Remarks by Christina Valdivia-Alcala
79 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 1 of 4
Okay, thank you. First, I want to say I cannot even say how much I agree with Mayor Duncan on everything that he said. This is not meant to be rude to any entity, individual that has come to the forefront instead of these data centers, but what they are expecting because of how they are used to being treated, which is to me kid gloves, cart watch, But all of that, they want water carriers. That's what they want. And that's exactly what's happening here. That's what's happening with Compass Data. I'm sure that's happening with the other ones that are happening across the state. They want water…
Well, then they might want to know based on how they classify themselves about what the city of Topeka Planning Commission is stating that determines hyperscale or not. Because language is power. Language deflects. can muddy the waters incredibly or make things crystal clear. So I don't think you would do that, Curtis, but do I think most data centers would? Yeah, I think that they would muddy as much as they could. The other question that is on here is, You acknowledge that you don't know who the ultimate tenant will be, big tech firms like Meta, Google, et cetera. If we don't know who is…
I was a voting member one year out of almost serving seven years on Jato. Everything, all of the projects, you're not told. You're just for faith and then you vote yes or no on giving money, taxpayer money. But something about this ultimately somewhere down the road is going to have to change because as Topekans, And Shawnee County and start to understand more and more about the way government works, their local government, their county government. Their their commerce, whatever the case may be, they're really pissed off and they want to start knowing more and because it's their tax dollars,…
Okay, and then one more thing. I just want to let you know, the proximity... for the two Pauline schools is about a mile and a half for one and about two miles for the other. And I think that you already understand how much deep, deep concern there is for school children in this whole data center conundrum that we're in. So I just wanted to make you aware of that. And I thank you, Curtis, for taking the time to come up. And thank you, Mayor.
Thank you, Mayor. I understand this has probably been on the agenda and on the radar for some time. I'm just going to say I believe it's poor form to be having this annexation dialogue, even though it's just dialogue, while we have a moratorium. And I'm just going to say if we're going to be bumping things this much ahead by talking about it, that I think that it is shameful almost that, you know, I know that there's a lot of thinking about annexing island annexation. But yet, what are we saying about Montero, where their water rates are so high, where they are basically abandoned in many…
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
Thank you, Mayor. Let me ask a question if someone could clarify or city manager or mayor. If the affordable housing and the homelessness would go on the March mail-in ballot, when would that question absolutely have to be crafted and done and approved by? I think I missed it.
Okay, so this is why I am not for that. I state, and believe me, I seriously believe that I am truly invested in this, especially the Built for Zero. And I stated last week If we are going to be asking people to pay for this, and this is specifically, I'm talking specifically about the Built for Zero, we need to show them more. We need to show them what this methodology and what this program aspires to by successes that have occurred in other cities. We need to give them a sense of what we're looking at in the way of housing. We need to give them a better understanding about what wraparound…
Okay, so I'm going to do pushback on that because I think that there is enough momentum out there for people to know that it's not just going to disappear. So that's a little bit disingenuous, I mean, when I'm thinking about that. But the other part of that is that how many years before you got here, where there were all kinds of entities, including the city, working, duplication of services all over the place. And our homelessness issues were just increasing. And we were spending and spending and spinning our wheels. And we were not partnering in the way that this methodology suggests. I…
10 years? OK. I mean, I'm going to do some additional research on Built for Zero. And it has nothing to do because I brought it forth, just because there was research that was done by numerous people about programs across the country. And that was the standout one. So I do have concerns with language this loose. And the other thing is, is that with the half cent, I do not believe, I believe that there should be special wording in this, that this should not be used for any type of pay increases across the board. I just, I don't think it should for police and fire. I think my deep concern is…
Thank you. What Councilwoman Bradbury said I'm intrigued by, and I, as far as if the verbiage could be put in methodology driven, you know, benchmarks, something that tightens it up. So if we don't want to do the built for zero, if we want to even take, you know, the strongest components of built for zero without saying built for zero, And understanding that that is the core that is able to bring things together to get the hardest to house off of the streets, right, then tighten up that language. So I agree with Councilwoman Bradbury. So what do you think about that, city manager?
Okay. So I'm going to push back on this again. Because I think you need to do some looking at what was happening before you got here. It was a mess. Well, I mean, and so by tightening up the language, not putting built for zero, tightening it up with a few extra words that make it firmer so it's just not some unwieldy thing that if administration changes or if directors change or if the winds change or whatever the case may be that there is still some kind of security. More surety and security with that. So I don't know why you're doubling down on this so much. It really is rather you know,…
So Matt, can I just, can I just say something about when, don't put built for zero. What Councilwoman Bradbury was saying made sense. Right. And because when I first started on council, there was not a lot that was consistently happening that was helping the homeless population. So we don't want to go backwards. It makes sense to have a methodology, a proven methodology. It doesn't have to be I mean, maybe proven methodology. I'm not being a hard ass on this, but I think that it needs a little bit more tightening. So I could be wrong, but I think Councilwoman Bradbury agrees.
I did. I just texted you. I just wanted to say I agree with Councilman Kell.
Thank you, Mayor. Dan, I just wanted to make sure you said no current code violations, but the rest of that too, no back taxes, any of that that should be part of that that they do not owe that we're taking up now.
Okay. You left that out, but I just want to make sure we're consistent across the board as we're bringing all of that forward as new policy. Thank you.
Thank you, Mayor. Dan, you had told me when I sent the email to you this afternoon The price point that they're looking at is what, again, between $200 and $230?
And is that comparable to single family around their price point?
Do you have any, I barely scanned the letter from the NIA that I think Shamika had written, and you said they didn't, they stood neutral on it. Was there any discussion about the price point on the house and that more being constructed in that area? And look, I'm just totally asking this off the cuff. I don't know if it was talked about, but I just want to understand. is that with this rezoning and higher end price points, was there discussions of any concerns about gentrification?
All right. Thank you. Thank you, Dan. Thank you, Mayor.
I pushed my button, but it said yes. Yes? OK. All right.
Thank you. Thank you, Carrie and City Manager, for bringing the presentation forward. I had requested it because I think that it's been... A minute since we have had me this is really a high overview because my belief is that as we start talking about the ballot initiatives in this one-tenth of a sales one-tenth of a percent which for homelessness Some of that should be going to, and obviously that would be the Built for Zero program. I believe that we have to even be a little bit more expansive about what Built for Zero is in the future as we talk through this. We need for the public to…
Thank you, Mayor. I just want to say that the foundation that Carrie is talking about, If we don't do this, it doesn't matter if we have a tiny village. It doesn't matter if we have 200, 300 apartments. It doesn't matter if we have 200 or 300 houses available. Because if this serious foundation is not built, which takes time, because like she said, it took a tremendous amount of time just to get out of the silo mindset. And then when they go into that outreach, they go by name. They learn every individual on the streets' names. So without that foundation, it's like trying to build something…
Brenda, my application went down, so I'll vote yes.
No, but I don't know. I didn't hear her.