 We will have our invocation remotely by the pastor of Baker Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church. His name is Reverend Melvin Wilson, Jr. Is he on the line? Reverend Wilson? Yes, I am. So shall we stand? Yes. Can you hear me? Yes. Would everyone please stand and remain standing for the invocation and Pledge of Allegiance? God, we thank you for gathering us here today. Though we may have varying opinions, we are connected by our love, the love of the city, the love even of our fellow citizens. We ask this meeting this session will allow us to operate in the healing where we do not listen or hear through the lens of our wounds, rather the perspective of unity. So throughout all the items that are due to be discussed tonight, we remain hopeful that you guys will show us what it means to be united. We thank you for all the provisions and the strength and everything that you've allowed us to get to this point today. Whether we are in person or use of technology, we pray that this will be a fruitful and successful meeting. In your name, we pray. Amen. Being here, we do have some remote attendees. So you'll see me looking up at them from time to time. First item on the agenda is calling for approval. Can we do these all together, Jeanette? Okay. I need a motion for the approval of minutes from April 20th, June 14th, two from June 21st. One is a work session, June 22nd, which is a special call meeting, and June 28th council meetings. Is there a motion for approval? Second. All in favor? I don't know how to work this thing, so until I figure it out, just raise your hands. Okay. And with that, we are now entering the public comment section. And to reiterate the rules for this evening, when you speak, you have three minutes to make your comments. At two minutes and 30 seconds, you will hear a bell. What that means is you have 30 seconds remaining. You will hear a second bell indicating your three minutes is up, and then the microphone will silence, and we'll call the next person. We're starting out with our people who are calling in, or we're calling them. And the first person who we're calling is Kenneth Soderson. Mayor Pro Tem, we're still trying to get in contact with Mr. Soderson if we could move to the next Ms. Tally. Layla Tally. Do we have her on the line? Okay. Hi, I'm Layla Tally, District 6. Good evening, Council and Mayor Pro Tem. The Census Spetsna smart meter program is not saving money. There is no Equival Billing, and this is not conserving water. According to Jerry Presley, the meter readers will be laid off. Jerry also believes that because of his code to install any kind type and size of a meter, there is no reason to ask a rate payer for permission. During these past years, Jerry Presley, Chris Harder at all, has been uncompromising in regards to an opt-out program. They ghosted Jungus Jordan and Chris Harder at all to turn up again. Kendall Locke and Jared Williams. Thank you, Jared, and Kendall for working so hard. Numerous rate payers on Nextdoor have found a leak, specifically a busted pipe before the smart water meter leak notification. Jared Williams mass repeats this on water conservation successfully conserved water in Dallas with analog meters. I called in a complaint to Earl Lott, the Director of the Water Office at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, and shared that the smart water meter rollout in Fort Worth is mandated to every home and business. He was flabbergasted. Earl was empathetic as he listened to my complaint that the police are utilized to ensure a forced smart water meter install. According to a professional hacker, these encrypted wireless smart meters are easily hacked, which causes a national security threat. By Texas law, rate payers own their smart meter usage data. Permission must be granted by the rate payer before any water usage data can be shared to the utility by law and to third parties. A rate payer can sue for damages for unlawfully sharing water usage data. Jerry Presley mentioned on Bob Willoughby's radio show that $2 million a year for meter readers is not affordable. The smart water meter project is much more expensive. How does that make any sense? A $76 million loan, $3 million from the council account, and now an additional $3.5 million a year for a one-to-five-year contract with Aquametric from the council account is too expensive. We need to stop relying on technology to conserve water and save money, especially when it is not working. In closing, at the last meeting, Thomas Toluncazzi was concerned about too much surveillance. He has always been kind and respectful to me and others. Daniel Amada deserves freedom of the press to record these meetings because he has been an integral part of the community to inform us of the truth and teach us our rights. Thank you. So we'll go to Daniel Hayes. Good evening, mayor and council. Yes. Go ahead. You have three minutes. Okay. Good evening, mayor and council. My name is Daniel Hayes. I live in Fort Worth. I'm part of district eight. I know you on the council have already heard plenty regarding short-term rentals. But after having thought about the nuances of this topic for the last six months or so, it is obvious to me that there are any number of debatable, anecdotal, or theoretical statements on both sides of this issue. There is, however, one fact for which there is no debate, and that is this. Short-term rentals reduce the amount of housing available to home buyers and traditional renters in Fort Worth. We already have a serious housing shortage in Fort Worth, which is especially critical when it comes to affordable housing. If the city makes a change to its existing ordinance, it will undoubtedly have the unintended consequence of encouraging more investment in short-term rentals, especially by deep pocket investors, as they have done in Austin, Fredericksburg, and other places where the genie is out of the bottle. Unlike shoes or some other commodity, the lead time for development of new housing cannot possibly keep up with the double whammy of growth and existing housing being converted to short-term rentals. This situation has the potential to dramatically increase the number of people who find themselves on the brink of homelessness simply because there is literally nothing they can afford to buy or rent. This can be demoralizing and losing the ability to house yourself and your family is a big step in losing hope and dignity, and that can result in psychological and social problems that we are already all too familiar with. I don't normally go around quoting the Dalai Lama, but this one is worth repeating. Just as ripples spread out from a single pebble, the actions of individuals can have far-reaching effects. My hope is that each of you fully understand the ripple you will cause if the ordinance is changed. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker would this be Steve Thornton? He's not answering. Hi, Steve. Good evening, guys. How you doing? I'm Steve Thornton. You can call me Pinch, or Pinchie. That's French for good in a pinch. I'm in District 2 with Hon. Collar's Floor is there, and I'm here to speak before you. I'd like to start my three minutes off with just a very quick quote. You know, the very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the facts. They alter the facts to fit their views. This is the third meeting I've attended so far of this, and I came in each time with an open mind wanting to listen to both sides of the issue, because I think that's important. I didn't want other homeowners to face any kind of onerous code, the kind of onerous codes that I've been listening to. I was surprised most by the very negative overbearing tone from some of the respondents. I think we need to put a face to the SDR owners here, right? I want to show you that most of you that gathered the facts, you did so with good intent, but sometimes the figures don't lie, but liars can figure they can be manipulated. I have spent my whole career, 26 years of my 28-year career as a public servant on the streets of the North Side, and I can tell you that some neighborhoods have unique needs. We have not taken away any home from a first-time homeowner. What we've done is we've taken blighted homes that turn into drug-infested wholesale centers throughout the day, blighting our neighborhood. I would suggest to you that the needs of the short North Side are very different from the needs of any other neighborhood. I'm not asking for any special consideration. What am I asking for? That we pass a code that's reflective of the unique needs of a neighborhood. And for the lady that last week made the ugly remarks of saying that you need more income, go get a job, and she slidered the poor guy working at Walmart. That brother over there is a Vietnam veteran that risked his life to give that lady the freedom to say what she did. And Cassie, who I don't see in the audience tonight, three, four children, her husband's military, came to the North Side with vision and dreams and entrepreneurial efforts to do their own revitalization effort. Because a first-time homeowner wouldn't have it. I ask you folks to please, as you make your considerations, think about the face of these owners. And as Dalai Lama said, that ripple, that ripple of those beat-up homes, ripple and ripple and keep building, we need to build our neighborhood back up, not tear it down. Thank you. And we'll have a call with Carrie Hines. Ms. Hines? Yes. Please go ahead. You have three minutes. Good evening, Mayor Potem. Good evening, Mayor Potem and Council. My name is Carrie Hines, and I live in Fort Worth. Tonight, I asked the city to remove neighborhood police officer M. Chavez, badge number 4053 from my community. Last week, I turned over to the Office of Police Oversight Monitor to police record where Chavez lied about the actual set occurred in the situation. This week, I confirmed on one of those falsified police reports, he stated my hot water heater leaked, causing a $631 water bill. This, when the water was shut off and the meter lost, had my request. This lie was repeated to my insurance company, causing my insurance claims to be denied. This is now fees and police perjury, police misconduct, and goes against the code of ethics of the Fort Worth Police Department, which states in part, honest in thought and being, in both my personal and official life. I recognize the badge of office as a symbol of public faith and accept it as public trust to be held so long as I am true to the ethics of the police service. I will constantly strive to achieve these objectives and ideals, dedicating myself before God to my chosen profession, law enforcement. Mr. Chavez is a minute and an embarrassment to the badge he wears. I know the Fort Worth way is to promote bad officers, but know on this one, the city will be watching. In closing, there is a need for a civilian review forward in this city. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Hines. I see Mr. Costa here. I'm sure you'll have someone make a follow-up. Next speaker is Thomas Torlincasi. He's in person. Oh, did I skip over? Next caller. Okay. Okay. Thomas, please. We'll get the next caller. There's quite a glass collection up here. Mayor Pro Tem, council members. A few weeks ago, I was standing at the corner of Richmond and Hemphill in District 9, where I live. I was drinking to a friend while I was pumping gas, and a little family with a little girl about four years old came walking by. She looked at my friend and said, Hi, Manuel Mata. How are you today? The reality is, is that in District 9, a lot of people know who Manuel Mata is, and don't know who my council member is. That's just the facts. I don't think that that little girl could communicate to you how much there are people who are afraid of the police or afraid of government or feel like they're protected by Mr. Mata and his filming and recording. But mostly today, I wanted to talk to you about rules, laws, and rights. To start with, I want to talk about the rules that eight of the nine council members voted to approve when it was revised last fall. The rules are 21 pages, and they're the procedures of conduct during city council meeting, as well as a few other things that guide how you conduct yourselves at a city council meeting. Page five through 14 are the most important ones. On June 28th, the council violated at least 20 of those rules. Well, let's talk about laws, the two laws that govern open public meetings and open public comment, and the ability to record at public meetings are 551s and 552s. But today I just want to focus on 551.023, which specifically states that the public and the media are allowed to record at any public meeting, a law that you're supposed to abide by. Now let's go to rights. It is a First Amendment right under the Constitution that everyone in this council sworn oath to. Three members of the council sworn oath twice because they're attorneys. One member of the council swore the oath three times when they served in the United States military. It is your responsibility, the three of you who are attorneys, to do only two things in your oath of office as attorneys. The first one is to uphold the Constitution of the United States. The second one is to show the public and people in general dignity and civility. It has been my witness, as I've spoken and given voice to other people before this council, I come here to help or to ask for help that consistently the council and nearly all the members have fallen far short and showed little civility towards their people they serve. Thank you. Next is a caller, Nene Johnson. Ms. Johnson. Nancy Johnson. Ms. Johnson. Ms. Johnson, if you've muted your phone, please unmute. If we don't get her, then we'll go to Keith Soderstrom, who is now available. I'll save those names if you all advise. Mr. Soderstrom, please go ahead. Can you hear me? Yes, please go ahead. You have three minutes. If I could, like my wife, Tracy Soderstrom, speak on my behalf. Hello, this is Tracy Soderstrom. I just wanted to share my experience about Airbnb's here in Fort Worth and our neighborhood particularly. We've lived in our house for 11 years. My 81-year-old father lives next door. And excuse me, we also have two adult children currently living with us. We have about 3,400 square foot homes. The house across the street sold and an Airbnb opened up and we had drunk men, drunk people. We had littering glass bottles in the streets, glass bottles in the yard. We had them harassing my daughter when she'd come and go from work to at her car. We had loud noise, music playing outside even. They had a pool there. They were screaming and yelling. We had, one time we had like four people were sharing it, the lady said. And so they pulled up in about six cars and some of them took up all the parking for the neighbors, our children's cars and everything. Some of them, two of them parked in other people's driveways. It was a complete and utter nightmare having an Airbnb across the street. There were people coming and going at all hours. And it was just horrible time in our lives for our family. The city did come and shut down the Airbnb. We live in the middle of a residential neighborhood and it was just shocking to us that this could even happen. But I just wanted to say that it would be devastating to our family for Airbnb to be back in our neighborhood. I appreciate you listening. Thank you. Next, we'll try Nancy Johnson again. She's not so I'll go back into in person. Just to reiterate the rules of speaking, when you come to speak, you have three minutes. After two minutes and 30 seconds, you will hear a bell ring. What that means is you have 30 seconds remaining. You will hear another bell that indicates your time is up and the microphone is silenced. And the next speaker will be called for those of you who arrived after those rules. Next speaker is Bob Willoughby in person. Let me start off with why I never address y'all or address anybody's mayor or council down here because those seats belong to people who respect the citizens of the city and y'all do not. Anyone that would remove us from the city council meetings, you moved the public presentation from the city council meetings. So we don't speak there no more. And you want to answer why? That's about the lowest thing council can do. I don't care about the short-term rentals. I don't care about the crime. When you can rob our first amendment from this, that is the biggest crime. Okay, issue two, Mr. Cook. Oh man, I'll tell you. I have been down here for three years because we have a corrupt neighborhood association in John T. White. They hold secret meetings and they ban people that don't agree with their same philosophy. So you're banned. I lived in John T. White all my life. I'm banned. That's against the rules. Now Mr. Cook, three years I've come to here and asked about this and no one will do anything about it. I'm asking to remove that neighborhood association from the data bank and so that me and my neighbors which are on the list I gave to you are asking you to remove the corrupt John T. White neighborhood association from the city data bank and recognize a new John T. White neighborhood association and by removing them they can still run if they want to but they won't. The only reason they stay in there is because they have secret elections and to confirm this more if you go to the data bank and neighborhood association's data bank. Neighborhood associations will advertise a location and a date. They'll say the third Monday of the month or the second Monday, not John T. White. It just says the month. Secondly, they're held in a, not even in John T. White. They're held outside there. So Mr. Cook, I'm going to be down here afterwards at the end. I'd like for you to talk to me and let's get this done. I didn't have much hope you're doing it. You won't do anything about the directors in our city that are bad like random Bennett. God knows he should have been fired years ago. Michelle Goode should be disciplined or fired and you won't touch those but this is a real easy one. This is just a neighborhood association. Can't we move them off and recognize the real ones and they're welcome to run and no one will be banned. Everybody can be there. So I would appreciate that. Also real quick here, this letter here, the attorney should know better to send this. It should be in use as a pass to do this. I can only blame you the attorney here because no one will take it. Harassment city council members, farm city, when you rose your hand, anyone that harassed, you're not done that. So I guess it's a makeup thing. You know what it says in here. You've also recently commented council that you will previously have sexual harassment someone. Mr. Crane, did I sexually harass you by any chance? But anyway, well, one of you council members raise your hand. If not, attorney, thank you, Bob. Beverly Sims. Beverly Sims. Good evening, Mayor Pro Tem, council members. I'm Beverly Sims. I live in district five and I'm here tonight to address the proposed change in the current STR ordinance. When I do not see any need to modify the current ordinance, I have several thoughts and suggestions. I did some research and discovered that approximately one million people live in Fort Worth and that there are approximately 1700 STRs active in the city. Assuming one STR owner per STR, this amounts to approximately 200 of 1% of the Fort Worth population likely to be in favor of allowing free reign in STRs. Does this entirely lopsided fraction require overturning the current ordinance in their favor? Is this democracy in action? I think not. STR owners seem to think the council thinks that Fort Worth would stop growing without STRs. This is obviously ludicrous. They tell you in snazzy little terms and phrases such as ambassadors for the city to demonstrate how wonderful they are. They're only ambassadors to their wallets. The proposed ordinance changes are solutions in search of problems. Simply enforce the current ordinance and keep STRs out of our single family neighborhoods. STR violations can easily be verified following a complaint of non-compliance. Allow code officers to volunteer to occasionally change shifts to cover the STR happy hours that is weekends when people start pouring into these places. 4 to 5 p.m. on Friday is the general arrival time. Or let officers work Thursday through Sunday with Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday off. You will not have to verify violations 8 to 5 during the week. It's mostly Friday through Sunday. Once the STRs are booted out of single family neighborhoods, this method won't be needed very often. No third party vendor will be required and the city will then be able to handle the problems as they occur. It should be noted that inserting third party vendors into the compliance complaint chain is a needless and expensive complication. I turn the page. Okay. The city should do their job of serving the citizens and taxpayers by keeping our neighborhoods areas where people can enjoy their homes and not worry about what's going to happen this weekend with the invasion of the STR people. Thank you. Thank you. Next is Adrian Smith. Adrian Devine Smith, a former native for worth native district 3 resident, former city council candidate of district 3 2021. Greetings and welcome back to you all. Council, Mayor Pro Tem. To those who are in opposition of short term rental, I would like for you all to walk with me for a moment. Your voices are being heard. Your voices are the loudest. So I say with that, I say with this being said, now that your voices are heard and have been the loudest, what will your elected official do when it comes time for making a vote? I say hold them accountable to a vote, either a yes or a no. No recusals, no disappearing acts, meaning they're not available because they had other engagements, but a vote yes or no. This will let you know what they think about you all collectively because the majority thus far has spoken and I believe in the majority rule. That's how politics normally works unless there's corruption, unless someone has been paid under the table to do otherwise. So I say those who are in opposition of short term rentals, you need a vote yes or no from your council member, regardless of what district it is, you need a vote for worth has been given away already to business interests and we can't continue to go in that direction. The citizens of this city are the ones that the council ought to represent, not business interests. In my last 30 seconds I would say, I know many of you stood in opposition of Proposition F and that dealt with the council's pay raises, pay increases during the last bond election, city charter amendments, et cetera. I want the council to know that the no vote for your pay raises, it wasn't nothing personal. I told you all to search which in yourself to find out why it didn't happen. So again, those who stand the opposition of short term rentals, you need a vote yes or no. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker is James Smith. Good afternoon, council. My name is James Smith. I live in district eight. Councilman Nettles is my councilman. Every time I come here, I come here, every hearted, disappointed. But on July 4th of this year, I went to Dallas. I was invited to Dallas and I was in a, I wouldn't call it a protest, it was a freedom of speech. And I walked the streets of Dallas with a four by eight sign of a Tatiana asking for justice. I felt liberated because I can't do that here. For three hours I walked the city of Dallas and I felt bad because I can't do that here, I digress. As you all know, this trial, this travesty hasn't been addressed yet. I'm hearing that a date will be by the end of the year, which pretty much cements the three year mark in this tragedy. I find that unacceptable. I stood here in 2019 and I heard the word accountability, transparency. I haven't seen any of that. And if you follow this trial, this case, you see it too. Freedom of speech, freedom of expression, and freedom to film in a public building. If that's the law, if that's what it's supposed to be, why isn't it being that? I find that problematic. October 19, 2019, I filmed with my eyes the tragedy across the street from me. It's like a burned CD in my head. I spoke about trust between the citizens and the police department. I don't trust the police. When I see a man arrested for nothing, to see a young man escorted out of this chamber for nothing, I watch you guys at home when I don't come down here. I heard the word nauseam. I've wondered, I actually wondered, were y'all nauseated by me coming down here and talking about a talk in the office, but almost three years. I don't know what the outcome of this trial is going to be. But from what I read in the Fort Worth Weekly last week, I'm perplexed because I know in the city of Fort Worth, we have attorneys, we have lawyers, we have scholars. And there is a mention of impropriety in the process that's been going forward. And nobody has said anything. So I'm wrestling with myself. Mr. James, what are you going to do with this information of something not going right? What are you going to do with it? I'm wrestling with it. And when I figure that out, the city of Fort Worth will know. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Next speaker is Rebecca Deloshawick. You can correct the pronunciation when you get to the microphone. Hello, I'm Rebecca Deloshawick. And in 2017, I called 911 because I was assaulted and the deputy took the side of the man who assaulted me. He took me to a site called because he didn't like my attitude. And he abused me. And I've been trying to get justice for over five years. That man sent out CPS who took the side of the man who assaulted me, took the side of everyone who assaulted me, and then they took my children for five months wrongfully, and my children were assaulted by the man who assaulted me initially. I live with children who have been so traumatized that they have disabilities from the trauma. It has been over five years that I've tried to get someone here to help me. I have to go home and tell my children you are worth being protected from violence. I have to tell myself every day that I'm worth being protected from violence in this city. I have PTSD therapists with me. I have people standing with me. I will protect my sons from violence. And if you send out CPS or deputies to try to tell me that the men who assault me are right or the men who assault my children are right, you will be wrong. There is no way anyone can make me believe that a man who hits my child that's not related to me is right. And if the deputy tells me that it's my attitude why he's taking me to a psych ward, dear God, what men think they can take a woman because they don't like her attitude. You can take our rights and you can take us and throw us in freaking psych wards. You cannot like us. You don't have to like my attitude, but you can't tell me that I cannot protect my children from violence and you can't stand with men who violate me and assault me. I want justice for my children. I want Deputy Dumit who assaulted me. I want Larry Graham who assaulted me. I want CPS Nate Savage. I want all three of them to pay for the pain my children have suffered. My children are worth protecting from violence. Anyone who doesn't think so, wrong. I am saving up to move out of this city so my children are triggered every day when we walk outside. After five years my son tells me we can save up money mom. One day we'll be wealthy enough to make them care that we were assaulted. If your children were assaulted, come into you. They couldn't sleep at night. That nightmares. What would you do? What would you do? I don't care if I'm mad. I don't care if anybody likes my attitude. I'm here for my boys. I could care less about anything else. And I'm sorry because it's not any of your fault. You don't even know me, but I hope to God. Thank you Ms. Delosha. And this matter involves the Tarrant County Sheriff's Department Chief. You might want to coordinate and facilitate an introduction to GK manias. Next speaker is Doreen Geiger in person. Doreen Geiger for Council District 3. And I'm here for option number one regarding STRs. Please keep short-term rentals out of Fort Worth Zoned residential neighborhoods. According to the National Association of Relators in 2021, 50% of single family houses in Tarrant County were sold to investors, corporations, and companies who are not people moving into these houses. Some of these houses may have been purchased by flippers. Some flippers may sell or keep these houses for STRs. The cost of renting and buying a home has far outpaced wage growth. The problem is not just cost. It is also the lack of availability. There have been 1,707 Airbnb listings in or just outside the borders of Fort Worth since 2016, with 56% of hosts having more than one listing. Today, Verbo lists 1,450 vacation rentals in Fort Worth. When so many Fort Worth houses become STRs for tourists, where are our actual residents supposed to live? Guess which council districts have illegal STRs operating in them today? Districts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. Short-term rentals serve the needs of investors and speculators rather than Fort Worth residents wanting to buy or rent a house long-term in the community where they live, work, and study. Some Fort Worth landlords are not renewing long-term leases because they can make more money by operating the houses as STRs. A city can change rapidly. Look at Austin, Texas. Since 2020 census, the number of STRs has increased from 12,000 to 17,000. In one and a half years, 5,000 new STRs were added. Fort Worth already does not have enough affordable housing. Family-friendly neighborhoods are a fourth strength. As our neighborhoods decline, so will our city. Please enforce the current policy of option one. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Malik Austin. Good evening to the board and the council. I come here today with an extreme cry out. I made a request to the county for the help of the air conditionings in our communities. Some people that had these inefficient window units, it's just not enough. It's just not enough. I'm asking the city to match what the county has matched. If you're going to take from the cold relief front to come up with a team game violence program, which I have yet to see, my group has been on the ground more than any group in here fighting against violence. No one has reached out to me or my group. I find that very appalling being that we live in an income bracket and I do this out of the kinds of my heart. When it comes to my people and the ones who can't afford window units, we have money in the city. We can vote on a group of people that don't produce nothing, give them tasers and drones and a whole bunch of gadgets that I don't even know if they broke or fixed or whatever. I did not see that, but it's very important. 103 degrees over 30, we're close to 40 days, a triple digits. We got one more, two more months of this heat. Our people need air conditioning. So I'm asking that y'all agendatize this, sell one of my raggedy tanks that we don't need, that we don't need, that you claim that y'all didn't, that was given to us, sell one of those militarized tanks. Our people need air conditioning in these lower income neighborhoods. This is not a color thing. This is a human thing, council, mayor, protein. It doesn't matter. This is about life. I cannot hand out box fans to say, sister, this is going to help you. I have, I'm an HVAC technician. I can show you my car, I got my credentials. I went to school for it, got a college degree for it. And so I know about this, but we talk about life and death situations. We have life and death situations re-ring the bill. We come out with all, you know, our bills ringing to help these people. If the county, if we can mention what the county has done, we need to do the same within the city. If there are any forms, sites to help these people to get these people assistance, because this heat is not going to let up. So I'm asking to agendatize this and help whatever the county's doing to match what the county's doing to make sure the people have adequate and sufficient air conditioning in their homes. Thank you. Mr. Austin, we don't have to agendatize. Fernando, wave your hand so that you can connect him with probably Victor. Okay. We can help. Next speaker is Tara Rice. Hello. These are the names that I want to lay out that we need to get out of the office, because there is corruption. I was assaulted on April the 12th this year by Officer Manga that still holds a badge to this day, badge number 4393. My son has been, since the juvenile, since 2020, has been incarcerated all behind a district judge, Alex Kim, on a charge that is basically hearsay. And so now they don't, they collected DNA from him about a two-year incident on April the 13th of this year. We are in, we are with April 2nd, and nothing he doesn't have a court date, doesn't have anything, but he's sitting in there wasting taxpayer dollars all because someone's political agenda. Then I was arrested on April 12th. William Knight, the DA who was running for office, those enlisted me as a state's witness to testify against my son at 7.56 p.m. I was not arraigned until the 13th. And then when I, when we get the police reports, I have yet to get the body cams from this. There has been nothing but lies. I am, officer Manga, who still holds the badge of 4393, needs to be terminated. He pulled over my 15-year-old son and he sat in my parking lot. My son had nothing to do with it, with my son's mug shot, Jalen Rice, on his screen, while he was playing his phone. And then he pulled him over and my son was so scared, what he's directed to do is call me when he's pulled over, once he entered our gate. And then I pull up and he's, he had ran across the parking lot and attacked me after I asked for his supervisor numerous times. It is corruption and it needs to end. And I am calling for the release of my son, Jalen Rice, immediately. Stop wasting taxpayer dollars, all behind you guys' political agendas. Doesn't make sense. So remember that name. William Knight needs, needs to be terminated as well, as well as district Alex Kim. Everybody knows he's a biased judge. Thank you, Ms. Rice. Next speaker is Evgeny Vorotrikov. Good evening, Senator Gonsal. Mr. Gonsal, I think I have a video. So my name is Evgeny Vorotnikov. I'm a fairly new resident here for Worth District 8. I'm a tenant at TCU. So before I speak, I'd like to So, as-as some of you have guessed, my speech is going to be in in regards to transportation and zoning. Well, specifically traffic and zoning, but I would like to propose transportation and zoning change to the city that will benefit its residents. Now, I propose focusing on the walkability and easing zoning restrictions and making zoning changes around walking and public transit, trains, trams, bicycles and buses in particular. Now, my recommendation will improve the financial health, mental and physical health of the residents. That's a fact. As a result, our city will become more beautiful and we can give more independence to the children and the elderly community as well. Some of the ideas that I have perhaps, they might seem a little bit unorthodox for Texas, but as a US veteran, I'm always seeking for practical solutions to problems. And the biggest problem, not just for worth, but in United States, cities in general is car dependency. I do not represent any business. I'm just a simple person who likes urban design and I wanna contribute to my community. So I just wanna know who I can talk to to provide some of the ideas that I have. I think you should have my contact information. Please feel free to give me a call, text, send me an email. I'd love to talk to you guys and throw some ideas around. Thank you very much. William, why don't you put him in contact with Trinity Metro? Thank you, sir. Next speaker is Nancy Johnson. Is that the same person? We weren't able to get a hold of Miss Johnson. Okay. Next person is Angelica Alinez. Hello, my name is Angelica Alinez. I lived in Fairmount District 9 for over 11 years and I'm really appalled by the recent behavior exhibited by my councilwoman, Elizabeth Beck, towards her constituents and members of the Fort Worth community. And quite frankly, this unprofessional behavior and dismissive attitude can be seen across the council, including the mayor herself. I'm not quite sure if any of you have actually read or comprehend the job requirements for your roles or at a minimum understand that you work for me and everyone else that lives in this city. You report to us and as such, we can provide feedback on how well or how terrible you are at performing the jobs we gave you. It is our job as citizens to keep you all accountable. I have been an advertising professional for over 24 years and have lived in cities across the US that are much bigger than Fort Worth. During that time, I have managed teams of highly intelligent and capable individuals who I hired to perform their jobs to the best of their abilities. I provide ongoing reviews and feedback of their performance and suggest adjustments as needed. This is how higher roles are managed in the real world in professional environments. City council meetings are not your birthday parties for you to praise and celebrate each other for all the events you attended in the last month. They are for you to listen to the community and hear them. Instead, you have ridiculed and chastised constituents who are actually on your side of the issue. Why? Because you're a woman and only women can speak or support women-related issues? Seriously, how small-minded of you? I would think that in these times, we all need to support, we all need as much support as we can get and look to become allies for each other. Your actions during recent council meetings. Ms. Arlenes, I've consulted with the city attorney. It is fine for you to criticize the job, but you're getting personal. And I encourage you to stick to the topic in terms of job performance. Sure. If you want some, you can cut out. She's taking her way too. Your actions during recent city council meetings reeks of naivete and ignorance of how to properly run such meetings. Many of you need to brush up on your knowledge of legal statutes and conducting public meetings in the state of Texas, as well as guidelines you yourselves approved this year. The treatment of manual mata is unacceptable and only further demonstrates your lack of professionalism and understanding of how to legally run a council meeting for a large city. You can't shut off people's mics because you don't like what they're saying or kick people out of meetings for videotaping. The bigger question is, what are you so afraid of? My confidence in your abilities to effectively lead the city continue to diminish week after week. I'd be more than happy to discuss potential solutions. Thank you. Curlin Rodriguez is the next speaker. Curlin Rodriguez. You scrambling something because I can't go live right now. Are y'all got some kind of scramblers going or something? Because my cell phone's not going live. Your time has started. Okay, so I just came here to tell a story. Now I was trying to remember where I knew you from and I remember. I talked to you a couple of hours after that stuff happened. I remember how tore up you were, that you called the police. He walked across the street to take care of it himself because she was a young lady, he's old school. He's a man. He wanted somebody professional to come and help, but they didn't. They came and shot her and murdered her. He was more tore up than anybody I've ever seen. This one here, trying to hurt her to go somewhere else. That's real nice. And you, how come you guys are on your cell phones? Can y'all look over here? Why do you guys have to be on your cell phones? You need to address this council. Your time is winding down. That's fine. I'm just letting y'all know that you guys are on your cell phones and playing around. Well, I can't y'all pay attention. I bet you don't even know what the last speaker spoke about. I'm paying attention and we're all listening. Okay. What did she talk about this last lady? That is not the issue. Okay. Well, I just wanted to tell a little story and it's about this guy that was standing at a gas station and he was filming a police officer. And that police officer's rude to him, so he gave him the bird and he took off on his bicycle and that officer actually chased him while he was riding his bicycle and ran him over. And he planted drugs on him. That officer's Officer Hoffman. And I know this is true because when he went to court, they asked for all the video, the body cam footage of all of it. But guess what? The body cam footage was missing. So the kid spent time in jail. He gets out before he requests the body cam footage. And guess what? It shows up in the mail and we look at it and on the video is Officer Hoffman planting drugs on him and running him over. And he got put on YouTube and then you all did anything about it. We got a city manager that gets paid, what, $1,700 a day he pays himself? Does he even know how to pole dance for that? I mean, I wanna get my money's worth when I'm paying somebody $1,700 a day. Can somebody at least go tell the chief of police to do something about it? Cause he's still riding around in his little squad car. Probably salting that lady back there since y'all like to assault women, the cops do. So when are y'all gonna do something about it? Why are you still texting, mister? Look at me, I'm talking. It's my turn. You need to focus to us. You need to focus on me, this is my time and y'all are just playing around back there. And I'm looking at you. You're looking at me, but he's not. That's okay, I'll tell you. She's been on her cell phone the whole time. That's okay. He's looking at me with rolling eyes. You don't care what the citizens say. What's your time, 90? I'm done. 20 seconds, okay. Thank you, Miss Rodriguez. Gerald Banks, next speaker. Quick cut in the mic. Gerald Banks. I don't want to see him pole dancing. Gerald Banks, senior. Attention, council members. District five, Gina Bivens is my council representative. Attention, council members, just, you just validated, affirmed and concluded that at some point, if not at all, you don't listen or care what a person who stands here has to say if it's not in your best interest or favor. The fact that you were elected to the seats, to sit in those seats, to listen and pay attention to a person speaking like it or not, and not treat them like a child. Or scold them, or humiliate them. We'll only show that this council has great leadership. From where I'm standing, three minutes is not enough time to process the better good that will last a lifetime. And a dictatorship is not what the people in Fort Worth voted for, I'm sure. We are concerned citizens and at some point, many of you stood in this very spot and gave your opinion without being treated disrespectfully. I know it's a two-way street for respect. We know, and I've said this before in my speeches that your minds are already made up after a workshop and before you sit in this chamber, but you just have to validate the process. Let our free speech stand as we stand and don't treat us as if we are less than, because we all deserve a chance to be heard completely. The citizens see and hear, so let's keep our composure because there is another day to speak and to be heard. I appreciate you listening. Thank you, Mr. Banks. Next is Chandler Crouch. Thank you for the timer. Chandler Crouch, it is good to see you guys. I recognize so many faces and I've talked to many of you guys. I'm here on a field trip today. I'm getting an education. I've never been to a four-word city council meeting, but I'm here with my children here, my daughter Caroline Stanley and Jonah. And I wanted to speak to you today about a couple of things. I wanted to thank you for the job that you do. I've been getting an education sitting here, first time at a four-word city council meeting, and you guys have a tough job. You have to represent so many different interests in so many diverse ways. And I know it's difficult and I appreciate what you do. And I represent a lot of people too here in Tarrant County and four-word specifically, I'll represent many thousands of people. I'm a real estate broker, but I serve the community by helping people with their property tax protests. I do it free of charge. And I look for ways to be able to try to improve the system in general. Recently, I became part of personally involved and part of a controversial issue down at the appraisal district. And I have to say that it would not be in the public eye if it weren't for Manuel Mota and Thomas Trollencalci. I didn't know them before, I think it was June 30th. I didn't know them before that day, or maybe the meeting before that, excuse me. But I sat there, Thomas sat beside me, Manuel standing up against the wall, and they did their thing, they videotaped. And I don't always agree with everybody's conduct, nor do I know you guys agree with your conduct, but you sit here and you listen to everybody. I appreciate how you've engaged. I love seeing how when there's an issue and you can connect somebody with a solution right away that you're taking that action. I think that that's really encouraging. I think it's awesome. I know that so many people disagree with some decisions you guys make, some conduct you've heard. I've heard the conduct you guys have. Some people disagreed with that. And some people disagree with my conduct as well. I just recognize the value that each of us contribute to the system and I appreciate it. I appreciate you guys, I appreciate these guys for doing their standing up for the people in the way that they see fit and I appreciate the opportunity to get to do the same. One reason why I wanted to talk with you today in the last 30 seconds I have here is because there's a board meeting next Thursday, the 12th at the appraisal district. And the board members that are going to be running that meeting are voted in by you guys. And so I just wanted to bring that to your attention so that you can pay attention to the meeting, get to observe what happens there and remember for the election that's gonna happen, not this November, but next year at the end of the year, whether or not you just observe, see if you like the way that they conduct the meeting, the conduct that they have, the decisions they make and then just remember that, etch it in stone and remember that for when the election comes up. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you, Mr. Crouch. Next speaker is Erica Butters. Good evening, Mayor and Council. My name is Erica Butters and I am a Fort Worth resident in District 3 and a short-term rental host. My fiance and I have both worked in the real estate industry for the past seven years and own several properties in Fort Worth that include both long-term and short-term rentals. I have a degree in hospitality management and have always hoped one day that I could put that credential and passion to use. We started our first short-term rental in District 9 in December of 2021 after living in the home for several years. We are happy to say that we are five-star super hosts on Airbnb and five-star premier hosts on VRBO with a 90% occupancy rate. We pride ourselves on providing a top-notch forward experience for our guests while maintaining a beautiful home and strict rules to keep the neighbors happy and the neighborhood both peaceful and safe. Our strict rules prohibit parties or events of any kind and we have happily turned down countless booking requests to ensure this. We have strict quiet hours, limited occupancy, automatically shut our outdoor lights off at 10 p.m. each night and limit guests to two cars. We have open communication with the neighbors next door to this home and urge them to call us if the guests break any of these rules or disturb them at all. I am happy to say that this has never happened. The majority of our guests are traveling to Fort Worth for family vacations to visit their collegiate students at TCU or work, not to party. Once straight over in the same neighborhood, we own a long-term rental. Although we require background checks, credit checks, and cross-check both rental and employment history of our tenants, we still found ourselves with a very troublesome tenant this last year. This caused many issues with not only us as their landlords but their surrounding neighbors. During their year-long lease, there were multiple domestic violence occurrences resulting in many screaming and physical altercations at all hours of the night. Countless police visits, threatening altercations with neighbors, and overall disturbance of peaceful neighborhood as a whole. We received many complaints from neighbors and consulted several attorneys, but were told that this is not enough to warrant an eviction. I tell you this, because in contrast to short-term rentals where we can easily enforce strict rules, we as landlords of long-term rental properties have very little control as what actually goes on at our properties. These are two properties in the same neighborhood in Fort Worth, one with no restrictions and the other facing the possibility of being shut down. The idea that short-term rentals are all bad and the owners and hosts do not care about the well-being of their neighbors is simply wrong. We responsible hosts want changes made as well. We want regulations set forth so that bad hosts like that the opposition describe our band and the rest of us can continue to peacefully provide alternative stay options for the millions of Fort Worth tourists that come to our city each year. Our guests choose to stay in short-term rentals rather than hotels for many reasons, including privacy, safety, convenience, and affordability. A family of six cannot comfortably stay in a single hotel room, which would be the only comparable option in price to most of our short-term rentals. If short-term rentals are banned in single-family neighborhoods, the vast majority of these visitors are not going to opt for a hotel in Fort Worth. Rather, they will take their business elsewhere and stay in a short-term rental in one of our nearby cities that successfully allow them. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Butters. Next speaker is Alonzo Aguilar. Alonzo Aguilar. I thought I saw you leave. For a second. Honorable mayor and council members, city staff, good evening. My name is Alonzo J. Aguilar, senior, and I live at 3725 Stuart Drive in Fort Worth, Texas. I come down here this evening because of my concerns of all the apartments that are going up in our city that are all over the place. And I guess you can't turn to one side of the highway or the other or go down city streets and not run into, I don't know how many. We don't have the resources from what I understand according to our newspaper to keep taking care of the citizens that are here already because our electricity problem has been growing, our water problem is growing, and now the last that I read about was our food transportation problem. And I don't know who is okay in all these construction contracts in Fort Worth, but they need to stop and think, how many citizens are you gonna pile up like sardines in a can in Fort Worth? And I just finished reading the paper yesterday, I believe, where they had another contractor coming in with I don't know how many hundreds of one bedrooms and two bedrooms and I guess the other ones are just whatever they're supposed to be, I don't know. But I've been reading the newspapers over and over again and have been running to these kind of advertisements and readings about. And I don't know when the city of Fort Worth is gonna put a stop to it. I know that our past mayor did a lot of promoting of Fort Worth and that was good, yes, but it was also, I don't know whether they thought what was gonna happen, but people do like to move and Fort Worth was one of the choices that they made. And I have never seen so much traffic around Fort Worth as well as in Fort Worth as it's going on now. And anywhere you look around in Fort Worth, you'll find buildings of parking lots. We need to stop that. That needs to slow down. That needs to stop and think, do we have the resources to supply our citizens that are here already plus the ones that wanna come here and live? But these houses are causing thousands of dollars more than what they used to charge when I was live, start living here, which I've been here about 90 years, almost all my life. Thank you, Mr. Aguilar. Thank you for being with us this evening. Next speaker is Jim DeLong. Good evening, I'm Jim DeLong, District 7. It's an honor to be able to stand before you tonight. And I wanna appeal to people to dream and go for their dreams. I remember I was a fourth grader, it was spring, and we had a field trip to go see the Seattle Symphony. I didn't care about the symphony, I just wanted to get out of school. So I was looking forward to the time. And I go into the opera hall, sitting on the left side, I can see it as if it was yesterday, and there was many decades ago, I can assure you. And I'm looking at the orchestra, see the violins, I see the tuba, see the oboe player, and all of a sudden I saw the tympanist, and my life changed. I came and I was confronted with my destiny. I became a musician, supported my family for over 17 years, traveled the world, studio recording, and it was seeing that tympanist, something clicked on the inside. You know, we say, people say that we're a product of our past. That is not a true saying. We are a product of our future. We can be affected by our past, but we are a product of our future. I saw that tympanist, and I'm left-handed, I was taught right-handed. I'm left-footed to play a bass drum on the right foot. You have no idea the hours and hours and hours that it took. I had people saying you'll never make it. I had people scoffing me, but I had a dream. I had a vision. I had a future, and I went for it. I practiced four to six hours a day because I'm uncoordinated. I've seen some kids sit down and play the drums, and I go, my God, how can they do that? It would take me a year to be able to do that. We're in a day where people talk about their problems, they talk about what's happened in their past, and I'm not trying to belittle that or say that there aren't atrocities that have gone by in people's pasts, but if we look at the past, we'll never reach our dreams. If we look at the past and allow the past to affect us, that will affect the kind of future that we have. Everyone has dreams, and I just want to encourage people. Don't let your past dry up your dreams. Don't let your past and things that have happened turn you bitter on the inside. You can dream, you can have a vision, and if you determine to go for it. I was, thank you very much. Thank you, Jim. Next speaker is Edgar Rodriguez. Good evening, Council members. Madam Mayor Pro Temp, my name is Edgar. I am in District 4. Thank you for all you've done for our neighborhoods. Seems kind of out of context to speak on short-term rentals, given some of the things that we've heard you today, like a lot of issues going on with our city, within our people. So, but nonetheless, I'm here to express my full support of short-term rentals in all of our communities with sensible regulation, and I believe that we can accomplish that. That's what the short-term alliance is for. So on the drive here, I kept thinking, what could I say to kind of help bridge the gap, to kind of help fix some of the misunderstanding that's going on with short-term rentals? So I just kind of draw it a couple of bullet points. Things that we have heard, that's what I'm gonna focus on. Things that you guys have been hearing throughout all these months, and the themes that, so first thing, commercial enterprises own them. Enterprises are coming in, taking all over all the neighborhoods, false. I'm not a commercial enterprise. Neither are these people here. The grand majority of our members are all individuals here in the city of Fort Worth, who have a vested interest in all of our neighborhoods here. We hire people locally, we invest all of our money here locally. So that's something that is out there that is incorrect. Another thing is what you might be thinking, here's 2022, some of us I've already, perhaps stayed in an Airbnb in a verbal home. Some folks back there like, well, maybe not, I haven't. Okay, that's great, why not? Wouldn't it be great to wake up in the morning and have coffee with your grandchildren? Right, spend that time. That's a personal choice. Why are we taking away the choice for everyone else? So SDRs, Airbnbs, whatever you're gonna wanna call them, they are not the devil, right? So why, big hotel corporations, are we essentially saying that that is what we support? Hotel corporations for what? For our 10 cent per share dividend, is that what we're saying here? Like the one gentleman here, Mr. Aguilar, he was mentioning apartment buildings. What are we saying about big hedge funds, right? Real estate investment trust, coming in, purchasing property and building all these high condos, right? Does that help the housing crisis that we have? Home affordability? I don't think that the single mother, right, with the children or with the baby can afford a $1,500 a month rent. And if you think that that's a crazy number, you haven't really been paying attention. 330,000 plus homes in the city of Fort Worth, 1,600 or so SDR rentals, that is less than half percent of the homes in Fort Worth that belong to short term rentals. So there is room for opportunity there. We're not looking to be Las Vegas with a 22% short term rental homes there. SDR owners have been breaking the law. So why would they care about it now? We are legitimately asking you to tax us to let us work with you and work with the associations. Thank you. You, our final speaker for the evening is Chris Wood. Hello, in February, I got a parking ticket for $40. I'm on disability. I get a check once a month saying it spent a million different ways. I know I wasn't gonna pay it on time. I wasn't too worried about it. I went to pay it in May and it went from $40 to $84. I think that is egregious. I think it is unconscionable. I think it places undue burden on the poor. $20, I was charged because it went to collections but I was never contacted by a collection agency. So either the collection agency pocketed the money, City of Fort Worth pocketed the money or both of you guys did. But I think the exorbitant parking fee, light fees is exorbitant and unconscionable. Thank you. Before you leave, Val is rumbling in here. Okay, if you would see that gentleman in the back and maybe we can work to some resolve. That concludes this evening's meeting. Thank you for coming. The meeting is adjourned.