 I'll be happy. Let all be free from debilitations. Let all see goodness. Let there be no victims of sorrow. Om Asatoma Satgamaya, Dhamasoma Hirgamaya, Mrutyon Amrutangamaya, Tishyamthishyamthihi. Lead me from the asat to the asat. Lead me from darkness to light. Lead me from death to immortality. Om Shanti Om Sahanavavatum Sahanavunaktum Sahaviryam Karavahai Tejaspinavadhitamastumavidvishavahai Om Shanti Tishyamthishyamthihi. May God protect us. May God nourish us. May we work together with great energy. May our studies be enlightening. May there be no hate among us. Om Shanti. The first item of business is consideration of minutes. Items 22-1987, 22-1988, and 22-1989. Approval of minutes from the May meetings. Approval of motion, please. Thank you. Any other discussion? Please vote. Motion carries. Mayor, that concludes the business. Thank you. Our first speaker this evening is Malik Austin, maybe by call. Okay, we'll move to the next speaker. Dan Hayes is our next speaker, and we'll use the call system next. Good evening, Mayor and Council. My name is Dan Hayes, and tonight I'm representing the neighborhoods of East Fort Worth Alliance on the topic of short-term rentals. This is a topic that's been in the news a lot recently. We know these illegally exist in single family neighborhoods, and we appreciate the fact that the city is trying to learn more about just how many there are and where they're located. Ordinance-wise, as we continue to learn more about the nuances of this topic, we've come to the conclusion that the best approach the city can adopt is to stand pat with the ordinance as is prohibiting short-term rentals in residentially zoned neighborhoods. They are already allowed in other zoning categories, and that should be sufficient. Initially, we thought there might be room to create zones where these could exist in neighborhoods, but ultimately, that is a slippery slope. We also don't think the city needs to come up with any new tools like a conditional use permit or additional regulation. This is a problem the short-term rental industry created for themselves, and there's really no need to accommodate them. These companies own no assets, and they essentially put it on the property owners to break the law if they want to list a residential property in Fort Worth. Sure, there's a little paragraph of legalese saying it's the owner's responsibility to know the law, but just skim right past that part and click I agree. The stories abound as to the problems created by this industry across the nation, including Fort Worth, where a shooting took place in March at an Airbnb house party, for example. We contend that most short-term rental property owners are not prepared to deal with loud parties, criminal activity, fires, shootings, rapes, and even murders. They may not have even disclosed to their insurance carrier that they're operating a short-term rental. The traditional lodging industry, on the other hand, is more prepared for these types of issues because they are a reality of renting rooms to people, and if the rental property owners are not prepared, imagine how unprepared the neighbors are for this invasion of their neighborhood on a regular basis. At its core, concepts like Airbnb make sense, but when it operates as the industrialized business it's become, it's time for cities to redouble their resolve to say no to these in residential communities. That's my message to you tonight. Figure out how to properly enforce the ordinance we have and don't make adjustments. It will just make the problem even harder to manage if you don't. In the end, it is neighborhoods that would lose, and the city should be doing all it can to protect them and their investment. When neighborhoods die, cities begin to die. Thank you. Thank you, Dan. Our next speaker is Jessica Black, followed by Thomas Trollen-Cosse. Hello, my name is Jessica Black from Arlington, Texas, and I'm speaking on behalf of the Texas Neighborhood Coalition at the request of a group of Fort Worth residents to strongly caution you against making any changes to where short-term rentals can legally operate in Fort Worth. Multiple studies have shown that the proliferation of STRs reduces long-term housing inventory, increases rents and home prices for locals, and contributes to the displacement of longtime residents, particularly in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color. The negative impact of STRs goes well beyond housing. STR hotels whose business model relies on bringing a constant parade of strangers into neighborhoods makes forming effective crime watch groups virtually impossible. Studies have linked increasing numbers of STRs to increases in violent crime due to increased transiency and loss of community cohesion. Studies have also found that municipal policies that reduce the number of STR listings and prevent commercial STR operators from listing multiple properties reduce the overall crime rate. Texas law prohibits local hot tax from being used to address any of these negative externalities created by STRs. Any costs for police, code compliance, municipal courts, or affordable housing initiatives must come from the city's general fund. There is no legal reason for Fort Worth to allow STRs in residential areas. The Second District Court of Appeals upheld Arlington's STR ordinance that prohibits rentals of less than 30 days in the large majority of Arlington's single-family residential neighborhoods. Since Fort Worth is in the same jurisdiction, that decision is a controlling precedent. However, be aware, other Texas courts have held that once the city permits STRs to operate in residential areas, even if those STRs prove unmanageable and are having a negative impact on long-term housing, school enrollments, and residents' quality of life, the city cannot phase those STR permits out. Fort Worth should focus on stronger enforcement by drafting STR regulations that include platform accountability. Platform accountability allows cities to find STR platforms like Airbnb and Verbo for collecting fees from STR listings that don't have permits with the city. This forces the STR platforms to play by the rules and prevents the city from having to spend a ton of taxpayer money playing whack-a-mole in an effort to hunt down scoff laws. After adding a platform accountability provision to its STR ordinance in 2020, Denver now has a 90% compliance rate, which is one of the highest in the country. The Texas Neighborhood Coalition is happy to help y'all to come up with solutions that are effective and enforceable to protect Fort Worth's neighborhoods. Thank you, Jessica. Our next speaker is actually going to be Malik Austin. We're on the phone, and then we'll go back to Thomas Troncosi. Malik? Good evening, everyone. Hello? Please go ahead. You have three minutes. Oh, yes, ma'am. Can you hear me? Yes, go ahead. Yes, ma'am. Malik Austin here, a member of UGW. We have some issues that we have concern mainly with the murder of Rashad Ginyard again. It just seemed like not enough sense of urgency in the city when it comes to the violence that's erupted in the city. The chief didn't address the family. Again, this young man was headed to ACU Evelyn Christian University, 4.0 student, scholar-athlete, and we just act as if they have no concern about one of our kings that got murdered going on three weeks ago. Don't get to graduate, didn't go to his prom. I don't know the overall attitude of leadership of the city when it comes to our kids. When something happened on 7th Street, law enforcement can be very speeding to find out who the perpetrator who did that. We have a grieving mother, grieving father. The investment they put into their child is worth more than what the city is showing. We have another event that's coming up that's going to cause a situation on June 5th, the Gucci Man concert in Wild Acre, which sits in Councilman Nettles District that we have concerns about. We have a disciplined street team to offset some of the violence and we have requested meetings with the chief, which we have not yet to have that meeting yet for some reason or another. It's seem like if you're not a minister, part of these on the payroll programs, they don't amount to nothing, they don't produce nothing, just as well as your police department don't produce nothing, but they get a free check. And when we got concerns citizens based on constitutional United States, we have a right to form groups that such as mine to protect the things that the police choose not to protect, and we're going to continue to do it. And so until we get the right cooperation out of our city officials, if not, we will exercise our right to vote. And so being that I do see it, we asked to do what you took your oath on, you took a oath to the people, not the bureaucracy that you play downtown. We see it, we know it. A lot of us got college education, homeowners, got children, and we don't want to see for falling to a pitfall, a further pitfall than what it already has fallen into with the ongoing violence and the lack of concern. The children have nothing to do. We've asked for adequate sufficient rec centers in the African African American communities and low income areas and come up with some things that can be utilized instead of writing blank checks to a group of people that don't produce nothing. If you want to give us some money, give us some money to the party called the EMT people. Thank you. All right, thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Thomas Harlan-Cosse, followed by Adrian Smith. This side works. Mayor Parker, council members, fellow citizens, I get to look you in the eye when I stand up here. There's a reason why I'm standing up here and I'll explain that in a moment. I also want to point out that Mr. Blalock was sworn in about 25 minutes ago and one of the elements of him being sworn in is that he uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States. That's pretty important to me. It's important to everyone in this room, but I want to encourage you and caution you, go home and reread the 10 Bill of Rights and recognize what it is that you swore to because that's going to become important over the next few months. I'm standing back here tonight to symbolize how the divide between the public and the police and by extension our elected officials is growing wider. And I'm going to give you one specific example. It happened right here in this city council chamber about four or five weeks ago. Remember when the council voted on a $74 million contract for 12 years for body cameras, drones, license plates, scanners, etc. It's what happened in the back of the room right here, Mayor Parker. You lost control of the room and you didn't notice. While I was speaking and while the chief was speaking, seven or eight uniformed officers on duty on the payroll stood up in the back of the room. That's against the rules in this chamber for the public to stand up in the back of the room. My point is, is they were literally lobbying for the council and sending you a silent reminder, a form of free speech that what they wanted, they needed you to vote for. I wasn't afraid to get up and speak and be critical of that measure, but it is the fact that you allow them to do that, that it widens the divide. Similarly, some of the council members were elected specifically to be providing more oversight, provide more criticism or suggestions on how to reform and redefine the police. Their ability to speak freely is, there's a chill or shade put on them when we have armed law enforcement officers standing in back of the room. Mr. Blalock, you won by 53%. I want to encourage you to always keep in mind the 47% that didn't vote for you. I'm going to guess that the 47% that didn't vote for you probably voted for the pay raise. A moment ago, we got to see the canvas and the discerning voters voted for some measures and won by 74%. They voted against the pay raise and your council members interpretation of why that happened is indicative of the divide between the people and the council. There are a lot more points to make on that subject, but keep in mind that Manuel Mota is out there right now recording police officers behaving badly, and he's now at more than 2 million points. Thanks, Thomas. Next speaker is Adrian Smith, followed by David Mendes. Adrian Devine Smith, a former native, former candidate of District 3 last year's council elections. Keep that in the air because I want people to know that I'm here to stay. You all remember that name, Adrian Devine Smith. Mayor Parker, there was a quick observation regarding the last council meeting and how you all conducted business from the usual norms of how you all normally do it, and specifically speaking to the reading of the agenda items, well, basically you all just blazed through them without reading them, I guess word on word, line on line, et cetera, et cetera. Just observation from the outside looking in, and maybe you can speak to that. People just wanted to know what's the change. We know the four-word-star telegrams editorial section, this past Sunday in the opinion section, they had a cartoon that depicted you all as children. Now, I'm not up here to throw stones at none of that, but that's just art. Art is depicted as as is. It's free. How would you express art? It's up to interpretation, but I just say this, regarding the last election, we saw all the agenda items that passed and one agenda item that didn't pass, and there was agenda item F. So council, I just say self-reflection. Again, I'm not up here to point fingers at you and say ha ha ha, no, none of that. Just self-reflection as to why it didn't, it didn't pass. And like Tommy said, I think about a triangle. There's the council, the police department in the community that makes a triangle. But if Tommy said we're not together as a triangle, that means we're just all over the place. So we have to get that triangle shape together. Lastly, to the new council member, congratulations. But like Tommy said, you have this time until next year to make an impact. There was a voter wave that happened last year that's never happened in the city of Fort Worth, and it's going to happen again. And what you do now till then determines if you're going to continue on serving. So congratulations to you. Mr. Nettles and Mr. Williams, there are outside forces as well as inside forces that don't want to see you two succeed. And there's the same amount of forces they want to see you succeed. Any differences you two are having from just observation from the outside, I can't speak to it. Y'all work it out because y'all stronger together, but if y'all divide it then it's chaos. So keep that in mind. Our next speaker is David Mendes followed by Rick Herring. Mayor and council, I'm speaking on behalf of Northwest neighborhood alliance on the matter of short-term rentals and against the city expanding the SRT ordinance into neighborhoods. SRTs are supposed to be limited to certain areas and not in residential neighborhoods. However, it will not shock you to learn that there are many already operating either illegally or under the radar of code compliance, which is powerless to do anything about this because they are short staffed and not given the tools to succeed in thinking about expanding the SRT ordinance. This problem will only get worse and worse as you hope to collect more hotel tax occupancy dollars. Last year, the amount of short-term rental fees, hot hotel occupancy tax collected was $28,000. What that number does not tell you is the cost it took to create the tossed in resources it took to collect those dollars. Another point is that hot tax money can only be used for tourism or tourism promotion under state law. This point is overlooked as the dollar signs make eyes grow in the hopes of filling city coffers. But that money is earmarked and the greater impact the city neighborhoods will far outweigh the money you collect. When we look at housing as a whole, we see frantic building and expansion in Fort Worth. The more homes you take out of that pool for short-term rentals, you now essentially create a gap in housing and the city will be more pressed to build denser housing, more multifamily and ruined neighborhoods. When the simple solution is keep STRs out of neighborhoods and focus the efforts to make STRs work legally and more efficiently in the areas that Fort Worth already allows under the current rules. Short-term rentals should not be welcome as a solution, but the beginning of a problem to an already overtaxed fire, police and code compliant staff. Please keep these points in mind as you think about expanding STRs into neighborhoods or changing the current ordinance as these would not benefit Fort Worth and its communities. Thank you. Thank you, David. Our next speaker is Rick Herring, followed by Bob Willoughby. Good evening, Mayor and City Council and welcome Councilman Blalock, who is my new City Council member in District 4. Very excited about that. Rick Herring, 1801 Bolton, and I'm here tonight asking for your help. I'm addressing you tonight on the subject of public art on Bon Ibray Avenue in Riverside, a street that most of us in Riverside refer to most commonly as the Boulevard. Nearly 10 years ago, Bon Ibray Avenue was reconstructed as a result of a bond program and consequently funds were set aside for public art in connection with that reconstruction. Meetings were held, an artist was chosen, and some beautiful outdoor art was selected, specifically three very large iron mesh structures that represent various forms of Texas wildlife and they truly are beautiful pieces. Only one problem, while the art itself is wonderful, the proposed site and placement of the art is not. Riverside community leaders and residents have expressed over and over throughout that process repeatedly for a number of years that we do not want public art on the Bon Ibray Boulevard and this is the reason why. The medians in that Boulevard technically comprise an esplanade and by its very definition an esplanade is a level open stretch of grassy ground. The Bon Ibray esplanade was specifically designed and built as a vista and approach from Belknap to Carter Riverside High School and to provide an open vista for that approach. Over the years trees have sprung up on the esplanade and obscured the original vista but we are working to restore the Bon Ibray esplanade to its original purpose. The placement of public art on the esplanade impedes those plans. Because of the opposition to the placement of the art on the esplanade the project has been stalled for several years but we have been told repeatedly that because of public art policies and procedures the chosen art must be placed on the esplanade and nowhere else although we have repeatedly suggested an alternate location Sylvania Park which is less than 200 yards from Bon Ibray Avenue. The placement of the public art at Sylvania Park would be much more visible and would be very complementary to the natural and wooded beauty of Sylvania Park. To those of us involved in this issue it seems like a perfect solution. However now the public art folks are telling us that if we don't want it on Bon Ibray they're going to take it out of our community and put it elsewhere in Fort Worth which is the exact opposite of what we were told before. We don't want it on Bon Ibray but we don't want to take it from Riverside. There are other examples around the city where public art was placed not on the spot from which the funds were derived. Councilman Moon and District Director Alicia Ortiz have helped us a lot with this but have not been able to make any headway with the public art folks on this issue. So I'm here bringing this to your attention and asking that you please help us keep this art in an appropriate location in Riverside where it's supposed to be. Thank you Rick. We'll make sure one of our Assistant City Managers reach out and talk to you guys about it directly. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Our next speaker is Ken Hicks followed by Brenda Helmer. I'm sorry Bob you're right come on down and then it's Ken Hicks and Brenda Helmer. Okay thank you very much Rick. All right Bob Willoughby here. This is our Fort Worth City Council here and we're making a document and we gotta say when we send this off to everybody on Flash Drive this has got to be the worst city council in the United States because of this one thing right here we're asking. Several months ago when they took office the first thing they took away our right to speak at city councilmembers. Now the biggest lie is they say oh we didn't do that you can speak but no next week we don't have three minutes to speak on what we want to okay so they took it away you can't do it next week. We used to be able to used to four times a month no more we're in quarantine with them now okay so what what I've done was this is the most legitimate question you can ask your city council. Most legitimate is ask why did you take us off? Other city councils have a presentation. You know what did that was because I came down and hit many the first time she was in office here and I said move our public presentation from the bottom of the agenda to the top of the agenda like other cities because I found out Fort Worth was on the bottom no one else was on top I mean everybody else was on top other cities but we weren't and they didn't want to do that because if they put us on top we get leverage over them and they know it so what they did is they did the smoke screen and put us in quarantine two times and took us off the agenda completely didn't move us to the top took us off completely okay so now my question to all you can you tell can you answer why you removed us the only one that answered was Chris and I had to nail him down in the hallway and he threw the others under the bus he said was their fault how's that now that's the kind of council member I want that's going to support my district that's going to not vote with me he's going to do what the others want or whatever it's wrong but I'm going to vote for it okay so that's wrong but anyway Chris we got a new playmate right over here district four I asked Allen would he speak out about our right back to speak he said yes he said he didn't speak for that okay let's see if it's tough or not our first amendment is very important when they take you right away to speak and no one asked us why and they don't answer why that should be the most important thing in this room right now nothing else more important because it did not help us it didn't save us money it didn't help the citizens at all it only helped them you know when I asked Elizabeth because she called me a name she called me a racist but won't back that up out here she runs out the door and I asked her about that she said the same lie on the way out she said that you know we didn't take away your right to speak what she's not saying is oh we can only speak on council what they allow us to and Maddie has her hand on that mute button so quick when I'm but anyway what I'm asking do any of y'all have enough enough backbone I asked mr. firestone to last meeting to come down here and ask this that word they can't right now but afterwards they can come down they talked everybody else come down come on crane jerry come down and answer that one question only one question I asked you in privately cring and jerry to let the public know before you did this to our and you didn't do it now let's see you know what crane you're gonna win a race because you're the fastest one out of here when I came you're not boy you just move thank you back to follow mayor parker and council members my name is brenda helmer allington heights neighborhood association past president for seven years and west side alliance past moderator for five years I'm speaking tonight as a concerned citizen neighbor and owner occupied city dweller I'm delighted that the city of footwork is in the process of hiring a company that will mine the data regarding short-term rentals I am in hopes that after getting the information the current ordinance will continue to be enforced for the betterment of our community the current footwork ordinance allows short-term rentals in mixed-juice and most form-based districts including commercial EFG and industrial districts IJK encompassing more than 40 zones in the city of Fort Worth which cater to short-term rentals however there seems to be no enforcement in any zone allington heights neighborhood association has been battling zoning with commercial encroachment for many decades trying to preserve historic world war one camp buoy bricks from destruction these bricks are the destination to the history of fort worth and a highly sought after prime real estate district within a well-established residential neighborhood our neighborhood houses one of the first schools in fort worth now used as our thomas place recreation center a house in our neighborhood has just been recently renovated which was a hospital and part of the camp buoy military base for war one any short-term rental as commercial business does not belong in residential neighborhoods they bring nothing to the people who live full-time and said neighborhood is mentioned by everyone in every community tonight HOA neighborhood association in the city of Fort Worth if allowed in residential neighborhoods it shall be considered commercial encroachment and also spot zoning allowing a commercial business in the middle of a long established residential neighborhood when zoning residentials are polluted by outsiders with no care and concern for families investments there's little to draw anyone to the safety and security of home ownership especially in neighborhoods which have worked hard to maintain themselves as desirable places to live and how will the property taxes be paid as commercial property tax rates or will they scam illegally as residential property and thereby raising the property taxes out of the range of normal for everyone else it is a business after all and for what benefit i know many of you on the council have children many would any of you want a short term rental next to your parentally prized property and possessions that's your children not in my backyard is something i hear very often but surely come into a neighborhood near you once that genie is out of the bottle it cannot be put back in as causton dallas waco short-term rentals and residential neighborhoods are like just by a thousand cuts thank you brenda thank you our next speaker is janet williamson followed by james smith hi i'm janet williamson fort worth district three and i was asked to ask the people who came to support no more short-term rentals to stand up so if y'all would stand up really quick just need you to see our people thank you um what a time to be a leader in fort worth right i mean there's a lot of things going on and i really appreciate all you do and i know this responsibility is 24 7 i see y'all out at everything and i really appreciate that um councilman crane comes to all our neighborhood association meetings and he's going from one to the next to the next and he answers all our questions crazy or not and i really appreciate his time and effort so thank you for your service to fort worth thank you for your service to fort worth i would like to ask the council and the mayor to not support having any more short-term rental properties in our city except for the ones already established in our mixed-use zone areas our neighborhoods are the very heart of fort worth my block is made up of 16 homes we all know each other and have each other's phone numbers our neighborhood police officer works closely with us to ensure we have a safe and flourishing neighborhood allowing individuals or companies to come in and buy up properties to use as hotels will change the very makeup of our neighborhoods and therefore the very heart of fort worth yes we want businesses to come here but not at the expense of changing fort worth into a city that we can't be proud of i know the city developers are concerned with having low rent options for people in fort worth but if you look at the tcu overlay construction is these low rent homes that have been purchased and scraped to build three-story high rent tcu housing displacing residents that have lived in these neighborhoods for years i'm concerned this very thing will happen with short-term rental homes being built to accommodate travelers please consider this matter without most importance this is such a key time in defining our beloved fort worth this decision will impact all of us thank you for your time thank you janet our next speaker is james smith followed by jill freer good afternoon council my name is james smith my council district is eight the last time i was here i was elated about having a trial of erin dean on may 16th when i left this chamber i went home and i got a phone call that stated the district attorney had called some elusive clerical person to tell them that the trial was going to be asked to be delayed i was elated because i didn't know that from the beginning everything about this trial has been non-transparent for me and the family and i find that unacceptable i'm happy to say that the trial of erin dean will stay in forward i was pretty much sure it was going to be delayed but with that said there's going to be a trial june 23rd we're talking a lot about transparency in this city but what i see i don't see transparency in fact since this murder i haven't seen transparency not only in this instance but in others that i've witnessed since i've been coming down here two and a half years you want to build trust between the community and the police department between the citizens and the police department i haven't seen that jail yet i made a suggestion to my councilman as well as the chief on the side of the police car as you have where the west began well we've got a wild wild west out there that we need to contain i suggested you change that to where trust begins i don't know what it costs take that where the west begins off input where trust begins gain the trust of your citizens i spoke with i spoke with the tachanus family i speak with them often they're like my family they don't feel they don't feel like you know you guys really care for them they ask for because they all live out of town they ask for accommodations for this trial that was supposed to happen yesterday that didn't and the accommodations that ashley got i'm gonna call it a substandard i don't know forward can do better than that i was upset to hear that so we're not going to have a trial june 23rd and i hope that this city finds in your heart to accommodate this family because you'll never be able to bring a sister back but show them some love i met a young man as i stood in front of the van der grift building the other day manual marta he has an interesting story manual marta uses some language that i have in my vocabulary but i don't particularly use it but when someone comes to the city council and they speak to you guys and you guys don't respond or don't reciprocate that silence is worse than the words that marta uses citizens need you you need the citizens thank you for your time thank you mr smith our next speaker is jill freer followed by jared roker who i believe has a group good evening dear mayor parker councilwoman beck and honorable city council members my name is jill freer and i live at 2916 maramax street in fort worth and council district nine i'm the president of the west seventh neighborhood alliance and i'm i'm i'm also speaking tonight about short term rentals and their impact on the community unregulated short term rentals also known as strs are a concern for many of our homeowners the presence of strs can increase crime and destabilized neighborhoods there are already over 1400 strs in fort worth most of which are entire homes or apartments when strs are in residential neighborhoods illegally that is a concern for homeowners strs have been linked to increase crime and police calls due to excessive noise overcrowding late night parties that become dangerous and parking violations currently it's very difficult to engage with the city on illegal strs due to the reporting and evidence requirements as we've experienced in the linwood neighborhood yet homeowners expect the city to protect us from the threats to our well-being in addition and investor owners reduce community cohesion because they typically do not live in the area and are not engaged in our neighborhood organizations further study should be done on ways to reduce unregulated strs in order to protect neighborhoods currently residential zoning does not permit strs are there ways the city can improve the identification and permitting of strs to ensure they are not located in residential neighborhoods has the city connected the cost of policing and code compliance to strs are there some cities that can serve as successful benchmarks with ordinances that couldn't can be applied to our city what are the six success stories in texas and perhaps across the country i urge the council to recommend actions that will reduce the unregulated proliferation of strs in fort worth in order to protect our residential neighborhoods thank you thank you jill our next speaker is jared roker if the following people could raise their hand to acknowledge they're here robin roker david st germain jessica rynch chain guillery sorry josh dorfman elicia gonzalez jared bell lauren prady adrian bennett thank you go ahead jared thank you council thank you for the opportunity to speak with you this evening i'm here on behalf of the fort worth short-term rental alliance i serve as the vice president um also a community member here in fort worth um if my group could please stand um some of my friends and some of our members of our association so as as you can see there is support for short-term rentals as well um just to let you know a little bit about me i've been in north texas my whole life i'm not an out of town investor i grew up in benbrook went to fort worth isde schools um and i bought my first house in district three in 2002 um still have that house today i also founded the bomber heights neighborhood association it was a past president that neighborhood association is still going strong today 17 years later which i'm proud of that organization also has a 501c3 we've worked with the city as far as working with the public art program bringing art to the neighborhood we've um written a grant so and we're successful in receiving that through the community community development block grant program and now or the neighborhood has a city park they never had before and i'm so proud of that it's going to be there for generations many of our members in our group our residents here in fort worth own their own homes and lease those homes and um i want you to know that our group represents local and that there is a strong benefit to having short-term rentals in the last six years i started investing in real estate myself i have 17 doors now 12 of which are in fort worth i don't have any short-term rentals in fort worth because i'm generally a law abiding guy but i do see that with the evolution of the short-term rental industry that fort worth needs to adapt just like the rest of the world is short-term rentals aren't going anywhere but i think we can do it right we can do it the fourth way i know that the city staff has been tasked with looking at other city's ordinances and taking the best from those and finding the right fit for fort worth and i feel that if we're able to work with you that we can do that together for a win-win situation as far as support or short-term rental alliance we are a 501 c6 organization of ambassador supporting the city community hosts and guests as well by providing education advocacy and community outreach as far as the education piece that's a big part that's missing there's a lot of myth and fact out there um we are developing educational modules to educate citizens and and hosts really more specifically to to uphold high hosting standards not to have the parties you know to respect our residents and to have the highest standards out there and something you might consider as you're developing your code as it evolves is perhaps having an educational component to that maybe if not ours someone else's education module as far as getting a permit or if there's a fine you know that they get educated on that and i found in my life that education is power the more that we know the more we understand um as far as advocacy we want to work with the city on behalf of residents and hosts alike our board consists of a board member per city district so you you and your staff each have someone that you can reach out to that represents that district um we do have a heart for the city and we want to work in partnership with the city and the residents we are going to be doing a community involvement as well as one of our three pillars so we've got education advocacy and community involvement we will be participating in you know the Fort Worth great amount of American cleanup the cow town brush up neighborhood specific priorities and doing fundraising because it's important not only to be good neighbors but to reinvest in the neighborhoods in which we do business we support a proactive community short-term rental code some of the things that we support our annual licensing registration with the fee that goes to the city a maximum of two people per room plus two poor household which is the current city code for every resident um no advertising of short-term rentals on the physical outside of the building having a local emergency contact registered with the city as well as in our homes with our guests so if there's an issue they can call us you can call us and you know the local management will take care of any issue that comes up and of course parking requirements those are just a few of the issues that we see um but we do believe that things do need to change and that the code needs to evolve and we want to partner with you on that short-term rentals provide a lot of benefits you know we have a room deficiency in our community we've got so many things coming to Fort Worth and you know it's a creative solution for residents to supplement their own income and support their families it also solves it's a part of that equation of solving the the room issue um believe it or not short-term rentals can improve the quality of life in neighborhoods because long-term rentals my friends from the neighborhoods you might have some long-term rentals in your neighborhoods that there are slum alerts I just walk away one year lease goodbye well with short-term rentals those properties are maintained continually and the houses are cleaned up to the highest standards and I will tell you as someone who has bought homes and rehab them and made them beautiful made the neighbors happy with the domino effect that happens as well thank you and I have to cut you off Jared I'm sorry that's okay thank you for coming I appreciate it um our next speaker our next speaker is Jim DeLong I'm Jim DeLong District 7 and I want to start out by congratulating you Councilman Blaylock it's great to have you on the City Council and I want to encourage you with this one thing the only shoes you have to fill are your own you're here you are uniquely gifted and you will bring an ingredient to the City Council that I'm sure will add value to us all in your city tonight I want to talk about bridges but before I do I want to tell a little story when I was about I think eight years old it was Christmas time and I got an erector set and I was so excited about that and my dad who is very mechanical he built it so it was an elevator it had a motor you can make the elevator go up you can make the elevator go down he spent hours doing that for me and it took me about 10 minutes playing with that elevator erector set to take it apart and it didn't work it took hours to build it and just minutes to destroy it that's what we're facing all across our country today it's very easy to be negative it doesn't take any character to be negative and negativity is not building a bridge it's destroying bridges and a bridge connects two things I live in I was born and raised in Seattle in Tacoma there's a bridge that goes across Puget Sound without that bridge it's about a three hour drive to go down to Olympia and come back up it's about a seven to ten minute ride across that bridge and I have faith in each and every one of you and that includes you David Cook and your team and that includes you and in the attorneys I hold you up every day and I just want to encourage you listen to voices that build up it's easy to find fault it's easy to tear down and if you want to build coalitions don't start on the big heavy issues they're too polarizing I can I can come into agreement with anybody and it might be I like chocolate ice cream and you like chocolate ice cream we can start there we can start where we have an agreement we can develop trust and grow from there thank you Jim thank you council that's the last of our speakers our meeting is adjourned thank you