Good evening, everyone.

I'm Alan Joins, Mayor of Winston Salem.

It's my pleasure to welcome you to tonight's meeting, the October 20th meeting of the Mississippi City Council, and ask the city clerk to call the roll, please.

Councilmember Joyner.

Present.

Councilmember Clark.

Here.

Councilmember Andrew Bowen.

Here.

Councilmember Scipio.

Present.

Mayor Pro Tim Adams.

Councilmember Taylor.

Present.

Councilmember Hall.

Present.

And Councilmember Burke here.

Thank you very much.

Would you please join the City Council and me in a moment of silence?

Thank you.

Would you join the City Council and me in the Pledge of Allegiance?

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic.

One nation under God with liberty and justice are all the same.

Thank you very much.

Our Sergeant Arms tonight is Lieutenant Brian Ashley.

Lieutenant, thank you for being with us.

And our fire marshal tonight is Micah Bodford.

Micah, thank you for being with you.

This meeting is being televised live on TV 13 as well as the city's YouTube page.

It will be rebroadcast uh tomorrow at uh 9 a.m.

and then Wednesday night at 9 p.m.

Of course, as you know, you can get copies of our agenda as well as videos of previous meetings by just going on to our website and click on the watch meetings online option.

Now I'd like to recognize our city manager for his update.

Uh thank you mayor.

Uh uh several things tonight, but first let me start with uh two introductions to council.

First, let me ask um ACM Voida to introduce um Andrew Martin, who's our new Solid Waste Department Director.

Hi, good evening.

So, Council, please join me in welcoming Andrew Martin, who is here tonight.

Um he started last week as our new solid waste collections director um that is overseeing the consolidation of sanitation and recycling into one unified department.

So he joins us with over 20 years of solid waste collections management experience.

He most recently worked at the city of Rocky Mount as the leader of their environmental services division.

Um previously served in management roles at the city of Raleigh, Durham, Orange County, um, as well as a private recycling company and had a long tenure at UPS before he joined uh public service.

So in addition to having a business administration degree, Andrew has several certifications from the Solid Waste Association of North America as well as Lean Six Sigma, which is focused on process improvements and improving customer satisfaction.

So we're excited to have him on board and think his strong leadership experience is going to be uh a great benefit as we kind of work on streamlining some of our operations, breaking down some of those operational deficiency uh differences that we have in sanitation and and recycling right now.

So thank you.

Welcome, Andrew.

Um we're we're excited to have Andrew with us.

Uh next, um, I'd like to ask um ACM King to introduce uh somebody that you probably will already recognize, uh Mike Stover, who is going to be our new city engineer.

All right, good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tim and Council members um Path's right.

Uh it is with great pleasure tonight that I get to announce that uh Mike Stover has been selected as our next city engineer.

Mike is Mike's back there, thank goodness.

So he's gonna start his new role um with us on October 27th.

So, as Pat mentioned, um many of you may know Mike.

He has been with us for 14 years here at the City of Winston-Salem in the utilities division, and Mike started out managing capital projects as a utility supervisor and has worked his way up through the ranks serving as deputy director for the last several years for Courtney and her team there.

Um I will note Mike's uh career with the City of Winston-Salem has been spent largely managing capital projects, and as you've heard Pat talk about, that is one of the key areas of focus for staff is getting these old capital projects done and completed and really starting to get some momentum there.

So we think Mike is a natural fit for what we're looking for in the city engineer position, and we're excited to see what he brings to the team there.

So thank you.

Welcome, Mike.

Thank you.

And um I'm gonna call on uh ACM Raoult to give you a little bit of update for the public and for you on the Carolina Classic Fair.

Good evening, Mayor Joins, Mayor Pro Temporiams, members of council.

Uh so the 2025 Carolina Classic Affair concluded on Sunday, uh, October 12th, and we are thrilled to report that we had attendance of over 251,000 for the 10 days of the fair.

Uh that's uh a 4.58% increase over the fair's five-year average attendance of uh two a little over 240,000.

Uh Tuesday of the fair was our highest Tuesday attendance since 2011 at more than 33,000 attendees that day.

Um in addition, you know, a great tradition of the fair is is our participation and support of community efforts.

And uh on Wednesday on the partnering with Crisis Control Ministry.

Uh we collected uh nearly 26,000 pounds of food uh to benefit those in need uh of assistance.

And then also that week we collected over 7500 school supply items for the uh once in sale in Fort Sight County schools.

You know, one of the the newest measures we took this year were a number of safety and security measures, uh the clear bag policy, closing the gates at at 9 p.m.

And also uh introducing a new code of conduct.

And uh I'm I'm happy to report that we had minimal instances uh during the course of the 10 days of the fair, and uh we feel like that those policies were definitely effective.

And and also want to thank the police department for really taking a zero tolerance position on enforcing the code of conduct.

And so uh overall we just felt like it was a great time for families, and uh we're happy to see the attendance as we continue to rebound from from the pandemic.

And uh we're looking forward to the 2026 fair, which will take place October 2nd through the 11th.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Rao.

I think we had a very successful fair.

We're all real excited about the changes that were made and the improvements uh that are going on there.

Uh next, if uh for council, I want to uh call on our director of transportation, Jeff Fanzler, to give you a update of a project that I'm very excited about, our Liberty Maine conversion.

Thank you, Mr.

Manager, and good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem Member of City Council.

At your place, you will find an exhibit map that our staff put together that just want I wanted to walk through to as an update for that little bitty project outside these doors that are converting both main and liberty future uh formerly one-way pairs to two-way traffic.

So um hopefully you'll have that graphic.

Now, thank you, Jamie, for getting that up on the screen as we will as we talk through this.

So I'm happy to say that project has progressed very well.

It took us a long time to get it under the street and getting it get it uh out the door, so to speak, uh, and and into construction phase.

But since then um it has been it has gone fairly well.

And so I wanted to highlight some some of the different segments of the street and walk you through this real briefly.

You'll notice, and and as we all know, Liberty Main are north-south streets, but for the purpose of this plan, we have oriented them east to west just to show the linear progression of the project.

But on the south end of the project, basically from cemetery street south into the old Salem Road there.

That is open to two-way traffic today.

Some of you may have been in that area.

We have built a new traffic signal re resurfaced those streets, introduced all the new uh components for two-way traffic.

That is open now.

Moving uh north on uh if you're if you're reading left or right, moving north from cemetery to third street.

Okay, some of the those are in the final stages.

That those segments of these streets are in the final stages of the work, and we expect to have those open to two-way traffic by the end of the month.

And so you'll see barricades and cones get out of the way.

You'll see traffic signals be energized and cut over, and you'll see uh the introduction of a major piece of that puzzle come to life uh by the end of the month.

So happy Halloween for that one.

As we continue marching uh north from Third Street to 7th Street, the most complicated section of the project.

Uh, there's still some coordination efforts going on with utilities.

Uh partners at Duke Energy are hard at work.

Um lot of traffic signal work, a lot of street like infrastructure, a lot of work still to coordinate.

But uh we are on pace to you know that about that second week of November to have that section uh cut over, so we speak from third to seventh.

It's a two-way traffic there by November 10th.

But just be it be uh be aware, not all of the work in that section, and we're talking between third and seventh will be completely finished.

There'll be still be a little bit of work behind the curves to do.

So don't be alarmed if you might see you know a couple intersections that have some all way stop conditions while we finish the traffic signal work.

The problem is just the maintenance of the cones and folks that are already doing it or removing the cones.

It's just a custodianship uh when the street is essentially ready to accept two-way traffic.

So we'll have some what we call intermediate traffic control measures in that particular section there between third and seventh.

So just to make you aware of that.

And lastly, uh and and probably the next the major change that you'll see this week by October 22nd, there the last little leg on the north end from 7th out to Martin Luther King will be cut over to two-way traffic.

That new island and the new configuration circling the block will be open uh by the middle of the week.

So a lot of uh updates there, but I thought maybe the graphic would help kind of paint the picture of the different segments of the project.

So I'm happy to take any questions by by at large, middle of November, you should see a lot of those colons out of the way, and we button up the project for final completion, hopefully by the end of the calendar year.

Happy to take any questions.

Any questions from Mr.

Fansler?

Good job, Ms.

Fenzer.

Appreciate your hard work on this.

Thanks, Jeff.

We're just excited to have the uh resurfacing done on those roads.

That makes a makes a big difference in our downtown.

A couple of different events I just want to make sure that council and the community is aware of.

Our business development division of our economic development department is offering a nine-week training course for individuals interested in starting their own business, or for those who have just recently started one.

Those classes do start tomorrow, so they need to call the department or check on the website, call CityLink if they need more information on that class.

But it is a great opportunity for folks that are looking to uh have that entrepreneurial spirit and want to do that in our community.

On Wednesday, October 22nd, the Winston Salem Four Syth County Utilities Department will be at the Greater Winston Salem Inc.'s World of Work Community Career Event to be held at the uh uh Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum from 2 to 4 30.

I think the public is actually invited as well so they can learn about interesting uh in this case jobs and utilities as well as other opportunities from other area businesses at that fair.

Our historic Bathabra Park will hold its annual Halloween celebration, Boo at Bathabra on Saturday, October 25th from 1 30 to 4 30.

Lots of family outdoor activities, costumes are encouraged, uh no matter your age.

And so we uh encourage folks to to come out and enjoy that celebration.

And our human finally, our human relations department is hosting a ribbon cutting for the walk your own path mural unveiling at the Liberty Street Plaza on Wednesday, October 29th at 3 p.m.

This mural represents the different ways people with different mobility capabilities can access and move throughout our city.

So a great another great event coming up.

So we encourage folks to attend those if you are interested.

And with that, we'll stand ready to take any other questions.

Any questions for Mr.

Pate, uh, Councilman Bahall.

Thank you.

When is the walk your own path?

The 29th at what time?

At 3 p.m.

Okay, thank you.

Councilmember Andrew Bullen.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Uh, could you give us an update on the pace study?

Uh yes, sir.

I uh I apologize for not doing that at the last meeting, and I told you I would.

Uh we are making good progress on the on the pace study.

Uh there our consultant that's working on this has identified our uh comparison units that they're going to be uh uh getting information on to based on where people can commute from to get to to the city.

So that is that is ongoing.

There's been meetings with uh both the fire department and with our human uh resources folks to to make sure that we've got the surveys in place that need to be done, that we've got the right job classifications or job descriptions prepared, so all that's is in place, so that we're still moving along uh expeditiously to hope with our intent of having everything back and completed before the end of the calendar year, so that we can um look to see if there are changes that need to be implemented.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Pate.

We do have one honorarium tonight, so maybe we'll have item H1, please.

Item H1 proclamation declaring October 2025 as National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

Whereas domestic violence is a pattern of coercion in intimate relationships where one person uses violence to gain power and control over a partner and or other family members.

And whereas domestic violence is a crime that violates the individual's dignity, humanity, privacy, and security through systematic control and abuse.

And whereas domestic violence may include emotional, mental, physical, sexual, financial, or psychological abuse and or violence.

And whereas people of all ages, races, religious affiliations, sexual orientations, and socioeconomic backgrounds are vulnerable to domestic abuse.

And whereas, according to the Centers for Disease Control, nearly one in four women and one in ten men in the United States have experienced contact sexual violence, physical violence, andor stalking by an intimate partner during their lifetimes.

And whereas with many agencies, departments, and survivors working together to promote awareness, we can protect the vulnerable, stop the violence, restore hope, and make our community safer for everyone.

And whereas the City of Winston Salem is committed to taking a firm position against domestic violence and will remain focused on ensuring that all people are safe in their homes and that abusers are held accountable for their crimes.

Now, therefore, IJ Allen joins, Mayor of the City of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, do hereby proclaim October 2025 to be National Domestic Violence Awareness Month in Winston-Salem, and encourage all residents to show support for survivors of domestic violence and to actively participate in efforts to end violence in their homes, schools, and communities.

Thank you.

Mr.

Kyrie Garvin, who's the CEO of Family Services, is here tonight.

Mr.

Mayor, good evening, and thank you for the proclamation.

Oh, pardon me.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

Eager, eager, eager.

Please.

Again.

I jumped a gun there, but thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Also, uh, Mayor Pro Tim Adams and to the members of the City Council.

Thank you all for the proclamation.

I'm joined here with uh other uh stakeholders from the community as well.

And just quickly, if you would, you would just say would you say your name?

Yeah, Jim Gallagher, staff attorney at the Children's Law Center.

Okay.

Iris Sunshine, Executive Director of Children's Law Center.

Joanna Hamlin, Director of Bridges to Hope Family Justice Center.

And we again we thank you so much again.

I'm Carrie Garvin, CEO of Family Services Incorporated.

In the past year, I just want you all to know that uh our staff uh have served over 2,000 unduplicated clients who have experienced violence or trauma, and we characterize that in many ways domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, and human trafficking, stalking as well.

There are many people and agencies that work together, some of whom are represented here, and of course the city to help survivors reach safety.

And so we're very thankful to the work of the city government that promotes safety and also that supports safe housing.

And as you know, we work very closely with Winston Salem Police Department and other local law enforcement agencies as well.

Uh family services also participates with agencies serving our neighbors experiencing homelessness as part of our continuum of care.

So our emergency domestic violent shelter provides safety to people who have to flee someone at home who was hurting them.

So we thank you for the proclamation of for the opportunity.

God speed.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you for all the work of this.

The consent agenda and the general agenda.

It's always the practice of this council to take the consent agenda as the first order of business.

Items on this agenda have been unanimously recommended by committee of the city council or are being submitted in accordance with established city procedure.

There will be no discussion of the items on this agenda unless the council members so request, in which event the item will be removed from the consent agenda and considered individually.

I move for approval of the consent agenda.

Thank you.

Motion by Mayor Pro Tim Second by Councilmember Clark.

All those in favor of uh approving the consent agenda, please say aye.

Aye.

Anyone opposed, say no.

That's unanimous.

And by the way, we will be voting entirely tonight with voice votes because the there was an outside actor in impacted our system.

Not not our fault.

So we'll be moving to the general agenda.

Which the general agenda does include the annual report from the downtown uh business improvement district.

Uh it has revisions uh prior purchasing the resolution and the city council's November 2025 meeting schedule.

There are also six public hearings relative to rezoning petitions as well as a voluntary annexation.

When the public hearings are called, versus in the council chamber will be given an opportunity to speak if there's opposition to the public hearing item.

The proponents and opponents will each be given the 15 minutes for presentation and three minutes for rebuttal.

If no one wishes to speak, I'll close the public hearing and the city council will consider the item.

Um may we have the first item, please.

Item G1, fiscal year 2024-2025, annual report of the downtown Winston-Salem Business Improvement District.

We recognize Mr.

Jason Thiel, who is the president of downtown Weston Salem Partnership.

Jason, if you'll give us a report.

Thank you for having me.

Jason Thiel, 515 North Cherry Street, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, uh, with the downtown partnership.

And I wanted to talk as required by the uh state law to provide an update on the downtown business improvement district.

And no doubt you guys have uh heard this presentation before, but a little bit of flavor this year that is different than previous years is going through our annual report.

You'll see quite a few statistics.

This will be available on our website at downtown WS.com, downtown WS.com.

I would also like to share with you for us.

This started in 2013.

The downtown business improvement district is a tax district just in the core of downtown, which we use for supplemental services.

The flavor of those services often are clean team uh gentlemen and women that work with orange shirts on jackets and spend a lot of time downtown in the uh public realm.

And they're very busy.

We also use it for a number of enhanced appearance components.

One of the things that we've done this past year is we've introduced some new banners for 4th Street that was in compliance with our recently passed downtown plan, the 4th Street District.

We've also worked to improve the tree wells throughout downtown, but also mostly on 4th Street as well as the hanging flower baskets, which were taken down last year as they are seasonally each year.

Going through the long list of things that are very important for us, think of these as things like removing graffiti, picking up trash, making our downtown presentable for the many visitors that come to it on an annual basis.

We've been focused on everything from snow removal and when it does snow, which we did have a very good snow last year, to installing some security cameras in certain locations and providing those to the real-time crime center, to picking up trash, maintaining a heavy event schedule, and many other things, such as Christmas decorations and weekly newsletters, uh online information about available databases of property.

But by and large, I would say that the majority of this is something that most cities in the country um utilize this tool.

It's called the Business Improvement District.

It's something that um most of our pure cities are involved with, and I wanted to provide an update to you, and uh maybe I'll just leave it at that.

I know you have a busy schedule and um see if you have any questions.

Any questions from Mr.

Thiel?

Jason, you're close to having to go back out for bids on this uh Yes, sir.

Every five years.

Every five years that'd be next year that will go this year.

This year.

Yep.

All right, great.

All right.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We'll see you in a year.

All right, bye-bye.

Item G2, please.

Item G2, approval of a revision to resolution number 25-032 awarded to Velocity Truck Center on October 6, 2025.

Good.

Good evening, Mayor.

Evening.

Uh Mayor Pro Tem, members of City Council.

Uh, this item is to make a uh price correction to an item that we just reviewed on October 6th.

We had a fat finger error there of $10,000 per vehicle.

So we need to bring that back to you since the price went up.

So the the total for each truck 436,000 three and the total contract of uh 872,000 for those two vehicles there.

It's all within budget, I assume.

Yes.

Yep.

Capital outlay was correct.

Uh quote was correct, just our mistake of there.

I move approval of item G2.

Second.

Second by Councilmember Scipio.

Any discussion?

Not all those in favor of the motion, please indicate the saying aye.

Aye.

Anyone opposed?

No.

That's unanimous.

Thank you very much.

Item G3.

Item G3, consideration of a revision to the City Council's November 2025 meeting schedule to add the WISTA facility tour on November 6, 2025.

Mr.

Pate, do you want to add anything to that?

Uh no, we're just uh I I'll I don't know if ACM King has anything to add, but we're excited that we're going to be able to do this and uh showcase a little bit of the improvements that are going on in the uh in the WISTA area, plus say some of the behind-the-scenes uh concerns that we have as well.

Very good.

All right, is there a motion uh see uh Mayor Pro Tim?

I move for approval of item G3.

Second.

Second by Councilmember Joiner, any discussion.

Not all those in favor of the motion, please indicate by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed no, and that is unanimous.

Thank you.

Item uh G4.

Item G4, public hearing in consideration of a zoning petition of Golden Opportunity Investments LLC from RS7 MLKO to RSQ MLKO, property located at the southeast intersection of East Fourth Street and North Martin Luther King Junior Drive, containing approximately 0.27 acres located in the East Ward.

This uh is a public hearing.

Is there anyone in Council Chamber who wishes to be heard on this proposed uh rezoning zoning petition?

Seeing no one, uh recognize Councilmember Siphio if you're ready.

Yes, sir, Mr.

Mayor.

Thank you.

I move for approval of one, the statement of consistency for the approval of this item.

And two, W-36 57.

Second.

Second by Councilmember Taylor.

Any further discussion?

If you just close the public hearing, Mr.

Mayor.

Did you?

Okay.

I will close the public hearing right now.

Thank you.

Do we have a motion and a second?

Any further discussion?

If not, all those in favor of the motion, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

No.

That is unanimous.

Item G five, please.

Item G five, public hearing in consideration of a zoning petition of VNC land company LLC from IP to HBL property located at the northwest intersection of University Parkway and Chatellon Drive, containing approximately 3.5 acres located in the northeast ward.

Is everyone in the council chamber opposed to this rezoning?

The proponents are here if there are any questions.

I'll declare the public hearing closed then and recognize Councilmember Burke.

Thank you, Mayor.

Council members, I move for approval of one, the statement of consistency for the approval of this item and two, W-3658.

Second.

Second by Mayor Pro Tim Adams.

Any further discussion or questions?

No.

All those in favor of the motion, please indicate the saying aye.

Aye.

Anyone opposed, no.

And that is unanimous.

Thank you, Councilmember Burke.

Item G6.

Item G6 public hearing in consideration of a zoning petition of Walter T.

Wilson and Helen S.

Wilson from RS9 to RM8S.

Property located on the west side of Sides Road, south of West Clemensville Road, containing approximately 8.8 acres in the Southeast Ward.

Thank you.

This is a public hearing.

Is there anyone in Council Chamber who wishes to be heard on this proposed rezoning?

Seeing no one, I'll declare the public hearing closed and recognize Councilmember Taylor.

Thank you, Mayor, members of the council.

I move for approval of one, the statement of consistency for approval of this item and two W-3659.

Second.

Second by Councilmember Scipio.

Any questions or comments?

Questions?

Seeing none, all those in favor of the motion, please indicate by saying aye.

Aye.

No, and that is unanimous.

Thank you.

Item G7.

Item G7, public hearing in consideration of a zoning petition of Arbor Acres, United Methodist Retirement Community Inc.

From RS9 to RM8S, property located on the south side of West 25th Street and Arbor Road between Arbor Place Drive and Kirkwood Street, containing approximately 3.09 acres located in the northwest ward.

Again, this is a public hearing.

Is there anyone in Council Chamber who wishes to be heard on this proposed rezoning?

Seeing no one, I'll declare the public hearing closed and recognize Councilmember Hall.

Thank you, Mayor Joins.

I move for approval one for the approval of the statement of consistency for this item of W-3660.

Sir Second.

Second by Mayor Pro Tim Adams.

Any further discussion or questions?

Not all those in favor of the motion, please indicate by saying aye.

Aye.

Anyone opposed, no.

That is unanimous.

Thank you, Councilmember Hall.

Item G eight.

Item G8, public hearing and consideration of a re resolution for the voluntary annexation of approximately 30.46 acres located at the intersection of Wahlberg Road, Hayes Drive, and Union Cross Road.

Project known as 4015 Wahlberg Road, Front Street, Wahlberg, LLC.

Thank you.

Mr.

Murphy, would you give us just a brief uh statement on this what we're doing here tonight, please?

Jamie, if you can just go to the turn your mic on, Mike, Chris.

It is on.

Oh, sorry.

Sorry.

Maybe it took a while for it to warm up and I have to get close.

I'm not sure.

Yeah, that map right there is uh great.

Uh this is a rezoning request from Front Street Capitol.

Uh this is a 30.46 acre uh tract of property that has already been rezoned by the county uh for approximately 420,000 square feet of industrial use.

It went to the county back in the um late winter, early spring.

They are in uh after that they have been going through the process to uh annex the property into the city of Winston-Salem.

The estimated uh tax value of the development is thirty-five million dollars at build-out, which would result in a $200,000 tax increase to the city.

Uh this has uh gone through uh the committee, and the committee unanimously recommended approval of this.

In addition, uh, if this is annexed by the city, there is also a uh companion rezoning case that will follow that will uh modify this from county LIS to city LIS.

And with that, I stand ready to answer.

Mr.

Murphy.

Thank you, Mr.

Murphy.

We will hold a probable hearing on this.

I'd recognize Mr.

Team, I believe it's the petitioner on this.

Uh Mr.

Team, would you like to make a comment?

Um Robin Team representing Front Street Capital, the owner of the property, uh 450 North Patterson here in downtown Western Salem.

Um really don't have anything to add to that other than the fact that we have developed numerous industrial properties up and down uh Union Crossroad, uh resulting in significant increases to the property tax uh rolls for the city of Winston Salem.

We want to do the same thing here.

All utilities are to the site.

Um there really isn't any expense to the city, and we just like to keep our partnership going.

We like it.

Thank you, Mr.

Team.

Any questions, Mr.

Team?

Thank you.

Anyone else for the proponents?

We do have one person in opposition, um Linda Weinkopf.

Wincoff, excuse me.

Uh Linda Winnicoff, 3949 Chilton Drive 27106.

Good evening, Mayor Joins, Mayor Pro Tempore Adams, and members of the council.

I'm speaking tonight regarding the voluntary annexation request for 4015 Wahlberg Road submitted by Front Street Capitol.

According to the city county action request form or CARF for this item, the annexation is listed as uh a focus area of economic prosperity, which I get, but it also has a strategic plan objective of addressing housing affordability and homelessness.

Yet there's no documentation that I could find, no narrative, no analysis explaining how this annexation with its LIS zoning uh uh will advance that goal.

I think I know what you'll say.

The revenue generated, uh, which was just expressed will be considerable uh will uh will advance it.

But my question is how?

The petitioner's petition it the sites that there's a projected taxable value of 35 million by year two, and the budget office, what I saw it gave it a revenue estimation of 153,000 dollars.

But there's no evidence or plan showing how that value was calculated, and if valid how the projected revenue will be allocated or applied toward affordable housing or homelessness initiatives.

A statement of intent without a mechanism for accountability for me is insufficient.

If this annexation is to be justified as part of Winston-Salem's housing affordability strategy, then the public deserves clarity on how the $35 million in new value was calculated, what proportion of resulting tax revenue is earmarked or could be earmarked for affordable housing or homelessness programs, and which department or policy instrument will track and report those outcomes.

Without that transparency and linkage between the stated objective and measurable implementation, the annexation rationale appears inconsistent with the city's strategic plan and the purpose of the public hearing.

I respectfully ask the council to either continue or withhold approval of this annexation until the applicant and staff provide documented evidence on how the project contributes to the city's housing and homelessness objectives and how the projected revenues will be used to support them.

Thank you for your time and your commitment for ensuring public accountability in Winston-Salem's growth decisions.

Thank you, Ms.

Winnikoff.

Anyone else for the opposition?

Seeing no one else, I'll declare the uh public hearing closed.

This did come through our public works committee, and I would recommend recognize uh council member Burke, who's chairman of that committee if she's ready for a motion.

Yes.

Excuse me, yes.

Uh question.

Yes.

Um will we be able to get an answer to the question that she asked?

I'll tackle that right now, Councilmember Burke.

So that was an error on staff's part.

So in that that listing on the CARF right there, you've got the various strategic plan areas and then uh objectives underneath it.

The wrong objective was selected.

So when you go into your strategic plan, the objective that should have been selected is attracting and retaining businesses that lined up.

So that was an error on staff's part.

So we apologize for any confusion on that.

Thank you, Mr.

King.

Let's get a motion on the floor.

Yeah.

Um I would feel better if we were able to get some answers first.

Uh will we be making the correction to the carve?

Yes, absolutely.

We will get that corrected.

Okay.

Okay.

I move for approval of item G eight.

Thank you.

Is there a second?

Second.

Second.

But Mayor Protein Madams and recognize county.

Yes, thank you.

Um the city manager or Kelly here.

Who calculates the tax value of anything in the county in the city?

In general, the way the tax value would be calculated is as was mentioned, it's a $35 million built out from that.

You can you can apply the tax rate of the city and you come up with a number that would give you the balance of what we would generally get on an annual basis from that property.

But basically, we the the calculation is really based out of taxes that the county basically determines.

Is that not correct?

Well, and in this case, you set the tax rate.

So if this is annexed into the city, then the total value multiplied by our tax rate gives us a tax revenue that we would get for this property.

So the county would also get tax revenue for that.

If we do not annex it, then we would not get any uh tax revenue off of that.

And if there is a piece of affordable housing that might come out of this, is as we grow our tax base, then you do have as a council the ability to use those revenues for the highest priorities that you see fit.

And that was going to be my second question that when we generate revenue, even though we have the general fund taxes, it's all in there, whether it's for uh our strategic plan priority of housing, or whether it's for safety or any of the other services that we provide.

Is that not correct?

Yes, yes, ma'am.

As any of your tax rates that that comes in in the general fund, that's available for any of your basic services that are being provided by the city.

We do have a motion and second to approve this annexation, voluntary annexation.

All those in favor of the motion, please indicate the saying aye.

Aye.

Opposed no.

That is unanimous.

Thank you, Councilmember Burks.

Uh, Councilmember or Clerk.

Yeah.

For those interested, uh at committees last week at the gifts general government committee considered a number of housing projects.

And I'm assuming those will be filtering down to the council for approval at the next meeting.

And I would say there was quite a few of them.

So we are moving forward on that front as well.

Thank you, Councilman Clark.

All right, item G9.

Item G9, public hearing in consideration of a zoning petition of City of Winston-Salem from County LIS to City LIS.

Property located at the east side of Wahlberg Road between Union Crossroad and Business Park Drive, containing approximately 30.46 acres located in the Southeast Ward.

This action here changes the zoning from the county zoning to city zoning.

And I would recognize Councilmember Taylor if you are ready.

Thank you, Mayor.

Members of the council, I move for approval of item G9.

Second.

Motion second.

Any discussion?

You may want to open the public hearing.

Oh, thank you.

It is as a public hearing.

Is there anyone on council chamber wish to be heard on this rezoning matter?

Signo one, I'll close the public hearing.

And now we do my motion to approve.

Second by Councilmember Scipio.

Any further discussion?

If not, all in favor of the motion, please indicate by saying aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Opposed, no.

And that is unanimous.

Thank you very much.

The next item, please.

Public comment period.

The next item is our public comment period because the time that once per month that the City Council sets aside for citizens to voice their opinions on matters that are germane to city government.

When the comment period is called, each speaker will be given normally three minutes, but because of the large number of individuals who have signed up tonight, we're going to say two minutes, so we can try to get as many people as possible to be able to be heard by the City Council.

Public comments should pertain to items relevant to city government.

City Council will likely not respond to these items during this meeting, but may address them in a later date or ask staff to address them if necessary.

Again, speakers are encouraged to be civil and courteous in their language as well as presentations.

Those end of uh uh engaging in such contacts may result in forfeiture of any remaining speaking time, and individuals who continue to engage in such egregious behavior after being told decease may be instructed to leave the meetings.

Um we will uh try to get through as many of these as we can.

Again, we're cutting the time to two minutes each, and so we'll go down through these.

Um Charles Cherry.

Will each speaker please give your name and address for the record, please.

Charles Cherry, United States of America.

I have the favor of God.

Stop fighting against him.

Chief Penn, please write the letter to Corning Division Vice President Stephen J.

Harrell to protect me.

City Attorney Camille French, I am waiting on my public records requests.

You are violating the law by denying me the information.

City Manager Pate fire the chief and resigned.

On July 5th, 2024, a brutal domestic assault on a female occurred at the Corning Cable plant in the parking lot on video with multiple witnesses.

Because the victim was black, the Winston Salem PD didn't do a report or retrieve the video, violating the law, the victim's constitutional rights, and civil rights.

Corning in the city's non-action may have resulted in a wrongful death.

The city has aided and abetted the domestic criminal violator.

The city and corning covered it up until nine months later when I reported it on April 7th, 2025.

To stop me from exposing you, the city and corny criminally conspired, weaponized the Winston Salem PD against me to discredit, harass, intimidate, arrest, and possibly even kill me.

I have submitted to you complaints of criminal, constitutional, civil rights, and civil city policy violations against me committed by many individuals, to include Mayor Joins and City Council, Chief of Police, City Manager, City Attorney, Corning Attorney Karen Jefferson, Corporal Asmond, Officer Crider, Officer Gammon Lackey, and more.

Mayor joins and city council.

Your only legal obligation is to ensure that the complaints I filed get to the proper authority for investigation.

It has been many months since you received my complaints.

You obviously cannot investigate yourselves.

My question for you are who did you give the complaints to for investigation?

When did you give it to them?

Who is my contact person?

Councilwoman Burke, did you allow the Honorable Judge Ill Todd Burke, your husband, to review my allegations like I directed you to?

Why are officers Gammon Lackey, Jay Crider, and Corporal Asmon for starters not terminated by now?

Thank you, sir.

Your time is up, sir.

Gail Jones.

Hello, everybody.

My name is Gail Jones.

I myself have a complaint.

I um have been down here for a number of times trying to speak with you.

Um Mayor Jones, and I was denied that.

I was trying to speak with your aide, couldn't get that.

I came down here about six, seven times, trying to speak with somebody with some serious matters about me going on.

Um personally is some of it, most of it is homelessness.

I've been homeless for seven, seven years, and I shouldn't be homeless for seven years.

I've done my homework here in this city, Winston-Salem.

I was born here in 1954, so I know this city well.

So I'm here to um talk about some of the troubles that I've had, and nobody wants to listen.

I mean, nobody wants to listen.

I've been down here several times.

I spoke with the staff, I didn't get anything done, and so I'm here tonight to uh you know see what can be done because I'm tired.

I am.

I've done nothing.

I deserve to have a place to live.

I haven't broken any laws.

So what I'm saying, though, but one thing I can say is some of whom you've had before me up here is some important information I can use.

So I'm thankful for that.

And I met some other uh the group out there in front that can help me also.

But uh I still need to talk with somebody behind uh closed doors because it's very, very serious.

Because out here being homeless, you can't imagine what I've been through at 70 years old.

So imagine the older people, the seniors that's out here.

I do have a car, but it's a lot of people don't have a car to sleep in.

They sleep in the woods.

They make their beds with their clothing.

And and it's just sad, it makes me want to cry.

It really does.

It's one thing when you see it on TV, but when you are actually living it, it's something else.

Thank you, Ms.

Sowes.

Thank you.

George Bryan.

I hope something can be done about that too.

Thank you.

George Bryan.

Good evening, Mayor.

Mayor Pro Tem, City Council.

I'm here tonight to talk about safety in the West End.

A horrendous crime of breaking and entering assault and holding hostage occurred in August in our neighborhood.

In another case, a man living in a neglected property for months and months was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon after cutting someone.

Our neighborhood watch team began researching an increase in crime in the neighborhood.

While we had already had a meeting with the police and neighbors at the beginning of the year, we continued to experience an uptick in crime.

So we held a large neighborhood meeting, conducted three hand to hand-delivered surveys, met with four different homeless services, conducted data analysis of police incident reports.

Over 250 families signed a petition.

We spoke to the county commissioners for mental health services.

We met with city personnel.

We met with the county manager.

We met with the downtown partnership.

We wrote letters to property owners and had long conversations with neighbors with a 58% increase in homelessness in Forsyth County.

We discovered that part of the incidents came from clients lingering after services with Citywood dwellings located in our neighborhood, which only had a very short day program, two hours per day for three days.

Only a percentage of crime is related to homelessness, but the incident rate here was twice as high as other hot spots in the West End.

And there have been literally hundreds of incidents potentially related to this lingering.

We realized that the locating of brief services to the homeless in a residential neighborhood sets up the neighborhood and the homeless guests to incidents that further complicate their situation.

One of the issues was that Bethesda State program had been closed since March.

We have donated and advocated for the reopening and are pleased that the city has also been supportive of this reopening.

Thank you.

In our effort to discover the cause of the uptick in crime, we found additional gaps in services, such as city and dwellings and Bethesda have no mental health credentials staff to diagnose or help medicated homelessness.

We found no monitoring after hours of clients with Citywood dwellings.

And we found the need for longer stays at the shelter.

Many of the results were the same ones that you find recently in a in a committee.

Thank you, Mr.

So we're asking tonight for a petition to be handed out for the 250 families that signed it.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Bryan.

Melvin Brown.

If I can be heard, I'd like to remark from this.

Yes, sir.

All right.

Oh thank you.

In 1972, President Nixon and the Congress that was elected at that time passed the first uh legislation that became uh what is currently the uh kidney program uh which means transplants and balances and that sort of thing.

Um I've been on dialysis for approximately 20 years.

Up until this year, I have been afforded transportation to the Senator Four Centers in town, three of which operate two shifts, one operates three.

Um I'm asking for is that some kind of way between last year's contract and this year's contract.

Uh transportation was afforded, has been cut loose.

I'd like to ask.

And I wouldn't expect answers tonight, but I would like to ask how and why was this transportation stopped?

And uh were there any individuals who in the dialysis uh community were they included in the planning that is essentially um cut the transportation from one dollar to 25, 30 or 40 dollars for a one-way trip.

And uh, like I said, at some point in time, I'd like some answers to these questions.

Were any people on dialysis included in this planning?

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Brown, and we will certainly have staff follow up with you on that.

Ms.

Brooke Dejong.

Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Potem, um, and city managers officers and uh city council members.

So I wanted, I had the pleasure of coming to your um government general government committee last week and was very pleased to see the proposals for answers to homelessness in our city.

As one of the providers here today representing the dwelling and city with dwellings, we're very inspired to see that model of Oak City Cares shared.

And I wanted to share with you and follow up on an email that I sent last week that we are already doing that work.

We house uh uh a hub model already in this city.

We do showers, we feed people, we're working on expanding feeding people.

Um we now have a partnership with Atrium Wake Forest Baptist, where we have a registered nurse practitioner in our building in answer to the mental health.

We've actually asked the county to move um MIH into our building so there are qualified mental health staff.

Um pastoral care is not mental health care, but we are able to make then referrals to folks.

Um so we do a lot in our building and are just getting started, and we love to partner with you all as you figure out what the city needs and wants to do.

There's incredible amount of expertise in our building, and we'd love to have you come and visit.

I also bring an invitation to one of our other programs, um, voices from the dwelling.

Um it's an arts program that uh it's also founded by the arts council, um, in which our folks get to do um write their stories and poetry and in original music, and then they share it for the community here.

Um, and that will be this Thursday and Friday at 7 p.m.

Um, I brought some flyers, so I will leave them here for you all to take with you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Mr.

McClass McAllister.

I prepared for three minutes, so have to read very quickly.

Okay.

Oh, for over two decades I've lived in my home in West Salem.

Being a non-native to Winston Salem, I knew little about the communities here when I arrived.

My friend and I found my home after attending Green Street Church.

When I moved in, my neighbors were friendly, and I adjusted to the community quickly.

Over the 20 plus years, many neighbors have changed, some have stayed the same, and the children on the street have grown up.

One of the most devastating moments on my street was learning that my neighbor's daughter had died.

I knew she struggled with drugs, and it broke my heart to know that her three boys being raised by her grand their grandparents and an aunt would have this additional obstacle.

Her kids were cute and precocious.

One had an entrepreneurial spirit and another had the spirit of an entertainer with his Michael Jackson costumes.

I later learned that she had passed away from a drug overdose.

So when Green Street, my church, decided to host the Twin City Harm Reduction Collective, a group that creates a safe space for those actively struggling with addiction to receive clean needles, Narcan counseling, and resources for recovery.

I was a strong proponent.

I appreciated my church's mission.

I appreciated that my church's mission was being lived out through the closed closet, the medical clinic, uh, in a group and now TCHRC.

I often wondered if things might have been different if my neighbor's daughter had access to TCHRC.

In 2024, they collected 4,100 used syringes for proper disposal.

They distributed 6,721 Narcan kits.

They reported 563 overdose reversals.

They enrolled 165 new individuals in their program.

They connected 141 individuals to community resources such as food, clothing, mental health, and housing.

The reality is that West Salem is a community where I've seen many things.

People walking their children and dogs, people waiting in line for food, adorable trick-or-treaters, and a consistent police presence.

But I've never seen a discarded needle in the park or on the sidewalk.

I feel safe and secure in West Salem.

Our community is city life.

It offers the convenience of downtown Winston-Salem.

Tonya Sheffield, 2700 Rinolda Road.

Winston Salem 127106.

Everyone that's here in support of Happy Hill, please stay in.

Thank you all.

Thank you.

I appreciate you.

I'm gonna keep this quick.

I emailed every one of you guys.

First of all, let me back up.

Good evening, Mayor.

Good evening, Mayor Pro Tem.

Good evening.

Council members, how y'all doing?

All right.

Thank you.

I emailed you guys, uh I want to say Friday and then earlier today.

And so you understand that we do have a plan.

Also, I want you to understand that we can do this ourselves here in this city with partners that offer true low income affordable housing for those who need it the most.

You understand that the problem with affordable housing here is that phrase affordable housing.

Affordable for who this community has been displaced, stomped on, traumatized for years.

And I told you, it's not your fault, but y'all are the remedy.

Understand that.

Y'all can do this.

Do something better, different than you've been doing before.

This is historical, and you are the solution.

Vote against this outsider coming in.

Our community trying to tell us what we want.

We've been talking to the community.

We know what they want.

And we want to share it with you.

Like I said, we have a plan.

Are you willing to listen?

The Hope Six Grant or the Hope Six Project promised those who were displaced that they were going to come back.

Not only that, you promised the opportunity for homeownership.

We already have apartments that have exorbit rents that people can't afford to stay in.

I'm one of those.

It's crazy.

So we have to fight for those who don't who can't come in and tell you this.

Thank you for your time and vote the right way.

Vote for the people.

Governor Paul Ford.

Good evening, Mr.

Mayor, members of the council.

No many of you all will, and I just want to stand in support of Happy Hill Neighborhood Association and the concerns that were just raised.

There's really two questions that need to be asked every time there is a development proposal that comes before the City Council, and that is one, does it make a contribution towards repairing the harm of the past?

And two, does it build for a better future?

And that's the real question that is going to be before this council as this decision is made.

There are partners here locally, namely the Equitable Home Ownership Project as well as others.

We're ready to work with Happy Hill Neighborhood Association so that the people of this community are actually driving the decisions and the plans that are made for what to do with this land.

We know that the story of displacement is one that has happened not just here in Winston-Salem, but all over the country.

And so there's an opportunity here to set an example of making things right, okay, and working with community partners, not those from out of state, okay, working with community partners who can help based on the track record they've established to repair the harm of the past and build for a better future.

The Equitable Home Ownership Project has established and built homes there.

Sunset Drive has successfully brought families through the first-time home buyer program, black whole households, increase the number of black homeowners, okay, and set that track record.

So we've got those partners right here.

We don't need to look outside to Missouri or anywhere else.

And so I urge you all to take this opportunity to set the example that can turn a corner for the future for this city.

Thank you.

Thank you, very much forward.

Elizabeth Matfield.

Apologize, Ms.

Matfield.

I inadvertently skipped you.

No worries.

My name is Elizabeth Matfeld, and I live at 934 Huckridge Circle in Winston-Salem, and I serve as the executive director of Positive Wellness Alliance.

I'm not here to ask for funding or to ask for your support for my organization.

Sadly, that time has passed in Positive Wellness Alliance, an organization that has served the community for over 30 years is closing its doors at the end of 2025.

What I am here to ask is that you consider the closing of PWA as the canary in the coal mine for what is to become of people living with chronic and long-term illnesses in Forsyth County.

A couple of important health-related items to consider when making budget decisions and other complex decisions that will impact the community.

PWA was the last nonprofit serving the complex needs of people living with HIV.

While people can still access medical care in the community, the complex needs that include prevention information, support for housing needs, mental health support, and a network for social support will be lost to this population.

Advances in medical science mean that people are living with HIV, not dying.

But this relies on people with HIV being able to access medical care and stay compliant with their treatment protocol.

PWA has been instrumental in supporting between 200 and to 250 people to access care and maintain a non-transmissible viral load.

I cannot predict what the percentage of clients that will be impacted by the potential Medicaid and Medicare cuts with increasing cost of health insurance.

But I can assure you that clients who are not able to access continuous medical treatment will become increasingly likely to transmit the HIV virus.

We are all at risk because of the lack of education, lack of access to medical care, lack of support for people facing a life with HIV.

This is the perfect storm for increasing HIV rates.

Thank you, Ms.

Matthew.

Marcy West.

Thank you.

Hello, Mayor Ramford Town Council members.

Um Marcy West, 331 Carolina Circle, also a candidate for county commission in District B.

I'm here to talk about the Happy Hill now Neighborhood Association.

I understand that they've been working with residents and they have a plan.

This is now the second situation we've got where we've got an outside developer that is working just with the local authorities, and they're not talking to the neighborhood associations.

This is something that we need to actually have the neighborhood associations be involved in these in these organizations.

Affordable housing needs to be affordable for the location that that is in.

If you talk about affordable housing across all of Winston Salem, you know that Buena Vista is going to completely overwhelm Happy Hills.

It needs to be truly local local.

So I urge that you vote against this.

Thank you.

Good evening, City of Winston-Salem Council members.

My name is Brianna Roberts, and I'm a resident of Winston-Salem.

I'm here tonight to strongly oppose the ordinance expanding bans on camping and public park access, an ordinance that effectively criminalize homelessness and poverty in our city.

This proposal does not make our city safer or stronger.

It punishes those people who are trying to survive for carrying large bags, resting or seeking shelter when there is nowhere else to go, with no expansion of shelters, no public input, and $75,000 set aside for enforcement instead of housing solutions.

This is not public safety, it's punishment.

When you leave this meeting tonight and rest comfortably in your homes, remember that encampments have increased by 1,300 percent since the laws were in for first adopted.

This rise does not mean failure of our people.

It means failure of policy.

Ultimately, failure of leadership for anyone who supports it.

And let's be honest, many of us are only few missed paychecks away from being in the same position.

If you do not have a year's worth of savings, a stock pantry of food, homelessness isn't some distant issue.

It's a reality that could happen to any one of us.

We also can't ignore that some of those living in encampments are men and women who serve this country, veterans living with PTSD and untreated mental illness.

They sacrificed for our freedom, and now they are uh debated on whether they deserve the basic dignity of rest and safety.

That's not justice.

Winston Salem can lead differently.

We can invest in affordable housing, mental health care, and partnerships that help people get back on their feet.

We can be a city that protects its people, not one that pushes them further into the margins.

I urge you to reject the ordinance and work with our community toward real compassionate solutions.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Um Mayor Joyners, uh DDMs, Mayor and City Council.

I'm here to speak in uh in support of the Happy Hill Gardens, you know, neighborhood association.

This is a neighborhood that has been a bedrock of Winston Salem historically.

They they helped build old Salem.

They've worked in Haynes hosiery, made it a good corporate great corporation.

This is the neighborhood where the people have helped RJ Reynolds become a world-class, you know, corporation, and we needed to take care of this people here in Happy Hills.

We need to make sure there's affordable housing available for them.

And they deserve that because what they have given to this community, and I'm just speaking in support of them.

Good.

Thank you, Ms.

Muller.

Good evening, Mayor.

Mayor Pro Tem, members of the Council.

My name is Kwame Kia Shavers, 3850 Heatherview Lane.

And I know many of you may have not had a chance to read my email that I sent earlier, so let me reiterate.

I am requested earlier this year for the complaint against Chief William PN Jr.

to be made public, and it was denied by the city manager Patrick.

City manager Patrick Payton upheld by Mayor Jones.

As many of you know, I am proudly running for office and hold myself to the highest standard of integrity and transparency.

And I believe if I'm asking the community to support me, and if they in return asked for explanations about this incident, I would like to provide tangible documentation for them to review.

Yes, I do have the documentation that I turned in, and also the result from City Manager Patrick Pate, but I believe in full transparency, and it is essential, and we it should be automatic, especially for individuals who hold office, whether elected or appointed as the highest ranking officer in his agent agency.

One would think that he would know what's permissible for criminal charges and should have a clear understanding that idle threats do not work with individuals who are steadfast and transparent.

I think that it's imperative that we release the file so that the community has a clear understanding of what happened.

It was some egregious um allegations made against myself, and I would like that public.

I'm not like many of you who shy away from the truth, who shy away from transparency because the truth doesn't hurt me, no matter how embarrassing it may be.

And if you have nothing to hide, then release the file.

Okay, thank you.

Susannah Watkins.

Thank you, Mayor Joins, Mayor Pro Tem Adams and City Council, Susanna Watkins, 925 Marguerite Drive, 27106.

And I am here to encourage the city to pursue energy efficiency in city operations.

Um my colleague is here with me.

We're going to get done in under two minutes.

Um I want to uh appreciate the steps already taken.

There are many that the city has done, uh purchasing hybrid and electric vehicles for the city fleets, natural landscaping ordinances for uh homes and native and natural park lands uh park landscaping ordinances in some areas.

That's just a few of many that have happened.

Looking forward, though, it would be great to improve and and and really be aggressive in pursuing uh efficiency in city operations.

The facilities management plan will be an enormous help in anticipating and meeting city facilities needs.

Umergy management should be an integral part of that plan.

Umergy management brings savings to the city budget of 40,000 plus.

And efficient infrastructure such as uh HVAC systems makes Winston more resilient during extreme weather events.

I will refer to you.

Mayor joins, Mayor Pro Tem Adams and Council, Bill Blancado, 1860 New Shore Court.

I live in the South Ward.

I encourage you, I understand having facilities assessment done later this year, next year.

I would really encourage you to look at upgrading our lighting to LEDs.

My personal experience, if you do that, you have better lights, brighter lights, less maintenance, and a much lower electric bill.

They can help you fund some of these other initiatives that some of these folks have been talking about tonight.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Mr.

Blancado.

Johnson Suter.

Good evening, all of the city council.

My name is Brooke Johnson Souter.

I live at 334 Pennsylvania Avenue.

I am here to speak on behalf of the Happy Hills Homeowners Association request regarding land use in their neighborhood.

What are my qualifications tonight on the issue of land use planning?

My great-grandfather was a mayor of this town and a city school superintendent.

Griffith School was named for him.

My grandfather was one of the original developers of the Ardmore neighborhood.

My dad came home from World War II and founded WTOB radio station.

I am now a retired teacher, having taught in five different states, everything from preschool to community college.

And I am had the opportunity in the 1950s at first hand to see the destruction caused by the building of State Route 52 and Interstate 40, plowing right through the heart of our city and its neighborhoods.

My grandparents lost their home.

The irony is that the fledgling old Salem was unable to save the Starmaker's home, which was where they were living on Church Street, and I think of it every year at Christmas when the Moravian star is used.

Happy Hill was not happy when I knew it.

It lacked street lights, paved roads, running water, sewer connections to homes as late as the mid-1960s.

But were those homes improved or cared for?

No.

They were torn down to create the campus for the school of the arts.

Public land by definition belongs to all of us, no matter who.

I urge you to support the neighborhood and community and listen to the cedar.

Council members, uh, we are at the 30-minute time frame.

Is it with our objective?

Can we uh extend it by another 10 minutes?

That sounds good.

Okay.

Fleming El Amin, please.

Fleming Laman, 5400 Novak Street, Honorable Mill Jones, Honorable Diddy Adams, Member O'Tim, and distinguished councilman.

I'm going to represent the Persythe or the Country Club Annex community.

They put me in as chairman for some reason.

I would like for all members to please stand on the committee.

And we're here to raise three issues.

Speed bumps require our neighborhood for safety reasons.

Our honorable council lady, Ms.

Burke has given us some instructions on how to do that.

We're in contact with Mr.

Hutchins.

We understand those are process to come before you again or to go forward.

It's urgent that we get this done as soon as possible before someone gets hurt.

Those of us of my age still walk in the community, and it's dangerous now.

So the speed bumps are necessary, not just an option.

The second one is safety issues.

Now, the I think his name is Jenkins, has been in touch with me, the police division person, because I reported a couple of incidents of costs being broken into, which is very unusual.

I've been there 25 years, and I've never heard of that before.

Even stolen out of driveways.

It's an urgent matter.

So we would like to see an increase in you know some kind of uh systemic uh routes by the patrol of police coming through the neighborhood.

One of our neighbors said they came in his job at two o'clock in the morning with his cameras on, and still stole his car in three minutes.

So it's planned, it's not just accidental.

So in it assistance, and that would be greatly appreciated.

And thank you, Councilman Burke, for responding so rapidly to that concern.

The last one is debris increase in the neighborhood.

You know, most of us uh be's investment is our homes.

So we'd like to maintain a quality control and also have a beautiful neighborhood.

And uh Coach Hayes has been on the top of that case quite a bit as our hero in that regard, but we need a little bit more focus on that as well.

Clean up our neighborhood more.

We're gonna establish again community watch communities and blood captains.

That's our process now to do our part in this method because you can't do it alone.

Thank you for the time.

Thank you, Mr.

Alamine.

Matthew Mayors.

My name is Matthew Mayers.

I live at 2844 Wesley and Lane.

Um I came with a friend to share this comment time with, but she may be stuck over in the overflow room.

I'm not sure.

Uh if you're there, Don, come on down.

Um thank you.

Uh for this.

No, that's not Don.

Like, yeah, that's Kathy.

But come on up anyway.

Anyway, thank you.

Um, I'm especially thankful for the uh the announcement that you're going to be having this um the facilities condition assessment coming up.

Um I know that's a weird thing to be thankful for, you know, fixing old buildings, but 16 major facilities are going to get a uh very rigorous energy audit, which is going to give you some great recommendations for ways you can save energy and money to put towards a lot of programs that you've heard about tonight that people are asking for.

So I I really urge uh everyone here and the staff to take those recommendations very seriously.

And go LED light bulbs, please.

It's very simple.

Spend a dollar today, save six by the time you have to change that light bulb.

Spend that money on something good.

Thank you.

Hi, I'm Catherine Stubner and I'm 1834 Wake Forest Road, and I'll just put in a quick word for the same thing.

Light bulbs is a relatively inexpensive thing to buy, and any money that you save from that can be put towards much like the ones that you've heard about this evening.

Thanks.

Good evening, Mayor Joins and Council members.

My name is Alisa Crawford, and I stand here on behalf of the residents and descendants of Happy Hill, a historically black community that has deep roots and immeasurable value to this city's history.

We've recently learned that an out-of-town developer is seeking to purchase land within our neighborhood.

While we understand the importance of growth and development, we strongly believe that the that the first opportunity to buy this land should belong to the people who have built it, lived, and sustained this community for generations.

Our goal isn't to stop progress, it is to ensure that progress includes us.

We are asking the council to support measures that prioritize current and former residents the access to home to homeownership in this area.

This would allow us to preserve our history, maintain our sense of belonging, and build generational generational stability rather than displacement.

Our community, our community needs a fair chance to reclaim and reinvest in the land that has always been ours, fulfilling the promise of home ownership to the residents of Happy Hill.

We want our community built for its residents not to be casualties of it.

Happy Hill is much more than a business proposal, but a home to many, many people of all backgrounds.

And to fulfill that promise of home ownership would be immeasurable.

And thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Grace Price.

Hi, can you hear me?

Okay.

Um bear with me, because this is my first time.

Um I'm here about the uh section 38 City ordinance.

Um specifically the prohibition of like large personal items in parks, um, and criminalizing like sleeping on the street and all that.

Um they supposed to sleep.

We don't have nearly enough shelters.

Um, I mean, it's difficult enough to make ends meet if you have a job, but if you're constantly being fined where people supposed to sleep.

Thank you, Grace.

Um, I think we should have please give me a name and address for name and address.

Oh, I will do that.

Council and fellow residents.

I think I think we should have a couple more minutes left.

Um my name is Tony Indege, 1713 Chapel Street.

Thank you.

Um, many of y'all were here here at the No King's rally against authoritarianism and abuse of power.

And it's uh sadly ironic that I'm here to talk to you about this proposed ordinance.

I was wondering if you all know that the Nazi regime when when it came to power, there were hundreds of thousands of unhoused Germans.

Tens of thousands of those Germans were labeled asocials instead of the concentration camps, not for specific crimes, but for poverty and non-conformity.

So it just made me think if a similar regime were to take power in this country, how much would they really need to change?

The mechanisms are already in place.

Mass surveillance, math, militarized police incarceration facilities capable of holding millions.

This is not a public safety ordinance.

This is an anti-homeless ordinance.

It targets people who are unhoused or living day to day in unstable conditions.

It criminalizes survival, punishes visibility, and makes so-called public parks inaccessible to anyone who doesn't fit a sanitized image of public life.

Sir, your time.

Tony Nedge.

Free speech.

Shorten park hours and vague enforcement rules could be used to shut down evening gatherings.

If you can't assemble at the dark, you can't protest injustice when it happens.

When you criminalize poverty, you criminalize humanity.

You criminalize the humanity of your society.

You give the tools of authoritarian power to the criminals in charge.

Those who hold wealth while morons go without shelter.

Not because shelter is unavailable, but because the profit motive is placed upon above humanity and dignity.

Thank you.

Councilmember, with your permission, we'll hear these last uh three.

He's already spoken.

Good evening, Councilmembers.

Uh Thomas Lee, 633 Granville Drive.

Uh, if I could ask all those uh here supporting Twin City Harm Reduction Clinic to stand.

Thank you.

Um Council members, I live in West Salem, right down the street from Twin City Harm Reduction Clinic.

Frequently, the safety of kids is touted out as a trump card against programs like this.

Uh, and this is frequently happened on our community message boards.

Uh Council members, I have a family of three children, all under eight.

I walk my children daily around the neighborhood every Sunday to church, and I am not afraid for them.

If anything, I feel safer for them for having this program in my neighborhood.

My wife and I both recognize when we bought our house the moving into a neighborhood right outside of downtown that would carry similar challenges to living in downtown.

Urban centers seem to be where the brokenness created by unjust systems is most palpably manifest, and it's no different here in Winston.

We will not solve these problems by moving programs like TCHR out of my neighborhood.

So long as people struggle with addiction, and so long as our city lacks proper public safety nets to help those individuals.

We need programs like Twin City Harm Reduction, and we need it where people can easily access it.

We need it in West Salem.

We need it in my neighborhood.

Thank you.

Elizabeth Lees.

Elizabeth Lees.

Elizabeth Lees.

Okay.

Don Lewis.

Don Lewis.

I was gonna say I don't believe I see her.

She's in the Alderball.

Okay.

Yeah.

Miss Lewis in the other overflow room.

All right, thank you.

We'll close the public comment period.

Thank you, everyone, for your patience tonight, and let us kind of adjust it a little bit so we can get everybody a chance to speak.

Uh Councilmember entertain a motion to adjourn.

So move.

Motion by Mayor Pro Tim, second by Councilmember Burke.

All those in favor adjourning, please say aye.

Aye.

Anyone opposed?

We're adjourned.