Common Council - public_hearing

Now is the time and a place for public hearing. Would the clerk please read the short title?

Yes. This public hearing is relative to the naming of the Homer Wheaton Park concession stand to the Alfonsi Guard Concession Stand. Thank you.

Just some housekeeping. We will have speakers come to the mic. We'll have three minutes to speak. Is there anyone here to speak in favor of the proposal? Please state your name and address. We have one card here from Charleston Collins. Charleston. Charleston.

Way more than I did. And not just the city, the kids on the east side. He has teams all around. We have five, six different, five zip codes, I think, that we draw kids from. I think right now the kids from the west side are playing. They're using Kirk Park down there. You see Kirk Park being used. We had Westmoreland Park back in the days. We had Lower Onondaga we used, I believe. No, that was the other program. But we had... Homer Wheaton up there. So he's been doing this for many years. I think he deserves more than just a concession stand named after him. This man really deserves more than that. And I think the park should be, not the park, but the baseball field of it. I understand the park is named after Homer Wheaton, first person from the area that died in World War I. I understand that. That's a big feat, and I don't think Coach Guns may be able to handle that or top that one. But the field should be named after him. Thank you.

Excuse me, Curtin. I don't see the Commissioner Parks here, but that admission was discussed earlier with Councilor Codwell. Once I talk to the Department of Law, if we can amend the legislation, she had to have agreed to doing so. So more will be revealed on that, Councilor Codwell? Yes. Okay. Sorry about that.

Good evening. I wasn't going to say anything, but I just thought of something. My name is Phil Turner. I'm the pastor at Bethany Baptist Church on the east side of the city. I also want to express that Alfonsi Gunn has been a deacon at Bethany Baptist Church for over 20 years, and the team that he coaches represents our church, and they are the Bethany disciples. In case you didn't know, I think they at one time were the Black Barons. And so not only has he been a coach for all this time, connecting with families and parents, but he also brings the baseball players to church. And he has been doing this for the last as far back as I can remember. Everybody knows when the baseball players are in church. Don't ask me how, but they know because things are a little different when the baseball guys come in. But I just wanted to give that confession and testimony that Deacon Gunn is not just a baseball coach, but he's also a man of God, and he's also a community connection for the church and young people and families.

Thank you. Is there anyone else here to speak in favor of the proposal? Is there anyone else here to speak in favor of the proposal? Is there anyone here to speak in opposition of the proposal? Is there anyone here to speak in opposition of the proposal? Is there anyone here to speak in opposition of the proposal? Hearing none, I declare this public hearing closed and the legislation will be considered during the regular order of business. I had to wait just a couple minutes for WCNY to catch up and go right to the next one.

Thank you, everybody.