Agenda Item # 11.1 - Joanne Fierro | Received 10/03/2022CAUTION: This email originated from an External Source. Please use proper judgment and caution when opening
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From:Joanne Fierro
To:City Clerk
Subject:EXTERNAL - October 3rd Meeting/Agenda Item 11
Date:Monday, October 3, 2022 11:35:27 AM
PLEASE READ AT MEETING
We do not support the recall effort, or the item before the City Council on October 3.
Council member Armendariz is under no obligation to resign. She may or may not choose to do so,
but a request from the Council would not obligate her.
We do not believe Councilmember Armendariz should be recalled or asked to resign because:
She has not been accused of any crime
She does not own the property where the party took place (this is verifiable at the county's
website) and was not in a position to allow or disallow the party. It was not her call and was
done over her objections. She has a lease and pays rent for her home.
Despite this, she paid the requested fines.
The hosts of the party were her son and nephew, who were granted permission by the
property owner. Her son is over 21 years old.
Her assistance in planning was minimal: provision of a phone number for port-a-potty rental,
and assistance in arranging for a parking area. She did not pay for any of the rental,
refreshments or alcohol, did not serve food or beverages, greet guests, or circulate at the
party. She only came out of her house after the gunfire. None of her activities had any bearing
on whether or not the party would occur, and none were responsible for the tragic deaths of
two young people.
The Recall effort has not been honest with the public -- the websites and petitions do not
explain that the signatures are only to schedule a recall election, which they may lose. Many
members of the public supporting the recall believe things that are not true: that she blocked
a public street, that she provided alcohol and drugs to minors, that she was the party's host.
They might not be supporting the recall if the facts had been presented fairly.
Council member Armendariz still has a lot of support from the voters for whom she provides a
voice, the young people she has mentored and worked with, and all of those who agree with
her views and voted for her because they wanted representation.
We believe the recall effort is politically motivated -- less about the tragic events of the
Halloween party, than the opportunism of those who had already been talking about recalling
her for her views prior to that event.
For the council to ask her to resign would be inconsistent with past practice: there is a council
member who was charged with a DUI while in office, which is a crime, and the council did not
ask him to resign. A former mayor had a 15-year old die of alcohol poisoning at his own home
and there were no repercussions. There is a current councilmember who was convicted of a
federal crime as an adult but was able to have the record expunged due to his privileged
position in the community and not a whisper of scandal.
We have questions about the investigation: why were the property-owner and party hosts,
who could have corroborated the Councilmember's information, not interviewed? Why
weren't party attendees interviewed?
Furthermore, we would like to know:
What has become of the murder investigation? Aren’t the police any closer to identifying the
shooter(s)?
Why have many party attendees not been interviewed, despite providing the police with their
contact information the night of the event?
What are we going to do, as a city mourning these deaths, to prevent something similar
from happening again? How can we keep guns out of the hands of people who shouldn't
have them and give our young people the tools to resolve conflicts without violence?
Joanne Fierro
Maria Aguilar
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