The Hampton City Council convened for a full legislative session featuring a full house of members, public recognitions for local businesses and student artists, and extensive deliberation on zoning, voter access, and public safety issues. The meeting concluded late into the evening after a contentious public hearing regarding the revocation of a nightclub's use permit and subsequent appointments to various advisory boards.
Good evening, everybody, and welcome to the uh Hampton City Council legislative session. Uh we have a full house this evening with a number of items on the agenda, and so we're gonna try to make the best use of uh your time and ours to uh get through the agenda in an efficient manner and uh taking all the comments that we need to take before making any decisions on uh what's on the agenda for this evening. So with that, I'm gonna ask Clerk, please call the roll councilman Bowman, present, Vice Mayor Brown. Here, Councilwoman Campbell, present, Councilwoman Fairby, present, Councilwoman Harper, present, Councilwoman Lugler, present, Mayor Gray. Present. And uh the invocation this evening will be given by Vice Mayor Stephen Brown, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. So would you please stand and we do both? This is Bower Hits in prayer. Father, we give you praise. We thank you, Lord, for this night. We thank you, God, for this season of celebration, season of gift giving season where we make memories with family with friends. We pray, God, that for those who may not have friends during the season or gifts or family or food. We pray for them tonight, God. We pray God that uh somehow and somehow you will provide and meet their needs. We thank you tonight, God, for this council. We pray tonight as we deliberate in this chamber, hear the issues of the people and do the business, people uh do the business of the people tonight. I pray God that we'll be civil, we will be respectful, and God, we will make the best decision that we can make as a city council. Thank you for those who've gathered, thank you for those who've come, and thank you for our great city of Hampton. We pray for those who are in harm's way tonight, our first responders. We also look to those who have given the ultimate sacrifice, where they laid their lives down for this country, that we can enjoy the freedoms that we enjoy. And so whether we celebrate Christmas, whether we celebrate Hanukkah, whether we celebrate Kwanzaa, or whether we celebrate it all, let us be respectful and kind and love one another. In Christ's name we pray, all of God's children say it together. Amen. How many people out there have eaten at Mango Mango? Yeah, just look at that. And uh so um Lakeisha Brown Renfro, Tunisia Willis and Inzinga Talule Hakima started, uh also known as Dr. T. Started out with a 10-year business plan, and after a decade of feeding us and hosting us, they're sticking to that plan and bringing an end to the chapter of uh Mango Mango. And uh, but don't worry because they're not going away. Uh the Simply Panache mango ladies have always had a vision that was too ambitious to be contained within four walls in the storefront, and that vision has been for the whole community through dining. The Simply Phoenach brand is instantly recognizable around Phoebus as a symbol of high quality, positive energy, and community engagement, and that's something that's not going to change at the end of the year. Uh one more uh bit of good news is that the mango ladies promise that they'll do pop-ups where they can to uh allow you to continue to purchase some of their delicious food. And so this evening I want to uh recognize Letitia, Tanisia, and Nzinga uh for a decade of work uh on the Mellon Street with Mango Manual and wish them can continue success with their panache business uh ventures. And you know, uh for 10 years, and I mean if you've been to Fevers lately, you just know that the that the vibe in Phoebus has changed over the years. It's just a thriving area, and Mango Mango has been a part of that. They've actually contributed to bringing that vibrant to Feebus. And so we wanted to uh at least uh say a special thank you from you know Hampton City Council and everybody in the city of Hampton for your investment in our community and uh you know, really uh giving people a place to go and enjoy. And you know, I've talked to friends on the South Side, they've all come over and enjoy Mango Mango, so your restaurant is known not only here in Hampton, but all around the region, and we want to thank you for your 10 years of service there. So uh I'm gonna come down here. We've got a couple of presentations. We want you to come over, and I'm inviting council members to come down so we can get a photo uh with you and uh again uh show our appreciation for your commitment to our community. Thank you. All right. All right, so we don't mess this up. We're gonna start with this camera right here, this camera right here, this camera. All right. Ready? All right. Thank you. Good evening, everyone.