City Council Meeting   1/6/2020

I'm

Good evening, everyone.

It's 6 30.

Let's go ahead and get this meeting called to order.

Ms.

Hill?

Here.

Ms.

Magill?

Here.

Ms.

Walker?

Thank you.

Moving on with the agenda for tonight, we will have the council election of the mayor and vice mayor.

Second.

Thank you.

Next order of business is the election of the mayor and vice mayor for two year terms.

Both positions are elected by the city council as a body.

Tonight the councilors will be given the opportunity to discuss their thoughts about the two positions.

Each councilor will be given five minutes to give remarks.

After the final comments are made I will call for a nomination for the position of mayor first and then we'll go and do that same thing again for the vice mayor.

Once the nomination has been seconded, the nominee will be given the opportunity to accept or decline the nomination.

I will then call for any additional nominations.

And once those nominations are completed, I will then ask for a motion to close the nominations.

And once that motion is approved by the council, a vote will be taken on the position of mayor.

Alright.

I just have some personal... We'll start with just mayor first.

I just have some just remarks to my colleagues.

For some time after first moving here in the early 2000s, I really had difficulty seeing this place as my home.

I struggled to feel connected to Charlottesville, but as I became more involved in the community and meeting many along the way, and highlighted by my marriage and the welcoming of three children, I really have gained a deep affection for the city, this region, and the people that we share it with.

It was actually the support from strangers as well as friends following a very personal loss that it became most clear that this community is my home.

It was also clear that I was more and more energized by the local initiatives that I was involved in than I was in my own professional work.

I saw opportunities to leverage my strengths to contribute to our community locally and ultimately determine maybe the more formal role of city council where I could have the greatest impact.

During my campaign for council, I spent the better part of a year meeting people at their doorsteps.

I went there engaging in the conversation trying to understand what their priorities were and it was during that process and to this day in my life I would say one of the most rewarding experiences of my life was that time in our community that I developed a new lens from which I now view our community, its diversity and its harmony.

I also recognize that approaching this role was more important that I do it with my heart than with my head.

To build bridges, including striving for some that may be near impossible, and not tearing them down.

I have found myself heavily reflecting on the last two years and the possibilities for those two years ahead.

Late in my first year in council, a Charlottesville native inspired me by a perspective that was shared on what community means and its importance.

I paraphrased their sentiments.

Living with each other and supporting each other wherever we are at and respecting each other is what community is all about.

After the events of 2017, it was clear that many among our Charlottesville community wanted to be part of a meaningful change that would bring us together.

I'm often disheartened that the public discourse has prevented us from really coming together to share solutions to the problems in our community.

This goes against what I've observed and experienced in my direct interactions with people, which broadly reflects an openness and respect for each other and our differences.

We have a lot more work to do, and I believe that the five of us share many of the same goals.

But to achieve those goals, we have to work together.

As I have expressed, I would welcome the opportunity to serve as mayor, and I'm committed to improving the collaboration among council and staff to meet the urgent and long-term needs of Charlottesville's community.

This will happen by fostering open and respectful dialogue among all five of us.

Change has always been a part of Charlottesville, but with a new democratic leadership that is now in Richmond, we have an opportunity to bring positive changes to this community that have not been possible in recent history, like gun control, improved funding for housing and homelessness, and early childhood education.

Collaboration and open dialogue is now more important than ever because seizing this opportunity will require collaboration working with our partners in the region, in Richmond, and the university to create legislation and maximize funding that will benefit our community's needs locally here in Charlottesville.

I have experience working with these partners and I'm committed to continuing to foster strong relationships with them and with all of you and with the many stakeholders that engage with us every day.

I will work tirelessly to support you so that we may get outcomes that the Charlottesville community deserves.

It's going to take a collaborative effort to create environments where people want to come to the table and a willingness to hear different perspectives so our community can work together and all of us

with all of us on this journey.

I can go.

There are two feminist scholars, Michelle Ryan and Alex Hoslin, who conducted an extensive study of organizations.

And what they found is that organizations tend to elevate women, and particularly black women, to leadership positions either right before or right after a crisis.

and from that they developed a concept they called the glass cliff wherein those individuals are blamed for the crisis even though they are the ones trying to fix it, not the ones who created it.

I believe this dynamic sometimes unfolds in Charlottesville, where our difficult political situation and occasionally unquestionably difficult council meetings are blamed on individuals.

But our crisis was not caused by individuals.

It was caused by the white supremacist terrorist attack that traumatized our community and forced our entire community to confront a legacy of institutional racism and economic inequality.

It is my firm belief that Mayor Nikuyah Walker's leadership has been vital in changing the narrative of Charlottesville, not just symbolically, but through policy change.

Policy change that includes the Home to Hope program to provide resources to formerly incarcerated individuals in our community, raising wages for city employees, historic and unprecedented investment and redevelopment of public housing and affordable housing more generally, tax relief for working class families struggling with rapidly rising assessments,

and including in city planning, infrastructure and environmental protection and analysis of race and inequality.

I often wonder what the nation's response to the first election after the white supremacist terror attack would have been if we did not nominate Nikuyah Walker as the first black woman to be mayor in the history of our city.

The eyes of the nation are still on Charlottesville.

Major presidential candidates announced their campaigns based off of what happened here.

Presidential campaigns and national media continue to visit Charlottesville and look at the work we are doing.

And it is my firm belief that we need to send a clear message to the country that we are continuing the work of uprooting institutional racism, redistributing political and economic power, and confronting unrestrained corporate capitalism.

It is my belief the only way we can do that is by nominating Nikuyah Walker to continue her term as mayor, as has been the tradition over the past two decades.

As I knocked on thousands of doors last year and talked with hundreds and perhaps a thousand or more citizens of Charlottesville about Charlottesville and about Charlottesville City Council, I learned that the voters in Charlottesville want two things that seem different but are really closely related.

They have hopes and expectations for what will be done, and they have hopes and expectations for how it will be done.

The selection of a mayor should be about how things will be done, not what will be done

Because the mayor is only one of five votes, and none of us can do anything without the agreement in support of at least two others, no matter who the mayor is.

Regardless of whether you're a mayor or a counselor, the same rule applies.

You've got to get two other people to join you, and if you do, you can get a motion passed.

You can get an ordinance enacted.

As for the what, in my knocking on doors I found wide support for the goals of providing more affordable housing for a functioning bus system, for educational equity, for fighting climate change.

As for the how, I also found wide support for a council and a government that would work together without bickering and without bitterness.

I mainly knocked on doors in neighborhoods where I was not well known.

Tonsler, 10th and Page, Fifill, Belmont.

And the question kept coming up from both black citizens and white citizens.

How are you going to change how the city government works?

And all I could say was I will just be one of five counselors.

I can't fix it all.

And so I will have to try to find allies to help with this.

Council can't mandate better behavior, but we can model better behavior.

We can start by not displaying open contempt for people coming to speak to us.

We can start by not displaying open contempt for each other on the dais.

We can start by being willing to assume that each of us comes to these meetings with a sincere desire to make the city better by our efforts.

We can disagree about what will make the city better, but we need to start by being willing to assume that the other four of us are all motivated by the desire to make the city better.

We can disagree, but still respect one another.

In short, Charlottesville voters want something better than the contempt that they see is so evident in Washington.

I want a mayor and a vice mayor who will respect other councilors, who will not express open contempt for other councilors or for our citizens and those who come to speak to us, and also who will, in short, model the behavior that we hope will prevail in these chambers.

Having talked with many of my colleagues, I anticipate that there will not be a unanimous decision, a unanimous vote on this.

This has been a long weekend.

I have spent a lot of time thinking and reading and listening knowing that whatever decision I end up voting for or making on this day as today will disappoint people who voted for me.

That's inevitable.

Every decision will.

So

When decisions come to it, I have to vote with my heart.

And where deep, deep down, I know I'm fighting for what's right.

I do promise whoever becomes this mayor, I will work with 100% for this city

I have spent too much time seeing injustice, seeing people who... I had a whole thing prepared.

It doesn't work.

I'm not good at that.

Again, someone said recently this weekend that they were told once that I was all heart.

I do have a brain, but the heart tends to rule too.

I understand we are in a very uncomfortable place right now.

And when we are uncomfortable is when we look, we look at what we believe.

We look at ourselves.

I'm hoping that as we continue through this uncomfortable place we will start building again.

and continuing to build forward to make our city equitable, truly equitable for everyone and safe spaces for everyone.

That might be a little Pollyanna, but it is what I want to work towards.

I probably should have prepared something, but good evening.

I guess what I would say is what is the work that we're doing?

I've walked in rooms the past three years and you know starting from the campaign year moving on where no one really took me seriously.

They didn't think they had to.

They discounted the abilities as they so often do for black women.

So it wasn't until the election really that people understood

who had neglected to come into rooms, the value I bring to any room that I ever been in.

This isn't necessarily something to fight about, but this is a stark reminder of what is the work.

There have been so many people who wanted to move past the conversations concerning race and privilege.

And there's no way to move past the conversations concerning race and privilege.

While I have those very difficult conversations about race and privilege, I've also been able, through a very firm approach, which some people have an issue with me being woman and black and firm, about

what people are saying when they're saying all lives matter when we are in a room talking about black lives matter or brown lives matter and then low-income lives matter.

when we move from race to class.

It is a challenge for this community, for individuals of privilege to understand when people are not of that privilege, that you cannot

walk into a room with the same mindset and really change lives.

The history of this country shows you that it has to be something exceptional and extraordinary.

And there are a lot of people who struggle with the fact that I am the person bringing those conversations about what is exceptional and what is extraordinary.

I, no matter what position I have been in at any point in my life, have been able to bring change to any room that I'm in.

It is an honor for me to do it at this level.

It is draining and it is very hard work.

But to know that the individuals who have the least are heard the most when I am in the room is

It fills my heart.

There is no way to do this work anywhere in this world without elevating people who have been oppressed.

There is no way to do it.

And while these conversations are very difficult, what has not been asked at any point for me is why have some of the conversations been so difficult.

I have never, and Councilor Hill and I had this conversation over the weekend, I've never refused to meet with anybody, talk to anybody.

If you went to UVA and talked to them about who's pushing the needle in those rooms,

who is having the hard conversations with the president there about what needs to happen in this area.

He will tell you that that person is me.

I can walk into any room and fully understand within, you know, moments what is needed, what is missing.

And I'm also willing to have those difficult conversations about it.

What people take as disrespect is really them not being able to honor the fact

that what is normal and comfortable for them that they are usually in the rooms and the most valued and the struggle there is what the fight is here the fight isn't about how we do this work it's that some people are very comfortable with this work continuing to never be done

Thank you all.

Now I'll open the floor up for nominations for the position of mayor.

I would nominate Nikuyah Walker.

Are there any other nominations?

So now I'm going to close the nominations and I ask for a motion to nominate for mayor.

Second.

For the election of the mayor, could each of you just for the record state your choice?

Let's move forward with the... Where he did the vote.

We already know where we're at.

We're going to take care of that.

Yes, I do not support that decision.

We'll pass this 3-2 for the election of Mayor Walker.

So now we're going to move on to the position of Vice Mayor.

We're going to do five minutes once again if you have any comments for that.

I don't really have any prepared remarks for the position of Vice Mayor.

And I don't have any traditional remarks beyond just recognizing that there is, I mean, I'm happy to serve in that capacity and continue in that path.

And I'm also recognizing there might be interest from someone who's new to the dais in that path.

to make my comments.

I would say, first of all, that the leadership that there has been in the last two years has been both from Mayor Walker and from Vice Mayor Hill.

They represent different aspects of Charlottesville.

They represent different aspects of council.

Both aspects are legitimate and both aspects are needed.

And so I would

I have not even thought about that, so.

I think based on the election results and where the community

has expressed.

And when I say community, I'm stating the individuals, again, who might not necessarily feel like they've been a part of government and the system before.

The fact that we did not have this conversation beforehand and I didn't get much to go on with

to be able to nominate someone.

I am particularly interested in Councilor McGill or Councilor Payne being Vice Mayor.

Would either of you refuse the nomination?

Are you done?

All right.

Moving on.

I would nominate Sena Magill.

I second.

Ms.

Hill, are we talking about which nomination?

Well, you just had three people nominated.

Did they all accept it?

They all accepted.

So I'm just confused.

I seconded.

I'm sorry.

It wasn't clear.

I have my throat hurts.

Can I second to?

The Vice Mayor position would need three votes from Councillors.

This is for the nomination of Ms.

And I think you can just ask them their preference.

Yes.

Yes.

Just their preference.

Ms.

Hill.

I support Sena Magill.

Mr. Snook.

Ms.

Walker.

So the vote has passed and congratulations Vice Mayor Magill.

Let's take a ten minute recess.

Music playing

you

Thank you.

At some point I have to do these.

Do an announcement.

What do we do after public comment?

Do a consent agenda.

You can do an announcement.

So I call the meeting back to order.

Mr. Blair to amend the agenda, is that new?

To add.

The resolution opposing military intervention in Iran and supporting Senator Kaine's resolution directing the removal of the United States Armed Forces from hostilities against Iran without congressional authorization.

Whereas the Charlottesville city... Just that will be the item number 8.

I'll second.

To amend the agenda, we're voting no.

I'm in favor of amending the agenda.

Aye.

All right.

We better read our buttons back.

All right, any announcements?

You had one.

Yes, I have one announcement from Mr. Alex Zan announcing the Hammurabi family events calendar is now available.

Contact Mr. Alex Zan for your copy.

Regretfully, we did not see an email on here, but his phone number is 434-202-0773.

The first event is a Martin Luther King Jr.

program continuing his dream and works on January 20th from 1 to 3 at the Carver Recreation Center.

And this event is free.

I'd like to make a motion of the appalling appointments of counselors to the following boards and commissions.

The Charlottesville Area Transit Advisory Board, Mr. Snook The Charlottesville Community Scholarship Program, Mr. Snook The Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority, Ms.

Walker Historic Resources Committee, Ms.

Hill The Housing Advisory Committee, Mr. Payne

The Legislative Committee, Mr. Snook and Ms.

Magill The Measurements and Solutions Group is on hold The Piedmont Housing Alliance, Mr. Payne The Place Design Task Force, Mr. Snook The Retirement Commission, Ms.

Hill The School Capital Projects, Ms.

Walker and Ms.

Hill The Social Services Advisory Board, Ms.

Magill The Water Resources Protection Program Advisory Committee, Ms.

Magill The Charlottesville Albemarle Regional Jail, Ms.

Walker The Charlottesville Albemarle Convention and Visitors Bureau, Ms.

Walker and Ms.

Hill

Darden Tow Park, Ms.

Hill and Mr. Snook, Jefferson Area Board of the Agency Board of Directors, Ms.

Hill, Jefferson Area Community Criminal Justice, Ms.

Magill, LEAP Governance Board, Mr. Payne, Mobilization for Action Through Planning, Ms.

Magill, Metropolitan Planning Organization, Mr. Snook

The Regional Housing Partnership, Mr. Payne with Mr. Snook as the alternate The Regional Transportation Partnership, Ms.

Walker and Mr. Snook The Rivanna Corridor Planning Steering Committee, Ms.

Hill and Mr. Payne The Rivanna River Basin Commission, Ms.

Hill and Mr. Payne The Rivanna Solid Waste Authority, Mr. Snook The Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority, Mr. Snook The Jefferson Planning District Committee, Mr. Payne

the Virginia Career Works at Piedmont, Ms.

Hill, and Virginia First Cities.

Ms.

All right.

That carries.

Any other announcements?

No.

All right.

We don't have any proclamations.

Ms.

Consent agenda A, minutes.

November 4th, regular meeting, November 13th, budget work session, November 15th, special meeting, November 18th, special and regular meetings, December 2nd, special meeting.

B, appropriation, runaway emergency shelter program, $209,444, first of two readings.

C, resolution, honorary street naming, Winneba Way, one reading.

D. Resolution supporting the Eviction Crisis Act and authorizing the mayor to send a letter to Senators Warner and Kane in support of the act.

One reading.

E. Ordinance amends section 2-6 of the Charlottesville City Code to add Christmas Eve holiday.

Second reading.

F. Ordinance amending Section 9-27 of the Charlottesville City Code to change the name Recreation Center Precinct to Key Recreation Center Precinct, second reading.

Is there anyone who would like to speak on an item on the consent agenda?

No?

All right, closing public comment.

It's a collaboration between the Human Services Department and Ready Kids, and it's just the funding for teens who need temporary shelter.

Is there anyone else who would like to speak?

Madam Mayor, there is a typo on the winnable way resolution.

The third paragraph should end honorary renaming of streets with an S on the end if we just make that correction.

Alright.

Comments here, just a couple, Resolution D, supporting the Eviction Crisis Act.

I would also like for us, and Dr. Richardson and I discussed this, to make sure, especially with our public and subsidized housing communities, that we are aware of what the current eviction process

are locally and what they're doing to mitigate the impact of evictions on families and all of these potential items like the fund to help support evictions and to halt evictions and attorney services that if we can make sure that we're doing those things locally before they reach us from the national level.

So that's just a conversation that, you know, we need to have a greenstone off of PHA, CRHA.

And there was one more.

Oh, I guess that's it for now.

OK.

So we have a motion and a second.

Aye.

Aye.

All right.

That carries five to zero.

I think you've already done it.

The only item that we had was to basically send a letter to Senator Warner and Senator Kane just saying that we do support this act.

All right.

Next we have community matters.

Thank you.

And so, let's see, where's Melissa?

Hi, good evening.

My name is Susan Cruz, and I have been a resident of the city of Charlottesville for 21 years.

I am also the executive director of the Charlottesville Climate Collaborative, an organization I have had the privilege of leading since January of last year.

I'm here tonight to thank our previous City Council for unanimously voting to set leadership climate targets of a 45% reduction in community-wide emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

Charlottesville was the first locality in the Commonwealth to set this ambitious target on July 1st of last year, and a few other communities have followed its example, including our own Albemarle County this past October.

Now the real work begins, and you, the 2020 City Council, must create a climate action plan to reach these important targets.

The Charlottesville Climate Collaborative was founded for just this purpose.

C3's mission is to bring communities together to lead on climate.

We work closely with businesses, citizens, and city staff to develop climate action plans which accelerate climate action.

Last year, our organization submitted letters to council on behalf of 41 businesses, 12 area schools, nine social justice organizations, and nearly 1,000 Charlottesville and Albemarle residents in support of the city's leadership emissions targets.

And we are prepared to convene these groups once more to build a climate action plan that achieves our goals and supports the city's commitment to affordable housing and economic justice.

Our first priority should be to create a climate action plan that prioritizes solutions which alleviate energy burden and energy inequity.

As global temperatures rise, so will energy costs, disproportionately impacting low-income households who have the least ability to mitigate dramatic temperature shifts with energy efficiency upgrades and clean energy technology.

These households often reside in older, inefficient housing which can further exacerbate energy burden and can be a significant source of climate emissions.

C3 recently worked with the Charlottesville utility to release data for city-wide gas consumption aggregated by census tract.

We are now combining this information with housing stock data and average median income to create Charlottesville's first energy equity map.

This will help our community deliver energy efficiency resources where they are needed most.

We look forward to updating you on this important project at future city council meetings.

I also want to thank you for that the last city council meeting for supporting the voucher and energy efficiency pilot, which redirected some funds to support the exploration of affordable housing and climate goals in policy solutions.

I also ask you tonight to swiftly authorize the commercial pace program in the commercial sector.

This is a policy tool which requires little city resources, but could assist businesses, especially area nonprofits, and help them achieve their energy efficiency and clean energy goals.

Thank you in advance for all the time I know you will be spending on this issue over the next year.

And I hope that you will feel free to reach out to C3 and me personally

If there's anything we can assist you with this important work.

Thank you.

I passed out a handout.

I'm Roy Van Dorn.

I'm a member of the Downtown Business Association.

The mission of the DBAC is to advocate and promote the predominantly independent small businesses in the area we consider downtown, which is the mall to Ix Park.

This area contains approximately 350 locally owned businesses, ranging from restaurants, shops, craft beverages, professional offices, and so much more.

Most business people are our neighbors.

and friends, and they give back to our community so much more than a national chain could or ever would.

We support a vibrant downtown where visitors and locals alike can share our community together in a fun, clean and safe environment.

With a limited time of three minutes, I just want to present four ideas for your consideration going forward.

Number one is a digital parking availability signage.

On the note I provided with a handout, there's an example of two peer cities that have helped solve their vexing problem of perceived lack of parking, particularly where garage parking availability cannot be seen from the street.

Perceived lack of parking availability is the largest barrier to commerce voiced by those living in the area of why they didn't come downtown.

We urge the council to solve this problem with bar.

and do that as soon as possible.

Secondly, we'd like to talk about lighting.

Downtown needs to promote a walking environment in our downtown.

It is now so much more than just the bricks.

That goal requires adequate lighting for safety.

The studies have already been done by the city several times.

We all know it needs to be done.

What is missing is action by your

You're by the city.

Unlike other commerce centers, the city owns the public spaces.

Other areas of commerce centers in the area, and by other pure cities, devote resources to create an attractive, inviting environment.

This is a matter of maintaining environment for both safety and aesthetics.

Third, the city has built two garages over the last 50 years.

is likely we won't build another one for another 20 or more years.

That means we have to make the current one under design serve our needs today and tomorrow.

First of all, we advocate for more capacity to address the current shortfall.

And secondly, I want to propose an idea that we use the deck for more than just parking.

I would suggest that we use it for the permanent home of the city market.

Public Restrooms, Water for the Health Department, and All-Weather Environment for Year-Round Saturday City Park Market, and a Public Sunday Space for the Use of Festivals, Exhibits, and Other Community Benefiting Events.

Lastly, there's a section about the Dewberry.

You can read that for yourself, and we invite you to come to our annual meeting later this month.

Thank you.

It's great to meet you, counselors.

My name is Matt Hofferholic.

I'm 29 years old.

I'm a student at UVA Law, and I have been a resident of Charlottesville for two years.

I've lived in many large cities before, Boston, New York, New Haven, originally from Miami.

But I've absolutely come to love Charlottesville, the community, Barracks Road.

I live in the Barracks Road area on Arlington Boulevard.

And it's my first time ever speaking at a local government event, so please treat me with a little bit of a...

Light Hands.

So I'm here to speak to support a move that I think will really benefit the community, a very narrow issue, which I think is being addressed on the agenda tonight, which is the special use permit for the Chick-fil-A at Barracks Road.

I live in the Barracks Road ecosystem, and I know I've done a little bit of research on the issue and read the article in the Charlottesville Observer about a week ago.

And I know, I think, for the special use permit in particular, the objection was that Chick-fil-A will hinder pedestrian connectivity.

I actually don't have a car.

And I patronize Barracks Road, the shopping mall, every day.

Provides me and my peers with essential services.

If I didn't have Barracks Road, I would not probably be able to survive.

And there's no other outlet for such services, I think, given my situation, unless I need to use public transit.

So I don't have a car, and I wholly support this.

And I think that most other people, students in my community, would as well.

I don't think that it would really impact a pedestrian connectivity in this regard.

And I think also because it's replacing the existing Burger King, there's also won't be, I think, over much traffic.

I think there will be economic development benefits with the new construction, creating construction jobs.

I think probably, I don't know what the arrangement is with Chick-fil-A, but the revenue might outweigh the construction itself.

And I know it's not on the agenda tonight, but I think Chick-fil-A would be generally supported by the community.

I know there's hundreds of people that would really like to have this in the community.

Much of the community revolves around Barracks Road.

It'll be a great meeting place and a community center, I think, for many people.

Employees, I'm told, I've never worked at Chick-fil-A myself, but employees, I'm told, enjoy working there.

and I just think it will be an amazing place for the community and I again don't think that the effort will endanger pedestrian connectivity at all.

Thank you.

Good evening.

My name is Jeff Fogel, as you know.

I live in Belmont neighborhood of Charlottesville.

Several meetings ago in response to a query from Ms.

Parker, Dr. Richardson revealed the program that the police department apparently has to use cameras to surveil certain areas of the city.

As a result, I wrote a letter to Dr. Richardson and suggested that he would tell us what areas of the city had been covered.

Not what's going to be covered, but what had been covered to see whether it has a racial implication to it.

And secondly, what's very important is to determine what the purpose of using cameras is.

If you're trying to discourage people from engaging in crime, you publicize the cameras so that people know about it in advance.

If your approach to criminal justice is, let's arrest everybody we can, then yes, you try to hide the cameras.

We don't know whether or not what purpose there was.

We don't know whether or not that any of those purposes were accomplished, and that was asked in the letter.

I didn't get a response.

So I sent an email to Dr. Richardson and said I would really appreciate a response to my letter.

I didn't get a response to that either, which I thought was discourteous on your part, not even to acknowledge the receipt of my letter.

I queried myself.

Is it me?

Is it the subject matter?

It would be worthwhile to know that, and it seems to me inconsistent of course with your claim to have an open door policy.

But what's raised here is a much more broader and important question, which is a culture in the city of keeping information away from the public.

We all know that FOIA requires certain kinds of disclosures and FOIA also provides exemptions.

Those exemptions still provide discretion to the agency head to release information.

But the practice here in Charlottesville has been nothing gets released that's not mandated and required by FOIA.

and that's simply wrong.

And the claim that anybody has in this town to transparency is simply hypocrisy when your practice of the town is we give nothing other than what's required to be given by law.

Now of course the biggest area that this takes place in is the large exemptions within the FOIA law for the police department.

And clearly there are reasons why a police department should not release certain information.

But there are many reasons why it could release information.

It would cause no harm to public safety, to the police department or anybody else, but it won't happen.

And it's under any of the police chiefs that we have, it will not and has not happened unless this council puts its foot down and says we believe in transparency and my suggestion is to pass an ordinance or resolution

that states essentially that if an agency head rejects a request under FOIA on the grounds that it's exempt from mandatory disclosure, that that agency head must provide a reason for exercising his or her discretion to deny the request.

So the presumption should be that we get what we ask for unless there's a good reason, independent of the fact that it's exempt from mandatory disclosure in order to disclose.

So if you want transparency, that's one way to get it.

Mr. Blair, just a quick question just to refresh.

And you're referring to the council meeting previously as far as the locations of the camera.

So Chief Wackney did

Give us an update on the cameras as requested.

And I answered Ms.

Parker's question the day that she asked, which was where were all the cameras located in low income areas.

So that was the question at that time.

The cameras from my recollection, and correct me, there were three cameras outside of the entrances to West Haven.

and there was one at the entrance of Prospect.

So those were the locations of the cameras and from my memory we were able to share that information.

So was that the only question that was in your?

Okay, well I can't answer those questions.

Madam Mayor, could I ask, were there only four cameras?

Yes.

You mentioned four.

Those are all that there were out there.

And one of them had been offline.

Right.

And so it hadn't been, until this came up it hadn't been capturing information.

Hey, y'all never speak.

We never started off this year with that.

I'm sure.

because last year the only person who spoke to you was the mayor.

Okay, I'm Mary Carroll, city resident.

I'm here to talk about the transit, but Mr. Long is his project and whatever he says, I ditto.

Public housing.

I walked through West Haven the other day and I nearly cried.

because you got grass growing off the sidewalk and this man talking about he wants some lighting down on the mall.

And you got the shingles falling off the side of the buildings where I know when years ago, and let me tell you something, I'm an old lady.

Years ago when my aunt moved up in there in the 60s, things come out once a year and power spray.

the side of the buildings where the color of the shingles were.

They probably have never done that in 20 years.

OK?

Now, we're trying to figure out what's going on around here.

This is a new day.

2019 gone.

That 400 years of bondage, I mean, that's gone.

We're not starting this stuff this year.

It's not going to happen.

Plus, Trump gone off his nut.

But anyway, what I'm saying is we in Charlottesville need to get our priorities together here and start a new day here.

Because I'm too old to go through this again.

And as long as I'm here, I'm going to fight.

Ain't that right, Mr. Snook?

Absolutely.

You got that right.

But see, I'm going to tell you something right now.

When I come in here to city council, y'all talking about disrespect and all this stuff.

That was the old, old council.

They gone, good back.

We got a new council here.

Let's see if we can freshen things up a little bit.

Let's see if we can get stuff started again.

Trying to get these councils up here that we voted on to respond to us when we come down here and ask questions.

The other council cut that out.

They changed all the rules.

They put in a lottery.

They cut out the response of the councilors so that the city manager can take charge of everything.

Now he got enough to do.

Why should he take charge of what we say too and wait two weeks to get our answer?

We put y'all in those seats.

Y'all got something to say?

Respond to us or resign.

That's all I got to say, because I am not going to be tough this year.

I'm going to be extra hard.

Good evening Mayor Walker and members of the City Council.

My name is Paul Longer.

I live at 100 Ridge Street here in the city.

First of all, I want to welcome the three new members of City Council.

and congratulations, Mayor Wolk, on your re-election as mayor.

I'm glad that you were re-elected.

I want to speak about public transportation, and I noted that all three new members of the city council pledged their support for improving public transportation in the city, and I realize that not everything can be done at once, but what I would like to see the city council do is initiate full service for all cat buses on Sundays and legal holidays.

There were many, many people that work on Sundays, work on the holidays in the hotels and in the hospitals.

They don't have cars and they really can't afford to take taxis back and forth to work.

So I would like that to be a priority for the city council.

I would also like to see the city council

as a bench in Midway Manor at that stop because you have predominantly elderly people that have walking problems, me included, that we would like to be able to sit while we're waiting for the bus.

You know, so I want to, you know, that's all I've got to say, but I will be back as time goes on talking about other improvements that can be made in the public transit system.

Thank you.

Good evening, Tanisha Hudson.

Good evening, new members of council.

Welcome.

I just have a few things to say, and I'm going to cede some of my time to somebody else.

First and foremost, public discourse.

So you have to be really careful with the words that you use, Heather, because you're saying public discourse as if people didn't have a reason to be upset.

from 2016, you might not have been that involved back then, but 2016, really 15 all the way through 17.

So be careful using words like public discourse because we had every right to be mad.

Because a lot of stuff went on in the chambers that should have been stopped.

John Blair wasn't here then.

It was the other city attorney.

They could have stopped a whole lot of stuff before it brewed up to August the 11th and 12th, okay?

So people had a right to be upset because our city should have never put us through that at all.

And then blame the people who wanted to protect the city

as if we was wrong for protecting our city.

And you were just speaking highly about being proud to be in Charlottesville, that you moved here in the early 2000s and this place grew on you.

Well, guess what, honey?

I've been here my whole life, okay?

I have every reason to fight for it.

When I have an eight-year-old grandmother still working full time to struggle to still live here.

So I have every reason to act however I choose to, because I'm not in your position.

So when I come with an attitude, know that I have every reason to come with an attitude.

Welcome new council members.

I hope we can have a great year in 2020.

Welcome again, Mayor, for another term.

I just have a quick, I want to piggyback off of what Jeff was stating earlier about the cameras.

I'm really interested in finding out whether or not those cameras are also in predominantly white areas of Charlottesville and if so,

I don't want to know where they are.

I really don't care where at this point.

So the only update that we have received so far is on those cameras which came as a result of Ms.

Okay because I just I want to

The problem here is that there's a misconception that crime doesn't happen in predominantly white areas.

If we're not surveillancing those, I'm not for state surveillance at all, period.

But if you're not extending those same surveillances to those communities, you're being biased.

I would make a strong bet that the cameras are there because there's been crime there.

We'll leave it at that.

Please, mayor.

Thank you.

I'm going to tell you about what it's like to be on the street holding a sign.

Man, I'm going to give you a earful.

They tell me that I'm number one, but the tide's turning.

There are more people giving me thumbs up than there are telling me they're number one now.

I have had two Amish ladies give me the thumbs up.

Think about that.

A lady walked by me the other day and she said, do you like the libraries?

I said, sure.

She said, well, that's socialist.

Well, that's just not true.

I recommend they go to Cuba.

OK, can you excuse me?

Mayor, please give me extra time.

Come on, let's get through this.

But you go inside those libraries and there are next to no books.

That's socialism.

I've been called, and this is really interesting, I've been called a fag.

I've been told I could eat a bag of dicks.

Lovely people of Charlottesville.

Those are your people.

And I love it.

Jeff Fogel, every time he goes by me in the car, he tells me I'm number one.

But the other day, in the spring, something real interesting.

He slowed the car down to a crawl, and he spoke across the passenger seat, and I'm holding a sign that said, Socialists Suck.

And he said, Oh, you want to suck a socialist?

I didn't realize that.

I'll be careful, more careful.

I didn't realize that.

Then he said it again and a city employee was there and his eyes got about that big and he screwed off like a little girl.

I travel around the world and I make a point of telling everybody about Charlottesville and I love it.

Now, Trump's a jackass at times, there's no doubt about it.

But he's doing stuff that needs to be done.

When he gets re-elected, and you're running around with chicken with your head cut off and wondering how he did it, you look at yourselves.

You did it.

The city's lost several businesses lately.

Taxes are going up.

You did it.

I love it.

Man, taxes around here are cheap.

Where I come from, these are cheap.

Thank you.

There was lost time in there.

Thank you very much.

All the best to you.

I'm sure you can do a terrible job.

Good evening, Council.

I'm Brandon Collins.

I've lived in Charlottesville my entire life.

I have three children who have lived here their entire lives as well.

I'm feeling this new council.

I hate that I have to follow that dude.

And I'm just wondering, before I get into anything, is there anybody in this room who have talked

to Mr. Pickett on the street while he's waving his sign with his First Amendment right because I know a lot of us have expressed our First Amendment right in the same spaces as this racist and yet there's a certain group of people that tend to get physically assaulted by Mr. Pickett and that is women primarily.

The men tend to have the cops called on them and as we're expressing our First Amendment right it doesn't seem to be a problem.

However, he does have a problem with assaulting women.

So when you're listening to Mr. Pickett and his approach to Charlottesville, that's the Charlottesville he's looking for.

One where guys like him are in power and have free reign to assault people when they disagree with his inaccurate analysis of what life is like here in Charlottesville.

I am feeling this council.

I'm like super excited to be here tonight.

What I think is really interesting over the past, I don't know, however long we've been here, about an hour and a half, I've heard affordable housing mentioned probably over 30 times.

And that is huge.

That means it's a priority for y'all and it's a priority for everybody else.

And I think y'all heard that when you were running and certainly sitting councilors have heard that a lot.

I think it's awesome that as new counselors you can come in and tonight you get your first shot to put your money where your mouth is and approve these special things for South First Street.

The project there has been amazing.

It has been truly resident led and we wouldn't say that

If that were not the case.

There are women who live in that community who've been working their butts off.

They've been smart.

They've learned a lot.

I know you've seen them in action.

You're going to see them tonight.

You're going to see just how impressive their work is and it really is a model that should be exported when we get into the redevelopment of the rest of public housing.

So please

support that unanimous recommendation from the Planning Commission to approve the basketball court in the newly redeveloped South First Street and to approve the critical slopes waiver.

It's highly important.

It's best use of the land, totally community driven.

We're really proud of the work they've done.

I would also like to point out that in phase one of redevelopment, construction is about to begin in April most likely.

The money is going to start flowing and I want you all to know where that money is going.

So you are going to be preserving 163 public housing units

preserving and redeveloping them and adding an additional 116 homes for people who make extremely low income, that is people who make less than $19,000 a year and putting those families in new affordable homes approaching this affordable housing crisis cannot be done without the money as you're looking at the budget and the CIP fully fund public housing, fully fund the affordable housing fund.

Thank you.

Good luck.

Love you all.

Good afternoon.

Welcome, New City Council.

I see we're looking for humans, we're being human, we're being kind.

So I'm hoping that we continue

that we're going to be human and not about just color of the skin.

Because it's not just about the color of our skin, even though being black we have a lot of issues.

But we would like to make Charlottesville a better place than what it has been.

I'm still kind of upset about these cameras that nobody is still really talking about.

The cameras was there, a young man got shot, but was that camera and used to find out who shot this man?

So, y'all got these cameras, but what are these cameras for?

A lot of people, it's invading a lot of people's privacy.

For one, I watched them put it there, but I thought it was just the light.

So, I'm not understanding why aren't they in the white neighborhood where there are meth labs?

Besides just,

Black criminals being in their own neighborhoods trying to live where not actually they are out there selling drugs, but the Black folks are being targeted in low-income neighborhoods.

For what?

That's still a stipulation of putting us in a pocket where we're being watched because of the color of our skin.

And we are low-income people.

So why are we still having these cameras if they're not being useful in the crimes that has been committed that they were supposed to be used for?

Two, can we have a bench for Sage Smith that was asked in the last city council when it took all these years before Charlottesville's police to do something to say that the child is dead?

It shouldn't have took that long for that to have come out.

Can we have something to honor that young baby?

That transgender woman.

Can we honor her?

Say her name, Sage Smith.

Can we also have better, even though we talk about affordable housing, I'm still going through the same situation in my house, still with these bugs biting me, still doing what they're doing, and housing is not doing nothing for me.

So when can we finally start looking at the people that things are still going in their homes besides the redevelopment?

I would appreciate if everybody do their job the same way that they say what they was gonna do.

So I'll answer again about the bench for Sage.

We had the plaque created.

We had a location selected.

Sage's parents made a different decision about whether the bench would go up or not.

And that is why the bench didn't go up.

Counselor Bellamy at the time was handling that project.

And I met with him with dad.

and I met with mom and so it was a family decision to not put the bench up at the time and so that's what and we haven't moved forward with the reason that they decided not to put the bench up.

Hello, welcome new council members.

My name is Harold Foley, 1407 Middle Street.

I'm here to talk about two things.

One, I hope city council can revisit the CRB and make it strong as it possibly can.

Disapportioned minority contact in the adult system.

We've been talking about this since July and we haven't heard anything.

Where's the $150,000?

So in terms of the... And support Chick-fil-A, I don't know.

That is correct.

I know that the committee wasn't able to meet on the 21st, so they pushed it to February 3rd meeting.

Did you want to comment on the CRB?

So the applications, just to remind everyone that applications were extended to be open until January 15th.

15th.

And so I'm looking for folks to still apply and council will then consider those applications and have a preliminary closed session discussion following that, which is our next council meeting.

I really don't care about that.

Well I think the discussion that we need to have as a new council would be the first step.

I mean I don't have a, I'm still where I was before and so it would be, we would need to have that discussion to see.

I will say that I guess we're not ready to talk about it but Dr. Richardson and I have been talking about just all of those kind of programs that are very essential to equity and we are trying to figure out best plan

Walt Heineke, 1521 Amherst Street.

First, I want to say welcome to the new counselors.

I think what happened in this election and what happened tonight in terms of the way you've figured out the officers is a huge important step for keeping the change orientation that we started in 2017 moving forward so that we can show the rest of the country how we respond to white ethno-nationalism, Nazism, and racism in the rest of the country.

So thank you for doing that.

I'd like to reiterate and support what Harold just said about bringing up the PCRB issue again.

I think we're not there yet.

I think we need to go back to the original model that the initial PCRB brought up.

And I think from what I heard during the election that three of you were supportive of that.

So I'd like to encourage that to move forward.

I'd also like you to rethink the decision you made on the parking garage.

I think we haven't gotten creative enough about what we might do to get the county court system agreement solidified and met without building a new parking garage.

So I think maybe it's time to get a little bit more creative.

I think it's an environmental disaster and we need that space and that money for affordable housing.

Lastly, I'm kind of tired about talking about Vinegar Hill without talking about reparations.

We talk about building memorials and those kinds of things.

I want you to entertain a possibility.

The possibility is to put a red line around the former Vinegar Hill neighborhood and think about it in terms of reverse redlining and ask all of those corporations that have started businesses since that time in that area to actually contribute a levy that would go into a community development bank that would support black-owned businesses.

in the area and in Charlottesville.

So think about reverse redlining, put a line around Vinegar Hill, ask all the businesses that are now in that space that are not black-owned businesses to contribute two or three percent of their gross income every year to a community development bank which is controlled by African Americans in our town that could actually focus that funding on creating new businesses for African Americans in this town.

So I'll leave it at that.

Thank you.

Scott Bandy, I live in Frye Springs.

I'd like to ask this new reconfiguration of council about something that has been missing from the walls in this chamber.

It's a little insignificant.

Is there any plans to reintroduce a posting of the visions that were upon the walls of this chamber at one time?

I think those disappeared.

I'd have to go through my photo files to figure it out.

But they seem to have disappeared.

And I'm just curious.

What is this council's vision?

You've come in, you're fresh, you're new and two of you, you have the experience that is brought over and quite a surprise that we have a majority makeup of ladies as three councilors in this reconfiguration of city council.

So I ask you, please,

for the city's sake and for those who visit our city.

Where are the please post that vision once again?

So we'll be having a retreat in February.

Sometime we'll be revisiting our strategic goals, mission, and values.

We haven't scheduled it.

We attempted to schedule it for January, and it just didn't work.

And so once we get

dates, available dates for all the counselors.

We will be working on that.

And then now we know it's something that requested to be posted once we get it.

Right.

And I think that's one thing that we can bring up other other business was kind of our plan and aligning on our plan for that.

All right.

Is there anyone else?

Good evening.

My name is Thomas Boninski.

I'm a Fontaine Avenue resident.

I've owned the house for almost 20 years.

Is it appropriate to talk about that right now?

I'm not sure how much you all have been briefed about the particulars as far as the

Pedestrian Safety and Bicycle Safety Initiative.

Well, those are the drivers for the project.

Apparently, things are inadequate.

And so be it.

Let's say they are.

My point is that the project centers on a creation of a bicycle lane throughout the length of Fontaine Avenue and sidewalks, which are nonexistent on some parts of Fontaine Avenue.

I have a sidewalk, a five-foot sidewalk, which is the ADA required minimum for a sidewalk.

And I also have a bicycle path in front of my house.

And they shall be destroyed in order to put in another five-foot sidewalk and a bicycle path.

And then you're also looking at the issue of, what's it called?

When you do a land grab, you eminent domain.

Eminent domain has to occur because there'll be a planting strip.

That's going to be incorporated into the design and supposed creation and construction of this idea.

I'm all for bicycle safety.

I'm all for pedestrian safety.

I was almost run over on Fontaine.

I understand it's an issue.

I'm formerly a bicyclist.

I took too many crashes, one of them courtesy of the city storm train.

The slots in it were parallel to the curb.

It made no sense.

But at any rate, the point is the planned

The plan for a planting strip involves the destruction of all our plants and trees along Fontaine.

It strikes me as inane, a waste of money.

It's other people's money.

I think that's why the plan is so grandiose.

I see no purpose or value in ripping out all my plants and those all along Fontaine Avenue on both sides in order to put in plants on both sides of Fontaine, which the city's going to have to maintain.

So I think we could reduce the cost of the program.

Yes, it's other people's money, but I think we should also minimize the expenditure, especially when it's an unnecessary adornment at the price of the trees and bushes and privacy that all the vegetation that exists there now provides to us, the residents of Fontaine.

So that's it.

Good luck with all the particulars of that.

And I ask you give it serious consideration when you review the plan again for Fontaine.

Questions?

I'll happily entertain any.

B-N-I-N-S-K-I.

All right.

Hi, my name is Ben Dornberg.

I live in the county.

I'm here about the jail board, and specifically the jail board's decision to continue voluntarily calling ICE on people in our community for no reason.

And I would just really encourage the city to explore what the options are to compel the jail board to stop doing that policy.

Obviously, they're getting money from the city.

Members of the city are on the board.

And I just don't think we should allow them to continue operating if they're going to continue to hand our people over to ICE.

So I'd just like to see action on that this year.

And I'll say that that is made up from representatives of other localities, but the city members did vote to not continue the process.

Thanks.

Good evening.

Welcome, new councilor.

Congratulations, Mayor Walker and Sena.

So I'm here tonight to say please support the South First Street project.

There has been, I don't want to say projects because it's not a project, it's their work.

But there's 12 women from South First Street

who has been coming religiously since July every Sunday to help and design what their community should look like.

They have learned about critical slopes.

They have learned about designs.

They have learned about windows.

And now they're getting ready to embark upon how a tax credit application gets put in with cost.

The 12 women are in the audience or outside.

Would you like to stand?

There are some that are outside.

And I just want to talk a little bit about bias, because I'm a little bit ashamed to say that I had some biases going into this, whether or not it would work.

But just to show you how biases can take you in the wrong direction, these women wowed me.

I am so proud of the work that they have done.

and to say that poor people or low income community people can't design their own community.

They have just made a liar out of a lot of people.

So I'm here to say I hope that you all can support this idea.

And there are some other things I want to talk about, but we will be meeting with Dr. Richardson to talk about it.

But I really wanted to emphasize on that and to just say kudos to those

12 women and if you haven't been to South First Street to see the work that they have done you should go in that community center and you could see all the hard work.

Also Bruce Wardell is over there in his company and my new friend.

back there.

I can't even think of your name right now.

But anyway, the work that they have done.

I'm talking about Ashley?

Huh?

Ashley?

No, Ashley.

Yes.

Ashley.

You're not going to forgive me for that.

But the work

So the other thing I want to say is, and I know that West Haven residents and I know that Mickey Drive residents and everybody around here is saying, when are you all going to come and do the same thing?

And I think this is a project we would like for the city to continue to support.

to take to the other side and yes those ladies got stipends to show up and if they attained every session they also got a bonus and every last one of them showed up every Sunday so it wasn't just for the money.

So that's our last slot for public comment.

We have since we took a break a little bit ago, we can continue for a little bit and then take a break maybe after two of the items.

Well, we'll see if we're cruising.

Yeah.

So we have the special use permit for establishment and operation of a restaurant with a drive through window at 1000 Emmett Street North.

And

Do you have a power point?

No?

You ready to go?

Alright, good evening council.

I'm Joey Wenner.

I'm a city planner in the Department of Neighborhood Development Services.

This item before you is a special use permit request to authorize a drive-through window for a restaurant at 1000 Emmett Street North and the Barracks Road Shopping Center.

The applicant is proposing to demolish the existing Burger King at this location.

Okay.

okay good evening as I was saying Joey winner city planner NDS this item is a request a special use permit request for a drive-through window for a restaurant at 1000 Emmett Street North in the Barracks Road shopping center the applicant is proposing to demolish the existing Burger King at this location and replace it with a Chick-fil-A restaurant and a drive-through window a modification

to the front yard setback along Emmett Street is also being recommended by the city utilities engineer due to issues on site.

The site is owned URB, that's urban corridor, with an entrance corridor overlay and is approximately eight-tenths of an acre.

The general land use plan calls for mixed-use development.

The proposed restaurant use is allowed by right at this location.

The SUP request is for a restaurant drive-through window only.

Review of the special use permit request therefore should focus on whether a restaurant drive-through is appropriate at this location, not whether a restaurant is appropriate at this location or whether Chick-fil-A is the appropriate type of restaurant.

The configuration of the proposed drive-through and by that I mean the number of lanes or the number of stacking spaces is not the reason why this is SUP request is before you.

It's in front of you for two reasons.

The first is that the existing Burger King does not have a special use permit for its drive-through window.

It was constructed at a time

are approved at a time when restaurant drive-through windows were allowed by Wright.

And the second is that Chick-fil-A is proposing to demolish the restaurant and the drive-through window and construct a new one.

So therefore, under the current zone ordinance, a SUP is required.

So as far as Planning Commission's recommendation on this, on December 10th, 2019, at the public hearing, Planning Commission recommended approval of this special use permit request with three conditions, which I'd be happy to go through if necessary.

Other than that, in conclusion, please remember that the general standards for issuance of a special use permit are found in City Code Section 34-157 and that modification of yard regulations as a condition of a special use permit is permitted by City Code Section 34-162.

The applicant is here tonight and I'm available to answer any questions you may have.

I have a question around what will follow after this.

Let's just make an assumption that this continues forward.

What is like the track?

The main thing people are concerned about is this the traffic patterns and obviously the pedestrian piece, too.

But what is the traffic study that will be done to to kind of be proactive before the site plan is put in front of the Planning Commission?

So with the with the request, the applicant submitted ITE Institute of Transportation Engineer figures for

the drive-through and a narrative and the traffic engineer evaluated this.

Just in general, how does this kind of fit into what comp plan we do have currently as far as how is this being with our strategic plan?

I understand there's already a drive-thru here.

Some concerns have been brought forward that I'm thinking through.

about the walkability, bikeability, if the chicken and the egg issue of when do we start.

And is this the spot we start in?

I don't know.

I just, this is the only reading we have of this.

I mean, in terms of changing configuration of the Verix shopping center.

Yeah.

And I mean, as I understand, Verix is a private property.

That is correct.

I know there was a couple emails about the impact of traffic and I don't think anyone here doesn't, I mean traffic throughout the city is pretty horrible and we are all aware that there needs to be something done with that.

I know that this was brought up in Planning Commission in terms of making sure

that the traffic was that there was a plan to make sure it was directed so that it has the least amount of impact.

The double drive-through

is the company's response to try to alleviate the impact that the single drive is having in other stores.

as I was speaking with Councillor Snook earlier and he said that he made visits to the Chick-fil-A's and was able to see the difference between the ones with one drive-through lane and versus two.

So I think

And we'll be, yes.

I certainly understand the concern, but when I see Barracks Road and with what's the precedent is already there, it's not the first place I'm finding the most opportunity for walkability with my children.

I will say, I mean, we had, you know, we had someone in public comment bring up our emissions reduction target goal.

About 30% of that is from transportation.

Obviously, you know, we don't control the commanding heights of the economy, so I think the way we make progress on an issue is just each small decision at a time, and I do think that

You know having a double drive-through doesn't comport with the current zoning I think there is some conflict with some of our city plans and I think you had a proposed residential apartment complex proposed several years ago where the CVS is it got shot down but I'm not ready to give up on that vision of potentially moving away from car centric development and

Thinking 30, 40 years down the road, how could we make this a more walkable corridor?

And, you know, I just know for myself, you know, I talked a lot about walkability, bikeability, moving away from car-centric development during the campaign.

It's not that it doesn't comport with the existing zoning.

It just has to be defined in terms of the existing zoning.

We are allowed a special.

We do have the authority to allow a drive through.

There is nothing in the zoning ordinance that I am aware of that specifies whether it's a single drive through lane or a double drive through lane or two lanes feeding to one.

No, sir.

There is

My name is Ryan Yaugher.

I'm with Boulder Engineering here on behalf of the applicant.

I just want to bring some clarity items as well for what we've already said today.

After the Planning Commission hearing, we actually went back and took the conditions that were proposed during that hearing and modified the layout to provide more pedestrian connectivity.

as part of the conditions that you have before you tonight for approval, which would be part of additional bike racks, pedestrian connectivity from Emmett Street as well as the main center as well, to provide refuge areas for ADA accessibility throughout the center and things like that.

So we have heard the concerns loud and clear.

We are wanting to bring a restaurant to the community, to Bear Search Shopping Center that isn't currently there today.

and then also offer the community outreach and the community connectivity throughout the whole Shung Center as a whole.

Thank you.

I do have one question.

One of the issues that was raised dealt with setbacks.

And I frankly didn't understand the discussion at the Planning Commission about the setbacks.

It is within the, I believe it's the fourth condition, with the condition 3 and the SUP,

Okay, so simply by stating for whatever the rationale would be, pursuant to the conditions, please articulate or whatever, that embraces that question.

Yes, sir.

Any other questions?

Do you want to do like a whole call vote by name?

No, we can just, she said, right, just all in favor.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye for now.

All right, so that carries four to one.

Thank you.

Good evening, Councilors.

My name is Kyle Kling.

I'm a transportation project manager with the Department of Public Works, also the city's project manager for the Fontaine Avenue Streetscape Project.

Back in the summer of 2018, the city started working with RK&K Engineering to develop a conceptual design for the Fontaine Avenue corridor.

in association with the Smart Scale Grant that was awarded to the city over the past year and a half.

We've been working through a very detailed public engagement process with members of the community to develop this preferred concept.

We're here this evening to present that preferred concept to you guys.

and are seeking acceptance of the Planning Commission's recommendation which was made at their last meeting in December to move forward with design and to final design for this project.

At this time, I'll hand it over to our consultants, RK&K.

Good evening, Owen Puryear with RK&K Engineers.

We're going to go through a little bit of the background schedule, where we are in the process.

provides you an overview of the public outreach and comments and sort of what we've been hearing as we've done several, a bunch of public outreach opportunities and then review the conceptual design as it's been seen by all the committees as well as the planning commission.

A little bit about the background.

This project extends from

Approximately the city limits on the west end of the project to Jefferson Park Avenue on the east end.

That's the project corridor.

As Kyle stated, this is HB2 money funded through the competitive process from VDOT.

So all this money is state money that you earn through an application.

You can see preliminary engineering, $1.2 million right away.

approximately.

That includes utility relocations.

VDOT puts that in the right-of-way pot of money.

And then construction, approximately $7 million.

Total project budget of $11.7 million.

So this corridor has been studied several times.

There was a pretty major study in 2005, but things have changed since then.

So what remains the same, the vision is a context sensitive design for Fontaine transit pedestrian friendly neighborhood orientation, improving the quality of life while hopefully not changing the character of the corridor.

what's different.

Some of the practices we use and techniques for designing a street for all users have changed and that's evident because since 2005 even Charlottesville has passed a transit study.

You now have a pedestrian and bicycle master plan and you've adopted the streets of work plan.

So some of the things that were in the 2005 study

You wouldn't do today because of some of the newer things we're using on streets like this and because of some of your own

principles that you've adopted.

So what are some of the design principles we're developing on this corridor?

We want a complete street, which involves transportation and mobility for all users in all travel modes, increased safety and comfort for pedestrians and bicyclists.

And some of that is by providing a buffer between the roadway and some of these facilities and where feasible, have physical separation for those facilities and not have them like right behind the curb.

And beautify the corridor as a gateway, an entryway into Charlottesville.

We've heard that from a number of the groups we've talked to about the project.

Some of the benefits that were pointed out in the application where you receive the money, of course this project is designed to increase opportunities for walking, bicycling, use of transit,

Connect to the proposed bicycle pedestrian facilities at Fontaine Research Park and beyond would be a next step and improve access to US 29 into and out of the city, to UVA, and to the University Health System, which is right.

This is a major corridor for that schedule.

We're a tad behind our initial schedule, but we're right at the point where this would be the moment where we end what we call preliminary design and go into more detailed design so we can bring back an actual design for you to see.

And part of the reason we're a little bit behind on our schedule is because we've done a lot of outreach and a lot of listening and a lot of reaching out to the community for their input, which you'll hear a little bit about.

in a minute, but in particular, in summary of the outreach we've done, I won't go through all of these, but these are the different public meetings, steering committee meetings, technical review meetings with staff, place, planning commission, and we're here in front of you today for the first time with this project.

So with that,

Starting with our steering committee meeting, we found key findings through opportunities, concerns, and goals of the project.

And the main thing that people wanted to do was create a sense of place that was safe for all users.

We wanted to make sure that there was a limited amount of right of way and site limitations that were considered.

There was consideration for opportunities to make it a beautiful gateway into Charlottesville to provide stormwater management and improve access management for the corridor as well.

And there were also raised concerns that on-street parking is not really a priority in the area, but there needs to be an account for trash pickup and deliveries because that's part of what the parking on the corridor currently is.

So there needs to be a solution for how people are going to have trash removal and deliveries in the future.

For public outreach, we held two public meetings and we had a very robust program to try to get people to these meetings, particularly the UVA community.

As you can see in the graph on the page, that email was the primary means of most people that were alerted to the meeting.

However, when we introduced the board in front of the fire station and some additional flyers at local businesses, we did have more people attending the meetings.

During the first public information meeting we found that people really wanted to make sure we had safe crossings for pedestrians and as part of this they also encouraged us to add more or wider sidewalks and along with this to have safe routes for bicyclists to preserve the trees that were in the area as well as providing additional green space to really make it that beautiful entrance corridor into the city.

This is a graph showing how important various future conditions were for the attendees to the meeting.

and as you can see crosswalks and sidewalks along with bike lanes were at the top of the list for most of the visitors and having additional parking was at the bottom of the list in terms of importance to what they wanted to see within the project.

When we took this information back to the steering committee we did an exercise with them to kind of lay out a preliminary street layout based on the information that we had gathered and they found that they agreed with the

with on street parking not being a priority and this was not necessarily the opinion of every Steering Committee member but as a general consensus and they focused on having a typical section as you can see here that has a landscape buffer and although it's shown as a four foot buffer in the photo they said that that was not sufficient for most street trees and so in order to have the really mature street trees that everybody kind of pictures when they see some of the images that we'll show you later we would really need a six foot buffer to ensure that these trees have room to grow.

When we went to the second public open house, we had also done more discussion with the fire marshal and different safety aspects.

And so you can see this affected how our users felt about the importance as we got to this meeting because emergency vehicle access was added up to the top priority along with bike lanes and wider sidewalks.

On street parking once again was at the bottom of the list.

And as we took this to the planning commission in December, the planning commission did vote to approve the project as we outlined it.

and during the public hearing session of the presentation, there were several concerns raised and a lot of them were the impact of the parking removal, outreach to neighborhoods, the importance of putting in the bicycle lanes and environmental concerns and maintenance for the residents.

And with that, the conceptual design that we've laid out is fairly similar to what we saw in the steering committee meeting

As you can see here, we have increased it to have the six-foot landscape buffers for the street trees.

And I would like to note that this section here is for the area from the city limits to Summit Street.

And this is similar to a lot of the other ones.

But I will point out that this section here has more slopes on either side, as you can see.

And as we move through the corridor, the right-of-way isn't necessarily taken from one side or the other.

It's kind of a blend that changes a little bit as we move through the segments.

And we'll get further into that.

as we move into detailed design.

Moving down the street from Summit Street to Lewis Street, you can see this is a very similar section to what was shown from the first part of it with the variance of the slopes becoming a little bit flatter as they start tying into the residential section in the center of the corridor.

And as we get into the more urban part where the businesses are down by the Jefferson Park Avenue intersection, you can see we eliminated the landscape buffers

because there really isn't much right of way in that area without impacting either the gas station or the Dirty Nellies area.

And so to limit the exposure to their right of way and having to take any of that, we agreed within the steering committee that it was probably best to remove those.

So the mobility aspect, you've seen what a slice of the road would look like with bike lanes and the sidewalks.

But in particular, what we've heard is, I mean, this roadway isn't very inviting to cross.

We have one location where there's UVA shuttle pickup and a lot of residents live on the south side of

The street and the pickup is on the north side.

There's no real defined crosswalks or anything.

So what we've done is this corridor sort of separates itself into three, sort of into thirds, and we plan to provide pedestrian crosswalks, high visibility crosswalks at each of those three locations with

the RRFB lights that you see, the flashing yellow sign lights that would be at those locations for higher visibility.

So the first one would be at that Summit Street, it's called Summit Street on the south and Mimosa on the north, and that's where the shuttle pickup is.

The second crossing we envision is about in the center of the corridor at Piedmont Avenue.

similar arrangements.

You can see the bike lanes are moving out to give more visibility to the pedestrian and for the crossing.

And then when we get up into the more urban area, this is Lewis Street, which is the first intersection west of JPA.

So we envision another crosswalk there.

That's an area where there's a lot of

Probably one of the highest crossings.

We did pedestrian crossing counts.

How many people are trying to dash across the road today?

This is one of the higher.

This and the one at Mimosa were the two highest pedestrian crossing locations we had on the corridor.

And these locations are also have been

They've also had some accidents, pedestrian vehicle and at least one bicycle vehicle accident happened at two or three of these exact locations.

So, a little bit, this is, we're not at the point yet where we've finaled this and selected trees and those kind of things, but to just vision what

This would be, you can see on the left hand photograph, the dash you have to make today to get across.

This is at Summit Street near the firehouse.

We're looking towards JPA and that would be the first crosswalk you would encounter as you come into the city.

With the pedestrian refuge, we're envisioning in the middle in case you didn't quite make it or you are sort of slow getting across the street.

Lewis Street.

This is looking west back towards the Fontaine Research Park.

You can see the bike lane, the buffer strip, sidewalk, another protected crosswalk at that location.

And then looking, hate to confuse you, looking back to the east towards JPA, but this is that last intersection near Lewis, at Lewis Street near the east end of the project.

a little more urban.

You can see the bike lane on the left is coming off of JPA.

It's a shared use as it goes through that intersection and we just don't have enough room without a lot of right away damage to have a full bike lane westbound.

So for one block we go with a shared

We continue the shared bike lane that comes off of JPA and then we get right back into a bike lane as soon as we get enough room to do so just past Lewis Street.

So that is the one nuance everywhere else we do have a bike lane on the corridor.

I just have a question relative to the point that was raised

The current bike paths are not continuous and they're not as wide as your current plan would recommend having and we'd like to have a buffer strip so to do that we sort of have to scooch the road out and with that there is some destruction of existing sidewalks which if we did an ADA compliance on those sidewalks

They're moderately out of shape on that, you know, with some bump ups and so forth, so there'd be a lot of repairs even if we left things in the shape they are if we just wanted to bring it up to current standards.

We're not to the point where we can tell you imminent domain would be probably a last course of action.

Usually someone means that's when you're filing a certificate and the owner doesn't want to deal with you.

41 properties are touched.

I can't say all of those are full right of way.

We might have some easements.

Some of that is UVA property.

The fire station.

OK.

Probably, can I guess, 90%?

not residents.

Residents are privately owned.

Households would be less than that.

We have probably eight or ten businesses along the corridor that like Dirty Nellie's and across the street there.

Then we have the restaurants that are sort of in the middle of the corridor and then you go through up two blocks of houses and then you get into the area that where UVA owns most of the land on at least one side of the road as you sort of approach

the research part.

Any other questions?

One thing that would have been helpful is if there had been a link to the county's plan, because part of the, with the request for support for the project, said that it would connect to Albemarle County's plan, but there isn't any information about what that plan is.

Thank you for that comment.

We will add that to our website.

Anything that's, we have been coordinating with the county, but that's probably an oversight on that part.

We could certainly add links that are appropriate from the county's website as well, so you can find those.

Any other?

All right.

I can go move away.

I move we approve an amendment to the city comprehensive plan by incorporating the Fontaine Avenue streetscape projects preferred conceptual design.

Okay.

Second.

Is there a second?

I second.

All right.

Any further discussion?

All right.

All in favor?

Aye.

Aye.

So that carries five to zero.

All right.

Thank you.

Next we have the special use permit for private outdoor recreational facilities and reduce setbacks at 900 to 1000 1st Street, South 1st Street.

And we have the critical slope waiver request at 900 to 1000 South 1st Street or 1st Street South.

Correct.

Good evening Carrie Rainey with Neighborhood Development Services.

So do I understand you'd like me to talk about both items simultaneously?

So Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority is requesting both a special use permit to allow private outdoor recreational facilities, including parks, playgrounds, and basketball courts, and a reduction to the minimum requirement required yard setbacks to five feet, as well as a critical slope waiver request for their property at South First Street.

This redevelopment of subject property is phase two of their South First Street overall redevelopment plan.

The phase one development

was previously approved in March 2019 and included 62 multifamily units in a community space.

The phase two redevelopment plan proposes replacing the existing 58 multifamily residential units with 113 new units, a community center and space for the CRHA offices, in addition to the private outdoor recreational facilities for which the special use permit is requested.

Council held a joint public hearing with the Planning Commission at the December 10th, 2019 meeting regarding the special use permit and the Planning Commission also considered the critical slip waiver request at that same meeting.

Regarding the special use permit, the Planning Commission discussed at that meeting the previous work session which was held on October 29th regarding the special use permit.

as well as the fact that the reduced setback did not preclude adequate space for streetscape trees as well as the commission support for the residents involvement in the design of the site.

Community members which spoke during the matters for the public section of the public hearing expressed support for the project.

The commission voted seven to zero to recommend approval of the application for the special use permit for the private outdoor recreational facilities and the reduced setbacks with the conditions as recommended by staff.

the resolution of which is included in the agenda packet reflected in the materials before you.

Regarding the critical slopes application, the commission

The Commission discussed the following items.

The conceptual level of detail which was provided in the application materials and the necessity of providing conditions that would provide the Engineering Department flexibility to enforce appropriate measures to ensure production of Pollock's Branch once detailed design is finalized.

The City's role to review stormwater management plans.

as the city acts as the Virginia erosion and sediment control program authority and Virginia stormwater management program authority pursuant to the authority granted by the state.

And one condition, which was proposed by the engineering department, which would require specific construction phasing in which the applicant stated the condition would create conflicts with necessary phasing, which would allow all residents to remain on site.

And so if that condition had been applied by the Planning Commission or by council, they would create issues with phasing.

and allowing those folks to stay on site.

The commission thus voted to recommend 5-0 with Mr. Mitchell abstaining to pass forward the staff conditions, removing that one condition that had created conflicts and that those items are concluded here in the resolution before you without that one condition that created issues.

OK.

So are there any questions?

So I'd just like to, you know, it was discussed at the planning commission, it was discussed at the work session.

I've been in the rooms for some of these discussions and the process that this is going through, the learning curve that everyone is

going through the community and professional engagement and even you know Bruce at the when we were down in Hampton you made the comment about your thoughts initially about whether this will work and how you feel now.

It's not perfect but it is great I think and in terms of redevelopment of all the properties in CRHA this is definitely setting a great standard and I'm hoping it's something that we can continue and I'm looking forward to, since I'll be on the board now, helping to make sure that process

I move we grant the special use permit to authorize private outdoor recreational facilities and reduce building setbacks within the proposed First Street South Apartments Development Phase 2 within the 7.398 acres of land identified on City Tax Map 26 as Parcel 115.

Is there a second?

I second.

All in favor?

Aye.

And I move that we approve the request for a waiver of critical slopes provisions pursuant to city code section 34-1120B6 for 900 to 1000 South First Street.

I second.

All right.

All in favor?

Aye.

Carries five to zero.

Thank you.

All right.

So if we can take 10 minutes.

Can we just keep going?

No.

How much is allowed?

Let's keep going.

We're going to be quick.

All right.

All right, so next we have the extension of fiscal year 20 Charlottesville affordable housing fund allocation to Virginia supportive housing for the development of the crossings two, one reading.

Alright.

Good evening Madam Mayor, City Council.

My name is John Sales.

I'm the Housing Program Coordinator.

Tonight I'll be requesting a contingency extension from Virginia Supportive Housing who was awarded $750,000 from the FY20 cap allocation.

The City Council placed contingencies on the funding during the October 7, 2019 City Council meeting.

One of the contingencies required Virginia Supportive Housing to receive an agreement with CRHA or other voucher-administrating agencies to receive voucher support for occupants that will live at the crosses, too.

The deadline for getting the voucher support was December 31, 2019.

Unfortunately, CRHA and Virginia Support for Housing were not able to come to an agreement.

Virginia Support for Housing and CRHA continue to work together to discuss the viability of the project.

Both parties are aware of the contingencies in place by the City Council and award the CAF funding.

At CRJ's December meeting, the Board of Commissioners, by majority vote, agreed to continue exploring the viability of the project on the Avon Leiby site.

Staff recommends the City Council extend the voucher commitment deadline until March 15, 2020, which is also the deadline for the other two contingencies that were in place.

I want to thank you for your time.

Anthony Harrell from TJAC and

Julie Anderson from Virginia Supportive Housing are both here today.

They're both the representatives of the party.

Thank you.

Yeah, we're just talking extension.

They are talking and CRHA did.

I know they're continuously meeting.

It's something that they've been working on a whole lot lately, and I think they might be able to give more information for you.

We haven't been too involved in the process of them talking.

Hi, I'm Julie Anderson with Virginia Supportive Housing.

At this time, we have not seen an RFP for the project-based vouchers from CRAJ.

Is there a chicken and an egg problem here?

No, just for us to put in a low-income housing tax credit application in March, we would preferably have those project-based vouchers.

Yeah.

OK.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any further questions?

I move for the extension of the fiscal year 20 Charlottesville affordable housing fund allocation to Virginia supportive housing for the development of the crossings 2.

Second.

All right.

Any further discussion?

All right.

Aye.

That carries 5 to 0.

Thank you all.

Good evening, Mayor Walker, Councillors.

Before you tonight, you have your regular meeting schedule, which does include three separate holidays.

As you know, the Council, the City Code,

has your regular meeting schedule.

It's the first and third Mondays of each month, but January the 21st this year will be, or January 20th, we'll be celebrating Dr. King's birthday.

So that meeting is moved to January 21st.

Monday, February 17th, 2020 is a holiday that's observed as President's Day.

So that council meeting is moved to Tuesday, February 18th, 2020.

and then finally Monday, September 7th, 2020 is Labor Day.

So your council meeting for that particular week will be Tuesday, September 8th, 2020.

And the other input item we would need from the five counselors is typically there is a break scheduled during the summer.

Council decides to

We've talked about this and certainly happy to talk about it as a more open conversation but looked at July 6 for a couple reasons.

One, I know a few of us have interest in it being during the summer when the

when young kids are out of school to give us a stretch.

But I can recall from past years that coming off of the July 4th holiday, there's a lot of concern from the public that they aren't involved in the process and that we're kind of jumping on something right away and they haven't been able to be engaged coming off of a holiday weekend.

And so that was another benefit.

And it does provide for a good stretch of a break between the June 15th and then the July 20th meetings.

Yeah, I have no problems with that at all.

I'm in support of it.

Nope.

That's all we need, right?

Is there a motion?

Is there a second?

Any further discussion?

All in favor?

Aye.

Carries five to zero.

Look at us.

Item eight.

Wait, we got item eight.

I know.

I'm just saying.

We are getting there.

I didn't see it too.

for the council to adopt a resolution concerning military action with Iran and two elements to this.

The council in January of 2012 passed a previous resolution that opposed military intervention in Iran.

and last Friday, January 3rd, 2020, Senator Kaine introduced a resolution that requests that all military action in Iran be halted unless and until the Congress approves authorization for military force.

And so I know Councilor Magill has a resolution she'd like to read.

Thank you.

Whereas the Charlottesville City Council adopted a resolution on January 17, 2012, requesting the United States Congress refrain from entering new military ventures in Iran, and whereas on January 3, 2020, Iranian General Qasem

Soleimani died as a result of United States military action and whereas on January 3, 2020, United States Senator Timothy M. Kaine introduced a Senate joint resolution to direct the removal of United States armed forces from hostilities against the Islamic Republic of Iran that have not been authorized by Congress.

Are there any clarifying questions?

All right.

I move that we accept this resolution.

Madam Mayor, I feel I need to say a couple things.

One is I agree 100% it would sign on the resolution personally, but I have doubts about the wisdom of city council entering into resolutions that direct other people to do things.

I am all in favor of us making resolutions for us to do things.

For example,

I supported the resolution to divest from fossil fuels because it requires us, it tells us to do something.

I have a great deal of difficulty with the notion that we should spend our time and our energy passing resolutions to direct other people to do things.

And in part one of my concerns is a matter of

Where does it end?

When do we decide what things are worthy of resolutions and what are not?

I would prefer that we stick to Charlottesville's business and Charlottesville's business as it directs Charlottesville employees and agents and officers to do things and limit our resolutions to that.

And I hear those concerns, and I definitely

don't want us to be weighing in on every single issue with resolutions.

I don't think that's a useful use of our time or effective in any way.

But I do think there's a meaningful impact beyond just symbolism to weigh in on extremely important issues.

And I think of this issue particularly of war with Iran is we are really on the precipice of a moment that could

defined this era of American history.

I think we are on the precipice of something if military escalation does not stop, which would be significantly worse than even the Iraq war.

And so I do think it is important for us to make our voice heard on that, and it is a common organizing tactic for major issues to have local

jurisdictions pass resolutions in support of a bill or an action in order to amplify and show opposition or support for an issue.

And so for those reasons I support the resolution and I would note as well that in 2012 when that initial resolution was passed it actually made very significant news within Iran and Iranian media as well as making national news and encourage other localities to pass similar resolutions.

So I hope obviously as a

Any further?

All right.

So all in favor?

Aye.

Abstain.

All in the opposed?

OK.

So three in favor and two abstain.

I do want to talk about this, I guess first of all, just the retreats we had planned in January and then like this longer term strategic plan because we are going to have to get something out if we're going to have someone to help facilitate us through the strategic planning process.

And I also wanted to get a sense from counsel if we wanted to have

Oh yeah.

It's come to the council's attention that Delegate Hudson and Senator Deeds are going to be patroning legislation that would provide authority for cities, counties, and towns in Virginia to

remove Confederate Statuary from their public parks.

The council in October of 2019, when it adopted its legislative positions, advocated for such legislation.

So I would view this almost as just, I know there's a resolution that Ms.

Magill, Councilor Magill will be reading, but I'd almost view this as

You've already adopted the legislative position.

Thank you.

Resolution in support of legislation patron by delegate Hudson and Senator Dietz.

Whereas the statue of Robert E. Lee in the city of Charlottesville's Market Street Park was a site of a violent white supremacist demonstration on August 12, 2017, and whereas the city of Charlottesville desires to remove the statue of Robert E. Lee from Market Street Park and the statue of Thomas J. Jackson from Court Square Park,

and whereas delegate Sally L. Hudson and Senator R. Cree Deeds will patron bills in the Virginia House of Delegates and Virginia Senate to provide Virginia cities, counties, and towns with plenary authority to remove Confederate statuary from public parks and whereas the City of Charlottesville's 2020 legislative position

Statement urges the Virginia General Assembly to amend Virginia Code Section 15.2-1812 to remove references to Confederate monuments and memorials.

Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Council of the City of Charlottesville, Virginia, the legislation patron,

Is that a motion or just the right reading of the resolution?

Okay, is there a motion?

Do I just move to adopt?

I move to adopt this resolution.

Let me just say, I'm agreeing with Mr. Blair.

This is not subject to my abstention from the last time.

I would just add as well anyone who shares this priority of having that legislation passed to come to the Monumental Justice Rally at the General Assembly in Richmond on this Wednesday, January 8th at 2.30.

Thank you.

All right, that carries five to zero.

And in terms of the meetings,

Do you think that scope would fall within what we need to be able to still source that?

We're reaching out to someone specifically for that initiative.

Yes.

So it would be the February meeting.

I'm assuming.

For the strategic plan?

Yes.

Oh, yes.

Absolutely.

OK.

The question is, do we need staff to help go through an RFP process for that scope?

Because I anticipate it will be more than one meeting.

So from my understanding so far that it will be under the limits.

OK, so we'll just have staff work through it with some context to that.

And the 23rd and 24th, we'll be doing internally.

Yes.

OK.

Yeah.

23rd is a half day for budget.

24th is a full day for budget.

It's one to five and then nine to five.

No, but we need to, staff will work with everyone's schedule to set.

If we, Ms.

Thomas, if we can try to get a date probably at least two days in February for the strategic plan, a retreat for the strategic plan and vision, mission,

So that would be the focus of those two days.

Should they be back-to-back or should we separate them out to give ourselves a regroup?

No, right, but to make sure that our facilitator is available also.

Yes.

All right.

Any other?

OK.

No other business?

All right.

Next, we'll have our closing matters by the public.

Good evening.

My name is Brad Slocum.

I live on Harmon Street over by the Fontaine area, and I have a couple of things I want to comment on.

Also, welcome new counselors.

I just want to reiterate the importance of the safe crossings that were mentioned, and also the importance of preserving a lot of the greenery.

Unfortunately I haven't been able to attend a lot of those planning discussions but that is an area near where I live and I frequently run and walk there and it's very dangerous street crossings but also the greenery that appears to be mostly on private land right now is often not maintained and I know not everyone out there running and walking is my size but in

Normal conditions, especially in the summer.

You have to dodge off of the sidewalk that is there to not run into branches and trees.

So I'd like to learn a lot more about that, but I'd like y'all to consider when planning to keep the green, keep as much green as we can, but also make sure that the areas are accessible.

My other main point is on the Iran-related resolution.

I just wanted to comment, I think I spoke about this privately with former councilor Galvin last time, but last year the council passed a resolution supporting carbon pricing legislation.

And even though that is not something within Charlottesville's jurisdiction specifically, that directly inspired the city of Blacksburg to pass their own resolution supporting climate carbon pricing, rather.

And in order to pass nationwide legislation, it takes community support.

And so these resolutions can make a difference, even if they don't directly impact national votes.

I'd also like to say that there was a very good turnout for a rally against the war, or the potential for war with Iran.

Over 150 people, I think, turned out by one head count at least.

And then in local news reports on social media,

City and county residents were advocating for drive-by shootings, drone and missile strikes of protesters, and car attacks.

So when you vote to support resolutions condemning the potential for war, you're also repudiating those hateful comments.

There were children running around in the grass.

At that, people brought out their families.

And our neighbors and people nearby are advocating for killing people for standing up.

So when you make a vote and take a position on that sort of thing, it makes a difference.

Thank you.

Hi, um, congratulations Sena M. Payne, sit down please.

So I just wanted to bring some awareness to our community.

So affordable housing, thank you for working on that.

Snook, I haven't seen you on the bus.

You remember me?

We did the forum together.

You said, if you were elected, you would be riding that bus.

Oh, I'm riding now.

So what time will you be riding the bus?

All right.

That's fine.

Honey, it's OK.

I'm on business, so I'm good.

And I just wanted to piggyback off of what Ben said earlier about the ice being cold.

It is a lot of stuff going on that should be made aware of.

With me, I run a nonprofit where I give out free diapers, and it's where

My families are concerned that ICE will be sitting now because we have noticed a lot of police presence when my giveaways are going on.

So if we could nip that in the bud because I'm here to help others.

So if they're afraid to get help, they're not going to ask for help.

So if y'all can try to address that or see why there is police presence when those items are going on, then it would be very helpful for me to help my community

and support my families in this area.

Anyone else?

on 10th and Page, was that money was supposed to have been approved for that or exactly what is going on with that park?

So the land was approved to be purchased.

All right.

My name is Barbara Meyer.

I live on Meridian Street in Charlottesville.

I wasn't able to see the beginning of the meeting tonight, but I did see some tweeting.

And I must say I'm pretty disappointed that the vote for mayor was not unanimous.

When we talk about unity and civility, it should run in all fashions.

And for a number of years, I've been riffing on and off about Dr. King's statement from the Birmingham's jail, where he was more in fear of the white moderate than he was of the Klansmen because they wanted a negative peace rather than a positive justice.

And I really want all of you.

to work for a positive justice.

Is there anyone else who would like to speak?

All right, meeting adjourned.