 had seemed to get lost in the multi translations that we were sending around and so we needed to get those clarified. That's item number two which initially quarterly meetings between the liaison neighborhoods must be conducted to ensure clarity of policy and to address any concerns. At an appropriate time upon mutual agreement those regular meetings will move to semi-annual and the four the the foregoing parties may call special meetings at any time. The liaison will will maintain records of the meetings and communications in which in conjunction with the presidents of historic Heath Wood and the Melrose neighborhood associations. And then the other item is under the scheduling events application limits events to middle schools junior varsity and eliminates varsity football. The Melra the Heath Wood and Melrose neighborhoods have sought to limit events to junior varsity that varsity lacrosse was accepted under the limited circumstance so that may involve economic efficiencies due to anticipated low crowd or scheduling conflicts to the use of memorials stating by the district schools varsity soccer will matches would be allowed at the MPV and all of the other items were included as on the landscape the school district is making strides to create more of a buffer and recapture there is going to be a lot of trees that will be having to be shifted or possibly destroyed and the school districts made a commitment to take those trees at this point the number is not defined which we're working on to help enclose the buffer throughout the adjacent neighborhoods and capture those and be identified also the school district has agreed to replace the crate myrtles with more evergreens to help stack and create more noise reduction and visibility and so we have a create a better buffer mr. quackenbush and and his team will make sure that that miss Hampton gets that as it's revised as we've discussed with that request that we move forward motion second second all right any further discussion I'm sorry mr. mcdowell into a motion and I'm glad to hear you're welcome thank you sir and just in the comment period as in so far as high schools and we have great high schools across richland one this is a unique situation and I think it's so important that we continue to remind ourselves of this even even many of our great high schools don't exist in sandwiched right between historic neighborhoods on major commercial corridors I mean this this is a unique situation and it's taken some time I think that to to address up our passions and make sure that we work through something that has a specificity that meets all of our long-term goals which is of course to make sure we can enjoy the the use of our homes public and quiet and enjoyment of our homes but also make sure that our young people have an opportunity to live up to their their full potential and I'm excited that we're able finally get here I usually don't mention the name check critics and I won't do that today Chris trainer not you but the other people that you guys working at your paper the who have lots of opinions with no ideas you tell them I tell them I said that tell them I said that okay I won't I won't name I won't name check them so don't don't don't tag them on Twitter would you tweet about this but but but some of these things are all right we'll take time I'm excited that everyone's on a court right now let's rock and roll let's get this done for that for our for our children and and thank all of you chair you Mr. superintendent Raymond I'll know how you do what you do but you but you managed to do it and just all the wonderful collection of professionals and in parents for all you do young people this vote is for you move the previous question call the roll and if she could vote Ms. Devon will be voting I too but there's apparently a conflict of interest that the law that does not have a pillow talk exception so with unanimous vote I'm happy to get this done let's rock and roll young people we do not expect you to stay for your the rest of the evening go get homework done and we would not be offended actually if you guys left and went home too all right all right thank y'all all right so we will move into a period of presentations the first being the national where your pearls day proclamation the honorable Stephen K yeah now and I will be brief this is an important obviously many people have never heard of national where your pearls day but it recognizes just the incredible important issues that we're dealing with as we work on issues of depression I'm going to read this briefly West Columbia the nation has resolved to proclaim December 15th 2018 to be national where your pearls day and whereas national where your pearls day was created so that when life those dirt your way pulling your pearls as a reminder that you have value regardless of your current circumstances and whereas it's fitting and proper to recognize this day officially to encourage advocacy and compassion in the community and its citizens and whereas it is appropriate to help and honor those individuals and families who are impacted by depression and anxiety in order to build a stronger community and benefit those in it and whereas over 12% of youth ages 12 to 17 report suffering from at least one major depressive episode in the past year and whereas approximately one in five adults in the United States almost 44 million people experience mental illness in a given year and whereas one in 25 adults or nearly 10 million people experiences a serious mental illness in a given year that substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life activities and whereas the state of Columbia recognizes the importance of bringing attention to matters pertaining to mental health and raising awareness for the resources that available to residents now therefore I Steven Benjamin mayor the great city Columbia along with my fellow members of Columbia City Council do hereby proclaim December 15th 2018 to be national where your pearls day in our city and urge our fellow citizens to recognize and participate in its observance if I might just a moment of personal privilege thank you if I may so every so often I have the honor of acknowledging some of our best employees and I think we all have begun have grown to rely upon him I'd ask Jeff Palin to come forward doesn't know I'm doing this so he's gonna get me I'm sure I'm sure he's facing he's running I tell him often that he has mastered the art of finance what I mean by that he is one of the best finance professionals that I know he's learned to say no is what you meant to say well he thinks he's Mr. No but anyway he then he'll say he's Mr. KNOW and not Mr. No but we know that I he's evolved manager and our chief financial officer keeps us straight but he does it in a way that we all understand where he's coming from and you don't find that all the time with finance professionals they have the that have the ability to explain things and be solutions oriented so I appreciate him for all he does every day I want to recognize Jeff for his 10 years of service really going on 11 yeah it's been that been that long with the city of Columbia and get one of those special envelopes that was a little extra special so thank you Jeff in order I'm not sure if I clarified also we were thankful to the neighborhood associations for their leadership and helping get through the three issue for you got some J school students in here again and I mentioned the pillow talk exception Mrs. Devine's husband Jamie is the former chairman of the school board and current member of the school board and she's not participating in the in the drear discussions I guess get mentioned pillow talk and not clarify it and as relates to what Teresa said about Jeff we have I believe one of the very best staffs any city can have we got we got solid professionals who balance things incredibly well against a very lean environment we're with a capital city we host the state capital for the entire estate we host the the only Carnegie research one university large university and other colleges here in Columbia and Richardson County we host Port Jackson the Army's largest training base in the world here in this city so we have a really odd financial situation that most of the public services that would normally be paid for with property taxes are not paid for as they might be in a city of of similar size so so we really have to be very thoughtful and creative in ways in which we deliver services to the public how you pay for those those little things that we need like police service and fire service and and and solid waste and other public services things that are essential to being a great a great city and the work that Teresa Jeff our entire staff does every single year years of budget surplus we've had six of the last eight eight years we got in the government finance officer's award of excellence what five years in a row five years in a row I mean just really working through not just our pension issues but handling a non pension later the long term liabilities we've done an excellent job and and Jeff is still dr. No in oh he will tell you no quickly anybody you know but he really has involved over 10 years into dr. KNOW he really focuses on helping us solve issues so I didn't want Jeff you know how much we how much we think about you and and this a yeah it's all a team Teresa so congratulations brother all right into a period of resolutions resolution amending resolution number R 2018 094 adopting a policy and criteria to consider the inclusion of real property in a multi-county industrial part to apply Richland County's special source revenue credit incentive to real property within the corporate limits of the city of Columbia develop with the inclusion of structured public parking within the project so moved is there a second in discussion with the previous question clerk Colorado Mr. Rickerman Mr. Mcdowell mr. Duvall mr. Badura no mr. Vine hi mr. Davis Mayor Benjamin hi ordinance is first reading number 14 ordinance number 2018 069 consenting to the inclusion of property in a multi-county industrial business part the Klein city center portion of Richland County TMS number is outlined so moved to a second all right discussion mr. Rickerman just want to make sure that that everybody knows this is the first of two readings and there we may need to make some adjustment in language to make sure it's very clarified between first and second reading spend some time doing that thank you mr. Badura and I just want to clarify that with this ordinance we create or giving up 10 made over 10 million dollars for the parking garage as an incentive and I think that's going to create a disadvantage for other businesses are developers who are not getting any tax incentives to compete with the ones who are coming in on this property so I will not support this ordinance appreciate your position mr. Badura I would ask staff just as we're talking or actually says our private sector partners as you move forward let's let's think about not just the parking garages but the future parking garages you know if we do get to a point where our autonomous vehicles will take over the roads and the wheels let's make sure we prepare for that let's if it looks like eventually spaces might be converted to other commercial space or residential space somewhere down the road let's just let's think about that as as we erect these structures I think this is an exciting opportunity we have here that addresses some of these systemic challenges are mentioned in our tax structure so if there's no further discussion with the previous question court call roll mr. Rickerman hi mr. McDowell yes mr. Duvall hi mr. Badura no mr. Vine hi mr. Davis hi mayor Benjamin hi number 15 ordinance number 2018 067 consenting to the inclusion of property in a multi-county industrial business part the Bull Street mixed-use residential and retail development move approval second move and second discussion same amendment will be for second rating same discussion and this is another I think it's tax credit here is it's a disadvantage for regular people at the same time the Bull Street would been promised before that you know it they will not come for tax incentives or anything like that to come forward for any new future development and we here we are where all the millions of dollars we invested in bull street we're giving them another 10 million dollars what they tax incentives I I think this is a big sign for me that the Bull Street project has failed us so far that's why they're coming back for more incentives to keep the project going and I think there's enough chances that we've given them so far so thank you mr. Badura thank you I'll be tomorrow if you guys want to join me at ribbon cutting for the largest tech jobs announcement in the his in the last 10 years in South Carolina on Bull Street so if you want to join me there I encourage you to please do so move the previous question carcala raw mr. Dewald mr. Rickerman I Mr. McDowell yes mr. Dewald hi mr. Badura no mr. Vine hi mr. Davis hi Mayor Benjamin hi and not to belabor a point the votes over but it's important that we again when we look at the Bull Street development the 181 acres that we endeavor to bring on to the tax rolls in Colombia with a number of incredible considerations how do we protect the beautiful silver environment how do we protect historic properties we look at the piece of property that was indeed a city within a city off the tax rolls for well over a hundred plus years we were looking at trying to make sure there was infrastructure there a piece of property that was two and a half times the central business district in Colombia I mean so so I mean this this was an overwhelming project and I think a singular exception and I just want to make sure that we weren't just talking about trying to make something happen that would have happened but for public participation the the stadium was not the multi-purpose venue was not the idea of the developers we wanted to bring professional baseball back to Colombia so if we want to credit that we would thank you for donating 10 acres and the partnership there we're gonna get through this y'all I'm excited about this as a step forward I'm gonna keep on moving forward but it's just I was like to end on a positive note I'm city manager yes sir item 16 ordinance number 2018 072 granting an encroachment to the five points association for installation and maintenance of a concrete and brick art sculpture within the sidewalk right-of-way area of the 700 block of Saluda Avenue adjacent to 710 a Saluda Avenue second move and second discussion with the previous question clerk carol I'm 17 ordinance number 2018 076 and sending to the inclusion of property in a multi-county industrial business park 604 hugie LLC so moved is there a second second discussion yes mr. Badura once again I you know I know it's a broken record but this is we're giving up 30 million dollars and those just three projects coming up I think that's probably enough to buy three 30 cranes and put them around the city if y'all want to see some cranes up for that be I'm not gonna support this ordinance either I appreciate appreciate that Mr. Mayor I just I feel like I have to address it because I brought this forth to council and I brought it forth because we're struggling in investment it's the highest investment going on across the country in Columbia does not have cranes in the sky and we don't have buildings going and that's because we're we're handicapped for multiple reasons a lot of times we talk about it being a lot of non-tax paying properties but we also are challenged with the high millage rate due to school districts and everything else that affect investment we brought this forth so that we could encourage a way to get people to start so that people could see that this this town this city that we love is worth it we can debate back and forth on Bull Street I have my own feelings here and there but the reality is is we have to do something different be creative and one of the challenges that we have is public parking as well and so why not take that challenge of the parking and in a way to create some incentive that puts the burden on them so they have to pay the full tax credit tax in and then they get a credit to offset it for for the investment of their garage that benefits the public so I just want to be clear that we're not giving away anything we're creating an avenue that's a standard that anybody who wants to make that investment can use as a vehicle to overcome the burden that's holding us back as a community I just felt like I needed to clarify that one hundred percent of zero is what I was just going to add I echo Mr. Rickman and the thing is we have to be creative the thing is we know we recognize we have challenges the thing is you have to actually come up with real solutions to address those challenges and sometimes those are thinking outside of the box sometimes doing something that hadn't been done before but the reality is if they're not producing any income for us now and we're not giving away anything we're actually creating an opportunity to create and build our tax base and an abatement for a few years the revenue that will receive out after that time far exceeds you know probably what we'd be looking at so I think these are very good projects and I think that at the end of the day when people look back people challenged us when we said we were going to do mass general and mass started you know main street the way is going so you've got to be creative and you've got to look outside the box and I think these are great ideas and thank you Mr. Rickman for bringing it forward and I think and hopefully young people who are watching this others a course requirement or maybe as a start of maybe serving in public office someday you'll see not only creativity at play here but also civility that we don't always agree but we but we know how to disagree agreeably and want to thank mr. Badura for his consistent concerns and criticisms he's raised here and we you know sometimes you have to just agree to disagree and keep moving can I add some more comment I mean look all the points that you guys brought up is correct I mean there should have some kind of mechanism to generate investment and development in the city but I feel like that the cost and the and associated with these developments gonna offset or actually it's gonna be higher than what you generate in taxes when you talking about providing so basic services to all these apartment complexes not only that I mean we talk about you know the millage points that affects the city as a whole when it comes to developers coming in here but at the same time it's on the back and every taxpayers back that we have to educate these children it's coming in to live in these apartments at half the cost I mean other other taxpayers have to pay for that cost to educate them to make them to make sure they're safe and make sure that they have fire protection police protection everything else and I feel like this is not a good balance I'm sorry for you know my ideas are different than you mr. Mayor and anybody else but I feel like this is how I feel my district support you know I just wanted to make that statement no need to apologize just I feel like all you young beautiful minds in this room when I actually tell you what we're discussing if you guys haven't been required to read the resolutions and in the ordinances because of the fact we have so much public property in the city that doesn't pay taxes university for Jackson state government all that create billions of dollars of economic impact but don't pay property taxes and also another law act 388 that that has significantly impacted the ability to even tax residences then our businesses are commercial taxpayers pay a disproportionately higher tax burden that they might pay in other similarly sized cities all across the country I mean it's a it's significantly higher and as a result we've had to get get to be very good to be very creative to make sure that people who want to make significant capital investment buildings here that they get a they get a preferential tax structure that's how many of the buildings that you that you see and go up the last several years the station in five points the new student housing development on assembly street by hop I can't think of the name of it the is it empires I might bet but but but not a number of the developments we've seen over the last few years we passed an ordinance that allows us to reduce the amount of tax burden that that that folks pay in order to incentivize development actually happening but for that those incentives none of that development would have happened it wasn't happening before then and and I'd say just as a as a interesting point just the developments that we've seen happen in the student housing space over 20 years we'll send about a hundred million dollars rich in school district one that wasn't going there in the first place so we're not taking money away from the from the school district this incentive that mr. Rickman's brought the table is different in that we're helping meet the high cost of providing parking to these developments if you want to build a new tax taxable property vertical property you have to have you if you want a bank partner to help you help you finance it you have to have parking to meet those needs the formula that we've come up with requires that who's ever building that parking for their private development also builds up a bills in some parking that is publicly available so there's a benefit to the public to do this and if they do it and they follow our rules and it's not a long list but it's pretty significant list of requirements then over the course of 15 years up to 15 years they're able to recapture the cost of building those parking spaces which can be sizable as you're thinking about parking you think about the tickets you get and the parking garage spaces can range anywhere from 22,000 to 30,000 to build those spaces we've picked a formula that allows us to reimburse spaces over that 15 years so people can recapture the cause of building those parking garages including the public benefit and allows the the the investment the cash flow in a way that we can get the development in the city of Columbia it's a it's an it's an interesting way to attack the challenge the problem it does not address our systemic issues that Mr. Rickerman mentioned with with the high taxes or the millage rate that Mr. Badura mentioned but it's a creative way to try and help solve the problem I hope that was all right guys but just trying to explain that the challenge before us so every every every every other semester I teach at the University of South Carolina might add to a class on trying to build a great city and my students they like me sometimes so we'll see move the previous question of part color all we're still on the on 17 on 17 moving into a period of other matters item 18 councils asked to approve the installation of one additional streetlight on South Waukema Street one additional streetlight on Cromer Avenue and one additional streetlight on the Bull Street property as requested by the traffic engineering division second in discussion with the previous question court Colorado Mr. Rickerman Mr. McDowell yes mr. Deval hi mr. Badura hi mr. Vine hi mr. Davis hi your Benjamin hi mr. Mayor you all have two appointments two entities to make appointments to the first being the Greater Columbia Community Relations Council the second one individual to the Columbia Housing Authority I'm sorry I didn't realize Ashley was here to help lead you all through these policies CRC we're gonna hold in the house in 39 you're gonna hold on the 18th I forgot the application I have a candidate from District 4 okay you're holding that then CHA you're holding the 18th we're gonna hold we're gonna hold the housing authority who do we have applying for community relations I mean y'all cool okay quite a few people actually there's probably about eight people eight or nine people that have applied however two of them don't live or work in within the city limits so that kind of this call no no that's that's one of our conditions I think it says they have to rip must reside within the city limits for that's what is the residential requirement for CRC it's a requirement but that you know makes no sense that makes no sense who we have who they just my name Brent Brazil you have Leslie Gatson Brie Loge Pamela K Brown Michelle Thompson Gurpreet Calcata Blake Weiss and Robert March yeah I see recommend anybody this American can we defer that to our next meeting we'll hold items 19 and 20 are there any matters thank you Ashley and that and and Ashley's from I asked her for some help and kind of pulling together a report on a number we have so many different boards and commissions that we're gonna try to make sure we normally get through but get them fully get them fully staffed I think she's gonna spend a whole lot of time with Erica just kind of going through and they did some people who we know are serving have served multiple terms and just kind of cleaning that up a little bit but she I appreciate the note you left me today I think they should probably enjoy seeing that too just kind of knowing what we're looking at so we'll spend some time and we'll address both of those boards and anything else coming up next meeting there's quite a few of them they were on that list so we can determine which ones I've kind of noted which ones are priority as far as like their needs with being filled they all been published with it no they have not that was one thing I was gonna talk with you about there's a couple of them that we held like the DDRC as well so I just wanted to see what the needs of what council wanted to do why am I feeling like Shanique is the happiest person in the room right she probably not to have to do this so we'll meet in the morning and what we'll we'll move forward then but we'll hold those two till the 18th okay all right yes sir thank you thank you are there any items from work session that need to be addressed no sir all right any committee reports or referrals yes sir I do have a referral I'd like to refer to the environment environment infrastructure committee a presentation by our sustainability director Mary Pau balled off on the current CPAC action plan and maybe seeing what we need to be doing to be aggressively addressing climate protection issues within the city. On the sidelines. Who's your committee? Me, Daniel and you. Just me and Daniel. Do you see Mr. Badura? Actually I guess Mo is on it. That's a motion. Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? Mr. Rickerman? Aye. Mr. McDowell? Aye. Mr. Davis? Aye. Any other referrals or report? Committee reports? I have this direction already. And I think Mr. Rickerman was at E&I also that there was a presentation. I think you already refer it out of your committee. Right our committee already did it so I can officially refer it out. We have a presentation by I don't know. I think it's Allied Energy. Yes Allied Energy. We've met with them twice in the committee and the committee has heard their proposal. The staff has met with them and we're ready for counsel to hear our presentation and take some action. Is there a motion? Is there a move? Second. I move a previous question. Mr. Rickerman? Aye. Mr. McDowell? Aye. Mr. Badura? Aye. Mayor Benjamin? Aye. On that issue or something else? Okay, we're done. I do have one more. Okay. Yeah, I understand. Theresa, I'm not sure if it's... I probably went to the Tamecans committee. Maybe Sam's. I want to have a discussion around opportunity zones. And Ryan and his team have been doing a good job kind of pulling together our city perspectives. And we just seem to have a kind of more of a deep dive for counsel and the possibilities there. Really good presentation at the Economic Outlook Conference today. But we spent a lot of time in that space trying to figure out how we're going to attract capital to the 12 census tracts across the Midlands. And I'm not sure if that's... Who's Economic Community Development? Is that you? That's probably where it needs to be. Let's start there. A referral. No, even on this. Daniel Howard and I. Daniel's a chair. All right, let's remit this one. Okay, so what do you chair now? Public safety. Public safety. No, I'm public safety. Mr. Davis is the Economic Development Committee. I became the chair of the Economic Development Committee. That's the other subcommittee. Okay. Avoid too many committees, y'all. Refer on the Mr. Davis's committee on the standing committee, standing subcommittee on a full Opportunity Zones presentation discussion before the end of the year. We will be submitting comments from the comps and mayors and some other groups to the outstanding Treasury regulations and... But it'd be worth us just having a robust discussion as a public body. Let me say this. Actually, let's carve out just a chunk if it's 10 minutes or 15 minutes of a presentation by Ryan or whoever on our council meeting agenda. Everyone on council needs to hear this, not just the committee. Okay? No, the work session would be perfect. Yes. So we're all hearing it, not just the committee. That would require a motion. Believe me, once it gets going, talk more than 10 minutes. You'll take up 10 minutes. Because I already know it'll take 30. So if you say 10, if you say 30, we'll be at an hour. If done right, this could be probably one of the most single most significant opportunities we have in this country over the next decade or two. All right. No other reports from the purls. We have appearance of the public. We have minister Allen Browning who is in charge of this and then Ms. Alana Jackson can speak in that order with the same time limits we had the last two meetings. Same time limits. Okay. I come on a light or no, guys. And I want to say this clearly. I'm Allen Browning from Hearts for the Homeless and Homeless Veterans Charity. In the past, I mentioned my church because my church reached into my ministry to expand the charity. But I am a charitable organization and I come to ask you guys again for help. Mary told me you have a meeting we had on one short meeting but I'm asking for some dates. I also want to ask who is like which one of you council members or council person or represent the area of Rosewood? I want to know that also. And I want to ask you if I can get a meeting with you also if I can get 10 minutes No problem. And how would I go about doing that? Because a lot of times when I call I understand what you guys do and I know y'all do it a lot. I'm not discrediting y'all in any way. Amen. If somebody can give me that. I came here to bring y'all a message from a 9-year-old girl, my granddaughter. She told me she knows what I do. I'm very open with her about everything that we're doing for the homeless people. And she told me to ask you guys how do you go, baby? Jane, build a house. The house that Jane built. If y'all guys would Google that and read that for her the house that Jane built is very similar to what I want to do for the city to change the face of the city with the homeless people and she pointed that out to me and tried to brief me when I got here before I got here on that and I'm asking you guys to read that and I want to leave y'all with a scripture. I just came on a lighter note. I have a meeting with Mark Friday and I'm still coming at you guys and I'm going to ask you guys for something to be pulled into what I'm doing in the city. I've done my research with what's it? Transition Shelter. They have a day shelter but it's not what the vision guide gave me. And if you do the demographics it's not very many people that's going from homelessness to another level. Like those guys are just kind of stagnant and most organizations that you guys are funding are keeping those people stagnant so that they can keep receiving y'all money. So, you know, I just came to make y'all aware that and I just wanted to be documented on the city's minutes. That's why I keep coming. I want documentation of what I'm doing and I'm very persistent because I'm military and I'm going to keep coming. You know, maybe not all the time but y'all are going to see my face constantly because I'm a champion. This is who we are house for the homeless and homeless veterans. And again, 70% of the people in America are veterans that's homeless and it shouldn't be that way. We can't control everything. And you keep mentioning that statistic. It's not correct, minister. No, 70% of homeless people are... 60% of them are demographics. That's not true. 70% of people who are homeless are not veterans. Okay, so sir... We can chat a little more about that but since you want to keep talking about it we're going to keep talking back and forth. I ain't coming to debate. I'll be all aware. But we appreciate your passion. We're going to spend some more time giving you information about the NOFA and make sure you stay involved in that process. I will respectfully disagree with you on the work that the various homeless service providers are doing here in the Midlands. They're working hard. What you will see is that yes, we actually have challenges in America about economic mobility, period. Not just those who are homeless but people who are able in this country, and it's a major challenge we're all trying to attack, is that usually where you're born makes a big difference about where you end up in life and that's a problem that we have to try and attack. But we're going to do it in the spirit of working together. I will respectfully disagree with you because I know I'm going to be frank because I'm going to start straight up. Coming from your position I expected that to be said because you're a city official. I was homeless four and a half years I know from experience. Just don't rely on Google for your stats. We'll talk more about that. We'll forget the stats on the demographics on the Google but as far as all these millions of dollars in this city that's being given by you and private donors and all these people and it's still the number is growing why would it grow? We need to have a time to have a conversation I don't understand the forum for that but to be frank you have a group of homeless people who don't want help either. We don't have the ones that do and there's a lot of folks who want to abide by rules and other things so I think it's fair that when you lay something argument out or debate I get your passion and I applaud your passion but at the same time I think the best thing you could do is put something together a formal proposal and let us look at what we can and what we can't do and I think that would be the best way to move forward. I would like to thank you for enlightening me on mock I have a meeting with them seven I hope it works out for you but I'm still going to come at you guys for something. I figured you would. Mr. Davis I agree with my colleagues but I would also disagree with you about the organizations that are in place that are just keeping people stagnant another organization I would suggest that you confer with would be Housing First they move people as Housing First affiliated with Columbia City Housing it's not Housing First I'll look into that guys and it elevates work with them to the point where they are one apartment they do work and they take advantage of services available to them and then they go on to a state of independence that which is the ultimate goal I'm listening to you guys I'm listening to everything y'all say I'm a sponge Housing First and Mercy would be worth looking at obviously all of our gospel mission has been serving this community for over a hundred years so a number of folks are doing good work so when you make a sweep and comment folks are getting funding and working to keep people down I'm not saying that they do it on purpose that's the outfit that's the outfit you're coming out it needs to be expressed because guys like this that work they way out of homelessness and experiences you got to talk to the people that's going through and that deals with these people every day not what they bring to your table saying oh I've done this I've done that you got to actually go out and talk to the people like I do to get the true story you just need counseling you know and to get them to love and understand on the surface I have a house of representative we call him Mr. Bubba that's been feeding people in that park for 17 years he was in the house of representative for over 20 years and he came down and spoke with me and this is what he said this is his words I'm going to quote on the surface everybody seems to want to help but the underbelly is it's just politics he told me that and he's going to partner with me and trying to help me this is a house of representatives that came down and handed out things Monday night when I was doing our ministry of feeding and he's a great guy Bubba's a great guy Bubba stopped serving about 20 years ago he's a great guy he does great work for the homeless right but again there are a lot of services going on out there and we've encouraged the interface with mock and let's we got you keep saying that and I'll call you sir I'm just who I am I was trained by the U.S. military to be like this please forgive me let's just bear the conversation whenever you call me y'all please forgive me for being like that's on my opposition at ARC and I apologize it's called debating well I apologize and I'm going to leave y'all with this actually y'all do that the same baby who came last meeting with you the same granddaughter who came last meeting he's here I just rocked her off she said it would be boring and she's not coming so she sent the message she came the last meeting with you she's precious okay and I'm going to say this I'm going to leave y'all with this scripture the Bible says in Proverbs for those that lend the fun to the poor lend the fun to the Lord and he will repay I'm going to leave y'all with this scripture ponder on it please do with my granddaughter actually y'all I guess my only admonition usually I'll just let people speak and I won't I won't engage because this starts a much longer conversation you know what I mean you're passionate and we love that passion and there's so much work that you're already doing and it can grow exponentially placed with the right organizations that are doing work here in the city but it's important that as we engage and we do it civilly that we don't say this group is not doing this and this group is intentionally keeping people down mirror so just in the same spirit we can't quote the good book selectively so let's make sure we speak in the spirit of bringing people together and not this that's it I'm going to leave you with this it's called the spade of spade I've experienced that and I know that it's your job to clean it up because y'all guys fool a lot of money actually it's our job to clean it up you too maybe you guys should get somebody that you are hired at city page to go look at those people books I understand that they feel really 501c3 but they operate in your city so you have a right to go look and make sure that those funds are being utilized and have somebody observe that every year my friend I figured that was a follow up God bless you brother Mr. Solis and then Jackson we're going to wrap it up but I apologize thank you minister Mr. Solis you got three minutes we got rock and roll just as a precursor to my what I'm going to say tonight is that it's homeless and just recently got into a trailer with five other people extremely small trailer but I'm not completely homeless I'm just not housed and one of the reasons or a few of the reasons that I am homeless is I've been filing for disability for the last four years I'm going to keep on getting denied I cannot find employment therefore eventually I just had no funds to keep a place at the same time I can't get assistance because I'm a single male with no dependence I'm not an alcoholic I'm not a drug abuser I don't have any serious mental health problems so therefore I am the last I'm on the bottom of the totem pole to get any kind of assistance and that was what put me in this situation to begin with as I mentioned before I have my own group needful things and I brought copies of the informational paper that I passed out to the homeless I brought copies for each of the members thank you and that's just a glimpse aside from what I have on my Facebook page as far as resources for the homeless and I wanted to thank everybody for putting up with me for the last three meetings Mr. Brown you can't leave you got to wait until the end like the rest of us you don't hold the meeting up and roll out when you're ready to go it doesn't work that way if you get the baby to bed for school that's a whole different story take the baby to bed your wife could probably do that while you sit here like the rest of us I'll mess with you we'll see you next time please make sure of it I know you are I thought we closed that loop two meetings ago what I understand in my communication with the United Way they've contacted your office and we do have the proclamation coming for a homeless person memorial day which I would do is that on the 18th we're going to do that on the 18th yes we're getting that done thank you for Mr. Solace did you give the clerk so that they can remind us that we'd like to be there so we're doing on the 17th I was at the 18th meeting I thought but I think there's a recognition before that so in any event just make sure everybody's looped in Teresa, Lauren, Erica just make sure everyone's looped in although from what I understand your office contacted Mr. Browning about the proclamation when they should have been contacting me make sure we have the right number and your Facebook page so I'm appreciative of that and we already have plans going but I'm going to continue to come back about the issue of people sleeping in public and being harassed for it as well as the personal property being thrown when in reality what we're doing is slowing away people's memories yes sir also last time and you don't need to give me a public answer but I did issue a challenge for you last time I appreciate you sending me the articles about my friend the new congressman Ben McAdams we'll talk more about that some other time well if you do choose or find a representative for your office to do that despite my health and despite any weather I am willing to go with them to show them what they need to see because what the public knows about some of the organizations that are trying to help the homeless not what is actually happening yeah and there's some validity to always to the issues you raise and the ones that minister browning raises to and I know Ms. Jackson is going to raise the issue as well we have a lot of folks that are consistent with Mr. Rickiman said too you know we have a rapidly changing homeless population as well and lately we have a large influx of youth yeah young people every demographic the homeless population is as heterogeneous as the rest of the community a significant number of people dealing with trauma different types of trauma, different points in their lives I mean it's a complex issue that we're going to have to spend some time working through we'll get the proclamation done let's make sure that we're present and accounted for and we'll talk about your other challenge sometime privately okay well like I said if somebody chooses to do that I'd be willing to show them because I'm appalled at some of the reports I see people saying what they're doing which is not true there are two separate entities that both report that they're feeding so many people a month in actuality one organization is feeding at the organization but they're both reporting each separately feeding so many people well if there's any fraud waste and abuse of someone you think is doing something saying they're doing something they're not doing we definitely want to know about that so let us know thank you so much I'll be back next year and oh can you make sure I brought you my Christmas card it's not much and it's just on plain paper I appreciate you man can we make sure that we have Mrs. Ellies' phone number so when we get the proclamation done we touch him and not Mr. Browning thank you very much thank you thank you Mrs. Ellies Ms. Jackson Mayor, City Council, how y'all doing? I want to speak firmly because everybody here to understand what I am saying my name is Alana Jackson I'm not going to let nothing I go through determine my future because I'm going to be what I'm going to be anyway and let's have something on last weekend I had an NAACP version came here from Atlanta, Georgia see I know I might have to make some noise you see I called and I called and I called and nobody never gave me an answer I do have a job and I'm still homeless but nobody would answer the phone nobody never called me back had him come through here he walked down many streets in my heritage I'm glad for everybody that's got any business and I wanted to succeed but you would not treat me like I got to play I would not end up walking the street for you to stand on the sidewalk you see I caught them with the Book of Tea Washington I rolled up and went down in here and it doesn't really matter because everything changes people change, things change it has to be a change or it to be better for us and I do understand but what the homeless situation I've asked I've called and I never get a phone call so it makes me feel like it's not even worthy of me to even get a phone call back first of all even homeless going in the bathroom dragging a rag every day as a 52 year old woman I worked every day my life never existed in Columbia for anything and it saddens me that I'm still continuing to call I'm still just make a conscious effort to help me help myself because see everybody that want to be helped if somebody's helping they're going to take that help and do what they got to do but as I was saying I had the guy from Atlanta Georgia come down here dressed like a homeless person they would not move out the streets and it doesn't really matter but I'm somebody just as well as you are somebody I want everything you have to succeed and it's not going to succeed you know what I'm saying? Homeless life comes at you fast in circumstances it's just what they are everybody's homeless don't want to be homeless but you can't get a break you can't get a plug on main street plug your phone up, plug interview because they turn them all off but you've got a vast civilization because all this stuff it's near enough there with me I'm talking about me as an individual as a person because I want to work but again I got to raise money don't call back on my strong bears I don't know if you get any messages not getting messages and that's fine and I'm not going to blame you for anything that I'm wrong with but I will ask the city of Columbia to help I'm going to have to make noise if I got to go to Supreme Court if I got to go to Washington I would know what is it in this town that we can't get no help from all this stuff is relevant to me all these other organizations I've been in transitions but I will not lose my dignity as a person this has got to change now if the homeless people in that part as soon as y'all tear it down and make everything else what it needs to be it's going to be what it is okay so the people threw away my clothes like I was a dog you put your foot on me like I'm an animal do not touch me I'm homeless because life situations come at you fast everybody here giggling about what people feeling what's the difference you don't know what people mind frame is at people can't even get what's the statistic just to get will not let nobody kill me well about nothing but I need some help I need some right now help I said it before and I say it again and I can't make nobody like it's a whole bunch of stuff going on in this town that you have to deal with and I applaud you for being who you are but don't you forget about little of me all the snickering and giggling and laughing that's for postures for somebody that needs you all the help if I'm here all this time I don't want to be homeless I've lost everything else what else you want me to lose my life you want somebody to run up main street because they can't get down the sidewalk and open up like they're doing in California with machine gun and stuff that's not how it is if I ask you one question we need it most right now because Ms. Jackson when we first spoke we talked about we talked about Toby's place as a potential place to stay new women and children's shelter opened by the alpha guys permission specifically for women and children you didn't want to go there you can lock down that Fort Knox and get up and get that 6 o'clock in the morning but it's shelter it's food, it's security just don't want to go there that's some place for me to get out to the city have me here myself that's all I ask for get me a phone call back last time I was here other than a partnership a faith-based partnership that provides exactly what you need right now how's that not helping Ms. Jackson tell me what you need I mean what you're going to have grown people I'm telling you what I need I need some help you know what I'm saying I've got a whole bunch of tax evasion houses last time I was here I came here because I don't trust the city because let me go that's why I came here first time I'm telling you okay please that's ma'am I'm listening go ahead sister I have asked I said I needed some help she said right here we might be able to have some help he came outside when I said I don't trust the city and told me I could come there the next morning go to the basement and take a shower and he's going to take me to my interview go to the interview what does that say about me what's the police taking me to my interview for me to help myself I already know that's a problem what does right now help me I've never heard you Mr. Walker nobody ever got back with me on that nobody ever you know what I'm saying nobody helps me get my nice regression from my heart that the police threw away you know what I'm saying I'm just getting a job I'm helping me I'm doing the work I'm doing what I got to do because I don't need nobody to take care of me your life situations come at you fast stay there this is the way you're going to be at I don't want to be there that's my life situations and what I need right now I need somebody to get somewhere and just help the people that qualify me for housing I've never been under that before because my husband always took care of me you know what I'm saying like you take care of your wives and your families my husband did that and I worked and we made ends meet right now he's gone I don't have that anymore what I need help with somebody taking since that's important what I need help with is somebody taking initiative just call Mr. Parker give me a call to the same Mr. Lottner where we talked to Mr. Parker whatever name is Samina whatever name is where I get them he's out talking that's the way you speak to people let him know that you're interested in what they're talking about so we're talking specifically about working with the housing authority for housing not interested so somebody has to get some interviews so they can get out the street somebody do something it's a hard day especially for a man a man got an ego a man to act with any sense you don't want to be out here in the street I don't want to be out here in the street because I'm going to tell you I'm not going to be on a statistic in South Carolina I just need you to give me enough initiative the same way these restaurants I got to walk in the street to get down the street when I was down in the toxic teens and all these people down here books she wash was down there this is where I was in front team park down there this is my heritage it would not make me feel like I got a plague in my time now what you got to do I'm not going to walk on the side of the road for you to sit on the side walk to eat and stand away and not get it see I had NAACP come down here because I couldn't believe in myself so therefore then next time I'm going to Supreme Court I'm going to have to do what I got to do because I'm not getting help here coming from somewhere I just need somebody to open up and help me Ms. Belton just tomorrow we're going to close Mr. Walker and see what he can do the housing authority now even the housing authority let me finish this even the housing authority has rules I know you're not interested you're not interested in Toby's place although it's probably the nicest Sicilian entire city but you're not interested in that so that's okay let's close the loop with Mr. Walker tomorrow and I'll call him personally as well if we can help but even in the housing authority there are certain rules that have to be followed it's not going to be everything we want the way we want it everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect and love if we're going to be a true city of compassion we will do it let's close the loop we will call you tomorrow and see if we can close that loop but it's going to require all of us working together Ms. Jackson is the last person who signed up to speak is there a non-debatable motion to adjourn? move move the previous question God bless you ma'am Mr. Rickerman, Mr. McDowell Mr. Duvall, Mr. Badura Mr. Devine, Mr. Davis Mayor Benjamin have a good evening well, I don't have a clean coffee Shea Coffee today confirms a couple things that I didn't hear people out you got it here