Good afternoon, happy 2026, and welcome to the first committee of the whole session for the city of New Rochelle.

Madam City Clerk, please call the roll.

My name is Herbert.

Here, Councilmember Lopez, Councilmember Tarantino.

Here, Councilmember Peters.

Councilmember Aston Laye.

Councilmember Kay.

Here, and Councilmember Slick.

Here.

Good afternoon again.

The first item on our agenda this afternoon is a presentation for a local safety action plan.

City managers, our commissioner development and team will be presenting today.

Yes.

Excellent.

She looked.

Okay.

Love it.

And just the right intersection.

Literally.

I was hoping Sarah Spicer would join us this evening, but I think she might be wrestling with the copier in the development department fortuitous struggles and our local safety act presentation.

But good evening, good evening, Mayor, City Manager, and City Council.

I'm joined here today.

That's all right.

I said you were less than how they printer in staff here.

Thank you.

So we're joined this evening by some staff from development and some outside folks who I'll introduce Deputy Commissioner for Planning and Sustainability Safety K, Sarah Spicer, our senior resiliency development manager, and Jesse Minz Roth, a consultant of Stantec, who was selected via RFP to help us with the preparation of the local safety action plan.

So Jesse, tonight we'll walk through what the local safety action plan is, how we're developing it, and the tools and techniques that will be used to compile it.

Yes, that matters because it builds on our complete streets network and provides a data-driven framework to evaluate our capital and policy pipeline to identify those projects that are along what we coin the term high injury network and helps us to identify also important priority locations such as uh schools uh to assist with the development of a safe walks to school program.

Um the this plan is important because it positions us for additional federal and state funding, uh including the Safe Streets for All program, which you may have read in your updates to council.

We were uh very fortunate to receive money for a demonstration project for tactical urbanism improvements in the downtown.

But again, that was just a demonstration project and was limited in sort of size.

This plan will position us and make us more eligible and competitive for larger real infrastructure-based uh transportation improvement projects.

So we're really excited to work with uh Jesse and Stantec to develop the plan.

Uh finally, the approach to the plan is holistic.

It takes data that we obtain from various data sources, state and uh state sources, county sources, and integrates it with uh robust public engagement.

So we get uh real we take the data and we work with uh individuals in the city to uh compile uh input and arrive at uh recommendations that are based on real lived experience.

So uh with that I will hand it to Jesse Minzroth of Stan to uh walk us through the safe local safety action plan and uh we can answer any questions you may have.

Uh well thank you for the introduction.

So my name is Jesse Minzroth, and um stand tech, and excited to work with you all on this local safety action plan.

Um as Adam mentioned, you might see SS for A on some of these slides, and that stands for Safe Streets for All.

Um just a little bit about myself is that I have a lot of experience working in this area.

I worked for the New York City Department of Transportation for a while, um, and I redesigned streets in all boroughs of New York City.

Um I also worked on the West Coast uh in Silicon Valley for the city of San Jose.

Um and so it's great to be working with communities like yours on this plan.

So let's go ahead.

So our agenda today is what is a local safety action plan, what its context is in New Rochelle's work on complete streets, and also the Safe Sheets for All federal grant program.

Its required components.

So the local safety action plan will serve as a roadmap for achieving safer streets in New Rochelle.

It'll have those elements that I just mentioned, where in addition to data analysis and public engagement, we'll go through existing plans and policies and create a prioritized strategy list.

And we will work on and really focus on reducing traffic fatalities and serious injuries.

And so a brief word on that.

Crashes that produce injuries are called injury crashes, and injury crashes are ranked in their severity.

There's minor and moderate, serious or severe, the same thing, and then there's traffic fatalities at the top.

And so serious injuries sometimes can become a traffic fatality.

And so those two categories, those top two severity levels, are the focus of this federal program and will also be the focus of local safety action plan.

And that work will build on Eurochell's complete streets work.

And it will through this work, we'll work on creating the high injury network, which Adam mentioned.

And we'll also do sort of more than that, which I'll explain on one of the next slides.

So that is the what, and in terms of the why, the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council, known as NIMTIC, has requested that the City of New Rochelle have a local safety action plan to use as a reference to fund local safety projects in the future and now.

And completing it will also set up Eurechelle to be competitive, more competitive on SS4A and other safety transportation funds.

So more about Safe Streets for All, the program.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which you probably know better as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, was authorized in 2022 with $5 billion of funding to disperse through the Safe Streets for All program.

And its focus again is to reduce traffic fatalities and severe injuries.

And the SS4A program requires applicants, cities and so on, to self-certify that they have covered that they're covered by an SS4A compliant safety action plan.

And to really focus on the program itself, there's three types of grants that can be made through this.

A safety action plan, a demonstration project, such as the one that New Rochelle recently won, and then implementation funds.

And so the real difference here about implementation funds, which New Rochelle will be eligible to apply for, is that you can apply for up to 25 million dollars.

New Rochelle won a 400,000 dollar demonstration grant just recently in December, which I applaud you all for.

It's a great accomplishment.

And that is for the Vanguard District Tactical Urbanism Feasibility Study at six intersections around North Avenue on the Count Place.

But notably June, probably this date that's on this slide, June 25, 2026, is not an actual date that's been announced, but it's based on last year's deadline.

So the last Thursday in June is likely to be the last opportunity to apply for SS4A unless the US Department of Transportation extends the program.

So these are the local safety action plan requirements to make it compliant with the SS4A program.

And today we're really focused on the first two items, which are leadership commitment and goal setting and planning structure.

And so today we're here to begin with a resolution for zero traffic fatalities by the year 2040 and to create a task force and a task force or committee to move the plan along.

These are the first two steps of the SS4A requirements.

And the other ones, which we'll get to in the next slides, are listed on the left side of this slide.

Just for your knowledge, the image on the right is an image of the SS4A self-certification eligibility worksheet, which we'll be filling out with E Rochelle as part of this project.

You must reply yes that you have done sections three, six, and eight, and you need to do three of five of the remaining ones, but in practice, to have a very compelling application, you really should reply yes to all of the sections.

So the safety analysis is from my approach really one of the most foundational and a bit of a reading of the tea leaves, if you will.

It's a holistic analysis to understand how, where, and why crashes occur.

The first step of a safety action plan is to take the crash and injury data from the last five full years and create the high injury network.

And on this slide, that is referred to as the trends or the reactive.

This is taking data from crashes and injuries that have occurred, and we have a very preliminary draft of the injury crash map for New Rochelle on the right.

This uses the five data years from 2020 to 2024.

And on this map, X's are a fatality.

Or more specifically, they're an injury crash that create that contains at least one fatality.

And then the red dots are injury crashes that contain at least a severe injury as its highest level injury within that crash.

And so we will work with the project team and all of you to create a high injury network that contains most of the fatal and severe injuries in the city based on this data.

And in terms of the other sections, there's been some critique over the time of making these plans that just using the five-year data isn't enough and not forward-facing enough.

And so the second item, which is shown in blue is risks and also labeled as predictive, that is taking variables that the city provides to us and looking at their proximity to those fatal and severe injury crashes.

So for example, that could be bus stops, it could be crosswalks, it could be institutions in the city, for example, it could be places of worship, it could be schools, it could be places where older adults walk, such as near senior housing, such as near senior centers, and places that have a lot of pedestrian activity.

So you could think of that as forward looking.

And then the last area is community input.

So in the next slides, we'll be talking about an online map where people will be able to drop a pin and tell us about their concerns and wherever all of their concerns of interest, and then we'll work with you all to weight these to create what we call a prioritized investment network, basically giving you another option in addition to the high injury network.

So for engagement and collaboration, we'll be doing a lot of this with you, and I will probably be talking about this more in QA, but we have a lot of experience working with communities, and I myself, most of my experience is in the public sector working in government.

So the beginning area is stakeholder discussions where we will talk with staff and you and first responders and advocates to understand how safety is placed in your community and also within your government structure and also within your county to speak to people about their concerns and also opportunities for improvement.

The second area shown on here is the interactive map and online survey.

The interactive map is what I just talked about where people can anonymously place a pin on a map, they can do it on a computer, they can do it on a mobile device, and they can you know tell us what they whatever their sort of the category of their concern, and they can write about it a little bit, and it'll be available in English and Spanish.

Additionally, there's an online survey which is broader and to some extent a lower variable entry.

People can just tell us their broad interests or their broad concerns.

Uh the third area is a meeting in a box and pop-ups, and this is basically to allow you all to be able to go to places that are already having meetings and to have all the information about this project and to be able to inform everyone at events at uh places of worship at schools, attendant associations.

Um we really hope to get the word out as much as possible.

Um another area is that we'll be having two in-person workshops, um, one on the earlier side of the project and probably one after the draft plan is created, so people can give us input on the draft uh later on.

And uh that will be in a bilingual format.

Um, our office has a lot of native Spanish speakers, and they're looking forward to taking part as well.

Um, and that will be a great way to interact with people in person.

Um and then the last area is the project website and communications toolkit.

We will have a project website.

Uh, we'll be working with the city's um uh other consultant Berlin Rosen.

Yes, um, engage in our engage in R, thank you.

Um and there'll be lots of materials um, you know, we're talking about ground media and other ways that uh the city tends to get the word out and just you know doing as much as we can in the short period that we'll be working together to inform your community about the project.

Um so the safe system approach is one of the core areas of the Safe Streets for All program.

It falls within the required strategy and projects, project selection section.

Um you may have heard about uh street safety in terms of a rubric called the four B's, which is uh typically engineering engagement, uh equity and enforcement.

Uh this builds on that style of thinking with uh looking at this graphic that uh we made basically talking about redundancy in approach.

So you can take all potential traffic fatalities and injuries and then go through these pillars uh which are to uh have safer speeds on your roads, to design your roads more safely, to have safer vehicles, to have more informed, safer people, and to also look at post-crash care moving towards zero traffic fatalities and senior entries.

And so this is our timeline together.

Um we are if you look at the council meetings line on the very bottom.

Here we are today on January 13th.

Um we have begun the policy and process review and safety analysis tasks uh internally and are looking forward to beginning to discuss them with you more through the community and stakeholder engagement task three, which is the third line.

Um, and then it's a really quite a vast timeline.

Um, it's based on the if you go to the very end of the red line, you have the June 25th deadline, which is what we're working backwards from.

So we intend to be back at council for more council actions in June after having the draft and final uh in April and May of the Safety Action Plan.

Um so quick timeline.

Um for next steps, uh, communications and engagement.

Uh the project website and public input map we're anticipating to have up in late January.

Um I mentioned earlier on that one of the asks today is to form a committee or task force around the safety advisory committee.

This is um both a requirement and also a great part to a great way to engage you know people here in New Rochelle in the creation, but also the implementation of the plan because this advisory committee is one about um putting it together and finding implementable solutions, but then also after my time with you have done uh really you know moving the needle about getting towards the zero by 2040.

Um we'll also be planning the in-person workshops.

We're beginning the data gathering and analysis now, and we're planning again to return to council for approval and adoption in June, and then finally uh to submit the uh the grant application and have the uh SS4A compliant local safety action plan finalized by the deadline, which is anticipated to be June 25, 2026.

And that concludes our presentation.

So I guess we can sort of back to the long-term question.

Thank you so much.

Questions or comments from my colleagues on this first item.

Um so uh we uh first let me ask for thank you for your work.

Thank you for pulling all of this together.

It it brings up so many thoughts because we've had so many incidents throughout Mirror show, which give me a moment to gather myself, but um, I'm even just thinking about when I used to live at uh 50 Gaion Place, and we literally used to sit out on our you know, uh balconies and look at the intersection of Memorial and Lockwood and see accidents there frequently and hear accidents there, we'd be watching TV in our living rooms and just hear a crack outside our windows.

So I would I would like to see a map of like just more targeted areas.

Um I'm sure each one of our council members would want to see each one of their districts, um, but there's some very you know, very obvious areas to us.

Um I'm sure I'm even thinking about council member Peters who frequently brings up you know the intersection of Lincoln and Memorial, you know, and and meeting this we you know, we've been talking about making interventions in these spaces for a while, so I'd also want to understand like what's the fastest timeline for some of these hot spots where we would actually be then bringing the solution to those areas.

Um well, I mean, specifically, I think the two locations that you mentioned in your uh you know, comments and remarks are going to be improved, both Memorial and Lockwood and Memorial and Lincoln are going to be improved by the link project, which we hope to uh be in a groundbreaking uh in 2026.

Uh, but looking at uh late Q3 for a groundbreaking on the link currently uh we're going to present more specifics on that once we have um uh a better sense on the engineering and uh but the funding that we received from the state, both through the DRI and through the uh climate smart communities program is uh all lined up.

Um there are no match, there's no federal money associated with that, so we have basically carved that funding out.

We are in the process now of carving out of uh a project to correspond with that funding.

So to your point, both of those intersections will be addressed physically, the physical intervention will be underway this year.

In terms of any other um, and and in terms of a deliverable where we can take that crash data, Matt, and we can also parse it by council district, I think that's a pretty easy lift, and we'd be happy to uh provide that to you in short order.

Uh depending on, because one of the analyses that we're that the team is going to do is to look at our current capital project pipeline.

So how far along those projects are that question will need to sort of examine that.

So if a particular area has been identified as uh in the high injury network, uh we would then look internally through the capital project pipeline to determine if there's already something underway.

Um if that project that is underway is like nearing completion, we can discuss, or not in the inclusion, but rather uh at the stage where it's sort of funded and designed, we could bring something like that online sooner versus um you know, if it's in a preliminary design phase or in some earlier stage of design.

So I think it's a little too early to be able to commit to a time frame for like the physical improvement to be delivered, but I think there'll be a fair amount of projects that are well progressed that will fall in the high injury network that we can uh you know show evidence and and and show proof that we're moving things forward.

And just another question is I mean, of course, seeing the places where accidents, injuries, and fatalities have occurred are immediately painful and visceral when we see them on that map.

But are there it is can the inverse also be engineered or understood?

What where are the spaces in Neuroshell where we have the same conditions where it would be a high injury or fatality area, but we've implemented the right traffic uh, you know, uh precautions uh to make sure that it doesn't become an issue.

You know, is there a way to understand where we've done the right thing so we could re-implement that in other areas?

You know what I mean?

You can uh there's a bunch of ways to approach that question.

Um one of them is that if you know places where you have actually recently installed or changed the design of the roadway, you can study the uh effects of that by doing a before and after study, which is a great thing to do, and hopefully, you know, could be things that you do as a new practice in the future after doing this action plan.

Um another way is you know, one of the things I described in the beginning was looking at the reactive uh data, so the places where crashes injuries have happened or traffic fatalities and several injuries have happened, but then looking at that predictive layer, the places they haven't happened, but would be predicted to be more likely based on the proximity data.

So that is another way to identify places that are you know somewhat similar.

Right.

Um so those are probably the two top answers that pop to mind.

Um I think it's a really pro it's it's a great question.

Yeah.

A lot of colleagues have questions by Council Member K.

So thank you for the presentation.

This sounds fantastic, and um, I think for the public input, you're gonna get a really robust response.

Um I have two questions.

Um I love the systematic approach that you laid out and um and the goal of zero fatalities.

Um there a lot of other factors that play into like increase in pedestrian deaths that are like outside of our control, like the size of vehicles, um, that like we have far more delivery trucks and with GPS, we have like a lot more people in our in our neighborhoods that in the past that and then like the reliance on GPS and like these trends that are probably not going to change, like aren't they a part of what plays into why we're seeing pedestrian deaths and so you're I think you're referencing the articles and the books that are on the topic, and that's great, and I love people who write about those things.

Um there are so in those books, um, there has been talk of um, for example, uh larger vehicles like SUVs, um, and they have less view of the pedestrian.

Um there's also a really interesting article that's buddy in the New York Times talking about uh pedestrian deaths at night.

Um there are basically some things out there like that, but at the same time, cities that have uh adopted this and tracked their progress over many years have definitely seen uh traffic fatalities go down in the places where they redesigned.

Um I can speak to that from my own personal experience in New York City.

Uh one of the streets that I worked on for years is uh Fourth Avenue in Brooklyn, which is like a very yeah, it's a very wide street.

It used to be three lanes in each direction, and uh when I did worked on a project there for years, we made it uh two lanes in each direction with a wider pedestrian median.

Um, and over years, especially right after we did our first phase, we saw a really dramatic drop.

Um, and then New York City itself had other uh sort of city-wide changes it made.

Um one of them was lowering the speed limit by five miles per hour, um, which sounds like it wouldn't make a big difference, but it did.

Um another thing that New York City did is that it has, I mean, I don't know necessarily yet if this is something to talk about as a recommendation, but I'm just gonna put it out there.

New York City has one of the biggest speed camera program, I think in the country.

Um, and so I'm not I am not necessarily giving that as a recommendation here, but I am citing it as something that did make a big difference in New York City.

Um so there are lots of things that are within uh a city's control to do.

Um another one that's maybe less drastic but just worth mentioning is that one of the places that a lot of cities have problems is an intersection between a local road and a state-owned limited access highway.

Um they're everywhere.

It's not just, I mean, it's it's not just uh about New Rochelle, it's not just about New York State.

Um, it's in every state.

Um, and those places I think are a really great um place for partnership between uh city and state to basically, you know, there's a lot of low-hanging fruit in those intersections, um, and you know, better signage, better markings, those things are not um you know that expensive even.

It's really just about coordination.

Um, so I think there's a lot of opportunities that may seem you know right there when we start discussing them.

Um and then my other question was how will this project like intersect or overlap with our existing um like so we got complete streets and then our traffic calming program, um, you know, with complete streets, you know, funding has been our biggest obstacle to implementation, and then with traffic calming, um often like the the lack of crash or the data is often the reason why a project won't move forward, like a lack of crash history.

It seems like you take a more expansive approach.

Um, so I'm curious like if this new way of doing things will influence those other programs and how that will overlap.

Absolutely.

Uh specifically from the perspective of uh funding eligibility, it'll unlock a whole new uh source of funds that will help to uh move those projects that may have remain in planning or kind of are stuck uh because of funding issues.

Uh this would provide a whole new avenue of funding that would kind of make them more practical.

Uh and I think specifically, once we complete the uh you know the data analysis portion and the community engagement portion, you'll have additional context to uh look at data to reprioritize projects that may be kind of languishing for a variety of reasons.

This is really going to give us a data kind of based approach to uh evaluating which projects move forward and and when, and I think you know, in addition to the the the external funding through grants, there also may be uh you know, rethinking internally with city funds about which specific projects might have a bigger impact on achieving those goals of you know, achieving no traffic fatalities by 2040, it'll it'll sort of refocus, I think, both the internal policymakers you all uh and also the eligibility of those projects for uh grants, state and federal.

Would you add I mean I would say like before SSPRA existed, we would always apply to known funds that were not called safety, they were called you know, congestion mitigation, or they were called bus livability, or they were called any number of other things, and uh this type of thinking really strengthens uh so many grant applications because so many grant readers are coming from the this type of argument background.

So it's uh I don't know, my personal grant writing history is really good before SSRA existed.

So um, you know, it's great that SSRA exists now, but there's a lot of funding pots that are um sort of in the same mind frame as this.

Um will you provide a response back like if a project is not prioritized, like similar to how like we do um like the um environmental review, you respond to questions.

Like I'm curious if there's a project that's proposed that is not gonna move forward, like are you explaining have an explanation for that?

Um I I I guess it depends.

I mean, I wouldn't want the local safety action plan and the determination of whether a project falls along the high injury network or not to be the reason a given project doesn't move forward.

There may be other concerns.

Um I would be inclined to say no, because I wouldn't want someone from the public to get the impression that just because it's not in this local safety action plan that it's not going to be funded.

Like there are other considerations that you know, I don't want to assume that we're going to be looking at you know all of the potential uh concerns that would make would allow us to decide whether a project moves forward or not.

So I think we would respond potentially globally about those projects that fall outside of the criteria that we establish.

Um, and then we can I guess reconvene about how we would want to respond to those after looking at the other criteria that we use to prioritize the projects.

Well, yeah.

I mean that's why it's important to just sort of you know focus on the the the high injury network and the creation of the um you know the the parameters that uh that that this report will focus on.

Uh counseling feeders?

Yeah, sure.

Thank you.

I um uh Cosmate Rosaloni uh referenced uh exopening marks a couple of the places of the uh within district within this or three years.

to just sort of you know focus on the the the the high injury network and the creation of the um you know the the parameters that uh that that this report will focus on uh counseling the yeah thank you i um uh cosmic also um referenced uh exopen remarks a couple of the places have been uh within district within district three years this is this has been an ongoing ongoing issue for many many many years uh in a variety of different ways and over the last couple of years maybe even the last year and a half we've got a couple of fatalities associated with with those kinds of things and those serious crashes I guess the thing that I just want to just just understand because you you did mention that the relationship to the lake and the DRI funding and things along those lines that money is covered and that there'll be the start of what it was intended to be a full project associated with the lake but there was a loss of federal dollars that made that a little bit more untenable in terms of its completion.

I I what I really want to just emphasize and stress is you know there's a book a few years ago a little longer than a few years ago called uh why we can't wait right and and so in consideration of um what always seems has seemed to be a waiting you know be patient late lay and sit scale wait and then as things happen uh you know abundance begins to flower around it and and so this sense of abundance and additional plugging becomes really important and so I'm I'm glad that that's happening and that the capacity for that has increased.

At the same time I I I'm I am concerned that that we don't limit the response to things based upon the fact that we're going to start a part of it based upon the DRI funding.

So basically what I'm saying is I don't want to be exempt I wouldn't like to see district three be exempt from participation in the funding that may be coming derived from what this project is intended to produce city by and so I just want to be clear about that because I I've seen instances where where that has occurred just even within my tenure where that kind of planning seems to get stretched out a little bit more.

So that's been really the basis of what I would talk a little bit about what I wanted to comment on.

I I I'll just clarify that you know the yes you're correct about the link funding kind of coming online in increments but uh the first phase of the link project will address the surface transportation safety improvements that we all know are vital.

The subsequent funds are going to be you know made available to do some of the other um you know aspects of of the project uh the creation of the you know the the open spaces some a little more of the infrastructure work for the stormwater things things that are um you know are are super important um and we do believe that we're gonna have those those federal dollars available to us um but we we we think the most vital thing to focus on are the surface transportation improvements making that area uh walkable and uh safer for all the residents you know we have a we have a vibrant senior community there that that walk to and from the houses of worship and participate in all kinds of programs we have children we have the boys and girls so it's really important that the safety concerns are addressed and they will be addressed in this first phase I think the SS4A funds and the local safety action plan and to your point this will all complement that and you know is a way for us to get some of those funds that we lost through the you know neighborhood access and equity rescission um this is a way uh for us to use a data forward approach to reactivate the um advocacy for funding for those for those projects I mean this is a means to an alternative end right I mean you know we've we've got knocked down but we're not out of the race and so I assure you that district three is represented I mean unfortunately uh there's there's uh a lot of the uh crash data uh in the higher injury the the the injury producing accidents occur within those limits so I think it'll very much be front and center in this report I mean I don't know if you know where district three is I am learning over I don't want to speak authoritatively about this I don't um but there are a lot of there's quite a range of um strategies that can come out of here so they don't all have to be very big high dollar um value projects they can be um things that are quite a lot lower but are still very effective and those types of strategies can be more widely um deployed so um just to give you examples of those types of things um some crosswalks are more is more visible than others and there's we call those high visibility crosswalks um and we can make policies through report like this that streets of certain description that have higher speed limit are wider carry more traffic that all of the crosswalks that cross them for example in certain areas would be high visibility um and that you know basically markings are relatively inexpensive and sort of outside of the purview of the capital projects so um another one is uh called a leading pedestrian interval and that is where uh

And we can make policies through report like this that streets of certain description that have higher speed limit or wider, carry more traffic, that all of the crosswalks that cross them, for example, in certain areas would be have visibility.

And that you know, basically markings are relatively inexpensive and sort of outside of the purview of the capital projects.

So another one is uh called a leading pedestrian interval, and that is where uh pedestrians get the the walk um image a few seconds before the vehicles go in the same direction.

Um and that's an inexpensive way to reprogram existing signals.

Um it depends a little bit on models you have, so that's why I don't want to speak too much about this.

But those are examples of things that can be um you know widespread deployment sort of across the city, um depending on obviously a lot of things that I don't have all the info about, so um, you know, but those you know, yeah.

Yeah, great.

Thank you.

We have to use some of those techniques and some of the yeah, some intersections.

Just a couple of um observations.

So thank you.

First of all, it's a great presentation.

Um I think traffic pedestrian safety probably comes up in almost every part of the city.

Any give my colleagues any meetings I've joined them with, it's it is one of these pervasive kind of questions, and so it's nice to have data, but I also appreciate the way it's layered in the different ways.

Um just a couple of um so I was thinking so the map um it's just so tiny for us in these eyes up.

And um, I kind of found myself being like, yes, the data and color coded and heat map, but it I'm the closest to the wall, so I know I know Martha could not not for anything of eyesight, but I there's no way because I was so and I hear I think I heard you say that we would get data by district, but I wonder if the map like should just have the the council overlays in so that we see it holistically, and I'm framing council members um Stern and Austin Louis invited me to a meeting, for example, about traffic on Webster and Webster cuts through three right off of Lincoln and cuts through Martha, and it was for me it was helpful for my chair to hear from two districts talking about that.

Um so that there's you know, I think this is one of these things where yes, we want to know that the district specific, but there is something to be said about the overlay of just kind of these like citywide arteries of Webster and North and some of these that cut through.

This is one of those like the districts this you know, there's a district specific, yes.

I I'm confident Lincoln Memorial Web, I can call out the the streets, I'm sure off of Pinebrook.

We can all say, wait a minute, we can all say the hot spots, but I think we'd be great to see the connectivity to to how they border some of the other areas as we make decisions.

So if we could get like a 45 and year old plus version of the map that I cite um we say that the map that you're referring to is a product of this engagement with Stantec, that the and it was we actually pushed them to provide this map, which is raw data from the state data unfiltered, unreviewed, un you know, it hasn't gone through.

I mean, I'm not saying it's incorrect, but it's just crash data reported by the state.

The what you're talking about, I think is going to be the product of the aligning of the community engagement with the various stakeholders of which the council is part of, and um and that data, but I I hear you, we can provide you with more legible version of the.

So it's like a really cute heat map, and we kind of get a general bag check of this because we know our city, we know our boundaries, but um, you know, I think it's just helpful for us, right?

I think I think it it really is a question we get all the time.

I'm really confident thinking that as a council member and the mayor about traffic and traffic, and do you understand?

And it's unsafe and I don't know, it's just helpful to have data to help us kind of think about this.

Um if we have the policymakers, it's also helpful.

So if we're gonna get this, could we just get it maybe like a full size?

You know, with the council district cutouts while we're still doing the community engagement.

That's maybe that's the short yes.

Because I think that is the final deliverable.

Okay.

But we will give you that draft map bigger, more legible, and I'll see if we can at a minimum overlay because we have the boundaries of the council districts in like a GIS format, so I'm sure we can share that shape file.

That's very easy.

Okay, yeah, yeah.

I guess the main thing is just to highlight that this is uh early draft that we you know created as part of our proposal to begin working with the city through Michelle that hasn't really gone through uh extensive review yet.

Um the main things that it does exclude um are interstate 95, uh the Hutchison Parkway, neither of those are your jurisdiction, um, but it does include the intersections with the off-ramps.

Um but it does include the intersections with the off ramps.

Um and it does I think it excludes private property because those that's the other area where cities typically don't have jurisdiction to make changes, but that is also something we can discuss more.

Again, here it 100% and love that it's gonna be more iterative.

I think everyone here is thrilled that there's gonna be community engagement because to your point, underreported.

Again, I'm just thinking of the one meeting um councilman.

I was at, you know, the residents were saying they had one experience with this intersection, and our staff were saying they didn't have the data to support their sort of sense of urgency the residents had.

So I love that you're weaving that in to whatever the final product is.

I'm just framing up if we're gonna get it, if we could just get it so we could read it.

That's like just to say it plainly.

Um I echo Sarah uh council member Kay's point about how this intersects with the existing complete streets and just wanting to understand a little bit more, not today, but it would be grateful to understand like where there's additions, enhancements, you know, uh not having like multiple kind of reports that sit on the shelf, but how it becomes a comprehensive holistic assessment would be helpful for for us because I know there's been a lot of work into the into those programming as well.

I had a thought about if we're gonna have a committee, um, we already have a street complete streets committee.

I don't know if there's a thought about maybe adding or leveraging that as a base.

I don't know what the thinking is for the committee or the timeline for that, but it seems like a resource that exists um with residents who care because they've already decided to volunteer to talk about some of these issues.

I mean, maybe there's gaps, and I don't know the composition, I don't know what the district compositions are.

So maybe if there's gaps, then that's where we can kind of fill in from some of my colleagues for recommendations.

Um I have um discussed that with some of your colleagues, I think um mixed on that.

So I think that could be the topic maybe later during unless you want to talk about it now.

Um perhaps we you know, I'd love to hear around the table what people's perspective what per what their positions are on that particular thing.

I I happen to my first impression was that I thought that was a viable way to go.

I have heard alternative voices even from the team about this kind of being uh a little bit different and uh thinking that there should be uh a little bit of representation from the technical staff, perhaps obtaining some uh folks from that are either from the school district or adjacent to the school board just because of the uh safe walks the school component here.

So, you know, maybe it's tapping into some of those folks from the complete streets committee, but then creating uh a more diverse body that has a little more tax technical expertise that can sort of facilitate the uh you know the group.

Got it.

I'm just not a pure public thing that the stakeholders, some of which are the traffic people here, you know, that we'll obviously want to hear from DPW as we're putting this together.

I think they should be have have a role in that in that committee.

So we can talk about that, but for the public component, I'm I'm happy that and even council, honestly.

Uh, if we keep it below a quorum, I think council uh could be a great resource for driving this.

I feel like this topic is ripe for the small group kind of approach to this um for some of the overlapping concerns.

I'm only I'm only pushing um because I'm I I appreciate the sense of urgency that we have to have to meet this June 2026 deadline.

I'm just concerned that I don't see enough specificity as to then when we're tying ourselves to having the committee, and I just don't want to lose time on that element of it, given that it's already I can't believe we're two weeks into January already.

I'm like, wasn't ready for Christmas, so I'm like well behind in terms of emotionally, but um I'm just mindful of just it just it's an urgent issue, and we're like here, and this is such a great presentation, and um just maybe maybe maybe next week.

I don't know if there can just be an update, like what is the timing?

What is the you you said we just got this, so I'm also processing in real time, right?

So the committee is a part of this.

We have is it oh my god, it's already 2026.

Right, we have five months.

We have one more meeting if we have to vote to so like what is the what is the actual like.

Well, we were thinking the way that we structure the item is that you would uh authorize the city manager to form the case.

Item number 15.

Okay.

So um, so in that case, you know, we would you know, obviously, you all can vote uh to which members I don't know how you want to do it, but you can assign some small subcommittee of council to be on the group, um, but then for and then recommend people from the public, but ultimately you would authorize the city manager to actually form the committee.

So that would we would therefore be beholden to the monthly meeting cadence of council so we could move more quickly and expediently that way.

Okay.

And then once adopted, I think we could come up with detailed structured timeline.

Like a February return.

Sure.

At least for the committee.

Well, I don't know.

I don't want to I don't want to speak to the team yet.

So I don't know how long it will take to come up with the a detailed timeline, uh, especially on community engagement.

But I I don't know.

I think it's probably one of the first items to be done.

We have a draft of that community engagement timeline, which we um wanted to hear you know, all of the conversations around the table, make sure we didn't miss anything.

Um I think the admittee is a key piece of it, so once we have that time frame uh committed, we can we can share this relatively soon.

I'll say in the next week or so.

Yeah, okay.

I mean, we could I could give it in a in a different type of update maybe a council meeting, but a different type of update.

You know, a city manager update.

Okay, yeah, just like six minus one is five, so June's over January's five months, six minus two is four months.

You know, just going through the math of the I think the the the council process would slow this down, and we would not make the deadline by June.

I think ultimately I think there has to be uh you know, it's it's a technical exercise.

There is some public engagement in forming it, but I mean the way we were thinking about it was that you would authorize the city manager to form the committee, we would then conduct the uh preparation of the local safety action plan as a uh technical traffic safety kind of exercise uh in-house with the staff, and then present to you uh the the final findings uh in advance of that deadline uh for you all to approve and comment on the uh the the final local safety action plan.

So and you know, we we just so you know.

I mean, this wasn't like the the reality is we were looking at this last year, we're looking at grant funding for this you know exercise, and uh we we didn't get the money, and uh so we decided to fund this procurement ourselves.

Um, and so at the soonest possible opportunity we brought, you know, we we conducted the solicitation, we selected Stantec, and at the earliest possible opportunity we brought them to you because we do understand that uh this is a critical uh piece.

But uh, you know, we are dealing with a limited time.

Okay.

Um I'm seeing okay in the spirit of 438.

Um, but framing, I don't think I have a clear sense of what our deadline is to have this committee.

Um I'm seeing the agenda item 15.

We want public engagement Q1 and Q2.

Q2 brings us to June.

Q2 is when the grant is due.

So I'm I'm feeling a sense of urgency.

Um, but I I'm also trusting that you will get us information to make sure that we don't miss this deadline, right?

Okay, I think I think the next steps is probably to formulate a more detailed timeline.

And you will get back to us in subcapacity.

Right.

Once that's established, I could get back to you in not necessarily council in any other form, any other update format.

Okay.

I also hopefully this alleviates some of your concern.

Like the formation of the committee, yes, it is critical for the preparation of the local safety action plan, but it's also meant to continue beyond the local safety action.

It's meant to be a resource that we engage with continually.

It's not something that we're gonna form and then sort of drop.

So you know, we do need to engage them with our plans and run all of this by them, but you know, within this six months of this uh project, you know, we can we we anticipate getting the the committee formed in February.

Uh we were thinking this morning we were talking like late February.

By then we actually have the names identified, we've had a meeting at that point, and we have a we have our kickoff, and so that occurs by February.

Um, and then the uh at that time the survey will have been publicized, it will be it will be out by late January.

So then one of the things that the committee will do is review some of the the findings from the survey.

So we're kind of hoping to get the survey of the uh survey administered and have the uh committee in place in time to do uh the the initial uh review of the findings.

Okay, so that gives you a better sense of the timing.

TBD with a sense of urgency is what I'm hearing in short.

Okay.

Um sorry, couple of your hand up.

Very quick.

Um it has it has to do with more information since we're talking about it in this way.

We we are consistently I mean consistently receiving reports and these reports as you know, um will I mean we'll sort of say manager.

Um I can't tell you how many how many requests um we've been getting for people who want to uh have speed bumps because of the speeding throughout the throughout the neighborhoods.

It's it's it's becoming alarming that there that there's such a desire and a need for that.

We have some streets in our glamorous, wonderful newer show where uh you know when I think about just behind us when I think about Hamilton Avenue when I think about the circle, you know, there's this consistent thing where it's so seductive, the streets are so subductive.

People feel sometimes that they just have to go fast because it feels like it's a racetrack that people are riding on, you know.

But this is very, very consistent.

So there's a lot of information here associated with that.

The other thing uh that I want to talk to you, or just remind or just keep on the on the hopper is that uh you talked a lot about within this presentation around risk, right?

Associated with particular things too, not only the accidents that are occurring now, but the the sort of the environment associated with that that we can predict there's a predictability that we were looking at with this particular particular committee also.

And the last thing had to do with what you talked about in terms of state city availability of funding or cooperative.

You mentioned something about state city that can emerge when you start talking about things.

There are a number of different ways in which you know low-hanging fruit, if you will become available in relationship to a state local relationship.

Yeah, so um will we be looking or can we begin that process of understanding what that might mean?

I would like to know a little bit more around what that actually can produce.

Absolutely.

Um I'd like to know about that earlier as opposed to what we're looking at it now.

Thank you so much.

That was item number two.

Um, sorry, item number one, my bad.

My apologies, although it's coming back up to us in item number 15 at least for the resolution to adopt it.

Um we are moving on to item number two, which is I literally just jumped to item number three as I was just done with the presentations participatory budgeting overview if there's almost okay.

Um who's going to counseling management?

So thank you.

So as part of the 2026 uh budget process, we introduced a structure where we um had asked councils to provide priorities that could be considered in the development of the 2026 budget.

So we have five buckets.

We had the public safety infrastructure, sustainability, economic development, and one of them is community building.

So under these initiatives, we received a um an initiative as a priority from council member Stern for community building uh for uh a concept of participatory budgeting um to to engage the our residents in the in a in a fraction of our our capital budgeting process.

So um that was adopted, eventually adopted and introduced into the budget for 2026.

And um what we got our staff has put together, and I thank Todd and Mita for put for a lot of work putting into this to present um the background and and uh basically describe the framework uh of the uh of the participatory budgeting uh concept.

Uh and with that, uh I just want to hand it off to Matt if we wanted to use your initiative.

Thank you.

Um yeah, I mean, I would start actually by going backwards a little bit, and um I I think in many ways this is motivated by kind of what got me really hooked on being active in my community in the first place.

Um you know, when I was living in in my 20s, I was living in Brooklyn, and I was walking to the grocery store, and I remember a table being set that was set up right outside the store, and someone invited me to fill out a uh ballot to vote on what I wanted to see in my community, like literally in my neighborhood.

It's a very hyper-local thing, saying do you want you know, like uh improved crosswalks, do you want a dog park?

Do you want you know all these interesting you know, things that I was like, I don't usually get to vote on that sort of uh project.

Um but that's what participatory budgeting allows you to do.

And um, you know, because I learned about it, then I've myself I was interested in learning more, and I got more involved, and I became one of the people who helps shape the ballot itself and helps get resident input.

And you know, I became a more active volunteer.

Um and it was a very empowering thing for me.

So um in New Rochelle, I think we've had a lot of great momentum for especially from the city perspective of like going out into the community more, being more proactive about getting resident ideas and input um into a lot of the major city initiatives.

Um but you know the the budget is the core, and it you know, it's a cliche, but it really does reflect our values.

And so I want us to take this one step further, and I see participatory budgeting as a way to not just help get resident input into a portion of the budget, um, but ultimately to get more people to see themselves, you know, you know, and feel pride in what they made possible in their community through their votes.

Um, and so I I'm excited and grateful for all the help from city staff from the mayor, especially for championing it, um, and for our partners who were city school district, you know, to launch this year this year with a pilot.

So, with that only achieved.

Thank you, Matt.

Okay, so participatory budgeting.

What is participatory budgeting?

It's a way to increase civic engagement by democratizing a portion of the city's capital budget, allowing residents to propose ideas, have them vetted, and vote, and to vote on them.

We thought it was important to kind of frame what other cities in our area and even around the country, other cities that are implementing uh participatory budgeting programs.

So we really go from you know, one of the biggest cities in the world, obviously New York City, all the way down with a population over 8 million to Saratoga Springs, which has a population of about 28,000.

And you know, we're kind of right in the we're in the middle, we're along with Somerville, Mass, which also has around 80,000 people.

Um, so just wanted to give that kind of context there.

Um, Durham, North Carolina, 300,000, Richmond 233 to 237.

So you know, a wide range of cities and populations that are implementing PB.

Um, some successful PB programs or projects that have been implemented in some of these other cities that we discussed.

Um, Bocy Ball Court in Saratoga Springs, uh, pedestrian island in Chicago, um, New York City did a school playground update, I'm sure of many other projects as well.

Uh, Cambridge Mass, Street Improvement Safer Streets, um, City of Somerville Mass, bike lanes, and City of Durham, North Carolina did um did a mural, and these are only one example from each place, they all have multiple projects that they've worked on.

Um, just wanted to give a taste of that.

So, our 2026 goals for the program.

Um, we're looking to establish a first year participatory budgeting pilot program that results in an active formal participatory budgeting steering committee, clear guidance to the public and city staff identifying the scope of this year's program and plans for the future, a structured process in which community members can submit project ideas, develop proposals, and vote on how public funds are allocated, robust civic engagement, transparency and equity while ensuring that city resources are aligned with community needs, and an efficient and efficient administration that is evaluated.

So, an overview on the process the PB process in general.

Um first step would be to create a PB, or one of the first steps is to create a rule book, right?

So, how is the program going to function in NeuroShell?

There is no specific way that we have to do that if we can have our own version of PV.

Um, and that's a year one.

Community engagement is vital in this process.

Um, and as we go through towards the latter part, you'll see a proposed schedule, and you'll see that a lot of our idea generation is going to really be between May and August, which ties with our heavy event schedule, right?

So the summer sizzle is on Pride Day, and a bunch of different other activities that are you know city sponsored that we can get people out, kind of like what we did with the link back in you know back a few years ago.

Um open call for ideas.

So through that engagement, um, we would look to to the community to to provide us with ideas, and this can be you know would be handed in in person, maybe a ballot box.

Um, we'll set up an online portal similar to what we did for some of our surveys, the park site survey we did, um, so that people can send in their ideas for us to for the PB steering committee as well as technical staff to review for feasibility.

A final ballot would then be created, a feasible and approved projects.

Um a public vote would be gathered, and we would look to do that both electronically and in person.

Um after the votes are tallied and we have determined either a winning project or projects, um, they would be presented by the PB steering committee to city council for approval.

Following that, we would look to track the projects through completion on a public on our pretty much on our city website.

City council leadership.

So earlier, well, I guess I should say at the end of 2025, City Council in approving the budget, approved 200,000 in our capital budget for participatory budgeting.

An additional 20,000 was appropriated in the operating budget under the city managers org to administer the PB program.

This represents of the 200,000 of the capital budget, less than one percent of our capital budget for 2026.

Recommended future actions for city council.

What we were presenting today is to establish and hoping to vote on for next week is to establish a formal PB steering committee through city ordinance to change the code to create this committee.

We would appoint steering PB steering committee members in hopefully in March of 26th, and then we would approve the winning project or projects, or you would approve the winning project or projects in November of 2026.

We would look to fill the committee the same way we filled a lot of our boards and committees in the previous year by open call for members.

The proposed steering committee will consist of 10 members who will all serve two year terms.

Seven of those members will be voting members from all around the city who represent a diverse cross section of residents, as I mentioned, an open call.

One adult from each of the six city council districts selected by the city council member serving that district, and one high school age youth selected by the mayor.

Three non-voting members would also be added to the committee.

One current city council member selected by a majority of city council, one current city staff member selected by the city manager, and one current city school district of Neurochell staff representative selected by the superintendent of schools.

A chairperson would be one member from amongst the voting members to be selected and appointed by a majority vote of city council for a one-year term.

The committee would be responsible, their tasks for establishing the rule book, overseeing the community outreach and engagement strategies, review project submissions for eligibility and feasibility along with technical staff from the city, support voting efforts, and recommend selected projects to city council for implementation.

We would also love to see that there recruit volunteers along the way to gain more participation.

And of course, planning for year number two of the program.

Eligibility requirements for participants, including age, residency, etc.

Scope of projects in any voting districts, voting methods, and ID verification process, roles and responsibilities of the members, and evaluation of the projects or ideas, I should say.

This would include all the city right-of-way areas, including streets, sidewalks, crosswalks, etc.

that pretty much surround the entire campus of the high school, including that of uh Huguenot Park, which obviously is city-owned.

Why Nourish Hill High School?

It's really a place that connects all of Murray Shell, right?

If children are going through the public school system, at some point they are going to wind up at Nourishal High School.

So, you know, we just felt it was a really a place that brought everyone together and could really have a good focus, and also to leverage participation from the students from the faculty in the high school as a civics lesson, a learning experience, to be involved in something you know bigger than themselves.

So we would look to really focus there.

We're going to be going through them the first time.

This is really going to be run by the steering committee and city staff.

So we're trying to figure a way that we can kind of incrementally get into it, you know, in a manageable way.

So we that's another reason why for the focus on one piece of property.

And there's been buy-in, obviously, from the civics fair and school leadership.

So our proposed timeline being in January, we're looking for an approved ordinance establishing the steering committee.

With a hopeful vote of next week, we would look to pretty much get the open call for membership out, probably by the end of next week.

Um that would be our goal.

And then have those probably stay out for a couple weeks, two, three weeks, get the results back, get them out to council for for selection, and then come back to council in March to appoint all of those members to the to the committee.

Once that happens, the committee can begin meeting and moving forward with the process.

Um while they're still in school, um and while they're not so focused on you know, in the beginning of June, it's their last week of classes, then they're going to be focused on regions and finals, so we really want to get their minds open to really participating.

Um September, we would get the vet, we would start vetting the projects and look to prepare a ballot for for the projects that would go out to the public.

Um voting would open up in October, and we would hope to come back to council back in November to approve the winning project or projects.

And that's what we have.

Thank you very much.

Um comments.

I wanted to maybe start with Council Member Stern to open or close.

If you had anything else you wanted to fill in before our colleagues ask questions, I think it's the only thing I would add is the other thing I think is really important about this is built into it is transparency and accountability.

So when when projects are selected, you know, you can look at participatory budgeting websites for other cities, and they always have like previous projects, and they will show you in really easy to understand ways what's the status of each project.

And we as a city have not yet been able to do that, and because you know we have so many projects, but this is a manageable way to start doing that, and to show, you know, you know, what's the status of that um mural that we I voted for that that one?

You can see, oh, that's in the contracting phase right now.

Um, and so that sort of accountability, I think, is something that is not just good for participatory budgeting, but I think it's good as a practice that we can hopefully then expand beyond.

Um, and I think building up that sort of trust uh from residents has value beyond just this one program.

Thank you.

Uh questions or comments from other colleagues on this issue?

Uh council member, sorry, uh we'll go Kate Peters 13 by Salco.

Uh, just some clarification on the funding.

So the 200,000 is for the actual infrastructure projects that are voted on.

Correct.

And 20,000 to administer just to implement the program, you know, if we're gonna have public events, printing materials, software, software, yeah.

There's gonna be software.

And we're gonna look to leverage our city website as best we can.

But that would be the idea is for printed materials if we need to provide any other kind of publications, maybe some uh marketing or whatever, we would utilize that one for that.

But the 200 is to implement the awarded project.

And has anyone looked into potential grants?

I think it's a very popular concept, either supported now or into the future.

Um we have not, but we can absolutely look into grants for for future.

I mean, we for this year we definitely have the 200 um for future years to supplement, yes.

We can definitely look at that.

Councilman Peters.

So I'll I'll think of Councilman Tarantina.

Yeah, I have I have a question.

Um the process with the community engagement.

Um you're talking about like summer sizzle and places like that where you'll be able to um you know compliment the ideas from the people that are showing up for these events, and this whole process is supposed to be geared toward our community.

Um the question becomes who's our community?

Is it anybody who comes to Neuroshell and uses facilities here, like Summer Sizzle?

It's somebody could be from Marchmont, American, somewhere else.

How do we make sure that the information that we're getting is coming from the residents in Euroshell?

It's very important that the final decisions are made on things that people from neuroshell want, not necessarily what somebody from another community wants.

You know, and it also sets it up on just like ballot stuffing, so this week where a particular idea can be you know loaded up on and uh push forward without really knowing if it really is something that the community um you know so that's where the transparency comes in.

How do you how do you figure that out?

Just curious.

Go ahead.

I mean, I I I'm happy to say first, I just imagine like yes, uh, events like summer sizzle, but also neighborhood, you know, black parties and you know, all the things that we know New Rochelle residents are the you know the main people there, um, going around with either an iPad or you know uh paper and pen and like getting ideas and and checking and asking people, are you from New Rochelle?

You know, here's what we're thinking about doing um, you know, in this area for this year.

Like, you know, do you go to that part?

What do you want to see?

Um to go to that playground, you know, have you had to drive your kids to the high school and you know, like how how did that go?

Like to be able to actually solicit ideas, it's gonna be um a mix of in-person, you know, opportunities like that where we can just ask people you're from New Rochelle.

Um but then also, yeah, there's an online element where we can solicit ideas and it'll be clear, particularly for year one, what the focus area is.

So I'm not worried about you know, any people, you know, from outside the community trying to get something to happen at New Rochelle High School.

No, it's just a concern.

I mean, I think that you know, if we're gonna spend city money, I want to make sure it's being spent on projects that our community wants, not people that are not part of the community that are a visitor or somebody that just has been passing through.

I want to make sure that there's some mechanism in place to bring the comfort level to council that what we're spending our money on is something that the people that we represent wants.

And that you know, however we get there, that's you know, that's not you know, that's not my job, that's somebody else's job to do.

That it's something that we should really um you know have to have an eye on and understand, you know, that you know, whatever comes forward, you know, if people don't get what they really wanted, you know, people don't question it in the community that well, how did that happen?

You know, uh it doesn't fit with what we want, and then the question becomes well you know the the process wasn't proper.

So that just come up with a process that works that makes people confident.

Yeah, I think what the the PB steering committee will really have that'll be their one of their major roles is coming up with those rules and making sure that you know the voting is focused on is if New Rochelle residents only and whether it's gonna be a certain age group and over.

Um and I when I say the summer sizzle, I I look for that more for the idea and for those events, more for the idea generation.

Like, oh, this probably would be good or that would be good, we want to see this, we could see that.

The actual voting when those things get reviewed by steering and also get reviewed by technical staff, you know, not everything's gonna make it on the ballot.

And then the voting will be new Rochelle residents.

So we will hope to have controls and safeguards in there to understand.

I'm not you're not uh objecting to the process to the um concept.

I I like it, but I think that you know we just have to be careful.

That's understanding.

Um thank you very much for the presentation.

I know very little about participatory budgeting programs, which when I learned, because you know, you you see this title, it's like, what is that all about, right?

But then you hear about it, and it's really a very exciting uh program because you are engaging the residents, the young adults of the schools.

And actually, I was thinking that uh when it was mentioned the high school, you know, we have two other private high schools here, and there are a lot of students that are new Rochellias, right?

Um I like the idea of the survey where we mark and we learned at the end, well, 95% of the you know, well ideas came from New Rochelle's.

But then I think about economic development, and if all the people that do not live in the Rochelle are coming to our city to spend money to invest, it's like the winners are you know, is us because it's like why would other people be interested in saying, well, I want New Rochelle to, you know, I don't live in New Rochelle, I live in another part of the uh the county.

But I love coming to New Rochelle because they are so innovative and because I'm spending money here, so now it's like you know what it's a win-win because even if they don't leave and if they want to participate, they're spending their money here.

It's a good summer sizzle.

It's like, wow, you know what?

And so uh, but I um I thank you very much.

I think it's a uh great idea.

The resident's input, you know, engaging young adults and um I just think that it would really develop into a very nice implementation of like you know, let the young adults really come up with ideas.

Um, I I love it.

Um I really do I like the the idea and and to Al's point around on the abundance of caution around new Rochellians.

I am a homer for New Rochelle, and I really am interested in things happening for New Rochelle residents to the degree to which it can, and their their input is really really important, and what this can become is why I like the idea about it.

I think it's uh it's uh an additional uh way for us to engage our our community and stay on stay on top of the um the emerging issues that uh that sometimes you know we might we might miss.

You know, I was in a different kind of meeting the other day, and we and we and one of the things that emerged in that was thinking about what are some things that we might have missed, right?

And and that's really a a good a good process for for critical thinking in general, right?

Not only landing in a place around what you believe you already know, but re-evaluating at the end what do we miss, and that's really important.

So, what this participant participating budgeting can create is that kind of a frame over time.

I also like it because it's it's it increases civic engagement and um and people to come out and vote and to really be invested in and what can emerge from it.

So as a uh as a starting point and as a one-year process, I think it's a good thing.

It's one also that um really lends itself to consistent and uh opportunities for community engagement, you know, whether it's uh coffee with the mayor, whether it's the way in which we have our ongoing uh participation within our communities, uh, you know, there's an opportunity for us to continue to engage in different ways.

So I'm I'm appreciative of and looking forward to getting started.

Councilman.

Um I just want to say thank you to council member Stern for bringing this idea to the forefront.

Um I I had the pleasure of you know researching a little bit into participatory budgeting before, so I'm a little envious that he got to it before I could.

But thank you for spareheading it because this is why we're a team and we're all in communication.

Um and and I think the fact that Councilmember Stern did bring it to the forefront as a relatively newer Nourishellian is a great example of bringing great ideas from everywhere else because we have been, again, I say it all the time, we're really great at creating professionals for the rest of this country.

Now let's start bringing those resources, that information capital back home.

So I'm very grateful to you for bringing that to the table at all for us to even consider.

Um Atlanta actually did a program in participatory budgeting as well.

Um so you could be very targeted with these things, you could focus.

Um I'm very glad that we focused on the high school for this because it's a shared space that everyone from Neurochell deeply loves.

You can have this focus on um, you know, economic development as council member Lopez was saying as well.

You know, so there's so many ways you could target this to bring in more people, and there are so many great features that people usually don't think about that can really uplift the democracy that we're trying to hold on tight to.

So even the idea that you can have an entire program that you know doesn't include people over the age of 18, because our democracy is very limited to people that are 18 and over without including the middle school and high school students that are gonna be adopting all of the decisions that we make on a daily basis.

So I'm I'm loving the fact that our mayor is going to be able to choose a high school student or or a student under the age of 18 to be able to participate in the program because we need their representation.

Um other levels of government also do get involved in these programs.

So, you know, of course they can't make any commitments to us, but we should expect or hope at least that you know, as our county and as our state representatives see, you know, the engagement that we're able to drive from this.

Hopefully, we'll be able to get you know some uh capital uh uh engagement from them.

Um and it I think what would be very I think uh discussing again the one mirror shell part of this, the merger of the people that are from here versus the people that are bringing uh great ideas to here, the idea that we can bring in all ages, there's another thing that we need to work on creating unity around.

It's our city staff and our elected officials with our constituents who are dealing with you know, living in Nourishell every day.

Feasibility is something that is so difficult to communicate to our residents.

So that actually have them be a part of a program, a part of the implementation.

I remember the day that I've learned that a traffic light is $300,000 at least.

My heart palpitated a little.

You know, what once our citizens get an idea of what feasibility actually looks like and the trade-offs that our staff have to make every single day.

I think that that would be very beneficial to understanding.

Oh, okay, this is how much this costs.

This is how long it takes.

These are all the hurdles that we need to meet to bring this into reality.

So again, I just think that this is gonna be an incredible opportunity.

And again, thank you, Councilmember Stern, for this.

Uh I'll just quickly add um yes, I thank you to Councilmember Stern and for tying it to your own experience.

I think that's it's it's a powerful way to make emphasize or highlight the importance.

Um and I want to preemptively also say thank you to the city manager and the members that the your team and then the staff who's gonna pick up these projects because we don't exactly know what's gonna be asked to be assessed, you know, feasibility to Councilmember Shamilian's point, yes, it's great for the visibility and transparency to understand what it takes, but I recognize that it's another lift on top of the regular standard cadence work.

Um, but I think it'll all end in a positive win for us with respect to engagement.

I want to give Councilmember Stern another subtle shout out that he didn't say, but I think in case folks are concerned, I know that he did connect with a teacher from the Huguenot Academy just to make sure that all of our high school students are plugged into this.

I know sometimes it could feel like we're focusing on the big school and and not focusing, so I really give him credit for taking the time to have those conversations as well, just so everybody has a voice.

I think he connected with Mr.

Sandoval on that.

Um the only other thing I wanted to reference, just super quick.

I know we talked about getting the students because of regents, just don't forget Shayla Brickle trains 500 kids for us in City Hall in June.

Those are all definitely new Rochelle residents.

So whatever the plan is for input or but whatever it is, she has them as a captive audience for at least an hour while she trains them on what to wear, how to talk to your bosses to be on time for work.

So I just want to plug that as another opportunity, captive audience, and then of course, um, our fabulous um Hugh Doyle, which they're very popular lunch and dinner sessions, another way to kind of get the intergenerational flavor, and it might be really sweet for them to be able to connect to the high school.

I know I have to meet residents there that talk about their time at the high school, so just thinking of ways to kind of build full circle with captive audiences of which I think because of other cross-checking, those are residents of Neurochell that we can be assured of, not to exclude new ideas, but just captive populations.

Um I wanted to call those out and again just echo the um you know this point eight three percent of the budget again.

Love the specificity, genuinely appreciate it.

I think though the the ROI with respect to engagement and understanding and building community is gonna be exponentially higher than what it's costing us.

So I really appreciate the sensitivity and the way you're balancing all of it.

That was item number two of a 19 item agenda.

So thank you so much.

Thank you.

I think we're gonna pick up some pace in the next couple of ones because item number three is canceled.

Um there was an issue with respect to notice.

So um that was cancelled and it's being rescheduled as item number four, which is a proposed public hearing of regard.

So we would be voting on item four tonight to set a public hearing for the resolution amending the condition number four.

This is the Hudson Country Monastery, the the school that came to us the other day, and I believe that their public hearing date would now be on February 10th of 2026.

So may I have a motion in a second adopting the resolution proposing the public hearing, please.

Councilmember Kay and Ashan Louye, all in favor say aye.

Aye, any opposed.

Okay, item number four is adopted.

Five and six, I'm gonna pass the mic over to our city manager.

Yeah, so we're gonna pull these two items um as early as this morning.

Uh a city assessor's office received an updated guidance from New York State Assessors Association concerning this item.

So there is a proposed chapter amendment um that has been introduced uh to the assembly uh that will make several important changes to this.

So uh I just want to highlight a couple.

So the exemption, uh the proposed changes that are on the on the bill right now for this, that the exemption would no longer be a local option, instead, it would become a mandatory uh law for municipalities.

The amendment clarifies that the exemption is an additional benefit and does not eliminate or replace any of the existing veteran exemptions, which are which an individual may have already.

The effective date is being proposed to be changed originally effective January 2nd of this year.

They're um now proposing that it it'll uh occur on October 1st of 2026.

And the amendment does not alter the existing qualifying conditions required for eligibility.

So we think that we should pull this now.

Um wait to those amendments come through and which they were approved, uh, would make it a uh, you know, uh not an opt-in, it would make it a requirement for us.

But if they don't, we would reintroduce it back at that time.

So um so the recommendations pull it now, let's see what happens with the amendment, and then we can revisit it once we get the information.

Sounds reasonable.

Any questions or comments on this decision?

All right.

Um, we're gonna move on to item number seven, which is a proposed amendment to the code of the city of New Rochelle um regarding a parking regulation change at 44 Woodbury Street.

I hear Commissioner Public Works coming to the table.

Hello.

Hi, good evening, good evening.

Thank you.

Yes, the the C S and EC item um these who saw request from a resident to um designate an ADA handicap space.

Uh the resident is going through some um health difficulties, and they don't have a driveway.

We have no objection to the request.

We had mentioned coordinated with council member these items.

Council Member's anything you want to add?

I just want to say that absolutely, especially because it's very much needed.

So I thank you so much for calling me and letting me know, and I support it.

Any other questions or comments on item number seven?

May I have a motion and a second to move item number seven to the consent agenda.

Lopez and Stern.

All in favor say aye.

Aye, any opposed.

Moving on to item number eight, a similarly themed um agenda item.

Apologies, here you go.

It is another amendment, a parking regulation change on Westchester, please.

Commissioner, anything to add?

Thank you.

And another EC item.

Um DC2 reactivate uh meter parking uh on Westchester Place, which uh we had removed uh to facilitate construction uh for high rise.

Um with your approval, we'll go back to post science and and reactivate the meter parking.

Okay, um Council Member Turning at West Coast Place.

Um right now there's um valet parking going on.

I I mean I parked, I have to go down Western place to park my car right now, and uh the parking garage for the new building that's on uh actually Huguenot Street, but as another front on on Westchester, um has a very small staging area for their valet parking.

I believe it only holds three cars off off the street, and at certain times of the days when you get delivery trucks coming in there and people looking to park their cars, it takes a while for them to move the cars because they're going up on lifts on the into the parking garage, and there have been cases where that street has backed up all the way.

So are the parking spaces that we're gonna create, are they gonna be for you know more behind modern as opposed to behind that building because that area there is used by um you know DoorDash, uh Uber, um you know uh Amazon, UPS, FedEx, the trucks all park back there to make deliveries into the apartment complexes.

So, you know, if you put too much parking back there, it'll just grid line, and then you have people leaving 543 Main, have their own parking lot which empties out onto Westchester Place, and then there's another parking lot that is for a number of businesses there that empties out right next to the building.

So yeah, I'm just concerned about if they put too many parking spaces right around where the new buildings are, it can create almost like a gridlock there, and you know, there's really nobody, it's a back street, so you nobody would ever see it, and it would just it does create.

I know there has been in the past many, many many calls for police department uh to sort of come in and try to clear up the mess.

So I'm just curious where the spaces are going to be.

Yeah, I understand the concern.

I uh I am sure we have designated you know trouble loading areas.

Um can we hold this matter?

We could allow me to assess that and come back to you.

Um I would like to do that.

The only reason I bring it up is because I you know I deal with this on a daily basis, but I want to, you know, you want to do something if look the parking was taken rather there temporary, you know, temporarily because of construction, and I understand you know there's spaces back there that can be utilized, but you just want to make sure that we're not extending them too far where they're going to create this grid lock on that street, which will make it impossible for cars to come down.

Consumentary and also for fire um there's trying to get your tank in.

She's wondering if we want to hold it.

Yeah, we can hold it till next year.

I mean, just get more information.

So we must have a chance to do that.

Just so you can share it more detail and you can come back with the plan.

We can move.

You know, it's not it's not just be clear, it's not a district, but it's not a good thing.

No, you don't need to see it on a daily basis, and I want to make sure whatever we do, we do it right.

Yeah, so that way you can connect with the commissioner and city manager.

Yeah, we'll hold items.

So we'll hold item number eight and councilman.

Also, when you come back with the presentation, can you come back with a map?

Yes, thank you.

Okay.

So council uh councilman number eight is held.

No.

Item number eight is held um pending further dialogue, and the city manager will come back with an update.

Item number nine, similarly, a proposed amendment to the code of the city of New Rochelle regarding parking regulation changes on Plain Avenue.

Um Councilmember Kay.

Anything you want to add?

Thank you for putting it on the agenda.

Commissioner, anything you want to add?

No?

I think it reads plainly.

Okay, so motion and a second to move item number nine to our consent agenda, please.

I'm assuming K is okay.

Stern.

K and Stern.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed.

Moving on to item number 10.

Um, thank you, Commissioner.

Thank you.

It's um the next three are similarly themed, but item number 10 is a proposed acceptance of a grant award from the Westchester County Youth Bureau.

It's uh 2026-2028 invest in kids request for proposals.

I believe this is a grant for no sure pass to anyone in one of my faves, our steppers program or one of our steppers programs.

Uh yes, uh, executive director Kelly, please.

Yes, that's uh a renewal.

We got that grant three years ago, and we got it again.

Really this year.

Did I see right 150,000 over three years?

Yes.

That's great.

Well, 50,000 a year.

Right.

Yeah, yes.

Congratulations to you and the team for the effort to get this grant.

Questions or comments from my colleagues on item number 10.

Congratulations.

Yes, thank you.

Yes.

A motion and a second to move item 10 to our consent agenda.

Peters and Kay, all in favor say aye.

Any opposed?

Okay, moving on to item number 11.

Another, yay, a proposed acceptance of a grant award um for the Westchester County Youth Bureau's 2026-2028, invest in kids for request for proposal for Rodney's place and after school program for middle school age um boys in the amount of 108,000.

36,000 per year for three years.

Anything you'd like to add?

No.

This is a new program.

Okay.

Um that we submitted for.

Okay.

And out of four, we got three.

Oh wow.

And so that's what you have before you tonight.

We're excited about Rodney's place and the next one that you'll be voting on as well.

Okay.

A motion and a second to adopt um item number 11.

Lopez and Oshunley.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Um, sorry, not adopt a motion and a second to move item 11 to the consent agenda.

My apologies.

May I have a motion and a second.

Um has an optional way.

All in favor say aye.

Uh any opposed.

Brilliant.

And then moving on to item number twelve twelve, which was previewed to us.

Give me one second, my apologies.

Another grant for the mommy and me sport and fitness academy.

Yes.

Excellent.

Uh, anything you want to add?

As you know, we've been doing a lot around with our mommy and we program.

Um this new grant allows us to do a sports academy, which can help parents play and develop on young student athletes.

There'll be some educational components in that.

But um, we're excited about building on this.

Um, what we what we're happy about is the team learned how to grant right.

That's great.

So we hope to do more of that um in 2026.

Congratulations to to the team and for building the capacity.

I see a grinning Commissioner Parks in the back with a very proud.

So congrats to the leadership for for the effort and building capacity that way.

Questions or comments on item number 12.

Hearing none, may have a motion and a second to move this item to our consent agenda.

Kay and uh Tarantino.

I don't think uh okay.

Kane Stern.

All in favor say aye.

Any opposed?

Okay, moving on to thank you very much.

Moving on to item number 13.

May sound familiar.

A proposed amendment to the code of the city of New Rochelle regarding participatory budget steering committee.

I think we spent some time discussing this with our city manager, deputy city manager, and Rita.

Questions.

Any other oh wait, there's a minor edit for legislation positions?

Uh yes.

Okay.

Yes, I there are two typos um in the legislation.

I want to read it to the record so we can move to consent.

Um at the end of section nine-132.

It speaks to the chairperson shall be selected and appointed by a majority vote of city council.

That's duplicate that's a duplicate.

The whole section of 913 is regarding the chairperson.

So we'll delete that.

And then on section nine-135, duties and responsibilities number four.

Right now it re recommend a final ballot of PD projects to the city council.

Should we present winning projects to city council for approval?

Got it.

So the ballot won't come to city council, but the final projects.

I just want to make it very clear.

Um any questions or comments on the amendments?

Right.

So this is gonna be like a two-part or we'll do a motion and a second to adopt the edits as noted by our deputy city manager.

May have a motion and a second to adopt those edits stern and um K.

All in favor say aye.

Any opposed.

With those edits as read into the record by our deputy city manager, did you got you want to consent vote?

Okay, may I have a motion and a second to move item 13 to our consent agenda, please.

I'm assuming Stern and Ashenloy.

All in favor say aye, any opposed.

Um thank you so much.

Moving on to item number 14.

I gotta scroll back up.

I think uh our commissioner development.

It is a proposed amendment to chapter 312-62 of the code of the city of New Rochelle regarding two Clinton Garage Valley only permit parking facility.

Commissioner.

Hi, thank you.

Um so yeah, we have as part of the site plan approval for this project.

There was created 80 spaces for municipal parking.

Uh the project was approved with a uh valet operation.

So uh now that the project's been completed, um, and we have uh concluded the contracting required with the with the developer to utilize the spaces, we're ready to come to bring those spaces online.

So it's 80 permit spaces that will be available uh in that lot that uh folks can use for a variety of the permit types, and we are going to give a special discount to current permit holders at prospect lots of 30 percent off the permit rates for to encourage relocation into the ballet uh facility across the street, which would free up spaces in the prospect lot for transient parking to support the businesses in the Van Byron.

Very creative questions or comments on item number 14.

Councilmember Oshanloy.

I'm just grateful to our commissioner of development for funding 80 more spaces for our downtown.

So it's one in a series of additional parking that we will be bringing online over the next couple of months.

Thank you.

Any other questions or comments on item number 14?

Uh I'll just echo just the creativity, getting 80 more spots, not building, kind of doing an assessment and figuring out all the tools.

So kudos to the creativity.

Um a motion and a second to move item number 14 to our consent agenda.

I don't know if I saw Peters.

Did I see?

I don't know if you're praying.

Okay, uh Ashelaya and Peters.

All in favor say aye.

Any opposed?

Okay.

Um moving on to item number 15, which might sound like a repeat.

Um, this is a proposed authorization to initiate a local safety action plan.

Um, we talked about this process and establish the local road safety action committee.

Anything else we'd like to add, Commissioner?

No, um, and it also authorizes the city manager to uh sort of head up the formation of the committee.

So it would uh in that authorization would authorize us to kick off the process, which we described earlier, and uh establish that committee.

Excellent questions.

Any other further questions or comments on item number 15?

Hearing none may have a motion and a second, moving item number 15 to our consent agenda.

Peters and K.

All in favor say aye.

Aye, any opposed.

Okay, moving on to item number 16, which is okay, affiliated with something we discussed last month.

The proposed resolution declaring lead agency and issuing a positive declaration relative to amendments to Article 20 XX2, 22, Chapter 331175, the downtown overlay zones of the city of New Rochelle zoning code and revisions to the city's official zoning map, uh sort of affiliated with our motion, our matter from last month.

Yes, it's um requesting uh I'm sorry, it's following up on last month's uh declaration of intent to declare lead agency.

This would at the RLM uh you all would actually declare lead agency with the caveat that um you know, based on that 30-day notification period.

If we don't hear anything uh like deleterious to moving the process forward, we would we would uh proceed with you all declaring lead agency, and it would also authorize the um preparation of the draft environmental the D S G E IS, the draft supplemental generic environmental impact statement, which we would then present um at the February council meeting um and have a public hearing at the March Council uh we would establish the public comment period, have the public hearing at the March meeting, and uh then compare the final version base with the inclusion of all those comments at the April for ultimate adoption.

Uh council member Tarantino.

Yeah, no, just no, just okay.

Go ahead.

I just want a roll call vote on this one.

Okay, um, I think so.

Before we do the vote, though.

Well, we would be moving it to consent agenda.

You want to roll call vote for consent agenda?

Um, but I did just want to raise the same question as last time.

If anyone has a reason to either disclose or recuse, now is the time to do that given this item.

Any property interest in the downtown as it relates to the item we're voting on.

Well, I don't think be clear on that.

The property interests in downtown, what does that mean?

And as as opposed to this, this is a very broad, very, very broad.

It's not for downtown, it's for all the DOZs.

So it's a very broad area.

Uh so voting on this again.

We went through this last month.

We keep on going through it over and over again, and it's and it's you know, obviously it's directed toward me.

Um, but it's been ruled on in the past that as long as it's for the entire DOZ, it doesn't play favorites for any home property owner down there that owns property.

So I I you know I I you keep bringing it up, but I I just want to be clear about that.

So um, you know, I'd recommend an executive session on it.

Right now, yeah.

Just to to give but um you had previously at the December RLM asked me my advice is as to whether they're you should recuse.

Um I provided that advice to you.

I think that discussion should be further.

Any further discussion on that should go into executive session more appropriately.

Okay, there's a vote of counsel to do so rank now and then come back to finish the meeting.

I think it's more appropriate to discuss it in exactly.

Okay.

Um so we have recommendation of corporation council to go to executive session.

We need a motion and a second to go into executive session.

Peters and Stern.

All in favor say aye.

Any opposed?

All right, so we are now breaking into executive session.

I'd ask if probably don't have anyone here who doesn't have any business on this matter to please uh leave and we will reconvene as soon as the matter's done.

So for 17, 18, and 19.

Good evening, and thank you everyone for your patience.

Um we are reconvening the balance of our committee of the whole the executive session was a matter related to advice of legal counsel.

That said, item number sixteen is a proposed um resolution declaring lead agency and issuing a positive declaration relative to amendments of Article 22, Chapter 331, 175 down to downtown overlay zones of the city of New Rochelle zoning code and revisions of the city's official zoning map.

Uh Councilman Tarantino.

Yeah, I'm gonna abstain on this item for that.

May I have a motion and a second to move item number sixteen to the consent agenda.

Um Ashan Loye and Kay, all in favor say aye.

Uh any opposed.

Moving on to item number 17, which is a resolution regarding the proposed legislation for the 662 Main Street EDPL, which in normal people parlance is the um Hagador and former Carnegie Library and the eminent domain proceedings, correct?

Yes.

Anything you'd like to add, Commissioner?

Uh no, we're uh I guess I'll just say that you know we've uh we've done the appraisals and we are asking, seeking authorization to submit a written offer to the owner uh for two million twenty-four dollars uh plus twenty-fourk, uh it's two million for the purchase of the property and twenty-four thousand for the fixtures that were appraised as part of the valuation.

Um and we're going to reposition that asset as a uh no go ahead, please.

Sorry, as a uh culture-oriented public use.

So thank you so much.

Um Councilmember Lopez, this is in your district.

I want to give you first sight comments.

Very proud of you very much.

I think that resident the Residents Park Association is going to be very, very happy to hear that finally after such a long time.

Uh, you know, um, as I mentioned before, when I came to this country in 1973, I remember the building being so beautiful.

So so beautiful, and then it became such an eye source.

And uh just to to see it to see it being like brought back to life, unless you enter Liberchelle, I think is going to be wonderful for everyone's a cultural center where we can have our not-for-profits and uh so many uses in a very positive way.

It makes me very happy.

So thank you so much.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Um other questions or comments on item number 17.

It's uh it's hard to talk more than the concept of the.

That I should maybe on items that are in the DOCs.

So um I'm going to abstain on that one for now.

Number 17.

That I am doing it the right one.

Understood.

Yeah, um, only thing I wanted to say, Commissioner, I noticed that the and just kudos to the team, I guess.

The value is coming in less than what we you're I feel like originally this was coming in at 3,400 something, and now it's lowered.

So just appreciate that.

Um, because I know financing and costs and everything else.

So that's a significant negotiation.

It's originally that I think there was some uh an impression that the fixtures were gonna be more valuable, and I think that's where a lot of the cities need to be.

It's a significant, it's a significant amount.

Thank you corporation councils.

Are any other questions or comments on item 17?

Hearing none um sorry, councilman charge.

You are abstaining.

I'm abstaining.

Okay.

Um council member uh go ahead.

Hilarious.

Well, I you know, just as the adjacent district, I'm just very grateful for this as well.

I know Councilmember Lopez and and our commissioner of development.

You guys worked on this for a good long while, and I'm glad that we're moving forward on it.

And we're restoring a Carnegie library.

Like that's incredible.

This is like history making, so I'm just glad to be at the table for this moment.

And it's it should be beautiful.

RPA uh residence park our neighborhood association.

They've been very driven about you know this being done, you know, because this is the on their front lawn as well.

So I'm just excited for this moment.

So I just wanted to say thank you.

Thank you.

Um Councilwoman Tarantino's abstaining, so we have a motion and a second to move 17 to the consent agenda.

Lopez.

And um, all in favor say aye.

Aye, any opposed.

Um, in a similar vein, item number 18 is proposed legislation regarding the 625 North Avenue property EDPL said in um more basic parlance, the old CVS on North Avenue and the eminent domain proceedings.

Commissioner, anything you want to add?

Uh no, just that we're excited to uh move forward with this eminent domain procedure proceeding um to bring online a new uh community anchored use uh for that uh CVS, which is you know, kind of remained blighted.

It's been vacant, it's been unwieldy from a development perspective because it's sort of three parcels with two owners and requires a lot of coordination for anything to happen there.

So this is really going to consolidate the ownership under the city and allow us to really uh create that intergenerational housing opportunity with uh the community anchored use on the ground floor.

So you want to add anything?

Umly that um really happy and I hope very soon that I'll be able to put up two hands and say uh thank God that we finally voted this through.

This is a gateway um within District 3 coming from north to south, and uh, I'm really appreciative of what can happen here.

Uh you know, the whole idea within the community is to continue to create uh uh something culturally around uh energy generation and around music as well as perhaps offering some collaborative relationship with our most immediate partner there in terms of film and things along those lines, but those are further discussions around that in addition to the senior housing partner being perhaps I don't acknowledge your mother's but I don't want to talk too much about that.

So I'm just very excited about this.

Excellent.

And uh hope to move forward.

Um the petitions have been filed with the court.

So we are moving.

We're removing this, so I appreciate both of that.

Other questions or comments for my colleagues?

I'll just again say thank you to corporation council.

It's a heavy lift, and it's allowed to moving hearts and getting through the process, and our city manager, you guys are creating the capacity to steward it through.

So we that that effort is acknowledged, I know by many of my colleagues at the table.

So thank you both.

Um may I have a motion in a second to move item number 18 to the consent.

I'm guessing Peter's and I'm gonna go stern.

Um all in favor say aye.

Any opposed?

Oh, you're yeah, okay, on this item again with the advice of of the corporate or advice of the corporation council that items that are in the DOZ zones, because I own real estate in some of the zones that I should abstain on anything that's going on in the DOZ zone.

So I'm gonna abstain because out of a little caution to make sure that you know we can find out exactly.

Would be what I would rec would I recommend you abstain.

Um so you know, could it could the improvement of the Carnegie Library can have a positive effect on my real estate?

Okay, so you can argue that point too.

So it depends on how far out you want to go.

So then for the CVS property, I mean I don't you know your properties do you think.

You know, right now until we can clarify this better.

It's all upstream at this point so madam clerk.

I'm just gonna roll it back.

Not that I wanted to, butem number 18 as well.

So may I have a motion and a second to move item number 18 to the consent agenda.

Peters and Stern.

All in favor say aye.

Any opposed.

Now moving on to number 19 is a discussion item.

Um requested by council member speech a whole name, Sarah R.

K.

Um related to cannabis sales tax revenue.

Take it away, Councilmember Sarah R.

K.

This is pretty straightforward.

Thank you, Easter.

There is a detailed uh memo in our packet that I think that well thank you to the city manager and staff for for doing that research.

Uh so I requested this item because as you know the city's now receiving cannabis revenues, and many municipalities, including New York State, has dedicated a portion of the funds to certain uses.

So we could look at establishing a trust that would help us to clearly demonstrate to residents how these revenues are being reinvested.

It could potentially be another mechanism to invest in important community support programs, and this just aligns with best practices that are already in place, like I said in New York nationally.

Um far as timing, we have two licensed businesses open now, and others um potentially in the pipeline, so it seems like a reasonable time to explore this option.

And um for today, we're just really looking for consensus to direct staff to actually come up with a proposal and um and then return to council with that proposal for our review at another meeting.

Questions or comments on this last item?

I want to go ahead, Councilmember Loop.

I love the idea of uh the yield prevention, you know, uh in education, mental health, substance uh use treatment, public health.

I think that that is always the best route to take, especially because you know, since we're gonna be bringing more money into the city, it should be used to the you know the community that we said.

Thank you for this.

Um I just want to very quickly give council member Kay some credit.

Uh I know that she was receiving some concerns from residents, and she reached out to the business owners and tried to really think about ways to educate and get residents informed.

And I will say at our last coffee at 16 Handles, residents came and literally gave her a letter about education to youth, and she was like, No, no, no, no, no, I'm on that.

So she was just like, hold tight, I'm working with the city manager.

So I guess I just feel like I have seen in real, very real time.

I ran into the owners the day you spoke to them.

You didn't know I ran into I called and they said that you had reached out and we're trying to think about ways to collaborate.

So I feel like I've kind of been able to be uh a bird kind of watching you bring this to the table, and I just really thank you for because I know it's taken some time, but you're doing it, and I and I think our residents are gonna benefit from it.

So I just want to explicitly give you that credit.

Councilmember Rush and Lane.

No, I just wanted to say I'm grateful for this.

Great.

Excellent.

So I think council members asking if we had consensus to for the city manager to move forward.

I'm not seeing any negatives, so I think you have consensus.

There you go.

I'm advised by corp counsel.

We do not have executive session tonight.

Um so may I have a motion in a second to join tonight's meeting, Kay and Peter's two hands.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

We'll see everyone at seven for public uh citizens to be here, rather.

We'll see everyone at seven for public uh citizens to be heard rather than good evening.

I'd like to call the public comment portion of our meeting to order.

Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands.

One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you, everyone, and good evening again.

Um as noted tonight is the pub, well, this part of the meeting, anyways, the public comment portion of the meeting.

The first items on the agenda tend to be public hearings.

Um the second, once the public hearings are all completed, then the second part is citizens to be heard.

Both have a time limit of three minutes, both require the speaker to say their name and address for the record.

Um, with respect to public hearings, the the comments must be germane to the topic of the public hearing.

That said, this evening, um the the notice I have for the public hearing is that it has been this public hearing has been canceled.

This was related to the special permit that Hudson Country Montessori School was seeking.

I believe there was just an issue with the notice, and it will now be on the calendar for the February committee of the whole.

I believe that's February 10th, and notice appeared in the journal news on Sunday, January 11th.

So the public hearing is rescheduled.

Um anyone anticipating speaking on that matter, which means we're gonna shift now to citizens to be heard, as mentioned.

It's a three-minute time limit.

Please state your name and address for the record.

Our first registered speaker is Miriam Decim.

Good evening, Miriam Desane, Mountjoy.

Um happy new year.

Good to see everybody.

Um I'm hoping that we can start the new year with uh new promises.

So last year, um, I think something pretty significant happened with Flowers Park, where you got a good sense of the community and um things that are wanted and needed, and um what you should have seen from that process is the disconnect, the disconnect from where the community was and where you were and how we were conducting business.

So uh I heard you and I listened to to the comments, and we're quick to say, yeah, the community can't say that we don't listen to them because you did pull the RFP.

Thank you for that.

Um, but how did we get there?

We shouldn't have been there to begin with, and so there are several things that we need to change.

Um, one of the things everybody kept saying we don't know anything about it.

I keep saying you don't know anything about it is because you've given all of your power and authority to the development department.

Things that used to happen you would come through the city council first, where the people get to speak on items.

You have um removed that pretty much, and so we don't get to say or speak on things before it gets to development and RFPs and pretty much anywhere else that we go and make comments.

They tell us that's really nice and it's good ideas and it's good points, but it's already been approved, and we can't do anything.

So the all the subsequent boards, planning IDA, they pretty much approve it all.

So that has got to change, and that's that's a big thing in my mind as to why no one knew about this, and it just happened that way.

Um the other thing that struck me is afterwards.

Um your fellow councilman Tarantino said, Hey, let's make sure we talk about this so this doesn't happen again.

Six months, we repackage it and we put it out again, and it was dead silent.

You guys didn't respond.

You guys didn't respond, and then at the you know, poking and prodding, everybody then started to uh review why they thought it was a great idea, but you know, we just presented it wrong.

No, you didn't just present it wrong, it was a total miss.

So we can't get that wrong.

You need to say how we're not gonna do this again.

So I wanted to bring that up.

We missed it last meeting that you had before the break.

And then today, you know, there was a lot of things covered that um once again total disconnects.

You know, vision 2040.

That's a lot of punitive items on there.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Sean Wyowat Sean Wyowatsky, followed by James, Jim Calorin, and then um Sir, I guess you filled in for surge or you signed surge as card.

Yeah, he's he's a just checking.

Okay, sounds good.

Go ahead.

Hey, Sean Lewatsky, 25 Leroy, please.

Uh I know the holidays just ended, and we'll be back for another year.

But with this talk of re-examining and updating the development plan, I'm feeling a bit festive and hoping Christmas might come early this year.

With that in mind, here's my wish list for an improved DOZ.

Hopefully, Santa and you on the city council are listening.

One, the current draft of the amendment includes a moratorium for a portion of DO2.

That's not quite what our petition was calling for, but it's a start.

That said, at a minimum, it really should cover all of DO2.

DO2 has absorbed 77% of the completed units.

DO2 was always the biggest zone, but it only accounted for 52% of the original uh units in the original plan.

The proportion is now way out of whack.

Two, mid-rises should be encouraged instead of high rises.

Midris is still add density, they add new buildings, and they do it without completely changing the character of the neighborhoods that are being built in.

Of all that development I mentioned in DO2, 88% are high rises, and 71% of those are at the 24-story max.

Um that's you know, I don't blame the developers for that.

They're gonna maximize their business case.

I think it's um it's up to you to set the height limits that better suit the community.

Three, speaking of those community benefits, community benefit funds from a product should have to be used in the zone that generated those funds.

That's something you did for DO8.

Now just make it apply to all the DO zones.

Make developers incorporate privately owned public spaces like many cities have done.

I have my issues with Clinton Park, but conceptually it's on the right track.

Make these developments enhance the community by giving tangible, usable green spaces to everyone, not just their tenants.

Five, not DOZ-related per se, but as the new mayor of Jersey City said recently recently, candidates should not take political contribution from developers, either in appearance or in fact, it makes the process seem biased.

Six, uh I'm gonna skip that one.

Uh seven, give us a vision to believe in.

X more buildings and why more residential units isn't inspiring.

How about something like becoming the most bikeable city in Westchester?

You know, I'm someone that bikes, so I'm a bit biased, but you know, you get the idea.

Something in that vein, something we can aspire to.

Uh, eight, put some real teeth and clawbag provisions into the tax breaks that are given.

If the developers aren't providing their share of benefits, for example, jobs to newer shell residents, they should lose some or all of those tax breaks.

It really, in general, I want what I want is progress, but not at all costs.

I want smart development.

I want the people of newer shell to get the livable walking walkable community they deserve.

Let's learn for the past 10 years and not waste this opportunity.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is James Calorin.

Happy New Year, everybody.

It's a it's an honor to be here.

Jim Calorin, 25 Le Replace uh 310, Prospero Año Nuevo Para Toro.

Me, me amigos and amigas in the downtown who I help with every day.

Um I dedicate this to the first responders to the firefighters and to the Mount Vernon families that were displaced to also the Union Avenue uh fire that happened three years ago four years ago, uh February 14th, and also to the police who have been coming down to Sono Nuro when we asked them to come for a meeting, and they came.

So that and I hope all of you will hold four meetings in your district for the public.

That's not targeting on anyone person, but how having a resume that says each councilor holds four meetings in your district uh would allow uh again a more community and one that people can ask questions and and collectively ask them.

What a historic yeah, this is 250th anniversary.

I love history.

Uh I talk uh I was with my son in Philadelphia January 1st, went down there, walked around.

I love uh often go there.

And I often when I walk around downtown in Sono Neuro and see the historic architecture, textual to lousy architecture.

Actually, a panel fell off 360 Huguenot.

Uh and and uh that that uh a lot of things have happened there.

So um how do we change this?

The opportunity is there.

And and this is really we come come in with uh in peace, if you will, uh, but not as Patsy's.

Um how do we change from a city of pain, P A I N to a real city of pain, P A I-N-E.

Thomas Pain, people can read books and scriptures about it, or whatever.

But really, how do we use common sense of what's going on to help downtown?

How do we go from a city of rats?

And there are many, many rats.

Please come with me and we'll show you all the rat box downtown.

And and and they go through the the uh what I what I call sushi way by the alley, and people walk in and out and try to there are rat holes everywhere uh to a city uh of retail.

And clearly in 11 years, when I picketed, when they when they went to the historic Lowe's theater and I came up here, and I knew something wasn't gonna happen.

You can't put a a fa high rise on top of a historic theater and expect something to happen.

We haven't gotten one retail in.

From a city of Vanguard signs on empty retail stores to a city of hall city hall offices coming downtown, which is an economic engine and filling the empty spaces.

Take the vanguard signs and bring yourselves down there, bring the city workers down there, create offices.

That's an economic engine, tried and true.

That was uh one of the city councils, Jared Rice said, Jim, we're gonna do it.

Let's do it.

From a city of idling vehicles, and they passed a law in New York City.

There's idling construction trucks.

We're getting uh uh seniors are getting asthma and and uh think kids will get cancer, and they passed that you could get a fine if uh uh uh truck is idling and a citizen could could put that fine there.

So let's go from pilots for developers to pilots for the people.

Thank you.

No more tax breaks.

It's time that the citizens get a break.

Thank you.

Yes, yeah.

Our last registered speaker, Serge Becker.

I don't know if you can.

Good evening, uh, everybody.

Um happy holidays.

I hope you enjoy your time with uh the families.

Um it was interesting to learn in December that the CD uh this council has heard a proposal about the 10-year uh 10-year anniversary of the DOZ.

In 2015, the plan was passed, and uh the time has come to look at what worked and uh what did not work, um, and hopefully focus on the things and continue on the things that made that plan a success.

I think it's uh wise to recognize the pluses that worked and uh you know hopefully uh this will give the lessons learned uh aspect to what is the next five ten-year plan uh that is being uh proposed as the 2026 DOZ amendment.

Uh I would just want to read out a few numbers as I was preparing for this and looking at the numbers.

You know, the original plan called for almost a million square foot of retail space.

Uh 2.4 million square foot of uh office space.

Uh and uh at that time nearly 6.4,000 residential units.

Uh I think without going too far into the details, uh you know, there were obviously some larger scale things that happened in the middle that affected the plan as well as all the communities, not just Newer Shell, obviously the entire country and the world, meaning the pandemic in 2019 that really changed the the whole outlook and to see discredit, there was a pivot uh made to continue.

And I'm sorry for the being that to run run from the train to make it uh the plan uh kind of succeeded in certain aspects, right?

You know, to date we have 4.6,000 units, residential units constructed in the city of Neurochell, as we all know, 10% of the which are required to be affordable, so we have 460 affordable units in all all and all in downtown Neurochell, which is I think something to uh recognize and uh to give credit.

As many of you, my understanding have not been here in two thousand fifteen, and you kind of picked up this plan um almost towards the tail end of it.

And I want to recognize uh Councilman Tarantino's message in May of twenty twenty-four, as you're contemplating the end of this that you have an opportunity to make something great out of this plan in these last one and a half years and now going into the two years and I implore you to consider real engagement and bring the community into the picture.

Thank you.

Thank you.