[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. Happy birthday. I'm [Music] a [Music] [Music] I think I'm [Music] about. Okay, welcome everyone to this is the meeting of the Charlotte City Council. Um, we're glad to have everyone participating and those of you that are watching us online, thank you very much for taking an interest in what we're doing. and how we can get better things in our community. Um I just want to have start with introductions or members um that are going to join and you want would you like to start Miss Brown? Absolutely. Good afternoon everyone. Good evening Council Member Brown Charlotte City Council District 3. Good evening and go Gators. Victoria Washington, City Council at large. Good evening. Lana Mayfield, council member at large. Tark Picari from the most powerful district. Really? Really? Ed, District 7. Alvin Graham, District 2. Marcus Jones, city manager. By LA's Mayor Dante Anderson, Mayor Pro Tim, District 1, Dimple Amir, the most powerful city as an at large member. Y'all know TA normally be like Tartar District 6. He about to leave us now. He be dancing. [Music] Okay. Okay. Marjorie Molina, District 5. Good evening. Renee Johnson, District 4. Anthony Fox, interim city attorney. Ariel Smith, lead city clerk. Okay. Thank you very much for the introductions. Um this is the meeting that we have as we dive into deeper problems and situations that we believe that are important to the community and the county um all of the council members participate in what I would call the smaller groups where we would have committee forums and discussions and then this point that we come in and learn what everyone else has spoken about and what we're moving forward to do. So today, I know that we have a number of people that um are here that want to have presentations later on, but why don't we go ahead and start with some of the easier ones. How about mobility, Mr. Driggs? One of those easy ones. Okay. So, uh we had two topics today. Uh and the the big event is everybody got these. So, the uh community area plan drafts are out. Um in committee today, we heard uh some explanations about what this how this works in practice. It was part two of staff presentations. I think people are having individual meetings as well. So, uh I would just emphasize you must read this, right? Uh we have to know as members of council what's in here. We're trying to inform the public. We're trying to get them on board, but they will not read this book. People in the general public will read this book if it lands on their doorstep for the most part. Uh they're depending on us. So I just encourage you to look at it, understand it. There are a lot of issues discussed about how it becomes effective, the process through which we roll these considerations into our land use decisions. U but it's going to come back. You're going to be hearing about it. So just encourage you to look at that. The other thing that uh we heard about today was the strategic energy action plan and this is a draft as well that has come out an update to our plan. Uh a lot of good things in here big emphasis on greenhouse gases. Um I think we need also to pay attention to uh water and waste and trees. Uh but um uh this is a a good plan and we should all again be able to explain it to anybody that wants to know what Charlotte is doing about environment. So I just recommend these reports. And Madame Mayor, that's all I have to say. All right. Are there any questions, Miss Johnson? It's not a question. Just want to add um that I mentioned during the committee meeting that we want to be very intentional, Mr. Jones, about ensuring that we we get community feedback. We know at the beginning of the community area plans there was less than 1% of the residents of the city that were engaged. So I just want to just be very clear and being intentional about being transparent. Mr. Driggs mentioned that you know the city council members role in that and we do have a role to comm communicate with our residents but the city definitely has more res resources than us as council members. So, we just ask that we utilize all the resources and make sure that we're getting this information out to the public because it does affect them and we know we've all heard from residents that, you know, they don't know what's happening until it actually impacts them. So, we really want to be just proactive about that. Thank you. All right. Thank you very much. Any other comments? Okay, Miss Molina. Thank you, Madam Mayor. And actually, um, I'll just add to that there was some small discussion uh, and Mr. Graham brought it up about um updating the uh public on the transportation uh tax. Uh and it wasn't a part of our agenda, but it was one of those things where just kind of ending the meeting uh because there's some conversation around where we are with that and Mr. Driggs did give an update on where we are. Um and I don't I don't want to try to, you know, mistake his words. I can do it. I'll I'll just go. You're right. You're right. I should have mentioned that. If you don't mind, I'll just sort of think what we discussed earlier. So, Mr. Graham did point out rightly that we need to be talking about our big mobility plan at every opportunity because there's a lot going on right now, including the legislation that's pending in Raleigh that's being worked on there, uh, a portion of it in the Senate, some of it in the House. Uh we are hopeful that in their current session they will approve legislation that allows us to conduct a referendum in November if the board of county commissioners uh approves the referendum. And that would be for a 1-centent sales tax to fund a $20 billion mobility plan. A huge investment uh distributed among rail projects, bus projects, and road projects. Um that will be our response basically to people who say to us what are you doing about traffic and in all of our zoning meanies we are this is huge this is what we're doing about traffic. So uh an update of the actual plan the so-called 2030 plan that we've all been seeing is also in the works is expected out in May and that will give people a good basis to decide whether or not they think funding this sales tax is in the best interests of the public. at the end of the day it will be a public decision whether the tax is implemented. So that's the status of that. Uh and I think there there's no breaking news as such but I think it's a good idea as Mr. Graham suggested for us to remind people at every opportunity that this is going on and we are going to be going out to the public we hope later this year to say will you support the plan. Thank you for bringing that up. Y and thank you. All right any other comments? Okay. Hearing none. I understand that um there was a really easy task today and it's from our housing safety and community committee. Indeed. Indeed. No, not at all. So simple. Right. Right. Right. They make it look simple. Our staff is amazing at it. Um we got a chance to cover today in our uh committee meeting a lot of the innovation work that's going on. So, you all know that last year uh the the uh resident supported us in a housing $100 million housing bond and we're busy about the implementation. Uh just to remind you out of that 100 million uh we decided to invest in the following categories. Rental housing production, home ownership, rental housing preservation, supportive housing and shelter, housing rehab and emergency repair, innovation pilot fund, site acquisition, and administration and evaluation. And so with those each one of those categories, there's actually an implementation plan of work that is either ongoing or work that is planned um in response to each one of those items. Um in particular, we dug into the innovation pilot fund and talked a little bit about how we would prioritize that work. Uh we learned more about the city's land development strategies. Not only will we be continuing to do the things that um most folks are probably familiar with as it relates to city own land and RFPs, but we've also been moving something like a developer and that's been interesting as well and exploring not only mixed use but um um mixed what what was the term uh ACM Heath where we've got housing and fire stations together. Notice mixed purpose. That's it. Mixed purpose. So some interesting work um there. Um, we also I'm excited about this because you know I'm a data geek. This idea of implementing a housing policy simulator so that we can start to really uh map out and understand the impact of our policies on the ground and I think that'll be extremely powerful. So we continue as a city to lead the way in those uh efforts as well. Um, so much more to come, but today we got a chance to give feedback on some of the things that stuck out to us, what we were interested in, and so I'll yield to my vice chair if there's anything else you'd like to mention in regards to the discussion today. You covered it well. Madam Chair, are there any questions for the housing group? Miss Anderson. Thank you, Madam Mayor. more so just a statement because I sat through the meeting, but um love this idea of the housing simulator coming out of Berkeley University, but just thinking about, you know, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte receiving its R1 status and being able to leverage them and and employ them into a lot of the activities. It would be interesting when they when we do do the simulation to have UNC Charlotte be a part of it. Um so that they could hopefully be able to sustain future things that we might be interested in here locally rather than going out to ex export the uh the expertise. Bill. [Laughter] So, I I I do think I've had some um conversations with the chancellor and she really has said we have the talent out here to do this work and anything that we are looking at, we should probably try to inquire more often. Is this something that the the university would like to um help us do and accomplish? So, thanks for that comment. Any other questions, Miss Johnson? Thank you. Speaking of the university, we do want to congratulate them on the R1 status, but they we are going to be working with UNC Charlotte Urban Institute to implement an evaluation plan. That was one thing that was presented during the meeting. So, we are recognizing and utilizing the talent we have here in the city. And then one of the questions I asked and I hope we can get this information back. We talk about 30 and 50 and 60% AMI. What do those numbers mean? So, I asked the question, what is the AMI that we're talking about? And what is the uh the rent uh amount when we talk about 30, 50, and or excuse me, 50, 60, and 70? And Miss Mayfield looked that up and I believe the project that we were talking about the rent is going to be$1271 $1,271 at 50% AMI. And that's a lot of money still for a lot of people. We we talk about the working class and not just 30% individuals at the airport and anyone making under $45,000. We need to think about that as we're looking at 50% AMI. So $1,200 is still a lot of money and we can't forget that. You know, it sounds more affordable based on comps or the comparable amount or rate right now, but $1,200 is still not affordable to a lot of people. Thank you. Thank you. Yes, Miss Mayfield. I just want to make sure all of council knows that was a part of the conversation today where staff made a recommendation regarding a loan a pilot of a loan product basically a much lower a lower interest loan. So, it's a pilot opportunity for a current development that we have, but it's the community impact revolving loan fund. And the benefits if council chooses to move forward is the fact that one, it will give us an additional 10 years on affordability for these ranges. Two, it will give this developer the ability to utilize the loan funds at a much lower interest rate and we will still be re and we will receive those funds back because you're going to repay your loan versus the grant model that we have. my colleague. I I think um what she shared was definitely a conversation that we had, but I just want to make sure everybody was on the same page for why we were having a conversation on housing prices. It's looking at if we want to support the pilot of utilizing this low interest and the funds will come through our home, not through our housing trust fund. So it's a separate line item but that is a discussion that was started. Thank you for that discussion. I appreciate I'm sure all of us understanding that. All right. So um I also thought that there was a great committee meeting on um the housing safety. Oh I'm sorry for the BGIR committee meeting. I think it was a very simple discussion um about financial partners. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Um, I wish I can say it was simple. Yeah that's Yeah, try that one. You said it, not me. She did. Um, well, let me start by recognizing our committee members starting with Council Member Brown, Council Member Mayfield, Council Member Mitchell, and Vice Chair Council Member Bukari. So, today we had four topics and we covered it all within 1 hour and 45 minutes. So, great job committee members. Uh, first we got an update on MADIC interlocal. I'm sure you all got a memo from Chief Johnson. So, he joined us, provided an update on the status of developing an interlocal agreement with Maddic. Um, as you all know, we were supposed to get some sort of uh contract from Maddic this week, but that that has not happened. Uh, so there is a concern from Fire Chief Johnson. um they'll continue to work with them to address uh to negotiate. Uh but at the end of the day, we did provide uh that he might have to um take some hardline approach here. Um and uh we have to make sure that we have we continue to support him. As you all know, the town of Hearnsville have cancelled their contract with Madic. I'm not saying we are going to do that. Um but we will continue to negotiate with um with MAD to ensure that when someone calls 911 they are getting services on time within uh the standards that uh we have said we will follow. So I'm hopeful that there will be some sort of finalized agreement uh but Chief Johnson will continue to update us. So that's onic. Um the second topic we had was aviation budget. Uh as you all know uh there is significant growth at the airport. Uh we are seeing um where um leadership is focusing on operational resiliency leveraging technology and innovation. Um and um we are seeing $30 million increase in operating expenses but at the same time we are seeing increase in revenue. As you all know it's an enterprise fund. Um so they're going to continue to do full cost recovery even with the parking. So there was some uh discussion about parking. uh we'll get more information on the benchmarking data that was requested by committee members and uh and uh Haley also provide us an update on the steps that uh the staff is taking to ensure that there is uh passenger safety always um at the top. As you all know there is in aviation there is a debate between passenger safety and continuing growth uh especially in what we had seen over at Washington DC airport midair air collision. So Haley is going to provide a more update but there have been several infrastructure investments that have been made to ensure uh passenger safety at all times. So that's on aviation. A third item we have was the cat's budget. Um as you all know under Kaggel's leadership uh there have been significant um stability that's been made to the organization from passenger safety to capital investments to address various concerns to really addressing the vacancy rate and also addressing ghost bus rides. Uh so a lot of our committee members um applauded his leadership. uh he did also share with us there will be no fair increases. Uh however there is a fair study uh that is going that is going to happen and at the end of it uh there will be discussion of if there is any fair impact and there are several capital investments that are being planned uh to increase additional measure uh to advance safety of our passenger as well as our employees or our um so that's on cats. Last but not the least, uh we have financial partners funding policy review. Uh I know you all gave us a homework last time at our budget workshops. So we provided additional feedback to staff around making sure that uh we are focusing on the value approach value based and also we are looking at gaps. um if there are any organizations that are really uh addressing gaps that are there, we got to make sure we continue to work with them as financial partners. But then also there are opportunities for us to have uh organizations like tree Charlotte to have a line item in the budget rather than going through financial partners process. Um also committee provided an update on the ranking. So as you all know there was a scoring done um by staff uh I did share my concerns that you know when we do score our financial partners there is a perception out there that we are scoring them based on their services and um we will be working on that but today we did not get an opportunity to work on the policy but certainly that's something it'll come back um but right now I think we provided our feedback on financial partners partners. So, I guess when the manager uh proposes his budget, he'll incorporate that feedback uh when um for our financial partners. Let me see. So, committee members, if I missed anything, uh feel free to chime in. Um overall, I think we all agreed that it's going to be tough decision for us. There is a finite amount of money and we have over $8.2 million in funding requests. So um there there will be tough tough decisions that we'll have to make. Um so I'm looking forward to managers recommendations based on criteria and the input that our committee provided. So that's all I have. Thank you madam mayor. Um I have Mr. Bari and then followed by Mayor Pro Tim. Mr. Vicari, I just want to follow up on one of the comments I made in committee on that first topic uh relating to medic and what Fire Chief Johnson is trying to navigate. Um this should be on all of our radars. I know I've talked to many of you. It is on your radar and it is critical. I think the punchline here is uh critical unressed issues are not like fine wine. They don't get better with age. And right now um it's sitting out there and um despite the chief's uh valiant efforts to solve this um he has been unable to do so. So um my my encouragement to him and all of us is um it needs to be crystal clear. This needs to get resolved and it needs to get resolved in a timeline by which we don't jeopardize safety for medic services and things that happen in the public. and we're in the middle of our budget cycle of which we need to understand these implications. So, I think um you know, we've put I think the pressure uh today out there of uh hearing the updates and letting everyone know how critical that all is, but I think there's a time where we need to continue to encourage behind the scenes the chief to uh to take a hard line here and say we're not going to let this just sit unressed anymore and then be prepared as a council to support that um together however it may um materialize because this is It's it's unbelievable we can't get this solved. It's it's a top priority for us and everyone else that has a touch point needs to be a top priority for. All right, Mayor Prom. Thank you, Madame Mayor. I just want to underscore Mr. Kaggel's performance as interim CEO of CATS. I was reminded in a discussion earlier in the committee this just the tone and tenure of the topic around cats and performance on time service ghost buses etc was very different about a year and a half ago and uh you know there was a small group that was stood up to address this directly and and intergovernmentally and where we are as it relates to that moment in time about a year and a half ago show is vastly different. And I I I just want to lift up in the spirit of uh Council Member Mitchell saying, you know, we got to celebrate the good things, the winds as well. I just want to lift up his performance and the performance of cats um in the wake of our overall mobility strategic mobility discussion and the expansion thereof. Thank you, Madame Mayor. All right. All right, Mr. Graham. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I just wanted to underscore the comments that my colleague Secretary I mean council member Bari said uh in reference to um the importance of the issue that we're dealing with uh and ask the question when does it bubble up from the director's level chief level medic level to the management level in terms of having some of those conversations are it so thank you council member Graham I would say at this point. Um, until the news last week of the delay, it had been uh more or less at the level of uh the directors. So, I hope that the discussion today uh allows them to have a bit more urgency in trying to get this resolved. All right. Okay. Any other comments? All right. Hearing no more additional comments. that is completing the commi council committee discussions. Thank you for all of the effort that you put in and most of these activities or comments that you're having will give us a lot more um success as we move forward in this next budget year. So, thank you very much for what you're doing. And so, with that, I think the next um thing that we're going to review um is the jobs and ED committee meeting. and I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Graham. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Um, we had a great meeting today. Uh, we had the opportunity to receive the annual updates provided by the city's municipal service district agencies. Uh, that would include Charlotte Center City Partners where I serve as a board member, South Park Community Partners there before the MSD in terms of providing keys just to be safe making the case, right? Uh and then the third was University City Partners where Council Member Johnson uh is a board member. They presented their annual report. Uh they're doing some tremendous work uh in the community and I don't want to take their thunder away by providing um my update. They're here today. Um, Adam Rue with South Park Community Partners, Keith Stanley with University City Partners, as well as Michael Smith with Charlotte Center City Partners to make their own case uh and share the good news. Um, this was for information purposes only. Um, but out of the meeting came two newsworthy items that you will probably be reading about uh tonight in the newspapers and tomorrow. one being uh a $21 million public private partnership that's been um announced today by South Park Community Partners that they want us to consider um that um he will be here to talk more about that as well as a tax increase, a millage increase for the municipal service district and Charlotte Center city partners that Michael Smith will be here to talk about in addition to uh their annual update uh and Keith will talk about uh certainly what's happening in University City. You've heard on two or three occasions about to get work coming out of University of North Carolina Charlotte and their research status being upgraded as well as all the tremendous work that he's doing over there. Uh, and I will highlight, I'm almost certain council member Johnson will also highlight some of the challenges that they have in terms of uh, state roads and um, code issues um, that we're working um, handin glove with we the city and university city partners to address some of these ongoing issues. So they are here today to make the presentations. Uh, I will allow them to do that. One in particular is the the milish increase that has to be included in our uh our budget, Mr. Manager, as I understand it. And so I'm pretty sure at some time the manager will chime in too and make sure that the council members understand how that works um as we move forward. So would love to start with um Charlotte Center City Partners. Thank you. The keys of this. Awesome. Thank you, Madame Mayor, members of council, manager Jones. Pleasure to be back with you to give an update. Um, I'll move quickly through the update uh and then get into a conversation about a new initiative that we're launching called the Uptown Vibrancy Collaborative. Uh, if you're not aware, Charlotte Shout is going on right now. This is 17 days of art, music, food, and ideas. It is virtually free to the public thanks to the partnership that we enjoy with you, the city. There are 200 events. There are hundreds of artists that get paid. Uh, anything that we do in production, we do not take any fee for. This is money that goes straight to the artists. Uh, we mix in a couple of international, but 90% is local. Uh, please come out and enjoy. Uh, who we are, we're a 47year-old partner of the city of Charlotte. Uh, we're proud of that partnership. We're organized as a C3. Our mission is all about welcome being our center city being a welcoming, equitable, economically vibrant, culturally rich and beloved place for all. We are values-based. We are all about doing everything that we do with passion, innovation, tenacity and excellence. This is our service district and it is uptown, Midtown, and South End. Uh we've got an incredible board. We're fortunate to uh uh to have such a great group that cares so deeply about our mission. Um as far as how we put together our budget and our program of work, we listen intently and we listen a lot of different ways. We have a great board that provides us traditional governance on program of work and on budget. Uh but we use uh uptown small business association advisory committees. We do primary research. Uh we work very closely with our neighborhood associations. All of which to help us shape our work. And our work is fits into economic development. Uh we've really had a great year considering the headwinds that every downtown is facing right now. We've got a pipeline of 5.4 4 billion of new investment. Uh UNC Charlotte opened the collab this year. This is a center for entrepreneurship. It is a difference maker for the students that go there and for the aspiring entrepreneurs of our community to have a missionbased place. You you watch the difference it's going to make. It's going to become cornerstone to what makes our city great. We've got 10,000 apartments in the pipeline in the center city. That matters deeply on affordability because we have to fix the supply demand problem with 117 people a day moving to our region. We have to keep building housing. Uh and our center city has been celebrated as a central business district and it is transforming into a central activity district where it's more than just work. It's hospitality. It's a destination. It's a great neighborhood and it's a campus particularly for UNC Charlotte, but also for JCSU, for Johnson and Wales. I'm sorry. You know, yes, thank you. Uh so anyway, we're we're excited about the way uh our center city is is responding. Um, if you'll take a look at this next snapshot, uh, we love this graphic. What's in blue is what was built in this immediate completing economic cycle. And what is in purple is what is has been announced to be groundbreaking by 26. What is in green is under construction. Great places create the context for tomorrow's vibrancy. that is all about assemblages. We have 10 massive assemblages within our center city that are ready for the next economic cycle. Uh this is just identifying three. Uh we do our work in economic development and in community development. Uh we use long-term planning and near-term planning. Right now, we're operating under our partnership that created the 2040 vision plan, which is a 20-year vision that we renew every 10 years. Uh there's also great aspirations within the South End vision plan. Our South End is the hottest subm market in the Southeast. Continues to serve us so well, drawing talent, growing jobs, and investment. Uh we're also this image that you're seeing here is uh the rendering for the call park which is planned to open on June 18. Regarding public safety, uh we did some great work this year in partnership with uh the city of Charlotte. Uh, one being our public safety working group that has your chief of police serving on it, our DA, uh, our head district judge, uh, Sean serves on that one with us, uh, as does Anthony at the city, excuse me, at the county. And then a variety of business leaders. We've used affinity groups to be able to inform that work. The other piece I would draw your attention to, just for a second highlight, is our ambassador program. So the gentleman you see here in this picture in the orange and blue is one of our safety ambassadors. We completely reimagined the program about a year ago and every ambassador now is a card carrying private security professional. We raised their pay from the mid to high teens to the low 20s. And these are great jobs. and we've got a we got a really talented team that uh we're proud of the work that they're doing and look forward to what's next. Uh marketing communications is also part of the way we serve. There'll be more about that in the Uptown Vibrancy collaborative. Uh from a programming standpoint, uh it's small programs, but it's the large ones. It's the 17 days of shout. It's the Novant Health Thanksgiving Eve parade. Uh with regard to mobility, uh we stand ready to work with the city of Charlotte as you guys advance our aspirations for uh mobility uh expansion, uh the work on the gateway station, the rail trail pedestrian bridge, which should begin construction shortly, the addition of a new stop in the south end, and all our work on the rail trail. I moved through that quickly uh at the request of uh Allison. Um so now if we could jump in though to um something we're really excited about. Uh in the years that I've been in this role, I've never had a period where there's been better alignment by our major employers in wanting to support Center City, specifically Uptown. Now that comes out of concern. Uh this came from the CELC which is right now chaired by Gan Woods. Gan appointed Bill Rogers and Lynn Good to co-chair an initiative called the Uptown Vibrancy Collaborative. They asked us to staff it. And step one was defining the challenges and those challenges are public safety extraordinary experiences perception issues, vibrancy. When you hear vibrancy, think the vintage office challenge that we have on older office buildings and then a renewal of public infrastructure. So, step one was let's go out and let's raise some private money. Let's have private money move first and let's surge what we're trying to do with this program. And this group of companies made commitments for two years, a million dollars a year. We're just shy of goal. Um but we're proud to have this group as a part of it. And what we asked of them was three things. Uh we asked for them to commit to the investment number one, to advocate for this initiative, and then to own your block. And the owner block concept is really as simple as it sounds. The idea is please commit to taking your private security curb to curb. This was a humall idea that worked really well in the 80s. Uh they also we also asked of them please uh take the beauty and cleanliness responsibility for your block and then lastly programming a couple times a month. This is incrementalism. We think if every major employer and every property owner on those 11 blocks of Trian Street and a few of trade take responsibility for the experience that every guest has on their block, we're going to have an extraordinary experience through the way it comes together. An analogy was made to the uh the storefront, the storekeeper who every morning comes in at sunset, sprays down the stoop and sweeps it off. and the kind of experience that their guests have. So, the $2 million was intended to be private money and to surge the initiative. But what we would like to do is we we feel like we have a challenge right now in downtowns that need additional resources to be able to meet the day and meet the challenge. private money came first, but then they asked, you know, we want to sustain this effort going forward and we'd like to find a way to make it so that we're not constantly raising money. So, their ask, which came to you as an ask from our executive committee, was to raise the millillage in MSDS 2 and three. And if you look on this map, what it shows you is uh this was decades ago. This map was drawn with MSDS 2 and three and it was intentionally created this way to carve out the single family homes so that the single family homes would not be asked to uh to to fund some initiatives. And these initiatives we feel are much better funded by commercial property owners. Um, I've had conversations with 35 to 40 large property owners and major employers. Uh, this is what they would like us to be doing. We have not had any opposition. There are eight condo associations that are captured in MSDS 2 and three and we have invited their leadership over and had a uh a conversation with them sharing this information what we plan to do and we we had support from all of them. Um we're beginning a process with the city to continue to seek more feedback to make sure that everybody's aware of this. Uh the the model that we're using is we would like to raise a half million dollars a year from MSD3 and a half from MSD2. The increase is 0.0082 per $100 of value. And to make that real, uh the average value of the condos in those eight buildings is $465,000. So it would increase their millillage by $38 a year. If it's a hund00 million building, it would be an increase of $8,200 a year. The beauty of your center city is it has incredible tax value. So therefore, a small millillage creates significant resources. An extra million dollars for us to focus primarily on marketing and on programming. We're our aspiration is to have 52 weeks a year of programming and to have resources also to lean in on solutions for vintage office and around public safety. I know I move through a lot of information but I hope that's helpful. Um and I am glad to answer any questions. Are there any questions? Yes, Miss Ameira. Yes. Thank you, Madam Mayor. U Mr. Smith. Uh, thank you for your leadership in bringing programs to Uptown. Uh, we were at Charlotte Child yesterday and I saw many families for games or events like Charlotte Shout. So, I look forward to supporting that. Um, and really addressing safety. We have to do everything in our power to invest in our uptown. We got to make sure it is safe for people and and for our families. So u the programs that you're doing it might be small programs but really they're making large impact uh because our goal is to bring traction on in evenings weekends back to uptown uh so that it it's continue continues to be the thriving uh thriving part of our community. That's all I have. Thank you, Madam Mayor. All right, Miss Johnson. Thank you, Madame Mayor, and thank you, Mr. Smith, for the presentation. I wanted some more information about the programming, the the goal for the 52 weeks of programming. What type of programming and is the part of the um the goal to increase tourism downtown? So, thank you. Um we think programming is kind of urban magic that if you provide programming it creates a greater comfort in the space. It it does often in provide employment. Uh it creates a safer environment because the safest places are are populated and active and highly programmed. Um they're not expensive. I mean it is some will involve music, some will involve popup retail, uh some can involve food. Uh you know, we run the food truck program uptown and we run the kiosk program along Triion Street and then we also operate the incubator which is the market at 7th Street. So we have this deep bench of relationships of aspiring entrepreneurs and we we think that all of them will be great partners. There are some examples of programming that's going on right now. Duke Energy uh has done a lot of jazz on Wednesdays at lunch. Uh Truist does Fifth Street Live on their plaza which has been really popular. It's kind of like the old uh live after five uh that was done for so many years and um anyway great partners along Fifth Street that have brought that in with live music. Okay. And do we have information or or estimates or numbers of the uh the amount of tourism uptown? How much the economic driver the tourism brings in or the the do we have any of those numbers? We do. Um, so if you use Open Table as a source, um, we're now about 5% above where we were pre- pandemic. And last year we had 330 days of professional sports in up in Uptown. It's amazing the way we're being transformed. We have owners right now that want to use Bank of America Stadium, you know, 60, 70 times a year. We've got an owner of the Spectrum Center that wants to use it 150 times a year. And what's so amazing about that is it's always the end one. It's always the plus of coming early to get a meal, staying later to get a drink, pairing it with some shopping. And all of this is sales per square foot. And it all ends up in growth of jobs and it ends up in in a in an uptown that is is safer and more highly programmed and amenitized. Okay. So I guess are there graphs or something where you're capturing tourism dollars for uptown? So we'd be glad to give you some data on what's going on with tourism in Uptown. Um that'll be information. We'll be able to get some of that through a uh a great data tracking tool that we have, but we'll also talk to our friends at the CRVA. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you for the presentation. Absolutely. All right. Miss Watlington. You go ahead. Okay. Well, somebody somebody started. Thank you. U I've got a couple of questions. because I know that I was able to share several of mine with you last week. So, I look forward to some of the followup to those. Um I'm curious talking about these. Yes, those. Um I I'm curious too about just the numbers and how it works. And I think that was what I was trying to convey last week in in regards to um the current MSD budget and what the operation split out is. I know that you started with safety. Um that has been one very significant area um that's going to challenge uptown. Um so would I I would like to understand exactly how we're investing in that. So I'll I'll dig deeper into this piece. Um but if you could speak just briefly to that that can you go back to that slide if you can speak just briefly to your plan for safety beyond. I know you talked about the security offers and the increase. Are there any other items there that would sit within the MSD not from the uh private partners that speak directly to safety? Yeah, so our ambassador program uh which is uh right now a million dollars a year is our it's a third party called block byblock which provides these security ambassadors. It's there's 16 of them. Um, our plan was always to want to take it to scale once we were proud of the service being provided. And now I wish so much they were all in here with us. They are an incredible group that is so dedicated to service and uh we've got great data on, you know, the interactions they've had, the services they've provided. Um, but it it probably needs to be 35 to 40 to really have the impact that we're seeking to have. And we're in conversations with partners about how do we how do we double that size? How do we make it into a $2 million program? And so is have is there a forecasted percentage of this new revenue that would be needed to expand to 35 to 40? If so, what is I'm just trying to get a sense of what we get when it comes to safety for this uh increase in military. So the wi within the program the the inc the the the part that we're trying to surge now and through the summer and through these next two years is really about programming which we think plays a role in public safety and also in the storytelling retaking the narrative. Uh there will be a small portion of this that goes to the ambassador program, but the plan for the ambassador program is to bring other partners in to be able to double it in size. That's not what this request is for. Okay. We'll continue conversations. Um okay. I just I when I think about core services for the city, safety's one of the major ones and so and I appreciate the the proposal and certainly can understand how you got there. It's just important to me that if we are putting additional public dollars on an ongoing basis towards something I it's important to me that it's tied to our core services especially in light of some of the conversation around yes we know that increased visitors can improve safety tertiarily but really to me that feels like more of a tourism tie which is also a good thing. Um but it just gives me a little bit of pause. I want to make sure that we are um we are investing in the core. So the plan the plan from the beginning when we introduced the ambassador program in 2018 was for the rateayers in uptown to pay for half of it and for the other half to really be hospitality funded because I think you're right. I think it is about the experience that our guests are having and so we're having conversations with hospitality related partners about how do we stand something like this up where it becomes a 35 to 40 ambassador scale program and I I think in order to have the super impact that we think we can have through the ambassadors that's what it's going to take. Yeah. Um thank you. I I'd like to spend a little bit more time on this and I I I understand there are a lot of different partners and a lot of different sources of funds. I just wonder if there's um and there's an opportunity to streamline and make sure that we are getting what on the public side is for me one of the most important issues. I don't want us kind of breaking off private public on every single piece and then we end up piece milling it all together. But I'm sure you're on top of that. Thank you. Okay. All right, Mayor Prom. Thank you, Madame Mayor. And um couple things on this ambassador program, which I think is is a a very good program. I know uh University City Partners, you're starting yours, but if the city manager were here, you know, I I would pose this question to him around how can we stand up to Miss Watlington's point, um a program that we see is effective, but in in areas of the city that a need it, but b do not are not homes to an MSD, right? uh because I think it's there's an extension of public safety of visibility um and we could and we could be we could manage the intensity and area of areas of focus of a broader ambassador program. So just I' I'd like to have a broader discussion about the ambassador program. However, one of the questions I wanted to ask you around the safety program, the vibrancy program that um you're effectively funding through the increased millage and the work that's going on with a home for all. Yes. And also, I know that the county has agreed to provide 24-hour um safety security in in certain parks. the majority of them are uptown, right? First ward, I believe, Ramir Bearden, etc. But making sure that there's the coordinated effort between what you're doing, what Home for All is doing, and the increased security in parks. I want to make sure that we're not that that we're not um being repetitive, but being supplemental in the the amount of support and security being provided. You you you have my commitment on that. I'll remind you guys that the the home forall project was one that we stood up and staffed. Uh it was eventually adopted by the county commission. we stay very closely involved and I I I my commitment is that we will not duplicate and we'll look for all of those to be moving together. Um and yes, on July 1st, Meckllinburgg County is going to have armed private safety in all of our uptown parks, which we think is a is a gamecher. Yeah, I I I agree. I just want to make sure you know myself and a couple other council members met with the CMPD Metro Division uh to talk about public safety uh the numbers and they're doing a great job. Um however, one of their their their biggest um hurdles, if you will, is, you know, being able to interface with the unhoused population, having a place for them to go and and be safe and secure. And so that's why that intersection with the home for all is important. U the other piece that I want to make sure uh that we are covering especially for you for center city is you know the third ward third ward um neighborhood organization has just become revitalized and they're under the leadership of uh former council member Austin. and I went to that meeting and I know that they're they're leaning into it, but want to make sure that all the wards have a voice in the programming, a voice in visibility in the programming that's going on uptown um in in uh the planning of it. Um and I know that third ward now will be organized but first ward is another one where a lot of activities occur there in first ward and and hopefully more in fourth ward and second ward as well. So just leaning into the ward leadership would be um very very helpful as you move forward with your planning. Thank you madam mayor. All right. Thank you. I think Miss Mayfield, I'm sorry I didn't see your hand up. No worries. Thank you, Madame Mayor. Thank you for the presentation, M. Mr. Smith. Can you go back to your budget breakdown? Yes. The C What is Center City? Okay. What is CCCP? C Center City Partners. What is CCC P Charlotte Partners? It didn't capture at the at the first point. 20% the well the CCC CCP Paul CT yes so that is our community trust that is a related entity that's organized as a C3 and that is a separate corporation that is part of our body of work and it's where we do Charlotte shout it's where we do the parade it's where we do the small business innovation fund Um, so the community events and festivals come out of your trust. That's correct. So 20% of the trust and then you also go out and seek additional funds for the trust. Yeah. What we try to do each year is bring in 7 to10 million of additional private money to match the MSD dollars to do our body of work. additional private and we do that through three corporations. There's the center city partners which is most of what you just heard about and then the two related entities are the community trust and the market at 7th Street. Those both have their own boards of directors and their own their their own tax status as C3s. And the beauty of setting up C3s is then you're able to get foundation money into them, whether that's private foundation or corporate. It's just a great it's a great tool for us to get private money into public priorities. Okay, that helps. I was just wondering what just want to have an understanding of what the PCT so I wasn't aware that center city partners had a trust so thank you for the explanation you're welcome thank you any additional questions for Mr. Smith, just just want to close it close it out. Um before we bring up Adam, um and Mike did a great job uh in terms of articulating the goals, the vision for Sen City Partners. One of the things that he he really didn't touch on a lot is they there's a lot of interaction between Center City Partners and residents. He talked a lot about uh the business relationships. uh but they do have a very very hands-on approach of working with the individuals who actually live in uptown Charlotte first, second, third, all the wards. Uh so I don't want want you to leave without saying that for sure. Uh and then secondly, center city partner has been a great convenor uh of the district attorney's office uh CMPD and other stakeholders in terms of making sure again that from a public safety perspective that all these voices are being heard and are being coordinated in addition to CMPD but the the private police uh with all the major corporations working uptown. So there is a lot of collaboration, a lot of coordination um with a lot of entities um all based out of Charlotte center city partners that he didn't highlight but I I just thought that as a board member I I need to really express that because my first concern obviously is uptown Charlotte which I represent along with Miss Anderson um uh the residents of uptown Charlotte right that's first and foremost and certainly the corporations and their importance speaks for itself. So, thank you very much for the presentation. Thank you. Yes. Uh Mr. Smith, hang on. Uh Miss Watlington has one one additional question for you. This one's quick. The question that um Mayfield asked put me back on here. Can you go back to your part chart? Yes. Just so I understand. So the community trust is a separate entity but related for events. Then you've got programming and events over here for 15%. And then I saw another set of the okay I see programs projects placemaking for 2 million 1 million for events and then 2.6 for the community trust which is also events. It's events. It's the uh McCall park. It's uh the small business innovation fund where we grant money to uh small businesses. In fact, rounds five and six are in partnership with the city. That's ARPA dollars. Um that's been a really really effective tool. Okay. Offline is fine. I'd just like to see a little bit more and so I can understand the difference between those buckets and how those are defined. Thank you. Love to dig deep. Appreciate it. Okay. Miss Johnson's going to bring us home with the final question. I'm sorry. Last question. How how many staff members do you all have? How many what? How how many staff members do you have? 25. 25. Okay. I just want to lift up one of them. Mora Mora Quinn, I want to thank you. Yeah, you do a great job. Thank you. I think we should all give her a hand. It's a pleasure working with with all with you both, but I really want to thank Mora for all of her help throughout the year. Thank you. All right. Thank just recognized as one of the 40 over 40 here in Charlotte. Miss Mora Quinn. Okay. Are we ready for South Park? Yeah. Come on up. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Smith. and and again, Adam, if you can give us the the cliffnote version and then get to the the meat of of the presentation, that'll be helpful. Thank you. Well, unfortunately, my my team chose an early exit. Um, so I'm just happy it's not Duke. Uh, that's Go heels. Uh good good evening everybody. I will peel through the the annual report quickly uh so we can get to the Symphony Park portion, but uh just want to quickly remind you that uh South Park Community Partners serves MSD6, which council established almost exactly three years ago uh and comprises one square mile in the commercial core of South Park. Our mission is to lead South Park's advancement by driving economic vitality, creating memorable experiences, and ensuring an extraordinary quality of life. Uh much like our peer organizations and University City and Center City, we do that through a range of activities. Uh I won't list them all but uh similar similar to our friends uh marketing, programming, economic development, placemaking uh all of that is uh in recognition that South Park is an economic engine for the Charlotte region, particularly our visitor economy. Uh and it's our team's job to create and nurture a place where people and businesses want to be. Um, as many of you know, last year we launched our South Park Forward 2035 vision plan. This is a blueprint led by the community uh to guide South Park's evolution uh to help shape South Park from a collection of disconnected destinations into a more complete place. That vision plan and the 64 projects in it inform our annual program of work and budget. Uh and the community's vision is for a more walkable, energetic South Park where people connect and businesses thrive. One of the bis uh the vision plans catalyst projects is completing the South Park loop. Uh this is a threemile urban trail, a project that originated uh with the neighborhoods and with city staff uh to really uh make South Park a more walkable destination. We've partnered with the city and with the private sector over the last year to install loop furniture and wayfinding signage as well as to work on placemaking, public art, free community events, and activating underutilized green spaces uh as we work to find a dedicated funding source to finish the remainder of the loop that is yet unbuilt. Uh one of the things we're most excited about and most proud of is the South Park Skipper, uh our free microransit program which we launched in mid November. Uh this was a key recommendation of the vision plan. It was a top priority across stakeholder groups. I hope you've had a chance to come take a ride. Uh it is within the MSD. It's app-based, but we also have a bilingual dispatch line if people prefer or need to book by phone. Um this service again free to use to the public. It's part of our commitment to making South Park welcoming and accessible uh and to have low barriers of entry so that we can use this program uh as a test case and as a lab for innovation so we can learn from it uh and hopefully inspire more mobility innovation both in South Park and across our community. Uh after four and a half months we're pleased with the progress we've made nearly 16,000 rides by the end of March. uh an eight minute average wait time which is uh better than our 10-minute benchmark. Um and uh really pleased with what we're learning from the program. Uh we've got a great partnership with Katz, the city's uh team at C DOT, CRTPO in Central to take all of the data that we're getting from the back end of this program to analyze it, to understand it. How are people moving around? Where are they going? Uh what time of day are they moving? Uh and share that with our partners. again so we can learn about what's happening in South Park. We've had a great partnership with cats as they launched their microtransit service in North Meckllinmberg uh sharing insights both ways. Uh and our hope is that as this program matures we can use the insights uh to to help shape the rest of our transportation network and begin to connect to it uh and and really create a system rather than uh separate parts. Uh, one of the things that I would just highlight about this program in particular, as I mentioned, we we published the vision plan last April. This was on the street in mid November. Uh, it underscores our organization's commitment to uh come up with bold ideas and then to put them into action quickly, which brings me to uh Symphony Park uh which is another priority identified uh in the vision plan as a catalyst for a more connected community. Uh earlier today I shared with the committee the framework for a p public private partnership to launch a new era for this beloved community asset. Uh this is the result of years of hard work by a lot of people, a big team. Uh but I do want to specifically thank Councilman Bari as well as the planning and economic development staffs for their partnership and work on this that precedes um the the existence of our organization. This has been happening uh for the better part of a decade. a lot of people around the table working on it and it's our privilege to to come to the table and help try to to bring this partnership together and deliver this this project. As I mentioned, this was a top priority of the vision plan and the vision for Symphony Park comes directly from our community. Uh they told us through CNEP um and through the vision plan process exactly what they want in this space. Uh, we know that the community wants a new place to gather for events big and small. A place to create uh or excuse me, a place to discover uh whether they're new to the neighborhood or whether they've been here for uh years. A place to create art opportunity and memories. A place to spark awe and wonder, and a place to connect with others, strengthening the fabric of our community. Uh this is a $21 million project that seeks to transform Symphony Park into a signature urban green space that will become an extraordinary community destination home to frequent highquality programming that invites those deeper connections with others. Uh the design again informed by the community leans into the park's location on the South Park Loop alignment creating a true walkable destination for residents, workers, and visitors. The project calls for the addition of new access points and pedestrian infrastructure, enhancements to the park to facilitate a wider array of community programming, two anchor restaurants which will generate new tax revenue and create jobs and micro retail space to support emerging entrepreneurs. And as you look quickly through the renderings as I peel through them, what I hope you will take away is that the vision for this space is it's where the community comes together. Uh this is a place beloved by our nonprofit community for as a venue for walks and runs and fundraisers and and we really see that community spirit as core to the identity of this public space. Uh so let me walk you through quickly the uh capital stack and some key terms. Again, the total estimated cost of this project is $21 million uh with a commitment from the private sector for $13 million led by a significant investment from Simon Property Group to build those anchor restaurants. South Park Community Partners has committed to raise $5 million from the private sector. Uh and our request for the city is $8 million in existing bond capacity for district 6 capital projects. leveraging uh funds that have been obligated for uh our community to to help us uh fund this project. During the committee meeting today, we had several questions about the county's part participation in this. Uh we're continuing conversations with county staff um and are hopeful that we can uh have the county as a participant in this project. Uh, as you can imagine, there's been some transition there, uh, both at the county leadership level, but also in the parks department, continuing to work through our conversations with the county. Uh, this site is privately owned, and under the the terms of this uh, framework, the county or the Simon would continue to own uh, this site. Uh, they would design and construct those restaurant buildings and be responsible for any cost overages of that portion. Uh South Park Community Partners would be a steward of the design and construction of those park improvements, the micro retail uh and that 500 foot South Park loop segment. Our target construction uh date begins summer 2026 and delivers in 27. Uh on the operations side, South Park Community Partners uh would operate and program this space as a public amenity through an operating agreement with Simon. Simon has an existing easement agreement with the city of Charlotte. They would amend and extend that easement to ensure perpetual public access to this space. Uh and I do want to mention as as many of you know that this is called Symphony Park for a reason. The symphony um has called this space home since it was built and uh we've had great partnership with the symphony and and they are committed and we are committed uh to have them in this space after its renovation and construction. Um uh as I close out, I I want to emphasize that the business community is really excited about this project because of its ability to uh drive talent attraction and retention, the ability to steward South Park into its next chapter uh as an important economic engine for our region. We know that communities that prioritize public space and highquality programming consistently attract talent and investment. Uh this is an incredible opportunity to advance the community's vision for South Park and deliver an asset that serves all charlatans. Uh we look forward to working with you uh to bring this to fruition and I'd be delighted to answer your questions and I tried to move through that as quickly as I could. Absolutely. Uh Mr. McCori, thanks. Yeah, I gave longer remarks that I won't make today again earlier, but um the two punchlines I think are important for uh uh everyone to understand the backstory. uh in 2018 after I came in for the first time into this role um we went through that budget process and um I appreciated all my colleagues some of you that were here at that point um for the support of allocating this money for investment into that infrastructure. Um at that time I thought it was going to happen a lot quicker uh than the seven and a half year journey that then it took to get to this point. Um but um chalk that up to the life experiences. Thanks to Adam and everyone for helping kind of bring this through to the finish line. Um but um that money doesn't need to be found. It's been allocated and approved by council already in that process and it's just about um the process going forward. Uh making sure that everyone's comfortable with what the project looks like, not necessarily finding the money somewhere and sacrificing other things. And the second point is um while it is it says a park symphony park um I personally believe this is much more than just a normal park um as you see in here there's economic development aspects to this a bridge into the retail area of what the mall will future uh become. Um it's a opportunity to connect the walkability and a lot of the investments. We're starting with the South Park Skipper. We're taking that data going more towards autonomous tru travel all kinds of things that are going to be possible. This has a lot of those dynamics in it that will be an economic engine for this region. But um we need to inspire others and with this move uh today's news but then this move uh to get this first phase going. This is just the the starting point of what I believe will be uh many phases of growth and building on top of this. And the next step is to uh inspire the already nearly inspired private sector to fulfill their components. But the county is going to play a very important role in this going forward as well. And um and and I believe that this is the right step to get that um moving from you know just a wish to an actual commitment. Um but hopefully that background is helpful. Thank you Miss Johnson. Thank you, Mayor Pro Tim, and thank you, Council Member Bari, for that clarification. So, you said this money has already been allocated since 2018. And what is the scope of the project? Is it for the park and to boost retail at the mall or So, uh, council members, I described the the scope of the project, let me flip back. Um, is a number of things. a new pedestrian infrastructure, building a South Park loop segment uh integrated to the park and access from the loop directly from the loop into that space. Um facilitating ease of pedestrian and bicycle movement uh from the loop into this into this space. Uh the creation which is privately funded of restaurant buildings uh permanent anchor restaurants to drive daily activity. So that gets people moving around the space dayto-day. Uh as well as some micro retail space that we intend to uh use to support emerging entrepreneurs. Uh and then some improvements uh to the topography and to the amenities inside the space to be able to uh help us more effectively program it. One of the challenges with this space is that it is largely underutilized uh as a function of its design which is outdated and sort of doesn't meet the needs of of those who need to access it and program it. Uh so some of the moves we're making is to try to facilitate through design a space where we can drive daily activity across a wide range of uses. Thank you. And Mr. Manager Oh, he's not in here. I was going to say Oh, there you are. Okay. Wait. and we can talk offline because if we're if uh we're going to set precedent for assisting malls, there's a mall in district 4 that we can talk about. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Johnson, Miss Amira. Thank you. Um, Adam, I really like how you are integrating uh the natural component which is the green space and preserving beautiful tree canopy that's there. Um, and certainly I'm all for the programming because it really activates the site, brings tourism and also really brings jobs and opportunities to council member Bukari's point and I appreciate how you are leveraging the private dollars uh to make this possible and expedite. Um I know this was allocated back in 2018 but without this I don't know when we will be able to accomplish uh this project through completion. So um I certainly appreciate that we will be able to deliver this sooner rather than later because of this partnership. So, um, if we can leverage our public dollars to expedite improvements like this and really revitalize, uh, the area, I I think that's a no-brainer to me. That's all I have. Thank you. Thank you, council member. Thank you. Any additional comments or questions? Hearing none, shall we move to Mr. Stanley? Thank you. Thank you. We saved the best for for for last. I I I I live over there. So, I I got to say that while they're setting this up, I just want to say thank you to the council and to the mayor and city manager and staff. Uh it's been a great opportunity to lead University Partners and so I appreciate it. Also, Council Member Renee, really appreciate your support. A number of different things you've been helping us on. Some things I'm going to talk about. um the next few minutes. I'm going try to keep my comments brief so I don't get in between the game and what people want to go see. Uh uh but also um about this presentation is about University City. It's about the sights and sounds what we're doing. But you've already tasted a little about University City from my understanding. Council member John said the food came from KZOS which is a university city business. So I hope you enjoyed that food coming from our university city. Stop. Um this pres presentation really boils down to the focus on area of the our vision plan that was released in July of 2021. We talk about the public safety, economic development, marketing and small small business initiative and this is outlined a lot of the work we're doing in our vision plan level set for those just for University City. The biggest thing is that the growth that we have in University City, over 150 apartment units, uh close to 20% of all, uh residential development permits within Meckllinburgg County are coming from University City. So, we're growing by leaps and bounds. In the fall of last year, we pulled together our first public safety forum. Had over 60 individuals come, including CMPD, Charlotte Fire, businesses, residents, and what's come out of this is really that we want to continue to focus on keeping University City clean. Uh you see these numbers up here. We have a team that's dedicated to addressing code violations, dealing with the shopping carts, dealing with the yard signs. And this is really key for the work that we do because you want people to feel welcome including around the lake. We heard this at the last session how people had concerns about the lake and so we've been able to address that through these programs. I mentioned about the growth about University City. One thing I do want to point out is that we heard the news about Vanguard, but there's also some other stories in there. Uh REM Mason, Pinnacle uh Financial, and of course our beautiful uh University City Regional Library. all adding value and growth to University City. A part of the vision plan that we talked about as far as the brand of University City. Um, and we see the value and how we carry the brand and carry the the momentum and the story about University City. We talked about University City Research Park, this 2200 acre park that we manage. We work closely with the council, work closely with a number of our attendants to make sure we're getting the right mix in there. We also looked at look at university or W's edge with the library activation and the novel activation, but also activating the lake itself. Um, we've been able to bring over 40,000 people to the lake with our six signature events. We have a uh holiday tree lighting ceremony. We have kids fest. We have wine fest coming up this weekend. So, please get your tickets. And it's really about engaging the community around this beautiful asset that we have. But it doesn't just stop there. We also have There we go. Uh other events. We were excited to announce Boom uh uh Boom Charlotte comes to University City. We also have the Queen City Arts Festival, Little Country Food and Culture Fest, Niner Nation Week, uh the New New Year's Day 5K. These events activate not just around the lake, around the community, and they bring people to the community to bring dollars to the community. Yep. No problem. Glad you got it. But it's all about data, too. We don't just do anything just to do it. We want to make sure we understand, we have the data that drives us to the work that we do. We were able to invest in Placer AI, which allows us to understand the traffic, the foot traffic around University City. We know that 3.4 million people come to the lake. We know that the average stay time for people around the lake is 38 minutes. We also know that more we have events, the more they stay and the more money they spend. So, it's about activating just like my colleagues who presented earlier. It's about activating people uh activating the spaces and places for people to come and spend money. We said return on investment but also return on emotion making sure people are enjoying themselves but also as I mentioned earlier about the safe uh safety and clean area. We understand our residents see University as a beautiful clean place and they want to keep it that way. That's why hence we're going to move forward with a couple projects for the future. Um actually as I wrap this up for the future for University City, there's a couple categories we're going to be looking at. We mentioned earlier, I've heard uh my colleague Michael Smith talk about it. We're going to be looking at an ambassador program for University City. Um the shopping carts, some of the issues that we're seeing, it just it can't be done. We have a unique issue in University City. We have WT Harris North Trion. They are statemaintained streets. We put close to $100,000 a year in maintaining them ourselves, but it's just not enough. So, our goal is to have conversations. We already even started after the committee session today, having conversations with our colleagues and others about what will the University Ambassador program look like. We got to get rid of those shopping carts. We got to get rid of those yard signs. Got rid of the tires. We want this place to be a clean, inviting place. But also, the future also includes our continued walkability. Although we are three times the size, University City is about 10 square miles. We are probably one of the largest MSDs in the country. I want to repeat that. One of the largest in the country by size, not by budget by size. Uh we we want to make sure that we are advocating for sidewalks and walkability and microtransit. And so we're going to continue to work with Brent Kagel. I heard his name a little bit earlier with Cats. We've had conversations with him. We're excited about this 1% sales tax. We understand that it will bring value to University City because we are part of one of those zones of microtransit zones as we see that. but also sidewalks. And so we want to make sure that we're increasing those sidewalks for University City. The big thing for us, you mentioned earlier, UNC Charlotte with the R1 uh status, we're going to lean into that. Um we're working with our board members, working with administrators because as they go through the research and development, go through uh prototype manufacturing and go through intellectual property. We want some of those jobs and economic activity landing in University City, specifically University Research Park. And that wraps it up. Okay, that's the man know there's a game tonight. Yes. Okay, we have Miss Ashira. District council member Rene last. I believe she wants to go last. All right. Thank you. Well, Keith, let me give you kudos um for your leadership in addressing some of the issues around the lake. Um thanks to your leadership I have seen how uh lake space around that has transformed. Um pretty much uh at our last your conversation yes um there were four points that I had made and uh you pretty much worked on all four and you delivered. I appreciate it. Um lake area is very clean now. Um I do not see litter around the lake where it used to be litter. Now it feels now it looks like a very wellkept well-maintained very clean environment where we take care of our natural resources. So thank you uh to you and your team. I see your uh team member is here. Also, I appreciate how you have supported small businesses and how broad activation uh you have done under your leadership. We have seen so many festivals from Boom Charlotte to familyfriendly activities to um farmers market. I appreciate that. Um and just uh advocating for sidewalks and park. You know, certainly the university area uh is when you look at our park space for the university area, we uh certainly struggle with that. So, I appreciate your continued advocacy on the parks, park space, green space, as well as sidewalks. Uh, I just can't thank you enough for your leadership, uh, Keith, and you just been a rock star, you and your team. Thank you. I do want to say this. I thank you for last time I was here, you connected us with a number of different the chambers, the Black Chamber, the Asian Chamber, allowing us connect to have conversations. We have 1500 small businesses city. because of that partnership working with those chambers, we've increased our engagement with 910 of them. So, that was a big thing for us. Thank you. Thank you. Uh Mr. Stanley, I'll go and I'll allow the council the district council member to close out and Mr. Graham wants to speak as well. But, you know, I I gave you your congratulations earlier during the um the committee meeting, but just want to extend that. And earlier in your presentation from earlier today, your slide six and seven, it's not here this evening, but your I believe it was slides six and seven that focused on public safety. Yes. I I thought those were great. That's a great template, if you will, of how we can attack and address public safety in other areas of the city because as I I continue to state, public safety is does not equal CMPD, right, alone, right? It takes partners and you you are manifesting that in your approach at UCP. So, thank you for that. The but the other the two other points I want to make. One is that these these MSDS you all have so much rich data. You just talked about pla placer AI you all have so much rich data around trips around time spent probably around spend and the demographic and psychoraphics of your residents. I would love for us a as a part of the city of Charlotte to be able to utilize that data, extrapolate it up and see if there are other similar areas throughout the city that might have residents that look the same that we could be activating programs similar to what you're doing, but areas that don't have MSDS. I think the there's a benefit strong benefit to having MSDS to be able to activate in neighborhoods. Um, however, we can't have that across the entire city. So, Mr. Manager, we need to be leveraging that. And and finally, um you know, I'm going to lift up again uh the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. I I had the opportunity to spend the weekend in Boston uh for a reunion and I was exclusively on on my alma mater MIT's campus, but um many of my many of my uh my my uh sorores who I went to school with, it was a sorority reunion. We were all kind of trying to figure out where in the world are we, right? uh because we've been there a million times, but the growth right there on East Campus in particular was clearly around economic vitality that was tied to the university, but also private industry. And so right there on this on MIT's campus, you have right across the street, Google has a major office building. Um and because and other tech leaders there and because of that there are restaurants and bars and other things that not only the students can take advantage of but uh the private employees but of course they're pulling from this the students the graduates from MIT to populate those jobs entry level jobs. I you mentioned that you had a couple of board members thinking about the connectivity with the University of of North Carolina at Charlotte, but with this R1 status, I think it's an opportunity to be forward thinking around what a 5 10year plan could look like bringing private industry in tapped to tapped into the research as well as the economic vitality of UCP. So, um, and and I think that's a part that the city can play a role in as well. So, I just really invite you to lean into how that could, um, enhance and really uh, put a put a put a view on a university city around the university that we don't have today that could truly elevate that area even more so than the work that you've been doing. So, thank you. I will say I really appreciate that we uh over the past 60 days we had the I've had the opportunity to connect with uh not just with UNC Charlotte but also with NC State uh even with Chapel Hill about how they're working with either MSD their economic development groups that they partner with within their areas. We're starting to learn a lot about how this partnership between Town and Gown really is could play out for University City. So I definitely agree with you. really continue to lean in and with UNC Charlotte and as that with that Arvin status what that could potentially mean for us as far as intellectual property and just economic development around University City. Thank you. Absolutely. Um it it is also important to note that uh UNCC is the second largest university and I would think within a matter of years will take over uh North Carolina State University as the largest and they also graduate the most engineers out of any uh university in the North Carolina University system. So again just thinking about economic um development and vitality for that part of the city is important. We have Mr. We have Mr. Graham and then we have Miss Johnson. Thank you. Um Madame Mayor Prom, again I just want to thank you for for your leadership as well. Um as a resident of University City, um I I can see uh the changes in terms of the um outreach and the uh commitment to placemaking in University City under your leadership uh and your team uh leadership. I want to thank um Council Member Johnson for sure for her advocacy for a wide variety of of issues that you need help with from a city perspective. Um like the the 18-wheelers and some of the code enforcement issues and um even um some of the campaign yard signs that still out there after a year at large. Um uh that still stand, right? Um and so those are real issues. and also talking about how this relationship between the MSD, the city, and more importantly the state which really is is the crux of our that's I think that's limiting the growth uh and a lot of your budgets being plan is being spent on maintaining stateowned roads which is certainly not fair um for sure and we got to line. I think not let that be an issue for university city partners, but an issue that we as a council take up with some of our delegation members in terms of really getting the type of support necessary um for that area because unlike the other two districts, I 85 is a blessing and a curse, right? because we we get all this incoming traffic coming through University City. Uh and they throw things out of the window and they don't live in the area and they really don't care. Uh but the problem rests with the city code enforcement with you primarily as the the gatekeeper for the city to ensure that the quality of life for those who want to come up there to shop and play. Um uh it's um the quality of life is great. I won't touch you on the university. I think the mayor pro Tim articulated clearly what I wanted to to reiterate about that. I wish there was a way for us to open up the gates and allow those 26,000 students other than living in all the apartments over there, but to begin to have a an experience, right? If we can get that football games uh off campus on to hypothetically Harris and North Triion Street, right, where you can kind of see and feel what's happening behind the gates of the campus. And so I know that's a work in progress. I know Betty has been really instrumental in trying to find a way to bleed outside the gates of the campus so that we can experience the excitement, the growth, uh see the students. You got to look really really hard sometimes just to find students in the area because they're behind the gates of the wall and there's close to 26,000 of them, right, that come throughout the community uh each and every week uh for one reason or another, whether it's for academic classes or sporting events, etc. And so working with the university not only to leverage the the the research status which has helped fuel the research park but also the student experience and the experience of growing the university city area in a way that is impactful for all. So just wanted to thank you. We want to thank Council Member Johnson because I know some of the phone calls um I get um and I try to help and council member Johnson has already done it and so I really appreciate your support and uh and that's coming from me to you as a constituent. Oh, thank you. Thank you. I am truly honored to represent District 4. It's just I mean they're they're engaged and just a great district. I want to thank you and your team. How many employees do you have? Four. Four. Yeah. Yeah, I want to lift U Janelle and Drew and I the other and Keith and Jan and so thank you all for the great work that you do. Um I could just just echo what the other members have said. You do a great job. You mentioned forward thinking. Keith is very progressive. You you talked about AI. That is something that we could almost seem like we could require some of the organizations that we fund to bring us that level of data and that level of detail. So, thank you. He has a podcast and he's really big on branding the area. So, continue to do what you do. I am fighting for you. You know that. Yes. Yeah. So, um and Keith has opened up the the office. He allows the District 4 coalition to meet there and just really engaged in the community and I think that has really helped to raise the level uh for District 4, our partnership, our working together, and just thank you for the work that you're doing. So, keep up the good work. Council member Rene, I want to publicly thank you. Um, the quick thing I want to share before I wrap up is that the fact that you, you know, you called me about the Soul Dealers, you know, restaurant. They were looking for a place. They had grew out of their location in University City. We didn't want to lose them. And she said, "Call Keith. There might be an opportunity." I came ran came running out the office. We met with the ownership, met with the owner of a potential location. they are looking to be opening up their largest location again in University City and keeping the small location open too uh this May. And so having that type of commitment to the community is so important to see a African-American owned business that is growing by leaps and bounds hiring locally from the community. Absolutely amazing. So I just want to thank you publicly for that. I am honored. It's going to be the hottest spot in the city. When they when they met with me, they wanted to move out of the district. So I know. So we got work. So, not only do we do we keep that one, he's expanding and it's we're excited when you talk about activate the lake. That's right. So, Soul Delish is opening May 12th. So, we're excited. Thank you. Thank you. Excellent. Any additional comments? Hearing none. Thank you, Mr. Stanley. Is there a motion to adjourn? All right. So, move. All right. Good night. [Music]