Good afternoon. It is Wednesday, March 25th. We'll begin today with a invocation from Police Chaplain Don John Taylor. Please stand with me. Dear wise and loving Father, thank you on behalf of all who are gathered here today. We thank you for your many blessings, and we thank you for life itself. We also thank you for the freedoms that we enjoy in this great nation. You have said that citizens should obey the governing authorities since you have established those very authorities to promote peace and order and justice. And so, I pray for our mayor, for the various levels of city officials, and in particular for this assembled council today. I'm asking that you would grant them wisdom to govern, a sense of the true needs and welfare of our people, confidence in what is good, just, and right, ability to work together in harmony, and for personal peace in their lives and joy in their work. I pray for the agendas that before them today. Please give them assurance of what would please you and what would benefit those who live and work in and around our beloved city of Phoenix. It's in your most blessed name I pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you so much, Chaplain Taylor. Councilman Robinson, would you lead us in the pledge? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, Thank you, Councilman Robinson. I'll now call to order the formal meeting. Will the clerk call the roll? Councilwoman Guardado? Here. Councilwoman Hernandez? Here. Councilwoman O'Brien? Here. Councilwoman Pastor? Here. Councilman Robinson? Here. Councilwoman Stark? Here. Councilman Waring? Here. Vice Mayor Hodge-Washington? Here. Mayor Gallego? Here. Mario Barajas is with us to provide interpretation in Spanish. Mario, would you introduce your team? Yes, Mayor. Thank you. Good afternoon. As mentioned, my name is Mario Barajas, and I'm going to have uh two interpreters working with me downstairs. That would be Oscar Monroy and Elsie Duarte. We'll be serving as Spanish interpreters for our Spanish-speaking residents. I'll now take a moment to introduce ourselves to our Spanish-speaking residents. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you so much, Mario. Will the city 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-7497 through 7500, S-52678 through 52726, and resolution 22366. Thank you so much. Um will the city attorney please explain the rule of public comment? Yes, thank you, Mayor. Members of the public may speak for up to 2 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 items should be made during 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 member of the public who appears before the council in their capacity as a lobbyist must, as required by Phoenix City Code, disclose this fact before addressing the council. The City Code states that speakers must express their comments respectfully and courteously. Use of profane language, threats, or personal attacks on members of the public, council members, or staff are not allowed. Such comments are disruptive and unrelated to the council's business. Any person who violates these rules may lose their opportunity to speak further and could be asked to leave. Thank you. Thank you so much. We'll begin with the formal meeting minutes. Item one, Councilwoman O'Brien. I move to approve the meeting minutes from September 3rd, 2025. Second. We have a motion and a second. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed say nay. Uh item number two, Councilman Waring. Uh Mayor, I move approval of the minutes of the formal meeting of September 17th, 2025. Second. We have a motion and a second. All those in favor, please say I. I. Any opposed say nay. Thank you so much. And want to acknowledge Councilwoman Stark who is joining us virtually due to family health reasons. I'm so thankful to have you joining us with all that you have going on, and really appreciate you. She is our one of our great attendance champions. And also, happy birthday to several folks in the room who are celebrating birthdays this week. We next move to boards and commissions. Do we have a motion to approve mayor and city council board and commission nominations? Motion to approve mayor and city council board and commission nominations. Second. Motion and a second. Any comments? All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed say nay. Passes unanimously. If you our new commissioners could come forward, we will conduct a swearing-in ceremony. We are so thankful for your service to our city. Thank you to our new and returning commissioners. Please raise your right hand. I, state your name, do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution and 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, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of the office of state your office, according to the best of my ability, so help me God. Congratulations on your unanimous confirmation. Thank you again to our commissioners. Your advice will be so helpful to the city of Phoenix, and we thank you for your service. Next, we'll move to the liquor license portion of our agenda, which also includes off-track betting. We provide an advisory role to the state of Arizona on liquor licenses. Vice Mayor, do we have a motion? Yes, motion to approve items 4 through 16. Second. We have a motion and a second. Any comments? All those in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed say nay. Passes unanimously. City Clerk, are we ready for ordinances, resolutions, new business, planning, and zoning? Yes, Mayor. Vice Mayor, do we have a motion? Motion to approve items 17 through 80, except for the following: items 25, 41, 51, 62, 72, 79, and 80. Noting that item 50 is continued to April 8, 2026. Item 72 has additional items. Item 80 has additional information, and can the clerk confirm if Are any other items that should be excluded from in person public comment? Mayor, Vice Mayor, no other items. Thank you. Thank you. We have a motion and a second from Councilwoman O'Brien. Roll call. Gallego Yes. Hernandez Yes. O'Brien Second. I yes, sorry. Pastor Yes. Robinson Yes. Stark Yes. Waring Yes. Hodge-Washington Yes. Gallego Yes. Passes 9-0. Thank you so much. We next go to item 25, which is to rename the city's March 31st 2026 holiday and any city facilities and street signs that bear the name Cesar Chavez. We do have many members of the public here to vote. I want to begin by acknowledging that this may be a difficult item for anyone who's been impacted by sexual assault, and we are so sorry that you have to go through this. The reports of horrific abuse of girls and young women have been deeply shocking to all of us. As a community, we've long recognized Cesar Chavez's contributions to labor rights and social justice, but due to the gravity of these allegations, we now come together as a community to decide how best to move forward. We'll begin with public comment on this item. With Dan uh let's see. Yeah we'll um We will start with uh Feliciano Salinas, followed by Jerry Vangas. Thank you. Uh my name is Feliciano Salinas, born and raised in Phoenix, actually went to Cesar Chavez High School, also attended, grew up with Cesar Chavez on 35th Ave and Baseline, and um make a little statement here. Uh good afternoon, Mayor and City Council. My name is Feliciano Salinas, life-long resident here in Phoenix, born and raised Phoenician. I'm here today because some something doesn't feel right. We are here watching a decision impact our culture, our history, and our community be made too fast without a full independent investigation, without real public accountability. And that should be concerning for everyone, regardless of politics. This is bigger than one person. This is about the process. This is about truth. In America, we believe in due process. We don't believe in judgment. We don't rewrite history based on inc- incomplete information. So, I ask you, why hasn't there been an ind- judgment an an independent investigation? Why are we moving forward without a full transparency? And why is the public being asked to accept conclusions without seeing full facts? Our community deserves better. We deserve the truth over narratives. We deserve transparency over speed. We deserve leadership that listens before it decides. I am here I'm not here to divide. I am here to ask for clarity, because once you make a decision like this, you can't take it back. So, today I ask you to pause, to do the right thing, to openly do what the people are asking. Thank you. Thank you, Jerry Vangas. Good afternoon. Jerry Vangas. Uh this all seems a little surreal to me. Um most people in the valley here have no idea who Jesse Owens was, and the fact that he lived his last nine years here, most famous track and field athlete athlete in American history, who won four gold medals in front of Adolf Hitler in the 1936 Olympics. Uh He lived here, but he died down in UVA Hospital in Tucson. They uh the body came up here to South Mountain Mortuary, and then lay in state at our state capital. Uh that is rare for an individual, real rare. And that's how much he was revered. Um You know, on Baseline, the only thing named after him while he was alive came about because Councilman Calvin Good in 1978, they were constructing the first medical facility south of the Salt Salt River, and he went and asked Jesse if he could use his name to give it all kinds of credibility. Well, Jesse didn't even hesitate, cuz he knew how good that was for the public. So, we're asking that facility is on Baseline Road. Cesar Chavez Park is right down the road. If if if you decide to go ahead with name changes, we recommend that it be named after Jesse Owens. Thank you. Thank you so much. Is that all of our speakers for this item? Is All right, I'll turn then to Councilwoman Guardado. Thank you, Mayor. Before I make a motion, I just have some comments. Um today is not an easy day, um but it's something that is necessary. We hear um what the victims have come out to say. Um we understand what this means um to a lot of people, um but we also hear and we see every day um what happens with domestic violence. We hear um from a lot of different people when domestic violence gets reported, as soon as someone gets there to get a report, um there's no report to be had. We know that this is something where people have a very hard time reporting. Um as the city, um we we honor all of all of the victims. We applaud all of the victims that come out and say when something has happened to them. And I think that's what today is about. It it's it's about being able to lift the victims, and victims that have not come out and said anything. Hopefully, this gives them a little bit of comfort to be able to come out and say when something has happened to them as well, cuz this is what this is about. This is also about the morals of people on this council as well, as we are have zero tolerance when it comes to domestic violence and for these type of assaults. Um as a former organizer, this is something very difficult for me and for everyone in the labor movement. But let me be clear with one thing. Um Cesar Chavez might have been the face of the farm worker movement and of a movement that a lot of us followed for a very long time, but the movement made him. He didn't make the movement. It was the workers that decided to go out on strike. It was the workers that decided to picket. It was the workers that decided to fast. Um those are the workers, our farm workers, who feed our whole country. Our farm workers who gave their lives out on those fields. That's what this represents. That's what Cesar Chavez represented. Um it wasn't the other way around. Um we and I and for all of you out there who work for labor groups, who have been victims of sexual assault, um who have lived um with these legacies for a long time, I just want you all to know that we all have to remember where we all come from, what we have all believed in, that no matter what happens today and no matter what happened, we still have to continue to fight for justice. Workers need to continue to picket. Workers have to continue to go on strike. Workers have to continue to fast and do the right thing. Um so, for all of you, for all of the victims, we honor you all today. We honor our workforce. We honor everyone um that has been part of this movement and that has honored um this movement. And with that, I want to move a motion to rename the March 31st, 2026 city holiday as Farm Workers' Day, and begin the process to permanently change the holiday name for 2027 and beyond. Direct staff to immediately remove ceremonial Cesar Chavez Boulevard street sign names. Direct staff to immediately remove the name from Cesar Chavez Plaza, and begin the formal process to rename the plaza. Direct staff to begin the process to rename the Cesar Chavez library. Direct staff to immediately begin the process through the Arts and Culture Commission to cover, remove, or redesign artwork related to Cesar Chavez. Request the Phoenix Parks Board to begin the process to remove the Cesar Chavez name from all parks and park facilities in accordance with the Parks Board governing policies. Direct the city manager to develop and publish a communication plan for the various renaming processes which outlines specific opportunities for community members to provide feedback on renaming of impacted locations and to provide an update to council every 30 days on progress and next steps until completed. Thank you. We have a motion. Second. We have a second. I'll turn to Councilwoman Hernandez for quick back. Next. Uh thank you, Mayor. Um you know, this has been a very tough subject for a lot of people and I have also had a lot of outreach over the last few days since the news story broke. Um and in the spirit of transparency, I appreciate the comments that that were said. I know there's a lot of concern about us folks are going to rightfully so feel like we're rushing to the process. So, I think it's important to make sure the community understands. So, I just have a few questions on the process itself, what it look forward move uh moving forward. So, um if staff could explain what the process is that we're going to go through uh to rename the facilities, the parks, and other city infrastructure. Thank you, Mayor Councilwoman Hernandez. There are different uh processes depending on who is in uh in control of it. So, for example, those names related to Cesar Chavez Park with where there's also a dog park, a community center, and and an amphitheater, those are under the purview of the Parks Board. Parks Board has a very specific process for naming or unnaming. And so, by this action, we would transmit that to the Parks Board so that they would begin that process there. The plaza outside here, as well as the library, are under the purview of the City Council for naming. Uh so, we would uh work with you to develop the process as to how to take input so that you could make a decision on that in the time that the council chose. Uh there are the ceremonial street signs as were mentioned. Those were an action of the City Council uh about a decade ago to put those up. So, by this action, the Street Transportation Department will take those down. Uh the council could choose to to do another ceremonial naming or just to leave it as is uh in that case. And then, there is also a senior center uh planned for the Levine area that was sort of designated as a Cesar Chavez Senior Center because it's uh located in the park area. That's has not actually been officially named by the council yet. So, we will just uh begin referring that as to to that as the Levine Senior Center. When it is built, the council will have the opportunity to name that facility. And then finally, there are uh three different art projects identified by the Arts Office of Arts and Culture. And the Arts and Culture Commission has a very specific process that can that conforms with federal law about the rights of artists where there's consultation with the artists. And so, the Arts and Culture Commission will go through that process. Okay, thank you so much, Ed. I just want to make sure that the community understands that we will engage in a process to get their input in how we proceed forward given the the moment we're in. Um and you know, I just wanted to reiterate my ask from yesterday's meeting about getting an overview of all the programs, the projects, initiatives that the city is supporting that address um domestic and sexual violence for here in the city. Um uh my next question is what processes or training um currently exist for Phoenix City staff? And like does all staff and council members required to go to any of that existing training? Mayor Councilwoman Hernandez, you're referring to domestic violence or sexual assault training? >> Uh both. Okay. I I don't have that information with me. We can certainly put that together and and return that to you. Okay, perfect. That would be that would be great. Um and internally, if a city employee or a community member experiences um sexual violence from a city staff member, what is the process for them to report that? Well, certainly we would want them to call the Phoenix Police Department or the the governing police department wherever they are. Uh and then, we would have a process through through the the criminal process is its own thing, but then we would have uh processes through our Human Resources Department as to how that relates to their employment. Okay. Uh I can also get you a more full description of that process as well. Okay, thank you. I appreciate that. I think it's really important for um us to get into a preventative into preventative measures. So, that would be very appreciated. Um so, thank you so much for those answers. And thank you, Mayor. Just want to say a few words before we move to vote on this item. Um first, thank you to the all the community community members that have reached out since the news broke uh of Cesar Chavez and his sexual assaults of numerous women and girls in the farmworkers movement and the subsequent letter from Dolores Huerta, an organi- an organizing legend of her and her own story of sexual abuse at the hands of Chavez. Your words have given me strength and really should give us all strength. Dolores's story and the stories told by the women who have come forward have stirred deep pain and cannot be ignored. Our country and leaders have a long history of ignoring the experiences of sexual violence that women have faced. As a community, we must reckon with the reality that even those that we tend to honor are capable of causing real harm and lasting harm. And as black femme scholars have reminded us, if we cannot hold harm, face it, and take accountability, we will not sustain justice. I understand it is hard to name, but it is the truth that Chavez's abuse and the abuse we are all witnessing in the Epstein files are connected. Our culture allows for sexual violence, silence silences victims, and protects powerful people. We shelter men, dismiss their behaviors as boys being boys, and force women to change their behavior instead of holding men accountable to stop abusing and assaulting others. I came into politics in 2019. And in the past 7 years, I have heard countless stories of sexual abuse and assault at the hands of elected officials, Phoenix movement leaders, and government staff. Sexual assault is rampant across this city. And in that time, the Me Too movement came and went, and our culture did nothing to end the sexual violence that is everywhere around us. These revelations about a social movement icon should serve as a motivator for change. We cannot simply erase Cesar Chavez's name for our buildings and things think that we've helped. Our work to end sexual violence against women and create safety that will require that we acknowledge the historical and intentional role sexual violence played in slavery and indigenous genocide on which this country was found founded, center solidarity with women, believe and protect victims, and invest in actual resources in abuse prevention, education, and ability and care. Last week, I got an email from one of my residents uh her name is Judy. Judy straight up challenged me. She said, "Nice words, but where is the action?" So, thank you, Judy, for reaching out. I hear you, and you are right. As a council member, it is my responsibility to push this city to take action, to find resources for survivors, to find research to resources to teach men and boys to not be trash, to use the power of this office to this office to push for accountability, and I plan to do just that. With that, I will be voting yes with the expectation that we are going to take material steps to end sexual and domestic violence against women and girls. Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman Stark. Thank you. Um I wanted to commend Councilwoman Hernandez on her comments. But I do want to turn quickly and remind that there is also sexual exploitation of young boys. And so, I think it's important to to remember it's not just females. Sometimes, males are a victim of this as well. And so, I hope that we remember that as well. But well said, Councilwoman Hernandez. Well said. Thank you Mayor. Vice Mayor? Thank you, Mayor. I also wanted to share a few comments before we move forward. I also want to express my appreciation and support to the survivors of abuse that have come forward. Their experiences deserve to be met with care, respect, and seriousness. As someone who has who has represented survivors of abuse, including those who were abused in childhood, um I have seen firsthand how these experiences and when a survivor speaks up, they bring up immediate and lasting pain. And it takes remarkable strength for them to share these difficult truths. And their voices are an essential part of this movement. Of this moment. As a lawyer, due process is important to me. And I understand the concerns that we are moving from a perspective where some may think we're moving too quickly. The survivor's statement and the posture that the Chavez family, the foundation that bears his name, and the union that he's founded has confirmed to me that this is the right approach. I also want to acknowledge the farmworkers movement, which is still processing this news. The movement represented and continues to represent the commitment to dignity and fair working conditions for all employees, which I believe is especially important for workers doing difficult jobs under harsh conditions. The farm workers movement is an example of people of people working on behalf of one another to make a positive impact and creating lasting change. So, as we move forward, the voice of our community is also essential as we consider the renaming and other honors. A transparent process, one that encourage encourages and incorporates community input is critically important. I am supportive of the actions requested and I ask that as staff begin the process of renaming, that a representative committee or other approach be taken to reflect the diverse stakeholders on this issue. Lastly, I would like to take a moment again to thank the survivors for their courage and to city staff and our partners who provide critical services to support survivors of abuse every day. I'd also like to encourage city staff to do another communication and outreach effort about these services again. Too many people, unfortunately, suffer in silence. Thank you. Councilwoman Pastor. Thank you, Mayor. I actually uh I don't even know how to say this, but I actually was uh part at a certain point of the movement in my college days. And as a mayor president, I worked very closely with the farm workers and with Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez. So, this is really near and dear to my heart. Um And as you know, for many in our community, Cesar Chavez was a symbol of the farm worker movement. As society, we idolize individuals who are part of a collective when we should be looking at the bigger picture. Leaders like Dolores Huerta and so many others carried the fight forward. And they continue to. Given the accounts we have heard from Dolores Huerta, Anna Munguia, and Debra Rojas, we have a responsibility to act and it's not okay on what happened. We may have must be thoughtful about who and what we formally honor in public spaces. That includes holidays, facilities, and street names. So, it makes sense to rename this in the honor of the farm workers themselves as they oppose to an as opposed to an individual person. Who we really need to recognize are the unsung heroes who do and did the work, who make the movement happen. We need to honor those who make it possible for us to bring food to our dinner table every night, who went to work while injured, who didn't have access to health care, who split a single meal between multiple people as a family, and who roomed together to make ends meet. Those workers came together during their struggles and organized. Farm workers take pride and bring dignity to their work. To this day, we must continue fighting for this movement, whether it's the farm worker movement or the greater Latino movement. This country is built on immigrants and farm workers. The movement was never about one person person. The movement will live on and grow from this. The collective has to heal from the past and move forward. I am confident in the three women in leaderships in the leadership positions in the United Farm Workers will continue to organize for better working conditions and wages. But the work is still happening at all different levels. We have organizations out here helping community members learn about democracy, civic participation, and registering people to vote. But we must invest and empower [clears throat] each other and our fellow community members to keep the momentum going and to address the ongoing inequities. We need to continue to organize and educate our community. We will have another item after this discussion on how to better educate our community in the biggest fight of our moment today. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Councilwoman, and thank you for saying their names. Any additional comments before we vote? All right. So, thank you so much. The council action would rename the holiday that will occur next week as Farm Workers Day and then begin a process to rethink the holiday. It will begin the process to rename city facilities, to consult with the artists on art, and then immediately remove city street signs and the plaque in the plaza that honors it. Chavez. I want to emphasize two things. First, we stand with victims and survivors. Can't imagine the courage it took for them to share their truth. And I'm deeply grateful. Then we also stand with the thousands of people whose voices and advocacy built the farm worker movement. The actions of one individual do not define its success or its power. Roll call. Guardado. Hernandez. Yes. O'Brien. Yes. Pastor. Yes. Robinson. Yes. Stark. Yes. Waring. Yes. Hodge-Washington. Yes. Gallego. Yes. Passes 9-0. Thank you so much. We next go on to item 41, which is the community transparency initiative. All of us are well aware of the many civil rights abuses and blatant illegal activity that far too many have experienced at the hands of ICE. The behavior we saw in Minneapolis and Portland and Chicago and even here in Phoenix. It's un-American and it's shameful. It doesn't make us safer and we have to be prepared if we're next on ICE's list. In February, I put an item up for the council to begin to adopt policies that will help us prepare for that possibility. For the last 45 days, the city council members and I, as well as the city council offices and city staff have met with members of our community to listen to their concerns and their ideas. That's helped us end up in a better place. I think staff has done an excellent job of addressing the priorities we set forth and coming up with a plan to move forward. I want to make it clear today, as do my colleagues, that this is not the end of the road on this topic. We're going to remain vigilant and learn and do as much as we can. We're committed to making sure that ICE agents who violate the law, who are needlessly violent with protesters, will be held to account. I also want to once again acknowledge the exceptional work already be taking place in our community by organizations who work with refugees, who work on behalf of working people, immigrant communities, faith communities, and those who work with businesses who have real questions about what has happened elsewhere. It's one of the things that makes our city such a special place. Thank you to my colleagues for their dedication and work on this important topic and for their collective effort to help us get to where we are today. I'll now turn it over to our assistant city manager, Lori Bays. Thank you, Mayor. Just to briefly go through the agenda of what I'll present today. Uh I will talk a little bit about the background of how uh we got to this discussion this afternoon. Some information on the specific council approved directive that was approved on February 10th. Recommendations on the six items within the directive. An overview of the administrative regulation, in the six items of the recommendations on how to address the six items. And then we'd be happy to answer any questions. As background, and as you're all very well aware, residents throughout Phoenix have shared their growing concerns about how potential federal law enforcement activities could adversely impact the community and are adversely impacting the community. On February 5th, Mayor Gallego called a work study session. This is a study session to provide an opportunity for the mayor and city council to discuss topics important to the community in an open session. Or during that session, um staff was directed to explore, develop, and present a framework for a community transparency initiative and to return to the council within 45 days. And that is what is being presented to you for approval today. The directive was specific. It addressed six different items. The first of which was to document and preserve information on federal immigration enforcement activities within Phoenix that may violate criminal statutes and or individual civil rights with the intent to investigate crimes committed by federal agents who act outside the scope of their duties. Second, to collect data on impacts to city services as a result of federal immigration enforcement. Third, to identify potential partnerships and volunteer opportunities to facilitate the initiative. Fourth, to ensure multilingual communication channels across city services and resources. Fifth, to implement training for city employees who may encounter federal enforcement actions, including protocols related to administrative and judicial warrants. And finally, options for the council to consider relating to outside organizations staging in our parks, preserves, and other city property. So, now I'll present to you the staff recommendations on those six items. But first I want to give you a little bit of legal context and for uh the audience today to be sure everyone is is on a level playing field. One of the the things that we are working with in our legal environment is the Arizona revised statute 11-1051, which is an outgrowth of Senate Bill 1070, which states "No official or agency of this state or a county, city, town, or other political subdivision of this state may limit or restrict the enforcement of federal immigration laws to less than the full extent permitted by federal law." This statute significantly limits the city's ability to act and is a unique legal environment in comparison to other states. So, as it has been mentioned, we are in a unique legal position here in Arizona. But within that um legal environment, we are uh presenting to you what we believe are legally sound and uh practical options to address the six items in the council directive. So, on the first item, to document and preserve information on federal immigration enforcement activities within Phoenix, the recommendation is twofold. First, for inactive situations, meaning a situation that has concluded, it is over, and a member of the community wants to file a complaint with the city of Phoenix, we will utilize the Office of Accountability and Transparency's online portal platform to document and track track information. And there are a couple ways that this can occur. We will have a online portal that residents will be able to access directly. It's a multilingual platform that they will be able to um enter information into on a computer. The other mechanism is to contact OAT either by phone or in person to have OAT staff be able to enter that complaint on their behalf. Once that is entered into portal, that will be documented for the purposes of saving that information and sharing it with relevant parties in the Attorney General's Office, which I'll talk about in just a moment, but it will also be used to make a referral to the Phoenix Police Department if necessary. If there's an allegation of a criminal violation, the Police Department will be able to review that violation and investigate as appropriate. If enough evidence exists, there will be a referral made to an appropriate prosecutorial agency. That could be Maricopa County Attorney's Office, that could be the Attorney Attorney General's Office, um or a various other places. What I do want to be transparent about is that um investigating these cases will be extremely difficult. We do anticipate that there will be difficulty accessing um individuals to interview as part of a a police investigation. It will also be challenging to get access to evidence or other materials that may be relevant. And therefore, the likelihood of prosecution is low. So, I do want to be transparent about that, but we will have detectives who are um prepared to investigate as thoroughly as possible. When it is a civil rights violation, our intention will be to refer that complaint to the Attorney General's Office so that they may review that complaint and uh investigate it as they deem appropriate. Irrespective of what type of complaint it is, we do plan to both retain the information for our records, but also share that information with the Attorney General's Office so that they will um have access to all of the complaints that we receive. The second component to this recommendation is if there is an active or emergency situation that is actively going on, there is an opportunity for Phoenix PD to respond via our regular emergency system through 911 to investigate a report of criminal activity. 911 is also available if there is some some sort of active incident going on to verify the identity of a law enforcement officer. So, there are many times where um there is a situation, a law enforcement situation going on, perhaps that involves Phoenix PD or perhaps that doesn't where it's uncertain whether or not the individuals involved are law enforcement, and a member of the community can call 911 and say, "This is happening. Is this an an actual law enforcement officer?" And 911 can help to verify that for the member of the community. So, that is available as well. And again, in these situations, um if there is a criminal investigation, if enough evidence exists to prosecute, a referral to the appropriate agency will be made, but again, that likelihood of prosecution is low, and I want to be transparent about that. Um and as a reminder, all cases will be shared with the Attorney General's Office. On the second item, collecting data on impacts to city services as a result of federal immigration enforcement, the recommendation is to track city time and resources spent on uh federal law enforcement-related incidents. This will mean tracking time spent on these incidents and also tracking the impact on our call volumes and responses. So, we will be focusing primarily on tracking time spent within the Police Department, Fire Department, including the Community Assistance Program, as well as the Office of Accountability and Transparency, and we will be tracking our our 911 calls, our call response times, etc. We're going to be using existing tracking systems within these departments. Um so, we'll be able to track, you know, things like the types of calls, overtime expended, and those sorts of things. Additionally, we will be also be asking our Community and Economic Development Office to or department to track impacts to small businesses and the local economy. So, we'll be developing some metrics that we can track there as well. Third, on identifying potential partnerships and volunteer opportunities to facilitate the initiative, our recommendation is to develop a CTI website, uh which will contain information about the initiative itself. Some of the data points that I just mentioned will be able to post on that website, and it will also include a know-your-rights page. This page um will have information with resources available to the community about how to um understand and protect their civil rights. It will also provide resources specific to various groups within the community, such as schools, employers, um immigrant communities, including refugees, um and so we will we will provide as many um specified resources as possible, and we do anticipate this being something that grows over time and that we will add additional resources as we learn about them and as we um hear about additional needs in our community. We are also in coordination with the Attorney General's Office and other cities who are impacted similar to Phoenix and and dealing with the same overarching state laws as Phoenix. So, like, for example, the cities of Tucson and Flagstaff, um as we believe it it is beneficial to all of us to work together on these issues. Additionally, we will share information with our congressional representatives to ensure that they understand specifically what is happening in the city of Phoenix and to provide them data to support uh that information. And finally, and and possibly, you know, most importantly, as we've worked to develop these recommendations, we've worked with many community-based organizations, and we intend to continue those partnerships as we move forward um to ensure that we are working together and and collectively working towards a common goal. Number four, ensuring multilingual communication channels across city services and resources, our recommendation is to um use the the service that is available on our updated city website, which is an an ability to It's a I They call it a widget, I guess. I didn't really understand that word, but it um is a tool that is is allows for the ability to translate web pages into over 120 languages. So, our website now has that capability, and so our pages will be able to be translated into many, many languages. Um we are also going to be translating through our translation service that we contract with to um translate key policy documents. So, the documents, for example, the administrative regulation that I'm going to talk about in just a minute, we're going to have translated into multiple languages and we'll be able to post that on the website. Additionally, as you're familiar, um and you you'll be able to see later in the meeting on the um screens in the council meeting, our Wordly function is able to interpret in over 60 languages in real time hearing council meetings. So, um we want to make sure that we communicate to the community that that service is available as well. And as I mentioned earlier, the complaint portal um that will be available through the Office of Accountability and Transparency is also multilingual. Number five, um the directive was to implement training for city employees who may encounter federal enforcement actions, including protocols related to administrative and judicial warrants. We have developed some guidelines for city staff, and one uh piece of feedback that we received during our stakeholder sessions was that we should train all city staff rather than employees that we believe may encounter federal law enforcement because we just don't know where that's going to occur. And so, our recommendation is that we do train all city staff using the guidelines developed. Uh we have created a training video that will be able to go out through our learning management system, which will also allow us to track that all staff have completed that training. And in addition to that, we have created um a quick reference resource card that employees can carry with them, which will have contact numbers for uh supervisors and the law department, so that if they do encounter an incident where they need to contact their supervisor as the training requires, they will have the appropriate information. It'll also provide them with scripts of what to say, uh some questions to ask, uh and and will remind them of what's in the training because, you know, we know that sometimes we take trainings and then we kind of forget exactly what the protocols are. This will allow staff to have a quick reference guide to keep with them that will um remind them of what exactly to do. And then, finally, the directive included um a direction to staff to bring back options for the city council to consider related to outside organizations staging in our parks, preserves, and city property. Uh after much research, our recommendation is to ask the council to direct the city manager to implement an administrative regulation regarding the use of city owned and city controlled for civil law enforcement. The AR states city owned and city controlled property may be used only for authorized city purposes and shall not be used for any unauthorized or non-city purposes without express permission. It exempts city airports, the municipal court, and properties owned by the city but controlled by a third party not operating a program on the city's behalf. An example of that would be the arena. And um it also Oops, I'm sorry. It also um asks staff to identify and inventory any city owned and city controlled property, to develop an access control plan, to identify means of controlling access to city owned and city controlled property, especially those serving vulnerable populations, and to develop a signage plan. The signage that will be posted is on the screen. It It will indicate that this property is owned and or controlled by the city of Phoenix. Use for any civil law enforcement purpose, including as a staging area, processing location, or operations base is not permitted without prior written authorization. Leadership responsibilities outlined in the administrative regulation include approval of the signage plan, access control plan, and expenditures authorizing additional uses of city owned or city controlled property, and consulting with the police chief on law enforcement requests. And finally, uh I wanted to talk a little bit about the stakeholder engagement that occurred as we, you know, we went through um the recommendations with the stakeholders that we met with, and I want to thank all of them for providing such valuable feedback. Um we did have multiple meetings uh and a listening session with identified stakeholders, and I'm aware and I I I believe Mayor also mentioned several council members um also hosted meetings and listening sessions throughout this process. And in summary, uh stakeholders indicated that these are important steps and are also um willing to identify additional potential actions for consideration. Many of them expressed a desire to continue to work collaboratively on this very important topic, and I think this is the beginning of a great process, uh and I really want to thank all of our community members for stepping up and providing their feedback on this. And with that, I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Councilmember Guardado. I have a few questions for you. I think it was bullet point number one. Okay, so here where it says, "Utilize OAT's online portal platform to document and track information." So, does that mean if an ICE I I mean, if an incident with ICE happens and there's um someone in the community sees that there's an issue, that there's a problem, that ICE committed some sort of violation, are they Who are they able to contact OAT to be able to make that report, or do they have to go straight to police? How does How does that work once the community witnesses a violation? Thank you, Mayor, members of the council, Councilmember Guardado. Um that's a great question. The The OAT portal will be able to be accessed in a couple of ways. Community members will be able to access it online directly if they would like to, and so they can actually type in and you know, and enter their complaint directly themselves. They can also call the OAT office, and an OAT staff member will be able to take their complaint and enter it into the portal on their behalf. They can also go to the OAT office in person if they would like to make a complaint during business hours, of course. So, that would be the the different avenues that a community member could use to make a complaint into this system. And how are we going to communicate to that to everyone? So, um Mayor, members of the council, Councilmember Guardado, after this meeting, we will be um pushing information out to the community in a variety of ways. We're going to be posting information online. We're going to be sending information out through social media. Um we anticipate that there may be media outlets who have an interest in conveying this information to the community. We'll also be using um our different department media channels to get information out. So, of course, the Office of Accountability and Transparency and their channels will be one avenue to get information out. We also have avenues through our Neighborhood Services Department, our Police Department, and many city departments have ways to share information with the community. Additionally, we're also going to be training our 311 staff, so that if someone calls into 311, they'll be able to refer them to the right location, as well as our 911 staff. Um I I don't want to recommend to the community that 911 is used for this purpose. However, our 911 staff will know about this portal and be able to refer individuals to it. Okay. And when it comes to um traffic violations, um can you explain a little bit what are what are the different options that are available for folks to be able to deal with a traffic violation when it comes to having to come having to go to a court date? Sure, Mayor, members of the council, Councilmember Guardado. So, that would actually fall under um number three. So, the website will include resources available to the community, and that will include information on um our municipal court services that are available virtually, which um does include opportunities for members of the community who have received a traffic citation to be able to attend their court hearing virtually rather than coming to the courthouse in person. Got it. Okay. Well, thank you. Thank you so much, Mayor. Thank you, Councilmember Hernandez. Thank you, Mayor. Uh just have a couple questions. Actually, on this on slide number one first. Um just want to come back to really level set expectations on the investigation piece. I definitely agree, and I think a lot of us agree that it's very important that the public and community understand the likelihood of investigations. Um I know, you know, we've seen other cities that have faced surges in ICE activity, uh specifically in Minneapolis. Is there anything you can share, or anybody on staff can share on like what traction we saw around investigations there, um as far as cooperation from uh the federal agencies? Mayor, members of the council, Councilmember Hernandez. Yes, thank you for that question. Um we did see in Minneapolis that they experienced many difficulties in trying to investigate what was happening in their city. Um even things that were pretty obvious criminal violations of their state and local laws were very difficult for them to investigate. Um they were not given access to federal agents to interview, is my understanding, and there was also evidence that was removed from the scene um that made it very difficult for their police department to investigate those incidents, which is why we would anticipate similar things happening if there were in- incidents that happened in Phoenix, and our police department was investigating those as a crime, we would anticipate some resistance from um the entity involved or entities involved, as well as difficulty accessing evidence such as body worn camera or vehicles or other things that may have been involved in order to conduct a thorough investigation. Okay, thank you. Does that answer your question? Yes, that's answered me. I just want to make sure that the public really understands that we intend to investigate, collect all the data we can, and our police department investigate to the capacity they can, but that is contingent on uh participation and the goodwill of the federal agencies involved here. And I mean, if we saw what they did at Zips and pepper spraying protesters while they were driving on a truck on the side of the road, I don't expect full cooperation from this rogue agency. So, I but I really just want to level set with the public that that is our intention, um but the hur- the hurdle on the other side of that is the unwillingness from uh ICE and the DOJ to cooperate with those investigations. Um and then I know in the same I think we're on the same slide. Yes, on the information sharing with the Attorney General's office, also making sure that in addition to our portal, I believe the Attorney General has made a call to the public also for a portal through her office to collect any information around civil rights violations as well. Is that correct? Mayor members of the council Councilwoman Hernandez, that is correct and we are actually going to be linking to her portal as well on our resource page and essentially what we will be doing is sharing any information that we collect to be added to the Attorney General's portal. Okay, thank you so much for that. And then my next question is what is the timeline or do we know the timeline yet what to complete the in completing the annual inventory the signage plans and access control plans across our city departments. Mayor members of the council Councilwoman Hernandez, we are still figuring out the finer details of that but we do anticipate that our high priority locations which are the ones that we think are the most likely to be accessed the most public locations will be able to be completed in about 3 months. Okay, thank you so much. And how will these departments ensure that there's consistency in signage and enforcement across the different properties? Is that going to be part of the plan that we built? Mayor members of the council Councilwoman Hernandez, the signage will be consistent. We will be letting each department know exactly what language needs to be included on the signage. We're also working closely with our street transportation department which has the sign shop to get the signs fabricated. So there will be there will definitely be consistency with the language on the signs and then we are as I mentioned training all city staff on protocols so that we will have consistent protocols across the city if an incident should occur and how to document that incident. >> Okay, thank you. I think it's going to be really important for those locations to be aware of the translation services on our webpage that can translate to 100 and I think you said 120 languages. I know that there's a number of languages that are spoken in the city of Phoenix. So I think that's a great resource for these locations to make sure they they are aware our staff is aware that that's going to be there for that specific community. So thank you for that. What should staff do if they observe unauthorized use of city property for civil enforcement? Mayor members of the council Councilwoman Hernandez, our direction to staff will be to one document what is occurring. We do not want staff to interfere with something that is happening. So if there is federal law enforcement activity that is unauthorized that happens on city property, we are not asking staff to interfere with that but we are asking staff to document details about what is occurring and then to also make notification to their supervisor and and make sure that that goes up the chain of command and that you know that'll be each person's job to notify all the way up to the city manager's office and the city attorney's office. Okay, thank you so much Lori. How and maybe I think this is going to be a question for Ed. How quickly can the city manager or the designate designee approve or deny a request these type of requests especially in time sensitive situations? Mayor members of the council Councilwoman Hernandez, I can answer that. So most of these requests will be law enforcement to law enforcement requests. So we anticipate the Phoenix Police Department being the initial contact for and that's what's outlined in our administrative regulation but that's also just what naturally occurs when there is a law enforcement entity in the city of Phoenix that wants to use one of our facilities. They will contact Phoenix PD either through our dispatch or through the you know department headquarters itself. When that contact is received, that will be routed immediately to the chief's office. There is a contact in the chief's office who is designated as Executive Assistant Chief Ordner who will be the the primary contact and if he's not available then Chief Giordano himself will receive those those requests. He will immediately reach out to myself and City Manager Zercher. We will we will be in immediate contact to determine whether or not that request should be approved. So it'll be very quick. >> Okay, thank you. I just want to make sure that we are all aware of how quickly we're going to be able to move on these requests. And then I think I might have already touched on this one but got a little bit ahead of myself on the language piece. How would how will the city ensure consistent interpretation across departments especially for our frontline staff? Mayor members of the council Councilwoman Hernandez, you know that is always a constant challenge in an organization of our size but we are going to be doing a few things. So we're actually going to be having a special edition of our Phoenix Connect which is our employee newsletter. I believe it will go out tomorrow that will outline all of these things and the expectations, the information on the training as well as how to take that training and when to take that training and then we will be working through our department heads through the regular channels that their departments use to communicate to staff whether that's through department staff meetings or through supervisor meetings and make sure that everyone has the information and we're going to have to reiterate it over time. You know this is something that you know we will do an initial push but over time we're going to have to remind staff don't forget about how to handle these situations and there may also be things that change or that come up that we need to maybe revise what our direction is and we need to push something new out to staff or something new is occurring that we weren't expecting. So we will definitely make sure that we're doing those things and so staff are up to date on what the expectations are and have the information that they need and ultimately when in doubt staff can always contact their supervisor and their supervisor can always elevate it up through their chain to make sure that they have the most up-to-date information. Okay, thank you for that and I I would agree with you I think we got to be nimble in how we move forward as things shift you know from under this federal administration I think we got to be in the same position. And then just my last question, how will compliance with these protocols be monitored or audited over time? Mayor members of the council Councilwoman Hernandez, you know I think um partially that will just be following you know following the training to make sure everybody's trained. Is that what you're talking about the the staff piece of this? Making sure that everybody completes the training would be the first component. Secondarily we want to make sure that you know if departments are having questions come up that those are getting answered and we're getting those answers pushed out to staff. Also doing those reminders as I mentioned through the newsletter or other channels and then ultimately you know if there is a specific incident you know where an employee is just not following our policy then we would need to address that individually with that employee or with that employee group. But um by and large you know it's just going to be about making sure that our employees are educated and have the information that they need to follow the administrative regulation as written. Okay, thank you so much Lori. Thank you Mayor that's all my questions. Thank you. Are we ready for Councilwoman Does anyone Okay. All right, and many of my my colleagues have a lot to say on this topic but we want to hear from the public. We may let's begin with a virtual public comment with Annette Musa and the Hispanic Chamber. The Hispanic Chamber has been doing a lot of know your rights work for our businesses and we've heard from the businesses that's something that's they need more of and that is really really valuable. So Annette, the floor is yours. Thank you. Mayor, my name is Annette Musa and I'm attending today on behalf of the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce to express our support of the transparency initiative. Government overreach seldom happens in a single action. It is a series of escalating actions intended to intimidate individuals, communities and businesses. We have seen the impact of such actions in other large cities. It was a warning we cannot afford to ignore. As members of the business community and the Phoenix community at large, we embrace rational responses to the issues and threats of the day. This initiative is a promising approach to addressing and mitigating escalation of actions and practices that threaten our city's well-being. On behalf of the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce thank you to Mayor Gallego council and Phoenix PD for working to stay ahead of of escalation should it come closer to our front doors. We look forward to regular reports on this work as well as how the business community can contribute to a safe and prosperous Phoenix. Thank you to your for your time for this discussion. Thank you so much and and thank you for the work you have done to support our small businesses who've been so impacted. We'll do Liliana Santoyo Proxima and then Melanie Reyes. Señora Liliana Santoya, usted sigue. Adelante. All right, we may come back to Liliana, but Melanie. And Melanie will be followed by Jamie Fluscher. Thank you. Good afternoon, Mayor Gallego, Vice Mayor Hodge-Washington and Council. I'm Melanie Reyes with the International Rescue Committee and I'm here today in support of the Community Transparency Initiative. We want to thank the city for meaningfully engaging refugee stakeholders and for incorporating many of the issues we raised in this framework. We commend Mayor Gallego for convening a refugee round table with resettlement partners and for elevating refugee workforce contributions at the Aviation Business Summit. We are also grateful to Vice Mayor Hodge-Washington, Council members Pastor, Hernandez, Guardado, and the City Manager's office for your continued partnership and responsiveness. Together, your leadership has created a space for collaboration at a time when it is deeply needed. >> [clears throat] >> As the city continues to develop this initiative, we want to underscore the challenges refugee families are facing right now. Since 1994, organizations like the IRC have partnered across Arizona to welcome refugees, individuals who have fled life-threatening persecution, and are lawfully admitted to the United States after extensive vetting. They are authorized to work immediately and over time become permanent residents and citizens, contributing significantly to our economy and our communities. But today, many refugee families are living with fear and [clears throat] instability due to recent unprecedented federal policy changes. We are seeing cuts to SNAP and Medicaid impacting families without green cards, including children, and increased risks of detention and deportation for those navigating their legal path to permanent status. Without targeted investment in legal services, community education, and basic needs, many families will remain at risk or to make high-stakes decisions between food, rent, and the legal and employment supports essential to their future. We thank the city for its continued engagement and urge the inclusion of refugees in ongoing planning and implementation. Thank you. Thank you. Jamie is next. Followed by Francisca. Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council members, thank you. My name is Jamie Fluscher and I'm with the International Rescue Committee and I'm speaking in alignment with the other speaker from the IRC. I want to focus on what refugees are experiencing day-to-day and what it takes for them to actually access support and remain stable. We're seeing an increased need for basic support. Food, housing assistance, employment services, health care, and mental health support as families navigate all these uncertainties. Employment remains key to stability, but many families need additional support connecting to jobs and working with employers who clearly understand their circumstances, their status, and their unrestricted authorization to work. For an example, an elderly client called me yesterday. She asked what she's going to do about food because she no longer qualifies for SNAP. She also informed me that each family member in her four-person family was charged $900 for a green card application. So, she's unable to afford food, but also unable to afford the change of status application that would make her eligible again for SNAP. The family is representative of many of our families. They cannot afford to access legal services, yet their survival now depends on them doing so. Community education is critical. Right now, food and confusion are major barriers. Families don't know what policies apply to them, whether or not it's safe to ask for services, or how changes to the federal programs affect their eligibility for the programs. This means that even when families do qualify, they often do not seek service the services they need for fear of the consequences of participating. Families need clear, accurate information in languages they understand about their rights, available resources, and how to safely navigate the systems. So, then they are empowered to make the informed decisions for their own families. Community education cannot stop with the families. It must also reach stakeholders who serve refugees, including government agencies, faith-based organizations, and social service providers who often lack the up-to-date guidance on rapidly evolving policies and need the support to serve the communities effectively. Unfortunately, we are seeing a declining capacity among these refugee serving organizations at the very moment the community needs are increasing. Thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you. Francisca is next followed by Vanessa Martinez. Good afternoon, Mayor Gallego. Thank you to all of you to giving me the opportunity to talk about the people that I serve. My name is Francisca Gill. I am the Community Integration Program Manager at LSS. So, I see uh we I have helped resettle we have helped resettle many refugees. 60% of the refugees that have been uh coming to Phoenix have been resettled in Maricopa County. So, it affects our our city tremendously. We are extremely worried. We have uh we're very concerned. These are very vulnerable people, people that have fled um persecution and conflict under other home countries and they have been invited to resettle in this in the country. They have gone through extensive vetting overseas before being lawfully admitted to the country and the most regular rigorous security vetting for immigrants and any other travelers to the US. And for decades, the refugee families in Arizona have been a significant contribute to the social, cultural, and economic fabric of our communities. And I really want to speak from my heart. I wrote this uh uh memo to you guys and as I was coming to talk to you, I was talking to one of our experts at the in the office about employment. And um the people a group of refugees had um eight job interviews yesterday at the airport and they were not able to go to the airport because they were afraid. They were afraid and we need to understand these people are working very hard to start a new life in the country and it is so unfair that they are afraid to be in the community and continue with their lives. I will really ask all of you for your support and help them to stabilize and to really fulfill our promises to them of a new life. Thank you. Uh Francisca, quick question. The city operates the airport and the refugee community has been very important to its success. These are folks who have legal ability to work. Is there anything you'd like to see us do to communicate that We can we can talk afterwards maybe because of the we I would like to keep the privacy and the confidentiality and I want to keep them safe. But uh that's the my main focus right now and uh I really appreciate your follow-up question and uh we're working on it to keep them safe. Thanks. Thank you. Va- uh Vanessa is next followed by uh Shade. Good afternoon, Council. My name's Vanessa Martinez and I am a worker at ASU Downtown. I'm a constituent of District 4. I work as a cook and I'm a member of UNITE HERE Local 11. I can say that right now we are living in scary times. I remember there was a time before as well where I saw these same fear tactics being used. I am a child of immigrants. I would often fear that I would come home from school and I would find nobody at home, that my parents would have been deported. I said goodbye to a lot of my friends and a lot of my family during Sheriff Arpaio's ex-Sheriff Joe Arpaio's term. This is a fear that I don't wish upon anyone else in Arizona or in any part of the world. Right now, today, we are seeing ICE agents shooting people at random. They are not [clears throat] checking our statuses. They are violating our civil rights. This [clears throat] initiative would track the real impact of immigration enforcement on our communities and make sure city workers are trained to respond appropriately. That would give families more confidence to go out into public spaces. Right now, you have the opportunity to give families like mine peace of mind. Right now, you have been given the opportunity to join other cities in protecting its people. I urge you to adopt the Community Transparency Initiative and protect people on city property. Thank you. Thank you. Shade is next followed by Medibel Carillo. Good afternoon, mayor and council member. Thank you for your leadership here in Phoenix. I like to briefly highlight the contribution refugee are making and what is needed to sustain that success. Refugee came to Phoenix with resilience and strong desire to work. With consistency we consistently seen them enter the working force quickly, filling critical roles in health care, support hospitality hospitality manufacturing, and other essential factor facing labor shortage. One powerful reality is this, within a few years many refugee become self-sufficient taxpayer. They contribute They contributing more to the economic than the initial support that they receive. They also strengthen our community. They start small business, they support local economics, and they raise family whose children are succeeding in school and become part of Phoenix and future working force. However, these successes depend on stability. And right now their stability is under pressure. Some of them they cannot even work right now because they are scared. They don't have SNAP benefit right now and that create immediate food insecurity for them. It make it harder for family to focus on employment. They have to choose between rent or food right now. When these three area of food, health care, and housing are unstable, it lower the workforce entry for them. It increase the stress on family and delay long time for self-sufficiency. If you want refugee to continue contributing to high level, we must protect this foundational support because their family When their family are stable, they work, they contribute, and help driving the Phoenix um growth. Refugee they are not burden. They are an investment and with the right policy in place, their successes will continue to strengthen this city. With the right support, refugee family don't just survive. They help Phoenix to thrive. Thank you. May I may I ask a question? May I ask a question? Yeah. Do you mind a question, Shanae? Just one quick question. Thank you so much. Um what I heard you say like with the right support, what is the type of support that these refugee refugee families um need in this moment? At this moment um they have um housing issue because of uh lack of employment, they are unable to pay their rent. They have been evicted from the house. And now we are trying um all my colleagues they can testify to that. We are trying our possible best now to make sure that they are staying in their house and to provide food for them because most of them they don't have SNAP no more and they need food for their family. Imagine a family of seven. There's There's no SNAP. The The work that they are doing they are scared to go to work. And now they are looking for food to survive. Thank you so much. [clears throat] Thank you. Thank you. Maribel is next followed by Janae Vandercook. Good evening. Thank you, Mayor Gallego, for this opportunity. My name is Maribel Carrillo and I am from the District 5. Um I want to talk about my experience with immigration. I have three uh petitions in immigration and thanks to one of them I have a work permit. But uh one of them I've been waiting for 25 years next month and I'm still waiting. And people like me there are too many. Thanks God I have a work permit. I can drive, I can do a lot of But there is something really important. The immigrant community, which is a multicultural and multinational community, has been attacked by the federal federal government, has been used as a political tool since it is one of the Donald Trump most popular initiatives. We are being used as a distraction for all the negative activities he's carrying out. Our communities are living in constant uncertainty and anxiety when the truth is that the immigration system is broke. People like me, we are too many. And looks like uh we don't have any right. We can get the pain for the immigration. We need to know like we can contact we have we have the tools to defend ourselves. Because right now there is too much too much pain and not only the Hispanic community, all the communities, people from all over the world. And we need something something to go and ask for help. I know the government needs to detain the bad people. They There is a lot of good people and bad people. We agree on that. But we need to go somewhere and ask for protection, for help. Thank you so much. Thank you. Janae is next followed by Nera. Thank you, Mayor and council members. Uh my name is Janae Vandercook and I'm a ticket agent at Sky Harbor International Airport. I want to thank Councilwoman Betty Guardado for inviting me to speak in support of the Community Transparency Initiative. Airport service workers are the heart and soul of our airport and city. They are our neighbors and our friends. Many of my co- fellow co-workers at the airport are immigrants. They come from countries all over the world seeking the American dream and a better life for their children. >> [clears throat] >> Airport service workers keep the airport, the airplanes clean and working and safe. We pull in the airplanes to the gates and assist in the push backs along with many other things. Airport service workers work long hours for low pay to keep our airport running smoothly. Airport service workers should feel safe when they are at work. They should feel safe when they are at home. They should feel safe when they are out in the community. ICE agents are terrorizing immigrants and American citizens. When I turn on the news and see what is happening in Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and cities across the country, I don't recognize America anymore. This is not the America that I love. The deaths of Paul Pierrelouis and Renee Nicole Good should be a wake up call to everyone. ICE is out of control. And now ICE is in our airports and I'm afraid. I'm afraid they're going to become a permanent fixture. The city council must take action to prevent chaos, cruelty, and violence we are seeing in other places of our city as well as provide support and resources to anyone who is unlawfully targeted and detained so they don't disappear and get lost in some detention center or foreign country they have never been into into. Everyone should feel safe no matter the color of skin or where you are from. Thank you. Thank you. Nera is next followed by Susan Estep. Good afternoon, mayor and council members. My name is Neda and I live in District 8 and I'm here today to express my strong support of the approval of the Community Transparency Initiative. I come before you not only as a concerned resident of Phoenix, but as a former refugee who was resettled right here in this city. My family and I did not choose to leave our home, but we were forced to flee due to persecution and our lives being threatened. When we arrived in Phoenix, the city welcomed us and allowed my family and I to rebuild our lives with dignity. In addition to being a former refugee and my professional career, I have worked for the past decade in the field of immigration policy and community organizing. Today I'm deeply concerned about the fear and uncertainty like many expressed that's spreading through our refugee and immigrant communities and I want to speak on behalf of what we are seeing. They are facing real and harmful [clears throat] impacts as a result of recent federal immigration actions. First, we had the suspension of the US refugee admissions program, which has completely halted pathways for those seeking safety. Second, the re-vetting of previously resettled refugees that came under the Biden administration, particularly Operation Paris, which has created fear for individuals who have already been thoroughly and extensively vetted. USCIS has also paused the processing of green cards for refugees leaving many in prolonged legal limbo. Additionally, refugees have not yet who have not yet adjusted to lawful permanent resident status are now at risk of detention and deportation. These policies are not abstract. They are affecting real people. These are individuals who have already lived through war, displacement, persecution, and violence and seen the worst of humanity. We need lawful, compassionate, community-centered response. This is why we're asking you to support the Community Transparency Initiative. Phoenix has been a long welcoming city and I urge you to uphold that legacy. Thank you. Thank you. Susan is next followed by Devon. Good afternoon, Mayor City Council. I'm sorry I do have a cold. Um my name is Susan Alexis and I'm a resident of the Phoenix resident of Phoenix living in the Maryvale area. I'm here today to speak out the about the importance of maintaining trust between our communities and the city of Phoenix. In neighborhoods like Maryvale, many families are already living with a deep fear of interacting with law enforcement and city officials regardless of immigration status. We know that when people are afraid to request any type of service, they are far less likely to submit service requests, report failures, or use services their tax dollars support. And when this happens, public safety doesn't improve, it breaks down. That fear creates a dangerous gap. It makes entire communities more vulnerable, not less, to crime, exploitation, and victimization. When people feel they cannot seek help, those who would do harm know it and exploit this fear. So when there is even the appearance that local officials are supporting or collaborating with federal enforcement, it can push these communities further into the shadow. It doesn't just affect those directly impacted, rather it affects entire neighborhoods regardless of immigration status. I want to acknowledge the work that Councilwoman Guardado from District 5 and her team has done for our community. Her office and team have worked tirelessly in the area to reframe the stigma around contacting the city of Phoenix on various matters and promoting all of the resources that the community has access to. It is critical to think about how policies and perceptions shape whether people feel safe enough to ask for help. By taking a stand that the city of Phoenix is here to serve the community, it allows for shaping of perspectives to have faith in the city. I urge the council to consider how any policy or action that appears to align with federal enforcement may unintentionally undermine the very safety that we are trying to achieve. Because a city is safest not when people are afraid, but when they feel seen, protected, and able to call for help. Thank you. Thank you. Devon is next followed by Jeremy Helgot. I would like to thank the Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council for inviting me today too. My name is Devon Robinson. I am a practicing immigration attorney. I also represent Arizona immigrant and refugee services. Yesterday was the first time I ever stepped foot in this council office, but this is fantastic. I I truly hope that we can find a way to help refugees. I've been serving refugees for since 2005. It's my appointment of working with Arizona refugee and resettlement that we have a mission is to help as many refugees as possible. And we implore you to please give funding cuz we truly need it. I went back and checked some statistics on my own as a private firm, small. I've helped 236 refugees file for adjustment of status. My objective is to help them in any way possible. We're asking you and I had a chance to look at some of the things that is needed. Funding. For example, we need education, immigration services paid for. And when I say education, I think there's two pillars to education. One, we need to educate ADOT, social security, all the agencies that refugees deal with on a day-to-day basis. But we also need to educate employers, landlords. We need to employ them to understand what the policies and procedures are. And if we have the proper funding, I believe with the refugee agencies in a coordinated effort, we can put out the things that are needed for them to see the policies that govern refugees. Thank you. Thank you. Jeremy is next followed by Diane Post. Good afternoon, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council. Thank you very much for having this critical item on the agenda today. My name is Jeremy Helgot. I am a former member of the city's Human Relations Commission, a member of the Community and Police Trust Initiative Task Force, and I am here today to applaud the efforts that we are seeing on this matter to date, and to underline the importance that these discussions must continue and must include the broadest possible community engagement. Two reasons for that. One, obviously the city needs to continue to hear from folks who are out in the community experiencing the challenges we're seeing in these unprecedented times, and two, members of the community need to continue to know and feel that their voices are being heard. The usual channels, the outlets for grievances on these matters, no longer exist. There isn't a a civil rights uh resource at the Arizona US Attorney's office anymore, let alone at main justice. Things that used to be addressed with a phone call no longer are. While I'm here, I do want to take a second to all of you to please ask you to join me in thanking and commending the work of city staff on this. Lori Bays and Zach Walls, uh Chief Jerdano, Chief Forrender, the executive staff at the fire department, and members of the city attorney's staff have been incredibly engaged and taking the time and putting in the effort on this. I wholeheartedly encourage all of you to support the measure today, to pass the administrative uh uh regulation that is on the table, and to continue this conversation unabated as we move forward. We have difficult, unprecedented challenges to face, but I respect that we are working through them, not turning a blind eye, and look forward to continuing this effort together. Thank you very much. If there are any questions, I'm happy to take them. Thank you. Thank you. Diane is next followed by Alex. Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. My name is Diane Post. I'm an attorney and I'm a resident for 46 years. This is a very good policy to start with, but it is not enough. One of the problems is that the Chief of Police can recommend to authorize it and the city manager can authorize it. Neither one of those people are elected, and there are some sectors of the community that don't trust either one of them. Another area, Section 6 says that they it will approve the uses for enforcement of criminal law and not restricting enforcement of federal immigration law. That's sort of opening the barn door to let the horse out. I know that under Arizona law you cannot restrict or obstruct the federal immigration. However, you do not have to help. Uh this morning there was a story on NPR about the costs of ICE deployment, and I think you should have a look at that. It talks about not only police overtime, but also responding to the anti-ICE protest, the impact on other areas of policing including the loss of police officers who experience PTSD from all of this, and none of that includes the cost of lawsuits cuz those haven't started to come in yet. But in answer to the Councilwoman Hernandez's question, yesterday Minnesota sued ICE because they would not assist or they would not work at all with them in the investigation of the Preddy and Good murders and other violence that was done by ICE. So they're not going to cooperate with you and you're going to have to sue them. Chief O'Hara of Minneapolis said that the problem was not the immigration enforcement per se, but the unsafe and questionable methods of the ICE agents. And St. Paul Chief of Police said, "The line between physically intervening with ICE to keep protesters safe, but yet not intervening or not interfering with immigration, it's impossible. You can't do it. The only way is not to do it at all." There is at this time hundreds of lawsuits against the federal government. There's 15 against ICE specifically. We know that they will break the law. We know that they will do that. So this is not a legitimate law enforcement agency. These are the brown shirts of the administration, and we should not cooperate or collude with these people at all. Thank you. Alex is next followed by Enyayatula Amani. Thank you. Uh good evening good afternoon, everybody. My name is I'm called Alex Duro. I'm from Phoenix, Arizona. And thank you Mayor Cat, Councilwoman Betty Guardado, the council members for the opportunity to speak here today. I believe everyone, no matter where you're from, or the color of your skin, should feel free to go to work, buy groceries, and pick up their children from school without the fear of getting harassed by the immigration officers. And that's why I'm here today to support in support of the Community Transparency Initiative. I came from I came to America as a refugee from Democratic Republic of Congo. I was 3 years old when my parents were killed during the war in Democratic Republic of Congo. My life in America is better now. I work hard and most immigrants here in Arizona, we are contributing to the economic of this great nation. I love America because I feel free and feel safe, free to live my life in peace, free to walk walk in the street, free to go to work and support my family. But I fear that if I escaped to my community I will no longer be I will no I will no longer I will no longer feel free or safe. I fear that I will become a target because the way I look and my accent. I left my country, Democratic Republic of Congo, because my parents were killed. I escaped to Phoenix will feel I will feel like a target again. It will be a disaster for me and my everyone else in my community. I watch the news and see how ICE destroying communities and causing a lot of harms instead of goods. ICE says that they are going after bad people, but they are not. I've seen the news how ICE using violence to separate parents from their children outside of the schools, churches, and homes. And that's not the America that I know since when I was young in Africa. Thank you for that very important testimony. And please I'm asking to I'm I'm asking you for protection and not allow ICE to come to our communities to harm our our host communities as immigrants. Thank you. Thank you. And uh with Enayatullah, Ezra will come up to provide interpretation. Good afternoon. Uh my name is Ezra Sabir. I am an organizer uh for UNITE HERE Local 11. Behind me are hotel worker our union represent. They also signed up to speak uh and have uh I'm speaking on behalf of all of us. We all worked with the US armed forces in Afghanistan for many years. We are one of many Afghans refugee that came to this country uh hoping to have a freedom we helped fight for. Today, we worry that uh if we leave if we leave um our house that uh we will be detained and deported by ICE. We have seen what ICE has done to other communities across this country. They bring violence, death, and to uh the communities. They go to They go to uh On Monday, our union sent a letter to all of our employers uh stating that they uh the presence of ICE in our workplace create unsafe uh working environment. We are scared that we sent back that we will uh be killed for for our work with the US armed armed service uh US armed US armed forces. We have put our life on the line for this country. So, the union the union is doing what they can to protect uh its members. Help people feel safe going to work. We are asking city to do their part. Please vote yes on this item and stop ICE from entering city properties. So, families like ours can live in peace. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for your service and support for our military. I had also uh Did we have any other speakers in Dari? Or did you That's That's okay. So, that is on behalf of uh I apologize for my pronunciation, Enayatullah and Habibi Hokah Hak. And I I apologize, but thank you. So, that that the three of them support the comments made there. Um Let's see. We'll go next to Jose Hernandez. And then Darren Jezek. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Um my name is Jose Hernandez. I'm a resident of D8 and the son of immigrants, Mexican immigrants, who actually came here in the late '70s and established their citizenship. Um so, this touches close to home growing up in the '80s with INS and the fear that we lived through. Um first though, I want to I'm here in support of the initiative, but I want to thank Councilwoman Pastor Hernandez and Hodge Washington for holding a listening session and embracing community feedback. Uh and also Councilwoman Stark for staying here during the work session to listen to to the community. Now, the CTI, it's only a small step, uh but by adding a measure to restrict use of of city property for staging ICE, it's a barrier that's going to help slow the well-documented violence dealt by DHS. It's important to highlight this violence and and we have to give context to it. Um since Trump's regime took over, four people have been murdered by CBP and ICE. Now, there's been been more shot, but those that were murdered were American citizens. And and I say that specifically for those that only value human life based on citizenship status. And and on top of that violence, we've seen reports of malnutrition, uh refusal for medical attention in detention facilities. Detention equals death now. In Trump's first term, 52 people died in detention during those four years. In the following four years under Biden, 26 died. That's still way too many. But now in the in the 15 months since Trump's regime took over, there have been 46 people that have died in detention and and many of these were needless deaths, including homicide. So, it's important to talk about the violence and and putting these barriers on what ICE is doing in our communities. Now, some of us may disagree on policy, but we what we shouldn't disagree on is reprehensible violence that's committed by a rogue agency. And I challenge every public servant here to take your oath seriously and protect the community. And we won't We've already seen that this regime only push only pulls back when local officials and the community stands together. So, we urge you to pass the CTI. Thank you. Darren is next. E Raul Cordero proxima. I hope you're all doing well. There's a lady in the harbor of New York City. She stands 305 ft and 1 in tall. She symbolizes freedom, democracy, justice, and friendship, international friendship. It stands for hope at a better life. At the base of this statue is a plaque that states, "Give me Oh, keep losing it. Keep that states, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free." And the wretched masses from their teeming shores. This statue is a beacon of welcome for immigrants and refugees. Our country was built on the backs of immigrants and slaves, and none of us would be here without them. To condemn them and terrorize them goes against everything our country stands for and destroys our country's foundation. To defend ICE or this administration is to stand for the destruction of our country, and we are not going to stand for it. City Council should vote to pass the CTI. We appreciate how city staff engaged the community in this process, but we know that more must be done. Thank you. Good afternoon. And then Rafa Avalos. My name is Raul Cordero. I'm a member of UNITE HERE in uh Local 11. I work at the Sky Chefs. I live in District 6 and I'm here to speak about item 41. Right now, we are seeing that ICE is present at Sky Harbor Airport, which as workers and passengers creates a lack of trust among people when going to pick up their relatives or going to work there. Now, more than ever we need relief, and this law does that. This item goes a long way toward protecting our communities. Right now, many people are afraid. For instance, if this initiative passes, more families will able to take their children to library or city parks without fear or being confronted by ICE. I ask you to vote yes on item 41. Thank you. Uh Rafael is next and then E Lupita Galvez proxima. Good afternoon, Mayor and and uh council members. My name is Rafael Aviles. I um was born here in the US, but my uh parents, you know, came from a different country, suffered through, you know, a lot of long times, being alone in this new place, not knowing what to do, not having resources, not having family. Um in this current time, um unfortunately, federal government is nothing to depend on. So, I come here asking you guys because I feel like in this community of Phoenix, you guys are our hope, and I know that you guys could do something to defend us immigrant families and the immigrant community, which, I mean, and like we've all said it, um Phoenix and, you know, all of US is made up of immigrants. So, to uh to to put us aside like like nothing and and let ICE treat us like like we're we're just like irrelevant beings, it's it's it's unacceptable. Um like I said, federally, I have no faith, but in you guys I do. Um so, I I I I'm firm and I have faith that uh you guys will um vote for the CTI. Um and um you know, we we want our families to to be strengthened through having good information and through um just knowing knowing what to do. You know, you know, right now there's darkness. Um illuminate the light for us and [snorts] uh let us let us see the path to the the pursuit of happiness, you know, that was said earlier [clears throat] and from the founding fathers. So, thank you guys and um let's keep fighting. Thank you. Lupita is next, followed by Leonard Sigue Lupita. Good afternoon, everybody. Uh can I do traductor please? Thank you. Mi nombre es Lupita Galavis. Soy empresaria y soy miembro del Village Planning Committee. Yo estoy aquí esta tarde para expresar mi acuerdo. En donde la policía de Phoenix trabaje en conjunto con ICE. Estoy aquí para apoyar a todas las familias hispanas que hoy viven con miedo. Para decirle a usted, respetable alcaldesa y honorables miembros concejales, que aprueben la iniciativa de transparencia comunitaria, ya que de lo contrario, nuestras comunidades inmigrantes se verán más afectadas. Así como los pequeños negocios que además están a un paso de desaparecer, sobre todo los de dueños de inmigrantes. Ya que sus consumidores son inmigrantes también y están viviendo con mucho miedo en las calles. Hemos visto hace dos días a ICE en el aeropuerto, lo que ha causado mucho más miedo a la a nuestra comunidad. Y más aún a la población hispana y a todos los que como yo, este, hablamos español. Tenemos que hablar por ellos y por eso es importante eh estar aquí para poder tener una voz y poderlos defender. Les pido, por favor, que esta tarde resuelvan a favor de todos aquellos inmigrantes que vinieron a este país con un solo sueño de mejorar, de mejorar nuestras comunidades y de apoyar a a todos aquellos que hoy trabajan y no nada más de Yo vine aquí hace 24 años, no nada más de los que vinimos de los que están a punto que están llegando y están creciendo. Por favor, apóyenos. Gracias. Gracias, Lupita. And Leonard, let's do our translation first. My name is Lupita Galavis. I'm a businesswoman and I'm a member of Village Planning Committee. I'm here this afternoon to express my disagreement where Phoenix police work in conjunction with ICE. I'm here to support all Hispanic families who live in fear today. To tell you, respect- respectful mayor and honorable honorable council members, that you approve the community transparency transparency initiative because otherwise our immigrant communities will be further affected, as well as small businesses that are already on the verge of disappearing, especially those owned by immigrants. Since their customers are also immigrants and are living in great fear on the streets. We saw ICE at the airport two days ago, something that's caused us much more fear in our community. And even more so to the Hispanic population and to all of us who, like me, speak Spanish. We have to We have to speak for them and that's why it's important to be here, to have a voice and to be able to defend them. I ask you to please decide this afternoon in favor in favor of all those immigrants who came to this country with a single dream, improving improving our communities and of supporting all those who work today, and not those who came here 24 years ago, not just those of us who came, but those of us about to uh arrive the ones that are arriving and we keep growing. Thank you very much and we appreciate your support. Thank you. Leonard is next, followed by Michelle Cain. Thank you, Mayor and council members. I don't live in Phoenix right now. I was born right down the street in Phoenix, but as an Iraq veteran, I want to thank those gentlemen who were just here that assist uh assisted my fellow soldiers in helping save lives. Unfortunately now, we're having to do this because we have certain individuals who believe in the Constitution of Nietzsche and not the Constitution of the United States. So, at first, you know, I put neutral on this because I thought this is not going far enough, but many of my brothers and sisters who stand up for human rights, beautiful people, they're saying, "Look, at least they can't stage in the parking lots." But I want this to go a lot farther because the people we are dealing with are people that do not believe in the Constitution of the United States. They believe in the Constitution of Nietzsche. Not helping your fellow man, not standing up for rights, but oh, either kill or be killed. So, that's what the question is here. It is a moral question. And I want all the little children out there in Phoenix that watch this. Your public officials will show whether they stand for the United States Constitution that any little child, whether they're white, black, brown, red, whatever they are, what ethnicity, should not be ripped away from their parents against being uh violated with the law. So, I'm all for this, but unfortunately, and this is germane, when you have the other group of people that don't follow the Constitution, people that are here legally are being kidnapped and rendered, then I I don't know what to say, but I'm not going to give up on our Constitution. So, I'll finish with this. I I'm for this, but we need a lot more to go and again, please follow the Constitution of the United States because those who back ICE believe the Constitution of Nietzsche. That's the question here. Thank you. Michelle is next, followed by Hello, Mayor and council. My name is Michelle Cain and I live in District 3. I'm an organizer with Unite Here Local 11 and I work at Hilton Phoenix at the Peak. Every day my co-workers help make the city's tourism run. We welcome guests from all over the world, make them feel safe and comfortable during their stay, but many of my co-workers live in fear. We have seen what ICE has done to other communities across the country. The violence, death, and fear they cause in the communities they go to is real. This is why our union sent out a letter to all of our employers stating that the presence of ICE in our workplaces creates an unsafe environment. We will not work in these unsafe conditions. This This initiative is an important step in bringing transparency and accountability by ensuring that public spaces, including the places where we work, are safe for everyone. It sends a message that our city stands with workers and our community. I am asking that you stand with workers and families like mine. Please vote yes on the community transparency initiative. Thank you for your time. Bailon followed by Justin Capaz. D A G O, I may have said it wrong. Okay. All right, then Justin is next. Followed by Ryan Cutter. Is Justin here? C A P A Z? Great. Are you Ryan? Wonderful, then come on down. >> [laughter] >> Okay. Good afternoon, Council. My name is Justin Capaz. I am a white Latino of Cuban descent. And on September 11th of 2025, I got sober. In the anniversary of the world's aftermath, I began walking through my own. I have been stepping out of a largely solitary life and finding my footing alongside my neighbors. When I was 5 years old, my parents brought me with them to a trailer in the rural South to deliver Thanksgiving groceries to a migrant family. I grew up in a Filipino Catholic church where my family was the only white one in the pews. I know what an integrated protective community looks like. But over the last 25 years, I have watched an authoritarian drift replace that community with a theater of war. Before 2001, Immigration and Naturalization Service. Then came the Patriot Act. Now we have Homeland Security, Customs Enforcement and Removal. These are not administrative Uh so, uh Justin, if you could pause and come up, we will uh like to hear your comments, but are having audio visual. So, the the very patient Ryan will go next. If Justin is here, uh we'll hear Justin when he gets here and and then uh Cynthia Jimenez also in the queue. So, Ryan, while Justin comes up, if you could give us your update. Yeah. Uh Ryan Cutter, good afternoon. Uh first some uh I am here representing the Phoenix Metro Democratic Socialists of America uh as the co-chair of our Immigration Justice Committee. I'm also here as a constituent of District 8. Um I was here February 10th and for the two listening sessions and I'd like to express deep gratitude and and sincere gratitude to the city staff and the council members that uh took the time and and a lot of the respect to hear the community's concerns on these issues. Um that means a lot uh to the community uh to see a lot of the feedback that we provided get included in what was proposed. Um things like banning the staging um on city-owned property, uh expanding our know-your-rights resources, um and ensuring all staff are trained um on how to engage with ICE. Uh while we are thankful for all of that, we do recognize that there's still a lot that needs to be done. Uh and so, I think the most important part of the proposal that was put forth is that the these set of policies will be evolving. And I think some areas that uh need focus and this proposal, while I'm here to support it, it being passed does not remove the urgency behind these additional issues. And so, that's things like creating a deportation defense fund. Um that's things like ending the arrest-to-deportation pipeline. Uh these are critical. Uh additionally, I'd like to make a request to the city to uh in similar essence of the second listening session that was held, consider the people that are most affected, disproportionately affected uh by ICE, which I'll state is a violent, racist, terrorist organization. It's not a rogue agency. That's what it is. Consider the people that are most disproportionately affected by this organization when having opportunities for the community and to engage, because those people are not able to show up very often to a 2:30 meeting on a Wednesday, and their input is incredibly valuable and needs to be heard. Thank you. Welcome back, Justin. Hi. Good afternoon, Council. My name is Justin Capaz. I identify as a white Latino of Cuban descent. And on September 11th of 2025, I got sober. Um in the anniversary of the world's aftermath, I began walking through my own. Stepping out of a largely solitary life uh to find footing alongside my neighbors. When I was 5 years old, my parents brought me with them to a trailer in the rural South to deliver Thanksgiving groceries to a migrant family. I grew up in a Filipino Catholic church where my family was the only white one in the pews. I know what an integrated protective community looks like. But over the last 25 years, I've watched an authoritarian drift community with a theater of war. Before 2001, we had an Immigration and Naturalization Service. Then came the Patriot Act. Now we have Homeland Security, Customs Enforcement and Removal. These are not administrative titles. They're the language of an occupying force. Through programs like 287G, that force has actively sought to deputize our local law enforcement feeding an iron rule dragnet. The Community Transparency Initiative we are discussing today is a necessary start, but we must be clear about the role of the Phoenix Police Department. PPD already has the mandate, the power, and the jurisdiction to handle violent crime regardless of a sus- suspect's citizenship. We do not need them functioning as civil immigration enforcers. Advising residents, especially black and brown residents who already face disproportionate violence to call PPD when ICE is present is a dangerous contradiction. Finally, this city runs on a $2.1 billion budget. Dedicating $2 million to a deportation defense fund is less than 1/10 of 1% of your ledger. It is a rounding error to you. It is survival to the families being hunted in our streets. Pass this CTI, but fund the defense and sever the arrest-to-deportation pipeline. Thank you. Thank you for your patience. Cynthia, after Cynthia is Phoenix. Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. Uh my name is Cynthia Jimenez de Leon. I work for Host at the airport, Sky Harbor. I've been working there for 14 um 14 years. Uh in a few days, the Sky I mean, the ICE show up at the airport. My co-workers and I were uh concerned uh because we're scared. Um and we don't want it to be scared at work. Um We are being told that the ICE is there to support operations, but many of us, like I said, we brings concern and fear and uncertainty. Uh instead of being able to focus uh on work, uh we are worried about ICE is watching us. Uh whether uh our workplace We um we also worry if our workplace is safe. Uh I want to be able to come to work and also my work my co-workers. Uh that's why we we are here in support to this initiative. Uh so, it's a step forward in changing that. Uh For my co-workers and I, I urge you to pass the Community Transparency Initiative so workers can feel safe at work. Thank you. Thank you. Phoenix is next followed by Evelyn Castillo. Hi. My name is Phoenix. Uh I don't live in Phoenix, but I do teach in a Phoenix school, Title 1. Um we have a very high immigrant population, and already I personally Oh, wait. Sorry. First of all, I'd really like to thank the three council members who hosted that listening session. That was really, really impactful. I've never really gotten to get involved in this level of um you know, local government. Um I really appreciated that opportunity. Um but I personally watched I was like a little bit late to school. I was driving on the road, and I saw like there were seven unmarked vehicles with their lights on pulling over a yellow truck. Um I parked at my school, called my admin, said, "Hey, like ICE is detaining somebody right now. Let It's within sight of the school." So, not on campus, but less than well under half a mile. Turns out that was actually one of our parents who had just gone dropping off their kid to school. Um don't really know how that situation occurred as far as like if they followed him from his house, waited for him to drop off his kid, and then did that, or if, you know, seven cars happened to be there for a casual stop, but like I was there. I saw other kids walking to school seeing that. Um Uh uh a parent picked me up and we like literally drove around the neighborhood looking to see if they were staging anywhere else. Um I really really agree with what the previous speaker said. A deportation deportation defense fund would be essential to helping our communities who are the most vulnerable. Uh my district has done a really great job of figuring out how to rely on each other as a school district, but with like outside of the official school capacity, uh and how to communicate with each other. I would really appreciate more clarity on how schools, public schools are affected with this uh um initiative. And also I really want to say that the actions that we're seeing from ICE are racist. They are not coincidental. Like they are trained by the Israeli Defense Force. We saw a toddler be, um you know, abducted with his father and tortured in front of him to get a confession out of him. But I feel like seeing that it should not be very hard to see why officers are being allowed to act like they are on our streets. Thank you. >> Thank you. Evelyn is next. Followed by Sherry. Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. My name is Evelyn Castillo. I am the Phoenix Field Organizer with Organized Power in Numbers. I'm here today because [clears throat] our community is hurting and we need you to act with urgency and courage. Phoenix residents know the truth. ICE is a violent agency. We've seen our neighbors taken, our family separated, and our loved ones harmed, even killed in the streets or in custody. Harm to any community affects us all. But this is also personal. Growing up I lived with a constant fear that my family would be next. No child then, now, or ever should have to live with that fear. And I appreciate all the stories that we've heard so far today. That's why People Power has been so critical. Community members organized, showed up, and pushed for the Community Transparency Initiative policy. Because of that, it includes real meaningful protections. We appreciate the city staff who have engaged with the community throughout this process. Thank you for holding a community listening session, and to the council members that showed up and listened. There are important steps here. Banning ICE from staging on city property will disrupt their operations. Expanding know your rights resources to schools and businesses will help protect people themselves. Training city staff to distinguish between ICE administrative or orders and judicial warrants is essential. For these reasons, city council should pass the CTI. But let's be clear, this cannot be where we stop. Phoenix must do more. We're calling on the city to invest 2 million into $2 million into a deportation defense fund so families have legal support to family to fight their cases. Cities like Chicago, New York, and DC have already done this, and Phoenix must not fall behind. We also need Phoenix to disrupt the arrest deport the deportation pipeline. When people are arrested by Phoenix PD and taken to Fourth Avenue Jail, they are funneled directly into ICE custody. That is why we need to a mandate for sight and release policies. And we need a firm commitment. City staff must not voluntarily comply with ICE unless legally required. Pass CTI and don't stop there. Do everything in your power to protect our people now and for generations to come. Thank you. Thank you. Sherry is next followed by Emily Kirkland. Thank you, Mayor and council members. My name is Sherry Johnson. I'm a resident of District 6. And I came here today with hesitation about supporting this initiative, having only read the administrative regulation, which to me is a lot of words and a lot of buts. Um most notably all of the um words about what doesn't apply to it. Um and my biggest concern was that the city manager and Phoenix Police Chief are going to be the sole decision makers about who approves um whether or not ICE can utilize city facilities. As Diane so eloquently pointed out, um we don't have a lot of trust. So, um having Phoenix Police be the deciding factor as to whether or not somebody can participate in ICE activities on city property doesn't instill confidence in me. Um and also um the fact that there are, you know, all of these other restrictions about why it doesn't apply. Um we know that Phoenix Police has um recently said that they are not going to be holding the um staff member the police officers that were involved in the 2020 gang charges case accountable because they no longer work for the department. So, that just tells us that you don't have to work here anymore to avoid consequences. And so, we I feel like having PD be the responsible parties just doesn't give me confidence in the process at all. But I was relieved to see the presentation and that there's a a more comprehensive proposal at the table, not just the um uh regular administrative regulation. So, I'm glad to hear that this is a starting off point, not the final step as so many other speakers have pointed out. There's a lot of important work that needs to be done. Um and I appreciate you guys taking the time to start here um and for letting us learn about what the proposal is, and I'm in favor. Thank you. Emily is next followed by Spencer. Emily Kirkland, could you wave if you're She had to leave. Okay, thank you. Uh then uh Spencer is next followed by Andrea Luna Cervantes. Good evening. My name is Spencer Quitt with the Phoenix Metro Chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America and a long-term resident of District 4. I recently attended a public listening session on the proposed Community Transparency Initiative. I would like to thank the presiding council members for hearing our comments and for being willing to work with the public on establishing a higher level of security and scrutiny around ICE and their actions. I find that the willingness to keep ICE from staying on public property to be a significant step forward, and the training of state employees around these issues are much appreciated, as is the multilingual delivery uh of these [clears throat] resources. My chief concern is over the asymmetric power relations between us, the public, and ICE. It takes mere moments during a detainment for the lives and stability of a family to be irreparably disrupted, and by extension, a violence done upon the community as a whole. The degree to which we can hold ICE accountable for these disruptions is not balanced by the time it takes to go through the requisite legal processes. Various speakers within the current executive administration have made regular statements, both implicit and explicit, which show an unwillingness to obey proper legal standards. And it is clear that the that pardons and biased legal defense are potential options for the current administration as a means of escaping accountability. Given this reality, the CTI is an excellent step forward, but there must be much more done. I also would advocate for a $2 million legal defense fund for those who are subject to the detainment by ICE. This is especially necessary in light of the acknowledged power imbalance recognized in this meeting today. >> [clears throat] >> Further, I advanced uh separation and distinguishing between police locally and ICE. The greater the connection to them, the greater the culpability, and therefore the greater the weight of the moral crime that results. To cooperate with ICE is to be complicit, and the less cooperation we offer the better. The city of Phoenix surely has legal obligations which cannot be overcome by the initiative presented today, but I appreciate the transparency in this meeting today about those barriers. But to the extent that we are able, we as a community should not facilitate ICE in any capacity, ideally. I support the CTI, and I appreciate continued communication around this issue. Thank you for your time. Andrea is next followed by Lydia. Hello, Mayor and Council. My name is Andrea. I'm the Arizona Campaign Manager with Organized Power in Numbers, where we have been doing work around ensuring small businesses know their fourth and fifth amendment rights to ensure that they protect their employees as it pertains to ICE. We also have been fundraising for our Workers Defense Fund to ensure individuals impacted by ICE are receiving the assistance that they need. I am speaking in support of the Community Transparency Initiative. This moment calls for the city to stand by immigrant communities. And we have seen the results of ICE deploying throughout our cities. Deaths, detention, and violence, including against our children. We have seen the power of community throughout this process, and want to recognize that policy will always be more effective when the people most impacted and doing the day-in and day-out work to support the communities are included in the process. It is a logical, democratic, and most effective way to move. We are proud of the organizing work that ensured voices and feedback was heard and included into this initiative. I also want to acknowledge the work done by council members and city staff. Thank you to the organizers and community that pushed for bolder solutions. And thank you to Laurie Bayz and Zach Wallace for continuing to open the door for the community in this matter. We believe a massive step forward forward and towards supporting working families is a defense fund that provides legal and wrap-around support for families. We have a significant surplus in the budget this year and a $2 million allotment would do a lot to slow down detention and deportation processes our families are experiencing. We need legal support for workers to defend themselves as you've heard in court and in detention as well as resources for families being impacted by family separation. I want to name Bexar County in Texas as a county that saw this issue as a real emergency it is in our community and move forward with the fund. Lastly, the community is expecting a commitment today from the city that the city staff trained to encounter ICE will not only know the difference between administrative orders and judicial warrants but that they will be directed to not voluntarily comply with ICE unless legally required. Thank you. Vice Mayor, if I may ask a question? Yes, you may. Andrea? There's a question for you from Council Member Hernandez. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Andrea, you spoke a little bit about uh one thing about your your guys' organizing around businesses to help them understand the fourth and fifth amendment rights. Sorry, the fourth and Yeah, no, you're right. Fourth and fifth yeah. >> Sorry. There's so many rights being trampled on we we lose list but um and then you mentioned specifically right some of the families or the workers that are being impacted by family separation. Um I mean, can you share a little bit more about what their everyday experience is right now um and like the type of support you think they need? I think right now as we've talked to small businesses across Arizona or Phoenix uh Valley, um people have just been really in fear and not knowing what their rights are and how they can and like really protect their employees. Um we were doing these canvases before we saw the the zip raids and people were already scared um and then after people have continued to be really like eager to know what they can do and some of these things just are delineating what a public and private space are. It's also ensuring that the businesses know that they don't have to, you know, necessarily provide um employee paperwork at a request of an ICE officer, that they have 72 hours to wait, that they can look for legal counsel themselves and, you know, we saw that a lot of people were scared by the zip raids. A lot of times people are um feel pressured to give everything to an officer because, you know, we're told to respond to authority and they end up giving too much and putting employees at risk. Um and we've seen with family members they're struggling to meet basic needs when they lose the breadwinner of the home. Um they're not able to meet rents, they're not able to, you know, make car note payments and it's really destabilizing for an individual's um just day-to-day life and that's what we've been hearing as we're talking to business members and also helping with the fund that we have. Okay, thank you so much, Andrea, and thank you, Vice Mayor. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. Thank you both. Um Next up, we have Lydia. Hello, everybody. Uh my name is Lydia and I've lived in Arizona my entire life. I've uh lived in Mesa. I don't live in Phoenix um currently um but I have lived here my entire life and I've never seen the fear in my community that there is today. My friends, my co-workers, and my neighbors, they're all afraid to go to the grocery store or even go outside um because they're being they're afraid of being wrongly detained by ICE. And we're all aware of the experiences illegal immigrants, legal immigrants, Native Americans, black and brown communities, and all citizens of the United States have had with ICE and they've murdered our people with no hesitation or investigation. They've thrown them in the streets for to be dead and wiped people off the map with no explanation. Um these rogue agencies, as you have put it, will not stop when the state tells them to stop. They'll keep pushing their boundaries of what's tolerable until their ultimate goal is achieved and I think we should all really consider what that goal is and I don't think any of us want that America to come to fruition. We have come to a crossroads as a country. Our community is divided. Children are being taken away from their homes with with no explanation of ever seeing with no expectation of seeing a life outside of that prison cell for the crime of being the child of an immigrant. Item 41 is less than the bare minimum. We have a responsibility to protect them, to ensure that they have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and I hope that you will not only vote to further hold our federal government accountable but that you also consider how the state and country systemically oppresses its people through silent ways and enact change for the betterment of us all. Thank you. Thank you, Lydia. Next up is Joshua Molina followed by Kat. Joshua, are you here? Joshua Molina? Okay. Okay, I didn't see Is Kat here? Okay perfect. And then we were going to do Judy Esperanza next. This is Kat Molina. All right. Good afternoon, council members, Vice Mayor. Uh I would like to once again thank everybody for all the patience and earnest attempts to listen to community input from stakeholders at the various listening sessions, especially in wake of the events of February 10th. That is appreciated and I do hope that is a trend that continues. Um my name is Kat Dinjaca. I am a lead organizer with Black Lives Matter Phoenix Metro and I'm here on their behalf in support of the community transparency initiative over in support as a first step as so many speakers before me have made note of. I do believe that this is a good first step due to aforementioned reasons such as inhibiting staging by federal law enforcement for operations that seek to separate people from their families in addition to comprehensive staff training which was made note of by input from community members. However, there are still some issues with this initiative that needs to be hashed out as we continue to work together. For example, the additional scope of influence given to Phoenix PD in wake of ICE's continuous abuse of civil rights needs to be made note of, especially as often times it is our black residents and black community members that are most at risk seeing as Phoenix PD is one of the deadliest police forces in the country as made note of by the DOJ themselves. We also need to make note of the fact that ICE is disproportionately violent towards black migrants and in detention centers in such a comparison to other groups. This is all due to the fact that we have to make a reckoning with the fact that, to use Kat Gaiegos' words, that this institution ICE is not an aberration, it's not un-American, it is very American what it is all doing. And we have to reckon that in full if we are able to adequately address all the issues that ICE has caused in our communities and adequately address the violence that they im- that hurts the most marginalized of us. So, I am here today in support of the CTI but I urge the city con- to continue its work in order to adequately support all community members. I thank you for your time. Thank you. Reverend Judy Agnew is next followed by Esperanza Patmore. Good afternoon, council members. My name is Deacon Judy Agnew. I serve at Shepherd of the Hills United Church of Christ, Phoenix and as a leader with Valley Interfaith Project. Santiago is a friend of our congregation, a US citizen, and head of a family who moved to Phoenix from Mexico 20 years ago. The family consists of Santiago, his wife, and two children, and Santiago's brother. Santiago's wife was employed and paying taxes. Nobody in the family had criminal records. ICE arrived arrested all five from their home. They released Santiago but detained the others at Eloy over 4 months. While at Eloy, they had no access to any information or legal help. They finally released Santiago's wife and one child. The other child and Santiago's brother were deported. Their families raised over 20,000 in fines so Santiago's wife could remain in Phoenix. Santiago and his wife made several trips to Mexico attempting to get their child returned and met with both Mexican and American authorities, but nothing has changed. Santiago's brother is just gone. >> [clears throat] >> The Community Transparency Initiative you're considering today is not a silver bullet for the issues facing Phoenix families, but it is a vital first step. We urge you to please support the initiative and do all you can to ensure other families are spared the trauma that Santiago's experience. John 11:35, the shortest verse in the Bible contains just two words, Jesus wept. Surely Christ would weep if he saw our families being traumatized by these inhumane experiences. We are here organizing with our brothers and sisters to say enough is enough. We look forward to working with you on the implementation of the CTI and future steps. Thank you. Esperanza and then Ariane Ariani. My name is Esperanza Partmore. I'm a leader here of Church of St. Francis Xavier. For some months for some months now at the VIP we've been listening to our church to our families phone calls one-on-one conversations with uh the fear of an ICE detention. We've heard from other mothers and migrants living in fear that their husbands and children will not return home because they've been detained along the way. On their way home or at their work sites. We've heard from parents who fear losing the ability to pay the rent and cover their basic needs because unscrupulous employers have been taking advantage of the current political situation by lowering their wages and other employers they've been refusing to pay their employees at all. Threatening threatening with uh that if they complain that they'll be reported to the authorities. People's fear of going out out is impacting the mental health and the economy uh from our state. So, we're here to ask you to approve the proposed [singing] Community Transparency Initiative. We ask for you to stand hand-in-hand with us and say no to their presence [clears throat] in our parks in our workplaces and in our in our neighborhoods. Not in any public space where the community is being harmed. And say no to today's violence. Our organization supports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement employees be trained in accordance with the law respecting their work and that they should be or they should not be in public places or not in our city. Thank you. Ariane Redding followed by Harrison Redding. Good afternoon, city council members. My name is Ariane Redding, you had it right the first time. I'm coming down from North Phoenix as just a deeply concerned citizen, so you'll forgive me if I'm a little scattered. In the past year we've seen the way ICE behaves towards all people, immigrant or not. They act with recklessness and violence. We've all heard report after report of people who were assaulted by ICE unprovoked, detained despite having documents and even killed. We all remember Liam Condeho Ramon, the child used as bait to force out his father in what I would have previously described as an overdone mafia trope. The work that local community has done to get us here with the current version of the CTI cannot be neglected, especially considering these meetings often tend to be held when most of the community is working. I take time off and come to speak because this is important to me as it should be to all of us. I do appreciate the city taking our opinions and suggestions into consideration and moving towards banning civil law enforcement agencies on city-owned and controlled property without explicit permission as that does disallow agencies like ICE to use public property to harm the public members of our community. However, as many people have said, it does give me pause that that permission can be bestowed by the police chief whose department is often complicit with ICE action. Similarly, educating our community on their rights when it comes to law enforcement as well as training staff on differences between warrants is helpful as those are areas where we've seen lack of understanding be used to take advantage of folks and violate their rights. This is an important step in the right direction and I urge you not only to pass the CTI, but also look into how you can further support our community in these frightening times. For instance, we'd like to ask that staff not only be trained to differentiate between types of warrants, but also be trained to comply only when legally required. ICE is already bulldozing rules and grasping any power they can get and we need to not allow them to do that further. One could also open a deportation defense fund with the $2 million we have excess in our budget to support families of those who are deported or detained. It's a wound that you could help alleviate. I ask that all of you consider what is best for your community and support the CTI while still trying to reach farther and do more. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Harrison is next followed by Ahmad. Good afternoon, Mayor Gallego and members of the Phoenix City Council. My name is Harrison Redmond and I'm a civil rights advocate and lifelong Phoenician here testifying on behalf of myself in support of the CTI. fact that ICE is a violent lawless agency. Phoenix residents have watched their neighbors, co-workers and family members harassed, hunted and brutalized in our streets and killed in detention. At least 32 human beings have died in ICE custody in the last year alone. ICE has also murdered US citizens across the country including Alex Padilla, Renee Good, Keith Porter Jr. and Ruben Rey Martinez. That is not a condition this city should be complicit in and the CTI begins the work of changing that. I and other advocates support the passage of this AR because it contains real meaningful protections. It bans civil law enforcement agencies like ICE from using city property as a staging ground, disrupting their operational capacity and keeping our community safer. It also expands the know your rights campaign including training to distinguish between judicial and administrative warrants to businesses and schools meaning more residents will know how to protect themselves if they encounter federal agents. We also need to be direct about what this policy does not yet do. The AR includes language allowing the city manager to grant exceptions and it carves out airports and rights-of-way. With the news just this week of ICE staging at over a dozen airports across the country including Sky Harbor, this language must be examined to ensure every person traveling through airport feels safe and free of ICE harassment. Furthermore, the Phoenix police still play a role in funneling community members into the arrest and deportation pipeline through 4th Avenue Jail. A ban on ICE staging will mean little if Phoenix PD continues to hand people over to ICE once they're booked. That must be changed and this council should establish and allocate funds to a deportation defense fund, a tool that would ensure neighbors have access to the bare minimum, due process and a chance to keep our families together. No matter what, it is a promise that advocates will continue to show up here and hold this council accountable. To the community members who organized to make this policy possible and for Phoenicians across the city who depend on this council to feel safe and prosperous in the city we all call home, regardless of documentation or the sheer luck of being born on one side of an invisible border. For our neighbors, for our communities, and for our city, I urge a yes vote on this AR. All power to the people. I welcome the council's questions. Councilmember Hernandez. Thank you, Mayor. Uh Harrison, just want to ask a couple questions based on some of your comments about immigration enforcement from staging on city property um as opposed to criminal enforcement. Mayor Gallego, Councilmember, immigration enforcement by ICE is civil uh in nature. It's not a criminal proceeding. So, when ICE is staging on city property, uh it's not responding to a crime. It's conducting operations to detain and deport people, many of whom often have no criminal charges whatsoever. The city has every legal right uh to decide that its parks, its community centers, and other facilities will not be used as launching pads for these kinds of operations that have targeted and harmed uh many of our community members. This regulation also would draw a clear uh and legally defensible line that the city property is for city purposes, uh not ICE actions that harass, brutalize, and kill our community members. Okay, thank you. Um just want another question. In In your opinion, like what is the difference between an ICE administrative order and a judicial warrant? Um and why is that Why is that distinction important for us as a city to understand? Mayor Gallego, Councilmember, uh judicial warrant is a warrant that is signed by a judge and authorizes law enforcement, including ICE, to enter a space or take a person into custody. It's a legally binding document. Uh an ICE administrative order, often called an immigration warrant, however, uh is also called a detainer or administrative warrant, is generally um uh generated internally by DHS itself. It's worth the paper it's written on. It can be written up on the way over. Uh and it has no judicial review, which is why ICE likes to use them. ICE doesn't want to go to court to get a judicial warrant uh because more often than not they do not have probable cause to search people's homes or their belongings or their car. Uh and it's important to note that nearly 75% of people that are already in ICE custody now have no criminal convictions uh whatsoever. Administrative warrants uh carry no legal authority to compel anyone to cooperate. So, when city employees here in Phoenix uh or anywhere don't know the difference, that may voluntarily That may lead to them voluntarily uh handing over residents or allowing access to facilities in response to something that has no uh legal binding whatsoever. So, training staff uh here in the city of Phoenix to recognize that distinction protects both residents and the city from unlawful cooperation. Uh and knowing the difference between these two documents through know-your-rights trainings and things like that uh for city employees and the public alike is a critical skill because understanding the differences uh and the discrepancies between the two can mean the difference between someone going home uh and someone being disappeared uh and deported. Okay, thank you. And then just one last question. Um you mentioned the arrest-to-deportation pipeline through Fourth Avenue Jail. Um can you explain how that works and what the city can do about it? Sure. Mayor Gallego, Councilmember Hernandez uh when Phoenix police makes an arrest, even for a nonviolent uh offense that doesn't typically uh pose a safety risk to the community, that person is booked uh into Fourth Avenue Jail. So, once inside, they are screened by ICE uh and an immigration case can be opened against them regardless of whether the underlying charge that they were brought in and booked upon uh is ever even prosecuted. So, the most direct way the city here uh can disrupt this pipeline is by mandating a cite-and-release policy for nonviolent offenses. Cite-and-release means officers are issuing a citation and letting the person go rather than booking them. Uh so, this would keep low-level offenders out of jail who should be connected to community resources uh like housing or substance rehabilitation and would thus reduce the scourge of mass incarceration. Uh it would also reduce ICE's access points into our community and cost the city less money. So, this is a practical uh intervention that complements everything that this AR already sets up. Uh and Phoenix residents deserve evidence-based, humane, and logical solutions. Uh this AR is a good start, but as many other advocates here today have said uh and will continue to say, uh we urge the council to keep the door open on this uh because we will all be back. Um and I just thank you for your time. All power to the people. Thank you. >> trust. And thank you, Mayor. Ahmad is next, followed by Beth Strano. Ahmad, if you were here, could you sort of signal that you're on your way? Ahmad, okay. Oh, I'm sorry. We um Beth is next, followed by Elizabeth Venable. So, Beth Strano, Elizabeth Venable. Thank you, Mayor and Council. My name is Beth Strano. I'm here representing Borderlands Resource Initiative. Um I want to express appreciation that the city of Phoenix is taking this seriously and um taking seriously their their obligation to protect the the safety and the dignity of people who live here. This initiative did start out a little bit on shaky ground, but I do appreciate that the city manager's office and many members of council took the necessary steps to bring in the voices of the community and to make important changes that strengthen this initiative. Many people have come today to urge you to pass the CTI, and that includes myself. But, it is also really important to understand that these are just the first steps. These are the beginning of what should be a more robust, ongoing conversation between the city and targeted communities. So, please do pass the CTI, but then move next to establish a deportation defense fund in the city budget to protect schools, faith spaces, and medical spaces from immigration enforcement. And acknowledging that many of the measures that are proposed today require support from Phoenix PD, at least in part, please take steps to take to create a more trusted community entity that could hold those roles. And implement the necessary accountability and transparency measures that should have already been developed under the 2024 DOJ investigation to protect our community from excessive force and racially targeted violence by Phoenix Police Department. Thank you. Thank you. Elizabeth is next, followed by Stanley Hamrick. Um I'm down Okay, I'm down here. We can hear you. Okay. Um I just wanted to say uh thank you to the um co- uh the city officials that met with the community. Uh sometimes that's lacking, I think, especially with uh relating to some of the organizations, and they feel left out of the discourse. Um some of the organizations that are present, and so I really appreciate that sort of um dialogue that you've been doing with the community on this initiative. Um also, I wanted to say to have a uh broad brush when you're looking at who to outreach to and uh what kind of institutions to outreach to. Um a lot of I think people support working with um businesses, and I think it's good to look at where enforcement is happening, but there are also other groups that um might be affected that um are are not necessarily as visible. And so, you want to look to um being addressing as diverse a constituency as possible to be effective. And um that's basically all I'm going to say. Thank you. Thank you. Stanley is next, followed by Catherine. Mayor Gallego and members of the council, thank you for putting me on the list. I kind of got bumped. Um I just wanted to add something. I noticed the CTI does say exempt city airports. And I'm an airport worker, and my coworkers are all scared that they're going to be arrested by ICE. And you know, we're trained. You guys are the ones that badge us at the airport. Phoenix is in charge of badging everybody. And they're making us take training that says we're supposed to identify human trafficking. And I mean what are we going to do when we see people detained or thrown on the ground by someone who's not labeled, who doesn't have a name, who doesn't have a badge? I don't know if they're doing masks anymore. Looks like they're taking those off in the airports. But, we're supposed to be watching the customers in the airport to make sure they stay safe and that the public is, you know, healthy. And it just seems like a contradiction that you would put in the CTI that it says exempt city airports. I think it says it under number five. That's what I read today when I was trying to see what was going on. And I No one's mentioned that. Thank you for bringing that up. We did look at where it was possible, and and the federal government does have some jurisdiction at the airport, so we are unable to have CTI apply at the airport. Well, thanks for clearing that up. >> Yeah. That's a very important question. Thank you. Catherine is next, and then we had many people who applied signed up to virtual public comment, but who appeared in person. If you think you have signed up and I have not called your name, could could you and you're here in person, could you check in with our staff? And then for our virtual folks, we are coming to you soon. Thank you, Catherine. Yes, my name's Catherine Saberhagen. I'm a Phoenix resident for 40-something years. Um >> [sighs] >> well, I uh support the CTI. I I like many others uh do not think it [clears throat] goes far enough. The residents of our community that will be um as ICE expands into Phoenix and begins to uh capture and deport people or capture and imprison people, um uh uh this [clears throat] uh CTI really only covers the derrière of the city of Phoenix. It doesn't really do a whole lot for the people who will be impacted and whose lives will be forever changed. Um the cost of being the cost to the to the community and to the families of people who are captured and detained illegally, um puts them in great jeopardy and ruins their lives. And um this measure really doesn't do anything for them. Um I hope uh many people today have mentioned a defense fund. People have also mentioned support for families. I think that there are a lot of people in the community already doing what we call mutual aid, um unpaid and unsupported and at their own personal expense. And I think that that's the kind of thing that the community, the city ought to be helping with, providing for the families that are detained illegally, that have no other support. Um they need their homes, their rent, their their groceries, their children, uh everything. Um we need to support people more and in better ways. All right, we have Elizabeth Gavina, Nicole Sanderson, and Renee Velez, and then I think we're going to virtual comment. Elizabeth, the floor is yours. No? Can you hear me now? Yes, we can. Okay, hello. My name is Elizabeth, and I am a Phoenix resident. Um I just want to say People Power made sure that the proposal we see today has meaningful protections for our people. We do thank uh city staff and council offices for engaging with community and including our input in this process. Uh there are meaningful protections in this policy, but this is only the beginning. The city can and must do more to protect our residents from ICE now and in the future. We need a deportation defense fund, a sight and release by PPD to disrupt the arrest to deportation pipeline. And I also I've been volunteering some of my time recently, and I want to say how great the community is, and I hope that you take this into consideration when you are approving the CTI, but also going further so that our communities can stop living in fear and also be able to achieve their dreams like us citizens do. Um so again, I support that you pass the CTI, but I hope you go above and beyond. Thank you. Nicole is next followed by Renee. Hi, I'm Nicole Sanderson, a resident of District 7. Um I'm going to quote the statute that's cited on the agenda and that was cited in the community listening session as the reason some policies aren't being considered. It says, "Cities may not limit or restrict the enforcement of federal immigration laws to less than the full extent permitted by federal law." So I realize that firstly, this is so far relatively untested in our courts. I understand that. Um and I realize [clears throat] that while sort of the first part, limit and restrict, sound very scary, um but read in its entirety, I want to point out it says, "To less than the full extent permitted by federal law." So tonight, here today, we've been we've heard of a lot of examples of the way that ICE is very regularly violating federal law, and I just wanted to point out that the statute allows city policies that are designed very explicitly to stop those violations of federal law. Um so uh for example, um the one that we've been talking about uh where city staff can be trained to insist on receiving lawful permission uh before granting entry to city property. Um [clears throat] I appreciate that this is under consideration. Uh likewise, under the statute, it seems to me that the city can likely impose process that ensures federal law is complied with and not exceeded, and in in doing so can build in time that protects the community members involved. Um so for example, having staff at designated city locations like schools, shelters, city traffic court, um route requests for access or records through established legal review procedures seems like that would be allowed under the statute. Putting up red tape is a skill that Phoenix does have. I would love to see that used for to support the community here. Um and the bottom line, the statute does not prevent Phoenix from responding to violations of federal law. I see more uh opportunity to pursue those policies. Thank you very much. Thank you. Renee is next followed by Liliana Santoyo. Renee Velez? All right, uh go online to Liliana. It's uh uh we'll go to online to um Ben Halloran followed by Doug McBain. All right, Ben, can you hear us? It's your turn. Okay, thank you. I just saw the mic was unmuted. Um Good afternoon, Mayor Gallego and council members, and thank you for allowing me to speak. I'm a retired law enforcement officer with many years of experience working in dangerous environments, including Chicago, and I want to speak to you today from that real world perspective. I oppose the community transparency initiative and the proposed administrative regulation restricting federal law enforcement officers from using city-owned or city-controlled property. Policies like this, modeled after sanctuary city approaches that actively oppose ICE, have already created unnecessarily dangerous and high-tension environments for everyone involved. Federal officers are far too often harassed, obstructed, and assaulted. This regulation only increases the stress and danger faced by ICE officers as they carry out their lawful duties and causes dangerous disruptions to Phoenix neighborhoods by denying ICE safe areas from which to base their enforcement operations. Assist ICE, honor detainers, and allow federal officers to safely take illegal immigrants into custody and not search for them in dangerous neighborhoods and or areas of aggressive and violent protesters. Phoenix approved $1 million in taxpayer dollars for the community transparency initiative, money that could have been far better spent helping people lawfully navigate the legal immigration process rather than appearing to support efforts that monitor and potentially obstruct federal operations. Federal officers are simply enforcing laws passed by Congress. I urge the council to reject this restriction and instead direct staff toward genuine cooperation and assistance that prioritizes safety, professionalism, and promotes Phoenix as the great city that it is. Thank you for your time and your continued service to the city of Phoenix. Thank you. Doug is next followed by Myisha. Uh good evening, uh Mayor and City Council. Uh thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak as well. Uh I am here to express my strong opposition to the city of Phoenix Community Transparency Initiative. I learned about this initiative through an Ahwatukee Foothills News article uh reporting that the city has set aside a million dollars in anticipation of legal action against federal government. From a community standpoint, I believe this represents a clear misallocation of funds. Those dollars should be directed toward priorities that benefit citizens, strengthening like strengthening law enforcement, supporting citizens who are victims of crimes committed by criminal illegal aliens, including sexual predation, and expanding access to essential social services like SNAP for underserved citizens. These are areas where city resources measurably improve safety and quality of life, not by escalating conflict and litigation. Public safety is best achieved through cooperation, not confrontation with the Department of Homeland Security. This includes honoring lawful detainers and requests for supports to remove criminal aliens from the community. Jurisdictions that cooperate have been better uh have seen better public safety outcomes with minimal disruption. Communities that refuse to cooperate, including Minnesota and Minneapolis, have experienced tragic and preventable harm due directly to decisions made by the governor and the mayor of Minneapolis, along with reduced safety. Public opinion reinforces this position. National polling shows that nearly 60% of Americans support the deport deportation of all illegal aliens, and about 80% support deportation of criminal aliens who have committed violent crimes, have ties to terrorist entities, or undermine the sovereignty of the United States. Government exists to serve the citizens who fund it and derives its legitimacy from that consent. Policies that place illegal aliens above citizens undermine public trust and erode the foundation of lawful governance, leading inevitably to negative outcomes for all involved. For those reasons, I urge the city leadership to refocus uh on proven public safety strategies, represent the interests interest of citizens instead of illegal illegal aliens, and avoid unnecessary conflict with federal law enforcement carrying out their lawful duties. Thank you for the opportunity to address the council. Thank you for your comments. Myesha is next, followed by Elizabeth Aguilar. Um good evening, um Mayor, council members. My name is Myesha Fish. I'm a lead with Organized Power in Numbers. I'm also a resident of District 4, and I'm in um support of the CTI. Um it was mentioned earlier. I'll repeat it, so you hear the way of the words. "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door." There are no exceptions written into that promise. It is a vision rooted in humanity and inclusion. That is why the current reality feels so deeply troubling. The vigilante-style tactics and constitutionally questionable actions carried out by ICE in our communities are not only frightening, they undermine the very principles those words represent. Families are living in fear, and neighbors are being treated as though they do not belong, even though they are integral parts of our community. I would sincerely thank and applaud this council for taking the steps to engage in this conversation, and for listening to the community with care, respect, and urgency this this moment demands. Your efforts to develop CTI policies and to strengthen protections for our diverse and interconnected communities are meaningful and necessary. However, this is only the beginning. We need to go further. These are not in These individuals are not strangers. They are our neighbors, our friends, our coworkers, our family members. They deserve to be treated with dignity and protected to the fullest extent of the city's power. In addition, we want to see the city create a clear avenue establishing and dedicated fund to support residents of all immigration statuses, so that they can have access to legal assistance, housing support, and other essential resources without fears or barriers. My hope is that we continue to build toward a future where our policies reflect our values and where we can stand clear send a clear message that stands This city stands firmly to protect its people. Thank you for your time and your commitment to this work. Elizabeth Aguilar is next, followed by Lorena Gutierrez. Thank you. Hello. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Okay, sorry about that. Hello, Mayor, um city council. I'm Elizabeth Aguilar. I'm a city worker. I'm from District 5, a concerned citizen, and a non-citizen in our community that are afraid with enormous fear of these uncertain times. They're afraid of the what if, the what if of what if I celebrate my child's birthday at a city park, what if going into a store, what if going to a city event and be detained. I'm not thinking about just residents that are not U.S. citizens, but there is a great concern with citizens that are U.S. citizens. They are concerned with racially profiling and speaking in language other than English. I feel deeply that the city council, city manager have to be aware of the whereabouts of of um Sorry, of whereabouts of and staging areas, processing locations of operations are taking place. Please do not let any federal agents run amok in our city without any accountability. Yes, I agree with this honest plan and action plan program that is brought forward and gets into it. Thank you. Thank you. Lorena is next. Uh can you hear me? Yes, we can. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Can you hear us? Uh Hi, can you hear me? Yes, we can. Oh, perfect. Thank you. Thank you. Um good afternoon, Mayor and city council members. My name is Lorena Gutierrez, a resident of District 5, a retired business owner, and a Phoenix Block Watch leader. I am a woman of Hispanic descent who, under this current environment, lives in fear when leaving my home for fear of being confronted by an ICE agent. Never in my lifetime did I ever expect I would be living in this uncertainty and fear, yet here we are. CTI is not just a program. It is a vital movement towards justice, accountability, and safety for all residents of Phoenix. In recent months, we have witnessed alarming reports of overreach and caused abuse by ICE. These actions not only undermine the trust we have in our local law enforcement, but also pose a direct threat to our civil liberties. CTI in our is our opportunity to change this narrative. It aims to establish clear guidelines concerning law enforcement's cooperation with ICE, ensuring that our city remains a sanctuary where everyone can feel safe and secure, regardless of their immigration status. By supporting this initiative, we can create a robust framework for oversight that protects our community from unwarranted aggression, while also upholding our commitment to just and equity. Transparency fosters trust. When our community members see that their rights are protected and that every person is treated with dignity, it encourages open dialogue, collaboration, and a stronger community fabric. Most importantly, this initiative will not only help safeguard our civil rights, but will also enhance public safety by fostering cooperation between law enforcement and the communities they serve. Your message is powerful. And I'm sorry. So, on behalf of all immigrants who are feeling scared and hopeless, I urge you to support CTI in our mission to make Phoenix a city where everyone can live free from fear. We must ensure that every voice is heard and that our civil rights are vigorously defended. Let's stand together in seeking justice for Rene Nicole Good and Alex Freddy. I thank you for your time. All right, I believe we have gotten everyone who wished to speak. So, I'll now turn to my colleagues for Councilwoman Guardado. Thank you, Mayor. Um before I move forward with a motion, I just have some comments. I wanted to start by grounding this conversation in what is happening in our neighborhoods right now. Across Phoenix, families are living with fear, fear of reporting crime, fear of asking for help, fear of walking into a city building that is supposed to serve them. And that fear has real consequences. When people are afraid to come forward, crimes go unreported. Victims stay silent, and our entire city becomes less safe. That is why we are here today. I'm proud to have worked to help draft and develop the Community Transparency Initiative because this is about our responsibility to respond, to listen to our community, and and act. And it is clearly important. We see what's been happening um throughout the years. We've all lived through SB 1070. We lived through Joe Arpaio. Um as a child, I saw my father being deported, and the scars that that leaves in our children, that it leaves in our families um one deportation is one too many. Um we see um the critical changes um that ICE can have on our communities and has on our families and the separation of our children. Um the fact that there are children that don't know if their parents are going to come come and pick them up from school is devastating. Um we see the reports. We see what's happening um throughout the country. I am proud to be able to serve on the city council and as a immigrant, as a daughter of as a daughter of Mexicans, I am very proud to be able to make this motion. And with this, I move to approve the community transparency initiative as recommended and direct city staff to expand the know your rights webpage to the extent possible to include information for impacted communities on access to health care facilities, social services, domestic violence survivor services, and emergency relief service resources. Establish and publish a schedule for regular council updates and CTI stakeholder listening sessions on implementation with meetings held at least quarterly during the first year. Second. You have a motion from Councilwoman Guardado and a second from the vice mayor. Vice mayor. Thank Thank you, mayor. Um I just wanted to begin by expressing my appreciation to the community for being so engaged on this critical issue. Um thank you for sharing your voices. Thank you for sharing your lived experiences. Thank you for sharing your concerns. And thank you for your suggestions both on the policies and for practical changes that we can do here. Your voice matters and we are listening. As one individual mentioned at our community listening session, great policy can be a shield from federal overreach. And I think we are moving towards that direction. I also would like to thank the mayor for bringing this forward. Um I know it was um met with a little I'm not supposed to put it, but discomfort, but I think we are at a good place and I want to thank my colleagues for their leadership and participation in this. And I also want to thank city staff for facilitating the process and the development of the recommendations um presented today. Lori, I wanted to say a special thank you to you and your team. In less than 45 days under your leadership, you were able to navigate these legally nuanced precepts. Thank you to Julie, our city attorney, and the law department. You have provided uh an impressive foundation incorporating feedback from our community and balancing the legality when paired with existing state and federal law. Um I'm going to ask Lori this question to give us a little bit more. Can you provide me some additional example of ways we the ways we incorporated our community feedback into these recommendations? Mayor, vice mayor, members of the council, thank you for that question. Yes, um we did receive a lot of great feedback as we went through the stakeholder engagement process. And um some of the things that we were able to incorporate were um one, the training um aspect. As I mentioned during the presentation, we had originally started out thinking that we would train only staff that were likely to engage with federal law enforcement. And what we'd heard in the stakeholder engagement sessions was that you never know exactly when um an a federal agency may show up at a city location and you don't know what type of staff they may engage with. And and it may be somebody that you're not expecting. And that's the experience other cities have had. And so, we took that to heart and decided that it would be um beneficial to us to train all of our staff. And so, that's what we've incorporated into the recommendation. Um secondly, we did receive uh re- re- a lot of feedback actually on languages. Um and that, you know, we need to be more than a bilingual city. We need to be a multilingual city. And um there are a lot of members of the community that speak languages other than English and Spanish. And so, we've incorporated as much as possible um the ability to translate materials into multiple languages. Um fortunately, we have the um widget on our website that allows us to translate into over 120 languages. And we're also being very thoughtful about um having materials that we're having translated manually into multiple languages as well. So, that's the second thing that we've incorporated. Uh and then another thing that I can think of that we um incorporated was the um administrative regulation did not originally specify that it was not intended to inhibit First Amendment or other constitutional activities. And it could have been read to be interpreted as um prohibiting any activity outside of the purpose that uh the city uses it for. And so, it would have unintentionally limited First Amendment activity on public property. And that was something that we definitely didn't want to do, didn't intend to do. So, we explicitly added that language to ensure that we weren't unintentionally unintentionally uh inhibiting that activity. So, those are just a few of the things that we incorporated. I'm sure that there are other things that I'm I'm not thinking of right now, um but those are some examples. Thank you so much for that. Um one of the things that I we've heard from the feedback from the community and some of the comments and questions, there's been some um concerns about what goes into the training. And I think it might be helpful for you to articulate what was your What to come up with more um substantial response to this, but I do believe that it's going to be a collective effort from our community. And I think we need to have a framework to see how we can have others support us. Mayor, vice mayor, members of the council, um that is a great point. And yes, I as I mentioned in the presentation, we do have staff who are prepared to start developing ways to measure impacts to local small businesses and the community um from an economic perspective. But absolutely, we need um those resources in the community to help advise us on how to measure that. What What measures are already in place that we can track to see the impacts on those existing measures so that we can see whether there are, you know, spikes or dips in in those trend data. Um so, yes, absolutely, that's something that we would love to have more conversation on with the community. >> Thank you. Um so, thank you for for that. I really appreciate the approach that we've taken to address the concerns by so many in our community. Again, thank you for sitting and meeting with the stakeholders and having those necessary conversation. I believe the community's feedback has helped strengthen this initiative. And I really appreciate the incorporation of that feedback into the recommendations we saw today. Um unfortunately, residents of Phoenix are experiencing similar challenges as other communities across the US. During our listening session, um Councilwoman Pastor and Councilwoman Hernandez we heard numerous firsthand accounts of the fear that many in our community are feeling right now. So much so that they So many have expressed that their loved ones are unwilling to leave their homes even to get groceries. Students are not attending school. This is textbook chilling effect. The most impactful stories that I have heard are about the children in our community and the lasting trauma that they're experiencing. So, I would like to see if we can um So, that's one of the reasons I have been focused on the help in Phoenix families effort. However, I recognize that Arizona's legal environment is unique with the voter approval of certain propositions and the enactment of certain laws. Phoenix has limitations that other cities may not or do not have. So, a proposal in one city doesn't necessarily cannot be adopted here. However, it doesn't prevent us from using the tools available to us under the law to increase transparency and protect our civil rights. And I believe that is what is being proposed today. I would like to also see how and if we can support children impacted by detention, whether by uplifting the service providers that offer behavioral services. And I also would like to see us consider information about workplace protection. To hear the stories of unscrupulous employers that try to use this anti-immigration environment to take advantage of hard-working employees is is is heartbreaking. Today's action is about trans- ensuring transparency, accountability, and lawful coordination while protecting the rights and well-being of Phoenix families. I I do believe that the recommendations by staff for the CTI are the right balance between legal requirements and community expectations and the city's duties. However, I'm committed to ongoing collaboration with our community on this issue. For me, today's vote is not the end, but it is the continuation of a process that will continue to incorporate community feedback. I continue to support a transparent process moving forward with a transparent implementation of the recommendation that includes regular updates to council. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you to my colleagues. Thank you, Councilwoman Guardado, for leading this. Thank you to the Assistant City Manager, Lori Bays, and to our community for your commitment to this work. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Councilwoman Pastor. Thank you, Mayor. Um I want to first start off with a chilling call that the office got this morning. And the call came from a constituent that said, "Is it okay for my 16-year-old daughter to go to the airport and fly? Please tell me it's okay." My staff was freaked out because if they say it's okay and something happens to the 16-year-old it comes back to my office saying, "You said it was okay." Those are the type of situations we're facing today that I didn't anticipate that happened this morning. So, staff does need to be trained and understand not only know their rights, but also to be trained in these type of situations to be able to answer constituents within our community. And it's actually kind of chilling effect to think about it. Um what we're considering today is great. It's a great first step. It's a great beginning. And we started off uh in a way in a in a I always say there's different ways we can voice our opinion and uh on that day uh many voiced their opinion uh in a different way. And we started off a little discomfort, but look at where we got today. And I always believe that that we will always get to where we need to get to uh if we listen and work together. And I believe this this piece really came about with not just one person, but with a collective. A collective of all of us that engaged with the community at many different levels. And so, I'm very proud of my colleagues uh in wanting and knowing the importance this is for our community. I have several questions um and one is for um regarding OAT. Um and I think we kind of touched on it earlier, but I just want to make sure that the community knows uh and it's once again, I'm going to reiterate how do residents contact or reach the civil uh portal? When will we release that information? Mayor and members of the council, Councilwoman Pastor, thank you for that question. Um we are working on developing the civil portal right now. We commit to having it completed within 60 days, hopefully sooner. Uh it will be available on the city's website and um community members will be able to access it directly themselves and they can enter information online if they would like to. They can also call the OAT office or email the OAT office. I didn't mention that option earlier. Um and then that information can be entered into the portal on their behalf or they can actually go in person to the OAT office and speak to a staff member and the staff member will enter the information for them. So, there are multiple ways that that information can get into the portal once it's available. >> Okay. How quickly once we vote on this, how quickly will this go into effect for the community? So, the portal it's happening now, so Right. The portal itself will be available in 60 days. In the meantime, um members of the community can still go to to OAT and they can collect that information. We just won't have the portal available. Okay. Thank you. So, if they have anything, they can just go go to OAT and just call. Okay. Um there's some I need some clarity in regarding um the definition, the difference between city owned and city controlled property. Mayor and members of the council, Councilwoman Pastor, the um the difference is whether or not we own the property, we have title to the property versus if it is something that we perhaps lease or otherwise um you know, use that space. And so, we just wanted to make sure that we were addressing both types of property. So, I'm going to give an example like Yucca Library, we lease that land. It's it's the building's ours, we run the building, but we lease the land. Yes. Okay. That's the difference. >> regulation would still apply for that property. Okay. The other question is um how are edge cases being handled such as properties operated by nonprofits or partners on behalf of the city? Mayor and members of the council, Councilwoman Pastor, that's a great question and we um we tried to outline it as clearly as possible in the administrative regulation. However, um there are definitely, you know, going to be unique situations that we'll have to work through. Um the the easiest way that I can explain it is if it is a um city owned property where there is a program being run on that property, whether it is by city staff or a third party on behalf of the city. So, if you think about, you know, like the safe outdoor space or or something like that where we there is a program that is our program that's being operated on that property, that is where the administrative regulation would apply. If there is a property that the city owns, but is being operated by a third party and it is not a program that is being operated on behalf of the city and in the arena is the best example I can think of for that, um mortgage match-up arena. There are um properties like that that are owned by the city, but not operating a city program, that facility would not be um applicable under the AR. Okay. I think that clarifies a lot. Um how are staff trained on exceptions such as airports, municipal courts, and properties controlled by third parties? And I believe we control some of it. Yeah, Mayor and members of the council, Councilwoman Pastor, um we will be training staff on the elements of the administrative regulation, which will include those exceptions. And so, they will understand which types of properties apply and which don't. And how frequently will um this training be updated and refreshed and the policies continue to evolve? Mayor and members of the council, Councilwoman Pastor, um it is something that we're going to have to continue to review periodically as I mentioned earlier. You know, we have a large organization. This is a very fluid situation, so we're going to have to be nimble and adjust our policy um potentially in the future, but at this point, we don't know if, you know, or when that need will come up. We're just going to need to continue to monitor the situation and if there is something that needs to be changed in the administrative regulation, we would need to bring that back to the council and and let you know about the need for that change. Um but in the meantime, you know, we're going to be training staff on these um elements of the administrative regulation and and hopefully just fleshing out or or answering questions to make um what is in the document clearer and more practical. I have think three more. Item three, where it says identify potential partners and volunteer opportunities to facilitate the initiative. That item three and also with um I think it's item one where OAT is. Two? Two, I guess. Item two and item three, I believe will need um some funding for outreach and education. Um and so, my question to that is how do we determine that because that wasn't part of our 8-hour rule? Does that go I don't know. I don't know. I'm trying to get clarity on that because all all is going to cost some money and especially in the outreach piece. Mayor, members of the council, Councilwoman Pastor, there are some costs associated with the items in uh the recommendations today. However, um the costs included in implementing the six items at this point we believe is manageable within the current budgets of our departments. Um if that changes, if there are additional needs that come up, we will come back to the council uh and and make that need known. Um but at this point in time we believe that we can implement the these six um items in the council directive and the recommendations that have been made today within the existing budget. So in the existing budget we will get dollars from different uh departments in order to oversee this or make this happen? Yes. So Mayor, members of the council, Councilwoman Pastor, things like the um civil portal, there's some a little bit of cost associated with that. Um the signage, there's some cost associated with that. Um and the um outreach and marketing, uh there's a little bit of cost associated with that, but those are those are things that are included um or able to be absorbed, I should say, within our existing budgets at this point. If we find that that's that that changes, we will make sure that the council is aware of that need. Okay. And item number three? Yeah, and the same for item number three. The item number three is largely the website, which we already have funding for the website and staff who can add um information on the website and the the Know Your Rights page, and then we're linking to information in the community that are resources that are existing as well. Okay. Um because I heard uh the gentleman who was here yesterday and today uh regarding um uh the refugee community and how he had put done 200 and some um uh cases and and helped with paperwork and items like that. Uh I believe when we collaborate community-based organizations, we're probably going to have to put some funding behind that um in order for that to happen. As you as he stated earlier, um I am tapped out. Or he said that yesterday at the budget hearing. And so I'm just trying to understand how we will be funding all of these pieces. So Mayor, members of the council, Councilwoman Pastor, um there is no additional funding included in these recommendations for >> Okay. community-based services. Um I think what the gentleman you're speaking about um was referring to, he he attended the meeting yesterday where we were talking about the trial budget, and he was in support of the proposal for um the flexible human services funds. So I think that was what he was referring to as it relates to um funding basic needs services for the community. That is a small amount of money that is being proposed in the trial budget, which is separate from what is being approved today. Okay. All right. I Thank you for the clarity. Um what I my final thoughts and final things is that um Lori and team, I want to thank you for taking on this task. This task was given to you, and boy did you uh go on the roller coaster ride of making sure that we landed here today. Um I want to thank uh uh Vice Mayor Hodge-Washington and Councilwoman Hernandez for um hosting or being part of a listening session and making sure that uh community was heard because in those cases and in that space uh we did talk about some personal items that were happening within uh families and communities as as also as my other colleagues um the mayor and Councilwoman Guardado with um their uh meetings also. So I want to recognize that. Um I just want to say that this is our first step and uh we have a responsibility to protect our citizens, and also we have a responsibility to make sure that education and outreach is is done within our city and our system. I want to thank all the community groups and residents who showed up and really uh demanded more from us and were holding us accountable and responsible in this space. Um this is one way how this is one way and change can happen, and uh I'm hoping that in the future uh that the change the continued evolving language and change in this space uh we will be uh communicating and working together and having the listening sessions that are needed. So thank you again. Councilwoman O'Brien. Thank you. Um I'd like to thank all the community members who participated and provided feedback. I especially want to thank the city manager's office. Lori, um you've done a lot of work in a very short period of time along with the the staff members and also to to Julie Krieg and our law department. Um that was a very quick turnaround on a very large project. But I want to um express my strong support for our Phoenix employees who we rely on every day to provide Phoenix residents services and keep them safe. Our frontline staff and our first responders especially have difficult jobs, and they need clear, consistent policies they can rely on in real time. I've also heard from residents across Phoenix who are worried about what they've seen in other cities, worried about their families, and in some cases are simply unsure of what to expect. Those concerns are real and deserve to be acknowledged with respect and compassion. And at the same time we must operate within Arizona and federal laws. Phoenix has worked hard to stay focused on public safety and public trust, and we must continue to work forward with that work. My goal and commitment are to ensure our policies are clear and lawful, and that they support our residents as well as all of our first responders and frontline workers. So thank you for the the work. I will be supporting the item tonight. Did anyone else wish to comment? Roll call. Mayor. Mayor. I Mayor. Councilwoman Stark, please go ahead. I I apologize. I am Uh first I I do want to thank all the residents that got involved in this process. It really makes a difference, and I appreciate all their comments. And I want to thank our staff, especially Lori. She really worked hard on this, given we only had 45 days to do it in. But I feel every visitor and resident should feel safe in our city, and I hope this initiative will help ensure that we continue to meet that goal. Look, my father my father's grandparents were immigrants to this country, and they [snorts] were considered back in the day a part of the {quote} unquote melting pot. They were able to lead productive lives working on a farm. Today it's so much different, and it should not be that way. We should appreciate and embrace all people. Immigrants have been a large reason for why we continue to be such a great country. And so I will be proud to vote yes on this item. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you so much, and thank you to so many of my colleagues who have shared such personal reasons they're supporting this item. Roll call. Guardado. Yes. Hernandez. Mayor, may I explain my vote? Please do. Uh thank you so much, Mayor. First, I want to thank our community members, especially the community members that were so vulnerable to share their personal stories with us. Um Ed and our entire city staff, um my team, Mayor Gallego and the council for all their time and attention we have put into meeting this moment. Um I also want to especially recognize Vice Mayor Hodge-Washington, Councilwoman Pastor, Councilwoman Stark for staying behind on February 10th session. I know we started out a little rocky, but I think we have showed what progress can look like. Um I also want to thank Councilwoman Pastor and Vice Mayor Hodge-Washington for the the listening session that we uh collaborated on. Lori, I also want to give you extra thanks for creating a space for community members to not just be heard in this process, um but to truly listen to their voices. So thank you so much for that. I also want to take a few moments to ground us in the context that we are in as a country. The federal administration is ramping up ICE enforcement in cities across the United States. The same federal administration is responsible for a multitude of lawsuits that have infringed upon the civil and constitutional rights of so many of the most vulnerable people in this country. We are under an administration that is pushing to increase violence into all of our lives. When the state uses its power to create fear, displacement, and vulnerability for entire communities, that is state violence. State violence does not only look like physical force, it also looks like practices that intentionally produce instability and make it harder for people to eat, to work, to stay housed, and to live with dignity. And when people are detained, deported, or killed in the process of enforcement, those harms ripple outward through the entire families and communities. Children lose parents, workers disappear from workplaces, entire neighborhoods live with a trauma of constant surveillance surveillance. ICE has proven itself to be a violent paramilitary and lawless agency. I'll be real with y'all. Our city has been slow to move on getting ready for Trump and ICE. Many of us fear taking action would draw attention and attacks from Trump. Yet, the community showed up to push us. The community demanded that we acknowledge that ICE and Trump are here, and that we are already under attack. And so, here we are. The city of Phoenix has taken the first step of many through the community transparency initiative. CTI creates more avenues for education through its know-your-rights campaign. It also gives the city a tool to ensure our city property is not being used for civil enforcement action, and it includes training for staff on how to protect themselves. These steps are important. I can also recognize that they are not enough. We cannot stop here and hope that we've done what we've done today will be enough to protect our residents because we haven't. We have started, and we must go further. As a council member, I would like to see and I am committed to building out a robust support structure, including rental and utility assistance, SNAP protections, and legal services. Our residents need to know whether they are in correct legal standing so that they can go to work, they can go to school, and continue to receive public benefits, and know that they are safe. This federal administration has sown fear and uncertainty in our communities. They have made navigating legal status a life-or-death scenario. This council has an obligation to do everything we can to find resources, public and private, to support our residents as they navigate this hellscape of federal attacks. As we vote on CTI, I want the community to hear from me that I have heard numerous demands from you that are not included in CTI. You have raised serious concerns about Phoenix PD's communication with ICE. Our residents deserve to be aware every time that ICE is present in our neighborhoods, and Phoenix PD also plays a role a role in a deportation pipeline through handling people over to Maricopa County. Our office is committed to exploring different ways to end this pipeline. You have also named that the city should start doing more cite and release for non-violent misdemeanors. I'm committed to continuing to push PPD on this. And for the refugee community, I have heard your representatives. I recognize that you are most likely to be targeted by Trump's ICE forces. I take that seriously and will do everything in my power to support you. Now is a time for Now is a time of heightened public fear, state violence, and a multitude of obvious human rights violations. We as a city must be bolder about how we are going to protect our residents. ICE is coming, full stop. We have started to prepare as a city with CTI, but the work does not stop today. I'd like to close by reading a quote by Frederick Douglass, who was a freedom fighter and intellectual for the rights of African Americans across this country. It's work It's very accura accurately resonate with this moment. He notes, "The struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, or it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did, and it never will." Thank you again to the community for demanding all of the important implementations for migrants and refugees in the city of Phoenix. As the daughter of Jose Dolores Hernandez and Justina Hernandez, a daughter proud daughter of immigrants, I vote yes. O'Brien. Yes. Yes. Pastor. I'd be remiss if I didn't uh thank the city manager and Julie. I just realized I was like, I didn't say all my thank yous, but yes. Robinson. Yes. Stark. Yes. Waring. No. Hodge-Washington. Yes. Gallego. Yes. Passes 8-1. Thank you so much. Next is item 51, which is a youth workforce development services contract. Do we have a motion? This is an exciting item with Jewish Community Services and Neighborhood Ministries getting up to $9 million to help invest in our young people, including justice involved youth and people who struggled with employment. So, really excited to support this item and Vice Mayor. Motion to approve item 51. Second. Roll call. Warda. Yes. Hernandez. Yes. O'Brien. Yes. Pastor. Yes. Robinson. Yes. Stark. Waring. Yes. Hodge-Washington. Yes. Gallego. Yes. Passes 8-0. Item 62 is an engineering agreement for the Hohokam drainage project. Vice Mayor. Thank uh motion to approve item 62. Second. So, uh this is uh implementation of a bond program. The people of Phoenix voted in 2024 to invest in our community to try to address infrastructure problems, including problems like flood control, before they fail. This investment will take homes in District 8 and provide it additional protection. It is a really exciting opportunity to make our community safer in the 20th Street area near Highline Canal, and want to thank the Flood Control District of Maricopa County for working with us to share the cost and expertise. When you vote, we're able to deliver on these projects to keep our community safer. Vice Mayor. Thank you, Mayor. I'm really proud to see this item in front of us today. This pro- project is exactly the type of investment we envisioned when we went to voters with the GO bond. It is about delivering It This is delivering on that promise and making sure residents see real improvement in their neighborhoods. For too long, many of our communities have dealt with flooding, standing water, and infrastructure challenges during monsoon season. This project is about addressing those long-standing issues in a meaningful and lasting way. This also is about equity. These are investments in areas that have been historically been under-served, and this work helps ensure that all of our residents have safe, reliable infrastructure that support a better quality of life. I also want to highlight that this is not just about drainage. This is about protecting homes, improving streets, and building more resilient neighborhoods as we continue to grow as a city. I really appreciate staff's work in moving this forward and helping us implement the vision that voters supported. I'm proud to support this item. Thank you, Mayor. Roll call. Warda. Yes. Hernandez. Yes. O'Brien. Yes. Pastor. Yes. Robinson. Yes. Waring. Yes. Hodge-Washington. Yes. Gallego. Yes. Passes 8-0. Item will now go to the planning and zoning portion of our agenda. Item 72 is an item in District 6 involving uh an appeal of an abandonment of an alley at Lafayette Boulevard. It is in District 6. So, as after open the public hearing, we do not have anyone to comment, close the public hearing, and turn to Councilman Robinson. Thank you, Mayor. My motion to overturn the abandonment abandonment hearing officer's decision and approve further memo from the Planning and Development Director dated March 23rd, 2026. Second. Thank you. Roll call. Warda. Yes. Hernandez. Yes. O'Brien. Yes. Pastor. Yes. Robinson. Yes. Waring. Yes. Hodge-Washington. Yes. Gallego. Yes. Passes 8-0. Item 79 is an agreement with Arizona State University and the Morrison Institute and the Arizona Research Center for Housing and Economic Solutions to conduct a middle housing study. A huge thank you to Councilwoman Stark, who came up with this idea and helped find the right resources for it. We want to make sure we do a great job providing housing in our community. I'll turn to Councilwoman O'Brien. Thank you, Mayor. Um I'd like to move to approve item 79. Second. We have a motion and a second. Councilwoman Hernandez. Thank you, Mayor. Uh I'm really thrilled to see this item on the agenda for approval. This study is critical uh to adding more tools to the city of Phoenix on ensuring that we expand middle housing citywide. I also want to thank uh Councilwoman Stark for uh her work that she did during that vote to to think of this this path forward. Uh middle housing brings the exact type of smaller scale options that all of our residents will benefit. Um District 7 is ripe with opportunity to see middle housing being built that would offer more choices to where our residents want to live. Um I have had residents from Maryvale to Woodland, from downtown to South Phoenix, uh that have been exact asking for exactly this type of solution. Um and if we expand middle housing citywide, this will also take off the pressure from our historic neighborhoods uh who feel that they have to carry the brunt of a of housing solutions. Um thank you to our city team uh and our partners at ASU for leading this study and I welcome any and all opportunities for this to be completed and back to us for further action uh way ahead of the deadline. So, thank you so much. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Councilwoman O'Brien. Thank you, Mayor. I want to thank my fellow council members for their continued commitment to increasing our housing options. I especially want to recognize um Councilwoman Debra Stark for her support and action to expand middle missing middle housing. My housing solution plan has a strong focus on increasing middle housing because duplexes, triplexes, and townhomes are the kind of attainable neighborhood-scale homes that help working families, seniors, and young people stay in the city they love. I'm also hopeful that this study will help us identify a more equitable distribution of growth across Phoenix so that the burden of the state's preemptive housing mandate does not continue to fall disproportionately on our historic communities. Today, by authorizing this partnership with ASU Morrison Institute, we are investing in independent data-driven research that will help guide this council toward evidence-based housing policy for all our residents. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you so much. Roll Council Vice Mayor. Thank you, Mayor. I also wanted to take an opportunity to thank Councilwoman Debra Stark for for this initiative, for kind of leading this discussion. I really am excited to see this move forward. This allows us to make data-driven decisions. Um, I also think it's going to help us to be intentional in how we uh move forward. Staff will planning will help to ensure we are aligning development with infrastructure, housing, and the overall quality of life. It also gives us an opportunity to be forward-thinking instead of reactive. I just want to also emphasize the importance of making sure this work reflects the needs of our community. So, as we continue to grow, we have to ensure that planning efforts consider the impact on existing residents and support long-term neighborhood stability. I am generally supportive of efforts like this, um but I just want to ensure that we continue to be strategic, accountable, and focused on the outcomes that truly benefit our community. So, thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Councilwoman Pastor. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Um, this item is about making making sure we make informed decisions, especially on something this important, housing. The state legislator required cities like Phoenix to allow middle housing in certain areas. The law passed in 2024 and the city came into compliance last November. The city complied with that requirement, but we also recognize that there are still real questions we need to answer. This study gives us the opportunity to better understand what's actually happening, what the barriers are, what's working in other cities, and what that makes what that means for the city of Phoenix. In District 4, this issue is especially important. Many of our historic neighborhoods were directly impacted because of the proximity to the central business district. Many historic neighborhoods in District 4 have joined forces and have built a coalition to make sure we preserve historic buildings. Residents have been clear. They want to be part of the conversation and they want to make sure we get this right. I've said this before, middle housing does not automatically mean affordability. But it is one tool and we need to understand how to use it responsibly. The study should help us identify where middle housing already exists, understand impacts, and explore options for expanding housing in a way that respects existing neighborhoods. We should not be making long-term policy decisions without data. This is about taking a thoughtful approach instead of one-size-fits-all solution. I support moving this forward so that we can talk and do the work the right way. Thank you. Roll call. Guerrero. Yes. Hernandez. Yes. O'Brien. Yes. Pastor. I do have one clarity. And it's in the I don't Unfortunately, I think we're doing roll call, so I'm sorry. Yes. Robinson. Yes. Waring. Hodge-Washington. Yes. Gallego. Yes. Passes 8-0. Thank you. Next is item 80, which is a waiver for a data center in District 1. Uh We have a representative for the applicant here, but before we have a a um motion, can I just ask Josh a quick question? Could you tell me if there any requirements related to how big the data center can be? Yes, Mayor and members of the council. The industrial park zoning where the property sits and the associated zoning stipulations for the site have lot coverage requirements of 50% and building height restrictions of two stories along with the landscaping requirements that limit the size of the data center. Thank you so much and I'll now turn to Councilwoman O'Brien. I also have a question before I make the motion. Does the site have any zoning conditions related to where the data center can be developed? Yes, Mayor and members of the council. That the site is zoned industrial park, the site with zoning stipulations is fur- further limited by building setbacks that set a minimum 150-ft uh uh standard for development from residential homes to the west and Yorkshire Drive and residential homes to the south. And now we will hear from our representative for the applicant, Mark Neutral, John Gillespie. Good evening, Mayor and members of the the council. John Gillespie with the Rose Law Group. Um, I'm [clears throat] very grateful to your staff, uh city attorney's office for working with us on on establishing an an efficient binding waiver of enforcement. Um, I do respectfully request today that we continue this item just for a little bit, um one or two weeks uh further is needed to further refine the language of this waiver so that it um does not completely erode the property rights of the landowner here. Um the property owner bought this land in 2022 and the binding waiver, unfortunately, uh the language of it completely erodes their ability to even bring power to the site. And so, a provision such as that is is something that the landowner cannot accept. Um, but we are we would love to have the opportunity to continue to work with your staff to make sure that that language is refined and tweaked so that it um respects the rights of the landowner while also uh carrying out the intent of the city with its with its data center um regulations. Uh Proposition 207 was passed uh unanimously uh or very strongly in 2006 by the the voters of Arizona to protect private property. And um this is this is the exact instance where if the um if the city does not grant a binding waiver of enforcement that works for the the property owner and uh erodes their ability to to develop their intended use, um the city does stand liable to have a claim made against it for the diminution in value that that occurs uh to the property. And so, um we fully intend to develop this this property in full compliance with existing zoning stipulations, with the existing zoning of the site that that Josh um referenced there, and the property can be developed in accordance with those standards. The new data center regulations, however, um provide creates a restriction that that didn't exist before the property owner um bought this land and and before the uh the new data center regulations were passed. Um >> [clears throat] >> So, for these reasons, I I respectfully do request that we we just we need a continuance to work. Literally, there's two provisions in that that binding waiver of enforcement that just need some tweaking with your staff um in order to appropriately apply both to to all of the parcels that we've requested the waiver on, and then as well to define uh the setbacks for uh for some of the um the power infrastructure that that is associated with with any development that that would occur on on a property. You need to get electricity there, and so, the way that it's presently constructed really wouldn't allow wouldn't allow that. And so, we're we're asking for just a little bit more time to to work on those aspects of it. Um and then I'll just kind of share as well >> [clears throat] >> that um the it we really do appreciate this path that that staff has presented with the with a binding waiver. Um, and even if there are particular stipulations of it that go above and beyond what the um the data center regulations even actually really provided, um for instance, bringing power to the site, that's not something that the data center regulations uh prohibited. It didn't say that you can't have power brought to the site, but the waiver the does create that. And so, we just need a little bit more time to refine that, and um that's that's respectfully what our ask is. So, I I'm happy um Mayor or or Council to take any questions that you might have specific to um to that request, but if we just have just a little bit more time, I think um that would uh be in the best interest of the city to protect its its um uh uh claims that could be made against it, and then as well to make sure that the the landowner is able to implement the project that they they submitted to the city that they bought this property for, um and and make sure that we comply with all the zoning stipulations that are in place. Thank you. That is our only comment on this item. Thank you. Um Did you have any more? Okay. I move to approve per the memo from the law department dated March 25th, 2026. Second. Roll call. Gallego. Yes. Hernandez. No. O'Brien. Yes. Pastor. Yes. Robinson. Yes. Waring. Yes. Podge Washington. Yes. Gallego. Yes. Passes 7-1. Thank you. That is our last agenda item. I will turn to our city attorney to explain the role of public comment. Thank you, Mayor. During citizen comment, members of the public may speak to the city council for up to 3 minutes on issues of interest or concern. However, the matters addressed must be within the jurisdiction of the Phoenix City Council and on which the council has the authority to act. The citizen comment session is limited to 30 minutes. The Arizona Open Meeting Law allows the city council to listen to comments but prohibits council members from discussing or acting on the issues presented. However, council members may respond to criticism. Thank you. Thank you so much. It says Diana Barker, but I'm guessing it's Dayann Barker. Okay. Timothy Long followed by Antonio Harris. Timothy, if you are here, could you kind of indicate so that we know you're on your way? Okay, do not see Timothy. Is Antonio Harris here? Awesome. You are next followed by William Heller. Uh thank you, city council and mayor. Yeah, I'm with the Fund for Empowerment. I was wondering if um But is there any way you can uh find some funding for uh public health? Cuz um a lot a lot of unhoused people and low-income people that um struggling to pay their health care premiums. And um also their uh medications and the deductibles and co-pays. A lot of people are having to ration their health care. And the low-income um people like they're homeless. Uh a lot of them are getting uh kicked off of access and food stamps cuz they're not working a required 30 hours a week. And um I know uh personally one guy that got sick last summer after he got kicked off. And um he had to go to the hospital for a few weeks. He got charged several thousand dollars. So it was um inconvenient if they got housing for homeless people they're not going to be able to work uh cuz of the inconvenience they don't have anywhere to put their belongings. So I I was wondering if um like within the next budget or so you can help with people that need uh access and food assistance. Uh thank you. Thank you for That William Heller is next followed by followed by Ronald House. Mayor councilman. My name is William Heller. I'm a licensed private investigator. As part of my responsibilities, I am to pick up police reports from the uh Phoenix Police Department. They've been located at 1717 uh East Grant Street. They were there for several years. It's plenty of good parking. They're moving out of 100 West Washington where there's no parking. And especially for persons like me, I'm 100% disabled. And I just think that it is awful that there's no no place where we can park. You can park on the street, but you can sit there for like 2 hours, 3 hours waiting for a report. That's not right. I don't know what the council is going to do about this, but it's just I've been trying to call you and and find out uh what what I can do about this. But I need to park. I go I I go to the uh Phoenix Police Department at least three or four times a week. I'm usually there for at least two or three hours. Thank you. It's a point of comment. >> like some feedback on this also if possible. Wonderful. And just the way it's not agendaized, so we can't provide feedback today, but perhaps we can try to follow up. I would appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you. Uh Ronald is next followed by Sia. And Ronald Ronald House, if you are here, could you signal? All right, it appears Ronald departed. Is Is uh Sia Johnson here? Could you Sia? And then Noah James Markham will be next. What What did you Okay. So Ronald is not here and Sia is not here. Is that right? All right, then Noah James is next followed by Eric Richardson. Wow, it's so nice to be back here. Um aloha, mayor and to the rest of the city council. My name is Noah James Markham and I am from the great blue city of Tempe. Ice out of Phoenix. Ice out of our airports. You are never welcome here. Another thing, the light rail going to the state capital. What a shame. Why don't you make changes so we can have the light rail by the state capital? We have to think about accessibility for people with disabilities and it tells me a lot about people who voted it down. That you care more about your pocket and I could care less about your pocket. And I know God could care less about it, too. To the city of Phoenix, I'm so disappointed in the men that didn't support this. And at least two women stood up. That is called woman power. And two black people on this board didn't support this. That's a shame for the black community. I'm sincerely sorry for their mistake in Phoenix. Not every black person is like this. And rejecting it, I'm Chinese and that would have been a good decision for us to compete with China. And another thing, please clean your sewer systems here. I do not want to smell the sewer while I'm driving my car on the streets. One quote that is true about the world, that people can be easy to be evil, but it's harder to be a happy and a kind human being. Mahalo and thank you for listening to me tonight. Is Eric Richardson here? All right, Eric is next followed by Rhonda Savage. Good afternoon, good evening. Uh My name is Eric Richardson. Uh thank you again for giving me the opportunity to speak to you all. Um I'm with the Fund for Empowerment group and I'm also a resident of the SOS the SOS lot um facility. The uh last time I was here, I kind of spoke on it with quite a few of us. And I also want to thank you. I know I'm don't think it's a coincidence that our voices were heard. Uh I didn't personally speak on it, but I know a lot of people spoke on like the the uh sanitary issues and the and the and the restroom issues and um we did get uh like soap dispensers and also paper towels. I mean, we spoke more than that though, but uh but it just let me know that our voices were heard. I again I don't think it was a coincidence that stuff appeared basically. I don't think I I really think that if we didn't wasn't here or didn't speak on it that we still wouldn't saw those things. So it does let me know that our voices have been heard and that also gave me encouragement to speak again with you all basically cuz I mean we still need more improvement in everything. Uh And yeah, still um not necessarily me personally I have this issue, but again uh with the restroom issues before us with the handicap and the elderly, I guess you could say. Uh there's only like one handicap restroom and again for us we spoke on it before that they we need need more than one of that. I mean I would even closer we got a X wing for the handicap and the elderly or disabled or whatever you want to say. And right now they have a restroom near there or whatever. But it also goes to say there is positive things about the SOS lot. I mean I don't want to speak negatively on it. Actually, I again if I wasn't there, I'd be on the streets and I'd rather be there than on the streets. So I mean I hear rumors about it possibly being closed down and everything like that and it definitely doesn't need to be closed down. It's going to make the whole homeless situation worse. Uh you'll have thousands of more on the streets or whatever, and I thought that was the whole purpose of having the SOS lot. So, I mean, it's definitely a positive. It just needs some improvement. That's all we're asking for is just things to be improved. I mean, I go on and on about stuff that needs to be improved, but I I got confidence that stuff will be heard, and we will get those improvements, basically. I thank you all. Thank you so much. Uh Rhonda is next, followed by Frank. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I want to thank you again for just hearing us. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen of the panel. I want to thank you again for being here and hearing our voices. My name is Rhonda Savage, and I also am a member of the Pun's Room Improvement Group, and I'm also a resident at the SOS lot. Um I would like to talk to you about the residents that have to take medications. I became one of those last 2 weeks ago. I was attacked by an animal, and I ended up having to have surgery, and have five different kinds of medications to take. Well, you get catering services down at the SOS, but it's one tray. It's a very small tray. And for some, it may be plenty. For me and five medications, it's not enough. I've not been able to take them properly. If I get sick, there's a lot of us there that get sick when they can't take their medicines right cuz their bellies don't have enough absorb it. There was five pallets of water that was delivered. We're not allowed to have it. It's for the city of Phoenix employees. And I believe that's a little bit harsh when the week that it's there, it's a 100 plus. I think that maybe some accountability on that particular site's employees might might help. They're They're eating our meals. So, there's not enough for everybody. The water's there, and they're drinking it in front of us. To me, that's cruel. But on the other hand, if it wasn't there, I would've been I would be dead today. If I wasn't at the SOS, I wouldn't be able to eat. I wouldn't be able to stay out of that heat. So, although it sounds kind of harsh, I'm very thankful that it's there. Again, I just want to say thank you for taking the time to hear our voices. And thank you so much for the paper towels and the soap. I cried. It means a lot that you guys do actually hear us. Thank you. Thank you, Rhonda. Frank is next, followed by Elizabeth. Frank's Okay, Frank had to depart. Okay. Elizabeth is next, followed by Robert Williams, followed by Bevin O'Neal. I don't need to take so much time. I mean, I think sort of the summary of um what um what the SOS lot is that there are some positive aspects to the SOS lot that distinguish it from the other um facilities. Uh for one, um you can have um partners. For two, you can have a lot more privacy. You know, there are certain um difficult more difficult to house people that can stay in the SOS lot. And also, um because there's no other, you know, facilities that are going to appear out of nowhere with a that would take its place, you know, um I think it, you know, should probably it needs to stay. It needs to stay in, and it needs to stay open, right? Um I think that um if that that the residents of the SOS lot are not maybe like less than the other shelter residents, you know, um I don't know why you know, perhaps there could be things you could put into ameliorate some of the the condition of it, like um um misters, you know, things that are inexpensive, um water supplies, um because I I I do think that um you know, there is there is sort of an idea I mean, after the the first lot that was run by Maricopa County came out, um and and there was a lot of fatalities in a fire on it, you know, it it it was very very difficult to take when this one came out but um I think, you know, because people depend on it, it needs to stay open, and and I'm really glad that to a certain extent that you are using your own money to do it, okay? I understand that this is not a federally supported thing. Um and I think that that is the main thing that I that I wanted to say about the SOS lot, just to be clear that we did not want it to be shut down, even though we have, you know, critiques of how it's run, and and um and I know um there's some people who wanted me to clarify that. Little birdie wanted me to clarify that, and I agree with that. So, it's just sometimes it's difficult for my heart when I, you know, I know people that were on that lot, that, you know, that original lot. Um but that's about it. Thank you. Robert is next, followed by Bevin. Okay. Please tell me I didn't mess up Robert. No? Okay. Well, okay then. Okay. Thank you. I'm I'm here specifically as a member of uh District 8, specifically the uh Garfield neighborhood. So, I'm here to address uh Ms. Washington um and your staff um asking for support uh in a matter. It involves It involves my home. It involves my neighborhood. I was recently uh part of the Garfield neighborhood um community uh group. We had a meeting um last night with uh two uh police detectives, and it was determined that um a large-scale drug investigation took place. 47 felonies were uh administered, and three of the addresses of the drug dealers that uh were selling over 600 pills each happen to live three houses within my house. They they literally surround my home, okay? I'm a 15-year resident of the Garfield neighborhood, and I have been recently invested $54,000 into my home, uh renovating it myself. And the city has had the audacity to sue me, or attempt to. I'm fighting it. That's why I'm here now. And I have the support of the Garfield neighborhood, and I have the support of the police, and I will be providing these letters at my court date on May 5th, um because I got a common blight citation. And I went through the citation. One of the reasons I got the citation is stating that my fence is larger than 40 in. Well, I have a reason for a fence that's larger than 40 in. It's called crime. It's called excessive crime. It's called three drug dealers that were caught in 46 felonies in my neighborhood. I also have, Ms. Washington, photos that I would love to submit to you and your staff, anyone who's willing, of eight homes that surround my house with a fence at the same size as my fence, if not taller, but somehow I'm being singled out and getting a citation and having to go to court on May 6th. >> [clears throat] >> Secondly, when I spent the $54,000 and and increased my fence, because again, excessive crime, 46 for felonies, three drug homes in my neighborhood, I specifically work with the contractor to make sure the fence met any criteria by the common blight criteria. So, for instance, I built the corner, cuz I have a corner lot, so that there's an inlay, so that the right-of-way corner would be in place. Well, I still got the citation. So, again, I'm I'm hoping for your support, Ms. Washington. I can't respond to you from the dais, but I will have my team come and meet you to make sure we get the information. Thank you for taking the time to come share that with us. Thank you, Mayor. Uh Blue Crowley, followed by Teresa Hill. In blue, is blue here? All right. Uh Teresa Hill is next. Mayor and uh members of council, been a long night. I just wanted to thank you for being patient with us as we share our our concerns and seeing what you're all doing out there. It's been an amazing journey for me. What I'd like to know is the city of Phoenix Sky Harbor, how they fund it. As we've seen in the tragedy in New York, that airports uh have fire trucks on the tarmacs without transmitters. And when Sky Harbor was interviewed, we do too have trucks out there without those pieces of safety equipment. And so I ask if the FAA issued an advisory in May of 2025, I would have thought that the um whoever is managing it, and all I can do is assume because I don't know where the funds for the Phoenix Fire Department Airport Rescue and Firefighters comes from. But I asked you to look and see, do we have contracts or stuff that can help get these on our vehicles out there? It was a tragedy. People lost lives. I'd hate to see that happen in Phoenix for our firefighters or any of our travelers. And then just one other note, I know you don't have any say of what the president is doing by bringing ICE agents in that says they're here to help TSA. Unfortunately, they help by watching and doing stare downs as you're waiting in line to give your ID to pass. That's wrong, and I don't know what you can do about it, but I wanted you to know it's happening. They walk through our airport with their hands holding onto their vest, just smiling. It's pure intimidation. And I feel like our civil rights are under attack by every stare down they give us. So, I will end with thank you for what you are doing. And I don't know if you have any control over what's going on at the airport, but I'm hoping that the discussion has already started of how Phoenix can help make our airport a little safer. Thank you. Have a blessed night. Thank you so much. That is So, all of our speakers, we are adjourned. Don Humana couldn't do it on its own. And with our partners statewide, none of us could do this on our own, but we can do it together because we're working together. And so, we're thankful for these partnerships that that's really