 up in Arlington Heights went to Strip Plain Junior High and after my ninth grade my family of 11 moved to Wedgewood where I graduated from Southwest High School. We went to McKinney Church which is now called Doxology. My mother was a lifelong resident and a lifelong member of McKinney and has a children's wing named after her. I've lived in my rental home in Arlington Heights for about 16 years. You may know my daughter Lauren Brady who began renting the guest house in the property out back in order to pay property taxes and keep my rent at a manageable amount. I was disabled in a car accident in 2012 and have been on a fixed income ever since. I hear comments about how short term rentals take away affordable housing but I want the city council to know and to know that the only way I've been able to afford my house is through short term rental. My daughter has hosted over 500 reservations in my backyard welcoming almost a thousand guests to Fort Worth in the last five years. I've never heard so much as a peep from the guests that sleep back there just 20 feet from my bedroom window. I'm grateful for the time we've been able to short term rent this property as a family and I pray that the city council considers people like me if you vote to shut down all short term rentals in residential neighborhoods in Fort Worth. Residents like me will lose their home. Please wait as heavily as you move forward. Thank you very much. Our next speaker is Pam Hudson which is also a phone call. Ms. Hudson. Yes I live in Foster Park in District 3. I support short term rentals in all zones with appropriate regulations and a plan for accountability. I want to talk about some observations I made reading the short term rental report that was published. There's a slide that shows the most active host. The first one is Heath Olander. He happens to live in Dallas. He owns square home property management and on this website he advertises 35 short term rentals which are also advertised on Airbnb and VRBO. That make the 35 STRs make up 1.3% of all active listings and his revenue of 615,000 make up about 5% of Fort Worth's annual revenue. Of all this number two they're a nationwide company. They have 55 STRs which make up 2%. Their revenue is 417,000 which makes up 3% of the 13 million. Number three are Allen and Elise Maderos. They actually live in Fort Worth. They have three different companies which have four properties between the three companies. They advertise on VRBO and Airbnb. The one company is Sanderos LP which is on Blue Mounds Road. It's a very unusual property. 117 acres, eight bedroom homes, 16 people has its own website titled Sanders Hitch but they're also advertised on VRBO and Airbnb which is why they show up in the data. They have another company with two homes and then another company with one home in the cultural district. Varsala is unique in that it's a corporation which has apartment hotels. One of their websites advertises 38 units on West 7th. So if you look at the active owners you have Sanderos LP owned by Allen Maderos and that one property they have on Blue Mounds Road makes up all the revenue for the largest active owner Sanderos LP. Stature Enterprises has two properties in the cultural district. They also have Fort Worth ownership. Johnny Trevino has one home in Oakmont, four bedroom, 5,000 square foot home, Texas ownership. Richard Leonard, the fourth most active owner. His one property is his homestead which happens to be the six bedroom Azalea Plantation Bed and Breakfast which he's operated with his wife since 1994. They also advertise on VRBO and Airbnb in their website. So their bed and breakfast shows up as an STR having the most revenue, fourth most revenue. Watterson Takeaways, number one, there's 2700 listings only 633 are active. That shows you that not all STRs will be successful and that makes up only less than one quarter of 1% of all housing units in Fort Worth. STRs are not taking away our neighborhoods. All five of the most active owners live in Fort Worth. Two of the most active posts live in Fort Worth. Of the most active post one of them owns four properties and 42% of the listings had bookings of less than 30 days a year which is really hardly evidence of widespread commercial lodging. And lastly the current occupancy of 22% is only seven days a month on average. Our next speaker is Alicia Gonzalez. She dropped off we'll try calling her again. Okay let's go to David Estette. Okay yes I'd like to say good evening mayor and council members. My name is David, David Estette. I live in Fort Worth in the Tandy addition and I personally do know John Tandy. He's still living and he's still living the house that was built in 1850. Anyway I would like to speak to you concerning a code enforcement complaint that I have received in regards to the way it was presented to me on the issues at hand. Been having a problem with my neighbor who has built a knockdown rigidity garage and built a rental property on the back of his lot and there's no record of it. No permits will pull nothing. Okay so the code enforcement officer came to my house on the 28th of July. Tell me a citation for some wooden pallets I have in my driveway. And the person's name is Sean Leatherby and he was uh he was he was he was the one that rubbed the citation and left it on the door because I wouldn't work. Okay and I had until eight seven to complete everything he was telling me I needed to do. So uh I never come up for lunch. I work in downtown Fort Worth. I never come up for lunch but I haven't come up for lunch on the 9th of August. Now one of my neighbors was there's I don't know how many people live next door to me but one of my neighbors his truck was parked in front of my house when I came home for lunch. About 15 minutes after I've been home I went out to get my phone and that neighbor's truck was gone. Sean was sitting in his truck in front of my house. He when he saw me he jumped out of his truck real quick and comes up and asks me if I was a homeowner. I said yes and he handed me a citation. I said I said look I work full-time uh 63 years old and I work a full-time job. Can you give me more time? You know I mean it's over 100 degrees every day and he shook his head with a no like he was very huge. He was being very arrogant and very as a matter of fact like he has the power he has the authority and that's all there is to it. Okay fine. So I didn't sign the citation. He handed it to me and he left. Three days later I make a phone call and I get ahold of that Cecilia Bell. She's the neighborhood investigation east of vision and I told her what I just told you and I went on to tell her about the neighbor next door to me that had a unit he built in two days or a weekend and he rented out and he's got water he tied in the sewage he did everything he could and pulled no permits. Now I told this lady Cecilia about that. Now they went out she told me she was she told me she was informed by that. David if you can hear me I'm sorry I have to cut you off David but I'm gonna have one of our city managers contact you directly on both of these issues. I really appreciate you calling. Thank you. Okay yes ma'am. Our next speaker is Chris Cunnington and then we can go or I'm sorry y'all. Okay go ahead. Go ahead Chris sorry. Yeah just calling to share my experience in owning a short term rental. Owning a short term rental here in Fort Worth has had a massive positive impact on my particular neighborhood. The income that we've generated has allowed me the opportunity to hire neighbors for lawn care, cleaning, painting, decorating, plumbing. It's one of our neighbors it's accounted on one week it accounted for more than half of her cleaning jobs for that week. It's also provided me with the opportunity to recommend local Fort Worth family-owned restaurants one of which gives a percentage of all of its income to benefit the homeless here in Fort Worth and they cook extra food wherever you order they get and they give it to those who need and I love to recommend that to the guests that stay stay with us. A portion of my own proceeds actually goes aside to support a non-profit here in Fort Worth that partners five less teenagers with a male role model through outdoor activities like fishing and hunting and I've had zero complaints from any neighbor my home is improved in value and it's an appearance and it's made my neighborhood better. I've also heard from travelers from out of state that stayed here when they've been looking to move into Fort Worth and their experience has been one of being able to understand what it's like to live in a Fort Worth neighborhood and not just as a tourist and they've left with more excitement and infusion to bring their business and their lives here to our city. So my question is why there are no options being considered that would simply continue to address fine problematic short-term rentals that have complaints and are not following neighborhood guidelines that allow short-term rentals like mine that are improving the city and bringing in additional income to continue as there are as they are. Thank you Chris. Our next speaker is Alicia Gonzalez. Hey there, can you hear me? Yes, we can. Okay, thank you. I'm Alicia and I'm a local from DFW. I have gone a long time in my twenties and thirties in New York and Los Angeles. I've traveled a lot and I use short-term rentals primarily for my work travel since I work remotely. A lot of people are working remotely these days and traveling and working and buying multiple properties in multiple places. I'm back now here in DFW for family reasons and aging mother, two little nephews now. So I mean we're pulling our funds and trying to figure out investments to build our family wealth and so I started leasing and renting a room in my own house and then my brother and I put some funds together in Goddahouse for short-term rentals. We had to put my mom in a nursing home this past year. We turned her house into a long-term rental and I tell you like it barely breaks even. Like it's just not covering the bills for her health care and you know her living expenses. So that's why we thought we'll put our funds together and make you know get a short-term rental and we're doing awesome. We're co-hosting, we're super-hosts on the platforms. We don't create any noise, trash, parks and violations. We have plenty of you know like rules for our guests. We vet them. We make personal connections with them. They're coming to work. I mean either nurses and teachers and people who show animals at the rodeos and people who are moving here to attend med school at PCU and I mean people are moving just you know from within Texas they come with their Texas place or you know they're moving from the west coast to east coast which I've lived in both and I've traveled abroad and I mean I'm you know traveling with a couple of friends next month and we're getting short-term rentals. So I just don't understand like why we can't use our you know properties in the way that we want if it's respectful to the city and our neighbors. These people are not coming to party. I mean the data shows they're not there's not like party houses everywhere. Like it's such a minimal amount of short-term rentals in Fort Worth anyway and then if you look at the data of police reports like it's just proving that they're mostly non-natives and I mean I'm totally for paying taxes and getting IDs verified and following rule regulations going through training like let the host join together and like get on the same page and be advocates and you know proper hosts welcoming people to Fort Worth and it's the modern way to travel. Our next speaker is Carrie Hines Ms. Hines. Good evening here in Townsville my name is Carrie Hines and I live in Fort Worth. Tonight I'd like to say to the council and the citizens of Fort Worth that the need for a civilian review board has reached a critical point. If I a citizen of Fort Worth can prove officer Michael A. Chavez has lied on multiple police reports and the city and IAD backed the bad officer the need for a civilian review board has hit a red alert status. Today I had IAD detective detective Valvera say despite the officer lying he had not violated any city policy and then she made every lie about a miscommunication. That said the citizens of Fort Worth have no one looking out for our best interest. If the city will back a lying officer will they also back one who kills without cause as well? City manager Fernando Costa told me via email that despite my complaint against Officer Chavez that community leaders had written letters for him saying he's doing a good job. Two members of the Central Metta Neighborhood Association Cindy Bowlin and Dan Haas told me via email and social media telling me the officer was a good officer. A week later Cindy Bowlin was placed on the animal shelter board. Is that how we do it at Fort Worth? I say to every citizen of Fort Worth the time has come to demand that the city council put in place a civilian review board or the citizens create their own. But it is clear to me after I provided three examples that officers Chavez had lied on police reports. The city leadership says your voice does not count. Without proper accountability officers of the Fort Worth police department will continue to misbehave. The Brady List shows us that demand a civilian review board today. So to a council that says they do not support the citizens of Fort Worth do you deserve our support in 2023. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Clay Smith. Is Clay here? No. Next speaker is Barbara Meese. My name is Barbara Meese and I think I live in District 7. District 7 or 6-6 I can't remember which one. I live on Lake Worth and I've owned my house for 42 years and it's a 27 27 square 2700 square foot house that's on the Tarrant County Historical Registry or whatever that is and there's a guest house too and for the time that I've used it for short term I've been paying occupancy tax has been taken out of my earnings and I just wondered if the city of Fort Worth gets it or what's happening to the occupancy tax. If there's an answer to that. I did ask Airbnb what happened to the money and they gave me this explanation and I'd like to turn it into the city. That would be great to have on. Yeah thank you. I'd like to further add that my house sits on 3.258 acres and I don't allow parties. I don't I have a huge swimming pool it's as big as this room but no parties you know just your guests and that I haven't had I haven't had a whole lot of trouble I've had a few few problems but anyhow I have ample parking and right now I'm not allowing smoking anywhere on the premises because of the drought and which is something if you're if you're a smoker don't throw your cigarette butts out but anyhow that's I just wanted to present the tax part of it that occupancy tax is taken out of my earnings so I don't know where it goes do you we do Barbara and thank you so much for coming I'm gonna have Dana Bergdorf if she's here she there she's hiding make sure you connect with Dana Barbara even if you leave before we're done she's your expert and she'll get with you tonight thank you for coming our next speaker is Bob Willoughby I say a lot of times before I will not address y'all as mayor council because American council would never take away the people's right to speak that's the first amendment we're not on city council meetings remember that um I made a video for the night and what I learned was that if any employee is derelict in their duty dishonest or incompetent you're not allowed to mention it down here because what they'll do when you do mention it they'll turn it so you're attacking the person well here's my response to the attorney's letter here it is not an attack when it is true the words are in the western dictionary and to be used when it's appropriate I would call it dishonest when the director will not remove a corrupt organization organization from the city data bank the JTW John T. White neighborhood association is in violation of city rules banning neighbors from the neighborhood association and not to mention they stay in power by having secret elections all we've asked I had a meeting with mr. cook our city manager about this and the only thing I've asked was to let us have an open election also gave him names from other people John T. White who backed us up to have an open election and the city recognize it he doesn't respond anymore he runs from the camera like the council members do okay also a director that cannot defend himself which I film this director and will not not defend herself it's incompetent someone calls me these names I will defend myself okay I would like to call it derelict when the director does not respond to mail or phone calls okay and I'm not alone I got emails off of this saying that she did not return calls to them you know so what they do and I don't know why they protect the crooked people that work here the dishonest people that work here instead of investigating them they should investigate but they don't do that but you know what they did to me this lawyer up here sent me it's the funny thing is I received a letter attacking me with false testimony no evidence of truth from the city attorney legal and will not send a letter of withdrawal I call this to face they have no proof on me what they sent out and will not withdraw I have evidence to support mine and I cannot say it nevertheless I reach more people through facebook next door and my first of the month ad in the fortwork weekly which is going to go to full page ads here real soon than they do down here but it is wrong let's see here I'm right out of time now okay but nevertheless my video should have played tonight and the mayor is wrong and stopping it and I do I demand a letter of withdrawal of those lies you gave me land you know better than that you're a lawyer don't say things about me not true and not back it I'm not going to accept and the john t white neighborhood session that's in my neighborhood I want them out that's where I grew up at thank you the next speaker is Dave fulson bob you're about to be removed do you want to sit or not I'd like him to stay if possible go ahead Dave well can we restart let's block her yes you can go ahead well I'm still sitting okay there yeah good evening mayor parker city manager cook and council members I'm Dave fulson and I serve as a director of the john t white neighborhood association in district five on july 28th I was joined by our president james hook at a much publicized loader vocal excuse me local voter education town hall meeting hosted by bot wilby at the martin luther king center will be promoted this event by mailers signage flyers his blog radio show and multiple social media platforms to the dismay of the confused citizens who attended the event exactly zero the publicly promoted speaker showed up only Catherine huckaby of the police oversight group filled in to present a breakdown of their work and goals the centerpiece of bog will be his printed material on hand all featured his ever present fw district five dot com logo and phone number this is the issue that I wish to address tonight city legal staff repeatedly warned will be that the city would only allow him to utilize the MLK center for this event with the assurance that he would not use the event to promote any political purposes this is a procedure that all the current council members and citizens running for council outside of bob will be apparently must abide by he instantly and predictably violated this agreement he promoted his website local and all the printed material on hand copies of which I've just presented to you including verbally directing attendees to go to my fw district five dot com site to learn about local voter education however anyone who visits this misleading site will quickly find themselves logged on to bob will be his campaign election headquarters there they will see his introduction statement which features a bull type headline that says bob will be for city council district five below that is a written mission statement that includes and I quote hi my name is bob will be 2023 candidate for city council district five this is in direct violation of the guidelines presented to him by city staff similar to the stance generally enforced at council meetings where he issues false accusations insults and slander statements against any and all while always directing people to his election campaign platform I provided photo and video documentation from the july 28 meeting to my d5 council woman's office highlighting both the printing material and the political speech against the city and this council by will be I am and will continue to aggressively petition mayor parker the city manager legal and this council to enforce your staff's clear directives by permanently barring bob will be from any further violation of city policy and election rules by terminating his ability to use any city-owned facilities to promote his future election campaigns including city hall and this council chambers fw district five is bob will be his campaign headquarters and his local voter education propaganda is simply the opinion of one man who wants each of you off this council and himself on it nothing more and the next time we're here before the council we'll be presenting an honest and effective defense against the endless lies bob will be as made against our hard-working neighborhood association thank you thank you dave our next speaker is leila talli good evening council and mayor i am leila talli and i live in district six i want to opt out of the smart meter i have said this ad nauseam to jerry presley chris harder and all their higher ups for over a year with a certified notice of liability etc the only helpful people have been uh jungus jordan jared williams kindle law but they were outnumbered uh since when does the water department monopoly have the right to mandate a product that not every right payer wants this is not just a meter as outlined in the code this device adds data harvesting and emf radiation by law permission must be granted uh by the right payer before collecting smart meter usage data the water department needed to get permission for each and every install and they did not do it it is a pitiful scenario when the police do nothing for the property rights of the homeowner instead the water department uh uses the police to intimidate homeowners when a contract has not been negotiated or settled even encrypted wireless smart meters are easily hacked professional hackers say this is a national security risk the 76 million dollar loan from the texas war development board the 3.9 million uh windtime payment the 3.9 million dollars a year contracts for five years is too expensive uh when we add the loan for a 25 year repayment the total is 6.9 million dollars a year for five years then three million dollars a year for the remaining 20 years we all know that the five year contracts have to be renewed so the 6.9 million dollars would continue on uh jerry presley said on bob willoughby's regular show that tell me two million dollars a year to keep the remunerators is not affordable so how can we all of a sudden afford 6.9 million dollars per year um a free octop program will work uh the water department collects an annual total of 1.7 million dollars a year from the environment fee uh that is charged to to around 285 thousand accounts uh the harris smartworks network uh where data is stored teaches utilities how to raise the rates in order to have a good roi uh this return on investment uh can easily fund a free opt out program uh right pairs just want access to clean running water thank you thank you leila our next speaker is tina hampton and tina will be followed by george trials yes ma'am you should be it should be on my name is tina hampton i live in district nine and i'm not in favor of strs clearly a city ordinance states strs are illegal in residential neighborhoods it is simple you are either breaking the law or you are not it does not take surveys to tell you that to be the fifth largest city in texas and rank 13 largest in the united states and among the fastest growing in the usa fort worth should be better than support lawbreakers my husband and i did not buy a house in a business park we bought a home in a residential neighborhood right now the city of fort worth has failed honest homeowners in residential neighborhoods according to the current survey the district i live in has the highest percentage of illegal strs i'm pretty sure that doesn't include the last one the latest one i'm sorry in my old cursed neighborhood you ask yourself if the city of fort worth can't manage strs now what tells you that they can manage them in if the law has changed the answer is they can't the obvious question is why doesn't fort worth honor their own city ordinance i wish i knew what i do know is the city makes excuses and a lot of them for example i'll give you three that have been said to me number one not enough code enforcement to handle the issue number two not enough money in the budget to hire more code enforcement reps number three it takes too long too expensive to go to court to shut down illegal strs why would you trust the city to manage legal strs when they can't do it now there isn't any trust fort worth has thrown it all away the city of fort worth isn't making neighborhoods safe for all by letting illegal strs operate whether legal or not strs will continue to expand they are a money-making business with no end in sight to the mayor and the city council you're supposed to represent all of us at least i previously thought so when you asked for my vote and i gave it to you along with my trust but like i said you threw it all away thank you thank you thank you tina our next speaker is george trials followed by thomas torland cosse my address is number 74 2901 travel 74 worth centuries before blood transfusions and organ transplants showed that race is literally only skin deep the following orders were written quote if you prick us do we not bleed if you tickle us do we not laugh if you poison us do we not die unquote after those centuries had passed this was taught in schools as a masterpiece of the english language the one had to only get on a bus or use a water fountain to see that his message was to put it mildly not reflected in law so the person who probably came the closest to being the american mohanis gandhi said quote injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere we are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality tied in a single garment of destiny unquote now what words apply when government causes a saying treat others if you would want to be treated to become those people are the other and when we treat them differently it is to protect you from them these are the words quote first they came for the socialists and i did not speak out because i was not a socialist then they came for the trade unionists and i did not speak out because i was not a trade unionist then they came for the jews and i did not speak out because i was not a jew then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me I try, albeit with very mixed results, to always keep in mind what those three examples show. On June 28th, a direct attack on what they show came into this alleged fount of democracy. Between them, the District 9 council member and the Mayor Pro Tem made it clear that anyone speaking on a, quote, sisterly issue, unquote, must have organs and hormones that they approve of. Otherwise any comment will, quote, fall on deaf ears, unquote, because, quote, he knows nothing, unquote. The mayor's silence during this outrage spoke volumes. This is to see the government of a city that annually spends $942,111 of taxpayer money on a diversity and inclusion department, which exists in pertinent part to eliminate gender disparities in governance. Wow, dude. The irony intensifies with the fact that this took place during Pride Month, the very core of which is inclusion. And it is buffed to a high gloss by the additional fact that the commission and employee, commission and committees of said department are appointed by city council. I believe my gender has nothing to do with me being here, but if it did, and if doubts of the validity of what I had said was based on that, wouldn't that only bolster that validity? Our next speaker is Thomas Tullin-Cosse, followed by Jessica Wrench. Mayor City Council, I did not see that coming, but I appreciate it beyond description. Every time I come here, I'm usually speaking for somebody else or several someone else's. Tonight, I'm speaking for the female half of my household in suggesting that this council duplicate what the Dallas City Council did last week. That's right. They passed a resolution that protects women's and doctors' privacy rights simply by declaring that no city assets, no databases, and no surveillance equipment will be used to violate women and doctors' Fourth Amendment rights. The second person I want to talk about is another constituent of District 9, Manuel Mata is a political prisoner in the Tarrant County Jail. If you don't know what happened at the Tarrant Appraisal District, youngest Jordan, your representative sat and watched it happen. Mr. Mata and I were peaceably standing where we were directed to stand. We were dragged out and assaulted by six Tarrant County deputies. It was clearly a setup by the TAD staff. The video doesn't lie. Mr. Mata is in the jail right now. We're worried about him getting gangrene in the wound that he was supposed to have surgery on yesterday. Whether you think he's a journalist or not, both his publication on the front page of the Star Telegram, right after the last TAD meeting, and the fact that Chandler Crouch came here and told you so. Now, there's a young woman named Tara in the back room. I went with her to Internal Affairs for the Fourth Police Department, another person I advocate for, and she paid $169 for body cam footage that is past due. Lieutenant the Heads of the Internal Affairs Division cannot explain why it was not available. His explanation, although in violation of state law, was specifically that the person who prepared it was on vacation. And now for the last one. This is yet for another person in my life. A constituent of District 9, you'll note that the District 9 representative has walked out of the room. It is true that if you dial 817-392 in any four digits after that, you have an 80% chance that no one will ever return your call. I don't have to name call. I don't have to disparage anyone. I don't have to get specific. I don't know if it's because they're working from home or because they don't know how to answer a desk set or there is no one in each department that covers each other's phones when they have a personal life crisis or they're out sick. I have left two phone messages for Mr. Costa or whatever number it is for the CCPD funding meeting next week and I have emailed twice in order to sign up to speak. This is a very important issue to speak on and I expect to be able to sign up without having to contact the city over and over again. Our next speaker is Jessica Wrench. Jessica, I apologize if I botched your last name. I'm here in Wrench, North. Okay, hi, my name is Jessica Wrench and I am a TCU alum and a homeowner in Fairmount. I rent out my mother-in-law suite and my detached garage apartment as furnished one bedroom and studio apartments. They are listed as entire places on Airbnb because there are no shared spaces. The data provided to you from the data mining company stated 40% of STRs in Fort Worth or one bedroom or studios. Most of them are being called entire places like mine because it markets better and that is what Airbnb defines as an entire place. We don't share the bathroom. But yet they're not entire houses. Again, 40% are one bedroom or studios. They are part of owner-occupied properties like mine. I know this to be the case for most one bedroom and studio spaces listed on Airbnb in my area. This fall I will host one doctor, two nurses, and a businessman for 30 days to 48 days to three months at a time. All specifically looking for a different experience than the cookie cutter hotel. In between those guests I will rent short term. One night to five nights is typically what happens and I love what I do and I want to share feedback from one of my short term guests. She said as a mother taking her immune compromised daughter to cooks for procedure staying minutes away in this welcoming Airbnb was perfect. The night before my four-year-old played in the shower with the shower steamers you provided and she called it her fairy dust. Then we sat on the porch and she got to wave at all the dogs being walked by. It was a night a stressed mother will never forget. The personal touches to our stay where unlike any hotel experience thank you from the bottom of my heart. I implore you to recognize the value of STRs and residential neighborhoods and what we provide to Fort Worth. Most homeowners think their home is an asset. I used to as well. Well they're actually liabilities. Please do not stand in the way of Fort Worth homeowners turning their largest liability into assets. Thank you. Thank you Jessica. Our next speaker is Donald Crosby followed by Michael McDermott. Thank you mayor and council. And my name is Don Crosby and I live in North Fort Worth in Councilman Blalocks area of district four. There's a lot of things to say that concerning short term rentals I am a short term rental owner. I am what they call super host which means I've done something particularly good at what I do and represented the city of Fort Worth well. One in particular thing that took place was when eight refugees from Afghanistan showed up at our home to stay in our home. And I was able to greet them sit and have lunch and dinner with them. And it was quite an eye-opening experience to have these people come from a long ways away and be able to open our home and to allow them to come and stay. And I think they got a good opportunity to see what we're like here in Texas and in Fort Worth. The gentleman that runs the charity wrote me a letter and talked about how he was appreciative of the time that we spent opening up our home and then we've opened up to multiple families that have come from Afghanistan. Concerning this issue that's at hand I really consider it as an issue of property rights. I also look at it as our constitution was built on the rights of the people. And I think the people have the opportunity to come and address you and to tell you that we don't want our rights taken away from us. And the more that our rights are curtailed the more difficult it is for people to be able to operate and do the things that they want and with our freedoms in the United States we don't want our freedoms taken away. None of you want your freedoms taken away. And so I would say that I'm grateful for you all and the difficult position that you have to listen to all of the complaints from all of these citizens. And I thank you for taking upon the issue. One thing I want to tell you is if it's going to be too difficult for us to operate you might as well just do away with it completely. So if you're going to make rules let's make them so that they're easy to operate and it's easy to babysit those people that are operating. Also I have a six bedroom home and if you curtail it to only nine people that's not going to be fair for me to operate as well. And we won't be able to have all of those people come and stay with us. Thank you Mr. Crosby. Michael McDermott followed by Tiffany Nelson. Hello yes my name is Michael McDermott. I live in Castle District Number 9. I am the Historic Preservation Director for Fairmount and also a short term rental owner. We have a garage apartment in our backyard that we've been renting for a number of years now. Ignorance of the law is no excuse but we thought renting is renting and since our zoning allows renting on the property we thought well what's the difference between renting for short term and long term. So I wanted to share a story with you. When I moved to Fairmount a little history when I moved to Fairmount in 1984 I bought my first house there as a very young man and in a neighborhood where bullets were flying and graffiti was common and vacant houses were burning down right and left. The neighborhood I've been part of the change of the neighborhood and very proud of that. I'm very concerned for my Fairmount neighborhood and I wouldn't do anything to jeopardize that nor would I be part of our neighborhood association that would allow anyone to jeopardize that. As far as our experience, mine and my husband's running our STR, our hosting people in our backyard. We've had nothing but wonderful people. We have met people from all over the world as well as all over Texas and actually all over the Metroplex. During COVID we had many people staying what they call a stay vacation just to get away and be able to get out of the house and be somewhere safe but not in a crowded hotel environment where they could risk being infected. Also we've had many comments from the people staying in our garage apartment that say they enjoy being somewhere where they feel safe and by themselves and don't have to listen to people making noise and the wall next door. People running up and down hallway slamming doors. They usually show up with kids and they want somewhere that our backyard is like a sanctuary. We have a pool, they enjoy our pool and we would never allow any loud parties or anything like that going on. And we've had people who come here with family and Fort Worth asking to have their family over and share our pool and we're happy with it and they've always been very well behaved. I think a lot of it has to do with the way you run your STR and you let them know that it's your home and therefore they treat it like your home. And even those that are free standing and not someone's home have been run very well in our neighborhood with the only complaints being that they were being run. Not that they were a nuisance that I'm aware of and I keep up with this stuff with the neighborhood association in my neighbors. I just wanted to say that there's a long history in Fairmount that a lot of people aren't aware of in Fort Worth of renting rooms by the day and by the week. This happened from the turn of the century when Fairmount started renting to traveling salesmen and railroad workers. I've done all the history so it's not something that's terribly uncalled. Thank you, Michael. Thank you very much. Appreciate you coming. Thank you. Tiffany Nelson followed by Doyle Fine. Hi, Council and Mayor. My name is Tiffany Nelson. I am a California resident and I am the bad person in the room I feel like. I'm a mother of three, 28, 26 and 16. My two older children attended TCU and graduated. Both of them have chosen to stay in the Fort Worth and Dallas area. My oldest child has a business in Fort Worth and is now employing eight employees so helping to provide jobs for residents. I currently still reside in California and our 16 year old is attending high school and we hope that when he graduates, he will attend school out here in Texas and we will follow suit and join. My husband and I own a home by TCU that is a long term rental and we also own a home in the Fairmount district as a short term rental. We purchased that home so that we would have a place to stay and have our family over for family dinners and games and gatherings. It is only with the short term rental that we're able to pay for that home and help afford to have a place to stay and have family time. After eight years of staying in hotels, we decided it was time for us to invest in our family. I would like to share with you a few experiences of some of our guests. The way I run my short term rental, I'm not nearly quite one year under my belt but I have become a super host. I screen my guests, I do not do instant bookings and I find out where they're coming from and why they're choosing to visit Fort Worth. These are a few of my guests. I have had three businessmen come from Norway. Their headquarters are in Fort Worth and they were here for their business and spent a week long working in Fort Worth at their headquarters. They enjoyed being able to go back to the home after their day at the office and work together on the dining room table. I also had a family come and visit with their children to visit the zoo. Another family from Wisconsin, a tradition, once a year they choose a city where they're going to see the cowboys and this year they decided to come to Fort Worth and see them play in Arlington. Another family, a nurse who had to work for Thanksgiving at the hospital and the family came to her. So they stayed in our home and they made a Thanksgiving meal and enjoyed it together. There was also PBR vendors that came and stayed so they could all stay together and work the PBR show for well over a week. Gosh, I've just had so many people come for more than one week at a time. It's not weekend parties. I really screen my guests and I feel confident about that. I've never had complaints from my neighbors. So I crest the city council to revise the city ordinance and consider new regulations for all of us. Thank you, Tiffany. Our next speaker is Doyle Fine followed by Terry Smith. Thank you Doyle. City council guys and gals, it's been quite a while since I've been here like over a year. But I think this is an important matter that faces our nature and our city. And all I'm asking is that y'all do the work that the Dallas City Council, the Austin City Council and the Denton City Council has already done. And that is basically what's called an act of grace resolution. It's quite simple and direct until the point. And it asks that the city funds shouldn't be used to solicit, report, investigate or investigate reports of abortions. And part two that the police should make investigating abortion their lowest priority. I think this is very important for the citizens of Fort Worth, especially the women of Fort Worth, that to let them know that it's no place for the city of Fort Worth or by extension our police department to stick their nose in the uteruses of pregnant women in our city. That's no place for them to be or us to be. I think that's between a woman and her doctor and her medical provider, whoever it is. And in my lifetime, I was born in 54. That was the year Brownberg since the Board of Education was passed. That ended segregation of schools in the United States and led toward the way for ending unequal and unseparate. Okay, also the Leving in Virginia ruling from the Supreme Court ended the 13 states in the South for bed interracial marriage. That was done away with Roe v. Wade gave reproductive freedom to women and had been in place for 50 years. Lawrence versus Texas ended discrimination against gay sex and some heterosexual sex that they didn't be inappropriate. Also Obergefell versus Hodges granted gay marriage. Okay, well all these things with the makeup of the Supreme Court we have today, never in my lifetime has the Supreme Court actually restricted and took away a basic constitutional right that existed for generations. And according to some of the justices, they got their sights on these other rulings like gay marriage and access access to contraception and butting their nose in the bedroom on your sexual habits. So the only remedy we have with justices like Clarence Thomas got his sights on these other freedoms that we have in our Constitution is to elect elected officials in both houses of Congress that's willing to codify in the law these freedoms and rights that we may be stripped of and are in jeopardy. And also in the state of Texas, up and down the ballot from the state to the local county, we need to get voters have to take action if they want to undo the draconian restrictions of this Texas law restrictions because the mortality rate of women in Texas is already horrendous and who died from childbirth and black women died three times the rate of other women. And that's because we don't expand Medicaid in the state of Texas. So by class and by race we're already killing off women and this restrictive law in the state of Texas is going to be a risk for lives of women. Thank you. All across Texas. Our next speaker is Terry Smith. Thank you. Please take action on this resolution. Thank you, ma'am. I'm Terry Smith. I live in Fort Worth and I wanted to talk about short term rentals. Having a short term rental allows the owner to earn more income, which allows them to keep their property in top condition. In fact, I've had a rental for 10 years next door to me that was in the worst condition ever, a single family house with a terrible yard, looked vacant. There are other properties that are in worse condition than a short term rental. So a short term rental is no more likely than a rental or a homeowner to be the worst on the block. In fact, it may be the best property on the block. A short term rental can screen the tenant based on good reviews or by simply asking questions. Your odds of getting a bad short term rental are very low and no worse than getting a bad homeowner or a tenant living next to you. If by some chance you get a bad short term rental, the best news is they will be gone sooner than a homeowner or a long term tenant that lives next door to you. There is a need for short term rentals. I've had couples which have included people from Europe coming to adopt a baby, traveling nurses, business people, relatives coming to visit other family that lives close by, TCU parents and parents that need more affordable and larger space than they can get in a hotel. As a realtor, I can tell you that short term rentals do not eliminate affordable housing. It's the high property taxes, the higher insurance, the higher water bills, and the higher maintenance bills that are eliminating the affordable housing. Thank you. Thank you, Terry. Our next speaker is Evgeny Vorokotnov. No. You're going to have to tell me. Evgeny Vorotnikov. Yep. So sorry. No worries, no worries. I'll practice next time. Yeah, it's all right. It's okay. Wonderful to see you. So good evening, City Council. It's a pleasure to see you guys again. I live in District 8. And today I'd like to talk about transit oriented development or TOD. So if you look at slide two, what you see there is a bullseye concept that's used in TOD. And what you see there is actually a light rail line with multiple stations. They have a .5 mile walking radius. That's what usually people are willing to walk to a train station to, you know, to get wherever they need to. Now, on slide three, if the priority is given to the light rail, you will get faster mobility within the city. And you must connect this type of development to key sections of the city. Hospitals, parks, entertainment venues, schools where people congregate. Number four, I'm not advocating for getting rid of the car. However, if you do focus on car dependency and traveling by car, this is the type of development that you get. Can you please move on? All right, thank you. So for number five, TOD is not possible without mixed use zoning. And number six, actually, I'm sorry. So to give you an example, nobody is going to stay in a single family home, get on the train or on the tram. Go to Walmart, get their groceries and then get back on the train to go back to their single family home. Nobody is simply going to do that. When I was visiting Roman time in a short term rental, I was able to walk outside in the residential neighborhood and get, go to walk for one minute and go to a supermarket that was in the neighborhood. So for number six, this is just kind of giving you an idea of how our community can look like. Usually, these developments are three to five stories high. They usually have the first floor with some sort of a small business attached to it. It could be, again, it could be some sort of a store, a bakery, it could be a cafe that people can get together and enjoy. Number seven, again, this is an example of what residential mix zoning looks like. And in conclusion, this will increase housing because now you're stacking up, but these apartments are not car dependent. So like an individual who was here, who lived here for 90 years and for a worth, he made a complaint because these apartments are car dependent. And so it makes traffic worse. Thank you very much. You have 30 seconds if you want to continue. Anyways, and so there will be more tax revenue for the city. And of course, easier mobility, not just, not just for anybody, but especially for the older, older folks, you know, who cannot drive. This is actually really good. And also it gives a lot of more, a lot more independency to kids because now they can actually travel within these. Have you been in touch with Kelly Porter and city staff yet? If you haven't, I can make sure that happens. And so we can have better information on what we are dealing on TOD. So we'll do that for you. Okay. I spoke to Mr. Edwards and. Okay. No worries. Thank you so much. Next speaker is James Smith. Good afternoon, council. My name is James Smith. I live in district eight. And I want to forgive. I want to apologize to talk to him because I never really introduced her to you guys. This is a talk to Jefferson. As we enter into the third year of this tragedy, I'm remembering my first day here, saying that your city was smoldering, smoldering, smoldering. There are some flames in the city. I said for the past almost three years. There's a problem with this scenario. I've said that I've seen a lot of inconsistencies in this scenario. I've said that her family has been disrespected repeatedly in this scenario. This affects me daily because I see her home daily. I speak to her family often. I'll give you one example. Ashley, her sister, wanted a simple question. Mr. James, do you know the case number? I have it somewhere. It's been three years. I couldn't remember exactly where it was. And I said, well, did you call the DA and see if he could give it to you? I did, Mr. James, but he didn't return my call. I called the DA before I came here at 12 o'clock. He didn't return my call. I had a problematic. And I'll be taking that up with Sharon Wilson or DA Wilson tomorrow. This shouldn't happen to anybody, but it happened. She's not Breonna Taylor. She's not George Floyd. She's not a Maude Arbery. She's not Don Taylor Wright. But she has not gotten the respect that she should have gotten or should be getting. Like I said, two weeks ago, there is a problematic dealing with the judges. Nobody is acquired. Nobody is saying nothing. That's bothering me because something should be said or looked into. In the last 29 minutes or 27 seconds, I want to speak on Emmanuel Matta. I want to speak on the issue that video of Mr. Matta being arrested. I watched that video like I watched Erin Dean approach Tarzan's house. Frame by frame by frame by frame. I didn't see Emmanuel Matta do anything wrong. He's arrested unlawfully, free, Emmanuel Matta. Thank you. And I confirmed that Mandy Fisk is not here. Is that correct? Okay. That's the last of our speakers. Thank you for coming. And as we adjourn, I do have an important adjournment. Sorry to spring that on you. I think we've got a picture that's going to come up in a moment. This is, we're going to adjourn tonight's meeting in honor of Neil Gaye. And the Rafter G rodeo website is going to provide this picture, which is really great. For over 60 years, the Neil Gaye family has been synonymous with pro rodeo. Rodeo isn't just a job, it's life. Neil Gaye's professional rodeo career began as a contestant in Otoka, Oklahoma in 1945. Neil rode bulls, saddle broncs, and barebacks, and wrestled steers. In May, 1958, he put Mesquite Texas on the map with the opening of the Mesquite Championship rodeo in partnership with several other cowboys. In 1979, he was named rodeo manager of the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo, a title he held for 39 years. 2016 Legend of Pro Rodeo, 2015 Bull Riding Hall of Fame. I could go on. There's a very long list of accomplishments. There's been numerous outpouring of support from various people, but on behalf of the Gaye family, the family put the below statement out. On behalf of everyone here at the Gaye family and extended family and friends of Rafter G rodeo, we are saddened to announce the passing of our beloved grandfather, father, and founder Neil Gaye. We are so thankful for the 95 years of wisdom, friendship, and memories we have shared with so many. We are currently in the planning stages of Memorial Service. We'll provide information soon. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers as we honor this great man. Thank you for indulging me this evening. I think he's synonymous with what Fort Worth really is about. We'll adjourn that meeting in his honor. Thank you.