City Council - Regular Meeting

Ladies and gentlemen, it's my pleasure to welcome you to the Highland park city council in person and virtual regular meeting scheduled for today. Uh, Tuesday, September 8th at 7. PM. Madam clerk, would you be kind enough to call the role here?

Thank you so much. Uh, the approval of the agenda city council, you've had a copy of the agenda.

Uh, what is your pleasure on item three, the approval of today's agenda? Hold on a second. And Ms. Monica, this, so there has been a request from CD to please remove item seven B under community development. That is the appointment of Teresa Johnson for the request of the direct fiber. That request has been made by the CD directors, the council is how you proceed with that is, is that your pleasure? As it relates to the approval of the agenda?

Good evening, I move to approve the agenda for city council meeting Tuesday, September 8 2026. With amendments. The first amendment is to remove Item B from Community Development, that's under seven, resolution approving the appointment of Theresa Johnson to City of Highland Park Tax Increment Financing Authority, the TIFA Board. Also to add Mr. Raymond Ramon Harris from AARP Michigan to our agenda.

Can we bring him in at item five?

At five?

Yep.

Yes, or before five.

Well, he'll become item five and then the ordinance will become six. Okay. Table item will be seven, community development will be eight, and then recreation will be nine, and that'll be it.

So again, to also add, Mr. Harris, Raymond, Ramon Harris from AARP Michigan to our agenda at number five.

Chair offers support. Do we have any questions, concerns? As it relates to the approval of today's agenda by the motion made by Ms. Manica, approval of today's agenda with two modifications. Questions, concern, consent? Madam Clerk, would you please call the roll on approval of today's agenda? no yes yes yes motion carries item four is the approval of the proposed minutes in person Item four is the approval of the proposed minutes for the in-person and virtual regular meeting that was held on July 6th. We haven't had a meeting since then. So those minutes are in front of you, members of council. What is your pleasure on the approval of the in-person and virtual regular meeting minutes held on July 6th?

I move to approve the proposed minutes for in-person and virtual regular meeting held July 6, 2026.

Support. Chair offers support. Questions, concerns, dissent? These minutes contain the entire record of our reading of the resolution establishing public safety event management policy for the city of pylon park and directing the preparation of a comprehensive public safety event management ordinance to protect the public health safety and welfare quality These minutes contain the resolution read into record. This is a resolution establishing the public safety event management policy in the city of Highland Park and directing the preparation of a comprehensive public safety event management ordinance to protect the public health, safety, and welfare and quality of life for the community. What did we end up deciding on that? Because we ashamed to have all done all that work. Well, City Council, I mean, Madam Clerk, would you please call the roll on the approval of the minutes from the July 6th meeting?

Councilman Ashaki?

No.

Councilwoman Mannequin?

Yes. Council President Robinson? I'm going to vote no because we had a meeting July the 20th and August the 17th and those minutes are in this packet, so no. Council President Thompson?

Yes. Motion does not carry. Okay, at this point in the agenda, We are turning the floor over to Mayor McDonnell to address council and the citizens. Mayor McDonnell is with us virtually. You should be able to see her on the screen. Mayor McDonnell, the floor is yours.

Good evening, city council members, Mr. President and sitting audience. Thank you for letting me have this time. I will not be before you long or on virtually long. Only have two things I want to remind everyone that tomorrow at 10 a.m. at the Justice Center, I have my coffee and conversation. I continue to ask people to come out and to sit and get your questions answered from the administration or concerning the administration's positions or and whatever you have going on that you need to be asked questions about. Please come out tomorrow at 10 a.m. if you can. and uh bring a friend because we have some good information coming and i want to make sure that you know about it also as you have known or saw we have uh just completed tearing down uh the highland towers apartment um for some is sad uh and for some it's a good thing um That building has been vacant for a very long time and it has had three fires, which compromised the foundation of it, which after trying to see if anyone would purchase it or no one wanted to purchase it because of the cost it would take to renovate it, millions of dollars. And so at this moment, for the safety of the citizens, the safety of the community, the health of the community. It has been torn down in the next month and a half. We have two more large buildings, three more large buildings coming down and roughly about 20 plus more houses that will be coming down in the neighborhood through the CDBG program. And so stay tuned for that. If you see it coming down, I know I saw a lot of people out there spectating and looking and some people were crying and some people were happy. But just know it was because of the safety and the hazardous of the environment. Children walk by that building every single day. We have one more right there that we're going to be taking care of and closing off again. people tear it open. And so we have to continue to make sure that we're securing it. Also, one last thing I want to just shout out, you know, our police department, and our fire department. They have been running through going through the neighborhoods and I saw pictures on Facebook of kids receiving little trinkets from them fire hacks. pictures with the police department you know kids are engaging we we have now lost our children to and in the way that of education where they're not interested in being police anymore or fire anymore or teachers uh so it's just good for uh them to be out there in the neighborhood talking to the kids and and spending time with them so i just want to shout out with them and uh we celebrate it about two weeks ago, 100 years of life for the Honorable Judge Clara Rich at the Charles H. Wright Museum. I know that we have about four or 500 year old plus citizens. If you have, you know the names of those people, I know four, I think it's one more. Can you please make sure that I get those names because we really want to celebrate every last one of, I know Ms. Woodard and some of the rest. Thank you, that's all I have.

Thank you so much, ma'am. Okay, ladies and gentlemen, we have one, two, three, four, five major items on the agenda. Item eight now under community development, there are one, two, three, four, five, six. items there i'll quickly go over the agenda the first is the second and final reading of the city of highland park tax exemption ordinance for gabriel apartments and townhouses we know we have thousands of residents living there depending upon this same thing it's the city of highland park tax exemption ordinance by highland manor we have thousands of our citizens that are depending on this uh today uh there's a table item a resolution to sell a residential vacant lot at 46 richmond to the property owner at 48 richmond under community development we have a resident um resolution approving appointments to the tiffa board for kiara berry uh myra taylor we also have a resolution approving the zoning text amendment for planning uh redevelopment projects resolution approving the zoning text amend Amendment regarding the detention and migration facilities. The next is a resolution to sell a residential vacant lot at 107 Elmhurst to the property owner of 111 and 115 Elmhurst, and a resolution to submit an application to MSHDA for a Michigan neighborhood grant. And last, under recreation, the resolution authorizing the acceptance of 100 trees from the greening of Detroit planted in the city of Highland Park right away. If you have comments on the agenda items, you're more than welcome to come up to the podium now. If you have general comments, you have an opportunity at the end of our agenda here, and we'll give you your two minutes. So if we have people that have comments for the items on the agenda that want to come forward. And I don't see any movement. You have a comment on the agenda, sir? Is your comment on the agenda? All right, come on up, please.

Ruben Duran, Ruben Duran, large East grand. Ruben Duran, block club, which includes bus street and all the sex. Ruben Duran, On July the sixth I asked the Council to give me an answer to five questions.

Ruben Duran, All Sir, I don't want to let me stop your time which item on the agenda is related to.

Ruben Duran, reference to item number five. number five that's aarp so that would be the second you mean item six the ordinance five ordinance a and b okay go ahead sir and i'll extend your time thank you the questions i gave on that day pertaining to these this tax exempt ordinance i was hoping not to have those answers to it the first question i asked was how long have they already been tax exempt you said that Did you get a chance to ask the ED that question so that the citizens can get the answer? No, we can't.

Your question stands, and then the person that can answer it is sitting over there, but we're not allowed to.

Okay, okay. But then it used to be HUD then. It wasn't Van Fox back then. It was HUD.

But they've been here many.

Okay. So out of the five questions, have any of those questions been answered? Also, since the answer is evidently known, there are homeowners in this city who need some tax breaks, who need some tax relief. There are some ordinances on the books that give citizens tax breaks. I don't hear them being shared with the citizens. I don't know if the citizens are even aware And they are tax breaks available. I would hope the city council would take that into consideration. That's too much like right. You know they're not going to do that.

All right. Thank you, sir. Anyone else that wants to speak on an agenda item?

Since when they started looking out for y'all. You need me a time. I'll wait. They look out for themselves.

Good evening, ladies. Once you state your name, I'll start your time.

Thank you. My name is .

Pleasure.

Go ahead, please. We don't have a lot to say.

We're here for the table item.

OK. Seven now. Seven. Yes, ma'am.

We are the homeowners and occupiers at . And I've been here a number of times. Yes. My mom more than me. She's been here every time. She's 90, and she's strong. I understand everything takes time, and I hope our tenacity and patience with this country is with you.

Did you say 2025?

We submitted the request in 2025.

Yeah, because this is the first time I'm seeing that. I ain't going to tell you no lie.

It's been tabled several times, and we have copies

Yeah, that's this year, but in 2025, I didn't see this at all. I believe you, I just didn't see it.

Thank you so much, ladies. I don't see anyone else moving towards the podium, so I'm going to assume that we don't have any other comments for the agenda. We're going to move into item five. I'm sorry, hold on a second. I got to check online. multitasking here i'd like to see i see no hands raised online we're going to move ahead with item five we had an amendment to our agenda we are fortunate to have mr ramon harris uh this young man came here early prior to the um meeting beginning in the workshop ending and he said he had something for the city of highland park a pretty unique um distinction and the honor that he wanted to share with us and so miss manica had him added to the agenda i'm going to turn the floor over to you mr harris you said you're going to be direct and brief i'm hold you today yes sir thank you so much um uh to the esteemed city council members my name is ramon harris arp

I'm here today on behalf of AARP Michigan to present this plaque in recognition of Highland Park being a part of the AARP network of age-friendly communities. With Michigan now among the nation's fastest aging state, we want to highlight and celebrate your community's commitment to making it a great place to live at every age and encourage you to push forward in that work. Being age-friendly means looking at the things that matter in our everyday lives, in housing, transportation, popular spaces, social connection, safety, and opportunities to stay engaged. And when we make communities better for older adults, we make them better for people of all ages. AARP Michigan is here to help with resources, expertise, and connections as you continue this important work. Thank you for your commitment to building a stronger, more livable community for everyone.

Pause right there, sir. Could you do a 180? yeah we got two people taking pictures okay now can you show nice show us because i i listen ladies and gentlemen when this young man showed up because i'm north of 55 when this young man showed up and said what he was trying to do is to recognize the fact that city of highland park is unique among communities. I just say how we get this brother at the beginning of the agenda so that he can actually give this to us. And it is a heavy plaque. It is not. They didn't skimp on this to recognize the city of Highland Park. So I thank you, Mr. Harris. Thank you, AARP, for recognizing the city of Highland Park and then recognizing all of the seniors that actually make this community vibrant. We're 50% senior. So we are We're the big spenders, I guess, when it comes to AARP. Thank you so much for that.

The second oldest age-friendly community in the state of Michigan.

Wow, that's a major distinction. Thank you very much, sir. Okay, so moving on to item six under ordinance. This is the second and final reading. This is where we're taking a final vote. uh this evening we had two readings of this document in chambers um modifications were made by the legal department the documents were presented to us again so now we're at the point where Unless there's any strikethroughs, we could just go ahead and entertain emotional how we proceed with this. So the city of Highland Park tax exempt ordinances for the Gabriel Towers, Gabriel Apartments and townhomes. These ordinances undergird the fact that the our partners and they are our partners are providing significant housing stock for our citizens. Right now, there are thousands of Highland Parkers. who are residing um in these facilities in the gabriel apartments as well as highland manor uh i am not aware of a single ordinance and i've been attached to the city since 2008. i'm not aware of a single ordinance um and i'll be i stand to be corrected that provides the same framework as what's listed here this is apples to oranges this is completely different and without this type of support without LISC funding, there would be no senior housing in Highland Park at all. So I'm ready to entertain a motion on item six under ordinance, second and final read on item A, City of Highland Park tax exempt ordinance for the Gabriel Apartments and Town Homes. Yes, ma'am.

There were some changes.

You want to go over them all? Let's get a motion on the floor and then we can go over all of them. Mr. Bostic, will you be able to ride herd on us over these?

I believe there are two of the primary changes, one clause. Page four. Well, I guess first we need a motion on the floor.

Yeah, we need a motion on the floor to get into this.

Can you look at them papers and see if there's any strike news on them papers I gave you?

I can see to the two. We need to get a motion first.

I move to approve the ordinance second and final reading for City of Highland Park tax exemption ordinance Gabriel Apartments and Townhouses and Highland Manor Apartments.

We can only do one at a time. I would like to hear the strikethroughs before we vote on this. So let's go. Let's get the motion together.

If there's only two strikethroughs, let's hear them.

So that's just, you got to do one. You can't do both.

And it's funny.

OK, so we have a motion on the floor made by Councilwoman Manica to approve the city of Highland Park tax exempt ordinance for Gabriel apartments and townhomes. Do we have support? I want to strike through before we do this. The chair offers support. It's on the floor now. Would you if you, Mr. Bostic, if you would help Mr. Shafi out.

Yeah, we've got the representative here from the company that can answer any Mr. Shafi's questions. Two representatives, actually.

Could you hold on just for one second, please?

Just one second.

Miss Martin, we're only on the first item for tonight. That is the final reading of ordinance for the city of Highland Park, Gabriel Apartments and Townhomes. I'll wait until you are set before we move forward. Just give us a minute, ma'am.

So we're on the first reading?

No, this is the second and final. We already had two on the record. And this is the second and final. And just before you came in, before we got started, I made a comment to the audience on how this is significant to maintain the current investment in the Gabriel Apartments and townhomes. There are thousands of residents living there, as well as thousands of residents living in the city. Well, at least hundreds in the Highland Manor. But definitely thousands in the townhomes. So you let me know when we go, Ms. Martin.

I'm ready.

Okay.

Okay.

Laura, you, thank you.

So I'm just speaking to the two strikers from the first reading. So we're looking to renew the pilots and the pilot document that we had from last time needed to be corrected. So we went from a four percent pilot that uh we just came up on the 20 years and we're moving that to a six percent pilot so the percent was changed um from four percent to six percent and then the other change in both the gabrielle and highland manor uh pilots were um we took out the auto renew of 20 years so after the 20 years ends we're going to have to seek another pilot the same way we're doing it this time okay we're on page four miss martin of that first document

Okay.

So we have a motion on the floor that was made by councilwoman Manica for the approval of the, uh, tax exempt ordinance for the Gabriel apartments and town homes. Uh, it was supported by the chair and we opened it up for discussion. If you want, I will, um, if you have questions, I don't want to go ahead and try to call for a vote because, uh, yes, ma'am. Go ahead. Ms. Manica.

Thank you for breaking those things. Can you hear me? I just say thank you for changing those things that we asked. I just want to make sure that you did the fire safety. Make sure that you did all the fire safety. I know it comes with the code when you do code inspection and all that. But if you also could present later to counsel your security plan.

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. Yeah, Mr. President, I have some questions. The last time you were up here and we spoke, you were saying that there's going to bless you, there's going to be some renovations happening in this month, correct?

It's kind of dependent on closing. And one of those big items was the pilot. So it will probably be pushed back, maybe a month or so just depending on when the final closing is, and we can get started on the renovations.

OK, so give me a roundabout because you said pending pilot approval a month, say October, possibly October, possibly October. Is it going to be this year at least? Yes. If it's not in October. Yes. OK. And then correct me if I'm wrong, but you said that the rent was not going to increase.

Yes. Not as a result of the pilot change or the pilot ordinance. Okay, so I got an increase. That's the Gabriel increases subject to HUD and HUD's regular rent increases separate from the pilot and what the pilot how the pilot affects the rent.

Okay, so everybody got an increase across the board.

Yes, for the HUD properties.

Okay, okay. So that's because of HUD. Yes. Okay. No further questions, Mr. President.

Okay. And just to bring you up to speed before you might've missed this part, but they went, their percentage that they're paying, they went from 4% to 6%. It's on the third page. So they increased the percentage that they're paying the city. So again, this is the capture is based on the ordinance. The capture is based on the ordinance. When it says tax exemption, it's not as if they're not paying at all. That's not true. Anyone that would try to create a framework. And what they did is they went back and they increased the percentage that they pay annually to the city from 4% to 6% of the total capture.

That was discussed in the first reading also.

Yep. Yes. And so they made those changes.

I remember.

Okay. All right. Any additional questions or can we go ahead and take a vote on item 7A? Hearing none. Hearing none, Madam Clerk, would you please take the roll on item 7A, City of Highland Park. 6A. I'm sorry. Do you have questions, ma'am? 6A. This is item 6A. 5A.

Is it 5A?

The ordinance, second and final reading for City of Highland Park tax exemption ordinance for the Gabriel Apartments and Townhome. The motion was made by Councilman Mimanica, supported by the Chair. Madam Clerk, would you please call the roll?

Councilman Chapman.

He did.

Councilwoman Manica? Yes. Councilwoman Martin?

No.

Council Pro Tem Robinson? No. Council President Thomas?

Yes. So while we have another one, what does that, that it was voted? No, it wasn't approved. What does that mean? So that means those, all the things you talked about, those improvements, all that activity.

Yeah, they'll all be postponed. They're stopped. They postponed. So without the pilot, the pilot's necessary to go forward with the tax credits. and move forward. So we're at a rescindication since we're at the 20 year and going out to another 20 year. So we will need to know from you what we need to get to a yes. We will not be able to go forward without the pilot that then makes the affordability at risk.

So that means we got to know here right now it's affordable housing. So this could trigger a transition from affordable housing to market.

Yes. Yes. And rehab, rehabilitation will be limited because rehabilitation is based upon funding, capital funding and availability.

So I want to make sure the people in the audience know.

There's a lot of issues going on over there that haven't been even corrected or addressed.

So right now they have a payment structure. where they're paying the city i got that but so what to make it affordable housing and that no vote means when we did the first reading i addressed all the issues that were there and they have not been looked at due respect list low income low income housing credits tax credits i'm not going to entertain any conversation from the audience i'll have you removed low income housing tax credits are a multi-structured vehicle that make it possible for them to build affordable housing in communities like ours.

Right, but there was also promises that were made that haven't happened.

So we're talking about, when you say promises that were made, this is a tax structure that allows affordable housing to exist in the city of Highland Park. And we're kind of in a bubble. In the city of Highland Park voting, knowing that means, imagine the King homes going away. So the reason why I asked the question is because-

that because it's low and affordable, you should accept anything. No.

No, no, no.

That's what we're dealing with already.

OK, so ma'am, I just listen. I'm going to let you. Before you go any further, we're conflating We're conflating what our knowledge is of this process with what is the actual structure. And what that will mean is that those affordable housing units, in order for them to maintain their business, because they don't have to be here. They've been here for 20 some odd years. They will have to go market rates. You just you just mentioned a increase. Imagine you are the rent for your unit, which I don't know what it is.

Imagine it going to market rate.

So that's where I used to live in an affordable housing now. That's where I lived in affordable housing my entire childhood growing up.

There's nothing that we're dealing with right now.

So, Mel, OK, to your point, you're right. If they were to just raise the rain on all of those people tomorrow.

You're talking about their dear now. So what you don't. Mr. President, I let you speak.

I apologize. Go ahead.

my thing is the things that we're dealing with now they're there now you guys are there now correct we are the owners of the property right now right yes okay but you haven't addressed None of the things. Now, I've talked to many of the residents and there's a lot of things that they're dealing with right now. I'm talking about holes in the basement. There's all types of stuff. A lot of them feel unsafe over there. And the last time we talked, I addressed those. And you said that you guys were going to do something about that.

Yes, we are. And we are.

So if I may by window, please.

so one doesn't relate to the other unfortunately in the sense so then why would you promise that no no no let her answer miss mark come on let her answer me i'm not taking away the promise i'm not taking away the promise i am extending the time the items that you brought forward we have the list i believe Arianna called, we have talked about security, we've talked about lighting, we've talked about the infrastructure of the building, the pilot and the reconstruction or the rehabilitation will address most of those. You've talked about items with children, you talked about after school activity, you talked about resident services. We have all of the things and if necessary, excuse me, if necessary, in order to meet your concerns as a leader of the property and with others i will schedule a weekly meeting to go over and see what i can do quickly and what has to be on a timeline i will make that commitment to you but i can't make a commitment of going any faster in the future because if i don't have the pilot then the rents and everything and the requirements will all go up to market rate and then we will have another problem on our hands so that's only predicated on the fact that i say yes today

Because you all, hold on.

Y'all already, you guys already have on the property. No, ma'am. I don't want to pressure you into it. I'm not saying you're pressuring me. What I'm trying to say is that if you say no, if the, if the vote, if the majority vote is no for these two properties or this property. We can't go forward in the stream of affordable housing. It goes to market rate because the financial structure of the transaction, where the money comes from, who provides the money, who provides the credits, requires us to meet the pilot to go forward with affordability. So it would change the structure of the building. It doesn't mean that we still don't have the responsibility to make all of the repairs we do. It doesn't mean that you should live in any less than quality housing because you should. It does mean that if the rent is $800, the rent could go to $1,500.

Well, first of all, there's been, there's been, hold on, hold on.

First of all, let me tell you something. Let me share something with you. There's a whole different miscommunication. First off, the office will tell me one thing. They'll tell me one price. And then I get a text message on another price. You mean for yourself? For myself. Now, hold on. I'm not the only one that's receiving that problem. I have another resident that came to me and told me the same thing. She has the office telling her one price. But then there's a random text message called Remy or Randy or whatever that sends something else and says there's another price. OK, hold on.

Let me finish.

I've even had Randy send me a message and I've already paid my rent.

and it says that i owe well how do i owe when i've already paid so all right so that's a problem all right but they're not being addressed i understand that so i will tell you we have two problems you're going to double people's rent by the first of the year it's already doubling mr president okay so listen listen i i will commit to you i joy flood will commit to you as i did with the residents at highland highland park housing commission i will meet with you i will go over your rent i will go over the structure as it is with or without the tax credit where i will do that i will schedule and i will meet with individuals and we'll do this this ai in this automatic telephone system I only know about it. It should not be what you pay attention to as much as what you would do if you get any alarming thing. You go down and you talk to the property manager. And if you're confused, I will give you my phone number. You can call me. But what we're here today for, OK, of all the problems that you have. and i can understand them and i can appreciate them i can appreciate everything that's bad whether it's bugs um the mayor has called me about water in the parking lot um uh that we've talked about the community room mr fox has been to the property if mr fox needs to come to the property to address residential issues i give you my word and a dollar on every dime that he will be there what we're here today for is the fact that it's time for the building to be restructured and the restructuring of the building requires financial activity from MSHDA and our creditors and our private lender. And we have, say for example, as the chair has said, we were paying a 4% tax credit. So let's say that that came to $30,000 or $130,000. We're now willing to pay a 6% tax credit, which would bring $200,000 into the city. So we recognize the value of the tax credit, the value of the partnership with Highland Park and the need for affordable housing. Removal of the pilot means that the transaction financially won't scratch out, it won't work. And that then puts affordable housing at risk.

Maybe is that what y'all really are trying to do? Ms. Martin, it doesn't make any sense. Now, since I said something, I'm being audited. No, I'm not. All of a sudden, I'm being audited. No, I somehow I came up and now they want to audit.

You said those things at the last meeting and we made a list of all of the items. That's what I'm saying.

Nothing has been done.

No. Well, the last meeting that we were here, we did. Maybe not all of them.

seen but we have done things and we'll continue to do things and i will meet with you ariana will meet with you and if necessary i have your list i remember you talked about the addresses off the building that they need to be back on the building okay ladies let me pause you right there at this point i'm literally begging for a reconsideration at two hundred thousand dollars and that that increase two hundred thousand plus that's the equivalent to a thousand homes i pay two thousand dollars a year for my home that's the equivalent to a thousand homes in the city of highland park as far as taxes that is equivalent to a thousand homes in the city that number that they're paying is equivalent to a thousand single family residences that's how much taxes they're paying the city what i don't i am literally begging you for reconsideration because miss martin by accident by accident by accident you could trigger

Mr. President, I need to see some movement over there.

I need to see some. I can't deal with broken promises. We've already been there, done that. It's already written down. You're conflating the management of the property with the financial structure. The 20 years just happened during our term. The 20 years just happened during. Hold on a second, ma'am. The 20 years just happened in our four-year term. I'm going to stop talking in just a second. The 20-year renewal for their financing. It just so happened to fall in 2025. We're dealing with it now in 2026. It just so happened to fall in our term. It would have happened in the previous term. It could have happened after us. It's the 20-year time frame is the 20-year time. 20 years from now, whoever's on city council will have to address this very issue. If they're going to have low-income housing in the city of Highland Park, and it's going to be subsidized. Subsidized means something costs $10, you pay $3, and the government pays $7. That's what subsidized means. It means you get it for a price because somebody else is paying something else. That's Mr. That's the state of Michigan who is undergirding our affordable housing and all those thousands of people over there without this pilot. It's just like if I have you got a Section 8 voucher and you lose it and I'm your landlord, you're not going to get half rent. If the market rate is two thousand a month and you only paying for it, lose that Section 8 voucher. Guess what the rent is? Two thousand a month. That's what this is. It's like a Section 8 voucher. And if you've ever had one like I had growing up, that Section 8 voucher was the only reason we was in a three-bedroom house instead of a two-bedroom house.

No, Mr. President, I don't have a Section 8 voucher.

Okay, so you don't have... I'm just saying, that's a realistic example. People who are on Section 8 right now, it's a 60-40 split. So they pay $400 a month because someone else is paying the other... $1,400 or $1,600. That's what subsidy means. This is a subsidy. And people in the audience talking about an ordinance for residents, I know the ordinance book. I can't think of one. I will qualify for it. It doesn't exist. That's just hyperbole. That's just people trying to pump themselves up without support for this in the city of Highland Park and ECORS and Lincoln Park and Wyandotte. In Dearborn Heights, if they don't have these, there is no affordable housing. That's the 80-20 rule. Without this type of financing, there is no affordable housing. So remember, we're making a decision for all of our neighbors. So tomorrow, whenever tomorrow is, somebody who is on the 80% area adjusted median income is all of a sudden going to have to pay 100%. Somebody who's paying a rent based on 40% of the area and the area adjusted media income for Southeastern Michigan, Wayne County is around $90,000 a year. And you got people paying 45% of that, 50% of that, as far as their 30% of their mortgage. I mean, 30% of their housing costs. It's a formula. Housing should not cost you more than 30% of your income. What does that look like if you make $35,000 a year versus $135,000 a year? That's the subsidy.

I got that. There's not that many people that make $100,000 a year in Highland Park.

Small person. And all of us who do that own our own home. We're not living in low affordable housing. We own multiple homes. This is not for, it's for the least of us. It ain't for the people making six figures. It's for the least of us.

Yeah, I want to hear this.

The floor is yours, ma'am. Forgive me for making you wait.

In 2019, until I ran for this seat, I was the senior coordinator for the city of Highland Park. And the exact same problems that are on your list right now are the same ones from 2019. That's what I wanted to say. I hope the news is here for that.

So that you know the average income for the residents in this property are between poverty and a little higher. I got that. So that would mean that they would, when we lose affordable housing, so if you're a family that makes $20,000. Are we going to vote on me? You're only going to, you're going to end up paying more than your income.

What city do you live in? Do I live in?

Can we vote on me?

And I've worked in affordable housing and low-income housing programs for 30 years. And I will give you my phone number, and I will meet with you tomorrow.

What's your phone number? My telephone number is 248- 410-6295. 6295.

I am so sorry. People at the Gabriel Apartments, I am so sorry.

I am so sorry.

I am so sorry. Let's move on to item 6B. That's the city. Oh, I'm sorry, ma'am. Go ahead. I cannot believe what you just did to these people.

You actually already spoke on what I was going to ask you to do, and that is to have a meeting, the same meeting you have. Now, when is that meeting that you normally have?

The third Wednesday of the month.

Third Wednesday of the month. Is it possible to establish something on that same order Not just with Ms. Martin.

but the same format you do for the other buildings right so the only difference would be i mean just so that you know i'll set it up and i'll be there and i will take minutes and i will listen and do all that we do and we do a lot at highland park um um you don't have a resident council at these properties so i would have to open it to everybody and everybody would come in there's nobody that sits on a board or a chair at this property well I can only speak to what I know now. And what I will do is I work with Dan, I work for the property management resident system, and I will work to schedule a recurring monthly meeting to go over the concerns and issues of the residents. I will tell you personally for myself, when the mayor calls me or when Carlton calls me, I'm on it in a minute. When you gave your list, we took your list, we looked at the priorities of what we would be doing in the restructuring, and they're all on there. Security is on there. So I can give you a timeline. I can work to make sure issues are addressed.

And OK, so and I hear you're speaking, but I want one for, you know, the same structure for the same for both for both buildings. The other item is I heard Ms. Robinson say that they used to have a council or some kind of board the same way you do for Highland Park. So who would establish that? So in essence, if we could come up with those solutions to having the same kind of system that's being done for the Highland Park housing community.

I can do that. In the world of the residents, the difference is what you saw was me with HUD because HUD is there. At Highland Manor and Gabriel, there is no HUD. It is the residents and the property management. So what I would do is I would work with the residents to establish a resident council or a tenant council so that you have representatives within the building who can speak and collect information and then have an open forum. It would not be a governmental meeting. It would be a community town hall meeting structured in the same fashion.

OK, and then that would be directed at Mr. Fox to fix those things, correct? So here's my next question, because we voted on Gabriel already. Unfortunately, once we vote, it's there unless somebody rescinds, et cetera. And that could not be me because I voted yes. Where do we go or what happens from here is the concern because technically, we do not bring it back to the table. That's right.

And so at a no, at a no, and it does not come back, we lose the affordability. you lose the affordability because we need the pilot to be able to go forward with affordability. So when I mention affordability, I'm talking about everything that's structured financially to make the rents as low as they are. We need these 10 items to keep the rents to the point where we're able to serve low-income families and extremely low-income families, persons between zero area median income and 60% area median. What will happen is we will probably be serving persons at 60% area median and 80% area median. We won't be able to serve the very, very poor because we won't be able to afford the rents the way they're structured. The rents will have to go up And that means the income levels will have to go up.

And this is in Crain. So I'm looking at the article right now, August 27. The city of Detroit is fighting for HUD funds. They're fighting for HUD funds. They have pilots going on in the city of Detroit right now. The reason that they have those pilots, it's a pilot in lieu of taxes. It's an ordinance.

that allows them the subsidy so you're where you live the rent is about to go up you voted no where you live already no no you don't understand no you don't understand mark no mr president that is going to already increase mr president and then i told you there's conflicting information i get one i get one price from

from the front office and i get another price from this ai so with all due respect i wonder how your neighbors talk to your neighbors i did i said they're dealing with the same thing and they said one chick she's getting about a thousand dollars they said they're restructuring to go they're going back to their financing facilitators the cdfis whoever is providing it with funding to be able to afford the repairs and remodels that you asked for how one of those buildings built

Oh, 40 years ago?

The buildings are 40 years old. If you've ever lived in a 40-year-old house, you have to make repairs on it. These buildings are 40 years old, and thousands of people have cycled through these units. People with no kids, people with seven kids, people with pets.

Mr. President, are you listening about what the people are going through?

Are you listening to how they've been able to provide the resource?

So if you don't get a tax exempt, you have to pay full price like the rest of us. Yes!

You have to pay a tax exempt.

Say that again. If you do not get the tax exemption, you will have to pay the full price of taxes on whatever you're trying to do, just like the citizens.

So if we don't get the pilot. The tax exemption.

Well, it's called a pilot.

It's called a pilot. If we don't get it, we will restructure the deal. We will pay full taxes, but you will pay full rent. OK.

but you can't you can't say okay for people i'm just saying how can we say okay for thousands of people whose rent is about to go jesus h downtown your townhouse goes for thirty five hundred dollars That's what is going to be off Woodward Avenue. There is intense competition. Everybody in here that owns a house gets five phone calls a day to buy the house that you're living in. Everybody who lives here today, you're getting a phone call four or five times a day to buy your house up from under you. What do you think they're going to do for market rate in these apartments?

So tell me.

Let's ladies, let's move on. We got one more. Let's move on. I don't want to be here till nine o'clock tonight. I can't. We cannot do a class in real estate financing during this meeting. I pray to whatever gods may be. I pray to whatever gods may be that the people who are injured by this know who's responsible. Let's move on to item 6B. Yeah, it's called the people standing up here. You're sawing on the branch you're standing on, ma'am. You live there.

Let's move forward, Mr. President.

You're literally taking a chainsaw to the tree branch you're standing on.

Mr. President, like I said, you don't live there.

Ma'am, you're absolutely right. Let's move on to item B. Item B is the City of Highland Park tax exempt ordinance for Highland Manor apartments. Is there anybody that lives in Highland Manor here tonight? Anybody? Okay, cool. How do people in Highland Manor turn this on? Because they're next. So, City Council, what is your pleasure on item 6B?

That is the City of Highland Park. I beg your pardon? Anybody online that lives on Highland Manor?

It doesn't even matter. Let's just go ahead and vote. Let's just go ahead and vote. City of Highland Park? tax exempt ordinance highland manor apartments hold on a second you can't speak now mr tucker but when the time comes you will be able to we need to get a motion on the floor for item 6b i move to approve the city of highland park tax exemption ordinance for highland man and apartments chair offers support questions concerns dissent madam kirk would you please call the roll on item 6b

Councilwoman Manica.

Point of information. What am I responding to right now?

She was ready to call the vote. She was calling the roll.

Okay. We have a motion on the floor. I thought there was someone online.

They can't talk now. This is our meeting. This is the business meeting. They can talk at the end. Mr. Tucker had his hand up. i don't know what that's about oh okay i'm with you now okay so go ahead ma'am please yes yes yes councilwoman martin yes i'm supposed to robinson no that's the president thomas yes motion carries at this time the chair will plead with council for reconsideration on item 6a I would ask for a motion for reconsideration on 6A, and I'm going to let it go.

I vote to have item 7 removed from the table.

You need to make a motion. So I'm asking for a last call, reconsideration on the Gabriel Apartments townhomes pilot. I made a motion. Would you state your motion again?

To have item 7 removed from the table.

We have a motion on the floor to remove... If we walk away from this, it's walked away from.

We can't come back for 20 years? Is that what happened?

Can somebody go on the second?

I haven't said anything. The way it stands, ma'am, that's what it's looking like.

Okay.

It's unfortunate and... The only thing that I can say to you is that I am not in a position to do anything but to tell you that I've worked for 30 years with you.

If there's something that's wrong, it doesn't relate to the pilot, it relates to the department and presidents. If you would take my word and not... I did in the first reading.

But can I say we did in the first reading the pilot has to come I have all your know I got that but there's no communication that y'all had y'all hold on ladies y'all didn't give me no communication there's nothing that y'all talk I'm so sorry and please make sure that you communicate in your memo that goes out to residents yeah please send a memo out to residents due to the no vote at the last city council meeting.

Council.

um due to the no vote at the last city count explain it in full detail what that looks like because i'm going to go to the administration and ask for how this comes back we're a lame duck council we're out of here in a minute And I would like to fill this room. I would like to fill this room with hundreds, if not thousands of people who live in those apartments. So you paint a picture of what that'll look like for them. I feel really bad for them to come. I feel knowing knowing what this means right now. I feel really bad for them because. This is not a game. The president is pulling funding all the time.

We have a motion on the floor. I'm so sorry, ladies.

And I am so sorry to the people that live in the Gabriel Apartments. Me too.

We have a motion on the floor.

I'm sorry, Ms. Floyd.

No, no, no, no, no, no. You can't. You can't, sir. I don't want to have you removed.

We have people that live in those homes and now because we voted no, I'm sorry, I will- Mr. Nichols, please.

Mr. Nichols, please.

We are about to have people who can really afford to live here already. So when it's going to go up, they're going to lose their home. I'll leave.

A lot of them are already losing homes. There's a dumpster that sits out there on a regular basis. A lot of people don't even know that.

My senior, we take care of them. We are held accountable for them.

Agreed.

Mr. Nichols, Mr. Nichols, Mr. Nichols, we have a motion on the floor for 2019. uh we can't we have to table it it would have been taken off before so so we have a motion on the floor for item seven that is a resolution to sell the residential vacant side lot at 46 richmond to the property owner at 48 richmond for 500 madam proton made a motion the chair will offer support do we have questions concerns or dissent no item seven so would you please go ahead and call the roll on the resolutions chair office support okay to remove it from the table the chair offers support i'm sorry we're removing it all of that kerfuffle we were moving it from the table now it's out the chair will entertain a motion on the resolution to sell the vacant lot to the property owners at 48 richmond city council what is your question did we vote for the removal you know what i'm gonna take i'm gonna take a second i'm gonna take a second i'm gonna take a second i'm gonna take a second because i remember what it was like to be evicted yeah i remember what it was like to move with cardboard boxes and garbage bags so we have a motion on the floor i remember what that's like I remember what it's like.

I move to have the vote.

I remember. Take the vote. We have a motion to remove this item from the table. Would you please call the roll on removing item 7 from the table, ma'am?

Councilwoman Nannica?

Yes.

Councilwoman Martin?

Removing 7 from the table?

Yes, it's a resolution to sell the vacant property in Bridgetown.

Oh, removing it from the table. Yes.

Yes. Yes.

Yes. The motion has been brought to the floor. City Council, what's your pleasure on the resolution to sell the vacant residential lot at 46 Richmond?

I'll make a motion to sell the vacant side lot at 46 Richmond to the property owner at 48 Richmond.

Second. OK. Ms. Manica will offer support. Any questions, concerns, dissent? I'll take that as a roll call, but I'll go ahead and have you call the roll, please.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Thank you. We've got a lot today.

Congratulations. OK, we're moving on to item A in community development. This is the resolution to appoint Kiara Berry to the City of Highland Park Tax Increment Finance Authority. Is Ms. Berry here today?

Yes, I'm here online.

Thank you so much, Ms. Berry. And you are online. You look, what is it? You must be one of these numbers here. Just give me the first two or three. K-E-Y. No, the number, are you on Zoom as yourself or are you on there as a- I'm on there as myself. Okay, cool. Thank you so much. So she is in the room. City Council, what's your pleasure on item 8A, resolution appointing Ms. Kiara Berry?

I move to approve the resolution to appoint Ms. Kiara Berry to the City of Holland Park Tax Increment Financing Authority, TIFA board.

Support? Chair offer support. Questions, concerns or dissent?

Yeah, I got questions.

Yes, ma'am.

Are we? I thought we were already the committee on the TIFA board was already full.

No, these are new. They're backfilling. They're backfilling vacancies.

Okay.

Okay. Would you call the roll please on item 8A?

Councilwoman Nannica? Yes. Councilwoman Martin?

Yes.

Council President Robinson? No. Council President Thomas?

Yes. Motion carries. Moving on to item 8B, resolution appointing Myra Taylor to the City of Highland Park Tax Increment Finance Authority. City Council, what's your pleasure? So moved. Chair offers support. Questions, concern, a dissent about Ms. Taylor? Would you call the roll?

Councilwoman Nattica? Yes. Councilwoman Martin?

Yes.

Ms. Fulton-Robinson? No. Council President, time.

Yes, motion carries. Moving on to item 8C, resolution to approve a zoning text amendment for planned redevelopment projects. City Council, what's your pleasure on that?

I move to approve the resolution for zoning text amendment for planned redevelopment project with questions.

Yes, ma'am. The chair offers support. Go ahead with your question, ma'am.

Is there someone here who can explain that?

So this memorandum transmit the planning commission's recommendation to amend section 125014 planned redevelopment projects by removing the phrase for the former four factory site from the district's proposed provision this amendment would allow the properties that may be suitable for redevelopment to apply for prp rezoning and site specific flexibility so again the language as a former planning commissioner language is key they remove from the for the former ford factory site from the district's purpose provision they just changed the language they're just changing the text in the documents And they need city council's approval to change the text in the document.

Yes.

OK. Additional questions? Anyone? Would you please call the roll on item 8C, resolution to approve the zoning tax amendment for planned redevelopment projects?

Councilwoman Madigan? Yes. Councilwoman Martin?

Yes.

Council President Robinson? No. Council President Thomas?

Yes. Motion carries. On to item D, resolution to approve the zoning text amendment regarding the detention immigration facilities. So Mr. El Shafi did a bang up job on this document. And as a result, they considered the zoning text amendment identified on its agenda as addition and revisions of definitions for detention immigration facilities and centers. The document that he actually provided, they not only were in alignment with it, but they made the changes based on his recommendations. So that is the addition and revision of the detention of definitions. The actual definition for the detention facilities that he asked for was added. And so they went back to change that text to accommodate his request. it's right there under planning commission action thank you so what is your pleasure on i got some questions at 8d please i need to get a motion on the floor i move to approve the text amendment regarding detention and immigration facilities chair offers support miss martin you have questions yeah okay so his thing was like 11 pages we went to three pages from what he he no man this just talked about the text changes that he requests so it just highlights the changes that were requested The first starting there, right on the page, planning, commission, action. That's the action. And the principal changes were civil immigration detention facility, civil immigration holding facility, and detention facility in general. These were requests made by Ms. Charles-Shopee that they have accommodated. Let's move forward. OK. Would you call the roll on item 8D, please? The motion was made by Councilwoman Manica. The chair offers support.

Councilwoman Manica?

Yes.

Councilwoman Martin?

No.

Council President Robinson? No. Council President Thomas?

Yes. So what that means is the changes that Mr. El Shafi wanted as protection in this document so that these definitions were changed so that they could never have a facility here will not take effect. And we voted, and you voted, both of you voted for it, but in order, you voted for his document.

This is not what I voted for, though.

His document is what I voted for. It says a resolution approving to approve the zoning text amendment.

Let's move forward.

Sure, okay. Doesn't make any sense, but that's fine. Moving on to item E, resolution to sell the vacant residential side lot at 107 Elmhurst to the property owner at 111 and 115 Elmhurst for $500. Go for it. Pro Tem has made a motion for support. That was you, Ms. Martin?

Yes.

Ms. Martin has offered support. You had a question, Ms. Manica?

No, I was supporting.

Okay, so we have a motion made by Madam Pro Tem supported by Ms. Martin. Question, concerns, or dissent? Would you please call the roll on item 8D?

Councilwoman Manica? Yes. Councilwoman Martin?

Yes.

Council President Robinson. Yes. Council President Thomas.

Yes, thank you very much. Okay, last, we have item F, resolution to submit an application for MSHDA MI Neighborhood Grant. City Council, what's your pleasure on submitting the application for the MSHDA MI Neighborhood Grant?

I move to support. The resolution to submit application for the Mr. My commission, Michigan neighborhood grant.

Okay, so we have a motion made by Councilman Monica, to approve the resolution to submit the application. Do we have support? Chair offer support questions, concern or dissent? Would you please call the roll on item eight F?

Yes, yes, I'm going to vote.

No, because I didn't ask him for applications that were submitted. Works done and reports sent to the state and I have not received.

Okay. Thank you, ma'am. Go ahead.

Go ahead, ma'am.

yes motion carries so last we're on item nine of the recreation it's a resolution authorizing the acceptance of 100 trees from the greening of detroit to be planted in the city of highland park city council what's your pleasure we have a motion made from madame proton a second may but i was you miss manica yes okay go ahead madame proton we have they're donating 100 trees

Why are they just only going to be planted on five blocks?

It says right-of-way. That's a whole lot of land. The right-of-way. The right-of-way is between houses and curbs. No, ma'am. They knocked down at least 100 trees during this plumbing work. They knocked down at least 100 trees.

19 is proposed to begin fall 2026. Cortland Street, Rickston Street, Monterey Street, Elmer Street, Tuxedo Street.

So why don't we have them donate another 100 trees, ma'am?

Can we do that president? They're doing the whole thing.

This is the first 100. OK, do we have it? We have a motion on the floor, Madam Pro Tem, supported by Miss Mannequin. Any other questions or concerns so we can both accept these free trees? Madam Clerk, would you please call the roll?

Councilwoman Mannequin?

Yes.

Councilwoman Martin?

Yes.

Council. Pro Tem Robinson. Yes. Council President Thomas.

Yes, motion carries. So ladies and gentlemen, to this participation, I am giving everybody here one minute, 59 seconds plus one. That's what I'm giving out tonight. Two flat minutes. And I'm going to start with the people online. I'm a human being and I'm beside myself because people got injured tonight. People got injured tonight. People's lives are going to be destroyed. if something doesn't happen so i'm going to give you your two minutes and i say come to the podium give me your two come on up i'll wait till you state your name sir before i start your time

Did you want to put the clock up there so I can make sure I stay on time? As soon as you hit, as soon as you start, I'm going to set this clock up here. Go for it. Thank you. Robert Douglas Lodge, Jr. I want to quickly bring out the point that was made earlier. There was questions that was put on the table that could have easily been answered. So everyone could have had a clearer, more comprehensive understanding of what was being offered or what was being requested. Because city council, for whatever reason, or whoever is in charge, refused to answer these valid questions. You claim that people were hurt tonight, which could very well be. But you could have easily tabled it. You could have easily, as the president, postponed it. Therefore, nobody would have been injured. Because you have the power to do that. But you didn't exercise your power. So with that being said, how many Harlem Park homeowners are there in the city? You want to know? Yes, I do.

Sure.

Thank you. Pause my time.

Time is paused. Where we at? So when you point to me and you call my name, I didn't call your name. I said the president to me and you call my name. You asked me to show up. You want to have a battle of wits, come armed, okay? Otherwise, it's going to be pretty unfortunate. Right now, we have owner-occupied, on the screen right now, 1,475 homes owner-occupied, 37.7%. Renter-occupied, 2,400. So I did my homework. Thank you. So with 1,475 homeowners that need a tax break,

They need a tax break also. So hold on. It's not a question and answer. Okay.

I'm sorry. Go ahead, sir. You want to hear my answer? It's not going to be question and answer. When this clock goes off, I'm going to let it go.

Keep going, sir. So according to Ms. Kathy Square, 150 foreclosures take place. The square is not here. Don't quote her. Okay. I heard that today 63 properties went on auction. So that means 63 families have been displaced. Now, with that being said, more than likely investors are going to come in and take those homes. Let's put some things in place to save the homeowners. We need Gabriel saved. We need Highland Manor. We need all of them saved. But let's also take in consideration the elderly homeowners.

I'm going to stop you. I gave you an extra 30 seconds. Don't leave. You want an answer? Don't leave. Yes, sir. Hang out right back there. Who's next? Anybody else? Come on. I'll wait till you state your name. Thank you, sir. You can have a seat. Thank you, sir.

how you doing ma'am state your name my name is alexis ramsey go for it man i literally was watching i was literally watching this at home online and i got out my bed now one thing i know about politics you got no permanent friends no permanent enemies just common interest and the common interest today is you and you let me say this i wouldn't vote for y'all to be the god I wouldn't vote for you all to be the dog catcher in this community. Because let me tell you, just this place, everybody that lives in Gabriel Apartments, you brought your personal business to this. No, no, no, no, no. It wasn't just me. Don't come back with me. I'm not. There was other residents also. You brought your personal business to the table. I live where we just went through renovation. I understand. The only way for them to get the renovation was for you to approve the pilot. Do you understand what I'm saying? You just got all those people displaced and yourself. You don't have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of. Neither do you. And for you to sit up here. No, no, no, no. And for you to sit up here. for you to sit up here and to neglect the people that you sit up there you smile in their face every day you walk around like you this great council person but you just displaced all of those people and i hope that both of y'all no no i hope that your both of you guys can sleep Where I live, it was four. It was four. And I had to fight too. It doesn't even matter about that. But what I'm telling you is today, in order for you to have the pilot, in order for you to get the security, in order for you to get your basement things, in order for you to get any of that stuff done, could only happen through this pilot. So feel good. Just feel good about getting... God damn it, stop cutting me off. Feel good. about this place about this place your own ass because one thing i know you can't do is pay fifteen hundred dollars

How are you doing, ma'am?

I am doing well.

OK, I'm doing well. And I am I'm going to first start by saying I am not a citizen. My name is Valerie Baker. Thank you. I have tons of friends and relatives, though, that are here. OK, it's on.

It's on green light. Why are they talking? You're not here. Everybody running their mouth.

I'll speak louder. I'll speak louder. I don't want to have the residents disrespected that way. um so what i want to bring forth to this council is a question that arose when we were doing like some resource fairs and it came up that a lot of folks in highland parks are having their water shut off and i know from previous years experience of working with various people within the community there was an issue with water and i'm sure that all of you here on council if you don't know should know that there was an issue with water a big issue there was a lawsuit and a lawsuit was brought forth that set criteria for the residents to have access to water their water should not be shut off based on the information that i read the information i also saw it was stated that As a result of this class action lawsuit, the information regarding the actual lawsuit and the information regarding the water shutoffs and the process that should happen before anyone in Highland Park's water shutoff be posted on your website. And it's there. i did also happen to go to the downstairs where you pay the water bill and there was no information in the lobby about this so i would like to know um and i don't know if you can answer questions here or not but what i okay what i'd like to know is why the city is not abiding by the lawsuit that was filed, the class action lawsuit that was filed, and what can be done to correct those actions and restore service to the people who have been cut off.

And then so the mayor is online, ma'am. Before you walk off, the mayor is online and she typically collects questions like the one that you have. She typically collects that information. If you haven't reached out to the mayor's office and let her know. hey let her know hey oh oh mr lackey could you help me out with us some camera control here please uh moving forward finish that uh yeah so

anyway okay you were saying the mayor usually helps out with questions like this is that what you were telling me and the council should follow up with this through with this too i suppose as governing body of the city is that correct so we we um this information is collected and so we are able to this information when i say we the city is able to potentially follow up with people uh based on that information okay um Okay, so when, what's the process for me to find out what kind of actions are being taken?

I don't want to overstep, I don't want to step out of my lane. That's the administration. So I'm just saying that because you made your comment specific to that, that is under the mayor's office.

Okay.

So I would ask that you follow up with them, let them know I came to city council, I had these concerns. Our business manager is not here today. She typically handles those questions. But I just wanted to share with you what the next step would be for your issue that you addressed. okay that would be helpful yes that would be very helpful okay so i would say follow up with the mayor's office okay gotcha i know and come on up ma'am um go ahead ma'am say your name melinda jones um i just wanted to say i think a lot of the decisions that are made

are made out of ignorance in the true meaning of the word of ignorance, just not knowing. Because you're comparing apple and oranges when you compare repairs to tax breaks. the repairs come after you give the tax breaks because now there's an obligation on them to do something now you can go to the state legislator and say hey y'all are giving these people a tax break but we're living in squander they should be fixing this but now we've released that option and now we have what we're facing now is a turnover of administration along with a potential high homelessness in highland park yes something that we kind of don't need at all is the increase in homelessness we already know we face that problem already but now you're looking at a woman that pays a hundred dollars in rent make six hundred dollars all together and now her rent might go up to twelve hundred dollars and she doesn't even have that to afford or the potential of them pulling completely out of Highland Park, leaving a vacancy here. And now we're looking at people squandering inside of a vacant building or the building being torn down. I think a lot of times we just need to do better research to better understand, to better know how to vote on things. But I mean, that is my thought process, even throughout this administration that's been here, is that there's a lack of research that's being done on what you're actually voting on. And I think that's what happened tonight, the lack of just understanding. I did do that research. I did the research the first time around. What I did was I didn't understand what the pilot program was. So when they came the first time around, I went and did my own research, made notes of that research, found the federal law that grants them this option, and figured out what it meant on my own. That part is, again, apples and oranges. It's apples and oranges. If you don't know what you're going to know, you shouldn't be in a seat. Simple as that. You can't even vote in favor of the residents.

Miss Jones.

Sir, there's somebody standing there.

Cool, cool, cool.

I want to make sure we don't take cuts, but you know, we got to be fair. How you doing? I'm all right. You all right? A little disappointed in what I saw tonight, but I'm all right. Give me your name, sir, and I'm going to let you go. State Senator-elect John Conyers III. How you doing, sir? I'm doing all right. You know, this is These are real people's lives. And what Ms. Jones just said, I feel like it should be obvious, but if I'm not mistaken, they offered to increase what they would pay to 6%, right? And we know that the city of Highland Park has a revenue problem, correct? Correct. So to not vote to keep the tax break, And these are places where I've campaigned. I know the residents. I've fed these people. They've come to support me.

For y'all to vote no, for this to go through a no vote and to displace these people, I don't want, because I'm going to be the state senator, I don't want to start a poor working relationship with the leadership of this city. But this decision was bereft of leadership. It lacks leadership. It lacks thought. It lacks care for these people that are on fixed income. to displace them. We know what is going to happen. Detroit is a majority Black city. Fighting to say that way. Fighting for leadership. This city is a majority Black city. Fighting. You should be fighting for these people to keep them in their seat. This is abhorrent, what just happened tonight. I'm 36. Y'all supposed to be the wise ones. If I can see it, I'm not supposed to curse.

But it's the F word, shameful. Damn it.

Carolyn Baker, And i'm here again on behalf of the water that is tied to. Carolyn Baker, The problem that we're had 20 some years ago, I know it was mentioned, and you said go to before the the mayor, but I want to know if y'all have read the settlement agreement, yes. OK, well, maybe we need to read it again because over here we have this water affordability plan that is taken off of the city site that is not posted in your water department. I'm currently delivering water to residents who have been shut off, who should not be shut off. And when I go to ask the water department, why are we honoring the settlement agreement, customer service only says i can't talk about this settlement agreement so i said talk about what's on your website i can't talk about that so how are people are supposed to get on the plan if they can't talk about the plan i'll so let me say this the reason you stop my time i'm gonna stop your time and i this is all that i can say the reason why you can't is because we are currently in court suing these right now

That's the reason why we can't say anything, because we are in court back in court suing these people again because of it. So it's a gag on us.

So so but what we're not doing is allowing our citizens to know that there's a water affordability plan.

You're not wrong. You are not wrong.

People do not know that council people do not know that. OK, so this is what we need to be doing is educating people that this is something because we went over this 20 years ago people got their homes taken got rolled over to property tax where it's been talked about putting water bills back on property tax We're about to fight the same. So you're talking to we're talking about low income housing. We're about to be talking about everybody losing their house and based off of water.

Your time was up.

So I want to give this to the council. We got it. No, no, no. We got the original document. I'm leaving this right here. Ms. Baker, could you just stay around?

Thank you, Ms. Baker. Thank you, Ms. Baker.

Ms. Baker, stay around.

Thank you, Ms. Baker. Yeah, please stay around, please. Hey, Mr. Nichols. Mr. President. Sir.

Good evening, everybody. My name is Darthayan Nichols. I'm a resident of 45 Massachusetts. Part of me wants to apologize for my outburst, but I will be lying. The truth of the matter is I felt like tonight what we just saw that people made a vote based on their own personal agenda. It seemed as if people want to leave office and detonate everything behind them. We have an obligation to take care of our citizens. it's called city council meaning that we are the voice for the people and tonight what i saw was not being a voice for the people the president gave the opportunity let's reconsider we voted no on one and vote the yes on the second one and we would not turn around and reconsider come january the first the people we call our mothers our fathers and these young women with kids what rent will go up to fair market value well what's happening in how the park you are happening in highland park and it is a shame that we keep voting for the same system with the same logic and we keep saying we have to do something different do something different in november vote for new people because we i'm sorry i'm sorry not normally so here's my joke no i just told him i didn't say who to vote for i'd never say anything i stopped the man you're right mr president you're right listen do better my time is up you're gonna put me he gonna arrest me y'all my name is cameron ashford and i'm here to stand in solidarity with the people of highland park

The residents are dealing with water shelves while also facing increasing unaffordable utility costs, including high DTE bills. The city has already has rules governing water shelves. Residents are supposed to receive proper notice and have an opportunity to dispute inaccurate bills and have access to payment protections. So my question to the city council is are these protections actually being followed? How many Highland Park households have had their water shut off in 2026? And how many were given the required notice and opportunity to dispute these bills? We should not be forcing people to choose between water, electricity, food, and housing. Water and electricity are necessities rather than commodities. We should lose access. We shouldn't lose access to these because we can't afford another bill. We demand transparency. We demand accountability in the system that puts people's needs before their debt collections in profit. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll pause right there, young man. Listen, I don't know if you're the youngest person in the room. You might be tonight. I just want to salute you for being here because you could be, but you're here and you're speaking truth to power. And so don't stop. That's all. Don't stop. Don't stop. Keep doing this. And I want you to know, I heard you. Okay. Thank you, sir.

Cameron Ashford. Thank you, sir.

It could be on Madden, he up in this crazy council meeting. Go for it, boy.

Hello, council.

Yes.

My name is Moka. I'm here because I'm a Highland Park resident. I'm also here to speak out against the water shutoffs that's happening to our neighbors. I'm a new resident. I've heard some stories about what was going on from neighbors and community members. And I don't have a lot to catch up on the history, but water remains the essential source of life. And I believe that it's a human right and that no person or city should be able to deprive anybody of that. Water is the most precious resource to every living creature on earth. You can't drink without water. You can't clean without water. You can't maintain your normal bodily functions without water. Water is dignity and we should not be able to treat cutting off a basic deed so lightly. I think that cutting off somebody's water supply is cruel. And I believe we should all think that it is cruel and uncaring. And to be honest, it seems to be the second cruel decision to be happening today. And I don't want to think that this is a cruel council. I believe we need the city to treat residents as people, not dollar signs. People are struggling. We know that. We know these bills are unfair. We know that wages are too low. We know that DTE keeps asking for more. And I don't believe that residents should be punished with having to choose between lights or food or water or gas or heat and winter clothes for their children. So I'm here to demand transparency and accountability and to demand that the water be restored to our neighbors and that shutoffs end in totality. I think we should be better than that. Thank you. Thank you.

mr donovan come on up i want you to give me a second i had somebody on that's been waiting on line for a half hour no no you'll be next but this is for the person who was listed as general strike what you got for us general strike could you please go ahead and speak up you're online as a general strike yes can you hear me yes so i'm gonna set the clock up for you could you give us your real name please hey peace we're having a hard time hearing you having a real hard time hearing you let's start over again general strike could you give us your name yes we're struggling yes

My name is Day. I'm here representing for the Black Panther Party Honor Guard. I'm in solidarity with the Highland Park residents. Residents are dealing with water shutoffs while also facing increasingly affordable utility costs, VTE evictions, and so on and so forth. So my question to the city council is, are these protections actually being followed for the residents regarding their water shutoffs? How do we keep them protected? We should not be forcing people to choose between water electricity food and housing water and electricity are necessities rather than commodities and we should not lose access um to these because people cannot afford bills all power to the people thank you sir all right mr donovan thank you for being patient i'm gonna get the time set up please introduce yourself sir uh my name is brian donovan i i live at 206 moss street and i actually came in today to talk about the water shutoffs but i want to say one other thing

about the pilot. There's Oh, sorry about that. Well, I want to say something about the pilot. So there is still an opportunity to reconsider it. So you should do it and pass it. Because we need to keep our low income people who are hanging on and Highland Park hanging on makes me want to cry. Now, water another problem, we have more control over the water. This the the class and this class action lawsuit was the people who live in Highland Park that pay the bills. And the city settled it by committing to have an affordability plan. Now we may be suing Gliwa again, but we're not suing the citizens of Highland Park, who we agreed to help make water affordable for. Now, Glewell might be putting the squeeze on us to be able to do that, but we should not be cutting people's water off ever, unless we absolutely have to. If somebody is living in a house, they should have water, even if they can only pay a portion of their bill. And I thank you for giving me this time.

Thank you, sir. You're welcome. How are you, sir?

I'm fine, thank you. My name is Ron Gordon, residing in 242 Easton. um my sister actually owns the property and i've watched a piece of property next door to her go from a perfectly great home and set for 20 years and just got recently demolished i had to sit by that house for almost 20 years i saw what could have been sold neither here nor there i've been trying to track that property that um wayne county Land Bank has it. I call the Land County Land Bank. They tell you to get online, find a parcel, fill out the application. That website, like many other land sites, websites in the city and around metropolitan area, are dated. I call up here to get information. I get no answers. I come up here to get information. I get directed all kinds of ways. I go to the Griswold building today. I can't get upstairs on the 28th floor because you have to have an appointment. How can you get an appointment when you can't get anybody to answer the floor or respond back to your emails? The property that I'm speaking about is at 238 Easton Street. I was hoping that Mr. Ashafi would have been here today so I could speak personally to him again. I have emailed the third district representative in Lansing. And what I was what I was told today when I called the number is that that property after almost 20 years can't be released until the demolition fees are paid, which may take a couple of months. All I need to know is We're supposed to have first priority to this property, which I've known. I was trying to find the owner of the property before it went bad that I would have bought. This doesn't make no sense. We got to do better. And this is my first time really being here, but I watch it online. We're not going to agree on a lot of stuff, but we...

as americans need to be better we got to do better thank you sir okie dokie state your name please my name is dan van loon i live over on uh easton street new to highland park i want to thank everybody who came here to speak on the uh water shut off issue that's what i'm here to comment on as well i've been to a couple of those uh what is it coffee and conversation with the mayor and i don't want to put words in her mouth or whatever but what i got from from those meetings was that majority of the non-pay that we have for water is actually with the corporations or with businesses not with individuals she said something like upwards of 85 percent of us are paying our bill which is really expensive by the way i'm new to detroit michigan in general you know and i moved over from the west side and it was like half as much So welcome to Highland Park. The water's double as good, I hope. But yeah, like other people say, water is a human right. Everybody needs water. You got to wash your clothes, brush your teeth. I mean, I can't imagine. I used to live somewhere where I'd have to boil water on the stove, mix it with cold water and take a shower that way. imagine less than that and that's what some of these people are dealing with um i don't know what's under the council's purview but any influence that you guys have much appreciated to to have some guidelines for the water department they should be trained in this you know they should be offering a payment plan or or you know i was hearing people who were on uh ssi and they're making 900 a month taking 900 a month they work their whole life they're done working and you know gee, my water bill is about 130, 140, you know, out of 900. Yeah. We use kind of a lot of water, but, uh, you know, that's, uh, that's not a great fraction. I don't know what it is, but, you know, I don't want to know. And, uh, of course people who are older and are paying off of that they got other stuff too they got medical bills they got you know 700 grandkids and and christmas presents and all sorts of things so i'd really uh encourage the council to use whatever authority influence i don't know that you guys have got to to to really put some policies in place specifically around training uh water department people to offer these plants thank you thank you van lewin yeah thank you

Okay, I don't see any more people. So I'm sorry, Ms. Gracie. How you doing?

Hi. Hi, Ms. Gracie.

My name's Gracie Wooten. I live on Easton Street. And I wanted to just talk about the water situation. Let me just say that, you know, we've been fighting for residents. You know, many of us, we've been really, really, really fighting for residents and particularly around water. And there seems to be a misconception about who has a right to have a water affordability plan. Just because your name, there were about nine people who signed the agreement, had their names on the settlement agreement. Well, not the settlement agreement, the whole lawsuit. They had their names on it. they are not the only people who uh have a right to have the protections against water shutoffs to have uh the water affordability plan uh it means for the whole city all the residents you know just not the people who actually sign their name on the on the suit the lawsuit it's for everyone but there seemed to be a miss uh some kind of misconception about who has the right to actually enter into a settlement. This settlement was like, it is so powerful in the sense that it's a basis for the statewide water affordability suit that people are trying to get in Lansing right now. We need to, everyone you don't even have to be in trouble with your water bill in order to enter into a settlement according to the plan that was negotiated with the city that means that if i come up and i say that i'm having you know financial trouble i can actually enter into an agreement that's it's posted online so it needs to be followed you know the uh people who actually are the poorest in our city can have a certain amount of money taken, you know, that they can actually pay for that plan. So what I'm saying is that it should be enforced. And people who work for the water department, customer service means more than just collecting payments, you know, you should be able to know.

Ms. Grace, you two minutes and 30 seconds. You know, it's hard for me to get you.

I know. I know. But OK, so hard to say. I'll just say, Mr. Thomas, Representative will come to be a regular citizen. OK, that if you work for the Water Department, you should know about the plan. And it should be posted. And no, people won't bother. You know, I'm old. They won't care. but uh people should uh you know it should be posted and customer service representatives should know how to talk to people about the plan so that their water won't be shut off okay all right thank you so ladies and gentlemen please please forgive me for going over my minute i'm sorry i was raised i was raised to respect my elders it's hard for me to tell miss gracie no anything

I worry my mama's watching. So I'm going to switch over because the beep on this thing is not going. Ma'am, please go ahead and state your name and I'll go ahead and start.

Hello, my name is Myra Taylor. I specifically just came up here to speak to the full city council. I want to say thank you very much, President Thomas, for trying to fight for us.

But you are a disgrace.

I'm 36 years old and it's people like you that made me never want to sit on a board in Highland Park. And I've been here since 1995. To put your emotions, to put your personal feelings in before a thousand other people, before our friends, before our babies. We're back there in tears. You live there and that's okay. And you think your rent went up already, but it's going to go up more than that. And I think that's what you did not understand. And let's just say, if you're paying $400 or you were paying $400 and you got to increase to 800, it's going to double back. It's going to be 1600. It's going to be basic math. And I don't know you from Adam or Eve, but I know numbers and I know I can't pay it. So I don't wish that on nobody, because I'm a homeowner. I bought my house for a reason, because I knew I could not pay market value rent. And I was blessed with a job with the city. I was blessed with a job with the state. And I was blessed with a job with a federal government to be able to pay $450 mortgage. These are my baby's friends. He's not going to have friends to play with. We've been here all our life. They don't have it. and we cried and we begged for reconsideration and for you to say oh well oh well oh well to what it's not a oh well it's like can we please do anything to bring it back because i had to leave out the room by the time y'all got to my name for the tipper board i didn't even know what was voted that's how much it has distorted some of us in this audience We're in tears. This is not your plan what people like. And it's not mine, but it's my baby's. And it's my baby's friends. He's 18. You need affordable housing. He got to go somewhere. But then on top of that, what a lot of people didn't say is, you're going to be mad when the other people move in.

There you go. Right. Thank you for it.

OK.

Ladies, how you doing, ma'am? How you doing?

My name is Marion Kramer, and I've been here for years trying to care about the water thing. And we've been fighting that darn water thing for years. And what happened here today is that we got to turn around and start putting it together and make sure that it's not just Holland Park. It should be all the people around us, the people on the other end of us, and let us know. Because these people are waiting on uh other folks that they want to kill and you know in in any other and we got we got to get um uh understand that you know we can do this and pull out people in that and suck and kiss yes uh to be able to uh be out here to understand that they they got to have a a better place coming sooner or later that's right so yeah so i've got you know i'm i i've been i've been um it's it's it really hurts because we have been using that uh uh working on this stuff And who gets the money? The money, you know the money comes in. Ain't nobody getting nobody on the one end. On the other end, you know, it's really sickening what's happening. I think white, white, white, what are you? We all need to know how and pull together, have meetings and let's clean this crap up.

Me and Ms. Kamer are the founders of the lawsuit. We put our money up, and we signed it, and we worked on it. And I was one of the main ones, because I paid my water bill every month. Because by me having a degree in criminal justice, I knew if you used something, you had to pay it. So when we get with the lawsuit, they send me a $5,000 water bill like it, but along with her. And I had paid $100 a month. And they could only find $500 of my money in the system. And then they told me, well, we'll give you a break on your water. Well, my bill is $150 almost every month. So they're getting a break.

You didn't give us your name, ma'am. OK, ladies and gentlemen, great protocol. We are at Council Affairs. And typically, I rotate this.

The only person left on line was McDonald.

Her hand was still up. Okay, so I'm gonna break protocol here and for Council Affairs, I'm gonna go first. I would never get up and walk out of this meeting being frustrated, but I only have a few. My main detractor got up and walked out of here.

Let me start by saying- Council President.

Yes.

You got one online.

Let me check that again.

I thought, so that's Ms. McDonald. She was the only person. I think your hand's been stuck up.

It's been up because I've been waiting. oh ma'am i'm sorry i thought your hand was just sitting there go for it miss mcdonald uh okay no first i i'm trying to understand what happened online but we'll talk about that because that i don't know i wasn't sitting in the dark for the longest waiting um but i just want to say so first i think there's a conflict of interest i'm just going to put it out there we'll find out we're going to do an investigation of someone voting for something that relates to their own well-being. So that will be looked into. Secondly, the citizens of the Gabriel's apartments, the Gabriel townhouses have been looking forward to these renovations. They've been talked about for a year. They've been waiting to get their apartments updated, just like they did at Downs Manor, which the people at Downs Manor is very pleased with their apartments and what is going on with the new apartments, the new renovations. But let me say this, and I don't know if it's been said or not, but in order for the people to afford their apartments, They're not gonna be able to do that again because without the pilot, the taxes, I mean, the rates go to a market value rate. And some apartments now are running almost $2,000 a month. No one that has a low income can afford that. And I don't know, Ms. Martin, I don't know what you can afford I'm not gonna say anything about that, but I do know what the citizens at the Gabriel Apartments have been saying to me when they saw the renovation postings, what it looked like, how excited they were about it. So to say all of that, I'm saying, I hope you guys take time to reconsider the fact that these citizens will have to leave their home, maybe not you, but they will because now they will not be able to afford affordable housing. That's what it's called. People have been calling for affordable housing. We need more affordable housing. Well, you can't have affordable housing if you're not going to be able to help them, the people who own the building, make it affordable.

That's your two minutes, Mayor McDonough. I hate to give you a hard time. No, no, no. That's fine. I'm going to break protocol. Because I don't want to be here. When I say I don't want to be here, I so don't want to be sitting in this chair tonight. I'm going to break protocol. I'm going to put a pin in this. Two things I hate, liars and thieves. I hate liars worse because liars want to steal the truth from you. Liars are worse because they figure if you knew the truth, you wouldn't have nothing to do with them at all. I hate liars and thieves. I would rather give to a thief to entertain a liar. I cannot wait to not be city council president. I'm not running for office. I could talk about election all I want. I cannot wait to not be city council president because there are only 12 people in this entire city who have ever sat in these chairs today alive in a city with almost 10,000 people. There are only 12 people. We could get in a nice party bus. Everybody who has actually sat in these chairs to know what they're talking about. It disgusts me to have people try to puff themselves up to make up information and project it as if it's true. I can't stand that. Imagine me sitting around talking to a bus driver telling me about COVID and how I should trust the science and excuse my language. I'm a goddamn biochemist. Having somebody who don't know what you're talking about tell me about what's going on. And I lived through that. Trust the science. Trust the science is what people said. And the data shows you that less than 12% of the people that get an education get an education in science, technology, engineering, and math. So people are used to talking out the side of their mouth, pretending that they know some things. We don't send our children to school to say, hey, boo boo, go to school and be average. Today was the first day of school in River Rouge and I went there to see my students. I didn't say, hey, go be average. Hey, use that GPT. It makes you sound good. No. What do I say? Read the tone. Read the text because you've got a bunch of idiots running around puffing themselves up to have knowledge that doesn't exist. There is no ordinance that all of a sudden gives tax breaks to citizens because everybody in town would have one. We're surrounded by, what, 143 square miles of Detroit? You don't think Dearborn would have one? You don't think Hamtramck would have one? God, for God's sakes, you don't think the Grosse Pointe would have an ordinance that all of a sudden gave them tax breaks? But you have people coming up here, puffing themselves up to seem smart, and they're confusing the people. And they're confusing the people. We tell our children, and when they do this, we parade them out. Oh, my daughter got a master's in accounting. Oh, my son is a lawyer. Oh, my granddaughter got a PhD. We roll those people out. But in Highland Park, the more education you have, the more people hate you. The more you know, the more people treat you like a pariah. Isn't that crazy? In this room, I've had people clap up a felon, but tell me to shut up because I went to college for 10 years. That's crazy. The previous city council president said, you are not going to kill me for sitting in this chair. And I know why. The top of my head is white from sitting in this chair. Because you got to read the documents. My attic is not filled with paper because I like to collect it. You have to read the documents. You have to read the documents. People don't know what the hell they're talking about. If you will read the documents, if you will go do research, if you can't tell me what LISC stands for, If you don't know that that stands for low income, housing, tax credits, you haven't done your homework. We just vote. And I was begging. I was begging. Please reconsider because I know what the heck it meant. I know exactly what it meant. And that's fine. I cannot wait to get out of the way. People say, well, what do you know? You'll see. I can't wait to get out of the way. The most brilliant man in history He's not shown saying what I know. This man is a genius. What is he always shown doing? Proving it. He already solved the equation. He has solved this equation a thousand times. Mr. Einstein, you already saw this equation. I know, but I want to be sure. Why is it that the smartest people in the room have doubts and they want to be absolutely sure? Well, people who don't know they behind from a hole in the ground are absolutely certain. And they come here every week to tell you. what you don't know haven't read the document are using chat gpt for god's sakes for god's sakes what is in cranes hey detroit wants to rejuvenate its urban neighborhoods okay but coveted for our programs for funding shrunk what is mary sheffield talking about hey we have residents that are living in squalor this city council had a rental ordinance and was voted down three to two i sat here and beat on this desk and beg you give these people some protection this is what happened when the weed man picked the candidates this is what happens when the weed man comes and stands at the podium and says i got three people elected you think i forgot I got a big fat file folder that I cannot wait to hand over to the FBI. He didn't get three people elected. Okay, whatever, whatever. He got two. I can't wait.

You said you don't like liars.

I can't wait to hand this big fat file folder over to the FBI. I can't wait. He got two people elected. I can't wait. And all you people out there that's working with him, you next. I can't wait.

I can't wait.

This past weekend, some 30 somethings wanted to do something really good. It didn't go right. It didn't go right. Tomorrow is going to be a school board meeting and a bunch of people are going to go in a bunch of start a bunch of crap there for no reason to build on this. I talked to some of those 30 somethings. You know what they said to me? I'm from Highland Park. There's nothing left for us. I came out of the high school in the year 2005. They desperately want to come back here. You about to get them someplace to live because market value off Woolworth Avenue. You're talking to somebody who grew up eating welfare cheese sandwiches and mayonnaise sandwiches. For those of you who want me to shut up, I can't wait to shut up. I can't wait to get up out of this chair. I can't wait. I can't wait, because I'm tired of staying up late at night and getting up early in the morning to make sure that when I come in here, I'm representing the people in my community. I can't wait for all these know-it-alls to know so little. And you run qualified people out of this city. I can afford to leave tomorrow. I can afford to leave tomorrow. and take everything that I own with me. I'm not doing it for me. I'm doing it for the people who are still here since the 70s because they can't go no place else. This is it. This is it. This is it. And if you don't get it, that's cool. You know so much with your chat GTP. You can't keep a church. How are you going to run a city? so i would never get up and walk out of this meeting but i'm fist fight mad tonight so i'm gonna go home because my family promised me that i would not do what i'm doing right now i don't know about you but i have driven every block in this 2.9 square miles and i go home and get on my knees and say but by the grace of god be me because i see these people i can i can look in their house to see that they ain't eating My children have lived in one house. I lived in 12 houses before I graduated from high school. My children have lived in one house. So when I'm sitting in this chair, I'm thinking about the kids who daddy ain't on city council. I'm thinking about the kids who daddy don't got a master's degree. I'm thinking about the kids who father don't own four acres of property in this city. I ain't thinking about me. If it was about me, I'd have quit a year and a half ago. I'm sick of, excuse me, I'm sick of assholes coming to the podium that don't know they behind, but I'm holding the ground trying to tell me. And they done no homework. Living out in Southfield, but you show up now because you want to do something. So we have a pro tem. We have a quorum. Ladies, I'm going to leave this to you. Elders, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. My day job is helping people who are struggling. My day job is helping people who are struggling. And I come back to Highland Park and watch us saw the branch we're standing on, saw the branch we're standing on, and wonder why we fall. I can afford market rate. I can afford market rate. I can afford market rate. My daughters will never have to buy a house. my mom and daddy was 16 and 19 when they got married like these people around here i know what they don't have disgusting no my approach in the meeting is yours

Good evening, everyone. It's been an interesting, to say the least, meeting. I want to start with water affordability. Ms. Baker. our conversation so i did talk with uh mr garrett and he's willing to sit down have a conversation so that we can get this together and get it right so i ask that you please just have a meet with him to set a date or time he is here in the building No, no, it's not that, but if we could just sit down, that'd be the first step, and see maybe what they're doing wrong, what's not up there, what should be up there, because you guys know, and you guys can talk. That's all I'm asking, or somebody else who you like to represent instead, and that is Ms. Gracie. I'm not saying that is Ms. Gracie. They pointed to you and expected it to be resolved.

I don't know.

So either way, I want to get this resolved. And if there is a situation that it is not happening, and I know the mayor also, I was told, also spoke with them as well. But you personally asked me. We personally talked. So I did do my due diligence and talked with them. and so uh he is about solutions it wasn't brought for him to come before council today or to answer those questions so i am giving you that uh that option so whatever they are not doing or should be doing and maybe they don't know i don't know but this is where we are right now to do that is that okay with you yes no well you can we can decide about it of course okay

I already know, Ms. Garrett knows.

Okay. No problem. I'm giving you, I just wanted to point out, I was asked to do something and I did. As well as we're talking about water and I know DTE was mentioned. I want to make sure that people know that there is a commission. that you can go to in regards to DTE. I tried while I was sitting here to look up the address because there is a meeting coming up for the next meeting. And so I have been to one. And at that particular meeting, it was productive. But again, it was people who came from all over the state Barbara Kirby- To say hey don't raise the rates so i'm saying that to say that we have to go to these other meetings as well, we have to go to where these decisions are being made, yes, coming to Council is great. but we have to go to these other meetings where decisions are being made where they're talking about raising your rates where they're talking about uh putting things on your taxes where they're talking about those things now in regards to taxes in regards to property taxes i know that we just had a assessment so we need to also make sure that we are knowing when we can come before the board. And so it's not just Highland Park. You may come before Highland Park, but sometime then after that, you have to go with Wayne County with your assessment, because there is a way for I know at least seniors to get an exemption, but you have to apply for it. And so those are things and steps that we are going to have to take and learn to take and make sure that our people know how to give you that information and also know. So look on our board to go look downstairs. to go look and if it's not there then say hey but i know sometime it has been on the board and i know the assessment was just on the board so there is a time limit though you know they is this not a continuous thing it is a time uh limit or date in which you do those and they come up every year i'm one of those persons who have been applying for my mother So I do understand. And so we have to figure out, find out when those dates is and then find out why we're not getting it or we are getting it or what we need to do that we do get it. Maybe we have a mortgage and that mortgage not allowing us to get that exemption right now. And I'm referring and I don't know that. I'm just saying those are things that. Barbara Kirby- By going to those meetings and going to those places, we can find out that information, I think that was it there was a couple of things, but we went through so much this evening, I do want to put this on the on the table right now. Barbara Kirby- And on the table right now. is that anyone who did say no i'm not saying you have to you have opportunity to rescind and decide to call for another vote but it can only be a person who gave a no vote so i know everyone spoke but it's anybody who did a no vote in this case can do a rescinding you don't have to uh if if it's not done tonight we are going to make an effort, at least I am, to talk with CED and whoever else we need to talk to to see about how we can do something and maybe even bring it back. I'm not sure, but currently right now that is on the table that anyone can do that.

I'm done. Thank you.

Thank you, everyone.

Good evening, citizens. First off, let me start off saying, Chief, I think you came, was it about three weeks ago? You came to the Gabriel's late at night. You and the police department came and fed the residents of Highland Park and the kids and everything like that. I wanted to sit up there and acknowledge you and say thank you for doing that. That made such a big difference. Thank you so very much, especially even the two weeks before that, y'all did a community event in the middle of Manchester. So thank you for that. You know, I understand that this position that I took is not for I didn't take this position to, you know, for likes or friendships or anything like that. There's hard decisions that always have to be made. And so with that being said, I shared my personal experience with you guys because I'm not about to share anybody else's. I can only share mine. a lot of they said that they had the list and that's because that's a lot of the things that residents are dealing with over there in gabriel's it's really unsafe i know the young lady said that your friends are over there your friends your boys go over there and play bless their heart because there's a lot of shootings that happen over there i would love for that to stop or desist no i got that i got that let me finish though So what I'm saying is that it's a lot that's going on. The other thing about this company, a lot of people don't know, some of their history is they have, I believe that they control the scattered sites.

Some of the scattered sites that were... Let me finish.

You don't even know where I'm going, Alexis. Let me finish. Alexis, let me finish. You don't know where I'm going. Wait, just listen. now this is my other thing this company you know you guys are mad at me but the funny thing is you're not holding them accountable for any promises they make either you're not mad at them they should be but yeah they should be they should hold on they should be held accountable but they weren't they made a bunch of promises and they didn't they didn't do any of the promises they said they made But y'all mad at me though. Y'all mad at me on what I'm standing. The fact that I feel like they should be doing what they said that they were going to do and they haven't even done it. A lot of you don't even live over there and don't know what the residents over there are dealing with. They got like a 300 yard dumpster. They talking about you going to evict people. There's people getting evicted already like crazy. They're already raising the rent like crazy. They're already doing it. A lot of y'all don't even know that. Now, with that being said, I know that affects the citizens. I mean, not the citizens. That affects the seniors in the apartment. The only thing I'm willing to do is I will only rescind to table it. That's it. That's it. That's it. Because my thing is, I want to sit down and talk to Joy. Are they going to really do what they said they're going to do? Because like she said, when she said what didn't matter, that company has renovated scatter sites and the people didn't even come back to Highland Park. I'm only holding this company accountable. That's it. You're mad at me about that. You're going to have to be mad with me holding them accountable. But I will only rescind my boat to table it. If nobody's willing to table it, then it stays how it is. That's it.

Thank you. First, I would like to thank my pastor for coming. And I've been sitting here for four years. And we get our packets Wednesday before the conference meeting. I read my packet. I do my research thoroughly. Then I ask questions and I ask for information. A thousand emails or more. over the four year course that I've been sitting in this seat. And I still have not gotten any of one of them answered. I can't make an informed decision on anything because I'm a citizen too, for over 50 years. I cannot vote on something if I don't have the proper information on it. And I've said that a thousand times sitting right here. And that's all I got to say. Have a good night.

Hold on. I will resend to table it. I want to make a motion to resend my vote so we can table the pilot.

There's two motions. There's one motion to resend.

Let me make a motion to resend my vote for the pilot.

I second it.

It needs three votes to pass. You got three?

Can you call a roll?

Councilwoman Manning?

Yes.

Councilwoman Martin? Yes. 914 is adjourned.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.