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like to call to order the city Caucus
meeting for Monday July 24th 2023
we have four items for original
consideration if the clerk would please
read item number one item number one for
original consideration a resolution
calling for a public hearing on a
moratorium on smoke and vape shops and
similar uses in the city of Schenectady
for purposes of developing modifications
to the zoning ordinance regarding such
uses
discussed in committee with objection on
consent item number two item number two
for final consideration a resolution
authorizing the abandonment of a portion
of large Street
this will be Mr palomini roll call
be a roll call vote
item number three for original
consideration a resolution authorizing
an amendment to the collective
bargaining agreement 2021-2025 between
the city of Schenectady and afscme
Council 66 local 1037a
discussed and committee without
objection on consent item number four for original
consideration a resolution amending
resolution
2023-136 regarding an endorsement of the
Schenectady Inner City
clinical conservation for the Southern
Pine Community recovery program Grant
discussing committee with objection and
our consent
if there's nothing else to come before
the city council caucus I ask for a
motion to adjourn move Aaron
Reverend James konicky for the prayer
invocation
Heavenly Father we come before thee in
our need grant that we welcome the
stranger the Immigrant for we once were
as well Strangers In a Strange Land
grant that the scourge of addiction and
addiction-related deaths be removed from
our city provide healing where needed
and comfort for survivors as well in thy
great grace help us in accomplishing our
common mission of service to your people
give us always thy Abundant Blessings
amen
like to call council member Patrick who
is the Pledge I pledge allegiance to the
flag of the United States
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one nation under God indivisible with
liberty and justice for all thank you
if the clerk would please read the I'll
call the roll
Mr muchiveran
Mr Farley
absent Mr Williams is absent Miss
Patrick
Mr palamini Miss Porterfield here
the clerk would be please read excuse me
I've asked for approval for minutes of
July 20 July 10 2023.
mobile Miss Patrick second by Mr
musubair all in favor thank you
the clerk would please read any
Communications and petitions
Communications presented to the city
council for Monday July 24 2023 under
official there were none under General
an email from Mark Baker president of
the soft lights Foundation regarding the
health hazard of LED street lights and
under positions there were none
thank you as council members for any
committee reports
we have announced privilege of the floor
related to the legislative agenda and I
have no one signed up to speak
so I will declare the public comment on
the legislative agenda closed
ask for approval of the legislative
consent agenda
so
moved by Mr motiver and second by Miss
Patrick all in favor
we do have a roll call vote
we have a resolution
if the clerk would please read item
number
two for final consideration
a resolution authorizing the abandonment
of a portion of large Street
I'd like to move that make a motion that
we table this item so that the language
could be updated
second all right all those in favor
excuse me roll call
Miss Patrick
all right aye
all right the motion path
privilege of the floor regarding General
City business
I have seven people who are signed up to
speak
just to remind speakers that
the time limit is three minutes
first person is Ed Levin Jr
good evening Mr Mayor Cherry woman at
Porterfield council members Mr Mayor you
are responsible for reinforcement of the
law in the city and to ensure Justice
you are mandated by your oath of office
and the Constitution look into my
complaint of obstruction of justice and
treason by these three judges
you and these council members are
obstructing justice by covering up these
crimes committed by these corrupt judges
keeping me out of the newspaper on my
ethics complaint is not ensuring Justice
it is a cover-up
and a conspiracy would probably be my
constitutional rights it is also a crime
committed by everyone in front of me
please don't look into this I want you
all to go down with valetico because you
are all corrupt and you all belong in
jail for obstruction of justice
judges oath of office include the
undertaking to uphold the laws and
Constitution of the United States any
judge violating such undertaking loses
jurisdiction resulting in his orders
being void and he himself commits a
reasonable offense against the United
States
federal offense in the United States
mispersion of treason is a federal
offense committed when someone who has
knowledge of the commission of any
treason against the United States
conceals such knowledge and does not
inform the president federal judge State
Governor or a state judge
which none of you have done
thank you
Wayne Harper
Mr Harper
okay Matt nelligan
okay Mr Harper is here
I'm not up to speed
hey John
look I'm going to ask Gary there to give
me a hand
I want to talk to the folks that do the
grass seeding
where that hydrant was taken out months
ago
it needs some attention and I don't want
to I want to speak to the people that
actually do it
so that we can have a discussion about
it
um so you could tell Donna
I don't know I don't want him to just
come I want him to call me I think
that'd be the proper thing call get a
hold of me we'll set up a time and then
I can meet with the people that actually
do the work
what do you think you just can nod your
head
no you can't say nothing
uh
yeah I think I'll leave it there I've
had a rough day
okay thank you thank you
Matt nelligan
thank you president Porterfield
right up the street at this very moment
the skanky County Legislature is finally
declaring a state of emergency regarding
the New York City migrant crisis that's
been going on for months now in the
state of New York
exactly two months to the day I called
upon mayor McCarthy to put forward a
resolution declaring a state of
emergency here in the city
he did nothing
hundreds of undocumented immigrants now
sit on our doorstep at the Super 8 hotel
they came as I predicted they would
courtesy of the Democratic mayor of New
York City Eric Adams
still mayor McCarthy did nothing
Glenville passed a resolution calling on
the county to act on this matter still
we did nothing
doing nothing it seems is what we do
best at this point some of the city did
do something however a gentleman named
Danny alasha he owns the Schenectady in
the Suites
or on the same time the Rotterdam Hotel
displaced American citizens some of them
homeless some of them destitute
to replace them with undocumented
immigrants Danny was offered the same
deal by the city of New York
he said no
the only reason we're not in the same
position today is Rotterdam tonight is
the courage of Danny alasha if our
do-nothing mayor had his way we would be
dealing with the same crisis that
Rotterdam is right now
this will not be a new Schenectady until
we have a new mayor thank you
Tom Kennedy
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good evening everyone
my name is Tom Kennedy I live in
Woodlawn
you know I watched uh with some trepidation in the last committee
meeting we had
and maybe you had I'm sorry and
there was discussion about changing
the zoning laws for the new
location of the Cannabis place
now
for those of people who aren't familiar
with it there are
a lot of residents that are
don't like where it's at now
there's nothing we can do about that horse is out of the barn
I was just at my doctor's today and he
told me that there's some people and he
lives he's a doctor on Union Street
there's some people that won't walk on
that side of the street because they're intimidating this is usually the
older uh older residents
uh
if you take a look at right next to it
there's a picture
there's a dance studio there and then
there's a salon on the other side you
can't see it but there's an elementary
school very close to there
so I think
for those people who were in this
Council
who kept talking about lenses
there's only one lens that we should
have and that lens should be the
residence of Schenectady
the problem that we have is that every
time I come in this place we're looking
at the wrong lens
the lens here is that we have to make
sure that the kids
that the older people
that people have businesses in Union
Street
Unfortunately they have to live with
that there
but let's not have that again and I'm
being told the next place is downtown
Schenectady
and I don't care if some council member
here watch one of those buddies to have
a place down on on State Street that's
not where it should be that's for
families and for residents
and businesses
and I tell you
well we better start looking at is the
nuisance that this marijuana is causing
in this city because I don't think
anybody could walk around here on summer
league it was absolutely disgusting you
couldn't go anywhere without smelling
marijuana
and that you had kids with babies you
had a young uh girls with babies in
their hand that had to suck in that
smoke is ridiculous
so I understand that you know that the
Democrats you know thought it would be a
good idea to do uh marijuana as a recreation thing
I only have to find some way to spend
you know find money to spend on their
spending tax
agenda
but I would hope that this city council
would put the residents of a city of
Schenectady first
and make sure that the next place if God
forbid there is a next place
that it's in a position where it doesn't
impede business or affect children
and or older residents
and that's my only message tonight thank
you thank you
Rod Huber
hello everybody I was here for maybe
about a month ago and I talked about
some things and I didn't get a call back
from anyone am I chaplicker or what you
know it's just awful
my main concern is the roads
nobody does anything
you get 10 million dollars for a pool
that you're going to use three months
where are the taxpayers what are we
going to get out of it anything and they
call this new Schenectady really all
they care about is at the casino and
maybe Upper Union Street and whatever
but I wish somebody would call me maybe
we can get a plan in place and another
thing it's too bad that these Council
meetings aren't televised anymore
because then the rest of the taxpayers
would know what is going on
it's very sad
everybody have a good night thank you
I'm sorry I know that you're leaving but
I just want you to know that the council
these Council meetings are televised
they are televised
um
yeah it is but it's not 16 anymore but I
if you leave your name and a phone
number I can tell you how you can get it
okay
all right thank you
Robin Barnhill
good evening everyone
um this is I'm Robin this is my husband
Jerry
um we live in Schenectady over 25 years
and we own a house on Locust Avenue a
beautiful home
we spend a lot of money updating it and
the reason why we're here because and
I've been fighting this battle for over
a year because we have a huge tree which
is the city tree and it's overgrown and
it's
leaning on top of our roof and also
I've lived in eight we live in 803
locusts so 801 is actually that bad
where the tree the limb of the tree is
hitting
the neighbor window and when it's a
windy day out right and that's where her
son bedroom is it's actually hitting the
glass window
and um I'm not asking for the treat if
you cut down because I was told I went
to General Services out on the first
floor and like in the corner and I was
told that it was a healthy tree that
they would not put it down we're not
asking for the city to cut down the
healthy tree what we are acting is for
them to at least trim it
you know I'm like past the retirement
age so I'm still working and I want to
retire within the next year and I don't
want to have to worry about
the damage from the roof
so I'm asking the city to please trim it
and like I said I've been going back and
forth over a year
so that's what I'm asking
thank you thank you
Jamaica miles
good evening I'm happy to have this
opportunity to come and speak tonight
and there are so many things to talk
about but I'm gonna try to keep it brief
one I'd like to remind folks I'm a proud
business owner here in the city of
Schenectady as a matter of fact our
office is right across the street
um and as a business owner it has been
an interesting journey to recognize what
it means to be a business owner here in
the city of Schenectady and I appreciate
that on Union Street there has been
increased traffic and so I imagine that
business owners want increased traffic
for the individuals to come and stop at
their shops and know what's happening
going on there because we look for
opportunities for individuals to invest
in Schenectady and to open businesses so
I hope that we can continue to do that
with any multitude of businesses as it
comes to the safety of our children we
have bars and restaurants all throughout
this city
also people smoke cigarettes I don't
like the smell of smoke not even one
little bit not any cigarette or any type
of smoke but I recognize that when we
are in public places outside of our
parks where children are and no one is
supposed to smoke anything that we've
not come to a position where we can just
stop people from smoking walking down
the street unfortunately that's not
where we are but more importantly I want
to talk about what's happening on Becker Street between Brandywine and
Snowden it has long been known that
speeding and aggressive driving happens
down that street
constantly on a daily basis Sean Young
sent an email he's unfortunately not
able to be here this evening talking
about the most recent accidents that
have happened one in June a child from
Central Park was hit by a car
child was hit by a car the good news is
that child recovered she was able to
return to school it was not just the
trauma of that child but also of her
friends who then were in fear oh my
goodness is she going to be okay are we
going to be okay and then let's go back
just a couple weekends ago where at the
corner of Linden and Becker two cars
collided ended up on the property of a
home at the corner of Becker and Linden
inside that home less than 20 feet from
where the cars were
laid
Roman miles Malia miles a mean Lane
Aaliyah Lane and Emilian Lane five
children were inside that building just
feet away from two cars that crashed
through a gate destroying the property
just inches from the front door
individuals have asked that speed humps
be added onto Becker Street as well as
additional stop signs there are plenty
of police that police that area on a
regular basis they are not stopping the
cars at all hours of day but the humps
that exist over about MLK they stop cars
from going quickly we need those same
humps on Becker Street and I am sure
there are countless other streets in
this city that would benefit from those
humps as well so if safety of our
children and our community and the
property is a priority for this Council
and our mayor please look at how quickly
we can add speed humps to Becker Street
as well as additional stop signs thank
you
I have no one else signed up to speak
so I declare the Public Public comment
on City business closed
miscellaneous business of the council
no one okay mayor it's all you
thank you madam president I appreciate
everyone when they come out in their
thoughts and comments for the city I
just want to remind people that uh we
are preparing to hold an open
competitive exam for police officers in
the city of Schenectady both the
generalist and then Spanish-speaking
officers the last day to file for that
exam is July 31st and the exam is going
to be held on September 9th so we
encourage individuals who are interested
in a career in law enforcement working
for the city to file for the applic or
file the application for the exam take
the exam and hopefully that we'll be
able to hire him and they can join our
Police Department thank you madam
president thank you mayor I also would
like to thank everyone for coming out
tonight to voicing your concerns and I
did mention at the last committee
meeting about we all did get the email
regarding the speeding and the accidents
plural that happens on Becker street so
um as I said then I'm not sure exactly
what we could do about because the our
city Engineers says that we have have to
have traffic studies and all of that but
I think we're in a very crucial time
right now because we're seeing speeding
all over the city so
um I have to look into what can be done
more immediately and definitely that's a
conversation with the mayor I would like
to miss um Mrs Barnhill I will refer the
your concern onto the department that
would take care of that and we could see
hopefully we can get that taken care of
just want to again thank everyone for
coming wish you a good evening
oh yes
fifth Monday next Monday so there will
be no meeting so everybody gets the
Monday off and of course we'll be back
here in August
with that ask for a motion to adjourn
Ed by Mr motiveran second by Miss
Patrick all those in favor I we are
adjourned have a good evening