So just in the spirit of maximizing the time we have tonight, I just want to say thank you to everyone for coming out, and I want to start by giving a round of applause to the professional staff, everyone who's here around the tables for taking the time after work to come out and connect and engage with all of you here today.

So the spirit of these meetings is for you to hear from your councilman, my colleague and friend David Peters, and then to hear from our city manager Wilfredo Melendez about the well, you'll hear David's vision and thoughts on the district and from our city manager, you will hear more about the 2026 work plan, and there will be an emphasis on projects citywide but also in district three.

And for me, like it's like what's a work plan.

For me, I think of it as like the budget in action, right?

The council passes the budget, but what does that actually look like?

Visit the projects or goals or initiatives.

And so we found that this is a really nice way to sort of bring City Hall to your community, to different parts of the community.

Um and once our city manager is done, you'll have an opportunity to ask questions as many as you'd like of all of the departments represented.

As I scan the room, every department is represented by leadership.

And so what other residents have told us is they've been able to kind of ask questions of the clerk about maybe registering your dog, but then to finance about paying a tax bill to DPW to ask about an issue with composting, you can kind of really maximize your ability to engage here.

And so I really encourage you to take an opportunity to do that.

Our staff really are on the front line, they're so dedicated and thoughtful, and it's important for them to hear directly from you what your concerns are and what's top of mind.

Um, Councilman Peters and I will be here as well to hear and answer any questions you might have, and I'd be remiss to not recognize Councilman Ashan Loye representing District 4.

So I'm now gonna hand it over to Councilman Peterson.

Thank you uh everyone for coming out this evening.

Uh this is again, as the mayor had just mentioned, a wonderful opportunity for you directly to be able to get your questions answered and to begin to to to more deeply be involved in what's really important to you.

Uh one of the areas when the mayor just mentioned that we were talking about a vision for for district three.

We we recognize and understand that district three is a very diverse district, both in relationship to uh length of of stay here in New Rochelle, meaning that many of the residents have been here for many, many years as homeowners, um as apartment dwellers and the like, and in relationship to the changes that have been happening both downtown and in New Rochelle in general.

We also have uh the diversity in relationship to new people who have moved into New Rochelle because they consider New Rochelle a destination place for them for whatever their reasons are.

And so as we continue to think about this particular district, we it's in I would be remiss if I didn't talk about over the last several years.

There's been this desire and attempt to to particularly here at District 3 and the Lincoln Avenue district in particular, to kind of reframe and reunite uh the Lincoln Avenue district with the with the availability of of what it means to be able to be connected in many ways.

So over the years, the disconnection historically has been a big part of the lifeblood of New Rochelle for generations.

And so part of what has emerged uh is an attempt to try to make the connections more deeply so that as New Rochelle begins to grow, that there's there's not this level of people being neglected, being left out, not being able to participate fully in what is becoming the new Rochelle experience.

Having said that, we also know that there have been ups and downs, and there have been a number of ways in which people have emerged in this idea that we're thinking about, whether whether whether it's the link, whether it's around affordable housing, whether it's around development, uh whether it's around economic development, or or whether it's around quality of life life issues.

We recognize and understand that that that's that those are things that are important to people.

Uh we have the young people here, we have people growing older, we have people who find the difficulty to stay in place as they begin continue to grow older.

We also have in District 3 the majority of the low-income housing, if you will, as it's as it's been defined.

We need to change the way we, in my view, the way in which we characterize that, so we aren't looking and thinking about people in terms of their status being the condition in which they exist as human beings.

And so having said that, some of the things that uh that we've been attempting to emphasize is availability for for response time and for the city to respond to the very diverse needs within the district of district three.

And you can imagine that everyone is never necessarily on the same page around everything.

Um but it's really important to to understand that part of what we're looking to do is to be able to respond as effectively as we can.

And for your vision to grow with with all of us as we continue to move forward.

So that's the goal.

That's that's kind of how things are emerging here as we continue to move forward.

So I want to encourage you once again to speak what's on your mind, be very transparent about it, and also to interface with uh with the staff that we have here because they're here today to hear your concerns, and also I I want to add that if there if there have been ways in which you have found our city government here to respond to you in a really good way, let them know that as well.

You know, it's really important because when you know when you work in city government, sometimes you know you just feel a sense of whether or not you're you're able to be effective or not.

You don't necessarily hear people follow up with, I really appreciate what you were able to do when you responded to this or you responded to that.

That's a good thing to happen too.

So we want to be in relationship with you.

So the vision for district three is to be in relationship.

When you're in relationship, then relationships make it easier to get to what the issues might be.

We may not necessarily always have agreement, but what we're seeking is mutual understanding of these issues.

And so as we continue to move forward, the sense of mutual understanding could be something that people can come away with and say, um, you know, I I didn't necessarily agree with that, but I'm glad that you were able at least I have a better understanding of the why.

The why is important to people.

That's really important.

And so part of of what my job is, and part of what all of us as city government's job is is to also help you understand the why.

So you don't feel it you're experiencing it as an imposition on a way of life that you've made a commitment to for whatever their directions are in being here in New Rochelle.

So again, let's continue to move forward.

Let's continue to work through whatever needs to be worked through, and let's create a shared vision that makes sense for many, and not only a few.

All right.

So that's the goal, and uh, and I hope that you can catch that vision as we continue to move forward along the way.

So at this point, I'm gonna turn it over to our city manager to talk to you about the the work plan that's currently in play for you to have an opportunity to hear it from them and then begin to talk with everybody else.

So thank you again for coming out today.

Let's take advantage of this time.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor, thank you, council.

Um, and thanks for everybody for coming out tonight.

Um, I'll just touch on the 2026 work plan as was mentioned before, but I don't want to take too much time away because it's a really once in a year opportunity that you have here to have every department from City Hall represented, include you know, the commissioners, directors of every department here.

So please take advantage of that.

Any questions you have.