 that will indicate how much time is remaining. When you have 30 seconds left, a bell will sound. When your time has ended, a bell will sound again and you should wrap up your comments. Before you begin your comments, please state your name. Thank you. Good evening and welcome to your Four City Council meeting. I'll call us to order. Tonight's invocation will be given by Pastor Alonzo Winston from the Worth Hills Church of Christ. Please rise for the invocation and remain standing for the pledges of allegiance. It is a privilege to be able to stand and pray in the presence of God and all of these citizens. Let us pray. Our Father in Heaven, we thank you, Lord, for this day. We thank you for your grace, your mercy, and your love. It is in the most humblest condition that we can possibly find ourselves to render unto you request concerning the issues and the things that will be deliberated over tonight. Dear Lord, you know the hearts of all involved. You know the hearts of all of these citizens. But most of all, you know the right thing for us to do in every circumstance, in every situation. And so Lord, we ask that you will just put your arms of guidance and your arms of strength and your arms of love around us that we are able to come to the conclusions that will benefit every citizen of the city of Fort Worth. Be with our leaders, guide their thoughts, guide their actions. Most of all, dear Lord, help to create peace among us all. Keep us in the holler of your care. Mold us into the individuals you would have us to become and keep us in your son's name, in Jesus' name. Let us all say, amen. Council, the first item of business will be consideration of the minutes from the May 2nd, May 9th, May 16th, and May 23rd council meetings. Second. Motion and a second. Those of you that can vote, please vote electronically and then we'll do a hand vote for those that can't. Council Member Nettles. Oh, Jared is. Oh, we may be all messed up. We just have to do a hand vote. So I've got a motion by Council Member Vivens, a second by Council Member Chris Nettles. Any other discussion? If not, all in favor say aye. Looks like I've got a yes too. Okay, motion carries. Thank you. Thanks, Jared. There it went. Mayor, that concludes all of the action items. Next is just public comments. Thank you. Our first speaker is Bob Willoughby, followed by Sarah Fairley Luna. It's been a while since I've been here. I'll see Mr. Crane ain't here, but I had a couple of comments I wanted to make for Mr. Crane and Beck and Jared. Where's he at? Is he gone? Okay. Oh, he's up there. Okay, there he is. No, yeah. You know, I've been saying y'all take away, I wish Crane was here. He's the one that laughs the most about it, but I've been going around saying they took away our right to speak at council meetings. Well, they did in a way. They did take away. We used to have what you called a public presentation on the council meetings, like next week, you know? You had three minutes to talk what you want to talk on, but they removed that. Other cities have it, but we don't anymore in Fort Worth. If you don't have the right to speak freely, you can only speak on agenda items. But I come down here and I said, they took away our right and Crane would say, Bob, we didn't take away your right. And they'd laugh about it. And they knew what I was talking about. Same thing with Beck and Jared. And they'd say, we didn't take away your right. You're speaking now. Yeah, we're speaking only on the agenda items, what they allow you to speak on. So what they did was they took that off. And if you see how they did it on agenda, they snuck it on there in a way. You gotta watch that agenda closely. They took it off and then they put this out, this comment meeting, okay? That's what this is. You come down here, you comment, they forget it and go home. That's it. That's what this is. But it's make it look like you're on top. They're catering to the people. You know what? If they were catering to the people, they'd get rid of community engagement and go out in the public themselves and have meetings. They don't, okay? They got public community engagement. They pay a lot of money. People who go out and do that job while they're doing other things. So anyway, I want counselors to get back out to the public where we can talk to them. They don't do that here. But anyway, I want our right back to speak at city council meetings, okay? It was taken away from us. They should have never took it off. The answer that I got when I met Maddie Parker, I don't think it's a true answer and there's one way to prove that now. She said she took it off because you don't care, okay? Well, Maddie, if that's true, that's your answer. The way to confirm that, I offered $1,000 to St. Jude's Children's Hospital if they'd answered that question. They wouldn't answer, but there again, I'll offer $500 to St. Jude's Children's Hospital and she'll put that in writing, okay? Just put it in writing what you told me in the meeting. That you took away our right to speak because we didn't care, okay? So anyway, she'll do that $500 to the needy kids. How's that? Not a bad thing, is it? Here's my website, okay? I'm not gonna do anything on Nextdoor anymore. It's too much of an establishment group. They'll shut you down anytime you can't build. But this website grows. We can get our back. It's strengthening numbers and I got nine seconds left. We need to make this a four minute thing. Have a good night. Thank you for your time. Our next speaker is Sarah Fairly Luna followed by Puck Marin Glass. Good evening. Council and Mayor Parker, some of you I know personally and those of you online, some of you I know personally, some of you I've yet to meet personally. My name is Sarah Fairly Luna. My pronouns are she, her, hers, and I'm a proud resident of City Council District 9. I felt compelled to address you tonight during the eve of Pride Month and in a moment when Human Rights Campaign has declared a state of emergency on my community. As a proud queer cisgender woman, both my gender identity and my race offer me access to spaces where some of my LGBTQ siblings are denied their rights or safety. So it's my responsibility to speak. Some of you may know the alarming statistics that 45% of our LGBTQ youth have seriously considered suicide. You also may be aware that 60% of our LGBTQ youth wanted access to mental health care in the past year and were unable to get it. That's nearly three in five transgender and non-binary youth and more than three in five cisgender youth. Aside from statistics which alone should motivate leaders and decision makers to educate themselves on alleviating this deadly outcome, there are stories. The existing community members living and making a home in Fort Worth myself being one of them. I'm a very proud queer woman. I'm a wife to an incredible woman. I'm a stepmother. I'm a bonus mother to a newly adult out daughter. I'm a daughter. My mom's here today. Hey mom. I'm a friend and I'm a taxpayer. I made the choice to move back to my hometown after growing up in my family's home about five miles west of here. I came out after leaving Fort Worth for fear that my community would not choose to celebrate every part of my identity. Initially on my move back in 2018, I was cautiously optimistic about the future of this city. I cannot say the same today. As elected officials, you have chosen to run for these seats to ensure the safety of your constituents. And I'm in fear that when you personally choose to not affirm our identities or the identities of my LGBTQ siblings, you're unaware of the harm it can cause. As you recall the statistics that I mentioned earlier, there is an opportunity though to alter those outcomes. LGBTQ youth who found their school, which is inclusive of books available to them to be affirming reported lower rates of attempting suicide. And as our city leaders, I really look to you as a partner in an effort to keep my community alive. I'm gonna end briefly with my great aunt, Tony. She would have been 84 this year. She lost her life to suicide in 1973. A closeted lesbian living in Fort Worth, her story should be a relic of the past. However, as state officials and community officials continue to target my community, I am in fear that we're gonna lose far too many. I invite conversation, I invite dialogue and an opportunity for each of you to lean into the possibility that simply by hearing my perspective, you pause when faced with the pressure to deny my community's existence. Thank you, Sarah. Our next speaker is Puck Merringlass, followed by Cantor Sherry Allen. Hello, I'm Puck Merringlass. Growing up, I read so many books. My mother is an educator and my home was filled with them. On holidays and family gatherings, we would trade around our favorite books, adding our name to the list of the cover to mark who had read which one. I participated in the Pizza Hut book challenge, the movie theater book challenge and the library summer challenge. I read every book on the summer reading list, even if we only had to pick two, because I wanted to have the best choice of projects, the ability to talk about the books with other people no matter which book they had chosen, and because I loved to read. In books, I lived many lives. I was a wizard that walked the halls of ancient castles with Hermione, Ron and Harry, learning to stand up for what's right and for my friends. I learned math, gentleness, and love for Miss Honey. I learned that a good name goes a long way, but it's better to earn that good name than have one like Tiki-tiki-ta-mo-no-sa-rem-mo-tari-bari-ruchi-pip-fri-pe-mo. I learned that nothing was impossible in my imagination, and I learned to think with rink rinker-fink. I learned the importance of story, tradition, and culture walking with native people and of flowers I did not know existed, like the Blue Bonnets, until I moved here to Texas. I lived many lives that helped me navigate this world, and to try to be a person with morals, integrity, respect, and a bit of adventure. But I didn't begin to live authentically in my skin in this world until my 20s. I had never met myself in any of the books I had read. I could be a sneech on a beach, a flower painting the hills of this beautiful land, a bright young wizard, but I could not be myself. I was a well-read young adult with good morals, but I hated living in my body. Now there are so many age-appropriate books where children can continue to learn the strong values of friendship, love, adventure, honesty, and authenticity. The opportunity to take a small adventure in a story in which our children might see themselves should not be denied but celebrated. Our children can see themselves as a crayon of a color that they truly are. As a child that celebrates exactly who they are in this world, or as a green rabbit duck that is celebrated for both its ability to fly and to hop. Our children deserve to learn to navigate the world in the stories they read. The Pride Badge offers one way for children to encounter themselves and imagine a world that is ready for them regardless of who they grew into, while us adults try to make that world a reality. Give them the chance to put themselves in their story. Mary Allen will be followed by Greg Hughes. Laila To of Good Evening. My name is Sherry Allen. I use she, her pronouns. I live in Fort Worth, and I am the canter and co-creator along with Puck Glass of McComb Shalano congregation. I was so encouraged and impressed by Mayor Parker's courage and honesty. When I read her comments in the Texas Tribune a year ago defending transgender children, when the state sought to accuse their parents of being child abusers. She said, I'm worried right now that you're targeting families that are already incredibly vulnerable in a really difficult circumstance when there are so many other hundreds of thousands of kids and families that are in dangerous positions with no regard for the subject of transgender, unquote. Which is why I feel so confused and hurt that Mayor Parker decided to pull the Pride Badge from the reading challenge after receiving complaints from a narrow-minded group of individuals and their followers who claim that this challenge promotes an anti-biblical agenda toward children. The biblical teachings that I and those of my clergy colleagues here tonight follow celebrate the beauty and sanctity of every individual. And that includes those who identify as LGBTQ. And what confuses me more is that your statement defending a decision only strengthens the argument that this badge should remain. I'm wondering, how does removing the opportunity to earn an optional Pride Badge contribute to the stated goal of having all families feel welcome to participate when it intentionally excludes those who want their children to learn about LGBTQ families or recognize their own experience in these books? How does taking away a reward for drawing a self-portrait that highlights their uniqueness, make them feel anything but shame and embarrassment? And why, if the Pride Badge was instituted three years ago, is this suddenly an issue now, other than the obvious reason that those who espouse their own brand of religion want to impose it on everyone else? I also wonder what protections all of you, this council, have in place to support and protect your LGBTQ constituents who are unfairly caught in the crosshairs of those outright false accusations. Kids with LGBTQ parents who provide safe loving homes, LGBTQ kids themselves who are bullied, sometimes resulting in the taking of their own lives. Because these kinds of allegations make them targets for violence and encourage people to treat them as unworthy of being seen and represented in a positive light. How are LGBTQ members of this community and the people who love them supposed to feel safe when any validity is given to such incendiary accusations? I urge you all to reconsider your decision and add the Pride Badge back. LGBTQ children have just had their life-saving healthcare taken away. Please at least let them hold on to their pride and dignity. Thank you. Our next speaker is Greg Hughes, followed by Amy Ramsey. Good evening, mayor and council. I'm Greg Hughes. I'm kind of unfortunately tagging on to what the cantor just had to say, but I have a little different take, I think. But Mayor Parker said in a prepared statement, I want all families to feel welcome to participate. Unfortunately and sadly, the decision to specifically remove the Pride Badge from the Summer Reading Challenge made some families feel unwelcome because that's the message, the act of removing the badge sent to families of the LGBTQ community. I want you to feel welcome to participate, but not like that, not the way that affirms your child. More broadly, however, what about the other families? Those that are striving to raise inclusive, loving children? Reading provides a pathway toward understanding and appreciating people who are different from ourselves, removing the badge left the program with one less dimension of humanity to explore. One of the best parts of urban life is engaging with the diversity of people around us. And a reading program can help everyone appreciate who we live with. But again, sadly, removing the Pride Badge sent a message that maybe some folks should not be learned about. It must be noted, however, that these messages of exclusion are out of step with Fort Worth's values. The city of Fort Worth, as embodied in its anti-discrimination ordinance, holds inclusion as an ideal. And the protection and embrace of the LGBTQ community was affirmed with the addition of transgender people to that ordinance explicitly in 2009. So for those who have been hurt or saddened by the mayor's action, take heart. Fort Worth is better than that. All are welcome here, all means all. Thank you. Our next speaker is Aimee Ramsey, followed by Kathy Hall. Mayor Parker, esteemed members of city council, my name is Aimee Ramsey. And I'm a proud native of Fort Worth, a taxpayer, a Fort Worth ISD parent, and an unwavering ally to the LGBTQ community. I am also honored to serve as the director of operations for Defense of Democracy, a rapidly growing national nonpartisan organization that advocates for inclusive public education and communities that embrace diversity and that includes libraries. Today, I want to address the removal of the Pride badge from the mayor's summer reading challenge. When I first learned of this decision, my initial thought was, wow, how unnecessary. And I'm not alone in feeling that way. You see, most people are not triggered by the mere presence of an optional LGBTQ component in a summer reading challenge. In fact, for many individuals, it's affirming and helps them to feel included and seen. As a proud Fort Worth native, one of the things I've always loved most about our city is our unique blend of cowboys and culture and it's diverse communities where everyone can freely enjoy their lives. However, with the decision to remove the Pride badge option, the message that has been sent to the LGBTQ community and their allies is deeply disheartening. It suggests that a small group of individuals are able to influence choices regarding what's appropriate for the 935,000 people you were elected to represent and that you agree with their assertion that basic representation is an anti-biblical agenda. As an example of widespread dissent regarding this decision in less than one week, over 2,000 people have signed a petition voicing their disapproval of the decision. Yesterday, I emailed each of you the petition. It was signed locally and it is visible nationally. This petition not only represents the voices of our local community, but it also serves as a visible symbol nationwide in support of inclusive urban cities such as Fort Worth with leaders who recognize and embrace us all. Eee, I found lost my spot. Today, I stand before you to respectfully request that you reconsider your decision and show all people of Cowtown and the nation that in Fort Worth, Texas, y'all really does mean all. Thank you for your consideration. Kathy Hall will be followed by Melody Ellison. Good evening, City Council. My name is Kathy Hall. I live in Fort Worth and I was in public education for 32 years as a teacher and a librarian. Tonight, I too want to address the removal of the LGBTQ badge from the summer reading program through Fort Worth Public Library. My understanding is this program has challenges and the children choose which one they read, to read books about and do activities for to earn their badges during the summer. All challenges are optional so the children can select the ones they wish to read about. Unfortunately, our LGBTQ fellow citizens and people living in Fort Worth have become a political tool to encourage hate and fear. And the group decided to protest this challenge still optional because they considered it an anti-biblical agenda towards children when I think should not be spoken out loud. The mayor's office said they received about 30 emails complaining about the pride content. We have 935,508 people living in Fort Worth according to the 2021 census. I'm concerned that 30 people can protest something that's optional in the summer reading program and make accusations such about it. I'm also concerned about the message sent from the mayor to the LGBT community and the children in our public school system and in private schools. The library was told to either change the name of the mayor's summer reading challenge or remove the pride badge which ended with the child drawing a picture of themselves highlighting their uniqueness. So 30 people out of 935,000 caused a change in the program that's been in effect since 2020. The group protesting this challenge said we're calling on the body of Christ to take a stand. I've been a member of the body of Christ and in the church I grew up, it said that we were supposed to love God and love our neighbor as ourself. There was no list of people we could hate and no list of people not worthy of love. So I'm ashamed that this happened especially since the choice was to change the name of the program or remove the LBGTQ badge. It's example of grooming in my mind. Our mayor was recently elected with 30,118 voters in Texas at Fort Worth but the job requires all of you to represent the 935,408 people in this city. Our motto has become y'all means all but I respectfully submit if that's a lie you need to remove it. It's Melody Ellison followed by Celeste Holbrook. Good evening. My name is Melody Ellison. My pronouns are she and her. I'm a Fort Worth resident of district six, yes district six and a proud educator. First of all I want to thank Mayor Parker for supporting the public library and promoting summer reading for the youth of our city. I am however also troubled by the removal of the LGBTQ badge from the summer reading challenge. This badge was an optional activity and parents and caregivers were able to choose if their child would participate with no penalties for opting not to. The activity was simply to read a book featuring an LGBTQ protagonist and draw a self portrait. The purpose was for young people to see some of the many ways that our community can be unique and celebrate their own individuality. It is my understanding that the badge was removed after members of an anti-LGBTQ group complained. The fact that one small angry group was able to sway our elected officials in this way is alarming and sends a very clear message to the LGBTQ members of the community. It says that their elected officials do not support them that making them feel included is worth less than a few angry emails. That the spirit of welcome that we're so proud of in Fort Worth only extends so far in that y'all does not actually mean all. The badge in the summer reading challenge may seem like a small thing. It is essentially a digital sticker and a virtual sticker book. But for our LGBTQ youth, that sticker represented the idea that they are part of the Fort Worth community and that they matter. Reading books that feature LGBTQ characters broadens horizons and builds caring and empathy. For young people who identify as LGBTQ, reading these books can be life-saving. LGBTQ youth are at an increased risk of engaging in self-harm and dying by suicide because of feelings of isolation and rejection and the belief that they are not worthy of love. Reading books that show us that we are not alone and that we can be loved for who we are is a very real form of suicide prevention. The students at my school represent a broad spectrum of gender identities and sexual orientations. They deserve to be included. They deserve to be defended and they deserve to be welcomed. You have the choice about what message you really want to send to the young people of our city. Even small gestures like a digital sticker and a virtual sticker book make a big impact. So I'm asking that you make that gesture and reinstate the LGBTQ activity in the summer reading challenge. Thank you for your time. Our next speaker is Celeste Holbrook, followed by Reed Bills. My name is Dr. Celeste Holbrook. I'm here to express my concern about the removal of the Pride Band from the Mayor's Summer Reading Challenge as well. I have a PhD in health education with a postgraduate emphasis in sexual behavior. I own a private practice here in Fort Worth where I have had the privilege of working with many people who are bravely coming out to their often unsupported families and communities. Data from the Trevor Project and the CDC indicate that 47% of LGBTQ youth have contemplated suicide. Kids report that the lack of support from their family and community is one of the largest factors in suicidal ideation. We know 33% of LGBTQ kids report seeking information and affirming support at home while a whopping 79% report seeking affirming support in online spaces. A good example of an online space would be the public library and the services it provides like the reading challenge. In short, affirming online spaces reduce the likelihood of suicidal ideation and suicidal thoughts for LGBTQ youth. You've heard the data. My encouragement to the council and Mayor Parker is not to distance yourself. Come back into the arena with us, get close and stand up for the kiddos who need leaders like you to say, you matter, your visibility is important and I'm going to use my powerful position to protect you from folks who are uncomfortable with your very existence. So as we work on our efforts to best advocate for LGBTQ youth, my question to the mayor and the city council is this. What made you decide that the erasure of LGBTQ representation was in line with your value of providing a safe place for all of Fort Worth's young people? Thank you. Our next speaker is Reed Bills, followed by Natalia Sherry, or Sherry, excuse me. Good evening. My name is Reed Bills. I have lived in Fort Worth for 54 years, 37 years in district six, 16 in district three, and now I'm back in district six. I am an LGBTQ ally and the mother of a trans son. According to the Star Telegram article, a handful of people complained to the mayor that a pride badge is anti-biblical towards children. I am asking that you reinstate the pride badge to the summer reading challenge because this badge is a valuable learning tool that will greatly benefit Fort Worth children and adults who will learn about what LGBTQ means and the history of this community. In addition, continuing to reject this learning tool is a violation of the Fort Worth anti-discrimination ordinance and most importantly, maintaining the pride challenge is the right thing to do. Thank you. Our next speaker is Natalia Sherry, followed by Jonah Murray. Good evening and thanks for your time and attention, council and mayor Parker. I am the Reverend Dr. Natalia Sherry, PhD from SMU, forgive me, but I am now on Bright Divinity Schools campus, which is Texas Christian University's campus, as the assistant professor in Methodist studies and theology there. I am a proud resident of district six where my councilman is one of many of you who have shown up to be guest readers during summer reading programs past and present. And therefore I am standing tonight to urge y'all to instruct the Fort Worth Public Library to restore the pride badge in order to correct the common mistake I believe has been made here and I recognize it because I've made it myself in the past as a pastor. That mistake is privileging one understanding of what is biblical over all others. It's often made in an effort to serve everyone and remain neutral, which seems like a laudable goal. But not only is the privileging of only one understanding of what is biblical unwise and impossible even in faith communities, it is never government's job to do it. As we see the liberty and justice groups assumption that biblical has a single meaning, which was never true even in the times described in the Bible, we see the problem arising. My denomination, the United Methodist Church is currently very publicly, messily dividing having made this same mistake saying that it's an impasse over issues of human sexuality because of different treatment of the Bible, meaning some people are biblical and others aren't and rely on experience or something else. When in fact equally high views of the Bible, people interpreting it with equal prayer and care can arrive at very different conclusions. As a pastor in a very conservative community, much smaller than Fort Worth before I had the blessing of being called here, I made the mistake of thinking fairness meant neutrality and avoiding any appearance of special interests. When harm reduction means sometimes framing things that look like special interest instead of erasing people from conversations. Not until a member of my congregation otherwise very faithful said to me, are we now in the business of helping lesbians? Did I start to realize that my neutrality was supporting a single interpretation of what biblical means? An optional badge does not target or push an agenda on anyone. At most it requires those whose understanding of biblical prompts them to oppose the sacredness of queer persons to explain to their children why they interpret the Bible that way. Further by kowtowing to the demands of those who have only one decision idea biblical, we are in danger of erasing women, people of color and others from leadership too. Thanks. Jonah will be followed by Reverend David Grebel, who I believe has a group as well. Jonah. Good evening, Mayor Parker, Mayor Pro-Tin Bivens and all council members. My name is Jonah Murray. I live in 76104 in District 9 and my statements tonight represent myself only. Some of you know me pretty well and others may recognize me because I'm here almost every week, but I am a very active community member and tonight I'm here to speak to Mayor Parker. Mayor, I have a tremendous amount of respect for you and for the work you do on this dais for our community, promoting an environment of civility and partisanship. So when you decided to remove the pride badge from the Mayor's Summer Reading Challenge and I read your statement, I lost some of that respect and trust. I believe you have come from a place of misinformation and not from malice, so I'd like to tell you why what you did is hurtful and dangerous for me and my community and offer a solution. You claimed your goal was to not make a political statement, but despite your intention, that's what it is and here's why. This did not occur in a vacuum. Your action and statement came at a time when LGBTQ and transgender people's rights and safety are being attacked and threatened across the country because of an organized and vicious political strategy with genocidal rhetoric. So when you, the mayor of a city of over 800,000 people that is rapidly growing, do not defend the small right for my community to be represented and welcomed and included in education, that is a warning sign. I want to emphasize, I don't think the pride pin itself is the issue, it's that LGBTQ and trans rights are slippery slope and you've taken a dangerous misstep. If we can't trust you with an issue as small as this, we cannot trust you when it comes to larger issues and those larger issues are coming. I serve as board president for the only trans community center in Tarrant County that is located here in Fort Worth. I see directly the impact of anti-LGBTQ policies and actions coming from surrounding cities and ISDs and I don't want Fort Worth to add to the problem. I want us to be a shining example of respect, dignity and inclusion. Council has mentioned recently that y'all want to collaborate more with the Fort Worth ISD and this is a perfect opportunity to do so. Without naming names, I and other LGBTQ community leaders and advocates are willing to sit down with you and educate you using reputable data about why LGBTQ inclusion in education is both necessary and good for our community in general. Lastly, I again want to emphasize that I believe your action and statement came from a place of misinformation. I trust in your ability to listen to me and my community and our allies and see that those 30 or so emails your office received are by far the minority. I trust in your desire to make Fort Worth the best it can be and your willingness to work with us and let us help you do better in the future. We're here and ready to get to work and all I ask is that you mute us halfway. Thank you. Dr. Grable is next, followed by Lauren Ivy Chigong. David, I think you have a group. Is that correct? I do, yes. You just, we feel to stand up if you're with part of the group. We don't have to name names. It's not necessary. That's perfect. Thank you very much. Thank you. Mayor Parker, city council members, I am David Grable, pastor for the sabbatical at Celebration Community Church here in Fort Worth and a member of the Justice Network for Tarrant County. Let me begin by wishing you a happy pride month. We're glad you're here on pride. I stand with more than 20 communities of faith that are part of the Justice Network for Tarrant County. And if they are, if you are part of that network, if you would stand or wave or something just so that folks know that you're here tonight. I also stand with more than 42 members of the clergy in Tarrant County who have written a letter calling for instating the optional pride badge to the mayor's reading challenge. If you're one of those clergy members, would you identify yourself as well? We're living in an era where our children and especially our gay and trans children are receiving messages that they and their families and their friends are not valued by leaders in their communities. The inclusion of the optional pride badge and the mayor's reading challenge sent a positive and inclusive message to all of our children that y'all means all. This wonderful affirmation has been part of the Fort Worth Public Libraries Programming since 2020. And Fort Worth has not stood alone in their affirmation of our children. Last year in the city of Arlington, confronted by opponents of pride, Arlington's leadership affirmed that they were committed to the values of respect, kindness, unity, and equity for all of its citizens, including its LGBTQ citizens. The city of Fort Worth has walked a similar path, even as recently as in its May 31st announcement that the city's diversity and inclusion employee committee is hosting a program more than 50 years of LGBTQ history in Fort Worth. In that statement and in that program, the city is expressing its recognition of the value and the role of its LGBTQ citizens. This is a wonderful affirmation for our children to witness. And then we learn from WFAA on May the 26th that quote, the mayor directed the library system to either change the name of the mayor's summer reading program or remove the pride badge. And we learned that the impetus for this change came from a small group that called the reading challenge an anti-biblical agenda towards children. As a member and leader in the local faith community, I will tell you that these loud voices do not have a monopoly on what is biblical. In worship at celebration this past Sunday, we heard this reading from the creation story in the book of Genesis. Then God said, let us make humanity in our image. I then shared the following with our congregation. The use of us and our to refer to God makes plain that the image of God encompasses. The image of God embraces the entire spectrum well beyond the simple binary of male and female. God does not transcend gender and sexuality God encompasses. All genders and all sexualities and we are made in God's image. And then we read these wonderful words from Psalmist and Psalmate. When I look at your skies at what your fingers made the moon and the stars that you set firmly in place, who are we that you think about us? Who are we that you pay attention to us? You've made us only slightly less than divine crowning us with grandeur and glory. And I concluded with these words when God made our gay and our lesbian and our trans siblings, God did not make them different. God made them only slightly less than divine, worthy of honor and love. When God made you and I, God did not make us different. God made us only slightly less than divine, worthy of honor and love. This biblical understanding affirms and celebrates each person, each child for living lives that are true to how God created them. Yes, we do have a biblical agenda toward children and toward young people. Our biblical agenda is to love them as their truest selves. One of those young people, Ash, spoke to me just as I came in this evening and expressed these concerns about books, saying that those who have not learned from history are doomed to repeat it. It is essential that we have these books in our libraries. Banning them would be like banning Holocaust books. We lose important perspectives. We have to respect all points of view, even if we don't agree with them. These books are informing, and these ideas will always be present. Remember that you cannot destroy ideas, you can only destroy their followers. And my question, my concern, this young person said to me is if these books are burned, our band, are we burning them next? Mayor Parker, I encourage you to take a step back and reflect on your direction to remove the pride badge from your reading challenge. I've known you as a remarkable supporter and encourager for children, for all of our children. You have, in your own words, supported the value of our trans children and our gay children in the past. Please listen to the better angels of your nature and do not be swayed by those who claim to define what is biblical for an entire community, but who refuse to honor the dignity and the humanity of LGBTQ children and family members who only seek to live their lives with the same respect that all human beings and all of God's children deserve. Please take this opportunity to make this right for all of our children. Thank you. Our next speaker is Lauren Ivy Chihong. Pronounce it for me, Lauren. Chihong. Thank you very much. And Robert Vann would be after. Thank you so much to the council and mayor for the opportunity to speak this evening. In the comedy Arrested Development, there is a running joke about an academy where children are neither seen nor heard. And that is exactly what some politicians in Texas would like to do to young people who identify as LGBTQ, erase them. Make them invisible because their existence is somehow a major inconvenience to them. As a high school student at Paschal, I got to be myself, a theater geek who loved crazy hats and the Beatles. But my gay friends weren't so lucky. They had to keep their true selves hidden out of fear. 30 years later, hostile forces are fanning the flames of hate in my community and gay youth are the target. They're being told that they aren't worthy of being able to call Fort Worth home. I happen to hear an old song called Cock-Eyed Optimist from the musical South Pacific on the radio this morning and a verse stood out to me. I could say life is just a bowl of jello and appear more intelligent and smart, but I'm stuck like a dope with a thing called hope and I can't get it out of my heart. Maddie, I sincerely hope that you will start recognizing that the LGBTQ youth of Fort Worth deserve to be both seen and heard. Your callous action of forcing the library to remove the Pride badge option from the Summer Reading Challenge is sending the hurtful message that gay youth should be erased rather than acknowledged and validated. I am an ally of the LGBTQ community and I will not be silenced, thank you. Next speaker is Robert Van, followed by Merle Glasshawk. Good evening, my name is Robert Van and I live in Castle District 3. I'm here to thank the local officials who included a Pride badge in the Public Library children's Summer Reading program and I am very unhappy that Mayor Parker has forced its removal at the instigation of a bigoted few who call themselves with monumental irony for liberty and justice. A more appropriate title might be Texas Taliban. This group claims that the badge promotes and quote, anti-biblical agenda towards children. As you have seen, Cantor Sherry Allen and 42 other clergy have shredded that claim. But for me, as a secular humanist, that is irrelevant. After a long bumpy beginning, the United States has established an honorable tradition of the separation of church and state and until very recent times of permitting its people to pursue the faith that their conscience, heart, and head encourages them to pursue. That permission is embedded in the first and 14th amendments of the Constitution. Today, I'm really not sure what an American Christian is. I see thousands doing really important good work based on their faith. Then I see this kind of hatred, bigotry, and willingness to do harm to others who are simply trying to live their lives. And this is perpetrated allegedly in the name of that same faith. There's an aphorism attributed to Gandhi, which may or may not have been said by him. I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ. While it's over, very overbroad, it certainly seems to capture what's happening here. Mayor Parker, I know this is a difficult political decision for you because of the current power of the extremists in your party. But I'm asking that you do the right thing and instruct the Fort Worth Library to reinstate the Pride Badge in the children's reading program and to meet a very real need in this community. Thank you. Our next speaker is Merle Glaskock. Good evening. I appreciate that all of you will listen to the public. I wonder if when I was of an appropriate age in the 1950s and had had an opportunity to earn a badge for completing a reading challenge that just might have educated me about the uniqueness of people. Would I have had to go through a seven-year bad marriage? Might I have learned that the man I wanted to marry was gay? I met him in Sunday school. He was a good man, a charming man, a lieutenant in the Air Force. He was stationed in my hometown that respected and admired the people stationed at the air base there. I was naive, innocent, uneducated in anything other than heterosexual relationships. After the dream of a wedding that my parents gave me, we left on our honeymoon. It did not take me long to realize something was not right. For seven years I lived in denial, doing life the best that I could. Then he left me, I got a divorce. I visited my grandmother and she asked me, well, honey, Cliff is a homosexual, isn't he? And for the first time I realized I said, I guess he was grandmother. What if I had been encouraged to earn a badge by reading a book that enlightens young people about the uniqueness of people? Thank you. I'm just gonna pause for a minute. I'm looking at the list that the city secretary's office gave us and I think that was the last of our speakers that came this evening mainly to speak to their mayor and their concern about my decision. And I didn't wanna speak at the beginning of this because I thought it was really important that I take the time. Don't worry, Kia, we're gonna have more speakers to come just on different topics. Yes, sir, Reverend Tatum. And I, so I'm gonna share my heart with you on where we are and you can hear that. And this discussion I recognize is not over and many of you have offered to sit down with both me and anybody else in this council and I do look forward to that. I know my decision to remove the pride badge from the mayor's summer reading challenge was celebrated by some, supported by many, but it also created mass confusion and hurt and pain and frankly fear, especially from those in our LGBTQ community. I strongly believe, hear me clearly, that hate and bigotry has no place in Fort Worth. And I know right now that there are entire communities, many of you here today that have shared your heart with me, that you feel attacked and scared, some of you for the first time in your lives and I hear that. I know that here in Fort Worth, we can offer each other grace as we grapple with today's most challenging cultural issues. And just like the United States, this community truly does feel like we're at a dangerous flashpoint. Listed under the mayor's summer reading challenge, which candidly I did not see before it was published. There were pride activities that were included for babies and toddlers and school-aged children, along with our teenagers and our adults. Many of you may not agree with me and that is okay, but I strongly believe that parents are the ultimate decision makers for their own families and can walk into our Fort Worth Public Library today right now and find tremendous resources that reflect their own family for their children. Had I dug in or been asked about the mayor's summer reading challenge, I personally would have said, let's focus on minutes read, total number of books and allowing our parents and our caregivers to guide their own learner in the library or lean on the amazing professional librarians that we have across the city of Fort Worth. Or if the wisdom of our library professionals had said, we need badges, create a badge that served all families, families that would have had an opportunity to find books that better reflect them, including families like our refugee families, our immigrant families. There are so many other examples of people that walk in our library and you do feel something other than what they see out in the community. I recognize that. What matters to me is a sense of belonging, especially in our public spaces here in Fort Worth. And we want every family to belong. My entire goal for accepting the opportunity to participate in the Mayor's Summer Reading Challenge again was to encourage reading books, period. I've been passionately focused on literacy rates in Fort Worth for over a decade. And my focus continues to be moving the needle on just that, literacy. Only 46% of our students through eighth grade met grade level standards in this last year in Fort Worth. And I know each of you share with me your worry that we think that's unacceptable. We cannot afford to lose focus on this issue. And our highest priority of this was in summer reading, was just literacy. Our library continues to have a wide collection of resources that fit the interests of every individual and every family. That has not changed. And it is no way my intention to limit the choices that our Fort Worth families have in selecting reading material that is right for their families. I wish in hindsight I had dug in more and understood more fully. And it's important that you understand this decision was mine and mine alone. This was not influenced by any outside organization. Candidly, I was out of the country and didn't know there was any kind of up or from any organization. I just knew that I hadn't agreed to what I saw in the was in the summer reading challenge. To the city of Fort Worth employees, most especially our library, thank you for what you do every day. You are amazing and you're serving community. And I recognize that my decision was probably hurtful. And for that, I'm so sorry. But all I know is to keep my head up and keep listening and doing what's on my heart. So to each of you that came this evening on this topic, thank you for taking the time to share with me your perspective. It is very important to me to hear from you. And there will be follow up. And I'll look forward to speaking with many of you, including Jonah and others that have offered that opportunity. With that, we can close the section of public comment. I'm gonna move on because we have other topics this evening that have been asked to talk with us. Thank you. Our next speaker is Tenelle Taylor, followed by Jack Bowen. You can go ahead, if we can't hear, we'll stop it. You can go ahead, Tenelle. My name is Tenelle Taylor, I'm with Fifth Corner. We own property in the West Seventh District. It's property surrounded by Bledsoe, Curry, Morton, and Foch, represented by Elizabeth Beck in District Nine. The city block that we own and the property next to us generates over $3 million a year in sales taxes and property taxes. Specifically, 160,000 plus goes towards public safety, is designated by the half percent sales tax. What we desire in our area is safety and infrastructure improvement. In our company at Fifth Corner, we have five C's of our values. We call them core values, character, competence, communication, and community. We're here to build community, that's part of the purpose of what we do at Fifth Corner. The investors that we have in our fund, in our first fund, that have invested in this property include a family that's endowed a college for law and liberty. It includes an endowment that provides grants to churches that need capital improvements that can't afford them. The reason I'm here is because of a proposed ordinance, ZC-23-068, that diminishes one of our property rights that are granted currently in our zoning. The issue's really about community safety and infrastructure. And what I wanted is to have dialogue when those property rights are being challenged or challenged to be removed. We've had no dialogue, no inclusion, I've asked for communication, it's been sparing. And so that was the reason that I sent a letter to you earlier today, and that's to reserve our rights, to preserve our rights of our property. And other property owners that are in the M-U-2 Zoned District that is being proposed to have their zoning changed. So what we disagree with is how the problem is being proposed to be solved. What we wish to have is a dialogue and actually attack the issues that are in front of us. We want a business solution, we don't want our property rights taken away. So we respectfully ask for some access and communication to work with the city and coming up with solutions towards any issues of safety and infrastructure. We ask for a continuance of the vote on the city ordinance ZC-23-068. And we hope that we can work with you to make Fort Worth's community better. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Tayer. I may recommend, I don't know if Melinda is here. No, we'll have someone contact you to kind of give you an idea of our process in the next several weeks. Jack Bowen, followed by Jim DeLong. Good evening, I live in District 7. And the good news is I think the issue I wanted to address you about tonight is probably on the way to being resolved, but I wanted to follow through tonight. Some history, upon recommendation of our NPO, Eric Byrd, out in our area in the Chisholm Ridge neighborhood, our HOA, where I live, installed flock safety cameras a few years ago. In all six entry and exit points to our neighborhood, it's had a phenomenal effect. You know, if let's say our crime rate was here after flock went in, it almost instantly went to here a little bit lower. Some months, nothing at all. It's just amazing. Well, recently a new development was added to the east side of us and a new road was extended there. Horseman Road, I know Carlos is aware of it. And it created another entry, exit place, you know, from our neighborhood. And so our issue was we needed, we had a hole in our safety net. We needed flock safety cameras there. So our HOA several months ago, and flock, I believe, was involved in it too, applied to the city for the right to put flock cameras at that location on Crested Butte. And according to the folks at the HOA, and I know the board meeting the other night, they just basically never heard a lot back except, you know, different excuses but couldn't do it. So I am impressed that yesterday when I signed up to speak tonight, that within an hour I had a call from Chad Mahaffey, who is the commander of Fort Worth Police Department North Division, who said he just had a call from an assistant city manager who wanted to know what in the heck, why couldn't we put our flock safety cams in there? And then this morning I caught a call from Rebecca Owen who handles encroachment issues for city development. And she advised that what's going on is that they'd had some instances in the past where flock had not adequately checked to make sure installations did not occur over utility lines, sewer, gas, water, et cetera. She said we had to slow them down, but she promised me they just had a big meeting with them. And as a result, that everything is go again once flock does provide, you know, proof that our particular area doesn't go ahead. So we're very appreciative of how fast city leadership responded to this. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Bowen. Our next speaker is Jim DeLong, followed by Gerald Banks. Good evening, I'm Jim DeLong in District Seven. New council members, welcome to the city council. Probably you're entering into a baptism, a fire here. And I'm sure with that, that you're sitting in the positions that you are. I was gonna speak on oaths, but there's been so much going on. We live in a time where it's a powder keg. We live in such a time where there's no unity. It used to be people wanted to be known for be judged by their character, the content of their character. That's down the drain. That doesn't happen anymore. We so focus on what we are against or who we perceive as against us. It's tearing our nation apart. It's tearing our city apart. And that's not right, and that's not good. Mayor, you took a stand. You put on a program and someone changed the program without asking you on your program what you would like and not like, and you're having to face what you're facing right now. That should have never happened, never happened. The respect they should have given you and saying, hey, we think we'd like to make this change to this program, that conversation never happened. We get so caught up, we're so blinded by our ideology that we almost fear coming together. And I just wanna encourage you, like I've said many times, I can come into agreement with anybody. It might be Carlos that you like chocolate ice cream and I like chocolate ice cream. That's a start. That's a start. Let's start on what we can agree with together. These big problems, the chasm is too wide for us to get any kind of a bridge over. It's just too volatile. So I encourage you on the dais. Let's focus on what we can come together on and build from that because unless we build unity, united we stand divided we fall. And when you look on that landscape of our country and we ain't doing so good, but we can do good here. You can do good here. And that's my hope and that's my prayer. Thank you. Our next speaker is Gerald Banks Sr. followed by Angela Blockwich. Thank you for giving my name right. Gerald Banks Sr. District Fire. The last time I came down here, I was in my work attire because that's how the racist cops approached me in my work attire, blending in with the homeless and street people. And they figured I wouldn't say anything or make any complaints. Even though I filed a complaint, the IA detective falsely wrote in the blank box, a lie and got two racist cops off. That took, I mean that look, got two racist cops off. But public opinion matters and it will be known. How the four-way police department let bad cops off. When a drunk driver called it, when a drunk driver called this presented to the cops after a crash, units should have been dispatched to the scene. But no cops showed up for two hours and we got tired of waiting and let the drunk driver go. Two hours, no cops, sad situation and the drunk driver gets away. I figured I'd let well enough alone and that change will come before now and it never happened. Forward is not safe at all. We have young folks and old dying from shootings back to back. If not from citizens killing each other, the police killing citizens. Your stats count the ones that you want people to know about. But what about the ones that don't make the news? There is something you can do about it. You just don't. We are the real leaders of the city and why don't? They speak up or do something about it. Paid to be quiet is not a solution. How long before it becomes a reality and not just a threat about a mass shooting in Fort Worth once again, because of the BS that's going on? Don't continue to piss on our heads and tell us it's raining. Coming into these chambers with food, plates and drinks while people on the streets are hungry and without a place to stay or not trusting these places you provide because of the danger within, shameful. Have more respect to these chambers. Bring that it belongs to the citizens. Being that it belongs to the citizens as well. I'll continue this on another date. Our next speaker is Angela Blockowitz. My name is Angela Blockowitz. I'm newly involved with my community this year in District 9 and 11. And I'm here to discuss a cease and desist letter I received May 25th from Hemphill Corridor Task Force President, Fernando Peralta and a law firm from San Antonio alleging I spoke untrue facts and tarnished his professional reputation at the city council meeting May 9th. A meeting that's public record that I did not speak at that you councilwoman Beck are aware and my email opposing the rezoning case made no mention of him. My name was listed for Loretta Snoquezzo to represent me and all items listed May 9th can be acknowledged in a packet that community engagement already has a copy of. There is no fair use analysis or specification of the alleged defamatory statements. I'm under no legal, financial, ethical or contractual obligation to waive my fundamental First Amendment rights in speaking or in keeping this non-privileged document that doesn't even have the correct name on it private. This individual is using his position and the law to attempt to intimidate me and three others who also receive this and that is not democracy. As you're aware, Texas has anti-slap laws in place to prevent such irresponsible behavior. This harassing document demanding general silence does not display the democracy that individual stood here May 9th and claimed to love or the democracy councilwoman Beck reiterated that day that we would not have if not for our veterans. Our country goes to war with other countries for this type of behavior. I am a veteran. I served my country as a United States Marine. I am the daughter of a Marine sister to two army military police and granddaughter to an army MP who landed on the beaches of Normandy 79 years ago today and fought for my right to stand here and speak out and speak up against these baseless, frivolous accusations. I wasn't raised to back down in the face of adversity and I will continue to commit myself to my community and have the courage to stand up for myself and my neighbors and will continue to do so honorably. Due to the lack of aforementioned documents I'm considering this matter closed and look forward to continuing to work with the Hanfield Corridor Task Force Collaboration with council and with you mayor Parker in ensuring our communities are informed of everything that affects us in ensuring my children's quality of life and our neighborhood continues and that we all benefit from the future our great city has to offer. Thank you. Our next speaker is Christina Polincia Snoke followed by Roy Lee Richards. Thank you very much. Placencia. Okay, I'm gonna get it right next time. Thank you for the correction. Dear city council, I'm here today to speak on the tax abatement application that was submitted by the developer of the OLV property on Hemphill Street. This proposed development will be approximately 350 units of apartment housing. The tax abatement request is under the neighborhood improvement zone designation which was meant to attract development to revitalize our neighborhood. My first issue with this request is that what does the city determine to be revitalization? What kind of businesses, development, housing and people do you determine to be a revitalized area? The definition of revitalization according to the dictionary is to give new life or vigor to. But you see when I look at my community I see a community full of life and vigor. To say our neighborhood needs revitalization by bringing in huge developments you're suggesting that the multitude of businesses on Hemphill have no merit. That means that in your eyes our taquerias, vanaderias, piñata shops, botanicas, barber shops, hair salons have no value in your eyes. Hemphill Street is thriving with long standing businesses that have added to the economy of the area. Perhaps if all these businesses also had this tax abatement they would finally have the money to give their storefronts the paint job it needs or fix its parking lots or purchase attractive signage to bring new business. But let me assure you that we don't need you to bring in new types of developments that do not fit into the current landscape to revitalize our community. What we need is the support of the city to revitalize ourselves. My other issue with this tax abatement is that I do not understand how this development which will be sitting on many acres of land can possibly revitalize our area when it will not pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in city taxes. Do you mean that with hundreds of people being brought by this development which will no doubt cause a burden on our infrastructure that that burden must fall on us as the current home and business owners of the area? Not to mention that you just approved 60 units of veteran housing to the area which will also not pay taxes despite bringing more residents or that there will also be another approximate 300 units of apartment housing being developed across the street at Tobias Place. These developments will bring hundreds of more people to our community yet the city will not require this huge development that could possibly bring in enough taxes to offset this burden to pay its fair share of taxes. This does not make sense to me. If you wanna start somewhere and actually showing that you care for the people of Southside which are families and working class people that need their cars to function on a daily basis. The first place I would start would be in taking those bike lanes off of Hemphill Street and expanding it back to four lanes to accommodate the approximate 1000 more cars coming to Hemphill Street. Thank you. Our next speaker is Roy Lee Richards followed by Adrian Smith. To the honorable mayor, Mattie Parker and city council members. My name is Roy Lee Richards. I reside at 1600 Fifth Avenue Fort Worth, Texas in the Fairmont Historical District. The month of May was a start of lawn mowing season but some 30 cities and 150 communities are taking heed of the needs of the bees and other pollinators and these cities and communities have asked homeowners to let their grass grow all the month of May. It is called no-mow-may. When we leave our weeds or things we normally call weeds to grow, increasing pollinators populations, those are like little cheeseburgers for our pollinators and they are able to get some cheap calories really, really fast and put on some weight that will give them a leg up for the season. In the city of Fort Worth, not cutting your grass could get you a citation. I received a certified letter in May notifying me that I was in violation of the grass weed nuisance ordinance. My response was to immediately comply and mow my lawn. Under the letter of law, as it is written, I was in violation of the ordinance. But notwithstanding under the spirit of the law, I was doing my small part to help maintain a harmonious ecosystem. I urgently and fervently asked this honorable body to consider making such changes to the ordinance that would accommodate the no-mow-may initiative by waiving the enforcement of the ordinance during the month of May. Just imagine the gentle breeze teasing the tassels of wild grasses as the beautiful wildflowers put forth her tender shoots. The dandelions starting to pop up. A little bit of the creeping chalice zigzag abruptly alternating right and left. A small violet sports her purple, blue, and white five-petal flowers, one of which forms a landing pad for the pollinators. Butterflies dance in the sunshine, the busy bee hums happily as it pursues its accustomed vocation. The ladybug shows off her beauty apparel as she traverses the catwalk of yellow sunflowers. In all nature, we'll be glad. Thank you. Mr. Richards, I have to ask if you're a poet. No. That was wonderful. Adrienne Smith, followed by Steven Chaco. Mr. Smith? Yes, good evening to everyone. Yes, good evening to everyone. Adrienne Devine Smith. First and foremost, I would like to say thank you to Councilmember Jared Williams for coming out on last week to the forum as it relates to the Office of Police Oversight Monitor. Thank you, Mr. Williams. Although this process was kept in the dark to the general public, thank you, Mr. Williams, for your willingness to come out and just be a part of the process. To Mayor Parker. Wow. The collective voices of the LGBT community have spoken. But the question I asked of you, Mayor, did you listen? Did you take the heart what they said? Now I heard your statement, but I guess you're trying to get ahead of this. You don't wanna look bad like you did on that last matter. But I'll let that be. But to those individuals who pressured you, to those 30 individuals who emailed you, those who you said you had no knowledge of, you had no knowledge of this particular issue, you should have just let it be. You had no knowledge of us, but you turned around and made changes to it. So what is it? Did you have knowledge of it or not have knowledge of it? To the LGBTQ community, I'll say this. And anyone listening, that sounded my voice. The power is truly in the people. And I want people to be mindful of the power to recall anyone who sits on their dives. To Chief Nox, who I like to call Chief Narrator, the crisis intervention team. Sir, where is it? It is absent. It is obsolete. It's my understanding that it's underfunded. It was established in September of 2017. That's five years. And to this day, they haven't produced anything. Now, May 22nd, Ms. Cafferling by Logan, I might be pronouncing her name, correct? But I think you all know who she is. The young lady who called 911 because she was suicidal. But one of Fort Worth's finest, who didn't understand her plea, decided to shoot her. So Chief Narrator, Chief Narrator, sir, it's time for you to go. I think it's time for the next in charge to step up. Mayor, what this chief does, it's a reflection on you. What his failure is or his successes or a reflection on you. So in closing, I would like to say again to all the people at the sound of my voice, remember the power to recall anyone who sits on that diet. Thank you. Our next speaker is Steven Chaco, followed by Loretta Snoquizo. First, I want to say happy birthday, Fort Worth, 174 years. That's pretty amazing. I think we all look pretty good for 174 years. I'm a native son of Fort Worth. I was born right down the road at Harris Hospital. My dad went to Bright Divinity. My brother went to TCU, went and got a master's. My sister went to TCU, went and got a master's. I was not smart enough to get into TCU, but I bought some commercial real estate and that's where I do in Fort Worth. I want to tell about last month, I know that there was an outbreak of a lot of emotions last month and that had to do with the comments or the outburst about the hempill hoarder or about law familiar area. The statements about Ms. Beck, in my opinion, was a false statement that she spoke about hempill nos vende. I understand the frustration and the passion of hempill nos vende and Ricardo and I will send you proof of why. For over two years, we've been asking for transparency from the leaders of our group. We're not getting that. Ms. Beck has not given us transparency in our community. The hempill nos vende goes out there and creates a transparency, creates the community engagement in our community to know what's going on. They're the ones that provide the transparency in our community. Ms. Beck's office does not do that. But she says the word indicative and that's indicative is a, I guess, a good word to say but what is indicative is a pattern by the back door meetings by Ms. Beck in her office to the community. That is indicative is the hempill hoarder community has been asked many times for Ms. Beck to show up. She's only only shown up one time the two years, once. And she stayed for less than 30 minutes but she's there at Ryan Place multiple times. It's kind of funny how the communities of wealthy communities like near Southside, Ryan Place, West Seventh Neighborhood Alliance, the Culture District Alliance, all have, I guess, better representation than what we have in our minority community. Mayor Parker, you said a very true statement last month. You said the city of Fort Worth failed in many areas of our community has. And I hope on this 174th birthday at Fort Worth that we change that. Thank you very much. Our next speaker is Loretta Snoquizo followed by Elva Camacho. Give me Mayor Parker, council members. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak with you again today. I was here before you on May 9th during the city council meeting in opposition of ZC 23041, which was a rezoning of a church from single family residential to high density 60 plus units. We had a petition with 550 signatures, 30 peaceful protesters in the audience and seven to eight speakers. And to tell you that people left the chambers crying after they witnessed what they witnessed. And I'm struggling, I was struggling to find the words that I was gonna say tonight because I had a dream when I was a little girl because I came to city council so much that democracy was just and it was fair. And if a community united and there was enough opposition towards something then our council members would listen. I've witnessed it, I witnessed it 10 years ago when Mr. Burns was sitting up there and that's not what happened earlier in the month. We came before you and a couple of people emotionally had true emotional reactions to the developers getting an unfair advantage of time to speak. And I understand Mayor Parker, you stated that you weren't aware of the development, you wanted to hear more from the developers on what their organization was going to do. But those, a couple of people that emotionally reacted, they were dismissed as tactics. When human emotion is not a tactic, a tactic is intended to be successful in something. So what success did we have from those people having those outbursts? And the few, the 30 plus people that were peacefully in the audience were dismissed. Their concerns were completely dismissed. It is unjust to devalue the peaceful protest of approximately 30 people that were sitting there quietly in the audience. And using dismissive language after that emotional reaction such as quote, it's indicative of their behavior and tactics that's prejudice. And it was the framework that you all used to dismiss the concerns of the neighborhood. Councilwoman Beck gave her own presentation on behalf of those developers. I'm in district 11, this church sits in district 11. It is currently unrepresented. And it fell upon your shoulders to objectively look at our concerns. Why did none of you say, Mr. Developer, how can you address their concerns? Why did none of you sit there and at least ask? And if Councilwoman Becker if you used to do it or if Mayor Parker, you didn't feel like it was your place. I know there's other council members here that I've heard you ask those tough questions towards developers, zoning and land use, definitely ask those questions. I'm asking you today to re-evaluate why you wanna be on City Council. Is it because you have a heart of service? Is it because you care about your community? Or is it power? Thank you very much. Our next speaker is Elva Camacho. Ms. Camacho will be followed by Reverend Key of Tatum. Good evening council members. My name's Elva Camacho and I'm a proud Latina here in Fort Worth. I also ran for office in 2020. Even though I did not win, God didn't tell me I was gonna win. I did make my purpose known in my community of Southside, the true Southside, not the near Southside, the true Southside. And I'm coming to you today to tell you that the Bible says even though you shall suffer for what is right, you are blessed. Okay, and that's what I'm doing here today. Suffering and then behind our community has been neglected. And that last meeting that I was supposed to be here, I couldn't make it. I was disgusted at the lack of empathy that the City Council had for my neighbors. Ms. Beck, look at me, please. This is ridiculous that we come up here. We have to deal with it in school board where we don't have communication. You put your head down, you read, y'all are doing other things. Y'all don't pay attention. We're the reason you guys have your jobs. Listen to us, have you forgotten? Have you forgotten your promises that you made just to support us and do and listen to us because my community is lacking? And Beck, I haven't seen you. You're your name and I hate to be ugly and I'm not an ugly person. I'm a truthful person and I'm a transparent person. Your name is no-show-back. My family has a history of community service over decades, 50 decades of community service in the Southside of Fort Worth. I went to Worth Heights Elementary. I'm sporting my Rosemont Broncos today because I went to Rosemont. I went to Paschal and to come back after leaving over 20 years ago and to find my neighborhood in the same way. The money's there. The infrastructure sucks. You guys are not doing your job for my community and that is why I'm here today to tell you that you've opened a Pandora's box order because you mess with our money, you mess with our family, you mess with our emotions. That's why a lot of them are here today and we're not going anywhere. And Ms. Beck, I appreciate you voting for my uncle's part but you went to one meeting, one meeting for 30 minutes and people were asking you. I met you at a forum and I asked you and I told you that, that you were losing your constituent support and you still walked away with no answer. And then to see how you treated them yesterday was disgusting, very disgusting. We're not going anywhere, we're not. And I will be back because I'm a representative of Hemp Hill, I'm a representative of Rosemont and that area there. And for you guys to sit there and bring four different developments with almost over 800 units within a less than two mile radius. I'm talking about blocks with a low-property area to begin with. How does that serve us? How does that serve us? Thank you, Ms. Camacho. Our next speaker is Reverend Tatum followed by Peyton Jackson. Good evening, Mayor and Council. It's been a long night, I'm sure. And for most of you, I rise, I'm the pastor of the New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church in District 8 and I live in 87, 17 Garden Springs in District 6. I rise to talk about the state of affairs in the black community following the pandemic. The black community is having a mental health crisis. We're centered in our schools with our children. We're centered in our communities with the shootings and with other issues that are impacting our community. And we have emphatically been talking about the need to address the mental health crisis in our community. It's having an impact on every facet of the community, including the economic depression that the Morningside community is currently facing. People are just depressed. They can't work. They're not feeling good. And the community is responding through triggers. But that's just part of my concern. Another part of my concern is that when someone recognizes that they're having a mental health breakdown or crisis, or they feel suicidal as many in the LBGT community spoke about earlier, they're looking for compassion, they're looking for help. And yet, just this past a month, we had another African-American, Miss Caitlyn Bagigan. It's B-A-L-O-G-U-N-K-A-I-T-L-Y-N called because she was having a suicide episode. After we've learned that the officer who respond did not respond according to the general orders and after her escalation of the situation with her aggressive nature, she ended up shooting someone who cried out for help. If that was not bad within itself, our police department decided to charge her with a crime for assault on a public servant after they shot her. Now, I wanna be able to say this, Mayor, because I want this council to really consider having a real conversation about a consent decree for our police department. I've been here, I was born here, but I've been back since 2004. 2009, Michael Jacobs was tased, he was a mental health patient. 2015-16, Gregory Adams was shot. Now, this woman is shot. We met with the police chief back some time ago with the 3E report. It was Bishop George, superintendent, I mean, Bishop Sample, Dr. Michael Bell and myself. From that, we met with the then police chief, Jeffrey Hofstad, at the mayor's request. From that time until now, we've had the 3E report, we've had the Coleman report. Sorry, Keeya, if your time's expired. Thank you very much. Peyton Jackson's our next speaker. Followed by Ricardo Avidia. I thought they were clapping for me. Good afternoon, council. Mr. Allen, the speech that I, hi, the speech that I yielded, we're gonna forego, simply due to my forgiving character and short attention span. But even if I wasn't bipolar, I reserve the right to redress whenever I deem fit. Yeah. Speaking of mental illnesses, where's the call from May 22nd? I'm not a preacher, I just be preaching. So I wasn't invited to the meeting. But what about the people without a pastor? They say, yeah, separation in church and state, just not church and city. Moving on, I will tell everyone how I perceived the shooting. At minute marker, 23, 36, 15, personally, I would have shot her. She was making me nervous. But that's coming from a regular person, with anxiety, not from a trained public servant. I just know that this wouldn't have happened in Fairmount. Seven seconds. For seven seconds, she danced from the living room to the hallway. Question, where is the team that claims to work around the clock but the community cannot find past five? Because this wouldn't have happened in Rivercrest. Seven seconds. Seven seconds before she was shot, she had moved a couple of inches F that. Is that how the crisis team would have responded? If so, have them put in there two weeks F not, why aren't we cross training? Why is it shots and not tasers? Why is it charges and not treatment? A couple of weeks ago, I met notes for the first time. And just like with every other public servant, I thanked him for his service. And I said, even though I was raised to think that cops were the enemy, I want to help change that narrative. Because I don't want the generational curses that I break just to be financial. But here I am defending the wrong person. Speaking of the wrong person, Mr. Mata, I love him for plenty of reasons. One, he has helped to identify why children run from cops and not to y'all. The only threat that he represents is the threat to accountability, the threat of the culture of torture, the culture in which that panel emphasized a million dollars on a panel wasted. Now had we taken that 700,000 and invested it into the communities that have been affected the most, I can only imagine. But here we are, just finishing Cinco de Mayo and prepping for Juneteenth. Everybody get ready for the cameras. Smile. Say cheese, cheese. Our next speaker is Ricardo Avidia, followed by Hedy Pena. That is as far as y'all will go. Thank you, Ms. Jackson, for coming. You're welcome. Our next speaker is Ricardo Avidia. Good afternoon, counsel. My name is Ricardo Avidia, my resident of Fort Worth, Texas. Indicative, serving a sign or indication of something. Quote, the outburst by Mr. Avidia is indicative of the way him and his group operate within the community. Elizabeth Beck, May 9th, 2023. These were the words used after my outburst at City Council in May. They were used to try and discredit the work done and the sense of community created in South Fort Worth since November 2020 by myself and our community organization, Hempionosa Ending. Let it be known my outburst was not indicative of our work, but rather indicative of the temper felt at that time after continuously being disrespected by this dais and our City Council representative. One outburst is not indicative of our work. Ms. Beck, July 2021, our group informed you the City of Fort Worth had done nothing to support our hometown hero, Mr. Patrick Zamaripa. Rest in peace. This was the first time you were made aware of Patrick's story and that he was from Worth Heights. September 2021, we announced the City of Fort Worth has only two pools for 1 million people. However, you championed and voted to spend over $1 million on a new pool in a neighborhood where many residents already have pools in their backyards versus adding more pools to our growing City stock. October 2021, you were invited to a community movie night at Cat's Park. You were no-call, no-show. March 2022, you drew us out of District 9. April 2022, you were against high density, excuse me, we were against high density zoning at 3,500-style Jennings and Bedison. Within months, this zone request was approved and you offered us no support when we asked for a pool instead of apartment complex at this place. However, near Southside was allowed six years to fundraise for Fire Station Skate Park. We were not offering equal opportunities under this representation or under your representation. August 2022, we hosted our annual back-to-school event at Victory Forest Community Center. You accepted the invitation, but you called in to work that day and you did not send a representative on your behalf. January to March 2023, you tried to bamboozle us with ZC22-218 at the corner of Hemphill and Morenside. April 2023, you betrayed our community again by negligee voting for changing 4041 Ryan. May 2023, you initiated this rezoning to an, I quote, protect the integrity of Ryan Place. Therefore, Kennedy, my single alberus is indicative of the work Hemphill next to Venda has done in our community and certainly the numerous times of disrespect and lack of representation and adequate representation from you is certainly indicative of your racism and bigotry toward our community. Thank you, Mr. Abidia. Thank you. Our next speaker is Hedy Pena, followed by Jason Pena. Ms. Pena, would you want that displayed on the monitor as well? Are you just gonna? Yes, please. Okay, that'd be fine. My name is Hedy Pena. I'm a resident of Fullworth, born and raised here. I'm a homeowner. I'm a business owner. I have two children in the Fourth ISD. It recently came to my attention that there is a project that is scheduled in partnership with the Fourth, I'm sorry, City of Fort Worth and some nonprofits that a property offer, McCartt, is being purchased for permanent housing, it says for homeless. I went to, the only way I knew about this actually is from a Fort Worth Star Telegram article and I was able to ask questions at the Alice Contreras Elementary School. The principal had called the meeting and at that meeting, we spoke to the nonprofit directors and they advised that it's supposed to be for supposed homeless, people exiting homelessness, but also the domestic violence survivors, people exiting that kind of situation. The issue I have with this is that it's right next to two schools, specifically Applied Learning Academy where my kids go and Alice Contreras where friends of my friends have kids that go there. The main thing to me is that I do believe that these people need homes, they do need help, but I don't believe the location is the appropriate place for this. There's an article actually from the Fort Worth report that came out last year, July of 2022 where another proposed like supportive housing project and I guess like in development off of Hemphill Street and it was Ms. Beck specifically that said that it was not the project, it was the location due to the proximity of two schools and several other homeless and low income families within a two mile radius. That's the same thing that's happening here. That was a quarter mile away. This is right across the street from two schools. If you walk outside the school, you'll see that. My concern is that at that meeting I asked the non-profits specifically, are people who are gonna have either drug dependency issues, mental illness, are they gonna be allowed or excluded? They say well they would not be excluded and that's an issue for me. I don't feel like my kids are even important enough to protect the schools don't have as it is, any kind of security and then to have that type of situation and I asked the non-profits specifically and said well we don't really have a plan. So I don't trust people who don't have a plan especially when it comes to my kids and I think that the city needs to really think about this if you really wanna solve the affordable housing crisis. Offer these places, these homes individually for sale to actual people who need homes and who will actually raise families in them, thank you. Our next speaker is Jason Pena followed by James Smith. Hello everyone, Mayor Matty Parker. Congratulations Elizabeth, another two years. So I didn't write anything out, I like to just listen and I like to speak from the heart and I like to watch you guys while they're talking to you. So I'm just gonna do some facts here, the elephant in the room. Little thing about me, a Latino, everyone here, I'm indigenous here, we're natives here, my people have always been here and we represent 37% of the population here. But usually in this room, you don't see many people that look like me, you see maybe about 70% white folk, maybe 20% black folk, you don't see many Latinos like me. But if you go outside, you'll see a lot of people like me, 90%, we're lawyers, doctors, we work babysitting, watch your kids, we'll make your food, we're everywhere. So I think you should consider who you're representing because for me it seems like you're not representing the people here and if you notice, there's more of us that have come out. You guys have only seen me maybe the last four years me and my wife and there's more of us. And if you move these homeless, what there's already with 37% poverty rate in my community, I consider this more my community, I die for this community like a lot of us would because our parents live here, our children are raised here, friends and family, we've got a lot of skin in the game. So I think you should consider that because if it's already 36% poverty rate out here, if you move homeless here, it's gonna be detrimental to the children here. And this is how you create criminals, terrorists, and they're gonna know what happened. My library's gone, our library's gone in the south side of Felix. We used to have a public library and they got rid of it and they put it inside the mall, went there to the books. They got rid of one of our bike lanes. They're making decisions without talking to the people in the community. How long do you think we're gonna let this go? You know, are we gonna end up being like, do we need to be like, what's it gonna take to get your attention? Because I watch you and I wonder, do we have to get like Peyton Jackson? I watch the videos and I say, is that what it's gonna take to get your attention? Does somebody have to wait for you out there? So just please consider, consider what you're doing to move it. And that's serious. I'm serious. We don't come in here much. Have a good day. Our next speaker is James Smith. Good afternoon, council. My name is James Smith. I live in district eight. For the new council members on the board, I'm the neighbor of Otachiana Jefferson. As we approach the four year anniversary of her murder, I'm here to simply say, we're still business for you guys to tend to. I don't know if you watched Fortitude. It's a YouTube channel, I guess. And I saw my chief of police doing a narrative of his department as he drove through the city of Fort Worth. And I listened to him praise his offices, which was good because there are some good offices as I've said many times before. I listened to that narrative for 30 minutes almost. And then there was one part of it where I started to notice the homes that he was passing. And I realized he was coming down my street. He was driving down Otachiana Memorial Parkway. But in that drive down Otachiana Memorial Parkway, he was mentioning somebody that moved here that liked Fort Worth because of, I guess the Fort Worth way or whatever. And he mentioned that there was an uprising about George Floyd in Fort Worth was hurting and they were trying to heal. That was offensive to me. Because in that video, it was clear that he passed Otachiana's house. And it was clear that, I don't know who was controlling the camera, but as he passed her home, the camera flipped to catch the rest of her home. That was hurting to me. That was stabbing me, not in my back, right in my heart. Because as he passed her home, given the narrative of the forward police department, he could have simply said, we've had incidents in Fort Worth involving Aaron Dean or whoever. The truth, I told you guys about narratives. If the narrative is a truthful narrative, you won't have a problem with it. But that was hurtful to drive down a street with Otachiana's name a mile long on every street post. You passed, the camera even saw her face on the mural. And then you passed her home and don't mention her name, say her name. The trial was passed to the court. That's over now. So it's back in you guys' lap. It's time for accountability. It's time for accountability for Otachiana Jefferson. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Smith. Council, that's the conclusion of our speakers this evening, meeting adjourned.