City Council - Regular Meeting

Hey, Denver. It's time for the weekly general session of your Denver city council. Tonight's coverage of Denver city council starts now.

Thank you for taking the time to join us for Denver City Council's meeting. Today is Monday, 04/20/2024. Tonight's meeting is being interpreted into Spanish. Sam or Jasmine, would you please introduce yourself and let our viewers know how to enable a translation on their devices?

Yes. Of course. Thank you for having us. Hello, everyone. My name is Sam Guzman with the CLC joining you virtually through Zoom.

And along with my colleague Jasmine, we will be interpreting today's meeting into Spanish. Please allow me a quick minute while I give instructions in Spanish on how to access interpretation. And thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Sam. Just wanna make an announcement to the public. I'm sure you all saw we have a huge event going out out front. So just use caution. It's the four twenty rally. So just use caution when you're leaving the City And County Building because there's lots of people out there, and it's gonna get loud. I heard Snoop Dogg gets on right around 04:20, which is in the middle of this meeting. So thank you all for your patience during this rally that we're having. Welcome to the Denver City Council meeting of Monday, 04/20/2026. Councilmembers, please join councilmember Torres in the pledge of allegiance.

Thank you. Council members, please join council member Torres as they lead us in the Denver City Council land acknowledgment.

Thank you, madam president. The Denver City Council honors and acknowledges that the land on which we reside is the traditional territory of the Ute, Cheyenne, and Arapaho peoples. We also recognize the 48 contemporary tribal nations that are historically tied to the lands and make up the state of Colorado. We honor elders past, present, and future, and those who have stewarded this land throughout generations. We also recognize that government, academic, and cultural institutions were founded upon and continue to enact exclusions and erasures of indigenous peoples.

May this acknowledgement demonstrate a commitment to working to dismantle ongoing legacies of oppression and inequities and recognize the current and future contributions of indigenous communities in Denver.

Thank you. Madam secretary, roll call.

Council member Flynn. Here. Heinz. Here. Lewis. Present. Perry? Here. Zeller?

Here.

Alethas? Here. Gilmore? Here. Gonzales Ramirez? Here. Cashman? Here. Romero Campbell?

Here.

Torres? Here. Watson? Here. Madam president Sandoval? Here. 13 members present.

There are 13 members present. Council has a quorum. Approval of the minutes. Are there corrections to the minutes of April 13? Seeing none, the minutes stand approved. Council announcements. Are there any council announcements from members of council? Councilmember Alvidrez. Thank you

so much, council president. I wanna share a couple of events this week in District 7. We have the e waste event. West Wash Park registered neighborhood association is hosting their annual e waste recycling event this coming Saturday. Drop off anything from old speakers, laptops, kitchen appliances, cell phones, vacuums at the Royal Crest Building this Saturday, April 25 from 10AM to 1PM.

Please check out Lucky seven socials for a full list of items they will or will not be accepting. Denver on on another note, the Front Range Passenger Rail, as they've been hosting their community conversation town halls, will have a q and a at South High School this coming Wednesday from six to 07:30PM. This is an opportunity to learn more about the project, ask the team questions, and provide valuable community input, and have your voice heard. So hope to see you there. Thank you, council president. Thank you.

Council member Watson?

Yes. We have a the first of our Welton next steps study along with the regional transportation district, the community. We'll be having a discussion about next steps of Welton and our corridor. That begins from 05:30 to 7PM. It's a virtual meeting. Folks are able to sign on virtually to attend this meeting. If you want more information, please reach out to my office, Denver I forgot my address. District9@denvergov.org. I apologize. So once again, the Welton Corridor next steps study public meeting.

There is a webinar from 05:30 to 7PM. You can reach out to my office at district9@denvergov.org for more information if you have not received the email to participate. Participate.

Thank you. Council parteman Mayor Campbell.

Thank you. In celebration of Earth Day on April 22, this Wednesday, we are organizing with Denver Parks and Rec some community projects projects in Bible Park. And so there will be two separate groups that have already we thank you to everybody who's already signed up, but we'll be out there all day really focused on enhancing and restoring our local parks. Super excited about it. I'll be out there. Bring some sunblock, and basically, what we'll be doing is mulching, litter cleanup, trail maintenance, and general beautification efforts designed to improve the neighborhood and green spaces. So happy Earth Day. Councilwoman Gonzalez Gutierrez.

Thank you, madam president. We have quite a few events going on this week. First and foremost, regarding municipal sentencing, the ordinance that's the ordinance proposal that's coming through council. We have three, online options for community meetings, tomorrow at 4PM, Wednesday at 06:30PM, and then on Saturday the twenty fifth at 10AM. And to get access to the links, you can we'll be sending out newsletter, and also everything will be posted on social media so that community can learn more about the bill that we're proposing.

The second thing is myself and councilwoman Parody are cohosting again this year with the office of independent monitor, the community forum. With office of independent monitor, their annual report release along side our safety departments will also be in attendance. So please access there's a link to register if you would like to attend and learn more about that. And then the last thing, that will be tomorrow, Tuesday at 5PM. And then the last thing that will also be tomorrow at 6PM, myself, councilman Cashman, have our final round of community feedback sessions.

We've had four in person on the registered neighborhood organization work that we're doing, and this will be the fifth community feedback session. This one will be virtual at 6PM tomorrow. Thank you, madam president.

Thank you. In Northwest Denver, we're also having a Earth Day celebration at Sloan's Lake or Berkeley Park. You're we're looking for volunteers this Wednesday from eight to eleven or twelve to three. And then also on Friday, May 1 at 04:30, we're having the grand opening of La Raza Park in celebration of Cinco de Mayo. So hope to see you on Friday, May 1 at 04:30 at La Raza Park. Seeing no other comments seeing other announcements, there are no presentations. There are no communications. There is one proclamation being read this afternoon. Council member Cashman, would you please read proclamation zero five five one?

Yeah. Thank you, madam president. This is proclamation twenty six zero five five one. Proclamation honoring Earth Day fifty six, 04/22/2026. Whereas clean soil, water, and air are essential to the health of our planet, the people, and other creatures who live on it, and the resources we take from it.

And whereas on 04/22/1970, millions of Americans came together to celebrate the first Earth Day with students, teachers, activists, elected officials, and countless others committing to confront urgent environmental issues of the day. And whereas prevailing science indicates exacerbated by human behavior is continuing at a dangerous pace that unless reversed quickly will lead to even more serious environmental challenges that threaten to alter where we're able to live, live, live, play, and grow our food, and whereas apathetic corporations and governmental policies continue to rely on ever increasing fossil fuel emissions that have already created havoc for our environment leading to the extension extinction of animal and plant species, the fouling of our air, lair land, and water, and multiple challenges to human health, and whereas evolving technologies, including the rapid rapid growth of data centers using previously unheard of amounts of water and power to process the massive volume of information generated by our ever increasing reliance on electronic devices and the explosion of artificial intelligence. And whereas the historic reality of environmental degradation and injustice in this country has been felt primarily by low income communities of color and that current federal policies are poised to accelerate those impacts and whereas our current federal administration is irrationally rolling back policies of mitigation and putting forth new policies that will further aggravate the climate crisis in order to increase investor profits.

And although the need for individual responsibility is clear, many of our largest corporations, institutions, and governments are not adequately aligned to solve this crisis. And whereas realizing federal indifference and objectives, we understand that local governments stand in a place of opportunity to institute policies that lead to rapid emissions reductions. And whereas Denver strives to be a leader not only in the state of Colorado, but also the nation, and that leading by example starts with how the city function turn functions internally. We call on city council as a body, all Denver city departments, agencies, and the administration to be outspoken champions of change and to ourselves implement the sustainable pro policies we espouse to our residents residents no matter how small. And whereas Denver has taken many actions to honor our responsibility as global citizens, including among them creation creation of the Office of Climate Action Sustainability and Resiliency to embed sustainable practices in all governmental functions and to lead Denver's policy making efforts in that regard.

Expansion of the solid waste program by the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure to increase composting to all residents as well as implementing the Denver Connector micro transit service in several Denver neighborhoods and community community planning and developments institution of the Denver Green Code and commitment to the resilient landscape project among many others. And whereas climate resiliency has been included in Denver's citywide goal for 2026 aiming to install 5,000 clean energy systems citywide, heat pumps, solar arrays, EV chargers, etcetera, and develop 50 acres of green infrastructure, including reimagining the turf surrounding the city and county building with low water natural landscaping. And whereas members of the Denver City Council are in full support of efforts to empower residents to create sustainable neighborhoods across the city and to empower city agencies to accomplish their duties with the least possible impact on resources. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed by the Denver City Council, if the Denver City Council joins with citizens around the globe to mark Wednesday, 04/22/2026 as Earth Day fifty six in section two that this council takes this opportunity to state our commitment to effective environmentally friendly policies that will promote the health of planet Earth for future generations.

And finally, section three, that the clerk of the city and county of Denver shall affix the seal of the city and county of Denver to this proclamation and that a copy be delivered to the office of climate action and sustainability and resiliency.

Thank you. Council member Cashman, you motion to adopt.

Yes. I move that proclamation 26 dash zero five five one be adopted.

It has been moved and seconded. Comments by members of council. Council member Cashman.

Yeah. Thank you, madam president. Sorry for such a long proclamation, but with the situation going on in our nation's capital right now where, along the lines of the roll back we've seen in human rights and civil rights, there's been a massive roll back in climate rights and a denial of the science that tells us that unless we change our behavior, there there are serious consequences coming down the road on top of what we're already seeing. The weather has become more and more unpredictable no matter where you're living. Colorado is seeing higher temperatures, increasing wildfires, etcetera, etcetera.

And we are facing, as this council is well aware, new technologies that put additional pressures on our limited resources. And so we need to, more than ever, with a view you know, council president always talks about looking at the next seven generations. As as a grandparent, I'll look past leaving the world for my children but for my grandchildren. And, I can't stick my chest out and be proud at what I see coming down the road. So with that, madam president, I'll just thank you for the opportunity to present this proclamation and, hope for my colleagues to support as well.

Thank you. Councilwoman Alvidrez?

Thank you, council president. Thank you, councilwoman Cashman, for bringing this forward. It is an important thing to continue to lift up. I also appreciate that you brought up the the connector that's been really great for West Denver to be able to have access to the rest of the city and for our air quality, which is so important. I think about a lot as a mom, my son, trying to play outside on a hot summer day and not knowing what pollutants are polluting, including his lungs.

So I really appreciate that. I really appreciate Kasar's work lately, especially around trees in the West Side, trees that we really need. I've been having a meeting about the reconstruction of Alameda, and I bring up trees, and there's so much pushback. We have pushback in every corner. It's too hard to plant trees. It's too hard to get rid of grass. It's too hard to not take a car trip. And so I think that the more we lift up these issues, and it's amazing to have an ally like CASR to really help us push in community when we have issues. So thank you to to everyone on the CASR team, and thank you, councilman Cashman, for bringing this forward.

Thank you. Thank you. Council presidents. Thank you. I see no other speakers in the queue. Madam secretary, roll call.

Council members Flynn.

Aye.

Heinz.

Aye.

Lewis? Aye. Perry? Aye. Sawyer? Aye.

Alvidrez? Aye. Gilmore? Gonzales Gutierrez? Aye. Cashman? Aye. Romero Campbell? Aye. Torres? Aye. Watson?

Aye.

Madam president Sandoval?

Aye. Madam secretary, close the voting. Announce the results.

13 ayes.

13 ayes. Proclamation zero five five one has been adopted. We now have five minutes for the proclamation acceptance. Council member Cashman, who will you be calling inviting to accept the proclamation.

Yeah. Thank you, madam president. You know, the city and county of Denver is very fortunate to have a very vibrant and hardworking, office of climate action, sustainability, and resiliency, doing enviable work that other jurisdictions can look at and emulate. And I'd like to call up the director of that department, Liz Babcock.

Good afternoon, council members. Thank you for having me today. Thank you, Councilman Cashman, for sponsoring this proclamation. As you know, the Climate Office was created by this body in 2020, and since that time we've made enormous strides to advance our work. Our team really shows up every day with a sense of urgency.

We know that the challenges we're facing on climate are significant, and a lot of the impacts will be felt most at the local level where we see, you know, increasing risk from extreme heat, extreme weather, drought, and also localized air pollution. So climate solutions really are quality of life solutions. They are public health solutions. They are affordability solutions. All of the things that we will be doing and are doing to address climate change will clean our air locally.

So regardless of what is happening on a global scale, we are doing the things that are right here for our community today. So I just want to thank you all for the support that you provide to our office and to this work. We are going to be updating our five year plan this year, and we are really taking a look at what has been effective, what more do we need to do, and excited to work with all of you on advancing our policies and working in your districts, working with your community members, with your businesses, to really make sure that everybody can be part of the solutions. We really do try to design our programs and to do our work in a way that everyone can participate. We take the charge to invest in our communities very seriously and we put equity and justice at the center of our work.

So just thank you again for your partnership, for your leadership, and thank you so much for the proclamation today, Councilman.

Thank you. Madam Secretary, please read the bills for introduction.

From the South Platte River Committee, 26 dash zero three nine one, a bill for an ordinance changing the zoning classification for 3232 Larimer Street in five points, and 26 dash zero four seven six, a bill for an ordinance changing the zoning classification for 4458 North Pearl Street, 5275 North Franklin Street, and 4621 North Telluride Street in Globeville.

Thank you. Councilmembers, this is your last opportunity to call out an item. Council member Torres, will you make the motions for us this evening?

Yes, madam president.

Thank you. I'll do a recap. Under resolutions, under bills for introduction, council bill zero four seven six has been called out for postponement by council member Gilmore. Under bill for final consideration, council bill zero four two two has been called out for comments by council member Gilmore. Under pending, no items have been called out. Madam secretary, please put the first item on our screens, council bill zero four two two, a bill for an ordinance approving a proposed donation of surplus American bison from the city and county of Denver to American Indian tribes and American Indian nonprofit organizations. Council member Gilmore, please go ahead with your comments on council bill zero four two two.

Thank you. I want to thank the members of the American Indian community who, for decades, have continued to educate and allow not only, elected representatives, like folks on this body, but also city agency employees, specifically Denver Parks and Rec and their mountain parks, to learn about the importance of buffalo, historically, but more importantly, the importance of buffalo being considered relatives to American Indian people. And so through that long term, many year education that especially especially the the TallBull family, want to call out. Bill and Rich and Rosalie TallBull, they have dedicated their entire lives to making sure that the city and county of Denver are aware of the history that city leaders, that doctors and lawyers and others came together as individual malicious and went out and created great harm and horrific acts. And for decades, the city and county of Denver has conveniently ignored that history.

And I really wanna thank the elders of the TallBull community, but then I can't forget Blaine TallBull, Clark TallBull, Lewis TallBull, who I hope that we hear tonight, and his partner, Esther, as well. You know, they literally live and breathe, teaching others about their culture so that we will care enough to protect what we do have. And the buffalo that are at our mountain parks are descendants of the Yellowstone herd. They are the last. There were about 300 buffalo left by the time The United States had committed horrific genocide and killed the majority of them because they knew that it was the major food source for American Indian people.

And then that forced American Indian people into circumstance that they needed help. They needed food. And so they were pushed towards the cities, and Denver became a relocation site as well, further removing people from their land, from that relation as a relative, and especially the buffalo. And so through the creation of the buffalo return program, there was a sunset on it. Because whenever you do anything in government, you've always gotta do a pilot or you have to do a little bit, so, you know, nobody gets too upset about it.

But finally, it's no longer a a pilot or it's gonna have a sunset on it. It will be in perpetuity. It will be forever. Forever that the city and county of Denver never again auctions off buffalo to the highest bidder. They will always go to recognize tribes or nonprofits that work to restore buffalo.

And it's very apropos, councilman Cashman, when you talk about Earth Day and climate change and mitigating the negative effects. It has scientific carbon sequestration increases so exponentially that you cool down the planet. So if we wanna do better for the environment, we need to work on more buffalo restoration, not only in Denver, but in Arapahoe County, County, in Adams County, across this entire state. And there are reports called the truth and reconciliation reports that were written by a group of amazing leaders, and it outlines outlines exactly what they want to see from local policymakers, this body, from folks across the park at the state, and federally. And so I plant that seed because it is so important.

And I just have to say that personally, I've been honored to witness interactions with American Indian leaders such as Rick Williams and him talking to the buffalo and the buffalo talking back to Rick and that relationship and how important and how until you are in that that space maybe at Wozu in Standing Rock where they have buffalo right now from Denver that they now have babies up there. And so there's babies that are descendants of this herd in our mountains all across The United States running around, making more babies. And sometimes as they give themselves to the people, the people also can harvest, can take a buffalo so that they can then teach their history through using every single part of that relative for them to survive and carry that on. And so it is a huge honor to help get this through and to support it, and I look forward to the next steps that are taken to expand this. But you heard it here first, and we should have thousands of buffalo in the state of Colorado at some point if we're really gonna get serious about climate change and how we cool the earth down.

And so thank you. I'll be voting in favor.

Councilmember Albytaz? Thank you.

Thank you for your leadership on this issue, councilwoman Gilmore. It's been an honor to see and learn, especially about the previous council with council president, councilwoman Torres, and my predecessor, who's now director Clark on I forgot when he this wasn't Parks and Rec Committee to acknowledge that he was a part of passing this too, and forget that my predecessor is now the director of parks, and so he gets to continue that work. And to your husband, Scott Gilmore, and to Shannon, who's also leading this work from the park side of things. So I'm extremely humbled to even just be the small part and get to vote on this, which I feel like is so much work that others did to get us here. Thank you.

That's a perfect. Thank you. Thank

you for all the work and all of the efforts and all the many hands that go into this. It really is a special time when we donate those buffalo back. So appreciate that this is gonna be codified. Madam secretary, council member Torres, would you please put council bill zero four seven six on the floor for publication?

Yep. I move the council bill 26 dash zero four seven six be ordered published.

It has been moved. Hold on. It has been moved.

Is it Yeah. It's okay.

There is a motion on the floor. Council member Gilmore, what would you like to do with council bill zero four seven six?

Thank you. I have

a question for either parks or it might be a question question of our legislative team. I'll just state the question, and we can hopefully find somebody to answer it. On the bill that I'm asking folks to postpone, on all of the documents, it looks like it only says the bill title is for an ordinance changing the zoning classification for 4458 North Pearl Street, 5275 North Franklin Street, and then 4621 North Telluride Street in Globeville. 4621 North Telluride is not in Globeville. That is in Green Valley Ranch in District 11.

And so I'm curious, is this bill title wrong and does it need to be refiled perhaps?

I don't know if there's someone from Parks. I didn't check if that location is in Globeville, if someone there could confirm it is or is not in Globeville. Good deal. Thank you.

Joe Green from Community Planning and Development. I can confirm that location is in Green Valley Ranch and that it's missing from the title, it looks like.

Like the bill title go ahead. Yeah.

State Looks like that Green Valley Ranch is missing from the bill title, one of the rezonings is in that neighborhood.

Okay. And so if the location is missing from that bill title, is it then advised that council votes this bill down to be refiled with the correct name in the title?

I'm Liz Wiegel with CPD as well. I'm hoping we have a city attorney on line because I think we could amend that title of the bill,

but they could

confirm if that's possible. Let's see. I think Adam Hernandez was on today. I don't know if we see him online.

Just give me one second. Nate Lucero is out, so just give me one second. Okay. I believe we can amend the bill title. One second real fast.

Sorry. Just one more moment.

I think we're having issues with our passed. And then they're looking at yeah. Because mine is going yeah. Mine's going blank and going back up. And so I yeah. I think we're having some tech problems, and Bryland's finding the answer just so the public knows what we're doing.

Okay. So what we can do is just motion to amend the little title. We're getting strict language right now.

Okay. Thank you. I'd like to recess for five minutes while we work on their tech issues and get the vote cast and get the script correct. So we'll recess for five minutes. We'll come I was gonna say we'll come back at 04:20.

We'll come back I think it is, like, in the movie, 04:20. No joke because that's no. That's ten minutes. So we'll come back at 04:15.

04:15. Perfect.

Let's come back at 04:20.

Wait. We could've come back at 04:20.

We will now reconvene from our repos. There is another motion on the floor. Council member Gilmore, what would you like to do with council bill zero four seven six?

Excuse me. I move that council bill 26 dash zero four seven six be amended in the following particulars. One, I move to amend council bill on page one, line six, insert Globeville after the words words 4458

North Pearl Street. One, line seven, insert Globeville after

5275 North Franklin Street. And three, on page one, line seven, strike the word Gloville and replace with Green Valley Ranch.

That has been moved and seconded. Comments by members of council on council bill zero four six seven. Council member Gilmore.

The purpose of this amendment is to correct a drafting error. 4621 North Telluride Street is in the statistical neighborhood of Green Valley Ranch and not Globeville.

Thank you. Madam secretary, we'll call on amendment to council bill zero four seven six.

Council members Flynn.

Aye. Aye. Lewis. Aye. Perry.

Lawyer. She's still saying Aye.

Albidarez. Aye. Gilmore? Aye. Gonzales Petietas? Aye. Cashman? Aye. Romero Campbell? Aye. Torres? Aye. Watson? Aye. Madam president Sandoval? Aye.

Madam secretary, close roll call on amendment to council bill zero four seven six. 12 ayes. 12 ayes. The amendment to council Bill zero four seven six has passed. Comments on council Bill zero four seven six as amended?

Seeing oh, council member Gilmore.

Thank you. I will be voting no on this bill tonight. I was gonna ask my colleagues, to vote on postponing this bill until we could get more accountability and transparency from Denver Parks and Rec on the District 11 parks maintenance facility. And since I'm clear that the postponement will fail tonight because Denver Parks and Rec bundled again this open space with properties that are in Globeville and then just conveniently under the radar put Green Valley Ranch in the same bill for that open space. That is not transparency in any way, shape, or form.

And this is directly tied to the zoning and the Cuernavaca maintenance facility and now the Sloan's Lake maintenance facility. There is a twenty twelve parks maintenance improvement study, and that clearly shows through core requested documents that Denver Parks and Rec plans to build addition to the 13,100 square foot maintenance maintenance facility that Parks is proposing to build in the city of Cuernavaca Park and then diverting $5,400,000 from a planned maintenance facility in the Green Valley Ranch neighborhood. And in the 2012 study, that maintenance shop in Green Valley Ranch was supposed to be 4,500 square feet. Parks and Rec is now proposing to put an 1,800 square foot prefabricated metal building in Green Valley Ranch, diverting 5,400,000. So, essentially, putting close to 20,000 square feet of maintenance facility in District 11 and leaving Green Valley Ranch with an 1,800 square foot maintenance shop.

I was council president during the rise bond process. It was referred to the ballot with a line item that in District 1 and District 11, it was 15,800,000 that the voters voted for. It was supposed to be $17,900,000 maintenance shop in D one and $17,900,000 maintenance shop in District 11. Parks is diverting $5,400,000. They are throwing away equity.

District 11 has the largest community of color out of every neighborhood in the city, number one and number two, eight 0239 and eight zero two four nine Montbello and Green Valley Ranch. This shows clearly that there is no transparency around what the Parks and Rec is doing, and so I appreciate my colleagues supporting tonight, taking the time to make sure that this legislation at least has Green Valley Ranch referenced in it because it is law. We just voted on it, but I will be a no on this because there are still unanswered questions. And Parks and Rec director Clark has never come to District 11 to answer these questions directly, and we're not gonna go away on it. So I will be a no tonight.

Thank you.

Thank you. Seeing no other comments in the queue. Council member Forrest, will you please put council bill zero four seven six on the floor for publication as amended?

Yes, ma'am.

I don't see where it's at.

Anyway, I move to put council bill 24 Dash zero four seven six on the floor as amended.

It's been moved and seconded. Madam secretary, roll call on council bill zero four seven six as amended.

Councilmember Flynn. Aye. Aye. Aye. Lewis. Aye. Chair. Loved. Perry.

Aye.

Zuider?

Aye. And in case you couldn't hear council member Perry, she said aye also.

Thank you.

Guilmore? No. Gonzales Gutierrez? Aye. Cashman? Aye. Romero Campbell? Aye. Torres? Aye. Watson? Aye.

Madam secretary, close the voting, announce the results.

12 ayes.

12 ayes. Council bill zero four seven six has been ordered published as amended. This concludes the items to be called out. All bills for introduction are ordered published. Council members, remember that this is a consent or black vote, and you will need to vote aye. Otherwise, this is your last chance to call out an item for a separate vote. Council member Torres, will you please put the resolutions for adoption and the bills on final consideration for final passage on the floor?

And that the resolutions be adopted and the bills on final consideration be placed upon final consideration and do pass in a block for the following items. 26 series, zero four six four, zero four six two, zero four seven five, zero four three seven, zero four three eight, zero four three nine, zero four four zero, zero four four one, zero four four two, zero four four three, zero four four four, 0445, 0446, 0448, 0449, 045804590460, 0461, 0465, series 25, 1979, series 26, 0405, 0472, 0467, 0501, 0466, 04680469047025208520 Series2604220390.

Thank you. It's been moved and seconded. Madam secretary, secretary, roll roll call. Call. Council Council member members Flynn. Flynn.

Aye. Aye. Lewis. Aye. Perry.

Aye.

Aye. Gilmore? Aye. Rosales Gutierrez? Aye.

Cashman? Aye.

Ramirez? Aye. Dodas? Aye. Watson? Aye. Madam secretary,

close the vote and announce results.

13 ayes.

13 ayes. The resolutions have been adopted, the bills have been placed upon final consideration and do pass. On Monday, 05/18/2026, council will hold a required public hearing on council bill zero three nine one, changing the zoning classification for 3232 Larimer Street in Five Points, and a required public hearing on council bill zero four seven six, changing the zoning classification for 4458 North Pearl Street, 5275 North Franklin Street in Louisville, and 4621 North Talley Wright Street in Green Valley Ranch. Any protest against council bill zero three nine one and zero four seven six may be filed with the council offices no later than noon on Monday, 05/11/2026. City council will provide a general public comment session to hear from the public on city matters except for any matter that is scheduled for a legally required public hearing.

The general public comment session will begin at 5PM. There being no other further oh, okay. Before we before we close the meeting, council member Gilmore, you'd like to take a

moment and proceed further. Yeah. Thank you very much,

council president

Sandoval. I would be honored to ask Buffalo

I'd like to mention my grandfather, my great great grandfather, it was told to me is that a long, long time ago, we had council just like this, and and everyone was there. Grizzly, wolf, badger, turtle, you know, the chief of the planes, the bison, each and every one of us were there and we would counsel up and make decisions. And a long long time ago, the bison and the two legged, the human beings, we made an agreement that those bison would give the ultimate sacrifice and provide life to our people. We made an agreement and they never they never stepped back on their agreement. It it's always been that way.

And it's like I'm already talking about it. Y'all mentioned it how the bison and the Indian people were were together. They were brother and sister. They took care of one another, looked out for one another, provided shelter and clothing and and kept our children fed. And then the government came along and found that yellow gold that makes white men go crazy, and they made decision to annihilate the buffalo.

Because with every dead buffalo meant a dead Indian, and the only good Indian is a dead Indian. So I wanna, you know, mention how significant, how important it is for us to be able to stand here on my own two feet right now and use my voice and make those sounds because they didn't want us to live. They didn't want our children to be alive. They didn't want our culture, our songs, our traditions, our our traditional way of life to exist. But somehow, some way creator made it so to where I'm here right now talking about these buffalo as our relatives.

And I'm mentioning my grandpa's name, and I'm carrying on doing my humble best each and every day to wake up in a positive way and move forward with our lives. Because everything was taken away from us. Everything was stripped from us. Our language, our culture, our songs, our traditions. And then they were replaced with something alien, something not of this world.

And now each and every one of us, our children are suffering. So I just wanna mention how honored I am to be able to use my voice here today and and speak good words upon behalf of our relatives, the buffalo. Creator made it so that we're still here to this day. So I just really give thanks to each and every one of you that support us, that give us love and wanna see us continue on, wanna see us grow, and then to hear the good news that our bison relatives can help cool this planet down, to hear the good news that our bison relatives can help cure our people of our mental illness, and our diabetes, and our depression. The bison are medicine to our people, and it's medicine to the earth, to our Mother Earth.

And Mother Earth has a fever right now. She's not doing too good. So I just really wanna express those things and say how good it feels in my heart. Makes me wanna cry. But they told us, you know, Cheyennes don't cry, you know. We we we teach our children not to cry because we were always running from something, always running from the cavalry, always running from the army, always running from somebody who wanted to cause harm and take our lives. So I'm trying to not get emotional. I'm trying to speak for

my

heart. And I just really wanna give thanks to if y'all can see me, it feels good to be seen. It feels good to have a voice in a place like this. Feels good to be able to speak up for the bison because they they can't speak up for themselves. They can't defend themselves.

And they're when that when they heard them gunshots, when they would shoot bison, the bison wouldn't run off. They'd they'd they'd stick their ground. They'd stand there and knocking each and every one of those bisons off till all the the whole prairie was bleached with bison bones. It's an ill sight to see, something I pray that we never have to witness or experience in our lifetime. So I just wanna say those few words and say those few things, you know, and I guess we can celebrate a victory today, maybe.

I'm still confused about what's really going on in the procedures and protocols of you people and what you guys got going. But if something today good happened, I wanna let you know that we're gonna celebrate. We're gonna we're gonna we don't clap, you know. Indians don't clap. We don't cheer like that, you know.

We we war hoop. So, just wanna, express those types of things and, really appreciate y'all being here and giving me a chance to express myself. So thank you, like, from the bottom of my heart. Seven generations back and seven generations ahead, we're moving forward. And I really appreciate being able to be here and for our relatives, you know.

Thank

you. I also have a brief correction to the record. Council bill zero four seven six due to technical difficulties, our secretary did not hear council member Parity's I vote. The amendment passed with a vote of 13 ayes, zero nays, not 12 ayes, and one abs one absence. There'd be no further business before this body. This meeting is adjourned. Thank you all.