And welcome to our last session before City Council recess.

And just want to remind everyone, recess does not mean vacation for everybody.

But some of us will be taking vacation.

Call it out right now.

But what it does mean is it gives us an opportunity to uh just kind of regroup, clean the office up and uh go out to a lot of those community events that you all are having, and we want to make sure that we're there and be able to share that time with you.

Uh with a regular session of Tuesday, July 28th.

I will now come to order.

Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?

Sure, Mr.

President.

Councilmember Scott Benson.

Scott Benson, I council member Letitia Johnson present.

Council Member Denzel and Tom McCampbell.

Present.

Council Member Gabriela Santiago Romero present.

Council Member Mary Waters, present, Councilmember Angela Whitfield Callaway.

House President Pro Tim Coleman the second.

Here.

Houncil President James Tate.

Here.

Mr.

President, you have a form.

Thank you, man.

We have a corners meetings, but now in session.

For those of you who would like to speak before this body, we're going to give you an opportunity.

There is a portion called public comment where you can speak to this body on whatever issue that you like.

But you got to fill out a comment card, and we can put you in the queue.

If you're at home, same thing.

Raise your hand and we'll make sure we put you in the queue for that public comment.

We're going to be closing or cutting off the collection of public comments very, very shortly.

I would like to uh providing this morning's invitation.

We will have none other than Pastor Stephanie Jones.

She's a senior pastor of Park of Deliverance Church, located at 5440 Avenue in City Council District 6.

Pastor Jones is a lifelong Detroit resident and is faithfully served at the Ark of Deliverance for uh nearly since it's uh since its establishment, excuse me.

Uh, after years of ministry and leadership, she was appointed senior pastor in 2014.

Good morning, uh, as the senior by the church's founder, Pastor Robert T.

Jones.

We know him very well.

Uh her ministry is rooted in serving both the congregation and the surrounding community, uh, a commitment that was recognized in 2024 with the power of one dedicated woman award from Michigan Community Resources.

Pastor Jones, thank you for being here.

The floor is yours, man.

Thank you.

With bowed heads and lifted hearts, dear Lord, we thank you for the gift of life and the opportunity to serve the people of the city of Detroit.

A proverbial wisdom book instructs us in all your ways, acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy path.

So, Lord, we acknowledge you today and pray that you guide us so that this meeting will be productive and effective.

Strengthen us as we make tough decisions, help us to listen with understanding and goodwill to speak with clarity and charity and restraint and conviction.

Most importantly, give us a spirit of service.

Remind us that we are stewards of your authority, guide us to be the leaders that the people of the city of Detroit need and most importantly, trust.

Help us to see the humanity and dignity of those who disagree with us and to treat all persons with the reverence of your creation that we deserve.

And finally, Father, renew us with the strength and the presence and the joy of helping to build a thriving community.

Community, we ask this as your sons and daughters, confident that you hear us in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Thank you so much, Pastor Jones.

Uh, understand if you have a schedule, but you are always welcome to stick and stay with us uh during our session.

Uh the journal of the last session shall stand approved.

Before we go forward with the agenda, we do have a few presentations that we would like to deliver, and we will start off with uh member Johnson.

Thank you, um, Mr.

Chair.

Um good morning, everyone.

Uh this morning, I have the honor and privilege to recognize the outstanding team behind the city of Detroit's Renewed Detroit Essential Home Repair Program.

I would like to ask for the entire team if they would come and stand in front of us so we can all know who it is that we are recognizing as they come down.

As they come down, many of us know that this program was funded through the American Rescue Plan Act, Renewed Detroit.

Actually, we can get them in here in front of us.

In front of us, I'd like for someone to be right there at the podium to get ready to speak in recognition of the entire team and all of the hard work that you all have done.

So the Renewed Detroit program was created with a simple but powerful mission to help income qualified Detroit homeowners preserve their health, safety, and housing stability by providing critical home repairs.

Through two phases of service focused on essential roof and window repairs, the Renew Detroit team worked tirelessly to support some of our city's most vulnerable residents.

What made this program truly remarkable was not only the scale of the work, but the care and commitment behind every single project.

The team balanced complex construction management, regulatory requirements, fiscal responsibility, and meaningful resident engagement to ensure homeowners receive the support they needed.

Since launching in 2021, the Renew Detroit team has achieved extraordinary results.

Collectively, they completed more than two thousand major home repairs.

They conducted nearly 2,500 property assessments, resolved hundreds of resident service requests, on board at 12 contractors, successfully administered a $15 million MISTIR grant within 16 months, and maintained an impressive 96.2 resident satisfaction rating.

They also facilitated more than 24,000 stakeholder interactions through phone calls, emails, and written communication, ensuring residents remain informed, supported, and connected throughout the process.

These accomplishments required exceptional teamwork and daily collaboration across construction, inspections, finance, procurement, and program operations.

Each member of the Renew Detroit team played a vital role in moving projects from application to completion while keeping residents at the center of their work.

The impact of this team has been recognized throughout the state and beyond.

Renew Detroit has been highlighted by the citywide home repair task force, named a recipient of MISTIS 2024 Video of the Year and honored with Mistress 2025 Success and Monitoring Award.

In 2024, the team achieved an incredible milestone by completing one thousand one hundred and eleven roof replacements in a single calendar year.

Today today we celebrate not only the numbers and accomplishments, but the dedication, innovation, and compassion that made those achievements possible.

Each team member brought unique skills and expertise that strengthened the program and advanced its mission of improving housing quality and stability for Detroit homeowners.

Please join us in congratulating and recognizing the exceptional Renew Detroit team for their commitment to service, excellence, and the residents of the City of Detroit.

And I would like to just recognize each one of you individually.

I hope I say your name correctly.

There's one name I know I'm going to get incorrect, but we do have a spirit of Detroit award here for you as well as a pen.

We have Rashida Bradley, who's program manager and deputy director.

Wave your hand.

Brittany Drake, the program specialist and construction manager.

Travis Mikadori McDory, Housing Inspector, Project Superintendent, Construction Analyst.

Scott Obomanu, Program Specialist.

Justin Rayner, Program Specialist, Senior Program Manager.

Gillian Coney, Program Specialist, Senior Program Specialist.

Melissa Malone, program specialist.

Alexandria Hayes, program assistant, program specialist.

Marilyn Morant, housing inspector, construction project superintendent.

Raj Johns, housing inspector.

Bra Jay, Raj.

Johns, Rajay Johns.

And Mark Robinson, housing inspector.

Russell Norris III, housing inspector.

Emma Bassett, University of Michigan, Europe intern, data specialist.

Noel Merritt, team assistant, invoicing specialist.

And last but certainly certainly not least, Darlene Carl, senior operations analyst, senior operations manager and director.

As we all know, ARPA funding is coming to a conclusion this year, and we just wanted to recognize the amazing work this team has done to provide support to our residents throughout the city of Detroit.

I drive through the neighborhoods and just see new roofs.

And I'm really, really pleased at what I've seen.

We know that there is more that needs to be done.

But this is a tremendous effort, uh, tremendous work that you all have done, and it is certainly commendable.

I remember being uh in the community with several of you when the first roof was done in District 4.

So we appreciate you.

We appreciate your commitment and dedication to our residents, and we applaud and honor you for the amazing work that you were able to do within this time.

Thank you.

Okay.

Yep, we should come.

Um, this exceptional team of people who have come together from all different walks of life with different skill sets, different thoughts, different ideologies, different backgrounds, um, and we're still able to come together and serve a singular purpose, which was to renew Detroit.

It was an insurmountable task, and I will not stand here and act like it was easy any single day.

There were days when folks thought we couldn't do it.

There were days we thought we could not do it.

But when you do what has never been done, it takes a level of grit and hustle and thought that we possessed.

We had to believe in ourselves.

And so I am so very proud, along with all of you on City Council who helped us, sharpened us, challenged us, because had it not been for that, we would not be standing here today.

Alongside all of the residents we've served over 2,000 of them, over 2,600 of which we've interacted with.

We have changed lives.

Has it been perfect?

No.

Has it been without strife?

No.

But at the end of the day, we have bettered lives in a way that no one across this country, we've checked, has been able to do in the time frame that we have done.

And so I just want to take this opportunity for you all to take a look at us.

We are Renew Detroit.

We are Detroiters, we are passionate.

We did great, great work.

We hope that we can serve as a model for those who are watching this right now, because this is exceptional.

It took city council, it took our city departments, our stakeholders, our community partners, our contractors.

It took so much grit that we would need to be here for days for us to be able to explain it, and we don't have the luxury of that time.

So in that stead, I'm going to say in this moment, thank you.

We brought some thank you cards for all of you as well at City Council.

We'll be handling those out now.

And we just want to leave here with a spirit of gratitude.

We want to share with you a spirit of gratitude because it's in that spirit that we'll be able to continue to serve our residents.

At the end of the day, we are Detroiters too.

It is our communities too.

It is our neighborhoods too.

And so we are here to make them better and to continue to renew them.

And whether we are here or not, we hope that the foundation that we have laid will continue to benefit us for years to come.

So thank you.

So much.

You said some things up there.

I saw you walking down.

Thank you for my account.

Just big air hug.

Love all y'all.

Thank you.

All the work you've been doing.

Really appreciate it.

It definitely makes a difference.

Definitely makes a good thing.

Huge thank you.

All right, we're all set.

Member Johnson.

Yes, thank you.

All right.

Thank you all.

And like I said, we're going to take a photo with you once we get past the other presentations as well.

Y'all give them a round of applause as they take their seats.

They take their seats.

Give them a round of applause if they take their seats.

All right, there we go.

Yes.

Amen.

All right.

Proto him.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

The value of work is measured not only by what it produces, but by the lives it improves.

And this gentleman has made lives better through negotiating fair wages, better working conditions, and the best contracts.

He has raised the quality of living.

He has fought for people who couldn't fight for themselves.

And people who couldn't get a job or were being mistreated on the job would be able to go to him and he would make it happen.

It is my honor and privilege to present this spirit of Detroit Award, presented as an expression of the gratitude and esteem of the people of Detroit to the significantly important and tremendously viable Shetron Collier, president of Amalgamated Transportation, Yu Yi Local 46.

Come on down.

And since this is requested by the eternal advocate for transit, Mr.

Cunningham, can you come down as well as Director Kramer come down too?

And Corporation Council Malik, you come down as well since you negotiated contract.

Yeah, give a round of applause.

Four years as president, 20 years on the ATU local 26 executive board, 33 years as transportation equipment operator for the Detroit Department of Transportation.

I come from a strong union background.

I was born and raised here, a hard working middle class family man.

So hard work came for me naturally.

That was what was embedded in me as a child.

I have to have superheroes mentality.

I'll go on out there.

I'll go out here and to save people because I'm telling you, I have empathy for the people who were out there and showed up every day and just did my job.

And I know my drivers will do the same.

I would like to build on the successes of those that came before me to keep my membership strong and to help the city of Detroit provide the service to the people out there who need it the most, our passengers.

The wage increase maximum of $25 an hour will help the drivers and passengers of Detroit.

I just wanted to say thank you, President DeCallier for those words and your tremendous service.

Call it for those words.

And depending on it's calling.

I'm sorry for the fresh on there.

I'll try to be fancy.

Call here.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

I'll sorry.

I'll try to be fancy.

It's okay, my son pronounced it.

Little sometimes pronounce it live.

I'm sorry.

Uh you are indeed a champion for the people of Detroit.

You are an asset to our great city, Detroit.

We thank you and are eternally grateful for your tireless efforts, exceptional achievements, outstanding leadership, and dedicated devotion that lives the spirits and hearts of all the people of Detroit, Michigan, and America.

The Honorable Coleman A.

Young II, Detroit City Council President Protep Ray at large, with the entire honorable Detroit and City Council, Detroit Michigan, proud to present this spirit of Detroit award to Chathrole Collier.

Thank you.

Anything you like to say, sir?

So first uh first of all, I'd like to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who has put me in these positions in my life to be the success that I have been.

Second of all, there's no way that I could have got up every day and I'm gonna try not to be emotional.

Uh take that do what I did every day if it wasn't for my wife.

So I like you guys give my wife, Amy Carter.

And again, um, I was raised in a home.

I was fortunate to be raised in the home with both my parents, and I saw them work very hard.

They worked at General Motors, they were strong union people.

So again, it was embedded in me in the beginning.

I I didn't know anything else to do but to get up and go to work like I was supposed to do, and then to be able to make where I work a better place is what got me involved in the union.

I work very hard on behalf of my membership, and I can tell you for each one of you sitting up there, and everyone in this room who has ever stood in a position of leadership, your desire is always to leave something better off than you found it, and I was able to accomplish that again.

I I'm a strong lifelong Detroiter, and I raised my children here.

They all attended Detroit public school, they all were able to go to college.

Uh, this bus, driving this bus every day has taken me somewhere I couldn't have dreamed of.

When I walked on a job at 26 years old, I had a dream, and with my hard work and the grace of God Himself, it has taken me past the dream I had.

I can't even imagine uh back when I first started that I would be standing here.

Uh I just wanted to be able to provide uh a steady life as a hardworking man to my family, and God has lifted me way past that.

And so I am so grateful uh to him, my family, my children who also contributed to me.

They gave me the drive and support that I needed.

Um, and again, to each one of you, I will pray for each one of you so that at some point you can feel the feeling of what it's like to actually leave something better off than you found it because it's a very hard job.

There are many obstacles.

Uh, people throwing arrows at your back.

You gotta crawl under, over and around things to just get small things done, but each victory will help you win the war.

And so I will stay a committed Detroit.

Again, I'm I'm a Detroiter who didn't have to stay here.

I chose to live here and raise my family.

I love my city, I love my union, and I love my family and God himself.

Thank you.

Mr.

Collier, it is an honor and privilege to uh be here today while you receive this honor.

We've been working with you and ATU for well over a decade now, and you are continually to come through for the residents of Detroit.

You have represented your uh clients and your bosses with honor and dignity and respect, and I really do appreciate about that about you.

You are very responsive.

If we have concerns or issues or questions, you uh respond quickly and you make yourself and your and your bosses available at a moment's notice to answer questions and to help uh eliminate any concerns that we may have.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair, Mr.

Collier.

Just want to say thank you for your dedication and commitment um and your service and always um seeing everyone as individuals, being respectful of everyone.

I thank you for going on a ride along with me.

Uh, we were out standing on the street waiting for the bus together and witnessing uh improvements that needed to be made.

But for you, thank you for being there on the ground, always doing the work and being committed not only to um the union members, but to the residents in the city of Detroit.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Good morning, everyone to the chair, Mr.

Collier.

When I saw your name on our agenda, my heart dropped because they were losing a true union brother.

And to my union brother, I just wanted to say your unwavering commitment to ATU Luck with 26 has been an attestament to Detroit City workers because you fought years to improve those benefits and wages.

And then last contract, I was honored to stand there and protest with you at the Kilpatrick Transit Center to stand there and wave our signs and say, listen, no more.

We cannot allow other transit systems to run through our city, and our workers get paid six dollars less today.

You fought hard for that, right?

You fought right hard for those union brothers and sisters, and they deserve to have a fair wage comparable to other transit centers uh systems and the respect that they deserve by just Detroit alone.

It was long overdue.

And shame on us for not doing it uh ahead of time.

But I wanted to say I support you, I would continue to support the union, and that's the union brother and sister, solidarity forever in Jesus' name.

All right, thank you.

Pastor President, thank you.

I mean, when you have someone who has service uh with this city um over 20 plus years, you've seen a lot, you've been through a lot, and you made a huge change, a huge difference, and you've changed a lot.

Um, I just appreciate uh the way that you approach everything with a level of professionalism.

And while you have uh while you ascended to be the president of ATU, you never lost sight of the main goal is to take care of the folks that we see out here, the community, those who rely on uh our uh public transportation to get to and from the doctor's appointments to get their kids to and from where they need to go to just every day-to-day life.

So thank you uh for your service.

Uh, and I am minded uh when I have men of your uh stature uh come before us and you're getting uh accolades uh to not forget a very important person in your life, and that is your wife.

Uh, because you're she she allows you to do the things that you are able to do, uh, and you go through those ups and downs, those journeys together as a team.

So uh God bless you in your whatever you intend to do moving forward, uh, and just know that you still have at least nine um folks you can lean on uh in the thank you, council president.

Okay, question that I just wanted to say really quickly that during COVID, I'm reminded of Jason Hargrove, and I think that that is the quite essential definition of the D Dot transit operators, people who were willing to sacrifice their lives so that people could get to and from and words cannot express how thankful we are to you and the leadership that you provided during those tough times.

Um, I also am reminded of people who have to walk through the snow to get to work, and because of the service that you provide, you are preventing that from happening from people who can't afford transit, people who get stuck in places and can't get out of their senior citizens who have gotten lost because the services that you provide, and because the excellence and the kindliness in which you provided that, we have addressed those issues, and so I just want to say from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for your service.

It will not be forgotten.

Thank you, Councilman.

Y'all did anybody else want to say something at all?

Go ahead, Ms.

He's always been uh one call away, and he's willing to talk to the upper echelon, the peon, and whatever.

He's always been there.

Um in extracurricular in our private meetings we have about different issues.

He's in those calls.

He didn't have to be, but he chose to be all of the orgs.

Um, and he was in there giving out great advice, um, great perspective, and I think it came from the Holy Spirit, uh, those those wise perspectives that he would bring to the meetings that he did not have to be in.

And um, we're gonna miss them.

I'm gonna miss them.

We we do Zoom meetings about the Wayne County Millage about doubling D Dot, just different other issues.

And he will join those meetings, be very, very, very insightful.

And I I just say agape, agape love.

We appreciate you.

The 313 loves Mr.

Collier.

He's good people.

And uh thank him.

And thank you, Council Pro Tim, for doing that.

Appreciate you.

Good morning, Council.

Uh it's an it's been an honor for me in my year and a half at D DOT.

Uh, but I've known President Collier longer than that in the transit world.

And as I say often, the uh transit equipment operator is the most difficult job that we have at D Dot.

And I think that President Collier has done yeoman's work for many years representing the spirit and the passion and the dedication it takes, and has always done just a fantastic job talking to young people in particular, looking for their next career about the impact that you've heard again here this morning, the impact that it's had on him and his family and the pride that he's taken in the role he's played uh moving people around the city of Detroit.

So just has been an honor again.

Um really uh look forward to what is next for him, well deserved.

Um, but it really has been incredible for us, and it was an honor also to be involved here with the uh uh really generational change in contracts last time around that represents decades of uh ATU and President Collier really fighting for uh preparing uh between uh D D dot and other uh equipment operators in the region.

So again, it's been an honor, and I think his accomplishments speak for themselves, but appreciate the opportunity to acknowledge him.

Good morning.

I really hadn't Mr.

President intended on saying anything, but this particular moment moved me.

My father, as many of you know, was the director of the Department of Transportation for the City of Detroit under Coleman A Young.

More importantly, a former president of the union, Hubert Holly, the name that I know that Mr.

Collier we knows and remembers, was one of the men who shaped me as I came into political and public service.

Without Hubert Holly, without the bus drivers, without the guidance that the first district political leadership provided me, I would not be standing here before you today.

We all owe a debt along the way to various people.

And it wasn't until Mr.

Collier a few minutes ago that I had thought about Hubert for about two or three years.

A man who was so important to this city, so important to me, and so important to D Dot.

Uh, that it's just my privilege to stand here today, Mr.

Collier, and thank you for your work and to remind all of us of the tremendous contribution uh that the transit workers make for this city every single day.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

And we again will come down and we will take some photos uh after we um wrap up this last presentation.

So thank you again.

Thank you all.

All right, absolutely.

For our final presentation, we have uh recognition for gentlemen who most of you have never heard the name, don't see him, uh but fingerprints are on a number of uh legal opinions, legal documents and activities that are taking place that have uh worked to safeguard the interests of the city of Detroit.

And that is none other than attorney uh Eric Gobbo.

Can you come on down, please?

After 20 acres, come on this.

We want to bring him on this side of the table slash bench.

Congratulations, sir.

Yeah, absolutely.

So 28 years is a long time.

You've had an opportunity to see the city as a dead and it flow, the whole roller coaster that we talked about earlier.

A major part of many of these pieces of litigation that has helped us in many different ways.

When we talk about impact, just give you a little brief information.

I'm not gonna read the whole testimony resolution, but uh Eric Bigabo joined the city of Detroit uh law department in 1998 as a member of the state bar uh of Michigan and having graduated from the Michigan State University and U of M law school.

I knew it was gonna be somebody.

Uhtorney Gabo has represented the city of Detroit and his its employees, uh, and in the Wayne County Circuit Court, uh, Michigan Court of Appeals, uh Michigan Supreme Court, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan and six six, excuse me, sixth circuit court of appeals.

Mr.

Gabo has uh offered meticulous and scrupulous uh advocacy on behalf of the city of Detroit and its employees for 28 years, both inside and outside of the courtroom, and it's been recognized by judges of the state of Michigan and the federal bar as well as opposing counsel for his cogent legal uh writing and exhaustive research.

He's risen to become one of the most distinguished litigators in the history of the city of Detroit, uh, zealously uh furthering the city's interests while furthering the highest ethical standards.

Uh, ladies and gentlemen, y'all please give a round of applause to Mr.

18 years of service.

Well, uh yeah, thank you for those kind words.

Um I just want to say it's been an honor and a privilege to work for the city and be able to help the city in whatever way that I can.

Um I couldn't have done that without the support of the department and the other departments and my family, of course, my wife.

Good job.

And of course, my dog Frank and my children, but uh I really don't have much else to say other than it's been a long journey.

Um I think I've worked as hard as I could.

I've tried to work with uh integrity and honesty, and uh I guess everything comes to an end, though.

So thank you again.

Come on down.

Had the most recent pleasure working with this gentleman.

I'm gonna give you an opportunity to say a few words as well.

So can I have all the law departments stand up?

Eric, these are men and women who have worked with you every day.

They know you to be a man of integrity, they know how hard you've worked, they've known that on more than one occasion.

Jim Naseder and myself have had to say, Eric, you've got to go home.

There's no more to be done today.

You will be missed, and you will leave an intellectual gap in the law department.

It'll be very, very hard for us to fill.

Ladies and gentlemen, Eric is the person to whom we give all the hard cases.

So, I mean, think about this.

We were sued by a group of uh landlords who believed that we had unfairly manipulated the COVID reimbursement system where they got paid, tenants got supported, and somehow or another, because of the rules that we put in place that the properties that received the support had to come into compliance with the ordinance that we had imposed on them an unreasonable burden that was unconstitutional.

Eric won that case for us, and it was a class action suit that would have been Mr.

President, consequential uh had we lost.

Eric took on all of that work, he took on all of those kinds of burdens, and he has been doing it for a very, very long time, functioning at a very, very high level uh for decades.

And so Angie, we appreciate all the time away from home that you and your family allowed him to spend on our behalf.

We will miss you, Eric, in ways that you don't quite understand.

And while I haven't said this out loud, Angie, I'm telling you right now, we are gonna call.

What would you have done?

Where should we look so uh this is this is a great moment for you and for your family, my friend.

I appreciate you very, very, very much.

And for once for truth, you will be missed.

Thank you all.

And have selected to stay with us.

And as many of you know, municipal and public service, it's a calling, it is a mission.

It is not one where you come to become wealthy, it is a place you go to make a difference and to impact and provide the best quality of life for the residents of the city of Detroit that you possibly can.

Smart men recognize their wives, and I I've known Angie for a number of years being in the nonprofit sector as well.

And so it's always good to know that behind and beside every smart man is also a wise and smart woman who helps to guide and lead the family as well.

So you have done great jobs on many fronts, uh, attorney Gablow.

And so just we want to say fair wins following C's to you on your future endeavors as well.

Thank you.

Okay.

So this is where the ballot.

Right now, we're at them, guys.

Okay.

If they make their way to the seas, everyone give them another round of applause for our honories for today, please.

They earned it.

They earned it.

Well, the reason why we take that time is because for so many, all you hear is negative.

And all you hear is what folks aren't doing.

So we always want to lift up those individuals who are doing the work that you want as residents of the city of Detroit.

So we appreciate them and we want to make sure that we show that appreciation.

All right.

I thought I saw Deputy Clerk Gilbert in the house.

Absolutely.

So thank you all for allowing me a few minutes to give a couple words.

Uh first want to thank you all, or those that could attend our block party for making it a success, uh, helping us get the word out for early voting.

Um, I wanted to give you an update on our early voting competition, our nine-day competition that's going from now until August 2nd.

Right now, District 2 is currently in the lead with the most with the highest turnout, those in voting early, follow by district five, and then district six, and those following behind, you still got time to catch up and and help your constituents get that vote out.

So uh don't want to be before you long.

Again, this will be going until August 2nd.

The winning district will receive a district-wide celebration.

Uh, and then beyond that, I just want to remind people that early voting is now until August 2nd.

We have a early voting district, early voting center in each of our districts from nine to five, nine to five, and then we have one downstairs in this building in room 106.

So if you haven't voted yet, you still have time.

We want to encourage people to get out, vote early, and help your district claim its rights to being the highest turnout district when it comes to early voting.

So again, thank you, and hope to see everyone at one of our early vote centers.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for the update.

And we'll be having you come back every once in a while uh post the uh primary because I think it's important to constantly drill that in the folks, and I just for us to wait until before uh voting time.

We got to keep that in the minds of all.

So thank you again for the work, Mr.

Chairman.

Regular base, Mr.

Chairp.

Um member McCampbell.

I just have a question for the deputy clerk, real quick.

Sorry.

Um we had we got this question yesterday in PHS.

I'm not sure we got the answer yet.

But on I know there is free fare on the buses on election day.

Is that the same for paratransit as well?

Working on that and should happen in November.

All right.

Okay.

I think there's an announcement coming this week because a little bit louder, right?

Yes, and then we'll have a press conference this Thursday at 11 p 11 a.m.

at uh WC3.

So we'll give more information there.

All right, thank you.

Yep.

Thank you so much.

All right.

As I mentioned earlier, the public comment collections have now concluded.

Uh, there being no reconsiderations or unfinished business, we will proceed with the budget finance and audit standing committee, madam clerk.

Two reports from various city departments.

The two reports will be referred to the budget finance and audit standing committee for the internal operations standing committee.

Submitted or two memorandums, the two memorandums will be referred to the internal operations standing committee for the planning and economic development standing committee.

Four reports from various city departments.

The four reports will be referred to the planning and economic development standing committee for the public health and safety standing committee.

Ten reports from various city departments.

The 10 reports will be referred to the public health and safety standing committee.

We will now move to voting action matters.

Under other matters, madam clerk.

There are no items, Mr.

President.

Under communications from the mayor and other governmental officials and agencies.

We will now call for public comment and want to let everyone.

So we're gonna give everyone two minutes.

All right, so we're gonna give uh I I take that back because I just totally got uh downloaded by a number of folks.

Uh, a minute 45.

We give everyone a minute 45 for public comment this morning, a minute 45.

And uh, for those who are not familiar with our processes, we as the body are not going to go back and forth.

We will allow everyone to uh provide their comments, everyone both in person and online, and then we will provide comment uh from that standpoint.

So once your time is up, I've got to be fair to everyone and give everyone the same amount of time when your time is indeed up.

Please remove yourself from the microphone if you're in person and allow the next person to speak.

Thank you.

Our first speaker is Ms.

Char Williams, followed by Betty Lyons, followed by Daryl Stewart.

So red turn screen.

Hello through the chair.

Um, I like to talk about voting yesterday.

What I see.

Um, I went to go vote.

I've been voting since I was 18 on West Grand Boulevard.

Last week the clerk was here talking concerning, talking about how the what they are doing to make sure people are not voting, and I mean everything is complying through the laws.

So peep this people.

This is for the citizens of Detroit.

When you get out of prison, you can get a job through the any TIP agency, and I know for a fact a lot of people that came home from prison, they uh they working at these polls.

I don't have a problem with that, but I this is what the problem I do have with the legal vote.

See, you get the vote in your real name, like I said, and then in your fake name, early voting.

That's the key right there.

I'm there, they had an earbus on.

That's not acceptable.

And like I said, how could they even get a fake name?

They have to have a social security card, a birth certificate to go to the Secretary of State Office to become someone new, and this is why we have ex offenders and non-American citizens on the Detroit police department and working all around the city.

This is for you culminate young contract, Walker Miller, Charles Wright Museum.

I see all this.

Um Miller, they come in the back door and come out the front door.

I'm talking about ex-offenders that's coming from the third.

I don't have a whole lot of time, but like I said, if you see what I see, the bad people carrying the weapons, and if you didn't have anything to hide, you can come to work with your weapon and don't have to worry about it.

So much our next speaker, Betty Lyons, followed by Daryl Stewart, followed by Cassandra Rodriguez.

Okay, you're talking about how you receive these negative uh comments.

Well, I'm gonna tell you about the over 600 million dollars and stolen property tax that y'all sit behind that evil satanic doogan, and you said nothing.

Am I supposed to come up here positively and say I got my money?

No, I can't.

I'm telling the truth, but you continue with your satanic acts, the Leland tenants.

I will never forget how you sit and set all those months or years, and how they were constructively evicted.

You helped the slum lords more than you did the tenants, and these lawyers they are pitiful, they don't come to the aid of the uh people, they come to the aid of the wrongdoers, the wrongdoers of the slum lords, they continue to help the slum lords, giving them more money and taking away from the tenants.

So, no, I have nothing positive to say to a group of people who are evil, waters uh uh allow Romero seduced Waters to go on television and talk and for the illegal immigrants, but yet she won't speak positively for the people of Detroit who have money that was stolen, and that attorney Gabin included all right.

Uh Daryl Stewart.

Uh one minute and 45 seconds.

Good morning, counsel.

Of course, you guys know me.

I've been here before speaking on behalf of the Leland.

And um that's over in the meeting.

Okay, the phone closer to you.

It's over in the media.

Okay, definitely over there.

But the residual facts and spoke up before a continuing.

We had the financial thing I talked about, the emotional, mental, and physical things.

People are actually going to hospital from stress.

But here's the big one.

The retrieval of our property.

You're saying what do you mean by that?

It didn't work.

It was boxed.

There was two parts to it.

The second part, which we couldn't be present for.

Property came out, which we're finding now going to storage, is missing and it's damaged.

We weren't there.

We did not have fair representation of us being able to monitor what was done in our places.

Because we weren't there, stuff come out.

Damaged, and it's missing.

Not saying it's stolen, it's still in the building.

It's empirical.

Say that word.

It's a fact.

A scene still sitting in the lock.

Did not make it out to storage.

It's sitting in a sealed up building.

And I guarantee you, on the floors above, people's property is sitting up there now.

That building is full of treasures.

Right now, people are actually very upset.

Last man shook up stuff gone.

We were coerced into doing this deal because of fear of loss of property.

So we went through with it.

Well, property is lost and damaged now.

So I'm gonna keep it brief like that.

Thank you.

Keep that in mind.

Next speaker, Cassandra Rodriguez, followed by Issa Cross, followed by Rue Rodriguez.

I do apologize if I mispronounced your narrative.

Hi, my name is Cassandra.

I'm here representing a local community organization called El Comité de Action Comunitaria or Dictory Community Action Committee.

I'm here to say I do think it's shameful that you guys are taking an entire month off for recess.

I think a lot of us, it's already hard to come to these meetings.

They're on Tuesday at 10 a.m.

in the middle of the work week when most people should be working.

They're taking their time out of their days to come here, and you guys get an entire month off for August, followed by September, and then October, where you're gonna take another month off.

So essentially you're getting just the month of September where we get to come here and talk with you guys.

And I think that's very shameful.

That's very shameful because this is a community outreach that you guys get to have that you're not gonna be doing for the entire month of August and then the entire month of October.

And I think that's shameful.

I think that's very shameful.

I the the city of Detroit, it doesn't go anywhere while you guys are gone.

We're still we're still here.

There are citizens and residents that still need stuff from you guys, and every time that you're not here, you're not being held accountable to them.

People should be able to come here to these meetings and speak to you guys directly.

And I think it's completely shameful that you guys do not have that during the month of August and October, knowing damn well you're gonna have a bunch of holiday recess during the holidays, during Thanksgiving and Christmas while you guys are not here enjoying your community events or reflecting on what your campaigns have been doing.

There's people being deported in your streets, there's children, teens being shot up by your police department.

You guys seriously need to reconsider how you're spending our tax dollars.

Thank you, Miss Rodriguez.

Uh, I would hope that you'll stay until the end so we can respond back to you as well so you can hear the some information.

I know so you can hear.

Thank you so much.

All right, Mrs.

Krauss.

Um, hello, my name is Issa Krauss.

Um, I am with Detroit Community Action Committee, uh, urging for Detroit to be declared a sanctuary city.

As a concerned citizen, I am very disappointed in Detroit Council's lack of actions and the questionable ones when chosen.

The lack of care is felt I have felt from this council has been nothing but pure apathy.

It is very disheartening to see those who are meant to care for the city.

On top of that, we see each and every one of you going on a month-long break.

The city does not pause for a month, and neither does any of the citizens living in it.

Detroit has been crawling with ice officers and still continues to embed fear into our neighbors.

We even saw how DPD assisted in an ice raid on uh June uh 30th.

This action says more than anything I have heard in this room thus far.

We have a responsibility to our immigrant communities that have helped build this city to ensure our undocumented neighbors are protected, not prosecuted.

Thank you.

All right, our next speaker, Ru Rodriguez, followed by Washad of Steward, followed by Brother Cunningham.

Hello, I'm Rue Rodriguez.

I'm here once again to urge the city council to pass sanctuary policies in the city of Detroit, such as ending DPD ICE collaboration and city information sharing with ice.

Uh, I was there at that ice raid on June 30th, um, which I know Gabriela Santiago Romero showed up at that rate as well, uh, doing some investigation as to whether DPD was present or not.

Uh, I heard I I did overhear you saying that DPD that you had called DPD and they said that they did not come to the scene that day.

So I think it's very clear that there is a lack of honesty happening coming from the city, whether that be from police or city council.

Um, I think yeah, the police are not being held accountable to uh saying whether or not saying that they are not collaborating with ice when they clearly are.

And I do think that's shameful, and I think it needs to be looked into.

And I think we do need to work on getting some policies in place to prohibit that behavior.

Um, I think if the council can agree to spend millions of dollars on a shot spotter contract uh for the supposed purpose of making residents feel safer, I think you should be extending those protections to our immigrant communities as well.

And uh, I also think it was pretty shameful last meeting because that same day there was the city council meeting right here that day, where uh Gabriela said that black Detroiters did not want sanctuary city.

This was based off the comments of two people, I think that day.

Uh I don't think two black Detroiters speak for the entire community.

Um, yeah, I think we need to get those protections in place.

And yeah, that's all I have to say.

Thank you.

All right, our next speaker, Rachela Seward, followed by Brother Cunningham, followed by Adrian Jimenez.

Good morning, council.

My name's Rochilla Stewart, Life Lone Detroiter.

I want to say congratulations to President Clayer.

Thank you all for giving him that spirit of war, Detroit, because it's very deserving of him.

He's always been in a listen to us, always doing whatever he could to get the things we asked for.

And I want to go back to two things on this ballot that's coming up, it's getting close, August the 4th.

We got that Wayne County Transit transit village on there, and our school tax.

Please turn your ballots over.

Please, please get out and vote.

These are two very important issues.

I'm not saying the elections for the politicians is not important.

They are too.

So please do your diligence.

Research these candidates if you haven't voted already.

Make sure they align with what Joe Baggins, the things that you want done for this city and this state.

Also, want to say uh somebody give me an update on that contaminated soil.

I have a lot that's next door to me, other trying to get to the last five years since it was demoed.

Uh, when it was being demoled, I did call demolition.

The supervisor came out doing the demolition process.

But once it was over and they went to put the soil in, I kept saying, You're putting sand in there.

It's got rocks, it's got steel, it has all these things in it.

So I wound up at a mandated mayor meeting back in August of 2024 and brought three bags of sand from different lots in my neighborhood.

Right after that, it was a man I sat at the bottom one and a half later, getting samples.

I would like to know if the lot next door to me at 11.35 is contaminated.

I know it is.

You know, and what is the time frame on getting these sites with the proper soul of disposed abandonment in the first place.

Double blessed day.

Thank you.

I had Speaker, Brother Cunningham, followed by Adrian Jimenez, followed by Daniel Webb.

Shout out to uh Councilman President Tate, uh Councilman Gabriela Santiago Romero, Councilmember Benson.

All three of you were kind to me uh while we were out at the election.

Uh can't say that about all people, but you guys were kind to me and I appreciate it.

Um 313, 444-9114, 313-444-9114, 313-444-9114.

The big push is coming.

I've been doing a lot of bus ride alongs.

We give out low-income housing lists and bus tickets on board, being a blessing to people, doing recess.

Maybe I can do some with the council again, because most council members have done a bus ride along, and it's greatly appreciated.

On Facebook for subservience Cunningham, on Facebook for subservience Cunningham, and you can reach out if you want to do a bus ride along.

Agape, agape's unconditional love, selfless love, sacrificial love is the highest form of love.

A is an apple, G isn't girl, A is an apple, B isn't poor, E is entertainment, agape.

I don't see that kind of agape directed towards me in my life regularly.

So I appreciate it when I really get it.

Please vote yes on the Wayne County Millage, the Wayne County transit millage.

Some racist cities have been opting out for years, racist cities.

Don't want black and brown or even working class poor folks coming through their community.

If you vote yes, if you vote yes and encourage others to vote yes, buses will fully, fully, fully go through Wayne County.

Um and folks can get to their jobs of any demographic.

They use the term opt-out communities.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Our next speaker, Adrian Amenez, followed by Daniel Weber, followed by Paul Stevenson.

Hello, my name is Adrian Jimenez, and I'm here to urge you to take decisive action to declare Detroit a sanctuary city.

Um I urge you, you and the city to prohibit the collection of sharing of immigration status by city agencies unless required by law.

I urge you to prohibit the use of city funds, personnel or facilities to assist ICE operations, and I urge you to prohibit any detention of individuals based solely on information from ICE, detainers or administrative warrants.

Detroit's resources are for Detroiters for improving transportation, education, and public safety.

Detroit police officers should not detain individuals solely based on information provided by Isainers.

We want only for Detroiters, not for Ice Killings and Deputations.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Annual Weber, followed by Paul Stevenson, followed by Rashida Brandt.

Detroit City Council.

I'm a proud Detroit City resident where I work as an EMT and member of Detroit Community Action Committee.

Last time I was here, ShotSpotter was being voted on, and the argument was to protect Detroit from violence.

I ask how does ShotSpotter stop ICE from chasing citizens into oncoming traffic?

Let's address that violence.

How does ShotSpotter stop ICE from executing neighbors and witnesses point blank?

Why is the only thing Detroiters get is extra surveillance?

And while many of you argued you are all forgiving the police for whatever they need, you know what that police was doing?

A mother was being ripped away from her children out of her home by ICE with DPD assistance.

City Council, you knew about this, and yet still fought to give them an expensive surveillance toy.

I see this, and I realize that what our city council stands for is not the mother.

It is the armed thugs that seek to terrorize her.

You can call it what you want.

I don't care for the sanctuary name, just the policies it would bring.

And now Trump comes to Detroit flaunting his power because he knows our city council will do nothing to stop it.

He knows some of our greatest allies are an apathetic city council making anecdotal claims the Detroiters and immigrants don't want a sanctuary city.

I might have been born here, but some of my immediate family was not, and I am terrified for them.

And that fear is only amplified when I see my elected officials do nothing about it.

And so while city council is on their break and Detroiters are left in the wind, DCAC will continue to work and fight for real protections for Detroiters.

And good morning, Madam President, members of the Detroit City Council.

My name is Paul Stevenson.

I'm here on behalf of Power Hope and Grace Bible Church, located at 6495 West Warren Avenue District 6.

For more than 60 years, our church faithfully serves the residents of Detroit.

We provide a place of worship, support families, host community programs, and strive to be a positive presence in our neighborhood.

We're committed to partnering with the city to strengthen our community.

Today I'm asking for your assistance regarding the stormwater drain fees being assessed against our church property.

We believe these charges deserve careful review under the principles established by the Michigan Supreme Court in Bolt versus Lansing, City of Lansome, which held that the charge labeled as a fee must truly function as a fee and not as an unauthorized tax.

We respectfully ask that the city demonstrate how these assessments satisfy that legal standard and whether they are fairly and proportionately applied.

As a nonprofit church, every dollar spent on excessive or improper fees is a dollar that cannot be invested in ministry, youth programs, food assistance, community outreach, or maintaining a safe and welcoming facility for our neighbors.

Not to mention there's a lack of repair support from DWSD to resolve our current issue.

We have one of our five parking lot dreams.

Thank you so much, sir.

If you would like to provide your rest of your comments to the clerk's office, it will be placed on the public checker as well.

Our next speaker is Shita Bradley.

She's still here.

Okay.

Next speaker, then is Mr.

Lee Slomax, followed by Anthony Bala, followed by Marilyn Morant.

Grand Rising and Great Awakening to everyone that's here in this audience.

Council President James Tay, Coming Young, and our counselman, Denzel Campbell.

So I'm here again about the incidents that's happening in our community, the molested, the molestation, the seven-year-old little girl who got molested and threw into the lot.

The city of Detroit has the materials, the equipment to come out with that big tractor and cut all that stuff down.

It sit right there by a park where our kids play at.

That's horrible.

I done been down there how many times?

So we have a meeting coming August the 14th.

Uh, from six to eight.

Denzel Campbell, he responded.

Comey young responded, Mary Waters responded.

James said, I've been trying to call your office for the longest.

No one answers your phone.

So after we have this meeting on August the 14th, we got questions.

If we don't get the answers that we want, we're doing a protest.

We're coming down whooping from Woopworth and Warren, and we're coming down to the City County building, and we're gonna shut off Grand River.

And that's my peace.

All right, thank you so much.

Next speaker, Anthony Bala, followed by Marilyn Morant, followed by Terry Jones.

Good day, Honorable Council Chair, members of the council.

My name is Reverend Anthony Bala, pastor of Grace Community United Methodist Church, located in District One, your district, Honorable President.

I'm glad to be here to address this committee.

I was born in Liberia, West Africa, a country formed by free slaves from the United States.

Somewhere along the country's history, it descended into conish and lawlessness where voters of voters were suppressed, their voices were not heard.

My own uncle was shown in prison for a long time.

Now I'm here as a pastor and hoping to share that voters' voices need to be heard because my constituent, my church, Grace Community UMC former St.

Timothy is a voting is a polling station.

And so I know firsthand what it means for voters' voice to be suppressed.

So we are here today as clergy people as community leaders to appeal to this council to hold the pledge of protecting people's voices as the goal to polling station.

Today we stand as people of a faith serving in Detroit to make sure that we abide by the constitution and stand uh ready to protect voters' voices to refuse to comply with any uh lawlessness from executive orders to request information from voters and to fitfully certify all seats that will be voted upon and winners to be seated respectively.

So today I'm here to lend my voice to that effect.

I thank you so very much for listening to us.

All right, thank you.

Uh Marilyn Morant, uh, followed by Terry Jones, followed by Reverend Rowe.

Marilyn Morant, are you still here?

All right.

Uh Terry Jones, are you still here?

Hey, Mr.

Johnson.

Big off for a minute.

I just filed off from the city that the people that took my house said we're in liberation.

How are we in liberation?

I'm not in my house.

I would have a little closer.

I'm not in liberation in my house now.

Like I said, I'm getting ready to get people to go to the Fed.

I want to see what's going on.

I need y'all to step up your game.

Miss Let's Josh has been doing her thing with helping me out.

I haven't called her in about a couple of months because I've been doing my thing.

These people took my house all the way to California with an LLC with a post box.

How's the Wayne County Deeds Department letting this go through?

Now I'm about to bring the Feds in.

I want to see tax papers.

That's a Rico charge.

I want to see tax papers.

I want to see documents.

They haven't even got the PTA on the house.

I still got mine.

Everybody's running around here pointing fingers at each other.

We need to be pointing fingers at the Wayne County Deeds Department.

Because I work here, I work in Oakland County.

Oakland County put a um what they call the fraud alert on the company that I sent to them.

This mutual property management company, you're a management company.

How do you imagine to put me out of my house and I get charged with a home invasion?

And I'm six months.

I was almost six months none reporting.

This is the stuff I'm talking about.

The police department acting stupid.

This this uh these departments are not doing the job.

I don't understand this really.

What's going on in the city?

I got people that want to invest money here.

Thank you so much.

Our next speaker, Reverend Ed Grohl, followed by Reverend Paul Perez, followed by Pastor Lewis Forth by the second.

Morning.

Morning.

I've uh it's been a while since I've been here.

I've worked with uh several of you since I had brown hair, and that was a long time ago for justice.

I'm here with uh Faith in Us, a group of interfaith uh clergy that uh have been working to protect the vote.

I'm not trying to tell you what you already know, which is that uh House of Democracy is on fire, that uh the administration with the help of the Supreme Court has stolen all the fire extinguishers, uh the uh civil rights act, the voting rights act, the racist redistricting, 17 states have already turned over their voting roles to uh to an administration that is going to purge it for people they don't think are gonna vote for them.

And I'm at a church, Central United Methodist Church that's a polling site.

I want to say I don't care if you call it Sanctuary City.

I want to know what happens if ice turns up at Central United Methodist Church or at Sacred Heart or at any other polling place.

I want to know what are the police going to do.

I want to know if we can work together as interfaith clergy and this council in every district to make sure that people feel safe.

Yeah, uh the other thing that I worry about, and I'm really glad to hear all that you're doing to bring out the vote.

But in midterm elections, less than half of the registered voters come to vote.

I'd like to believe I'd like people to believe that the vote counts and that you can work with us.

Thank you so much to make sure because we're in the business of belief.

Reverend Row, thank you so much.

Thank you so much.

Thank you so much.

Our next speaker, again, uh it's not my rules.

This is the rules that I have to follow by.

Everyone has to have the same amount of time.

Uh, Reverend Paul Perez.

Uh, thank you, uh, Council President Tate, uh, Council President Pro Tem Young, all the city council members.

I'm also with Faith in Us, uh, multi-faith uh clergy leaders um that are united uh to fight for democracy.

Um we are here because we're really alarmed by the continued and repeated efforts of the federal government, which are aimed at suppressing the vote, intimidating voters, limiting access to the ballot box, and preventing eligible voters from voting, especially especially in black and brown communities like Detroit.

Uh, included as this is just years of uh false and uh repeated unsubstantial claims of election fraud and tampering, which are really meant to undermine the public's confidence in our local voting procedures here.

Uh also includes the SAFE Act, which is gonna make it really difficult for eligible voters to register, especially people who don't have the means to obtain birth certificates and passports.

I'm really concerned that the Department of Justice is sending election monitors here to Detroit and to Lansing and East Lancing.

And also, as Reverend Rose said, the continued threats by uh the presidential administration to deploy ICE and National Guard at polling places.

So, as Reverend Rose said, Central United Methodists church where I serve downtown in District 6 is a polling site.

Our church is proud to serve our community by providing a space for our neighbors to exercise their right to vote, but we're deeply concerned about the impact of these efforts by the federal government.

Uh, that our neighbors won't feel safe coming to our church to vote.

We're also uh concerned about the safety of our church, our church staff, and our volunteers.

So that's why I'm here with our fellow faith leaders to ask you to take a pledge to abide by the U.S.

constitution and state election laws, refuse to comply with any unlawful executive orders or department data requests to seek restriction of voting.

I urge you to take it.

Thank you so much.

Next speaker is Pastor Forsyth.

Mondale.

Thank you, President Tate, to all the council members.

Thank you for this opportunity.

I'm also a faith in us.

As a pastor in District 3, I stand before you who have other faith leaders from Detroit here today to make a difference in the upcoming midterm elections.

Our nation is at an inflection point.

We are facing the greatest threat to our democracy and to our democratic process.

But the Department of Justice and the election monitors to Detroit requesting voter roles from Wayne County.

We already see the Trump administration efforts to interfere the elections, not only in Detroit, but also in Wayne County in the state of Michigan and across this nation.

We must not and we cannot let others control or dictate who should or should not have the right to vote or who wins an election.

United States Constitution and the Michigan State Constitution guarantees every person's right to vote his or her conscience about government interference, persuasion, or intimidation.

This democratic process has worked flawlessly for 250 years.

We asked the Detroit Council members and all elected officials to support freedom to vote protection pledge to in order to make certain that elections in Detroit take place without any unlawful interference from the executive branch or department of justice.

So today I invite the members of Detroit City Council to stand with me and other faith leaders because I stand not just as a pastor of the city of Detroit, but I stand as a husband, a father, a grandfather, an uncle, and a son of this great city, because a long time ago somebody stood for me, so that I could have the right to guys our turn to stand, make sure that we all.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Shelby Murphy, followed by Ayam Misham.

I do apologize if I mispronounced your name.

And then Amona Morari.

Good morning.

Thank you for your time and attention.

I want to express my gratitude and joy in witnessing solidarity between our city council members last week and both decisions to look further into where money is and has been allocated, and the push for more information regarding data centers.

I do feel and know that I would want to know and hear now what the people here think and feel about something so life-altering and world-changing.

The diminishing normalizational tone of smaller data centers already being here seems like the entrepreneurs and land developers hopeful and game for a larger one to be more easily accepted or ignored.

I feel like I'm using my intellect wisely, being steadfastly dedicated to sharing my information with you, the final decision makers.

I feel like I may exhaust myself sharing with a lower on the chain planners.

There is so much information I want to share with you.

Uh grew up in as well.

Please consider saving Detroit from people who don't care about Detroit.

And I appreciate you all.

And I hope that we all can build a beautiful rapport so that we can actually do positive things because data centers really are destroying Earth.

You know, honestly.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Peace and blessing be upon you all.

My name is Imam Aham Mishmashan.

I serve as the Imam of the Dawah Institute, Masjid Dawah, located on in Detroit, District 7, proudly.

Thank you, Council President.

Thank you, um, members of the council.

Thanks to everybody for my fellow faith leaders.

As a Muslim and an imam, I am guided by a timeless principle from the Quran.

Allah, God, glorious is He says, all you who believe, stand firmly for justice as witnesses for God, even if it is against yourselves.

Justice is one of the highest values in Islam and in every faith.

It is not selective.

It is not determined by political, politics, publicities or personal interests.

Justice is justice, even when it's difficult.

The blood before us is symbol.

It asks public officials to honor the constitutions, the constitution, reject unlawful interference, and faithfully certify the lawful result of our election and all the elections.

These principles strengthen straighten our public confidence, our people, and this is a trust that holds the thank you very much, and may God guide us all to the truth.

Thank you so much.

Next speaker, Pona Nawari.

And again, I do apologize if I mispronounced your name.

You pronounced it well.

Good morning, Council members.

My name is Mona Mawari, and I'm a community organizer.

I'm here today on behalf of Faith in Us, a coalition of over 500 Michigan clergy and faith leaders, many of whom are here with us today.

We're asking you and all election officials to sign the freedom to vote protection pledge.

We urge you to uphold the constitution and state election law, refuse any unlawful order that seeks to restrict voting and certify this November's results, win or lose, regardless of party.

This isn't partisan, it's a promise to follow the law and honor the will of the voters.

In my faith, Islam, the vote is an amanah, a sacred trust we hold on behalf of our community and safeguarding a just and honest election process is a religious obligation, not just a civic one.

With the Department of Justice sending election monitors to Detroit, and with pressure on election officials nationwide, our community needs to know publicly who stands with the voters of the city.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

I would like to bring in light to the informant, Brown, with ATF in the Detroit Police Department.

I'm a former employer, United States Postal Service.

This was the contract to kill me.

Recall the seven people were murdered by Kenya Brown.

The ATF informing.

Okay, I was as a contractor, the target.

DTE is also a contractor from employer.

January 4th, all the way to February 15th of 2026.

They remotely shut my furnace off.

Because I got the chief general counsel attorney fire from Belgium.

July 2025, I got the polls master fire from Belsman.

And so they are triggering down against me to execute.

And for that, I will be placed in a lane, a maritime lane against DTE for 40 billion.

According to the DTC, the DTCC.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker, Alicia Phillips.

Alicia Phillips.

I look like she's made her way.

Uh following Alicia Phillips is Joanne Warwick.

Uh good morning.

Congratulations to the bus drivers who find got their long overdue pay raise.

The master plan process.

Thank you for two extra meetings, but it's been woefully lacking in meaningful, inclusive community engagement.

Retaliation is real for all of you who remember who Bob Carmack was who exposed the mayor for having an affair.

He's no longer alive.

And what they did to him should never be allowed again.

On that note, there are people who are afraid of speaking up because of retaliation.

I have been contacted by a number of the solar taking victims about some of the what I would consider unethical practices by some of the people that were hired for the solar initiative.

Like going around giving people a hundred dollar check and telling them if you take this check, you don't have to go to court, but not fully explaining to them that it's taking away their rights, their use restrictions to not have a solar farm shoved in their neighborhoods.

There was no environmental impact study done about this.

And that toxic smoke could spread all over the place.

So it impacts me as well.

And you're using some of my taxpayer money on those attorneys, and it needs to be investigated.

Meanwhile, I'll ask other people to investigate it.

Thank you.

The next speaker, Paul Chenault, followed by Perak Khan.

Followed by Josh Mann.

Right.

Good morning, Council.

Told you I gotta start writing stuff down, and I did.

So good morning to the council.

Good morning to all that can uh see me and hear my voice.

I've also like to recognize our uh sign language interpreters.

Uh today I want to thank uh some council members.

Uh first I want to thank Councilmember McCampbell uh for his time yesterday at the DTE Town Hall.

Uh and also want to expand on uh my one warrant idea with you later on.

Uh thank you to uh council president Tate for your time and conversation last week at the uh Dingo Transit Center.

Uh one day I'd like to also expand to you on what we discussed in regards to the safeguards for our communities and protecting our crimes.

Uh thank you to our at large uh member waters, who is in prison right now for also uh showing up to our community meeting, which was held last Sunday at uh Merritt Park, right across from Street Gate, uh an enhancement to our community.

Uh also thank you to my council member, District 6, Best District, uh Santiago Romero for attending our sister community United Block Club Council meeting last week.

Um, just to let you know that I'm speaking with three local businesses to help with park stewardship for the three abandoned parks in our neighborhood.

Uh, one is Sir Otkin, which is on Hepworth, uh Wiley, which is on Stopel, and Denning, which is on Prairie.

Uh, our community is uh slowly growing with the Joe Lewis Greenway and now Mary Park.

Uh now we sure could use some investment investment in new businesses and also enforcement on the existing auto businesses.

Um couple things.

Oh, I still got time.

Uh can we please get someone to like talk to putting the bacon lots in private owned lots so the community can start buying those lots.

Uh I'm out of here.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker, Farrakh Khan, followed by Josh Mann, followed by Minura Salin.

I do apologize again for mispronounce your name.

Good morning, everyone and the council members.

My name is File Khan, and I'm here today to urge each one of you to sign the freedom of wood protection pledge put forward and supported by our local Detroit and Metro Detroit faith leaders and faith in us.

As our elected leaders, your primary duty is to protect our voices and our democracy.

Taking this pledge is a very simple but powerful way to show your commitment to that duty by signing.

You promise to uphold the U.S.

constitution, reject any unlawful orders that seek to suppress our votes, and ensure that the rightfully elected winners offer upcoming elections are faithful faithfully certified.

Our community thrives when everyone has safe, free and fair access to the ballot.

Please stand with our local faith leaders, honor the trust we place in you, and sign the pledge today.

Because I don't know where we are today.

I mean, this country was found on the integrity, compassion, and unity and freedom for all.

I don't see it.

We hold you guys in those positions to protect our rights.

And I and every one of the Americans have the right to vote and be feel safe.

And so I really really hope that you guys sign on it and show that our trust in you was right.

And I thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker, Josh Mann, followed by Manura Minora Asalim, followed by Mizan Williams.

What's happening, leaders?

Uh first off, thank you to Miss Miller, her wonderful staff and Rock and Ron Brundridge for the buffer zone in front of my house for cars.

I had an accident yesterday, and it was uh it protected my vehicles in my house.

Uh also 23.1.

Uh of course we should be able to have public comment on DTE energy rate increase.

We need to have public hearings on any time we uh have increases.

It's fair.

More than likely we're gonna lose the fight, but we should at least get the option to fight because otherwise it's pointless.

Um what else was I going for today?

95 cities have canceled ALPRs, five more since last week.

At what point do we realize that we might be missing something?

When it gets to 200, do we realize like, hey, 200 cities nationwide have canceled this?

Maybe we're missing something and should look into this because we should be in the first hundred, we should have been in the first 10.

We're at 95, five more than last week, and we still have come on, people.

Data center.

Uh, he told us last week.

Go to the planning development commission.

We don't want to plan if we don't want to help plan it, we don't want to help draft a plan of it.

We want to shut it down.

So, what would be the point of going to planning?

Uh, I'd like to hear that because I'm as far as I know, they make the plans how to put it in the community.

We want to shut it down.

So I'll wait to hear the response on that.

Thank you.

Our next speaker, Manera Salon Selene, followed by Mazan Williams, followed by Ronald Smith.

My name is Manera, and I'm a resident of District 5.

Uh, I am here for two reasons.

First, it's because I'm a mother that is raising a dosai in Detroit, born and raised in Detroit.

Um, one of the issues that I do have, and I have talked with Councilmember Benson about this before, and nothing has been done about it.

New era Detroit has raised this issue in the past two weeks.

There's a lot of drinking and smoking that is going on around children's parks.

The city of Detroit is not doing anything about it, even though, according to the city ordinance, no weapons, drugs, or alcohol are around allowed around children's parks.

Like second-hand smoking for our children should be non-acceptable in Detroit.

I think we have normalized a lot of these, a lot of things in this city for our children, and that is not right.

Nobody has to drive all the way to take their children away from the city of Detroit just so they're not exposed to these things.

The second thing, I'm here today also with Faith in Us, which is an inter-faith group.

Um, I will be the pressing delegate uh for pressing 162.

Our polling location is at the Great Episcopal Chart.

We also have the Islamic uh Center of North Detroit that is also a polling site, and I am calling on our city council and all elected officials to please sign the pledge, the faith in us please to stand with us uh in terms of protecting the constitution and our right to vote to prevent any interference, especially from 47, because we know he is specifically targeting Detroit.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker, Mizan Williams, followed by Ronald Smith, followed by Theodore Esther or Easter, excuse me.

Good morning.

My name is Mazane Williams.

I'm a proud resident of District 4.

Can you get a little closer to that mic for us?

We can hear you.

Okay.

I'm a proud resident of the city of Detroit.

I live in District 4.

I would like to share my support for ABC professional based on my professional, my personal experience.

I have had the opportunity to do business with them.

And throughout that experience, they have consistently demonstrated professionalism, integrity, and a genuine commitment to serving our community.

What stands out most is their commitment to extend far beyond business.

They regularly give back to the community, donate their services when there isn't when there is a need, and support local residents and organizations without seeking recognition.

They understand the important importance of investing in the people they serve.

As someone who lives in the city of Detroit, I believe it is important to recognize businesses that not only provide quality services, but also strengthen our neighborhoods.

ABC Professional has established itself as a pillar in our community through its generosity, community involvement, and willingness to help others.

I respectfully ask the council to consider their positive track record, their dedication to our community, and the value they continue to bring to District 4 in our city.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Our next speaker was Ronald Smith, followed by Theodore Easter, followed by Carol Kelly Terrell.

Good morning to all the city council.

I appreciate the opportunity to step before you and speak in behalf of ABC.

Um the day-to-day operations with ABC at Riverside Marina, I can say myself has been outstanding far as I'm concerned.

I'm an avid voter with over 20 years experience.

And what they bring to the table is something different than a lot of other marinas.

I've seen a lot of other marinas.

I've dealt with a lot of other boaters that's from different marinas.

And you can hear them say when they come to Riverside that the boat boating atmosphere at their marina is unlike ours, unmatched.

Simply because the uh staff at ABC at Riverside Marina gives the boaters their family atmosphere, which is unmatched with any other marina.

Uh they promote that because of the camaraderie that we have from one another, be it seasoned boaters and new boaters.

New boaters, they experienced something they had no idea they would because of the camaraderie and the family feeling there that you don't get at a lot of other marinas.

Not only do they promote the uh atmosphere for boaters, they also implement new ideals.

And I know firsthand they provided a program that introduced our youth to something that they have never seen before.

And it was uh a very good idea.

They gave them a new boating experience, and they also taught them how to build a boat and put it in the water.

They were so excited, and so was the boaters, the seasoned boaters.

Thank you so much.

I just want to say thank you for the time.

You're next speaker is Theodore Easter, followed by Kelly Terrell, followed by Elma Chapman.

Good day.

I'm a Theater Easter, a lifelong Detroit resident, local business owner, appliant, multi-property owner, taxpayer, and boater with over 25 years on the water.

I'm here today to voice my strong support for ABC professional.

My boating history is deep, deeply rooted right here in my DNA via my parents, which started right here at Porterfield Wilson's Dream Harbor Hill Marina, which is now Riverside Marina.

I'm proud to serve on the bridge of Detroit Motor City Yacht Club, the second black yacht club in the nation and the only one in Michigan.

We were recently inducted in and recognized by the Interlake and Interlake Yacht Association, ILYA, granting us official yacht status and resp reprocity.

And I want my tax dollars to help preserve and advance Porter Will Phil Wilson's original vision and dream, and I urge the council to award the management contract to continue ABC professional so they can continue delivering the delivering the enhancements and improvements this marina deserves.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Kelly Terrell.

Good afternoon, uh honorable members of the Detroit City Council.

My name is Kelly Terrell, and I am a proud, I'm proud to uh stand before you representing the Black Women Boaters Club.

Today, I ask you to look beyond a contract.

I ask you to look at the people whose lives are impacted by your decisions.

The Detroit River is one of our city's greatest treasures.

It should be a place where families create memories, where children learn to respect the water, and where boaters of every background feel safe and welcome.

That doesn't happen by chance.

It happens because of strong leadership.

Jason McGuire in ABC Professional Management, I provided that leadership at Riverside Marina.

Our organization is built on one simple but powerful mission to educate, to promote voter safety, and to ensure that every person who lives that leaves the dock returned home safely.

Mr.

McGuire has opened doors for organizations like ours, encourage community partnerships and help create a marina where safety is not just policy, it's a culture.

In a world where it's easy to focus only on building buildings and budgets, Mr.

McGuire and ABC professional has focused on people.

He understands that a marina is more than docks and boats.

It is a community.

Leadership like this is not easily replaced.

The Black Women Voters Club has been firsthand uh with Jason's professionalism, his uh accessibility, his genuine commitment to making Riverside Marina a place where everyone feels welcome.

Thank you so much.

Actually, this is my husband.

If he could come up with me.

Just one by one.

Oh, one by one.

So my name is Elma Chapman.

I'm a lifelong Detroiter.

I'm living this.

I live in the city, but I'm also a resident at Riverside Marina.

We're ABC professionals, our leaders.

Jason McGuire has been like a son to me.

And we've been at Riverside Marina for over 30 years.

So Riverside is my home.

And I'm here to support ABC professional, Jason McGuire and the charge staff at Riverside Marina.

When I say it's a home, it is a home.

It's our home away from our other home.

It's just on the water.

And ABC professional, the staff there.

They are very supportive.

I've seen changes at the marina in a positive manner.

They've done some great things to enhance our liability and our well-being.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Andre Chapman.

How are you doing?

My name is Andre Chapman.

I'm just on behalf of support Jason McGuire and ABC for running the marina.

The way they do it.

Can you get that mic up close to your in your direction?

Good.

Yes.

You know, to support him and the way he treated us, everything run at the marina, the improvements.

That's my wife said.

We've been there since June of 1996.

And I like to stay there longer under his management.

That's all I have to say.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Leon Petty, followed by Kimber Scott, followed by Lenisa Wilson.

Good afternoon.

Yeah, I'm Leon Petty.

I've been a boater at Riverside Marina now for 17 years.

And like a lot of people say here, there's a lot of things that take place that you don't hear about.

For instance, they do, they bring at-risk kids in to learn about fishing who have never had the opportunity to pick up a fishing ride.

They've done training programs where kids, um, I'm in the environmental industry where kids spent the summer there learning how to test waters, learning how to swim.

Um, learning a lot about uh different jobs that's in the waterway profession.

You don't see that every day at other marinas.

We visit them all the time, and you just don't see that.

So I stand behind ABC professionals for the ability to keep doing what they're doing.

Um, I think they're doing a great job.

That's all I got.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Leon Petty.

I'm sorry.

Scott.

Hi, Council, Council President.

Hey, good to see you in that position.

Okay.

Um, glory be to God today.

My name is Kimberly Scott, owner of Chronic Queen and 51% social equity of Chronic City.

I am the first cannabis licensee, and I fought and led the movement for cannabis legalization here in the city of Detroit.

I also helped create Detroit legacy for Detroit ownership in the cannabis industry here for Detroiters.

I helped many people get licensed and have legal access to medical and record cannabis in the city of Detroit.

Today I'm here because exactly what I fought for it.

I'm still fighting for myself.

I'm in a predatory social equity partnership who are now accusing and suing me for stealing the social equity license, which I did not do.

I'm here to put on record to the honorable judge Brian Sullivan that I did not steal nor transfer a license into my name.

The city of Detroit's former cannabis regime admitted in writing to BC that the city of Detroit made a mistake and put the license in my name.

I have proof, which I have emailed a few of you last month.

I am being accused of something that I did not do, and nor do I have the capacity to do.

If I do not settle and give up my 51% equity of Chronic City, the city of Detroit Creole department wants to remain neutral and has refused to be involved.

Thank you.

Hello.

Followed by Aurel Mitchell, I believe.

Hi, I'm Lenise Wilson on behalf of DMC UIC.

I am a boater.

I've been up boating now for 15 years.

Both of my grandparents have boats.

You know, good people.

I love them.

I love I live there.

I'm there every day.

That's my home away from home.

And I love everybody at Riverside.

I don't want anything to change as far as the people there.

I'm really nervous and I don't know why, but I appreciate this.

And you guys have a good day.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Wally Mitchell, followed by Elijah Winstington.

Good morning.

I'm Warren Mitchell.

I'm a resident at Riverside Marina.

Um, we love it there, like everybody's come before.

They say we're we're a real family.

Um the management that we have there now is great.

They're not just boulders, they're not just management, they are boaters.

Um, and they're family to us.

Um, I was I had an unfortunate accident of having a fire on the water with my children.

We had about 14, 15 people on the boat.

Um, the boat was engulfed in minutes of me getting on the radio.

I called the Coast Guard, called everybody, the family from Riverside from Jason, to everybody with jet skis and everything pulled up and they got our children off the boat, got everybody off the boat.

And that was before the Coast Guard even made it.

That was before the fire fire boat made it.

So these people are really like their family.

They mean not like family, and I love them.

And uh we love Riverside and we like the way it is, and we like the management that we have.

So thank you.

Next speaker, Elijah Winston.

Yes, Elijah.

I want to speak on behalf of Jason McGuire.

Um great man.

He has given me an opportunity to grow in the boating community as a new voter, only four years in.

Um, I wanted to see improvements at Riverside Marina, and he came up with the plan together with me on improving docs.

So we came up with a budget to get a new dock built, and it did get built within the time that we negotiated.

And I really hope that the city backs him and support financially to improve the marina.

I do believe in him as a manager and running the marina and hope to see more forward with Jason and his affiliates.

Um, I just wanted to speak great will on him and let them know that everyone know that he is a great uh manager, and I think he's the right guy for the job.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Mark Blanke.

Hello, City Council.

Thank you for your time.

I am Mark Blanke.

I'm the operator of Sinbad's restaurant in Detroit.

Our family has been there since 1949.

I've been there for 46 years, running sin beds.

Um, I just I'm here to support Jason McGuire and ABC Professional.

They are a great partner on the river.

We um we work together, we see each other all the time, and uh we have developed a great relationship, and I think they do a wonderful job.

And I've been there to see it for many, many years.

And thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Marvin Medicar.

Marvin Medic Scarlet is the next speaker.

Coming to you, Mr.

Mr.

Mr.

Mr.

Foster, next speaker.

Because I had moved to going out one time.

I did not know it.

One of them.

Go back.

I didn't learn.

I am here.

Scarlett's fine.

She's fine.

Scarlett's fine.

Yes, no.

Scarlett been here longer than most of these other folks here.

So we know Scarlet very well.

Scarlett's fine.

I can't.

Hey.

Please.

Death when it takes of it.

Please.

And our next event.

The catch the people.

After the break.

Not getting the break.

But after the break.

Please take a walk in my shoes.

And second.

Please.

Please.

Do not vote.

That's still happening.

And please.

Do not complain.

In other words.

Shut the mouth of me.

Oh, we love.

I'm done.

Thank you.

And have a good recess.

Thank you so much, Ms.

Matt.

Peter McGreevy, followed by Mr.

Foster.

Peter McGreevy, are you here?

There he is.

Followed by Mr.

Foster.

And our last in-person speaker will be Sabrina Thomas.

Good morning, Council President.

Mr.

City Council.

My name is Peter McGready.

I'm a resident of the city of Detroit.

I'm also the Deputy Chief Financial Officer for the Detroit Public Schools Community District.

Here to talk about proposal S.

We understand that there's been a little bit of misinformation.

Wanted to uh clarify that.

Um and there's a little bit of the story.

How do we get to proposal S and why do we need proposal S.

When DPSCD was formed 10 years ago, the state lent the district approximately 600 million dollars in operating debt.

It required DPS to levy the operating millage to repay that operating debt.

When the operating debt is repaid, GPS can no longer levy an operating village.

DPSCD becomes a traditional school district, and the DPS CD is required to levy the operating village.

We're at that point where we will make our last payment in September of this year for the operating debt.

It will be repaid be repaid.

We therefore have to repay our DPS CD, therefore has to levy an operating village.

It's part of state code, state law for school funding.

Um, which is the reason for proposal S.

It is not a new tax.

It is merely changing the taxing authority from DPS to DPS CD.

It's a tax on commercial businesses, not a tax on residents.

Um we are required to um again levy that tax in order for us to receive our full state aid from the state.

I think you for your time.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Mr.

Foster, followed by Sabrina Thomas.

Oh, good morning to the president.

Just a few things.

Understanding that it's election season, and aside from that, I think it's important that our community know that we cannot just be blind followers, whether it's leadership and government or whether it's in churches, right?

We have to exercise some moral clarity, spiritual clarity.

Moral clarity is the ability to recognize ethical issues and make decisions that align with your values.

It involves understanding right from wrong and taking principle action without being clouded by confusion or compromise while remaining open to facts and diverse perspectives.

And so during this time, we cannot be clouded by black, white, Jew, gentile, Buslim, male, or female.

You have to make decisions based upon your ethical values where you stand at life, and those that are going to best represent you and your values.

I think that's important.

Understand when I spoke about resources earlier last week.

I wasn't saying it to be offensive to anybody.

It's a taboo topic, but we have spent money year after year for the gay elders of Ferndale, right?

We have uh in our DPSH, right?

They have issues in plumbing.

It's not with tampons or maxi pass, it's in the men's room, flooding with other things, indiscretions.

And so these things cannot be a blind eye.

I'm not just talking, it's not just about advocating where everybody just wants blanket um behavior of immorality on a job or off the job.

It's about having moral clarity, conducting yourselves in certain fashions and being accountable for behavior and things.

And so I think that's important.

Shout out to the birthdays, Mr.

Whitaker, Miss Callaway coming up next.

We can join your session.

Thank you.

A final in-person speaker, Sabrina Thomas.

Sabrina Thomas left.

All right.

We will now transition to our on our uh online callers.

Uh good morning or good afternoon, Mr.

Huff.

How many callers do we have and who do we have first, please?

Good morning, good afternoon, Council President.

First, we have 23 callers online with our first caller being 1244.

Caller inning at 1244.

The floor is yours.

Minute 45, General Public Comment.

Good morning, good morning, good morning.

Um Miss Mayberry here.

Uh I'm calling in regards to uh say I thank uh Mary Waters for her sizzling seniors event that she's going to have today.

Uh commend her.

She always has we always have a wonderful time there at that event, and I thank you for holding such an event.

Um, Miss uh Congress City Councilwoman Mary Waters, I love you, and see you soon.

But um also I got just three things.

We need to do something with the Renaissance Center, please don't tear it down.

Uh find something else to do with it.

We can do other things with it.

The other thing, data centers, we don't need sanctuary cities.

We don't need Mary Waters.

I love you, and see you soon.

That's all.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Next up, we have Ms.

Betty A.

Varner.

Good afternoon to all within the sound of my voice.

I'm Betty A.

Varner, president of the Soda Elsewhere Black Association.

I'm going to start out by saying kudos to everyone who received awards today.

But I want to speak about Miss Alex.

She was a part of the renewed Detroit program.

I didn't hear her name today, but I want to say she was my, I don't know what her title was, but I'm going to say she was my liaison person.

She kept me up to date.

I was in the program where I was able to be blessed to receive windows.

And she kept me up to date status of what was going on, make sure that I remembered all the appointments that were scheduled, and she was always so respectful and pleasant.

And that was part probably her job.

But I want to say I received a call from her yesterday, and my project has been completed for over two months.

And she called me just to see how I was doing and if everything was okay.

And uh if life was still treating me good.

And I don't know if that was part of her program, her job, but I really did uh appreciate it.

It was a wonderful surprise.

And so kudos to Miss Ellis.

Uh she gets an award from me.

Um tracting company.

I'm still having received a status in regards to my property that has been uh damaged from the wonderful sidewalk program.

It's a wonderful program.

They did a good job on the sidewalks, but they uh have damaged my fence and they remove walkways, and I want them replaced.

They only replace next caller, please.

Next up, we have Danielle Kramer.

I call her the floor is yours, General Public Comment.

Are you there?

Let's put the caller at the end of the queue and go to the next, please.

Yes, sir.

Next up, we have Frank Hammer.

Frank Hammer, the floor is yours.

General Public Comment.

Frank Hammer, are you there?

Mr.

Hammer, the end of the queue and go to the next, please.

Next up, we have Karen Hammer.

Karen Hammer, the floor is yours.

General Public Comment.

Good morning.

Good morning.

I support Sanctuary Cities status, the transit funding, and with schools, and the um freedom to vote.

Uh protection pledge.

But my purpose is to speak on data centers.

The Celine, Michigan didn't want it.

The residents and the government united against it, but it just the corporations just broke ground.

It'll be using millions of gallons of water a day and energy enough for one million homes, 25% of DTE's peak capacity.

It strains our grid and rates will rise more.

We need a moratorium, city and state to allow delaying data centers opening and having public meetings, both with scientific presentations of the noise, light, water, and sound pollution, and to allow public input, input and influence on regulation and oversight.

70% in the United States opposed data centers, but Michigan lawmakers passed a law giving tax breaks to encourage them.

51 Michigan towns and cities passed month moratoriums against data centers.

Can provide a moratorium to delay so we can all right.

Our next speaker is Renard Manchunski.

All right, floor is yours.

A minute 45 seconds.

Thank you, Mr.

President Protoon.

Can I be heard?

Yes, sir.

All right.

My name is Renard Moschenski.

I'm a district six resident lifelong Detroiter and organized with Detroit People's Platform.

Like my colleagues said before me, I implore you all to go and vote because we didn't do that in 2024.

And a lot of the consequences we face it today is a result of that.

We could change that this fall, and we could change that in the few uh actually in a few days on August the 4th, um, when the election takes place.

We got from 8 a.m.

to about I'll say sorry, 7 a.m.

to about 8 GM to vote.

There are two important villages on the ballot or ballot proposals, one for our schools and one for public transit that will allow us to get around not just Detroit but the entire county, as there are no longer any opt-out communities, including Detroit.

So we all will have better connection between Smart and DOT.

People can get to the malls, the shop or to work to the airport, to other cities where most of the jobs are that most people in Detroit have, and vice versa.

People could come into the city and patronize our businesses, uh, which have been growing as of late due to the efforts of the city.

Every Don call um on Monday, Department of Neighborhoods call.

There's just so many businesses that can benefit from increased transit access.

And then those with cars, you would benefit for a couple of reasons.

One, your car breaks down, which it will, cars break down.

You will be able to take a bus and rely on the buses every 10 to 15 minutes because it has more resources.

And then for those who own property, your property value will actually go up because people want to live in communities where there is public transit.

This is not the 90s or the 80s anymore.

People are literally choosing cities to grow up and raise their families where there's accessible public transit for all types of people.

So I implore you all to go vote on August 4th.

Thank you.

Next call up.

Our next speaker is Theo.

Good morning, Council Theo Pride with Detroit People's Platform.

Um, I'm here to comment on LPD's data center tax revenue impact analysis.

Uh, the report makes two important findings.

First, uh data centers create very few permanent jobs, meaning they will generate very little income tax revenue for the city.

Uh, second, uh, because of that, the city's primary long-term fiscal benefit comes from property taxes, meaning unnecessary property taxes.

Uh incentives should be avoided.

Uh, that matters because Detroit's development strategy has relied on giving tax incentives in exchange for jobs to generate income tax revenue.

Uh, the report makes clear that data centers do not fit that model.

Yet it is highly likely developers will seek local incentives, particularly Brownfield tax captures, uh, which is allowed under the state's data center tax exemptions.

If future property taxes are captured, the city's primary revenue benefit disappears.

Also, uh, Brownfield tax capture alone does not trigger Detroit's community benefits ordinance, meaning a project could receive significant public assistance while avoiding a community benefits agreement with residents.

Uh, the report also leaves major questions unanswered.

It does not evaluate infrastructure calls, opportunity costs, or whether data centers are the best use of industrial land.

Uh, and with growing concerns about speculative investments in AI infrastructure, uh, these projects carry significant financial risk.

Uh, this report shows we need more time, uh, not less, uh, to understand the long-term impacts of data centers.

Uh, there's been calls for moratorium uh on data centers to give us that time.

Uh, listening to those calls may be prudent as council decides how to move forward with data centers.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Let's call it please.

Next up, we have Tia McKinney.

Carla, the floor is yours.

General public comment.

Good afternoon, City Council.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

My name is Tia McKinney.

I'm representing the McKinney Foundation, and I'm here today to invite you and our entire Detroit community to our upcoming 16th annual celebrating a healthier Detroit Expo, taking place Wednesday, August 12th from 11 to 3 at Millican State Park and Harbor.

Our theme is equipping families to thrive.

Our community continues to face urgent health challenges, which have only worsened in this post-pandemic era.

This free event directly tackles those needs through expert-led seminars and vital health screenings.

We provide education and resources that are critical so that families can proactively build healthy habits.

We also take a direct aim at diet-based diseases by focusing heavily on childhood obesity, proper nutrition, and active fitness for the entire family.

Beyond medical screenings and disease prevention, we make wellness joyful and accessible.

Families will enjoy live cooking demonstrations with food tastings, like DJ music, dance, free giveaways, and prizes.

The Expo truly is a full day of fun with a serious purpose designed to strengthen our community's health, our families, and overall spirit.

We have two requests for city council.

Specifically, first to officially co-sponsor this vital community event.

And second, to help us promote it through city official newsletters, social media channels, and related platforms.

Thank you for your time and leadership.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Our next caller is Tyson Gersh.

Tyson Gersh, the floor is yours.

General Public Comment.

Hi, can you hear me?

Sir.

Thank you.

Um I'm working on a written submission that I'll be sending to counsel and the clerk for public record uh for today's agenda.

Uh shortly um included in it are 15 separate FOIA requests from different submitters, all of which the law department failed to respond to.

Um whether it was erroneous denials or no response at all, um, or just saying it was going to respond by X date and then never actually responding.

Um I am hoping that council can address this.

15 requests is pretty substantial, and that's just the ones that I'm like immediately aware of.

Um, the charter, city council has uh oversight authority uh to conduct investigations into the affairs of the departments um under section 4109 and 4110.

Um city council so they can uh uh initiate an investigation, and then they can also ask the auditor general under 7.51053 to investigate the administration and operation of any city agency.

Um I I think the law department gets on here and just flies to your face or makes up some completely blatantly wrong or incorrect uh or misleading reason for why.

But you know, I've never gotten a boy response successfully fulfilled by the city.

Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Our next speaker is William M.

Davis.

This is William and Davis.

The floor is yours, General Public Hellman.

Uh, good afternoon.

Can I be heard?

Yes.

Okay, I'd like to start off by saying that I called in to health and safety yesterday, and I got an excellent response because there was a huge pile of wood debris in front of my next door neighbor's house, an elderly lady that um has you know there's a fire hydrogen in front of our house and there's a handicapped parking, but this pile had been there for a while, and they came out and they did a good job getting it up.

They even swept the swept the street or getting up the small debris from the olive wood possible.

Uh, also I like to say that I'm pleased to see that the city has a new minimum wage for full-time employees, uh, 21 point uh 21.45 cent, which is a good start.

When I first started with the city before somebody I was born in 1978, I started at $6.66 an hour.

It would be also great if the city could be moving towards uh livable wage for city retirees because we have many city Detroit retirees to live on less than $2100 a month, which is unbelievably low.

That's you know, well below the property level.

So it would be helpful if we could do something to help people.

My pension is above that, but there are many whose pensions is way way too low.

So more needs to be done to help City Church retirees, more needs to be done to help seniors, more than needs to be done to keep the brief and going into our uh our catch basins.

You know, so there's always more that could be done, and hopefully we will continue to do more, and hopefully, yeah, I will enjoy y'all recess.

I'm sure I'll be seeing all y'all on recess.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Our next caller is caller in 169.

Um, can you guys hear me?

Sir.

Great.

Religious bullies are wicked.

Other names for bully is prosecute or oppressor and intimidator.

Religious bullies are the worst against Cunningham.

He is the underdog.

Just because something has Jesus' names on it, don't give you the right to be a bully.

Yes, I'm talking about you.

Thank you for continuously playing praying for Brother Cunningham.

Everyone under the sound of my voice.

I know he prays for all those people, and you can pray for him too.

As I've seen lately, Cunny Ham.

Oh my God.

As I've seen lately, Cunningham has been doing a very, very, very good job.

And you all can do more.

Thank you, Cunningham by Banking Cunningham.

Thank you for my time.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Our next speaker is Beverly Kendall Walker.

Miss Beverly Kindle Walker.

The floor is yours.

General public comment.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

I'm calling on behalf of the airport department.

Jason Watt, who has an issue before you regarding rezoning.

That of course the friends of Detroit City Airport, a 35-year-old organization is in support of this rezoning effort to bring reform workforce development to the airport.

We on the move.

We're on the horizon.

A great thing is coming out of the East at the Colmee Young International Airport.

So I know we have your support on that issue.

Also want to make mention of the opportunity to vote again this week.

You can vote at the Eastern Campus WC3.

Please exercise your right to vote, people.

You don't have to live in any particular district precinct.

You can vote at any of the early voting locations.

Early vote in person.

Also, I want to mention about the um a rise Detroit Day on this coming Saturday.

Uh Luther Keith would be tremendously proud of Detroit to continue to rise in the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Rise Detroit.

And my final note is on August 17th, Monday will be the anniversary of the red black and green flag that was established in 1920 by the Honorable Marcus Messiah Garvey.

And we hope everybody who raises the red black and green flag will remember the pride that when you see that flag, it means black pride.

Thank you.

God bless.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Our next speaker is current Santa Gina Brown Anderson.

All right, caller, the floor is yours.

General public comment.

Good afternoon.

Um yes, this is Cranston, Gina Brown Anderson in District 3.

And we are having a serious problem with our weekly bulk pickup around the entire community.

And purchase receptacles have not been delivered.

My order went in on March 3rd, and I have yet to receive a garbage receptacle.

Um we being pumped in district three.

We did major cleanups in May and June with volunteers from other cities.

And the waste is still on our streets, and someone is dropping off tires throughout the community.

We can't schedule more cleanups until we have already cut before the stuff that we already cut down and piled up is picked up.

Our new neighborhood deputy manager is going to need some expedited help.

Please establish that help quickly.

Priority waste is not picking up bundle, bulk or even small bulks of yard waste.

Their workers need updating training on how Buck is supposed to be organized on the curve.

We don't even see graper trucks on bulk day.

If you don't know what a graper trucks are, please look up, look them up because there is no way we can clear the streets without them.

Maybe you want to stop the contracts and bring back our own city waste management team and employ the people that live here.

Please have the file you pertaining to bug pickup and property maintenance put on residential and as well business doors and enforce it.

So the residential and the business owners can take our ordinances serious.

DTE has left large cut of tree box in our alley, which I have created a haven for rodents and bugs, giving residents reason to avoid cleaning their alley.

I humbly request you and urge all city council members to go revisit the tree cutting contract with DTE and the next caller, please.

Can y'all hear me?

Yes.

All right.

Uh here we go.

Hey y'all, uh, Michael here.

I got my doctorate at Wayne State University right here in Detroit.

And uh, I'll just get started.

GSR, the memo hasn't done anything.

So much so that during last public comment, cops are recorded with ice supporting another abduction.

What more data do you need before you push for real action?

You're not being bullied, you're being held accountable.

And then those of you who voted for ShotSpotter are fools.

I hope you can fix that error.

I want to know if the cops in uniform sitting in the gallery, we're getting paid to do nothing while we're at it.

And finally, that public comment is only available at 10 a.m.

on a Tuesday, is explicitly anti-worker.

Do you not want to hear the voices of the public, the workers, and so on?

I'd believe it with this scheduling decision.

And finally, Sanctuary City now and the madness.

You guys hold the power to move the needle in any capacity and have so far chosen not to get to work.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Next caller, sir, is going to be Jadante Smith.

Caller, the floor is yours.

General public comment.

Good morning.

Well, good afternoon.

Hello.

Perfect.

I want to say uh I second Crestina Gene Brown Anderson's sentiments about uh our city services, even though I'm not in District 3, I'm in District 5.

I have a pothole at the corner of my street.

Uh, and I'm looking for some assistance.

So uh Renata Miller, I'll be reaching out to your office to get some assistance on getting this pothole boarded up.

I've reached out to several different uh folks about it, and it's not being done.

I got a lot of um boarded houses in my area in Island View that have not been boarded up.

Um, Ronaldo, you seem to not know what's going on a lot of the time.

But I'm district, I'm a district five resident.

Um president in District 5, uh, which you seem to understand what that is.

Also, I'm very happy that we got some traction on the code Curtis when it comes to 451 East Grand Boulevard.

I will be going out there today and uh posting up on that line because it seems like the house needs to be taken away.

This lady's a millionaire, she owns five to six houses on East Grand Boulevard.

She owns 30 plus properties in the city of Detroit, and she refuses to fix this one property up.

And for five straight years, she has been a nuisance to the community.

And I've been probably single-handedly the only person pushing to get some action on her.

So I'm glad to see the city finally doing the job that we paid them for.

It's it's about time.

Also, when it comes down to our mayor, I'm very disappointed in this administration how we have moved backwards seemingly when it comes to a lot of issues.

I want to say this too.

When it comes to me running for office, I'm running for office in the city of Detroit, and I am not a politician.

I will say this.

Anybody who comes at me comes to my name, says anything to me that is outlandish or not correct or not true, I'm gonna come at you.

I'm Eric Mays.

If I'm anybody else, I'm Fred Hampton Jr.

I'm Malcolm X.

I will cut you out, I will give you the facts, and I will set you straight.

I don't want to get on people's good side to run.

I'm gonna be the same way, even headed, even tempered the whole time.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Our next caller is Samsung SMG991U.

All right, caller, the floor is yours.

General public comment.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

Now be heard.

Yes, ma'am.

And my name is Ruby Riley.

Uh, first of all, I don't want to say for everybody to get out there and vote.

Vote for the school, vote yes, vote for the transportation.

Definitely.

I wanted to um bring to you all attention.

I don't know what's going on with the bus system, but uh the one first one I told you about where they had the air blowing that was fixed because I know I was on the bus.

I once again, and uh I didn't freeze, it's just that they wanted to have one window crack, so the windows wouldn't fog up.

But uh last Tuesday, I was um Jessica Campo and Carpenter getting ready to catch the conhead bus, bus number 2535.

And I had unlocked my bike from the store, which is right across the street, and I seen the bus coming, right?

But I made it across the street to the bus stop to get on the bus to put my bike on there, right?

I'm 75.

And so the lady that pulled up that was driving the bus, she seen me at the bus stop, but she stopped to block the street and did not, and the lady was getting on the bus and pass me up.

So what I did, yes, I called in to make a report because they're making 25,000 hours.

If they don't want to do their job, give it to somebody else.

That's not right.

You know, you're gonna pass somebody up and they right at the bus stop, but you're gonna stop before the bus stop.

And let somebody on, that's not right, President.

Um that is not right.

They need they need listen.

Every time it happened, I'm gonna report it because it's not right.

You don't pass nobody up.

I was at one stop where a lady that does that keep up with the people that pass them that work for the bus.

D that for Dot.

They wrote a lady up for doing the same thing.

You next caller, please.

Our next caller is going to be Lisa Franklin.

Hi, Lisa Franklin.

The floor is yours.

General Public Comment.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, President Tate and City Council.

I'm Lisa Franklin, and I am the president and CEO of a Warriors on Wheels of Metropolitan Detroit.

And I'm also a resident of District 2.

I'd like to congratulate the ATU local 26th president Collier for your recognition today and all of the awardees and making sure that all residents of Indy ability had respectful customer service and uh were respected as uh transit writers.

I like to announce that Warriors on Wheels is providing rides to the polls for early voting.

Our kickoff is this Thursday, July 30th at Farwell Rec Center.

You can vote from nine to five, but we will be there with a get out to vote celebration from one to four.

That address is 2781 East Outer Drive.

Thank you to council member um Callaway for helping us to secure that.

Um early voting, like I say, has already started.

Make sure you get out to vote.

Come and party with us, and uh, we also will have rides to the polls for rides for seniors and people with disabilities.

That phone number is 31325157.

That's 313 251577.

And that's for seniors and people with disabilities in the city of Detroit.

Um, I had a couple other things I wanted to discuss, but I see my time is uh done.

Um Franklin family out on Bell Isle.

Uh, if someone can help us in that situation, we were asked to leave the island.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

My next speaker is Darren McCluskey.

Caller, the floor is yours, General Public Comment.

Caller, are you there?

Let's put that caller to the queue and go to the next, please.

Our next caller is Zoom user.

Caller, the floor is yours.

General Public Comment.

Caller, are you there?

Yes, I'm here.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

I was calling in about the uh property tax issue in the city of Detroit.

Uh are you guys gonna do anything or fight for the residents?

Properties.

Uh also we're calling in about it's a lot of issues.

What about these uh auto shops?

It's taking people's money and uh and taking their cars and keeping them and letting people drive them and all kind of crazy stuff going on around the city.

It's like one particular company owns like 50 car lots.

I mean, car auto service shops in Detroit, and they got multiple complaints and the state.

We've been complaining, no no response.

Uh I mean, one of them is in your district.

We actually two or three of them in your district, district one.

Uh we try to get some help.

And for the residents, I mean, I thought that's what we hired you guys for.

But uh we need some help around here with all this expired food being sold.

Now you got all this lettuce and all this stuff is bad, but it's so out of hand in the city of Detroit.

It's not regulated.

Uh, to where it's a mess.

It's a big mess here.

So it ain't no telling what type of disease we have in the city of Detroit, floating around with all this expired food and products being sold in the city of Detroit by these no-name companies.

When are y'all gonna step up and uh send somebody out to investigate these companies and make sure they selling proper products and food that they're using at these little local little stores.

All right, but we up next to the queue.

Our next speaker, Cindy Dora, sir.

Arnold is Darren, floor is yours.

A minute 45 seconds.

Yeah.

Um I just learned, well, first of all, Dogan gave the speech at Mackinac about the data centers.

Now, I just learned that he wants to be the president of University of Michigan, and the regents picked the president.

So you guys, I haven't researched it.

Research, there's two regents that are on the ballot.

Make sure that hopefully they're not gonna support Duggan to be president of University of Michigan.

I don't know who the other regents are.

I really haven't checked it out, but check that out.

And also I like to think we can get better government if we get approval voting.

Or you can vote for more than one.

So in our system, when we had nine people run for mayor, and that splits the boat up, and and I never even saw all the candidates together at a place for public uh to see them.

So we need approval voting.

You just take the overvote off the machine.

We shouldn't go to hand counting because I don't trust the machines anymore.

And uh the uh also ranked choice, the way they get their 50%, they go down to the least popular candidate and throw and take the second place choice of those candidates of the people that vote for that least popular candidate move it up.

If they don't give 50%, they go down to the last next least popular candidate and throw their first place away and see what those voters chose for their second place.

That is not fair, logically.

We need approval voting, election science.org.

We need better government.

All right, thank you.

We are next to the queue.

Our next speaker is iPhone.

All right, iPhone.

Floor is yours.

A minute and 45 seconds, iPhone.

Hello.

Hello.

Hi, I'm calling on regards to the Riverside Marina.

Um, what I want to say is that everyone who spoke um really spoke on their personal relationship with Jason McGuire, but no one spoke on the conditions of the marina.

There are docks that are broken, they're in the water, there's wires loose.

Um, the bathroom shower curtains have molded on them.

No one is talking about the safety of the marina.

You have people who don't even attend the marina on the marina, stealing things from other people's boats, and you know, it's just not safe.

Like, I think we need to focus more on the safety and the appearance of the marina, other than the relationship that everyone has with the manager of the marina.

I feel like everyone is just based in it off of their personal relationship and not the actual marina itself.

And that's all I had to say.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Our next caller is going to be Karen Wheeler before we go to our callers in the queue.

All right, caller, the floor is yours.

General public comment.

Hi, can you hear me?

Yes, ma'am.

So just to piggyback off the last caller, uh, Jason has been at it a long time and still a long way to go, but I think it's gonna be hard pressed to find someone with the experience because that's the most important thing.

And for him to get more time, things will get better.

Some of the things that she mentioned, those things will happen.

And also, I don't know if people are aware, a lot of this is funded by the managers who run the marina.

So I think in fairness to Jason that he has built something there, still building, and to if anyone else would come in, they cannot match the experience level he has, and then you're probably gonna end up dealing with people farming it out or you know, uh, and possibly non-locals, and I think that he deserves the renewal of the contract because of everything that he's done and still more to do.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Apologies, sir.

Our our final caller before going to our callers in the queue is gonna be Jason Freeman.

There are three callers in our queue.

The floor is yours.

General public comment.

Caller, are you there?

Let's put that caller to the end of the queue and go to our callers in the queue, please.

Yes, sir.

First caller being Frank Aramer.

Frank Hammer, the floor is yours, general public comment.

Good afternoon, President Tate, and good afternoon, city council.

I first want to thank all the election defenders for speaking out about our voting rights, which are under attack.

I also want to give a shout out to my union brother, ATU local 26th President Collier.

I know the unionist deserves your recognition.

My UAW president Sean Fain.

Yesterday, President Trump was in Michigan standing with GM CEO Mary Barra.

He denounced President Fain as bad news.

Just a month ago, Fain and UAW delegates at our national convention, joined ranks with city council, denouncing the Israeli genocide against Palestine.

Our convention voted to end union investment in the Israel occupation.

It is the first major U.S.

union to do so.

This is a major break with the political establishment of both parties, which is pumping millions of dollars to Representative Tanadar and Stevens for their continued votes in support of the Israeli military.

With its vote to divest, the UAW took a historic step towards peace.

President Fain should be recognized as a peacemaker.

Fellow Detroiters, please spread the word in your union and to your union friends to spread the movement to divest.

And with that, thank you very much and have a good recess.

Can we give it to next caller is going to be Danielle Kramer?

Caller, the floor is yours.

General Public Comment.

Yes, can you hear me?

Yes.

Okay.

Good afternoon.

My name is Danielle Kramer, and I work as a paralegal at neighborhood defender service.

Um, Wayne County's public defense office.

Today is our third day on strike.

You may have seen us picketing outside the criminal justice center or at Detroit's 36th District Court fighting for a fair contract.

Every day, my colleagues and I represent people who cannot afford a lawyer in the 36th District Court and Third Circuit Court.

We're proud members of UAW local 2325, the Association of Legal Advocates and Attorneys.

We never really did want to go on strike.

That's effectively a pay cut.

The fight is personal to me, of course.

I'm raising a child here in Detroit, and I want him to grow up believing that workers are valued and respected, not asked to do essential work for less.

Also, and possibly more importantly, a decent salary and health care are necessary for me to raise a happy and healthy child.

I'm also fighting because public defenders protect the constitutional rights of people who otherwise couldn't afford representation.

When we are supported, we can focus fully on our clients.

When we are underpaid or losing benefits, it weakens the entire system of justice in Detroit.

A rollback for public defenders is a rollback for Detroit's most vulnerable communities.

And that's why we need action now, not later.

I'm asking you, City Council, to do more than stand with us in spirit.

Call neighborhood defender service and demand a fair contract and a real cost of living increase and no cuts to health air.

Contact the Wayne County Board of Commissioners and tell them to intervene and insist on a fair agreement.

Show up, speak out, and make it clear.

Detroit public defenders will not be forced to accept you so much.

Next speaker is going to be Darren McCluskey.

Call of the floor is yours.

General Public Comment.

Good afternoon, Council.

You guys know what I'm going to speak about.

So the Solar Project, it's a vanity project.

It was conceived by Mike Duggan.

Mike Duggan has fallen out of favor.

This dirty dirt scandal is gonna haunt him, much like the Flintwater Crisis haunted Rick Snyder.

And you guys have a choice because it's gonna all come out very soon.

The facts of this project, how people were basically baited or lied to condone the project.

And you're using tax credits, and you haven't met substantial completion to it.

So in addition to all of your $90,000 uh re-demolition bids that you're gonna have to do.

I really have not had this question answered.

How many are in the solar neighborhoods?

Are you going to be digging through solar panels to dig out contaminated dirt?

Is that going to be happening?

And then beyond that, Mr.

Sky still stands.

You guys have never answered that.

Somehow went from 12 million to 10 million to 2 million dollars to mediate that blight that everyone sees on the lower riverfront.

It's never been remediated, and that was the seed money for this project.

That may not even happen.

So I think more people are gonna come forward.

There's a lot of elderly people who are filing handwritten responses to the complaints in court.

And we'll see what actually happens, but the truth will come out.

Thank you for your time for my time.

Next caller, please.

Final caller for public comment today.

So it's gonna be Jason Freebo.

Jason Freeman, the floor is yours.

General Public Comment.

Jason Freeman, are you there?

Going once.

Jason Freeman, are you there going twice?

Freeman, are you there going three times?

Unfortunately, we're gonna have to move on if you would like to provide your comments to the clerk's office that will be placed onto public record.

So help does that take us to our last call?

Yes, sir, it does.

All right, thank you so much.

And we will now open up the floor for any comments from colleagues.

We'll start with Member Santiago Romero, followed by Member McCampbell, followed by I think it's all member Johnson.

Mr.

Okay.

It'll be our first two speakers.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Uh first, thank you to our faith leaders for coming down today and for asking us to make sure that we are protecting people's rights to vote and making sure that our elections are followed through.

I have signed the pledge.

Encourage everyone else to sign as well.

And want to um share with my colleagues that uh we might hear soon from residents at Riverside Apartments.

I was surprised that we haven't heard from them today.

Uh they have reached out to us um earlier this month, letting us know that there were issues with air conditioning in their units.

We did contact B seed uh who sent an inspector to the site, and the latest that we've heard is that there might be two weeks that residents have to be there with our air conditioning until a piece arrives to fix the air conditioner.

Yesterday during our office hours at Kemeny Rec Center, we had several residents from the towers come down to let us know that they still don't have air conditioners, but if they do have air conditioners, they have not been installed.

There was one resident who took their dog to the hospital, who has now occurred about $800 worth of bills, and we have residents that are ready to put their rent into escrow until this issue, this basic amenity is met.

Uh, so we have reached out to the administration.

We're asking for support and making sure that residents receive their air conditioners as soon as possible.

We want uh uh a firm timeline of when repairs are going to make are going to be made at the towers, and we want to know if the administration is able to reach out to the to the residents as well to support them.

And unfortunately, this is a common thread that we are seeing in our office, um, not just in our apartment buildings, but a lot of the homes that are being rented out, the lack of compliance.

Um, so for my colleagues for the administration, uh, as we plan about the budget coming up, we need to have a real plan for compliance for our properties because basic things like air conditioners in this time with climate change um need to be uh provided for everyone in the city and want to also note that when it comes to what's um at least our office is doing to address um the the intensified immigration enforcement in in Detroit.

Uh the immigration task force, which is made up of 30 plus organizations throughout Metro Detroit.

Uh, we have been meeting regularly.

And the number one thing, the number one thing that they're asking the city to do.

Um, there are many things that they're asking, uh, but in priority, it's a making sure that we are enforcing our language access ordinance.

Uh, when there was the terrible air um conditions, uh, many did not receive any information in their native tongue if they didn't speak English.

This for them makes them feel as if they don't matter at all.

Um, how can we ex how can they they don't feel as if they are expected to be careful if they can't even be communicated with?

Um, so we are starting at the very basics for for immigrants here.

They want to be communicated with, um, they want to make sure that the currents uh that the current policies in the books, because we do have sanctuary policies already in the books.

Police are not supposed to be asking you for your immigration status.

Uh, we are not to be uh cooperating with ICE for anything other than if they have a warrant.

And unfortunately, these have been these um policies have been broken.

So, really the biggest issue here that we need to be uh that we need to be uh keeping front of line is that we need to be enforcing the current policies that we have.

And the memo that I sent out earlier this year to create an ordinance um that would ban ice from city owned properties has created the ordinance.

Uh so we are again, as I mentioned from the very beginning.

I do this work with immigrants.

I do this work with undocumented immigrants first.

Um, and we are working together to bring this forward city council and to our religious um uh partners here.

Um, thank you for for wanting to make sure that we are doing more for immigrants.

I'm also asking the mayor to pass uh to enforce a mandatory training for all city staff, um, all city employees on knowing their rights and on services on how to support undocumented immigrants if they have been impacted by deportation because our office gets calls every single day on how to help families navigate once they've been deported.

Um, and we get these calls from colleagues or from other city staff who I know want to help.

Um, so one of the biggest things that are documented immigrants are asking us to do is to know our rights, is to know uh what legal uh firms we can call to support our families uh because they are being impacted by immigration every single day.

Um, and this is another commitment that I've asked of my colleagues for city council.

Uh, we have immigration task force members like access, uh CDAD who are all ready um and willing to support with training.

We will be connecting them with all of the offices during recess because we will not be off during recess, so we'll be working um making sure that we are catching up and making sure that we establish these trainings um and get these completed by the end of this year.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Thank you, Member McCampbell.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Just want to uh also thank um our faithful years for coming down and urging us to do all that we can to protect the vote.

Um, I know you have passed out the pledge, and um, and I think you will find a lot of allies here on the council with that.

Um, and I know we've had this conversation um last week with the clerk's office as well.

And um, we do have the primary election coming up next week.

But I think there's a lot more that we can do leading up to the November general election as well, to make sure that we're also engaging folks in our districts um on what to look out for, how to be uh folks to protect the vote as well.

So just want to thank you all.

And I have signed the pledge uh also with that.

Um want to make note that as mentioned, if I can show you all my calendar, I would not be um I will be working during um the recess, but I also want to know for folks that I want to be completely honest about city council.

Um, while you all may see us here during committee informal session weekly, um you don't you may not see the stuff that goes on seven days for a week.

Um, and that doesn't stop during recess.

So I want you all to know that um I know we have a lot of committed folks here on council just because the calendar says recess that we're not meaning to formally does not mean that the work is not continue, and also lifting up the need for rest and to um for folks to take rest as well, no matter who you are, no matter what work that you are part of.

Um, what I will also say is that I want to thank um Member Santiago Romero and Commissioner Victoria Camille for joining us on the letter to Homeland Security to demand that they stop the ICE pursuits in our communities um because we have multiple folks impacted by that, including in District 7.

And what we saw is that DHS announced that they would halt that, and then we saw Trump come back and say that they shouldn't do so.

Um, so we're gonna continue to push on that, and also we do have um memos out to the law department and LPD to see what actions the city can take to make folks whole in that way as well against the federal government.

So just want to lift those up um as well.

And uh I think that is it.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Thank you so much.

And I know in this environment, uh it it lends itself to the them versus us.

It makes it appear as if we're the opposition, but the opposition are the folks who are oppressing, all of us.

And I think we need to keep the focus on that.

It's really strange when you have pretty much the most empathetic person uh who is the person who's the most empathetic to your cause is the one that's persecuted by those who are coming down here.

It just makes to me, I don't understand it.

Um I've seen my colleague work.

Uh I've worked with her uh on a regular basis.

I've seen how she's been able to go out um in the midst of a lot of challenges that some folks who are sitting in this auditorium right now will fold.

Uh but she went through uh strongly.

And it's not just one member of this body, it's all of my colleagues, all of us.

We work extremely hard.

When you don't value the work that is being done either by this council or the staff, you think that just keep on pushing, keep on going.

And you got to understand that our recesses we've explained before in the past is not a vacation.

But some of us deserve it.

I'm going to say right now, I am going to take some time away because there is no other opportunity for me to do this.

And I do uh challenge those folks who are saying that we should not have time.

Stick around with us all day today.

Just today.

And then come back the next time and the next time.

You understand better why my staff, our staff just needed time to catch their breath.

What recess means is that we're not at the council table going through the country, but we're still reading hundreds of documents that comes our way.

Again, I challenge you to read those same documents in a short time frame that we are responsible to do so.

You've heard the actions, uh, but sometimes folks only want to see and want to hear what they want to see and what they want to hear.

We have the folks with the little red hats come down here, and and they sound very similar because we don't say exactly what you want to hear.

You turn a blind eye to all of the other works that it's done by this particular body and the city.

So I definitely encourage everyone to speak up, speak out, First Amendment rights, show up, be here the whole night.

But I just ask that you also have that same level of uh empathetic heart that you're looking for from this body as well when it comes to our team and these human beings that make up city council.

These are humans.

Um I again uh Mr.

Uh excuse me, uh Pastor Bala, thank you, and for our uh communicable leaders, thank you all for coming down here as well.

I just wanna say let's have this relationship.

The first time I saw this shouldn't I be right now because we're on the same page, we're on the same team.

We're very supportive.

So I don't want it to give the impression that it's again them versus us.

We're on the same side.

All of these things you'll hear in many of our independent meetings that we have.

So I host uh three community meetings every month where we draw, just have one.

We had a hundred plus people who were there, where we talk about uh government issues, we talk about human and issues, but we also talk about election.

We talk about immigration, you you name it, we have that.

So I would invite you to come out and join us at the meetings that we have outside of just what you see on Tuesday and the uh various uh committees as well.

There is a lot of work that's being done, and we're doing it on behalf of the residents, uh, not to ingratiate ourselves.

Member Benson mentioned earlier when you're in public service, you don't do so because you're trying to get rich.

Well, we don't hear.

Uh, there's some folks in DC who do that, uh, one in particular, but not right here.

And so thank you all again for for being here.

Colleagues, are there any additional um comments before we go forward?

Uh, member Miller.

And we're on the same team.

Thank you, Pastor Ro.

Member Miller, can I hit that button?

There you go.

I wanted to start also regarding the uh recess.

In any occupation, you are afforded a vacation and time off from work.

I've been in the workforce for over 40 years, and I've never seen anyone complaining about someone having a vacation or time off, just being with their family.

But even in this capacity, in my area alone, we have over 50 block clubs and associations.

What people don't know is what we do when we leave here.

Sometimes there's overlapping events every day.

Sometimes we get home at late as late as eight or nine o'clock at night.

We have mandatory monthly meetings for the city, for the administration, and for the council.

On our recess, we will be going on tours, tours of the Detroit Detention Center, tours for the calf's corner, shelters that everyone has been complaining about, tours for Detroit horsepower that is growing a new business in our city.

We're having a grant funding workshop in August.

And we're also having a I will be visiting work for our development sites.

There's total to 15 developments going on in our city right now.

And I'm gonna see how many are actually being paid a union wage and millions of workers.

Please do your due diligence when it comes to what we do as a council.

It's more than you can even imagine.

Uh we are constantly moving throughout our city and our districts where each, I believe I was told that each district have over like 90,000 people close to it.

And someone's calling, we do door, we knock on doors.

We have an awareness letter that goes out in district five, and there's a development coming to let people know that they need to come to the zoning meetings to come to city planning.

We knock doors, we walk neighborhoods, and constantly answer a petrol calls every single day in emails.

So please know that we are definitely doing our due diligence to make our city better from district five.

And I'm going to say that my colleagues are doing the same.

I would ask you to give some grace, have some empathy, and give some mercy when making comments that does not line up with actually what we're doing.

When it comes to our parks, a lady spoke today, and she talked about the drinking, the loud music and the smoking marijuana in our city parks.

A lot of residents have complained about our parts as well.

I want her to know that we're having on August the 22nd, we're gonna reinstate the Dolores Bennett Park.

Residents have called because this woman here brought people into her home.

She gave them shelter, provided food, clothing for many residents in the North End, and they feel that her legacy is being defamed.

Where people are gathering at night, doing having illicit activities in this park.

We wish we wish to help restore the integrity and bring awareness to why we have our parks and why we have namesakes.

Because some people have forgotten what real advocacy looked like.

So we're starting within Dolores Bennett Park because we do not want our residents to have to go to the suburbs, have peace and quiet with their children.

It's unacceptable, and we have to bring awareness to it as well.

When it comes to the ABC park, I would say I have been a fan of this park where I do realize that some things need to change.

I stood here today and I watched several African Americans speak about a park on the riverfront.

I had to ask myself throughout the country in America, how many African Americans actually occupy a waterfront?

How many actually live on a waterway?

And I believe the city needs to do more to help this contract fulfill what they attempted to do.

I am researching and will confer with my uh colleague because where I stand, I see people get contracts that be 20, 30, and 40 years.

But this contractor has had to go five years, five years and a two-year contract, which was meant to be 15 years from my understanding.

You cannot expect anyone to invest millions and millions of dollars if you have not given them the opportunity to receive from what our city do for the regular average person.

So I look forward to sitting down with those people at that particular park.

I am I do frequent it, and I will tell you it's hard to rent any place along the river.

But this establishment gives you the opportunity to be affordable and sometimes even free.

So it is my desire to see how we can work with them.

I know it's not before us, but to see them come today, they're getting prepared for a fight, sound likes to meet sound like to me.

So I commend them to fight for what they want to do and to ask the city to support them.

Um with that being said, that is oh, I wanted to say to Mr.

Smith who called in today, I am I'm not aware of your pothole.

Please let us know the address so we can see to that with um the proper department to get that pothole filled at the end of your street.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

And uh two more things for me.

One, uh, it was was mentioned that we are having a recess also in October.

That is incorrect.

There is no October recess.

There is one in September, there is one in uh December as well.

Excuse me, in August, August and uh December.

And then lastly, I would ask for Mr.

Washington if you can come forward, please.

I think he's on the screen.

Mr.

Washington, are you there?

Thank you so much, sir.

I just wanted to take the time to say happy birthday.

Because I got a feeling that this probably gonna be the only time we're gonna be nice to you right now during this week.

We're gonna go ahead and get it out the way.

So happy birthday, happy birthday.

Thank you so much for the chair.

Absolutely.

All right.

Now back to your regularly scheduled program.

All right, any additional comments, colleagues?

See none.

Understanding committee reports, madam clerk from the budget finance and audit standing committee from the office of contracting and procurement.

Councilmember McCampbell, a resolution line item 16.1.

Member McCampbell.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Motion to approve.

There's a motion to approve line item 16.1 colleagues.

Are there any objections?

Hearing none, that action shall be taken.

Mr.

Chair, request for a waiver.

There's a request for a waiver on line out of 16.1 colleagues.

Any objections?

See none, waiver should be attached.

From the office of the city clerk, city planning commission.

Councilmember McCampbell, a resolution line item 16.2.

Member McCampbell.

Motion to approve.

There's a motion to approve line 16.2 with discussion.

Member Miller.

I have no on that again.

And I just wanted to say for a statement regarding this particular project that I solely stood voting on alone last week.

I watched the video of this development in budget finance and audit.

And when asked about the prevailing wage from our honorable uh team here, the developer slipped and said that when asked about receiving a prevailing wage for the workers, he slipped and said our project is privately funded, a probably funded development that is not required to adhere to a prevailing wage.

I will say that he probably made a mistake when he said it and wish he hadn't, but he did.

And I'm going to commend member Johnson because I watched the video.

And he sat there confused, like why we had an MOU, which was to track them and to babysit this project because they're not to be trusted.

He himself backed up.

They picked the ball back up.

And then he said, um, he said that we have a union affiliated workers, which would receive a prefilling wage.

So for me, that alone continues the standards that we have to put in place.

This developer willingly said that he does not again reiterate it, have to have a prevailing wage.

And then when she turned her head and looked at him, like, are you serious?

He said, Oh, but we will do that for the affiliate unions.

I don't believe they have any intention of doing a prevailing wage, so it's a negative for me and no on this contract.

Further colleagues, there's a motion for approval for line item 16.2.

Are there any objections?

No, no, no.

Objection, number Miller.

Not only the one objection, line item 16.2 shall stand approved.

For the internal operations standing committee from the mayor's office.

Council member Whitfield Callaway or resolution, line item 17.1.

Councilmember Callaway.

Um, thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Um motion to approve with discussion.

There's a motion to approve line item 17.1 with discussion, member Callaway.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

I think there's a duplicate on line items 17.1 and 17.12.

Yes, ma'am.

Just I was gonna ask that same question.

What's the difference in those two items?

Um, madam clerk, they look very similar.

Mr.

President, yes, ma'am.

Um, through you, I believe that um confusion with these two items is that they it was moved from committee, however, it was listed under resolutions which were referenced that this would have been a resolution from LPD.

However, this is a Bayorial appointment, and that is why it is listed under Mayor's office.

So 17.12 um can be removed as that item didn't have a resolution connected to it um in the first place.

Okay, Member Callivo, you want to remove that item now?

Um yes, um, Mr.

Chair, motion to remove line item 17.12.

As a motion to remove from the agenda line item 17.12 uh with discussion, approaching young yeah, Mayor Click.

I just want to make sure I understand this that the fact that 17.12 says reappointing, and the fact that 13.1 said appointing that that doesn't have any that's not gonna be effective with the removal, right?

No, I would not, Mr.

Prompton.

Because those are currently I don't know those kinds of things, and I think it's correcting and just saying pointing, right?

Correct.

Okay.

Thank you, thank you.

Are there any objections?

See none, that action shall be taken.

Callaway.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Um, back to line item 17.1 motion to approve the appointment of Steve Ogden to the Detroit Downtown Development Authority Board of Directors beginning immediately and expiring July 17th, 2030.

Discussion.

There's a motion to approve line item 17.1 with discussion, member McCampbell.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Just a question either for LPD or the law department.

Um, notwithstanding the background of this individual, but understanding that they work for um Bed Rock and Um we will be.

It seems that uh uh Brownfield um development is coming for approval and also will be under the DDA.

Um, wondering is that a conflict for this, um, or how would that be navigated through?

So I don't know if there is for LPD or the law department.

We'll start with the law department first.

I saw Mr.

Whitaker look over to the side uh law department, come on down the heel.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon, D Hill Law Department.

Uh, to my knowledge, I'm not aware of a conflict.

Um, however, I can't say that with 100% certainty.

I do know that throughout the process of making um their appointments, there has been a lot of communication with the law department in regards to who can or cannot be appointed to certain boards due to conflict of interest.

So my question, my answer to that is I am not certain, however, I know there has been quite a bit of communication in regards to that.

I want to share the mic, Mr.

Whitaker.

I guess it's it also comes down if there's a project that this entity has before them.

Uh they have to recuse themselves.

Yeah, I guess that's part of the the overall question as well.

I I think that's the distinction.

He would have to recuse itself on part on projects to come that he has his or his company has um interest.

But he has already served on this board for quite some time.

So the issue has not caused him to not be able to retain the service.

So I would think if there was a conflict, it would have been acknowledged long ago because he's been he's been on this board for some time.

Thank you.

Thank you both.

Um, I will also say I think uh thank you for asking my question on the conflict.

I think also overall with uh this uh without the conflict of having this is a uh a company that has a lot of projects that may come before this body, um asking for incentives or such.

So it's also for me to question of should that individual be on that type of board uh when these type of when there's a lot of that type of business before the DDA and before city council.

So um thank you for clarifying.

Glad that the recruits of process will be in place.

Um I will vote no on the appointment, but thank you for the clarification.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Any further colleagues?

Discussion with further discussion, Member Benson.

Uh thank you.

That was a uh good catch by my colleague.

And this has come up before with appointees of the boards who may have business that come before those boards, and the standard operating procedure is to recuse oneself, and that's been um confirmed in the past.

And so they do have to recuse themselves.

That is enforced at those boards, but there is um oftentimes a uh conflict if you do do business in the city of Detroit and you represent and you're representing on the DDA, but that can be handled just as this body has the same level of um conflict of interest requirement to recuse yourself if you have a pecuniary interest.

Thank you.

Mr.

Whitaker, um what this issue raises.

We you know, particularly for you, Mr.

McCampbell.

You might want to give us an assignment so that we can explain that so that you have some clear understanding.

I think we've written on it in the past, but but we would be happy to to draft a new opinion or recirculate one of the past so that you're fully informed.

The problem in a city with so many boards is often the folks who have the most experience to bring to bear on the boards are people who would often come before the boards.

So that's why recusal probably is the best method to take away um allow the person to serve but deal with conflicts that might arise and some might arise with some regularity, as you pointed out.

But we'd be happy to draft an opinion so it's clear for the body going forward.

Thank you.

Um through you, Mr.

Chair.

Um, member McCamp.

Um motion to have LPD draft uh opinion on.

I don't know how to word it, but uh um on the conflicts of interest or various boards and individuals serving on them.

There's a motion on the floor, colleagues.

Have any objections?

You followed up with the memo.

Seeing none, then action shall be taken.

There is a motion again for line item 17.1.

Uh are there any objections?

Objection McCampbell.

Objection, member Santiago Romero.

Noting the two objections, line item 17.1 shall stand approved from the law department, madam clerk.

Mr.

Chair.

Uh member, answer.

Request a waiver on line item 17.1.

The request for a waiver on line item 17.1.

Thank you, sir.

Are there any objections?

See none.

The waiver should be attached.

From the law department, madam clerk.

Council member with Phil Callaway, eight resolutions, noting that line items 17.2 through 17.5 or postponed from last week formal session.

All right, member Callaway, line item 17 point.

I'm sorry, Member Callaway.

17.5 through 17.2 through 17.5, correct, madam clerk?

Correct, Mr.

President.

Member Callaway.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Motion to approve these are various settlements and lawsuits.

Are there any objections?

Objection, Member Johnson, 17.4 and 17.5.

Objection.

So sorry, Member Santiago Romero, 17.3, 17.4.

Objection McCampal, 17.4, 17.5.

There any further colleagues.

See none.

Line item 17, noting the objections, line item 17.2 through 17.5 shall stand approved.

Madam Clerk.

So we go from the office of the city clerk, Mr.

President.

Uh we're at 17.6.

We're still in that section.

I'd ask uh which mo which items were removing.

Uh and I mentioned 17.2 through 17.5.

Yes, actually, Mr.

President, I'm I move all eight.

I was just notating that 17.2 through five were postponed from last week.

Okay.

So I guess I didn't say the nine items individually.

It was 17.2 through nine is what was moved, referencing 17.2 through 5.

I just did not say the line items, so that might be where the confusion was.

So 17.6.

Excuse me, yes, 17.6 through 17.9, correct?

Yes.

All right.

Um, member Callaway.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Thank you, madam clerk.

Motion to approve line item 17.6 through 17.9.

These are various settlements and lawsuits.

There's a motion to approve line item 17.6 through 17.9, colleagues.

Are there any objections?

See none, and action shall be taken.

Thank you.

Um pro to mean.

Uh can we uh reconsider the vote on uh line of 17.5 and 13.4.

All right, colleagues, there's a motion for reconsideration for the vote for line items which months again 13.

No, I'm sorry, 17.5, 17.5.

There's a motion to uh reconsider the vote for line item 17.5.

Are there any objections?

See none, we should reconsider line item 17.5.

Madam Clerk.

Council member with field callaway, a resolution.

Member Callaway.

This is line item 17.5.

Yes, are we voting?

Yes, minute.

Um correct.

Is a reconsideration.

Okay.

So we already reconsidered now.

So motion to approve line item 17.5.

As a motion to approve line item 17.5, colleagues.

Are there any objections?

Objection, member Johnson.

Objection, member McCampal.

Objection, member young.

All right, madam clerk, looking at the numbers that we have at the table currently.

There's five no's Mr.

President and five three no's in five days.

That motion passes.

Um clerk.

We've got two two seats that are empty at the table.

Member Benson is still here, Mr.

President.

Oh, there is.

All right, that action shall be proved.

Line item 17.5 shall stand approved.

From the office of the city clerk.

Council member with Phil Callaway, a resolution, line item 17.10.

Line item 17.10, member Callaway.

Motion to approve.

That's a motion to approve line item 17.10.

Colleagues, are there any objections?

Say none, then action shall be taken.

Under resolutions, madam clerk.

Council member with Phil Callaway for resolution, three resolutions.

We've removed line item 17.12.

Um, what was that again?

17.12.

We removed so it's three resolutions, Mr.

President.

All right, line items 17.11 through 17.14, minus line item 17.12.

Member Callaway.

Um, thank you, Mr.

Chair.

If we can take them individually, um, the first one, um, motion for discussion on line item 17.11.

There's a motion to discuss line item 17.11.

Member Callaway.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

This is um a resolution in support of Senate Bill 1035, and I'd like to read the resolution.

Um, whereas DNA testing is a powerful forensic tool capable of identifying perpetrators, excluding individuals who did not commit an offense and providing reliable evidence in the review of potentially wrongful convictions, and whereas DNA evidence has played a role in approximately 15% of all exonerations in the United States, demonstrating that access to post-conviction DNA testing can provide a critical means of establishing innocence and correcting miscarriages of justice, and whereas expanding access to post-conviction DNA testing would remove significant barriers faced by incarcerated individuals seeking to establish their innocence, particularly where advances in forensic science permit biological material to be tested or analyzed in ways that were not available at the time of conviction.

And whereas Michigan Senate Bill, together with its House counterpart, House Bill 6092 would amend Michigan's post-conviction DNA testing statute to remove outdated procedural and technological restrictions and afford circuit court judges greater discretion to order testing when granting a petition would serve the interest of justice.

Would update Michigan's approximately 25 year old post-conviction DNA testing statute to account for substantial advances in forensic technology since the statute was enacted.

And whereas modern forensic techniques, including touch DNA testing, which may recover genetic material from skin cells left on evidence and vacuum extraction methods capable of recovering biological material from fabric may produce a probative results from evidence that could not be successfully tested using earlier technology.

And whereas Michigan's existing statute may prevent access to modern DNA testing techniques, even when biological evidence remains preserved and available, and a court determines that additional testing could be warranted, and whereas innocent individuals have pleaded guilty to crimes they did not commit and excluding all guilty plea cases from access to both to post-conviction DNA testing may prevent courts from considering reliable scientific evidence capable of establishing innocence or identifying the actual perpetrator, and whereas advocates report that the reforms proposed by Senate Bill 1035 and its companion House Bill 6092 would bring Michigan more closely in line with the post-conviction DNA testing standards followed in 45 other states and the district of Columbia.

Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Detroit City Council hereby urges the Michigan legislature to pass Senate Bill 1035 as a critical criminal justice reform and as a necessary update to Michigan's post-conviction DNA testing law, and be it finally resolved that the Detroit City Clerk shall transmit copies of this resolution to the mayor of the city of Detroit, the governor of the state of Michigan, the members of the Detroit delegation to the Michigan legislature, the state appellate defender office, the innocence project, the Michigan Innocence Clinic, and the City of Detroit returning citizens task force.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Motion to approve line item 17.11.

Thank you.

There's a motion to approve line item 17.11 with further discussion.

I know that similar to the appointment for uh Mr.

Ogden to the DDA.

Uh this is also a duplicate, if I'm not mistaken, and line item 20.24.

And just checking to see if there's any difference in those particular items.

Discussion.

Uh, with further discussion, member Asantiago Gorino.

Council President, I think you are correct.

Um, we did discuss this in PHS yesterday.

We believe it's a duplicates.

Um, so I'm happy to remove 20 points 24 if you feel comfortable.

There are motion motion to remove 20.24.

The motion to remove line item 20.24 from the agenda.

Any objections?

See none.

That action shall be taken.

All right.

Discussion.

With further discussion on line item 17.11.

Member McCampbell.

I'm just want to say thank you for um to member Callaway for this resolution.

Um, I think it's vitally important.

Um, if it's passed, we'd love to join you all.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any further colleagues?

See none.

Are there any objections?

See no objections, line item 17.11 shall stand approved.

Ms.

Chair, request a waiver on line item 17.11.

Request for a waiver on 17.11, colleagues.

Any objections?

See none.

Waiver should be attached.

Item 17.13.

Member Callaway.

Yeah, thank you, Mr.

Chair.

This is the appointment of Dr.

Latosha Patman to the board of review beginning January 1st, 2027, and expiring December 31st, 2028.

This is Member Waters' reappointment recommendation.

Motion to approve.

There's a motion to approve line item 17.13.

Colleagues, are there any objections?

Hearing none that action shall be taken.

Mr.

Chair, we request a waiver on line item 17.13.13.

Colleagues, are there any objections?

See none.

Waiver should be attached.

Line item 17.14.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

This is an appointment for Raymond Lozano to serve on the Detroit Land Bank authority beginning immediately and expiring March the 6th, 2030.

It's a motion to approve line item 17.14.

Colleagues, are there any objections?

See none.

Line item 17.14 shall be approved.

Request a waiver, Mr.

Chair on line item 17.14.

The request for a waiver on 17.14 colleagues.

Are there any objections?

See none.

Waiver should be attached.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Yes, ma'am.

For the planning and economic development standing committee under unfinished business, madam clerk.

Council member Johnson and ordinance noting a roll call.

Line item 18.1.

Member Johnson.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

I move to take from the table an ordinance to amend chapter 50 of the 2019 Detroit City Code.

Zoning by amending Article 17, zoning district maps, section 50-17-28, district map number 26 to revise the zoning classification for the properties commonly identified as 11400 Connor Street and 11055 Glenfield Avenue, generally located east of Connor Street between Glenfield Avenue and Flanders Avenue from the R3 Low Density Residential District Zoning Classification to the B4 General Business District Zoning Classification laid on the table June 23rd, 2026.

That action shall be taken.

Councilmember Johnson.

I move the ordinance be placed on the order of third reading and considered read.

Hearing no objections, that action shall be taken.

Councilmember Johnson.

I move the ordinance be passed as submitted.

There being a roll call required, Madam Clerk.

Can you please call the roll?

Councilmember Miller.

Councilmember Johnson.

Yes.

Councilmember Santiago Romero.

Yes.

Council Member Waters.

Councilmember Woodfield Callaway.

Council President Pro Tim Young.

Yes.

Council President Tate.

Yes.

Councilmember Benson.

Council Member McCampbell.

Yes.

Six chase that motion passes, Mr.

President.

Um objections that action will be taken.

Council Member Johnson.

I move the title to the ordinance be confirmed.

I'm sorry, the ordinance is approved.

I should have said that first.

Uh now hearing no objections that action will be taken.

Line item.

Okay, there we go.

From the city planning commission, Madam Clerk.

Council Member Johnson and ordinance noting a roll call.

Line item 18.2.

Line item 18.2.

Member Johnson.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

I move to take from the table an ordinance to amend chapter 50 of the 2019 Detroit City Code.

Zoning by amending Article 17.

Zoning District Maps, Section 50-17-4, District Map Number 3 to revise the zoning classifications for 11 parcels commonly identified as 1525 and 1529 Temple Street, 2801-2821, also known as 2825, and 2847 Trumbull Avenue, 1510, Perry Street, 1537, 1545, 1551, and 1555, Temple Street and 1520, Perry Street, generally bounded by Temple Street to the north, Trumbull Avenue to the east, Perry Street to the south, and Cochrane Street to the west from the existing SD1 Special Development District, small scale mixed use, R2, two family residential district, and R3, low density residential district zoning classifications to the B2 Local Business and Residential District Zoning Classification laid on the table, May 12th, 2026.

Hearing no objections, that action will be taken.

Councilmember Johnson.

I move the ordinance be placed on the order of third reading and considered read.

Hearing no objections, that action will be taken.

I move the ordinance be passed as submitted.

There being a roll call required, Madam Clerk.

Would you please call the roll?

Councilmember Johnson.

Yes.

Councilmember Santiago Romero.

Yes.

Councilmember Waters.

Council Member Withfield Calloway.

Council President Pro Tem Young.

Yes.

Council President Tate.

Yes.

Council Member Benson.

Yes.

Councilmember McCampbell.

Yes.

Councilmember Miller.

Seven yes.

That motion passes, Mr.

President.

The ordinance is approved.

Councilmember Johnson.

Move the title to the ordinance be confirmed.

No objections, that action will be taken.

All right, madam clerk.

I did neglect to note that it received a memo this morning that Member Miller would be departing the session at 1.30.

So no, Mr.

President.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

From the Office of Contracting Procurement, Madam Clerk.

Council Member Johnson for resolutions.

Line items 18.3 through 18.6.

Line items 18.3 through 18.6.

Member Johnson.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Move for approval.

The motion to approve line items 18.3 through 18.6.

Colleagues, are there any objections?

See none.

Line items 18.3 through 18.6.

So stand approved.

Mr.

Chair.

Member Johnson.

I'd like to request a waiver on line items 18.3 and 18.4.

These are contracts for the alley sewer repair program.

There's a motion for approval for line items 18.3 and 18.4, colleagues.

Are there any objections?

See none.

And action shall be taken.

Member Johnson.

Is that a waiver?

Mr.

Chair.

Waiver.

I was looking for this document.

That's what's throwing me off.

There's a waiver request, excuse me, for line items 18.3 and 18.4.

Are there any objections?

See none, waiver shall be attached.

Uh from the Detroit Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, Madam Clerk.

Council Member Johnson, a resolution line item 18.7.

Line item 18.7, Member Johnson.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Line item 18.7 is also associated with line item 18.10.

There is a request to bring these two items back after recess.

So motion to bring line items 18.7 and 8.

18.10 back in one week.

There's a motion to postpone the vote for line items 18.7 and 18.10 into our next formal session.

Are there any objections?

See none.

That action shall be taken.

Member Johnson.

Move the rest of them.

Oh just that one 18.7 was the only one that really was um addressed with the clerk.

So I believe 18.

We're on 18.8.

Did we just we we also postpone the vote for 18.10 as well, correct?

Yes.

Okay.

Mr.

President, we um from the office of the chief financial officer, office of development and grants.

Councilmember Johnson, a resolution, line item 18.8.

Councilmember Johnson.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Move for approval.

This is the fiscal year 2026-2027 annual action plan.

See none, that action shall be taken.

From the city planning commission, madam clerk.

Councilmember Johnson, a resolution, line item 18.9.

Line item 18.9, colleagues.

Uh member Johnson.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Move for approval.

This is a request to um do alterations at the Wayne County Community College downtown campus.

There's a motion for approval for line item 18.9.

Are there any objections?

See none that action shall be taken.

Uh we did bring postpone the vote for uh until we return for line item 18.10 from the planning and development department, madam clerk.

Two resolutions, line items 18.11 to 18.12.

Uh member Johnson.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Move for approval.

Line item 18.11 is acquisition of Wayne County tax foreclosed properties, the right of first refusal for the 2026 properties that the city is looking to utilize.

And line item 18.12 is a in a DTE easement request for 11446 van Dyck.

You as a motion for approval for line items 18.11 and 18.12, colleagues.

Are there any objections?

Discussion with discussion, member calloway.

Um, do we have anyone on from planning and development to give me some more information about line item 18.11?

If not, I'm I'd like to make a motion to postpone until we return from recess.

If this is not an urgent action that has to be taken today, that's line item 18.11.

Those are three properties in um district two, namely on the avenue of fashion.

I see Mr.

Washington has joined us.

Yes, through the chair, we do have John Trunk as well as Jason Friedman online.

We'll promote those individuals through the chair.

This is John Trong, the housing revitalization department.

I think I should be joined by uh my colleague uh Jason Friedman as well.

I am I am on as well.

This is Jason Friedman, director of public private partnerships HRD.

Turn your camera on, that would be helpful, please.

Camera on Mr.

Friedman.

It is.

I'm having some technical issues though.

Let me see if I can switch to my phone.

Well, we won't prolong this uh portion of it.

We'll give uh member Callery an opportunity to ask the questions.

Member Callaway, floor is yours, ma'am.

Oh yes, um, are these urgent matters?

Do we have to take action on these today?

Or can they wait until after I mean I'm sorry, after recess.

There's Michael, I can answer that uh through the chair to council member Callaway.

There is a level of urgency, and that's due to um a short timeline with the Wayne County Treasurer uh with Treasure Sabree on when we can exercise this red refusal.

Candidly, the process year over year is really tight because um just the beginning of the process, they don't give us the final foreclosure list until about two weeks.

Uh you know, we've had it for about two weeks now, and so we're we're we're against a deadline from them as well as for closing.

And I know we've got the two uh district two lots, you know, one the one at 1933 Livernoy, which is uh vacant personal avenue of fashion, and then this the other one is at 901 Whitmore, and that's for uh Palmer Park parking lot to uh Spartan Neighborhood multifamily uh rehab, but uh correct.

Yeah, there is a short timeline.

We we could not afford to postpone this.

Um through through the chair to you.

What's what's the time frame?

We need to make um the determination with what Treasurer Sabri on the final list and have payment within two weeks.

Um, and that's their that's their timeline that we're forced to uh oblige by I would just add John that that's actually with an extension.

So they've already given us an extension.

They they turn this over to us very late this year, so it it is urgent to meet the extended deadline if for us to to hopefully move forward today.

Okay, thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Thank you.

Any further colleagues?

See none.

There's a motion for approval for line items 18.11 and 18.12.

Are there any objections?

Objection, McCampbell for 18.12.

Noting the one objection on line item 18.12.

Objection, member Santiago Romero 18.12.

Noting the two objections for line item 18.12.

Both line items 18.12 and 18.11 shall stand approved for the public health and safety standing committee from the office of uh contracting and procurement.

For the public health and safety standing committee from the Office of Contracting and Procurement.

Council member Santiago Romero or resolution, noting that this line item was postponed from last week formal session.

Line item 19.1.

Line item 19.1.

Member Santiago Romero.

Motion to approve.

There's a motion to approve line items.

Line item 19.1.

Are there any objections?

Discussion, Mr.

Chair.

With discussion, Member Kelly.

Hi, Mr.

Chair.

Yes, this line item is a uh $50,000 contract for emerald um media that I um motion to postpone for one week.

Um this individual has gotten close to 15 million dollars herself um and contracts since 2022.

She um has now said that she is the Detroit-based business.

That's not true.

Um I um went by her if she doesn't have an office, she has she shares a cubicle, a shared space with another individual, and she hardly ever goes into that space at Tech Town.

She pays 170 dollars a month to say that she has a Detroit-based business, sir.

She doesn't have a desk assigned to her.

Um, and um, I'm not sure if she has a mailbox there or not, but I did go down there and I got a copy of what she um her space is called a shared desk space for two people, and it's 170 dollars a month.

So I don't know if that qualifies as a Detroit-based business or not.

I did speak to um attorney Jade uh Mathis, who is the um director of Creole, and she and I are going to talk about perhaps strengthening our ordinance, our ordinance language with respect to what is really considered a Detroit-based business, because I do believe um that our procedures and our um ordinances are being um taken advantage of, exploited, um, for lack of a better word.

Um they are not they don't they do not have a brick and mortar in in in Detroit, but they're saying they do they're Detroit based.

So it's I think we as a council, and it's gonna it's gonna start with me working with um creole to strengthening our own ordinance and what really is a Detroit-based business.

Is it a brick and mortar?

In this instance, and in most instances, I'm finding it is not.

If you have an address, an ink pen, a pad of paper, a desk, and a chair.

You are considered a Detroit-based business because we don't have any other qualifications or requirements, but this absolutely is not a Detroit-based business.

And so um, but because of our own deficiencies and our ordinance, she qualifies, she qualifies, but I would be uh objecting to this particular contract again.

She's gotten close to 15 million dollars.

She was supposed to hire someone, um, a student, an African American.

I don't know if she's done that.

That was part of an agreement a year and a half ago when I served on the internal operations with um member Johnson and member waters.

That was one of the um part of her agreement.

I don't know if that ever happened.

I have not met her.

She's never appeared before internal operations, but her contracts keep appearing.

So um I do not believe this is a Detroit-based business, and she's not even qualifying 170 dollars a month.

That's what she pays, and she doesn't even utilize the space.

I found that out today.