Remarks by Victoria Watlington
53 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 1 of 3
Thank you. I see this as another example of an opportunity for us to step back and take a look at where we're trying to go and how each of these decisions fit into the overall policy scheme. So I would just want to offer or ask of staff that we take a look at all of the properties in the city that are potentially eligible based on the criteria for what we know right now so that we can understand what the size of the of the prize, if you will, is not only from a budget standpoint, but also so that we can think about how we're managing opportunity for increased revenue through new build and…
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just real quick, wanted to announce that November 18, I'll have my next town hall right here in the chamber. Oh, wow. Yep. We are almost halfway through the term, and so we have dubbed it Halftime Huddle, and we're going to turn the chamber into a sports... Studio and we're going to run down the top 10 plays of the last decade our wins our flags our learnings and then we're going to hand the ball over to our residents to talk about what the playbook should look like for the second half we're going to start at six o'clock and tailgate is outside at 5 15. So we…
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you for bringing this back to us. Certainly, I agree with Councilmember Driggs as well as a number of my other colleagues in regards to the policy. What I'm understanding, however, in this specific instance is that we are playing within the rules as they are written today. So I am inclined to not pull I'm inclined to play within the rules. I also am inclined to improve the rules and make them more holistic and comprehensive. And so after this motion, I would like to move to send something to committee.
Thank you, Mayor. Just real quick, because I can tell by the questions that we may be having three different conversations here. So I just, for my own sake, can you help clarify? Rapid fire, okay? And if you need to phone a friend, go ahead. I'm hearing three things, historic designation, housing policy, and tax increment grant policy as it relates to office buildings uptown that may apply to other areas in the city as things happen. That's what I'm hearing. So my question then is, as far as it relates to the historic designation, while I understand that you're saying it comes with a tax…
What I'm asking is what we use to determine that something has a historical designation. There is a set of criteria.
We established it here at the city, or are we reapplying criteria from another higher or other source?
Got it, I'm good, thank you. Okay, so there's this piece, but then there's the other piece as to whether or not a historically designated building also gets a tax increment. Where is that decided?
Okay, so what I heard is that our criteria is in line with the federal government's criteria. And I heard that the decision as to whether or not there is a tax deferment benefit associated with the designation doesn't sit here either. It sits in Raleigh.
It's been on the books since the 1970s. That's the state law.
So neither one of those two things really is a question of the city council either meets the criteria or doesn't. And then Raleigh has decided that if it meets the criteria, there is a tax deferment benefit.
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
Okay. And then... Thirdly, from a policy standpoint, what does sit with us? Housing policy, which I've heard, I think I understood you, Mr. Mayor, that we were going to take a look at that. And then I'd also like to lift up. And this we can say for council topics, but I'd also like to lift up our economic development committee to look at our overall tax increment grant structure and make sure that what we say is community benefit actually lines up with what we're incentivizing.
Thank you so much. I have a few questions. Thank you for your work on this, and thank you, Chair Mayfield, for the work that you have led here. I've got a couple of questions in there. Some of them are very tactical, some might be more philosophical. I'm wondering if you are able to provide us an overview since the housing bond first went from 25 to 50, what the unit gap was, what was built, what it is now, and what the... what those units that were invested in are doing on the ground today. Council Member Mayfield has asked for this type of thing before, but if there's a way that we can see…
Awesome. Thank you for that, because that will be helpful information. Because to your point, if what we're seeing is that developers are willing to go longer if we raise the floor, I think that would be beneficial to us, particularly along these transit lines. And then by that same token, just looking at the home ownership, I'm happy to see the home ownership investment is still going strong and that the usability of it has been high, because I think that'll eventually be the name of the game. Has there been any kind of... Discussion or thought around how this maps to some of the workforce…
Yeah, I think that would be really great to see how we could be even more prescriptive about people who are involved in these particular initiatives from a workforce development standpoint. How do we think very strategically and tactically about laying on top of them? For example, the land trust. has a wait list of potential homeowners. How do we get very laser focused on ensuring these outcomes for people, particularly those working in areas that we need to keep the city running? And then just my last question. I just want to make sure I understood. The $2 million for administration and…
Thank you. I appreciate you, Chief, as always. As I mentioned before, I'm very interested in the data. We want to justify our way into this, and so absolutely we'll be supporting our pilot so we can do just that. I just want to say thank you to everybody who came out tonight. I think it underscores the importance of community. I love to see the little babies coming out and do their Easter speech because that is exactly what it takes. This is a tool but I think the power really is in the community and you all demonstrated that tonight. So thank you for what you do day in and day out. And I'm…
I don't think Tina's here. Tina's not here. She's not here.
Good evening, Dimplege Mayor. At large. Good evening, I'm Victoria Watlington and I have the pleasure of serving you as a member at large.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor. For those of you that would like to, please join us and bow our heads. Heavenly Father, we come before you tonight grateful for this city and for the trust placed in us to serve it well. Lord, give us wisdom beyond our own understanding as we deliberate tonight and as we hear from the community. Give us humility to listen to each other and to the neighbors who aren't in this room but whose lives are shaped by what we decide here. Lord, where there is disagreement among us, let it be rooted in respect. Where there is doubt, grant us clarity. Where there is division in our…
All right, I've got four quick. If we could go to, yes. Chief Patterson, if we could go to slide three. I want to make sure that I understand what the numbers are telling us here. Can you walk me through what is the story that the data is telling here? What is the... hypothesis? Yes, ma'am.
So I'm sorry, I just want to make sure I'm clear. This dark blue is total victims. This light blue that says ages 16 to 17, is that victims or offenders?
Yes, ma'am. And then at 11 p.m. That number is 77. So basically the difference between 122 and 77 is what you're saying you're hoping to reduce victimization.
And can you, just a quick follow-up, can you then help me understand... The reason I'm asking this question is because I think about the alternatives to violence work that we're doing. And so my immediate question, especially as I see ADW and gun here, is how many of those are addressed through that retaliatory violence piece versus through the curfew? I'm still not quite clear on the mechanism that's changing.
And then just too quickly... I asked this last time, but I'm hoping that maybe we can dig into it a little bit deeper here. Right now, the sun sets somewhere between 8 and 9. We know in the wintertime it's going to be somewhere between 4 and 5 o'clock. What is the thought process during the wintertime of how this applies? Tell me what your thoughts are.