[0:03] [Music]

[0:43] he's supposed to be here

[1:11] meeting for tuesday september 7th 2021

[1:15] and i just would like to apologize for

[1:17] the delay with the technical issues but

[1:19] we're now back tonight

[1:21] and this evening we're fortunate to have

[1:23] this connect the school district

[1:25] superintendent annabelle solar junior

[1:27] with us and his cabinet

[1:30] and we are fortunate to have him full

[1:32] presentation to talk about the school

[1:34] district and the services that is being

[1:38] conducted at the school district so i'd

[1:39] like to invite them so it comes up my

[1:41] presentation thanks for everything

[1:43] uh will you sit standing here

[1:46] okay

[1:51] [Music]

[1:56] well first of all thank you for having

[1:57] me i did have my mask so many students

[1:59] and families watching i was prepared uh

[2:01] but uh here the rules are a little

[2:02] different so

[2:03] since i'm vaccinated i'm gonna be an

[2:05] option um so i first want to thank the

[2:08] city council for allowing me to come and

[2:10] speak i'll try to be brief but i've

[2:12] learned early in my career that two

[2:14] people you don't give a microphone to

[2:15] and that's pastor and superintendent so

[2:17] i just want to learn um

[2:20] you know in all seriousness uh

[2:22] grateful to be here and hopefully this

[2:23] is the start of a uh very much a

[2:25] collaborative effort between the city

[2:27] school district and the uh city council

[2:30] and the mayor's office um and those

[2:32] individuals in the room so i'm gonna

[2:33] jump on uh next slide

[2:35] so i always start out everything i do in

[2:37] the district with kind of our uh our

[2:39] vision our tagline and our values i

[2:41] think these things as an organization

[2:43] guide us they should ground us i'm just

[2:45] sharing them to you i'm not going to

[2:46] read them to you here but the three

[2:48] things that i think are the most

[2:49] important as an organization are our

[2:51] values and that's focused on equity

[2:53] collaboration and learning that's kind

[2:55] of our three major pillars

[2:57] and that's going to see that evidence

[2:58] and everything we do as an organization

[3:01] next slide

[3:03] um we have a strategy plan that was

[3:05] started prior to my arrival um but i'm

[3:07] of the belief that you don't

[3:09] throw everything out just because you

[3:11] have new leadership uh there's a lot of

[3:12] work done here a lot of stakeholder

[3:14] voice a lot of community voice a lot of

[3:16] staff members are part of it and our

[3:18] strategic plan is around four pillars

[3:20] there's going to be some similarity to

[3:22] those values so they're going to be one

[3:23] is not student and graduate success

[3:25] another one is on passionate people

[3:28] another one is on partnerships with

[3:29] families and community and the last one

[3:31] is on efficient systems and equilibrium

[3:34] resources again i'm not going to read to

[3:36] you but all the stuff is on our website

[3:37] and i can make a copy of you available i

[3:40] didn't send it to the city council

[3:41] president

[3:42] next up

[3:44] this is uh my got my kind of entry plan

[3:46] into the community into the district

[3:48] into the work here in schenectady this

[3:50] is available online but i just wanted to

[3:51] share with city council so you kind of

[3:53] have an idea of kind of my focus and my

[3:55] charge um i do want to point out this is

[3:57] week eight of me in the district um so

[4:00] i'm still in phase one where i'm looking

[4:02] i'm listening i'm learning um but

[4:04] unfortunately as a superintendent you

[4:06] have to do kind of the other phases even

[4:08] though you're looking at listening

[4:09] because you know we're trying to open up

[4:10] schools uh come thursday so we're also

[4:13] making some decisions making some

[4:14] changes

[4:15] bringing freshman talent to the district

[4:17] hiring new teachers to the community but

[4:20] i want to focus on kind of four

[4:21] different areas there there's district

[4:23] community staff and students as my focus

[4:26] and so as i look listen and learn i'm

[4:28] engaging with each of those uh pieces of

[4:31] the circle um i have kind of like

[4:33] smaller subgroups listed around them i

[4:36] have my goals listed there for you to

[4:37] see so my first goal is to return to

[4:39] full in-person learning

[4:41] i

[4:42] came into a district that had not

[4:44] brought students back since march 13

[4:47] 2020. in most cases people had choice

[4:50] whether or not they had to come back

[4:51] last year so what did that translate

[4:53] into less than 50 percent of your kids

[4:55] came back

[4:57] and so to me

[4:58] that

[4:59] you know the borderline criminal in my

[5:01] mind because we had kids who haven't

[5:03] seen a caring adult in almost two years

[5:06] and we were okay with it

[5:08] and so one of the first things that i'm

[5:10] not okay with is continuing their

[5:12] practice so we want to bring uh students

[5:14] back to be with amazing teachers

[5:16] principals uh school support staff uh to

[5:19] full on personal learning so we are

[5:21] doing it come through that's our opening

[5:23] day so if uh anybody who's watching uh

[5:26] please please make sure you help people

[5:28] get to school on time on thursday we'll

[5:30] be excited to see them back

[5:31] again the only dress requirement we have

[5:33] is a mask obviously along with their

[5:35] regular school clubs

[5:37] also want to focus on graduation rates

[5:39] college readiness which is uh that's our

[5:41] business teaching and learning

[5:43] we're about outcomes for kids graduating

[5:45] within four years getting them ready for

[5:46] college ready so they're ready for

[5:48] college and obviously they're ready for

[5:50] career

[5:51] uh increasing student attendance is

[5:52] another big one because of the pandemic

[5:54] because of remote learning we know kids

[5:56] didn't engage we know screens didn't

[5:58] turn on for many of our kids that's a

[6:00] conversation we gotta have we gotta be

[6:01] okay with having it

[6:03] remote learning

[6:05] creates some additional barriers one of

[6:06] them was student attendance student

[6:08] engagement

[6:09] because we can't always ensure that

[6:10] there's a a parent or an adult to make

[6:13] sure a kid logs in that maybe that

[6:15] parent or adult has to work and we can't

[6:17] you know fault our families for that so

[6:19] again that's why we got to bring them in

[6:21] so we can attack this chronic

[6:22] absenteeism that we have in

[6:24] the most common in early settings and

[6:26] then the last one and probably i think

[6:27] the most important one is i have to

[6:30] guide a community that needs some

[6:33] healing you know obviously there was the

[6:35] car chair from previous leadership um

[6:37] and i need to reunite the district and

[6:39] the community

[6:40] you know this is the first time from my

[6:42] understanding that a superintendent has

[6:43] spoken to city council which blew my

[6:46] mind when it has

[6:47] city council president moon america to

[6:49] come speak he was like really

[6:51] he was like thrilled so um you know i

[6:53] have to rebuild confidence in our

[6:55] district in the schools and our staff

[6:58] and our programs

[6:59] and i think again if we're really all

[7:01] going in the same direction we're doing

[7:02] great things and the last thing is in

[7:04] 2025 the goal would be that we're a

[7:06] district in good standing what that

[7:07] means is we don't have any schools on

[7:09] any nautilus we're not in receivership

[7:11] none persistently dangerous none low

[7:14] performing so we you know i have my

[7:16] charge and

[7:17] you know that mirrors my contract so the

[7:19] goal is the year by year floor i should

[7:21] be in good standing if not i don't

[7:22] expect to be renewed

[7:26] next one

[7:28] so i'm coming to you to share my three

[7:30] commitments that i've shared with

[7:31] administrators i'll be sharing them with

[7:32] teachers tomorrow when we open up to our

[7:34] teachers and i get to address all of our

[7:35] staff uh one is i'm gonna commit to work

[7:38] hard every day for this community for

[7:39] this district always for the betterment

[7:41] of our district never about myself but

[7:43] for the kids for the opportunities for

[7:44] families and for those who live in

[7:46] cities connecting

[7:48] i'm always going to commit to being

[7:49] transparent

[7:50] that does come with

[7:52] some consequences sometimes you may not

[7:55] get the answer you were looking for

[7:57] that goes for families that goes for

[7:59] staff that goes through my leadership

[8:00] team and that goes for the community as

[8:02] a whole

[8:03] but i will always try to tell you why

[8:05] give you some background give you an

[8:07] understanding um and so

[8:09] i'm going to commit to transparency and

[8:12] my last one is i'm going to always work

[8:13] and be from a support model meaning that

[8:15] i know i cannot do this work alone or in

[8:18] isolation so i'm always going to have to

[8:19] figure out how i support my principles

[8:21] i'm of the belief that great principles

[8:22] give you great teachers great students

[8:24] who really big schools right so if i do

[8:26] my work at the district level and make

[8:28] sure our principals are supportive

[8:30] they'll make sure our teachers are

[8:31] supported our teachers will make sure

[8:32] our kids are supported and it'll go on

[8:34] and then the other day we'll have a

[8:35] great school this year

[8:38] so if you haven't subscribed i encourage

[8:40] you to subscribe i put out a weekly

[8:42] brief uh our chief communications

[8:44] officer is here um so if you need

[8:46] details or if you have an email like us

[8:48] she can sign you up um she is the

[8:50] mastermind behind us i just help provide

[8:53] content she works her matches makes it

[8:54] look really pretty and then gets it out

[8:57] uh but i encourage you because this is

[8:58] my effort to be transparent it's my

[9:00] opportunity to let you know who i meet

[9:01] with what am i doing with my time right

[9:04] everyone says what's the superintendent

[9:05] doing are we paying this much money

[9:07] what's he doing all the time so this is

[9:08] my hope to show you where i'm at who i'm

[9:10] meeting with what's our focus as a

[9:12] district uh what am i doing and the

[9:14] latest coolest thing is people want to

[9:16] get in the brief right like hey you

[9:17] can't just meet with me i need a picture

[9:19] with you so i can end up in debrief so

[9:21] you may have seen our mayor in the brief

[9:22] uh recently uh two weeks back when we

[9:24] met with him i know our release chief

[9:26] clifford and so i keep doing that not

[9:28] just to show off but to really let the

[9:30] community know that we are having

[9:31] conversations we are collaborating we're

[9:33] trying to figure out different ways and

[9:35] then most importantly we figure out

[9:37] cool ways to highlight our kids and so

[9:39] you'll see in this one we highlighted

[9:41] one of our own students who did an

[9:42] amazing mural at our elementary school

[9:44] so if you get a chance to go to page

[9:46] elementary check it out

[9:50] i found this picture online and you know

[9:52] when you're trying to uh talk about the

[9:54] work and change a very simple symbolic

[9:57] symbolism i'm really going into visuals

[9:58] as a former art teacher i would believe

[10:01] pictures sometimes tell the story better

[10:03] so this picture really stuck with me and

[10:05] what do you see here right you see a sun

[10:07] rising above the electric city right you

[10:10] know and uh next one

[10:12] and so

[10:13] you know in my infinite wisdom i thought

[10:15] of this hashtag that we could use to

[10:17] kind of bag our work so this has been

[10:18] our theme since i've been here for the

[10:20] eight weeks we're going to continue to

[10:21] use this for the year and hopefully

[10:23] beyond

[10:24] and it's schenectady rising so if you're

[10:25] on social media all city councilman i

[10:28] invite you to tweet us

[10:29] and join the movement and

[10:31] it's our commitment to reopen rebuild

[10:34] reignite the district uh with the

[10:36] commitment again to excellence and

[10:37] teaching and learning equity

[10:39] engagement and efficiency

[10:43] and so

[10:44] as a superintendent you tend to think of

[10:46] things in larger systems

[10:47] this is a systems thinking type of

[10:49] diagram

[10:50] i feel from my assessment from the

[10:52] assessment of capital region boces and

[10:54] feedback from meeting with key people in

[10:56] the district board members um that we're

[10:58] at the bottom of this pyramid this

[11:00] compliance repair and upgrade this is

[11:03] kind of how we can not operate right

[11:04] we'll just do the bare minimum make sure

[11:06] we check off the boxes and we'll just

[11:09] repair things when they get broken and

[11:10] we'll upgrade them when they need to be

[11:12] upgraded and if we're going to do this

[11:13] work well as an organization my job

[11:15] would be to move our organization to the

[11:17] top of the pyramid where we're effective

[11:19] or efficient or sustainable and so

[11:21] that's going to take some time so again

[11:22] you notice that 2025 timeline next one thing that i uh did coming in was i

[11:29] reset the organizational structure and

[11:31] so i'm just showing you some of the

[11:33] boxes here um so you have an opportunity

[11:35] to see what we've done it is a little

[11:37] bit different so

[11:39] this is a district of almost 10 000 kids

[11:41] but we didn't have an assistant

[11:42] superintendent or a deputy

[11:43] superintendent which again

[11:45] no judgment but i just didn't understand

[11:47] the logic and so we've changed that

[11:49] dynamic i now have a deputy

[11:51] superintendent joining me and i have

[11:53] assistant superintendents that are going

[11:54] to lead certain silos of the work we

[11:56] have chief information officer chief

[11:58] technology officer and we have

[12:00] some dynamic individuals joining us to

[12:02] be the work of our elementary schools

[12:04] and we're still recruiting for someone

[12:06] to do our secondary school so next time

[12:09] they're in the room some of these

[12:10] individuals so i want to take them

[12:11] because they're new to the organization

[12:13] um so i'm emphasizing some of our new

[12:15] people so if you can just stand by uh

[12:17] say your name and your role and then um

[12:19] if your picture's not up there stand

[12:20] anyway because you're still part of that

[12:22] so our new deputy superintendent uh will

[12:25] be joining us in october she is

[12:26] currently the superintendent of lake

[12:28] george uh which i think is a big win for

[12:30] us is lynn rutner uh she'll be joining

[12:32] us in october towards the end so she's

[12:34] coming on board uh carlos cole dr carlos

[12:37] cotto is our new assistant

[12:38] superintendent for innovation equity and

[12:41] engagement he'll be working on a

[12:42] community schools initiative our

[12:43] migratory skipper initiative athletics

[12:46] uh innovation in terms of anything new

[12:48] and exciting to bring we're going to

[12:49] launch the parent centers so that'll be

[12:51] under his charge dr sean mason is now

[12:53] here he's the african-american gentleman

[12:54] in the middle he's coming up from

[12:55] baltimore so he'll be here tomorrow for

[12:57] the board meeting and he starts next

[12:59] week so he's in transition moving his

[13:01] family to schenectady and they're

[13:02] getting settled uh this is the

[13:04] superintendent for student support

[13:06] services andrea tobe freeman um

[13:09] long-time district employee does

[13:12] everything for special education uh

[13:14] counseling behavior specialist

[13:16] everything on the student support side

[13:17] of the house which is a very big house

[13:19] that i'm learning so thank you andrew

[13:21] and then um

[13:23] he's more familiar than anybody i've

[13:25] ever met in the in the area so far and

[13:27] he's our new executive director of

[13:29] elementary schools he'll be charged with

[13:30] leading all our principals with joe

[13:32] dicaprio which i believe many folks know

[13:34] his father was a long-time uh officer

[13:37] often yeah so everyone knows joe's when

[13:39] i figured it out

[13:40] [Music]

[13:42] or his dad and so joe's joining us uh

[13:44] we're bringing him back home is what we

[13:46] him principal and he left to go work in

[13:47] was tell

[13:50] the neighborhood district but now we're

[13:51] bringing it back home we're excited um

[13:54] we also have our chief uh

[13:56] information and technology officer chris

[13:58] is right now he's manning our he's our

[14:00] human remote over there

[14:02] he's everything in the technology side

[14:04] and last but not least obviously karen

[14:06] corona our chief public information

[14:07] officer and so these are the individuals

[14:09] that make up my team

[14:11] for an organization again 10 000 kids 17

[14:14] 18 campuses

[14:16] and a little bit over 2 000 employees

[14:20] and so i mentioned the word equity

[14:21] earlier and i want to make sure i make

[14:23] this point there's a lot of polarization

[14:25] around the conversation of equity and

[14:28] race theory and things of that nature

[14:30] and what we're focusing on is diversity

[14:31] equity and inclusion and so i always use

[14:34] this graphic because i think it helps

[14:36] people who may not represent certain

[14:38] groups have the conversation and feel

[14:39] safe enough about the conversation

[14:41] versus ostracizing people and so you'll

[14:43] hear us ask these questions who's in the

[14:45] room

[14:46] who are we talking about

[14:48] who's it we're trying to get in the room

[14:50] but can't get into the room to have the

[14:52] conversation

[14:53] and the last but not least it says

[14:55] everyone everyone's ideas been heard and

[14:58] if we approach this work around

[14:59] diversity equity inclusion i think

[15:01] everywhere

[15:02] maybe in the city maybe across other

[15:04] areas i think the conversations can be

[15:05] more productive

[15:06] versus more polarized right now when you

[15:08] just focus on um other aspects of

[15:11] diversity of inclusion next one

[15:14] so obviously we're in the business of

[15:15] teaching and learning and i just wanted

[15:17] to point this out to the city council we

[15:18] have uh required areas every year to

[15:21] assess our schools uh district

[15:23] comprehensive improvement plan we're

[15:25] required to do some of our schools need

[15:27] improvement we're not going to shy away

[15:28] from that conversation

[15:30] and these are the areas that they focus

[15:31] on leadership and systems curriculum

[15:34] instruction social emotional learning

[15:36] and obviously

[15:37] probably the most important piece is

[15:39] family engagement because we cannot turn

[15:41] our schools around without a reciprocal

[15:43] relationship with our parents and

[15:44] without them helping us kids are only in

[15:46] school about six and a half hours

[15:48] the majority of their 18-hour day they

[15:50] are not in the building so we got to

[15:52] figure out ways that we can support we

[15:54] can create opportunities for extended

[15:55] day

[15:56] after school program and saturday

[15:57] programming but also we're going to need

[15:59] our parents to do some of the things

[16:00] that we do in school like reading to

[16:01] your kids you know things of that nature

[16:04] next one

[16:05] our priorities this year are focused on

[16:08] three kind of major things um

[16:11] culturally relevant and

[16:12] rigorously responsive curriculum uh the

[16:15] same thing with instructional practices

[16:16] culturally relevant and responsive

[16:18] instructional practices so how do our

[16:20] teachers work with our kids when we know

[16:21] they come from a variety of backgrounds

[16:24] and then obviously removing barriers to

[16:25] increase attendance and engagement and

[16:27] so

[16:28] you know remote is a great thing to

[16:30] remove that barrier but it does require

[16:32] uh

[16:33] you know accurate participation you know

[16:36] accurate engagement so i often hear like

[16:38] well that's a way to get attendance it

[16:40] isn't the same when someone's in front

[16:41] of you when someone's on the screen and

[16:43] so i always tell people that it's a

[16:45] different type of engagement

[16:47] next one

[16:49] so uh everyone hears we got a lot of

[16:51] money right hey you got a lot of money

[16:52] industry's got ton of money so

[16:54] all of our money comes with strings just

[16:56] like it does when it gets to the city

[16:57] right when the government gives you

[16:59] money there's strings and people just

[17:00] here total dollar amount so i wanted to

[17:02] show you that we have this american

[17:04] rescue plan that's your ad funds from

[17:06] for the next four years it's about 41

[17:09] million dollars but there's certain

[17:11] things that the money must be

[17:12] allocated in use for so currently we

[17:15] have an extension to the end of the

[17:16] month we are looking at feedback from

[17:18] all of our principals all their billy

[17:21] leadership teams and we're going to put

[17:23] together an itemized kind of plan on how

[17:25] we plan on using this money but i want

[17:27] to emphasize the next slide that this

[17:29] plan was specific it had some strings

[17:31] and some directions it has to be used

[17:34] for non-reoccurring expenses why because

[17:37] the money will run out and what we don't

[17:39] want and what the government doesn't

[17:40] want is to hear that schools can't do

[17:42] certain things and you took money away

[17:43] so they're telling you right off the bat

[17:45] you've got four years to spend this

[17:47] money but you have to focus on

[17:48] non-recurring expenses so i won't read

[17:51] all these to you but just to know that

[17:53] you know maximizing in-person

[17:55] instruction was a reason to use this

[17:57] money meaning they want kids in the

[17:59] building not remote construction the

[18:01] other thing was looking at technology

[18:04] what other forms of technology can we purchase safely returning

[18:07] students in person supporting early

[18:09] childhood we know so much happens in

[18:11] those you know if we're going to be

[18:13] reading by third grade we've got to do a

[18:14] lot of stuff at the pre-k um and even

[18:16] birth really working with families

[18:18] around how do you read the kids early on

[18:20] exposure to vocabulary words

[18:23] sight words things of that nature next

[18:25] one

[18:27] so we're reopening schenectady strong

[18:29] it's been something you guys have been

[18:31] doing since last year something that i'm

[18:33] going to continue to do this year it's a

[18:34] real one's connecting strong and so

[18:36] we're going five days so i don't want

[18:37] anyone to be surprised so if you see

[18:39] your youth out there get your butt to

[18:41] school you're supposed to be in school

[18:42] now everyone's open get a glass and get

[18:44] in school um but we've shared again in

[18:47] an effort to be transparent the document

[18:50] on how to contract tracing works with

[18:51] our department of health disconnecting

[18:53] department of health has been fantastic

[18:55] around this team they've been sharing it

[18:56] so this is how you know if you're close

[18:58] to somebody this is going to quarantine

[19:00] if you're 12 and up again i'm not here

[19:02] to fight personal choice but the

[19:04] vaccine's available you don't want your

[19:05] kid at home consider getting a vaccine

[19:07] because if they're vaccinated they

[19:08] always are allowed to stay even if

[19:10] they're

[19:11] within contact with somebody who is as

[19:13] long as they don't show symptoms so

[19:15] that's a great way to keep your child in

[19:16] school is to consider them

[19:20] the reopening plan is what we shared is

[19:22] a summary of kind of all the key areas

[19:24] and then the chart with the blue

[19:26] yellow orange and red is depending on

[19:28] what zone we are for transmission those

[19:30] are the rules of engagement so if you're

[19:32] allowed to have visitors not have

[19:33] visitors in school how much distance you

[19:35] should have when you eat

[19:37] you know things like that the other

[19:38] thing i want to emphasize is that

[19:39] physical distancing or social distancing

[19:41] is not supposed to be an inhibitor to

[19:44] in-person learning so the

[19:46] kathy hulco's been very creative

[19:48] governor the

[19:50] education commissioner for the country

[19:51] has been very clear uh dr cardona in

[19:54] personal learning um it needs to occur

[19:56] and you can't use social distancing as

[19:58] the excuse why you can't bring everybody

[20:00] back so you do the best you can

[20:02] and that's why we're having masks in

[20:04] schools um when you can't stay you know

[20:07] less than three feet or less than six

[20:08] feet depending on the situation

[20:10] excellent

[20:11] so any questions

[20:24] [Music]

[20:32] appreciate

[20:37] [Music]

[20:47] yeah so we're trying to get back to the

[20:49] way we used to be so all of those things

[20:50] hopefully will be ignited and the people

[20:52] who ran like then she works at mount

[20:54] pleasant people does the girl's day out

[20:56] so i think i met her one of my favorite

[20:58] social workers so yeah

[21:00] so you gotta put that together quick

[21:03] well i just also want to

[21:06] welcome you and i too appreciate the

[21:09] presentation and i really as i mentioned

[21:11] before i think that idea of

[21:13] collaborating

[21:14] is

[21:19] [Music]

[21:42] going to be um and electrical

[21:45] and is there any kind of

[21:49] focus on that

[21:50] possibly um

[22:07] yeah so we currently do have kids go to

[22:08] capital regional season participate

[22:10] there but we also have the science fair

[22:11] radiation academy which has a culinary

[22:14] program as a business pathway so there

[22:16] is some

[22:17] cte in in terms of the district as well

[22:20] um so yeah we have both options that's

[22:22] uh steinmetz is uh creation is right

[22:26] [Music]

[22:31] it's nine to twelve but in in middle

[22:33] school they're supposed to take exposure

[22:34] to technology they get family consumer

[22:36] signs so they are getting exposed to

[22:38] some of those things as well at the

[22:39] middle school level

[22:41] it's not so much cte or in terms of what

[22:44] you're thinking you know starting in the

[22:45] culinary capital again you know

[22:48] i have pretty good money but i didn't

[22:49] really know what i wanted to do in

[22:50] middle school to commit to a pathway so

[22:52] what we do is more of an exploratory

[22:54] option which i think is good yeah

[22:57] so the goal is they they should maybe

[22:59] choose going into 9th grade if they want

[23:01] to start that pathway but most of the

[23:03] pathways start more like 10th or 11th

[23:05] grade because there's 22 credits and we

[23:08] have to get kids ready for the regents

[23:10] exam and get them out so some of that

[23:11] starts in freshman year and then they

[23:13] kind of walk into a pathway

[23:15] depending on where they are but yes we

[23:16] do leverage capital both so we gotta do

[23:18] that already we gotta get more kids

[23:19] exposed to that um but you know i think

[23:22] for us is we have to show all the

[23:24] pathways and so recently i had to meet

[23:26] with dr

[23:27] um muno over at the community college

[23:30] about how powerful would it be everybody

[23:32] who graduated from schenectady cities

[23:34] with research already had an acceptance

[23:35] letter to the community college and so

[23:37] that we told kids hey you can don't worry so much about this explore

[23:40] these options but also by the way at the

[23:42] end of the day this connective community

[23:44] college has an option for you just in

[23:45] case some of those things don't work out

[23:47] so stay tuned

[23:48] it

[24:00] is

[24:12] yeah i think these opportunities you

[24:13] know i remember the mayor you mentioned

[24:15] that as well

[24:16] you know to public wi-fi he's really

[24:18] ramping up the efforts anything we can

[24:20] collaborate on and i would even say you

[24:22] know maybe some shared services that we

[24:23] could think about departments different

[24:25] things that we do um you know that we

[24:27] can explore i think facility is another

[24:29] thing we got to start talking about you

[24:31] know obviously we have all these

[24:32] buildings that are getting older and

[24:34] older how do we think about

[24:35] projects where we can collaborate

[24:37] whether it's maybe a public library a

[24:39] school

[24:40] maybe a recreational program figure out

[24:43] how we can really get more because

[24:44] school everyone knows how to find a

[24:46] school right and so how do we make our

[24:48] schools more the hub to the community so

[24:50] yeah we're open to all that nice

[24:54] question

[24:56] once again i want to thank you thank you

[24:58] for a wonderful presentation and i hope

[24:59] that we can have this more often no

[25:01] problem right thank you so much

[25:03] thank you

[25:11] we're not gonna be rude

[25:19] remember if you see the students

[25:24] [Music]

[25:39] my brother dated amy

[25:51] [Music]

[26:29] july 1st through june 30th this year the

[26:33] total awards 75 000

[26:42] 354

[26:43] 142

[26:45] this is all for

[26:47] gun violence and gun violence i also

[26:50] attached the budget as you can see right

[26:52] now with us um

[27:32] the police traffic service program brand

[27:35] new york city

[27:36] traffic safety committee

[27:38] yes this is a statement also towards our

[27:41] traffic division this year's three

[27:43] thirty nine thousand four and forty

[27:45] dollars um

[28:01] but again i catch the award that are

[28:03] support experience like

[28:05] questions go back please

[28:10] uh so if you mention that you're one of

[28:12] the things is to reduce aggressive

[28:14] driving behaviors

[28:29] of aggressive driving certain areas will

[28:31] address it um high speeds um from that

[28:33] miracle or at certain times of the day

[28:36] it's people leaning in on traffic trying

[28:38] to kind of get ahead in the next

[28:39] person

[28:41] from the intersections that light turns

[28:43] red standing lower the state-of-the-art

[28:45] intersection entire traffic other ways

[28:47] participating

[28:48] flowing and

[28:50] changing

[28:52] we also use our

[28:54] cameras as much as possible to

[28:56] receive patterns

[29:05] [Music]

[29:25] thank you sir thank you

[29:28] the next item is

[29:43] what we have here is a federal aid

[29:45] project funded through

[29:47] what is called psat protector and safety

[29:50] action plan

[29:51] the work is what was discussed for

[29:54] around the downtown area around city

[29:56] hall liberty street j clinton and

[29:59] clinton franklin also an intersection in

[30:01] the stockade

[30:03] the project is

[30:05] hoping to be awarded the caline

[30:06] industries there is also a city share

[30:09] and a metroplex share

[30:12] it's not specifically mentioned here but

[30:14] we are partnering with metroplex as they

[30:16] have an interest in as part of this

[30:18] project converting j street to two-way

[30:20] firm proposed office so since we were

[30:23] improving the signal there as part of

[30:24] this project we bundled those together

[30:27] and we'll be doing the project so as a

[30:28] conclusion when the signals are all

[30:30] upgraded the measurements are

[30:31] incorporated j street in front of the

[30:33] post office will be two ways

[30:36] the project will start this year however

[30:39] most likely won't conclude next year the

[30:41] state gave us an extension actually all

[30:43] projects under this forum and extension

[30:45] because of supply chain shortages having

[30:48] a very hard time getting the signal

[30:50] actually just the material so we're

[30:53] probably going to be out here starting

[30:55] trying to work around we're coordinating

[30:56] with the farmers market which is a big

[30:58] concern because we're going to be in

[31:00] their areas of work

[31:02] but we're looking to complete the

[31:04] project start this year complete it by

[31:06] june

[31:10] what was your

[31:11] listening picture

[31:14] for the project it was 1.6

[31:26] is

[31:34] so

[31:35] i just put this together so i didn't

[31:37] have time to give it to sam so if you

[31:39] would like to look at it

[31:41] and then

[31:42] discuss it at the next meeting that's

[31:44] perfectly fine

[31:47] it is a package of kind of

[31:49] all the information related to sidewalks

[31:51] so i'll just briefly go through it

[31:53] starts with central parkway on the west

[31:56] the outside of the street

[31:58] then we move on to the

[32:00] even side of the street then i i took

[32:02] some pictures

[32:03] uh with a tape measure

[32:06] just to show um you know we're gonna

[32:08] have to either

[32:09] reconstruct the road and bring it down

[32:11] or go on the private property more

[32:14] because what you'll see is we don't have

[32:16] curb reviews

[32:18] and what happens is

[32:20] this estimate if you were to look at it

[32:22] i would say that i'm making sure we

[32:24] don't repeat mistakes that were made in

[32:26] the past when we did this project the

[32:27] first time so one of the things that

[32:29] you'll see on this estimate that weren't

[32:31] on previous estimates by some of my

[32:33] associates in my department

[32:36] is i've

[32:37] kind of assessed is there a driveway

[32:39] is there a lead walk what's the material

[32:42] that the driveway or the leaf walk are

[32:44] made of because what we were running

[32:45] into the problem of was escalating costs

[32:48] on barnsley and the camp and the reason

[32:50] is we were a little robotic

[32:53] with our estimates saying is we're going

[32:56] to replace the sidewall it's 40 feet but

[32:59] when you replace the sidewalk it's five

[33:01] inches higher and their lead lock is low

[33:03] we were getting complaints when i had to

[33:05] replace my leak walls what about my

[33:06] driveway so now we're putting asphalt

[33:09] so we were doing all these hand work

[33:11] items and the costs were going higher

[33:13] and we were incurring them or were

[33:15] passing them on and there wasn't this

[33:17] i'm not going to say it wasn't

[33:18] transparency it was just that we hadn't

[33:20] dealt so much with a private owner

[33:21] before so i tried to take into account

[33:24] those uh and assess you know you see

[33:26] here where it says alleys on the first

[33:28] page

[33:29] all of these properties do not have

[33:31] driveways onto central park they have an

[33:34] alley in the back they have it out there

[33:36] so you'll notice that the costs vary

[33:38] because we're not going in there with

[33:39] bar mesh

[33:41] so i'm trying to show that same thing if

[33:44] you go to the third page of the pictures

[33:46] from the street view

[33:47] you can see

[33:49] these walkways that lead down he's walk

[33:51] basically down you're probably

[33:53] two inches

[33:55] off so i have to be smarter and i'm not

[33:57] going to say i'm going to have to be

[33:58] smart when we design this and do it

[34:00] because typically what we had done is we

[34:02] would put a four inch curve in

[34:04] and the sidewalk would be here the lead

[34:06] walk would be here and we'd replace it

[34:08] but we would get complaints in public if

[34:10] you remember so people would come back

[34:11] and say now we're getting in public

[34:13] right and it was like okay well this

[34:14] isn't a project to go all the way back

[34:17] on your house this isn't supposed to be

[34:18] you know was supposed to be a sidewalk

[34:20] public works project so we were around

[34:22] this weird line of where we were those

[34:24] projects so then

[34:26] i also put in the resolution that we

[34:28] passed before we showed that you know we

[34:30] subsidized partially became 55-40 and

[34:33] then the last page is the bid document

[34:36] or a summary from the camp when we did

[34:39] get it which showed that the actual

[34:40] price was 83.55

[34:44] and then going back to the first sheet

[34:46] just because it's a little different

[34:47] you'll see that

[34:49] there's two ways that we can kind of

[34:50] look at this there's the totals which

[34:53] vary

[34:54] and there is the cost per foot which

[34:56] varied so that's trying to account for

[34:58] maybe a little asphalt or a leaf off or

[35:00] something different but if we wanted to

[35:02] do it uniformly that's the orangish

[35:05] golden box on the bottom which would be

[35:07] okay we understand that you know let's

[35:09] just uniformly assess it and that's the

[35:11] cost there so

[35:13] you know look over what you have you

[35:14] know we could walk the street if you'd

[35:16] like to um i know that i believe i'm

[35:19] gonna be walking the street with someone

[35:20] on south college street in that country

[35:23] i don't know if it's yourself but

[35:25] they're looking to do a petition there

[35:26] and they like to walk the street because

[35:28] they have some more questions about curb

[35:30] heights and drainage and how it affects

[35:32] other properties you know

[35:34] so it gets a little a little complicated

[35:35] when you start affecting it but

[35:38] this is a i think it's a good start

[35:40] for information

[35:54] i am not looking to go farther i am just

[35:57] acknowledging that there is a potential

[36:00] so what i'm looking to do is

[36:02] if we're going to move forward and i i

[36:05] am encouraging the council to go forward

[36:08] that we do it similar to camp and the

[36:10] city take on a share that is curves and

[36:12] it is a road even though we just paved

[36:14] the road to go back in because what i'm

[36:17] seeing is where i have to go out maybe

[36:20] take some shots and find that maybe

[36:21] instead of a two inch mill i have to go

[36:23] down five because there has to be some

[36:25] happy medium because some places there's

[36:27] four inches occur some places there's

[36:29] one inch

[36:30] and if i go through and i just go

[36:32] robotic which is what we did in the past

[36:34] we're going to end up with a lot of

[36:35] problems and

[36:37] the problem with a project such as this

[36:39] is you are affecting the property

[36:41] ownership pain so when i show up at a

[36:44] job site where you show up to talk

[36:46] everyone may have their little

[36:47] fictitious about

[36:49] what's wrong and a lot of them on the

[36:51] camp came to drainage because we put in

[36:54] this beautiful five and a half inch

[36:56] curve

[36:57] and we didn't look so much at the

[36:58] driveway ten feet back and how it would

[37:01] affect it so you know we we held to our

[37:04] standards a little too much whereas i

[37:06] said that there's certain standards that

[37:08] we can take some leeway with uh that we

[37:10] have to do so that's why i've made sure

[37:12] on this particular one not to repeat

[37:14] that i went out there i took

[37:15] measurements i took some photo just to

[37:17] show you i changed the way this looks

[37:19] it's a little bit more detailed than the

[37:21] past one which if you look at the canvas

[37:23] it was very just concrete

[37:25] so what is what is the actual

[37:28] curve that is supposed to be

[37:31] we like to curve anywhere from four to

[37:33] six inches depending on the surroundings

[37:35] we prefer four to six inches

[37:38] that's a that's a nice set curve you

[37:40] don't if you go lower people start to

[37:41] try to drive up on the curb to four

[37:43] inches it's kind of more of a

[37:49] we're preventative the island also

[37:51] okay

[37:52] so that is going to

[37:55] deter people from parking on the street

[37:58] correct

[37:59] because the curb is going to be too high

[38:02] for someone

[38:07] and we're also going to similar to the

[38:09] cam make sure that we measure and have a

[38:11] uniform

[38:13] somewhere in their own 20 20 to 22 feet

[38:16] to make sure that you can fit a car

[38:18] handsome and and have a traveling some

[38:20] areas of central park but especially

[38:22] that curve

[38:23] they feel very tight so then people

[38:26] just tarping on the sidewall right and

[38:27] you also have to remember too is you can

[38:29] put it there but somebody is so you know

[38:31] inclined you just put your tire over the

[38:34] driveway and then you ride up or you

[38:36] don't have to just

[38:38] i'm just

[38:40] yeah so that's something we're cognizant of

[38:43] because of the curve is does feel narrow

[38:47] and luckily most people i think you can

[38:49] see have driveways but still people like

[38:51] down the road

[38:53] please i just want to

[38:55] clarify something i heard you said so

[38:57] where you're going to encounter

[39:03] the city does pay for hurts yes so this

[39:05] is this is everything that focuses on

[39:07] the property owner right and then

[39:08] there's another component which is the

[39:10] city share which is the pavement and the

[39:12] curbs and we pay for that usually with

[39:14] either a chips fund or a bonded fund

[39:17] that's that's different so that's that's

[39:19] within what we usually have what's that

[39:21] we'll be doing this yes oh no there's

[39:24] similar to the campaign like arduino we

[39:26] could get away with not doing the curves

[39:28] because we had to grasp medium here it's

[39:30] inaccurate we have to do the curves the

[39:32] issue is going to be is to find that

[39:33] happy balance where i'm going to cut the

[39:35] road down so that i'm not raising the

[39:38] curve so high where everybody's going to

[39:41] pond that's where that's where we like i

[39:43] say and on one side if you're familiar

[39:45] with central parkway on one side of

[39:47] central parkway which i believe is the

[39:49] east side

[39:50] if you have a hill

[39:52] so you're great but on the west side you

[39:55] have ferris flat

[39:57] and we have issues with puddling in the

[39:59] alleyway we have issues with puddling so

[40:01] we want to try to mitigate it as best we

[40:03] can so is there

[40:13] but we're talking about more private

[40:14] property issues you know i'm trying not

[40:16] to

[40:17] keep the water on their property to make

[40:19] sure

[40:24] it does

[40:27] get this

[40:38] thank you for this this is a

[40:40] big improvement over what we first do so

[40:43] uh well done and thank you for that

[40:46] and uh secondly just the information

[40:48] easy talk about the stock aid and their

[40:51] positions were turned in today okay um

[40:53] so um

[40:56] i guess the next step is to pass them to

[40:59] uh

[41:01] yeah i mean i still would like to walk

[41:03] with ms rompo i believe she reached out

[41:04] to you or

[41:19] how we can all make it happen to make

[41:20] everybody happy which is difficult

[41:24] i want to thank you for doing this

[41:25] together

[41:27] several weeks let's go that's a

[41:28] wonderful

[41:29] presentation here detail

[41:32] we'll present it

[41:41] and setting up the special assessment

[41:43] history sure there any questions

[41:45] absolutely

[41:59] the next item is not

[42:05] um

[42:42] yesterday afternoon

[42:44] um

[42:46] i think it's extremely important that we

[42:49] continue to

[42:51] support our police department

[42:53] and i find it extremely

[42:56] when there is a city school board member

[43:01] that has

[43:03] taken a stance on defunding the

[43:05] connecticut police department

[43:08] and i think it's

[43:10] important that we continue to support

[43:12] our police department

[43:13] um

[43:14] you know chief secretary

[43:16] tonight

[43:17] presenting the um

[43:19] you know the gun violence

[43:21] you know once again illegal guns in our

[43:24] city streets and around the capital

[43:26] region and the state

[43:28] needs to be addressed um i know there

[43:30] was no support for it but i would once

[43:32] again follow my council

[43:35] of people

[43:36] it's a way to start a conversation

[43:39] something needs to be done

[43:41] to support our police department and

[43:44] i think that you know the gun violence

[43:47] and the fact that we have

[43:50] activists calling for defunding

[43:52] especially an elected official on the

[43:54] city school board

[43:56] i think it's very troubling

[43:58] and it's decisive

[44:00] and

[44:01] it ends up

[44:03] really putting a divide between

[44:06] what

[44:18] and

[44:19] i think it's important that we as a

[44:21] council need to take a stance on

[44:24] supporting our police department and the

[44:26] changes that's cheaper is going forward

[44:29] and

[44:30] you know i think the leadership here is

[44:34] necessary to ensure that we

[44:37] maintain regulations with our police

[44:39] department and our city schools

[44:42] so i

[44:43] am

[44:45] not supportive of

[44:47] his mild stance

[44:59] any other questions

[45:16] and so i think that's where this really

[45:18] belongs and um and thinking that for my

[45:21] time on the council i can't take the

[45:23] time when we were asked to fund

[45:25] something that was part of our forward

[45:26] and he said no we're not doing it i mean

[45:28] often they come

[45:30] today but there's no match but they

[45:32] still needed to come before the council

[45:33] and we still supported them and when

[45:35] there has been a match we had supported

[45:37] that so um i

[45:40] am not aware of any petition that has

[45:42] come forward

[45:43] at this point that says we want you to

[45:45] do this and so i'm not really sure

[45:48] what's his response to so that that

[45:50] comes to my

[45:51] question

[45:52] um

[45:53] and in terms of fighting from here

[45:56] specifically you say that a person has

[45:58] the right the first amendment of

[46:00] constitution to protest um and assemble

[46:03] peacefully there's also reading speech

[46:05] that's included in this so

[46:09] i'm not sure if as a council we can take

[46:12] a position

[46:13] against an individual as an individual's

[46:15] name here because they chose to exercise

[46:18] their freedom of speech

[46:20] i don't know how we do that and say we

[46:22] support freedom of speech and

[46:25] we have numerous people that come before

[46:27] the war before the council and the rail

[46:30] i don't think we all agree with

[46:31] everything they say

[46:32] so it becomes the point where we start

[46:34] um to

[46:36] create resolutions because someone said

[46:37] something that we don't agree with

[46:39] i can say from my personal standpoint i

[46:41] support the police do does any group

[46:44] agree on everything absolutely not and

[46:46] that's what's exactly where we really

[46:48] disagree um

[46:50] and

[46:51] so to me to

[46:54] start first of all to choose an

[46:56] individual to call them out and to say

[46:58] because she said this and and just just

[47:01] for the record just be clear any

[47:03] statements you made was prior to

[47:04] becoming a board member was before she

[47:06] was an elected official on the city

[47:08] school board so people heard what she

[47:09] had to say and she's still got the right

[47:11] thing so i just want to make sure that

[47:12] that's very clear and um so

[47:15] i don't think we have the right to to

[47:17] call one person a person out because

[47:20] they exercise their freedom of speech

[47:22] and say hey we know that it's it's in

[47:24] your first amendment rights but because

[47:25] we don't like what you said therefore we

[47:27] have no resolution we have a three

[47:29] elected body who say who supports the

[47:31] constitution are going to put a

[47:33] resolution against you personally

[47:34] because the resolution is therefore

[47:37] being resolved and then there it clearly

[47:39] states that person's name

[47:41] um so

[47:43] um is this language divisive i won't

[47:46] disagree with that there's a lot of

[47:47] language that is divisive uh if this you

[47:50] know this is a slippery slope where

[47:51] people say something we don't like it

[47:52] and then we start saying well we're

[47:53] going to create a resolution that they

[47:54] said that we didn't like i think that's

[47:56] a dangerous path to voting i also think

[47:58] it invites the aclu to come to our

[48:01] council meeting and say how can we do

[48:02] this not only them probably other youths

[48:04] as well so this is uh in my mind more

[48:08] resolution against a person

[48:09] as it is in favor of

[48:12] um a budgetary issue which again i think

[48:15] that's where you know funding goes and

[48:16] that's where we get this aside we on

[48:18] this council it's our role and

[48:20] responsibility to say well

[48:22] the americans are getting the votes and

[48:24] we're just clear about that so we say to

[48:25] the mayor you know we you know do this

[48:28] and not that so i think that you know

[48:31] this belongs in the budget and i have

[48:34] again to just reiterate to the point

[48:36] that i've not seen any specific calls

[48:38] without the police and

[48:41] are we do we really

[48:43] have a right to

[48:45] um

[48:46] let's to say to someone you um exercise

[48:50] your constitutional rights but we're

[48:52] putting out what resolution that say we

[48:54] don't believe what you have to say

[48:56] i think that's

[48:57] not something that we can do as a

[48:59] counselor but something that we actually

[49:00] shouldn't even do

[49:02] so we're talking about funding

[49:04] as opposed to being against an

[49:06] individual because of their speech i

[49:08] think this is two very different things

[49:10] so i know that um what's put on the

[49:13] agenda says becoming the police but this

[49:15] resolution is really not reflecting that

[49:17] at all it really is reflecting that

[49:19] person said something and that person

[49:22] should not have said that and we're

[49:23] saying you shouldn't have said it and

[49:25] we're taking

[49:26] putting a resolution out that says

[49:31] [Music]

[49:36] a few points first of all miss miles did

[49:39] say after she was on on the board of

[49:42] education

[49:44] and it was in the newspaper that she

[49:46] wanted to define the police

[49:48] typically

[49:49] and for longest time the school board

[49:52] and the city council remaining two very

[49:55] distinct bodies

[49:56] and here we have a school board member

[50:00] crossing that line

[50:02] so

[50:02] secondly the resolution itself as i read

[50:06] it is very much about funding the police

[50:09] and not something about a particular

[50:10] individual

[50:12] how i read it was the individual's

[50:14] mention because she is a public official

[50:17] and we have that right to

[50:21] make that distinction

[50:23] third the

[50:25] just as

[50:27] cities have done resolutions to defund

[50:30] the police

[50:31] we can very well do resolutions to fund

[50:33] reports and call against it

[50:36] and

[50:37] if there are weaker questions

[50:39] people can certainly come and speak and

[50:42] have their

[50:44] say at the council meetings

[50:46] and that doesn't take away from their

[50:50] freedom speech so

[50:52] i really don't see any particular issue

[50:54] on this

[50:55] i think it's something that we

[50:58] i would support

[51:00] i understand the issue with funding and

[51:03] we will take that up in october

[51:06] but

[51:07] this uh

[51:09] i think sends a message to our residents

[51:12] who complain about

[51:14] lots of stuff

[51:16] in particular with regards to quality of

[51:19] life issues that the police can deal

[51:21] with

[51:22] and they're understaffed and defunding

[51:25] them certainly

[51:26] and quite frankly to say she said she

[51:29] would like to abolish

[51:31] that doesn't go anywhere i mean

[51:33] everybody knows some of the key pieces

[51:36] to

[51:36] a healthy city is this excellent school

[51:39] district which hopefully we're on the

[51:41] right track

[51:43] a safe community where people want to

[51:45] move

[51:46] and that entails having

[51:48] a police department

[51:50] that

[51:51] is engaged with the community

[51:54] becomes partners with the community and

[51:56] so much of what we've done in the

[51:59] community outreach and the steering

[52:02] programs that we've had with the police

[52:04] reform

[52:05] was related to the police getting out

[52:07] into the community and they can't do

[52:09] that if there's

[52:11] public officials calling for defunding

[52:13] the police

[52:14] so to me it's a real distinction here

[52:17] we have two separate boards that largely

[52:20] stayed in their own

[52:23] areas

[52:25] how i was always told as a member of the

[52:27] city council we don't interfere

[52:30] with the school board we can go to the

[52:32] meetings and we can certainly have our

[52:34] say but that's as a personal

[52:36] uh

[52:38] individual but as a school board

[52:40] remember saying you want to defund the

[52:42] police

[52:43] i'm sorry i

[52:44] disagree with what your concept is and

[52:47] i would support this resolution

[52:54] my appearance when it comes to i don't

[52:55] think any one of us

[53:11] is

[53:37] individual members of the public

[53:40] i don't think really as a possible

[53:42] police department we need our police

[53:44] department

[53:45] we need a police department

[53:47] and we have been providing the necessary

[53:49] funding over the many years i've been in

[53:52] this council and it will continue to

[53:53] happen

[53:54] so having a resolution i don't think

[53:57] it's needed i don't want to do it

[53:59] everybody knows we are probably

[54:02] supporting police departments

[54:03] that they're doing and we thank them

[54:05] every day

[54:08] i mean putting a resolution i don't

[54:09] think it's needed i mean

[54:12] we have a budget to deal with uh at the

[54:14] end of the next month and we'll address

[54:16] all these things and look at how we've

[54:17] been able to

[54:18] maintain the funding and increase the

[54:21] funding

[54:22] providing us a resource to them

[54:25] we can't just go about

[54:26] you know keeping information from the

[54:28] public

[54:29] and doing this thing and it's leading to

[54:30] a dangerous path

[54:35] and so mr probably said it wasn't

[54:36] directed at a specific person but the

[54:40] part that the resolution department says

[54:42] therefore be resolved that this

[54:44] connecting city council cannot with

[54:46] clear conscience supports the cause of

[54:48] community activist schenectady city

[54:51] school board member jamaica miles stands

[54:53] for defining the police department nor

[54:55] her calls from lobster police department

[54:57] we are specifically talking about the

[55:00] specific person we're not even that we

[55:02] so we say we don't agree with it so

[55:04] therefore we put together a resolution

[55:05] that says and therefore it may be solved

[55:07] that's connected to the countless that's

[55:09] considered such data to be divisive and

[55:11] detrimental to the state and security

[55:13] both are residents and law enforcement

[55:15] officers this is a this is directed at

[55:18] an individual

[55:25] [Applause]

[55:33] and history of all models we had a

[55:34] chance to look at it but um the way i

[55:38] read this is that you put a person's

[55:39] name in here and you're saying you

[55:41] clearly did not support that person

[55:42] because of what she said

[55:44] that's what this is

[55:46] in plain english

[55:47] so that to me is different than nazi

[55:50] funding police again which is a

[55:52] budgetary issue which we'll be

[55:53] discussing in just a couple of months

[55:56] and and so

[55:58] you know as mr mcmahon said as i've said

[56:00] that has

[56:03] [Music]

[56:14] but without a real call to do this i'm

[56:16] not sure what we're answering here

[56:18] or the rel really really what it achieves

[56:26] so um

[56:43] on city store

[56:45] we are trying to build

[56:47] a collaborative environment it's a

[56:48] cooperative environment and we have a

[56:51] board member that is

[57:00] [Music]

[57:11] not thinking about being inclusive

[57:14] and you know it was a great presentation

[57:16] for tonight from the new superintendent

[57:19] and i think

[57:20] you know that needs to be carried

[57:22] forward i know that he's met with the

[57:24] chief

[57:24] i know that you know things are going to

[57:26] move forward in a good manner but i need

[57:29] to understand

[57:31] that it's not a school board member

[57:34] thinking that defunding employees is

[57:37] acceptable we need to support our police

[57:40] we don't need to defund our police and i

[57:42] just think it's wrong that an elected

[57:44] school board member is

[57:47] stating that she wants to

[57:50] have she represents the school

[57:56] [Music]

[58:06] i think that

[58:08] if you feel that way in terms of school

[58:10] work but i think this is a conversation

[58:12] to have and with the superintendent if

[58:14] you feel that way about school whenever

[58:16] or with before the um chair at school

[58:19] i don't think at least the council

[58:20] speaks

[58:23] that we don't like what you said

[58:26] and therefore we're putting the

[58:27] resolution together because there may be

[58:29] things that that uh council members say

[58:31] that people don't and we didn't come

[58:33] back

[58:48] i think we need to

[58:56] i agree we should support our quotes and

[58:58] we do support our focus but on

[59:00] disability where we should not come

[59:02] against an individual because of the

[59:04] statement that they made because they

[59:06] exercised it to the first amendment

[59:07] right that is where i draw them on that

[59:10] we come against an individual that says

[59:12] where does that end

[59:14] somebody support something else that we

[59:15] don't agree with but we don't think it's

[59:17] appropriate we don't think it's

[59:18] currently politically correct

[59:21] so where does it end so

[59:23] supporting police is absolute but going against individuals because of

[59:29] something that they said that we don't

[59:30] agree with and again she is one member

[59:33] of the board so even if she says that

[59:34] the school board member and they had any

[59:36] control over which they don't

[59:38] it's one member

[59:40] we at this table

[59:43] that we do live appropriately in terms

[59:45] of funding our police allocating

[59:47] whatever community resources that are

[59:49] needed all of which was talked about in

[59:50] part of the police reform and

[59:52] reinvention so we put all that in there

[59:54] but we talked about all that so when the

[59:56] budget comes from we have the

[59:57] opportunity to do that because we we

[1:00:00] decided on budget so

[1:00:02] you don't have to say oh we support it

[1:00:04] and we we are against you saying that

[1:00:06] because we can do this alive

[1:00:43] but

[1:00:44] people say what they feel

[1:00:46] and

[1:00:47] if you live in america and you have a

[1:00:49] right to do that

[1:00:51] and as long as you like screaming fire

[1:00:53] in the filing room

[1:01:03] yeah i think we're

[1:01:05] just really missing

[1:01:07] the vote here i mean

[1:01:10] and you have a public official who's

[1:01:13] come out and said that there's nothing

[1:01:15] wrong with taking a stand

[1:01:17] particularly when we've had other

[1:01:19] vendors calling for

[1:01:21] diverting

[1:01:22] budgetary money from the police

[1:01:24] department um while they're abolishing

[1:01:27] things these are all things that are

[1:01:29] then discussed publicly

[1:01:31] in the steering committee meetings

[1:01:33] themselves

[1:01:35] and now we have school board member kong

[1:01:38] to

[1:01:39] defund the police it just doesn't

[1:01:42] vote well for the city

[1:01:44] when we're trying to build relationships

[1:01:48] in this city and purposely is creating

[1:01:51] decisions

[1:01:52] um

[1:01:53] i i think that's why

[1:01:55] the resolution is necessary

[1:01:58] but again that's committed so

[1:02:01] it's too

[1:02:03] immersive so

[1:02:17] people have a right to say what they say

[1:02:19] whether you agree or disagree it's a

[1:02:21] newspaper um

[1:02:23] then you have to know

[1:02:26] but it happens people say things that

[1:02:28] like we disagree with all the time that

[1:02:30] doesn't make facts just because someone

[1:02:32] said it

[1:02:33] again we we're we're targeting one

[1:02:35] person because we don't move this

[1:02:37] person's stand because they are a public

[1:02:39] figure i don't think this is the first

[1:02:41] public figure that's ever said anything

[1:02:42] that we've already done

[1:02:45] so um i just put together a resolution

[1:02:47] to attack someone personally

[1:02:50] i think it's not what this body is

[1:02:53] called to do and if we feel this level

[1:02:55] of disagreement then plus we have to

[1:02:58] visit down and discuss it and talk about

[1:03:00] it and work through it

[1:03:02] with um the individuals that i don't

[1:03:04] know that's even been made an attempt to

[1:03:07] do

[1:03:09] but i think just putting together a

[1:03:10] resolution because we didn't like what

[1:03:12] somebody said things like bring our

[1:03:14] passes

[1:03:29] and

[1:03:30] mr collins like that we

[1:03:32] when we do the budget we

[1:03:34] are the ones

[1:03:36] with the budget we haven't wanted to say

[1:03:38] this department gets this much money

[1:03:40] based on what we want to call it that is

[1:03:42] what happens here

[1:03:45] so because someone says something

[1:03:46] contrary to what we believe in

[1:03:49] or what we're comfortable with

[1:03:51] doesn't change the fact that we still

[1:03:53] get to decide on the question

[1:04:00] and that's where this belongs police

[1:04:03] funding is a legendary issue whose

[1:04:05] department will present their budget

[1:04:07] this is what we need to do our job then

[1:04:09] we'll go through

[1:04:09] [Music]

[1:04:11] you it the mayor will do um you know

[1:04:14] either change whatever it needs to

[1:04:15] change and then basic council will get

[1:04:17] it this is a budgetary issue you can

[1:04:19] deal with this with a budgetary issue

[1:04:21] and i think anyone on this council has

[1:04:22] come forward and said let's discover

[1:04:24] this

[1:04:52] you're asking for a resolution to

[1:04:53] celebrate their 100th anniversary

[1:04:56] in this visiting as a council on the

[1:04:58] city we recognize the contribution

[1:05:00] towards the city

[1:05:20] item on the agenda is the 2021.2

[1:05:24] hud continuum for ymca is dior

[1:05:39] um

[1:06:10] next item on the agenda is a call for

[1:06:13] the public hearing for the 2022 budget

[1:06:15] mr ferrari

[1:06:21] thank you

[1:06:23] as you know the mayor's proposed 22 the

[1:06:26] 2022 budget will be delivered to the

[1:06:28] city council uh honor before october 1st

[1:06:32] and pursuing to uh second class uh

[1:06:34] city's law

[1:06:36] and the charter of the city of

[1:06:37] schenectady

[1:06:39] uh the ordinance to approve and adapt

[1:06:41] the proposed 2022 budget

[1:06:44] needs to be announced by november 1st

[1:06:46] and one of the

[1:06:47] necessary components uh to pass this

[1:06:50] proposed blended is a public hearing so

[1:06:52] we're requesting uh that the

[1:06:55] city council at their uh september 13th

[1:06:57] uh council meeting approve

[1:07:01] of the call for the public meeting to be

[1:07:03] held on october 12th of

[1:07:07] 2021.

[1:07:12] any questions on this

[1:07:15] paper uh thank you

[1:07:17] next is the update on the request

[1:07:19] funding on the mayor

[1:07:22] just uh

[1:07:36] for

[1:07:37] three four five community meetings with

[1:07:40] counseling for uh

[1:07:43] neighborhood brooks community groups

[1:07:45] to

[1:07:46] look at some of the

[1:07:48] needs that they have

[1:07:50] give us a chance to outline some of the

[1:07:52] options and as we move forward with

[1:07:56] just the

[1:07:58] formal

[1:08:00] alignment of that money to be very

[1:08:02] expensive and hopefully we're going to

[1:08:03] be able to do a coordinated and

[1:08:06] complimentary fashion with the other

[1:08:08] levels of government

[1:08:20] any questions

[1:08:27] like throughout the city of various kids

[1:08:32] [Music]

[1:08:51] some of the criteria to use it to

[1:08:52] replace some of the money that we lost

[1:08:55] we put some staff back in from that and

[1:08:57] then look forward to working with the

[1:08:59] council to come up with that final

[1:09:02] document not only for

[1:09:04] 2022

[1:09:18] to order city development and planning

[1:09:21] we have seven items on the agenda

[1:09:23] um the first two will be a public

[1:09:25] section

[1:09:26] first one uh licensing room with mental

[1:09:28] placement construction south street

[1:09:30] south church street

[1:09:40] as part of the continuing redevelopment

[1:09:42] of

[1:09:43] downtown

[1:09:44] the city in partnership with metroplex

[1:09:47] or vice versa i really want to look at

[1:09:49] it um saw two redevelopment south church

[1:09:52] street between fuller and state street

[1:09:54] i'm sure you're familiar with this area

[1:09:57] if you were to go down the road you can

[1:09:58] definitely tell it's one of the last

[1:10:00] areas to be developed um leaving

[1:10:03] something to be desired we've seen a lot

[1:10:04] of investment as

[1:10:06] in my uh as i said requesting this

[1:10:08] metroplex put in there

[1:10:09] between gary boulevard and state street

[1:10:11] and gateway park for public

[1:10:13] infrastructure and on top of that the

[1:10:15] private infrastructure that we've seen

[1:10:16] tested there

[1:10:18] this is kind of one of the final

[1:10:21] pieces to complete our lower downtown

[1:10:24] development

[1:10:26] so the city and metroplex going forward

[1:10:28] with cooperation with a design and then

[1:10:31] a bid

[1:10:32] the understanding was the city would

[1:10:34] contribute for the roadway and the

[1:10:36] curving while metrobus would take care

[1:10:38] of things such as scccs actually partner

[1:10:41] on this with a parking lot they're also

[1:10:43] helping contribute towards lights and

[1:10:45] sidewalks and things the city usually

[1:10:47] doesn't get involved with so we think this is a good project

[1:10:51] another example of us working in

[1:10:53] partnership with them to get

[1:10:55] progress done it's going to be a

[1:10:56] terrific project it's in coordination

[1:10:59] with we already making the rope in one

[1:11:00] way you know it formally has not been at

[1:11:03] the conclusion of this project and

[1:11:05] during the project will be one way

[1:11:07] it will increase parking it will look

[1:11:10] literally like a million bucks it's

[1:11:12] going to be terrific we're eliminating

[1:11:14] over a dozen utility poles

[1:11:16] most of which were there were

[1:11:17] unnecessary

[1:11:19] defeat infrastructure that hasn't been

[1:11:21] there in years but we are cognizant of

[1:11:23] future development we are leaving two

[1:11:25] polls to make sure that the larger lots

[1:11:27] that currently aren't developing will

[1:11:29] have utilities

[1:11:30] so this is the project as as it is

[1:11:33] i would recommend

[1:11:35] authorizing the mayor to be able to

[1:11:37] enter into the agreement

[1:11:49] um

[1:11:56] there will be a public hearing on next

[1:12:07] uh um evening i'm chuck marshall from

[1:12:09] stewardshops uh we have under contract

[1:12:12] the sunoco at 1501 union

[1:12:14] and the funeral jones general home of

[1:12:16] 1503 union

[1:12:18] however those two are both in the c2

[1:12:21] which allows a convenience store with

[1:12:23] gasoline filling

[1:12:25] 10 20 mm street which is essentially the

[1:12:28] green

[1:12:29] landscape strip between

[1:12:31] the r1

[1:12:33] use

[1:12:34] and the c2 district is

[1:12:35] actually zoned r1 and is not allowed to

[1:12:37] be incorporated in our use so what we're

[1:12:40] here tonight to request

[1:12:42] is rezone of the parcel at 1020

[1:12:46] um palm street

[1:12:59] [Music]

[1:13:03] with um it's rear to the residential

[1:13:06] district

[1:13:07] and put the gas in front

[1:13:13] i just wanted to figure out where we

[1:13:15] were with the planning commission so

[1:13:16] forgive me for that so the planning

[1:13:18] commission issued a favorable

[1:13:19] recommendation i think that there's

[1:13:21] going to be some

[1:13:22] cycling concerns elevation head things

[1:13:24] as there normally is

[1:13:26] i think we've done a pretty good job

[1:13:27] redeveloping stores

[1:13:29] throughout the city um

[1:13:34] is

[1:13:50] so with us is jennifer howard she's

[1:13:51] actually our property manager um and

[1:13:54] she'll be the one at the

[1:13:56] meeting next week so because of the

[1:13:58] tenancy situation we've been unable to

[1:14:01] redevelop

[1:14:03] the upper union street store as we have

[1:14:06] um ben franklin brandywine and broadway

[1:14:09] so what this does is as you look at

[1:14:12] where we are in the city the union

[1:14:14] street

[1:14:15] portal um where

[1:14:17] the upper union street store is it does

[1:14:19] not have a side street traffic that

[1:14:22] matches on the column track

[1:14:24] so here we would see effectively

[1:14:26] 50 more cars than we're currently seeing

[1:14:29] and we do think that that will be a

[1:14:31] longer

[1:14:32] you know that's the longest lasting

[1:14:34] point in the market

[1:14:36] while the upper union street location

[1:14:38] has

[1:14:38] more viability

[1:14:40] both as

[1:14:51] [Music]

[1:15:19] the layout will be effectively the same

[1:15:22] um the side door uh on mcclellan on the

[1:15:25] front door that will face the gas cam

[1:15:29] i just you know one of the things that i

[1:15:31] want to show is just to show you the

[1:15:33] amount of space we're actually talking

[1:15:35] about

[1:15:37] this is the existing parking so

[1:15:40] i'm sorry

[1:15:41] yeah thank you

[1:15:43] we're literally talking about like a

[1:15:45] couple of feet of usable area um our

[1:15:48] real intention is to leave that green

[1:15:50] space area

[1:15:51] between us

[1:15:53] and the residential district that it

[1:15:54] butts it

[1:15:56] these homes don't have windows on the

[1:15:58] back of the residence so one of the

[1:16:00] things we're able to do by

[1:16:02] rezoning this property

[1:16:04] we can keep lights off the back of the

[1:16:07] building

[1:16:08] so effectively the building becomes a

[1:16:10] stream from the

[1:16:12] residential district to the commercial

[1:16:14] district with the majority of commercial

[1:16:16] activity kept to the front

[1:16:28] yes

[1:16:34] any other questions

[1:16:37] so thank you for coming in again

[1:16:39] republican uh

[1:16:45] thank you

[1:17:01] on

Schenectady City Council Meeting September 7th 2021

Transcript