00:00Good evening. I'm here with my brother, Andrew Hanouna. My name is Marianne Hanouna.
00:05Since 2014, our family has invested millions of dollars into the city, into a business, a property, local jobs, and
00:12a vision for this community.
00:13We built a flourishing business in downtown Ontario that employed approximately 40 local residents.
00:19We relied on the permits the city issued us. We invested our family's resources in good faith.
00:25We built something we were very proud of, and we were so proud to give back to this community.
00:30This was my father's American dream, built in this city, brick by brick.
00:34Then, overnight, it was gone. The permit we had invested millions of relying on simply disappeared.
00:39No due process, no warning, just gone. Distraught, we did what any citizen is taught to do.
00:44We turned to an elected official for help. After a council meeting, we approached council member Alan Wapner,
00:51trusting that our elected representative was there to serve this community.
00:55I showed him photos of our building, hoping he might understand what our family had created.
00:59As soon as I named the building, he said, and I quote,
01:04I know your building. I know exactly where that is. No need to show photos.
01:08I've been telling them to shut you down for months. End quote.
01:13I was shocked. Then he added,
01:15but it's going to be harder to shoot you up close now that I've met you.
01:19Before, when I didn't know who you were, it was an easy target, you know, easy shot with the sniper
01:24scope from a distance.
01:25But now that I've met you, it'll be a lot harder to kill someone you've had a conversation with.
01:30I was a 22-year-old woman asking an elected official for help, not expecting to hear language about shooting,
01:35targeting, and killing.
01:37Immediately after that, he asked us, how about you just sell the building to us?
01:41That was the first time I've ever heard a real estate offer after a physical threat.
01:50When I asked him to meet with another official, he said, no, no, it doesn't matter.
01:54The district, I hold the power in this city, as we can see with a lot of these fights today.
02:00We want accountability.
02:02We want accountability and transparency.
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