Remarks by Stephen Gray
131 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 1 of 6
- Play at 2:51
“Chicken pesto pasta, and I'm not sharing.”
City Council · Sep 22, 2026
- Play at 1:05:45
“Councilor Gray? I attended the planning board meeting. I also attended the neighborhood information meeting and had conversations with the applicant.”
City Council · Sep 22, 2026
- Play at 1:10:35
“There is another. Councillor Gray. Yeah, I'll weigh in since we're in the comment period. I was incredibly impressed with the applicant. I was incredibly impressed with their conduct. I basically considered this an example of smart development, smart evolution. I thought the whole process was a constructive role model or how to bring forth this kind of conversation. But I thought it was very well presented. And as you've pointed out, it's really a betterment to this section of the island. And it is in compliance with our comprehensive code. So I just wanted to, I was very impressed with the…”
City Council · Sep 22, 2026
- Play at 1:24:24
“And Councillor Gray. I attended the planning board meeting. I have gone through a number of emails and dialogues back and forth with the community on the topic and had some brief conversations with staff as well. Okay.”
City Council · Sep 22, 2026
- Play at 1:42:01
“Good. No more questions. Councilor Gray. Thank you. Mary, I hope Dan goes out of his way to take care of you for walking point on this. And thank you. You're doing a very good job. I don't know the history that well, but Marriott, I think they first requested a 100-foot tall building, and I think they ended up at 111. I think that was partly due to the equipment required on top of the building. So one of the comments, at least has been considered here, was 150 feet. And citing that as a basis, we don't have anything close to that level of elevation on the island.”
City Council · Sep 22, 2026
- Play at 1:42:54
“Okay. Thank you. I've been concerned about the increased density on the beach as a result of adding this many additional rooms. Do we have any perspective on the environmental impact of adding this much more attendance?”
City Council · Sep 22, 2026
- Play at 1:43:15
“Okay, so that's ill-defined. That's all I have for now, sir.”
City Council · Sep 22, 2026
- Play at 2:22:39
“What is this definition of sufficient throat to accommodate vehicle access, or queue? How many vehicles is there? I'm absolutely worried about the traffic on Collier. And the other related question is, isn't going to a four-way light evidence of increased intensity at this intersection?”
City Council · Sep 22, 2026
- Play at 2:25:04
“How many cars can you accommodate that will be checking in during that what I would call peak check-in period before it starts backing up on the collier? What's your capacity?”
City Council · Sep 22, 2026
- Play at 3:36:23
“Thank you. A few sort of global questions. What is, we can issue multiple bonds under this authorization. what is the latest date, calendar date in the future, that we could actually issue one of these bonds? How much time do we have? So I'm trying to understand how many bonds could we issue and over what time period that would total the $23 million? Yeah, go ahead. Let's say you could issue a bond in two years. Would the assumption be that if you issued a bond in two years, it would have a 20-year maturity subsequent to that? Okay, so those are just some of the...”
City Council · Sep 22, 2026
- Play at 3:37:33
“Okay, so to the best of our knowledge there's really up to three tranches of bond issuance And the latest date that we could choose to issue the third tranche of that would be possibly when Well the city staffs plan would be 2037 Okay The sinking fund I couldn't tell whether interest payments were quarterly, semiannual, or annual under the bond structure. It wasn't really clear to me. But I assume we have to meet a sinking fund obligation under these bonds. Is that sinking fund, do we earn interest off of that?”
City Council · Sep 22, 2026
- Play at 3:38:25
“Well, we're not trying to get too far into the weeds, are we? Yes. The next one will probably be the same category. It seems like these bonds are being issued under the terminology of a 360-day basis. Having been a banker, I wouldn't have forgiven my four or five additional days of interest. So I'm actually pointing out to the community, if these bonds are issued under a 360-day basis, essentially you're getting four days of interest free on those bonds during each year. For example, 2027 has a 365-day year. So I just thought I'd point out that there's a benefit to that aspect. That's all I…”
City Council · Sep 22, 2026
- Play at 3:45:50
“Councilor Gray, please. Thank you. I was actually going to drift into this in council communications before we pulled this. This is complicated. We talk about the analysis and we try and go through. If you're a auditor trying to review the books and records of a firm, You're dependent on the quality information that the firm gives you, and then you have to go back and search for answers. And I do think that there's been a healthy conversation about the journey we've been on to get our books and records in a clear position, clear framework. We made some progress. First, I also want to…”
City Council · Sep 22, 2026
- Play at 3:48:10
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
City Council · Sep 22, 2026
- Play at 4:08:29
“Councillor Gray. Alan, this one's for you. It's not meant to be a trick question. I've had some history with adolescents getting in accidents causing physical harm and a family being sued. I'm just curious, if I'm 15 years old and I'm riding on an electric bike and I level somebody, Does that cover under homeowner insurance? I'm trying to understand liability management and compensating people that actually get injured. So that was just a pre-question before I go over a couple other things, because I am worried about consequences and people doing damage to others and then being held…”
City Council · Sep 22, 2026
- Play at 4:09:12
“So the parents would be responsible, and it may or may not fall under their homeowner policy, depending on the quality of their policy.”
City Council · Sep 22, 2026
- Play at 4:09:28
“Right, so we could have people on e-bikes without insurance. whereas we do require in cars that people have uninsured motorist coverage.”
City Council · Sep 22, 2026
- Play at 4:09:42
“I was just trying to put that. I'm actually going to switch to just a couple of things. And, Councillor Schwann, I really appreciate you bringing this forward. Because the injuries are going up. We are not at end of job. But this, again, reinforces where our density and intensity are coming into more challenging questions for what's happening on this island. You guys watch the island. I mean, the first thing that jumped out at me is there's probably a couple stretches of sidewalks where they got no business being on it. But is there perspective and learning that's come out of your experience…”
City Council · Sep 22, 2026
- Play at 4:11:14
“So thank you very much. So the whole e-bike industry, and by the way, I did love this article. And it's very real and it reinforced my concern originally. We got a shortage of brain surgeons and a lot of head injuries come out of these accidents. And so that is among other things a danger. We're a year into this, but do we believe there's betterments we could do for the community safety? And part of what I'm asking, An 80-year-old woman that I was advised through a friend was leveled by an e-bike, but she chose not. I said, please, call the police. You've got to file a report. They didn't…”
City Council · Sep 22, 2026
- Play at 4:14:00
“First, I appreciate your recommendation. It's complicated. Everything is here. I don't believe we're at end of job. So I do believe that I would love to pick on our police department and where they thought the hotspots were. And I guess you're telling me I can't require insurance on an e-bike rider. I'm not sure that the police department's qualified to answer that.”
City Council · Sep 22, 2026
- Play at 4:31:29
“Councillor Gray. Thank you. I'll start with a question. Mr. Chairman, you mentioned if the bond hadn't been approved, we couldn't move forward with the parks and rec.”
City Council · Sep 22, 2026
- Play at 4:31:41
“Well, this is important because this is talking about financial strategies and financial advisory. First, I absolutely think that we have ignored our parks and recs. Look, I have my daughter and my grandkids here, and they beat the crap out of me for the water park. or for the splash pad. It is bad. It's an example I brought up over time. We've had deferred maintenance that has to be caught up. And I absolutely believe that a lot more should be done for our parks and recs. But I just wanted to clarify, there were other paths forward to financing this. Sending the message to the community, if…”
City Council · Sep 22, 2026
- Play at 4:32:27
“Well, no, I'm just, I just, what that interprets is that was the only path forward for financial flexibility. I believe there are others.”
City Council · Sep 22, 2026
- Play at 4:32:38
“So another concept, and I don't want to open up this whole cruise ship thing, but the question would be if cruise ships are active and viable on the island, which they appear to be, Do we have the ability to charge debarkation fees, disembarkation fees? Is this conceptually something within our wherewithal? And the only reason I ask is if we can charge the tourists and direct it to our parks and recs in Mackle Park, we could begin to exhibit to the community where the tourist coexistence actually helps the community some. So I don't know how we answer that or if that's a white paper or what,…”
City Council · Sep 22, 2026
- Play at 4:33:37
“Good, then I'll leave that to you. So the point that I've been going after, and I think the audit conversation, the $60,000 helped to validate something I've been raising for a while, a time that we have not been at end of job in understanding our financial position. I still believe there are more avenues where the bond now is a beautiful thing. It's been done. It's approved by a majority of It doesn't mean we have to carry all that interest. And it doesn't mean there aren't other strategies on how we might fund the city responsibly without leaning on all that debt. I consider that a…”
City Council · Sep 22, 2026