this government meeting is brought to you by eastworks and our local cable subscribers good evening welcome to Theon City ccil meeting for Wednesday April April 3rd the meeting tonight is being recorded and broadcast by edia on Channel 91 193 and live stream it on their web page Isam media.org cons are participant in this meeting are gathered in hybrid on the order extended until March 2025th which allow us to do so a remind both the member of the city ccil and the public participating remote remain mute on recognized by the city council president also for the members of the public please remove your camera for the direction of the meeting unless you are participating in the public speak time or the public hearing thank you this meeting is now called to order Barbara Connie denam here Salem Derby Omar Gomez here JP kazinski Tom Peak here Brad Riley Tamara Smith here JT Terell here Owen Zer here please stand for the pl of Allegiance ofg flag flag United States America indisce all I will approve of the minutes I would take a motion to approve the minutes of of March 20th 2024 so moved second second I have a motion and a seconds to approve the minute of the March 20th meeting any further discussion see no those one those one in favor any against abstention motion pass um for speak time this is the opportunity to address the conso regarding any topic no list under the public hearing if you want to participate in anything that is no part of the public hearing go to the podium you will have two minutes please state your name and address for the record and just address all your comments just to the city council thank you hi my name is Heather Leen I live at 28b Pine Street here in East Hampton I've been a resident here for 18 years and I'm here to ask the city council to pass a resolution in support of the cherish act which would increase funding for public higher education in Massachusetts Public higher education is an integral um is integral to the local economy here in East Hampton hundreds of residents and their families depend on the employment at one of our public colleges and universities to live and reside here in e East Hampton 152 Current East Hampton residents are enrolled at Holio Community College alone 91 students will be graduating from East Hampton High School in a few months and deserve affordable public higher education options data shows that students who attend our public colleges and universities are significantly more likely to stay in state upon graduation to Live start a family start a business buy a home buy a car and pay taxes East Hampton residents deserve access to highquality debt-free public higher education that affords them the ability to graduate without debt and build their lives and professions here in East Hampton thank you thank you hello honorable council members of eth Hampton my name is Rachel rard I live at 68 Cottage Street Apartment 4 um I come from a family of special Educators originally from Connecticut so uh the cherish Act is really deeply important to me upon graduating from us in 2015 with the Bachelor's in music education I faced the reality in a form of a $1,100 monthly student loan payment which would Loom over my head until my early 60s this monthly amount was more than my rent and meant that I needed to get into the workforce quickly so I accepted my first job as a middle school band teacher in Springfield where the vibrant Talent of my students gave me the spark that I still have today just in case you didn't know a master's degree is necessary for educators in Massachusetts to earn their professional lure this means that educ educators are forced into continuing education after their Bachelors even when they cannot afford it and for teachers like me and music there's little financial support for this programs like uh Public service loan forgiveness exist and the safe program exist but with these opportunities they are only federal student loans that they support I had to rely on uh both Federal and private loans to finance my studies and my family could not afford to help me and as a result I have about $78,000 of private loan debt and 23 of federal loan debt so that's why this this act is very important to me um also I am the director of education at the Community Music School of Springfield where we run a college prep program specific for students of color who are looking to get into the workforce for music education and recently we had our um conversation about financial literacy and uh it was a really really hard conversation to have with them um so this act would be a hugely beneficial for not only uh upcoming Educators but also for our our community at Large um change has to come of Massachusetts it's going to improve and it's evident that in my students faces uh when we talk about the numbers that change hopefully can happen sooner rather than later uh that change can start with the cherish act this vital legislation seeks to address the very issues um that I just spoke about but the impact of the cherish act goes beyond the walls of our institution it reverberates through our communities and into our schools thank you thank you hi GW morresy 17 Mayor Street I don't have my prepared remarks um but I'm coming as an one second can you please mute yourself if you participate in remote I don't want to mute everybody and then we have to go through different process please keep muted thank you okay I don't have my usual um written up remarks but I am coming to you as an education researcher and an educationist and a believer in public education by training and trade and um I work in particular in the state of Massachusetts Juvenile Justice System I work to understand how young people who are incarcerated in this state get access to education just to get a high school diploma and we have increasing numbers of young people enrolled in post-secondary Opportunities including at a number of community colleges across the state it is harder and harder for those young people to persist into community community college or four-year College uh careers after they leave the Department of Youth Services support system because it gets more and more expensive and they are already coming from backgrounds in community ities that have extraordinary um obstacles to participation in the job economy and in higher education so on the one hand it's good for a very small number of people because it is also true that we increasingly incarcerate fewer and fewer kids every year good for us but um in general I think that I know that you guys are feeling resolution out and what is the purpose of of stating that we have an opinion as a community about something that can only be affected at the state level the point is to to say that as a community we believe that this thing uh the cherish act higher education for all um is a good thing for our state's future to express that we as a community have a vision and we believe in uh making it possible for more and more people to gain access to the higher education World especially state-funded ones that have this extraordinary history founded in Massachusetts the public education system was founded here in the mid 1800s and I think that we have a duty to do better by our publicly funded systems to actually publicly them and we now have opportunities to take money from billionaires there are at least 25 of them on this year's bbes report so let's take some of their money we already have the fair share act in place we've got money that is available specifically for public education I would like to ensure that East Hampton stands for sending that to people in the higher ed system as well as in K12 thanks so much thank [Music] you hello um Jackie brusso Pereira uh 39 Garfield AV in East Hampton um I work at the University of Massachusetts so one of our public higher education institutions and as you know later this evening you'll be asked to consider a resolution to support the cherish act which is an act to support increased State funding for public higher education the purpose of this act is to help students graduate from public Higher Education Without debt so I work at the University of Massachusetts and mostly I work with students who have had some struggles throughout their college career and I regularly beet with students who are struggling to afford College financial aid is available to them but it's never enough to cover the gap between an expected family contribution and their tuition bill sometimes students opt to take private unsubsidized loans that leave them with thousands of dollars of debt sometimes they have to pay that right away and other times they begin to pay it after graduation I've also seen students who opt to work 30 to 40 hours a week or more in order to afford College the the problem is that they end up exhausted and unable to focus on their studies jeopardizing their academic success each semester I work with a handful of students who are scrambling to pay their tuition bill at the start of the semester in those situations those students are prohibited from registering for classes until they've sorted out that bill that means that they have to start the semester at least a week after everyone else so they're already falling behind their peers and this makes it much harder for them to get caught up in classes and for them to be successful in college our higher education system in Massachusetts as it stands right now continues to punish students for being poor these are students we're encouraging to get a degree to improve their lives and it's not working our system's not working well let's use the cherish act to support public higher education thanks thank [Music] you anyone else [Music] hi my name is my name is Deb fredman nine Chapman have I'm Jewish and have a few prepared remarks um a good number of Us East Hampton supporters of the ceasefire resolution before you have spoken to you already at two rules committee meetings as well as a city council meeting March 20th we've also said we will engage in dialogue with anyone who's interested after the resolution is passed please pass this res ceasefire resolution tonight without change or delay whatever you think about hamas's horrible crimes on October 7th Netanyahu and his government are now the ones carrying out evil every day nearly 2third of the over 30,000 Gins killed by the Israeli military are women and children 10,000 children alone whether or not every single G gin man who has been killed was a Hamas F fighter which is highly unlikely or even most of them the ongoing disproportionate punishment of in innocent civilians is no less a crime reports also say that the Israeli government is preventing enough humanitarian aid from reaching the starving population and Gins who are sick or injured also have little chance of receiving adequate Medical Care on Monday seven International Aid workers from World Central Kitchen I'm sure you all heard about this were killed by the Israeli military despite having fully disclosed who they were and where they were operating this organization has said it now has to pause Aid operations in Gaza because of the attack clearly the actions of the Israeli government haven't saved any of the remaining hostages and it doesn't take much to realize that more gazen deaths won't make Israelis permanently safe no matter how many of our us tax dollars go to provide more weapons to Israel psychological trauma will affect all gazen children for years to come and not just the large number who have been orphaned or injured some of them will no doubt look for solace in the hatred that many were too young to know or feel before this started we need to begin addressing what it will take to prevent the consequences of what's Happening Now rather than allowing it to continue thank you please pass this resolution now good evening I'm Shelley Greenstein um Precinct Three uh I come here tonight tired of thinking of all the possible words and ways I could convince you all that we must use our small V voice here in eastampton to say stop the genocide of Palestinians by the Israeli government passing a resolution declaring ourselves in favor of a ceasefire should not be a difficult one if it is that we all share the same values that life is precious as a white woman whitish woman I I abhor discrimination and oppression of people of color around the world as a straight woman I abore seeing the hate and violence targeting my lgbtq plus friends and as an American I uphor seeing my country commit subversive acts and undermine the self-determination of poor and developing countries and as a Jew I abhor the idea that to be against the ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Palestinian people is somehow anti-semitic it's not is it really a radical idea to see another's perspective and to question the erroneous narratives we've been fed about Israel and Palestine I think not ceasefire now please pass the resolution thank you hello my name is Jean Allen I live at 10 suon place in Precinct 2 I'm um I'm part of the community that has worked on the resolution I'm a member of pax Christie and a nurse practitioner and I try and see things through the lens of nonviolence and healthc Care um there are about 177,000 unaccompanied children in Gaza as a result of the war that's approximately the population of East Hampton can you imagine if we woke up tomorrow and everyone who lives in the city was a child under 18 no mother no father no grandma no grandpa no aunts or uncles or older siblings how would they survive um an average of 200 people die a day and that's one person every 8 minutes so for the four lovely people who spoke for the cherish act in the time they spoke that would have been another um person dead and that's only going to increase as the famine sets in um I cared for a baby B who died of starvation and it was very painful to watch it was her pain and her parents' pain and imagine that multiplied by thousands because once the wasting of the body stops and it has in Northern Gaza there's no way to reverse it the body just eats itself from within um if the aid workers are no longer giving food Aid how are the people eat the last functioning hospital was bombarded this week how can it be repaired if the bombing continues a ceasefire is needed is ceasefire enough no it's not but um it's a necessary first step for a lasting peace um when George Floyd was being killed um by the police officer he didn't start with a discussion on dismantling racism he said that I can't breathe cease fire now please thank you hi my name is Neil brick I live in East Hampton I've been here about 27 years um since I'm going to take a different pers you please repeat repeat your name my name is Neil brick b r i c k thank you I'll say where I live I don't have to be afraid I have a different perspective I'm Jewish also I'm I live at 39 Ward uh I've been here about 27 years but I've been connected to this community about 50 years um I I I'm all for peace I think peace is important but at the same time a ceasefire has to be just for all um you know nobody wants War um the reality is Hamas started the war and the reality is is everywhere Israel's been and has been started by a country around them um the major problem with Palestine right now the reality is is that hamas's leaders are all billionaires they're hiding in Qatar right now in expensive hotels and um that's why the it's one major reason that country is suffering so bad they spent about a billion dollars collecting arms and creating tunnels under the country so that they could attack Israel Etc um it's not a democracy they haven't allowed uh elections in since they got in and they basically killed the opposition after they got it I think they won 44 to 41% over F at that time um and Israel I mean I grew up knowing that Israel was all we had um you know and you United States is a great place I love this country but if it does turn against the Jews Israel is all we have so whatever ceasefire peace agreement comes up we have to make sure that Israel is a safe place also for people the reality is in 1948 um uh the Palestinians had had the chance to have half the country or more and all the Arab land basically Israel was given all of the siai pretty much and some of the coast the Palestinians said no and the all the countries in that world attacked Israel all at once Israel miraculously survived with no Air Force nothing it and it's true Miracle um I think whatever we do here today I mean no one likes War a ceasefire it has to be just um and uh that's that's the biggest thing fear for all I think Hamas has to leave they're they basically treat women as second class citizens and if you're gay and I'm I'm part of the LGBT community they treat them horribly they kill them sometimes and that's the reality um so I hope that whatever you pass today you will consider both sides of the issue and making sure Israel safe as well thank you thank you hi um my name is Emily gamber and I live on brig Street in East Hampton um I'm in eastampton Resident while I am not Jewish more than half of my family is Jewish and I also have family living in Israel well I don't think that these identities and relationships qualify me to have an opinion it does seem to carry some weight in this discussion I resent that the presumed feeling of safety of my relatives is being used to kill Palestinian civilians depending on who you ask the rate or the comparison of civilians killed is from 10 Palestinians to one Israeli to over 30 this is not a war these are not the casualty numbers of a war this is killing with American dollars aimed shot by the Israeli military now I and many people here abhor what Israel is doing but I want to highlight that the ceasefire resolution that is in front of you is a bilateral ceasefire it calls for Hamas and Israel to stop it calls for the return of the hostages and any um prisoners of War so I urge the city councilors to consider the actual wording of the resolution do not be swayed by anyone who claims to speak for a whole Community or an identity group I urge the council to add our voices to the other cities and towns in Massachusetts and across the country in this effort for peace thank you thank you I'm going to put a pause now for a public speak time it's 6:20 we schedule a public hearing at 6:15 and we have um employees they going to participating in in a presentation of for respect of them of whoever show up for the public hearing we're going to put a pause we're going to do the public hearing and then then it will open again the public speak time I will take a motion to open the public hearing so move I have a motion and a second to open the public hearing any further discussion seeing none those one in favor I any against abstention motion passes cons s thank you Mr President um this was a item brought forward to us by the uh Department of Public Works uh the director and one of the engineers uh essentially this is a request to make a few the streets over in Precinct 2 uh just as you cross over the pond um uh coming from the Mills uh to make them one way uh the main street that we are discussing is Emerald Place U but there's also a request to make Clinton Street one way and that has to do mostly with traffic flow uh Emerald Place is on a slope leading down to the pond uh and there's significant uh improvements that are needed there to mitigate the potential for erosion in order to do that carbing needs to be installed and if we want to also include pedestrian friendly uh infrastructure there um that basically Narrows the street as well as creating Green Space and parking um so in order to maintain traffic flow with what's left uh the request is to create uh a oneway on enr Place uh and then Clinton Street to create kind of a circular motion around the the neighborhood portion um as you head uh closer to um I believe that's Everett Street um we discussed this in public safety uh the two regular members of the committee were not present um and so you filled in thank you um we approved this to Z to recommend to the full city council um I asked the other members if they had any concerns and we offered a variety of options they expressed no concerns it's pretty straightforward and generally the consensus was that when the DPW director and an engineer brings forward a plan like this they're the experts and we didn't really have significant questions uh this will open up a significant pedestrian and possibly some bicycle access um better into Precinct 2 um as well as again protecting that Hillside and improving traffic flow so um I don't have much else to say I know that that I believe that the DPW director and one of our city Engineers is on the call and um I'll um at your discretion Mr President they can uh provide more information Mr notman hi good evening everyone uh Greg nman director of Public Works um yeah Owen pretty much covered it um we're working on a a design over in this section of new city to um try to address a few issues one of the major ones being erosion of the bank and um just some troubles we're having uh with sections replace um starting to kind of SLO off towards the pond so um that being said I'll kind of give it to Diane there Diane if you want to elaborate on that a little bit we just don't have a ton of real estate to work with so making the upper half of Emerald Place one way just gives us a little bit more space to um make stronger improvements basically yeah basically the um we're we're suggesting to have um Emeral place be one way going north starting at Lincoln Street which is where it really Narrows down right now there's no curbing in there and to the drainage problems um we're proposing to ad curbing so that won't allow people to park or or even get over if someone's driving by um on the road so we are suggesting to make that one way and we need the oh sorry we need the city council to approve this so that we can move a design forward yeah this would not go into effect until after any construction happened and um any of the necessary signages up okay thank you which could be two to three years yeah um cons something else um the only other thing I'll add to my understanding is that they this was uh presented to members of the neighborhood I think only one person had a a concern about it um some of the designs I'll also add uh potentially includes some of the uh up the upgrade plans farther down towards the fery street development uh where one has to cross the street and then cross the street again um either as a pedestrian or a bicyclist and there there could be potential with these plans to build a um a shorter bridge over that final that final span there as uh you come down the uh the new prominade Boardwalk uh on the ferry Street side to the pond um that's pretty much it from my perspective Mr President any councelors have any questions or comments no anyone from the public have any questions comments or concerns about this see none cons than including the at home public yeah I say public okay set usually you say here or thank they didn't refer to thank you thank you C anyone from the public participating in a remote want to participate in this discussion all right thank you Mr President uh uh I'd like to make a motion as follows I move to amend section 1-41 the traffic rules and orders appendix say of the city ordinances updated August 2nd 2023 by adding the following language Clinton Street for the entire distance from the Westerly border of linol street to the southernly border of emerald place with vehicular traffic to proceed in Westerly to Northerly Direction Emerald Place from the easterly border of Emerald Place in Clinton Street to the Westerly border of Lincoln Street with vehicular traffic that proceed in easterly Direction and Emerald Place from the Northerly border of Clinton Street to the southerly border of Lincoln Street with traffic to proceed in a Northerly Direction it is proposed that the above Amendment go into effect following the Reconstruction of the roadways and addition of necessary signage and traffic controls deemed sufficient by the DPW and other City departments second I have a motion on second to amend city ordinance appendix a traffic rules and Order article 6 section 141 by adding Clinton Street and emal Street to the list of oneway streets any further discussion say no those those one in favor any against abstention motion passes uh move to close the public hearings second I have a motion and a second to close public hearing any discussion see none those want in favor I against abstention bues now going back to the Poli speak time for those one who didn't say anything yet this is your opportunity to address your comments to the council good evening my name is Sarah Weinberger and I live at 359 Main Street in East Hampton I would first like to extend my deepest thanks to the members of the rules committee who unanimously re approved our people's resolution with no amendments moving to the full City Council for consideration today and I would also like to thank councilor Denim and Gomez for co-sponsoring our resolution although some would refer to the idea of a ceasefire resolution as anti-semitic and anti-israel the main reason I support this resolution is because I am Jewish and I work hard to live my life according to the Jewish principle that saving a life takes precedence all over almost every other relig act or consideration Judaism has also taught me that we must treat strangers with kindness and love them as ourselves whether they live in East Hampton Israel Gaza or the West Bank this commandment is mentioned 36 times more than any other commandment is mentioned in the in the OR Prohibition in the Torah a bilateral ceasefire provides an opportunity as it did in November to stop the slaughter of the civilian population of Gaza as well as opening the door to saving what are left of the hostages captured by Hamas on October 7th had a ceasefire been in effect we would not be mourning world world Central Kitchen seven Aid workers and the other approximately 200 Aid workers killed in Gaza since the War Began on Sunday tens of thousands of Israelis took to the streets for 4 days to demand a ceasefire and and the ouer of prime minister Netanyahu my Jewish Israeli friends and family members want this war to end they know with each passing day the chances of rescuing the hostages alive is diminished they also know that war only begs more War I belong oh can I just say this one thing I stand together with Jews all over the world in condemnation of the most destructive hateful and right-wing Administration in the history of Israel thank you thank you good evening my name is morai Kamal I'm a physician and I'm a resident uh of Main Street in East Hampton I Rise to urge you to pass the community created resolution supporting a ceasefire in the Israel Gaza War I'm Jewish and my parents were Holocaust Survivors you'll hear that this resolution and others will make will make an increase in anti-Semitism and to those who make this claim I say that's a lie anti-Semitism islamophobia and racism has been increasing in this country for at least the last seven or eight years we've watched it from Charleston we've watched it all over the country we had a Muslim B we're about to get another probably there are thousands of Israelis demonstrating in front of the parliament in Jerusalem and there have been thousands that have marched every day the American taxpayer is funding this war and as such we have an obligation to demand that our federal government hold the government of Israel to the Geneva conventions and the laws of the us both of which the government of Israel is currently violating this war is going to end they all do and it'll end with a Seas fire and the question that we have to ask ourselves is how many Israelis and Palestinians have to die before this inevitable ceasefire happens and will we support a resolution to for to push our government towards [Music] it hello uh Ruth Jennison uh 28 East Maple Street East Hampton I speak as a longtime uh resident of uh PRI too I'm also an educator and a member of the massachusett Teachers Association the largest Union in the state which passed a ceasefire resolution and I am a member of the Executive Board of the western Mass area labor Federation which represents over 60,000 workers the delegate body of the Federation comprised of Representatives of the Federation affiliate unions across western Mass also passed a ceasefire resolution unanimously our unions and labor bodies represent the profound diversity of working people we are comprised of all racial sexual ethnic and gender identities we are immigrants differently abled and multi-denominational our western Mass labor bodies have asserted our Unity on the need for an immediate and permanent ceasefire as working people we stand for peace and reject our wages funding war and genocide we call on the council to join us in supporting these values our demands for a ceasefire and lifting the Seas on Gaza have broader support than ever in addition to the MTA SEIU the UAW the American postal workers union and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union among others have called for a ceasefire every single one of these unions counts many East Hampton residents among its numbers I am also a commissioner on the board of the East Hampton Housing Authority I occupy the seat reserved for labor in this capacity I'm witnessed to the underfunding of housing of our low-income SE of housing for our low-income seniors families and disabled fellow community members as our resolution notes in fiscal year 2023 East Hampton taxes contributed $4,130 to Israeli military operations these monies are directed away from the upkeep and maintenance to house our fellow community members many retired workers in dignity I ask for the council to stand with the labor movement in East Hampton and the working people of East camped in our call for a ceasefire please pass this resolution unamended thank you thank you hi I'm Excuse me I'm Mara Dodge Precinct 4 I teach um US history at Westfield State I also support the cherish act but that's um not why I'm up here now so I'm here to clear up some U misperceptions calling for a ceasefire is not condoning or supporting Hamas more than 600 Jewish rabbis have signed either the RAB bu for ceasefire declaration or a letter from trua a rabic human rights organization on Easter Sunday the pope himself repeated his call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza calling for a ceasefire is the only way to achieve the release of the hostages calling for a ceasefire is essential for the safe delivery of humanitarian Aid and to prevent the spread of famine that all un agencies are now warning about all week tens of thousands of Israeli Jews including the families of many hospit ages have been calling for a ceasefire and marching in Tel Aviv calling for a ceasefire is not anti-semitic how can peace be anti-semitic what country can be above criticism many eastampton Jews have testified in favor of this resolution or signed the petition I am Jewish in 1905 my great-grandparents fled massacres in Ukraine others later died in German concentration camps on my polish side 3 million polish Jews were killed in World War II but 3 million polish Catholics also perished poles Russians and all Slavic PE peoples were next on Hitler's death list never again must mean never again for anyone I've been to Israel on the West Bank there are roads that only Jews can drive on neighborhoods where only Jews can live within Israel Palestinians are second class citizens imagine the Gaza Strip is only 25 miles long the distance from East Hampton to Greenfield and 7 miles wide 2 million people live there a 100,000 have been killed wounded and or missing reputable human rights groups stand behind these figures Israel itself reported that it dropped a 100 bombs a day during the first weeks of the war President Biden just gave another huge shipment of 2,000 PB bombs the kind that destroy whole city blocks and he's asking for 18 billion more this is sheer madness please support this resolution unamended thank you hi hi there uh Frank Roberts I live at seven Fox Run in East Hampton like uh many of the people in this room here I support a ceasefire uh unlike many of them I do not support passing this resolution as it's currently written um I am a member of two synagogues in the valley I am on the board of two different Jewish organizations my kids go to a Jewish Day School I heard in the committee meeting that this was a broad process that incorporated a lot of different viewpoints nobody asked me nobody asked me couldn't have they probably could have found me because they didn't agree or wouldn't have agreed with my standpoint any resolution needs to be measured and the current one as drafted does not build consensus and the original committee meeting you heard from many people who disagreed with the wording and suggested Alternatives and I'm not sure that that was heard but the way I feel about it is pretty straightforward everybody here wants to be a role model we want to be activists we want to make our voice heard and we want to make this community better and so I would ask the committee what kind of Role Models do you want to be do you want to be the type of role models that pass a resolution that really hasn't been properly vetted that didn't build a consensus and wasn't Broad in its viewpoints or do you want to engage in a process that maybe takes a little longer but incorporates all viewpoints that's what I hope for because I think we all want to ceasefire we see the atrocities but I still think the work isn't done and I think that you need to get more consensus on it thank you thank you Carolyn Cushing Main Street precinct 4 poetry has been a part of our group's process we start meetings by reading a poem we've read poems by Israeli and Palestinian combatants for peace American Palestinian and Jewish poets as well as living Palestinian poets and those killed by bombs probably USF funded since October 7th these Palestinian poets have inspired us to imagine what kind of resolution they might write Palestinian poets write a resolu illusion a ceasefire gento whereas the house next door no longer stands it's lying like an old carpet on the floor of the earth trampled by missiles fat slippers flying off legless feet and whereas every time we leave the house it's suicide and each return a failed attempt and whereas a child who was shot by an Israeli sniper or killed during an air raid and root to school her picture was placed on her desk at school her picture stares at the Blackboard while air sits in her chair and whereas more missiles come flying in on the lookout for anything that moves Angels get hold of an infant niece we look around and find only her milk bottle and whereas The Grieving have only the unknown it's their only staple and inheritance pain has no logic all things redeem The Grieving except your rational questions and whereas for us the fear of dying before living haunts us while we are still in our mother's wombs and whereas the house has been bombed everyone dead the kids the parents the toys the actors on TV characters and novels personas and poetry collections the ey the he and the she and whereas the houses were not AAS the kids were not AAS their clothes and toys were not a us the neighborhood was not our M the air was not a us our ears were not our M our eyes were not a m hi Rachel Rosen Carol Pleasant Street East Hampton another Jewish person for ceasefire now therefore be it resolved that we The Poets Grant you refuge in invocation and prayer we bless the neighborhood at the minoret to guard them from the rocket from the moment it is a general's command until it becomes a raid we Grant you and the little ones Refuge the little ones who change the Rocket's course before it lands with their smiles be it further resolved that knives may eat what remains of our ribs machines might smash what remains of stones but life is coming for that is its way creating life even for us be it further resolved that Justice is the right of all who live in the wrong places in this world ultimately be it resolved that death goes home alone safe and sound so a dove might build its nest and lay it its eggs and metal helmets these lines were gathered by Caroline Cushing from the following Palestinian poets award-winning poet and Scholar mosab abuta from the things you may find hidden in my ear his and his family's prous Journey out of Gaza is detailed in a recent New Yorker article novelist poet and Storyteller Maya Abu alhayat from you can be the last Leaf poet novelist and nutritionist hea Abu nada from I grant you refu Refuge which was written just 10 days before she was killed and his air strike on October 20th she was only 32 years old from Life by Salim anfar rep renowned poet who advocated for peaceful resistance he was buried along with his family under the rebel after an Israeli air strike on December 7th and from Muro by Mahmud Darwish who is regarded as palestine's National poet my friends we have the power to help Grant Refuge to those suffering in Palestine and in Israel please pass our ceasefire resolution as written thank you hello my name is Liz Jensen I live in W 3 um and I want to talk to you um not about why there should be a ceasefire because I feel like many people in this room will do an excellent job and I think that most of you know why there should be a ceasefire but I feel like a few of you need talking to about why it is we East Hampton should pass something that is internationally involved um this resolution is happening in a historic moment a genocide is happening in our lifetime um our country is sitting silent it's not doing anything every voice right now matters and it might seem like this board doesn't have or this this Council doesn't have an a business being a part of this International conversation but you do every voice counts right now we need to do all we can to get the message out there so and also I would really like it to be unchanged because the citizens that elected you a lot of them this group worked Tire tirelessly to word this resolution and they did an excellent job and I don't think that it needs to be changed in the least I think that the right thing to do would be as elected officials to do what your citizens are asking of you thank you thank you counselors Heather deardra 41 South Street as a Jew I'm actually only Reading part of what I have um I don't do public speaking so I'm lucky if I get half of this out as a Jew I am here today to urge you to carefully weigh the pros and cons of passing a sustained permanent ceasefire resolution and how that will impact all of the residents of East Hampton most of us would prefer our city council to focus on what they were elected to do which is to address local matters not foreign policy issues we can all agree that the war in Gaza must end but disagree with the loud minority demanding a permanent ceasefire at all costs like the vast majority of the American people we want a lasting ceasefire where the hostages are returned to their families and the terrorist group Hamas is fully dismantled Hamas has once again rejected the proposed 6 we ceasefire deal that Israel has agreed to which would allow Israel to facilitate more Aid to come into Gaza and the release of hostages who are women children elderly or sick Hamas is rejecting the latest ceasefire because they think that the more people in Gaza suffer the more the world will pressure Israel which they hope to destroy completely if you still feel compelled to pass a ceasefire resolution then we urge you to consider amending the L language to instead include a mutual and temporary Humanity Arian cease fire with language that is balanced and reflective of both the unbiased facts of the current situation and the full spectrum of perspective from all of your constituents if you must pass a ceasefire [Music] resolution thank you thank [Music] you good evening my name is Doug Hostetter I live at 26 tberry Lane in East Hampton I'm a member of pax Christi International and represent them at the United Nations uh before moving to East Hampton a year ago I directed the menite Central Committee United Nations office in New York for more than a decade and co-chaired the Israel Palestine NGO working group at the UN menites are a Peace church and their members do not participate in war but menites have always done relief and development work aiding the victims of poverty and War regardless of race religion ethnicity or nationality as director of the menite Central Committee un office I had many occasions to visit Israel and Palestine and on those visits I visited with the organizations that the metanite central committees supported in Israel and Palestine one of the organizations that we worked with was called elage development for um who had headquarters in Gaza City and with menite support elaj helped families in Gaza develop home gardens and raise rabbits and chickens I kept in touch with a couple of the alaj staff people over the years after I left after the horrendous Sak Hamas attack in October 7th and the Israeli massive bombings that U that responds I soon learned that the building that had housed el- NJ was completely destroyed one of my friends there was killed in the bombing but the second uh amod who had worked there for more than 17 years has kept in touch with me over the years um amod lost his home in the early weeks of the bombing and moved his family over a dozen times to homes of friends relatives school buildings hospitals in a feudal attempt to find an a safe place for his wife and two children thank you uh he emailed me this yesterday and asked me to ask you to please stop the war and allow humanitarian Aid thank you K Collins for Carol La East Hampton um Clarity via definition to ITT one can disagree on the actions of a ruling body without hating those that it rules I was raised and educated in the Catholic church I virulently disagree with its political sway the harm that it's done to people I love and yet I love my Catholic friends and family homophobia is defined as the irrational fear of aversion to or discrimination against homosexuality or lgbtqia plus people councelor denim myself and a number of others who worked on this resolution fall within that Spectrum disagreeing with us on this issue does not make one inherently homophobic we can virulently disagree with the decision of the US government to use our tax dollars to supply bombs to the government of Israel and still hold love for the Americans in this room anti-Semitism is defined as hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious ethnic or racial group being in opposition to the policies and harm of the Israeli government and the harm that they have caused to the people of Gaza does not mean that I cannot love my Jewish family friends and community members let us not deal today in false equivalencies the definition of genocide is the deliberate and systemic D destruction of a racial political or cultural group the definition of exterminate is to get rid of completely usually by killing off the most impactful moment of my Catholic school education was my seventh grade book report on the Holocaust and the letters and poems from the children's camp my six-year-old niece is Jewish I hold boundless love for her I have boundless love for the children of Gaza never forget never forget never forget thank you anyone else before I go remote hi Danielle oyan Precinct 3 I stand here in unquestioning support for the ceasefire resolution to be passed as written by the community in tonight's city council meeting I'm watching Israel be so indiscriminate in its killing machine that it killed three Israeli hostages on site who are holding White Flags an Israeli hostage has died of starvation I failed to see how Israel cares even a modum about its hostages when it is bombing humanitarian workers and carpet bombing the entire strip of Gaza um I only want to leave you with the words today of D Dr Tanya Haj Hassan a Pediatric Intensive Care doctor with Doctors Without Borders um in the wake of the um destruction of Gaza and hospitals quote I am just shocked that we are still having this conversation about Hamas the IDF executed tens of people Point Blank including one of my colleagues Dr Ahmed kalati who is a very experienced plastic surgeon and they executed his mother who is also a physician they executed people Point Blank including many of our colleagues who have been detained now we haven't heard back from them previous students of mine detained young doctors detained we don't know if they're dead or alive they've been gone for over a 100 days so to say this is a strategic targeting of Hamas is an insult to our intellect and to our Humanity this is a destruction of people who heal this is a direct targeting of healthcare workers I just want to paint a very brief picture of what healthcare workers are telling me they're saying that when they leave the hospital civilians give them civilian clothing because wearing scrubs is like wearing a Target on their back that is system systematically healthc care has been targeted and frankly in the last 24 hours what we have seen from Al shfa hospital and Al AXA Hospital what I worry is that it's coming to all of the remaining hospitals of the Gaza Strip because it has been the pattern and we will not ignore it it is a direct and systematic targeting of healthcare that is unjustifiable as a physician I'm asking you to pass this resolution as is without question thank you thank you um hello thank you for listening this evening um I I did want to agree that the cherish act seems like a good thing I'm um Chelsea Council I'm from um board 3 and I live on Adams Street um um but also uh I do think that history will look back on um the genocide of Palestinians and consider it one of the greatest travesties of the 21st century um there are so many dead um and it really is as other people have said a systemic process you know going after hospitals going after people bringing in Aid going after people who can help people whether those are journalists or Physicians um so uh I would like to ask you to please as one of your constituents uh pass this ceasefire I do not approve of my taxes being used to bomb other people that's not me uh so uh yes please pass the ceasefire as it is written I think that the people who worked on it did a really intellectual beautiful compassionate job um and I praise the work that they did um also just another note um I think that America has a very serious problem with islamophobia I keep hearing on the news and everything you know oh 2third of the people who have died are women and children I just want to point out that everyone who's died that's a civilian men included young men old men very important these are just people they're people in Palestine who are living normal lives like you and I they go to their job they feed their children they buy gifts for their friends they make dinner with each other is is normal people doing normal things and the Israeli government hates that they exist and wants them gone so that they can commandeer their land like they did in the Third Reich taking it from Jewish people um and they want to take that living space and give it to their Community because they're trying to the the government in Israel is trying to create an ethnic State um and not even the people of Israel the civilians there think that what they're doing is necessarily right it's just that there are such intense sanctions against them that they uh are very frequently um worried about their health and safety to speak out on that matter so again please pass the ceasefire resolution I'm Mark Kenneth I live on Pleasant Street in East Hampton um that year behind you all 1785 we're almost 250 years later and unfortunately we Americans have developed coping mechanisms to evade seeing fully what the unfurling of our Colonial pro project was and is but it happens that an extension of our neocolonial activities the Zionist state is very blatantly in the throws of their 76 years process of dividing conquering murdering and expelling millions of indigenous people that modern Colonial project when you actually explore the correct histories and have the chance to behold it in action it breaks the hearts it ignites the rightful indignation of good people as I mentioned last week I lived in the West Bank for almost 8 years my Jewish and gay identity never questioned or threatened by pal Palestinians I knew and one thing I learned is how crucial empirical learning is to see with one's own one own one's own eyes I'm not talking about the trip that Israel's tours and Ministries carefully plotted out to the no Palestinians allowed partying in Tel Aviv or The Culinary scene of West Jerusalem I'm speaking of places like East Jerusalem where from 1967 to 2018 Israel deported 14,500 Palestinians one of them was my neighbor in ramala nabel who was scared that if he left the city the soldiers would arrest and expel him to Jordan those 14,000 jerusalemites replaced by 250,000 illegal settlers part of Israel's overtly Express goal of 70% Jews 30% Arabs in Jerusalem ethnic engineering through displacement that's what Israel is FASTT tracking Now by driving the population of Gaza into Rafa where they aait await an invasion which will likely eradicate large numbers of them through continued usage of white phosphorus 2,000 PB bombs or forced expulsion all war crimes in these two speeches of might have mentioned beaches and Roads seg segregated by race a Roman Empire as Colonial subjugation the medieval Siege of Gaza so I ask then are we a progressive town or do we reject these very anachronistic crimes are we just another town that doesn't engage with the swell of justice-minded voices the author Alice Walker said that after her visit to Palestine that it's worse than the Jim Crow segregation she grew up in Archbishop Desmond tudu said the aparte in Palestine is worse than his own was in South Africa a 2021 poll by Jewish elector found the 30 please pass this resolution thank you hi my name is Hannah Welsh I live on Golf Street in East Hampton I am Jewish and along with the growing majority of Americans which is over 60% of the population is horrified with the continuous violence committed in Gaza with weapons funded by our own tax dollars we stand as a group of nearly 400 residents of East stampton with a diverse background Age religion and um experience to ask the council to make a statement on to our state and federal government that we do not support the continued genocide of Palestinian lives every hour 15 people died includ are dying including six children and 42 bombs are dropped every hour this is not a war since on the rules committing committee meeting last week we have seen over 400 civilian people bombed and tortured at Al shifa Hospital along with a deliberate attack on humanitarian Aid workers the minimum at this point we can do is ask for a permanent ceasefire I ask you to support what your constituents have written with their own vast knowledge and diverse perspective to pass the people's resolution unamended thank you thank [Music] you all right I'm going [Music] remote you what thank you I've got two minutes right yes okay give me go I'm East Hampton resident I've been an East Hampton resident I live in 28 East Maple Street W 2 um East Hampton resident and taxpayer of 16 years now 16 years it's a long time I also teach at UMass Amherst it's been 18 years I'm a member of the MTA and Massachusetts Teachers Association the largest Union in the state 115,000 uh Rank and file union members 400 locals this is prek through 12 through community colleges through higher education uh Public University like the University of Massachusetts uh both the MTA and the western Mass areal labor Federation have passed this resolution filled with care workers teachers focusing on in our process fully Democratic fully transparent unanimous votes in support of ceasefire they were in the discussion they were focusing on the fact that over half the population of Gaza are children children being killed no connection to the attacks of October 7th children bombs falling on them continually orphaned so but we followed the CE the CE Hampton the East Hampton ceasefire Resolution Group the Coalition broad diverse Coalition we follow that same Democratic process that's being followed across this country cities towns labor unions across this country the largest labor unions in this country have passed the ceasefire resolution join us in in passing the ceasefire resolution unamended over six weeks now we've worked on this language drawing in different views different views from across the Spectrum from across the Spectrum so in joining us in following this I want to thank the the counselors who have brought this forward homar Gomez Connie Denim and I also want to thank the rules committee who did not only forwarded this for your the full City Council vote but they recommended that you pass it so let's remember that that the following the Democratic process the will of the people uh why we are implicated the US government pay uh is $3.8 billion unconditional Aid this is going to the military killing children our taxpayer dollars going to uh this genocidal War how does how does peace begin ceasefire deescalation thank you please pass this [Music] resolution Jamie Thurber 8 cranberry Lane here in East Hampton I feel every bit is passionately about passing the ceasefire now as the previous people did who spoke I want to remind you of I think the very first rules committee meeting where one of the ceasefire now Pro people uh got up and said do not let the perfect be the enemy of the good if you think there are imperfections or things that need to be added you at least are admitting that it should be done now that that we need a ceasefire now if that's the case then do not let your perfectionist or it should be this or the reality is this do we really know everybody's individual realities we have tried this group of people have tried very hard to incorporate other other people's voices and opinions and we think we have and we think you all must agree this war must stop and now thank you who else I'm going to ask to please if someone's going to uh speak to the council be ready because we have people waiting online too so if you're planning to say something be ready to talk thank you thank you councelor Gomez I'll keep it pretty short uh my name is jisha I live in Precinct 2 on Lincoln Street and I just want to re reiterate what many people have talked about already today in the last two rules committee meetings and in the last city council meeting which is that there are so many people here on very different parts of the political Spectrum who have come together week after week to be in conversation with each other we have also invited conver ation with several of you and have been really committed to being part of that dialogue across lots of lines of difference and that has been one of the things that I have admired so much about this group and the ways that we have not only come to this very specific language but have Revisited it m multiple times to make sure that we are still in alignment have spent hours upon hours making sure that we are asking each other questions asking for clarification building deeper understanding and coming back to the same agreement that this language represents all of us and so many others who were not necessarily part of those conversations but have signed on hundreds of East Hampton residents who are not here in this room or on that Google meet right now also support this so I just want to say that to make sure that you all understand that even though and I think this was JT you said this at the last rules committee meeting but these conversations these resolutions will never ensure that everybody gets what they want but this is the widest swath of language that will cover the most number of people and I just want us to really ground in that as you all go into deliberation tonight thank you and please pass this unamended thank [Music] you hi Jen Sandler um I live on willv um I'm a long-term eastampton resident um not as longterm as some I've been here about 12 years um I'm also a Jew um and um and I'm also here to urge you to pass this resolution um as it stands um but I want to talk you've heard all the reasons why I don't have any new reasons um I want to talk a little bit about what I think of as your job um and what I think of as our job um I I really I really admire um local leadership um and I think you are you are here because you have agreed to serve and it's a serious job and you have to listen to All of Us on every issue um every week and in your email boxes and um and it's a lot um and your job is to listen and your job is to follow City I think that the most important kind of leadership and I consider myself a leader in many ways is is to be able to follow people when they're going when when they're doing their work right that's what democracy is it is actually about following the people and it's also about following your conscience and um and I I urge you here not to follow your fear but to follow your courage to follow your heart one can't say that one that we are all for peace and then vote against a ceasefire if one knows what is going on I don't want to be looking at the media that I'm looking at every day and I look at it every day um I mean I I I follow people who are there on the ground and it is hard on my heart right it would be easier not to um but this is our war and this is our genocide and we have one CH we have very little power in it we can't solve all the problems of the Middle East nobody is asking you to do that um but we can say no when we when we see things and we know that the answer is no to what is happening the answer is stop to what is happening we don't have to know all the right answers to be able to say that please pass this resolution unamended hello everyone my name is Asher Swank I live on Adams Street in East Hampton I'm just here to add my voice to say yes we should pass this ceasefire resolution as written unamended as soon as possible mean when you see events like several other speakers have made reference to of the world Central Kitchen having uh been struck not once not twice but three times in this instance um you know they fled the first car struck by a drone went to another car that's struck by a drone flee to the third car that's struck by a drone and my do these cars are explicitly marked on the top because they know this is a possibility and other speakers have also mentioned um you know they they were in Con on in contact with the military this I mean this kind of behavior needs to be stopped immediately we don't have time to do an endless regression into language to talk to every one of the 16,000 people who live in eastampton to get their opinion what we need is action right now every one of the people I mean these seven victims of the Israeli military this is a a huge tragedy but we have to keep in mind that every person every one of the 30,000 plus by the last estimate which is surely an undercount are deserving of our empathy so instead of waffling about language I encourage you to pass the resolution now that's been crafted by a diverse group of eastampton residents who represent the community um I encourage you please pass it now thank you thank you hi my name is Margo I live on Lincoln Street um I also support the cherish act um but I am here to support the ceasefire resolution um I support it unchanged as is as people have said there's been a lot of work that has gone into the ceasefire resolution and there are people from across the political Spectrum who have put their ideas into this ceasefire resolution and um it it it is very good as is uh it is it calls for a bilateral ceasefire um The Return of hostages and everyone has said uh what you need to hear about why a ceasefire resolution is important um it is it is atrocious what has happened in Gaza over 35,000 people have been killed it's very dangerous for a country like Israel to be committing a genocide um it is setting and and not having repercussions against it it is setting the precedent for genocides to keep happening so just just think about that um if Israel is allowed to commit this genocide and the US will do nothing about it and they'll continue to send arms to Israel what does that say about what can happen in the International Community it is very dangerous and we are likely going to see Wars of of immense scale it's it's a very dangerous precedent um and it is important for eastampton to put their voice and let our local elected officials know that we support a ceasefire and we do not we will not allow genocide to happen um you know AP paride in South Africa did not end overnight it was a multipronged activist approach from all all sides local politics State politics boy CS divestments we have to attack this issue from all angles um and it is important for people's voice to be heard I support the ceasefire resolution thank you thank [Music] you hi my name is Janelle Tran I live in Precinct 4 I've been a resident for almost two years now I had no intention of speaking today because my comrades here have done such an incredible job of speaking to the Injustice that is happening and the urgent call we all have to stand up to that so instead I want to voice why this is a local issue this is why this is a local issue your residents have spent countless hours collaborating coordinating talking to neighbors having incredibly difficult conversations up every night all night thinking about what is happening in our name with our tax dollars this is a local issue because we are your constituents and this is on our hearts and this is on our mind and you have the most incredible community in front of you I've only been here two years and I am dedicated to staying here as long as I can because of these people I am so impressed that they have stood together that they have collaborated that they have not centered their own individual politics but they have centered this community and the community at large and they see themselves as members of the community of the world and and so many of the residents of this community in East Hampton are directly intimately affected by the violence that's happening in Palestine this is your community and your community stands before you and they are begging you with their time with their passion with their voices and with their collaboration and they do this all to make your decision very easy pass the ceasefire resolution unamended tonight thank you thank you [Music] hello my name is Christine Miranda I'm an East Hampton resident I live on East Green Street I want to speak in support of the ceasefire resolution and urge you to pass it as is without amendments in this moment it's the responsibility and obligation of all us residents to use every bit of power that we have any leverage over to stand strongly against the violence and cause that being perpetrated funded Advanced defended on the international stage by our country and other speakers tonight have talked about some of the other terrains in which people here are leveraging that power organized labor P swiftly passing resolutions and organizing against the violence in Gaza um as that last speaker just said the or organizing that's happening here in East Hampton Community member to Community member creating more power than just individuals coming here to speak to you and now it is your respon responsibility and obligation as City councilors to listen to the people of East Hampton and support that resolution as a city we have the opportunity to be part of that turning tide of dozens of other local institutions City councils Town councils that're speaking out and supporting a ceasefire now for example in Massachusetts we have power to show our state and federal elected officials that this is something that they have to spend their political capital on it's not something that we're going to forget about or that Massachusetts residents are going to deprioritize when it's election time we have the power to send a very clear message that this is a priority to the residents of East Hampton and frankly if the city council delays or does not use that power that they do have that's a failure of doing the bare minimum so I urge you to not delay to pass the resolution before you without Amendment thank you thank you hi my name is bana jelly Weber I an East Hampton resident I live in Precinct 2 um I'm urging you to pass the ceasefire resolution as written by the people for all of the reasons that my fellow residents have already outlined um I also just want to add that each day that goes by where the US continues its unconditional support of a military that repeatedly breaks International laws including us laws um each day that more civilians more children more Aid workers more journalists more doctors more human beings are being killed we are all made less safe um so please help us Elevate our voices as we are doing what we can to speak out against this genocide thank you thank you now the people that are participating participating remote thank you for you patient um the rules are the same please state your name and address for the record and you will have two minutes to talk to The counil Quirk and I apologize if I mispronounce your name Quirk all right let's go to the second person Matthew hi there um I'm going to keep this brief uh not very good at public speaking um Matthew Thornton water Lane resident uh Jewish Heritage um not that I feel like that should matter but uh calling for a ceasefire is not courageous it is the bare minimum I want to wholeheartedly throw my voice behind those who have so eloquently spoken in support for passing the ceasefire resolution in its current form it's been a frustrating experience to sit here and hear um people nitpicking about wording as hundreds of civilians are starved and murdered every single day um this ceasefire resolution is deeply painfully obviously the moral thing to do please pass it as it is thank you thank you [Music] ding did you say dearra yes awesome thank you I believe I fixed my audio issues my name is dearra quirk um I live on a street um I was born in eastampton and I have many family and friends here who are not able to be here tonight but who agree with me that this ceasefire resolution should be passed by the council as are in and unamended and I just want to say that I believe it's important specifically for the East Hampton City Council to pass this resolution first because our tax dollars are going towards funding the killing of children right now but also because we speak stronger together you know individually I know many people have been making a lot of calls to our Senators and representatives but I think it makes a very strong statement when the city of eastampton speaks together as one um to those senators and representatives to continue to push for this on a federal level and I just want to say that it's important to pass it now um because every day that passes more lives are lost in Gaza thank you very much thank you Cat hi thank you my name is Katherine goodi I live on Mount Tom Avenue in Precinct 3 I'm coming to you today from my sick bed but I wanted to um let you know that I am also here to speak in favor of the resolution for a bilateral ceasefire in Gaza as soon as possible I was horrified by what happened on October 7th to Israelis and I've been horrified in the days that have followed by what has been happening to Palestinians in Gaza I do not want my tax dollars sent in unconditional support of such excessive and disproportional violence the double billing tonight of the ceasefire resolution and the cherish act resolution is a perfect example of how our tax dollars could be better spent I am a librarian at one of our Massachusetts community colleges and I work every day with students for whom affordable public education is life-changing previously I worked in a public library in Hampton County where I frequently assisted refugees and homeless Americans with paperwork and job applications these are just two examples of Public Funding put to its best and most constructive use I reject um the idea that calling for a ceasefire is anti-Semitic I care about my Jewish friends and my Muslim friends and I want them to live in a world where they can exist peacefully as Neighbors the systematic excessive violence and the high civilian death toll in Gaza is beyond anything that should be remotely acceptable to us for this reason I hope that you our counselors will pass the resolution calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza as it is written and proposed by the people as soon as possible thank you thank you Ian there you hear me yes okay thank you um hi my name is Ian Petty I live at s Adams Street um sorry I can't be there in person tonight but didn't want to get anyone sick uh here in eastampton hundreds of residents have signed on to support this resolution they have taken thousands of hours to craft it stood in the rign to promote it and spoken up at City Council meetings to support it two City Council Members have made the effort to discuss this resolution with that movement and I thank councelors Denim and Gomez for their support at last week rules committee meeting uh Poss amendments were discussed and dismissed and the resolution was passed on to you with their recommendation there is no other item in front of you that has anywhere near this level of support from the East Hampton Community or has undergone this serious of a deliberative process any adjustment Amendment or delay is an insult to each one of these residents that have put in so much time and effort to build this resolution and an insult to the Democratic process not to mention to the people of Gaza For Whom the stakes are not a matter of wording but whether they live or die your job now is to vote on this resolution that has been brought before you and to decide whether or not our city will stand with the more than 100 towns and cities over 200 unions and millions of people across this country who have United around the demand for an immediate and permanent ceasefire nothing less thank you thank you Melisa hi my name is Melissa Zer I live on East Maple Street in East Hampton and like so many other speakers I want to urge you to pass the people's resolution as it is presented without amendment I want to appreciate all of the citizens who have put in their time and energy and hearts to crafting this resolution and all of you on the council who have engaged and supported it thus far I'm not there in person tonight because I'm home taking care of my kids and making dinner for them and that feels In This Moment Like a privilege and it shouldn't be a privilege to have something to feed your children but that unfortunately is a crisis that is unfolding multiple places around the world but what's distinctive about the crisis the profound moral crisis and catastrophe that is unfolding in Gaza is that the crisis is being funded by the United States with our tax dollars and so that is why I I I want to add my voice to the others who are encouraging you to say no not in our name we cannot be bystanders when our government is helping to contribute to this great profound catastrophe and so I thank you for considering this resolution and I urge you to support it unamended thank you thank you Mary you Mary and Sarah hi I apologize I can't turn on my video and I'm talking to you from a very no noisy place but I have something that's so important to say that I really want to say it I live on Main Street in East Hampton and I'm a member of the community relations committee and people have said have talked about us not doing sufficient Outreach well I pride myself on my Outreach I always have and I started the Outreach on this and I started it with a list of over a hundred people that I know in eastampton from all kinds of situations everything from people who work for the city to people who work in the Arts to people on the Democratic committee to people who buy perogies and I sent it out to all of them and all of them had a chance to come to meetings that we called and all of them had a chance for input but not only that then we put it out on social media all over the place and then we put it out to all of the city councilors and we invited all of the city councilors to meet with us and talk with us so if anybody says that we only talk to some people it's because they did not talk to us and I am very proud of the people who kept getting our messages even though they didn't come to meetings occasionally they'd write and say good for you I just can't participate and only two people ever asked to be taken off the list and our list just kept growing and growing so it is not true that we only reached out to some people and that has to be crystal clear in this discussion we approach everybody and talk to everybody who is willing to talk to us thank you thank you exan exan reader parar hi yes um my name is par Goldstein day I live on Terrace View and I want to thank everybody who works so hard on this ceasefire resolution and I want to urge the council to plead please pass it as it is um it is clearly written and written with great care and as a disabled person I want to reach out to you to consider this as a mass disabling event this is not only a genocide of life but of limb as well and this is our opportunity to come together and join our voices in a very unique way to speak loudly and clearly to an Administration that is ignoring the polling that is saying most people want a ceasefire and it's a genocide why wouldn't we thank you thank you going back again with exian reader say exan christian christian mic is on on can you hear me yes hello yes hi um can you see me no we don't have to my my re my is kind of poor um right anyway uh Christian X wz reader uh 20 6 chap manav also the owner of uh Comics and More for a decade now in comics in East Hampton um and also you might know me from my radical care work where I uh distribute free masks and PPE uh to the Greater Community for free highquality PPE um we can't drag our feet any longer I take um I take Global issues pretty seriously because they matter um I've had a hard time getting people to listen to me about covid and Co is rampant in the tent and open a prison community in Palestine um I was really glad polar brought up this is a disabling moment because that is a very important aspect of why I'm so troubled but also if you know the decisions comics and mo is made about being open during the pandemic in December we closed twice because what else could I do I don't have any money I don't have any power I don't have any like elected official uh like I don't so we closed on days we couldn't be open how many people have died while we've dragged our feet um please just pass the resolution as uh written thank you thank you Catherine hello hi uh my name is Katherine Hal um I live on Water Lane in eastampton um I just wanted to add my support for the resolution exactly as written um like many others I have been horrified at the war crimes and acts of genocide that I've been seeing uh just the blatant murder indiscriminate killing of Palestinians living in Gaza and as our federal government continues to fund these atrocities with our tax dollars the least we can do as a community is to join the over 100 American communities who have already called for a ceasefire uh thank you thank you Bastian hello uh my name is Sebastian bar uh I live in Precinct 3 of East Hampton I love this city and my spouse and I hope to raise a family here and be here for many years I support a ceasefire resolution for the reasons my community members have shared tonight I also wanted to add one piece as a resident invested in this little city with a big heart passing this resolution tells our community that East Hampton does not support a security strategy whose cost is massive massive innocent death and suffering and that's something I want to know about the place I plan to reside and raise children in thank you to the city council members who have been involved in developing and moving this resolution forward um and those who have committed their support uh thank you to the eastampton residents who wrote The Resolution those who've been organizing and everyone who spoken today in favor of this needed resolution counselors please pass this urgent resolution as written tonight history will remember this as will the voters of this city thank you Cam hi counselors uh K jog McQuade presinct five Jones Drive um I'm going to keep this brief because one um I get very emotional talking about this because it is so absurd that we have to be at this point um I'll say this I wear a lot of hats in eastampton as an advocate um in in our community um as a student as um a budding educator as a um aspiring public servant and the reason that I Center myself in this is because there's been a question about how this is a local issue so I'll say personally over the past six months seeing the devastation racked upon a civilian population of mainly children it makes it hard to go on knowing that you know I'm an independent contractor I had to pay all my taxes in one bulk payment a couple weeks ago knowing that a huge chunk of that money is going to send weapons to children dying it makes it hard to go on so I feel an incredible amount of importance in the work that this community is doing standing in solidarity standing up and saying no when we see something that is abor abhorent I also want to repeat the word words um that a few other people said tonight um in saying that this resolution as written tonight is broad-based it's the product of weeks of painstaking deliberation and collaboration and Outreach from incredibly compassionate people who some of you uh some of you've heard from tonight there's no reason why we shouldn't be passing this tonight and as you can see clearly the numbers are in our favor hundreds of community members have signed on to this resolution and dozens have shown up tonight please pass this Marie hi my name is Marie Boer and I live on East Street in w i i don't have anything new to say tonight I just want to Echo the voices of everybody else that's speaking out in favor of the ceasefire and I want to urge you to pass it as written tonight um and I really hope that as somebody else said tonight that there's not a lot of time wasted on waffling over the wording um one argument that I keep hearing against this resolution is that it's unbalanced um that's the word people keep using and um I think that's because the war that is being waged on Palestinians is unbalanced it's a genocide um and the ceasefire resolution as written by members of this community that you represent reflects that that's all I have to say thank you thank you Louis I I'm Lois Len I live on Hanam Brook Drive freeing one I've been a resident of East Hampton for 38 years I'm Jewish uh I have mix feelings about how the resolution is written unfortunately I don't always have a lot of time to be on social media so um I've just pretty much read through much of this resolution in the past couple of days the biggest complaint I have about the resolution as written is where it says whereas we call for a saying sustain sees fire I would prefer it to say for the release um the I would I prefer it to be opposite I I wish it would say the release of all hostages and for the provision of life-saving humanitarian Aid in Gaza there is never ever going to be any resolution until those hostages are released um and as I said I have some mixed feelings there are some things I wish it was written differently but that is my big um comment on this thank you thank you Grazy hello I'm Grace larino I live on hoolio street and I I want to say thank you to the council members for listening so carefully to the caring um testimony of so many people of my community I'm grateful to everyone who spoke the few that I don't see this the same way as and the many that I do see this the same way as and I'm grateful that we're all here deliberating together and I uh ask and pray that we will come together and pass this resolution as it stands knowing that it is not perfect but knowing that it speaks to our concern for the Palestinians the Israelis the aid workers and everyone else who's trying to make could make peace and take care of people so please pass the resolution and thank you for listening to us all thank you all right communication from elected officials Bo and committee any councelor have anything for tonight celor s thank you Mr President let me just wake up my computer here uh couple quick things um Citywide cleanup is coming up in May 5th so that's just a uh month away and there'll be uh signups distributed soon uh that will be from 9 to one with people meeting in the 50 pacing parking lot uh the newly formed bees committee will be coordinating with this and I think eventually taking it over um and we'll also be um using this as a way to educate people about n which also kicks off on in May as the name would imply um also looking forward um the um the River Roads Festival will be coming back to East Hampton um and with that the uh River Roads clean up in conjunction with the Connecticut River Conservancy we had 40 to 50 people participate last year that will be on September 8th so we'll have our spring cleanup and then the fall clean up uh in September another exciting item uh put on and sponsored by the healthy youth Coalition is a battle of the bands being organized for the first time um sounds pretty awesome uh that will be on July 20th 2024 at mside Park um and they're still accepting potential acts so I encourage people interested in either participating uh either via um actually playing music or volunteering to email it's Battle of bands it's not Battle of the Bands it's Battle of bands at eastampton ma.gov uh so uh both both um keeping the city a little cleaner as well as uh entertaining people's ears drums and that's about it thank you any other counselor see I just wait wait sorry conselor Smith I just wanted to uh make mention that the High School Musical is coming up and the musical is going to be Chicago and um what's the date of the musical is this weekend right no next weekend the first weekend of May thank you the first weekend of May so just want to make sure that everyone's aware that that's coming thank you and apologize that is didn't see you no that's okay I'm over here on the end assistant any other celor than for mention that I trouble um the councel received the planning board recommendation on Sony and amendments for the electronic messages centers um the ordinance committee I guess is going to bring that uh to the full conso pretty soon uh the information is available for everybody you can find it in our web page um but again the ordinance committee will be uh discussing and bringing back to the full conso pron uh we don't have any major communication tonight any correspondence announcement for the president of Vice President would have any uh to report report of standing committees Finance cons thank you Mr President uh we did not meet uh last uh week but we will be meeting this week to discuss uh this new business that we'll be introducing at that time uh and uh oh yes we need to set a public hearing for that new no we have to extend it oh extend yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah um that's right uh I'd like to ask well we're sort of waiting around for a while so I'm just going to go ahead and asked for a 90-day extension on the uh Charter required review of salaries for elected officials and appointed committees ET second second I have a motion on a second to extend 90 days the CH require review of the salaries for elected officials and appoint and appointed committees um any further discussion see none those are in favor any against extension motion passes Peak uh concludes this concludes thank you Public Safety conselor s thank you Mr President uh we will be meeting next week uh the 9th of uh April in conference room one at 6 p.m. uh we'll be finalizing and and making sure we have full consensus on uh the amendments to section 1-25 parking perram in certain streets During certain hours and changing some amounts charged for parking violations um and there's a public hearing already set for that on uh at our next meeting on the 17th uh we'll also be I think finally getting to a couple items on the ordinance Review Committee file report um and thus concludes thank you councelor appointments um we have a schedule a meeting for Tuesday a April 16 room number two behind us and I will take a motion to extend for 90 days the ongoing agenda item request for board committees vacancy review and recuitment moved second second have Mo second to extend this item for 90 days any further discussion seeing none those one in favor any against exstension motion passes ordinance cons denam uh thankk you Mr President so as you mentioned we received the report from the planning board in regards to the electronic message center um in regards to that the committee passed to amend section 10 uh sign subsection 10.04 to allow electronic message centers to the downtown and Highway business district uh 3 to zero we'd like to set a public hearing uh for April 17th um for that make a second is that a there was a motion in the form of a motion I have I have a Musa in a second to set up a public hearing at this chamber 6:15 and our next meeting um any further discussion see none those want in favor any against abstention motion passes cons denam uh we also had the opportunity to discuss the um the uh uh uh stretch code um we had um Connie dson from the energy advisory committee come in and she gave a uh presentation on opin uh to add to that which um there were really some really great points of that wanted encourages all electronic uh encourages all electric construction moving forward requires pre pre- ring for new uh buildings that use fossil F which really is an idea to Future proof them it aligns with Western Massachusetts Net Zero legislation it lines with East Hampton's climate emergency resolution and climate action plan and is required for uh climate leader certification and and so that was some of what she had covered so what we're doing now moving forward is we're going to invite the Building Commissioner as well as uh planning department as well as contractors to come in and discuss with us um the impact of this on any future um uh activity in in the community buildings Etc and so um that will be an opportunity for us to kind of dig into some of these questions about it uh in terms of the moratorium uh a temporary moratorium uh use of uh sewer sludge um we're really in a research phase right now where we are looking uh for additional information so we're outreaching to uh local farmers um we're looking at the aqua ordinance to see if there's anything in that that we can either add to or pull from and we are actually I'm going to be working with um uh councelor Kinski to rewrite uh the original proposal into a format currently it's in a format of a of a resolution and we've been asked um by our um uh Council clerk as well as president goome as mentioned uh writing it in the format of an ordinance so we'll be working on that together so those are some next steps that we have uh our next meeting is going to be April 23rd 6: p.m. it will be virtual and in it'll take place in conference room 1 and that's everything that I have to that thank you cons denim property cons thank you Mr President we have one item on our agenda it's a Verizon poll location request we'll be meeting tomorrow at 600 p.m. in room 1 to discuss that that will be a hybrid meeting um I did advise the utility not to make any decisions or install any infrastructure until duly notified um so that's tomorrow Room 1 at 6 p.m. thank you this concludes thank you now we go into rules and government relations but before taking the report from consel Kinski I just want to be clear with the public um be respectful I don't know how they council is going to vote um the city council chamber should be must be in silence if you interrupt the meeting um in any way I would ask you to be removed so uh please respect uh asking for respect the counil um I know this is a important issue for a lot of people here but again I will ask to respect the Cil and please must be in silent thank you than you cons ginski thank you Mr President well we've heard from the public today on the subject and we heard from the public at the rules committee meeting I would say that the rules committee the last rules committee meeting and this meeting here the speakers were pretty much the same although we did have a few folks have some reservations but the primarily the majority of folks very strongly supported the ceasefire resolution at the first uh meeting that were where we heard from all at the full Council there were about two-thirds of the speakers who were in favor and about onethird who were uh opposed H it seems to me that those who were opposed either kind of didn't come to the last rules committee meeting or come here tonight to express their opinions in force uh or for whatever reason I I I don't believe it's through intimidation I think this community has been very very uh open and hoping to be safe for everyone uh that being said the rules committee did uh vote 3 to Z in full support of the resolution as written and bringing it to this full Council uh although there may be certain tweaks as expressed tonight by to in order to make this a perfect resolution I'm not sure that a war is a perfect scenario I don't know where it stops I don't know where we draw the line in participating in a civil process as best as possible when it comes to War I know that dropping a nuclear bomb is not something I believe that anyone in this room would support does the murder of civilians has occurred in Israel on October 7th like dropping a tactical nuclear weapon I think so it didn't go after soldiers it didn't go after governments it went after people it was horrific it was the precursor to what Israel is doing in the invasion of the Gaza Strip one of the concerns that was discussed at at at the meetings and the process and I've heard from folks who would prefer not to have a resolution is that the numbers were incorrect the numbers can't be trusted that they come from the Gaza Ministry of Health that can be disputed go back and forth but when you look at [Music] numbers does it really matter whether it's 30,000 or 20,000 or 10,000 civilians one civilian is a civilian to many [Music] one so with that I would definitely recommend that this Council join with other councils with other groups in bringing their full support as an addition I I noticed that in in this resolution there there is a change I would make it would be a change to send this not only to our uh US representatives and Senators but to the president of the United States he needs to hear from this [Music] city as well with that I leave that to your discretion how we should proceed I'd be happy to read the motion I'd be happy to entertain further discussion it um um if any consol will make any comment that is not related directly to the language of the resolution I will allow that now it if if the comment is about the language of the the resolution I prefer to take the motion and after the motion take the comment is any conselor want to say something now no I will take the motion I move that this city council approve the East Anon city council resolution pering to the ceasefire in Gaza shall I read the entire motion thank you whereas all life is precious the East ampton city council calls on all Massachusetts state and federal elected leaders and residents alike to protect life Stand United against violence and advocate for the safety dignity freedom and Collective Humanity of all people regardless of religion race ethnicity or nationality and whereas this council is horrified by the Hamas attack on civilians and Israeli military that resulted in nearly 1,200 deaths and around 250 people taken hostage on October 7th 2023 and whereas since October 7 2023 the Israeli government's offensive in Gaza including heavy bombardment of and Military incursion into hospitals schools residential buildings religious sites and cultural institution has killed over 32,40 people as of March 27th 2024 of which approximately 2third are women and [Music] children and more than 74,8 189 have been wounded and whereas the city of East stampton condemns the recent rise in anti-semitic and islamophobic attacks in our state including Western Massachusetts and Across the Nation including by taking actions such as passing a resolution against anti-Semitism on November 15 2023 and whereas the international court of justice of which the US is a member state has ruled that Israel must take steps to to prevent genocide in Gaza including indiscriminate killing of Palestinians and deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of Life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part and whereas Gaza is in a dire humanitarian crisis with 1.8 million being displaced food clean water medicine and Medical Care severely lacking and un agencies and international organizations reporting that hunger disease malnutrition are widespread and whereas the Israeli military is threatening a ground campaign in Rafa where 1 and A5 million Palestinians mostly displaced in living in tents have nowhere safe to flee and whereas us tax dollars fund Israeli military operations including $3.8 billion annually in FY 23 East ampton taxpayers contributed 154,155 is being proposed at a cost to east ampton taxpayers of an estimated $571,000 919 according to NPP and whereas 66% of American voters support a ceasefire and want to see the US leverage its diplomatic relationships to further prevent violence and civil civilian deaths according to an October data for Progress poll and now therefore be it resolved that this East ampton city council calls for an immediate and permanent ceasefire between Israel and Hamas the provision of life-saving humanitarian Aid in Gaza the release of all hostages and detain EES on both sides and an end to unconditional us Aid to the Israeli government be it further resolved that this Council urges the Biden Administration and the United States Congress to call for the same actions of an immediate and permanent ceasefire between Israel and Hamas the provision of life-saving humanitarian Aid in Gaza the release of all hostages and detainees of both sides and an end to unconditional us Aid to the US to the Israeli government and as a first step to a negotiated and Lasting peaceful future for all Israelis and Palestinians be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be sent to Congressman Richard Neil Senator Edward Mary and Senator Elizabeth Warren urging them to take immediate action to use their position and influence to end the violence the motion need a second second I have a motion a seconds to approve the seon city cons resolution pertaining to the ceasefire in Gaza any further discussion see none for those one in favor I have oh we already vote I had an the amendment about President Biden being added I'll just send it the the CL will send it to the President Biden that's satisfactory yes any against obain Obion motion passing one [Applause] abion I ask I ask Kinski ah with that business completed uh we move on to next Wednesday uh a meeting uh of the uh rules and government Relations Committee in room 1 at 6:30 p.m. 6:30 p.m. uh in room one uh where any of the topics before us may be discussed at that time we do hope that we will have our report on the rank Choice voting by uh the consultant who is the expert gentleman we have to extend and I would move to extend all items on the agenda for 90 days second I have a motion on a second to extend um the items that need to be extended for 90 days and for the discussion see none those one in favor any against exemption motion passes that's conclude this concludes thank you thank you Mr President um no business councelor Derby thank you Mr President uh we have one mayoral appointment uh Cindy Sperry to eastampton city arts with an expiration of 1231 2026 I move that be sent to appointment committee second have a second to send the appointment of Cindy to the tempton city arts to the appointments committee any further discussion any known those one in favor any against exension motion poses uh and next we have a resolution in support of the chairs act uh high red for all which is uh something we will be acting on tonight so I will pass that over to councelor Denim thank you vice president derby um we had several speakers tonight talking about the cherish act um it is an a uh act that is been put forward by many uh western Mass uh members of the western Mass delegation um it is an opportunity for us to uh put increased funding into higher education as someone who is an educator and works in higher education every day I see the challenges of the increased um cost of higher education and the toll that it takes personally um emotionally mentally spiritually on our young people um and they are going to college in an effort to better their lives um and they are sadly taking on the debt that that will stay with them for the entirety uh for for much of their life uh moving forward and so this is an opportunity to try to uh remedy that situation um also as I mentioned in the letter it enables people of all backgrounds and every Community to build successful and fulfilling lives IT addresses economic social and racial Equity gaps it meets our state's climate challenge goals it creates high quality workplaces with Fair wages and benefits to attract and retain faculty and staff it enables new discoveries and Innovation and it is an investment in a competitive Workforce that is the engine of our state's economy um and so there's a number of of uh um of of things that that this act will in fact support um and so I'm asking that this council with President Gomez um uh put this forward this evening for your um vote any Council have any objections or tonight say so in the form of a motion this is a resolution support of higher ed for all and and one note um also uh before I read this um this is before the school committee I believe and so they will also be voting on this um so this is in a motion as a motion uh whereas the East Hampton City Council recognizes that Massachusetts Public colleges and universities are among the Commonwealth's greatest resources whereas our public colleges and universities are anchor institutions that are significant part of the foundation of our state's Regional economies and are essential to drive economic growth and provide essential services to our cities and towns whereas higher education is an important Pathway to economic mobility and public university graduates are much more likely to remain in Massachusetts Massachusetts after graduation starting families contributing to the economy and forming the fabric of our local communities whereas public colleges and universities educate the majority of students of color and first generation college students and given the US Supreme Court destructive decision on affirmative action which threatens to undermine access to students of color and whereas there remain significant opportunity gaps demonstrated by lower College enrollments and completions particularly for Latino and black students whereas tens of thousands of students in Massachusetts uh in Massachusetts graduate from higher education each year but do not enroll in college and 700,000 adults in our Commonwealth have earned some college credits but have not completed their degrees and whereas new revenue from this fair share amendment gives us the opportunity for transformative invest ments in public higher education that will remediate Decades of underinvestment in public higher education by providing students with the opportunity to graduate from higher education debt-free providing the student the support for students that [Music] are hang on a second the support for students that are critical to help them graduate and investing in staff and faculty salaries so that our institutions can recruit and rain High qualified Educators who will be able to afford to live in the community in which they work whereas investing in our public higher education in institutions means investing in the students faculty and staff who are woven into our community and into our local economy therefore be it resolved that the East Hampton City Council urges the legislature to pass the cherish act and support additional funding for public higher education provided that a copy of this this resolution shall forth with be sent to the State Legislative delegation second I have a motion on a sign to approve the resolution in support of high Ed for all any further discussion Smith um yes I'd like to add a a different point to the cherish act that I haven't heard mentioned yet and that's the changing demographics of Massachusetts um right now when we look at our state tuition costs one of the things that as an educator at the college level that I'm seeing is that all of the states around us are offering our students in Massachusetts the same rate that they would receive in state here if they go out of our state so Massachusetts geographically is pretty small and another thing that's happening right now is that we have more people over the age of 65 than we have people under the age of 18 from a um gerontology perspective this is going to be a care Crisis coming up and of the of the um labor pool that we need to have much more attention and much more students going into is both in health care and gerontology is two of the main main areas in labor that we need to prepare for in the future so I have heard from constituents concern that this is tax money that could be spent better elsewhere but I would argue that this is also investing in our future because we are seeing a rapidly declining younger population in Massachusetts and if we do not offer competitive reasons for them to stay in Massachusetts they will leave the state to go to school and statistically speaking uh students stay near where they got their education so that is really an additional reason that I think needs to be put on the table for why this is important thank you C Smith and that was really important any other counselor for those one in favor any against abstention motion passes Mr Vice President uh that is oh I'm sorry uh we have a supplemental appropriation uh and I will pass that over to councelor Peete thank you uh yes so it's just this one I'll make this in the form of a motion uh request is hereby made uh for the approval of the following appropriation amount requested $70,000 to be transferred from Capital stabilization $70,000 to be transferred to fy4 Municipal Ada Improvement Grant $70,000 the amount requested will be used for the following purpose Council of Aging parking lot improvements uh Paving and striping site design site installations expenses for which exceed the FY 2024 Municipal Ada Improvement Grant of $ 32,7 N7 and the public hearing oh yes and I will also I was going to do this a second thing I can do it once once y yeah uh I will also uh in the same motion request that a public hearing be set for this item at our next meeting at 6:15 finance and oh yeah yeah we're sending it to finance you know it yeah yeah I know it right and a second second I have a motion a second for the supplementation 70,000 for the consul and agent parking to lot Improvement and to schedule a public hearing on this chamber on April 17 at 6:15 any further discussion see none for those who in favor I any against abstention and I'll pretty sure that's everything we have in our agenda I will take a motion to journ sove Second have a motion a second to adjourn those one in favor I any against I guess now we're leaving thank you everybody motion passes thanks thank you e