City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everyone. Good evening, and welcome to the Richmond City Council's formal council session. At this time, madam clerk, if you would, certainly provide, guidance in terms of Spanish interpretation.

Spanish interpretation is available in the council chamber. Please see a representative at the rear of the room to receive the appropriate equipment. Spanish interpretation is also available through Microsoft Teams for virtual attendees in need of this service.

Thank you. At this time, we are pleased to have pastor Philip Turner of Pine Street Baptist Church to join us and provide the invocation this evening. Welcome, pastor.

Thank you, council, for the invitation, and thank you for your leadership in our city. May we pray together? Gracious and loving God, we gather in your presence with gratitude for the gift of community and the responsibility of leadership. We thank you for the city of Richmond, for its history, its resilience, and the diverse people who call it home. We pray for the members of this council.

Grant them wisdom as they deliberate, courage as they make decisions, and humility as they listen to one another and to the voices of the community. Help them to seek not only what is expedient, but what is just, not only what is popular, but what is right. Guide their conversations today. Where there is disagreement, bring respect. Where there is uncertainty, bring clarity.

Where there is need, inspire compassion and action. May their work reflect the deep commitment for the well-being of every neighbor, especially those voices which are often unheard. Bless this city with peace, opportunity, and hope. Strengthen all who serve the common good and remind us that we are bound together in shared purpose and mutual care. In your holy name, we pray.

Amen. Amen. Thank you, pastor Turner. At this time, please, I invite you to join me for the pledge of allegiance. Madam and or mister clerk, if you would provide the emergency evacuation plan.

Upon activation of the emergency alarm signal, all persons should immediately exit the building. Please use the exits to the left or right front of the council chamber or the east or west stairwell outside the rear doors of the chamber. Do not use elevators or escalators. After exiting the building, security will direct everyone down 9th Street to the assembly area located inside the former public Safety Building parking lot. Able persons should assist visually and hearing impaired visitors with exiting the building.

Thank you. If you would now also provide the, public speaker guidelines. Individuals speaking during public hearings in

the public comment period are generally allowed three minutes to speak. Persons appearing before counsel are not allowed to campaign for public office, promote private business ventures, use language of a personal nature which insults or demeans any person, including comments directed at public officials or staff members that are not related to their official duties, or address or question staff members directly. All questions are to be directed to the president of council. Failure to adhere to the guidelines may result in speakers forfeiting any remaining time and further disciplinary action as necessary, which could include barring from attendance at future meetings of city council for a period of six months.

And, madam president, for the record, all members of council are in attendance this evening except councilors Robertson and Lynch. You do have a quorum. If there are individuals standing in the rear of the chamber, they are asked to be seated where seats are available. Also, applause is not permitted during tonight's meeting. Thank you. Thank you, madam clerk.

Just as we prepare for public comment period, I will just, inform you that the budget, opportunity for the public hearing and comment on the budget will be May 11. So feel free to join us at that time for that public hearing. And, madam clerk, I'd like to just before we get underway with the public speaker, public comment period, we have some special guests in the audience that councilman Breton is going to, introduce us to, and then we'll get underway with the public comment period.

I just wanted to welcome on behalf of the city, Cub Scout Pack four thirty six, who's here with us today, a group of very bright, civic minded young people that I've had the opportunity to meet with earlier today. So we were discussing democracy, the city, city services, and budget questions with them. And so I know that the, you know, the future is in their hands, and I can attest that the future is in very good hands. So thank you, PAC four thirty six, for being here. Yeah. Give him a round of applause. Thank you, madam president.

Thank you, councilman Breton, and welcome, to our troop. Look forward to your joining us, sometime in the near future. Is that correct, mister Breton? Of course. Okay. Thank you all. Welcome. With that, madam clerk, let's proceed, to call the, public comment speakers. The first speaker is Jesus Carpio. Welcome, mister Carpio.

Mister Luis. The honorable members of the Richmond City Council, it is an honor for me to, to be here, speaking with you. Thank you for, the leadership that you provide for the city. My deeds, distinguished council members, my name is Jesus r. Carpio.

I am a resident of Richmond, currently residing at 404 Lowell Street 23223, and a constituent of councilwoman Reba M. Trammell. The reason I am here is because I have suffered at the hands of people who are supposed to administer justice in the city. The law is clear. Every person is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

To uphold this, the system requires solid, consistent consistent evidence that is free from reasonable doubt. When authorities, sadly, manipulate legal narratives or ignore constitutional rights, justice is compromised. Unfortunately, I have been one of many people who have, suffered, unfairly due to accusations against us. Sadly, among the summary of discrepancies and grievances, I have had a FOIL request denial even though they are, allowed by law. And, fur furthermore, I have, presented requests, to the court system in regards to the documents, and up to date, I have not received them.

And, I'm concerned, because of this, and, I am a person who does not have enough, financial means in order to, pay a lawyer who could represent me.

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I would like to request from you. I would to request your assistance in me trying to get this solved with the judicial system. Okay. Process Because we all have the right to due process. And and I do not want anyone to go through this situation, people suffering injustices like we saw recently with former governor former lieutenant governor governor.

And this is a concern of my known not only for myself, but also for, any other people who could be going through a a situation similar to mine.

Thank you. That's your time. Madam president.

Thank you. Council member Krammel.

Thank you, madam president. I know that Tom and I have been talking for the past couple of years about this, and I know that, the former Virginia lieutenant governor, Justin Fairfax, was going to hear the case or help him and was not was not able to do it. But, anyway, was gonna let him know that the chief is here. He's also spoke at our public safety meeting, and he's been to many, many of our eight district meeting. So maybe if the chief can get with him and speak to him about I think he's just trying to find because he he does live at 600 Rosemont Road, which is in the 8 District, and help him maybe gather some information or to see where we can help him with some assistant and clearing.

I think he's trying to clear his name or not, be charged with something that he says that he did not do.

Thank you. Thank you, council member Trammell. And, chief, if there is any opportunity to appropriately direct the gentleman, we would certainly appreciate that. Thank you. Madam Clark, next speaker. The next speaker is Aurora Britt. Welcome to Sprint.

Thank you. Hello. You know what I'm here to talk about? Flock cameras, of course. I'm gonna tell you a story about something that just happened in LA about a month ago.

LA and the state of California have state laws that don't allow any federal officials to access their flight cameras, same as Virginia and Richmond. Just recently at a anti ICE protest in Downtown LA, several protesters were followed back to their homes by ICE agents and other members of DHS. That how they followed them home where the ICE agents were accessing the flock cameras on their cell phones and using them to track people throughout the city. I'm gonna ask you. If you think that ICE is using cameras in LA and California without permission, what do you think is happening here? Get rid of the cameras.

Thank you, miss Britt.

The next speaker is Michael White.

Welcome, mister White.

Hello. Good afternoon, counsel. Thank you for this opportunity. Hello. My name is Michael Weiss. I come to share information on flock safety. You probably didn't know. And the terms and condition of the flock agreements under 4.1 customer data, it reads, as between flock and customer, all rights, title, interests, and into customer data belong and are retained by customer. Customer hereby grants the flock limited, nonexclusive, royalty free, irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide license to, a, use and disclose customer data to provide the flock system and, b, use customer data to support improved flock's products and services. Customer data will be available for authorizing user to access and download via the web interfaces.

RPD is not the only ones using and viewing this data. Data flock themselves are as well. Now the privacy policy states flock reserves the right to disclose personal information in special cases. Flock also states that they will share your personal information with third parties if they are legally required to do so, or FLAC has good faith belief that it would protect the right property or safety of FLAC surveillance. I nor my fellow citizens are products that come second to an out of state corporate entity.

Finally, I mentioned all this for a recent story that Fox vice president of business development, Bob Carter, as well as Randy Gluck, an employee, was caught accessing the cameras of MJCC in Atlanta, a children's gymnastics gym, the pool, the aerobics gym, the aerobics room, and the preschool area watching for tons of hours over days as it's still being audited. Flock has ability to aggregate the data of third party cameras, making any camera possibly a flock camera, making all everyone's personal access and privacy at risk.

Thank you, mister White.

I do have a paper I'd like to give to counsel.

Thank you.

The last speaker is Daniel Tobias.

Welcome, mister Tobias.

Thank you. Good evening, madam president, city council. Thank you for your time tonight. My name is Daniel Tobias. I'm a resident in the 6th District and have been proud to call Richmond my home for more than a decade.

I'm here tonight to speak on the negative impact of flock cameras in our community. But before I get to that, I'd like to zoom out for a moment to the national picture and the current political climate that contextualizes my opposition to these cameras. Right now, Congress is debating the extension of warrantless surveillance through FISA after recent alarms were sent from within the program itself about the extent to which American citizens' privacy is being invaded outside the scope of the program. The Trump administration also has issued national security presidential memorandum seven, NSPM seven, countering domestic terrorism and organized political violence, which specifically targets individuals and organizations on the left. Their indicators for existing the precrime relies on dangerous and vague indicators such as anti Americanism, anti capitalism, anti Christianity, extremism on migration, extremism on gender, hostility towards traditional faith of use on family, religion, and morality.

Having witnessed the Trump administration's actions over the past year and a half, I am not confident, an understatement, that this is an administration that respects our constitutionally granted freedoms. I am pro public safety. In another life, I helped design the enclosures for some of the speed cameras you see outside of school zones in this city. I am not against those kinds of security programs. Flock cameras are very different.

You've heard from many constituents over the past months about the difference in vulnerabilities. I will briefly recount just a few. These cameras are not secure. There is no two factor authentication, and there was reporting from 404 last year that login credentials were listed for sale on Russian hacking forums. Agencies and individuals outside Richmond have and will be able to access the city systems.

To that point, Richmond's flock systems were improperly accessed by a federal agency for the purpose of so called immigration enforcement. This access spanned several months in 2025 before being discovered and terminated. Claims from Maravula or police chief Edwards that these systems are only accessible by Richmond law enforcement cannot be true while these vulnerabilities exist. Moreover, these persistent surveillance systems seconds. Thank you.

Disproportionately and hugely impact minority majority areas confirmed by geospatial data obtained by judicial order on over 600 flock systems in the Hampton Roads area, lining up neatly with previously redlined communities. Flock predictive policing contributes to a long history of overpolicing that Richmond especially should be sensitive to. Having come back from a weekend visiting the birthplace of democracy, in Philadelphia two hundred and fifty years ago this year, it feels appropriate to end with these words from Benjamin Franklin. Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. Thank you, madam president. Thank you, counsel. Thank you, mister Tavaz.

And, madam president, that concludes the list of public comment period speakers for this evening.

Thank you. Let's proceed with the amendments to tonight's agenda.

The amendments to tonight's agenda are as follows. Item three, ordinance twenty twenty six zero seven four will be amended later this evening and then continue to the Monday, May 11 council meeting. Item five, ordinance twenty twenty six zero seven six and item 16, ordinance twenty twenty six zero eight nine will both be continued to the Monday, June 8 council meeting. Item 17, ordinance twenty twenty six zero nine zero will be continued to the Monday, May 11 council meeting, and this paper is to be referred to the May 4 organizational development standing committee meeting. Item 18, ordinance twenty twenty six zero nine one will be continued to the Monday, June 8 council meeting.

Item 19, resolution twenty twenty six r zero zero three will be amended later this evening and then continued to the Monday, May 11 council meeting. Item 24, ordinance twenty twenty five, two three one, will be continued to the Monday, May 11 council meeting. Item 25, ordinance twenty twenty five, two eight two, and item 26, ordinance twenty twenty six, zero eight one will both be continued to the Tuesday, May 26 council meeting. Item 27, ordinance twenty twenty six zero six three will be amended later this evening and then continue to the Monday, May 11 council meeting. Item 28, ordinance twenty twenty six zero six four will be continued to the Monday, May 11 council meeting.

Item 29, ordinance twenty twenty six zero six five and item 30, ordinance twenty twenty six zero six six will both be amended later this evening and then continued to the Monday, May 11 council meeting. Items 31 through 34, ordinances twenty twenty six, zero six seven, zero six eight, zero six nine, and zero seven zero will all be continued to the Monday, May 11 council meeting. And item 35, ordinance twenty twenty six zero seven one will be amended later this evening and then continued to the Monday, May 11 council meeting. Madam president, those are all the amendments to tonight's agenda.

Thank you, mister Clark. Might I have a motion to accept the agenda as amended?

So move.

Council is voting on this evening's agenda amendments as read. Mister Breton?

Aye.

Miss Gibson?

Yes.

Miss Jones?

Aye.

Miss Lynch?

Aye. And, I'd like to be added to ordinance twenty twenty six zero eight eight.

That has been noted. Miss Trammell?

Aye.

Miss Abubacher? Aye. Vice president Jordan? Aye. And president Newbill? Aye. That motion has been approved, and the amended agenda is now before you.

Thank you.

And this evening's consent agenda consists of the following items. Item one, ordinance twenty twenty six, zero six zero. Item two, ordinance twenty twenty six, zero seven three. Item four, ordinance twenty twenty six, zero seven five. Items six through 15, ordinances twenty twenty six, zero seven seven, seven eight, seven nine, eight zero, eight two, eight three, eight four, eight five, eight six, and eight eight. And items 20 through 23, resolutions twenty twenty six, r zero one three, r zero one five, r zero one six, and r zero one seven. Those are all the items on tonight's consent agenda.

Thank you, mister Clark. We will now proceed with the public hearing on the consent agenda items. All persons in the audience desires of speaking in opposition to any item on the consent agenda. Please come forward.

Welcome.

Hello. Good evening, madam president and honorable council members. I am Emma Hartman, and I'm here with my mother, Megan Smith. We've both my our family has resided in 3rd District for over twenty seven years now. Tonight, there is an sorry. I'm a little short. There's an item on the consent agenda to clarify the definition of bicycle lanes as it pertains to issuing parking citations. This is the bike lane in front of my house. It is one of three cars we have had totaled on this road since this bike lane has been enacted. Thankfully, no one none of my family was in the car at the time, But, I would like you to consider what my neighbors saw, what happened.

Imagine if people that park imagine if that happened near you. Imagine, if the people that parked their cars close to you had them hit, by people going far too fast in a lane that is far too small.

A lot of

people are scared to get out of their cars, myself included, because people go down that road very fast, and we do not have enough space to get out of our cars. Part of the amendment wants to ensure that there's a three foot space between cars and cyclists to prevent an incident incidents called during. I completely understand that. This is an example of how most people park on my road. This is my car, actually, parked on my road.

A lot of us park a little bit over the barrier that has been set up for the bike lanes. I completely understand wanting to keep bikers and cyclists safe. I think that's a great idea. However, a lot of my neighbors, myself included, are very scared to get out of our cars because we are so close to traffic that is going very fast. And by the way that we are parked, bikes can move completely freely.

We are not in their way, and we are not obstructing the bike lane at all. But, as you can see in this picture, I received a citation, warning, that noticed that I would be getting a ticket had this happened after May 1. But I, am not obstructing the bike lane, and I am actually very concerned to get out of my car. But there is just not enough space to get out of your car safely. My neighbors don't wanna put cyclists in danger.

I don't wanna put cyclists in danger. We are just trying to protect ourselves. Please don't start issuing citations to citizens who are just trying to park safely without getting hurt. Their cars are just going too fast. Our main goal is to keep our neighborhood safe and prepared. And in order to keep everyone safe, we don't

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need to redefine what the bike lanes are. We need to do is slow down traffic and prevent people from going extremely fast down these roads and give out tickets for speeding and not for parking. In this incident, the person who hit this car didn't get a ticket. They didn't get a citation. They walked away. And we lost two cars in that incident. But, I know on paper that it looks like you were making people safe by doing these citations and protecting bikers, but you are just putting people in their cars and getting out of them and pedestrians in danger. But I thank you so much for your time, and I hope that you can put this into consideration. Have a good day.

Restate your name, please? Yes.

Emma Hartman. Thank you.

Mhmm. Thank you. Are there any other persons present desires of speaking in opposition to any item on the consent agenda.

Madam president, my name is Patrick Ford, and I'm a building and business owner on the 400 block of East Grace Street. I'm here to

pulling up the mic microphone a little bit more? Thank you.

That better? Yeah. I'm here to talk about, resolution twenty twenty six r zero sixteen. It's the approving the issuance of $11,000,000 in bonds for the project on East Grace Street. We the the building has been shut down for a couple of years, and, we've noticed a significant improvement in the neighborhood, since it's been closed.

Now I don't think anyone in the neighborhood wants to have a vacant property on the building, but, there's been a long history, for that building for over two decades, of very poor management. There have been remodels in the past. And within a couple of years after a remodel, it always goes back to, you know, that, you know, where it was a couple years ago before it was closed down. The members in the community have not been involved. There's been no outreach to talk to them about what's happening with the building.

We're all very confused, what what's going on. And at $34,000,000, it seems like a lot of money to spend on on this project. We're talking about half $1,000,000 a door. There's only 65 units in the building. So it just seems to me that it's it's doomed from the beginning. We would just like a pause on this to better understand what the plan is for this building and, and and understand sort of how we can, better prepare for it because I think everyone in the neighborhood is very nervous about, the project and and and what's coming.

Thank you. Thank you. Are there persons present in the audience, now desires of speaking in favor of any of the items on the consent agenda?

Hey, y'all. My name is Casey Miller. I'm a renter and resident in the 7th District, and I'm here to speak in favor of ordinance twenty twenty six dash zero eight two. Appreciate, the extra layer of transparency from council members who put this forward. Thank you. Have a good day. Thank you.

Welcome. Thank you. Good evening, council members, madam president. Sherrell Hampton with RRHA. I wanted to, if this is the appropriate time, madam president, to share just a few comments in support of the project.

RRHA competitively selected a developer to work and co partner with us on the substantial renovation of 400 East Grace Street. That is the $11,000,000 or up to $11,000,000 in, bond funds, I believe that is. For that project, we held in September a, virtual meeting for all of the businesses in the area. We then went out again and hand delivered to each of the businesses surrounding in a two block radius of the project. We shared with them what the plans were for that project.

We also the agency, RRHA, in its process for the board to review and consider this project. We held a public hearing. It was advertised for ten days and the time's dispatch. I believe in your, package, you have a copy of the affidavit of publication that was put out. So I just wanted to share it is a project.

It will be housing all seniors, which is what was in before. This is a completely new developer who has experience in affordable housing. There is in your packets a copy of their presentation and what the project will do and bring to the area. So it is that historic use of that, building again and putting it back in use to serve seniors. So thank you.

We ask your favorable consideration of the project. And we will continue to have ongoing, reports to the that two to three block radius. We will continue to have either virtual meetings or, send out information. We sent out hand delivered information

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On the project. So we will continue to do that throughout the life and the development of the project.

Thank

you. Thank you.

Madam president, I had a question for miss Hampton. This is more about process.

What what

kind of I mean, these are we've seen a lot of these really, really big ticket item, RHAJ bonds coming through council in recent years, which is great. We wanna add an increase to our affordable housing stock. I guess, you know, in the context of how this fits, with our larger kind of strategic plan for affordable housing, how do you all collaborate with the administration before you bring these projects for you know, is there collaboration with missus Ebert and mister Merrick's shop? Are you all just doing this in a vacuum without or in

a silo without kinda looking at that larger bigger picture? No. Thank you, council member Lynch, for that, question. We, do bring, an two, HCD. The project must comply with the five year consolidated plan, And so we share the same information that you have with, HCD and miss Ebert and mister Malone.

Thank you. Thank you, miss Joan. Thank you, miss Hampton.

Thank you.

Hello. My name is Vincent Venuti, and I'm speaking on behalf of favoring ordinance twenty twenty six zero six zero. I am the owner of Dream House. I it was created and born from an initiative called Shaco Shine. I attended a meeting with the mayor, and he was asking how he can help Chaco Bottom's success.

I went home that night and created a large presentation that a lot of the city actually has on their computers, and it's called Chaco Shine. It is an initiative to flip the narrative of what Shaco Bottom currently is. We currently know it as being a very unsafe area, and it keeps people away. At DreamHouse, we want to flip the narrative. We want to lead a this initiative and then reinvite people back down to Shaco Bottom.

DreamHouse is in support of the arts, and we want to be able to extend that arts time. Right now, we have to stop at midnight, but we wanna be able to stay open a little bit later and also take up space with artists and create a stage where we can have storytellers, where we can have people be expressive and share their thoughts, share their feelings, and share their art and who they are. So at DreamHouse, we are not planning to be part of the problem. We wanna be part of the solution because we dream at of a safer nightlife in Richmond because Richmond deserves it, and we wanna be part of it.

Thank you. Thank you.

Good afternoon, city council members. I stand here on the behalf of Dream House located on 110 North 18th Street on District 7 for the businesses to be for the business to be granted special privileges to become a nightclub. I thank you for your time. I've lived in Rich I've lived in Richmond for over four and a half years. And with my prior to that prior to meeting my business partner, Vinnie, who has previously spoken before me, I've now been a Richmond resident for over six years now, half a decade, and Shaco Bottom has had the same narrative before and after the twenty twenty pandemic.

A meeting was called, as mentioned before, by the mayor to bring in the shop business owners from Shaco Bottom, instead of real solutions being, held, fingers were being pointed and, just sharing problems and and grievances with the mayor. Then he had proposed a few solutions based on the experiences managing large music festivals and events happening outside of Richmond. Shock O'Shine is a multiphase solution that was created based on the business' core values, wonder, creativity, inclusivity, and most of all, safety. We wanna be we want to create a safer, brighter, and friendlier neighborhood to help Shaco Bottom thrive and flip the current negative that's been happening for over a decade. We wanna be able to have the creatives and artists take up space, and creativity was never meant to be contained in a box.

And our plan was for that creativity to extend beyond these four walls. We would need your help to or Dream House to become a nightclub like that. We can be able to help the neighborhood from what currently is. We thank you for your time again, and we'd love your support.

Thank you.

Do you

mind stating your name?

My name is Armando Lugo, a r m a n d o l u g o.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank Thank you to all the speakers. The public hearing is now closed. Bring it back to council for any further questions, comment, etcetera. Council member Gibson? Thank thank you, madam

president. Just a couple of points. I I want to applaud the efforts of the folks involved with Shaco Shines. It is just, you know, I I I I think that when we find ideas and and solutions as as part of the community, to make it a a safer place, know, you that's really exciting to see, and I I look forward to seeing how that project comes together. I also wanted to, inquire regarding, item twenty twenty six zero eight eight regarding the the the bicycle lane.

And I, you know, appreciate that we are having important discussions as a body, related to street safety very broadly. It is not lost on me that item 14 on our list of ordinances is, the designation of 1000 East Clay Street in honor of Bill Martin, who, unfortunately, was a victim of pedestrian of a, know, of a of a death. He was a pedestrian. And so I wanted to know if it is possible to, allow this body the opportunity to look at, data specific to safety measures and and this particular proposal. Right?

So I I appreciate that our objective isn't making people more safe. And we have, you know, the the interest is is that by making the lanes more narrow, that that should help folks speed down or slow down. But I I wonder, if we could see as a body what those, what the data is telling us. Has it been effective in slowing people down to have the the lanes more narrow? What is the rate by which we've seen vehicles hit as a result of of narrowing those lanes?

How many, accidents are we aware of regarding bicyclists who have been impacted by, you know, doors opening while they're driving through the bicycle lanes. All of these are are important or critical issues that need to be addressed, and I and I want to see, and and appreciate how, you know, how how it's working in totality. What I'm what I am sensitive to, I really appreciated the, the speaker who came to speak, is that, you know, we are not giving people tickets like we used to, and we're looking for ways of addressing speed, absent having officers provide as many tickets. Right? And so I worry that by putting streets and, you know, putting cars in the way, essentially, by, you know, those folks by parking, that that they're they're they're putting themselves at risk as well getting out of their cars.

You know? I mean, it's so I I appreciate the discussion. I just would really love to see as much data as we can to make sure that we're not, fixing one problem and creating another.

Thank you, council member Gibson. Vice president Jordan?

Thank you so much, and thank you to, everyone who came down to speak. Specific to this item, it was a recommendation and request from our safe and healthy streets commission in 2023. It also aligns, our city code with federal and state design guidance. The ticket or the warning that would have been issued is not what this paper, this paper isn't hasn't voted on yet. So that warning has to do with the current definitions of bike lanes and buffers.

And what we do know is the city that we've been trying to slow down traffic and cars parked next to travel lanes. Question here is we already have cars parked next to travel lanes. Right? That's already a condition across the city, whether there's a bike lane on the other side of it or sidewalk or no sidewalk or just a lawn, etcetera. So the goal here really is to align our existing code, treat the buffer as part of the bike lane, provide clarity for our enforcement, and to really get those cars parking in a way that does slow down traffic.

Bike lanes create road diets that have been proven to be effective. I don't know if there's anyone from administration that can provide that data, but that is something that we, you know, have been relying on as part of our strategy to slow people down. Let's see what else I have in my notes from that. But, you know, every site every car hit could have been a person or a cyclist hit. And that's another reason why we put cars in these floating parking lanes to better protect our cyclists and our pedestrians on the sidewalks. So I hope, my colleagues will continue to support this paper. I think it's important to help provide clarity and align us with best practices. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other comments, members, councilwoman Lynch?

Just a just a very quick, shout out. I don't I don't know if director for LPO, I see him. There he is. He's in the audience. But just wanted to thank him and the administration's continued collaboration on seeing, the preservation of Pump House through.

It is just an absolutely beautiful gem, located in the heart of our city. A lot of the hidden one. A lot of folks have not, visited. If you haven't, please do, but you'll recognize that there are millions of dollars worth of of work to rehab that beautiful, historic building, which was, at one point in time, provided light and joy to residents all across the city as a as a dance hall. And and just wanna thank Chris and his team for continuing to to believe in that space and the art of the possible there. So thank

you. Thank you. Any further comment? K. I'd just like to, reference Shaco Shine.

It is, one of the entities in the 7th District, and I'm very appreciative of its desire to work collaboratively with the, Shockle Bottom task force that's been formed to especially look at improving, safety, but also quality of life and activating, the district even more. So appreciative of that, and and I'm appreciative of, the other partners. Certainly, you all have been at the table for meetings. Actually, there's one tomorrow. And, look forward to that involvement, but it is an a collaborative effort across the businesses in Chaco Bottom, and I'm appreciative of your willingness to be a part of that.

With that, we will now call the question.

Counsel is now voting on the consent agenda as presented. Mister Breton? Aye. Miss Gibson?

I I am I'm I'm going to abstain just from the, bike item. I don't really want to abstain. I want to vote in support of this item. I just would like to see the data that informed the perspective. I don't

No. Please go on with your comment. I was just ascertaining at what that data is available, and we can make

sure that gets to it. It it would whatever the data is, I would I I appreciate. I'm sure that the research is there. I I would really like to see it. And so, you know, just to be able to speak to it. It's just the numbers should be there, and I think it'd be important to have as as part of of of this item.

Aye. Miss Jones?

Aye. Miss Lynch?

Aye. And I would also like to be added as a patron to the, dream legislation. I'm really excited for you all and to be a patron.

That has been noted. Miss Trammell?

Aye. Miss Abubacher?

Aye. Vice president Jordan?

Aye.

And president Newbill? Aye. Those papers have all been adopted.

Thank you. Let's proceed with the, items to amend and continue.

Madam president, the first motion before you is to amend item number three on your agenda, ordinance number twenty twenty six dash zero seventy four, which authorizes the special use of 101 Coordinate Avenue for the purpose of a multifamily dwelling containing up to 120 dwelling units and to repeal ordinance number 85 dash three sixteen dash 81 dash 86 dash one and all amendatory ordinances thereto. The proposed amendment to this ordinance would provide for new and modified plans. Council member Jones, would you make the motion to amend and continue this item to the Monday, May?

So moved.

Council member Gibson, will you second that motion? Second. Council is now vote voting on the motion to amend to continue ordinance number twenty twenty six dash zero seventy four to the Monday, May 11 council meeting as stated. Mister Breton? Aye. Miss Gibson? Yes. Miss Jones? Aye. Miss Lynch? Aye. Miss Trammell? Aye. Miss Abubaker? Aye. Vice president Jordan? Aye. And president Neubil? Aye. That motion has been approved.

Next before you is a proposed motion to amend item number 19 on your agenda, resolution number twenty twenty six dash r zero thirty three, and that would develop and implement a comprehensive energy efficiency program that reduces the energy burden and cost of living for vulnerable households, supports small businesses, assist in the preservation of housing and the stabilization of neighborhoods, and makes meaningful progress towards the city's climate goals. The proposed amendment to this resolution would modify the requirements of the energy efficiency program and implement a time frame within which such program must be established. Council member Lynch, would you make the motion to amend and continue this resolution to the Monday, May 11 council meeting as stated? So moved. Council member Breton, will you second that motion, please?

Second. Thank you. Council is now voting on the motion to amend and continue the resolution to the Monday, May 11 council meeting as stated. Mister Breton? Aye. Miss Gibson? Yes. Miss Jones? Miss Lynch? Aye. Miss Trammell? Aye. Miss Abubaker? Aye. Vice president Jordan? Aye. And president Neubill? Aye. That motion has been approved. Next before you are a slate of proposed amendments to several budget related ordinances as follows.

Item number 27 on your agenda, ordinance number twenty twenty dash zero sixty three, which adopts the annual budget, which includes all the separate current expense budgets for the general operation of the city government and for each utility and provides for increases to certain fees for fiscal year 2027 and appropriates the estimated revenues for such fiscal year for the objects and purposes stated in such budget. The proposed amendment to this ordinance would amend would amend the, would modify and amend the proposed annual budget. Item number 29 on your agenda, ordinance twenty twenty six dash zero sixty five, to accept a program of proposed capital improvement projects for the fiscal year beginning 07/01/2026 and for the four fiscal years thereafter and to adopt a capital budget for the fiscal year beginning 07/01/2026. The proposed amendment would modify the capital improvement plan amendments for FY 2027 through 2031. Item 30 on your agenda, ordinance number twenty twenty six dash zero sixty six, to adopt a new pay plan for the city for fiscal year 2027 and to repeal ordinance number twenty twenty seven number twenty twenty five dash zero fifty nine and all amendatory ordinances thereto.

The proposed amendment would modify the new pay plan. And finally, item 35 on your agenda, ordinance number twenty twenty six dash zero seventy one, to submit a program year 2026 through 2030 consolidated plan and program year 2020 annual action plan to HUD as an application for the receipt of CDBG, HOME, ESG, and HOPWA funds to accept $12,500,000 from HUD and to appropriate the amount for various projects. The proposed amendment to this paper would modify attachment b. Vice president Jordan, will you make the motion to amend these ordinances and to continue these and all remaining budget related ordinances to the Monday, May 11 council met meeting? So moved.

Council member Abubaker, would you second that? Second.

Madam clerk, before we move to a motion on that, councilwoman Trammell, you had comment.

Thank you, madam president. I wanna speak on the COLA for a few minutes. I got a lot of phone calls last Friday. Citizens were very upset, especially the retirees. I don't like being called a liar, and I don't like my colleagues being called a liar. I wish the mayor was here tonight. According to his agenda, I don't think it had anything to do today. It says no public events. Should've been here because I would tell him to his face that he should've put the $6,000,000 in the budget for our retirees. Our retirees, as they said last some of them that said to me last Friday, you know, what are y'all trying to do?

Wait for us to be dead? What kind of message are you sending out to these employees that are here now? Oh, yeah. You have collective bargaining right now. But what's gonna happen when they retire? I'm 70 she said she was 78 years old, and she has medical problems. And she has to try to beg people to help her pay for her medicine because she can't she still has a house payment and still lives in the city with no colon no no cost of living over sixteen years since governor Walder was here. You know, we did get a bonus. They did get a bonus from the previous mayor of the Barstoni. But what is a bonus?

What's a bonus? A bonus, you give it to a person that is still working. You reward them by giving them a bonus. A cola is a cost of living raise rage for them to have. But when they retire, they can count on that.

And I will say this, my colleague, Cynthia doctor Cynthia Neubail, was right with me from the beginning from the beginning to help us. All my colleagues, I think everybody signed on but one for all of you retirees. What kind of message are we sending to the city employees right now that are busting their butts for us? Police fire. And people in finance, utilities, public works, public Every city employee over 5,000, 6,000, they're coming here every day, give up their life, give up their family members so that they can help all of us.

Then we tell them, you're not gonna get one. You're not gonna get another cola. Blame it on the mayor. The mayor. He's the one that presents the budget to us. We don't present it to him. He presents it to us. He didn't have nothing in there for the retirees. We did. We did. All but one. One council member. Think about that. Because and and you know what gets my heart you know, breaks my heart when she said I still live in your city. I live in your district.

How could you do this? How could you do this? And I wanna thank the Richmonder and and the Times Dispatch, Graham and and Parker that had it right, got it right, got it right. They said, this is not we're not gonna call it a bonus. We're calling a one time payment because I have been I have been sworn I have been told today, and I trust her, doctor Newbelle, that said we're not gonna let this go.

We're not gonna put our retirees through this again. We're gonna start having a conversation. And as I look at the board members, I've got all this mess up here. As I look at these board members and I see first, first, first. These are ones that I guess they're new, but I'd like to know, do they live in the city? I see there's a police officer on here. Don't know about the firefighter, but I do know Daisy Weaver that I worked with. But most of these are first time, only two is second is the second year. There's seven of them. And that Leo Griffin, he's gonna have to answer to us.

And you know what? He's gonna answer to the retirees too. He says it's 85%. We got I think it's 80 up to 89%. Why in the hell is he gotta get a 100%? Give you all the money that you all deserve. And as you all said or says, the person in my district said that was crying on the phone to me last Friday, we are about to die. Is that what you all are waiting for us? To die? Then you'll come up with something? No. That's not gonna happen. That's not gonna happen. So again, mister mayor, you let us down again. And if you were here tonight, I would tell you, you let us down.

You let those retirees down, and you also let the city employees down because you wanna know why? Y'all gonna give twenty five years? Some of you sitting in this audience, you're give twenty five years, maybe thirty years. What you gonna get? When you retire, we're gonna say, forget you. You didn't matter. It didn't matter. Yeah.

You do.

Yes. You do. I promise you this. And I know that my colleague is gonna keep her word. And, Candice, I wanna thank you, Candice Reed, the city clerk, for taking her time to calm me down today because she knew I was so upset. RJ, our chief of staff, knew I was so upset Friday because I was basically crying when I was called a liar, which I'm not, and neither of my colleagues. Thank you.

Thank you, councilwoman Tremble. And, certainly, there's opportunity during public hearing May 11, but the commitment has been made for the 1% and the commitment to get to the table to talk about, really articulating how we ensure future COLA payments. So thank you. Madam clerk

councilwoman Lynch. Madam president, I would be remiss not to thank Reva, council member Trammell, for carrying this issue. And I know you have always historically pushed for this issue, and we'll be working on a resolution together, to actually call for that work group and have some deadlines and some time frames around when that COLA will be, the the COLA formula will be delivered so that it is in time for next year's budget because you all and I know, both of you feel similarly that this should not have to be a fight that we come back, to the budget every single year for.

Thank you. Absolutely. With that, madam and or mister Clark, if

you will call the question. Council is now voting on the motion to amend ordinance numbers twenty twenty six dash zero sixty three, zero sixty five, zero sixty six, and zero seventy one, And to continue these and all remaining budget related ordinances to the Monday, May 11 council meeting as stated, mister Breton?

Aye.

Miss Gibson?

Yes.

Miss Jones? Aye. Miss Lynch? Aye. Miss Trammell? Aye. Miss Abelbacher? Aye. Vice president Jordan?

Aye.

And president Neubill? Aye. That motion has been approved. Thank you.

K. So we will proceed with, at this point, the, expedited consideration. I think we're at.

Madam president, the resolution for expedited consideration is a is resolution number twenty twenty six dash r zero eighteen, and that's to approve of the city's participation in the proposed settlement of opioid related claims against Associated Pharmacies Incorporated, J. M. Smith Corporation, Louisiana Wholesale Drug Company Incorporated, Morris and Dixon Company, North Carolina Mutual Wholesale Drug Company Incorporated, and United Natural Foods Incorporated, and their related corporate entities, and to direct the city attorney to execute the documents necessary to effectuate the city's participation in the settlements, including the required release of claims against the settling entities. I will need a motion to expedite consideration of this resolution. Council member Gibson, will you make that motion, please?

So moved. Council member Trammell, will you second that motion?

Second.

Thank you. Council is now voting on the motion to expedite consideration as stated. Mister Breton? Aye. Miss Gibson? Yes. Miss Shones? Miss Lynch?

Aye.

Miss Trammell? Aye. Miss Abubaker? Aye. Vice president Jordan?

Aye.

And president Newbill? Aye. That paper is before you. Thank you. We'll proceed with public hearing. Are the persons present in the audience desires of speaking in opposition to this particular resolution? You would come forward. Seeing none, do we have those present desires of speaking in favor if you would come forward? Seeing none, the public hearing is closed. Bring it back to the body for discussion.

Questions, comments? Seeing none, madam clerk, if

you would or mister clerk, please call the question. Council is now voting on resolution number twenty twenty six dash r zero eighteen as read. Mister Breton? Aye. Miss Gibson? Yes. Miss Jones? Aye. Miss Lynch? Aye. Miss Trammell?

Aye.

Miss Abubaker? Aye. Vice President Jordan?

Aye.

And President Newfield?

Aye. That paper has been adopted. Thank you. Let's proceed with the approval of minutes.

Minutes to be approved are from the Monday, 04/13/2026, informal and formal city council meetings at 4PM and 6PM. If there are no corrections or amendments, then the minutes will be approved as presented. Those minutes have been approved.

Thank you. Let's go on to new legislation for introduction.

Council members, the list of legislation for introduction this evening consisting of items number eight through 25 has been provided to you, and the legislation on this list is hereby introduced as presented. A copy of the list is currently available for public inspection at the rear of the council chamber, and an electronic copy and copies of the listed legislation will be available on the city's website on Tuesday, April 28. Thank you.

Thank you, madam clerk. At this time, we'll proceed with reports and announcements from members. I will start with councilwoman Opelbocker.

Thank you, president Neubil. Let me pull up my notes here. Okay. First and foremost, thank you to the Cedarhurst Neighborhood Association for hosting their first ever cleanup on Saturday even though it was cold. I also wanna thank friends of Forest Hill Park for hosting their annual spring classic kids bike race. The Westover Hills Neighborhood Association picnic is Saturday, May 9. It is always a very good time. Please come out. West River Hills is looking for volunteers to help with the event, so please consider lending a hand, and or attending. If you, volunteer, then you get free admission, which includes, beer and food from O'Toole's.

Yummy. Yummy. I also wanna shout out to the Westover Hills Elementary School PTA for hosting a successful silent auction fundraiser. It was a great event, at The Vail, and I think we got a lot of great bid bids. And it was always just nice to to see the community and support our schools. That is it for me.

Thank you, councilmember. Councilwoman Lynch?

Thank you, madam president. So just a slew of awesome meetings happening.

We have the

Uptown Association meeting tomorrow virtually at 6PM. They share this link with their email list list serve. Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association is meeting tomorrow night at 7PM virtually. They share this link via their email list serve. Swansboro West is holding second annual spring fling this Saturday, May 2, from one to 5PM on Darden Road off Midlothian Turnpike. This is a great event. Y'all please come down. We'd love to have you. There'll be a petting zoo. It'll feature music, food, fun, activities, all sorts of good stuff.

We'll also be hosting a monthly cleanup litter cleanup, that is, earlier behind we're gonna meet behind, the elementary school at 10AM and, and do the the cleanup there. The Curitown Merchant Association will be meeting next Wednesday, May 6 at Elwood Thompson's Beat Cafe for their quarterly meeting, at 08:30AM. And the Carillon Civic Association will be hosting its fifty fifth annual Richmond Arts in the Park this weekend on Saturday, May 2 from 11AM to 6PM, and Sunday, May 3 from 11AM to 5PM. And this is at, Carillon in the Bird Park. You can check out the, artist by ridge by visiting the richmondartsinthepark.com website.

Look forward to seeing y'all there. As always, you can reach my office by calling (804) 646-5724 or emailing Stephanie dot Lynch or Amy.Robbins@rva.gov. Thank you.

Thank you. Council member Trammell?

Thank thank you, madam president. This past Thursday, on April 23, we had our big senior fling summer event. Or we call it it was everybody. We didn't care if you were a senior, if you were a child, whatever. Everybody came.

We all had a good time at the brand new TV Smith Community Center. We had over 25 vendors. We had over 25 vendors, and we had a lot of good information for those citizens that attended the event. I know that the police chief and the fire chief, were not able to be there. People were asking for them, and I told them they had to go to some kind of training, which our chief is gonna explain that to us at our next public safety meeting in May. And it's something that I think everybody needs to know because it's something that, is gonna be valuable information to all of us. And people asking me, yes. You can come to our public safety meeting. They're open to the public. They're right here in city in this council chambers at 01:00, fourth Tuesday.

So everybody's welcome to come. Just right here, I know a lot of people been asking me about them. I've been giving them out. This is your tax relief form. It says on here, 2026. Get one. You need it. It'll help you with your, paying your, real estate taxes. You can even if you're not, because people ask me, suppose I'm not 65. Well, if you're disabled, whatever, you can fill this out.

Some people get a 100%. Fill it out. And if you need help, they we're trying to get I know that the CAO is trying to get someone to come over to either Southside Plaza, the Social Service Building, or either to Hickory Hill to help the citizen. Because today, one of our citizens that was sitting back there, he had to come down here right around right around for almost an hour till he finally found a place to park, and he had to hobble in here because he hurt his foot. And he was able he thought I took him one of these forms yesterday, and this was not what he needed. Oh, I'm sorry. Let me give you this other one. I took him this one right here. Recertification. Because every year, you gotta get recertified.

A lot of people do not understand that. If you don't fill this out, you're taking off a tax relief. If you've never been on tax relief, you fill this out. So it's two different forms. What I found out today, it's another form that you have to if you are on the thing that's called, freeze, which I don't know a whole lot about that, but I know a lot about these two forms.

But if you're on freeze, you gotta fill out another kind of form. So they gotta send it to him because he filled out this one that says recertification. So please, please, come down here or either, as soon as I find out when they're gonna be at Southside Plaza or either the Hickory Hill Community Center, I will let you know because everybody that can get on tax relief should get on tax relief. Also, you get a discount on your utilities too. This right here is your smoke alarm.

Your smoke alarm will save your life. If you go to the nearest fire station, they will come to your home, and they will check your smoke alarm. Or either, you can call 646-1526, and they'll come out there and make an appointment to make sure that you have working smoke alarms because we know that they will save your life. If you have any questions, you can always call my home at (804) 233-7382 or my personal cell, (804) 240-5050. Again, 240-5050.

And, also, we had our eighth district meeting on April 16, and I will tell you right now from the bottom of my heart, I was so shocked, and I was just so and the chief heard me scream when I say, governor Wilder is here at the satellite. He was hit there at the satellite with us, and he stayed the whole time, the hour and a half with us. And stood up there in that floor, in the middle of the floor at the satellite, 95 years young, and spoke to us about the condition that where we're headed in the city, and he is saying it is not in the right direction. Thank you all. God bless.

Thank you, councilwoman Trammell. Councilwoman Jones.

Thank you, madam president. Excuse me. There were lots of things happening over the weekend in the 9th District. Wanna send a shout out to Southside Relief and the Cool the City team for their tree giveaway that was hosted at Liberation Church. Lots of folks came out, and they actually delivered to a lot of people across the city.

Also wanna give a huge shout out to, Sankofa Orchard, for their community day event and then the library for their Dia de los dos dos ninos then at Broadrock Library. It was great to see all of those things in action. On May 15 from 11AM to 3PM, we'll be hosting the art of memory at Southside Community Center in partnership with OAPD. The art of memory is an immersive intergenerational program designed to honor aging as a living embodied art form. The program centers elders as carriers of wisdom while inviting younger generations into practices to foster respect, listening, and responsibility.

Join us every third Thursday at 6PM, Southside Community Center for our monthly town halls. Our next meeting is May 21. The office of minority business development has kicked off their pivot symposium learning series sessions designed to help businesses learn strategies for pursuing both public and private contracting opportunities, and you can learn more about that by visiting their page. DPW has also kicked off their annual neighborhood cleanup program. Areas of the 9th District can expect their first cycle to be between May and June.

Both trash can be picked up wherever trash is normally picked up, but you can you can visit rba.govpublicworksneighborhoodcleanups for more information. Our neighborhood library offers programming for all. Every week at Broad Rock Library, seniors receive one on one help with technology. Students receive homework help and reading help, and babies and toddlers and preschoolers have interactive story time. Visit Richmond Public Library, to learn more about that. And as always, I can be reached at nicole.jones@rba.gov or tayah.west@rba.gov. And our phone number is (804) 646-2779. Thank you.

Thank you, councilwoman Jones. Councilwoman Gibson.

Thank you, madam president. I am happy to share our next district meeting will be May 20 at Holton Elementary at 6PM. And as always, refreshments will be provided. On May 4 from 05:30 to 07:30, there will be an open house regarding the future of Chamberlain Corridor. Enterprise advisers in partnership with the city of Richmond wants to hear from residents regarding their experience living, on Chamberlain.

These events will be held at John Marshall High School. The Richmond Department of Transportation is hosting a speed management symposium at Main Street Station, 1500 East Main Street, Wednesday, May 20. Please join RDOT, other city departments, and community partners to learn about current and future projects addressing speed management. Please encourage all residents to come out on May 11 at 6PM to give a public comment regarding the proposed budget. This will be the last time residents can give a comment on the budget.

Also, district news, the Battery Park Civic Association is hosting a community yard sale, May 17 from nine to 2PM. They will be gathering at the Triangle The Triangle Park on the 2600 Block of the I'm not sure of the name of the street. My apologies. They will also collect donations for mutual aid distribution, helping to connect people in need of food, supplies, and support in our very own neighborhood. The North Central Civic Association will have their general meeting on May at 11AM at North Central Park at 3301 Fendel Avenue.

They will also have a Brooklyn Park Boulevard cleanup on May 16 at 10AM, and they're meeting at 2917 North Avenue. As always, please email our office @Kenya.GibsonatRVA.gov and Sarandon.Elliot@RVA.gov with your questions and concerns. Look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you, councilwoman Gibson. Councilman Breton?

So we've been busy in the first. I wanna thank and congratulate the Virginia Museum of History and Culture for hosting the Virginia History Day state finals over the weekend. Students from across the state came to Richmond, the VMHC serves them as an amazing host with free access to exhibits and fantastic facilities, putting Richmond's best foot forward for the state. The museum was a buzz for the next generation of historians. Also this weekend, Mary Mumford celebrated their 70 birthday this weekend, and they had a fantastic event inviting alums to come and tour the halls and reminisce about the old days at Mumford.

I wanna thank the Grove Class Colonial Place Civic Association, the Glen Burnie Civic Association, and Historic Westwood Civic League for all inviting me to community meetings the past two weeks to meet with them and discuss their neighborhood questions. And looking forward, I want to invite, 1st District residents to our next district town hall, which is this Wednesday at 06:00 at Mary Mumford Elementary. We will have a lot of interesting guests, including public libraries, the people's budget, the office of neighborhood engagement, and, Scott Morris himself of the department of public utilities. So come and join us 6PM at Mary Mumford on Wednesday. And then coming up later on May 6, Thomas Jefferson High School will be having their alumni appreciation day on Wednesday, May 6.

There'll be a ceremony at 05:15 followed by a game at 05:30. Come and see the new fencing and dugouts for the softball and baseball teams, which were donated by the Richmond flying squirrels. So we really appreciate that donation for those badly needed improvements, and we invite alums to come and see that. Thank you.

Thank you. Vice president Jordan.

A couple events to highlight in the 2nd District. Strawberry Street Festival is coming up Saturday, May 2 from eleven to 4PM. Whole community is invited to this family friendly event. More information is at williamfoxpta.com. Richmond delegation meeting. A lot of the things that we talk about here at the city level often are dictated by what happens at the general assembly. So our Richmond delegation, in the senate, in the house are having a a a hall, May 4 from 06:30 to 8PM at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture. The and District Association annual meeting is gonna be May 19, so Tuesday, from 06:38 at 08:00. Sorry. 06:30 to 08:00, branch museum.

It's a great way to get to know your neighbors and find ways to, get involved. Speed management symposium. The Department of Public Works will be hosting a speech man a speed management symposium May 20 at Main Street Sec station on the 2nd Floor. These are really terrific ways to hear in person what the city is doing to make our roads safer. There'll be folks from all the departments. It's super accessible. There'll be tabling. You can walk up, ask questions. There'll be sessions on different topics. Highly encourage folks to come, to that.

And, again, it is May 20 at Main Street Station. And, a similar tone, the Safe and Healthy Streets Commission is meeting July 15. That's their next meeting, two to 04:00 at the Main library. On the news, the VPN headquarters is having a mural contest. They're gonna be commissioning two murals for their new Downtown Richmond headquarters on Broad Street, and they're inviting Virginia artists to help them beautify their space.

You can learn more by searching VPM, bring art to our new home. As always, please reach out to our office if you have any questions. I know lots of folks are getting their property tax bills in the mail right now. You can get information and pay your bills at rvapay.rva.gov. Those personal property tax payments are due Friday, June 5. If you're having any issue with that, please feel reach out to our office. (804) 646-6532. Thank you so much.

Thank you, vice president. We'd just like to, thank those who came out on actually, this was on the twenty fourth, the Task Force. And this group consisted of representatives from police, from fire, from Commonwealth attorney, from our directive office gun violence prevention, parks and rec, our Shaco business, alliance, representation from nightclubs, as well as CCET, ABC, to begin to really strategically discuss the strategies to improve outcomes in our shackle bottom. When I'm talking about outcomes, I'm talking about public safety. I'm talking about quality of life.

I am talking about the opportunity to fully activate the area in a way that we know it can be. And so, that group met on, on the twenty fourth. We have again that was the task force that has the representation from across all the entities. And then we meet also, and we'll continue to meet with the Shaco Bottom safety committee, which consists of the Shaco businesses, and that will be tomorrow at 1PM at Main Street Station. And so the goal Shaco Bottom is an extraordinary component of our city.

And we know that collaboratively, we can work to, improve the safety, well-being, quality, and to fully activate it in the way that we'd all like to see. So that's tomorrow. I would like to just also think this was on yesterday. JP Jumpers Foundation held their community fair and festival at the science museum, and it was really a wonderful opportunity for our, young folks who, and JP Jumper. This is, many of our young persons in differing ages who have, autism and are differently abled, who were coming out and just had a great time there.

So it was pretty wonderful to just greet them. And so I wanna say thank you to Pam Mines and, JB Jumper Foundation in general. With that, for more information, relative to our district meetings, etcetera, please feel free to give, Sam Patterson, my liaison, a call at 08:04 two four one seven five four four, or you can give me a call at (804) 543-7837. Those are our cell numbers. And then for our office number, (804) 646-3012.

With that, I wanna say thank you to everyone who came down to speak and provide public comment. And, the agenda for this meeting has now, been concluded. The meeting stands adjourned. Thank you.