and sharon we're just waiting for this is hightower mr outling are you on the phone i am thank you thank you so i need a motion to return from closed session maybe that we uh returned to from closed session moved by mrs abuzawader ii seconded by mrs thurm um we will take a voice vote on this mrs hoffman dr wells yes mrs thurm yes and mrs hightower okay we are now in open session um we will begin tonight's meeting with a moment of silence thank you mrs hightower would you lead us in the pledge pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation under god thank you welcome to the first city council meeting with public attendance since march 2020. yes and it is nice to see people in the audience thank you tonight's meeting is a partial opening of the council chamber with a continued option to participate virtually due to the capacity restrictions a limited number of residents are allowed inside the council chamber for specific items of interest following the conclusion of items or topic of discussion residents will be asked to leave to allow room for other residents to enter the chamber all attendees will be required to wear masks anyone who does not follow these guidelines will be asked to leave the council chamber if needed persons not following the mask requirements um that do not leave voluntarily will be escorted for trespassing and i certainly hope that that does not happen and um that's not my phrasing well i believe that everybody should wear a mask or be vaccinated we want people to be able to come and participate in our council meeting in the interest of safety the public forum and agenda item speakers must continue to register via the city's website and i think we will do that moving forward because it gives us a better idea of how the agenda will flow and it is also the procedure of most city councils throughout the state tonight city council will be implementing a new agenda management software system staff has prepared extensively for this transition but council requests patients as changes can come with challenges and we have had a a training session on it but it is a big difference from our old software and that is a good thing because we saw how that software failed us in the last couple of months of the fiscal year so we know that this will be a good package but it's going to take a little getting used to to comply with requirements by the state in regards to zoom meetings and to provide an optimum experience for the public council will verbalize motions and all votes will be conducted by roll call vote council will also implement an electronic voting method using the new e-scribe agenda management platform each member of council must vote unless there is a direct conflict we do allow and we welcome speakers to address council at the public forum meeting council respects the right for the public to speak about matters of concern that can be addressed by council each speaker will be allotted three minutes comments that seem to be intended to incite unlawful behavior will be doomed deemed to be out of order zoom participants are requested to mute their microphones until they are called upon to speak the city of greensboro is committed to promoting an environment that is free of discrimination bias and bullying thus harassment words jokes actions or comments based on an individual's sex sexual preference race ethnic background age religion physical condition or other legally protected characteristic will not be tolerated in order to be considered written comments must be submitted online through the city's website www.greensborohyphennc.gov we do have a consent agenda for items one through nine which are a grouping of agenda items that are voted on with one single vote to expedite what are believed to be routine and non-controversial items any council member may withdraw an item from the consent agenda due to a conflict of interest or for the purpose of voting no items removed from the consent agenda for discussion will be placed on the july city council business agenda lastly this meeting does include closed captioning depending on the length of tonight's meeting we may take a short recess around 7 30. this is the time for ceremonial or presentation items item number one is a resolution honoring the memory of the late malachi parsons jr dr wells thank you madam mayor resolution honoring the memory of the late malachi parsons jr whereas on may 13 2021 this community lost one of its outstanding community leaders with the passing of the late malachi parsons jr at the age of 71. whereas mr parson a native edenton north carolina was born june 29 1949 graduated from d.f walker high school in edenton in 1967 and graduated from north carolina agricultural and technical state university a t and 1977 whereas upon graduation mr parsons joined the united states marine corps serving as the first black presidential support pilot for the marine helicopters squadron based in quantico virginia as a marine helicopter squadron responsible for the transportation of the president and vice president of the united states head of states department of defense officials and other significant officials as directed by the marine corps and white house military office whereas as mission commander and self-acclaimed as the highlight of his military career mr parsons held the responsibility for flying former president ronald reagan from june 1981 through july 1983 whereas mr parsons served additional assignments in the marine corps at pensacola naval air station florida cap lejeune in jacksonville north carolina and an additional tour at the quantico military base in virginia whereas he served as a helicopter aircraft commander and nuclear officer was featured on the cover of the may 1983 marine corps gazette a professional journal for united states marines founded in 1916 as the marine corps base chronicle and served as the professional journal for the u.s marines whereas following many years of service to our country mr parsons retired from the marine corps in april of 1984 whereas mr parson was a long time supporter of the north carolina a t football and basketball programs and was a dedicated fan a fan of the dallas cowboys professional football team whereas the city of greensboro wishes to express its sense of loss and sincere appreciation and gratitude for the many years of dedicated public service rendered by malachi parsons jr and now therefore be it resolved by the city council of the city of greensboro that the city council wishes to express a sense of loss and a feeling of respect and gratitude for the life of malachi parsons jr for his many years of dedicated public service that a copy of this resolution shall be delivered to the family of the late malachi parsons as a symbol of the gratitude of the people of greensboro his legacy will be remembered for the outstanding contributions he made to the community with the resolution second so that has been moved by mrs johnson and seconded by dr wells so is there anyone here from his family oh we got a vote on votes well as you mentioned we we're having difficulty the vote screen where is the boat screen no we have i think so they have to initialize moved by mrs johnson seconded by dr wells mrs hoffman yes dr wells yes mrs abuse yes mrs yes yes mr outling yeah and that passes eight to i zero that the family is here like to come would you have anything you'd like to say or can we give you the resolution hey one pilot and a nighthawk for the us marine corps was one of his greatest honors but beyond that he was also a very loving and doting father he was a man who prided himself on seeing a smile on other people's faces and he never was one to tout his many accomplishments so for him to be recognized today by the city and by everyone here we truly appreciate that very much thank you so much thank you mr parson and i are from the same hometown and we graduated from the same high school so i'm proud of edenton north carolina and the contribution he made to our country thank you item number two is a resolution honoring the memory of the late patricia what's it fortune mrs hightower and mrs johnson i think i'm going to start right sharon are you going to start now you where are you going to start this is a resolution honoring the memory of the late patricia whitsett fortune whereas on may 26 2021 this community lost one of its outstanding community leaders with the passing of the late patricia whitson fortune at the age of 82. whereas a native of greensboro north carolina miss fortune affectionately referred to as pat was born march 9 1939 whereas her educational track led her from the greensboro public schools to graduation from emmanuel lutheran college in greensboro which closed in 1961. she also studied at the historically black north carolina ent agricultural and technical state university whereas miss fortune known as a tomboy and was proud of it as con attributed to being known as a strong black woman in her and for her athletic skills she met her husband on a boys softball team they later served as role models and mentors and were referred to as ma and papa fortune whereas with with many creative and entrepreneurial little talents which included cooking baking and sewing miss fortune was also a self-described folk artist and a collective black history antiques and all things vintage where she launched pat's angels a network for surviving life's difficulties and embracing joys taught in the greensboro cultural center after school program and expected only the best out of others whereas her civic involvement included the organization of the first greensboro african-american bowling league in 1963 service serving as an advocate of diversity in greensboro and surrounding communities being the founder of ujama merchants united a tried non-profit african-american entrepreneurial networking organization okay whereas miss fortune launched the western salem juneteenth celebrations was appointed the north carolina state director for the national association of juneteenth lineage nhl which support black owned businesses including community initiatives in the area of health education and economic development and collaborated with lula briggs galloway to create the guidelines for how to start a juneteenth festival whereas mrs fortune supported her community as a member of the greensboro club of the national association of negro business and professional women incorporated she wrote and directed a play commemorating june june 10 a new beginning depicting the day that the last slaves in america were held in bondage on a plantation located in galveston texas and wrote other notable plays whereas the city council wishes to express his sense of loss and his sincere appreciation and gratitude for the many years of dedicated public service rendered by patricia winston fortune the outstanding contribution she has made to the community and the legacy she leaves and now therefore be it resolved by the city council of the city of greensboro that the city council hereby expresses and on behalf of the citizens of greensboro a deep sense of loss and a feeling of respect and gratitude for the life of patricia whitson's fortune that a copy of this resolution shall be delivered to the family of the late patricia witt's fortune as a symbol of the gratitude of the people of greensboro for her many contributions to this community move the item second so i think it was moved by mrs hightower and seconded by mrs johnson wales dr wells um we will take a voice vote on this mrs hoffman dr wells yes mrs johnson yes i am yes this is abusive yes mrs thurm yes this is hightower yes mr outland yeah and that passes eight to zero i do believe that we may have some family members on zoom yes i think they were scheduled to be here in person however their father fell ill he was not able to make the trip now uh or to be here in person so angie are they there because i her daughter was instrumental in bringing to my attention um misfortune is what she did for juneteenth um across the state and so we honored her this past with our first juneteenth celebration to uh by commemorating our event to her honor uh and in her memory and we'll do that moving forward for many years to come so um i don't remember oh i'm sorry no no you're fine no i was going to say that um what she did was very has done has been very inspiring and been going on for quite a while so um she made contributions to our community so i want to thank her family for bringing that to our attention and it was very timely unfortunately um that she didn't get to en enjoy our first annual city-sponsored celebration she was a trailblazer yes famous i remember working with her on a juneteenth celebration many years ago and um i i didn't know what juneteenth was because it was in none of my history and she educated me and i am appreciative for that but i'm also appreciative for all of the things that she did for the city of greensboro and across the state that were good for the citizens and um creative and visionary so i will miss pat she was a dynamic human being so i don't know if the family members are on the zoom call um great if you could just give us your name and if possible turn your camera on my name is danae mcknight danae fortune mcknight and i'm here with my dad um frank edward fortune my brother terry fortune is also on the call i am on the call but um my video um has not been enacted that's fine if if any of you would like to um give some comments here it is um thank you um on behalf of my mom patricia with fortune and all of our family we thank you for this recognition of our tireless efforts not only to bring juneteenth to greensboro and surrounding communities but also to be a positive influence to help make our community better through all of our many accomplishments she showed us the strength of the power of one to make a change wherever we are and whatever the circumstances she was an overcomer who did so much with so little um as many of you have witnessed and even in the face of adversity she taught us all not only to be proud of who we are but also to be accepting of others for who they are she was a servant leader always thinking about the people and she was a role model for all of us in the true sense of the word we are proud to receive this resolution and her honor and we thank miss sharon hightower the full council and the city of greensboro and you can see my dad is here in his juneteenth um shirt it's the one from uh the very first juneteenth festival that she held in greensboro that is great that's the one i'm talking about wow that is awesome so thank you for sharing her life with us thank you thank you for his recognition we appreciate it thank you thank you and if the original will be met copy will be mailed um to you all um okay for you and your brother thank you and your dad [Laughter] definitely for your dad so thank you so much thank you to sharon item number three is a resolution honoring the memory of the late calvin frank morrow senior dr wells resolution honoring the memory of the late calvin frank morrison whereas on april 11 2021 this community lost one of his outstanding community leaders with the passing of the late calvin frank morrow senior at the age of 97 one day short of his 98th birthday whereas the native of greensboro north carolina mr morrow was was born on april the 12th 1921 whereas mr morrow attended the greensboro public schools which later merged in 1991 with with the guilford county schools in 1986 whereas he did not get to complete his senior year at dudley high school due to being recruited by the united states navy to serve as a french horn player in the first all minority navy band unit one b-1 during world war ii he served three and one-half years at the chapel hill pre-flight school and naval station pearl harbor hawaii and was honorably discharged by the navy in 1945 whereas following his military service mr maher received a special permission by the principal of dudley high school to attend the regular school year program where he graduated in the class of 1946 whereas mr maher furthered his educational pursuits at north carolina agricultural and technical state university formerly a t north carolina a t college with a bachelor of science degree in business administration a master's of science degree in elementary education and received state certification in elementary administration whereas with a dedication to learning he continued his studies at the university of north carolina at greensboro and duke university whereas mr maher taught at second ward high school in charlotte and at david caldwell elementary in greensboro and served on the north carolina ent faculty whereas evaluated from the classroom to the level of school administration in greensboro he was appointed as the first principal of pila elementary school in greensboro followed by tennis at murphy traditional academy claxton elementary and lindley elementary then returned to pila elementary school where he retired from greensboro public whereas mr mark continued to make a name for himself and received a number of awards and honors after retirement within the community for his extensive service and educational leadership on the guilford county board of health the greensboro school excellence fund the guilford county public school enrichment fund the black child development institute the young men's christian association the boy scouts of america the national association for the advancement of colored people the senior leadership senior parents and teachers association the educational association the north carolina principals association and the association for supervision and curriculum development whereas mr moore belonged to two many organizations including kappa lambda chapter of alpha phi alpha fraternity whereas mr moore gave interviews and lectures on the historical significance of the united states navy b-1 band and was honored by triad stage prior to the south pacific production in 2017 for his participation in the navy's first all-black band whereas for over 60 years mr morrow was a member of the episcopal church of the redeemer in greensboro and a member of the choir and served several times on the vestry whereas the city council wishes to express a sense of loss and sincere appreciation for the many years of dedicated public service rendered by calvin frank maher senior and now therefore be resolved by the city council of the city of greensboro that the city council wishes to express its condolence and offer its sincere appreciation and gratitude for calvin frank mars seniors many years of dedicated public service his legacy will be remembered by the outstanding contributions he has made and that a copy of this resolution will be delivered to the family of the late calvin frank maher senior as a symbol of the gratitude of the people of greensboro for his contributions to this community move the resolution we can do the vote now right here so we did that yep moved by mrs johnson this is a busy waiter it shows on my screen that's not right i'm not getting it yeah okay it was um it shows that it's moved by mrs johnson and it's seconded by miss abuse awaiter but we're going to go ahead and do a roll call vote again okay let's try no yeah here we go mr outling are you able to vote remotely yes i am i've done so so that carries eight to zero but we have to still do a voice vote according to the north carolina general assembly while we are in a hybrid meeting um mrs hoffman dr wells yes mrs johnson yes i'm a yes this is abusive yes this is thurm yes this is hightower yes mr outling yeah and that passed eight to one i just wanted to say that my first time i met mr morrow was at the episcopal church of the holy s of the redeemer the redeemer episcopal church that was where i first went to church and he sang in the choir and his wife and i are distantly related so he was always a role model he was always carried himself in a distinguished manner and encouraged all of us to always do our best he will be missed but i really thank him for all that he has done to improve the quality of life in greensboro and i'd like to say that mr morrow was an outstanding educator when i came to greensboro to work i worked at caldwell school which is now nettie cold apartments he was an 8th grade teacher then he became a principal and i moved to the school where he when we integrated he was the principal of murphy and i went there and he was my principal and then i went to peeler and he was my principal so and then we traveled as consultants for educator training center so mr mar and i uh he had a great impact on on my life especially as an educator and i really miss him last time i saw him he was telling me how old he was i couldn't believe it so we we're honoring a person who's given a lot to the boys and girls and educators in our city that is wonderful i know that there were two members of his family who had signed up to speak via zoom do we know if they're on they are not mayor okay thank you item number four is a resolution celebrating the 90th birthday of dorothy.kendall kearns i have a resolution and when i am through mrs johnson has a special presentation as well resolution celebrating the 90th birthday of dorothy kendall kearns whereas dorothy dot kearns was born in high point north carolina on june 27 1931 and has celebrated her 90th birthday on june 27 2021 whereas as a member of the guilford county board of education gcb e from 1972 through 2008 mrs kearns helped develop various opportunities in spanish immersion visual performing and dramatic arts math sciences technology language arts along with the gateway education center development whereas on october 27 2016 the gcsv renamed the academy at central high point north carolina the kearns academy in honor of mrs kearns as a former high school board as a former school board member whereas on june 17 2021 the guilford county board of commissioners adopted a guilford county resolution in appreciation and admiration for her lifetime achievements and accomplishments declaring june 27 2021 as dorothy dot kendall kearns day whereas over the years mrs kearns served as a member of many civic groups including the league of women voters where she chaired the public education roundtable publishing a white paper to align the public school first nc psfnc an organization supporting public schools through information education and engagement whereas mrs kearns served in many capacities through her career including gcbe secretary national conference of community and just and justice nccj board member gcs health advisory council planning committee for the university of north carolina at greensboro uncg education building advisory board of the uncg school of education counseling and education development department uncg board of visitors greensboro and high point communities and schools advisory board new garden friends meeting finance and stewardship committee community advisory board for kids voting board for stay up while you're out an alternative to out-of-school suspension board of directors of the league of women voters of the piedmont triad lwvpt chair of the lwvpt education roundtable pf nc vice president farm preservation project of guilford county open space preserve at high point acting chair bennett college planning committee for global education institute member and many other community projects whereas ms kearns received many prestigious awards including the high point enterprise citizen of the year menisca award for outstanding leadership uncg holderness weaver award for outstanding service to guilford county rosetta baldwin award titled women pioneers of the triad recognition from the lwvpt proclamation by the gcbe for her tireless pursuit of justice nccj annual brotherhood sisterhood citation award nccj honoree of the year award the united way of high point jack and marcia slain child advocate of the year award the uncg school of education distinguished career award the order of the longleaf pine north carolina's highest civilian award on behalf of governor michael easley as well as numerous other awards and recognitions whereas the city council wishes to express its congratulations to dorothy dot kendall kearns on the occasion of her 90th birthday now therefore be resolved by the city council of the city of greensboro that the city council wishes to express its congratulations on her 90th birthday and her many years of outstanding public and community service contributions she has made to the community a copy of this resolution shall be delivered to dorothy.kendall kearns as a symbol of the appreciation of the people of greensboro for her many contributions to this community move the item second it was moved by mr boos waiter seconded by mrs johnson yes yes yep council please vote has everybody voted i know we're in suspense right but we know that pass is eight to zero and for the record mrs hoffman dr wells yes mrs johnson absolutely i am a yes mrs abuzawader yes mrs thurm yes mrs hightower yes mr outling yeah and that passes eight to zero i know that mrs johnson has a special presentation as well this is a citation from bennett college i'm going to read the psalms 91 but everywhere it says him just think of her because he loves me says the lord i will rescue him i will protect him for he acknowledges my name he will call on me and i will answer him i will be with him in trouble i will deliver him and honor him with long life i will satisfy him and show him my salvation psalms 91 14-16 the board of trustees faculty staff students and alumni of bennett college salutes dorothy.kearns on the celebration of your 90th birthday a caring heart a healing voice a loving touch and a listening ear your commitment of service to the bennett college board of trustees a vesper speaker a recipient of the crystal bale and distinguished service award a long-standing advocate for the women's education and other outstanding contributions of your time talent and treasure will serve as an example to all who know you your support will help secure the dreams of another bennett bell and because of your belief in our mission bennett college will continue its legacy of educating young women to become change agents locally statewide nationally and global globally presented this day the 27th day of june 2021 by susan e walsh jd president of bennett college hello all of you young things out here thank you so much appreciate i appreciate it so much thank you in many ways i feel like i've almost come home tonight for so many years when i was thankfully in elective office i spent most of my days here in greensboro because you know that other city is not the county seat and so i was here so much of the time and i came to know so many of you a few uh like tammy i don't know as well but i have certainly appreciated your service thus far to our the city of greensboro and our county you know you might think that when you've reached the pinnacle of 90 years that could be a little bit of a depressing sad thing instead it has been glorious people have been so wonderfully supportive just great friends like those who drove me here tonight and who have been so wonderful in all the ways that friends can be i cannot thank you enough and it's very special to me to have you the city council of greensboro you know that other city make this accolade also i appreciate it far more than i can say and i thank you for the work you're doing for greensboro and for the county of guilford we have a wonderful wonderful place to live and we need to keep it just as safe and secure and forward moving as we possibly can i thank all of you so very much for the time you've given me here and through the years good luck to all of you as you go about your work with ferocity all of these days so many challenges but you're certainly up to meeting those thank you very very much this was very unexpected from bennett i do appreciate it i loved being on that board for a number well you were great and thank you so much all of you you know doc i'm not sure that we've ever recognized somebody from that other city before but you know i have to say we have um we have really built a good relationship with the city of high point and a lot of it has to do with trailblazers like you who set the standard and we know that you never really looked at it as high point and greensboro but as guilford county and that we are one guilford and i want to thank you for your decades of hard work and your ferocity thank you for everything that you do for the children of our community for the education of our community because we know that that is what drives hope forward so thank you so much for your legacy thank you thanks so much all of you all good friends thank you i just want to say to congratulations ms doc on your 90th i wish one day i can say i'll be at 90. um but to say i've accomplished so much i i don't know if i would be able to say i've accomplished as much as you have at your young age of 90. but i want to tell you thank you for your wisdom sharing information with me uh throughout the year so i just wanted to tell you how much i appreciated that you're so kind to say that thank you very much thanks all of you and i guess i i want to say that and i really have enjoyed working with you over the years still working with you with the round table but goldie and i are still working side by side right thank you bill thank you all willing folk together and you're all great public officials thank you and god you know over the years gotten to know you and i've always admired the way that you just uh go into a room and everybody you can feel the love for dot currents because everybody knows you i've seen all of your hard work working with the league of women voters um all of the other things over the years you've just really um i'm someone you admire i admire you are someone i admire and let me get that right someone i hear that coming from you the hard worker that and i've watched all of the things you've done and i've been i hope i can be like doc someday so you know it's just really really wonderful to be able to know you and see all of the wonderful things you have done so thank you thank you i look forward to getting to know tommy you've been the wind beneath so many people's wings especially young people and especially young women i just want to thank you for all of your service your commitment your love for people and i just hope i can be a little bit more like you every day god bless you i cannot imagine life without knowing yvonne johnson and her family her husband also who was a great member of the board of education too thank you all very very much of a great streak sharon we will come and celebrate you at 90 and i will be your younger sister of 89. they'll come into the chambers and celebrate your birthday all right we'll plan that party now yes don't put any candles on the cake um item number five is a resolution of appreciation and recognition of the eastern music festival mrs hoffman thank you very much um whereas eastern music festival which we most frequently refer to as emf was established in greensboro north carolina in 1961 by greensboro native and music educator sheldon morgenstern on the campus of guilford college whereas throughout its six decades ems has focused on musical excellence in education performance and execution and has developed a national and global reputation as an important training ground for aspiring young performing artists to experience music and concert programming whereas hundreds of students from across the united states and around the world visit north carolina every summer to study with internationally acclaimed musicians and artists whereas emf produces 65 performances and events each summer across the triad fostering professional collaboration innovation access and diversity whereas emf boasts over 9 000 alumni including acclaimed professional musicians majoring in performing in major national and international orchestras and working profession and our working professionals professional in other fields whereas emf contributes to the local and state economy to bring business revenue and an educated workforce to the state and raise awareness about the vitality of the arts in our state whereas for 60 years emf has played a role in our community by actively enhancing the quality of life in the piedmont and throughout the state the rich musical heritage that is the hallmark of emf offers a cultural centerpiece for north carolina whereas known as north carolina's musical treasure emf is an acclaimed artistic institution exemplifying a long-standing and prestigious part of the fabric of the greater north carolina community and now therefore be it resolved by the city council of the city of greensboro the city council wishes to express its appreciation and recognize the eastern music festival for 60 years of musical contributions to the community that the city council expresses its support for the eastern music music festival for the musical talents shared with the city of greensboro the state of north carolina and the world adopted this the 13th day of july 2021 i hit the button so it is better i hit it too didn't them come up well that's just me and you move okay okay so it is jointly moved by miss abuse wader and mrs johnson and secondedly by mrs thurm um so if we can vote we have chris williams is here i think in the audience uh and he's the executive director of the mf so chris would you just i'd like to give you the proclamation and if you'd like to we welcome you know emf was virtual like so many other uh activities last year but we are live on guilford college again guilford college campus again this year so we do need to take a a vote um mrs hoffman dr wells yes mrs johnson yes i'm a yes mrs abuse waiter yes mrs thurm yes mrs hightower yes and mr outling yeah and that passes eight to zero oh i'm sorry go right ahead i was trying i was trying to let the city clerk know that the voting thing seems to be a little frozen up but i apologize thank you very very much uh for the kind words and the support that you all have shown eastern music festival over the past 60 years and through this most trying of 18 months but we are in business producing live music for the citizens of greensboro right now in fact our next performance begins in about 90 minutes uh you can end this beating quickly and rush right over for beautiful chamber music i'm joined tonight by melanie tuttle our board president and by deontay mcneil a graduate student at colorado state who is here studying arts administration with us this summer he's a percussionist originally from dayton ohio deante is one of those 9 000 alumni of eastern music festival we are so fortunate to be part of this community and to be creating art and music um and we're we're thankful we're very very thankful thanks i just want to echo what what chris said um i've lived in greensboro for over 20 years now and eastern music festival truly is a gem in our midst and we do appreciate all the support we receive from the community thank you and i just want to say i appreciate you um holding on with us through some technical difficulties and through some um you know educational challenges but you know we will get through this and it'll be great as we move forward um item number six is a resolution recognizing the north carolina agriculture and technical state university track and field team for their achievements in the national collegiate athletic association ncaa division 1 2021 outdoor track and field championships this will be read jointly by mrs hightower and mrs johnson yes thank you read the first two okay all right resolution recognizing the north carolina agricultural and technical state university track and field team for their achievements in the national collegiate athletic association ncaa division 1 2021 outdoor track and field championships whereas on june 12 2021 the north carolina agricultural and technical state university ncant track and field men's and women's team placed third and fourth places respectively at the 2021 division national collegiate athletic association ncaa outdoor track and field championships at the university of oregon whereas led by head coach dwayne ross and assistant coaches uh tempe vance ernest barrett amber monroe and bill dunn and representing the mid eastern athletic conference niacc and historically black universities hbu several members of the men's and women's team earned notable wins in various meets set collegiate history and broke world records whereas four north carolina nt's track athletes qualified to try out for the united states of america olympic trials and two members qualified to represent the usa in the 2021 summer olympic games in tokyo japan whereas the city council wishes to extend their congratulations to the ncaant men and women's teams for their participation and wins in the 2021 ncaa outdoor track and field championships along with the selection of athletes eligible and those who have qualified to try out for the 2021 tokyo olympia olympics and to participate in the olympics and now therefore be resolved by the city council of the city of greensboro that it hereby recognizes the north carolina agricultural and technical state university track and field men and women's teams for their success in the 2021 ncaa outdoor track and field events for participation in the 2021 tokyo olympics and for representing north carolina auntie and the city of greensboro and the state of north carolina with their accomplishments okay council please vote for the record um mrs hoffman dr wells yes mrs johnson yes i'm a yes mrs abusa waiter yes mrs thurm yes mrs hightower yes and mr outling yeah and that passes eight to zero and deep fry do we have um mayor do we have members on so we did have um some people signed up on the zoom are they in the queue yes ma'am i have three that are on zoom and i'm sorry four on zoom and one that is in person oh okay we'll tell the one in person um brian holloway and on zoom we have dwayne ross randolph ross cambria sturgis and tempest vance runners great runners right we have runners and coach and assistant coach [Music] mr holloway we have a resolution for you in person but you certainly go ahead and bring it to you uh on behalf of our chancellor harry martin and athletics director earl hilton uh we are very thankful uh for this resolution uh our track and field team has done an outstanding job of representing uh not only uh uh hbcus but uh the entire country and we are hoping that we can also bring back to greensboro some gold medals as well uh randolph ross jr uh will be competing there uh trevor stewart will also compete there and then we have uh akeem sirleaf and david will be competing for their respective countries and so uh dwayne ross has done an outstanding job and he will continue to do outstanding job for north carolina ent state university thank you so if we have anyone on zoom um speaker signed up if there's anything you would like to say and we would like to say congratulations on a tremendous season you so much this is coach ross uh head coach uh thank you so much we appreciate it thank you um this is randolph ross i would just like to say thank you as well and we couldn't we wouldn't be here without all the support thank you this is cambria sturgis and i just want to say thank you and for the recognization girl you can run thank you does everybody know your name now all right can i get a haggy pride peggy fry is there anybody else who would like to speak to this item well i just want to say thank you for being on the zoom call you really um made us proud it is great to see north carolina a t in national and worldwide headlines so this is this is great thank you item number seven is a resolution establishing an open and nonpartisan procedure for the 2021 greensboro city council redistricting mrs thurm whereas state statutes require that the greensboro city council redraw council districts to reflect the current population following the decennial census such that each district has approximately equal population whereas city redistricting plans enacted pursuant to this procedure will be used to elect members of the greensboro city council throughout the coming decade whereas an open participatory and transparent process whereby broad citizen input is actively sought and given full consideration and the redrawing of the greensboro city council districts more fully reflects the commitment of the council to represent the will of the vote whereas in order to achieve the aim of fairly representing the citizens of our city the boundaries of greensboro city council districts should be drawn respecting and taking into consideration the integrity of our city's neighborhoods and communities of interest whereas important principles including the protection of the federal votes voting rights act and respect for neighborhoods towns and cities should be built into any redistricting process so that our communities are kept together and can achieve effective representation whereas the citizens of the city of greensboro deserve a fair fully transparent impartial and de-politicized process for the drawing of greensboro city council districts reflecting their communities and providing accountability to the voters whereas such a process should facilitate public input and involvement in the redistricting redistricting process to empower citizens and to ensure maps that enable them to elect representatives who will reflect and respond to their interests on issues important to their lives whereas voters are more likely to participate when they feel that their vote will count and that they have a fair chance of electing candidates who represent their interests whereas the members of the greensboro city council are strongly committed to increasing accountability to the voters and serving their best interests whereas these aims are best achieved by adopting an open and transparent redistricting process that includes firm timelines announced well in advance prompt communication of draft plans including through posting on an accessible website and publication in local news outlets well promoted public hearings on the maps and citizens access to redistricting tools so that our citizens have real opportunities to review and assess the maps and to provide feedback proposing improvements before maps are finalized whereas the provision of software and other assistance will facilitate public participation and enable our citizens to draw and submit maps for greensboro city council consideration whereas redistricting to protect individual incumbents parties or other political interests is improper and prejudicial to the students to the citizens desire for responsive government and now therefore be it resolved that the greensboro city council reaffirms its commitment to establishing a redistricting process that will adhere to the principles set out above and support citizen involvement in an open and transparent procedure throughout the upcoming 2021 redistricting process be it further resolved that the process adopted should be one that promotes greater accountability and transparency and prohibits the consideration of voting patterns party registration information and incumbents residential addresses and that uses demographic information only to the extent necessary to ensure minority participation traditionally indicated by the voting rights act of 1965 be it further resolved that this resolution should be announced publicly as a testament to the greensboro city council's commitment to incorporate the principles outlined within this resolution into our 2021 redistricting redistricting procedures and to implement such procedures so as to ensure adherence to the above principles and be it further resolved that the greensboro city council also hereby formally request the north carolina general assembly to adopt procedures for the 2021 legislative and congressional redistricting embodying the same principles processes and measures as outlined above thereby securing our citizens rights to participate in said redistricting on the basis of equity nonpartisanship fairness and transparency adopted this the 13th day of july 2021 i have a quick question um and mr city attorney i heard ms thurm change some verbiage um because as required by the voting rights act there's now some changes there um so how she changed it says as traditionally does that still limit us um does that impact this resolution just basically a resolution of support but i want people just using it for um what they think is the guide to go by especially with the voting rights act and section five being removed even though section 2 still applies well i guess the point is that the 1965 civil rights act which has been adopted almost unanimously by the congress over the years isn't what it used to be now that the supreme court has addressed it with respect to section five and now also section two and so the words there regarding traditionally i think brings it back to the uh original intention which i think is what the broader document would have in mind i just want to make sure that for the public too to understand uh what the implications are um i mean this said really um to the extent required by and now that has that has been changed by interpretation of the supreme court some things that uh people probably would expect to use it for um might be left out right right so therefore making reference to its traditional use i think gets you around that point yes okay and so that'll be correct man yeah because that's why i wanted to make sure you had seen this first before we i saw this first but of course the supreme court's decision most recent decision came down after i saw it okay so that has been moved by dr wells seconded by miss abuse waiter um let's see if the vote screen while we're waiting for that mrs hoffman dr wells yes this is johnson i am yes mrs abuzawader yes mrs therm yes mrs hightower yes and mr outling yes so that passes eight to zero um i do wanna recognize before before we move on to our city council speakers from the floor if you'll notice that we all have on these shirts this evening it is in recognition of the greensboro parks and recreation department i think last month we did a resolution recognizing that july is parks and recreation month and certainly we know how important parks and rec are every day but especially during the pandemic that it was great that people had an opportunity to get outside and be healthy and during the whole time parks and recreation library and many of our other departments was doing great online programming and in october our parks and recreation department was awarded the um the gold medal from the national recreation and parks association and that was our fourth time so we have like our many departments we have an outstanding parks and recreation department and today we are celebrating it in our parks and rec shirts um otherwise we're not so neatly coordinated but um so we are going to move on to the public comment um we received one comment from hillan helen tilly um for this july 13 2021 meeting regarding the green hill cemetery and maintenance issues it will be posted to the city's website tomorrow we currently have 16 um speakers for the public forum speakers will be given three minutes and our first two speakers um are actually our first three speakers are on zoom um chair reuben hertl ramone johnson and brendan wayans um only remain roman johnson is on the other two are not on as of yet i'm sorry i couldn't hear you mr johnson is the only one that is on the other two are not okay um mr ramon johnson uh hey hey how you doing thank you council for uh hearing me and good evening yes uh yes i'm here based off uh speaking on a step plan just want to thank you guys for uh bringing this to the table um i just wanted to reinforce some things about how good a step plan was um in 2019 the average merit raises for uh crew members was 1.8 and for superintendents were 4.3 also a merit raise doesn't mean that every employee in the city will get a 3 3 increase of pay each manager has sold discretion in an actual increase given to their employees as long as the total amount allocated does not exceed the merit pool of funds allocated for that department and uh just to reinforce guys that have been um not getting good merit raises for years and have been um actually held up for years from actually um meeting that control point um we have a lot of guys in that situation we have uh properties being annexed all through the city we have guys working harder than they ever have you have um guys working on water sewer and trash providing that to all medical facilities all facilities all over the city um i think that's a good point and i just want to thank you guys for for bringing that to the table also the city is uh greensboro is one of the is is the lowest has the lowest paid workers in the city of north carolina out of the four largest cities um a lot of merit a lot of the people that have been getting married raises for all these years are still stuck at the bottom of their pay scale um also police and fire have a step from there um we want that to be considered looking forward and looking forward into the future guys want to be able to plan ahead guys want to see uh where where they're at financially and be and be able to support their families and their loved ones and um thank you guys for letting me speak on this um i'm gonna forward over to uh brendan and thank you guys thank you uh good evening council um my name is brendan parmenter winams um i've lived here in greensboro for a little over 10 years i've been an employee with the city for about three i wanted to thank you for starting the process of getting the step plan implemented it means a lot to me and to many my co-workers to have that safety and stability um i know you've just taken the the first step and i appreciate that that step is um the lowest paid workers um and moving up from there um it it's important to to see uh that that's where your priorities are and and um i want to express my gratitude for that i do believe that we need to [Music] put more money into the step plan to make it fully equitable and to help address some of the um systemic problems that i'm sure you're aware are in [Music] pay scales where the bosses get to choose who gets the raises and who doesn't uh thank you for your time and have a good evening thank you um our next two speakers are gregory walker and bianya amos i'm sorry if i pronounce that incorrectly um mr walker okay um is amos okay uh james rosa good evening madam mayor matt um mayor pro tem members of city um council um i am james rose jr i live at 146. um i can't remember my address now i know right we can find you ashborne trace um i am the uh co-founder executive director of the rosa foundation here in greensboro we're a non-profit organization and we're here to invite you to our first latin festival event day breakdown laughing festival september 18th at barbara park um we are asking people to come out and support um hispanic heritage month and also we're also doing this in recognition of the people that we had lost last year due to cope because originally he was going to do our festival last year and then they means 2020 and we kept the name for those reasons we are looking for our sponsorship we are looking for food vendors and merchandise vendors they can reach us at rosa foundation at outlook.com um or my phone number is 336-772-0074 um and if correct me if i'm wrong i believe this will be the largest uh festive latin festival that greensboro has had um and i am proud that rosa foundation is be the one that's doing the first one and we're hoping to do this every year um there's a free event but they will we will be selling food and and merchandise um there'll be some other activities going on um and again we would like for you guys to come down and participate in this and thank you thank you thank you um russell brierton okay while we're waiting cecilia shaw good evening mayor vaughan and respected members of the city council and guests i come before you as a 46-year resident of the city a 30-year retired gifford county public school teacher an active g53 precinct member a political volunteer and a registered voter i wear many other hats but this evening i want the focus to be on my concerns about the direction my neighborhood in southeast greensboro and district 1 are headed over the past two months i have gone from helping to verbally protest the rezoning of for sale properties that would become multi-family housing units to being a neighborhood canvasser letting my neighbors know what plans are happening to becoming a watchdog looking for visible signs of property deterioration code violations locating new rezoning signs poor business practices intentionally observing city services reading crime reports to communicating with scott farmer at the north carolina house of finance agency but before i say anything else i want to publicly thank the five of you who voted back on may 11 to revisit the rezoning request of a property on east vandalia and southam eugene street that was to become another multi affordable housing complex that addition would have surely added additional stress on an already congested area you see we already have house 32 multi-family complexes within our southeast boundaries and yet on this very day we are watching additional ones going up including a nine acre complex just one mile away of these 32 complexes it appears that 50 percent accept some form of city state or federal subs disease we get it folks everybody needs and deserves to live in decent housing but your continued approval of these developments in our district has resulted in over saturation and with this overload crime is up city service departments can't keep up and our neighborhoods have become stranger walk throughs noisy streets speeding automobile cut throughs and unsafe at times i stand before you asking you please investigate with greater scrutiny any plans to build request to open new businesses or rezoning of property in district 1 before any approval is given or even sent on to nchfh we know that there's a lot of work to be done and we stand with you when you have listened and we have been given the opportunity to be heard we are strong voting precincts and we will support you when we know that equity for us is the same as it is for the whole city as the late congressman john lewis said thank you mr shaw you see something that is not right and not fair not just do something about it and if not us then who thank you i'm not going to ask you to wrap up thank you thank you thank you michelle thank you so much um russell no burton i'm sorry good evening my name is russell robertson we are here on behalf of a non-profit that we just started um my sister is a little better at this than i am so i'm gonna explain and then i fill in whatever hello council thank you for having us um the my name is latasha i am russell's sister um he's the chairman and founder of we got you it is a non-profit nonprofit organization that focuses on at-risk youth trying to get our children into different environments so that their circums circumstances can change we've had a lot of crime recently our younger children are really being affected and what this organization is about is bringing them together we are doing a event september 18th at windsor recreation center at 1601 eastgate city boulevard in greensboro we welcome those who want to come out and have information we don't want any vendors or anything but information that brings awareness to like covet 19 to our area we're willing to open tables up for that greensboro urban ministry will be there as well handing out some information there'll also be a three-on-three basketball tournament for the children and if anybody has any resources please don't hesitate to reach out to us you can do that at r u s b r e 5403 gmail.com that is russell's email address any help would be greatly appreciated we will be feeding the children that day allowing them to swim in the swimming pool as well and we'll have more information about it we are going to be doing some fundraising as well to help put the event on and bring families together for that day we've all been stuck in the house the children have as well this is just something positive for once to bring to our community and it's something that was led to our hearts to do i don't know if you have what is the name what's the name of your organization well um the non-profit is called we got you we've got you we got okay what is the date we got september 18th it's from 10 8 it's from 10 a.m to 6 00 p.m it's actually the same date as the gentleman that jefferson and just to say one last thing um pretty much our organization is also um bridging the gaps because we saw a lot of disconnect just not in our area but in the country as a whole and we are the ones that's pretty much you could look at us as like mediators you know we don't mind being the one in between to be able to translate certain things just so people get more understanding exactly what's needed to be done and how to go about doing it thank you thank you thank you i'm sorry slowly three three six two one zero one zero five one zero eight five one zero eight yes yes okay gotcha thank you thank you thank you thank you again um our next speaker i believe is on soon helen hoffman she has not signed in mayor she's not gone um can you hear me this is hester petty 3402 canterbury street here in greensboro the police did nothing wrong when they hogtied marcus smith i've heard this sentiment from you mr outling and from two police chiefs both former chief scott and current chief james neither of whom found any fault with the officers present when marcus was killed but the greensboro police did do something wrong and that's why i want to talk to you about tonight in 1995 a program within the u.s department of justice called the national law enforcement technology center issued a bulletin to law enforcement communities entitled positional affixia sudden death the bulletin covered variables known to be associated with sudden in-custody deaths while subjects were detained by restraints these include cocaine-induced bizarre or frenzied behavior drug or alcohol intoxication violence struggle or subject unresponsiveness predisposition to a positional affixing included factors such as obesity alcohol drug abuse and enlarged heart this bulletin offered this guideline to law enforcement quote where possible avoid the use of maximally prone restraint techniques for example hog tying the bulletin went on to state as soon as the suspect is handcuffed get him off his stomach pay attention to breathing difficulties or loss of consciousness the bulletin concluded with this and i quote to help maxim minimize the risk of positional affixia diligent observation and monitoring of subjects displaying any one or a combination of the described indicators are procedurally warranted furthermore the use of maximal prone restraint techniques should be avoided this is 1995. if prone positioning is required subjects should be closely and continuously monitored marcus smith was afforded none of these precautions that are in this bulletin nor those in the gpd directives or training protocol because of the actions and inactions of eight greensboro police officers marcus died the officers knew he was high knew he was sweating and over exerted they did not monitor his ability to breathe after he was face down on the pavement they did not roll marcus on his side after he was handcuffed they did not roll marcus on his side after they finished hobbling him as a matter of fact they did not mark roll marcus on his side until they stood up noticed he wasn't breathing and didn't have a pulse only then when it was too late did the officers pay any attention to marcus at all this was a wrongful death please settle the lawsuit thank you our next speaker is catherine holcomb is miss holcomb on zoom yes i'm sorry i can't be seen like hester was previous to me anyway um i'm katherine welcome i um live at 1911 rosecrest drive in the justin outling district i have spoken before on marcus smith and i and i'm speaking again i told you that i as a middle-aged white woman was stopped by police after a traffic accident and he used excessive force shouting at me shoving my head and not allowing me to ask any questions and turning his music up in the patrol car as loud as he could he drove me downtown and then i watched black men in this uh station where you're arrested be treated even worse than i was by other police officers it unnerved me and then when i watched the video of marcus smith being killed by police i really have a negative view of the police department however during zoom our public library and our police department and excuse me in the history museum have sponsored some zooms on the community and our police and i learned a lot from this so i feel a little bit hopeful now there was a police officer a professor of law and a local attorney giving their very honest sessions their opinions about how policing happens in greensboro as other places and they were open to any questions we wanted to ask them their honesty was downright refreshing some of the i learned that as much as i've been talking about excessive force in greensboro there's nothing really to be done because the supreme court uphold since 1967 a qualified immunity for um people in in government and so no one ever told me that i never learned it and we were urged on that call to fight that that it really is a pathetic um ruling that they did in 1967 and has not yet been changed also i learned that our police department are aware of being mistrusted and even hated by the community and they have taken several seconds i want to know if you listen the policemen said they listen to other what other cities are doing to get ideas and i wonder if you are i want you to be a city of government officials like jacksonville north carolina newark austin and camden where the people put their hearts together the police the city council and they make new ways of doing making commitments inspired thank you mrs holcomb um our next speaker is ben holder but i don't believe he is in the room um courtney hughes how y'all doing i'm doing well well this is my first time attending a meeting my name is courtney hughes also known as dj lady south and so all month long i've been just trying to figure out what to say but i figured out that i just wanted to be the change i wanted to see i just wanted to speak tonight about the youth crime youth activities youth violence and just crime rate in general so personally i just think that like i said just being the change that i want to see first of all when i came into the room tonight not seeing anybody really my age not seeing anyone that i actually knew but people that i can look up to and admire for the work that y'all have done this far and by me being a very very um how would i put the words i'm gonna say a leader in the community for everyone a lot of people look up to me and look at what i do and say oh i want to be like her i like what she does so i didn't know it was this easy i didn't know what a city council meeting was i didn't even know who most of y'all was so just by coming tonight i wanted to let the youth know that it's okay to be cool in this matter just because you're tick-tocking on instagram and those things for that nature it don't necessarily make you cool so just the more that i came tonight and representing for the communities that i'm in or the world i just wanted to understand and let people know it's really nothing we can do to stop crime we can maybe minimize it add more activities in our parks or just sometimes you have to maybe not pay people to do things that you think should be done for each other but people that have have to have a love for the things that they're doing because i was actually like the 500 kids finding some jobs i did not too long ago i haven't heard no more about it but my opinion is that maybe weekly it should be announced because just because you did an event once now it's to some people it's like well where can i locate where can i find it what's going on i did have a friend abby she was on the speaker at that event i wasn't upset about her being chose to be the speaker but what happened to me was like well she get paid to do that work i do this from the kindness of my heart my organizations i've been working with since a child i'm 32 years old ytpt yes teens do positive things sometimes i feel like shedding positivity over what you do is better than always speaking on the negativity of what's been done i know yesterday just to speak on i met five little young girls in the street running around playing ding dong ditch man we speak on crime but see they could have easily been shot just because they put on someone else's door but i wouldn't go speak to them they could all jump even though they're all little kids but the way crazy crime is these days you don't know you can't discriminate or you can't put put a face on crime so i just honestly honestly wanted to come and be an example and i'll come more often so i can say moist my time is up but i just want to be an example that's why i came tonight because they look at you all and think that that's an example but just being an example they can relate to as well is special thank you well we hope we'll see you again thank you did you do the artwork yes ma'am i did okay good so did you leave your con we have your contact i mean you can have it this is my first time i didn't know what to do i just i prayed about it almost i think it's great that you came you have to be bold yes ma'am so yeah we we got a creative arts that we work with we need to cook be connected in yes ma'am all right well i'll see y'all soon thank you thank you mr tucker good evening ladies man so good to see you and community representatives first of all i want to thank you for what you do secondly i want to apologize to the family of especially the young lady that was murdered at that store at speedway as the african-american male i want to apologize to the community full of behavior of african-american young men that's going around with these guns acting crazy my opportunity for youth is an organization that mentors african-american men and those that are locked behind prison and we give them a second chance through athletics sports i coach the youth flag football team i asked them five things they like to do and the two priorities was they love their family they love football and they love music so we decided to start an initiative september the 9th we're going to start the gate city spiritual travelers boys choir gate city spiritual travel travelers boys choir and it's going to be at 5 45 at the cultural arts center we're asking for all the youth to come who want to learn how to sing i'm not going to teach him how to rap i want to thank council for cancelling that that event that the colosseum of bringing these rappers that use foul language and disrespect women because the music and the hip-hop culture has practically destroyed the african-american community i like the dj but i dj myself one thing that i like djs to do at the end of their set is to play some love music something saw something to calm the crowd down instead of hyping the crowd up and sending them out in the street another thing parks and rec parks and rec i've been swimming at delivery pool for the last five years with exceptional last year and the bathrooms haven't been painted yet we went to windsor recreation center we tried to establish street basketball league for the troubled youth ages 15 to 25. i have yet received the call this was back in may a couple of us athletes decided to get together and start a bleep also we want to thank a t amt sponsors and help you but one day we hope that a t decided to purchase power institute because palmer institute was for education of so can i ask you though ron what what did you say about lin lindley center bathrooms at the lindsay swimming pool haven't been painted in five years the lens it was a mechanical issue i'm not aware of painting i'd have to check into that all you gotta do is go into the shower okay okay paint all everywhere okay and i believe it could be lead paint thank you all right um thank you i want to make sure that all of the people um in the gallery who are here to speak uh as a speaker from the floor on a non-agenda item that you've been called or this is your chance to speak i know we have two more on zoom okay our next speaker is keith peterson and that will be followed by louis pitts and that should be the end of the speakers from the floor mr peterson hello yes we can hear you can you put your camera on yes yes how you doing good afternoon uh council members my name is keith peterson i'm the president of the association of woodley in southeast greensboro and i'm also a member of the newly formed southeast greensboro coalition i have one pressing item along with my neighbors is the crime on along the random road corridor i have some data here from the guilford county metro 911 and in the last two and a half to three years 1568 calls went out to three primary areas uh the first area is 29 20 random enroll and within 500 feet of these businesses uh the plasma center these crimes consisted of anywhere from burglary to domestic disputes to robbery narcotics arson um indecent exposure auto theft and fraud some of those crimes uh can be classified as class 1 felonies meaning they're serious crimes uh the cavalier n 312 west jj drive received over 717 calls from january 1 2018 to 12 31 2020. these crimes also um were narcotics threatening suicide disorder conduct domestic disputes fraud some vice arrests there discharging of firearms and another several other countless class one felonies as well food lion and businesses within 500 feet of food line at 3228 random and road the same manner of calls in that area so the random road corridor from jj drive south to food line um is constantly um calls for services constantly rising and rising and they these crimes uh like i said a class are class one felonies and those are the more serious crimes and so the residents in my neighborhood and i'm sure surrounding areas is looking for a more strategic plan uh in reducing these crimes um i understand that the city services may be strained especially in the police department but uh we need you guys help in reducing crime in these areas god bless you thank you thank you um i would like some information on the plasma center especially which i think was the 2920 randleman road mr peterson yes yes you know we have gotten quite a few complaints and that that center hasn't really lived up to what they said they were going to bring to the community um i'd like to know kind of a report out especially of what types of calls for service we have there and what we could do to tighten up that um as well as the other areas that he mentioned but well it's not just what i'm planning a um tour of that area donna gray and i planted that uh of random the entire random enrolled area period because the shopping centers uh are concerned as well um as some of the other areas i think you heard the speaker tonight talk about the saturation of the apartment it affects the property values these are all established neighborhoods so we are planning that code enforcement of as code enforcement um i've talked to don i forget neighborhood development as well as i will be reaching out to some of these neighborhood leaders to accompany us there to point these things out we did a random and uh road corridor study and really to be honest we do a lot of studies and they stagnate and they see it and we don't implement now some of it is i understand money and because of some of some things we can't and um that has been problematic for random and road area mug area all of that together uh so if council members are interested in attending we're looking at the date of august 10th or the 10th or 12th i believe um to do that and um so donna gray and i are pulling that together so yeah let us know when you get that firmed up but in the meantime i would like especially the numbers to the plasma centers but the other ones that he he mentioned as well because you know i can i can forward you the email the spreadsheet on the data that came from uh the metro uh guilford county metro 9-1-1 i can share that information via your city uh council's email um thank you and um i do want to take a look at that we know that there are hot spots in community just like um mlk and florida street and we need to give the hot spots our our attention so if we could take a look at those areas and at least maybe have that data before we go on oh yeah um yeah but thank you for putting that together and um let me know when it is and hopefully that counts yeah and that is the basis for that tool is based upon the conversations i've had woodley and some of the other neighborhoods in that area around that plasma center it is really problematic yeah i've heard that as well mayor uh with i'll get chief james and and the police department also look at mr peterson has suggested some some data from 9-1-1 but i want to make sure that our police departments the incidents that actually happened and the police reports that were taking place during those incidents that they have a chance to to look at it dissect it because sometimes the cause for service can be a little different than the actual incidents that happen uh and that way the chief and and his folks can can better address some of the issues that are there and assist councilwoman hightower in those efforts too thank you right thank you oh yeah and and because we really need to start having some honest conversation with some of these property owners some of these shopping center property owners who are not um being very responsible um around some of these calls and concerns and things so yeah yeah there was a real active um association that met at stephanie's and you know they have not met in you know since covid it's been a really long time well the random monroe business association has kind of disbanded if you will ron wilson passed away right as you know and um the other gentleman is really his side is not well so they don't meet now right uh any is and that's something we you know we maybe can help some of the interested businesses in the area yeah it would be nice to pull that group back together right um thanks keith thank you and our final speaker is louis pitts mr pitts yes yes uh good evening council members my name is louis pitts i live in greensboro i'm a member of the greensboro justice coalition as we all know it's election season and voters want to know your positions on important issues especially important issues like whether you believe in open transparent government or secret government and what are your views on police accountability including the hog tying homicide of marcus smith and yet on june the 1st you all held a closed secret city council meeting in which you discussed and shared apparently differing positions on whether or not to conduct an independent investigation into the conduct and culture of our police department and you decided not to do so and because of that meeting you have hidden you've kept secret your positions our coalition knows that that session was illegally held secretly and we have retained the most prominent law firm in the state on issues of open meeting law to represent our coalition and our lawyer amanda martin has written the city attorney two letters making the argument as to how and why those meetings were illegally held in secret i sent to each of you an email on july the 4th and i enclosed in that email the second more important letter from our attorney amanda mort martin i said i was sending that because i did not trust the city attorney to give you that letter sure enough immediately chuck watts city attorney sent you an email and said i have that email he did not think it was important enough to tell you about the potential lawsuit we the voters want to know we want to know now what was your positions stated in that meeting we want you to admit it was an illegally closed meeting and we ask that you immediately provide all of the documents that have been generated pursuant to and leading up to that meeting as our lawyer has requested and finally no person withholding their positions is worthy of office and settle the marcus smith lawsuit and stop wasting already a million dollars on private lawyers to try to have the case thrown out please testify tonight thank you mr pitts um i believe that is all of our speakers madam clerk is there anybody left on zoom who hasn't spoken as a speaker from the floor no ma'am okay then that will close the speakers from the floor segment of our agenda and we move on to the consent agenda move the consent agenda at the request of staff we are removing items two three and four um so it'll be the consent agenda minus two three and four yeah mine is marked out so um so let's see so that was moved by mrs johnson and seconded by ms therm um i'm waiting for the voting to come up but in the meantime um mrs hoffman dr wales mrs johnson i'm a yes mrs abusa waiter yes mrs thurm yes this is hightower mr outland yes and that passes eight to zero okay we will now move on to the public hearing portion of our agenda item number one is a public hearing to receive public comment on the proposed fiscal year 2021 22 economic development appropriations to non-profit entities and to authorize a resolution designating appropriations and this is something that we have taken up on previous agendas um we do not have anybody here to speak on that item um can i have a motion for the some adam nobody came nobody showed up to speak um i had us i had a statement from mr lester who um wanted me to give that statement at the last counseling um but he because he was unable to make it so if i could just yes give that now all right thank you um the investment from the city is not alone partners throughout the region are joining our call just a few days ago the department of treasury announced 565 000 to support covet recovery to pay my business capital the investment of 600 000 total 1.4 million in lending and operational capacity awarded to pvc in the last four weeks while his my leaving is bittersweet let my departure signal how strong our organization is that i could leave and that we are just at the beginning thank you for the opportunity to serve and build this foundation alongside each of you and so many others and that was sent by wilson lester be my business capital mr lester really has done a tremendous job with piedmont business capital and i i'm sure that they'll continue with that strong leadership and i know that wilson is going to stay in the area and that you know hopefully he'll be active with our arp funding um and there might be additional funding available for pbc through arp funds yes it is we've had some of those conversations as well but he's still staying on the board of pvc as well and uh i just still gonna miss him i pick up the phone and called him today because he's just so smart he knows the answer and he knows how to get that answer so he really has uh brought a lot of integrity to the cdfi lending and particularly here in the city of greensboro so he's an asset that we can't um you know lose so um we need a motion and a second moved by mrs thurm seconded by dr wells um i'm going to take a voice vote on that mrs hoffman dr wells yes mrs johnson you said yes i'm a yes this is abuse waiter yes mrs therm yes mrs hightower and mr outling yeah and that passes eight to zero um we now move on to the general business portion of our agenda we have one item which is g1 resolution centric brands inc for a one-year retention extension request moved by mrs hoffman and seconded by dr wells um may i ask what exactly are we sure here please yeah i asked what what are we doing with this it is an extension um really due to covid they had with the um economic incentives that they were given they had a certain amount of employees that they had to hire and retain and because of covid we know what the challenges are so we they have asked for a one-year extension to help hit those um employment numbers did i explain that you did good you did a great job thank you you're done good thank you yes thank you so we do have a motion and a second on that mrs hoffman dr wales yes this is jonathan yes ma'am i'm a yes this is mrs thurm yes this is hightower and mr outling yeah and that passes eight to zero that is the end of our regular agenda um do we have any boards and commissions mrs hoffman um dr wells announcement just awards and commissions no um i have none um no ms thurm mrs hightower uh yes i i do have one um madam mayor are you going to appoint who we talked about for war memorial i haven't talked to him yet i did you did yeah okay so he said yes yeah okay yeah that's fine yeah um i do need to reappoint april parker to the library um so what and what i will say to that is she's been i think she's been a certain asset bridgette loves her unfortunately she is no longer living in district one but i'm willing to accept her as uh the representative for district one because i know where her heart is at she just decided she moved downtown so she is she's done a great job but she's done a real phenomenal job so we do have a motion and a second on that everybody in favor say aye aye and that passes eight to zero and then um on the war memorial commission de carlos kines has served for many years and her her terms are up and she is looking for a replacement and i'd like um justin washington to take that place back he does a great job and so i do have a second all in favor say aye and that passes eight to zero um comments i had one i had one yes um the attitude of gratitude is a non-profit organization and what they've been doing for years is providing um title one elementary schools with materials for the children so they'll have a good educational experience they've collectively uh they've collected over forty thousand dollars and they have served vandalia elementary ranking elementary hampton elementary washington montessori foust elementary blueford elementary wiley hope academy and the lifespan in burlington i just wanted to say if anybody wants to contribute paper pencils crayon things that children need to have a successful educational experience in elementary school you can drop them off at 1107 perry street uh the um leader of the attitude of gratitude who is doing this is katina armani and it's a 501 3c and i have been at many of these and i think the mayor and i think mary kay a boozer waiter and sharon and goldie have been at a lot of these and they actually give out wonderful book bags just filled with things and they're going to even try to include personal item prods project products in some of the ones to come so i wanted to thank them for for what they have done and what they're going to continue to do they're getting ready to do several now so if you have you want to drop off um items or a check um so that they can buy items that would be greatly appreciated 1107 perry street that's right there near the coliseum i want to thank you for bringing that up because um you know i think that we need to make sure that our children our students are prepared to go back to school we know how difficult last year was and it would be nice for them to have some normalcy where they have um backpacks and the supplies they need to hit the ground running and you know if they get other personal needs taken care of that's great but you know however we can support people who are doing backpack drives i think that is wonderful and the ahmadi way has been doing that for years and uh katina really has an impact on the community along with others as well but we do need to make sure that our students are starting with the you know a firm foundation they've had a lot of challenges since march of 2020 so whatever we can do yeah and i'd like to add i am queen is also going to do a backpack august 7th i don't have the exact time at windsor center i am queen mcqueen and her goal is to give 700 uh book bags and she's been doing it too for the last uh few years today do you have an address for us it's going to be at windsor center she's going to do it out of windsor center that's on that saturday the seventh i don't have the exact time i think but i assume we're gonna do operation pass um again like we always have which is the the city and gpd's um backpack drive and you know there are usually a couple thousand that are given out then um it's really amazing the number of people who turn up um at all these events and really need assistance so i think we need to highlight um places like i am a queen um the ahmadi way operation pass and who our um community partners are with that and i'm gonna tell you a few years ago a mother came to my office and her daughter had gone to get a back um one of the backpacks and supplies and they had given out and the child was just blue on the ground i mean i went out and bought one but um that that means a lot to these young people because everybody else has them and um it just means a lot to them so they appreciate it so do all you can to to make any contributions you can to these um the um i am a queen and to attitude of gratitude the amani way yeah and and there will be other opportunities for us it would be good maybe if we can keep a running list and maybe post that where if people want to give directly that they can um mrs viswaider do you have any comments just a few um just wanted to say that i know that july 3rd downtown festivities were a hit and a success after uh not having been able to do things uh little festivals downtown it was it was a great event i saw a lot of staff there and some council members so i just want to commend dgi for pulling that together and i thought it was great um did want to give my condolences to the family of melanie roddenbeau uh she i served with her on the faith action international for six years and i learned a lot from that lady she was a great advocate for others and um her heart was just always in the right place but when melanie spoke you listened so it was um went to the funeral and and just went to wrap her family in love and prayers because she was a great lady and she did a lot for this community um last thing i'll talk about is i'm sure many of us are certainly worried about all of the shootings and the violence going on i was able to attend because we've been in the convenience store business the the vigil for the lady who was killed on battleground avenue mayor vaughn and i and several other council members have been to other vigils sharon throughout the city mothers standing against gun violence some of us won't go and walk with them every week but you know out of all of this all of these families and all of the people who have been involved and been the victims and their families of these shootings have given nothing but praise for what our police department is trying to do so i kind of wanted to say that because um i hear a lot of the police aren't doing anything to prevent crime well yes they are they're doing quite a bit going out in the community building relationships all of those things it is really hard to predict when a random shooting might happen there's no way for an officer to be standing there someone actually said i was very negative the other day when i said something similar to that but it's true the police department cannot be standing on every corner we we don't want that anyway so you know it's it's where you know i personally have become an advocate and i know the chief has two and i'm on the crime stoppers board i am going to preach about crime stoppers forever and ever because this is the way for community members to report things totally anonymously and i thank my council members i know that the chief and i lobbied for extra funds for um crime stoppers so that as soon as that comes forth we're going to be rolling out a massive announcement about it with the media and everything i hope you'll come along but we've got to make sure that people in the community know that it is truly truly anonymous please go to their facebook page please go to the website it shows you everything how it's done how the rewards are paid out how that has remained anonymous for over 40 years there has not been one tipster who has been identified in 40 years so anyway i beg the community please call crime stoppers when you see unusual activity when you see what you think maybe drug activity gun activity all of those things so hopefully if we can all come together we can help reduce some of this crime we know it's all over the nation but you know we can take greensboro and do what we can do in greensboro and it's going to take everyone so i just kind of had to say that because after going to that last vigil i was i was pretty upset this is just not the greensboro i know and it's happening all over mary can i ask our attorney a question um do we as council people have the authority to do ordinances to um require um metal detectors in certain um businesses for certain businesses like clubs and bars and um do we can we or can we not um it's kind of an open question um i think there's certainly situations where you could um i'd have to kind of think about the specific situation you're talking about okay would you give back with me i'm sure thank you thank you mary kay can i ask you part of the crime stoppers um where is the gun stopper program because the gun stoppers i mean guns are just everybody's got one nowadays we got shootouts on the exits and shootouts downtown everybody wants to solve their problem with a gun and that's the problem yeah just gun stoppers is included in that sorry yeah yeah it's part of yes and gun and i know that um i just saw this statistic the other day that the police department has actually uh gotten over 1200 guns and i'm not sure the time period but it's uh i think it's this year this year which is well now yeah and gun stoppers we've been paying out funds for the people that have been um you know letting us know that there are illegal guns in certain places now can we turn those that can't we then it's considered a gun stoppers tip or a um crime stoppers tip and sometimes it's both so the reward monies can be even more so um just want to put that out there i just really think it's important at a time like this thank you thank you so we do our next two work sessions our schedule to talk about public safety i know thursday we have a work session at 2 which will be by via zoom and we'll be talking about the rti report and other issues i would also like to see if we can invite the district attorney at a work session and maybe the supervisor of judges because you know one thing that we have seen is the number of guns and i'm not talking about new gun legislation but what can we do to make sure that our current gun laws that are on the books are really be being treated as um as strongly as they can we've talked about cash bail reform but that is for kind of low level writing a bad check something like that it shouldn't be about somebody who goes out and commits a crime with a gun who is a crime against another person and i would like us to have a conversation with the d.a and the judges on what they look look for when it comes to bail because the young man who who shot the woman at the speedway had been had been arrested before on gun charges and i would like to have that broader discussion because it isn't all about the police no um you know gpd does a great job i'm not sure what i call it the solve rate i'm not sure what it is right now but i know it's above the national average they can bring people to the courthouse you know it's up to the da's and the judges to take it from there so i would like to just have a broader conversation that includes them as well because i think it's really important with the proliferation of guns that we make sure that when they're used in the um in a crime that they are held as responsible as we can do it yeah so can we also talk about that work session i think i mentioned um to you around how we make sure those directives that already in place um can't change just willy-nilly we can if we can't create a ordinance around it how we can ensure that the policies we do have in place um the changes that have been made sure um can stay in effect as well yes um to in addition to right um including those people because they are important right but they need to know that we have made some efforts to change certain um things that you know policies and procedures sure police policies so um i also want to say that we are about five weeks away from the folk festival which is really hard to believe which means we're probably about three and a half weeks away or less from the windham which is another huge event the pga will be allowing spectators this year about 15 000 per day but the folk festival this year falls on the 10th 11th and 12th of september and this will be the 20th anniversary of september 11th and the fire department will be doing their annual stair climb um i don't believe we did it last year because of covid so this is an important year and i've asked staff and the people who are running the the folk festival amy and her staff if we could do something special on 911 maybe down at the south end of elm street and spoken with chris and josh and a few others on how we can activate a space especially it's right near the sculpture that jim gallucci did which is a 911 sculpture and holds some of the steel that was in the um in the world trade centers so i think this is a great opportunity for us to appreciate all of our first responders police fire ems and 9-1-1 so i believe that for that saturday we're going to look at expanding the footprint a little bit and bringing some entertainment downtown where we can um recognize the day for the day that it is it's hard to believe that 20 years there are a lot of children who have been born in the last 20 years who are living in a post-9 11 um universe and even my daughter who is 20 um was nine months old when this happened and really has no idea of the before and after so i think because of the significance of that date falling in the folk festival that we need to recognize it by doing something special so um put the folk festival on your calendar 10th 11th and 12th and then um the windham is coming up shortly as well and pride is on the 16th yes and um so that is going to be a big the 17th it's that sunday it's a sunday okay so that sunday in september will be pride as well we've got a lot of big events coming up um and we want to do them safely i hope that everybody is getting vaccinated we have been vaccinated up here we see that the variant is rising we want to make sure that we continue to operate in a safe manner i know that social distancing will be hard at those events so um you know people who are comfortable wearing a mask i think we should encourage that um it shouldn't be scoffed upon when somebody is wearing a mask and i hope that people will get vaccinated because that is strong against the variants as well especially young people it's really negatively affecting young people yes so council comments mrs hightower um thank you madam mayor um two things that i want to talk about um quickly i want to address um what the young man spoke about earlier tonight on the step plan and i do support the step plan because of the things not only he talked about but others i've talked to um and i talked to an employee that is in one of our departments and she did complete the survey and she wanted a step plan because of uh some of the inequities that she's seen but some of the things that he spoke to tonight even and so i i just also want to applaud field ops and some of the guys in the field for doing the work they do it is some of the nastiest work ever um and we've got them out there and they should be earning uh a good wage um and so i i i have to say that i support uh the step plan because i think a lot of times they have been treated i think very unfairly um however we expect them to pick up garbage not only that folks is old nasty furniture you know and if you don't believe it look at what happened when covet came and we stopped doing yard waste we got some nasty emails from privileged folk who said i'm home now pick up my yard waste i mean and so these folk go out day after day and you know pick up old sofas mattresses with bed bugs in them and so no and so we need to be very cognizant of that that's why i say to you all why yes police advise public safety defolk of public safety too and um i don't know where we are with looking at their pay but i would like to go back and look at it and see if in fact if their pay is lower than the four other cities in north carolina we need to stop once again you know there needs to be equity um and so i hope we will do the uh employee step plan um because i think um we need to hear what they are saying um to us as well and they've been asking for this for quite a while the second thing is i want to address um there is there was an executive order and i want to address it um that was signed at the beginning of the year by um the newly installed president executive order 13 985 it is advancing racial equity and support for underserved communities through the federal government and i would like for us to support this i'd like to read it to the record maybe make an official support of it because it's a precursor to how we can also disperse uh federal funds that come through the american rescue plan and in the american rescue plan if you know there is a statute piece that says that um it is to support minority led non-profits as well as minority-led small businesses and because of this executive order that is a basis for support um and so what i want to read this snippet of a paragraph and i sent it to my council members today i hope you all will take a moment to read it's been out there since january 20th of 2021 but it says by the power vested in me as president of the united states of america it is hereby ordered section one policy opportunity is the bedrock of american democracy and our diversity is one of the country's strength but for many the american dream remains out of reach entrenched disparities in our laws and public policies and in the public and private institutions have often denied that equal opportunity to individuals and communities while a historic moment has highlighted the unbearable human costs of systemic racism our nation deserves an ambitious whole government equity agenda that matches the scale of opportunities and challenges that we face it is therefore the policy of my administration speaking of the president threat through the federal government should pursue a comprehensive approach to advancing equity for all including people of color executive departments and agencies must recognize and work to address in their policies and programs that serve as barriers to equal opportunity each agency must assess whether and to what extent its programs and policies perpetuate systemic barriers to opportunities and benefits for people of color and i think it aligns with what we want our city to represent fairness for all that's why we have a inclusion office now uh as you know i've been talking mwbe so long uh i guess uh the letters are just about faded off the page they tired of me talking about it but i just think that this executive order really upholds the standards by which we must operate and so tonight i'm just wanting to have it as part of an official council record that greensboro is one who believes in the principles and that the president of the united states even feels that there have been underserved communities that need to have a leg up the rescue plan can do that in some uh sense of the word and i hope we will do that i think mayor is what you talked about doing the million dollars and i said let's do five million yeah because i think five million we've really got to say uh to the community how we invest we got to invest in attitude of gratitude and i am queen and even the young lady stood here tonight um and i think this is one of the ways that we must uphold and do that so so sharon i didn't get that email but i know that you you didn't do it on purpose but so mary kay just forwarded it to me you know what come on yeah i think we need to take a look at it and you know since um you know that could serve as a guiding principle on how to distribute the arp funds but we we need to take a look at it and we can um you know and certainly it should be on the arp page on our website i think um you know i know that we still have the simulator up maybe if we can do a link to this as well um dr wells well we were talking about the events we can't forget the national nightlife's coming up too that's right uh and i i want to um [Music] bring to your attention to other events that are coming on saturday the um it's called christmas in july 2021 sponsored by svr c r our tc incorporated it's a group that works with offenders that come back to the community and they help them to to get acclimated that's going to be at jc park and shelter number seven on saturday from uh 10 to 2 and i think our mayor is going to be bringing greetings at that event so you're supposed to sign or send let them know you're coming yeah i think i'll be there around noon at noon yes so you can text to three three six three eight three seven three seven four three three six three eight three seven three seven four and they're they're using you to wear your mask if you have not been fascinated the other event we're trying to pull uh folks together and the summer is here and the uh racial equity institute is sponsoring um movies for the next six weeks every other week the the first movies will be on july 16th from 7 30 to 9 30. one will be over at the ymca in high point and the other is p at peel a recreation center so let's bring you chairs they'll have food and they will be watching um 13th so this is sponsored by the racial equity institute that's um so that's a free um night out and inviting folks and i'm really um impressed with um the um garl street community i went to their meeting last night they're reorganizing and councilwoman abuja waiter was on zoom but they are taking over their community again and i'm a strong proponent for neighborhoods strong neighborhoods make better cities and so they are reorganizing and getting together so i encourage all the other neighborhood groups some of them have gotten really um slack because of the pandemic and someone just gotten slack and stopped having meetings but i encourage you to get your community back together and your community watches back together because that will help us and i'd like for oh um mary kay went to to um honor a brother earl washington on saturday i couldn't be there and she filled in for me but earl washington is a mentor and advisor and counselor in our community and we honored the uh that was at the uh african-american uh muslim community that it was at the mohammed center on bessemer and mary kay was there and spoke for us so i appreciate it it was a really nice event dr wells they missed you they they spoke about how much they know they know and love you yeah i would have been there back had to go to a wedding now i would like for to um to see what can be done about um renaming this chamber to honor katie dorsett she passed away about a year ago now and she served in this council and she served over in the the county commissioner then she went on to serve in the north carolina senate and i would really like for you to look into how we could just change the name just of this chamber uh in her honor i'll just say that and i'll look to the city attorney i believe that's as simple as a motion uh if you all are prepared to discuss if you want to consider it we can bring it back more formally but if there's support for it we can move forward are you gonna make a motion goldie so um mrs hoffman yes yes um dr wells yes mrs johnson yes i'm a yes mrs abuse waiter yes this is thurm yes this is hightower and mr outling yeah that passes eight to zero i i believe that we had talked about it or maybe i talked about it with david i'm not sure which and that we we wanted to do something to really remember her whether you know it's a picture or something but a little bit more than than a name change so that you know naming the chambers meant something so maybe you can come back with what you vision that being i i would agree i'll i'll bring back something for you all to review but i'm thinking of something that would not only designate the name but also uh bear the likeness and and really demonstrate the the honoring of uh the the chambers so yeah absolutely okay thank you uh mr outling any comments uh no further comments this evening thank you and i'm sorry did i skip you for um commission appointments i i don't have any appointments this evening okay thank you um so that is brings us to district four mrs hoffman just a couple things you mentioned the folk festival of course but you know there's a we've added an element to the folk festival this year and that was not well we opened uh we created an opportunity for uh groups uh throughout the state uh to submit uh their um a desire uh to appear as a during the festival and so the good you know we we got all of these submissions they were narrowed down and uh there are four uh groups one of them from greensboro one from durham um and the general public can go online and watch their video and vote oh well so it is the it is the citizens of the city who are going to decide which of those four groups will make an appearance at the folk festival and there's some you know i think they get a recording um an opportunity and some other things that go with that so we've added that as uh that's great as a as another element to the folk festival uh the lorena giulian tango ensemble wow i have not heard them uh yes i'm looking forward to we'll go watch that um and the group from durham is dream root and then there's grand shores from pittsboro and jazz expressions feet from youngsville so um at any rate i'm glad that that would be a great weekend you know i the the last week or ten days as i've been out at various things it's it's like we've had this awakening in the city and it's wonderful to see um and i i think people are ready for that but again i think as the mayor mentioned i mean we are still living with cobit yes and uh and it's in its variance at this point so um you know i think there's still some caution and uh continue to encourage those people who have not been vaccinated at this point to do so um you know i met a friend uh last after the marty sheets uh event at the coliseum last friday i i met a friend at bourbon bowl and you know it was it was really hopping so i'm i'm it was it made me glad that we as a city you know participated in uh in that uh in that location and that business and it's so nice not to see used appliances sitting on the sidewalk in front of that space now uh and it was uh you know truly uh generational and uh multicultural in terms of the uh the people who were there friday night so great thank you um mrs thurm just a couple things um number one i'd like to thank um g dot hannah cockburn and also assistant city manager kim seoul for uh attending a meeting with some residents on aloe and hibbler streets that expressed some concerns and both departments just jumped right on it and got new signage and assistant city manager seoul has met with one of the problem companies that were out there and it's really making a difference and our residents really appreciated everybody jumping right on their concerns so thank you both for attending that meeting with me um also related to the department of transportation i'd like us to revisit the whole concept of speed hump speed bumps whatever um i know since i've gotten on city council i've heard greensboro department of transportation doesn't do speed humps well maybe we need to reconsider that and look at the background of that highpoint just started it i know one of the stories i've heard is that you know uh our first responders don't like speed humps well i'm guessing they don't in high point either but there are options from what i've seen based on like the width of the speed hump from left to right so that you narrow it down so that it does not impact ems vehicles and fire engines and that kind of thing but i just would like us to revisit it there's a huge demand in our community it's a huge issue um we talk all about time about vision zero and reducing vehicular deaths and i think that reducing speeding in some of these key areas and neighborhoods um you know on residential streets it's a huge issue um so i'd like to revisit that as a council please maybe have a work session is that what you're asking because i sent hannah the same um from high point i sent hannah the same where hop on installed um speed humps so she's supposed to been looking into that so maybe i know she was having a meeting with she told me she was having a meeting with her equivalent position in high point but i'd like to to get something on the calendar so that we can follow up with us because you know residents are are screaming for it it's needed um and i'd like to see what the options are thank you you brought something to mind we had a great um fun fourth on the third and i got a lot of really positive feedback on it the one little blemish was that there were cars that were towed um as we are um gearing up for the festival i think we're going into festival season can we make sure that the private lot owners and whoever else clearly mark that during the weekend during these festivals that it's no parking or you're going to get towed i know that we slack off on enforcement over the weekend and after hours but that seemed to be the only thing that left a bad taste in people's mouths and maybe we can talk to some of these um towing companies because i understand that a number of vehicles were were towed they weren't towed by us they weren't asked to be towed by us but um i think that people assume that when there is an empty lot and it is a weekend and there's a festival that they can park there so um i think we need to be very specific in our signage um especially moving up to the events that we have well i know there's a problematic towing company yeah very problematic i don't know if they're going to listen to anybody i gotcha yes you do yes you do so um i think that is the end of the meeting um oh mr city manager do you have any yeah thanks i did have one thing and um certainly appreciate you all continuing to support but we had a announcement today of an emerging workforce career center that will be located in downtown on behalf of guilford works the importance of that is continuing to prioritize youth employment and beyond youth employment certainly attaching them to careers so this center will serve as as a conduit for support in careers and youth employment it's also located in the same building as our parks and recreation administration who has youth services in the same building so there's some synergy there that we'll capitalize on i appreciate you all supporting that initiative this morning we'll keep you updated as we continue to develop that office our goal is to get that open here at the end of summer and be prepared for the coming year as mayor mentioned work sessions will include public safety over the next two meetings i just want to reiterate there is no greater issue to us in our office than public safety at this moment community issues require community solutions so we're continuing to ask the community to participate with us and working on those solutions and you all have spoken to that so i just wanted to mention those couple of things because i think it's important for the public to hear from us as well and the understanding that these are priority priorities to our office and we will continue to let our actions speak for us thank you city attorney i don't have anything for tonight okay do i have one motion to adjourn moved by mrs johnson seconded by dr wells all in favor say aye aye aye thank you we are adjourned