[Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Hey. Hey. Hey. Heat. Heat. Oh, [Music] hey. [Music] Ooh. Ooh. Oh. [Music] Oh. Oh. Hey, [Music] hey, hey. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Double B. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Hello. Hello. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Yeah. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Hey, [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh, [Music] heat, heat. [Music] Uh welcome to the public comment period. Uh we have 18 folks signed up for this evening. So we'll be doing three minutes each. And I will start uh with Lisa Huitt. Good evening. I'm here tonight because I oppose the planning commission's approval of the West Street Tower. That approval was based on selective policy emphasis, a disregard for neighborhood protections, and a failure to provide meaningful public benefit. Let's begin with neighborhood transitions. This site is a designated neighborhood transition zone formally codified in February of 2024 and creates specific requirements for new development to be compatible with existing residential areas. Transition zones are clearly defined and protected throughout the UDO, the comprehensive plan, and the EDOT. These policies exist specifically to buffer neighborhoods from intense development like this. It's bonkers that staff completely omitted this from their analysis. Instead, we heard the developers describe a step down from 30 to 25 stories as a meaningful transition. But that claim falls apart under scrutiny. The so-called step down, it's a mirage. The height decreases north to south, not east to west where where the neighborhood sits. Plus, the site's topography erases any step down illusion. This isn't a transition. It's a 360 ft wall looming just 167 ft from historic homes. So I ask, how are we weighing policy consistency here? Are we just counting which policies are convenient for a project and ignoring the ones that aren't? If you objectively compare the applicable zoning guidance, it's clear this resoning violates the intent and spirit of multiple city policies designed to protect neighborhoods from exactly this type of overreach. Perhaps it's a convergence of unintended consequences when the realities on the ground necessitate a re-examination of following a short list of policies. This case was denied two years ago for these very reasons and there's even more evidence to oppose this resoning today. Case in point, the previous resoning delivered Smoky Hollow Park. This one delivers 1.2 million for affordable housing. That sounds good until you realize the developer could have built up to 18 stories by right with affordable units on site. Instead, they chose to build none. If this is a fight to provide housing near transit, then I'm going to continue to fight to build affordable housing near transit. I'll remind you that in all the years this condition has been around, it hasn't produced one single affordable unit. This isn't about stopping growth. Our existing zoning already allows for nearly 550 units on this site. It's about rejecting a project that ignores codified transition areas, disregards protection for historic neighborhoods, and offers no real public benefit for on-site affordable housing. Our policies matter, but so do our neighborhoods. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we have Octavia Rainey. Good afternoon. First of all, I would like to say at the last city council meeting, I did not discuss what I should have discussed, but I am going to tonight. I was going through your checkpoint on the first floor. They detained my pocketbook saying it was a sold diaper. Now, by being a fair housing investigator with 50 years of experience, if this is a sold diaper, I want you to show me a sold diaper. When you open up somebody's pocketbook, a sore diaper smells you had on gloves. When you was filling in my pocketbook, it should have felt wet. When I questioned her, "Why are you detaining my pocketbook?" She didn't say a word. A word. She called the supervisor down from wherever he was. So when he got down there, you know the first thing he said to me, "Well, you got to take your sword diaper out." And I said, "Unleas my pocketbook right now. Unleash it. I do not have a sword diaper in my pocketbook. give me my pocketbook right now. I said, I want it right now. So, you better call the police cuz I want my pocketbook because I knew it was no sore diaper in it. I am an affair investigator. So, I knew that was wrong. It was wrong. So, he said to me, he said, "You got to take your sword diaper out." I said, "You you better go ahead on and call the police cuz they ain't taking out Jack Duly Squat and give me my pocky book." And I was not playing. I was ready to go to jail. I was not playing. But when I came in here, you would have never known it cuz I didn't act like it. So he said, and I said, "I don't understand it. She got on gloves. Couldn't she feel a soiled diaper? Don't a soiled diaper smell?" So when you open up my pocketbook, it should have smelled. I said, "Give me my pocketbook right now." And he looked at me. And then he went and touched it and he said "Oh it was rude, unprofessional. He never apologized to me at all. Shoved me my pocketbook bag. Shoved it to me." Now, I want to ask y'all, what is the culture of Mr. Taylor's security? What is the culture? That was the rudest thing. But that one the first incident I had with them. They accused me of bringing in a sign one time. Came down here and interrupted my conversation. Didn't even apologize. There's something wrong with this and y'all need to get a Thank you, Eddie. Watson. Good evening. Uh, I'm Eddie Watson. I represent the nonprofit here uh called the Raleigh Durham Skaters Association and also I'm four years in on being a roller skating instructor for the Raleigh Parks and Ricks. Basically, we do instructionals based basics beginners intermediates. Uh what we're noticing with the success of our program is a lack of space to roller skate to practice to you know learn more. The feedback I get is my driveway is on a hill. Um the street is too rough. I can't, you know, get what we we were doing, you know, in lessons. Now, I sent um some pictures. Uh one in uh Huntsville, Alabama, and also one uh matter of fact, our neighbor Ashville. Uh the trend now is people enjoying roller skating in a lot of different fashions, not just to going around in a rink. Uh, I kind of blame that on the pandemic in a sense cuz right I'm 32 years in roller skating. So that means uh yes I enjoy it greatly. So, we're asking to see more space cuz it seems like there's a lack of it in the parks and wrecks and cuz uh just recently um at the Sanford Road Park. Um oh, by the way, I teach at the Tarbor Road um center every Sunday. It's an adult class and um it's very successful. Um so I'm definitely proud of it. But basically um we had uh actually a program you know within itself independently where we would be at Sanford Road Park utilizing the tennis courts. Uh successful uh we had uh private lessons, group lessons. Um, if you want to know the age, our average age is 35 on up. We currently have uh person that's uh in their 60s. So, it seems like more uh people of age uh getting involved in skating and actually doing well at it. But we have to have a very safe place for them because the skate rinks uh I have to say for young people they just want to do. Thank you very much. Thank you. Chris Crew, good evening ladies and gentlemen. Thanks for your service and thanks again for your willingness to receive public input. In the coming weeks, you're going to be hearing from the public about a number of land use planning and zoning and development issues and opportunities here in Raleigh. The preservation community takes particular interest in Z2525, Z3125, and Z1225. As the decision makers in these cases, you deserve to have good and complete advice from the various stakeholders, from the planning department, the development community, and from the public. 1999, I first addressed the city council concerning a zoning change proposal. During that conversation, the late James West reminded the petitioner that it was not the city's responsibility to ensure the profitability of a particular business venture. In order for you to make important decisions about such ventures with confidence, you need good advice. The planning department should be working together with petitioners and the public to provide you with a recommendation based on a full and rational analysis of all impacts, positive and negative, and consistency with a comprehensive plan. Their job is to help you understand a proposal in context, not to convince you that the pro proposed action is necessary and essential to the continued expansion of Raleigh's revenue base. The planning department's presentation should illustrate a broad look at the comprehensive plan and other relevant guidance, including congeniality and common sense to assess a wide range of impacts in order to present a cogent, balanced, and impartial assessment of the public impacts and benefits of a particular variance upon which you may confidently base a decision. That's not what you're getting. You guard and contribute to the legacy of Raleigh and I hope that based on your actions my grandchildren will view the city as worthy of preservation when their turn comes to stand at this podium or sit at that dis. Thank you for your time. Thank you David Row Ray. Is is there a way to pull up the presentation or uh No. Uh unfortunately, you can just submit there and we can they can distribute it. Okay. Yeah. All right. So, you guys can see it. Okay. Because I'm All right. Okay. Good evening. Um, my name is David Ray and I'm here to talk about a proposed 18 townhouse development utilizing less than 2 acres of land near the corner of Six Forks and Anderson Drive. I've lived in Anderson Forest since my parents moved there in 1987. I've seen Raleigh metro area grow from 275,000 to over 1.6 million now. And I've seen how things can grow properly. And I don't feel in this case that is the case. Anderson Forest and Oakland Hills or sorry, excuse me. The proposed development by Kentucky based Fiser Homes is to include 18 three-story town homes which propose which pose significant risk to the surrounding neighborhoods of Anderson Forest and Oakland acres will also affect Drew Hills. Our primary concerns are increased traffic, congestion, safety hazards, and exacerbated flooding issues. The alignment of the new neighborhood with the view of how it fits between Anderson Forest and Oakland Acres is on slide three. So you can see how it's basically in the middle of two neighborhoods with no access other than onto Six Forks. Slide four. This is a review of traffic data from the area of concern. We also have new data that I've handed out from City of Raleigh and NCO DOT um that was added after the presentation on Friday. Last night, I also saw new data from uh Parks and Rack, which showed that one of the alternate greenways for the Big Branch Creek can't go this way due to traffic and safety concerns. Slide five. These are the current intersections in relation to the proposed development. If you look at it, there's not a lot of space between the two intersections of Anderson and Oakland. And it's a blind curve. We almost get rearended daily. Okay. I walk and ride across Six Forks at least a few times a week and we typically wait three seconds before we cross because there's always going to be someone zooming around. If you look at that statistics, there are 48 crashes in the last 5 years, nine or five fatalities in the Six Forks corridor between North Hills and Falls of the Noose. So adding more traffic and adding more intersections, which there have not been intersections added since I've lived here, is going to cause a major issue. I'll skip six and seven as uh Mr. Andrew is going to talk about those. Main one is precedence. Um this developer is using missing middle text change on the ODU to get administrative approval. This area has been through due process multiple times in 2008 and in 2015. Both projects were overturned by traffic safety. We all know traffic on Six Forks hasn't gotten better since 2015. So in this instance, they're basically using it um to make changes that due process has denied in the past. So and it is projected that these town homes are going to run between 8 6 and 800K with two possible lower ones to meet the HUD requirements, not the intended goal of missing middle. So what we're asking for is positive change um by bypassing Thank you, Hannity Ali. Good evening, everybody. My name is Hennady Ali and I am here to ask again from all of you guys to propose a ceasefire resolution because I think it's very important even though we've discussed before how you think it's not at this level. I I do think it's at this level. Things are happening quickly around the world and I think we need to start locally. I'm going to give you some news facts that of course Apac brought to you media will never give you. Is Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells hundreds and thousands of Palestinians to leave Gaza City immediately. And where are they supposed to go? In order to go anywhere, you have to have money. So I feel like that's just a death trap. Israel says it has bombed 50 high-rise buildings in Gaza City as part of a new campaign. What campaign is this? Wasting American taxpayer dollar money campaign. UN humanitarian rights chief says more than 42,000 Palestinians displaced by Israeli demolitions and occupied West Bank since October 2023. That is the West Bank. There is no Hamas there. It's It's so obvious. It's really frustrating to keep like over and over talking about. UN says more than 500,000 Palestinians are enduring catastrophic starvation. Six deaths due to famine and malnutrition in Gaza with at least 140 children among 399 Palestinians who have died of starvation. Since May, at least 2430 Palestinians killed trying to get food. Death toll from Israeli aggression s risen to 12,059 killed and 51,000 injured since March 18, brink of cease break of ceasefire in Israel. At least 248 media workers have been killed in Gaza since October 2023. Since I have more time, we're just going to keep going. Let us not forget the plight of the Palestinian hostages in Israeli prisons, which brings us back to the military occupation. That brings us back to the aparthide system, which brings us back to illegal settlements within the West Bank and illegal settlements around Gaza. That means someone has taken land illegally through force. What kind of atmosphere do you think that creates? Then we talk about the refugee situation that continues and was created in 6748. The refugees that if they didn't leave would be killed. Leave my home or be killed. That let let that be the question that you ask yourself. Which brings us to South Africa. Which brings us to segregation. We said segregation and aparthide in South Africa were against human law as we should. Then why do we keep our mouth shut against the aparthide of the Israeli military occupation? Alexis Kennedy. Good evening, council members. I still have yet to see any of you come downtown on Sunday to feed your community. Since my last visit, on top of my regular duties, I gave money to one of my regulars so she could get her insulin. I gave money to a mother to cover some of her rent since she lost her job after the death of her child. And I made a package of diapers for a woman who had been raped downtown and had lost the ability to keep her urine in. And my reward from my work is that I open up my phone and witness a mass murder of Palestinians in Gaza and the displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank paid for with our tax dollars. I have to limit what I give to to my community because my government needs it to have their department of war. Before the council is a resolution that I sent earlier, I'll allow you to read that while I'm um going through it, but I'm not going to read all of it. But this is was a resolution passed on August 31st by the International Association of Genocide Scholars. Recognizing these crimes are essentially are estimated to have left many thousands of people buried under the re rubble and otherwise inaccessible and most probably dead. Recognizing that this bombing and violence is estimated to have injured over 143,000 people with many maimed. Recognizing that the actions of Israel's government against Palestinians have included torture, arbitrary detention, sexual and reproductive violence, deliberately attacking on medical professionals, humanitarian aid workers, journalists, and the deliber deliberate deprivation of food, water, medicine, and electricity essential to the survival of a population. Recognizing that Israel has forcefully displaced nearly all of the 2.3 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip multiple times and demolished more than 90% of the housing infrastructure in the territory. Recognizing that the consequences of the crimes have included destroying entire families, multiple generations have been wiped out. Recognizing that Israel has destroyed schools universities libraries museums, and archives, all of them essential to the continued existence of a Palestinian collective well-being and identity. Recognizing that Israel has killed or injured more than 50,000 children that in this destruction of a substantial part of a group of constituents group constitutes a genocide as emphasized in a joint declaration of the intervention of the international courts of justice. If you don't know who that is, those are the ones that prosecuted the Nazis. Children are essential to the survival of any group as such since the physical discretion of this group is assured where it is unable to regenerate itself. Thank you. Next we have Osma Abu Dahab. Hello council. My name is Asma. I'm a licensed clinical social worker and therapist here in Raleigh. Before I begin, I want to acknowledge that we are gathered on stolen indigenous land. Lands within and surrounding present day Raleigh are the traditional homelands and gathering places of many indigenous peoples, including eight federally and state recognized tribes. I probably will not pronounce every name correctly and I mean no disrespect. I say these tribe names with gratitude and respect. Kohjari, Eastern Band of Cherokee, Halawa, Saponyi, Lumbi, Marin and Saponyi amongst others. This matters because what is happening in Palestine is part of the same story. The story of occupation, displacement, and erasure. As a therapist, I sit with people every day who carry the weight of violence, oppression, and silence. And I know this silence is not neutral. It is a wound that ha deepens trauma. Right now, Raleigh remains silent. Our city has not called for a ceasefire while hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, men, women, and children are being killed in our name. This silence tells our community, especially our Palestinian and Arab neighbors, that their grief is invisible. The truth is silence is not neutral. Silence is complicity. When we say nothing, when we pass no resolution, when we choose not to act, we are telling our communities that we are okay with this injustice, that never again is just a slogan, rather a joke. And it is not only silence. Our tax dollars here in Raleigh help fund the bombs that are falling on Gaza right now. We cannot pretend that what is happening is distant. It is connected to us, to this very city, and to the values we claim to uphold. But we also know what repair can look like. Cities in North Carolina like Durham and Carboro and other AC others across the country like Chicago and Atlanta has have passed ceasefire resolutions. These do not end wars, but they matter. They affirm our shared humanity. They tell the world that we don't only acknowledge peoples and lands hundreds of years after their genocide. As a clinician, I can tell you this. Communities cannot heal when leaders like you refuse to name the violence harming them. I urge you to choose courage over silence to honor the land we stand on, land taken from indigenous peoples by refusing to look away from other people's disposition and to affirm that Raleigh will not be complicit in genocide. Thank you and free Palestine. And we have Misa Salari. Good evening. Uh this is Mesa Story. Um a part of this community. I'm a mother of two children. My husband is from Gaza. I'm originally from Nazareth. My family were displaced in 1948. Um members of this council, neighbors, friends, I stand before with you with a heavy heart. Every morning the news of Gaza brings new names, new faces, new children, whose laughter has been silenced, whose li who whose lives has been cut short. What we are witnessing is not just a war. It's annihilation. It's a starvation used as weapon. These bombs are falling on families in their homes, on the hospitals, on the schools. If entire people being told that their lives do not matter, we cannot look away. We cannot pretend this is far away. That is being done with our tax money. This administration is participating in a genocide as the previous one, and we have to do something about it. You can do something about it. You can talk about it. I ask you, no, I beg you to feel the urgency of this moment. Imagine if it's your own children trembling in the dark, hearing the sky, rain, fire. Imagine being trapped in a place where there is nowhere safe to go, no food, no water, no medicine. Imagine being told that you are very existent is expandable. This is not about politics. This is about humanity. This is about whether we will will allow genocide to happen in our time with our money with our names attached to it. History is watching and history will ask us, did you speak when Gaza cried? Did you act when had the chance? I call on you to take a stand. Pass a resolution for an immediate ceasefire. Demand to end the US complicity. Open your doors to Palestinian voices in this community. Do not let the fear to be an excuse for silence because silence is betrayal and today the people of Gaza needs us to be brave enough to break it. Please do something. Free Palestine. Next we have Mama Kai Sanders. I need bif focal. Excuse me. Good evening, y'all. It's another amazing day in paradise. Um, thank you so much for your service and a sincere thank you to all who serve this city. Whether it's in positions that are paid, volunteer, or both. If you know, you know. The last time I was here, I mentioned how people were fighting density, density, density. While I'm seeking diversity, diversity, diversity. I realized the d-word has become somewhat of a dirty word in the national spotlight, but I still exist. And I represent many aspects of what diversity looks like. African-American/black, female mom superhero unhoused brilliant. Although I know that each one of these those demographics are widely represented in the city, when I look at what Raleigh is shaping up to be, I only see one main demographic strongly represented in the planning and the design. And the main reason is the city allows it in a number of ways. But in defense, I know the city also seeks to create some balance where it can. Like with the lack of affordable housing, the city is looking to fill that gap. So I'm here to encourage the city to fill the gap in the lack of diversity in the way the city looks. One way is to move the amphitheater and the convention center expansions to Triangle Town Center, leave the current facilities where they are, and turn them into multicultural centers where our neighbors from around the world can host their cultural celebrations and dignity. I'm distraught that we have organizations that have hosted their beautiful events in muddy fields at Dicks Park or in a dusty baseball field at Carolina Pines using a generator so they could provide a quality program those in attendance could hear. Did you know one of our city employees was honored on that baseball field? Don't get me wrong, they made the most of it because they had teams playing baseball in the adjacent field. But still, we can do better. I'm sure people think I'm crazy since I'm still talking about moving the amphitheater and convention center expansions to District B, Triangle Town Center to be exact. And that's okay. What I think is crazier is that the city has authorized such an expensive renovation in the middle of the watershed when we know that storms will hit Raleigh, perhaps like Chantel, maybe even like Colleen. But what if it's historic, meaning worse than those combined? A multi-million dollar renovation that sustains multi-million dollar damage means even more to repair it. And when that happens, where will those concerts and conventions go? When we can't host them because the venue is beyond immediate repair. Then what? Surely that's revenue lost. Congrats to the convention center for the award they received. I think that's a sign they should leave it like it is. We need another economic center that can bring in significant revenue to support the expansion of city services because clearly we're not making it right now. So for those who think I'm being crazy, it's true. But I'm a special kind of crazy. I'm what I call Steve Jobs crazy. He once said, "The ones who are crazy enough to believe they can change the world are the ones who do." So to be clear, I am that kind of crazy. But I'm also being cautious. I'm being thoughtful. This Woody Bicks. Two things tonight. First, the proposed 30story tower at Peace and West Streets. It would be triple the height of the building across the street where Publix is. It will grossly overpower the entire neighborhood and Peace Street, which is already very congested at times, will become a parking lot. I am all for development within reason. It is okay to say no to a developer. Second, noise and amplified sound. I would like to thank you for bringing the consultant Brian from Austin here to see about our noise issue, but any recommendations he provides will require enforcement. As I have mentioned multiple times to you, we have seen a complete lack of enforcement of the current city pass noise ordinance. I had coffee several months ago with Captain Morrison. He said there is no enforcement of the noise ordinance by RPD and could not understand why. I say I share that with his permission as he's told me anything he ever says to me can be shared. I respect that. Chief Boyce had two meetings with area residents about two months ago. In one meeting, a resident spoke about the lack of noise ordinance enforcement by RPD. Chief Boy said RPD is enforcing the noise ordinance and issuing citations. One of his subordinates at the meeting spoke up and said RPD is not issuing citations. So it leads me to say who is running the asylum. Unfortunately, you all up there have not had the kahunas to make RPD enforce a city ordinance. So unless you're willing to do a 180 and demand enforcement of a city ordinance, bringing Brian from Austin here for and getting his recommendations and even if you enact his recommendations will be a total waste of your time and taxpayers dollars. I would like to end by commending Mayor Kyle. I have been coming here for years now to talk about Glenwood South noise and crime issues. First, I'd like to say Councilman Branch was going to visit two residences this past June, but it was a rainy night and we have found rain is our friend in Glenwood South. This past April, four months into her term, Mayor Kyle met one weekend to hear residents various concerns and then toured two residences. I think, Mayor Kyle, from your reactions that night, I can honestly say you were appalled to see what we have to deal with. I thank you for taking the initiative to see for yourself what we deal with each weekend. Thank you, Charlene Parker. I have Ralph M. Okay. Y Good evening, mayor and council members. My name is Charlyn Parker and I'm a crew leader for Raleigh Solid Waste Services. I'm here because the truth has been ignored for far too long. The story of Raleigh Solid Waste Services is a story of toxicity. And I'm not talking about the garbage we pick up. I'm talking about toxic leadership that poisons everything it touches. We have been told by the powers that be ain't nobody losing sleep over solid waste services. But we are losing sleep every single night because we are the ones forced to carry the weight of bad decisions, corruption, and arrogance while others rest easy in our silence. We see it in the lack of accountability. When mistakes are made, leadership doesn't own them. They throw them on us. They rip us off the routes we know best. The ones that we built trust with neighbors where we know every hazard before it happens. They've destroyed efficiency, put safety at risk, and made the citizens of this city pay the price. And why? To punish the workers who dare to speak up. Some even brag about their cozy ties to higher ups, boasting that they can do as they please, that nothing will ever change. This isn't leadership. It's arrogance, plain and simple. We see it in the irresponsibility and the refusal to change. They love to brag about technology upgrade, but drivers are still stuck with route smarts, multiple pages of paper and maps dumped in our hands every morning. Pages that we have to juggle in traffic while trying to keep the city safe. Hundreds of packets wasted every day thrown in the trash while leadership pats themselves on the back. This isn't progress. is reckless, dangerous, and irresponsible. We see it in the abuse of authority and the corruption of rules. Some workers break rules and walk away untouched, while others are punished harshly. And when a supervisor on city time was caught on video tampering with another worker's car, HR buried that evidence for over a year. It only mattered once the video hit social media. That's not accountability. That's corruption. When punishment is handed out like favors, when misconduct is covered up, it's clear some are protected no matter what they do. We see it in the lack of empathy. Leaders who never driven a truck sit in judgment over those who do it every day. Supervisors who won't even step in during an emergency. Silence the voices of drivers who know the work better than anyone. And all the while, the department floats without steady leadership, without the expertise that we need. And the results are right in front of you. Morale crushed, stress through the roof, pride destroyed, and replaced with fear. Trust gone, replaced with anger. And yet, we still show up. We still keep the city running. We've done our part. We've raised our voices. We brought the evidence. We've laid the truth at your feet. Now, it's on you, city council, and the city manager. Thank you. Next, we have Andrew Tatterol. Thank you for your time. This uh evening is my first time ever doing it, so bear with me, I guess. Um, you know, I don't really come up and stand up and do this very often because I feel like I've always loved the city for the last 11 years I've been here. But I think safety has become more of an issue in my mind. Uh, I represent the Anderson Forest and Oakland uh neighbors as David did. Uh, he talked a lot about the DOT safety. Uh, but I want to talk about flooding. I live on Big Branch Creek. Uh, and in the last seven years that I've lived there, I've lost four to six feet feet of my actual land that is gone. And I brought this up 6 years ago to the city and still haven't nothing has done. Um, I've got maybe a foot and a half left. I'm currently looking at a proposal for about $50,000 that I have to now fork over my own money to protect my own land and my house cuz there's only about a foot and a half left to go. So, when we all a sudden say, "Hey, it's it's pretty cool. Let's go ahead and do these 18 town homes right there." And the ODU will say, "Okay, cool. Let's go ahead and push through this um you know um ordinance or whatever through the missing middle piece so that maybe we don't see it." Well, we saw it. Now we're here. I think the issue really comes to where does that water go? ODU will say, "Okay, follow this little path and we'll we'll try and make it safe. We'll try to do the best we can do it, but where does that water go from there?" They kind of forget about that piece. I know when it rains in North Raleigh, all I have to do is step outside and then I look at my creek and I know it's raised about 2 feet and it's moving a lot faster and it's not even raining on my house. All the building that has gone on from North Hills all the way through um Milbrook and up north, all that is being infected and flowing down here and I have lost six feet of land because of it. And every year I put my complaints in, they said, "I'm on the list. I'm going to try to get there. We'll try, sir. We'll do what we can." They've come out, they measured every year. So, I sent uh talked with Councilwoman uh Jones, sent her the video where there is nine down trees right now. I had put my hunting boots on to just walk out there to see it. There's nine down trees and I even was nice enough to inform the city that there was a big one that just fell that won't make it underneath Six Forks. So I think before we start looking at new town homes, the 20s story building that will go over there down my street to the greenway, $4.6 million we're going to spend on a greenway so that Kane really can get connection. The greenway is meant to connect from north to south to bring people in. Well, Crabtree Creek always does that. And the only difference is they're going to go parallel and then all of a sudden connect at Shel Lake. Well, just connect it at Shel Lake. Why connect it all the way through here and put our neighbors at risk? They can see right in my backyard. It's 25 ft from my house in my backyard. My daughter has cried because she said, I'm like, I might have to move because I don't feel safe. I'm a disabled veteran. I don't need this when I I am full safety. I have to lock my door every night. Thank you. Thanks. Next, we have Joshua Bradley. Joshua Bradley, 1324, Spring Lawn Court. Um, ran out of work to get here, so I forgot my notes, so you're going to have to bear with me. Um, okay. It's been a little while since I've been here. Uh since then, uh I heard that the Democratic Party uh passed a resolution to for an arms embargo against Israel because of the genocide. Uh most of y'all are Democrats. I I'm given to understand. Um so now that your party is on your side, it might be time for a ceasefire resolution. I know that three of y'all voted correctly the last time. One of them that voted correctly was forced out because of that. Uh, but now your party is behind you. One of the few good decisions they've made. Um, now is the time for a ceasefire resolution. I know some of y'all were pretty pro- genocide last time around, but I think the evidence is pretty overwhelming that it's happening. Lots of children dying, lots of innocent civilians dying. So, investors in the American uh military-industrial complex can make that extra paycheck. Um, so I ask you, it's been over a year, over 60,000 people dead, over, you know, more than half of that children and women. Um, so please keep it on the mind, put it back on the agenda. I mean, right now, these days, it's gotten to the point where like 71% of the United States uh would be in favor of that is against the genocide. Um, now's the time to do it. Like if they try to use it as a political weapon against you, it's fine. When I ran last time, I got emails calling me an anti-semite, which makes my stepson's bar mitzvah really awkward in retrospect, but uh what are you going to do? But please, please consider doing a ceasefire resolution. We got to do something. We've got to all pull together to stop the nonsense that's going on now. If you want to know what you would have been doing in the 1930s in Germany, you're doing it now. So, um anyway, uh other than that, uh you know, development is neat, but I've had Republican co-workers of mine tell me that y'all are too friendly to developers, mainly John Kaine, which is really awkward coming from conservative developers. So, um it's important that you put uh you make sure that you have housing for everybody. We need to focus most exclusively on providing housing for people that doesn't have it. There's a way that can be afforded. Unfortunately, I don't think I can get it in 21 seconds. What we could do is look at the the guilds model from uh the UK after World War I. Uh work with uh the high school vocational programs in Wake Tech and try to build a a building guild to build affordable housing. We have the land. It would be cheaper than doing it through private means. I'll have more to say on that later. Again, I left my stuff, but Next we have Laura Harris. I'm Laura Harris. I live in District D. Um what I'm going to speak on happened a few months ago, but I've just um now gotten down here. Um so per ABC 11 and the ordinance uh passing because I checked it. Um on July 1st, city council and the mayor approved an ordinance that prohibits panhandling in public medians. It reads, "No person shall stand, sit, or loiter in the right ofway of any streets of the city, including on any median or median strip in a manner that impedes a normal movement of traffic." And this will go to into effect on November 1st. Um the reasoning behind this is supposedly community safety. Uh but safety for whom? Uh the council would have you believe it's for the people in the median who could get hit by a car. Um, but the article says dozens of complaints were filed with RPD about pan handlers in southeast Raleigh in 2024. So complaining about them. I didn't see anything in the article about injuries or accidents caused by people in the median in 2024 in Raleigh. Just complaints. Um, it seems to be what it's really about. You know, people don't want to see homeless people, so they complain to RPD to have them removed. They may claim safety is the reason, but you know, how is calling the cops on someone already in a precarious position to forcibly remove them? promote their safety. Um, this is not to say that accidents don't happen. There are a lot of busy streets and roads. Like, I understand accidents do happen, but why is criminalization the way to go? Um, pedestrian interference is a is a misdemeanor that may be punished uh without a $500 fine or 30 days imprisonment. Um, it reminds me of the war on drugs, you know, focusing on criminalization and not rehabilitation. Um, we need communities of care. Criminalization creates communities of hate and fear. Um, now taxpayer money is going to be spent paying RPD to enforce this law instead of being invested in the community instead of going into direct forms of assistance or the homeless p uh response pilot. Um, etc. Um, and maybe the law was just, you know, an empty gesture. Uh, I guess time will tell. Um, but regardless, you know, um, people have to be the ones to create these communities of care. Uh, because the city will never do it for us. and to support the folks who spoke on the genocide. Um there's a term I believe it's called the imperial boomerang. The idea is that you know um violence can uh uh you know done on people abroad or othering of people abroad. Those tactics end up returning home and are done on people at home. Violence against people at home, othering of people at home. Um you know and it leads to the normalization of violence. Um, and this, you know, is a small representative piece of that larger picture. We cannot let this be normalized. Thank you. Next, we have Helen Tart. [Music] Okay. Hi, I'm Helen Tart. I live at 611 Monroe Drive. Um, I'm here because I was disturbed by a couple of things at the September 2nd afternoon council meeting. Um, the first was the presentation of the proposal for revising the public sidewalk along FEL Street. It bothered me that only businesses on the street were consulted. Um, how hard would it be for staff to stroll up and down Feedville Street and talk to the people sitting on the benches and other seating areas to be removed. What might they want or need? Um, I realize that the businesses there do pay extra taxes, so certainly should have a large say in the amenities along the street, just not the only say. Over the years, the city has spent a considerable amount of money on Fville Street as well. It should and um people should be able to enjoy the street with have without having to pay 10 bucks for a burger and three bucks for a glass of iced tea. I know the planning department's name was changed to planning and development. It's only appropriate that they get business preferences on their recommendations. However, residents and other citizens should have an equal say in the decisions on the public realm. However, it was the discussion on the digital billboards that um really outraged me. Note, I'm not naming names, but one counselor emphasized that the industry should have a say in the decision of the council. While owners and workers in the industry may live in the city, although not necessarily, that does not give their opinion more weight than that of other citizens. City councilors are elected by residents to represent residents how while also protecting the public good. However, that public good should be seen through the lens of the re residents you represent. It is excuse me, it is your job to listen to and reflect the needs and wants of the residents. It's also your job to make sure that city staff knows that their job is to protect the interests of the people that live in Raleigh, not to just make things easy for businesses and developers. Uh thanks. Okay, next have Alex Brassette. Uh, I share a lot of the complaints that my neighbors have, but I'm here with a a positive message. Uh, try to keep it short. Um, I live on Brookside Drive, and I just want to uh express my gratitude that the bike lanes that we have been advocating for for a while now have been installed. So gratitude towards you and to uh staff who got that project done. Um and I want to reassure that that we have done the right thing with these bike lanes. Um it's anecdotal maybe and it's only been a short amount of time, but we have seen more people including kids who go to the elementary school there using the bike lanes. Um my wife and I have observed um traffic being calmer. um people not speeding or accelerating quite as much. Um so again, I think you know this is the best outcome that we have achieved. Um the project's not 100% done. We're still waiting for the ballards. Um I hope nothing holds those up. You know, I understand where that installation could be different than putting paint down. And I think there are signs posted saying that that will come soon. Um but you know, it's not 100% done until those are down. So I hope that that gets done too. Um so again my gratitude I think um we've we've done the right thing. Um we've achieved a positive goal. Um also on the topic of cycling and and promoting cycling. Um I've noticed another thing that uh it seems like a big improvement. Um, a lot of our greenways are along creeks and when we get heavy rain, those creeks flood and the greenways flood and especially where the greenways go underneath roads, lots of mud gets built up. Um, I've noticed recently that that mud gets cleared out very quickly within a day or two. For a long time that was not the case and the green wave would become impassible, but um, now that seems to be another major improvement that I am grateful for. So, um I think you know the signs that we are supporting cycling infrastructure and we're supporting alternative means of transportation are are good and um I'm thankful for that. So, thank you. Thanks. All right. Uh final speaker, Nikki W. She's not here. Okay. All right. Well, that concludes the uh hearing this or comment this uh this evening. All right. Thanks. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] D. N down. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Oh, [Music] hey. [Music] Hey everybody. [Music] [Laughter] [Music] Hey, baby. Dance number. [Music] Hey, hey hey. Heat. Heat. [Music] Hey, [Music] hey hey. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Hey, hey hey.