good afternoon we'll begin with an invitation from fire captain Troy hter father as we begin to pray I am reminded of what you tell us in your book instead of praying using out all our words you would rather us use all our heart so today Lord we pray a short simple prayer from the heart we have plans here today Lord may they be your plans we have a way here today Lord Lord may it be your way we have people here today Lord may they be your people we have a mission here today Lord May It Be Your Mission above all Lord may we have your heart would you help us to remember that we live under a God who has a heart like no other who is for his people and specifically for the people of Phoenix Arizona a heart for everyone in this room I pray we rest in and respond respond to that heart today it's in Christ's name amen please remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance we'll Now call to order the formal meeting of the Phoenix City Council for December 6th 2023 we'll begin with a roll call councilwoman wado here councilwoman Hodge Washington here councilwoman O'Brien here councilwoman Pastor here councilman Robinson here councilwoman Stark here councilman we in here vice mayor Ansari here mayor Gayo here we'll introduce our interpreter Mario would you please provide an introduction yes mayor thank you hello my name is Mario wahas and together with my colleague Kota will be serving as today's Spanish interpreters for the meeting I'll now take a moment to introduce ourselves to our Spanish speaking audience hes Mario thank you mayor thank you will the city clerk please read the 24-hour paragraph the titles of the following ordinance and resolution numbers on the agenda were available to the public at least 24 hours prior to this council meeting and therefore may be read by title or agenda item only ordinances number G 7172 7194 through 7201 s 5357 through 549 and resolutions 22169 through 22174 will the City attorney please explain the role of public comment yes thank you mayor members of the public may speak for up to two minutes to comment on agenda items comments must be related to the agenda item and the action being considered by the council General comments that go beyond the scope of the agenda item must be made in the citizen comment session at the end of the agenda the city council and staff cannot discuss or comment on matters related to pending investigations claims or litigation additionally any members of the public who appear before Council in their capacity as a lobbyist must as required by city council code disclose this fact before addressing Council the city code requires speakers to present their comments in a respectful and courteous manner profane language threats or personal attacks on members of the public council members or staff are not allowed a person who violates these rules will lose the opportunity to continue to speak thank you we have item one and two are our formal meeting minutes we'll begin with item one councilman guardado do you have a motion motion to approve item one second all those in favor please say I I I any opposed nay item two is the formal meeting minutes from 21721 councilwoman pestor I move item number two second any comments all those in favor say I I any opposed nay passes unanimously and I I want to do a brief explanation of my attire today I had an a bet with the mayor of Arlington Texas the home city of the Texas Rangers and if the the winning mayor uh got to eat the finest food of the other city and then send a Jersey to the mayor of the team that did not win the World Series so I am fulfilling my vet today was originally scheduled to do it at our last council meeting but unfortunately we lost councilwoman Williams and it seemed more appropriate to honor her at that meeting so that is the explanation for the timing the mayor of Arlington is a huge fan of pizza so we are sending Pizzeria Bianco to remind him that we have the very best pizza but I want to apologize for my attire and for people being sworn in today if you'd prefer a better dressed uh person to swear we in let me know item three is boards and commissions vice mayor do we have a motion motion to approve mayor and city council boards and commissions nominations as revised we have a motion in a second Jeremy ther for public comment in the past I've been a advocate for uh the ethics commission and ethics reform here at the city but now I wonder why we would waste time and money on an Ethics commission when there hasn't been a single violation miraculously in the last decade at the City of Phoenix amazingly the city hasn't experienced a single ethics violation or conflict of interest in the last decade despite being one of the largest cities in the country where other cities have experienced dozens hundreds or thousands of them why would we need this um clearly I'm being sarcastic here but we absolutely need ethics reform and the ethics uh commission members who are being assigned to this I hope that the first thing you'll do is review the ethics commission policy which is terrible um it provides no outside oversight it still relies on the city council to give uh super majority vote to approve any changes to it or to approve any uh violations at all and it penalizes people for bringing uh issues to the ethics commission so uh I'm excited that we're putting something in place but I'm still concerned that it's not near enough um and I'm hoping that you'll review all of the pest ethics uh complaints that have been submitted that have been put in a drawer and never reviewed and never completed by the city uh which is it just beyond the pel but so that's it thanks good luck thank you all those in favor please say I I any oppose nay item 4 through 20 are related to liquor license the City of Phoenix provides an advisory role we do have the swearing in do we I'm sorry I was trying to get out of it with my poor please raise your right hand I state your name I richardy do solemnly swear solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution and laws of the State of Arizona constition laws of the State of Arizona that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and defend them against all enemies foreign and domestic enemies for and Dom and that I will faithfully and impartially will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of the office of discharge the duties of the office of civil service according to the best of my ability according to the best my abilities so help me God so help me God thank you and congratulations we appreciate your service if you would go behind the council members would like to thank you thank you thank you to our commissioners for in many cases real longtime service to our city on very important boards now to liquor licenses do we have a motion on items 4 through 20 motion to approve items 4 through 20 second motion a second any comments all uh call all those in favor say I I any oppose nay passes unanimously city clerk are we ready for ordinances resolutions new business planning and zoning yes mayor vice mayor motion to approve items 21 through 105 except the following items 29 30 32 35 37 38 8 39 44 54 68 and 105 noting that item 29 has additional information items 95 102 103 and 104 are being continued to January 3rd 2024 and excluding these items for virtual public comment 45 46 65 and 89 can the clerk confirm if there are any other items that should be excluded for inperson public comment yes mayor my mayor also item 36 42 59 67 100 and 102 I will repeat items 36 42 59 67 100 and 102 second Motion in a second any comments roll call guado yes a Washington yes O'Brien yes Castor yes Robinson yes Stark yes wearing onari yes goo yes pass is 90 item 29 is the opportunity for our labor partners to comment on the proposed memus that they submitted last week the public comment on the proposed M us that were submitted will take place next week at the December 13 formal council meeting do we have any labor leaders here to speak all right uh we will go to I think first uh councilwoman pastor and then councilwoman O'Brien um my question on item 29 is that I received a packet this packet yesterday midafternoon um and this morning and this afternoon I was trying to figure out uh the different changes that were being asked and so um it's not very clear in each of these agreements and uh I just want to understand I know we're voting next week and so I want some clarity on that or uh is this NE is this a necessary process mayor members of council councilwoman Pastor um what you have in your packet is the proposed M us that were submitted by the labor groups we don't have control over what they submit that's just what they submitted to us we put in the packet today's meeting is for them to make comments on it the public can make comments on the 13th next week uh there'll be an agenda item to make public comments on those proposed M us then on January 6th our negotiation process will begin okay so today is is uh set up for public and U members Representatives or anybody to make a comment on what I received yesterday mayor members of council today is just for the labor groups to present on what they submitted next Wednesday at the formal meeting on the 13th will be an agendized item for the public to make comment on it so it'll also be included in that packet as well okay and so next Thursday because I received this yesterday I think four o'clock when I was walking out um actually five um and didn't have the opportunity to really look at what the changes were what they were asking some I could clearly see uh I guess I'm saying here's the opportunity for me to ask questions to them um and it looks like some of the labor unions or the unions aren't here to ask those questions but I don't I have to study this um so then next Thursday I then have the ability next Thursday I think it's for the public but will the union labor unions be here so I can ask questions the item on the sorry mayor members of council the the item on the agenda for the formal council meeting on the 13th is for public comment on the proposal you yes okay so at what point can I ask the labor unions questions as to what they put in the pocket because I'm going to go out on Blackout or what isn't it so this is my only opportunity I'm just asking yeah mayor members of the council councilwoman pestor that that is correct the meeting or the the ordinance is set up to where today's meeting is for them to make comments on what they submitted um it doesn't appear that any of the labor groups are here to make those comments and then the next meeting is for the public to make comments um and then further through the negotiation when we get towards the tail end of the negotiation then those contracts come back to council uh to be ultimately voted on I know but I guess my my my my question is because I'm going to go on what what I I don't think the general public understands like when I go on Blackout but basically I'm not going to I cannot speak about any of these contracts and so right now is the opportunity uh for me to ask questions at the packet that I received and what I'm hearing is labor and he for me to ask those questions next week is public comment I can't ask those questions uh to the public um and so at what point can I ask questions mayor members of council councilwoman pestor on that blackout period you speak to uh starts at this council meeting so so per the ordinance U labor groups have December 1st till December 1st to submit these proposed M to us they get filed with the city clerk and are placing the packet for the next council meeting which is today December 6th at that point the blackout period begins and it runs through May 1st okay so then I lose the opportunity to ask questions that's what I'm hearing so may I make a request for the future that we receive these earlier so that then um if I have questions I can ask those questions uh before I'm now placed in blackout it's unfair mayor members of council coun pestor per the ordinance the labor groups have until December 1st to submit those proposals so yes we can try to get them out after that but just know that the the time frame is set by the ordinance that December 1st date that they have to turn them into understood councilwoman O'Brien thank you mayor um and and I do appreciate uh councilwoman pastor's comments I also was trying to determine what changes um had been made expecting either you know highlights a summary would have been lovely but I would have been happy with highlights and uh red markouts just so the could be denoted in there my concern um in addition for just my own education in understanding the difference between them is additionally how could the public without having to go Page by Page through both of them know what has changed and what are they being asked in order to be able to be well informed to ask questions so I'm not sure how um if we have to change the ordinance or or what kind of conversation we have to have but it would be incredibly helpful to have summaries um and and marked changes additionally I would hope that when the new ones are posted we also have a link to the current ones so that our public doesn't have to go digging for um the current uh M us with our um groups mayor thank you and when uh these do come forward typically you do have a redlined version for vote so I think that is very helpful to both us and the the public councilwoman Gord thank you mayor um can we I just want to make sure that we can just clarify a a little bit here um can we just talk a little bit about these are not agreements right I mean this is not an agreement this is just what the unions are asking for can you just answer that please yeah mayor members of council um what you have in your packet there is what was submitted by the labor groups as a proposed mou so it per ordinance they have till December 1st like I mentioned to submit that the actual negotiation process begins after January 6th so that's when the actual negotiation process so these aren't agreements these are what the labor groups have proposed to have included in their us right because I think um you know I think part of the reason why at least what I've learned in the last few years part of the reason they're not there is just that these are just proposals right this is just still pending um negotiation between the attorneys and you know pending our our budget you know what we can do and what we cannot do right I I mean I find it a little bit difficult for them to come in and say this is what we want because it's it could be very confusing I think for the members um for the unions to come in and say these are this is the sky and this is everything that that we want and then have them and I think it causes confusion with the members if they feel that this is maybe what they're what they're getting I'm assuming that's part of the reason um they're not there today just because it does make it confusing for the members to think that they're going to get one thing and when if they don't understand the negotiations haven't happened is that maybe one of the reasons why they're not there today mayor members of council I can't Counsel on or can't comment on on why labor is not here to make comments but but they did submit their proposed M us um as required by December 1st right I mean I find it you know I I think um I have my own opinions on the on them submitting but I do understand um the frustration that that's out there right now in terms of understanding what was there and what wasn't there um so I I guess like for me I I look forward um to the negotiations I know that it's going to be a challenging year um for us to go through these negotiations um but I but I do understand where some of the frustrations are are coming from um you know from from you know from the console um but I do think that you know it's it's it's going to be a challenging a challenging time for all of us as we're looking at these negotiations but I'm hopeful um that we'll be able to come up um with well that everyone will be able to come up um with something um that makes sense when does the blackout Period start again mayor members of council the the blackout period begins today on the council meeting that the proposal submitted the proposed mlus that were submitted are um the opportunities afforded to labor is when that blackout period begin so it would be today December 6th and it runs through May 1 got it thank you thank you mayor thank you vice mayor did you have a comment oh who had a comment councilman HUD Washington yes mayor I just wanted to Echo um the sentiments of um councilman pastor and O'Brien um it's very difficult for us to have an understanding of this without one the document for comparison sake the existing mou as well as understanding where the items or the changes were made particularly without a red line or some version and I also find the time frame in which these documents were delivered to us a bit troubling I I think we are all like to be prepared for our roles and it's difficult to review this level of information given to us the day before four so I would hope with the at least by the time it goes back out for um for public comment we do have something that gives us and the public an understanding of where the proposed changes are or what the a bit a little bit more clarity in understanding the um the changes or the requests that are being made from our employer organizations thank you thank you the next item is item 80 amendments to the pay ordinance I will be supporting well I guess we'll first do a do a motion I have 30 move to approve item 30 second Motion in a second I will be supporting this item because I believe these pay adjustments will significantly increase transparency at the city it has been frustrating and concerning for many of us that there's an extensive backlog of public records requests at the police department we have a duty to do better my office has been pushing on this for months and one of the things we've learned is that there's a higher vacancy rate than it is ideal for the records Clerk at the department the current salary range isn't in line with the market this vote will adjust that by moving the position up 10 pay grades I hope that it will make it easier to attract and retain candidates want to thank staff for working with us to make this change and I appreciate their commitment to getting through the public records backlog as quickly as possible and to our public record staff thank you for the work that you do including redacting what are very emotional records with some difficult crimes any additional comments roll call wado yes hge Washington yes O'Brien yes Pastor yes Robinson yes Stark yes wearing Ansari yes giko yes passes 90 next item is item 35 legal services do we have a motion 32 next item is 32 move to approve item 32 Motion in a second com had a I had a comment on number 32 uh councilman hunt Washington yes um I just had a couple questions about item 32 and understanding the time frame which our background mayor councilwoman uh David Matthews is coming up from the human res resources department thank you I wanted to understand the time frame in which we look back on someone's criminal history um as part of our background screening and my guess my better question is is it is it dependent on the position that the individual is applying for mayor members of council the criminal history check is not dependent on the position if if a criminal history check is selected it is ran what it is dependent on as certain States limit the available information to Consumer reporting agencies which is what a background vendor falls under so for example California limits conviction records to seven years so the only thing our background vendor would receive would be seven years of that other states do not have a limit on on the conviction so as long as the statue limitations doesn't ran out and it's it's on their record we would then receive it so if the individual has a criminal back a criminal history it is something that we don't look at necessarily in determining whether or not that person is qualified for the position they're looking for mayor members of council we run the criminal history on new employees depending on the position and what the crime is and how long it was is all considered in the hiring process if we get that far so and and we take the same approach when it comes to volunteers as well yes we do so the reason I'm asking this question is we had a recent situation where an individual applied for a position and we did not in my opinion properly conduct a criminal background on that matter and it could have been quite embarrassing to the city if that was I mean we were able to find that information through a quick Google search so I just want to make sure that the we and when we're doing this we are not holding this against the individual but we are making sure that that information is at least being um recorded So we are aware of that information mayor members of council I believe the situation you are speaking to the the crime happened over seven years ago and the state that it occurred in is one of those states that limit the records they turn over to seven years okay so it would it did not appear on the background check that is correct okay thank you I just want to make sure that we are having some way of capture ing that so that we can make an informed decision at least we know what's what is going on that's my only point Thank You councilman weing uh so do you do any searches of like Google there's a newspaper report there was in this case it was right there took two seconds mayor members Council so our background vendor company that we use um that that is this item here does do an adverse media search it's called but it only goes back seven years of records as well so the adverse media in this situation also was from more than seven years ago so it did not appear in their search can I I'm just curious Madam chair um prob every single person in this room has done one Google search in their life how do you limit it to seven years because most people you know they don't have news reports and so forth so I'm curious did they look at at it and go oh it was more than seven years ago not going to tell the guys is that literally what happened because I otherwise how would the search engine know I'm only going back seven years yeah mayor members of council my uh understanding is if the article was more than seven years ago it doesn't get reported out on the background but we are working with our vendor right now to see what can be done on the adverse media check piece like they should have said hey you know you might want to take another look look yeah I know didn't see my that would be so hard thank you I appreciate it councilwoman Pastor I understand logically the seven years however um we as a counsel are placing people on boards and commissions and I think there needs to be a thorough background check especially on um very specific boards that they would be serving and it would be very embarrassing if to us not knowing and we trust our staff and doing the research and the work that then that hadn't been done I think it's very important um even going back just research on them Peri period and maybe we identify with specific commissions and boards but um a simple Google search popped up a bunch of stuff that we would have never known about and possibly move the name forward and then it would have been egg on our face and I see I think that's what's what we're trying to get at so we have to do a better job or find a better mechanism uh to be able then to look at at the whole picture so um I think that's where we're where we're coming from to be first of all embarrassed because then we didn't we we didn't do it and then secondly uh become unaware of it and then we're going to have to be able to defend not only our vote but also defend the staff that was was in the process of doing it and so I just think we need to be a little bit more conscious and cognizant and create maybe a different type of policy or pattern of how we how we do that um so mayor members recommendations we are currently exploring alternative methods to conduct that adverse media search that would that would go back further so we are exploring alternative options there thank you councilwoman O'Brien thank you so much mayor um I too had some concerns and I want to first thank you um David for the lengthy conversations we had yesterday going back and forth because this caused me to have lots of questions and much like councilwoman Pastor I would request that you know we evaluate other options and and how we're doing some processing some of this I think it's important for us to have the information um and be able to make an form decision rather than not have the information so thank you very much thank you mayor thank you roll call W yes H Washington yes O'Brien yes Pastor yes Robinson yes Stark yes wearing yes onari yes Gayo yes passes 90 item 35 Legal Services vice mayor move to approve item 35 second a motion in a second any comments councilman wearing uh thank you madam chair so this is uh money for lawyers regarding our department of justice issue um it's really a financial drop in the bucket for what this is going to cost us um if you've read uh either of Taylor cel's articles in the Republic here just in the last few days um it's not hard to see that the future we may be in an adversarial position with the Department of justice so I guess my first question is how long does this million and a half bucks last us so mayor and Council the uh this contract is just through the end of June of next year so I I guess I shouldn't have said it like that not like a date like where do we expect we'll be in the process at that point I guess another way of putting it was I don't want anybody to think this is taking us all the way through like litigation or something are not even close mayor and Council that is correct we do not know where we will be at in the process as of next year which is why we just extended it to that point and then we would further evaluate what our needs are at that point next year based on other cities experience uh mayor uh Julie you know this is this is a drop in the bucket literally this could be well over10 million and Counting um it's kind of an open-ended thing uh does this guarantee that the attorney who's representing us now is taking us all the way through litigation I mean if we wanted to switch and I'm not saying I have don't have confidence in our attorney it's just there might be a better person if the situation changes and uh we're no longer I guess you would say semi cooperating with the Department of Justice and it became more court-based adversarial like what then we we could switch right so mayor and Council yes certainly next year um we can evaluate where we're at and we can have those discussions about the best course of action depending on you know what what we're doing with the investigation um so we can re-evaluate this uh I am not um criticizing our attorney or you guys or anybody in any way however we were just on the last item talking about Google searches as I mentioned I've done at least one in my life and one did was looking up our attorney I'm not saying it's true I'm not saying anything about it I'm just saying somebody complained about exorbitant fees um I'm not saying that hading Merit or anything but I assume if I can do that Google search members of the audience and reporters can too I want to make sure they don't come back at me and go hey you really overpaid for this for what you're getting so you're competent as somebody who works in the legal profession I don't that we are getting the best bang for our buck and that we're you know spending the money appropriately because it is a lot of money and it's going to be a lot more mayor and council is certainly um attorneys SP charge a wide range of of rates and we have a lot of firms that we work with quite closely that give us a lot of cut rates from what they might charge you know other clients um I would say in this case we we've also gotten a cut rate from what uh this attorney and and I think this firm would charge but certainly going forward we can do another evaluation of what uh other firms and other attorneys might charge and provide that information to council so that we can make the best decision for the city going forward and again mayor I'm not criticizing it's just I don't have enough information or really a way to go pull a whole bunch of attorneys who do this kind of work that that's just not realistic to find out what a reasonable hourly rate was so I just kind of wanted to frankly get ahead of something that may come up as we spend more and more money on this uh certainly make you guys cognizant of if you weren't before and again I'm not saying the assertion it's on the internet so it's probably false but you know realistically I want to make sure that you were aware that that was out there and I want to make sure that we were covered just like on the last item frankly uh thank you I appreciate it councilman Robinson mayor thank you very much along those same lines Julie if I could with regard to this contract with stepto we're we're we're at or what we're authorizing is $1.5 million up until June and as councilman wearing was alluding to let's say something changes and we take a different Court of action in February or different course in February or March we're just not obligated to pay them 1.5 million it's just what they've used up until that point which they will bill us for billable hours that's all delineated we can see what it is and then we move on from there is that accurate mayor and Council that is accurate and and quite frankly at any point the city could decide to change Direction with Council we are not obligated also to keep the same Council um so we are not obligated to spend that much money we're just authorizing up to that amount for services rendered okay thank you very much mayor thank you thank you Julie thank you roll call W yes HJ Washington yes O'Brien yes Castor yes Robinson yes Stark yes wearing yes anari yes Kayo yes pass is 90 item 37 temporary modular housing qvl councilwoman HJ Washington thank you mayor 36 okay oh sorry item 36 vice mayor move to approve item 36 second motion and a second Leslie Shepard hello okay the AG issue is that working you please hold on your microphone's not working he's going to come thank you hello again uh the AG issued a new ruling a couple weeks ago that state that states the descriptions at issue scheduled eding a Year's worth of e sessions and provided agendas could could uh could have provided more detail without compromising confidentiality questions about whether to include or more detailed descriptions in an executive section agenda should be resolved in favor of openness in government whenever possible I think it kind of ties in with what you guys were saying you know getting it up front so you can actually look it over and make a decision I think it kind of ties in with this point so I'll just make it really short thank you roll call wado yes H Washington yes O'Brien mayor may explain my vote please do so I'm going to vote Yes for this item because this is merely the dates that put them on the calendar when we have um when we get to the time we do the proper postings and provide the information that that that meeting will be on so my vote is a yes Pastor yep Robinson yes Stark yes wearing yes Ansari yeso yes pass is 90 item 36 councilwoman hun Washington thank you mayor 37 37 thank you um I have a couple questions for the Department before we move forward I want to preface my comments by saying that I am a fan of the temporary modular units as we saw they were an important tool in helping the city address the court order and addressing the situation around the Zone um and they were widely well received by not just the residents of individuals who were actually who they made them their home but the providers that we established them with um however I want to make sure that the qualified um vendor list is not used the way we have seen it in the past in my opinion did not work um I want to go through a couple of things real quick um what zoning is needed for the temporary modular homes mayor mayor councilwoman W Hodge washhington um that's a question that depends on the the the site and the underlying zoning that's that's on there and we'd have to defer that to our um Planning and Development Department in terms of they haven't given us a definitive answer answer it's kind of a it depends okay well let me ask let me ask it this other way what is under the current usage of the qualified vendor list the department unilaterally makes a decision on where the project would be placed correct uh mayor councilman Hajj Washington in this scenario for the for a future project um we plan on working with the um council member whose district is it the project would be cited in and um the rest of the council um prior to bringing anything forward you said you intend to but my question is your current practice or what you've done in the past was not to necessarily take that correct um councilman hjge Washington in the in the past we have with the exception of um the emergency situation with standing up some temporary lodging um to address the encampment around the Human Services campus we have we have worked with Council officers so the answer was no you did not necessarily bring it to the council member whose District it was in beforehand correct Council madash and that's correct okay um and at times it was done without really any Community engagement or community outreach correct I want to make sure I'm outlining the preface as to why um I have a concern with it the way it's written the department could spend up to $7 million without any coming back to city council approval through as long as 2020 2030 I'm sorry right um councilman Haj Washington um in terms of the temporary lodging locations um we did not necessarily have an extensive Outreach um process for those um Emergency Shelters correct I'm trying to be diplomatic here the process that it played out last time was that there was a lot of discussion that occurred regarding a develop regarding increasing the number of units in my district and I found out literally one two business days before the contract was supposed to go into effect and the rationale that I was given is it did not need to come to me as a council member because they were on the qualified vendor list does that sound about correct councilman HUD Washington I would I wouldn't characterize that as the rationale but that was an effect of of the situation we were in um that did the qualified vendor list did enable us to enter into contracts without coming back to council yes and the discussion took place where other members of the public and other individuals knew about this before I as the representative that represent that certain Council district and there were other members of the public who had more information about this than I did so that's the part so I wanted to preface this so I my motion is to put some parameters regarding the use of the qualified vendors list so my motion is to approve item 37 on the condition that staff must meet and confer with the council member in whose District the anticipated project is being contemplated and it must be presented to the city council for approval at least 60 days prior to entering into an agreement utilizing the temporary modular housing qualified vendor list second we have a motion and a second any additional comments comment I'm sorry um I understand the frustration um and I also know that uh as a council we have uh given at a certain point we were like get it done and make it happen um however I believe I strongly believe that every council member should know what's happening in their District uh if at in any Department not just this one but in any Department in this one in particular because it's a very sensitive topic and it's very difficult for us to go into our communities and when communities already have heard uh conversations or and I'm probably uh guilty at that too uh in conversations that I had previously heard and I thought Community knew and so I I opened my mouth uh but and understanding that uh I think it's it's wise that council is aware and then Council can also say no that's not the space where we want it in and the reasons why and um and the the Dynamics that are happening in that neighborhood because we're probably the closest other than NSD uh knowing those neighborhoods and the challenges they have so I think um I support this uh motion because of that but I I I just feel this is something that happens within all departments and it's a fight or a dialogue that I constantly have uh with the statement of well you pass this and this is our how we interpret what you passed and this is how we're implementing and you have no say and that's I'm just speaking what we hear that is told to us and our interpretation and so we probably should just do a better job across the board of not only communication but how it's delivered and received um to have the dialogue but you're in a very difficult area of of human life and and how to be able to solve those issues that are that we're facing so um that that's kind of my two cents and recommendation vice mayor thank you mayor um um I just want to say that I think I'm supportive of this amendment for future projects and I definitely understand I think it's critical that council members are well informed I do just want to um applaud you and and just recognize that in the situation of meeting a court order deadline where we wanted to make sure that we housed everyone who was at the Zone I think you did an incredible job and um that obviously could not have been done with 60 days notice um in this situation and so hopefully moving forward obviously we we work to have a more manageable plan and and I know you all are working incredibly hard to stand up hundreds and hundreds of more beds and I also hope that when you do go to council districts um again I really do hope that every Council District steps up and we continue to look for opportunities for not only modular homes but shelters and and every single Council district and not just the few that um continue to lead on this thank you thank you roll call wado yes H Washington yes O'Brien yes Pastor yes Robinson yes Stark yes wearing Ansari yeso yes passes 90 item 38 Rio Fresco emergency shelter do we have a motion move to approve item 38 second second Jeff Caldwell test test all right there we go mayor council I want to start off by saying I understand that we have a homelessness crisis and and uh we are short in necessity items to help with that issue however Maricopa County has been rumored to spend over $500 million over the last decade to help with homelessness and it is well documented that they have spent over 100 million and that is directly the 100 million is directly from their website however since from 2016 until present day homelessness has skyrocketed every single year what we've done is put forth a housing first policy and throwing money at it so I do greatly appreciate the um efforts that are going into solving the homelessness issue I just don't know if this is going to help or not and it is a $5 million budgeted item it brings the total contract to over 13 million um I I am just continuously concerned about throwing money at an issue implementing the same policies that haven't worked in the past thank you very much thank you councilwoman HUD Washington thank you mayor um I have a just a general question um where my understanding is the Rio fres emergency shelter is currently operated in d8 correct mayor councilwoman Hodge Washington that's correct and um what I read here is it like you're looking to expand the shelter operations to a new shelter in Council District 3 correct that is correct we're utilizing that contract the the original contract for hotel operations to uh to add another site in their scope of work okay just out of curiosity is there a reason it's listed as Citywide on the the packet if I could address that councilman ha Washington um the Citywide was because it was more than one district and so we we just noted Citywide versus one District or the other um the hotel that's currently um we're Contracting for additional funding for CBI for the hotel is in District three because the other other items have their specific um Council District identified even if it's one two or three districts listed and this one said Citywide I was just curious as to why apologies councilwoman um it was it was just a a mistake I believe I'm I don't have an answer for why we didn't have it in the two districts as opposed to Citywide apologies thank you roll call water yes hjge Washington yes O'Brien yes Pastor yes Robinson yes Stark yes wearing Ansari yes Gayo yes passes 90 item 39 with St Vincent depa do we have motion move to approve item 39 councilwoman HUD Washington thank you mayor same question uh similar question for um item number 39 the the additional beds that are under s Vincent dep Paul where are they located mayor councilwoman Hodge Washington they are located at the Washington Street Shelter so they are in District 8 correct correct and similar question is there basis as to why it's identified as Citywide also when it's again congregated in District 8 mayor councilwoman Hajj Washington I I believe that we do that because the shelters serve people from Citywide they're not limited to just people from a certain District but I I apologize if that's not the correct thing to do I'm I'm not really sure sorry um part of my question intent is to show how many of these are congregated in District 8 and it goes back to my qu uh my your use of the qualified vendor list and again I want to I I've mentioned this before that these should not be um Consolidated in one District in the past the department has used the proximity to Services as the basis for continuing to put them in certain districts versus others and like vice mayor says we need all districts to share in that burden it should not be in addition to that burden and the responsibility of taking care of all Phoenicians it should not just be congregated in District 8 and that's another reason I think we need to do a better job of continuing to bring these projects to the respective council member and not try to bypass them so thank you thank you I would add not only should they not be concentrated in one Council District they should not be concentrated in one city there was a plan when we originally built the Human Services campus that other communities would have made major hubs for services the overwhelming majority of new beds built since the covid-19 pandemic impacted our communities are in Phoenix and we need other cities to step up people are more likely to have better outcomes if they can stay near their friends and families if kids can stay near schools and so this is not a Phoenix Crisis it is much much broader than that councilman weing thank you mayor uh so I don't disagree with the premise uh it's not the fault of our staff that we spent a lot of money on this a situation has seemed to get worse although improvements recently it's definitely I think uh definitely shown a little bit of a turnaround here recently so hats off for that as was mentioned earlier but some of what we do is kind of driven by court rulings and laws that are outside of our control correct I mean in order to get somebody off the street you literally have to have someplace to put them and if the population grows through fault of the global economy or the national economy or Co or whatever uh the population has increased so we've had to increase the number of beds or you can't tell people to get off the streets that's a Layman's interpretation of a bunch of different laws but that's substantially correct if I had to boil it down right um mayor councilman wear councilman wearing um that that is correct in order for us uh for the city or any jurisdiction to be able to Force any no Camping sleeping um type ordinances are to really ask someone to vacate an an area in the public right of way um there has to be either um an indoor shelter location or an alternative location where they could camp and not unlike our conversation about the Department of Justice earlier or coming conversations I mean those weren't decisions made by us those were decisions made by people who don't even live in Arizona and may never even have visited Phoenix or Arizona correct Council Mor that's correct that comes out of Court decisions primarily in the ninth circuit so I mean we're we're sort of hamstrung if we want to try to address the issue that being getting people off the street for their own safety for our communities you know basically enjoyment of parks and whatever else that might get um wrecked if people are living in them instead of using them appropriately uh we have to take certain actions one thing did occur to me though uh to the mayor's Point um you know if the fire department gets a call for service and they're the closest truck they'll Cross City borders to put out the fire they're not going to say oh well that's temp Beast problem even though we can see the fire from our station or something that that's not the way that works what about if our officers encounter a homeless person and the closest shelter is not in Phoenix unlikely because we have most of the shelters but does that ever happen are we obligated to keep the people in Phoenix housed in Phoenix meaning Phoenix taxpayers have to fund the project and not you know somebody else councilman if Rachel may have something additional to add to this but we're um we're functioning under a regional in actuality a regional homeless care system the Continuum of Care and so there's no really there aren't any boundaries um that require us to keep one keep any um folks seeking shelter in Phoenix and conversely um other communities don't have to keep you know if they even had a shelter wouldn't necessarily be required to keep them in their city but did you have anything to add Rachel no not necessarily no I mentioned Tempe specifically uh mayor CA Rachel uh because there have been a couple articles um you know Tempe just reinstituted its park ranger program and then there was an article a few months ago about I think their riverbed I think it might have been by meline Parish that was saying they were trying to steer their homeless population our Direction well two can play at that game so I mean at some point to the mayor's point I'm not saying she made it exactly like I'm making it but that's irritating to say the least you know we're we're putting the bill and so if there is a way to say Hey you know there is a particular border where there's a lot of this activity or something let's put something in your neck of the woods um that can service this population I don't know how we could enforce that but certainly the more we can have those conversations the better um I I just think the burden has been on Phoenix for far too long thank you roll call wado yes much Washington yes O'Brien yes Pastor yes Robinson yes Stark yes wearing Ansari yes goo yes passes 90 item 42 is our public libraries annual application for the State Library grants and aid funds move to approve item 42 second a motion in a second this is an exciting item among the things we can do with this grant we are pursuing um funding for the Workforce Center at aao library to offer classes in resume writing and computer use and also investing in critical early literacy Outreach to help our youngest residents hopefully fall in love with reading we have Leslie Shepard the main main thing that I would say here is just to please ensure that there's no sexually graphic materials available in the libraries right now unfortunately there's books that are saying how to have boy on boy sex the different places to put it different places to lick and kiss it this is in our libraries for children it's a shame that uh the governor vetoed a bill I know that's not your issue but it's something that you guys can be aware of thank you very much I am I was getting right back early literacy and resume writing well I think literacy when you got books that are perverted should be counted I mean when you got books in there that are completely disgusting we're not buying books with this grant you're what you're not it's early literacy and Workforce assistance so could you comment on those topics okay I'm glad to know that you're making sure there's no perverted Books thank you any comments roll call yes H Washington yes O'Brien yes Castor yes Robinson yes Stark yes wearing Ansari yes AO yes s is nine zero item 44 do we have a motion move to approve item 44 second any comments yes Council weing uh actually a question for Chris Macky mayor Chris if you could explain in layman's terms kind of what we're doing here compared to what we did about five years ago I'd be happy to Mayor councilman wearing as we look at this transaction today what we did five years ago when the development agreement was approved the city agreed to provide funding uh through our Revenue sources that are created by the project for a parking structure that the city owns so this is a city-owned asset the revenue at that time was used to construct the the asset the parking garage that the community facilities District which is the the city council owns today as we move forward and what we're proposing today is simply using the revenue that's being created from the site and extending the amount of Revenue that we use for for an additional term of time so to pay off the garage that we own so basically a revenue neutral of something that we own already taking money from one bucket that comes in from revenue from the city and goes into another bucket to pay for a city-owned asset thank you mayor I I did vote against this uh this parking structure component yada yada it was a long time ago but uh it is a great project I've got a dear friend who's in first year medical school at kraton right now up there uh but it's Revenue neutral so uh really nothing's changing from some a decision that was made five years ago so I'll be supporting this and thank you for the explanation thank you councilman thank you one of the many consequences in the state legislation that was passed without fully understanding what it would do roll call War yes Washington yes O'Brien yes Pastor yes Robinson yes Stark yes wearing I'm sorry yes G youo yes passes 9 Z Item 45 a development agreement with IDM I move to approve item 45 second we have a motion in a second we'll begin with Jordan followed by Jerry Carlton and Michael Norton uh thank you mayor council I only registered to speak if I need to if there are questions from this body thank you perfect thank you we will maybe come to you after Jerry followed by Michael do we have J mam mayor perfect Madame mayor vice vice mayor and Sarma and City Council Members my name is jery Carlton I am uh come before you as a longtime resident line and Rogers Ranch 2 speak on behalf of my colleagues living in this community we do so to perform uh and speak on behalf of our neglected neighborhood um prior to last month's meeting we submitted a petition to the city the city responded and said we have to petition the park and the protection of the burrowing owls by parks and wreck uh we did have a news media event which we invited all of you sir could you connect this to the development agreement with IDM otherwise we will take you in public comment no I'm waiting for public comment okay perfect I'm sorry we just got to try to stick to M my absolutely will'll take you in in public comment um I think we have one remaining comment Michael Mayor gyo thank you very much for the opportunity to speak the the intergovernmental governmental agreement with IDM provides the opportunity for a privately owned entity to perform a function that would normally be performed by the City construction of roads and the development of a water line the city doesn't have the capital to take those projects on right now the private private property owner wishes to do so the city finds a way to provide the funds for the private property owner to perform functions the city would otherwise perform we believe that's an excellent platform and an excellent template for future actions we believe that it is the exact type of opportunity that should be applied to other dormant properties which cannot be developed by the city today given the limited amount of capital funds we ask that you take this same concept and apply it properties all properties held by the city which are dormant and cannot be improved because of lack of capital funds and of course that includes Rogers Ranch Park we ask that you apply this very same concept we support the concept we support the template we ask that you apply it Beyond roads and pipes and instead also look to the parks that sit dormant thank you very much for the opportunity to speak thank you any comments roll call wado yes H Washington yes O'Brien yes Pastor yes Robinson yes Stark yes yes wearing onari yeso yes pass is 90 item 46 is also a contract with IDM companies this related to she Sheil tech center do we have a motion move to approve item 46 second a motion and a second I am not sure I think Jerry we know wants to speak Jerry's registered for this but I think wants to speak on public comment and then Jordan available to speak if necessary I think we're we're good roll call marado yes R Washington yes O'Brien yes Pastor yes Robinson yes Stark yes wearing onari yeso yes passes 90 right item 54 is our intergovernmental agreement with Maricopa County Community College District for paramedic training Pro program noting councilman pestor will not be participating in this item do we have a motion move to approve item 54 second second any comments roll call wado yes HJ Washington yes O'Brien yes Robinson yes Stark yes wearing I'm sari yes Kayo yes pass is 8 Z Item 59 is MSI Telecom intercept wir tap and surveillance system do we have a motion move to approve item 59 second Jeff Caldwell followed by Leslie Shepard mayor council this contract will provide wire intercept systems for Police Department's drug enforcement Bureau to conduct joint complex conspiracy investigations with United States drug enforcement agency and other federal state and local local agencies the wired tap system will provide the ability to continue providing wire intercepts geolocate cellular phones investigate various crimes and locate endangered citizens so this sounds wonderful however the company that uh this is being uh brought in through is JSI and they have two tools one of them is foresight and the other one is voice box we have learned the FBI is in my opinion and Up For Debate at the Congressional level illegally spying on US citizens through their section 72 searches the FBI uses uh voice box so they actually have an agreement with JSI and they utilize JSI contracts in order to spy on us furthermore JSI as reported by Fast Company has a contract with ice and that comes in at over two $22 million they offer all the tracking services available plus foresight as a privacy as as privacy International has noted in a May 2019 report JSI also contracts with the DEA and the FBI talked about that earlier this is a quote it has also received payments from the state department projects in Guatemala so if you didn't believe that enforcing the uh zero Toler Toler toleran um policy uh for immigration shouldn't have been enforced if you vote for this they're going to use that against pH Phoenicians so that's the same company thank you Leslie I'm kind of taking off where he left off you know if it is immoral to use the technology against the migrants claiming Asylum and you vote Yes on this agenda item you are approving the same to technology be to be used against the very people who put you in office and gave you consent to govern and so we are asking you to definitely not approve this um it says this contract will be provided to for you know obviously for wire tapping I mean what we don't realize is that even if you guys pass this and you're thinking well it's okay it's going to be used well it's not going to be used well I mean we already know that that's already happened with other things where they approved what we can even this you know facial recognition when you guys pass these types of things you're part of the I'm going to say it the world economic Forum where they're just trying to usher in this new World Order Plan where they can literally monitor us and keep track of us and see what's going on so we're asking you please do not pass this roll call yes Hodge Washington yes O'Brien yes Pastor yes Robinson yes Stark yes wearing Ansari yes goo yes yes passes 90 item 65 is paint and rubber removal from pavement services do we have a motion move to approve item 65 second James Meyer James uh yeah uh I want to speak at the end please sorry you want to speak to I'm sorry what did you in the sorry about that that was Wonder thank you appreciate that um roll call wado yes hge Washington yes O'Brien yes Pastor yes Robinson yes Stark yes wearing i'ms sari yes goo yes passes 90 I item 67 is FTA Grant Administration do we have a motion move to approve item 68 second is item 67 second Jeff Caldwell mayor council currently electric buses are not sustainable they are scheduled to last for only about 3 years before the battery has to be replaced and at that time it's usually less expensive at this moment to purchase a new bus fleet it's going to cost millions and millions of dollars more than what is expected and so therefore this program in my opinion unfortunately is unsustainable we cannot continue to implement policies that bring in Tech technology that isn't ready to be used over a long period of time furthermore do we have the techn or the utility capacity to charge these buses I am unfamiliar um if that has been asked or not so with that being said please don't implement the electric buses at this time thank you very much councilman wearing thank you um so uh Jeff Lori I'm not sure who would answer these questions and they may not be familiar with this but my understanding I'm sure there's other companies doing it I'm just singling one out not trying to give them props it's just something I've read about so I believe waste management is doing a lot of charged Vehicles also I think they're already doing in neighborhoods in some areas uh driverless Vehicles so I mean obviously if they can do it it I mean the garbage trucks got to be driving every day tons of Miles every day if they can do it I don't know why we couldn't now a bus will be bigger but a garbage truck is big and heavy and has a load too so do you want to just speak to that because we have talked about this before we haven't talked about that recently though mayor councilman wearing that is correct you may recall in early 2022 we brought to city council a fleet transition plan and what we're basically going to do is start off ordering hybrid buses over the next few years but we are also starting with small fleets of battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell in small numbers and our commitment to council at that time was that we would test them over several seasons to make sure they worked before we started purchasing them in large amounts so we are ordering small amounts make sure they work and then if they work we will uh we will roll them out in bigger fleets so the Genesis of my earlier comments and I guess question were were kind of twofold number one couldn't remember when that briefing was I knew it was probably last year at some point this isn't all the buses we're ever going to buy so all the buses aren't going to conch out and we're not going to have any more buses uh because you bought the electric ones we did talk about how far they could travel on a charge and all those things I'm sure that's probably even improved here in the last year uh but my underlying point was the private sector Waste Management that's big cash a lot of prizes they are moving in this direction I'm sure they're doing it because there's profit in it for them um and I'm sure we're following their lead and moving in a similar Direction but just like them we're not doing it all at one time and we're not doing it um to the point where customer service or budgets would be imperal correct mayor councilman wearing that is correct we're being very strategic about what we order and how we assigned them and again making sure they work before we buy them in larger quantities so uh mad mayor uh is I mean this may work it may not we're not alone in doing this and it's not just governments doing it either um this is something that a lot of big companies that everybody in this room has heard of are doing and they're doing it to try to save a buck guaranteed so um it's just something to consider uh but uh thank you for the explanation thank you councilman wearing I'd add to that I think Amazon has 10,000 electric delivery vehicles so these are becoming more and more common bus is a very important part of our Mobility plans in Phoenix we have 13 million bus trips per year in our region 25 million trips so this is an important step towards better transportation and addressing climate change I'm very appreciative to the bipartisan infrastructure law which has helped us modernize our transportation system we will thanks to the infrastructure law receive a high hybrid electric bus this month and then 19 more for delivery this spring and that is just part of the 16.3 million Grant we got from the FTA around our bus system our state received an Amtrak Grant this week to work on transportation between Phoenix and Tucson and so there's a lot of modernization happening and I very much appreciate the partnership with FTA mayor can I can I make one more point about buses just kind of a more Global um just one thing to consider I've seen studies about this including our own bus system the bus ridership is generally speaking people who do not have a car and do not have another way to get to their doctor's appointment or work or whatever they're using it as literally an alternative mode of transportation not necessarily so say light rail so the thing I like about the buses is you are moving people who really don't have other options they don't have a motorcycle they don't have a vehicle they can't afford an Uber for everywhere they go um but second they're also using existing infrastructure so the more that we can maximize that and drive up bus ridership the better um so the better the buses perform the more timeliness of the buses which has been an issue in the past um but haven't heard any complaints about that as much uh more in the present day you know this is a key component of moving people around the valley uh again I I've been anti-light rail because I think it's too expensive not efficient for what you get it's also fixed if the mall closes or the popular store moves somewhere else and bus ridership you're tracking it every day um transitions to a different point you can move the bus stops and you can move the bus routs so it is an attractive attractive alternative I don't use it myself but I understand why people do and uh I'm always glad you guys are there facilitating that thank you vice mayor thank you thank you mayor I'll just add how excited I am about this to this day I think one of the proudest accomplishments in my view on the Phoenix City Council for myself has been working on Transportation electrification in the city and following the work we were able to do together our Fleet transition plan has been recognized as one of the most ambitious in the United States and why this is so important the mayor touched on a lot of it but in particular I think the air quality benefits are so worth talking about and emphasis sizing when in Phoenix we know we do have um air quality challenges we're ranked Nationwide um on a list that we don't want to be on for for air quality and by cleaning and transitioning our bus system it's going to make a big big impact and on a fun note I'll just add that uh seus came by our office today and we've already come up with the public campaign for our new electric buses based on too the the buses and too's brother electrico is going to be uh making making a debut I hope so very excited so stay tuned thank you very cool this year plug-in America picked one city as the EV city that was recognizing a community for their achievements in electric vehicles and that city is Phoenix Arizona so congratulations to public transit off uh the sustainability team and everyone in public works and more whove worked on what we're doing in those areas roll call wado yes a Washington yes O'Brien yes Pastor yes Robinson yes Stark yes wearing Ansari yes Gayo yes passes 90 and I should have congratulated the vice mayor who led our electric vehicle Community efforts thank you for your work to get us that distinction and more importantly to get the work done item 68 will the city clerk read the tit tit item 68 is for ordinance G 7195 in ordinance amending chapter 36 vehicles and traffic article 12 section 36-18 schedule 1 of the Phoenix city code relating to local speed limits at 15 locations do we have a motion move to approve item 68 second we have a motion and a second Jeff Caldwell followed by Leslie mayor councel when this item was originally presented in the subcommittee a few weeks ago we didn't have the studies attached to the agenda item therefore we were unable to uh decipher whether or not these um reductions of speed limits would actually uh enhance Safety Council people on that committee asked that question and staff said no these reductions of speed limits will not enhance safety so this is not about safety now when we obtained not we but when I saw the uh actual report of the allocation of the speed limits and what the streets can handle um you guys are risking creating dangerous streets with the reduction of the speed limits because most of these uh implementations will bring the capacity of miles per hour between below 15% and 30% of Road capacity Engineers have stated that roads should have miles per hour that is equivalent to about 80 to 85% of Road capacity and the reason why is because people will travel the average speed that they feel is safe and so they don't necessarily uh correlate that to their miles per hour on their speedometer so if you've ever driven down the street and you look down and you notice you're speeding but it doesn't feel like you're speeding this is that type of situation there was a staff member in the city of Phoenix Street direct he was a street director from 2014 and he admitted that sometimes the City of Phoenix reduces speed limits and it causes dangerous situations and so if you have somebody driving 30 mil hour the uh normal feeling is 45 there's a 15 mph speed limit difference between a person a abiding by the law versus what it feels like on the road thank you Leslie is next followed by Jim H sounds like a lot of speed traps are being set up for we the people that's what it sounds like to me so I mean there's so much here but really that's the bottom line of all of it it's just another speed trap little money making business going on um because we already know certain people get little marks on their car and they oh we don't pull you over you're somebody important but the rest of us okay you're getting a ticket so um in the subcommittee this last item was heard the council members were told that the city staff the speed limit reductions is pretty much just what he just said [Music] um I would say hey don't pass this but wow after that last one we were talking about you literally doing something where they're going to be impeding upon our our um privacy you guys like blew right through that every single one of you even wearing so hopefully you don't pass it thanks Jim is next followed by Jay mayor council um I'm Jim Farley I am a member of the vision zero uh committee but I am not speaking on the behalf of the committee today it's my words I am a opposed to these changes Jay Bieber in his statement that I believe all of you have received has laid out in detail the problems and there's many I'm going to address just a few our streets department did not do a documented engineering study on any of the 15 changes ad do requirements uh they require a study to be done a documented study the traffic count summary they did shows the 85th percentile speed for all of the intersections the 85th percentile has been used for a long time as the best guide to setting a speed limit the proposed changes for all 15 streets are significantly lower than the 85th with no explanation as to why for example the 85th percentile speed for McDow Road in district 6 is 60.3 milph the proposed limit is 45 mph 15 mil below the 85th this differential is setting up a speed trap that will have citations going to many safe drivers with the medium uh median annual income of $30,000 in that zip code it will be unfairly trapping people for whom a speeding ticket is a real burden studies show that lowering speed limits like this do not make drivers drive slower and do not make streets safer they will however increase citizens distrust of their government this needs to be sent back to streets for a redo or a cancellation thank you Jay is next followed by Ed uh good afternoon mayor members of council uh J Bieber member of the vision zero advisory committee and member of The Institute for transportation Engineers comments are my own uh you all received my email with the detailed comments according to a do quote before and after studies consistently demonstrate that there are no significant changes in traffic speeds following the posting of new revised speed limits speed limits much below the prevailing speed of traffic do not result in lower speeds but they do create speed traps subjecting more drivers to increased law enforcement scrutiny this is especially problematic in lowincome communities and communities of color for example the Central Avenue location the Cindy recommends a speed limit of 30 mph where the design of the roadway encourages speeds closer to 50 mph per the city C's speed studies this would immediately make more than 90% of the drivers on that roadway into violators the roadway will also be more dangerous as it would result in significant speed variation to avoid these problems Arizona revised statutes 28703 requires the establishment of speed limits upon the basis of an engineering and traffic investigation at none of the 15 locations was a proper engineering and traffic investigation conducted or provided at 11 locations the city conducted speed studies which only only show the distribution of vehicle speeds but no other factors necessary to properly determine the speed limit engineering and traffic investigation document the engineers judgment used to determine the speed limit and explain the scientific basis for any variation from the engineering principle of setting the speed limit as near as practicable to the speed that 85% of the drivers considered to be reasonable and pred based on the roadway design that is the 85th percentile speed at all 15 locations the speed limits are not justified as they vary significantly from the 85th percentile speed sum by as much as 15 to 20 mph the council should not approve this item as the legal procedures established under Arizona law and accepted engineering principles have not been followed this means any speed limits approved today may not be legally enforcable and the speed limit on these roadways would revert the statutory 65 mil hour would the council object to directing Street staff to conduct and document the engineering and traffic investigations required by law and reschedule this item for a study session where the validity of these speed limit recommendations can be discussed in Greater detail thank you for the extra time appreciate it thank you Ed is our final speaker oh thank you uh mayor and councel my name is Ed Hermes I'm also a member of the vision Zero Street Safety Committee guess the third one here in a row um and I'm here in support of this agenda item very much so I also serve on the osor school district governing board and one of the biggest uh things that I hear from our families and our parents is that they feel it is unsafe for their kids to walk and bite to school but especially just to walk and even to be outside on our neighborhood streets uh I believe in Vision zero I appreciate this Council passion Vision zero we can't achieve Vision Zero by doing the same things we have been doing uh as I've learned on the vision Zero Street Safety Committee we're one of the worst if not the worst uh streets in terms of um kill deaths and serious injuries on our streets we can't achieve Vision Zero by doing the same thing I appreciate these recommendations I urge you to vote Yes with one uh change uh we'd like to see in the Osborne Community we'd like to see Osborne Road be 30 miles an hour throughout all of Osborne Road the staff recommendation is 30 miles an hour for the entirety of Osborne Road I don't know how that got changed on the agenda to be just a portion of Osborne Road I live near Osborne and Third Street where there would be no change and my kids too would like to in our communi would like to play outside walk outside and right now 35 M hour for that neighborhood street is just too fast so with the change of Osborne Road being all 30 miles an hour throughout I would ask that you vote Yes on this and approve these changes in addition to 30 miles an hour throughout Osborne Road thank you so much thank you thank you to all of our vision zero committee members councilwoman O'Brien I'm sorry I had a question for the speaker that was just on the phone is yes yeah yes hi this is Ed I I just want to clarify your request um for Osborne Road is to be the entirety of Osborne Road not just correct so yes that is correct uh uh um uh councilwoman O'Brien for the entirety of Osborne Road the Osborne School District goes from 19th Street to 19th Avenue we surveyed our our parents um about um getting to school and we were trying to reduce sugestion our parents said hey we'd like to um walk in bite to school but doesn't feel safe we put together a parent committee parents sta actually staff we had somebody from the city of Phoenix sit on it the recommendation came back uh one of which was to reduce the speeds on Osborne Road to 30 miles an hour um that's throughout our our Osborne School District we have schools both on the street side as well on the Avenue side um and this the staff recommendation if you see it at phoenix.gov streetspeed liit chain you can see that recommendation is for the entirety of Osborne Road from 35 M hour to 30 milph we appreciate that staff recommendation um we agree with that or I I certainly agree with that and would like to see all of Osborne mode be 30 miles an hour to keep that consistent and safe for our kids but your definition is from 19th Street to 19th Avenue uh all all of Osborne Road but especially I I mentioned those because that that's what I looked at from the school district side because that's our boundaries for the school district all right thank you so much sir thank you mayor thank you I appreciate the question councilwoman Stark thank you mayor uh first and foremost I sure wish we had enough police officers on motorcycles so we could catch some people speeding on our roads that make it very dangerous for people who are trying to abide by the laws so um I appreciate what uh they're trying to do but I think this actually isn't about Vision zero this is more technical in nature so I'm turning to staff more to get an explanation about why we're changing these speeds I look at Hatcher Road for example from 19th Avenue to 12th Street and we have done some changes on Hatcher Road for example we have made a turn lane on Hatcher Road where it used to be two going east two going west so the conditions has changed also there's a lot of pedestrian activity on Hatcher Road so when I look at this I think this is more just a function of cleaning up some of our roads when it comes to the speed requirements so maybe if staff could speak to that I would appreciate it and I'm supportive of this we do this every six months it's mainly a cleanup but um maybe staff could speak to that and I know our Transportation directors new so thank you uh mayor members of council um I do have with me uh Joe Brown our new Street Transportation director who is uh 10 days on the job here so we we welcome him uh here we do have a PowerPoint presentation to kind of provide an overview of what this item is about and then we're we're happy to get into some questions if the mayor and Council wish to do that or you just want us to respond to to questions I I'm fine without a presentation I know we do this routinely and think I think that's what I'm trying to get it to the point is this isn't really about Vision zero this is more routine looking at speeds I look at the speeds along Lincoln I'm guessing some of those are being changed to be consistent with Paradise Valley I don't know but again if you could just kind of give a brief overview of that that I think would answer it I also think I appreciate that now you um have put the studies on our website so thank you for doing that uh correct mayor uh and uh councilwoman Stark this is a standard study process that we do twice uh a year to look at updating uh speed limits throughout the city uh I will turn over to to Joe uh since he is a uh a traffic engineer uh and can answer some uh more details about that uh Madame mayor and uh councilwoman Stark and members of the council very pleased to be here and um yes it is this is a regular adjustment that's done on an annual basis these are all five M hour adjustments they're not significant um um three of them are recordkeeping where the uh speed limit exists and we're changing it officially to match that speed limit thank you I I appreciate that um I I quite frankly the biggest one of the biggest um concerns I get from my residents is speeding they're concerned about speeding and they're also concerned that we don't have enough Motors to enforce speeding uh regulations but this I think is somewhat different this isn't really about that this is more about traffic engineering reviewing and analyzing and trying to correct some um conditions on our roads with the appropriate speed limit correct Madame mayor councilwoman yes that's correct thank you thank you mayor thank you councilwoman pestor thank you um I sit on the committee uh and I was one that voted for this however I dug in and started to review um further some of the issues or not issues really um what understanding that I need to have on uh page five table a um it tells me that the speed limit is 30 miles per hour at all times that's that's what they want to change it to um at currently I believe it's 35 if you look at Osborne Road Black Canyon Freeway to 19th Avenue then there's a strike and then it goes to Osborne Road black Canyon Freeway to 7th Avenue how was that determined and who determined it and so if you could uh Madame mayor and and councilwoman could you repeat the question again I mean you're asking um I'm asking on page five and I know you've only been here for 10 days and I was hoping that staff had probably prepped you or sat with you in this process so I'm really sorry to put you on on the hot spot right now but um I'm asking on page five uh page 154 I'm sorry it's page five one page 154 it says Osborne Road and then there's a strike through Osborne Road and uh originally it was supposed to be Black Canyon Freeway to 19th Avenue then you got a new revised one below it that says Osborne Road Black Canyon Freeway to 7,000 Avenue I'm asking why all of a sudden did it get extended from 19th Avenue to 7th Avenue so uh Council mayor uh and councilwoman Pastor what you are looking at in table a is the existing city code uh language and where that speed limit has been changed to 35 to 30 already so the cross out is Black Canyon Freeway to 19th and what is being uh put in its place place is Black Canyon Freeway to 7th Avenue based upon that traffic uh engineering report and Analysis and the uh Traffic Engineers judgment within the streets department so that's what the original one was based on that's being crossed out from Black Canyon to 19th and being replaced from Black Canyon to 7th Avenue okay when you add bike lanes and when you add you um remove a a lane in order to add bike Lanes does it automatically happen where speed the speed limit then is lowered Madame mayor councilwoman that really depends on the situation um and the existing speed and and uh the analysis that goes on during that design process um it may often happen but it's not necessarily all the time okay then I want to go to if I can continue because I am um then I go to table B and this is where I think it gets confusing for the public which is Page 165 I go to table B and then I go down and I study it again and now it's saying Osborne Road 19 Avenue to 36th Street it now says Osborne Road 7th Avenue to 36th Street where in all reality and the reason why I think it's confusing for public even confusing for me uh if I don't obviously you can see I'm tearing it apart what it should really read is Osborne Road all the way to 36th Street and I think that's what um Ed Hermes was trying to say and so I'm just I'm just it gets confusing after a while um the other piece is that we did add we did a um add bike Lanes from from I believe 19th Avenue we added a bike lane uh by the request of the community and community outreach uh from 19 th Avenue all the way to 7th Avenue so I understand how we're cleaning this up and I just I'm giving visual purposes for the community um and then from 7th Avenue to about I want to say 16th Street it's two lanes and then from 16th Street all the way to 32nd 36 it becomes a one lane so I think what the intent was in the streets department was to make Osborne uh a bike pedestrian friendly Road and so I that is why we are at this moment from Black Canyon to 32nd Street doing what we're doing in order to make it consistent and going from 35 to 30 for the safety of everybody body so I just wanted to do the visual and make sure the public understood at least on Osborne uh as to why decisions were made and with the community support and studies it it we have the evidence of that so thank you so if it turns out there was a clerical error between subcommittee and formal we can go back and fix it and we can just commit to taking another look at Osborne when we do this next update you're good okay councilman is good uh great councilman wearing um what's the biggest change in speed and any of these changes I guess it's five miles right yeah a council um mayor and Madame mayor and councilman wearing members of the council um these are not significant changes ches nothing here jumps out to me they're 5 mil an hour um you know for me to say which one really is the most significant I I I don't think any of them are significant um you're making 15 actual changes we are making 12 actual changes documenting three that already existed with the sign I think two of those were in District Two that were already changed already been changed you're just writing it down in a piece of paper I think been through this process I think 12 times now uh all I can think of is The Who Song who are you God there's got to be a better way so every year it's kind of headache inducing and frankly I usually vote no because there's usually increases but I don't think this time there are you're making 12 changes but in our packet I think there's 37 pages of streets to Loris point every year I get confused wh why would that be the case other than I guess stupidity I don't know but I'll let people tell me that later um but but the changes like you're talking about are pretty much imperceptible I did note that every street that's in District Two and I drive a lot uh that's listed here either in the 37 Pages or in the 15 items which include the two that are already changed in District 2 every one of them we've had complaints about people driving too fast many complaints repeated complaints about most of them and in two of them um speed has been a contributing factor to people driving through walls not one time different people but multiple incidences of people literally winding up in condo apartment complexes driveways because they drove right through Gates and um inexplicable I at both the spots multiple times for these accidents you're like how the hell did this even happen uh and it uh the one at dixileta where they've driven into people's backyards through b brick walls multiple times driving again stupidly uh so these are not unknown locations to me speed is definitely a factor so at least posting a different speed is something so I disagree with the premise that that doesn't matter um rather vehemently actually uh and also to the idea that we're going to set up lots of speed traps I saw the chief here I don't know if he's still here if he is he can correct me but I think we have maybe 39 I see Chief Connelly back there how many motor officers do we actually have out to patrol the 5,000 miles of streets in the city of Phoenix Chief sure might illustrate my point that the chances that you're going to get a ticket in a speed trap in the city of Phoenix you're going to have to work hard to do do that really hard good afternoon mayor members of council councilman wearing uh 39 is a correct number 39 look at me knowing my numbers that's good to know Chief um so we couldn't possibly staff all these locations with motor officers even if we only only want to do the 12 that we're changing we don't know enough officers even to do that Madam chair members of council Council be very challenging very diplomatic to use Kesha's word from earlier so I I wouldn't some of the folks were sort of fix they the idea that this is going to be some sort of boondoggle for the city I think 39 officers got to spread it out over 24 hours got sick days got people on vacation so you're not going to have 39 officers every day all day seven days a week doesn't work that way you might have what 15 or 20 out there at a given time probably not even that really depends on the time um to cover 5,000 miles I think that's unlikely that this is going to be a financial windfall for the city just wanted to put that out there thanks Chief thank you Council wearing is going to try to give councilwoman Stark a run for her money and who's the biggest fan of the motor units roll callado yes Haj Washington yes O'Brien yes Pastor yes Robinson Stark yes wearing Ansari yes goo yes passes 8 Z we now head to the final two portions of our council meeting next will be planning and zoning matters on today's agenda we have 1,328 units of housing items that we have already approved on the consent agenda include item 97 127 units of housing item 98 363 units of housing Item 99 enables 528 units of Housing and item 101 enables 310 units of housing we will go next to item 89 which is a final plat for the southeast corner of Baseline Road and 59th Avenue do we have a motion District 8 councilwoman HUD Washington I move that we approve item 68 I'm sorry 89 apologize second we have a motion in a second Mark Rodriguez hello mayor KGO and members of the Phoenix City Council it's good to hear from you again it's because I am here for the 59 Avenue and Baseline to talk about all the buildings that they're building at the housings and restaurants and community and all that stuff from the 59 Avenue Baseline even though raising KES is going to open on December 19th and all that stuff and and also mayor goo thank you for that birthday card that you sent me and well as Yasmin andari for the birthday card as well and I hope H Washington Yasmin andari I hope you send you got your birthday I mean holiday card and anyway I'm speaking of the 59 Avenue and Baseline is because we're we got a lot of stores and a lot of fitness centers and all that stuff is because I'm just waiting for a movie theater to come and all that stuff because I'm just here for all the the stuff that we have in LaVine on 59 Avenue and Baseline is because I was waiting for for a movie theater to come and it didn't happen but Bing delayed or something like that because I'm waiting for that because even though I'm a movie gore because and then the raising K's going to open on December 19th and then we got a jack in a box a Danny's a Sprouts grocery store a Ali's grocery store a bows and donuts and all that other stuff next to the to the Betty Fairfax High School it's because I'm just here for the for all the stuff that I'm here to talk about that that all these stuff that you guys are doing is because I'm waiting for it in Maro once again I always see you at the parade and then also May guo and the members of the c c including keer House Washington is because I'm just excited for all the stuff that we have in LaVine on 59 Avenue Baseline and that's my time have a wonderful day thank you roll call wado yes H Washington yes O'Brien yes Castor yes Robinson Stark yes wearing Ansari yes Cayo yes passes 8 Z Mark thanks for joining us we next go to item 100 also in District 8 councilwoman do you have a motion yes I move that we approve item 100 second second we have a motion in a second we have two speakers in support and one in opposition we'll start with Morning Star Bloom followed by Nick Wood good afternoon mayor and Council my name is Morning Star Bloom I'm here representing worker power we're extremely concerned about the here Hotel proposed for 965 East vanan because of its impact on the community at the side of the proposed Hotel project the Vali in is currently feeling a crucial need in the city of Phoenix transitional housing for those experiencing homelessness so they are not forced to live on the street since 2017 the population of people experiencing homelessness has more than doubled in a city where there already Aren't Enough shelter beds and transitional housing options to deal with the scope of the problem holding on to every available transitional housing unit is crucial the land for this project is incredibly valuable because of its proximity to Light Rail and the rest of downtown in choosing to amend the zoning code to put a larger Hotel on the site rather than housing we miss a crucial opportunity to help make up the Gap in constructing new homes and apartments the Maricopa Association of governments has determined that the Region's population has grown at twice the rate of construction of new homes and apartments since 2010 and the present housing crisis has been manufactured through planning decisions like this one where we Greenlight the building of more hotels for out of town tourists when we need housing for Phoenix's Workforce by letting a site like this one which is so close to Light Rail and is seeking approval for much taller denser building than is currently there languish as a hotel we fail to meet the transit supportive land uses and dense residential go goals outlin the city's Tod policies because all the most crucial Community benefits available in the seing designation are left on the table if the site is used as a hotel thank you thank you Nick is next followed by our final speaker Armondo mayor members of the council Nick Wood SN wmer one East Washington Street and I represent David a here and his uh and Reed Butler their Partners here um mayor I didn't hear much by way of opposition to the actual use in the land plan itself so I don't really think I need to make a presentation I'll save us some time thank you that was efficient Armando good afternoon mayor city council members uh my name is Armando Jenkins I am a resident and have been a resident of the bookert Washington neighborhood uh that neighborhood directly sits to the south of the site in question that the a here family wishes to develop uh we have found the air family to be the best of neighbors not just business owners uh I share an actual boundary of wall with the a here family's property that's a boundary that's always been respected that's always one that's been taken care of Main mained um we as a neighbor and I can speak for my neighbors as well said I've been there for 34 years they've been a great neighbor they've been a great part of our neighborhood uh and we are in support of this uh development uh we understand it is a hotel um they have they actually started the process prior to the pandemic and were most welcoming and engaging to us as Neighbors when the pandemic stopped that of course that that came to an end but when they resumed these talks again it met almost all of my neighbors have had an opportunity to speak with the family we've expressed concerns we've made requests to change some of the things that they had planned out originally one of the things is we have a concern about parking spilling over into our neighborhood so we asked them to consider instead of just their surface lot to build a a garage they came back a month or two later with the design for a two-story garage we asked for uh to speak about a variance on a wall to create a higher boundary same thing they came back within a month with a proposed change they have always worked with us they continue to work with us we appreciate and would like to continue the certainty of knowing we have our good neighbors to the north and like I said I speak on behalf of myself and all of our neighbors we ask that you approve this and we'd like to see this develop thank you thank you any comments councilwoman HJ Washington thank you um while I do acknowledge the opposition's um need our need for uh housing needs in our district we also need to make sure we have a variety of also Workforce opportunities for our residents I think as evidenced by the votes taken at the Village planet and the village planning committee as well as the Planning Commission there was sufficient Outreach and the a property owner worked with the adjacent neighbors so I'm going to move to approve this I'm in support of this project thank you and I believe we already had a second so roll call wado yes Washington yes O'Brien yes Pastor yes Stark yes wearing sorry thank you onari yes G yes passes 8 Z thank you I believe item 102 was already continued but our staff would like us to vote again yes so do we have a motion to continue 102 I move to continue item 102 second to January let me oh sorry let me add do we need say it yes this this item should appear as part of no motion to continue to January 3rd 2024 to formal meeting all right second sorry motion and a second we can do a voice vote all those in favor please say I I I I any oppose nay passes unanimously we next go to item 105 which is the northeast corner of Central Avenue and Pearson I believe we will have five minute presentations from each side during the public hearing if they wish to make a presentations and then go to a motion we do not need a staff report no all right so we'll begin with uh Ken Waters followed by the applicant I am being blindsided here on what's Happening um I was told to upload a presentation this morning and I did then I got a call from Josh that I wouldn't be given presentation time um and now I'm being given presentation time and I don't have my my laptop I mean my iPad hooked up here to be prepared so C can you give me a moment to link up with your um so I I know but I I need to see it because it's like far away okay well yeah I'll see okay Bingo go for would you prefer we have Ed go first or the the applicant yes please okay are you where is are you ready thank you all right thank you mayor council EDB 1850 North Central Avenue and yes I'm a registered lobbyist the essence of this application is an extension of the zoning and then to to modify some stipulations to provide additional monies for traffic calming and so on if we could go to the next slide please we're here with not only the ph's recommendation for approval but a unan unanimous alhamra Village planning committee recommendation for approval then the ph's approval which is appealed by Mr Waters to the Planning Commission which unanimously denied the appeal and now we're here today next slide please the essence of what's in front of you is the zoning was approved in 2016 for a variety of reasons that I can go into if you want uh the development did not get built about halfway down the page we're talking about modifying stipulation two that's to add additional dollars to a traffic mitigation fund to delete stipulation uh four that was a previously anticipated temporary gravel path along the west side of First Street since then sidewalks have been added to the east side of First Street and everyone that I know of that's interested in the community and the nearby schools has said they didn't want a gravel path the sidewalks are fine stipulation five is the three-year stipulation and then stipulation six we added to document in ATI ipulation which was not a stipulation in the original case but documenting a stipulation that there'd be a minimum of 4700 square fet of ground floor non-residential uses along Central Avenue I don't want to steal his Thunder but I anticipate Mr Waters today is in other hearings believes 4700 is not enough and he believes that we should extend noncommercial uses down Pearson we have real concerns with viab ability of extending uh commercial down Pearson Street toward the neighborhood and we've never discussed with a neighborhood north of broy whether they'd like commercial extended down close to them but be it as it may the 4700 documents what was shown on conceptual site plans when the zoning was originally approved and importantly I believe it says at a minimum of 4700 Square ft if Mar market conditions change and viable commercial can extend down streets further the east from Central so be it the stipulations do and preclude it it just requires a minimum of 4,700 so we'd request that you agree with the alham village with the ph and the Planning Commission and approve these stipulation modifications I'd like to reserve the rest of my time for rebuttle if I may all right that's okay thank you Mr Waters thank you I want to express thanks to councilman Pastor I think uh for allowing this presentation to happen I was wasn't I was under the impression I was only getting two minutes of public comment so anyways uh slide number one the uh Light Rail Transit t OD is a symbiotic system Transit oriented development it's not Transit adjacent development it's not Transit exploited development where developers just put up uh it's next to Light Rail and that's about it and they exploit the the system we're putting up Transit Orient oriented development thus leadership's primary goal for the for the to goal is to entice Phoenicians to leave their cars behind let me repeat that we're spending billions of taxpayer dollars on this Tod system light rail system and it's the city's responsibility with this massive investment in the light rail system to entice Phoenicians along the Central Avenue Corridor in the surrounding neighbor neighborhoods to leave their cars behind thus we are building out the walkable urban lifestyle infrastructure along Central Avenue walkable urban lifestyle infrastructure that's what we're doing so the bottom floor needs to be mixed use not single use Apartments because if you extrapolate decades down the road and we put a 100,000 units long as to system I mean without attractions and destinations we're going to have traffic Armageddon so the objective is to entice Phoenicians along the Tod Corridor to lead leave their cars behind third uh okay might help okay um okay here here's a uh photograph of um of the O overview of Uptown at the top there is a um um cback and this is just below cback right next to the uh one cback Tower and this is the same group that spent five years uh on converting the Camelback one towers and it got foreclosed on November um 21st but this is the same group now they're coming for an extension do they deserve an extension let's see what are they going to do I mean they're just asking for an extension uh I would say let's leverage this moment and what are you going to do to contribute to enticing people to leave their cars behind and I'm proposing that 4700 square feet just along Central Avenue is a um next slide is is a mere pittance to that contribution and the actual better retail space you can see as long Pearson could because the Northbound traffic of Central Avenue is going to be looking at Pearson here's the next here's the next one right there I would much rather have that retail located along Pearson where you got all that traffic from day in day out month out year out they're looking straight at your your uh your your retail site there so this is not a big ass going for from 5,000 4,000 to 11,000 square feet and there's another look there's St Francis Neighborhood behind that this site also used to be retail so the city is now going backward with its do in that goal to entice people to leave their cars behind because this used to be a Kinko's Copy Center and other retail things um but now you know we're just building single use apartments on our Main Street USA Corridor our to Corridor a Transit oriented development Corridor and oriented means mixed use putting a strong contribution towards that mixed use okay uh there's a site this is looking at from Central and CB back to the site it's right there at Central and cback this is from the the intersection of Central and cback and there's Applebees on the North the Uptown that's one of the most popular successful retail centers in the the state in the city I mean uh this is from Economic Development look at that uh vacancy is 4.5 of the retail this is for uh for Midtown but Uptown is probably even better than this I want I just wanted to highlight 4.5% vacancy on that of retail this is retail space and there Economic Development said uh that um uh the Melrose is hot well can't you make your own Main Street USA to Corridor hot as well as why can why is Melrose the only hot hot area in Midtown so I'm this is the last slide this is not a big ask 4700 Square fet along Central Avenue expand that to 11,000 square feet uh the job the job of this city is to entice Phoenicians to leave their cars behind and that means we got to build out the walkable urban lifestyle infrastructure and now those words come from Josh berar who said that's what you should be making the argument on building the walkable urban lifestyle infrastructure so all I'm asking is is that we increase that component and start building out the walkable urban lifestyle to entice people to leave their cars behind and come out the central instead of going to their garages and getting in their cars and packing the streets so thank you very much for your consideration thank you Mr B two minutes thank you mayor you might find this shocking but I do not agree with Mr waters on what is or isn't a big ask um the reality is that when this property was owned it showed approximately 4700 Square ft conceptually for non-residential uses on the ground floor purposfully focused on the Central Avenue Frontage purposely not extending down Pearson toward the neighborhood to the east this is a big ask but irrespective of the square footage that's involved there is no goal policy or desire that I'm aware of that this city council would use to force somebody to create what would be most likely nonviable non financeable non- leasable non-sustainable ground floor retail uses there's a chance that it can be financed and viable along the Central Avenue Frontage and that's the goal and desire and that's what we've added as a stipulation we've requested the additional time we've agreed to put additional money into the city's traffic calming uh fund we've agreed to do this and that but I cannot in good faith agree on behalf of a client to a stipulation that no developer I've talked with no Financial person I've talked with believes would be viable and that's to require uh 11,000 square fet on this site that has a minimal amount of Frontage if you want to consider the bank pad to the north as being retail it exists and it'll continue to exist it's not a part of this development but it's there on Central Avenue and it will stay we request your approval in accordance with the recommendations that have come to you today thank you thank you Jeremy ther is our final speaker on 105 I love Kenny um I consider him to be a very good friend an infuriating friend uh to be clear and but with this I do disagree agree with him and I want to make a plea to him and to the council today that no one person should be allowed to delay good projects that cost billions of dollars for months and slow down the progress of what's happening in the city on good projects um this is a good project um Kenny doesn't bring up the fact that Uptown Plaza has hundreds of thousands of square feet of retail with no residential attached to it right across the street so there is a balance that happens here we don't need to have the bottom floor plate of every development with commercial along the Tod to make it Tod that is just not true um and it's not represented by any studies or any evidence it's just one man's opinion and one man that I think has very good intentions but that is misrepresenting and doing damage to what we're trying to accomplish here so I support this project and I I think think we need to change the system that one person shouldn't be able to protest a pH hearing and be able to cause a development to be delayed for months that is problematic that is hundreds of thousands of dollars wasted um and potentially much more than that so thank you thank you we'll close the public hearing and I'll turn to councilwoman pestor thank you for listening to that um the two projects when I first got on to council were Omni West and Omni East and this is Omni East and they were very contentious and was I did my due diligence and really working with the neighborhood on both sides um all this is is an extension because in there I put a stipulation and I put a stipulation saying after seven years you have to come back to the council to ask for an extension uh of what you want to do on that property property once the extension expires then and nothing has been built then it goes back into the process and the neighbors will then at that time determine what they really want if it's nothing is built on that property so this is really an extension they're asking for an extension and um I understand the activation that that is wanted on this property but I'm being con consistent with the Omni West and this one's the Omni East and I'm going to be consistent in the sense of I'm going to honor what the process they went through and make a motion to approve per the Planning Commission recommendation and adopt the related ordinance second motion and a second any comments roll call wado yes hjge Washington yes O'Brien yes pastor yes Stark yes wearing Ansari yes gum yes pass is 80 right that includes the agend concludes the agendized portion of today's meeting and we'll now turn to our City attorney to explain the public comment portion thank you mayor during citizen comment members of the public May address the city council for up to 3 minutes on issues of Interest or concern the citizen comment session is limited to 30 minutes the Arizona Opa meeting law permits the city council to listen to the comments but prohibits council members from discussing or acting on the matters presented thank you we'll begin with Jerry Carlton followed by Michael Norton good afternoon Madame mayor Madame Vice chair uh City Council Members my name is Jerry Carlton and I represent the r rers Ranch residence committee we came before you last month about our neglected neighborhood uh we submitted a petition and we later find out that the petition should go to parks and wreck about Rogers Ranch Park we also submitted that petition according to the instructions and directions we were given now we're in a conundrum of what to do with the petition we are attempting to get our Park built after 20 years we are also trying to find out where this petition needs to go it's very important for us to deal with this uh we had a news media event on 1117 of which you were all invited um vice mayor Ansari this is in your backyard uh we appreciate the city sending parks and wreck people people out to that uh news release but we are still concerned about the burrowing ales okay the news media reported the burrowing owls are there they're alive they exist it's Mating Season okay the last time we had a problem with that we had construction equipment go out on the lot and destroy the burrowing out homes and kill the burrowing owls as well while they are back and they're not going anywhere it's your duty to protect the owls so we anticipate a lot of incoming uh impact fees from IDM Leon Capital additionally Butler Holmes plans to be build an even larger project South LaVine these projects will provide more than impact fees required for the Rogers Ranch Park given the urgency of the burrowing ow issue we submit to you that Rogers Ranch Park should be planned and built now and not on the master plan scheduled for 2025 our petition simply States we need the city council and other government entities such as parks and wreck to agenda size these decisions about funding the construction of the park and protecting the owls we request the city to do so as well as the city council if the city is unable to promise the funds the development of the Rogers Ranch Park sooner than the end of fiscal year 25 we petition the city to deed the vacant lot back to Rogers Ranch to master plan Community uh third burro alows have made the dirt their home there's a legal Duty for you to protect them we'll go next to Michael nordon and then James Meyer James mayor mayor Gago thank you for the opportunity to speak today as as we have discussed several times over the last few months we we've come to the conclusion that the city's process for funding the development of parks is fatally flawed and and and suffering from systemic failure when the vacant lots that have been deeded for the purpose of creating a park have reached 20 30 and 40 years of age before any action is even considered let alone taken it it it really is should be concluded that this m this process has failed if we were unable to build a road that was needed for 40 years or put a pipeline in for 40 years we would find a means of creating a funding mechanism when a park sits dormant in the middle of a community that expected it to be an addition to the value of their Community instead of a blight and a draw on the value of the community for some reason that's ignored when we first talked about filing a petition with the city we we realized that that the petition puts a burden on the city to act we realize that it is a part of the charter that when we send the petition to you you're required to act we also realize that deflection that came back to us in the last week is not accurate you really must act on the on the petition as you know and as was proven in 2017 we talked about drafting a petition that required the city to give back to any property grantor any park property that sat dormant for 10 years without being development being developed that may be the next petition that we submit if the one that we have already sent to you continues to be ignored we are considering that petition it would in fact draw dozens of other properties into this same equation and perhaps that's the right way to do it and perhaps it's not but we want action taken on the Rogers Ranch Park and we want it now thank you thank you James Meyer is next followed by Terry Hoffman hi there this is James mayor I live in District Five um I wanted to say thanks to all of you and Caleb zigger Ziggler our community action officer for helping to get Grand Canyon University to start policing the little canyon trail um it's always clean when I ride by there now and I haven't seen any student parties out there I also wanted to say that myself and my landlord Mr Gail Palmer have questions and concerns about this most recent abandonment by GCU and I'm composing an email right now to all of you mentioning those questions if y'all could look out for that that would be awesome and thank you again for all your good work and I look forward to working with you soon have a good day thank you Terry is next followed by Anna Martinez that's so funny so thank you to everyone um on the council and I just want I reached out to several of you in last month about meatball meatball was a an owned dog who was in emotional support animal for a vulnerable adult who is also disabled and because of your reaction and support in coordinating with the Phoenix City and the liaison for the the Phoenix Police Police Department meatball is home safe he miraculously showed up on the doorstep with a new collar and or harness and wellfed and clean uh so we're very grateful that the police department responded so I do want since I have three minutes and I I do want to just uh mention that meatball situation did not have to happen the reason it happened was there are no resources for Animals after 5:00 on uh weekends and 6:00 on the weekday many people have a misconception because over $3 million are sent to the Arizona human society and Maricopa County Animal Care and Control that that box is checked there are resources for animals but who has ever seen an animal wear a watch so imagine you're driving to dinner and you see a stray animal that's been hit by a car and he's limping he's not dying but he's limping so if you try to uh assist that animal you will be driving from Vet Clinic to vet clinic and you'll be turned away because if the dog is not in an active seizure or vitals are dropping dramatically you will be turned away they don't have room for injured animals this is for these are for it's an emergent hospital so just like um they triage just like anything else so so uh meatball brings a great opportunity uh to to highlight the fact that there are no resources um what would you guys do if you're on the way to the Opera or the ballet or dinner and and you you see an animal suffering so um the I'm the founder of animal rights champions of Arizona I am happy to provide facts um uh case study After Case Study actual cases of where animals are not getting resources after hours or on holidays right now Maricopa County has almost a thousand animals in their care their ideal limit is around under 600 uh this is the deadliest time for animals or to be a dog because right now breeders are flooding the Market with puppies and dogs will be uh surrendered to Maricopa County Animal Care and Control and there's no room for but they know that the fireworks are happening so right now they're going to be revving up the euth in Asia to make room for all the firework bolting dogs and um animals will be surrendered thank you for the extra time I really and thank you meatball and I will be sending you guys a thank you and um some other recommend recomendations thank you Anna Martinez is next followed by Carson Robison uh good afternoon mayor and city council my name is Anna Martinez I am an organizer with Unite Here Local 11 uh this week workers from SSP America filed twin complaints with Arizona attorney general Chris Ma and the City of Phoenix equal opportunity Department alleging discrimination and promotions and hiring on the basis of race the complaints alleg that SSP employs a tap on the shoulder approach to hiring and promotion that facilitates racial bias by screening out qualified applicants of color in favor of white job candidates the complaints assert SSP policies have contributed to the significant disparities in earnings and job opportunities described in the complaint warranting further investigation these disparities have a dramatic impact on worker salary an average black employees make $1,841 with 31 less per year than white employees while Latino workers make on average $3,742 with 54 less than white workers in addition in September workers filed complaints requesting that the Arizona Department of occupational safety and health investigate claims that would appear to be rats and cockroaches at airport establishments since then not only have workers seen more cockroaches but I witnessed what appeared to be a cockroach firsthand at the SSP America commissary we've since requested information from SSP America as to the measures they've taken to resolve the verment issues but have had to file unfair Labor practice charges for their failure to provide this information according to the company's lease with the city of Phoenix SSP America is responsible for Exterminating and preventing the presence of rodents and other Vermin within the premises also as part of the terms of SSP America's lease the company commits to abide by the city's Equal Employment Opportunity requirements which prohibit racial and ethnic discrimination and hiring promotion transfer and other terms of employment under the contract failure to abide by the city's non-discrimination policies could be grounds for the city to revoke all or part of the company's lease the City of Phoenix can and should do better thank [Applause] you thank you Carson is next followed by Brian Allen I would like for my comment to follow Jeremy thers it's possible uh nope nope okay good afternoon mayor and Council my name is Carson rubson I'm here representing the small group communications class at Phoenix College um we have decided that our class service project is to ensure the small group of the city council is obeying the charter regarding citizens petitions citizens petitions were included in the charter as an assurance that citizens would have a voice and be able to hold the council accountable the fact that the city has not been following the mandates of the charter is disturbing and moved our class to prioritize this issue until it's resolved as a young citizen of the City of Phoenix I find it concerning that the city council is unable to obey the charter regarding citizens the future lies within all of you to make sure that all citizens of Phoenix's voices are heard thank you thank you Brian is next followed by Jeff Caldwell good afternoon Madam mayor and city council um my name is Bishop Brian Allen pastor of the Sun Valley worship CER Center here in Phoenix Arizona I'm here to support the uh United Here Local 11 uh we have observed that SSP America is operating in our air airport with a behavior that we see as racially uh impacting uh these Brave workers have filed not only one but uh two discrimination cases against them and I'm here today to support them as a local Pastor uh some of the information the statements have been made about the disparity as far as uh the amount of salary that's being paid uh we want our city council and our mayor to investigate this at least look into these numbers we filed a a complaint with the uh EOD uh the director uh Donald Logan and as we have concluded our Thanksgiving season and we are about to Embark upon our holiday season uh let's make it merry not just for a few but let's make it merry for everyone I'd like to uh also let it know be known that Dr Martin Luther King eloquently made a statement that an injustice Justice anywhere actually threatens Justice everywhere so as I quote the book of Isaiah in its ninth chapter in verse number six it says unto us uh a son is given unto us a child is born and the government shall be upon his shoulders I'm asking that this city government please address these uh workers issues um and see what we can do about investigating these uh racial disparaging numbers and see what we can do to help these people have a happy and a merry Christmas thank you Jeff is next followed by Leonard Clark mayor council I have a few items number one if we voted to reduce um the traffic but then don't have the ability or the miles per hour but don't have the police force to back it up are we wasting tax dollars in doing so how much does that project cost we don't know it's not listed in the agenda so that's the first thing the second thing I highly recommend city council read a report from the Federal Reserve presidents of Chicago pres uh Federal Reserve and it's called pushing bonds over the edge monetary policy and Municipal Bond liquidity because that is where the Federal Reserve presidents are warning us to stop issuing more municipal bonds that are insecure like the go bonds the third the third thing is please do not support the consent decree please tell the doj that their time has expired here they haven't found anything and it's time to go back to Washington DC another item stop implementing Road diets and removing traffic Lanes we just heard that City staff is trying to tell you guys that we need to reduce people using cars it's what we've been talking about me and other people for the past few months uh Todds are 20 minute cities that's a 20 minute walking distance Zone through the C40 uh apparatus which the mayor is the vice chair of the steering committee so Todds are not a good deal and um I actually found a Department of Transportation study that our tax dollars paid for and it has been removed from the Department of transportation's website it actually is a scientific uh document therefore it should be uh readily available for the public and it should be what is is used in order to compare What policies are implemented versus what has been studied the policies that are being implemented today are Theory and what was studied were the road diets already implemented and what this is It's called evaluation of Lane reduction Road diets measures and their effects on crashes and injuries I was able to put this in the Wayback machine it is no longer available unless you go to the Wayback machine this study states that if you implement Road diets on traffic lanes that have 20,000 or more Vehicles you will create more congestion and more car wrecks I found it off of an ABC article thank you thank you Leonard Clark is next thank you uh mayor and council members it's been a while since I've been here uh I'd just like to start off with you know I was looking into societal collapse we have all of this Anarchy going on we have the Hamas left we have the Taliban right but in the middle somewhere is supposed to be American civilization so I was looking at this and it was giving uh one of the definitions for societal collapse also known as civilizational collapse or systems collapse is the fall of a complex Human Society characterized by the loss of cultural identity and social complexity is an Adaptive system the downfall of government and the rise of violence so I guess what I'm I'm trying to say is um the uh since October 7th of 2023 you know I I was a progressive I'm no longer a progressive I just call myself an American now and a a world citizen because you know whether it's innocent children being killed in Gaza or innocent children being slaughtered by terrorist toas we are in the middle I think both sides es can agree that we're both we're against the slaughter of children but that being said I don't think we should be parading out you know we have to be aware we have Tik Tok now we have people on Tik Tok praising Bin Laden we have our young people and some of our older people praising that and I just think it's instead of you know telling us we have to choose between two gangs As Americans I either have to choose Trump or I have to choose people who support terrorist Hamas how about just being an American I think it's a dangerous thing just to be an American in Phoenix if I go down to uh ASU downtown campus or even though it's not in Phoenix Tempe and I say I support Israel I'm in danger of being lynched so Dr Martin Luther King you know he is the person I look up to I don't look up to Rashida T Talib I don't look up to the squad I look up to Dr Martin Luther King Caesar Chavez mahamad Gandhi they did not preach violence against somebody and they especially Dr King you look at the content of a person's character not the color of their skin so I've had my eyes opened and I I think everybody needs to take a a step back and take a take a deep breath but I am not ashamed to say I'm an American and I'm not ashamed to say I'm a Wester so I'm sorry I don't condemn you for being white black brown or yellow that's the essence of being an American so all this talk about it's all the brown people's fault it's crossing the border it's the white people's fault it's the black people no you know these extremists these marxists on the left and these Taliban on the right they want us to choose a gang how about just being an American and supporting human rights but we're just put in the middle now choose a gang I refuse to choose a gang I'm going to live a dangerous concept I'm going to be an American and I think in the city of Phoenix many other people feel the way I do okay just because I don't condemn uh Israel doesn't mean I support Hamas and just because I support Israel doesn't mean I support Kamas thank you thank you um our next speaker is Jasmine glass followed by Almar farala um good afternoon mayor in city council my name is Jasmine glass and I have worked continuously for SSP for over a year in my time there I've seen firsthand ssp's uh discrimin discriminatory practices I am a crash year but have wanted to become a server for quite some time twice I was asked by management to work as a server to fill gaps in the schedule however when I was asked to be promoted to server when I asked to be promoted to server I was given excuses ranging from my attendance to having to know every liquor in the restaurant meanwhile I've watched the company hire multiple servers off the street almost all white people it's not right that the opportunity to be a bartender or server aka the highest paying jobs is not fairly given to minority workers the recent study published by the Grand Canyon Institute and worker power Institute found that 80% of black workers make less than $800 a week according to ssp's August roster out of roughly 125 servers and bartenders employed by SSP America only eight servers were black and there are zero black bartenders you can't hear those numbers and not know something is wrong this week we filed two complaints one with the city's equal opportunity department and one with ER Arizona attorney's general office alleging that ssp's SSP America's hiring and promotion practices facilitate racial bias this is serious Phoenix City Council needs to take the issue of racial discrimination seriously and hold SSP America and other airport companies accountable for compliance with all applic applicable anti-discrimination anti-discrimination laws thank you next is aladi Fala followed by Michael Smith is almati here good afternoon mayor and city council my name is Almighty far Allah I go by Arc to keep it simple I am a cashier for SSP America at Sky Harbor International Airport where I've worked for the last year over this time that I've worked for SSP I have expressed my desire to be considered to be for the promotion of bartender position at SSP I've even gone out of my way to obtain an Arizona Title 4 alcohol handlers license from the state of Arizona in my spare time using my own funds to ensure that I am qualified however I am continuously met with ridiculous excuses from management I then get sent from one manager to the next in an endless cycle that somehow never ends up in an interview tipped positions like servers and bartenders are the highest paid positions in the food and beverage industry there are only eight black servers at SSP America and zero black bartenders at SSP America according to their August rosters in total there are over 120 servers and bartender positions this math does not add up in any good way a study conducted by the Grand Canyon Institute showed that black workers at the airport are much more likely to be employed in the lowest income categories this is not surprising after hearing those numbers I work hard to make I work hard every day to make Sky Harbor America's friendliest airport and I'm very good at what I do SSP chooses to hire white service and bartenders from off the street but they won't give me the opportunity to move up and Advance my career how am I supposed to feel this is not right it's just it it makes me feel like there's really no option for growth no option to move up I work there full-time and I live in my car I cannot afford to stay housed I feel like the deck is stacked against me at this time this week we filed a complaint alleged discrimination and promotions in hiring based on race because SSP America as as a City Contractor must be held accountable accountable the city council must take actions to ensure that airport concessionaires are living up to their obligations of non-discrimination so that hardworking Phoenix residents have an opportunity to get ahead in life thank you thank you um we have 30 minutes allotted for public comment at the end of these meetings so our final speaker will be Michael Smith this is standard practice they're always 30 minutes we could have you be the first speaker at the next meeting absolutely abely okay this is standard practice for every single city council meeting we have let's please hear the speaker that's been called Thank you thank you sir good afternoon vice mayor uh City Council my name is Michael Smith I'm from Savannah Georgia and I work for SSP as a cook and utility for over a year now I have witnessed firsthand the terrible working conditions which SSP and the City of Phoenix allow as a walk cook at Payway I have seen what appear to be cockroaches in and around my cooking station on numerous occasions another time a cashier came to get napkins from a Box near my station when she pulled the stack down a truly disgusting amount of cockroaches scattered out in every direction too many to count the City of Phoenix and its contractors need to take the health and safety of their employees as well as I was guess seriously I had have been cooking since I was small with my grandama I enjoy cooking I don't feel comfortable or safe working in these conditions something has to change we have filed two complaints with about the alleg verment issues as you know this week we file two complaints alleging racial discrimination in Pay hiring and promotion the city council needs to act [Applause] um and just to state that I got clarification the rules allow citizen comment to be limited to 30 minutes um however since you have a citizen petition we'll just let you go ahead and this will be our final comment thank you before I get to the petition this is ridiculous um first of all I was the first one here here um ahead of the other commoners and the fact that I'm getting left out of it it's just a problem with procedurally which is ridiculous um then please look at me look next to you how disrespectful that the mayor and three other Council maybe four have left we waited here for three hours just focus on the citizen petition that would be great it's my public comment no I won't my citizen petition is on the city's handling of Citizen petitions that you have been committing Charter violations and open meeting law violations by not handling them correctly and for those of you are new the city Charter is very clear and it's very simple about citizen petitions any citizen of the city may appear before the council at any regular meeting and present a written petition such petition shall be acted upon by the council in the regular course of business within 15 days that is it that's what it says there's no butts there's no exceptions to it I submitted a petition earlier this year um exactly April 19th It Was Heard by the Council on May 31st is that 15 days it's not it's just a complete violation of the charter um that each of you is responsible for and I go on to show you that the mayor has single-handedly um she changed it these weren't even heard by the full Council for the last 3 years citizen petitions like ethics complaints have gotten put in a drawer and moved away so nobody has to hear them um this time will not be the case this is to be heard by the full Council within 15 days so not only at the next meeting am I'm not going to be presenting it I'm going to be here and we should be discussing it and you should be taking action on this petition and the fact that you were just going toiss dismiss anyone who wasn't willing to stand up say that it's problematic it's part of the charter so maybe you should look at your procedures and say hey do we have any citizen petitions here today maybe that should be part of the registry to make sure that these get heard um because this you can't just change it by the code and changing your uh meeting agendas so here's the petition I hope it gets to all of you and I hope you consider it and I hope you all shame your other council members and the mayor for completely disrespecting citizens who sit here for three hours to be heard for three goddamn minutes thank you thank you this meeting is adjourned experiences and opportunities that impact citizens and the Very Community as a whole every recipient on stage tonight was involved in Saving or prolonging a life in many cases their action involve dangering their own lives in the prog in the process in many of these instances officers intervene to risk their own personal safety in order to save uh people in life-threatening situations