 there's a step forward to the front podium. Each podium has a timer located to the speaker's right, which will indicate how much time is remaining. A bell will sound when you have 30 seconds left. When your time has ended, the bell will sound again and you should complete your comments. Before you begin your comments, please state your name and city of residence. Thank you. Good evening and welcome to the Four City Council public comments session. I'll call the meeting to order. Tonight's invocation will be by Pastor Jed Chamis from the Edge Park United Methodist Church. Please stand for the invocation and remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance. Let us pray. We thank you God for this day and for life and for the joy of living it. We thank you for the season of thankfulness Lord that we can reflect upon all the blessings that you continue to do in our lives as you work for good. As we gather tonight here as concerned citizens and as leaders of this community, we ask your presence upon us. We ask a blessing upon the work that's being done. And we pray that when we do our work together that things would be better for all in our community and that would reflect upon how we live around the world. Lord, while our concerns for all people in the world tonight, we ask that you would help us focus on the needs of our community and that you would guide and lead us in a way that would join us together and lift us up together, that we might be better together as we work as people who live and share in life and find the joy of living it. Again, we ask for your guidance and we know that you are a God who creates us all and you hear the prayers of many of various backgrounds, different kinds of faith. You're the God of us all. But Lord, I ask that you would hear this prayer tonight that I submit in the name of Jesus. Amen. Council, the first order of business is the consideration of the minutes from the November 1st council meetings. Got a motion? Second. Motion and a second in your discussion council. Please vote. There you go. Motion carries. That concludes the business other than the public comments, mayor. Thank you. Our first speaker will be Brenda Waddell followed by JD Jimmerson. Good evening. I'd like to say I'm Brenda Waddell from the Foyer Greater Northside Association. And what I'm coming to y'all for is we haven't complained about Norse on a certain. And I believe it's 14, 14, 35th Street and Angle, lots of loud music. It goes on mostly on Saturdays to two o'clock in the morning. And sometimes on Fridays it's been going on for maybe a year or two. That's the complaint I have. Thank you, Brenda. Anything else you want to add? No, that's all. I'm just getting something from some of the neighborhood people that's complaining about it. We appreciate it. Thank you. And I think council member Flores introduced you to Chief Aldridge to follow us. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you for coming this evening. No, that's all. Unless you'd like to add you still have more time you're welcome to keep going. No, that's all. Thank you. Okay, thank you, Ms. Waddell. Our next speaker is JD Jimmerson followed by Adrian Smith. Good afternoon and thank you for allowing me to speak. My name is JD Jimmerson. I'm here in conjunction with the same statements that just, that you just heard. I've got a little history. This has been going on for more than two years. That is extensively loud music that states off on a Friday afternoon about three o'clock and stays on until three o'clock in the morning. I've called the neighborhood police people. I've called non-emergency police departments. I visited my councilman on several occasions. We talked about it. I went to the chief of police's office and he was not there, but I left a message. And what had happened is a detective called me the other day and said on September the 27th and stated that I have a stated complaint of noise coming from 3002 Roosevelt. That's not my address. My address is 3302, which had been given numerous times with phone numbers. But my complaint is this, if you cannot get the police to come out on the time that the noise is going on because they're too busy and you know about it and it's been going on for two years, what course of action can you take to curtail that? I mean, I have to get up in the morning at seven o'clock. And if they party all night, it's a noise that's aggravating. It should not be something that I have to tolerate as a citizen. And I started from the bottom and I worked the way up to the top. So I'm here to ask you to give me some assistance and getting that resolved. Have you got any questions for me? Again, we'll make sure that Chief Alders, I think got to meet you, Mr. Jimerson as well. Thank you. Our next speaker is Adrian Smith, followed by Peyton Jackson. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable and I say to Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Adrian Smith, District Three. To Ms. Beck, Mr. Nettles, Mr. Williams, and Ms. Bivens. Thank you for your willingness to consider trying to strengthen the relationship between communities in the forward police department. Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I'm gonna regularly let you all know that it is not going unnoticed. I would like to say also that I pray that the forward police department is not weaponized against you like it has been in the past because of your decision to vote on something that people deemed that was against law enforcement. So I pray that the police department is not weaponized against you. We know the police officer association, Mr. Manuel Ramirez is now a commissioner. However, that doesn't change the culture of the police officer association. I digress from that. To Mr. Flores, District Two, you were the deciding vote, sir. And I say you were the deciding vote on last week, sir, because you went on record stating that you have experienced something with law enforcement that people such as myself that look like me, look like you have experienced for countless years. But I'm not going to speak to you on every hand. I want people in District Two to be mindful of some words that Mr. Flores said. You go back to the YouTube channel, city council meeting November 8th. The four hour and 32 minute mark. And I quote, you spoke regarding the outreach that was done regarding this most recent agenda item. You also maintained a survey link that was established, which by your own account was posted on your council page. You said regarding the link being, regardless of the link being posted, not many people knew about it. Those who participated, that's good. But the majority of the people within your district not knowing about it, troubled you. Your final comments was not enough time. Mr. Flores, that falls on you, sir. If the people within your district did not know about this agenda item, it falls on you, sir. And I think I know why you didn't put in the work to make sure they knew about it because you knew it was gonna be some pushback. It was gonna be some support for that agenda item that we all, that you all voted down last week. You're on the clock, sir. Our next speaker is Peyton Jackson, followed by Bob Willoughby. My people are stuck at the bottom of Maslow's pyramid. We have to fight for basic needs which narrow our vision. Malcolm X said, we don't see the American dream. We've experienced only the American nightmare. We are in a continual stage, or state, a fight or flight. See, in the black household, our culture and your history make it mandatory to have the talk. Not sex, but the talk to tiptoe around law enforcement. Keep your hands up and visible at all times. No sudden movements, yes, sir, no, sir, eye contact, but not too much, and more. Black people represent the lowest when it comes to demographics in this city, yet we experience the leading odds of being arrested and murdered by police. I won't hold you long because I understand that we're getting ready for a holiday. And not the holiday based off of genocide, where white people tried their hardest to kill off Native Americans, but the holiday where you're surrounded by family. Where our police department is responsible for a countless amounts of broken families. So while you feast next week, understand that you are not only responsible, but you are condoning genocide, modern day genocide within this city. I know these numbers aren't up to date, and they definitely don't represent anything tossed under the table, but was $20,000 enough for you to turn on your own people? Was $80,000 enough for you to slap the black community in the face? If you actually read that panel review and didn't feel disgusted, you are not only a part of the problem, but since you placed yourself in a leadership position, you are the problem. But I'm not here for the panel. I'm not here for the board. I'm not here to change your minds. Yet I am here, I'm sorry, instead I am here to relay a warning. See, like the beautiful soul of Xavier Hernandez, our school district informed me about two weeks ago that my child is on the high end of the autism. Thank you, Ms. Jackson. Of the high end of the autism. Thank you, Ms. Jackson. I have to ask you to conclude your remarks. Thank you very much. Our next speaker is Bob Willoughby, followed by Jim DeLong. Thank you, Ms. Jackson. Thank you, Ms. Jackson. Mr. Willoughby, you can speak. No, of course not. We're not starting. Thank you, Ms. Jackson. Come on down, Bob. Next speaker would be Jim DeLong. Let's get this started right. Forward quickly, I had an idea. I just bought that down. This show kind of quickly. They autographed it. And it kind of shows to me, you're out of touch. Do you think this is a game or something? I guess to autograph that and give it to me, you know? And I think you think it's a game. It's not a game. My whole thing, since I've been down here for 10 years, is one thing is to try to get some truth out and answers. And that's it. And y'all fight me every way. I met with a city manager, gave him documents. Zero return calls. It's okay? So this is not a game, okay? Understand that. It's real. And when you put this stuff in a public paper about, you don't come out and defend yourself. That's what I've done. If anybody said a thing about me like I said about y'all, well, I'd be putting ads in a paper saying that's not true. That's not true. But you can't do that. Because what I'm saying is true, okay? So you need to put back our right to speak at city council meetings. That was wrong. Let's change this. It's upside down. We put this up before, and I don't think you had any problem with it before. And you shouldn't have no problem with it now. When you turn it around right, you can let me have it up before, okay? It just says, look at it closely. You notice they're watching real close. Make sure I don't put my website on there. I think this is where the city went one step too far, because my website really is no reason not to be on there. It's been on there for eight years under Betsy Price. No problem. But when Maddie got in here, that was a problem. Because they went to my website. I don't know how many people's websites they went to and looked at and then found something, you know? I probably could have had KKK on there or Nazi things, and they wouldn't have said anything. But you know what I had on there was taboo, it was about campaigning and stuff, and that's taboo with these people. You're not supposed to, about any good picture for a billboard, okay? Hang on there just one second, okay? You're gonna love this on Highway 30. It's gonna look nice, okay? Smile. Okay. Appreciate it Maddie very much. I hope this pixels, I don't know how many pixels it takes to do a billboard, so this camera's supposed to be stronger. Okay. Oh, you were right to vote down the Citizens Review Board over the police. We wanted the citizens, that's what we asked for years ago, and they gave us a watered-down monitor things that they gave us. They didn't give us what we wanted. We had meetings with Mr. Cook, told him what we wanted, but we didn't get it. You know what, you're right to vote it down because we don't need a citizens review board over the police. We need a mayor and a council, a manager first, until we have a real mayor and a manager that cares about the city, you know, and we're gonna do their jobs. The manager's not doing his job, and if we had that, we might not need a police review board. They would know they had the power to get the chief to fire the wrong people and do that. I'd like to try that first. I think we're coming up from the bottom up, no. Let's start from the top down. Maddie, you gotta go. You're not doing the right job. You lied to us. You said transparency. You're the most less transparent first. For your kids' sake, you need to get out of here. Thank you. Our next speaker is Jim DeLong, followed by Bart Gutierrez. Good evening, Jim DeLong, Fort Worth, Texas. A question I have is, what is the goal? When we talk about our city, we talk about bringing people together, we talk about unity in our city, is that the goal? To some people, it isn't. I'll tell you something. Does it make any difference what the ordinance is? Usually, it won't make much difference. If I hear strife, if I hear anger, if I hear contention, if I hear division, or I hear retribution, I'm not gonna vote for that. Because a little bit of leaven leavens the whole loaf. Loaf, if you put an action, an ordinance or something in our city that has that at its roots, that's not gonna help our city. I don't care what the ordinance is. I love our city. I'd love our city to be a shining light on a hill. But when there is anger and division and retribution, we're never gonna get there. And those people that talk about that and go in that direction, they don't want what's best for the city. They want what's best for them and their ideology. I've got a graphic here. You start with trust, then there's the ability to resolve conflict, then there's commitment, then there's accountability, and then there's results. If you try to start with results and you don't trust one another, you ain't gonna get anywhere. I don't care what your race is. I don't care what your religious background is. You develop trust. Then you develop the ability to resolve conflict. And conflict resolution is not my way or the highway. That's not resolving conflict together. Then you can have commitment. Then you can get to a place of accountability and results. As one citizen, I'm not only a resident of our city, I am a citizen of our city. As one citizen, I want to see results. I want to see us come together. And we can do that if we have a mind to do that. And like I've said before, maybe the only thing we have in common is you like ice cream and I like ice cream. That's where you can start coming together. To try and fix the racial problems in our city, start there that is never gonna happen. We've got to learn how to come together. We've got to learn to respect one another. And honor one another. And go through a process where we are respectful for one another. But again, if there is anger and those types of things, you'll never see me encourage my councilman to vote for that. Thank you. Our next speaker is George Charles, excuse me, Bart Gutierrez, followed by George Charles. Is Bart here? Okay, come on down, George. George will be followed by Tonya Carter. Carrie Hines is not here. My name is George, and I live in Fort Worth. Document one is a copy of a training aid used by Ronald G. DeLorde in the class for police union leaders. Mr. DeLorde has been instrumental in every meeting conferred the city has entered into. The document shows police unions as cheetahs, plainly put as predators and equally blunt language as prey. After I saw this, I would sit here and look up there. Those Mr. DeLorde sees fit to call Wildebeest and long at my very center to see at least one Warthog. Last week I did. Before the district aid council member takes in which that characterization, I ask that he look at the A-10 aircraft, commonly called a Warthog, the fundamental mission of which is to protect the maneuvered unit troops which are consistently the most in danger from hostile fire. I don't think the analogy is difficult to grasp. In the actual Warthog, consideration of its demonstrated worldview strongly suggests that it would probably be the last animal in Africa to be chosen by Mr. DeLorde to stand for his idea of the perfect council member. Wildebeest grazed on $25,000 checks and free yard signs while living in constant fear of Mr. DeLorde's cheetahs. Warthog say to the Wildebeest, quote, it says to me that you'd rather support the POA than the community, unquote. Since it's obvious that the district aid council member will get POA support only when in the immortal words of Brad Paisley, Clint Eastwood does ballet and a big pink leotard, it is fair to ask what sort of person he will choose for their proposed Wildebeest. Document two, which is page 214 of Mr. DeLorde's second book for police union leaders, the answer to that in glaring words. It prescribes a highly selective form of community relations in the following terms, quote, if community leaders come to the defense of their officers, it may less than the likelihood the officers will face criminal charges. I think it would be a fine thing indeed for Mr. DeLorde to personally repeat that particular nugget of wisdom for police union leaders at the hillside community center which conveniently located only a few blocks from 1203 East Allen Avenue. It is far past time for everyone who is against taxpayer-supplied ammunition being used to kill innocent people to find a warthog in their district who will tell the cheaters I'm here to, quote, stand the ground and fight to the end, unquote. Our next speaker is Tonya Carter followed by James Smith. Good evening, Madam Mayor. Good evening, council. My name is Tonya Carter. I'm in Michael's Crane District 3. I'm here to talk about code compliance. There is a program offered by the city of Fort Worth. It's called Code Rangers. I would ask that that program be revisited and different members in the community be added on with a special provision that the code ranger names be listed. It's been my experience, unfortunately. That code appears to bear down on particular residents inside my community of Lake Como and Fort Worth, Texas, be it real estate investors, developers, or disgruntled neighbors that don't particularly like certain decors of home. I do understand that standing water, excessive trash, mattresses, things of that nature can be a breeding ground for insects, mosquitoes, and proposed health hazards. But if code compliance is to be used solely to foul, I don't know if it's the right words, vagresses on neighbors, I feel that it should be revisited. I'm all for better policing and communities to free up, whether it be code enforcement or the Fort Worth Police Department to free their time up to handle things that they deem more important and necessary than a vagrance of some overgrown grass, trees, limbs, or what have you, but do keep in mind some people, including outside investors in today's society with the use of technology of Google Maps and things of that nature sometimes have a tendency to look on Google Maps or maybe to look on text rows. I'm speaking extemporaneously and I just got in here. I'm trying to get my thoughts together because there are particular properties that they find of interest and they use code as a form of a neighborhood association likened to the kind that would come with the homeowners association and a development that you would purchase. I don't feel that my tax dollars should be used as dues for a neighborhood association for people that want to tax me out and take my property. Thank you. Our next speaker is James Smith, followed by Jackie Cox. Good afternoon, Councilor Mayer. My name is James Smith. I live in District 8. It's been a while since I've been here, not counting last week, but I wasn't here during the week that Thomas told him Kasi passed, so I have a tribute to him. I've stood where he stood many times, addressing the city council, meeting of the minds. His approach was smooth and to the point, he brought accountability into the joint. If you could have walked a mile in his shoes, you'd seen he brought factual information, not just clues. There's a void in the city of Fort Worth that may never be filled. I'm glad to have known a man that kept it real. Thomas was the embodiment of what the city of Fort Worth needed amongst the citizens. The truth and the transparency he displayed via video or in the council room were astronomical, but yet his findings often fell on deaf ears and blind eyes. But seeds were planted, and with good care, one day there'll be another truth seeker in the city of Fort Worth, and he's worthy of recognition in the new city council building. It was because of Thomas I was able to speak on the agenda item for the first time in the three years that I've come down here. So that's my tribute to Thomas. Transparency is a word I've heard often in the past three years. Most of the transparency that I've seen, I've already seen it as being transparent. Tomorrow begins the beginning of accountability for the Tatiana tragedy. I'm optimistic of the outcome. I'm optimistic because there's a request for a change of venue again. I'm not sure what the outcome would be, but these next three days will be very, very tense and stressful for myself and Tatiana's family. But we're not leaving. Christmas, they won't be happy for us. November 28th, jury selection, guess what? It's our Tatiana's birthday. The city of Fort Worth has some work to do, and I hope you guys are willing to actually, actually, actually do the work. Thank you. And justice for Tatiana Jefferson. Next speaker is Jackie Cox, followed by Alessandra Huggins, and the phone. Thank you, Council. I'm glad to be here, and it's good to see you. We've just heard two speeches this evening that spoke deeply from the hurt that exists in this community because some members of our community, and frankly, some members of our police force, have been abusive to other members of the community. That has to be fixed. It can't be fixed with one trial. It can't be fixed, I suppose, with one vote. But it's something we have to commit to. And I ask that you commit to it by taking first steps to be sure that things happen within the police department that will bring resolution to the community, a sense of resolution in the community that first steps are being taken to get abusive people off the street wearing the garb of law enforcement. How you're going to do it will be partly for you to consider. But I think it would be unwise to reject citizen oversight of the process because there are many of us who really care deeply that this succeed. And one way to make it succeed is to watch what's going on and have the ability to come forward with facts that we find in the process and to ask for correction of each wrong as it is apparent. So for that, I'm asking that those of you who voted against a police oversight review board reconsider that vote. And I'm asking that you're going to, I'm feel sure that you're going to give Cheese and Oaks his opportunity to bring his position to you. He deserves to be heard. But so do we. And something has to be worked out in the middle that being something better to our community than what we have had. And I am a retired attorney who no longer believes that the courts can fix everything. And I'm sure, don't believe they do fix everything. So I'm asking you for your help. Thank you. Our next speaker is Carrie Hines. Excuse me, Elisandra Huggins. Is she available on the phone? Yes. Ms. Huggins, please go ahead. You have three minutes. Yes. My name is Elisandra Huggins, and I have an item for the agenda board. I recently purchased a car. I am also inquiring about an apartment complex that I realized is I'm still listed as that address. It is a 950 Spanish Needle Court of Fort Worth, Texas 76177. This is supposed to be in a Leonard Firestone jurisdiction. The car was purchased at 8000 West Freeway, which is I'm told Grand Prairies jurisdiction. But my insurance, which was the coverage that I have on the car, which was valid 20 years ago, I have not gotten a response to how to update it to be validated towards today. I feel that I should have enough coverage on it that the car could be towed to my residence or that 7677 Spanish Needle is not my address, but I am listed there, or a free parking spot. And TCC South Campus has this, and I contacted the City of White Settlement to see if they have one, because without the correct insurance, no, I cannot drive the car off the lot. I don't know about driving it in the city, but it has to have coverage. And like I said, my insurance coverage was valid 20 years ago. I've been trying to update it to make sure that it covered the property damage. I emailed this to Maddie Parker, and I tried to email it to a Leonard Firestone, and I emailed it to the City of White Settlement. But one of them came back unanswered, and I've been emailing since I bought the car. And subsequently, I think I've been dropped, because when I went in to buy the car, I'd only had the insurance, one of them for two weeks. So finding me in their system, it might not have shown through, and then I was just on another sub-system, you know, through a AAA, one of the many car companies that are affiliated with one of my resources for coverage. So like I said, I don't have the car. I have not gotten my paperwork. I was supposed to go back in and get it. I had given them a copy of all the insurances that I had. And like I told them, yes, I'm aware that 20 years ago, that coverage counted, but I upped the coverage, trying to make sure that it is still reliable and would be relevant for the car today. Thank you, Ms. Heggins. Your time's expired. Our next speaker is Bruce Miller, also by phone. Mr. Miller. Here's what you're talking about. Is Bruce Miller there? He'll be in a few more minutes. He had to leave for a few minutes. Can I help you if you want to talk to him about, he'll be back if you want to call back in about 10 minutes. Okay, thank you. If you want to call you. No, that's okay. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Miller. Thank you. Council, that is the conclusion of our speakers this evening. I would like to close this evening in honor of RW Bob Watt Jr., who passed away last week. Bob was one of the Fort Worth's greatest advocates for the leadership of the Fort Worth Stock Show in Rodeo where he truly made things legendary to his work at Will Rogers Memorial Center in Dickey's Arena. Bob believes a monumental legacy will endure forever in our city's history. We are so grateful for the entire Watt family for their continued leadership in our city and they remain in our thoughts and prayers. Thank you, Council. Meeting adjourned.