speakers right that will indicate how much time is remaining when you have 30 seconds left a bell will sound when your time is up the Bell will sound again before you begin your comments please state your name good evening and welcome to your for city council public comment meeting I'll call us to order tonight's invocation will be given by Bishop Donald Hayes from gift Ministries please rise for the invocation and remain standing for the pledges of Allegiance let us pray this the day the Lord has made let us rejoice and be glad ined father we thank you for the invitation to come and get this invocation for the board we pray you bless our m city Contin God the keeper on on the wings and make her strong as she continue to lead this city pray for every District representative here here you bless them God that they keep their job moving forward to bless the city that they work in pray God you bless God our DPS Department police fire and EMS as they keep us safe I pray God you watch over them continue to bless this meeting tonight have your Divine Way God and give them peace look on every every problem God that comes our way you are a problem solver and we thank you for it we ask these precious blessing your name we pray amen amen of the United States of America the repic for which it stands one nation under God in the visible withy andice mayor and Council our first action item will be the approval of the minutes from the February 13th 20th and 27th Council meetings move to approve motion a second Council any discussion please vote Charly thank you you got to click it again we can't Advance it thank you motion clears passes sorry mayor and Council that's all of the action items the rest is uh speakers thank you our next our first speaker is Bob Willoughby followed by Don Brewer well I didn't see any rejection there we go can we turn it up thank you is it playing turn it up is it up it's not up there's no sound they took the sound off from the beginning to the sound off you need the sound on from the very beginning Bob just a second they're humans they're trying to think you'll start it over for me and play from the beginning happy Tuesday Bob just a second thank you I'm gonna call Don breu and then come back to Bob since we having technical difficulties we'll start that over is Mr Brewer here hi Don come on down please thank you I have handouts if any of y'all if you don't mind hand them hearing we'll take them thank you yes sir Ronald hand them out thank you you can go ahead please thank you yes first off I'd like to thank the city council for especially you for uh supporting us in the past on this landfill operation uh I am here again to plead for yall support and to encourage y'all to again contact TCEQ to inform them that this is a poor idea the deal is that the landfill is on top of an aquafer it's on a flooded Zone it's on a city proper or next to city property it's on the lake it might as well be in the middle of the lake uh all water feeding from Silver Creek feeds directly into the lake as well as everything off this property so anything done on this property would automatically contaminate the lake uh there aquifer as well as a city so uh I had excuse me can't feel like I got Echo here okay okay thank you uh but I wanted to like I said have everybody look at it as it stands right now according to their platting this is at water level it's at 600 is according to uh the forgive me here uh the groundwater Conservation District is where the water is at the highest point on this is 620 most of it's at 600 and below so it's right there in the water table and as such like I said anything done on this it's operating on a 50y old uh landfill permit that was never exercise and now then they're trying to put something on there this will contaminate everything and there's no way you can stop it and I would submit that y'all resubmit stuff to tcq I also went back which y'all will probably want to check and see is that the city is responsible for Lake Worth as such since it is a water source now then under TW uh water development board section 26136 water quality management the city of Fort Worth his responsibility is to manage the functions including enforcement and under local government section 26175 y'all are responsible to please stop and monitor TCEQ has no control nor will they monitor or nor will they do anything so I implore y'all to please please help us help y'all so that we can stop this from turning into a super fun site thank you Mr Brewer um I have you gotten to personally speak with anybody from our legal department or Dr Wittenberg no I have not and I would we'll have someone follow up with you and we have protested as you know you're not we've got your information here thank you for submitting that and I'll make sure someone gets in talk with you tomorrow oh thank you thank you yes I would be glad to give them I have lots more documentation and I would be more than happy to submit and meet with anybody but we appreciate it very much yes sir if me fighting the city hall sometimes no no we're not fight and we're on the same side of the protest trying to get some the right person to talk to we can we can arrange that yes sir thank you ma'am you're welcome thank you thank you do we have that video ready for Mr Willoughby getting there okay we'll go to Rita Ramone and we'll come back when it's ready we just want to make sure it's gonna play Bob just a second is Miss Ramone here Rita Ramone okay David Martinez is Mr Martinez here there he is sorry um I had something prepared but Facebook went down today technology yeah and so I apologize usually I I come up here and I thought uh speaking from the heart usually I just go ahead and say stuff but what found out is that um when I speak sometimes I offend certain people certain groups not intentionally um but today um usually when I speak I speak for others uh either it's um children uh issues things like that with my community um and on neighborhood Southside Carter Park uh but today I'm going to bring up uh stuff that involves me okay so bear with me um okay so usually I I come in here speak but I wanted to bring up like when I was growing up um I come from mixed family uh I was adopted uh by my grandmother and we had other I had other siblings and Stu like that that were adopted so I was around a mixed family and St like that so growing up I didn't know like we didn't know we didn't speak about color or ethnicity things like that cuz we're all mixed you know and so I was going to bring pictures to show y'all but I couldn't get off Facebook so anyways but the thing I want to talk about is as I got older and I started learning well this is who you are that's that's that's your color that's your race that's your ethnicity and as I got older I also learned that you know cuz there was a TV show there was Michael J fox and he love Ronald Reagan and I love that show and I was like well Ronald Reagan I like Ronald Reagan um we went from uh living in in like really ran down house and apartments and as we got I got older uh my mother invested in a business and you know we end up living off Elizabeth Boulevard in a nice house and we end up getting a maid and all that stuff so um we went through a change but what I I also want to bring up now is that a lot of people talk about generification and so growing up I didn't know about all that stuff and I didn't know about Republican Democrat I didn't know all that stuff I'm just me David Martinez uh but I notice now it's campaign and electri time and all that stuff and everybody's doing this never did I ever think that a Kennedy would not be on a Democrat ticket and we're living in a time where things are changing now so I wanted to bring up that I know some of you like nobody on this city council is hates each other everybody works together but the community doesn't see that they think it's RS and DS and I'm trying to tell everybody no we're all trying to win and we're all trying to help the community a lot of some of us have come from where we you know we have something that happened to us in our life and we want to do for others thank you Mr Martinez we appreciate it next speaker is the video good okay okay we're g to try that Mr willby let's try that again it's [Music] working mayor Maddie Parker at the last public comment two weeks ago it was brought to your attention that the director of Communications in public engagement Michelle is not doing the job she is hired to do I have received no response from you or your office since my inauguration I promised to attack problems and not people and I have continued to live by that in office I believe this philosophy is more important now than ever we live in a divisive time to solve real problems we need honest debate and facts mayor Maddie Parker we ask you how can there be an honest debate when you will not respond mayor Maddie Parker the pictures I placed to be seen were not shown on TV like the way they were shown at the meeting and like the other speaker at the city comment meeting February 20th 2024 to solve real problems we need honest debate and facts not attacks that have not a single shred of evidence to back them mayor Maddie Parker your words say one thing but your actions show another audience the only reason our two callers are by phone is they decided it be appropriate to curse out a 12-year-old Little League team while they were here celebrating their win so we just kind of put a stop to that for a few months hopeing they can come back in the spring and be a little better behaved especially around children mayor Maddie Parker where are your facts you have no evidence that is a 100% lie what you said about Bob Willoughby this has to be the worst lie that was ever told by a mayor to say Mr Willoughby cussed children when it is not true that is low down and dirty the city council may not discuss or deliberate about topic not specifically listed on the agenda including those presented during the public comments section of the agenda mayor Maddie Parker do the rules not apply to you thank you Mr Johnson may ask a question really quickly if you don't mind thank you I know that you've worked really closely with Tanisha in my office in the past and she's been an excellent help I've been really enjoyed coming out to Highland Hills I just want you to keep an open communication with my office and know Council M nles as well you're right there's no excuse for that and I'm glad you connected with Chief noes but I will commit to you I'll reach out Tanisha has been ill the last few weeks but someone else am okay okay good she shouldn't be answering the phone right now I hope she wasn't if she I figured that's how she is yeah but um we're still here for you and I'm happy to come back out again and visit with you and your neighbors and thank you for being here tonight thank you uhuh thank [Music] you our next speaker is Diana madon followed by Dean giri is audio okay yes good evening all um I want to start off by thanking you guys for this platform for allowing that the public to come and provide you know their concerns um so thank you for your time and attention tonight um my name is Di madrano and my family and I live in District 5 um I'm here tonight to speak about a park in our neighborhood that has been waiting for a decade to be completed moer Valley Park the park site has a historic marker to commemorate the moer Valley Park that once stood there the city of Fort Warth purchased the park property in 2014 and within the past 10 years has not made substantial progress to fully complete the park just last month on February 17th there was a community meeting which we great appreciate but yet we heard two concerning items one it was mentioned by mistake and completely understand that it was said by mistake that there are no public arts for the public art funds for the park but that led that statement to be um published in the Fort Worth report on February 24th um post the meeting I've received confirmation that the public art funds are there but I want the public to know that there was a mistake spoken there but it also gave us the impression that once someone stops looking funds get reallocated or moved I traced back the annual work plans year after year after those funds were approved and they appeared on those annual work plans up until last year in 2023 second it was mentioned a timeline of one year to design the park and another year to construct if 10 years wasn't long enough another two more years so I'm here to plea that the city stop kicking the can down the road and start constructing and finish what it should have done years ago my children are should not have to be here tonight instead they should be enjoying a completed Park so I'll leave you with this question is now finally the time for moer Valley thank you thank you Miss Fano I'm going to make sure that Mr zala connects with you tonight thank you Mr giri thank you ladies and gentlemen respected me member of the city councils thank you uh for giving me a time to speak few words here for too long our community has awaited for the construction of this park that my neighbor just mentioned uh there's been lot of bureaucratic huddles uh fund is been allocated to the other side of the city construction or Improvement works from the fund that was meant to be spent for this park uh I'm not here to point out any particular council members or team for the delay or anything but uh this is 10 years for just simple open field park is unacceptable and un hard of uh there's not really any structural or mechanical or anything that needs to be considered so looking at just plain ground with basic Trail for the kids to walk around and playground and funding of $900,000 to do such construction and 10 years I don't know what explains for 10 years delay on that uh the delay in this park is not only is inconvenient but it's also a disservice to the resident who have long awaited for the space to gather to play and connect it is denial of fundamental right right to access Green Space Community facilities to Foster the sense of belonging and well-being the ramification of this delay extends far beond the confined space of the paperwork and pruit obstacles it is f in the face of the children who have now nowhere to play nowhere to run the frustration in the face of the parents seeking the safe environment for their families and disillusionment for the Neighbors who have for felt forgotten and neglected I cannot stand idly by promise that were made and remain unfulfilled deadline are missed and voices are silenced by the force of this bureaucratic corridors thank you Mr Yuri allocating funding sorry I thought you concluded my apologies keep going sorry allocation of this funding to carry out any Improvement and construction work of other part of the city or interest group is unethical uh funding of the park supposed to be going to the fun to the construction of the park again uh there should not be any delay on the construction and and I see this timing bibs but I had some thank you Mr giri appreciate you coming sorry your your time has concluded again make sure you get with Mr Zavala thank you our next speaker is Danielle Tucker mayor she has not answered the phone yet okay no one Danielle Tucker is not here okay uh Sue freberg hello um thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak tonight I would really appreciate it if you paid attention to what I have to say since your political Futures could be affected by the decisions you are about to make regarding the city of Fort Worth as a citizen of Fort Worth I'm concerned that you're about to lead us down a path of higher taxes for little to No Gain we are aware that there is a decision to be made regarding the future of EMS service understandably things change over time however change for change sake or for the hubris of the department head is no reason to dismantle a worldwide known and respected organization the same organization has been providing highquality clinical care for over 30 years to this and surrounding communities at no cost it is now asking for assistance in overcoming some of the same challenges that all EMS services are facing that cost in comparison to dismantling the system and utilizing a fire-based system in is tens of millions of dollars different now you may have been influenced by backdoor politics and smear campaigns but you need to look at the true value of the service provided to this community and the in inovations in EMS that have come as a result of this service EMS has changed over the years and MedStar has been in the Forefront of these changes additionally many members of this Council accept campaign donations from the very same organizations that stand to benefit from any change to the current model this reeks of corruption and those members should recuse themselves from any and all decisions to be made by this Council in regard to any changes to be made this comes to you anonymously in fear of retaliation from Department that I have devoted several years to many members of the fire department came to work as firefighters and it was with full knowledge that the EMS was run by a different organization that works in a partnership with each other the current Administration has created a divisive and toxic culture that threatens to destroy these relationships that have been built over time no organization is perfect and both have their negative qualities but the overwhelming qualities of both are positive and patient care centered in conclusion please think carefully about the decision you're going to make and how it impacts each of the taxpaying citizens and this community as well as your ability to look the citizens in the eye and tell them that you're doing this for the betterment of the community and not just for political and single minded gain thank you sue just quick question I can't I want to respect the anonymity of the remarks there if it's you personally or if whoever wants to be anonymous I can have Val Washington reach out to you and you can have a conversation with her who's helping to supervise the ad hoc Emergency Management committee that's up to you I guess she could reach out to me okay thank you we'll do that thank you very much our next speaker is Jim DeLong good evening my name is Jim dong it's an honor to stand before you tonight tonight in 1859 Charles Dickens wrote a book called A Tale of Two Cities and his opening lines are imort are Immortal in uh literary circles it was the best of times it was the worst of times it was the age of wisdom it was the age of foolishness it was the epoch of belief it was was the epoch of and crudity it was the season of light it was the season of Darkness it was the spring of hope it was the winter of Despair sound familiar it could be written about the times that we're in there's such a divide of people's ideology for a a few times I've I had a red ball and I spoke about a red ball and some people think it's called Green and when it when it's really red people will go to the mat for their ideology and if you look at this list it's interesting the title of the book Is A Tale of Two Cities but it's talking about one city it was the tale of two ideologies and that's what we face today and so you know why am I bringing this up because if we can uh open our eyes and to see that different people can have totally they can look at the same thing they can experience the same thing and they could have opposite feelings about it it could be the best of times to some the worst of times to others it can be an age of wisdom it can be an age of foolishness it could be a season of light or it can be a season of darkness and that's what uh we're presented with today so it's a challenge to all of us here in this room it's a challenge to all that will hear my voice speak this on YouTube what are you going to look at how are you going to look at it you know you have the glass half full a peston sees that it's half empty an optimist sees that it's half full I can look at An Empty Glass without there being a vapor of water in it I see it overflowing because I believe in The Human Condition I believe through the centuries man has proven that we can Excel that we can come together and as we come together there's Unity there's strength and unity s sorry thank you thank you Mr dong our next speaker is Muhammad Faro followed by W Abal hammed Mr Muhammad thank you mayor and Council I greet you with the best of the greetings peace be upon all of us Pres in here um mayor we did have the open house we invited we had invited all of you I understand everybody's has a busy schedule it would have been nice to have you there we had we had a good Community show and we discussed a lot of issues and also educated a lot of people our invitation to all of you is always open uh you're always welcome to get in touch with us and stop by and talk about the issues that I talked about last time regarding obviously the community our community is facing racism islamophobia phobia anti-Semitism and obviously the need for ceasefire uh with that with that what I'd like to say is that um I wonder why it has to be that elected officials and politicians can only react at the fear of uh getting booted out michiganders spoke and they spoke loudly last week and after that number two in the administration Kamala Harris on Sunday did call out for a ceasefire and in fact invited Ben against bypassing nanahu on Monday but why am I saying all this I'm saying all this because we are a global World um what we do here especially with our tax dollars impacts a lot of us abroad and uh one of the reasons is that I'm going to show you this picture at uh city council um sorry the there's a person sleeping here right right outside now we can spend those tax dollars and if you all have ever driven a Lancaster you know what I'm talking about the homeless situation I don't have to preach that over here that's our tax dollars council members um we this is happening in in Gaza on our watch with our tax dos and I've said that before um and we have a lot to do with it so I'd be happy if some of you could call uh one of the defense contractors and tell them you know what you can ship a lot of missiles and and then and military equipment abroad but for everything shipped give us $1 and I bet you we can solve these issues um other than that if Moses and Abraham were on your right Jesus and lot and Joseph and Jonah peace be upon all of them when you left what would they advise you to do as as far as the humanity calls and in contemporary history if Mandela and Gandhi was on your right mayor and Malcolm X and Martin Luther King were on your left what would they advise you to do for people suffering in the world thank you very much our next speaker is Walla mamed agree with the greetings of Islam peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings you guys are all familiar with this ceasefire resolution that we've been begging for everywhere all over this the country I want to speak to everyone in this room not just the city council members not just the mayor but I've already said this last time I want to say it again this country has been built on racism towards all minorities it has enabled systematic oppression and violence time and time again it was built upon taking people out of its land the same way Israel has been taken the land from its people and has been very has been made very very clear in the last few months this isn't only about the innocence of musl of Palestinians or Muslims or Arabs or whatever minority you think of but this is also about American citizens just like my my brother Muhammad just mentioned there are people who are affected here in this country there is a brother whose name is Zachariah that we mentioned a few weeks ago he was stabbed in Arlington he's from Arlington he was stabbed in Austin he wasn't doing anything he just had a flag on his car there's also Aaron Bushnell who we're all familiar with what we all know what just happened to him we have Khan a Muslim physician who was stabbed in Houston due to islamophobia during the last four months stabbed 26 times a kid 26 times an American citizen because of a lie that President Biden said that he that his admin Administration later on came by came back and said that that was a lie that wasn't that was fabricated we're all very frustrated we're all hurt by this and we're asking for a ceasefire for our for all of Humanity's sake America has been tearing the Middle East apart tearing it apart time and time again we're just here to make our voices heard for them and for anyone who might could be affected by this it could be me it could be my sister it could be my brother I don't want to see anyone get hurt we've been saying it time and time again that we want peace we want a ceas fire over the last couple of weeks Kamala Harris came out or I think it was last week or two she wants to he they want a six we ceasefire and if you look into the between the lines you know why they're asking for it and the Biden Administration inside the White House they sent out an anonymous call for a ceasefire so like my brother Muhammad said Texas was the last AB SL don't be the last to call for a ceasefire Salam our next speaker is asai jafre followed by nor Hassan hello esteemed council members I stand before you today with a question that goes beyond the boundaries of our media Community when you leave your neighborhood what do you see busing streets of familiar faces signs of everyday life but do you ever consider what the people in Gaza see when they step out of their homes they see a landscape desecrated by bombs and destruction now oh you may wonder what this has to do with you well I'm a resident of District 2 let's make this clear when I come out of my neighborhood I don't just e people like neighbors and busing streets I see e the I I see the supplies of weapons that contribute to mass destruction Gaza Elis systems council members I understand that you may feel little tired and perhaps annoyed by or persistent calls for change after all you've said that you don't see it happening or it was beyond your control but let me share what truly tires and annoys me having to repeatedly ask those who are meant to represent me to fulfill their responsibilities and to exhibit basic human compassion do you want to know what I find truly exhausting witnessing the refusal to acknowledge and act against atrocities occurring and I'm not the only one who feels this way recently a young Air Force member from Texas set himself on fire because he was so tired of this ongoing genocide before he died he said I will no longer be complicit in genocide I implore you to consider the we of your decisions the only outcome of turning a blind eye to the ongoing genocide is a stain of innocent blood on your hands how can and you as Representatives remain unmoved when faced is with the constituents who have not lost one who have not lost two but 20 members of their family how can you justify an action when confronted with the human TOS of your indecision we come to you not out of a desire for inconvenience but out of desperation hoping that you will recognize the great the gravity of the situation and take a stand for justice and Humanity council members the time for change is no the responsibility lies on your shoulders and the choice you make will shape the legacy of our city and it stands on IM morality and compassion let us not be remembered as the community that turned its back on those in need but that one that stood up against Injustice and work towards a world where people can live without the fear of bombs and destruction thank you is nor Hassan followed by arsel and Joffrey council members thank you so much for letting me speak today my name is nor Hassan I am a citizen of for worth I have been born raised gone to school married open and closed businesses here and I'm here to talk to you about the same thing that the last few speakers have spoken about but I'm going to paint you a different picture several years ago a movie came out it was called The Hunger Games and I know that whether you watched it you have no doubt that you've heard about it and I remember specifically when I watched this movie I couldn't imagine how someone could even even imagine this world how they could imagine the cruelties they showed and how they were able to depict it let's forget the fact that three movies came out and then recently the the prequel to it and now looking at it I wonder wow if we try to make a movie today about today's things we wouldn't even be able to rate it we wouldn't be able to show these things you all saw CNN is finally covering the the covering the media footage after 4 months the atrocities that are happening every everybody knows what happened recently the flower Massacre the fact that just over basic flower and water they're being shot up and killed in the streets no one is stopping them no one is giving Aid no one is allowing they're hurting the humanitarians they're hurting the people helping they're hurting the ones trying to get the food all they're doing is trying to get flour and water that's it they're not committing any crimes they're not doing anything they're not saying anything they're just trying to get basic food we can't can't even show documentaries of what's going on because they're so horrific we can't even even imagine as privileged citizens of the United States what they actually are going through because we haven't seen that kind of Cruelty in our country and now one way or another America will always be remembered for its complicity and let's be honest as American citizens we are all complicit because we all pay taxes and hundreds of thousands of dollars go from Fort wor alone and as long as we are members of this city we are all complicit and so together we should all think about the fact that we want this to be ended and stopped and that we need to figure out a way I been told countless times here that you guys don't have jurisdiction and you have no power but you have far more power than we do and that's why I have no doubt that you want to make sure that in our history forwards doesn't look like what it's done in the past that America will look better it's up to you to decide how your story will be written and how you will be remembered it should not be elicited by fear or being kicked out you should want to hope that this is what I would want for myself and for my family or my community and that's why I'm begging please we need to stop the funding to Israel we need the money locally we need it in our city for so many things I've been listed tonight and more so and we need to request for a ceasefire resolution thank you very much our next speaker is arsel and Joffrey followed by Rachel Thompson okay before we get started with the main speech I just wanted to put it out there that rather than providing a subsidy to Bel texr for a expansion uh might be more useful for Parks uh but as as a recap of our last sessions um we have normalized and tolerated the following uh mass murder of civilians execution of children execution of people waving White Flags murdering of the First Responders uh Collective PL punishment through blockade of uh humanitarian aid for starvation destruction of homes hospitals and schools it's now day 153 of the live streaming of the genocide and the new list of things that we are willing to normalize and tolerate now include death of at least 10 children through starvation uh execution of starving uh people that are attempting to get uh Aid the flower Massacre is the largest of those events it is not the only one of those events uh execution of prisoners after they use for whatever purpose that the military deemed necessary like telling a hospital to evacuate before they destroy it and then executing that individual uh the beating a family members of captives who are protesting uh for a peaceful release of their family members uh you know through tear gas and uh water Canyons 2% of the gazen uh population is now been exterminated in six months uh compared to the 3% that of the Japanese that were killed over a six-year conventional War okay an American serviceman is uh set himself on fire his last words my name is Aaron Bushnell I am an active duty member of the United States Air Force I will no longer be complicit in the genocide I am about to engage an extreme active protest but compared to what the people of Palestine have been experiencing at the hands of their oppressor this is not extreme at all this is what the ruling class has decided to be normal not my words his words and I warned you guys last time you know we will have the society we are willing to tolerate so we will keep coming and asking the city to pass a ceasefire resolution because what is normal and what should be tolerable is peace and a logical path forward not the Bliss of the ignorance that we are trying to stay in or even worse the complicity and silence thank you our next speaker is Rachel Thompson good evening Council my name is Rachel Thompson and I came before you today to request that you speak up for Injustice and demand an immediate and permanent ceasefire for Gaza our community looks towards its leaders for guidance and it's up to you the council before me today to use your voice um to use your voice to take a stand against this genocide and no longer be complicit I'm able to stand before you today because my grandparents were able to escape Ukraine from Russian aggression many years ago and now my grandfather is watching it happen yet again in his homeland thankfully with the support of the US Ukraine has been able to fight against the Green oppression something that Gaza has not been afforded instead our government continues to send bombs and weapons to Israel aiding the genocide of the Palestinian people it's it's easy to take the stance that this is bigger than a Citywide issue that speaking out and making a statement won't do anything of scale when decisions of War are made at higher levels if the loss of innocent lives is not enough to take action then how about the loss of tax dollars that could be going into investing in our cities and working to solve the plethora of problems we have here instead we are forced to fund the bombs killing innocent lives who have just as much right to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness with our tax dollars though we may live under the false sense of security that within the US border that we could never fathom something of this nature Happening Here I ask that you just take a moment to imagine your children under the rebel imagine as your children crying and unable to move due to hunger and there's not a single thing you can do about it because the world chooses to sit by instead of intervene the actions of the iof in Gaza directly impact our local community people settling people are setting themselves on fire in the streets because they cannot stand to see the atrocities unfold and hear the cowardice and the Silence of our elected officials changes in our country begin at a local level and I believe you became you came into this position because you have a great love and commitment to your community and want to make a difference do not underestimate the difference your voice can make this has nothing to do with blue or red left or right it's right and wrong all I ask is that you use your voice to speak up for what is right and imagine the message that it would send if on a Citywide level throughout the nation that City's called for a ceasefire I believe that we have the ability to make change but we must speak up for Humanity depends on it free Palestine thank [Applause] you our next speaker is akifa Khan followed by Adrien Smith by phone guess not hi my name is akafa Khan and I am in District six um I grew up in Fort Worth I went to JT Stevens I'm South African Indian my parents my my dad he uh he was in a place called um Riverside in Durban South Africa and and under the South African government at that time um they had a they they kicked my dad and grandparents out the house for to replace it and rezone it as a white only area um the um and that was just as a South African Indian as a South African black person it was even worse they had to live in something called a um they had to live in basically a um bont Stone that's what it was called the parallels between South Africa and Israel right now South Africa would call them foreign natives Israel calls them present absentees so my grand Uncle he came here to America to Fort Worth in the 70s he came here because he wanted to have a right to education he came here to study Aeronautical Engineering he couldn't do that in South Africa because of his ethnicity because of his skin tone so well he he served in the military in the Air Force um he studied at UTA I studied at UTA I have a degree in history in African-American studies I want to say that you need to be we all need to be on the right side of History we need to say no to what it to what our federal government is doing right now we need to call for permanent ceasefire and that's all I have to say thank you Miss [Applause] con our last speaker is Adrien Smith by phone Mr Smith uh yes go ahead yes Adrian Smith I am Adrien Smith I am one with the people when a deer is caught in headlights what what happens to it when a dur is caught in headlight what usually happens to it I said it to say this to the chairperson and to the representatives of the various districts of this city please stop patronizing individuals when they come before you to speak and call out the things that you are not doing and that you should be doing to the representative of District 8 sir I am watching the current the most recent um I guess discussion that was had with the historic sou Community um 23 years of disinvestment by this city although you were were not a part of the 420 you did not represent um in the uh position you in for the last 23 years you are now the current representative sir you have a obligation to ensure that this this necessary development gets off the ground it seems as if uh again like I stated last week that c island has taken more importance than the historic Stouts side so I'm I'm G leave that there I have more to say on it but I'm G leave that there to the individuals of Mo Val who came out to speak in regards to the 10 years of empty promises as it relates to your part again it's it's your representative This falls on your representative but you all have obligation we all have obligations as people we put these individuals in we can take them out and we don't have to wait till an election year there is the power of recall so I want people to be mindful of that we have a power of recall always at our side and although the representative of District 5 stated that she's no longer going to run be ass sure that she's going to uh have okay for someone else so I say go with the opposite as as it relates to the uh dismantling of our EMS paramedic system I hope this is isn't true but if it is shame on you Council and to the individuals who Collective voices stand on behalf of the Palestinian people uh again we had the power to vote these individuals out they've already made their uh stance with the pro Proclamation that they that they' decided upon so let's use the power to vote and let's get them out the people of Palestine have a right to exist again Adrian do have one more speaker Miss Ramone did walk in I wanted to honor her time to speak Rita if you want to come down please hi hello I'm here to speak about the homeless problem we have in here um I wrote um some uh statement down it's kind of like a poem kind of um but and I wrote this a homeless a person without a home still wants to feel safe and without at home to feel safe that person feels lost Lo hopefully not lost forever but will help come in time or not most likely at all that person without a home feels even more lost and hopeless that help will never come that person without a home will continue to do her best with what she has and be grateful that she wakes up another day hello my name is Ron I've been homeless too many times to count and every time I'm homeless it's even harder to get the help I need which makes me more depressed I refuse to take down any more numbers as I already know that numbers they say they will help you only lead to um dead ends and more depression I went to the other meeting about the homeless and I couldn't s through the whole meeting because I wanted to call comment and I was thinking no one is going to get help they need because someone is being accountable for their actions and one other point I heard is that you were trying to follow Houston homeless problem but I can tell you that I was homeless in Houston too and never got the help I need there to find a home for me and my daughter so I came back to Fort Worth in 2012 I managed to move into a garage apartment in the north side of Fort wor stayed there for four years with my daughter and still wanted a safer place for me and my daughter to call home so the first chance I got I moved them me and my daughter to the west side of Fort wor and stayed there for seven years recently illegally evicted another point that at that meeting that I heard is that someone said that people want homeless people to disappear but that will won't happen at all if you still ignore the problem and not keep these organizations accountable for not keeping a high standard for customer service for people in need that's all thank you Council that's the conclusion of our meeting thank you