[Music]
I'd like to call to order the city C
Council cus meeting for January 8th
2024 we have two items for original
consideration if the clerk would please
read item number one for consideration a
resolution authorizing is design to
enter into agreement with the New York
City Department of Transportation for
implementation and funding in the first
instance 100% for the federal aid and
state Market Sal program a eligible cost
of the Transportation federal aid
project and appropriating funds for
Crane Street Bridge rehab rehabilitation
New York State Department of
Transportation pin number 1762 .36
discussed in committee with an objection
on consent item number two item number
two for original consideration a
resolution recognizing the contributions
of 518 elevated and recognizing January
as National mentoring month this item
will be taken out of order and presented
by councilman Williams if there's
nothing more to come before the city
council caucus I ask for a motion to
adjourn all those in favor I we're I'd
like to call the order city council
meeting for Monday January 8th
2024 and I'd like to call on rivan Amari
to do the
invitation Dr Martin Luther King uh
whose birthday we celebrate in the
coming weeks is quoted to have said as
early as 1956 and I quote with some
addition that the end of nonviolence is
foration the end is redemption so the
aftermath of violence isness but the
aftermath of violence is the creation of
the Beloved
Community As We Gather asistive body of
this community we before the ction
birthday legy we are reminded of many
hopes and aspirations of the community
that led struggles for civil rights for
all our square a project of the
commission of religion and race of the
United Methodist Church identifies 25
traits of the Beloved Community First
suggested by Dr Arthur Wright As We
Gather in prayer this evening there are
five of those traits I'd like to
highlight to encourage the legislative
and governance leadership of this body
for our beloved's concy the Beloved
Community is expressed in the following
ways one exhibits personal authenticity
true respect and validation of others
two recognition and affirmation not
eradication of difference three builds
increasing levels of trust and works to
avoid fear of difference and others four
focuses energy on removing evil forces
not destroying persons and five promotes
human rights and works to create a
non-racist society would you join me in
prayer omniscient everpresent and all
powerful source of goodness We Gather
this evening asking that you bestow on
these your children your gifts of Peace
wisdom fellowship and strength we pray
that these values of beloved Community
those who inspired in Josiah Roy Martin
Luther King and Arthur Wright will
continue to inspire our work and
Leadership with this community Inspire
us all I pray and Inspire these your
children the president of the council
and the council members the mayor and
everyone who labors to govern the
municipality with your presence and as
Paul the Apostle encouraged the church
in Philippi this your service may be
encouraged if anything is excellent and
if anything is admirable focus on all
your thoughts on these things all that
is true all that is Holy all that is
just all that is pure all that is lovely
and all that is worthy of Praise may it
be so in the name of everything that is
Holy good and righteous amen amen thank
you Reverend I'd like to call in
councilman M Mancini toas in the
pledge I plge
Unice thank
you if the clerk could please complete
the roll
call Mr muon pres Mr
Toro Mr Farley is absent
Mr
Williams Miss
Patrick M Mancini here and Miss
Porterfield
here we have one out of order resolution
recognizing the contributions of 518
elevated and I'd like to call on
councilman Williams to present this
resolution those of us those are here to
accept it please join us behind the
rail
come behind the rail on the other side
yes thank
you I beg your pardon oh of course yes I
thought you were coming to be
a may I have the floor you have the
floor sir all right before I begin with
this this resolution I would just like
to outline that I am a a direct
recipient of mentorship and although not
this program to definitely the
generosity of a community of individuals
that felt it in their best interest to
impart some wisdom on a young individual
like myself so I'm very honored to your
presenting this
today so today a resolution recognizing
the contributions of 518 elevated and
recognizing January as National Mentor
mentoring month whereas 518 elevated was
founded in 1997 as Capital Region
sponsor a scholar in Alban New York and
whereas 518 elevated now covers all of
the counties that Encompass the capital
region of New York and has graduated
over 350 people through its program and
who have earned a post-secondary degree
and whereas 518 elevated is now known
for its specialized programs mentoring
professional guidance and academic and
financial support for qualifying
participants in the Capitol region and
whereas by assembling a network of
Business Leaders educational Advocates
and dedicated volunteers promising youth
are provided opportunities and access to
higher education that may be otherwise
unav unavailable and whereas 518
elevated has promoted mentoring through
its partway Pathways to college program
engaging members of the community to
participate and share networks knowledge
and expertise with students from across
the region and whereas January is known
as National mentoring month an annual
campaign dedicated to raising awareness
about the power and impact of mentoring
and to recognize and honor the
contributions of mentors now therefore
be it resolved that the connected city
council and Mayor Gary R McCarthy do
hereby pause in their deliberation to
recognize 518 elevated staff and
volunteers for their continued
dedication to providing Equitable
educational opportunities to students
and work ready adults in the capital
region including skincity and applaud
510 elevated for its accomplishments in
the city and County of skty and the
capital
region and i' like to move a resolution
I need a second please second all those
in favor I congratulations to
pass I didn't know I get to say
anything thank you very much um the work
that we do is a testament you know as he
said um mentoring brings students
opportunities exposure and networks that
they may not get otherwise so we're
happy to continue that in the city of
skty and Beyond and thank you for
recognizing um us and the volunteers and
the organization we are honored thank
you thank
you and I'd also like to um thank our
director of development Miss Alexandria
Carver for bringing this to our
attention so we could pass so we could
have this
resolution and need approval of the
minutes for uh December 26th and January
2nd
2024 second by Mr Williams all those in
favor I ask the clerk to please read any
Communications and
petitions Communications presented to
the city council for Monday January 8th
2024 under official from the mayor a
list of appointments dated January 8th
2024 under General from Thomas Kennedy
connect GOP chair and email regarding a
closed meeting held by the Council on
December 28th 2023 at 5:30 stating that
this meeting was a violation of the New
York State op meeting law and under
petitions there were
none thank you at a call on city council
members for any committee
reports this time we have privilege of
the floor um related to the legislative
agenda and I have no one signed up to
speak so I declare the public comment on
the legislative agenda
closed as for approval of the
legislative consent agenda need a motion
Miss Patrick second by Mr mutar all in
favor
I we'll now have privilege of the floor
related to the to General City business
and again I have no one signed up to
speak so if there's someone here that
doesn't know the process and wanted to
speak okay all right then um if you
would just come to the
microphone
and we would need to state your name and
I need to let you know that you have
three minutes to speak uh uh good good
uh actually good night my name is Andre
Gerard uh some people know me as AKA uh
triple
OG um I am uh the founder the CEO as
well as the executive director of a
business called gang affiliated
nonviolent guidance over here in
skincity
um I'm making a diligent effort um to
give back to the community of which once
I I was um part of
Destruction um at 51 years old uh my
calling is to reduce violence um I am
very active in the community they know
me um I have't I have issues with
financing uh my business I have been
recently attacked by um you know um the
sheriff department they decided to take
away the community
Unity um you know I I purchased a
community Unity truck to help you know
um provide food you know and uh hats and
shirts you know to to the community that
I'm reducing violence in and uh I have a
lot of support but I noticed that I get
I'm loved and I'm hated you know I just
and then I I don't know or I'm not
properly um I would say um I know
there's money and there's resources that
would be much happy that I am taking uh
a leading role in uh reducing violence
in SKC and when I say violence I am
promoting hugs no slugs and you know I
had just have a way of you know
interacting with the youth when they see
gang affiliated non-violent guidance I
mean they just they just come to me and
just explain to me the things that is
going on I have stopped a lot of murders
violence uh stabbings I can tell you
that there's a lot of domestic violence
and connecti and all I am striving to do
is my part and um my name is Andre
Gerard um I am right-wing working class
I am
GOP my business other business is called
uh black Republican movement ww.com you
can go and lo log on and find out more
about black Republican movement.com here
in SKC in the
518 um uh I I'm just grateful to be able
to uh you know do cookouts and reach out
to the people out here in skincity who
are homeless who are veterans uh who are
going through issues with addiction and
stuff like that I just I'm out in the
streets and I also have secular
knowledge on a different level so it's
just you know I just know how to uh
interact with the people it's just that
you know um it's just terrible what's
going on it's a very crisis is a
terrible crisis of violence in uh sken
and uh if it's not addressed properly um
it's going to end up like another you
know Albany or you know Troy and
hopefully uh you know um I can help with
you know get some resources to reach out
to the youth because you know when they
don't have activities and recre ational
things to uh participate and they just
uh you know find you know themselves in
trouble thank
you Elizabeth
Walsh good evening
all my name is Elizabeth Walsh I reside
in The Stockade neighborhood I come
before you today not only as a resident
of The Stockade neighborhood but also as
a planner who is committed to advocating
for walkable vibrant neighborhoods and
climate resilient regions where everyone
can Thrive a little over a year ago I
moved here from Denver Colorado where I
taught Community Development at the
University of Colorado University of
Denver this is the first time in 25
years of living in urban neighborhoods
that I've not been able to safely walk
bike or take a bus to meet all of my
weekly basic
needs uh thankfully with your
collaborative leadership with uh all
sorts of public sector Civic and private
Partners uh and your strategic
Investments a future of Transit oriented
sustainable development is on the
horizon thank you for all you have done
in collaboration with County officials
to support Transit oriented development
one of the key priorities from the SKC
2020 comprehensive
plan
um pardon me which was adopted in 208
it's been so exciting to see the Gateway
Mobility Pub the Region's first major M
multimodal Transportation Hub adopted at
State and Church Streets now it's easier
than ever for SKC residents and visitors
to conveniently and comfortably access A
diversity of Mobility options including
access to over 10 major bus lines as
well as a bike and scooter share program
and parking for electric vehicles and
personal bikes now people can get off a
bus hop on to a bike and access all of
what downtown SKC has to offer while the
new Gateway Mobility Hub is really
exciting it's also important to remember
that activating multimodal Mobility hubs
like these requires a larger Equitable
Transit oriented development strategy
people are only free from dependence on
automobiles where they can easily access
all their basic weekly needs near
Transit stops for instance commuters are
much more likely to use a bus when they
know that they can make a quick stop at
the grocery store before they have back
and the bus at the end of the day to go
home surely that's one of the many
reasons that the 20 20 comprehensive
plans implementation strategy
recommended to make it a priority to
quote identify locations and complete a
feasibility study for an inner city
grocery store although we all know that
downtown skd has not had a downtown
grocery store in 20 years more than 20
years it's important to recognize that
City staff and elected leaders have been
really diligent in moving that plan
forward there have been several
completed uh feasibility analyses that
reveal that a grocery store located very
close to the mobility Hub is not only
feasible but would also significantly
contribute to our local economy and to
the Community Health of surrounding
neighborhoods thankfully we also know
that there's tremendous momentum under
the way thanks to the Thousand Members
Plus of the Electric City Co-Op and you
all for investing in the co-op a million
dollars of arpa money along with the 3
million committed from the county the
other great news is that the county
connecti now owns an impressive
assemblage of parcels oh that's time
guess you can finish your sentence but
then I need you to summarize an an
impressive assembl are Parcels
immediately next to the Gateway Mobility
Hub um which is an un paralleled
opportunity to collaborate to attract
the uses that can really support
Equitable Transit oriented development
thanks thank
you I have no one else signed up to
speak so I declare the public comment of
City business closed
any miscellaneous business of the
council Mr
Williams uh good evening and thank you
although we haven't experienced a lot of
snow I thought it was important just
take a moment uh to appreciate the uh
Investments uh that have been made um
yesterday there was
a that was uh present within our city
and I want to remind the residents that
it wasn't a coincidence that our
roadways and streets were paved in most
instances Equitable fashion I wanted to
take a moment to I think it's easier to
criticize uh sometimes so I wanted to
deliberately take a moment to just
appreciate the uh investment uh that our
office of General Services makes to
ensure that our roadways are always uh
clean and drivable for our residents um
but I also wanted to identify that as I
was putting out trash out front of my
house today uh regardless of the weather
conditions heat rail heat rain hail or
snow um our uh sanitation department uh
does an exceptional job with removing
all of that and uh I know during our
budget season uh we definitely
deliberated at length about how to fund
that resource but I think it's safe to
say at no point do we undervalue uh that resource ability to meet the needs
of our growing city uh to both uh our uh
Street um plowing efforts during our
winter seasons and also to our
sanitation department I sincerely wanted
to just say thank you for the hard work
I think we're du another snowfall either
today or tomorrow uh so everyone please
be safe uh and also intentionally if you
live around a school zone please make
sure you are cleaning your Pathways uh
in a lot of instances there are um
families that are transiting into
schools uh by foot and what makes it
more difficult during our seasonal
weathers is having ice or unpaid
walkways so although it might be an
absent consideration to yourself please
make sure you are not inhibiting um or uh putting in place any more
obstacles that are preventing venting
our younger uh students from reaching
and getting a formal education daily
thank you thank
you
mayor thank you Madame President and
followup to uh councilor member Williams
uh had the uh snowstorm got through that
pretty good the forecast for tomorrow
has uh some snow starting in the
afternoon changing to rain there may be
an inch or two so it could be
significant but they're also
forecasting uh wind gusts that may
approach 50 m an hour so there's a
chance for trees to come down power
lines to come down and we just have
people be cognizant of that and be
cautious always treat a utility line as
it being a live electric line and if you
do lose power or see down uh telephone
pole trees or anything to make sure you
call National Grid or 911
one thank you madam president thank you
mayor I'd like to thank everyone that
came out this evening to um make their
concerns uh known to the city council
and um I also want to thank all the city
council members I I think we're off to a
good start and welcome to Mr manini and
thank you for leading the pledge today
so um you know I'm looking forward to
all the work that we'll be able to do
collectively and collaboratively with
the mayor for the city of SCC so I'm
excited about
2024 just want to remind everyone that
next Monday is Martin Luther King is
Martin Luther King day is observed so we
will not be having our committee meeting
on that Monday but instead on Tuesday so
Monday's a holiday so would and there's
a few observations around the capital
region for those of you who want to take
out the time to um to do that and let's
just as we um celebrate Martin P King's
birthday let us just remember what he
stood for and that it's not just a day
to observe but absolutely to believe in
what he preached in terms of um working
together and the Beloved Community thank
you very much and with that I'd ask for
a motion to
adjourn I move by move by Mr Williams
second by Mr Mancini all those in favor
I we're adjourned have a good
evening oh I kept them longer than they
wanted to
stay