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Detroit City Council Formal Session
Unknown Speaker
Lord, I
Speaker 1
Okay, all right. Good morning, everyone. We will now call to order our formal session for Tuesday, January the seventh, and Madam Clerk, please call the roll council
Unknown Speaker
member Scott Benson.
Unknown Speaker
Scott. Benson Aye
Unknown Speaker
council member Fred duha the third council member Letitia Johnson, present council member Gabriel Santiago Romero, present council member Mary Walters, present council member Angela Whitfield Callaway present. Councilman Coleman Young the second here. Council president pro tem James Tate and Council President Mary Sheffield present, we have a quorum present, Madam President, thank
Speaker 1
you for being a quorum. Present. We are now in session. Let me first say Happy New Year to everyone and welcome back to all of my colleagues. I hope everyone had a productive and restful break for our holiday season. I also want to shout out, of course, our beloved Detroit Lions as they won the alliance and they won the biggest regular season game in franchise history, earning the number one seed in the NFC North title. And so we are extremely proud of our Detroit Lions and looking forward to what they will accomplish moving forward, we will start off, as always, with our invocation for this morning, and we have joining us. Pastor Casey Pierce of Hopewell, missionary, Baptist Church, good morning. Good morning. Alright, we can lead us in invocation this morning. Yes,
Speaker 2
ma'am. Thank you. Shall we pray? God we, thank you. We, thank you for a brand new day and thank you for a brand new year. God we, thank you for brand new mercies and brand new grace. And so today, God, we pray that you would be glorified this morning through the decisions of this great city council. We pray that you continue to bless each member of the body. We pray that we would have the eyes to see our how our lives are all connected, and how our common God, our common good, is upheld when we listen and respond to those vulnerable among us. We pray God that your kingdom would come in Detroit as it would in heaven, that your power working in each of these servants would be glorified. May your truth be revealed, may your light shine brighter, may the voices of those most silenced be heard loud and clear. Defend their calls. Oh God, through this governing body this morning, we pray for wisdom, we pray for strength, for courage to do what is right and good amongst all citizens, may we put the interest of others above our own, and God, may we act with love for the common good. May we be good neighbors recognizing your image and every person that's represented here. We thank you again for this council. We thank you for this council, President, our mayor, our city staff, our first responders, our hospital staff, and all those who work to make this happen, this place that we call home, such a wonderful city, it's in the name of Jesus whose perfect love sets us free from all fears. Amen.
Speaker 1
Amen. Alright. Thank you so much, Pastor Pierce we appreciate you for our invocation. What a dynamic Minister You are had the opportunity to visit your church. And so if want to encourage people in Detroit to go out and visit in worship and fellowship at the Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church, this is a young, dynamic preacher. Uh, very powerful word in service. So thank you for being here and looking forward to working with you sir in the future. Yes, ma'am, thanks for having me. Alright, you have a blessed one, you as well. Alright, we have been joined by member door Hall and council president pro
Unknown Speaker
temp Tate persona,
Speaker 1
all right. The Journal of the session of Tuesday, November the 19th, 2024 will be approved. There being no reconsiderations or unfinished business. We will proceed to the budget, Finance and Audit. Standing Committee for the budget, Finance and Audit. Standing Committee,
Unknown Speaker
seven reports approved on the recess procedure.
Speaker 1
These seven reports will be received and placed on file for the internal operation. Standing Committee,
Unknown Speaker
this reports approved on the recess procedure.
Speaker 1
These six reports will be received and placed on file for the Neighborhood and Community Services. Standing Committee,
Speaker 3
seven reports approved through the recess procedure. The seven
Speaker 1
reports will be received and placed on file for the Planning and Economic Development. Standing Committee,
Speaker 3
seven reports approved during the recess procedure.
Speaker 1
The seven reports will be received and placed on file for the public health and safety standing committee,
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48 reports approved during the recess procedure.
Speaker 1
The 48 reports will be received and placed on file for the president's report on standing committee referrals and other matters for the budget Finance and Audit. Standing Committee,
Speaker 3
four reports from various E departments. The four reports
Speaker 1
will be referred to the budget Finance and Audit standing committee for the internal operations. Standing Committee, 10 reports from various state departments. The 10 reports will be referred to the internal operations, standing committee for the Neighborhood and Community Services, standing committee,
Speaker 3
15 reports from very seed departments.
Speaker 1
The 15 reports will be referred to the neighborhood and community services, standing committee for the Planning and Economic Development. Standing Committee, nine reports from various city departments. The nine reports will be referred to the Planning and Economic Development standing committee for the public health and safety standing committee, 25
Unknown Speaker
reports from very city departments.
Speaker 1
The 25 reports will be referred to the public health and safety standing committee. We will now move to the voting action matters under other matters, there are no items. Madam President, under communications from the mayor and other governmental officials and agencies,
Unknown Speaker
there are no items. Madam President, all
Speaker 1
right, we will call now for general public comments,
Speaker 1
and everyone will have two minutes for public comment this morning, and we will start with Mr. Richard, no, and public comment is now cut off as well.
Speaker 1
Just make sure your microphone is on. Press the bottom other one.
Speaker 4
Yep. Ah, there we are. Morning City Council. First of all, happy New Year to everyone, and I'd like to thank you from all the citizens of Detroit of the great job you guys been doing and helpful for everybody, and I can't be more proud of you. What I want to discuss again is parking in western Corktown. I know we're paying but m dot has not addressed our issues. They dress the issues and trouble with all the power is us. Little People in western Corktown need your help. We need a solution. We've given them two solutions, but they never meet with us. They have meetings. They don't have the Western corkin Association, which we have a block club. We don't, we don't get put into these meetings. Please. We need your help to get us involved. I've come up with multiple solutions to the parking I'm not just the complainer. I come up with the answers. But still, nobody really addresses us. The city's all worried about autonomous vehicles and big projects, which I understand, but you guys are for the little people, and we need your help also. I think for the budget, autonomous vehicles are great, but I think we need to develop a last mile transportation scheme which is much cheaper. We don't need big infrastructure at this point. We're not big enough city for that. I am from New York City, as you know, and the 303,000 people per city block, we don't have that here. So we need to think smaller, like the smaller cities do with less small transportation, which would be great for moving people around the city, moving people on Sunday, for people, handicapped people, pick them up to go to services and things like that. We need to move in that direction as we move to a new mayor, hopefully the new mayor will be more supportive of that idea. Thank you so much, everybody. Thank
Unknown Speaker
you so much. Richard Notto, we appreciate you, sir.
Speaker 5
Good morning Council President and this honorable body. J Gregory love, representing community advisory council district five, and the IBM Indian village, Manor condominium association. I come before you this morning, as this is the beginning of the year, and there are three properties that we are concerned about. One is going to be the Herman Kiefer property. It's 40 acres that has been in the situation that is in for too many years. It is time for this body to take a good look at that. And you need an independent individual to sit at that table to find out what is going on. I present myself as one of those individuals. The second property is going to be the old site of the uni wall property at the corner of East Jefferson and East Grand Boulevard. What's going to happen to that property is extremely important to not just our area in district five, but the entire city, because it sits at the entrance of Bell isle. What goes on there is extremely important. We ask you to take a close look at that. And the third property is everything along the East Jefferson corridor that has a waterfront to it. Anything built there should be very closely observed prior to its building. It's extremely important. So if there's anything that we can do to help you, take a close look at that throughout 2025 please let us know, please, we're here to help as well. So thank you very much. And happy new year.
Speaker 1
Thank you so much. Member J Greg Reba, and would love to come then present to the CAC on those three, three projects that you just mentioned. So we'll work with you. Miss Richardson by an eyes burn to do a presentation. Okay, appreciate you. Thank you for coming down and thank you for your service. Sir. Betty Lyons,
Speaker 6
why is over $600 million still missing of overpaid property taxes stolen by that satanic Dugan and Dana Nestle. It was coveted because I was never notified of this thievery. And you know, it's a thievery attorney Whitaker refuses to open this secret and thievery to the Detroit residents. Is he a part of this satanic scheme? Why does Dugan leave his first wife or a present wife and daughter. Why does Dugan entrust 10s of millions of grant money to Dan Gilbert, a man whose mentality and judgment is as questionable as Biden? Why does Dugan continue to bring up that he is white, that the state of Michigan has not had a white governor, a white male governor for a while, Dugan is not sick to be in charge of an outhouse. In my opinion, Dugan and Dana and Dan Gilbert is leaving Detroit corrupt and heading for Lansing to rape and pilferage Lansing, dugan's character is on the level of Satan to seek kill and destroy. And I also want to address always hearing about the Jew holocaust. These are not the real Jews. They call em Jewish, not Jews in Revelation, two, nine in the Holy Bible. And I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. Dugan lives the spirit of Satan. Why does Dugan and Dana Nessel continue to hide this money? They will be caught because this is illegal, and they are in session to get our money back. This is wrong, wrong, wrong, and I'm still waiting for attorney Whitaker to come forth.
Unknown Speaker
My name is
Speaker 7
Pastor Laura, Lorenzo, so let the honor and the privilege of being the senior pastor at 180 church. And I was down preaching at Mar a Lago, and I got a phone call from the advocate remain Jackson, and the advocate Ramon Jackson, he told me that he received the list from the city's clerk. That list had 195,000 people that voted in the past presidential election, but Detroit reported that there were 246,303 people who voted. So while down there preaching, while down there in the presence of our president elect, I was a little sad, because I was thinking like most logical people, where did 50,000 people go? So we're asking that those that have made comments about election integrity be subpoenaed by this illustrious Council, those like Mary waters, those like Lieutenant garland Gilchrist, those like members that are in my church that are saying they never voted, but yet their votes were counted. We know that the Bible says you shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free. All we're looking for as a truth concerning election integrity. We're willing to go to the state legislature, and yes, we're willing to go to Jim Jordan, my good friend, and get a hearing if we need to get a congressional hearing, to call for Detroiters that say that their votes were never counted or they were counted illicitly, we're praying for you, and we're believing that you're going to make the right decision. God bless you. Thank you so
Unknown Speaker
much. Sarah, I
Speaker 8
I rise today in solidarity with the verified vote coalition addressing an issue in the city that has trouble and protects me since my return to the city in 2012 Detroit is a majority black city whose City Council looks like the populist but the current mayor, for a number of terms have not reflected this reality. In my opinion, one of the reasons is voting not to revisit the city's bankruptcy or recovery. Dugan has been front and center in the recovery. I would like to use an analogy that our city knows very well. The city is similar to automobile Detroiters are the passengers Detroit runs on fuel, which is the city's economics, the blood of the city, the city council, Mayor, City services and various committees, along with the laws, ordinance that govern the city keeps it running and on the road, Detroit automobile, it becomes in disrepair and breaks down When these processes are neglected. I'm here to bring attention to the voting process, the laws, the ordinance, ordinances and the committees that are in charge of maintaining the voting process in the city. The election process in Detroit, in my opinion, has been in disrepair for a long time, with the recent legal discoveries in legal court cases on addressing this matter on behalf of Detroiters, it is clear to me that certain parties are probably involved this matter. And just in closing, I would like for the City Council to consider having a hearing by the Detroit board, board of electors to actually address this issue. Thank you for your time. Thank you
Speaker 9
so much. Good morning. Good morning. My name is for dear on the contrast I think you guys are doing a horrible, horrible job, and let me explain to you why. No other city council that represents they people, the majority of those people, will give hundreds of millions of dollars and billions of dollars over two or three terms to people that don't look like them, to people that don't vote for them, and to people that don't live in a community. Now you guys are supposed to represent us. Most of you guys are Christians. Call yourself Christians. Most of you guys are college educated. Where is that make sense at? Where is that intelligent at to you give the Fords 30 years tax abatement, where you give Dan Gilbert the images all these illegal bonds that we don't vote on, and the majority of these people that just so happen to be black, they don't benefit. Why don't you take 100 200 $300 million and give it to small black business so they can open up party stores, gas station, grocery store, Metro PCS, tire shops, etc, etc. Guess what you will be doing? Ladies and gentlemen, my city councilman, you will be stopping crying. Crying will go down. So I say this again. There's no other city. City council does this to their people. There's no other city that said White people are the majority, but we gonna let blacks build a downtown now take the tax people money. Don't have to pay it back. The citizens pay it back. No other people thinks that way, but you guys, so imma ask y'all when last but not least, when Martin Luther King birthday come up. Don't get on TV, radio, don't throw no event, he will be very, very disappointed in y'all.
Speaker 10
Don't morning.
Speaker 11
Malik Shelton, district three. We're just like a snowball going down the side of a snow covered hill the concerns of the residents about the sanctity and the fairness of our election process is growing. This would not be ignored. Ramon Jackson has been down here several times and has brought with him, actually, Detroit residents who said that they didn't vote in a specific election yet the the Election Commission, or the election clerk, city clerk has them voting here in the city of Detroit, there have been some individuals that said they have never voted in their whole entire lives, and they don't even live in the city of Detroit any longer. Yet they're being listed on the voting rolls as having voted. These are individuals that we can produce. They've they've signed sworn affidavits. We've come down here on this matter several times, and we've been spun we've been told to go elsewhere. No, this is a city issue. Mary Sheffield, is my understanding. You're on the election committee or commission where we're demanding a hearing so that we can bring forth our witnesses, bring forth the affidavits, bring forth the evidence, and find out what's going on, because we have elections coming up. The primary is coming up in August, the general election is coming up in November, for the mayor, for the mayor, for the mayor's office, as well as for council, uh, positions. How? How can we as the residents and taxpayers and voters of this city have any faith in it whatsoever, when people are constantly coming down here telling you that the voting process is tainted and it's fraudulent, and we have evidence, not rumors, not guesses, not what we heard, but actual individuals that we can bring here along with other evidence, even Councilwoman Mary Sheffield want a demanded recount In her United States Congress.
Speaker 1
So just to be clear, because I see that there's a lot of people down regarding this issue, and just wanted to kind of set the tone here, we have had the Secretary of State come down our city clerk and have had a discussion on election fraud or election integrity. Everything that has been submitted to council to date, there has not been any evidence that there is any fraud within the process, we have constantly stated that not only can you submit documents here, but that information can also be submitted to the Secretary of State, to the US District Attorney in the FBI as well, too. So if there is allegations, if there is evidence, you can continue to submit that to us. We will submit it to the appropriate departments. But you also can, and I'm not trying to defer you from coming to council. You have other options as well, which is the Secretary of State, the US District Attorney in the FBI, if again, you claim that you have valid evidence that there is voter fraud. So I just don't want it to be clear unclear, that council has not looked into the matter. We in fact, have everything that has been submitted was submitted over to the clerk's office. There was a document that was released that said that there was no evidence that anything that had been submitted to date has been accurate. So we will continue to listen. If there's more information that you would like to submit, please do so, but wanted to make sure that you are clear that we have listened and had respond to what was submitted to us today. All right, thank you so much. Can you please be Be quiet and we will continue? All right.
Speaker 12
Miss, love. Good morning. My name is Melissa, love. I am the evidence. I did not vote in 2020 or the August 2024 election.
Speaker 1
Okay, so Ma'am, ma'am, we would like to make sure that information is submitted and we can make sure we get a response from the clerk's office as well. Okay, thank you so much, Madam President, yes, through you to just a quick question, is that evidence for votes? Or would like to know what that piece of paper is in order to know what the evidence is.
Speaker 1
That information is good for us to read. You want to leave that and we can make sure we refer it and that is looked into it. Thank you. Okay,
Speaker 13
hello. My name is Theresa Williams. I'm on the district seven community advisory council. Come to you in the name of the Most High God. Just want to acknowledge Councilman durall. Thank you for coming to my husband's funeral. I do appreciate that, and I want to just ditto what you've already heard. We need a hearing on the election issues. As a voter, I've been voting since I was 18 years old, and to hear this is very disturbing to say the least, right? Because you believe in this process. You know you're told your whole life to vote. I know in that, in my family, my household, that's how we did it. But you know, do right by the people. You know you know what to do, what's right to do in your heart, right? Just follow your heart. Because how can you go to sleep at night knowing something like this is going on? Just the mere mention of it, right? Just the mere mention that would cause me to say, You know what? Let's clear this up. Let's do all that we can. Let's pull out every stop. The Election Commission. I went to y'all site last night looking for meetings. What's the process, right? You guys are our first stop in this thing. Okay, so we're coming to you first. We want to see some activity on this. We need the hearings, and I want to speak on behalf of the CAC, I'm in the Franklin Park community and CAC, we did talk to legal already with Mr. Whitaker. The community advisory councils need to be funded and can be funded. We would like 10% of your annual budget. We would like an entitled to a fully staff office. We would like one here, and of course, in our budget, we would have money to have satellite offices as well. So thank you. Thank you.
Speaker 12
Morning. Hello. My name is Tina little I'm from the Franklin Park area, district seven, and I'm here. I would like to hear on the farthing of votes, but my main thing is, if our votes is always fraudulent. How we gonna ever get what we want? We vote for certain stuff. It'll be if our votes don't count, we never gonna get what we really want. So the main stop is right here. So we got to get this straight first so we can move on. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Unknown Speaker
Mr. Dewey,
Speaker 14
yes, good morning, members of the council, members of the audience. My name is James Doreen. I am a Detroit city election worker, not with the department all the time, but at the cobalt Hall, absent voter counting board, ABCB for the last three elections. And I want to address an issue which is different than what any of the other speakers has have so far, which is the question of how to ensure the integrity of the absent votes, absentee voter votes here in the city, specifically, anyone who knows how the operation works in the ABCB knows that you've got county boards. You've got a bunch of different people who've been trained, some Republicans, some Democrats, and so on. And you look at the voter envelopes as they come in the mail through the elections department. The deficiency I see is very simple, all of the verification of signatures is done inside the elections department and not by the election inspectors at the absent voter counting board. In other words, whereas in the ABCP, we have both Republican and democratic election inspectors there, and we have poll challengers and poll watchers as well, that is not the case for the signature verification process in the elections department. I want to know why they're not there is not a pre verification by the parties of the procedure being used at the Department of Elections to verify absent voter signatures. Why there are not old challengers from whichever parties want to come or poll watchers. And look, I'm not prepared today to claim there was election fraud here in the city in the recent election, okay, but those are my concerns about signature verification. Thank you.
Unknown Speaker
Thank you so much. Mr. Reid, excellent.
Speaker 15
Good morning and happy New Year to everybody. I'm not sure this is going to be a very happy year, because I think this is the year that God's wrath is going to be on this nation because of all the trickery and dirty stuff that's been going on for years now, that Donald Trump, the wanna be a dictator for a day, is in the White House. Gonna be in the White House everybody's running around talking about democracy is over and done with it's going to be over and done within this nation. Democracy has been over and done within the city of Detroit for quite a few years because of all these glaring election irregularities that have been going on, and people have been fighting it for years. It has gone to the FBI for other people who sent quite a bit of information to them, and nothing has been done. I myself have been to election recounts, and it's ridiculous what we see there, and all we're asking is, everybody's talking about, you know, vote. It's important to vote. Well, if your vote is not going to count,
Unknown Speaker
Why vote? And you'll wonder
Speaker 15
why we have such a lousy turnout in the city of Detroit, and it's because of that people know this is going on, and all we're asking for is for you all. You are our first line of defense to fight for the people. We're asking that you all use your subpoena power to get the Election Commission in, get the people that have the evidence of of cheating going on, they're so sick and tired of this. Thank you. Uh,
Speaker 16
hello. My name is Sean Marco. I'm with the Detroit anti war committee. I'm used to only having a minute, so I made this short. Since the last city council meeting, we have been waiting to hear back from council president Sheffield's office about a resolution draft. During that time, the genocide in Gaza has continued and only worsened, with comal hospital being overtaken and medical staff and patients being either killed or kidnapped. This is but one example of the many horrors taking place. Children are starving. Babies are freezing to death every hour of every day, it is imperative that we divest the city from genocide and all ties with so called Israel. We are looking forward to hearing back from city, from council president Sheffield's office, so that we the people, can have our voices heard and we can stop having our tax dollars go towards genocide. Thank you.
Speaker 10
Thank you so much, Harris, have we received anything from? Have we received anything?
Speaker 1
Yeah, we were just trying to recall not seeing anything from, did you email our office? Yes, yeah, okay, we'll because I'm checking with my team now to see Thank you. Go right ahead. Madison,
Speaker 17
good morning City Council. My name is Madison Westmoreland. I'm also with the Detroit anti war committee. I'm also here today to urge the city council to respond to a draft resolution for divestment from companies that directly enable or facility facilitate prolonged human rights violations through military occupation, apartheid and genocide. It has been almost 500 days of genocide in casa, and we are entering into a federal administration that was a major ally to this apartheid state in the past, before the genocide even began, and we can only expect worse in the future. We have been shown that the new president is much more interested in supporting a powerful political entity than He is in protecting the innocent suffering through genocide, and it is our responsibility to strip away the power and money that we give to the so called State of Israel. To do these things, we must stop cross training. We cannot allow the authorities that patrol our streets and interact with our vulnerable people of Detroit to be trained by the Israeli military, which has been charged numerous times with crimes against humanity. And we must divest from war profiteers. We cannot allow our city's resources to be invested in companies that directly enable human rights violations. By keeping these investments, we are sanctioning the deaths of Palestinians. So we ask that you sign the resolution and stop supporting the oppression of vulnerable overseas people, stop supporting an entity that has time and time again been investigated and found to be committing horrible acts of apartheid and genocide. Thank you.
Unknown Speaker
Thank you so much. Mr. Bear.
Speaker 18
Happy New Year. Adam Barrett, Detroiters for Tax Justice. I didn't plan on being here today, but I had a day off anyway, so I figured I'd check in and say that we had a very strong year of accomplishments in 2024 and this year we're coming hot. We've pushed the topic of tax looting into the into the political discourse in Detroit, where there had only been silence on it before. We'll make this an election year issue. We also still disapprove of how the public is not involved in the tax incentive process until the last minute at approval time, notifications should be made as soon as a proposal is received. DGC is not a public body, and they should not be allowed to manipulate these vast sums of public money behind closed doors, as they do. Council needs to reform the process, and your approval last year of the pilot program has just cut the public out of the process and it still treats taxpayers like a cookie jar. We want to see this process reformed and every dollar of tax captured money published in a publicly accessible way. On a personal note, I also support the call to divest from Israel. Thank you. Thank you so much.
Unknown Speaker
Morning, morning.
Unknown Speaker
Afraid a lot going on, and
Unknown Speaker
these people really care. So,
Speaker 1
just so you know, sir, we can't hear you. I don't know if you want us to hear. In the general public, those that are watching online are not able to hear unless you speak into the microphone. I mean to turn my back. But if you want people to hear we have to Okay,
Speaker 19
okay, I hear what you saying. It's a lot going on, and I don't hold responsibilities towards city council, the mayor, actuality, I gotta defend them, because they only doing what they told to do, and on what I believe before, what I witnessed and for what I've been knowing since COVID, a Young left out the building the city been mines. I own all foreclosed properties. I came up with the land banking. I've been trying to play my role, but you got these people here, all in my place of business, telling me how I can't protect y'all to do for y'all. It's not they part. They only do what they told do, and it's a lot of federal situations going on that I've been knowing about. All this basically is a commerce of repeated attitudes and situations that's keep on acquiring people already been dealt with, but yet, and still, y'all continuously do the same thing over and over and over and leave people out here to drive people out here dying every day while y'all parking in. And then, from what I know, y'all really parking in for me, because being a royal here in America, let alone in this great place of Detroit, y'all did a lot and been doing a lot my estate. I sent over $777 billion out where that money went. Ain't nobody never told me. All I know is y'all been telling me to come down here and do this in UK every time I come down, that's your time.
Speaker 1
Thank you so much for being down here. Thank you.
Speaker 20
Hello morning. My name is um Ramon Jackson. I want to talk to the shareholders, which is the residents. We've come before this body repeatedly, and we demand things, and we ask for things, and they never go in our favor. So what we discovered and concluded is that they these things will never go in our favor if the elections is not fair. Fred der Hall, 9277 we got some district seven residents here. You can meet us at You say it ain't no evidence, Mayor Sheffield, you can meet us at 9277 Wickham Street. It's a family that stays there that's from Alabama. It's a guy named Martel Simpson. They keep, fortunately, using him to vote. They use them for you. And they recently just used him again in that election. Meet us at the people from Alabama who don't know nothing about Martel Simpson, and we approved to you. Mary waters, think she left out the room. She spoke about the election being cheated with her, and she read thanedar, whatever came of her asking for an investigation. Sister right here is saying, in that very same election, they used me fraudulent in that very same election that she said she was cheated. Now you know what's happening me and her have to face each other in a upcoming election because she didn't go to Congress when she could have been coordinating to try to do the right thing. Scott Benson, what is so funny about us talking about our elections being stolen here in Detroit? What is so funny about that you sit there with your face down and you smirking, as if we take as we lying. Another thing. If I was lying, this Attorney General have fraudulent votes. The governor have fraudulent votes. The prosecutor have fraudulent vote. Do you think if I was sitting here saying this stuff, and they wouldn't do nothing to me?
Unknown Speaker
Think about that. I
Unknown Speaker
thank you. Good
Speaker 7
morning, everybody. My name is benetta May Mayberry, and I think thank everyone on for the City Council, for Mary Sheffield, for helping me raise the Juneteenth flag, as well as working with Martin Luther King Memorial Park and getting it restored, as well as William center. And I thank you for your help for all of that. But also, I'm coming again this year for I want to know if we can still get that red, black and green flag to fly with the city Detroit for Black History Month, as well as I want to know the mentions of the Spirit of Detroit so that we can put a daishiki on it for Juneteenth day represents all the flags of black people in America. I have done the research for that. So I would like to know I do have sponsors who are going to help me to sponsor that, that Daishi to be made so we can use it also for Black History month for the next year. But also, I'm talking about also this grocery stores for the city of Detroit. Some of the grocery stores in the city of Detroit need to be inspected even a little bit more deeper because some of the meat in the stores are so rotten, and they're gouging the price of eggs. When you can find the eggs in Walmart and so forth, at $3 they're still gouging eggs in the city of Detroit at $7 in seven markets. And I want to know why that their prices of oranges are $5 or 12 oranges in the city of Detroit, when you can buy a bag oranges at the fruit market for 399 or what happened? But we need to do some something about that. As far as that gas station had two murders there, we need to shut it down, and we need to shut it down, and that no business nothing should ever be built on it, unless it's a store that has black business or something that is pertinent for the people of Detroit. Also, I'm going to speak about Chinatown. You gave Chinatown back there, their land and so forth. We still are way more revelation from the city of
Unknown Speaker
Detroit. Thank you. Miss may Berry, you
Unknown Speaker
probably followed by Mr. Foster
Speaker 9
Well, Mary, it's 2025 James, 2025 Scott, 2025 Angela Whitfield, Callaway, 2025 FRED DURHAM, it's 2025 Gabriella, Santiago, Mayor, 2025 now I'm just going to be straight up with child. I ain't broke no laws committed, no crimes, but I'm three cases. One has been dismissed by Judge Giles in court right now I got trespassing coming up and disorderly conduct. Well, y'all don't understand, but we need Ryan first. Rihanna got caught cheating in an election. Department of Alexis Janice Winkley is bold. Department of Alexis, Gina AB Walker is bold. And Mary, y'all busted James, y'all busted, Scott, y'all 
busted. Angela, y'all busted. Brett Doha, you busted, man, and you up front. I'm over in district seven now, Mary and some special project I met with you about on Zoom I'm doing over in district seven to make a point to you, Fred, you've been caught getting fraudulent absentee ballots cast in your name, and Detroit elections in 2021 and some of your other ones have got them as well. We found too many fraudulent votes in Detroit voted trap houses and the city of Detroit to not know it's all been cheated in. The Board of police commissioners been cheated in, and the school board been cheated in, and so many judges, maybe someone, some in front of have been cheated in as well. Well, the buck stops here. 2025 is up.
+1
busted. Angela, y'all busted. Brett Doha, you busted, man, and you up front. I'm over in district seven now, Mary and some special project I met with you about on Zoom I'm doing over in district seven to make a point to you, Fred, you've been caught getting fraudulent absentee ballots cast in your name, and Detroit elections in 2021 and some of your other ones have got them as well. We found too many fraudulent votes in Detroit voted trap houses and the city of Detroit to not know it's all been cheated in. The Board of police commissioners been cheated in, and the school board been cheated in, and so many judges, maybe someone, some in front of have been cheated in as well. Well, the buck stops here. 2025 is up. Unknown Speaker
Mr. Foster
Speaker 21
Good morning. Just want to speak on a few things, neglect it means to fail to care for properly or uncared for. I think the community have expressed neglect, not outside of myself, but when you listen to mister Kennedy and the CVI, we have been neglected. That's just the bottom line. Secondly, the veteran caucus, we have the veterans have been neglected. If you look around this nation in legislation, they have a veteran caucus. We had two major incidents with enlisted veterans, one in New Orleans and one in Las Vegas. And so I reiterate, the neglect of veterans, not just in this city, but within this nation. And those things need to be addressed ASAP. Thirdly, when it comes down to voter integrity, the people here is not asking for anything outside of change. They have identified. I'm sorry.
Speaker 1
One second the timer has stopped. I want to make sure you get all your
Speaker 21
time. Okay, go right ahead. Okay, so when it comes down to voting, whether there's a malfeasance in the voting process or not, the people that dissatisfied with both the outcomes and everything else that's going on. And so we demand and ask for a change in this voting process. I personally have written in and found out that you have policies here in which the primary wins without anything outside of that. We have little to no precinct delegates. There's little to no delegation conventions. And so when we talk about voting, it's more than just put your name on the ballot. We're talking about the processes, in totality, to ensure that our citizens have the opportunity to come out and cast a proper vote and then the form vote. When we talk about voting, we have two House reps in this district jurisdiction, neither one of them are black. We had Brown versus Board of Education reversed. We had Roe versus Wade reversed. We had a black man shot again at a gas station, and we have not seen representative talie Rashid stand up one time, coming here and bridge any gaps about Middle Easterners within our community and how we going to fight for those things. And so I ask that we stop the propaganda and listen to the community and stop being neglectful.
Speaker 22
Alright, thank you, Mister Boston discussion member Benson, alright. Thank you. Just want to make clear that this body, as instated by President Sheffield, has had the secretary of state from the state of Michigan, as well as city clerk from the city of Detroit. And election misinformation is serious. The act of spreading misinformation about election process, voter rights or even an issue on the ballot a serious threat to election security. These efforts, be they foreign, domestic, partisan or simply malicious, are designed to create mistrust in our selections process and are damaging to a healthy democracy. In addition, this is how you disenfranchise the vote of black people spreading misinformation is dangerous, and it calls into question the integrity of our election system, which further reduces people's propensity to vote. That is how you disenfranchise the people, and that is how you reduce people's propensity to vote. It is dangerous. Thank you.
Unknown Speaker
Thank you so much. Member, Benson, all right. Lastly, in person would be Whitney Park.
Speaker 23
Good morning and happy new year to this honorable body and everyone under the sound of my voice, my name is Whitney Clark, and I am coming today to let you all know that I am I have intentions to run for city council and the fifth district. I decided to run because it feels as though big developers and corporate greed are trying to drive us out of our own city. We are every day, every day, Detroiters are upset about this, and so we've decided to step into into this, into this race. It's important that we ensure that the future of our city is a place where all people can thrive. And again, I'm calling out to our community, people in my generation to step forward, because we have the most to lose. We have the challenge of assisting these aging seniors and protecting our seniors, while also ensuring that the children that we are raising or bright, brilliant, competitive and ready to work out of high school, we're stepping forward because we want to see this city move forward with the bold vision on how we can solve these problems that we've been faced with, taxes and housing and a number of different issues. And so in spite of all that we've heard today. And even though some of these complaints may be very valid, I beseech the public, people from my generation, people who are invested in the future of this city, to stay involved, to stay engaged and in both in such a way that this type of fraudulent behavior can't can't persist. And so I am. I am offering myself in this form so that we can come together and talk about how we can make our community better. And I'll also say, with the time that I have left, I believe that I'm the perfect person for this position, because I'm not just wanting to fight, but I also want to solve problems, and we have to figure out a way to not just point the finger and say people are corrupt, and say people need to do this or do that. We have to also come together and make plans and make sure that we are doing things that protect our seniors, reduce our spending and our taxes and give our children a chance to thrive. Thank you very much. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1
Looking forward to your to the race, and wish you the absolute best, as I told you when you came to our toy drive. I'm excited about it, and I can't wait to see what happens in district five. So thank you for being here, and wish you the best of luck. All right, we will move now to those who have joined us in person, and by the way, for the gentleman that spoke earlier, Mr. Marco, we never did receive an email from you all, yep, yep. Just want to make sure it's very clear, so I don't like to be called out when it's not accurate, so, but we will get the the resolution from you, and looking forward to working with you guys. All right, so we will move now to those who have joined us virtually, and we will begin you.
Speaker 1
Good morning is Ari one Yvonne, Can't hear, can't hear, can't hear. I
Speaker 1
All right, as we are waiting for the public comment portion to work, wait here. Are they able to hear me? Because I don't want to proceed without the public able to hear I can
Speaker 24
hear you again. Okay, perfect. I'm so sorry about that. My zoom restarted, but our first caller is William M Davis. All
Unknown Speaker
right, Mr. Davis, good morning.
Speaker 25
Good morning. Can I be heard? Yes, we can hear you. Okay, I like to start off by saying, Please, we have another new year here. Hopefully this will be a better year for us. City Detroit retires, and the last one, the city chart retirees are very disappointed with the administration and city council, and that we was hoping that we was going to get a little bit of money at least in December that Yara approved last fiscal year, for this fiscal year, you know, the Detroit bankruptcy was a grand theft, and it still continues to be a grand theft every month for city Detroit retirees, especially for those of us that have to play an annuity clawback. Because, you know, normal entities do, do not go into bankruptcy to come out with less assets. The city Detroit lost control of Detroit water and sewage, dia Bella and countless other things, you know. So the bankruptcy was and continues to be a failure, you know. And the city, Detroit retirees have not received anything back, not one penny yet. Yet, a number of entities, the number of people you know, be it elected officials, police officers or what have you gotten 10s of 1000s of dollars, but we have just living on what we was living on in 2013 that is wrong on so many levels, you know. So I hope y'all remember and start doing a little bit more to help city Detroit retirees, because we had a terrible year last year. In fact, we have had a terrible year the last 10 and a half years. But some people, billionaires and billionaires are doing quite well in the city of Detroit. I think y'all should be looking more strongly at helping city Detroit retirees, and hopefully we have a better view of many of y'all, especially come election day. Election day is coming, and we vote more than anybody else in the city of Detroit. Have a great day.
Unknown Speaker
Thank you, Mr. Davis,
Speaker 24
our next caller is phone number ending In 169 you
Unknown Speaker
Good morning.
Unknown Speaker
Good morning all
Unknown Speaker
right, Yvonne, let's go to the next caller, please.
Speaker 24
Okay, our next caller is Betty a Varner,
Unknown Speaker
Miss Varner, Good morning. Happy
Speaker 26
New Year to all within the sound of my voice, I'm Betty, a Barner, president of the soda Ellsworth black Association. I'm going to talk about the Finkle corridor in December of myself, some of my members and some businesses from the Finkle corridor. We had a meeting with the city of Detroit, Mr. Day Walker and other planning departments and people who work for the city. And it was a good meeting, but it left me a little antsy. Uh, there's a plan for a lot of improvement and good work for the pink quarter. But the problem is, the money is not there. We don't have any big government. I mean big investments, no developers, no government monies available for, I think, a quarter. And to my understanding, the city is going to different departments so and talking to different departments of the city of Detroit, saying that they will be open to, I guess, adding monies to their budget in regards to improving the pink corridor. So I'm hoping, if some of these departments jump on board, and I'm willing that if it comes in front of the council, that the council will support but the meeting left me a little antsy, and my members, because I think a quarter we love I think a quarter we love our area, we are working as organization, association to improve our area. Our area should not be treated any differently than Dexter or Avenue or fashion or McNicholas liver noise to Wyoming. Why are we being treated any differently? We know there's no developers, but there's any marketing being done. So please support our think accord, and I'll be talking about the bank according throughout 2025
Unknown Speaker
right? Thank you.
Unknown Speaker
Our next caller is Charles miles,
Unknown Speaker
good morning. Good
Speaker 27
morning. Can I be heard? Yes, you can. Okay. My name is Charles miles. I'm here. I've been coming there for over eight years with property tax issues on my properties located in the city of Detroit. I talked to a lot of different city council members. I talked recently to Mr. Don well, and even the city treasurer, Mr. Patel, that just got there, you know, this year or in the last year sometime. And he seems to know a lot without knowing anything, and he doesn't want to take care of anything about my property taxes. I know that you guys have seen me there. I've caught in and I've talked to Mr. Der Hall and his office. They worked on it for what, two years, and they came up with nothing. I keep giving more information. I keep requesting the proper documents that I'm not able to receive from you guys, and that's a shame that I live in the city of Detroit and I can't get this issue where I paid my taxes and you guys collected the money and kept it and still said that, oh, now I paid every year, and I got all these receipts, and you guys have confirmed that I've been paying and, and, and you cannot not confirm it if, if you ever you gave me a receipt, and I got the receipt and I made the payment. So why is you not doing anything about it? Why is you just letting this go on and I keep getting these foreclosure letters, and the bill is just getting higher and higher when it took y'all years to investigate, and why would you still be charging interest while you're investigating and you're, you're, I'm waiting on you guys. So Can y'all get an answer from anybody?
Speaker 1
Alright? Thank you so much. Um, Council Member waters wants to respond,
Speaker 28
Yes, thank you, Madam President, I'm certainly one of the people that he spoke with. We've done everything that we could on our end. In fact, having conversations with the assessor's office, I am told that his remedy happens to be legal. All right, that's the avenue that he has to take. That doesn't appear to be anything that we can do here at the city. Lord knows, I've tried it so So, Mr. Miles, that is the option. I think I believe that I told you that as well. If there's some other rabbit I can pull out the hat, I'm willing to try it, but I just don't see it. I'm told that you had to take the legal route. Thank you, Madam President, thank you member waters.
Unknown Speaker
Wait our next caller, please. Our
Unknown Speaker
next caller is Cunningham.
Unknown Speaker
Cunningham, Good morning.
Speaker 29
Happy New Year. Everybody under the sound of my voice, 3134449114313, 44911431344491143134449114,
Speaker 29
that number was made so you can remember it and on Facebook, two words not enemy. Again on Facebook, two words not enemy. One more time on Facebook, two words, not enemy, and you'll see my page there. You'll see the faces over this recess, folks, I've given hand warmers, gloves, bus tickets, thanks to donations from city council members, from people at home. You know who you are, God knows, I pray over you, and I pray over your donations, and I thank you also requesting any common person like myself or elected official to do some winter time bus ride alongs to see how it really is out here, It's really cold, and I noticed that folks don't have much money after Christmas, and they stare at my vehicle, the taxicab, and they come and I got $5 for a $20 run, or they don't have much money, um, and the busses are still not on Time, better than 69 or so percent. It's been stagnant. I know you're probably going to cut me off, but I've said in the groups, the nonprofits and etc activist groups, that we should pick it. Mayor Duggan. I like Mayor Duggan, but we need to pick it. Mayor Duggan, campaign stops for governor and say, fix DDOT, and if we can get an attorney to do a class action lawsuit, because DDOT sucks and it's been bad for too long, I'm getting tired, so it is what it is. Happy New Year and take care.
Unknown Speaker
Thank you, Mr. Cunningham.
Unknown Speaker
Our next caller is Frank Hammer.
Unknown Speaker
Frank Hammer, good morning.
Speaker 30
Good morning. Happy New Year to council to council member, Calloway, District Two, and everybody that could hear me. January, 20 is going to be an extremely odd day, because it's the day that we want to celebrate the incredible life of Martin Luther King, Jr, and it's also the day that there's going to be a return of Donald J Trump to the White House. And I want to bring up a couple of things for city council. They have Trump has guaranteed that he's going to engage in mass deportations, and I wonder how the city is going to prepare for this. They've indicated they will not tolerate sanctuary cities who don't cooperate with their with their plans. Our city is a welcoming city. Will that help shield our neighbors who are undocumented? Also, Trump made clear he's going to be targeting our sister city, Chicago, on the mayor, Brandon Johnson, but we will when we come to their aid. Secondly, they're made very clear under this drill, baby drill, of that they want to claw back the Democrats climate centered policies and cutting back on the green New Deal spending. How is that going to impact the climate action plan of the city of Detroit? Are we going to defend as feeble as it is? Are we going to defend the climate, given that 2024 was the hottest year in recorded history? And lastly, I want to, I do want to support the Detroit join us for Tax Justice and also the anti Detroit, anti war committee, and urge the city council to revisit its excellent ceasefire resolution from a year ago and take a look at the current situation and act Thank you.
Unknown Speaker
Thank you so much.
Unknown Speaker
Our next caller is Larry Donald birth.
Speaker 1
Donald verse, may I be heard. Yes, you can
Speaker 31
Okay. My name is Larry Donald worse, and I represent Detroit peaceful platform, transit justice team, and I'd like to recognize Katie try and comment one official, in my active position, and another personal. First of all, we're still talking about busses, and it's my opinion that city council should require and only approve a budget for 200 million out of the general fund, not the total amount, but the general fund for Detroit, for the Detroit Department of Transportation. Also, I'd like to address the point of the amendment that DDOT wants to make. I object to item 11 in that section, which covers combustible containers, which means if I get on a bus with a lighter, I'm subject to arrest and never be able to ride a bus again, which is kind of looking kind of ridiculous. And as an individual, I'd like to say, we all know my brother Cunningham, and the things that he does, some of the things that he doesn't say and needs help with, is his vehicle is kind of run down. It needs help. He needs help, not only donations for gloves and fun. He needs to be able to get around to do those things somehow, someone within the sound of my voice with the please help Brother Cunningham get a newer vehicle. I do what I can. And thank you.
Unknown Speaker
Okay, thank you so much. Mr. Verse, our
Unknown Speaker
next caller is Mikko a Williams, okay.
Unknown Speaker
Mik Williams, good morning. You.
Unknown Speaker
Good morning. Nico Williams,
Unknown Speaker
okay, can we come back to him? Please?
Speaker 24
Yep, we will move forward to Paul Chenault,
Unknown Speaker
good morning. Paul Chanel, good morning, you.
Speaker 32
Good morning. All right, sorry about that. I'm having technical difficulties here. Happy New Year to everyone. I'd just like to thank Council on everything that they're doing, and I hope that this year in 2025 you guys are listening to the issues that these people before me have called as well as the unfinished business in 2024 and actually kind of act on some of that stuff. I yield my time. I look forward to attending council meetings in the future. Have a great day.
Unknown Speaker
All right, thank you.
Unknown Speaker
Next caller is Renard manski,
Unknown Speaker
good morning.
Speaker 33
Good morning. Can I be heard? Yes, you can. Good morning and happy new year to you and everyone that's hearing me right now. My name is Rena Ruski. I'm a resident and organizer with Detroit people's platform and bus rider. I want to thank the council president and our office in the city council for the resolution on how the American rescue plan dollars was spent for DDOT that was reported at the end of the year, and just wanted to send my remarks and thanks for that level of transparency that is needed. And as we move into the new year, I do agree with my colleagues that we do need to consider an increase, a considerable increase, in investment, and that's what I call it, an investment from our city and to transit so it can actually yield the results that the residents are seeking, which is above 70% on time performance, which Cunningham mentions, my colleague, Larry, is correct that 200 million from the general fund will signal from the city of Detroit, that is the budget for the year 2025 it takes into effect with inflation. We were funding 80 million from the general fund over 20 years ago. So if you factor in inflation, that's about 200 some million today's dollars, really rough estimates with when it comes to inflation. So all I'm saying is that V dot has been actually getting cuts in flat funding year over year. The numbers may look like they've increased, but what the mayor is proposing is insufficient, and it's not going to be enough to allow director, the incoming director, Kramer, to do his job. And I do wish the incoming director success as he has experience working within smart and RTA and as an advocate and organizer, we're looking forward to our regular meetings with the director so we can steer do that in the right direction. I think this council for your support, but we need investment. Thank you.
Speaker 24
Thank you so much. Bernard, our next caller is Ruby Riley,
Unknown Speaker
good morning. Ruby Riley,
Unknown Speaker
good morning. City council. Can I be hurt? Yes, you can. I just want to say happy new years. 2025 hopefully it'd be a better year for the city of Detroit residents.
Speaker 34
And I will be coming down to the meetings, supposed to get a little bit warmer and talk about other issues. So with that being said, I'm eating my breakfast yet. Excuse me. With that being saying, say it. I'm just hoping that city council will look out for the residents. I mean, you know, for long time residents, especially seniors. I mean, I've been going through a lot. I'd be 75 this year. Good Lewis William and the creek don't rise. I also want to send condolence to the police officer family they got killed, and sending prayers, because I know a lot of police officers, and I'm gonna make that be it for right now.
Unknown Speaker
Thank you so much. Miss Wiley,
Unknown Speaker
okay, next we have Stephen Harring,
Speaker 1
good morning. Mr. Harding, yes, we can hear you. Awesome.
Speaker 35
Thank you. So I'm going to mention the Renaissance Center. GM is currently threatening to tear down all five hours if the government incentive deal doesn't go through. And you know, I'm beyond post of tearing it all down. You know, I'm fine with the deal they made or the proposal, but tearing all five of them down is just appalling and disgraceful. And I was thinking, what I heard is this Council could actually do an historic designation, which could actually protect it from being torn down, you know, that's possible, you know, I would say, do that like right away, because, you know, we can't tear down the Renaissance Center. It's like Chicago tearing down the Sears Tower, or New York tear down the Empire State Building. You know, it's just, it's just such a disgraceful thing to even mention. You know, GM is a terrible company. We can all agree, you we can all agree they abused a lot of government money, but we need to save the Renaissance Center no matter what it takes. This is part of our skyline. This is a symbol of our city, and tearing it down will just show that our city does not take its landmarks for granted, like almost every other city does you know we've torn down, probably, like I would say, half the buildings downtown since the 1950s so, you know, I hope this council does something to at least prevent that from happening. And lastly, I'm going to say, Yes, I agree we need to double the DDOT budget. You know, I don't think they're going to double it, but at least we need a significant increase to get this DDOT reimagined on.
Unknown Speaker
Thank you so much.
Unknown Speaker
Our next caller is Tahira Ahmad.
Unknown Speaker
Good morning, Miss Ahmad,
Speaker 6
good morning and happy gregarian calendar. New Year to you for the Coalition for Property Tax Justice. You know what we need. Thank you for passing the property tax reform ordinance, but you're not following the law yet you work so hard to implement, we need the people who are on the Board of Review to take the test. They haven't taken the test, otherwise, they're not going to be really qualified to look at these properties. Also, we want you to to make sure that everyone who has been illegally foreclosed, like the young gentleman who's saying he's not getting justice, call us at 313-438-8698, if the Wayne County sold your Home for foreclosure, you are entitled to whatever was profited for less taxes that was owed. So if your property was foreclosed for $2,000 in the county, received $40,000 after they we sold your home, you are entitled to $38,000 Thank you. Councilmember Angela Whitfield Callaway, if it wasn't for you pressing the issue, we wouldn't have got it, because mister Doha said, No, it doesn't apply to that way County. But I'm glad you went on and did that. Eric Sabri encourages Detroiters to claim the tax foreclosure profits. You can get some money reparations is now and right here. So you need to get in touch with us. 313-438-8698, we were able to find people who have been foreclosed at our coffee and stories meeting, and got some people some money. We're going to help you get your money, and we want to help everyone. So thank you again. Council member, Callaway, and please call us. Anyone who has foreclosed will appeal your taxes and help you. Thank you. Have
Unknown Speaker
a right. Thank you so much.
Unknown Speaker
Our next caller is Michael musinski,
Unknown Speaker
hello. Can you
Speaker 36
guys hear me? Yes, we can Excellent. I'm Michael lezinski with Detroit anti war and President Mary Sheffield, you did, in fact, receive multiple emails from Detroit anti war, starting on November 27 I'm the one who sent them, and Yvonne can back that information. I digress. Being wrong on Oh no, I don't being wrong on record while trying to speak down on people is a bad look. Please be more careful. Anyways, it is a new year, and the genocide in Palestine continues with Detroit's financial support, Detroit has not done nearly enough to reckon for it on the local level, I find it absurd that we started the meeting today with the praise of a loving Jesus, but failed to do what he would have done to do our part to put an end to genocide. President Mary Sheffield, has taken the first steps to make divestment from genocide a reality. I appreciate that, but I wonder if any other counselors have the courage, morality or sense to do something about the genocide. This year, we wrote the resolution ready to work on it with you all. Contact us. Thank you. I yield my time.
Speaker 1
All right, thank you. And I won't go back and forth about emails, but I do have a lot of confidence in what my team tells me she has the email thread. And again, we're here to support. We're here to help. So however we can do that, we're here to do all right, thank you so much for calling in and looking forward to working with you. All right, our next caller, please.
Unknown Speaker
Our next caller is we see you,
Unknown Speaker
okay, we see you, good morning.
Unknown Speaker
We see you, good morning. You
Unknown Speaker
let's come back to this Caller, please.
Unknown Speaker
Okay, we will go to caller ending in 124,
Unknown Speaker
caller, 124, good morning. You.
Speaker 37
Good morning. May I be heard. Yes, you can. Okay, thank you. First of all, I'd like to thank President Sheffield and members call away and Santiago Romero for their no vote on the solar farm. I think that we all would like to go green and sustainable, but at whose expense I think it'd be best. I urge this body, let's do solar nice and not solar destructive. Lack of the conversation here is not talking about the use of eminent domain. There are people's properties are being confiscated right now. There's been an ugly history of eminent domain in this city. The destruction of black bottom in Paradise Valley comes to mind. And also, where is the right to counsel for these people having their properties confiscated. The city's paying a Farmington Hills law firm $300 an hour for an attorney to go after people here I heard a 70 year old woman who's losing her grandparents home. She put a new roof on and was fixing for her granddaughter, but No, she doesn't get it. And also, please, is this the best technology? There are advancements in photovoltaics, and I urge you to reach out to Professor Richard lunch, l u n t, who specializes in photovoltaics. I can put in Windows. There's all sorts of ways to do this without destroying residential neighborhoods. Also look at there's concern about for everybody, look up the solar farm proposed by the DNR near Gaylord. They want to destroy 400 acres of forest land. And I'm just urging there's another way to do this. We want to grow the city with residents. And also, why do the people in the solar neighborhoods get the $15,000 upgrades to their homes who are not losing their homes, when some people losing their homes aren't even getting that much money or being offered that much money. And I'm not saying not do that, because that'll improve the overall energy use. But why not? Why does great.
Speaker 24
Thank you. Our next caller is phone number ending in 299,
Unknown Speaker
dollar. 299, good morning.
Unknown Speaker
Good morning.
Speaker 38
Good morning. Can you hear me now? Yes, we can. Hello. Thank you. Good morning everyone. Good morning to the city of Detroit. Good morning to the council members. My name is Joyce Moore with the Virginia Park community coalition within the boundaries of the Virginia Park community. I come today because of certain issues that I think should be discussed. One was we had talked about the citizen district councils being reenacted, and I think it's necessary at this point due to the fact that I'm having a controversy with one of the nonprofits. I think it's Lisa Johanna. We're looking at the quality of work, whereas when we had the citizen District Council, these people contractors, subcontractors, general contractors, people who had skills came before this body, and we saw their work as well as to ensure that they followed all of the guidelines by pulling permits. So we need to go back to that, if possible. Other thing is, of course, Herman keeper. I talked about that before. Council member Sheffield, you had mentioned that there's a meeting coming up. I would like to be invited to that meeting, due to the fact that I've been involved with Herman keeper for the inception. First of all, I would really like to see it back as the house requirements of the city, Detroit, entire city. I think we need to go back to that, and we do that, but in terms of any meetings, we would like to be there the beginning and at the end. And the other thing is transportation. University of Michigan is offering a pilot program where they're talking about driverless drivers. Excited. About two years ago, we were just following it, and so they're now trying to implement that, where they have locations throughout the city of Detroit where they will take you and then pick you up. I just want to thank everyone. Thank you for you. Thank you for allowing me to speak and I yield my time.
Unknown Speaker
Thank you, Miss Moore. You
Unknown Speaker
our next caller is phone number ending in 169
Unknown Speaker
caller, 169 Good morning. You.
Unknown Speaker
Caller, 169 Good morning.
Speaker 1
Okay, can we go to the next caller? Please? Yes. Our next caller is
Unknown Speaker
mik a Williams, Miko
Unknown Speaker
will Williams, Good morning.
Speaker 39
Hello. Good morning. Can you hear me? Yes? We can Yes. Hi. DMI Williams, Chief Executive Director of high Drake, Detroit. I apologize I was on a phone call that came in. First of all, I just wanted to say happy new year to the Detroit city council members. May God bless you and hope that you all do great in 2025 also, I want to speak in my official position of hydrate Detroit. We're 501 c3 water rights organization that helps people with their water bills assistance. And as you know, that due to Lansing the legislators last day of session that was a week or so ago, did not meet a quorum, so no business was passed. The water affordability bill is on hold. It is not dead. It is on hold. So what we are trying to do is to encourage our legislators and lawmakers to put water affordability at the first and foremost issue to pass before anything else. I want to thank Council President Sheffield and a couple of other community leaders that showed up on an emergency press conference that we held on December 30, right before the new year. And that press conference turned out to be very successful as we started getting outreach from Michigan groups and organizations. We are trying to build a Michigan coalition. This issue transcends outside Detroit. It affects the whole entire state of Michigan, the region, and also within the states and counties. So we need a regional, but not just a regional. We need a statewide water affordability plan, and the legislators are supposed to do that. We don't know what this new legislation, legislators, Republicans are going to do that. Now that they have the trifecta, we have to work hard and do whatever we can to get that issue passed, but also other issues concerning this city and hopefully through the federal that we're able to get success. May God bless you all and have a great session.
Unknown Speaker
Thank you so much. Tamika Williams,
Unknown Speaker
our last caller
Unknown Speaker
is we see you.
Speaker 1
All right, we see you. Are you with us this morning? We see you. Good morning. Thank you, right, going once, going twice. And if you have a comment, please submit your public comment to the clerk's office so that it will be a part of our public record, and we will now conclude our general public comment for this morning and proceed back to our agenda under the standing committee reports for the internal operations, standing committee from the office. Excuse me from human resources, classification, compensation division.
Unknown Speaker
Council member Johnson, the resolution.
Unknown Speaker
Council member Johnson, thank
Speaker 40
you, Madam President. Move for approval. This is a request to amend the 2024 2025 official compensation schedule for the deputy city clerk.
Speaker 1
Motion has been made. Any objections? Hearing, no objections. The one resolution will be approved. And under the resolution request to speak before city council, Council
Speaker 3
Member said, Send out Romero a resolution and number 22.1,
Speaker 1
Council Member Santiago Romero, thank you, Madam President, discussion, okay, and we will move to discussion. Thank you, Madam President. I do not believe that we've updated our rules when it comes to speaking requests, and this request is about an issue that has not come before Council just yet. I believe it's best to receive and file this at the moment again, this discussion is still being discussed at the state level has not been brought up to us here. Excuse me, we do allow for public comment here in formal session and in committee, but because I don't believe we have no rule set yet for this process and given the topic of conversation, I think we can receive and file unless other folks think otherwise. Okay. Is there any objection to receiving and filing this petition? Hearing? No objections. We will receive and file line item 22.1, thank you, Madam President, through you just encourage the petitioner to reach out to our office and to do come to public comments, make a comment during public comments, either during PHS or in formal session of wherever they would like to speak. But this is in no way stating that we won't listen just at this moment. It's not being discussed, and I do believe that we need to figure out a process for petitions like these. Thank you. Thank you. We will move now to the new business portion of the agenda for the internal operations standing committee for reports from various city departments before reports will be referred to the internal operations, standing committee for the Neighborhood and Community Services, standing
Speaker 3
committee, woman office of contracting and procurement. The one
Speaker 1
report will be referred to the neighborhood and community services, standing committee for the Planning and Economic Development. Standing Committee
Speaker 3
the reports from various city departments. The three reports
Speaker 1
will be referred to the Planning and Economic Development standing committee for the public health and safety standing
Speaker 3
committee, eight reports from various state departments. The eight reports
Speaker 1
will be referred to the public health and safety Standing Committee under the consent agenda, there are no items. Madam President, all right, we'll call now for our member reports, and I will start with President Pro Temp
Speaker 41
tape negative report. Madam President, just thankful to be back and ready to get to work. 25 Thank
Unknown Speaker
you. Thank you. Pro Tem council member waters, thank you.
Speaker 28
Madam President, and let me just say that Happy New Year to everybody, first and foremost. And a lot of people didn't make it in in 2024 so I'm very grateful to be here and still be able to serve the people in this in this great city, condolences go out to the police officer who was involved in the hit and run. Shame on people for hitting and and leaving people there to die running off. Also want to give condolences to all of the families in New Orleans who was, who was part of those devastating, that devastating incident that happened down in New Orleans. It was absolutely horrible. And then lastly, I just want to say to families with children. We don't want to increase the numbers this year. We want to have zero numbers. So if you have guns in your home, please lock them up. Lock the guns up so that we can protect our children. You can tell the kid not to touch something, but they gotta do it. Soon as you turn your back, they're going to touch that gun. They're going to play with it because they are curious, and that is what children do. And so I'm pleading with parents, with these young children, to please lock your guns up. Let's save some lives. Let's protect our children. Thank you, Madam President,
Unknown Speaker
thank you so much. Member waters council member Benson,
Speaker 22
all right, thank you. Just happy new year. Everybody. Just an honor, privilege to be back here today. Also want to concur with my colleagues when it comes to offering the condolences for officer Cameron Richardson, who was in the watch, came unfortunately on the fifth of January, 2025 and that was also just one of couple incidents that happened on the fifth of January. Is also a murder in a home that may have been a a drug deal gone bad. And so as we enter the new year is critical that we remember that vehicle safety, something that we take for granted, can have devastating consequences when it's not adhered to, that your lifestyle can also have devastating negative consequences. And so it's hoping people in 2025 looking forward and having a happy and safe year and also concur as well to congratulate the Detroit Lions for bringing a new level of prosperity and good wishes and lifestyle to the city of Detroit in a long time since the city's had somebody to cheer for in this matter, and it's been close to 70 years since we've had someone to cheer for in football at this level. So it's good to have that. Thank you.
Speaker 1
Thank you. Member Benson, member Callaway. Thank you,
Speaker 42
Madam Chair. And Happy New Year to everyone. This is Human Trafficking Prevention Month, and I established the Human Trafficking Task Force in 2022 we have 17 volunteers on that task force. They meet every month, and I'm proud of the work that they're doing. We're anticipating, anticipating a trip to Lansing and working closely with the Human Trafficking Task Force through the Attorney General's Office Dana Nestle, January's Human Trafficking Prevention Month and awareness month a time to educate and act nationally, the Human Trafficking Hotline received over 51,000 signals, and 2023 along identifying more than 14,000 cases and 24,000 victims and survivors. And I met a survivor last night, just at the breakfast Breakfast Club art meeting at no knees on Livernois, and he shared his story. I had an opportunity to meet him just just by chance, here in Michigan, we saw 700,000 signals leading to 254 cases involving 506 victims of human trafficking right here in Michigan, according to the National Human Human Trafficking Hotline, every zip code in Michigan has reports of suspected human trafficking. These numbers reflect real lives and demand our attention. This year's theme, connecting the dots, strengthening communities and preventing trafficking reminds us of the links between trafficking and issues like online exploitation and labor abuse. By addressing these vulnerabilities, we can disrupt trafficking before it starts on Saturday, January 11. Wear blue day. I encourage you to wear blue every day in the month of January, or where the blue ribbon that my office circulated, small actions like this can spark important conversations and inspire change. Prevention starts with education and awareness. Learn to recognize the signs of trafficking and report suspicious activity to the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 188837378888,
Speaker 42
OR text HELP, 2233733, and I want to thank this honorable body. We passed an ordinance and may to have nine by seven placards posted in every hotel and motel in the city of Detroit. We are just now getting the language and the images on those placards approved, and I'm so hoping and praying that the placards will be installed Mr. Zander, by February one, because we've been waiting and not calling out anybody, but I want to know what the delay is. But thank you all so much, and again, happy New Year
Unknown Speaker
Council Member young
Speaker 43
Thank you, Madam President. I just wanted to say really quickly, just keeping our prayers, let's have a moment of silence for two people, one lieutenant Carrie buyers who passed away on New Year's Eve after a long battle answered and Officer Cameron Richardson of the ninth precinct who died from a hit and run driver on his way home for work on Sunday, January 5, may they both rest in God's peace, power and grace and embrace. Can we just have a moment of silence for those heroes? Please, madam president, yes.
Speaker 43
Thank you. God bless them and thank them for their service. That's all. Thank
Speaker 1
you members, thank you so much. Happy New Year, everyone. Happy New Year. Council members Santiago Ramiro, thank you, Madam President, no report. Just excited to be back and ready to get back to work. Thank you. Council member Johnson,
Speaker 40
thank you, Madam President. Just wanted to say happy new year to everyone. I appreciate the support of the community and my team throughout the recess that we held, I had an opportunity to get some rest, and want to give my condolences to the officers who passed away recently, the I am planning to stop by The ninth precinct as of course, the ninth precinct overseas and keeps us safe in District Four as well as in District Three. And just want to encourage everyone to recognize that we're all dealing with something, even though we may not know what it is. So just encourage everyone to be kind to one another. Thank you, Madam President,
Speaker 1
thank you member Johnson, Council Member draw. Thank
Speaker 44
you, Madam President. And just want to wish everyone a very happy New Year. Enjoy spending time in the district during recess at all the gatherings for district seven, community groups, block clubs, just really great spending time with some of the amazing folks in our district. I want to say thank you again to my team. We are back for this new year. I'm happy to be back with colleagues as well to do the people's work. And just want to send our condolences to the officers as well, but just a lot of folks who we lost over this time since we have last met, including city council president of Romulus, Virginia Williams, who was a dedicated leader here in our region. And so our thoughts and prayers go out to each and every one of those folks and their families who we lost since the time that we've met last but I am looking forward to a amazing and prosperous new year, a new year here at City Council, and a brighter future for our city. Thank you, Madam President,
Speaker 1
thank you council member door Hall and as well, want to wish again everyone a Happy New Year, excited about the year ahead and all the work that we have in store for us. Also, my condolences to both officers we have been in touch with Cameron Richardson's family as well, and as was mentioned, all that have unfortunately lost their lives during this time. I know my staff member l Horton just lost his sister this morning, and so my condolences to him and his family. Many of you may also know latosha Logan, who served Detroit for quite some time. Her grandson actually passed throughout this recess as well too. I think some people from council went to the funeral. I did see some staff as well. So our condolences to her and her family, keeping everyone in prayer who may have lost loved ones during this holiday season as well, just as we gear for this year our I'm sorry, thank you. So as we're gearing up for this year, our annual Organizing for Action, which we do every year at the top of the year to set our priorities for both policy and budget will be on Wednesday January the 29th at the Williams rec center. Again, we are encouraging everyone to come out to hear from you relative to what policy and budget priorities are a priority for you as we move forward in 2025 again, that will be held Wednesday January the 29th at 6pm we also will have all of our district five representation there, whether it's the DGC, from our business liaisons to BC to our district managers, all there to support our district five community again, Wednesday January the 29th at 6pm at the Williams rec center. And that will conclude all of our member reports for today. And we will proceed. Back to the agenda. Under adoption without committee reference.