That on the second meeting of the second council will come to order.

All counselors are present this evening, and we'll start with a moment of silence with the Pledge of Allegiance in English led by Councillor Champagne, and then the Pledge of Allegiance in Spanish led by Councillor Pasat.

Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Pledge Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands.

Indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

With regard to decorum in the chambers, we want tonight's proceedings to be as civil, respectful as possible.

Please do not make any personal attacks and please no applause or other outbursts during the meeting, the meeting will go a lot smoother if we respect one another.

And we're going to start with proclamations and presentations.

And whereas West Side Day participants are given the opportunity to meet their respective legislators and local elected officials to urge their support on issues that are significant to them.

And whereas the volunteer board members of the West Central Community Development Group and the Westside Business Association should radiate with pride as they have successfully assisted in organizing this event on an annual basis for the last 15 years.

Whereas the 15th annual Albuquerque Westside Day will be held on Thursday, January 25th, 2024 at State Capitol Building in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Proclaimed by the council, the governing body of the city of Albuquerque hereby declares Thursday, January 25th, 2024 as the 15th annual Albuquerque West Side Day.

Mr.

President.

Council Pena.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

So just I think I mentioned earlier, um, you know, it's uh Twilight McComb and Melissa Sanchez.

Toilet is with the West Central Community Development Group, and uh Melissa is with the West Side Big Business Association.

And I just want to say, um, you know, 15 years is is such a milestone for for the this organization, these organizations.

They've been doing this with the intent originally is really how do we um provide opportunities and access for kids who may not otherwise have an opportunity to go up to um Santa Fe and learn um how the legislature works.

So, you know, committee members got together and and partnered with um our now state senator and all the other respective uh Westside legislators to really figure out a way, and these groups have worked tirelessly to figure out how to get them burritos and how to get the buses, bus system to get them there and to provide lunch, and then it's really meaningful because these kids take a tour of the legislature, and then they also uh do a town hall.

I think last year they all learned how to pass bills, and so it's just really important, and it's really through the hard work of these organizations.

So thank you again.

And if you both want to say a couple of words.

I just want to say, on behalf of the West Central Community Development Group, we are really proud to have this program.

Um if you think about it over 15 years, our average employee participation from the West Side for this event has been over 700 students.

That's 10,000 students that we have taken to Santa Fe from the West Side to learn about their legislators and how the process works.

And I just want to let you know that we still have adults who come to us today who remember this trip.

So um it's a great honor to be able to do this for our community and for our city.

Uh Mr.

President, members of the council, and welcome to the new members.

We we are very grateful that we now have a new West Side Councilor.

So for four Westside seats there.

Um, but you know, just to go off of what Kyla said, it's a great opportunity for the students, but we are also doing a legislative reception which opens it up for community members, and this is also an opportunity for community members, adults that may not have had the opportunity to travel and go up and visit the roundhouse during the session.

So we've uh made some arrangements to have transportation for any community member that would like to go up for Westside Day, take a tour of the Capitol, and then head to the legislative reception, which will be held at La Fonda at 5:30.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Sanchez has some comments.

Thank you.

I just wanted to say thank you to the Westside Business Association and also to the Westside Community Development Group.

This is something I've been a part of since uh I started actually the year before that I became a city councilor, I actually had an opportunity through my private business to actually help out and sponsor the events, which I did again this year.

Um it's just so important that we get these students out there and really get an idea of what's going on and what's happening out at the legislature legislature.

And it's also a good idea.

We should probably get do something here so that we can start having some of the high school students and elementary and mid school students come in to see how their actual city government works as well.

And the and I'll be glad to help out in any way if you folks are up to it.

I'll be right there with you.

So again, I just want to say thank you for supporting our youth on the west side.

It's just an amazing, amazing thing.

It's so fun when you go out there and you see all these kids running around loading off the buses, and then it's not an easy thing to do.

Somebody's got to buy burritos, somebody's got to organize this thing, somebody's got to make sure to keep everybody in line.

So you guys also have other people who support you that are out that are there as well.

It's not just you two.

You guys have a great group of individuals.

And also, when I just read all the schools, I came back and I counted them.

32 schools are being sponsored.

So I think that is our to go out there and have students uh visit the legislature.

So thank you so much for what you do.

Appreciate it.

Thank you guys very much.

Thank you.