Good evening everybody. It is 7 o'clock and we will get started uh for this public hearing, public comment. Um everybody knows we will uh listen to your comments. We may not respond this evening but uh we are glad that you're here. Uh first person is Robin Fritz and if you at three minutes per person if you want to come on up. Um and then after Robin Fritz we have Octane Octavia Rainey. [Music] Good evening. My name is Robin Fritz. I'm a resident of downtown Raleigh and I am here to address the homeless animal crisis in our community and the need for urgent action. Wake County Animal Shelter has been dealing with critical overcrowding and capacity issues for the past three years and the problem continues to escalate. They are currently caring for about 500 cats and dogs in addition to the hundreds of pets being cared for by local rescue groups and fosters. As a volunteer for a local animal rescue organization, I see the neverending desperate pleas from animal shelters throughout the state asking for help to save lives. Our intake requests are overwhelming and heartbreaking, but we do not have enough fosters and adopters to save them all. Shelters have no choice but to euthanize healthy dogs and cats to make room for new intakes. As a result, there is an increase in owners dumping their unwanted pets and forcing the community to deal with the problem. There are floods opposed every day on next-door neighbor and local community groups searching for owners or potential adopters for these abandoned pets. This is a nationwide crisis. However, North Carolina has the third highest rate of euthanasia after California and Texas. Approximately 15,000 pets were euthanized in our state last year. On a per capita basis, North Carolina is very likely number one. The Wake County Shelter has historically been a no-kill shelter, but the critical capacity conserves have forced them to change their policy. So, how do we alleviate the problem? Over 500 municipalities and states have passed laws to ban the retail sale of dogs and cats in stores as an effective way of stopping the puppy mill pipeline. Just last week, Raleigh Animal Control rescued more than a hundred dogs from a puppy mill in Raleigh. A hundred more dogs added to an already overcrowded system. These puppy mills are unethically breeding dogs when demand cannot keep up with the current inventory of pets available, then dumping or neglecting them. Retail pet bands sales Retail pet sale bans prohibit pet stores from selling dogs and cats and sometimes additional animals like rabbits and guinea pigs sourced from inhumane commercial breeders, aka puppy mills. Instead, stores can continue to offer pet supplies and provide animals available for adoption through rescue and shelters. Earlier this year, a petition to ban a new pet store from opening downtown received over overwhelming support from the community. Over 16,000 signatures and multiple protests. This effort was effective and Pet Ptopia closed down, but a new store, Waggles, is set to open soon. I ask you all to spread awareness and speak to your legislators about introducing a bill to ban the commercial sale of pets. The need is urgent and the support from our community is there. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Fritz. And I will also say councelor Lambert Melton is uh away and has an excused absence. Um so Octavia Rainey, good evening. My name is Actavia Rainey and and I'm here for my neighborhood, College Park. I love College Park. College Park was founded in 1910. It is a historical black neighborhood. I'm here tonight to ask the city council to rename Hill Street on the corner of Hill and Newan Avenue to Jesse White Street. The whites is here with us tonight. They have lived on Hill Street for 100 years. That is just awesome. And we were founded in 1910. How historical is that? This means a lot to College Park. It means a lot to the White family because we have to honor our legacies. And this is one of the ways that we do that is to honor them. Their family deserves it. They have paid their dues in College Park 100 years. I am so proud of them for staying because the many of the homeowners have left, but they are still there. I congrat congratulate them. I'm here to honor them and we're looking forward to putting that sign up that says Jesse White Street. In the city of Raleigh, there's two Hill Streets. There's Hill and Skyrest and there's Hill on the corner of Newurn Avenue. We're only asking to change on New Avenue in College Park. So, I would ask you, please support our application as it goes through the process because we look forward to honoring the whites. They are so welld deserved. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Rainey. And then I see a number of white family and Caraway family. So, next up, Sylvester A. White Jr. followed by Florence White Gillard. Good evening. My name is Sylvester A. White Jr. I'm here with my daughter and wife of 60 years of marriage. We both lived on Hill Street most of our lives and now we're working on Hill Street. But I'm honored tonight to stand here in honor of my grandfather and grandmother Jesse and Lily White who put their stakes down on Hill Street in 1925 and our home was deed to us in 1926. So this evening, we are just here to say to the best council in the United States that you would consider us honoring our grandfather and our grandmother by considering the idea of changing Hill Street, who we love dearly, but also love our grandparents who put the stakes down there on Hill Street. And because of that, I met my wife on Hill Street. And now we're married and working on Hill Street. But we're in favor and asking you to change in honor of our grandparents, Jesse and Lily White, to change that historical street to Jesse White Street. It would just be an honor to the community, be an honor to our family, uh be honor of the memories of a man who was a pioneer and entrepreneur and a visionary in 1925. He started our home there and now we're still in the home. I'm the oldest of 10 children. And my younger sister, Nicole, white, raise your hand, Nicole. She's here. She still lives in the home. Yeah. And the fifth child, my brother, why he still lives lives in the home. So, we love the home. Yeah. We love your street, but we're asking you to consider changing the name to Jesse White Street, beginning at Newman Avenue until the curve across from St. Augustine's Card where Mil Bernie Road starts. But our barber shop will be on Jesse White Street. If I can get you to take this in consideration that Jesse White Street will be an honorable place for me to come to work with my wife and I together. Oh, how beautiful it would be. So, thank you so much for this time to us. And again, God bless each one of you. Looking forward to hearing from you real soon when you give me the news that the streets have been changed to Jesse White Street. Amen. Thank you. Um, so Florence White Gillard. Good evening. I'm Florence White Gillard and I'm number six of 10. And I'm delighted to be here today to ask you to please consider changing and to change the name of the street from Hill Street to Jesse White Street in honor of our grandfather who was a wonderful man and was dearly loved by us. And we are so happy that would be a great honor to us and we would be so pleased if you would make that consideration and we look forward to hearing the good news that that's what happened. Thank you for your consideration. Thank you. And then Nicole White, what number are you? Are you number five? No, I'm I'm the last of Okay. of of the whites. My name is Nicole White. I am the 10th of the 10 children. And thank you for this opportunity to come out. Um, as you've already heard, we are here just asking you to consider the fact that our grandfather made an effort to give something to his family. It has been passed on from our grandfather Jesse and Lily White to my parents and our parents Sylvester White senior and Fedra White and is now passed on to us. So, thank you for that consideration. If you think about it, 1925 may not ring a bell, but I'm sure many of you all that are historians or know your history know that um it's a blessing and it's a wonderful opportunity that we were able to keep it through the depression and through an error. So, I ask that you will consider that and thank you for your time. Thank you. Uh next we have Yolanda White Carowway. Great and glorious evening. First to our great God and to everyone under the sound of my voice. We thank Miss Octavia Rainey, our city council members, all of our North Carolina government officials, and everyone joining us tonight. It is an honor to stand before you. First 2 Samuel 7:18 reads, "Then King David went and sat before the Lord and said, "Who am I, sovereign Lord? And what is my family that you have brought us thus far? Tonight we stand before you asking God a very similar question. Who are we sovereign Lord? And what is our family, the whites that you have bought us a hundred years thus far? My name is Yolanda White Carowway. I am the daughter of Reverend White and Mrs. White. And I represent the grandchildren, one of the seven generations we're able to trace back to the White family. A long history of love, labor, lessons, laughter, and a deeply rooted legacy. I stand before you in stallw walk solidarity with our family and friends to change Hill Street 27610 to Jesse White Street. Thank you for the privilege of your listening ear and for the privilege of your time. Thank you. Thank you. Next we have Rebecca Carowway. Okay. What about Stacy Carowway? No. All right. Uh, the next thing would be Woody Bigs. Looks like a very nice family to follow. On Saturday, May 31st, a friend was visiting me and my windows were rattling from the loud music and bass from the bar across the street from my house. I filed three noise complaints over four hours. No officer ever responded. My friend returned to his Glennwood South condo only to find extremely loud music from a bar into his condo. He filed two noise complaints in 25 minutes and an officer responded 31 minutes from his first complaint. So, either RPD does not want to respond to a noise complaint from Woody Bigs or they do not want to respond to a noise complaint about the bar across from my house for some reason. Take your pick. It's one or the other. The city has had noise ordinance rules for years. After a two-year process, the city introduced a new noise ordinance in January 2024 and then revised that ordinance in January 2025. RPD is not following the city written council passed ordinance. They have ceased giving out citations with only two citations being given out in January 2025 for the 161 noise complaint calls total to June 3rd, 2025 in the Glenwood Hospitality District. RPD is trying new things. We have been told I have tried to find the try new things section in the noise ordinance and cannot find it. RPD has gone rogue and you've lost control of the city police force. Since January 21, when Peter Morrison left as the lieutenant, we have seen basically no enforcement of the noise ordinance. I'm pretty sure I know who's behind it. Y'all need to look into it. The noise terrorism has been going on for over a decade, and I have been making council appearances since 2021. Nothing changes and if anything it has gotten worse. I hear it's now in committee and is being talked about. Residents don't want to hear any of this slow walking city government talk. The noise terrorism needs to stop today. I implore the city to have a moratorum on amplified sound from businesses. What you have tried has been a complete failure. The city needs to do a 180 and do a no amplified sound and then work to see if you can add it back in without the problems we now have. All this continued noise terrorism every week is affecting Raleigh citizens physical and mental health. And anything less than what I propose shows a total lack of concern of Raleigh residents and an intent on this city to harm its residents. This has gone on way too long and it's time for the nightmare to end. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Bigs. Next, we have Michael General. Good evening everyone. My name is Michael General. I stand before you guys as a professional bus operator for Go Raleigh fix routes. I'm here today to respect respectfully request the city of Raleigh reconsider go Raleigh fix routes operating on full service on the day of Junth. Junth is a federal holiday that marks a deeply important moment in America's history. Celebrating freedom, resilience, and black heritage. Across the triangle area, transit agencies like Go Raleigh, well, Go Dorham, Go Triangle recognize this by operating on a modified or holiday schedule. Go Raleigh should do the same. Respectfully, we are we we are one of the fastest growing cities in the southeast region. Go Raleigh decision to maintain regular service creates confusion, delayed transfers, a a highlighted lack of trust, coordination, and compromise our system. The inconsistency negatively impact us both employees and operators. We are not asking the city to cancel service just to give Junth the recognition it deserves with a modified schedule that allow employees a chance to reflect and celebrate and consistently for all our passengers pretty much. That's it. And I have a petition that I have bus operator sign I would like to leave with you guys. Great. And if you there's a basket right there. Um, thank you so much for your comments and for your service. All right, next we have uh Mr. Jeff Hooks. Is Mr. Hooks here? Okay. Good evening. My name is Jeff Hooks. I am a profession I serve as a professional bus operator. I'm here today to bring attention to two critical issues that are directly impacting the morale of the morale and rights of the transit workers. That's seniority and work schedules. Seniority is just not a tradition. is a contractual right that represents years of service, dedication, and hardearned experience. Unfortunately, we are seeing repeated violations where seniority is being disregarded in job assignments and shift and shift selections and schedule changes. This undermines not only the the trust between labor and management, but also the fairness and predictability our operator our operator rely on on to balance their demanding work with their personal lives. Additionally, schedules are being altered without proper notice or or um consultation, placing an unfair burden on operators, especially those with families and second jobs. Some are being forced into shifts that they did not bid on while others having days off reassigned without cause. These practices not only violate the terms of our collect and bargain agreement. They disrespect the people who keep the city moving every day. We are asking for the city council support to ensuring that rapid dev honors the seniority system and abides by schedule protections in our contract. These are just not union concerns. They're the they're matters of dignity, stability, fairness to workers who serve your constituents. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Hooks. Next, we have Natalie Brown. Hello, I'm Natalie Brown. I've been a bus operator at Go Raleigh for 7 years. As an operator, we are continuously tasked with being professional and empathetic to the riding public. But my question to you, when will that same expectation be given to the men and women who move the city? On a daily basis, we are tasked with dealing with passengers who are mentally unsound, facing addiction and homelessness. These variables combined are a safety hazard for us operators in the general public. We understand that we cannot prevent people from riding the bus regardless of their affliction, but we do ask that some type of contingency plan is put into place to ensure the safety of the operator and the riding public. The last few years, we've had operators stabbed, guns going off, and as of recently, two female operators spat on. A controlling factor to the escalated amount of violence on the bus may be contributed to passengers being able to ride the bus for free. Another factor may be passengers ability to do a complete round trip instead of having to exit the vehicle at the end of the line thereby prolonging the time a potential threat is on the bus. So again, who is concerned and who is willing to assure the safety of the men and women who moved the city? Thank you. Thank you, Miss Brown. Next, we have Mr. James Limehouse. Uh, good evening. I'm James Limehouse. I am a utility I work in the utility department and I've been with the company for almost nine years. And during that time, we have been having the same problems continuously, which include getting better pay and staffing throughout all of our departments to attract and retain the best qualified employees to move our transit into the forefront to to represent this capital city on safety. and security. It's been too often where an incident has already happened when it could have been prevented. Preventing them from happening is the is for the betterment of all employees, passengers and general public. And also we need adequate resources. While no vehicle is maintenancefree, we need more buses than we have routes. and a surplus of shuttle cars which would allow more time for general maintenance. And last but not least, we need to give our senior employees a better opportunity to say things good about the transit company to retain a younger generation that's coming in to give them something to look forward to. And we can take this as an olive branch for anybody that's um involved with the transit system as an olive branch to fix the problem that we have on on on deck now so we can be ready for the future. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Limehouse. Next we have Alex Lefond. Is he here? Don't see him. Miss Nikki W. [Music] Good evening. I hope all are well. I had the chance to visit Gibson Play Plaza which was a very pleasant experience and where I can see many fine memories will be made. Thanks to all those who made it possible. If you haven't gone, please pay a visit and don't forget to celebrate Junth this coming Saturday at also located at Dorth Dorothia Dicks Park. As I think of Junth, I can't help but think of what happened to Warren's fairy existence, which was a prolonged lack of acknowledgement of all people being free and the emancipation of the slaves. While we may claim to be a free country, we are still shackling some of its citizens. We sit in a space and time when the world and our country is experience experiencing much turmoil at once. As I protest the bills that ascertain ICE as a necessary component of every agency's process, including that of the sheriff's department, I ponder the similarities of the occurrence of Junth and immigration rights. While the government is looking to make some people feel safer, it is equally making many feel unsafe, even those who are US citizens. They are condoning and mandating illegal deportations, limiting success after imprisonment, resulting in re-entry, and criminalizing sleeping on streets, villainizing and making criminals out of those who are just merely trying to stay alive when circumstances and lack of resources exist to do otherwise. If people behave criminal wise, okay, penalized. But how do you justify condemning people to wars, violence, and genocide who just want to survive and thrive? Empathize and humanize. Don't villainize and jeopardize people further when they lack. That is a brutal attack on the poor. So I ask, excuse me, that we not just think and participate in healthy discussion pertaining to the irony of these wrongs, but also look for ways to assist those who want to work, those who like to contribute, and those who would just want to be able to live in a safe environment conducive to learning and thriving to propel themselves away from and remain free of risk of unhoused situations. Perhaps the best solution may not be among those who are paid but those who are and charged with alleviating the struggles of these issues. I will observe I still observe an influx of people eating out of the trash using sidewalks as facilities and unable to shower. There are still many days of drop in shelter participants don't eat for choosing to wait in line to secure a bed. Likewise, those waiting for services at O City may have to choose between shower, laundry, or a meal. If the thought is that this method of making people choose between which physiological need they will meet today will motivate them to exit the situation more quickly. I assure you it will not. As such again I humbly ask the city to please consider a mobile shower unit toilets and to assist in providing food to the unhoused. We can find the funds and plan as we did with Gibson Park. The communic the community can sign up to assist with meals for the unhoused by visiting the signup genius and typing the 52 good sheepardds at icicloud.com in the email search bar. That's th Mr. Jared Allison. Good evening. Thank you for your time. My name is Jared Allison and I'm pleased to be here this evening on behalf of the White family and the extended College Park community. I would like to say that College Park is a special place. Those of us who've been in Raleigh a long time know that is a very unique place and it's changing. The gentrification is an alarming rate. But we have in this particular case a family who has set their stakes. Mr. Jesse White 100 years ago established a place for his family where his family could thrive. He was an entrepreneur. He contributed to the community. And his grandson, Reverend White here is a reflection of him. I didn't know Jesse White, but I know Reverend White, and I know the entire White family. And I have to say that they single-handedly their their family has contributed more to the College Park community than most. They stayed. When other people left, they stayed. They continue to contribute to the community. They are entrepreneurs. We have people who live in the community who come to them for services. And they could do what everyone else does and leaves, but they decide not to do that. I think we should honor the investment that Mr. Jesse White made in the community 100 years ago that he could imagine that his family for generations could in fact own something, a piece of the American dream and sacrifice throughout the generations to keep it. because I know it wasn't easy and I know it's not easy to continue to uh in this climate continue to conduct business but this wonderful family has continued to do so continue to invest in the community and we do not get many opportunities to acknowledge the great sacrifices of some of our African-American citizens let alone some of our other citizens. So we need to take this opportunity and go ahead and uh change the street to Jesse White Street. we would be honored to know that his dreams were for not. So, we want to make sure that we honor Mr. White and the entire White family. Wonderful family. And, you know, I hope that you all consider this in your u in your deliberations. We thank you so much for your time. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Allison. And Roger Lean White. Miss White, if you don't come to the podium, the people can't hear you. I'm sorry. Okay. Again, my name is Rogerene White. Um, I lived on Hill Street as well. And as my husband just said, um, not too long ago, we dated on Hill Street. I've been married for 60 years. And now we own a business on Hill Street, Washington Tourist Shopping Center. Uh, we went in debt to buy this uh, shopping center. So, I think it would be just a wonderful thing to change Hill Street to um white just a white street. Um it would be such an honor to do that and I'm looking forward to you all making a wise decision to change Hill Street to just a white street. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Next, John Schuford. Thank you, mayor and city council. Um, I I come to you as a North Carolinian whose roots go back to 1760 and feel very very strongly about North Carolina. I also speak to you as a white person and feeling that the racial healing in our communities is absolutely critical if we are going to move forward as a whole community. No one particularly likes what's happening at the national level. They're creating division and purposely trying to create division at the state level. There's also an effort to create division by wiping out the use of terms like diversity, inclusion, equity, etc. We can't even use that in committee names anymore. So what I ask you is we had you had passed a resolution reparative justice resolution um in 2023 but the task force or the commission to study the impact of racism uh Jim Crow slavery on the black community was stripped from the resolution that was presented. We have 25 organizations and individuals who strongly support. So we're talking about thousands of people who support the resolution. So what I ask you to do, I know you can't do anything right now because you still don't know what the state legislature is going to do, but what I do ask is please keep this on the on on the pallet. Please keep it on the agenda. We need to study the impact of racism on our black community because if we don't study it, we can't fix any of it. And that that study is absolutely critical. So please, please, as I said, I know you can't do anything now, but please figure out a way, however you change the words, but figure out how to get a task force to find out the impact on the black community in Raleigh. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Schaefer. Uh, Deborah Bramley. Good evening. I'm Deborah Bramley. I'm a member of the Reparative Justice Resolution Working Group. Some of you might remember me. I've been standing here and I've also met with many of you along with our entire working group team. I'm new to some of the others. um since you're new into the office, but I'm here yet again to talk about the resolution that the city approved. Quoting from an article that appeared on WL News on Janu on July 6th, on Wednesday, July 5th, 2023, the city council voted unanimously to approve a resolution that acknowledges the lingering effects of slavery and Jim Crow on black families. Raleigh joins other cities in North Carolina like Durham and Asheville which have passed reparative justice resolutions in the past few years. The resolution falls short of forming a racial equity and repairative justice commission as was in the original version of the resolution. End quote. After that, our working group reported the following to over 25 community groups and nonprofits and individual supporters that work in the area of racial justice. And as John Shuford said, that represent thousands of people in our community. So, this is what we reported to them after the uh resolution was approved. The council removed the creation of a commission, the most important part of our resolution, a commission of qualified community members who would study issues of systemic racism for 180 days and make recommendations of concrete steps to remedy the impact of racism on the African-American community in Raleigh. The council expressed a public apology for past racism against the African-American community in Raleigh. We welcome this initial step, but the council provided no mechanism for redress. We feel strongly that an apology without concrete steps to remedy the destructive impact of both past and ongoing systemic racism is insincere and totally unacceptable. So I am here today representing these same groups and individuals asking as we have been for the past four years that for the city council to establish this working group or commission task force to address housing, employment, education, criminal justice, etc. that is impacted by the racism in our city. Without it, the apology that the city council offered is meaningless. So, I urge you to take action and get this commission started. Thank you so much. Thanks, Miss Brmley. Next, we have Hannity Ali. I'm Hannady Ali. I saw a certain rabbis calling out Christina Jones for standing up for what we've been coming in here weeks and weeks about the genocide in Palestine. I want to ask him, why are you going after Christina? She's doing exactly what her constituents have been asking her to do week in week out for the past 20 months to recognize the genocide in Palestine. I want to ask him exactly how he wants me to react to more than 17,000 Palestinian childrens killed, thousands of kids amputated with no medicine to amputate. Thousands of 39,000 children have lost one or both parents, making them orphans. Does he not want me to raise my voice for those victims? I would ask him why isn't he advocating for a ceasefire for the remaining hostages because Israel cannot discriminate between them and anyone else. It's so apparent that Israel does not want to differentiate that many countries have already sanctioned Smotri and Ben because of their blatant genocidal and ethnic cleansing words. Please just look it up. I don't h I don't want to give their words air time because they're so evil. Come and talk to me and tell me how the Palestinian community is supposed to react to more bombs being dropped on Gaza than was dropped in World War II. Dropped on the most densely populated area because it's populated from other displaced towns of 1948 and 1967, Palestine to Gaza. I would then ask him, is Zionism the national political and or ideological movement for the establishment and sustaining of statehood or a homeland for the Jewish people? That's the definition. I would then ask him if he was aware that Israel continues to confiscate land from Palestinians in the form of illegal settlements and how does he think this affects the condition of the Palestinian mindset? Then I would ask him to close his eyes. Imagine he was born a Palestinian. Imagine. I imagine if he's a Zionist now, then he would say that the Palestinians he would say that him as the Palestinian in the scenario would need to displace for the superior Zionist. People like Rabbi, like that rabbi, I won't name names, who overlook the hugest red flag of genocide. They're the ones that perpetuate anti-semitism by ignoring the genocide in Gaza. Trust there are daily killings in the West Bank, too, where I'm from, for no reason at all. Where is the justice for the Palestinian people? Free Palestine. Sanction Israel. Thank you, Miss Ellie. Ma Satari. Good evening. This is Mesa Sauti. Um, been coming here for maybe like 17 18 months. Everybody knows me so far. I'm originally from Nazareth and uh, married for my husband. He's originally from Wazda. Um, it's deeply disturbing happening in the halls of the American power. Members of our own Congress elected to serve the American people are putting up Israeli flags on their office doors. Not veterans flags, not even their own state flags, but the flag of a foreign nation. Ask yourself when you have when have you ever seen Israeli officials proudly waving at the American flag and their canit? When have you when have they risked their careers, their political uh to defend us? The answer is never because this is is a mutual alliance. This is a one-way street. America gives money, weapons, diplomatic cover, and political obedience while Israel takes, deflects, and demands more. This is not an ally. This is a burden. A foreign regime with one of the most extreme forright governments on earth is now shaping American policy through fear, lobbying, and emotional manipulation. Let me be clear, Crystal over here. Crusing Israel is not anti-Semite. It's not. And I'm not scared to be called anti-semite or I'm a terrorist. And this kofia this represent every Palestinian and every free person on this planet. This did not represent terrorism or Hamas or any party that they call it for the propaganda is intentual. It's designed to silence Americans to divide us to force us into silence while innocent people are bombed blockaded and buried. Israel has turned victimhood into a shield for endless violence and our politicians have swallowed that ligh. Meanwhile, back home, our schools are unfunded, our health care system is broken, homeless is raising and our infrastructure crumbling. But somehow we find billions of dollars to give it to Israel. This is not about hey, this is about priorities. This is about what our government truly serve. And right now, it's not you, it's not me, it's not the American people, it's the foreign regime that has done nothing but drag our name through the mud and exploit our sources. So, I'm here to say enough. We don't we don't owe Israel blind loyalty. We owe our loyalty to the truth and justice. It's time to stop letting foreign flags fly in our capital. It's time to stop funding occupation. And it's time to take our country back from corruption, from foreign influence, and from cowardness. Wake up. Speak up. Because silence is no longer an option. Free Palestine. Thank you, Miss Satari. Felicia. Good. Good evening everyone. I am Felicia Good. Um, this will be my 20th year with Capitol Area Transit/Gor Raleigh this year. Um, some of the concerns that I have are the free passes of giving um the people a whole another year to ride the buses is causing the drivers a lot of stress cuz a lot of them just want to get up there and sleep or charge their devices and they don't want to get off and then it's an issue when you wake them up to try to get them off. Um, the seats are nasty. So a lot of times when professional people that are going to work get up there, they don't want to sit down. And if they do sit down, they're using the schedule to sit on to sit down. So now you have schedules everywhere on the buses because they don't want to sit down in the seats because they look nasty. Um, another thing I had was um some of the the way the routes are are have are going to change um this Father's Day. Um, I feel like the seniority drivers, what's the use of having any seniority? Because it's the rout some of the routes that we pick is no consistency each day. It's like each day we'll be doing something different. You'll be coming in at a different time and getting off each day at a different time. And when you have a child or kids at home, it's hard to run run your household like that, not getting off at the same time. um the tra all the trash and stuff that's downtown. Um the workers that clean up downtown, they do a good job, but having the homeless down there eating when the people come and feed them and stuff like that, they leave all that mess for the cleanup crew to clean up. So soon as they clean it up within an hour, it's right back looking nasty. Um I feel like we need more buses. We don't have have uh enough buses for us to pull out sometimes. um they're struggling to get buses and then some of the buses that we have are so old that you got to bring paper towels because you might get rained on it leaks. So you got to stuff tissue here and there to keep from getting wet up while driving. So those are some of my issues and I just hope y'all take all of that into consideration. Thank you, Miss Good. Next, Cordell Davis. Good evening. My name is Cordell Davis. Um, I'm a road supervisor for Go Raleigh. I'm one of 10. We have to supervise over 236 drivers on a daily basis. I just wanted to speak about the safety of the employees. Uh, I come to work 4:00 Sunday morning. The first bus that pulls out is the 4:30 number four. It's a female driver about 15 to 20 homeless people get on that bus every Sunday morning just to ride out and ride back. Now, this female driver is fairly new to the company. You know how stressful that must be for her to be driving a bus full of people at any time could say and do anything. It's dark outside. She has this big bus. She has to get to Rex Hospital and back safely. Um, the free pass program I think needs to be looked into because what's happening is a sense of entitlement. Like I have a card. I can ride the bus all day every day. When like Felicia said, you have people trying to go to work and they don't want to get on the bus. I drove a bus one day because we were short drivers and a young lady got on the bus with two of her children and she sat down and we don't know what kind of fluid she sat down in but she had to get up and her parents were two kids. So, how does her day go from there? You understand? Um, we're being overrun down at the station. It's it's it's not safe. And we have more female drivers than ever. And you know, for a female to come to work and drive a bus, your back turned, everybody's behind you. They're smoking on the bus. They're they're cursing our drivers out. They're attacking our drivers. And we feel like we're not being protected enough. We're not being heard. um from Pool Road down to here, you know, we need help. We need more resources. We need more money. We need something to get us through because at the rate we're going, it's not going to last that long. Thank you. Thank you, Clifton Hill. Hello mayor, city council goal management rapid dev leadership. I am Clifton Hill bus operator treasurer atu local 1328 email each one.gmail.com hgmail.com the number one urgent demand yard gate repair safety measures accountability for mismanagement dear city and go rally leadership I'm in attendance to express urgent concerns regarding both safety and mismanagement that are directly impacting bus operators and transit workers at go rally the bus yard gate at pole remains broken and unrepaired the explanation that no one has responded to the RFP is unacceptable particularly When in the past contractors completed repairs that lasted up to two years, the same approach should be taken while a permanent solution is developed. What will it take before our safety is treated as a priority? It has been nearly 3 years since the gate was last fully operational. 3 years of disregard for employee safety. Recent incident, a passenger removed by Raleigh police at busway later entered the yard acting erratically. The breach was direct result of the gate being inoperable and created a serious safety risk for employees. We demand immediate action, immediate contractor outreach to repair or redesign the gate temporarily safety measures, on-site security, improve lightening, active surveillance as outlined in our CBA. The company is responsible for ensuring a safe working environment. Additionally, RAPD and RPD must coordinate with supervisors to reinstate the trespass log and enforce meaningful protections for operators. Additionally, current operator training is being rushed in the name of city needs, and this is placing new hires at unnecessary risk. We must return to thorough, deliberate training that prepares operators for long-term success. Ongoing mismanagement and CBA violations by RPD. Rapid Dev has repeatedly violated the CBA, often excusing these violations with vague references to city priorities. This pattern is unacceptable and damaging to workforce morale and trust. If the city is aware of these violations, they must be addressed transparently. If not, we urge the city to exercise oversight and hold its contractors accountable. Our members serve Rally with professionalism and pride. We expect the same commitment from those tasked with managing us. Rapid Devs appears more experienced in a paratransit than a fixed route of this size. Unfortunately, that inexperience is causing us daily in safety and sority protections and work life balance. The quality of fixed route service is slipping and is affecting both employees and riders. A follow-up communication will provide further details. We are ready to work, but we will not quietly accept unsafe conditions, mismanagement, inaccurate acrruels, payroll failures, or staffing shortages that violates our rights and endanger our members. Thank you for your time. Thank you. And we'll look forward to the written summary. I've got a lot of notes here, but uh we'll look forward to getting those. Uh next we have Marva Jordan. Okay. Charlene Parker. Good evening. Good evening, Madame Mayor, council members, residents, and people of this great city. My name is Charlyn Parker. I'm equipment operator 3 at Solid Waste Services. And we come before you not with anger in our hearts, but with urgency in our voices. Because the time has come to speak plainly about the conditions we face and the dignity that we deserve. We are the men and women who rise before the sun, who collect your trash, who keep your neighborhoods clean, and who carry the burden of the city's waste on our backs every single day. But even as we carry that burden, our calls for help go unanswered. Our warnings are dismissed and our worth is ignored. We drive trucks that fail us, trucks without working mirrors, trucks without safe brakes, trucks that break down before breakfast. And still we are told to get it done. We wait hours with no backup, no plan, no word, and then we are blamed for not doing enough. We are asked to perform the impossible and punished when we fall short. We speak up and we are silenced. We ask questions and we are lied to. We serve with pride and we are passed over while friends and family of leadership are lifted up into roads they have not earned over drivers who have given years of service, who have spotless records, and who know this work better than anyone. And let me say this loud and clear to the leadership of our department. When you keep making the same mistakes over and over again, they stop be mistakes and become who you are. And we will not stand by while you turn a failing system into our reality. But I say tonight, we are not invisible. We are not disposable. We are not the problem. We are the heartbeat of this city. We do not come asking for handouts. We come asking for fairness, for safety, for truth, for respect. We come asking that the chaos be brought to order, that our leadership leave with purpose, and that our work be met with the dignity it deserves. We do not wish to strike. We do not wish to walk away. We wish only to serve and to be heard. But if this city turns a blind eye, if this council does not act, then you will wake up to a city that cannot run. Not because we refuse to work, but because we are pushed beyond the point of return. Let us not wait for that day. Let us fix what's broken while there's still time. And legacy isn't about titles. It's about what you leave behind in others. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Whitney Hill. [Music] Good evening, Raleigh City Council. I'm Whitney Hill and I'm here tonight to stand up for the men and women that stood up for us, our Raleigh firefighters. Every time there's smoke in the air, a family crisis, or a life hanging in the balance, they run toward danger. They don't do it for fame. They don't do it for fortune. They do it because they believe in something bigger than themselves, our city. That's why I believe it's time that Raleigh did right by them. It's time that we commit to providing separation allowance, commonly known as gap pay for our firefighters. Let's be clear. We ask these professionals to endure physical, punishing, high stress, life-threatening work from the mo moment they start until the day that they retire. These folks are the equivalent of domestic army veterans, but many are eligible in their early 50s because after 30 years, their bodies simply can't keep going. Yet, they're left without a ret without retirement pay until they reach 62. That's nearly a decade with no safety net or pension. Just a pat on the back and a hope they'll figure it out. That's not acceptable. GAP pay is not a luxury. It's a promise. It's a recognition that we cannot ask people to sacrifice their bodies and mental health in service to Raleigh, then lead them to fend for themselves when they've given us everything that they've got. We talk a lot about retention, recruitment, and public safety. Well, here's the truth. If we want to keep skilled firefighters, if we want to attract the next generation of public service servants, and if we want a city where safety is more than a slogan, then gap pay is a must. Please approve it. Please do not confuse this issue and lump it in with an early retirement program for the city employees. Let it stand on its own legs. Raleigh can be a national model in how we treat those who protect us. Let's make that choice. Let's invest in gap pay. Rethink the budget and put firefighter compensation at the top, not falling off at the bottom. Let's stand with our fire firefighters, not just in words, but in action. Thank you, Raleigh City Council, for your time. Please give this me measure due consideration. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Hill. Next, we have Andy Tran. Mr. TR here. Okay. Mamakai Saunders. Good evening. It's another amazing day in paradise. Thank you all for your service. Now, I know it's late and y'all are ready to go home, but I sincerely hope you hear something that compels you to have the courage to say, "Let's seek for answers to change the tra trajectory of what's going on." Because I've got to be honest, I'm so deeply troubled by what I see. So, I'm not hoping that someone sitting in a leadership position in this city will have the courage to say, "Let's let's pause for a moment." I'm hoping there are more than a few someone's who will stop this crazy train before it picks up momentum because it really is never too late to change. Let me continue by saying it's alarming to me that the city is attempting to build its future as a safe, vibrant, healthy city using a liquid weapon that has so many statistics stacked against it being safe or causing vibrant healthy living. It causes fights among strangers. It causes domestic violence in homes. It causes car accidents that lead to irreparable harm and even death. It destroys individuals and families. And all these activities put an additional strain on the city's already overburdened emergency services. You're literally enticing people into downtown to throw their nervous systems into a state of sympathetic activation on purpose. Then you expect that people living in their fight, flight, freeze, or fawn nervous systems are having a good time and making good decisions. Please note that's impossible. The quote unquote good time is all an illusion because what alcohol does is dull the chaos that's happening inside their brains for a short period of time. It's enough time for them to take flight from their traumas and feel like they're free until the effects wear off. And if that's not bad enough in this sensitive state, you're placing legally armed law enforcement to guard and attempt to manage what's going on. The challenge with that is they might be in their sympathetic nervous systems too, especially if they are exhausted because the weight of serving an understaffed department is an additional burden. To be clear, officers are real people with real lives and real challenges, too. I'm not suggesting something extra is going on there, nor am I throwing shade at them. I'm talking science and reality here. Most people have challenges. The police are not exempt from that. Now, do you see the problems yet? Is this what the city leaders want to gift my young black male superhero and the other children and youth who live here? Megan, Christina, and Corey, you all have daughters growing up here. Is this the legacy we want our children to inherit? A trauma on top of trauma situation that will destroy this city that already is. If you really want to create a safe, vibrant, and healthy city, building it on alcohol, a liquid weapon, makes absolutely no sense. I'm not sure how you can even suggest that building the future of the city on alcohol consumption is creating a safe, vibrant, and healthy community. You know what's safe, vibrant, and healthy? Places where families can get go together all day, every day. Thank you. I'll continue next week. Thank you, Miss Sanders. Next, Nathaniel Cox. Good evening. Uh, as stated, I'm the Reverend Nathaniel Cox. I pastor Grace AM Zion Church off of Newburn A. Uh, I've come tonight to request the change of Hill Street uh to uh White Street. Um, I pastor Grace Church, which is getting ready to celebrate its 17th anniversary. And uh almost as long if not longer uh the whites have literally been across from us. Uh they are a staple in our community and uh uh family is what our nation is all about. And not only do we want this change so that people can know where they're at uh as far as getting their directions uh but it also provides us with a reminder of how important family is uh to our communities, to our churches, to our institutions, and to our nation. Uh, so I just come to advocate for that. Thank you, Reverend Cox. And now we have Reverend Henry Caldwell. Good evening to the honorable mayor of this great city and the city council. My name is Reverend Henry Cwell. Uh I am the pastor of First Church of God Ministry on Boyer Street and I want to first of all thank the Raleigh City Council for this privileged opportunity to speak on the matter of changing Hill Street to Jesse White Street. As pastor of First Church of God ministry on Boyer Street, the church has served this community since 1928. One aspect of our ministry service to the community is to teach others how to be responsible and do the right thing by your neighbors. The Jesse White family has lived and served this community for 100 years. This family has served this community by way of grocery store ownership and service, barber shop ownership and service and in the religious ministry with pastors and ministers some uh here present uh this evening still serving this wonderful community in an extraordinary way even today. I know this council tries to do its best for the good of the people of Raleigh because they want to do the right thing. You want to do the right thing. This particular matter of renaming the street should be evidence that it is there ever as good if there's ever a good reason to honor this man Jesse White and his family for their community support and contribution over the past 100 years even now then this should really be an easy decision for the Raleigh City Council simply because it's the right thing to do. God bless you for this opportunity to speak to you and I hope that you will seriously consider this matter because again it's simply the right thing to do. Thank you. Thank you, Reverend Caldwell. We have uh Blair with Habitat for Humanity. Is she here? I don't see her. No, I don't either. And then Representative Dan Blue. Last but not least, actually, Mayor, Mr. Tran is in the audience. I just got Okay. Good evening, Madame Mayor and Council. I'm glad to be with you a little while. I'm coming to sort of be the book end to close out the argument. Uh, you know, I've seen a lot of things over the years and uh I'm I'm like Reverend Caldwell. This thing is so obvious to those of us who've looked closely at it on on renaming Hill Street. I've known well well I knew Sylvester White senior and certainly uh uh Reverend Sylvester White, his family uh and just about all of uh the of of just just about all of Sylvester White Senior's family, all of the children. Uh I've had the privilege of going in and out of uh uh their neighborhoods, their homes over the years, and it it's just sort of fitting that Sylvester and Rodelene bought the shopping center at the end of the street. And so now they have a footprint all five or six blocks of Hill Street. Uh several weeks ago we went to an event at Tarbor Road Community Center. Probably 50 75 people there from the neighborhood. All of them enthusiastic. They thought it had already been done. Uh but but again there's so many teachable moments that come out of this. Five generations showing you what real cities are built on and what families contribute to it as these ministers said earlier this evening. So, I'm just here to be supportive. Uh, I've represented the White family, uh, multiple ones of them, uh, as a legislator for the last four decades. Uh, Sylvester and Ike, White have been my barbers for the last half a century. And so, I'm totally embedded in the family and I commend you for taking the time to listen to this. But when you see the formal application and stuff, I think it will flow naturally that nothing better could happen to Raleigh than to create this as an example what a thriving city is all about. Thank you all. Thank you, Representative Blue. And now last but last night, Andy Tran. Yes. Thank you. Uh hi everyone. My name is uh Andy Tran. Uh, I'll be hosting a meetup at the end of this month, uh, June 26 on a Thursday. So, you have nothing to do on Thursday. Come out. It's going to be at Clouds Brewing. Um, and then afterwards, any attendees to the event will get a 50% off of a comedy show afterwards. Uh, this event is pretty important. I did have like a uh slide deck of two images. But, uh, this is a a meetup for people who have issues that concern them and then we uh we share what issues you may have and as a collective we'll try to solve them. Uh, it is a jarring title. is called people over politics, but we're hoping to solve ideas and not make politics too jarring. Uh, and then afterwards, we plan to introduce a platform that we're building to help people uh share their ideas. If enough ideas, we can send it to your representatives. That way, they know what um the people like who they're representing wants. U so hopefully we could change to landscape politics in a positive way where people feel like they make more of an impact. Uh if you have any more questions or have anybody who are political activists who are interested in doing this type of thing, please share our event. Uh again, there is like a uh a P PDF I sent over to to there's some QR codes. Submit that to email. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, but we can't show it here on Oh, okay. Okay. It was essentially a QR code so you can get to the event faster and there's also a Google form that we're trying to collect information on your top issues, right? like what uh you're concerned with the most so they can get an idea of if we could bring in guest speakers or somebody who has uh knowledge. I think a lot of that is just uh tell people uh ease if they learn more information and I get it. We're all busy of kids and 9 to5s it's hard to collect political data that's uh helpful but uh we hope to change all that and uh make things more positive for people. So, please come out uh on June 26. Uh share this event with your friends. Uh and uh we're also uh uh excited. I don't know. There's also a police station next by so if anything uh belligerent happens, we'll take care of it. But uh yeah, u please reach out to me if any questions uh or anything else. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Tran. All right, that concludes our speakers for this evening and we will uh with uh out objection adjurnn. Heat. Heat. [Music]