Thank you all for being here.

We'd now like to call to order the public hearing for the budget 2027 budget.

We have a public hearing that's taking place today.

Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?

Councilmember Scott Benson.

Councilmember Letitia Johnson present.

Councilmember Denz and Anton McCampbell.

Present.

Councilmember Renata Miller.

Member Miller indicated that she would not be present today, so her absence is excused.

Councilmember Gabriela Santiago Romero present.

Councilmember Mary Waters.

Councilmember Angela Whitfield Callaway.

Council President Pro Temporal Common A Young the Second.

Putting that pro tempore on there here.

Council President pro excuse me, Council President James Tate.

Here.

Mr.

President, you have a quorum present.

Thank you.

We have a quorum present, which means we're now in sessions.

Budget hearing is now under uh about to be under is underway officially.

Uh we have Mr.

Corley here.

It's going to give a few uh ad bits of information about this particular budget.

Just wanted uh for those of you who would like to provide public comment.

If you have not had an opportunity uh to uh receive a comment card, please raise your hand now.

For those who are at home, if you would like to provide public comment to this body, please raise your hand now as well.

One once, going twice.

We want to make sure we get everyone.

Went three times.

Collection of public comments have now concluded.

All right, Mr.

Corley.

Uh the floor is yours.

Thank you so much.

Uh good evening, City Council.

Thank you.

Um, Council President Tate.

Oh, Tim Young.

Members.

Um, and the citizens.

Hold on one second.

We are having some of that tech issues that we had mentioned earlier.

We're gonna give you a couple more minutes.

Clear that up.

I know media services listening.

Okay, Mr.

Corey, let's try that one more time, please.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Um, good evening, Council President Tate, uh, Pro Town Young and City Council members and citizens of Detroit.

The purpose of this meeting tonight is to conduct a public hearing on Mayor Sheffield's proposed fiscal 2027 budget and fiscal 2027 through 2034 year financial plan.

This public hearing is required in accordance with section 8-206 of the Detroit City Charter, which basically basically states that a public hearing shall be held on the proposed budget before adoption by the City Council.

Just to remind the council and the citizens, the mayor's proposed budget for fiscal 2027 is 1.55 billion for the general fund operations, which include police, fire general services, recreation, mayor's office, and other um similar and familiar services uh provided to the citizens.

And the total proposed budget is three billion dollars across all city funds.

In addition to general fund operations, the total proposed budget includes enterprise agencies such as water and sewage department and also state and gas weight taxes for road improvements and federal and state uh grant funds.

Prior to this public hearing, the council went into executive session earlier today, starting at 11 a.m.

to determine what changes your unable body wants to make to the proposed budget.

Meanwhile, section 8-207 of the city charter basically states that after the public hearing, the city council may adopt the budget with with or without amendment.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Thank you.

All right, and again, for those who may not be aware, we are still in the process of our executive session.

Uh, all of the uh budget hearings that we've had thus far, um, they have resulted, most of them have resulted in questions or uh amended items that we would like to change from the proposed budget that came before us.

Uh sir, you I didn't call you, and you can be removed from this auditorium if you do not take a seat.

I'm asking you to take a seat right now, or you will be removed.

That is not how this works.

So we will at this point this is the public hearing to allow for those of you who may have been watching, and if you have uh questions or concerns about what you heard in the proposed budget or any of the items that city council has uh placed into executive session, uh this is your opportunity to again ask those questions uh and pose that information to us today.

I also want to make it very clear that today's not the only opportunity for you to uh get that information to us.

We all have emails, and that is uh another opportunity to reach out to us.

We have phone numbers uh within our offices, and we will take that information as we can.

Uh, in addition to that, we have additional meetings that are coming forward for executive session, which will allow you again to provide additional public comment.

Okay.

On both.

Okay.

All right.

So we have quite a number of cards here in person.

Um, it is over 60 in person.

And uh team, how many do we have online?

21.

All right.

So I do want to make sure I respect everyone's time who's here.

We're gonna give everyone a minute uh 45 for uh public comment today.

Um, because again, we do have quite a number of cards and we want to make sure that we're able to hear everyone.

Okay.

So let's get the clock up.

145.

And we're gonna have our first speaker, uh, Mr.

Russ Ballant, followed by Lindsay Mattson, followed by Karen Cardenas.

And again, uh, I have to say this for those who have not participated uh in a city council session or public hearing.

When your time is up, when you hear the uh time, please remove yourself from the microphone because we have to give everyone the same amount of time.

So it's not out of disrespect.

It is because of the open meetings act.

We have to give everyone the same amount of time, unless there's some type of uh issue that does not allow them to uh speak freely.

All right, Mr.

Russ Bellant, followed by Lindsay Mattson, followed by Karen Cardenas.

Thank you, Mr.

President and uh members of council.

Uh I want to briefly ask again for uh city council to restore the 47,000 dollars that was stolen in 2021 uh from the library.

I'm hoping the new administration will take a different approach and that you'll be able to uh find that money in our uh multimillion dollar reserve funds.

I want to really focus more, however, on the discussion and the speculation about a data center on the east side of Detroit.

Uh most of the data centers are being set up through front companies of Palantir, which is the largest private spy agency in the world, and they're the ones providing a lot of data through various intelligence agencies to uh the ICE operations to target our citizenship.

Palantir is owned by one of uh big tech bros and is tied deeply to Elon Musk, and they own all the data that Elon Musk stole when he was running Doge.

They now possess it and they're building files on every citizen.

The data centers are meant to have increase the capacity for them to monitor financial transactions and all sorts of other kinds of business to build their files on people.

Palantir has openly said that they don't believe in constitutional government.

They've openly said they're against democracy.

They don't even believe people should have citizenship because they think only the wealthy elite are capable of governing.

They're explicit about this.

Anything that's done to accelerate their capacities over the people is a strike against the forms of government that we're celebrating at 250.

Thank you.

Fight them.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Lindsay Mattson, followed by Karen Cardenas.

Hi, Council President, members of the council.

My name is Lindsay Mattson.

I am a resident of District 2, and I'm a social worker and community organizer who works with families and students in Detroit.

I'm here to strongly support uh the community calls uh for funding in the following issues.

Um, primarily here to talk about how we're supporting our immigrant neighbors here in Detroit.

Um, as a social worker and as an organizer, I've seen firsthand the devastation that ICE and Border Patrol have wreaked on our communities, uh, both in Southwest and beyond.

Um we know that you all can't do everything, but we would like to see this body step up to do what you can.

Um, and so we're asking for a $1 million legal defense fund for Detroiters detained by ICE.

Um, we these civil cases, you're not guaranteed a lawyer.

And so a lot of people are having are honestly being deported because they don't have the representation that would have been able to get them free or get them a bond hearing.

Uh additionally, we're asking for 750,000 uh in the general aid fund to support Detroiters with basic needs such as groceries, utilities, and rental assistance.

Many of these Detroit families, their primary breadwinner is the one being detained, and children are going without food and without heat here in the city of Detroit.

We need to step up.

And finally, we're asking that the city adjust language translation services to send the money to local interpreters rather than contracting out.

In addition to those three asks around how we're supporting our immigrant neighbors, I also want to strongly support the calls to double D dot.

This is going to help all Detroiters regardless of their immigration status and other socioeconomic status and things like that.

And also asking I'm supporting the call from the Ginger Root Collective to increase mental health support for black men and boys.

And these are a lot of really cool folks, friends of mine who are working on this issue.

And thank you all so much.

Hello, city council members.

Thank you for your time today.

This ask I want to make today is very personal to me regarding the city's budget, but many of us here today believe that it will benefit the safety of everyone in our city.

For more than a year, I've seen the human impact on my family and my entire community here in Detroit as we've seen this aggressive ramp up of ICE enforcement and violence in our residents.

It's happening every single day.

I believe that our local leaders should consider everything that's in their power in an effort to ensure that local resources are utilized to support our residents.

So our ask today is first a million dollars to be contributed to creating a legal defense fund for families and individuals who've been detained by ICE or CPB.

750,000 to be allocated in creating a general aid fund to support families affected by ICE subductions, and 250,000 to replace out of state based language services because we have the local talent to be able to provide the these critical resources in language access efforts.

So thank you so much for your time.

Thank you.

Marita Marita Kai, followed by Evan Navarrit.

Good evening, um, council president Tate and Council members.

My name is Marita Key.

I live in Norton, and I am with Rita People Action Fund.

I'm here because I am an immigrant, and um I think let's set the baseline that we know the crisis facing our immigrant communities and other communities that are under attack.

Um community members are scared to step outside, even to go get grocery or bring their kids to school.

I think the ask that the people before me came to advocate for more funding towards legal defense fund for families sustained by ICE and also the 750,000 towards general fund to provide material support for these family and individuals are very, very important, as well as to divert funding from outside uh the state towards local community members is super super important.

Um most of all, like our community members are part of Detroit, so it's really important as a budget reflects what you all stand for, your moral documents.

Do you care for your immigrant communities, your neighbors, um, in addition with the tying the crisis that's going on under the Trump administration, but also in our current state of Michigan, it's really important that we also provide funding towards mental health and a big part of our base at We to People Action Fund is uh ginger roots and uh their uh top priority.

Let me just check my time is to provide 30,500 into supportive counseling pilot program under the Detroit City Health Department, aiming to expand mental health access to existing community hubs and recreational centers.

Thank you for your time.

Next speaker, Evan Navaret, followed by Tammy Soriantes, and I do apologize if I mispronounced your name.

Good afternoon, city council.

My name is Yvonne Navarrete.

Um, and I'm here speaking as someone that's undocumented and been living in District 6 in Southwest Detroit since I was two.

I started advocating on immigrant rights since I was 15 years old, alongside many of the organizations based in Southwest who are here today speaking in favor of establishing a $1 million legal defense fund, um, a $750,000 general aid fund for those families impacted by someone being detained by ICE, and a 250,000 investment in local language interpretation.

Um Detroit being a border city, me myself being here documented for over the last 26 years.

None of these issues are new.

But what's new is the level of intensity and intentional cruelty to instill fear in my community.

Um just last year, my partner's dad and stepdad were deported.

They could not afford legal representation.

Legal representation is the main deciding factor if someone is deported or not.

Um their families have been struggling to cover basic necessities, and the saddest part is that they're not the only ones.

Um we need our city to be able to invest in our community so that we feel like we belong here and that there are people with power and privilege that will intervene to meet our needs and stand up to believe.

Seeing as all Detroiters specifically the most marginalized black folks, immigrants, undocumented people, folks with disabilities.

We need expanded resources for mental health in the city.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Tammy Cervantes.

Hi, good afternoon.

My name is Tammy Cervantes.

I am currently with UNI, urban abortion initiatives, but I want to speak from I was a paralegal with a an interpreter at a migration legal aid for four years before the federal government caused a layoffs.

But um, immigration is not just something that affects one population and one part of the city.

Immigration is something I worked with clients from every single continent, every single from countries, so many languages.

And so it's something that impacts all of Detroiters, regardless of what country they come from and how you can even imagine.

Um interpretation services can't just be a check mark.

They can't just be something that you do in afterthought.

It has to be something that's intentional to give people access to the same opportunity as other people to give people access the same way you would give access to others.

Um it's an opportunity to give people the chance to exist in spaces that they haven't been able to exist in before.

And it is something that affects hundreds of people across the city.

There are 126 spoken languages in the city of Detroit.

Um so we need to increase those services, and it's very important that we do it with people that are local who can understand their experiences.

Um I worked with many immigrants who you know having an interpreter that understood their cultural background made a huge difference in our interactions, being able to understand their culture, being able to stand why they were saying things a certain way, because that human interaction, that human relationship creates a huge difference when it comes to interpretation.

Thank you.

And so support these bills.

Thank you.

Ms.

Ronces, I believe you indicated that you would be serving as translator for some of our uh speakers who would like to speak for this body.

Good afternoon, President and City Council members.

My name is Maria Spinoza and Vivo in the district.

The floor is yours, I'm sorry.

My name is Maria y vivo in the district for 28 años.

I am established.

My name is Maria, and I live in district six, and I love this community.

And I care about my community, and that's why I'm here.

And support the economy of the city, how we have been doing.

Sorry, six months and has four daughters, and life has been very difficult for her.

We are asking for a million dollars to support families separated by IS and C B D.

Gracias.

Hi, good afternoon.

My name is Veronica Valencia, and I'm from District Six.

A family was separated by ice.

The girl called me.

She's a friend of my daughter.

She called us saying that she doesn't have any food, um, that she needs money, um, and that they don't have you know, and that they don't have money for an attorney.

Gracias.

Uh, there's a lot of families.

The children are very afraid, seeing as they don't have food and they don't know where their parents are.

And they are asking for legal support.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Maria Galinto, and I'm here um showing support for what my fellow comrades have said.

I have seen my children's friends from school be afraid of being returned to the country where their parents have been deported to.

They don't know those countries.

Countries like Guatemala, Mexico, and Honduras.

Um Papas Putan Avocado in the pace.

And so I'm asking that you support the demands of my comrades that their parents can have attorneys so that they can stay in the country.

Muchas gracias.

Thank you.

I'm sorry, next speaker, sacred, followed by Ali O'Neill, followed by Noelle Bellinger.

Greetings, council members.

I am sacred.

I am a Detroit resident, a doula, and a member of the Detroit right to counsel.

I stand before you as a mother who has experienced homelessness with her children.

Today marks the anniversary of the day I received my eviction notice while I was postpartum, still healing, still breastfeeding, cloth diapering, and caring for my baby full time last year in 2025.

During one of the most vulnerable times of in a mother's life, I was displaced because of harassment and lack of safe options.

The safest place was for us to live in our mini-van where I lived with my baby for five months.

And even then I continue to serve the community as a doula.

And what I began to realize is that this was not an isolated incident.

This is happening to mothers all over Detroit, and it is a crisis.

It also impacts the baby's development and their ability to care for their child.

For children losing their home, it is a trauma that shapes their development.

Housing is not a privilege.

It is a human right.

And we are asking for families to remain in the homes that they have made.

Stand with Detroit families, stand with the mothers, stand with the housing, stand for housing as a human right, and everyone should have the right to counsel.

Thank you very much.

Our next speaker, Allie O'Neill, followed by Noelle Bellinger.

Hello, city council members.

My name is Allie O'Neill, and I'm a resident of District 5.

Um, I mainly wanted to talk about the amount of our budget that's dedicated toward uh DPD, the police.

Uh, I don't believe that we should be spending so much of our budget and only increasing it in the coming years only on policing.

Uh I believe we should be spending more on care and infrastructure in this city because these are the things that will actually make us safer and actually prevent and reduce crime, providing housing, keeping people in their homes, home repair, uh fixing our roads and sidewalks and parks, and I 100% support the calls for funding that you're hearing today.

Um, the speaker just before me, the uh increased support for mental health services and non-police related crisis response in the city, and as well as the legal defense fund um and support for families affected by ICE and CVP in the city.

Um again, let's let's not fund militarized armed police.

Let's fund the things that actually help people in the city.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker, Noelle Bellinger, followed by Emanuel Lol Lozano.

I do apologize if I'm mispronounced your name.

Uh thank you.

My name is Noelle Bellinger.

I am a resident of District 6.

Um, as well as being a resident, I am also a grassroots organizer and a labor organizer, uh, both with the People's Assembly of Detroit as well as GEOC Local 6123 at Wayne State University.

Um, and I'm here to support a lot of the causes that are being spoken about today, um, both for the state of Southwest in support of uh more funding for uh legal defense for immigration, um, as well as ETU local 26, who are here to talk about transit, uh and a lot of the theme uh themes that I've been hearing about just in public comment as it just got started on eviction, on housing, um, on mobility, transit, uh, and the ability to uh to migrate freely without any violence or barriers.

These are all interconnected issues.

Um, and so I really want to make that clear just with the time that uh that I have here today, um, and make sure that uh whatever budget that we have, uh the money that we have, it's being uh funded back into people and communities for that safety and for that um for the protections that we need in order to actually help our communities thrive.

So I'm here to uh support uh the one million dollars to create a legal defense fund for families and individuals who've been impacted uh and detained by ICE and CBP by work in the People's Assembly and just living in Southwest Detroit, uh, as well as just Detroit as a whole.

I've seen the effect that it has on people.

Um I've talked to people who've been impacted by this.

Uh, it's very egregious, it's violent, uh, and we need to help each other and help protect uh our people.

So thank you so much.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Emanuel Lozano, followed by Alejandro I'll never end.

Hello, hello.

Uh I go by Mano.

I'm a resident of District 6 in Southwest Detroit.

Uh, I'm here representing state of Southwest as well as Congress and Communities.

I'm here just to speak about the issues of ICE impacting your community and how it's affected not just Latino residents here, but all residents from all across Detroit.

So it's not a specific issue towards Latinos, but it's an issue that affects all of us here in Detroit.

And I uh I'm urging y'all to focus on uh your efforts towards uh uh alleviating the issues uh here in Detroit and supporting families across uh the districts.

Um I'm here to speak about uh investing one million dollars to create a legal defense fund for families and individuals who have been detained by ICE or CPB, uh 750K to create a general aid fund to support families affected by ice abductions and 250k to replace California-based language line services.

Uh so instead of like contracting out, having people here who already have the abilities uh to translate uh for others in the neighborhood.

I also just kind of want to speak to how uh ICE has been impacting not just like families, but like the the quality of school and education as well, because I work with a lot of youth and students and their families are impacted and uh it interferes with the education they receive and interferes uh with their mental health and general well-being and um the general like issues with ice impacts, not just like ice, but like just people across the board.

So I urge y'all to uh to work on this because this intersects with a lot of other issues uh in our lives.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening.

Um I'm Alejandro Navarrete, uh resident of District 6.

Uh, also here to support the uh demands for uh million dollars of equal aid for uh immigrants detained by ICE, 750,000 in general aid and 250,000 uh for improved language access.

Uh I just want to point out that this is not a novel uh idea.

Other cities across the country have stepped up uh for their immigrant neighbors, including Minneapolis, Oakland, and Los Angeles, uh, to uh you know, a great amount that uh benefits all of their immigrant uh residents.

Uh I want to point out as well as others have that families broken up uh and need uh access to this justice to prevent further harm behind just the details of uh the head of household, uh, our residents, our family members.

Um kids are not going to school, people are not getting groceries, people are missing important health uh uh appointments in order to continue to survive um day to day.

Um and another point is that you know the repression of breaking up of families via police and poverty is not an issue that affects just a small uh piece of our city, it affects uh the entire city.

Uh, and we see these demands as a uh another step to protect everybody.

We should be striving to protect everybody that faces poverty, the fast faces uh repression uh through uh policing, uh which is why we're also supporting uh the cost of fund rights of council uh when it comes to housing matters, uh funding the further funding the office of community safety, uh doubling DITAT, and this is uh another case in which we could benefit from uh participatory budgeting uh going forward.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Mr.

Collinger, followed by Joel Batterman, followed by Cameron Harris.

Uh good afternoon, uh good evening, council.

I'm Shaq Tron Collier, president, business agent for amalgamated transit union local 26.

Thank you all for your service to the citizens.

I myself have served the city for 37 years in a capacity as a bus driver and now as the president of this union.

And so at this point, I see that along with myself and many, many advocacy groups.

We went up to Lancey and we advocated, we knocked on doors, and we walked halls and spoke to Republicans as well as Democrats because access to mobility is not a partisan issue, right?

And so uh our job um is to continue to fight for that.

Now we fought and we were able to get some money to come here to the city to support transit.

But to my dismay and to my disappointment in this current budget is being reduced from the general fund uh by 14 million dollars.

I'm not trying to take it personal, but I don't like to go fight for something for somebody else to eat it.

I fight for my own food, and at the end of the day, the citizens of Detroit deserve transit that is reliable, safe, and clean.

I can tell you, because I have been there so long, the city of Detroit bus department is still in a crisis.

I don't believe we could stand any cuts, any reductions at all.

We're currently facing a bus shortage.

We are just turning the curve now.

Uh, with hiring drivers, we're short of mechanics.

Any reduction in the budget, we think is not right for the people.

Next group is Joel Betterman, followed by Cameron Harrison, followed by Joshua Medina.

Good evening.

There are a few uh my name is Joel Batterman.

I live in District 5, and I work for Transportation Riders United, uh, which advocates for better transit service across the city and metropolitan area.

There are a few priorities more vital for Detroit than improving public transit.

Last year, the city provided a major boost in funding for Detroit Department of Transportation Bus Service of over 23 million dollars.

And we thank council for making that possible.

That funding was vital to expand service and provide competitive wages at long last to DDOT workers, but we still have a long way to go.

So we were happy to see the mayor's proposed 30 million dollar increase to the DDOT budget this year.

This is a major step forward towards implementation of the DDOT reimagined plan released two years ago.

It will translate to more reliable, more frequent service for Detroiters.

I want to acknowledge the concerns that Mr.

Collier has raised regarding the reduction and general fund support for DDOT.

It's a valid concern.

We don't want new revenue from other sources simply to be used to backfill or reduce general fund contribution.

This principle is especially important as we prepare for the Wayne Countywide transit funding ballot proposal that will appear on the August ballot for all residents of Wayne County, including Detroiters.

In addition to extending smart bus service to places like Canton and Lavonia, this measure would also generate more revenue for DDOT within the city.

It's essential that this result in new revenue for D DOT, not simply replace existing revenue.

And we urge the mayor and council to stand by that principle.

Thank you very much.

Next speaker, Cameron Harrison, followed by Joshua Medina, followed by Jadante Smith.

Thank you.

My name's Cameron.

I'm a voter and a union member, District 5, and here to uplift the amalgamated transit union, local 26, and their demands for not one penny removed from the budget for transit, but instead to double the DDOT budget.

A lot of working people, as we know, rely on safe, affordable uh public transit to get to work, to get to the grocery store, and to uh live their lives.

So I want to speak in favor of uh president and his demands to double DDOT.

Additionally, I want to uplift with the state of Southwest coalition is talking about with a million dollars to create a legal defense fund for families and individuals who have been detained by ice and border patrol, and an additional uh 75 or 750,000 to create a general aid fund to support families affected by ice abductions.

Uh, thank you for your time.

And instead of uh funding billionaires, I think we need to fund the people of Detroit.

Thank you.

Cameron Harrison.

I'm Josh Mandina.

Um a resident of District 6 in the Springgos community, where I also work in the Springless community at Urban Neighborhood Initiatives.

And I'm I'm I'm also here to ask you to uh to make room in that budget for for a million for a million dollar legal defense fund for immigrants and individual for immigrant families that have been detained by ICE and CBP.

Uh also $750,000 to create a general aid fund to support families affected by ICE and abductions, and 250,000 to uh for for uh for interpretation services uh that that is worked by a residents here in in our in in Detroit.

Uh that's mentioned before, we have a lot of capable talent here that can do that work uh and get rid of that California-based language line services that we've had.

Uh, when when you guys are when you guys are considering this, uh, I want you to understand that you have that you have youth and parents uh in each of your districts that are being kidnapped uh every week by by iCE.

Uh it's not just a district six issue, it's an issue in all your in all your districts.

You had you have schools that that are missing a lot of students that are not are not meeting those numbers because of parents afraid to take their uh their kids to school or or parents have been detained or deported and youth have been deported as well.

So I want you to understand that that you have uh rogue agents in your districts that are that are kidnapping um and we can have it in our communities.

Uh, these are not headlines we're telling you.

These are the these are not things we've heard, these are things that we're working with in the community.

We we've witnessed this, and we're working with teachers, parents, uh, and youth uh to do this.

So I please, you know, the people they try to have done their part, please do your thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker, D Dante Smith, followed by Drew Kennerly, followed by Ronald Foster.

Uh so as a single parent in the city, uh I I really really uh I stand with the mother who came and said she slept in her car for five months with her child.

That is uh issue that is far too familiar for so many Detroiters.

Uh in this budget, we need to make sure we fund right to council.

I believe that the uh eviction epidemic in the C Betroy is abysmal.

Also, somebody just mentioned uh funding billionaires, which a lot of people on this board have taken money from the Maroon family.

I believe in clean air for everybody.

Everybody deserves to be breathe clean air in their communities, especially in District Three.

Uh, there's a place called Kronos Concrete, owned by the Maroon family, the one and only who do nothing but pollute, speculate, and uh just just tarnish this community all across.

They own property, a thousand twenty-three parcels all across the city of Detroit.

They own 800 vacant side lots that are full of trash, full of debris, and that are eye sores in District 6, District 5, District 4, and District 3.

I believe we should down zone Kronos located at 3405 Gaylord.

That is my biggest mission in 2026.

I understand that's not a budget issue, but that is something as a council you guys can do.

Also, the Detroit Land Bank, it is beyond reform.

That is something that exists that we are not able to, you guys are not able to do anything with with the intergovernmental agreement.

You guys are not able to amend it, reform it correctly, and you guys are weaponizing against the citizens.

We have too many people who are sleeping in cars, who are sleeping on butt with rotten buses all day because they don't have anywhere to go.

And the buses are nasty, they're late, they're dirty.

All these different issues that we have stem from housing, stem from poor education, poor mental health.

And it seems like we have people who have been on this council for 16 years, i.e., President James Tate, and we don't have much, we don't have anything to show for it.

Just look at Brightmore and how Brightmore looks after 16 years.

It looks like something out of Sanford is on.

You should be ashamed.

Brother Foster, followed by Brother Cunningham.

Hello, my name is Drew Kennerly.

I live in District 5.

I would like to add my voice in the chorus of voices asking to double D dot funding.

Um, I would like to see 15% of stops have shelters and benches.

I see a lot of stops with no infrastructure at all, but a sign.

Um, I would like to see expanding paratransit across city limits.

Um, I would like to see unarmed transit ambassadors and so the uh transit police that makes stops.

It scares my kids.

Um, and a study to look into free fares for all writers.

I would also like to add my voice in the calls for the one million dollar legal defense fund for people affected by ice or detained by ice.

Um, the 750,000 for families that have had lost the member, a family member to ice, and the 250,000 for local interpreter services.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Ronald Foster, followed by Brother Cunningham.

Oh, good evening.

Uh few things.

Like I was say earlier.

I think that you guys have to take care of your community first.

Second, take care of your workers, they're working in the community, gas vouchers, additional fund for mileage if they're riding their own vehicles doing work hours and time.

You know, don't just let the administration do what they do, and then uh you all do all the work and then disregard the people that work for you all.

Secondly, I want to just talk about um the inspector general.

I think he's done a very good job coming in here.

I know I spoke different about him initially, but over time I appreciate him taking the initiative himself to bring about some cultural changes here, which we need across the board.

Um, thirdly, I just want to just speak about a few things, change of perspective.

The 30 million dollars that potentially going to D dot budget can provide 1,500 families, a vehicle at 20,000 apiece.

Now you get them for less than that.

18 million dollars going to right to council can provide 300 homes at 60,000 apiece.

Not to mention what could be done if you buy land back and give these family vouchers there, and they won't need the right to council if they're getting evicted from somewhere.

We have to start using our funds in a more productive manner, thinking outside the box and stopping with the same stuff that's been going on.

We cannot continue to advocate people that have not pushed our agenda here.

If they have pushed our agenda here, we would not be talking about new initiatives about poverty, new initiatives about transportation and all that.

So we can't have it both ways, right?

Or we start new, or are we gonna move fresh with the same, or we're gonna keep going with the same thing?

It's up to you all to make the change.

Talking to everybody at home and everybody in the room.

If anybody needs the bus tickets to go home, if you can holler at me uh before I leave.

313, 444, 9114, 313, 4449114.

I thank everyone who donates and makes it possible for me to do it around the bus stops.

I am down for what Ms.

or the team GSR free month, no fear pilot.

It's long overdue.

She's been fighting a long time.

Um, we need on-time buses.

We buses clean buses and buses that show up.

I want to thank you for your efforts of uh getting the budget uh that we do have.

Um there are some concerns, but it's really good.

I want to thank you.

Uh thank the mayor's office as well.

Um what she's left with is from the last administration, and I know there's good to come.

Uh I'm in District One.

Um, we need shelters and benches uh all over the place.

A lot of people are stuck in a house or building.

I'm east, west, north, south, south, all over the place every single day.

And there's just no benches and no shelters.

Um expand parent transit across city limits.

People don't know when they're trying to go to the suburbs, they have to go to like the nine-mile get out and smart house to take over.

That's doing too much.

Borderless paratransit.

Um, expand unarmed transit ambassadors program, and again, study the free fare for all residents.

Q-Line is free.

People mover is free.

They found sponsors.

The folks with the money or folks serve the folks with the money.

When they want something done, they'll find a way to get it done.

One way or another.

Thank you so much.

444, 9114.

Thank you.

Our next speaker, Patricia Kawalea.

Patricia Kawalia.

I apologize if I mispronounced your last name.

Got a Q week in there.

Peaceful greetings.

I'm Patricia Qualia, and I'm with the Wisdom Institute.

We support girls and women.

For 25 years, we've done so.

And I'm also a part of the Detroit Rights of Council coalition.

We know that many of our Detroit households are women live, and we also know that landlords uphold fair and deplorable conditions in their properties.

It's common, and it's happening on a daily basis.

Many times they are evicting families and doing it unjustly.

Families come in without legal representation, and the landlords have theirs.

And families are evicted.

There are families, there are several families homeless, and we don't need any more.

I've seen the latest initiatives on homelessness and the money that you're pouring into it.

We all know that capitalism is an issue.

So please help combat it by finding fully funding the rights of counsel.

Housing is a human right.

Studies show that rights of counsel works.

Many people are staying in their homes.

Again, rights of counsel works, please fully fund it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'm next speaker, Teresa McCarthy, followed by Vita Avela.

Avula, excuse me.

Teresa McCarthy.

No, I'm sorry, I'm Carisha Henderson.

You may proceed, ma'am.

All right.

Greetings.

My name is Carisha Henderson, and I am the member of the Detroit Rights of Council Coalition.

I was born and raised in the city of Detroit.

I'm a DPS graduate and currently a very present dual within the city of Detroit.

Based on my own personal experience and many clients that I have, many are dealing with slum lords who they pay yet don't take care of their properties, or some even face evictions merely because they have decided to become parents, which is unethical.

Housing stability is a huge part of care and has impact.

Families cannot thrive if they are worried about losing their home.

I also spent several years of my nursing career as serving patients in the DMC Harper ICU, especially during the time during COVID, and have seen firsthand how evictions directly impact health outcomes.

Keeping people housed is a health intervention and a human right.

Though I am here as an advocate, I am also representation for many mothers like myself, who was a teen young adult mom, forced to deal with a system that they do not understand.

Therefore, I am asking the city to fully fund and sustain the rights of counsel program so that meets the scale of the needs within the city of Detroit, which is a community that I love.

I've known my whole life and I am still fighting for.

Again, please fund the Rights of Council program.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Me, Teresa McCarty.

McCarthy.

What's your name, ma'am?

Okay.

These cards are a little bit off.

So when you come up, just introduce yourself for the record so the clerk can um take note of your name and the floor is yours.

Okay.

Um I'm Danielle Hayes.

I'm currently working as a community-based doula within Oakland, Wayne, Washington, Macomb County.

I'm a Detroit resident as well.

I'm here with the Wisdom Institute and the Detroit Rights of Council Coalition.

I've seen firsthand the negative consequences of evictions.

Evictions is a housing, a health, a stability issue for families, children, even single parents.

And it has been shown that the right to counsel makes a difference.

How can someone have the right to counsel without personal funds to do so, which would then make it a luxury like having water and electricity, gas, housing, and it shouldn't be that way.

I stand behind the Detroit Rights of Council Coalition.

It's necessary to keep people housed and families together.

I can't imagine going to court without representation for any reason, especially that of housing when I cannot advocate for myself.

Not only should it be sustained, but funding should be increased to meet the need of the community, especially for Zip Code for a 219, which has the highest number of evictions, and it should be looked into.

I'd also like to add providing more funding for infrastructure and for emergency and shelter housing for when families are displaced due to evictions.

And the right to counsel is the right to reproductive justice, and every birthday person deserves a right to housing stability.

Riding through the city of Detroit for home visits, I'm constantly seeing homes worth of things out on the curb, and it's not due to bulk day and them trying to get rid of things, but as if someone was trying to get rid of them.

And that should not be a thing in Detroit.

We want our city to be beautiful.

Our residents are beautiful.

We can't have community with our state your name for the record, and the floor is yours.

Hello, my name is Maria Lockett.

I am a resident of District 7 as well as an educator, a graduate student, and a member of Black Invergence.

I'm here to advocate on behalf of the students who are afraid, afraid that their parents may not come home when they get home from school, afraid of immigration and custom enforcements, afraid of systems that they cannot understand because of inaccessibility and language.

The creation of a $750,000 general aid fund to support families affected by ICE abductions, as well as $250.

$50,000 to be allocated towards language services to help for translations.

And they shouldn't have to live like that.

They should have resources in their communities to help them through this battle.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'm gonna leave this Savannah or Cedar, please come down and someone to come.

Ma'am, please introduce yourself.

Please state your name for the record, and the floor is yours.

I'm a single mother of five and GG of one.

I'm also a doula and lactation consultant.

And I'm here as a part of Detroit rights to council coalition.

As a birth worker, I have supported several families who are currently or have suffered from housing instability, even including myself as well as my daughter when she first started out on her own as a new mom.

Housing stability is a part of our basic care needs.

Families cannot thrive when we are worried about losing our home and we should not have to face eviction alone.

Housing instability greatly impacts pregnancy outcomes, postpartum healing, and the ability for us to care for our children.

Many of us have gone to court without representation or even miss court because we're scared to do it all alone.

Um, and then they're all just gonna go with the you know, the one who own a home and all of that.

Um right to counsel helps to keep families, housed and community stable.

I'm asking that the city fully fund and sustain the right to counsel program so that it meets the scale of needs in Detroit.

And I strongly support full funding, which is the 32 million that they asked them for for the right to counsel and stand with Detroit's right to counsel.

That's it.

Thank you.

Good evening, President and uh Detroit Council.

My name is Veda Avila.

I am a district resident and community organizer.

I am here today because I love my community and want to live in a city that loves its people and puts in place a plan to support and protect them.

Currently, our immigrant community is under attack.

According to Assembly Popular, the group most of the ground to protect our neighbors.

Twenty-five people have been detained in around Detroit between March the 16th and March the 22nd.

It is so frustrating to hear the response from the Detroit saying that ICE presence isn't that bad.

While we are actively watching families get ripped apart, we are calling on you to allocate funds to create a legal and general defense fund to support individuals and families affected by ICE abduction.

Better mental health care services and the city of Detroit.

And hire local talent to provide language services.

Thank you.

Followed by Stephen Hanshu.

All right, team, let's start queuing folks up, please.

Lorinda Lewis.

Good afternoon, everyone.

Good evening.

My name is Lorinda Lewis, and I was born and raised in Detroit.

I am with the Right to Council Coalition, and I'm also a community doula in the community.

My work is about supporting families who go through some of the most vulnerable moments in their lives.

And housing stability is a part of that care.

I've seen how the threat of eviction impacts stress, pregnancy outcomes, and postpartum recovery.

Families cannot thrive when they are worried about losing their home.

Right to counsel is essential and it must be fully funded so families can have the support that they deserve.

I strongly support full funding of the 32 million dollars for right to counsel and stand with the Detroit Right to Council Coalition.

Thank you.

Ms.

Rachel Marquez, I believe.

Do apologize if I mispronounce your name.

That's all good.

Rachel Marquez, I live in District 6, and I was asked by a community resident to read a testimony on their behalf.

A couple of weeks ago, I was detained by immigration agents while I was on my way to the store and to pick up my children from their schools near the intersection of Werner and Dix.

I experienced racial profiling as the patrol car pulled up alongside me solely to verify that I was Latina.

One of the agents was extremely rude when speaking to me.

He asserted that I received government benefits and insisted that I tell him the specific amount.

When I clarified that I do not receive any benefits whatsoever, he persisted in demanding to know how many children I have and information regarding my husband.

Details I refuse to provide.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mrs.

Hanshu.

My name is Stephen Hanchu.

I'm a resident of District 6.

And I am representing the Detroit Advocates of the Blind, the only advocacy organization of blind persons in the city of Detroit.

Blind people are immigrants.

And we need that protection fund.

Blind people get evicted wrongly by slum lords in this city every day, and we need the right to counsel to be fully funded.

Blind people ride the buses and use paratransit.

And we need the budget to be transparent and to be clear and to continue to increase.

I mean, deeply troubled that the money that we as transit advocates have gotten from the state and other sources are being used to mask a 13 or 14.

We can't get the exact figures because it's not transparent, cut from the general fund.

When we go back next year, we do not want to hear that.

No, we can't give you any more money because the city uses our money to pay its bills and lowers the amount that they put in.

And so we are very serious.

This is not rhetorical.

Please restore the 13 million dollars.

And it's spring y'all dice.

Thank you, Mr.

Hashul.

We now have Latifa Jones, followed by Anthony Sawyer.

Latifa Jones, followed by Anthony Sawyer.

Hi, Council.

Thank you for having me.

My name is Latifa Jones.

If you can move a little closer that mic's right in front of sorry, thank you.

Um, my name is Latifa Jones, and I'm also with Detroit Advocates of the Blind, also known as DAP.

I'm gonna want to thank you all for the funding for the paratransit, which some whoever came from the city, but um I think some of the funding needs to be used as training for paratransit workers.

Um we have a little lot of issues sometimes um with getting to time, um, consuming, um, being picked up on time, getting left, you know.

So if some of the funding can go for training, that would be great.

Thank you.

Yes, ma'am, thank you.

Before you before you begin, let's start the clock back over.

All right, the floor is yours, sir.

My name is Anthony Sawyer, and I appreciate you letting me speak today.

And I'm just want to piggyback off Latifa Jones.

You know, uh, I'm a member of Dev, Detroit Advocate of the Blight.

And uh I do use uh Matt to live just about every day, going to school or going to doctor appointment.

But you also have the same day, and same day, you know.

I thought it was supposed to be you can call them right now and say you need to ride, and they arrive within an hour.

But no, you got to call the same day before nine o'clock, after nine o'clock in the morning.

It ain't no more same day, they work for the rest of the day.

And I'm asking you, can you look into that and uh you know help us out, you know, especially with uh disabled people because we need that, you know.

We depend on that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And next speaker, Adonis Flores, followed by Stuart.

Good afternoon.

Uh I am Adonis Flori.

I've been a Detroit resident for almost 30 years, since I was eight years old.

And I am also here to uh express my support for allocating city funds for legal representation of Detroiters facing deportation, as well as general funds for uh emergency assistance to the families who have a loved one facing deportation and uh the 250,000 for uh uh translation services provided by local talent here in the city.

Uh when I was uh in Wayne State student back in 2009, my uncle Ivan was deported.

He was the main uh income provider for the household, and his deportation had terrible consequences for our family.

Uh I had to uh stop going to school at the moment and get a full-time job to help my mother with uh financial support.

Uh because uh my grandmother, who's a naturalized US citizen, uh, and my sister, who's also a U.S.

citizen, were also deeply impacted by this, and they relied on a lot of uh his financial support.

Uh, he also had a one-year-old uh U.S.

citizen child at the moment who was forced to leave the country so he could grow up with his dad in another country, otherwise would have grown up in Detroit and gone to Detroit public school, being a Detroiter.

Uh, but I want to emphasize the importance of this.

This is a civil rights issue.

It's uh constitutional issue because it's about uh due process.

Most immigrant families do not get due process because they cannot afford an attorney since immigration law is civil law.

Immigration courts do not provide public defenders.

Uh so at this moment that our communities are under attack, we really need the city to step up and protect the constitutional rights of everyone in the city.

Thank you very much.

Our next speaker, Stewart, followed by Eugen True Love.

Good evening, everybody.

Uh, my name is Storina Watson.

Um, I'm good.

I'm here on President of the Six as well as we're a little close to the bad.

Hi, everybody.

Uh, like I said, I'm a member of um Resident of District Six as well as a organizer with Michigan United Action.

So this one actually marks the 11 years since um my dad got deported.

Um it's uh to be on to the whole family got separated.

Um, my mom and dad, my sister was 11 years old at the time, and myself was a college student at University of Michigan.

And so I witnessed firsthand the difficulty of legal services.

My dad spending thousands of thousands of dollars trying to fight for somebody that he was living here for more than decades.

And so, and yet today the main got worse.

It has gotten worse.

I think you're the terrorizer communities here in Detroit.

Um, and I really don't see things changing if I want to see this community be protected.

And so the reason why I'm here today, too, is asking please to uh increase funding, have the one million dollars for legal services here in Detroit.

Please have $150,000 for uh for general aid for families you have been affected by uh ISIN detainee, detained detention, and as well as uh increase legal services and translation services locally here in Detroit because we do have the resources here.

And like I mentioned, someone who's first experienced trying in the summers, trying to figure out how to afford rents, how to get food and spending one point having $3,000 when I picking count, just buying 7-11 cheap 7 food.

Um, I know what we'd early age, like how difficult it's for folks to just try to make dance meet.

And I really do ask please to support the Detroiters here.

Immigrants really do care, really are part of part of this community in Southwest Detroit.

So I do ask again, please increase funding and increase the service for them.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker.

Followed by David Foster.

Good evening, council and president.

My name is Eugenia True Love, and I am a new CEO for the city of Detroit.

I just got bashed October of last year.

The main thing is, like they said, as far as with the budget, we need it.

You start off saying, here's everything, here's the grants, and then once it gets started, it gets taken away.

Just like we we need the community just as well as community needs us.

And we make sure that so they can work so they can get there, and we need the funding so we can continue to be the great Detroit like we are.

They're talking about it all over the internet, all over the news, and we need some action being taken.

So please, counsel, don't take our fund.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening, council members.

My name is Casey Peller.

I'm a resident in District 4 and uh representative of Detroit Disability Power.

I'm here this evening because I am clear that not having reliable accessible public transit to get to work or to the doctors on time, that's disabling.

I'm clear that family members being abducted from my our neighborhoods.

That's disabling.

I'm clear that evictions and homelessness are disabling.

Please protect disabled Detroiters and protect all Detroiters from entirely preventable and exacerbated disability.

I urge you to please protect the funding for Office of Disability Affairs, which is proposed to have a cut of about 400,000, which is about a third of their budget.

They need that funding to implement their strategic priorities, including around accessible housing and making sure that all departments are uh working in accessible ways through training all departments.

We also urge you to double DOT.

We are very appreciative of this 30 million dollars proposed increase.

Um, however, we want to maximize all funding streams so that we can get to the D dot reimagined destination and beyond as quickly as possible, including Horrorless Paratransit, so we don't have to make uh transfers across city limits in either direction, make all of our stops as accessible as possible with landing pads with seating and with shelter from the elements, uh free fares for all riders.

Let's look into how we can do that.

Uh, starting with students this year, we're excited for that.

Um, as well as a safety ambassador team for uh unarmed response to crisis and uh resident needs on the buses.

We also stand in solidarity for the two million dollars for folks affected by uh ice and fully funding the right to council.

We have David Foster, David Foster's yours, sir.

Oh y'all doing to the council.

My name is David Foster.

I'm a teo for the department of transportation.

I was bad alongside my fellow classmate, Miss True Love back in October of 2025, and I'm here to speak out against the 14 million that you all are thinking about taking away from the department of transportation.

I remember catching a bus when I was uh four years old, my mother up to Northland to go to Jeepers when I was a little kid, and when I tell you that the department of transportation has been underfunded and has not given up proper attention that has been needed since I was a little kid, even before I was born, and one thing that we need is for you all to see the real D Dot.

We want you all to actually come on our lines and see some of the situation that we see, and when y'all come, don't tell them y'all coming, just show up, just show up, come to Gilbert, come to School Maker, don't say we're coming, just show up.

They're not gonna say no.

We will we want y'all to see what we see, and if you all see what we see, you all will see why we need not only 14 million dollars, but 100 million more dollars.

We need more money to be, and also one thing that I would like to say is that this money is uh a tool that we all need in order to be able to do our jobs, and I know that um you all are thinking about taking away funding, but we need an increase because people ride our buses.

For example, one person got on my bus and he told me that you know what I don't have any money, but can you let me ride?

I'll let him ride.

He got back on my bus.

He said, You know what's crazy?

I just had an interview at the car walk, and now I got a job.

That type of stuff is why I do this job every day.

Next speaker for I Gundon, and I do apologize if I mispronounced your name.

How do you pronounce it?

Farai.

Good afternoon, council members.

My name is Farai Gundan, founder of a Detroit-based technology startup Adala, building a mobility wallet for public transit and a board member with uh transportation riders united.

I am grateful to this administration and council for supporting local honored to receive a Detroit startup grant recently, and that investment will help us grow, will help us continue to grow right here in the city.

I am here um today to encourage you to continue prioritizing and funding public transit in this budget.

Reliable accessible transit is not just a service, it is critical infrastructure that connects residents to jobs, education, and opportunity.

It also creates the foundation for innovation, allowing companies like ours to build solutions that actually improve how Detroiters move.

Sustained investment in public transit will ensure that progress continues and that Detroit remains a leader in equitable forward-looking mobility.

Thank you so much for your leadership and commitment to our city.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Ms.

Margaret Methods, yeah.

Good evening.

Yes.

Um that happened.

The O DA.

Who might do it that we found off the ADA?

Which is the American disabilities act.

And then those two.

They can move together to improve our accessibility.

The right the right place is the cake.

Come on, the cake with these other.

No, no, no.

That should not have happened.

This might not be floor remaining.

Thank you.

That we uh leave and didn't do it.

We wouldn't believe the end of the Miss Miller.

Please remember my name.

Because I lose hope hoping to be here to see your face.

But I was disposed the home my home being this boost it.

Not me.

One again.

Thank you, Miss Mara.

Next speaker is Suzanne Lewan, followed by Mr.

Richard Clay.

Good evening.

My name's Suzanne Lewand, and I am here to speak on behalf of or in support of Right to Council.

I'm the supervising attorney for subsidized housing with Michigan Legal Services, and we serve the 36th District Court Landlord Tenant Division at least three times a week.

Although to be honest with you, we're supposed to be there three times a week.

Oftentimes our attorneys are there five times a week.

Not only do we help renters with their issues and get them through issues with their recertifications with their subsidies, helping them to maintain the ability to keep the subsidy.

And that's what they were basing their termination of tenancy case on.

Ended up getting the case dismissed.

Um for her, but because I'm curious, I noticed that there was another case from the same plaintiff in front of the same judge that day, discovered it was the same situation, which led to finding five other cases of this company filing a deed from themselves to themselves saying that they own the property and trying to evict tenants.

I'm happy to say that that we've helped we helped seven tenants in total because of the ability we had to go outreach and reach out to those tenants that weren't even aware that these cases had been filed against them.

And these cases had we've been able to work with the deed fraud unit, and they have been referred to the prosecutor.

So we ask that you support the right to council funding.

Good evening.

I'm Richard Clay, the president of Detroit Advocates of the Blind, and my members represent all districts of the city.

I want to thank City Council and Mayor Sheffield for the increase for the transportation budget.

Um take that 30 million gladly.

We need the 13 million that was uh taken away from the city's portion.

We need that put in there, 43 million.

It all needs to go to hire more drivers, improved vehicles, hire more, buy more vehicles for the fixed route buses.

My community needs especially more attention paid to the pair transit services.

We need more drivers, we need more customer service reps to answer those phones to decrease the phone times.

We need more dispatchers.

We have to improve and continue to improve our peer transit services in this city.

As we continue to get the money and increase the money for the transportation in this city, we also need to get the library, its money, fund right to council, get the money for the immigrant services, and we can do that if we stop overspending on all of this law enforcement and militarizing our communities.

No more money for stop spotter, no more money for data centers and spying on our people.

Let's stop spying on people and start helping people.

Get the money to the ginger collection and mental services for black boys, recreation for these youth.

Let's put the money where it needs to be.

Thank you.

All right, good afternoon.

Can I be heard?

Yes, sir.

All right, my name is Renard Moschenski.

I'm a district six resident, and I'm the lead organizer of the Detroit People's Platform Transit Justice Team.

And you're looking at a daily bus rider who uses services.

And a member of the uh of the double D dot coalition.

The proposed DOP budget reflects what we all have been asking for for a long time, especially bus riders, investments in bus stops and shelters, better pay for drivers and mechanics, and improved bus frequency, especially at nights, weekends, and early mornings.

We cannot undermine the progress we have made over the years just because outside funding has increased for DOT.

Do not Detroit, the city of Detroit, and this honorable body must continue to meet this responsibility to fund transit, especially as inflation, increased fuel costs, and federal funding conflicts remain uncertain, especially in September 2026 when the federal government decides on federal transit.

That is not a short thing.

It used to be, but the way Washington is going, that is not the case.

Our buses safe, reliable, and accessible for people who depend on them every day, like myself, and many in this room.

It's our it's in our city charter that our buses are affordable, reliable, and safe.

In addition, I support the efforts of my colleagues to support participatory budgeting in all of our city districts and the right to counsel and increase funding for our immigrant community.

You're staring at a son of an immigrant that's from West Africa.

So anybody in the city could be impacted by ICE, and it has to ought to protect us all, as that is their main duty.

Thank you.

The next speaker, Ted Phillips, followed by Theo Pride, followed by Joanne Alles.

Good evening, counsel.

My name is Ted Phillips, and the executive director of the United Community Housing Coalition and a lifetime Detroiter.

I've represented low-income tenants and land contract buyers in 36th district courts since 1984 and directed United Community Housing Coalition since 1986, with the exception of two years in the orchard administration.

This council's passage of the right to council and the increased funds that followed have created dramatic change in protecting tenants and land contract buyers' rights in Detroit.

Not seen in the prior 30 plus years that I have been in that court.

We must not go back to where we were before.

Prior to right to council, Detroit saw more than 30,000 cases filed per year, with no more than about 4% of those tenants being represented by council, with about 85 to 90 percent of landlords being represented.

Many unrepresented tenants saw hearings that lasted one to two minutes and got 10-day judgments to pay or move, regardless of what the facts or the law was.

Too often the position of many judges was that their sole role was to complete cases.

One now retired former chief judge bragged about the efficiency of the court's bailiffs in being able to evict 10,000 households per year, as if that was a great accomplishment.

And I was there when she was bragging.

Meanwhile, your animal predecessors passed budgets with soaring demolition costs brought about in pay in part from investors not maintaining homes, evicting tenants who are complaining, not paying taxes, and walking away from the homes when they were worthless.

Funding right to council impacts more than just individual tenants that are represented.

Since filing since right to council's annual filings in 36th district court since then, uh they've been they're high, but they're slightly over 20,000.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Theo Pride, followed by Joanne Adams, followed by Mia Anderson.

Uh good evening, City Council, uh Theo Pride with Detroit People's Platform, a lifelong Detroiter and District 2 resident.

Um so uh we have many changes this year, new mayor, uh new city council, uh, and new budget priorities from the administration.

I think it's pretty clear that uh there seems to be a shift to put more uh resources uh into the neighborhoods and for folks who are in need of uh social uh safety net support, uh, which is a great thing, of course, right?

Um, in line with that pivot, um, just because it's about putting more money into the neighborhoods.

Just wanted to talk a little bit about uh the benefits of participatory budgeting, uh, which has been a budget priority uh here in the past.

Um PB puts uh real dollars in the hands of Detroiters and gives them the power to spend that money in their communities the way they want.

Um, it is redistributive.

Uh, it puts money into underinvested uh areas uh as opposed to downtown where we see a lot of the money already concentrated.

Uh it gets people excited about government and draws people back into the political process.

A study showed that uh it increases voter turnout, which we all know is uh a very important thing here in Detroit.

Uh it builds community, uh it brings us closer to our neighbors, uh, it connects us to folks, it gets us working on common problems.

Um TB is a remarkable, powerful, democratizing, equitable tool uh that many cities already use uh with incredible results.

I encourage city councils to look at it.

I support uh double D dot uh immigrant communities, uh, all of it.

Uh thank you.

I appreciate it.

Thank you.

Joanne Adams.

All right, good evening.

Joanne Adams, District 5 resident.

Need to put these on actually.

Um, I'm here to support two topics for consideration in the budget negotiations.

Firstly, please support participatory budgeting in all of your districts.

Budgets are our annual values in dollars.

We've had a period of intense development in certain areas of the city, but many more areas have been neglected.

With participatory budgeting, you will get to know what investments and policies your constituents need or want addressing.

You will get the benefit of their lived experiences, increased awareness and greater participation by your voters, not just once, but every year.

Not at what not just every four years, but every year.

The budget demonstrate the budget we have right now, shows a move to investments in neighborhoods.

So let's not miss the opportunity to learn from and within our neighborhoods on an ongoing basis.

We've experienced top-down legislating in this city for too long.

It's time to include us and listen to us.

I believe that the ideas you'll hear are truly beneficial for all of us.

All right, secondly, we have to do more about water affordability in Detroit.

No one should be priced out of access to water.

We have this crazy situation where approximately 30% of our water bill is a drainage charge, or as we know it, a rain tax.

And then we use taxpayer dollars, state and city to subsidize the bills.

And but until that gets sorted out correctly, let's keep water on for all of our residents.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Mia Anderson, followed by Donald Stuckey.

Yes, I want to follow up the conversation earlier.

So the foreclosure auction of Wayne County has a relationship with the Detroit Building Authority.

That is how they acquire a lot of their properties.

They had a 1.4 million dollar bundle that had 144 properties in it.

That is something that is set aside.

And the Mr.

Clifton, whatever his position is at the DBA, said he's not interested in managing residential.

So why does they do they have this relationship going?

And why does this get funded directly to the Detroit Land Bank Authority?

That is why they are a power that y'all have found out of your control.

And the only way to remediate them, you can't just shut them down.

They have the majority of the vacant land and vacant structures in our city, but you have to put some checks and balances in place.

Tammy said 14% of the sold structures come back to their inventory for not meeting compliance.

They have first position on a deed.

And that makes it very difficult for people who don't have stellar credit to get funding.

There are programs and organizations within the city that are willing to fund people who are wanting to invest in land bank houses.

But if you keep first position on a D, no lender wants to take second or third position on a D.

Also, um nooses and basement abatement.

DLBA has uh not held to the same standard.

So they're going after they said 2,000 people that they've went after and taken properties from.

I used to work at the land bank, I was the project manager.

I can tell you, they get BC Blight tickets on their properties, they throw them in the trash.

Y'all need to ask for some type of reporting to cross-analyze their tickets that they get on their properties.

They should be going after themselves and hold themselves to a high standard first before attacking the residents.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Donald Stuckey, followed by Megan Owens.

Donald Stuckey District 7.

Good afternoon, Detroit City Council members.

I would like to start out by saying I am very pleased with what the mayor has proposed in her first budget.

But the need for public transportation throughout our city is great.

We must be willing to go big and bold and make meaningful progress on improving public transit.

You must first start out by doubling D DOT, prioritizing public transit throughout the city and resisting the urge to backfill and replace needed dollars for DDOT.

Secondly, we must support the passage of the Wayne County Transit Millage.

This council should have had a resolution supporting its passage.

Finally, finally, we must make more revenue available.

This can be done, of course, by finding new sources of revenue and rolling back expensive tax giveaways to big corporations that do not have our city's best interest at heart.

I hope that you will take these suggestions into consideration.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Megan Owens.

Greeting, Council members.

Um, Megan Owens, District 2.

And uh I'm also here to emphasize the importance of public transportation, uh, essential for Detroiters today and for Detroit's future.

Um, I and others at Transportation Writers United greatly appreciate uh Mayor Sheffield's proposed budget with a net increase of 29 million dollars for DDOT, critically needed.

And as others have noted, uh, I'm also concerned that the investment DDOT uh is the city's investment in DDOT is proposed to decline.

Uh, and that the future years is supposed to be a multi-year look what budget supposed to look forward.

It doesn't project to increase, and we know Detroit must double DDOT's budget by 2030.

So we need to keep on a really uh strong trajectory.

I'm also honored to serve on the mayor's transition team, which has engaged uh uh dozens of experts, um, hundreds of community leaders, has surveyed thousands of Detroiters, and we overwhelmingly heard Detroiters want reliable transit, they want frequent transit, and they want quality bus shelters.

These needs can be achieved by rapidly implementing uh the DDOT reimagined plan.

Uh, but achieving that will require doubling DDOT's budget over the next three years.

Uh, I'm very proud of the uh the being able to serve on that transition team and very excited that the proposal to um that our recommendation for uh for prefairs for students uh is moving forward.

So thank you for for uh your support of that.

We a true look forward to working with the mayor and with each of you to develop a plan to double D DOT over the next three years.

Thank you so much and have a great evening.

Thank you.

The next speaker, Cassie Jones and Bride, followed by Rochela Stewart, followed by Morel and Hemp Hill.

I do apologize if I mispronounced your name.

Floor is yours.

Good afternoon.

My name is Cassie and Jones McBride.

I'm the co-chair of the Detroit Right to Council Coalition and founder of the Michigan Chamber of Reproductive Justice.

I stand with so many of our coalition members here today.

I also want to take a moment to express gratitude to Mayor Sheffield and many of the existing council members here for their leadership and drive in establishing the Detroit Rights of Council ordinance.

That vision set of foundation.

We are here today to continue.

And I'm here to also name that housing stability is a reproductive justice issue.

As a co-author of the secure study led by Dr.

Shanita Seeley Jefferson, we surveyed over 1,500 black women in the Metro Detroit area, and over half reported experiencing eviction.

And nearly half of those evictions were illegal.

When people are facing eviction, it impacts their ability to parent to carry pregnancy safely, to recover postpartum, and to make decisions about their families with dignity and stability.

We see this every day.

People navigate in court while pregnant, while healing, and while caring for their children, without support and without representation.

The Detroit Right to Council program is one of the only tools we have to prevent displacement and stop exploitation and to protect Detroiters in real time.

The Detroit Right to Council outreach efforts must be fully funded and sustained, and it is not optional.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Michelle Stewart.

Followed by Rayl Hemp Hill.

Okay, good evening, President and Program, all the other council members.

My name is Rochela Stewart.

I'm a resident of District 5, long time resident 67 years.

I'm here in line with all the orgs and residents that came in here without housing, everything.

But my main concern here is transportation.

I'm thankful for the budget that the mayor has proposed.

I hope that you'll pass it.

But I'm also in tune with them.

We're short of the general fund that 13.7 million.

I'm asking y'all, I'm begging you to put that into this budget, along with the funding that came with the state and what she has already authorized for y'all to uh pants.

But I really would like to have that 13.7 in there.

D DOT needs a cushion.

We don't know what's going to happen in this next year with oil prices, with the war going on, with the man that's in the White House now.

I'm quite sure it's going to be extra things that's going to be needed.

And I'm asking you, I'm begging you, please add that 13.7 into addition in this budget for this year.

It's badly needed.

My transportation is this system is bad.

And we put the America on wheels.

We look really stupid here not to have the best transportation system in this nation.

So people can want to replicate it.

Please double DDOT.

Double D DOT.

We need to have D DOT reimagined done by 2030.

And the way we go on, we will not have enough funding.

So please give more funds to D DOT.

I thank you.

Everybody have a good evening.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Well Hemp Hill, followed by Latonya Bill, followed by Jessica Schwab.

Peace and blessings.

My name is Norell Hemphill.

I have the pleasure and honor of serving as the legal and public policy manager with the people of Detroit.

I'm here to ask council to look for options to fund water assistance and water affordability programs in Detroit.

We understand that DWSD is an enterprise system within the city of Detroit.

Howsoever, there are allocations of DO to DWSD, and we're asking for funding for water affordability and water assistance programs.

It takes about 45 million to 65 million to run water to run true water affordability in Detroit.

About 60,000 residents are low income and in need of subsidies on their water bill to make them more affordable.

We know that when people have a water bill that they can afford, they do pay it.

The Philadelphia TAP program, which is my which is modeled after Detroit, they saw a seven bill seven million dollar increase over five years of funds that were previously uncollectible.

When we did have the Detroit Lifeline Plan, just under 29,000 residents were enrolled there.

That was a reduction when funds were unavailable to 8,136 and now serving just 4,500 residents and only 45 million dollars.

Right now, for the 2026 budget season, DWSD is unsure how much money they have for that water assistance program.

Water is a public health issue.

We also need to advocate against these massive withdrawals, such as data centers.

They take water out of the system and don't return the water to it.

And then I also include our groundwater.

Finally, thank you so much, ma'am.

Thank you.

We believe in the human rights water that water should be cleaned.

I appreciate you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker, Tanya Bill, followed by Jessica Swall.

Good evening.

Good evening.

My name is Latanya Bail.

I'm co-executive director at the Wisdom Institute, a nonprofit organization with a focus on helping to improve the lives and livelihood of Black women and girls in Detroit.

Our organization serves as the co-chair of the Detroit Rights of Council coalition, navigating evictions every day.

What we witness is not failure on the part of our people.

It is the weight of systems that make stability hard to hold.

Families are doing everything they can to remain housed, but often pulled into courtrooms without support and information or representation that they deserve.

Partial investment creates gaps, and our people fall through them.

We need funding that reflects the real conditions Detroiters are facing.

Funding that honors housing as a human right and ensures that no one stands alone when facing eviction.

I strongly support the full funding of the right to counsel and stand with the Detroit Rights of Council Coalition in this ask.

We're asking for $32 million to fully fund the rights of council.

And I also want to make mention that I do also stand in solidarity with my sister NoRail, who just spoke in regards to funding for water affordability.

We ask that you please create space in the budget for water affordability.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yes.

Okay.

My name is Jessica Schwab.

I am a district, I'm a resident of District 4, and I'm here representing United Way for Southeastern Michigan.

Our nonprofit serves Oakland, Macomb, Washnaw, and of course Wayne Counties.

And on behalf of United Way, we ask that the City Council honor its commitment to our most vulnerable residents by fully funding the right to council program.

Our United Way operates the call center that serves this county.

And a third of the calls that we've received from Detroit since 2024 relate to housing in some way.

Since 2023, we've answered calls from thousands of Detroiters who need help navigating evictions.

This is an epidemic that our city is facing.

Many of the people who are calling 211 don't know where else to turn.

And when a mother or a father or grandparent calls us in a panic because they just received an eviction notice, we actually have a place to direct them.

We have a place that has their back.

We have people who can guide them through this process and make sure that they have a fair shot in court.

And tell them that, for instance, maintenance problems are defense against eviction.

Many of the people that are getting evicted are dealing with maintenance problems.

And all of this is only possible because the right to counsel program exists and because it is fully funded.

Well, not fully funded currently, but hopefully we'll be fully offended.

The only funding for eviction prevention that was included in the mayor's budget is 500,000 for outreach programs.

This is simply not sufficient.

And we know that ARPA funding will not even last till the end of 2026.

By funding the Right to Council program, we can ensure that people in crisis don't need to navigate the trauma of an eviction alone.

Thank you.

We should now transition to our online public commenters.

Um team, how many callers do we have and who do we have first?

We have 20 online, sir.

And the first caller is Ani Gregorian.

Caller, the floor is yours.

You have a minute 45 general public comment.

Hi, my name is Annika Gorian.

I'm a resident in District 5 and work with Detroit Disability Power.

And I'm here to advocate against the disabling conditions that exist in our city.

I also urge you to protect the Office of Disability Affairs funding at 1.4 million in order to advance the vital accessibility housing work across the city and other accessibility work.

And in my work, including collaborating with HRD and ODA on accessible housing projects, I've seen firsthand both the progress the city has made and the major gaps that still exist.

And we have strong recommendations on the table from our recent accessible housing study and ecosystem engagement, including the need to establish inclusive design standards that go beyond minimum code and actually meet the true needs of Detroiters with disabilities.

And the Office of Disability Affairs Strategic Plan has access uh accessible housing as a priority, but the goals cannot be implemented without sustained funding and office capacity.

So I'm asking to please protect the Office of Disability Affairs funding at 1.4 million in order to implement these recommendations and move this work forward.

And I also do want to uplift the many comments today, supporting our immigrant community members with legal defense aid and language access funding that it is vital for all of us.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Next caller is Betty A.

Varner.

Good evening to all within the sound of my voice.

I'm Betty A.

Varner, the president of the Soda Elsewhere Black Association, asking that the administration and the council will consider advocating and putting monies in a fund to help black clubs, associations, and uh organizations who are trying to do projects to improve their neighborhood.

We have been asked to buy these uh vacant lots that is in our communities and to beautify them and make them useful.

Some projects, it requires us to go to the administration to the BC department, and there's a $1,500 fee that we have to pay.

And you fill out a application.

And my understanding is this fee is part of the application process.

This reaps havoc on small groups like the Soda Ellsworth Black Association.

We want to have playground equipment on land that we have purchased from the land bank to buy uh playground equipment, and we need to get approval from the city of Detroit.

So please help us and also uh allocate monies for neighborhood corridors who have not been blessed to have the improvements that some of the corridors have received throughout the city of Detroit.

My think of corridor uh for this community.

Uh, we are working to do what we can.

We need help, we need monies.

We've had some wonderful conversations, but we need monies to help improve our corridor.

Thank you for this time and God bless you all.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Next caller is Cassandra Floyd.

Caller, the floor is yours.

You have a minute 45, general public comment.

Hi, I'm Cassandra Floyd, um, lifelong resident of District One.

I am the executive director of West Grand Bolivar Collaborative.

I'm asking that the City Council implement participatory budgeting across the districts.

PB builds trust, transparency, and accountability by letting people see exactly where public dollars go and why the greater Detroit area has received a disproportionate amount of public money for economic development while our neighborhoods continue to deteriorate.

PB helps correct this uneven investment by moving money directly into the neighborhoods that have been left behind and not downtown where much of our public dollars are already concentrated.

I also support fully funding the right to council program, one million dollars defense fund for people being detained by ICE, 750,000 general A fund for families, 250,000 to allocate to our translation language services, and I also fund I also support affordability, water is a human right, and double doubling the D dot funding over the next three years.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Next caller is Larry Donald.

All right, caller, the floor is yours.

You have a minute 45, general public comment.

Caller, are you there?

Yes.

Thank you.

My name is Larry Donald Burst.

I'm an 80-year resident of the city of Detroit, and I'm currently residing in District 7.

I'm a longtime bus rider.

And I have a problem with the budget.

The way it stands, it's uh one of those classic accounting shuffles that oftentimes leads to some kind of fraud in the private sector.

Having been an accountant, I know that.

It is my suggestion that we did not go to Lansing as a body that is advocates to have the money that we swerved so hard to have moved to the Detroit public transportation.

Use misused as it is.

It should be stacked on top of what last year's budget was from the general fund.

In addition to that, as a private citizen, I have a problem with the funding of all of these department buildings.

It defeats the purpose of revenue and citizenship in Detroit.

One of course you could buy a home for 150,000 and pay taxes.

Plus, they would be a double contribution to the city of Detroit's office.

They would not only collect employment income tax, they would also collect real estate income tax.

Now I don't understand why the city has a problem with folks getting property for legacies passed down to generations.

Thank you.

Let's call it, please.

Next caller is Maha Mamo.

Thank you, honorable council members.

My name is Maha Mammu.

And I work for Freedom House Detroit, a 43 years old organization providing shelter and wrap around services for people seeking humanitarian protection in Detroit.

I'm speaking today about the Office of Immigrant Affairs.

Now under HHFS.

Members of the Detroit Immigration Task Force advocated for a city office of immigrant affairs so that we would have partners in the city administration willing to act as a voice for immigrant residents and willing to uplift their needs with other city departments.

The city has made progress towards that goal, but still has a long way to go.

In this current climate of anti-immigrant targeting and widespread fear among immigrant Detroiters, we need our city partners to be working together to ensure they are engaging with and including the perspectives and unique needs of our immigrant neighbors.

I urge you today to fully fund the Office of Immigrant Affairs so that they can continue what has been started and ensure that every department is doing what they could do better, serve immigrant Detroiters.

Thank you so much.

Gracias.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Next caller is William M.

Davis.

Mr.

William M.

Davis, the floor is yours.

General public comment.

Good afternoon.

Could I be heard?

Yes, sir.

Okay, start off.

Uh the Detroit Land Bank.

I think the city would do much better with that if they was to start, like say a four-year plan.

Uh the first year that the land bank has to reimburse the city 25% of our expenses associated with them, you know, like cutting the grass and what have you.

And the next year, 50%.

And it's 75%.

And the fourth year, 100% reimbursement of our expenses associated with them.

I think that would be a motivation for them to do better than what they're doing.

Also, as relates to uh like the ethics um commission and the board of police commissioners, you know, I think both of them need their own private attorney.

I've known when I was a police commissioner for the entire four years, I never missed a meeting.

Um, hopefully we can encourage some people on the current board to do that also.

It'd be difficult.

Uh also, you know, I I think someone should do a study to see what the financial impact is to the city of Detroit.

Because ICE is here harassing some of our neighbors.

You know, that there has to be a curve because a lot of people don't realize a lot of immigrants do pay taxes and do support stuff.

In fact, you know, they you know pay into my social security, which is the only thing that I've gotten to make my life improve over the last 12 years since the city continues to rob city of Detroit retirees.

Y'all have a good day.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Next caller is Charles O'Bay Jr.

All right, caller, the floor is yours.

We have a minute 45 general public comment.

Hello, good afternoon.

I'm Charles Obe.

I live in District 6.

I'm publicly commenting and voicing my support in favor of allocating funding for legal defense of Detroiters detained by ICE.

Detained by ICE, forgive me.

That regards the demand for one million dollars to create a legal defense fund for families and individuals who have been detained by ICE or CBP.

750K to create a general general aid fund to support families affected by ICE adductions, abductions.

And lastly, 250K to replace California based language line services.

Mothers, fathers, and children are being taken from their homes.

It's dishonest, is dishonorable, and it's very disturbing.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Next caller is I wanna field.

All right, caller, the floor is yours.

We have a minute 45, general public comment.

Hi, my name is Joanna Littlefield Eden, Black President in District 7.

Um, I like what Ms.

Betty said.

I agree.

Um, looking out for the community.

Um, we have vacant lots that needs to be cleaned and cleared, dialed that could be used for uh neighborhood parks, basketball courts, soccer fields, and or gardens, benches outside our roads and side streets.

We could have them redone.

Homeowner and land banks um with the band and houses need to be held accountable for their property and um blight.

Uh Littlefield Eden Black Club has already started keeping our street clean.

If we uh if we can come together and get the inspectors also community relations to do their part, street by street, neighborhood by neighborhood.

Hopefully that could bring communities together to get the community clean and get our elderlies out as well as our kids.

Um, we need to get our elderly out and kids out of the house.

Everyone is cooped in the house.

We need to get everyone out, enjoy the weather, the breeze, fresh air, but also a clean neighborhood.

So we need to um get some basketball courts or put some use to put some uh benefits into these fields um that will benefit the uh children and um everyone in the community.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Next caller is Kendall Cohn.

All right, caller, the floor is yours.

You have a minute 45, general public comment.

Good evening.

Uh my name is Kendall Kuneman, and I'm a resident of District 7.

I'm also the executive director of the Detroit 2030 district, as well as the committee chair of the Detroit City Council Green Task Force, the Energy Waste Reduction Committee.

I want to voice some concerns I have regarding the Office of Sustainability Budget and Staffing, and to request that there be more clarity.

The Office of Sustainability Budget is listed under the GSD budget, but is shown under the mayor's office on the org chart.

Placing the Office of Sustainability and its budget within the mayor's office is a recognized best practice, and this structure provides the authority necessary to embed sustainability into daily city operations, foster collaboration and advance long-term resilient schools.

I was part of the team at the city of Detroit that supported the creation of the Office of Sustainability, which launched in 2017, and it was recommended that the office be under the mayor's office, but was not.

It's also unclear what the Office of Sustainability budget is.

Um the budget and staffing has always been pieced together from various departments.

Um Mayor Sheffield expressed during her campaign that the first climate priority would be to expand the office of sustainability, and she would support doubling the budget for the office.

Is the office's budget doubled?

Um, what is the budget and what staff and programs does it support?

How does it compare to the previous year?

These are some questions I have.

The language in the GSD budget regarding the Office of Sustainability line item is the same language that was included in the GSD budget last year.

So it doesn't seem that the office's staff's capacity is being doubled.

Um also the staff are divided across at least three different departments, but it's not clear what the next caller, please.

Next caller is Amy.

Hello, may I be heard?

Yes.

Thank you.

My name is Amy Hameter, and I live in District 5.

I want to start by saying how pleased I am with the mayor's budget for affordable housing.

I want to support that.

And I also want to ask for city council members to back that funding up with express support for individual projects.

It is easy to be in favor of theoretical affordable housing, but right now we have a city council member expressly opposing a proposed affordable housing development on the east side near the Butzel Rec Center, about a third of a mile from my home.

This opposition undermines the goal we're trying to achieve with this affordable housing money, which is to house more Detroiters.

I am calling on you to support the projects this money will fund that includes our at large council members.

I also want to say that I support the additional 30 million dollars for DDOT as a frequent rider of especially the Van Dyke Lafayette route and the MAC route.

We need to continue moving onward and upward on that budget.

I'd also like to do a special shout out to Mr.

Denzel McCampbell, who stood with us last year and joined our call to double D dot.

Thank you so much, sir.

It means a lot, and your support does not go unnoticed.

I yield the rest of my time.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Next caller is Matt Daniels.

Right, caller, the floor is yours.

You have a minute 45 general public comment.

Hi, my name is Matt Daniels.

I'm from District 6, and I live next to Little Cedar's Arena.

Um, in the past year, we've had two people hit by reckless drivers in Brush Park.

Uh these are both preventable by better road design.

One of these deaths was at Alfred and Brush, right next to Brush Maynor, uh senior living uh uh community.

On game days, everyone knows that the neighborhood is a circus.

Out of timers are trying to get in and out of the arena district as fast as possible.

And they park annoyingly illegally, blocking sight lines at corners, which is exactly how this individual was hit at Brush Park Manor.

After the pedestrian death, we met with the DPW and made a simple ask.

Install daylighting and curb extensions at the location of this pedestrian death.

Uh bump outs keep cars from parking too close to the corner uh so that nobody can see around them.

And DB DPW told us they wouldn't do anything because there's no budget for one off interventions, only for complete street projects at a neighborhood level.

So we have an obviously dangerous intersection, and there's no process to fix it.

We're not asking for millions of dollars, we're asking for thousands of dollars, small dollar interventions at intersections where people have already died.

We're asking the body to help create a path for targeted pedestrian safety improvements so that we don't have to wait for a full redesign to address a known danger.

Thank you.

I yield the rest of my time.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Next caller is Kathleen Carroll.

The floor is yours.

You have a minute 45 general public comment.

Are you there?

Council President.

Looks like she dropped off the call.

The next caller is Celeste Turner.

All right, Celeste Turner, the floor is yours.

You have a minute 45, general public comment.

Hello, council.

How are you this evening?

My name is Celeste Turner, and I'm representing the friends of Rogale.

We have expressed consistently a no to housing on any portion of the current Rogale Park, which is a green space along the Rudge River in District One.

However, we have been told this housing proposal is the only way to have funds for maintaining the portion of the Rogale property that will still be considered a park.

The DEGC lists 22 acres of the development site is outside of the boundary of the park.

However, you just can't divide up the road gale and pretend there is an invisible barrier between the two.

We're asking that the council advocate for budget funds that truly allow City of Detroit natural green spaces to be preserved and maintained.

We should not be asked to give up a portion of our green space to a housing proposal that does not enhance our community nor is needed at this time.

This giveaway of green space on the Rogale Park land will simply result in a peeling off of more green space of Rogue Park.

When you go onto the city's website, our park is not even listed as part of the budget.

Our preserved of Rogale Park Online Petition has currently 249 signatures in support of our efforts and is still every day increasing.

We wouldn't want the character of our community to no longer include the Rokio Park as a true green space due to a budget that doesn't consider the benefits of green spaces in our community.

I am at this time asking that the council look at all budgets and figure out a way to support what communities are requesting, including black clubs, green spaces, and additional park space.

Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you.

Next caller.

Next caller is Tyson Gersh.

All right, caller, the floor is yours.

You have a minute 45 general public comment.

Hi.

Um man.

Listen to so many of those comments.

I why did I want what did I want to say?

Um I really feel that city council's budget season, like budget review and the way that we talk about budgets.

Um needs to change.

Um, you know, LPD does an okay-ish job in its analyses.

But like you're just looking at these broad category buckets that don't actually show us the spending um and don't show us the revenues.

Like we can't tell how tax dollars are being spent, what's being purchased, and we used to do this, right?

Like open checkbook Detroit was a a mayoral commitment to full transparency, and we stopped doing that.

I don't know why we stopped doing that.

And as a member of the public, try to participate in this process.

Right, like I'm just looking at these broad numbers, and none of it means anything.

Um, you know, and I I bring this up having done this deep dive into the BZA's budget and how all of the transcript costs are hidden inside of the professional and contracts category, which also includes BZA board member stipends.

Uh, and they like pretend like they aren't paying for them or don't have the money for them, even though they're fully appropriated, like 88 grand a year for transcripts, and then they double charge members of the public.

And this would all be so obvious if you if we could actually see the numbers.

Like I wouldn't have had to search so deeply if it was just transparent, and we need to take that approach with every department.

That's I guess that's thank you.

Next caller, please.

Next caller is owner Papa.

Right, caller, the floor is yours.

You have a minute 45, general public comment.

Good afternoon, and the chair may I be heard.

Yes.

Thank you.

Uh, yes, I agree with the last caller.

Um, line 35 is a traffic calming for Kirchival in Jefferson.

Dollars came in from the government to resolve some of these issues.

And I'm not understanding why we're spending all of our money putting um humps and bumps across uh Detroit when we don't have them at parks and at schools, and that's the first uh order of business.

Uh it doesn't seem to be that we're doing this in an organized manner.

Line 37 was participatory participatory funding.

Absolutely, we need uh uh uh funding that's participatory across all districts, not in silos for you know, one district and and not another district.

Line 39 entertainment.

We don't need a tax.

We can we can levy a fee because we have to clean up behind these these games, these stadiums, and and and we have a right to charge for fees because we have to pay to have it done.

Um liability, yes, we have lots of liability and risk, and I think that we need to rethink how we're how we're doing that.

We're spending a lot of money on um liability uh insurance when it should come out of another uh bucket of money and reduce that funding.

We need to fund the right to council, we need to uh uh uh fund transportation, and we need to make water a right because it is.

We had a hundred and two hundred and sixty million dollars when this group sat down four years ago and and in excess and funds, and today it's down to uh 1.5 million, something like that.

This is how the waste goes because all tides are not lifting all boats, and my boat is sinking, but you're using my money to sink it.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Next caller is UCHC Bill Holabauer.

Caller, the floor is yours, general public comment.

Good evening, Council President, member of city council.

My name is Bill Hobber, and I'm a legal director of the United Community Housing Coalition.

I represented low-income tenants of the 30th district court both before and after the information of implementation of right to council, and the difference is undeniable.

Before right to council, many tenants walked into court alone, facing complex legal proceedings and with little understandings of the rights.

Now, with council, we see a system that better reflects fairness and due process to put the need in perspective.

There were approximately 306 landlord tenant cases cases today alone at the 30s district court, each one representing a household at risk for losing losing their home.

Without council, many of these individuals would be navigating that process entirely on their own.

This is especially critical for our most vulnerable residents, including those in subsidized housings.

For these individuals, a single adverse judgment doesn't mean just mean losing their home.

It can mean losing their housing subsidy permanently, and with it any realistic path to stable housing.

The risk of homelessness becomes immediate and severe.

Right?

The council helps ensure that the outcomes are not based on confusion or imbalance of power, but on the merits of the case.

It promotes a stability for families, preserves housing, and ultimately strengthens our communities.

I urge this council to fully fund and continue to support the right to council program in the city of Detroit.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Next caller is Alyssa.

Alyssa, the floor is yours.

You have a minute 45 general public comment.

Hi, my name is Alysabila.

I'm the director of development and communications at Urban Neighborhood Initiatives.

Uh my family has lived in the Springwells neighborhood for the last 10 years and in Southwest Detroit since they migrated here to uh the city.

Um I'm here to speak on behalf of many residents who are detained.

Um many of the detainees are also underage, and those who are who are detained also have family members who are funding for their their lives every day.

Um every day we've received we receive a call for support where residents are facing decisions on whether they will eat a meal or keep the light bill on or pay for their phone bill or pay for gas.

Um the it's necessary for us to allocate two million dollars towards supportive services, uh like legal support, legal aid defense, uh supportive services in general, and language access uh services for general residents in in the city of Detroit.

Uh, I I believe that these are essential services to help sustain the economic environment and this the sustainability of our neighborhoods and our city.

Um currently businesses won't say this, but they are struggling.

The businesses in Southwest Detroit are struggling because families are fearful of leaving their homes.

And when I've contacted precinct precinct officers to ask them how they can stay safe, they're told to shelter in place.

Um that's not a livelihood for anyone, even our senior citizens, even those next caller, please.

Next caller is Mark Bell RCS.

All right, caller, the floor is yours.

You have one minute 45 seconds.

General public comments.

Um, good evening.

My name is Raquel Garcia.

Um, like Alyssa, I also live in Southwest Detroit.

Um, many of our families and residents in this area, not only in Southwest Detroit, not only in District 6, but many of the seven districts across the city of Detroit are families that have mixed family status.

So that means that one person may have you know uh an immigration status, and others are American citizens.

And we are uh you know speaking to you today across the city to um advocate for request and advocate for and express our support um to have the city allocate funding for legal defense of Detroiters detained by ice.

Um we do not have courts that are you know just and fair or you know for the public defendants and most of these uh immigration cases and attorneys uh fees um go up to uh upwards of 10,000 for legal representation.

So when we provide um this kind of support, we're providing it for families um with small children, with um folks that are supporting families, um, working.

Um, you know, it's it's all the members of the family, not just one individual.

So we're you know, need to think about all of the entire neighborhood, the entire ecosystem of of folks in the neighborhood, and especially the small, the small children.

So um we, you know, we are excited um for this budget process.

We'd love to help and support and give more stories um about you know what we're seeing on the ground.

Again, I am calling today to support um the allocation of funding for legal defense of Detroiters, um, the chain by ice.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Next caller is Christana Gina Brown Anderson.

Caller, the floor is yours.

You have a minute 45, general public comment.

Hello.

Hello.

Hello.

Hello, we can hear you now.

Um, can I be heard?

Yes, Ms.

Harrison.

Yes.

Yes.

My name is Cranstina Anderson.

I'm a native Detroiter, a resident, community advocate, and a taxpayer.

And budget hearings and our public comments seem to be so premature when no one has requested that an audit be conducted from the previous administration's activities.

And there are two new council members and a whole new embodiment.

Three key positions representing the residents and citizens of Detroit.

Not one request to restore some confidence and proper financial oversight.

But we and I ask all people to be um diligent in making sure when they vote on the budget that they have dotted all their eyes and cross all their teeth, all the consideration of the public comments to make sure that we can come on the other side and not end up in receivership.

I see enormous amount of positions being recreated and funding going towards very high paid salaries.

It is very encouraging to see finally our city workers start receiving a living wage, but we really need to be careful of how we're overexpending too.

And each item on the budget should be considered and diligently so for all council people to do so.

Not only one district, but all of us should be at the whole and this redistricting and we have what we are knowing.

Next speaker, please.

Next caller is on Carroll.

The floor is yours.

You have a minute 45, general public comment.

Thank you.

My name is Ethel and Carroll, uh, United Block Lab Council and Midwest Tirement Area North of Warren.

And I am uh proposing that um home repair grants be made for uh moderate and higher level income persons.

Um there are three uh adjacent neighborhoods north of Warham.

We work in tangent with one another.

Uh we are fourth and fifth generation uh families.

We've been here the longest, and uh we're always on the front lines uh doing the work for our residents.

Uh, we do need money north of Warren for our parks, our alleys, our home repairs, and our business corridor from uh West Warren and the uh adjacent streets from Joe Lewis Greenway to I-96, and I do support to Superior budgeting.

It would um give stronger uh voter turnout.

And uh the residents would have a meaningful impact, impactful voice on how uh the budget is being carried out, and I do support um the others in um about the land bank, the building authority, BC, it's a nightmare, and um the right to council.

So thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

And our last caller is Christine Suave.

The floor is yours.

You have a minute 45, general public comment.

Paula, are you there?

Good evening, council.

Good evening, council members.

Thank you.

Um, as a district five resident and co-chair of the Detroit Immigration Task Force.

Um, I like so many others was glad when the city funded right to council.

And now thousands of Detroiters are facing another crisis.

Imminent detention and deportation.

Unlike in criminal court, you are not provided an attorney if you can't afford one in immigration court.

And so even babies are expected to represent themselves if they do not have an attorney.

Our neighbors are desperately in need of legal services at this moment and looking for support from the city so that they can stay with their families in the city that they know and love.

My colleagues alone have spoken to at least 350 Detroiters in immigration detention who are all facing imminent deportation.

Many of those folks have already been removed.

Um, that is just within our organization, and there are many, many others we know who are being served across the city.

We urge council to do all that you can to address this very urgent human rights issue.

Um, the 30 members of our task force also ask that you fully fund language access services so that CREO can regularly train department staff.

immigration detention who are all facing imminent deportation many of those folks have already been removed um that is just within our organization and there are many many others we know who are being served across the city we urge council to do all that you can to address this very urgent human rights issue um the 30 members of our task force also ask that you fully fund language access services so that CREO can regularly train department staff we're also hoping to continue the Detroit ID program and fully fund the Office of Immigrant Affairs so that they can complete the strategic plan process that was started in 2023 the office has been around for 11 years and has never had a plan and our immigrant communities are in need of this office more than ever thank you for your attention I appreciate your service thank you next caller please that is the end of public of all the callers I'm sorry thank you so much it takes us to the end of our public comments and takes us to the end of our public hearing Mr.

Corley Mr.

Whitaker is there anything you want to add before we adjourn.

Colleagues anything you want to add before we adjourn leadership sir.

Thank you is there a motion to adjourn see no objections that action shall be taken this meeting is adjourned