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the Millers. How do the Millers take measurements in the middle of the Masons' yard? The Millers cannot go on the Masons' property to take the measurements. The Millers' only option is to call the police. When the party goers see the police, they stop whatever they are doing, which makes the noise measurement not representative of the real situation. • It must be remembered here that the issue is not compliance with the noise ordinances, but rather the issue is violating the CUP, zoning codes and General Plan, which prohibit the activities in the backyard. A commercial business, with a profit motive, generates the quantity of people and quantity of events far exceeding that of a normal neighbor. This is why the 1977 Planning Commission protected the neighbors from "any" noise generated by the Masons. 18. Page 7 of the 2015 Staff Report discusses the 2013 letter that the Masons' attorney sent to the City: "May 23, 2013 —Ms. Nadia Costa, an attorney ... representing the Masonic Center, wrote to staff and identified voluntary measures to address the Millers concerns ... A copy of the letter was forwarded to the Millers. The Millers submitted no formal response to the proposal." • This is incorrect. The Millers never received the letter. • As you can see, Ms. Costa's letter is addressed to Nelson Fiahlo with the "cc" list containing: (1) Jonathan Lowell, City Attorney, (2) Chris Chamberlain, and (3) Mike Salazar. The Millers were not copied. • The Millers found out about this letter when the Masons were having yet another party, and the Millers went to the Masonic Lodge to complain and spoke directly to the catering coordinator who called Kevin Keen, the current Masonic President. It was Mr. Keen who informed the Millers of this letter, and that the Masonic Center was operating by the rules articulated in the letter. The Millers told Mr. Keen that they had never seen the letter and asked Kevin to forward a copy, which he did in an email dated 11/9/2013. However, the letter Kevin forwarded to us was not Ms. Costa's letter, but rather Nelson Fialho's response to Ms. Costa's letter. As you can see on Nelson Fialho's response to Ms. Costa, the letter is addressed to Ms. Costa with the "cc" list containing: (1) Brian Dolan, and (2) Jonathan Lowell. Again, the Millers were never copied. • As a result of seeing this letter, the Millers realized that the City agreed with the Masons and that the Millers needed to take their case directly to the City Planning Commissioners. The Millers began meeting with the Planning Commissioners in 2014. 19. Page 8 of the 2015 Staff Report discusses the City's opinion regarding the 2013 letter that the Masons' attorney sent to the City: "Staff felt that (the Masons') voluntary measures, when instituted would help to address many of the concerns raised by the Millers." • This is incorrect. These measures clearly did not address the Millers concerns. First of all, there was no constraint on Masonic parties (only on public parties). Not only that, but also it put the burden on the Millers to monitor the parties to determine if they were a Mason or non -Mason event and to keep a tally on the non - Masonic parties. Since there was no way to monitor this, the Millers found that this proposal unacceptable. 19