still many issues that need to be addressed. Unfortunately, with last night’s decision, it’s not going to become better in the near future. Student safety is something that we still will have to keep fighting for.

I want you to know that this is not a total loss. Safety issues at Laurel are now a point of discussion for both the BOUSD Board of Education and the Brea City Council. Even though the Raising Cane’s project will move forward, based on our efforts, it will be moving forward with new conditions.

I just want to say thank you once again. Over the past few months, there have been so many people helping in many different ways. To everyone who signed the petition and helped get other people to sign it, thank you. I am grateful to everyone who helped spread awareness, information, and calls to action to your families, friends, and neighbors. Thank you to everyone who wrote letters to the school board, to the city council and to Raising Cane’s. To everyone who supported Saturday’s demonstration in any shape or form, thank you. I want to give a special thanks to Kari Windes for appealing the city’s plan, bringing up the issue to the community, and seeing it through. I also want to give a special shout-out to Diane Stites, Mary Martinez, Max Stites, Laurel PTA, and our volunteer squad for putting in so much time and effort for the sake of student safety. I especially want to thank my spouse, Destiny for helping with so much during these past few months, and my kids for being my main motivator to do all this.

I want you all to know that I am deeply touched. Throughout this whole ordeal, so many people from the community came out and helped. We undoubtedly demonstrated that we are a community that cares, and we have the courage to do what we can. I am proud that my kids go to school at Laurel, and I am damn proud to be a part of this community.

Sincerely,

Rod