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Hey.
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Hey. Hey.
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Hey,
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hey, hey.
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Thank you.
I'd like to call the city city caucus
meeting to order for Monday, June 9th,
2025.
We have one public hearing this evening.
If the clerk would please read public
number public hearing number one for the
redirection of a portion of Chrysler
Avenue from a two-way street to a
one-way street from the intersection of
Crane and Main Street to Ostrander
Place. Discussed and committed with
objection on consent. Item number two.
for original
consideration. A resolution calling for
a public hearing for weight limit
postings on Kings Road.
Discussed in committee without objection
on consent. Item number three.
Item number item number two for original
consideration. A resolution authorizing
fee waivers for exterior building repair
permits discussed in committee without
objection on consent.
Yes, Mr. uh Williams.
On item number two, you roll call. Yes,
ma'am. Okay. Thank you.
Item number three. Item number three for
original consideration. A resolution
recognizing the celebration of Junth,
2025.
Discussed in committee with objection on
consent. Item number four. Item number
four for original consideration. A
resolution recognizing Caribbean
American Heritage Month.
Discussed in committee with objection.
And on consent, item number 4A for
unanimous consent. Item number 4 A for
unanimous consent. A resolution
supporting funding for Belmont Pop
Warner program.
I need a motion to place item number 4A
on the floor. Moved by Mr. Williams,
second by Mr. Mancini. All in favor?
Okay. Is there any objection to item
number 4 A?
Since there's no objection to this item,
may I have a motion to place it onto the
consent agenda?
Moved by Mr. Farley,
second by Mr. Mancini.
All in favor?
If there's no objection, we can go uh we
can put this on the consent agenda.
If there's nothing more to come before
the city council caucus, I ask for a
motion to adjourn.
Moved by Miss Pat uh moved by Miss
Patrick, second by Mr. Williams. All in
favor? We are adjourned. I'd like to
call the city council meeting to order
for Monday, Octo Excuse me, October June
9th, 2025.
And this afternoon, we do not have
anyone to um to offer up the prayer.
However, I would like to us to stand.
I'd like to offer this prayer for the
community.
Dear Lord, I bring the people of
Skenctity to you today. I pray that you
give everyone comfort, companion, ando
companionship and hope. Please surround
us with your love and care and make us
feel your presence in our lives. Lord,
help this council to be an instrument to
seek out, to help, and to give uh
support where is needed. God, I ask that
you open the eyes of others to give a
hand on the back to those who they come
in contact with. I pray that you bring
people together into their their lives
who can be supportive and encouraging
and that you would open up opportunities
for them for to form meaningful
relationships. Help us Lord to find joy
and fulfillment in our lives and our
duties that you've assigned to us
despise despite what we may go through.
Thank you God for the gift of community
and how you bring people together. We
pray that you will use us to bless
everyone in our midst and to show them
all love and compassion. Amen. Amen. I'd
ask uh council member Patrick to lead us
in the pledge.
I pledge algiance 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.
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Thank you. If the clerk Yes. If the
clerk could please complete the roll
call.
Thorough absent. Mr. Farley here. Mr.
Mancini here. Mr. Muver. Present. Miss
Patrick here. Mr. Williams here. Miss
Porterfield here.
We have one public hearing this evening
and I just want to remind everyone that
the public comment period for um
on public hearings is four minutes and I
ask also ask that you respectfully only
speak to the subject of the public
hearing itself. Thank you. I have four
people who are signed up to speak for
the public hearing.
number one is regarding
the redirection of a portion of Chrysler
Avenue from a two-way street to a
one-way street from the intersection of
Crane and Main Streets to Ostrander
Place.
So, the first person of the four to
speak is Chamele Davis.
Good evening. I've been in two accidents
on that road. Uh it's very small. It's
hard for three cars to fit and there's
parking on both sides. I believe it
should be changed to a oneway. All
right. Well, thank you.
Marawn Dobs.
I agree. It should uh be changed to a
oneway. All right. Thank you,
Ellie Pepper.
Good evening, Mayor, Council President,
City Council members. I totally agree
with making that a one-way street. It's
really dangerous to go down that street
when it's two-way. Um, if everybody's
parked on one side, it's really hard to
get out of the way of somebody coming
towards you. Thanks.
Thank you very much,
Dean Morabado. Thank you.
Good evening, Mayor, Madame President,
members of the council. Uh, yeah, it is
a dangerous uh situation right now. I've
driven on that street many times. It's
really difficult. and reading through
the surveys that were given out to
people, it seemed like it was uh
unanimously
uh felt that this should be a one-way
street. So, I agree with that. Thank
you. Thank you.
I have no one else signed up to speak,
so I declare the public hearing um
comment period on public hearing number
one closed.
I'll ask for approval of minutes for
March 27th, 2025. Motion by Miss
Patrick, second by Mr. Williams. All
those in favor? I.
The clerk could please read any
communications and petitions.
Communications presented to the city
council for Monday, June 9th, 2025.
Under official, there were none. Under
general from PD Boris, two emails
regarding the public hearing. She is
interested in finding out the reason for
the redirection of traffic and how the
data was collected. She also noted that
she still has not been able to find her
belongings and under petitions there
were none. Thank you. Call on council
members for any committee reports.
Okay.
So we'll have privilege over the floor
related to the legislative agenda.
So I just want to make a few things
clear. I see there's uh there are people
signed up who may not have been here for
our process before. So I just want to
give some clarifying um direction.
The privilege of the floor is three
minutes and you would speak to on the
legislative uh agenda item that you came
here to speak about. At the end of the
three minutes, if you're still within
your comment and you need to just finish
it up, I will allow you to do that, but
we ask that that you not go over um an
extended period of time.
So, for this um comment and you have and
let me just also say we left the sheets
out there. We asked people to sign up
ahead of time. So the names I will be
calling are names who have signed up to
speak at this particular time on this
particular um agenda item
and we will not be entertaining any
beyond that.
Thank you.
So, I have
seven, eight people signed up to speak.
And the first person, Earl Walker,
Wallace, Wallace, Earl Wallace.
Um, am I correct that the um on agenda
item 4A, you're considering uh
supporting Pop Warner? That is correct,
sir. That's the uh I'm from the
Republican party and I would like to
address that issue. Been involved with
youth programming my entire life. been a
high school English teacher, played Pop
Water football up in Saratoga Springs,
been a city resident since uh 1989.
I would um request that we would um
encourage parents to support Pop Water
and that we don't do it as a city
council with public funds. Uh how many
sports will we end up supporting? I
believe that um it's better for the
community if parents are involved in
raising the money. Perhaps the city can
help the parents raise the money by um
encouraging uh donations through a a
city council website. But u my main
thing is I would like to see that um
left to the parents and we don't want to
get our sports programs into a
politicized program where perhaps maybe
the next council may come along and
decide that they're going to encourage
certain coaches to be involved with the
program because they're getting public
money. Thank you. Thank you.
Alyssa Hill.
Good evening. I'd like to speak on
behalf of the Belmont Cheer Program. Um
I am one of the I am a co-coordinator of
the cheer program along with Immani
Racor and I've been doing this for about
at least three years now. I've been
coaching for four. And I just wanted to
say that our cheer program significantly
lacks in being successful because we
lack the appropriate equipment that we
need to be successful comparable to
other programs in the area. Um for
example, there are programs like Colony
Pop Warner who charge $350 for
registration. um we will never charge
that high because we know the needs of
our families in this community and we
that's why we have consistently kept it
pretty much the same price. We've we've
gone up a little bit this past year but
we we don't really want to move it any
higher because we know that our families
cannot afford that and it has shown um
in previous seasons. We also um we lack
as far as where are the funds would go for cheer related. It would be
towards new uniforms uh cheer mats
especially um it is hard to practice if
anybody knows anything about
cheerleading but it's hard to practice
stunts and get more competitive because
we don't have the cheerleading mats that
we need. We also don't have anywhere to
store them. Um we
you know we work hard every year to fund
raise. You know, a lot of people have
mentioned, you know, ask doing community
fundraisers. We already do that um
multiple times a year in different ways.
Um and there's still a a lack of funds
needed. Um and a lot of families
struggle to um support the expensive
travel that is required with um the
competitiveness of the program. you
know, as as the further that cheer or
even football moves on, um the farther
we go and it gets more expensive. And
so, it's just always been a struggle for
um the cheer program alone um is is
really personal to me. I I started at
Belmont when I was 5 years old as a
mascot and cheered all the way up
through high school. And I um would love
to keep it a competitive and successful
program for our community because a lot
of times, you know, Pop Warner is the
only program that people can afford.
When I was young, I wanted to do
all-star cheerleading and my family
couldn't afford it and many people can
afford it. Um so I just want to really
emphasize that it's not we're not asking
for funds just just to ask for them. Um,
we truly do think that we can be even
more successful with the funds that we
would be receiving. And I know on on
behalf of the football program, they too
um have have been successful in the
past, but just imagine how much farther
we could go if we had the support from
the city and the community um more than
what we do now. Thank you. Thank you.
DC Dunle.
Good afternoon. My name is DC Dunle. I'm
here on behalf of the youth that you see
sitting behind us. I know many of you
city council name members personally
through my mentor, Walter Simpkins. And
on behalf of Walter, one thing I'd like
to make very clear is we're not beggars
in the marketplace. That's not why we're
here. We're not asking you to fully fund
our program. We're asking you to support
our program. There's a lot of funding
that goes into this program that's not
in the budget, such as mental support,
emotional support. A lot of us coaches
bring kids to and from practice on our
own dollar that we don't include in
this. We fund kids playing that's not
included in that budget. So, there's a
lot of other costs that aren't
associated with it. And sitting in these
past two meetings is real disheartening
hearing how much objection there is to
supporting the youth of this city is you
guys are all in these positions because
you come to us to vote for you and now
you're looking the youth in the face
specifically you because all the other
members from what I understand are in
agreement with moving this forward but
specifically you miss Patrick is real
sir you have to address the chair you
can't all right Marian I apologize
so it's extremely disheartening hearing
that there's so
resistance to supporting the youth and
consideration for what's going to be
happening next year when we're trying to
figure out what's going on right now. We
we're we're turning away the fact that
kids are hungry right now because other
kids may possibly be hungry a couple
months from now, hypothetically
speaking, or next year we should
consider it when right now the problem
is at hand. And considering the fact
that the money is already there, but you
don't know what to do with it or you
don't know where it's going is, those
are exact words. We don't know where
it's going. I don't understand what the
problem is is
we're we're counting the cost, but what
does it cost not to support these kids?
What does it cost to turn these kids
away from sports? What does it cost to
have these kids on Chrysler app right
around the corner from the football
field where you're trying to make it a
one-way street? There's a lot of a kid
was just killed around the corner who
could have been in something positive or
doing something else. So, when we invest
in the youth, you see different results.
I myself am an alumni of Belmont Pop
Warner as a child. My mother never paid
for a single year of me playing Pop
Warner. But here I am giving my time
four to five days a week investing in
these youth, investing my own dollars,
investing my own time. And that's what
comes back from investing in youth. Now
t-fold return. And we're not asking you
to, like I said, we're not asking you to
carry the program because that's going
to be done regardless. Speaking on the
parents should be involved in it not
becoming a city problem. The parents
been supporting this program for 50
years. We haven't asked for a dollar for
50 years. So you can't say what we
should be doing when we've already
proven the success of what we've done.
We haven't the the program goes on with
or without you. So as the
representatives of this city, it's your
guys's responsibility to support. We're
not asking you to carry it. We're just
asking you to support. And the amount of
resistance that goes into support is
extremely disgusting considering that
these children that you're saying don't
need it are the same children whose
parents you're asking for to vote for
you. the same children's parents are
putting you in the position to deny
them. I I I really don't get it as a
member of this city. So clearly I need
to be more involved with uh what's going
on down here in these city council
meetings. And it's not directly a jab at
anyone personal, but it we got to do
better. Is Belmont slogan one team, one
family. And right now you're turning
down the entire family because you're
concerned about families we don't even
know of. Your time is expired. Huh? Your
time is expired. That was a fast three
minutes, Marion. But it doesn't put on
your own iPhones if you think mine is
wrong. Okay, you can we can all do that.
But your time has expired. Thank you.
You're welcome.
[Applause]
Shamel Davis.
Good evening again. I um I just want to
mirror the remarks from DC Dunker. I'm I
am I am wholly disappointed and uh I
feel like you guys should be ashamed.
The city should be ashamed that you you
talk about spending $3 million on
sprinkler systems and golf courses and and and all the organizations that
get reoccurring funding without having
to prove or show anything. But yet you
got an organization that say that's been
doing it like they said 50 years by the
self helping the youth with or without
the city and the one time they come to
the city is nothing but resistance. It
is shameful and disgusting man. That's
all I got to say.
Mars.
Hi, my name is Marshawn Dobs. I just
like to say, you know, um this is
definitely my son's been playing for
three years and he loves this sport.
has been nothing but good to
him. Um it does encourage a lot of the
kids to stay out the streets. It
encourages him to um you know, have good
grades in school. Um we're definitely
disappointed with certain things. Um
there's like they said there's 250 kids
that play and there's many of parents
that do vote and we are noticing who we
should vote for. So uh yeah, I'm just
letting that be known. Thank you. Thank
you,
[Applause]
Ellie Pepper.
Somebody's really tall. Good evening
again. Um, I am in total support of
finding some way to provide funding for
the Belmont Pop Warner organization.
And if other sports organizations come,
that's fine. That's okay. Let's let's
hear it. Uh, let's support our youth.
We're always talking about youth not
having anything to do, youth hanging out
on the streets. This is something that
uh provides a good opportunity and
frankly of all the places where my tax
dollars could go, this is one place I
would like to see it go. Thank you.
Calvin Tyron.
Hello. How you doing tonight? My name is
Calvin Trion. I'm a lifelong resident of
Skenctity, New York. This my son right
here. This was his first year playing uh
football for the Belmont program. I
noticed uh a lot of positive attributes
that he gained from the time that he
spent at the program this year. And
honestly, Belmont is a like a DNA of
Skenctity. Like it's a part of the
fabric of the community. Like my my
stepfather, he's a uh he's a lifelong
city resident. He's a part of the team
that was undefeated in the 70s. Like he
still pulls out his book and tells me
about it to this day. like it's is
really a part of our community. So, I
feel like we got to put a little more
importance on Belmont specifically. I
know there's other sports programs. I'm
not trying to take away anything, but
Belmont is really a important part of
our fabric of our community for one. And
for two, I feel like we need to exhaust
all options on investing in the youth so
we can actually get these kids to to
stick around. A lot of a lot of kids
don't they they want to go somewhere
else to play football or oh let me go to
Gilderland cuz they got this and let me
let's let's worry about here keep our
kids in this community and then when
they grow up to be adults they'll come
back and invest again in this community.
You know what I mean? Like so we can
move forward with that type of stuff. Um
in and in general like I said the
Belmont program is just positive. The
coaches are doing a lot of uh amazing
things. They've always done amazing
things and not everybody's going to be a
professional athlete, but I was a a
member of Belmont as well. And there's
just certain things you learn as in
sports being a part of a team and just
discipline and other things like that our youth is in my opinion lacking
in this current generation. And so, like
I said, I would feel like in my opinion,
I feel like we need to invest um exhaust
all options in investing in the youth.
And that's just that that was my small
piece what I had to say. Thank you for
the time. Thank you.
[Applause]
William Kent.
Good evening. Uh my name is William
Kent. I am the current president of
Skenctity Belmont Pop Warner. I'm also a
lifelong city resident as well. I grew
up playing Pop Warner. My father was a
coach, which really got me into it and
helped me fall in love with the game.
Um, a lot of these people that you see
here, uh, I either met through the
program or I grew up within the city as
friends and as community members and
we've come together to honestly do
something special. So, I just want to
touch on something that the gentleman
had said prior to me uh, a couple uh,
people back um, about parent
involvement. What you're seeing right
here is parent involvement. This is community
involvement. Uh we could talk about
differences in communities and about
single family, single parent households
in one community to the next and what
that might look like for a single mother
with four kids that's working two jobs
to be able to help fund raise or to be
able to kick out extra money for their
kid to be able to do something different
or a city in Skenctity that a median
household income is $55,000 to a median
household in Saratoga that's $101,000.
Right? So, apples to oranges when we're
talking about certain things. And um I
do genuinely appreciate the the the
conversation that took place, right?
That doesn't mean I also appreciate
everything that was said, but I
understand, right, that there's always
going to be multiple sides to a uh to a
discussion and any type of a debate. But
what I'll say is there's no debate in
this. And um the kids participating in
our program are benefiting not just as
athletes. They're benefiting as people
because of the people that you see right
here. These people every day pour into
these kids. They're giving rise. We none
of us make a dollar doing what we do.
But we do it because we're rich morally,
because we're rich with love. We're rich
with family. And that's what we talk. We
don't say one scene, one family for no
reason. There's nobody in here I
wouldn't give the shirt off my back for.
And they would do the same for me and
anybody in my family. So it goes a lot
deeper than that. And also like we talk
about kids having things to do and being
productive members of our community,
right? So the thing is we have a certain
amount of kids that are already
participating. We would like to continue
to grow that. From 2021, when I first
took over the program, we only had about
six, seven teams total. That includes
cheer, tackle, flag, everything. Now,
we've more than tripled that across the
board. We're continuing to get more and
more engagement with kids. And that's
the idea. We want to get more kids
involved. We want there's over 10,000
kids in the school district in Skenctity
alone. We would like to try to make a
bigger and bigger dent in that every
single year. So, yes, we're asking for
some funding this time around, but that
doesn't mean we're not sustainable. I
can guarantee you this. We will continue
to grow. We will continue to push and we
will continue to work together as a unit
and we will do great things and we
appreciate any and all support that you
all offer and we thank you for that.
Thank you.
[Applause]
All right. I have no one else signed up
to speak. So I declare the public
comment on the legislative agenda
closed.
[Music]
Oh, sir, you were asking. You were
looking.
You You'd have to move to the
microphone.
Is this to speak about P something
that's on the agenda? Um,
it's not on it's not about anything
that's on the legislative agenda. Okay.
So, well, we will give you an
opportunity to sign up for general city
business. That's not right now. And I'll
give the sheet back to the council
member. They you can sign up for that.
That's at the end of the meeting if it's
not on the agenda.
So, I'll call you for that. It's not
right now.
Thank you.
This time ask for approval of the
consent legislative consent agenda.
Will my Mr. Williams
second by Oh, wait. Uh second by Mr.
Mudin.
All in favor? I. We do have one item for
roll call
and the clerk could please read item
number two.
for original
consideration, a resolution authorizing
fee waivers for exterior building permit
repairs.
I need a motion.
by Miss Williams. Second.
by Mr. Mancini.
Is there any discussion on this item?
Yes, Mr. Williams.
I just wanted to clarify my comments
that were made during the committee
meeting. Uh my um opposition to this is
based on just wanting to have a better
understanding of what it represents. uh
there seems to be just some um not
clarifying details and sincerely if we
are looking to have these types of um
cost savings for a specific population
building them into the budget I think is
a more appropriate manner with this
being in its fourth iteration or fourth
year um definitely with ensuring that it
is meeting the tangible needs of our
homeowners as in hearing some
conversations around this in our past
meetings of trying to entice uh
redevelopment and renovation within the
homes where it is so verly needed. Um,
just wanting to have just some of those
tangibles outlined to include potential
marketing to ensure that everyone knows
and understands what the program is and
then also what it isn't. Thank you. Any
further discussion?
If the clerk could please call the role.
Mr. Farley. No. Mr. Mancini? Yes. Mr.
Muan? Yes. Miss Patrick? Yes. Mr.
Williams? No. Miss Porterfield. Thank
you. First of all, I would like to just
to explain my vote. So, I view this
legislation from the lens of giving a an
incentive to homeowners and owners of
rental property in Skenctity and how we
treat other investors in the city.
Developers and business investors who
seek to do business in the city of
Skenctity are given various incentives
to entice them to have their business
located here. There are tax credits,
discounts on supplies and materials,
pilots, payment in lie of taxes, and
sometimes just the benefit of being well
connected. Most of our residents do not
have those of those those resources
available to them. Even within the New York State budget of
2026,
it was recognized that the general
public needed to have the ability to
purchase single and two family homes um
before res before institutional real
estate um investors. And therefore they
added article 16 to the real property
tax law which states that one to two
family residents must be listed for sale
to the general public for 90 days before
institutional investors can take it can
take um can bid on it. So considering
all of that and that our while we
incentivize um major real estates and
developers I think we should also take
this opportunity to um invest in our
local homeowners.
I understand what Councilman Williams is
saying that we need to build it into our
budget and that we do need to have some
understanding on how it's how it's done
going forward. I and I appreciate that.
And I just want homeowners to know we
appreciate that the property owners who
are investing in improving in their
property and they should also be aware
that when there's major improvements
that go beyond the aesthetics of
painting, fixing painting, uh peeling
paint, broken rails, etc. beyond the
aesthetics if there's major improvements
that could co cause a rise into into the
assessment of their properties, but
that's something they they would want to
take on. So, I think there's a upside to
that in terms of the increase in
assessment because they've improved
their property, but also because renters
are getting their properties uh improved
as well and that um we are giving some
incentives to our small um to our
landlords and small property owners. So,
with that, I vote yes.
And the motion passes 4 to two.
At this time, we'll have privilege of
the floor regarding general city
business.
And I have six people signed up to
speak.
The first person is Sean Ratigan.
Um yeah, hey, good evening. Um my name
is Sean Ratigan and um I've spoken here
before on how as a homeowner in
Skenctity, protecting tenants with good
cause eviction is important to me. And
today I'd like to speak on the
importance of care and respect when
operating in the housing business. When
your income depends on providing a roof
over someone else's head, you'd better
take their living conditions and their
life circumstances seriously. These are
people's lives we're talking about.
Their home, their community, where their
children go to school, and where they
play sports.
When a landlord decides decides to evict
a tenant, they're deciding to uproot one
or more people's lives. This shouldn't
be something taken lightly. This should
be something
This shouldn't be a decision made
without a good cause.
Tenants deserve safe, affordable, stable
housing. Tenants should know that
Skenctity has their back if the landlord
files an eviction for something other
than non-payment, violating the lease,
violating the law, or taking the unit
off the market. Tenants shouldn't fear
landlords retaliating against them with
eviction for arbitrary reasons or
because they requested repairs on their
apartment.
Landlords, when you get into the
business of someone else's housing, you
better be putting people before profits.
I bought a house because I couldn't put
up with my landlord raising the rent
exorbitantly every year when I renewed
my lease. And now I have 15 years of
relatively stable housing payments to
the bank.
because the city taxes, they really
don't go that go up that much every
year. So, it's kind of wild to me that
landlords who have the outright capital
to purchase property or the credit to
get long-term stable loans and then use
the rents paid to them every month to
pay those loans back will still increase
the rents, refuse or ignore repairs,
suggest terrible repair options, provide
underinsulated units, take months to
repair an elevator, or per perform any
other repairs that deeply impact the way
tenants live. Good cause eviction still
lets landlords file evictions. It's not
going to make it harder to evict a
tenant or for a justifiable reason. And
in good co in California, good cause law
helps speed up courts by getting rid of
bunk no fault eviction cases. Skenctity
city council good cause eviction is good
for the city's operation. It's good for
the community. It's good for the people
that actually live here. Why shouldn't
we afford our 57% renter community these
protections? Please put the people
first. Thanks. Thank you,
[Applause]
Earl Wallace.
I respect your wave. Okay, sir. No
problem. Ellie Pepper.
Good evening again, Mayor, Council
President, and City Council members. Uh,
just for the record, I'm Ellie Pepper
and I live in the Eastern A
neighborhood. I have lived here for 30
years.
Uh, since New York's emergency rental
assistance program protections ended in
January of 2023,
Skenctity has likely seen over 3,500
eviction filings based on an average of
about 175 filings per month. That's more
than 3,500 families brought into court,
many of whom were paying rent and
following the rules, but still face
losing their homes without a clear
reason. We also know that eviction is a
leading driver of homelessness. In a
single school year, more than 500
students in the Skenctity School
District were identified as homeless.
That's not just a statistic. It's a sign
of families living in crisis and kids
struggling to learn without stable
housing.
Good cause eviction is one way we can
prevent this. It says that landlords
must have a valid reason like
non-payment of rent or a serious lease
violation before evicting someone. It
also gives tenants the right to
challenge extreme rent hikes. This isn't
about stopping rent increases
altogether. It's about preventing sudden
abusive increases that are meant to
force people out.
And to be clear, this isn't rent
control. Good cause doesn't freeze
rents. It doesn't set prices. Landlords
can still raise rent reasonably each
year and still pursue eviction for a
cause. The law also exempts small owner
occupied buildings with fewer than four
units. We've seen how this works
elsewhere. In New York City, since good
cause protections were enacted in April
2024, eviction filings have dropped
significantly down to about 9300 per
month compared to 15,000 per month
before the pandemic. In California, a
study showed that cities with just cause
eviction laws saw statistically
significant drops in eviction filings.
And in Albany, tenants use local good
cause rules to stop 50 to 100% rent
hikes and stay in their homes. These
policies work. They keep people housed
and they reduce the number of evictions
flooding our courts.
Skenctity has the chance to do the same.
With thousands of eviction filings just
since last year, we can't afford to keep
waiting. We need this protection in
place now for our families, for our
neighborhoods, and for the future of
this city. I urge you to vote to opinity
into the good cause eviction law. It's
not that radical. It's fair. It's tested
and it's necessary.
And also, I support funding for Belmont
Pop Warner. Thank you.
Dean Morabido.
Hello again all. I am Dean Morabido, the
30-year city resident.
Um, and I would encourage you also to
opt into good cause eviction. It's uh,
it seems like the thing to do. It should
be done. I also wanted to comment on uh
Belmont Pop Warner. Um, I was able to
attend the committee meeting and heard
their presentation by the members of Pop
Warner and uh, it seems like it's
uh, already uh, supported through the
community and through the parents and
uh, I I see no reason to have the
committee uh, city council not supported
as well emotionally and financially.
It's it's a good thing for kids to do.
It's a good thing for kids to be
involved with their parents and the
parents to be involved with their kids.
Uh it's just a good thing and I support
it totally. Thank you. Thank you.
[Applause]
Bridget Savage Savage Spies.
Hello. Uh my name is Bridget Savage
Spies. Um, I live in Albany and I
volunteer organizing tenants throughout
the capital district. And so I wanted to
um give some context on what good cause
has done for Albany um so that um you
guys can understand the reason why um I
think it's a good idea to pass in
Skenctity as well. Um while organizing
tenant unions and working with tenants
in the capital district, I've seen some
pretty appalling conditions um largely
in
um
large properties owned by multi-million
dollar corporations um that are based
out of state um and have very little
tangible um tangible support in the um
in the property itself.
um these these multi-million dollar
corporations frequently buy up these properties. Um they don't develop
them, they don't improve them. Um and
they frequently increase rent by 30 to
50% on um families and community members
who are already living there. Um in
2022, one of the largest housing
complexes in Albany was purchased by one
of these companies. Um, several of the
tenants there eventually got fed up with
the extreme lack of maintenance. There
were rodents everywhere throughout the
building. Um, and they were refusing to
send exterminators in to fix the
problem. Um, they had broken appliances,
mold throughout the building. Um, and
none of it was being addressed. And so
these tenants came to the United Tenants
of Albany and tried to form a housing
um, a housing union in order to address
these problems with management
collectively and head on. um because
they weren't being addressed in these
one-to-one conversations.
So, after Alby's good cause projections
were struck down, um one of these tenant
organizers received a bill for a
received a $600 a month rent increase.
Um, and so she was then forced to
continue she she was able to continue to
live in her home paying $600 more a
month um temporarily, but she still had
mold in her bathroom and her kid with
asthma was still sick. Um, and this is
the kind of thing that good cause
prevents. um is parents and community
members are able to stay in their homes
without predatory rent hikes just for
asking for basic living conditions. Um
this winter though with good cause
protections back in Albany now that we
could opt into them through the state.
Um there was a better story where heat
went out in an 80 plus unit complex in
the center of downtown Albany. um those
residents called United Tenants and
concerned that if they made a complaint
to code enforcement that they would be
subject to these predatory rent
increases that other places had seen. Um
they had good reason to be concerned
about this. Um but United Tenants was
able to reassure them that good cause
would protect them in the case that they
made a complaint to code enforcement
about it being the middle of January and
their rooms being 50°.
Um,
this is what good cause can do for a
community. Landlords that are present in
the community, maintain their property,
and raise rents just to keep up with
their costs are not affected by good
cause eviction protections. Your your
time has expired. Okay. Thank you.
You're welcome.
[Applause]
Patricia Reed.
I'm sorry, it's Patrice.
Hi, my name is Patricia Reed.
We can hear you. Okay,
before I start, can I give all these
papers to you guys?
My name is Patricia Reed. I was here
last year uh July 1st, 2024.
I'm trying to I've been trying to open
this business in Skenctity, the park of
Central Park, city of Skenctity like
since 2022.
So I remember all these faces. Hopefully
you guys remember me. I was here trying
to see if I can open a small business in
city of sket.
that the city of sketched has been
giving me one around like oh you do this I did everything the city of
sketed asked me to do I even paid for
his insurance they told me to pay for
insurance I paid for the insurance I got
all that done up to uh last year
July 15th
Miss Marion I I sent an email to follow
up to what was going on and she sent me
email say somebody from the city will
send me something to see where we can
start the business. So from that time
2024
the 15th I've been following up. I've
been coming here saying oh can I speak
to the city council? I was always told
or leave your number. They'll call you
back. I never got a call back. Mr.
Alfonso
I always uh email him. I never got an
email back.
So I'm here to see what's going on. Why
I can't get an opportunity to open a
business at Central Park in Skenctity.
I'm not bring like something bad. I'm
trying to bring something good for the
community in the city of Skenctity. So
why I can't get that chance to open that
business in the city of Skenctity.
And it's been like since 2022. I did
everything the city of Sken asked me to
do. It's like now today I didn't I
didn't even have anything. So I like I'm
just going to go over there to see
what's going on, what I can do. What
else can I do for me to be able to open
a business in cities connecting? This is
a small business. It'll be good for the
community. That's what I think. I think
it'll be good for the community and is
for everybody. kids, older people can
use it. So that's why I gave you the
paperwork so that you guys you can
remember me the last time I was here.
So I would like to have the opportunity
to open it a small business central park
city of Skenkity and if there's any
reason why I can I would like to know
that too.
Thank you. Thank you.
[Applause]
I have no one else signed up to speak on
public comment and regular city
business. So I declare this public
comment period closed.
This same is this time entertain any
miscellaneous business of the council.
Mr. Williams.
Uh thank you. I sincerely just wanted to
go before Mr. Harley um with regards to
the the Belmont program and before I
make any comments regarding that I
sincerely want to thank everyone for
coming out to speak although my comments
will be directed to the the president um
it takes a good effort and a confidence
to come and speak at the podium. I think
a lot of people take it uh or undervalue
how uncomfortable it is to speak in this
type of setting but sincerely sharing
your opinions wherever they reside. I
take vigorous notes and I do it for a
reason because I care. uh and your
perspective helps me understand how to
advocate for my position. Um but I want
to speak specifically to the young men
and women that are in this room.
Although my back is to you sincerely uh
your your hearts are are are with me
right now. Um these seats that we sit
in, they have term limits. Um but
sincerely the blood, sweat, the
investments that are being poured into
you uh that last a lifetime. And as you
can tell, a lot of the people that are
doing this work now were in your seats.
So take this seriously and it is not for
you to begin because I already know you
are doing this good work of being
shepherds and ambassadors for the legacy
that you're pouring into. But you are
that legacy also right now. Uh so as we
look at justifying the continued
investment into these types of efforts,
I think it requires us viewing how we
fund things in this municipality from a
standpoint of if we proactively address
issues, do we have the discussion of
continuing to fund our overtime at an
excessive level? Uh and that is only one
facet of why I think looking at things
through a different lens um provides us
opportunities to address the needs of
our community in a different way. Uh so
as we enter uh the year of 2026 uh and
those budgeting needs are being taken
into consideration, understand what is
potentially about to happen with this
upcoming vote. And regardless of where
our council stands, understanding that
there are people in this room, there are
people outside of this room that love
you. So hold on to that and carry
forward properly.
Thank you.
[Applause]
Mr. Farley.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, first I want
to thank everyone that came out today
and has been out and has come out in the
past to uh address city council. Um,
this seat that we sit in um comes with
tough decisions that have to be made and
these should always be spirited
conversations um but not mean-spirited
conversations. And I am what you call a
street shooter, if you will. I say what
I mean and and then try to mean what I
say. When I'm calling
someone in, it's important that you
recognize I am addressing a behavior and
I'm criticizing a behavior and not a
person. And that is our obligation, what
we're obligated to do when we sit in
these seats to exchange ideas with one
another and say, "Hey, I disagree with
that." Or, "Hey, this doesn't align with
who we say we are um publicly." And I
think that those are tough. That's a
tough standard to be held to, but that's
the exact standard that we ought to be
held to in our position. And to disagree
with me on a position doesn't make you a
disagreeable person. Um, and there are
part of this job, if you will, is giving
concessions and and and making
compromises. Um, I'm always willing to
do that. That's what we saw happen
today.
However, there's certain areas that we
can we can't afford to compromise on and
that is definitely our youth. there.
That money that is invested, not the
cost that we're spending, but the
investment
that dollar stays in our community. Not
only does it enrich the lives of our
young people, it also relaxes some of
the money that we have to spend being in reaction to lack of programs like
Belmont. That comes at a cost, too. So,
I just want to really uh uplift the fact
and I appreciate um uh the committee
members um and Miss Patrick engaging in
this conversation in a way that did not
uh shut out the ideas of people, but was
uh willing to really listen, compromise,
and be responsive um be a responsive
leader. That's what I uh aspires all to
continue to be. And I just again deeply
appreciate Belmont, the work you're
doing in one team, one family. Thank
you. Thank you.
[Music]
[Applause]
Miss Patrick,
thank you. Yeah, I think um I agree with
what Mr. Farley said. I had actually
written down a very similar statement
about um you know sitting at this table
means that you have to make difficult
decisions and difficult choices. Um and
that's just goes along with with the job
that goes along with the job of being
part of a team. um that we have to be
working together and uh listening to
each other and listening to each other's
uh thoughts and and opinions as well. Um
I did compromise uh today. Um I do hope
that folks understand that um you know
this is a one time that ARPA funding
that we used um Miss Patrick
the ARPA funding that uh we used today
is uh not going to be here uh after this
year. So, uh, you know, I hope folks
understand that this was a one-time
grant. Um, the idea that I came in with
tonight was that when we start to
discuss the 2026 budget, um, under the
direction of our parks director, um, I
think we need to think about what we
want to do for youth recreation. Um that
is my committee health and recreation
and we spend a lot of time uh talking
about our fields, talking about our
parks, talking about the golf course
where indeed we made an investment into
the golf course um which is one area of
the city where we generate revenue uh
through the golf course. So that was a
sound investment in something that had
not been uh worked on for years. Um so I
think that uh next year we will have to
think about this um in terms of all the
youth activities. Mr. Farley and I met
uh on a committee that was working on
youth programs in the city well before
either one of us was on city council.
Um, and I think that it's important for
us to continue to understand that
anything we do, we have a very robust
summer recreation program planned in our
parks this summer. Um, and hopefully
those opportunities will um, help the
youth that come, whether they're coming
to swim in the pool, whether they're
coming to play a sport, whether they're
going to be coming and taking part in
arts and crafts activities or ecological
uh, environmental kinds of activities.
Um, all of those kinds of things are a
way to make sure that our youth are
having um, robust opportunities this summer. Um, I also have to say that
um it was really important to me uh that
we were able to hire as many youth from
our high school that we will be
employing this summer. Um, that's really
important to me because those kids are
going to understand um and learn job
responsibilities and job skills that
will only go on to benefit them as they
um continue um with their with their
lives and their careers. um in our town.
Um so um that was a challenging
discussion. Um I definitely came in uh
prepared to not vote in favor of that
funding. Um so I think that the
compromise that we came to uh is a
reasonable one. Um but I do think that
all of our youth sports need to
understand that they will continue to
have to fundra as they all do um moving
forward. Okay. Um, and I also want to
say that um, again the Skenctity County
Food Council is holding a food and
poverty speakout on Wednesday, June 11th
at 6:30 at the Roderdam Community
Center. Um,
this is going to be a real opportunity
for folks to come out and really tell us
um about what they're needing in terms
of their in terms of food. as someone
that volunteers quite extensively um
fighting food insecurity in our in our
city, in our county actually. Um this is
just been this huge increase uh in the
numbers of people that our food
providers are serving every single one
of them. There's 23 food providers in
Skenctity County, but this is a chance
for people to come out and talk about
their needs. And let me tell you, when
you hear people talk about um you know
that food's sort of the last thing
because they have to pay their rent,
they have to pay their utilities, they
have to pay for a car to get themselves
to work. Um and so often they end up
with no food um after they after they
spend their money. So again, Wednesday,
June 11th, 6:30 p.m. at the Roderdam
Community Center. And the other piece is
that the Skenctity County Food Council
has a survey out as well um to try to
get information uh about what people are
experiencing in terms of um food costs,
food insecurity, um how they're getting
their uh nutritional uh needs met. Um
and so I hope that folks will pay
attention to that as well. It's all it's
on Facebook. It's on uh the website uh
for the for for the Skenctity Foundation
and I encourage people to it's in
English, Spanish and Arabic. So I
encourage people to do that. And then
again I also want to give I know we
still have a few weeks but um we will be
doing a reading of the Declaration of
Independence again on July 4th at 10:30
in the morning here at city hall.
Hopefully on the steps of city hall
hopefully it won't rain. Uh I'm feeling
not so positive about that these days.
Um, so I hope people will come out uh
and celebrate the 4th of July with us as
well. Thank you.
Yes. Thank you, Mayor.
Want to thank everyone for uh coming out
tonight. Discussion is always uh lively,
thoughtprovoking, and good for the
community. Yield the rest of my time.
Madam President, thank you. I also would
like to thank everyone for coming out
tonight to making your voice heard on
the various topics that we heard this
evening. I appreciate the young people
coming to see what the process looks
like and the adults the work that the
adults put in for you. Um so you know
one day if you want to you could be
sitting up here as well or sitting in
one of those chairs. So if you stay in
Skenctity we'd love to have that and we
hopeful hopefully um people will
understand that as we did our work today
as we talked about what needed to happen
or what was going to happen.
Please appreciate the fact there was a
person that entered the room with saying
you know it was going to be an absolute
no and so we were able to move to a
compromise in our process. Often that is
what we have to do. I personally am
committed to giving helping you in any
way possible to identify resources to
raise the rest of your funds because I
think I know that the work that you do
is important. I've never had a child in
Pop Warner but I've seen children that
have come through. I've seen actually
been to games. So, I know the work that
you do is important and investing in our
children regardless of the sport that
they are in is extremely important. So,
thank you for coming out. Thank you for
having your voices heard and thank you
for helping to help us to um to move
this process along. And to all the
council members, I want to thank you for
getting us to that point. Just one off
record comment off the record. It's off
the record that if you have goals in
this chamber, the seats you want are the
council ones. The public has the worst
seats and those benches. The second
worst are up here, but the city council
members have the best. So,
thank you, Madam President. You're
welcome. Um, I just want to for those of
you who missed the kids arts fest this
weekend around city hall, it was
wonderful. The rain came and but we
didn't go inside. We put on our
raincoats and we went outside and but it
cleared up so it was great time and so
for those parents who don't aren't aware
of it every year it happens around city
hall. It's a great opportunity for kids
to come out. I want to know note also
this year they had a cultural addition
to it that I'd not seen before. They had
people come from the Irakcoy nation to
come and do their um to to do a dance
and to sing songs. So it was great
exposure for the for for the community.
So, I want to thank the folks that put
that on and for all the uh vendors that
were there at the Kids Arts Fest. And by
the way, everything is free to the kids
coming just to, you know, have a good
time in their community. So, that's
another event.
I want to um mention the Junth is coming
up, the celebration of Junth on the 20th
and 21st of this month. The 20th will be
in Central Park. And as many of us know,
Walter Simpkins, our dear beloved uh
community member who has passed on,
really led that. But so we want we'll be
there in his honor on the 20th in in
Veil Cemetery. And then on the 21st, we
will be in s in Central Park celebrating
Junth. So asking everyone to please come
out and to um participate in that. And
uh to Miss Reed, I'm I'll speak to you
specifically. Um, I believe my email to
you was that corporation council was
going to be looking into your your
situation. I will review that email
again and and follow up with you on that
because I know that they were taking a
look at at at your situation. So, um, if
you want, well, you can speak after the
meeting and I'd be glad to, um, to just
give you more information on that. And I
have nothing more to add to that. So, at
this time, I ask for a motion to
adjurnn. Moved by everyone. Moved by Mr.
Williams, second by Mr. Mutiver. All
those in favor I we are journed. Have a
good night.
Interesting.
All right.
Fast.
[Music]
Hey. Hey.
[Music]