City Council - Regular Meeting

Welcome to the Troy City Council. Um, this is our technically our January regular meeting, but there are no, uh, legislative items for us to consider. So, um, as you obviously heard, we decided to pivot and turn it into a public forum so that we could hear from you. So, I would ask that you help us open the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Clerk, would you please read call the role? Council member Dorenzo, present. Council member Schuber, present. Council member Spain McLaren, Council Member McKe, present. Council member Favro, present. Council member Campbell Cohen, present. Council President Steel,

present. As I mentioned, um, tonight is a public forum and it's our opportunity to hear from you. It's not going to be a dialogue. We're not going to be necessarily responding. We will be taking notes and following up on your comments, but tonight we just want to hear from you. Um, for those who were here earlier, some folks did sign in. So, um, we'll ask that as I call your name, you come forward. Um, please give us your place of residence. You don't have to get specific on an address, but your place of residence would be helpful for us. Um, we'd like you to keep your remarks to seven minutes if that's possible. And, um, if when we finish our list of those who've signed in, then we can have anyone in addition who's come in after the list was made up. So, we'll begin this evening with Tim Fergle. I guess that's no.

You can hold it if that's easier for you as well. [clears throat]

Uh, can we That should be fine. Okay. Um, good evening. Um, Council President Steel, honorable council members, members of the public. Uh, my name is Tim Fergle. I'm the executive director of the Troy Public Library at 100 Second Street. Um, I came here tonight just to do a monthly update, which I hope is something that will be more regular in 2026, uh, moving forward. Um, so one of the first items on my list tonight is I wanted to uh thank the community and thank the voters for approving uh the Troy Public Libraryies budget request. Okay, one more time. All right. Um, so I just wanted to thank the voters uh and the community in Troy for um supporting the library's budget increase this past September. Um, we're very grateful for the opportunity to continue to serve the community. Um, the library has also recently completed our $ 1.9 million um, HVAC improvement project. Um, so we are very excited to be open more than seven days during the month of uh July and serving the community. So looking forward to air conditioning in our 130 year old building. Um some of the other um activities that have been happening at the library since my last visit to council, um the library hosted Mayor Mantel um during the Victorian stroll to do a reading of TW was the night before Christmas and we provided free family portraits uh for the community in front of our fireplace. Um we were very excited to be open on a Sunday for that event. Um it's something we're looking forward to doing more of in the future for the Victorian Stroll. Um our talks um with bargaining with the library's first union uh workers united um is progressing well. Um both sides

are are pleased with the progress and we're looking forward to finalizing our first contract uh hopefully in the spring. Um yeah, let's clap for that. [applause] Um the board of trustees of the Troy Public Library are beginning our annual update to our long range strategic plan. Uh so over the course of the next six months um the board and I will be reaching out to the community looking for people uh to provide their voice on the direction of the library in the community. Um we will be doing a community survey, doing some focus groups. Um if you are interested in participating in that um please feel free to contact me after the meeting um and I can take your name so that way when we begin um you know we'll be in touch. Um the library was also recently awarded a $275,000 New York State Library construction grant um to address the roof at the Lancingberg branch. Um so again we were very excited about this. want to thank um Assembly Member McDonald um for his his help with that along with Senator Ashb. Um we are um going to be beginning the formal uh bid solicitation process and things like that in the coming months. Um the library also recently completed a roughly $95,000 state library construction grant uh for 2027 in order to address renovating the interior of the Lancingberg children's room. So hopefully in 2027 uh we can have the building fully well as repaired repaired from the damage of the flood in 2023. So we're very excited to get that branch open again. [snorts] Um the library has also been busy um in the one year that I've been here. Um we've started to restructure the staffing at the library um in order to uh

accommodate staff safety um while also serving the public. Um, I think I've hired um something like 19 out of the 32 positions at the library in my first year. Um, we've recently hired a new public information officer, Patrick Kylie, uh, who will be joining me at next month's uh, meeting. We've also hired two additional frontline staff members in order to address the frequent closures uh, due to a lack of staff. That's been sort of a structural issue for the past years. Um, so my focus now is on making sure that we have enough people to safely staff the building at all hours and hopefully return to evening hours um after next year's budget. Um, I also want to welcome the new trustees uh to the board of the library, Anthony Mowen, Samantha Hurtler, Evelyn Greenstein, and Marie Gavazi um were all um elected and appointed uh by the public during our last election to help oversee the library. So that's all from me tonight. I look forward to sharing more with you in the future.

Thank you. Thank you so much, Tim.

Our next speech is Francisu. I am not that tall. [laughter] Uh Francis Sweet from South Troy. Um first of all, I want to thank you guys for doing this. Uh for giving the public this time to speak about the issues that we care about. I feel a lot of the time that the old council and most of the administration saw public comment as an imposition, something to be hurried through and or ignored altogether. And I'm glad to see that the new council is doing things differently and actually inviting public comment. Um, I've been to almost every city council meeting since the spring. Um, I know a lot of people have been coming a lot uh longer than that and I know and they probably know more than I do, but um this year has really opened my eyes to how truly dysfunctional our city government is. Uh the reports are always late. The agendas go up at the last minute with information only getting to the council, sometimes hours beforehand with no time to review it. Public comment rarely changes anything. The administration can't keep controller to save its life and we still have no detailed finances on the city hall move. Listening to the annual budget presentations felt like a joke. Um this administration has repeatedly shown bad or rushed decisionmaking. They rushed through plans for the city hall move with only symbolic public

input. And I don't know where the planning is on the route two redesign, but last I heard the administration was leaning towards the worst option and ignoring the choice that most residents supported. With so many people now on the council with financial and public policy backgrounds, I hope you get all the numbers and the details. I hope you tell us what's going on. And most importantly, I hope you listen to public feedback. There's been a massive lack of government transparency in Troy, and I hope that ends now. I'm sick of a council that rubber stamps everything the mayor wants rather than doing independent research and pushing back when appropriate. One or two lone voices can't accomplish anything, which is why I hope you all use this mandate to make real progress in this city. That of course includes passing good cause tenant protection legislation. Um good cause is what got me good cause is what got me interested in the city council in the first place. So I'd be remiss not to mention it. But there's much more that needs to be done to stabilize the renting population of this city, including more proactive code enforcement and other protections that would enable people to stay in their homes instead of being forced to constantly shift to new apartments. We also have homeless people in this city that the mayor has been spec the mayor specifically has been extremely hostile towards. Panhandling is actually protected under the First Amendment and those signs she had put up are just skirting the line to a lawsuit. Other municipalities have been sued. So that that is something she

is really skirting the line on. Every time I hear clean up the streets, it just means getting rid of homeless people. But shifting them out of the city center doesn't make them go away. You know what gets an unhoused person off the street? Housing. Some people will argue they're just addicts or alcoholics. Well, you know what? A lot of people in homes are that, too. But we don't say anything about them, do we? [laughter] Uh providing people with stable housing is the first step to solving the homelessness crisis in this country. lowcost affordable housing, transitional housing, group homes, all get people off the street and into safe housing. We can start by making sure there are affordable units in every new construction, by limiting the number of short-term housing rentals uh like Airbnbs, by repossessing vacant homes from negligent owners, and by reviving the zombie properties in our area. Um, I added this in last minute, but on a completely different topic, given the events in Minneapolis, I feel it's appropriate to address the issue of ICE. Um, our county sheriff in Renelier has a cooperation agreement with ICE called 287G. Shame indeed. Um, while this city council can't do anything on the county level, I think we should make it clear that our city's police force and resources are not for use by ICE. They are, if they are a federal agency, they can use federal resources and not divert local law enforcement away from their actual jobs.

I'm not sure how much power the city council has. Um and but the these I should not be able to use city resources or structures in their operations at the very least. Um [clears throat] there is so much good that the city council can do. So so many things that you can push for, advocate for, and accomplish. So please don't miss this opportunity and I'll see you at the next meeting.

Thank you, Francis. There are some seats up front if you folks who have just come in. I just for those who just came in, I want to um state that we did have a signup sheet for the early folks. Once this is uh finished, we'll then take you one by one, first come, first serve kind of thing. Our next speaker is Frankie Good evening, council members. It's great to see you again. My name is Frankie and I'm a resident of Troy. Uh, first, I'd like to also thank you for extending an invitation to the public to give input on Troy's future priorities. It shows us that you understand representative government and it clearly signals that you want to work collaboratively with the public to address our community's needs together. And that's just fantastic. My biggest concern for Troy and I know many others share this concern is the lack of financial transparency and accountability from the current administration. Legally required financial reports have not been made available to the council or the public in a timely fashion. And time after time, the mayor has asked the city council to make massive financial decisions without enough detail to fully evaluate the proposals. It's clear that you intend to insist on complete and timely financial disclosures moving forward, but as as we've seen, that offers no guarantee that the administration will actually comply. That's why I would like to see the new council consider imposing realworld consequences when the mayor and her

staff fail or refuse to provide mandated financial information. Whether it's the application of administrative penalties like fines or censure for code of ethics violations, I want to see the city council holding the administration accountable. The lack of material consequences gives rise to the kind of boldness and arrogance we've seen in the past and it weakens your authority in our system of checks and balances. We need the city council to provide strong oversight and reasonable sanctions when the administrative branch of Troy's government is out of legal compliance. I sincerely hope we can expect a commitment to that from this council in the future. Something I think every city, including Troy, needs is more youth participation in local government. I would love to see Troy work in partnership with area high schools and colleges to create a youth advisory council program that would allow young people in our community to experience firsthand how government works and to better understand their role as citizens. Many cities around the country have programs like this and those local governments benefit from the insight, perspectives, and suggestions that the students provide. If Troy wants young people to be actively involved and invested in this community, we have to provide a mechanism for their voices to be heard. We have to consciously create a pathway to participation. And I'm hoping the city council will take the lead on a collaborative effort to make that happen in the near future. And I don't want to take up too much time. So lastly, I'll of course express support for the passage of good cause tenant protections, the implementation of a residential occup occupancy program

or RO, and the introduction of any other legislation designed to promote safe and affordable housing in Troy. Thank you for your time. I appreciate it very much.

Thank you, Frankie. Sean Collins. [clears throat] Good evening everyone. Uh my name is Let's just go with this. Um my name is Sean. There's no breaks on this thing. My name is Sean Collins. I am a union representative and organizer with the Service Employees International Union Local 200 United. I am also a delegate and delegate to and president of the Troy area labor council AFL CIO. We are the voice for the AFL CIOS affiliated unions in Renelair County. Our over 40 affiliated unions represent over 10,000 union members across Troy and Renler County. Um I'm also a homeowner in Lancingburg at 1187th Avenue. Um many of you know me, so I like to be very direct um about uh things. And so first I want to say that I think it's shameful that for the first meeting uh of this council and despite it not having a formal business agenda but it is a public forum and an opportunity for the council and the mayor's administration to hear from the public. I don't see the mayor. I don't see her ma deputy mayor. I don't see any representative from her office. And I think that's uh indicative unfortunately of what the next uh you know two years of your term will be. Um and I think that's really unfortunate. Um and I want to just make sure that's clear on the record. Um I'm also I that being said, I'm very excited by the clear mandate issued last November by Troy residents demanding transparency, accountability, progressive action, particularly on good cause eviction protection legislation. When I last gave comment to Troy City Council, I said Troy voters would remember. A majority of them are tenants and they would remember who stood with them and who who didn't. They clearly did. Um, every one of those council members who voted against the interests of their tenant constituents and voted against good

cause protections are no longer in office. Troy Labor Council is proud to have supported many of you who ran on a protenant proworker platforms. Now, with a complete majority and a mayor whose agenda has been resoundingly rejected, it is time to deliver on those commitments and to do so quickly. Um, to repeat what I said when the legislation was first introduced and unfortunately voted down, um, as a trade unionist, I believe firmly that all working people deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, regardless in what capacity they work hard to earn, often meager wages, to support, to feed, to close, to care, to house themselves and their families. um a roof over your head, food on your table, um you know, a necessary care for your body and mind, time for pl time and place for leisure and rest, a place to create memories to raise your raise and love your children. These are basic but essential dignities that all working people are entitled to. Um, accordingly, as a union representative and a union member, I believe that employers have cause, should have cause, call it just cause or good cause, to deny working people these the means to provide these essentials to themselves and their families. The content of cause is not a foreign one to the city of Troy. Just cause is the is already the standard of disciplinary action. Whether it be for an alleged minor infraction or more severe allegations leading to suspension or termination, it's currently afforded to Detroit's unionized workforce. The right is enshrined in the collective bargaining agreements between the city and its various bargaining units. Good cause eviction extends the same principle of just cause st of the just cause standard afforded to the city's workers to the city's tenants. If just cause provides an assurance that you are more the sum of your mistakes on the job, then good cause ensures that you are not simply a tenant who can be easily replaced if you demand accountability from your landlord or object to excessive rent increases. Good cause no more punishes landlords taking legitimate action against errant tenants than just cause prevents city managers from taking necessary disciplinary action against uh against

employees who violate its rules, policies and procedures. It provides essential checks and balances in what is otherwise a fundamentally asymmetrical dynamic between the owner of multiple housing units and an individual who needs housing. So, I urge the city council to take immediate action to deliver on its election commitments and provide necessary protections for Troy's tennis. I also want to highlight some other opportunities that would benefit tenants and workers here in the city of Troy. Um, I urge Troy City Council to take action on other legislative initiatives to improve the lives of working people in the city. Some examples of proworker legislation that the city could pass. The Troy could pass a living wage ordinance and that holds itself chiefly accountable and responsible by setting a higher rate of pay for its lower paid employees so that they can afford to better better afford to live in the city of Troy through a living wage ordinance. It could and should hold its vendors like the Boys and Girls Club and other nonprofit contractors to the same standard or only work with those vendors who are willing to pay their employees a living wage with such an ordinance. Uh, as far as I'm aware, the city has not opted into the New York's paid family leave insurance program. If this is the case, the the council could and should compel the mayor to initiate negotiations with the city's various bargaining units to extend this important benefit to city employees. Our workers should not be forced to work instead of being home to care for or bond with their newborn child. PFL provides a vital safety net of income for one of the most precious experience one can have. You know, I took advantage of PFL when my son Ben was born, and you know, despite the lack of sleep, it will be something that I cherish uh forever, and I was able to do so free of stress um and and guaranteed income while I was out for that month and a half. Troy's workers deserve the same. [snorts] To support our city's working artists, the city could and should ensure that performers and musicians at city sponsored events like Rocking on the River or whatever. I know that might be on the chopping block, but you know, such events like that, um that they are

paid the regional scale set by the local American Federation of Musicians for their labor. Um uh the council should and could and should demand more direct participation in negotiations with the city's bargaining units. The recent agreements reached with the city and its CSEA and UFA units saw the city deny retroactive raises to the hundreds of city workers. Now, I want to be clear, the those workers obviously democratically approved to those agreements, but that position to deny them retroactive pay was a undoubtedly a management suggestion, not a not a worker prerogative. And so, in in pushing that at the table, this denies them retroactive pay despite their tireless work on behalf of the city and its residents. It's insulting and it's, in my opinion, clearly demonstrative of the precarious financial situation our reckless mayor and her belligerent deputy have put the city in. This council has an obligation to be a better check on their management for the benefit of our city's workers. Uh lastly, Troy could and estab could establish a workers rights commission. Such a commission would provide a venue to hold Troy's employers, particularly its largest employers such as Trinity Health, St. Peter's Health Partners, uh RPI, Russell Sage, Emma Willard, accountable for their anti-worker practices, which having spoken to many of these workers at these currently non-unized locations are vast and numerous. Uh such anti-worker practices set a standard for what other smaller employees believe is acceptable when a low standard is being set by some of the wealthiest institutions in our city who already exploit its residents with their nonprofit status. Therefore by I you all pay for their fire, their police, their water. They don't I mean not water but they otherwise uh do not contribute to the emergency services and the other services they receive from the city. So this uh this commission could serve as a venue to hold them accountable. Um despite despite that um la you know so in conclusion you know historian Daniel Walkawitz once described Troy as a

worker city a proud union stronghold where the standard of living compared pald in compar or was much superior in comparison to company town cahoot. Um, excuse [clears throat] me. Passing proworker proworker protenant legislation would be a positive step in reclaiming that mantle. Uh, myself and the entire Troyer Labor Council are ready to work with you on all such efforts. Thank you. Thank you, Sean. [laughter]

Daniel Morrisy. Good evening. My name is Daniel Moresy. I am a homeowner in the Sickway neighborhood and I'm the acting chairperson of the sustainability task force. Uh the joint task force on sustainability and climate smart practices in community planning is the full name. We have made numerous approaches to the Carmela Mantel administration over the past year to be officially appointed as outlined in the city code. This new year and new council brings a fresh start and we hope to foster a productive relationship with all of you and the administration going forward. Now, what have we been doing? We work in close partnership with the capital district regional planning commission who provides technical assistance for the following programs. Uh NAERTA, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority runs the clean energy communities program. We identified clean energy uptake in Troy through three avenues over the past two years. electric vehicle purchases processed through Wler County DMV, heat pump installations uh through contractor outreach and department of code enforcement and community solar signups through direct solar provider outreach. We achieved enough points to qualify the city for $837,000 of matchfree grants and sought administr administration support without success. That's almost a million dollars. the state the city could have gotten for sustainable sustainable upgrades. New York State Department of Environmental Conservation runs the

climate smart communities program registered uh we registered as a climate smart community by vote of the city council in 2019 to adopt the CSC pledge and establish a CSC task force which is the sustainability task force. Currently we are pursuing bronze certification and um examples of measures that help us to get to the necessary 120 points uh are tallying energy audits of municipal buildings leased and owned. Uh city coordination and support for the farmers market, installing LED street lights, establishing a unified solar permit, complete street policy and comprehensive plan with sustainability elements which we which we do have. Um actions which we must take to achieve bronze certification are to support a CSC coord to appoint a cse coordinator who can be city staff or myself as chair of the task force use uh the Troy specific portion of the recently completed regional greenhouse gas inventory from the CDRPC as our baseline carbon accounting method and establish a municipal residential organic waste composting program. Uh, another program from DEEC is the zero energy vehicle grant opportunity. Sorry, zero em emission grant vehicle zero emission vehicle grant opportunity. This program would provide up to $500,000 in matchfree funding toward one level three DC fast charger and or multiple level two chargers. Um, this can be paired with the joint utilities make ready program that can add additional funding for groundworks and other relevant utility infrastructure to enable these chargers. Currently, we're working on a grant application for um sorry, currently we are working on a grant application with the with um the CDRPC

for a downtown fast charger for uh these electric vehicles and that will be completed in midFebruary. um administration support uh is hopeful. Uh we have not gotten it yet. What to do? Uh what do we want to do uh in the future? Well, the top priority is the bronze certification. But beyond this, we're looking to bring the abandoned municipal solar farm back online. And we're working with NAERTA New York Sun program to get the necessary info and contact information for the current owner after the installation developer went bankrupt some years ago. It would be great to have an active city council planning committee that would interface with our climate planning work. And uh pet priorities of mine include preserving the street trees along Congress Street by amending the sidewalks instead of killing these established and beautiful plant allies. Following from that, we must reestablish the street tree committee. Um it's been long dormant. Next, I hope we can establish legislation to mandate dark sky friendly light fixtures that will help limit light pollution for neighbors and non-human animals. Also, I believe we need to establish a city-run no or lowinterest renovation financing program for residential housing. In my role as director of sustainability at TAP, Inc., the community design center and nonprofit architecture firm here in Troy, we have supported low and moderate income homeowners to make their spaces more comfortable for 57 years. We're currently administering the New York State Department of Homes and Community Renewal uh program to promote accessory dwelling units throughout the city. The program is proving to be very difficult for incomequalified clients to afford at the current extremely high construction costs. We need more housing. It's, you

know, plain and simple. And this type of municipal financing program is being sponsored elsewhere in the state and has been extremely successful with very little need for loan loss reserve. This can be paired with a community land trust that will intentionally keep affordability in the housing sector long term. That's all I have tonight, but I look forward to working with you all. Thanks for listening. Thank you, Daniel.

Ammani. Good evening. My name is Ammani Olubala and I live in Troy and I'm speaking on behalf of Troy for Black Lives. I'm glad to be here, grateful for the invitation. It makes me hopeful. I have a variety of points and perspectives I want to bring into the room and I'm happy to be in conversation and collaboration uh with common council common council city council actions around them. I want to start here. Bike life is not a crime. Our young people deserve safety, dignity, and freedom. Not fair. Right now, kids in Troy are scared to ride bikes because police violence made has made movement dangerous. We're seeing young people body slammed, beaten, and treated like threats for riding bikes. And that's not public safety. That's punishment, control, and is dead wrong. Kids should not be should be able to bike with to bike to their friends's houses. They should be able to skate. They should be able to exist in public space without wondering if tonight is a night that an officer decides to make an example out of them. If the city actually cares about youth safety, then we need bike lanes, skate parks, safe, accessible activities, places for kids to go that are not surveiled, criminalized, or policed into trauma. Because when cities fail to invest in young people, the police fill that gap, and they do it with violence. That is a policy choice. And it connects directly to the budget. Year after year, Troy continues to heavily fund a police department that escalates situations, fails families in crisis, criminalizes children and homeless folks, and them anti-pan handler signs are gross. A police like, right? Like, what? We got money for that, but not for to take care of the people. No. A police department that shows no accountability when harm happens. No. Meanwhile, community-based solutions are underfunded or

non-existent. Even as the city continues to pay out settlements and legal costs tied to police brutality, misconduct, and civil rights violations, we are literally paying for harm instead of paying for prevention. So, we're calling on real efforts to hold or reduce the police budget and reallocate those funds towards community-based safety. That means funding youth programs, violence prevention, mental health crisis response, housing stability, and spaces that actually keep people safe. Safety does not come from fear. It comes from stability, care, and resources. And one concrete step towards that is the creation of a dedicated fund to finance a community center in North Troy. North Troy deserves a space where young people can gather, move, create, and be supported without surveillance or punishment. A community center isn't a luxury. It's violence prevention, mental health support, youth development, and public safety. We also urged the city to study and implement proven crime reduction programs, including models used in cities like Baltimore that focus on prevention, interruption, and community trust, not mass arrests and brutality. There are models that work. What's missing is political will. Accountability matters. Troy needs a police review board with real power, including subpoena power, not just a symbolic board, not performative oversight. Right now, when harm happens, families are left with silence, closed doors, and no recourse. And that erodess trust not just in the police, but in the entire system and all of you here in front of me. We also need to talk about housing because housing is safety. Troy needs affordable, available, subsidized, accessible, and eviction protected housing. Housing that people can actually live in. Housing that accommodates disabilities and that doesn't disappear the moment someone hits a rough patch. Because we are all facing some rough patches right now. When housing is unstable, everything else collapses. Mental health worsens, family stress increases, police get called into situations they are not

equipped to handle. Again, this is not accidental. It's the result of policy choices. And we must address crisis intervention. Parents in this city, including parents of neurode divergent children, are terrified that calling for help during a mental health crisis could get their child killed. No parent should have to choose between silence and violence. Police are not mental health professionals. They are not trained to deescalate mental health crisises, neurode divergent crisis, I mean most crisises or trauma-based emergencies of any kind. We need non-p police crisis response, trained professionals, real deescalation and real care. And finally, we need to be clear that all of this connects to immigration and sanctuary. Right now, ISIS is operating with near total impu impunity, detaining people in inhumane conditions, disappearing them from their families, my literal neighbors, and operating facilities that function as modern-day concentration camps. This is not about one incident or one headline, but I know we're all thinking about Minneapolis today. This is about a system that cages people, denies them in care, and treats entire communities as disposable. Troy is not currently a sanctuary city, and that is a shame considering the history of this land. In fact, this country has a history of active collaboration with ICE. It was like one of the first or few counties in this in this state that was working with ICE. That must change. A city that claims to value safety cannot collaborate with systems that terrorize our families and criminalize survival. Safety cannot be conditional. Justice cannot stop at a border. Troy has a history of people who refuse to accept injustice as normal. Harriet Tubman was literally up and down these streets. This is abolitionist ground. This is organizing ground. This is a city connected to that legacy. Folks who moved, regular people just like you and me, who moved through this region, helping to free people and change the course of history. And in our own time, the city has shown us power when thousands of people took to the streets demanding that black lives be valued.

Y'all remember that. Y'all was there. We are not powerless. We are many and we are powerful. And this council has a choice right now to side with punishment and fear or accountability and collective liberation. History won't remember how comfortable this moment was. It will remember whether you met it with courage. I believe in you. Thank you. Thank you, Omani. [applause] That concludes those who've signed up. Uh at this point, I would like to invite folks to come one at a time uh up to the podium, give your name and your place of residence. By way of introduction, my name is Eric Spinner. For over 40 years, I've been involved in housing policy in New York State in a variety of capacities. I'm the founder and past president of the Marlin Tenants Association of Greater Flushing, New York City. I am the founder of the Bronx County, Queens County Tenants and Coalition. I am a former liaison to the New York City Rent Guidelines Board. I'm a counselor in the count community stabilization program office of the mayor New York City. I investigated fraud and corruption among government officials. New York State Inspector General Office, Office of the Governor. I represented ethical landlords and thousands of tenants in the courts of nine counties across this state. I was director of violation and

complaint abatement and the chief compliance officer of one of the largest real estate holding companies, a landlord in New York City where I had responsibility for 100 high-rise buildings, 100 commercial spaces, and over 10,000 residential units. My relevant certifications include I am a lead and obspest federal supervisor renovation project director. I am an expert in mold, microbile and myotoxin awareness. My re relevant experience as a forest ecologist concerns my expertise in hydraology, landscape dynamics, and soil and substrate science. I am provisioned in the multiple dwelling law, the multiple residence law, the New York State Housing Maintenance Property Code, the Rent Stabilization Code, the Emergency Tenant Protection Act, and Good Cause Eviction Law. I stand before you here tonight to implore this city council to use every tool at your disposal to end the ghoulish nightmare that the tenants of this city have endured for too long. I stand before you here tonight as the voice of every tenant in this city who spends an exorbitant amount of their income, their social security and disability checks on excessive rents that are both evil and demonic. I [clears throat] stand before you here

tonight as the voice of every tenant who lives with bed bugs, mice, roaches, and rats. I stand before you here tonight as the voice of every tenant who lives with falling ceilings, cracked walls, leaks, and broken appliances. I stand before you here tonight to beseech this council, to usher in a new era in which the tenants are afforded a po a full popoly of rights that are enforced. I stand before you here tonight to demand that you dismantle the power structure that has allowed landlords and real estate developers to dictate housing policy in this city at the expense of the 35,000 plus tenants in our city. And I stand before you here tonight to present you with reasonable, tried and true reforms that have already been instituted throughout this state. Nothing I'm presenting for you tonight did I invent, but I've seen it work. I'd start I'd start off by saying this. We need to enforce the laws and regulations that the poorly written Troy City Charter and Code already have. For example, provide a history upon request pursuant to section 143.3C concerning violations in buildings. right now you've got to make a foyer request and if it's affects one of the favored landlords of the city attorney

and his cohorts they deny it and most people are not going to go through the process to make an appeal and head into the litigation that is involved in that is involved in doing that. It's expensive, it's costly, it's time consuming and most people don't have the expertise. ensure that the director of code enforcement carries out his statutory duties pursuant to 176 of the of the code and that includes cooperating and I quote with private agencies engaged in the study and improvement of housing conditions which includes my organization. I am chairman of the Confederation of the Tenants of Troy. I'm the president of the Diamond Rock Tenants Association. Instead of working with me, the city has opposed me every single step of the way. Code revisions. Adopt the Tenant Protection Act of 1974 as amended. Adopt the good cause eviction law pursuant to pro real property law article six. Provide online and on-site complaint forms when a tenant makes a complaint. When you go to department of code on enforcement now an inspector comes out with a post-it note and writes down your complaints. Every single town, village, and municipality that's worth its worth in its name has a complaint form except for Troy. Maintain a log of complaints. There's no log. Nobody knows if a complaint was filed or not. Institute a system of

classification of violations by degree of importance. send violation notices to the landlord and the complainant tenant. So there's followup. In most jurisdictions, violations are classified either A, B, or C. They're given a certain period of time to repair based upon the dangerousness. In our city, it's open-ended. They send a performer sheet that says you have 30 days and there's no backup. There's no regulations providing that there is any backup. What has to happen here in Troy is the tenant has to continuously complain after the 30 days are up and then the city comes out and gives the landlord another 30 days. And this includes even the worst serious violations. We don't have time for me to go into those. Amend section 177 of the landlord registry to require that landlords that are LLC's disclose their names, their addresses, and their telephone numbers. Create a bad landlord registry list. Cease. And here's probably the most important one of all. Cease informal resolution of complaints existing at residential units and start documenting them. Right now, we had a violation. If it's one of the landlords that our director of code on enforcement, mayor or city attorney are in bed with, they call up the landlord and say, "Listen, you know, we may have to send somebody out. Can you fix this?" And then eventually they send somebody out after they know the situation has been repaired. Now you might say, "Well, that's good. You're getting the job done." But not when you have conditions that happen every week like accumulation of garbage.

You need it documented. And you need it documented for tenants also because when they're trying to get money back for overpaying their rent because they didn't get their services, the first thing our corrupt housing judge says is, "Did you report it to code on enforcement?" There's no record. And there's no record on purpose. Establish online interactive map that shows the structures with rental units and their violation history. You know, if you go on the Rochester site, you can you can push a button on their interactive map and p the landlord's whole history comes up. We're talking about structures that have rental units, not everybody in a one or two family house. It's confined to that. require a more flexible schedule when it comes to the code enforcement inspections. Recognizing the fact that people work mostly 8 to 6 Monday through Friday. We have a department of code uninforcement that comes in late, goes home early, and doesn't work weekends. Require that the name of the so-called person on emergency duty is disclosed, who it is when they rotate that person. We just have a website that says there is such a person, but I can tell you that they're not on and they don't respond. Mandate that code enforcement keeps permanent records. Provide that upon request of a tenant, either a plaintiff or petitioner, that a defendant or a defendant responded in any action involving their landlord in court, that a code inspector be mandated to appear if there's a record. Provide that upon request the tenant either a plaintiff, petitioner, defendant or respondent in any action involving their land landlord be given a certified copy of all building and building code records that are available.

add a provision in our ridiculous arcane code that the hot water in all buildings, not just walky ones like mine, that the temperature be kept at 120° like the rest of the civilized world. Provide, well, I'm skipping. Add section 170, amend section 176F so that hot water is supplied at all existing sinks in a residential complex. Now, think about this. In our complex and many other senior complexes, right now, our code only requires that hot water be supplied number one at 110, which most people they're not even getting that. but at bathroom sinks, shower sinks, and kitchen sinks. So, there's a community room in every senior center, right? So, community room where people gather and do cooking. There's a stove, there's appliances. It doesn't require that. There's public policy regarding where hot water should be supplies. Not so I can stand up here and bother you with one more issue. The public policy is health and safety. So what? We don't need hot water in a community room. It's insane.

So add that. Eric, if we could just wrap it up, please.

I'm only getting started. I couldn't have used my time yet. Add a provision that the landlord abate the nuisance of mold. We have nothing that deals with n mold. provide snow and ice clearing regulations for residential housing complexes that do not abut a public walkway because a lot of our complexes are off the street and there's no requirement that the landlord clear the snow off of the roadway, the the parking lots, the stairways, the walkways, nothing. And if there's no regulation, I can tell you firsthand that it's not done until they feel like it. Prohibit the removal by landlord of reasonly posted signs related to legitimate tenant group or association activities. Provide that elevators are maintained in proper working order and have have their annual inspections current. Provide that automated doors are maintained in proper order and that their annual inspections be per be current. provide that walkways, driveways, and paths on premises of reg residential buildings be maintained in good repair. Right now, there's no there's nothing about that at all. Mandate that the posting of signage identifying a property owner and management companies names, addresses, and contact numbers for 10 or more apartments for a complex or 10 or more apartments. Half of us don't even know who owns our building because the landlord registry is incomplete. on purpose. Provide that the superintendent must live on the president presence premises or within one mile of the residential h complex with 60 or more units. That's done elsewhere. Provide a prosay attorney to tenants in housing court because you know Troy has the second highest eviction rate of any county in the state discounting New York

State. Only Erie County beats us cuz they have Buffalo. Now that's because of Troy. Now is that because we have so many quote unquote losers in this city or is it because the system is stacked against tenants? Now, good cause eviction provides decent tenants with a justifiable belief that they can retain their apartments for the long haul, giving them motivation, incentive to be physically and psychologically invested in their communities. When tenants know that they have a stake in their communities, they typically exhibit more care and concern for those communities. Those communities will be safer and they'll be cleaner. By virtue of being assured of long-term tendencies, what will happen is you will find that our neighborhoods will flourish because people will have a concern for what goes on in them. The same principles are appropriate for when increased regulations, which is probably more important because standing alone good cause eviction has not succeeded. It's been a distraction and a dilution of the kind of protections that tenant deserve and which are provided for in the ETP ETPA which also provides for good cause eviction in those jurisdictions with only good cause eviction. And you can look this up. You don't have to believe anything I say. They've been able to use loopholes that skewer tenants with ever higher rent increases. Under the ETPA, this council, this this council would have the power to choose a rent guidelines board which is empowered to decide the rents going up or down. And in Kingston, they lowered the rents by 15%. Unlike the good cause eviction law, ETBA involves many safeguards, including an administrative view for tenants to get a rent abatement instead of having to go to court resulting that results from depreciated services. the prohibition

against the landlord changing lease terms when they give you a new lease and additional code standards. Misguided policies in Troy are permitting tenants to be financially raped and has resulted in the tenants having to pay a cruy disproportionate amount of their funds on rently on rent leaving them with little to no disposable income or in many cases no money to meet other needs. Here's the importance. The downstream effects of tenant household economic reality are that the city's procur predicament get worse gets worse each day. Think of it. Tenants are unable to spend money in local shops, restaurants, and other businesses. Their money is going into the pockets of a majority of whom are absentee landlords and city landlords of large residential housing complexes who are based outside of New York State. Compounding the financial abuse inflicted on on tenants with who deal with morally reprehensible increases is that they are forced to pay landlords thousands of dollars a month in rent fees and sir charges and then not getting the services and living conditions they deserve. Now, this is the equivalent of any of of any of you going to the supermarket, filling up your shopping cart, and before you get to the door, the grocery clerk starts removing your items and then says you can go. It's clear that legislation focus attention on issues. In a perfect world, that would suffice. This council can amend or otherwise institute the strictest tenant protections in the universe, but they will be ineffective unless we excise the cancerous tumors that comprise our top city executives, the city attorney, and the director of code enforcement. A culture has permeated down from these officials of

rot. the pernitious capture of our political institutions by landlords and real estate developers, the thievery of our public treasury, and the misery inflicted upon tenants transcends party lines. From the minations of multiple in-n-ame only nonprofits like the Troy Land Bank to outright forgiveness of taxes or failure to oppose and collect penalties, landlords and real estate developers have been exploiting the taxpayers. Stop giving away city land and structures to unaccountable pagingdriven transaction schemes. The results from these so so-called housing reviolation programs has been dismal. The average citizen gains nothing while board members get lucrative compensation packages. And I am wrapping it up. Instead of seeking to use existing law to derive funds from landlords who are literally racking up millions of dollars in profits and funning that money out of our city, past mayors have raised your taxes, your water bills, and your sanitation costs to cover the budget shortfalls because government revenue generating priorities are out of whack. hold landlords accountable by levering fines and collecting fees. It is amazing. Do you know that a a a residential housing complex with 100 units, let's just say 100, annually makes $1.5 million a year and our city is worried about protecting their interest over the 36,000 t tenants of our city. the direct I'll skip that because I know I can see this person

but people are standing and waiting and you've well exceeded your seven minutes.

Let me close by saying this. The future viability of Troy depends on developing a magnetism that attracts people who want to live in this city and will need to attract businesses. And that involves assuring a welcoming climate to tenants so that business owners are assured that their workers can have livable and affordable housing. The council must steal itself, pun intended. against the opposition it's going to face from the special interest and Queen Carmela who didn't even have the respect to show up here when she knew the public was speaking BECAUSE SHE DOESN'T WANT TO FACE anybody here. I look forward to the day when our local government is no longer at the beck and call of every landlord and real estate development who have their hands out for a sweetheart deal or government protection from the consequences of their own misdeeds. I stand before you here tonight with open arms and ask each and every one of you to work with me, my organization, and the tenants of this city to bring about the changes that are desperately needed so we can improve the lives of our tenants, preserve our housing stock, and conccommittently the population of the city. I stand before you here tonight to demand that you eliminate the strangle hold that landlords and real estate developers have maintained on the machinery of our government for too long. You must institute a new paradigm WHERE TENANTS

ARE NO LONGER TREATED LIKE SOFTS ON THE MATTER. THANK YOU, ERIC. Thank you. Thank you.

And thank you folks for standing and waiting. [laughter]

Gosh, I have to come after that. Boy, tough act to follow, right? Yeah, [laughter] it is. Um, uh, good evening. My name is Drea Leanza. I live on Fifth Avenue just uh a block away. Um since I moved into my house on Fifth Avenue in 2010, I've watched my neighborhood dwindle. Incidentally, I'm going to be talking about housing again like many other people are. [snorts] About 10 neighborhood houses have been demolished in my neighborhood. One large halfblock development, the Maven real estate development, has been abandoned. Empty lots are everywhere and street crime has become an everyday occurrence. Most of this neglect and deterioration is caused by absentee absentee property owners. It is well known that to stabilize a declining residential neighborhood, it's important to have owner occupied housing. Almost two years ago, my neighborhood presented a proposal to the city administration to stabilize and strengthen the neighborhood, building owner occupied, moderately priced homes on a long abandoned city-owned lot. TAP and Habitat for Humanity, both have great track records in Troy, are involved and supportive of this process. However, despite repeated requests, there has been no response from the administration about allowing this project to be built on the city lot. We request that the city council designate this city-owned land for Habitat or the Troy Community Land Bank, which is willing to work with Habitat for the project. We also suggest that the city council convene the city council planning committee to look at the status of all the Maven real estate property, another

one of these development developers, and include the neighborhood include the neighborhood in discussing its fate. Tap is happy to lead a community design series focused on that land. The objective would be a combination of home ownership, low-rise rentals, homebased businesses, and thoughtful approaches to parking. Housing and affordability are two very important issues in Troy. I hope and expect that the city council will recognize the importance of stable and thriving neighborhoods and support the neighborhood efforts. Thank you. And also I want to say as a landlord uh I do support uh good cause legislation. Thank you Adria. [applause] Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Good evening. Um my name is HG Warer. Sorry I'm just getting set up here. I see that there's a WAMC microphone. So, if someone's here from them, WAMC, hire more black people. Um, so before I begin, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge that the city of Troy is built on Scatakoke Moakin and Hodonosani indigenous land. I'd uh hope to say some things directly to the mayor, but she isn't here. Um, so I'd like to share a scenario with all of you which is based on real experiences I've had since I moved to downtown. It's Tuesday evening and I'm looking for a spot to park. There's enough space in front of my apartment building for about five cars, but those are all taken. Fortunately, there's a spot on the other side of the street, but that side of the street can't be used Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. And I don't have a spare $210 to get my car out of impound, so I can't risk parking there. I can go up a block, but a block up and the streets swap. Left for Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and right for Tuesday and Thursday. And can I park in the pothole ridden lot behind my apartment? No, because it's permit parking. Even if I could park there, the lot is full of people visiting the local bars. What about the other lot in walking distance? Hasn't been plowed yet. So, I go up to River Street garage. I squeeze into a spot at the very top because there's nowhere else available. I walk across the dimly lit concrete floors with my keys in my knuckles. There are no cameras. I hope my car doesn't get broken into again. I have to walk out the main vehicle entrance because there is a gentleman masturbating in the stairwell. I nearly twist my ankle on a broken cobblestone in the crosswalk, but I make it okay. And when I finally get back to my apartment, there's a homeless gentleman sleeping in the lobby. I don't say anything to him, of course. I know how hard he has it. I just wish he didn't have to sleep in my lobby and that he could instead get some local services. But the services we do have are underst staffed, underfunded, underappreciated, and over booked. But at least there's a sign reminding me it's okay to say no to pan handlers.

It's crazy to complain about drug and alcohol use when you have a DUI, but I check the local Troy community posts as I make myself dinner out of groceries that I have to get in Water or North Greenbush because we don't have a proper grocery store, you know. Uh, I see a post about there's another premium housing development coming to downtown and I wonder if my rent goes up much further, where will I go? Do I have to move out of the first place I felt like I truly belonged? because our city has an infrastructure problem and it's not going to be solved by ripping chairs out of proctors and it's not going to be solved by just having another ribbon cutting ceremony and it's not going to be solved by giving Vic Christopher another liquor license. But I'd like to circle back to a point an earlier speaker mentioned which is the issue of homelessness in downtown Troy. If you don't like seeing homeless people on the street, why not give them a home? Then you won't have to see them anymore and you can go back to ignoring them like you do with the rest of us. Many of these resources need more attention than they get. They are not equipped to handle the volume that they get. There aren't even benches around Troy. There used to be benches outside of the atrium, but they were all torn down. And as many people know, Unity House just suffered a tragic fire that caused severe damage. And I really hope city council is willing to to show support. And I hope that we, the people of Troy, can come together to support our community. I would now like to read Thank you. I would now like to read a post from the Capital Region Sanctuary Coalition. I'm not affiliated with them, but I follow them on Instagram, and I thought that it was very important to bring this to your attention. The Capital Region Sanctuary Coalition has confirmed multiple sightings of confirmed ICE vehicles in Troy. There was one parked at the intersection of J Street and Fifth. This was on New Year's Day, by the way. There was one driving on J Street, turning north on 6th Avenue, and then there was one on 106th Street, driving south onto Fourth Avenue. Another one parked near 103rd and Fifth Avenue before driving south,

heading through J and 6th Avenue and entering 700 787 North, excuse me. I know that the current administration is very concerned about the crime statistics in Troy. I hope that they will get this criminal gain, ICE, off of our streets because, as we know, ICE has killed before and they will kill again if we don't do something. Um, I have a few minutes left, so I would like to just go back to a point from the gentleman that was speaking earlier about the issues with landlords in the housing protections that we have in the city of Troy. Um, I have had issues with my own housing in Troy and I feel like I have nobody to speak to about it. I feel like my own landlords who don't whose names I don't know and whose the superintendent does not live on my property, which is an issue some people have mentioned, don't seem to care about me and that really sucks. And I would like it if the council showed that they care about the people that live here by passing these protections for tenants. And last but not least, save the crows. Thank you. Hi, my name is TJ Kennedy, former city council member. Uh, I live at 9 Hawthorne Avenue. I Before I jump into my topic of interest uh tonight, I I wanted to uh emphasize or or build upon what Mr. Morrisy spoke about earlier. Uh for the sustainability task force to be successful, I do believe it needs like strong institutional backing, probably a paid staff member, at least a city staff member that's designated to assist them either as the chairperson or

administrative staff. Uh similarly, uh if they wanted to focus on street trees, um and and related to my topic that I want to speak on, if the city could uh reinstate the um the conservation commission, the environmental conservation commission that could encompass tree trees. When I was a city council member, I was trying to focus on advocacy for street trees, but I was laughed off as uh as it was kind of like a pie in the sky or uh theoretical, but it actually is backed by science that uh more street trees do reduce violence. They do increase people's health and well-being psychologically, physically, and it also increases uh property values as well. Increases biodiversity. And uh right now we have like a a collapse essentially of uh pollinators and birds uh in the northeast. So uh uh to that point I I in the for the previous council over the past year and an idea kind of that was conceptualized when I was on the council in in 2018 but was uh derailed by other priorities. Uh, I would like to present the idea of designated designating the city's vacant land along the southern border uh sort of southern borderland in the Stoill neighborhood as a uh nature preserve partially because of the uh that neighborhood not having access to any parkland uh trails. It would be a connector to a future riverfront uh trail hopefully that the county is supposed to be implementing uh for the past 11 years, but hasn't also hasn't prioritized. And then uh so yeah, when I presented this to the last city council, uh the council member was supportive, did come and hike, did talk about advancing it, but didn't ever actually follow up on his word. And the mayor was uh silent, kept blowing me off when I asked to speak about it or have a meeting. I didn't want to promote it publicly because I wanted to work

internally but uh you know just like her presence today the mayor is absent. So uh what I have here is a legislative support memorandum. It's a pretty good resolution that was passed around uh how to implement how to designate I had a local ecologist or uh sorry geographer come and map out uh trails that already exist. the uh preserve is already formally informally used and uh basically it's shown that vacant land that's when it's informally used leads to right now we have dumping there frequently almost a weekly basis uh other illicit illegal activities harmful to uh the community and the environment and uh when the state was seeking to replace the South Troy Bridge they identified this area as uh four of nine uh potential locations to relocate the bridge as an off-ramp that would uh whatever you would imagine that would do to our community, but it would also uh route uh residents or route traffic out of the city of Troy, which would then uh result in less, you know, ideally or less uh tax sales tax revenue for the diverted traffic. So, I have that presented. Hope you hopefully you would all uh prioritize designating that land. It's also uh codified in the city's comprehensive plan. Uh so I think that that support is supportive enough. And then after you do that uh the city has an awesome opportunity to promote ecoourism here similar to the the what the city of Ithaca does. People travel from all over probably the world to Ithaca because they promote their region or their community as gorgeous because they have all the gorge gorges. Uh so we we also have gorges here. uh some big, some small, and they're kind of overlooked or hidden or or dis disregarded, uh neglected. I think we have a huge opportunity there just to

focus on parks and trails. If you reestablish the Environmental Conservation Commission, hopefully they could focus on that. But what you could do is we have six awesome hiking uh six awesome waterfalls, one of which would be included in the Stowill Nature Preserve. Uh there's one in the Frier Park uh Frier Park uh Piscwin Falls, not very well known, but up above Brandt Lake. There's one in Oakwood uh cemetery that's pretty cool, easily accessible. Uh there's one, well, there's the RPI Tech Park, which is just outside the city borders, but could connect to the Stowh Hill Nature Preserve. And then uh there so there's other there's other waterfall challenges throughout the state and northeast that have been successful. uh there's other similar hiking challenges and these communities actually make it one of their prime reasons to bring people here. So I think it's just a huge missed opportunity and uh hopefully you know we can focus on ecoourism here like all the other cities do and uh you know to that point we you know we do have the other other opportunities for nature preserves uh even on the northern border of the city as well. So that's all I have and thank you for your time.

Thank you TJ. Good evening. [snorts] Um, my name is Michael Easterbrook. I am here as a resident and also as an advocate for Mount Ida Preservation Association, um, a 501c3 registered nonprofit. Um, I first want to say congratulations to all of you. Um, welcome to Troy City Council or welcome back, um, I guess. Um, I wanted to offer a set of priorities and ideas that I can think can help make Troy a better place. But I'm going to start with Mount Ida. Um, if you haven't heard of Mount Ida Preservation Association, we uh care for Mount Ida Preservation Hall. It's a historic former Episcopal church overlooking the Post and Kill Gorge, one of the great waterfalls um that we have here in Troy. And we're working to restore and reactivate this building as a community arts service and gathering space. We just completed our first ever season of program um where we held uh concerts uh theater um and other uh fun programming uh to engage the community. We hold brunches. We hold uh weekly food pantry, public meetings, neighborhood events uh all while uh preserving Troy's history in this 150 plus year old building. Um, I'll let you know that we're looking for funding opportunities for a variety of repair projects to the building itself, including exterior masonry, uh, repair of the, uh, eaves and slate roof and plaster work. Uh, we also have a vision to develop the lawn and the edge of our property which overlooks the, um, through an overlook deck and that views the entire Post and Kill Gorge. Um we uh have historic pictures of the mills that used to be um along the Post and Kill Gorge that we could set up as kiosks. Um and we would intend to use this space as a public

park. Um so uh in your tenure, if you find something that comes along that let's makes you think of that space that would be a good way to pursue that project, please let me know. Um and any other way that you might think of Mount Ida and how we could work together, I'm excited to do so. Um, so that's kind of my mount mount IDA bit. And so I'll go into um my recommendations and thoughts for the city. Um, I want to make two book recommendations. If you haven't read Strong Towns uh by Charles Charles Moran or Death and Life of American Cities by Jane Jacobs, um, excellent reads and I draw a lot of what I'm going to talk about from those. Um so first on transportation I believe in a freedom of transportation which is really just a framework meaning that we maintain infrastructure friendly to pedestrians, cyclists, cars and public transportation. In practice that means narrower car lanes uh where appropriate, protected and connected bike lanes. That's super important to me. I bike around. It's my primary means of transportation at the moment. Um safer intersections, those sorts of things. It also means supporting the CDTA and advocating for frequent and reliable service. Um there's a lot of resources out there for how to implement these things in reasonable phases and as opportunities present themselves through uh infrastructure pro projects like Route 2 that was recently discussed. Um there's a huge opportunity there that I hope doesn't get missed. Um and we have a great uh local organization Capital Streets uh extremely knowledgeable group. I highly recommend that you employ their um knowledge set to implement um infrastructure projects around transportation in Troy. Um on city growth, uh we've heard a lot about housing. So I'm briefly going to touch on that also. Um we always want to encourage more housing. Um means lower rents, more affordability, greater mobility for tenants, and pressure on landlords to improve material

conditions. And I say this as a landlord myself. Um, not all housing is created equal. So, when we see opportunities from developers, um, we need to incentivize and encourage multifamily homes and mixeduse development through our zoning policy while limiting single family home development and very large apartment complexes where apartment complexes are going to be built. We need a sensible height limit um, within the downtown and to consider historic character within the city, even if it's just a brick facade. Um, to that end, I think we should expand historic district designation um to preserve Troy's identity and um, you know, where it makes sense. Uh, also, you know, in the process, in general, I advocate for civil discourse. So, we don't want to treat developers as the enemy. Um, we need homes. They need to make a little like their money on the project. Um, but there needs to be a good faith discussion between the parties. Um, so if we do give breaks, we got to make them work for it. Um, to to create a cityscape that we all are happy with. Um, I'll also recommend, we've heard about TAP. Um, use TAP. They're great. They're going to be great council in any project coming through. Um, that you have to vote on. Uh, briefly on parks and public spaces. Invest in our parks. Very simple. Um, they're important infrastructure. They're not just luxur luxuries. They impact health, community, and quality of life for the residents. they need to be invested in. Um, as an east side resident, I'm interested in pursuing improvements to Prospect Park, Kinlock Park, Ida Lake, the Posting Kill Gorge, and um, again, another partner is working with Hudson to Conic Lands on projects like the Post and Kill Bens Park. Um, on governance and planning, uh, I'd love to see Dro uh, Troy adopt um, some studies from the Strong Towns book. Um, I recommend conducting and publishing your review of infrastructure

obligations, including the cost of service per square foot compared to tax revenue that we generate on that land. We need to know what we can truly afford to maintain and where growth actually pays for itself. Um, this work could be expedited by part partnering with local universities or with nonprofits like local data stories to compile this data and make those insights public and accessible. Um, in general, you've may have noticed there's an enormous amount of capacity within our citizens. I can tell from the people speaking tonight, um, nonprofit organizations and informal community networks. Um, the city uh, and you shouldn't be afraid to tap into those um, the and strengthen those relationships. It'll empower um, both of you uh, both the communities and the city. So, I want to encourage you to um work with nonprofits and citizens and connect through letters of support, introductions, and convening convening meetings. Um on budget, again, reiterating what others have voiced, I'm concerned about the budget. Um as announcements for new multi-million dollar projects continue to come through, I just want to know where that money is coming from, especially if we are planning to take on new debt to fund that. Um, I don't want to necessarily, you know, blanket shy away from big spending, but we do need financial transparency to make responsible decisions. Um, in line with that, I do support public safety, but we need to examine what we're getting for what we spend. Um the 2026 police and fire budgets were a combined $55 million, which is 62% of city revenue um or 72% of Troy's tax revenue before state aid. Um just a very large percentage. And so I think we just need to ensure that we can square that um spend with our ability to complete the responsibilities that the city of Troy has to maintain, service, and improve infrastructure throughout the city. Um, I want to encourage that the city build true maintenance planning

into the budget if it isn't already in the form of de dedicated reserves for infra infrastructure repair so we aren't surprised when aging infrastructure breaks. Um, briefly on Proctor's Theater, I'm not super mad to see the city invest in something historic and beautiful. I feel much greater sense of pride with a public office in Proctor's than I do in the Headley building. Um, I think it says something about Troy values and preserving history and clever reinvention. We just have to make sure it's well executed that we don't get ripped off. Um, you know, if we're going to do the box in a box, it should be a glass box because otherwise it defeats the point. Um, on civic collaboration to the extent possible, um, you'll have to work with the opposition party to accomplish shared goals. um in so much that you have to do that goodwill matters. Um you will disagree um but you can continue to build trust through competence and fairness. Try um very hard not to take the very obvious rage bait um that you will inevitably encounter. Um it's okay to respond but I think the value there's value in our representatives presenting professionally in dis discourse both in person and online. Um, with that respect, um, uh, and then finally, um, on community engagement, I encourage you all to be proactive and hold meetings that rotate through your communities and community centers and neighborhoods within your district. Um, and create a way of making yourself available to the community both online and in person. Um, and final final closing thought, um, focus on data and tangible outcomes. uh safer streets, more housing, healthy tax base, um and a city that takes care of what it has. Um you know, don't don't get distracted. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Michael. [laughter]

All right, I'm going count myself in a minute here. I'm going to time myself. Uh my name is Noah. I'm a resident of downtown Troy. I came here for one reason really. Um, I texted me council member McKe about this before she even came in office about the benches that someone else mentioned on atrium uh near the atrium between third and fourth street near Broadway. I love those benches. Oh, okay. Here I was going to use this as my introduction. I don't represent anybody. All these people represent nice organizations. I'm just a guy in Troy. I love Troy. I'm a big fan of Troy. And I love those benches, too. I used to text my friends about sitting on those benches. So, when they disappeared, I was very sad. I uh had the opportunity to speak to the director of communication or something, Alex Horton, for the Mntello administration. He gave me his email. I emailed him twice. He didn't respond. I put in a foil request and they said they had nothing. So, either they lied to me or they have really bad records. So, you said you'd look into it. Here I am holding you accountable to that. I guess uh I guess I'll use my times at data point to say support good cause. Support most of the other things other people are send saying. Uh I got four seconds. So, thank you for being here. I'm excited for office hours by the way. Thank you. Bye. Thank you, Noah.

Good evening, everyone. [clears throat] Good evening.

My name is Jessica Ashley. I am the president of the Rinsler County Justice Center. um back in September um the former uh council members um sat in the very seats that you're in and we uh spoke about ICE and some of the problems that we were having in the city and they boldly uh said publicly that none of the things or the concerns that we had were happening that ICE was not abusive. They were not arresting people. They were not um bothering people that were legitimate legal uh none of the above. Uh uh harassing families, standing at the doors, and people were afraid to leave their homes, whatnot. They denied everything. And uh I'm speaking about this because the shooting or let me correct myself. the murder that took place on yesterday. Um, it saddens me, but it does it does not shock me. The writing was on the wall and it is still there, but now the writing is bloody. If we continue to take a passive approach to ICE, uh that is an illegitimate enforcement, uh Gustapo, uh um a group of thugs that have been given badges. If we don't speak out and if we don't uh take a stand, they will do worse. The writing is on the wall. And

so I am just here to say again as government officials, please don't allow yourselves uh to fall into the same yes sir pit that the rest of them fell in. This is our city. They don't pay our taxes. They don't pay for our jails. They don't pay for anything. and they don't dictate to us in this city what they are going to do and not going to do. All right. I know that you don't have any control over the county jail, but we do have say over our local police, and there is nothing that our local police that we're paying for should be doing to help these criminally minded individuals to continue to violate our community, our city, uh, and in inevitably do more harm than good. So, um, with that, thank you for your time.

Thank you, Jessica. [applause] Hello. I'm Natalie Jabau. Um, own a home on uh Second Street uh in the South Central neighborhood um just uh north of the canal. And uh there's um part of the Riverside neighborhood group and we've been pursuing a project uh that you may or may not know of uh Post and Kill Place that was proposed back in 2017 and uh would be a mixed income housing um project. And uh everything seemed to be a go with this project, but we have a notorious salt pile that got in the way. and uh the state of New York then uh rescended its um grants and support for the project. Anyway, uh it's a brownfield area um that uh um community builders was involved in um remediating and so forth. Anyway, so not exactly a uh an attractive lot um to the standard developer. And so we as a neighborhood were pretty excited about this project because it was um returning an area to residential use. So that block, a census block used to be all residential buildings and um now there are only six residential uh buildings on the on this block and uh and the rest of the area is is vacant. Um anyway, it's come to our attention that the uh reszoning as part of the comprehensive plan had changed um that zoning which used to be industrial residential which is a concept that does

not exist in the US thank god anymore but uh was turned to I think they called it building uh business development which [clears throat] now precludes any residential development on the par on the parcel. It also means that the housing that's there that exists and have been there since I don't know 1890 or something that all those homes if uh if somebody was to have a complete loss of their property that they couldn't just automatically rebuild their home and then that brings into question whether or not they can continue to have uh homeowners insurance. I mean it just you know it's kind of leads one thing into another. So, it's our feeling that uh the reasonzoning was intended to be an improvement, that there was no malice here. It was just an oversight. And so, we uh bunch of neighbors and I um signed a letter that we submitted to the council and to uh the mayor back in October and we haven't heard a thing about this. And so we're concerned because like so many people have voiced tonight, we we recognize that there is a need for mixed income housing. Uh you know, we cannot focus all our attention on uh you know, super luxury apartments when uh a lot of us can't afford that. You know, it's this is the reality on the ground. We need housing that is that, you know, gets us away from squalor and the other problems we've that our legacy here in this city. So anyway, um I um would be glad to uh submit the same letter and information

to you all again. Um but uh it's our hope that this uh this whole issue will be revisited and a uh ultimately that a a reszoning classification uh correction could be made for this particular parcel again so that it not only allows a future building of residential housing but also protects the current owners of residential housing right now. So, thank you very much for that. Thank you. And yes, if you would resubmit that letter, that would be appreciated. We'll do. Thank you.

Thanks. [applause] Good evening. Um, thank you for the opportunity to speak. My name is Jessica Bennett. Um, I live in North uh Lancingburg. Um, I think it's so heartening that this council is choosing in one of its first meetings to have an open and transparent listening session. I think it it really bodess well for the future of the the city for at least the next two years and and I'm grateful. Um, I have a few things I'm going to kind of scatter on and then focus on a few things. I'm in favor of the RO program. something that the mayor um had piggybacked on uh her opponent Nina Nichols proponing of the RO program, but we haven't seen anything for the last two years. I hope it's something that the council can make a priority. Um this feels like an odd one, but it's actually something that municipalities around the country are adopting. I would like to see a prohibition of latex paint on brick facades. Um we have a ton of uh brick housing stock that's all over a hundred years old. Uh, the latex paint does not allow for any sort of breathing and it it it's literally causing the brick underneath to crumble. Um, I know that's an odd left field one. Um, I'd also like to see the zombie property program reinstated. Um, it was wildly successful. It more than paid for itself. Lord knows we can't drive down a single block here in Troy without seeing a zombie property. We need that back um occupied, paying taxes, and also inhabited by people that care about the city. Um I have real concerns and reservations about the seeker process for the Frier Park pavilion from the December 30th meeting. Um and whether or not it was performed properly properly. Um, regardless of the type of action, SECRA requires that plans uh and records

be made available upon request 24 hours at least 24 hours prior to the meeting and that was not the case. Um, if needed, I can provide a recording of a call with our city clerk where she stated she did not even have the uh plans and that was at 3:00 before the meeting at 7 o'clock. Um, so I have no idea what the legal pathway is for that, but we can actually really uh pull that apart. Um, I think there's also real question to whether actually it is an unlisted action or a type one action which would require a lot deeper environmental review considering that it's on a a parcel of extreme, you know, a a ton of acreage for your park. Enough with the weird stuff. Um, I would like to see the creation of an urban forestry committee. Um the with the creation of a a a modern tree survey, I know some one was done some years ago. Um it can advise on the management and maintenance of existing and new trees on public grounds. Promote the value of trees, proper tree care, and sound urban forest management practices. Value can't be overlooked here. Proximity to forested green space, according to HUD, increases property values between three and 9% with the median household income in Troy of being $57,000. Residents literally cannot afford to lose green space and have their properties values go down. It also cools urban areas up to 10 degrees. With climate change and all of us having skyrocketing energy costs, we all need these savings. uh trees provide considerable storm water and pollution control through rain rainfall interception, intensity reduction, storm water infiltration and uptake. To put that in perspective, we have over 30 storm water overflow sites in the Hudson where the minute we get a little bit of rain, it immediately goes into the river

which sadly downstream many communities then take their drinking water from. We are consistently on a monthly basis fined by the DEEC and there is absolutely no resolution in sight. So I know it sounds like I'm kind of being a tree hugger hippie here, but there's real dollars and cents between everything I'm I'm putting forth here. We really can't afford to lose any more urban canopy. Um that said, everybody that's come before me who has spoken about ICE, I'm in complete agreement with. We need to stop them. But here are some concrete things we can do as a municipality, as as a council. I'd like to see ordinances passed that restrict police cooperation, that refuse data sharing, to limit access to city property, and if there is a legal pathway to prohibit Troy police officers for working for ICE. I understand that 287G is a county agreement, but the police of the city of Troy who are paid for by the city and our tax dollars are charged at least with serving and protecting the people of Troy and they cannot serve two masters. And that's it for tonight. Um, I wish you

the greatest of success because when you are successful as a council, all of Troy will win. So, good luck. Thank you, Jess.

Thank you. Sorry, Jess. Okay. [clears throat] All right. Hi, everybody. Um, I know most of you. I'm Ria Dale. I'm a resident of Troy um up in Fair Park. I'm a Do I have to give my address? We're good. Okay. Um, I am a business owner um and have had my business here um founded it in 2009. I'm a mother of two children who go to school 14 and the Troy Middle School and I'm currently the president of the board of trustees for the Troy public library. Um I would like to thank director Tim Fergle who already spoke about the library so I'm not going to touch on that right now but I hear you did a great job. Um, and I would like to encourage this council to continue to work closely with the library in the new years um, in the coming years for all the opportunities, services, and funds to the community and Troy um, and Lancingberg as well that are sorely needed, which I think our budget vote um, really demonstrates people want that library and they do want it to stay open. Um, I also want to start by saying thank you and congratulations. Each of you worked really hard and the city showed up in full support of your platforms and values. This is an exciting time for our city and I'm hopeful that you'll be able to prioritize and make actionable progress on as many of the issues that you're hearing tonight as possible and I actually feel for you because that means you have to take everything that you're hearing tonight and put it together and prioritize and that's going to be the hardest part because you can't make everyone here happy. Um, but I hope that you can make good progress um over the next couple of years. I'm here tonight on behalf of the residents of Frier Park. Almost everyone that I'm in connection with is a parent, so they were not able to come. They have other conflicts with meetings and Girl Scout troops and other things. Um, but we have a number of questions and Jess already touched on it. The pavilion, I don't personally know where that came from. Uh, it was not on our list of requests when Fur Park asked for new playground equipment. Um, and what we have is sorely lacking and a pain point. I know that golf course costs a lot of money,

but I don't personally use it. Uh, I do know dogs like to walk on it and then we get yelled at for that. Um, so I would like to know a lot more about that $6 million bond for the pavilion. Um, how that's going to affect taxpayers. What's going to end up happening with that? Do you plan to involve the community at all in discussions about all of this funding? What's happening with ARPA funding? Um, I don't even want to talk necessarily about um the pub and the tent that they erected for what was it? a million, $600,000. Um, but I did have my family almost get run over by a car leaving there um when they decided to leave the parking lot by driving over the grass and almost hit my family um while drunk leaving the pub. So, um, lots of questions about the pavilion and the parks and everything else. And I hope that you will involve the community in that process and solicit ideas from us, the people who actually use that park in a regular basis, as well as everyone who comes up from North Central or other areas to use it. Um, I'd like to see the city renegotiate with the universities in our community to receive fair compensation for the ample city services and benefits that you provide. Um, I'd like to see the council revisit the PRC recommendations provided by this council's own committee from the re-imagine Troy Justice Services working group. It's a mouthful. Um, we formed that and a number of us that were on that working committee are here tonight. We know that the action items from that and all the recommendations that we pulled together from multiple groups um were ignored and I believe the only action item that was implemented was hiring four additional police officers when the entire point was police reform and reinvention. Um it was an absolute absurd circus that resulted in no tangible benefits for our community other than um some more cops downtown. Um, I also want to ideally see them amend their use of force. I know it's a police department, not necessarily you, but I've already raised this point. They said that they are in alignment with 8

can't wait. They are not. They still are not. That was a lie. And we can point very easily to their policy and show that. Um, it's unfortunate timing that I'm frankly um standing here after getting retraumatized by watching a community member be shot while protecting others um trying to flee ICE. Why is it traumatizing? because we already know in this city that we've murdered Edson Evan and that we've assaulted other members of the public, mostly black and brown residents in the city of Troy. There is a long history of systemic racism, redlinining, and class division. And I know all of you understand and advocate for improvement with that. And I'm hoping that you can continue to do that and put real work to that. Um, please try to keep the business of the city as fair and transparent as possible. There are going to be a lot of conversations that we are not privy to and there's going to be a lot you can't talk about. So, please continue to advocate for people over property no matter what comes up. Um, also what's happened with radio encryption? This is an old topic, but when they decided to fully encrypt the radios and we the people no longer had access to them, there had been a note that there would be an offer for an encrypted channel that could be given to the media and to um certain community advocates like myself who at the time were working with the community for fire response. I don't believe that has ever gone anywhere. Um what is the status of the skate park that had a full discovery process and plan proposed years back? It was amazing. Where did that go? Um they were industry leaders. They came, they spoke. There was a full survey and a beautiful proposal. Um and that is what the city needs and that is what the community needs, especially right underneath the color city bridge when people are not able to safely bike or skate in the community. I want to reiterate what others have already said, the importance of crime reduction programs that work in cities like Baltimore or the Chicago Crime Lab where there are many statistically sound outcomes and successful programs within urban communities. We need more bike safety, safer streets for kids and families. There are one-way streets in South Troy with bike lanes, but you go

up to North Troy and everything is two-lane with no bike lanes. This feels like a systemic failure of infrastructure and something that could be easily improved. Um, the last time I was here was for Harbor Point and the absolute mess that it was to watch the city and developers argue over accountability. U, I know Eric is here. Uh while I was here for that, a mother came to speak the same night about her child's bedroom whose window had been blown out after the building next door, which was a derelch building, collapsed and um blew out the building and uh the the child's window. And what I want to point out is that I brought my children here that night and it was so um kind of sad because my son goes, "Oh, mom, that's my friend from school." And I had to sit here with one kid, my kid, the privileged kid up in Frer Park with his friend whose building on Fourth Street had just um been endangered while the derelict building that was ignored with code for years uh collapsed next door. And I believe a city council member was in that building um when it collapsed as well. Of course, I support good cause eviction, affordable housing, stronger code enforcement, the RO program, improved labor conditions, benches for the public, trees. I didn't know that I'd have to advocate for that. Um, but while we're on the subject, maybe the city can issue a PSA on the invasive and dangerous species that most of the 1940s homes landscaped with that are destroying our natural forests, like the Japanese barbar. Um, and a public restroom perhaps so that the library isn't the only public restroom. Um, the parking racket with local auto repair shops is absolutely wild. My dad came to visit and had his car towed the second night uh because he didn't understand the signs. Welcome to Troy. Um, lastly, FICE. Our city needs to find some of that Min Minneapolis and Chicago energy. Thank you and good luck.

Thank you, Ria. [applause]

Hi. Um, my name is Candace. Um, I grew up in Troy and between having, you know, split custody parents, I've lived in a number of places in Troy. Um, I lived in Lancingburg for 17 years. I've lived in South Troy, Little Italy. I lived on Pauling A near Congress Street. Um, and I currently live downtown near the Music Hall, which is my second apartment downtown. Um, I would just like to reiterate, I've heard what I've heard a lot of people say tonight about good faith eviction, and holding landlords accountable. Um, [clears throat] growing up in Lancingberg especially, I went to Lance Lancingber High. Um, I watched the um that area of the city fall apart. Um, it grew more and more neglected. There was nowhere safe, as other people tonight have mentioned, um, for children and teenagers to exist. Um, and for that, I would like to give a shout out to the Troy Library and the Lancingberg Library because that was one of the only places that me and my friends in Lancingburg were able to go after school, which as we know, the children's area needs to be um, repaired and hopefully that's able to be done soon. Um, [snorts] I watched my mom who raised me and my sisters on low-inccome be pushed out of South and downtown Troy. Um, between negl negligent landlords who live far away from Troy, whether it's New York City or beyond, who buy up all the properties and never never come to hear. I watched her argue with with them in court where they showed up on Skype or Zoom or whatever it was. [snorts] Um, or be pushed out by rent raises that we just could not afford. Um, I watched my grandmother after owning a house in Lancingburg could not keep up with the rising costs and no longer lives in Troy at all. Um, even our current apartment is is in a building which is owned by a company not based in Troy and operated by a superintendent who does not live in or near our building. And in my own time renting, we've experienced numerous violations and safety hazards that we

have little to little or no way to report or have resolved after our superintendent has ghosted my numerous emails or phone calls about our collapsing ceilings, which the gentleman earlier happened to touch on. Um, all of this is to say that I would like to see the city I've grown up in and currently live in make any attempts to care for and keep the people that live in it um and keep them safe, which I do believe includes keeping ICE out of our city and restructuring choice police to better serve our community, whatever that looks like. Thank you. Thank you, Candace. [applause]

Good evening, everyone. Uh, Stephen Maple, South Troy. Um, first of all, I just have to uh I think I've probably, you know, said this to most of you, but I just have to take a moment to get it on record that I am, um, thrilled that this this council is bringing some balance to uh, to our government. And, um, it's it feels it's it's just it's gratifying um, knowing that things are going to have a little bit of a different change, a little bit of a different um, attitude and some accountability. Um such as with the topic of conversation uh the Frier Park pavilion that um the the per the prior council was only given a financial plan which if you'll recall was the one thing that I kept saying that we should get for the new city hall proposal. The one thing that I was asking for couldn't be produced but it's the only thing that was produced for that project. So, I'm just going to leave that there and move on to my remarks. Um, I'm going to focus on transportation today because that is my profession. So, uh, here goes. Um, you know, Troy's heritage as a dense, walkable city with bustling life and commerce and culture. Um, we we really lucked out. we we have an amazing advantage here uh in in in this part of the world and specifically Troy because we did avoid a lot of the urban renewal um of the la the middle of the last century um which means we really have an unbelievable place to start from. We have a lot of that built environment that is so excellent. Um but we've turned our back on some of the basics that make any city successful. We've forgotten the most basic form of transportation in any city that is enjoyable to be in is walking. Over time, we've let the most basic elements of our fundamental mobility fall into disrepair, and we've prioritize spending

money on things that erode the basis for success and livability. We've begun the process of correcting course in the recent past. But we've also seen the inadequacy of those efforts. We still see our neighbors that use wheelchairs and mobility devices forced into the street because the sidewalks are buckled and hazardous even in the wealthier parts of town or because some sort of work is happening that obstructs the sidewalk. But we think so little of our neighbors, both disabled and not that we don't provide accommodation that isn't just a sign that says sidewalk closed. As if doing so isn't both dangerous and wildly insulting when just a few barrels or barriers, some tape and ramps could easily be deployed. We see our neighbors walk in the street because of our system of clearing snow and ice from sidewalks is utterly useless. We don't replace street markings that safely organize the street in a timely manner, sometimes going for years without replacement. I'm looking at First Street in South Troy. I we haven't joined most of our neighboring and peer cities to adopt a lower speed limit or engaged with a process of redesign of our streets to complement and passively enforce a lower limit. We don't enforce state law that says that requires vehicles not be parked within 20 ft of a crosswalk. Nor do we follow industry standards that use design to passively enforce this law as well. thereby making nearly every intersection in the city way more dangerous than than it needs to be. It is in it is keeping these sight lines clear. A practice known as daylighting that is credited with that's that New Jersey that New Jersey City credits with going more than a year and some international cities going even longer without a single traffic death. Not a single one. It's proven to make our streets safer for everyone. We make changes that are not considering

our street's most vulnerable users, like replacing stop light stop signs with red lights in areas that don't warrant them, leading to more speeding, and aggressive driving. We we leave light we leave light sporadic and likely inequitable enforcement of our traffic laws, leading to distrust, resentment, and less safe streets. We just kind of we don't adopt a a comprehensive manner of doing that. In short, we have a haphazard approach to our streets. We don't approach our our inter our interventions with any systemic process. Worse, we aren't planning our streets to work better, more safely, more productively. We have no vision for our streets. No big ideas like pedestrianizing Broadway from the approach to Monument Square. As a result, we are in more danger from traffic violence, suffer from less work, less walkable and vibrant streets, experience less economic growth, and o and an overall less sustainable city. The good news is that we have good, safe, proven ideas that can address nearly all of these issues. Several of us are already working on formalizing some of them for your consideration. Troy has an incredible historical legacy of it in its built environment. Let's celebrate that and amplify this advantage that we have to create a safer, more vibrant, more successful, more sustainable future. I look forward to working with all of you. Thank you.

Thank you, Stephen. [applause] [laughter]

Hey, everybody. My name is Liv. I run support groups for black moms specifically. Um I don't have long list of credentials or even knowledge and you know section 8 of all whatever but I I do want to speak from a a a part that I didn't really hear come up. I heard it re reiterated by my one of my comrades, but um my son, you know, came up here because he he likes to run and elope and stuff and even into the city of Troy. And um he tried to run up here while this man was given a 12-page proclamation. But um he he is such a good kid. If you'll see him, he's right back there. And um there's a lot of parents that I'm seeing with um special needs children. Um, and I don't really see uh the community really making it like elope safe. And I I am fearful of my son as he walks the streets cuz okay, we can't we can only stop, you know, traffic or, you know, moving around. But I I have yet to see like a profound or a group of special needs moms coming together or like the city making that a safer area. I know you got a lot on your plate, but um to say if I could say anything, it would be like make it a safer place. I am quite scared of the future for my son, but I will do anything. And if y'all have anything to offer, I'm down for that to make it safe for my son. I know that I sound selfish. It's not just

for my son. It's for people like me who have children like mine. Um for those who needs advocates and I know there's like um ARC's up here and that's cool at a certain age. Um but uh my son did do a state thing by getting into OPWDD and I just speak more life into more places that can offer stuff for kids who has sensory issues. The world is such a scary place. I'm I'm not scared. I I I don't think I have a choice to be at this time. But I am offering any type of support. You can hit my line. and I'll give you my number right now if we can just make it a a safer place for people who are non-verbal or with neurody diverency issues. Cuz it's true. Like I've seen a lot of horror stories come up where people shoot first and ask questions later and and never really know a kid or what a kid's going through. Like I want to re reiterate a better a reformed crisis intervention team that's not like with a black and blue badge, you know, something from the heart. And I I know y'all have somebody who knows somebody or relatives that has some type of ailment, you know, talking to the crowd, too. Um and I just speak into life that we come together and make it um appropriate and not like if if if I if I am not asking for too much but please meet me anytime on the street if you see my son running and if you don't see me with my son please you know hold him close I I see your names I have photographic memory like I we're all cool now So, yep. That's about it. And I hope you all

have a good night and take care. Thank you, LIV. [applause]

HI, EVERYONE. My name is Gigi Sweets and I'm here mostly because I didn't hear anybody else pick up this topic and and bring it here even though it was mentioned online. Um, in 2021, my son and I fled our home due to domestic violence. We spent about two years almost traveling back and forth across the country literally, I think we did 10 trips within that period of time. Um, with our futures being completely unknown, unstable, and without an idea for what a forever home looked like. In September of 2022, I rolled my car through Monument Square and I didn't know it at the time, but I was sitting right next to 518 and I looked ahead of me and I saw this, you know, beautiful statue to the side and this art center in front of me and a bookstore and mom and pop shops everywhere. And I continued to kind of go through the city a little bit. I found Unity House. I found so many things. Um, sorry I'm nervous up here. But, um,

take your time.

Thanks. Um, but it felt like home. It was in that moment in Monument SK Square that it felt like home. So, I did what any person who doesn't know anything about real estate does. I went on to like Zillow, you know, and put in a inquiry about a house that I had seen there up in Lancingburg, which is where I reside currently. Um, different house now, but same same area. Um, and two months later, I closed on a house. The biggest thing that made me love this city was being immersed in culture, seeing musicians having cased instruments walking through the street, hearing live music every which way I turned, and it was always something different. I could turn my ear to the west and hear jazz, and I could turn my ear to the right and hear music from the music hall actually coming out. Um, I took my son to go see Vivaldi there. You know, this is not exactly the normal kid here with, you know, some very diverse tastes. So, obviously I have to cater to that and have a a wide array of genres available. [snorts] Um, but it was it was that that made me fall in love with this city. And I started going around to all of these different music venues and meeting the musicians and hearing all of the beautiful life that they bring to this city. And then last year I found out about this ordinance, the sound ordinance that came into play. And I think originally when I heard about it, it was at either Twisted Fiddler 518 or whatever it was. And we were told it was 9:00. All of a sudden we had to shut off the music and nobody could have anything going past then because they were going to be fined. Well, it begs the question, how did this

come to be? It came to be without a vote. It came to be because our mayor decided so. It was completely asinine to think that in a mixed district for commercial and residential use. our mayor catering to the residents who expected businesses to not conduct themselves as the businesses that they were would go ahead with that. Not to mention the fact that fiscally speaking, if you look at bars and restaurants, which is actually part of the industry that I am in, [clears throat] you have to take into consider all of the revenue that they bring to this city. They bring in money from sales tax. They bring in property tax. They bring jobs. They bring art because they're having these these musicians come in and actually inject life and culture into this place. And just to give you some fun facts here in the downtown district, you have property that has $10 to $30,000 worth of property taxes due every year. That's a nice little grip of change. And on top of that, you have 10 to 15% of the sales tax collected in Troy from them. Now, a a lot of people have mentioned here that we have been less than diligent when it comes to keeping our records up to date. There is a lack of verified businesses within Troy that fall under the restaurant and bar umbrella. It was impossible to find accounts. And given it is the industry, they have a high turnover rate. I understand all of that. But even

ballpark, come on now. It is sad from multiple sources, some out of date, some not, but the average looks like there's somewhere between 180 to 237 places that contribute towards this just in our downtown area. The national average, because we couldn't find information for Troy specifically, was that 11 to 13% of restaurant sales occur after 9:00 p.m. Now, I understand the ordinance now is at 10, but at that point in time when it was first initiated, I believe it was 9, or at least that's what we were told. 50% on the national average of bars generate or I'm sorry, bars generate 50% of their income after those hours as well. So by reducing the influx of people into these establishments, you are severely limiting these businesses from being able to function as they should. You're incredibly just damaging the infrastructure and what draws people here. I have just seen recently that Albany has announced that they want to become a 247 city because of the fact that there are so many benefits to it when done right given I don't think any of us here really want to live in Las Vegas. We probably would if we did, right? But what I can say is that at least they know how to pay the bills. They have a plan for that. And I have seen nothing going in that direction here. Many of my friends that I have made here, the connections that I've been able to forge after so much isolation have been part of that musical and

artistic circle. Be it theater, karaoke, open mics, like gigs, whatever it is. I try my best to go out and frequent those places, support those artists because they are the reason why I think most of them are here. It it is completely a a cyclical action. Um, but you know, I've I've seen now many of them migrate to Albany over the past month and a half. We lost our jazz jam. We lost a couple things. And given it's winter, you know, things slow down generally. But guess guess where it's popping in Albany. So it makes me worried about the future of our city. It makes me worry that we are complying and that we are giving up what actually brings joy and life to it. that it is being snuffed out and that essentially we will just become cogs going through the motions not having what really brings passion to a place. Now, after seeing this, after living it, there are still things going on for sure. There's always something to do, but the overall energy has diminished. and seeing what's on the docket for the future. When you look at all of the artists who were hurt this past summer when that ordinance immediately went into play after all of these establishments had booked them, now they did not have their security that they had planned for. I know myself and them have looked at this city recently

and we've seen it essentially turn into a potential bleak future. Now, this forever home is starting to look like it's not soever. And in recent days, probably the last couple of months, I have actively searched outside of it. I have searched outside of the state because quite frankly, I'm freaking tired of it. It is sad to me that nobody else showed up on this issue and by all means like I would absolutely prioritize the homeless the soon to be because of everything going on with our landlords trees and everything else but it doesn't diminish why people come here in the first place too. So, I'm trying to find my place here because I did actually write stuff down and then I totally went off script. Um, but what I would like to say is that I desperately hope that you guys consider having this matter actually voted upon rather than just instilled by an individual who is playing to her own agenda when she couldn't even be here for this one. Thank you.

Thank you, Gigi. Hello and great job. Um, I'm Brad Hansen. I live on 6 and 106, which is north north central or south Lancenberg, depending on who you ask. Um, I would have moved to Troy earlier. Um, but I'll tell you a story. Um, my partner and I were looking at apartments and we were actually between a place in Troy and a place in Albany. Um, the place in Troy was cheaper and that was exciting. We went to go see this place. Um, we were greeted by a tenant that lived upstairs. The tenant showed us the apartment. They explained so tell us a little bit about the owner like learn a little bit if I can. Like, well, I've never met them. It's actually run by a property management company. Oh, cool. So, what are they like? I've never met them either. They texted me and asked if I would open the door for you. Um, okay. Let's check it out. It is cheap. And we go through this building and it it looks like what they're charging for it to be clear. And um, we are still thinking about it because again it is cheap and we want desperately actually to live in Troy. Um, we check out this the outdoors. the there is very clear wood rot um in outside structures built onto the property. There is a massive blue tarp put over a giant hole in the uh roof. The chimney is being held up by caution tape. There are holes in the porch clearly just whole holes in the porch and broken glass everywhere. uh we didn't take it and so we ended up moving to Albany where they have residential occupy permits where if we were touring a place in Troy and they had residential

occupancy permits codes would have never let them try to rent that place out let alone have people living there for as long as they probably were. point one. Um, we need good cause protection uh for the same reason we need res residential occupy permits. Uh, people shouldn't have to have this long laundry list of things that they notice when they move when they're thinking about moving into a place. There should be some level of guarantee. That's why we need ROS. But when someone finds themselves in an apartment and they see problems, for instance, like we heard in many of the testimonies last year when there was a different set of people sitting in front of us today, um who said who who testified that there was one working outlet in their entire in their entire unit and it was in the back and they used extension cords to run space heaters to the front of the house because also the furnace didn't work. and their primary reason they could not talk they they were afraid literally afraid of retaliation. It's the only place they could afford and there are countless stories like that. Uh many of you probably canvased I hope you talk to tenants and I hope they were forthcoming about the kind of things that they're dealing with. It's terrifying. Um and so we need good cause. We also need good cause because people haven't gotten wage increases in a long time. Sean Collins talked about livable wages. Uh people are being pinched in both directions. They can't afford rent. They aren't getting paid better. The cost of living for literally everything we know is going up. And these people are trying to raise families in this city. And they can't afford basic things. And then at on top of that, they are being taken. They are being exploited by by landlords who um don't really care what happens to that building. They bought it. They never did anything with it. They moved on. Thanks for the rent. Uh good luck.

Um, we need to return the zombie property program. We need a registry to address vacant buildings. Uh, we need to make room for new housing and businesses and return our many physical assets to the tax roles to pay for bold the bold agenda that so many people came out and talked to you about today. Um, we also though have to balance that with investing in free public community spaces. Not everything has to be for profit. There should be places where kids are allowed to play and play safely to enjoy green spaces to plant flowers. There is beautiful things that happen when someone when people feel like they own the the the the city, the block around them. I know we have parks. They need places right outside their door. The place on Sixth Avenue, that old school building that's been left abandoned for a very long time. It was bulldozed. I'm I'm I'm new here. I don't know the names of these places, but I do see this horrifying uh block of weeds that people should be able to walk their dogs on, have playgrounds, maybe maybe play sports, um things that make life worth living. Um you could also accelerate this process. Uh you could we we have built we have people who own buildings who really don't feel any pressure and in fact it's actually beneficial for their tax portfolios to have this loss. Uh and so they go on and and and we have to look at these blighted buildings that have been forsaken and given up on uh when reality um if had they been intervened sooner or sold or something, they wouldn't have been allowed to fall into the level of disrepair they have. I would recommend maybe something like a vacancy tax. I know we have our fees and I know codes enforcement could be far more aggressive and mount up fees. uh maybe maybe charge people who aren't uh plowing or or or shoveling their sidewalks, but a vacancy tax that that's aggressive and and not just is something that I don't care if we never ch never collect a dime if it forces people to make decisions about what they're going to do with these vacant properties that are assets for

our community, but right now are liabilities. Um we need stronger codes enforcement. And I think I've I've labored this point and many have talked about it before. I'd like to introduce a new idea that I I really expected uh Mr. Spinner to mention. Uh maybe you cut them off just in just in time to save me this. Uh a right to repair for tenants. Um cities like Udica allow tenants to make repairs to their building if landlords uh fail to address those issues in a timely manner and then they are allowed to with wi uh with hold rent. basically they take it off of their rent payments to the landlords for instances like when your electricity doesn't work or your furnace is in disrepair and you've told them this and they don't do anything about it and it's a dead winter and you need heat. Um, so when cities official when city officials, I won't name them. Others have though, proclaim Troy is open for business, it's that too often means it's open to exploitation of its people. And that is so true when it comes to Troy's tenants. Um, and one of the ways this materializes is out of out of city landlords. There are we should we should create a registry of out of city landlords. When I was canvasing uh this year in this election cycle, people talked about it all the time. I've never met my landlord. I don't know. I don't even know what they look like. They bought the building. My rent raised. They never did anything about it about any of the problems. They made never made any any improvements. These are these are homes. These are places where people live. They are not stock investment portfolios, but that is exactly what they how they are treated. Um, and I'm not trying to say that incity landlords are so much better, but it does seem tr to be true that outside city landlords um are especially vexing for the people that live here. Um, on top of that, when they I mean, they are

very extractive. If they live outside of the city, that means they're not spending money in Troy. They are taking rent from people and people are rent burdened in Troy. you have 50 60% of their income going towards rent. Um, and all of that money is going outward. And like honestly, yes, out of state pisses me off as much as the next guy. Uh, but you know, Brunswick, is it any better? And so, make a registry. Consider things like taxing them more uh as making preferences around pe people who live in Troy versus people who live outside of Troy. Um, and then another piece, and I'm probably running way too high in the end of the day. I'm sorry. Right over first refusal for existing tenants might be something worth considering, long-term tenants. That's something that if we pass good cause, uh, we might be able to help on that front. Um, but what about when landlords choose to sell the building? Tenants should get a chance to purchase the place that they've been living at. Hopefully, and I've seen talking to people, they've been living here for decades. uh they should be able to stay. Um address predatory towing, stop stealing people's cars. Uh more street trees, encourage homeowners to plant more. Find ways to incentivize them doing that. And maybe ch maybe find ways to encourage them to stop taking their trees down. I don't know if anyone's gone to like Pine Hills in Albany. This place is literally a for we talked someone mentioned urban forest like that. There are like five, seven blocks of places that are walkable. There are trees everywhere. It is like a joy to walk through it. Um, and I think in 30 years, people deserve to live in a place like that here in Lancingburg and in Troy and South or you know what I'm talking about. Um, and then lastly, I really once you once a tree gets cut down, it's gone. And these trees take decades to grow. And so we should at least have 10 days to for the public to

be notified that the city is planning to cut a tree down. um and maybe even object to it. I think that's something the least we can do for something that's been providing us air and beauty and shade uh for a lot longer than we were here. Thank you. Thank you, Brad. [applause]

Hi, my name is Mark Dvet. I live in uh south central of Troy in the little Italy neighborhood. Um I am a landlord and I support everything that Eric Spinner was talking about and I just want to reiterate that. Um I support good cause. I support everything that was talked about. There's a two things that haven't really been talked about tonight and I just want to reiterate those things. First, two years ago, we lost our planning commission, which was uh a group of people who were um uh within the industry who understood what building buildings were and how they operated. And um we lost that and the planning board that we received in return has nobody that of real substance in that program. And I would like to see a revitalization of the planning commission uh be reinstituted and the planning board being absorb abdul absolved. [snorts] The other thing I would think about is uh alternative revenue sources for the city. Not just in code violations, but also uh uh uh making uh city traffic ordinance uh city traffic patterns being uh looked at as possible camera operations specifically in the Huzzac corridor. Um we could institute uh school uh zone cameras on the top of Huzac. um that would that could slow down the Brunswick corridor. A lot of what comes in um through that Huzzac area are not residents of Troy. So, this would be not burdening the city of Troy. It would be burdening the people that use that corridor to get to Brunswick. Um maybe that would slow down the Brunswick uh uh vitalization of Husk that is now making the Troy traffic absolutely untenable on Husk itself. Um, I know that there have been traffic studies about Huskix Street, um, in relation to Route 7, um,

you know, as it gets to the seven corridor and maybe we need to reook at those those policies to see if there's anything that we can incorporate to cool the traffic on Husk Street. Um, the last thing I want to kind of hit on is, uh, uh, again, I want to reiterate what GG Suite said about the music or ordinances. Uh, revitalizing our downtowns, uh, to bring back the arts is fundamental what's going to revitalize the city. Um, and we should be working strongly to do that. Um, otherwise I've agree with most of people are are saying tonight and I want you to be aware that this is your mandate. What these people are saying tonight, this is your mandate. Thank you.

Thank you, Mark.

Hopefully, we won't have too many more people. I'm Annie Borthwick and I moved to Troy at age 23 into the downtown. And I moved here because my my husband was a Trojan. But I loved Troy from the moment I first saw it cuz I liked old brick and I like tar paper roofs and people thought crazy crazy person. And this so I remember when we had when we had a lot of stores. I remember when it all collapsed. I bought a wonderful mansion in 1975 for $9,000 because nobody wanted it. And I ran a guest house called Cherry Hall Guest House for 32 years in that mansion. Um, I want to tell you that what I think about Troy is that I'm turning Well, I turned 80 this summer and I hope to be in the house that I bought last year that needed a lot of renovation. I hope to be in it in another month or so. I think that Troy is a beautiful place and one of the things that makes it so beautiful for other people to know about is we have aerial photography now. And the difference of seeing Troy from up in the air is just magnificent. It it people all over can see what Troy looks like. And I think that's such a different kind of thing. We had the Victorian stroll because people hated the old brick buildings and and hated what they could see out of their car windows. and we started the Victorian stroll so they get out of their cars and actually look at the buildings and that was really significant. I think now I hope to be around for another 20 years. And if I make it 105, I'll be

here till 2050. And I think with given the condition of climate change, all of upstate New York is going to be full of people from other places. Um, it's really important that Troy find a way to to keep itself going and to allow its generations of its current residents to still live here. Um, there's so much things could happen and there you are with enormous quantities of things to do. Thank you.

Thank you, Annie. [applause] This feels different than the last public forum when it was just me and you guys. [laughter] But hello, my name is Noel and I proudly live on Oakwood Avenue. To say I am excited to see fresh faces on this council would be quite the understatement. The last time I addressed this council in September, I spoke very clearly about the disappointments that I had in the conduct and choices of your predecessors. I informed them that their consistent betrayals to their constituents were egregious and disrespectful. I informed them that their granting the mayor limitless checks to pay her developer friends to destroy our neighborhoods was rotting our city. I informed them that my neighbors and I are growing angrier and angrier at the lack of restraint and transparency being displayed both in these meetings and out on our streets. I informed them and if the behavior continued, the people of Troy would remove them. Well, you know how that ended to say, "Welcome new Troy City Council members. Yay! We as you are Trojans at our core. To be from Troy, to live in Troy, it means something. And while our reputation may not always gleam, to be here is to be proud. To be here is to be proud of our working collars, proud of our closely knit neighborhoods, proud of our grit and our will and our history. To be a Trojan means to be gruff but kind. rough around the edges, but standing ten toes down for your elderly neighbor, drinking

cheap beer, but buying everyone around. To be from Troy is to be proud. And for the last 10 months, being a regular attendant of these meetings, [clears throat] I have not been proud of the conduct of the elected officials here. I with my own two eyes watched a complete breakdown of what the citizens wanted and what our representatives voted for. I watched with my own two eyes city council members ignore and belittle their own constituents. I watched with my own two eyes as project after project got rammed through without any discussion of substance or clear answers from the administration. I could not be more disappointed in the lack of research, the lack of transparency, the lack of good faith, the lack of professionalism, the lack of intelligent discussion, the lack of data. Well, you get the idea. To [clears throat] have a city with one of the most premier educational institutions in the country be represented by people who would spend more time name calling and creating imaginary scenarios instead of using one iota of good research to benefit their constituents is frankly embarrassing a whole city of engineers and we're being governed by clowns. But I digress. One decision in particular stands out, the refusal of the adoption of good cause eviction, which had overwhelming support from constituents. I sat here and listened to person after person, landlord and tenant alike, in support of these protections for renters. Renters who are the lifeblood of this city and 63% of all the folks actually living in Troy, we deserve protection from the clear problem of slum warts. I cannot believe after all the support, all the clear data, all the testimonials from citizens, our district representatives still chose to betray his constituents.

This is the kind of behavior that will get you quickly removed. And I do hope this serves as a reminder to you all. We, the constituents, are your priority. We, the Trojans, are asking for your votes to reflect our values, our wants, and our needs. Not developers, not construction companies, not a camera hungry mayor, not greedy businesses who would sacrifice our peace and neighborhoods for the almighty dollar. Us. The people of Troy chose you. Now you need to choose us. We are watching you closely. The people of Troy have much to be suspicious about after the last two years, and we will no longer hand the reigns of our city to reckless drivers. We are hungry for a government that is reflective of our population, that cares about the life of its people, and will defend our peace, our community, and our tax dollars. We are hungry for the accountability that has been missing the last two years and we expect that you provide it. Expectations are high, but excitement and hopefulness are higher. I look forward to two years of accountability, transparency, professionalism, fair and timely labor contracts, and clear budgets. Thank you.

Thank you. Does anyone else wish to address the council as part of our public forum tonight? Well, I just want to I I'm sure I speak for the entire council, thanking each and every one of you for coming out tonight, for those who spoke. um you clearly uh fulfilled our hopes that you would share your thoughts, your dreams for our beloved city. And so um we even received some uh emails which we will be answering as well. So um I hope you understand we do want to usher in a more transparent uh environment. Um, it it takes it's it's not something that we can accomplish alone. And I'm hoping that we can work with the administration collaboratively to slow the process to a point where there's complete transparency and an opportunity for us to really uh study the issues and for you to be aware of them as well. So again, thank you all for coming. Have a good evening. Safe travels. I entertain a motion to adjurnn.

Motion. We have a motion made by council member Stuber. Second by council member Favro. All in favor? I opposed. We're adjourned and thank you.