 Right that will indicate how much time is remaining when you have 30 seconds left a bell will sound when your time is up The bell will sound again before you begin your comments. Please state your name Good evening and welcome to your Forest City Council public comment meeting. I'll call us to order Tonight's invocation will be given by Bishop Donald Hayes from gift ministries Please rise for the invocation and remain standing for the pledges of allegiance This is the day the Lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it I'll but thank you for the invitation to come get this Immocation for the board we pray to bless our mayor of the city Pretending God they keep her under the wings and make her strong as she continue to lead this city Prefer every district representing it here. Do you bless them God? Do they keep their job moving forward to bless the city that they work in pray God you bless or God our DPS department police fire and EMS that they keep us safe I pray God you watch over them continue blessed. It's beating tonight. Have your divine regard and get them peace Look whenever said every problem God it comes out where you are a problem solver and we thank you for it We have these precious blessing your name. We pray Amen Maron Council our first action item will be the approval of the minutes from the February 13th 20th and 27th council meetings move to approve motion a second council any discussion Please vote you got to click it again. We can't advance it. Thank you motion clears Passes sorry Maron Council, that's all of the action items the rest is Speakers, thank you our next our first speaker is Bob Willoughby followed by Don Brewer I didn't see any rejection. There you go. We turn it up. Is it playing turn it up? Is it up? It's not up. There's no sound They took the sound off From the beginning to sound off. You need to sound on from the very beginning Bob just a second. They're humans. They're trying to start over for me and play from the beginning Happy Tuesday Bob just a second Thank you. I'm gonna call Don Brewer and then come back to Bob sir having technical difficulties We'll start that over is mr. Brewer here. Hi Don. Come on down. Please. Thank you If you don't mind hand them here and we'll take them. Thank you. Yes, sir. Ronald hand them out. Thank you You can go ahead. Please. Thank you Yes, first off, I'd like to thank the city council for especially you for Supporting us in the past on this landfill operation I am here again to plead for y'all support and to encourage y'all to again contact TCEQ To inform them that this is a poor idea The bill is that the landfill is on top of an aquifer. It's on a flooded zone It's on the city proper or next to city property. It's on the lake. It might as well be in the middle of the lake All water feeding from Silver Creek feeds directly into the lake as well as everything off this property So anything done on its property would automatically contaminate the lake This aquifer as well as the city so I had excuse me Okay, I got echo here. Okay. Okay. Thank you But I wanted to like that have everybody look at it as it stands right now a poor according to their platting This is at water level. It's at 600 is according to The forgive me here the groundwater conservation district is where the water is at the highest point on this is 620 Most of it's at 600 and below so it's right there in the water table and as such like said anything done on this It's operating on a 50-year-old Landfill permit that was never exercised and how then they're trying to put something on there This will contaminate everything and there's no way you can stop it and I would submit that y'all resmit stuff to Tcq I also went back which y'all will probably want to check and see is that the city is responsible for Lake Worth as such since it is a water source now then under Water Development Board section 260136 water quality management the city of Fort Worth is Responsibility is to manage the functions including enforcement and under local government section 261 75 y'all are responsible to please stop and monitor Tceq has no control nor will they monitor or nor will they do anything? So I implore y'all to please please help us help y'all so that we can stop this from turning it into a superfund site Thank You mr. Brewer and I have you gotten to personally speak with anybody from our legal department or dr. Wittenberg. No, I have not and I would we'll have someone follow up with you and we have protested as you know You're not we've got your information here. Thank you for submitting that and I'll make sure someone gets to talk with you tomorrow Oh, thank you. Thank you. Yes. I would be glad to give them I have a lot more documentation and I would be more than happy to submit and meet with anybody, but We appreciate it very much. Yes, sir. It's fine the city hall sometimes. No, no We're not fine. We're on the same side of the protest. Yes, sir The right person to talk to we can we can arrange that. Yes, sir. Thank you, ma'am. You're welcome. Thank y'all Thank you. Do we have that video ready for mr. Willoughby? Getting there. Okay, we'll go to Rita Ramon and we'll come back when it's ready We just want to make sure it's gonna play Bob. Just second is miss Ramon here Rita Ramon Okay, David Martinez is mr. Martinez here. There he is sorry, I had something prepared but Facebook went down today Technology. Yeah, and so I apologize. Usually I come up here and I thought Speaking from the heart usually I just go ahead and say stuff, but what I found out is that When I speak sometimes I offend certain people certain groups not intentionally But today usually When I speak I speak for others either it's Children issues things like that with my community And neighborhood Southside Carter Park, but today I'm going to bring up stuff that involves me Okay, so bear with me Okay, so usually I come in here speak, but I wanted to bring up like when I was growing up Um, I come from mixed family. I was adopted By my grandmother and we had other I had other siblings and stuff that that were adopted So I was around a mixed family. It's like that. So growing up. I didn't know Like we didn't we didn't speak about color or ethnicity things like that because we're all mixed, you know And so I was gonna bring pictures to show y'all, but I couldn't get off facebook. So anyways, but The thing I want to talk about is as I got older and I started learning Well, this is who you are. That's that's that's your color. That's your race. That's your ethnicity And as I got older, I also learned that You know, because there was a tv show There was Michael J. Fox and he loved Ron Reagan and I loved that show and I was like, oh Ron Reagan I like Ron Reagan. Um, we went from uh living in and like really Ran down house and apartments and as we got I got older My mother invested in a business and you know, we ended up living off Elizabeth Boulevard in a nice house And we ended up getting a maid and all that stuff. So um We went through a change but what I also want to bring up now is that a lot of people talk about gentrification and so Growing up, I didn't know about all that stuff and I didn't know about republican democrat I didn't know all that stuff. I'm just me david martinis Uh, but I notice now it's campaign and electric time and all that stuff and everybody's doing this Never did I ever think that a Kennedy would not be on a democrat ticket And we're living in a time where things are changing now So I wanted to bring up that I know Some of y'all like nobody on this city council is hates each other Everybody works together, but the community doesn't see that They think it's ours and these and I'm trying to tell everybody to know We're all trying to win. We're all trying to help the community A lot of some of us come from what we we know We have something that happened to us in our live and we want to do for others Thank you, mr. Martinez. We appreciate it Next speaker is the video. Good. Okay. Okay. We're gonna try that. Mr. Willoughby. Let's try that again Two weeks ago. It was brought to your attention that the director of communications and public engagement Michelle is not doing the job. She is hired to do I have received no response from you or your office Since my inauguration, I promised to attack problems and not people And I have continued to live by that in office I believe this philosophy is more important now than ever We live in a divisive time To solve real problems. We need honest debate In facts mayor maddie parker We ask you how can there be an honest debate when you will not respond Mayor maddie parker the pictures I place to be seen were not shown on tv like the way they were shown at the meeting And like the other speaker at the city comment meeting february 20th 20 24 To solve real problems. We need honest debate in facts Not attacks that have not a single shred of evidence to back them Mayor maddie parker your words say one thing but your actions show another Means the only reason our two callers are by phone is they decided to be appropriate to curse out A 12 year old little league team while they were here celebrating their win So we just kind of put a stop to that for a few months Hopefully they can come back in the spring and be a little better behaved especially around children Mayor maddie parker Where are your facts? You have no evidence that is a 100 lie what you said about bob willoughby This has to be the worst lie that was ever told by a mayor To say mr. Willoughby cuss at children when it is not true that is low down and dirty The city council may not discuss or deliberate about topic not specifically listed on the agenda Including those presented during the public comment section of the agenda Mayor maddie parker do the rules not apply to you Mr. Johnson may ask a question really quickly if you don't mind. Thank you I know that you've worked really closely with tanisha my office in the past and she's been an excellent help I really enjoyed coming out to highland hills. I just want you to keep an open communication with my office And there are councilor nevels as well. You're right. There's no excuse for that And i'm glad you connected with chief notes, but I will commit to you all reach out tanisha has been ill the last few weeks But someone else and i'm off. Okay, good. She shouldn't be answering the phone right now. I hope she was initially I figured that's how she is. Yeah, but um, we're still here for you And i'm happy to come back out again and visit with you and your neighbors and thank you for being here tonight Thank you Oh Our next speaker is diana madrano Followed by johi and giri Good evening. Um, I want to start off by thanking you guys for this platform for allowing the public to come and provide You know their concerns. Um, so thank you for your time and attention tonight My name is diana madrano and my family and I live in district five I'm here tonight to speak about a park in our neighborhood that has been waiting for a decade to be completed mojo valley park The park site has a historic marker to commemorate the mojo valley park that once stood there The city of fort worth purchased the park property in 2014 And within the past 10 years has not made substantial progress to fully complete the park Just last month on february 17th There was a community meeting which we greatly appreciate but yet we heard two concerning items One it was mentioned by mistake and completely understand that it was said by mistake that there are no public arts for the public art funds for the park But that led that statement to be um, published in the fort worth report on february 24th Um post the meeting i've received confirmation that the public art funds are there But I want the public to know that that was a mistake spoken there but it also gave us the impression that When someone stops looking funds get reallocated or moved I traced back the annual work plans year after year after those funds were approved and they appeared on those annual work plans up until last year in 2023 Second it was mentioned a timeline of one year to design the park and another year to construct If 10 years wasn't long enough another two more years So i'm here to plead that the city stopped kicking the can down the road And start constructing and finish what it should have done years ago My children are should not have to be here tonight. Instead. They should be enjoying a completed park So i'll leave you with this question is now finally the time for mojo valley. Thank you Thank you Miss fadrano. I'm gonna make sure that mr. Zavala Connects with you tonight. Thank you Mr. Geary Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen expected major member of the city councils Thank you for giving me a time to speak few words here for too long our community Has awaited for the construction of this park that might never just mentioned There's been a lot of bureaucratic huddles Fund has been allocated to the other side of the City construction or improvement works from the fund that was meant to be spent for this park I'm not here to point out any particular council members or team for the delay or anything, but This is 10 years for just simple open field park is unacceptable and are hard of There's not really any structural Or mechanical or anything that needs to be considered. So looking at just playing ground with basic trail for the kids to walk around and play ground And funding of nine hundred thousand dollars to do Such construction and 10 years I don't know what explains for 10 years delay on that The delay in this park is not Only is inconvenient, but it's also a disservice to the resident who have long awaited For the space to gather to play and connect. It is denial of fundamental right Right to access greener space community facilities to foster the sense of belonging and well being The ramification of this delay extends far behind the confined space of the paperwork and procedure obstacles It is felt in the face of the children who have now No way to play no way to run The frustration in the face of the parents Seeking the safe environment for their families and this illusion meant for the neighbors who have felt forgotten and neglected I can understand ideally by promise that were made and remain unfulfilled Deadline are missed and voices are silenced by the force of these bureaucratic corridors Thank you, mr. Geary Allocating funding All right that you concluded my apologies keep going sorry a location of this funding to carry out any improvement and construction work of other part of the city or in first group Is any tickle Funding of the park supposed to be going to the fund to the construction of the park Again, there should not be any delay on the construction And and I see this timing babes, but I had some more. Thank you, mr. Geary Appreciate you coming. Sorry. Your time has concluded again. Make sure you get with mr. Zavala. Thank you Our next speaker is Danielle Tucker Mayor she hasn't answered the phone yet. Okay No one Danielle Tucker is not here. Okay Sue Freiburg Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak tonight I would really appreciate it if you paid attention to what I have to say since your political futures could be affected By the decisions you are about to make regarding the city of Fort Worth As a citizen of Fort Worth I'm concerned that you're about to lead us down a path of higher taxes For a little to no gain We are aware that there is a decision to be made regarding the future of ems service Understandably things change over time However change for change's sake or for the hubris of the department head is no reason to dismantle A worldwide known and respected organization The same organization has been providing high quality clinical care For over 30 years to this and surrounding communities at no cost It is now asking for assistance in overcoming some of the same challenges that all ems services are facing That cost in comparison to dismantling the system and utilizing a fire-based system and Is tens of millions of dollars different? Now you may have been influenced by backdoor politics and smear campaigns But you need to look at the true value of the service provided to this community And the innovations in ems that have come as a result of this service Ems has changed over the years and med star has been in the forefront of these changes Additionally many members of this council accept campaign donations From the very same organizations that stand to benefit from any change to the current model This reeks of corruption and those members should recuse themselves from any and all decisions to be made by this council In regards to any changes to be made This comes to you anonymously in fear of retaliation From department that I have devoted several years to Many members of the fire department came to work as firefighters And it was with full knowledge that the ems was run by a different organization That works in a partnership with each other The current administration has created a divisive and toxic culture that threatens to destroy these relationships that have been built over time No organization is perfect and both have their negative qualities But the overwhelming qualities of both are positive and patient care centered In conclusion, please think carefully about the decision you're going to make and how it impacts each of the tax paying citizens And this community as well as your ability to look to citizens in the eye And tell them that you're doing this for the betterment of the community and not just for political and single minded gain Thank you Sue just a quick question. I can't I want to respect the anonymity of the remarks there If it's you personally or if whoever wants to be anonymous I can have val washington reach out to you and you can have a conversation with her Who's helping to supervise the ad hoc emergency management committee That's up to you I guess she could reach out to me. Okay. Thank you. We'll do that. Thank you very much Our next speaker is jim dalong Good evening. My name is jim dalong It's an honor to stand before you tonight In 1859 Charles Dickens wrote a book called a tale of two cities And his opening lines are immortal are immortal in literary circles It was the best of times. It was the worst of times It was the age of wisdom It was the age of foolishness It was the epoch of belief It was the epoch of and crudility It was the season of light It was the season of darkness It was the spring of hope It was the winter of despair Sound familiar It could be written about the times that we're in There's such a divide of people's ideology For a few times I've had a red ball and I spoke about a red ball And some people think it's called green And when it's really red people will go to the mat for their ideology And if you look at this list It's interesting the title of the book is a tale of two cities But it's talking about one city It was the tale of two ideologies And that's what we face today And so, you know, why am I bringing this up? Because if we can open our eyes and to see that Different people can have totally they can look at the same thing They can experience the same thing and they can have opposite feelings about it It could be the best of times to some The worst of times to others It can be an age of wisdom It can be an age of foolishness It could be a season of light Or it can be a season of darkness And that's what uh, we're presented with today So it's a challenge to all of us here in this room It's a challenge to all that will hear my voice speak this on youtube What are you going to look at? How are you going to look at it? You know, you have the glass half full A pessimist sees that it's half empty An optimist sees that it's half full I can look at an empty glass without there being a vapor of water in it. I see it overflowing Because I believe in the human condition I believe through the centuries man has proven That we can excel That we can come together And as we come together There's unity there's strength in unity Sorry, thank you. Thank you, mr. Dong Our next speaker is Muhammad Farouq followed by Walid Abulhamad Mr. Muhammad Council I greet you with the best of the greetings. Peace be upon all of us present here Mayor we did have the open house. We invited we had invited all of you I understand everybody's has a busy schedule. It would have been nice to have you there We had we had a good community show And we discussed a lot of issues and also educated a lot of people Our invitation to all of you is always open You're always welcome to get in touch with us and stop by And talk about the issues that I talked about last time Regarding obviously the community our community is facing Erasism Islamophobia phobia anti-semitism and obviously the need for ceasefire With that with that what I'd like to say is that I wonder why it has to be that elected officials and politicians can only react At the fear of Getting booted out Michiganders spoke and they spoke loudly last week And after that number two in the administration Kamala Harris on sunday did call out for a ceasefire And in fact invited Benny Gantz By passing the thing out who won monday, but why am I saying all this? I'm saying all this because We are a global world What we do here, especially with our tax dollars Impacts a lot of us abroad And one of the reasons is That I'm going to show you this picture at a city council Sorry the Very outside now we can spend those tax dollars and if you all have ever driven a Lancaster You know what I'm talking about the homeless situation. I don't have to preach that over here That's our tax dollars council members We this is happening In in Gaza on our watch with our tax dollars and I've said that before And we have a lot to do with it. So I'd be happy if some of you could call One of the defense contractors and tell them, you know what you can ship a lot of missiles and and and military coup in the broad But for everything ship give us one dollar and I bet you we can solve these issues Other than that if Moses and Abraham were on your right Jesus and Lot and Joseph and Jonah peace be on upon all of them where you left What would they advise you to do As as far as the humanity calls and then contemporary history if Mandela and Gandhi wasn't your right mayor And Malcolm X and Martin Luther King were on your left. What would they advise you to do for people suffering in the world? Thank you very much Our next speaker is wallad. I have delma helmet I agree with the greetings of Islam. Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings You guys are all familiar with this ceasefire resolution that we've been begging for Everywhere all over the this the country I want to speak to everyone in this room not just the city council members not just the mayor But I've already said this last time I want to say it again This country has been built on racism towards all minorities It has enabled systematic oppression and violence time and time again It was built upon taking people out of its land The same way is real has been taken the land from its people And has been very has been made very very clear in the last few months This isn't only about the innocence of most of Palestinians or Muslims or Arabs or whatever minority you think of But this is also about American citizens just like My my brother Muhammad just mentioned There are people who are affected here in this country There is a brother whose name is Zachariah that we mentioned a few weeks ago. He was stabbed in Arlington He's from Arlington. He was stabbed in Austin. He wasn't doing anything. He just had a flag on his car There's also Aaron Bushnell who we're all familiar with what we all know what just happened to him We have Dalat Khan a Muslim physician who was stabbed in Houston due to Islamophobia During the last four months Wadiah al-Fayyum stabbed 26 times a kid 26 times an American citizen because of a lie that president Biden said That he that his administration administration later on came by came back and said that that was a lie that wasn't That was fabricated We're all very frustrated. We're all hurt by this and we're asking for a ceasefire for our For all of humanity's sake America has been Tearing the Middle East apart tearing it apart time and time again We're just here to make our voices hurt for them and for anyone who might Could be affected by this It could be me. It could be my sister. It could be my brother I don't want to see anyone get hurt We've been saying it time and time again that we want peace. We want a ceasefire Over the last couple of weeks Kamala Harris came out or I think it was last week or two She wants to he they want a six-week ceasefire And if you look into the between the lines, you know why they're asking for it And the biden administration Inside the white house they sent out an anonymous call for a ceasefire So like my brother Muhammad said, Texas was the last of Bosch slavery. Don't be the last to call for a ceasefire. So now I'm on it Our next speaker is Asayu Jafri followed by nor Hasan Hello esteemed council members I stand before you today with a question that goes beyond the boundaries of our media community When you leave your neighborhood, what do you see? Bustling streets of familiar faces signs of everyday life But do you ever consider what the people in Gaza see when they step out of their homes? They see a landscape desecrated by bombs and destruction Now Oh, you may wonder what this has to do with you. Well, I'm a resident of district two Let's make this clear when I come out of my neighborhood. I don't just eat people like neighbors and bustling streets. I see Is it? I see the suppliers of weapons that contribute to mass destruction in Gaza of the systems Council members, I understand that you may feel a little tired and perhaps annoyed by our persistent calls for change After all you said that you don't see it happening or it was beyond your control But let me share what truly tires and annoys me Having to repeatedly ask those who are meant to represent me to fulfill their responsibilities and to exhibit basic human compassion Do you want to know what I find truly exhausting? Witnessing the refusal to acknowledge and act against atrocities occurring And I'm not the only one who feels this way recently a young air force member from texas set himself on fire Or because he was so tired of his ongoing genocide Before he died he said I will no longer be complicit in genocide I implore you to consider the way of your decisions The only outcome of turning a blind eye to the ongoing genocide is the stain of innocent blood on your hands How can and you as Presentatives remain unmoved when faced is with If the constituents who have not lost one who have not lost two but 20 members of their family How can you justify inaction when confronted with the human tolls of your indecision? We come to you not out of a desire for inconvenience, but out of desperation hoping that you will recognize the great Gravity of the situation and take a stand for justice and humanity Counts members the time for change is now the responsibility lies on your shoulders And the choice you make will shape the legacy of our city and its stance on morality In compassion let us not be remembered as the community that turned its back on those in need But that one that stood up against injustice and worked here at the world where people can Live without the fear of bombs and destruction. Thank you Here is nor Hasan followed by arsalan jaffrey Council members. Thank you so much for letting me speak today. My name is nor Hasan. I am a citizen of footwork. I have been born raised gone to school married Open and closed businesses here And I am here to talk to you about the same thing that the last few speakers have spoken about But I'm going to paint you a different picture Several years ago a movie came out. It was called the hunger games And I know that whether you watched it you have no doubt that you've heard about it And I remember specifically when I watched this movie I couldn't imagine how someone could even imagine this world How they could imagine the cruelties they showed and how they're able to depict Let's forget the fact that three movies came out and then recently the the Prequel to it And now looking at it. I wonder wow If we try to make a movie today about today's things We wouldn't even be able to rate it. We wouldn't be able to show these things You all saw cnn is finally covering them the covering the media footage After four months the atrocities that are happening Everybody knows what happened recently the flower massacre the fact that just over basic Flower and water they're being shot up and killed in the streets No one is stopping them. No one is giving aid. No one is allowing They're hurting the humanitarians. They're hurting the people helping. They're hurting the ones trying to get the food All they're doing is trying to get flower and water. That's it. They're not committing any crimes. They're not doing anything They're not saying anything. They're just trying to get basic food We can't even show documentaries of what's going on because they're so horrific We can't even even imagine as privileged citizens of the united states What they actually are going through because we haven't seen that kind of cruelty in our country And now one way or another America will always be remembered for its complicity And let's be honest as american citizens We are all complicit because we all pay taxes and hundreds of thousands of dollars Go from Fort Worth alone and as long as we are members of this city We are all complicit and so Together we should all think about the fact that we want this to be ended and stopped and that we need to figure out a way I have been told countless times here that you guys don't have jurisdiction and you have no power But you have far more power than we do and that's why I have no doubt that you want to Make sure that in our history Fort Worth doesn't look like what it's done in the past that America will look better It's up to you to decide how your story will be written and how you will be remembered It should not be elicited by fear or being kicked out You should want to hope that this is what I would want for myself and for my family or my community And that's why I'm begging. Please. We need to stop the funding to israel We need the money locally. We need it in our city for so many things I've been listed tonight and more so and we need to request for a ceasefire resolution. Thank you very much Our next speaker is arsalanjafri followed by rachel thompson Okay, before we get started With the main speech. I just wanted to put it out there at that rather than providing a subsidy to bell textron for expansion Might be more useful for parks But as a recap of our last sessions We have normalized and tolerated the following mass murder of civilians execution of children execution of people waving white flags murdering of the first responders collective punishment through blockade of humanitarian aid forced starvation destruction of homes hospitals and schools It's now day 153 of the live streaming of the genocide and the new list of things that we are willing to normalize and tolerate now include death of at least 10 children through starvation execution of starving people that are attempting to get aid the flower massacre is the largest of those events It is not the only one of those events execution of prisoners after they're used for whatever purpose that the military deemed necessary like telling a hospital to evacuate before they destroy it and then executing that individual the beating of family members of captives who are protesting for a peaceful release of their family members through tear gas and water cannons 2% of the gazon population has now been exterminated in six months Compared to the 3% that of the japanese that were killed over a six-year conventional war Okay, an american servicemen is set himself on fire his last words My name is erin bushnell I am an active duty member of the united states air force I will no longer be complicit in the genocide I am about to engage in extreme active protest But compared to what the people of palisthenics have been experiencing at the hands of their oppressor This is not extreme at all. This is what the ruling class has decided to be normal Not my words his words. I warned you guys last time You know, we will have the society we are willing to tolerate So We will keep coming and asking the city To pass a ceasefire resolution because what is normal and what should be tolerable is peace And a logical path forward Not the bliss of the ignorance That we are trying to stay in or even worse The complicity and silence Thank you Our next speaker is rachel thompson. Good evening council My name is rachel thompson And I came before you today to request that you speak up for injustice and demand an immediate and permanent ceasefire for gaza Our community looks towards its leaders for guidance and it's up to you the council before me today to use your voice Um to use your voice to take a stand against this genocide and no longer be complicit I'm able to stand before you today because my grandparents were able to escape ukraine from russian aggression many years ago And now my grandfather is watching it happen yet again in his homeland Thankfully with the support of the us ukraine has been able to fight against the gradient oppression Something that gaza has not been afforded instead our government continues to send bombs and weapons to israel aiding in the genocide of the palestinian people It's easy to take the stance that this is bigger than a citywide issue That speaking out and making a statement won't do anything of scale when decisions of war are made at higher levels If the loss of innocent lives is not enough to take action Then how about the loss of tax dollars that could be going into investing in our cities and working to solve the plethora of problems we have here Instead we are forced to fund the bombs killing innocent lives who have just as much right to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness with our tax dollars Though we may live under the false sense of security that within the us border that we could never fathom something of this nature happening here I ask that you just take a moment to imagine your children under the rubble Imagine it's your children crying and unable to move due to hunger and there's not a single thing you can do about it And because the world chooses to sit by instead of intervene The actions of the iof and gaza directly impact our local community people settling People are setting themselves on fire in the streets because they cannot stand to see the atrocities unfold and hear the cowardice in the silence of our elected officials Changes in our country begin at a local level and I believe you became you came into this position Because you have a great love and commitment to your community and want to make a difference Do not underestimate the difference your voice can make This is nothing to do with blue or red left or right. It's right and wrong All I ask is that you use your voice to speak up for what is right And imagine the message that it would send if on a city-wide level Throughout the nation that city's called for a ceasefire I believe that we have the ability to make change, but we must speak up for humanity depends on it free palestine. Thank you Our next speaker is akifah khan Followed by adrian smith by phone Hi, my name is akifah khan and I am in district six. I grew up in fort worth I went to jt stevens. I'm south african indian my parents My dad he He was in a place called Riverside in durban south africa and Under the south african government at that time they had a they They kicked my dad and grandparents out of the house For to replace it and rezone it as a white only area um the um And that was just as a south african indian as a south african black person. It was even worse They had to live in something called a They had to live in basically a Bantu stone that's what it was called the parallels between South africa and israel right now South africa would call them foreign natives israel calls them present absentees so My grand-uncle he came here to america to fort worth in the 70s. He came here because He wanted to have a right to education He came here to study aeronautical engineering He couldn't do that in south africa because of his ethnicity because of his skin talent so Well, he He served in the military in the air force Um, he studied at uta. I studied at uta. I have a degree in history in african american studies I want to say that You need to be we all need to be on the right side of history. We need to say no To what is to what our federal government is doing right now? We need to call for a permanent ceasefire And that's all I have to say Thank you, miss con Our last speaker is adrian smith by phone Mr smith Oh, yes Go ahead. Yes. Adrian smith. I am Adrian smith. I am one with the people When the deer is caught in headlights What What happens to it When the dirt is caught in headlights What usually happens to it? I'll say that to say this To the chairperson and to the Representatives of the various districts of this city please stop patronizing individuals When they come before you to speak and call out the Things that you are not doing that you should be doing to the representative of district 8 Sir, I am watching the current the most recent um, I just discussed and that was had with the historic south park community um 23 years of this investment by this city, although You weren't were not a part of the 420 you do not represent In a position you in for the last 23 years You are now a determined representative sir You have a obligation to ensure that this This necessary development gets off the ground It seems as if uh Again, like I say the last week that county island has taken more importance than the historic south side So i'm gonna leave that there. I have more to say on it But i'm gonna leave that to the individuals of mojo valley who came out speaking regards to the 10 years of empty promises as relates to your park again. It's your representative This falls on your representative but You all have an obligation. We all have obligations as people we put these individuals in we can take them out And we don't have to wait to an election year There is the power of recall. So I want people to be mindful of that we have a power of recall always at our side And although the representatives of district five is stated that she's no longer going to run Be assured that she's going to uh I advocate for someone else. So I say go with the opposite As as it relates to the uh dismantling of our ems paramedic system. I hope this isn't true But if it is shame on you council and to the individuals who collect the voices then on behalf of the palestinian people uh again We had a power to vote these individuals out. They've already made their Stands with the proclamation that they that they've decided up on. So then she was the power to vote and let's get them out The people of palestine have a right to exist Again, Adrian do you have one more speaker miss ramon did walk in I wanted to honor her time to speak Rita if you want to come down, please I had to speak about the homeless problem we have in here I wrote some statement down It's kind of like a poem kind of um, but and I wrote this Homeless a person without a home still wants to feel safe and without a home To feel safe that person feels lost Hopefully not lost forever, but will help come in time or not most likely at all That person without a home feels even more lost and hopeless That help will never come That person without a home will continue to do her best with what she has and be Grateful that she wakes up another day. Hello. My name is reader moan. I've been homeless too many times to count and every time Homeless it's even harder to get the help I need which makes me more depressed I refuse to take down any more numbers as I already know that numbers that say they will help You only need to um dead ends and more depression I went to the other meeting about the homeless and I couldn't send through the home meeting Because I wanted to comment and I was thinking no one is going to get help they need Because no one is being accountable for their actions Um one other point I heard is that you were trying to follow houston homeless problem But I can tell you that I was homeless in houston too. I never got the help I need There to find a home for me and my daughter So I came back to fort worth in 2012. I managed to move into A garage apartment in the north side of fort worth stayed there for four years with my daughter And still wanted a safer place for me and my daughter to Call home. So the first chance I got I moved the me and my daughter To the west side of fort worth and stayed there for seven years recently illegally evicted another point that At that meeting that I heard is that someone said that That people want homeless people to disappear But that will won't happen At all if you still ignore the problem and not keep these organizations accountable for not keeping a high standard For customer service for people in need That's all. Thank you council. That's the conclusion of our meeting. Thank you