Remarks by Christina Valdivia-Alcala
79 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 3 of 4
Good luck to both Nick and to Josh. It seems like we're losing a lot of folks, but good travels to you. Just a couple of quick things. Deepest condolences once the name was released are definitely due to nine-year-old Alexander Honea, I think it was. His family was part of that devastating fire on the 100 block of Northeast Coach Light in the trailer park. There's no words to say how horrific it was listening to witness testimony. And kudos to the fire department. I want to make sure and talk to Chief Longstaff to see how that door-to-door went with having fire detectors and telling folks how…
Just so the audience knows, we're waiting for the room to clear.
And then we will go into executive session.
Thank you, Mayor. This prayer is from St. Teresa of Avila, and it is a prayer for peace and calm. May today there be peace within. May you trust your highest power that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith. May you use those gifts that you have received and pass on the love that has been given to you. May you be content knowing you are a child of God. Let this presence settle into your bones and allow your soul the freedom to sing and dance. It is there for each and every one of you. Amen.
Thank you, Mayor. I'm wondering. if the policy for updating the governing body as soon as possible on emergent issues or issues that they need to know about in a timely fashion before they start hitting over the media, across the media, because that had been an issue even before you were here, Dan, where we would read things in the newspaper and had not received notification across the board with the governing body. And I'm wondering if there is a different protocol for if it is a holiday or a weekend that you're presenting here.
Right. So thank you for that. And I think overall you guys are doing a really good job. I will say, though, I do believe that there was a lapse. I don't. If the text was sent. about the fire that happened at Coach Light before the press release came out because I actually emailed the chief in the morning. It was probably close to 9 or 10 asking if there was going to be any kind of press release update or anything because I was getting calls about it and I had not gone out there obviously because I wasn't going to get in the middle of any of that. I don't recall getting a text notification. If…
I wasn't saying that I expected that. I think that Dan was the one that brought up the text. I don't expect that. I'm not asking for that. What I was asking for and what I emailed the chief on later that morning was when there was going to be any kind of update. And I don't expect, you know, continual updates on fires because we have a lot of fires in this town. But I also know that this was not the usual fire.
So I just want to make sure that you understand that. Perfect. Thank you.
Thank you, Mayor. I have a couple of things. And I understand that there's probably limitations to the study that you've done, but I'm still compelled to ask the question. And it's... where you state that Topeka's housing pressure is driven by structural shifts in households and income trends, not population growth alone. That actually wasn't what I wanted to read. Here it is. Sorry about that. The market is active and adjusting, but affordability pressures persist prices continue to outpace wages when you talk about prices are you talking about it directly in reference to housing prices and…
OK, well thank you for that. I would like to see that. I mean that that first study did you know which people pointed to forever. Even you know right after COVID ended in the world kind of fell apart. You know they were still pushing on that, you know, pushing that report all the time. But the other thing that I see where you say the shortage of quality housing impacts future economic growth and then we see If I'm correct, if I remember the slide that you just showed, that there's been an increase in rental housing, right?
Well, I guess what I'm saying is this, is that we have a number of older multifamily dwelling apartment complexes in Topeka. We have a change in our culture of property maintenance, and one of the things that was seriously looked at is a rental registry. And I don't know if you've ever worked with cities or when you've done more in-depth studies is that there are a number of activists that actually live in some very difficult circumstances because the honest point is is that we have some slumlords here and I'm talking multi-family dwellings and I'm talking not all multi-family dwellings but…
And so, you know, literally we have folks that are afraid to report because they don't have anywhere to go and they're afraid they're going to get kicked out of their apartment. So my bottom line question is, in the numerous cities that you have worked with, Do you have any analysis that you ever go into or have you seen any benefit from a mere rental registry to a rental registry slash licensure? I'm just asking what your experience has been. If you don't have any, okay, that's cool.
Well, I wish he would have weighed in on that, too.
Well, we'll have to look into that because licensure, you know, is on the topic of discussion. We know we definitely have pushback by the legislature when it comes to inspections. So that is a very hairy beast. At any rate, I'll have to look into more of what you said. Thank you so much. Thank you, Mayor.
Thank you, Mayor. As I stated before, I would be voting no for this. I think we continue to see increase after increase. I know that there's a lot of information that has come forth. I have had concerns growing over the years that I'm not going to repeat. I too, like many citizens, believe out there listening and watching right now that we need a forensic audit. To do anything before we have that, to start tracking what is really going on in some of our departments, I believe I can't do it. So I would love to be supporting this. And I too push for a forensic audit. Thank you.
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
Thank you, Mayor. So Karen, when it always gets to, every year when we get to this time in the budget, you come up with an amendment, and honestly speaking, your amendments are so hard to understand sometimes. You don't have any kind of handout that is... I do. ...explaining what you're vocally explaining right now?
And I understand that based on what you're trying to do, your concern is always how much will came out in bondedness, right? Trying to just get that down, right?
And tell me what you were saying again about the fire stations and the sales tax. Explain that to me again.
Right now. Okay, so, yeah, I know we need to talk about the... the ballot initiatives later, because I think that there's some real concerns about a general one that I'm very concerned about, the 110th, which I'm concerned about. And I don't know where all you've been hearing, but the 10 are folks out there is that they don't want to vote for anything right now because they're so sore about so many things. My deep concern is that none of this is going to end up passing. So how do we make it to help convince folks Move in that direction, but that's for that's for another. That's for another…
Thank you, Mayor. Quick question. So I'm not sure... I remember, I don't know how many years ago, but I remember about the system that was going to stop the traditional meter reading.
I don't know what all was involved and how that was supposed to have anything to do with conservative water. I don't know that. So I'm asking specifically the city manager look into that, how we are utilizing, or if Director Davis is there, how that's being utilized and to verify about the six positions still showing when it's stated there was one and any verification of that. If you don't have that tonight, I totally understand, but I would like that. Does anyone want to answer?
That is helpful. So thank you for that. So how long ago did we purchase that $12 million system?
Okay, and how many are you having, how many are in this testing phase that are helping you along?
Okay. And then do you have any idea about any, some kind of verification, the six meter readers down to one? Sure.