 If we could go ahead and have our take our seats and we go ahead and get started with the program with the welcome by our mayor, Steve Benjamin. Thank you all so much for joining us here in the beautiful T.S. Martin Park. I know that my city manager is going to make acknowledgement of our assistant city manager Henry Simon who works so closely with his amazing team here today. Suffered a devastating loss this morning. Make sure we keep the Simon family in prayer as we go through the day. It was weighing heavy on so many of us and it gave my heart a little bit of levity. I see this little fellow dunking on Sam Davis when I came up earlier. Gives you reasons to smile. Reasons to smile. I think back and I won't steal her comments when she has a chance to come up and speak. But when I think back to this particular park, it's wonderful to come here and have a chance to celebrate the amazing work of a community working closely with our staff and team working closely with the neighborhood leaders over here. Because I think back to comments I've heard Ms. Devine say over over many years and how activity, loss of life here has spurred her action over the last two decades. We're here today to celebrate, quite frankly, to celebrate the life and legacy again of Thomas Sinclair, Martin, a community pioneer and activist, a driving force in the creation of the Charles Drew pool over seven decades ago. In 2016, as many of you know, a master plan was devised to revitalize this entire nine hundred, excuse me, nine and a half acres of TS Martin Park. The master plan was created with support of the late Willa Martin Bailey, the dart of TS Martin with over four hundred thousand dollars in CDBG funding. We're able to implement phase one of the master plan. And I'm not sure I don't want to take the councilman's thunder as well. But if it's my job, everything to get into the elements of all the park, if it's not, I'll come back and do it. If some of us didn't do it. But I will tell you that so many of these play elements, this is the very first park, one of the very first parks in the entire country to have these elements here in the park. And that's Randy to your team. That's an amazing accomplishment to make sure that again, this vision for creating special places in the public realm for our children to grow and prosper that we're building parks of the 21st century. We're building parks not only for 2021, but for 2031 and 41 and giving children a very special place to grow up. Excited to announce that phase two will indeed be starting in the spring also funded by CDBG dollars. Gloria, keep them coming please. And phase two will include walking paths, new baseball field fencing, dugouts and other site amenities. I gotta tell you, I'm just amazed that we got some money not going to district one and coming over district two for parks. You would think the only parks in the whole city, if Mr. Davis had his way all on district one, but somewhere along the way, we sent a preacher over here to district two who decided who started proselytizing and said that we need to make sure more and more resources came over here to the parks and district two. And along with the passion, the numbers divine is articulated about this special place for many years. And the dedication of Mr. McDowell. Wonderful leadership. I will tell you. Well, Brennan has been an amazing addition to city council and represents, I believe, the future, the promising future of the city. You combine that with engaged community leadership and the very best, not one of the best, the very best professional leadership that the city has ever had led by Teresa Wilson and her team. You get a special combination. And I'm very thankful in these last days, my tenure as mayor to be able to attend some amazing ribbon cuttings like this, because this is what the community is all about. A great city is a collection of great neighborhoods. Great neighborhoods consist of great families and people that make them great. And we're having a great day right here at TS Martin Park because of this leadership. I'll yield the microphone. It's not a cold day. If it was a cold day, he'd be wearing a hat. If he was wearing a hat, he'd be passing that hat. So we don't have to pass the hat today to my friend, councilman, Ed McDowell. The mayor is full of jokes today. Mr. Mayor, city manager, to the staff of Parks and Rec, brother Kerry, brother Todd. This is a wonderful day in this district. There has been many, many conversations about this park. There has been many good and heated conversations about this park. When I think about the life of brother Martin and I look at his birthday, 1911. That's a glorious day, not only for in his life, but also in the life of my fraternity. Amen. 19, he still got jokes, haven't he? It is a marvelous day for for us to celebrate not only a teacher but a coach, a man who gave of himself to this community. A man who understood what it meant to not only be an enabler, but to also fund that enablement into the lives of young men and young women. Isn't it wonderful for us to gather? Isn't it wonderful for us to not only celebrate his life and this park, but also to celebrate the future of this park and those persons who have given of themselves. So I celebrate the city celebrates, parks and recs celebrate. Let's go forward and let the future be our guide as we celebrate brother Thomas Sinclair Martin. Thank you. Good afternoon everyone. It is as Reverend McDowell said a great day, but I'm here as your councilwoman, but really bringing thinking about just the personal impact that this amazing family has had on my life and many many young people's lives and now will continue to have a huge impact. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, because it's around my earring. Thank you. In the lives of young people just sitting here it's not lost to me when I think about and I travel around the city and I talk about Columbia being my home and how much this community poured into me. I sit here and I think about going to Northminster and sitting on the back pew with Eva Bolden and her pulling out books and when as a young child not necessarily wanting to listen to the preacher of Reverend McDowell having books that I could read and and the impact that she made my life. And then I remember jumping on a bus and going down to USC to youth sports with coach Martin and although I do not have the athletic ability that my my late father had, when you went down and participated in those programs you felt like a superstar an all-star that you could do anything. And so when I think about this family and the impact that everybody and and continuing on and I look at you know Ms. Tommy and Gerald and think about Willis sending us Reverend McDowell all those emails about this park and making sure that we did not forget the wise legacy of T.S. Martin and how that legacy needed to continue by in that continue to invest in activities for young people. I feel like we've come full circle. I feel like it we are certainly recognizing that young people of today are the leaders, the city leaders, the national leaders of tomorrow and giving them opportunities to recreate and feel like a superstar in their communities, in their neighborhoods is so very important. And so I'm honored to be here today as we cut this ribbon to continue the legacy of T.S. Martin in this great city and continue to show the young people how important all of their abilities are and how they are superstars not just in the eyes of our city leaders but in this community and so thank you all to the the Bolden and Martin families for allowing us an opportunity to continue the great legacy of T.S. Martin and we thank you for all the community contributions you continue to make to the community and we're excited to see the young people come here and see all the shining stars that will come out of this great T.S. Martin park. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Von. Thank you, Mayor Benjamin. They both really said so much of what, what is with the mask and the earrings? Of some of the things that that I will further state, the mayor is right, bear with us because all of these moments now with him are really special so it means even more that we're dedicating and doing the ribbon cutting today here at T.S. Martin with him it's built in place. He shared as he sometimes does with us at City Hall he shared his shrimp tacos with us today and I don't think he knew how much that meant to us because every little moment is is I don't know it's a little bit different and even more special Mayor. We are you know just thrilled to see the progress that has been made at this park. I'm up to give special acknowledgments and I'm doing it on behalf of Assistant City Manager Henry Simons who called me this morning very early and in between his tears in mind shared that his father passed unexpectedly this morning and he was still as he always pays a special attention to detail worried about this ribbon cutting today and I told Henry that he has as he always does in short that his wonderful team and parts of recreation is more than prepared to step up and make sure everything goes according to plan and it certainly has and with God's grace and beautiful weather and this wonderful family we are here to do just that so I will report into him later that all is well here and thank you Randy our Parks and Rec Director Randy Davis and his team for making sure everything is perfect and in place for the Martin and Bolden families. When you grow up in Colombia as Mr. Vine said things tend to come full circle so I will walk the end today and put make this connection finally that Ms. Tommy McMillan who is a friend of my parents who are longtime Benedict Tigers and educators is the daughter of T.S. Martin and she is a mentor to me and a friend of our family and my former life as an English teacher I learned from her at Spring Valley High School so it's really interesting how things come full circle so I want to acknowledge Ms. McMillan the daughter of T.S. Martin Edward Bailey the husband of the late Willa Bailey and daughter of T.S. Martin and all the other family members in attendance today also close friends of the family are here with us with Nell Cohen, Warren and Wendy Bolden of course and Mr. Nathaniel Stephenson who is very special and dear to us at the city a longtime employee who has taught many children including my own how to swim and has just just touched so many youth in Colombia and we are especially thankful for him and his connection to this family. We want you all to lead this lasting understand this legacy and and challenge all the young parents who we know need to have positive experiences for their children in this particular community to come here and now as we continue as the mayor talked about to continue to grow the park with the additional phases we're just so thankful for the family and the friends of T.S. Martin who have given us this reason this lasting legacy to do just that and use city funds and city resources and city professionals to touch our children in such a great way so thank you for being here and did you all have any comments Ms. McMillan or any other family I'll make this very first to our mayor and I hate to see him go we're dear friends go back a long way to the city manager who is another dear friend to Ms. Isaac another dear friend to Mr. Randy Davis who really helped set this up it meant so much I want to thank my family for coming out today the boldens Mr. Bailey who is Willis husband and he has always been her biggest fan and advocate my brother my grandson uh Brahim Hamilton and all of the platform guests and and those who are in attendance thank you so much my father had a vision and my sister really extended that vision she knew what he wanted this neighborhood to have he loved this community dearly and I'm so glad that she pushed because she was a pusher to get the things that the children needed here and it's going to continue and we're going to have a lot of rising stars to come out of this community I know that um I want you to continue to pray for our family and to pray for each other and I just want things to continue to move forward thank you so much so some of the amazing play elements you see around us we see the physics full moon climbing area the bamboo climbing jungle the multi-level elephant play basketball tree with five hoops asphalt basketball court a walking perimeter play path and of course a shade center with sight amenities we hope and pray to see many families out here enjoying this this amazing space again I'm really proud of these play elements in phase one because TS Martin Park is one of the very first parks in the entire country that have them so again thank you everyone for taking this this vision cast so many years ago and manifesting it in such a meaningful way if we're going to gather and I'll um I did one more note uh thank you again to to Gloria Sayed and her staff at community development um wonderful parks and recreation department randy union team and also the parks and rec foundation board uh for the continued support of this mission to redevelop our shitty parks so it takes a team it takes a family and and miss ebony kelly uh who is amazingly gifted at boss and everyone around and making sure things happen making sure things happen and I know I'm standing in the gap for our brother Henry right now just making sure everything went lockstep as as always um I'm gonna thank her we're gonna we're gonna gather and cut this ribbon all right let's do it