Remarks by Gina Meeks
30 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 1 of 2
- Play at 1:19:06
“Thank you so much. I just wanted to state that there's been a lot of commentary surrounding this item, especially just SROs that we haven't really seen too much of but this business owner along with several other business owners have been in communication and the business owner did connect with an architect to see if there could be some amendments or changes to this proposal. And it came back from the architect that this occupancy could be reduced. So the room count We could reduce the room count by five and add four additional rooms to give 11 bathrooms and 15 rooms. Changed in here, but…”
City Council · Oct 5, 2026
- Play at 1:41:04
“because it was told that only people outside of the pay this fee. And I was told that there was no mechanism for that to happen. So I don't really have a question, but I do want to ask, and I don't know who can answer it, could there be a mechanism of not charging local residents for this particular fee. Even if it's just presenting identification, which you have to do when you book a room anyway, and your address is on your driver's license, So I just feel like whatever we can do to make it so local residents aren't on the hook for this fee, that instantly would have made this go down a…”
City Council · Oct 5, 2026
- Play at 2:12:38
“Thank you so much, Mayor Neal. First and foremost, I just want to thank everyone who attended the 12th Ward Town Hall held at Cliff Breakers Event Center at Riverview Inn and Suites. We had a great turnout. Just special thank you to Finance Department Ann Wilkerson and Carrie Haggerty for helping to arrange that. Public Works Department, Scott Sanders, thank you so much for floating throughout the room and answering every question that was posed to you. Big thank you to Chief's Office Carla red and chief Rebecca tile chief red. You had probably the most questions of the night and you answered…”
City Council · Oct 5, 2026
- Play at 37:29
“I just have a question on item number two. Director Lies, can you tell me would Springfield Corner's redevelopment project, would that TIF be considered a successful TIF?”
City Council · Sep 21, 2026
- Play at 39:00
“Can I get an understanding of how much was used to bail out this TIF out of general funds, Director Haggerty?”
City Council · Sep 21, 2026
- Play at 39:32
“And I don't know if this is a question I can ask, but do we know over the life of the TIF how much was generated? I do not.”
City Council · Sep 21, 2026
- Play at 39:47
“And I'm just curious, I was just wondering, because I'm just trying to get a clear understanding of what is considered success when we're talking about TIFs versus what's not successful as a TIF as we continue using this model through the city. So thank you for those questions, and I'll wait for that. You can even email it to me if you want to. Thank you so much.”
City Council · Sep 21, 2026
- Play at 46:36
“Thank you so much, Mayor. I wanted to first just send another reminder. I'm having a town hall meeting on Wednesday, September 30th. This will be held at Cliff Breakers from 530 to 730. Lots of city leadership will be there, and we will be discussing. array of topics and hopefully we can cover a little bit of the homeless conversation as well at this town hall and I also just want to say that the 25 20 north main street location the single room occupancy i just want to go on the record that i will be approving this item um i know that we don't deal with single room occupancy very much in this…”
City Council · Sep 21, 2026
- Play at 55:55
“I just was curious, have we ever waived parking fees in the past? I think this question might have been asked before, but I didn't hear the answer.”
City Council · Sep 21, 2026
- Play at 56:56
“Okay, so I heard Jehovah's Witness as one example. Yes. Did you say there were several examples in the past, though?”
City Council · Sep 21, 2026
- Play at 57:19
“Is there, Administrator Cagnoni, can you tell me what the reasoning, I just need a reminder, what was the reasoning behind us waiving for the one that we did, the example that we have, the Jehovah's Witness? Why did we waive those fees?”
City Council · Sep 21, 2026
- Play at 58:25
“Thank you so much for that explanation. I'm done. Thank you.”
City Council · Sep 21, 2026
- Play at 1:08:35
“Thank you. Alderman Meeks. Thank you so much, Mayor. Director Sanders, does this, for item number one, does this $1.5 million, does that cover the alleyways in the wards as well?”
City Council · Sep 21, 2026
- Play at 1:14:03
“I know there's a lot to hear. I think what I want to say is I don't know the exact reason why the Community Healing Center contracted out, but from the little tour that I had several months ago at the Community Healing Center and visiting with representatives from By Any Dreams Necessary, Washington Park Community Center, What I can say is there was something to mentoring and working with youth with people that look like them and the comfortability that came with that. And so I don't know if that was part of some of the reasoning why They were contracted out because they were connecting with…”
City Council · Sep 21, 2026
- Play at 53:08
“Thank you so much for allowing me to speak. So in my perfect world, I would like to see the Rave Board and Legends be the ones taking care of Davis Park as it is in the contract that we have. I know it's very explicit where things are changed, but that's what I would like to see in my perfect world. But I guess my question is, the additional 5%, let's say we did not do this, and we were in my perfect world, and Rave was taking care of Davis Park, and we didn't need Go Rockford to do this. Where would the 5% go? How would that be spent?”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 54:01
“OK. And could that be used to pay down debt?”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 54:31
“Could it be used to cover the maintenance costs at Davis Park?”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 55:02
“And prior to the change, was it the park district? Were we paying the park district out of the redevelopment fund in order to do the maintenance?”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 55:10
“So the park district paid for it? Correct. So this would be a new cost added to the budget? Yes, it is. And do we have an estimate of what that cost is?”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 55:20
“Wow, okay. That is a number that is new to me. Okay, thank you so much. I don't have any more questions.”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 1:16:57
“Thank you so much. I just wanted to really quick let everyone know that I'll be having a town hall meeting Wednesday, September 30th. It'll be at 700 West Riverside that for many of you who know is Cliff Breakers or Riverview Inn and Suites is the location from 5 30 until 7 30. and so um this is definitely geared towards the 12th ward but anyone is invited to attend so i just wanted to let everyone know that thank you so much”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 1:36:08
“Yeah, I just wanted to... give kind of a different example. I know one example won't change people's minds or deter anything. And nothing's etched in stone. But one example in my area that I think could be useful is there's an individual that is looking to begin or continue on with the pre-apprenticeship program. They're currently in a smaller space looking to expand that space. And so they're looking in an area in my ward to do an expansion. And I do believe that this Spaces to Places program would be very beneficial to them. They're currently paying rent in another location outside of the…”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 37:16
“I was just wondering, of the programs that were presented, which of these programs do you feel will generate the most revenue? If we were looking at departments and tried to identify revenue generating opportunities within departments, what would you kind of lean to to say, this is where we can put our eggs in this basket here?”
City Council · Aug 31, 2026
- Play at 56:13
“to the finance director, ironically. When should we expect the TIF analysis that breaks down the balances for the TIF projects?”
City Council · Aug 31, 2026
- Play at 56:55
“Okay, so your department kind of kicks that off and then finalizes it with finance?”
City Council · Aug 31, 2026