[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Hey. Hey. Hey. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] everyone. Um we are here um to ha have an opportunity to hear from people who would like to um be a member of our city council. Um, and we're going to do this in a way that I believe will be easy to get to, but I know that it can also be sort of a little bit of like tension around it. So, but what I'd like to do is begin with our staff having introductions so that you know who they are and these are the folks that helped put this together so that we could have this meeting. And we'll start with our city clerk, Billy Tons, deputy city clerk. Lena James, deputy city attorney. Anthony Fox, interim city attorney. Good afternoon, Renee Johnson, District 4. Good afternoon, Marjorie Molina, District 5. Good afternoon, Dante Anderson, Mayor Prom, District 1. Good afternoon, Val, Malcolm Graham, District 2. Lana Mayfield at large. Victoria Watlington at large. All right. So, we're going to begin on this with I believe we're going to have a review from our deputy city attorney um or the clerk. Thank you, Madame Mayor. So, the applicants that we received, the deadline was Tuesday, May 13, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. We received 12 applications. Out of the 12 that we received using the North Carolina Board of Elections website, we were able to verify that nine candidates are eligible. And when I say eligible, um to be eligible, a candidate must be registered voter in Meckllinmberg County, be at least 21 years of age, be a registered Republican, and reside in District 6. Again, we were able to verify that nine of the 12 of those applicants were eligible. So, today we have four people that signed up to speak. Each person will be given five minutes and the council will have 10 minutes to discuss or ask questions of the candidate. All right. Anything else? Mrs. Do you have anything? Mayor and council members, I was just going to share with respect to the three applicants who we've deemed ineligible for two of them, um the party affiliation does not match what the law requires because you have partisan elections. In Charlotte, it requires that the person appointed to fill a term has to be of the same party. And so that did not match for two of the applicants. for the third person that we deemed ineligible, they need to have an address that reflects um district six and in this case we didn't have that based on verification through the clerk's office and the North Carolina board of election site. So just wanted to share that context for the three ineligible. All right. So as you've heard there are some people that were not judged inel eligible and then we have several that have been judged as eligible. And so with this, we have um I believe our opportunity to um Is our city attorney have any questions or comments? Go ahead. I I was just going to add it's our understanding from the clerk's office that there may be a one of the candidates who is not eligible who may be present in the room. I'm not sure. Uh but to the extent the public forum is intended to be for candidates who are eligible to be appointed to the position, I would say that would be four applicants. All right. Thank you. And we have um I have a Do you want to read out the list of those that are not judged eligible to clarify? M those that are not eligible, Madame Mayor. Yes, go ahead, Billy. The ones that were not eligible were Grayson Sandalin Ashery Welby, and Larisha Poor. Those three candidates are not eligible. All right. Thank you very much. And so now we can move forward to those that are eligible um that have asked to be able to speak tonight or this afternoon. So our first one our first speaker is Sheri Shaka. Um Mr. Shaka, you can come to the podium. There's a microphone up there. You'll have five minutes and then council will have some time in addition if there are additional questions. All right. Thank you very much. you. We won't even start the clock until you get up there. Okay. Uh, may I start? Yes, please. Uh, good afternoon, Mayor Lyles, Mayor Promp, council members, and fellow charlatans. My name is Siri Shakra. That's pronounced Gary with an S. and I I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you today. Uh it's a true honor to do so. Uh to be speaking with the government officials who shape our Queen City. Uh I'm a first generation Lebanese American born in 1991 right here in Charlotte. I've lived in districts 1, four, five, and now for the last few years, uh my wife Hannah and I have made district 6 our home. Uh the city raised me and I've chosen to build my life and future here. I work in the storm water and infrastructure construction where city policy becomes reality and I manage properties where I deal directly with budgets, code enforcement, and quality of life issues that matter to everyday people. I've also served on my neighborhood HOA board and worked handinand with residents to solve real problems. That's the kind of hands-on leadership I believe our district needs. I've spent the last two years following council and committee meetings through the city's website and the YouTube channel. uh not just watching but paying close attention. Council member uh Driggs and Council Member Graham brought important awareness to a key consideration whether the person selected to fill the seat should also be someone who plans to run this fall. I want to be fully transparent with this council and the public. Yes, I plan to run. I've been preparing to file in July regardless of this vacancy. I understand and respect that the concerns expressed uh including Council Member Graham's point that, you know, character matters and that breaking your word would speak volumes. That's exactly why I'm being clear and honest today. I'm not here to take advantage of the process. I'm here because I care deeply about District 6 and I believe that I have the ability to serve now and in the future. My decision to run is not in conflict with my character. Uh it's a reflection of it. Council Member Bkari served this district for many years and I respect his contributions. I also want to wish him continued success in his new role as deputy administrator at the Federal Transit Administration. Uh before his departure, Council Member Bari expressed hope that whoever filled his seat would continue to prioritize public safety and infrastructure, two areas I care deeply about. Uh these aren't just priorities I talk about. They reflect the work I do every day and the values I plan to carry forward with the purpose and accountability. Charlotte is my home. District 6 is where I've chosen to serve. If selected, I'll bring a respectful and hardworking approach to this seat. I'll be a voice for our neighbors and a bridge for this community. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. So, all right. Our next speaker is Andy Doulan. Mayor and council, one question we would ask is I'm sorry, I forgot if you wanted to question either after this. Our first applicant. So, I'm sorry if you would just give us a moment. Are there any questions for our applicant? Back up here. Yeah, that' be good. I got a process question. Did you say we could wait until the end to ask questions? Because I may have a question that I have for each one. I I think you could. I mean, I think if you want to hear from all the candidates, five minutes each. And the idea was to have 10 minutes for council to ask questions of each candidate. Okay. I'll wait. Okay. You're going to wait. All right. So, you Thank you very much. Okay. Mr. Dueling. This suit doesn't fit as well as it used to. Thank you, mayor and council members. My name is Andy Dulan, and I found over the years, over the several hundred neighborhood meetings and HOA meetings and church meetings I've gone to, if I let my heart be my speech writer, it always comes out best. So, I'm down here this afternoon with nothing written down other than what my heart is going to say. So, let's just spend a couple of minutes and see what it comes up with. Um, as most of you know, I had a really wonderful run on city council from 2005 to 2013. Great people, great work done. the work we did at the airport. I'm so proud of that airport we've built and the economic engine that that airport has provided and will continue to provide for our community. going as a city as a council member on the district level in city council district 6 all those years I know every corner and most of the front doors cuz I've knocked on them all those years saying hello for either myself or other candidates over the years and so I'm intimately uh aware of where they are um who those folks are and and in most cases what their needs will were and will be. Uh I'm just thrilled to have the opportunity to come down here for a short period of time. I do not plan to run in the fall. What I'd like to do is to come and join council again on the dis and work on your your five focus areas are good ones, you know, and I'd really like neighborhood, community safety, transportation. And I'm particularly in uh interested in in economic development to bring more folks. All these apartments that we've been zoning all these years. I drive around going, "Oh, for goodness sakes, where are these kids coming from?" Well, we have to make a city and we've made a city. We're growing a city where people want to come live here. And it's our job to make it a place folks want to come. to make it a place when they graduate from college and they move to Charlotte, their folks, whether they're in Ohio or where it might be, they're pleased that their kids are living in Charlotte, North Carolina. I'd like to come do that for a little while with y'all and help you move forward with what you're doing. City council is working on some awfully big stuff now. Um, give me a chance to sit at the table with you again and I'll work on the little stuff, the pot. There won't be any potholes left in district six when I'm done. We're going to fix the pothole problem. And and those folks and when I was on city council before, the only telephone number on my business card was my cell phone number. I cut out the middle man, the middleman, and people if they had my number, they would call me and then I'd get started on it. And that way staff didn't have to worry about it. they would call me and I'd say yes ma'am or yes sir I'm coming over there to see you this afternoon to see what the problem is and then we'd get started and that's what I'd like to do for the next five six months whatever that number of months are thank you very much mayor and council thank you very much again how' my heart do it fine so we'll we'll see more maybe the answers that your car heart will make from questions we'll see how it does see how that goes so thank you our Next um speaker is Andrew Dunn. Mayor, again, I'll just check to see if you have questions for Mr. Dylan or if you want to hold till the end. I thought that we were going to do this all questions later. Isn't that what your request was at the end? We'll come back. Do you have something right now? You have what? Oh, you're right. Thank you. We can go with that. So Andy was and now Edwin Peacock. Mayor, council, pleasure to be with you. My name is Edwin Peacock. I'm here before you today for three reasons. Number one, I believe that I'm qualified. Number two, I have experience. And number three, and I think perhaps most importantly, I have perspective. I thought I'd take the next minute or so just to tell you who I am and give you an introduction for some of the colleagues here who don't know me. Um, I grew up in District 6 in a little neighborhood called Lansdown. Went to Lansdown Elementary. My mother, before I was born, was a CMS art teacher. My father was a life insurance salesman. And when I was four years old, my dad was elected to the county commission um and served with distinction until 1980. And then he served from 1981 to 1983 on this dis. And part of the reason that I got infected with the service bug had a lot to do with my father and the example that he set for me. Um I went on to first word elementary. Um went from there to Charlotte Country Day where I went to middle school and I graduated and then I went to the University of Georgia where I thought my calling was to play baseball as a left-handed pitcher. But coach Steve Weber did not agree with that. Uh and I only got as far as the practice squad. Um, I met my college sweetheart there, which I think was probably the absolute best decision I have ever made, without a question. And I met my wife there. Um, when we graduated, I chased her to Metro Washington DC. Um, I began my career not in politics in Washington. I began my career as a mortgage loan officer, helping people to qualify and to be educated about making the largest financial purchase that they would make in their life. um asterct on that. I I was always curious about my time and rolling up my sleeves with homeowners and looking at credit reports and asking questions about income. But boy did that come in helpful when I got elected to city council and we started talking about housing um and the importance of that. And obviously where we want to see everybody in Charlotte, we don't want to see them just have shelter. We want to see them have a place that they can rent but ultimately own and build equity in the community. Um, so I left Washington DC with uh a one-month-old and moved back to Charlotte in 2003. Uh, Amy and I had our second child 16 months later. Um, and then my ventures in service began in something called Rotary. I joined the Rotary Club with Charlotte in 2003. Um, at that time I had no idea what this great international service organization was. Um, I was in the buffet line and uh I bumped into uh many people here know um the former executive director um Dee Murphy from Leadership Charlotte and she asked me was I going to apply to Leadership Charlotte and I'd already applied twice and I didn't get in. And I told her I said Dee I'm a baseball player. I take free swings at everything. And so I applied and I got in and if anybody's been through the program it gives you an incredible kaleidoscope view of this great community. And when we finish, you know that you're called to do something. And not many of my classmates thought to run for office, but I did. And that was what got me here. And when I was blessed to be elected in 2007 and served with you for four years. Uh so I'm back um seeking the position for 6 months. I've indicated on my application that I don't intend to run for the seat or run for office. Um, I hope that I can answer any questions that you all have about my background or experience that I've listed on my resume. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Thank you very much. Our last speaker is James Frederick Rice. Well, hello. Um, I guess I'm last. Tail end, Charlie. My name is Fred Rice. I apologize. I woke up this morning and my voice was gone. I'm not sure what that's about. Um, I've been in Charlotte, uh, not in politics in any way since 1983. I moved here, uh, to from Florida, uh, to be, uh, the manager of a large medical practice. Um, I got there by being born in Philadelphia and leaving when I was five. My father moved around a lot and uh he was part-time soldier and one of the things he took us to Florida when I where I started the first grade. That was my third move by the way by that point. Um he u went off to war in Korea. He was gone for 33 months in combat. He kept volunteering to go back. when he returned uh he was not the same man and uh he and my family he decided to be a paratrooper of all things. So we moved with the 11th Airborne to uh Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Um where I spent oh I guess that was by then the third through the part of the sixth grade. Um and then he took a job in Miami. He always wanted to go to Florida. So off we went to Miami. Uh that lasted that for a few years. I spent another fifth and sixth and part of the seventh grade in Miami. And then uh the Korean War never left my dad. He never left the Korean War. And he and my mother divorced. Um I was in the seventh grade. Pardon my voice. Uh my mother uh was looking for employment and she moved my her family at that point, give me a second, with my two younger daughters, sisters rather. We moved to small town in central Florida. I mean small, less than 5,000 people and um where she could find employment and that's where we were. Thank you. I I poured one and forgot it. So, thank you so much. Um, we stayed in that small town where I did uh part of the seventh grade and then the eighth and nth and tth grade in a very small school. Uh, each of the classrooms was one whole class. Um we she moved to the next largest town around 15,000 people where I finished my basic education 10th 11th and 12th grade. Graduated from uh Hayne City High School in ' 62. Um was fortunate enough to get into the University of Florida in ' 63. I'm a Gator. Somebody else is a gator. Um, and uh, my children are gators, by the way. Um, and um, but I found out when I got there that I as I could. U, I could not find a way to finance any education beyond the my first year. I had managed to accumulate $1,500 in debt uh, at a at a local bank. Uh there was no student loan back then and uh with my mother's signature. I was 18 years old. Uh pretty bright, motivated, but you know, there's no money. So I went back home, decided that I wanted to I might as well go into the military and get it over with. Now this was 63, so things were quiet at that point. I went, "Excuse me. There's a point to this. Um, I went to see my high school principal and um, I'd always worked. I never met never had an allowance. Never. It was always what I made. Um, and you know when you're a young teenager, that's mowing yards and stuff like that. Um, he took me to see my local banker, local bank president, and he told me he wanted to interview me for a an idea he had. And we did. We talked for three hours. And the three-hour interview resulted in him in him offering me a a chance to in effect work for him. I I'm I'm sorry that we have to um stop at this point. Okay. And um unless you have a closing sense statement or Sorry, I that's a um I went I spent a career in banking um in Florida. I came to Charlotte uh managing large medical practices. I was hired by recruited by the uh Carolina's healthc care system uh as a senior VP for physician practice acquisition in 1993. So you must have had a great experience in our city in healthc care. You've seen banking and healthcare. Yep. So um thank you very much for helping us remind reminding us of how important some of the things that we do today. Well, my point there is that there are two things in our lives that are very important to us. Our healthcare and our money and I'm very experienced in managing both of those. Thank you for your time. Thank you. All right. Now, it's time to open the floor from the council members for any if you have a question, please direct it to the correct Madame Mayor. I'm sorry. If I could interrupt just for a moment. So, we do have an applicant here, Miss Lisha Poor, who was able to show me the correct spelling of her name. And um I was able to pull it up on the North Carolina Board of Elections that she is a uh registered Republican voter, which means she would be eligible to uh speak today if that's Thank you for stepping up and making sure that that happens. So I'm we will now have another speaker and let's see Miss Poor is it Lisha? Lisha. All right. Thank you very much for coming in and thank you for standing up. Thank you. Good evening again. My name is Lisha Poor and um thank you to the mayor and to the city council for taking out the time to hear me introduce myself on the importance of this role and opportunity to be able to sit on the council. Uh I am a proud resident of district 6 Meckllinburgg County and of course of Charlotte. I did not submit this application with light intentions. This application is submitted with pride and I sought after the opportunity to share insight, collaborate and to partner with the existing council members to ensure that we are able to overturn disparities in our city. Yes, we have our five great points. You know, for me, the one that stands out the most is having a great neighborhood. I take pride in my neighborhood where I reside. It's important to me because I made Charlotte my home 19 years ago when I I'm a transplant from Ohio. It is now a place where I can stand proud to say I can recommend people to move here. As we know, monthly several people are moving here because of the wealth and the opportunity and the place of hope that Charlotte provides. My integral background uh that I have is to make a positive change with influence to be able to see the success of the initiatives and the goals that the city has already put into place in the first quarter. The things that you've already accomplished to really make sure that we're pushing and thrusting forward by making sure the information is shared properly and to all people to make sure that people are aware that it's important to vote and to be a a part of these meetings. just like this. I currently right now work for Meckllinburgg County, which I take pride in working there. I work there not only because I'm a survivor of domestic violence and sexual assault where I volunteered in this community and this city helped me to get back to where I was to stand proud in front of this forum. I go into schools every day through CMS to be able to share about the awareness of teen dating violence. And I hear young people share beyond wise beyond their years of the challenges that one in three teens will experience dating violence. That's important to me in my city. How can we overturn this? How can we make sure that we're able to change that number and to turn it around for the good? It's because of conversations that are held right in this meeting setting. It's important that we continue to communicate prosperity and positivity in our community because there's so many tragedies and things that are happening. But there's so much light and hope in this city that if we all thrust forward in the area of that, we will be able to continue to tear down the things that have been trying to hold our city back. Our areas and communities need our support and that's what I'm here to do. My dad raised me to have my boots on the ground. My first job in the board of elections in Ohio, making sure that I was aware of the House and the Senate to make sure that I was a registered voter at a very young age to make sure that I encouraged people to vote. Our voice must be heard. And if given the opportunity to be able to sit on the council, I will continue to encourage people to let them know that their voice matters. This the issues that happen that are going on that may be small to someone can be brought right to this forum. And things I've seen this council overturn and make a difference if given the opportunity. I do plan on running in the fall. Um, to be able to fill the seat into running and I'm excited because I never thought that I would be able to have this opportunity to do this. Sometimes you think that the world has counted you out or you've been knocked down. Being able to stand up flatfooted and know what you stand for and know what you're going to do provides a positive influence and makes a mark on the stage of where our city is going. Look at us. The umbrella center is about to be built in 16 months. That's major. And the city of Charlotte is supporting that. Look at what we've done, not just with the airport, but all the laws and things that have changed to make our city a better place. If given the opportunity, I will support those things and make sure my voice is heard because my community is my voice. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Does this close our portion of the presentation? And so if we'll now open this to the council members um to acknowledge or I think if you could just have a question towards and direct it to the person or the persons that you would like to um I'm going to start with the mayor prom. Thank you. Thank you madame mayor and thank you all for uh coming out and taking time out of your day to speak to us. I greatly appreciate that. Um, I have a question uh for Mr. Peacock and Mr. Dulan if you could both uh go to the podium. I your unique experience of having served on this council before u at different times and uh on different initiatives. I'm interested in and any difference uh that you would bring to this to this seat representing district 6. So based on your past experience, is there anything that we're missing um on this council as it relates to District 6 or the broader city in general? Yeah, thank you, Pro Tim. Um it turns out one of the things both of us would bring and particularly since you're in your budget season now. It takes two years as you know during budget season to know how to open your book and to read it and to learn it and to understand it. Sometimes one of the things I would bring is immediate uh awareness of the budget book and the agendas that come every week. Uh what to go knowing what tab to go to so I can start learning. I think the ramp up for me particularly in district 6 after having served it for eight years already will be very small. There'll certainly be some ramp up because it's been a number of years since I've been down here. It's wonderful to walk through this building again, though. It feels like home. This this room feels like home. And so, um, I'm just excited about if y'all would give me the honor and the nod to come back down and join you. Uh, my ramp up will be very small. I I um, as a district rep, you see every corner, every house. as a as an atlarge member, the atlarge folks are thinking on a more global stage, you know, everything. Of course, as a district guy, we make decisions for zoning all over the city, but I am laser focused in district six and and know those folks and know their churches and uh would really have a good time going back and and reintroducing myself to them again. I'm hearing positive things from all over the community already that they've it's come out in the paper and a couple of media outlets, you know, that I'm I'm involved and and so the positive outlook for that would be great. And with y'all's nod, I'll come down here with my boots strapped up and tight and ready to go. Thank you, sir. Greatly appreciate it. Can we give uh Mr. Peacock an opportunity? All right. Thank you, Madame Mayor Pro Tim. Um, are you missing anything? I I I don't think you're you're missing anything. Um when I made my point about perspective um when I was here 14 years ago um and when you step away from the dis and you move away from what I call the fishbowl effect of 600 East 4th Street, you tend to notice first and foremost that obviously the smallest ripples in the in the bowl seem really really really big in the moment. But when you step outside of it, it really allows you the perspective to see, well, what is most important? And during Andy and I's time here, um, you didn't know it when it was occurring. Um, but we had one of those what I'll call lighthouse moments. We were the lighthouse looking at a decision to use our half cent sales tax to expand bus rapid transit um and then cut the line for the light rail. And there was an enormous amount at risk the year that I was elected. We had members of my own party who were against light rail um who were against a mass transit program. Um then Mayor McCroy was making some very bold decisions that both sides he had all types of people angry at him, but he followed staff's recommendations. He he bucked the trend of his own party. Um and our town had a referendum on that half cent sales tax. And I think um when you talk about what's missing, it's just just simply just trying to have perspective because I know what it's like to be where you are and to sort of feel that intense pressure. Um, but between now and when this council finishes the 1 of December, um, you know, I don't think that you're missing anything. I would just say, you know, perspective, keep keep your lighthouse up and just realize that the small things that occur, it's natural on a small deliberative body. Um, and the more that you can do to obviously work on your on the relationships between each other. Um, one of the other perspectives that I that I that I thought about was something that my dad talked to me about. Um, he said, 'Edwin, um, I don't remember I don't remember a vote. I don't remember a lot of these these things that we would debate, but I do remember how my colleagues would make me feel. And it sort of comes back to something that my grandmother told me, which was people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. and uh right here in this very room. Um in 2009, my uh my mother got diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She was down in Wilmington at the time um at the beach and uh Council Member Turner sitting right where you are. Um Mrs. Anderson, uh he leaned over to me and I told him what was going on and all he did was just stop right there and said, "It's not your mom's time. Let's pray." I'll never forget that. Never forget that. that went on with council member Mitchell and others other other condolences and all kinds of things just about what was going on. Um so relationships um having that kind of lighthouse perspective I think is just so important um because again this is this is tough work and and you all do something that very few people are willing to step in to do. So I have great humility and respect for the position that you're in and I think that I would do well. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Mayor. All right. Any other Miss Molina? Um, thank you so much, Madame Mayor. First of all, I I just want to say thank you to every last one of you that decided to step up and come out today. Um, I I know from personal experience, and the mayor pro Tim also knows what this um this particular experience is like. Um, I also I I I'd be remiss if I didn't comment on, you know, my heart is my center. It is it is how I do everything. I don't do anything that my heart don't lead me to. Um, it is my dealmaker and my deal breaker. Um, and I think what was evident from every last one of you was the fact that it was demonstrative of your heart and the position and that's what it takes to lead here. Um, I I I'll go back to what uh Mr. Peacock just said. You know, people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. Um, and that's the core of what we do, right? The core of what we do is caring about the people that we have the honor to represent. So, um, like I said, I I just think that that was demonstrative in in each of you and and I think that's highly commendable. So, you know, no matter what the outcome of this exercise is, I commend you and I ask you to continue to look for ways that you can serve in our city because there's room for everyone. It takes a village to be a great city. Um, it takes a village to lead and everyone who leads doesn't sit at the dis. We need help at every angle. We need partners to do all of the things that we do. and I just encourage continued participation no matter what to say, you know, um just to be a part of the positive and and how our city evolves. So, um I was a volunteer long before I ever considered public office on any level and those relationships are essential. So, um with that, I I just I noticed that uh and and I'll start with you, Mr. Peacock, and then I'll ask you as well, Mr. Dulan. Um, I think it's important that especially now with the budget season underway, this this is a a very intense exercise as you both know. Um, but one of the things that I think is of particular emphasis right now is the 1-cent sales tax. Um and and adjacent to what has happened in the past with the half cent sales tax, you sound to be adept at that particular milestone of the city's evolution, but can you tell me what you know about the current referendum or anything that would affect particularly the District 6 residents and having some compass of what their position would be? Uh well, I I've been on the record of being very much in favor of our mass transit plan and our economic mobility plan, our clearly a multimotal transit plan. And part of that halfsent sales tax discussion that we had in 2007 is largely proven to be exactly what ULI told us clearly what the city staff planners told us about the opportunity for for um for improvement not only in reducing congestion but clearly economic development and you see that in tenfold from there. Um, as we approach the the one cent sales tax, the one thing I've learned is that you can't take this for granted. We can't assume that what the consultants are telling you speak to the sentiment of what individuals are. And I can only speak back to other referendum attempts that were for different purposes. But one thing that I have noticed is that of course we've got election fatigue from last year. So we have to have a council that can communicate and communicate clearly and concisely in order to build the momentum necessary in order to get I would call general election support to get behind um this this necessary tax for um to expand the bus rapid bus rapid transit still the majority of the ways in which individuals travel in this city. Innovations are occurring in that and then obviously uh the light light rail plans um are a big big part of it. So, I'm um uh I I I just would say that we cannot take it for granted that people we can't assume that individuals are going to support this. In fact, um as is you you want to almost operate as if they've never heard of this. Um and I just think that's so important. Every single member of the the the uh the council will have to make their own individual decisions as to how much they want to get involved in being outfront u about it. But it's going to be tremendously tremendously important because you look at that decision that we made in 2007. If we didn't do that, where would we be now? And would we have experienced the type of growth that we've experienced now? And I think the answer is not as much. Um, and I think there was an enormous amount within the business community which I'd like to see come back and rally around what this council is doing and obviously partner with Meckllinburgg County and our other elected officials as well too because the thing about that referendum was it was broad-based faith community, business community, elected bodies, corporate community, people were really engaged and I think that's so important. And I want to see that energy return to the community to get behind a real transit plan uh that speaks to everybody and is also nimble enough to respond to I think obviously the outliers that are that have their concerns which are obviously the six towns. They're they're always going to be skeptical of something that comes from uptown. Thank you, Mr. Dulan. Yes, thank you for the question, ma'am. Uh, District 6 is an a unique district within the city of Charlotte. It's the only one that doesn't have an interstate or the or Independence Boulevard or South Boulevard or 485. It is really contained in a somewhat urban environment. I mean, we don't we don't have 277. That being said though, and he makes a good point, District 6 voters supported that referendum. And what would be helpful to council and to the city is to have a salesman like myself to go out and sell it at the HOA meetings and, you know, sell it at the churches, you know, when they get together. And I used to get the the list of every HOA meeting and darned if I didn't go to 99% of them. And so um that's one of the part when I said that the city council is thinking on a global stage globally being the whole city. Well, District 6 is this little enclave in South Charlotte that doesn't have a mass transit line coming through. We have bus service and the buses have folks on them cuz I look um but you know that's that's particular question is something that I think I would be good at helping sell to the community. Thank you so much and and that's all I have for now. Madame Mayor and any other questions down here? Miss Guatlington. Thank you. Um my questions are for I got a couple questions for two gentlemen here and then I've got questions for the other three. Um, I'll start with the other three. Yeah. So, I'm sorry. Oh, I have the same questions for uh I have the same question for the three of you that have not spoken yet. For Siri is Siri, it's Gary with an S. Yeah. Siri, um, Lisha, and James. Thank you. You remember it? Of course. Um, while we're just waiting for I'm sure you'll come up later. So, obviously you all don't have the benefit of having served on council at one time. uh but I don't want to take the for granted that that is um not also an advantage. So I just wanted to give you an opportunity to speak to why or why not your experience as it is is a competitive advantage. Would you like to go first? Sure. Thank you. So as you stated and thank you for the question. No, I have not um served on an actual council as of yet. That is my goal. Um but I do have a vast experience of going into the community and rallying together people to hear about the issues that are coming across the table. Um whether that is at church church churches um within the community when we're at the domestic violence speakers bureau when I'm at community functions town halls um in district 6. I just recently went to one um with our senator uh Senator Woodson Bradley and we talked about the um actual one cent increase there. Um and to be able to hear people in that district to be able to talk about that and to see what were the reasons why they if they did or they did not want to improve it. And so what I what I bring to the table is a listening ear and then pro provide the benefits of why this is necessary. We are growing at an exponential amount here in Charlotte. Um, we know that not everybody is going to be in favor of any rule or any bill that comes across the table, but the goal is is to find out what are the pros and what are the cons of it. How is it going to benefit? How is it going to make it better? And so my influence that I've used throughout my work experience and my volunteering is that we have to hear it out. We have to be able to have these discussions. And when you meet people where they are and you discuss what is going on in their community, they're able to see it. When you're close on the ground talking to them or at that level, um, in their sanctuary at their place, they will be able to hear you out. And that's important. Now, what I do know is that we're talking about the one 1% increase sales tax. Um there's so many other issues that come across that may not be as big to some or um large to some or small to others, but it's important that no matter what the issue is, their issue is going to be heard. Even if we can't give them an answer, we can still try to at least put it before them. And that was that's what gives the support of the community whenever you're putting out a bill is that people want to know that they can at least be heard their problem issue being heard. And I have the emotional intelligence to be able to decipher to be able to handle those challenging conversations and be able to dissect this is what this is the benefit or this is how it could go against and make sure people feel comfortable in making that decision. Um because that's what it's all about. Thank you. Um again, Siri Shakra, um I want to say, you know, I did apply. I believe uh somebody had brought up the civic leadership course through the city. Um I I did apply. I also applied twice to it. Um I never heard back. Uh I would love, you know, to get into it, of course. Uh, that was something that was supposed to prepare me, but knowing how difficult it was to get in, I followed very very closely the YouTube channel and the city of Charlotte's website where you guys air all of your meetings and talk about community issues. Um, so I've really really taken notes and been involved that way. Um, I've come in a couple times in person, but more or less I stayed informed online. Um, I want to help uh with the community. Uh, on District 6, you know, we do face certain things. I mean, it's infrastructure issues. We're having population. A lot of people are moving there. Also, affordability. Affordability is a very big thing in district 6. Um, so I'm in support of affordability in that district. Um, so what I bring to the table just from a personal standpoint is from my job experience working with the city, uh, doing roadways, working with city government on that note, and being a property manager and working with small businesses and seeing their needs and, uh, just dealing with issues of that sort. Um, so that's what I bring to the table. Thank you. Thank you. Um, I would hold myself out as an example. Um, I'm uh to celebrate my 80th birthday in December. I've lived in Southeast Charlotte in the same house. I built the house in 1984. Um, one of the things I'm interested in is who speaks for what my grandchildren call the Q-tips. I'm have white hair and I'm called a Q-tip. Um, I accept that. And the problem we have is is is I don't know that there's anybody who stands there and feels what we really feel. what we're bothered with. You may think of grandparents, but are you familiar with the term unrealized capital gains? You know what that means? Unrealized. I've got the gain, but I don't haven't realized it. My house, when I built it, my taxes were $1,100 a year. City and county. Last year, they were almost $5,000 a year. City and county. 4,600 or something. The point being, and I'm told, but think how much it's worth. The only way I can realize that gain is to leave or move. I can't I I'm fortunate enough to be able to afford it, but I hear it all the time. I can't afford I've watched at the some of the meetings contesting value. I remember two elder sisters who I'm sure by now are gone one way or the other. Gone. And and they were taxed out of their home. They had been their family home all their life. And the two of them were the only surviving members and they had a tax bill that was like six or $7,000. They could not pay it. The only way out is to sell the house. I'm called every day. Have you ever thought about selling your house? No. I'm committed to staying there as long as I can. But I I'm just one. I'm fortunate. And I believe that if we don't find a way to address that, it's like I watched the the county just yesterday, a tax increase. And don't worry, the average citizen is only going to have a tax bill increase of $3 a month or something like that. Yet, when you get the tax bill, it's not more than $3 a month. And and and and the trap that you fall into is it's only $3 a month. It's only $5 a month. And the next thing you know, it's it's too much. Thank you. Now, put on my healthc care hat. The doctors in town cannot exist. Carolina's health care system cannot exist. Novant cannot exist if we don't have a significant number of Medicare patients. If you ask the question where it comes from, it's a huge amount of money. Absolutely. We appreciate you. So my point would be what I would bring would be somebody who's totally inexperienced who would say uh you need to speak to some of the people. Thank you so much. And then my last question is for uh Mr. Peacock and Mr. Dulan. Thank you. Um, so as you all mentioned, you each have served on council uh before, one in the district and one at large. And so, um, given that your experience was, I think for both of you over a decade ago, um, I'd like to hear how how you perceive the district has changed um, and what that means in terms of positions that you may have once held at the time, but given the current electorate, um, you may hold a different position. Well, thank you. U, it turns out that light rail line, the blue line to Pineville, we took a lot of flack for that back in the day. And sure enough is it's not a home run out of the park. The development that's gone on. Two of my three sons live along the light rail and ride it down into town for football games and concerts and everything. Unfortunately, they say nobody pays for it anymore. They ride it for free. But that's a whole another subject. But the development along there when we did the NASCAR Hall of Fame and I was thrilled to be a part of that building and the development that has gone along the road there along 277 has been unreal. The partnerships we made with the state to get to rearrange the roads, those are things that I'm really proud of. Like I said, the economic development piece of what I'd like to come help with is something we can all agree on. As a um minority member of city council, there only being two of us, you know, we have to go along and I'll go along with the the crowd with the majority of the folks. But things like economic development, growing the lines out, um the transit systems, those are things that we can all get along with. and I would hope have unanimous votes. And I may, forgive me, have missed um part of the nuance in your answer um because I may just not be familiar with what your position at the time was, but I want to make sure that I'm clear given how first of all, how your district has changed and what is an example of a position that you held then that may have changed now because the demographic of the district has changed. Well, I was against the street car big time. Um, and I quite frankly don't I don't know if y'all see the numbers of what the writership is, but I don't. But, you know, apparently it's working out all right. And and so whether it extan expands out um through uh Plaza Midwood and on to used to be um um Eastland Mall. We'll have to see. But um I'm thrilled with the way the light rail is working and then all the way of course to Noda and so I know that between now and next November we're not going to make any you know we're not going to fix that problem. Um but I would look forward to coming down and joining the DAS and and having a little bit of a say on it and those are the kind of things. Thank you. I hope that helped. I appreciate it. Council member Watlington. I'd say the biggest thing that I've noticed this change in district 6 and I was pleased to read about um the the change in the municipal service district for South Park to be able to be obviously a partner to University City and clearly center city and the expansion to South Charlotte, but for many people district 6 sort of bellweather um for much of our tax base centers around the South Park Mall area and the amount of high-rise development there and the congestion that's continuing to build uh will only continue to mimic the other cities that we've always aspired to be. I mentioned that I lived in Washington for 12 almost 10 years. Um, great cities like Washington DC, Atlanta, your your quality of life is directly proportional to your commute. Um, and that starts to erode just a little bit every single year. And if you've tried to drive from right where we are to try to get to South Park Mall, that could be 10 minutes, 15, or hey, 45 minutes. and there's not a wreck. So, congestion, uh, density. Um, and then the other piece that I'm so pleased with as well too is is that we identified that there's a real walkability problem. There's just it's not a pedestrian friendly area. So, when we read in the community area plans about 10 minute walkability, uh, I I argue that's the direction that we want to go. We want to try to recorrect some of the things that are pretty hard to undo in the way that South Park was developed. Now, of course, as District 6 continues, clearly you have Providence Road. You've only got 70,000 cars coming down that every single day. It is a state road, but all the connectivity off of that and the ability for this city to move people up and down there to get to our uptown center. This is extremely important. Um I I read in the in the manager's plan, you've come out with a very balanced use of your capital improvements. Uh you're trying to balance it out in that area. It is arguably it already has a lot of natural resources as far as wealth and the money and the things that are coming into it, but you can't take for granted obviously the people that work there, the bus there, the bus system there. Um, again, the ability to get to the light rail, Andy, so so right because what we built down towards Pineville that cuts right down to the other side, which is the South Boulevard line, which goes right down district 6 as well, too. So you got South Boulevard, you've got Park Road, you've got Providence Road, you've got all of our arteries that are coming in to Charlotte and they got an enormous amount of congestion. So that is the biggest thing that I've noticed having grown up um on that is just commute time is going to be significant and obviously if we're encouraging more people to drive cars, there is no way we can build enough roads to solve this. Uh thank you. Uh, and it may be an unfair question because people didn't necessarily know they haven't been spending time studying the uh, electorate, especially if they weren't considering running or anything like that. So, I'll just say that one thing that's important to me that um, as this city has changed so much, the people in the city have changed and we know that um, the district 6, the district 3, the district 4, the district two of decades ago um, isn't the same as it was. So I would be very much interested in uh whoever sits in the seat their ability to connect with um new residents and really understand what their views are and how those views may be different from the traditional. But thank you so much. I appreciate your May I have one last moment? I I would defer to the mayor on that. One last moment. Uh yes ma'am. And in a large part they're young people coming back from college. I' I've got friends, Edwin's son just graduated from college last week, Friday, and and you know, I say to people all the time, I'm so glad they went away to college. Please get them back to Charlotte cuz we need their brain power here. And so, we're going to grow the city. And sometimes every time when every now and then when I'm in heavy traffic, I say, "God dog, who invited all these people to come live here?" And they go, "Oh, oh yeah, I forgot it was me." you know, it was us, it was y'all. And so, we're we're a growing city. And as I said before, we just have to make sure that it's a place where kids want to come and families want to come and grandparents want to come be near their grandchildren. All right. Don't I don't know if Miss Mayfield has a question or for other for other So, and then we'll be followed by Miss Johnson. Miss Mayfield. Thank you, Madame Mayor. Thank you both, Andy and Edwin. I don't have a question for you right now, but as I'm going to ask Miss Poor as well as Mr. Shakra to come back up, I do want to as you're making your way back up, want to say thank you to all of you and for those that may be watching that sent in an application but were unable to join us today for showing your interest in wanting to be of service. I want to just get some clarification with you, Miss Port. You noted in here and you stated that you're currently uh Meckllinburgg County employee. Yes. So, just for clarification, to my understanding, you are not able to work for local government and serve within the area. So if you work for the city of Charlotte, you're not able to serve within Meckllinburgg County. If you work for Mechmberg County, yeah, we have there's some rules around that. Like you could like say if you lived in Gastonia, if you lived in Gastonia, but you work here, you'll be able to apply there. Have you had a chance to speak with your leadership or with HR to see if you were selected, if you will actually be able to serve? Yes, because I'm on an actual grant position. Um, I work part-time at the county um for the domestic violence speakers bureau and love speaks out and yes, I have spoken with my leadership in regards to that. Oh, so you're more of a contract. That is correct. Okay. Thank you. So, I'm a contract. So, they they identified before I went to go speak with them that it would not be a conflict of interest because my contract is going to be up. Um, it's going to be up in 2026. Um, although the grants could change um because it was delayed. I started in April, so I've only been a month and a couple weeks in into the role. Um, as far as officially on the books in that contract. I wanted to clarify that because I know we do have some language in place. So, if selected, I wanted to make sure that that wouldn't be a challenge. So, thank you. And appreciate you. Also, I want to make sure I'm sorry. I'm very sorry to cut you off. The only reason I bring this up is because I noticed that we have dropped below quorum and I just want to make sure prior rules and procedure, we can continue to meet as long as Yeah. Once you have a quorum, um, uh, the meeting can continue despite the fact that a member has left, you still have the quorum. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Wallington. I want to just get a understanding because this is for a short period of time. So, we're looking at potentially a couple of weeks. Council goes on summer break in July, then we pick back up August through the end. And I know you shared that you would want to make sure that voices are heard. I'm going to say for me personally what I am looking forward looking towards is someone that understands what city council does versus the county's role, school board role and where we are in this process. So help me understand based on the meetings you have been able to watch and in community, what do you see your role if you were selected to fill out these few months with serving specifically on Charlotte City Council? So, when filling in the role specifically for city council, I do understand that the role is one, it's a collective that we're working on issues that are specifically for the city separate from the county. Um, I do know that from what I watched, I mean, it's one, it's one detailed and it's not something that's taken lightly. Um, each person respectfully has gone over different issues and brought things in. We I have watched I said we but I have watched you the entire council be able to go over each point and to make sure everything is handled appropriately and making sure that we're just not missing over. So it's very detailed the process. I know that there is a major difference from the county. I am basically my role is volunteer. I only go to teach on awareness of domestic violence and on dating violence. So it's extremely different from that actual role. The council role, I know, is specifically for the bills and things that need to be passed to make our city more efficient and to be able to make sure we're moving in a positive direction. Thank you. I appreciate you giving your response, Mr. Siri. Gary. Gary. Sary with an I want to change your name. It worked. That worked. I want to change it. Siri. Yes. Thank you. You know what, Mr. Chalk? That one. I can do that one. I would like to also hear from you thinking about the same question that I that I just asked and recognizing that I'm trying to be as transparent as possible is what is it's a short period of time. It's a lot of work. It is I tell people even when they're campaigning it is water from a fire hydrant that is going to be exceed potentially as your role and hear your understanding of the role of city council. Yes. Um, honestly, you know, I think the role is phenomenal. I think being able to speak with your counterparts, other representatives of the city that you live in, uh, to come to conclusions and work together, get things passed for the benefit of the residents here in Charlotte. Um, so, as I stated earlier, I did follow on YouTube and the city of Charlotte's website um, just interaction and the different committees and, uh, that's how I've kept myself informed. Um, so I see myself playing a role uh as spokesman for district 6. You know, going around to small businesses, uh, church, uh, any kind of event going on, introducing myself and seeing what people's needs are and bringing it to the table here. Um, so I I just think I'd be phenomenal at it. I I enjoy uh working with people. Um, I think this is very a bipartisan uh kind of thing to do uh role. Uh, I don't think political parties play that much of of a big thing when it comes to local government. We're here to serve our people and work together. And that's how I see it. Thank you both. And again, thank you all for taking the time. Yes, ma'am. To step in and offer yourselves. That's all I have. Mayor, Miss Johnson, thank you. You you you too can stay at the podium if you'd like. This question is for all of them. First of all, I'd like to thank you for your willingness to serve and the courage that it took to to step up. I I know when I ran the first time, I I thought just me taking that step, I felt like I had already won. So, congratulations. Thank you. I want to ask everyone, how do the residents of district 6 benefit should council select you? Ladies first. Yes. Sure. Well, the residents of district 6 will benefit by having me, if appointed by the council um as a member from my authenticity, my transparency, um my willingness to work under um pressure to get it done um to make sure that they know that I'm going to stand in the gap for them. And that's very important to be able to stand in the gap for someone. Being the heartbeat of that um area is important because sometimes we have to be the voice in the boardroom. We have to be that person to be able to speak when people don't have courage or they think that their idea or suggestion is going to be shut down. Although I know for a fact I've been in boardrooms in corporate settings for 26 years. I work for a company and I know what it is to be suppressed and I know what the opportunity is of being let go and released wrongfully being unemployed. I know what that feeling is and about be about being evicted. No, I know about the struggles of going through the city of Charlotte and using resources to overcome circumstance and be able to volunteer and then end up with a job after 9 months. This is just recent. they will benefit from me being in this role to be able to let them know that yes, it doesn't matter where you start, it's where you end. It's not where you fall, it's how you get back up. and being able to know that there's strength in District 6 that we can overturn and make sure our neighborhoods are safe um from the local things that are happening right there on South Boulevard last Sunday, the shooting. Okay. From things that are happening in apartment complexes, people want to be able to go back and forth to school and take their kids to the bus stop without problems. being able to be able to have a better commute to South Park and to other parts of the um area, letting them know that there are real issues and there's real people in the seats and that there's not just people on this council that's making decisions lightly, but letting them know that we're taking everybody's views and vantage point into consideration. So they will benefit by me being in that seat by landmill that they will have another set of eyes, another set of ears and feet and hands to be able to support them in their efforts to making sure that we're able to make sure our district rises to the occasion in a positive way. Thank you. Excellent. Uh thank you again for the opportunity to speak. Um, I'm just going to piggyback a little bit off of, you know, what she said regarding, you know, uh, hands, eyes, ears, just everything supporting those people. Um, I think why, you know, people in district 6 should select someone like me is because awareness. I think awareness is a really, really big problem that we have within our city. Um, not a lot of people knew about this application process. you know, uh, even though it was discussed and, you know, it was on our city website and stuff, I feel like, uh, spreading the word and making people aware in District 6 what's actually happening across places and areas in our city and within our district itself. Um, I think I would do, you know, a good job. People would appreciate that I would be there to uh, communicate to them what's going on in our city. Um, and I'll end it at that. Thank you. If I can hear from the other gentlemen, same question. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you both. I do have the same question, but I want to thank you for the blue line as the district 4 representative over there. We took some fire for that bad boy, but it's working out just fine. Thank you. And my sons are on it all the time. How does District 6 benefit should we select you? Well, as I said, you know, concerning the budget process that's going on, going to District 6 and serving those folks again will be a virtual zero ramp up for me because I know their I know their streets. I know their neighborhoods and neighborhoods have ebbed and flowed over the years as they do all over Charlotte, but I I drive around. I'm just so proud of what we've built in District 6 in and around the South Park area uh and around the city. You know, my sons are so tired of me saying, "Yeah, I voted for that. Oh, yeah, I voted for that." They're just tired of it. But I'm proud of that. And so if I get a chance to come down and sit at the dis with y'all, which would be a big honor, uh there's all kinds of things that I will continue to be proud of and we'll add to the list of things I can brag about as we grow Charlotte. Thank you. I know that. Yeah. Okay. Thank you for the great question, Council Member Brown. Uh two things, Johnson, but that's okay. I'm sorry. Apologies. Um, two things. Two things. Um, experience, um, and enthusiasm. I I am, um, I am somebody that realizes that you are serving District 6, but you represent the city of Charlotte. Um, we're all part of a plan, and that plan is to advocate for this great city. Um, and that is the mindset, I think, of a very effective board member. Um, uh, Council Member Doulan was in many regards, uh, sort of my model for how do you do constituent services. Um, I was an atlarge rep, but, I got the same questions and I learned the emerald system upstairs on the 14th floor and how to be able to respond to a question about your water bill to, hey, uh, we haven't had our trash picked up. So, I mean, those are constituent services thing, but they're very, very important. So, you need to know how to be able to to navigate how that works. Um, and it's not something I shy away from. I'm going to take it very seriously. Um, two years is a long time to serve in order to do that. This is for 6 months. So, I feel like uh I can do it. Thank you. That's all I have. Thank you. So, I have one question. How many people live in district 6? Well, you know, the districts are made to be somewhere around 114 116,000. Um, and that number has gone up now possibly. So I don't, Madame Mayor, I don't know the exact number. Well, no, just kind of like in the range. Yeah, 115 to 130, something like that. Those these city council districts are bigger than the state house districts. You serve more people and quite frankly, I miss helping people. I really miss it big time. And so getting to go do that again would be fun. And Okay. Yes, ma'am. Do is that the um how many people? Yes. A question for each of you. Uh yeah, about 120,000 115,000 I believe. Don't know. I'm going to say maybe 125. Okay. Thank you. And which area? That means I'm going to have to get a whole lot of business cards. So when you look at the um way that the city has grown and modeling of everything that we've had in terms of that, what would you say the thing that you would see that you would change most rapidly? What's something that you really want to see done differently? Well, Edwin, you want to Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, I've I've got a great answer for that, but we have as as we go through as y'all go through the zonings, there's always a traffic study, and the traffic studies always say, "Oh, it won't add but 300 cars a day." Well, the traffic studies aren't accurate. If you try to drive anywhere throughout the city, and I drive through South Park every day, there's just a whole lot of traffic there. We've built these beautiful buildings and I've said before we've built them by on the backs and with the money of developers who have taken the risk to build them and sure enough of people don't come and live there and that adds to the traffic and so you know we can't make that go away overnight and we're certainly not going to make it go away between now and next November. Uh but sitting at the dis with y'all again and discussing that. I mean, heck, I was out on Betty's Ford Road the other day and it was packed. Um I mean, it's traffic's everywhere and I'd really like to help work on that some too. Add one. Um mayor, I I would say if I were to wave a magic wand for District 6, I would want to see more use of the bus. um more people embracing that as a mode of transportation. Um I've always pointed to that as an area where the city of Charlotte could innovate. You can't look to the United States for how we go about moving people in and around in many regards. You have to look globally. Um and I I think right now the infrastructure and the encouragement of people riding a bus is just not very very encouraged down when you go down Providence Road and Randolph and even up to the edge of the district uh to district 5 as well too. Again, we we we we have to continue to make it easier for people to come to these areas to work. We saw that with District 7. Uh we don't have Council Member Driggs here, but I mean, it's a number one issue from the employer standpoint was getting people to Valentine in that big workplace area. So, I would love to see more people choosing to ride as the way to come into the city of Charlotte. I don't know how to do that magically, Madame Mayor, but I would certainly be willing to try. Well, thank you. All right. Uh, Madame Mayor, yeah, I would say uh infrastructure and transportation in South Park, one of the biggest things we've noticed so far like these new ebikes, they are buzzing around everywhere. And despite that, there's been a lot of people on bicycles that are in that area. Thank you very much. Thank you. So, um, I would say that infrastructure, uh, more safety for, you know, roadways, uh, just even walking. I mean, we live by Philip's place and some of the sidewalks are in terrible condition. Um, they're very old and small and very close to the road. So, just looking at community plans that focus on infrastructure around South Park. Yeah. And District 6 as a whole. Thank you. Miss P. Well, I agree that we should make the um buses more attractive for us to ride, right? But in district 6, along with that, we need to be able to provide for people who can't afford the bus. There's some people who can't even afford the bus to use it. So maybe there's some way to or extend the hours during those work hours to be able to support the efforts or even do maybe segments on I know social media or advertisement like going from Providence Road to South Park to Pineville, you know, to let them know these these actual routes go to your job and maybe even get some of the businesses involved to let them know this bus line runs right to this office building. When I used to work at Charter Communications, there was a bus that dropped off right in front of the building, right in front of it, right off of Airwood. Okay. So, definitely if we had some way to make it more attractive and letting people know that this is a safe way to ride to work and back home with their groceries from wherever, it just makes it makes more sense. People are visual. Everybody learns different. Everybody sees different. if they see it, see the opportunity, even on social media, things like that, people will start to ride it even more. So that's my suggestion on making sure that would make a positive impact on the the actual transportation. And also making it more well lit at those bus stops at night. That is another issue because working from 400 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. as scheduled, getting off at that time frame, the buses only run a certain time frame in certain areas. So, if it's more well lit, people will feel more safe to sit at a bus stop to use it at a later time frame if they have a later job or shift in that area that requires them to have employment. We want the city to be full of employment, not unemployment. And so, definitely by increasing those things, it will help to overturn that number. Thank you. Thank you all. Um, I believe that is there any other question for any of our candidates? I'm sorry I missed what you said. Well, um I learned a long time ago that you need to go out and put yourself in somebody else's shoes and don't trust like a traffic count or don't trust I know their buses are up and down Providence Road, but but they always look empty to me. And if I'm at Cotswalt and I'm buying groceries at Harris ter, the bus doesn't do me any good on Randolph because I have to get from Harris ter and it's quarter block and there's traffic running back and forth. In other words, it's easy to say we have a bus that's there, but if I can't get to it, it it doesn't it doesn't exist for me. So, I'm just saying walk a mile in their shoes. If someone says we have plenty of buses, go ride that bus. Um, some of you remember Harry Nin who's who was responsible for her Caroline's medical center. Yeah. when the bat tower was being built and they he looked out of his office one day and they were framing out the sidewalks and they were running around where the architect had laid them out. He ran down and stopped them and said stop. Don't put the sidewalks in. And their answer was, "But this is where they're drawn in." He said, "I know, but we have to find out where the people are going to walk before we build the sidewalks." So, in other words, he waited a year and then he looked out on the grass and he could see the paths and that's where he put the sidewalks and that's a big lesson. Ride the bus, walk the walks, put yourself in their shoes. Thank you very much. I believe that that is the conclusion of this special meeting. Thank you. I I can't imagine um you have come in and want to be a part of this great city's um operations and guidance to give us guidance for everything and I believe that you've done a terrific job in presenting everything that we would have in this meeting. It's been great. Thanks to know every one of you and um we will do this. I want you to know that we the city council will be scheduled on Monday to vote on the um new person to join D6. So that's Monday next week. May I ask a clarifying question? Are we getting ready? Are you getting ready to entertain a motion to adjourn or are we stand a little bit to have the when do we have time for discussion prior to Monday? I think that we were having that discussion on Monday. So, we're going to have our council discussion prior right before right before voting. The city clerk, let me just this is a little bit of housekeeping for everyone. the you know how we do the um boards and commissions the city clerk will have that early in the mo day and then you'll have a choice and I think that we would have conversations among ourselves as well as if we need to have a meeting before the meeting that starts. So, if I can make a recommendation, even though we lost a couple of members just because of time, I would feel more comfortable if we as a body have a chance to have a discussion prior to us just submitting to like we do with normal nominations and boards and commissions where they say by 12:00 we need to submit it in. I think this is something where we deserve the opportunity for council to come together and be able to have whatever discussion we need to have because it would be better if at all possible for us to get to consensus more than anything else. And only way that happens is if we have a chance to dialogue amongst ourselves. So I don't know what that would look like but I think that needs to happen prior to us just submitting our application. Let's figure out if we can do that and make that possible. We'll have to figure that out. So, um Billy, uh one more thing I want to add just for the record. Um the city clerk did send an email from um Andrew Dunn who could not be present tonight with a video link of his um presentation. Yes, of his presentation. Just want to make sure that councils are aware and have a opportunity to look at that before uh Monday. And he did email us. Madame Mayor saying that they had a prior commitment, but I did not know that there was a video. All right. So, are there any other questions or comments from the council? Nope. That's not. Okay. Move to have a motion to adjurnn and a second. All in favor say I. I. Anyone opposed? [Music]