As Olympian Day.

Um, in New Orleans, our high schools are far more than buildings, they are a part of the fabric of our city.

They shape our neighborhoods, our families, our traditions, and our culture.

Uh, Sarah T Reed High School, established in nineteen eighty eight and named for pioneer and educator.

Sarah Tiles Reed became a cornerstone of New Orleans East and a source of pride for generations of Olympians.

Um, I know we have a lot of members of our unions here today, and Sarah T.

Reed was responsible for founding the first teachers union in the city of New Orleans.

She advocated for women and educators of color, particularly black educators.

We intended to recognize Olympian Day last week, but due to tropical storm, last week's council meeting had to be rescheduled.

Still, this special recognition is no less important.

I want to thank the executive board for being here today and for fighting to preserve not just a school legacy, but a part of New Orleans culture.

We are also proud to acknowledge two Sarah T.

Reed graduates in public service, uh, Orleans, uh, City Council Clerk of Court, uh, Ayesha Kalye, uh, and my Chief of Staff, Justin McCorco, are both proud Olympians.

A special thank you to Stacey Martin and Collegiate Academies for carrying forth the legacy of this school.

We are looking forward to this year's Battle of the East between Abramson and Sarah T.

Reed.

I know it's going to be bigger and better than ever before.

Won't tell y'all who I'm rooting for, but I'll be there.

Uh, let me just say though, as um uh uh a Ron Eagle, uh, I have great admiration for Sarah T.

Reed.

Uh and I graduated from thirty thirteen thirty one Kellerek Street, and now McDonough thirty-five is located in a different building.

But the legacy, the level of excellence, the culture of high expectations, it doesn't matter what building you're in.

And I'm just so proud that the legacy of Sarah T.

Reed will continue.

Uh, so congratulations.

We have uh some proclamations for you all.

Uh, if you have a spokesperson that wants to say a couple quick words, we we certainly welcome that.

Good morning, everyone.

I'm Frank Ruby, the President of the Alumni Association, and we are very honored to be here.

Hundreds of hundreds of been on campus in years.

Very excited that we're moving on.

Thank you.

Recognize our right.

Thank you.

And look, um, I'm gonna say this as I'm an extreme introvert.

People don't know that about me.

Um, but I had the opportunity to come to Alumni Weekend on Saturday.

Uh it was one of the most epic celebrations that I've ever been a part of, and my chief of staff was shocked.

I actually did not want to leave.

I had such a great time.

So thank you all.

Congratulations.

We have some proclamations for you.

We're gonna do a quick picture, and uh thank you all so much for being here.

Hey, you stay right there for me.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.

Please take your seats.

We're gonna get started.

Thank you very much.

Madam Clark, you can start.

Roll call.

Council President Morell.

Here.

Vice President Willard.

Councilmember McCarran.

Councilmember Harris.

Councilmember King.

Councilmember Green.

Councilmember Hughes.

We have five members, we have a quorum.

Thank you.

First, we're gonna begin with the invocation by Apostle Lionel Roberts.

Everyone, please stand.

Thank you.

I said we all bow.

Father God, we come as always, Lord, in the holy and righteous name of Christ Jesus.

And Father God, we come with Thanksgiving on our lips.

First and foremost, we thank you for this day, for truly this is the day that you've made, and we're gonna rejoice and be glad in it.

We thank you, Father God, for all your many blessings.

We thank you for mercy.

We thank you for loving kindness.

We thank you for favor.

Father God, we thank you for grace, and Father, we lift you up.

We magnify, we glorify.

And shut doors that no man can open.

Simply put, oh God, you are the great I am.

Whoever and whatever we need you to be, that's who and what you are.

And so, Father, we just pray now, Lord, for our great city.

Father God, we lift up to you now, our mayor.

We pray, Father God, for our city council and all of our leaders, Lord God.

And Father, we just pray right now in the name of Christ Jesus that you would grace them with the wisdom, knowledge, discernment, and understanding that it takes to make the proper decisions on behalf of the people of the city of New Orleans.

And Father, we ask, Lord, in the name of Christ Jesus, like never before.

Father God, that peace will reign supreme in this city.

Father God, we stay back the hand of the enemy, Satan in every enemy, every demon, every spirit of confusion, distraction, doubt or fear, any spirit, oh God, and we try to come up against the move of you.

We rebuke those spirits now.

In the name of Christ Jesus.

And Father God, once again, we lose love, joy, and peace.

And Father God, we lose Father God, victory on behalf of the City of New Orleans.

This is our prayer.

We pray this prayer in Christ Jesus' name.

Amen.

Thank you very much.

Next we'll have the invocation from Councilmember McCarron.

Sorry, the budget weakness.

Thank you.

If everyone please take their seats so we can get started.

Madam Clerk, you can begin whenever you're ready.

On page 34.

Oh, good to see you.

Thank you.

On page 34, item 34.

We have motion M26 265 by Councilmember Morrell.

Ratifying the rescheduling of the regular meeting, originally scheduled for Thursday, June 18, 2026, to Wednesday, June 24, 2026.

And in doing so, the council hereby suspends Council Rule 1 to allow the rescheduled meeting to be held on a day that is not a Thursday.

Councilmember Morrell.

Thank you.

I will move.

Can I get a second?

Second by Council Member.

God, I haven't completed.

Councilberry Harris.

All in favor.

Say aye.

We have five years, no nays.

It is adopted.

On page 23, item three.

We have a legislative grouping, zoning docket 3026.

Octavia L'Oreal, LLC, requesting a zoning change from an H U R D2, Historic Urban Two Family Residential District to an HUB1A, Historic Urban Neighborhood Business District, and a conditional use of permit a standard restaurant in the HUB18, use restriction overlay district on squares 187, lots 12 and 3 in the 6th municipal district, bounded by Octavia Street, Laurel Street, Constance Street, and Jefferson Avenue.

Municipal address 5433 Laurel Street and 509.

Okay, I thought we'd want it in the army.

Okay.

Consent agenda.

We have a communication from Aaron Spears.

This may be received.

We have a communication from Amy B.

Trapani.

This may be received.

We have a communication from Elizabeth Holman.

This may be received.

We have a communication from Vanessa Chintola.

This may be received.

We have a communication from Hannah E.

Rowe.

This may be received.

We have a communication from Carla Turnage.

This may be received.

Hearing day 7926.

We have a communication from Jeffrey Swartz.

This may be received.

We have a communication from Eugenie the Beasy.

This may be received.

Hearing date 7926.

We have a communication from Grainville M.

Sims the third.

This may be received.

Hearing date 7926, 510 Ray Street.

We have a communication from Grainville M.

Sims the 3rd, 1510 Religious Street.

This may be received.

Hearing day 7926.

We have a communication from Tracy D.

Madison.

This may be received.

We have a communication from Anthony T.

Davis.

This may be received and referred to the community development committee.

We have a communication from Jenny Maines.

This may be received and referred to the community development committee.

We have a communication from Stefan Nelson.

This may be received.

We have a report of Matthew Seagros.

This may be received.

We have a report of Caitlin Tamricks.

This may be received.

We have a report of Randy Heyman.

This may be received.

We have a reporter, Cassandra B.

Robert, this may be received.

We have a reporter Kaya Howard.

This may be received.

We have a reporter, Jennifer Vegno.

This may be received.

We have a report of Alisa Ramble.

This may be received.

We have a report of Evet Jet.

This may be received.

We have a report of Evet Jet.

This may be received.

We have a reporter, Robert D.

Rivers, this may be received.

Hearing date 7926.

We have a report of event jet.

This may be received.

We have a report of event jet.

This may be received.

We have a report of events jet.

This may be received.

We have a report of Lenae Crowley.

This may be received.

We have ordinance calendar 35,447 by Councilmember Morrell.

Councilmember Hughes is co-sponsoring and will be added to this ordinance.

The Governmental Affairs Committee recommended approval.

We have ordinance calendar 35,449 by Councilmember King.

Zoning Docket 3426.

We have ordinance calendar 35,457 by Councilmembers Harris, Morrell, Willard, and McCarron by request.

Fiscal note received.

We have ordinance calendar 35,460 by Council Members Harris Morrell, Willard and McCarron by request.

Fiscal notes received budget audit border review committee recommended approval.

We have ordinance calendar 35,461 by Council Members Harris Morrell, Willen and McCarron by request.

Fiscal notes received budget audit border review committee recommended approval.

We have ordinance calendar 35,462 by Council Members Harris Morrell, Willard and McCarron by request.

Fiscal notes received Budget Audit Board of Review Committee recommended approval.

We have ordinance calendar 35,463 by Council Members Harris Morrell, Willard and McCarron by request.

Fiscal notes received budget audit border review committee recommended approval.

We have ordinance calendar 35,464 by Council Members Harris Morrell, Willard and McCarron by request, fiscal notes received, budget audit board of review committee recommended approval.

We have ordinance calendar 35,465 by Council Members Harris Morrell, Willard and McCarron by request, fiscal notes received, budget audit board of review committee recommended approval.

We have ordinance calendar 35,466.

By council members Harris Morrell, Willard and McCarron by request.

Fiscal note received, budget audit board of review committee, recommended approval.

We have ordinance calendar 35,467 by Councilmember Harris by request.

Fiscal notes received Budget Audit Board of Review Committee recommended approval.

We have ordinance calendar 35,468 by Council Members Harris, Morrell, Willard and McCarron by request.

Fiscal note was received.

Budget Audit Board of Review Committee recommended approval.

We have ordinance calendar 35,469 by Councilmember Morrell.

Fiscal notes received, Budget Audit Board of Review Committee recommended approval.

We have ordinance calendar 35,470 by Councilmember Morrell.

Fiscal notes received, Budget Audit Board of Review Committee recommended approval.

We have motion M26 241 by Council Members Willard Morrell, McCarron, Harris King, Green and Hughes, Community Development Committee recommended approval.

We have motion M26 243 by Councilmember King by request.

Questionnaires received governmental affairs committee recommended approval.

We have motion M26 244 by Councilmember King by request.

Questionnaires received Governmental Affairs Committee recommended approval.

We have motion M26 245 by Councilmember Hughes by request.

Question that was received, Governmental Affairs committee recommended approval.

We have motion M26 246 by Councilmember McCarron by request.

Question that is received Governmental Affairs Committee recommended approval.

We have motion M26 247 by Councilmember McCarron by request.

Question that is received Governmental Affairs committee recommended approval.

We have motion M26248 by Councilmember King by request.

Question that is received, Governmental Affairs committee recommended approval.

We have motion M26 249 by Councilmember Harris by request.

We have motion M26260 by Council Members Morel McCarron, Harris, and Green by request.

Governmental Affairs Committee recommended approval.

We're on motion M26 261 by Council Members Morel McCarron Harris and Green by request.

The government affairs committee recommended approval.

This is all matters on consent agenda.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

I don't have any cards up here.

Are there any cards on any item on the consent agenda?

All right, we take it down.

Okay.

Are there any cards on any items on the consent agenda?

Because I have no cards in front of me.

No.

Okay.

On the consent agenda?

Yeah.

Okay.

Well, please fill out a card after you speak.

It's in there.

They don't have it.

It's in the it's in the plastic slot right there.

That no one wants to take it.

Well, someone needs to go clear that out and find out what items are on the agenda.

Thank you.

Go ahead, Bruce.

Thank you very much.

Uh Bruce Fire LeVote.

I wanted to speak about the drone report that's on the consent agenda, which obviously I believe there's supposed to be one from 24 and 25.

I think this moves from 25.

When you look at it and you can see that they are actually saying that they did where's the number?

900.

916 flights.

Well, of those 916 flights, only 100, I'm sorry, I don't I don't have my notes with me.

Uh it's in another bag.

But I hope you'll take a look and see that about 75% of the flights are not being logged at all.

So later on in this uh agenda, you're gonna be being asked to to, or even proposing to put more money into this program when they're not logging the flights.

So we already know that nobody gets held accountable when they violate their own policies.

We know this from the facial recognition technology issue.

And so if no one's gonna be held accountable for when they're admitting that they're not following the policy, how are we going to put more money into that policy?

And so it's really it's it's it's depressing in a way that that it doesn't seem like that much work to be honest.

I think we had heard previously that it's a handwritten situation, and you know, like whatever.

I don't know what the deal is, but clearly you gotta clean this up.

Please look at the drone report.

Uh, if you haven't checked it out, check it out.

Please ask the right people about it because I think it's very, very important as we slip and slide into this massive surveillance state.

Philip K.

Dick novel.

Like, if you thought that it's coming, we're already there.

So don't be scared of like what's coming.

Like, look at what's reality already here.

So those are my comments on that.

I also put in a card on the what I'll do is uh members.

I'm gonna give Mr.

Raleigh one more minute to talk about the other item.

Typically, just for the audience's edification.

Uh, when you have multiple cars, we typically make you do it within that entire two-minute period.

You weren't aware of that, so uh, I will move to give Mr.

Rowley the additional minutes second by Council Burhese.

So, yeah, another item to speak on.

I think it was item uh 20 on page eight.

Go ahead.

Thank you very much.

Um so on the on the encampment cleanups, I think obviously this is a very important thing and fully in support of that.

I just wanted to point out for people that I've heard that we're already making arrests under HB 211, and you can check in with the DA about whether he's like receiving those charges or not.

But uh to remind y'all, if someone is arrested by the state police or maybe even the harbor police, those charges are gonna go to the attorney general, not to DA Jason Williams.

And so they can do other things with that.

They can clog up our jails behind that.

I don't know whether or not in those arrests they're complying with the law where they're supposed to hold on to your stuff for 30 days.

Again, I do think that maybe this council can come up with some type of mandatory reporting ordinance that if someone is arrested under this, we can get more information because there are a host of law enforcement entities who could make this arrest.

Obviously, the pressure is gonna be hardest on the eighth district in the French Quarter to not or do make the arrest, and I want us to please be proactive because we have Kim Broad.

Page 16, item number 45.

Good morning.

My name is Kim Brough, 6617 Moments Avenue.

I'm speaking on behalf of my mother, Beryl Jones, an elderly homeowner who has spent 50 years maintaining her Lower Algiers home and contributing to her neighborhood.

I'm here in support of item 45, Motion M26-241 and the fortified NOLA roof gap funding program.

Programs like Fortify Nola are not just helpful, but they are necessary.

Even with support from the Wheezy from the Louisiana Fortified Homes program, many seniors like my mother are still left with costs they simply cannot afford on fixed incomes.

Without this gap funding, the purpose of the fortified roof remains out of reach for many of the very residents who are most vulnerable to storms and rising insurance premiums.

For elderly homeowners, a fortified roof can mean fewer repairs, lower insurance costs, and greater peace of mind during hurricane season.

Fortify NOLA is also a smart investment for the city.

Strengthening roofs now reduces future disaster recovery costs, helps preserve long-standing communities, and supports housing stability in neighborhoods that are already under pressure.

I respectfully urge the council to approve the motion and would like to say thank you for this important step to help our city.

Thank you.

Uh, next up we have, and I'm really gonna massacre this name.

We have Zicki Wiki.

If I'm missing your name, please correct me when you come up.

Uh, you are speaking on the drum report on page six.

I probably was nowhere near pronouncing that name correctly, so we're gonna get right.

Okay, thank you.

Okay, um, we're gonna start with the pronunciation.

My name is Nzeki Wilts.

I'm I was named that because my mother thought I would grow up and become the wisest grandchild.

And hopefully you think I'm wise too because I'm having some issues with the drone.

I put in two cards.

The first issue was the drones, right?

It just didn't sit well with me, wanting to express um that it doesn't look like the administration is working on behalf of the people.

Here my shirt say people first because we believe in supporting communities.

Um, we have enough surveillance going on around this town.

Um, we don't need any more surveillance.

Those drones are supposed to be in the district, like around the um French quarters and whatnot.

And not long after I'm gonna look up and see those same drones in my backyard and in my neighbor's backyard.

So I think we need to reconsider those drums.

Let's just think about this, um, because we don't trust that those drones is to protect those in um the French quarters, those drones is to watch out people.

We don't need no more folks going to jail.

That jail is overcrowded enough.

Um, it's to capacity.

So let's try to um keep this city safe by just um doing the policing because no more, no more, no more people should be in that jail.

And that's what is gonna lead up to.

I also would like to speak on um the Omini Hotel.

If that's it's it's not up yet, so I can't wait.

When they get up.

When when that happens, if you can try to call me first.

I got a lot of community work that I need to be working on, but I want to share my thoughts on that because that's not right either.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

All right, with that, the board is clear on the consent agenda.

Ladies and gentlemen, before we get to the consent agenda, I just want to be aware.

As you know, we encourage everyone to be here and say their piece on all items.

The uh the rules of decorum are on the wall outside.

Just want to make sure everybody's aware of them.

I will move to approve the consent agenda, seconded by council member uh Hughes.

Where is the all right?

We're gonna do voice vote.

All in favor, say aye.

Any opposed?

Hearing none, it is passed.

Next item, I'm clear.

At the top of the page 22, regular agenda item one.

We have a legislative group and zoning docket 2426.

Ernest and Moriel, New Orleans Exhibition Hall Authority, requesting a text amendment to Article 18 at a comprehensive zoning ordinance to establish a new overlay district called the Convention Center Hotel Overlay District, affecting the areas generally bounded by Convention Center Boulevard, Andrew Higgins Drive, South Peter Street, and the Mississippi River Heritage Park.

The overlay district will create new regulations affecting the permitted land uses, allowable building heights, floor, area radiation, limits, design standards, bicycle parking requirements, loading space requirements, curb cut allowance, signing signage restriction, and exterior lighting requirements.

The interior to the square is 12-ish, A24, A25, and a portion of a public street situated in the first municipal municipal district, generally bounded by convention center boulevard, Andrew Higgins Drive, South Peter Street, and the Mississippi River Heritage Park.

Municipal addresses 1000 South Peter Street, 1001 Convention Center Boulevard, then 40 South Peter Street, John Churchill Chase Street between South Peter Street and the Convention Center Boulevard.

The recommendation of a city planning commission being for approval.

We are motion M26255 by Councilmember Harris approving the applicant's request for zoning docket 2426, subject to two modifications.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Uh before we get started, I just want to lay some ground rules.

This is what we're gonna do.

We're gonna take public comment first after we hear from CPC, then council comments, and then apparently we are going to recess this, go to an economic development district meeting at the convention center, which I invite you all to attend to consider a pilot that has been authored by uh council president Morel and Council Member Council Vice President Willard.

So that is the order of business.

We will then reconvene here after that 3 30 meeting.

So it's gonna be a long day for everyone here.

With that, I want to set the stage on procedure and start with a question to our attorney, Miss Spears.

Ms.

Specknell, please discuss what is in front of us today.

Uh the matter that we are voting on today on the agenda is uh motion number two six-255.

It would be approving the applicant's request for zoning docket number 24/26, subject to two modifications.

The zoning docket request is for uh an over a new overlay district that would create new regulations affecting the permitted land.

What we're considering today is what a motion, correct?

That's correct.

And what is the difference between a motion and an ordinance?

Uh motion directs the law department to draft an ordinance.

There's time between this motion and this ordinance to do other considerations about this project, correct?

That's correct.

This motion, if approved, would request that the law department draft an ordinance which would have to be introduced on first reads, it would have to lie over and be adopted at a regular meeting of the council after 21 days of lying over.

So timing-wise, we're looking at July or August for consideration of that ordinance.

That's correct.

All right, so procedurally, we're here on a motion, not the ordinance.

I just want to set the stage for that.

Will you please present your report?

Yes, thank you, Councilmember.

This is uh as noted, a proposal for a zoning overlay to affect the area bounded by Convention Center Boulevard, Andrew Higgins, John Hill, John Churchill Chase Street, and South Peter Street, which is adjacent to the Mississippi River Heritage Park and opposite the convention center.

The legislation is intended to create an overlay zoning district to facilitate the development of the site with a thousand room twenty-room 27-story hotel.

Hotels are generally permissible in the zoning district through the conditional use process, but the existing zoning limits, the scale that can be achieved to height of 75 to 125 feet of height.

The district also includes several design requirements related to street level transparency, driveways, lighting, signage that are not practical for a full square development of this size.

The overlay is responding to that, uh and would replace exist the existing base district regulations with a series of regulations that allow greater scale, uh limited by floor area ratio rather than height, and would alter design requirements to make more sense given the footprint.

So this was brought to the city planning commission.

The city planning commission is required by charter to make a recommendation on all zoning ordinances in evaluating the proposal.

On the first point regarding the master plan, the master plan provides that the scale of new development in this portion of the CBD should be uh appropriate given the context.

Uh we found that because of the site's uh location on the periphery of the central business district adjacent to the convention center and between clusters of high-rises on Poydris and then uh the anticipated cluster of high-rise buildings at the river district, those factors weighed in favor of allowing additional height at this location.

Um we also looked at the scale of new developments uh both in the immediate vicinity and elsewhere in the central business district uh and found that the precedent those developments established put a height range of 200 to 250 feet as consistent with that precedent.

Um, and then on the other issues aside from height, the fact that this is a full-scale hotel makes it uh a situation where the normal design regulations, which sort of assume a smaller, narrower building, don't make sense.

And so it's really a matter of customizing the content of those regulations to the size of the site.

Um, so the planning commission staff uh brought this to the commission with an approval recommendation with uh height limitation of 250.

The commission, when considering this, looked to another factor, which is the economic development impact, and the commission finds the hotel to be necessary for economic development purposes, citing the need for additional hotel rooms and convention spaces uh adjacent to the convention center.

And so the city planning commission accepted the staff's recommendation, but allowing the height at the floor area ratio limit of 12, uh, which would allow the development as designed.

So this is before you with an approval recommendation from city planning.

And just to be clear, this is the CPC considered a land use matter which is before us today.

That is correct.

And you also considered the park, which is coming before us later in this meeting, and preserving Mississippi Heritage Park.

Is that correct?

Yes, that's correct.

While that is not part of the overlay district, it certainly uh because of its adjacency to the hotel is is important to its design.

Um, and so that definitely informed the consideration of this item.

And because we're having public comment now, I just want to get that park situation out there.

I know we're considering it later on the agenda, and you'll be back to talk about the preservation of that park.

Sure.

Yes.

Uh we have a lot of cards today.

There's typically a 30-minute time for public comments.

I will adhere to that unless I hear a motion from my colleagues to extend that time period for public comment.

Once you get up here, please state your name, your address, and whether or not you are paid to be here.

Can I get 30 minutes on the clock?

And you each have two minutes for public comment.

Madam uh Chair, how many cars do we have?

A stack.

Okay, well, uh, I'm I don't mean to upset anybody, but I'm gonna move that we uh extend public comment for one hour.

All in favor, all in favor?

All right.

So we will extend public comment for an hour.

Hopefully, we can get through these cards in an hour.

The first person is Mary Hano.

At South Peter Street.

Thank you, Councilwoman.

It's Mary Arno, 1107 South Peters, and I was not paid.

Um, I just want to say that we have a beautiful, charming, quirky city.

It has soul.

We love it.

And part of the reason it has soul is because there are neighborhoods all around this city where people live.

And that's what people come to see.

That's what tourists come to see.

I know the convention center wants to put a big hotel there, and maybe it will make us more like Atlanta and Las Vegas.

I hope not.

But if it does, if it would do that, why can't they put it at the end by what Mardi Gras World?

They own the land there already.

It would support the hotel, it would still be by the convention center, and it wouldn't infringe on this historic district.

Thank you.

Thank you.

James Curry, followed by Donna Marshall.

Hello, my name is James Curry.

I live in 1107 South Peters, and I'm not paid.

Um, reason I moved to this neighborhood 40 years ago was because it was a neighborhood where you could go and walk to get anything you want to eat, drink, or just go to a show.

And now you want to turn it into commercial zone where the street in front of my building will be nothing but traffic 24-7, and that's South Peters Street.

Sorry, and you'll have your turn later.

But uh, this neighborhood has had a great run-up.

When I started here, it was still dangerous to walk down the street on the sidewalks.

So you had walk in the street for safety, and I've lived in this neighborhood forty years.

And so I'd like to continue it seeing being a neighborhood.

Like Miss Arno said, There are other alternatives.

I gave one to the convention center board.

They didn't like it.

It cost change their plans.

And it was to make the rooms above the convention center over the river.

Make it a unique hotel nowhere else in the world.

They shot that down.

And by the way, she's right about you have parking on the end there.

They have a tram that runs every day inside the convention center to the French corner, which any baguette in the hotel could give a free pass to each one of their members for staying there.

And thank you for your time.

Thank you, sir.

Donna Marshall followed by Windsor Cavalier.

Good morning, everyone.

My name is Donna Marshall.

I live at 1107 South Peters as well, but I am here today on behalf of the Warehouse District Neighborhood Association because Troy Depwiss cannot be here.

Troy has submitted a letter, and I know that other neighbors have submitted letters as well.

We just want to reiterate our concerns.

Obviously, Mayor, could you bring the mic towards your face?

We can't hear you.

Sure, I'm so sorry.

Um I'm not paid to be here.

Um I am excuse me.

Um I'm here on behalf of our warehouse neighborhood association, and we just want to reiterate our concerns.

We are grateful for the hotel working with us, the convention center, and of course, I would like to salute Miss Harris for assisting us with the park.

I did not know that that was a later item today, so I'll try to be here for that because I did not submit a card for that.

However, I may just stick it in at the end.

Um on behalf of Troy, I would like to say that our biggest concerns are water usage.

When there's a cruise ship in town, our water pressure is down.

We are concerned about trying to put this very large 1,000-room hotel in that teeny weenie little triangle previously owned by Mr.

Cummings.

We do agree that we would prefer to see it in the area where a zoning ordinance would not have to be changed, which would be either we of course suggested hall A or in the New River District because they could build numerous streets and access there.

Our concerns are we're losing John Churchill Chase.

We're concerned about safety issues.

I'll ride my bike to work, and we already lost two lanes of traffic on convention center, and our access, I mean, uh ride shares are not supposed to be using Triangle Street, which they do use to get people to music venue in that area.

We're concerned about um safety issues, and again, we're not against the hotel.

We're just concerned about a 1,000 room hotel in that square or triangle that's the size of a football field.

Thank you.

Thank you, Donna.

Windsor Cavalier, followed by Mike Robertson Robertson, Robert Shaw.

Are you speaking?

Uh, yeah.

Do I start?

What is your name?

Okay.

My name is Windsor Cavalier.

I live at 2132 Merribu Avenue.

I am not being paid to make this comment, and I'm fully against the zoning changes.

We deserve to know more about the tax breaks Omni might get before we say yes to the zoning changes.

Louisiana frequently gives out tax exemptions to big companies like Omni Hotels, and it almost never turns out well.

Giving Omni Hotel.

Giving Omni Hotels a tax break affects all of us.

So we should know if we plan to give them that before we say yes to anything.

I'm almost certain that this deal could make the budget crisis even more severe.

I'm a student in the public education system, and I've noticed that the schools I've been to have been heavily underfunded and understaffed.

The first two I went to actually closed down when I was six.

In 2025, the school board had to spend almost all of its emergency funds just to keep some schools open.

City council should show us the full picture, including the tax plan before approving this project.

Saying yes to this sets a dangerous precedent of saying yes to corporations before knowing the long-term consequences.

Are we really willing to bend over back for Omni Hotels so they can profit off of our city?

Thank you.

Robert Shaw.

Mike, try to try to top that.

Uh, followed by Bunny White.

Hello?

I'm so sorry that I have to follow that.

My name is Mike Robertshaw.

Uh, I'm a resident of District C, 2009 St.

Claude Avenue.

I am not paid to get here.

In fact, I'm losing money like many of these working people who have to take time off their job to be here today.

I'm also a union nurse with NNOC and NNU, a member of Together New Orleans through both uh our union and First Creation United Methodist.

I'm here to strongly encourage you to vote against any tax incentives or zoning change for the construction of the Omni Hotel.

Most especially without guarantees that the hotel will be built with prevailing wage jobs or staff with union labor.

I do not have to remind you that New Orleans is losing its population faster than any other municipality in this country right now, because people are sick and tired of a city that does not function.

Our water system is garbage, our electrical system is garbage.

Our schools.

Now I'm shaking so much I can't read my writing.

Our schools are grossly lacking and profoundly inequitable.

Our roads are garbage and by the way, filled with actual literal garbage from end to end.

Our health system squeezes money out of our citizens without actually improving our health.

We have a massive unhoused population, which by the way is not the fault of the unhoused.

It is the fault of a failed system.

I walk to Crescent Park nearly every day since it was opened in 2015.

I routinely have to walk over, like this morning, a human turd that's on the stairs of the Allegian field steps.

That park used to be a gem and now is an embarrassment.

It is nuts.

And this list of our civic failures goes on and on and on.

Fun fact we can actually do better.

I believe we can build a city that's worthy of the citizens that call New Orleans home.

That cannot become a reality if we continue to describe to nearly 50 years of failed economic policy known as Reaganomics.

Pumping a bunch of resources to people who need it the least and hoping beyond all evidence that it will somehow raise all shifts.

The Omni Hotel is nothing more than that.

More of the same failed economic that's your time.

Bunny White, followed by Kendall B.

Good morning.

My name is Bunny White.

No, I'm not getting paid at all.

Um I'm here to ask you to vote no on omnizoning amendment.

I want to get real about this zoning change.

Might impact New Orleans.

It's a real struggle to survive in this city with the climbing cost of living, especially if you have a service job for which I do.

Housing in New Orleans is becoming unaffordable with the wages and benefits paid by a lot of these hotel jobs.

Rents are up 27% since 2019.

A huge hotel like this has the potential to increase the need for affordable housing that just isn't here.

Housekeepers in New Orleans are making 1431 an hour, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The MIT living wage calculator says someone would have to be making $20 and 29 cents hour without a child and $34 with a child to afford living here.

The city shouldn't approve this project when the developers have shown that the workers at the Omni would be a would not be able to afford to live and raise a family in New Orleans, increasing the need for affordable housing in this city.

Please don't vote.

Please vote no because we can't stand it.

Thank you, ma'am.

Kendall B.

Followed by Andy O'Brien.

Hello, my name is Kendall Barry.

I live at 2230 Biennville Street, and I'm a local political organizer with the Louisiana Party for Socialism and Liberation.

The tax break that's the number that's been going around is $669 million in a tax break to Omni Hotel.

Another relevant number that I've found is the budget deficit from this past year.

$220 million in a budget deficit.

And the deficit meant you had to slash already meager social services for working and poor New Orleans.

So frankly, to be wanting to take more from them at this time is ridiculous.

To approve a deal like this at a time like this is laughable.

It's completely irresponsible, and it's not what people voted for.

We want you to vote no on this motion.

The people of this city don't want to give another enormous tax break to another outside corporation just trying to exploit New Orleans for its own personal problem.

Profit, profit that it undoubtedly will not be investing back into the people of New Orleans.

The people who make the city as incredible as it is.

Like Mike said, trickle-down economics is a cruel joke to those of us at the bottom.

And we won't stand for it anymore.

The locals who make the city run and infuse it with culture, love, and passion, are struggling.

And you want to take more of their hard-earned tax dollars to hand over to another out-of-town corporate entity.

It's a shameful proposition.

But then again, I'm not surprised.

No one invests in the people of New Orleans, just its tourists, it's utility company executives, it's wealthy elite, it's police.

And the people of New Orleans know that we're not invested.

We feel it in the roads in the healthcare system, and we deserve better.

And we're asking who do you work for?

Andy O'Brien?

Followed by Tim Cook.

Andy O'Brien, followed by Tim Cook.

Good morning, Council members.

Um, my name's Andy O'Brien.

I represent the uh 15 different construction unions that belong to the Building and Construction Trades Council in the New Orleans area with up to 8,000 members.

And again, I'm a union representative, so I am being paid to be here today to speak on behalf of my membership.

Um I stand here today also in support of this project on behalf of the Building and Construction Trades Council.

According to the LSU Center of Economic Business and Policy Research, the Omni Hotel project is projected to create up to 500 construction jobs over the course of the project, and then at its peak, create up to 650 jobs.

This project would create opportunities for our local union contractors like Bo Brothers, Gallo Mechanical, Fish Hurst Electric, just to mention a few.

The opportunities, this would give out these contractors the opportunities to put their employees, our members, people in the community to work.

Um, and also the landlords.

Excuse me, look at the rules and be respectful.

Thank you.

And these contractors, excuse me, also manage jointly manage apprenticeship and training programs.

These programs create pathways for individuals in the community, which includes women, communities of colors, and returning veterans, which become, which gives them the opportunities to have a debt-free technical uh debt-free education.

These apprenticeship programs pay families sustaining wages, provide health care coverages from day one.

In closing, I would like to say that this project would create opportunities at a time when there are very few construction projects going on in the city.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Jim Cook, followed again.

Look at the rules and be respectful.

Jim Cook, followed by Mike Smith.

Good morning, Council members.

My name is Jim Cook, and I'm the president and CEO of the Ernest N.

Moriel Convention Center.

Um, and in that capacity, I stand before you today.

Is it located at 900 Convention Center Boulevard, New Orleans, Louisiana, 7013?

Today marks a significant milestone, many years in development.

Today, each of you will cast your vote on a zoning request, and I'm asking for your support.

Voting in favor of this zoning request strengthens the city's revenue.

It generates opportunity, and it increases competitiveness of one of our most important economic engines.

For decades, the New Orleans Ernest and Moreau Convention Center has generated jobs and economic opportunities across our city for individuals, for families, and for hundreds of small businesses.

It's a simple formula.

We provide space for events, which in turn drives economic activity, and that creates tax revenue for our city.

Other cities are investing aggressively, and New Orleans cannot afford to fall behind.

When conventions choose other cities, the opportunities are lost to our local economy.

The Omni New Orleans is a shovel-ready project that represents more than 550 million dollars in private investment from TRT Holdings, the parent of Omni Hotels and Resorts.

And this project will increase the tax base in New Orleans without any direct investment by the city.

I'm here to ask for your support to ensure New Orleans is competitive.

Standing still is not an option.

There is no status quo without this project.

New Orleans is a conference destination, could lose our competitiveness.

So I ask for your support on this zoning overlay today.

Thank you for your honor.

Mike Smith, followed by Mike Sherman.

My name is Mike Smith.

I'm uh executive vice president, real estate and development with TRT Holdings, the parent company of Omni.

My address is uh 1,212, uh Daria Drive, Dallas, Texas, and I'm not being paid to be here.

Uh Council members, thank you for your time today.

I also want to thank the city staff and everyone who has worked on this project over the last several years.

On behalf of Omni Hotels and Resorts, I want to say how excited we are to partner with the city and convention center.

We love New Orleans.

We believe in the future of New Orleans, and that's why Omni is prepared to invest more than 500 million into this project.

One of the largest hospitality investments in the city's history.

Omni has developed and operated convention center and headquarter hotels all over the country.

We've partnered with cities, convention centers, and public agencies for decades.

We know what it takes to make these projects successful, and we have a long track record of delivering on our commitments.

A headquarters hotel is more than just a hotel.

It's a critical piece of hospitality infrastructure.

It helps attract larger events, win new business, and bring back groups that may have left the city.

New Orleans already has incredible assets, a world-class convention center, a unique culture, and one of the strongest tourism brands anywhere in the country.

This project helps unlock the full potential of these assets.

The impact is significant.

More than 500 permanent jobs, more than 2,500 construction jobs, millions of dollars in tax revenues for the city.

Most importantly, this project helps position New Orleans for long-term success and growth.

Omni is committed to being a long-term partner in this city, and we are excited to move this project forward.

I want to conclude with a note about our culture at Omni.

We truly believe all things we say and do make a difference in the lives of each other, our guests and our community.

We're all in.

That's what makes us feel more like a family than a company.

Thank you for your consideration, and we ask for your support today.

Thank you.

Mike Sherman, followed by Laura McKay.

You are cutting into your hour allotted time.

So let's be respectful to one another.

Mike Sherman, followed by Laura McKay.

Good morning, Council members.

Mike Sherman, 800 Barone Street, New Orleans.

I'm here on behalf of Omni Hotels and Resorts as their counsel and paid representative.

We're here in a zoning overlay today that is based upon a significantly changed project based upon enormous community feedback, stakeholder feedback, preservation, community feedback.

I could talk about the fact that the hotel was changed drastically to accommodate the historic neighborhood that it sits within, or that we moved off the park to preserve that important green space, added on-site parking, change the intensity.

That's what the overlay district does.

Facilitates the development based upon community feedback.

But I feel compelled to correct the record because not one penny of city money is going in this project.

That's really important.

The public participation is coming.

I hope folks listen because the public participation is coming from the state of Louisiana.

The city stands to get a multi-million dollar building permit fee in the next 90 days.

Over 4 million.

Over 20 million of construction sales tax, half of which comes to this local taxing bodies.

On these tax increments that we're talking about, I hope folks read the BGR report of the Times Picky on article.

It's been drastically studied.

The city keeps 100% of its sales tax increment.

The school board keeps 100% of its sales tax increment.

The regional transition transit authority keeps 100% of its sales tax.

All of the public participation is from the state.

One more thing.

Let's talk about property tax.

That's not germane to the zoning, but Omni's commitment is not to come here and ask to pay a dollar or a few hundred thousand dollars, but to pay full property taxes according to its competitive set of hotels.

That's not for today.

There'll be a separate hearing at the convention center and council, but I do want to reiterate that commitment to pay full property taxes per room in accordance with its competitive set.

I hope we can focus on the zoning today.

We ask for your support and happy to answer any questions at the appropriate time.

Councilmember Morel has a question.

I don't have a question.

Uh I just want to say for the record, it is not been a excuse me, ladies and gentlemen.

No one comments when you're talking.

I would appreciate the courtesy of at least listening to me talk.

It has not been a pleasure to work with you.

And I don't say that very often, but for you to sit up here and talk about the school board and property taxes.

I will I appreciate the convention center working with Councilmember Willis and Balborough Willard and myself, but you and the people you represent did not want to pay school board property tax.

And that is something that we had to fight to get done.

So while you stood up here and pat yourself on the back, there is work being done to make sure this city is treated properly as in this transaction, and you were not a part of it.

Thank you.

No, I'm not encouraging you to have a dialogue with me unless you want to drag this out further.

Maybe you should talk to your client.

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm I'm gonna beg for your cooperation.

There was 30 minutes of public comment allocated.

I made the motion to extend this to an hour.

Okay, and I want everybody to be able to publicly comment.

But I need your cooperation.

I know there's a lot of passion in the room.

The more we keep interrupting, the longer this is gonna drag out.

So I'm begging you, please, for your cooperation.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Hughes, Laura McKay, followed by Becca Geiger.

Hi, good morning.

Uh Laura McCoy, Chief Creative Officer, Omni Hotels and Resorts 4001 Maple Avenue, Dallas, Texas, 75220.

I'm not being paid to be here.

Umni's approach to design is to tell the local story, and we have done this in many cities and look forward to telling the story of New Orleans through the lens of the warehouse district.

Omni designed the hotel to fit the environment and and the warehouse district.

We will create a sense of place and tell the local story.

We have brought our design team to New Orleans to immerse them in the city.

We are talking to local businesses in the market and looking for local partners to help us tell that story.

We will also be working with local artists and artisans.

The reason we are doing this is to create a hotel that helps convince groups and leisure travelers to come to New Orleans and have seen this work in other cities.

We have submitted renderings of both the exterior of the building and the interior spaces so you can see for yourselves.

The story behind the hotel is warehouse revelry.

You will see the full design concept outlined in the package that you all have.

We're looking forward to being partners in the community, and thank you for your consideration.

Thank you.

Becca Geiger, followed by Walt Leger.

Good morning.

Becca Geiger, 800 Barone Street with Sherman Shadges on behalf of Omni.

Thank you for your consideration of this request.

I want to start with saying we come to you with a recommendation of approval from City Planning Commission.

While you have heard and will likely continue to hear about the broader economic benefits of this project, I'd like to actually focus on the zoning request today.

First, it's important to note that the site is already zoned CBD2 where a hotel is a permitted use.

This request is not about introducing a new use to the site, rather about establishing the appropriate regulatory framework for a large, complex, and unique site.

That framework is the overlay district we're here today about.

It addresses several key areas.

First, it regulates height through a floor area ratio of 12 with an overall maximum height.

This is a common regulatory tool already used throughout the CBD.

Second, the overlay establishes project-specific design standards.

CBC staff carefully reviewed these provisions and recommended approval, finding that they provide the flexibility appropriate for a project of this scale while still ensuring high quality design outcomes.

Third, the overlay addresses loading, circulation, and curb cuts in a way that directs activity towards convention center boulevard and away from the neighborhood.

And finally, the overlay includes several technical adjustments related to bike parking, lighting, and signage that better reflect the scale and operational needs of a convention headquarter hotel.

Importantly, this overlay does not simply just provide a flexibility, it establishes clear standards and parameters that will govern development of the site.

Further, this request is consistent with the master plan's vision for convention-related development and appropriate growth within the CBD.

For those reasons, and consistent with the recommendation from the City Planning Commission, we respectfully request your approval of the proposed overlay district today.

Thank you.

Good morning.

Uh thank you, members of the council.

Um I think we're all well aware of many of the challenges facing our city.

I want to thank each and every one of you for showing up every single day trying to address those challenges.

One of the ways that we address those challenges is growing the tax base.

And the move and moving forward with this project, we'll do that.

We'll invest new property tax dollars.

We'll take a property currently generating $30,000 a year and generate multiple millions of dollars a year.

These are precisely the types of investments that our community needs to be able to address the multi-hundred million dollar deficit that exists.

So one, this project makes fiscal sense for the city of New Orleans.

Two, it is a catalytic project, one that allows New Orleans not to be more like any other city in the country, but to be more like New Orleans than it is today.

More than 40 years ago, leaders like Dutch Morial, Sidney Bartholomew, and many others who sat in your seats previously, made transformational investments in our community, establishing the Ernest and Morial Convention Center and establishing some of the large hotel properties that help drive the economy of our city today.

Today we're nearly half of the revenue generated to support city services like pumps and streets and all the things that we need to prosper comes from the attraction of people to our city for the betterment of our city.

That includes major conferences, conventions, sporting events, and all the things that have allowed New Orleans, a city of less than 400,000 people, to act like a city of 10 million people on an annual basis and to appear across the globe as the glorious place that we all get to call home.

This headquarters hotel will help us to attract new events to the city and compete to keep the ones that we've got now.

Later this year, 25,000 hematologists will come to our city injecting tens of millions of dollars into the economy.

We want them to continue in the future.

We need this project to do that.

Thank you for the thoughtful approach and the work that you've done to make this a reality, and please cast your vote in favor of these.

Thank you.

Philip Sherman, followed by Tiger Hammond.

Good morning, Council members.

My name is Philip Sherman, board chair of the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation.

My address is 320 Medary Hammond Highway Suite 300.

I'm not being paid to be here.

I'm in support of the Omni New Orleans.

New Orleans competes every day for major sporting events that drive our economy, support local jobs, and bring national attention to our city.

The sports foundation, the New Orleans hospitality community, the state and city continually work together to attract and host some of the largest events in the world.

In recent years, including following last year's Super Bowl, organizations that have visited New Orleans for years have made it clear that our city must do more to offer newer hotels to compete with similar room inventory quality in other host cities.

New Orleans needs this transformational hotel project if we plan to compete for premier sporting events that we've grown accustomed to welcoming.

From the new from the Super Bowl and Final Four to college football in WrestleMania.

Without the new Omni, New Orleans will fall further behind the growing number of major event host cities, placing us at a competitive disadvantage.

For those reasons, I urge you to vote in favor of the zoning overlay.

Thank you.

Tiger Hammond, followed by Stephanie Turner.

Good morning, City Council.

Our office been there for over 45 years.

Just want to start by saying, I actually sat on a commission of the Ernest N.

Mario Convention Center for eight years.

For 48 months of those eight years, there wasn't a day or a month, I should say, that it didn't push for a new hotel.

I wanted it prior to getting on Edboard.

I wanted it when I left it board.

I actually went and commended that board when it got done a year and a half later for getting it done when we couldn't get it done in eight years.

But with that being said, I'm here representing the Greater New Orleans AFL show.

And let me say this, just to be clear.

Not all unions were for this.

And I certainly understand that.

Well, we took a vote, and the vast majority said they gave me the opportunity to come speak and on speak on behalf of what we have to say.

So I do want to say that um that I will be working with every union, whether it be the building trades, whether it be unite here, whether it be any union that has anything to do with this hotel, I will be working feverishly with them to try to get what they want.

But at the end of the day, we need to get this thing approved before we can work with anybody.

Um the economic growth uh for this, I was for it because you know we had 500 million capital budget plan, we had 700 million upriver development.

So I knew this would this hotel would help that upriver development drastically.

It was going to bring in more conventions, more tax revenue, all that.

But six and a half years out when it wasn't getting anywhere, and I'm gonna try to get to the conclusion here before my two minutes is up.

I did a feasibility study.

I'll put a motion on the floor, got it done fifty-three thousand dollars to say, tell me what am I missing, why we can't have just conventional hotel here.

So when we did it, it came back, and this is about a hundred and twenty-page document.

I'd be glad to share with anybody who wants to take copies.

Well, you can get one from probably general man.

Tiger, that's your time.

I'm sorry.

I know.

We got to be fair to everyone.

Stephanie Turner, followed by Ben Roberts.

We hope you support and approved it.

Thank you.

Stephanie Turner, followed by Ben Roberts.

Good morning.

I'm Stephanie Turner, Senior Vice President of Convention Sales and Strategies at New Orleans and Company.

Our address is 2020 St.

Charles Avenue, New Orleans, Louisiana.

And I am here in support of the development of Omni New Orleans Hotel on Convention Center Boulevard.

Approximately 30% of overnight visitors to New Orleans come to attend a meeting, trade show, or exhibition.

With our current inventory of hotels, we compete with cities who are investing billions of dollars in new hotel properties and or expanded convention centers.

The growth of our city's strongest industry requires evolution and investment.

Meetings and conventions form the foundational layer of our tourism economy.

In 2025, our convention sales team booked more than 1.7 million hotel room nights into the future as far out as 2040.

That's more than 400 million dollars in direct sales that'll amount to billions of dollars in economic impact in years to come.

In an independent survey commissioned by New Orleans Ernest and Moriel Convention Center, 82% of meeting planners said a headquarter hotel would increase their likelihood of choosing New Orleans for a meeting or a convention.

Despite our long success, the national convention meetings industry is more competitive than ever, and we need the Omni project to help us win the most important meetings and conventions over other cities.

The Omni project, as zoned and presented to you, prevents our city from losing market share and keeps New Orleans competitive.

We are grateful for your work and ask for your support of the Omni New Orleans.

A headquarter hotel with at least a thousand rooms is necessary to provide the impact sought for our community.

The height reflected in Omni's design is essential to delivering the full head of quarter hotel program, providing the necessary myths of guest rooms and meeting spaces that make this project transformational.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Ben Roberts, followed by Will Dubois.

Um, as she's coming up, ladies and gentlemen, my requests apply to everybody.

That includes the supporters.

I'm gonna ask that we maintain the quorum and withhold your applause.

My next motion will be to dispense with public comment.

So we need everyone's cooperation.

Good morning, Ben Roberts.

I'm the general manager at the Hilton Garden and Convention Center, 1001 South Peter Street, directly across the street from where this project is planned.

You may be wondering why I'm a competing hotel operator would be in favor of a new 1000-room hotel right across the street from him.

Uh the home the Omni Hotel isn't just another new hotel in the city, it's strategically located.

It's luxury branded, it's a headquarters hotel, and it's anchored at the convention center.

This specific product is something that the other cities that we compete with, the Nashville's, the Atlantis, the Orlando's, built years ago.

And they've been taking our customers and taking our residents as well.

This uh result-the result is that major groups that were one time or once our customers have simply stopped shopping New Orleans for event space and hotel rooms.

We never make their list because we don't have what they require.

Omni Hotel puts us back in that conversation.

This is how we catch up.

I urge you to vote to support the overlay request to support the future of our industry and the future of New Orleans.

Thank you for all that you do for our community, and thank you for your consideration for this huge opportunity.

Thank you.

Will Dubois, followed by Matt Wolf.

And I would encourage, if I'm calling your name, just line up so we can get through these cards, please.

Good morning, friends on the council.

I'm Will Dubos.

I live uh proudly in District D at 7315 Onyx Street.

Uh, I'm here in my capacity as Director of Government Affairs for the Louisiana Restaurant Association, and as the paid representative of many New Orleans LRA members in support of the proposed Omni Convention Center Hotel and the corresponding zoning requests before you.

Our members annually depend on conventions, trade shows, corporate meetings, and sporting events to remain viable and succeed.

These events generate the customer traffic that supports restaurants, bars, music venues, and hospitality businesses throughout the city.

This project will help New Orleans meet the rising expectations in an increasingly competitive convention and event marketplace, and it will strengthen our ability to attract future business that generates economic activity for years to come.

The benefits of these events extend beyond the convention center.

This supports jobs, creates opportunities for new small businesses, and drives tourism to our great city and state.

This project will help ensure that New Orleans can remain successful in hospitality, which is what New Orleans does best.

Thank you for your time and your support of this motion.

Thank you.

Matt Wolf, followed by Sandra Linquith.

Good morning, Council.

My name is Matt Wolf.

I'm here representing Greater New Orleans Inc., the regional economic development organization representing the Greater New Orleans region.

We're located at 1100 Poitia Street here in New Orleans.

In economic development, we often make decisions based on faith that the initiatives we create or the sites we help get developed will attract business.

But this project is different.

The market has said exactly what it needs.

This model that Omni delivers on isn't a risky bet.

It's the new normal around the country that New Orleans just hasn't caught up with yet.

After all, New Houston is currently building its third hotel of this kind, and they were just rewarded with the Democratic National Convention that's taking place in two years.

Here in New Orleans, group like the NFL have made it clear that a property like this is a prerequisite for hosting another Super Bowl.

On Monday, I spoke with a major media company who wants to bring their marquee event to New Orleans in a few years, and the Omni is exactly what they are looking for.

That list could go on and on and may even include the DNC one day if we do the right thing today.

Of course, this vote is bigger than just this one project because future investors are watching how we vote today on a sure bet like the Omni, as they decide where to bring their money for the next big aerospace project or the next regional operations center.

Your vote of approval today sends a signal to the world that New Orleans is open for business and ready to meet the marketplace where it is.

We urge your approval.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Sandra Linquist, followed by Larry Miller.

Good morning.

I'm Sandra Lumbana Lenquist.

I'm the president and CEO of the New Orleans Chamber of Commerce, 1515 Poedris, and I'm not being paid.

I'm here today in support of the Omni Headquarters Hotel Development because this project is about more than a new hotel.

It is about creating opportunities for the thousands of small businesses that make New Orleans the unique and vibrant city we love.

Small businesses account for 99.5% of Louisiana's economic framework and employ over half of the nation of the state's workforce.

Within this fabric, nearly 40% forty-seven percent of small businesses are women-owned, and 28.7% are led by people of color and entrepreneurs.

When visitors come to New Orleans for conventions, conferences, and major events, they do not spend all of their time inside of a hotel.

They eat at our locally owned restaurants, shop in our neighborhood stores, hire local transportation providers, and visit our attractions, and support countless of small businesses throughout our city.

For many small businesses, a strong convention calendar can mean the difference between simply getting by and thriving.

Every additional event creates customers for local coffee shops, caterers, florists, retailers, musicians, tour operators, and countless other local entrepreneurs.

These benefits ripple throughout our community and reach the small businesses that employ our neighbors and support our families.

This project also sends an important message about the future of New Orleans.

It demonstrates that we are willing to invest in our economic growth, remain competitive, and create an environment where businesses of all sizes can succeed.

The Omni Headquarters Hotel has the potential to generate lasting economic activity that supports local entrepreneurs, creates jobs, increases tax revenue, and strengthens the small business ecosystem.

For this reason, we respectfully urge you to support the Omni Hotel.

Thank you.

Larry Miller, followed by Howie Kaplan.

Hello, good morning.

Uh Larry Miller, 813 Lisseppe Street in New Orleans.

I am here representing Nokia, the New Orleans Culinary and Hospitality Institute and its board of directors.

We ask that you vote in favor of the overlay that you'll be presented with today as we keep teaching enhancing the culinary and hospitality students as they are released into the business world.

Opportunities like this to continue to grow our employment base in the hospitality industry, very important to the board at Nokia.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Howie Kaplan is not here, but he's in support.

Alice Glenn followed by I can't read this name, Nano L L C.

Alice Waves, she's in support.

Nano LLC, I can't read this name.

I think it's Terry Dwyer.

I got that right.

And then followed by another Terry, Terry Mogali.

Good morning, all.

Thank you for your time and your support.

Hello, my name is Terry Hogendreyer, the managing partner of Nano Architecture.

It's a local firm, and we are the architect of record for the convention center.

I'm here to speak on behalf and support of the Omni Development District.

We are a woman-owned and internationally recognized firm, and we have been incredibly grateful to the convention center for the work that they've done and the support that they have for small and local businesses.

New Orleans Chamber of Commerce is not incorrect when they talk about how important small businesses are, as I'm sure you all are all aware.

Um, by the way, I'm not paid for this, just wanted to let you know.

We have been working for the last five years as the AOR of MC for the convention center for stage one and two, incorporating over 200 million in renovations, which not only will set and keep New Orleans Montreal Convention Center competitive, but provide significant upgrades for the design, the resiliency, and the neighborhood of which the convention center is located.

This project would not be locally represented without MCCNO's local, I mean robust small emerging business program, and sits at the forefront of economic opportunity for all of the businesses and the people in the community.

The Omni Project and Partnership is transformational and will is greatly needed, as everyone has said before, for the future of our city related to several key factors.

1400 permanent jobs, over 200 million in economic impact, 550 million of private investment.

It represents a significant investment and plays an important role in the strength of the convention center and the city's ability to compete for the future.

That cannot be expressed enough.

Billions of dollars are being spent in other cities that we never used to compete with.

That's critical for everyone when they make those decisions.

Zoning approach, if I'd like to talk about this because that's kind of what I like to do, for architecture, the zoning approach.

We're gonna have to talk about it another time because that's your time.

Harry Mogali is followed by Floyd Griffin.

It's we do it.

Hello, my name is Terry McGillis.

I'm a registered nurse at University Medical Center.

I'm also a member of New Orleans Workers Center for Racial Justice and Together New Orleans.

And I've been taking care of my fellow citizens for over 49 years, and I've paid taxes in those jobs for over 49 years.

As a worker in New Orleans, I am not opposed to progress.

We are opposed to tax breaks that seems to be part of this deal that eventually is on the backs of the people who are asked to keep this hotel and the tourists and the hospitality system going.

That is what we're opposed to, not progress.

Who here pays all their taxes?

Who here would love special bonuses and breaks on those taxes?

I was a small business owner here for over 25 years, and the taxes I had to pay was amazing.

It practically kept me from being in business.

Out of town investors' primary concern, I've heard about all the wonderful things they're gonna do here.

It's not an investment in this community, it's an investment in their profit.

Let's not be mistaken.

Non-union jobs is not an investment in this community.

It is an it is puts money in, it does not put money in city coffers, which we need to improve the quality of our life.

And I see that every day at the hospital, how it is not getting any better.

We ask you, we implore you to vote no on this project that is going to be the backs on the backs of the workers that are having to make this program, this uh project work.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Floyd Griffin, followed by Osa Aden.

Apple Street.

Um, uh um good morning to the council.

Good morning.

And uh thanks for having me up here to speak.

Um, I started working at the convention center in 1984.

And prior to that, it was the World's Fair, um, where I literally physically watched the building and build Halls ABC specifically.

And with that, um, I found I just recently retired after a full decades of work at the Unders and Royal Convention Center.

What I did not realize at the time that um that the convention center high would, well, I guess for a lack of better term, shape my um the rest of my life.

The convention center became more than a paycheck.

It allowed me to provide for my family, build a life, and create better future for the people I love.

And I'm not just talking about my immediate family.

I'm talking about the people uh as related to who were employing me um under my directives.

I'm just at the beginning of my new chapter and trying to understand what it means to be retired.

But one of the most rewarding parts of my time at the convention center was helping mentor others into leadership.

When I started at the convention center, it was just a place to um wasn't a place you would see today.

There have been many chapters of growth that have led to what is now I'm in New Orleans, is another chapter towards building future success for our city and keeping a path towards building futures for young um young individuals that's in there.

I want to become part of the hospitality industry.

So, with that, um, I respectfully urge that the city council vote in favor of the I'm in New Orleans and the zoning overlay request.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Usak Auden from Apple Street.

I cannot read this handwriting, followed by Doug Chase.

Good morning, Council.

What's I do in Apple Street?

Um it's almost unreal sometimes.

Um I think of Charles Dickens, Taylor Two Cities.

On one side, we've got green on the other side.

We've got red.

One side we have baby boomers, uh corporate professionals.

Uh, on another side we have mixed racially um uh multiple generations.

Um one side we have faint claps, on the other side we have roaring applause.

On one side we have sterility, on another side we have rawness.

Uh on one side we have technical jargon and corporate speak.

On another side, we have life experiences, testimonies, uh, and real life implications.

I want to go back to 1970s, 1980s, when we were changing the zoning for the French Quarter.

Uh, the French quarter used to be a beacon for um homeownership, mixed home ownership.

Um, but ever since zoning changes happened, the building started getting taller and taller.

We arrived at almost no residents uh from the French Quarter, um, at least comparatively.

Um, and the rebels and rice don't taste the same.

I can't really find a restaurant to get it right.

Uh, and I know my service is typically gonna be bad because uh the servers don't want to be there, they're not making livable wages, no one can afford to live there.

Um, so I I just I ask everybody, right?

Um the people who are always on the banners and the billboards.

Think about them, you know, when you when you make this decision.

Is the capital gains really worth it?

Thank you.

Doug Chase, followed by Paul December.

Good morning, members of the council.

I'm Edgar Doug Chase the Fourth, 4748 St.

Rock, New Orleans, Louisiana.

I'm speaking to you today as a member of the commissioner of the Ernest and Moriel Convention Center, but more importantly, as a resident of this beautiful city that we all love.

You hear many people today speak about the impact and the significance of this headquarter hotel will have on the city and this state.

Today I want to speak about the importance of our role and responsibility we have in ensuring that our community continues to thrive.

You see, as a generational business owner, I know firsthand about setting the foundation for many to come behind and keep pushing forward, giving a sense of confidence that we can achieve anything.

That's what today is all about in a city as diverse in culture and backgrounds that gives our children a little glimpse of this world and our guests a little taste of home, a city where we love to work, play, and educate our children, a city where businesses can come and thrive, allowing opportunities for our kids when it's time for them to pick up the baton.

That's why I'm excited here today to support this headquarter hotel.

I'm excited about the many developments that's going on in this city.

I'm excited about the river district.

I'm excited about housing affordability.

This sends a clear message to our community that New Orleans will thrive and continue to lead the way.

Let's get it done and let's continue to set a sturdy foundation.

Thank you.

Paul Bassember, followed by Lee Abbott.

And again, if you could line up so we can get through these or running out of time.

Paul.

Not hearing from Paul.

Lee Abbott, followed by Stephen Moorlock.

And Paul is in opposition.

Good morning, Council.

My name is Lee Abbott, 4939 Painter Street.

I'm with the New Orleans Rank and File Project.

I'm not being paid to be here.

I'm in opposition to this hotel project, the uh zoning overlay district, and future tax breaks that this will give.

Up until February of this year, I was a city worker.

I work for the New Orleans Public Library System, the Milton Ladder Library, and I was an executive board member of AFSME 2349, the union for city workers.

And I was here on the steps of the uh city council in October of last year because we were going through and still are going through a fiscal crisis, which put many of city workers uh actually at October, we weren't sure that we were going to make payroll, right?

So we've eventually worked out something paid on the backs of many city workers through furloughs and hiring freezes and reductions of services.

So again, we are coming here to discuss further tax breaks for corporate development while we are in a budget crisis.

So I just want to remind people of this.

I want to remind the people here who are lobbying for further uh dispensation from the city and the workers of New Orleans that this is what it will cost us.

Um my general statement is why should we be uh why should this project be getting public subsidies and zoning dispensations when New Orleans city workers have been furloughed since January and the city has been under fiscal regulation by the state of Louisiana since October of 2025?

The zoning overlay represents another step in increasing corporate welfare for a hotel construction that is not guaranteed any worker rights or union neutrality agreements.

We need to make billionaire hoteliers pay for their own hotel construction and deny the zoning overlay district until we have gone through an actual economic development process that puts workers first and puts the city and the people first.

Stephen Morlock, followed by Bruce Riley.

Bruce, you have two cards.

This is only one issue.

Hi, my name's Stephen Morlock.

I forgot my glasses, so excuse me if I stumble a bit.

Um my name is Stephen Morlock.

I live at 2458 John Quill Street in District D.

Um, I'm asking you to vote no on the omni voting amendment.

Um the direct benefit of the zoning giveaway is going to go to an out-of-state developer, not me, my neighbors or other New Orleans workers.

Um, the owners are also major contributors to the Republican Party and fully support everything that most people in this room stand against.

Um honestly, I I find it baffling to me that um that democratic elected officials would even consider backing uh a deal that steals hundreds of millions from taxpayers when our infrastructure is come crumbling.

We're laying off city employees without even securing guarantees that they'll use union labor.

Like what it's a failure.

Um, so if we're going to build a new hotel, we need to make sure that it benefits all residents, not just out of state companies and rich business owners.

Please vote no.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Resinwig, Joseph, follow uh Bruce, thank you.

And then Joseph, who is with New Orleans, I don't know.

Go ahead.

Thank you.

Bruce Riley, a vote.

Uh, I am paid to speak on behalf of people that are dealing with the impacts of the criminal legal system, which is many people in the city of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana.

So um, you know, first I, you know, obviously the big selling point here is jobs.

It's all we talk about like what's the you know, what's the takeaway for for local people, right?

Well, as we know, there's good jobs and there's crappy jobs.

And the reason why people are trying to unionize this situation is because we know there'll be good jobs.

And so if we can't get the unionization uh agreement from someone who you said is very difficult to work with, you know, maybe we can get some other types of floor things put in place, some type of minimum wage that we think is a living wage.

And, you know, I know that the contracts that you all signed with with entities, there's the convicted felon statement.

Well, I'd like to make a point that that statement, which for people's uh understanding, prohibits people that have done like bribery and embezzlement, that kind of thing from getting a contract that's been within the past five years.

Well, we need to add in things that are about anti-discrimination around people with convictions.

We all know that over seven about 75% of us voted for the fair chance amendment last year.

And so that's the type of thing that should be put in all these type of agreements to ensure that people are not discriminating against, nor are their subcontractors discriminate against based on people with criminal records.

We know that people that are struggling to find work sometimes end up with the best they can get.

When I got out of prison, I was making 785 an hour.

I'm doing a little better than that, but I had to fight my butt off to get there.

A lot of people didn't quite make it to the point to the living wage.

So we need to create a new floor for people when they're dealing with convictions.

And secondly, I'd like to say, you know, we're talking about all the conventions that we could get or whatever.

People don't come to conventions for the hotel room, honestly.

They come to conventions for the city.

And so when we talk about the quality of life and the quality of our culture, like when we're talking about surveillance, ain't nobody coming here to go to Bourbon Street and be surveilled.

Okay, they're coming here so they can be free and they can live large and have a fun time in New Orleans.

Thank you.

Okay, members, look, we have about one minute and four seconds left.

I know there were some interruptions.

We have about 12 cards left 24 minutes.

We move that we uh extend public comment for an additional 26 minutes.

That should accommodate all the calls.

Second.

Everyone in favor?

Alright, Joseph, I'm gonna try this again.

Rosenwig?

Okay, got it.

Followed by Miss Wilts.

Uh, the name is Joseph Rosen Swag.

Um I'm A216, Sycamore.

Um I'm with the New Orleans Workers' Assembly, and I'm urging this body to uh put the brakes on this $669 million scam.

One in three children in New Orleans lives under the poverty level.

New Orleans has the highest rate of senior hunger in the country.

How many housekeepers?

How many hospitality workers?

How many people that work in the building trades?

How many people have a child in their family that lives below the poverty line?

Or an elder that goes hungry at night in New Orleans.

These are the real, this is the real situation of people that we need to take into consideration.

And so for people to come up here, these millionaire folks representing greater New Orleans, these millionaires representing the Omni Resort, representing their billionaire Texas oil tycoon boss, to invoke the names of workers, promising economic development.

It is frankly insulting.

So we're talking about economic development, but economic development for who?

We need an honest accounting of every tax break, every subsidy that has been given out, not only to Omni, but for the creation of the river district, for the creation of the bio district, for Tulane University, for all of these millionaire, billionaire enterprises that are depending on the work and the blood and the sweat of New Orleans and hadn't paid their fair share.

So we say put the people first.

And you need to answer to the people, the interests of the working class people.

Naziki Wilkes, followed by Monica Bowling.

It wearing me out.

It is wearing me out, but I always want to show respect to the um council before me.

It's these folks behind me that I don't think really getting what we're saying.

The people we're exhausted with them making profits off of people.

Like we're just worn out with it.

They're gonna build this land, they're gonna build on our land as we know, but they need to include us in this contract, just as Bruce has said.

There should be some guidelines whereby we benefit also and not just them.

Um, being a school teacher, I all always had to break things down.

And if I was before um this first grade class, I see the folks in the red, that's like the blood, sweat, and tear folks that's just been working really hard.

The folks in blue with those vote shirts on, we know they ain't a community.

We understand what they're doing.

The folks that's in green, they're not in green because they are respectful of the land.

They're in green because they represent the money, the people that continues to make the profit.

Um, and they don't have a clue what we, the people in New Orleans need.

I'm telling you, they don't.

They don't look like us.

They don't, they wouldn't understand what we need.

Um, and it's not for you to make any more profit.

When you build this hotel that we're gonna probably have to pay for, we should get some kind of um stipend or let our people come in there over the weekend and have a free state.

Also, when you see us, you get so nervous, you got a nerve to want bill on our lane, but you don't even want us in that hotel.

I'm telling you, I know because I experienced it before.

When you see uh the Mexican, our neighbors, our sisters and brothers, all you think they're um their work is cleaning up your hotels.

You don't want them in there either.

So I'm trying to see who you actually building this hotel for.

Um, I hate that they're standing here before us.

That's your time.

Monica Bowling, followed by Aaron Snelling.

Monica, ladies, ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, please.

I need your cooperation.

We just made the motion to extend public comments so we can hear from everybody.

We need to maintain the core.

Thank you.

Thank you for extending that for us to be able to speak and to be heard.

My name is Monika.

I am not a paid representative, and I'm asking you to vote no to the Omni Zoning Amendment.

I'm a current worker at the convention center.

And oftentimes we get up early in the morning, 3 30 in the morning, I'm a banquet captain.

And so our days start very early, sometimes at 3 30 in the morning, and that street that is there that they want to take over is where the early morning workers come to park, or we go to park because our current parking lot is literally at the end of the convention center, which is hall J.

And now, because of construction that was supposed to take place for the Omni, it was actually moved to Chapatulas.

So when we come early in the morning, we have to park way at Chapatulis in that at Hall J and then walk all the way to that street right across where they want to build the hotel, the sugar mill, that's where we enter the building.

So that's a far walk.

That's hard and it's dangerous early in the morning.

So I think we all have something at stake here with the prompt zoning amendment or the current zoning amendment.

And I think how you all vote is going to show who you are and what or who you care about.

I gotta take my glasses off a minute because I'm getting a little old and I ain't got the little line yet, and trying to keep my youngness going.

Here we are in 2026, and our city and state are starved for resources.

Working people like me facing an accelerating cost of living.

And what's on the table is allowing the Omni project to build almost three times what they normally be allowed to build under the current zoning while they are seeking a public subsidy that hasn't been determined yet.

Now, if this was the city's idea and the proposal was hey, you can build higher if you do X, Y or Z to benefit the city.

That's something I could understand.

I'm sorry, that's your time.

Aaron Snelling followed by Jenny John or George.

Aaron.

Are you here?

They're in opposition.

Jenny George.

Followed by Edith Romero.

Sorry, my handwriting's really bad.

My name is Jeremy Jong.

Uh I live at 3605 Arborville Street.

Uh, I'm not being paid to be here.

So we listen to the Omni Hotel executives.

Um, you know, they say we love New Orleans.

They say everything's gonna be great, you know, with their prepared statements.

You know, we've listened to community feedback.

We're gonna generate so much tax revenue.

This is gonna be so great for the workers, right?

Uh but there's one problem with this, which is that they're from Texas.

Uh, and so what that what would they possibly know about what New Orleans needs and what New Orleans workers need, right?

And here's the other thing about that.

The workers, they're they're right here.

They're telling you what they need.

They're telling you what people in New Orleans need to live in this city where their parents have lived, where their grandparents have lived, where their great great-grandparents have lived, right?

So you just have a choice.

It's are you gonna listen to these to these text of these Republican Texas uh uh Texas executives, or are you gonna listen to the workers of New Orleans?

Thanks.

Thank you.

Edith Romero, followed by Jeff Pinkham.

Hello, my name is A.

Ometto, and I am an organizer with Ion Surveillance.

Um, also here in my personal capacity to ask you to vote no for the zoning change.

When I got to this country in 2011 from Honduras, I worked at a hotel as a front desk agent for like three, four years.

I was living paycheck to paycheck.

There were some months during the summer where I did not know if I was gonna make rent.

And um it was hard.

And I'm sure a lot of people here who are missing work are going through these situations with a family.

I want to read out to you this information that I found on the internet uh about Omni Hotels.

They generate an estimated 2.6 million to 3.5 3.5 billion in annual revenue.

The owner, Robert Rowling, has a personal net worth of approximately 8.5 billion.

I please urge you to say no to this deal that is gonna give millions of dollars to an already very wealthy company, and actually put the resources in the people of New Orleans who are sustaining these corporations and sustaining the economy of this city.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Jess Kankham, followed by Nora Ellerston.

I'm Jess Pinkham.

I'm a resident of the French Quarter, I'm a member of Ion Surveillance, and I'm very happy, even though it's a coincidence to be wearing a dress that has red and blue and no green.

Um I want to amen what everybody's saying.

I want to shout out how incredible it feels to be sitting in what's basically a very effective union meeting.

Thank y'all for that.

And I just also want to say I grew up in New York.

I I've chosen New Orleans, and y'all are making it harder and harder to justify.

And it makes me really, really sad.

It makes me really sad to listen to my friends say they don't want to come.

It makes me really sad to have to stare down machine guns during Mardi Gras.

It makes me really sad to make you all just consistently make decisions for other people.

And just a reminder like the locals in the room are who voted you in.

And I grew up in New York, I was just in New York, and I want to offer you an alternative.

Be more like Mom Donnie.

Like, listen to the people.

The energy in New York right now is so good.

And respectfully, I think y'all could take a lot of lessons from him, and I hope you do.

Nora Ellerson, followed by Jonathan Hill.

My name is Nora Ellertson, 2009 St.

Cloud Avenue.

I'm not paid to be here.

Um, I um would just like to invite all of you to search, search your heart for the answer to a question that I hope will um guide you and your decision, which is who benefits from this proposal as it stands right now.

Because, as you're all aware, y'all serve a very specific and important purpose, which is to serve, to represent, and to better the lives of residents of the city of New Orleans.

As it stands right now, this proposal gives hundreds of million dollars in tax credits.

I believe over 45 years, which is how old I am.

Tax credits, tax breaks should not be as old as a middle-aged lady.

Um over those many years, those tax benefits go to an out-of-state wealthy hotel.

And there is no guarantee that you're making that these jobs that we keep hearing about are actually going to benefit the people who fill those roles.

There is no guarantee for union jobs.

There is no guarantee that those jobs will be well paid.

I think we can all agree.

Every one of your residents and constituents should be making enough to thrive, not just to survive.

So that is what we need from you.

I hope you will use that as your guiding purpose as you make this decision.

Ultimately, I hope that you vote no on this proposal.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Jonathan Hill, followed by Nadia Muhammad.

Nadia.

Good morning.

My name is Jonathan Hill.

I own a condo at 1111 South Peters number 308 until June the 30th when I close to get out of the warehouse district.

I have followed this process along since the initial public meeting, where this gentleman's predecessor infuriated the entire group, and we've and I've been to every meeting that I've been able to attend since.

President Morrell, I'd like to thank you for your comments regarding Mr.

Sherman.

Mr.

Sherman, I've heard him say over and over again, it's in there, we got it covered.

It's yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

He's either the most prepared attorney I've ever seen in my life, or he's telling us some stories.

I don't know which.

So I'm opposed to the hotel, but uh apparently it's coming.

I'm also opposed.

My main concern the entire process was the park.

Now, Mr.

Sherman will tell you they've saved the park, but he has not told you that they're cutting into the park, they are definitely cutting into the park that missed that uh I guess Morio built in 84.

So I'm opposed to damaging the park in any way.

I'm opposed to the hotel.

I appreciate the city council.

I appreciate Councilwoman Harris, she's listened to me for a couple of years.

I'm moving, I'm moving to uptown.

I've already moved.

I but but my closing is the 30th.

And um I'm I'm in full agreement.

These folks represented here are all very wealthy individuals, probably voted for the Republican side of the aisle.

I don't know.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr.

Hill.

Nadia Mohammed, followed by Gary Crockett.

Good morning, my elected councilmen and women.

My name is Nadia Mohammed.

I am a resident of the Lower Ninth Ward, back of town, as they called it, 2439 Delaware Street.

No, I'm not paid to be here.

I'm here in opposition of the Omni New Orleans.

I'm here representing the voice list.

I wear many t-shirts, as you all know, in our great city, and we will not back down.

No new Omni in New Orleans.

Please vote no.

Omni's proposal is to allow building a hotel 27 stories, three times higher than what is under our current zone.

They propose to have the largest of everything, the largest pool, the occupancy of over a thousand rooms, and a great and a great parking garage.

That takes up a lot of space with that we don't have.

We know when something is being built, it costs more than the highest projected amount.

We need to know how much this project is really gonna cost us.

We, the public, are standing before the council to vote no.

This corporation is based out of another state.

Therefore, we're taking the funds away from us.

It's all about us.

Sourcing it to other states, people out of state are coming in and collecting our revenues, telling us what we need, and to and to bring it back to their cities, your companies, your organizations, their stores, and financing them.

Wow, we are suffering with blooded housing, not enough housing for our people.

We look at New Orleans, we look at the Lord Knight Ward, and we look at our people.

I thank you for allowing me this opportunity to speak.

Thank you.

Gary Crockett, followed by Michael Sawaya.

And we will end with Samara Smith.

Good morning.

I want to remind everyone that this is a government by the people and it's supposed to be for the people.

In addition to that, there should be transparency.

I know that a lot of proposals have come across, even this one, where in most cases, we don't understand exactly what we're going to get or what we're going to pay.

I've heard people get up and they talk about surveys.

I heard them talk about everyone that they talk to, except the people of New Orleans.

The bottom line is they're asking us to wait 45 years for a benefit from this hotel.

They're asking us to forego property taxes for 45 years.

That is wrong.

What I don't see when they got up and talked about the benefits of this hotel is my people thriving.

What I see continuously are slave wages here in New Orleans.

If you only make enough to eat, go home, come back to work.

The slaves had that.

They had transportation to the field, they had a place to live, and they had food to eat.

And that is all that is being offered here.

We want better.

We expect better, even from those that represent us as well.

One other thing.

Why haven't they gone to New Orleans company and asked for this same money?

Michael Sawaya, and we're gonna end with Samara Smith.

Good morning, Council members.

I wish to wave my count at this time.

Thank you, Samara Smith.

Good afternoon.

Question mark.

My name's Samara Smith.

I live on 2017 South Carolton Avenue, and I'm here today in opposition of the Omni Hotel, and I'm encouraging you to vote no.

You, as council members, serve the people of New Orleans.

You don't serve hospitality businesses like the Omni Hotel.

You serve hospitality workers.

The businesses of this city only operate when the workers of the city thrive.

The reason we're in competition with cities like Houston and we're suffering is because people are leaving the city in droves.

And they're leaving because we don't have a healthy workplace.

Many of you already know that we don't have a healthy workplace.

Many of your staffers are keenly aware of the fact that we don't have a healthy workplace.

And the fact is, if we have the money to be able to serve a giant corporation like Omni Hotel, we should have the money for a living wage, for health care coverage, for sick leave, and for the right to organize in our workplaces.

There should be no reason why a massive, massive tax break like the one we're in discussion with for Omni Hotel, is even in conversation when we're struggling to pay our own city workers.

I don't understand why we're still engaging in this conversation when so many people, critical workers across the city, the people who would be working in this hotel are in opposition.

This hotel doesn't work if the workers don't want it.

And they don't.

We're all here taking time off of work to come here and remind you that none of this works without workers and the workers are leaving the city.

So you can keep bringing hotels, but who's going to work them?

How will this hotel thrive if there's no one to work it?

The people that have continuously come in support of this hotel don't live here.

So the reality is if you want to invest in your workers to have thriving businesses, you need to invest in things like a healthy workplace in fair housing and union contracts.

And right now, none of those things are on the table.

At that point in time, if anybody wants to attend, it will be at the convention center, and you can make public comment there to discuss a pilot for this hotel.

At this time, I move that we go into executive session for sure to the agenda, seconded by Council Vice President Willard.

All in favor, any opposed, we're in executive session.

All right, ladies and gentlemen, we're gonna get started.

Uh Madame Clerk.

She's coming.

All right.

We'll go back in order modester.

I think we'll take a council member Cairn's item when we come back in to session, correct?

Yes.

Okay.

I'll move to come out come back from second session seconded by Councilmember.

Willard.

All in favor.

Any opposed?

Hearing none.

Okay.

We have legislative grouping items three four and thirty.

Zoning document thirty twenty six, Octavia L'Oreal, L LLC.

Requesting a zoning change from an H U R D2, Historic Urban Two Family Residential District to an H U B 18 Historic Urban Neighborhood Business District and a conditional use to permit a standard restaurant in the HUB1A use restriction overlay district on squares 187 lots 12 and 3 in the 6th municipal district, bounded by Octavia Street, Laurel Street, Constant Street, and Jefferson Avenue.

Municipal address 5543 Laurel Street 509 through 515 Octavia Street.

The recommendation of the CPC being for approval subject to 10 provisals.

We are motioning M26 253 by Councilmember McCarran.

Approving the applicant's request for zoning docket 3026, subject to 10 provisos recommended by the CPC with modifications in two additions to the two addition of two provisals added by the city council.

We are motioning M26 254 by Councilmember McCarron directing the city planning commission to conduct a public hearing to consider a zoning change from an H U B1A historic urban neighborhood business district to an H U R D 23 Urban Two Family Residential District for property located on square 187 lots 12 and 3 in the 6th municipal district bounded by Octavia Street, Laurel Street, Constant Street, and Jefferson Avenue, municipal address 5433 Lowell Street and 509 through 515 Octavia Street.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

CPC.

Thank you, Councilmember.

This is a uh application to rezone uh the building that includes Octavia Books and Cafe Menu at the corner of Laurel and Octavia Street.

Uh Cafe Manu currently operates there as a non-conforming use.

It seeks to uh add alcoholic beverage services uh to its uh menu and that requires a zoning changes.

The residential zoning does not allow that uh to happen.

So, uh this came to the planning commission.

Um the planning commission is supportive of it for really for two reasons.

One is that the building is and has always been a commercial structure, and uh in general, the planning commission supports zoning changes that give commercial buildings commercial zoning, and secondly, um this is done in in service of a ABO license for a restaurant.

Uh the zoning ordinance makes alcohol beverage services, kind of use it as a customary aspect of restaurant operations, so something a norm restaurant is normally expected to do.

And so the the planning commission viewed it favorably because of that.

I will say they received a lot of public comment, uh, as your office has, and you know, that has been um some support, some outright opposition, some support with conditions, and and so I I can certainly say it was contentious.

Um, the applicant came to the planning commission with us um a series of voluntary provisors that would restrict things like hours of operation, parking, and other aspects of the restaurants operation.

And I think with those additional provisos in place, the planning commission was comfortable with it and recommends approval.

Thank you.

Okay, I have a couple of comment cards.

Um Avery Foray, followed by Donald Fant.

Good afternoon, council members.

Avery for 800 Bruin Street.

Um, I'll be the only one to speak on our side of things on the sports side.

I'm here on behalf of Cafe Malou, but I do want to acknowledge that the property owners are here as well as uh one of the owners of the cafe.

Stephen did a great summary of kind of where we've been and where we were going.

Um, this is a very important location in a very important neighborhood, and so we just kind of want to acknowledge everyone's efforts on both sides of this.

This took a lot of time and energy from everyone, and we sincerely thank Arna for their leadership and just truly everyone involved.

Um, it's also a very complex set of zoning facts, and for that reason, uh, really took a very detailed approach to this.

Um, sincerely want to thank Councilmember McKaren for her leadership, which was tireless on this one, and Claire, which put several hours into this matter.

The attention to detail really is such a great, great way to lead in this district.

So, um, thank you to everyone.

We're happy to answer questions, but I know it's already been a long meeting, so I will um be respectful and turn it over to the next speaker.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Donald Fant, followed by Justin Schmidt.

Good afternoon, Council members.

Donald Fant, 401 Henry Clay Avenue.

I'm here representing Arna, the Audubon Riverside Neighborhood Association, and I'm not being paid to speak.

Arna supports these two motions as they're currently proposed.

We also would like to thank uh Councilmember McCarran and her staff for their leadership in brokering this compromise.

We feel it's an equitable solution for all concerned, and thank you all for your service.

Thank you, Donald.

Justin Schmidt, followed by Yvonne McNicholis.

Thank you.

Justin Schmidt, 1506 7th Street.

Um, I am uh paid representative on behalf of a consortium of neighbors, uh immediate neighbors that um were concerned about some of the issues here, and I'm happy to say that we've reviewed and worked very well with um the council members' office.

Uh thank you very much, Councilmember, for your leadership for Claire, as Avery said.

Um, when I first uh was brought into this kind of at the tail end when I first saw this, I was amazed that city planning had gotten through this, and then I think we'd be a much different posture uh today if councilmember McCarron had not stepped in and really put in those proviso with the limited hours.

That's the one of the biggest issues here.

Um, yes, it's a it's a non-conforming property, but it is also uh in the center of a very residential district uh with prominent uh predominantly uh residential and two families houses, no driveways, and so forth.

So all of those typical things that come up.

Um just for the record, we wanted to say that the immediate neighbors in this area um were polled.

Uh 67 um were opposed to any uh dinner service.

Twelve were um against dinner service, but did not want to uh publicly come out and uh oppose it.

Uh 12 were unable to contact, and then four were for dinner service.

So I think where we ended up on this um was the right spot, and again, we thank you uh for those.

Um we understand that there you know there'll be some later on legislation because this is a zoning change, it would be a spot zone, that we would come back and fix that again to allow this to, as Steven said, to kind of legitimize the nonconformity, but then protect those neighbors later on.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Justin.

Uh Yvonne McNicholas, followed by Liv Newman.

Would y'all like to speak or okay, perfect?

They're in opposition.

Uh Mary Marie Ann Delorme, in opposition, not wishing to speak.

Uh Sean Josephs.

Not wishing to speak in support.

Thomas P.

Loenberg in support, not wishing to speak.

Judith Lafitte in support, not wishing to speak, and Becca Geiger in support, not wishing to speak.

Okay, perfect.

Great.

Um first I want to thank neighbors for remaining engaged in this process uh with my office through this entire process.

I know it's been a long one for all of us, but um also want to thank Mani and um her team for having repeated conversations upon my request with you guys to figure out how we can get to a good place to have this business thrive, but also the neighborhood continue to thrive.

Um, the basis of this request is simple.

Cafe Malou wants to serve alcohol during their breakfast, lunch, and brunch services.

The mechanism to get there, however, is complicated.

The property currently operates as a legal non-conforming restaurant, which is restricted to the hours used in past operations, and HU B1A overlay requires restaurants to receive conditional use to serve alcohol.

So this property needed an up zone as well as a conditional use to serve the alcohol.

Much of the concern stemming from this request is additional traffic, parking noise that can accompany restaurants with alcohol.

Neighbors were also concerned about the future uses of property under HUB1A zoning that would be problematic, like a pet daycare.

These are valid concerns.

I met with neighbors in Mani, sometimes separately, sometimes together, and we talked to talked through a lot of compromises.

Here's where we ultimately landed.

I'm granting the zoning change and conditional use with 12 provisos, including no-to-go drinks, a dedicated contact person for the neighborhood complaints, a limitation on special event permits, and capping their hours to their current operating hours from 7 a.m.

to 3 p.m.

service seven days a week.

I'm also approving today a separate motion that kicks off the process to rezone the entire property back to the H U R D H U R D 2.

I have the blessing of the property owner.

Rezoning it back down eliminates concerns about future mixed uses that could go into the space and the conditional use is a land entitlement, so it will not be impacted.

This I think is a compromise by both neighbors and Mani, and I but I appreciate everyone's engagement and willingness to get to a solution today.

So with that, do I have any comments from the Dais?

Questions?

Okay.

So I'm gonna motion to approve M26253 and grant the zoning change and conditional use for second.

All those in favor?

Aye.

Okay, great.

Thank you.

Any opposed?

Okay.

Um the next one is the I motion to approve M26-254.

Can I get a second?

Seconded by Councilor President Vice President Willard.

All those in favor?

Any opposed?

Seeing none, great.

That's it.

Thank you.

At the top of page 36, special orders of business.

Well, first order of business presentation, celebrating New Orleans alumni.

Madam Clerk, we'll take up Councilman King's uh item and then we'll take up Delta Sigma Theta and follow by Cal Alpha SI.

At the top of page 30, item 23, ordinance counselor 35,450 by Councilmember King by request.

In ordinance to amend ordinance 30,005 30, MCSS amended in title and ordinance providing an operating budget of revenues for the city of New Orleans for the year 2026 to appropriate funds for the implementation of NOPV's aid district drone program within the French Quarter Economic Development District and otherwise to provide respects there too.

Madam Claire, I'm sorry, uh I was told some people were not ready to go right now, so we'll just go back to the order of business.

Special orders of business, first present first order of business presentation, celebrating New Orleans alumni chapter, but alpha five fraternity inc 98th anniversary speakers.

Douglas M.

Evans, Robert Spears, Senior DDS, Carol Ruth, Jr., I'm sorry.

Second order of business presentation, New Orleans alumni chapter of Delta Sigma Theta, Sorority Inc.

90th anniversary.

Speaker Tracy Al Roller, recognizing the 90th anniversary of the New Orleans alumni chapter of Delta Sigma Theta, sorority in the anniversary of 90 years of sisterhood, growth and public service in the greater New Orleans area.

It is an opportunity to honor the sorority founders, the chapters, charter members, past and present leaders, and the countless members who have contributed to the development of the community.

The chapter's history reflects resilience, leadership, and dedication to uplifting generations throughout education through education, advocacy, and civic engagement.

Well, thank you very much, Madam Clerk.

Let me first just publicly thank my colleagues for your flexibility today.

I know it's been a long day, and it will be a long afternoon.

But I am really honored uh to uh pay homage, pay tribute, and honor the extraordinary women uh of Delta Sigma Theta and to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the New Orleans alumni chapter of Delta Sigma Theater Sorority Incorporated.

You know, all of our divine nine organizations collectively do great work, but I say publicly and privately all the time, nobody does social action better than Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated.

So much so that I wish every Divine Nine organization would replicate the playbook that you all have created.

If I were to recognize every extraordinary and prominent Delta woman, we'd be here for uh another 1913 days, so I'm gonna refrain from doing that.

Uh and we have so many distinguished uh members of Delta Sigma Theta here today.

Uh, from an economic standpoint, uh there have been several national conventions of Delta Sigma Theater, international conventions, I should say, uh, that have convened here in the city of New Orleans.

Uh the most recent uh was under the leadership of um uh former uh centennial president, uh Cynthia Marie Antoinette Bletcher Butler McIntyre, who we certainly uh pay tribute to many uh and appreciate her leadership.

Uh at the table we have uh three extraordinary uh Delta women, uh, the president of the New Orleans alumni chapter, and we're also thrilled to have uh two women who have served this city, who have served the state, uh, who have served this nation, uh, and a former members of the New Orleans City Council.

Um, both just so happened to have represented District B.

And so uh really thrilled to see former councilwoman Renee Gill Pratt and the legendary groundbreaking trailblazer, uh Diana Beijoir.

And really quickly, what what I will say about Senator Bejoir, and I love both of these women, they know that.

Um, but you know, when I was a little intern 23 years ago running around the state capitol, um, a lot of people would would treat interns as if we were invisible.

Uh Senator Bejois would always take time to interact with interns.

And a true story, um, one day we were interacting in the hallway, um, and Senator Bejoy was asking me about my future plans, and she said, one day you'll be a member of this legislature, um, which came to fruition.

And the best advice she gave me, true story.

She said, when you get here, she said, everybody's gonna fight to be on the money committees.

She said, everybody's gonna want to be on appropriations and ways and means.

She said, but if you really want to make a difference, she said, fight to get on the health committee.

And I never forgot that, and I fought to get on that committee, and during my six-year tenure in the house, I was the only member from New Orleans, Senator Beige on the Health Committee, and thanks to your great advice, uh, was really able to fight uh for women, for children, for African Americans, for all people, and do some extraordinary things for New Orleans East Hospital.

Uh collectively, I know I speak on behalf of my colleagues.

It is our honor to give you your flowers, um, and we just thank you.

We stand on your shoulders, we love you, we value you, we appreciate you.

With that, Madam President, uh, followed by uh Councilwoman Pratt and then Councilwoman Beijon.

Thank you.

On behalf, good afternoon, members of the New Orleans City Council, distinguished guests, and fellow citizens.

On behalf of the New Orleans Alumni Chapter of Delta Sigma Theater Sorority Incorporated, I am honored to speak to this body today as we celebrate 90 years of service to the City of New Orleans.

Since our chartering in 1936, our chapter has remained committed for the ideas of sisterhood, scholarship, service, and social action.

For nine decades, Delta women have worked alongside community leaders, educators, elected officials, and residents to strengthen our city and create opportunities for generations of New Orleans.

The New Orleans alumni chapter's legacy is reflected not only in our service, but also in the leadership of our members.

Throughout our history, our sorrows have served this city as educators, elected officials, judges, business leaders, healthcare professionals, advocates, and civic champions.

Their influence can be found in classrooms, courtrooms, boardrooms, city agencies, and community organizations throughout New Orleans.

New Orleans alumni is often looked to as a leadership training ground.

That legacy extends to the highest levels of our organization.

We are especially proud that members of our chapter have served in every nationally elected office within Delta Sigma Theater Sorority Incorporated.

Among them are Cynthia M.A.

Butler McIntyre, who served as national president, national first vice president, and Southwest Regional Director.

Maddie Clarkson Brayton, who served as the national second vice president, Gloria Bryan Banks, who served as National Secretary and Southwest Regional Director, and Carolyn Elaine Lewis, who served as National Treasurer and Chair of the Board of Directors of the Delta Research and Educational Foundation.

Their leadership helps shape the direction of our beloved sisterhood and stands as a powerful testament to the caliber of women who have called the New Orleans alumni chapter home.

We are deeply grateful to the City Council for recognizing our legacy and the countless sorrows, past and present, whose dedication and sacrifices have made this milestone possible.

As we celebrate our history, we remain focused in the future.

We remain committed to empowering our youth, advocating for our communities, advancing economic development, promoting educational excellence, and fostering civic engagement throughout New Orleans.

90 years ago, visionary women planted seeds of service in New Orleans through their courage, commitment, and determination.

Those seeds have blossomed into a legacy that continues to transform lives across our city and beyond.

Today, we proudly celebrate the harvest and recommit ourselves to the work still ahead.

Thank you for this recognition, for your partnership, and for your continued service to our city.

The New Orleans Alumni Chapter is proud to stand alongside you as we work together to build a more stronger, more equitable, and more prosperous New Orleans for all.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, Madam President.

Before we go to Councilwoman Gil Pratt, I do want to acknowledge the presence of Judge Robin Pittman of Criminal District Court, as well as our registrar of voters, Lisa Marie Manning Bridges.

We have almost as many initials as Cynthia MA Butler back and I too would like to say thank you very much to the New Orleans City Council for recognizing the women, the fine women of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated, the New Orleans Chapter.

We service along with you.

We want you to know that we continue to support you all and the citizens of the City of New Orleans and to be ever be ever that there's need for us to provide service because that's what we do.

We are a service sorority, and we are social action.

And we don't just speak, we act.

And thank you very much for this opportunity for us to be here today.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilwoman Gil Pratt.

I also want to acknowledge that Judge Cheryl Holler was also with us.

Councilwoman uh Senator.

President Pro Tem Bajois.

First of all, since I'm close enough to hear.

First of all, I want to thank you all for having us here.

I came this morning.

I usually I said, Well, I put on all these clothes.

Let me come back.

So I went to a function at Central City, man.

So I came back over here after I found out it was going to be on again at 12 30.

And I just want to thank y'all for taking the time to recognize us.

You know, I'm on a pen on.

I'm a 50-year Delta, which is itself a honor.

And so, as much as we 90 years of sorority, uhluming chapter I've been with it 50 years.

So I got my own celebration going on.

I'm so proud of it.

I've always been very proud to be a member of Delta Sigma Theta.

And let me just say on this council, I certainly want to recognize my council woman.

I was doing a great job.

And so many of y'all I know, and I'm looking at council president Morrell.

I knew him when he was a little boy.

I had a horse over with his dying with his daddy's mom.

So we go way back, his mother's father both work.

I've worked with them all different um in different capacities.

So work with the daddy and the legislature and the mom morning council.

And um, and I'm looking at Senator Green.

You mean that Senator Councilman Green.

You know, you every way.

So I want to convene you on that.

And um, certainly uh Councilman Lewis.

Um, really, yeah.

He's so close to this, ain't it?

I'm giving you her name, but anyway, I'll congratulate you on your new step, stepping into the council.

And you're already doing great things.

Uh, I kind of follow y'all to keep up with you.

I think that's important.

That's always been somebody say you ain't got nothing else to do, Diane.

I say that's important.

Y'all need to do some of that.

Follow what's going on so you can have input to it and know where we are.

Because this is a some very trying times we're living in, but uh, certainly um, and all the other council people, I don't know them as well, but uh I look forward to working with you all, um, council lady from district eight, and um, I miss anybody else.

Fred, oh, definitely I know Freddie.

I don't see what he is.

I can't speak too good.

I'm just gonna be honest with you.

Um, you're doing a tremendous job.

You got you got a tough district, and um, I could remember when I was in the legislature, Paulette Irons represented uh the French quarters, and Jackie Clarkson.

So, you know, I said tough district because it's one that's very, very involved, and we rely on that area a lot.

A lot of the things in your area, it's so important to the city.

So I'm gonna take up no y'all's time, but I just want to congratulate y'all.

Y'all got a uh y'all got a lot before you, but uh please call on if there's anything I can help with, I'll be happy to help you in any way I can.

And like I say, I've known many of you for all your life, and some of you just you know, late in life, but I still got a lot of respect for you.

And um, so I see uh raising and I sit to you, and God bless you and keep you all and in prayer so that you all can make it make these tough decisions that you have to make every day.

Um thank you so much for helping us.

Thank you, Senator Bajois, and uh we just thank you.

You've cracked so many glass ceilings uh in the legislature, uh, including being the first woman to serve as president pro tem of the Senate, which was traditionally a boys' club.

So congratulations and thank you.

Um we'll start with Councilmember Green, then Councilmember McCarron, and we'll go down the line.

Good afternoon.

I am so honored to be here today to celebrate the 90th anniversary of Delta Sigma Theta, the New Orleans alumni chapter.

Yes, I am so proud to have grown up in the household of a Delta.

This is John B.

Green.

My sister is Janelle Green.

She was once the cotillion Queen, and she's just so motivated by Delta, it's done so many things for her, and also I'm the brother-in-law of Roxanne Green, who lives in Dallas, but there are so many other deltas in my life through my church, um, Bethany United Methodist Church through Puncha Train Park, a good number of deltas who've lived and helped to build that community.

But what I'm proud to say today is that I'm proud to be a new Orlean for a variety of reasons.

And I am proud.

I've spent time away.

I'm back here in this city because I love this city.

But one of the reasons that I love this city is that I grew up in the household of someone who was committed to social service, committed to voter registration, committed to promoting the arts, to promoting black women in business.

My mother, and she was motivated because she was a Delta and she was around so many successful women.

So I want to say two important words to you.

And I'm saying this from my mother who's watching us.

I firmly believe that.

Thank you.

Thank you for having the influence in my life that you've had and in helping my mother through her years to do better and to contribute more to society.

Happy 90th, and I look forward to celebrating with you for many, many more decades.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Green.

Councilmember McCarron.

Well, thank you, Councilmember Hughes, for bringing Adultas here.

So I have an AKA in my office.

Um I'm I'm trying to stay neutral, but when Judge Pittman said I need some red flair, I put on my red council pin.

So thank y'all so much.

Congratulations on to you all on the chat 90 years, um, distinguished service and lasting impact um through decades of social social change, civil rights advocacy, educational initiatives, scholarships, and community service.

This chapter has remained a leading force in New Orleans.

So we really appreciate you, congratulate you, and I look forward to working with y'all in the future as well.

Thank you so much.

Councilmember Harris.

My councilwoman, my senator, I walk in your footsteps, and I lead hopefully with the grace that you led with.

I want to congratulate you all on 90 years, and I am honestly jealous of the sisterhood that you have.

I know when there are forces trying to tear you down, you have the sisterhood to lift each other up, and I find that to be extraordinary.

I'm proud of the service that you provide.

Uh Senator Councilwoman, you're still in service.

We're at Optic together on this crazy night.

We're fighting together in the trenches, making sure that our communities stay strong.

And I just want to commend each and every one of you for your service to our community.

I also have to say and recognize uh Dominique Lang Jackson, who is in my office.

He's dressed in red behind me.

She is the Delta, and her mother is here as well.

Wave your hand, also Delta.

Um, and so I just want to say thank you so much for everything you do.

I just commend everything you do, and I'm I'm so proud to be part of the community of and the sisterhood of being a district B councilwoman.

Councilwoman McKing.

Thank you, Councilman B.

Hughes.

Thank you for inviting the ladies of uh Delta Sigma Theta, Sorority Incorporated, too, to the council chambers.

That's so many ladies in the audience that I know personally who've done so many great things, Judge Pittman, um, Miss Summers Brock earlier.

Shout out to Ms.

Butler McIntyre who who uh lives in Algiers and and holds it down all the time for for Delta.

She recently, I believe, uh did her 50th year graduation at Dillard University, and uh just so many other ladies in the audience.

Uh, see Mr.

Large, our very own.

Uh but I I want to say uh just give a quick story.

Councilman B.

Hughes gave a story about uh his encounter with Mrs.

Bayes, Ms.

Vagewa, and I want to give a quick one.

I'm not sure if I said this before, so if it's a bit redundant, this uh indulge me for a second.

It was at Whole Fools on Magazine years ago, and uh I had two of my kids in the grocery basket, and they had to use the restroom really bad.

And I didn't know anybody in the store, and I couldn't bring them.

I think I had two girls with me.

So I walked up to you.

I said, ma'am, you don't know me, but I know you.

I said, I'm friends with Ms.

Lena.

So can you watch my kids while I go to the rest of the room?

And uh you did, and it was all good.

Uh, that's that's my first uh encounter with you now a couple years ago.

I only had two kids at the time, so I let you know how long ago it was.

Uh but nonetheless, ladies, thank y'all for all the the work and the service and upload you provide to our community, and um, all the negative stereotypes while we're young black women to see, it's very uplifting and refreshing, reassuring to have them be able to see professional uh black women who carry themselves the way you do, and um set a continuous set a good example for them, so thank you.

Council Vice President.

Thank you, Councilmember Hughes.

Congratulations to the ladies of Delta Sigma Theta on 90-year anniversary.

That is quite the milestone.

Um, I remember from my days in the legislature when you guys would show up to the state capitol on your lobby day and just overwhelm us with the sea of red and white in the hallways, and uh one thing that has always impressed me about the women of the Delta Sorority is that um it's about empowerment, it's like a movement, right?

It's about empowerment, it's about leadership, it's about sisterhood, and it's about action, not just talking.

And that has always been something that you all have done that has impressed me.

Elections roll around, the deltas are on the streets in the churches, making sure everybody knows that there's an election coming up.

Constitutional amendments are on the ballot, the deltas are going to neighborhood associations, churches, civic organization meetings, and letting everybody know, not pushing them one way or the other.

This is what a yes vote does.

This is what a no vote does.

That voter engagement, that voter education, uh, you you organize voter registration drives, you host town halls and forums to talk about policy issues that affect our community, that affect affect women overall.

Uh, and that is the type of partners that the city of New Orleans not only wants but needs.

So congrats on this 90 years.

I won't be here, but I'm sure in 90 years from now, there'll be another group of people congratulating you on continuing that effort.

So uh pass the torts down and let's create the type of leaders that we both want and need in our community.

Thank you so much.

Council President.

Well, I mean, I I I guess Matthew stole my whole speech.

So I mean, it was really good, but that that's I don't know if he liked crib from me or something, but seriously, though, I have to begin with.

Uh, as y'all know, many of you know my mother, she's an educator, and there's that old adage that it takes a village to raise a child, and when I look at councilmember Pratt, when I look at Senator Bejois, this was my village as a child.

I will tell you, I've literally known Senator Bejo pretty much my entire life.

My dad entered the legislature in 1984 when I was six years old, and about the only senator my dad listened to was Senator Bejo.

And if you know my dad, and Senator Beige, while you know my dad, she was the only person that could sit Arthur Morel down and say, Arthur, you need to vote this way, Arthur, you to vote that way.

And he would always meekly say, Yes, Senator Beige.

Well, yes, Diana, I'll do whatever you say.

Councilmember Pratt, before I enter public service, Councilmember Pratt, my mother, as long as uh Councilman Willard's aunt served during Hurricane Katrina.

And when I say that was a crucible that broke so many people, and there were people who rose to the occasion to protect our neighbors and our communities.

I had just graduated law school and I was an indentured servant to my mother and the council after Katrina, and I can tell you the work that council member Pratt did for District B, the collaborative work with your colleagues to bring back neighborhoods and communities and to speak for those people who were displaced.

You will never get the thanks you deserve for the work you did.

And finally, just to the sisterhood as a whole, intelligence is the torch of wisdom.

I mean, when you talk about mottos that we need to hear, and the facts that we need to see today in this country, I will tell you that from my childhood, my mother impressed upon me how important education is.

And I can tell you that in my personal, professional and political interaction with Delta Sigma Theta, you guys do so much work.

Sorry, you women do so much work to educate people to learn what's going on, to think for themselves, and to engage their communities.

But when you look at the future of this country, the future of this city, the future of the black community, those efforts to educate everyone in our community to be engaged in every aspect of civic service, that is the torch you bring to every single thing that you do as an organization.

And as usual, we're here as a council to serve and help you promote your message and the effort y'all do across the city.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Um members of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated.

And I think I saw Miss Hattie Bruce.

Where's Miss Hattie Bruce?

Stand up, Miss Hattie Bruce.

I know she's trying to hide, but she's she she is a quiet storm.

And I just want to say publicly, uh I am just forever forever grateful to you.

And I I mean, thank you.

Proud constituent of District E.

Uh, so on behalf of the New Orleans City Council, uh, we are honored to pay tribute and celebrate Delta Sigma Theta, sorority incorporated New Orleans alumnate chapter on your ninetieth anniversary.

And now I'm gonna ask for your cooperation.

I know Delta Women can do this.

We need you to move quickly.

Judge Pittman, Judge Howard, Registrar, need you three sitting in those seats, and then I need the rest of you to fan behind the table quickly.

We need to make it happen in thirty seconds.

Thank you.

You guys can do that, and I think that's a good thing.

First order of business.

Presentation, celebrating New Orleans alumni chapter, Kelpa Alpha Phi's Fraternity, Inc.

90th anniversary.

Speakers Douglas M.

Evans, Robert Spears Senior, DDS, Carol Brewster, Jr., Brian Hunter, Cardell Thomas, Lavon Labane, Rudy Gorrell, and Elvin Barrington.

Recognizing the New Orleans Alumni Chapter of Appa Kappa Alpha Psy Fraternity, Inc.

90th anniversary, the New Orleans Alumni Chapter remains one of the most historic and info influential chapters within the Southwestern province.

Through its continued work through mentorship, civic engagement and leadership development, the chapter remains dedicated to advancing the mission of Kappa Alpha Psy while strengthening the communities it served throughout Greater New Orleans area.

It is my honor to pay tribute to an extraordinary uh fraternity that I just so happen to be a member of to my brothers of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Incorporated, New Orleans alumni chapter on the celebration uh of its 90th anniversary.

Uh Cap Alpha Psi has has done so much for me, I won't go into detail.

Uh Councilmember Green, uh, unlike Alpha Phi Alpha, if I started talking about all the achievements of this illustrious organization, we'd be here for another 1911 years.

He just wants to get me started.

But on a serious note, uh Cap Alpha Psi has contributed so much to uh this city uh through so many initiatives, and I talked about the economic impact of Delta Sigma Theta.

Uh Cap Alpha Psi has now brought uh our conclave, our international convention to the city of New Orleans twice.

Uh and I'm proud to announce that we will be descending upon the city of New Orleans again in 2029, infusing millions of dollars into our economy.

Um brothers, I just want you to know uh I love and appreciate you.

Um I appreciate everything you do for our city, our state, and our nation.

Um the brothers you see in white coats are our fifty-year brothers, uh, fifty years or more of dedicated uh service to our noble clan.

And today, um, proud to have our Paul Mark, Paul Mark Fisher, uh, as well as Elder Watson Diggs awardee, uh, Brother Alvin Barrington, and um former one of my predecessors, former council member James Gray, uh, who represented District E as well.

And I know there's brothers who are part of our city's workforce, like Brother Tracy Madison and Brother Darren Meyer, see former Superintendent Henderson Lewis, and nationally acclaimed artists Al Casimo Harris.

I'm gonna stop calling names because I'm gonna forget somebody.

But uh, Brother Paul Mark, I'll yield to you.

Hughes.

Um good evening, distinguished guests and members of City Council and brothers and friends and allies.

It is truly an honor to stand before you today as we commemorate a remarkable milestone.

Cap Alpha Sci Incorporated's ninth anniversary, 90 years of unswavering dedication to leadership, academic excellence, community service.

Brotherhood is a testament to our endurance spiracy and impactful legacy to the city.

Over the past nine decades, Cap Alpha Science Incorporated has not only fostered countless leaders, but has also profoundly enriched our community through mentorship, programs, philanthropic endeavors, civic engagement.

This our fraternity has exemplified what it means to serve with integrity and compassion.

Again, we are very honored to have been honored here today in acceptance of the our 90th anniversary.

So thank you for the time.

Thank you so much.

Good afternoon, uh Council and Brother Hughes.

Just thank you so much for your leadership and opportunity to recognize our chapter.

Like uh Paul Mark Fisher said, for nine decades, uh the New Orleans Alumni chapter has served this community, and we have uh achieved in every field of human endeavor, uh, from brothers like Morris, FX Jeff, so many uh guys in the civil rights movement.

And when I arrive here in New Orleans, uh after Katrina, I just I just look at the so many stalwart men that was in this chapter and to my to left of our poll mark.

Brother Theo George, who is 94 years of age, celebrating this year's 71 years of membership in our fraternity.

And just today, how he continues to engage in voter registration and do those things, just gives us all hope to know that we have more work to do.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to be here and and recognizing our organization.

Thank you, and again, it's an honor to be here.

Thank you.

Thank you, Brother Barons and Brother George.

We we stand on your shoulders.

1955, you were initiated into the Alpha Sigma chapter of Cap Alpha Psi.

Uh, and and last but not least, I would be remiss if uh I did not allow uh Brother Gray uh to say a few words.

Thank you so much for your dedicated service to the city of New Orleans as a member of the city council.

Well, thank you very much.

Uh, first of all, and in this great organization, I'm a foot soldier, but a happy foot soldier, because there's so many good leaders uh to follow in Cap Alpha Psy.

And we have uh always tried to be of service to the community that we're in.

Uh there are a lot of names.

Um, and I'm not gonna call I'll call one name and say it's 20 more just like Philip Batiste.

Uh the old folks in the room will remember Philip Baptiste in the city of New Orleans.

He was a cap, but there were plenty more like him.

We are happy to be here.

We will continue to serve, and we are thankful for the recognition we've been given today.

And I have to say, I hope the brothers don't get upset with me, that I have to mention my two deltas, Judge Ernestine Gray and Senator Cheryl Gray, who weren't here with the Deltas, but uh who are my wife and daughter.

Uh we are glad to be of service to the city.

Awesome.

Thank you, Brother Councilman.

Uh, brothers appreciate you all to our 50-year uh newly inducted 50 year brothers.

Uh, we do have proclamations for each of you.

We'll get those to you.

They're here.

Um, we'll begin to hear from our colleagues, beginning with Council Member Green and Councilmember McCarron.

Happy 90th.

And as I look at you all and know of the other members of Kappa, the CAPAs that I know, I'm just so proud to um say that I know so many of you, and you're in such distinguished positions.

You've made tremendous contributions, and I could name additional names.

Um, but I see folks out there, I see you all doing things in our community that's making a difference, whether it be with the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club, whether it be with the churches with which you're involved, the ministry um that you teach, the work that you do to support our entrepreneurs in our city.

So I just want to say collect to to all of you all that the city of New Orleans appreciates the work.

You look great.

You look great.

And James, I haven't seen you in that white jacket before.

You look very distinctly.

I like it.

I didn't know that you was that you were 50 years, but I'm just so honored.

As a member of the Divine Nine, I am a um 44-year member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.

I'm pleased to be in the Divine Nine and to work with you all to enhance the quality of life in our city.

It makes a great difference.

Thank you for what you do here in our state throughout our nation and the world.

Thank you.

Councilmember McCarron.

Well, thank you, Councilmember Hughes, and and thank and and congrats to you on the 90th anniversary of your fraternity.

For your years of leadership, service, impact, and your unwavering commitment to the city of New Orleans.

Your collective efforts have created a legacy that will inspire current and future generations of young men and men.

And I'm honored to serve alongside Councilmember Hughes.

Uh, you are a wonderful partner on the council, so I think it's a reflection of your brothers as well.

Thank you, Councilmember McCarron, Councilmember Harris.

Congratulations on 90 years.

I see so many of you who I call friends, Councilmember James Gray.

I've known you since I was a baby lawyer.

Um I've known your nephew John Poindexter since I was at UVA, and so I feel like I'm a member of your family.

And I I just want to say how proud I am of you and your brothers for all of the service that you do in our community in New Orleans in the state of Louisiana, in the United States and across the globe, because I know that this is a global fraternity.

Um so just congratulations, thank you for everything that you do, and I look forward to working with each of you again.

Rudy, you're on the ground.

You're on the ground, my friend, and um I can't wait to work with you.

Last but not least, uh, right year, wrong fraternity, my brother, Councilman Freddie King.

I appreciate that.

Uh, Councilmember Hughes, you are on the road, Deltas, and you got the minute of Calf Alpha Side here.

Uh thank you all for coming out here.

And the same thing I told the ladies at the Super Theater.

In today's society, it doesn't take much, it doesn't, you have to go far to see uh the wrong examples uh for our young men to follow behind.

But you all said, come on, come on up here, uh, Gary.

Come on up late, but I gotta call them out.

You wasn't the timekeeper, I see it.

Um, I'll catch that.

But uh, thank you all, fellas.

Thank y'all for for being an example to our young men of what to do and how to act.

Special shout out to my good friend uh Judge Rudy Guerrero, but knowing him since he was a commission in criminal court, and he's been setting a good example for me as a uh as a young attorney on how to conduct themselves in and out of the courtroom.

So thank you for that, Rudy and all of the judge, every everybody.

I could just I will I can keep going on and on, but I won't.

But just thank you all for your the example and your child blazing in the city.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman King.

Um, brothers in closing, let me just say this.

Um, you know, folks often say politics is a lonely journey.

Uh, but I can honestly and publicly say I have never felt the loneliness that a lot of people feel uh in politics because you all have had my back literally every step of the way.

And I just want y'all to know from the bottom of my heart I love and appreciate each and every one of you.

God bless you and to the New Orleans alumni chapter of Cap Albaside Fraternity Incorporated.

Happy 90th anniversary and keep achieving.

Yo!

Hold on.

Okay.

At the top, on page thirty-three, we have item thirty-one resolution or twenty six two fifty-six.

But Councilmember Green by request.

A resolution provide an approval and authorization for the issuance of not to exceed two hundred twenty-five million dollars.

New Orleans Aviation Board draw down by anticipation notes in order to finance additional capital improvements at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport prior to the issuance of bonds to the finance to finance the same and providing for other matters and connection therewith.

Thank you, members.

Um, excuse me, I have a point of order that I need to address.

We were told that we needed to take things in order.

So for example, I went to address the uh convention center heritage park with the Army Hotel, but we're told by um council president's chief of staff that we're going in order of the agenda.

So I just want clarification.

Are we going in order of agenda or are we not?

We were planning as of yesterday to go in order of the agenda.

There have been issues today that have led to it being moved around.

I would think that you would want to take the conventional center park with the vote on the height, but if you would like to take it earlier in the agenda, you may do so.

What I asked your chair, what my staff asked your chief of staff was to discuss both the heritage park and the height at the same time since they are both land use matters.

But we're told that because it was at the end of the agenda, we would have to take things in order.

So the question is are we taking things in order?

Are we taking things out of order?

And that is my question.

That is the point of order that I'm asking about.

Okay, well, let's get into that.

So the point of order is are we taking items today in order?

Other council members have approached me throughout the day to ask me to take their items out of order.

You have not approached me or asked me to move your item up.

My staff ask your staff.

Well, you have my cell phone number and you can call me and speak to me directly.

Excuse me, sir.

Your question's been answered.

It has not, it has not been answered, and you will not disrespect me on this dias.

My staff, as your staff, which is customary, as we all know, to take the items together.

We were told no.

Thank you.

This matter being brought before the body is brought um as is customary to the city council after it's been reviewed by the airport um board of commissioners and also the decided on.

So this is a 225 million dollar bond issuance that will fund capital projects that have been approved but are not funded yet.

The bond anticipation notes are short term, and the airport plans to pay off this note with a bond issuance in 2027.

We have one comment from Mr.

Gary Crockett.

If Mr.

Crockett is not here, members, if you have no questions and then no comments online, I move for approval of resolution number 26256.

May I get a second?

Second, seconded by council member Harris.

Members, please, by voice vote, all in favor.

Aye.

Anyone opposed?

Thank you.

That measure 26256 passes.

Thank you.

We had five years, no nays.

Five years.

On page 34, we have item 32 resolution or 26257 by Councilmember Green by request.

A resolution authorizing and approving the execution issuance sale and delivery of the New Orleans Aviation Board of not to succeed not to exceed $350 million of the New Orleans Aviation Board refunding bonds and one or more series to refund the 2017 General Airport Revenue Bonds and providing for other matters and connection therewith.

This approves 350 million dollars of refinancing, and it's important to emphasize the refinancing of the 2017 General Airport Revenue Bonds.

The bonds were first issued in 2017 and were used as part of the funding for what is now the beautiful functional new terminal.

These bonds are eligible to be refinanced at a better interest rate at the end of 2026.

If there are no comments online or from the day as I'll ask for approval of resolution 26 257, I move.

Is there a second?

Second, seconded by council member Harris.

Members, all in favor, please say yes.

Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

The measure passes 50.257.

Thank you, Council members, for your support.

At the top of page 30, we have item 23, ordinance calendar 35,450 by Councilmember King by request in ordinance to amend ordinance 30,530, MCSS amended in title and ordinance providing an operating budget of revenues for the city of New Orleans for the year 2026 to appropriate funds for the implementation of NOP V A District Drone Program within the French Quarter Economic Development District and otherwise supervise silver virus thanks there too.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

I encourage everyone if you haven't filled out a card and you and or in your interest in speaking, please do so at this time.

Edith Romero.

Followed by Alex.

I'm sorry, I can't pronounce the last, can't make out the last name.

1562, not Russia Boy.

Mr.

Row.

Hello, my name is Hadron Meadow.

I'm an organizer with Ion Surveillance.

I live in 1918 General Taylor Street.

I am here to oppose and ask you to vote no on the allocation and appropriation of funds for this dangerous police drone program.

I want to thank council members who have stood with us, the people of New Orleans, on the side of human rights and civil liberties, who are standing with us to safeguard our privacy.

Um I ask you to please safeguard our privacy and our civil rights again.

Uh all council members were here when NOPD actually admitted that they're actually recording footage of people's backyards.

Not only are they they're are they recording it, they're going back to it.

They have a record of this in their servers.

A huge issue with privacy, a huge issue of this footage being used for abusive purposes.

Bruce mentioned it, but more than 70% of the slight logs of each deployment has no reason.

That means that we don't know why these drones were deployed.

Could it be to watch over a protest?

Could it be to stock uh an X as cops have done in the past with surveillance?

We do not know.

Um, so I ask you to please vote against appropriating funds for this invasive and expensive program, uh, and actually halt the current drone program and conduct an investigation into these serious accountability issues.

They're violating their own policy, they're not even submitting the annual report that they have to submit each year.

We cannot have more of these issues, especially in the climate that we're living in, with surveillance being used against us as immigrants as activists as people with free speech.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Alex J.

next.

Alex.

Hi, my name is Alex Shuish.

I did actually submit my first comment card for item number 35451.

I did just submit a comment card for this one, so I just I don't know what's going on there.

They looked the same to me, but I'd like to speak on both if I can.

Everything, Edith said, same.

Also, just there has been so little transparency throughout this entire process.

Um, something that I think is kind of getting lost in the fact that this is for the FQMD that already has a policing budget that is spending millions of dollars on policing, and this money is coming from their public safety budget.

And when I asked them at their meeting, hey, you know, four of the playgrounds that have the highest lead levels in the city are in the French quarter.

Why can't we put that money towards removing the lead?

They said that wasn't their concern.

So I don't know how this is how a $750,000 price tag for one drone, where a majority of the money hasn't even, we don't even know where it's coming from.

You know, there's five half a million dollars from an anonymous private investor that they've refused to share with us.

I don't know if they've shared them with you.

Would love to know if they have.

I don't want you guys making these decisions without the full story.

I don't know how to get that full story.

We've waited so long for these FOIA reports, but please make informed voting decisions on issues that are going to be impacting everyone in New Orleans because we're already talking about expanding this program.

Thank you.

Thank you, Alex.

And just for the record, we do have both of you comment cars up here.

Thank you.

Mr.

Bruce Riley.

Followed by Jeremy Jong.

Thank you, members of the council.

Bruce Riley will vote.

Uh, you know, first I just want to I'm in opposition to this, and as we all know, budgets are either-or situations.

We either spend it on this or we spend it on that.

And so we're choosing to spend all this money on what ultimately is the civil rights issue collectively of our era.

And we just heard some amazing lions before us talking about the work they did on civil rights.

What we do around technology and surveillance and digital things, and those of you who had kids know how difficult it is to like live a healthy life when you're like glued to this thing that's trying to sell you stuff, control things, get you to vote this way, get you to buy that, and things are getting a little out of hand.

And so, similar to wiretapping laws and whatnot, where it's deemed to be a violation of one's privacy to do general governmental surveillance of wiretapping, so too we're gonna be getting to this issue around privacy and civil rights around general surveillance.

I'm a resident of the French quarter.

I get tired of all the surveillance to be honest.

If I put a camera outside your houses, you probably be tired of it too.

You might even file some kind of complaint saying this is like I can't wake up to this camera.

This is not fair, it's not right.

So, like one camera is one camera too many.

We already have QR codes going on all our cars thanks to Jeff Landry, that we're gonna drive under stuff, they're gonna say everything about us.

We got license plate readers, we've got the uh the the flock cameras, and so really they're just like building out these profiles that live in the SkyDio cloud.

Do you know who owns Skydio?

I don't.

It's a privately held company.

I mean, I know these three owners, but I don't know all their investors.

So who has access to that cloud?

What are they doing with the data?

You're gonna be talking about how you're gonna decline the use the building and construction of data centers here in Orleans.

What do you think goes in the data centers?

All this information that we are compiling about ourselves, just trying to live our lives.

I think it's dehumanizing, and uh as was said, 99.9% of the of the of the flights according to the uh report did not result in an arrest.

99.9%.

So if we're talking about all the help we're gonna get out of these things, look at 99% did not.

I'm not doing the 90s, but it does.

It's just like acting for many building or something that commands the thank you, Mr.

Riley, Mr.

Jung, followed by Alex again.

Joseph R.

Thank you, Councilman King for pronouncing my name correctly.

Shout out to you.

Um so uh, you know, I'm gonna echo every everything that everyone has said about the privacy concerns, the civil rights concerns, the over policing concerns.

Um I'm just gonna approach this from uh from my specific angle.

Uh I'm an immigration lawyer.

Uh I am counsel on a few uh cases involving uh involving OPSO and um and uh the f the federal consent decree that keeps uh that keeps OPSO from handing over lots of people to ICE, right?

Um and so and so uh the thing that's particularly concerns me uh about about this drone program is the f is uh Act 399, which is uh which was passed by the legislat uh the Louisiana legislature last year.

It keeps um it essentially prevents for the most part it prevents OPSO, it prevents NOPD, it prevents the city government from refusing to share information with ICE from uh from uh from refusing things that they want, right?

So uh so my concern with this is if you build it, ICE will have access to it.

Under Act 399, it is illegal to um uh to refuse to share drone footage, right?

And so, and so this is going to get some of your constituents deported.

And I think uh I don't know if you you all have paid attention to, I'm sure you have to to all the elections of last night and all the elected officials across the country that have been all the democratic elected officials across the country that have been voted voted out for cooperating with ICE, for building systems like this that ICE can then use to deport people.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Sorry, I was if you spoke already.

I just want to make sure you got your card.

I want you to think we didn't have it, but you spoke already on item.

Joseph?

Joseph R.

Liz at 8 8216 Sycamore.

He's an opposition.

Rosenwood.

Okay.

Joseph is in opposition.

Aaron Snelling.

921 Hagen Avenue, an opposition.

Mr.

Bruce Rowley.

Jess.

Pinkham.

I'm just Pinkham.

I live in the French quarter.

I'm among the throngs of people actively losing money to be here.

And I want to amen what everybody's saying.

Bruce is my neighbor, and he just pointed out some interesting statistics from April 2026 for the 8th district, which was that the ratio of incidents of subjects, subject needs to be moved.

Is that the right language?

Is 67 times that of parking violations or arrests?

So, like the math just doesn't add up, but also I wish that y'all were reading out all the comment cards of the people who were here this morning because I think you actively robbed the community of a chance to speak again, which is the second time you've done this.

I really appreciate the comment time being extended this morning, but people showed up at 10 a.m.

to hold y'all accountable on a vote you said was happening at 10 a.m.

That fraternity and sorority celebration was beautiful.

But what about the fraternity of unions who are organizing around this stuff?

If you're gonna celebrate fraternal energy, celebrate organizers.

And it's not appropriate that people were asked to then just leave with a nebulous timeframe.

I really appreciate the staffer who kept me filled in on timing.

But you took the air out of the room in this argument, which means a lot to a lot of people.

And I wish y'all would clarify your agenda items.

I don't understand how there can be two ordinances that have the exact same language.

It would be really helpful if you invested some money in making city council procedures more legible.

Because there are people in the city who really want to participate in care, and you're making it ex astoundingly difficult.

Gary Crockett, an opposition, Mr.

Gary Crockett.

Mr.

Will Dubos in support, Roseanne Adelie.

Good afternoon.

Um thank y'all for hearing our comments.

I second what my sister said about making this process a little easier on the public.

I'm lucky enough to have the kind of professional job that I can run away from, but it makes it very difficult to speak up on something that is incredibly important.

I have lived in this city since 1996, and I have never come here to comment.

Um, I want to echo what was said about what is being normalized in this country, about over surveillance.

All right.

This feels like, oh, it's just the French quarter.

People have said they're worried about this thing or the next thing.

The two things that I would highlight, no one has shown any persuasive academic scientific data that anyone is gonna benefit from this in safety or otherwise.

What it has been shown time and time again is it leads to over policing and racial profiling and violation of privacy, more to the point.

And I emphasize that I am not saying that anything we are doing today is similar to either Jim Crow or slavery.

I am a historian by profession.

I study how terrible things are normalized over time by small actions.

Alright, we are a powerful, wonderful city from which I learned something new every day.

And this is an opportunity for this council to step back and say, you know what, we are not gonna join this march to over surveillance and weird devices that people are profiting from by making spying on the general public and making people's ability to live their human rights every day not possible.

Alright, you have a real opportunity here.

I have faith in your ability to use it.

I thank you for hearing me.

Followed by Mr.

Olsa, 9217 Apple Street.

Hi, my name is Samara Smith.

I'm president of District A.

And as so many of the people that said before me, my concern around why I am an opposition of the drone program that we're hearing today is echoing literally everything that's been said, and that most of you already know.

This is the most incarcerated state in the most incarcerated country in the world.

How does this program in any way help us move away from that?

How is the continued surveillance and how is the continued persecution of your citizens, of your residents, your taxpayers, going to benefit the safety of anyone in our community?

The people who own these programs and who create these systems, they don't live here.

They actively benefit from the suffering of residents in New Orleans.

And the reality is if we continue to normalize the idea that it's fine to watch people to maintain this idea that you're waiting for a crime to happen, and that's the only way we can present the idea of safety, then we're never gonna be safe.

If you're not going to invest in actual community structures that give people an opportunity to create a safe neighborhood, then we're never going to be safe.

We're in a budget crisis right now.

Obviously, the question's gonna happen over and over again today, like Bruce already said.

We spend it on this or we spend it on that.

If this is a question of safety, you have an opportunity to invest in community.

You have an opportunity to invest in programs that actually create safe neighborhoods and create a safe environment.

Look at the funding that's being stripped from so many of our community programs, like what's happening in the health department.

Do you think that doesn't contribute to safety?

How is a camera in the sky going to make me any more safe than having less vaccines or having less community opportunities for jobs?

Please vote no on this program.

At this time, Mr.

Mr.

Osa, and just to make sure everyone is crystal clear on what's being done and what's being voted on.

We're gonna have Ms.

Betnell explain uh the two motions, the two artists um in front of us.

So let Mr.

Olsa speak, and then Ms.

Becknell had the floor.

Hey, whatsa Edun 9217 Apple Street.

Um, I look at everything that's happening federally, internationally, the confluence of all these tech companies and right-wing uprisings across the Americas.

Um it's typically not taken from this perspective, but the reality is the people making these decisions, you're building your own prisons.

Um you're building a world where you won't be able to be free.

Right.

You're building up a place where um almost every facet of society um is going to build a case against you.

Um like the historians said who spoke before me.

Um the Nuremberg trials after World War II uh were a remarkable event.

Um, but even more remarkable now that we have all these digital tools um open to the public.

Uh people are much more intentional about how they use and interact these tools uh and how they interact with power structures.

Um everything that's happening from the confluence of the Israeli government mending with the or the Israeli uh military industrial complex.

Blending with the American industrial complex and surveillance quotas and none of it is gonna make anybody happy.

It's all gonna, you know, it's it's all gonna come crumbling down and it's already happening, right?

Um my hope is that you just don't build your own prisons.

That's it.

Thank you.

Any more public comment in opposition?

Any more public comment?

You can fill a card out, sir.

What's the name?

Antoine.

Okay, you come into the podium.

Hi, my name is Antoine Clavel.

I live on Calaric Street.

I'm in agreement with everything that has been said so far.

I would like to connect a side experiment on that drone is not gonna help you doing what you said is gonna do.

Like there's already Android of camera in the French quarter.

We actually map them.

Um there is that's something like one thirty two.

So most corner are already policed by camera.

What is one extra flying camera gonna bring you?

And that drone is dubbed drone as first responder, meaning like that's the first line of response.

But the drone is still a flying camera.

That's all that is.

Um, when the drone is filming something bad, you still need a cop.

You still need an EMS, you still need a first responder, an actual first responder to go on scene.

That drone program is the cost of five or six annual salary for those people.

Why do you need one extra camera?

When you have already plenty, like again, we're mapping this camera.

The city provides through the data website an exhaustive list of all those cameras in the French quarter.

There is plenty.

If you want to add one, if there is a den angle somewhere, add a camera for the cost of like five K.

Don't buy a five seven hundred and flying camera that won't help you.

It won't do what you say is gonna do, or like explain to me, oh, one extra flying camera will solve anything.

You already have plenty, and you still need an actual physical real police officer to go on site.

The drone cannot shoot people.

That's it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any more any one comments that I missed?

Is back now?

Yes, council member, uh so I've consulted with our council fiscal office to make sure I fully understand this.

Essentially, the purpose of these two ordinances is to move the money that was already appropriated by the FQED in order to get it into the correct account so that it can be spent properly.

The reason that there are two of them, uh one of them is an ordinance that amends the operating budget of revenues, that's number 35450, whereas ordinance 35451 amends the operating budget of expenditures.

It is mostly technical that there are two separate ordinances in order to uh keep the budget correct, but the purpose of the ordinances together is to move the money that was appropriated by the prior FQED votes.

Councilman King, can I make a ask the a follow-up question, please?

Sure.

I think that uh hearing some of the commentary today of Ms.

Becknow, I think you might want to uh address this.

Is it possible?

And I don't think it is, if FQMD appropriates money to a function, let's say for example, this program, can that money be reappropriated to anything else?

No, this is the money that has to follow the FQED budget as approved by the FQEDD board.

So this is just the physical movement of the money.

And how FQED, how the FQ EDD expends money is defined by state law, correct?

That's correct.

Thank you.

All right, uh out of an abundance of caution, make sure everyone has a chance to be properly heard.

Number three cards for the second or um ordinance.

I'm gonna offer you the town to speak right now, so that was Ms.

Alex J.

I don't want to pronounce the wrong name.

Bruce Riley and Samara Smith.

You have two minutes to come in express your concerns about the second ordinance.

Hi everyone.

Yeah, Alex Tuish.

Just real quick wanted to say, yeah, so like they have a budget and it's supposed to be for public safety.

We know that.

It doesn't change that they're asking also from y'all an extra two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for this.

But that's heard.

But that's not c that's not correct.

We're not giving them any money.

That's you voted on can I keep my time?

You pause our time for a second.

I'm sorry.

I'm not trying to take your time, but just to clarify, the city, the general fund, is not giving them any money.

We're required by state law because we oversee the EDD.

If they want to spend money, we have to approve how they move money in their budget.

So I understand that's been part of the I'm not saying that speaks of the underlying appropriateness of drones, but I'm saying as far as the money, we don't, it's their budget.

They're procedurally required to come to us to move their money around.

There's no general fund money that's matching this or going into this.

So you could vote no.

We could not.

Awesome.

Thank you.

Would love if you voted no.

Um, I appreciate you giving me my second chance to speak because I also wanted to platform two people that couldn't be here today that have influenced my opinions on this as well.

Sunny Mun is one who she um is a mental health professional.

She has expressed a lot of concern about the NOPD saying that they were going to be using these surveillance drones for mental health, saying that in her experience this could cause way more harm than good and end up actually harming more people around them because if someone's having a mental health crisis, seeing a drone fly near them is probably not the best thing.

And then the other person is Prince Holmes.

Um he is a youth uh organizer in New Orleans and an amazing citizen who was wrongfully identified with Caesar Casino's facial recognition technology and accused of a crime that he did not commit.

Um I understand that the drones don't have the facial recognition in them, but we did learn from NOPD that all of the software could be run through facial recognition, so that is a further issue with that technology I have um before you come up, Mr.

Riley is Samara Smith here.

Okay, just want to make sure it got you.

All right, thank you.

Thank you, Councilman King.

Bruce Riley vote.

Uh, you know, I encourage you to encourage the French quarter management district to to be a little bit more responsive to the people who live in the quarter.

It's not just a collection of restaurants.

There's people who there, my daughter went to school in the quarter.

There's people with puppy dogs in the quarter, there's all these things going on in the quarter that maybe they're not privy to because maybe they don't get out of their little restaurant lobbying kind of realm and stuff.

But hey, I probably patronize those restaurants more than anybody in the state of Louisiana.

So I love those restaurants.

Um their meetings are not live streamed, they're also not recorded.

That's probably a violation of the state body open meetings law.

They need to put that stuff out there.

Their uh April minutes are not even put up yet.

So like they're really opaque entity, and we need you guys to push on them to break that down.

Because if you guys are the fiscal sponsor of them, right?

If you're sort of like handling their money, then you got more power than maybe you're leaning into.

Um, you know, people, the residents in the quarter, the bartenders in the quarter, the people who work there, they want cops on the B.

They don't want cameras in the sky.

I walked by those bombs, one of those bombs, supposedly, if it was on uh New Year's Eve.

And I pointed out to my friend.

It looked weird.

Now, if I was a cop on the beat, I might have done something about it.

But actually, I just felt like, well, it's not mine, I'm not touching it, because that's my approach to people's stuff.

Turns out it was the wrong person's wrong stuff.

We need people getting out of their air-conditioned cars, getting out of their little computer screens, and getting out with the community.

That's what people want them to spend their money on.

That's what people talk about when they talk about public safety.

And when we talk about subjects moved, whether you be busking, whether you be homeless, whether you have mental health crisis, we need mobile crisis response units teams out there, because I'm not convinced, not even disrespectful to police.

I'm not convinced that the most trained people to be dealing with the all the folks that are around the quarter.

We need other people paid with the same money, the $750 million.

Thank you, Mr.

Okay.

I really appreciate the clarification about what the difference of the ordinance is.

It would be great to have that information presented to everyone that was here this morning.

I think the reality is that the information around this program about the way that the French border management district utilizes its budget, all of this has been incredibly opaque and incredibly confusing.

I'm an organizer and I'm supposed to understand this information for our members who are incredibly concerned about this.

And I'm having a hard time breaking down the difference in the ordinances that's incredibly irresponsible from a standpoint of public safety.

And if this is about public safety the public needs to understand the programs that are happening.

Because right now the public is not in support of this.

Our members speaking as an organizer for the new economic justice project are not in support of this.

I can tell you that right now those are your constituents the people who voted you into office.

They're not in support of it we are in a budget crisis as I'm going to have to keep bringing up as you know your staffers know this is not the utilization of funds and I understand this isn't general fund money but it is still money that the residents of the city are going to feel even if I as a resident I live in district A, I still go to the quarter.

Everyone is going to go in the quarter at some point whether you're a resident or a tourist I'm going to feel the impact of this funding.

I'm going to feel the impact of the way that this surveillance program will impact me my life and the way that we police in the city and it's going to set a new precedent and a new norm.

This also opens the door to what does this look like in other districts we already have private security cameras in my neighborhood in district A.

And I have no control over how that's managed over how who gets to record me when we need to make sure that we're not setting a dangerous precedent of what it means to surveil in a city that's already over policed and over incarcerated.

And I'm encouraging you to vote no to stop this precedent before it gets out of hand.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mr.

Nito Derrett any online comments yes council member there's one online comment can you please read that comment sure this is from Tiffany French.

And she simply says please do not give funding to drones for the police they violate our our privacy and are likely to uh be abused by federal agencies.

Okay.

Thank you.

Any any further public comments no any comments for the data hearing none madam clerk ready can we get a second sorry second green councilman green can we have a voice vote all in favor all opposed nay five four yes two nays one absent um can we have to vote on both yes yes make a motion yes ma'am over one by one we got four all right on the on the first vote for the record we had four years two nays and those are appropriate appropriately accounted for go ahead the second one you have item 24 we have ordinance count of the 35,451 by Councilmember King by request and ordinance to a ordinance number 30,531 MCSS amended and title and ordinance providing an operating budget of expenditures for the city of New Orleans for the year 2026 to appropriate funds for the implementation of NOPD aid district drone program within the French quarters economic development district and otherwise supervised with respects there too.

Make a motion to move.

Second.

Second by council member green.

All in favor, please respond by saying aye aye.

Aye.

Aye.

All in favor.

Oh, I'm sorry, all the polls.

Nay.

Four years, two nays, one absent.

Thank you.

Before we go to the next time, I'm going to take a moment of personal privilege.

I do want to say that there have been, there has been quite a bit of chaos around today's agenda.

And this council will do better as far as how we will explain to the public well in advance how we situate and sequence the items.

But more importantly, I do believe and I we have heard you on some of the rather opaque practices of some of these organizations, and we will do our best and we will actually engage with some of these organizations to get some clarity on this.

I know I speak for myself and Councilmember Hughes yesterday when we were interacting with some of the affordable housing uh corporations, and we were trying to get just something that was not a term sheet, but an explanation of benefits, and it kind of created a lot of conflict that instance too.

And we were just talking a second ago, there is a disconnect between people who come here and make presentations in these very overly technical ways without discussing what the actual impact of those activities are on actual people, and we're gonna do a better job of engaging with those groups that make presentations and say it's not enough to come here and just check the box that you said something.

You really have to get into the weeds in ways that people, not just y'all, but the council can understand about what we are actually debating and what is in front of us so we could all make informed vote.

So we hear what you're saying.

We will work with all of you, including the people here today, to try and figure out how we can do a better job of doing that.

So it it is heard.

We don't do conver I'll come out there and talk to you, but we don't think I haven't voted and here you're thinking.

I'm not here to justify my vote to you, and you'll probably get a discovery because you're suing us.

But my point is I'm talking today right now.

What I'm talking about today is there are a lot of concerns with the practices, and so and a lot of concerns about information is being distributed, and we're gonna work on doing that better because today has been a bit more chaotic.

And for those of you who've been here and council meetings, Bruce has been to many of them, today was especially chaotic versus how we normally do business.

I would also like to add we have a completely new, as you can see, voting system, which has also added element of chaos to how we do these things, but we're gonna do better.

Thank you.

Justify this along, I sincerely would like to hear.

Completely out of order.

Completely.

The public deserves better.

I have the offering.

Completely out of order.

I'm sorry.

I didn't think at the top of page 31.

We have item 26, motion line over M26229 by Councilmember Moreau.

A motion directing the city planning commission to conduct the public hearing to consider amendments to ordinance number 4264.

MCS has amended the comprehensive zoning ordinance to amend all necessary articles to implement the findings of the transient lodge and study with the specified modifications.

Thank you.

We have a host of cards on this item, so I think we should probably start with that.

Um sorry, these are in order of when they were submitted.

First, we have Jennifer Wickham.

Hopefully, I'm pronouncing that correctly.

Jennifer Wickham.

All right.

She is not here.

Oh, there you are.

Okay, there you go.

That probably shouldn't be.

I was at the back.

Yes, you got my name right.

Okay.

Um I'm Jennifer Wickham.

I live at 2927 St.

Peter.

I'm here as an architect with uh workshop WD40 at 701 Poitris.

Uh we're a small architecture and development firm, and we've been following this really closely from the beginning.

Uh we're participating in the the study also.

Um so we want to say thank you to the CPC and their staff for all the effort and the time to this, and thank you to the council members and their staff as this goes forward.

Uh I just wanted to point out or ask um that the motion the CPC sent to you, guys, included um the ask to coordinate with the Department of Safety and Permits and the State Fire Marshal before codifying new regulations related to hotels and STR.

I know we're not at that point of codifying anything, but um since that was omitted from the motion being voted on today, I wanted to redo reiterate the importance of that.

I'm the one who spoke and had that added to the motion that CPC sent to you guys.

Um I think a lot of what got us to where we are is this confusion about allowing single-family homes to be used as transient lodging, uh which is a commercial use without coordinating with the state fire marshal.

Um we also have a lot of implementations at the state level of new codes, including just next week on July 1st.

Um I know there's been a lot of new um investment in safety and permits and a lot of change going on there, and especially with the new mayor.

Really appreciate that.

Um, but I really think this is an opportunity to kind of reiterate that need and bring it into uh the the two halves, the enforcement and the plan review.

Uh so if um I just you know want to encourage you to use this to further focus on um investing in the Department of Safety and Permits and in coordinating with the state fire marshal's office.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Before I get to the next speaker, I totally forgot I had some talking points I wanted to read.

I might address some of your concerns.

Um, Nathan Chapman, you're up next.

Before we get to that, I want to read these right quick.

Uh, just for the record, the supposed text amendment is the result of a multi-year process to comprehensively study and revise the laws impacting transient lodging uses.

Today's motion is based on a report conducted by Desire Line and transmitted to the council earlier this year.

The report provides an in-depth analysis of hotel-motel use, commercial short-term rentals, timeshares, and hostels.

The council has spent the past several months reviewing the study and engaging with stakeholders, and we're ready to move forward with the next step in this multi-year process.

Today's motion begins the process of changing the text of the CZO to incorporate the fines of the study.

The CPC and its staff will now begin reviewing the study, and the motion we are considering today is to recommend final language to amend into the CZO.

The CPC has a hundred and twenty days to compile its report.

Once published, the City Planning Commission will hold a public hearing to review that report.

The commission then has 60 days to make final recommendations to the council.

Once the CP CPC report, with its recommendations are transmitted to the council, the council will have 60 days to approve, disapprove, or otherwise modify the CPC recommendations by motion.

There will be at least two more public hearings, one at the City Planning Commission and one before the council before the final passage of an ordinance.

We are not discussing an ordinance today.

After passing the motion, the council has 90 days to then pass an ordinance effectuating the changes ordained in that motion.

We expect to have the new zoning laws in place within the next nine to twelve months.

We encourage the public to remain engaged with the city planning commission and the council and to submit written feedback, provide public comment, and to attend the public hearings.

Thank you.

Mr.

Chapman, followed by Nicole Weber.

Good afternoon.

I'm Nathan Chapman, 715 Earth's lines, speaking on behalf today for VCPORA, the many decades long watchdog for the French Quarter.

As today's motion is so early in the process, we didn't ask our members and supporters to come today.

But as President of BCPOR, I did want to take a moment to come offer some remarks on the record and for your consideration.

I hope you would agree with me that the City of New Orleans arguably has no greater asset than our View Corre.

Is it imperfect?

Yes, for sure it is.

But does the French quarter provide a cultural and vital economic boon for all of us?

That is indisputable.

So that's why I ask all of you and everyone in this city to stand up and protect our French Quarter.

The motion today directs the City Planning Commission to consider commercial short-term rentals in, and I'm quoting the VCE1 zoning district, taking into account the extensive public interest in the use of emissions in this district, the commercial nature of the district, and its similarity to the VCE zoning district.

First, I want to say the data underlying these recommendations remains seriously flawed.

Gambit recently called its conclusions dubious.

The desire line study undercounted French quarter hotels.

It failed to analyze the actual room accounts.

Any study that suggests the French quarter transient lodging impacts are comparable to Gentiles Terrace or Alger's Point could make us laugh, but I hope it makes you pause.

The study suggested that we treat VCE1.

Now that's the area around the House of Blues, the same as VCE, which is the commercial part of Bourbon Street.

They are not the same.

VCE1 was created in the 1990s, and I was right here with your predecessors.

It's very different.

People live in VCE1.

You know, the French quarter is too valuable to put it.

Nicole, we were good afternoon, Nicole Weber, 2131 Bienville Street.

I am here on behalf as a paid consultant for the Greater New Orleans Hotel Lodging Association as well as New Orleans and company.

I want to thank council staff and the council members for going through this transient lodging setting.

I know you'll have a lot of fires that you have to put out regularly.

Um but this is an important part of our development in the city and obviously how it affects residents.

Just a few comments, and I know this is going to be a long process, and we're participating in that process, but just wanted to get on the record.

We are concerned about a note on density caps on hotels.

We feel that hotels are essentially really the standard for transient lodging, and that someone has to be on site 24 7.

This is an easily enforceable regulation.

If someone's not there, the property has to be reinspected and cited.

Um and so, therefore, density caps are something that we are concerned about.

Um, in terms of the small versus large hotel, it's a discussion that we want to continue to have.

We don't want to see small hotel or neighborhood hotel definition being abused by uh would-be commercial short-term rentals.

Eliminating commercial short-term rentals on new commercial short-term rentals would be ideal, except for instances where it can be utilized in order to revitalize areas like Canal Street and to allow for development in certain areas.

Um, really, that is all that I wanted to say, so I'll just let you get back to your time and give you the 30 seconds back.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Are there any online comments?

There are not.

Alright.

With that, I will move on said motion, second by Councilmember Willard.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Hearing none, it is approved.

Thank you.

Sorry.

Add council member will be.

We've got six years, no name.

Thank you.

At the bottom of the page, item 27 motion M26242 has been deferred to the meeting of 723.

On page 24, at the top of page 24, we have item 5, legislative group and zoning docket 3726.

City Council motion number 263, requesting the text amendment to Article 19 of the comprehensive zoning ordinance to create a new interim zoning district to be named the data center interim zoning district for the purpose of prohibiting issuance of any of an occupational license or other permit, the operation or otherwise permit the operation of data center citywide.

The recommendation of the CPC being for approval.

We are motion M26264 by Council Members Morelli, who was requesting and approving the applicant for zoning docket 3723.

Go ahead.

Thank you, Councilmember.

Uh this is uh an interim zoning district, a temporary set of zoning regulations that prohibits uh data centers from being developed anywhere in the city.

Um this was originally proposed by you as a council a few months ago, alongside a uh request for the city planning commission to study regulations affecting data centers as a temporary uh set of regulations, it has to be considered by the planning commission, and so it went before the planning commission.

Um the planning commission agrees entirely that, you know, while we are considering whether and where and how to allow data centers in the city, there should not be uh, you know, there should be a pause on development of data centers.

And so the the planning commission endorses that.

The one fairly minor edit they made was to insert a definition that pulls from some of the research we've done to date and is pretty consistent with what we've seen used across the board, but otherwise, the planning commission is entirely supportive and recommends approval.

Okay, thank you.

Just for those people, the 10 people watching online.

Um to be clear, what we're voting on today, council is an extension of the interim zoning district prohibiting data centers while CPC works the process of defining what they are and what the city's process will be going forward if we decide to approve any version of a data center.

So that's what we're voting on today.

Uh in favor, but not here, not here is uh Bruce Riley.

Uh in opposition to banning data centers is Mr.

Gary Crockett.

Uh I will move seconded by Council Burke Hughes.

Um, there are online comments.

I'm sorry, Anita.

Okay.

Uh all in favor, uh, opposed.

Hearing none, we have six years and no nays.

Uh it is approved.

At the bottom of the page item seven, zoning docket thirty-eight twenty six is deferred pass deadline.

At the top of page 25, at the top of page 27, we have item 14, legislative group and zoning docket 5126, 709, Jackson Avenue, LLC, requesting a conditional use of permitted hotel in an HUMU, historic urban neighborhood, mixed use district on square 73, lot 12 A and B in the four municipal district, bounded by Jackson Avenue and Jackson Avenue, Chipotle Wall Street, Annunciation and Josephine Street, municipal address 709, Jackson Avenue.

The recommendation of the CPC being for approval with three provisos.

We are motion M26 259 by Councilmember Harris, approving and port and modifying the first proviso recommended by the CPC for the applicants' request for zoning docket 5126.

Thank you.

CPC, will you brief us on your report?

Yes, thank you, Councilmember.

This affects a uh former uh 19th century synagogue that's located on Jackson and that mixed-use stretch between Chop Tools and Magazine that also features former Sarah Mayo hospital, churches, Turkey and the Wolf Restaurant, and the like.

So certainly a mixed use district.

Um this is a building that was adaptively reused uh as apartments uh more than 10 years ago and more recently has been used as commercial short-term rentals.

The proposal now is for it to be used as a hotel.

Um so that is in some sense uh perhaps a safer alternative to short-term rentals because it requires on-site management all the time, consistent with that pass use, consistent with the purpose of the zoning district to accommodate a range of uses, and so the planning commission is supportive of the proposal.

Thank you.

Um we agree with CPC that this is a better use of this property having 24-hour on-site uh supervision, and so Rebecca, do you want to make a comment?

She's in support.

I move.

Second by Council Member McCarron, all in favor.

All right, six years.

Thank you.

Sorry, just to be clear, that was five years, no nays, correct?

Thank you.

At the bottom of the page, item 16 zoning docket 5226 has been deferred to the meeting of July 9th.

On page 28, we have item 17, property disposition 126 has been deferred to the meeting of 86.

Item 18, legislative grouping ordinance calendar 34,385, along with motions lined over M23 426 and M23427 has been deferred to the meeting of July 9th.

On page 29, item 21 ordinance calendar 35,001 has been deferred to the meeting of July 9th.

Item 22, ordinance calendar 35,384 has been deferred to the meeting of July 9th.

At the bottom of page 30, we have item 25, ordinance calendar 35,456 by Council Member Hughes.

In ordinance to amend the reordain section 10-52, 14-130-69, 66-176, 110-46, and 110-259 of the Code of the City of New Orleans to prohibit the issuance of a special event permit if the property on which the event is to occur is delinquent in the payment of property tax, administrative judgment fines, or municipal liens and otherwise supervisory respects there too.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

You know, when I ran for this seat, I repeatedly said enough is enough.

Enough of our neighborhoods being asked to live with blight, enough of neglectful property owners failing to meet their obligations while still finding ways to profit from the very conditions our residents have had to endure.

This ordinance comes from a problem we've seen repeatedly in district E.

And after speaking with my colleagues' officers, we know this is not limited to one district.

Across our city, there are commercial properties sitting with outstanding taxes, cold judgment fines, or municipal liens, while owners are still able to lease those properties out for special events and generate revenue.

That should not be the business model in our neighborhoods.

This legislation begins to close that gap before a special event permit is issued for a property that does not already have an occupational license.

This ordinance will require the city to confirm that the property is clear of outstanding property taxes, final administrative judgments, and municipal liens.

This is not about stopping events or discouraging commerce.

It's about making sure commerce is tied to responsibility.

If a commercial property owner wants to profit from activity in our communities, that owner should also meet their obligations to the city and to the residents who live with the impact of that property every day.

This ordinance is one more step toward moving properties from blight and neglect into responsible ownership, active commerce, and real development that benefits our communities.

With that, I respectfully ask for your favorable passage.

Any comments from the Dais?

If not, I will move.

I'm sorry, Councilmember McCarron.

I just want to thank you for bringing this in.

If you I'd like to have my name added, all of us.

And thank you, madam.

Uh thank you, Councilmember McCarron.

Um, with that, I will move adoption.

Second by Council Vice President Willard.

All in favor, please respond by aye.

Aye.

All opposed.

Um, six years, no names, and that carries.

Thank you, colleagues.

At the top of page 32, we have item 28, motion M26251 by Councilmember McCarron, tabulating the vote cast for and against the Upper Hurtsville Security District proposition in the election held on Saturday, May 16, 2026.

Votes for 221, votes against 98.

Total votes 319, majority of votes for.

Thank you, Madam Clerk members.

This is just a tabulating this vote for this upper hearst bill.

Um if there are no questions, I move to approve motion number M26-251.

Can I get a second?

Seconded by Councilmember Hughes.

All those in favor?

Any opposed?

Seeing none, that's 7 yes, 0 nays.

Item 29, motion M26 252 by Councilmember Hughes, tabulating the votes cast for and against the Castle Manor Improvement District proposition in the election held on Saturday, May 16, 2026.

Votes 4, 76, votes against 377.

Total votes 453.

Majority of the votes against.

Second by Councilmember McCarron.

All those in favor?

Aye.

All opposed, seven yes, no nays, motion carries.

Thank you.

On page 34, we have item 33, resolution or 2625 by councilmember McCarron.

A resolution and order directing supplemental filings and extending the procedural scheduled established in resolution or 26150 DACA UD 2402.

There is an amendment to this resolution.

An amendment to resolution R 26 258 to extend the deadline for comments on together New Orleans proposed modifications to the to the distributed energy resource program to July 20, 2026.

Can we get a motion to receive motion?

Seconded by Council Member Harris.

Aye.

All those in favor, aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

A vote to A.

I'll motion move to add.

Second.

All those in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

Seeing none, seven yes, zero nays.

We could vote on the resolution.

Great.

You won't speak on it.

Yeah, I'll just say a few things.

Um this resolution serves to modify the neighborhood power plan or DER docket procedural schedule to allow enter G New Orleans to submit adequate supplemental information requested by the council.

The modified procedural schedule directs that by July 6th, 2026 ENO enter G New Orleans is directed to file with the council supplemental details to address inadequacies in its May 26, 2026 supplemental filing to the proposed DER plan.

Uh by July 20th, 2026, all parties shall file comments addressing the proposed plan and the supplemental filing.

And then by August 6th, the council advisors shall file a report addressing ENO's proposed plan, the supplemental filings.

Together, New Orleans proposed substantive modifications and comments received addressing each.

The hearing officer shall certify the record not later than August 20th, 2026.

Uh and the amendment clarifies that the deadline for parties, all parties to file compliments is July 20th, 2026.

So if there's no questions from the dais, do we have any um public comments online?

Okay.

I'll move to approve uh resolution R 26258 as amended, seconded by council member uh resolution.

We vote on the resolution.

Yes, on the resolution, yes.

Uh okay, I I moved and council member Harris seconded all those in favor.

Aye.

Any opposed seven yes, no nays.

And then the resolution is amended.

Okay.

I I move to vote on the resolution as amended.

Can I get a second?

Seconded by council member Hughes.

All those in favor, say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Seeing none, seven yes, zero nays.

Thank you.

On page 35, we have item 35 motion M26266 has been deferred to the meeting of 79.

On page 36, I mean item 36.

We have motion M26267 by Councilmember Morrell authorizing the present of count president of council to sign a contract with granites for a period not to exceed one year beginning March 1st, 2026 through February 28, 2027, with a maximum compensation of 124,713.59 cents to provide a turnkey, comprehensive, scalable, and flexible agenda preparation and document management system along with an internet video and meeting management solutions for the city of New Orleans.

Thank you.

This is the contract that deals with granites that provides the software used for our voting machines as well as for transmitting these means to the public.

As you can see, as we implemented the new granicus programming, it is a uh trial by fire.

We're learning it through the course of using it, but it is over time gonna lead to much better recording and results as far as votings being votes being tabulated as well as improving the quality of our video presentation of those people who want to watch our meetings live or watch them in the future.

So I will move that we uh thank you, seconded by council member councilwise president willard all in favor, aye.

Any opposed?

Hearing none, it is approved.

At the bottom of the page, we have motion M26268 by Councilmember Harris, directing the city planning commission to conduct a public hearing to consider a text amendment to amending figures 17 days two in 17 days, three to limit the allowable height to 35 feet for the property located on square twenty six in the first municipal district bounded by convention still on Boulevard, Gianni Street, South Peter Street, and John Churchill Chase Street.

Municipal Edge is 350, John Churchill Chase Street, commonly known as Mississippi River Heritage Park.

Thank you, CPC.

A piece of legislation that affects the park that is right next to the proposed Domingue Hotel.

That park is allowed essentially unlimited building height.

That of course doesn't make a lot of sense given that it's a park, and so what this would do is change the height for that property to bring it down to a normal uh height restriction for a park.

And this is a study that CPC will make in a recommendation.

That's correct.

It'll go to city planning within the next two months and then come back before you as council.

Okay, and this essentially will protect the park from any building on it.

That is correct.

Okay.

Uh two comment cards, Donna Marshall and Becca Geiger.

Rebecca doesn't want to say anything.

Donna Marshall is opposed.

No, sorry, I was gonna say Donna's not here anymore.

Okay, speak.

Becca.

Sure.

Uh good afternoon, uh Becca Geiger, 800 Brown, she was Sherman strategies.

We're in in support of this motion throughout all of our neighborhood engagement on this Omni project.

One thing was very clear.

Um Mississippi River Heritage Park is vital to the nearby neighbors and the greater community.

The project was redesigned to move completely off the park.

The project proposed today does not take any portion of the park beyond the fence, and this motion continues to protect that by giving it the the lowest limit height allowed in the CBD and away from the FAR 12 that Stephen spoke about.

This greater lines it with all the other green spaces within the CBD and is a we feel appropriate and we are in support.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I appreciate it.

I will move.

Can I get a second?

Seconded by Council Vice President Hughes.

Hughes.

Oh my god, I'm so sorry.

It's been a long day.

Willard.

Lewis Willard, Lewis Hughes, Huey Lewis in the news.

Um all in favor?

Aye.

Five years.

Six chase.

Any nays?

No nays.

Refess.

At this time, I'll move the council.

Uh wait, I'm sorry, do you have your hand up for a reason?

Ma'am.

Did you want to speak on an item?

Okay.

Which item were you speaking on?

I'm I'm want to ask about item number 10.

I'm sorry, my name is Sheman Grant Saloy with Audubon Nature Institute.

And we have calendar number 35, 455.

Did you push this?

Yeah, I'm not.

Um Councilman King isn't here right now.

We're gonna we're not adjourning the meeting.

We're going to recess.

We will readjourn uh probably in the next hour.

So if I'm sure there's somebody from Councilman King's staff who can who come who come talk to you about that item.

Okay.

You're welcome.

Do we need a vote?

I will move that we go in a recess, seconded by Councilmember Willard.

And all in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

Hearing none, we're recessed for the moment.

Mm.

I got two have two things, one on the West Bank and I'm not sure.

We're going to go to page 25.

At the top of page 25, it's twenty five.