Good afternoon. Welcome to the January 4th meeting of the Phoenix City Council. Happy New Year. We'll begin with an invocation from Fire Chaplain Nick Puchi. Happy New Year everybody. I'd like to welcome you and invite you into pray if you desire. God, thank you for this new year and the opportunity to gather at this this afternoon to the first council meeting of the year. God, thank you for this great city where we are blessed to serve. I thank you, Father, for the blessings that are coming our way through the Super Bowl and for the opportunity to represent and shine. Please, Lord, be with our mayor, our council, and the leaders of this city. Please give them wisdom, discernment, courage, and strength to make the decisions that they must make. The issues and the needs that we face as a nation and a city are incredible. So my prayer or invitation is God please help. Galatians 6:9 is a scripture that I keep near and dear to my heart. And my prayer for our leaders and our employees. Let us not become weary in doing good. For at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Simply put, help us to stay the course one day at a time. Please bless this council meeting today. May it be productive. God, please protect our police officers and our firefighters as they protect and serve our communities. Amen. Thank you. Please remain standing for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. We will call to meeting the call to order the formal meeting of the Phoenix City Council. Will the clerk please call the role? Councilwoman Ansari here. Councilman Deisio. Council member Garcia here. Councilwoman Wardado here. Councilwoman O'Brien. Councilwoman Stark here. Councilman Wearing here. Vice Mayor Pastor here. Mayor Ggo here. Thank you so much for joining us today. Elsie Dwarte is here to provide interpretation. Elsie, will you introduce yourself? Thank you, mayor. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Elsie Dwarte. I'll be serving as the Spanish interpreter for today's city council former meeting. I will now take a moment and introduce myself to our Spanish speaking audience and review some guidelines. Municipal. Thank you, mayor. Thank you, Elsie. Will the city clerk please read the 24-hour paragraph? The titles of the following ordinance numbers on the agenda were available to the public at least 24 hours prior to this council meeting and therefore may be read by title or agenda item only. Ordinances number G7065 through7068 and S 49286 through 49320. Now I'll turn to our city attorney to explain the role of public comment. Thank you, mayor. Members of the public may speak for up to two minutes to comment on agenda items. Comments must be related to the agenda item and the action being considered by the council. General comments that go beyond the scope of the agenda item must be made in the citizen comment session at the end of the agenda. The city council and staff cannot discuss or comment on matters related to pending investigations, claims or litigation. The city code requires speakers to present their comments in a respectful and courteous manner. Profane language threats or personal attacks on members of the public, council members or staff are not allowed. Person who violates these rules will lose the opportunity to continue to speak. Thank you. We'll move to agenda item one, boards and commissions. Vice Mayor motion to approve mayor and city council boards and commissions nominations. Second. We have a motion and a second. Any comments? All those in favor, please say I. I. All oppose, nay. passes unanimously. We have several important uh swearing inscluding we will have just nominated the plan Phoenix 2025 leadership committee which is a a diverse group of talented citizens who will help us with our long range strategy for the city of Phoenix led by chairman Mostein who is serving for chair for the third time. We have a really prestigious group and we want to thank you for helping us and we look forward to developing a plan that will go to the voters. our vice mayor chaired it the last time it went and passed by a very high margin she said uh but we appreciate you helping us plan for the future of the fastest growing city in the country and your continued service. We are going to have two swearing in today. First we will swear in the boards and commission commissioners for the city of Phoenix and then we have a special swearing in for Judge Cynthia Serta as judge of the Phoenix Municipal Court which will follow immediately after the commissioners get to say hello to the council members. I state your name do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution and laws of the state of Arizona that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and defend them against all enemies, foreign and domestic. And that I will faithfully and impartially, discharge the duties of the office of the duties of according to the best of my ability. So help me God. Congratulations. Thank you for serving our community in such important roles. If you could go behind the dis, the council would like to thank you personally. to our public. Thank you again to our newly appointed boards and commission members. And now we are excited to move to our judicial swearing in. So thank you to Judge Serta. Will you please raise your right hand? I state your name. I, Cynthia Cerna, do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution and laws of the state of Arizona. and the Constitution and laws of the State of Arizona that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and defend them against all enemies, foreign and domestic. and defend them against all enemies, foreign and domestic. that I will faithfully and impartially That I will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of the office of judge of municipal court that I will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of the office of the judge of Phoenix Municipal Court. According to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability. So help me God. So help me God. Congratulations and thank you for helping us have a more just city. Thank you all. Congratulations to Judge Jerta. Thank you for your continued service to our city. We next move to the liquor license portion of our agenda. The city of Phoenix provides an uh holds an advisory role to the state of Arizona on liquor licenses. Vice Mayor, do we have a motion? Motion to approve items 3 through 18. Second. We have a motion and a second. Any comments? All those in favor, please say I. I. Any oppose? Nay. Passes unanimously. City clerk, are we ready for ordinances, resolutions, new business, planning, and zoning? Yes mayor. Vice Mayor, do we have a motion? Motion to approve items 19- 69 except the following. Items 20, 22, 23, 24, 28, 46, 47, 51, 60, and 69. Noting that item 31 has an emergency clause, item 48 is withdrawn and excluding these items for virtual public comment, items 47 and 69. And can the clerk confirm if there are any other items that should be excluded for in-person public comment? Vice Mayor, no other items need to be excluded at this time. Thank you. Thank you. Second. We have a motion and a second. Any corrections? Roll call. I'm sorry. Yes. Deisio. Yes. Garcia. Garcia. Ward Stark. Yes. Wearing. Yes. Pastor. Yes. GGO. Yes. Passes 70. We have four items that have been removed from the payment ordinance. U would anyone like I could take them all at once or one by one. All right, perfect. We'll begin with item 20. Vice Mayor move item 20. Second. We have a motion, a second. Comments? Roll call. I'm sorry. Yes. Deisio, no. Garcia, yes. Stark, yes. Wearing, no. Pastor, yes. GGO, yes. Passes 52. Item 22 is homebuilders marketing will help us with data on around housing issues and to promote economic development. Vice Mayor, move item 22. Second. We have a motion and a second. Comments. Roll call. I'm sorry. Yes. Deisio, no. Garcia. Wardado, yes. Stark, yes. Wearing, yes. Pastor, yes. GGO, yes. Passes 61. Item 23, partnership with Partnership for Economic Innovation. Vice Mayor move item 23. Second. Motion a second. An important partnership to help us with our smart region activities. Comments. Roll call. I'm sorry. Yes. Deisio. Garcia. Ward. Yes. Stark. Yes. Wearing. Yes. Pastor. Yes. GGO. Yes. passes 61. Item 24, blue media. Vice Mayor, move item 24. Second. We have a motion and a second. This is helping us with our placemaking around the Super Bowl and Hance Park. Roll call. I'm sorry. Yes. Deisio, no. Garcia, yes. O'Brien, sorry. Stark, yes. Wearing no. Pastor, yes. GGO, yes. Passes 52. Wonderful. Next, we go to item 28, selection of a vice mayor. Counciloman Gordado. Yes, Mayor. I would like to nominate um Council Member Sisier for vice mayor. Motion in a second. Comments. Roll call. I'm sorry. No. Deisio Garcia. No. Yes. O'Brien. Sorry. Stark. No. Wearing. Yes. Pastor. I'd like to explain my comments. I committed to this a year ago, so I am a yes. GGO. No. Bails four to four. I'd like to make Councilwoman Stark. I would like to nominate Yasmine. I'm sorry. Counciloman or Vice Mayor. Second. A motion and a second. Any comments? Roll call. I'm sorry. Yes. Deisio. Garcia. Yes. Yes. Stark. Yes. Wearing. No. Pastor. Yes. GGO. Yes. Passes 62. Wonderful. We want to thank Vice Mayor Pastor for her service as vice mayor. We she will continue to serve as vice mayor for the remainder of this meeting and we appreciate her commitment to Phoenix and passion for the city. Want to congratulate Councilwoman Ansari as her as our incoming vice mayor. [applause] Thank you so much. I want to thank Councilwoman Stark for her nomination and uh Vice Mayor Pastor for the second and everyone else who supported me um as well as Mayor Ggo. Phoenix is obviously facing a multitude of crises, homelessness, affordable housing, hiring and retention from our police department to public works. And as vice mayor, I'm committed to working with every single one of my colleagues to prioritize these issues and make 2023 our most productive year yet. We also have a lot of innovative and exciting projects on the horizon. We're updating our climate action plan this year. The Super Bowl is coming to town. The historic $500 million general obligation bond will be heading to voters and every corner of our city will be seeing new investments in their neighborhoods. So, thank you again to all of my colleagues. We have tough but important uh work ahead of us and I'm very excited. Thank you so much. Thank you and congratulations. We next go to item 46 and I will turn to council member Garcia for a motion. Motion to approve item 46. Second motion. We have a motion and a second and council member Garcia comments. Thank you, mayor. um the four corners uh area and the lot um you know been doing a lot of work and it's unfortunately been empty for the last 30 years. Uh while we're really close and had a great community process to finally getting an RFP and developing the area, uh we wanted to make sure that we were um you know get getting the area activated. Um this market will support South Phoenix farmers and being able to give them a place to sell directly to community. And we are hoping that activating this lot with the farmers market will have the community excited about what's to come and continue to participate in what we develop. Roll call. I'm sorry. Yes. Deisio. Garcia. Yes. Yes. Stark. Yes. Wearing. Yes. Pastor. Yes. GGO. Yes. Passes 8 Z. We next move to item 47, a development agreement with Vestar. And I'll turn to Councilwoman Ensari for a motion and comments. Thank you. Uh move, first of all, move to approve item 47. Second. Thank you. Um I just wanted to share a few comments on this. I am very excited to start the new year with new and muchneeded investments in Lavine. my office, Council Member Garcia, Chris Mackey, her entire economic development team, and Vestar were able to provide um the preview of this $130 million, $400,000 square foot retail and mixeduse project at a community meeting last month. Constituents are thrilled. Vestar is the group that brought um Desert Ridge Marketplace to Councilman Wearings District and Tempe Marketplace to Tempee. They are an award-winning uh commercial developer who have um who are going to build a premier dining and retail destination at 59th Avenue in Dobbins Road. The Lavine Town Center is expected to open to the public in 2025. It will be home to unique shops and restaurants and entertainment user, the revitalization of a 100-year-old Hudson farmhouse, and they host hundreds of events, hundreds of community events per year. I hosted a restaurant tour uh bus tour in 2022 and let me tell you how excited some of our local restaurant tours were when they saw that historic farmhouse. So, I know there's a couple of people looking at it. Um, and we want to make sure we get the best possible unique user in that space. Vestar is also committed to designing this development with Lavine's agricultural history in mind, rustic architecture, and incorporate public gathering spaces that everyone can enjoy. This is just one of the major developments coming along the 202 that residents have been asking for. I know our mayor is an expert and has been advocating for this area since she was a council woman. And I again want to thank Chris and her entire team for delivering on promises that we have been making to Lavine for quite some time now. Very excited uh and excited to see this pass. Thank you. Thank you. I am looking very much forward to supporting this item. We have been meeting with the and working with the Lavine community and it is just exciting to see some of the amenities that they have long desired come in and Vestar has a a great record of working with us and neighboring communities. We do have one member of the community to testify and so we will go to the virtual public comment with Dan Penton. Good afternoon. Thank you Madame Mayor and members of the council. Um, I just want to commend this city and councilwoman and vice mayor, sorry, vice mayor Ansari on bringing such a fantastic development to Lavine. I've been advocating for this particular piece of this parcel for about five years and and its preservation um due to its significance in the community and to hear that it's going to be in the in such great hands is is amazing. So, we couldn't ask for anything better. Um, thank you for all your hard work and bringing this to the community and I appreciate it. Thank you very much. Thank you. Additional comments. Roll call. I'm sorry. Yes, Garcia. Yes. And if I could give a quick comment Mayor please. Um, I'm so thankful for uh for this coming to Lavine. I know it's very needed not only to bring all the amenities that folks have been asking for, people like Dan Penn and others who've been working really hard, but also infrastructure that's going to come to the area. So really excited to support this and I'm a yes. Ward, yes. Stark. Yes. And I hope you get a flower child because I'll come down and have lunch with you. [laughter] Wearing. Uh yes. Pastor, yes. GGO. Yes. Passes 8 Z. Woohoo. Item 51 is aviation event equipment rental and services contract. Do we have a motion? I move item 51. Second. Second. [laughter] Any comments? Roll call. I'm sorry. Yes. Deisio. Garcia. Yes. Word. Yes. Stark. Yes. Wearing. Yes. Pastor. Yes. GGO. Yes. Passes 71. Item 60 is water conservation plumbing fixture replacement program. Vice Mayor. Move item 60. Second. This is an exciting one that will let us move forward with installing water conservation equipment including on city property. In a previous in the omnibus motion, we approved buying the fixtures and this will let us pay for them and it be very important. Many of our private sector partners are leading on EPA water sense programs and this will help us do our part at the city of Phoenix. Our residents are looking for us to lead on water conservation and we I look forward to supporting this one. Additional comments. Roll call. I'm sorry. Yes Deisio. Garcia, yes. Yes. Stark, yes. Wearing, yes. Pastor, yes. GGO, yes. Passes 8 Z. Woohoo. Another one. Let's keep going. [laughter] We next move to our I believe final item before public comment. We are in the planning and zoning portion of our agenda. Item 69 is in district 2, the souththeast corner of 57th Street and Shea Boulevard. We will begin with a staff report and welcome our deputy city manager, Alan Stevenson, to introduce the team. Thank you, mayor, members of council. Uh, this item is a resoning request at uh, as you stated, the southeast corner of 57th Street and Sha Boulevard. It was appealed uh, by some neighborhood community members and uh, Mr. Josh Bed Nerk, the acting assistant director of the planning development department will make the staff presentation for us. Thank you, Alan. Mayor and members of the council, the area you have before you is a snapshot of the subject property. As Alan said, 50 it's near 56th Street in Shea Boulevard. The request is to residential RO office zoning. Here's the surrounding zoning of the site. Uh to the north is RE35 which is a residential district and to the east, west, and south is RE43 which is another residential district. Uh immediately to the north is Shade Boulevard which is a arterial street. Here's a snapshot of the proposed site plan. Again, a an office building with a garage in the rear and then landscaping along both 57th and Shea Boulevard. Here's some renderings of the project. Uh there are several stipulations included that require significant landscaping along Shea and along 57th Street. And there's a stipulation that it remain 23 maximum 23 feet in height and one story. The Paradise Valley Village Planning Committee heard this request on November 7th and recommended approval uh by a 9 to5 vote. The planning commission heard this request on December 1st and recommended approval per the staff uh memo by an 8 to1 vote. Staff recommends approval per the January 4th memo from the PDD assistant director and adoption of the related ordinance. I will note for the record that that uh memo from me uh adds additional stipulations regarding signage and clarifies setback and layout requirements to give the applicant some additional flexibility to continue to work with the neighborhood. Mayor, that concludes our presentation. Happy to answer any questions. Thank you so much. Any questions? Wonderful. We will then um open the public hearing. We will have two presentations which can be up to 10 minutes in time. We'll begin with the applicant who will have 10 minutes and have the opportunity to reserve a few minutes at the end uh to reply and then we will go to the opposition. I understand that um Ron will be speaking first. If Ron uses the whole 10 minutes that is fine. If he turns it over to additional speakers that is also fine. And again, people do not need to use the entire time. Uh we will turn it over to Jason Morris on behalf of the applicant. Thank you very much, Mayor Council. Uh on behalf of the applicant, Regal American Homes, Jason Morris with the Morris. I appreciate it. I appreciate the time and the opportunity. Th this case in terms of giving a little bit of background, this case from a land use perspective is fairly straightforward. It's why we stand before you with staff support as well as the village and planning commission uh supporting this case. But in operation and in change, it becomes a more difficult case. And understandably, there's concern from the neighborhood, but there's also support from the neighborhood. Uh, I I would like to point out that in 1956 when Dwight Eisenhower was president and there were around a million people in the entire state of Arizona, this property was platted for residential use and it made sense. She Boulevard had two lanes. It did not have the type and character of traffic that we see today. But there is a solution for that because as we know there now over 7 million people in this state and the case before you is a result of that growth and the vitality of this area as we look at this area in the slide. Uh a couple of things worth noting. First the the site itself because it was platted so long ago mayor and council actually is part of Shea Boulevard. both the the sidewalk, the landscaping, and the l some of the lanes of travel are actually within the platted lot that we're discussing today. It is right up against Shea Boulevard and in fact into Shea Boulevard. As you look at the area as a whole, it's unique in that these older lots aren't protected by a frontage road, which is what we see further to the east and also to the west that separates Shea Boulevard from the the homes and the other utilities in that area. You also note that there is a series of LLC's that own properties along Shea Boulevard, which is an indication of nonowner occupied homes, rental homes, group homes, other uses. In fact, there are three group homes just on this block of 57th Street, which fortunately are wellrun and wellreceived by the neighborhood. Across the street, you have homes adjacent to the Orange Tree Golf Course that have a completely different shape and spectre and they're buffered because they are so deep and have a golf course on their other side. So, what do we have here? Here we have a we don't have that frontage road. We don't have the other protections. and said, "We have a lot that is subject to over 50,000 trips per day on Shea Boulevard and not an ideal single family residence." And we know that because we've seen recently other RO cases approved by this council along Shea Boulevard for good reason because they become that buffer to the neighborhood. So, as we look at what happens in this instance, and Sha Boulevard isn't the only place within the city of Phoenix, as we know, all of you have arterials in your district that have changed over the decades. The traffic has changed, the character of the area has changed, but there are still homes or lots along those arterials. So, the city of Phoenix in its wisdom came up with a property designation, an RORO, a residential office. And if you look at the details of what the purpose and intent of the residential office is, it dictates that this becomes a buffer. Let's come up with a use that buffers a successful, productive neighborhood from the traffic of the arterial. And that's exactly why staff is supporting this. It's why we have requested this use. If you look at the attributes of the RO criteria, virtually every one of them are met by this application. In terms of the application itself and what's being shown, it's a residential scale building. It does act as a buffer. It's incredibly well landscaped. I can tell you there have been numerous stipulations added, numerous changes made as a result of input from both the village and the planning commission. but more importantly from the neighborhood itself doesn't mean we have unonymity of support but we have a better project as a result of that. I'm going to pause there. I'd like to reserve any additional time I have and would be happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Not seeing any questions. Appreciate that. Uh we will welcome Ron up next. I'm Brendan Franks. Ron is actually across the street handling attorney matters. He's a uh public defender over there. Um so I get my full 10 minutes. Is that right, Mayor? Absolutely. And and and um for those of he uh is the appellant, so would we would often expect the appellant to be the one speaking. Yes. I'll be reading off my phone, so pardon me if I keep looking down and then looking up at the council. So, I appreciate your guys' time. I'm going to go over three main points here, three main points. The first point will be um the applicant attorneys and the applicants false statements that have been made to the village planning committee and the planning commission. [sighs] The second will be a clear ethics violation that was committed by a village planning committee member. And the third was the leadership of the current village Paradise Valley Village uh committee as of now. So, the first one, Jason Morris stated, "There's never been a single family home that was developed here at the site." When in fact, just three years before, per Zillow, it said kids paradise, full acre backyard oasis. That's the first misstatement that was made. Number two, after concerns were repeatedly voiced over a 4600 square foot garage, applicant's attorney stated, "I cannot be more viferous about my absolute perplexed nature about that number." Well, on September 12th, 2022, submitted to the VPC was a 26car garage. Number three, applicant's attorney stated on behalf of his client that the RO buffer into the neighborhood would be beneficial to the surrounding area. In fact, there is not a single buffering commercial use. All are R43 and R35. Number four, many of the suggested turns U-turns are illegal. Yet, the applicant's attorney said, "You can safely make nine different U-turns." However, per the City of Phoenix guidelines to ensure travelers have ample swing space to catch up with traffic speed after completing a U-turn. Without this information, it endangers drivers on Shea Boulevard. Number five, applicants attorney also stated that adding a few more cars to Shay claimed to have a trip generation study showing zero trips when in fact we the PC the VPC have never received any reports any traffic reports. Seven applicants attorney stated individuals who sign this petition of support live in close proximity. After calculating the math, everyone that's due to speak or signed in favor of this petition lives an average of 50 minutes away, 2.56 miles, rendering that halfmile radius useless. And then I'll close with this uh with this the first point. Um, and this one's a tough one. Um, although not illegal, minors signatures were used in this petition to gain support. Minors were used. I'll let that one sink in. Next, VPC member Anna Sepic. She was just nominated or put on the VPC board. The ink was just drying on this application when she came forth. The reason she's in question and why we have this whole ethics question is she represents the property directly next door to said property that we're that they are trying to reszone. She's the broker representing the property next door. Per the Phoenix guidelines handbook, the one that Josh showed me, you must recuse yourself from any vote where you have an interest under 600 ft. Guess how far her property she was marketing. 304 feet. She didn't recuse herself. Why? To line her own pockets. Surprise, surprise. the week of the planning commission hearing, her property goes under contract with the knowledge that this will be approved. I'll close with the last one. Pardon me while I get it. Leadership is a major problem. The chairman, the new elected chairman, appointed chairman of the village planning committee is Alex Papovic. Upon hearing his testimony and browbeating of the village planning committee, we as a neighborhood hired a private investigator because something didn't smell right. Well, guess what? We were right. He's the chairman. He's a volunteer chairman and makes recommendations to everyone. Yet, in 2021, he declared bankruptcy. Well, usually that's not a big deal. We dug a little deeper. Turns out Mr. Papovich owes 855,000 to the Internal Revenue Service. We have a chairman of a village planning committee that owes money to the IRS and he's in a leadership position. He's making recommendations. He's a volunteer. That's a head shaker. We scroll down a little bit further in the bankruptcy filing and shocker, he owes 88,000 to the great state of Arizona. So here we have three distinct individuals that make false statements, have a conflict of interest, and that owe the tax man and have pushed this thing through all the way here. We ask you to vote this down. Thank you. Thank you. That um we will then go to people who are registered to speak. You have two minutes and then we'll come back to the applicant if there is a a comment there. We'll begin with Richard Pesquali followed by Alex Hayes. Both in the council chambers and just to confirm, Ron is not here. Is that right? Ron is here. That's Ron. All right. So, we will go Richard, Alex, and then Ron. Thank you. I live at 10210 North 57th Street, which is just five houses away from the development in question. You um heard about the support from individuals. You saw letters from of support, but none of those individuals live on 57th Street. Everyone on 57th Street is opposed as well as people everyone in a subdivision, including 58th Street, 56th. Um the reason for the opposition is again we're concerned about this neighborhood becoming commercialized and I've spoken against it in um the initial VPC meeting as well as the planning meeting um the planning commission but I've said that if there can be two of the stipulations that VPC insisted on the eight stipulations returned that were uh stricken by the planners that I would acquies to this change. I understand that the council has restored one of those supervisions on signage and we appreciate uh Councilman Wearing or others that helped make that happen. The other is about the hours of operation. Regrettably, even though RORO is right in neighborhoods, there's nothing limiting ours specifically for in the uh ordinance 620. So, what we've said because the the um buildings being proposed, the home is residential in character and size, but the other building is not. It's four times as great in size as any other garage in the neighborhood. It uh was originally describes a showplace for the collector cars of the owner and then they later decided to scale back to just four cars, but again it looks purposed for an event facility where they would bring in clients uh from time to time into our residential neighborhood and evenings and weekends. We think that's wholly inappropriate. So again, uh we would ask that that provision be restored. I thank you very much. Thanks for your support. Thank you. And I understand Alex is actually registered only to speak if necessary, but is in support of the project, so he does not need to speak. And so we will go to Ron next. And then after Ron, we will go to virtual public comment with Matthew Carloski. Thank you, council members, for allowing me to speak today. Um, my name is Ron De Bridgeta. Um, I have been an an attorney for 31 years now. Uh, 17 of those years I was a prosecutor, 12 of which here in Maricopa County, right across the street. Um, I am good friends with the Franks family. And when they started telling me about this situation, um, they asked me to to take a look at what they had found out. What they had found out was exactly what Mr. Franks just described to you earlier. And I want to give my perspective um as a prosecutor. Um one of my last assignments with county attorney's office was I was chief of the fraud and identity theft bureau. I was also uh the head of the internet crimes against children task force for all of Arizona. But in in handling a number of white collar cases, there is always situations where we look for motives and reasons why. What gives me pause when I hear this story and this saga of how this came to be and I don't purport to be a an expert in planning and zoning and those sort of things but the things that give me pause I would submit to you ladies and gentlemen should give you pause as well by the way this whole thing has come before you today specifically when I heard about the vote with the village planning committee and how there was multiple votes and how those votes were later steered and you look at the person who people who were steering those votes. Again, this should give you a great deal of pause. Um, as attorneys, we have to recuse ourselves from situations that even have the appearance of impropriy, let alone a direct conflict. Just an appearance or risk of a conflict should cause us to recuse ourselves. And I do believe that's what should have happened here. um not just based on your folks handbook but on the entire situation. So for those reasons, the entirety of the way this has come before you today, uh which I submit it should not have, I would ask the council members to give this a real hard look as to how we got to this point today. Thank you. Thank you. We'll next go to virtual public comment with Matthew, followed by Lisa Carloski. Uh thank you members of the council, mayor for allowing me to speak on this matter. It's very um near and dear to the uh uh members of the neighborhood. We've been dealing with this situation essentially since August and I can tell you unequivocably and agreement with uh Mr. Pascali that there's no one on 57th or 58th Street who support this. We had a petition collected in order to demonstrate that a counter petition was collected by Mr. Morris of residents as far field as Bell as far south as Morning Glory. Uh most of which were friends or colleagues uh business associates of the applicant making that petition look totally fake. Unfortunately, it's been mischaracterized that this lot is not usable as a primary residence because it's on the corner of Shay. That is not true. Many people live on Shay and many people have built homes on Sheay. It is busy, but t making a reszoning uh uh maneuver to make it into an office um will create a driveway um that will empty up uh from the property onto Sheay. That driveway through a cinder wall, which is high, will act as a blind driveway for motorists coming down Sheay. Uh, Sheay is already a high-speed boulevard as it is, and we don't need a blind driveway to add danger either to the walkers who walk along the sidewalk or the motorists that come down Sha from 56 where there's a traffic light or people simply turning onto 57th. The blind driveway there adds an enormous amount of danger. And I have to please stress I have to stress that a traffic impact study, a safety study was never done either by the applicant or by the city. Supposedly something was done by streets, but we don't have an answer as to what kind of danger this would propose. The reasoning causes the driveway to be moved from 57th to Shay, and that blind driveway will be a disaster. We do not need that type of dangerous restructuring of the driveway. Uh there's no greater good that is served to the community by this one resident changing the resoning. It's not as if it's a mountainside fitness or an emergency room being built a half a mile away. In our neighborhood, this serves no greater purp. Is Lisa with you at the same location? We don't have her registered separately, but I thought since it was the same last name, she might be with you. Yes. Uh that's my wife. She seated me the minutes if that's okay with you. We uh are not allowing donation of time, but if she'd like to testify, we'd be happy to hear from her. No, she's opposed and she'll just she's not present at the moment. Okay. Well, thank you for your both for and we will note her opposition. We'll next go to a different Lisa, Lisa Ericson, followed by Bimal Merchant. Hello. Uh are you able to hear me? Yes, we can. All right. this uh thank you so much council members for your time. Um we are approximate residents two blocks from this property. We've lived uh in this area for 31 years. Our family has stood in opposition to this request from its inception. While we're very very appreciative of the city's efforts to create an effective solution to this new zoning, we're concerned with the process that has occurred for the application. primarily as Matt has mentioned regarding the safety issues that have not yet been addressed relating to the driveway fronting onto Shay of the property. The president this request would create for commercialization of additional properties on market right now along Sha in our neighborhood and an apparent conflict of interest with one of the VPC members who became the swing vote approving this application in the VPC. We would like to request at least a remand of this application back to the VPC to correct this extremely inappropriate procedural issue with anesthetic recused from that hearing if not an outright disapproval of the application. Thank you for your consideration. Thank you. Mr. Merchant is next, followed by Yuri Shemesh. Yes. Uh thank you council members and uh mayor for allowing allowing me to speak. Um, I [clears throat] live on uh the corner of uh 57th Street in Mountain View uh at 9809 North uh 57th Street. Uh we moved in uh 2019. Uh my family moved there. I have two young girls. Uh uh and you know, the the concern that we have uh is is primarily, you know, safety and overall feel of the neighborhood itself. Um, as you've heard from many uh of our of of my neighbors, uh there's the the the opposition here is real opposition, unlike the artificial support that you're going to hear. This is the the the the residents that live on 57th, 56th, and 58th are strongly vehemently opposed to this. this directly affects us, our the safety of our families and and our our our livelihood. Um, as the as some of the other uh neighbors have spoken to the the safety has not been fully investigated. Um, you know, the this Sheay as we know is a is uh is is a major artery. Uh, we don't need to make it any any more dangerous. And this is exactly what by by allowing the applicant's you know proposal to move forward that's exactly what would happen here. Uh the village planning committee I think you know that's been spoken to uh at at length. But I'll just I just want to make a point to the council that Miss Sepic as uh Mr. Frank's mentioned is a realtor and and is the realtor for the property located at 56th Street in Sheay. um she should have recused herself, but instead what she did was after two 77 votes, she she persuaded, you know, peop uh uh committee members that were on the VPC that were deadlocked to change their vote and eventually they did after four uh respective uh uh votes. So again, as my as my neighbors have said, we really would uh we're really requesting that the the council remand um back to the VPC. Thank you. AR is next, followed by Christy Ryan. Yes. Can you hear me? We can. You can. Okay. My name is Yuri Shamesh. I live in 8731 North 67th Street. I'm uh very much for the project. I think that those kind of project make Paris Valley much nicer. I think that is in certain uh street like she and Scottsdale they should be a buffer and I think that it would enhance the the the area there. Um I would just like to say something about safety. I mean there is a lot of building like this that back to neighborhood and there is never safety issue. More than this from what I understand there is so much that the developer want to do to um make sure that the neighborhood are going to be uh satisfied. So I'm very much uh for the project. I think it's going to be a very good project as I said and I live in Paradise Valley for 35 years. I would I saw beautiful stuff happening in Paradise Valley and I I I guarantee you this is going to be a pretty scene. Thank you. Thank you. Christie is next followed by the Mud family. Tim Mud. Thank you. Thank you for allowing me to speak. Um, your honor and uh councel, I um actually own three homes near this area. I'm not on 57th Street as some of the neighbors have commented that people that don't live on 57th Street aren't really real, you know, real people with real opinions. So, I'm kind of offended by that. Um, I have a home that's very close to this. Um, and then two others that are pretty close. Um, all within, I don't know, 30, 45 seconds by car. I have been a resident of Paradise Valley for 22 years and I live in one of the three homes I own and I rent out the other two. I strongly believe in this entire area. I can't imagine a better project for this parcel than this lovely residential office building that's a beautiful looking facility planned. The renderings are gorgeous and are going to be an upgrade to that neighborhood on 57th Street. quite honestly, um, this is going to be a nice upgrade for them as far as aesthetics and that there's opposition to a fourc car garage. I'm I don't understand that at all. Um, but you know, the bottom line is several people have mentioned traffic and whatnot. Honestly, there's 50,000 cars a day going by this location. Are you kidding me? like another two or three, four a day. It's not going to make or break this area is not going to make or break the street. Um I just think that I I can't imagine what else is going to be built there. Is it going to be a B VBO parties whatnot? I don't know. I think this is an exact fit that this Phoenix um city council would want for something citing Sha Boulevard. Thank you so much for allowing me to speak. Thank you. Tim is next, followed by David Martin. You hear me? We can. First of all, thank you for uh allowing me to speak today. Uh just want to say that I'm in support of the project. I think uh one the concerns of the neighborhood while I appreciate them I disagree um the there's plenty of streets um and also businesses that pull on the Shay every day and there and there has not been a problem. Secondly, I think I we couldn't find a better uh opportunity for Regal for Regal America to have the building there because Paradise Valley are his customers and by doing so he is going to keep that building pristine and also in my view spend too much money but good for the neighborhood. And I think that moving forward is the best thing for the area and trying to find somebody to fit this mix is going to be difficult. the passing of it and finding the other people or commercial going down. I think we set precedent this way and moving forward can only improve by his standard of the building and the vegetation and the the changes he's made to make sure the neighborhood is safe and also meets their requirements. Thank you for your time. Thank you. David is next, followed by Joe Cobburn. David Martin. Hello. Can you hear me? Yes. Hi. Can you hear me? Okay, great. Um, just calling on the phone. Okay. I'm in full support of this. Um, I've been on a couple of calls. The whole thing is uh to me quite ridiculous. I mean, the it's not a nuclear power plant that's going into the corner here. I am in full agreement of all the arguments for pro naturally. Um but I want to point out the councilman that has been talking here in opposition today just like to his his partner. They're pulling strong on arguments um such as traffic. I mean they're talking about traffic as one of the other ladies mentioned there's so many cars that go down there a day. We're talking about residential space um of maybe three or four more cars. If it's an Airbnb, no matter what it is, it's not going to really make any difference. They're coming up with nonsense about U-turns. in the previous calls they tal talked about making illegal U-turns, you know, as if it's a a pro. Um, I think also the the drama that that the councilman there or the the opposition mentioned uh that there's drama in this. The drama has from from what I've seen in the very beginning, you know, shockingly brought by one of the neighbors here that has got all his other neighbors on his side. I've seen some some writing um from him, you know, almost like scaling up a fake drama to kind of get his neighbors on board. And so none of this to me makes sense. I mean, she ultimately is very busy. It's a nice horse to drive around having anything that, you know, makes the neighborhood a better place. We're naturally all going to be in pro for no one here on this call, even on the opposition side, is going to be pro for anything that's really going to disturb the neighborhood. That includes, you know, traffic against children or anything like that. So the the arguments that I'm seeing from the opposition are absolutely annoyingly bogus, which is the only reason I'm s sitting on this call at this time to stick up for what seems to be a preposterous scandal between these neighbors all coming together and coming up with nonsense over what is not a nuclear power plant. It is the standard beautiful residential home which we need more of in Paradise Valley to bring up all our property values and help out the street of Jay which is a nightmare. Um other than that um I have no more to say but I would I would wish that the opposition starts to play fair and be nice and stop the insanity of drama because it's absolutely unnecessary. Joe is next followed by John Brown. Hello. Thank you so much for having me, council. Um, I'm in support of this project. I know uh Regal Homes personally and uh would absolutely love to have them in the neighborhood. I have heard from the some of the speakers against this uh property uh against the plan saying that there were no one who lives nearby. My house is on uh 56th and about a block off of Sheay. Um so what they've been saying is is untrue. Um I am 100% in support of it. as to piggy back off the previous speaker, Shay to to say that something going on Shay is uh going to create a lack of safety and threaten livelihoods and stuff like that is seems wrong to me. It seems like it they're they're sensationalizing it. Um but I won't won't say much more. I'm just uh hope hope uh cooler heads prevail and and we can move forward with this project. I think it would be an incredible uh asset to our neighborhood. Thank you. John is next, followed by Jack Builtus. Good afternoon. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Okay. My name is John Brown. I live in the area and I have for the last 25 years. And like many others, I don't live on 57th Street, but I have lived and owned property on 60th Street and 61st, just a block or so south of Sheay. So I I've lived and travel on Shay for over 25 years. I've got to say that I'm 150% in in support of this project and and would ask for the council members to support it as well. This lot, I I know the street in the area well. This is not a lot that's appropriate for a home. There's no frontage road there to block the street uh or the house from the traffic on Sheay. And Sheay, yes, is a very busy street. It's a street for businesses, not home. I do appreciate the other residents who live off of Sheay. Um and if this was a, as someone else mentioned, maybe a nuclear plant in the middle of a neighborhood, that'd be one thing, but it's not. It's a high-end office building that's going to sit on Sheay, which is a highly highly traveled street already. And this is, in my opinion, going to pull traffic out of the neighborhood instead of put traffic in. I I think that's just the right way to look at it. It's also the highest and best use for this land. Um, having been in the industry for 40ome years, I do appreciate what he's trying to do and and it's not appropriate for a house. As I said, um I think for the neighborhood, this is actually going to increase the value of their homes rather than degrade the value and and their neighborhood and hurt them in any kind of way at all. And if they just be a little more open-minded, I think they'd see that. Um so again, I do support it wholeheartedly. I love the area. I've been here for 25 years and hopefully be here for another 25 years. And I think that the council can help make this a better project. all the way around by letting Regal American do what they propose to do for the for the house, for the property, for the neighborhood, and for all of Phoenix. Um, and I thank you for your support. Good luck to all of you. Jack is next, followed by Chad Dit. Hello. Can every Hello. Can everybody hear me? Yes. Hello, we can hear you. Okay. Um, this is Jack. Thank you. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak. This is Jack Builtus. I live um building a house uh 3 minutes away from the project uh 60 86 31 North 61st uh getting right off of Shay. Uh I'm in support of the project. Um I think if this isn't the candidate for res for RORO, then I don't know what would be. I think it makes sense as a buffer. Uh, I think the bigger story here is, um, when they first proposed it, the neighbors had some complaints, uh, they made adjustments, um, moved the entrance from, uh, from the side street onto Sheay. Um, and, you know, they've made other changes to, uh, to respond to people's complaints. I think the bigger issue here is I'm personally friends with Mr. Oz. I'm personally friends with Mr. Carloski. I've said to both of them many times that they should just sit down and talk. I think in this case, egos and mudslinging has gotten the better of everybody. And if the two people would just sit down and talk and try to figure something out, I think they could both be happy. Um, and I I I'm in support of this, but I just wish um this wasn't a personal vendetta for anybody. I think this this would just be better if people could just figure this stuff out. Thank you. We'll go next to Chad followed by Michael Venroyan. Hi, this is actually Ashley Dit. I am Chad's wife. All right. Uh, go ahead. Would you Okay, I can speak on his behalf. Um, yeah. So Chad and I own property um off of Gold Dust Avenue, very uh close to this area, and we just want to show our support for the proposed um zoning change and hope that the council may please consider it as well. Um we're currently moving into the neighborhood and um I think that this will provide um other residents with a lot of um value to their properties. And um I I mean I don't understand the opposition. I know that there is some um sounds like again personal grievance but um we are in full support of this and think it would add a lot of value. Um I don't see any other use for you regular single family residents um in that location. Thank you. Thank you. We will go next to Michael and then I will check with our staff to see if we have anyone else online. Oh, this is Michael Van Ryan. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Okay. Um, I live at 10438 North 58th Street. I'm actually the the closest lot to the site on 57th Street and I've lived here for 30 years. I actually retired from the city of Phoenix after a 30-year career with the city of Phoenix Fire Department. And it's funny that all the people that are calling that are in support of this. They have no vested interest because they do not live on 56, 57th or 58th Street. All the people that do live on those three streets are very much against this. And they're saying that, oh, Mr. Kowski put together an army in opposition of neighbors and no, we've done this before for the vacant lot on 58th Street in Shay. The whole neighborhood got together at that time and we fought it and were successful. That is the only reason we're doing it again because now it's on 57th Street and you know if 57th Street gets reszoned this lot on 58th Street and say will be reszoned lot over on 56th Street will be a a done deal and all of a sudden this whole neighborhood will be different. So, I just want to voice my opposition and my real disappointment, like other people have said about the whole process and the people involved in the process, they were not truthful and the whole process did not go like I think the mayor and city council would want those committees and commissions to run. And I don't want to say that Mr. Morris is [clears throat] not truthful, but he has stretched everything that he has said. And I don't understand that he he must be really nervous about getting this passed because his untruths are just unbelievable. and he he had the guts to say them in front of the committee, the commission, and then above all had the guts to in front of the mayor and city council regurgitate the same lies. So, I just want to again voice my opposition and this is not a vendetta. This is a neighborhood trying Thank you so much. Uh thank you to all who provided testimony and it was wonderful to have so many public servants. My st our team has indicated that that is all the speakers we have registered. So we will turn to the representative for the applicant for a concluding comment to be less than popular uh when you're representing developers and certainly with resoning cases. So I am used to that. I'm also frankly used to personal attacks. It comes with the territory. In 30 years of doing this, however, I've never had a neighborhood go after volunteers on a village planning committee to the extent that they were willing to hire a private investigator because somebody voted against their wishes. I'm deeply troubled with what I heard today and the impact that will have on people's willingness to serve as volunteers for the city of Phoenix in that capacity for hours and hours listening to cases night after night. I also find that methodology of going after people personally because there's no basis in land use for the opposition completely deplorable. And if I I'm not going to defend the people that they have gone after that is their job and they are perfectly capable of doing that and I hope they do. But that methodology and that attitude unfortunately really characterizes what this case has turned into. And I do understand the neighborhood impetus to protect a neighborhood and fear of change. But to take that approach when there are no truly logical land use arguments that support the position they're taking other than a lot of what we heard today which is contradictory by itself. You heard today that there is so much traffic on Sheay that this will create a danger yet somehow this is an ideal spot for a home. Those two things have been contradictory since this case was filed. There is nothing that was said certainly by my office, my staff or myself during the course of this case that we won't stand behind. But it's unfortunate that we now have to deal with personal attacks on others. I would be happy to address any concern, any question, any stipulation, any aspect of this case that the council may have for me. And with that, I would urge you to follow staff's recommendation, the village's recommendation, the planning commission's recommendation of support and approve this case. Thank you very much. Thank you. Do we have any council questions? Councilwoman Stark. I just have a couple questions. Um, and it's unfortunate we don't have an ethics commission, but my understanding I I did after I read the letters, I talked to a couple of the village uh volunteers and it was their understanding that the lady that voted on this already had the property under contract. So, their deal had already been made. Do you guys know anything about that, Mayor? Council member Stark. No, no, I do not. We we're not privy to any information about uh what the what the uh transaction was associated with it. Well, I and that's what their understanding was. So I don't think some of the committee members felt she had a conflict. But the other question is the vote was 9 to5. Correct. So even if she had stepped down, it probably would have been 8 to five. Mayor Council Moment you're that vote count is correct. to West 95. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Wearing. Josh, uh the fellow who mentioned the uh the signage and the hours, can you explain about the hours? Mayor, Council Member Wearing, for your direction, we went back and took a look at some of the suggested stipulations that have been brought up throughout the process. And part of our responsibility as staff as we evaluate stipulations is how effectively can we administer those? And so as we took a second look at the signs uh suggested sign stipulations, uh we felt that we could effectively administer those. The RO district has some pretty extensive sign standards already that the project will have to adhere to. The additional standards we feel we could administer and uh appreciate the the idea that they're going to result in a more residential character as far as the signage. With respect to the operating hours, it it can be challenging for staff, especially if it's after 5:00, to get out there and regularly monitor whether or not something what what's going on at a particular property, just like it is across any property in the city. And so, we were hesitant to agree to that stipulation given the challenges staff would have to effectively administer it. We want to be upfront with the residents about what we can uh agree to and don't want to make a commitment that we couldn't fully fulfill. I appreciate that. We don't want to mislead people. Um, uh, the driveway situation. Can you explain? So, I'd be perfectly willing to put the driveway out of 57th Street so it's not going out on Shay. Can you explain why that was problematic? Mayor, Council Member Wearing, it back when the residential office district was created in 1992, part of it was set up, as Mr. Morris uh uh put forth in his presentation was to make sure that it was uh installing a appropriate transition to single family neighborhoods. And part of that really wants to encourage the traffic on the arterial street. So as such there's a restriction in the residential office district that doesn't allow a driveway to be installed on residential street because there's a little bit of a domino effect. The minute that driveway goes on then parking certainly could be associated with that. And the goal of the district is to try to concentrate all that traffic on an arterial street. So it's prohibited for them to put on put a driveway on 57th Street because it is a local street. Um so in order to have that changed, you have to have a good reason and that goes through our quasi judicial process. It's not something like we would get to change. Correct. Mayor Council Member Wearing that that is correct. It is a standard within the zoning ordinance. Any relief from that would be required. a variance would have to be pursued through that process. And so I mean we could suggest it, we could ask for it, but there's no again kind of like the hours, there's no guarantee that that's what would happen and probably it probably it wouldn't happen because of what you just said. Yeah. Mayor, council member Wearing, again, it would be subject to a separate hearing process. There are are four stand statemandated tests that would have to be met for the hardship. Again, I don't want to speculate about what may or may not be deemed as a hardship, but an initial glance by staff, it would be challenging to argue that there's a hardship for why a driveway couldn't go on on on Sheay Boulevard. Um because it's right turn only, right? It's not there's no left because there's a median. Mayor, Council Member Waring, that's correct. There's a uh there's a median right now on Shay. So, you couldn't you couldn't make a left into the project if you were going westbound on Sha Boulevard. Uh mayor, can I ask Kenny Kudson, our streets director? Wonderful. We will welcome our streets director down and I'll close the public hearing while we're at it. Lini, after our meeting with the neighbors, uh I think you weren't there, but I think Josh passed along a request to to look at Sheay, the stretch of Sheay, what' you find? Um, uh, Mayor, Council Member Wearing, and members of the council, when it came to some of the crash history in that location, we looked at both the intersection of 57th Street and Chay and and the stretch, the corridor there. We compared the the traffic collisions um, and incidents that happened there versus citywide, and they're both at the intersection and that corridor are both below the city average for intersections and for street quarters that way. Um, the driveway issue, I'm particularly curious. I live in a major arterial. I live about a mile and a half from this. Um I have driveways to the west of me. I have driveways right across my major arterial. Um many of them quite frankly. Uh and all along heading towards uh the freeway. Um is that has that been problematic? Um because that concerns me too because I've got probably at least a dozen and I've got five that I can see standing on my lot. At least probably more now that I think about it. Mayor, Councilman Wearing, members of the council, uh you're you're correct in what what um Josh laid out before the the SHA Sha Boulevard is three lanes in each direction and we have a median that does control, you know, left turn access at certain points along there. If you look both west and east of this location, you have uh property owners that have driveways that are out on DHE and you have some drive property owners have multiple driveways out on DHE. So, this wouldn't be inconsistent with what exists on Shea Boulevard today. Thank you. Thank you. Any additional questions? All right. Then we will turn to Councilman Wearing for a motion. All right. Uh, I want to put on the record for future requests along Shea Boulevard in this area that potential applicants should take note of the 21 stipulations uh associated with this request with the emphasis on the project's design, landscaping requirements along the street and internal to the project, minimum building setbacks, height limitations, and sign standards. Uh motion to approve item 69 per the January 4th memo from the uh PDD assistant director and adopt the related ordinance. Second motion and a second. Roll call. I'm sorry. Yes Deisio. Just a quick comment, too. Sorry, I didn't move fast enough. But we did the RORO. I mean, I'm dating myself back into the 90s. But, uh, one of the things I did when I was in office back then was look at 24th Street, 44th Street, Bethany home on the freeway. And the RORO transition really does help neighborhoods because you start seeing homes go downhill because of the traffic that's out in front of their homes. Nobody wants to live there. And so eventually you see homes that are boarded up. You start to see all this. And we had a major push in my district and it was controversial without a doubt um trying to keep the housing stock the way it was but at the same time move those homes into an RO type of zoning that kept those neighborhoods alive. Now, if you look up and down 24th Street, which is pretty busy, there's still a couple homes that are, you know, a challenge, but a lot of those homes that were able to bring in these small business owners, these accountants, um you know, people that just basically worked on paper, those things really uh they really started to take off. It kept the neighborhood alive. It kept it vibrant. So, I've been a strong supporter of the RORO zoning categories um because of what it does to a neighborhood. Sorry for the long conversation, but Josh was exactly right back in the 90s when this thing got pushed through. I put it on hypercharge uh 24th, 44th, and then Bethany a little later in the 90s. And that's why you start to see neighborhoods continue the revitalization is because you don't see homes boarded up. You don't see homes that are in disrepair. You don't see homes that are problematic uh because they're maintained. And one more thing, the advantage of the RORO is that the majority of individuals that are there by far don't work at night. They go home to their families. And so the the places are basically uh they're quiet at night when people want them to be quiet and they're busy during the day when people generally aren't home. Now with pandemic, who knows? But as a general rule, that's just generally what happened. And it allows for those homes to keep and maintain value, which means the homes around them keep and maintain their value and increase in value. And if you look around those areas that I I got this RO zoning back, like I said in the 90s and then back again when I got back on the council is that those homes behind there have really increased in value and they've maintained the the integrity that you want to see in a neighborhood. So, I'll be supporting you on this, Jim, with a yes. Garcia Mardado, yes. Stark, yes. Wearing, yes. Pastor, yes. GGO, yes. Passes 70. Thank you. And we want to also annote Stuart Kirk was in opposition and we'll have um that reflected in the record. And that was our last official vote for Vice Mayor Pastor. And so we will turn to her for comments. Thank you. I just want to thank my colleagues for giving me or allowing me to have the privilege to serve as vice mayor. I congratulate uh Councilwoman Ensari for uh now taking the lead in the new year of 2023. There are many things that we accomplished within uh 2022. Uh, and I'm just going to highlight really quickly, uh, Vision Zero, uh, Jeeplet, uh, Promise Phoenix, the deck, uh, opening, uh, a wing at Sky Harbor, opening, uh, the light rail at, uh, also at the airport, um, and just many, many things that we remodeled and redid uh, during my time. And so I just want to say thank you and I am privileged to be able to serve for with you guys and everyone in here. So thank you. [applause] Thank you and congratulations. Uh do we and I guess maybe at the next meeting we will turn to councilwoman Ansari when her first meeting as vice mayor for any opening comments as vice mayor that she would like. Uh it's going to be a special uh week for us in Phoenix and tomorrow will be the official public inauguration for Governor Hobbes who I understand is the first governor to have been born in Phoenix. So a little bit of Phoenix history happening tomorrow. We are not done yet though with this meeting and I will turn to our I guess before we turn that um at the last meeting we did have an announcement that we are going to have likely multiple hearings on issues related to mobile home facilities and we um in consultation with my council colleagues. The first one will be at Councilwoman Gordado's subcommittee date and time to be announced soon. Perfect. With that we will turn to the city attorney to introduce the final portion of our meeting citizen public comment. Thank you, mayor. During citizen comment, members of the public may address the city council for up to three minutes on issues of interest or concern to them. The citizen comment session is limited to 30 minutes. The Arizona open meeting law permits the city council to listen to the comments, but prohibits council members from discussing or acting on the matters presented. Thank you. We will begin citizen comment with Stuart Kirk followed by Carmen. Mayor and city council, my uh was in opposition to what you just passed and [clears throat] that was uh all that I wanted to speak about. I've lived on that road for 30 years and uh I think it's a grave mistake to have commercial development at the end of my street. Thank you for that important testimony. We'll go next to Carmen, followed by Kim Baker. I am the only Carmen, right? Yes. Okay. Hi, my name is Carmen Prito. I am the leader from the Welding Court Park. I'm here to let you know the council know that we're many families especially with children and still having the uncertaint. We urged the meeting with the mayor and we are relying on the city to help us. Um this is means a lot to us uh that we do get all the assistance that we can and I do want to thank La Pasto. She's doing a great thing for us and uh I'll continue coming until we see more actions and we want our homes. I know it's a done deal that they're going to be gone, but hopefully they'll find us homes where we can be at with our fil families, our children. I got my two children, three grandchildren that live with me, and I expect to really rely on my city of Phoenix because I would hate to relocate in an awful position. Thank you very much. Thank you. Kim is next, followed by Veronica. Um, good afternoon, council mayor. I uh well, [clears throat] I turned off a pot of uh chili beans today, this evening. probably the best I've ever made to be here to speak to the council in regard to the petition that I filed on December 14th. Long story short, you may or you may not believe in the Holy Ghost. I'm not here to make you believe, but I'm I am Man, I thank the young lady for coming and apologizing to me. Um I wouldn't have come down had I gotten the information. I've made several calls since December 14th to find out the status of the petition. I drove all the way down from North Phoenix. I was talked to. I'm accepting the apology, but we're looking at a city charter here. The petition was filed December 14th. I was just addressed after making several phone calls trying to find out the status. I don't know who dropped the ball, who didn't forward my calls up to the city manager's office or whomever needed to hear that I was making the calls. But this is sad because this is a charter. 15 days have passed. The charter says that action would be taken within 15 days. I'm sure you all don't have any information because I didn't get and if you did get information and I didn't get information, how fair is that? So, I'm here today. I am frustrated, but let's take these charters serious because we are citizens and we're taking time out. You guys are getting paid for this. I left a pot of chili beans. Little joke. I did want to address something here I think is also uh an encouragement for the city. I talked about a son of mine, Joshua Baker, some years back, a little encounter. I just want you all to know Joshua is the starting guard at Grand Canyon University. Now, he transitioned from UNLV and he plays for Grand Canyon. You may or may not know the Baker family has tradition here. I'm a I'm a native born and raised South Mountain High School Rebels. I know they're Jaguars now, but they don't know nothing about they don't know nothing about us. But any long story short, I [snorts] bring a lot to the table whether people want to believe it or not. And I try to be sensible, okay? And I try to present a reasonable articulate position. I just I'm just looking for some balance in all this. And that's why I come down and talk to you all. So, mayor, you all thank you. Um, I'll be back. Thank you. Veronica is next, followed by Elizabeth. Good afternoon, uh, council men and women. My name is Veronica Mo, co-chair of the Arizona Poor People Campaign. As you all know, we have been in communication with the city for about two years now. We are here today to let the council know that the trailer park abuses such as high water bills, light bills, evictions, unjustified citations continue to occur and also other types of abuse such as retaliation from managers continue to happen. Now, we are dealing with displacement of entire trailer parks such as Walden Park. We would like for the city of Phoenix to consider this an urgent matter as now we are servicing over seven trailer parks in Phoenix including a Welden Park. Residents are at work right now and are unable to attend this meeting today. On January 18, the mayor of Phoenix promised us a meeting and I would like to get a date for that as soon as possible. I find it unacceptable that the city of Phoenix is still unaware or is unwilling to make changes as the law permits to remedy the situation of trailer parks given the fact that many of the developers that come here do get what they request when seeking permits. I too would love 10 minutes to present to this council what we are dealing with on the ground. Thank you for the $300,000. However, let's keep in mind that undocumented families are not able to receive help from those funds through legal services. And also, let's keep in mind that there are many families which live in many mobile parks that need help. And it's also inappropriate for this council to pick and choose who will be receiving uh help based on their status or based on the discretion by the city council. And so with that, I leave you um and I thank you for listening to my comments, but I do urge the city because uh this the poor people campaign only has so much bandwidth and the city has is one of the largest cities in the United States and I find it hard to believe that people in this council cannot figure out what to do to help these people. Like you know, we need to do something and we need to do something now. And I thank you again. Have a great day. Elizabeth is next followed by Alejandro. Hi, my name is Elizabeth, but I talk in Spanish. [clears throat] Mexasch. Pause. Excuse me. Translation. Can you pause for translation? Ah, I'm sorry. Um um hello. Um thank you. Like Veronica was saying um I am uh I am from the campaign um for the poor. I've been with the um in the city here for 35 years. My parents brought me here from Mexico. It was not my will. They brought me here and I think it's um deplorable what they're doing with the people that live in the trailer parks. That's what the laws are there for. Um to make things fair and um and they need to be enfor to be reinforced to make it equal for everyone. And it's embarrassing to see what is happening there. I feel like it's even worse than Mexico. Um Fore! Foreign! Foreign! for and all they're doing is that they're just um passing the ball to the next person. Nobody's taking responsibility to help and the community needs help urgently. They're not respecting the families whether they come up with the money or not. They're not even accepting it. And it's important to um recognize that there that there that this is happening and it's happening right now. Our agency Campa de los pores has helped seven trailers and and that requires money yet we have been able to do it somehow. I'm sorry it's not seven trailer it's it's it's um seven mobile parks and it's been two years that we have been working with them and it's urgent. It's important that somebody does something in regards to it to reinforce these laws so that these uh trailer parks follow through and respect the f the the laws accordingly. And right now this these abuses are affecting 57 families at a mobile park. And it's embarrassing that this is happening here. It feels like this is a third world country. Something should be done about it. Thank you for listening to me today and I hope that we can hear back from you, mayor, to let us give us a date of when we can continue to talk about this and come up with some solutions. Thank you. Alejandro Rodriguez will be our final speaker. Alejandro Rodriguez Buddos, well done. Thank you. My name is Alejandro Rodriguez and I made time to come here after work. I've been here for three times now. I am from Welden Park. As a matter of fact, I've been here three times and I feel like we're running out of time. Time is cutting short. The deadline is June 1st. People are going to be evacuated. And you guys, I don't know all of you guys, but you guys have the power to do something in regards to it. Yet nobody is showing entrance interest of doing anything soon. and you guys have the the funds to do it yet nothing is getting done. So I ask you with all my heart to support us and there's more there's more trailers. Um there's I think seven more groups. So we're asking you to please help. Ah but and he's also saying that he doesn't feel that this council he said it already three times that he doesn't feel that this council is supporting them on making the changes and figure figuring out the solutions. see it. Uh, what I mean and I pay I do my due diligence in paying my taxes and I believe that I'm assuming that these taxes are used to beautify our city. We want our children to grow up in a beautiful city just like you were children once and now you're here in in as acting as politicians. And so we want to pay it forward to the children that are growing up now for these children in our mo mobile parks. Fore. And another another thing is that the help is there, but the help is only limited to residents and those that don't have the quote unquote papers don't get the help. So, it feels like it's not fair and it's a sort of discrimination. So I request um the mayor Gayos who is empowered to do something um to act on this. If I was a millionaire, I would do something. I wouldn't be here and I would do something to help others. So, I urge you to help. Thank you. Thank you. I council, I just want to clarify it's not June 1st, it's April 1st when uh they're asking to be leaving. I just wanted to clarify that. Thank you. And I believe that concludes all of our public comment for today. We are adjourned. community social service partner outlets making the connection between the smaller farms and John Q public and it Doesn't