Heat. Heat. N. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Hey hey hey. [Music] [Music] [Music] Good afternoon. Welcome to today's public comment. Uh we have quite a few speakers. So we'll call people up three at a time. As I call your name, please come to the dis. When you're finished with your with your speech, if you could exit the dis so I can call the next person up. Our first three speakers are Susan Bills, Nick Tolbert, and Stanford P. Please come to the DIS. Just as a reminder, each speaker gets two minutes. Uh when you start, uh you'll see the green light. Um when you hear a beep and you see the yellow light, that means you have one minute left. Please don't stop. When you see the red light and hear the beep, your time has commenced or time has finished. Susan Bills, welcome. >> Good afternoon. I want to thank uh city council and mayor Purville today. I want to thank every one of you who has responded to discuss Price Hill. We appreciate those of you who are listening. I am told every day that no one is listening. I know for the majority of you that is not true. As we toured with GM Michelle last week and told her of our hopes and concerns about development, business, jobs, and more, we hoped for a bright future for Price Hill in our city. The making connected communities better committees have made recommendations to the city. We hope the legal department has decided to implement many of these great ideas and look forward to their feedback. These suggestions were designed by community members that are greatly involved in their neighborhoods. Implementing several suggestions would help revive some confidence in our city. Please update us. We have been asked by city leadership to come forward and help with gun violence prevention, crime safety, mentorship, and community outreach. Groups such as the price safety have been doing that for decades. Before I attended the last two community council meetings, we had shootings in our area. We talked with law enforcement from both CPD and probation. And again last night, I can't even imagine the obstacles we will endure because of the probation officers being moved to 800 Broadway. Crime is not decreasing. We know response time to crime scenes will increase with this move. Last night, we knew within hours what occurred in Price Hill because our communication with law enforcement and probation officers. I have talked to many members in Aenddale, Madisonville, OTR, Bonhill, and Price Hill. CPD information officers are crucial to solving crimes. Thanks to leadership, our neighborhood leaison, Lieutenant Colonel Hammer, and many who have listened to our request. We need action with certain projects and hotspots which police are aware of. Some concerns have been addressed, others have not. Please continue the overtime and foot patrols in needed areas. Thanks to Mayor Purville who listened to concerns from trusted community leaders. Only with collaboration from neighbors, law enforcement, business leaders, and youth will we move in the right direction. For those who are listening, please continue. For those who haven't been in the neighborhood, please. >> Thank you, Sue. >> Thank you. If I could have uh Trudy Goba, please come to the DAS. Nick Tolbert welcome. >> He's sleeping. You only get two minutes. That was quick. Um, first of all, I'd like to send a me a letter to you, Mary. I'm hoping that I'll be able to sit down with you. One of the major reasons is because yearly I'm putting together a team to celebrate the indigenous people and holistic medicine. I heard something today on the radio and I heard Alicia Reed say something. Did you know that Cincinnati, state of Ohio and America, we got the largest cancer in the country in Cincinnati. Now you see why I've been fighting for 10 years to go to holistic manners. I had cancer. I ain't got it no more. I'm talking about I ain't got it. I really went to holistic medicine to do that. Natural medicine is a healer. That's the reason why they don't tell you about it. They don't want you know about it's a business. It's always been about a business. They want you going in going to the pharmaceuticals. And from what I heard it was I hired that to start it. He didn't want to start that whole pyramid because humans did not eat three meals a day. They might eat one meal a day. That was it. Three meals a day. That's too much food. And then you want to see why all these people got legs swollen, got eat edema and all these problems. It's because the way we eat and how they taught us to eat. We shouldn't be eating three meals a day. And fasting is something else. I ain't never seen nothing like that. I fast at least two or three times a day. Then you see how I am. I had over at one time I was taking it over what 15 different minutes. So they closed mayor we got to talk that indigenous thing going to be here until we're dead and gone because they did it years ago. They knew that holistic medicine it was better for our bodies than anything else. If it wasn't for the indigenous people I wouldn't be here today. >> Thank you. Uh Dalia Gully please come to the dis and I apologize if I'm mispronouncing any names. Welcome Stanford Pool. >> Yeah, if we look at history u the past and what present Cincinnati been passing all these housing court and vacant building one and vacant building two and this city council been letting it go because it basically taken black and brown people homes for profit and put in a city. So, here is a history. >> In 1941, rumors of oil spread across Mississippi. White men started eyeing land they couldn't legally touch. Over 270 acres owned debtree by Reverend Isaac Simmons and his family since 1887. On March 26, 1944, six white men showed up at the 66y old minister's door. They dragged him and his son into the woods. They beat Isaac with clubs. They cut out his tongue. Then they shot him three times and left his body on the road. His son, Eldridge, barely escaped alive. But the mob had one final message. Get off this land or you'll be next. The family fled Mississippi that night, leaving behind everything their ancestors had built for 57 years. The white men who murdered Isaac Simmons took the land. Not a single one was ever arrested. Not one faced trial. The land was simply transferred to white ownership. This wasn't the 1800s. This was 1944, the same year D-Day happened. While America was fighting tyranny overseas, black Americans were being lynched for owning land at home. Follow for more documented stories they erased from textbooks. And Sheriff Reverend Isaac Simmons deserves to be remembered. >> And what we're doing here with this black property, we're doing the same thing, but you're doing a different technique. you should be ashamed of yourself. And they tired of giving up wealth to somebody else and let them fill their pocket up for their family. This is history, but Cincinnati doing the same thing that happened back in those days. >> John Calhoun, please come to the DAS. Welcome Trudy Goba. >> Um, hi, good afternoon. Um, I wasn't planning on speaking today, but I kind of just felt compelled after I listened to some really powerful stories of individuals within this community that are speaking to their lived experience of displacement and dispossession um that happens when outside um investors come in and disrupt our communities um and aren't actually looking out for what is in our best interest. Um so I'm here to to urge you to really listen to the voices in this room. I am but one amplifier. Um, I know that reinvesting into the basic needs of our children and to those that are most acutely and disproportionately affected by homelessness and housing has to be uh something that we prioritize. That's where our money should be going. Um, I know that policing is but a a band-aid. it is not getting to the root cause of what our community needs, which is basic housing. I heard a startling statistic about the number of children that are in a CPD that are homeless right now. Um, I think the measures that I've seen taken so far are more so band-aids rather than actual systemic solutions to an issue that has been ongoing. Um, I'm just here again to to urge you all to listen to the individuals behind me that have this lived experience that are showing up today to really advocate um for making sure that when we think about where our tax dollars are going that they're actually being reinvested in our community and that means making sure that our basic needs are being met so that we cannot just live paycheck to paycheck. Um, we're all one, you know, check engine light, one one eviction away from homelessness and we need social safety nets. Um, so I'm urging you to to really um listen to your constituents and, you know, we can only do this if we flourish together. Thank you. >> Thank you. Sharon Smith, please come to the dis. Welcome Dalia Gully. Hi. Um, I wasn't planning on speaking either, uh, but I felt compelled as well, just due to the fact that I'm a Vinebrook home resident. And in the two years that I've lived there, I've been subjected to dealing with a flooding basement and mold that's triggered my asthma. And that prompted me to go on to an unpaid medical leave. And while I was on an unpaid medical leave, Vinebrook charged me $3 to $500 in court fees each month just because I'm not sure the city allowed it. And it's only $190 to file in Hamilton County, but I still have no explanation why it was $500 every single month again while unemployed due to my medical condition. And the city knows about Vinebrook and how they conduct business because there was a lawsuit brought against them in 2023 that was dropped with no explanation and no no accountability because Vinebrook continues to operate in the exact same ways and they refuse to fix anything in my house. And I know I'm I know that I'm just one of the many people who are being subjected to these conditions. And I think that we as citizens deserve dignified housing and accountability and we all pay taxes. >> Any are you finished ma'am? Okay. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Susan Lakes please come to the dis. Welcome John Calhoun. Uh good day Cincinnati Cy city council members and mayor. Thank you for the opportunity. Uh my name is John Calhoun and I'm I'm an organizer with Cincinnati Action for Housing Now in KUFA. I'm here today to demand that uh connected communities be amended based on the recommendations shared back in February from the citizen working groups uh that were started almost a year ago. Uh in particular the recommendations around affordable housing, uh sewer infrastructure, energy efficiency, and community engagement. I want to thank the the vice mayor, fellow council members Johnson and Parks for uh supporting those working groups, getting them going. Um I was a member of the affordable housing working group and I know that we shared the research that shows mandatory inclusion of affordable housing works. Um it's been shown in hundreds of cities including those like Pittsburgh, uh Detroit, Atlanta, and Minneapolis. Now, Minneapolis was shown lifted up as an example for connected communities and its upzoning policy. Uh yet Minneapolis had to amend their own policy for mandatory inclusion because they were seeing that affordable housing was not being generated. Uh so we need to do the same and avoid their mistake. Uh and the market will not provide housing affordable to the majority of this city and neither will LITC the way it is being used. Uh the LIC report from almost 10 years ago showed that the vast majority of the housing need was for families below the city's median which is about half the metro AMI. The majority of Cincinnati households need rents and utilities below $1250 a month. Yet, the average rent is $14 to $1,500 a month. And LITC can be as high as around 2,000 a month when capped at the 80% AMI limit. Families can't find the rents they need to also afford child care, food, healthcare, and transportation to and from work. Without mandatory inclusion and anti-displacement policies, connected communities is a handout to developers. The people who live here need to be taken care of first. Please bring the working group recommendations to a vote and vote yes, especially on the mandatory inclusion and anti-displacement policies. Thank you. >> Thank you, Jesse. Jesse Jesse Heiser, please come to the dice. Welcome Sharon Smith. >> Thanks. Hi, my name is Sharon Smith and I'm part of Cincinnati Undivided's housing team. I'm here to ask our city council to make connected communities a policy that benefits all of our neighbors. I learned today that over 2,000 children in our city are homeless. Please begin by responding to the findings and recommendations of the citizen task force, the working committee. Particularly, I ask that you ensure that connected communities does not displace our neighbors and that it benefits all our neighbors through the use of inclusionary zoning. Our city gets to choose how we incentivize development. Let's choose a way that provides safe, affordable housing for everyone. especially those who are most vulnerable. Thank you. >> Thank you, Helen. Uh Helen Louise um Barl maybe I apologize Helen. Welcome Susan Lakes. >> Yeah. Hi. Um I live in Over the Rine. I've lived there about five years now. Love Over the Rine. love Cincinnati. I feel pretty safe. Um, first of all, I didn't realize, well, I live south of Liberty Street on Elm Street. I didn't realize that the um some of my favorite people, the 3CDC uh ambassadors that I turn to almost every day if I'm having a problem or not feeling safe. I didn't realize that that program uh didn't go north of Liberty Street. And then I I was going to City Market the other day and I saw a bunch of them. So, I guess that program's expanded huh? Congratulations to whoever funded that. I saw an immediate difference on Elm Street and then in different areas. It looks beautiful. It's It's just gorgeous. It's made a huge difference. And I think that that's well in line with the the goals of the ACT program that if the area is pretty and neat and tidy, then crimes reduced. I'll be anxious to see, you know, the findings there. Good job if city council um or the city was part of that. Real quick, you've heard me talk about dogs that are not leashed. I had another unfortunate incident on Vine Street of a dog that was not leashed. This time it was the cutest little um poodle and the girl had a leash in her hand, but she didn't have her poodle leashed. And when I said, "Ma'am, there's a um there's a leash law. Could you please leash your dog after it came at me?" She said, "No, I don't have to. Called the police on me. They aren't going to do anything to me. And do you want to fight with me?" She appeared to be a high school student because she had a um >> Thank you. Anyway, it was bad. >> Brandon Nixon, uh, please come to the dis. Welcome, Jesse Heiser. >> Thank you so much. Um, Mayor Perville and Council U, my name is Jesse Heiser. I'm an organizer with Cincinnati Undivided. Uh, my husband's a third grade teacher at actually Covington Independent Schools. Uh we get a lot of displaced students from Cincinnati public schools in our district because unhoused students are often traumatized from unmet needs and displacement and so they have behavior issues. Um and so they get expelled from schools. Um their displacement ends ends up putting them in Coington Independent Schools. Um we've had phone calls personal in our home in the middle of the night. We have a student that might end up sleeping in the park tonight. Can you take them in? and they sleep on your couch um so they don't have to sleep in the park. So, it's affected me and my family personally this issue. Um I appreciate the work that some members of council have done with eviction prevention and some of these issues because it is needed, but it's not enough. Band-aid fixes like these are not going to be permanent solutions for these families. They don't help when inflation costs keep rising. You're counting these as wins, but they're not um they're not enough. They're lowhanging fruit. And what the community needs is a city that will put in the hard work to create solutions that are in the best interest of all people. We need connected communities to prohibit displacement that traumatizes families. We need connected communities to ensure housing for folks at 30% AMI and below to be included on all projects through mandatory inclusion. We need to make sure our storm water regulations are well managed to increase developments so our neighborhoods are clean and safe from flooding. And we need to make sure developers are um developments are following uh community council neighborhoods uh plans for large new developments so that people have a voice within their own neighborhoods. Thank you. >> Thank you Patrick Summers. Patrick Summers, please come to the DAS. Welcome Helen Louise >> Barry. >> Barry I apologize. Thank you. >> Good afternoon everybody. I'm a 74 year old grandmother who now has a nine-year-old grandchild and we're homeless. There's never a reason that I I've worked here uh with people trying to prevent homelessness. I've worked through the social service agencies and now I find myself in there. I was in an apartment where um the apartment was bought over and the rent went to twice as much. It doubled. I tried to find places and for a one bedroomedroom it's like almost $1,500. For two bedroomedroom it's 16 and above. My pension will not afford that. Senior buildings are deplorable and they're loaded with young people who abuse and misuse the seniors. And I just feel that as seniors we should have a better place to be. It should be easier for us to find a place and help to do what we do. And we are raising children who are grandchildren and great-grandchildren now because there's no place for them if the parents are sick. And my granddaughter um her father just died and her mother's been sick. She's been in and out of hospital. But we're sleeping from couch to couch just to make sure that she's safe. I need a safe place for my grandbaby to be and I think the connected housing is not it. I need something that's going to be affordable for what I can afford and not somebody that's making 60 70,000 $80,000 a year. Bring something down to me so that my baby can get off the street. >> Thank you. >> Jonathan Jonathan Norton, uh, please come to the dice. Welcome Brandon Nixon. Good evening. I'm Brandon Nixon, running for city council. Um, no to connect communities. They say it connecting us, but it's really dividing our neighborhoods. People are being pushed out and voices are being ignored. Cincinnati doesn't need a program that control. We need one that listen. Real change start with the people, not with politics. Say no to connect communities and yes to community leader solution. Thank you. >> Thank you. Lenor Nuland, Lenor E. Nuland, please come to the DAS. Welcome Patrick Summers. >> Good afternoon. I'm Patrick Summers. I am the chair of the Charlene Mitchell Club of Cincinnati. And I was not originally going to speak, but I felt the need to just like express that like connected communities needs to be reworked to include more affordable housing in its development layout as well as the zoning reforms as per necessary. But what I think needs to be done especially is more so than just connected communities is the city needs to prioritize reinvesting in the community directly via like subsidizing healthcare costs if possible and other such ways to re put money and tax dollars back into our communities and into the people themselves to revitalize them. not into the police or anything that is meant to put people down, but to we need to empower people to have economic and political expression and sovereignty within our own neighborhoods so that they can then speak for themselves instead of like having to have people speak on their behalf. We should be empowering people to solve the problems in within our communities as a collective rather than as individuals or just patchworks of groups as is the case now. People should be empowered to make the changes within their communities and they should have economic power amongst themselves to ensure they have a good lives. It should not be a sign of say privilege to live in dignified affordable housing. It should be a right, not a privilege. I have that privilege, but I don't want it to be a privilege. I want everyone to have affordable, dignified, and assured housing that is up to code and is meant for people to be living in, not as like a sign of privilege. Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Nico. If you could please come to the DAS, welcome Jonathan Norman. Over this last week, a ceasefire deal was signed in Gaza. The world looked on as people undergoing a genocide were made to meet the demands of the people committing it. And we here were told that peace has been achieved. That peace is when Israeli forces can burn homes and food in sick celebration. That peace is when Israel can continue killing and kidnapping. That peace is when Israel can arm and fund gangs to execute journalists that spent the last two years exposing that Israel is the paradox to peace. That peace is when Israel can close the Rafa crossing and cut the bare minimum of required aid in half. that peace is when 20 hostages can be exchanged for 2,000 without ever asking why that many were held in the first place. Children held hostage, doctors and journalists, people held hostage for more than 30 years. People tortured, scarred, and starved. Remains of hostages released, bound, blindfolded, and unidentifiable by after being run over with tanks. 9,000 more people still held hostage in Israeli dungeons. The people that tell us this want us to believe that peace is created through bombing and killing boats full of people in Venezuela. Created through our own military deployed to our cities, created through masked abduction forces invading homes and tearing families apart. Every week we come here. We don't tell you the crimes being committed in Palestine because we think you alone will go and stop it. We tell you with the ex expectation that you will function on basic morality and understand that anyone partaking in these crimes is not deserving of the city's business or investment. But this is a lesson at least six of you still need to learn as you vote to allocate funds for Fouseus expansion, a private entity known for skirting the law and handing over the data it leeches to ICE. None of us did anything to choose our spot on this earth. But all of us, if on the receiving end of any of this violence, would be screaming for those funding it to stop. The Democratic Party, yourselves included, has been absent in the fight for peace against its greatest assalent, genocide. This has made way for pretenders of peace to claim its title to pollute the meaning of peace itself. One where black, brown, indigenous, and marginalized people are targeted here and abroad. You think you're taking the easy road of your political careers, but in reality, what you're dragging us all down is a dead end. Divest. Amend the public safety spending and amend connected communities. >> Thank you. Rosyn Brown, please come to the dis. Welcome Lenor. >> Hi. I hope you can hear me. My name's Lenor Nuland. I'm with Communities United for Action. I've always thought a college degree, and years of steady employment would keep me secure, not rich, but secure in retirement and old age. Nope. Rising inflation, higher property taxes, and astronomical drug prices coupled with cuts to Medicare and Medicaid may either bankrupt me or kill me. along with thousands of people at similar or lower income levels. All of these impact and magnify our extreme housing crisis. It's a noxious brew. Many thousands of financially pressured people are too old to sleep in their cars. Were certainly too old to wait on a Ronnie Reagan style slowmoving housing policy that won't trickle down to assist people at my income level for decades. I'll be long gone. Mr. Mayor, Council, our disgraceful housing shortage was a major talking point in many of your most recent campaigns. Some thinking was obviously done ahead of elections, but not enough. Months ago, the public was presented with what I shall call a suggestion or a sort of plan, a very long-term plan that will benefit renters and home buyers of average or over income. first. Oh, and developers. It will not help those in dyest need, the povertystricken or the homeless for years, possibly decades. As my brother said on reading this, maybe never. This isn't a responsibility to be kicked down the road like a can till other political wannabes take office. You, our mayor, our council, were elected, were tasked with solving our dire housing needs. Now for us your constituency or should we say your victims. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Lena Lena Zerub please come to the dis. Welcome Nico. >> How y'all doing? Uh my name is Deno Johnson. I'm here for BPI. Um everybody wants to know why affordable housing is so important. Well, I have one simple answer for that. It's one of our foundations on building a strong community. Without a strong um foundation, no matter what glimmer and glitch you build on top of that foundation, it will cease to exist. You know, I feel like as a society, we forget what it means to be a community and what it takes to cultivate one. When you hold power, position, and a voice, you have a responsibility to care for the people around you. I mean, just look at everyone here. They are here for a reason and are you going to keep ignoring those people? Nobody should feel like a community that they are in is working against them at all. So my question to the council um what are you going to do to help cultivate these communities? And I'm not looking for an answer right now. But if you can't go home in your personal life or personal time to answer this question, then I think your time for making decision and overseeing those decisions is up. Because I feel like some of you guys got too comfortable in the position that you are in today and we need to start filling those with better prospects. And that's it. >> Thank you. Dan Schneider, please come to the dis. Welcome Roslin Brown. Grace and peace be unto you. The lack of affordable housing has reached a crisis point. The potential consequences for our homeless community are deeply deeply troubling as the weather worsens. Obtaining shelter were merely were merely the initial step. The subsequent task will be maintaining housing which demands resources. My art and hope is that Cincinnati will be blessed with the necessary resources to address the diverse needs of individuals. Acknowledging that each personal story will be uniquely very yet shared common experiences. Homelessness can impact anyone causing significant mental and physical hardship. I appreciate the chance to share my thoughts. I am Rosen Brown representing the homeless congress. >> Thank you. >> Um, looks like uh Pomona White, please come to the DAS. I apologize if I got that name wrong. Uh, welcome Lena. >> For two years, you offered nothing. You watched one of the greatest crimes in modern history unfold. A live stream genocide and chose silence. That silence is your legacy. You made a choice and you will live with that shame for the rest of your lives. A ceasefire doesn't end occupation. It doesn't stop land theft. It doesn't end checkpoints, home demolitions, or daily humiliation. It doesn't return the children buried under the rebel. A ceasefire does not change the reality that Palestinians live every day under this brutal occupation. And I'm here to say we will not rest until every war criminal involved or complicit faces justice in the H. We will not rest until this city stops sending our tax dollars to fund apartheid. We will not rest until our state divests from Israeli bonds. And we will not rest until every Cincinnatian who served in the IDF and took part in war crimes is investigated and prosecuted. You had a chance to speak for justice and you stayed silent. That silence is your shame and no ceasefire, no statement, no prayer will ever wash it away. You chose silence and we choose justice and we will not stop until it is done. No justice, no peace, free Palestine. >> Thank you. >> Aiko Kamura, if you could please come to the dis. Dan Schneider, welcome. >> Thank you, sir. I'm here to talk about our city that I'm concerned about. We have a lot of wealthy people here and some not so wealthy. I see connected communities as being a great opportunity for people to make a lot of money. I'm not sure it really serves everyone like it should. I think that we should all be looking out for one another. And I'm not sure we're doing that sufficiently. As I understand it, a group of fairly ordinary people got together and made some recommendations to improve connected communities. I would like to see those actions taken by city council. I think that we can do a lot more than we are doing right now. I think as a city, as a greater Cincinnati community, we are better off if we take care of everyone, not just a few. And I and I think that's what I would like to see. Uh we'll be much happier, we'll be safer, and our children will learn better if we have affordable housing for everyone. And that's what we need in this city. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Our next uh couple of speakers are on Zoom, but our uh if we could have Paul Beam please come to the DAS. Pomona Whites welcome. >> Hello. Uh, my name is Pomona White. Um, I am a freelance uh, community wellness consultant, but I'm also a lived experience of homelessness in here in the area. Uh, to make things short, um, this this was short noticed. Um, but the problem that I see, I had to step out. when you following God, you you you have to step out of things to see what the issue is. So, um to me, nobody's taking accountability. Um minimum uh leadership accountability when it comes to our uh our system, but you can't really do anything because you you're not out there. You you can't see what's going on. So, you can't manage properly. But us on the other end, even the ones who we call mental, we all have a responsibility. Everybody has a responsibility and nobody's following it. So it's everybody has to learn how to work together. And that's the that's the problem that we that I see here. Um the process to freedom is taking accountability to what you're what what's going on with you individually and collectively. We can't do anything collectively if we we don't deal with our individual selves. That's from you as in leadership and us out here. So, uh when it when it comes to affordable housing, that is the same outtake because we can't if we can't manage our personal lives, then we're not going to be a it's going to contribute to our downfall to what and and that's what's happening now to uh it's it's affordable housing. what what is it? What how do you see what what what is the definition of that for real? Um and and that's how I see things. It's even from me being homeless where I am now. I that's how I view things. >> Thank you. >> Rico Rico Blackman, if you could please come to the dis. Our next speaker is on Zoom. Landon Smith. You can unmute Landon. >> Hi. Yes, my name is Landon Smith. Um, I've lived in West Price Hill for 22 years. I'm asking council to help curb the festering crime that's going on in West Price Hill. October 7th, a man with a gun kidnapped a 15-year-old girl out of McDonald's and took her to a place that our community calls the brothel. Um, he does not live there. She does not live there. But yet, he felt comfortable enough to rape her in that building and drop her off elsewhere. Five days prior to that, another man called police and was claiming that somebody outside was threatening to break in and rape him. Since June, we have known this place as the brothel. Police have been aware of it, been aware of the activity and stuff going on. In February, we notified police that activity from one crap house and place of prostitution was moving to this location. We have not seen much evidence of anything going on down there as far as with police curbing the stuff. The trap house that was there before was allowed to continue on for 10 months. People having sex in front of children, passing out in the middle of the road, sleeping on the sidewalk, kids poking in with sticks cuz they think they're dead bodies. And all that traffic had moved over to other locations. So, I asked city council to work on curbing, give the police the ability and manpower to be able to curb this stuff and stop it from festering and moving from house to house. Thank you. >> Thank you. Our next speaker in person is Aiko Kamura. Welcome. >> Hello. Please listen to your constituents in front of you. Connected communities benefits developers first, not the many people in this city who need immediate access to affordable housing. Connected communities urgently needed needs change. Please make the changes that will provide truly affordable housing. Declaration of a ceasefire in Gaza does not mean that the work is done and it does not mean that there is nothing left you have to do. The last two years, we watched a very clear, fast-paced genocide. But in the last 76 years, there has been a slow motion genocide of the Palestinian people and a concerted effort to wipe Palestine off the map. That did not stop when the ceasefire was announced. And that will not stop without sanctions and divestment from Israel. Thousands of Palestinians are still being held and tortured in Israeli prisons. People are still being killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank. their homes and livelihoods destroyed every second, every movement of their lives being policed and watched. Apartheid is still in effect and the Israeli government has been increasingly attempting to annex the West Bank. Our tax dollars still fund the settler colonial violence in the West Bank and our tax dollars still fund genocide in Sudan. 150,000 people have been killed and 12 million people have been displaced in Sudan as the paramilitary rapid support forces attempt to occupy it. They are funded and armed by the United Arab Emirates complicity in this um who we und fund and arm. Although the line of US complicity in this genocide is less clear, it is widely recognized that arming the United Arab Emirates arms genocide in Sudan. Human's rights watch released a statement in January of this year detailing that US arms embargos must expand beyond the rapid support forces directly to the United Arab Emirates. The work is not done until Palestine and Sudan are free and until Cincinnati has completely divested from genocide, apartheid, and occupation. Divest now. >> Thank you. Again, we have a few uh Zoom speakers, but if Matt Max could please come to the DICE. Appreciate it. Moving to Zoom. Amber Cassum. Welcome. >> Hi, Mayor. Can you hear me? >> Yes. Go ahead. >> Thank you. I appreciate it. Um, first I want to thank Healthy Neighborhoods Committee for coming to East Price Hill and hearing a presentation um that was filed and our community worked really hard with the presentation. So if um council members who were absent from the committee meeting could um commit to reviewing and also um giving response to the actions requested by the community. I would appreciate that. Um, also this week you heard in chambers from um, residents of Evston, Clifton, OTR, and other communities about the um, the failed service and um, the crime that we're hearing. Um, today I am speaking because um, as a dual citizen of West Price Hill and East Price Hill, my mama lives in West Price Hill. Um the rape and kidnapping that Landon just told you about on Zoom um ended up at Mount Echo Park in my community. So the failure to quell concerns that we've been aware of from a community perspective since February, March, April that district 3 last night stated they had no idea about but is in an email could have been prevented and that kidnapping where the girl minor child was truent from school and ended up at Mount Echo Park is now my business which is why now Ridgeway is my business and I've emailed um the solicitor Mark Manning. So, I'm asking for attention on prevention and um predicate events that the community cries out for help for um so that you guys can stop patient dumping in Price Hill. Um also, please reference the May 9th uh letter that's posted on East Price Hill that was submitted in Planning Commission opposing connected communities and the reasons why. >> Thank you very much. >> Um and mostly >> uh our next speaker is in person. Welcome, Paul Bean. >> Yes. Um, you say you tired of it, huh? You're not tired of all this shooting, but you have this program in the back. Still, you haven't brought it up up cuz you said it cost too much money. Life's costing us a lot of money, isn't it? It really is. And you, this program you have back here, this new life, it it shows life. It it it it come it just shut this down. It take a drive by way and everything. But you say it cost too much money. You what? She go she say I got to talk to you about it. You already seen it. But I'll show you what you ain't paid attention to that I have. You got this 8 million $8 million project over here over on Central Parkway, Central Avenue. I show you a construction job. Real simple. That development comes up as a recording. My accident happened right there. All you have to do is rewind it. And you don't even want to do that. So you I worked all my life. See, I get a retirement check, but I didn't ask for this social security check that I'm getting now. I'm wasting my time coming down here trying to talk to you people about you saying I jumped the curve and caused this accident and now I'm on disability now. This is not working for me. I've been an able body since I was 15 years old. I've been working that long. I didn't worked in the city, out of the city and now I'm guessing about the city. I didn't ask for early retirement and you doing nothing to show me investigation to see where where this went wrong. But you got this $8 million project over here. What? I was knocked out of working. >> Something's wrong with this program. >> Thank you very much. Daniel Buridge, if you could please come to the das. >> I gonna get you. >> Rico Blackman, welcome. Good afternoon, Rico Blackman from the Homeless Coalition. And I just want to read this. It says, "Cincinnati mayor, police say everything's on the table to curb crime." It was a story and an inquire. And I get it. I get the fear. I get all the pressure coming down on you all to limit the amount of crime happening in our city. And I hope that the crime does go down. But let's be real, our community is in need of a lot of things. And one thing in particular that we need is more truly affordable housing. And I know I sound like a broken record player cuz I come here every single time to say it, but it's the truth. You say that everything's on the table. Why do we have an open lot being open for kids and their families experiencing homelessness? Thank goodness for Project Connect, and I love Project Connect, but they should not be having to open up a safe lot when we have the funding to build housing for all those kids who will be sleeping in this safe lot next year starting in March. We have enough funding to house all the people living in the streets today. And you look at the data, it will show that crime reduces when you get people into homes. We can get people into homes, get people food, health care, education, and all the things they need to survive. The desire to commit a crime goes down. We keep giving the police money, but yet we're not giving our community the money they need to survive. Reform connected communities now. Add in anti-displace anti-displacement policies. include affordable housing with every development that is being developed through transit lines. If we don't do that, crime is going to continue, homelessness is going to increase, and we're need we're going to continue to suffer. Free Palestine. >> Thank you. Stefon Prior, please come to the dis. Welcome Matt Max. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, council, for giving me the time to speak today. I'm coming here on behalf of of my company, the Max Construction Group. We're located in the West End in Brighton. We've been in business for 15 years. Um, we have enjoyed a great relationship with the city of Cincinnati that entire time. We've been a certified SB firm with the city since 2013. Uh we've done a lot of projects with the city through stabilizations uh efforts in certain communities with Walnut Hills, College Hill, obviously over the Rine, worked with a lot of other developers, but again, we've had a personal relationship with the city on several things. Uh for seven years, we were doing a a small portion of what was called the housing repair services contract. Uh the lion share of that work went to people working cooperatively every year. Uh this year it was up for renewal through RFP and so was the harbor program through RFP. Uh last year we did uh our contract was about 385,000 of the 1.6 million for HRS. Uh they came to us in the spring. They were unable to expend the funds through PWC. They asked us to help. We helped expend those funds. We also helped them model out a much more uh relevant um connected way of getting the work done and done properly. We knew that PWC's work was subpar and I'm sure a lot of you have heard the same thing. Um I was really disappointed this year. We turned in our bid for for both those RFPs. We were not only not awarded any part of it after this relationship for all these years. Uh we were actually um passed up for a company called BNS LLC doing business as Premier Restoration and Renovation who is based out of Columbus, Ohio and has a P.O. box in Rio Grand, Ohio, which is just across the river from Huntington, West Virginia. There's also a phone number associated with this company that's in the new it's just outside of Columbus. I can't remember the name, but I can't remember the name of the town. But at any rate, um I'm I I have tried with uh we've got a great relationship with building inspections. I've tried through procurement to gain answers. I've tried through Cheryl Long's office to gain answers, and I'm not getting any response. Thank you. >> Thank you, sir. we could uh go to Daniel Burr Burridge. Welcome. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh afternoon, council members. Um thank you all for for listening to us. Um there's a lot of us here today. Uh and I do mean to add my voice and the voice of my organization. Um to this chorus of voices, this broad coalition of organizations uh who are calling for changes, for amendments to uh connected communities. And let me say my name is Danny Burge. I'm the executive director of MARK, the Metropolitan Area Religious Coalition of Cincinnati. Uh we represent 10 different religious groups, groups of faith who all believe that affordable housing is one of the most important things that our local government here in Cincinnati needs to be investing in. Uh I know that we are in a society in our country um where we believe oftent times that the function of government is to facilitate economic development. And so what does that mean? Economic development means that those who already have money are able to invest in order to make more money. And as they make more money, their money will trickle down, right? It comes down to those at the bottom. The data does not support that. The rich have only gotten richer in our country and the amount that folks at the bottom can purchase with their real wages has gone down. And so I think it's the job, we as Mark, as people of faith, believe that it's the job of this council to figure out a way to invest more in affordable housing. I know that you all are working on this. I know. I know. Um that you're figuring out ways and that there are increases in the amount of affordable housing units, but connected communities is an opportunity to do more. There are reforms, there are suggestions, there's recommendations on the table right now that you all could vote on right now. Maybe not right now, maybe next week. And so, please consider doing that. It's on the table. And again, we know that the city is is, you know, railroad money. There's sources of money that are coming into the city. Let's be creative. As Mark, as many of the organizations here, we are open to cooperating with y'all. Let's figure out a better way to stop homelessness and end the violence. Thanks. Thank you, >> Stefon Prior. Welcome. >> Welcome everybody behind me. My name is Stefon Prior. I'm running for city council. Y'all tired of the same old mess. Vote for me. I guarantee we won't go through this mess. I clean it up. That was a commercial. But let's get to business. Man, the voting record for vacant building ordinance. The following Cincinnati council members who voted to pass the ordinance is Ma Owens, Messi, Ma, Mark Jeffrey, Evan, Miss Kernney, Anna Albi. Y'all been playing people for many years on this receiverhip. I went to court uh with a young lady about her property about receiverhip. And how does it work? Under the new regulation, owners of building vacant for the for more than 6 months must register to pay a fee. Well, when the judge give the property to the receiver, the receiver is otr adopt. And I got an email from them. Somebody sent me say hi. I am with the local Cincinnati based nonprofit otr. We we are property receivers for the city of Cincinnati. And y'all still give them money to fix their buildings up to otr the ones taking people property. And once the receiver get the land, he give the property owners a bill. Now that's a shame. They got to pay $60,000 or plus to get their building back and pay for another fee for the business uh a building maintenance ordinance. It's sad that y'all y'all know about this stuff. The chicken has come home to roost on you, Mayor Cranley. I mean, uh my fault, Mayor Fab, the chicken come home to roost on you. All this stuff you said you was going to do for the people, you ain't doing it. And it's bad. Same council members been in office for many years, y'all not helping the people. looking at the community. Y'all need to repeal that. Y'all need to quit dealing with these lobbyists. We need lowincome housing. That's what you need. >> Thank you. Our next speaker is on Zoom in as Deran. Welcome. >> Can you hear me? >> Yes, ma'am. Go ahead. >> First, I would like to ask why are these city meetings being removed from city cable and Facebook? I went down my uh Facebook page today and I see a lot of these meetings are being removed. That's not transparency because elections are up. Y'all need to put those back out there because honestly, I need those to take to court. October is domestic violence awareness month. And let me specify by saying domestic abuse. As public officials, mayor, and council, you are to take a firm stand against all forms of violence, abuse, model healthy relationships built on mutual respect and nonviolence, and prioritize supporting survivors over abusers. I'm talking to you from Silver Springs, Maryland, because I was forced out of the city of Cincinnati because I reported domestic violence on my firefighter spouse, got retaliated by Cincinnati police, Ned Ward, and Linda Sers. I'm now in court fighting a legal separation because y'all gave my firefighter spouse $500,000 where he can afford to get attorneys, but I'm representing myself in the name of Jesus. and understand with Jesus I will win. Either y'all going to provide me health insurance or he's going to provide me health insurance because as you know I received a cracked spine out of this abuse in which I have semen in my spine strangulation. My throat and my tongue constantly swells as you see what I have on. I'm now dealing with pinched nerves uh that are being pressed by bulging disc in me. And it's ridiculous because you as counsel were supposed to stand up. You was supposed to support me and you could have done something to that firefighter. But what y'all chose to do that you thought was the easy route was to force him to retire. Well, now he got all this money. Na Ward got all this money. Linda Sers got all this money. But me as a victim, y'all did not Our final speaker is uh Derek Blazing Game. Welcome, sir. >> Now, you know damn well my name is Derek Blasting Game, the sound and blend. All right. Yes. I want to come on here. Derek Blasame, the people's camp. You're the biggest, the baddest, the boldest to ever do it. I want to come on here and make put it in perspective because I've been hearing a lot of things about this connected communities uh legislation. The issue in Cincinnati is we forget, you all forget, I don't forget, is that the the housing structure, the housing plan, affordable housing, low-inccome housing, no income housing was based and premised on white supremacy. In the 1930s when when when when soldiers were coming back from World War II or, you know, when when when World War II was happening in the 30s, there was a form of housing called Whitten Terrorist. It was founded and established for widows of of soldiers, white women. White women were the first people to get a housing development in Cincinnati. It was predicated on white supremacy. So the issue with connected communities is my friends in High Park, they don't want to change. They don't want new development. They don't want something that's too big, too wide, or too small. They want to maintain the status quo. And that's not going to be conducive for Cincinnati long term. Because if Cincinnati can't get connected communities, the the the the structural plan and some of the changes that's necessary for development purposes, the city is going to incur liability such as lawsuits because people do need affordable housing. People do need access to uh uh uh low-income housing and those types of developments. So, you got to go back to the history. Cincinnati's history has been white supremacy, allowing more major corporations to develop and write our housing plans and our housing development goals. And we need to change that. Mayor Pirval, you have not done a good job as mayor. And if I was a Cincinnati, a 690 voter, I would vote you out of office because you have not done nothing but maintain the status quo. You failed on equity. You failed on affordable housing. And quite frankly, you have failed to stand up to the white power structure in the city of Cincinnati. Derek Glassing chiming in live from the city of Los Angeles, the great city of Los Angeles. Ahala. >> Thank you. That uh ends the this portion of the citizen public comment. Uh, we will now begin today's business portion of Cincinnati City Council and the clerk will please call the role. >> Council member Albby >> here. >> Council member Jeff >> here. >> Council member Johnson >> here. >> Vice Mayor Kernney >> here. >> Council member Nolan >> here. >> Council member Owens >> here. >> Council member Parks >> here. >> Council member Walsh >> here. >> Please stand for a moment of silence. And now the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. The minutes from the previous meeting will be approved and filed without objection. Hearing none, they'll be approved and filed. Council member Kramering will be excused from today's council meeting. Moving to our agenda, items 1 through 19 are as indicated. Item 20, first reading, please. an emergency ordinance authorizing the city manager to execute a water service agreement with the city of Maduro, Ohio for the purpose of providing retail surplus water service through December 31st, 2065. >> Roll call and suspension. >> Council member Albi, >> yes. >> Council member Jeff, >> yes. >> Council member Johnson, >> yes. >> Vice Mayor Kernney, >> yes. >> Council member Nolan, >> yes. >> Council member Owens, >> yes. >> Council member Parks, >> yes. >> Council member Walsh, >> yes. We're in public safety and governance. Mr. Johnson, >> I believe the clerk nailed it. Mayor, >> thank you, Mr. Johnson. Further comments on item 20. >> Seeing none, roll call on passage, please. >> Council member Albi, >> yes. >> Council member Jeff, >> yes. >> Council member Johnson, >> yes. >> Vice Mayor Kernney, >> yes. >> Council member Nolan, >> yes. >> Council member Owens, >> yes. >> Council member Parks, >> yes. >> Council member Walsh, >> yes. >> Roll call on emergency. >> Council member Albi, >> yes. Council member Jeff, >> yes. >> Council member Johnson, >> yes. >> Vice Mayor Kernney, >> yes. >> Council member Nolan, >> yes. >> Council member Owens, >> yes. >> Council member Parks, >> yes. >> Council member Walsh, >> yes. >> That concludes the business portion of our agenda. City Manager Long, do you have any announcements? >> Nope. Uh, administration, any announcements? Seeing none. Council members, any announcements? >> Yes. >> Vice Mayor, please. Well, I just I want to congratulate our incoming clerk of council on running a fantastic meeting today. >> Thank you. Further announcements. >> How sick is it? >> Thank you, President Mr. Jeff. >> Well, I third that it was very unusual to hear a male voice. We read off the usually we we uh don't have the privilege. So, welcome. Uh I did want to mention that uh there is a great convention here in town. I know the mayor and uh council Owens was at reimagine the civic garden uh civic commons uh and folks from all over the country are here a couple hundred people and so if you see people walking around town uh they are uh had the pleasure of meeting several of them earlier today and they super impressed by everything going on in the city and it's a great opportunity for us to learn from them uh us to showcase our our city as well. >> Thank you. Any final announcements? Seeing none, meetings adjourned. Thank you.