Alex, good Morning, everyone. The regular session of Tuesday, March 11, 2025 will come to order in the Madam Clerk. Will you please call the
roll council member Scott Benson.
Scott Benson aye,
Council Member Fred duha, the third council member Letitia Johnson, present
council member Gabriella San Jose Romero, present
council member Walters, present
Council mister Whitfield Conway,
Council member Coleman Young, the second
council president pro Tim James Tate here, and Council President Mary Sheffield,
you have a quorum. Madam President, alright.
Thank you. There being a quorum. Present. We are in session, and we will now go straight to our invocation for this morning, and we have joining us. Pastor Corey Chavis from victory Community Church, who is here in person, and you can check you can come up and out.
Yeah, in district one, ma'am, yes in district one, I just wanted to say Yes, sir.
Thank you for being here in person. Let us pray.
Make sure your make sure your microphone is on by pressing the bottom and it should turn green.
There we go. Thank you.
Let us pray
Eternal God, Lord, we thank you now for bringing us together in session with council God. We pray for every council member. Lord, we ask that you would continue to watch over and bless them and keep them God. Lord, bless each and every person in our city. God, and bless us for the spirit of diligence that reigns and rules in our city now. God, as we go forward with session, God, we ask that you would create harmony and peace, Lord, that there would be diligence, that there would be focus, and all persons of our city would be blessed by the decisions that would be made today. God, we thank you for the hard work, for the effort, Lord, and for the diligence that is done throughout each of these sessions. And we ask that You would give all of us continued blessings each and every day with that God, we thank you, and we give you praise in Jesus name, amen. Amen.
Alright. Thank
you so much for being here. Appreciate you. Feel free to stay as long as you would like, and if you have to depart, we definitely understand we will start off with our first presentation this morning from the Detroit Police Department recruitment. And is Katrina Patillo here.
Okay, here's from the redistricting. Okay,
yeah, thank you. Just
press the bottom. It should turn green.
Good morning Council President Sheffield and esteemed members of the honorable city council, thank you for the opportunity to speak before the great city of Detroit. As we begin, I want to take a moment to recognize that March is the Women's History Month, and this is a time to honor trailblazing women who have broken barriers and paved the way in law enforcement, public service and beyond, their dedication and contributions have strengthened our communities and continue to inspire future generations. I am proud to share that our sworn staff is that 99% capacity, with 32 to 35% 35 positions opening on our civilian side, we currently have around 75 vacancies, but we are actively bringing new hires in. While this is significant milestone, our work is far from done. Public Safety remains our top priority, and we are committed to recruiting the best and brightest to serve and protect the citizens of Detroit. Thank you for the support of this council and Mayor Duggan administration our colleagues in the Detroit Police Department, we have been equipped with the tools to offer competitive opportunities and fulfilling career law enforcement. Our recruitment strategy is both strategic and data driven, and we have made it a priority to reach all four corners of Detroit, ensuring that every community is represented. One of the most effective initiatives has been our one stop shop hiring approach, where you complete most of the hiring process in one day for the sworn applicants, this process is under one roof, and it streamlines our effort to and allow us to attract top quality efficiency. We have also expanded our reach outreach to high school, trade schools, veterans, athletes, colleagues, universities and additionally, we have utilized digital billboards, cable, streaming ads, social media campaigns, radio, advertisement and geo fencing to connect with our potential recruits. Our strong partnership with the media outlets have helped amplify our messages and highlight our career opportunities with the department. Beyond recruitment, we are dedicated to giving back to the community. Our officers are more than just public servants. They are neighbors, their mentors, their role models, and we continue to invest in the programs and the engage in the youth, support our families, building lasting relationships between the law enforcement and the communities we serve. I also want to highlight two important events that are coming up, and I believe I sent this over. If you do not have it, I will make some photo copies. Today we have our DPD great event. This event is happening today. It showcases outstanding work of our department. It provides community with an opportunity to connect with our officers. It is going to be held from four to 7pm it is called our Detroit police readiness program. You get receive guidance, resources, expectations, application and training. It is going to be held at fellowship chapel, 7707, outer drive west. Outer drive Detroit, Michigan, 4235 and this is a safe opportunity for citizens to be able to come down ask questions about the DPD hiring process. They're going to meet with DPD recruiting team, the background investigators, specialized units. They learn about the hiring processes from start to finish, what paperwork is necessary, our mental and physical requirements, our M calls screening, and then the pre Employment Standards. And then we'll also have resources available, such as 36 District Court sir Metro, and plenty of more. So this is an opportunity where individuals who's just interested in the police department specifically for Detroit. We're right here in Detroit, and we're doing this. We do this quarterly, and then starting next Saturday or this coming Saturday, we're going to be doing our DPD career fair. We normally have over 100 members that come through the door. So we do this. DPD, great being great event before our career, there is, this is the one stop shop I'm talking about. That event is going to be Saturday, March 15, 7am to 5pm in the Detroit Police Department Training Center, and that 6050 Lynnwood. And so I just wanted to be able to bring these opportunities in front of you all, and first of all, just say thank you again for the significant contributions that you gave us with the raises that reap benefits with us. We do have a net gain of officers since the contract, and also since January of 2003 and so in closing, I just want to expect my appreciation for the council, for the ongoing support that you continue to give us, and let you know that we continue to do more. We're doing everything we can to hire Detroiters. So these are two great events, and I wanted to be here today to share the opportunities, to be able to mention it, and then I'll answer any questions you may have. But thank you again.
Okay, thank you so much for being here, and we are looking forward to, of course, also hearing from the Detroit Police Department during our upcoming budget sessions that are forthcoming. And then also, can you make sure you send us over the the events that you mentioned so that we can get them out to our this morning? Okay? Perfect. Appreciate that. All right, any questions or comments from my colleagues? Council Member Santiago Romero, thank you, Madam President, through you. Thank you for coming over and for giving us an updates on your outreach efforts. Wondering, would you have a sense of how many Detroiters are currently hired by the police department? So I
can give you the numbers as let me just give you the numbers since November of 2022 I don't have all the numbers, but
I may if I have the slide since november 2022
to current, from our new hires that we have hired out of 715 165 were Detroit residents. And then since January of 23 to current, well, we've hired 687, out of that 162 Detroit residents
Understood, thank you, Madam President, through you. And I understand we're hiring. We need to hire to make sure that we have our force. And you are doing doing geo tagging, and I see the the billboards that you have in the city as well. Is there anything that you're doing specifically? I'm assuming part of your targeting efforts are in the city to get more Detroiters to get targeted as well. Okay, well, I appreciate the efforts, and I know that we're doing what we can, but I appreciate the update. Thank you. Thank you Madam President, thank you council member Johnson. Thank you
Madam President, good morning. Thank you so much for giving us the update, and thank you for coming to our meetings and making sure that we are connecting with Detroit residents. Can you just speak a little bit about the incentives that you have or have had available for Detroit residents to encourage them to join the department?
Yes. So our last campaign that we had, which was, I want to say, November until December 31 we did run a bonus referral program. So we were offering $2,000 for Detroit residents, and then $1,000 for non Detroit residents, and then if they live two hours from Detroit residents, they were entitled to the $1,000 referral and then up to $3,000 relocation cost. So those, those were the last bonus incentives that we actually hired, and then also when they graduate from the Academy. So we pay for our students to go to the academy. When they graduate, they earn approximately about $57,000 and then we also have clear University, who we have partnered with, where they offer tuition. When they get tuition reimbursement, they already get that, and then they get a decrease for attending clear University. So those are some of the incentives. And then also paid if they have education, they do receive an additional two or 2.5%
and then $2,500
in college tuition, 2% additional pay for up to 60 credit hours.
Thank you. And can you speak to any programs that the department has with our youth that may encourage them to seek a career in law enforcement with the department?
Yes. So we do have the Explorers program, we have pal outreach. We also participate in the mayor's Fellowship Program, which is the internship program, which is going to be coming up, and then the Grow Detroit youth. Grow Detroit youth talent. So all of those programs are actually opportunities for youth to participate in, and then we work with those coordinators to be able to get them to come over and join the police department. Thank you. I appreciate that. Thank you,
Madam President, thank you. And also, can you speak to the demographics of the individuals. I know you're trying to target Detroiters, but just some of the demographics or some of the new hires in the overall workforce of DPD.
So we've been targeting around 18 year olds to 34 so the minimum age, whether you are applying for a sworn position or civilian position, is minimum age of 18. You have to have at least a high school diploma or GED for those, those opportunities,
okay? And then what about race as well? So I don't have the
break ground of the demographics in front of me, but I can get them over to you. Oh, yeah, we'll look at
that as well when we come for a budget. And then, is there any incentives currently being discussed to encourage officers to move and to live in the city,
not currently at the moment, okay,
all right. Well, we appreciate you any questions, comments from any of my colleagues. All right. Well, we thank you so much for coming and letting us know about those events. We'll make sure we get it out to the community. Thank you. Appreciate it. All right, thanks for your time and all the work that you do. Thanks You okay, we will now move to our second presentation, which is from the update on the city council redistricting process. And we have with us Anthony,
Who will give us an overview. You
if the clerk would know, member Calloway did indicate she will not be present today as well, so her absence is excused as well. Clerk will so no applause.
All right, good morning City Council. It's a pleasure to be here as a Detroiter living in District Six. It is a big honor. I'm actually here to talk to you about the statewide redistricting process that just concluded a couple months ago. I was actually trying to get get in here while the process was taking place, but we're here now, and that's what matters. I'm Anthony eat. I'm the chairman of the Michigan independent citizens redistricting commission. These opinions are my own. No outside funds were used to create this presentation, and
there's some sources here as well.
I know I have a short amount of time here today, so I will try to keep it brief. But in 2018 Michigan voters amended the statewide constitution to take the power away from the state legislature in creating statewide district maps and instead into the hands of regular, everyday citizens. This created the Michigan independent citizens redistricting commission, a commission comprised of 13 randomly selected Michigan residents, consisting of four who identify as Democrats, four who identify as Republicans and five who identify as independents. And this commission is tasked with redrawing Michigan's 13 US Congressional seats, 110 House seats and 38 Senate seats. A little bit about our structure. There are about 10,000 applicants who originally applied to be on the commission. Of those, there was a drawing of 200 random individuals. The state then got to strike out a few names, bringing it to 180 and then there was a second random drawing to bring it down to the final 13. The structure is important. It makes it so that no one group can out vote another group, because we have it so that two members of each of these pools, two Democrat, two Republican and two independent are needed in order for the commission to pass anything, meaning that, let's say the Democrats and independents can't team up to output the Republicans or the Republicans, the Democrats can't team up to outvote the independents. He truly needed a bipartisan vote in order to pass anything on this commission. And one of the biggest differences between this structure of government compared to what we had before, was the level of transparency that occurred. Every single one of our meetings was live streamed. All of the data was and still is posted on our website. It's all still on YouTube. From the inception of the random drawing process to the map drawing and everything in between, we also had criteria that we had to use to redraw these maps, ranging from equal population and the voting rights act more federal requirements are the top two, but then in bold is where things get a little interesting. In Michigan, having a focus on communities of interest and having no disproportionality as far as political advantage. After those two you get into some of the more traditional redistricting criteria, such as city, county, township boundaries and compactness. Now we first undertook this process in 2021 in the midst of the COVID pandemic, there was a delay in census data, and there was a really big time crunch and getting the job done. Nonetheless, we went and held 15 public hearings across the state before we put any pen to paper to hear what Michiganders had to say and what they wanted to see in their new maps. After that, we drew some draft maps and then had a another five public hearings, including here in the city of Detroit, in sum total, there were about 30,000 public comments, ranging from in person to virtual. On our public comment portal, there are multiple ways for people to submit comments. For example, here is just one comment. This individual was talking about a Lakeshore community on the south west side of the state. You can see their comment on the left side and how that district is reflected in the final map on the right. Public input was imperative in this process, and it truly the public's input truly went into the creation of these districts. As I said, in order to pass anything, it took two members of each political demographic, meaning that no one demographic could outvote the other. Here are the final maps that were adopted at the end of 2021 we have the chestnut congressional map, the hickory State House map, and the Linden state senate map, some of the results, essentially were that the maps ended up being more proportional politically compared to what we had before. You can see in red what the previous legislative, the previous map drawn by the legislature, was at the higher the number, if it's positive, it means it leans more towards Republicans. If it's a negative, it leans more towards Democrats. We went from a positive 12 efficient efficiency gap in the congressional map to a 0.6% efficiency gap, and it stands to be, mathematically, one of the most fair maps in the country today. You see similar results with the State House and the State Senate plan. And here's some more results from third party adjudicators essentially saying the same thing. The partisan fairness of the map ended up being pretty fair, which is what I think Michiganders wanted when they amended this process. So
it also came with some interesting legislative outcomes. So first democratic Trifecta in 40 years, first black speaker of the house, first female Senate Leader, two black representatives, representing parts of Macomb County for the first time, and also some wins for Detroit, record funding for the city, for DPS, the repeal of right to work, some common sense, gun legislation, all things that I think help Detroit families. Now, clearly more work could have been done. We've heard the mayor talk about CBI and different land value tax structures, and I agree with most of that. But just because more could have been done doesn't mean we shouldn't celebrate some of the progress that's been made. Now we didn't get it all right. There are a lot of lawsuits after we got done, and lawsuits are pretty common in the redistricting process. There were four lawsuits filed by people on both sides of the aisle. The Commission won three of them, and we but we lost the final one, the Aggie V Benson case. In this case, a three Republican judge panel out in West Michigan found that the Commission violated the 14th Amendment of the equal protections clause. I'm sorry, the equal protections Clause of the 14th Amendment by focusing on race and drawing the maps. I've heard some talk that the court found that we violated the VRA. That's actually not what they found. It's kind of the opposite. We used race to try to follow the VRA, but the court said we did that too much, and in doing so, violated the 14th Amendment. Now how one can follow the VRA without looking at race is still a question that I have. Nonetheless, the court ordered us to redraw some of the State House and the State Senate districts. Now this was only for the statewide maps. The Congressional map did not change. I should say, when this happened, there was a real big push by some folks to make it so that the Commission wasn't the entity redrawing the maps instead being drawn by a special master, in my opinion, if that would have come to pass, would have been a real disservice for the citizens of the state, because it would have gone back to being a completely private process with no citizen input, and it would have essentially gone against the statewide amendment that the citizens passed back in 2018 Luckily, the court gave us the opportunity to try to rectify some of the mistakes that were made at this point, shortly after I became chairman of the Commission, and we really tried to put an emphasis on Detroit in the redraw We held meetings at Cass tech Renaissance High School and MLK High School, and successfully adopted new State House and State Senate maps after the Commission adopted said maps, the court then approved them as well. They are now the law. The State House map was used in the past election that just took place, and the State Senate map is going to be used in the next Senate election in 2026 and I should say both maps were supported pretty significantly by folks in the city of Detroit and Wayne County in general. Here's the new house map. It is dubbed Motown sound, and you can see it matches up not perfectly, but pretty close to the city council districts that you all just redistricted not too long ago. Now it's not exactly the same. We have to do a statewide redraw, and that involves towns like Hamtramck that are located nested within the city. So it's not exactly the same, but it is quite similar. You can see districts still move across eight mile road, but not quite as much as they did previously, and in a way that I think makes a heck of a lot more sense for the community. And the way we did this was the Court told us to do it in a completely race blind fashion. So we drew them without looking at any sort of racial demographics at all, and then only after they were drawn was a vra analysis undertaken that vra that vra analysis showed that in the small town sound map, there were 12 vra districts, some outcomes from the last election that just took place. One there was one more black rep in Miss Tanya Phillips, who won district seven. Now that district was left open by the incumbent in the previous election. But other than that, pretty much all of the same folks. One, you have Regina Weiss and Victoria piazz in house districts five and 10, they both won their new district configurations. In house district eight, Helena Scott and House District 10 to Joe tape, both one and the two Macomb the two reps that were representing parts of Macomb County that I spoke about earlier, Donovan McKinley and Kimberly Scott both won in much more Detroit center districts as well. So it's a little interesting. It seems that the voters elected mostly the same people that was for the house map this election just took place, looking in the future at the Senate map. The Commission adopted this configuration, dubbed crane. It was highly supported by Wayne County, and you can see this map. It adheres to that eight mile boundary a little bit more than the State House map did. Now there are opinions on both sides on if that's a good or a bad thing, but this is what the commission ended up adopting. And for the VRA analysis on this, you can see it has four vra districts in districts 136, and seven. As far as the metrics for these maps, they lean a little bit more Republican than the ones adopted in 2021 did, but they are still significantly better than the than what the legislature drew back in the 2010 cycle. And still, experts say are in the realm of fair there are a lot of lessons learned from this process. Hopefully, the next commission in 2030 uses some of the lessons that this commission learn and comes up with an even better result. Some some lessons are the need for more staff, more training, more primary election data in particular, would be extremely useful coming out of this city, because then we can use that data in the configuration of the districts. Another consideration is who applies for these kind of commissions. As you can see, there is a definitely a skew in race and age. So looking forward, perhaps the city of Detroit the next time in 2030 that redistricting happens, can try to get some folks, more folks from here to apply. There were three Detroiters on this commission, myself and two others, by having a diverse commission that represents all of the voices in Michigan, I think is important to have. So about all I got today, I'd be happy to take some questions. I'm sure you all have some. I should say all of this information is located on our website, www.michigan.gov/m,
I, C, R, C, um. CRC,
as well as all of the meetings, all of the map drawing and all of the public comments. They're all available on our website for anyone to take a look at, if they so, please. Thank you.
All right. Thank you so much for your presentation and colleagues. Is there any questions or comments? All right, all right. And if the clerk would know Member durha and member young are present, and if there are no questions at this time, we truly appreciate the very thorough presentation. And I'm sure if we have any additional questions or concerns, we'll reach out to you. Everyone should have a copy of the presentation as well. And thank you so much for being here and for that update to us, thank you so much. I appreciate it. All right, thank you. You have a great day. Thank you, sir. Okay, we will now cut off our general public comment for this morning and proceed back to our agenda, the Journal of the session of Tuesday, February the 25th will be approved. There being no reconsideration or unfinished business. We will proceed to the budget Finance and Audit standing committee for the budget Finance and Audit. Standing Committee,
a reporter, this, this policy division, one report. The
one report will be referred to the budget, Finance and Audit standing committee for the internal operation. Standing Committee, four
reports from various city departments. The four reports will
be referred to the internal operations, standing committee for the Neighborhood and Community Services. Standing Committee,
two reports from various state departments. The two reports
will be referred to the neighborhood and community services, standing committee for the Planning and Economic Development, standing committee,
two reports from various state departments. The two reports will
be referred to the Planning and Economic Development standing committee for the public health and safety standing committee,
15 reports from various city departments.
The 15 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 by the President. Under communications from the mayor and other governmental officials and agencies,
there are no items by the President. All right. Thank you. We will call
for general public comment, and everyone will have a minute and a half for general public comments, starting with those who joined us in person. Miss. Betty Lyons, you'll be first.
Okay, where's Oh, okay, okay, over $600 million of overpaid property tax belonging to Detroit residents, stolen and coveted by, in my opinion, the demonic minded Dana Nessel and Mike Dugan. Where is Conrad Mali. You never can find him who appears to be hiding somewhere. Maybe he's afraid of old Massa Dugan. I went to Rashida to leave office. Her staff told me that she only does federal cases, so she's not doing anything for me either, so she's no better than he is. Yes, she is seen on TV making a spectacle of herself for the Muslim culture and not for us. Council, when are you going on TV to show unity in the black community and expose this dastardly injustice done to the Detroit residents investigate. Don't be afraid. Nobody's going to hurt you. Chinese came down here, got what they wanted. Haven't seen them, and they're working on Chinatown coming back while black bottom is still underground. Where is that at? Also the Mexicans. They gonna get help so you don't even have to ask for the illegal border jumpers there.
Okay, again, we want to definitely allow everyone to have public comment, but as much as we can, you know it's your right to speak. Let's try to be respectful in our comments towards everyone, everyone's race, everyone's backgrounds, everyone's beliefs. We encourage your participation in public comment. You have a right to speak, but again, we ask that we try as much as possible to be respectful of one another. Thank you so much. Miss Mayberry, followed by Karen Clayton, no,
just press the bottom of the microphone. It should turn
green. Hello, city council members. I'm coming before you today to save the Renaissance Center. After I heard that you were going to try to have it torn down with using taxpayers money, I think that we should stand up for the city, for the people of the city of Detroit, as far as saving the Renaissance It was once built for
alternative
education for the city of Detroit, those two towers that you're trying to tear down, they were, they had training there in that building. I was one of the class members of a 1974 class our automation Academy there for alternative mothers there in that building. And it had, they had torn down Liberty Washington training school and an Orville Wright training school at that particular time to have those services put in there. I think those, those things should be reinstated into that Renaissance Center in those two towers that you're trying to tear down. Also, I would like to talk about the black bottom. Also, that if you're going to give the Chinese back there their land, we need to have a black bottom reinstated once again. Also, and that includes everything from the Detroit River all the way up to Gratiot Avenue as well, because of being black bottom and Paradise Valley.
Thank you so much. Miss Mayberry.
Karen Clayton,
Hi, I'm Karen Clayton, and I came before you guys a couple of weeks ago regarding my resident at the medical center, medical courts and Plymouth housing, I have had some type of progress. Al Horton had gave me his email, and I therefore afford it for the conditions of my house, and also emails that I was receiving from the manager, as well as the emails I was sent back. I wanted to bring some additional concerns. The residents are being charged $75 late fees, and recently, I found that that was illegal. They also charge $100 if you do not sign your lease. I was charged a court cost before the seven days notice, and I never went to court. I found that out yesterday. I'm also, I also got the city of specter to come out, and they did, they report, and I'm thinking that they did send it to the manager. And at this point, I'm feeling like I'm being retaliated against by the manager, and I need to know, because I can't afford, I can't afford to move. Moving is not an option, as she gave me, the conditions have not been done. My roof is still leaking, so I am worried about retaliation, and what should I do to be able to
fight that? Okay, well, well, thank you so much for coming down. I know you said you mentioned you talk with Al from our team, if you don't mind, before you leave, we'll also try to connect you with some of the legal services organizations that we know, uchc and others that can help as far as knowing your rights as a tenant, and then also hopefully protecting you if there needs to be any type of assistance, if they're, you know, I don't want to say eviction, but we do have some some counsel and support around that as well, too. Okay, so before you leave, I'll have Yvonne right there get your information, and we will connect you directly to some of the legal service organizations that we know. Thank you help. And I will make a note to make sure that we report that, building directly to the director, director, Bill. All right, thank you for coming down and thank you for speaking up.
All right. Miss Ann Goulet,
followed by Mary leg,
good morning members of city council. My name is Anne Goulet. I am a Detroit resident and a small business owner. In January, I mailed this letter to the mayor and to the city council outlining four possible low cost internal organizational actions to significantly improve Detroiters quality of life and the efficient and effective use of taxpayer funds. Those suggestions were. Number one, establish an Office of the Public Advocate to give people a place to seek resolution for their complaints and concerns and to deal with Detroit's extreme red tape, especially in landlord and tenant matters. Number two, establish a Department of Design and Construction to professionally manage the city's financial investments and business interests in its own and others, land and buildings. Number three, update and modernize B seed to be commensurate with other US cities who have successfully, fairly and objectively emerged from blight. And number four, establish a bid or a biz in the Eastern Market District to improve daily commercial activity and city wide economic activity and growth. Two weeks ago, at this meeting, I heard a steady stream of about 40 public citizen complaints that might have fairly easily been resolved if some or all of these suggestions were in place. I brought this letter to you in person in February, and I emailed it again in March. In response to Councilman Tate's request for Detroiters input about the 2526 budget, I am appearing today to inquire with him I can meet this letter and this budget suggestions. Thank you.
Thank
you so much, and I know our office did receive it, and we are looking through and see if that's something that we would like to propose as we're getting ready to enter the budget deliberations this week. And so if sure all of my colleagues got a copy and can handle meetings accordingly with you at their discretion. So thank you so much for being here, and thank you for your amazing suggestions.
Thank you all right.
Thank you so much.
All right. Who was next here? Mary lick Yes. Go right ahead.
Residents within the community boundaries of the solar farm are receiving letters from the city in reference to purchasing rights of use restrictions. We are having to incur attorney calls just to get a call back from city attorneys. I was told, sign it or will condemn it and take it. My home is nice. It is right behind Greenfield school on a densely populated street. There are approximately 700 properties on this list. What is going to be unrestricted? Unrestricted land can be used for anything, 24 hours a day, and did the city do proper notification to any and all interested parties involving parcels in regard to their loss of interest in use restrictions? We would like to have answers and help to guide us through this process, if it is necessary, not to be strong, armed, threatened with lawsuits, losses of our homes and incurred cost, our neighborhood is welcoming the solar farm to contribute power to 127 city buildings, including City Hall. Our community deserves better than this. We have reached out to our council person with no avail. That is why I am appealing this Council today. Our community needs your assistance with this process. Thank you.
Okay, thank you so much for being here. What what district were you? I'm in. District Two, okay. District Two, okay,
yes. Member, duha, thank you,
Madam President, and good morning. I had the opportunity to speak with you and for your issue, over to the law department, because I understand there's some legal action happening in there, and we're waiting. My
deadline has passed so because I could not get answers,
and I'm sorry about that, but we're looking for an answer back. But thank you for reaching out. I know that's not my district, but thank you for reaching out, and hopefully we can get that answer for you soon. To that matter,
unfortunately, I need everybody's help, because my council person won't do anything. It's so they've washed their hands. Okay? Hold
on one second. We've tried not to go back and forth during public comment, but I do see others want to respond. Member waters, thank you,
Madam President, I mom.
I'm taken aback by that, so we're going to work mostly with you, and we need some answers today from the law department why you received such a letter threatening to take your properties. I don't get that, and that is just unacceptable. I don't blame you for not signing it. No,
definitely, thank you. Yep, definitely agree. And if you want, we can have someone come down. We can reach out to the law department. And if you would just, Oh, I see attorney Graham, you'll get someone for us. You'll talk to our side and keep us abreast, please. And I think we all would want to know what's going on in your situation. Ma'am, how we can support you? Madam President, I want them to say it out loud, Yeah, most definitely come back yet. So attorney Graham, once you have an update, we'll get continue through public comment, and then you can come and let me know when you're ready and provide a verbal update so that we all can hear what's going on. Okay? Madam
President, okay. Council
member Johnson, thank
you, Madam President. So as the chair of the internal operations standing committee meeting, just want to share with all of our residents that we have led with making sure that this process is fair to our residents. And so I would like to ask that Tricia Stein is also brought in to address this particular individual's concerns, noting that presumably some of her neighbors could have the same concerns. So we'd love to hear from Miss Stein as well. Thank you, Madam President, okay,
all right. Thank you member Johnson.
Ronald Foster, good
morning through the president, just a couple of things. I watched this presentation with re Dickerson. I'm not necessarily a fan of it, just on face value, if this gentleman takes up 33% of the citizens here in Detroit, we are in trouble. We're in trouble. Okay, and that's just the bottom line, that we need more equitable everything within this city, and that's just the bottom line. Secondly, it was not taken into account a 43% voter turnout in this city. That's the big difference. So we can redistrict everything that we want to but if we don't address the issues in here and have a higher voter turnout, then we're still going to be compromised here with our representation. And so that was it. Secondly, I provided a couple statues here federal statutes this city could take money, receive federal funds, utilize and spend it, and then kick citizens down the road to redress their grievances. 18, USC, section 241, and 242, is conspiracy against civil rights. Crimes. They are crimes. They are missing. Man said felonies. They applied to city council, Mayor, law enforcement and any other governmental agency. So while we are adding in state laws. I think that is important that we add in these federal statutes here too, since the federal statute is providing for this city here. Okay, I got a lot more to say this evening. Okay,
thank you, Mr. Foster we appreciate you. We'll see you later this evening, sir, Mr. Cunningham, followed by Charles cousin,
good morning, Mr. Cunningham, morning, 313444911431344491143134449114,
that number was made so you can remember it and on Facebook, not enemy. Two words on Facebook, not enemy. On Facebook, not enemy. Thank you for those that inbox. We pray together. Folks use my services because of the finances I get and the taxicab I pay it forward. Um, hopefully you all have gotten this flyer. It's a clothing drive and giveaway Friday, April, for part of an organization called warriors on wheels, and they're having an event. And I did pass it, so hopefully you guys got it that information. There's a DDOT meeting coming up next week, and also transit riders united, myself and Mel, 50 other people are going up to Lansing for capital day, or, I don't know what the term is, but we're going up there to advocate for more funds for DDOT smart and just transit in general, from the road funding. I want to thank you for your prayers, your donations. Both tickets are needed. Then, whether it's breaking, hand warmers, gloves and hats, are not necessarily needed anymore, but bus tickets, bus tickets, bus tickets, bus tickets, bus tickets, bus tickets, bus tickets, bus tickets, bus tickets, bus tickets. I appointed every council person bus tickets are needed, and I thank Council President staff, Mr. Ray and y'all, for giving me those 10 bus tickets, I pay it forward, and I brought Mr. Cousins along. He he wanted to speak about
Thank you, Mr. Cunningham and Mr. Cousins. Go right ahead.
Hello, everyone. My name is Charles cousin brother Cunningham brought me to this meeting to talk about my experience with DDOT. He helps out the people of Detroit by providing bus cards, hand warmers and also prayer and he should be thank we should thank him for keeping the city's morale up. Some of the people from DDOT are nice. The others are real. A holes. I witnessed this firsthand. I witnessed firsthand DDOT workers kicking people out of the Rosa Parks transit center in the middle of the winter because they were quote, unquote disciplining them. That is not the solution. It forces people to pee and go to the bathroom on the building and Rosa Parks would not be happy with that. I've seen drivers passing people while it was raining and snowing, and while people are on their way to work and to see their family. I ride the bus every day, and the bus drivers in Detroit set the tempo for Detroiters. So when they're speeding past passengers, when it's super cold outside or raining, they are starting Detroiters day off. Messed up. I'm from and lived in New York most of my life. Have never experienced such poor customer service, and some of them just need to be nicer. I'm not afraid, and I will be reporting the bad workers, but if no one is going to hold them responsible, it's all in vain, and it's not a good look for the city. These drivers get paid well. Pundit and the ones who are jerks need to be punished. We have to hold people accountable for their jobs. It is a privilege to have a job, not a right, and some of these people need to be reminded.
Thank you so much, Mr. Cousin. Council member, Santiago Romero, thank you, Madam President, thank you both for coming down. We really appreciate when people share their experiences. I chair public health and safety. I work very closely with DDOT and community organizers and organizations who say the same thing that you're saying, that the Rosa Parks trans Center is a respite center many times, and the need for us to make sure that we are taking care of the riders and the drivers. So thank you for coming down. We are looking into this to make sure that people can access it, to hold drivers accountable D dots, and also make sure that we are providing excellent service to residents. So thank you for coming down. We are working on it, but it is, it is important that we hear the stories so that we're able to to work on the issues. And I did want to let brother Cunningham know that my staff, I believe, is giving him some hand warmers right now as well. So thank you for coming down. Thank you. Thank you. All right, thank you, sir. All right. That will conclude all of our in person public comment, and we will turn it over to those who joined us virtually
morning. Madam President, there were 28 hands raised before you would cut off public comment. And the first caller is William M Davis,
good morning. Can I be heard? Yes, you can. Okay, I like to start off by saying I continue to be disappointed that City Council and Administration hasn't done more to help city Detroit retirees. I would like to also say I continue to be disappointed that Job did not ask more probing questions for the Detroit Police Department in that, especially in that 75% of the rank and file officers who live outside the city of Detroit more so than it did 11 years ago. And 85% of the command officers live outside the city more so than 11 years ago. You know, this department and this city should be encouraging Detroiters. You know this city is at a point that it wouldn't take much for an eruption. Because, you know, retirees have been treated badly, uh, seniors have been treated badly. Homeowners have been treated badly. You know, we do not see the same light y'all might see. You know, we do not see a light at the end of the road. You know, it looks like the only light we see is the train coming to run us over again. You know, we have lost purchasing power. We have lost all sorts of stuff. We have lost 1000s of city Detroit retirees. You know, I think that this council and this mayor can and should do a better job. If not, I think we're going to have to remember that come August this year and in the elections next year. So I look forward to y'all starting to do a little bit more to help us, not outside us. Thank you.
Thank you. Mr. Davis,
the next caller is phone number ending in one Good morning.
Hello, can everybody hear me?
Yes, we can hear you.
Okay, great, great. I just want to say what I'm doing. Good morning. Y'all, thank you for paying for Cunningham. He advocates for the bus drivers and the bus passengers. He does not receive a salary or benefits for his good work, city council persons, clergy, power that be touched, not God's anointed, neither do his servant come you have no harm. Don't let karma plague you all again. Help this person. Don't don't hurt. Thank you for my time.
Okay? Thank you.
The next caller is we see you.
We see you. Good morning.
We see you. Good morning. All
right, can we come back to this Caller, please?
Okay, the next caller is Jordan, hey Smith,
good morning. May I be heard? Yes, you can Good morning. I just want to start off by saying very disappointed in the administration and the way that they've treated that shelter is just closed down with a transitional housing facility has just closed down. I've been a part of the zoning process, and to say that there was never even a meeting held about that zoning rezoning is ridiculous. Also want to give a
a negative remark to
David Whitaker, you have been, you have been in city politics for 20 plus years. You've seen all the dirt. You know where all the dirty is, and I'm very disappointed in you. I want to give a, I'm not going to even say a shout out, but I want to give a disservice to the mayor for throwing Mary Sheffield under the bus saying that Tatiana Williams, who lost her two children, came to city council and spoke and asked for help. She did not. I went, I graduated from Martin Luther King High School, and I had, I went to high school with Tatiana and the father of those children, I've never seen anybody who I went to high school with come to city council and speak ever. And I watched all of the tapes, not even to just completely defend you. Mary Sheffield, but that was not your fault. You did not have that person come to ask you for help. Um. Also, want to say, everybody should be very, very closely watching the mayoral race. We have people joining that race who are very, very much just out for personal gain and doing this for political reasons. Also, I want to say, um, we have, we have to really, really watch what's going on, or Detroit politics and saving the Renaissance Center is very important. COVID Alexander young put a lot of effort into building that building and the sea attorneys will be a great disservice to the city.
All right. Thank you, sir.
The next caller is not that. Karen,
good morning. Morning. Hello. Can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you. Great.
Um, where to speak? Speak on the rinse. And I, I don't care who owns it. What I do care about is the fact that that property sits right on the river, and everyone knows that's where our fresh drinking water, that's where we get our drinking water from. There's intake down by Belle Isle. So we don't need, you know, we don't need to put more toxins in the air or in our drinking water source. So if we can focus more on rehabilitating and repurposing, not only the buildings, but if we're going to repurpose and we need to recycle these materials, and when we recycle these materials will there'll be some funds coming back to the city, which would make it more desirable, possibly to, you know, to for our housing situation to to get better. So demolishing, demolitions don't help house people. But, you know, repurposing and recycling would be more feasible, in my opinion, not only financially, but as it relates to our environment. So I think we need to consider environment more than you know, all these demolition contracts, the City Clerk's page needs to be updated. It still has no information on the budget or anything else, only old news.
Okay, thank you.
The next caller is Betty a Varner. Miss
Varner. Good Good afternoon. Excuse me. Good morning.
Good morning. To all within the sound of my voice, I'm here. I'm just to share some information. Thursday, March 13 is going to be the board of police commissioners evening meeting that's being hosted by the 10th precinct. The meeting will be at 11687, American that's the union carpenter Skilled Trade Center. There will be dinner served at six. My understanding is the building should be open by 530 and for those who haven't been there, it's near the Jefferies freeway, off of Amherst. Also, I think a quarter there's going to be a meeting Tuesday, March 18, from six to 7:30pm at the new life Family Church. 15329,
liver, noise, zip, 48238,
they're calling it the Finkle Avenue corridor plan community meeting. It's being hosted by Dave Walker and his staff and other city departments, and the agenda is to provide updates on the action plan and the city coordination with city departments and sister agencies. Thank you for this time. We're still in need of
All right, thank you, Miss Varner,
the next caller is Theo.
Good morning.
Good morning, city council. Can I be heard? Yes, you can. Good morning City Council. Theo pride with Detroit people's platform in the budget Justice Coalition, I like to make comment on a few budget issues as we enter into the budget hearings. I would just like to lift up a few very real threats to cuts to federal funding to our budget and its impact on the city's ability to deliver needed services, particularly those that are housing related. As we all understand how important it is with the recent tragedy involving the young children living in their van, I would just point to a few things here. One, the Affordable Housing Trust Fund is the best tool the city has to create more affordable housing for low income residents who are the most vulnerable and need housing the most second, establishing a Community Land Trust Fund like the one proposed by member Johnson is shown to drive affordability, particularly in areas that are gentrifying, like Corktown. It's innovative, it empowers community, and it is absolutely necessary if we are serious about housing Detroiters. Lastly, participatory budgeting, which many other cities already have, is a great way to move resources directly into our neighborhoods and need we've invested billions in downtown PB lets us do the same equitably throughout the city. So I'd ask council to consider these issues, consider the creativity and efficacy of these approaches to being a stop gap to the harm we see coming from the federal level. Thank you so much.
Okay, thank you.
The next caller is black bag.
Black bag. Ruben Crawley, go right ahead.
See, I don't even have to put the rule on the end of it for you to know it was me. Mary. Now, James, Scott, y'all been playing game with the citizens in this city for a while. Y'all the senior people want to Detroit City Council, and Gabriella Santiago Romero been sitting up there lying, talking about she read that report. Now, Janice wilfre Is there hiding? She always hiding. She supposed to be at that meeting today, and she ain't there. Y'all know why she over there at the Department of Elections, trying to clean up, over there on the Boulevard, trying to clean up the mess. They didn't got caught up yet. The fans got it. They know what's going on here in Detroit, so they no use to, uh,
pretending no more they coming,
and they need to run up over there on the Boulevard running that office. Mary Elaine Beckman, there is no valid signature with her name on it over there at the Department of Elections and all y'all cheated in every last one of y'all on the city council after fraudulent absentee ballots and y'all coughs and willing to bet everything on it, Mike Duggan been running the whole game on his whole City of Detroit in southeastern Michigan.
Okay, thank you our next caller, please. The
next caller is Casey C
Good morning. May I be heard? Yes, you can go right ahead. Thank you so much. This is Casey Peller, District Four resident and Policy Manager at Detroit disability power. I'm calling in this morning because I won't be able to make the housing revitalization department hearing later this week, and wanted to uplift a few of the budget recommendations that we sent to your office is a few weeks back. The couple things I want to uplift. The first is the Detroit home Accessibility Program, which was originally funded by $5.5 million in ARPA funds and an additional $1 million was allocated by council led by council member Mary waters. Thank you. We want to see more dollars allocated to that program so that it doesn't completely sunset. For some context, 1700 Detroit homeowners applied for that program, indicating that their home is inaccessible to them to leave and to enter. About half of those people submitted the documentation needed to continue with the application, and of those, 250 or so homeowners were approved and are in the pipeline to get those modifications completed. So clearly, there's a demonstrated need for the program to continue so disabled homeowners in Detroit can remain in their homes and safely enter and exit and participate in the community. Beyond that, we'd also like to see a full time employee dedicated in the department to coordinate and run the Detroit home connect search and filter site that allows people to help find housing that meets their needs. If you have any other questions, again, the invitation is out to meet with us to discuss these further. So please fully fund the Office of Disability affairs.
Okay, thank you so much.
The next caller is Frank Hammer.
Frank Hammer, good morning.
Good morning. Good morning. Honorable city council and President Sheffield, yesterday, I received a text with photos from city council member Angela Whitfield Galloway, who is absent today. She's attending the National League of Cities for black elected officials. The photos were not of her with other attendees at the event, as you may normally expect. The photos were of the famous two block long mural of Black Lives Matter, painted in huge yellow letters on pavement in Washington, DC, two blocks from the White House. Her photos document that road equipment sent to the site by the city administration has begun tearing up the mural. It's going to be replaced by patriotic symbols in time for this country's 250th anniversary. The city was coerced into defacing the mural under threat of losing federal funding. This is a deliberate humiliation of Black Lives and of a black mayor, Muriel Bowser, this targeting of Black Lives will impact not only Washington DC, it will impact every majority black city. I urge City Council to take a stand and respond with a public statement of solidarity. Thank you. Thank you.
The next caller is Council oversight matter.
Okay, good morning.
Good morning. May I be heard? Yes, you can. Yeah, you know President Sheffield, you said we try as much as possible to be respectful to one another. Well, let's be respectful in actions as well as words. Many reasons that many people come here repeatedly is because we don't find the council actions are respectful to residents, and I appreciated the religious person who gave the invocation, talked about due diligence. Where was the due diligence and coming up with the city's solar plan that like, why didn't you look to consider other solar possibilities without resorting to the drastic tool of eminent domain? I don't know what in the bridging neighborhoods program to get people out of the way of the Gordie Howe bridge, we taxpayers are paying to renovate houses for the people to move into, but we're not doing this for people in the solar takings area. Also, it looks like you approved on january 28 a contract to acquire houses that have not been voted for a solar area yet. And 8078,
East Robin wood, you are going to give them $205,000
yet. I've talked to residents who said they're getting bullied, that if they don't take the 90,000 the city will file a lawsuit and only offer them 25,000 This is not acceptable, and this plan violates the Michigan constitutional amendment on eminent domain, passed in 2006
Thank you. Miss Warwick,
the next caller is Joyce e John.
Miss Jennings, good morning.
Good morning, everyone. I first would like to announce this Saturday, March 15, from 11am to 1pm the young people in 21st century policing conference will take place at the Wayne State University, Damon J Keith, Center for civil rights. And my daughter is a part of the Youth Advisory Council. She serves as the chair, and I would encourage all young people, all citizens of Detroit, to turn out for this event, because policing and what is going on in the city of Detroit is very important. It's our tax dollars, and we need to have more input from our citizens as to what's going on in our neighborhoods. Secondly, I would like to acknowledge the comment that our president made, as well, as far as being respectful to different nationalities and other differences that make us who we are in order for us to be respectful of anyone we first it first starts with our relationship with our Creator. There is a scripture that states, whatever you do until the least of these you do it unto me. So It's my prayer that no matter what position we hold, no matter where we serve, whether it's in our homes, our communities, our churches, our schools, that we always consider that whatever we're doing, what we're doing unto others, we're doing it unto God. And lastly, I would like to encourage everybody turn out for the school board meetings and support our children. Thank
you. Okay. Thank you.
The next caller, Samsung, SM, e2, 7u,
hello, morning. Good morning.
Good morning. We can hear you. Good morning. Go right ahead. The floor is yours. I
want to speak on the busses.
We need more busses on the Conant line and on the magnitude line. There's too much, too long to wait on bus. So if you are just on, I don't know, I know, I guess you are training and hiring, but we need more busses on those lines, because people do ride the bus, and so I'm just looking forward to when people is riding the bus, catching the bus, they don't have to wait, no, hour two hour for those lines. Matter of fact, they've been slow for the longest they took routes off. It took people off. I appreciate it if y'all put people back on in the training.
All right, I think we lost you. Are you still there? Yes, yep, go right ahead.
So that's what my concern is, and we need some sidewalks fixed in our area, actually around the whole city, and now we're because they're so jacked up from tearing down the properties that people are tripping off, and they have to sometimes walk in the street, but we're supposed to be to walk on the sidewalk. So if they can start doing these sidewalks, getting them better, people walk on them, that would be appreciated. Our city is just terrible with these sidewalks.
They are terrible.
Okay, thank you for calling in. The
next caller is Cassandra, Florida.
Good morning, President Sheffield, an honorable body of the city of Detroit. Can I be heard? Yes, we can hear you. Hi. I am calling in regards to the mayor's budget in 2024 City Council passed a resolution to create participatory budget program. The program will give residents in each city district 100,000 to spend on anything they want, like affordable housing, youth education programs or a home repair fund. Participatory budget gives residents real power over our tax dollars. We can use this power to fund programs in our neighborhoods, which the city has ignored in favor of building up Detroit and midtown. My second point is Detroit's lack of affordable housing, and with the potential loss of federal funding, the city must make larger investments in our housing programs. We must invest in Community Land Trust, emergency and transitional housing and the Affordable Housing Trust Fund and equity in Detroit has grown, particularly between downtown in our neighborhoods, participatory budgeting is an effective way to equitably invest money into our neighborhoods and residents and get the ability to create and spend money on programs that serve the needs of their communities. It has been shown to increase civic participation and empower everyday residents to make real decisions with real outcomes. We support the funding of a city wide but to support
Okay, thank you.
The next caller is Karen hammer,
good morning. Can you
hear me? Yes, we can hear you.
For International Women's month, I honor three former city council women, Irma Henderson, Marianne Mahaffey and sister, Joanne Watson, Detroit residents interests were at the forefront of each of their advocacy, advocacy and policy directions. It didn't stop there. They held themselves responsible for people power in the region, Michigan and the country at large, present council members future priorities can carry on in the same spirit. Examples are assisting of organizing and assisting citizen organizing in the defense against the current federal assaults on public education, labor and dei promote regional transit, double DDOT fully fund the RTC equity for retirees under emergency management, low income house building with expanded repair program and home accessibility design and hire Detroiters to replace appliances and retrofit homes at low income, homes to lower their energy bills and reduce the carbon footprint. Reuse, schools, libraries, the Renson,
okay. Thank you.
Next caller is galaxy a 50.
Good morning. Morning. Good
morning. May I be heard Theresa lander from Southwest Detroit, 40, 217, yes,
we can hear you. Can hear you. Good morning
Council, I would like to address three things. One, I am very dismayed that there is any consideration to demolish the iconic Renaissance Center that will leave a great void. If you look across the country, when a lot of people look at Detroit, they see the rinse in there. So that's one two I had sent my council person, Santiago Romero, a text in regards to the extreme flooding we have been experiencing now again, 42 and seven for over 20 years. So I support a participatory, I can't pronounce it, budget, so that the communities can address issues such as getting the city to look at the redesigning of some of the drainage structures, because we have been flooding ever since they built the central sewage overflow out here, and that is something that is a health hazard. We saw the break in southwest Detroit about the antiquated system and the pipes. Well, we know that we on an antiquated system. However, the money is not being distributed equally. Third out here in southwest Detroit, we have sat down with m.to address the issue we do not have, not one bus shelter in southwest Detroit, 482, and seven. So I would like the Council to take upon that. I command Santiago Romero in addressing that because she has put that on her agenda. So thank you so much.
Okay, thank you.
The next caller is to hear Ahmed.
It's Ahmed. Good morning.
Good morning. Every single city council member need to be defeated for re election, except city council member Angela Whitfield Callaway, who asked the historical design for this historical designation of the Renaissance Center. There is a mural on Cadillac square of a white woman holding a white baby by rocket, mortgage dream, gentrification, subliminal message that needs to tell everybody in Detroit what Dan Gilbert mission is President Sheffield. There is such a thing as separation of church and state. Christianity was a tool of colonization and enslavement of black people. This is why you have collaborated with modern colonizers, Dan Gilbert and illegit Ross and others, and why we should you should stop pushing your failed religion on the non religious forum of the city council. You helped cause the $600 million to a billion illegal over taxation and 100,000 illegal home foreclosures. This is why we will not vote for you as mayor and Mary Sheffield and no more City Council. We want the Renaissance Center to be repurposed as affordable housing to replace what you and others on this city council help do, and still 100,000 homes and illegally foreclose those homes. We want our money back.
Okay? Thank you so much. Miss Ahmad.
The next caller is Bobby Johnson.
Bobby Johnson, good morning,
good morning. And how are you? And I can't wait to see you guys in district seven tonight. But one thing I will say about the rents and been building, we need to look at repurposing that building. Detroit has no mall when people come to go shopping, or come to come to the city of Detroit, the rinse and Billy as Motown mall would be an excellent thing to bring in money, to bring in new jobs, to bring just bring people downtown. We need a mall in the city of Detroit. The City of Detroit is iconic for starting we had the hair war shows that just that went all over the place. We're from entertainment. We're from hair to makeup to fashion. We need to start tapping in on some of these avenues to bring money and to bring revenue to the city of Detroit. The Renaissance Center would be an excellent idea to bring a City Mall down there with upscale we love to shop. We love entertainment. Those are things that would be perfect for the Renson a Motown mall, bringing back Motown to the city of Detroit and going for what the city of Detroit stands for. Right now, we're trying to gentify this city, and what we need to do is bring back and go back to the roots of this city. A mall for the Renson center would be iconic for the city of Detroit. Thank you.
Okay. Thank you.
The next caller is call in, user one,
good morning.
Can I be heard? Yes, you can
Good afternoon, Madam President, I look forward to you guys this evening. I hope that I'll be able to ask some questions without magically being cut off,
as this happens every time this public comment, and it's really disheartening. I would like to know, Madam President, what are you going to start to do in your areas with heavy drug infestation, that when we contact your office, nobody never contacted us back to get something done other than we'll get back to you. I've been asking for two years for you to get this light up at the Valero gas station, and you still haven't done it in two years time. Least give an answer as to why your office can't do anything to put this light up so that children don't have to be raped or kidnapped, as well as female adults. That's just disheartening, and I'm very disappointed about that, but I hope I'll be able to ask my questions without the line being crossed this evening during the public comment. I thank you and I appreciate all of the council. Have a blessed afternoon. All
right. Thank you so much. Miss Shay.
The next caller is Whitney Clark.
Whitney Clark, good morning. Hey, good morning. Can you hear me? Yes, we can,
right. Good morning. Again to everyone, my name is Whitney Clark, and I live here in district five, and I was just calling in, just to reiterate the idea, and really the reality, that the future of our city is extremely bright and and I say that not because of what people are saying and what's going on, quite frankly, if you looking at just reality, it doesn't seem like it's a bright future here for the city, but it's bright because of the work that we Have to do and that we're going to do leading up to this, this, this election season. One of the things I do want to point out quickly with the time I have left is our retirees. I had the opportunity to attend one of the the task force meeting they had last Tuesday. I believe not Tuesday last week, I should say, and we've just got to we've got to come we've got to support our retirees. The way that we treat them is, in every way, indicative to the way we'll be treated when we retire. We all want to retire. So that's one thing. The second thing, I just want to raise this in the community, because we know we have a number of people listening, stakeholders, etc, constituents. This is a housing crisis. It's a crisis, and so I'm just hoping and praying that our next set of elected leaders are willing to approach this issue in the manner that it exists. It's a big deal. It's a crisis, and we should be trying to move heaven and earth to put people back in the on the pathway to home ownership, not just bringing for the rest of their lives. Thank you so much.
Okay, thank you.
The next caller is Veronica Smith,
good morning, everyone.
Veronica Smith, Detroiters for Tax Justice. I have three requests to the council. One lower the Detroit Library's administrative fee to $50,000 from the $800,000 that cannot be itemized to make a repayment to the Detroit Public Library of the $407,000
that was still missing from the 2021
wire fraud case. Please note that the city, not the library, has sole access and control of that account. Thirdly, respond to the letters to sent to the council to declare a state of emergency on housing and allocate and reallocate resources accordingly. We demand that in the upcoming upcoming budget season, the council takes seriously the dire need for allocating serious resources to actually fund affordable housing. Thank you.
Okay, thank you.
The next clerk, phone number ending in 337,
caller, good morning. Can I be heard? Yes, you can. Thank you very much for this opportunity to address 8.1 on the agenda for this morning. It has to do with a contract 100% of the city funding to amend in any the time and increase of funds for monitoring the performance of annual Good Neighbor plan commitments to adult use marijuana licenses. The contractor is someone we never heard of, B, C, A, three, with a location at 309 West Seven Mile Road in Detroit for a 203 the previous contract, which ends june 14, 2025. Is being amended from 75,000 to 180,000 when I searched BCA three, I found out that the resident agent is Miss Rudnick, who testifies often at BC and bZA hearings, her listed address is Southfield. So how can this Good Neighbor plan commitment be
fairly
upheld when you have number one, a location on West Seven Mile Road that looks like it is an unconfirmed tax delinquency,
right? Thank you.
The next caller is Darren McCluskey,
good morning Council. Can you hear me? Yes. Hi. Good morning again. I'd like to split my time with two subjects, the first being the use restrictions. It sounds like now that more people are a little concerned about what's happening with solar people are panicking and scrambling to try to get information. Well, the use restrictions are things that have been put on the land for many years. The main in my neighborhood, the State Farm Neighborhood in brixdale, is the when the subdivisions were planted, they were intended to be public streets and alleys that are now being restricted for solar farms. There's also individual restrictions on certain lots that include the inability to build, because when someone sold it years ago, they did not want a neighbor to build on that lot. They wanted it to be green space. So the city is asking for all of those to be removed and saying it's worth the $0 and offering 100 which can open you guys up to a lot more criticism. The second thing I'd like to point out is this, all of this, this mess, and I will call it a mess, came from a $14 million allocation to decommission Mr. Ski aka Mr. Sky power plant. I was there this morning. It is a hulking, eight story structure that is supposedly now only miraculously going to take $2 million of decommission that gave a windfall that is not being used to take people's land for solar farms the building still remains. Take the building down first, then use the excess funds for good.
Okay, thank you.
Next caller is Cindy bar off.
Good morning.
Yeah, good morning. I went to a meeting last night. By the way, I worked at Mr. Ski, but I don't have time to talk about it. Alright? I went to a meeting that Smith's group told what they're going to do for the Chinatown on Peterborough. And I live on Peterborough, and so does my neighbor, Susie wall, and I came to you last time asking that you do something about the parking, I think, because if they want to do new cement, I thought from talking to Joel, who works for Gabriella, that I was that the plan The Smith group was planning to maybe change the street. They're just doing the street escape, but I need, I guess, the DPW, I'd like to see them, if they're going to do new concrete, extend the cut in so that it goes past to the end of my property, so I got a place to park in front of my house instead of across the street. I have sometimes I park between the sidewalk and my fence, which is out of the way, but if you're going to do new concrete, I I'd like to have a circular drive, but I'm not going to get that, but at least a cut in, and you did promise signs to restrict the parking for the residents.
Right? Thank you so much. Next Caller,
please. Next caller is Miko a Williams. Miko a Williams, the
floor is yours. General public comment,
Hi, good afternoon. Can you hear me? Please?
Yes, we can hear you. Can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you. Go right ahead. Yes.
Hi. Damico Williams, a private resident. I'm a citizen, lifelong Detroiter and taxpayer and stakeholder. First of all, I want to announce to the community that we're having a press conference on 313, day this Thursday, at three o'clock sharp in front of the rinsing at Jefferson and Beaubien, we're going to make our claim and state that the rinsing should not be torn down or should be repurposed. We have all the facts. We waited on this council to show its due diligence that failed, and I was gaslighted by a member of the Council yesterday, which I want to say that it doesn't matter if you're a real Detroiter, you would not allow this to even be on the table as a discussion. There has been social media backlash that has said, no, no matter how many redevelopments renderings, or even so much as conversation with the people that have yes, we're going to hold GM accountable. We're going to hold Mary bear. But you failed to do so. You didn't bring Mary bear down here to explain to you why you gave her a tax abatement. Even at the end of the tax abatement, when they get under Dan Gilbert, they're going to subsidize the cost, and they don't want to pay us any money, so why not have Mary bear come down and explain herself? Because we bailed out GM, we bailed out the auto industry, and they owe us our money. You owe us ROI and you are owe us. Run us our check. Meet me there on two
alright? Thank you. Miko Williams
and the last caller to raise their hand before you accept the comment, we see you.
We see you.
Good morning and through the chair. May I be heard.
Yes, you can. Yes,
I would like to ask a couple of questions of the council. We have low income housing units that Miska has determined as low income. And I'm not sure why Mr. Der Hall and the rest of the council is voted, voted on Angela Lee's project, which it was a covenant for 99 years that you want to abandon. We have a low income housing crisis, and we can't wait for anybody to build new houses. We already have units that are available, just need to be brought online. 18 dot 14 is interesting to me. Councilwoman waters did not know what drop was, but I'm interested to know my house. I got a letter when the city went into bankruptcy, and this is keeping the bankruptcy open. I want to know why it's still open. The bankruptcy is over, and why haven't we received letters for the houses that receive letters when you went into bankruptcy? Why haven't we seen receive letters saying we're out of bankruptcy? And why do you keep it open? 18% of the people live in Detroit who would benefit from this drop program. That is not enough to open up the bankruptcy. We need to move forward. 17.1 do not allocate our supplemental income to the mayor to do what he wants to do with it. We might want to spend it on embellishing the bus system, because absolutely it needs it. Thank you.
Okay, thank you so much. And Ari, that was our last caller,
the last caller who had raised your hand, raised their hand before you would cut off public comment. Okay,
all right, so we will end our public comment now and go back to our agenda for this morning under our standing committee reports for the budget, Finance and Audit standing committee from the office of the budget
Council Member durha, a resolution, line item 17.1 noted that this line item was postponed from last week formal session. Council Member durha, a resolution.
Council Member durha, thank
you, Madam President. Line item 17.1 is a resolution of authorization for the fiscal year, 2024, 2025, supplemental approach appropriations and transfer requests. Move for approval. Move for approval for line item 17.1, with discussion.
All right, opening up for discussion. I know this was brought back. I see President proton tape,
yes, thank you. I did request for it to be brought back. And thank you colleagues for allowing that to happen. We did have a series of questions that we provided that led to additional questions. We're going to have a meeting with the Office of this before the next meeting, if allowed to again, postpone this for one more final week. Again, I apologize for that, but again, questions led to more or responses led to more questions, and we're actually going to sit down and not just go down and not just go through an email back and forth. So again, my apologies for that, but requesting one final one week postponement on this particular items.
Colleagues, okay, all
right, and if there are no objections to that discussion, yes. Member Benson,
all right. And thank you. Thank the Pro Tem for that continued conversation, I also have concerns. I'm glad to hear that we're looking to dispose of this, because at the end of this, we are risking not having a balanced budget. But I'm sure that no one wants to go there. But I also want to ensure that we're having the conversations regarding how we got to this point and very concerned about the solid waste contracts and what that means moving forward for the fiscal our fiscal management. So just looking forward to those conversations. Thank you.
Thank you so much. Member, durha, thank
you, Madam President. And again to colleagues, I definitely understand the need to for further discussion to the administration, if they're on, you know, I would be hoping that we can get these conversations and the concerns of these of our members taken care of expeditiously, noting that we are heading directly into budget deliberations and heading into budget deliberations from this table, folks may be putting forth certain priorities, and obviously, knowing what we have available relative to surplus, relative to the schedule transfers or Schedule B is important to the reality of what We can bring into fruition based off of those priorities. So hopefully we can get that dialog going expeditiously. So by the time we're back here next Tuesday, after a few budget deliberations have happened or presentations have happened, we'll know where we're at. And I think I don't know if President Pro Tem moved it officially, but I'd like to make a motion to postpone line item 17.1, for one week.
Okay? And just wanted to state that our office also did have the opportunity to meet with the budget department. Still had some outstanding concerns as well regarding the contract for our waste management. And also we definitely raised some concerns about there not being any type of allocation to any housing initiatives with the surplus as well, in light of the housing issues that are constantly raised here. And so we are looking forward to continuing to have those discussions to see if there's any possibility of providing any of our surplus dollars towards more housing initiatives. So is there any objections in postponing 17.1 for one week
Hearing none that action will be taken
from the Office of contracting and procurement, from the internal operations committee
council member Johnson, two resolutions, line items, 18.1 and 18.2 contract number 6006481, 100% city funding to provide services to help obtain telecommunication services and connectivity for city residents. Contractor, document, gossip, P LLC, total contract amount, 25,000, that's for law. Next contract is contract number 6003505, dash a five, 100% risk management funding amendment five, to provide an increase of funds to continue litigation services for reverse conviction lawsuits, contractor Nathan and kimons. LLP, total contract amount, 8,750,000 that's for law council member Johnson, two resolutions.
Thank you, Madam Clerk. Council member Johnson, thank you,
Madam President. I'd like to make a motion to remove line item 18.1, from the agenda. Okay,
you just want to explain why. So we all are aware.
So line item 18.1, was sent to formal with the recommendation to deny. The administration has requested to remove the line item.
Okay, any objection in removing this at the request of the administration for 18.1
discussion member Benson,
just for my own edification, why was the recommendation to deny from committee
member Johnson, thank you, Madam President, through you to member Benson, the essentially the contract, this contract that's before us, the communication with the vendor, and perhaps some work that was done by the vendor was done and concluded in, I believe, March of 2024, so this contract is subsequent to discussions and some level of work that may have been done with the law department during our internal operations discussion. It did not appear to be an emergency as to why the work had taken place prior to the contract coming before us. And so that was the reasoning for the recommendation to deny because it had not been formally approved by this body prior to the work being done, albeit a small amount of work.
Thank you. Thank you. Member, Young,
thank you. I don't think this is chair woman. I think this might be to the law department. But do we know how much money we have set aside for reverse convictions, I think would be in our risk management fund, and do we know how much that's going to increase potentially, and how much of that is going to take of our budget?
Point of order? Oh, yeah, Madam President, I've only moved on line item 18.1
Yeah, we haven't got to the second one yet, which is 18.2 that deals with the reverse convictions.
Oh, I'm ahead of the game again. I'm sorry. You always yes. Thank you. I apologize. That's what you do.
All right, all right. There's no objections. Were you doing? I'm sorry. Okay. There's no objections. We will, we will remove 18.1 from the agenda. Moving along to 18.2 council member Johnson, thank you,
Madam President, Move for approval with discussion. Okay. Member Young,
thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Sorry about that. Um, now, do we know how much of that was taken up of our of our budget? Do we know how much we plan on paying out and what the increase of that is and what the percentage of that would be
through the chair Graham Anderson law department? I don't have those specific numbers in front of me right now, Council Member young but those are fantastic questions that I'm confident we will address during budget, and I will make note to provide that to Corporation Council and the team ahead of hand so they can give you detailed explanation in response. And
secondly, I just wanted to ask, and this is kind of a shot in the dark here, but has there been any discussions about reform at all? I mean, I know part of wrongful conviction has to do with the 13th Amendment saying that slavery is prohibited except for a crime, so it's kind of enshrined in the legal, supreme legal doctrine of the country. But has there been any discussion at all in terms of reforms federal because I know it's also in the state constitution as well, about having to deal with this issue at all. Has there been any discussions, any thing, and would that require anything for us to do locally in terms of lawsuits or countersuits, or anything of that nature,
through the chair? That's a huge ask. And I know you know that councilman from from my understanding, I'm not aware of any momentum pushing that direction at this time, but, but that may be above my pay grade, but I know there was a brief conversation about this during the closed session. However, that that, I believe, was the response that there, there's not really any likes behind that movement at this time? Thank you, sir. Thank you.
Thank you. Council member, young, any additional questions for 18.2
hearing, no questions. Any objections.
Hearing, none. 18.2 will be approved
from the law department, also.
Member Johnson, 11 resolutions, line items, 18.3 through 18 point 13.
Council member Johnson, thank
you, Madam President. Move for approval. These are various lawsuit settlement requests and requests for legal representation and indemnification.
All right, Hearing no objections. The 11 resolutions will be approved from the Human Resources, Labor Relations Division
council member Johnson, a resolution line item 18 point 14.
Council member Johnson, thank
you, Madam President, I'd like to make a motion to postpone line item 18 point 14 for one week. There were some questions that came up after we moved this out of committee.
Okay, any objections to postponing this for an additional week, hearing none that action will be taken under resolutions council
member Johnson to resolutions 18 point 15 and 18 point 16.
Council member Johnson, thank you, Madam President, Move for approval. Line item 18 point 15 is to reappoint Mr. Adrian Keith Bennett, to the City Planning Commission, and line item 18 point 16 is to reappoint Rachel you Dobby to the City Planning Commission.
All right, Hearing no objections. The two resolutions for those appointments will be approved. Any waivers okay for the Planning and Economic Development standing committee, council
president pro tem James Tate, a resolution, line item, 19.1, Contract Number 6004522, dash, a one, 100% ARPA funding Amendment One, to provide an extension of time for landlord, repair second floor apartment program, contractor, Southwest Detroit Business Association. Total, contract amount, $304,975 that's for housing and revitalization Council. President Pro Temp Tate or resolution,
President Pro Temp Tate. Under
President, I move approval of line item 19.1 please. All
right. Any discussion on this item,
any objections to 19.1
I hearing, none. The one resolution will be approved. President,
yes, that's a wave run. Excuse me, request a waiver on line item 19.1, please. Any
objections to a waiver.
Hearing, none. That action will be taken
from the Detroit from the Detroit Brownfield Redevelopment Authority Council. President
Pro Tem James Tate, two resolutions, line items, 19.2 and 19.3
President Pro Temp Tate, madam.
President, I move approval of line items 19.2 and 19.3
okay, these are both termination of brownfield plans. Any objections to the two resolutions, hearing none the two resolutions will be approved
from the planning and development department. Council
President, pro tem James Tate, two resolutions line items, 19.4 and 19.5
pro Tim Tate, Madam President, I move approval of line items 19.4 and 19.5
motion has been made for approval for line items, 19.4 and 19.5 are there any objections? Hearing, no objections. The two resolutions will be approved.
Request a wave run line of 19.5
any objections?
Hearing, none that action will be taken
under resolutions. Council.
President Pro Tem James Tate, a resolution line item 19.6
President Pro Temp Tate, madam. President,
I move approval of line item 19.6 please. All
right, and this resolution is waiving the privilege status on the law department's report entitled The Renaissance centers eligibility for historic designation. Any objections to removing the privilege discussion yes member Benson,
to yourself, to the administration or to the committee chair, any concerns from law department about removing privilege?
Thank you, Madam President, we did ask that question point blank, and there was none. This information is definitely important, but there's no strategy or any implications that would negatively weigh on the city of Detroit, alright? Thank you. Thank you for asking that
member. Young
just out of curiosity, why was it privileged in the first
place through the chair Graham Anderson law department. Again, that's just as we communicate to our client. It's a privilege and confidential conversation. You have to remember, you know, you're obviously a more untraditional client than your person thinks about with an attorney and their client, but maybe not. Every conversation that you're having with your attorney is something potentially damning to a case or to whatever sensitive matter, but you still it is inherently privileged and confidential to begin with. Gotta
make sure we're not like revealing proprietary information. It's not like some dark site we got going on or something down there. I make sure that this is just within the normal parameters of why you would do that
through the chair adds to pro Tom stated that there's nothing of that matter in this Thank you.
All right. Thank you. And moving to the public health and safety standing committee, Madam
President, oh yes. Request a waiver line item 19.6 please
a waiver. Okay, yeah, in any objections? Yes, I'm
sorry I didn't hear you call the result of the vote for 19.6 because Mr. Benson, okay, immediately asked for discussion. Okay, so
are there any objections to 19.6
hearing? None. The resolution is approved, and Pro Tem is asking for a waiver as well. One, 19.6 any objections,
hearing, none. That action will be taken.
Right
for the public health and safety standing committee from the Office of contracting and procurement.
Council Member Santiago Romero, 14 resolutions, line items, 20.1 through 20 point 14. Contract number 3076526, 100% blight funding to provide an emergency demolition for the residential property. 17892, Dresden contracted guy, younger company, total, contract amount, $27,104, construction and demolition. Next contract, contract number 3081315, 100% blight funding to provide an emergency demolition for the residential property. 17870, Arlington contractor, celebrity, trucking and excavating. Incorporated total contract amount $22,150, that's for construction and demolition. Next contract is contract number 3081318, 100% blight funding to provide an emergency demolition for the residential property, 14460, Alma contractor salad being trucking and excavating. Incorporated total contract amount, $22,760 construction and demolition. Next, contract line item, 20.4 contract number 3081314, 100% blight. Funding to provide an emergency demolition for the residential property. 9333, why her contractor, sallabh trucking and excavating incorporated total contract amount, $18,710 construction and demolition. Next contract number 3081317, 100% black funding to provide an emergency demolition for the residential property. 15744, bramal contractor salad being trucking and excavating incorporated total contract amount $24,660 construction and demolition. Next contract is contract number 3081131, 100% city funding to provide an emergency demolition for the residential property, 6625, McDonald contractor, Detroit. Next incorporated total contract amount 17,000 construction and demolition. Next contract is contract number 3081132, 100% blight funding to provide an emergency demolition for the residential property. 15355, Freeland contractor, salivating, trucking and excavated Incorporated. Total contract amount $16,180 $16,180 instruction and demolition. Next contract is contract number 3081402, 100% blight funding to provide an emergency demolition for the commercial properties at 1340013406, and 13412, Justine contractor, Adamo demolition company, total contract amount, $47,895 construction and demolition. Next contract is contract number 3081526, 100% blight funding to provide an emergency alteration for the commercial property. 3615, aren't contractor, Adamo demolition company. Total contract amount 28,600, that's for construction and demolition. Contract number 3081529, 100% city funding to provide an emergency demolition for the residential property five to six Harmon contractor, Detroit, next incorporated total contract amount $36,890 that's for construction and demolition. Next contract is contract number 3081534, 100% city funding to provide an emergency demolition for the residential property. 1176, Clear Mount contractor, Detroit, next incorporated total contract amount, 26,900, that's for construction and demolition. Next contract is contract number 60069811, 6006981, 100% capital funding to provide architecture and engineering services to renovate and restore the Merrill fountain located in Palmer Park. Contractor geffos Webster engineers incorporated total contract amount, $420,929.76 nine, $929.76 cent that's for construction and demolition. Next contract is contract number 6006963, 100% PLD decommissioning, funding, maintenance and repair services of underground cables for PLD assets. Contractor, energy. Energy Group incorporated total contract amount 3 million, that's for public lighting and last contract, Contract Number 6006984, 100% city funding to provide ethylene glycol and a freeze contractor. Raleigh brothers incorporated doing business as Raleigh's wholesale total contract amount 200,000 that's for transportation. Council Member Santiago Romero, 14 resolutions,
thank you, Madam Clerk. Council Member Santiago Romero, thank you, Madam President. Motion to approve 20.1 through 20 point 11. These are all emergency demolition contracts.
Any discussion on these items?
Any objections? Objection member, Santiago Romero, 20.9
objection to 20.6 2014 to 20 2011
the clerk would know,
Madam President, for point of clarity, member water, should you reject line item 20 point 11 as well? Yes. Thank you.
Any further objections?
Hearing none that those resolutions will be approved. Member Santiago Romero, thank you, Madam President, motion to approve 20 points 12 through 20 points 14. Okay, just really quick on 20 point 14 for discussion. Just was trying to get clarity on the second bid from Ace petroleum. It looks like it was Detroit based, and they may have came in at a lower cost. I'm not sure. Mr. Washington. Do we have someone on? Just want to get clarity on the procurement process for the selection of this contractor, for this contract, please.
Yes. Good morning, Madam Chair and Council. We do have Lola Clark from OCP online.
Okay, if we can promote Miss Mola Clark please.
Okay, I see
Madam President while you're waiting. I could get a waiver on 20 point 1220.
Point 12, yes.
Can we do that? Okay, we can't do it while we're discussing one well, we can't, okay, all right,
I thought that we just went to 20 point 11.
No, she we're on 2012 to 2014 now. Okay,
discussion. You have to wait to get waiver. Yeah.
Okay. Do we have someone on
I am here. I'm not sure if you guys can see me just yet, so let me get a chance to get my camera ready. Good afternoon.
Good afternoon. Just wanted to get clarity on the selection of this contractor and who, also responded to the bid? I see we have a Detroit based, Detroit headquarter in Detroit, resident business, Ace petroleum, that may have been second, if you could just explain that process, please, and if they came in at a lower amount, but maybe something else was considered in the procurement process or bidding process,
absolutely. Just give me one second to bring up my notes here to the chair ace petroleum did come in as a higher bid price than the recommended bidder. They were awarded the credits that they applied for through creo, but they were still a higher bid So, but they were given the equalization credits
that was their bid amount, I'm sorry, compared to the One that was selected.
So
based on the contract evaluation, the price per year they were giving
per unit, 1,091.70
per year. But after equalization, $960
per 770, Cent So, and in comparison to Raleigh brothers six, $610.97 and that's not in consideration of how many units that we're looking at,
okay, um, and then was that the was ace. The only other Detroit based business that responded to this bid, I see, was seven different ones that were received, or any of the other ones Detroit based as well.
We had another vendor that is located in Detroit, Austin, logistics, but they did not apply for any credits via Creole. So Austin Logistics is located in Detroit, but they did not receive any credits through Creole. Okay?
And so just the lowest bid was the only factor in determination of the selection of this particular vendor. Or was there any other things that determined that the one that was based in
South Gate was chosen
well, they they have to meet the specifications as well, but price was the factor in addition to meeting specifications. Okay,
all right, thank you for that information.
Any additional questions for these two contracts?
All right, a motion has been made for approval. Are there any objections? And if you can show me please as a no on 20 point 14,
President Pro Temp Tate objection. President, pro temp Tate to 20 point 14.
Okay, any further objections?
Hearing no further objections, the three resolutions will be approved.
Council member young, yeah. Can I get
a waiver online? 18 point 15, reappointment
for one on 20 point 12. Okay,
so there was a request for a waiver on the appointment from line item, 18 point 1518. Point 15. Are there any objections on a waiver hearing? None that action will be taken, and member waters has a request for a waiver for 2020 12, any objections,
hearing none that action will be taken
From the mayor's office under new business.
Council member young, a resolution, line item 21.1
council member Young,
thank you, Madam President, I moved to approve line item 20.1
all right. Motion has been made for approval, and this is a city event that has received all departmental approvals. Are there any objections? Hearing? No objections. The one resolution will be approved.
Excuse me, 21 I said 21 I meant to say 20 what Move to approve line on 21.1
Yeah, that's correct. Yeah, yeah. Okay,
okay, all right. Do we need to repeat anything? Nope, okay, from the Office of contracting and procurement
council member young for resolutions, line items, 21.2 through 21.5
contract number 6006076,
dash a one, 100% city funding. Amendment One to exercise, one year renewal for recreation, Summer Youth Program Services, contractor, Rosedale Park, Baptist Church. Total contract amount, 150,000 that's for general services. Contract number 6006078, dash a one, 100% city funding, Amendment One to exercise one year renewal for recreation, Summer Youth Program Services, contractor, urban neighborhood initiatives. Total contract amount, 150,000 that's for general services. Contract Number 6006377, dash, a one. Madam President, this contract has been amended and corrected to change the address. It's not noted here on the agenda. However, the correction will be made upon approval, moving the address from 19449 West MC West McNichols, and there is a copy of the resolution, provided
that's for contract number 6006377,
dash a one, 100% city funding to exercise one year renewal for recreation, Summer Youth Program Services. Contractor, Fit for Life, Health and Wellness LLC, total contract amount, 150,000 that's for general services. Last contract is contract number 6006075, dash a one, 100% city funding. Amendment One to exercise one year renewal for recreation, Summer Youth Program Services. Contractor, word and action, Christian Center, total contract amount, 150,000 that's for general services. Council member, young for resolutions.
Thank you, Madam Clerk. And if we could just clarify, I know Doctor powers is looking at me, and I want to make sure we do everything correctly. What item Did you say you have amended resolution for line?
Item 21.4,
okay, the correction actually came last week, Madam President, through the administration. It just did not get corrected on the agenda.
But you had, okay, yes, so we're finding is that is that satisfied?
Yes, did I misunderstood how it was explained. Thank you.
All right. Thank you. Council member
Young, thank you, ma'am, President, I moved to approve line items, 21.2 through 21.5
All right, a motion has been made. Is there any objections on these items? Discussion council member Johnson,
thank you, Madam President, through you to the Department. I'm just wondering if we have any plans to have any East Side summer youth programs.
Through the Chair, yes, Mr. Washington,
yes, we do have Alex weather up from GSD.
Okay, we will make sure she is promoted.
Good afternoon. Good afternoon.
Go right ahead so through the chair to answer council members question we have. We would love to have East Side locations. When we opened it through the bidding process with OCP, we did not receive any responsible bids or qualifying bids from East Side, although it is something we're working with OCP on to adjust the criteria to make it more appealing and try to get as many bidders as possible.
Thank you. And just want to be clear that there is still an opportunity for locations on the east side to be identified. Yes, great. Thank you. Thank you, Madam President. Thank
you. And Can you just speak a little bit to the outreach, though, in general, to the church, for those who are not aware of this program and wouldn't even know to go on to bid, sync and apply. What is the outreach to the ecumenical community to let them know that their sites could possibly be used for summer, summer wrecks in programming for our young people,
sure. So through the chair, these specific contracts are for the programming services. So every every location, there's a a contract for the site and then a contract for the services, and they often are overlapping with this the same vendor. So there are going to be opportunities to bid on hosting sites, but these specific contracts are just on the programming itself.
Okay, again, what is the outreach going to be to the ecumenical community in Detroit to let them know that these opportunities exist, to all churches of all different types of faiths and beliefs in throughout the entire city, that these opportunities exist. Again, I think when it's in big sync, people kind of have to know and already be a part of the system to be notified that those opportunities are available. But again, if there's some type of outreach to let them know that, hey, we're having host sites in Detroit, you can possibly have summer programming at your facility. Here's how you go about, you know, getting involved in this process. Just want to know, again, what the outreach will be to let all churches know that this is an opportunity, because we all know we need additional recreation and summer programming for youth throughout the entire city, and the more churches that want to be a part of it, the better. So again, what's that outreach going to look like?
Through the Chair for outreach? I would defer to OCP,
okay. Do we have someone on from OCP
through the chair? I believe Ms lemon is about to step out of the meeting. If we could bring this back towards the end, she should be online.
Okay, we will bring all of these back to the end, and that will be 21.2
through 21.5
any objections to bring these back towards the end of the agenda
hearing, none That action will be taken
from the law department.
Council member Benson, an introduction of an ordinance line item 21.6
council member Benson, Madam President,
I move that the ordinance be read twice by title order, printed and laid on the table.
Hearing no objections, that action will be taken from the law department.
Council member Benson, a resolution set in a public hearing. Nine, item 21.7,
Council Member Benson, instead of public hearing, TBD
hearing, no objections. The resolution will be approved for the scheduling of a public hearing
from the Office of Development and grants
Council Member Santiago Romero. Three resolutions, Madam President, want to note that line item 21 point 11 was reported out of committee as a vote, and madam president is actually a report, and we can just receive and place that line item on file.
Okay, thank you so much. Council Member Santiago Romero,
thank you. Madam President, given that information motion to receive and file 21 point 11.
All right, any objections
for 21 point 11, which is a report, right?
Madam President, for point of clarity, this line item was reported out of the neighborhood and community services Standing Committee. It was a report. It was not a resolution item, and it shouldn't have moved out as a voting item, and because it fell up under the Office of the cheap procurement development and grants under new business, it was last underneath. Remember Santiago's name? We could not put in your name because it was never intended to be a voting item. That's why it's placed at the end. And I made reference to the item being received and filed. So,
so what do we do? Just
well, so I just say, receive a file. I just say, receive a file. Okay, yeah, thank you, Mayor, President. I like to make a motion to receive and file line 21 point 11,
but that's under Romero.
Uh, I'm sorry.
Well, always, so I don't need to, I don't need to do anything at all, because it was in her even though it came out of mine, you just explained it.
Alright. Okay, alright. So member, Santiago Merrill has already moved 21 point 11 to receive and file if there are no objections, that action will be taken. President,
yes, I apologize before we get too far down in the agenda, wanted to request a waiver from line items, 21.2 and 21.4
so I actually move these to the end of the agenda. Oh, my sites for the summer. Rate, yeah, yeah.
No worries. Yes. Member Young, thank you, Mayor,
and I want to apologize for not catching this earlier. Um, I think I have to make an amendment to line 18 point 15, because this is my appointee, and it should say me on it should have my name on here. Enlargement doesn't. So I think we have to, I think I have to make, I have to make a motion, and then I have to make a, make an amendment to 18 point 15, as I was told, are they reconsidering? And they had to pull it out again?
Madam President, that line, I know you requested a waiver on it. Member
young, yeah, so don't have to reconsider it. Or is it too late? Nope, it's too late. That's
a waiver. So waiver is attached. We can't, we can't reconsider, but it does say at large, but it doesn't represent. It doesn't say who, so, oh, at large, representative. Okay, yeah, okay,
that parliamentarian.
Is that correct? Okay,
okay, so we will go back now to member Santiago Romero, thank you, Madam President, motion to approve 21.8 through 21 point 10
second. These
are all various grant applications. Okay.
Are there any objections to 21.8 through 21 point 10? Hearing no objections. The three resolutions will be approved. Request a waiver, madam president for 21.8 through 21 point 10, Hearing no objections, a waiver will be attached to those items. Another waiver Madam President requested for 20 points 13. This is the public lighting resolution the contract.
Any objections to a waiver on that item,
hearing none that action will be taken. Thank you.
All right. Member, Santiago Romero,
did you have two more items left? We
did not actually vote those two items. Madam President,
we are online. I know 21 point 12. Council Member Santiago Romero, a resolution.
That's what I went back to, okay. Member Santiago Romero, motion to approve
discussion. Council member young
I'm a little bit
confused about this. I support this, but I know we moved out of our committee the actual event for Grand Prix. Why wouldn't we move out the permit aspect of that too? Why is that separate?
I remember young
neighborhood community service standard.
It would probably because this fell under Department of Public Works, which may be dealing with street in encroachment and that sort of thing, whereas yours is dealing with the general services side. Exactly,
I was just wondering. Yes,
okay, little territorial here,
all right, a motion has been made for approval, and those were line items, 2021 point 12 and 21 point 13, just one item, right. 21 point madam, thank you so much. Hearing no objections. 21 point 12 will be approved.
Madam, clerk, Council Member Santiago Romero a resolution line item, 21 point 13. Council
member, Santiago Romero, motion to approve.
Motion has been made for approval for 21 point 13.
Are there any objections?
Hearing no objections. The one resolution will be approved.
Request a waiver line 21 point 13,
Hearing no objections or waiver will be attached to 21 point 13.
Madam Clerk, under resolutions,
Council Member durha, a resolution line item 21 point 14.
Council member durha, thank you, Madam President, Move for approval of line item 21 point 14.
All right, this resolution is recognizing National Women in construction week, Hearing no objections. The one resolution will be approved request
the waiver for line item 21 point 14. 21.1
21 point 14. Okay.
I just want to be added to the resolution,
I guess. Oh, and
through you, Madam President, brief discussion. Anyone that wants to be at I am open to that. As folks know, we just recently put this resolution for last Tuesday, and had the opportunity to also present the Spirit of Detroit award to the National Association of Women in constructions Detroit chapter, and so just an amazing organization that pushes building this city forward with some very strong sisters in it. So I love to open it up to members of the council. Would love to join us on this resolution.
Alright, we'll just put it in the name of the council. I'm assuming, if there's no objections, okay? Discussion, yes, Council Member young.
I really hate to be this guy, but I think with everything that's going on federally, with dei and things that nature. I just want to know, can we do what we're doing here, celebrating women, and do we know potentially, because we're doing this, I support this because I want to be this guy. I just want to make sure that guy is in something that potentially people could come and try to harm us or jeopardize federal funding because of what we're doing here.
I'm not sure who, who that is to, but I think we're celebrating you Ben, probably one minute construction,
if I may, I will. We'll take whatever consequences come. Uh, okay, as a, as a husband of a phenomenal woman, I take whatever consequences come and we sit on this panel with some phenomenal women as well. So at the end of the day, if they want to come for us, because we are celebrating women, let them come. My brother,
I agree. I'm not saying don't do it. I just want to know so I could be able to explain it. So if I'm out there and somebody asked me, you took money from this because you did this, I just want to know what that is and what that entails, yeah, and
just all the facts to it. And just to clarify on the resolution, Madam President, it does nothing specifically set forth, setting forth an action. It just celebrates women who are in construction nationally, and particularly here in the city of Detroit, it shows no preferential treatment relative to contracts, because we already have a procurement process that is fair and open. So this resolution, resolution does nothing again but celebrate the women who helped build our city and our nation.
Thank you, Madam President, this could be my final statement on this, and I with you. I agree with this. I'm going to support this. I'm a supporter of this. I just want to make sure that we understand we're dealing with people who aren't necessarily what you would say, sticklers or believers in like things like law or constitution or process, and so usually these would be things that I would have confidence would hold, you know, people account. I don't necessarily have that in this political environment. I'm supportive of this. I just want to make sure I understand what the consequences are, so I can deal with it accordingly, and so I can address it if it's if it's brought up at all in the public discourse that that's all otherwise, I'm a supporter. Thank you. Alright.
Thank you so much. Member, young,
and if there are no objections, 21 point 14 will be in the name of the council, and there are no objections, the resolution will be approved,
no matter. President, I requested a waiver for this as well, Hearing
no objections. A waiver will be attached to 21 point 1420. Point 14. Excuse me, 21 point 14. Under resolutions. Council
Member Santiago Romero, two resolutions, line items, 21 point 15 and 21 point 16.
Council member, Santiago Romero, thank you, Madam President. I also come with two resolutions. One, recognizing March as to as developmental disabilities. Awareness Month, adults and children of all ages live with developmental disabilities, approximately 180,000 people in Michigan have a disability, and the CDC estimates that one in six children have a disability or delay. Detroit residents with disabilities contribute a significant amount to the city. We see it every day as a city seeks to promote inclusion and support for everyone, we must uphold our shared responsibility to end the stigma associated with disabilities. And 21 point 16 is a resolution recognizing this month as well as Social Work Month. The Social Work Month theme is Social Work compassion plus action. Social workers go through intensive training to offer the best cares for others. I myself got my Master's in Social Work at the University of Michigan, we assist people regardless of any aspect of their identity. Michigan is home to over 31,000 licensed social workers and over 6000 students, and research shows that social workers in healthcare education and I will say, politics improve education and health outcomes. Madam President, motion to approve 21 point 15 and 21 point 16. All right, Hearing no objections. The two resolutions will be approved.
Miss Santiago mayor, up through you. Madam President, if I can join you on both of those resolutions, are the great resolutions I
would love to make it in the name of the Council for both resolutions, Madam President, and request a waiver for both as well. Okay, Hearing no objections that action will be taken. Thank you. Okay, and before we go to our referrals, we just had those two items, or those three items, 21.2 and through 21.5 that were postponed to the end of the agenda, Mr. Washington, do we have someone on from the Office of Procurement?
Yes, Madam Chair, we do have Tony limit online.
All right. Miss limit, i
Good afternoon. Miss limit.
Afternoon. Tony limit, from the Office of contract and procurement, Deputy procurement
officer, okay, thank you so much for joining. Just was curious if you could speak a little bit more to the outreach to the churches regarding the recreation summer youth program that we have before us today. I know that some of this before us is just programming, but the actual host sites will be forthcoming. So can you speak to what outreach you all will be doing to ensure that we get participation in every single city council district?
Yes, through the chair, we do have the summer host sites and the youth development organizations out for be it currently, because we're looking for new participants, we are having a pre be it meeting on March the 14th, at 10:30am and that is for anybody that's interested, that's providing the service for the youth development organizations. And then to make sure that we have host sites in all of the various districts, we are also holding a outreach for them as well on March the 14th, so both people who are interested in participating in the Summer whole site program can participate. Once that is finished, we will have additional outreaches in the various districts to try and recruit more participants. We do have it on our social media trying to get people to participate as well.
Okay, if you can, please make sure Miss limit you send over your promotional materials to us so that we can get it out as well. And then also, when you're in district five, and we can partner with you as well to get that information out. And then, do you know roughly how much is allocated to the summer youth programming through our host sites, through churches, roughly,
I do not that would be a department's question from their budget. Okay,
okay, I'll just follow up. Just curious if there's additional host sites that are interested in joining in what our overall budget is to expand the services. So I will definitely make sure I get with you all and looking forward to the continued outreach to ensure a greater participation throughout the entire city. Okay, thank you. Miss limit, thank you. And if there are no additional questions for 21.2
through 21.5
is there a motion to approve? Motion?
Any objections?
Hearing? No objections. 21.2 through 21.5 will be approved.
Thank you. Thank you. Ms, lemon applause.
For the president's report on standing committee referrals and other matters for the internal operations standing committee three reports from various city departments. The three reports will be referred to the internal operations, standing committee for the Neighborhood and Community Services. Standing Committee, Madam
President, we're going to the internal operations standing committee. Women, sorry, 10 reports for Neighborhood and Community Services. Standing Committee.
Those 10 reports will be referred to the Neighborhood and Community Services standing committee for the Planning and Development Committee,
seven reports from various city departments. Those
seven reports will be referred to the Planning and Development Committee for the public health and safety standing committee,
seven reports from various city departments.
These seven reports will be referred to the public health and safety Standing Committee under the consent agenda. There are no islands. Madam President, all right, we will call now for member reports, and I will start with council member Dural now your evening meeting is tonight. Thank
you, Madam President, and yes. Wanted to remind the public that our city wide City Council charter mandated meeting will take place tonight at Cadiz Baptist church located at 20361 Plymouth Road. Again, that is Cadiz Baptist church located at 20361 Plymouth Road take place from 7pm hopefully we can get out of there by 8:30pm but what I would say is, I invite members of the public to join us. This is a opportunity to have the majority of your council members coming to district seven to be able to express your concerns. Everybody, obviously, is invited in the city, but this is taking place in district seven, the district seven mandated charter meeting tonight at Kadesh Baptist Church. Other than that, that concludes, my member reports. Thank you, Madam President, thank
you. Council member Johnson, no report. Thank you. Council member Johnson. Council Member Santiago Romero, no report. Thank you. Council Member Santiago Romero, Council Member young Thank you, Mayor president, isn't
too late to get waivers on 21.1 to 20. To 21 point through 21.5
those are the summer rec centers, yeah through the churches. Is there any objection to a waiver on those items? 21.1 through 21.5 is it
20.1 or 21.2 21.10
yeah. 21.2 21.2
Okay, any objections hearing, none that action will be taken. Negative report, all right, thank you. Council member, young Council President, pro temp Tate, negative report, ma'am, thank you. Pro Temp Tate member waters,
thank you, Madam President. Um, sort of share this flyer with with people who are might be listening veterans and all men 16 and over clothing drive and giveaway. Friday, April 4, doors open at 1pm from 1pm to 5pm Considine, Little Rock, Little Rock Family Center, 8904, Woodward Avenue. I want to make sure that people were aware of that. The other thing I just want to do is to lift up the family of Luther Batman, Keith, long time, long time friend of mine. In fact, when Luther was at the Detroit News, he gave me my my first column. I know when he first stayed, first started that band, he started from the basement of his home, just just an awesome, awesome in the individual and so I want the family to know condolences for the family and and to express my love for Luther Keith and his family. Thank you so much, Madam President,
thank you so much. Council member waters, member Benson, alright, alright. And also wanted to send my condolences to Luther Keith as well as Barry Ross, who recently passed. I was very unfortunate situation. I was actually there with him the night of his passing, with Malik Shabazz and others at a community event. It was yep, yep, so just sending prayers to him, and you know, just never know when that time comes. So we always have to appreciate life, family and friends and again, sending out condolences to both of those families as they deal with those losses. Want to also just remind everyone that tomorrow is the start of our budget hearings. We will be having roughly 46 departmental budget hearings over the next few weeks. And again, encourage participation from our residents to watch online and or come in person. All of the information should be available online to participate and to follow our budget deliberations again, they will start tomorrow at exactly
10am 9am 9am committees, 9am Madam President, and budget hearing is at 10. Yep.
10am alright. Hope to see everyone there. And then lastly, just a reminder of our upcoming meeting, which will be taking place on March the 24th again, this is the affordable housing and homelessness Task Force is having a town hall on the state of housing March the 24th at 5pm at the Detroit rescue mission again, March the 24th at 5pm at the Detroit rescue mission, encouraging those to come out who are interested in expressing their concerns, suggestions, and hearing about the seven point plan that was recently announced. And also, just in general, the state of housing. What more we can do? What we have done and have a open dialog about housing in Detroit again. March the 24th 5pm 150 Stimson Street at the Detroit rescue mission. All right, that is all I have today, under adoption without committee reference, there are no items, Madam President, under communications from the clerk, a report on approval of proceedings by the mayor. The report will be received and placed on file under testimonial resolutions and special privilege. Council
Member durha, a resolution. Line item 31.1
council member durha, thank you, Madam President.
Move for approval from line items. Line item 31.1
i one. All right. Hearing no objections, the resolution will be approved. And if there is nothing else to come before us today. Is there a motion to adjourn motion. This meeting will stand adjourned and everyone. Have a blessed day. Thank.
