City Council   9/5/2017

Any good?

Good evening, everybody.

Welcome to Charlottesville City Council.

It's great to see so many people here.

Mr. Bellamy?

Here.

Mr. Signer?

Here.

Ms. Szakos?

Here.

OK, we're going to do things a little differently tonight.

We're going to have different counselors chair different parts of the meeting.

Would you hand me the blocks?

I don't break the table.

All right, thanks.

So welcome, everybody.

And I just want to, we have one new person up here on the dais.

So she is our clerk, and she will keep us

in good shape tonight.

So the first order of business this evening is a public hearing where we want to hear as many voices as possible.

There won't be any limit for the number of people who can speak.

And I'm going to just ask the press if you can just kind of keep it down back there.

I know you're pretty crowded.

Are you okay now?

So we're going to have a presentation and then a public hearing.

So first of all, I'm just going to quickly go over the kind of rules and protocol for the evening.

The rules are the same as always.

There's no cussing, no interruptions, no speaking out of turn.

Everybody, when we get to the public hearing portion of the meeting is going to have a chance to speak.

You'll get three minutes.

If you can make your comments in less than three minutes, that would be great.

I'm sure the people behind you will appreciate it, but no pressure.

So the timer here will help you keep track of time.

It turns yellow when you have 15 seconds left.

If the red light goes on, that means you're done, and I will ask you to stop.

If anyone breaks any of these rules, or if they keep going after the three minutes are over, I will give them one chance to stop and they can stay in the room.

If they continue or if it happens again, I'll ask them to leave the meeting.

If they need help leaving, our sergeant at arms will be glad to help them.

if somebody has to be escorted from the room that they won't be allowed to return this evening.

So we have these rules so that everybody can have a chance to address city council without fear of being bullied or drowned out, and so that we can focus on what you've come here to tell us.

So that said, I had a little thing in case we were dealing with fire marshal issues, but at this moment, I think we had a complaint from the fire marshal at our last meeting that we had too many people in the room.

So as long as there's a seat for every person, we're good.

And I see there are several empty seats.

So if you notice anybody standing in the back,

who needs a seat, just let them know you have one.

So I think that Charlene Green and Maurice Jones are gonna do the presentation for this section, so I would invite them.

Good evening.

Good evening.

I hope this is working.

There we go.

I'm just gonna say a few words in terms of giving you a little background information about what has happened so far with regards to community discussions.

First of all, I wanna thank you all for being here.

tonight.

I want to thank you for going to any of the meetings that happen in our community, whether no matter when it is or where it is, because your voice is really, really important, especially for the work that I do in the Office of Human Rights.

So thank you.

And I hope you continue to speak very loudly and with passion that I know you all have.

So that the things that you are concerned about are heard in a way that we can get things done.

With that said,

There were a number of issues that have been raised based on some of the meetings that I've attended where I've been able to take some notes and glean some of the thoughts and concerns that have come up in those particular meetings.

One in particular was the one that happened on August 14th.

That information is still being transcribed

There was a lot of information that was provided that evening so I'm going to give you a snippet of some of the common concerns that came out of that information.

They were also very much in line with some of the things that I've heard in some of the other community meetings and what's really important is that whatever you don't hear me say

Tonight, make sure that you continue to raise those concerns so that they get addressed.

So with regards to next steps, everyone wants to know what happened.

what happened.

And so as far as what's gonna happen with any of these next steps, Maurice will provide a little bit more information about what the city may be trying to do in addition to what some of the community groups that we're aware of may be trying to do to address some of these issues.

There needs to be accountability, specifically by the city, by the police, and by the University of Virginia.

That came out.

There are some legal concerns regarding the First and Second Amendments with what can we restrict regarding free speech and how can we contain the use of open carry with weapons.

So that came up a lot.

There is a need for a lot of community awareness and some of that is around what is being prepared, what is being done to prepare for the next time because most of the comments that I have read and heard think that there will be a next time.

Is Charlottesville ready?

What kind of education is being prepared for or given to our youth about what's been happening?

Do they have the opportunity to have discussions that many of the adults have been privy to?

And if these discussions are happening at home, do you as family members know what kinds of questions to ask in order to engage the young people in your house?

Confederate history and what to do.

There were lots of comments about what to do with the statues in addition to any other connection or relevance to Confederate history that's in the city.

A number of things around community action.

We need to address inequities.

There were numerous comments regarding that with housing,

Employment, Criminal Justice, Education.

So those issues specifically with inequities, you all want something to happen around that.

The dialogue on race in terms of community action.

I hope you all notice that my coworker, Paola Salas, is right in the hallway giving out information about the dialogue.

If you want to be engaged as a community where there are very specific action items that turn into permanent

Permanent action that happens in the city of Charlottesville, you want to participate in the dialogue on race.

City of Promise came out of the dialogue on race.

The Chamber Diversity Business Council came out of the dialogue on race.

My office came out of the dialogue on race.

And the Human Rights Commission, in addition to some other things, related to, for instance, the re-entry for ex-offenders.

You all would like to see a memorial for Heather Heyer, that there should be adequate communication to the refugee and immigrant communities so that their concerns, especially around the fear of what's happening out of Washington and how that affects our communities, gets addressed in some way as much as possible.

in addition to some attention to what happens to our local businesses and how all of this has been affecting how they operate.

So those were just some of, not all, some of the major concerns.

And like I said I encourage you to, if you didn't hear some of your concerns brought up,

Then during the public hearing piece, make sure that you make it known what you are worried about.

There have been many opportunities since August 12th for community discussion.

and I'm not going to go through all of them but you can see there that in addition to what started out on the 14th with where over 500 people showed up at the Jefferson School and there will be a follow-up by the way as soon as that information goes out the community leaders as I understand it will come back together and they will

they will talk about what they want to do for their next steps within their communities, and they'll bring you back together to get you involved.

That is all community led.

All community led.

In addition to different faith-based groups coming together with different meetings, some things have happened at UVA.

We've also had different national leaders come into town to engage our community and these things will continue to happen.

I know we have been overwhelmed with support.

and the offerings of folks coming to town to provide some sort of assistance or opportunity for discussion.

So if you don't see the different ways that you may be able to get involved,

that has been up there up on the screen, then I would make sure that you get in contact with some of the community leaders that were present on the 14th at the Jefferson School, such as Don Gathers, or Reverend Edwards, or Ann Smith, Seth Wispaway, and Lisa Wolfhorn.

Those folks have been active, very active in trying to engage our community and getting some answers regarding what we have experienced as a community this summer.

Thank you, Ms. Green.

Just wanted to walk folks through some of the things that have been occurring with the city over the course of the last couple of weeks.

In the days after the events of August 12th, Police Chief Thomas held a press conference on August 15th to talk about the events of the 12th.

The city set up, city police set up a tip line for people with information on specific crimes that were committed on August 12th.

That's cevorallyatcharlottesville.org.

Several arrests have occurred in the last two weeks as a result of some of those investigations that came out of that tip line and information that we received elsewhere.

There was a town hall meeting on August 20th at the Martin Luther King Performing Arts Center.

We have started an independent review of the city's preparation and response to the events of that summer, of this past summer.

We expect a report on that by the end of 2017.

Just today there was a new tip line that was established associated with Mr. Tim Hapey's review and it's at www.charlottesvilleindependentreview.com that will give you the opportunity to voice any concerns that you have about events that occurred on the 12th.

that you believe that Mr. Haffey should be aware of.

We also began an internal review and that is included the review of all of our body camera footage that was taken that day from our police officers.

We are under, we are conducting a comprehensive review of the city's standard operating procedures that's permitting for our special events and our demonstrations.

We will be developing our legislative agenda this fall to send to the General Assembly to address some of the issues that Ms. Green brought up

about issues like open carry and permitting processes, that type of thing.

We are partnering with the National Compassion Fund to collect funds for victims of crime.

We've brought together a community group to assist with our road to recovery.

We, as Ms. Green mentioned, we are about to start Charlottesville's next version of the Dialogue on Race.

The city council discussed at the last council meeting an honorary street name for Heather Heyer along 4th Street and also asked the staff to begin to look at other ways to memorialize both Ms. Heyer and then also the state troopers who perished on August 12th as well.

And we're looking for different ways to support our city businesses in this time of need.

So one of the things I wanted to talk a little bit about, as Ms. Green mentioned, there's some equity issues that have been raised at a number of meetings that we've had recently and just wanted to talk about some of the things that the city has done and will continue to do to address some of these issues.

Just so that folks are aware, there's a lot of discussions about affordable housing in our community and I think we all recognize that that's a concern and something that needs to be addressed.

The city has

raised the affordable housing fund from $1.6 million in last fiscal year to $2.5 million in this current fiscal year that we're in now, fiscal year 18, with the intent to raise it to $3.6 million in fiscal year 19 and beyond.

The city was also responsible for the crossings, which is located at 4th and Preston.

We've partnered with Habitat for Humanity, the Albemarle Housing Improvement Program, Timberlake Place, Carlton Views.

We also worked with Piedmont Housing Lines on a down payment assistance program.

Provided $350,000 to PHA for Friendship Court for the redevelopment of Friendship Court.

We've made a two and a half million dollar commitment to CRHA.

$900,000 for

supplemental rental assistance program that would allow for us to help pay for a number of vouchers that currently are available to CRHA but are not funded by the federal government and so the city has made a commitment to put $900,000 to help fund those and we'll be coming back to the city council over the course of the next few weeks to talk about the best way to make that available for folks.

And then there's also a landlord risk reduction program that's also coming back to the city council this fall to help with affordable housing issues.

There's also some other equity issues that the city council supported in the past.

The city has supported the recommendations that were associated with the disproportionate minority contact in the juvenile justice system study that was done about seven, eight years ago or so.

There's been a new study that has initiated on DMC in the adult justice system, which is underway in the city with some of our community partners and Albemarle County will be involved with that study.

Funding for a Youth Opportunity Coordinator position that we are soon to be hiring.

$950,000 in funding and over the course of two years, this is the first payment will be this year to the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center.

a college scholarship program, support for additional pre-k, summer after school program and local African American history curriculum in our schools.

The city has also hired a self-sufficiency employee to help with the housing authority to help break down some barriers to self-sufficiency and working with our residents in public housing to move forward and give them other opportunities.

We have our workforce development programs.

It's our growing opportunities program to help train folks.

And the great thing about the programs that we've done in the past, Go Driver, Go CNA, Go Hospitality, Go Office, is that in the end, when you've gone through the certification program and training program, you have a job waiting for you at the end of that program.

We started that about two and a half, almost three years ago now.

We also have youth internship programs throughout the summer and as Ms. Green mentioned re-entry for ex-offenders that was an issue that came out of the dialogue on race and the action ideas that came out of that is something that we continue to support with the city.

So we do anticipate that more is to come.

We have continued dialogue and development of action ideas for the public, neighborhood-based town hall meetings, community healing.

We're working with several foundations on that.

A master plan for downtown parks and spaces that will, I think, change the landscape in downtown.

Charlottesville to help ensure that we are recognizing all of our history and not just a portion of it.

And then we'll have recommendations that will come out of our community group as well to try to move forward.

So those are just some of the issues and ideas that we have.

in terms of moving forward.

As I mentioned before, we've got this independent review that's going on right now.

Mr. Tim Haffey is leading that for us.

In addition to that, the University of Virginia has a review study that they will be undertaking to review their actions.

I believe primarily focused on August 11th, but also looking at safety issues around the university.

And the state has also announced that there's going to be a task force that will look at the issues surrounding the August 12th event as well.

Thank you.

Alright, so we're going to open a public hearing.

Again, you know the rules.

What I was thinking is we might want to have a couple of people line up behind whoever's speaking.

We don't need everybody to line up, but just kind of keep a little bit of a line so we're not having to wait too long for folks to start.

Oh, I see.

We have already signed up.

So some people have already signed up ahead.

We'll start with them, and then we'll start the line after the last one.

And the last one will be Katrina Turner, who's signed up.

So after she goes, we'll ask you to line up.

So what I'm going to suggest is that

You give your name and if you're a city resident or not.

We don't need an address for everybody for this.

But it does help to know if you live in the city.

So first person here is David Gamondi.

Is David here?

Hi, David.

Dave?

Sorry, I see it's marked over.

Good evening, councillors.

As you just said, my name is Dave Gamondi.

I live just outside the city limits.

So it's been three weeks since the violent deadly attack on our community and we find the council's response woefully inadequate.

We are disappointed that instead of demanding Signer's resignation that he was forced to read an apology from a piece of paper.

We are disappointed in the so-called independent review, which is led by a lawyer who paid $200 to Signer's campaign and charges us $545 an hour.

I would say that was $200 well spent.

We are also disappointed by the so-called economic recovery team.

As this community struggles to regroup, the capitalists, the same people who fund your campaigns and think they own this city, saw their bottom lines take a hit.

So they called you all into action.

They needed to get their profits back up as soon as possible and you guys were more than willing to help.

So what you all call an economic recovery project, we call cronyism.

We are appalled by this all-out propaganda effort that this team, which includes city officials and business leaders, are unashamedly engaging in.

A slogan, hashtag, and advertising does not put the city back together again.

And how can you all say you stand for love when you've proven to us that you all don't have a spine?

Who is on this so-called economic recovery team?

I doubt that it includes the unemployed, the underemployed, or the homeless.

You know, the people who could have used an economic recovery before August 12th.

Is there anyone making under $30,000 on this team?

I hope you all really publish the names.

Because I doubt it, because this team probably includes the owners of the city, the campaign donors, the 1%.

And we know that with capitalism, the benefits and profits accumulate at the top, and not much really trickles down.

If you all cared about the waiters and the waitresses, they wouldn't be dependent on tips to make a living.

The city would have a living wage, which, after Governor McAuliffe's veto, is not subject to the Dillon Rule.

Capitalism is racist.

The solution is also not black capitalism.

One person who we know who was on this economic recovery team is the general manager of the Graduate Hotel, and she's a person of color.

However, her job is to make more profits for the owners of the Graduate Hotel, which is a private company called Pyramid Hotel Group, and they're based in Boston.

So the profits that come out of the Graduate Hotel flow out of Charlottesville.

And that's just one example of what I've been able to piece together about this economic recovery team.

So in conclusion, I would like to urge the council to stop kicking the poor and working class while they are down through regressive taxes like the meals tax.

If this council wants to stand for Seville and a true economic recovery, please pass a living wage and an income tax on the wealthy.

This way you won't have to nickel and dime us through parking meters to pay for really expensive lawyers and the lawsuits that are impended.

Thank you and all power to the people.

All right.

John Hayden and then Jim Baker.

Now, all through this evening, people will disagree, but I'm going to ask you to listen or you don't have to listen, but let us listen.

With the first link, the chain is forged.

The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably.

Those words were uttered as wisdom and warning.

The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged.

I fear that today.

We think we've come so far.

Torture of heretics, burning of witches, it's all ancient history.

And then before you can blink an eye, suddenly it threatens to start all over again.

Like tipped over dominoes to see what triggered the chain reaction.

You need to go back to the beginning to see where it all started.

Well, we're here where it all started.

Dominoes started to fall with you imposing your will upon the citizens over a phony narrative that no one ever mentioned until you came along.

The dominoes continued falling when you overruled the Blue Ribbon Commission who recommended they stay.

The dominoes seemed to fall faster

as you sought to silence moderate voices like mine with your useful idiots who seek to disrupt my free speech rights with no seeming consequence from you.

And then when that didn't work, the use of parliamentary tricks and use of the police to physically remove me from speaking got them tipping faster.

This and other things gave rise to the alt-right and Antifa clashing

and all the unfortunate incidents that occurred on August 12th.

Rahm Emanuel said, you never want a serious crisis to go to waste.

So we now have the mayor calling for removal of the statues and calls for some type of gun control.

I suppose since they did a pretty good job shutting down the First Amendment, why not move on to the Second Amendment?

your acquiescence to your useful idiots who now seem to feel emboldened to take the law into their own hands to remove statues should be publicly condemned by you.

Will you do that?

I told you a year and a half ago to put the decision on the fate of the statues in the hands of the voters by putting it on the ballot but you refused.

All along you've ignored the will of the people and you see where it has gotten us

So now we have hucksters calling for dialogue in the wake of all the tragedy.

Only before this, they displayed nothing but arrogance and indifference to other points of view.

I'll end with this.

Villains who twirl their mustaches are easy to spot.

Thank you.

Hi, I'm Jim Baker.

I'm a city resident.

Hi, this community remains in pain from the attacks of white supremacists the weekend of August 11th and 12th.

The inadequate response from the public safety officials was clear for the community members to see, and now revelations are coming to the surface from multiple credible outlets.

Journalists from the Washington Post, Politico, and other sources that bring to light the Department of Homeland Security warnings,

Virginia Fusion Center warnings and other information obtained from Freedom of Information Act requests show the shockingly poorly coordinated response that left our citizens under attack and our neighborhoods vulnerable and our public spaces unsafe to say the least.

Documentary footage from outlets including Jake Wesley Anderson and Vice Media and others show a confused and seemingly indifferent police response, also to say the least.

In response, our leaders are employing a strategy that is straight from 20 years ago, hiring consultants, providing cursory answers, providing the appearance of listening, but not responding to what they are hearing for the questions posed.

They are attempting to run out the clock from the community's pain.

What we want is accountability, and there are ways to provide that now.

My remarks are not about malice, nor they are about recrimination, but about receiving answers

and sometimes people are standing in the way of receiving those answers, both as real impediments to getting the truth but also as symbols.

The first action that could be taken is the firing or resignation of the chief of police.

Clearly the chief is the one responsible for the safety plan, both in fact on August 11th and 12th and by law going forward.

The lack of information leading up to and certainly in the aftermath should be reason alone for his dismissal.

The sheer number of assaults,

and other crimes witnessed by community members on Market Street, on the mall and in our neighborhoods is sickening.

We deserve answers at the very least.

There is no reason to believe our community is safe now under his leadership, yet by law he is the one in charge of our public safety response should this threat return again.

No one should feel safe in that scenario.

I don't know if he thought he was moving into a job in a sleepy college town.

Clearly this job is too much for him as shown by the events of this summer.

It is time for him to find one more suited to his abilities.

Please negotiate a severance package and have the chief move on.

His career is not over, but his time in Charlottesville should be.

As for the city manager, this response should certainly fall at your doorstep.

Your real time vacation, the lack of an after action report from July 8th, the public feuding with the mayor, this should fall at your feet and it would be good for the community to hear from you a full accounting for the mistakes made that day.

but the good of the community provide that.

Whether you're up for the job remains in question, please be better.

As for the mayor and council, the mayor knows what to do, he really does.

It seems a lack of sense of shame, hubris, an evaluation of personal ambition over public good if corrupted may what have once been good intentions.

Thank you.

Please resign.

Good evening.

Don Gathers, City of Charlottesville.

And as I begin my statements tonight, I need to begin with the offer of an apology for my commentary and my

The words that I used at the last meeting that was an embarrassment and completely out of character.

And for those who heard it, I am deeply sorry.

We are now 24 days removed from A-12 when the hounds of hell were released on Charlottesville.

We all know what resulted on that day.

We however still have no answers.

That is unacceptable.

That is offensive.

Community forums and meetings are optically wonderful, yet they bring to fore no viable solutions.

which we so desperately seek and deserve.

This will not go away.

The angel of death came to our town and was allowed to take one of our own.

He should never have been made to feel welcome here.

We must take the appropriate steps right now to ensure that he is never again invited to Charlottesville.

I'm asking you to work in concert with the state and act meaningful legislation to properly provide for the safety of our community.

The first and foremost mission of any government, be it local, state, or national, has to be the protection of its citizens.

On the dates of May 13th, July 8th, and August 11th and 12th, the government of our town failed us.

When governments fail its citizenry, the result is an anarchy, like which was experienced on August 21st.

We deserve answers, not excuses.

We demand accountability, not finger pointing.

We deserve to know and desire to know the plans moving forward.

Civil unrest, civil disobedience has become the new norm in this country.

Bishop Desmond Tutu stated that if you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.

If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.

We no longer have the luxury of ignoring oppression in any form,

We no longer have the moral ground exposed by its oppressors.

The movement that has been started here now the little 10 square miles has taken hold all across this nation.

We have to continue to press towards moving the needle of consciousness of this country towards a moral high ground.

Away from racism, away from hatred, away from bigotry in any and every form, we must continue to push and press towards the mark, towards the very existence that God would have us to have.

Just as the children of Egypt escaped the bondage of slavery, just as our predecessors marched through all of Alabama, Mississippi and D.C. to obtain civil rights, we must continue to fight for fairness and equality.

Equality in housing opportunities, in voting rights, in law enforcement, as well as in observance of our rights under the First and Second Amendments, and holding every politician in town, every city, every county and every state responsible

I'm Kate Fraley.

I live in the city of Charlottesville.

I'm sorry, was Johnny Knuckles... Oh, I'm sorry.

That was the name I called first.

You may not have heard it.

Oh, I heard my name.

That's okay.

That's great.

Is Johnny Knuckles here?

Okay, go ahead.

Sorry.

Okay.

Charlottesville, what I'm passing out is an article entitled White Supremacy Culture from Dismantling Racism, a workbook on social change groups by Kenneth Jones and Tima Okun Change Work 2001.

I'm gonna read a little bit from the front and then on the back of your second page, I'm gonna read one particular characteristic of white supremacy culture.

This is a list of characteristics of white supremacy culture which show up in our organizations, including the city council.

That's my words.

Culture is powerful precisely because it is so present and at the same time so very difficult to name or identify.

The characteristics listed below are damaging because they are used as norms and standards without being proactively named or chosen by the group.

So I'll read one and it's on the back of your second page.

Fear of open conflict.

People in power are scared of conflict and try to ignore it or run from it.

When someone raises an issue that causes discomfort, the response is to blame the person for raising the issue rather than to look at the issue which is actually causing the problem.

There's an emphasis on being polite.

There's an emphasis on equating the raising of difficult issues with being impolite, rude, or out of line.

This article mentions antidotes for each of these characteristics, and for this characteristic, it suggests distinguish between being polite and raising hard issues.

Don't require those who raise hard issues to raise them in acceptable ways.

especially if you are using the ways in which issues are raised as an excuse not to address the issues being raised.

Once a conflict is resolved, take the opportunity to revisit it and see how it might have been handled differently.

Thank you.

So just one more call for Johnny Knuckles.

Are you here?

Good evening, Mayor Signer, Councillors, and I just have a few things I wanted and felt like it was important for me to say.

I wasn't here on August 12th.

I was out of town, and in retrospect, I wish I'd been here.

And if I had been here, I hope I would have had the courage to join everyone who came downtown to say no

to the KKK, to say no to the Nazis, to say no to white supremacy.

And that was important.

And I'd really like to thank everyone who was there for their presence.

And not only just for that, but for asking hard questions of you, of city council, and demanding accountability.

And so I would like to ask you a few things of my own.

I'd like to ask you to continue to provide opportunity for input from our citizens and people who are engaged, not just on city council's terms, but by listening to how and where people want to be heard.

Secondly, I'd like to make sure that we ask that the city, the community, get answers

Not at the end of 2019, but as the City Council becomes aware of the timeline and what happened, what decisions were made and who made them, that the whole community can be part of that because I think that's the only way we really can effectively move forward.

I'd like to ask City Council to be

Innovative, and again listen to the community in ways in which we can engage all of the city.

I think it's easy for people who are reading about this and thinking about this all the time to think that that's what everyone thinks about constantly, but it's not.

And I think it's really important that all of Charlottesville understand why we need to remove these statues, that it becomes such a symbol of white supremacy.

Understand why we need to change state law, state law by guns,

State law about statutes, but also state law about things like affordable housing because we are in this still in rural state that becomes very difficult.

I also think, and I'm pleased with tonight's meeting, but we need to make sure we allow enough time for discussion that everyone can

can address these issues in a civil way.

So everyone's listening, because I think when things aren't presented civilly, people stop listening on both sides, on all sides.

And finally, and this kind of thought to me as I was sitting here, having sat on your side of the dais, it was really obvious to me that I was mayor.

I was a city councilor.

But most people in the city didn't know I was mayor.

Most people in the city didn't know I was on the city council.

And it's only when this issue has come to everyone's attention that everyone now knows who city council is and what they do.

And so I hope people will take the time to learn who you all are individually.

My name is Rick Turner.

I live in the city.

I represent tonight the NAACP.

As part of the official record tonight, I want to let you know that the Albemarle, Charlottesville NAACP advised our members and friends not to participate in the protests on July 8th and August 12th.

We wanted nothing to do with the activities downtown on either day.

and we were very successfully staying away from the ugly, dangerous scene.

Nevertheless, because of these incidents, we now must consider the impact of recent protests on childs for African American children, youth, adults and institutions.

This raises a series of questions.

Number one,

How is it that the two African American officials, City Manager Maurice Jones and Chief of Police Al Thomas, seem to end up as scapegoats because of these incidents?

The city council members, Virginia state police officials, and the governor of Virginia leave it up to these two mid-level city officials to form, implement, and carry out the Commonwealth of Virginia's plan for handling neo-Nazis, the KKK, the alt-right, and counter-protesters in July and August.

It's hard to imagine that these two mid-level city officials and the government, the state police and our city council, it's hard to imagine how to handle that they give these people the responsibility to handle the most dangerous groups in America.

Yet, apparently, Mr. Jones and Mr. Thomas are being blamed

Apparently, Mr. Jones and Mr. Thomas are being blamed for decisions made by others.

This sets a horrible example for children to see these men, their careers, and families destroyed.

Number three, why were the vicious battles between protesters allowed to continue for so long

while police officials literally stood by doing nothing for how can hundreds of torch-wielding neo-Nazis, KKK, and all-right protesters descend upon UVA campus without being found out or stopped by campus police?

In the coming weeks and months, as the protesters of the least among us

The NAACP will ask these and other very hard questions of city officials, state police officials, and the governor.

Dr. Turner, your three minutes are up.

Thank you.

NAACP members and all citizens in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Gloria Beard.

And after Ms.

Well, y'all know me by now.

I'm going to state my name again.

But my thing is, I'm still tore up about all the stuff because, you know, I was here when everybody was saying, please don't let those people come to this town.

Now, I have questions, and I hope to get an answer somehow, some days, that I can live with.

Now, I heard on the news the other day that there was no stand down.

And it was a stand down because every clipping I saw

whether it was HBO or YouTube, those policemen did nothing.

When people were getting busted in the head, bleeding, tear gas, I watched everything I could find all over the news.

Nobody was helping people.

Somebody went up to the police and said, aren't you going to go down there and help somebody?

They had something about they had blood coming out the head.

and they just said they just stood back and didn't even answer.

So I can't, it's hard for me to grasp that.

I worked with patients all my life and if I saw somebody bleeding, because I have helped people before when I saw a big guy, I took off my shirt.

So how in the world can those men, because I know they have to take CPR and all those kind of trainings, like how could they just stand there and let people just

I was in the street.

That bothers me.

And who opened 4th Street?

When I came down here to the other park, early after church, the church service, 4th Street was closed.

I was a witness because me and a couple of other people, I was driving.

Somehow that street got opened.

I don't know how.

and then why did those people and their witnesses that can vouch for it went to Garrett Square because there was something given to you all and they said, they identified our people, I mean I talk so fast and I'm so excited, but our streets was that IDed as the niggahoods.

and that was my street, I live on Page Street, that was Hardy Drive, Garrett Square, and that's how they put it on, on whatever media, I don't know whether it was Twitter or something, but they did, because I have that on my wall, on my Facebook wall, that's what they identified.

So they had it, this town stoked out, they were talking about the shopping mall, they was talking about downtown here, these people knew what they were doing, now why did they go to Garrett?

Man, that bothers me.

There's a lot of little children down there.

But I lived there for 11 years.

And what happened to the plane?

I don't hear nothing about those poor men that died and who were supposed to have been experienced pilots.

Now, what happened to those people, for real?

Through the grapevine, I don't like what I'm hearing.

But I haven't had no good answers about that plane.

That sounds fishy.

Where are these people?

I keep hearing through the grapevine, they're still here somewhere.

I don't trust them.

I'm telling you.

Saturday, I took a gun safety class.

So I'm going to get a permit.

I told you that last time.

I've got to protect myself, but I'm a nervous old woman.

And will they be back?

My name's Mary Carey and I'm a resident of Charlottesville.

I've been here.

I've been coming here for years.

This is the worst councilor I ever seen in my life.

I'm going to tell you something.

The reason why I'm saying that is because I grew up in the 60s.

I'm a product of Vinegar Hill.

And I want to let you know that those councilors were the worst councilors, I thought, when I was like 12 years old.

But hey, I'm 71, and I've seen better than what y'all here tonight are.

Because in the last five years, y'all ain't been duly squatting.

So I'm going to tell you right now, I come here tonight to talk about that statue.

And you know you can take it down whenever, but you named it something that shouldn't be there.

You named it Emancipation Park.

What brings back memories in black history is the freedom of the slaves.

So who did you emancipate at Lee Park?

That's what I'm trying to find out.

And I'm saying like this, what are you going to put on that plaque once you take Lee down and put Emancipation Park up there?

Well, how are you going to say this park was bought here by what?

By who?

What are you going to put on that plaque?

How did it discover?

How did you discover it?

You have insulted the black community.

Mr. Signer, you insulted the black community before you even got on council.

You insulted Fifeville.

When you were running for council, came in here with all your little garbage, talking about that Fifeville was nasty, dirty, and full of junkies and drug addicts, would you still live there so you must be a part of the community?

All I got to say is, Emancipation Park, that name needs to go.

Black people are tired of this racism in this town.

And the racists are the only ones that love it.

My niece flies American.

She goes international.

They over there in England and Spain asking, why does this dude's town have a racist name for a park?

Those people know more about history than y'all do.

And then you got Mr. Rucher's name coming up here trying to put people down all the time.

I don't even know why you let that man in the building.

But I'm going to tell you just like this.

If y'all don't get rid of that name, I will.

And I'm going to do all I can to do it.

And I'm going to say what Mr. Ron Wood Jr. says.

Slavery is a trauma that has been plaguing black people even to this day.

and we're still dealing with it.

Every time you turn around, something flashing up in Charlottesville, you don't want to get rid of slavery.

You don't want to get rid of the name of it.

Do you still want us to feel like we're still enslaved here?

Charlottesville, you need to wake up.

Because if you don't, you're going to wake up.

And Ms. Szakos, I'm glad you got to be mayor tonight.

Tanisha Hudson.

I really don't need no introduction.

I think y'all know me very well.

Tanisha Hudson here.

I just want to say, how y'all going to stand up here and tell us that y'all have all these hotlines for people to do y'all job?

Y'all asking us to do your job and your people was there working.

You had police there working.

Your police stand up there and take an ironclad and say I do solemnly swear to serve and protect the people and their rights based on the Constitution and they watch these people run down

from Lee Park, Emancipation Park, whatever you want to call it, run down from behind the barricades.

They're in there to attack people and then run back up there.

And y'all want us to call a hotline.

Y'all want us to, we get paid, we don't get paid nothing to do y'all job, basically, is what y'all asking us to do.

Another thing is not one person sitting up on this bench have said sorry.

I want to know did y'all tell that young lady mother y'all was sorry because clearly anybody that attended these city council meetings y'all know those people came here and they told y'all what it was gonna be didn't they Mike Signer?

They said it right?

They came right up in here and then y'all sit here and y'all blame Maurice and y'all blame the Chief

Y'all blaming them the same way y'all were sitting here allowing them people to drag Wes Bellamy.

Must be blame it on the black man.

Put it on the black man.

It's all the black man fault.

As a young African American, if I wasn't born and raised in Charlottesville, if I look at this city,

Outside looking in, nothing about this city says that it stands for love or that it's a place of resistance.

Black people are not wanted here.

And for every white person in this room, because y'all like black and white, y'all like to see things in numbers.

Look at the numbers of the black population of Charlottesville.

How do you welcome

a culture of people when you have nothing for them.

And the ones that are here that made the city, you run them out.

And then you give $2.5 million, it costs over $12 million to build the places up on Main Street.

So how you gonna get houses for people that's making low income?

How you gonna build something with $2.5 million?

We got houses selling for $2.5 million, one house.

One house.

One house is $300,000 in Charlottesville.

That's a townhouse.

No yard, no front yard, backyard, no nothing.

And you get $2.5 million.

Then you take the crossings where that was built years ago.

When we gonna get another one?

I guess I'm just tired of the commissions, I'm tired of the meetings, I'm tired of y'all getting people involved to do y'all jobs, because I mean y'all could pay me $100,000 to make some changes if y'all want to do that.

I'm sorry, Lucas.

Yeah.

All right, please be quiet.

Good evening, Council and fellow Americans here behind me.

My name is Michael Lucas.

I actually live outside of Charlottesville and not too far away, but I'm a local Virginian.

And my issue here with this thing is the myth and political manipulations versus facts.

Whose hate ideology is the real problem?

Is the problem an actual object or is the object in question subject to a perception of an ideology projected onto it by others?

An inanimate object is an inanimate object.

It does not move without interaction.

It possesses nothing that is not projected into it except by its creator or by the perceptions of those opposed to it.

Confederate symbolism was not created embracing a malicious ideology attacking other people.

Confederates were Americans who found themselves on the defensive, threatened by fellow Americans.

Confederates chose to secede, defending their independent sovereign rights as a people to govern themselves without the oppression of conflicts of interest from people foreign to their sovereign state's rights.

The secession was the result of a national dispute and conflicts of interest of the United States whereby the nations

Those southern states who feared the most chose to amiably abandon and divorce from that union, whereas a minority in the northern states wished to retain dominance and fought that dissolution rather than allow the division of assets they sought to control.

The Confederacy was not created based on a malicious ideology to fight, but a defensive one to sustain the established rules of law at that time.

There was no absolute consensus among the Confederate States government or the people that determined they were any different than any other Americans having a shared investment in the assets gained by the American Revolution.

A descendant of a Confederate soldier carries many memories, many carry Confederate flags, erect monuments, and publish images in honor of their ancestors, sacrificed to defend families, friends, and hearts and home.

from invaders and usurpers which threatened to subjugate and arrest from them their rights in determining their free will to govern themselves.

Okay, every American descendant has a right to equality within the laws and to share the use of public spaces and remembrances of the best attributes and character of fellow Americans which built this nation.

Even Confederate soldiers or citizens who were by majority truthfully had no ideology or malice towards their fellow Americans including African-Americans

other than for the natural sake of their own defense.

That is not a political or racial ideology.

That is a natural right to publicly defend freedom of opinion.

That is why Confederate monuments must remain publicly displayed in public spaces.

That equality of the law is based on the rights to share public spaces with everyone else.

Some may opine stating Confederate symbolism is racist.

Thank you, you're done.

This is a public this is a public hearing.

I mean, they are.

OK, so there'll be comments.

All right, go ahead.

Thanks.

Well, I guess y'all know who I am.

Ms. Rosia Parker, a.k.a.

Ms. Rosa Parks.

But I'm going to come to you as I'm going to piggyback off some other things.

I am a mother, and I am a part of the actions you did not take or take heed for the understanding that there was a thread that said that they was coming to scope out the black neighborhood, and they was going to stab the black children.

Or every other color that's not pure race.

and like she said, they had already scoped the black communities out.

We was called Negra Ghetto Hood.

Don't y'all have kids?

Oh, so y'all must not have felt that threat when it came upon you.

And I'm still angry.

As you allowed the white supremacists to go into the black neighborhood, what are y'all going to do?

Are y'all going to apologize to the people in that community?

They didn't ask for this.

and they didn't ask them to come.

They had to defend their cells.

Have anybody in the city council or the city police, they deserve your answer, why them?

And why did the police allow them there to be unprotected?

Especially the children, they shouldn't even have to go and deal with the mental health or any trauma that they endured white supremacy to hurt them in their community.

Signer, you need to resign.

You want your grammar in the spotlight for your political so-called career.

That you want your apology accepted by the community?

Not.

After you left your voting citizens, we don't accept or respect you as a leader.

Kathy Galvin, you're still about SIA, not about the people.

The council, y'all need to listen.

The council listens at us and not listen to us.

You need to fill us.

Judge Moore needs to take responsibility for this horrific tragedy too, to Seaville.

Katrina Turner.

So Katrina Turner, you're the last one on this list.

So the next couple of people who'd like to speak, you can go ahead and line up here.

Katrina Turner.

Yes ma'am.

August 12th changed my life in many ways.

For over a month many organizations trained for this rally that was allowed to be held here.

We trained just in case we were shot at.

We trained just in case the alt-right came at us.

We discussed what we would do if there was an unlawful gathering.

What we did not train for, though, was a terrorist plowing his car into a crowd of people, murdering Heather Heyer and injuring many, many more physically, mentally, and emotionally.

There were so many warnings given to you all before this rally, but the one warning that really disturbed me was the threat against the children, that the alt-right were going to stab the children at the back-to-school event.

Why was the rally not canceled after learning of the threat against the children?

Were the children not even important enough to cancel this rally?

I watched many officers stand back and do nothing on that day.

An alt-right member spit in a woman's face and gave a cutthroat sign to my son right in front of the state police.

When I asked, was he going to do anything, they told me that they were only there to observe.

They were not to get involved.

If anything happened,

they were to call the Charlottesville Police Department.

So they did nothing.

The visions of that day have not left my mind yet.

Your life flashing before your eyes, the bodies flying, blood everywhere.

One thing I would like to know is where is that officer who said that, Mayor, you ordered to stand down.

Where is this officer?

Is he still on the force?

Why hasn't he come forward anymore?

What's going on with him?

Can y'all give us that answer?

As to this officer who said, Mayor, you're the one that ordered this stand down.

I want to say on that day, Mayor, you went on vacation.

When Black Lives Matter, Surge, Antifa, Clergy, and so many citizens are the one that defended this city on that day.

My name is Aaliyah Jones and I stay here in the city of Charlottesville.

The events that happened on August the 12th, I really was afraid of my life.

I was scared.

I was actually in the midst of all of that.

I actually seen a guy, a young man, the same age as my son, just about getting beaten.

by the KKK.

And I knew right then that Charlottesville still had racism here in Charlottesville.

Also, I wanted to say this, too, that the statue needs to be removed, for one.

It needs to be removed, and I think it should be a memorial site for Heather, too.

Also, I wanted to say something about

The people coming in the neighborhood, the KK coming in the neighborhood and stuff, I had to warn my neighbors.

I had to warn the kids and things.

Well, not the kids, but the adults.

They let them know that these people was coming in our neighborhoods, getting ready to threaten us.

And that kind of bothered me.

That showed me that the police really ain't doing their job.

as far as protecting us in our neighborhoods or during the rally.

I had seen downtown where the police, I went to ask the police a question or something to get help.

He turned me down.

So that shows me what Charlottesville is all about.

You still have issues that you need to address.

You need to get your justice system correctly because if you don't, this is what can continue to happen.

My name is David Rhodes, and I'm a resident of the county, have been for 60 years, and I actually tried to solve my midlife crisis by going back to school, and ended up writing a thesis about the Confederate memorials at UVA.

This, of course, I did a lot of research.

And when I presented my thesis, I used a quote by Arthur Ashe as an epitaph.

Now Arthur Ashe is significant that he's a great African American humanitarian and back when Douglas Wilder was governor of Virginia, they tried to do something with Monument Avenue.

And they used Arthur Ashe, they put a statue of Arthur Ashe on Monument Avenue.

It might not have been everybody's first choice, but it was a compromise.

And that's what is always been needed here is a compromise.

And I'd like to read you Arthur Ashe's quote.

I see nothing inconsistent between being proud of oneself and one's ancestors and at the same time seeing oneself as first and foremost a member of the commonwealth of humanity, the commonwealth of all races and creeds.

And that's my message.

When I presented my thesis to UVA, towards the end of it I praised Mayor Signer because this was before all this August 12th stuff.

When I presented my thesis to UVA, I praised Mayor Signer because he used the phrase, add and don't subtract.

Add to the parks, don't subtract.

Now, I thought that was the smartest thing I've heard the whole time about this issue.

There's room for everybody.

Hey, you left your hat.

And when you get your hat, take that compromise with you.

Mr. Bellamy.

Mr. Bellamy.

Mr. Bellamy.

And everyone here, we are here to hear all voices, whether we agree with them or not.

My name is Danielle Honore.

I'm the president of the NAACP at the University of Virginia.

I drove up to Charlottesville on August 12th and I was there for the terrorist attack.

and before it even occurred, I saw five white supremacists pull out a sword on a black man by himself and start swinging it.

And I'm like, bye, Charlottesville police officer.

So I'll walk up to him and I say, excuse me, officer, are you gonna do something about that?

Guess what he did?

He giggled, it's a joke to him.

He laughed.

Now what happens when there's a breach of duty?

or a tour of negligence, what happens then?

We learn about that in school.

I'm going to University of Virginia to pursue all these things.

I go to meetings every single night.

I'm tired.

I'm at every city council meeting.

I'm at these school board meetings.

I'm at epic meetings.

I'm at NAACP meetings trying to fight for this stuff at this young.

And at this age, I have this much sense.

It's a shame.

My ancestors, my ancestors built this city.

They built that university that I go to.

And I go to UVA not because of what Charlottesville has presented to me, not because of what the university has presented to me, but because of my ancestors.

They paved the way for me.

They sat in those classrooms.

They sat in those classrooms as people spat on them.

They paved the way for me.

And I, the student, I have to sit and convince black students to continue to come to the University of Virginia and tell them that Charlottesville not that bad of a place.

I gotta keep fighting for that.

It's a shame.

Y'all need to do something about this, talking about a dialogue on race.

Do more.

We need more than just dialogue.

What about some action?

It's no reason that there are so many students at the University of Virginia in fear.

Jews, queer students, black students.

And I'm at every meeting.

I don't even have time to do my homework.

And how am I supposed to apply into a school at the University of Virginia or get into a major if I cannot do my homework and do my readings?

How?

How can I maintain a 3.7 GPA and compete with the white students at the University of Virginia if I cannot do my homework because I have to do your job?

I am tired.

Everybody, one person cannot do everything, but everybody got to do something and I'm sick of it.

I'm sitting here, here and there, back there with my laptop doing my homework.

My name is Elaine Poon and I am the managing attorney of the Legal Aid Justice Center, Charlottesville office.

And I am here to remind, thank you for hearing from us, City Council, about FAR's letter that was sent on August 22nd.

We had a lot of questions, we asked for a lot of answers, and we still haven't received them.

On July, after July 8th, we also, Legal Aid Justice Center, sent a letter and made a lot of recommendations leading up to August 12th.

We want to renew those recommendations.

There's a lot of talk about this stand down that happened and we appreciate that there is an independent investigation that's pending at this time.

But I want to encourage the city to dig deeper and think about why there's so much anger in this room and why this community has so much anger.

I want the city to confront, FAR wants the city to confront police relations in this city.

and why this community is so angry.

We entrust our law enforcement to protect us and to keep us safe, but on July 8th and August 12th what we saw instead was when we exercise our right to speech, we are attacked.

However, when we ask for help when we are in danger,

people stand down and that's exactly where the anger comes from.

And I understand that there's a lot of dialogue and there's a lot of investigation but we're asking for concrete

solutions.

If it be some sort of citizen review board, an independent review board, or maybe better policies for community policing, we ask the city to really give us concrete solutions.

Another thing that was addressed in the letter was emergency planning.

Emergency planning has to incorporate the voices of low-income

and people of color in this community.

I hate to be the, I told you so, but we asked for an advisory council leading up to August 12th.

I really feel that friendship court could have been avoided if we had actually had a voice at the table leading up to that planning process.

The city has a unique opportunity to be a leader in this entire nation.

The nation is watching to take a stand against racism.

And we're going to hear later on from the Coalition for Low Income Housing to hear some of those solutions.

But it's obvious there's a connection here between the racism that we saw on the streets and the policies that harm

Low-income people of color disproportionately in this community and that's where we need to start.

We need to have real solutions.

I can't help myself.

I have to address the equity fund.

You know, there's this form-based code zoning change that's happening.

I understand that part of that equity fund actually is funded by the proffer system and that is

Lavon Jansz, I live in the city.

I just wanted to say something about housing.

Within the past 15 to 20 years since I've been here, it seems that there's only been a couple of low-income housing units built.

The majority of the people that are working for UVA live in low income neighborhoods and have been working most of their lives supporting the city but not being supported by the city.

Take care of your residents.

Make decent, affordable, low income housing a priority.

I'm not going to sit here and sugarcoat anything.

I'm 50 years old.

People like Mary carry them.

They laid the foundation.

She would be more like my older sister.

My mother, who would be 86, laid even more foundation.

All of you are to blame for what happened.

All of you.

There's more than enough blame up here, no matter what your color is or anything else.

You were actually given the chance to move and counsel all these events.

The circuit court judge gave you that chance.

You declined to.

Therefore, he let the permit stand.

People told you long before what was going to happen, and you guys did not care.

And it wasn't just Mayor Signer.

Our governor wants to run for president next time.

I mean, and then the director of our Homeland Security for Virginia was here too?

My God, if a terror attack went off, you can't even handle a rally.

Lord knows what you're going to do in a terror attack.

And like I said, I'm 50 years old.

Projects was luxury to me.

We didn't have Running Water, 1970s Brown Street.

It wasn't Starr Hill.

Y'all named it Starr Hill after the white brewery set up there on Main Street.

But that was never Starr Hill.

It was the Ebony House and all of that.

And for decades, I have watched this city council screw over the Black people.

the black community.

If I'm correct, Mayor Signer, you're in Miss Inez Draper's house?

That big beautiful white house on the corner?

I know one of your people got it.

One of your luxury people, because that's the only way we could get our neighborhoods fixed up, is by letting rich people move in.

Usually rich white people.

See, I'm from old school, so I know how Fifth Street got started, because we used to live over there.

Our little weatherboard house got torn down.

So your developers could put up something better.

You need to stop blowing smoke.

And y'all all do that well.

Stop having secret meetings.

What are y'all hiding?

We can go to the law.

Because the last meeting, when you counseled it, legally you weren't supposed to make any more decisions.

That's state law you violated.

Thank you.

Hello, I'm Sally Williamson.

I'm a city resident.

I was born and raised in Charlottesville.

I am raising my family here in Charlottesville.

and I think that for many people I represent the best of Charlottesville, what makes Charlottesville a world-class city.

I'm a nice white lady with plenty of time and the means to go to many hour-long meetings.

And I think that in a lot of ways I actually represent the worst in Charlottesville because of that.

I wrote these notes at the beginning of the meeting.

I didn't have a prepared statement because I didn't know this was going to happen, just like I was unprepared when the town hall meeting was rescheduled for the 20th.

I had been prepared for the original date, and I saw that over and over in the list Ms. Green put up of the community events, multiple pages of community events.

and one line for the city, what the city has done versus what the citizenry has done and what the community has done to take care of itself.

Not just this summer, but the long history, but if we're talking about this summer, then the community came together to take care of itself in the face of militarized police on July 8th.

The city came together to protect each other in the face of violence on August 11th and 12th from the alt-right, violence they had promised to bring and did bring.

The city protected itself

the street medics who were performing as first responders when the state and the city drove a military vehicle down 4th Street instead of ambulances and fire trucks.

Mr. Signer specifically, I'm sure you'll dispute any claims that are made tonight or previously that you order to stand down.

And I'm sure in that you will offer a patronizing lecture on Charlottesville's city manager system of government.

When you actively position yourself both locally and nationally as the leader of the city, it is disingenuous and disrespectful to absolve yourself of any responsibility, particularly when, the last time in council chambers, you were the one directing officers to escort people out and three people were arrested.

Hello council members.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak and for all the other members of our community to speak tonight.

I've attended as, sorry, my name is Brad Slocum.

I've been a Charlottesville resident for just about a decade.

One of the things in many of the meetings that I've been able to attend over the last few weeks, the past month or so,

As much as I hate to throw out the idea of giving the horrible people who came to this town and caused such terrible violence more of a platform, I have not heard any official efforts to seriously understand and investigate the processes and means through which these people were able to plan and execute the systematic violence that went on.

I spend more time than I'm proud to admit on parts of the internet that these people frequent.

They have been planning these attacks for months, since January, February, March.

They have been out for blood and they got it.

How did this happen and what is the city's response going to be?

Because they want it to happen again.

They have been planning it since before August 12th for coming back.

I don't want to be out there on the streets again, seeing my community members' blood hit the sidewalk.

That's not what I live here for.

So what are you going to do to help protect us?

We need to understand the threat and prepare for it.

Well, I live on Amherst Street in the city.

I think what you're hearing tonight is that the community's going to demand accountability.

And I feel sorry for those poor folks in Houston.

It's a tragedy.

But we have to deal with the tsunami of hate.

that came to this town and the accountability for that tsunami of hate that we're still dealing with now today.

There's a lot of traumatized people still in this community.

And we have to, we're gonna expect accountability despite the Jerry Springer show that we got last week from you all.

That was really disappointing.

The finger pointing, the hot potato.

It's not Jerry Springer.

Thank you Mr. Brown for that reference.

Now it's time to realize what August 12th and July 8th were all about, and you realize that it was about racial injustice, right, and creating racial justice.

You got that memo that that's what it's about, right?

We have to realize, and you have to realize that racism was here before July and August, and you know it.

When I hear comments from friends of mine in the black community about how they're scared to call the police to their community because they're afraid that they're going to get arrested when something happens to them, we have a huge problem that you need to solve now.

When I hear Jeff Bowe will give stop and frisk statistics over and over again and we don't solve that problem after two rounds of statistics and we continue not to solve it, how can we trust you to solve these larger problems that we're talking about that are coming out of this issue?

What we're looking for and what this community is looking for is leadership.

That's what we expect out of you.

Mr. Jones gave a nice soliloquy, a nice list of things that the community is doing.

You are doing some things in affordable housing, I'll grant you that, but it's not enough.

You're not thinking big enough.

You're not thinking about what it's going to take to stop gentrification from happening in this town and from forcing out low-income people.

Let me give you an example.

You're not thinking about creating a $300 million bond to create new public housing in this town.

You're not thinking about those kinds of things.

You're thinking about the hotel that needs to be finished.

I went to the form-based code meeting that was held at City Space last week and the consultant that was there

presented the information as if business was going on as usual in this town.

They didn't know what had happened.

They weren't respectful of what was happening.

And it's clear that, from their own words, that we need an equity policy for housing before we can even get to form-based code.

Forget form-based code.

Forget the charrettes until we get to an equity plan that lays out what we need to do for affordable housing in this town.

All right, so I'm Latrell Lee.

I'm not a native of Charlottesville.

I come out of Danville.

But I'm here because, obviously, to be at UVA.

And that's actually where I want to start to say what I've got to say.

It's not fair that me coming out of Danville, that I'm completely blindsided to this side of Charlottesville.

It's not fair that I've been here for three weeks.

And the Black Student Alliance and the NAACP has told me more about the skeletons y'all have in y'all's closet.

Y'all don't put it out there.

Y'all don't put it out there.

It's not fair that Danielle, it's not fair that other fantastic leaders of UVA black student groups have to take responsibility for what y'all refuse to take responsibility for.

Now let's get something straight.

It's not their fault.

It's only two of them.

It's only two of them.

It's seven of y'all in all.

Seven.

It's not fair that when I go to the gym, I have to have this book bag on because of the police force that y'all have, but I don't have this on.

They're gonna look at me crazy.

Even when I had this on, they looked at me crazy.

So, what do y'all plan on doing about it?

They're pissed off.

They've probably been pissed off for months.

And y'all seem indifferent to it.

Y'all seem like y'all just don't care.

I mean, what more do I really have to say?

I've been here for three weeks.

Three.

You mean to tell me today that it's been people here that stay here for decades?

Decades.

That's enough.

Don't silence her.

Don't silence her.

I know.

Listen, listen, listen.

So I'm in the system of inequality classes at UVA, right?

They pulled the statistics of the amount of low-income people that get into the university and the amount that actually move up at least two classes once they graduate.

It's only 1.5%.

So their average tuition is $30,000.

Their universities was bringing revenue to Charlottesville.

Y'all can't deny that.

Y'all can't deny that.

So why is it that I should go give y'all money that y'all don't deserve?

Y'all aren't going to give it back to me.

Y'all haven't gave it back to them.

And I'm going to come out being broke, basically?

What's the chances that I could be sitting up there where they're at five years from now?

Michael Payne.

I have just a very specific thing that was brought up earlier briefly, but it's something that I don't think I've heard any level of city government speak on, at least to my knowledge, and that is the fact

the question of why was traffic directed to 4th Street.

4th Street and Market Street were both publicly announced by the city.

They were supposed to be closed that day.

Earlier in the day the streets were closed and at some point traffic was being directed to both streets.

And earlier in the day, there was traffic around Market Street that a car went into a parking lot in Fishtail that almost hit people.

So this was not the first time.

There was not just one incident of alt-right groups trying to use their car as a weapon.

And this is a question that I really think the city needs to provide at some level an answer for, because this seems to me to be a huge area of liability

when a street that was closed had traffic directed on it to it and people and someone was killed in a terrorist attack because of it.

People were operating under the assumption that that street was closed when they turned onto it and marched onto it and yet there were multiple cars on it.

That is something that needs an answer and it can't wait until the end of the year

It can't wait until an independent investigation that the city is paying for, which seems a bit of a conflict of interest.

I think that's something that the city needs to answer for.

The line, and politicians always use this line, is we aren't

directly responsible for a decision, therefore we don't have to comment on it at all.

And I think, you know, as someone who was there that day, that just feels personally insulting to be playing these political games when, you know, someone died.

Over 30 people were injured.

People have lifelong physical and mental health issues that they're going to be dealing with to express their life.

It's just insulting to be treating this as a political game instead of

really forcefully demanding accountability and at a minimum just being able to say, we're sorry.

So that's it.

Good evening.

My name is Joy Johnson.

And again, I have a couple of questions.

One is pertaining to UVA.

I still want to know who is going to hold

UVA, Theresa Sullivan, accountable for the Board of Supervisors.

I'm pretty sure the Board of Supervisors and the police department there also knew there's no way you're going to tell me that on Nameless Field walking through that dorms

that they did not see all of that because I know if my folks and I gather just the far board or just my neighborhood folks that gather there with Tinky Torch, we all will be arrested and we'll be still in jail.

How is it that we are not asking the hard question of Teresa Sullivan?

The other question that I also have is that, not question, statement, is that I didn't see anything about class on here.

You cannot talk about race and not talk about class.

The biggest, for me, for me, just Joy Amaryllis Johnson.

Race is something that I know I'm gonna always deal with until I die.

But class is a big.

We have white class and we have black class because we have some black people who don't want to fool with low wealth people.

and when you all have all these meetings about talking about healing, lower folks is never in your room.

Why is that?

They don't represent us.

They don't speak for us.

And some of the leaders in the community who say they speak for us does not speak for us.

Three minutes, Ms. Szakos, at a hearing when people are still.

It is not even a month.

or counsel.

It's not enough for people to vent.

It just isn't, especially when you're talking about people healing, talking about what's going on on the inside.

It's just business as usual again, three minutes and then thank you and that's the problem.

That is the problem.

I don't know when you all are going to get it.

I mean, you know, it's just like

I don't know.

I don't know.

I don't know.

I don't know how to put it.

But we hold children, we hold inmates more accountable.

They have to stand up for the attention.

They have to do count.

They have to do all of that.

But you all don't.

Listen.

They have to listen.

You all don't listen.

I don't know what else to say.

I don't know if you all are going to ever get it.

But you got to get it.

Is there a clause that says you can't speak twice?

Okay, I just want to say again none of y'all are originally from Charlottesville.

If you all raise your hand.

Okay, in the 70s there was a riot for Safeway with black people at Safeway.

Do you know how your police performed at that riot?

Do you know how your police dragged people off the porches in Hardy Drive?

Do you understand the turmoil that they put the black community through in the 70s?

Do you understand that August the 12th they did absolutely nothing with white on white crime.

See this is the problem with Charlottesville and I'm all for the whole Nazi thing and all of that.

Now I'm on something different.

You guys never ever ever

I want to paint a vivid picture of white people and white people.

But because August the 12th was more of your people showing off than black on black, you know the media over there, y'all, all of y'all, y'all want to portray a certain picture to keep Charlottesville looking very pretty, right?

It's not pretty.

Like, Charlottesville's not pretty.

This is the heart of supremacy.

And that's why they felt they weren't just, they didn't just pick Charlottesville, they felt welcome.

They were welcome.

They were very well welcome.

And they were comfortable doing what they did.

You know why?

Because they knew that y'all weren't going to do nothing.

They watch you guys sit in silence as this man over here to my left was being dragged.

They watch you guys sit in silence as you say that they have a First Amendment and freedom of speech, but then you act like this man couldn't say he prefer a black queen than a white woman.

They watch you guys welcome this technology.

And now they're watching you guys point the blame at this man and Chief Thomas.

I mean, how can y'all really sit here and act like, I don't know what y'all religion is, but I don't know why y'all can walk up in church on Sundays if y'all do go to church.

Because you can't sit and point the blame at people.

Based off of color.

See I just I'm gonna say again.

It's so easy to throw it off on the black man We've been getting a blame on this damn country for God knows how long we've been beat and we done did everything.

I mean what else y'all want from us?

And since I'm up here and wasn't planning, I think we really need to talk about, again, what white supremacy and white privilege looks like.

And I just received a text from Rhiannon Williams, who asked me and said it was OK to share her story.

But after five years, her daughter was just returned home after DSS ripped her family apart for absolutely no reason.

No.

We had a meeting last week at CHS where there were no time limits.

This is a council meeting.

We have a long agenda after this.

We're committed to listening to everyone.

I'm going to ask you to leave if you don't sit down.

You can be the next person.

She gave her time away.

No, we're not doing that.

I'm going to call a recess.

I've called a recess.

We're going to take a recess.

We'll start back up again.

Everybody will have a chance to speak.

Ms. Walker gave away her time, and use the last of it.

We're not going to do that tonight.

Wait, wait.

In all fairness, Ms. Szakos, Mr. Mayor, Mr. Jones, we do this every meeting.

Someone always cedes their time to someone else.

If you'll let me answer, I'd be happy to.

Excuse me.

I would like to answer the question, which is, and I will say this is my first time doing this and so I'm still struggling with it.

Ms. Carey, I will point my finger at you because I'm chairing this meeting.

When we began this meeting I explained that for everybody to be heard we had to keep civility, we had to keep

Some sort of order in here and that's what I'm trying to do.

What we've done so far, people have listened.

Sometimes it's been really difficult to listen to people who've been speaking.

People have.

Everyone has had their time.

Everybody has used their time well.

I think that that's something I'm really impressed with because people have very strong opinions and a lot of anger and we're hearing it.

Okay, but here's the point that everyone here is trying to make.

Hang on.

Hang on.

And I shouldn't have.

Here's what everyone is trying to explain.

We do this every meeting.

We don't do this every meeting.

We did this at the last meeting.

Can we call a vote?

But we've never reached this point until tonight.

Hold on, hold on.

So the thing, civility, civility, please, please.

If someone is willing to cede their time to someone, and we do it every meeting,

Everybody sit down.

We will try it again.

If we can do that without people jumping up and yelling, then we'll do it.

All right?

Does that make sense?

I know.

I'm saying this is not a good start.

So I am willing to restart the meeting.

Every person gets one time.

If you give away your time, you can't use it again unless somebody else gives it to you.

So I will accept that as the compromise.

But if there is shouting in the room, we're going to stop.

I know.

I'm listening.

Do you hear me?

So we're going to start again.

We're not going to have shouting from the crowd.

All right.

I'm Chelsea Stabler.

So I think we get stuck on July 8th, 11th, and 12th, but as I was saying, I was talking about a DSS case that we brought to all of your attention.

took all the way to the governor's office.

I have a letter that I wrote to the governor's office about a child being ripped from her home from her mother and she was returned last week and the mother has done nothing different.

They just sent her home

the mother didn't do anything differently.

So when you talk about white privilege and white supremacy and why Charlottesville is ground zero and why things erupted the way they did is because of the power dynamics that we have in this town that has been under liberal and democratic control, right?

You all have participated in that establishment.

So I don't, again, that's one case we know there's over-representation

And racial inequality within the DSS system and the criminal justice system and hiring practices within the city.

We see it.

You all are aware of it.

And you all have done absolutely nothing about it.

You all have participated and perpetuated some of it.

So those are the things that we need to fix.

Outside of answering the questions about what happened on July 8th, August 11th and 12th, we need to talk about how families are abused at the hands of the very, at you all and the very people that you all hire and how you all up-own the institutions

of Systemic Racism and have since the founding of Charlottesville and how you all are just nail in the face and I've told you a lot of times don't do things that future council have to apologize for while you all are apologizing for people in the past have done.

You all actually have to acknowledge all the wrongs that have been done and we're talking about housing, criminal justice,

I wrote a post on Facebook about the six kids that were sentenced.

You're talking about five to 30 years in federal prison.

You have a defense attorney, Jessica Phillips, saying you can go to prison, grow up, and return to society on a 30-year sentence.

The same people who will come out and protest August 12th was unwilling to see how that mass incarceration privilege and systemic racism played a part and why they were incarcerated.

Those are the things that we have to look at.

And again, I hope you're looking into why

Thank you.

My name is Zionna.

Hashtag not my Charlottesville because Charlottesville hasn't been racist for I don't know how long.

And so now we have this super awesome hashtag put on by our city that's going to make everything better again, right Mike?

So I want to know about this closed-door meeting.

I heard on the news that Councillor Szakos and Councillor Galvin accepted the apology on behalf of Charlottesville.

I hope that's not right because I don't accept.

Do any of you guys accept?

I don't even, what?

And then so moving on from there, why are we having all these closed-door meetings?

As a student I can relate to not being able to do my homework because I have to go on Mike Signer's Facebook page to see where he's placing the blame for the day.

So yeah.

probably a late assignment.

But moving on from there, we just wasted a total of about seven minutes going back and forth about whether or not Ms. Walker can speak, which is a perfect example of why these meetings are not accessible because it will probably last until 2 a.m. because that's what usually happens when we push things off and we push things off and we argue back and forth among our council.

But you guys have had enough closed-door meetings that why can't we get on one accord when you sit up here on the dais?

I am tired of the arrogance from Mike Signer and I've said it every time and I've seen it since like last year when every time someone would say something that you didn't like you go Robert's Rules of Order, Robert's Rules, Robert's Rules.

I'm done.

So everybody put your resigned Mike Signer signs up because that's the point that I'm making at this point.

Hello, my name is Aurora Nichols.

Thank you for hearing us tonight.

I have a slightly different question.

I was wondering about if the helicopters have that what what they were doing up there, was it for surveillance, crowd control,

or Just Plain Crowd Intimidation.

I read that one of the helicopters that crashed had a history of mechanical issues.

I hope that the next time something comes to town where you need helicopters that they're directed to be safe.

Yep, and what if it had crashed over the downtown crowds?

Now I just got a couple questions, like we gave y'all so much information before July the 8th, before August the 12th about what was planned on happening here in our city.

About threats that people were going to get murdered, people were going to get hurt, assaulted, kids were going to possibly get injured due to the alt-right coming.

And my question to you though is,

What's going to happen when we give you more information the next time they're coming?

What's going to happen when we tell you that they're threatening to kill us or threatening to hurt us or threatening to go into our streets one more time to terrorize our neighbors, our friends, our family, our children?

What's going to happen then?

Are y'all going to sit on y'all butts?

My bad.

Are y'all going to sit on y'all butts and just lay back there like y'all did for the first two go rounds?

All y'all gonna make some kind of change to make sure that this isn't allowed in our streets again.

And as for that jumping in front of that love sign, what was that man?

That was some, there you go.

My thing is, what are y'all steps to ensure that the city, the citizens have a future where we can all be held equal, safe,

Secure, so we won't have to worry about these Nazis, these alt-right still driving around our towns trying to terrorize our people.

What are you guys going to do about that?

I'm not just talking to the mayor.

I'm talking about all of y'all in there.

I know what we're going to do.

If we have to, we're going to stand up because the police station didn't do anything, and they're not going to do anything for us.

If it comes down to it, we're going to have to start policing our own streets here.

And y'all aren't going to like that.

But my thing is, what are y'all going to do different next time?

I personally think that a lot of the problems that led to August 12th are part of the fact that our city council is very, very, very much homogenous in their views, and I think that

The alt-right came here because an agenda has been pushed that is not up to the community.

I think that big things for the town such as removing statues and just

Large expenditures and cultural changes such as that should be up to the populace at large.

I think a true vote for the populace would help things because it would make people on both sides feel like they're represented instead of just one side and even parts of that one side not having their voice heard.

So I just think that for very large decisions such as that a public vote should be what should happen instead of a closed-door session and closed-door vote.

My name is Elliot Brown and I live in the city of Charlottesville and I just couldn't let that be the last person that spoke today.

I do firmly believe that we need to address systemic racism and I think I'd be really proud to be from a city that was the capital of that.

My name is Carrie Schaefer, I live in Charlottesville and I work downtown.

I just want to address the mayor.

On a different matter, you and I talked about the parking issues downtown, if you remember.

I was here, and then we chatted in front of the Paramount Theater.

And you told me, don't worry about walking further from your office late at night to the parking garage because, quote, we do not have crime in Charlottesville, end quote.

We do not have any crime in Charlottesville, with a smirk just like the one you're giving me now.

So I would like to say you were wrong then, but you didn't know it.

Anybody else?

Well, thank you so much.

I really appreciate it.

And we are going to give counselors a minute if you have any responses.

Yeah, if I may.

Thank you.

First of all, thank you all.

Power to the people.

I think that's important to be said.

This whole city owes you all an apology for an array of different things.

We've let you down.

And I just want to, I can't even speak for council.

I just want to personally apologize

for being a part of a system that continuously perpetuates and upholds systemic injustice, racism, and even when we see individuals who are empathizing and trying to get their voices heard, we're more concerned with decorum than we are with empathizing with those who are trying to get their hearts out.

For that, I apologize.

I apologize for this healing group because we're not ready to heal yet.

We're still dealing with what we're dealing with right now.

I apologize for the fact that we're just not doing a good enough job.

And honestly, I'm rather ashamed to be

sitting up here because we just have really, really let you all down and I understand exactly where y'all are coming from because a lot of you are saying things that make very clear sense and we refuse to acknowledge, we refuse to empathize, we refuse to understand, we refuse to even talk about it.

And for that, I apologize.

I think it's also important for us to understand how white supremacy works.

Sometimes it hides and it masks itself in politeness.

Sometimes it hides itself and says things like when we heard a gentleman come up here today and use terms like ideology.

The same gentleman who came in here at 5.30 while I was sitting up here saying that he just wants us to all love each other and he wants us to get along.

Yes, you.

That same gentleman, when we choose, when we choose, we need to be very, very cognizant of how individuals mask their hate.

Because what they often want to do is pretend as if they are always going to be polite.

They want to pretend as if they know what's best for us.

But they don't know what's best for us.

They really don't know a damn thing about us.

What's very plain,

And what's very plain and what's very simple is that in order for us to be able to move on in the eyes of some people, we need to try and appease those who want civility or appease those who want to be polite or those who say, man, why can't we just all get along?

We can't all just get along because we hurt and we won't even recognize or acknowledge the fact that people are hurt.

So for that, I'm sorry that I'm a part of that system.

I don't really care if I win another election.

I don't really care about future political aspirations because obviously this political sphere, this game, this system, brother, you asked the question in five years, can you be up here with me?

Honestly, I want you to ask yourself, brother, if you want to be.

We need you.

We need you.

We desperately need you.

But I don't know if the systems that we have in place are conducive for people with mindsets like yourself or myself towards to get our thoughts, our ideas, our policy initiatives, or what we want to do out.

Because if we're not polite when we do it, or if we're not just nice when we do it, or if we don't just give them what they want, which means essentially us remain inferior because they believe in which they're superior.

If we don't do that, if we do not do that, then we are looked as the wrong people.

The individuals who are watching on television tonight, those who are going to undoubtedly send me emails much later.

And those who are going to say, where was the civility?

Those who are going to ask me later on, why did you decide to talk so long?

Why did those people decide to talk with such vigor and with such emotion that they did tonight?

Why did you acknowledge them, Wes?

And then what about us?

Those who just want a quiet, peaceful meeting?

Those who want us to just be able to move forward?

Those people are going to be upset.

And they probably won't reelect me.

That's fine.

but what I do want us all to know is Charlottesville ain't gonna be the same.

This new Seaville, whenever the old ways of doing things starts to wear its ugly head, we need to resist.

Whenever the ways in which people have for years, for decades, for generations tried to either silence us, tried to either say that we're not going about something the right way, whenever that decides to come up,

We need to resist.

Thank you Mr. Bellamy.

The public hearing is over.

I'm asking if any of my other colleagues want to say anything.

Please allow Ms. Galvin to speak.

I'm deeply sorry.

I have said that as many times as I can, having the deaths of three people,

On my watch is really a burden I will have for the rest of my life.

I am going to ask my colleagues if we can at least ask our city manager to

to quicken at least the part of the review so that we can get answers about the police.

I really think as we get information, Mr. Jones, can we roll out the results to the public instead of waiting for the full three month review, however long it was supposed to take, because it is now, somebody said 28 days or 24 days, 24 days, we do need to get some hard

Hard answers to some really cold questions.

And that was the first thing I wanted to say.

The second thing is I do appreciate people coming tonight.

And again,

telling us exactly what you want us to do.

I'm just here saying I'm pushing for getting the answers sooner versus later and I am deeply, deeply sorry.

And with regards to the affordable housing, we've had discussions endlessly and we have directed staff

The city is needs to be buying land.

It needs to get it under city ownership so that the inflation that the value of the land doesn't go up.

And we got to get to the point where we have more community development corporations building affordable housing.

We got the housing authority is charged with building and redeveloping property.

They could be also buying land and developing.

So right now we're going to be, Bill, we've already directed staff to get to the point we have a land bank corporation so that we can start buying land to get more units built.

That's been the problem, that has been the big problem with our strategy about affordable housing.

And that's been something that came up today.

The way we do it is we just get money from developers without any power to make them build.

And we're looking at how to get them to build.

Anyway, I want to end again by underscoring how deeply sorry I am that this happened.

We are working together at this point to get the answers you need.

Yeah so I'm sorry for what happened.

Nobody can see the hurt and the anger in this city and not be sorry and apologize for what happened.

Now, I wasn't going to say anything because it's past time we've had enough words.

I would like to have some action, but I will say so I won't speak beyond the next couple sentences.

If you remember what the motto was of Jason Kessler's effort, it was unite the right.

It was to unite these organizations across the country.

Charlottesville was going to be the first.

We had Maurice Jones, city manager, and Al Thomas, chief of police, in charge of stopping that.

So I would like to see, I would like the people across the city to think about, because this was the first of at least six or seven.

How did the second one go?

How did the third one go?

How did the fourth one go?

They stopped.

They didn't go.

They were canceled because these two men helped not just our city but the country.

So I don't think they share any blame.

I think they share all the credit for what this city went through and what we stopped.

That was an armed force that came up here.

I was on East Market Street and the word that came to me with my background was insurrection.

So like I said, really I'm done with the talking.

We have to move to the action.

That's enough.

I'm in agony about this.

If I can just tell you where I'm coming from, if I can apologize,

It's scary.

That's enough.

I'm going to ask you to leave if you don't stop.

You're doing it still.

It's okay.

It's his time to talk now.

I'm sorry that you know I keep on going back in my head to the there was that public hearing where three or four people talked about the difference between moral law and real law and they said why don't you all follow moral law and even if the lawyers were telling us you got to have the permit you're not gonna be able to turn down the permit you're losing court we lost in court should we still have and should I have taken that risk

and pushed the law to the brink and said, screw it.

I don't care about this legal advice.

We should have taken that risk.

And we should have.

I remember the people who came here and they gave us.

Well, just let me I'm tell let me talk about what I'm sorry about with with the with these events.

And Miss Gary, I have a I have a ton of work to do as a human being.

I will admit that.

And you've heard it here today.

We just saw it last week.

I'm going to do as much work as I possibly can to improve in the time that I have here listening, and that may be impossible, but I'm going to try.

I'm going to try to do it in a very humble way by listening and by hearing these criticisms.

I'm going to dig as deeply as I can into the privilege that I do have, obviously.

Tanisha, I'm going to try, I'm pledging to you that I'm going to try what I can to get this right.

You may not believe this.

I'm going to, just please help me.

Watch what I do.

Ms. Cara, don't make me do it too.

And I do believe that the truth is what everybody needs.

I have concerns about the report and what part of it will be made public and what part of it will be kept within attorney-client privilege.

I think that the people need and deserve the facts that will be produced with this report.

Ms. Parker, you had your three minutes.

Ms. Parker, I'm going to ask you to leave now, Ms. Parker.

I understand, and I'm going to ask you to leave now, or do you need help?

Yes indeed, I do.

The report should be done by the end of the year.

Hold on one second.

Ms. Galvin asked if it's possible to get some information earlier than that.

And I think that's entirely possible.

But we also have to make sure that the information is correct.

That's one of the reasons that we're asking for an independent review.

is to make sure that the information is accurate.

That's why we're not rushing out with a bunch of information now.

A lot of questions asked tonight about 4th Street and why 4th Street at some point was opened.

We don't have those answers right now and we're working to try to get those answers.

We want to make sure that they're correct, right?

And so that's why we're taking our time to do that, to make sure that those answers are correct.

So will we, can we take a look at it and see if there are opportunities to bring some information back earlier?

We'll take, we'll take a look at that.

I'll have a conversation with Mr. Hafee.

I'll talk to our police chief about that and see if there are ways that we can bring information back sooner than the end of the year for the full report.

But the reason we have to have a full report is so we have a true understanding of everything that took place leading up to, during those events.

I think it's too early to say exactly what's going to happen in response to that, right?

And so that's why I think it's important to have the review done.

No, no, no.

I understand to have the review done and then to also then respond to them, right?

That's why we're doing it in the first place.

One of the reasons that we decided to do an independent review was because we were concerned that if we simply did an internal review, people would have questions and concerns about that regardless of what the

results were.

So we said, let's have an independent review.

Let's hire someone who has some experience in this.

I would like to ask a question.

When I was those three police officers down on the Mall eating ice cream, when heaven was run over by that car, they did not move.

I'm not aware of that, Ms. Carey, but it's something.

Okay, Ms. Carey, thank you.

I understand.

Ms. Carey, I appreciate you raising that.

Not only, not only, there's plenty of video that's out there that's online that they'll have access to.

They will interview a lot of different folks.

OK, Ms. Hudson's available.

And in addition to that, as we were saying before, if you go to that website, you can enter in specific concerns that you have about that day.

So if there's something that happened to you that day or you saw that you want Mr. Hafee and his team to look into, there's an opportunity to do that.

What was that?

There is.

Yes.

and it's on our website.

I even have a statement from the head of the militia that said he went over to a sergeant from your police department and told them that it was getting out of hand and the police department said I can read the Facebook post right now.

The man said it's getting out of hand.

We are unable to protect the people

So I appreciate your willingness to talk to them because that's the sort of thing that we really need to get into that report.

All right, so we're going to take a short break and then we're going to come back for the rest of our meeting.

So thank you for being here.

I know that people aren't necessarily satisfied.

This is a process.

and Michael

you

.

.

Dr. Michael F.

you

Music playing

Music Playing

I don't know what to say.

you

you

Sure, yeah, the end of the meeting

Thank you Council Szakos and again thank you everybody for being with us tonight, telling us your thoughts, your hopes and your fears and we are really listening and we will have answers for you hopefully nearer versus later.

The next phase is awards and announcements and I'm gonna start from

the west side of the room with Mr. Fenwick.

Well, it's been a while since I've been a Boy Scout, so I guess this is the west side.

City Council announcements, September 5, 2017.

Charlottesville Fire Department is accepting applications for full-time firefighters.

The Charlottesville Fire Department is now accepting applications for full-time firefighters.

We are seeking highly motivated community-minded candidates who are athletic, have a positive attitude, and want to be valuable team members.

No experience is necessary.

The training will be provided, but a commitment to your personal growth and the well-being of your team is required.

A career in the fire service is both challenging and rewarding.

As a firefighter, you will learn a variety of skills and gain knowledge that empowers you to solve problems and become part of the public safety fabric of this community.

The starting salary is just over $40,000 plus benefits.

To apply, please go to www.Charlottesville.org forward slash jobs.

Thank you, Mr. Fenwick.

Sure, in regards to what we heard earlier today in regards to the Charlottesville Independent website and tip line now live.

Timothy J. Heafey, partner at Haughton and Williams, who is leading the independent review of the city of Charlottesville handling of the summer protest events announced today.

that his team has set up a website and tipline to be used by interested citizens who wish to provide information regarding the summer protest events.

Information may be submitted as follows.

www.Charlottesvilleindependentreview.com.

That's Charlottesvilleindependentreview.com, all one word.

The telephone tip line is 1-877-4-Hunton.

That's 1-877-4-H-U-N-T-O-N.

The website includes a form that can be used to provide narrative information, submit documents and images, and request direct contact by the independent review team.

Anyone with information regarding the summer protest rallies is encouraged to use these resources.

All material provided will be reviewed and considered by the independent review team.

The tip line and website established by the independent review team is separate from the resources established by the Charlottesville Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

So for reporting criminal activity,

Please contact the CPD at SeavilleReilly at Charlottesville.org and the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI.

In addition to this, I think it's also important to note that there will be a group of brothers who will be welcoming, or excuse me, brothers and sisters or whomever would like to do so will be welcoming kids at Walker Upp Elementary School.

That'll be next Wednesday.

We'll be meeting there roughly at 730 a.m., so please feel free to come out.

We were at Beaufort Middle School, first day of school last week.

or two weeks ago now greeting all of the kids.

They really like and enjoy seeing us all.

So if you can make it out, please feel free to do so.

Lastly, there is a tutor and volunteer sign up sheet via Sign Up Genius.

So if you go to signupgenius.com and if you just type in Wes Bellamy or tutoring, you'll see the tutor volunteer signup sheet to tutor at South First Street, West Haven, or South Sixth Street housing sites.

And those dates will be any day literally Monday through Friday from 4 to 6 p.m. Again, you can go to signupgenius.com, type in tutor volunteer signup sheet for anyone who's interested in helping out our young people.

with their education and tutoring after school.

Or if you have other questions, feel free to contact myself or Mr. Raphael, who is the individual who works for the CRHA.

Thank you.

The city, excuse me.

I have one announcement.

Thank you, Ms. Galvin.

This is the open data web portal.

The city of Charlottesville is excited to introduce an open data web portal to the public.

The City of Charlottesville is excited to introduce an open data web portal to the public.

The portal was launched on August 17th at a Data Science Meetup, a collaborative event hosted by UVA, community groups, and the city.

There were over 80 attendees and staff who did a lot of work on this project, including our own Paige Rice and Leslie Beauregard, Assistant City Manager, and many others, received constructive feedback and look forward to continued efforts to make the city's data available to the public and accessible

and Machine Readable Format.

With the portal, the city hopes to eliminate burdens to access data and enable entrepreneurs, academics, developers and interested citizens to use the data in creative ways.

An open data boot camp is scheduled for September 22nd.

I would like to announce welcoming week.

I think this is

Well-timed given the President's announcement today, his intention to eliminate DACA, which I have something for new business for as well, but Welcoming Week is a week of events bringing together immigrants, refugees, and native-born residents to raise awareness of the benefits of welcoming everyone.

Welcoming Week is September 15th to 24th, and several events are scheduled to take place.

For a complete listing and more information, visit the Welcoming Greater Charlottesville website at

WGCville.org.

Thank you.

And I'll bring up the rear here with one last announcement.

And if anybody has any other announcements that we haven't gotten on the docket, just just feel free to to make them after I finish this last one.

So, parking and validation for council meetings.

As the city continues efforts to implement its parking plan, a variety of changes to parking for the downtown mall area are planned to begin this fall.

Effective today, a pilot program to operate parking meters on street in a 12 block area bounded on the north by Market Street between East 7th Street and Old Preston and on the south by Water Street between East 5th Street and West 2nd Street.

For information on parking, go to www.Charlottesville.org slash parking.

Is that where a map of the parking areas will be found as well?

I believe so.

OK, so that people have been asking me about that.

Please note to validate parking for council meetings, please pick up a stamped parking card from the clerk.

Ms. Rice, that's what this is.

That's what this is.

The rubber stamps are no longer being used.

Thank you.

Anybody have any other announcements?

All right, so next up, we'll have matters by the public.

We currently have 12 people signed up to speak.

So when you please come up, I think we all know the rules.

We've heard this several times at this point.

Mr. Bill Emery is first on the list.

Good evening, Councillors.

Good evening.

My name is Bill Emery, and I've resided at 1604 East Market for 30 years.

Tonight, the second item on your agenda is to approve or deny

Willow Mills Village, Historic Conservation District.

I'm going to call that the CV at times, but that's what I mean when I say CV.

Regarding the risks and benefits of the CV, no risks have been demonstrated in the existing CVs in the Martha Jefferson and Venable neighborhoods.

Benefits, in my opinion, CV will help

Stabilize a modest labor neighborhood by discouraging teardowns and out of scale new development.

The CV will aid in the retention of affordable housing and of an important cultural landscape.

Voting for the CV will serve the public necessity, general welfare, and good zoning practice.

The CV will have a regional benefit.

Please vote resoundingly for the CV.

It's the right thing to do.

Good evening.

Thank you, Mr. Vice Mayor and Councillors.

I'm Kay Slaughter, 1503 Short 18th Street in the city, and I'm representing Preservation Piedmont this evening.

First, thank you for your earlier public hearing.

Now, I'm here also asking for your support for the Woolen Mills Historic Conservation District.

It's the right thing to do for the city, providing an additional layer of review of proposed teardowns

and construction of buildings out of scale with the neighborhood.

While this may prevent some from getting the highest use, that is the most money from their property, the additional protection will help ensure that the neighborhood retain its more modest homes, some of which are still affordable.

And it may mean that those who lease property will continue to make it available to renters whom we welcome in our neighborhood.

Woolen Mills is extremely diverse, racially, economically and ethnically.

The proposed historic conservation district showcases the working class neighborhood occupied by peace and wage workers who labored at the mill from 1847 to 1960.

The district's history has been recognized by listing on the state and federal registers of historic places.

Promoting neighborhood stability and protecting the character of the neighbor and scale of Charlottesville's more modest historic neighborhoods has been a city goal since 1976.

The Historic Conservation District ordinance enacted in 2009 now includes Rugby Road, Venable area, and Martha Jefferson neighborhoods.

They report no problems and only benefits from the ordinance.

We maintain that those opposed to the ordinance have misrepresented its effects by conflating the stricter requirements of the individually protected properties with those of the more lightly regulated

Conservation Districts.

Such designated structures like the Woolen Mills Chapel and some homes are miniature architectural control districts and thus subject to stricter guidelines regarding paint, siding, roofing, etc.

The Historic Conservation Districts do not have these restrictions.

Finally, the district would not limit density.

Instead, accessory dwelling units are allowed in the Woolen Mills

The area could double in density.

The Blue Ribbon Commission on Race Memorials and Public Spaces called for protecting the Woollen Mills neighborhood as a labor history site.

The BAR and Planning Commission both unanimously recommended this ordinance.

In summary, Preservation Piedmont believes the ordinance before use supports neighborhood stability and the preservation of mixed income and affordable housing through review of teardowns and out-of-scale new construction.

Owners retain reasonable use.

It's good for the whole city to protect the woolen mills.

Let's keep Charlottesville the great community we love.

Thank you.

Thank you.

My name is Paul Long.

I live at 1410 Grady Avenue here in the city.

And I had initially intended to speak about the request of the Charlottesville Coalition for the Homeless.

I'll do that at another time.

Having sat through this meeting so far, my blood pressure was going up.

I just want to make a few remarks.

Mayor Signer, I don't accept your apologies.

I think you've been ill-fitted to be mayor.

You've been arrogant, even when you were campaigning before you took the oath of office.

I believe that in the first council meeting you presided over, I called you a funky of big business.

I still believe that, and I don't believe that you had the citizens' concerns at heart.

Since you were a student of history, I want to paraphrase a comment made by Oliver Cromwell in the short parliament that eventually disposed King Charles I

Mayors think that the people don't want you as mayor.

You're unqualified to be mayor.

You're arrogant.

And in God's name, if you have any sense of decency, just go and just resign.

Thank you, Mr. Long.

Rebecca Quinn, 1044th Street here in the city.

I'm speaking to the item on the agenda that includes downtown redesign master plan.

The proposal includes amending a previous resolution to add a bullet to, quote, provide near and long term park redesign for both justice and emancipation parks.

Last April, I spoke before you about the sad condition of the front of the main library and my intent to pursue

at least a short term solution.

I communicated with the library director and copied the city manager.

You may recall at a subsequent council meeting the city manager expressed interest in my initiative and boy did I feel hopeful.

In June I emailed council that I had observed during heavy rain a lot of water falls off the front of the library.

rather than going through the roof drainage system to the scuppers.

That means stabilizing the slope is much more challenging than just some ground cover, otherwise it probably would have been done.

The more I consider the site, the more I realize a wall is going to be necessary, especially to improve the ground around the two large trees, one of which was recently recognized as an outstanding specimen.

In that June email, I asked that the request for proposal for Emancipation Park redesign be extended to the front of the library.

A month later, not having gotten any reply, I submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for communications related to the subject.

All I got in return were my own emails.

Emancipation Park is surrounded by a low wall that's not in great shape.

unless a great deal of excavation is proposed, that wall is likely to have to be replaced.

Surely the park planning process will consider the context of adjacent properties such as the main library.

It makes good sense to include the front of the library in the RFP.

It's a good opportunity to integrate two public and prominent parts of the city's public spaces.

So tonight I'm asking you to make it happen.

Please direct staff to include the front of the main library in the park planning RFP.

It's just the first step.

Let's see what we can do to integrate the two.

Thank you, Ms. Quinn.

Next up, we have Lindsay Buten.

Ms. Lindsay, did I say that wrong?

Buten.

I should know that by now.

I'm Lindy Buten and I'm a resident of Belmont.

I'm also a member of the Charlottesville Low Income Housing Coalition.

And before I say my remarks today, I wanted to suggest to you all that the best way to apologize would be to pay for and build affordable housing for extremely low income residents in Charlottesville.

So I'm here today to deliver you our coalition's petition to the city.

It has garnered over 1,200 signatures, and we urge everyone to sign it at affordablehousingsteville.org.

Charlottesville faces a state of emergency due to displacement and lack of affordable housing.

Gentrification is raging through our neighborhoods.

As city government focuses on projects like updating the comprehensive plan, form-based code, a zoning audit, and redeveloping the SIA, we urge you to shift your focus to preventing displacement and expanding housing for extremely low income people.

And note that the phrase extremely low income is a technical term that means people who make 30% of the area median income.

It's not enough to talk about affordable housing without saying affordable for who.

For instance, a full-time minimum wage worker's gross annual pay is about $15,000, which means that any rent higher than $335 a month is unaffordable.

Compare that to the median monthly rent in Charlottesville, $1,625.

This is completely unaffordable to most of the workforce in our community.

In the SIA, home to several subsidized and public housing sites, city data shows the effects of gentrification.

The African American population dropped over 12% between 2000 and 2012.

Without immediate action, City Council will be supporting displacement, destroying Charlottesville's racial diversity, and heaping additional injustice on the same communities who due to urban renewal suffered economic and social devastation in the past.

In our letter, we urge you to 1.

Immediately act on emergency measures to promote housing stability and affordability and 2.

Have the voices of all Charlottesville residents drive city policy outcomes.

The city should increase outreach to more of our lowest income neighbors and ensure responsive policies reflecting residents' needs and priorities.

Let me be clear that getting input is not enough.

We need transparent decision-making procedures that ensure low-income people's opinions are included in the policy outcomes.

At the recent pre-Charette meeting for form-based code, the consultants that are being paid by city taxpayers' dollars could not answer the simple question, how will final decisions be made when groups with different interests disagree?

This is a major problem.

You need to take action now instead of burying residents in bureaucratic processes that were never intended to increase affordable housing for extremely low income residents.

Jean Hyatt and I live at 1534 Rugby Avenue.

Vice Mayor Bellamy and city councilors and I did appreciate your having that extended public hearing.

I thought it was helpful for a lot of people.

I'm here to ask you to please support the designation of the Woolen Mills neighborhood as a historic conservation district.

The neighbors have worked diligently over the last couple of years to complete all the steps required for this designation to be accomplished.

They've worked with city staff and experts in historic preservation to have buildings documented and boundaries of the district determined.

They work towards having the neighborhood listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places.

Both the Planning Commission and the BAR unanimously supported the designation.