Phoenix City Council Formal Meeting - June 4, 2025

A Charlton H was a star of the first
film there, The Agony and the Ecstasy.
He came in person and did a little
workshop for high school kids in the
theater and introduced the first movie
at the Cynica Capri. And he it was a big
hit. And the thing about the Cynica pre
which rivaled a lot of the other
theaters and I can remember as a kid
would you would decide which movie
you're going to going go to and then you
would go see which theater uh was
showing it. Well with the Capri the
Capri just going there was an event in
itself. People went to the Cynica Capri
just to experience the luxury of it and
the beauty of it. It was a destination
in itself.
Um people would go there for
celebrations or first dates or some
special kind of event. Um the synapri
primarily in the early years anyway ran
uh just just big movies like agon agony
in the Ecstasy which opened the theater.
Uh, The Godfather was the only movie
theater in Arizona that was showing The
Godfather at the time. Uh, that Titanic,
unfortunately, was the final theater.
So, the Synica Capri kind of sank right
along with the movie Titanic. At the
same time, uh, Star Wars opened there in
1977. Had the Star Wars, the first Star
Wars actually showed consecutively for a
full calendar year. It was the longest
run of Star Wars in the entire country.
It was very profitable movie to be
shown. The whole theater was was an
event in it in itself. You could
actually they actually had at one time
they had a dress code if you could
believe it. They didn't allow anybody to
wear jeans. Uh females could not wear
shorts and sandals. You could not wear
sandals. I actually had a published
dress code to attend the Sen Capri movie
theater, which sounds kind of odd today.
Uh for the opening, I actually saw an ad
you could send in money and pre-order
tickets for that opening uh opening
movie of The Agony and the Ecstasy. So,
as years went by, the total of Synica
Capri uh was open for about 32 years
from ' 66 to 98. It changed hands
several times. different owners ran it.
The final owner was um a guy named Dick
Harkkins who still there's a lot of
Harkkins theaters around Phoenix and
Scottdale and he owned it for I think
about 10 years. The the thing that got
in the way of it continuing to succeed
and be a presence in the valley was
there was a different company that owned
the land that the theater was on.
Harkkins owned the building,
Good afternoon. Thank you for attending.
We will begin in about 1 minute. If you
could please find your seats. Thank you.
Good afternoon. Thank you for joining us
on June 4th, 2025. We'll begin with an
invocation from police chapman Chaplain
Williams.
Thank you, Madame Mayor. I want to thank
you, the council and staff for all your
dedication, time, and support. Would you
please join me in a prayer of
invocation? Lord, I come to you reaching
out and requesting your participation in
our city council meeting today. I lift
to you, our mayor, our city council, and
their staff members. I believe you have
selected and anointed every one of this
leadership team, and for that I thank
you. These are precious and willing
individuals that constantly share their
leadership and talents. Father, I ask
you to draw the mayor and council close
to you and granting them favor, wash
them with your wisdom and discernment as
only you can. Father, I also ask that
you protect all of our city leaders, our
city employees, thus keeping them
healthy and safe. Lord, I thank you in
advance for your grace, discernment,
love, and extension to all of our city
leaders. To you, Father, we give all the
praise and glory. Amen.
Thank you, Chaplain. Please join us 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. We'll now call the formal
meeting to order. Will the clerk call
the role? Councilwoman Wardado
here. Councilwoman Hernandez here.
Councilwoman Haj Washington here.
Councilwoman Bastor here. Councilman
Robinson here. Councilwoman Stark here.
Councilman Wearing. Vice Mayor O'Brien
here. Mayor Ggo here.
Mario Barahas and Elsie Dwarte are with
us to provide interpretation. Mario,
would you please introduce your team?
Yes, Mayor. Thank you. Good afternoon.
My name is Mario Vahas. I'm going to be
serving as an interpreter alongside with
Elsie Darte. I'll now take a moment to
introduce um ourselves to our Spanish
speaking audience and review a couple of
guidelines with them.
necessarily.
[Music]
Thank you, mayor.
Thank you, Mario. Will the city clerk
please read the 24-hour paragraph? The
titles of the following ordinance and
resolution numbers on the agenda were
available to the public at least 24
hours prior to this council meeting and
therefore may be read by title or agenda
item only. Ordinances number
G7390 through 7393,
S51958 through 52042 and resolutions
22306 through 22311.
Thank you. And can our legal team please
explain public comments? Yes. Thank you,
mayor. Members of the public may speak
for up to two minutes to comment on
agenda items. Comments must be related
to the agenda item and the action being
considered by the council. General
comments that go beyond the scope of the
agenda item must be made in the citizen
comment session at the end of the
agenda. The citizen uh the city council
and staff cannot discuss or comment on
matters relating to pending
investigations, claims or litigation.
Additionally, any members of the public
who appear before council in their
capacity as a lobbyist must, as required
by Phoenix City Code, disclose this fact
before addressing council. The city code
requires speakers to present their
comments in a respectful and courteous
manner. profane language, threats, or
personal attacks on members of the
public, council members or staff are not
allowed. A person who violates these
rules will lose their opportunity to
continue to speak.
Thank you, Councilman Robinson. Do you
have a motion on item one?
Thank you, Mayor. I move approval of the
formal meeting minutes from February
19th, 2025. Second. Motion a second. All
those in favor say I. I. Any oppose?
Nay. Passes
unanimously. Boards and commissions.
Item two, vice mayor. Do we have a
motion?
Mayor, I move to approve mayor and city
council boards and commission
nominations. Second. We have a motion
and a second. Any comments? All those in
favor say I. I. I. Any oppose? Nay.
We'll now conduct a swearing in ceremony
for the citizens who are serving our
community.
Thank you. Please raise your right hand.
I and then state your name.
do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that
I will support the Constitution of the
United States that I will support the
Constitution of the United States and
the Constitution and laws of the state
of Arizona and the Constitution and laws
of the State of Arizona that I will bear
true faith that I will bear true faith
and allegiance to the same and
allegiance to the same and defend them
against all enemies and defend them
against all enemies, foreign and
domestic. foreign and domestic. and that
I will faithfully and impartially And
that I will faithfully and impartially
discharge the duties of the office of
discharge the duties of the office of
state your board or commission workforce
board according to the best of my
ability according to the best of my
ability so help me God so help me God
thank you so much thank you for serving
our community we'd ask you to go behind
the so the council members can
congratulate Thank you.
[Music]
[Music]
There's no script.
Yeah, I think we already voted.
Okay. All right. Next, we go to the
continued service of municipal court
judge Alex Na'viad, who has served us
city with distinction, including helping
move forward our specialty courts,
community court, uh helping assist with
veterans a court, and more. and just
trying to make sure that the city
municipal court system serves our
community as effectively as possible.
So, vice mayor, I recognize you for a
motion and any comments. I I move to
allow for the swearing in of Judge Alex
Nabilad. Second. Motion a second. All
those in favor say I. I. Any opposed?
Wonderful. Well, then we will come back
and do the swearing in.
Okay. Testing.
I state your name. I, Alex Navidid, do
solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I
will support the Constitution of the
United States that I will support the
Constitution of the United States and
the Constitution and laws of the state
of Arizona and the Constitution and laws
of the state of Arizona. that I will
bear true faith and allegiance to the
same that I will bear true faith and
allegiance to the same. and defend them
against all enemies. and defend them
against all enemies, foreign and
domestic. foreign and domestic. And that
I will faithfully and impartially And
that I will faithfully and impartially
discharge the duties of the office of
discharge the duties of the office of
municipal judge. municipal court judge
according to the best of my ability.
according to the best of my ability. So
help me God. So help me God. Wonderful.
Welcome back. Thank you for your
continued service to our
community. Mayor
We will stay on item three and I'll
recognize Councilwoman Pastor. Thank
you, Mayor. Um I just want to
congratulate uh Judge Navididad.
um as at one point I sat on
um the police and fire uh committee and
and that was one of the great honors to
have is when you're able to uh select
different judges and so I I was very
honored to be part of that. So I just
want to congratulate him.
Thank you.
The city provides an advisory role to
the state of Arizona on liquor license
applications and we'll go to that
portion of the agenda. Vice mayor, do we
have a motion? Mayor, I move to approve
items 4 through 16. Second. We have a
motion and a second. Any comments? All
those in favor say I. I. Any opposed?
Nay. Passes unanimously. City clerk, we
ready for ordinances, resolutions, new
business planning and zoning? Yes,
mayor.
Vice Mayor, I move to approve items 17
through 124 except for the following.
Items 27 through
32, 63, 74, 82, 84, 85, 93, 94, 96,
107,
122, 123, and 124. Noting that items 59
and 103 are being continued to June 18,
2025. Item 17 is as corrected per the
memo dated June 4th,
2025. Items 112 and 123 are as revised.
And can the clerk confirm if there are
other if there are any other items that
should be excluded for in-person public
comment? Mayor, vice mayor. Uh, yes.
Just to clarify, item 75 is as corrected
per memo dated June 4th, 2025. And then
also excluding items 54, 56, 70, 102,
and 104. I'm going to repeat that's
items 54, 56, 70, 102, and
104.
Second. We have a motion and a second.
Would you read the additional items one
more time? Yes, mayor. Items 54, 56, 70,
102, and 104.
Wonderful. Thank you. We have a motion
and a second. Roll call.
Yes.
Yes. Hud Washington. Yes. Pastor, yes.
Robinson, yes. Stark, yes. Wearing, yes.
O'Brien,
yes. GGO,
yes. Passes 90.
Thank you so much. Some exciting items
moving forward, including support for
the NCAA Women's Final
Four. All right, we will next go to
budget related items. Item 27 is a
public hearing on the 2025 2030 capital
improvement program. I now declare the
hearing open.
Is there anyone wishing to speak? We do
not have any
cards. The public hearing is closed.
Item 28 is the adoption of the 2025 2030
capital improvement program. Vice Mayor
Mayor, I move
to Sorry. I move the adoption of
resolution
22309, the 2025 2030 capital improvement
program. Second. Motion and a second.
Comments? Roll call.
Yes. Hernandez, no. Hudge Washington,
yes. Pastor,
yes. Robinson, yes. Stark, yes. Wearing,
yes. O'Brien, yes. GGO, yes. Passes 81.
Item 29 is a public hearing on the
adoption of the tentative 202526 annual
operating annual budget
ordinances. We'll open the hearing. We
do not have anyone wishing to speak. We
will close the hearing. Item 30 is the
adoption of the 202526 annual budget.
Vice Mayor Mayor, I move that item 30
being ordinance
S-51960, the tentative 2025 through 2026
annual budget be adopted. Second.
We have a motion and a second. Any
comments? Councilwoman
Hernandez. Uh, thank you, Mayor.
After going through extensive research
over the past several weeks, listening
to community members, reviewing budget
documents with staff, and analyzing the
impact of past spending along with
weighing very likely financial impacts
from the Trump administration, I remain
confident in my decision decision to
vote no on the proposed 2025 2026 fiscal
year budget. I cannot in good conscience
support a budget that continues to
invest more in policing our residents
rather than investing in our communities
and the solutions that will address the
root cause of the issues we are all
facing. Year after year, we see more
money funneled into law enforcement
despite record-breaking overtime cost, a
DOJ investigation that shows civil
rights violations, no path to
accountability for failures in policing
policy, and a failure to meaningfully
reduce harm. Meanwhile, we are still in
the middle of a housing crisis and many
other attacks from the current federal
administration. We need to invest into
the things that will allow all of our
communities to thrive like housing,
mental health services, youth programs,
and violence
interruption. Thank you.
Thank you. Roll call.
Mayor, can I explain my vote? Please do.
Yeah. I just want to take a moment to
thank staff um Jeff and everyone else
that has definitely had some very
challenging times as we are looking at
the budget and looking at everything um
that we're doing to try to keep a
balanced budget to keep a lot of the
programs going um that we started a
couple of years ago to address a lot of
the challenges that we've seen in our
community. um which has allowed us to
provide um rental assistance for our
residents as they're getting evicted and
helping people with their um water
bills, with their electricity bills and
making sure that we are able to look for
a real solution around around
homelessness, which for me has been very
frustrating as I continue to see other
cities continue to dump the problem onto
the city of Phoenix. So, I'm very
grateful um to the team, to everyone
that has made um this budget thrive. Um
even though we're going to continue to
see um very challenging times and a lot
of hard decisions that we're probably
going to have to make in the future
thanks to the state and thanks to um a
lot of folks coming after cities. I I I
really appreciate everything that we've
been able to do and I'll be voting yes.
Thank you. We'll continue with roll
call.
Hernandez, no. Hodge Washington, yes.
Pastor, yes. Robinson, yes. Stark, yes.
Wearing, yes. O'Brien, yes. GGO, yes.
Passes 81.
Item 32 is the adoption of the tentative
202526 reappropriated funds budget. Vice
Mayor,
we miss 31. Did we do 31? Okay.
31 is the adoption of the tenative
202526 capital funds budget. Vice Mayor
Mayor, I move that item 31 being
ordinance
S-520007, the tentative 2025 to through
2026 capital funds budget be adopted.
Second.
Comments. Roll call.
Yes. Hernandez, no. Hodge Washington,
yes. Pastor, yes. Robinson, yes. Stark,
yes. Wearing, yes. O'Brien, yes. GGO,
yes. Passes 81. I was very excited for
the reappropriated funds budget. So, now
we finally get to item 32. This is the
one to make sure we don't lo uh we we
tie up the end of the year. Is that is
that fair description? Vice Mayor.
Mayor, I move that item 32 being
ordinance
S-51-961, the tentative 2025 through
2026 reappropriated funds budget be
adopted. Second comments. I'll call
yes. Hernandez, no. Hudge Washington,
yes. Pastor, yes. Robinson, yes. Stark,
yes. Wearing, yes. O'Brien, yes. GGO.
Yes. Passes 81.
Item 54 is the authorization to amend
the contract with Community Bridges for
the Rio Fresco Emergency Shelter
Operations. Do we have a motion? I move
to approve item 54. Second. Stacy
Champion is here to provide comment.
Hello. Thank you, Mayor and Council. Um,
I just I see, as many of you know, I've
been doing volunteer outreach with our
unsheltered community for over well over
15 years now here in Phoenix, as well as
all kinds of heat respit things. And I
see you all throw millions and millions
and millions of dollars at CBI, yet I
don't see deep dives into any
accountability.
um as somebody who helps people from
getting evicted to getting unsheltered
people housed. Um this is an
organization that in
uh in 2023 had $191 million in revenue.
Uh their CEO makes over uh half a
million. Uh a lot of the people up at
the top making well over
$250,000. They are always underst
staffed. Um the navigators are usually
people who've been kind of through the
system and it's great that those people
are getting an opportunity to have a job
but they are paid barely above minimum
wage which is not a livable wage. Um
many of them have a case load of 30
people uh that they're trying to get
housed. It is not effective. I don't
understand why the city has not opened
up the possibility to other
organizations and service providers
instead of putting all of your eggs in
this basket that seems to me like they
really benefit from keeping people
unsheltered. That's a problem. There's a
78-year-old woman who my council woman
knows I've been trying to help for
months now since March when I found her
on the corner of uh Jefferson and 12th
Avenue who's still in shelter. Um,
Community Bridges had her in one of
their behavioral health facilities and
was paid over $20,000 for the less than
two months that she was there. This is a
broken system. Please stop throwing
money at this organization that isn't
really helping people who need to be
helped. Thank you,
[Applause]
Councilwoman Pastor and then Hud
Washington.
Councilman Hud Washington. Thank you. Um
is it possible to have um someone from
OS come to the table?
Thank you. Um we we'll start off a
little bit about let's talk a little bit
about the measures of accountability
that we use for our service providers.
Um, this is a question and a concern
I've raised before. And I think it might
be helpful for us to articulate what is
currently being done and what is in the
pipeline to ensure greater
accountability. It is um, no secret that
our budget does provide a lot of
resources for our unsheltered
population, but we want to make sure
that we are spending money in a manner
that allows for residents um, both
sheltered and unsheltered to get the
maximum benefit. So, we can talk a
little bit of accountability, please.
Thank you, Mayor and members of the
council. Councilwoman Hodgej Washington,
thank you for that question. Yes. Um due
to uh concerns brought to um OS from
city council, we have initialized or
we've initiated additional measures of
accountability in addition to what we
currently have um in place in the office
of homeless solutions. So first um
currently in place in the office of
homeless solutions, we operate all of
our shelter contracts on a reimbursement
basis. So we are receiving reports on a
monthly basis along with reimbursement
requests for those reports as far as
expenses. Um we analyze those monthly.
Um we also in our human services
department we do an annual fiscal review
of every organization that we have a
contract with. Um but due to the the
concerns that have brought been brought
by the council um the city auditor is
also initiating a full audit of of some
of our um organizations including
community bridges. So thank you. that to
me those touches they touch more on the
fiscal um component of this. I I really
want to hear a little bit more about our
plan to ensure the competency is um
component of this to make sure that the
services are being contracted for are
provided in a manner that benefits those
that are
affected. Mayor, members of the council,
Councilwoman Hodge Washington, thank you
for that question. Yes, we in addition
to the reports that we're getting sort
of an aggregate of what's happening at
every shelter, we also investigate
certainly any um issues with specific
clients or or anything that's happening
on the ground. I will speak specifically
to the Rio Fresco shelter, the one that
we are considering uh requesting
authorization for today. That shelter is
our only non- congregate shelter that we
have in our system right now for single
adults. It has 117 units of non-
congregate shelter. Um, and has our
highest positive exit rate. So, the
highest number of people exiting that
shelter to housing of any other of our
single adult shelters in our in our
system currently.
So, you bring up the highest positive
exit rate. Are we tracking data to see
if someone exited our shelter? Um, we
are we checking to confirm that we may
they may exit our shelter, but where are
they? three months later, six months
later, nine months later, one year later
to see if whether or not the provision
of services is actually held. Councilman
Hodgej Washington, so we're able to
continue to monitor where they are, if
they're still in the homeless service
system. So, if they're still in a a
housing development that is within HMIS,
um we can certainly still monitor to see
if they're still in that housing
solution. If they've exited the homeless
service system to their own housing, not
a part of our system, we no longer can
necessarily monitor them unless of
course they reenter the homeless service
system. So if they reenter homelessness,
yes, that is how we would be able to
monitor returns to homelessness. And are
we taking that data to determine um
whether or not the service providers um
efficiency or effectiveness is taken
into consideration? I know every
individual is um case specific, but are
we looking to see whether or not there
are certain providers that are more
efficient or effective in their
placement of individuals and are we
seeing more long-term success?
Mayor, members of the council,
Councilwoman Haj Washington. Yes, that
is a vital data point in our in every
contract that we have specifically in
shelter contracts where we're working to
house some some high acuity individuals
and have we determined what is the
benchmark for a good service provider
that we can articulate to say this is
what we expect to see. Is there a
certain percentage? What is the best
practice that you're looking for?
Um, Councilwoman Hodgej Washington, we
do have that data. It is on a regional
basis at our continuum of care. I don't
have that benchmark with me today, but I
can follow up with you on that. I think
that's helpful. And I also think the
comment that was raised um regarding um
open providing other organizations the
opportunity to provide service. Um I
it's no secret I've voiced that concern
from the day before. I do believe that
the we have used the qualified vendor
list and I and I I shared the sentiment
that we should have done a more robust
um outreach and potential vendor
solicitation when it came for the heat
relief center. and I continue to believe
that for other housing options as well.
So I would um reiterate what is their
plan and what is the process for um
additional vendors being able to provide
those services. Sure. Mayor and members
of council, we we definitely heard your
concerns as it retain um pertains to the
qualified vendor list. So although this
contract is is not off of the qualified
vendor list, but just to answer that
question, um we're doing two things.
anything really within the city's
purview. So, our projects that we own,
the safe outdoor space, Washington
shelter, Phoenix Navigation Center, all
of our heat relief, and our community
court, we're committed to um 6 months
prior to the ending of any of those
contracts, we are going to resolicit for
the the providers of those contracts.
So, put it back out to our vendors to
see if there is uh a more competitive um
proposal within within our vendors. And
when do we plan on resoliciting? So all
of those contracts sort of have
different different dates. So six months
out prior to the end of any of those
contracts. So for example, um the uh
safe outdoor space um that contract
would end uh June 30th, 2025. So we
would begin that process January of 2025
or excuse me, June 30th, 2026. So we'd
begin the solicitation process January
2026. And going back a little bit to the
um accountability for our service
providers. Um how are we ensuring that
they are properly staffed for the
residents that they're seeking to serve
as well as ensuring that they are
actively they have a manageable case
load and are meeting the deadlines or um
kind of uh best practices of when they
should be moving from one means to
another means um in that case management
process. Councilman, Councilwoman Hodgej
Washington, that would be something that
we would discover in an audit situation.
So, we do outline case man case
management ratios in our contracts. So,
we would be checking on those and our
on-site monitorings of their
programmatic um uh operation. And then
I'm so sorry, can you repeat your
question? I I think so it was about
making sure that they are adequately
staffed as well as have um case
management or case load um guidelines.
Sure. Thank you. That they are meeting
those.
So, when we receive their monthly
invoices and reports every month, we
know exactly how many staff that we're
paying for. We get updated reports on
case management. Um, and then I'll let
Scott maybe talk about the specifics um
on site as far as how we're managing
staff loads.
Thank you, Rachel. Council Hod
Washington, mayor, members of the
council. Yeah, one of the uh tasks of
the creation of the office homeless
solutions was to oversee our contracts
more efficiently than we had in the
past. Uh we have one of our staff
members uh who actually is on site
multiple days a week at each one of
these locations uh to monitor the uh
intake process, the environment that the
folks are living in, the case loads, and
then we also do case conferencing at
each one of our shelters. that then
determines when someone needs more
attention or when someone can be moved
to the next phase or other parts of case
management. So, we actively monitor
that. During that process, we're also uh
assessing case loads, who's working with
who, and if we need to uh increase that
capacity. But that's usually where we
monitor if they have the proper staffing
that's needed. And how often is that
monitoring done? Uh weekly. We're on
site at most of our shelters with
Washington, SOS, PNC every week.
Thank you. And I know my questions
varied a little bit off. So, thank you,
mayor, for allowing me in the indulgence
of going off of this specific contract.
But I think it is important um to talk
about the entire ecosystem as a whole
because as we know, we are um nearing
the close of um or the sunset of some of
our federal funding. And we have to for
me it's important to ensure that we are
making decisions um that are actually
fiscally sound and sustainable and not
necessarily because it is not city
money. It's um other funds that we're
not as prudent as stewards as we can be
for that. So thank you mayor for the
opportunity. Thank you both Scott and
Rachel for answering my questions. Thank
you. Thank you. Councilwoman Pastor is
next. Yes.
Um, I think I've there's plenty of times
that I've vocalized regarding um who is
serving our unsheltered population. Um,
and I had a uh is very direct with staff
at the fact that I would possibly vote
no for this whole contract
uh just because uh there are issues with
the system. I also uh voted I not voted
I also spoke with CBI yesterday and said
told them my concerns and they have
concerns themselves. Um they have
concerns as to uh what the story is
being said uh how it's being said and
what services they truly provide
um and how people move within the
system. and it's not necessarily CBI.
Um so my request is
that there is
a and this system is complicated but
there is I want to understand when a
touch point when a person
enters where possibilities they would go
and at what point is CBI responsible for
them and then if they move into another
system who is responsible for them and
Then they move into another system and
who then picks them up and in all
these pieces
ultimately how do we know where they
are and if they're getting the services
that they're getting and they're being
provided what they their needs are.
Um Stacy talked about a actually there's
two cases that are in front of me. Um,
and I got confused even throughout the
whole process because at one point I was
told it wasn't CBI's
responsibility. She went into another
system. Um,
so the pure tracking of a
person is complicated and difficult. I
also understand is the HMS is not at the
level that it should be and we have been
um discussing this for a year of of of
the lack of
uh the lack of ability that HMS has also
with the other system that we work with.
So what I challenged CBI yesterday and
said, "Okay, I get it. I understand it.
Then how do we fix it because it needs
to get fixed because we're not able to
do what we're a need to do and we're
losing people in this
system. So I I just don't want an audit,
a financial audit. I want to audit on
the system of what we
created and
how it is move how people move through a
system that is created and it's not just
us because we work with other other
partners. So, it's going to be a very
broader
audit and seeing if it's working or not
working. And if it's not working, what
do we need to do to fix it? And those
were the dynamics of conversations that
I had with CBI yesterday because they're
just as
frustrated. Um, and it's and it's very
challenging. I don't know what the
response is.
Mayor, members of the council,
Councilwoman Pastor, it sounds like
you're looking for sort of a system
mapping of of our current system and and
how those systems interact perhaps. And
I think we don't have it right right now
in front of us, but we can we can work
on it certainly.
Well, thank you. I don't want it to be
for us. I want it to be for the
public. And I want it to be for the
public because there are navigators or
advocates in this process.
The other piece is an ROI.
Um, when an advocate needs to uh that
sign a
paperwork to be able to then uh be their
advocate and one system says you need
this one paperwork, the Medicaid,
Medicare other system, what other system
they go into need another document to
say that they can be an advocate. What I
also requested and asked CVI is how do
we go about creating one
document that checks off all the boxes
to say this is the one advocate so that
they don't have to keep bouncing to
system to system to
system to try to get the ROI or the the
release the permission to advocate for
them because that's another way they get
lost in the system.
When a person can't get their
prescriptions or their meds and there is
no coordination, we have a
problem. This is life and death at this
situation.
And I understand that we can't there is
uh security pieces or confidentiality
pieces where I as a council woman
can't know certain things or are a able
to do certain have the ability to know
what's
happening but someone should have the
ability to do it. Someone should be able
to say they're in a safe place. They've
received their meds. um this is what we
know. So sometimes I think the system is
hiding
behind their own they're they're they're
hurting themselves by their own policies
and procedures and I would say get a
legal person into it the legal involved.
So what can and can you not
do? And if anything, let's
lead if we're if we're in it. So let's
start leading and and make it so that
it's it it
works. I'm just very frustrated. Thank
you.
Thank you, Councilwoman Hernandez.
Thank you, Mayor. Um, I'm actually
really encouraged by the conversations
we're having and the questions being
asked around the systemic issues around
homelessness. You know, we've had
multiple deep dive conversations on this
issue now. And I think it's really
important for the public here and for
the public watching that we need to have
these conversations, right? These are
tough conversations we have to have.
It's tough questions that my colleagues
and my council members are asking that
we do need to have that um and be very
transparent with the investment that
we're making into these contracts for
for them to provide these services and
help us um face these issues. Um but I
also want and hope that the public
starts to really understand that
homelessness is a symptom, right? So, we
can I fully support addressing the
issues, asking the questions, looking at
the providers that we're using, but this
ties to exactly why I vote the way I
vote on the budget because we're still
not getting to the root cause of what is
causing homelessness. Without creating
more shelter, without creating more
housing, without creating at the center
of it is poverty, right? We just had
this conversation. To me, if we're
really going to be serious about solving
homelessness, we have to be invested
into solving solving poverty. Otherwise,
we're going to continue to look for
qualified vendors, but we're going to
run into these issues. So, I'm really
encouraged by the conversations, like I
said, and you know, we have an open
door. Please look to the D7 office. like
we want to help think of the solutions
that are truly going to um result in the
best solutions for our community members
that are impacted and face in, you know,
um dealing with homelessness. Um because
we have working individuals in some of
our shelters, right? We have folks that
go to work every day that simply cannot
afford rent or a place to live. And so
when we look at the systemic pieces of
what is failing our people, we have to
look at that. So let's continue to have
the conversations. and I I sounds like a
few members on the council are are ready
to roll up our sleeves and really get to
work on the tough issues. So, thank you.
Thank you. I have had the chance to go
out with CBI on numerous occasions and
have seen some really successful
outcomes. Before I was mayor, there was
a woman who worked in the same office
like little mall complex where I was who
had gotten help from CBI and she's
actually now a city employee. So like
went through a really tough point, got
help through CBI and is a success story.
Uh last month I gave a speech where I
mentioned a couple Ralph and Crystal.
They had gotten help with the CBI
navigation system going from
homelessness to a successful outcome.
And so we do have some great success
stories if the public is going to keep
supporting us making larger and larger
investments and and this council has
made much larger investments in
homelessness than our our predecessors.
We also do need to share those success
stories and I I feel privileged because
I get to see them and and I hope more
people get to as well because it's
lifechanging work that we do. Roll call.
Yes, Hernandez. Yes. Hudge Washington.
Yes. Pastor, I would like to explain my
vote. Please do. Um, I will be voting
yes for this because I do not want to
discontinue services, but I want to be
able to dig in and
start solving
um, and come with solutions. And it may
not be we may not be able to
assist the masses, but those that we can
assist, we assist with quality, so it's
a yes. Robinson, yes. Stark, here.
Wearing. O'Brien, yes. GGO, yes. Passes
90. Item 56 is the qualified vendor
list. Vice Mayor,
I move to approve.
We have a motion, a second. Stacy
Champion.
Um, thank you for asking questions. That
is been a sorely needed thing. Um, so
and and just on a side note, one of the
things you all should look at doing is
pulling data on evictions tied to
housing vouchers.
somebody please write that down. Um I
think you would see that there are a lot
of people who end up falling through the
cracks after they get um touted as a
success story. Um but so to this I just
wanted to address here we are with a
another
um another chunk of money to community
bridges almost uh $200 million in a
couple of years for community court. Um,
and I would just say if you all would
just stop criminalizing people being
poor,
um, then people wouldn't have to go to
court. I think we could house a lot of
people with that money or get them
necessary services. Um, I'm already
seeing um, people being moved out of
shade and people are regularly
trespassed um, for just trying to stay
cool. Um, I see it every day when I'm
driving around, um, and when I stop to
help people. So, again, um, as our
councilwoman Hernandez stated, you're
not addressing the root cause, this
council and the city has for a long time
been extremely reactive versus
proactive. And this is another thing. If
you stop criminalizing people for
existing, you wouldn't need to spend $2
million to help them with community
court. Thank you.
Thank you.
Roll call.
Yes. Hernandez.
Mayor, may I explain my vote? Please do.
Thank you. Um just in like the previous
um item, I think it's important to
continue services, continue the list
while we work on um narrowing down and
building a better accountability model.
So I vote yes for today to support it
while we continue to work on this issue.
Haj Washington,
yes. Pastor, yes. Robinson, yes. Stark,
yes. Wearing O'Brien, yes. Ggo, yes.
Passes 90. Item 63 is the expansion of
Phoenix Forge in partnership with the
Maricopa County Community College
District. Vice Mayor,
I move to approve item 63. Second. We
have a motion and second noting that
Councilwoman Pastor will not be
participating in this vote. This is a
very exciting investment, a really
dynamic facility that helps our
entrepreneurs as well as our hobbyists
or people who just want to explore a
potential new talent. It has um some
great facilities that that our our
residents can use and can also help
people going into new career paths.
There's CNC machining uh which is an
area where we have a lot of of growing
job opportunities here. So very excited
to support this partnership and I'm
thankful to the community college for
making this investment in downtown
Phoenix.
Do you It's in District 7. Do you want
to say anything? Yes. Counciloman
Hernandez. Thank you, mayor. Um, I've
actually had the privilege to tour the
facility uh a while back and it's a
really in amazing facility. I think it
has a lot of uh good use, not just for
our students um but also our overall
community. So, I'm really excited to see
the expansion of this and continue the
partnership with them. So, um really
excited to see this on the agenda.
Wonderful. Roll call.
Yes. Hernandez, yes. Hodge Washington.
Yes. Robinson, yes. Stark, yes. Wearing,
yes. O'Brien, yes. GGO, yes. Passes 80.
All right. Item 70 is a FEMA related
partnership with Pharmaceutical Kill
Cache and Valley Wise Health. Vice
Mayor. Mayor, I move to approve item 70.
Second. We have a motion, a second.
Leonard clerk, come on down.
Thank you, mayor and council members. Uh
my name is Leonard Clark. Uh was born
here in Phoenix. I don't live in Phoenix
right now, but I'm always like trying to
keep an eye on what's going on. I uh
hope you'll vote yes for this. Um
because as we all know right now, um
we're concerned about FEMA's response
and uh what's going on. you know, being
that our FEMA head didn't seem to know
what that we have a hurricane season.
So, um I'm just concerned because I'm
hoping you'll do more work on emergency
preparedness for the city of Phoenix
being that it's the fifth largest city
in the United States of America. So,
maybe we'll have to take more of this
on, I guess, because the uh individual
in the White House uh is trying to put
it off on the governors to
respond. So, uh, I think that politics
is being played with FEMA and because of
that, people like Phoenix, the city of
Phoenix, our citizens will be punished
because we s support a constitutional
republic. So, anyways, I hope that you
will vote yes on this for the limited
time that supplies last for FEMA because
it is being cut back. valuable experts
are being taken away because apparently
uh some people think that it's not
important anymore. Pull yourself up by
your bootstraps. You know, like Hoover
Herbert Hoover said, pull yourself up by
your bootstraps and we'll all just come
out of this better. We don't need the
evil government, the federal government.
Thank you.
Thank you. this important uh support for
Arizona task force one which through
which our fire department has gone to so
many of the most difficult moments for
our country. So good to move forth that
but I think like Leonard I was surprised
to learn the head of FEMA did not know
we had a hurricane season.
Roll call.
Yes. Hernandez. Yes. Fudge Washington.
Yes. Pastor. Yes. Robinson. Yes. Stark.
Yes. Wearing O'Brien. Yes. GGO. Yes.
Passes 90.
Item 74 is an agreement with Arizona
Department of Health Services. Do we
have a motion? I move to approve. I move
to approve item 74.
We have a motion and a second.
Councilman Hernandez.
Thank you, Mayor. Um, we have
continuously heard that Phoenix PD is
stretched beyond capacity. Um at the
same time that the department continues
to go over budget on their overtime and
the corrective action to this should not
be to expand uh the department duties
but to reduce and realign them.
Additionally, continuing to involve uh
Phoenix police and enforcement of issues
raised at the state level is the same
slippery slope we see with the
department's involvement in federal
immigration enforcement. We must reduce
strength uh stretching our police
department to do the political whims of
other administrations as this is not
that's not their role. I am also against
involving our department in this
enforcement because we already know from
the data that black and brown residents
are disproportionately targeted,
arrested and incarcerated for marijuana
related offenses and this disturbing
pattern will continue under this
contract. Finally, I firmly believe that
state agencies like DPS should use their
capacities to enforce state level
initiatives like this instead of
spending their time and troopers
randomly running license plates in
downtown Phoenix and booking our people
and putting them into a path to family
separations. Thank you.
Thank you. Roll call.
Yes. Hernandez, no. Hodgej Washington.
Yes. Pastor, yes. Robinson,
yes. Stark, yes. Wearing O'Brien, yes.
GGO, yes. Passes 81. Item 82 is approval
to enter into agreements with various
school districts for funding of SRO's.
Vice Mayor, I move to approve item 82.
Motion a second, noting Councilman
Wearing will not be participating in
this vote. Vice Mayor, thank you, mayor.
I wanted to take an opportunity to share
an example of bipartisanship that will
help protect our students and support
school safety in Phoenix. We have more
requests for school resource officers
than we can accommodate. And that's why
I worked to find a solution. Our retired
police officers are incredible assets.
Their passion for public service doesn't
end in retirement. I immediately
researched how we could allow them to
return to work as school resource
officers without losing their pension or
creating an unfunded liability for the
city. I found partnership with state
senator David Gowen, a Republican who
sponsored SB1287, and his colleagues who
supported it along with Governor Katie
Hobbs, a Democrat who signed the bill
into law by asking a simple question.
How can we get our more our most
experienced officers in schools? And by
working with the legislature, I'm
thrilled to announce that Phoenix can
welcome back retired police officers who
want to serve as school resource
officers. SRO's differ from school
safety officers because resource
officers are generally assigned
full-time to one school for the entire
year so they can develop relationships
and build trust. An officer's presence
and interactions can be life-changing
and life-saving. For example, when a
student shared that they were being
abused at home with the Phoenix Police
Department SRO, the officer was able to
intervene and get the student help. I
can't thank our state leaders and our
police officers enough for recognizing
the need and stepping up to find a
solution. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you,
Councilwoman Hud Washington.
Thank you, Mayor. Can I have someone um
explain the Can I have someone come to
the table to explain? And I don't know
if Lori if you're okay just explaining
how the assignment of SRO are um
allocated. Is it explaining that it's
prompted or initiated by each district?
Yeah. Um mayor, members of the council,
Councilwoman Hodgej Washington,
essentially it is by district request.
So we do get requests from districts. We
get more requests than we are able to
fulfill, but we fulfill as many as we
can. Uh the remainder are often filled
with SSOs. um as Vice Mayor O'Brien just
mentioned. Um but not even all of those
requests can be filled. And so um the
bill that was just mentioned will help
to um significantly improve we believe
our ability to fill those positions. And
thank you for offering that explanation.
I wanted it because there's some
misconception about how the
determination of SRO's are made. It's
not made on a city level. It's made each
by each district. And the reason I
wanted to highlight that because I have
seen in districts in both in my um sorry
school districts within my district,
I've seen those that do not want SRO. I
see those that wanted SRO's. And I just
wanted to point out of how important in
some situations SRO's have been. A few
weeks ago in Lavine, a student brought a
loaded handgun onto campus and thanks to
a teacher's quick response and the
immediate response from the school's
SRO, the situation was resolved quickly
without even facilitating a lockdown. So
although there is um some concerns about
having um more SRO's, I do believe that
we don't want to be in a situation where
we have a mass school shooting and we
don't have the resources. So I do
believe this is the type of readiness
and partnerships that help to make our
schools safer if that is the direction
the school districts want to go. So I
appreciate um I believe it is our
responsibility to have the SRO available
if the school district wants them. And I
believe it's about having a presence if
needed and about effective
community-minded um working with them in
furthering the needs of our students,
our schools, and our families. So, I am
supportive of this initiative if it
grants us the opportunities as requested
by the school district. So, thank you
for that.
Thank you, Councilwoman Pastor.
Yes. Um I have heard uh that some of the
challenges with the SSOs is that
uh is that it's not
consistent and that people come in are
coming in and coming out of the school
district of the schools and it's one of
their challenges because they want
consistency and they want very similar
to the SRO's that the SSOs are assigned
to that uh particular school. So, I
don't know how you fix that. I don't
know how you work with the school
districts on that, but that is one of
the challenges that they are having. And
so, they're just they're not
sure about the SSO concept or model.
Mayor, members of the council,
Councilwoman Pastor, um thank you for
for that comment. And you're correct.
We've heard the same frustration from
many of the school districts who would
prefer to have an SRO, which is the
full-time consistent police officer on
their campus versus the SSO, which is
actually an offduty officer who is being
assigned on a daily basis. It's kind of
like a substitute teacher. Um, that
would be the best analogy I can come up
with to to provide that example. Um, you
may have, you know, four different SSOs
in a given week. Um there is also the
possibility that the SSO may come from a
different jurisdiction other than
Phoenix in a Phoenix school. And the
challenge that we have is that the SSO
program is not something that we
operate. Our officers do participate in
it, but it is an offduty program. It is
not a Phoenix Police Department program.
It is actually operated under um the
Arizona Department of Education, and
they use a vendor um called offduty
management to manage that program.
Can I respond to this? And I understand
that, but we're also the largest city
that to say some of the uh work with AD
to say here are some of our challenges.
How can we work together? I think that's
one of the the dynamics. So,
if I might, Vice Mayor, I I think that
this new legislation provides us that
opportunity because now we can our
retired police officers have an ex an
exemption to come back. So, we could go
out and solicit to those retired
officers and say, would you like to come
back? So, we that was all of those
concerns, Councilwoman Pastor, were the
reason we pursued this um legislation.
Absolutely.
Roll
call. Oh, I'm sorry. Do we do have a do
we have a
speaker Lena
Clark? Thank you, mayor and council
members. And I know of the great concern
about mass shooting. First of, I'm here
to say
that, you know, people want to lump us
into two sides. Either you love the
police and you worship the police, or
you hate and you loathe the police. It's
much like Romeo and Juliet. You can't be
in the middle and just say, "How about
we have somebody who follows their oaths
and, you know, follows the law." I
understand that, you know, but due to
the concerns that I and many people have
in this, you know, also in the city of
Phoenix for the fact that, you know,
some of our council members and I thank
you for your comments are bringing up
that Republican members of the state
legislature have introduced this
legislation. My problem is right now
because we do have a lawless
unconstitutional government at the very
top that does not believe in habius
corpus or due process and is violating
the constitution the head of the fish so
to speak is now rotting the rest of the
fish if we let it. So, I guess to cut
things short here, what I'm trying to
say
is the police right now, you know, today
NBC just news just came out and said and
is saying that federal and law
enforcement is being reshaped as we
speak. So, my concerns are although I
know we have some agreements worked out.
ICE is now going around our city and
around other cities around the country
operating as the king's men. They're not
following their constitutional oaths.
They're covering their faces. And I know
they say they have death threats, but we
must know who our accusers are. So now
we're saying that we should allow these
officers in even though again the
individual in the White House who seeks
to be a king and his monarchist
supporters, you know, are telling us
schools are now open to immigration and
ICE
enforcement. So as long as there is
lawlessness, there is
unconstitutional lawlessness at the top.
our attorney general and the adviser to
the president seek to suspend the
constitutional right then we should not
I cannot be for this change my my
support to not I'm not for this I was
neutral but we cannot do this right now
we have a problem in this country the
constitution is not being followed the
conservatives if you truly believe in
law and order stop being monarchists and
be actual Lincoln Republicans so we
can't have these officers right now
until the constitution is enforced thank
Thank you.
Roll call.
Yes. Hernandez. Mayor, may I explain my
goal? Please do. Thank you. Thank you,
mayor. I cannot support any proposal to
spend city money placing school resource
officers on school campuses. We should
not be policing children for being
children without addressing the
underlying issue of why certain
behaviors happen. Based on conversations
with schoolboard me members I have had,
there is yet to be proven evidence of
SRO's making school safer and this also
contributes to the schoolto prison
pipeline. As a city, we should invest in
our youth by advocating for more
counselors to be on campus, expanding
afterchool programs, making sure that
all students have access to free and
healthy meals, and ensuring that they
have the family support they need to
thrive in their education. I vote no.
Hajj Washington,
I'm going to explain my vote. Mayor, I I
continue to believe that teachers should
not be the one dealing with firearms in
a classroom. I do not believe it is in
the best interest of children to not
have someone who can justify who can
deal with a firearm in the classroom.
So, I will vote yes because I believe in
the student safety.
Pastor, yes.
Um, the three schools that have asked
for
SSOS are Cartwright, Empower College
Prep, and Phoenix Union. These schools
have have asked for these
um,
and I'm thinking about what Leonard
Clark said, but I also thinking about
just safety in general and just safety
in general of a school system. as I sat
on the larger school
system and understanding the nuances
of of a large system with over one
school over 3,000 students and
teachers and understanding if a gun is
on campus what needs to happen and how
it's
coordinated and it has happened
and SRO's are
really what SRO's do on campus and SSO
do on campus is really trying to let
delay any more tragedy that will happen
on the campus. So my vote is yes.
Robinson, yes. Stark.
I like to explain my vote to I
um unfortunately when my son was going
to elementary school, there was a coach
that molested
several boys that were in the fifth and
sixth grade. And I sure wish they would
have had a school resource officer could
recognize that there was a predator
amongst these children that were just so
sadly affected by this. So there is a
purpose. Yes, there are some problems,
but there is a purpose. And I sure wish
that we had had that in that school when
my son was going there. Thank you,
Mayor.
Thank you. O'Brien, yes. Diego, yes.
Passes 71.
Item 84 is NBLS learn database
subscription service. Vice Mayor, mayor,
I move to approve item 84. Second.
Motion in a second. Do you have
comments? I have two questions. Great.
Councilwoman Hernandez. Um, not sure who
Lori, if you would answer these
questions. I just have two questions on
this. Yeah. Mayor, Councilwoman, we will
have um Chief Warren and Assistant Chief
Brian Lee come down to talk about that.
Thank you.
Thank you, Chief Orinder, uh, for
joining us on the on the up here. Uh, my
first question, can you explain a little
bit about the technology that this
contract would, um, use and how I guess
that one,
sorry, it's been a long day. Uh, can you
explain the technology and what the $2
million um on this contract will be used
for?
Yes. Thank you. Good afternoon, Madame
Mayor. Um, Councilwoman Hernandez and
members of the council. Uh, so a little
bit of background context on this
system. It is uh actually for us it's
described as the National Vehicle
Location Service and it's uh the Law
Enforcement Archival and Reporting
Network. Uh, and this is actually uh
owned by Vigilant is the name of the
company. Uh so what this system does is
it really serves as a point in time uh
data aggregate where whenever a vehicle
happens to be captured in a given area
at a given time um and the plate is
captured it is actually that information
is is uploaded into the system. The
system that we use is a cloud-based
storage system. It's uh segus and sock 3
compliant. Uh and what that means is
that it's it's uh criminal justice
information so that that information and
data is secure within that environment.
And what that allows us to do is if we
have investigators that are working a
case, uh we all know the mobility of of
the criminal nature going from one city
across a border into another. Uh what
this does is that if we have uh an
agency or even our own agency where
we're looking to place a vehicle at a
certain time uh with respect to a
particular investigation, it gives us
another tool to be able to conduct that
enhanced level of investigatory
follow-up. Okay. Thank you for that. Um,
and then my next question, and the
reason I'm going to ask this next
question is because just yesterday,
there is reporting that came out, not
here in in Arizona, but in other states,
where now ICE is using software like
this to conduct um searches
on searches from local police
departments on license plates. Um, so my
question is, do we know if this vendor
um allows or would allow uh access to
ICE for immigration related searches on
the license plates that our department
scans um so that that will continue to
assist the current administration with
their targeting of immigrant communities
of color. Thank you for the question,
Madame Mayor, uh Councilwoman Hernandez
and members of the council. So the data
that is collected uh by us again is
uploaded into our system and we field if
we field a query or or request for
information from another jurisdiction uh
as long as it's as long as they're part
of a criminal justice information
approved uh entity or agency then we
would be able to provide that data. Now
with regard to the data that's being
provided as I mentioned earlier it's
just a single pointer system that tells
us on this given time this is where the
car was. It does not provide
registration and ownership information
of the vehicle. That is a function of
motor vehicle and so an agency
requesting that would have other way
other means of being able to obtain that
without going through a request for our
data. The one connectivity that we do
have through the NVLS system is that it
is linked nationally to the NCIC or
national criminal information center.
And what that what enables the system to
do is that if a plate is captured, they
can check to see if that is actually a
current outstanding stolen vehicle on a
national level as a felony crime. Uh so
that would be the only data that that is
readily available when somebody else
makes a request of our data. Okay. Thank
you. I appreciate that response. I think
my concern still exists that we are
seeing um ICE try to use unprecedented
avenues to try to gain access to our
residents legal status. And so just
anything that could enable that or
somehow they could find that. Obviously
I'm going to have a lot of concerns
around that. So I I just appreciate you
um responding to those questions. Thank
you,
Councilman Hud Washington. Thank you so
much, Mayor. Um I acknowledge that this
is a tool in the toolkit that could help
with our
under you our our shortage in officers.
I also have some concerns based on media
reports I have seen, not necessarily
here in the city of Phoenix, but I've
seen other areas where where uh one
officer used the license plate reader to
track uh I think he used was it
83,000 cameras he tracked to track down
an individual that h uh had an abortion.
And I guess I want to ensure what
protocols are being set up to ensure the
privacy of our Phoenix residents when
this data is captured.
Madame Mayor, members of the council,
Councilwoman Hajj Washington, that's
actually a great question and I think uh
within our system because the data that
is provided is somewhat limited uh only
to a vehicle in a location, um there
would be other systems within each
respective agency. uh if there were was
improper use of the data that was
collected or improper dissemination of
the data that was collected. Uh I know
speaking on behalf of the city of
Phoenix, we have our own internal
protocols and policies against using it
for other means. Uh if it's not criminal
justice related and it's not not in
furtherance of a criminal investigation,
uh then we would take a look at that and
there would be uh potential uh
discipline that could be metered out as
a result uh based on our findings. And
um along that line um what are the audit
mechanisms to ensure that to prevent
such misuse? I mean it's one thing to
have a policy in place but how would we
ensure that this policy is not being
violated? What would be the and not
unauthoriz unauthorized access to this
information by an officer if there's
some procedure that we are planning.
Madame Mayor, members of the council,
Councilwoman Haj Washington, currently
the way the system is uh is utilized as
I understand it to be that when the
request comes through, it is very
limited in what we would provide just to
the data sets that I've previously
mentioned. Um in terms of what uh what
other activity somebody is going to use
that information for. Um our our inquiry
of that data would be limited to number
one verifying that the requesting agency
is a sieges compliant credible agency.
Uh and then again the data that we give
would only be limited to those segments
of of information. What they do with
that data after that um that would be
that would fall back under the
jurisdiction of the requesting agency.
And how long is the data stored uh how
long is the license plate um data stored
for at this time? Uh I believe that data
is stored for up to 90 days. Up to 90
days. I would recommend that there and
and if we if this passes that there be
some some protocol that outlines for a
unfettered access to this information
that we streamline the use of this data
and we streamline um that there's some
checks and balances to ensure that it's
not just based on
um what we our best presumptions that
it's actually based on making sure that
we are not misusing this information.
Thank you mayor.
Thank you, Chief. Noting that you have
been in your role for a very short
amount of time. Many of our databases
have lists where we know who queried
them and for what purpose. For this
database, do we know what what was the
search parameters and and who made the
search?
Madame Mayor, members of the
subcommittee, I can verify exactly what
the u the checklist protocols are when a
when a request comes through and I'm
certainly happy to provide that. Um my
understanding of the system is that once
that request is made and again we verify
that who the requesting entity is um we
know what the data is that's being given
out. We know when the request was made
because it is timestamped within our
system. Uh so if we had to go back and
do follow-up later because this is a
research database. That's uh really the
the meat and potatoes of what the system
does is to be able to allow us to go
back and pull information out. we would
have the ability to at least research
the date time that that information was
accessed and to whom it was provided.
Wonderful. And is there an ent bureau or
or a person who is responsible for doing
spot checks to make sure we are using
this database appropriately? Madame
Mayor, members of the subcommittee
currently right now the system the crux
of the system is actually housed within
our Arizona counterterrorism information
center. Uh so we actually partner with
multiple agencies there of which Phoenix
is one of the participating agencies. Uh
we also utilize our threat liaison
officer program and they would have as
investigative officers they would field
some of those requests as would other
research analysts at the Arizona
counterterror terrorism information
center or the actic if you will. Um so
those requests could be received by
somebody other than an analyst from
Phoenix PD because it goes into the
statewide fusion center. Different
question than what I meant to ask. Is
someone doing spot checks to
occasionally make sure that the queries
are appropriate? says, "No one's quering
for their ex-wife."
No, I understand your question. I I
don't have an answer for you right now
on that. I can certainly check into
that, get back to you. Okay.
Uh for when does this expire? And if we
wanted to do a continuence, how how much
would that
councilwoman? Go ahead.
I would like to make a motion to
continue with June 18th. Yeah, I would I
I need more clarity of this and mayor,
members of the council, just for
clarification. So, this item is actually
a contract that is already in place
through June 18th of 2029. What this
approval is doing is actually approving
the change of entity name um to Motorola
from Vigilant Solutions or I'm sorry,
reverse that. Yeah. No, does that was
that right? Okay. It's a name change um
on the contract. So, it's not actually
approval of the contract itself. It's
approval of the name change on the
contract.
The contract itself was approved
previously.
So, what happens if we don't approve a
name change?
Don't get paid. Sorry, I can't see
Derrick's face.
Um, what happens if you don't approve
the name change is that you don't have a
valid contract because the legal entity
is the new name. So, so it is necessary
to proceed with the name change to have
a legal contract. Correct. And then my
follow-up question is, Derek, um, can we
extend to June 18th with there without
there being any, um, unintended
consequences or negative consequences to
the police department and the city of
Phoenix? I I I believe you can you can
extend for a short period of time.
Okay.
Okay. And I'm sorry, did the councilman
make a motion? I did make a motion. I
would like to continue this item to the
18th. June 18th. I have a second. A
motion and a second. Councilman, did you
want to comment on the continue? Go.
Councilman Hashington. Thank you. I was
going to ask if we uh ask my colleague
if she could add to her motion, not just
a continuation, but a direction to
provide some kind of guidelines to
ensure that we have an audit function in
this as well. So, ensure that it's not
improperly used and we have some
mechanism of tracking that. I accept
that motion. I accept that language. We
is that a
I think we will definitely do that.
Whether we can do it as part of however
changing the contract name we shall
employ. However it goes how I'm looking
at it is by June 18th. There needs to be
some clarity on the checks and balances
of it.
Could ask a question mayor. Vice Mayor.
Um, so we can continue it till June
18th, but it could be would it be a
um a policy directive that the police
department develop um procedures for
auditing it or ensuring that it's being
used for proper use. I'm not sure who to
look at at the table. I'm not going to.
Mayor, members of the council, um vice
mayor, yes, we could have the police
department do that and we can also
request that our internal auditor um add
this to their audit plan to conduct an
audit and ensure proper use of the p the
system per existing policies and
procedures because there are existing
ops orders that govern using databases
for appropriate reasons. And then I
would um ask given
uh the friendly amendment to
Councilwoman Pastor's emotion, is it
possible for that to be in place by June
18th or is more time needed in order to
get that done?
I believe that's sufficient time and and
it sounds like it they could already be
in place, but I think it's valuable to
have this
conversation so that we know, right? So
then I ex my second also accepts the
friendly amendment. I was just trying to
verify how we do it properly. That's
all.
Okay. And legal is fine with this.
Yes.
Okay. We should.
Okay. Mayor. Yeah. Coun Councilwoman. I
was just going to ask for clarity. So
we're going to vote on the mo the
substitute motion to continue. And
normally if it was a continuence we'd
just do a voice vote but because this is
a substantive we are going to do a roll
call. So it is to continue and to have
audit protocols which are provided
all of it. You heard it. Do you want to
repeat what you're like? I want to
ensure that there is a protocol that
there's an audit protocol to ensure the
proper usage of the the license plate
reader data.
Roll call.
Yes.
Ernandez, yes. Hudge Washington, yes.
Pastor, yes. Robinson, yes. Stark, yes.
Wearing, yes. O'Brien, yes. GGO, yes.
Passes 90.
Item 85 is a request to increase meter
rates for taxi cab services at Phoenix
Sky Harbor Airport. Will the city clerk
read the title?
Item 85 is for ordinance
G-7393, an ordinance amending Phoenix
City Code Chapter 4, article 4, section
4-83 by changing established fair rates
for taxi cabs departing from Phoenix Sky
Harbor International Airport.
Vice Mayor. Mayor, I move to approve
item 85.
We have a motion in a second. Any
comments? Roll call.
Yes. Hernandez, yes. Cod, Washington,
yes. Pastor, yes. Robinson, yes. Stark,
yes. Wearing, yes. O'Brien, yes. GGO,
yes. Passes
90. Item 93 is airport childcare
provider award recommendation. Vice
Mayor, mayor, I move to approve item 93.
We have a motion and a second. Uh this
is a real passion project for
Councilwoman Gordado. I'll turn to her.
Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to um
take a moment to emphasize the critical
role that Phoenix Sky Harbor
International Airport plays in our
economy with an annual impact exceeding
44 billion. This airport is not just a
transportation hub. It is a vital part
of our city's infrastructure that relies
heavily on the unwavering dedication of
the workers who keep it operational. day
in and day out. It is why during the
pandemic, I knew it was imperative that
we provide child care support to the
47,000 plus essential workers at Sky
Harbor Airport who serve over 121,000
passengers and manage 177 aircraft
daily. I am grateful um to Mayor Ggo for
her partnership and support during the
pandemic to ensure the impactful program
could become a reality. As moms, we
understand how important it is to have
quality child care for our children.
Investing in childcare solutions for
these employees will yield benefits not
only for the airport, but also for our
entire community. With the rising cost
of living, parents deserve peace of mind
knowing their children are in a safe and
nurturing environment they can afford
while they're at work. The development
of a new childcare facility combined
with existing scholarships for airport
workers will be transformative. This
initiative will be instrumental in
attracting and retaining the talent
necessary to maintain the growth of our
worldclass airport. I would like to
extend my gratitude to deputy city
manager Mario Pagawa, director of
aviation services Chad Mikoski, Matt
Hail, and the entire staff at the
aviation department for their commitment
to supporting both the workers at Sky
Harbor and their families. Thank you,
Mayor.
Thank you, Councilwoman. Thank you for
your leadership on this. Uh for me this
came during the pandemic when we were
all
having challenges with with workforce
and child
care. It was it is hard to find frank
period it is hard to find child quality
child care but particularly if you work
a non-traditional schedule. Sky Harbor
is a 247 entity and we want people with
families to be able to work there and
not have to
make as many tradeoffs with uh
parenting. So, we're hopeful this will
help with that. Also, I'm so thankful to
our partners on this, including First
Things First that who have helped us
with scholarships and and with thinking
about this program. Uh, but a passion
project uh definitely and one we've
actually under the uh a previous
Secretary of Transportation was really
excited about what we were doing here
and and what it would mean for helping
airports get the workforce they need. As
we have seen in the news, there is there
is a need for people to go into the
airport
workforce. Uh, anyone wanna Councilwoman
Hud Washington. Thank you, Mayor. I too
wanted to echo the sentiment. I think
this is a very important step for our
working families, especially those that
work at the airport. There are very few
child care options near the airport and
this new facility made possible by ARPA
funds will make it work make it easier
for our workers to take care of their
children while keeping our our airport
running smoothly. I am very proud that
Phoenix is leading in this space. Only a
handful of airports offer on-site child
care and this sends a clear message that
we value our workforce and want to keep
them where they are. I too would like to
say thank you to everyone involved who
helped to move this forward. So, thank
you, Mayor. Thank you, Councilwoman
Hastor.
Yes, I I think this is a win-win all the
way around uh for Phoenix, but also for
the workers and the employees and also
for uh those that
um have businesses there so that their
employees could be present and not
worried about their family or not saying
I have to get off at this this time. I
have to pick up my child. Um and it was
a labor of love. I would say that in a
time of uh crisis uh that uh this this
we were able to do this. So I I want to
thank uh Councilwoman Warado for her
leadership on uh making it happen and uh
Councilwoman Hajj Washington's on uh
finishing it off with along with
Councilwoman Wardado. So thank you.
Wonderful. Thank you. We'll now go to
public comment unless anyone else.
Councilwoman Hernandez. Thank you,
Mayor. Um, no, I'm as someone that is
new to the council, it's just really
great to see that we're delivering like
amazing solutions like this for our
workforce um at the airport and our
workers at the airport. So, it's these
are the type of things that I love to
see that we should continue to invest in
that will really allow um our residents
to thrive in our community. So, um,
thank you to Councilwoman Ward for
championing this along with the mayor
and councilwoman Haj Washington for
coming and dunking it in the end. Thank
you.
Wonderful. We will now go to public
comment. A reminder for those who were
not here at the beginning of the
meeting, the city has a policy. If you
are a paid lobbyist, we ask that you
disclose it. It's also helpful if you're
a business owner, if you share what your
business is. And if you're involved with
litigation, we ask that you disclose
that. All right, we will begin with
Teresa Christensen, followed by Josh
Greyel.
Hi, my name is Teresa Christensen and I
am the founder and owner of Bright
Beginnings Preschool and Childcare. Um I
am the other um respondent to the RCF um
for the aviation project and I was
subsequently beat out by Kinderare and I
understand that this is the council's
passion project and it was mine as well.
Um I want to make some clarifying points
that I do not believe that the RCF pro
or the RCF process was fair and
equitable. As a local businesswoman who
takes great pride in the 30 years that I
have served my community, I do not
believe that I was treated fairly by the
Department of Aviation's RCF project or
RCF process. Um, and I can go into
further detail. However, I wanted to
also make a few more comments in regards
to the services in which you think that
you're getting. You're not getting
extended care. Um, I know this from
firsthand. Um, my company offered to
offer the airport extended care. The RCF
recipient is not offering the airport
extended care hours. I know that there
were other participants that offered
24-hour care models and they were not
even considered. Um, this process has
cost me over $100,000 to participate in
as a small business owner. And I was
built or I was beat out by a for-profit
conglomeration that puts profitability
before care. I understand that this
council is trying to be proactive and I
applaud your efforts and I really really
really want to bring home to the fact
that I would like you to take a deeper
dive into the process itself for small
businesses that tried passionately and
pervasively to prevail in a system that
wasn't ethical. It wasn't fair and it
did my business and any other
business no consideration.
[Music]
Sorry.
Thank you. Josh is next, followed by
Robert Kirsting.
Not a mayor, members of council. I
actually think that my client and a
couple I I'm my name is Josh Greyel. I'm
with Dickinson Wright. I'm an attorney
who is involved with litigation with the
city. I believe my client and a couple
of other people were going to speak. I
actually would suggest or would request
that I be moved to behind them because I
think they would make more passionate or
more important points than I would. But
I can go if you would like me to.
And your client is not Teresa. Um, it's
not Teresa. No. Okay. We will come back.
We'll go to
Robert
next, followed by Joe Clute.
Did we lose Robert?
Robert, it's your floor is yours.
Robert, we cannot hear
you. Bob the Bob. Bob
Kirsting. Last
Bob. All right. Joe Clute.
Hi.
Microphone. That way they can that way
your attorney. Okay. Hi, I'm Joe Clute,
owner of Small People preschool. Excuse
my nervousness. And Phoenix Skyare. When
First Things First advertised this
opportunity, I was confident. Not just
because of my track record, but because
I believe the process would be
impartial. I invested thousands hiring
an architect, a writer, a project
manager to meet every requirement of
this
RCS. Our scores with the awardee was
only 4% difference. When I reviewed
their proposal, I was absolutely
shocked. Kinderare completely omitted
the required design section. They lied
on a sworn affidavit about lawsuits,
lease cancellations, and the multiple
child care licenses that were revoked
for wrongdoing and openly wrote in their
proposal that they'd submit critical
documents only after receiving the
award. We did not get that. They changed
lease terms declaring that they were not
maintaining the playground. They
demanded the right to raise tuition for
Sky Harbor families after only six
months.
They didn't even offer the appropriate
hours. I offered 24 hours. Sky Harbor
does not work on a 9-to-f5 schedule.
Meanwhile, the inc the city encouraged
small local providers like me to
compete, knowing full well you guys were
already backing a
non-Americanowned, publicly traded
company.
When protests, appeals, and a special
action were filed, aviation's response
was that the RCS requirements were
merely suggestions. I thought we had to
do what the RCS said. They've operated
as if rules don't apply, even allowing
the procurement officer to fabricate
fabricate a conversation to get me
disqualified from the second round of
scoring. The proposer came forward to my
attorney. Still, the city is just
dismissing me as purely
disgruntled. I have spent
$150,000, which should have been a level
playing
[Music]
field. They excluded me from scoring
because they already knew that they were
going to deny my protest before they
even read it. They knew they were going
to deny my appeal before they even read
it. I'm involved in special action right
now. We are still in litigation. When
you look at everything that has happened
with this RCS, there is only one
conclusion. If the goal of this lease is
to just protect city officials at all
costs, then the legal battle is going to
continue. The grassroots movement
against Kinderare and corruption is
going to gain traction. Thank you so
much for that testimony. Uh we are gonna
Why don't we try Robert or Bob Kirsting
one more time?
Can you hear me? We can hear you now. Go
ahead. Oh gosh. Finally. I was trying to
figure out how this thing
works. Uh yeah, my name is Bob Kursing.
I'm a licensed life insurance agent and
I happen to be present in uh Jody
Clute's office during the phone call
with Kinderare that uh I guess the city
of Phoenix cited to disqualify her and I
heard the entire conversation and
Kinderare's two sentence summary is
completely false and I will be
testifying that in court and felt it
would be necessary to speak up and let
you guys know that because it is it's
upsetting that this is
happening. Thank you for that uh
important
testimony. I think now we'll go back to
Josh Greyel.
Thank you, Mayor, members of the
council. I I I appreciate um all of the
the passion with which all of the
council members spoke about this
project. I further appreciate how
important it is and I think my client
appreciates how important it is. But I
think you also just heard from them
there is some passion because there was
or this process was in my opinion as
someone who has been a procurement
lawyer for 27 years uh seriously
questionable and there are some serious
issues with regard to the process that
the procurement undertook and those
issues are before a a superior court
judge in Maricopa County at this point
in time through a special action
complaint that was filed by my client
because the procurement issues are so
severe. Um I understand and we recognize
fully that there are that this is uh you
know potentially causing a delay. We
would suggest and again going back and
forth is not going to help anything and
I've only got a couple minutes but all
that I can say to the council is this.
There are some real issues with regard
to the way that this process this
process proceeded with regard to the
veracity or the lack of veracity with
regard to decision what decisions were
made by the city and the only way to
actually find that out is to have a
hearing and to have a process and to
have a legal proceeding in which you get
to sort of develop that evidence. That
has not happened. There has been an
appeal that was decided based strictly
on paper. There has been a there has
been a procurement process that was just
writed strictly on paper. But the truth
is and having done this for a number of
years. The only way that these things
come out and the only way the real
information comes out is through an
actual litigated advocated advocated
process. That has not happened in this
case. We would therefore strongly
recommend to the council that it at a
minimum delay ruling or deciding this
option at least for the next two weeks
as there will be a hearing before that
judge on June 20th and new information
will or information will be decided
there. Thank you for your time. And Josh
just for the record your client is
is Skyare uh right or excuse me Skyare
um small people preschool. So, Miss CL,
wonderful. Thank you so much. Uh, okay.
And then, uh,
Lynette, Lynette
Bowl. Okay, we have no audio for
Lynette. All right, then we will go to
Cararissa.
[Music]
Good afternoon, Madame Mayor and members
of the city council. My name is
Cararissa Messik and I represent Kender
Care Learning Companies. We're a
national provider of child care services
servicing over 195,000 children across
the entire economic spectrum. We have 26
centers and the Phoenix MSA already. I
actually work with Kinderare at work
which is a sub a sub a sub subset within
kinderare where we partner with uh
corporations, universities and
municipalities who are looking to do
what you're doing which is to provide
child care for a specific workforce. Uh
one noteworthy and recent example of
that is the Maricopa County Kids Club, a
partnership with Maricopa County to
provide child care to their employees
and first responders. That center will
open in the next few days and most of of
those 156 seats are already full.
Kinderare is very excited about the
partnership for the Phoenix Sky Harbor
Childare Project. You are one of a small
group of airports that have recognized
the needed for a child care work for a
child care solution for the airport
workforce. This center will be a
tremendous asset to the attraction and
uh retention of the 47,000 employees
that go to work there every day. I've
had uh three other airports actually
reach out to me since this process has
started, very aware of what's going on
in Phoenix and asking what they can do
to do the same thing. Your community is
ahead of the curve on addressing this
need and it is being watched. I could
spend this time speaking to Kinder
Care's capabilities to provide
highquality child care, but I think it's
more important that you hear it from
your constituents. I took an Uber
yesterday afternoon to the 44th Street
uh construction site. I had not seen it
before. And the Uber driver, her name's
Cassandra, she knew where we were going
and was so interested to see how it was
being integrated into the area that she
got out and looked around with me. She
was so impressed with the opportunities
it would provide her friends and family
who wanted to work at the airport and
specifically how excited she was to
quote see the major mayor and the city
invest back in in the in us in a way
that we really need unquote. You're
doing amazing things for children here
in Phoenix and we at Kinderare are
excited to support your efforts on that
journey.
Thank you. We're going to try Lynette
Bowl one more time. Lynette, can you
hear us?
Yes. Can you hear me now? We can hear
you. Hello.
Yeah, we can hear you.
Um, perfect. Um,
uh, I would like to tell you a little
bit about myself. I have um three
childcare centers here in the Phoenix
area. Um as well as I have been in the
industry now for over 38 years, but I'm
not coming to you um as a provider, but
I'm coming to you today as a parent.
Um, my two stepsons were young and they
were enrolled in
kindergarten
and they were supposed to be picked
up from one of the kinder buses in the
school. Matthew was six and Chris was
seven, but they convinced the driver
that they were going to go home today.
They weren't going to go to school or to
kindergare. And the driver didn't check.
They just didn't check the
story. And we left and the boys decided
that they would go to the park. And on
the way home, they crossed a busy street
and Matthew was
struck. At that time, my husband was
working um in the Air Force and he was
in Soul Korea.
made an emergency flight for him to get
back home so that he could tell his
son why he was bringing death and I kept
him alive so he could get
home. This has changed so many people's
lives forever.
Maybe you just are telling yourself that
it was a tragic mistake or a
fluke, but it's
not. I used to work for Kinder
Care and I've experienced their
operations and how they cut corners and
how they hide things.
Thank you. Being the biggest and the
best is not
The biggest and the best is not the
best.
Lynette, thank you for sharing that
really important testimony. I know it's
very emotional.
Uh, appreciate that. Okay, I believe
that is our final public comment. So,
we'll go to Councilman Gordado.
Thank you, Mayor. Um, Chad, I have now a
couple of questions for you. Um, you
know, I know that you and I have
throughout the years have talked a lot
about the hours and making sure that we
are able to provide um, child care for
majority of our workers um, at the
airport. Um, can you confirm what are
the uh, what are going to be the hours
of operation?
Mayor, uh, members of council, uh,
Councilwoman Gordado, uh, first, if I
may, I'd like to introduce those who are
with me today. So with me to my right is
Shanks Lenhard, who is external counsel
representing uh the city of Phoenix on
this matter. And to his right is Matthew
Hile, deputy aviation director, who's
been spearheading uh this procurement
process. Uh the procurement uh proposal
submitt, as I recall, uh has beginning
proposed hours of operation from 6:00
a.m. to 6:00 p.m. daily. Uh those are
subject to negotiation though throughout
the life of the contract. Uh and if I
may, Councilwoman Gordado, I'd like to
ask Mr. Hy, if you'd like to expand on
that. Uh thank you Chad and Councilwoman
Gordado. Yes. Uh those are the hours
that are in the proposal and
additionally um as we had done initial
research related to what we wanted to
start the facility operating hours for.
We we had heard from other industry
providers that the necessity of a full
24-hour operation, especially at the
outset, was um not very likely given
that many parents were going to want to
have their children at home or with a
family member during that time. And so
that's why rather than requiring uh 24
hours at the outset, we took um
proposals as they were.
And is did we do any type of surveying
um with workers at the airport because
it is a 24-hour facility and then you
you sometimes do have families that do
need child care um later later in the
evening. Um did we do any type of
surveying, you know, for us to find out
for ourselves what would be um the best
thing to do for our for our
workforce? Councilwoman Gordado, thank
you for the question. Yes, we conducted
a survey very early in the process
before actually this um was was even
started. And the survey that we
conducted with the um the different
organizations, business organizations
got a general result of 6:00 a.m. to
8:00 p.m. as the primary window of need.
And is there a reason why we're not
asking then for for from 6:00 a.m. to
8:00 p.m. rather than 6 pm?
[Music]
That was I believe uh simply the
starting point of a 12-hour window for
operation.
I mean, I would feel more comfortable if
we could extend it till 8:00 p.m. just
because of that's what the survey is
saying and and that, you know, in in a
lot of ways makes sense to me. Um, we I
know that there's a lot of workers at
the airport that do leave, you know, we
have some workers depending on flights.
I mean, it's not that everyone works all
the way till 10, 11:00 p.m. at night. I
I know there's less people that work
those hours, but I would feel more
comfortable if we could stipulate that
we extend the hours till 8:00 p.m. just
to make sure that we can accommodate
everyone. Um, with that being said, my
other question is, um, do we have
renderings? Do you guys have renderings
of what the playground would look like?
What are the accommodations that we're
going to be seeing for our children? and
making sure that it's a safe space.
Thank you for the question, woman.
Councilwoman, so the renderings that
were provided as part of the proposal
are primarily layout and space fit. So
there's not a specific rendering of the
child care, I should say, playground
equipment. Um, but we do have renderings
of the space in the facility generally.
And then my my next question is um you
know we I mean one of the things that
we're seeing more and more um in uptake
is in um children with special needs.
Are they going to be you know like do we
have that stipulated you know that they
will be um being able to accommodate
children with special needs? Thank you
Councilwoman. Yes, that that is part of
the requirement.
And then my my last question, I think my
last question um is if you know if if
this goes into litigation and you know
there's a court date for the providers
that were not awarded and the judge
decides to say um that the city of
Phoenix was in wrongdoing and if we were
to approve this today, then what
happens?
Um, Councilwoman, I would defer to our
council on that.
Madame Mayor, members of council, uh,
Councilman, uh, I think the issue is,
uh, set, as uh, Mr. Greyel said, for a
hearing on June 20th, uh, if that, uh,
hearing uh, vindicates the city's
position, which I fully believe that it
will, uh, the city would be able to move
forward and execute the contract with
Kinderare on that date. Um, if in the
event the court determines otherwise,
then uh there may be further orders from
the court that may uh prolong uh the
stay of when the city can execute that
contract. How long that may be, I I
can't speculate at this time.
And and what's the likelihood of you
thinking have what's the likelihood that
a judge will come in or in the hearing
um the other side is successful?
Uh, Madame Mayor, members of the
council, and uh, Councilman Gardado,
thank you for the question. Uh, I I feel
confident in the city's position. Um,
and I think
that having again been in procurement
law uh, many years, uh, like my uh,
opponent, Mr. Greyel, I believe that the
city's process was appropriate here and
that uh, the city should be vindicated
by the judge and the June 20th hearing.
Mayor and Councilwoman Gardado, I would
just add in in the event that for some
reason a um a court ordered against the
city on this matter, uh what we would
likely do is regroup as staff and then
make a recommendation to city council on
next steps, which would likely involve,
in my estimation, would be putting out
another procurement for another uh
childcare provider.
Great. Well, I mean, thank you guys so
much for that. But as a mom, when I hear
these stories and I hear people coming
and talking, like I, you know, I always
want to make sure that my kids have the
best um childcare services um
themselves. So, I mean, but I also trust
you guys um that you guys are making um
good decisions as you guys are are
moving forward. Um you know, again, you
know, want to thank you, Chad, and and
the team and everyone else that has made
make this happen and thank you for
answering my questions.
Thank you,
Councilwoman. There is a unique funding
source for the capital on this project
that has some deadlines. Could we speak
to the use of American Rescue Plan
dollars and what that means for the
timeline and flexibility?
Thank you, mayor, for the question. So,
we we actually and this is a pretty
innovative project because we are
looking to provide child care for all
airport workers, not just aviation
department employees. But we do have
skin in the game with this project. We
are funding the construction of a shell
at 3.7 million approximately of aviation
capital funds. And and that was
primarily to keep costs manageable for
anyone coming into what is a very
untested space. And then we were very
fortunate, thanks to the foresight of
the city council, to be able to apply $3
million in ARPA funds to the project as
well to help the successful proposer
build out tenant improvements. And
because we were able to enter into anou
with the city manager's office and that
this is a specifically construction
related project, uh we have until the
end of 2026 to expend those funds.
But first, the ARP the federal funds are
the tenant improvements. So, first we
have to build. Yes, mayor. That's that's
correct. But that construction is
underway right now. Okay. Thank you,
Councilwoman Hud Washington. Thank you,
Mayor. Thank you again. I really am I
really believe in this project and I'm
happy to see us move forward. Um,
unfortunately, we heard some um some
feedback that seemed to question our
procurement process. Can can I ask us
can I ask that you walk me through the
steps taken to ensure that this
procurement process was competitive and
transparent?
Thank you councilwoman for the question.
Um so we conducted this and and aviation
has what they call a revenue contract
solicitation. So I just want to make the
point that this is not a contract or we
are paying for these services. The
provider who's successful is going to
have to be paying the aviation
department for the opportunity. Um and
we conducted that project pro process as
part of our normal procedures. We um
really promoted it in a variety of ways.
Um and as was noted, we worked with
First Things First to also promote this
opportunity to all of their providers
across the state. Uh which I think was
really important to stressing that we
get the kind of competition we need.
There was some concern um early on that
we might not see any biders on this
because it's a unique and difficult
project. Um and fortunately we were
successful. Um has had been mentioned uh
elsewhere in the comments, we worked to
really make it as flexible as possible
so that uh providers could approach it
the way that they needed to and that we
were ensuring that we had good
participation. Um and then we actually
went through two panel reviews of this
process to arrive um at the same result
of Kinderare. So we impanled two
different groups of reviewers that
included both internal and external
participants with expertise in these
areas and then also uh because of the
appeals process had two separate reviews
of each of those processes uh before we
arrived here in front of you today. So,
if I heard you correctly, in after you
completed the initial process to pick
the select the vendor, there was a
protest or an appeal of that process and
you went through two independent um
appeals through two different bodies and
came up with the same result. Is that
correct? Yes, Councilwoman, that's
correct. And um my understanding based
on the testimony, I'm sorry, the
statements we heard from the speaker, um
there is pending litigation that has
been filed uh contesting and challenging
our decision. Um I'm going to look to
council maybe to explain um for explain
to me um one of the my understanding is
one of the requests that was made by or
during the initial part of this
litigation was for an injunction. Can
you share your understanding of where
that is currently from or perspective?
Well, I'll I'll defer to the our legal
council who's representing the city on
that matter. Madame Mayor, members of
council and council councilwoman uh Haj
Washington. Thank you for the question.
Uh we had a uh emergency hearing today
with Judge John Hannah, Maropa County
Superior Court. uh and Judge Hannah uh
uh denied the temporary restraining
order that would have prevented this
council from taking action on this
particular item on the agenda, but put
in place a temporary order that would
prohibit the city from executing the
contract with Kinderare that lasts until
June 20th. One of the conditions of that
order though is that the um litigant in
that case uh Phoenix Skyare post a bond
by the close of business on Friday. And
so as I understand if that bond is not
posted by the close of business on
Friday that the order would be
automatically lifted. So that's the
timeline that we're on currently. Okay.
Thank you. I'm going to jump back up
real quick because I think it is an
important part the mayor brought up
regarding the source of funding for this
and kind of what it is that this
contract would entail. It is not only
for the operation of the uh childcare
facility, but it's also um for
construction management. I don't know if
C match or nod and if you want to go
further on that. Yes, Councilwoman,
thank you for the question. Uh yes, so I
I have said this multiple times. I am
not a parent. I do not generally spend
time with children. So, we need someone
who is technically able to operate the
facility, but neither am I an engineer
or a construction expert. And so, to
have um a successful project, we need a
company that is able to build out tenant
improvements. The tenant improvement
process is very common for aviation in
that we do that in the terminals when
we're seeing u refurbishments or change
of concepts for concessions. And so
we're managing that like we would um
that other process within the terminals
and the funds from ARPA are going to be
used to support the development and
build out of those tenant improvements.
And if we were to re uh restart the
process, we would have a very time very
limited time frame in which to do so.
Otherwise, we would forfeit we would um
possibly forfeit those opera funds.
Correct. There there I think is the
potential for that. We would of course
work as quickly as we possibly could if
that um was the outcome to ensure that
we didn't, but I do think that there is
the potential. And then we had we heard
from one speaker who um shared a a truly
personal and unfortunate situation um
with concern in her child. Um I presume
that as we move if we move forward with
this and we do contract negotiation in
that agreement there would be some level
of safeguards and requirements that we
um would expect from our service
provider to ensure um or to limit those
types of uh potential um instances going
forward. Correct. Can you talk a little
bit about that? Uh yes, councilwoman. So
we would be working through and and we
were actually even before we had
proposals working internally to make
sure that the facility construction
incorporated safety features that the
airport already has as part of its
overall safety posture. Um we also
anticipate that we will have uh security
there and available as well. We'll be
working with a successful proposer to
determine quite how that works. But
because this is first and foremost an
airport facility, security is going to
be a primary focus for
us. Thank you. I again feel like this is
a great step moving forward for our for
the especially our workers at the
airport um to provide them with the
needed child care. It's one of the one
of the needs we hear um in our community
and I think we're doing we're we're
we're leading the way in this and I
applaud you for these efforts. So,
mayor, thank you for the opportunity.
Thank you for your Thank you for leading
this. I know this has been a project
that you've worked on for some time.
Thank you for I want to again thank my
councilman uh Betty Gerardo for that and
my predecessor actually started the
conversation on this. So, I really think
this is us taking valuable steps to meet
the needs of our community. So, thank
you.
Thank you, Councilwoman Hernandez. Thank
you, Mayor. Um just have two quick
questions. So, just my first clarifying
question, if we vote on this today, that
does not impact the coming um hearing on
the 20th. I think it's the
20th. Uh Madame Mayor, members of the
council, and thank you for the question.
Uh that is correct. The the judge uh did
not prohibit the council from taking
action on this agenda item today. Uh so,
the council is free to vote on this
item. Um and on the 20th, uh the court
will have a hearing to determine whether
or not uh the city can proceed with
executing the contract with their
service provider. Okay. Um also just
would like to reiterate that I support
Councilwoman Ward's point on extending
the hours to from 8 uh from 6:00 to 8:00
p.m. um based on that information. So
would love to see that worked into it.
Uh, and then my other clarifying
question, in the contract term, it says
that the primary lease would be for 10
years with two five-year options to
extend. Would those two five-year
options be after the initial 10-year
lease? Yes, Councilwoman, that that is
correct. Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. Roll call.
Yes. Sorry. Yes. Hernandez. Yes. Hodge
Washington. Yes. Pastor. Yes. Robinson.
Yes. Stark. Yes. Wearing. Yes. O'Brien.
Yes. Hey, yes. Passes
90. Item 94 is the acquisition of real
property and related easements and
licenses for the Capex light rail
project. Vice Mayor. Do we have a
motion? Yes, Mayor. I move to approve
item 94.
Second. Have a motion and a second. And
I guess I do have one question on this
one. So, we are still doing some
stakeholder work in this
area and and we have some some important
conversations we're still having. we can
finish those and get some good solutions
before we move forward on this one.
Mayor, members of the council, yes. Um,
the way that the legis legis file is
written, um, we're looking for the
approval to start the conversation.
However, we know that we're very young
or very early in the design process. So,
the list that is part of the attachment
A, um, we will be revising that list as
the design progresses. And so right now
um we're about a 60% design. Um we still
have quite a bit of community input and
stakeholder engagement that needs to be
done before we can finalize a design.
And so we will this will allow us for
properties that we have determined that
are necessary um for like signal
buildings, traction power substations,
things of that nature that we know that
we'll need. um regardless of how the
final design um is determined, it'll
allow us the ability to start that
process. Okay. But we have some
stakeholders we're still working out to
make sure we can address the project and
impacts on them. And we we I should feel
comfortable voting in this that we're
not committing ourselves to anything
until we've really got the details
right. Yes. This does not
um preclude us from looking at other
options for um the design that we're
looking at right now. This does not
pigeon hole us into one design.
Wonderful. Thank you, Councilwoman
Pastor. Yes. I want to make sure that
it's on the record that we are not
committing ourselves to uh this design
because there are several stakeholders
that um are not in line yet or in
agreement with what we're doing or how
we're doing or where it's going. And so
I want to make sure
that that I
hear that we this isn't set in stone
unlike some of the other pieces that I
have had to deal with in the past that
was told this is what the community
wanted. So I want to I want to hear
that. Yes. Mayor, members of the
Congress, um me, members of the council,
and Councilwoman Pastor, yes, you are
correct in your um assessment that this
action today will not um tie us to a
design. It still gives us the
flexibility that we need as we work with
the stakeholders to determine what that
final design will be and look like. It
will give us that flexibility for us to
start engaging with um those
stakeholders.
Thank
you, Councilwoman Hernandez. Thank you,
Mayor. Um, thank you, Marcus. And, you
know, we've had conversations around the
design piece of it, and I think it's
really important as the district that's
going to have this piece in it that the
most important stakeholders are the
residents that are going to be impacted
by the light construction. Um, so I
appreciate that you are and have
continued to seek input from the
district um on the design feedback. Um,
you know, I've been very clear that I
want to see a design that has the least
impact of displacement to our residents,
um, and still allows for the
construction of the light rail so that
can bring more public transportation
options to our communities. But, um, I
think that we have to always make sure
that we're centering the most important
stakeholders and that that is the
residents of district 7 along this light
construction. So looking forward to
working more on this and creating a
really awesome design and avoiding the
missteps that have happened in previous
um uh projects by some of my form down
the line predecessors. So thank you so
much Marcus. Thank you.
Roll call.
Yes. Hernandez. Yes. Hodge Washington.
Yes. Pastor.
Yes. Robinson, yes. Stark, yes.
Wearing O'Brien, yes. GG, yes. Passes
90.
Item 96 is the annual operations funding
agreement with Valley Metro Rail for
operational costs for light rail
services for fiscal year 2526. Vice
Mayor, mayor, I move to approve item 96.
Second.
Roll
call. Thank you, mayor. And if I may, I
want to correct. It was um 8 to1 in the
prior vote for 94. Councilman Wearing
voted no. I apologize.
Okay. For 90 for 96. I will call the
roll call. Thank you. Ward.
Yes. Hernandez.
Sorry. Uh yes. Hutch Washington. Yes.
Pastor. Yes. Robinson. Yes. Stark. Yes.
Wearing. O'Brien,
I almost said no. Yes. GGO.
Yes. Thank you.
81. Item 102 is the for official use
only wording exemption for unmarked city
vehicles. Vice Mayor. Mayor, I move to
approve item 102.
We have a motion to second. I understand
this was originally p pulled for public
comment, but we do not have any. Is that
right? Yes, mayor. All right. Roll call.
Wardado.
Yes. Hernandez, yes. Hudge Washington,
yes. Pastor, yes. Robinson, yes. Stark,
yes. Wearing, yes. O'Brien, yes. GGO,
yes. Passes 90. Item 104 is the roadway
road safety action plan. Safe streets
for all revisioning Indian school road
engineering services. Do we have a
motion? I move to approve item 104.
Motion in a second. Stacy
Champion. Um, oh god, that's very loud.
Sorry.
I just wanted to point out that this has
been a really deadly um Indian school
broadly is terrible and very dangerous.
Um but for those who don't know this
portion affects
um 39th Avenue to 91st Avenue and it is
um it is for another study. Um and I
just kind of don't understand like
especially because we know how dangerous
this stretch is because we know how many
people have died especially along this
stretch. there's there's just
um a need to study things that could be
handled with some common sense. I think
a lot of the time um I don't see a
timeline uh for these life-saving
measures to actually be
implemented. Um you know, I think we can
go walk it. I I' I'd like to see um
trees, um some real traffic calming
measures, pedestrian buffers, high
visibility crosswalks and stop bars,
which we talked about at the last formal
city council meeting. Um, and I just I I
just think it's been so long for a lot
of especially the ignored and
underserved communities to see like real
improvements and action outside of maybe
a hawk light here or there that I would
just like to see some quicker movement
on on some really common sense things to
actually save people's lives. Thanks.
Thank you. Roll call.
Yes. Hernandez, yes. Hudge Washington.
Mayor, can I uh clarify? I'm a yes. But
I think it is important for us to
provide a time frame or a timeline of
this. This was something that we that I
voiced when we were talking about the
reverse lanes as well. Thank you.
Pastor, yes. Robinson, yes. Stark, yes.
Wearing O'Brien, yes. Yes. Passes 90.
Item 107 is Children's Museum of Phoenix
expansion. Vice Mayor, I move to approve
item 107.
We have motion, a second. Councilwoman
Pastor.
Okay. 107. Um, yes, I'm excited to see
this happen. Um, children's museum
always provides great adventure and fun
and most importantly uh provides relief
to parents as kids are laughing,
jumping, exploring
um and their quisitive minds and in
action as parents can at least take a
breather and and watch. Uh it brought
great uh passion to my kids when they
were little. uh especially my Eduardo
who has uh ADHD and cannot sit still.
So, I'm I'm excited to see this happen.
Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman Hud
Washington. Thank you, Mayor. I actually
have a couple questions if someone can
come to the dance
or there's Mitch.
Hi Mitch. Hello. I I want to start off
by saying I am very excited to see us
expand the Children's Museum. Um, it is
an it's a cultural institution here in
the heart of district 8 and it's an area
where we have last year we held our our
holiday party for the community. So, I
really am excited to see the $4 million
investment to our general bond
obligation move forward. I think it
shows our commitment to the city to
strengthen in our youth enrichment
opportunities and preserving our
historic assets. Um, this renovation
will allow the museum to serve more
families, host more educational
programming, and create create
additional spaces for staff and
community events. Um, I want to say
thank you to the arts and culture
department as well as our city engineer
for moving this forward. I have a couple
of questions about the anticipated
process. Will the public be engaged in
any way in the exhibit design or the use
of the newly renovated space?
Thank you, Mayor Ggo, Councilwoman Hudge
Washington, members of council. So this
renovation piece that we are uh working
with our architectural designers and
then the construction manager at risk
will be to renovate and then white shell
the building the children's museum uh
through their own fundraising will then
begin the programmatic side of it and
they do have plans to engage families
residents uh and because they're going
to have 17,000 squaret of new space so
that will be on the children's museum
our goal is to excavate the dirt room,
uh, get the asbestous out and to make
sure that all rooms are inhabitable. And
then the other question that I received
on this was um, is there a timeline for
the pre-construction and construction
phases and will the museum remain open
during this work or will it be closed at
some points? So, that is a great
question, Councilwoman Hajj Washington.
Uh we are in the design phase and uh
we'll be getting into the
pre-construction phase. Hopefully soon
the museum will have to remain open.
They do close for some parts within the
fall to clean and maintain spaces, but
we are going to try to work with their
schedule as best as possible and that is
the plan right now. Thank you again. I'm
very excited to see us move forward.
This is one of the one of the projects
that our our residents voted favorably
for as part of the Go Bond campaign and
I'm grateful to see this investment move
forward. So, thank you, mayor. Thank
you, Mitch. Thank you. Thank you. I am
excited to see this move forward. We are
definitely a children's museum family.
This also protects a historic important
building in the city of Phoenix. A
gorgeous building and it'll be great to
have the Children's Museum fully built
out. We're so thankful to the voters of
Phoenix for approving our general
obligation bond package. This was an
election where the majority of voters
were actually over 65 and yet time and
time again they invested in our kids
which shows some vision I think on the
part of Phoenix voters. So grateful.
Roll call.
Yes. Hernandez.
Yes. Hodge Washington. Yes. Pastor yes.
Robinson. Yes. Stark. Yes. wearing.
O'Brien, yes. GGO, yes. Passes 90.
Items 122 and 123 are related items. We
will have one public hearing, but two
votes. They are related to the northeast
corner of 64th Street and Mayo
Boulevard. Uh we
will begin with a public hearing. We
have a representative of the applicant
available to speak if necessary. Would
anyone like to hear?
All right, we will close the public
hearing. We'll begin with item
122. And just to clarify, the public
hearing was on 122 and 123. Councilman
Wearing, do you have a motion?
Second. Motion and a second. Any
comments? Roll call.
Yes. Hernandez. Yes. Hodge Washington.
Yes. Pastor,
yes. Robinson, yes. Stark, yes. Wearing,
yes. O'Brien, yes. GGO, yes. Passes 90.
Wonderful. And and Councilman, if you
could do the next one a little closer to
the microphone. Uh, item 123. Uh, motion
to approve the item per the planning
commission recommendation noting the
correction in the June 3rd, 2025 memo
from the PD PDD director. Second. We
have a motion and a second. Any
comments? Roll call.
Yes. Hernandez, yes. Hudge Washington,
yes. Pastor,
yes. Robinson, yes. Stark, yes. Wearing,
yes. O'Brien, yes. Go, yes. Passes 90.
And since we are a council that cares a
lot about housing, I will mention we
have just enabled 1,400 units of
housing. So, continuing to be a city
that prioritizing having folks have a
good place to call home, we will next go
to item 124. Vice Mayor,
sorry.
Just do the motion. Mayor, I move to
approve the staff staff recommendation
for item 124. Second. Motion and a
second. Uh, we'll first hear from the
applicant. This is a citizen petition
for Mr. Kim Baker. Mr. Baker, the floor
is
yours. 3 minutes, right?
Okay.
So, I sub submitted a I thought 3
minutes.
We we have three minutes for the uh
portion after this. This is agendaized
items are two. Okay. Sorry. So
um the petition that I submitted, excuse
me.
Um, all of
the concerns were not
um
answered like
um the
private
investig that that
person he was not talked to by the
police.
Now, we're talking about a the a biased
crime. The the the letter that I
got said that I was a dead
 It was on my card. Right.
So,
this comes from Jerry Williams.
She gave me this after the situation
happened. She gave me this this
badge
because she knew that it was
wrong. And
now all of these
concerns have come before the council.
Even though I know you decided against
the
petition, but I want you to
reconsider. If you're
called the
n-word and they're trying to scare you,
well, try again.
I'm not the white guy, right? So, I'm
saying the petition should go forward.
Thank you, Mr. Baker. Councilwoman
Hernandez. Thank you, Mayor. And um
yeah, I wanted I wanted to make sure
that Mr. Baker understands the staff
recommendation um and had a chance to
speak here um just in case I wasn't sure
if he was going to show up in person.
Um, and also can staff get me his
contact information so we can have my
office can have a follow-up conversation
with him. Thank you.
Yes, counciloman. We will do that. Thank
you.
Thank you. Uh, roll call.
Yes. Hernandez,
yes. Haj Washington, yes. Pastor,
Robinson, yes. Stark, yes. Wearing
O'Brien, yes. GGO, yes. Passes 8 Z.
Thank you. We will now go to the final
portion of the meeting where the
speakers do get three minutes and I'll
turn to our legal team to explain public
comment. Thank you, mayor. During
citizen comment, members of the public
may address the city council for up to
three minutes on issues of interest or
concern to them. The citizen comment se
session is limited to 30 minutes. The
Arizona open meeting law permits the
city council to listen to the comments
but prohibits council members from
discussing or acting on the matters
presented.
Thank you so much. We will begin with
Leonard Clark followed by Shawn Bucknor.
Thank you mayor and council members. My
name is Leonard Clark and uh I'm from
Arizona. I was born right down the
street at the Good Samaritan Hospital. I
guess they've renamed it now, but um I'm
deeply concerned not only for the fifth
largest city, our people here in the
city of Phoenix, Arizona, but for the
rest of Arizona, because very shortly,
as uh somebody I don't agree with very
often, Elon Musk has said something to
the effect that we the big beautiful
bill, whatever the uh apparent wannabe
king in the White House says it is. Uh
Elon Musk says that we have a disgusting
abomination of this bill. And the reason
I'm concerned is how it will directly
affect our citizens. There will be
people and I actually listen to the
scientists, the people who actually use
scientific data who will be kicked off
of medical health care, your grandmas,
your grandpas, your children for the
crime. Oh, they don't have as much money
as Elon Musk or the wealthy and the
society. people they say will die and it
looks like it's going to go through. The
other concern I have is that again I
guess some people who apparently have
forgotten their oaths to the
constitution which comes first before
the chief
executive are going to put in this
disgusting abomination. I do agree with
Musk on that. uh where the contempt
orders from judges would be ignored
because apparently the chief executive
would now become a king, a monarch. So
I'm deeply concerned. I'm hoping that
you're preparing too because we don't
know what he will do. He's already going
after the judges. He flaunts the
judiciary because apparently I guess uh
the
uh article 3 of the constitution
judicial branch is just not to be
followed. if you're a president.
So, I'm worried that you as our city
leaders, if you disagree or citizens,
because we already have people being
kidnapped off our streets by mass men,
I'm worried that you will be arrested.
And uh I I just want to say here that I
really thank people like Senator Kelly
and Congressman Hakee Jeff and
Congressman Ruben Ggo and all three of
those men is I really like Hakee Jeff,
you know, but all of them would make
good presidents of the United States of
America. But people think it's not going
to happen to them until it happens to
you. And if it was a Democrat doing
this, I'm an independent. I would say
the same thing. So, I'm concerned that
some kind of contingency plans be made
because in the Ukraine, what Putin did,
and I know Trump is following this
method, they would go in and take over
police stations. They would go over and
take radio stations over. They would
take basic terrorist moves that we
learned about in grade
school. So, I'm hoping that you're
preparing because all throughout
history, this is what tyrants have done.
Knights of the Long Knives. Uh we had
this with
uh you know in China. We've had this
throughout history. So please be aware
and prepare. Thank you. Thank you. Sean
is next followed by Monica Berentos.
Is Sean Bucknor here? Sean, if you could
just make sure you indicate
he's supposed to be here. Okay.
Apparently, we do not have Shawn. We
will go to Monica Berentos followed by
Stacy Champion.
I'm going to seat I'm going to seat my
time.
Okay, we have Stacy
Champion followed by Bina Consten.
Thank you. Um, I have three quick
things. One, when is Nicole's petition
for high visibility crosswalks and
stoppers going to be added to the TIP
subcommittee agenda so it doesn't fall
through the cracks? two. Um, I want to
put into the public record that I still
have not received a scope of work from
streets that is specific to the motion
made by pastor that was passed at the
last council meeting with regard to the
seven's rush hour reverse lanes, but
instead received a draft scope that
looks like a large complex economic
development land planning land planning
study with some traffic study comments
sprinkled in. three. Um, I have numerous
public records made to the city, some
now almost two years old
um that do not meet the prompt uh
requirements of our public records laws.
It's really frustrating. It's really
ridiculous. Um, there are many people
like myself who have lost trust in the
city, its management, and some of its
leaders because you do not behave in a
way that is transparent, like blatantly
ignoring public records requests from
those people like myself who often ask
questions and seek accountability. Um,
and so if I don't start receiving my
public records request, I believe what I
will have to do is I think file a
special action with the superior court.
And I mean, nobody should have to wait
two years for a public records request.
Like that's ridiculous. That's not okay.
That's all. Thanks.
Thank you. Beina is next, followed by
Mark Schaefer.
I'm going to save my time. Thank you.
Thank you. Mark Schaefer is next,
followed by Frank Urban.
I yield my time to Philip Tarter. And
you um you you unfortunately cannot
yield your time. So if you can't not to
another person that's already signed
off. No, you get your three minutes.
Okay. So, tell us what is on your mind.
Go for it. Okay.
Okay. Um I didn't get to speak last
month cuz the time ran out. Looks like
today too almost. But, uh I just want to
say thank you for uh helping out with
the heat shelters uh once again.
um cuz they're uh they're really, you
know, we all appreciate that and
uh
um I wasn't ready. Uh and just um we
we're try we're just keep trying to push
for general funding for the homeless and
the homeless communities. Thank you.
Thank you. Uh Frank is next. Frank Urban
followed by Philip Troder.
Hello, city council members. I'm Frank
Urban with Fund for Empowerment. As many
of you know,
um I am here today to
uh reiterate the need for well, first
off, thank you for the heat shelters and
stuff that you're doing for the homeless
community. It's much appreciated by
everyone, as I'm
sure.
Um, but that's just a start. You know,
there
are thousands of thousands, if not
millions of homeless people out here in
the city of Phoenix.
And
um
uh I just want to say on the issue of
um the budget that you guys are voting
on today that no offense to the police,
I think they do a great job for the most
part, but They don't need any more
money. Matter of fact, if you guys could
cut just like 10 to 15% of their salary
and put it toward housing and u medical
and
mental um programs for the homeless,
that'd be great. And also um there
are a lot of unused buildings that have
been shut down not only in downtown
Phoenix but throughout the city. If you
guys could reopen some of
them and use them as
shelters that would also be
great. Uh
uh with that I'll close. Thank you for
your time. Thank you. Frank Phillip is
next followed by Elizabeth Venal.
Good afternoon councilman Mayor. My name
is Philip Troder. I'm one of those
unhoused people your your
representatives were talking about. My
life is worse today than it was with
them. What you see me in right now is
all I own since they've been k since
I've been kicked out. They kicked me out
for non-compliance. I'm still trying to
figure that out. You know, they took my
compet they took my tools for a car
being me and a carpenter, put them in
their shed. I can't even file police. I
can't even get a police to take my
report because they say I have an
attitude problem. I slept under a
tree last night in a blanket. I don't
know where I'm going to sleep tonight. I
don't really care anymore. All I have to
say is thank you for your help cuz you
sure Excuse me. You sure have
helped me well. Have a nice day.
Elizabeth is next. Estella Proxima.
Okay. So, um, you know, I do think it's
important to, you know, we talked a lot
about how you get a lot of cost savings,
uh, providing social services.
Obviously, I I wasn't here for the last
meeting. I wasn't feeling well, you
know. Um but um you know it's this is
our 13th time talking to you all now
that the budget's finally done you know
this year sort of on this topic and I do
appreciate you guys did listen to us you
did make those allocations and um you
know it is important to
um though looking in the future you know
it's important to assume that sometimes
when residents ask for things like this
that that actually they they have good
intentions and the the the logic behind
them is actually sometimes strong even
if they can't articulate them with
numbers, right? The the fact that the
individual cannot bring that that
argument doesn't mean that those
arguments are not salient, right? Um and
after a while it's it's unfortunate that
um it takes almost an excess of you know
mathematics or whatever to to make these
arguments in a way that they'll be
listened to. But um the content remains
the same you know it's just basically
that you get value out of providing for
human needs especially human needs you
know often sometimes the the the issues
are um you know not favorable to the
public eye or you know unpopular or um
not charismatic although they are
flippable I think to say you got this
resource or whatever you know Just
because something is not charismatic
doesn't mean that it doesn't always
provi also provide you know good um
ability to manage budgets you know and I
think it's important to um consider
requests even for simpler things that
might even be less glamorous than than
what we normally want to you know fund
as a city. you know, some things are are
shiny and and glamorous and some things
are not. And um you know, I know that we
were able to convince you guys partially
because you know, we're in here meeting
in meeting out, you know, and and and
and after a while, I I do know if we
stand up and make reasonable arguments,
you know, especially with the shifting
demographics of the city of Phoenix, you
know, there there is more um
responsiveness, right? And um you know
so I want to encourage everybody who um
came out that that maybe doesn't come
out like every meeting like we basically
almost come out every meeting in some
way. Um if you come out and say numbers
at them a million times eventually they
might listen to
you. But um you know I'm not lying. I'm
not lying though. But it's it's I find
it unfortunate though because you know a
lot of the arguments are very simple and
and the cost savings were already
happening whether or not they're
articulated, you know.
Estella and then Freddy.
Phoenix, Arizona.
investig
Phoenix, Americanas,
discrimin.
Has Fore! Foreign! Foreign!
Department liber. Foreignech.
Numero
[Music]
department. Okay.
Good
afternoon, city council. My name is
Estella Varela. I'm a resident
of Phoenix District 5 and I'm currently
presenting a petition to the citizens a
resolution of the mayor and city council
of the city of Phoenix for thriving
families community safety for all.
Whereas the city of Phoenix is committed
to ensuring the safe safety and
well-being of all its residents
regardless of race, ethnicity,
immigration status, gender identity,
mental health or housing
status. And whereas the United States
Department of Justice following a
comprehensive
investigation announced findings that
the Phoenix Police Department and the
City of Phoenix engage in a pattern or
practice of conduct that violates the US
constitution and federal law, including
but not limited to excessive force,
unlawful treatment of people
experiencing
homelessness, discriminatory enforcement
against black, Hispanic, and Native
American individuals violations of
protected speech and discrimination
against people with mental health
conditions. Whereas racial profiling by
law enforcement has devastating
consequences for individuals, families,
and communities, including but not
limited
to wrongful arrests, incarceration,
deportation, job loss, housing
instability, and separation from loved
ones. And whereas Mayor Kate Ggo's
review and implementation ad hoc
committee recommended on September 1st,
2020, one implement the aspect of
CPTI community police trust initiative
recommendation two to seek least harm
for minor infractions and
recommendation for for building
community trust through mayor and
council actions in
A a review of all policies regarding
Phoenix PD, updating those policies that
prioritize lease harm options of
enforcement in all
situations, including but not limited to
one, prior prioritizing sight and
release options over arrest and send to
the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office.
Two, interactions with federal
immigration authorities. and three
adding the requirement to report the
time in which a stop begins and begins
and ends where there is an attempt to
contact Immigration and Customs
Enforcement ICE.
Thank you.
Freddy is next, followed by Briana.
[Music]
Hello, my name is Freddy M and I really
don't want to bash the shelters because
right now I'm currently staying in one
and it helps me a lot but um I have like
a situation
where my health was like in in danger
and the services that they gave me was
like horrible. It like they didn't check
on me. They didn't follow up on me or
anything like that. It was to the point
where like I had
to just crawl out of I was in SOS. I had
to crawl out the tent and to the front,
you know, to get some help. They they
didn't, you know, they just started now.
They checked the rooms and stuff, but
The earth is like a a bad experiment.
It's a bad experiment going on out
there.
Oh, sorry. I didn't it it shot me in the
face when I did it. But it's like a bad
experiment is going on up there. I you
know, but I appreciate everything they
doing, but they're
not following up. Okay, let's do this.
This a situation now has happened at the
shelter I'm at now. you know, we have
three months to get in, get a job, and
get out, right? And it was like a few
people there that needed help. And they
actually told the lady cuz she was
having a mental problem. They told her
to Google
it, to Google it. And you know, I just I
don't know. I just wanted to some to
talk about some of the stuff that I was
going through at the shelter. Not to
bash anything, but just to bring it to
other people's light. And that was it.
Thank you.
Thank you. Brianna is next held by
Miros.
Good evening. My name is Brianna
Valencia and I reside in council
district 3. Today I'm speaking in a
strong in strong support of the
resolution citizens petition that is
being submitted
today because it's a necessary and
urgent step toward justice in our city.
This resolution will do three critical
things. First, it will require police to
issue citations instead of making
arrests for non-violent offenses.
Second, it will block police from
stopping or harassing people simply for
being unsheltered or for minor
violations like sleeping at a bus stop.
And third, it will ban low-level traffic
stop that too often escalate and target
communities of color. By adopting these
changes, city council will help will be
helping to reduce racial profiling,
prevent unnecessary deportations, and
push back against a mass incarceration
crisis. It also sends a clear message
that Phoenix won't stand for Trump's
agenda of fear and hate. Thank you.
Thank you. Mirus is next, followed by
Tony. All right. Good afternoon, council
members. Um, yeah, my name is Midos. I
reside in district 6. Um, and as you
heard, there is a need for protection
for the most vulnerable. You heard the
communities that are directly impacted.
Um, we were here previously a couple
weeks ago, right? Um, and y'all decided
to increase the police budget um to 1.2
billion.
Um, that seems like we're rewarding the
police department. We know that they
work with immigration. We know that
they're separating communities. I hear
you all talk about children and the
safety of children in schools and SRO's,
but are you thinking about the safety of
the children's families and their
parents uh who are in danger in our
streets in Phoenix? Are you thinking
about the safety of them once their
family members are taken by ICE,
specifically their parents, they end up
in the uh system and they end up without
their family members. So there is a lot
of ways and this resolution is a way for
you all to think about the safety of not
only children but the constituents that
look up to you and also voted for all of
you to be in these positions. Um and if
you look look at this resolution, it's
not just for people of color, right?
We're talking about working-class
people. We're talking for house
individuals as well. So we are looking
up to you for protection of what is
happening. Unfortunately, in this Trump
administration, a lot of us are in
danger, and we're looking at you for
that safety and protection and to
respond back against this agenda.
Thank you. Tony is next, followed by
Ben.
Thank you.
U with uh regard to the U budget,
um I'm hoping there's uh going to be
enough
funding for housing cuz um obviously
there shouldn't be any cuts to any h to
any
vouchers because um you got so many uh
poor people that are living paycheck to
paycheck. there's no way they're going
to be able to afford the
skyrocketing cost of rent that keeps
going up every
year. And um with the um still waiting
for the budget in
Congress. So, I don't if they're going
to cut funding to the the states because
that's what Trump wants to
do and
uh take away uh funding for poor people
in that
area. And a great job with the um the uh
cooling
centers and especially the one the
24-hour one that's around the
corner. But, uh, if people get their,
um, housing assistance cut,
um, there's going to be a a need for a
lot more of
those because even and in the evening,
people can um get heat strokes in the
summer.
So, and thank you. Thank you for your
testimony. Ben is next.
My name is Ben Laughlin. I'm a resident
of District 5. Um, I'm here. Can you
pull the microphone closer, too, please?
I can sure
try. How's that? Um, here today to ask
for your support for the resolution for
thriving communities. Uh, this
resolution is a critical step in
defending not only immigrant
communities, but makes Phoenix safer for
all residents. Despite the best efforts
of many members on this council and the
Trump administration, Phoenix police has
a wellocumented history of profiling
people of color, unsheltered people, and
transgender people as well. As the Trump
administration policies terrorize
working people, rip apart communities,
and destabilize whole neighborhoods,
elected officials in Phoenix have a
responsibility to take measures to
defend the residents they serve. There's
elected officials here who claim that
the Phoenix police won't be used to
carry out the mass deportation agenda of
the Trump administration. The 58 people
who were deported between January and
March after being stopped by Phoenix
police proves otherwise. Wanting to end
racial uh wanting to end racial
profiling is common sense. Wanting to
keep neighborhoods and families stable
is common sense. Wanting to ensure that
your tax dollars and the tax dollars of
your constituents are used for resources
that make our communities stronger and
healthier is common sense. Thank you in
advance for doing the right thing, doing
the common sense thing, and supporting
this resolution.
Thank you so much. Ben is our final
speaker. We are
adjourned. Didn't really struggle with a
lot of the stigma or the lack of access
to care. But looking at some of these
panels from folks, you know, who passed
away in the late 80s, early 90s, um no
one was talking about this. You know,
it's such a privilege to be able to
request the specific panels of the
quilts from um local community members
who participated in making these quilts.
You know, that to see them on display
and then to see their friends and family
actually get to experience um it's an
emotional experience that is just very
hard to describe. Um, folks are so
grateful to just be able to see their
loved ones