municipal clerk present and legislative Council Mr Ed kogi is here present and also Mr West Bridges thank you and Madam president if you wish I'll read the invocation at this time thank you almighty God who holds the fate of man and Nation we most humbly beseech thee to bless this our city these deliberations and these thy servants that they may act with wisdom and understanding for the good of our community and thy greater glory amen amen amen all right and council president it's my understanding you have some presentations this evening um I'll leave it to you to choose what you like first I do see here we have Dr Pamela puit is that correct yes the only presentation we have this evening is from Dr Pam who represents Capital Health Institute for urban care forgot thank you so much Madam president and to the distinguished members of our city council and to our City's leadership I appreciate the opportunity to be able to come here this evening and talk about our Institute for urban Care at Capitol Health before we move forward I would like to give a land acknowledgement to those who came here before us the Lenny laabi reigned here for over 12,000 years so if you wouldn't mind just taking a moment closing your eyes and Imagining the ground upon which we stand that belong to our forefathers thank you so the institute for Capital Health uh for urban Care Capital Health has been here for seven years years it's going on seven years now and the mission of Capital Health is to improve the health and well-being of the populations that's both in urban Suburban communities the map on the screen shows you something very interesting that our founder his name is Dr Eric Schwartz he looked at this map those years ago and he said there's 90 years in life expectancy in the citizens of Princeton in the citizens with the citizens of Trenton the life expectancy 70 years what is the difference there's not that much distance between the two cities The Institute for urban care when he developed it wanted to be able to coales and grow and align the services of Capital Health with the community and other partners one of the most important things was the well-being of the community as a result of an assessment that occurred in 2019 it came to be that the pillars of the institute for urban care would be one chronic disease Maternal Child Health and Behavioral Health substance use all standing on the foundation of our community both internal and external meet the team we are small but we are Mighty we do a lot in the city of Trenton and sometimes I say that we are the best kept secret at Capital Health but health is more than health care if you look at that particular screen and those of you that can see it 80% of that total piece about health has nothing to do with going to the doctor if you look in the lower leftand corner Health Care is only 20% but the social determinants of Health are all of those other behaviors that go toward our life expectancy or not so the first thing I'd like to talk to you about is the Trent neighborhood initiative I am only going to give you a snapshot because of the time limitations but there are four pillars and if you can't remember anything else once you leave here tonight remember the four pillars live work grow and connect under the live particular uh pillar mainly what captures everyone's attention is the $20,000 down payment that residents can have in buying a home now we say firsttime buy home buyers if you live in Ying if you live in lawrencville and you want to invest in a home in Trenton New Jersey you can get a $20,000 down payment provided that you are not above the median income level which is going according to the number of persons in your family so that means that we want at Capital Health to invest in our our community so no matter where you live you may be able to do that as long as you have not been a homeowner for the last three years and we also do other things with Home Improvement lead remediation Etc and we are looking at by the year of 2026 at the end of the six years that this particular Grant has been available that we are looking at doing 50 homes in the way of home ownership for our residents right now we have 15 residents who have homes under these circumstances if you look at the screen now this is the funnel that people go through in this process especially with the home buyer assistance and again with their lead remediation and the other things that we do in the live pillar this one stands out to most at the top you have to first become aware and then there's the interest level we have a partner the New Jersey Community capitals address yourself program and so what happens is the potential homeowners get to this part and then they are vetted and if they meet the requirements it goes on to interest then making a decision and then action into home ownership and that is why we can boast to 15 homeowners at this time and then there's the work pillar that is all about putting folks to work whether they start off in college at Mercer County Community College if they're on a healthare Air Track we will give them up to $5,000 they can use it for whatever they want it's not necessarily about tuition we also have assistance for small business owners loans and grants and then we're working with the African-American chamber New Jersey and looking at entrepreneurialship and what opportunities we can bring with the grow pillar that's really really important because a lot of our residents may need rental assistance they may need car seats they meet a a myriad of of items that they can't put their hands on sometimes they've just reached the critical point where they have no hope and they need some sort of way in order to to move forward in their living and Growing Experience and therefore they can call the number we'll talk to them there's so many different things that we do in advocacy for our residents and they the there is a dollar amount with that for you know each family like $3,000 so as long as they don't go over that and we'll just help them when we can some people come back you know after they've been helped it doesn't matter we always want to be there for our residents also in the grow pillar I wanted to point this out because we have a mobile uh food pantry we're at our Capital um Health uh location and on Hamilton twice a month and also on Belleview twice a month which equates to alternating weeks with our connect program when we give out computers a different you know universities and Ray Ingram helps us with a lot um we we have to connect to the Internet so someone just calls up says we need internet so we try to help support wherever we can so that our residents can have access to the world and what's going on in it the victory program is our violence intervention uh program for trauma I find it amazing and I I put you all in the some same bucket with these folks here the the trauma Outreach Specialists God's angels because they're doing work that nobody else probably wants to do and it's really meaningful so in 2020 um through the uh Attorney General's office our team came into play now we partner with mil Hill and Catholic CH Charities so basically we get a report every day from the hospital at Regional where we are and we find those that are victims of gunshot violence stab wounds anything domestic violence is not included but everything else whatever the family needs whatever the client needs we don't usually call them a victim but they are but they're our clients we work with them we make sure they're safe if by chance they have to succumb to their injuries then we step in with the family help with their uh funerals help with the mental health part we we're there for them it is a voluntary program but we take their information if they want us to and then we work with them all the way through the trauma no matter what it takes once they're through the trauma and they go away if they come back and say listen I'm having trouble again we don't turn them away we work with them again and this is with all of our programs that we offer so what you need to to know basically about this particular Victory program is that it is voluntary some people do say that they don't want the help after all think about it somebody calls you up or comes to your room in the hospital and says I'm here to help you the first thing that we think as black people in particular and brown people is what's up you know what do you want in return we don't want anything but your well-being and so we have found though through our program and the data that has projected that 98% of those that go through the victory program are least likely to fall victim to reinjury and then for my baby and me it's quite simple it's the mommies that have opioid addiction that are pregnant and all we have to do is identify these females we have to connect them to the proper services and we have to treat them usually they are people that are under the control of someone and therefore we um have to get them in the first place and so we work with home front Catholic Charities the rescue mission of Trenton and the Trenton health Team and then people look at me and say Dr puit we know that you're a doctor of Education of course because I'd call 911 what do you do basically I'm the Ambassador thank you very much for your time and for your attention on your call Madam president thank you Mr gcia first before we continue Dr puit thank you again for coming in and speaking with us today when we met a couple of weeks ago and you explained everything that you have going on wanted to make sure that our community and the council definitely got to hear all of the wonderful programs that you have going on and looking forward each of us I'm sure to working with you um in some capacity to help our community thank you again Mr Garcia certainly Madame President uh according to our agenda we've reached public comment at this time okay uh if security could bring up the public comment clipboard and just a note for the Public Public comment will be five minutes long uh council president we have four individuals signed up for public comment at this time thank you and just so the public knows you are able to address anything that you wish during public comment your your limit is 5 minutes the council is not does not have to respond to you though required to respond uh first person up we have for public comment is last name kellyman is that correct thank you you want to hit the button y there and uh just I think we both signed up but we're GNA speak together if that's okay yes okay go right ahead good evening everyone my name is Natalie Tong and I'm the co-founder and executive director of homeworks Trenton born and raised in Hong Kong I had the opportunity to go to boarding school at Lawrenceville prep right down the road and being able to live with my teachers and have 247 support change my relationship with learning but more importantly living with girls made me realize the power of women and the power of community I went on to receive my teaching license from Trenton Central High But realize the limitations of what we could do within an eight- hour school day so I thought what would it look like to have a boarding school experience and bring it and make it accessible to all girls around the world but start right here in Trenton New Jersey and hello I'm Dr Dell kellyman I am a Trenton native I am from the West board and South Ward I have gone to my Elementary School Joyce kmer Junior 3 Junior 4 this is my home and I am here I later went to Hampton University then went to get my masters at Baro College in New York and just recently graduated with my educational leadership doctorate degree from the University of Pennsylvania and I am here as a proud Chief Operating Officer of homeworks Trenton bringing the resources bringing our people back home and so first I want to thank you for this opportunity to present today we are homeworks a free community-based after school residential program we are bringing the benefits of a boarding school experience to Public Schools it is important to note that we are not interested in becoming a school we do not want to replace our schools we partner with our schools and we bring the resources of a boarding school experience and so from Sundays to Fridays each day our Scholars receive over 180 days of dormatory living our Scholars receive Transportation daily dinners our Scholars receive over 600 hours between academic tutoring and study hall time in addition to programming time and that programming time looks like identity-driven leadership what does that mean that's all that self- excavation work who am I my identity and situating their identity in their learning our Scholars also receive over 35 hours of individual and group therapy they take weekly field trips and I will be remiss if I did not mention that our Scholars we partner with our Scholars parents in monthly potlucks where they bring their delicious food and we bring ourselves and we have a great time talking about with the the work of homeworks homework started in 2016 as a summer pilot for four weeks with five Scholars we then transitioned into a semester program a covid day program a school year program and now a four-year program where our Scholars start from their freshman year and go all the way to to their senior year last year I'm proud to say that we ended the year with a 98% attendance rate a 0% chronic absenteeism rate and we went from an average of a 2.8 GPA to a 3.45 GPA we also now have two alumni D who is at Montclair State University studying marketing and potentially going into Political Science on a full ride scholarship with one of our partner organizations give something back and cam who is in her first year at tcj studying computer science one of the top computer science programs in the state we also have here today our Scholars our team and partners who are here with us um and partnering with us our co-founders within our work and we are humbled to be recognized by pen gsse the Rachel race show assembly woman Reynolds Jackson McKenzie and more ultimately our homework model will equip our Scholars with the confidence and the tools to not only achieve economic freedom and empowerment but to also One Day become leaders within our community whether it is one day they will be sitting right here um right alongside of you in your seats making important decisions for our city or becoming the first woman president of the United States we believe in investing in our Scholars We Believe by investing in our in Scholars we are actually investing ing in our local and Global Community the impact of the homeworks model is not simply recognized within the four-year period that we have our Scholars but the footprint has the implications for years to come we recognize and celebrate the community assets we do not come with a deficit mindset we believe in the city of Trenton we know the power in our city and that is why we recently bought a property at 1212 Edgewood in August 2021 and just last week we were appr for nearly a $2.1 million renovation grant now we're almost out of time so I'll just say very quickly there are three main benefits to our project program sustainability and growth and cost savings being an anchor within the community but most importantly this building as you know has been unoccupied for over 10 years and our goal is not only to revitalize this building but to build um relationships with our neighborhood as well and so we really appreciate your consideration for our $100,000 um ask to grow our program and help bring us home thank you so much I have uh let's see is this lln another individual homeworks I have a Noah and somebody else can there we go Mr Garcia yes if you could just kindly remind everybody of the time limit the thank you just to uh reann nowc the uh time limit would be five minutes for all for a public comment okay and you can begin please state your name and address for the record hi I'm Noah I'm 15 years old I'm currently attending Foundation Collegiate Academy and this is my first year as a homework scholar I'm Ilana I am 16 years old I go to stem Civics and I'm a sophomore and this is my currently my second year at homeworks um I just want to start off by saying that knowledge is power and not only that knowledge is power but the youth is our future and with homeworks they really definitely help us with not only our education but understanding our identity and our impact on those around us in our community and I really appreciate them for what they do and the resources that they provide as they have helped me understand who I am as a person and who I want to be in the future when I first joined homeworks I wasn't sure about the curriculum and how it was going to be but after joining and as it's being my second year I'm very grateful for the opportunity and I've met so many great young girls Scholars and I have made great connections with the staff and I feel like this program really helped me towards my future and in college and we have learned many great things and how to stand up for ourselves and have many field trips to like just help grow ourselves and evolve as minorities and young black women and people of color um homeworks they had allowed us to embrace ourselves and the knowledge that we hold and with that we're were able to embrace each other and build a community where we can build together and build a future and I'm really appreciative of that we were able to indulge in our Ambitions and look forward to college in the future and whatever it comes and brings to us and yeah and not only does homeworks help us students and girls it also involves the families like potlucks and we're able to bring our siblings and other family members to also make new connections to help them with their future it's a community and I hope that people realize that it's not just a one person job we all help each other and we're all willing to help each other and we're dedicated to this program because of not only what it brings to us and the benefits that we have for ourselves but the benefits that we can bring for each other homeworks personally homeworks have have has done a lot for me and honestly I don't think I would be the person I am at this moment without homeworks because it just really once you join it really makes a huge impact on your life and even though it might be tough at times you're they help you push through it so there's really no problem as this is my first year as a homework scholar I've been going here for only a few months and within those months I was able to develop a lot of communicational and social skills I was able to um participate in activities and view universities and dream of a future that I could possibly have for myself although I've been in this marginalized Community for so many years I've seen that there's a brighter future out there for us and it's not just for those who have the Privileges to take advantage of those advantages and I'm really looking forward to my next two years as a Junior and senior for our new internship opportunities helping us with our resume for jobs and having more opportunities with the field trips and all of that stuff that we need to live and succeed this program is worth investing in invest in your youth please because as we are the future we are going to be those in power in the sooner or later and the process of getting to that point is to make sure that our youth is educated being in this program exposes me to educ ational and sorry um educational opportunities that allow me to expand my knowledge and now I'm up here today able to express my passion thank you um um 45 seconds honestly I never would have thought I would be standing here speaking in front of the city council like who who who who do you know dream as a student dreams of that in Trent New Jersey so I'm just really grateful for this opportunity and yeah homeworks is a great place to invest in and I hope to see more of it in the future yes I agree I hope to see that this community expands and is shared with other girls like us thank you so much than you miss um and Doc if you have business cards if you could give them to um poor or Mr Garcia please so that we can have it for for councel and I just want to say real quick before we continue it's a phenomenal program I actually had student from Trenton High I teach at the high school as well um who came through your program um and I've written a letter of recommendation for another one that was looking to get into the program so the works that you do are tremendous and great and then to the young ladies that spoke wonderful job great articulation wonderful representation and for all of you that are here tonight to stand on what it is that you want and what you believe in I commend each and every one of you and thank you for taking the time out to come before us right because you are the future and we do need to get ready to have you take over thank you council president Council that's fine um miss Tom so um did did you all come before zoning board like three or four years ago for approval okay I'm just I would like to suggest if you could possibly send any the designs or the final rendering of the building to my colleagues I think they would love to see that I definitely will and I remember you being on the Zone Ma so really appreciate everything thank you certainly uh Madam president if we want to we'll move on to Communications and or going through the docket anyway um you have minutes for that will be for THS your Thursday approval with the exception of November 2nd and and December 21st those minutes will be up for your approval um they've been sent to you recently you uh we now Communications and petitions I will note for uh number 2J uh which reads an official petition to council members Trenton New Jersey not notification of national movement to cut back on quality of life policing methods such as making arrest for vandalism littering loitering vagrancy public intoxication and other quality of life violations that is a petition in opposition uh I just wanted to make that known and make that noted and we will make an adjustment if necessary um side of that you have your Communications and petitions and from Communications petitions that moves us to ordinances for second reading and public hearing if you'd like me to go through those yes certainly ordinance 24-7 ordinance amending and supplementing chapter 14 of the code of the city of Trenton traffic four-way stop intersections as it applies to Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard and Ingam Avenue ordinance 24- 8 Capital ordinance providing for improvements to the West State Street and San Hein Drive Improvement project 11 by the city of Trenton in county of Mercer state of New Jersey appropriating 1,399 38 to pay for the cost thereof which amount will be funded by a grant from the fiscal year 2024 Municipal aid program received or expected to be received by the city from the New Jersey Department of Transportation ordinance 24-9 ordinance amending and supplementing chapter 14 of the code of the city of Tron traffic oneway Street as it applies to Hill Avenue ordinance 24-10 an ordinance continuing certain positions fixing salaries therefore and setting forth certain regulations for the implementation of same analyst trainee analyst purchasing agent excuse me assistant purchasing agent senior purchasing assistant senior program development specialist aging and yard supervisor ordinance 24-11 an ordinance to revise certain positions fixing salary ranges therefore and setting forth certain regulations for the implementation of the same administrative secretary employee benefit specialist paralal specialist account clerk senior account clerk principal account clerk management assistant sanitary driver ordinance 24-12 an ordinance amending and supplementing section 150- three of the Trenton city code relating to penalties for illegal dumping and Madame President if there's no questions regarding those ordinances at this time I'll move into resolutions any questions from any members of council you may continue thank you Mr President certainly uh Madame President are there any um if there's any uh resolutions that you or the council would like to exclude from a consent agenda um uh you can go ahead and note those I'll also note that we do have three walk-on resolutions uh that are at or recent additions to the agenda per doet review uh those resolutions are resolution appointing members to the housing authority of trat Board of Commissioners there are two uh resolutions for that purpose resolutions 80 and 81 as well as resolution 82 which notes uh liaison two boards and commissions at this time Council are there any resolutions that you'd like pull to decide off of consent agenda that you will have questions for now is the time to please indicate yes councilwoman Williams thank you ma'am I have questions on 24050 2455 2457 2458 and 24 uh 061 and 2471 24 71 71 thank you yep and 2414 thank you is that it councilwoman Williams and that was an ordinance the last one yes ma'am the ordinance thank you m council president if May interject with your permission yes administration's pulling 2414 noted okay 014 you say specifically for further discussions with um Council Williams and some other council members is the ordinance Mr Garcia yes ordinance for first reading ordinance 24-14 you said pulled by Administration thank you that's correct noted Madam president yes councilwoman Edwards when we get to this consent agenda I would like to address that the 24-14 why it was pulled and to also make comments on the record okay Madam president is that is that a councilwoman Edwards I'm sorry yes okay Council vice president if if I'm sorry if there's going to be questions then it shouldn't be pulled because it was pulled so if you want to ask questions then we could pull it off unpulled pending the questions okay so can we do that but then can we finish through the council with what they what they would like to remove from the consent agenda then we'll swing back around absolutely to that one thank you director Bridges Council vice president Madam president I would just like to have discussion for 24052 thank you anyone else so this is not a discussion but um we have we are going into executive session with 24054 right that's correct um being there's no councel here we don't have to have that at the front for the Public's benefit we could address that at the end of the meeting if that's council's will thank you sir okay you have any other questions okay councilwoman G I'm I'm good councilman Harrison thank you councilman Harrison yes are there any items from the uh that you are there any matters that you wish to pull from a consent agenda at this time time other than what's been this previously mentioned okay oh the ruffling of the P I'm sorry that would be me I'll try and get you a little further from that there we are okay M president so before we continue excuse EXC me with that um they there are questions on 2414 before the administration will pull it so do we go over that now or do we establish what's going to be on the consent agenda and then do that um if we're going in order of the docket then we could uh establish what's going on the consent agenda okay so Council we will get to 2414 let us just establish excuse me what is going to be on the consent agenda thank you Mr Garcia continue certainly so Madam president with the exception of 049 which would put us into executive session I have a consented Jetton consisting of 24- 051 053 056 059 060 062 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 and we will be including 80 81 and 82 and that's the consent agenda that I have at this time Madame President yes councilwoman Edwards apologies as I did not realize the wones were included but uh resolution 24-8 or 081 they're stapled together but I wanted to bring attention to the second where ask it says that the Housing Authority consist of six members five of which shall be appointed by the governing body and one by the mayor all of which shall be the residents of Trenton there if correct me if I'm wrong there's actually seven members of the housing authority and that seventh member is actually appointed by the governor so should that be on here as well that's a good point I'll have to research that councilwoman and uh if that's the case we will prepare a new resolution for both I think I think that's a prudent move if if that be the case just to make it very clear it's on our City's website I don't know it's not that as a date either but okay Governor's appointment no we'll go ahead and uh we'll go ahead and uh correct that so can I excuse me if we can M ask the question and that is that is valid one is appointed by the governor can we um um move to am can we amend this on the floor so we can vote on this is it something we can still just make the adjustment to and then vote on it or is it something we have to wait on either's either I me I know we vote on Thursday I'm sorry go ahead yeah uh Council presid either is proper I think the best practice would be to revise it being that's going to be minimal revision so you can have all- encompassed um resolution that you're voting on instead of doing it by way of putting it on a record okay thank you and if I may if I may also make one suggestion Madam president um being to today is the working session I know that there's been a lot of resolutions and ordinances where there's been some questions we have the directors here on Tuesday so if there are specific granular questions about the details of these resolutions I think we should address those questions now while the folks with the knowledge are in the room thank you director Bridges we are going to do that excuse me that's why we pulled the ones off of consent agenda so we're going to go back and then question and work our way through that all right perfect thank you on your call Madam president continue uh this time then if we have the if we've established the consent agenda You may wish to uh speak with any of the directors or any other individuals to entertain questions for the uh pulled items from the consent agenda so if we could start with 241 for because that's the one that um director Bridges was saying that they were going to look to pull so we'll open the floor to council members um for anyone that has questions on that so have um a question on that Madam president okay so I would actually like um further clarification on that whether or not that includes the downtown area that we're talking about is this say residential is it both um so we can establish how this actually affects the community if I may council president yes sir um I'll speak to this Mr Beach um is not here today but um the thought was there are certain Legacy establishments restaurants and to answer your question give you a short answer it it is Citywide um there are certain Legacy operations where if it goes through a change of ownership um if they all within the confines of that um the distance that buffer that they're no longer allowed to operate the same restaurant uh the same establishment that they're purchasing so the thought behind this um ordinance was to put it in council's hands but make it very narrowly tailored and that it has to be an establishment that was previously operating as a bar restaurant and ultimately puts the decisions in council's hands if there's an entity and establishments that fall within the definition of legacy establishment to give this Council the authority and ability to make exceptions for for those properties um the reason just to be clear with Council while um we're suggesting pulling it as I understand we faed a lot of questions from council members that rightfully should be asked and I think um looking at it while it's legal as the form and substance um I think there's some additional language to make it clear that this is not opening the city up to liquor establishments throughout the city it has to fall into a very specific definition of establishment that was operating as such and make it clear that this council is ultimately going to be the ultimate decision maker with respect to granting those acceptions so um being that there were so many questions um Administration thought it best to have that dialogue with Council and and and air any concerns that anyone may have before representing this to this body so thank you Mr Bridges um so this is pretty much applicable to pre those that were previously established with a liquor um license whether it was whether they're active or inactive is that correct that's correct whether they were active or so if a if a restaurant was operating for 10 15 years and then you know the operation shutter and the building remained for you know a certain period of time not to exceed a certain amount of years years and someone is coming into our city wanting to invest in the city and reopen and reestablish that facility as a as a restaurant um obviously they're going to want to have the liquor license piece with that from a just a business standpoint so it's simply places establishments restaurants that were operating as such in the city of Trenton for a period of time where Summit is coming back into reactivate reinstitute that business in the city of Trenton it's not for someone who's going to construct a new prop property not for someone who's going to take a a home or or something and convert it into a restaurant it has to be a legacy um establishment that was there and we have documentation and proof that they were operating as such for a long period of time and that goes along with even those who even if it's a transfer from one owner to the other owner that that is actually and again that's these are the conversations that need to be had that's actually not far within this because if they were doing a liquor license transfer they would be actually taking that license that's already set up and attached to that establishment so it's really there's a lot of there's a lot of nuance here which is why we want to have that dialogue with Council so that um not only the council but the public fully appreciates and understands the evaluation and the thought process into trying to support these Legacy Buildings establishments that someone wants to come back into and and start operations again as a restaurant with the liquor license at tied to tied to it thank you Mr um Wes I will reserve the rest of my questions for when we have a full discussion with Council thank you sir Madam president councilwoman Edwards thank you um I just want to say I appreciate the administration for taking the initiative yet again to bring forth um amending this ordinance as it's pertinent to us to address the issues of our downtown and entertainment districts um to incentivize Economic Development um with the ordinance 24014 it references the only change to the liquor license ordinance that we have in the city of Tren is an amendment to section H2 and it's to add in um city council May approve an application so this is talking about approving the license within the tht that our current ordinance restricts us from doing so in certain areas so I wanted to suggest as we're doing that I do like that and appreciate it but as we're doing that once we add um that language in there I would like for us to refer to section D and add in specifically the language of the blocks and the lock number of the properties that are permissible to obtain a liquor license within those a th000 feet of another um the way that we have for Rand Entertainment District because downtown um it is mixed with residential so if we're referencing downtown as a whole we want to be careful not to go into those areas so and as the way that Roeland did for their area for their entertainment area I would like to recommend that we do the same um I've begun a list if you like me to forward that as well so you can save yourself some of the groundwork on that um but uh I think it's I think it's pertinent on us to establish downtown in certain areas sou waren Street uh East State Street Broad Street areas as entertainment districts and allow people to be side by side with liquor licenses with various businesses whether that would be a nightclub a lounge a wine bar our current existing restaurants and things like that not like a store or things but actual entertainment places where people could come and congregate and be entertainment um be entertained in other ways besides a liquor store so um there was something else there's also a 400 foot buffer from restaurant that is in section C1 that I would also like for us to um look at as well so again just aligning ourselves with the language of getting rid of those buffers in certain districts that maybe we could look at section C1 where it says 400 feet from uh restaurants eliminating that as well so not just in in our entertainment districts but restaurants around this city should be able to be side by side in our restaurant districts and not be 400 feet away so that we can um invite more businesses into our town and also um I don't know if the language is there establishing an entertainment district downtown but if that's not in there uh section H2 is the locations uh in this ordinance so uh at the end of it it only mentions Rand Entertainment District I would like for us to add downtown maining District to that language as well council president if I may briefly respond yes thank you I think they're all very good points and and very consistent with um the administration's review of this and also consistent with the conversations that we um will be having with Council um but with respect to Entertainment District and the down tender I think this is really part one of what's more to come to address that address just that issue and been making it very clear so um the reason for us wanting to revisit this is to have these discussions get council's input and make a robust of re robust of revisions as we can at this juncture with understanding that hopefully um we will be able to address the downtown entertainment uh area I know councilwoman Williams was um interested in having a a little bit of a study with this and seeing what the thought was with downtown and I know that that's something that has been looked at and I mean I think we all can look at it just from being it vibrant bustling Act of downtowns you know Entertainment District Downtown I would not be surprised if you have a resolution ordinance coming before you before the end of 2024 eliminating that for just the reasons that you stated awesome thank you so much council president councilwoman Williams you so I yes I do want to comment on this um a a bit to say so actually Trent Downtown Association is very concerned con erned about this other uh business entities are very concerned about this because we actually started off with trying to create a restaurant row and have places that are currently boob BYOB be able to serve alcohol to help build up their businesses and then uh when that was brought forth to us we did have some folks who either would like to start a business or currently have uh liquor licenses from businesses they owned previously uh bring attention to um the idea that there would be a difference in ours that may be a competitive disadvantage uh even though new businesses often in the um the bar restaurant industry uh do have probationary periods even where they start off with reduced hours until they show that they can adhere and follow ABC rules and I think uh we didn't even get to that discussion as a point anyway but then it turned into other issues uh regarding underage drinking people being over served Etc and now we find ourselves six months later after we were supposed to have a study um I was actually a really great suggestion by our app uh interim I guess and don't know if he had the title Michael colber on planning department to hire consultant I fully supported as did others including TDA um unfortunately we were not able to find someone to do a study I think we should be putting out um an effort to do that hire a proper consultant as we did with Mr latini for cannabis I thought that was a very effective measure for our city because you know going from what was supposed to be an Entertainment District in downtown where I'd like to emphasize there are many residents in downtown we're going to be adding the former holiday and hotel will'll be becoming uh a residence location with many people living in condos um there's always people being moving in we have departs over slamming Brew that's coming soon so you know I believe we have to also remind ourselves when we're discussing this there are people living down town there are businesses who aren't entertainment businesses but also having something that comes forth under originally the guise of an entertainment District ordinance become an expans of the entire city ordinance to me um I'm not criticizing anyone um or bur merching anyone but I feel that that's irresponsible for us to enlarge something without having a professional consultant that we've hired to look at these issues who's practiced in um liquor law Etc and examples from other cities because you know once we do this we have to do this right we have to make sure we're not building the wrong kind of um alcohol ordinance we're not um building in places where people don't want to live where situations get out of control having traveled having lived in New Orleans see with Bourbon Street Memphis um even Tampa and the way they've handled their districts with entertainment it is handled as its own District it's handled where they have strict controls and then even in its ordinance when we have uh a clause and actually I would like to say looking at this ordinance as presented doesn't show any uh strikeouts so it doesn't look like there's any change from before but I was surprised to know that we apparently allow operators uh license holders to to be open to 4:00 a.m. on New Year's Day which as someone who worked in intoxicated driving resource program that actually really makes me nervous because um a lot of accidents um the statistics we'd have to review them and that's where consultant will come in do occur usually after 2 am for drunk driving and having had to speak with a parent who lost a child in a drunk driving accident where the child was the victim of the driver we I just want to remind us ourselves that we really need to make sure we go one step at a time with this and I know a lot of work has been put into this and I appreciate that but I do think going forward whether it's for an entertainment district downtown or this is around the city no matter what we do with alcohol we have to be very careful because we want a successful Entertainment District I certainly want to see that in downtown as someone who represents the north Ward but also um to my colleagues Point earlier the list of business are Legacy businesses we should know who those businesses are because just as you know anybody who grew up here a long for a long time de Renzo on Hudson Street was able to operate without a bathroom that was never as far as I know in an ordinance but it was just grandfathered in if we're going to be grandfathering in that's like when in zoning or planning someone does something that they shouldn't do and they come back to zoning or planning to get a legal remedy to fix the problem before they sell the property Etc you try to get the co so I would like to um see this pulled this evening to give us a time to really talk about this issue research this issue I would love for our city to find a qualified uh consultant to look at this because I share my colleagues concerns about building a thriving Entertainment District but we also have many Trentonian who do not partake in entertainment do not go out and also just want to work and live in a city that they feel comfortable living and and if they have to drive you know in the middle of the night to go somewhere you know I'd like to make sure we're taking care of that too because there's other things we could be doing to discourage drunk driving in a city which is a problem with a city that has so many bars thank you ma'am Council Council presid if I could just address a couple of points again um this is not um law Department's ordinance um but um I'm uh discussing it based on conversations I had number Mr Bridges whose ordinance is it H thank you continue okay um number one taking into account Council Williams concerns it's it the the per the reason that the ordinance is narrowly tailored because it does deal with Legacy restaurant operations so this is not something where the community in that area is going to say oh no there's a restaurant opening up across the street from me they moved to that restaurant that restaurant was already in operation so it's not a new um establishment with respect to the study I have not been involved with the details with you and Mr beach with respect to the study but uh had having a conversation with him um we may have difficulty finding a expert to opine on the buffer requirement and one of the things that conversations that I've had with entities who um I've attempted to reach out to is they're referring us to other cities similar situated that have a vibrant downtown entertainment area um I don't think anyone in the city of Trenton or anybody sitting in this building today would say that we don't want a downtown entertainment uh area I think one of the biggest things that the city would benefit from would be opening downtown up and actually having a real downtown where there's actually activity and as I sit here today I can't think of any town that has that type of success ESS in her downtown that has this buffer including ones that we looked at such as Princeton such as New Brunswick such as downtown norc um so uh I I guess that's some bit further conversation for Mr Beach to have with you but I think that your your concerns and council's concerns are plic to the reason why we wanted to um pull this today having field that those quite candidly good questions so that we could have more Dialogue on all those issues thank you Council vice president oh Council who was it I thought it was council president I was going to speak but Council um Edwards with councilwoman EV speak first sorry we were just having a conversation about in what order um I just wanted to before we moved on speak to the meeting that I was also in with councilwoman Williams and TVA um about the study and things like that and about the entertainment District or restaurant Road downtown the the biggest issue in fear is Public Safety that's the biggest fear it was uh addressing what if one person goes to this bar or establishment and gets inebriated and goes to another bar or establishment and and get served again and now they're you know unable to function and how are establishments going to be able to tell that and and things like that um well the ordinance definitely speaks to to that and they are people are strictly prohibited from um serving directly or indirectly to mentally impaired habitual drunkard or any person actually or apparently intoxicated or permit the same to congregate in or around the licensed premises um I brought that up in the meeting to say that um you can pretty much tell when someone is intoxicated and I made some suggestions that if there is security if they can do something um to where they can have a breathalizer so that they're being tested at their toxicity levels um to prevent them from being over served and um or the main number one suggestion is having a public safety plan for each lensey holder with tpd so if TDA can facilitate a relationship between the new businesses and existing businesses coming in establish a public safety plan with our Police Department then we can kind of ease some of those fears as we move forward with um bringing this to fruition so I think that that would settle a lot of fears um as we look at other places I would like to bring attention to many of the downtowns that we leave Trenton to go to where they have establishments side by side and they are safe they have there are events called bar CWS where people go to different bars on the same day and have wristbands and events like that and and they're just tasting beer they're not drinking to get drunk some people do you can't control everyone but there's matters of Public Safety plans whereas TDA does have a budget to hire security to help with the outside areas in each establishment that has um a bar or or something like that to hire security so if we come up with some type of solutions along those lines I feel as though that this can work and our fears will become obsolete eventually but we have to be preventative rather than reactionary um I'm not sure what that study would have told us but I just think that just take from experiences the places that you've gone to and what your experiences were there and what You observe there and imagine that hearing Trend and let's lead with optimism rather than stigmatization on our capital city so that's all thank you thank you Council woman Council vice president so I let Council woman over to go first but she said a lot of the things that I wanted to say that's okay um you know in in terms of like being nowhere for uh residents to go you know or or they don't they don't frequent a lot of places in the city of TR it's because they don't have a lot of places to go we want to give them the variety we want to open up um the opportunity for them to be able to go out and experience life and then we're not just talking all bars and nightclubs we're talking restaurants you know maybe a liquor license or whatever and they could venture out you know people I'm sure my fellow council members and other people in the audience we've gone to Bard and town we've gone to Philadelphia we've gone to other places where you know you can go from place to place to place and it's a different restaurant it's a different bar a different um you know nightlife activity or area and you know we are under the pretense is that people are going to either be responsible for themselves or the or the bar owners the restaurant owners are going to be responsible for the people who come into their businesses because to obtain a liquor license you need to be respons you need to maintain yourself to a certain standard or you know you're going to be fine your liquor license is going to be taken or what have you and if we can have more places for people to go that are more local they can Uber they can take taxis it's closer for them you know they're not venturing outside to other areas where there are more opportunities for them to get DUIs or have car crashes or get drunk and D drunk and drive and accidents and things of that nature I think that we need to really broaden our Horizons and open our minds to the possibilities that Trenton can be you know we're no different in other cities we we are our own stigma in the city of Tren we are our own stigma I feel like um like I said the business owners have the responsibility we put pressure on the business owners every day we sit up here with ABC um and we you know we tell them when they're wrong we tell them when they're not doing what they're supposed to be doing um we we have to be open to the possibilities um I feel like um you know we can have more than one Entertainment District in the city city of Trenton we can have downtown TDA and in that affili but we can also have the roing district um it's no different than what we had you know back in the 60s and 70s you know we're just trying to to rebuild it and bring it back now and we just have a more diverse audience and a more diverse um population um I am for this ordinance um I for you know some provisions and and if some of my Council colleagues want to have some tweaks and turns here and there you know I'm for um conversation about that but I just want to say on the record I am for this ordinance thank you Gonzalez thank you I won't be long it's just the same um I also am in support of the ordinance as um my colleagues did State um we do want to see downtown Trenton thriving and have this Entertainment District as someone who does like to go out into the restaurants and eat fine dining have a live band play and enjoy good music with a cocktail so um I just want to say I do agree with the public safety plan I think that was a great suggestion so thank you councilwoman Edwards for and that um if we do it in a safe way I think we can actually have something that would attract people are com into our city um as far as the residents and respect to them we do want to be respectful of them so having their input is important so thank you for bringing that um um Council um Williams but we do have plenty of parking because my concern was parking originally but we have parking lots that are underutilized and it would be great if we can get those parking lots going and we have enough parking spaces um so I just wanted to stay on record that I do support this with of course some amendments and you know considering everyone's uh suggestions also thank you council president thank you uh council president so I just want to say I am up for having a discussion on this I do want to um hear more from the administration on this I do want to um say on the record I do not want to put a negative stigma on Trenton everything that we do does not have to have a negative connotation to it and I don't want something like this to be that either every other City can have a and has majority of them a thriving downtown um business if we want to draw people want to have the money kept here we want the revenues to be kept here we have to allow the business to in order to operate um that way and yes we absolutely need to have it done safely so always want to take safety into um consideration and we wanted this also having um these types of business to be able to these restaurants that own their um liquor license side by side also gives the other Mom and Pops an opportunity to grow as well so all of this one has an effect on the other gives the ne the um the domino effect so I'm not saying no to this at all I just want to say I'd like to have it for further review I'm all for having a thriving downtown I'm all about safety at all times and that is above all is always safety but I'm also for opening up our city and I want to make sure that we afford our citizens the same opportunity that other communities are allowing their um communities to have we need to open up for business we need to be able to allow the community to actually take part in their Community instead of when uh 4 o'clock 5 o'clock the State closes we shut down we don't want to shut down that means you have allow some of the businesses to be open and yes these are the types of things that we're going to have to allow so um thank you for my um additional time council president okay thank you ma'am I'll have I'm G save mine till the very very end I'm trying to get you go ahead I'd like to ask uh Mr Garcia a question he may not have the answer but I think this would be a good historical information um pre say we'll say mid 1960s early 70s do you have any idea how many liquor licenses were issued for downtown Trenton versus the number we have today is that researchable okay could I ask you to research that please okay so I just wanted to say ma'am uh neither myself nor uh I believe anyone on this Council has said that we should not have any liquor establishments downtown uh we haven't even said how many we want downtown um we've all said that we want a thriving downtown but a thriving downtown doesn't only mean you need to have a liquor license if you look at old pictures of what downtown was in the 50s 60s 70s we had a multitude of different businesses we had a variety of different businesses but one current thing that was you know to everything was people lived near downtown we unfortunately bulldozed most of our like half of actually our downtown residents going to the Delaware River going towards the ballpark when we built all the state buildings so that's gone so when you don't have a population but you know historically it looks like we're in a bad place but we have people moving into downtown and I'm the full support I'd like to see more restaurants having lived in cities having travel this great country having seen other entertainment districts I know we could do it but we need to do it and I'm going to pull an old term from the 1990s smart growth we need to be smart about how we're doing this and changing a offers yet that's something that's going to have to happen obviously if we going to have more places but we need to decide how many liquor licenses we want to have downtown and I know um that is not going to be an infinite number but we only have an infinite number of licenses and that license system was based on a much higher population sociologically when people drank a lot more there's a lot of interesting articles last have we how Generation Z Generation Y and even younger Millennials are not drinking as much as they used to before so even a lot of sports Stadium concert Halls are cutting back on beer stands because they don't have the business to support hiring employees and Staffing them so you know when we do this let's just think you know a little bit deeper rather than you're either for it or against it because I think we're all for and I think we can find that happy medium but the happy medium is not tonight I think we need to talk about this further and I appreciate that Mr Bridges was willing to pull this so we could have that time in that convers St thank you ma'am council president I'm sorry uh I have uh the councilman who wishes to councilman Harrison go ahead talk entri everybody Entertainment District um has this been signed off by uh um detective cologne the ABC officer has she seen this l i I don't know the answer to that question I think council president if I may I don't know the answer to that question I think that's something for Mr Beach to address when he's present I I'll give you what I got but I don't have that they don't know councilman Harrison I can hear was that the answer is they do not know they do not know so yeah detective cologne and uh director Wilson we get their input because you're right the difference is downtown we don't have as much population in the roing area we have the large population so I would love to hear their input because I think as the ABC officer she should have a giant input into the direction because she does her job very well and I think that that input can go better for us to making a decision on where we should go my recommendation is to pull it until we have other people like uh you know detective cologne and other people look into this because I have a concern about this council president let May respond Bri briefly again um councilman Harrison just so I'll speak up so you can hear me I did represent early um before we disc discussed this if we were pulling this so that these conversations could be had um so yes it it will be pulled today I could not hear that it was all M yeah councilman Harrison can you hear me okay the item is going to be pulled it's be pulled thank you you're welcome okay absolutely so I just I just want to say this right and I was trying to keep all my thoughts together and being respectful of my colleagues who asked great questions and made wonderful statements first let me say this um I love the the individual thought process that each of you us exhibit right as we go through things not at one time though that I think that councilwoman Williams was trying to say anything negative about downtown or what she wanted as far as um building up the downtown community right she's never been against anything for building up our city she's always been for building up especially downtown and her North Ward so I just want to be clear with that and I thank her for her diligence and looking into things further to make sure that whatever is being done is being done right for me my question is this we speak about Legacy we speak about the um the concept of if something happened for an establishment while it was there before then if someone takes over over that establishment then those same rules should apply that to me is completely different and I could be wrong that to me is something completely different than what is sitting in front of me right here right now I think that if we're going to speak to Legacy so that it is not confusing to to the public right um or to councel that if we're going to speak about Legacy then we need to have that separate from what this is in front of us right now what I mean is if you have a particular establishment in which this is referring to then we do it on a Case by casee basis you name it and then we deal with it accordingly and if we Grant whatever it is you're asking for then we grant for it this is confusing and this is all over the place I don't I I'm looking at it like well you saying Legacy but we're talking about a thousand feet moving this moving that East Trenton coming downtown and then here is what it is when I asked the question um about whether or not Mr Garcia our custodian of records as well as Detective Cologne who we had on the phone if either of them were consulted with this at all the answer was no and I feel as though they should have had part in this the Police director should have had some input in it as well as other key people Nothing should come before us unless the key people who are are a part of this have the conversation this was put here in front of us we're looking at it we're trying to dissect it everybody's trying to be nice and Tiptoe Through the Tulips it needs to be fixed I do agree that it does need to be pulled it needs to be worked on and it does need to be separated I'm all for the grandfathering of a situation depending on the establishment I'm all for that I'm not saying that I'm not but if we're going to talk about moving from grandfathering one thing to moving something Citywide then we need to do our due diligence and take our time to make sure that what is presented before us is accurate makes sense and that all applicable parties are at the table so that we can hear hear and understand what it is that's being presented before us so thank you for pulling this tonight coun president you're quite welcome and everything that was raised here by this Council again Administration thanks you guys for your due diligence for your thoughtfulness and the reason why it was pulled even prior to this discussion so we could address some of the issues that were raised here today and provide that Clarity in either this all-encompassing one or two separate ones so I appreciate that thank you on your call Madam president go ahead Mr gcy you can go ahead and move down the list of the ones we we starting off 24050 was the one at the top of the list those that have questions that's pres so we are at oh go ahead 24050 okay uh ma'am I would like to ask uh director Richardson to come to the uh Podium just ask us some questions absolutely good evening Council Maria Richardson Parks and Recreation thank you very much ma'am uh so my question is uh so this is obviously a large appropriation $3.5 million um from our funding and um as I know as my colleagues I'm sure would say there are a lot of things that need to be repaired um and throughout the city you know there's just hands down there's a ton particular in our Parks Etc so uh could you please give us some good strong highlights about what this money will be used for and why it's necessary absolutely um we are planning to use this money for for different projects and uh if you move forward in the docket on the docket you will see that we have probably 10 12 uh resolutions awarding different contracts granted that this um resolution would pass uh allocating the money but some of the projects include installation of scoreboards uh repairs and installation of new fencing in various Parks throughout the city um installation of reparation and installation of new bleachers and player benches throughout most of our facilities um installation of playground safety um installation and repairs of play ground equipment throughout the city uh we have um let me see if that is the same funding no that's basically it to put I am talking about uh doing a lot of work throughout all four Works some of that work it's um no installation and some other like in the case of playgrounds we have to conduct safety uh inspections every year and probably half of the work that it's highlighted in those resolutions has to do with um safety protocols that we need to follow particularly in the case of playground and with the playgrounds my understanding is uh regulations change every few years so the statute would tell you you have to upgrade the playground oh absolutely and uh sometimes we we need to change change equipment because now that equipment doesn't meet the safety requirements and that sort of things so we need to do uh inspections every year and uh usually that comes with a high price tag thank you very much thank you council president can I have I have a quick question while you're up here director richardon sure I see I see you had um all of the parks listed is there any way that we can somehow add parks to the list well the parks that are listed there are listed because either they came up in you know during the inspection but that doesn't preclude work in other Parks okay right can I suggest yes please the Carlos Negron park that's on umake that sake Carlos Negron is included in this is it yes oh I didn't see it yes it is oh I must going to say thank you sure oh yeah so I'd like to say this just this real quick um this this resolution councilwoman frisbee was brought before us last year right and then um the administration pulled it and we questioned as to why what was going on this was key to our kids and it's key to our city so we are glad to see that this has been put back because it's little things right and and what may seem small to some is Major to others and so this is a good win for our youth nice basketball courts fixing it up and resurfacing um you really didn't do yourself Justice right in your description and all the tremendous work that you're looking to do um this is going to be good for the city again the repairing of the fencing the scoreboards everything and so I commend you thank you and I'm glad that the administration listened um to us and and put this back on to get this done for our community so thank you yes thank you director Rich goe so I just want to say as Echo what uh Madame President said we were anxious for this to come back we did not want it to be pulled we recognized um Administration said they wanted to do some tweaking and one of the things as a mother with a child who's differ abled um the fencing and the groundwork where you are changing that to make sure that it is um safe for our children a lot of people don't realize they think oh you have dirt you have grass and that is a enough and it is not so seeing all of this as I was reading through it I think my smile got brighter with each and every um one that I read so I want to just say thank you to the administration for this this I am anxious to see um come to play in our community it is much needed and I thank you for um just making sure that our children have what it is that they need to be safe um no matter how able they are you thank you yes councilman Harrison director Richardson the parks are utilized by all the families in this great City so great to see that this work is being done so this is this is I think everybody on this council could be for this because it's about improving our parks that the families are using so thank you so much thank you counc and uh council president if I may um I should I should mention that uh part of that funding although it would not be reflected in the resolutions that are on the docket right now um but we will be building four um inclusive playgrounds throughout the city one in each Bo you Council vice president the you want say something about your thank you uh Madam president no I mean I just I'm just really excited about this um you know reviewing all the parks that were named I I have highlights on the paper of all parks in the South they're close to the South board particularly and um I just want to I'm very very thankful um that one par that I did not see on this list was able to be included Orange Street Park thank you very much that Park is highly blighted um we've done cleanups around that park there is literally nothing in that Park um we have students and schools um around that Park that just want somewhere to walk to to be able to you know have recess or just play in and um I've been asked particularly by students and it really broke my heart so I'm very very thankful um that that was able to be included in this um along with you know Third Street Park John Beach Park um Lamberton Park pep home park etc etc um so J well done thank you very much uh director Richardson for um being able to include so many parks throughout the city of Trenton in this um our kids and our families will be thankful thankk you thank you Mr Garcia certainly uh council president I believe our next resolution with questions would be 245 is are we at 24052 Madam president yes 24052 yes yes okay um I just had one quick question which I did ask in docket review I just wanted to know what the 7% valuation um numerically looked like that we were getting annually that was plugged back into infrastructure demolitions and things like that what does that number look like what does it look like since um I think this has been since 2016 2018 what does that number look like that we are putting back into our infrastructure our demolitions and things that of that nature what does that number look like to 7% okay um um good evening Madame President Council Adam Cruz business administrator unfortunately I was not a docket review on Wednesday so um maybe Colin can address that concern uh good evening uh col Cherry assistant business administrator uh if I may Madam president uh it's approximately $400,000 we had 362 2000 in 22 and $397,000 uh in 23 what was the 23 number I'm sorry $397,000 okay thank you very much and all of that that is the 7% valuation and that is what goes into infrastructure Demolition and the like correct that's correct thank or rather specifically it will be once this trust is set up that's what we've collected so far and this uh action seeks to establish a trust so that we can put the money in that trust and then use it for the purposes delineated in the trust so for clarity the 262 in 2022 362 362 in 2022 um that is um that will be in addition to the 397 in 2023 that's correct so that is okay there's a okay over 7K valuation okay 700k thank you very much and and we do expect Madam Vice president for that to continue we have no reason to believe that that's going to go down that's we just take 7% of whatever is collected so we in fact expect that as we're recovering from the Pandemic those numbers might even even go up thank you for Gather Gathering that information for you Mr Cherry I appreciate it thank you Mr Cherry can you say those numbers again please 362,000 792 $362,900 for calendar year 22 and $397,000 for calender year 23 um Madame President there there should be a memo attached to the resolution uh that explains all of that I think it will send to the clerk's office I'm putting Brandon in a but if not then we can distribute this memo before Thursday so that's not a problem nothing with the numerical breakdown is there I blame thank you thank you thank you Mr chair council president if I may yes Mr just just point of order um when these questions are resolved I don't know if it's council's desire to make a decision on to the consent agenda yes council president thank you all right so for 2405 can it go on consent agenda yes so 2405 will be consent agenda thank you 24052 consent agenda thank you consent agenda all right Z 24055 so U Madam president yeah might have a question that m55 Madam president councilwoman Williams has the question um CVP Steve Wilson Trenton please thank you director so my question is uh regarding this and I say this with No Malice or sarcasm in my question any way she perform but given the time she issues we've had in the past year I know some folks are going to ask uh do you happen to know what kind of security features we would have on this software uh so that something with off off duty which I know off duty um I would presume is the city's not necessarily paying that money private entity would be booking a police officer to guard their location that um it would not be something that someone could easily go and change hours and stuff like that no this is uh totally separate from that issue um this company um visual Computer Solutions um we are we have contracted them this ordinance I'm sorry this resolution passed December 7th there was just happened to be a typo um in the description um which was relative to the fees being administered by visual Computer Solutions this is jobs for blue this will be the entity that hires our off-duty officers um at no cost to the city they will have a 8% uh administrative fee and any vendor who contracts with with them I.E Contracting with the city for extra Duty employment if they pay with a credit card it'll be an additional 4% fee so it's it's a uh kind of akin to when you uh go to an ATM machine and you have an outside credit card and then charge your additional face kind of the same same thing thank you very much sir okay any other questions can we move to consent thank you it's moving to consent thank you 24057 question okay so 24057 is on consent thank you 24058 questions yes sir um so my quick question is I know a lot of folks are gonna probably ask in the next few days I know this isn't Beyonce or Taylor Swift kind of money so uh do you have any idea what type and I think it's an excellent idea what type of entertainment this would help us attract this wouldn't be creating new events this would be uh supporting the uh events that are already here and helping God we have a lot of events in the city that don't we don't capture any economic impact from because they're in the middle of a park nothing against Parks but they're in the middle of a park somewhere there's no businesses there so this is ways to encourage groups that are doing events to also think as maybe a secondary goal how can we get this money to impact the businesses around there so the business so the event coordinators that do events like that then we're going to give them some sponsorships thank you sir y I'm sorry can you state your name in the department you're representing please yep Eric mayir uh division of Economic Development thank you thank you thank you we moving that back on consent thank you 24061 don't you Council yes ma'am there's a lot of things ask about that's all right go ahead Council so I did get um a question from a constituent I'd like to ask this question director um so why is um why is natural resources and culture hiring a company to demolition anything isn't that something another department does a good question um probably two years ago uh the heart programs cdbg home and ESG were transferred to the Department of recreation so everything that is basically funded by cdbg comes through my department and uh we are very involved with this type of proess projects for we have been for the last two years okay so the money would come to you through cdbg and then actually go to the department that has to do the demolition no actually I hire um we have a consulting company that you approved I think during the pr the previous meeting we hire in genuity it's a requirement from her that we have a um consultant a demolition consultant and then this is to actually award the contract to the company that I will be doing the demolitions but I will be the project manager for that I have been the project manager for cdbg and and home for the last two years thank you very much thank you and just I am really happy that this project is before you because the previous Council rejected the project and we have to do environmental review again for this project so this is huge for the city thank you thank you we can move that to consent thank you 24071 I'm sorry guys this is a lot of interesting stuff tonight so I have direct question sorry director but this was um that's actually something I'm very excited about because usually when you see Green Acres you see other sounds in Mera County getting that money um but I'm really excited to see um that we're getting it for antia square and askd Greenway so if you could talk about um because this is such a great number 7, 288,000 um can you tell us what that's going to be used for so folks you know who are going to see this streaming I I'd really like you to explain what's going on Yes actually um I have to say that Green Acres have been really really great to the city during the last I don't know many years years we get a lot of funding from Green Acres and they allow us the opportunity to apply for that $7 million Grant to complement the money that we already have at hand for the Asom pink renway um the cost of the whole program and I would love to have the opportunity to present the whole project to to this Council will be around $24 million I'm tile Square the Taylor Street um a portions uh of enterprise um that would be $24 million we need we have about $10 million right now so this7 million dollar will put us really close to to the goal to be able to complete uh the soccer facilities the skateboarding facility um some multi-purpose Fields there um and the park itself so we are really hoping that we are able to get the $7 million to advance those projects within the next the next two years so this was uh this is the money going to the um project that you presented at the rise Center several times in the past yes that is correct and my other question uh for the remaining um about $7 million do we need to apply for more grants yes and we are actually right now waiting for an opportunity to apply for a12 million grant that has not even been released yet but according to one of our Consultants the city has a great possibility of getting the grant as well because almost all of those projects are all of those projects are almost sh already and so that is a great opportunity for funding purposes you know projects that are not in the planning process but that have already the design and permitting completed and for almost all the projects we are there thank you very much thank you thank you director Richardson so we'll move that to consent agenda as well thank you noted are there any other uh items Madame President no okay and with that being the case being through resolutions into ordinances for first reading which I believe we've gone over uh with the exception of 15 I imagine there are no questions on that I take it as well Madam president councilwoman Edwards I do have a question on this just for clarification um because the language threw me off a bit um we're adding a new section to this number one it says no person or entity within a city of Tren shall possess keep maintain or Harbor any exotic species of wildlife without first obtaining a permit pursuant to blah blah blah so then number two goes into no person or entity within the city is and shall possess keep or Harbor and then it goes on to list everything so are I'm trying to determine whether that is kind of contradicts number one where it says that they have to get in permit to have these animals but then we say they can't have these animals um but I don't have a problem with that but what I want to point out is roosters and chickens um we do have very responsible families in the city that have chickens that lay eggs and they keep the eggs and they use the eggs in M Hill and it's a very nice part of the garden tour every year and they offer free eggs to people that come visit their home they have a nice habitat it's very clean and I'm wondering if number two says they cannot have it at all but number one says they need a permit I think that they will be confused on whether they can have their chickens or not or whether they should get a permit to keep their chickens um so I think I well not that I think that I would like to suggest that we allow certain we allow by permit the chickens or roosters or whatever um to responsible people as long as their their habitats are clean they're providing adequate space for these animals and that they're intent on what their use is for them whether as a pet as livestock for eggs and things like that or restaurants maybe even having live chickens to use we also have a farm in the city of Tren um that may you know uh how can I say in you know provide different Services down the line maybe horseback riding or something like that a petting Z who knows um I don't want us to like keep people out that are responsible at least for chickens coun council president May respond briefly um I think this would benefit by email amongst Council obviously in proper numbers of Mr kogi because I believe this is a council sponsored ordinance it is okay yeah this I'm sorry this was uh an ordinance that was proposed by councilman Harrison we had circulated it to the entire Council understanding that you know because of the issues involved that there may be differences and little things that needed to be tweaked so um it can still be introduced Thursday if anyone proposes any changes uh I'll be happy you know to incorporate them into the ordinance and then uh there would have to be a formal motion on Thursday night to move to amend the ordinance to include the new well actually we're introducing it so there would be a motion uh to introduce the ordinance that contains the additional items so if anyone has anything on the animal ordinance if they can get it to me tomorrow we'll have it ready to still introduce for Thursday if we can awesome so like my interpret because I'm no attorney so my interpretation of this um and my interpreting that correctly that number two says that we they absolutely cannot have any of these animals anal at all but number one says under njac they can have these specific animals well Council you know this was like our first pass we just tried to you know come up with a list of animals that you know there were different complaints about things like that but then somebody raised the issue well what if somebody is only raising a certain number of these animals for sale or what if this or what if that and you know so now it's starting to grow little uh pH numers and aminations but like I said whatever suggestions that you have about amending amending it uh if you get them to me I'll be happy to incorporate them and then you know the council can move to introduce it as amended on Thursday unless it's going to be such a major project that we can't get it done by Thursday but we'll try okay and um is the NJ ac7 coand 24-4 is that spelled out entirely in the original ordinance is it just that is it just a code um I would like for us to recommend that we have the entire code language included and not just the title because we're like doing a little extra leg work looking the codes yeah this this entire ordinance essentially adds a new section to our already existing animal ordinance that doesn't really address very you know specific types of things that you can no longer have and I see that um the version that I have in front of me is probably slightly different than the version that I submitted to the clerk yeah it's um we were uh during do during DOA review we were um asked to animals out yeah well and included some uh that from the original uh original draft we left crocodiles in which is probably a good thing yeah okay crocodilia crocodilia yeah I didn't know what a crocodilia was start a research in new elephantine elephantine yeah yeah that was another one definitely I mean Mr Garcia Mr K okay whatever suggestions before we keep going we'll get it done for Thursday we'll make sure yes Mr Harr councilman Harrison to animal control to get their intake because as far as I know chickens are not allowed in the city tr but I would like to see the animal controls their input okay okay so we we you can reach out to animal control that's fine to find out I was going to make a suggestion um and I can do it in writing as well but in number one to councilwoman Edward's point where it said about harboring exotic species of wildlife right if we could maybe separate what those exotic species of wildlife are from what you're prohibiting in number two because like I don't know if a chicken is exotic or not right so I think that you're emu yeah but if we're gonna do it then maybe we can separate or name a couple of name the exotic species that you just you cannot have it without the permit and then in number two say okay and now you can't have this and and name what that is so I can put that in writing as well and I think that maybe that could kind of help us a little bit with this council president if I may again it's it's not being it's not an administrative administration resol US I I'm just I'm just making it being the input and kind of the added revisions and inquiries that we have about maybe we want to table this until those discussions can be had and you guys can have all-encompassing resolution okay just a suggest harison can you Mr Garcia can you ask councilman Harrison we'd like to table this just until we can amend you know or have this um this done councilman arrison are you able to hear that councilman arrison well we could keep going till I mean just they for Till by th just turn it in tomorrow we don't have to table anything we can just get so councilman Harrison we're going to put our recommend uh yes councilman Harrison hold on one second are you able to hear the council president speak I can hear now I can hear you talk okay you're able to hear me or you able to hear her hold on one moment go ahead one second councilwoman Williams has something she wants to say real quick go ahead councilwoman just uh three quick things one there are chickens um in other parts of the state not just m Hill they're in hillt right uh I do agree with with uh having a way for people who want to live healthy um to have their own eggs being produced if there's a way for that to happen but I totally respect what Mr Harrison's trying to do uh secondly this originally this issue came up originally with the issue of chicken droppings being um hosed out into a sidewalk into the street um then Chambersburg area if I'm not mistaken um so that is an issue I would like to say if we are going to allow people to have these in the proper cages Etc to get a permit perhaps have an inspector have a clearance by an apoc to make sure they're you know their hand also being Humane to the animals to the chickens and hens and then finally um having had neighbors who brought a rooster um and had a rooster at five o'clock in the morning you don't want to live next to a rooster so that would not be something I would like to support I don't think that's fair to neighbors much as it's cute okay thank you all right so everybody will um draft your recommendations and turn it in to Mr kogi tomorrow please so that we can go ahead and move forward with this on Thursday keeping in mind that this whole thing came about because of roosters chickens and EM em right right but none of those are in the ordinance now so yeah I just want everybody you know to give it give it some thought and come forward with whatever you want to come forward with and whatever council's agreement is it is thank you so everyone will have your comments by tomorrow so that way we can bring this forward on Thursday okay thank you everyone go ahead Mr Garcia thank you certainly uh moving on to actually Madame President at this time I believe we've reached a point of executive session if so I'd like to make a change in the agenda really quickly if I may since we don't have any outside attorneys present tonight is that true director Bridges thank you I'd like to move Civic comments up and let's get to that part right now please while we have an audience here sounds good Madame President and you may start with whomever you wish thank you councilwoman Gonzalez well I don't have much to say tonight but thank you all for being present um I do want to say um thank you to um Dr puit for being here and and doing her presentation um she always has a wealth of knowledge and I love the stuff that they're doing um and also I wanted her to actually bring up that they're hiring at Capital Health so if anyone is looking for a job please go on to the website for Capital Health because they are hiring and they have a lot of positions that are vacant it's like 600 right yeah 600 positions that are vacant so anyone looking for a job opportunity please visit visit their website um where's my thank you also director um the homeworks program um of course I think most of us are in support of that I've also had some of my students go through that program and it is excellent I see a change and growth in all of the young ladies who participate so um kudos to them and I'm all in support for that um the funding for homeworks director Richardson thank you so much for um always applying for money we you seem to always get all the grants and I just want to say thank you for that um especially when it comes to the recreational piece and everything else everything that's under your department but thank you for that um thank you to all for being presid a couple of announcements um this week down this week we have the oh the four centuries of African-American soldiers this weekend will be from febu February 24th at the barracks Museum and that's from 10:00 a. to 400m um there's also the second annual African Mass making family Workshop which will be February 24th also and that's at 10:00 a.m. to 1 p.m. and that will be at the Trenton City Museum which is 99 Parkside Avenue um and I believe that's it for today thank you all for being present thank you councilwoman Williams is Mr Harrison or I guess I'm gonna get to him okay thank you thank you uh so I just want to thank everyone for being here tonight um this is uh real great meeting um I hopefully we've shown people that we could work well together and we can disagree without being disagreeable and be professional and that's really important particularly for our city that needs so much um I want to also just take a moment ask everybody keep Mr Willie Smith in your thoughts and prayers he's uh under the weather at the moment um many of you may know him from the American Legion he's a great man does so much for our city um so we'll hope that he's on the men soon uh just a couple uh quick announcements uh tomorrow night is northw SE P meeting uh at gy Baptist Church 4:40 Martin Luther King Boulevard from 5:30 to 7 please join us uh Police director will be there with us as well as uh EMS director Grady Griffin so we could learn about how uh EMS and the tpd work alongside each other and also even with disaster preparedness um it will be a great conversation I know we'll learn a lot tomorrow night um just want to Echo what my colleague uh councilwoman Gonzalez said uh director richson thank you for hunting in every corner of the world to get grant money for coming into the city I know we have a lot of Staff who do that in but you're very very talented your department is very talented if shall you need a uh a cont a grant administrator or someone um you know I hope we can find one to help you because we need the money here and it's very important so thank you and finally um so this year is going to be the 80th anniversary of a very important um judicial decision hedge path Williams uh B Trenton and on the 208 there will be a celebration to and also a dedication for uh this momentous case which in 1944 if you don't know was the brown B Board of Education of New Jersey where uh two young African-American children were not allowed to be enrolled in what's now Junior 2 it's a school that I grew up with 15 beat from and uh it's very very important because rather than take it and just turn around and make their kids Dr walk two and a half miles to I believe Lincoln School the parents decide to fight and Sue in 1944 10 years before Brown be uh education Brown versus Board of Education and uh fortunately to the judicial minds of that day uh made sure that the case got heard properly by the state supreme court and the state Supreme Court ruled correctly that it was discrimination and by their ruling that desegregated these schools public schools in the state of New Jersey so if you have time uh next uh Thursday next Wednesday rather on the 28th I believe it's open to the public the celebration uh will be uh starting I believe at 11 o'clock at hedgepath Williams forly as Junior to please join uh because it's important um if had this case not gone as it did had not New Jersey desegregated this would have been the case that maybe a third grade Marshall would have had to argue in front of this uh Supreme Court of the United States so um Trenton's made a lot of history and this is a very important piece of that history not just George Washington so thank you very much everybody have a great night be safe and I hope to see you again on Thursday if not another time God bless thank you councilwoman councilwoman frisbee oh wait no I'm sorry councilman Harrison then councilwoman frisbee thank you thank everybody tonight for coming out to this wonderful meeting um I'm grateful to see we're getting more money for our Parks doing more demolition take down properties in the city need to come down but I also um would like to say there this Friday um February 23rd at un home um Mr McCrae the wonderful man from five1 St Avenue for many years he's been helping feed people over in the west ward um blessed man he had passed away so if if anybody and I think everybody knows Mr McCrae please if you're able to come out it's GNA be at the youth Funeral Home 3:24 bellw Avenue 11: am. uh calling hours 9:00 am so please if you can come out Mr McCrae it was a blessing um he's a light he was a light for the people of this great City and uh everybody's heart should be touched because he did a lot of things to help bless fortune in this great City so my prayers are Mr mcra and everybody that goes there to volunteer so thank you and have a blessed evening counil one so I want to I'm not going to Echo anything that might colleagues have already um said I want to just thank everybody for coming out here this evening um I'm excited for the resolutions that have come before us um for how we're going to be moving our city together um I'm so excited about it I I I get excited really about our parks department so I'm very grateful for what our not just our youth but our seniors and everybody else in between will get to experience um as we upgrade and we give the quality of life um here um a facelift so to say um I want to say thank you to our Police Department for our coffee with a cop we had um this past Monday community policing is going on here in our city people we are doing a great work they are doing a great work they are out here they are connecting with the citizens they're connecting with the residents we ask that you would give Grace we ask that you would come out get questions answered get to know them let them get to know you and let's grow together um they're doing them all throughout the city so I ask if you hear about it going on in the city coffee with and you can get some free hot chocolate and hot coffee and some donuts as well and just good conversation um also I want to remind you that it is tax season and for those of you who need your taxes done and you're making $65,000 or less you can get your taxes done for free one location is the Boys and Girls Club on Spruce Street the second one is on hamilt at the Hamilton Public Library one Justice Samuel Alto altoe in Hamilton the third one is the Salvation Army in Trenton at 575 East State Street and the fourth one is at United Way of Greater amount uh of Greater Mercer and that's at crer Bridge Road 3444 crer Bridge Road building three Suite 101 in Hamilton and again I do have flyers for that I want to thank Dr P for coming out and doing a phenomenal job um sharing with us what Capital Health has been doing um there's so much more to it and she has been coming out to our um Community sessions that we've had many of us have been having our community award sessions or just in the community themselves and she's been faithful at most every one of them so I want to thank her for that and it's just been a great tool of information that she has been for us I want to thank Natalie I know that they left already she had homeworks and her colleagues the work that they're doing with homeworks is absolutely fantastic if you don't know about them if you haven't heard about them you should take a little peek just look them up their website is fantastic and the work they do with our young ladies is topnotch they don't give anything secondhand everything everything is quality so I'm grateful for the work that they're doing and I'm excited for the grant that they also got the two young ladies I wanted to just acknowledge them Noah our 15-year-old and Liliana even though they're not here how they spel um spoke they how they articulated talking about internships and opportunities and investing in them I loved hearing them say they wanted us to invest in them acknowledging that they are our future they are just that so I want to just thank um them for taking that step because it's not easy to come and stand up for a bunch of adults um and speak so I congratulate them on that and I had the honor of meeting one of the members of hedge path that came and spoke at our church at Greater Mount Zion um two weeks ago and and I felt like I was in the midst of History itself the way he opened things up uh so I'm grateful for that opportunity I have three other announcements and I'm done um healing and Harmony is having a free um seminar for women and girls support ages 18 and up um that's going to be every 1 3D and fourth Tuesday of the month from 6:00 to 8:00 pm and that's at 535 East Franklin Street in Trenton if you want a flyer I have those and also the um Trent Community street team they're holding a thesis on Thursday February 22nd at 5:00 p.m. and that's at 33 Tucker Street in Newark and there are also Flyers here for that as well both in Spanish and in English last item is if you interested in being a homeowner there's a program that is going to be held on March 2nd from 12:00 pm to 2 PM at Greater Mount Zion that will teach you how to obtain $42,000 in funding to be become a firsttime homeowner so again that is on March 2nd um at from 12:00 p.m. to 2 p.m. at Greater Mount Zan am Church 42 Pennington Avenue actually it's going to be our fellowship hall which is 40 Pennington Avenue if you are interested you can see me and I will get you that in closing the city of Trenton's mission statement is recognizing that the people of Trenton have made us Guardians of the public trust we are committed to govern with integrity and fiscal responsibility to seek excellence and the city's operations and to serve all the city's people with respect and compassion and just my last note um I was not saying that um just for clarity that um councilwoman uh Williams said we were saying that what you were saying was negative what I was saying is I don't want a negative connotation to come on anything just because it's here in the city of Trenton people will put anything that they associate with us and they will automatically um think the negative and I don't want that stigma to be put on us so just for clarification I just was saying let's not have it in a negative sight thank you thank you councilwoman councilwoman Edwards thank you good evening everyone um thank you all for being here with us this week um I just have a a couple of things that I want to address um in the light of black history mon my comments are are mainly going to be towards that uh as a civil rights activist is something that's very important to me um I don't I don't do identity politics and things but I was told I'm the youngest black and the first indigenous woman to be elected to city council and that I don't take lightly I take with great pride um as a native to this land um just seeing a democracy grow and people getting along in diversity means a lot to me but it it I would be remissed if I did not highlight the fact that we even have a black history month because of the strides The Plight the horror that my ancestors both indigenous and um africanamerican had suffered in the passage to this land and the building of this democracy that we call America um so I want to say thank you to the city of Trenton for highlighting um some people of color that made pivotal pivotal contributions to our country and to our city um especially the younger people who don't always get to be highlighted while they're living so I want to say thank you for highlighting people like Lea Sutton who I went to school with Bridget who I went to school with um sharica she a little younger I didn't go to school with her but to be a sergeant and be so young as sergeant at the Mercer County prosecutor um that's amazing work and outside of her career field she is a a girls basketball coach at TCA and they undefeated and various things so she does amazing work in the community Lisha Sutton has been handson with the administration helping to revitalize our local parks our basketball courts and the West for Community Center and their attributes to our community deserves to be highlighted and I want to say that um there were significant efforts made to highlight these people and if there was anyone not on display please don't charge it as something malicious or intentional or anything like that we deal with a lot of resource issues where we need to build the funding to be able to do more and be able to display more to highlight the attributes of every person not even just African-American in the city of Trenton we would need more than just that small Atrium so I just would like toage encourage people to be thankful and H as the administration highlights those that they have highlighted and not hold them um responsible for those that they haven't because it may not be of ill intent um to that on black history room um I would like to you know go piggybacking off of what councilwoman Williams said and thank you for uh bringing up the event that is coming up Tron is historical we desegregated our schools here two children started that a 13 and a 14 year-old whose parents were members of the NAACP that took the charge from their children and represented them in court and desegregated Tron Public School Systems and then 10 years later our federal government desegregated schools Trenton started at just like the Revolutionary War pivoted from here in the right direction and built our democracy Trenton is historical and I want to say thank you to superintendent Earl because with the redistricting is scary as that was in the time it happened I think also helped desegregate schools we have a lot of social classes in our city we are very diverse not just from our colors but from our income and social classes and being able to split people up not just be in an age appropriate environment and not having k through eight in the building and kids picking up bad habits for older kids but it also takes them out of their neighborhood and puts them somewhere else so now you have people from all different classes of in different backgrounds and different groups in one building based on their grade and not where they live and I think that was excellent um thank you to everyone that came out to the lunch with the cop with uh councilwoman uh Feliciano and figuro and curg and I um this was our first one of a few that we're going to be doing and it was a great turnout and I look forward to working with you two ladies and the rest of my Council colleagues on various things community outreach initiatives around the city um here to partner with you all and work with you all so I look forward to that and lastly oh not lastly there are a couple of events that I want to bring up and it is the sixth regiment sorry oh it's over it's over oh I was getting there can I announce these events that's it okay six regimen us color troops four centuries of African-American soldiers February 24th at 11: a.m. at the old barracks and there is a swearing in of 30 new firefighters on February 26 at 10:00 a.m. at the fire headquarters 244 Perry Street 2:30 okay that was a change sorry 2:30 p.m. and uh also there is a Board of Education meeting if anyone is interested on Monday February 6 at 5:30 p.m. at 108 North Clinton Avenue and lastly uh there is a celebrity basketball game called the Thunder games honoring neighborhood Heroes and local entrepreneurs on March 2nd at 2 p.m at TCA or tcpa I'm sor sorry 175 Leonard Avenue and our very own fire director Kenneth Douglas is on the Trenton talks team and will be playing basketball and I am on a much better team playing basketball and do not underestimate me because I got a powerful three-point shot thank you thank you Council vice president figuro cber hi guys I promise I'll be very brief um um my colleague said it all tonight so I just really wanted to speak to homeworks I wish they were still here um that program is the first program that I've heard about um that's been closest to the College Bound experience which which was an awesome experience I got to participate in as a high school student where we got to stay on campus at Trent State College um throughout our summers and take classes um on a college level we got the experience what it was like to live on campus um you know and and take classes on Saturdays throughout so it taught us a lot of respons ability so kudos to that program I would really love to know more um I would love to know the criteria for admission to that program um and are the credentials celebrated enough to where it shows up on College resumés um does it illuminate for college scholarships and things of that nature um and the fact that they knew who city council was and what we do that was that was pretty awesome because I didn't know what it was at their age so um other than that I just want to say that um thank you director um Wilson um for participating with us with lunch with a cop again I echo my colleague sentiments it was a very celebrated event there was so many officers that show up so many people who showed up uh we had officers uh working the the the takeout window we had um behind working the register uh stealing money it was it was awesome it was a lot of fun um but it was it was a great showing of you know Community uh just Community togetherness um and to um be at a little location that had not had that experience before that was also great in the South board um that McDonald's L castry they were very appreciative the owners um so again thank you to my colleagues um for allowing us to do that and and bring that together um and that is all I have for tonight so you guys have a wonderful evening thank you thank you Council vice president okay thank you everyone for staying tonight we appreciate you we appreciate your time we appreciate your presence we appreciate your profession professionalism your care your dedication your commitment we appreciate you tomorrow night Trenton Central High School it's back to school night parents need to be there because I got to be there so we need to be there 5:30 p.m. to 7 pm. come and show up for your children so I'm encouraging the parents to please come out there's nothing worse than us going to the school and sitting there and we just look at ourselves so for those parents that can please come we love to see you there um I'd like to say that uh shout out to Bruce Boyd he's been doing his Black History Month uh screenings and panel discussions I got to sit on a panel discussion with brother Jean Buie and Shane Hutton at merca County Community College where we watched the documentary the 13th Amendment it was very telling and and triggering and a and a lot of things it gave it gave us a lot of emotion as we watched right um so I encourage everyone he has other things that are coming up check out Bruce Boyd and what he has going on and if you can make any of his presentations he actually like takes you back to certain places to make you feel like you are there living in the moment and so our history is American history and so I want us to know and understand everyone's culture and history not only during certain months but when you have opportunities to come to City Hall to celebrate when you go to Mera County Community College to celebrate when you have other people that are doing things please take advantage of it because it's all of us together that help make our nation great youth of the year for the boys and girls club excuse me of Mercer County the Youth of the Year program is happening on March the 1st from 6:00 to 8 at 10:40 Spruce Street I encourage everyone that can to please go out and support the organization and to support the students as they come forward and they they show off their public speaking skills it's a wonderful program my daughter was actually Youth of the year um which helped give her great scholarship money and opportunities as she went on while she was in high school uh tomorrow Tomorrow never settle foress is having their financial literacy workshop at uh Calvary Christian Fellowship Ministries 611 Parkway Avenue it's not tomorrow I'm sorry it's Saturday I'm sorry about that Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. they're having their financial literacy workshop for adults budgeting banking investing in more and this is through the office of returning citizens so please come out um for those that it is applicable for and participate tomorrow night at Calvary Christian Fellowship Ministry is the food pantry that they're having at the same location 611 Parkway Avenue and they're also having a free health screening on site Pastor David Cox and his wife have wonderful food that they give away it's good food and the line normally is around the building they also had branched out and our so diverse that they actually got Spanish translators there because the population had changed such that everybody's there and they want to make sure that they are inclusive of everybody thank you to everybody that came out for lunch with a cop we had a good time you heard what they said about it we appreciate everybody for taking part and looking forward to doing even more throughout the community I just thank you all for coming out tonight and for being diligent um about the city and about the things that need to be done in the city and I i' like to thank all of my constituents that reach out to me um to help to make our city better being on Counsel is not an easy job um we get a lot of complaints and a lot of things right our city our people suffer with a lot of different things I love the fact that they get excited that they have people that they feel that they could now talk to I get excited that they know that they have people that they could come to and that will help I get excited right that when I think about the administration and those in position that are doing what it is that you could do to the best of your ability to help us to help the people and I thank you all for that it's been a long time coming we're not here to stop anything or hinder anything we're here to make our city better I do believe that there is more for us to do I know that there is and there's more for us to accomplish together I love the unity between the various organizations that come out and participate to help I love the fact that when we operate there is no ego in the way to operate that it is just about Tren and that's what it should be about respect of title when we in the streets doing what we do we was in it before we became elected and that's the beautiful part about it we could see what it is that the people need so when we come and we push back to Administration and say this is what we want and this is what we need fix the parks fix the streets fix this fix that we are residents here in the city as well we know what our people need and so we're glad and thank you for hearkening your ears to us and being diligent in the work thank you to DCA for working with us I'm wrapping it up thank you to DCA for helping us out and keeping us moving in the right direction I just want to say one more thing because I got a brag on Mr Garcia so he gonna let me had this extra minute Mr Garcia came back with a vengeance Mr Garcia is getting things in order and I am proud of you you and I'm thankful to you for stepping forward and walking into your leadership and doing your thing for you holding up protocol and procedure for you holding down your office for you pushing forward he's going to be conducting Oprah training and everything and he's going to be facilitating it and working it throughout and working through Administration so we don't have no problems as we move forward we're getting documents everybody's going to be held accountable and do what it is that they supposed to do we're not going to turn to the clerk's office and say it his fault we're not doing that everybody's going to take full accountability so shout out to Mr Garcia for everything that you're looking to do everything you've done getting our minutes and everything up to Snuff doing everything that it is that you have been doing and for trusting the process thank you we can go ahead and motion for executive session Madame President may have a motion to go into executive session so Mo thank you let been moov to second I'll call the role C cwom Edwards yes vice president figuro kenberg yes councilwoman frisbee yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilman Harrison thank you councilwoman Williams yes and council president Feliciano yes motion carried thank you thank you uh ladies and gentlemen we do not anticipate a vote coming out of executive session