[Music] [Music] [Music] n [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] n [Music] a little bit good afternoon everyone um welcome to the Charlotte City Council um meeting for February the 12th 2024 and I want to call this meeting to order um I would like to begin with introductions and we will start with our City attorney good evening Patrick Baker City attorney good evening Lana Mayfield council member at l t card Malcolm Graham District 2 Marcus Jones city manager B mayor Dante Anderson mayor Pro Tim District 1 dimple at large good evening Marjorie Molina District 5 good evening Renee Johnson and I'm honored to represent District 4 Ariel Smith lead city clerk all right thank you everyone um this meeting is our pre-meeting before we go downstairs for our um meeting that we'll discuss our policy items but right now we have our consent items and I believe believe that we have a motion or I'd like to have a motion for consent items 27 through 54 with the exception of 35 so moved second Madame mayor I believe 49 and 50 were deferred by staff as well oh I'm sorry I didn't get that one today so yes besides from 35 49 and 50 the staff was 49 and 50 and Miss Mayfield asked for a comment on 35 so we have a motion on the floor and a second All In in favor of adoption of the consent items please raise your hand I think that's unanimous all right and so we'll go back to item 35 first and I would recognize Miss Mayfield thank you madam mayor amarie I believe you already got this information but just for the record item 35 is our ground maintenance services I do not have a challenge with us moving forward with these minority businesses I was just wondering out of this 320 Acres of vacant properties if any of that land is developable for housing whether it's multif family or SLE thank you madam and again this property it and I apologize it's not clearly stated in the explanation it says 320 Acres of vacant Parcels but in reality it's bits and pieces of we have the city has 965 Parcels over 5,000 Acres and so this is remnants and this is for mowing and um trash removal and trimming trees on our pieces of our property but to your point um and I've spoken with Phil rer and he said it's a great segue into his presentation because he's getting present here's the inventory of all our properties and to your point what could be used for different purposes so he's going to go in detail with you so thank you for letting me know I set up a great layup for f and with that Madam mayor move to appr PO all right we have a motion do we have a second and um is there any further discussion hearing no further discussion all in favor please raise your hand all right the next item is item 44 land acquisition for tree canopy preservation program um this was re removed from our agenda no 49 and 49 someone pulled 44 I thought it was 4 all right was 45 44 was sorry ma'am there was two property thought 44 and 45 is there any remaining item that requires a vote of the council no ma'am you you pulled 49 and 50 and those are the two that are being deferred by staff to an upcoming meeting okay all right so then let's go on and begin our um meeting um that we have our consent and action review items that we've already um covered so we will now go to the city manager well thank you mayam may members of council uh tonight we have two items under action review one would be the proposed 2024 state and federal legislative agenda uh Dana Fenton will be presenting and there's been a series of discussions in the um budget governance and interg government Relations Committee and then as Marie mentioned earlier I think council member Mitchell said something about it before uh I guess at the annual strategy meeting and then I like the way you said that Miss Mayfield the layout for Phil tonight um a year or so ago we had a number of discussions about City owned land and how are we best utilizing City owned land I think we had conversations about uh $1 leases and a lot of uh discussion about let's make sure that we are really having a collaborative approach so Phil's going to come back I know it's been a while but tonight talk about the various Cate ories of City owned land and what could be some potential uses of them so mayor uh those are the two items that we have teed up for tonight before we start those two items um I've left off something on the um nom Council nomination to the various committees um we are pulling item 14 nominations to the Charlotte business inclusion advisory committee and they will come back uh at the next time for this okay all right um so then Mr Fenton thank you mayor and Council for having me here tonight to talk about the proposed 2024 Federal and State Legislative agendas uh these uh issues have gone through the U through the process of the BG uh committee and I might need a little bit of help here with this uh with this remote control uh let's go to the U First slide let me show show you where we've been so far this year with the proposed agendas they were first presented to the budget governance and intergovernmental Relations Committee on January 8th then we met again on February 5th of that meeting the committee adopted the proposed federal and state agendas and last evening on February 5th the uh committee chair uh asz Mera reported out the committee discussion at uh or the Committee Action at committee discussion and we're here tonight to uh to talk about uh talk about what's in the agendas for everyone's benefit uh next steps after tonight uh we'll be back before you the plan is to be back before you in two weeks to ask for your consideration of these federal and state proposals and um so you don't have to make any decisions tonight on this and then from there we'll be after adoption we'll be on uh parallel tracks the the first track is uh to meet with our Congressional Delegation in uh Washington over the March 1213 period and that will be U will be those are basically the Congressional delegations uh and then of course in April we'll be meeting with our and we just have a date for this it just came in the other day April 10th for our state delegation briefing right here at the government center so we we still have a lot going but uh I think we've uh we have something good to report to you tonight and just to give you just an idea about 2024 uh 2024 is uh it won't be as many work days for the US Congress this year but and also the general assembly will only meet for about two months starting in late April they will want to be out by July 4th at the latest and then because it is a short session uh there are some uh Bill filing um uh limitations this year uh and we have to look for things that we can that are achievable in this current uh political climate and also uh things that we look for are should be acable through legislation budgets and Grant requests and more importantly we try to do no harm we don't want to bring up an issue that's going to elicit a response from the general assembly in particular that uh may be injurious to the city also we do have a new position on upward Mobility this year we'll get to that in just a few minutes and then also the legislative agenda itself I'm trying to show the linkages this year between the federal and state agendas so many of the issues we deal with at one level are are also addressed at the other level uh and then I just have on here I'm not going to read these to you these are the different groups different types of groups that we've uh collaborated with the last several years and continue to do so to this day and uh finally getting to the legislative agenda the different issues are put into buckets uh for infrastructure economic development and community and we have the the separate ones listed there and I'm going to go start with Mobility on the first page uh we would be uh generally try to advance solutions to your Mobility needs uh including the implementation of smart Pol smart policies uh working in in conjunction of course with stakeholders legislators and state and federal agencies on the federal side we would be focusing upon uh seeking trying to secure Federal resources to build out the Strategic Mobility plan and also uh support of federal resources for Freight and passenger rail initiatives on the state side uh have listed one thing State authority to enable buildout of the Strategic Mobility plan now whether that would be trying to actually seek the legislation this year or continuing uh talking with State leaders I don't know at this point but uh but we have it in here uh this would be P the primary thing we be focusing on this year in Raleigh Aviation uh on the federal side we're still need to secure that letter of intent for the fourth parallel Runway and also there's other Federal resources for for Aviation that uh we are uh uh we would that the airport would be trying to secure and then also at the State Side the North Carolina airport Improvement program this provides about $36 million per year right now for the airport for uh Capital needs upward Mobility this is the new position and we'll be focusing on the federal level is to uh uh support Federal resources for our corridors of opportunity projects we've gotten a few grants this past year for that and we look forward to getting some more in the coming years and then also supporting Federal resources of local and Regional economic and work Workforce Development initiatives on the state side uh it would be basically support for the state Economic Development programs that that impact us like the job development investment grant program and also try to access pass through funding administered by the state for uh Workforce Development digital inclusion this is a lot like it was last year on the federal side have a little problem the affordable connectivity program that was enacted two and a half years ago is already going to be running out of money by the end of April this year year and uh that was about 2 and 1/2 years in advance so uh the need out there was much more uh robust than what was figured in the first hand first place so we'd be uh trying to to uh support those resources being appropriated also there is uh pass through Federal digital inclusion funding funding that's administered by the state there may be an opportunity to access those and and certainly supportive extension of broadband of rural are areas uh state has done a lot of work on that in the past four or five years and there's probably still a lot more work to go and immigration this is our immigration position from the last few years uh three parts improve the H1B Visa process establish Pathways of citizenship and increase resources for Refugee resettlement and on the public safety side there are federal resources for fire and police services in particular we try to still continue to access and then also on the state side there may be some past through funding coming from the federal government for these activities and then we do have some 2023 legislation uh that's elig eligible to be considered in 2024 that that could have some impacts upon the public safety area uh the environmental area this is a little uh this is uh fills up the whole page as you can see here there are federal resources for environmental programs and sustainability initiatives much like the state revolving loan funds for drinking and clean water uh and then we have also um support of funding for uh posos and Lead service line replacement uh there's a probability pretty high probability that some new unfunded mandates will be coming down the uh out from the federal government this year on both areas and I know that's an issue that Angela Charles looks forward to addressing with you and at the uh I think it's the April budget workshop and then we have support of environmental justice initiatives I think this Council taking a pretty strong stand in favor of that and then on the state side there is the pass through funding that comes from the federal government that's administered by the state and then we do have a posos issue at the state is that because of what happened in eastern North Carolina there's a lot of proposals that will be uh floated during the session or we have had that experience the last several sessions that uh would try to regulate posos but we found that there is a consistency issue between the federal and state government initiatives and then also there is some 2023 legislation to be considered in 24 want to be ready for that and finally the last one is housing uh support for federal housing programs like cdbg the home investment partnership things like that and then uh there is a continuing issue with the federal Housing Voucher programs a lot lot of landlords will not accept them and so uh we think that might be something to put out there to the federal government to take a look at is there some ways that they can make the program more enticing encourage the private sector participation in this effort then on the state side there are access uh passed through housing tax credits administered by the state and also there are a few pieces of legislation in the housing arena in 24 so uh with that uh want Focus just a few things on the legislative calendar that were not on the previous calendar on the first couple slides on March 6 the North Carolina League of municipalities will be holding its a regional town and state dinner this year at the Charlotte Motor Speedway in cord and typically those dinners are held once a year in Raleigh but it's been very very difficult this year to find a date where you can get uh leaders of the general assembly to appear and a good thing thing here with this with this uh date on March 6 is that senator Paul Newton of CIS County will be presenting and he's the Senate Majority Leader and he certainly exercises a lot of influence in that chamber then going down to April 24th that's when the North Carolina General Assembly convenes their short session this year and then in May the Charlotte Regional business Alliance has their Raleigh reception on May 7th and then of course expect adjournment for the general assembly by July 4th and then US Congress will have to adjourn by this year's end and with that mayor that concludes my presentation be glad to stand for any questions I would like to turn it over to the chair of the committee for comments and then other we'll continue from there yes uh thank you Madame mayor our committee did a report out last week and because of the short session that we have ahead of us uh this was the items that were recommended uh but as we get ready for the long session end of 20 24 we will have additional items and that will be up for discussion later this year uh but I just want to recognize Committee Member uh committee members Mr bukari Miss Mayfield and Mr Mitchell and and Mr Miss Brown um but with that I don't have anything else to add uh committee members if I missed anything feel free to jump in all right Mr Mitchell Madame May thank you in my chair nothing to add but Dana just a housekeeping what time should we schedule our return flight on Wednesday so we can join you at the hill 7:59 p.m. on March 13th got it okay 7:59 p.m. so from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport not Dallas not BWI yeah Reagan okay thank you Dana you're welcome thank you may all right Miss Johnson thank you Madame mayor um I wasn't here for the report out last week I had Co and we know this Council doesn't allow virtual meeting Council meetings but um I wanted to ask do we consider inclusionary zoning and in inclusionary zoning would require that a percentage of all of the development in the city be at an affordable level so I know that we're told that it's illegal in our state but it's my understanding some cities do it so is there a reason that we don't approach that uh so I I I want to ask I don't know Patrick wasn't here and I wasn't here I think former mayor Fox did try to get inclusionary zoning ped and it was submit it and if I recall the outcome I don't I just remember that he put it out there and I don't know how far it went so Mr Fenton do you know how far it went it was recommended by the city of Charlotte I know that that probably happened within a couple years of my arrival but still a little bit in my way back in my memory bank I don't recall but what I have I have received several requests is this is this an item that we brought up with the general assembly could we could we gain some traction and move it forward and the answer to that has always been no the general assembly is um uh is is in favor of incentives encouragement to do things as opposed to um as opposed to hard regulation so uh there have been many efforts made and they haven't gone anywhere and when you say many efforts um you mean from not from this Council because the last time we talked about it was mayor Fox is that correct I don't I'm not sure I just I'm just saying I remember that was not so when you say many efforts do you mean from other cities or because it yeah there there are some from uh legislators who are elected who used to serve on City councils and they will will uh introduce legislation at the Rome behest and then there are others like cities that will request and even some counties have requested that not all counties do Planning and Zoning but some do so I I want to um okay I want to recognize Mr Mitchell are you are you done no oh okay I'm sorry go ahead thank you no I was just I just think as a a democratic Council I understand we want to present things that you know are going to pass but um I think it's something we should at least talk about it it would be so important in affordable housing in the city and to have not presented it since mayor Fox I just think that our I we hear from our voters all of the time um about it so I think it's something if we have an opportunity to at least talk about and and research I think that would be a good idea thank you I understand yes um Mr Mitchell uh Madame mayor this is a reference since you been I've been around old as dirt uh uh Council M Johns I agree agree with you on the topic and it was mayor Fox and I think we have tried unaccessable the last three Mayors because even our delegation has not been warm to the idea of pushing that forward and so I think it's been hard for us uh to drum up support uh for inclusion are zoning so just just a background information and also uh council member Johnson I would and one other thing because it is a 2024 short session we are limited in the types of legislation that can be filed this year uh especially on Statewide legislation like this so uh any local legislation as Mr Mitchell mentioned it wasn't a you have to get a unanimous consensus from your delegation to introduce it even and uh and on top of that any Statewide legislation there's a lot of limitations to doing that so it would probably we would not we do we do not see that as uh achievable in this year right but there are some cities in North Carolina that that have it is that my understanding some cities that have what that that have enacted uh I have seen some cities add this to the legislative agendas but in terms of being active trying to advocate for it I've never seen that okay I think it's sping but it's put on there and they just frankly a lot of them just expected to die thank you um mayor I mean Miss asir thank you I think um committee has a has an important task in identifying issues that we can truly move needle uh there are a number of items we can add to our legislative agenda that we know that wouldn't wouldn't actually bring any traction or wouldn't be achievable uh council member Mayfield had uh raised a legislative item for a federal legislative agenda where hedge funds would not be allowed to buy up uh homes over 75 units or 100 units that's sponsored by congresswoman Adams and Congressman Jackson but we know that that is not something achievable under under uh the political climate that we are in uh so while recognizing that we Champion the items that we know that we could bring traction to and are really achievable versus the ones that could potentially jeopardize other items that are achievable so I think there is a balance that the committee was trying to uh committee was trying to balance our priorities our wants versus needs um and and I think that's what you see in our legislative agenda is okay here are some of of the items that we have presented that we can truly bring traction on and and say hey we can successfully deliver on thank you mayor proam thank you Madame mayor U I'm not a member of the commi of Miss azir's committee but I did sit through the discussions all of the recent discussions and I Mr fitton what I think your comment is probably um the most Salient which is this is a short session we have a very Ro robust um legislative agenda here and there's some some pretty big things we're trying to make traction on and so we have to balance um what we have right in front of us and the opportunities that are a little bit further down the runway so certainly as it relates to housing um a lot of the efforts that are on our legislative agenda for housing strengthening the voucher programs and others are really important and we need to continue to focus on that as well as some key things like Mobility um and of course the air strengthening the airport which is one of our largest economic generators uh in the state so we just need to be very Mindful and manage how we add and subtract to the legislative agenda thank you so Mr Driggs I I just uh I can't see yet how what you just showed us translates into to the typical legislative agendas we've developed in the past and I think to miss adira's point we need to understand that what we're doing here is we're going into somebody's office and we're saying I want you to help me with something or with a few things now imagine if somebody came to one of us and said okay I need you a Citizens group somebody I need you to crack down on crime I want you to bring the cost of housing down I want you to do this I want you to do that we can't engage in a debate these guys are under time pressure so what we're thinking about is here's something I'd like you to do can you do this for me and and it relates to a need that we have here and that list in in order to have any effect needs to be pretty short so if I walk in and I have 10 items on my list I just don't expect any action on them so to miss aira's point the thing here is let's make this personal and immediate actionable and talk about things like the airport the runway money I mean that's something that we can bring up that we might be able to get help with uh that is uh you know and it's not just debating the subject of housing there's a Statewide law in effect that says municipalities may not impose ordinances that uh that require mandatory inclusionary zoning and the discussion around that is extensive uh it has to do with uh what kind of a taxation in effect that represents when you introduce that requirement you you make changes happen in the housing markets and you place burdens on certain people which are in the form effectively of attacks and the legislature isn't inclined to go there uh for us to walk in and try to have that conversation again which has happened over and over um simply undermines our credibility in terms of the things we want to accomplish so I just hope we can get this banged into some sort of shape where the person reading it or hearing it feels motivated to do something for us thank you thank you Mr DS that I think that is the key Point Miss I justed to Madame mayor I just wanted us to go back to the housing slide so uh here is one actionable item what we want to do is tap into the housing tax credit create more affordable housing uh same at the state level as well as the federal level because we're trying to increase the housing funds that we have so that is actionable I think this is where we can get traction on and truly address affordable housing crisis um without engaging in a debate that's I think that that's a great point to come back to miss Ashira I think that covers a lot of these items I think what we really need to do is have the committee working with the staff to um Define those things that can be done that are realistic and feasible under the state or under the federal government because they're both they're separate things and initiatives that we need because we all need to be talking hang talking about the same effort and the same um decision making because if we're not then it looks us makes us look disjointed so my suggestion would be that um the committee um work with Mr Fenton to decide those things that we um consistently all have agreed upon as a part of our priorities from our strategic um planning session and to illustrate what Mr Driggs has said what is our position and what is our ass that and what information that we would have so if that's okay I'd like to refer it back to the committee for that action um is there any objection to that there no objection then miss azir keep keep working it okay thank you very much all right thank you Mr Fenton our next item Mr Jones so we talked a little bit about um the use of City owned land so we have Phil Reaver and mayor I do want to remind folks that you do have a closed s session that we'll try to do at the end of this meeting if we can so if we can kind of wrap it up before the the before we have our business meeting okay all right is what do this here hold on oh my god um okay all right okay we are ready to start as soon as Mr rer is ready to start so thank you I don't think this work no I think it should be okay all right good evening mayor members of council uh just for the record I'm Phil rer director of General services and it's a pleasure of mine today to um give you an update on staff's efforts to inventory and evaluate city-owned property and I just wanted to take just a moment and introduce Greg Crawford here to my right Greg is our real estate division manager he's been in that role for just under a year I believe and uh so I just wanted youall to see Greg's face uh because it's it's because of his great leadership that this work got done so the the purpose of this project was to develop a tool a tool that would help staff manage uh better the real estate portfolio but also and maybe more importantly to help policy makers and decision makers best leverage city property to achieve City objectives and City priorities last year at our March 13th Council business meeting I described a collaborative process that includes Ed the participation of eight different departments the team's charge was to evaluate the city owned uh City owned parcels and designate a future and highest best use recommendation this evaluation is different than evaluations of the past uh primarily because it's the first time we looked at all the properties together and we did so in a very very collaborative Manner and so staff's completed that initial evaluation and so tonight I'm going to share with you some summary results uh in next steps so as work progressed and staff thought through the future highest and best use for property seven categories uh sort of rows to the top and those seven categories are listed here on the left of the slide the team designated all 965 Parcels that's right we looked at 965 separate parcels uh and all of those were uh designated in one of these seven categories and for the most part the categories are self-explanatory so I won't read them to you but I wanted to highlight two that may not be so self-explanatory and that is the category of annual review an annual review refers to property designations that could change um due to market conditions Market opportunities and they need review on a regular basis to make sure uh we're staying close to What's happen happening in the area of those properties and then finally Remnant properties Remnant properties are Parcels that have no discernible use they're typically very small in size and they're left over from capital projects that we've acquired uh right away for for example they typically are undevelopable pieces of property uh unless they were assembled with a joining parcels let me back up one slide so on the right side of the slide I just wanted to give you some fast facts about the project uh again 965 Parcels were reviewed those Parcels represent about 5,000 acres in the city uh 57% of those Parcels are were identified or being used for City operations about 77 of those Parcels are either being used today for affordable housing or are good candidates for future affordable housing projects and then finally 274 Parcels uh reside in the corridors of opportunity so this is just another way to visualize the data um this is a a pie chart that describes the percentage of parcels that fall into each of the seven categories or designations uh it's not a surprise that 57% of our properties are used for City operation generally or historically the city's interest in property has been providing city services and so I think that's why you see uh this um pie chart the way it is today so again just a little more detail I'm not going to go uh and read this to you U this is a more granular view of the data it kind of describes the power of the data uh this is the first time we've had all this data in one place um just just so for an example if we pulled out affordable housing just because it's on the top of the list again 77 properties um that either are being used today for affordable housing projects or are good candidates that represents 55.8 acres and 46 of those properties are in quarter of opportunities and you can kind of see how the other categories um lay out in front of you and then finally as it relates to next steps we're really excited to put this tool to use um currently additional evaluation of of properties designated for affordable housing is underway and and and it's underway in an effort to develop a summer RFP so we're real excited uh about the the uh fruits of that effort economic development is continuously evaluating Market opportunities and this is another data source uh that they have available to them to um to see opport opportunities to include city property this the real estate collaborative which is the team that did this evaluation uh will continue to look at new properties that get added to the inventory to make sure the inventory stays up to date and then finally there's been a lot of interest uh regarding this work and and this data set in the community and so we plan to uh make this data publicly available through the city's open data portal and mayor with that that concludes my brief presentation I'm just really um uh excited about the opportunity to present the work to you and I'll turn it over to you mayor for any questions well thank you first and foremost for it's very unusual for something to be absolutely new to this organization so really appreciate the work that's been done and I want to recognize mayor protm thank you Madame mayor and thank you for the presentation uh Mr rer just a couple questions so if we're reading this right on the uh the table slide currently we have about 1% of our of the city owned acreage that is allotted to affordable housing is that how we should read that percentage of acreage that is correct 1.1% uh of the total 5,000 Acres so 55 Acres would would equate to about 1 % okay and it looks like the vast majority of those um properties are already sit within the corridor of opportunity that is correct okay is there do you have a perspective or a point of view as to whether that number should increase in the corridor or should it be spread um throughout loc different local throughout the city so these properties um the way we designated these properties was based partially uh let's use affordable housing as an example location really matters right what's and what the other uses around those properties might be so you're looking for potentially a more residential use Andor a transition um and so um these properties also are properties that are unencumbered by let's say swim buffers and all some of those other things that get in the way of of development and so it was those types of factors that um led to a designation of a property to be affordable housing or any other category and so um we weren't looking for a set number we were just uh trying to uh just do a straightup evaluation okay Mr Jones wanted to address this as well so thank you uh mayor so mayor protim the um Phil great job okay um the last time we did this I think there were only like nine parcels and to Phil's Point um now that we bring everybody around the table and not just look at multi family all of a sudden it opened up more opportunities for single family all the way up so I I would just say that if we start to look at and then I'll just add this to it you know Phil talked about a summer RFP Sean I think we may have 9 million left in the hous and trust fund something like that which we may plow through with the current 9% credits that are on the table so I I guess what I'm saying is that there's this opportunity here whether it's affordable housing Economic Development environmental to look at all of the parcels that we've had very different than what we've done in the past with the peac mill approach but the 77 count I I don't think I've ever seen anything that large um in City owned property as it relates to affordable housing okay great than thank you for that clarification I was trying to get to if we were to subtract that 46 from the 77 you know we know that the the quor of opportunities are concentrated in certain areas within the city in district one alone there there're two and a half or two in part of another Corridor of opportuni so then that identifies other areas within the city that don't have you know the number of units of affordable housing that might present an opportunity and could and we could strategically act upon that on a go forward basis my my last question is the Environmental properties can you just speak a little bit about what what does that mean the definition of environmental properties right so that's pretty broad um but for the most part what was in the evaluation committee's mind was properties that might be good for u tree preservation but also might be um good properties related to storm water uh drainage sort of preservation Watershed preservation um and so that's generally what what the um what the committee was thinking about tree save and storm water so one topic that's been recurring as I'm out in the community community talking to leaders and uh and others is this this notion of food deserts throughout the city of Charlotte right and that and coupling that with Workforce opportunities for urban farm use and farm development and so we know things like uh the Carolina Farm trust and there other really great uh Community Partners out there that need a Workforce element they need people to work these jobs um but they also need space land space for for Gardens and to have that that vegetal uh growth so it may be a sweet spot it might might not be but as we go through this process maybe thinking about and if it's under these environmental uh properties that's what I was thinking but maybe it's under another designation but if there's opportunities to have physical Workforce programs as it relates to agricultural farming opportunities to address some of these um food deserts that we have in the city it might be an optimal opportunity for us thank you Madame mayor all right all right so I have um Miss ashir next followed by Mr Graham thank you Madame mayor uh great job pH and Greg this is the first time I have seen a comprehensive presentation of our portfolio um so this is what I was looking for so great job to you and your team in bringing this forward a couple of questions so when we are looking at this um portfolio this is only general account is that correct this doesn't include our Enterprise funds this includes everything except the airport okay so it does include Charlotte w cats and storm water got it so Charlotte water uh storm water the those land that's from their Enterprise fund would have restrictions wouldn't be able to use for other purposes is that right or or does it have to be used within the Enterprise fund or can we how I guess if we were to use it for anything else outside of the Enterprise fund how would the transaction work would we have to pay fair market value generally they would have to be reimbursed for market value but if they got reimbursed for the market value of the land that land then could be used for other purposes got it so it would come out of our Housing Trust Fund well or or any other okay come out of a fun a fun okay and then um so environmental uh council member Anderson um asked a question about what that includes I know at some point with our city Arbor eist we were looking at Urban Arbor itum Trails and there were discussions about that what is the progress on that um Urban Arbor itum Trail and uh have we done any pilot projects so far we have done projects related to Urban arbit ROM Trail I'm not uh I don't have that in front of me today it's something that we could work with the planning Department to to get some information back to you yes um so the way I look at this environmental uh designation is usually land that's very rich in tree canopy um that can be used for tree preservation and help us meet our 50 by 50 goal so I'd be hesitant to use it for something else when we have 50 by 50 goals we got other important goals such as Urban arboretums and really addressing even the storm water drainage issues throughout the city uh however to council member Anderson's point we could look at other areas to look at Workforce Development opportunities Economic Development uh without jeopardizing the tree canopy that environmental designation land has um I also want to highlight we have one item on our agenda today that's tree preservation um um and we have continued to see significant um increase in our tree canopy preservation Fund in terms of affordable housing um I would also like to see um where we can have more affordable housing throughout the city I know majority of this is located in corridors of opportunities uh and there is concentration of affordable house ing in some of those districts so could that be used for other purposes to council member Anderson's Point whether that's Workforce Development or whether that's for cultural facility arts or anything else yeah so the the really cool thing about this tool is uh these designations or recommendations from staff they're not set in stone or concrete and so absolutely if there are um other uses that help the city achieve its priorities then uh this property is available for those purposes that's the whole sort of philosophy around portfolio management as a p as opposed to maybe some other philosophies for managing real estate and one other point that I wanted to make on environmental that it just sort of came to mind one other a designation for environmental is where our landfills are our old landfills that we manage are in that environmental category um because they're important for other environmental reasons right so this um I don't see Transportation or infrastructure um does that so City ride of way is not in this city rideway is a different kind of real estate okay all right that's all thank you all right um and so next we have Mr Graham followed by um Mr Mitchell thank you madam mayor and thank you for the report uh the affordable housing line item 77 count did you guys also break it out in reference to the proximity to to um Transit and the bus lines in terms of where those properties are we have not done that yet but the cool thing about the date is we can overlay a lot of GIS layers and we can do quarter mile half mile radius uh around all of our property so we haven't done that analysis but that is absolutely uh uh an example of the power of the tool and and the same question goes for the the six Economic Development um uh properties that are in the quarters of opportunity in terms of their location right and and and their proximity uh to Transit line and bus lines and and those type of things like that that kind of you can start imagining how those things could be utilized for sure I think that would be most helpful um and um I guess it's a question to the manager and and uh uh questions to council not to be answered tonight but I'll ask it um now that we have the data now what right in terms of uh how do we um how do we connect the datas to the priorities like affordable housing we talked about this for years now right we and I think we all campaign on it um city land for affordable housing right so we've all said that at some point in time how do we kind of realize that and make that a reality and how do we take a look at those properties wherever they may be and um the quarters of opportunities for economic development opportunities for small businesses along these quarters and so how do we kind of strategize we have the information that's in front of us to connect it to priorities and and lastly um how can we do it in a timely fashion obviously this conversation about city property has been going on for at least three years now so how can we be a lot more effective and efficient in terms of processing the information in front of us and connecting it to priorities so yes Mr CH uh council member Graham uh why this is perfect timing is because just at your annual strategy meeting you talked about priorities goals objectives we're working on the performance measures you want it to be dat we want to be data driven so now we're really beginning to align how we can reach the objectives that the council has set set before us all right Mr Mitchell Madame mayor thank you I'd be very quick city manager Sean if thank you so much uh for compiling this information two quick questions one would RFP mean that it can only be a nonprofit that can pursue uh our facilities or for-profit that's my first question and second do we get the date when the RFP would be available because I think once we make this presentation there going to be a lot of interest later on this evening so thank you Madame mayor all right do you want to take this T yeah I I'll tackle this this the second one first I I think it we would leave it open well the first one first we we'll leave leave that open so Councilman Mitchell great question it is what's the best way to maybe bundle a summer RFP is there are there opportunities for single family are there opportunities for multif family something that we haven't done before and then I remember the last time we did this I guess we had a dozen Parcels or so but we found out that not everyone will every parcel could be something that you could actually develop topography and things that nature so other things came up like bike trails and things like that but but again to Mr Graham's point and your point we're in the process now of taking feedback from you and that will help us develop any RFP thank you sir okay all right so um now we have Mr Driggs followed by Miss Mayfield thank you mayor so Phil you said you took location into account uh in these classifications for affordable housing did you specifically look at all of the parameters of our location policy was that the the lens you used in order to identify that suitability so that was the lens certainly that our housing and Neighborhood Services folks looked through as we look through these um but you know it it wasn't that hard to when you looked at the surrounding land uses um that and again I use the word potential candidates because there's still some work to be done to to make sure that we meet all of those uh policy requirements and that we put a piece of property out in an RFP that would actually be something somebody would be interested in actually proposing on right but the point is that it also needs to meet the standards that this Council established right for investment in a affordable housing and there was Mobility there was availability of food the proximity etc etc I think all of those need to be checked the same way they would for any other location and the second question I had I noticed there was a kind of a recoil when the trust fund was mentioned uh the there's a question about how we account for this so if you take a city property on our balance sheet and you remove it you need to replace that with cash now the cash needs to come either from uh somewhere else in our accounts uh or uh new revenue or something and what I'm getting at is the trust fund is what the public approved in terms of bond issuance for the purposes of Housing and it's a separate category of bond issuance a separate accounting so if you get an Enterprise fund or the general fund and it commits an asset to this then the the that fund needs to be reimbursed and uh the logical place to do that would be the Housing Trust Fund and this should be treated like any other trust fund transaction with that property in the capital stack the same way do it for everybody else because I think we owe it to the public to be transparent about the the priorities that we're uh pursuing and the Investments that we're making this should not be a backdoor way of of of kind of concealing the fact that we're investing more in housing than the public approved of the bonds um and in that context too I mentioned uh there could well be cases where the best thing you can do is just sell that land and if you want to use the money for housing but you know don't compromise your ability to create housing because you insist on using something that the city didn't acquire initially for the purpose of Housing and that may not be ideal you know the alternative is always you just sell it and use the cash to buy up properties in line with a strategy that we have on the location and the type of investment we want to make in housing thank you Miss Mayfield thank you madam mayor you would let me go after it I appreciate that so in direct contradiction to my colleague we have done that we have had lots of land throughout the city that we sold for so-called highest and best use and many missed opportunities so one field team thank you for pulling us together as we drill down and we have this conversation Mr manager you and I have already had conversations I would love for us to look Beyond because our corridors of opportunity have changed from when we first went into certain areas and made Investments I what I have not seen and I don't necessarily know if it's our responsibility or if there's a Rel way to partner with UNCC Charlotte to look at where did the people go so for those who once were in those areas identified as corridors opportunities that have been displaced for with whatever reason are they still in Charlotte have they moved outside of Charlotte what does that look like f question for you on these remnants so we're saying that it's about just under 60 Acres in the remnants now that we're having the conversations of quads duplexes other things it will be helpful if we can break that out because I know a lot of the time we were really focusing on multif family larger products and now that we've looking at single family are have we added in the quads the duplexes things like that and if there's a possibility to break out even more what it can look like for potential housing opportunities but also keep in mind we're having this conversation within creating Partnerships with our religious institutions here's also a great opportunity for us to be looking at the land that we have that might be adjacent to one of the institutions that are ready to come to the table to help us move forward where they might have land we might have a Remnant piece that's adjacent to their piece of land that can give us a better lot to build on so before for me before we put out this RFP it will be helpful if our departments continue to cross Pol so that the work that is happening within housing and Neighborhood Services Under Rebecca Warren miles and the team that we're seeing where we might have some Synergy there before we open it up to the community to say what are you proposing I also agree with the suggestion for my Council colleague of let's look at putting some requirements for to be the nonprofit organizations we have some organizations out there doing great work historic westan is already making a difference in the community with what they're building on West Boulevard what we approved with them getting allocation of land off of Columbus Circle where which one of our drug infested areas for many many years now have 7 800,000 homes throughout the neighborhood we have [Music] some positive movement that's already happening I'm looking at this as opportunity for us to continue that movement versus creating a new Lane how do we strengthen up where we've made Investments and where do those Investments need to go moving forward so getting a better idea for me of what that Remnant looks like in comparison with environmental cuz for me environmental will also include our Parks our streams our Trails where we said it might not have been good for development but that was yesterday's development is it potentially a good opportunity Unity for the today's development especially if we're going to partner with that Remnant piece thank you thank you Miss oh go ahead uh thank you uh council member Mayfield I I will say that the remnant piece I don't want people to get too excited about that it's kind of messy it's little slivers and you know in some places the the best thing to do is to just give it to the adjacent Property Owners so that they would pay tax on it instead of us so I'm just saying so you can you can help me out I think you guys really really zeroed in on what could be I'm sorry council member Mayfield you are correct if a Remnant can square off something and help with a house of worship something we'll go for it I just didn't want you to think that we have 119 opportunities out there it's okay okay yeah we you got to be a little bit um to be a Remnant so um now we have three other speakers and we'll start with Miss Johnson thank you Madame mayor I think that's a brilliant idea council member Mayfield it reminds me and I and I've talked and I've mentioned this before in Columbus Ohio there was the land bank we've talked about where the nonprofit organizations had priority to purchase these Remnant pieces of land I think I think that's a great opportunity I get calls all the time from nonprofit organizations how can we have access to city property so if there were that opport Unity for you know first and foremost to to align with the faith-based organizations or if there's that opportunity to expand their their land but these Remnant pieces if we could open those up to nonprofit organizations where they could have those Gardens you know there's some lands I I saw something on the news there was a gentleman that won the lottery he won $200,000 from a scratch off and he's putting money into these little tiny homes or something so there might be opportunities for nonprofits to buy pieces of land if we could do that so I think that if um if we can make it a priority because we're doing a lot of great work for nonprofit organizations and I think this is an opportunity to kind of expand upon that um also from an ed perspective I had the pleasure of going to one of the co-working facilities this weekend and it was so cool I think it's Hai is that how you pronounce it hi hugi say hugi okay hugi thank but if we had something like that we've talked about an incubator for nonprofit organizations so if we had one of these um buildings for nonprofit organizations who can't afford those co-working facilities and there are a lot of Grassroots organizations that are doing great work and cannot afford office space we know that prices are going up in this city we had the discussion during zoning small businesses are being displaced so if we look at our properties from that pers perspective Ed and um for nonprofit organizations and small businesses and then the remnants for um nonprofit organizations to have access or priority um to purchase those at a very very discounted price I think that that would be a great thing to consider thank you right Miss Molina thank you Madame mayor um W you go at the end of everyone else speaking and they pretty much said to some degree what you would ordinarily say um so I don't want to belabor any points take any extra time but I want to go back uh to what the mayor protim mentioned um specifically around the corridors of opportunity because what I know we're going to find um is a lot of emphasis around the corridor so you know first of all I want to say to you guys thank you for this because I the one thing that I know um and I I think my point is going to lend itself to um you know certain areas of town being overburdened with um affordable housing but now that we have the quantitative information for guidance it I I personally feel like it needs to lend us to some level of policy right because if not I think we're going to be you know kind of nitpicking kind of picking our way through this on a on a one by one basis district 7 is different than District 5 you know District 5 is or five district six is different District three is different right so if we don't create something that is a policy guidance based on the quantitative information that we have right now that we have a full picture of what we have available to us cuz I'm sure it was a lot of great ideas right we have some great ideas but then what type of guidance are we going to use because I think the most important thing from an equity perspective is that what we do in one we do in all um the one thing that I uh have felt since we came into the door and uh council member dggs and I we've talked about this a little bit um about really making sure I I really would like to see um from a you know a decision-making perspective like what we spend per district from a budgetary perspective but we got ways to go before we get there I will not drill down on that but know that that's coming from me because that's something that I'm interested in knowing um but in the interim while we have this information and while we're allowing it to make us you know better for decision-making I'd like to offer to the body that I think we need to you know look at it from a a a policy perspective some general guidance where when we're talking about and discussing these you know assets how we would apply that across the board no matter what part of town we're talking about because that's that's how our jobs are designed now personally you know if I if I had to speak personally um as as a as a person where this is my only income I I've dedicated my life to do this job and what I make here I couldn't work so I can't even imagine someone who doesn't have like the flexibility that I have right trying to let's say if they're a mother with children or they're a father with children or they you know have a network they don't have a network so housing affordability is something that I think we all are going to be a little bit more passionate about you know having um our community members that serve our community able to afford to live in our community so as you know as it lends itself as as as creative as we can be I'd like to see us be but then also I I know we have to have some level of guidance where you know it's applicable across the board no matter where we're talking about in Charlotte um and actually starting from the place that we have right now and this is just an assumption with no specificity I know that some of these affordable units are more concentrated in some areas than others so it's going to leave us kind of chasing you know um I guess what would look like some level of equilibrium to be able to you know um make that an even spread so that's just a a a thought an addition an offer to my colleagues and everyone else I'm Mr barari uh first good job Phil it's always good for a company to have a list of its assets so I'm glad we're we're moving that forward to the next step I just have two quick questions one Phil is this inclusive of all city property EG like the government centers in there or just a filter lens on things that are viable for this approach no this is every piece of city property except what's in aviation's portfolio so it includes government center and all operational facilities everything and then second question to you Mr Jones um so if you do the math roughly this is you know let's say there's 312 square miles in Charlotte that equates to about 200,000 Acres so and that's about 5 thou 5,000 so it's about 2 and a half% of the entire city is is owned and um on the balance sheet of the city once you take out what we actually operate in I'm curious have you contemplated and what do you think about it's standing up some kind of like um auction type approach where we just sell it all and then use that to not have to raise taxes this year is that possible so can I say it a different way no so no you can't so I will yes or no that right so the operational piece one thing the Phil did not mention and this is something that was discussed originally when we went down this path is are there facilities that we own that we could get out of those facilities you and I don't want to pick anyone but let's just say Solid Waste Services you know so that's in that operational it's space we're building much like we were doing in district 7 when we had affordable housing and we had land so so I would say to you not necessarily going in just doing a far sale of what we have I I just don't think that is going to give you the bang for the buck but the operational piece should be another dive that we take to see what we can do with the the parcels that we have facilities on wait so I I guess my ask of you especially since we spent the afternoon really teeing up The Narrative of the need for a tax increase I think this fits into my broader comment there which is did we look under every rock that that that enables us to say this is the only option I think this is a good one where if there's 5,000 Acres there maybe there's only 1,500 Acres at the end of the day that could something could be done with including the affordable housing 77 um units but instead of doing that what if we sold them what kind of Revenue would that generate and would that fill the Gap needed uh when we are looking at the tax increase could I comment on that no no Mr DS uh no seriously you you would not use it as Revenue because it's a one-time thing you pay down debt with it and you would free up debt capacity that would be the way to do what you're saying because it's a onetime thing so revenue is a recurring ongoing stream wait what is revenue again uh an ongoing stream right and this is an asset so when you dispose of the asset I you get cash from the I understand but I think there's a way use that cash to pay operating expenses you use it to pay down debt right but we probably have some creative way I mean these are existing things that would then go on the tax rolls so what would the tax roll recurring Revenue be that is not existent today there's several way what I'm saying is be creative and I agree you know let's not leave any stone unturned before we say the only thing we can do is raise taxes okay so I heard um Mr Jones that you need to have a policy of some are FP it needs to be aligned with Council priorities and to consider the Enterprise fund look at the remnants and housing and Gardens and small businesses and nonprofits options to sell and an arboretum Trail so whenever you're ready whenever you're ready whenever you're ready just a short I um actually I think that this is but I laugh about it but I think that what happens is you give us good data and we find ways to be build on it or create it and make it happen so I do think the policy idea is a good one if we can just figure out a a starting point and have a couple of test points and see how it goes because this is we don't know we have data but it's not the data that we're going to continue to um try to screen and make sure and happen because I I think that you know Council priorities are for affordable housing or for housing initiatives include those things that many of you have said so thank you very much but um yes there's another last question just well and I'm not going to add to your list uh city manager promise but uh Mr rer how do we have this data is this data sitting in the lake and can we build algorithms on it pretty easily you mentioned that we can do some GIS layers but is this data malleable in a quick efficient manner to provide insights it's a database that we can report off of yes okay excellent okay all right so is that the last part of this um we now have a motion to go into Clos session so if you we need um the City attorney is going to read the motion for our close session and if you guys would um care to come downstairs to our meeting and be ready for our discussion down there at 6:30 so need a motion to go into close session to consult with the city attorney to reserve the attorney client privilege in the matter of bog versus City of Charlotte we move we have a motion and a second all in favor please uh anyone oppose all right [Music] we're [Music] [Music] [Music] yeah [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] all [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] I [Music] [Music] w [Music] [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] a [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] e [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] everyone thank you for being here to join um the Charlotte City council's business meeting today um appreciate having all of you here um we have a wonderful crowd here um today physically joining us for some on some very important issues there are a couple of things I want to um just say to those who are watching us on um the government Channel or any other type of um connection that you would have with us on the internet that we um have in our community the idea that we can have discourse we can have the opportunity to speak about topics even when we don't agree with each other and I would like to say very much over the last several weeks we have learned that the best way to do that is by asking you to participate in an orderly way now the worst thing I can say is that if you don't participate in an orderly way you will be asked to leave the chamber and that's unfortunate but that's where we are sometimes in our um in times like this and so I just wanted to make sure that everybody's aware of that we've been doing this a little bit over the several last meetings and I think it just helps everyone to understand what the ground rules are so thank you for allowing me to um review that with you um now I'm going to begin our meeting with introduction starting with our city clerk Stephanie Kelly city clerk dle at large and welcome T brown thank you for your time District three good evening um I am Marg Molina I represent District 5 good evening I'm Renee Johnson and I'm honored to represent District 4 good evening everyone James Mitchell city council at large Marcus Jones city manager V mayor good evening Dante Anderson mayor protim district one Malcolm gaham District 2 Ed dggs district 7 tar card 6 good evening Lana Mayfield council at L Patrick Baker City attorney We Begin our meeting with um words of wisdom expression inspiration and um we are followed that with the Pledge of Allegiance but we also recognize that this is about solemnizing our occasion and taking care of our responsibility to um listen and and act as a part of this community um so today we're going to have words from council member Brown and then following council members Brown's um remarks then we will have the Pledge of Allegiance and please if you choose to join us that is fine if you don't thank you very much we'll be fine um and so I will turn it now over to council member Brown thank you madam mayor thank you so much so I am very spiritual I am born and raised in the church Baptist Church I'm 1243 W Boulevard Greater Mount s Baptist Church been there forever and so for those that would like to join you can I am going to pray because our city needs that um there is division and I just want to go in solidarity in my faith and so at this time I will say gracious and Eternal Father Lord God we thank you for this day we thank you for all 11 individuals that serve on this Council and the mayor and our city manager it is very difficult Lord sometimes to make decisions we ask that everybody be respected even if you're in opposition we ask that you look upon us without judgment as we know that judge those lest you be judged I thank you for this time in this seat and for choosing me as an appointed vessel to do your work and that's the only thing I want to do if I can't do your work then I don't want to do it and I thank you for all things come through you cuz I'm nothing without you and I don't try to be and I just thank you for our officers that serve I thank you for the Advocates that come down I thank you for the community constituents that are here I thank you for our staff and I thank you for everybody that support me I also thank you for those that do not for they don't know me I thank you for all the things that you stored upon me Lord God and I thank you for your strength in your son Jesus precious holy magnific name I pray and I thank you amen amen thank you I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you everyone um Mr Jones usually provides us a report that talks about the next 30 days do you have this for us today Mr Jones yes mayor and members of council I do have uh the next 30 days in the um my memo and we'll just uh we have the zoning meeting uh next week we have the council business meeting on the 26th where there have been uh questions about mobility and questions about arpa so we want to cover both of those at the action briefing uh it's you aware we have the council committee discussions on the 4th and then as Dana Fenton mentioned you have the national league of cities March 11th through 13 and mayor I'd like to just give the rest of my time for the very important policy uh measure that's coming up next thank you very much Mr Jones so um now we have an item that I think many of you are here to hear about um is we have a report report from our committee um and so I'd like to re just go through the procedure for this one because this comes out of a committee we will go ahead and have a motion from for based on the committee's action so we'll start with Mr barari uh sure mayor I will uh I will make a motion um and I will get to that in one second just to to Tee It Up that we watch I'll make the motion the motion is to put all eight of the original ordinances that came out of committee um and uh up for a vote and knowing there were two 15-7 and 15-23 that had some other insights into them I'd like to make the quick case to the council that we keep all eight in however I understand that there are some that have a level of discomfort so if a if another motion is needed um to just do six so that we do make progress and moving forward I I will support that as well but I for these two cases I I just want to make the quick case 157 is unauthorized persons on parking lots this is do they have lawful business there um and we've we've heard issues around that one and 1523 loitering for the purpose of engaging in drug related activity um these are both things that while it has been called to our attention there may be some First Amendment issues for us to consider I I would I would just say first and foremost they were already on the books in 2021 and before with no issues and um we I can't remember a single instance in my 20 years here that ever anyone came up uh and it was news or an issue that that had been used in an inappropriate way let alone a way that was suppressing First Amendment rights and speech so I would really ra uh encourage us to push forward for for two main fronts and reasons on this one I hope that we find additional ordinances after today that can push us more down the path of ensuring the folks that are on the streets that are either offending certain ordinances that we have or simply are on the streets for other reasons um both for their own health and for the broader health of our community are brought to facilities that can help them and number two I hope that we put just as much emphasis on funding all of the great programs for the wraparound services that they ultimately need uh once they are brought there and I think those two issues summarize for for the division that exists in this city right now on this topic one or the other of the issue that folks find themselves in and I think there's a way we can do both and after many conversations in the community I think the glue that binds those together and things that we've seen work in other cities is US connecting a homeless court US finding a homeless Court option because I think one of the biggest issues is when folks look at this and I think we'll hear from the community today well don't criminalize it well I don't think the initial intent is to criminalize it the first intent is for police officers who walk by a danger situation or something that shouldn't be happened just to be able to say knowing there is ordinance in teeth hey this this shouldn't you you know the next time I come back by here um you can't be doing this or or there there will be an issue I think it goes hop straight over to the last part which is someone being taken to jail and into the court system which is not what any of us want that's why I think this homeless Court offers this amazing opportunity it's it's populated and staffed by people that are closest to the issue in the community it's not in the courthouse it's in a parking lot or it's in somewhere that's nearby where the issues are happening and it serves not as a court to criminalize things but as a mechanism to Route folks to the true wraparound Services they need so that we get focused ultimately on making sure they have the resources they need so um I will make this motion to take all eight of these um of these ordinances uh that were on the books in 2021 and before but ultimately if we can't get there today let's keep working on all those fronts together and and I will support um just just m moving the ball forward tonight okay we have a motion to adopt the ordinance amending the city code by adding the language specific to criminal enforcement and including those recommendations of 15-3 15- beer and wine consumption 15-7 unauthorized persons on parking lots 15-8 trespassing on Motor Vehicles 15-3 Ling for the purpose of engaging in drug related activity um 15- 82 masturbation in public 1583 urination and defecation on certain property prohibited 15136 behavior and 15 14282 solicit listening from Street or median strip and um Mr barari you have a motion and we have a second all right so now I do want to make a note that um this committee was out from our um Community Committee on housing and safety and Miss watlington is unable to be with us and she chairs that committee so with that we have a motion on the floor all right Miss azir thank you Madame mayor um as a Committee Member of the housing and Safety Committee uh I just first want to recognize council member watlington leadership on this issue uh chairwoman watlington has been working on this along with Vice chairwoman council member Mayfield for past 6 to 8 months and I appreciate the work that they have done uh I have been in communication with Dr watlington over the weekend and you probably probably have heard from her over the weekend she was trying to build consensus uh so the substitute motion that I would like to uh move forward here is my substitute motion um please pass this around would you so here is my substitute motion you will all get a hand out so substitute motion is to restore CRI criminal enforcement as an option for all sections identified in agenda item number seven except for section SE 15-7 157 and 1523 so 15-7 is for unauthorized persons on parking lots and 15-23 is for lottering for the purpose of engaging in drug related activity second this and to establish an effective date of March 1st for the effective date of the pro proposed amendments so I propose that substitute motion all right we have a motion and a second for the substitute and so it was important for us to go through this because we want you we're going to hear from you before we begin our own discussion and so we have approxim well we have 30 over 30 speakers and in our process of when we have a speakers list this long is that each person gets two minutes I try to call two we have two um mics at the Das or down here on the floor so if I I'm going to call people so that two people can come down at the same time and I always say be careful these steps are very steep so be careful of that mam mayor before we go to the public I think you still had people around this diets that had their hand up I'm sorry we going to have our discussion following had to the amendment we I'm sorry you if you had recognized my colleague I think there was an amendment to the amendment they were still Mr Baker can I do an amendment to a substitute motion a motion to amend uh could be made not not another substitute motion but if there's an attempt to amend I'm not sure what motion is being amended all right had two different sub I actually wanted to make the substitute motion okay well we have we've already we already have a substitute motion on the floor so you can do one motion at a time so there's a motion and then a substitute motion The Substitute motion will be Ed first if the substitute motion fails another substitute motion could be entered in at that time okay but you can't have multiple substitute motions in front of the council at once exactly so we have we're all agree understand what the attorney has said so we have a substitute motion that has been released that basically is um Miss says what Miss asir said and so be now we will begin our public hearing well before we do that I'm sorry um yeah can we can you clar I mean I don't want to question you but can you clarify that it seems like we've done that before I wanted to make a substitute motion so can and we can hear from the public but I wanted to make a motion that uh kind of removes even more of the ordinances so would that be an amendment so if you're going to do an amendment to to the motion you can make you can do the amendment I don't know if you've got a second or not but then you'd have to have a vote on Council to amend the uh The Substitute motion so then then I'd like to say for the record I'd like to hear from the the public and I do plan to amend the to request an amendment to The Substitute motion I we couldn't the original motion was made so can you check on that let's go ahead and begin our public and then we'll work with our attorney to make sure that we're following the correct protocol thank you all right so we have several speakers let's begin with Elizabeth thoron and Peter wey is Dr weary here MH oh no is he I don't see him yet he's on his way okay so we'll thank you he'll be here later so let's move on Dr Sadler please join us down and as well as Elizabeth Thor she's coming down to coming down on this side yes that's okay they can walk over time walk over following I'm M Dr Sadler will be Greg derell and Rebecca yarboro so feel free to come down at those steps as well so we will have Greg Jerel and Rebecca yarboro okay next all right Miss Thornton thank you it is Elizabeth Thornton TR it looks like my last name was left I know I'm sorry but that's that's the way you registered I mean I understand I was going to have some questions you um good evening uh council members I'm here as the chief district court judge for the 26 Judicial District I'm here to talk to you about the very real challenges our community faces um and what you are trying to solve in looking at uh implementing uh criminal punishments for violation of certain ordinances and adopting other ordinances that would address some behaviors that people who are unhoused in our community EX exhibit in public places and and impact our business community and our uh Urban residential neighborhoods these ordinances are classified as class three misdemeanors under North Carolina law they are punishable by a fine and unless there's a significant criminal history they are not even punishable by incarceration the uh essentially implementing criminalization of these ordinances will result in people being arrested by police officers who will spend hours in our detention center to see a magistrate to uh demonstrate probable cause they'll sit in jail until they see a judge the next day who will more than likely in most cases release that individual more vulnerable back into the same situation in our community now I hear council member barari talk about a homelessness Court we have six recovery courts here in mecklinburg county and they are very much homelessness courts they are courts where we are interacting with people who have come into contact with the criminal justice system because of conduct associated with addiction mental illness and homelessness and we Face the same problem that you face we Face the same problem that police officers responding to these incidents in our community phas these are people who need resources thank [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you Dr Sadler greetings friends my name is Reverend Dr Rodney Sadler and I'm here to speak against these proposals this evening because Exodus chapter 23:6 says you shall not pervert the Justice due to your poor Deuteronomy chap 15:1 says since uh there will never cease to be some in need among you on the earth therefore I command you to open your hand to the poor and the needy Neighbor In Your Land Isaiah 58:7 says bring the homeless poor into your house Matthew 25235 says I was hungry and you gave me something to eat I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink I was a stranger and you welcome me over and over and over again in scripture we see that not only are we to help the the poor but that God stands with the needy some have said that God exercises a preferential option for the poor thus to stand against the poor is in essence to stand against God this is evident in all the scriptures of Jews Christians Muslims bahis pay your money take your choice we know the Injustice of the vagrancy laws that were in the aftermath of the Civil War that put black and brown people in jail just for being black and brown it would be wrong to do that to put poor people in the jail just for being poor I wholly understand why we don't want people to urinate and defecate and public spaces but the way to achieve this is not by criminalizing the ACT but by providing Alternatives and this is our moral responsibility to provide these Alternatives in the Bible those who were impoverished were never demonized or victimized the Bible recognizes that poverty is not the result of personal failings or individual choices or moral deficits poverty is the result of chronic a systemic chronic issue it is not the fault of the poor that they are poor but the fault of bad policies and legislating systems that make poverty inevitable so let us fight poverty not the poor fight discrimination not the disadvantage fight affluenza and privilege thank you very much Dr not The Underdogs and the [Applause] under all right um Mr jell and Miss yarbor Pastor yarboro thank you and okay and would Jake sesman and Tim Emy please join us okay thank you please go ahead Council Reverend Greg Gerald uh I'm suspicious as a theologian and pastor of sweeping moral formations that are common to my profession phrases like the soul of America or the moral character of Charlotte but to the extent that those phrases reflect any discernable reality they must be grounded in tangible physical infrastructure rather than in passing fancies like Civic cheer what I'm saying is that it's hard to be free without a place to pee a city that is meaningfully free requires a commitment to the hard physical infrastructure of public toilets and decent comfortable housing without these basic structures to provide for human need those poorest Among Us are hardly free rather they are subject to the strictures of Charities and the whims of cops and with the with the hard infrastructure of toilets and houses we need the soft infrastructure of care we have the beginnings of that through the Care's policies that this the council already has but they require full funding and adequate time your task as our Representatives is not to create the conditions for more arrests rather it is to provide the infrastructure for care care which brings about the condition of freedom I implore you to listen carefully to these other speakers about how we might build such a city [Applause] together Rebecca yo thank you uh I'm Reverend Rebecca yarboro deacon at the Episcopal Chapel of Christ the King in optimist park and let me start off by saying I do understand the frustration of business owners and it is a difficult problem but the question is is re criminalizing really the answer because this is really an issue of economic and social justice yes and frankly care for all of our fellow human beings in this case people are being are going to be charged with a crime because they can't afford to patronize places up town that have facilities that other people can use when Nature Calls I mean think about it think about it if you can't afford it what can you do this is not the kind it's not a road trip you can't pull over to the side of the road and go hide in the woods we must put ourselves in the place of our unhoused neighbors who are our brothers and sisters who would love to have a safe private place to take care of their bodily functions can you imagine the embarrassment and the shame of not having such a place when you really need to go and while there's a good deal of discussion about some different solutions out there I would like to ask you all to take take a minute and put yourselves mentally in the place of these folks whose stories so often are not all that different from our stories and then to remember that saying from the Bible that talks about doing unto others as you would have them do unto you thank you thank [Applause] [Music] you Jake Sean and then Tim Emory will be next good evening my name is Jake susman I'm a civil rights attorney with the southern Coalition for social justice I'm a longtime Charlotte resident and I've been spending the last 20 years working in the state and federal courts of this state and particularly here in Charlotte respectfully many of the suggestions being considered tonight I believe are legally dubious and open the city up for litigation for example section 15136 subpart five the anti-sleep anti- LIE Provisions by rendering it unlawful to sleep or lie down in city parks the city would be effectively punishing the involuntary involuntary homelessness of the residents of their city that violates the substantive limits of the eth amendment we are seeing legal challenges to these kinds of ordinances around the country and I think it almost certainly would result in legal action here section 1523 the local antiy ing ordinance this would give cmpd nearly unbounded discretion to take otherwise legal activity and color it as something criminal or nefarious we have a first and Fourth Amendment for a reason this would undermine both and moreover there are already laws on the books that would address unlawful unlawful drug activity the anti- urination anti- defecation if we had more public bathrooms this would not be on the agenda tonight as written this too invites legal challenges I want to note that Senate Bill 300 which started this process went into effect around the same time as the release of the ran study and the city safe Charlotte report Ran's analysis told us that the city should invest in alternatives to sending the police when addressing housing instability mental health and substance abuse issues it also said cmpd needed to move away from aggressive and zero tolerance models where appro criminalizing these Orin ordinances flies in the face of those reports which was evidence-based I ask you not to do it thank [Applause] you thank you Mr susman and uh before Mr Emer gets started can we have Miss Sarah Kenny come down uh and Mr James Lee come down so that you can get started when Mr emmer is done good evening I stand in strong opposition to the council giving cmpd a blank check to arrest our most vulnerable citizens for simply trying to live and survive we know that people experiencing houselessness are more likely to be victims of crime than perpetrators so let's protect them not criminalize them we know that meinberg County Jail is unsafe eight people are dying in the jail a year three have passed since mid December you are asking cmpd to use good judgment and discretion when deciding to make an arrest the same cmpd that has killed 18 people since Keith Lamont Scott the same cmpd that has failed to use discretion when declining to issue more citations during the peak of covid the same cmpd that intentionally trapped gas and assaulted peaceful protesters in June 2020 because they were tired the same cmpd that brutally assaulted a woman outside of Bojangles mere months ago you know better you know better you represent the people not Center City partners and Uptown businesses take the steps to provide for our citizens with the greatest needs it's not a crime to sleep outside when you have no shelter it's not a crime to ask someone for money it's not even a crime to urinate when we have no public restrooms and those same businesses are openly hostile to unhoused neighbors stop and ask yourself do you see a problem if you were voting with the council Republicans and Trump supporters on this issue remember when we used to ask wwjd what do you think he would be doing here please do the right thing and vote no Miss Kenny and Mr Lee Miss Kenny hi my name is Dr Sarah Kenny I'm a physician here in Charlotte North Carolina uh a little bit about me I work at Myers Park Clinic which is one of our safety net clinics here in Charlotte we take care of our most vulnerable patients are the most vulnerable population in Charlotte um I'm here today to speak out specifically um um against two of the ordinances which is the anti-sleep ordinance the parked behavior um lying prone on a bench as well as the uh urination and defecation ordinance I appreciate the long-term efforts and remarks by city council to work with our nonprofits uh to come up with viable long-term Solutions uh to address Charlotte's affordable housing crisis the reality is though that in our IM immediate States we do we lack the infrastructure for public bathrooms we lack the infrastructure for emergency shelter beds I have had to discharge patients from the hospital directly to the streets in freezing temperatures because our shelter beds are full to capacity people are turned away every single night to make it a crime to sleep outside when we don't have any viable Alternatives is not only immoral um unethical but it is um it we are not portraying Charlotte in the lights that we want to I know that uh City Council Members want to treat our most vulnerable uh p i patients and people in our city with dignity we need to do so by not criminalizing behaviors that are shared by all of us basic bodily functions at a minimum I ask that we table the discussion to allow for future to allow for infrastructure development thank you thank you um following Mr Lee we will have um Judy Selden con and um Miko McCarthy Mr Le it's been a minute since I've been here I know but um I had a couple I'm I'm going to take this in a different direction um some of you remember the first time you saw me I was on the street when you first saw me and I was up here you remember I used to have the hair the you y'all remember Look at me now why why am I here because folks like behind me help me to get here right there's a lot of people that's outside this door that need us to get this right when I was on the street yeah I I used the the a I use the the transit and I use the library to relieve myself some of you relieved yourself when you was coming down here most of us are going to relieve oursel before we leave the building you're go definitely going to when you get home you're going to relieve yourself first thing in the morning you're going to relieve yourself too I challenge you to do what I used to do I used to hold myself over night because I had nowhere to go because you didn't provide although I did put myself in the situation okay I I get Grant granted but still as a citizen I should still be respected enough to have a place to go and you're tearing down two the places that I went I went to the public library and I went to the transit public library gone Transit is going to go where am I going to go after that you got a 50 million thing coming up you need to make that a 20 just because you make these ordinances don't mean that that's going to make a it's not going to make a difference to me right because you you you guys spend a lot of time doing these kind of things and it's not really going to make a difference in the real world it's not going to because I'm still the people still going to do what they do and but just because you put it in police hands it's not going to make it better put it in the hands of us let us let us figure it out give us what we need to do this we know the answer all of us but you got to give us the opportunity to do that y'all know what I do y know what I do I'm [Applause] [Music] out Selden Cohen I am Judy Seldon Cohen and I live uptown in Fourth Ward district 2 obviously no one is comfortable with public urination and defecation but in this rush to mitigate our Collective discomfort let's pause long enough for expanded Street Outreach to help the unhoused find new Porta poot meanwhile let's rush to fund real solutions for all my Uptown neighbors including those who live uptown but unhoused first expand the existing cares team starting in the current budget year so that those targeted by these ordinances can be connected to social workers instead of police cmpd is working on the weekends so the car's team should too second expand the specialized emergency expedite the specialized emergency shelter for those vulnerable neighbors let the cares team and expanded Street Outreach help our neighbors find this new shelter instead of subsection five prohibiting sleeping in city parks third double the housing bond issue on this November ballot all my Uptown neighbors need the car's team and more Street Outreach on the weekend as an alternative to cmpd those who are unhoused also need a non- congregate emergency shelter with mental health services a home with a bathroom and a bed instead instead of a porta potty and a park bench city council has the capacity to be responsive to all my Uptown neighbors both housed and unhoused this is your moment to serve all of us thank [Music] you Miss McCarthy okay I'm be and then Ron Clark will as well as Deborah Phillips would be next Miss McCarthy okay I'm going to be brief and I want to say this a lot of those people that y'all look at is discarded trash of Voters and they voted you in to protect them a lot of y'all don't have the luxury like the city manager y'all were voted in so y'all got to be mindful of those same people that you trying to criminalize they watching even when you think they not watching so the same way they voted you in to protect them and we the community got to keep them safe they going to vote you out Renee you should be familiar with that you just had will run up against you so y'all need to be mindful when you sit up here want to talk about ordinance yeah no need to shake your head it's facts it's elected so don't criminalize a situation when you in a situation that you're fortunate enough like we have shelter we have food we can get in the car we got shelter they don't so they struggle with that so you need to be mindful before you start want to talk about criminalize cuz the same way they got you in same way they get you out and I'm out Mr Clark yes uh good afternoon everyone my name is Ron Clark uh I am honored to be to serve on the board of directors for roof of I'm also the manager community services for Cino Health Center where I teach recovery and change uh by means of State peer support M health for estate Suicide Prevention and Wellness Recovery action plan which we call rra just in the year 2024 I would be facilitating 16 times within meinberg County detention centers or jails each class will be one week um in length to date I tested the lives of over 500 residents we don't call them inmates I test their lives with over 500 residents through these trainings through the re-entry program I also had a nasty addiction to drugs and two untreated mental health diagnosis for over 21 years right here in the city of Charlotte I was not only homeless SL unsheltered but chronically unsheltered for most of that time to include incarcerations under bridges and bushes bus stops also sleeping downtown on downtown parks and and and benches had it not been for a complete holistic approach to recovery I would not be able to speak with you all this evening what we're talking about is a recovery oriented Community where everyone is educated on the myths and and untruths that people like us um don't get into recovery and change um I also part of the CIT team where we teach uh the police officers first responded sheriffs and out to include dispatchers and fire department to and one of our goals is to train these individuals for diverting individuals to known resources treatment housing and housing opportunities I understand that this is a journey not a destination my ask is that we adopt a holistic approach toward addressing this situation let's continue to rewrite the ending for people like me living in the city thank you Mr Clark for your [Applause] remarks Jessica Leo and Harper Ellis would you join us downstair down at the podium and now we'll hear from Miss Phillips Deborah Phillips founder of block love Charlotte hey Ma can I use your phone yeah who do you need to call my case manager who happens to be standing beside me my case manager what's wrong you not smiling what's going on today I was trying to get up here and I defecated on myself that wasn't words to use this somebody I see smiling there every day y'all this was just last Friday and he tried to make his way from the transit to get to me where I serve every evening to use my phone so that he could get his housing and if you criminalize that that's another ding on his record to keep a landlord from allowing him to get into a place so these are the things that y'all don't understand cuz landlords look at that they look at those dings and it might be minor to you but it's major to them when we're trying to house them and this is somebody that could absolutely die out here on the streets when my team sleeps out every year and yes we sleep out every year since 2020 when we sleep outside guess what we like James Lee we got to hold it cuz it's nowhere for us to go because we want to do the same thing that our neighbors do cuz we want everybody to understand that we got to change The Narrative of what houses this looks like and I can be honest and I can honestly say this listen it's one person that actually serve with one of of the city council members in this room and he tells me it's a shame that the stance that you take because we are a government in action and I don't care if it was on the books in 2021 guess what we can always change those books we can go back and rewrite these laws cuz we got to understand about dignity we have to understand about respect and we have to provide housing every single day because these are people that we love and we serve and I call them my block family for a reason because they look like me then my my brothers and my sisters I go hard for them every single day and I will not stop I have not received a paycheck since I can remember but I stand before you all today because I believe in this Mission I believe in what we do and we will continue to spread love thank [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you so um Jessica Leo and Harper Ellis man oh man having to speak after that cuz the client she was talking about is actually mine um and now I'm a mess after doing that but good evening my name is Jessica lewitz I am the founder and executive director of hearts for the invisible Street outreach program um we currently serve mecklinburg County and since May of this year when we got funded by meinberg County we have had over 130 positive exits out of our program we do work nights and weekends I do not advertise my phone number on there cuz then my phone's going to ring till 11:12 at midnight so we do work on the weekends um when I came up here I wanted to share a story because I I I I think like Deb we really want to try to humanize the folks that are outside um and hopefully I can get through this so the story I want to share is about a young woman who was sleeping she was sleeping in front of either the Aquatic Center or in front of the go the um the courthouse she in her former life um worked at Walmart and some something really traumatic happened in her life and she had a she had a mental health break and ended up upside and displaced from her family in that time she slept in um local parks where she was shot which made her disabled now this woman is one of the sweetest women I know um I still check on her to this day but then she ended up up toown her mental he her mental health had went through the roof she literally was ivcd many many times because she would lay on the ground and even in severe cold weather she would still lay there in fact we had to get we we we were able to get her out and then get her into the shelter but before that she did not have equal access to bathroom so she would ministrate on herself in the streets with her disabilities and and didn't have the help and wasn't willing to accept the help but she finally did once Street Outreach got involved she finally did we were able to get her into the shelter and then get her housed thank you followed by Joy Patterson and Laura G gki good evening city council my name is Harper Alis and I'm the vice chair for homeless Services Network we are a network of direct service providers that work directly with our unhoused neighbors something I'm not sure if city council is aware of if we are not in the winter month so December 1st to March 31st there is no rooms in the and Salvation Army is probably at capacity chch in the city is probably at cap capacity where are they going to go they're going to go so they're up they're in uptown all day they need lawn to get their laundry done they need to take a shower and they need to use the bathroom maybe call our mom and the phone but now they're in uptown with no bus passes and nowhere to go so they think potentially a safe place to sleep is on a park bench but to do what we're doing here would being that would make that illegal for that person person and a cop may come up to them at D a.m. and they may not be the happiest that the cop came up to him at D a.m. and told him to sleep somewhere else so city council I tell you this is not going to help our unhoused neighbors and today I'm actually wearing a shirt that was provided from me by meinberg county that says imagine a county where no one has to sleep outside and we 100 plus volunteers wore this this year as we counted our unsheltered neighbors and city council I tell you this is not going to create a county where no one has to sleep outside and we're going to stick people in the system [Applause] forever Miss Patterson good evening I'm Joy Patterson a resident of city council District 4 and a native charlatan I have the humble honor of being the chair of the board of roof above I'm before you today as someone that has worked worked downtown Charlotte for the better part of the last 20 years and encountered countless of our unsheltered neighbors years ago I befriended a frequent panhandler Mr Victor after sharing lunch and snacks with him he began to walk me to my car and along one of our walks I asked him if he ever stayed in a shelter or had meals at the soup kitchen he mentioned that he suffered from the disease of addiction and had mental health challenges maintaining his sobriety away from potential Temptations was more important to him than shelter Mr Victor's story is not unique with over 3,000 people experiencing homelessness in Charlotte on a daily basis our neighbors without homes are forced to do things outside that should be done inside due to lack of options for many traditional shelters are not the answer if navigating a mental health crisis or addiction I ask you all to consider Mr Victor and the countless others in his situation as you seek to address the challenges in the downtown area caring relationships affect much more change than criminal citations rather than focusing our efforts on the rec criminalization of ordinances a symptom of a larger issue consider focusing our City's efforts on the longer term Solutions the Housing Trust Fund cmpd's car's pilot and the two new public restrooms installed today are strong steps in the right direction but those alone will not be enough expanding these programs along with Street Outreach and of course housing addresses the root cause if you do vote to criminalize these ordinances I ask you to include a 12month sunset provision and a delay in enforcement thank you for your consideration and the steps already taken to support our neighbors and Malia sh Shan Ren excuse me and Michelle frenzo yes hello thank you so much for the opportunity to speak here tonight my name is Laura gki and my official title is Chief dignity officer of Project outpour Mobile showers and hygiene services and my title is such because our number one goal is to bring the dignity that comes with being and feeling clean to our unhoused neighbors we believe that access to sanitation is a basic human right that every person desires and deserves to have met we serve at six locations all around Charlotte every single week um and for many of the individuals that we see it is the only dignified restroom they have access to on a consistent basis and the only shower of any kind people access our services 1,945 times in 2023 I can assure you that none of those visitors would have preferred to an arrestable offense to be a human being that simply lacks housing thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you all right m is it Malia Malia s thank you and Michelle frenzel thank you very much and then we'll have Liz Clawson Kelly sorry Liz and I'm Leanne rton thank you good evening City Council my name is Malia CERN and I'm a clinical social worker Charlotte native and currently have the privilege to serve as a director of unsheltered housing navigation at roof above I wanted to start my comments by genuinely thanking the city of Charlotte for their diligence in pursuing conversation with our illustrious Partners at he for the invisible Charlotte with the possibility of expanding straight Outreach in the Uptown area in the same breath I would challenge you all to think about the way that Rec criminalizing these ordinances would H would hinder that future investment in conducting Street Outreach the Rapport building piece is slow and meaningful especially in the system that historically has built more barriers than Bridges so to bombard an already overcrowded system with more quality of life crimes would reduce the resilient neighbors that we work with each day to Mere liabilities in the eyes of our community's landlords our neighbors will spend more time outside more time in crisis and continue and continue to utilize more high cost resources in our community criminalizing these behaviors amongst the Ci's most vulnerable does nothing to provide basic needs or House people it exacerbates the homelessness to prison pipeline that we already know exists in our community you all have the power tonight to make a different choice you all can decide if we are going to address our affordable housing crisis with punitive expensive action or expansion of emergency shelter permanent housing for our neighbors access to bathroom system Partnerships and more I implore you to think about Charlotte's most recent designation as a second chance City but maybe our neighbors wouldn't need one if we just meet them where we are the first time [Music] around Michelle you're up and after is uh Liz Jason Kelly and Leanne ruon good evening everyone I'm Michelle frenzel and I'm here tonight speaking on behalf of one Mech we are a coalition of housing providers service providers and Community Advocates who support diverse neighborhoods and affordable housing for all residents we believe that the proposed criminalization of some behaviors of unhoused people will be ineffective and unnecessarily harmful we are sympathetic to the public health and quality issues created by public urination and defecation as well as the other unacceptable and indefensible public activities and behaviors that these ordinances are intended to address however we ask Council before criminalizing these behaviors first work to resolve the root causes lack of access to bathrooms insufficient transitional housing our need for innovation in creating more affordable housing options and more mental health Outreach Services it's important to note a criminal record for those already unhoused will severely affect their ability to obtain future housing causing an unintended yet desperate and unending cycle by focusing on implementing Solutions as quickly as possible we can derer deter the behavior while avoiding an increase in criminal records that can create future barriers to stable housing and we can avoid overburdening and already understaffed in backlog cmpd and Criminal Justice System we respectfully request that you consider a more nuanced and targeted approach to addressing each Behavior or offense by limiting citations only to the offens indefensible behaviors until viable solutions to public toileting and sleeping can be put in place for the unhoused and more Outreach Services can be mobilized to serve those with mental health needs thank you for your [Applause] consideration all right Miss Kelly good evening mayor and members of city council I'm Liz clayon Kelly and I serve as CEO of roof above last Friday afternoon I had the chance to meet with members of friends of Fourth Ward to seek where we can find common ground and after that meeting a board member of friends and Friends of Fourth Ward and I walked to the areas that uh the neighborhood association had highlighted of greatest concern and what we found there was we found the people we met had some things in common um people we met seem to know each other they were in community we indeed did see open containers everyone we met was experiencing poverty everyone we met was experiencing homelessness not everyone sleeping outside up town but everyone was experiencing homelessness it's not lost on me that everyone we met was a person of color speaking to the realities of slavery and Jim Crow and urban renewal that are right here on this land everyone nearly everyone we talked with was ready to engage and talk about housing and what I walked away with was that what people most was were longing for was hope um people wanted hope that life could be different and I see that life can be different I see it every day on an individual level in the work we do but I've seen it in this community I remember when police arrested people all the time for trespassing and open container and public urination and police have changed they've thought about Partnerships invest in Services alternate responses to 911 like the car's team I've seen us invest in housing first and invest in permanent Supportive Housing I've seen us make a huge dent in chronic homelessness and the impact that has has on everyone now I regularly see people who were homeless for decades that have now been in housing for a decade I've seen us understand the connections between homelessness and housing I see us understand that when rents go up homelessness is going to go up unless we're doing something to actively work against it thank you very much m thank you mayor LS and city council for um hearing and hearing everyone's perspectives and I was one of those board members um that Liz met with on Friday afternoon I want to bring a different perspective um our children our grandchildren also live in this community they live all across Charlotte I happen to live in a neighborhood that you've you've heard of and it's called the fourth ward um I think you might have a different perspective if you look at it from a from that lens the behavior that that children and children have to witness is quite frankly it's appalling it's it's behaviors that are unsafe from a health perspective and actually cause them to not to be unsure about how they feel about being safe overall I bring that up to to share that there's other perspectives to think about when we think about what we're what we're looking at and what we're proposing here what we're really talking about is basic civil behavior and basic civil behavior that can be enforced that is what we're that is what we're asking for and there are basic civil behaviors that often are not are not being um performed by the unhoused this is a bigger issue there's rarely a time that I walk in this city that you don't witness some typ type of civil behavior that is not appropriate engagement has been a default strategy since these since these ordinances were in place even prior to 2021 and it's been a default strategy since removing the criminalization of the ordinances our public spaces have gotten significantly worse even with those engagement Strate strategies we are in total agreement that additional resources for outreach is needed and what I have read and listened to as part of the part of the work that has gone into this those resources are part of this recommendation thank you for your time thank you all right Mr con Mr Connelly uh yes um Mr Connelly followed by Carol pcel good evening my name is Chris Connelly and I am a member of the faith community the business Community the downtown resident community and I'm I'm here to speak about the ordinances I'm against the criminalization of homelessness and I want to end homelessness In Our Lifetime if not sooner amen but I'm also it is for these reasons that I'm asking you to pass these ordinances that we desperately need to restore the quality of life in our city I ask you to do so for the safety the health and the well-being of the housed the unhoused the workers of visitors and their families this is a photo of the little Free Library in our fourth ward park next to a bench where parents and grandparents sit with their children as they teach them to read and explore the wonders of books next to it where the Pink Arrow is is a pile of fresh human feces diarrhea in broad daylight in the hot sun and there are flies buzzing around it no child should have to be exposed to that when they are just trying to read a book in a park no parent should have to make a this a choice of whether to read with their children or to avoid raw human waste several weeks ago I saw a young lady several weeks ago I saw a young lady who works downtown walking alone through that same fourth W Park on a Friday afternoon she walked past a large group of men who are drinking beers from 12packs even though it was nearly it was early afternoon on a weekday as she walked past them they drunkenly leared at her cat calling and harassing her taunting her about her attire and asking for her name she did her best to play it off but she was obviously feeling uncomfortable unsafe and objectified and moved quickly through out of her own Park our park no one should have to walk through a gauntlet of toxic drunkenness because our city leaders are allowing that to persist we moved to this city over 30 years ago from New York like so many others we moved here because it was safe and it was clean and had opportunity but today our city is far less safe and far less less cleaned so I ask you to pass these ordinances thank you for hearing us [Applause] I I understand that you may not agree with I understand that you may not agree with the speaker but I would like okay well then if I think you ought to leave ma'am I think that you ought to leave the building if you can't be respectful for these things so let's let's try if we can all just get along through the respectfulness and let everyone have their speech then we won't have this issue we don't we want to hear from everybody and we don't want you to Heckle anybody's thoughts because they're different than yours thank you a all right our next speaker Kristen Smith and Cedric Dean Carol I'm Carol thank you sorry our next speakers after Carol will be everybody in this world does the best they can under the circumstances they have endured and every one of us has different viewpoints on things that need to happen in this world and things that do not need to happen in this world but we have to really think through things in order to decide whether this should happen or not I am a native charlot my uncle used to be a city councilman for years and years and I have been grown up in this OB 72 years old so I was born in 51 and I grew up going to charlott town mall where you would see white water fountains and colored water fountains not black but colored are we going backwards by saying that we should criminalize people who have to use the facility that is not existent that is not correct and homelessness is without a doubt the worst thing that any human should have to endure I am on the Myers Park High School Foundation board when I started with them there were 100 homeless children or students excuse me they were teenagers at at Myers Park High School at that time we think of all of the rich people and the poor people and we need to learn to love each other and take care of each other thank you amen Christian Smith and Cedric Dean Mr Dean followed by Sandy K Bon BM and Micah bong did I miss oh Mr pen Dr pen Mr Miss Penn Mr Dean no she she's going first oh you're going first thank you good evening my name is Kristen Smith I'm a native charlan and proud graduate of Irwin pedmont and West Charlotte all public schools located near Uptown I have lived in fourth ward for almost 24 years I chose to live in uptown for the culture walkability divers Y and vibrancy I live in a condo with a balcony over overlooking the main fountain in fourth W Park we chose to BU our place knowing that we would live across the street from subsidized housing and on a park that includes unhoused folks enjoying the park on the benches just like everyone else does that is not changed here is what is new the frequent drinking and drug use in the park loud arguments and violence resulting from the drinking being flashed by people urinating right beneath my balcony staying up all night long twice worrying about my dog who ate human feces containing drugs powerful enough to make her unable to hold her head still or walk it was terrifying I can't imagine how I would have felt had that been my toddler granddaughter who had come into contact with drugs or human feces that might contain drugs I have watched many people gather on the park benches to drink for hour hours consuming six packs or more of beer or liquor those people I have seen are rarely unhoused folks they are well-dressed and carry no belongings these are not the folks sleeping in the park although I am passionately committed to living in uptown Charlotte I am very worried that we are becoming known as an unsafe unclean place to live we need to have the tools to keep our beautiful Uptown a desirable place to live and work I encourage you to reenact the ordinances against open containers and public beer and wine consumption masturbation in public and urination and defecation on certain property thank you thank you thank you Mr D yeah um I just want to say to every individual that's com in this room tonight that is in favor of these ordinance I would like for you to agree to spend one night in jail or one night on a park bench before you make this bill a law now I stand in opposition of this ordinance that criminalizes mental health that criminalizes homelessness that punishes impoverished people I refuse to sit comfortably in Highland Creek and not be concerned about what goes on with the homelessness in our community discrimination in anywhere in Charlotte is a threat to democracy all over Charlotte cmpd is not community health workers cmpd are not properly CR trained to deal with poor people with mental health issues I am sick and tired of the council women and men of color discriminating against people of color we are talking about human beings not animals that you commit to a cage we have white kids on opio in South Park Mr barari he's not in here right now but what we going to do we going to put them in jail too we cannot police our way out of the inherent stresses of poverty we cannot make Poverty of crime we cannot make white officers with guns yelling verbal commands to black people experiencing homelessness we can't make that legal did you tell your constituents that you are going to criminalize mental health can any council member other than Miss Tiana Brown tell me what it's like to be in the jail cell do you really think about this did you really think about what this was going to do I want you to look at what you doing the Martin look at what you going to do to Malcolm look at what you going to do to [Music] [Applause] Mandela I am Dr Blanch pen and I come to you today because there is a problem that we have to have Solutions we all want Solutions you see all these organizations business people in this room young people too now we all understand what it is that we're doing but there is a problem here and it's homelessness no housing but nonetheless I was at church with a pastor at Rockwell and he said you don't know and you don't know that you don't know but guess what you need to listen right and that's part of your problem you don't listen you listen to whom you think is going to give you what you need I am a senior and nonetheless I look good you D but here are some actions for you the city two toilets come on y'all I see y'all use money for a whole lot of other stuff that we need to change these restrooms now you know I got to go to bathroom and ding s right about now but I want y'all to remember one thing one day you might be homelessness and what would you want us to do I don't care nothing about your Ami your h l s or H but I'mma give you this give them a house a home and guess what you got one so let's work on helping them too peace and blessings my name is Michel balong I a minister to those left on the outside of the church and I wanted to say to councilman uh barari but unfortunately is not here that uh taking the native lands was on the books slavery was on the books sexism was on the books homophobia was on the books I hope you can hear me representative barari because on the books does not mean what is e eal or what is required of a people who try to be a city now I walked in on my youth my beautiful youth talking about where Jesus would live in Charlotte North Carolina and when I did so they said that he would live in the south because there is the nature and he loves nature and so he would go down and he would be amongst the nature when we had to flee away another said that he would live near Lake Wy because that is where the Sea of Galilee is for our community and he would go out with the Fishers another said that he would live in Nota because that's where it was cool and this kid remembered back when that was where the sex workers and artists hung out and that's where Jesus would belong and then my youngest youth said to me no Jesus lives on the corner of Trion and trade and he sleeps on the bench there now whether or not my youth was confusing my friend Paul with somebody else or if he was literally saying that every one of those people is Jesus he was right on the money because Matthew 25 tells us that what you do for the least of these you have done it also for me which means that every one of our homeless neighbors who is out here is the very embodiment of the god of love and if we fail to love God there who are we who are we because whether or not you believe that our home neighbor is literally God the most important thing we can do as human beings is love and that is what I call you to do thank you I'm sorry I missed Sandy kindbom kinbom kinbom thank you I should do not relish Garcia yes um thank you I broke the law coming in here today I drove down 77 and I was driving 70 miles an hour and a posted 65 milone I I was pretty sure I was okay because the police have discretion on who they pull over if I'm going 90 or 95 I hope they stop me because I'm in danger and I'm causing um trouble to others on the road I work up town and have worked up town for 24 years I have seen a young girl on Tron Street carefully crawl behind the bushes of the First United Methodist Church obviously embarrassed because she needed to pee she was very circumspect if I hadn't been looking right her way I never would have seen her I saw a man standing on Sixth Street right outside of um Discovery Place with a blanket over his head covering him completely in the middle of summer and I thought what in the world until I saw a stream of water running down 6th Street where shortly buses were going to let kids off to go on a field trip at Discovery Place I had so much sympathy for those two people that's what I remember was my sympathetic feeling toward them and I'd like to commend everybody who's spoken here today about the work they're doing to solve our social problems and particularly for the people who have overcome their dis abilities and their circumstances and a couple have spoken here today and it's been really amazing having said that I've worked Uptown for 24 years my office has a door right out to the sidewalk I'm not in an upper floor of a secure building we put a dog bowl out every day so people can walk by and their dogs and visitors dogs can have a fresh sip of water twice in the last year we've had a gentleman I use the word advisedly walk up in front of our big windows and urinate in our dog bowl I'm just going to ask you what should be done about that I'm sorry your time is up thank you Mr Garcia thank you followed by Kate Murphy and Mina espey I believe I'm so Mr Garcia thank you um I come here to talk to you just as a resident of Uptown Charlotte fourth W to be exact um and and I'm just going to State what I've seen over the last couple years and how things have changed and progressively gotten worse um in front of front of my place I've seen people getting congregating getting into fights arguing with each other threatening each other's lives starting things on fire and naturally putting things at risk I've also gotten my D my property damaged I've seen people Tred to break walk into my my home um and those are the things that have made me nervous about what's going on it's not an anti-homeless account but this is just what's happened um the other things that we I we've seen is I've seen so this is a safety matter we call the police they've got a lot of other things going on nothing happens and they by the time they get there things have gotten could have gotten really wrong I've seen the medic come by try to help somebody down there where people have been passed out and I I don't know what the causes are but that's some of the things that we've seen something's got to change and I'm not here to tell you Solutions because that's not my job and I'm not going to try to take to do somebody else's job but it's a quality of life situation where you know we live here not everybody who's been talking up here lives here but the ones that do appreciate it one way or the other something's got to be done I don't know the answers to that I just know that I'm just giving you the example of what I've seen and what scares me to tell you the truth not just from my own safety but from the safety of others everybody not just the people who are home the houseless also these are dangerous situations and something's got to be done and I don't know the answer to that but again I'm just here to give you a statement of what I've seen and how some things have to be changed here your discomfort okay I think all right our next speaker is Kate Murphy and Mina Mina or Mina it hi my name is Reverend Kate Murphy I'm the pastor at the Grove Presbyterian Church uh just this past Sunday a woman walked in our congregation and I could tell she was in great distress during worship and I asked her what she needed and she looked at me with tears in her eyes and said I just need a place to rest is there just somewhere where I can sleep and we let her we brought her to a place a quiet room while Services were going on and while we have our after service Gatherings on Sunday School but after that was over we had to make her go out on the street because your Fire Marshall told us that if anybody is living or sleeping in our building you'll disconnect us from the electric grid I am glad that people are upset I am glad that there is a sense of urgency about the fact that people have no place to live in our community the problem isn't that people have to see how hard it is to be unhoused the problem is that people are unhoused should not be illegal to rest in our community it should not be illegal to have a digestive system and a body in our community and I'm sorry I appreciate the the thought of delaying these ordinances by two weeks but what is that going to do we think that there are people who can magically house themselves in two weeks and do we think that it's a deterrent of being arrest that's going to magically make housing available to people who are the most desperate in our community when I sit around ranan tables in my church and I ask people make conversation where are you from the people who show up are people who are born and raised and grew up in Charlotte and they have seen this city change an unimaginable wealth and they have been left out and displaced and their place is not a jail cell a jail cell which is not free a homelessness court is also not free the the solution to homelessness is housing we need to House people it's that simple this will never go away until that happens so I ask you please to vote against these ordinances we need the problem to be visible because that's the only way we'll all want to solve [Applause] it hi my name is Mina aipe um I'm a public defender here in meinberg County um and I really wanted to highlight um something I think hasn't been spoken about too much is that there really is a cost and a burth burden placed on community when people are arrested um especially people um who are experiencing homelessness who may be experiencing mental health or substance usess orders encounters with police um Can potentially be deadly jail is deadly jail is not a solution uh to housing it's not an emergency or temporary shelter um and also people who are frequently arrested for um even lowlevel um offenses it can take a lot of time and a lot of court dates for those cases to ever be resolved and as you can imagine people struggling with um houselessness sometimes find it very difficult to make all of those court dates when you miss court dates you get rearrested for missing court dates and they do start to compound um over time such that you know I personally have clients who um have spent days weeks months in jail on low-level offenses for which if they had been convict if they had been convicted they wouldn't even be able to serve as much time people who take pleas just so that they can get out because they have such a long history of missing court and then being rearrested reencountering the police spending more time in jail um and these are all re re these are all things that take up uh time take up resources um of the system and really overload our court system um with these low-level offenses that do overtime um start to have really real impact on people's lives as other people have spoken of people um then have these really long criminal records that are just made up of all of these um Quality of Life quote unquote offenses um I heard someone or a city council person say that uh funding alternative um Solutions while criminalizing um while criminalizing um the these issues is a win-win solution but really it's kind of just working with one hand while the other hand is actively undoing all of the work um and really not allowing uh these Community rooted solutions to actually function and operate thank [Applause] you our next speaker um is David fer and Cameron Holtz yes thank you Mrs mayor my name is David fuler um and I'm here to speak against the topic of Rec criminalization um we've learned since George Floyd others before him and others sense that some encounters with the police can escalate and become harmful or deadly as recently as November we had Bojangle's employee who was beaten by the police because of a police stop that escalated the state was correct to decriminalize these behaviors you should continue on that path so I understand that people want someone to call when they see these things happening more than likely it'll be a call to 911 and the police rather then giving the police more Tools in terms of criminal citations we needs better systems in place so the dispatcher can send somebody else you get a fire you don't send the police I'm hoping to hear the police today come and speak out against this as well I kind of figured that the cmpd would say they have better things to do and that they would welcome a solution that sends other responders to these calls um so I learned about this topic about a month ago and I'm here because what I heard then was that not enough people like me came to speak against this topic as somebody who's adequately housed who's been fully employed I'm still asking you to address this problem in a way that doesn't invoke a criminal mentality and doesn't uh bring that to bear on a small subset of Charlotte's population so on a personal note I have experienced the difficulty of finding a toilet in uptown in November I was encouraging people to vote in the over Street mall and I'll tell you you cannot find a toilet in the UP UP over Street Mall a retired white guy in a vote t-shirt cannot find a public restroom it's a tourism problem as well as a neighborhood problem we have a tourism fund that taxes hotels and restaurants $75 million a year surely we could dip into [Applause] [Music] that hello hello my name is Cameron Holtz I'm a fourth W resident and have been for almost 25 years I rais my children there I've been very active in my faith community in the neighborhood and um volunteering with many of the groups here talking about the homelessness issues including roof above the crisis assistance Ministry and others I absolutely agree with their position that we need more wraparound Services more facilities for our unhoused neighbors um we take that very seriously and and it's always been part of friend of fourth Ward's agenda to make that a um welcoming community and when I began to understand the opposition to reinstating these ordinances I was frankly confused because the most people that I have seen violating what these VI violating what these ordinance was is what these ordinances would control have not been unhoused neighbors they have been Rowdy sports fans they have been day drinkers they have been people coming from various festivals they have been unbelievably rude people of every stripe who urinate in the park next to me who deal drugs on the street in front of my children who have made it unsafe for my children to walk to their after school activities because of their presence in our parks and on our streets I really implore you to think about the when someone says quality of life it sounds so trite but if we can't can't live in these neighborhoods safely if we can't move about safely and with health and with confidence that our children are also going to be okay an awful lot of other things become big problems this is not a a a either or this is not take care of these people or these people this is a take care of all of these issues please please continue to put the resources into the services our unhoused neighbors so obviously need and give our peace officers the tools they need to make this a healthier environment thank you our next speaker is Kenny Robinson and Reverend wary they must have they probably you know I know my name is Kenny Robinson and I am the founder and executive director of freedom fighting missionaries I am of course here in opposition for obvious reasons increased workload for our organization by individuals being criminalized for their circumstances and their circumstances being homelessness I would like to put a name to some of what we call homeless unsheltered unhoused there's a man who have been living there on a corner of trade and Trion for many years he lives at the bus stop there right he has a name many of us in this room know his name right those in the healthare field know his name cmpd know his name his name is Larry Marine right and if you employ the cmpd on Larry Marine living out there outside the Bank of America it will not be no friendly confrontation because Larry Marine has been allowed to live there for many years he believes that that is his home he uses the bathroom right there he eats right there he pan handles there I went there today in the rain to visit Larry Marine to ask for permission to use his name he said use my name brother right he's coherent he can't speak but he suffers from severe mental illness he suffers from the disease of addiction he suffers from being born black in the United States of America and reside here in Charlotte North Carolina he suffers from that and his name is Le Marine say his name because there's a good chance that when cmpd confronts him it will not be a nice situation so remember the name of Larry Marine as you make this decision cuz you're subject to see it again on WCNC or some of the other news stations uh in in Charlotte North Carolina it's a matter of how homeless are you right we work in homelessness I serve on the Continuum of Care board for homelessness I'm the chairperson of the equity and inclusion committee I got the data right of 3,000 homeless people and if you invest $1,000 into the $3,000 that's $3 million so we're far away from addressing this issue thank you R wary good evening Madame mayor and uh councel um I have very little I could add to um the passion and genius I've heard tonight um I don't have the power of persuasion and uh and and and love as much as I would like to have as these Giants who run organizations who ministered to our home homeless unhoused neighbors I have a mandate from Jesus who fraternized and lived with those people who were unhoused I have a church congregation who has tried and still tries to respond redemptively to our unhoused neighbors in this city I've watched young people fall out on the bus stop because of exhaustion working jobs more than they can handle and still can't afford a place to live I've read recently uh something that confirmed a bias for me it was that the building boom in South Charlotte is coming to a slowed down place I believe that this is a great City but I would hate for us to be characterized as people who on the backs of those who cannot help their station have decided to take a route that will comport with our own interest I'm baptist boy that was the fastest two minutes I ever heard and and you know I wouldn't want to interrupt but but thank you all right okay that in that is the completion Madam Clerk of our speakers list so now I think the time is that Del Liberation by the council I'd ask you to continue to be respectful as people in this body um address this issue believe me every person on this Council you may not see what they feel or do and I know it's kind of hard to think about it but I do believe that everyone on this Council has the values that they would like to see us do something that's really good for our community and we have struggle with this all the time but I would ask you please to respect the voices that you hear around the table so that we can have the discussion of what's going to be a really difficult um choice if it is a choice so thank you all right so we have a substitute motion I'm going to ask the clerk to read The Substitute motion and then my my thinking is that we would go around the Das because everyone is likely to want to speak but if you choose not to that's fine as well so um the substitute the substitute motion is number one to restore criminal enforcement as an option for all sections identified in agenda item number seven except for Section 15-7 unauthorized persons on parking lots and section 15-23 Laing for the purpose of engaging in drug rated activity item two and to establish an effective date of March 1st 2024 for the effective date of the proposed amendments rather than upon council ad adoption as currently shown for item number seven all right everybody has heard the motion again um has a motion a second um we're going to start with Miss I was going to go around do you want to do you want me to wait to make my substitute motion well no we have to vote on the subtitute motion we have to vote on the existing substitute motion Mr Baker I thought said yes rule 14j speaks to the substitute motion and there's no reference in rule 14j that says mult I substitute motions can occur at one time and I would recommend that that not be the case okay so what about an amendment then an amendment is is is a separate matter and if you're going to amend something then the council has to vote as to whether or not uh that amendment is going to occur so the first vote would be whether or not there can be an amendment now amendment is covered under rule 14h so if you're going to make a motion to amend then you'll you'll need a second and then the council will vote just on whether or not to amend the substitute motion so it's not a substantive decision in that one vote you'd have to do it twice but you'd need six votes to amend a motion okay it's worth it I'd like to Mayor may I ask a clarifying question of the attorney please so Mr Baker right now we're working on an amendment if this uh if the initial Amendment does not pass substitute motion it's thank you if this initial substitute motion does not pass we go back to the original motion at that point and a a new substitute motion can be presented correct correct so to my understanding versus an amendment since the amendment will take everyone let's get through this first one and then since you didn't get make your motion before the first motion was made get through this first it out of goes up and down you still have the ability to make a substitute motion cuz right now we can't have three if the amend Amendment passes then what if if if you're still a council member Ash's motion passes then what is if you amend council members azir's Mo substitute motion then there won't be council member azir substitute motion it'll be whatever the amendment was that six of you passed that wasn't a question I just heard she asked the question based off of what I just stated council member asir motion goes through yay nay whatever happens does does council member Johnson have the ab ability at that point to submit a substitute motion yes okay if it passes if it fails if it fails if it fails right done but if it passes then no it's done it's over but that's the whole point so where is the space for the conversation because you had two separate council members that had a motion that they wanted to submit this evening there has to be space in this conversation around this diets according to your understanding of our legal ability where both conversations can be had so where is that so you have Mr B's motion that's been seconded you have council member aira's substitute motion which has also been seconded and that's where we are M where in the this space does an additional council member out of the 11 that also had a motion that was different than motion a or motion B where does that conversation happen you would have to take a vote on The Substitute motion and then if that substitute motion failed then you go back to the original motion which is also subject to another substitute motion so the only way that you get a third voice in this conversation is if this substitute motion fails if this substitute motion passes then the additional motion that council member Johnson has does not get to move forward correct right but I think the question is everyone has an opportunity to speak to that issue and make a decision on how they persuade their position across the 11 example I will make my case that would be voting so I'm now we're prepared to start with our substitute motion I was saying that it might be best if we just came around the Dias so that everybody would have an opportunity to speak if that's the way that the council would choose to do that so if I want to make an amendment now's the time to do that only way the amendment to work is if you get a second so let me let me can I no well no the reason why I want to make an amendment I want to put it on the table that council members show your hand show your position I want have that you have to vote but I want to make a substitute motion if you're saying I can't then I want to make an amend the motion if Council doesn't wish to hear the amendment or pass the amendment that's on each council member in in response to the public but I want to make an amendment to council member Ash's motion so in order to make an amendment you have to say it has to be seconded and without any discussion non-substantive as he said then you have to get six or more votes that's fine okay let just get it over with want to be recognized council member Johnson would like to be recognized for an amendment yes I'd like to amend council member no no you have to you have to say that you want to propose an amendment and we have to decide whether we want to hear the amendment you can't vote until so you just make a motion that I would like to make an amendment and we vote on that that's what I'm doing no you don't say what the amendment is the point we're all wait wait wait we have that's why we have the attorney to do this in a way I'm just going to read the uh 14 it's very simple an amendment to a motion must be pertinent to the subject matter of the motion but it may achieve the opposite intent of the motion a motion be may be amended and that Amendment may be amended but no further amendments may be made so if you have an amendment you it's not so much you know can you amend you'll have to speak the amendment in because it has to be pertinent to the subject matter and the only way to find that out is for you to state to State the amendment exactly thank you you just said we have to vote on whether or not there will be an amendment and then we vote on the amendment after she states what the amendment is you will decide whether or not to amend in accordance with the motion it's not what you just said and it's not a discussion it is just amend raise your hand that's fine okay and and I I just think from thank you I think from hearing from our public I'd like to make an amendment that we that we only enforce rules uh 15.8 which is trespassing on motor vehicles and 1582 masturbation in public effective 31 and that we that we hold off on the others for six months to allow these wonderful resources and strategies these enforcement strategies to work I can't you can't debate the motion you're stating stating you're stating your opinion about the motion I want to go and make sure that I think you just have the sorry I'm being stifled if everyone understands that's the motion to amend is pursuant to that it is pursuant to adoption of 158 and 15 82 82 yeah and 31 and 31 for to allow time for the implement you need a second to that motion is there a second second motion all right now we need to have a vote please raise your hand if you're in favor of that vote of that motion Amendment one two three folks are in favor of the moot Amendment thank you all right now we go back to the main item which is the substitute motion from Miss asir all right now I'm just want to make sure that we have the opportunity for people to speak and I thought we would just go around the Das but would the council prefer a different way okay we'll start and if you choose to speak speak if not we'll go to the next so miss asmir we'll start with you and then we'll go to Miss Mayfield we'll alternate sides okay are are you done you're ready okay yes go ahead yes go ahead please so this has been very difficult decision and this just has been a difficult conversation all along hearing some of the stories today it's really been heartbreaking hearing stories about homelessness is stories about dignity respect has really been heart touching cuz this brings back the memories of um of a family of five living in a motel room cuz we didn't have anywhere else to go so I want to highlight the work that ComEd has done that is truly holistic there is temporary solutions long-term solution and I hear loud and clear that we need to tackle affordable housing crisis $50 million is not enough and this is a perfect timing as we have our budget discussion earlier today City implemented and installed two temporary restrooms near North College and 11th Street we are also exploring more permanent Solutions while working with nonprofits and mecklinburg County we have agreed in partnership with mburg County to evenly split the cost for Hope tank many of you who work in this homelessness you probably have heard of the program called hope tank it's a large truck that's operated by a local nonprofit that has two full bathrooms and three washers and dryers and this is about dignity and respect we are working with the county in to to acquire and operate two Portland lose and that's a more permanent solution that's connected to City Water and Sewer and our work doesn't stop here as part of the holistic work that committee has done we're also working on Street Outreach in fact Sean Heath and his team is finalizing a contract with hearts for the invisible to have a new Street Outreach team that we working with our homeless neighbors and that there is access to rental subsidies and Supportive Services I can go on and on and on about a lot of the work that we are doing that we have done and will continue to do to tackle our affordable housing crisis but some of these things don't get called out in the news or you don't hear us talk about this work happens at the committee level that we have put in months and months of time to do we are involved in home for all effort and that's in collaboration with mburg County in addition to that we are working with em with nonprofits to work on emergency rental assistance legal aid for eviction prevention landlord Recruitment and Retention to expend the number of property providers willing to accept vouchers in all of this work that we have done I don't think committee or the staff alone can take the credit this has been result of the direct input from nonprofits organizations such as roof above I talked to Le class and calii earlier today Robert Dawkins with action NC he was the one who asked us to do something about mental health support your city council approved and dedicated pool of funding just for the cares team but our work doesn't stop here we we are going to continue to expand the program blench and others who who presented stories and talked about some of our homelessness neighbors these are really heart-touching stories and I think my substitute motion it's the removal of two ordinances that's consistent with the recommendation of our City attorney Mr Patrick Baker and his team and Jessica our City attorney in our city attorney's office this acknowledges the Constitutional concerns that's highlighted by some of the speakers so I encourage my colleagues to continue to invest in our affordable housing crisis in tackling our affordable housing crisis while supporting the substitute motion that will move the needle in the right direction and that's all I have thank you madam mayor Miss Mayfield thank you madam mayor so as Vice chair of the committee when we had the meeting last week unfortunately council member Johnson was not able to attend in person because of illness so she attended online we spoke last week to a idea that she had that I support unfortunately the information was not shared via email for all counil to preview it prior to today but that conversation was let's implement all the programming first give it six plus months before we implement the additional language regarding law enforcement yes council member ashmir went over what we are doing we have two different conversations have going on housing is an issue Across the Nation it's not just an issue here in Charlotte it is Across the Nation Housing is a concern homelessness is not just a concern for Charlotte the challenge that I have and where I am disappointed that our system was created a space for there to be one motion when there was two very separate conversations happening regarding an amendment to the initial motion is we just had another incident last week we cannot continue to not have real conversation regarding that is happening we got to have a different conversation it is very difficult and for Clear transparency all of our meetings are on Facebook as well as YouTube I motioned for us to move it out of committee last Monday for us to get it to full conversation knowing that I was still Gathering additional information I raised my hand in support of the amendment which I wish had been the initial alternative motion we did not get the six votes it takes a minimum of six so that we are very clear the challenge I have is whatever we do honestly it's not going to be enough but here's the reality we don't have the money we're going to we're working with the county as was mentioned we're going to get what they have in Portland which is stabilized facilities well why can't there be 25 those things are extremely expensive so we starting with two two is better than what we have right now today we had two pora John that were instituted today why not 15 two is more than we had last week we got to work with our partners BL love and others y'all are doing the work we have funded you do we need to figure out more funding that's a different conversation as well because at the end of the day the more funding we need let's have a real conversation about we're going to have to talk about tax increases that's a different conversation no no we don't get to talk back so that is a different conversation but these are all conversations that we have to take into consideration as your elected body I will I cannot support us moving forward with the amended version of my colleague nor can I support the initial full language because I cannot in good conscious based on everything I have seen throughout my entirety but much less the last 6 months to leave it to the discretion of cmpd it is very difficult for me to even entertain that because I am still grappling and praying daily because I keep seeing the vision of the freaking video of the gentleman who walk yes you robbed a grocery store and you had two bags of groceries but instead of getting you connected to the services that we already have that ended in your execution so now we have created levels of trauma between those children that spouse and that community so we got to figure out something different I appreciate what our staff has done in partnership with the county and in partnership with our partners but for me I supported the recommendation that council member Johnson attempted to introduce to everyone and that is let's Implement all of the programming first and then look at this enforcement because there is a reason that a lot of this enforcement was rolled back and if we we already know that there are which we heard it from our attorney as well there are legal cases that are already being presented based on interpretation of the language let's work on addressing the issue versus the additional enforcement because we still got a lot of training and a lot of work that we need to do within our law enforcement that is what I want to share thank you Miss Mayfield Miss Brown thank you madam mayor tough subject for me so it was a note for me in the committee I came into the space with it being a full no but I know that we have to work together and so the ordinance is a no for me but I did do and tried to work with my colleagues on an amendment that failed so I won't everybody that sent me these hateful emails that said I hate the police clearly don't know that g uh sherff Gary mcfat is my one of my best and closest mentors okay I go into jail I work every day what is not going to happen to me as the newest member on the Block I'm not going to be bullied we already know how people feel about people that are formly incarcerated they think we're not worthy that we don't deserve to be here here and it goes without saying that I'm a woman of color all of these phenomenal people that have coming here tonight to speak I value everybody judge Elizabeth trash Peter worry Rodney Sadler Greg Jerel Rebecca yabra excuse me if I say your name wrong Jake susman Tim Emory Dr Sarah Kenny James Lee Judy sellin colen moo McCarthy Ron Clark Deborah Phillips Jessica W don't even pronounce your last name Jessica but I know who you are Harper Ellis Jord Patterson Laura same thing on your last name I don't want to butcher it Malia Michelle Liz Leanne Chris Connelly Carol piol chrisen Smith Cedric Dean Dr Blanch pin Sandy kimal Michael belong Arnold Garcia Kate Murphy Mina David we had Kenny Robinson and that last phenomenal man that came behind Kenny I didn't catch her name if I left anybody out it was a slip of heart not of the mind but I have something to say as a formerly incarcerated black woman I was elected to this seat I have the same right to sit up here my vote matters just like all of my colleagues I didn't get my constituents to send hateful emails it appears that that is what happened to me and for the record if you don't know the emails are public record and I will use them for that reason don't send me hateful emails don't call me out of my name those things are hurtful it goes back to what everybody was saying in this list when you think about being homeless I can speak on it I've been that when you think about sleeping in the park I didn't have to only because someone stepped up when you think about what it's like to be in these people's shoes they're humans we need to learn how to restore humanity and that's something that we missing I go back to what council woman may feel said she said initially she said yes and then she gave you reasons why she couldn't stand behind it my reasons for not standing by behind it from from the beginning even though I came into the committee late and the reason why I came late is because I'm the newest member to the council but I want you to know that the constituents in District 3 not only did they want me here but I want every Precinct in that District in the general and the primary election when you start to think about all of these wonderful people that came up here with all these degrees and all these resources and the things they want to do including Robert from action NC what are we really going to do we can say all day on this Council that we care about people on this Council action is a verb people need to see that we care about them what you're going to get from me cuz we 11 different individuals what you're going to always get from me is transparency I'm going to stand in my truth and when you try to get me to do something different you're going to see that I'm going to stand in my truth I respect everybody and I do things differently which is why I acknowledge the beautiful children that get this that that are outside and you don't want to see uh people playing with their intimate Parts nobody wants to see that I have a grandchild but did you ever think about what if it were you what would you do I say this every time I speak I feel like I don't belong but it's a good thing these 11 people 10 other people don't get to tell me where I belong it's the constituents that put me here at the end of the day when it's all said and done I give the same respect to the developers that want me to see their plan that I'm going to give to the homeless people that don't have a plan we have to create the plan for them I am going to be a part of the solution thank you it's a no for me that's right all right Mr barari thanks mayor uh I'll start by saying I I agree with something councilwoman Mayfield said a minute ago we need a different conversation I mean I I think there's probably no single statement that could summarize where we are better than that we need a different conversation tonight folks have been asking us to solve the root causes we know better than anyone else around this Das we've done that it's not working we we put record-breaking money record-breaking dollars into the Housing Trust into services uh and there's a laundry list staff can talk to us about about everything we've been doing there and things are worse today than they were two three four and five years ago so we need a different conversation that's for sure um you know I uh I think a false choice is being presented to the community and to all of us in this conversation a choice between criminalizing homelessness or accepting that defecation and urination out outside our homes and the eyesight of our children is an either or statement we have to figure out which side of that argument we're on and I refuse to accept those are the only options before us we we've been asked tonight as well for a complete holistic approach to homelessness we need resources that are equipped to deal with the situations that are being faced on those streets and just adding bathrooms is a Band-Aid that isn't the wraparound services that are ultimately needed to have a successful outcome it is a first step along the way towards a a destination that for some reason we can't seem to get there no matter how much money we throw at it so I'm supportive again I I want something else if folks want to do all of those things which I think I can read the room if that's not the case then let's take an incremental step together but I think taking it up a level there are three steps that have to occur in parallel and I believe everyone can get a win to make sure that we're doing what the community ultimately needs number one is Implement all the ordinances plus identify additional ones to make sure that we have what we need number two I believe in this concept of the homeless court and not it's not criminalization in fact the homeless court at its root is the opposite of criminalization in my mind it's the place where the people who know best are able to Route folks to the organizations that have the correct services to them and then number three and this is the part that I'm as committed to as the ordinances and those of you who know me know that I live this stuff create a triage approach like they do on a battlefield where when we do all those steps at once we make sure that when there are stacked up people in front of these organizations who serve our community so well because there isn't room because there isn't the resources and the things that are needed we figure out how to fund and support those organizations because we're going to do that in a much more passionate and timely manner when there are folks stacked up out front of those places trying to get service I believe that there is some middle ground in there that every because nobody wants people to be on the street to have to do these things they just want to be sensitive of the unintended consequences of the steps that we take along the way to that path so I really believe in my heart that those while oversimplified are three steps that if we committed ourselves entirely to them we could solve all angles of this issue all right Miss Molina thank you Madame mayor um there was so much passion in the room today um and this is a very very tough subject um I think I I love using the word human I use it all the time because absent that word we really don't identify with our fellow Community member when you say human you step outside of the context of the things that separate us um and in this particular instance especially when we think about what God would do it's it's one or where God would be even or our responsibility as Believers um I think that um you know I think I think we all bear that burden in my eyes what I feel like we have in front of us is not an either or I think it's a both and um and the reason why I say it's a both and is because many of the community members that are in this room that do the work day in and day out I know you I know who you are I know what you do I know how you touch humans every day I know the services you provide and I don't think that this is an opportunity to say to you that um those things are going to stop if anything I think it's an opportunity to say how do we Empower you to be more impactful so that you can continue to partner with government um Law and Order is one of the greatest responsibilities that we have protecting our residents making sure that we ensure their safety and that all communities feel like they belong it's important and so like I said this is a delicate balance a lot of the resources that are needed in order for this to be a full exchange are not actually within the pur view of the city council we are hard services so that's fire that's police that's infrastructure that's Waste Management water we're we're hard Services that's what our budget is intended for and we have colleagues uh who I know who are equally passionate who um administer services that are Health and Human Services related um that are also in conversations with us about how do we create the best outcomes for all of our residents um there was one person who spoke in particular um Pastor Murphy I've we had her before us last year and I will never stop talking about the warrior for God that you are we need to duplicate you across the city because that's a person who's putting their resources is where their mouth is she's saying I have a church we have land we want to develop we want to provide services for our unhoused and we haven't gotten to a point yet where we can assist her in doing what she'd like to do and the congregation that served with her would like to do so we we have work to do this is absolutely imper like imperfect on so many different levels and and that's what makes a decision like this hard um I don't expect it to be Absolut all of a sudden um there's there's one other human being that I want to lift up in this room who I've known for many many years and that's Miss Judy Selden Cohen um she is a dear dear friend of mine and I you know I I know where her heart lies she lives dead Square in the middle of District 2 and but she's also a warrior out here doing the work um and so how do we then balance the need for um the safety that's needed up toown the enforcement that's needed up town and empower the community members like you all many of you all who are doing the work every day and I think there's a way for both end I don't think the conversation ends here I think it starts here and then it continues with implementing resources where we can continue to empower the community leaders that are in the trenches doing work um and so I feel like that's an additional conversation but tonight as far as what we have in front of us at the recommendation of our chief at the recommendation of our staff um despite the differences I am in support of the six that we intend to push forward and not only am I in support of it I still feel like that there's more work that we have have to do to support the community members and businesses that are touching these residents there there's no such thing as complete resolution to any of this we will always I'm sorry you cannot speak while I'm speaking and I do not mean to be disrespectful to you but you that's just not our rules and so this is just simply like I said a very tough decision for all of us I don't I don't think this is one of those things things where someone says they want to um criminalize what would be unhoused you know um I think it's just enforcing um some some behaviors um that actually aren't are unhoused all the time I think our unhoused get blamed for a lot of stuff that they don't do I think some of what we're hearing about are not even our unhoused community members some of these community members visit Uptown and they don't practice responsibility when they're Uptown and in various parts of our city so um I look forward to continuing the conversations around how we can be of Greater support to the community members who are willing to be a part of the solutions how do we make that possible for the community members who have the heart the resources and have their their their mind set on being a part of the ongoing solution I'm here for that and so that's where I stand all right Mr Driggs thank you mayor um I think it's really unfortunate that uh this topic has become a flasho that has created this sort of sense of adversity Among Us here we're all on the same team um I I I am struggling personally with a couple of issues based on what I I heard tonight uh for one a lot of what has been said suggests that the behaviors that are prohibited by these ordinances are synonymous with poverty or homelessness and the fact is there are a lot of people who are homeless who are not in any way responsible for this and there are people who aren't homeless who are we're talking about the behaviors and so uh I think it's actually unfair to homeless people who who do not commit these behaviors to be included in terms of who is being victimized by the idea of criminalizing this we are talking about behaviors the other thing I I think is uh is sort of remarkable is it sounds as if everybody thinks that we are having to choose enforcement versus engagement and that in fact we aren't engaged that we are sitting here contemplating enforcement and we have no care at all and we don't engage and the truth is the engagement of the city is and has been huge tens and hundreds of millions of of dollars programs arpa funds we are racking our brains trying to figure out how to solve this what to do about it how how to protect people who don't want to be confronted by certain things how to be kind and supportive to those who are genuinely helpless as opposed to badly behaved we're trying to figure it out and we have been for a long time and if you think about all of the city's efforts in this area the County's efforts the the federal government housing programs churches nonprofits people like you there is a huge under Enterprise underway which by the way all of us support uh to try and address these issues but it's a tough problem there aren't any easy answers and those of you who work on this I think have seen that you've seen difficult cases that don't respond to your efforts so we haven't figured it out it doesn't mean that we don't care it doesn't mean that if we feel there is a need to have a last resort op opportunity to intervene and that's what this is the ordinance is simply says all of the engagement we've tried everything we're continuing to try everything I expect as a result of this conversation that we will step up we will we will look more harder for new ways to engage and and the the Porta parties uh all the things if you've got ideas let us know what they are that this group is not sat around and been indifferent to the plight of those people we have worked hard and we have invested large amounts we will continue to do so the the thing on my mind though is that uh enforcement's not going to fix this I don't think anybody imagines it does but I do think that enforcement sends a message to a large segment of the community that is not in this room tonight that we don't think it's okay it's not okay if you have to kind of deal with seeing something out there so we hope that we never have to use it or that we use the the the final last result Resort AR rest option as rarely as possible but we have to be able to tell a lot of people out there that at the end of the day if we aren't successful with everything else we do and it comes down to somebody masturbating in the street that is not going to be tolerated it has to be something we can do about that and that's all it is I I wish we weren't kind of confronting each other like this because we're all in the same team you've got ideas let's hear them I'm sure this Council would invest we're prepared I mean look at this group this is not a bunch of people that don't care so uh personally I feel for the benefit of the people who want some Assurance from us that we draw a line somewhere when it comes to what they have to see that we should pass this and that will be my position on it I I just wish that we didn't find ourselves in this kind of an atmosphere of Confrontation thank you all right Miss Johnson thank you Madame mayor so I have some questions um Can Sean can Mr Heath come up please are we questioning staff at this point I'm not sure um that's okay your questions are go ahead go ahead just say what you're going to say okay go ahead my qu no my question is we talk about the the resources that the city is proposing and I wanted for the Public's um consumption could you name some of those resources that are going along the the non- enforcement strategies that we're proposing yes I I can as it relates to public restrooms there have been some references today that today there were two PTO John installed around North College and 11th Street as a starting point I also have a list of other city-owned property up and down tryan but kind of bookended between 277 on both ends that I'm evaluating with General Services I'd like to find one other location at a minimum minum to have additional porta johns installed before the end of the month I recognize that's a very small step but it's a step uh that's in collaboration with the county because the county has agreed to have the port John that I just mentioned that were installed today installed on their property the The Hope tank is a another mobile facility that has two showers it has two full restrooms along with three washer dryers so in collaboration with the county we've agreed to invest in the refurbishment and repair for that particular mobile truck uh for that truck and that will be up and running hopefully within the next couple months and then third the county last week agreed to co-fund a couple Portland L with the city of Charlotte which we've talked about in multiple meetings here prior uh it's a design that's based out of Portland Oregon and just so happens the name of the company the name of the product is Portland Lou and it's specifically designed to address some challenges associated with public restrooms so we are the idea would be to have the port John in place for a limited period of time we recognize those are temporary solutions and then remove those once the Portland L have been installed were there more wraparound services or what else are we doing yes so we are also in the midst of establishing a contract with hearts for the invisible to have a dedicated Street Outreach team devoted primarily to Uptown Charlotte so this is the notion of having clinicians that are engaging the unhoused population on the street and that's something that we're looking to invest up to $500,000 in having that in place for a year and then we're also of course doing a number of things related to tenant-based rental assistance which is something that we do each year this year what we're doing a little different is we're carving uh we're carving out a piece of that to devote specifically to members of the unhoused population that are referred to us from Center City and then finally there have been multiple references to a home for all uh there are number of homelessness prevention features in the a home forall plan that the city uh is supporting in FY 24 and will continue to support n fy2 and then there there are bigger questions that are being asked around things like Emergency Shelters and and the like okay thank you so other than the tenant based rental assistant and the home for all these are new initiatives right the the port of John's and the Portland L and the the expanded Street Outreach team that's correct right so that's why my proposal and and keep in mind Medicaid was just expanded in in December 2023 so for 12 years and the homeless Advocates know that for 12 years this state withheld treatment mental health treatment from from individuals with mental health you know or who weren't approved for Social Security and we know also Social Security takes years to be approved as a matter of fact the hearing officers on the website post how many how with the percentage of denials because it's a bad as if it's a badge of honor to deny our most vulnerable so we know that there were individuals with no income no insurance that were forced into homelessness I I know we know also and I'm educating folks that have those folks whose data have a history of a brain injury so these are our most vulnerable residents I my motion was simply to enforce the most egregious ones because we do recognize that we serve the entire city so the most egregious the public masturbation and the um trespassing on vehicles and I didn't say let's not let's not pass the other ones I simply said let's wait let's wait until these wonderful resources are implemented but that was shot down so I'll I'll move on but I just want that for the record my next question is for the um the audience how many ra just raise your hand I want to keep everything you know uh in order but how many of you use the bathrooms today yeah how many of you used it more than once how many of you it was one of the first things you did when you woke up this morning I don't now would the threat of an arrest have diminished the urgency of that no might have did it right then and there so if you're sleeping outside and you have to use the bathroom outside of public um business hours if a business will let you in but if it's you know if you're older you know you might have to use it before business is open right so you know what was a person supposed to do we also know that and I work in re-entry I mean I wish uh M was here I don't know why she called me out I'm the I I go hard for the vulnerable populations we we know that I've had a re-entry organization since 2009 I've had two re-entry houses so I don't know what that was about I'd love to talk to to Mo and I and I have also had 10 opponents so um I'm not sure what that was about I'd love to talk to her but I want you all to know that I advocate publicly and behind the scenes I I walk my talk and I know that a criminal record is a barrier to housing I don't understand how we can vote for this this is this exacerbates the problem it exacerbates the problem you have a criminal record you you the the folks in the I mean it's just it exacerbates the problem you know so when when we arrest them and the jails are overcrowded and the courts are overcrowded then um we're just exacerbating the problem we've heard from judges we've heard from pastors we've heard from um Advocates this is just not the thing to do and and we we we also hear about um one of the coun one of the members said that this was on the books before and and although there may be some constitutional issues we should just do that I mean that's the that's the most uncomp non-comp passionate um thing that that we're going to hear in a second class a second chance City remember just on the news a couple weeks ago we were a second chance City so this is this is just the opposite of a second chance City another thing that um that I wrote down oh also in the news if we're in a different side of town or if you can pay $8.99 for a cup drink Public public drinking is called sipping and strolling last thing I want to talk about is the car's team um let me see hold on I got some great notes Here our car's team was created through the wisdom of city council cmpd confirms that this first resp response model works well and is Superior or more appropriate I'll say to criminal law enforcement response for the concerns of the community instead of a widespread criminalization of ordinances that ask cmpd to have more interaction with individuals who we know are POS likely suffering from mental health let's create a plan that scales up our Care's response model in a way way that it's appropriately responsive to the concerns of the community so I think that we as a council also want to work with city manager and make sure that we ex extend or expand that model and have more cares workers I believe now how many are there now are there two car's workers a supervisor there's two and a supervisor they work seven to three I believe let's expand those let's 24 hours Let's really commit to that um so that that's one of the things that we should do also um and we should also it should be in a department of its own all right please the councilwoman is speaking please allow her to complete her um we also heard that things are worse now um even though we've put so much money into resources things are worse now because housing cost continually are are increasing and people are continually being displaced so and and right now we don't have any rental assistance um you all probably know that as well so that's why things are worse now there was a another um comment it depends on how homeless you are that is so true because there's a number that there are I think 288 unhoused but how many people are truly truly homeless just be you live in a shelter you're you're couch searching those are the homeless folks that need help not we have to use the those real num numbers the real numbers of children who are homeless you know and not this number that you know this cute little number of 288 folks who are onh house um let's see talked about I think that's all I think that's all I it's I just I'm I'm an obvious no to to to the original and the motion I I understand I I work with these folks I've been on the re-entry Partners group and and I council member Brown and I work with these individuals somebody said the council needs to listen I am one of them individuals yeah coun somebody said Council needs to to listen and I and I I hope that I said that okay and I think Dr Penn did too I can't someone else did but yeah we are on the front line and we are here we're saying this the pastors The Advocates the activists the doctors the judges are all saying the same thing so I think the council members should really consider that um we should allow the the services a non- enforcement I I just think it's ridiculous that we would do anything to increase and encourage interaction between those we know are suffling suffering from mental health brain injury and and the police it's not the best what's best for our officers it's not what's best for our public we can look at the last few police shootings I know Keith Lamont Scott his wife was saying he has a TBI so we need to look and we need to protect our officers and protect our public this is not the right thing to do and I will not be supporting either motion thank you Mr Graham thank you madam mayor and let me first start by thanking each and every one of you for coming out tonight on both sides of of the issue um I have the opportunity and the responsibility of of representing the citizens the district 2 um this past weekend we had a District Two town hall meeting where a number of neighborhood leaders throughout the district came together to talk about issues of concerns last April uh the friends of Fort wward approached me about issues that they were seeing and viewing and experiencing in uptown Charlotte in which I represent uptown Charlotte is in District 2 I share it with my colleague the mayor protm and I was not um surprised by what they told me what they showed me in pictures and video because over the last two years there have been a number of public safety concerns in uptown Charlotte and they have expressed that we've been working with the neighborhood associations and property owners and small business owners in uptown Charlotte for the last year to address public safety concerns and uh to which led us to where we are today let me first say that I I clearly understand um the views of many of the audience um that I expressed tonight that for me um Public Safety no matter if you live in malet Grove or Prosperity Church Road or NOA a Balentine or uptown Charlotte should be our top priority as a community we all deserve to live in an environment that is safe that is clean that we know our neighbors that we have the ability to walk our dogs or walk our children throughout the community and feel safe about what we are and who we are as a community and for me this is not about either or either we put the ordinance in place or not either we we we we provide wraparound service or not you know I wish that what we do here and I've been doing this for a long time there not it's never black or white it's it's always the gray area that we have to deal with and the great area for me is the really concern of public saf for all residents in uptown Charlotte housing homelessness mental illness drug addiction to what degree mberg County will support our efforts and they have done a tremendous job they have all the resources to deal with addiction and mental illness we don't have those Resources with the city of Charlotte and many of the nonprofit organizations we work with that do the work day in and day out boots on the ground I mean so we have to have a holistic approach and we have to understand as a community that this issue of homelessness it it's not a 100 yard dash we're not going to solve it tomorrow it's a marathon we've come a long way from Tent City we've come a long way in terms of providing the type of community support in terms of our nonprofit organizations Mech County the city of Charlotte corporate entities all working together to come with a comprehensive Community strategy to address housing and homelessness that that book a home for all now rest with United Way and there's a strategy in place that we all have to provide some type of Community Resources Community input to get to the finish line which is miles away because homelessness is all those issues I just I just addressed earlier I support reinstating the ordinance because it's the right thing to do to protect the public safety of our community I also support additional support for Street Outreach I support H for the invisible and making sure you get the resources necessary to do the the boots on the ground work I support Deb and block left Charlotte I support our County partners that are really doing the the the nuts and B work every day to address this issue two restrooms two Porter John is simply not enough and we have to provide a comprehensive strategy working with uh Center City partners and others to find out how do we provide an environment where we can get more work with our corporate entities in uptown Charlotte as a council we have the opportunity to really put gas in the car during our budget cycle for a home alone program and making sure we have the resources to back up what we said we want to do as a community this issue of homelessness is a critical issue for this community that I take seriously but I also take seriously the public safety of our residents I and not only have I walked the streets of Uptown and talk to the property owners and talk to those who who are our guests living in hotels and their experience when they're in Charlotte uh just talked to a a young man and his wife at the Hornets game uh this past Saturday and they told me that they were staying in uptown and how they couldn't wait to get to the arena because they were incarcerated by two or three people on the way to the arena to go to the game uh looking for money when they said no they were continually bothered and they followed them all the way to the arena excuse me so we have an opportunity to to address the issue and it's not either or you're not address and it's it's it's really about ensuring that no matter where you live that you feel protected by your government that that's that's what it is and so I I I I just really I really um support um all my neighborhood leaders when neighborhood leaders have come for a wide variety of issues we've always listened to everybody not only did I listen to them but you know Robert Dawkins and Deb I called Deb in January we we spoke and we talked to Liz Liz two weeks ago right and so I get it I I think I'm 98% in agreement with everything that you guys need and want to make sure that those who are unhoused get the resources that they need but we also need to make sure that Public Safety is first and foremost throughout the city for everybody throughout that's no doubt about that for everybody no matter where you live no matter where you live and I and I support that and I think this Council supports that and I think this putting the ordinance in place is a small step forward that we should do it and I agree with the substitute motion and then we pivot towards Mr manager working towards those other issues that are more long-term in nature so I'm ready to vote when the other speakers are have spoken and I will be supporting the um the substitute motion Mr Mitchell Mr please please Qui okay he's the same guy you the young man with the t-shirt and the glasses up there at the Top If if you would just yes I'm talking to you if we can have some kind of eyes on this that we can actually allow people to speak then we'll be okay if not we'll just see where we have to go with that all right Mr Mitchell Mr Mitchell thank you m thank you uh Madam mayor uh I think you've heard comments from all our colleagues just like we sit here and heard your passion about this tough issue based in our community um a lot of times I would like to think when citizens come here you look at this city council as a body of hope that we will make the right decisions and the right decision for all our citizens in Charlotte we're not trying to create two charlott but everyone who lives in a city of Charlotte feel con and proud of our city and so I find myself today feel like we choosing winners and losers and we never should be in this situation it is it it is tough for us to sit here on one end to ignore what's occurring in the neighborhood on the same time understand the passion of of Liz Kelly who does this work with a passion uh black love who does it out of goodness of heart and of all our ministers who use scripture to tell us we should take care of the least of our citizens and so it is going to be tough when you leave here tonight and you going to feel like the city council let you down so let me share what I would like to do I would like to be that Ray of Hope that after today I continue to work with li block loveing the ministers how we put in permanent solution so we don't criminalize our homeless Community how do we make permanent Solutions and so they would have have to use our park and and and do things that's not good for our community did you hear the story of a young lady who lives in fourth ward and what her kid was exposed to none of us us will want that for any of our citizens our children or grandchildren and so tonight a lot of you all going to leave here upset but I say stay engaged with us and stay engaged with me I look forward to building a better city of Charlotte for tomorrow with your help I will be supporting the substitute motion uh that was given by council member ashme but that is not a permanent solution that I want to have for the city of Charlotte thank you mayor thank you um mayor protim thank you madam mayor I too like my colleague Mr Graham want to thank all of you all because so many people that spoke tonight and I I can look out and just see so many of you are on the front lines whether it's through Direct Services uh or through your faith-based organizations or just being Community leaders and active Community participants and I want to assure you that this Council this entire Council we're all Charlotte residents we all very much care about the city of Charlotte we all very much care about the city of Charlotte residents and the state of the city and we have finished in a position to be a caretaker of how the city grows and thrives for every single resident not just one not if you live in district one or district 7 or on the North side or the South Side for every single resident and so with an issue like this it's not a oneandone the the outcome of tonight is not going to solve the entire problem it is going to be one particular aspect of that challenge of that problem as you as has been mentioned by my colleagues this is a multifaceted issue that is an issue across the entire country right and if there was a best solution or a best practice that we could point to and identify inevitably that is what a couple of other cities have landed on and it has absolutely solved this issue believe me our staff would have brought that to us we would have researched that and we would be put putting that forth tonight but rather than a one particular solution it is a multi-prong solution that will um Encompass Street Outreach additional investment to so many of you all who do that those Direct Services not only from the city of Charlotte um but from our partners at at the board of County Commissioners and uh the the example of the car's team I think is one that is a phenomenal one because we had conversations last term around you know this is a challenge and as so many of you know in hearts of the invisible will will tell you uh Jessica will tell you this is not something you just go out on one one interaction and you get trust in faith right it's a repeated inter interaction with our unhoused community and we're invested in doing that we're invested in doing that as a council um I I too also agree with one of my other colleagues who said you know that this is a direct onetoone issue with the unhoused uh I know that it's not a direct onetoone issue it it is an issue for the unhoused but we have residents who are not unhoused we have people who come up town in in other parts of the city um and they don't conduct themselves as if they're in their own neighborhoods where they live and so I I have listened I have gone out listened to the residents of all four Wards I I represent first and second ward Mr Graham represents third and fourth ward we've had listening sessions we've we've talked with our Hospitality leaders and our tourism leaders that have a high concentration Uptown and we've talked to many of our advocates in this room and we we understand that we don't have the best solution but we have a multi-prong solution that we are going to invest in in and we're going to stand up and we will measure it we'll track it over the next 9 months 12 months 15 months to see where we need to uh you know invest or pull the lever in other spaces to ensure that all charlotteans feel like Charlotte is a safe place that they can live and Thrive and enjoy the city and just go to work and go home and kids can go out and walk and everything is okay right and so I just want to say that this is a hard issue it really is it's not one that I am that I am not unfamiliar with I have been I've experienced housing insecurity I have been unhoused as a child and if it wasn't for a family a a friend not even a family member a friend to step up and allow me to have shelter and security I would be in the same place so I understand um I've literally have been in those shoes and so I understand the issue but I think as we move forward with this vote tonight we have to continue to uh move forward with how we will con that Continuum of Care and also hold individuals accountable for behaviors that they uh EX exhibit that that that otherwise they wouldn't exhibit if they didn't have the permission and the the opportunity or the act of inaction is a statement within itself and it actually promotes um Behavior similar Behavior to occur because then in turn you'll have people who would have otherwise acted um correctly and not have broken these ordinances but if everyone else is doing it around them what's precluding them from not doing it so I as as Mr Mitchell mentioned please continue to work with us with all of us please continue your level of Engagement it's not lost on me I know how important the work is that you do I know how gut-wrenching it is and the stories and the humanity that you exhibit it today to put face to this challenge will not go away thank you thank you I think every council member has had an opportunity to speak on this issue now we're going to call for the vote and so we have a motion on the table that the clerk has read and does anyone need to have that motion read again no all right not hearing that all in favor of the substitute motion please raise your hands all in opposition to it please raise your hand so that's three in opposition thank you very much um I want to say and add to this that we really appreciate what has gone on here tonight and as much as I've said you know please behave and respect everyone I I think we did a terrific job because this is a very very difficult subject one that many of us have worked on for many many years and it's not going to stop or star with this um recommendation for these ordinances today thank you this was a pleasant conversation you're right that's right yeah this okay yeah shame on you you know um this is how I look at this and I think every member of this Council we have to work together as a group to do something that's going to be significant for our community we know what these issues are and we've been dealing with them since the I can't even remember how long and so what has happened I believe has been the idea that we actually can talk about this openly and express all of these concerns because there was a time when it was just basically you know we're going to build a few houses it's going to be 50 units over here and 50 units over there but the real issue behind this is homelessness unhoused people people that deserve someplace to live so I want to first um recognize council member Mayfield is going to begin an initiative around faith-based housing and she is going to work with the clergy Association to try to determine how we can increase the supply of Housing and you should expect that we will participate in that the second part about this is that mental health is an issue now you know I'm going to tell my age but Donald Reagan closed every Community Health Center that we had and said he would open more and there are not the library became our Mental Health Center that is not what we have have to do there are many other places in this C in this world that actually treat people with mental health issues with dignity and respect I don't know that we've gotten that and I would love to have the hope that Charlotte could be one of those places places where that could happen but that requires all of us to continue to participate the city the county the families and all of you we understand the consequences that occur as a result of people not having sufficient housing and we've understood it for a very long time but we've not given up I believe that we should have some opportunity to continue this dialogue and I think that Mr Mitchell said please contact him but I think we need a little bit more structured way to do this I think we need to talk about the people that are really making the difference and saying what do we do since we started out with things like as simple as trying to get people into a group home much less having them have the opportunity to have all the services that are necessary that we now identify with so thank you for those of you who do this work and do it with diligence thank you to our faith community for stepping up and starting to talk about how they can be a part of a solution thank you to miss Mayfield for willingness to take this task on but it's not the only task you know we're going to have a bond referendum coming up pretty soon so every person in this room that talked about what we need to do needs to support the tax base of the ability for us to have a way to do it and that's what we need this is a community of great faith great wealth in so many ways let's figure out how to make this better for everyone and not just those who can provide for themselves and all the time we want to be the city that continues to grow in hospitality and success for our kids especially there are lots of things that we can do but I would hope again let's think about this your ideas are valued and important to us so as we step step out getting ready for a way home and all of those things that we're trying dialogues with all of the people on this Das please don't let this be the only experience that you have as we can make a difference so thank you and I expect that you probably like to say good night to us so thank you very much for being here and for what you all right we have another item on our agenda so um good night everyone thank you for com good night thank you all right so um for item eight um we have an item to approve a contract for 1 million 44 44,7 156 with wsp USA for the inspection of bridges that qualify for federal funds for the Department of Transportation to approve second a b and c approve adopt and adopt the budget ordinance authorizing the manager to negotiate all right we have a motion and a second all in favor please raise your hands I have a question oh there is a question yes yes thank you um have we used this company before I don't know the answer to that Mark you know Debbie's coming okay INSP I have no idea who they are honey this one I'm looking inspection Contra m see good evening mayor and Council Debbie Smith Department of Transportation and councilwoman Johnson yes we have used wsp before okay was this the company um that works on the hathorne bridge hathorne bridge no ma'am okay no it was not all right okay that's all I wanted to know okay thank you all right so now are you ready to vote all in favor of the motion please raise your hand anyone in opposition all right thank you the next item is item nine a motion to adopt a budget ordinance for 198 million oh no thousand sorry 7691 for the North Carolina 911 board to the emergency telephone system fun to adopt okay we have a motion to approve and authorize the manager to execute and um any discussion he none all in favor please raise your hand anyone oppose thank you very much all right now we have nominations for item's apartments oh that's right we have dream key sorry item 10 approve extension tonight really an extension of the city's affordable housing loan to dream key for taola Crossing Apartments phase one authorizing the manager to negotiate contract we have a motion second all right all in favor please raise your hands anyone oppose all right thank you now let's go we go to the nominations with the exception of nominations for the Charlotte business inclusion advisory committee which will be presented later this month sure all right what do we need to do here um there are numerous boards most of them actually that have um more than six nominations so at the conclusion you can make the one motion if you so desire that all of these persons all these positions can be appointed would you like to do that tonight or would you like to do it at the next meeting let's go we're going to haul it on Tu tonight let's do it all right for the alternative compliance Review Committee David Walters received 11 nominations for the bicycle advisory committee Juan contras sharez received 10 nominations for the business advisory committee Nate Hogan received six nominations for the business advisory committee we pulled that one the bus inclusion that was CBI business inclusion we pull bu CBI was understand which one are we on now business advisory committee oh I'm sorry I thought that was six the guy that had got six there okay sorry Stephanie I mean Madam clerk for the business advisory committee Charlene Henderson received 11 nominations look for conations for the Charlotte International cabinet Rona chin received 10 nominations as did and um also for the Charlotte International cabinet aofa dasu received 11 nominations for the Charlotte mecklinburg Public Access Corporation Fay Barnett shell received nine nominations for the Civil Service Board charita hatch received 11 nominations and Joshua Lloyd received 10 nominations for the community relations committee the uh Willie holy received nine nominations Diane Lynn received 10 nominations L Shea received nine nominations and Sharice Torrance received 10 nominations for the Historic Landmark s commission Charlie Miller received 11 nominations for the housing appeals board Pamela Beckham received nine nominations for the keep Charlotte Beautiful Committee Kelsey Schuster duer received 10 nominations for neighborhood matching grants Madison dugar received 11 nominations for the transit services advisory committee wetta Covington received 11 nominations as did the incumbent Leroy Fields with 11 nominations and we um will'll bring back the waste management Advisory board on the 26th and for finally for the unified development uh ordinance Board of adjustment Wes Davis received 10 nominations the incumbent ly Ling y Sun received eight nominations Marshall Williamson also an incumbent received eight nominations and Gary Young received nine nominations all Reed more than six six or more all right we have a motion and a second all in any discussion all in favor please raise your hand all in favor of the motion anyone in opposition thank you um before we all leave I want to say thank you to our attorney to the manager to Sean and the work that the acms do to make all of this possible and I just want to recognize that this isn't always easy but what you guys do is stand steady and that makes a big difference thank you very much we're now [Music] adjourned [Music]