[Music]
he
[Music]
e
[Music]
yeah
[Music]
yeah
[Music]
yeah
[Music]
before the start of the meeting I'd like
to turn the floor over to Mayor McCarthy
for a presentation to the Red Cross
mayor thank you Madame President i' Des
uh Mr Dobson from the Red Cross our golf
professional Matt daily and fire chief
Marino to join me inside the rail but uh
every year since I've been mayor we've
run a little raffle at the golf course
as uh it opens up and we have been able
to donate the money to the American Red
Cross to their Disaster Relief Fund and
uh it's unfortunate when we have to
reach out to you but we are just so
fortunate to have you as a fair and
consistent partner to step up when uh
unfortunate
circumstances happen to uh individuals
and families within skincity and this
year the uh Red Cross has stepped up to
assist 36 families so far this year and
116 individuals and so I'm uh pleased to
be able to present to you uh a check the
team at the golf course and with our
fire department for uh
$1,875 to make a a small donation to the
great work that you do and just on
behalf of the city I want to extend a
formal thank you and we do appreciate
the everything you
do
thank you mayor um yeah this is always
such a great event every year um it's
the start of summer when when the mayor
takes his first swing I think you might
adopt it this year I'm
not but I've seen I've seen some good wax uh in the past um and it's
always nice to see the the high school
kids come and and hit a few too that
it's just a great event um sometimes
it's cloudy and sometimes it's warm but
anyway uh the Red Cross is always
grateful for uh donations like this uh
in our work with the with the fire
department the These funds will
definitely go towards our Disaster
Relief Fund for conc County residents so
thank
you and if if anybody wanted to make an
additional donation to the Red Cross the
you can go to redcross.org and when you
go there there's a big donate button you
can designate it to disaster relief or
wherever you want is there a tea time
available tomorrow there's plenty of tea
times yep we appreciate all the players
who who uh so generously donated to this
great event um and it's definitely our
pleasure to be able to present this
check every year to them they like the
mayor said they do a tremendous job for
the city and uh we're just so happy to
be able to contribute something back to
them so thank you very much Derek and to
your organization for everything and to
Mayor McCarthy for actually bringing
this to our attention he was the one who
kind of was The Mastermind behind
bringing this every year so we're going
to just continue to do this every year
and try to raise as much as we
can Chief Mar I can't say enough of what
uh the Red Cross does um they're there
when people need him the most 2 in the
morning we have a fire we have two
families three families or whatever it
is we make a phone call and within a
very short period of time the Red Cross
is there they ask no questions uh other
than where are they and what can we do
to help so I have a a a special place in
my heart for them and they do great work
but here's a good thing October's fire
safety month it's a great time to think
if we have smoke detectors in everyone's
house and we have carbon monoxide
detectors in everyone's house maybe we
have to call the Red Cross less so
that'd be a great
thing
May thank you Madame
President
I'd like to call the city Caucus meeting
to order for Tuesday October 10th
2023 we have 15 items for original
consider consideration if the clerk
would please read item number
one sorry uh public hearing number one
the 2024 operating budget and capital
budget for the city of SKC thank you
public hearing number two public hearing
number two amending 24818 of the city
code to designate J Street from liberary
Street to Union Street a two-way street
thank you now we have now we have 15
items for original consideration if the
clerk would please read item number one for original
consideration a resolution authorizing
the city to enter into an agreement with
the New York State Governor's Traffic
Safety Committee Department of Motor
Vehicles for funding under the police
traffic Services Program campaign
discuss the committee without objection
on
consent item number two for original
consideration a resolution authorizing
the city to enter into an agreement with
the New York state division of Homeland
Security and emergency services to
secure grant funding discussing
committee without objection consent item
number three item number three for
original consideration a resolution
authorizing the city to enter into a
contract with the New York state
division of criminal justices to secure
law enforcement equipment grant funding
discuss the committee with objection on
consent item number four item number
four for original consideration a
resolution authorizing the city to enter
into a contract with New York State
office of Addiction Services and
supports to receive opioid settlement
funds discussed in committee with
objection and on consent item number
five item number five for original
consideration a resolution authorizing
the city to enter into a contract with
New York State Department of Agriculture
and markets for funding for city of
conected animal shelter renovation
discuss in committee without objection
on consent item number six item number
six for original consideration a
resolution authorizing the sale of a
vacant lot at 836 Davis Terrace for
$2,000
discuss in committee without objection
and on consent item number seven item
number seven for original consideration
resolution authorizing the sale of 913
Francis Avenue for
$50,000 discussed in committee with
objection and on consent item number
eight item number eight for original
consideration a resolution authorizing
the sale of 921 Congress Street for
$5,000 discussed in committee without
objection and on consent item number
nine item number nine for original
consideration resolution authoring
authorizing the sale of 3323 McDonald
Avenue for
$40,000 discussed in committee with
objection and on consent item number 10 for original
consideration a resolution authorizing
settlement of a lawsuit captioned
Michelle Sanchez at alv city of SKC at
Al discussed in committee with objection
on consent item number 11 item number 11
for aigital consideration a resolution
recognizing October as domestic violence
awareness month this item will be taken
out of order and presented by council
member Patrick
item number 12 item number 12 for
original consideration a resolution
recognizing rabina budoo as misconnected
in Miss USA New York Pageant this item
also will be taken out of um out of
order and presented by council member
Williams item number 13 item number 13
for original consideration a resolution
recognizing connec hardware and electric
on their 100th anniversary this item
would be presented at a later date
discussed in committee without objection
and on consent item number 14 item
number 14 for original cons
consideration a resolution recognizing
Hearts Family Cleaners this item will be
presented at a later date discussed in
committee without objection on consent
item number 15 item number 15 for
original consideration a resolution
recognizing Italian American heritage
month this item will be presented at a
later date discussed in committee
without objection and on
consent I have no uh further um excuse
me nothing more to come before the city
council cus motion to adjourn move by Mr
M and second Miss Patrick all in favor
we're adjourned we have two out of order
resolutions resolution excuse me agenda
item number
11 a resolution
recognizing of the YWCA during domestic
violence month Miss Patrick yes may I
have the floor please
Madam I'm
sorry oh recognizing October is yes a
domestic violence
month oh I'm sorry yes we have no one
here and I forgot so there's no one here
to do our um invocation so we will just
all stand for a moment of
silence
thank you at this time I ask Miss Carla
pagee to lead in The Pledge of
Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the
flag of the United States of America and
to the Republic for which it stands one
nation under God indivisible with
liberty
and justice for
all thank
you that's what happens in my life when
I don't pray
first I'd like to ask the clerk to
please complete the roll
call Mr
M Mr Toro here Mr Farley is absent Mr
Williams Miss patri here Mr palamini M
pfield present okay at this time we have
resolution recognizing October's
domestic violent violence month and I'd
like to call on council member Patrick
to please present this
resolution thank you may I have the
floor please Madam president you have
the floor thank you and may I ask Kim
ceciliano from the executive director of
the YWCA of Northeastern New York to
come and join
me before I read this I just want to you
know compliment the YW on the amazing
work that you do uh for so many people
in our in our community um and
especially you know October is domestic
violence Awareness Month um whereas when
a family member is abused it can have
long-term damaging effects on the victim
that may also leave a mark on family
friends and the community and whereas
domestic violence is recognized as a
pattern of coercive tactics which can
include physical psychological sexual
economic digital and emotional abuse
perpetrated by one person against an
adult intimate partner with the goal of
establishing and maintaining power and
control over the
victim and whereas the problem of
domestic violence is not confined to any
group or groups of people but crosses
all economic racial gender educational
religious and societal barriers and is
sustained by societal
indifference and whereas victims should
have helped to find the compassion
comfort and healing they need and
domestic abusers should be punished to
the full extent of the law and whereas
the city encourages domestic violence
victims and their families to seek
assistance from appropriate victim
Services organizations and the New York
State domestic violence hotline 1-800
942
6906 1 800 942
6906 and whereas the city is committed
to increas inreasing public awareness of
domestic violence and its prevalence and
to eliminating it through prevention and
education all things that you do so well
at the YWCA now therefore be it resolved
that the Mayor Gary R McCarthy and the
city council do hereby pause in their
deliberations to call on all Americans
to recognize October as domestic
violence Awareness Month in the city of
skinc may I may I um get a motion for
this I need a second
please second by Mr Williams all those
in favor I I okay thank you the motion's
passed congratulations can I speak yes I
want
you thank
you
appreciate well since you've given me
the
floor I will certainly take a moment to
um give you some information and maybe
some stats and to thank all of you so
ycca nor Eastern New York is grateful
for the support of our local government Mayor Gary McCarthy Madame
President Porterfield and city council
member Carmel Patrick along with the
rest of the city council members and
recognizing October as National Domestic
Violence awareness month as well as for
your support of survivors and the yws
comprehensive domestic violence services
with this recognition of the important
work done by so many resilient and
incredible survivors the amazing people
who work with them giving of their
passion and purpose to strengthen those
who have gone through this and the
domestic violence program such such as
the yws empowerment healing and Wellness
Center I urge all citizens in this great
City and Beyond to actively participate
in the scheduled upcoming activities and
programs sponsored by the YW and other
community organizations to work toward
the elimination of intimate partner
violence please see our Facebook page
and website for more info the YW has
been in this connec community for 135
Years starting today 2023 in 1976 though
a Grassroots movement began at the YW
and the connec Human Services planning
Council formed a community task force to
talk about the needs of battered women
as they were referred to back then in
February of 1979 the Mary Hill shelter
was opened the first of its kind in
Upstate New York after only a year it
almost closed due to lack of funding but
we persevered and in 1985 we expanded
serving 14 survivors to 20 survivors and
in 1989 again a fire thought to be
started by a perpetrator destroyed the
Mary Hill House Shelter we then moved to
mlen Street in 1992 a DV task force
Coalition is formed with the YW as lead
and week without violent and take back the night begins we move our
shelter one more time before purchasing
our current shelter location called the
empowerment healing and Wellness Center
our services include advocacy in the
courts Partnerships with many area
agencies to support survivors all over
the city and Beyond economic empowerment
programming Drive employment training
clinical Counseling Services Patty's
place which is located at syum a program
for sex workers that provides daily
basic needs and a $1 million rapid
rehousing program that helps survivors
get safe affordable housing addition in
addition to advocacy at the local and
state levels to support funding domestic
violence programming efforts we also
work CL closely with youth supporting
teen Dating Violence programming having
recently received a $500,000 grant that
will start in January 2024 to to date we
have assisted over 50,000 individuals
and so until Justice Just is the YWCA
will continue its work here in this
community to support every victim in
becoming and feeling that they are now a
survivor thank you
again thank you thank
you our next out of order res resolution
is the resolution recognizing Rubina
bedu as misconnected in the missusa New
York pageant and I call on council
member Williams to present this
resolution may I have the floor you have
the floor I'd like to invite rabina and
her family if they' wish to come on this
side of the
aisle hope you can come right over
here so before I begin I would like to
just say it's always a pleasure uh to uh
appreciate the accomplishments of one of
sk's own uh so without further Ado this
is a resolution recognizing Rubina Badu
as misconnect in the Miss United States
of America New York pageant whereas Rina
Badu participated in one of the largest
pageants in the world in the most
competitive State Miss New York uh USA
which took place August 4th through
August 6 2023 and whereas the Miss New
York USA pageant seeks young women from
diverse backgrounds
who not only are who are not only
beautiful uh but intelligent and willing
to share their hearts and Minds as being
ambassadors to our state and nation and
whereas the globally recognized pageant
platform celebrates the unique beauty of
women across cultures intelligence
empowerment to help them raise their
voice and speak their minds it is a
platform with new challenges and
opportunities for an outcome that can go
beyond the wildest dreams and whereas
rabina was scouted in a Dress Shop Right
In skty by a beauty pageant coach and
judge she entered the pageant went on
through interviews and was selected to
take part in the missusa New York
competition representing SKC and whereas
rabina has a master's in Business
Administration she is also incredibly
artistic having done ballet and
Bollywood dancing acting modeling
singing and playing the harmonia ruina
also gives many hours of community
service she loves to volunteer to give
back to her community her motto is To
always improve and keep moving forward
and whereas says that being in the
pageant was an extremely exciting and
beautiful experience that made her
realize that she needs to do uh excuse
me that her realized what she needs to
do to be the the absolute best version
of herself now therefore be it resolved
that the connected city council and
Mayor Gary R McCarthy do hereby pause in
their deliberations to recognize and
congratulate rabina as Miss concy and
thank her for representing our city in
the missusa pageant and wish her much
success and her future endeavors I'd
like to move the resolution I need a
second second by Mr muant all those in
favor I motion passes
[Applause]
congratulations good evening everyone I
am very proud to represent my City's
connectivty in the missusa New York
Pageant this pageant has has helped me
to re to really think about the deeper
meanings of life and it has helped to
improve myself and become a better
person I I call the city of skty my home
and this will always be my home I would
like to thank the mayor of skty Gary
McCarthy and also Junior hitla John moan
and Maran Porterfield and also everyone
else that was involved thank you so much
for this resolution welcome thank
you
junior junior move them that way in over
that area if you want to take a group
picture you can move them in that
area yeah that way you can get
it
thank you again
congratulations
oh I want you
that
oh
sure
minut
there
and thank you audience for your
Indulgence it's not every day that we
have or even every year that we have
someone represent us in the Miss USA
pageant so thank you for your for
indulging
that we have two public hearings this
evening and a reminder we've extended
the public hearing comment for the
public hearing portion to four minutes I
also ask that each person respectively
um comment only on the public hearing
subject public hearing number one is
regarding the 2024 operating budget and
capital and operating budget and capital
budget for the city of
skincity and I have seven people signed
up to speak a reminder this public
hearing is only on the proposed budget
and no underfunding sources just what's
in the proposed
budget the first person I have to sign
up to speak is Karen M
Ambrose
thank you um I'm Karen Ambrose I'm here
to express support for the Central Park
casino building restoration in the city
budget the building has been vacant and
boarded up for a number of years there's
a proposal on the table to renovate it
primarily for use as an Environmental
Education Center for youths and
secondarily as a resource to support the
commu the park community in general I
think this is a great idea and would
like to C funds allocated in the city
budget for this purpose thank you thank
you next person to speak is Thomas
Ambrose yes I'm Thomas Ambrose I live on
Central Parkway in SKC um I really thank
you for this opportunity to speak in
support of the budget item for the uh
Central Park Environmental Center um I
think it's a really important project um
for a lot of reasons that I won't
reiterate because I think other people
will do a much better job but with the
state having provided funding um I think
it's really appropriate for the city to
appropriate funds to see this project to
completion um and as a city resident I
wholeheartedly support that allocation
and thank you for its
consideration thank
you Miss Carla page
good evening
mayor city council president and City
Council Members my name is Carla page
and I'm here to uh give you some
feelings about some things that are
going on in this area that um I'm
just I I just want to just put it out
here to the council Excuse Me Miss Paige
I have to just clarify this is only
about the budget okay so I guess I won't
be speaking tonight well no we can put
you on for uh City business which is uh
later in the meeting all right well then
do that call me back absolutely will
thank
you thank you you're quite welcome art
Clayman
uh hi everyone uh I'm art
Clayman uh until recently I spent five
uh years as a board member and program
director for Eos the environmental
Clearing House of
skty um and for much of that time I
tried to get the organization which is
located out in Nuna and is to be h is
kind of old and kind of white uh to do
more with the city and involve itself
more in the city and uh to that end uh I
developed a program uh along with the
County Youth Bureau one year and the
city school district for two years uh to
do summer enrichment programs in Central
Park so we had kids taking water samples
from iroy Lake and looking uh at uh
those samples under a micros scope in
the Pavilion which we use as a base uh
running around doing leaf identification
learning how to use a compass uh fishing
and learning about uh composting and
recycling with the good people at the
greenhouse uh so anyway one day nearly
two years ago I was walking in the park
and ran into my friend Tom carry and we
were looking at that building the vacant
casino building and say what the hell
can we do with that building and I said
let's move uh eos's headquarters over
there and turn it into an environmental
center uh so uh that was the The Genesis
of this whole idea and along the way we
picked up some wonderful Partners in the
scari River Center which is doing a lot
of things uh that EOS uh that I dreamed
about EOS doing and they're doing
already uh and Community fathers and
another worthy
organization um and uh so it developed
into something much more and uh I'm also
currently the president of a bike
advocacy group called cycles connty and
vice president of the bike rescue which
uh fixes bikes for the community to keep
them out of landfills and primarily our
real goal is to teach kids how to fix
their own bikes so um the very
generously sized basement of the uh
casino building would fit with our
mission there and allow us to relocate
from where we are now kind of out of the
way on Watt Street and uh in the megaan
tow houses to a more central location in
Central Park where it could be a hub for
bicycling and bike activities along with
our environmental Mission uh so I think
it would be really great if the uh if
the council could uh provide the
additional third uh that's needed after
assemblyman Santa Barbara came up with
nearly two-thirds of the money that's
needed and uh I urge you to do that
thank you very much thank
you Tom
Cary hi good evening Council uh
president Porterfield mayor McCarthy
council members I'm Tom carry uh with
the Upper Union neighborhood association
I want to first thank mayor McCarthy for
including funding uh for the rehab of
the casino building in the budget and
I'm here tonight to ask the council to
support that item in the budget um and I
know many of you have already supported
it um I have a little information
brochure um uh as you know the
building's been vacant for many years uh
and it's not only and eyesore but it's actually become a danger um last
December several of us spoke before the
council to ask you to do something about
the building I'm glad to see that that's
led to this uh but since then
unfortunately it's been broken into at
least seven times where we've had to
call the police and have the parks uh
Department um you know pick repair it
and and seal it back up and I want to
thank the police for responding quickly
each time and the park staff for their
work to uh been very diligent it uh I
think they finally got it to the point
where it's going to be very difficult
for anybody else to break in but that
just shows that it's a it's an ongoing
problem uh as um uh some of the previous
speakers said we've formed a partnership
with uh um Community fathers
Incorporated the environmental Clearing
Houses concy and scoary River Center and
developed a plan to uh for the ReUse of
the building that that that brochure um
that I just handed out uh uh summarized
we're ready to help with fundraising and
volunteer work to see this project
through to the uh to completion um it
will be a net zero facility dedicated to
teaching local youth in our community
about environmental issues affecting the
community and we'll do this from an
environmental justice perspective the
center will be available yearround open
most days of the year it'll be a hub for
fieldwork in the park and Beyond it will
be most importantly to me it will be a
carbon neutral um building with onsite
generation of all the energy needed to
heat and power the building this means
there'll be no cost to the city for um
no utility costs um I hope the project
will serve as a model uh for for other
City operations every city facility
should be Net Zero
we the world just experienced the
hottest summer on record with floods all
around us and the wildfires from Canada
and I encourage you all as you review
the budget and can make difficult
funding decisions to keep the global
climate emergency uh in your minds and how that affects us here in connecti
and thank you all again thank
you Kenneth
Brooks uh good evening mayor council
members
president uh I just want to start off by
saying thank you for giving me some time
to speak uh ironically the last event
that was or one of the last events that was held in that casino building
happened to be my uh daughter's baby
shower in
2012 so it was wonderful to to at the
time it was just a blight building and
it was you know going downhill and you
know through some love and family we got
in the building and we we had my
daughter's baby shower um after that I
don't really know too much or remember
too much up the building besides you
know going through Central Park and see
seeing it being not utilized so uh
through a partnership with EOS uh up
Union
Association uh scary River Center
Community fathers and the City of
skincity we plan on you know putting
some use to that building making it uh
environmental Educational Center so
through Community fathers we we're we're
doing a lot of different programs and
one of our programs we partnered with
the scary River Center we have our Urban
environmental study team so uh in in the
past last couple years we have been
things have been moving a little bit
slow lately because just me personally
being so busy and you know just trying
to put together what's needed to get the
programs running but we've taken kids
out to scare and we've taught them how
to make maple syrup we taught them how
to uh hike bike kayak water quality test
and that site in Central Park will be a
great place to do that that's in our own
backyard so we don't have to travel to
skary we're also down at the farmers
market every Sunday with our uh
Cornerstone Bakery project
so uh oii which stands for occupation
instead of incarceration we teach the
youth how to make baked goods how to
package them and then we take them to
the farmers market and we sell them on
Sundays so with that casino building uh
my my fiance Tanica Smith she has a
catering business called kitchen love
we've done a lot of different community
events in the Parks so uh utilizing her
knowledge for you know remodeling the
kitchen and making it you a us a a
useful space for uh community events to
happen so it's a beautiful view uh
overlooking Central Park Lake and it you
know food always brings people out and
brings people together so when there's
uh times in the winter time where the
kids are out sledding and they're cold
and want some hot chocolate or in the
summer time where some people want to uh
you know just have a snack and you know
through all the programs and through the
Partnerships with all the different uh
organizations that are involved to just
you know tie everybody in together and
have something for them whether it's the
kitchen
whether it's you know the the the the
knowledge from the scary River Center
whether it's the people from eost that
do their hiking and do do what they do
in the uh upper neighborhood association
which you know that's their neighborhood
that they represent that Park so just
utilizing the funds to make this
partnership work it'll just be helpful
for the city just bringing us all back
together and uh bringing that building
back to life thank you thank
you
Tena
Smith mayor councel um what can I say
the gentleman has said it all about why
are we all bringing things together
anytime that you see me somebody's going
to eat some organization some event um
that we participate in so I think the
Central Park Casino as he said uh the
last life it had was our baby shower 11
years next Wednesday actually um I
believe that um in doing so and
including in the budget we'll put the
icing on the cake for Central Park I
think that it would be a great terms to revamp the neighborhood children um
high schools have everyone involved so I
without saying any more because they
must basically said it all I appreciate
you and I thank you for consideration
have a good night thank
you I have no one else signed up to
speak so I declare the public hearing
number one cl closed these comments will
be filed in the office of
development public hearing number two
amending 248 d8 of the city code to
designate J Street from Liberty Street
to Union Street a two way street I have
no one signed up to speak so therefore I
de close I declare the public comment
hearing number two closed these com no
well there are no
comments as for approval of a minute
September 25th
2023 moved by Miss move by Miss Patrick
second by Mr mut all in
favor the clerk could read any
Communications and
[Music]
petitions Communications presented to
city council for Tuesday October 10th
2023 under official from the mayor a
list of appointments dated October 10th
2023 under General from PD Boris an
email speaking of the construction of a
building by redor development partners
and asked if there will be any other
demolitions to provide for parking lots
another email from ronet tager with
suggestions for cannabis retail
dispensary zoning and under petitions
there were none thank you call on City
Council Members to provide committee
reports time we'll have privilege of the
floor related to the legislative agenda
I have one person signed up to
speak Janie
or have some handouts here that I
can good evening I'm Jeanie or I a
longtime SKC County resident and program
manager for Capital District tobacco
free communities and my colleague Judy R
me and I have been here the last couple
of months um attending the city council
meeting because we want to impress on
you the importance of considering all
the facts as you make decisions that
will impact connec neighborhoods for
years to come currently the zoning
proposal addresses smoke and vape shops
that primarily sell excuse me I'm sorry
that's not on the legislative agenda is
it on the city it's under City business
oh I'm sorry it's okay do want me want
me to sit down or you'll call back back
up oh I'll call you back when it's time
for City business all right thank
you so I have no one else signed up
speak for the legislative agenda declare
this
closed asking I'll ask the council for
approval of the legislative consent
agenda motion by Mr Williams second by
Mr muchin all in favor
I this time we'll have privilege of the
floor regarding General City business
and now I have two people signed up to
speak Carla
page just a reminder this portion is
three
minutes so my name is Carla page and I
I'm here with a couple of concerns and
there are concerns regarding the uh
streets here and I know other people
have made concerns about them but on
Arley Road over by SKC high school when
you come down Arley Road from the high
school and then a lot of the young
people do drive right at rugby it's
really dangerous there we really need a
traffic light there because the cars are
parked on the street where you have to
inch out out into the middle of the
street to see whether or not to go left
or to go right and even if you're coming
from Union Street over to rugby it's the
same thing it's
dangerous please do something about that
so lives can be saved a traffic light at
Ardsley Road and Rugby Road please and
my second concern is when you're on irie
boulevar turning right or Eerie
Boulevard turning left if you could have
a mark That's like this the it's like
a you know uh what is it uh like a a
direction you know it's a yeah what's
that called an arrow yeah an arrow
that's what it is please put an arrow
there it's dangerous a lot of times
people I've been there trying to turn
left or right cars are beeping behind me
profanities and and obscene gestures are
being done because the drivers are
impatient and they they want to move and
if somebody like myself who doesn't I'm
cautious I just don't feel safe so
please do something an arrow at Erie
Boulevard and Union and a traffic light
at Ardsley and rugby please thank you for letting me speak you're
welcome thank
you Genie
or thank you get it right next time I
come back okay um okay so I won't start
at the beginning but um I just want to
present to you you see the facts in
front of you but I want to make sure
that you consider all the facts that are
going to impact concy neighborhoods for
ears to come like I said currently the
zoning proposal addresses smoke and vape
shops that primarily sell tobacco and
vape products but the tobacco marketing
that influences youth to start smoking
and that make it harder for smokers who
want to quit to quit are not limited to
these smoke and vape shops the location
and density of all retailers that sell
tobacco and vape products influence
youth use and adult use we know this
from research from the Surgeon General
that says the greater your exposure to
Tobacco advertising marketing promotion
the more likely you are to start or
continue tobacco use this means all 111
licensed tobacco retailers in the city
of connec including convenience stores
gas stations discount and grocery stores
that sell tobacco and bit products are
influencing tobacco use in the city
especially in the areas that are the
most impacted by high tobacco use rate
in fact young people are more likely to
enter these types of stores rather than
Standalone vapen smoke shops in August I
brought to you a graph that shows that
the zip codes with the highest poverty
rates have the highest density of
tobacco retailers today I brought you a
summary that includes that graph but
also how the number of tobacco retailers
in your neighborhood matters to the
health of our community members here's a
quick summary of The Facts for young
people the greater their exposure to
Tobacco marketing the more likely they
are to perceive tobacco products
accessible normal and desirable and in
turn the more likely they are to start
using tobacco for current smokers the
greater their exposure to Tobacco
marketing the more likely they are to
make impulse tobacco purchases smoke
more cigarettes per day and find it
harder to quit and tobacco products are
not like any other consumer product
tobacco kills up to half the users when
used as directed and tobacco use is not
just another habit or an activity it's
an addiction that 70% of smokers say
they want to break and no smoker I've
talked to and I've talked to many want
their children grandchild or any young
person to ever start smoking or vaping
it's because as we all know tobacco has
a devastating impact on the smoker and
their family and their friends to their
physical and mental health and to their
Lively hoods it's actually responsible
for one in five deaths in the US so
municipalities throughout the country in
New York have taken steps to address
this tobacco marketing issue because the
oversaturation of tobacco advertising
and promotion in low-income areas is
widespread most recently the city of
Syracuse passed legislation that limits
the number of tobacco and B retailers in
their City through licensing so whether
through licensing or zoning communities
have effectively reduced the impact of
tobacco marketing now the suit of
Syracuse took advantage of the free
technical assistance available through
the public health law Center which is
funded by the New York State Department
of Health to share their tobacco policy
expertise that assistance is available
to all New York municipalities including
the city of skincity thank
you thank
you I have no one else signed up to
speak so I declare the public comment of
City business
closed this time any miscellaneous
business from our
Council
mayor thank you madam president uh
always appreciate everyone coming out
tonight uh a lot of talent here and uh
can uh appreciate people who've taken an
interest in supporting the
transformation of the casino building in
Central Park had the opportunity this
weekend to go to Friendship Baptist
Church their 104th anniversary
celebration uh a long uh line of
distinguished spiritual guidance
provided by that church and at the same
time uh bethl
Northside opened their community room so
it's the conversion of the uh St Anthony
school and Van Franken Avenue uh Pastor
uh Hudson has a great group there it's
an exciting uh group of people and I
just thank them for all the time and
effort that they put in place to uh make
that happen and look forward to working
with them as we go forward thank you
madam president thank you mayor and I
just also want to thank everyone for
coming out tonight to giving your
comments on the budget and to you know
make sure that you had your input into
as we consider continue in our
deliberations um as you know there will
the budget hearings will continue there
will be one on Thursday and then again
on Friday um and then we'll move into
our final deliberations next week so um
and additionally if you have any
comments by the on the budget you can
also submit those in writing through the
clerk's
office nothing else to come before the
council tonight I'll ask for a motion to
adjourn move by Mr M and second by Mr
Williams all those in favor I we are
adjourned thank you good
night