[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] n [Music] [Music] [Music] no okay mayor wait till the screen all right have we are we good on there we are so I wanted to say um welcome to 2025 and all the opport unities that we can have with this new time and date and the work that we're doing in our community and I'd like to begin we turn the TV down feed thank you so much so I'd like to begin meeting um that we're having this afternoon and I'd like to begin with our introductions and we'll start with Miss Brown hi it's a pleasure to be here in the new year happy New Year wonderful people Tiana Brown Charlotte City Council District 3 good evening my name is Victoria watlington I have the pleasure of serving you at large Happy New Year to all Lana Mayfield Miss asir and welcome home yeah intruction all right and we have another person joining us Inu all right and we have another person joining us hello hello happy New Year right and you are oh District Five Oh my name uh Hey colleagues happy New Year Happy New Year to the community I'm marger Molen I represent District 5 all right I'm thank you everyone one for um participating and now I'd like to turn over the first item on our agenda to the city manager uh thank you mayor and members of council uh I also I want to thank you for allowing us to deviate a little bit from oura 6:00 um report outs so that we could have a uh I guess part two of a presentation we had on um Public Safety at the last December business meeting if we go back a little bit over time but my commitment to you was to have a series of conversations around um Public Safety we uh began in early December with setting the the stage a holistic approach we started to talk about the quality of life and I think we had such a good discussion at the last uh business meeting that we were only able to get through half of it uh so today we'll go through the second half the January 13th we'll have a conversation about safe Charlotte uh review and up date the week of January 13th is also cmpd's annual crime report and then lastly where it all started and this was pre pandemic uh the city and the county both agreed to a framework with violence as a Public Health crisis and so we'd like to come back to that uh what I also would like to say is that you got um you received some information from me I believe in your Thursday packet about how we would go about um providing you information for some of the speakers during the public forum and um maybe more importantly you know one of the things that we're attempting to do with these discussions around Public Safety is have a running list of all the questions that you have given us and give you responses to those list of running questions even some of the questions that we receive outside of the discussion period And I guess and then lastly what we're trying to do with these discussions there may be some things that we haven't put out there that will tend to be um get enough traction during these discussions that maybe you want some more information and we'll make sure that we are flexible even with the annual strategy meeting or the retreat if there's something that we need to come back and have a further discussion so I say this each time and maybe I won't say it anymore this we don't have the boil the ocean tonight because there's so many more opportunities if you think about this we started early December going all the way into February including the annual strategy meeting so with that said mayor if you would indulge us and allow us to do this first before the committee report outs I think um it would help us have a successful meeting tonight I would agree that it will be more um of value right now for us to be able to have that kind of conversation okay great so um I will ask that Debbie and Rebecca come back up and pick up where we left off last time with um this quality of life approach thank you you know as they' load this up I also want to thank the mayor and the council because you've given us this opportunity to have the space to have these conversations and the dialogue and it also helps us uh think about some of the strategies that we've had and maybe there are some strategies that we double down on and maybe there's some strategies that we abandon so this is very good for the team also thank you good evening everyone I'm Rebecca Hefner um with housing and Neighborhood Services I love this 20125 energy so I'm glad to be here tonight um to be sharing uh this presentation with you I will say that Debbie and I are here to present and represent this work um but the quality of life approach that we're going to be sharing tonight is really an approach that takes many City departments and many departments um working together um with with our residents so the manager gave you the schedule uh we're um we are often running today the idea of this quality of life approach is that creating safe neighborhoods takes more than law enforcement and and the activities that create safe neighborhoods are more than just what we can see in the data of you know looking at our crime stats and and things like that um we're we're really taking this holistic approach taking lessons that we've learned and best practices from the way that we've been working in the corridors of opportunity and those of you who uh were part of the jobs and economic development committee meeting today got to hear about some of the great successes of that work the key to that approach is the holistic work the broad Partnerships uh and the integration of activities and so when we think about creating safe neighborhoods from this quality of life lens we're really looking at how are we all of us working together with police and seot and housing and Neighborhood Services and others but also in an intentional way with the community and our neighbors so neighborhood engagement is really a foundational activity to this approach um the community engagement and that relationship management um they're essential to fostering collaboration and creating trust and then being able to work together to develop successful Solutions and often the challenges that uh that our residents are facing are really complex um in the sense of it's you know there are there are root causes and underlying issues and and so we really need to be able to work together to determine what uh what needs to be addressed What the residents want to see what kind of neighborhoods they want to have and so one of the things that we've done in uh housing and Neighborhood Services over the last couple of years is we've been really strategic and intentional about how we're leveraging um our our resources so U many of you know that we have a neighborhood engagement Services team um and and this team we have reorganized um last year to really better serve our residents and also align with City priorities um and so each district has a neighborhood engagement liaison uh and then we also have um a a team member who works specifically on corridors of opportunities and so we're we're really trying to work through how we use these Liaisons to best partner with neighborhoods but also bring forward to you all uh as Council um what are some of the issues and Community needs that are being presented and neighborhood safety is something that we have always worked on uh in partnership with our um residents and neighborhood organizations um but we've had an additional focus on that over this past year so you all may be familiar with some of the signature neighborhood programs our neighborhood board Retreats and our neighborhood matching grants program well there are opportunities in these programs to really focus in on neighborhood and Community safety at one of the neighborhood board Retreats last year the team did a World Cafe style Retreat really looking um at Community safety and thinking about uh lot a lot of the things that you all have been talking about as a council right what are the community perceptions within our neighborhoods do people feel safe you know what kind of uh Community assets are already existing that can be leveraged and then what are some Innovative strategies um to really create trust and belonging among residents and promoting a safer community and so neighbor neighborhoods are working together to think through these exact same issues that you all have been talking about as a council uh We've also been focusing in um on apartment community engagement in A Renewed way um for for a long time our neighborhood work was primarily focused in single family neighborhoods and we've had a very intentional uh Outreach over the last couple of years to support residents who are also living in apartment communities and we've seen a lot of success um uh in that engagement and then of course um cmpd does a lot of community engagement around neighborhood safety as well um with some signature um celebrations each year at National Night Out and their Neighborhood Watch program another aspect beond neighborhood engagement when we're thinking about a quality of life approach to Public Safety is the work that we do in Code Enforcement so code enforcement activities they can play a role in creating and maintaining neighborhoods that are safe healthy clean and green so some of the things that we do within code enforcement uh um help with both physical safety and also perceptions of safety in a community so we address a lot of illegal dump sites uh code enforcement secures vacant and boarded up properties uh does a lot of junk vehicle removal and uh nuisance abatement activities and so alone these aren't necessarily um safety activities although some of them are around physical safety but in combination with the other activities that we do they're really helping to create uh a safe environment um for the community in addition we think about um the clean and green part of this uh the um keep Charlotte beautiful and our partners in um code enforcement and our um Quality of Life team do a lot of work around graffiti abatement U removal of illegal signs removal of litter creating green spaces though all of this is around creating environments where people feel safe um and feel pride in in their um surroundings and I will just note these numbers are for 202 4 um so a lot of work that happens on an annual basis um in addition there's one there's one new item on this list I want to um flag for you uh in the last year you may have been hearing from quite a number of constituents about the challenges of sticker bombing um across the city of Charlotte and especially on the rail trail and so we have added sticker removal kits for our adopted City street Partners um and uh after a variety of test um which I kind of had an opportunity to think back to my science fair days um you know what which method is best for removing stickers it turns out it's WD40 and a scraper so um uh I can I can share share I grafted all the data for you I'll share it in a separate presentation um but again this you know this is a an uh an another way um that we're able to contribute to that positive and safe environment um in our community and that one in particular you know along the rail trail in addition uh we uh we think about the connection between the resources we provide for unhoused neighbors and creating safe neighborhoods uh in in the last uh couple of years Council you have expanded the street Outreach work that the city does first through um the uh work of the car's team uh and then the Uptown Street Outreach that came out of the um uh prior uh referral around the um code enforcement in uptown and uh in addition to that um or follow following the implementation of that Uptown Street Outreach um we we've been able to add um un a well check for our unhoused residents to CLT plus um so this is a a resource um if you all aren't aware you can go into CLT plus and note that there's a unhoused resident and um you might not be an emergency situation where you need to call 911 but you want someone to come out and do a wellness check the street Outreach team is available for that and and that street Outreach also Partners quite a bit with our code enforcement folks um because they are often out um uh in in the community addressing um nuisance abatement or um other uh sites where they um uh meet unhoused residents so then they have another resource available to them um to really support our unhoused neighbors the last the last piece of this that I'll address before I um pass this over to Debbie um is is the work that we refer to as neighbors building neighborhoods um so for us this is just a way of bringing all of this work together in a comprehensive way in specific locations so you think about you know the the relationship to the approach where we talked about this is similar to the carers of opportunity approach um you those are in large Geographic areas neighbors building neighborhoods is that integrated collaborative and comprehensive approach but in small uh Geographic areas and that could range from um a an a a large neighborhood like the work that we've begun recently in Plaza Eastway um or it could be as as small as a singular apartment community um like Little Rock Apartments um so neighbors building neighborhoods is really a way that we aim to bring together residents and Community organizations um and City Partners uh departments and other um nonprofit Partners to really work together to collaboratively address these challenges so we'll pull in you know code enforcement and pull in seedot and pull in our folks at solid waste and work directly with the residents to try to problem solve in these smaller areas so the places that we're actively working this approach um are along Katherine Simmons and Lincoln Heights um within uh the Little Rock Apartments community uh and um are just starting uh now an initiative at paa Eastway Rebecca I'm sorry mayor so we try to allow people to get through a presentation so I'm breaking the rule myself so I apologize but mayor and Council I think this is so important if you go back one more neighbors building neighborhoods because a lot of times what we've talked about is are there other opportunities if you're outside of a corridor of opportunity or there other opportunities if you're not in one of our 16 Strategic investment areas this creates and I call it almost like a web this opportunity for some of the other neighborhoods throughout the city that aren't a part of those areas that there are opportunities to have an engagement at that level I'm sorry yep and and I think it it's it's a great point to make these aren't areas where we're going to have a whole playbook for example right but there may be specific shorter term actions where we if we can um respond quickly and put kind more comprehensive um approach together we can make um you re really achieve those quick wins and um we we've seen that and I will say um specifically at Little Rock Apartments um that this one came from um from a public forum we we had a complaint that was raised in that environment and realized that we had an opport really great opportunity to better partner with in livian uh we got our neighborhood engagement out there um at Little Rock Apartments um that that liaison um was able to help them uh reform their resident Association uh ensure that cmpd um could get out there and also work really closely with our youth programs team this is an apartment community with a lot of young people um and so we uh we were able to find a partnership where the alternatives to violence team could actually have office space in the apartment community um they've been out there with Lowe's funding to do um uh beautification um they did a Halloween event um so it it can you it can really range from this very small area where an opportunity arises and we can kind of pull together the right resources very quickly to partner um then then um another example would be Katherine Simmons so this is an area where we've been investing for a number of years uh where we've had a lot of vacant properties we've partnered with um dream key partners and others to create new home ownership opportunities out there and we worked with our neighborhood engagement folks to help form these new neighborhood associations um cmpd has been out there um building Community Trust and Rapport um and then now we're moving into um with with the um expansion of the Housing Trust Fund looking at um other opportunities like with the acquisition rehab and resale program so where we have um uh strategic opportunities to actually purchase properties and rehab and create new home ownership opportunities um so it can look different in different places and that's that's the value of it is that we're really able to work directly with residents and think about what is it that they need I mean we talked about this a lot with the anti-displacement strategy what's the right tool in the right place at the right time and so that's neighborhood neighbors building neighborhoods is really thinking about working together to create safe neighborhoods but bringing in the right partners and the right programs at the right time with that I'm going to turn the presentation over to Debbie um to talk a little bit about truck parking and Street lighting and how it all fits together thank you Rebecca good evening mayor city council Happy New Year I'm Debbie Smith Charlotte Department of Transportation happy to be here and I really want to continue on the theme set forth by director Hefner um I want to share more on the work we're doing with education enforcement and uh on these illegal parking issues and just as a reminder city council you approved in november23 increased fines for the illegal truck parking blocking of bicycle lanes and blocking of sidewalks and as those new fines were approved both code enforcement so on Rebecca's team and C dot with our parket group we began issuing the warning citations and that's the yellow sign you see here here and we really us that as an education opportunity to start with before we started enacting uh those increased findes uh so then shortly after that what we were finding um was that people wanted more opportunity to let us know where the illegal parking was existing so we found the opportunity to add this to the CLT Plus app so commercial vehicle citations uh make up about 80% of our illegal parking uh citations and bicycle blocking of the bike Lanes make up about 20% of that and in 2024 we issued over 6,300 citations so the team really communicates in real time so when we're out there and we're in the field Rebecca's team is communicating with us in real time where there are maintenance issues and where we need quick resolutions so that's a great partnership opport opportunity we also found that businesses were uh very pleased with the work that we were doing and expressed their gratitude uh many of these uh commercial trucks were blocking some of their entrances to their businesses and they just thanked us for clearing the way so in partnership with the North Carolina Department of Transportation we have been able to uh work with them and have them install no parking signs in four of our highest hotspot location lotion in councilwoman Johnson's District um she's very aware of these locations and I'm so pleased that we were able to uh to get these going out there for her um this this partnership allows for these hotspots to be signed and then allows us to uh work together this work uh speaks to the resident safety concerns navigating Interstate ramps and many of these were adjacent to residential communities but we also Al continue to hear from the truck drivers that they're really struggling with places uh in Need for parking and we know that that's a nationwide issue so we're working on a map of those locations that will be launching very soon on the CLT Community Hub and what that will do is allow parking providers the opportunity to register and update their locations on this site so that we have a One-Stop resource for truck drivers to be able to find parking in the Charlotte area so let's talk about Street lighting I get pretty excited whenever I get to talk about Street lighting because it really significantly enhances safety in a number of ways it improves visibility by deterring crime promoting safer navigation for pedestrian cyclists and motorists so we know lights enhance visibility it helps drivers see pedestrian cyclists and obstacles more clearly and we know from the data that crashes we can reduce crashes between 20 and 50% by adding Street lighting lights provide that reassurance for pedestrians and cyclists they provide that sense of security for people traveling at night which increases the likelihood that more people will choose to walk or bike because they can do so at Night Lights help cameras do their job and so we have we know adequate lighting enhances the effectiveness of traffic management cameras and surveillance cameras making it easier to identify incidents and lastly lights lead to faster response times Emergency Services police fire and medic can locate that incident much more quickly in the well-lit areas so who lights our streets so this map shows you the blue lines are Interstate streets and the North Carolina Department of Transportation they are responsible for lighting the streets in that blue area the red lines on the map represent State maintained roadways so think about streets Like Sugar Creek abam moral Road Providence Road WT Harris Billy Grand Parkway Freedom Drive although those are State streets this city is responsible for uh putting that street lighting out there and we work with Duke Energy to do that and the green lines which make up this very colorful uh I had hoped to give this to you before the holidays to be able to show a little holiday Hol Spirit but we'll do it in the new year um but the green line show all of the city maintain streets and we are also responsible for lighting the streets on city streets so Street Lighting in Charlotte is done by commitment and collaboration so think about the community you think about the corridors of opportunity you think about cmpd SE do city council all of you you're part of that connection the street lighting map that I show here really shows the work that we've done on lighting our LED upgrades and City initiated projects and so we have nearly 70 miles completed and in progress and that's shown to you on this map by all of those green lines we also work with our residents and when requested we add street lights on neighborhood streets we receive hundreds of requests annually and we process those with Duke Energy and there's no upfront cost for that it is we the city assume that lighting Bill once those street lights are installed and the orange lines on this map show a project that we have in Partnership on the corridors of opportunity to provide Lighting on equipment Drive rig and drive and Sugar Creek Road and we anticipate that to come online early this year so this map also shows nearly 15 miles of new projects in purple and thank you so much Council for the improved uh increased investment that you have in Vision zero because that's where we do our street lighting from cmpd also requests new or additional Street lighting upgrades in areas where they have safety concerns and we've worked to install about 121 upgrades in eight locations based on their requests and so I thought this was a really informative picture just showing you how the difference looks between the older style life that we call the high press sodium vapor to the LED and just the difference that that makes and so like I said we work in partnership with Duke to change out those lights and they change out through their routine maintenance and we're working to continually prioritize locations Citywide and so I'll tell you just a little story cmpd approached us at the beginning of last year talking about North TR Street specifically and they were very concerned about the lighting levels and they they really were concerned that it was too dark in a lot of these locations so we did a quick inventory of all the street lighting and what we found was that we had plenty of Lights we prioritized changing those to LEDs and what a difference that made so major balami he was bragging to me just before the holidays that he said he can't believe the brightness that that it is today and so we just we want to continue to emphasize that those well-lit streets encourage outdoor activity improve mobility and safer events at night and last here I just want to tell you there's lots of ways to report street light outages the fastest is always to contact Duke directly but you don't have to remember 800 power on you call 311 the CLT mobile app we take that anytime whether it's on a city street or a state street we will happily chase that down and I just want you to know that we're making and continuing that great progress to advance Street lighting and it's that cross Department coll collaboration that really helps us make the difference and I appreciated um just the positive comments that Rebecca had with the partnership in uh the quality of life team it really is something that this group we all knew our roles before but this team coalesced around now we know the people to call when we have these situations arise and with that I'll just end on the upcoming schedule that manager Jones mentioned earlier and with that Rebecca and I are happy to take questions thank you so much for this presentation and the effectiveness and the things that are being done and how we're approaching it in a different way so I really um want everyone to have the opportunity and I thought we might start with um Miss Miss Johnson for questions and then we'll just come around and everyone will have an opportunity to address any question or issue that they would like to Miss Johnson would you be willing to start sure thank you Madame mayor I want to say again I said in an earlier meeting but I want to give a shout out to Jerry green and his his team with code enforcement I used to work closely with Jane Talen U I think I'm pronouncing it right but code enforcement and just that team does a great job also C dot thank you so much Debbie to you and your team you're right that those were hot spots in that area and I want to thank you for the responsiveness I know we probably have an additional 100 signs without exaggerating we no seriously like on Mallet Creek and and the the um the entrances and the freeway ramps so thank you that is a project that we started to work on and and had Solutions I think in February 2023 it's been a while so um I want to thank you for all the work I wanted to ask about the lighting I know that there's eight miles of lighting on WT Harris that's in the hopper can you give me an update on that please absolutely I think we're stopping at Plaza coun fight your own battles that that is great so yes we were successful in receiving some additional grant money for those 8 miles on WT Harris and we are in um in the design phase wrapping up the design phase and we'll be uh this is our largest single Street lighting Project 8 Miles along WT Harris essentially from uh uh I77 to um to I 85 uh representing a significant uh investment in Street lighting along that segment so that is underway and hope to be rolling that out very shortly thank you you deserve a hand for that you all deserve a hand thank you um and just thank you for the work that you all have done there are some other areas that need some no parking signs um we'll we'll talk about that off line um I did want to ask about truck parking because you're right we know that 90 or 95% of the goods are transmitted via um truck so there we do have to have a response there needs to be a balanced approach and I know Mr Jones we talked about a former Way Station on I85 and I've sent some information to you someone on your team I think it was Alexis did some research on where we were with that so I've sent that to someone um I know Senator muhamad was included so I'd really I I think there's been some research if we can take a look at opening that up I think it's important that we have a solution for the truckers while we're responding to our residents needs as well um because it is a safety issue having those trucks on the side of the road and the entrance and exit ramps um that's all I have I just re really want to thank you all for the work that you've done and the quality of life team and and Rebecca and your team just all of you um Rodney Jameson and just they're doing a great job in District 4 so thank you thank you Miss Molina do you have any comments or questions I do thank you Madame mayor um first of all thank you guys for the work I've been on a call with you Rebecca about one area in particular uh with regards to safe neighborhoods um and some areas of specific emphasis that I'd like to focus on for 25 so I'm excited to see that there's kind of a road map that we can look at for the parts of East Charlotte that we've you know been meeting around um but with that I also adjacent to the corridors of opportunities you know uh program I I think it's important to mention that you know we have this um these details that are instructed by quantitative information that can be provided by cmpd that you know can instruct some of our outcomes without us having to come to the table so in other words you know um the idea around for an example Plaza Milton Road Eastway the those areas have sufficient crime statistics where even if I didn't come forward there would be something that would instruct an emphasis on those areas right so I think from a proactive perspective when we think about what a safe neighborhood is I think you know a lot of that detail comes specifically to us from our you know Partners um in in cmpd who serve and protect us and and keep our neighborhood safe so that that's just the beginning of of where my eye my mind you know starts when it comes to safe neighborhoods I also personally am of the belief and for good or for bad that a community is only the sum of its parts and that's that's an impediment and that's where people expect us to step in it is the fact that we have communities where the resources just aren't available because the human beings that live there they don't earn enough there's not enough education there's already a lack of access there's a lack of you know um um you know details that can provide that and even with those resources you could put it right there and if the person don't know what to do with it then it's still in vain right so I personally believe that we're a vehicle of access and not outcome that's just a personal detail but outside of that I'm a little jealous of my colleague here because she got all this lighting uh and we need to talk about that maybe offline because there's it's not a competition no look she got eight miles on WT Harris I am almost ready to like have a lunch meeting with her and ask her what she done because I can think of a few places of emphasis that you and I I will come and sit in your office and I'll bring her with me if you need me to will follow you anyways we we we want to finish this okay sorry but Marcus understand we've talked about this you know the places that I'm very interested in as far as lighting is concerned I am absolutely in agreement with you that the LED lighting deters you know some of the issues that we have brighter light is just it's it's one of the small things that we can Implement to you know create a better atmosphere for you know safety in a community so I would love to borrow some of my colleagues energy right here here and let's talk about e Charlotte cuz I got a list for you okay Mr Mitchell thank you mayor help help us get this Mr Mitchell okay uh Rebecca and uh Debbie thank you so much for a great presentation thank you for taking these tough issues and quickly bring U providing solutions to us so look forward to the upcoming schedule job well done Miss azir welcome back thank you Madame mayor um I agree with uh what my colleagues have already said about quality of life approach I'm very proud of the work that Council had done uh last year in terms of the budget where we increased our investment in Vision zero uh uh significantly and that we are seeing the results of it now I know we have advocated for street lights from on WT Harris from Old Concord Road to Plaza and I remember it was 5 years ago it was number three on the list I don't know where it stands now but I would certainly like to elevate that um because we do not have side walks on that major road uh where it connects to light rail public transportation no Street lighting it certainly creates a very unsafe environment not just for drivers but for pedestrians those who ride bikes so we we really need to uh address that uh hopefully it's probably at the top uh now because it's been six years uh since I've made that request um but you know when we look at just overall um uh Public Safety framework it's great to see the progress that's been made on Street Lighting on illegal truck parking I do see Improvement off of WT Harris specifically where I do not see large trucks semi trucks being parked I think that's great but you know we know we we can we can never be truly a great City unless our residents feel safe across the board uh and and that's not a something that falls in one Department uh it's not just cmpd but I think it's it's an issue that um that's more broader uh I I would like to see more update on that I do see that's coming up violence as Public Health crisis I think that needs to be elevated because regardless of one ZIP core um people really need to feel safe across the board um you know we have seen alarming rise in homicides and that is concerning um it is concerning where I I read a story uh in one of the media um reporting where it said a woman did not feel safe standing by the window because she was afraid that stray bullet would hit her um and and that is concerning so I look forward to having more deeper dive discussion about homicides uh how do we measure our success um not just in terms of numbers but overall impact that we are making um also I'd like to see some sort of performance metrics Mr manager I know you are big on performance metrics um as we navigate this very challenging landscape it's vital that we look at our Effectiveness um you know how how can we measure our success moving forward and um on overall impact of our community safety and and just also look at more holistically what are the things that are working currently in terms of quality of life approach and what are the things that are not working and how can we do better uh where do we need to Pivot from traditional approach to more um Embrace new strategies where other cities like Boston where they have seen so many other cities where they have seen reduction in their crime uh violent crime uh so I look forward to getting more update on that but I appreciate the work that team has done on on other areas and also I'd like to thank cmpd on um addressing Street takeovers I know that was that's an issue that's we have seen not just in one District or other District we are seeing that across the city um where at 2: a.m. and 3:00 a.m. uh select number of residents are taking over our streets and creating unsafe environment so I certainly appreciate the work that cmpd has done uh in terms of quality of life uh what can we do more of that's all I have thank you thank you Miss Brown would you lead us off and we'll come around this way thank you thank you madam mayor yes so thank you so much um council member ashir I'll follow back on you with the street takeovers I had concerns with that in Steel Creek and I I I have seen that evaporate so I would like to applaud them that was a big concern of mine coming out of um Longhorn steakhous on 160 and they just go crazy out there so I'm so happy to see that but I want to go back to um Miss Rebecca uh please if you don't mind this is great for me when you said it's going to take more of neighborhood engagement it really is and that is the scope of the work that creates a better neighborhood for all when you involve the people that are actually in the neighborhood getting them involved bringing them to the table seeing exactly what their mindset is and what they would like to see for themselves is a way that you can resolve and make neighborhoods better and safer for all not just some people but everybody and that's including including everybody so this is great work I would like to say I love to see um the print out the work that we're doing to create the neighborhoods but a lot of times and more often than not where we fail at is that we leave out the people um that should be at the table when we're creating a design for their life how to move them forward and we don't create an opportunity for them to come so I really don't have a whole lot to say my colleagues touch basis um on um what it looks like to have safe neighborhoods with the lighting and the parking even on 485 where I live at of 160 I've seen the signs I see the deer too um but the signs are definitely out there and it's it's great to see the lighting increase um it makes it more visible and make it more safe but again I can't express enough we talk about creating a neighborhood and engaging let's not forget to engage the people that we're creating the neighborhood for thank you so much that's all council member Brown Miss Mayfield thank you I hope you're feeling better oh thank you madam mayor I am and happy New Year again thank you for the presentation I am also going to say thank you for I had to zoom in on the iPad to look at them out and I'm really happy about the new lighting that's in design that's all along Brookshire as we continue to approve a lot of new developments we've had some challenges with the light liting and I appreciate all the work and recognizing the importance of having good lighting I would say cuz I think she's probably still working and still listening for my staff liaison that I share with council member Graham Loria we going to need to go ahead and schedule for us to get on Rebecca's calendar so we can work on some lighting in other areas along with my colleague Rebeca you better get your ladder out go ahead and put go ahead and throw that request there but I appreciate also this map and you highlighting to let it be known because some people don't necessarily realize what is happening yeah on a daily basis they just hear the headline items that Council are trying to deal with and the fact that you all are also staying consistent you're showing that we actually can walk to gum and every now and then have a conversation in or thought simultaneously so this is amazing work and really just wanted to say thank you for recognizing for listening any way that Council can be more proactive when you're having a community engagement also when you're looking out reaching out to our community lady ason as council member Brown mentioned let us know so that we can also share it when through our own social media and in community to let through what is it next door next door we probably love to get some good news instead of a lot of things that show up on there so we be helpful to give us an opportunity to be able to support you all thank you Madame mayor thank you um Miss Mayfield makes me think about the town hall meetings and how um so often we have these meetings but maybe this would be the time that the council member especially can come out and talk with the staff and I think it's a just a thought but I think the town hall meetings um as we go into next year um those could be important ways to address both our planning and design as well as the safety so let's keep that in at our Forefront all right Mr drgs thank you mayor um I appreciate all the work that's being done I think we need to keep sight of the fact that by far the biggest quality of life issue is a person's sense of physical safety so uh we we need to maintain that emphasis I guess I'll put it that way cuz I do appreciate what else is being done here um I'll mention the fact that on exit 59 off 485 signs reflective signs were put up telling the trucks not to park It's very effective uh it doesn't look like it cost a lot of money but that has alleviated a big nuisance there there a couple of other places we might want to talk about and on the lighting question Elm Lane I don't know if Elm Lane is on your radar it's been put on my radar over and over again by residents in that area so uh uh if there's something I can do to get attention to Elm Lane and lighting it's kind of a windy road it has no shoulder uh it's going to be uh a portion of it at least is going to be developed by this Gillespie resoning we did last year so that might be an opportunity but uh be big help if we could get an improvement there thank you thank you Mr barari Mr Graham and then we'll come back to miss Watling toon Mr Graham thank you madam mayor and I too want to thank the staff for the tremendous work uh that you're doing on this uh the quality of life uh approach is really really uh important and necessary because again like I said earlier the data is one thing but residents wants to know what are you doing to help resolve issues in our community and so these are 10 able steps not sexy steps not you know hopefully they'll get on the news right but um providing providing yeah providing lighting is is really really essential and important for the sense of safety if you don't feel safe you're not safe right that's the core principle of what I believe right and so lighting helps um alleviating um the commercial parking um uh illegally and it's still an issue I think me and Miss Johnson will agree with that a lot of progress has been made um but it's like um that what's that game ramoo right they pop up somewhere else so uh we have to continue to be vigilant in terms of the enforcement and that's that's the issue I want to leave the council with uh and and staff within the manager now it won't make anybody popular around this table but I think as relates to crime and and our community we really have to begin to be assertive in enforcing the laws that are current on the book uh and in some case be very aggressive right uh in terms of protecting the rights of individuals but at the same time protecting the rights of individuals who live on these quarters and these neighborhoods and these communities it's a fine balance right it's a delicate tap dance but I think that's where we are in terms of trying to provide the type of impact that was mentioned earlier in terms of uh the strategies that we're putting in place um to ensure that people not only feel safe but they are safe one question I ask to you and you talked about a um uh a collaboration of City departments and all working together I clearly understand what that means um but here here I go again but have you guys talked to the other government in the building about the sh um the park and the park rangers uh like the park in Katherine Simmons you go there and it's people are afraid to go in the park cmpd is not their core responsibility to monitor the parks right it's the park rangers responsibilities part of that is the recreational centers there aren't City agencies or departments but they're very critical to these quarters of opportunities Community neighborhoods that there uh recreation centers are open that they may be reprogrammed um and the last one is uh uh the wraparound Services right so that walking down the street and getting hit in the head with a brick is tends to be a mental health issue with somebody right uh that happened recently last week on Central Avenue right and so what's the collaboration with the county on some of these quality of life issues that we don't have direct um authority over is there any collaboration um inter city council work groups that you guys are talking to one another so Rebecca would you mind if I jump in please do okay okay so uh Council M MC Graham a great question and there is a level of collaboration maybe not as wide as we would want but I will tell you that Sean Heath and Anthony trotman have been working together over the course of the last year or so with some of these issues around uh the unhoused and some of that trickles into other things around Public Safety there's always room for more collaboration um again I'll start off with where we were pre pandemic balance as a Public Health crisis a lot of collaboration there and a lot of it occurs in the building and maybe it doesn't bubble all the way up to me or to this table but it's not as if we're two governments that aren't talking to with each other I think that's really critical and really important uh not only for us to understand that is happening but for the community to be able to see it feel it and touch it right to know that it's happening right so I think that's really important and and and especially as we move forward we've kind of ended we started this year the same way we ended last year our 2023 right which uh shooting up toown Charlotte uh last week three individuals died on our streets murdered relationship type of Steal uh and so uh all of it dealing with with substance abuse mental illness uh the inability to um uh conflict Resolute right and so I I think Mr manager the more we can see it right and and be able to articulated to our constituents that that this collaboration is happening that we can really tell people what uh wraparound service means and again the impact of it I think it'll be a step in the right direction again to uh trying to resolve a we never be able to resolve the um the perception issue that we that we're dealing with but I I think that's to stake in the right direction and last I'll be quiet um I I just hope that throughout this year that we have stamina on this public issue this public safety issue that we don't get tired uh talking about it uh and and evaluating it and looking at data and and talking to cmpd and talking with our neighbors in meinberg County uh and that we're not afraid to really begin to talk about uh enforcement on a wide variety of issues I think that's where we are that's what people are asking for uh and every neighborhood media I go to when they see me in the bank when they see me in the grocery store what do you guys are doing not withstanding the data that's been presentent the council but I think uh the last three presentations given by the manager has been a very big step in the right direction than Miss watlington thank you madam mayor um much of what I um want to discuss has already been brought to the table which is fantastic um because I think there's a lot of movement um and a lot of unity around the dis the thing that I would lean on is building up upon what uh council member Graham just mentioned in regards to the county is also the schools and the faith community right I've said this before um during this discussion and it's the reason why this neighbors building neighborhoods piece is particularly important to me um is because it gets to the individual right and so when we talk about our homicides often times we hear from our law enforcement that these are things not withstanding an innocent bystander but these are things that are very personal and kind of interrelational and so when we start to talk about what we can do from a system standpoint we're doing the right things I think there's another component of how do we reach the individual and that does often times fall on the county side so I'd love to see um some additional um intersectionality between who it is that we are seeing that are is in need of particular services and then who also then maybe coming out of our justice system that needs support in that space as well um and tying that to the schools because we know that all of these people exist in the same neighborhoods and we want to make sure that the tax dollars that were raising are being used in a holistic manner um so I think we've got an opportunity to even uh go further uh to to do a very people centered approach thanks so much I want to um say on behalf of all of us that have talked around this topic is that I think it's been a real valuable um conversation to believe that we are approaching something in a way where we're talking about our neighborhoods and not just a singular event or something that's happening to people we're trying to figure out how to make it better for everyone I the only thing that I would really like to um add and I think Miss watlington and Mr Graham hit it pretty well there are a lot of opportunities to do more as a Unified Government and it's really really tough to make some of those decisions because not everybody is always online for the same thing at the same time so I wonder um as we are going through this kind of process if there is a way to PR prioritize where we want to go working with the county where is that area that they feel just as valued as we feel as cmpd being valued and how do we do this I say that because I think several of us in this room have um an affiliation with a religious group and it's right across the street from Katherine Simmons and it is an elderly um I think it's elderly housing that we're trying to keep people in and Katherine Simmons has been one of our most difficult changes that we have to have and there probably many of those around the city that we don't have all the notice of but I think sometimes if we can figure out where the most difficult issues are and bring people in and they help solve it I think that we'd be better off in the long term so I just want to say thank you for the discussion and what's happening and with that Mr Jones I'm going to turn it back over to you for the next step so thank you uh mayor members of council then after this I'll turn it back over to you mayor for the um committee report outs um this may be the easiest of the discussions that we're going to have around this this topic and I think it only gets more difficult after this right um what I will tell you is that a lot will happen on February 10th in terms of the violence as a Public Health crisis because that is a framework that both the city and the county adopted and we or received whatever the right word is okay and there has been a lot of work around there there's always an opportunity for more what I would like to do is just lock back in today just for a second and think about um what we're trying to do around the built environment and the lighting and and things that nature what's I don't we want you to lose sight of is the bond that just passed the $400 million Bond we talk a lot about $100 million associate affordable housing I think I'm right with this number but we don't talk about the 238 million that's related to transportation so that includes lighting that includes sidewalks that includes these Strategic investment areas where we're trying to do something that's never been done before in the city where we can have multiple projects remember there's a list of 2004 not the year but 2004 projects that are from rows to sidewalks to lighting you name it so we're going to be able to test that a little bit and touch it a lot during the retreat maybe what's more important there's $2 million in this budget to deal with Innovation around infrastructure so these are the conversations we'll have simultaneously with what's going on with the the the safety the last thing I'll say is let's not forget the 1-cent sales tax what it does is 40% of that is for rail 20% is for bus but 40% is for transportation that comes directly back to the jurisdictions and our cut on the first year is about 102 million so think about $102 million that can help support these Strategic investment areas or the lighting or the sidewalks or things of that nature so again this is just one piece of this three-month Journey but let's not forget about the things that seem to excite you tonight A funding source is within the onent sales tax right thank you I'm really glad that you bring that forward and I think that tells us our Retreat is going to be really a place to um think about this here dismiss can I ask one question we I wanted everyone to be able to speak to the issue today but we still got agenda items to go on and add to today so um I think that we'll call this one and then be ready to begin this with the um Community okay so Mr Jones what's next next on our agenda it's however you want to go with the Committees all right sequence Mr Driggs anything important coming out of committee so we had two topics today and I'm not going to recite everything we were told but there are a couple comments I'd like to make about them uh for one we had a briefing on the community area planning process which as you know is kind of a next step in our whole Udo and uh the goal of the staff is to have drafts of these area plans uh out to us in March and what I want to stress to everybody here particularly the district reps is you know get started early look at this thing and and don't then say oh my God you know nobody asked me or whatever and the way I'm looking at it is the work that the staff is doing is quite technical in nature and there's a lot of process it's good work but in essence if you think about the way the engineers design a car and all the thought that goes into the car and then you think about the consumer of the car they sit down behind the wheel and they dri it and they say hey this feels nice so I think we need to be ready to start uh interacting with the consumers with the users of this plan and in my mind what that means is think about in practice you know what am I going to see you know I I'm I'm not interested in your Outreach and this and that what am I going to see how's it going to affect me so I would just encourage uh all of us particularly the district people to think about our districts uh think about our knowledge of what matters to the people in our districts and make sure that's reflected uh as these plans are developed uh they will be offered with a lot of scope for continuing conversation and input so we don't need to assume that when they're handed to us it's like a done deal uh but the earlier we get started in making sure that they go in a Direction that's suitable for each district uh I think the better um the second topic we talked about was uh uh the Udo but in particular uh Senate Bill 382 and basically the legislature passed a bill and it was a a big kind of Omnibus Bill under the general heading of disaster relief but it had all kinds of other Provisions in it and one of them that really got our attention and about which we got a briefing today was a couple of Provisions related to our uh land use uh regulation uh and what they did in particular was they said uh you may not down Zone as they call it uh without the consent of the owner of a property so it means that you can't go to a lower density use of a certain property unless the owner consents now that's probably not a problem for us because in our resoning usually the owner is there asking us to do it um uh however what they uh that also includes though um not removing what is now a permitted use so if you have a list of permitted uses today you can't take them out and that gets trickier in terms of who whose consent you need to do that and if we have text amendments as we already had uh you cannot make changes to your rules that result in certain properties becoming non-conforming um so uh in simple terms that's what it is the staff is working on what it means um they're looking at the text amendment that we' have already discussed that's pending this goes back 180 days so the question is is there anything that occurred in that time that we should be aware of uh but what I will say for now is uh we have concerns about this um uh I've had indications already we've had indications already that there is scope for discussion of it I believe the legislators will entertain recommendations for changes and so on so um the staff is going to report to us in Greater detail about which particular places are impacted uh I would encourage us at this point uh to avoid statements about the suitability of State intervention in these matters or issues like that um I we want to stay on on good constructive terms with the legislature in the pursuit of other goals that we have and I don't think the last word is in yet on 382 so I'll just leave it at that and if you have questions and by all means uh talk to Miss Craig or Mr Patton thank you thank you Ed Mr Graham thank you madam uh mayor uh we had a really really good meeting to kick off the year and I want to thank council member Mitchell bukari Dres and Molina for their um their impit we had two agenda items one um that I I really feel really really good about which is an update our annual report on the the quarters of opportunity um we're doing some amazing work throughout the city uh on the quarter and it's it goes back to a conversation I had with the city manager back in 2019 right December 2020 uh about better ways to coordinate the services that we are providing to the quarters and I was selfish I was talking about basro Road um but we were able to turn a a district issue into a city priority right where not only were we focusing on Bas for road but I 85 is Sugar Creek North Tri and Graham Street U freedom and Wilkerson um other areas other wilon Boulevard other uh quarters throughout the city uh and we made a huge significant impact these quarters are not changed ing they have changed and the city over the last four years have provided resources in terms of um putting our money where our mouth is to make sure that residents in those quarters are a part of the change and not victims of it over 100 million dollars of investment over the last uh four years which is really really significant uh the the city also has a goal in place to secure $100 million of federal funding and I'm not sure if you heard heard Mr manager but today we were awarded $1.2 million from the United States Department of Transportation for the Ros F Mobility bike path early designed for 5.25 miles of the quarter so we're continually to March forward in terms of working with our federal Partners uh to to reach that $100 million coordination of services so it's Cod enforcement housing cmpd all kind of working together to deliver the services Economic Development small business utilization which is really really um powerful the opportunity hubs now we have opportunity hubs in each and every quarter where individuals can walk in and and get services and these are these quarters and what they offer are uniquely different based on the quarter and question and so it is is is so impactful now that folks can really um work with their neighborhood association their Business Association having someone on the quarter actually doing the work uh and working hand and glove with the city is really impactful the public private partnership that we have so it's not only is a city trying to invest their hundred million getting $100 million from the feds but the uh the private Community lows in particular uh United Way and other organizations are investing in these quarters uh Wells frogo Fifth Third Bank and others have done a tremendous theight Foundation the work that they're doing doing on B for Road it is tremendous in terms of what we're doing along the way um the active business associations there were a few active business associations five years ago on any of these quarters now we had a presentation day about what's happening on Sugar Creek I know basv road is actively working Freedom Drive is actively working these are businesses Banning together trying to create a uh a better outcome for their businesses and the neighborhoods around them so really really really good uh and I was just really really pleased I want to thank the staff and that's the other thing it's just not like there's one or two or three people working on these on these quarters uh the city and the management team has uh devoted numerous individuals um working on all these quarters throughout the city and I just want to thank them for their for their leadership and their participation uh in doing that with us and so all in all I think we we had a great um presentation um uh about the work that we're doing on the quarters still a lot more work to be done uh for sure something that we didn't touch on uh which was crime and Public Safety on these quarters and um that's may be a part of the the harder conversation we have um next month with the manager uh because it caused enforcement right we we're to that point now where we really have to uh look U look at ourselves and ask some tough questions to our friends and our neighbors uh and and protect the investment that the private Community is making private businesses are making in these quarters as well as the city to protect the investment right we can't have someone throwing a break into the Chase Bank window they've already replac that window four times already and so we we have to we we have to ask some tough questions um and I'm willing to do that with the manager uh as we talk about um crime um in next month so that portion of the meeting was extremely extremely um good conversation second topic is is really hard and that topic was the office vacancy uh and throughout the city not just in uptown Charlotte uh University City uh Valentin uptown Charlotte uh South End uh their vacant buildings and this is this not a Charlotte thing it's a national thing that we're dealing with as a result of covid-19 and that uh major cities throughout the country are are are dealing with um and the goal was really to what's our what's our responsibility uh in all that right and I think um Mr bhari um uh and um Mr drgs Mr Mitchell all really kind of summed it up right we we we we want to focus on public safety with these empty buildings we want to identify the new tools that we can help with these businesses um we want to focus on Rec Recruitment and Retention and steering folks um who are interested in our city to these buildings with an emphasis towards data as Mr bukari said uh we really want to identify what our role is right we you mean we we it's not it's all of our problems City County uh uh landlords uh everyone has to be involved in helping us solve this problem uh and there has to be a framework that we all agree pun and so it's a huge problem uh it's a marathon issue which is it's not a microwave solution right um I think mcari was on this game today right he he framed it really well recruitment retention and growth right I took notes and but but I think he's correct right and so it is an issue that's going to be with this Council and the next Council for sure because is a humongous issue that we have to deal with collectively as a community uh we want to be able to see what they are doing nationally uh and other cities our sides are dealing with this problem um uh and certainly we want to collaborate locally with other stakeholders who are also trying to address the issue so uh two great U agenda items um very good input from committee members and I'll pause and allow any members to add anything if I miss something sorry question yes missme yes uh thank you Madame mayor uh great to hear an update on corers of opportunities and collaboration with our partners um I know that mayor's racial Equity initiative had brought in key investments into the corridors of opportunities um any update from that there's actually a um study being undertaken now that they're working through the C the um through the foundation for the Carolinas and they have that accountability for providing a where are we coming up and they are my understanding is that they have hired someone to do that so I know uh couple of years ago when it was first launched there was specific funding allocated to corridors so uh are we seeing that recurring or those were still the same they the the the amount of um money that was allocated at the beginning are still consistent with what they are so they haven't been transferred around or done anything differently there have been a few people that have made additional contributions but they had a choice of which bucket to put it in on their own so those funds that were originally contributed to corridors of opportunities is that part of our overall spend or that's separate then what's been make sure that I don't speak yeah and so we can get you a breakdown of that uh council member Ash I think where you're headed is there were some funds set aside specifically for the quarter's opportunity for instance the hotel purchase um that was um made by the city there was a contribution from um the mayor's racial Equity initiative with that I I call it the the C3 fund but I know it's a different name to it than that but you know there are going to be some businesses that happen to be you know minority businesses in the corridors that will benefit from that while it's not specific for that those um um different businesses but that's as the mayor said um within the foundation for the Carolinas I believe that's correct that there's annual reporting that comes out for the four streams that were related to the mayor's racial Equity initiative okay um Miss ashir um as you say um the trans BGR committee meeting yes uh thank you Madame mayor I'm dmle ASA serving as the committee chair for the budget governance and intergovernmental Relations Committee um first let me just introduce uh our committee members starting with council member bukari serving as Vice chair committee members council member Brown Mayfield and Mitchell uh so today's topic was on reviewing the city's current procurement and CBI policies that's used for our Capital project Contracting I know this is a topic that um council member Mitchell and Mayfield are very passionate about and uh they wanted us to have singular focus on that topic so we this was the only item that was on our agenda uh today uh so staff uh Mr cocher and Miss Anderson and their team have done uh so much work on this they've created this mwsb master utilization plan uh that focuses on early engagement uh project project development targeted Outreach and removing barriers uh it's a it's this is really a comprehensive plan that that's in place so U Mr cocher and his team uh CBI they launched a pilot program in the summer of 2024 and they targeted mwbes for 10 capital projects uh with that seven of those projects have been awarded uh to mwsb firm so I think that's tremendous that shows that early success of this pilot um so with that uh it will be coming to the council after uh now that we have seen success with this pilot and staff are actively finalizing some details and input that was provided by our committee um based on just the Lessons Learned um and um and how can we scale it at a much larger scale because we are looking at it across all City departments I mean we are talking about millions and millions of dollars so uh more to come on that uh but if you have any specific input on Capital um project Contracting around procurement and CBI uh please reach out to Mr Cocker Mr Heath has been doing um an amazing job trying to coordinate um they are also working on compiling a Q&A guide because I know there are so many questions that are being asked I know council member Johnson had ask questions about mwsb goals and Contracting so you will see that guide uh probably end of January or beginning of February uh because this requires just some pre-reading in order to understand I mean it's a fairly complex process so you'll see more on that um but I'm I'm pretty pleased to see the committee's input throughout this process so committee members feel free to chime in if I missed anything Mr Mitchell if May um I great job uh Madame chair I just want to add a a a special thank you to Sean Heath and for Monica and Allen who have really uh been committed to make sure that we move in the right direction we took no uh December off but they didn't they engaged with council member Mayfield and I on several meetings so I just want to say thank you to staff it for your commitment to make sure we move in the right direction okay thank you all right any other comments on that one so our next one is housing safety next one is the best one housing safety and I think you had a lot of that already miss the two of you or three of you so but miss SW lingon thank you Madame mayor yes indeed we did have a lot uh which is fine with us because I will say that our committee um is really made up of folks who are passionate about the work uh my vice chair uh counc Mayfield council member Brown council member Johnson council member Ash Mera um we we left 2024 we felt like with a lot of momentum with some of the work that we did and uh today I think we set the stage for some some mey work uh along with uh ACM Heath director Hefner um and um our incredible housing neighborhood services staff as it relates to our minimum housing code uh as you all know we are deep in uh the midst of trying to understand what we can do to ensure um uh safe housing for residents uh of lodging establishments that may not be single family homes um and so that's what we started today we we reviewed a little bit of the city's minimum housing code um and what some of the common violations are we we understood a little bit more about the legal framework and what statutes um uh govern our work and where our Authority lies uh we also covered um our path forward as it relates to stakeholder engagement benchmarking with other municipalities and other organizations um and then we finished with a discussion amongst the committee members to understand where people's areas of focus are um many of which are really focused around how do we get more proactive how do we make sure that the work that we're doing that comes at a cost to the city ends up being recouped from uh these property owners who are violating uh what we would consider how council member Mayfield mentioned would you let your mama stay there and if not we need to make sure that our code reflects our standard as a city um some of the things that we'd like to explore in particular are how we can how we can in increase resources and able to enable us to um investigate more of the violations we know that many go un um uninvestigated simply because we have to prioritize with the amount of resources we have um we also looked at how do we strengthen our tools like nuisance abatement how do we ensure that our civil penalties actually have some teeth to it um how do we um make sure that if if the city is having to make an investment in a property that just like when Property Owners come and ask for voluntary uh participation from the city that there is some kind of tether some kind of um um stake in the game if you will that the city is able to have uh so we want to explore that thank you to uh hunis uh for supporting us on the legal standpoint because I think many of the things that we would like to do is going to require work and collaboration with the general assembly so to Mr DG's earlier point we want to make sure that um as we're having these conversations as long session gets underway that we're fostering that kind of environment because we have plenty of priorities of which this is one um so as we look forward to the next couple of months we're going to be doing continued stakeholder engagement I believe council member Brown brought up um a couple of uh organizations uh in the community that we want to make sure that we're walking with the residents on um um and we'll do our benchmarking and we'll come back so we'll take we'll take um any suggestions that you may have uh we're always looking I say this not just for those around the Das but those that may be watching we want we're looking to innovate so absolutely if you are um if you are privy to some things that are happening around this country around this state we would love to hear what your approach is so with that I'll open up to my committee members if they want to add anything well first I want to say um thank you for all the work that you've done to make it possible for us to get through those terribly difficult hotels and to get people where they are it is um it is a true Testament to the city's and your particular confidence that we're going to do this kind of work and we're going to get it right and what I heard out of all the things that you said is there's going to be a process that will make it work and I would the only thing that I would suggest is that I know um sometimes I think um that Miss Molina calls me OG so I'm going to go for that one tonight OG triple triple OG whatever but I'm going to go with it because you have to school me T you GNA have to help me out you have to school me on that one anyway wait a minute there this is a serious matter I I think what you're doing is you're going to put together the El open thank you that we're going to put together a process that will monitor um places that we can identify as getting on that slippery slope and that that slippery slope will be um the ability for us to look at code issues and repairs I mean you know we're not trying to put people out of business we're trying to just make sure that people have a safe place to live and so um I really think that you captured exactly what needs to go but of course with the three of you I can't imagine anything less so thank you very much one thing that I do want to add just as a nod to the um uh economic development committee is that we do acknowledge that in addition to housing we want to help people get to the next level economic Mobility wise so we want to make sure that as we're having this conversation we're connecting the dots to what our Workforce Development programs are and how do we how do we really reach in and help residents move the needle in their own um lives so just wanted to make sure that was connect yeah we're trying to move up not yeah yes thank you as as a member of the team wonderful five of us thank you um I I'm just happy to be a part of this team because I can remember Dr blanch pin talking about Lake Arbor what six years ago so it's nice to be addressing this issue finally and I wanted to to know uh council member Graham brought up a great point about the safety this is an opportunity to really to look at this from a broad perspective and I know we looked at the housing the minimal housing code but we also need to look at the ordinances that help us with nuisance projects so I didn't know know if that was an opportunity to to widen this scope because we are the safe neighborhood you know housing and safety and Community uh committee so I didn't know if we could broaden that and really take a look because because when we address those nuisance properties it helps with the safety as well so I think that's just an opportunity for us to broaden the scope or take a look at that yeah I think that um this issue on the Nu nuisance property is a lot more difficult because you end up taking people's property from them and that's kind of what Mr dgs was saying we may not want to get out there in the front like that but we know that that's the problem and that we need to figure out something to do but right now I think when we're starting to look at how we are working with the state and how we can do this maybe there' be some way that we can incorporate that idea and I see Mr Graham saying a way that he thinks it might happen oh it's okay it's already under determined appal ordinances changes and or policy recommendations as needed so you got it it's already in the referral yeah and and that that goes with Madam mayor what I said earlier about the enforcement right I mean we we're not going to change Katherine Simmons um by doing what we've done for the last 20 years and it's just won't happen and so there has to be strong enforcement and even if it means we have to relieve people of their property because there haven't been good citizens and I know that's a long time Mr attorney to do something like that but the Journey of a Thousand Miles start with the first step and we shouldn't be afraid to take that first step I we agree if it's for the safety of our residents can you repeat what you said as far as the referral so um within the referral there's the committee charg review the city's minimum housing code review existing enforcement tools and applicable legal framework review enforcement tools used by other large North Carolina cities and determine if any applicable ordinance changes and or policy recommendations are needed okay so that's good to know that okay all right m brown housing and Safety Committee today was just amazing I mean the work from staff the presentation today and just the engagement to be able to move forward I I just want to go on record to say it's not easy and I did acknowledge how the city stepped up in a major way but that people on the outside looking in don't get to see that they they don't know what's going on and so we have to open up our vocals I don't have a problem doing that letting them know that the city stepped up in the major way with the lights um the water when not doing business hours you know it was closed and there was a phone calls made behind the scene executive level management team got the water back back on got it running the end goal is though to make sure that it doesn't happen again and that it's not a reflection of us it's not but it is because the people look at us as the council the leadership for the city and they they're expecting more and then with all the rumors and the rhetoric and the media don't help right so we have to do what we're doing put this framework out here write this policy make it work pay it forward for those that are going to benefit from it and I don't want us to ever forget about the people that are affected right to somehow create um their voices in a residence Council form something where they can represent themselves cuz it's a lot of intelligent and smart people they go to work every day some of them may not want to be there but that's their home and although we might go and cringe at those conditions those conditions were the conditions that they they tolerated to call their home in that moment in that season or whatever they were going through so if we you know I like where we're going I think that if we stay on this path I know if we stay on this path and put our best foot forward and Implement and show action um I know um we said something about maybe enforcement but just imple implementation and moving forward with progression and showing people that we're going to take some type of action and then put that action into play uh we can restore what we have in this Council because there's a lot of great people that sit around this days all right thank you very much Mr Jones I appreciate what you said council member Brown and it really helps us as Administration when these committees are working on policy so that the we so we can you can address those we're very happy about the referrals that are in the Committees because we really think they can help move the needle Miss Mayfield move toor second all in favor I we're a journ thank you everyone if we have meetings like this e