PM.

So I want to just get some opinions on how you all want to handle the situation.

But I would again, because they they came, they've been here waiting, and we do have public who is who are watching.

Tip sometimes what we've done in the past is just put the entire budget into the uh executive session uh and then allow them to to move on.

But again, they've been here, public's waiting um and they've got a PowerPoint at least allow the PowerPoint to go.

But I'll again open up for recommendations, suggestions, uh pro Tim Young.

Uh thank you, Mr.

President.

Uh, for the sake of uh expediency for leadership as President Protep, right?

I will just submit all my questions in writing.

Because I don't need to ask you, because I love asking you got questions.

I'll just submit all my questions in writing and submit my uh request from artificial intelligence writing as well too.

All right, thank you so much, Member Johnson.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

I was going to um suggest the same thing that if uh we can allow them to do their presentation if um there are no pressing questions that we can submit them in writing and move their budget to executive session.

Okay.

Any of the other suggestions?

All right, is there a motion to move the entire uh planning development budget into executive session?

Motion.

See no objections, then action shall be taken.

All right.

So that's what we'll do.

We'll give you an opportunity to provide your presentation and then we'll give you, I guess, a closing remarks, and then we'll move on uh to the rest of the uh the day.

So thank you again for being here.

Thank you all for your patience as well.

The floor is yours, Director Bush.

Wonderful.

Um, thank you.

And through the chair, good afternoon, everyone.

Thanks for the opportunity to just give some extra context for this year's budget.

Um, as always, we're very excited to work with you.

We're excited about where things are heading in the department, and we'll at least for the public provide an overview of where we're heading, knowing that we won't have further conversations about um the budget in more detail.

Are we ready with slides?

Okay, we will go quickly, but just want to be sure that we can get those pulled up.

Your system is syncing up right now as we speak.

Director Bush, while we while we get everything cued up, you want to introduce your team?

Absolutely.

Um through the chair, Alexa Bush, Director for Planning and Development.

Dara O'Burn, Deputy Director, Planning and Development.

Ewless Braxton Williams, agency CFO.

Good afternoon, Edwina King, Associate Director of Legislative Affairs and Equitable Development for the Planning and Development Department.

And it looks like we've got slides ready to go.

Um so we'll jump right in.

We are very excited, if you run to the next slide, um, to just lay out how our department is looking to align with the mayor's vision for where we are going to go and especially take our neighborhood planning into the next step.

So a really big piece of alignment is to think specifically about how we can better and more substantially integrate youth engagement into our planning studies and what capacity looks like to continue to grow that youth participation.

We've done this through our master plan youth summit.

We've done this um in District 7 through the Cody Rouge Warrendale plan in the past, but are really looking forward to working with the new youth affairs team and really thinking through what that partnership can add in terms of capacity, but also building civic leadership around youth really owning the vision, shaping the vision, and seeing their future here in the city of Detroit.

The second key piece of this, um, as was touched on at the previous hearing with the DGC is to really ensure that we're aligning that economic development strategy with what recovery looks like in neighborhoods.

How do we think about good jobs for folks?

How do we think about increasing that buying power that then does better support our small business ecosystem?

Um, but to really think about how development lands in place and really lands in neighborhoods throughout the city and particularly aligns with new opportunities for collaboration around poverty alleviation through some of the new departments being set up around health, um human services, and poverty solutions.

The third major piece I would point out is to really expand that economic development toolkit through some of these new partnership opportunities.

Um I think what we are really seeing is an opportunity to really touch more neighborhoods of the city and really ensure that we are aligning the right tools with the right needs in community, and we're really excited to be able to do that as we continue to plan more neighborhoods and touch all neighborhoods across the city.

Next slide, please.

Um I'll give a quick recap of our department.

Um we are a small but mighty team of about 40 FTEs.

Our overall budget is just shy of seven million dollars.

What we really do is try and work with residents to ensure that we are shaping a vision for the city's future that is truly informed by their priorities and also you know pragmatic, feasible, and able to be implemented.

We our team supports citywide and neighborhood planning.

So these are our neighborhood framework studies that we have done as well as our citywide efforts like the master plan of policies.

We always embed this work in extensive community engagement to be sure we're bringing that into the shaping of the vision.

We support various departments through development and design review, that is both in B seed projects that come in through the DEGC, JET, and other departments to ensure that they are supporting the values and vision of community and supporting other goals.

May those be around sustainability, access, walkability, and thinking about how we shape the public realm of our city.

Our team also oversees and staffs the Historic District Commission, and we think a lot about the stewardship of the character of our city.

And we also manage the community benefits ordinance process and support the community outreach ordinance for land sales and other projects that fall within the scope of PDD contracts, design pieces, master plan changes that fall within that purview.

Our next slide, I will go through quickly because I think we had a great discussion this morning, but did just want to talk through some of that connection between PDD, the DGC, the neighborhood economic development team, and other groups.

We really are seeing this question about retail as being very integral to the work that we're doing.

It is a huge priority of Mayor Sheffield and her whole team.

And really how we think about this role in PDD is to help shape this vision and strategy and alignment with neighborhoods of how do we answer this question that we all are hearing from residents.

You know, how do we have more stores?

How do we have more amenities?

And I think, as was raised in the last session, how do we ensure that these small businesses thrive?

We are really seeing this as part of a ladder to opportunity we're thinking where there are multiple facets that tie into this kind of success.

I think in the last talk, in the last hearing, we spoke quite a bit about the entrepreneurship piece of that.

How to how does technical assistance, how do programs like Motor City Match connect in and support those entrepreneurs who ultimately make that risk to own and operate the businesses in the city?

It does touch on you know our policies related to other departments.

You know, we typically vision and work with other teams to implement, but housing density, access to customers is a key piece of creating a more successful environment for those small businesses to really thrive.

Job development is a piece of this, right?

Our work with the JET team, our work with the DESC to think about how do we support residents broadly with economic mobility to increase their spending power, right?

To have more flexibility as we're seeing these costs come up, to have that disposable income to be able to patronize these new businesses coming to the city.

It's thinking broadly about safety, not only for people in neighborhoods, but also the condition of the corridor.

Are things like even our cars driving too fast?

You know, what does it mean for employees who might be opening or closing a business?

Do they feel safe at those moments where there might be fewer people on the corridor?

Thinking not only about programs like Greenlight, working with you know NPOs, DPD, but also just improving the physical quality and the care and maintenance of the corridors that makes that a better environment for everyone to feel safe and want to spend their time.

The last one is quite broad, but you know, infrastructure plays a role here too.

How do people get to corridors?

Do they walk?

Where do they put their cars?

What's the quality of the sidewalk?

You know, how do those businesses get their water meter hooked back up, right?

All of these different pieces also impact the amount of cost to open those businesses.

So I wanted to lay out this framework because it's something we're really excited to advance in this administration to think holistically about what are all these levers, how do we start to chip away at these very complicated problems, and how do we in PDD best work and support our implementing departments to be pulling in the same direction to address these complex challenges?

So we're really excited to integrate this into our work going forward.

If we go to the next slide, we have a number of ongoing initiatives that we just wanted to highlight.

We're currently in the midst of our Master Plan of Policies update, Plan Detroit.

We are working on a historic historic preservation plan citywide.

We also do have a couple of more targeted neighborhood framework studies underway.

One plan in the Denby Whittier neighborhood, the other in Forest Parks neighborhood, north of Eastern Market, connected with the Choice Grant.

And again, we are working to develop these different economic options toolkit to best support how this development, be it housing, retail, you know, infrastructure investment can really lay out and best support our neighborhoods.

And a big piece of that is really lifting up and supporting DGC, the neighborhood economic development team with this retail strategy.

Quick snapshot and slide six.

Um, in the master plan, we are right now about to go out the next month in district by district engagements, where we're really going to be looking at that scale at not only the policies but also the maps.

So this is going to be the first time that we'll be out with a draft of those land use maps and really getting the public's feedback about what that can look like, what's their vision, where do we get it right, where do we come back to the shop and make some edits.

Um, our goal is still to get a complete draft plan this summer that would then come before this body and the um many steps that we need to go through from terms of the state regulations to get that to approval.

Um but that's the timeline that we're still tracking on and very excited.

I know we've been excited to work with your teams to ensure that we are reaching out and bringing new voices into that important conversation for the city.

Um the next slide is just a snapshot of the engagement so far.

We've had over 135 different types of meetings and engagements.

They've been in person, there's been opportunities to participate virtually via surveys, and we're really just excited to build upon this and continue to engage in a broad way about the future of our city.

We've come through a lot of the plan, but we just want to make clear that there's still a lot of time for resident input and would love to get more voices engaged in that process.

Um the next slide is just a quick update on where we are with our Denby Whittier plan.

We are also about midway through.

We are aiming for our third community meeting to happen later this spring, and we'll be on track to complete this plan in this fiscal year, and are really excited about the opportunity to even lean in with some of the new ideas we're developing as we think about implementation for Denby Whittier.

If you go to the next slide, um we've had really robust engagement.

The community is super activated.

A big thank you to um Councilmember Johnson for joining us at our last meeting that we had.

It was one of those very cold and snowy nights.

So it was great to see the turnout even amidst the weather, and we're really excited to carry the momentum forward.

Uh the last piece I would touch on is that really sums up some of our citywide and neighborhood planning.

Um, we also have a whole bunch of the team that really focuses on helping to shape development in the city.

Again, this includes our historic preservation team.

Um, we continue to see, which we think is a great thing, an increasing number of applications for review in our districts.

We're seeing more investment into those districts, we're seeing more development activity and are seeing over almost 600 different applications just last year.

Similarly, with design review, um, we conducted over 150 project reviews in coordination with BSEED and other departments as those projects move to fruition.

And through the community benefits ordinance, since this has launched, we've managed over 17 tier one CBO processes.

Um, and the most recent of which was the DCFC stadium that was approved in the fall of last year.

Um, and I know we have some conversations to be had, especially with the EDTF, about where we might go next in terms of that conversation.

Um, so where we are going from here, if we go to the next slide, um, the majority of our budget is really just toward our our full-time staff of about 40.

Um, we, like everyone, are seeing some cost increase, technology, and other things that accounts for some of those increases in the budget, just our ability to maintain licenses to AutoCAD, Adobe products, et cetera, and ensure that our staff, many of whom are licensed, can maintain those credentials and training.

We are thrilled to be able to have another budget allocation though, toward launching new neighborhood framework plans.

Um, again, we're really hoping to launch two more frameworks this year and to really think about the youth engagement opportunity there.

Um, we're also gonna ensure that we can really um supplement and have a strong plan for engagement as we wrap up the master plan.

So those will be our main focuses with our capital allocation for this year.

Um, both of those are coming out of the general fund.

The capital budget is coming out of surplus from prior year.

And so, with that, knowing that we are a bit behind where we wanted to be in schedule, um, just wanted to close by saying thanks for the opportunity to share where we're heading next.

We are really gonna be focusing this year again on completing that master plan update, plan Detroit.

Please stay tuned.

We'd love to have you out in April, district by district meetings.

We're looking to expand and touch more neighborhoods with our framework plans and continue to do that over the next four years.

We'll be really thinking about how to best support the mayor's economic development strategy, her neighborhood strategy, and really thinking particularly about retail, the various needs and amenities we can deliver.

Um, as always, through our CBO teams, through our design review, always thinking about how can development really best benefit Detroiters, whether that's through workforce opportunities, new housing, um, how do we ensure that the benefits of development really hit the ground?

And lastly, I think we're very excited to think about youth voice in shaping the city's vision and also how that can even be in a retention strategy to really help youth see their future and vision in the city.

And with that, I will close our remarks from PDD.

Thank you through the chair.

Thank you.

And so colleagues, we did place the entire budget into the executive session.

Are there any other motions that we would like to add before we release the PDD department?

Um Member Callaway.

Thank you so much.

Um I want to put into make a motion to put into executive session the plans for Bethune School and Coffee School located in district two.

They have been abandoned.

Um so I'd like to put um and and also in the closing resolution.

Um what are the plans for um those two particular school buildings?

All right, and then also um you talked about youth engagement.

What are our what are um your plans for family style entertainment?

Where um so I want to put that into executive session and the closing resolution as well.

Family related centers, uh, fund centers.

We don't have we don't have one.

Um they're popping up all over the city, I mean all over the state, but not in Detroit.

We need so I would like to put that in the closing resolution and the um executive session, indoor, outdoor, family fund um parks or spaces, and it could include some water.

So that's my motion, Mr.

Chair.

Okay, and we'll be followed up with a memo, colleagues uh there's a motion on the floor.

Any objections?

Seeing none.

Uh chair, if I may.

I heard uh member Callaway yes, I tried to slide it through.

I know, I know I tried to slide it through.

Okay.

Yeah, thank you.

Thank you.

School buildings, yes, sir.

Yes, ma'am.

Thank you, uh, madam of parliamentarian.

So there's two motions that you need to make.

If you can break those up, please.

Okay.

So um I I made the one with respect to the schools, Bethune and Coffee.

That was my first motion.

I put that in executive session and closing resolution, and my second one.

That's my first.

Okay, say it again.

Okay.

My first um resolution, and um my first motion is what are the plans for bethun and coffee schools in district two.

Um, whether or not they can be repurposed.

Or and that is my motion.

Executive session and closing resolution.

Okay.

There's a motion to place uh that item into executive session as well as closing resolution.

Uh again, we do followed up with a memo.

Any objection, colleagues?

Seeing none, that action shall be taken.

Member Callaway.

Yes, thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

And relating to the youth engagement component of how you're rolling that out, I'd like for um your department to this is my motion.

Put it in executive session and the closing resolution, indoor, outdoor type of family fund space.

We don't have one in the city that I'm aware of, including a little bit of um water.

Um, so that is my motion.

Um, and this is going to spring out of the youth engagement component of what she just rolled out.

So for the closing resolution and the executive session, my motion is to put in to um to look at establishing or creating a family fun space, indoor outdoor space.

That is my that's my motion.

Okay.

There's a motion on the floor, colleagues, that we followed up with the memo.

Any objections?

Absolutely.

See none, that action shall be taken.

Thank you, Member Callaway.

Member McCampbell.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Um, a motion to put into the close of resolution.

Um, the need of to the need to focus on youth recreation, youth and senior recreation, as well as literacy and district seven.

Okay, colleagues, there's a motion on the floor.

Any objections?

We followed up with the memo.

Seeing none, that action shall be taken.

Thank you.

Any additional motions, colleagues?

Um, member Miller.

Member Campbell, I just oh thank you, Mr.

President.

Um, you took part of my motion as far as senior development activities and establishments for that alone.

But I wanted to add to the executive session um what provisions and protections have been added for historical districts.

Okay.

There's a motion on the floor, colleagues.

Any objections?

See none, that action shall be taken.

Any additional before we wrap up?

All right.

Thank you so much.

Uh Director Bush, appreciate you and congratulations on your first year, official year in the position.

I believe you had been appointed like right before budget, if I'm not mistaken last year.

Uh, through the chair, yes, I did this is second budget, but yeah, right about this time last year.

All right, so thank you again.

Thank you.

All right, this now closes out our uh budget hearing for planning and development department.

Colleagues, um, we shall return back at two.

Oh, that's right, public comment.

We would like to now, if there's anyone from the public who would like to speak, please raise your hand now.

I see a gentleman in the auditorium.

Uh not the all-training in the committee of the whole, you can come on up.

Going once, going twice.

If you're at home, raise your hand.

Once going twice, going three times.

The collection of public comments have now concluded, as I mentioned, uh earlier in the week for the duration of budget hearings.

Uh, there will be abbreviated public comments.

These are not public hearings, they are budget hearings.

Uh, but we will have a uh part two to our public comments taking place after the second um uh line of uh budget hearings that we have today.

We've got one gentleman who is in the committee of the whole.

Let's get that clock up, team, put one minute on the clock.

Have Mr.

Maurice Weeks, who has joined us in the committee of the whole.

Mr.

Weeks, you've been with us a couple of times, so you know the drill.

Thank you for being here as well.

Absolutely.

In your time.

All right, floor is yours.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Uh, my comment is on tax abatement.

So I uh listening to the DEGC refer to these abatements as done on a but four basis and as necessary so that we don't lose.

Um it doesn't square with the fact that study after study um every study that's been done independently or with academic rigor suggests that tax abatements have a negative net negative impact on cities, and that the majority of the companies that receive subsidies were planning on making their move or opening their business, regardless of the tax incentives.

Through you, Mr.

Chair, I'm happy to submit several of the larger and more high profile studies that suggest um this to the members of the council who would like it.

To put on the record a couple of quotes from these studies, quote, research findings indicate that local property taxation has little impact on the firm's location decision.

Quote, if the premise that incentives can result in positive sum outcome rests on the assumption that they attract business activity to needy areas, they seem to have failed the test.

Quote, because taxes constitute only a small percentage of the typical company's expenses.

The likelihood of taxes notives tipping the scale is small.

Um Detroit is a great city.

People want to open businesses here, and I hope to flip this goes back to uh people instead of businesses.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

I will now transition to our online callers.

Team, how many callers do we have?

And who do we have first?

We have seven online callers.

Our first caller is Betty A.

Barter.

Miss Betty A.

Varner, the floor is yours.

You have one minute general public comment.

Good afternoon, Todd.

Within the sound of my voice, I'm Betty A.

Barner, president of DeSoda Ellsworth uh Black Association.

I'm here representing myself, my members, and the residents of the city of Detroit.

Uh regarding our thinker corridor.

We are frustrated.

We want the same love, blessing, and attentions that will be provided for the Grand River corridor in District One.

We are now district two.

I have been working uh for three or four years, speaking about our corridor.

We appreciate the conversations that was had last year with the last administration.

We got in our corridor, but we need monies.

We want the same monies to be spent in our area that has been spent on uh McNicholas and Livinois.

Uh that's gonna be spent on the Dexter and Davidson area, midtown, Southwest Detroit.

We're not asking for anything extra.

We want to be treated the same.

Thank you.

All right, thank you so much.

Next caller, please.

Our next caller is Mr.

Foster.

Mr.

Foster, the floor is yours.

You have one minute, general public comment.

Good afternoon.

Um very briefly first.

Uh, like you all to just um take a note of prosecutor worthy.

There is still a continuous need for change, self-policing and accountability within the city.

But as far as the budget hearings today, uh like the suggestions from Ms.

Callaway that's going in a good direction.

I wanted to speak on DGC, the good side and the dark side.

I encourage them if they hear it to be more equitable with a 501 C4.

Not the C3, the C4.

And if you're gonna be contributing to people's campaigns and things, contribute to everybody's or don't contribute to nobody's at all, right?

Those funds, and everybody had to be accountable to this community to make sure that we get the best out of um any funds or nonprofits.

Thank you so much.

Next caller, please.

Our next caller is Tyson Gersh.

Tyson Gersh, the floor is yours.

You have one minute, general public comment.

Thanks.

Can you hear me?

Yes, sir.

Um man, that was a long hearing.

I've had a lot of thoughts, and I've forgotten most of them.

Um I guess just with regard to the DEGC and there's a lot of people that work there that I like deeply respect.

This isn't necessarily a criticism, but I am really I would like, I would love it if council would ask some questions about the role of the I guess it's the subsidiary arm of the DEGC, the Detroit Economic Growth Association, just like a non-profit that uh may or may not be receiving donations from developers and what the relationship between that is and then the funds that the city provides through the DEGC to those developers, and last time I checked with Conrad Mallet is the president or the chair of it, and there's how is that not a conflict of interest, and then the city's giving the DEGA contracts for housing.

There's just like a lot that needs to be thank you so much.

Next caller, please.

Our next caller is William M.

Davis.

Mr.

William M.

Davis, the floor is yours.

You have one minute, general public comment.

Uh good afternoon.

Can I be heard?

Yes, sir.

I think uh on the first thing, I think more of those funds that uh being generated and staying downtown needs to be spread out, you know.

The whole city pays for the services that they receive, but we do not get the benefits, you know.

You know, times have changed, it's not like it was in 1975.

Uh, so we need to expand who's you know who's helping to support the city, and far too many of those dollars are staying downtown and to go into entities that don't look like me.

Uh so I think that we need to make sure planning is doing more in the neighborhoods and assisting neighborhood development.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Our next caller is owner Papa.

All right, caller, the floor is yours.

You have one minute, general public comment.

Uh good afternoon, and through the chair, may I be heard?

Yes.

Thank you.

I agree with the first represent the person who who was who spoke first at the table.

And and and to with all due respect, Mr.

Arduino King, there is nothing equitable about how our money is being spent.

Um now we're talking about another development in District 7.

I mean in District 6 and District 7 doesn't have a rec center.

And then the people who are planning for us are using our surplus dollars to plan without us, and after they wrap things up, they're gonna come to the neighborhoods and ask them what they want.

It's like putting the cart before the horse.

We need to be in an every discussion because the majority of the people in this city are black.

You understand me?

We have barbershops and beauty shops that went through COVID.

I don't see any help for these people.

I see them all closed, most of them, and you know that's a lot of the businesses were owned by black people.

That's what we do.

We're barbers, hair and beauty, but you didn't give them any any help.

Plan for us.

Next caller, please.

Our next caller is Tahira Ahmed.

All right, caller.

The floor is yours.

You have one minute general public comment.

Thank you.

Thank you for uh all of the good works that you're doing.

I think you need to put old papa on uh as a consultant because she's always on point, as well as uh Bill Davis.

Uh I I want to see, I would like to see uh more investment in home businesses.

I have a home business, and I know others that have home businesses, and we'd like to receive some of those uh dollars for our home small businesses.

It will help in the neighborhoods.

Also, I want to see more money go toward uh home repair.

Um, and and not uh just for uh people that are um that are uh younger, but for people who are disabled and people who have been illegally over taxed, and uh those people who have been foreclosed on and have have had to relocate.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

And council president, this will be our last caller, Margaret Mattox and Scarlet.

All right, that's Marie Met at Scarlet.

Floor is yours, general public comment.

Yeah, um you my name.

And um I would like to see more people more.

Um we can communicate with each other would that be so defensive about different different items and make sure that we are included in it.

Meaning every citizen that lives in the tour area because I am like to keep saying this over and over again, which is we never know what to do to make home.

We we all may become disabled one way or another.

So please include people with our disabilities and we all may have different abilities to be included in everything that the city is doing and I've been doing it since the age of fourteen.

But I become more spoken since nineteen ninety-nine.

So I've been um different items and different budget hearings.

So please make sure that everyone is battering the the five four the eight eight and design because they are three to work together, no matter who is doing the planning of our weeks, meaning everyone's future.

I'm done.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That takes us to the end of our public comments for the morning session of public above budget hearings, excuse me.

We shall reconvene at 2 p.m.

for part two of our budget hearings for the day.

This meeting shall stand in recess until 2 p.m.