 A bell will sound when you have 30 seconds remaining. When your time has ended, the bell will sound again and you should complete your comments. Before beginning your comments, please state your name. Thank you. Good evening. I'll call our meeting to order. You can pretend like I have a gavel. I think that got left behind the podium here. Janelle, turn it back over to you. Tonight's invocation will be by Father John Shanahan, Vicar at St. Andrews Catholic Church. Please rise for the invocation and remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance. Let us bow our heads, most high and gracious God, your God alone, goodness itself. You have given us beauty, bountiful resources. We ask that you shed your mercy, care, and love on everyone in this chamber. We ask that you give correct wisdom and wise judgment to our city council members who will be making decisions regarding policies for the residents of the city of Fort Worth. We ask that you fill everyone's heart with peace, hope, love, and joy. You alone are the creator and you alone have given us all good things. We all say, amen. Mayor, the first item of business will be the approval of the December 13th meeting. Got a motion and a second. Any other discussion, council? Please vote. Yes, it was Ms. Beck. Motion carries. Mayor, that's all of the action items for tonight. The rest are public comments. Thank you. Our first speaker will be Dan Hayes, followed by Pam Hudson. Mayor and council, my name is Dan Hayes. I recently stumbled upon a 16 minute promotional film on YouTube about Fort Worth made in the mid-70s. It was narrated by actor James Stewart and produced by First National Bank. It was entitled, Fort Worth, the Unexpected City. Throughout the film, several leaders of Fort Worth spoke and the comments of two native sons really stuck out. I think they're still relevant today and I wanted to share them with you in a minute. For context, at the time this film was made, Fort Worth was the 37th largest city in the US with a population of 375,000. The 1970s is the only decade in which Fort Worth lost population. Nearly all Sunbelt cities have grown since then, but to move from 37th to 13th in the span of less than 40 years, required Fort Worth to break into a full blown run, probably ignoring some fail safes and caution signs along the way. In the film, Steve Muran, the unofficial mayor of the stockyards and a former city councilman said, I think the problem in Fort Worth is to watch the way we grow, to remember that the city belongs to the people and to make sure the people are aware of the fact that they control to a great degree the destiny of Fort Worth. It also went on to say, when tourists come to Texas, they pretty much want to see cowboys and they want to see something about where we came from. If we capitalize on our heritage without making it plastic or anything except what it is, we'll have a very attractive place for people to come for a long time and I don't think it'll wear out. Bob Ray Sanders who worked for many years for the Star Telegram and frequently has spoken about racial issues in this city said, Fort Worth is able to look at itself and say, I think we've got a problem. Now how do we deal with it? That's the major attribute of this city that it's capable and willing to look at itself, to look at its problems and then try to do something about them. Not always succeeding, but trying. So as we begin this new year, I think these quotes still have great relevance. You all just dealt with a text change to an ordinance to protect the stockyards from becoming the plastic place Steve Muran mentioned. And we're still dealing with racial issues in this city that Bob Ray Sanders spoke of. While the film these quotes from isn't particularly memorable, I hope you'll take the quotes to heart and renew your commitment to never forget the city does belong to the people. We entrust you as our representatives to help us control the way we grow and ultimately our destiny as a city. Thank you. Our next speaker is Pam Hudson followed by Carl Bradley. Good evening Pam Hudson. I live in district three. I do not own a Fort Worth STR but I have owned three in other cities and I have stated dozens of them in residential neighborhoods across this country. And I was curious, how did Fort Worth get to the point to the regulations that currently has? In 2014, after the city received complaints regarding rental property in the TCU area, the city commissioned a working group comprised of neighborhood associations, investors, TCU administration and student leaders to prepare recommendation on regulations to navigate the concerns. The proposal was adopted into a city ordinance known as the TCU Overlay District which required registration of all rental property within a certain boundary. So the city took advantage of a working group that understood the problem to write that regulation. When San Antonio addressed concerns, it established a 24 member task force comprised of key stakeholders which drafted a proposal that was then adopted by the city in 2018 for SSDRs. That task force is still in existence today to continue to work through issues. Those stakeholders understand the problem and can give valuable input to the city. When Fort Worth decided to address concerns about STRs, it did not seek input from all relevant stakeholders, but instead it passed an ordinance in 2018 based only on the input from those who opposed STRs. The prohibition for residential zones was claimed to be justified based on two assertions. One, that the city had never allowed STRs in residential zones. And two, that STRs are commercial use. Well, these are actually both false. The 2014 TCU Overlay District ordinance provides a definition of the rental properties that must be registered. And that includes, quote, game day rentals and vacation rentals. The city actually had STRs in residential neighborhoods at that time and allowed them. And it also treated them the same as LTRs, not differently. The Texas Supreme Court has ruled that STRs are indeed residential use in Tar versus Timberwood Park. In 2022, when Fort Worth opened up its discussions about regulations, it did not form a working group that allowed people to come together to work on the regulations. And it was actually obvious by the three proposed ordinances and the currently proposed registration ordinance that those who wrote it do not have a familiarity with how STRs are operated. In order for a regulation to cause the desired outcomes and to be tenable, it is necessary for stakeholders with all viewpoints to be involved in drafting the regulation. And one example is the current registration requirement says that you can't have a bachelor party in an STR. So if I'm an STR owner, I have to now interrogate the people making the booking request, oh, six women are coming, what age are you? As one of you are bride, I can't rent to you because you might be having a bachelorette party. That's not really something that is tenable for an STR owner. Whereas nuisance ordinances and noise ordinances would take care of whatever problem is being worried about. Thank you. Our next speaker is Carl Bradley, followed by Bob Willoughby. Carl Bradley. Your Honor, City Council, happy new year. And I'm not a fan to stand in front of you. But I stand because Ms. Jefferson can't stand. I stand here because I care. I stand here because I think my silence would be an agreement. On what happened to her and also the outcome of the dean trial. Speaking of the dean trial, some say it's a sign of progress. Coming where I come from is a sign of pain. Trust me, I've been there and it's not a feel good. Your Honor, to be honest with you, we have some outstanding, we have some good officers. To think they're all bad and to say they're all rotten, that would be false on all levels. But, and there's always a problem. One bad police or one bad apple will spoil the whole bunch. Therefore, I suggest that the bad apples and the bad police be removed. They should be replaced with police who have a, who have the right social attitudes and behaviors. Those who based their decisions on facts versus one skin tone are zip code. I think police should be hired by the city who have a cultural conscience. And lastly before I take my seat, I was reminded of a scene that I saw after being in this family. How they embraced each other. It was an intimate, moving, heartfelt family moment. But I was quickly reminded, who hugged the Jefferson's? Did they have that same moment, that same intimacy, that heartfelt, moving family situation? They didn't even get a chance to tell her goodbye. And I think that's the tragedy. Once again, happy New Year. Sadly, it won't be too happy for the Jefferson. Our next speaker is Bob Willoughby, followed by Charles Harris. Before we play the video, just one second here. Hear that? That's Sergeant Hiras' file. All right, go ahead and play the video. Come on, let me turn it down here. Go ahead and play the video. I want you to know Sergeant Hiras on this tape, that's her voice up here, will be up here. And she made a mistake, she said I was asking for it. I'm going to call for the both of us. Yeah. For him, his cell phone, for me. Well, then what we need is a deposition from Officer Board. I need a meeting with him so I can record our meeting. And I have some questions for Mr. Board who needs to answer, OK? Well, that will not be happening, but go ahead. The Sixth Amendment says we have the right to face our accusers, OK? People, accuse me at this meeting of being disrupted. I need you to prefer me at least one person, OK? That can say I was disrupted, OK? Can you do that? Mr. Willoughby, I'm not going to go into all that. I'm not asking to go into it. I'm asking to clarify something. I've been falsely accused of something I did not do. Now, are we going to correct that or not? No one was accusing you of anything. You weren't charged for anything. We were asked you to leave. No, ma'am, why were you asking me to leave, ma'am? Because of the disruption, yes. Oh, no, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold right there, because of disruption, right? Who said I was disrupted? Mr. Willoughby? Who said I was disrupted, ma'am? Mr. Willoughby, we're not going to go back and forth. We're not going back and forth. I'm asking you a direct question. Who is my accuser? Who is saying I'm directed? The meeting was saying that you were disrupted. The meeting, who said that? I'm not going to give any names. What grounds was I removed from that room in there for? I'm a public proceeding, and it's a criminal trespass. The one that you escorted out of the property, OK? Wait a minute, wait a minute. When you say disruption, what was I doing to use that word? Mr. Willoughby, would you? Did you see me do something wrong? Did you see me doing something wrong, sir? It's a disruption, sir. I'm asking you, sir. Did you see me? OK, I'm not going to go. You did not see me doing anything? I'm not going to do anything back and forth. What it is, I'm tired of counsel not answering questions. I don't know if you can read that if it's still you can read it. But I'm offering $1,000 to St. Jude's Children's Hospital. That's because this organization never charged the parents for a bill. That's why I picked this organization. $1,000, if they'll just do their job, Pro Temp, Mayor Jenny Bibbins, and Maddie Parker, ask, why did they remove our plebid presentation from the city council agenda? We have a right to know that answer, don't we? And I better know that $1,000, they will not reply. And so far, no one's took me up on that. I want to show you how crooked they are. This is fact. If they were real people, they'd jump on this $1,000 of those kids. Thank you. Our next speaker is Charles Harris, who's followed by Judith Harris. My name is Charles Harris. My wife and I are small business owners. We're here today to request accountability for the city water department. We're here to ask for the council support on this issue and to seek guidance as small business owners for what can be done. My wife and I had an opportunity to purchase four lots in the South Seminary Edition in March of 2022 to improve the properties by building single-family dwellings to sell. We began investigating the lots prior to purchase. My wife contacted the city water and water development departments and spoke with Ms. Palomo. She looked up our address and advised us that there was water at the corner lots. We asked what would be needed to connect the utility. She said we needed to extend water lines to each lot and we could extend the sewer line or install a septic system. She explained that once the county approves the septic system design, we would be able to complete our building permit. She gave us the information for the county employee for environmental health and review septic systems, Nick Solis. She said once we get our septic approved, the city will accept it and she sent us an application for a miscellaneous project. We then reached out to Mr. Solis at the county, had him check our addresses. He told us there was recently approved septic systems in the neighborhood. He let us know their specific design guidelines that would need to be met for the systems and he passed along a list of contacts that could help us with the items that would be required. Mr. Solis said that if the designs meet all state guidelines, the septic systems will be approved. So we moved forward, purchased a lot, obtained construction loans based on the budgets, based on the information received. While awaiting the approval from the county, we submitted for a building permit for the first house, then we had a hold on our permit for Mrs. Palomo for no sewer fronting the proposed house. Mr. Solis said the city conducted a meeting with him and told him to not approve the septic systems, but he did state that they met state guidelines. We asked who contacted them and he gave us Chris Harder's information. Nick stated that again, they had approved designs before in the areas and since it's a platted subdivision that had certain exemptions. We called and received an email from Mr. Harder in return saying that the sewage extensions would be required to obtain a building permit. We immediately asked for a meeting. During a meeting with Mr. Harder, we explained our circumstances, told him of the information given to us by his department and pled our case. He said that his department should have not told us this would be allowed. He said he was not going to approve a variance for our lots though. He kept referring to us as developers. We made sure to clarify the subdivision was developed. It's been platted since the 1950s. After no resolution, we requested a meeting with our councilman for the district, Mr. Nettles and Mr. Harder. This meeting also included assistant city manager, Johnson. We made our councilman aware of what's happening in his district and to seek his support. Mr. Harder agreed to the, agreed his department knew of the issues and accepted they had misinformed us. We were asked to send all info by email, but if you have to receive any further updates. My wife and I have been placed in this predicament to our detriment by the negligent information obtained from the city water department. Now we're on the hook for work, exceeding 200 grand, which is not doable. Who else are we supposed to speak to in order to receive the correct information? We spoke directly to the department that would be liable for this information. We were misled and now we feels we're being bullied by the department. If we were to receive true information from the start- Thank you, Mr. Harris. Sorry to cut you off. Sorry to cut you off. Thank you, Mr. Harris. Thank you. Judith Harris is up next. Good evening members of the council and major. My name is Judith Harris. What I could have had at least twice as extensive as all this paperwork about the way our small business has been discriminated against for not being a big shot developer. I want to bring light and awareness about the South Seminary Edition and District Eight. This division has been neglected for many years. There is not proper sanitary sewer nor water lines in most of the neighborhood. Our issue came with the water department and its director, as my husband stated. We were told we could have a septic system, then he changed the words. During the meeting, Mr. Harder directed us to contact Mr. Gupta. Somehow he completed construction of a gas station, a deli, and a liquor store that did not have proper sewer lines. We were told that if he changed the lines from his designs and he will get a developer agreement and to approach him that way. Mr. Gupta did not change the design and he's still getting his developer agreement for Mr. Gupta. This neighborhood needs those city services regardless. We asked if there was assistance from the city and we were told no. While being bullied into bringing all the utilities at our cost because the city does not contribute to developers quote unquote, Mr. Harder's works, I then came across several ordinances that proved different but also left out this subdivision. MNC 22086 for engineering services, water, sewer, and street paving on district eight that still lives behind South Seminary Edition. I must skip to this other one because I didn't know who owned this subdivision. C29177, city participation for the design to replace public sanitary sewer mains. This is Hannah Ranch Development in district eight. It also is less than seven miles from South Seminary Edition and the sanitary sewer line is less than 50 years old. Again, South Seminary has been bladded since the 1950s and I didn't know who owned this development but now I know thanks to some people out there but there you go, we're not big shot developers. Some other people are getting the contributions. The one that really got me was C29180, city participation in the design of public improvement, 66% city contribution and 34% developer contribution at a single family development. This proves there is a way we're just being steering a different direction and even though this is a known issue with the water department. We're all tax paying property owners. Justin Ronald, there is about $35,000 in property taxes on improved and not improved properties and property tax in the neighborhood run from the low 1,000 to over $10,000 and this is based on a property that just sold on November, 2021. It is not the forward way to tell the people to counter losses. It is 2023, how is it that it's a neighborhood with no proper city services? Thank you, Ms. Harris, I'm sorry to cut you off. Mr. Johnson is here tonight but both council member Nettles and our offices will be following up with you directly. Thank you very much for coming this evening. Our next speaker is Adrienne Bennett, followed by Adrienne Smith. Good evening, Mayor Parker, city council members, staff and fellow citizens. My name is Adrienne Bennett, I live in district eight. I'm a former governor's press secretary and US congressional candidate. I'm also a founder and board member of the Fort Worth short-term rental alliance. Familiar with government, I was excited to help Fort Worth homeowners find their voice within the alliance and I'm here on their behalf this evening. The short-term rental registration draft ordinance has written, sends a hostile message to homeowners. The vast majority of whom are small or micro business homeowners and Fort Worth taxpayers who rely on short-term rental option as a primary source of income. As we move through a recession and inflation, short-term rental income will continue to play a unique role in economic recovery. However, economics aside, this draft ordinance before you simply put is poorly written. It is likely to lead to litigation the city will need to battle, potentially costing Fort Worth taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars. Knowing this, US city council members have a duty and a responsibility to protect tax dollars. Additionally, protecting the health and safety of citizens is paramount. I would add that perhaps the most important duty you have as public officials is to uphold the Texas and US constitutions. Ordinances like this one are vulnerable to legal challenge and law courts have already stepped in to protect people's constitutional rights. A Texas appeals court in Houston in 2018 allowed such a challenge to proceed based on the theory that imposing such an ordinance on a homeowner who purchased based on SDR rights and then had them taken away was an unfair taking of property. Essentially a regulatory taking based on an unreasonable interference with its right to use and enjoy its property under the Penn Central Factors. This draft ordinance reads, the purpose of this article is to safeguard the life, health, safety, welfare and property of the occupants of residential dwelling units, the neighbors of said occupants and the general public through the regulation of short-term rental residential property. I agree this is about residential property as stated in the draft ordinance. Moreover, this is about government overreach and land owners rights. As you know, or you may know, the Fort Worth short-term rental alliance has retained Hush Blackwell law firm to represent the organization and in a letter to city council members, Mr. Rodin cites numerous cases and constitutional issues with the draft ordinance before you. You will be receiving that letter this week. I'll leave you with this question. Are there any available alternative methods for enforcing short-term rental use? If there are other options to reach legitimate policy goals, you'll reject this ordinance. Finally, the Fort Worth short-term rental alliance remains committed to working with government at all levels of government to protect and support a balanced and short-term balanced and short-term rental regulations. This draft ordinance, however, does not take a balanced approach. So I respectfully urge you to reject it. Thank you. The next speaker is Adrian Smith, followed by Cassie Warren. Adrian Devine Smith, let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable. And I say, oh, Lord, my strength and my redeemer. To the council, quick question. Regarding the most recent suspicious fire that occurred at the Juneteenth location, Juneteenth Museum, has there been any updates regarding that suspicious fire? And I digress from that. Let me begin first by saying, winter is still upon us as a city. My question for this council is, what are you going to do? What are you doing in preparation for the next potential disaster? How will we ensure as many as homeless individuals who desire shelter, which I'm sure they all do, how will we ensure that they have the necessary shelter in place for them, in the case this unpredictable event happens again that we had two years ago? By the way, the Salvation Army, the Union Gospel Mission, and the Presbyterian Night Shelter, they all had capacity on a daily basis. So you had to come up with better options. Secondly, election is upon us and campaign finances are important. But I want to speak to the donors and the members who give to particular candidates for the purpose of receiving something favorable in return by means of a council vote. You are part of the problem. Regardless of how much you give, remember the votes will determine who represents us going forward. Everyone is entitled only one vote. To Chief Noakes, the commanders of each division, the Fort Worth Police Department, violence will continue within our city and will become a widespread situation until you get off of your do-nothing and do something. When we consider the events that happened the other day over off of Westbury Street, a tragic situation, another loss of a young life due to violence, I always go back to my point of police visibility. So until law enforcement makes a consistent effort of being visible throughout this city, all ships I'm speaking expect the violence to continue. And as I take my seat, I'll say before the next time. Thank you. Our next speaker is Cassie Warren, followed by Patrice Jones. Howdy, y'all. My name is Cassie Warren from District 2, and my little PSA is, I just opened a coffee shop. Y'all are all invited. It's called Revive Coffee. It's a Northside, who around Northside. All right, I'm here to talk tonight about STRs though. And I just want to let y'all know that obviously a few months ago, the city staff had brought forward a few options. And I was extremely disappointed when none of the options were to legalize short-term rentals. And it really set a tone. I want to point out that there are hundreds of illegal short-term rentals in Fort Worth that are being operated by families. And they are not here. And I would also like to point out that they have not been here ever since we started this conversation. And the reason why is because they feel like they're being silenced. For fear of legal action if they speak. So please keep that in mind. And this fact does not discriminate. There need to be heard. So please, if you know somebody like us who have stuck out our necks to speak in pro for this issue, please speak to us about this issue. Because these people are supported by these STRs and they are very proud of what they have built. I see one clear solution. It's to legalize STRs in all residential areas with restrictions. Because just like cars need seat belts and we need speed limits, anything can be evil with no restrictions. But good can happen with boundaries. And it's the same for short-term rentals. I warn you about this draft ordinance. It has a false and negative narrative. And it is definitely a step backwards for Fort Worth. Thank you. Our next speaker is Patrice Jones followed by Manuel Mata. Hey y'all, seeing how fast I can read. All right, District Five Council member Gina Bivens, I'm so sorry y'all didn't get to look in your face today. She had the second highest average donation at $1,450. Her largest donation was $7,500 from Ken Newell. Newell's occupation was not listed on the campaign finance, but he is a developer who also owns a sand and gravel company. Maybe this explains why Councilwoman Gina Bivens recently had a black contractor named Randall Howard from R.D. Howard Construction locked up for nothing. It's in her interest to make sure contracts go to her white financial contributor. Moving the concrete crushing opportunity from Stop Six, a historically black community, to 820 in Trinity. The concrete has to be crushed somewhere and there's been no environmental risks that have identified, been identified. A local supporter who's been crushing concrete, Ken, in the middle of a neighborhood, no one has said anything to us, to him, and he donates heavily to Gina's campaign so it's all kind of adding up. The Howard Hanley Plan Workday, it would have put millions back into the community and created jobs. Unfortunately, the city of Fort Worth does not support black contractors in Stop Six. It's riddled with slum, crime, unemployment, unclean grocery stores. There's actually no grocery store. We need to change the leadership and we need to be on the right side of democracy. All right, so I'm a fast forward because I wanna talk about oversight a little bit. I'm so sad Michael Crane is not here. In 2022, police departments across the country got more deadly with the highest number of murders in a decade. During this same year, the city of Fort Worth chose not to hold the rogue police department accountable who targets black people 55% of their officer involved shootings. I watched Jerry Williams and Michael Crane recruse themselves of a city council vote on the community development block grant due to their affiliations with nonprofits. What I can't understand for the life of me is why you get to accept money from the Fort Worth Police Association and then make a vote on holding the Fort Worth Police accountable. Carlos Flores, you accepted $5,000 from the POA a month after voting no on community oversight. Crazy. If you take money from police associations how can you ethically vote on issues of their oversight? Our next speaker is Manuel Mata who will be followed by Gerald Banks Sr. My name is Manuel Mata. I'm in district nine. I'm going to try to paint a picture for you. I'm 42 years old, 21 of those years I spent in corrections from Texas Youth Commission, TDCJ to the federal system, paying for my actions when I chose not to care about anyone or myself. I was traumatized at 12 by my father's actions. He destroyed our family and left. Here's my problem. I was turning 13 and going to the Texas Youth Commission because everything fell apart. I didn't know how to react because it affected our whole family. I turned to what my dad showed me, violence and the streets. No one cared because no one knew. What happens at home stays at home. A teacher and a school officer tried to help but I wouldn't cooperate. I became this person that would never cry or be hurt by anyone again ever. What I did endangered the lives of numerous police officers and residents. I held a neighborhood hostage for almost an hour because I did not care. That is our problem now. These kids no longer care because their everyday lives forced them not to. They wake up to very dysfunctional environments. A straight A student that wins an invention, convention, conscious for his school can be a victim as well because these kids are being forced to survive their neighborhoods, not live in them. Kids have a component that I was taught, fear of rejection. That's why you see them in their rooms or walking around with headphones. They've been desensitized towards violence and loss. Not allowed to process that because they might be the next ones. They are not adults because most of them never got to be kids. The only thing I learned in correctional institutions was how to be more violent, be willing to do brutal things for a reason that would not make sense to most. I mentioned all of this to say, if you can't show or give these kids in single parent homes and as you call them high crime areas at Chris Youth, locking them up is the last resort. It's time we start talking about care over control measures. Show these kids that you all care because they stopped. Thank you. Our next speaker is Gerald Banks Sr., followed by James Smith. Is Gerald here? I haven't seen him yet. I'll come back if he walks in. James Smith is James here. There he is. James will be followed by Malik Austin. Good afternoon, council. My name is James Smith. I live in District 8. I'm here tonight to talk about two things. One is police accountability. As you all know, across the nation, the police accountability is low. I'm not sure how many of you watched the Air and Deane trial and learned of the numerous things that were not done properly as far as policy and protocol. I'll just give you one about a narrative. For three years, I was to believe that the police walked away from Ms. Jefferson's home as a result of not surprising or potential burglar when in reality, they walked away from her home because they went to the wrong address. I will rehash the trial and I'm hoping that they want to retrial the trial. But a police accountability is the utmost of what this city needs to do. If you have policies, procedures and protocols, they need to be implemented in the fashion in which they're rid. I digress. I want to thank council for voting to rename the Hillside Recreation Center Tatiana at Hillside Community Center. Hillside Recreation Center was a recreation center. District 876104, where I live, needs a community center. And that transition from recreation to community will aid that community and beyond in a major support efforts. It was stated that I was trying to get Hillside Park changed. And I wasn't. That was a misquote purposely, I don't know. But as it stands, Hillside will remain Hillside. And the community center will be the Tatiana Jefferson, the Tatiana Carl Jefferson at Hillside. Going forward, my community needs a lot going forward. It's a landlocked area, so I don't really see a lot of development going on in it. But the community in itself needs a lot of support. In that community center, if I live long enough to work in it, we help those neighbors get the resources and the help they need from their city that they pay taxes in. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Smith. Our next speaker is Malik Austin, who's followed by Jim DeLong. Good evening, good evening. Look a little different today, huh? I would like to thank Councilman Nettles for his support, Assistant Manager Mr. Costa for help of their support. Thank you for Mr. Williams for showing up to the MLK neighborhood parade. Ms. Parker, this has been going on for five years. We need to be recognized like your Stock Shell Parade and you're very proud of that. I've seen you walking along with Mr. Crane. I've seen Mr. Flores along with other council people. MLK Parade in the neighborhood has been an engine along with me and Mr. Sparks and some other people on that committee have engineered for the last five years. Last year in that frigid cold, we pulled it off. So I ask that we be recognized and agenda ties and supported by the city of Fort Worth as a neighborhood parade that will forever be here and I won't not stop. If my children, I will pass the loan. I'm from district, I grew up in district before Mr. DeLong, any of y'all was probably thought of. And so I'm gonna keep pushing it. It sits in Councilman Bivens community, rows into Councilman Nettles community. That's the short take, but I'm asking for support for this parade. It's very, we had high school bands, color guard, everything. And I appreciate that along with community participation. Along the state of the city, we're not gonna let this turn in Chicago. I'm 53, gonna be 53 years old. Y'all probably fairly young in the early 90s. I lived through it, survived it, and you're flirting with it. Mr. Cuolos, curfew ain't the answer. Cause you know why? The rich white people that got private school kids that drive to school every day, they ain't going for it. That's a waste of time. Your community centers and city activities are not in line with today's minds of these young children. We got to have events, constant. We got to be consistent. We got to be persistent. And Mayor, when we have things and flaws of error, when the citizens ask for a citizen oversight review board, you have to listen to us. When Mr. Cuolos put that on the floor, Mr. Cu, you're supposed to put that back on the floor. Mr. Cuolos, you cannot renege on what you did. We watched you. And you got to put, show some integrity. And let's revisit that by citizen order. Mr. Cuolos, you have the right to put that back on the floor. And we ask you to put that back on the floor and let us decide what we want in this city. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Austin. Our next speaker is Jim DeLong, followed by Bishop Kirkland. Good evening. I'm Jim DeLong, District Seven. I'm a proud resident of Fort Worth, Texas. 9-11 is a day that we all remember. A day that our country got attacked. And the aftermath of that was something I thought I wouldn't see to the extent that I did. We all came together. Back in that time, I was consulting in Amarillo and I'd go back and forth between Amarillo many times. And I saw people in farms and in homes and schools with their chain-linked fences, with the cups of different colors, that said, united we stand. United we stand. And there's an old saying that says, united we stand, divided we fall. And that is a truth. United we stand, divided we fall. And I come here week after week, and I hear division. I hear anger. There's more than one way to solve a problem. We see it rampant all over our nation. Look at Washington, D.C. They are so polarized, they can hardly ever come into agreement on anything. And one of the main reasons why, if you're on the other side and you agree with it, heck, I'm not gonna agree with it. We'll never get anywhere in this country. This is a great city. I love my city. And I hate to watch it getting torn down. We can come together, and I've said this many times, maybe you and I, the only thing we can agree on is we like ice cream. As trivial as that might sound, we're coming into agreement on something. So we come into agreement on ice cream. Then we can come agreement on this. We can come agreement on that. And pretty soon we're able to come in agreement on some major issues that our city is facing. Some major issues that people of different races are facing. But we've got to start coming together. If we don't come together, we'll be a divided city and we'll fall. Our next speaker is Bishop Kirkland. I don't think I've seen him come in yet. Kara Smith. Tabitha Williams, followed by Rebecca Travis. Is Tabitha here? I'm not seeing her either. You haven't, okay. Rebecca Travis. Is Rebecca here? Rebecca will be followed by Tracy Amaya. Okay, you guys are gonna have to use your imagination. My name is Rebecca Travis and I live in Wedgewood, which is in District 6, soon to become District 9. Is it a rental house or is it a boarding house? You're gonna have to tell me. And these things are popping up all over Fort Worth and we really need to be aware of them. We do know it's not an STR. So think of a single-family house. It has four bedrooms. I'm gonna reconfigure that house and I'm going to take a four-bedroom, three-bath house with a living room and dining room and a kitchen and I'm gonna turn it into seven private bad rooms with locked doors and numbers on the door and there's three shared baths, one shared kitchen and a shared eating area. So you can rent these rooms by the week. They're $150 a week and I'm gonna make a lot more money than renting it as a house. I'm gonna provide a bed, a nightstand, and a lamp hanging storage. Each bedroom has its own lock. You provide your own bedding. You provide your own towels. But you gotta share the bath. You share the kitchen. Some of these houses have laundry facilities, some don't. They all have ingress and egress from the common areas. We know this isn't a single-family house because it doesn't meet the defined Fort Worth definition of a family. We know it's not a community home because these residents are not disabled and there's no supervision on site. We know that it's not a group one home. We know it's not a group two home because there's no supervisory personnel and these residents are not mentally or physically impaired. They are not cared for on a 24-hour basis. These houses are licensed by the Texas Commission or ATAT or Alcohol and Drug Abuse. We know it's not a halfway house because there is not supervision and there is not inpatient treatment for chemical dependency, nor is the house providing housing, rehabilitation, or training all by definitions in the Fort Worth code. So we know what it's not, which means it must be a boarding house. There's at least one common entrance. There's separate sleeping rooms available for rent. You can rent these rooms for seven days or longer. The rental manager does not live in the house. Let's look a little further and we take it and we go to the boarding supplemental code 5.710A. It checks all the boxes. What we go on to next is we look at the actual zoning. We find out that it should be NACD or UR district. What we need to do is stop the madness, quit approving these, and having boarding houses in residential neighborhoods. Thank you, Ms. Travis. We actually just passed an ordinance. It may be a very helpful knowledge for you on boarding houses. I'm gonna ask maybe district six and district nine to coordinate and get with Ms. Travis after this to make sure she has the latest information. Thank you for coming this evening. I did actually have a PowerPoint and I've been assured by Mr. Gonzalez that that will be emailed to everyone. We will receive it, yes ma'am. Thank you very much. That's all those definitions. That's helpful. Thank you very much. Our next speaker is Tracy Amaya followed by Pamela Young. I'm Tracy Amaya and I am two district six, probably getting ready to be district nine, or am getting ready to, I am here in regards to the short-term rental. I actually do own a short-term rental. I am putting my neck out there. I've also been a realtor in this city for almost 30 years. This proposal that is before you get it, it does not make any sense. Nor, so what I did is I went back and I looked at your six goals. When you first started this process, preserve residential quality of neighborhoods and protect them from commercial lodging encroachment. The STR industry lives and dies by online reviews that are as bad as transparent and uncensored as you can get. A short-term rental that does not consistently receive four to five star reviews will not continue to be rented. It's a pretty easy solution. They won't be there very long. For those properties that don't maintain them, that are well maintained and consistently stay rented, they are some of the best looking properties in the neighborhood. They're also nine times out of 10, the neighbors do know. And so if there's a problem, responsible STR owners make sure they have their phone numbers. They make sure to call them. So I understand you need to be responsive to those residents that you serve that are being affected by irresponsible property owners and using them for STR, but that is by far the minority of people. The solutions that you all have put forth don't make any sense, which these ladies have already pointed out pretty detailed and consistently. One of your other goals was supporting tourism in a balanced way. I think it's pretty common knowledge that the city of Fort Worth is tourism's a pretty major revenue source for us. I think it's also pretty common knowledge that we're pretty underserved when it comes to hotels and we don't get some major conventions. We have people that don't come here because they can't either find enough places to stay or they are too expensive. A three bedroom, two baths, single family home for a family of four or even a family of five if they have three kids. To go rent multiple hotel rooms, this is a viable option for them. They will come here, they'll spend their money at all those major attractions that we are known for. So that went really fast. I am gonna kind of end with, I encourage you to please reconsider what you have before you. You did not talk to people. I mean, I know you talk to people, but people talk to you. But the majority of people who are affected by this have not spoken. They have not been here and you honestly have not given... Thank you, Ms. Amari. Given them a voice. Thank you, Tracy. Our next speaker is Pamela Young, followed by Rodney McIntosh. Hello, thank you. My name is Pamela Young. I live in District 9. I'm speaking on the curfew. I'm asking all of you to reconsider. I heard the discussion today and I'm asking you to reconsider. Everyone basically, but Nettles and Williams. I'm really exasperated because we shouldn't have to keep doing this over and over and over again, fighting for our lives, in our dignity and in the safety of our families. Gina Bivens, I know you weren't there today. You said you heard from people on your cell phone. I don't know who those people were, but if they knew the truth behind this ordinance and they saw the data, I bet you by golly wild, they would not be saying they want this in their community. So everything you said today was really not transparent, including what you said about Pastor Rodney and he's gonna come up behind me. And Patrice mentioned, she didn't say it all, but Gina Bivens received over $1,000 from the Police Officers Association and has been receiving money from them every year just about that she's been in office. So tell that to your black parents in stop six. Number one, I'll do respect. Number one, Ms. Beck, and I don't know the answer to this. When the police brought your daughter home, did she have a citation in her hand? Did she go to court? Did she have to come back up here, have her many emptying times to serve her community service and make you take off work? You can answer that later. Maybe she did. But what we do know is disproportionately black men who look like your two council members sitting right here, they did have to do all that best. And it's still on their record, unresolved. The judge and the little man from the municipal court who came up here and who was at your meeting last night, they lied then and they lied today. And if y'all saw me hand them a note, I was reminding them, you said you weren't gonna lie today. It remains on these kids' records for seven years unless they pay to get it expunged. Class C misdemeanor. So when you sit here and you say, well, I want the police to pick up my little white girl, that may be true for you. But for me and for him and for him and for us, it's different. It plays out different. It's our lives on the line. And y'all are wordsmithing to hide that. And our speaker is Rodney McIntosh, followed by Oscar Narriquez. Rodney, go ahead. Thank you. Good evening, council. Good evening. I'll be brief. I don't even need them. I'll let them finish. Now I don't even need the four or three minutes. You got it. Go ahead, Rodney. I'm here for the sake of clarity because I definitely agree with Pamela. I had several conversations. And I've come to the place to realize with great influence, also there's great responsibility. All right? I think all of us know that from sitting here. I would be remiss. And it would be very irresponsible of me to say I agree with something I have no working knowledge of. I won't try to be privy to a conversation I had with my wife earlier, because we was discussing this. She said, so baby, you fought a curfew against it. What age limit does it start? I said, baby, that's the thing. I can't even answer that question. So if I don't even know the age limit, if I have not seen the statistics, if I have not seen the data, how can I actually tell you out of them four or something? Especially something that, after I'm hearing, seemed like it targets African-American men and brown men in our city. I think everyone here knows me and know the work that I do. Man, I definitely want our city safe. I definitely want our city safer. I want to see our communities thrive, right? I care about the youth here. But I don't want something in our community, man, that's literally that targets anybody. Because, again, y'all know my past and how I feel about that target being on your back. Man, so again, I cannot stand here and tell y'all that I'm for this ordinance that y'all talking about, because I don't know anything about it. Next thing, with that being said, I would ask that y'all wouldn't even consider voting for this until our community, because if my wife don't know about it and I fully don't know about it with the work that we do in this city, then I'm pretty sure so many people in our community that don't even know about this curfew, or this ordinance, and if y'all actually are here to serve the people, at least let the people make sure they know what y'all are doing when they come to serve them. Thank y'all. Thank you, Rodney. Our next speaker is Oscar Enriquez, followed by Paul Chaplot. Hello, my name is Oscar, I'm currently in District 9. I don't know how y'all do this for, I don't know how old y'all are, I don't wanna guess, but man, I'm tired, I'm not even 25 yet, and I hate having to beg for the lives of black and brown people. I'm sorry that the brown representation is a Ted Cruz wannabe. I just don't see where the solutions come from with y'all. From y'all. I see it in here, I see it from the people standing behind me, but nothing's coming from y'all. We have people that are fighting over, I don't know, y'all were just being childish. I don't even talk to my sisters the way that y'all talk to each other, and yeah, I'm practicing my public speaking, this is kinda hard for me, but yeah. This is all off the dome too, I didn't wanna have to write and give more of my time, but yeah, I mean, they said it all, $5,000 to the POA. I grew up in Diamond Hill, the site of police wasn't something that my community wanted, it wasn't something that we aspired to become. We thought safety was our family, we thought safety was our friends. Y'all are talking about short-term rentals, we have people living in, my people live in homes where we have like eight people living together, but they're the happiest that they can be. It obviously shouldn't be like that, community needs land ownership, we need our homes back, we need support for our communities. I heard you talk about 24-hour rec centers, I would love that, I would love it if there was a 24-hour bus system, I would love it if, say they did walk in the middle of the night, if there was lighting on the street, if there were sidewalks on the street, we're giving 1.2 mils of public safety, that could go to, I did the math, it's like a 65K for a licensed therapist, divide that by, divide 1.2 by 65K, that's what, like 15 people, 15 therapists. You were talking earlier about how there's only like 0.05 people that are affected by this ordinance, that's 15 therapists that could have talked into that 0.05%. Yeah, I mean, I just, I don't know, everything seems so common sense, but listening to y'all talk, it sounds like the hardest thing in the world. If we're protecting our black kids, we're protecting our brown kids, we're protecting our white kids. Yeah, that's all I got, but I don't know if I wanna come back, but I might, so thank y'all. Thank you, Oscar. Our next speaker is Paul Chaplot. I'm Paul Chaplot, district six, about to be nine. Thank you, mayor. Thank you, council members. I'm also speaking to object against the practice of allowing real estate investors to take a single family house in residential neighborhood in Fort Worth, such as the 3-2, and in an unregulated manner, divide the house into as many as eight bedrooms. The practice exploits rental restrictions in that the dwelling becomes not a duplex or quadplex, but essentially an eight-unit rental, which each room rented to different individuals with separate rental agreements. Although landlords are crafty and sometimes requiring a start fee and a month contract, the fact is that afterwards, the rentals continue on a week-by-week basis. Landlords who do this type of rental commonly advertised on a website called PaidSplit reportedly do the construction and remodeling at night and on weekends to evade inspections, permitting, and revised tax assessments. In addition, besides the documented cases of these multiplex rentals being used for illicit activities, such as prostitution, as reported NBC Dallas January 29th for Plano arrests, the fact remains that with upwards of eight separate living spaces, each with locked doors, the lack of enforcement of fire code becomes evident. Regarding the physical layout of the facility and the clandestine manner in which remodels are done, creates risk to life and safety and that by evading inspections, it is unknown if each lackable room has adequate egress in case of fire. If there are current inspected fire extinguishers or even a sprinkler system, we're required. The same concerns are present for the kitchen being used by so many renters. Are there fire extinguishers? Proper ventilation is a first suppression vent hood required. In local cases around mind neighborhood, the landowner is absentee and does not provide for any living staff. There would be the practice saved for a motel. In the event of a noise violation or violence, there's no one there to intervene. As others may have stated, others was living by schools or having young children against children. Have added safety concern where young children walk home and play as there is also the issue of parking on site and street. The split houses are known to have an unusual high level of activity. So I just propose that in looking forward that these paid splits that are passed out be fully evaluated. Thank you very much. Appreciate you coming. Thank you. Council, that is the last of our speakers this evening. I am gonna turn to Council Member Flores who's gonna close our meeting in honor of two individuals. The first is Richard Phillip O. Stryker and the second is Joe Guzman. Council Member Flores. Thank you, Mayor. And a memoriam for the recent passing of Richard Phillip O. Stryker. I wanna say just a few words. Rick graduated from Western Hills High School. Shortly thereafter began working at Journal Dynamics. Now a Lockheed Martin company. While working for GD and living in Fort Worth, he met his wife, Catherine. Rick loved to spend time with his family and traveled often. He enjoyed working with children as substitute teacher and volunteering at the Fort Worth Aviation Museum, which I am a board member of and have worked with Rick in those capacities. The family's encouraging donations to either the organizations that Rick dedicated his own time and effort to and those are the Western Hills High School Hooger Pride Foundation and the Fort Worth Aviation Museum. Additionally, also memoriam, I would like to acknowledge the passing of Joe Guzman. Due to gun violence, he was district two resident and a beloved boxing coach. He worked with the Fort Worth Police Athletic League, coached a lot of youth, was a very positive influence in his community. He coached also with Texas Golden Gloves and Fort Worth and non-profit that works with youth and he will be missed. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Carlos. And Council meeting adjourned.